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So I’ve been talking recently about my reading slump, and several people suggested that I needed to be reading more than one book at a time (I have tended to be very traditional and have no more than two, three at most, books on the go); that way I can switch as my mood takes me.
That may seem very obvious to many of you, but let’s note for the record here that one person’s obvious is usually my “jings, why didn’t I think of that?”
So I have thrown myself into this with gusto, and am currently at various stages of reading the pile at you see here:
- Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock – a planned read for the Once Upon a Time challenge, this is a sequel to the equally excellent Mythago Wood
- Making Money by Terry Pratchett – will confess that I’m stalled with this one, I should be loving it but am finding it difficult to pick up again – another planned read for Once Upon a Time
- The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein by Peter Ackroyd – recommended by the Silvery Dude and only started late last night – creepy
- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell – because I’m in a bit of a non-fiction phase and I keep on meaning to read this
- Foreign Devils on the Silk Road by Peter Hopkirk – as recommended by the Book God after an excellent lecture on engaging with China which we attended at the British Museum
- Classic Crimes by William Roughead – what it says on the tin
- The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks – vaguely unsettling what to do if they were real guide-book
- The Virago Book of the Joy of Shopping, edited by Jill Foulston – which called out to me by name when shopping in Blackwell’s on the Charing Cross Road for a present for Silvery Dude
- Duncan Grant by Frances Spalding – a Bloomsbury fix for the Art History Reading Challenge
And I might even finish some of these!
You may have noticed over the past week that both here and at the home of the Screen God I have been valiantly attempting to catch up with posts. And having done so I have come to the awful realisation that I haven’t finished a book since 11 April (end of the read-a-thon.)
That’s over a month ago (yes I know, stating the obvious but that’s my thing, OK?)
So I got to thinking about why that is, and there are a couple of obvious things that spring to mind:
- my morning commute is currently taking place at a time when I have to stand, making the reading of books difficult (for me, clumsy woman with poor balance and lack of natural grace) and then
- work is still really really busy despite the ending of a major project, and
- although my evening commute allows me to sit down my concentration is entirely shot by then and I’m tired, which inevitably leads to
- vegetating in front of the TV when I get home and falling asleep before my head hits the pillow (neither conducive to reading) and all of this means that
- my weekends are spent catching up with loads of other stuff
And much as I’m reluctant to say so, I just can’t get into my current read, so there’s no incentive to even try.
So going to permit myself to ignore challenges and just find something interesting to read, even if I have to open every book in this house – and believe me, that’s saying a lot.
So here we are, another birthday; I am 48 today, and can remember when that seemed impossibly old! No matter, I’m still 17 inside my head and have had a lovely birthday weekend, only slightly spoiled by Andy Murray’s failure to won the Australian Open.
I always try to do something special around my birthday, and this year it was a trip to the theatre to see War Horse, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, and recommended by my good friend the Silvery Dude. It’s a simple story of a farm horse sold to the army and sent to serve in World War One; what makes it exceptional is the puppetry used to bring the horses (and other animals – I became particualrly fond of the goose) to life on stage. Really enormously clever and so convincing in movement that I pretty much forgot they weren’t real. There is a DVD about the making of the production which is apparently well worth watching.
And of course with birthdays go presents and the Book God was generous as always and gave me several books:
- Howard’s End is on the Landing by Susan Hill – because I love books about books
- Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor – because all things Alice in Wonderland are significant at the moment
- Anything Goes by Lucy Moore – a biography of the Roaring Twenties
- Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton – dragons!
And now that the major project that I’ve been working so hard on since last February looks like its nearing fruition, I think 2010 might turn out to be quite a good year…..
Yes, unbelievable as it may seem, Bride of the Book God is three years old today.
Who would have thunk it?
And I celebrate by adding yet another book to the review backlog (the Gorey-reprint-from-1965-provided-by-Bloomsbury one)
Ho hum
But I will catch up soon…..
I have actually been reading and watching stuff, but for all sorts of reasons I haven’t been organised enough to write up my reviews.
I absolutely must, though, because I want to share my thoughts about:
Movies
- The film variously referred to as Dances With Smurfs or Smurfahontas but which I think of as a great big moving Roger Dean poster
- The very last episodes of Dr Who with David Tennant, and the preview of the new series
Books:
- The feminist reinterpretation of the six wives of Henry VIII one
- The steampunk thriller graphic novel with the lead character who is a badger one
- The what-the-seventies-were-really-like one
- The what-happened-in-the-zombie-world-war one
- The great-big-shiny-hard-SF-exploding-suns-sci-fi one
Because they are all really good in very different ways.
So Christmas 2009 – not quite what I had expected. Stinking cold from 19 December onwards meant that I had little or no voice for significant parts of the holiday season (cheers all round from family, friends and co-workers as you might imagine) and I was also working most of the time (including part of Christmas Eve though I did give in to my cold around lunchtime). Christmas Day itself – opened presents, fell asleep for most of the day, dinner wonderful but late. That’s the advantage of just the two of us on the day, we can play it by ear and only have ourselves to please.
Main highlights so far:
- The Gruffalo on Christmas Day was the surprising TV highlight for me – really sweet and very nicely done
- Dr Who – well, a bit disappointing but I’m reserving my judgement until I’ve seen part two as this was so obviously a first-part-setting-up-the-big-denoument episode; but David Tennant was as lovely as ever, especially when he looked like he was going to cry….
