White Powder, Green Light by James Hawes

This one was definitely an unusual choice for me. I don’t usually read books from The Boy’s collection, it’s often the other way around with me making him read books I love. But I’m glad I read White Powder, Green Light.

It is a very amusing book, I found the plot interesting and fast-paced. It offers a satirical view of the media world and the people who spend their lives mostly in the W1 postcode of London. I laughed while reading certain parts and I really liked that the people in it actually talk like real people do, with differences in their backgrounds and education reflected in their way of speaking.

While I enjoyed reading this book, I do think it might be more geared towards men. It’s not a girly book, the way it’s written feels to me like what 20-something boys would like. It has a few graphic scenes and, being set in the Soho media life, drugs and sex are big themes in it, not that I was bothered by this.

Brideshead Revisited

It’s kind of hard to write this review, because I finished this book a while ago. I’ve been meaning to read Brideshead Revisited for a long time. I’ve not read anything else by Evelyn Waugh and to be honest, I don’t think I will.

 No, I didn’t hate it. In theory this book sounds perfect. It has all the ingredients to make it a great book (to me anyway.) It starts in 1923 and concludes in 1943, it features an aristocratic family, a grand country house, the medieval colleges of Oxford… And yet I didn’t love it, I thought it was merely all right.

After a slow start, I found the plot to be very interesting and I was eager to keep reading. And it is of course, very well written. What bothered me is that I couldn’t understand why Charles (the narrator) was so fascinated by the Marchmains. They were certainly quirky characters, but I couldn’t see anything to justify how much his obsession consumed him.

Then again, the nature of his relationship with Sebastian was never made clear in the book. There were some hints of a homosexual relationship between him and Sebastian, but nothing definitive. That really bugged me. I just hated not knowing. In my opinion that would explain why Sebastian, unable to combine that with his religion, was so unhappy.

Catholicism is a large theme of the book, it’s the most significant influence in the big life choices of all the Marchmains, a fact I couldn’t relate to and found irritating. To be clear, I don’t have a problem with any religion, but the whole book was so steeped in theology it got kind of annoying. Of course, afterwards I read somewhere that the author had converted to Catholicism and the book was his attempt to express the Roman Catholic faith in secular literary form. And I suppose he really achieves that, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.

Have you read Brideshead Revisited? Am I just being grumpy by saying it was just ok? Can someone explain the teddy bear to me?

Readathon: 10 hours in

How is the readathon almost halfway done already? I have to say, I did not expect to get this far. I did take a two hour break to have dinner and and lots of short breaks to spend some time with The Boy, but I managed to do quite a bit of reading, tweeting and cheering.

I’ve been reading Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson and I’m really enjoying it. It’s very sweet and pleasurable, and very English I guess.

How’s your readathon going so far? Are you getting tired yet? I have to confess that I’m getting a bit sleepy (it’s 23:00 here) and I’m very tempted to go to bed and maybe wake up tomorrow morning and join the readers in the last few hours of the readathon…

Readathon: Hour 1 – Introductory Post

Hello readathoners! I thought I’d have a little break from reading and introduce myself to everyone who stumbles on this little blog…

So, for this Readathon, I’m reading in my flat in London, UK. It’s quite crisp and autumnal weather today, in my opinion a great day to cosy up with a good book and read.

Hm, three random facts about me…. Well, I have double jointed thumbs and that seems to freak people out a lot. I’m a pretty good baker (have a look at what I baked yesterday for the readathon). I use references from the Gilmore Girls a lot, sadly not many people get them.

I have a pile of 5 books for the readathon. Very ambitious since I’m combining participating with spending time with The Boy who’s just here for the weekend. I’ll be happy if I finish even one, I don’t really set any particular reading goals. Oh, actually one goal is to restrain myself from eating both packs of Doritos in my snack pile.

My advice is to not get intimidated when you see people posting their reading stats. Everyone has a different rhythm and it’s not a competition. And of course to enjoy it!

Preparing for the Readathon

Are you excited? Just under an hour before the reading commences! I know I won’t be able to participate for many hours, but that didn’t stop me from putting together a pile of books to read and, perhaps most importantly, a pile of snack to keep me going.

So, here are the books I’ll be attempting to read today:

• A life like other people’s by Alan Bennett
• Selected poems by Emily Dickinson
• The Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams
• The inimitable Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
• Major Pettigrew’s last stand by Helen Simonson

And here are my snacks:

Made no effort to stick to healthy snacks, because, well, what’s fun about that? I baked the chocolate tart yesterday and I have to say it’s delicious. A chocofreak’s dream basically.

Have you prepared for the readathon? Any books you are particularly looking forward to reading?

Cliveden House

My recent stay in the great english countryside wasn’t just valleys and hills. It also included a visit to this magnificent estate, set on banks high up above the Thames.  The grounds are lovely and varied, the house itself is stunning and the views across the valley below are gorgeous.

Strolling down the sloping banks away from the house got us to a stretch of the river that was impossibly beautiful. It was hard to believe this is the same river I see every day in the heart of London.

If you happen to be in Buckinghamshire someday, do visit Cliveden, it comes highly recommended.

Aunts aren’t Gentlemen by P. G. Wodehouse

And so, I finished Aunts aren’t Gentlemen, the last of the Jeeves and Wooster novels. Once again, I found myself in the perfect, sunlit world of P. G. Wodehouse and enjoyed a heavy dose of Englishness and Bertie Wooster’s philosophy.

I’ll never get tired of saying this: no matter how sad/grumpy/lonely I’m feeling these novels never fail to life my spirits. I suspect it has something to do with the beautiful, elegant writing and the funny stories where nothing really bad ever happens, and even if it does, Jeeves sorts it out in the end.

It’s a bit upsetting that I have no more Jeeves and Wooster novels to read, I’ve been reading one every few months for the past couple of years. Thankfully, I have three collections of short stories featuring the adventures of my soulmate and his gentleman’s gentleman. Plus, I suspect that the books will still be enjoyable as re-reads for when I want a Wooster fix. (I’ve been thinking that in the second time around I won’t be lazy and I will actually write down all the sage words of Bertie Wooster (the man’s wisdom knows no limits) to form a -slightly- silly guide to life.) Not to mention the dvds of the tv series with Fry & Laurie, a beloved birthday present from The Boy last year.

I think I’ll include the first volume of short stories, The Inimitable Jeeves, in my Readathon list. I can’t think of a book better suited to keeping me awake and in a good mood in the wee hours. (A bit of a tangent here, but have you signed up yet? If not, I suggest that you do so immediately, it’s really fun!) And I know P. G. Wodehouse wrote lots and lots of other novels, do you have any favourites to recommend?

Oh I do love to be in the countryside!

I didn’t tow a boat, but I sure did walk along many towpaths. And footpaths. And bridleways. And country lanes. I walked through fields, up and down hills, through woods, over bridges and along the river. This book-inspired holiday definitely wasn’t a relaxing, restful one. But with such beautiful countryside waiting to be explored, and the glorious weather we were lucky to have, staying was not an option. Even if the b&b we stayed at was adorable and the full English breakfast every morning made taking naps very tempting. Here are some of my favourite pictures…