New Year New Life New Blog... Maybe

As you can see my page has changed a lot, don't worry, it's nowhere near finished, in fact it is barely begun. So really it's changing just like me. Besides I can't decided on whether to move the whole kit and caboodle over to WordPress or not. I need somewhere that I can separate out the basic 3 kinds of posts, reviews, 500 word fiction and me just generally wittering on.

New Year happened. It went by without much help from me, I've only just realised that over the whole Christmas period the sum total of my alcohol intake was 1 glass of wine and 2 Moscow Mules.

I'm still living at my eldest Sister's place and probably will be for some time to come, unless of course I win the lottery. It's not ideal but I'm grateful just the same. We get on ok most of the time and when we don't there are different rooms to hide in :)

2009

As I mentioned in an earlier post I'm thinking of reviewing DVD's too, a little different from books but it could be enjoyable. I'm also going to concentrate very hard this year on writing. I've been putting it off for far too long and maybe I can get somewhere with it. My imagination knows no bounds so why should I?

So I wish you all a very productive, prosperous, safe and contented 2009 and hope to see you here or there as soon as I've remembered how to change the code for this page, or moved to a brand new web site.

That's all folks (said in my best Bugs Bunny voice aren’t you sorry I don't have sound?)

The Impy for best... goes to!

This is just a bit of fun, you get the golden globes, emmy's, oscars even razzies so I thought an Impy for video clips that make me smile, laugh, cry or hide behind the sofa.

First for animation, I absolutely adore this video its so well made but it does make me sniffle a little. This is the original I believe not one that someone has taken and added a sound track to.

Kiwi



Public Information Films. I'm not sure when this appeared on our TV screens I only know that I remember it as a child and it did it's job, scared me silly. I think it may be Donald Pleasance doing the voice over but don't quote me on that.

Dark and Lonely Water



Music. I found these set of clips and just couldn't choose so I've used a complilation. I love these guys they are so talented and so very funny. It's a long vid though about 8 minutes.

Igudesman and Joo and A little Nightmare Music.



Comedy. I have two selections first it is my all time favourite Eddie Izzard. I actually saw this particular show, when I came out of the theatre I resembled a panda, tears of laughter had made my mascara run.

Eddie Izzard - Machines That Lie



And comedy again Bill Bailey, not really sure how to explain him, so I'll let this clip do it.

Bill Bailey - Chaucer Pubbe Gagge



I think that will do for tonight, hope you get around to watching these and enjoy at least some of them.

Books and what they mean to me

I've been checking out my books (surprised I bet you are!) and I've come to the belated conclusion that I'm never going to make the pile go away or stop growing. It's the nature of books, they multiply. Short of giving away every book I own and never buying another it's not going to happen. Actually the very thought of giving them away feels almost like I've suggested having a book burning party in the back garden with Adolph as lead torch bearer.

I think this may explain the way I feel about my books.

They are my friends, my memories, my hopes and dreams. I can pick up any one of my collection and as I hold it in my hands I am transported to the time it came into my possession, be it when I was 5 or 35. Or on reading the pages I can remember the first or even fifth time I read those words and what was happening in my life, with my family, or who I was in love with. I use them as life markers as much as for the stories on their pages. Some people use photographs for this, for me its my books.

The stories, poems, prose when I read I'm there, either watching from the shadows or participating with as much emotion as the characters. They make me laugh and sometimes they make me cry (and believe me crying does not come easily to me). Whether I wish to feel happy, sad, childish, angry, uplifted, inspired all I have to do is choose one of my friends.

Funny this post was going to be about some of the books I'd be reading in 2009, got sidetracked, but I'll get to them all at some point in my life, they're certainly not going anywhere.

Update

Since whenever it was, August or September or whatever I've had a break from all things computerish, not intentionally it just happened. Anyway I've read a few books and very little else if the truth be known. I haven't written any reviews but I think I should put the books I've read here just so that I remember, memory again, age thing. Here goes.

The Alexander Cipher - Will Adams
Bear Island, Breakheart Pass, The Guns of Navarone, Puppet on a Chain, - Alistair MacLean
Behold Here's Poison, A Blunt Instrument, Detection Unlimited, Duplicate Death, Death in the Stocks, Envious Casca, Footsteps in the Dark, No Wind of Blame, Penhallow, They Found Him Dead, The Unfinished Clue, Why Shoot A Butler, - Georgette Heyer
Beneath the Bleeding, The Distant Echo - Val McDermid
Black Order, Map of Bones, Sandstorm - James Rollins
The Bone Collector, The Coffin Dancer, - Jefferey Deaver
Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dearly Devoted Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
Dead as a Doornail, All Together Dead, Dead to the World, Dead Until Dark, Definitely Dead, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, Grave Sight, Grave Surprise, An Ice Cold Grave - Charlaine Harris
The Echo, The Shape of Snakes - Minette Walters
Greywalker - Kat Richardson
Guilty as Sin, Still Waters - Tami Hoag
The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Rubenfeld
Wit'ch Gate, Wit'ch Star, Wit'ch Storm, Wit'ch War - James Clemens
The Lady Killer - Martina Cole
Magic Bites, Magic Burns - Ilona Andrews
Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination - Helen Fielding
Ratcatcher, Resurrectionist - James McGee
The Runaway Jury - John Grisham
Sacred Stone, Trojan Odyssey - Clive Cussler
A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
Bones to Ashes - Kathy Reichs
The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson

I'm sure there are some I've forgotten until I pick the book up and say "read it". Sooooo, what next?

