I seem incapable of focusing on more than one thing at the moment. Once life starts happening, blogging stops happening, which shouldn't really come as a surprise to me.
Anyway, I've been reading and then talking about said reading for Alex's March Blogging Good Read and you can go and read about what I read by clicking right HERE.
Go get some book recommendations.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Sunday, 8 March 2015
Monday, 5 January 2015
The Not Really Resolutions 2015 - The Introduction
It's time. I'm ready for you 2015.
If there's nothing else this blog is good for, it's been absolutely awesome at getting me to set myself some actual goals and then attempt to see them through. Ok, they're not massive huge things, they're usually just stuff that I really needed to do anything but will never get done because I have a tendency to sit in front of the TV watching something with absolutely zero cultural merit.
I can't actually believe that this is the fifth year of doing these - anyone bored yet?!
---------------------------
1. Read ten Classics/Non-Fiction
So for the past four years I have set myself the challenge of reading twelve Classics throughout the year. The idea behind this originally was just to try and expand my reading repertoire and it's been great at doing that but lately it's started to feel like a chore. It's become something that I've started to get a bit stressed out about and that's no good to anyone.
I've also realised that I don't read a lot of non-fiction and I wanted to rectify that. I didn't want to add in reading non-fiction on top of Classics as I'm not the speediest of readers so I thought I'd take my foot off the pedal a little bit and set myself the challenge of reading 10 books that are either Classics or non-fiction.
2. Go to two Park Runs a month (on average)
When I was looking at getting my car one of the reasons I was really looking forward to it was the freedom it would give me to do more. There is a Park Run tantalisingly close to me but inaccessible unless you have your own transport so now I've got it there can be no more excuses.
(I put in the "on average" when I realised that I'll be away for the first 3 weekends of January...)
This will also tie in nicely with number 3...
3. Beat my 10k time
Last year was the worst year ever when it came to running for me. It feels like I was injured in one form of the other for the whole year - I spent a ridiculous amount of money on physiotherapists and osteopaths and I was completely incapable of winning the battle between myself and my head when I was out stomping around the streets.
But this year is the year that I sort all this out. No more injuries. Just no. No no no no. Well I mean there probably will be, but hopefully nothing too debilitating.
I am roping in the help of my blogger friends with this one - I'm hoping that the encouragement of excellent runners like Miss Pond and Lucy will help me achieve this goal.
4. Design and make my own amigurumi
Last year was the Year of the Amigurumi and it felt like all I did in 2014 was crochet zebras, elephants and horses. But I'm still very much a slave to the pattern and don't have the confidence to take it off the page and out of my head.
But I know I have all the tools to make my own animal/character - amigurumi is basically just a series of shapes and once you can do one you can do any of the others - but I just need to take the time out to sit and design something myself.
5. Crochet an item of clothing
Amigurumi is sorted. Blankets are sorted. But I don't feel that skill-wise I'm really going anywhere at the moment. I see people who have never crocheted before picking up a hook and a couple of months later are dashing about in jumpers and cardigans that they've made. I need to take the plunge and do something out of my comfort zone.
(And no I promise I won't crochet a scarf and call this one complete :) )
6. Blog 3x a week (on average)
I'm an advocate of saying that blogging should be fun and shouldn't feel like a chore and I really do feel that way, but sometimes even with the fun stuff there needs to be a little planning and preparation that goes in to it. I always feel as if I have lots to blog about but I don't get myself organised and then it's easy to be lazy and then there's no point really doing it....etc etc. It's time to get organised. Three posts a week shouldn't be that hard.
She says...
7. Finish one cross stitch piece that's just for me
I have a couple of things on the go at the moment that I've put to one side in favour of crocheting. The trouble is that in comparison to crocheting, cross stitch just takes such a long time. The results are nowhere near as immediate and that can start to become off-putting.
8. Tetris blanket
No seriously. THIS is the year. I've neglected this for way too long. This year will make it the third year that it has appeared on a Not Really Resolution list. I'm not even going to say "Finish Tetris blanket" I'm just making it a statement and whenever I'm looking for something else to put on my hook I will hear a voice in my head that just says "Tetris Blanket" with a slightly disapproving tone.
9. Go somewhere I've never been before each month
This is a follow on from 2014's Do One Interesting Thing each month. I don't want to fall into a rut of doing the same interesting thing each month though - I need to keep challenging myself and now I have a little car of my own it should make adventuring even more fun.
10. Makeover three pieces of furniture
I've been slowly plugging away at getting the flat looking how I would like it to look. I figured it was time to do it so I can stop living life like a student, plus it's a nice distraction. I figure that as I'll be spending a lot of time in it given that I'm the only person responsible for all the bills now, it might as well look nice whilst I'm at it.
Furniture-wise I probably have everything that I need but it is still all a bit of a mish mash which is adding to the weird studenty vibe. Just giving something a little slap of paint will make all the difference I'm hoping.
-------------------------
So there we have it.
Come at me 2015.
If there's nothing else this blog is good for, it's been absolutely awesome at getting me to set myself some actual goals and then attempt to see them through. Ok, they're not massive huge things, they're usually just stuff that I really needed to do anything but will never get done because I have a tendency to sit in front of the TV watching something with absolutely zero cultural merit.
I can't actually believe that this is the fifth year of doing these - anyone bored yet?!
---------------------------
1. Read ten Classics/Non-Fiction
So for the past four years I have set myself the challenge of reading twelve Classics throughout the year. The idea behind this originally was just to try and expand my reading repertoire and it's been great at doing that but lately it's started to feel like a chore. It's become something that I've started to get a bit stressed out about and that's no good to anyone.
I've also realised that I don't read a lot of non-fiction and I wanted to rectify that. I didn't want to add in reading non-fiction on top of Classics as I'm not the speediest of readers so I thought I'd take my foot off the pedal a little bit and set myself the challenge of reading 10 books that are either Classics or non-fiction.
2. Go to two Park Runs a month (on average)
When I was looking at getting my car one of the reasons I was really looking forward to it was the freedom it would give me to do more. There is a Park Run tantalisingly close to me but inaccessible unless you have your own transport so now I've got it there can be no more excuses.
(I put in the "on average" when I realised that I'll be away for the first 3 weekends of January...)
This will also tie in nicely with number 3...
3. Beat my 10k time
Last year was the worst year ever when it came to running for me. It feels like I was injured in one form of the other for the whole year - I spent a ridiculous amount of money on physiotherapists and osteopaths and I was completely incapable of winning the battle between myself and my head when I was out stomping around the streets.
But this year is the year that I sort all this out. No more injuries. Just no. No no no no. Well I mean there probably will be, but hopefully nothing too debilitating.
I am roping in the help of my blogger friends with this one - I'm hoping that the encouragement of excellent runners like Miss Pond and Lucy will help me achieve this goal.
4. Design and make my own amigurumi
Last year was the Year of the Amigurumi and it felt like all I did in 2014 was crochet zebras, elephants and horses. But I'm still very much a slave to the pattern and don't have the confidence to take it off the page and out of my head.
But I know I have all the tools to make my own animal/character - amigurumi is basically just a series of shapes and once you can do one you can do any of the others - but I just need to take the time out to sit and design something myself.
5. Crochet an item of clothing
Amigurumi is sorted. Blankets are sorted. But I don't feel that skill-wise I'm really going anywhere at the moment. I see people who have never crocheted before picking up a hook and a couple of months later are dashing about in jumpers and cardigans that they've made. I need to take the plunge and do something out of my comfort zone.
(And no I promise I won't crochet a scarf and call this one complete :) )
6. Blog 3x a week (on average)
I'm an advocate of saying that blogging should be fun and shouldn't feel like a chore and I really do feel that way, but sometimes even with the fun stuff there needs to be a little planning and preparation that goes in to it. I always feel as if I have lots to blog about but I don't get myself organised and then it's easy to be lazy and then there's no point really doing it....etc etc. It's time to get organised. Three posts a week shouldn't be that hard.
She says...
7. Finish one cross stitch piece that's just for me
I have a couple of things on the go at the moment that I've put to one side in favour of crocheting. The trouble is that in comparison to crocheting, cross stitch just takes such a long time. The results are nowhere near as immediate and that can start to become off-putting.
8. Tetris blanket
No seriously. THIS is the year. I've neglected this for way too long. This year will make it the third year that it has appeared on a Not Really Resolution list. I'm not even going to say "Finish Tetris blanket" I'm just making it a statement and whenever I'm looking for something else to put on my hook I will hear a voice in my head that just says "Tetris Blanket" with a slightly disapproving tone.
9. Go somewhere I've never been before each month
This is a follow on from 2014's Do One Interesting Thing each month. I don't want to fall into a rut of doing the same interesting thing each month though - I need to keep challenging myself and now I have a little car of my own it should make adventuring even more fun.
