I've decided, having read a few reading blogs lately, that I could assist my plan to expand my reading horizons with a few well chosen challenges for the year. The first one I've looked at is the Colourful Reading Challenge courtesy of http://imlostinbooks.blogspot.com/2009/11/colorful-reading-challenge-2010.html.
Now, this does run from Jan to Dec, so I am super challenging myself but I think it can be done. Here's my probable list:
*Indigo - Alice Hoffman
*Bitter is the New Black - Jen Lancaster
*White Fang - Jack London
*Lemon Tart - Josi S Kilpack
*The Secret History of the Pink Carnation - Lauren Willig
*Ruby - Ann Hood
*Blue Bloods - Melissa de la Cruz
*Blood Orange - Drusilla Campbell
*Green Mansions - W H Hudson
Of course, these may change along the way - already I am thinking I should read A Clockwork Orange and The Woman in White. Plus, it depends on what my library is carrying...
Certainly, if this round ligament pain keeps going like it is, I won't even have the four months I am counting on to complete this challenge. Treatment involves me lying on my left hand side with a heat pad on my right side - not very conducive to reading. Very good for watching tv though! Sadly, all my programmes seem to be coming to an end - Fringe and 24 have already finished as has 90210. Brothers and Sisters finishes next week. Luckily, Private Practice has just returned to the UK small screen and there is some way to go before Greys Anatomy ends for this season. I'm not sure if it's even worth finding something else to watch. Apparently, I will have no time for such frivolities as watching tv once the baby arrives. I don't know that this will be quite true... I guess I'll find out in about 20 weeks!
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Like helping to self assemble furniture
In light of the fact that later this year, we will be sharing our teeny tiny house with a baby, we are rearranging our bedroom and the spare room/office/wardrobe. To this end, we've purchased two low level chest of drawers to act as bedside tables and storage all-in-one. This means we can transfer clothes from the spare room/office/wardrobe into our room and thus create space for a cotbed. Genius.
Honestly, I didn't stop to think about how exactly we would fit all the accessories required for such a small addition in our home. Stuff like a play mat and bouncy chair, which all mothers I know have told me are a necessity. When we finally decided to have a family, nobody told me that our car would be too old for ISOFIX car seats or that a baby shouldn't be in a car seat for more than two hours. That puts paid to Devonshire weekends to visit the in-laws then...
Luckily, I do have lots of people (mothers mainly) on hand for advice - some wanted, some definitely unwanted. My cousin is studying to be a doula and has had two children in the last few years. The offer of books and maternity clothes has been greatly received. Plus, as our mothers are sisters and unrelentingly similar (read bossy and domineering - I do love them both dearly though) - she has been through everything I am/will be experiencing with regards to 'helpful' advice and a complete disregard (and disdain) for any modern thoughts and theories on child rearing.
Anyway, aside from wishing the weeks away so that I can meet our baby, I have been doing quite a lot of reading - thanks to recently joining a book group (the newest group to be run by the independent bookstore in Abingdon, the wonderful Mostly Books) in a bid to expand my reading horizons and steer me away from light-hearted and entertaining romantic comedies. Not that I want to become a literary snob, that will never be me. However, as all my television watching consists of American programmes such as 24, Desperate Housewives and even 90210 (yes, I haven't been a teenager for over a decade but I do quite enjoy the ridiculous characters and frivolous plot lines), I feel I should step it up with my reading and I'm very glad I have.
I quite liked the first book we read, 'The Girl with Glass Feet' by Ali Shaw. The second book I didn't like at all - 'Brooklyn' by Colm Toibin. I couldn't relate to the very repressed main character and her seemingly total lack of feelings for anything. The third book I didn't read as I was going to be away for that particular meeting and the fourth book, 'Silk' by Alessandro Barico, I absolutely loved. Beautifully sparse and yet moving. I felt a real affinity with the Japanese concubine, even though you never learn her name and she never speaks. I would recommend this book to everyone - if you don't like it, then you've only wasted about an hour and a half of your life (it's a very slim book - more of a novella really).
I do also have Slash's autobiography on my 'waiting to read' bookshelf - I've been putting it off as it's rather large, but I think I might have to start tackling it soon having watched one of the 'I'm in a Rock Band' programmes the other day. It made me think about how boring the rock scene is these days - all recovering alcoholics and married fathers of two studiously learning a second language on the tour bus. Oh for the antics of Tommy Lee and Ozzy Osbourne!
These days, we seem to only have young starlets and It girls to live vicariously through. Going out knickerless in very short skirts or having (rather tame) sex tapes 'leaked' rather pales in comparison to driving Bentleys into swimming pools or deliberately setting fire to hotel room doors using hairspray and a lighter. Bring back proper old fashioned, decadent hell raising, I say. Well, at least until my unborn child reaches those perilous and easily influenced teenage years anyway.
