You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Stuff’ category.
I’m using this post to keep track of my walking during September as part of the Book Blog Walkers thingy. My final tally for August can be found here. Week 1 (Sep 1)
- 21,848 steps
- 14.8 km
- 3:30 hours
Week 2 (Sep 8)
- 17,436 steps
- 11.5 km
- 2:43 hours
(Not bad considering I had a problem with my back for much of the week and was pretty ill an housebound on Thursday)
Week 3 (Sep 15)
- 23,360 steps
- 14.9 km
- 3:19 hours
Week 4 (Sep 22)
- 21,353 steps
- 13.6 km
- 3:10 hours
So hopefully you will have seen and read my review of The Girl etc. (henceforward to be known as TGWATG which is inelegant but that’s acronyms for you – that is an acronym isn’t it?) which can be found here, and if you haven’t read it yourself yet I hope that you will get hold of a copy soon, because if I was the kind of blogger who makes a list of her favourite books of the year (and I don’t) then this would definitely be in the top five (which it won’t because I just don’t).
Anyway I think I may have mentioned in writing about the book that I virtually forced my friend Silvery Dude to buy TGWATG to take on holiday with him and we read it more or less simultaneously (I think I had a head start in not being a father of three young boys on holiday in Greece while reading the thing so finished it first) and had similar opinions, and our friend and colleague MargaRita (Queen of Speed) read it shortly afterwards and to cut a long story short we got involved in a very detailed exchange of e-mails when we should have been doing Important Work-Related Things and tried to cast the movie. Our suggestions are below and please be gentle if you have Thoughts, because my mind goes blank as soon as someone asks me to do this sort of thing and all except Silvery Dude (because he still hasn’t seen it) may have been influenced too much by recent exposure to Guardians of the Galaxy (and what I thought about that can be found here).
Anyway, here’s what we came up with (and reinforces pretty much that we should stick to the day jobs):
- Melanie – an early bid for Chloe Grace Moretz (slightly too old now) was trumped by Elle Fanning
- Miss Justineau – Zoe Saldana (but only because of the GotG thing mentioned above) (and shows a shameful lack of awareness on my part of who the best actresses of colour are though oh, I’ve just thought of Sophie Okonedo)
- Sgt. Parkes – the hottest debate – my first thought was Sean Bean (too good looking), then Silvery Dude would not be moved from the idea of Viggo Mortensen, and a late bid for John C Reilly (see GotG again) was overruled in favour of Clive Owen though the good-looking thing applies there too….
- Dr Caldwell – Julianne Moore (“at her most pinched” said SD) or Nicole Kidman (at her most icy) but I am attached to the idea of Gillian Anderson
- Private Gallagher – Jamie Bell (but probably too old and fit now), Andrew Garfield (too obvious?) or Nicholas Hoult (in Warm Bodies incarnation).
So there you have it. Can you do better?
Actually I think we all know the answer to that one….
So a couple of weeks ago I was pretty unwell and off work for a couple of days, but thankfully was able to read my way through being stuck on the sofa wrapped in a blanket with a hot water bottle (which is weird for late July it must be said) and was so absorbed that I managed to stop feeling sorry for myself (quite a feat as that’s one of my best skills right there).
I’ve been more or less under the weather since then and finding real solace in books, and as the latter half of this week has been particularly tiring and I am well into August crime month I have found myself in a major binge read, almost exclusively of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs mysteries. And when I say a binge read, I mean four not-inconsiderable novels in three days. And it has worked; I feel distinctly more cheerful than I did when I started, I’m sure because these are very easy reads; that’s not to do them down, I just mean I find Winspear’s style flows so lightly that before you know it you’re a couple of hundred pages in and so absorbed int he story that you have to get to the end.
That being in the zone where reading is concerned, for whatever reason, brings me to my dilemma. There are two people whose opinions I value greatly, my other half the Book God and my closest friend Silvery Dude. And they are both strongly encouraging me to start reading the Song of Ice and Fire cycle by George RR Martin, the former because he has read them all, the latter because he’s just discovered them and come over all enthusiastic, and both because they think I would really enjoy them.
