Friday, February 26, 2010

Day 29 – She is a very headstrong, foolish girl, and does not know her own interest; but I will make her know it (pg 105)

For the past 3 years I have been involved in the Knit one Give one project or KOGO. Basically you just use up your wool to knit scarves and beanies and toys for the homeless and those less fortunate. I recently received an email that the project has begun for this year

Excitedly I delved into my basket of wool (after navigating around the spider who had decided a basket of wool was the perfect place to construct a web, makes sense to me) and pulled out a scarf I was knitting for myself for last winter. I must get onto that one, however I have yet to master the art of reading and knitting at the same time. There is something to be said for these e-books, just sit back and read as the words scroll past on your computer screen. It is a little cold and sterile, however I did come across this the other day, the bookbook;




New fangled technology with that olde fashioned feel, how marvelous! I feel that soon we will be wearing 3D glasses while watching our computer screens and the pages of a book turn before our very eyes. However until then, I will stick to the books printed on paper and turn the pages myself.





Reading Pride and Prejudice, I sometimes wish I could be a character from a Jane Austen novel, so wonderful and romantic. But then I think, how boring their lives must have been. Sitting about all day, waiting for the gentlemen to come a calling. Doing needle point and staring blankly out of windows.

It’s so lovely that women are allowed to have careers these days, if only mine had taken off after the kick start I thought it had. This week I have had two interviews, neither for full time jobs and one I should’ve heard about by now, I have made the necessary inquiries, but at this stage, I have to wait...

In the meantime, bills need to be paid and I have had to go back to the government for financial support. It really is quite demeaning to sit with a group of people who have no intention of ever finding a job and be told things like; Print your job application on clean blank paper and make sure you’ve showered and don’t forget to iron your clothes before going to an interview. I am by no means a snob, but really, I don’t want to feel like some unwashed burden on society.

251 days remaining, 18 books to go.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Day 28 – How pleasant it is to spend an evening in this way! I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! (pg 51)

Last night I went to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. I went to see one of four free concerts that the MSO put on every year and they are WONDERFUL!

I arrived early so as to stake out a good claim with my picnic rug. As I lay there in the sunshine on a perfect summers eve reading Pride and Prejudice, I was delighted to see how many people around me were equally absorbed in a book.

When dinner had been devoured and the cheese and wine consumed, the music began. First the audience was delighted with excerpts from A Midsummer Nights Dream by Mendelssohn. Then after interval, as the sun made it’s final decent behind the hills and the stars appeared in the deep blue sky, Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 rang out clear and strong. The soloist for this piece was astounding, she wore a striking red dress and played like the devil.

I have been to see the MSO before in the concert hall. It was good, but it cannot possibly compare to the experience of hearing this music outdoors, it’s something beautiful that is meant to be free.

When the night came to an end, the spell was broken. Curled up with a warm blanket, lying under the stars, I wished I could fly my picnic rug home like a flying carpet. Instead I got on a dirty, fluorescently lit train filled with noisy, smelly, well lit people... Oh well, at least I can lose myself in the wonderful world of Pride and Prejudice where florescent lighting is unfathomable!

252 days remaining, 18 books to go.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Day 23 – her mother attended her to the door with many cheerful prognostics of a bad day (pg 28)


It is a truth universally acknowledged that I have read Pride and Prejudice more times than I can count. I have not read this particular copy however, which is why it is in the pile. This copy was given to me by my best friend Beth, who brought it especially for me from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath. It even came complete with a Mr Darcy bookmark!

Pride and Prejudice is by far my favourite Austen and, as common as it is, my favourite book. The characters are so wonderfully witty I defy anyone not to laugh at the snide jabs and social comments that are found within. Just one small word can change the weight of a sentence and I find myself chuckling quietly as if I am privy to a whispered joke.

As far as film adaptations go, the BBC version with Colin Firth as Mr Darcy is the one to watch. The 1940 version starring Greer Garson as Elizabeth and Laurence Olivier as Mr. Darcy is quite watchable and entertaining, however not terribly faithful to the text. Please don’t bother with the 2005 version, unless you have an urge to watch Keira Knightly pout her way through two hours as the most ineffectual, wishy-washy Elizabeth Bennet there ever was.