10. Makeover three pieces of furniture
I've been slowly plugging away at getting the flat looking how I would like it to look. I figured it was time to do it so I can stop living life like a student, plus it's a nice distraction. I figure that as I'll be spending a lot of time in it given that I'm the only person responsible for all the bills now, it might as well look nice whilst I'm at it.
Furniture-wise I probably have everything that I need but it is still all a bit of a mish mash which is adding to the weird studenty vibe. Just giving something a little slap of paint will make all the difference I'm hoping.
-------------------------
So there we have it.
Come at me 2015.
Friday, 2 January 2015
Betwixtmas 2014
Apparently we call the period between Christmas and New Year, Betwixtmas. I heard it on Radio 1 the other day and I liked it. I can be down with the kids.
Betwixtmas for me started off with some fairly major snow late on Boxing Day night. Not a big deal in itself, and quite exciting for most people, but a bit nervewracking for me as the next day I had to drive to Hull. I haven't driven in the snow/ice before and I would also have with me my Mum aka the World's Worst Passenger.
But we made it to Hull which was good because we had to break these two people out of cat prison aka the cattery.
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Betwixtmas is a time for many a Fred and Lily photo to be taken. Pay special attention to the top right photo - Lily was nicely asleep on my knee for ages and when Fred saw this he immediately had to come and sit even closer to me because he is a big fat jealous ginger boy.
Betwixtmas was a time for catching up with friends. Catching up with them from 2pm until gone midnight to be precise. Messy. Although the next morning I discovered that I'd had a very productive shopping trip at Sainsburys. Oh and I took the funniest selfie with Lily ever - why does she look so horrified? Because I chased her all around the kitchen grabbing at her to take that photo...
Betwixtmas is also a time for me to dogsit for a day. Which just involves lying on the sofa watching TV with this pair of idiots. I don't know why they always look so sad in photos, I swear to god they're really happy dogs normally.
Betwixtmas is a time for crocheting things that have no purpose and are for you and you alone. I got Kerry Lord's book for Christmas along with some lovely fancy Tofts Alpaca wool (which is eye wateringly expensive when you're used to buying Stylecraft)
Betwixtmas is a time for sitting on your behind, drinking hot chocolate and reading massive 900 page tomes.
Betwixtmas is a time for starting to get organised and fill your fridge up after you have eaten it bare. Before I went shopping I swear to god all I had in my fridge was a bottle of cider, gherkins, Flora and an out of date yoghurt. I love a bit of batch cooking although it drives me mental that I don't have more space in my freezer. Jamie Oliver's basic stew recipe is a winner every time.
Betwixtmas is a time for surprise presents out of the blue from Apple. I have been the proud owner of a first generation iPod Nano for the last 9 years or so. You might not remember first generation iPods, I think they stopped making them a bazillion years ago.
Anyway the battery on mine gradually just got rubbish and wouldn't retain charge. I put out a random tweet saying I felt sad that my iPod's time had come, and a stranger replied pointing me in the direction of Apple's First Generation iPod Replacement Program. I was absolutely convinced it was a scam that was going to steal everything from me but it turns out it was actually true.
I sent my iPod Nano off and Betwixtmas delivered a brand new, latest, 16BG, iPod Nano. I could not believe it. Finally being cheap and not buying the latest model of anything pays off...
Christmas 2014 could suck it but Betwixtmas 2014 I could get on board with.
Betwixtmas for me started off with some fairly major snow late on Boxing Day night. Not a big deal in itself, and quite exciting for most people, but a bit nervewracking for me as the next day I had to drive to Hull. I haven't driven in the snow/ice before and I would also have with me my Mum aka the World's Worst Passenger.
But we made it to Hull which was good because we had to break these two people out of cat prison aka the cattery.
Betwixtmas is a time for many a Fred and Lily photo to be taken. Pay special attention to the top right photo - Lily was nicely asleep on my knee for ages and when Fred saw this he immediately had to come and sit even closer to me because he is a big fat jealous ginger boy.
Betwixtmas was a time for catching up with friends. Catching up with them from 2pm until gone midnight to be precise. Messy. Although the next morning I discovered that I'd had a very productive shopping trip at Sainsburys. Oh and I took the funniest selfie with Lily ever - why does she look so horrified? Because I chased her all around the kitchen grabbing at her to take that photo...
Betwixtmas is also a time for me to dogsit for a day. Which just involves lying on the sofa watching TV with this pair of idiots. I don't know why they always look so sad in photos, I swear to god they're really happy dogs normally.
Betwixtmas is a time for crocheting things that have no purpose and are for you and you alone. I got Kerry Lord's book for Christmas along with some lovely fancy Tofts Alpaca wool (which is eye wateringly expensive when you're used to buying Stylecraft)
Betwixtmas is a time for sitting on your behind, drinking hot chocolate and reading massive 900 page tomes.
Betwixtmas is a time for starting to get organised and fill your fridge up after you have eaten it bare. Before I went shopping I swear to god all I had in my fridge was a bottle of cider, gherkins, Flora and an out of date yoghurt. I love a bit of batch cooking although it drives me mental that I don't have more space in my freezer. Jamie Oliver's basic stew recipe is a winner every time.
Betwixtmas is a time for surprise presents out of the blue from Apple. I have been the proud owner of a first generation iPod Nano for the last 9 years or so. You might not remember first generation iPods, I think they stopped making them a bazillion years ago.
I sent my iPod Nano off and Betwixtmas delivered a brand new, latest, 16BG, iPod Nano. I could not believe it. Finally being cheap and not buying the latest model of anything pays off...
Christmas 2014 could suck it but Betwixtmas 2014 I could get on board with.
Tuesday, 30 December 2014
Not Really Resolutions 2014 l The Conclusion
*Insert standard sentence about "Oh my goodness where has the past year gone?"*
Seriously though. What a year. Right now I'll be very glad to see the back of 2014 but before I shove it out of the door I need to take a few minutes to update you on 2014's Not Really Resolutions. After 2013's miserable performance (2 out of 10 resolutions anyone?!) I felt sure that 2014 couldn't be that bad, and actually it's not gone badly...
1. Read 12 Classics
Completed! After failing last year for the first year ever I felt like I wanted to go for this full force. I've had a pretty good mix of more 'classic' Classics and more modern Classics. Quick overview of some of this year's Classics?
Vile Bodies - easy to read, bit of fluff, funny, but not my favourite Waugh.
Lady Chatterley's Lover - not really that rude it turns out.
The Woman in Black - actually full on made me feel scared when I was reading it. Chilling.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - just...weird.
Of Human Bondage - took an age to read but I loved it, which is quite a feat considering that the main character is such a sap. But despite that I kept rooting for him.
Mrs Dalloway - oh I could not get into this at all. It's such a short book but I struggled through every page. Would be very wary of picking up another Woolf.
I always enjoy this challenge and have been doing it for the four years that I've been doing the Not Really Resolutions but I think 2015 might see time for a bit of a change.
2. Eat 1 Vegetarian meal per week
Oh dear. This really could have happened and I hate to be a massive tit and blame everything on the break up but I really do. Post break-up my eating habits have just been plain horrific and I haven't made anything, much less go to the effort of looking up vegetarian recipes to try out.
I think I did about 30 veggie meals which is half way there so it depends what my yardstick is for achieving a Not Really Resolution - if it's 50% then I totally did it.
Mind you the number of times I ate toast or had a jacket potato with beans post break-up I probably did end up hitting 52 meals.
3. Do 1 interesting thing each month
January - Trip to London including a visit to see Chloe
February - Trip to Leicester to meet up with Janet
March - A trip to America to see American Girl and Boy get married and take a little road trip around Arizona (can't believe I still haven't finished blogging about that. Eek.)
April - FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley to see Hull City beat Sheffield United
May - Trip to the London Pet Show and a rainy Bank Holiday outing to a resevoir
June - A trip to North Yorkshire to see Heather
July - The Color Run in Manchester, a trip to London to Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium
August - Nothing - but I was laid up with sciatica at the time so I'm letting myself off
September - A trip to France to see my Dad and a trip to Birmingham with some work friends
October - A night out at the dogs with work people
November - A trip to Bristol
December - A trip to Marrakech - even if all didn't go quite to plan...
4. Save up to buy a car
Not even close. In fact I don't think I even picked it up this year shamefully. The closest I came to it was buying a light up crochet hook because I knew I had an inordinate amount of black squares to make and thought it might make me blind.
I won't feel too bad though. According to my records I made 26 amigurumi things for people this year which is actually pretty immense when you really stop and think about it.
And that doesn't include the random dinosaur I made for funsies...
...or the Father Christmases...
Anyway. You get my drift. No Tetris blanket this year.
