Monday 31 October 2011

Politics

I just read an article written by Boris Johnson (the half-wit in charge of London) which has left me a bit shocked to be honest.

Angry actually.

Boris Johnson's article at Telegraph.co.uk

Is it just me or is he portraying Scots as lazy good-for-nothing Neanderthals?  As a Scot myself I am appalled that Johnson is allowed to write such drivel.

This is the time where I am glad to have a good book on the go.  Will really calm me down if I can just get lost within the story... see y'all later!

Sunday 30 October 2011

My Broken Memory

It's official - my memory is terrible!

I do recall putting in an Amazon order last night, I also remember that I ordered three books... but I'll be darned if I can remember which books I ordered!

One is set in Glasgow - I can remember that much!

So on another note - I'm currently reading my first Neil Gaiman book.  Can't believe I haven't read any of his books before.  Thoroughly enjoying it - American Gods.  It's one of those books where I keep flicking along (reading it in iBooks).

I'm so relieved that I haven't told the family about my blog as I think I'm going to buy the proper book for my brother for Christmas.  At this rate my whole family are going to get books for Christmas - already got one for my sister, a paranormal romance... I read it with a group on goodreads recently and thought that she'd enjoy it.  Paranormalcy, and I can't remember the author off hand either lol.  At any rate, I liked it but not in a big way.  Considering it was teenager falls for guy, oops he's not normal type of book.  Actually no oops considering she knows all along that the boy's not human.  Anyways, I think my 15 year old sister will enjoy it more than I did.

So yeah, that's the update... I'm actually reading 3 authors I've never read before.  The one mentioned above, Jennifer Egan and Edward Rutherfurd.  Had a day of just surrounding myself with reading material today and feel better for it... time to curl up in bed with some more reading material.  Now the issue is which do I read to fall asleep to?

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Flight Reading

In almost 16 and a half hours I will be boarding a plane to take me to a Mediterranean island for a couple of days.  Should be exciting and I'm sure I will be too busy having adventures on the island to be doing a lot of reading.  If I was going to be there longer I'd be planning some time on the beach with a book!

I've decided that since my baggage allowance is pitiful - one bag weighing no more than 10 kilos - that I won't be bringing New York with me.  I'll be opting for a) a thinner therefore lighter book or b) something that's already in my iBooks app.  Yet there is absolutely no lack of reading material in my iBooks, somewhere around 1,500 ebooks which seems staggering but I'm sure a lot of them aren't very good.  Just a shame I'm not an Agatha Christie fan!  Then again you never know.  Maybe I should start one of her books on my 3 and a half hour flight and see how it goes (I did see Mousetrap at King's Theatre in London this year and loved it so who knows).

I'm aware that I'm probably asking a question into empty cyber-space but I'd love to know how others (you, the potential reader of my ramblings) pick their holiday reads?

Monday 24 October 2011

Unreadables!

I am so incredibly frustrated right now.

Last week, after submitting my essay and before falling ill with I haven't got a clue but all I've done is sleep... will get to that later... I raided my local library.

Some library information - it's a tiny library.  There's one massive library on the other side of the city centre to where I live and various smaller libraries scattered around the city.  I live in one of the poorest areas in town (actually it's terrible here, the average life expectancy for this city is the lowest in Britain) yet so many people don't take advantage of the free libraries.  Actually, I don't think half the people in this part of the city attended enough school to have learned to read or certainly appreciate the joy that can come from reading which is incredibly sobering to think of.  Anyway this library is small and usually completely empty except for the odd pensioner reading the paper or student using the computers to check their emails so it makes sense that the selection of books is slightly limited.

I happened across the name of an author I've heard is good - Kate Mosse.  I read half of Labrynth but at that point found it quite unreadable.  I lost all interest in it.  So since I've managed to 'grow into' Terry Pratchett (I found his work to be unreadable as a teenager) I thought I'd give Mosse another go and picked up the book.


I only got as far as page 6!  I just couldn't read any further into it... so I chopped and changed before settling on my next book.  I was actually quite disappointed that I didn't manage to read any further.  So much that I was quite restless for the next hour and attempted to read from the beginning again, but still found it to be unreadable.

I don't know many people who have many books that they just can't read.  I have a few.  I am due to start the fourth book of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series by Laurel K. Hamilton.  The books are incredibly trashy.  My exes sister dubbed them the "Slutty Vampire Novels"... and to be honest I think the name fits.  I did read somewhere (I think on goodreads) that they get worse part way into the series - apparently Hamilton took a break from her editor and decided that she knew best - fail!  So I'm in no rush to pick that series up again.

Eventually I settled on New York by Edward Rutherfurd which (if I have any faithful readers, doubtful yet hope so lol) you may have recognised from the picture of the pile of books on my night stand...


A daunting 1040 pages of historical part-fact-part-fiction.  So far so good!  But I'm only around 60 pages into it!  I have to say that a lot seems to have happened in 60 pages and am looking forward to reading some more.  Though in reality I predict that I will put the book down to read something else for a time then return to it.  I mean, 1040 pages is a lot!  That book won't be able to live in my handbag like other books of the moment.  The straps will break!

I'm wondering if other book hoarders have trouble deciding on what to read next, and I am also curious as to how they overcome such obstacles!!

So the past week almost has been pretty unbearable.  I managed to read half of Pratchett's The Light Fantastic.  I've been in bed for days yet all I've done is sleep.  If I have a duvet day my rule is at least one book per day!  Not one thin book per week.  Yes, I love my bed... because it's where I seem to do much of my reading.  Beds should always be for reading and not anything else in my opinion! lol

Finally I want to say hi to Carol and Gina from my favourite group on goodreads who've braved the blogging world!  I look forward to reading your blogs in the future and wish you all the best with your literary adventures ^.^

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Negligence charges

I admit to neglecting my darling books lately. I love them dearly, I just hope they don't get too jealous of my essay. Will return once social scientific jargon and random ramblings on traffic ordering has been captured on paper.