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Reading Stash
Dec. 28th, 2016 05:24 pm
I was blessed with a Waterstones card this Xmas, courtesy of Prodigal 1, who definitely knows his mother's love for books. truro wqas busy, but spent a heavenly time reading and drinking in the upstairs Costas, which is the closest thing to 'prayer' that I will ever be.
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bethnoir recommends Ben Aaronovitch's book Rivers of London , which kept me entertained for a short while. I was interested in the Banksy book Wall and Piece and am glad it is in my shelf now. I haven't got around to the Wild Art book, but it is shaping up to be a good read. In my down time, I am coming away from intense, heavy lit - settling instead for a jolly good read. Pre Xmas, I started to read Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children which I vow to finish before I start the new term.First Day Back
Sep. 29th, 2016 09:32 pm
City of Plymouth from the top of the Roland Levinsky building at Plymouth University.
To be honest, it wasn't that bad and actually have heaved a small sigh of relief, because I have achieved some stuff. New rail card, new student card and Amazon Book vouchers for £100.
I'm in heaven!
Reading Quest
Jun. 8th, 2016 10:40 pm
Following my lengthy read of House of Leaves, I have set myself the task of reading (and commenting/reviewing) many of the recommended books that I have on my bookshelves. I will do this throughout June - July, I will have to settle down and research my major dissertation. Please feel free to comment, or even join me with your own books - it will be a pleasure to see what you are reading :-)
Reading Challenge 2016
Jan. 3rd, 2016 09:00 amI am curious about this challenge and when my new (reduced) semester starts in February, I will join in - I will also join in (albeit randomly) with egg_shell's Writing Prompts Project and see where it takes me.
egg_shell's Writing Prompts Project and see where it takes me. 
I have a few challenges ahead; for instance I have told P2 that I will learn chess and as a promise to myself, brush up on my Italian - wish Inspector Montalbano was back on :-(
***EDIT*** Oh joy of joys - Young Montalbano is on!!!!
***EDIT*** Oh joy of joys - Young Montalbano is on!!!!
With A Chainsaw
Aug. 10th, 2015 07:20 pm
Open to all - free to share, but please comment with your last book read and 'with a chainsaw.' Mine was 'The Ladies' Paradise...With A Chainsaw!!!'
Bahahahahahahahaha !!!
Bookfest - Kim Noble
Jun. 11th, 2014 04:52 pm
Some women buy shoes and scent or clothes and holidays - I have forked out for even MORE books (I have just had a Dickens spending spree). I have bought a biography on C.S Lewis by the same publisher that did the Roald Dahl one that I liked. I have got the story of Kim Noble, the artist who has a split personality and these personalities produce very different, very individual pieces of work. I came across this story whilst doing the Psychology modules at Access last academic year. Will write up about the book when it has been read (add to the other 10 or so 'must read' titles in my bookshelf).
Below is an interview with Kim and also a link to her website. Terribly sad, many awful things happened to her, in many regards but also an amazing story of how art overcomes the mind.
http://www.kimnoble.com/
( Kim Noble - Artist with Multiple Personality Disorder )
Plus, I have been able to bag a snazzy academic diary and a batch of henna from LUSH. Feel pampered :-D
Wide Sargasso Sea
Jun. 9th, 2014 03:49 pm
I mislaid Fahrenheit 451, so I have read Wide Sargasso Sea. Bewitching book - I thought as I wasn't a Jane Eyre fan, that this would fall flat for me. Au contraire - Jean Rhys' descriptions conjure not only the Jamaican landscape, but the decline of the western colonial rule and the tensions between the indigenous population and the white Creole. Displaced and conflicted, the culture has an impact upon the already-established fragility of Antoinette's family and their weakened mental state. It is told in three parts via Antoinette, her new, unnamed husband (who is presumed to be Rochester) and the eventual return to England.