- Sherlock Holmes – the big Christmas movie outing – great fun, will review over on Screen God shortly
But what of the presents? Well, bookwise I did quite well:
- Vintage Handbags by Marnie Fogg – almost obscene in its wonderfulness, a big glossy history of handbags from the 1920s, I am going to be dipping into this one a lot
- The Crimson Rooms by Katharine McMahon – asked for this simply because I loved the cover
- Under the Dome by Stephen King – well, couldn’t resist asking for this one then completely forgot about it; when given the package to unwrap I thought “don’t remember asking for anything this big” – should have known!
- Martyrs and Murderers: the Guise Family and the Making of Europe by Stuart Carroll – sixteenth century, what can I say?
- Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Discarded bride by Elizabeth Norton – ditto
- The Great Silence 1918-1920 by Juliet Nicolson – the period just after the end of WWI and its impact on the social fabric, looks fascinating
- Strange Days Indeed by Francis Wheen – a history of the 1970s which I am really looking forward to reading, given that it covers the decade when I was a teenager
- Alice in Wonderland, illustrated by Rodney Matthews – when I was a student I was much more of a Roger Dean fan but I’ve come to appreciate Matthews more over the years and this is a beautiful volume
- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, illustrated by Hunt Emerson – a graphic novel version of one of my favourite poems
- Amphigorey: fifteen books by Edward Gorey – huge Gorey fan, ’nuff said
- Angel With Two Faces by Nicola Upson – sequel to her earlier Josephine Tey crime story
- Tamsin by Peter S Beagle – picked up from other blogs
- The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor – ditto
- Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge – just loved the cover
- Lovecraft Unbound, edited by Ellen Datlow – Joyce Carol Oates does Lovecraft, worth it for that alone
- Boneshaker by Cherie Priest – steampunk, really been looking forward to this one
- Vanessa and Virginia by Susan Sellars – and a bit of Bloomsbury to round things off
So that lot should keep me busy for a while……
What can I say? The past fortnight has been absolutely hectic at work and at home, with big projects hitting important milestones, crazy working hours, preparations for Christmas and hardly any reading time to speak of.
But, hopefully, with the holidays coming up I can catch my breath a tiny wee bit, actually read some books, wallow in the David-Tennant-obsessed BBC for the rest of the year, and resume something resembling a decent blogging schedule.
Or not.
And the first thing to do is to report back on Fall into Reading 2009. In my original post I set myself the following goals; progress noted alongside:
- read the six books I took on holiday with me (managed three, the others are still firmly on my list)
- read Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates (nope, and no chance between now and 31 December)
- finish the 42 Challenge on time (done – hurrah!)
- finish Carl’s RIP IV challenge on time (not done but read three which, as kind readers reminded me, wasn’t bad)
- restart the Reading Muriel Spark project (nope again)
At the time I thought it was quite a bit to do, and I was right, but it was certainly worth a try and some of these will spread into 2010 I’m sure (looking at you, Joyce and Muriel…)
So it’s all gone a bit quiet once again chez Bride; lots happening at work which means I am either travelling to or from the office heavily laden and having to stand so not able to read comfortably (and glaring at people who insist on bringing cycles onto peak time trains when cycles aren’t supposed to be allowed) or I’m working at home where I haven’t yet found out the best way to build proper reading time into my routine.
This means I haven’t:
- arranged to go and see 2012 which was one of my must-see movies of this year; however, it’s only just come out so plenty of time to enjoy what is likely to be total and utter but nonetheless essential nonsense
- finished my first read for the Women Unbound challenge, which is about the six wives and various other female relatives of Henry VIII and is really fascinating, but requires proper concentration
- started to read anything else, even though I was determined to find a graphic novel or something that would be a bit of light relief
- been able as yet to find a suitable date for Silvery Dude and I to see New Moon, despite thinking I had a cunning plan…
- persuaded my friend-who-hasn’t-yet-got-an-alias-for-the-purpose-of-being-referred-t0-in-this-blog to actually come up with something I can use here to annoy him
I have, however:
- become very, very excited about the new Doctor Who story that will be on TV tomorrow night, and which is actually partly responsible for me missing 2012 (I like to go to the movies on a Sunday afternoon); I just didn’t think my delicate constitution could cope with the end of the world, David Tennant and the next episode of Fringe on the same day, so something had to give
- become slightly obsessed with the video for the new Lady GaGa single which is awesome in its weirdness (as analysed by Jezebel), probably not to everyone’s taste and may not be best viewed when at work…..
- started to pull together my application for a promotion opportunity, a stressful thing in and of itself and possibly wholly responsible for my inability to actually achieve anything else of note
But I’m sure it will all come together this week and at the very least I will actually manage to finish reading something…..
Since I got back to London it’s all been about laundry and work. But hopefully I’ll be back to posting normally shortly, with reviews of two novels (the non-science-fiction science-fiction one and the it-really-freaked-me-out Swedish zombie one), excuses for why I’ve failed yet another challenge, and on Screen God a review of Pixar’s Up which seeks to explain why exactly I cried like a sentimental old fool……
So this time next week I will be on leave for three (count them, that’s three) weeks, two of which will be spent in Scotland relaxing with the Book God in some very nice hotels, enjoying good food and (very possibly) having the occasional wee dram, but probably not waving my battlaxe around while accompanied by a spider like good old Robert the Bruce here.
The biggest decision that always has to be made in advance of our annual hols is what goes on the reading list; I’ve been pondering this for a couple of weeks now and I reckon I’ve cracked it.
Just remember that this is only my list; the Book God will have his own…..
- Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
- The Children’s Book by AS Byatt
- Tales of Terror from the Tunnel’s Mouth by Chris Priestley
- Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist
- Transition by Iain Banks
- Duma Key by Stephen King
I will have my trusty laptop with me and am hoping to post on most days, so watch this space to see how I get on with my reading list and what else I get up to…..
Bride of the Book God 