But.
I have a complicated relationship with certain types of fantasy (setting Tolkien aside) and I can find the sort with swords and stuff set in other worlds or versions of our own world a bit of a problem. Add to that the fact that I’ve seen (and to be fair enjoyed) all four seasons of Game of Thrones on TV and I’m asking myself the question “what more can I get out of reading the books?”
So that’s a question for you all – should I give them a go or leave well alone?
I’m using this post to keep track of my walking during August as part of the Book Blog Walkers thingy. My final tally for July can be found here.
Week 1 (Aug 4)
- 17,269 steps
- 12.3 km
- 3:23 hours
Week 2 (Aug 11)
- 11,500 steps (minimum and a guess as the Moves app on my iPhone has been bought by Facebook and is now mostly inaccurate rubbish!)
- 16.3 km
- 3:43 hours
Week 3 (Aug 18)
- 28,856 steps (another minimum as Moves app is still wonky – though better than it was – and the additional one I downloaded – Pacer – never shows the same number of steps as Moves even though on the same device – I despair) (actually think its closer to 32.5k)
- 20.5 km min
- 4:47 hours (min – I could work this out accurately but really can’t be bothered)
Week 4 (Aug 25)
- 31,409 steps
- 20.1 km
- 4:49 hours
I’m using this post to keep track of my walking during July as part of the Book Blog Walkers thingy. My final tally for June can be found here.
Week 1 (Jun 30)
- 26,899 steps
- 16.9 km
- 4:15 hours
Week 2 (July 7)
- 32,384 steps
- 20.1 km
- 5.03 hours
Week 3 (July 14)
- 18,862 steps
- 12 km
- 2:57 hours
Week 4 (July 21)
- 25,803 steps
- 16.6 km
- 4:09 hours
Week 5 (July 28)
- 10,873 steps
- 7 km
- 1:40 hours
I’m using this post to keep track of my walking during June as part of the Book Blog Walkers thingy. I will be posting my final May results here tomorrow.
Week 1 (Jun 2)
- 21,964 steps
- 14.2 km
- 3.33 hours
Week 2 (June 9)
- 18,460 steps
- 13.2 km
- 3:26 hours
Week 3 (June 16)
- 24,089 steps
- 15.4 km
- 3:44 hours
Week 4 (June 23)
- 27,745 steps
- 18 km
- 4:15 hours
I’m using this post to keep track of my walking during May as part of the Book Blog Walkers thingy.
Week 1 (May 5)
- 18,499 steps
- 12.2 km
- 2:59 hours
Week 2 (May 12)
- 22,567 steps
- 14.8 km
- 3:19 hours
Week 3 (May 19)
- 25,778 steps
- 16.2 km
- 3:55 hours
Week 4 (May 26)
- 12,845 steps
- 8.9 km
- 2:14 hours
This time it’s serious.
These are books that I started and then just stopped reading for whatever reason. Some of them have been lying around for absolutely AGES and a decision has to be made on whether to persevere or throw in the towel.
Sigh.