6. Learn something new
I was all set to go "Nope, not achieved this one either" and then I thought I wouldn't be so harsh on myself because actually I did learn something new this year. I learned to be on my own. And whilst it isn't as if I was a massive sap who was completely dependent on someone for their very existence, when someone who has been in your life for 13 years ups and leaves you there is a huge amount of readjusting to do.
I'm giving myself a massive gold star for this one because I didn't have a complete breakdown over anything when I really did feel like it. I got on with it and I learned that I'm not a total idiot, he's a total idiot.
And if that's the only new thing I learned this year then I'm ok with that.
7. Sell something at a craft fair
Well no I didn't.
But, see Point 5.
I was a craft fair this year. I was my own personal craft fair and seeing as the reason to do this was to make some money and feel that my stuff was good enough to put out in the public space I have actually achieved that. I've sold my stuff to people and have made some money from it and therefore I'm going to count this as complete.
I know. I'm a massive cheat.
Let's not talk about this shall we?
Let's just say that 2014 was the Year that Running Forgot. It was my Annus Horribilis Runnus. I was either injured or mentally broken for 2014 and that did not make for a good runner. Since my bout of sciatica in August I haven't run at all. I will be back to the beginning once I start running again - ugh.
---------------------------------------------
There we have it. Five out of eight will do me very nicely.
I'm looking forward to seeing what 2015 has in store for me.
I think.
Seriously though. What a year. Right now I'll be very glad to see the back of 2014 but before I shove it out of the door I need to take a few minutes to update you on 2014's Not Really Resolutions. After 2013's miserable performance (2 out of 10 resolutions anyone?!) I felt sure that 2014 couldn't be that bad, and actually it's not gone badly...
Completed! After failing last year for the first year ever I felt like I wanted to go for this full force. I've had a pretty good mix of more 'classic' Classics and more modern Classics. Quick overview of some of this year's Classics?
Vile Bodies - easy to read, bit of fluff, funny, but not my favourite Waugh.
Lady Chatterley's Lover - not really that rude it turns out.
The Woman in Black - actually full on made me feel scared when I was reading it. Chilling.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - just...weird.
Of Human Bondage - took an age to read but I loved it, which is quite a feat considering that the main character is such a sap. But despite that I kept rooting for him.
Mrs Dalloway - oh I could not get into this at all. It's such a short book but I struggled through every page. Would be very wary of picking up another Woolf.
I always enjoy this challenge and have been doing it for the four years that I've been doing the Not Really Resolutions but I think 2015 might see time for a bit of a change.
2. Eat 1 Vegetarian meal per week
Oh dear. This really could have happened and I hate to be a massive tit and blame everything on the break up but I really do. Post break-up my eating habits have just been plain horrific and I haven't made anything, much less go to the effort of looking up vegetarian recipes to try out.
I think I did about 30 veggie meals which is half way there so it depends what my yardstick is for achieving a Not Really Resolution - if it's 50% then I totally did it.
Mind you the number of times I ate toast or had a jacket potato with beans post break-up I probably did end up hitting 52 meals.
January - Trip to London including a visit to see Chloe
February - Trip to Leicester to meet up with Janet
March - A trip to America to see American Girl and Boy get married and take a little road trip around Arizona (can't believe I still haven't finished blogging about that. Eek.)
April - FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley to see Hull City beat Sheffield United
May - Trip to the London Pet Show and a rainy Bank Holiday outing to a resevoir
June - A trip to North Yorkshire to see Heather
July - The Color Run in Manchester, a trip to London to Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium
August - Nothing - but I was laid up with sciatica at the time so I'm letting myself off
September - A trip to France to see my Dad and a trip to Birmingham with some work friends
October - A night out at the dogs with work people
November - A trip to Bristol
December - A trip to Marrakech - even if all didn't go quite to plan...
Not even close. In fact I don't think I even picked it up this year shamefully. The closest I came to it was buying a light up crochet hook because I knew I had an inordinate amount of black squares to make and thought it might make me blind.
I won't feel too bad though. According to my records I made 26 amigurumi things for people this year which is actually pretty immense when you really stop and think about it.
And that doesn't include the random dinosaur I made for funsies...
...or the Father Christmases...
Anyway. You get my drift. No Tetris blanket this year.
I was all set to go "Nope, not achieved this one either" and then I thought I wouldn't be so harsh on myself because actually I did learn something new this year. I learned to be on my own. And whilst it isn't as if I was a massive sap who was completely dependent on someone for their very existence, when someone who has been in your life for 13 years ups and leaves you there is a huge amount of readjusting to do.
I'm giving myself a massive gold star for this one because I didn't have a complete breakdown over anything when I really did feel like it. I got on with it and I learned that I'm not a total idiot, he's a total idiot.
And if that's the only new thing I learned this year then I'm ok with that.
Well no I didn't.
But, see Point 5.
I was a craft fair this year. I was my own personal craft fair and seeing as the reason to do this was to make some money and feel that my stuff was good enough to put out in the public space I have actually achieved that. I've sold my stuff to people and have made some money from it and therefore I'm going to count this as complete.
I know. I'm a massive cheat.
Let's not talk about this shall we?
Let's just say that 2014 was the Year that Running Forgot. It was my Annus Horribilis Runnus. I was either injured or mentally broken for 2014 and that did not make for a good runner. Since my bout of sciatica in August I haven't run at all. I will be back to the beginning once I start running again - ugh.
---------------------------------------------
There we have it. Five out of eight will do me very nicely.
I'm looking forward to seeing what 2015 has in store for me.
I think.
Tuesday, 1 July 2014
The weekend of nothing
This weekend has been about being at home.
This weekend has been about the pottering, about the wandering about and not really doing anything at all.
This weekend hasn't even really been about chores, it has been about the bliss of being a grown up without responsibilities.
No children, no parents, no other dependants, just a whole two days stretched out ahead with no demands on your time. Nowhere particularly to be, no-one to particularly see, nothing particularly to do.
What do you do on weekends like this?
You try your hand at baking something for the first time in what feels like a million years...
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This weekend has been about the pottering, about the wandering about and not really doing anything at all.
This weekend hasn't even really been about chores, it has been about the bliss of being a grown up without responsibilities.
No children, no parents, no other dependants, just a whole two days stretched out ahead with no demands on your time. Nowhere particularly to be, no-one to particularly see, nothing particularly to do.
What do you do on weekends like this?
You try your hand at baking something for the first time in what feels like a million years...
(Apricot & Cranberry bars from the Hairy Dieter's, super easy to make although don't think that you substitute tin foil for baking parchment. This stuff is sticky.)
You spend some time hanging out with your gerbils, building them a super fun playpen with every obstacle and hidey hole that you can think of. Mostly in an attempt to encourage Ser Jorah to run off a bit of his bulk, as covered in this blog post.
(You get a bonus point for spotting the gerbil in this picture.)
You take a massively long bubble bath on a Saturday night because there is nothing to watch on a Saturday night anyway, and you run the bath so hot that you have to come out of it and drink about 3 litres of water to rehydrate yourself.
You read your head off in bed in the mornings because despite the fact that you've woken up annoyingly early you don't really need to get out of bed and can lie, lolling about, drinking multiple cups of tea for as long as you want.
(The Casual Vacancy was pretty good actually, I really enjoyed it, although it did go a little off the rails at the end. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been a revelation, I didn't know what to expect at all and it has taken me quite by surprise)
You binge watch Scandal because you find the box set on Sky On Demand and remember how much you loved the first series.
(Episodes watched over the weekend = 10)
You cross stitch and cross stitch and cross stitch because you'd forgotten how much you enjoyed doing it and because watching the picture slowly build is hypnotic and makes it impossible to put down until you've just...finished...this....last.....line.
You go out for a run because you want to feel like you've really done something with the weekend.
(Yeah, yeah I'm no Mo Farrah. But I did it without stopping so I'll take my wins where I can thanks)
But mostly you just savour it for what it is. A perfect weekend of nothing.
Monday, 9 June 2014
When I'm not blogging I'm mostly reading...
...and not just reading but reviewing my friends.
And at the moment I am over round Alex's internet joint reviewing some books for her Blogging Good Read series.
Go have a gander won't you?
And at the moment I am over round Alex's internet joint reviewing some books for her Blogging Good Read series.
Go have a gander won't you?
Monday, 21 April 2014
Lately...
I know that I need to continue my American Tale at some point (it involves me road-tripping around Arizona and not an adventure seeking mouse unfortunately) but I'm finding it very difficult to get motivated to write these blog posts at the moment. I'm very neglectful and I'm not really sure why.
I took my break from blogging and came back because I definitely felt like I wanted to but for some reason, no matter how many ideas and random words and phrases come bubbling to my mind, getting those out of my fingertips and on to the keyboard is just not happening.
I've decided to ease the pressure off and going for the easiest of easiest posts - one involving photos and one liners.