Honestly, I didn't stop to think about how exactly we would fit all the accessories required for such a small addition in our home. Stuff like a play mat and bouncy chair, which all mothers I know have told me are a necessity. When we finally decided to have a family, nobody told me that our car would be too old for ISOFIX car seats or that a baby shouldn't be in a car seat for more than two hours. That puts paid to Devonshire weekends to visit the in-laws then...
Luckily, I do have lots of people (mothers mainly) on hand for advice - some wanted, some definitely unwanted. My cousin is studying to be a doula and has had two children in the last few years. The offer of books and maternity clothes has been greatly received. Plus, as our mothers are sisters and unrelentingly similar (read bossy and domineering - I do love them both dearly though) - she has been through everything I am/will be experiencing with regards to 'helpful' advice and a complete disregard (and disdain) for any modern thoughts and theories on child rearing.
Anyway, aside from wishing the weeks away so that I can meet our baby, I have been doing quite a lot of reading - thanks to recently joining a book group (the newest group to be run by the independent bookstore in Abingdon, the wonderful Mostly Books) in a bid to expand my reading horizons and steer me away from light-hearted and entertaining romantic comedies. Not that I want to become a literary snob, that will never be me. However, as all my television watching consists of American programmes such as 24, Desperate Housewives and even 90210 (yes, I haven't been a teenager for over a decade but I do quite enjoy the ridiculous characters and frivolous plot lines), I feel I should step it up with my reading and I'm very glad I have.
I quite liked the first book we read, 'The Girl with Glass Feet' by Ali Shaw. The second book I didn't like at all - 'Brooklyn' by Colm Toibin. I couldn't relate to the very repressed main character and her seemingly total lack of feelings for anything. The third book I didn't read as I was going to be away for that particular meeting and the fourth book, 'Silk' by Alessandro Barico, I absolutely loved. Beautifully sparse and yet moving. I felt a real affinity with the Japanese concubine, even though you never learn her name and she never speaks. I would recommend this book to everyone - if you don't like it, then you've only wasted about an hour and a half of your life (it's a very slim book - more of a novella really).
I do also have Slash's autobiography on my 'waiting to read' bookshelf - I've been putting it off as it's rather large, but I think I might have to start tackling it soon having watched one of the 'I'm in a Rock Band' programmes the other day. It made me think about how boring the rock scene is these days - all recovering alcoholics and married fathers of two studiously learning a second language on the tour bus. Oh for the antics of Tommy Lee and Ozzy Osbourne!
These days, we seem to only have young starlets and It girls to live vicariously through. Going out knickerless in very short skirts or having (rather tame) sex tapes 'leaked' rather pales in comparison to driving Bentleys into swimming pools or deliberately setting fire to hotel room doors using hairspray and a lighter. Bring back proper old fashioned, decadent hell raising, I say. Well, at least until my unborn child reaches those perilous and easily influenced teenage years anyway.
Friday, 23 April 2010
Like working...
But, really, why would I do that? The sun is shining, I am pretty much up to date work-wise and, quite frankly, I just don't feel inclined to dredge up something so that I can pretend to be busy.
So, a little bit about myself is required I suppose. I live in Oxfordshire with my husband and no dogs. My day job is a run of the mill office job but my dream is to be a writer. I have a finished novel, which I am currently editing, and am a co-founder of the Abingdon Writers.
The Abingdon Writers are a wonderful group of aspiring writers who critique each others' work - I am always astounded by their insightful comments and suggestions and, more often than not, feel more than a little humbled by the quality of writing they produce. I write romantic comedy so can feel a little inferior in amongst the contemporary and historical writers. Still, it's all good practice for the reams of rejections that will come my way when I'm finally brave enough to send my work out to agents.
So, when I say I'll be procrastinating here - it will mostly be from work or from writing/editing. And from something else, but more about that tomorrow maybe.
So, a little bit about myself is required I suppose. I live in Oxfordshire with my husband and no dogs. My day job is a run of the mill office job but my dream is to be a writer. I have a finished novel, which I am currently editing, and am a co-founder of the Abingdon Writers.
The Abingdon Writers are a wonderful group of aspiring writers who critique each others' work - I am always astounded by their insightful comments and suggestions and, more often than not, feel more than a little humbled by the quality of writing they produce. I write romantic comedy so can feel a little inferior in amongst the contemporary and historical writers. Still, it's all good practice for the reams of rejections that will come my way when I'm finally brave enough to send my work out to agents.
So, when I say I'll be procrastinating here - it will mostly be from work or from writing/editing. And from something else, but more about that tomorrow maybe.
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