If you love Austen as much as I, I would also highly recommend the film Becoming Jane. Anne Hathaway is brilliant as a young Jane Austen and I could watch James McAvoy all day. I have no idea how accurate it is in depicting Jane Austen’s life, but it's a lovely story, and the way the character of Jane Austen is depicted, is very much how I would hope her to be.

257 days remaining, 18 books to go.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Day 15 – It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye. (pg 68)


The Little Prince was written by French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 1943. This copy was a Christmas gift from my sister Leigh. I chose it because my friend Jess told me this book held all the answers, to everything! It is a lovely book, traditionally touted as a children’s book, however it is quite philosophical and much like My Family and Other Animals, the message I took away from this story was to enjoy the little things and to be aware of the importance of what you have.

Tomorrow I will be attending my Grandpa’s 80th birthday party. When I called to wish him a happy birthday he said he couldn’t believe it, 80 years and it’s just flown by. I see my Grandpa as the type of person who enjoys the little things much like The Little Prince. He is also a gardener and an explorer like The Little Prince. I couldn’t have read this book at a better time.

On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

265 days remaining, 18 books to go.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Day 14 – One’s life is more formed, I sometimes think, by books than human beings. (pg 203)

In protest to the all the horribleness of looking for a job, I spent yesterday in the kitchen baking with the air conditioning on (to avoid the 30 + degree heat). I also finished a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and read one chapter of Travels With My Aunt. I’m sure I did other things as well, however I can’t think of what they are just now.

Today, after applying for four more jobs, I sat down intent on finishing the book, and finish it I did. I am now quite happy to let this book go free to the nearest op shop for another unsuspecting reader, or perhaps for a person who will appreciate it more than I. The vandal did make a reappearance towards the end of the book, but any sense of my interest did not... I would still like to see the film, perhaps it will help me to piece together all the things I missed when I read the book. It also looks like there is a remake in production to be released next year.

With the quote above in mind from Travels with My Aunt, I pulled out one of my favourite childhood books; Socks for Supper by Jack Kent.



It’s a quaint story about a couple who have nothing but a turnip garden and industriously make socks for the neighbours who in return give them milk and cheese. It makes me see the world more simply, all I need to do is create something, give it to someone else, and I will get milk and cheese (kind of like a job really)! It also makes me hungry for cheese. Oh glorious cheese! For those who cannot eat cheese I have the greatest sympathy for those who do not like cheese, the greatest suspicion. For me there is no finer food in the world. A summers day with a piece of creamy brie melting in your mouth and a crisp glass of wine in your hand... mmm

266 days remaining, 19 books to go.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Day 11 – So I went to choose a book from my shelves (pg 141)

This week has begun after a wonderful weekend, a weekend in which I'm afraid I didn’t read a word of the current book (I did manage however to digest a newspaper article or two). Sitting down with Travels with my Aunt this evening, feels much more like a chore than a joy. I believe I was quite spoilt with my first choice.

As I am reading, I've realised just how little attention I paid the first half of the book. I am taking a lot more in now, and wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that my little vandal didn’t make it past the half way mark. It seems they too lost interest in the story, or found that even though they had no qualms in vandalising a book, they could not think of keeping it past the due date and incurring a fine.

The characters are interesting, but the settings are so confined and oppressive that after my adventures on the isle of Corfu, trips to Turkey where time is spent in musty rooms and jaunts to cemeteries in rural France are not helping my already darkened mood.

I have applied for 2 jobs this week, and even though it's only Monday, I have spent far too much time indoors in front of the computer, hiding from the stifling heat. Another highly frustrating addition is that my internet connection in this heat is so irritatingly intermittent it's likely to disconnect at any given moment. I fear I will soon go mad...

I have also discovered today, that my original countdown calculations (done online) used American dates, so until now I have been allowing myself an extra day and included the current day. Days remaining are now correct for Australian dates and do not include the current day. This means there are actually 269 Days remaining and still 20 books to go.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Day 8 - ‘Hardly Literary’ I said...(pg 130)

I can’t believe it’s been just over a week since I started this blog, it feels like so much longer. Although I am not getting much reading done at the moment. This week I have applied for another five or so jobs, thankfully one of which I am actually excited about. Having now applied it is out of my hands, and will be for at least 3 weeks until applications close, nothing like being keen!