So. What has been happening lately?
Easter has been the perfect blend of time to relax and time to have fun. I do feel like I've spent the past four days or so either drunk or hungover, which I'll be honest with you, is perfectly ok with me.
[1] Festivities for me began on Thursday night, going out for drinks with some work people. Good Friday started off well for me, which basically consists of reading in bed and drinking tea. There's something about reading in bed which feels incredibly decadent to me. No Ferrero Rocher needed thank you - mug of tea and some pages to turn is all I need.
[4] However...whilst hungover I committed the greatest of sins....I went shopping. Big mistake. I needed to get food so sloped off to Tesco to see what I could find. All I needed was lunch, instead I came home with - a candle, a can of Coke, Nivea face-wash, two small packs of sushi, Moroccan cous cous salad, chocolate pretzels, pack of six hot cross buns, sausage roll, massive bag of crisps, a top.
I'm still not entirely sure what happened in there, it's all a blur. Still I got enough food for the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend and the top is nice...
[2] The Person and I headed off to Nottingham on Saturday to spend the night with some friends. I dutifully bought flowers to give to our hosts (my mother would be so proud) which I actually forgot to take with me so we now how some lovely flowers for the house. Winner.
[3] Saturday was the perfect kind of day of afternoon drinking, followed by dinner out and more drinking. Relaxed and happy and laid back. I had some of the strongest cider of my life at The Crafty Crow. Kopparberg it was not.
I took my break from blogging and came back because I definitely felt like I wanted to but for some reason, no matter how many ideas and random words and phrases come bubbling to my mind, getting those out of my fingertips and on to the keyboard is just not happening.
I've decided to ease the pressure off and going for the easiest of easiest posts - one involving photos and one liners.
So. What has been happening lately?
L-R [1] Reading in bed; [2] Accidental flowers; [3] Afternoon drinking; [4] Hungover shopping
[1] Festivities for me began on Thursday night, going out for drinks with some work people. Good Friday started off well for me, which basically consists of reading in bed and drinking tea. There's something about reading in bed which feels incredibly decadent to me. No Ferrero Rocher needed thank you - mug of tea and some pages to turn is all I need.
[4] However...whilst hungover I committed the greatest of sins....I went shopping. Big mistake. I needed to get food so sloped off to Tesco to see what I could find. All I needed was lunch, instead I came home with - a candle, a can of Coke, Nivea face-wash, two small packs of sushi, Moroccan cous cous salad, chocolate pretzels, pack of six hot cross buns, sausage roll, massive bag of crisps, a top.
I'm still not entirely sure what happened in there, it's all a blur. Still I got enough food for the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend and the top is nice...
[2] The Person and I headed off to Nottingham on Saturday to spend the night with some friends. I dutifully bought flowers to give to our hosts (my mother would be so proud) which I actually forgot to take with me so we now how some lovely flowers for the house. Winner.
[3] Saturday was the perfect kind of day of afternoon drinking, followed by dinner out and more drinking. Relaxed and happy and laid back. I had some of the strongest cider of my life at The Crafty Crow. Kopparberg it was not.
L-R [5] Spooning gerbils; [6] Amazing reading; [7] Dog walking; [8] Creme Egg bonanza
[5] The gerbils have been as cute as always but lately I've been able to take some megacute (I just invented a word!) photos of them. They have a cottage that they normally sleep in but decided not to bother for a while, instead choosing to make a toilet roll nest in the corner of the gerbilarium. This meant I could take photos of them sleeping. Gerbils sleep on top of one another, entwined around one another, curled up on top of one another, and as this picture shows, spooning each other. Darn their cute little furry heads.
[6] This book is amazing. You should read it. That's all I'll say.
[7] I was on dog and nephew sitting duty. I took Rosie for a walk and we came upon some cows. These cows were initially at the other end of the field and came practically running to this end to stand staring at her. I wasn't sure if they were afraid of her or curious about her but I do know that I still have a healthy fear of cows.
[8] My work is super fun sometimes. Case in point, I get asked to buy everyone Creme Eggs for Easter. People love it when that happens. I am the Candy Lady.
L-R [9] Middle class snacking; [10] The walk towards Wembley; [11] Match in play; [12] Final score
[9], [10], [11] & [12] Luckiest most randomest break ever. I managed to get hold of tickets to the FA Cup Semi Final match at Wembley between Hull City and Sheffield United. Yes they were corporate tickets - boo hiss etc etc. But it was literally impossible to get tickets any other way so I'll take what I'm given and enjoy my non-segregated area of non-football louts thank you very much.
On the train down to London we were very much out of place. Amidst football fans drinking cans of Carlsberg I sat being the very most middle class football fan there was, drinking cocktails from a tin and eating my Graze brownie. Boom.
It was a stressful match. What should have been a fairly easy game for Hull City, as they are two Leagues above Sheffield United, they made incredibly difficult for themselves, going 1-0 down, then equalising, then allowing Sheffield United to score again less than two minutes later, before immediately going into half time.
Thankfully the half time break was used for head pulling together and Hull City came out the winners. It is not often that I'll get the chance to go to Wembley to watch Hull City and see an eight goal game. It was absolutely amazing, unreal and I can't believe I got to go.
Now need to figure out how to get tickets to the FA Cup Final where Hull City will face Arsenal....
---------------
So there you have it. What have I been doing lately? In summary:
- Gerbils
- Dogs
- Drinking
- Eating
- Reading
- Football
Not bad, my friends, not bad at all.
Sunday, 2 February 2014
What I've been doing whilst I haven't been blogging
Oh it's February...
How did that happen.
I have a brain which is full to the brim of things I want to blog about (mostly involving gerbils) and I know that there have been many times when I've said to myself "You need to sit down and get your blog on woman", but for some reason, even switching on my laptop has been an effort.
One thing I have not been doing though is sitting on my bum and feeling sorry for myself you will be relieved to hear.
Things I have been doing include:
Reading
2013 was over-shadowed at the end of the year reading-wise by some fairly weighty tomes that took up all my time. Vanity Fair took me a ridiculous almost three months to read - although that was because I kept dipping in and out of it. When I wasn't reading Vanity Fair I was starting to make my way through George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series (also known as Game of Thrones to TV fans). If you've never seen them before they are whacking great door stops of books.
I decided to take a break after reading the first three books - the third of which is so large it's split into two massive books - in January and raced through three books in the first three weeks. This is mainly because the sum total of pages of these three books probably adds up to one Game of Thrones book.
After finishing Heft, I have turned back to George RR Martin and I am currently reading A Feast for Crows - this means my book tally for February is going to be a low one.
Eating
After my Not Really Resolution to eat more vegetarian meals I have been spending time looking for interesting veggie recipes.
This is the trouble I find with vegetarian meals. They are often terribly uninspiring and it's been harder than I thought it would be for a variety of reasons.
However I've made a good dent and am four meals down.
Crocheting
This is the main reason that I have not been blogging.
I have been crocheting like a wild woman in 2014. A couple of people at work had found out about the amigurumi stuff I was doing and asked me to bring the books in to work so they could have a look. Before I knew it, the books had been passed around work and the books came back to me with little bits of paper sticking out all over them.
I think the order book was at about 12 items so I've been head down.
January's output is this so far:
Actually I'm quite impressed with myself. Pat on the back for me.
The dinosaur is by far and away my favourite I love him and I want an excuse to make him again. The cat was also a favourite although all the colour changing to make his face did make me want to poke my eyes out a little bit. Bee was super quick to make up, until I got to his wings, which are made out of a super annoying fluffy wool but I'm very proud of myself for not swearing once whilst making them up.
Oh and actually I made two goats this month so add another one on to the total.
It's hard to crochet and blog. It's impossible to crochet and read which is something which I find really annoying. Unfortunately audio books don't work for me, I can't concentrate on them. What I have done is watched a vast amount of absolutely terrible television whilst creating all this output.
Still left to make:
- Horse x2
- Elephant x2
- Panda x1
- Octopus x1
Who knows, eventually I might be able to crochet something for myself one day.
How did that happen.
I have a brain which is full to the brim of things I want to blog about (mostly involving gerbils) and I know that there have been many times when I've said to myself "You need to sit down and get your blog on woman", but for some reason, even switching on my laptop has been an effort.
One thing I have not been doing though is sitting on my bum and feeling sorry for myself you will be relieved to hear.
Things I have been doing include:
Reading
2013 was over-shadowed at the end of the year reading-wise by some fairly weighty tomes that took up all my time. Vanity Fair took me a ridiculous almost three months to read - although that was because I kept dipping in and out of it. When I wasn't reading Vanity Fair I was starting to make my way through George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series (also known as Game of Thrones to TV fans). If you've never seen them before they are whacking great door stops of books.
