Posted by admin on Aug 3, 2009 in
books 
Another two months, another rather random selection of books under my belt- some of which have greatly troubled the boyfriend (see image above). I’m 5 books closer to finishing all the Booker novels (yippee!) and have read a startling amount of vampire themed kids books as well, which tie in quite nicely with watching Season One of True Blood. In no particular order, here are the latest on my literary adventures.
Night World, two anthologies by L.J.Smith
The first rule of fight club is that nobody talks about fight club, and the same principle applies even more closely to the Night World - where a mere mention of it means death to all. Think shadowy creatures of the night such as Vampires, witches ‘n werewolves , who lead a supernatural existence feeding off vermin (humans), but what happens when the rule of silence is broken- for love of vermin? The theme may be repetitive in the genre AND the books, but the prose is fast paced and easy to read, and written in a lighthearted yet compelling manner. I remember reading some of these when I was younger, and quite like how they’ve re-jacketed the book- very spooky- more angst ridden Harry Potter reader than a whimsical magic loving ten year old. Read more…
Tags: booker prize, books, science fiction, self help, vampires
Posted by admin on Feb 16, 2009 in
books,
news 
The first post in this blog was in regards to my New Years resolutions, those things we make every year and often fail. Well, I’m determined to fulfill at least half of the items on my list, and have been making firm progress . I’ve enrolled in Mandarin lessons (which were postponed due to low numbers), am visiting Portugal this week (tick number 5 off my list) and have booked flights to Australia for March.
Another of my resolutions was to complete all 40 Booker winning novels by the end of 2009, and January proved fruitful, as due to a multitude of airport visits and cross country trips I suscessfully ploughed my way through The English Patient (UK-Vegas), The Famished Road (California to UK), The God of Small Things (which I realized I’d already read half way through) and also discovered that I’d read more than I though I had, as I can also tick Disgrace by Joseph Coetzee off my list.
That still leaves a fair amount though, and recently bemoaning how much left I had left to got through, my friends and I embarked on a heated debate regarding the literary merits of many of the books on the list. It was a great evening in, as there was fresh lasagne, plentiful cava, and we even had fresh apple crumble with custard for dessert. OK, My contribution was of the cerebral kind, as I can’t a/cook, and b/ I really can’t cook, but with wine a-flowing and people chatting I had the un-original idea of starting a book club. As my friends are all English/Politics graduates who find their degree skills somewhat unwanted in their high flying city careers they agreed instantly, and the next day saw a flurry of work unrelated emails heading back and forth as we tried to decide on a book from the list to start with. Read more…
Tags: booker prize, books, friends, list, literature, review