Another reason I have not picked up my book is that yesterday I went into the Royal Children's Hospital where I sporadically volunteer on children’s television program Going Nuts With Macadamia.

I also (thanks to my boyfriend) managed to get a couple of hrs paid work filming a corporate medical video, it felt nice to be flexing my skills and general filmic know-how again.

While filming the children’s show, the current host, Mel, had brought in one of her favourite books, Oh The Places You’ll Go by Dr Seuss. She mentioned that it’s commonly read out at weddings and another staff member said her mother read aloud from it at her daughter’s christening. I was instantly intrigued, and while I am quite sure I would have come across this book as a child, I couldn’t remember it. I looked at the colourful and simple cover, I wanted to walk over, pick it up, and read it there and then. I managed to restrain myself, while it is only a short book, I have not been given this book, and so it will have be added to ‘what to read next’.

I was also distracted from my book by the most wonderful film last evening called Phoebe in Wonderland. If you want to see a beautifully filmed, powerfully acted and strongly written story, I highly recommend it. I came to it with no expectations and no notion of what it might be about. I often find that this is the best way to experience anything, especially a book or a film.

274 Days remaining, 20 books to go. According to my calculations, that that gives me approx 2 weeks to read each book, which at this stage seems more than enough...

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Day 7 - Thank goodness for the gold brick is all I can say (pg 118)


Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene, is another book I am already part way through, half way through in fact (once again this is not cheating!). I began this book about 3 months ago and found that it just wasn’t holding my interest. I would get through a chapter and have retained nothing about what had happened and who some of the most important characters were, so put it aside.

Not that I wasn’t enjoying it to begin with. It is very nicely written, witty and comical. I was also drawn in by the fact not only that it was written by a well known author, but that it was made into a film starring Maggie Smith (a wonderful actress don’t you think? Another film I would like to see when I have finished this story).

This book is one form the sale, and I think what is putting me off most is that someone has been through the book, marking it up as a study aid. Try as I may to ignore it, I am finding myself drawn to the underlined passages and penciled notes in the margins. Thus my interpretation of the story has been coloured by this learned vandal (although how learned can someone be and have the audacity to mark a book?)

Characters have been fleshed out before I have gotten the chance to know them, important plot points have been given away before I have been able to come to the conclusion myself. This has also robbed me of the satisfaction of arriving at the moment Greene has been taking me to, and going ‘ ah huh! I knew it!’ A truly delicious moment don’t you think?!

Having just picked it up again, I’m either looking at it with fresh eyes, or I left it just as it was starting to get interesting again, time will tell.

275 Days remaining, 20 books to go.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Day 4 – Read aloud, merely because we seemed unable to extract the full flavour of our letters and magazines unless they were shared (pg 242)

Today I received two emails stating how wonderful I was and thanking me for applying for a particular job. In both instances the writer regretted however, that I was not successful on this occasion, and my information would be kept on file for any future positions... yes I’m sure.

I have furthermore resigned from the company who I have not been working for these past 3 months and still owes me a multitude of pay. I was naively deluded into the idea that money would be forthcoming, I was of course deceived.

I have also, sadly, come to the end of My Family and Other Animals. I think this has had a greater effect on me than anything else that has happened today.

It is, as I said, a wonderful book. I found myself trying to catch my breath, reading with one eye closed and yelling at the page, “nooo, what are you doing?” when Gerry started wrestling with a snake in a murky swamp.

There were also many instances where I found myself laughing out loud, and reading parts of the book out to anyone who happened to be near me at the time (even if it was my budgerigar Bernard). Wanting someone else to experience this world I had found myself in, or ‘extracting the full flavour’ as the above excerpt from the book itself so succinctly puts it.

One section of the book reminded me very much of another story which currently resides in my bookshelf called Journey to the River Sea, by Eva Ibbotson. The title will be added to the 'What to read next’ list.

And so I will leave My Family and Other Animals, with one final quotation from Gerry’s elder brother Larry, upon hearing that his great aunt Hermione was coming to stay; “Really, Mother, you are impossible! I was looking forward to a nice, quiet summer’s work, with just a few select friends, and now we’re going to be invaded by that evil old camel, smelling of mothballs and singing hymns in the lavatory.” I’m sure most can be thankful not to have an aunt like that!

278 days remaining, 20 books to go.