I decided to take a break after reading the first three books - the third of which is so large it's split into two massive books - in January and raced through three books in the first three weeks. This is mainly because the sum total of pages of these three books probably adds up to one Game of Thrones book.
After finishing Heft, I have turned back to George RR Martin and I am currently reading A Feast for Crows - this means my book tally for February is going to be a low one.
Eating
After my Not Really Resolution to eat more vegetarian meals I have been spending time looking for interesting veggie recipes.
This is the trouble I find with vegetarian meals. They are often terribly uninspiring and it's been harder than I thought it would be for a variety of reasons.
However I've made a good dent and am four meals down.
From top left: Blue cheese & pesto pasta / Tortilla / Mushroom & Spinach pasta / Lentil bolognese
Crocheting
This is the main reason that I have not been blogging.
I have been crocheting like a wild woman in 2014. A couple of people at work had found out about the amigurumi stuff I was doing and asked me to bring the books in to work so they could have a look. Before I knew it, the books had been passed around work and the books came back to me with little bits of paper sticking out all over them.
I think the order book was at about 12 items so I've been head down.
January's output is this so far:
Actually I'm quite impressed with myself. Pat on the back for me.
The dinosaur is by far and away my favourite I love him and I want an excuse to make him again. The cat was also a favourite although all the colour changing to make his face did make me want to poke my eyes out a little bit. Bee was super quick to make up, until I got to his wings, which are made out of a super annoying fluffy wool but I'm very proud of myself for not swearing once whilst making them up.
Oh and actually I made two goats this month so add another one on to the total.
It's hard to crochet and blog. It's impossible to crochet and read which is something which I find really annoying. Unfortunately audio books don't work for me, I can't concentrate on them. What I have done is watched a vast amount of absolutely terrible television whilst creating all this output.
Still left to make:
- Horse x2
- Elephant x2
- Panda x1
- Octopus x1
Who knows, eventually I might be able to crochet something for myself one day.
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Why you should read books - BEDM Day 11
"How come you know a lot of words?" is something that's been asked of me before.
I don't know that I even do know a lot of words but the only possible reason I can think that I know more than my fair share is down to the reading that I've been doing all my life.
So much reading.
I was the Virgin Mary in my Sunday School's Nativity Play once. I came out with Jesus under one arm and a book under the other and apparently hesitated whilst deciding whether the baby or the book should go in the crib first.
Books are good innit. They have the words and the sentences and when you read them, you learn the words and you know how to use them in sentences.
I have a shining example of what happens when you do not read that I would like to share with you.
My best friend works for a company that sells things. (I'm being deliberately vague, I don't just not know my friend). They received a comment from an angry customer who had ordered something which hadn't turned up/the wrong thing had been delivered - the details are not important.
In his long and badly written complaint there was little sentence structure, barely any grammar and I suspected that he did not have a great command of the English language. "Hesitate" was spelled "hesetate" for instance.
This suspicion was confirmed to me when I got near to the end of his complaint. He wanted to let this company know just how much trouble they had caused him. He could have played it safe and said "You've caused me a lot of trouble" but no no no. This guy was aiming big. He wanted them to know what an upheaval they'd caused.
You know that word? Upheaval.
He didn't spell it that way.
He didn't even spell it "upheavel".
No. This guy. This guy. Spelled it....
...are you ready?
....
"up evil"
No I am most certainly not kidding. I don't joke about spelling kids.
And just in case you think he meant something else, this is the part of the sentence in which I found this gem - "...the up evil iv had to face"
(Let's not start on the fact that the I is not capitalised or should have an e on the end of it, or indeed is missing an apostrophe - we have bigger problems here folks.)
This is what happens when you don't read books. He had the context completely right, he was using the word in the correct way, he has just clearly never ever ever actually seen the word "upheaval" written down.
The mind boggles.
I don't know that I even do know a lot of words but the only possible reason I can think that I know more than my fair share is down to the reading that I've been doing all my life.
So much reading.
I was the Virgin Mary in my Sunday School's Nativity Play once. I came out with Jesus under one arm and a book under the other and apparently hesitated whilst deciding whether the baby or the book should go in the crib first.
Books are good innit. They have the words and the sentences and when you read them, you learn the words and you know how to use them in sentences.
I have a shining example of what happens when you do not read that I would like to share with you.
My best friend works for a company that sells things. (I'm being deliberately vague, I don't just not know my friend). They received a comment from an angry customer who had ordered something which hadn't turned up/the wrong thing had been delivered - the details are not important.
In his long and badly written complaint there was little sentence structure, barely any grammar and I suspected that he did not have a great command of the English language. "Hesitate" was spelled "hesetate" for instance.
This suspicion was confirmed to me when I got near to the end of his complaint. He wanted to let this company know just how much trouble they had caused him. He could have played it safe and said "You've caused me a lot of trouble" but no no no. This guy was aiming big. He wanted them to know what an upheaval they'd caused.
You know that word? Upheaval.
He didn't spell it that way.
He didn't even spell it "upheavel".
No. This guy. This guy. Spelled it....
...are you ready?
....
"up evil"
No I am most certainly not kidding. I don't joke about spelling kids.
And just in case you think he meant something else, this is the part of the sentence in which I found this gem - "...the up evil iv had to face"
(Let's not start on the fact that the I is not capitalised or should have an e on the end of it, or indeed is missing an apostrophe - we have bigger problems here folks.)
This is what happens when you don't read books. He had the context completely right, he was using the word in the correct way, he has just clearly never ever ever actually seen the word "upheaval" written down.
The mind boggles.
Friday, 26 April 2013
Not Really Resolutions 2013: Q1 update
After last year's terrible performance when it came to updating everyone on my Not Really Resolutions (number of update posts in 2012 - none) I figured I should probably make more of an effort this year, if only to make sure I stay on track and actually try to get things done.
Seeing as we're nearly at the end of April with well over a quarter of the year gone *starts hyperventilating* I thought it seemed an appropriate time to update.
1. Get behind the wheel of a car again
I have an official license again! After pretty much over a year of procrastination I sent off for my license to be re-newed. After expecting a letter to come back saying "No you need to re-new it and replace it" or some such other nonsense, I was very surprised when after 3 weeks a brand new license flopped through the door with no questions asked.
So no more excuses - time to book some refresher lessons...
2. Project 365
This is ticking over quite nicely and has been much aided by the fact that I have a new phone which has a really good camera. I haven't even used my actual camera in goodness knows when, and because my phone is a Windows phone, everything is very handily backed up to my Skydrive, meaning that when I switch my computer on I just need to log in and download the photos and put them on Flickr. Easy peasy lemon squeezey.
I've been surprised that I've lasted this long because I'm living in the back end of nowhere with basically no friends, but I've managed. Ok, these photos are not going to set your world on fire, but guess what? My life wouldn't set your world on fire, rendering my Project 365 an accurate representation of my life.
The monthly round-ups are fun to do (see January, February and March) and the only thing I am bad at doing is actually uploading the photos to my photostream, which tends to easily be a week or two behind in time. Just like my blogging activities!
3. Read 12 Classics
It's been a good start to the year with my Classics and there hasn't been one I've read so far that I haven't really, genuinely enjoyed.
So far I've read;
North and South - Elizabeth Gaskill (probably the least easiest read out of the lot)
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (can't believe I haven't read this before, I usually think children are made to read inappropriate Classics at school, therefore putting them off for life, but anyone who gets to read this at school I think is genuinely lucky. It was brilliant - not difficult and yet not condescending - it should be a must for all children to read this.)
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (probably the only one that's made me raise an eyebrow and wonder if I've really understand what I've read and the one that's made me go "Really? This is a Classic?" but a good read nonetheless and one that I think would make a good Book Group read as there could be plenty of interpretations to be made.)
The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford (hilarious. I have no other words. The only one so far that I insist you go out and read immediately.)
4. Crochet an Elmer Blanket
As you may have guessed, this has been put on hold now that I have the Tetris blanket firmly within my sights and underway. I do still want to crochet an Elmer Blanket but mostly I wanted to make a blanket just for me and the Tetris Blanket is definitely fulfilling that need at the moment.
5. Learn to knit
No progress on this one as of yet.
6. Bake once a month
This has been ticking along quietly (why do I always forget to blog about things?!) although I think it's safe to say that Mary Berry has nothing to fear at the moment. In fact I haven't been impressed with anything I've made so far this year. Here's hoping that April gives me my first triumph...
7. Go abroad
Very exciting news on this one. American Girl and American Boy are coming over from the USA in July and seeing as they're here and seeing as we all turned 30 this year (with the exception of The Person who will be almost 31 by the time they get here. Ha. OLD.) we decided to take a little trip to another part of Europe and will be spending the first week of July in Corfu. In sunshine. Sun and The Americans? I don't think my brain can take the excitement.
8. Makeover a chest of drawers
No progress on this one yet.
