Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

Today I am watching the first half of this version of Rebecca. It's absolutely wonderful, and because it's a miniseries, can't really be compared to the classic Hitchcock version. You can cram so much more of a book into a miniseries, but you absolutely cannot beat the combo of Hitchcock & du Maurier.

Rebecca is one of my favorite stories of all time. And I think I'm in the minority, but definitely not alone in vastly preferring Rebecca herself to the insipid, pallid little Second Mrs DeWinter, who doesn't even rate a first name. I have always wanted to have the lasting impact on people that Rebecca has. I don't want anyone to ever properly get over me, for better or worse. I've always wished for a Mrs Danvers of my very own who would be an utterly devoted servant and absolutely terrorize anyone who ever dared try to take my place. Rebecca is the most fascinating character in the entire story, even though she never appears.

All that I've always felt about Rebecca, the character, was just completely buoyed up by Rebecca's Tale, by Sally Beauman. If you're a Rebecca fan, you simply MUST read it. It does what it says on the tin, it is Rebecca's story. Her marriage, her scandals, her reasons, her death... it's beautiful and I genuinely think Daphne du Maurier would have approved.

She was a fascinating woman, herself, that Daph, with all the rumors of bisexuality, gender issues, incest... Also she was a stone cold fox.

Srsly. Who wouldn't hit that?

Menabilly, the house she based Manderley on, does holiday cottages and tours and stuff. Yes, I desperately want to go. Need to go.

If you haven't seen or read Rebecca, do. Please. I want to know if you're a Rebecca person or a 2nd-MdW person. I want to know if it casts such a hypnotizing & lasting spell on other people as it does on me, if Rebecca haunts you as much as she does the story itself.


And now for something completely different:
Friday Fill-Ins
1. Plans and schedules elude me utterly .

2. I'm happy when things are stable but interesting, it's a hard balance to reach, but when it's there, it's SO fuckin' good .

3. The last thing I drank was a sip of orange juice to take some codeine .

4. One of the most valuable things in my life is obviously my husband & my kitty .

5. I like pineapple on my pizza.

6. Dear November, can you just be a little bit longer than usual so I can get all this Christmas knitting done?

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to trying to shake this illness, tomorrow my plans include probably mostly just Farmville and Sunday, I want to Farmville some more. IT IS BOTH WORSE AND BETTER THAN CRACK!

I apologize for the most boring Friday Fill-Ins ever. I'm not feeling creative today.