Well on the agenda I have recently purchased or have removed from my TBR pile (here we go again)...

By Matthew Pearl fictional historical mysteries with a few facts thrown in
The Poe Shadow
The Dante Club

By Audrey Niffenegger
The Time Traveler's Wife

By Elizabeth Kostova
The Historian

By Sue Monk Kidd
The Secret Life of Bees

By Val McDermid
The Grave Tattoo

and an offering of chick lit by Brian Gallaher entitled The Feng-Shui Junkie. Don't know if I'll manage it, depends on how much mushy romantic crap is involved. As you are aware I don't have a romantic bone in my body, at all, not, never, no how.

I've also got a few DVD's which I may branch out into reviewing, not sure yet anyway here's the list - some new some old, some I've seen and some I haven't.

Kung Fu Panda
Eight Below
The Forbidden Kingdom
Big Nothing
Run Fat Boy Run
Hot Fuzz
Fred Claus
Stardust
Enchanted
1408
Juno
Signs
The Usual Suspects
Shaun of the Dead
Mr Magoriums Wonder Emporium
Air Buddies
Underdog
and the 1st and only season of Blood Ties

Catch you all later, hope the Seasons preparations are going along ok, they've kind of ground to a halt here, the tree is still in it's box under my bed, haven't checked the lights, just don't have the spirit at the moment but I'm sure it will arrive eventually.

It's Almost The End of 2008

Finally, I have returned and hopefully there will be lots of books in my Christmas Presents for me to review, but even if there aren't I have a TBR mountain of the proportions of Everest.

Hopefully there are people out there that will think "Hey she's back goodie!" of course there may be those who groan or those who think Huh? but nevertheless I shall perservere.

Right let's get this show on the road. Eep! Guess I need to do some housekeeping around here.

Behind Hand But Happy

Well after having a completely lazy, relaxing, heavenly long weekend I'm now way behind on all the things I need to do. Five book reviews, my Calliope Experiment from last week, the new Calliope Experiment picture, visiting everyone's TT post, course work, housework, blah, blah, and so on and so forth.

I can't say I'm sorry though. You must all, at some point, have felt the need to get away because if you didn't you'd scream, or throw things, or just explode (just imagine the mess that would be to have to clear up!).

Anyway, I'll get to it after I've finished looking at my newly acquired, prize possession, which came from Amazon this morning (bet you would never have guessed it was a book). Bad Jelly the Witch by Spike Milligan. A fairy story written by one of my favourite comedians and a story that I first heard when I was a child on a children's programme called Jackanory. I've wanted to own it ever since then.

Right off I go, now what should I do first?

First thing I think is go to bed it's 1.30 in the morning LOL! Tomorrow/Today I will visit TT posts and comment until my fingers go numb.

Quiz: Which Austen Heroine?

Take the Quiz here!

You Are...Elizabeth Bennet!

You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of ridiculousness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed.


Well now I know LOL!

Where's Milo?

I thought everyone might appreciate this. As I've mentioned before my dog will sometimes lick book covers, mainly second hand books, he's not that interested in new ones. I guess the used ones have more flavour! Well tonight he's gone one better I think.

I lost him tonight. My sister and I were looking everywhere and eventually I came to the conclusion that he had somehow got into the garden and then escaped from there. I was heading to my room to get my phone prior to going out to look for him.

I opened the bedroom door.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry because there he was. I had to grab my phone quickly and take a snap....



He obviously fell asleep while he was reading!

I hasten to add that he is not allowed on my bed, not that he cares, especially if I'm not around, and obviously I wasn't around. Guess I'll be washing bed clothes tomorrow.

Quiz: Which Book Are You?

This isn't exactly a tag but after doing the quiz for the second time, the first time was quite a while ago and was posted on a different social network when I had a Multiply page. Anyway, I answered different questions and got the same book, which is definitely an "Alice Moment" wouldn't you say?

