Orchids, Olympics, Imbolc...Oh, My!

Having finished only one book since my last post, I decided to bring you a little mid-winter color to brighten things up. The Denver Botanic Gardens has an annual orchid exhibit--I missed it last year, but was desperately in need of color so went last Friday.

This is the display at the entry to the greenhouse.

  

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At the Water's Edge

So, on to the one book I did finish since last post. 

I decided to read At the Water's Edge, by Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants, for two reasons.

1. It is set mostly in the Scottish Highlands, exactly where I am planning to visit in September.
2. The audiobook was available from my library and I needed something to listen to.

I blithely ignored the many negative reviews on GoodReads and just focused on those that were somewhat positive. It was, I kid you not, one of the dumbest books I've ever actually finished. If I hadn't been so invested in the location, I would have abandoned it. 

Here is the GoodReads blurb about it:

After embarrassing themselves at the social event of the year in high society Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve of 1942, Maddie and Ellis Hyde are cut off financially by Ellis’s father, a former army Colonel who is already embarrassed by his son’s inability to serve in WWII due to his being colorblind.

To Maddie’s horror, Ellis decides that the only way to regain his father’s favor is to succeed in a venture his father attempted and very publicly failed at: he will hunt the famous Loch Ness monster and when he finds it he will restore his father’s name and return to his father’s good graces (and pocketbook). Joined by their friend Hank, a wealthy socialite, the three make their way to Scotland in the midst of war.

Each day the two men go off to hunt the monster, while another monster, Hitler, is devastating Europe. And Maddie, now alone in a foreign country, must begin to figure out who she is and what she wants.

Sounds reasonable, right?  Unfortunately, the entire plot is completely bonkers. The threesome cross the Atlantic in January 1942, as tourists, during WWII, with two of them being able-bodied, rich young men not helping the war effort one iota. The idea that finding the Loch Ness monster would redeem Ellis was impossible to swallow. Maddie comes to loathe both Ellis and Hank, as do we all, but then Ellis starts threatening Maddie with a frontal lobotomy. I found it impossible to believe that Ellis (being the loathsome shirker that he was) would find a doctor in the UK willing to perform such an operation on Maddie. 

Nessie does make an appearance near the end of the story. And, like the rest of the book, this encounter was simply ridiculous.

Maddie does find her true love in Scotland, who just happens to turn out to be laird of the land, monarch of the glen, a war hero, and a tender lover. This actually could've been a really great story, but the author made a few fatal mistakes that doomed it to the library dustbin.

The Gilded Age

Much better news on the TV-watching front. I am almost done with season 1 of The Gilded Age. What took me so long? The costumes and sets alone are enough eye-candy to keep me happy, and the characters and their stories are interesting and entertaining.

One of the main characters is Marian Brook, played by Louise Jacobsen, who looked so familiar that I had to look her up. She is Meryl Streep's youngest daughter--no wonder she looked familiar, and she is terrific.

In addition to Marian's story--that of a country girl coming to NYC to live with her old-money aunts after her father dies and leaves her penniless--I am enjoying Peggy's story--a talented African American woman making her way as a journalist despite her Brooklyn parents' objections.

The Winter Olympics

And then we have the Olympics from Milan (ice events) and Cortina (alpine events). I love figure skating, hockey, speed skating, downhill skiing, and all the other events. Should be a really fun two weeks.

And then I can start planning my garden!

Happy Imbolc