2 posts tagged “carpet”
After reading two books in a row that were more of a chore than a pleasure, I was so relieved to find, almost immediately, that I was drawn into the story, empathized with the characters, and didn't want to put the book down. I spent the last few nights reading in bed until my vision blurred and I couldn't keep my eyes open.
The Blood of Flowers is set in 17th century Iran, and is about a young woman with a talent for making beautiful, ornate carpets, a craft that was elevated to a high art by the Shah at the time. It follows her over the course of a few years, and details her rise from a willful, rash child to a talented, independent woman. I found it heartbreaking and hopeful, infuriating and satisfying. The main story is broken up with folk tales, which are used effectively as tools of foreshadowing. Perhaps a little too effectively, as I could sometimes tell what was going to happen a good 100 pages out. It was worth the read, though. The story itself was beautiful.
I'm really coming to love these works of historical fiction, focused on the lives of women. I particularly like that the ones I've read recently have been about places that have histories that are largely unknown to me - China, in the case of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Iran in the case of this book. I'm really hoping that this isn't what is considered 'chick-lit.' I must admit that I really don't know what qualifies a book as 'chick-lit,' but I've just assumed that they were the Candace Bushnell kind of books (not that I've read any of her books, but I do know that she wrote Sex and the City). Those kind of books don't appeal to me in the least, but these beautiful historical fictions do. Regardless of how they may be categorized, I'm sure there's a distinct difference.
Ugh.
Apparently I am going to have to vacuum my carpet much more often and much more thoroughly in addition to watching Lucy like a hawk at all times. Because she's not quite crawling yet, (more rolling around and pushing herself where she wants to go) I feel fairly confident in setting her on the floor in the living room while I fix her food in the kitchen or run to the bathroom. This is no longer the case.
Yesterday, while changing a dirty diaper, I found a cat litter crystal in there! We don't even use that kind of litter any longer, and I'd vacuumed the carpet at least twice between the time we stopped using it and the time I found the crystal in her poop. Either that little crystal was moving really slowly through her digestive system or she managed to pull up a litter crystal that my vacuuming efforts had missed. Either way - gross.
Now to today. What did I find while changing yet another dirty diaper? A stringy piece of carpet! This thing, though, had not been fully expelled, and I had to pull it out completely by hand. That really grossed me out.
And being the mother of an infant who has seemingly taken every opportunity to puke, piss, and poop on me, that's saying a lot.