So here goes:
- The Thirties: An Intimate History by Juliet Gardiner – 98 pages (out of 763 (not including index, acknowledgements and bibliography). This starts out with the story of one of the great domestic disasters of the late 1920s which just so happened to take place win my home town. This was the Glen Cinema fire in Paisley on 31 December 1929 when 71 children were killed. This is the prologue to a general history of the 1930s which I really do want to read but will set aside for the moment. [Parked, to start again from the beginning]
- Wars I have Seen by Gertrude Stein – I think I started this because I was quite taken by the portrayal of Stein by Kathy Bates in Midnight in Paris, a film I wasn’t otherwise terribly enamoured of. 8 pages plus introduction. May come back to this another time. [Abandoned]
- Paris After the Liberation by Antony Beevor & Artemis Cooper – no idea when or why I started this, momentum entirely lost. One for another time I think [Abandoned]
- The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip – I feel like I’ve been reading this for years, and not getting any further with it. I’m 96 pages in, not quite halfway. I clearly have issues with high fantasy. It’s made it on to my reading lists for two previous Once Upon a Time Challenges. Other people speak very highly of it. One more chapter and then a decision [Read on then decide]
- When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson – hmm, loved Case Histories, liked One Good Turn, have bought Started Early, Took My Dog but stalled 56 pages into this one. deserves another chance though given it’s a mystery I think I need to go back to the beginning as I have (literally) lost the plot – [Restart]
- The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter – can’t remember why I picked this up other than general love for Carter – may have been triggered by one of the books I read during the 24 Hour Readathon in 2012. Hardly started. One for anther time [Abandon]
- Jigs & Reels by Joanne Harris – a book of short stories which I sort of stopped but as it’s stories easy to pick up again, about half way through and will continue [Keep going]
- Tales by HP Lovecraft – a re-read in a beautiful Library of America edition – will continue (stories again so easy to dip into) [Keep going]
- Foreign Devils on the Silk Road by Peter Hopkirk – triggered by either a TV programme or a lecture at the British Museum, either way can’t really remember why I started this so…. [Abandon]
- Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr – this was a planned re-read of the first three Bernie Gunther novels so I could start reading the rest in the series but I ran out of steam 178 pages into March Violets [Abandon]
- O Beloved Kids by Rudyard Kipling – went to visit his house a few years ago and came back with quite a few book. These are his letters to his children and easy to dip in and out of [Keep going]
- Snow White and the Seven Samurai – my second attempt at a Tom Holt comic fantasy novel (my first was a present and reviewed here). Tried to start it twice, haven’t been able to get to grips with it at all [Abandon]
- At Day’s Close: A History of Night Time by A Roger Ekirch – read an article about first and second sleep a while back and remembered I had this on the shelves; only 12 pages in, set down and not picked up again [Abandon]
- Lovecraft Unbound – tales inspired by the works of Lovecraft, another book of short stories, can dip in and out as with others so [Keep going]
- Bone Song by John Meaney – highly regarded and strongly recommended by the Book God, I’m 150 pages in so not quite halfway. I accidentally read ahead (don’t ask, it’s too complicated to explain but ha a lot to do with where I park my bookmark while I’m reading) and came across a plot spoiler which sort of put me off. I need to give this another try though as I do remember I was enjoying it [Read on then decide]
- The Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones – similar to the Meaney, 112 pages so far [Read on then decide]
- The Great Year by Nicholas Campion – I bought this around 1999 as part of my great Y2K it’s all going to end reading binge but didn’t start it, only dipped into the introduction [Abandon]
- The Mandlebaum Gate by Muriel Spark – this is the one that causes me the most pain, started a chronological re-read of Spark a few years ago and stalled on this one (I wrote about it here). I really feel I should give it another try and then I can move on to reading the rest of her works [Read on then decide]
(It’s all very embarrassing) (but also quite therapeutic)
The story so far……. can be found here
This lot is the pile of books where I remember when and/or why I started reading or why I want to read them for those ones which are part of my bad habit of pulling things out of the stacks because something was triggered by another book.
Really, it will all make sense, honestly.
Let’s go…..
- The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. Blimey, this was obviously meant to be a re-read, and almost certainly planned to be finished before the first of the Peter Jackson films came out which means I must have started this sometime during 2012? Reading the Book God’s lovely hardback copy (the 1974 ninth impression of the 1966 third edition). 54 pages in which means I have just got past the Trolls. I think I’ll tidy this one away for another day [abandoned]
- Sir John Hawkins by Harry Kelsey – subtitled “Queen Elizabeth’s Slave Trader”, I picked this up because I so enjoyed The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd which I reviewed here. 28 pages in, would like to have another go at this because of my general interest in 16th century history (it’s what I studied for my degree) [keep going]
- Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes – “Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World”. Another Book God volume, this is all to do with the novel I’m reading about Tesla mention in my first spring cleaning post. Not yet started, back on the stacks until I’m ready [parked]
- Moon Palace by Paul Auster. I have had this book for goodness knows how long but picked it up for the same reason as Empires of Light (Tesla is in it apparently). Not yet started, same fate as the Jonnes [parked]
- Justinian’s Flea by William Rosen – “Plague, Empire and the Birth of Europe”. Yet another Book God volume, pulled off the shelf because of the excellent series about Byzantium we saw on BBC Four earlier this year. One for later [parked]
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins – book 2 of The Hunger Games, another one to be read before the film. Only got 20 pages in and didn’t get round to the movie either so we can all see how well that worked out! Do still intend to read this, especially as I also have Mockingjay tucked away somewhere, so stays on the pile [keep going].