9. Cross stitch a big picture just for me
No progress on this one yet either. I think my brain can only take one craft per year. 2012 was the Year of the Stitching and it's looking like 2013 might be the Year of the Crochet...
10. Only buy 12 books throughout the year.
HA. If I stick to this I will be shocked and amazed at my willpower. I will be able to do anything.
Unfortunately I think it's unlikely I'm going to stick to it. I am trying, I swear it, but after a year of not buying books, I have a lot of pent-up book buying going on in my system and I am finding it tricky to succumb, especially when in charity shops and faced with such cheapness. I am being very good and tracking what I buy though so I can't cheat and "forget" about a book that has made its way on to my shelves. The current total stands at 6 and we're not even at the end of the April.
And I'm not even counting the three books that I bought with a voucher for my birthday because that wasn't my money and those books don't count.
I love loopholes.
---------------------------------
So there we have it. Have just realised there isn't an awful lot on there that can be ticked off the list easily and that's a shame because there's nothing like crossing things off a list to make you feel like you're getting somewhere, but I shall keep on plugging away.
See you at the end of June for the Q2 update...
Seeing as we're nearly at the end of April with well over a quarter of the year gone *starts hyperventilating* I thought it seemed an appropriate time to update.
1. Get behind the wheel of a car again
I have an official license again! After pretty much over a year of procrastination I sent off for my license to be re-newed. After expecting a letter to come back saying "No you need to re-new it and replace it" or some such other nonsense, I was very surprised when after 3 weeks a brand new license flopped through the door with no questions asked.
So no more excuses - time to book some refresher lessons...
2. Project 365
This is ticking over quite nicely and has been much aided by the fact that I have a new phone which has a really good camera. I haven't even used my actual camera in goodness knows when, and because my phone is a Windows phone, everything is very handily backed up to my Skydrive, meaning that when I switch my computer on I just need to log in and download the photos and put them on Flickr. Easy peasy lemon squeezey.
I've been surprised that I've lasted this long because I'm living in the back end of nowhere with basically no friends, but I've managed. Ok, these photos are not going to set your world on fire, but guess what? My life wouldn't set your world on fire, rendering my Project 365 an accurate representation of my life.
The monthly round-ups are fun to do (see January, February and March) and the only thing I am bad at doing is actually uploading the photos to my photostream, which tends to easily be a week or two behind in time. Just like my blogging activities!
3. Read 12 Classics
It's been a good start to the year with my Classics and there hasn't been one I've read so far that I haven't really, genuinely enjoyed.
So far I've read;
North and South - Elizabeth Gaskill (probably the least easiest read out of the lot)
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (can't believe I haven't read this before, I usually think children are made to read inappropriate Classics at school, therefore putting them off for life, but anyone who gets to read this at school I think is genuinely lucky. It was brilliant - not difficult and yet not condescending - it should be a must for all children to read this.)
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (probably the only one that's made me raise an eyebrow and wonder if I've really understand what I've read and the one that's made me go "Really? This is a Classic?" but a good read nonetheless and one that I think would make a good Book Group read as there could be plenty of interpretations to be made.)
The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford (hilarious. I have no other words. The only one so far that I insist you go out and read immediately.)
4. Crochet an Elmer Blanket
As you may have guessed, this has been put on hold now that I have the Tetris blanket firmly within my sights and underway. I do still want to crochet an Elmer Blanket but mostly I wanted to make a blanket just for me and the Tetris Blanket is definitely fulfilling that need at the moment.
5. Learn to knit
No progress on this one as of yet.
6. Bake once a month
This has been ticking along quietly (why do I always forget to blog about things?!) although I think it's safe to say that Mary Berry has nothing to fear at the moment. In fact I haven't been impressed with anything I've made so far this year. Here's hoping that April gives me my first triumph...
Gingerbread biscuits; The infamous Cookie Monster cupcakes; Chocolate & Peanut butter cookies
7. Go abroad
Very exciting news on this one. American Girl and American Boy are coming over from the USA in July and seeing as they're here and seeing as we all turned 30 this year (with the exception of The Person who will be almost 31 by the time they get here. Ha. OLD.) we decided to take a little trip to another part of Europe and will be spending the first week of July in Corfu. In sunshine. Sun and The Americans? I don't think my brain can take the excitement.
8. Makeover a chest of drawers
No progress on this one yet.
9. Cross stitch a big picture just for me
No progress on this one yet either. I think my brain can only take one craft per year. 2012 was the Year of the Stitching and it's looking like 2013 might be the Year of the Crochet...
10. Only buy 12 books throughout the year.
HA. If I stick to this I will be shocked and amazed at my willpower. I will be able to do anything.
Unfortunately I think it's unlikely I'm going to stick to it. I am trying, I swear it, but after a year of not buying books, I have a lot of pent-up book buying going on in my system and I am finding it tricky to succumb, especially when in charity shops and faced with such cheapness. I am being very good and tracking what I buy though so I can't cheat and "forget" about a book that has made its way on to my shelves. The current total stands at 6 and we're not even at the end of the April.
And I'm not even counting the three books that I bought with a voucher for my birthday because that wasn't my money and those books don't count.
I love loopholes.
---------------------------------
So there we have it. Have just realised there isn't an awful lot on there that can be ticked off the list easily and that's a shame because there's nothing like crossing things off a list to make you feel like you're getting somewhere, but I shall keep on plugging away.
See you at the end of June for the Q2 update...
Monday, 8 April 2013
Easter Read-a-thon: The Reviews
I feel it would be cheating almost to take part in the Easter Read-a-thon and then not actually review any of the books that I read during it.
The truth is I find book reviews hard to do, although I actually used to really enjoy doing them when I did them for my Classics each month. It's a fine line between reviewing a book and just telling people what the plot is though and it's a wobbly tightrope to navigate at times.
Plus it's brave to review a book I think. To say in black and white "this is what this book made me think" or "this is what I think this book is about" - the written word is open to all kinds of interpretation and whilst it should be a pleasure that there is no right or wrong answer, it's a big leap to put your opinion out there.
But I felt I couldn't really shy away from this one. An Easter Read-a-thon is about reading and therefore I should honour the books that took part in it with a little review.
Plus I actually only finished two books during the Read-a-thon so it's not like it's going to be hard.
The truth is I find book reviews hard to do, although I actually used to really enjoy doing them when I did them for my Classics each month. It's a fine line between reviewing a book and just telling people what the plot is though and it's a wobbly tightrope to navigate at times.
Plus it's brave to review a book I think. To say in black and white "this is what this book made me think" or "this is what I think this book is about" - the written word is open to all kinds of interpretation and whilst it should be a pleasure that there is no right or wrong answer, it's a big leap to put your opinion out there.
But I felt I couldn't really shy away from this one. An Easter Read-a-thon is about reading and therefore I should honour the books that took part in it with a little review.
Plus I actually only finished two books during the Read-a-thon so it's not like it's going to be hard.
My Easter Read-a-thon in photos - Thursday-Saturday update & Easter Sunday - Easter Monday update
Dominion; CJ Sansom
Dominion imagines a world where the 2nd World War never really happened. Churchill never got into power. England made a peace deal with the Nazis and the world isn't as we know it.
The book takes place in 1952 and Britain is essentially a Nazi outpost, retaining independence in mostly name whilst kowtowing to the Nazi regime in reality.
Churchill's followers are a resistance movement who recruit David Fitzgerald, a civil servant and secretly half-Jewisih, to act on their behalf, photographing documents. David is drawn further in when an old university friend, Frank, becomes of importance to the Resistance.
David is drawn into a rescue mission to get Frank out of the country and into safety in America and when his cover is blown the rescue mission becomes one for his own life, along with that of his wife, Sarah - who has been unaware of David's secret life as a spy.
The major part of the action occurs in the middle of The Great Smog in London - a real-life air pollution event which cloaked London in thick smog for days. David, Sarah and Frank have to try and escape from London in the middle of this whilst being chased by the Gestapo officer, Hoth.
It was an enjoyable book although I just couldn't connect with it like I do Sansom's Shardlake series for some reason. It felt heavy going at times and I was a little disappointed with the ending.
A pretty good understanding of British politics in the period leading up to and during the 2nd World War would also be an advantage, I think there were some points, especially the Epilogue, which were completely lost on me because I didn't get references to particular politicians and the roles that they played in real life in the same period.
It was a scary concept however, and it didn't feel totally fantastical. It was actually fairly easy to imagine events unfolding in the way that they do in the novel - with people in Britain falling in to various categories - Resistance fighters, Nazi supporters and those whose refusal to commit to either side allowed the deportation of Jews from the country.
The book takes place in 1952 and Britain is essentially a Nazi outpost, retaining independence in mostly name whilst kowtowing to the Nazi regime in reality.
