Posts Tagged ‘books’
OK so this might seem odd to include under the term pretty but hear me out. Books are one of my dearest loves (right behind Richard, my family and my cat) so finding a cheap place to buy them was a blessing to me. I have gotten a lot of really great things from Book Depository - some for me and plenty of books for the kids. They have a great range, are cheap and really quick to arrive (always a big factor for me with recommending an online store).
If you love books you will spend hours and lots of money on this site. Just looking at the the food section and you will see what I mean. Oh and its free shipping worldwide, which is a big deal for some of the heavy cook books that are on my wishlist.
I do believe in reading the printed word. I think that there is something magical in opening a book and flicking through it that so far not Kindle nor Kobo nor iPad has been able to replace. Perhaps one day it will but until then my bookshelves will remain filled with the universe that can only be reached through the printed word.
I was annoyed last night when I discovered this on the Dymocks website.
For you see, I am a huge fan of Philippa Gregory. I picked up The Other Boleyn Girl years before everyone had read it and I still read it now, but my favourite of all is The Queens Fool. Philippa is on my list of favourite names because of her. Pity I have a prior engagement this Saturday.
My parents bought me one year The Wise Woman. Not just because Gregory wrote it …. but her heroine’s name is Alys. My spelling is so rare, to see it in print like that made the present.
Maybe this summer, after the wedding is a memory I will take some time to read the Tudor series again. Yes, I like that idea.
If you loved To Kill a Mockingbird* then you should read this. Jasper Jones is a fantastic book, with so much charm and warmth I was mostly disappointed that life is so busy I struggled to find quality time to spend with the story.
This book is beautifully crafted. I love the witty banter between our characters, most especially as it shows the changes in Charlies life. I genuinely felt that Charlie and Jeffery were the best of friends with their own silly language and I had to pause to ask myself some of their philosophical questions. The unlikely friendship between Chuck and Jasper Jones is touchingly sad and I just want to give Jasper a giant hug and cook him a good meal.
Early in the book I had that heart sink book lovers often get when they fear they have figured it out. There were some massive giveaways when Charlie was quoting Harper Lee and Mark Twain. Thank goodness the book still had surprises for me.
As I read I could feel the heat of an Aussie summer. I remember as a girl on the farm looking up at the stars in the summer, feeling the days heat seep from the earth into your skin. That such a small town can have so much drama doesn’t surprise me.
To be honest I nearly put the book down early on. One portion of the book turned my stomach and I did stop reading for a few days but the story is so engrossing I had to come back. Worth the read. Just take deep breaths when you get to that part, it only happens once.
Jasper Jones is going onto my repeat list, may try to bring it back out over the summer holidays.
*I do love that book, so much it put Harper on the list for my first daughters name.
Why is it that no matter how tired I am at 3pm at work, I usually get a second wind when I should really be getting ready for bed.
I do this with games. I do this with books (oh I do this with books). I can get started watching episodes of Ellen on YouTube in bed at 9:30 and still be at it when Richard comes to bed at 11. Don’t get me started blogging, oh I can be up til late writing even when I know it won’t be posted until later.
Although it sounds like a bad thing, and I do try to avoid it on school nights, there is something wonderful about finding something and loosing yourself to it. We do some many things in our lives that aren’t that enjoyable, things we have to do though we don’t really want to. That we can find things we love and get so swept up we forget to go to bed.
One thing I am really looking forward to about a free range lifestyle is that maybe I can use the second wind to be as productive as possible. We shall see how it goes.
Oh goodness, look at the time ……
Thinking about: all of the things that need doing before the wedding. The amount of work to do both at home for the wedding/honeymoon and at work is mind numbing. Sometimes, when it all gets too much, I just have to sit with my head in my hands and stop. My parents used to say to me “how do you eat an elephant?” the answer “One bite at a time”. While I know this logic works sometimes it can be hard to not chew on that elephant and think Ï will never finish eating all this before it goes off”. A lot of people (including Richard who has been unbelievable) have been so helpful to us in getting us organised and I am so grateful to them. To be completely honest with you though I wouldn’t have it any other way and I would genuinely regret it later in life if I hadn’t been a driving force in pulling the day together, it will be a proper celebration of us because we did it. I would never give that up.
Motivation: that at the end of all of this work I will be Mrs Alys Holz! It is really important to remember that, because it is the MOST IMPORTANT THING! Everything else that seems so important right now really isn’t, what matters is that by the end of August we will be married.
Watching: it tends to be in the background but we are still working our way through House MD (8 seasons takes a long time to get through). There are also new episodes of Once Upon a Time, Big Bang Theory, Colbert Report, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Conan for our viewing pleasure. Not really focusing on any one thing at the moment but and I look forward to a marathon of something once the wedding is over and we get our weekends back.
Obsessing over: the little details for the wedding. We’ve done all the big things so now everything is about the little details. With two months to go now is the time to order any supplies we need online and to start making the rest of them ourselves. I am so glad that we have a venue with a planner and decided to invest in a decorator. Not only does it mean that we have professionals looking after us but it also means at the end we aren’t going to have a room full of wax lanterns.