- The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith – I struggled with this one all the way through to page 148 which is where I stopped. I feel I need to try to finish this as it’s such an influential novel and Highsmith is so well-rgarded. Only 100 pages to the end so…. [keep going].
- In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood. I was lucky enough to see her speak about MaddAddam in August last year (and to get my copy of the book signed – lots of stuff about that here) and I am really interested in her thoughts on SF given the occasional bad press she has had in that space. So far I’ve only read the introduction but want to work my way through this one [keep going]
- Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke was the book I identified for my participation on the Long Awaited Reads event in January which came to absolutely nothing. I really really want to read this but just haven’t been in the right frame of mind. Everyone tells me to persevere and who am I to argue so though I’m only 92 pages in and its an absolute chunkster I will [keep going]
- Blow by Blow – the biography of the fashionista Isabella Blow which I’ve had for ages and picked up after I went to the eponymous exhibition at Somerset House on my birthday. It’s a super breathless gossipy magazine-type biography written by her husband with a ghostwriter and I will definitely be finishing this one. [keep going]
- The Night Eternal by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan – the third and final book in The Strain Trilogy. The law of diminishing returns is seemingly in play here. I stopped reading this at page 80 in the middle of a chapter because I was getting very exasperated, and that was warring with my natural desire to find out how the story ends. Most annoying. [50 more pages then decide]
So not as conclusive as it might have been but at least I have a plan. But this isn’t all of it by any means, oh no! Wait for Part 3……
So, I’ve not been hitting the books quite as much lately. This isn’t a reading slump as such (or at least I don’t think so) but is partly due to the fact that there are just so many books in the house, leading to a TBR pile the size of Ben Nevis and too much choice. And that’s before I even get to the Kindle app.
I’ve always been someone who reads more than one book at a time because I like to ring the changes but I think things have got a tiny wee bit out of control.
Time for some bookish spring cleaning.
I’m going to go through the pile of stuff I’ve started and try to work out whether I’m just resting from that particular story or I really need to take the decision to *gulp* abandon the book.
So, Part 1 – the stuff I’m really seriously trying to read at the moment:
- The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt – the last days of Nikola Tesla alongside the story of Louise, a chambermaid in the hotel in which he is a resident. 166 pages in. Lovely story, just need to get on with it
- Bryant & May: The Bleeding Heart by Christopher Fowler – the 11th and almost certainly penultimate adventures of the Peculiar Crime Unit; bought this on the day it came out, expected to read it in a couple of sittings, not sure what happened. Likely to try to finish this one first. 86 pages in.
- Kraken by China Mieville – galloping ahead with this one and then stalled for some reason. 198 pages in, really want to know how this works out
Those are all physical books. On the Kindle app:
- LA Noir by John Buntin – picked up because the Book God and I thoroughly enjoyed the Frank Darabont mini-series Mob City which took its main plot from this non-fiction work. 21% read.
- The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers – like lots of other people I picked this up because of the references to it in True Detective (to which I am fairly addicted and looking forward to the final episode next Saturday….), though I think I’ve actually had it for ages. Only 3% in (which basically means I’ve read the introduction)
- The Medea Complex by Rachel Florence Roberts – an e-book supplied by the author for an honest review, all I’ve got to do is sit down and make a proper start. 5% in, really want to read this as hearing good things.
So, not that embarrassing in the end. Oh, but just you wait……
Bride of the Book God 