Readathon: Book Staging Mini Challenge

Here’s my attempt to stage a scene to match the book I’m currently reading: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

It is a memoir about hiking the Appalachian trail. So my interpretation… My old tattered, Converse shoes, represent the walking part obviously. Then Barry, my stuffed bear, and a fox mask I got at Mulberry last year, because there’s a lot of wildlife being mentioned in the book. Although, perhaps the actual wildlife was a tad more intimidating than my choices. And the background is the slanted flowerbed outside by bedroom window to represent the mountains and the forests the trail goes through.

Readathon: Hour 7

How’s the readathon going for everyone? I’ve been enjoying myself quite a bit. I have been reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson which is truly very good and quite funny. Here’s a little quote:

“This is the sort of advice you get from someone who is sitting at a keyboard when he gives it. Take it from me, if you are in an open space with no weapons and a grizzly comes for you, run. You may as well. If nothing else, it will give you something to do with the last seven seconds of your life.”

About an hour ago, I had a pretty awesome snack. I noticed my pears weren’t ripe yet, so I halved one and roasted it with a splash of brandy, some sugar and cinnamon. And then I had it with a dollop of cream. Cream is never a bad idea.

I also participated in the Turn to a Page mini-challenge from Reflections of a Bookaholic. And of course, visited some blogs for some cheering. It’s so nice to discover more lovely people to talk about books with. And I am loving all the twitter interactions with the rest of the readathoners. Hope everyone is having fun!

Readathon: Hour 1

Well, I’ve just gotten comfortable, have my first book ready and I thought before I start I should first post my answers to the introductory questionnaire. So here it goes…

1) I’m reading from Oxford, UK where I very recently moved to. This is my very first readathon where I’m not in London.

2) My love for Bill Bryson is not a secret so I have to say, A Walk in the Woods is the book I’m most excited about, which is why I’m starting the readathon with it.

3) Doritos. Definitely the Doritos. Although, 2 hours ago I was kneading pizza dough, which has since been rolled out, covered with tomatoes and mozzarella, baked and consumed and it was delicious.

4) A little something about me… Hm… I watch Bridget Jones’ Diary way more often than I like to admit, I can explain the cosmological horizon problem to you and I have an obsession with poached eggs.

5) This time around I’m not going to pressure myself into reading more or faster. I know that I enjoy a slower reading pace, relishing each book, so there’s no point in rushing. I’m also going to spend more time cheering.

Hope you have a lovely readathon!

 

Readathon preparation

Well, the Readathon is almost here and I’m super excited. I didn’t really have a lot of time to think about what books I’ll read or what snacks I’ll have, it’s all basically been done in the last hour or so.

I perused my bookshelves and picked up a few books for today.

A couple of poetry books on top. First, Selected Poems by Emily Dickinson which was included in my Readathon pile last year and I still haven’t read it. What can I say, I’m not big on poetry. The poems should make for easy reading when it’s late and I’m tired though. And then I also have Selected Poems by Edgar Allan Poe, for silly, dramatic interpretations of The Raven, Gilmore Girls-style.

Then one of my £2 bookstore finds, Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. I know nothing about the author or the book, but the blurb in the back sounds interesting. The next one is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, which I started yesterday and thought it was hilarious, so I really want to continue reading it. And the big, scary black one is Collected Tales and Plays of Nikolai Gogol which I’m supposed to be reading for my own 2012 challenge.

Oh, and here is a picture of my snacks. Is anyone surprised that Doritos made the cut?

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

I’m annoyed with myself for leaving it until now to write this review. I finished reading this 3 weeks ago so, predictably, I can’t really remember a lot of the reasons why I liked it. Because I really, really liked it.

In The Remains of the Day, the narrator is Mr Stevens, a butler at one of the great English country houses. There isn’t a terrible lot happening in this book. It is after WWII has finished, and the house now belongs to an American gentleman and Stevens basically takes a few days off and embarks on a road trip in the countryside. The bulk of the book however is dedicated to Mr Stevens reminiscing and analysing certain in events in the past, his past and the house’s past.

Unsurprisingly, the writing in this book is superb and Stevens is a most fascinating character. He is extremely dedicated to his profession and he takes pride in his efficiency. He would have you believe that he is happy with the way he spent his life, that he has very few regrets indeed. But he is an unreliable narrator. It’s all the unsaid things, all the vague remarks, all the unfinished thoughts that really show him in a clear light. It seemed to me that he was trying to lie to himself, so repressed that he wouldn’t admit his own desires and needs and feelings to himself let alone act on them. At times, in the stories from his past, he comes off as completely heartless and a bit of a jerk really, but I couldn’t dislike him because it was evident that there was a lot more going on underneath the surface. In his determination to come close to the perfect butler ideal he has in his head he basically spent his life ignoring his heart. Which I found heartbreaking. All in all, an excellent book.

Shakespeare by Bill Bryson

I had just finished reading The Lost Continent and I wanted to spend more time with Bill, so I picked up Shakespeare. It helps that I have been collecting his books for a couple of years, means I always have some unread Bryson around.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I didn’t have high expectations for it, but I ended up really enjoying it. It’s basically an account of the bard’s life and work, Bryson has used a number of sources and talked to a lot of Shakespeare scholars. But it is surprising how very little we know about Shakespeare, considering he is one of the top British writers of all time. There are just a few things that could be said in certainty about this mysterious, elusive man.

Still, regardless of the lack of actual facts to write about, the book is highly entertaining. It is a sparkling account of Elizabethan England. London, at the time when Shakespeare lived and created his masterpieces there, is painted in such vivid colours it made for fascinating reading. And of course, it is written in Bryson’s witty style that I so enjoy. (Small tangent: I really think that the man could write a manual on defrosting the freezer and I would read it and love it.)

Anyway, I really enjoyed this book even though I never had a particular interest in Shakespeare. Do read it.

A bookworm’s life… with blossoms in my hair

Such delicious, warm and sunny days we are having this week. Makes me really excited about all the things, big and small, that I’m planning for the next couple of months… This spring I’ll…

Get back into running and yoga. Use up my vast collection of lipsticks in various shades of pink. Enjoy lazy, sunny Sundays at the park. Make my new flat, a home, with The Boy. Spend blissful days in the glorious English countryside, again. Bake light and fluffy desserts. Wear flowers in my hair, even if just for once. Buy a bicycle, a wicker basket is a must. Prepare picnics to enjoy on long walks. Wear girly dresses and bright ballet flats. Participate in the Readathon, of course.

What are you most looking forward to for spring? What do you love about this season?