A good cause: I adore our Rorschach, he really is our first child, and I cannot imagine ever hurting him. I know though that he is lucky. Not every animal is treated with love the way he is. There are a few charities out there working hard to protect animals but I personally support the RSPCA. I am attracted to the fact that they run both on the ground, practicial programmes to care for and protect animals. As well as the national campaigns around public and government awareness of animal cruelty and protection. I am not a vegetarian though I do believe in trying, where I can, to buy from suppliers who care about animals too. The RSPCA’s Shop Humane campaign around humane foods is a great one, find out more on their website.
Praying for: good weather for the wedding. It doesn’t have to be dry as our venue is indoors (but not) and I think rain in wedding photos can look good. But I really don’t want to walk along George St in my dress with the risk of it getting wet. I am already having to line up my entire family to carry my dress so it doesn’t touch the ground – it cannot be dirty before I even arrive – adding rain to the mix just makes me nervous. So here is to a gorgeous day with plenty of sunshine and that lovely nearly spring weather you so often get at the end of August.
Wishing: scientists had figured out how to clone people, I could really use 3 of me rught now. They need to be clones of me rather than assistants for the simple fact that I don’t have time to supervise more people, I just need bodies to get the work done. At least if they were all me I would know that they would think/react/purchase the same way as I would. As long as there was a clear plan of who was looking after what for work/wedding/honeymoon/life we would get it done and be a great team.
Listening to/Reading: Enders Game by Orson Scott Card but as an audio book. The book itself is fantastic. I barely believe that it was originally written in the 80s, it really could be set now the story is so relevant to now. Audio books are something to get used to, and I am still working on it.
Richard found this and thought of me, very wise and this is exactly my experience of the film. I love books and hope you have a good book to curl up with this weekend. Actually, lets be honest curling up with a book is such a treat as an adult. I used to spend days on school holidays in a comfy chair by the window reading but now the only reading I get to do is on the bus.
Image source
Did you see The Hunger Games over the weekend? Even though in reality this ball goes against some key plot points (for example that the male and female tributes are drawn separately) its a cool idea, especially as you can add your own name in.
This book appealed to me out a lifelong fascination with graveyards. I love wandering through and reading the headstones. You can catch a glimpse of the history of a place by those buried in its soil. My grandparent home, that has been in the family since I was tiny, is just across the road from the local cemetery. In the Muswellbrook cemetery there is a grave of a woman named Alice Ellen that I discovered one day exploring with my sister Ellen. We wouldn’t have been much older than Bod and it scared the bee willies out of us both.
I wish my younger self could have had the opportunity to read and reread this wonderful book, and my older self wishes that i had written it”
Garth Nix (dust cover quote)
I too wish that this book had been written when I was young. The tale of Bod, the boy who lived in a graveyard, would have kept me awake at night worrying about the man under the hill.
If I had one criticism it is that I would loved to hear more of the tales of all those buried in the cemetery. There were people who had lived during different periods of history. The little hints throughout the book about what they were teaching Bod and how different that was from reality is fascinating to me. Like the man buried with both his wives jealous for eternity or the Roman who was one of the first buried there.
Richard recommended Gaiman to be years ago as he had read his comics. But I first properly discovered Neil Gaiman through Stardust (the movie) and then my heart skipped a beat to watch his episode for Doctor Who in 2011. Gaiman writes with charm and an effortless childish appreciation for those things that adult eyes miss. A joy to read and I look forward to sharing it with my own children one day.
First book off the Unread Library done!
What a beautiful illustration of the classic Little Red Riding Hood and the frame is incredible. Yes, you could put this in a child’s room but it would look just as good in an office/library. Personally I love to read children’s literature and get so much out of it as an adult. But for little ones it would be a nice feeling to have your stories/characters featured with adults. It would certainly have done a lot for my confidence as a child.
Imagine if you can that you are a young country boy no good at farming. You parents love you but aren’t really sure what to do as you are definitely not cut out for farming. Well, the plan is to take you to what I compare to a fair where tradies looking for apprentices mingle looking for a suitable candidate. At the end of the day the only man left is our protagonist Mort and who should come looking for an apprentice but Death himself.
I still consider myself as discovering Terry Pratchett’s book and the Discworld. There are 39 books in the series of which I have read three and watched the BBC TV movies of two others.
Mort is a great read. I really enjoyed the idea that Death is a job, an amazing one absolutely but a job none the less. It has obligations that sometimes have to be prioritised over family. Sometimes too you have to stand up to “the man” and not always do things the way they have been done.
Its very smartly written and you need to pay attention as there are some cool little throw aways in there if you pay attention. I love that Mort can walk through walls but only when he isn’t paying attention.
In a disclaimer I must admit that I am a “judge a book by its cover” girl and in my opinion there are some covers that are just not my style. The cover included here is not what was on the book I read. I like this much better but that is just my choice and I admit that the artist of the cover illustrations is really talented.