It is but an imagined prequel; it could be argued that Bronte's Jane Eyre is a Gothic novel, the Wide Sargasso Sea could be seen as a post modern portrayal of a much-maligned woman's life from a wholly different angle. Countless Literary Theory documents have been written about this, mostly fem-lib, but it is an interesting plot twist on an old story. Well worth the read - I will resume Fahrenheit 451 (recently reclaimed from a pile of office junk).
Summer Book List
Jun. 3rd, 2014 09:22 am
Fahrenheit 451 is the first book of my reading list. The blurb says that it is a dystopian "post-literate future", which "stands alongside Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World and a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity".
Kudos from The Times - "A disturbing tale that explores the maxim "Ignorance is Bliss" to its fullest; and the Sunday Telegraph - "No other writer uses language with greater originality and zest."
Looks like it is right up my street :-)
Booklist Summer 2014
May. 21st, 2014 07:05 pmAs per the FdA Year 2 list
Arthur Conan-Doyle: The Lost World, The Poison World
Charles Dickens: Bleak House,Hard Times, Great Expectation - perhaps add The Old Curiosity Shop
George Eliot: Middlemarch
H.G.Wells: The Time Machine
As per my list
Monica Ali: Brick Lane
Margaret Attwood: Alias Grace,The Handmaid's Tale
Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451
Bertolt Brecht: The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Jean Rhys: The Wide Sargasso Sea
John Wyndham: The Chrysalids, The Midwitch Cuckoos
Markus Zusak: The Book Thief
I may add to this in due course - but I am looking forward to some creative time
Arthur Conan-Doyle: The Lost World, The Poison World
Charles Dickens: Bleak House,
George Eliot: Middlemarch
H.G.Wells: The Time Machine
As per my list
Margaret Attwood: Alias Grace,
Bertolt Brecht: The Caucasian Chalk Circle
John Wyndham: The Chrysalids, The Midwitch Cuckoos
Markus Zusak: The Book Thief
I may add to this in due course - but I am looking forward to some creative time
Crow and Gull
Jan. 26th, 2014 02:57 pmI've started to write the children's book, alas I have found that there is already a Gulliver the Gull in existence, so I have had to change his name again. I have story-boarded it, so at least I have the outline sussed e.g. 12 sides: Beginning (intro and what they did) + Middle (one clever child who points out the obvious) + End (sensible conclusion). Also ::: I have to create a poem about a crow and submit it to the forum by at least tomorrow.
I have started the last page first and I am inspired by snippets - but trying to make things work rhyme and metre-wise is not always easy. I am thinking to books of my own childhood:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is still going strong
Edward Lear's Nonsense Stories are not so popular but his nursery rhyme The Owl and the Pussy Cat still stands the test of time.
My personal favourite still is The Butterfly Ball by William Plomley, illustrated by Alan Aldridge.
Normally, I have an ear for rhyme and have composed poetry in the past, but I am finding the concept of writing rhymes for children a bit challenging at the moment. Strange really, because it was rhyming stories and nursery rhymes that opened my head to English at a very young age. I was a voracious reader, read anything and everything and it IS the children's first books that captivate children and introduce them to using their imagination. I have storyboards 1 and 12 sorted out - I need to find the story in rhyme from 2-11.
I have started the last page first and I am inspired by snippets - but trying to make things work rhyme and metre-wise is not always easy. I am thinking to books of my own childhood:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is still going strong
Edward Lear's Nonsense Stories are not so popular but his nursery rhyme The Owl and the Pussy Cat still stands the test of time.
My personal favourite still is The Butterfly Ball by William Plomley, illustrated by Alan Aldridge.
Normally, I have an ear for rhyme and have composed poetry in the past, but I am finding the concept of writing rhymes for children a bit challenging at the moment. Strange really, because it was rhyming stories and nursery rhymes that opened my head to English at a very young age. I was a voracious reader, read anything and everything and it IS the children's first books that captivate children and introduce them to using their imagination. I have storyboards 1 and 12 sorted out - I need to find the story in rhyme from 2-11.