Churchill's followers are a resistance movement who recruit David Fitzgerald, a civil servant and secretly half-Jewisih, to act on their behalf, photographing documents. David is drawn further in when an old university friend, Frank, becomes of importance to the Resistance.
David is drawn into a rescue mission to get Frank out of the country and into safety in America and when his cover is blown the rescue mission becomes one for his own life, along with that of his wife, Sarah - who has been unaware of David's secret life as a spy.
The major part of the action occurs in the middle of The Great Smog in London - a real-life air pollution event which cloaked London in thick smog for days. David, Sarah and Frank have to try and escape from London in the middle of this whilst being chased by the Gestapo officer, Hoth.
It was an enjoyable book although I just couldn't connect with it like I do Sansom's Shardlake series for some reason. It felt heavy going at times and I was a little disappointed with the ending.
A pretty good understanding of British politics in the period leading up to and during the 2nd World War would also be an advantage, I think there were some points, especially the Epilogue, which were completely lost on me because I didn't get references to particular politicians and the roles that they played in real life in the same period.
It was a scary concept however, and it didn't feel totally fantastical. It was actually fairly easy to imagine events unfolding in the way that they do in the novel - with people in Britain falling in to various categories - Resistance fighters, Nazi supporters and those whose refusal to commit to either side allowed the deportation of Jews from the country.
Toby's Room; Pat Barker
Oooh I do love a bit of Pat Barker.
Toby's Room revisits some of the characters we met in Life Class - fortunately for me reading the first isn't essential because I can never remember what happens in books once I read them.
The name is almost misleading as Toby isn't always the centre of attention in the book. Instead the focus is on those around him, Elinor, Kit Neville and Paul Tarrant and how they are left to deal with the hand that they have been dealt by World War I.
Guilt seems to be a major theme running through the book - Elinor feels guilty for not helping out with her Mum when they learn of Toby's death, she feels guilty for using Kit and Paul, feels guilty for how the disfigured soliders in Queen's Hospital make her feel. Paul feels guilty because he loves Catherine Stein but can't let go of Elinor, guilty because he sleeps with Elinor even though he knows she's still mourning the loss of her brother.
In many ways the real protagnist of the novel is Kit Neville as we go inside his brain during his morphine fuelled recovery after his operations to rebuild his face. Does he feel guilty that he didn't stop Toby from killing himself? Or does he feel guilty for not possibly teling the truth about how Toby died?
And then there's Toby - we never really know how he feels, never see behind his eyes - does he feel guilty about his actions towards his sister? Does he feel guilty for getting caught in the stables by Kit Neville?
Barker excels at her descriptions of World War I life. The recollections of Kit Neville whilst he is recovering from his operation are vivid and evocative and manage to avoid banging home the same old story that it was horrible and grim and awful in the trenches, whilst at the same time not trying to gloss over what life must have been like for those serving.
Toby's Room revisits some of the characters we met in Life Class - fortunately for me reading the first isn't essential because I can never remember what happens in books once I read them.
The name is almost misleading as Toby isn't always the centre of attention in the book. Instead the focus is on those around him, Elinor, Kit Neville and Paul Tarrant and how they are left to deal with the hand that they have been dealt by World War I.
Guilt seems to be a major theme running through the book - Elinor feels guilty for not helping out with her Mum when they learn of Toby's death, she feels guilty for using Kit and Paul, feels guilty for how the disfigured soliders in Queen's Hospital make her feel. Paul feels guilty because he loves Catherine Stein but can't let go of Elinor, guilty because he sleeps with Elinor even though he knows she's still mourning the loss of her brother.
In many ways the real protagnist of the novel is Kit Neville as we go inside his brain during his morphine fuelled recovery after his operations to rebuild his face. Does he feel guilty that he didn't stop Toby from killing himself? Or does he feel guilty for not possibly teling the truth about how Toby died?
And then there's Toby - we never really know how he feels, never see behind his eyes - does he feel guilty about his actions towards his sister? Does he feel guilty for getting caught in the stables by Kit Neville?
Barker excels at her descriptions of World War I life. The recollections of Kit Neville whilst he is recovering from his operation are vivid and evocative and manage to avoid banging home the same old story that it was horrible and grim and awful in the trenches, whilst at the same time not trying to gloss over what life must have been like for those serving.
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A massive thanks to Kate for hosting the Easter Read-a-thon - I urge you to go and visit her blog and drink in all the booky goodness.
A massive thanks to Kate for hosting the Easter Read-a-thon - I urge you to go and visit her blog and drink in all the booky goodness.
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Easter Read-a-thon - Easter Sunday & Easter Monday update
We have reached the end of the Easter Read-a-thon and I feel a little sad.
As I mentioned in my first post above, sometimes I feel guilty for reading. And I know that's silly but in this day and age where there's more of a constant pressure to be 'switched on' and 'doing' in some way, reading feels like the ultimate luxury.
The Read-a-thon has in a way given me permission to sit back and relax and do the thing that I like doing.
I know there'll be people out there shaking their heads in bemusement at that notion but that is how it is for me and I've enjoyed it.
So Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.
Much like my Thursday-Saturday update, I enlisted the help of my trusty camera to record the moments I had to myself to have a little read.
Easter Sunday saw me having a little read of Toby's Room by Pat Barker at the dining room table with the tulips and my chocolate Easter bunny. The reason for this? My brother-in-law enjoys watching all TV at approximately 12 billion decibels and it literally hurts my ears.
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Easter Monday saw the beginning of a new book and I have made a long overdue to Stephen King who I love but have not read enough of lately. The last few books I've read of his have been his latest ones so I've made a return to some of his earlier work and I'm giving Needful Things a bit of a bash.
The Person and I were making a return to Preston, plus it was my nephew's 13th birthday on Easter Monday so there wasn't a lot of time for reading in the morning. But it did mean that I managed to squeeze in some lovely train reading which is one of my favourites.
And then I was home and reunited with my favourite crochet blanket and I did a little more reading...
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And that brought the Easter Read-a-thon to an end.
As predicted it wasn't a massive headcount in terms of books - I managed to get two finished and have made a dent in my third which is alright by me. I had an Easter weekend of family and boyfriend to fit in around my reading.
But this Read-a-thon wasn't really about that for me. It was more about giving myself permission to relax and re-discovering what it felt like to settle down and reading a book just for the love of reading, instead of cramming it into the hour before I fall asleep.
And that has made it all worth it.
(A review post of the books I read would be lovely wouldn't it? Maybe I'll do one in a few posts time. Or maybe I won't. Who knows?!)
As I mentioned in my first post above, sometimes I feel guilty for reading. And I know that's silly but in this day and age where there's more of a constant pressure to be 'switched on' and 'doing' in some way, reading feels like the ultimate luxury.
The Read-a-thon has in a way given me permission to sit back and relax and do the thing that I like doing.
I know there'll be people out there shaking their heads in bemusement at that notion but that is how it is for me and I've enjoyed it.
So Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.
Much like my Thursday-Saturday update, I enlisted the help of my trusty camera to record the moments I had to myself to have a little read.
Easter Sunday saw me having a little read of Toby's Room by Pat Barker at the dining room table with the tulips and my chocolate Easter bunny. The reason for this? My brother-in-law enjoys watching all TV at approximately 12 billion decibels and it literally hurts my ears.
I also gave blood on Easter Sunday, which seems like a strange day to hold a donating session but I don't make the rules. I hopped on to my bed and managed to read a couple of pages until I was done - I'm a fast donater which doesn't leave much time for reading. I also thought it best not to take a picture of my book with the needle in my arm so as not to offend the squeamish - you'll have to take my word for it that there was a needle in my left arm!
The only downside of giving blood for me (and for those how haven't donated before let me stress that everyone reacts differently and this isn't necessarily what will happen to you) is that it really wipes me out. I am knackered for the rest of the day until I've had a good night's sleep so I had to retire to bed fairly early doors on Easter Sunday night where I grabbed the opportunity to finally finish Toby's Room.
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Easter Monday saw the beginning of a new book and I have made a long overdue to Stephen King who I love but have not read enough of lately. The last few books I've read of his have been his latest ones so I've made a return to some of his earlier work and I'm giving Needful Things a bit of a bash.
The Person and I were making a return to Preston, plus it was my nephew's 13th birthday on Easter Monday so there wasn't a lot of time for reading in the morning. But it did mean that I managed to squeeze in some lovely train reading which is one of my favourites.
And then I was home and reunited with my favourite crochet blanket and I did a little more reading...
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And that brought the Easter Read-a-thon to an end.
As predicted it wasn't a massive headcount in terms of books - I managed to get two finished and have made a dent in my third which is alright by me. I had an Easter weekend of family and boyfriend to fit in around my reading.
