Books, Films, Gigs, and My Life!

Wow I’m getting awful at keeping up with this….

( Books from 24th July to 12th September )

( Chalet School Books I have purchased and read recently! )

( Books from 8th July to 21st July )

I’m currently just about to start the second volume of Michael Palin’s diaries “Halfway to Hollywood: 1980 – 1988”, which should be quite good! My goals in my reading seem to have changed a bit now – I haven’t read any books from the 1001 list for a while (apart from 1001 nights, I think that’s probably on it) and have been mainly reading books which I have bought this year, I think my goal will be to read all the books I buy or receive this year, then there should be time left after that to read some more “great novels”, haha. So far this year I’ve bought or received 53 books (mainly from charity shops, and including 10 that I got for Christmas), and have read 26 of them (among other books of course), so I should probably be able to get that done. I must stop going into the Pound shop and buying books though, as they’re usually not that great, even though they are only £1!

Got a bit of an interesting / scary thing coming up tomorrow...will know the outcome in a couple of weeks, so that will be interesting / scary!! The outcome will hopefully be all good though!! :)

( Books from 9th June to 7th July 2011 )

I haven’t really read that many great books recently, apart from the Chalet School ones, which is a shame. Everything has been a bit disappointing really! But at least I have them out of the way, and my pile of books for the car boot sale is growing! I’m currently reading a book which I have seen to be quite badly reviewed previously, but its ok so far…and next I’m going to try Midnight’s Children, which I’m looking forward to. Just in time for my parents to come back from India with all their photos as well! I haven’t done too well with reading books from the 1001 books to read before you die recently, so that will be a start again. I think I might just concentrate more on reading the books I have that I haven’t read, and then go back to the library to get more books in September.

As for general life things…I’ve started the next OU course I’ve signed up for, its just psychology this time, and its been interesting so far. Just waiting for the mark from my first essay now! The next one isn’t due until September, although I want to get it done before Bloodstock in August really. And talking of Bloodstock I’ve met a few more metallers recently, so I’m getting increasingly excited about that, (Bloodstock I mean, not the metallers, though they are cool, haha!) even though I keep forgetting what bands are playing! I know when I go I’ll find loads to go and see though. It’ll be great :D I don’t have any more gigs to go to until September apart from that, which is a bit of a shame!

I hope everyone reading this has been well and been doing fun things! :)

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The longest book I've ever read is probably A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. I've also read Pillars of the Earth and Fall of Giants by Ken Follett, both of which are very long. I've also got 1/3 of the way through War and Peace, which I am quite pleased about...but then the "war" bits just got too boring so I stopped! I am definitely going to try again though, hopefully this year.

As for the shortest - I really don't know. I suppose it would be a children's picture book, well that would be the book with the least words anyway! In which case I will say either the Hungry Catepillar (colouring in version!!), or a book about a slug trying to find a shell...can't remember what that was called though!

Book 92 - In Their Footsteps by Tess Gerritsen - an extremely average crime thriller - I was surprised it wasn't better, as her medical crime books are really excellent. Not recommended.

Hmm this journal seems to have kind of fallen by the wayside..I'm reading so many more books than I was last year, and I'm a lot busier at work at the moment than I usually am, so I don't have that much time to write in here...well I do, but I'd rather be reading my books, haha. I feel I should still keep writing my reviews, but I might write a few lines for each thing rather than a couple of paragraphs. I do like writing in here, but I just haven't been in the mood for lots of reviews. I will try and write in here more though. For now I'm just going to list the books, with a couple of lines for each.

47. Howards End by E M Forster - bit boring, another story with weak women in it!

48. Falling Angels by Tracy Chevallier - set in early 1900s, about two friends who meet as children, going on to be about suffragettes, really good but silly twist at the end!

49. Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson - I loved this, crime story about missing children in the 1970s, with some bits set in modern times, it was great.

50. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell - this was wonderful, with lovely characters, really recognisable from watching the TV series. A great writing style too.

51. The Island by Victoria Hislop - This was a re-read for my book club. A good book, on a topic I'd never really read before.

52. The Help by Kathryn Stockett - This was excellent. About the lives of black maids and nannies in a town in America. Couldn't believe it was set in the 1960s!

53. Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre - Boring! Didn't care about the characters, even though it tried to be about something deep and meaningful.

54. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett - This is a huge epic of a book, set in five different countries, across 12 years from 1911 to 1923. Fantastic fictional history of the beginning of the First World War. and its the first book in a trilogy! woo! :D

55. The Wife by Meg Wolitzer - Don't know where I got this book, but I'd like to give it back as it was rubbish! Another weak woman!

56. One Day by David Nicolls - I felt so strongly about this book that I not only didn't give it a rating (as I couldn't decide on it), but I wrote a note about what I thought about it: "depressing, about two people who wasted their lives without each other, then didn't get the chance to enjoy it when it all went right". I really found this book incredibly depressing!

57. Girl, Interrupted by Susannah Kaysen - This was good, an interesting memoir about a girl's stay in an asylum in the mid 20th century. Some interesting observations.

58. Nerd Do Well by Simon Pegg - This is excellent, especially for sci-fi geeks! Simon Pegg writes in a really interesting style. And in one of the pictures one of his friends is wearing a Sisters of Mercy tshirt, woo! haha.

59. Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was nothing particularly impressive. A moderately good thriller, but not worth the hype.

60. Tomorrow When The War Began by John Marsden - This is a great children's book, about a group of teenagers struggling to survive after their country has been taken over by an army. A good book!

61. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote - Not quite how I expected, I wanted it to be longer, but it was ok.

I'm currently reading Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey, which I'm enjoying.

I've got a horrible cough at the moment, so bad its giving me a headache! I've had an ok week though - after my slightly depressing last entry I had an excellent birthday weekend, with some surprisingly pleasant effects...haha. It may cause some uncertainty in time, but its quite nice at the moment! Though I kind of feel like Katie or someone told them (both...) to be nice to me because I was sad the previous weekend...but ah well, haha.

Next weekend its the Resistanz Festival at the Corporation in Sheffield, which should be excellent! Covenant, And One, Faderhead AND Uberbyte, (and more, but they're my favourites!) all in the same weekend! Woo! Corporation is a bit of a tatty venue, but I suppose its just comparable to Slimelight in that respect. It should be a great weekend though. Oh, and its the "Classix" night in Camel on the friday, which we're also going to, which should be great - Katie is friends with the dj so hopefully he'll play lots of goth and 80s! :)

I hope everyone on my friends list is well and good and happy! :)

( Book Thirty Three - The Mersey Sound – compilation of poetry by Adrian Henri, Brian Patten and Roger McGough )

( Book Thirty Four - The Plague by Albert Camus )

( Book Thirty Five - The Demon Headmaster / The Prime Minister’s Brain by Gillian Cross )

( Books Thirty Six to Thirty Nine - Mennyms in the Wilderness / Mennyms Under Siege / Mennyms Alone and Mennyms Alive )

( Book Forty - The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling )

( Book Forty One - Enchanted Places by Christopher Milne )

( Book Forty Two - The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins )

( Book Forty Three - Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse )

I have also read a few more books, bringing my total up to 47 this year so far! - Howards End by EM Forster, Danny The Champion of the World / James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick, and Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier, but I have just discovered the Project Gutenburg website (why have I never looked at it before!) so am just off to download some books!! :)