books

Story vs Storyteller, or the Sorry Sequel.

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Book for bookclub: check.

Library book: nearly finished

Unread books on my buckling shelves: yup.

I’m fifty-two pages from the end of my current book, so as sure as a Lib Dem MP supports a disgraced colleague, my mind is chewing over what to read next. There’s plenty to choose from, including books seven and eight of Harry Potter; the penultimate and final books from the Millennium trilogy; and Mantel’s ‘Bring up the Bodies’. All this begged the question: why haven’t I tackled these sequels sooner?

I thought about this yesterday and came to the conclusion that I read in order to experience ‘slices of life’. I’m not a one-genre girl and my mantra could well be ‘So many books, so little time’, and with this in mind, why waste precious time further delving into a specific author’s specific creation? The answer of course is the story. I should want to read book two because the story of book one was so enthralling that I don’t want it to end. This very rarely happens with me. What is more likely is that if I enjoy a book, I will seek out a book by a different author in the same genre, or from the same era or same country in order to develop depth and widen my experiences: the sequel can wait. And so these poor follow-ups, as good as they no doubt are, are left on the shelf whilst whim, fancy and the joy of discovery override story and they languish on my tight shelves alongside the Hunger Games trilogy and Alexander McCall Smith.

So what WILL I read next? Perhaps I should make a final attempt to finish ‘Pickwick Papers’. Alternatively I have plenty of whimsy on my Kindle too. So many books, so many formats, so, so little time.Image

Numbers

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Yesterday I had a dental appointment that I was quite looking forward to. It turned into root canal treatment with (at first) insufficient anaesthetic. I’m not looking back fondly on the appointment now.

Apart from the clenched hands, rolling tears and closed eyes, what was going on with me? Prime numbers. Yes, dear reader, I got through the ordeal by thinking of prime numbers and I got as far as 601. The allure of the prime number has only struck me in later years. I didn’t enjoy maths as a youngster and ditched it as soon as possible, so thinking about numbers isn’t something I normally do, which is perhaps a good thing. I don’t mind prime numbers being associated with excruciating and expensive pain.

So…. 601- mental pinnacle of the treatment; 71 minutes – the duration of the treatment; £321 – the cost of the treatment. I also got to 77% of my reading book last night (Life and Fate) and got up to episode 4 of series 3 of Breaking Bad.

Oh, and 45 minutes waiting for a friend who failed to turn up for badminton (£4.20 – which was kindly refunded).

 

 

 

First Post and yes, it’s a cheesy meme

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Sarah’s Challenges

1. What book might you re-read in 2013? – I quite fancy having a stab at “Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4” I first read this as a teenager and am sure I’ll get more out of it as an adult.

 2. What local event made you proud of your community? – We went to a couple of ‘Lakes Alive’ events, but especially one called the Banquet at Cleator Moor which involved food, acrobats, storytellers and all sorts of cabaret. Then there’s the Olympics of course.

3. Do you have any reading challenges for 2013?  I liked my friend’s attempt at reading 12 books from her shelves in 2012, so that might be a good one. The downside of the Kindle is that I now have the equivalent to a charity-shop book-buying habit, and my TBR piles both in real life and digitally are massive. I would like to finish some series, namely the last two Harry Potters, and the last two Millennium books.

4. Do you have any creative resolutions/challenges for 2013? – Yes, I think I will try and post on here more once a week and comment meaningfully on comments left by friends. I might try and keep a diary but that always falls to the wayside.

5. Any housekeeping/domestic challenges/resolutions? – Try and continue to declutter and make a deadline for getting the house on the market.

6 . Facebook. Whatcha gonna do about it?! – Stay but perhaps create more filters and definitely visit less frequently.

7. What physical challenges do you have in mind for 2013? Well, I would like to do at least 30 mins exercise each day, ideally 60 mins. Also to resume badminton on a Friday night and to get out for a decent walk in the fells with the boys at the weekend. And to finish the Hadrian’s Wall walk we began in 2011.

8. What personal attribute would you like to improve upon? Patience

9. What will be your tipple of choice this New Year’s Eve? Waggle Dance beer then bubbly.

10. Who do you wish you were seeing the New Year in with? My brother.