But this Read-a-thon wasn't really about that for me. It was more about giving myself permission to relax and re-discovering what it felt like to settle down and reading a book just for the love of reading, instead of cramming it into the hour before I fall asleep.
And that has made it all worth it.
(A review post of the books I read would be lovely wouldn't it? Maybe I'll do one in a few posts time. Or maybe I won't. Who knows?!)
Sunday, 31 March 2013
Easter Read-a-thon - Thursday-Saturday update
So.
"How's the Easter Read-a-thon going?" I hear you ask.
Not great if I'm honest.
You see there are just too many people around. I knew it was a mistake to try and do an Easter Read-a-thon when all the family was going to be here, but I've been trying to snatch times when I can read and I've made as good an effort as I can do.
Thanks to me kind of cheating and counting the reading I did on Thursday night I've managed to finish Dominion which I'm very pleased about although it's not the best CJ Sansom I've ever read. I'm not good at the book reviews but maybe I'll stretch to a couple when the Read-a-thon is done. Usually I prefer to leave the reviews to the professionals like Kate but I guess this is a special occasion.
Whilst it has been difficult to have chunks of time to read, I've become the master of snatching moments when I can read...
I have read whilst in bed on Good Friday morning...
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I read whilst we waited for Mum and The Person to arrive, under the watchful eye of Rowan.
I read on Saturday morning whilst The Person slept soundly...
"How's the Easter Read-a-thon going?" I hear you ask.
Not great if I'm honest.
You see there are just too many people around. I knew it was a mistake to try and do an Easter Read-a-thon when all the family was going to be here, but I've been trying to snatch times when I can read and I've made as good an effort as I can do.
Thanks to me kind of cheating and counting the reading I did on Thursday night I've managed to finish Dominion which I'm very pleased about although it's not the best CJ Sansom I've ever read. I'm not good at the book reviews but maybe I'll stretch to a couple when the Read-a-thon is done. Usually I prefer to leave the reviews to the professionals like Kate but I guess this is a special occasion.
Whilst it has been difficult to have chunks of time to read, I've become the master of snatching moments when I can read...
I have read whilst in bed on Good Friday morning...
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I read whilst we waited for Mum and The Person to arrive, under the watchful eye of Rowan.
I read on Saturday morning whilst The Person slept soundly...
I had an excellent opportunity to read on Saturday afternoon but I succumbed to sleep and woke up with Rosie pinning my feet down so I did a little bit more reading...
I read whilst it snowed and I read whilst the sun shone...
I have moved on to Toby's Room now and I am enjoying it muchly, I do enjoy a bit of Pat Barker.
Will I read multiple books? Hell's no. But it has been nice to feel I have an excuse to read.
My crochet is suffering though and that makes me feel a little bit antsy...
Friday, 29 March 2013
Easter Read-a-thon
Oh hai Easter how are you?
I was as giddy as a giddy thing yesterday. Partly because I had a can of Coke, partly because it is one week until my birthday and partly because I now have a week off work and won't be back until Monday 8th April.
Winner.
Oh yeah, I know I was freaking out about turning 30 and I totally still am a little bit but now this has been taken over with just intense excitement for my birthday. I have never met a single person who gets as excited about their birthday, who is above the age of 10, as I do. I love them and that is 100% down to presents. I'm a horrid little spoilt bint at heart and I love presents. I don't mind how big they are or how much money was spent, as long as it is wrapped in paper I am ALL IN.
So anyhoo. Easter.
Mumsie and The Person are coming down my sister's later today and will be here for the weekend until I head back to Preston on Easter Monday for the rest of my birthday week. I reckon turning 30 deserves a week of celebrations.
There is quite a bit going on but there will also be a good old load of relaxing and when I read about Nose in a Book's Easter Read-a-thon I thought that was definitely something I would like to take part in.
I don't do anywhere near enough reading as I would like to. I get bizarrely overwhelmed with guilt when I read outside of lying in bed before I go to sleep. I feel like it's being a bit indulgent and I should be doing something much more worthwhile with my time, like watching crap telly.
It is also of great annoyance to me that I've never found a way to read at the same time as crocheting - audio books don't work for me because I cannot keep my concentration on focus on what's happening.
So I am going to indulge in some reading this Easter.
I will not be storming through a pile of books like Kate will. In fact I'd be surprised if I get through one but this about fun ok?
In fact I shall start by well and truly breaking the rules and stating that I'm totally counting the reading that I did last night because as far as I'm concerned, Easter started when I left work on Thursday and I read my book really hard last night and I want it to count.
All I have are the books that are with me here at my sister's and somehow, I've amassed quite the little pile even though I'm only allowed to buy a total of 12 books this year...
The main one I'm focusing on is Dominion - I've had this on the go for quite some time now and it's not the most portable of books so I would like to take advantage of being at home to have a power through. I made good headway last night and I have high hopes that my main achievement of the Easter Read-a-thon will be finishing this.
If I do manage to finish it then it'll probably be on to Toby's Room as this has been lent to me and whilst I like it when people lend me books it causes me a lot of stress as I feel like I have to read that book immediately and I have eleventy billlion of my own books to read. So it would be nice to get Toby's Room read and then I can move on to my own.
Unfortunately everything I have with me here at my sister's is rather chunky so I don't think you'll be able to come back after Easter and see me boasting about the numbers of books I've read. Maybe I'll just count the number of pages read?
Anyway.
I should be reading not blogging - be on your way.
Thursday, 28 March 2013
January and February Project 365 round up
Yay I love being late with posts like this.
But really what do you expect, it took me until mid-February to post about my Not Really Resolutions.
I liked doing these round-up posts last time I did Project 365 - they were nice for me to look back at each month and also means that I post about the stuff that I forgot to post about. I don't understand how I ever posted more frequently, I think I'm doing amazingly and back on my blogging track and then I look and realise that I have posted 4 times in March - what? Worst blogger ever.
Anyhoo. Here's post 5 the month and a quick round-up of my best* photos of January and February.
*When I say "best" clearly I don't mean photographically brilliant, I just mean my bestest and favouritest moments.
But really what do you expect, it took me until mid-February to post about my Not Really Resolutions.
I liked doing these round-up posts last time I did Project 365 - they were nice for me to look back at each month and also means that I post about the stuff that I forgot to post about. I don't understand how I ever posted more frequently, I think I'm doing amazingly and back on my blogging track and then I look and realise that I have posted 4 times in March - what? Worst blogger ever.
Anyhoo. Here's post 5 the month and a quick round-up of my best* photos of January and February.
January
Clockwise L-R: SWAN, my new home, Rowan taking over my bed, reading on the train, fancypants house, SNOW
6th January - I took a picture of a swan innit? This is a lovely wee place that we drive to to take the dogs for a walk. This swan nicely floated into view for me to take a photo, then caught sight of Rosie, hissed and scared the shit out of me.
1st January - First photo of the year and a picture of my new nest. This is the box room at my sister's that I moved into before starting work the next day. Man when I think about that I'm impressed I didn't have some kind of breakdown...
4th January - ...but how could I feel rubbish when I was now living with this person? This is Rowan, taking over my whole bed which she still regularly does and I let her because I'm a fool.
20th January - Being away from The Person properly sucks but it does mean that I get a good load of train reading in. I love being on a train, forced relaxation is the bomb.
21st January - It snowed! Ha. I thought this was such a novelty - little did I know it would still be happening in March. Less cool.
29th January - My first big work challenge - organising a Strategy Meeting for all the Directors at work. We went to the place pictured and I flounced about like I was in Downton Abbey.
February
Clockwise L-R: Cats vs Andrew, Peeking Fred, failed Cookie Monster cupcake, very early roses for Valentine's Day, Rosie got to my Valentine's card before I did, the beginnings of the Tetris Blanket.
10th February - The Person is a funny old fellow you know. I came back to the flat to discover this little set-up - my two ceramic cats (why yes, yes they are Fred and Lily!) set up looking into the fish tank. Apparently the idea is to give them some "stimulus". Personally I reckon Andrew could take them on.
1st February - I went back to Hull for the first time since before Christmas. This means some jolly good Fred and Lily time. This is a photo of Fred peeking at me from behind a curtain. I have no idea why.
9th February - Let us never forget Cookie Monster-gate. 'Nuff said.
11th February - I got roses for Valentine's Day! Wait. But this photo says the 11th February. Oh yes, that's because The Person kind of got the delivery date wrong. Hey, he tried at least!
13th February - The Person did manage to send a Valentine's Day card in time though. Unfortunately Rosie got to it before I did...
25th February - Hey I had a great idea in February, I was going to crochet a Tetris Blanket. This involved planning to the max. Excel to the rescue!
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You see this is exactly why I've done Project 365 for another year. It helps you to remember all the daft little things. I mean who wouldn't want to remember the time they completely messed up their baking or when the dog ate your Valentine's Day card?
Exactly.
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