You're Alice's Adventures in Wonderland!

by Lewis Carroll

After stumbling down the wrong turn in life, you've had your mind opened to a number of strange and curious things. As life grows curiouser and curiouser, you have to ask yourself what's real and what's the picture of illusion.
Little is coming to your aid in discerning fantasy from fact, but the line between them is so blurry that it's starting not to matter. Be careful around rabbit holes and those who smile too much, and just avoid hat shops altogether.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Tag: All About Authors

Thanks to The Tome Traveller for tagging me on this. See Tome Traveller’s own answers here.





Who is your all time favourite author and why?

Such a very difficult question. Almost impossible to answer really, but if push comes to shove I’d have to say William Shakespeare. Living where I do which is an hour or two from Stratford I was lucky enough to visit the Shakespeare Theatre when I was a kid for English classes. I suppose I fell in love with the words from an early age. It also helped seeing the plays performed too, made them that much easier to understand.

Who was your first favourite author, and why? Do you still consider him or her among your favourites?

Enid Blyton, I grew up reading her stories - firstly "The Faraway Tree" and "Wishing Chair" stories and then as I grew older I progressed to "The Secret Seven" and "Famous Five" mysteries. I never liked Noddy though, still don’t, having seen a few episodes on Children’s TV lately. I still have a soft spot for Ms Blyton so much so that when I found her biography on Amazon it went immediately onto my wish list.

Who’s the most recent addition to your list of favourite authors, and why?

Markus Zusak, Diane Setterfield and Keith Gray. I’ve recently read novels by all three of them and was blown away. I’ve already got a couple more of Keith Gray’s to read, the other two I’ll now be on the look out for.

If someone asked you who your favourite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth? Are there any you’d add on a moment of further reflection?

Straight out I’d say old and new - William Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, Jules Verne, H G Wells, John Wyndham, Wilfred Owen, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, Jane Austen, Anne Rice, Martina Cole, Tom Sharpe, Tom Holt, David Eddings and Terry Goodkind.

On reflection I’d add, Diane Setterfield, Markus Zusak, Keith Gray, L Frank Baum (after watching Tin Man on TV and deciding to read the OZ stories again), Edgar Rice Burroughs and P G Wodehouse.

I almost forgot Enid Blyton and Clive King (author of Stig of the Dump)Doh!

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Rules: Link to the person that tagged you, post the rules somewhere in on your blog, answer the Author questions, tag some people in your post, let the tagees know they’ve been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog, let the tagger know your entry is posted.

I’ve seen that this has been going the rounds so I’ll just say if you haven’t already done this then "Tag you’re it!"

Tag: Six Random Things About Me

Thanks to She Is Too Fond of Books for tagging me on this. See her 6 things here.

It took me a bit of thought to come up with six things that I could post on a public blog HAH!

1. I’ve almost been married twice. Once when I was 18 but I talked myself out of it by saying I was too young and hadn’t seen life yet. Second time was a couple of years ago, the wedding was booked so was the reception. We had a few months to wait until the fateful day but I backed out… this time (being more grown up) I realised that I didn’t love the guy enough to move to the States and be step-mom to his children. I even had my wedding dress made … expensive habit of mine cancelling weddings LOL.



2. When I was a child (about 7 or 8) my Mother, bless her, thought it would be great to send me to dance lessons. That was ballet, tap and acrobatic dance. I was expelled because I wouldn’t wear the silly dresses and wanted to keep my jeans and bumpers on (bumpers = trainers sort of).



3. I love ballroom dancing and, even if I say so myself, I’m pretty damn good at it too, even now years after being taught (no tomboy tantrums that time). I just wish I’d learned how to Rumba, that is one heck of a sensuous dance, but I was on holiday when the class was taught that one, and I never got around to it.


4. I hate balloons! I don’t know why I just really hate them, ever since I can remember. Just one of those odd things I guess.



5. I’m frightened to death of clowns and I don’t much like dolls either. All my dolls used to end up in the bottom of the wardrobe hidden under spare blankets. My parents finally got the message and only bought me stuffed animals and teddy bears after that. They stopped taking me to the circus too after I had a screaming fit when the clown came too close.



6. When I was 5 and at nursery school, being the tomboy that I was (and still am truth be known) I was climbing on one of the walls that surrounded a kind of pit, I think it was a bit of building left over from the air raid shelters that they’d never got rid of. Anyway I slipped and went head first into a crop of stinging nettles. My grandmother was due to collect me and when she arrived and saw me absolutely covered in nettle rash, probably screaming my head off knowing me, this shy little woman went absolutely crazy at the teachers. I was always a bit frightened of her after that.

Rules of the game - Link to the person that tagged you, post the rules somewhere in your meme, write the six random things, tag six people in your post, let the tagees know they’ve been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog, let the tagger know your entry is posted.

I've noticed that so many people have been tagged already so I apologise if I'm double tagging. Here are my 6 victims.

Allison's Attic
As Usual I Need More Shelves
LeesyKnits
Reading Mama
The Italian Blog
Book Hangover