Day 321 Bookmark

I have been looking at some older posts and realised that in a lot of my earlier blogs I wrote much more about what was going on in my life, as well as the books I was reading.

As my blog has progressed, writings about my ‘life’ have pretty much fallen by the wayside, and the books have taken the fore, which is how it should be.

If there are any ‘readers’ out there who are concerned about my life, I assure you all is well. I have been working odd jobs here and there and am very excited (as well as a little anxious) at the prospect of the job which I will soon have for the rest of my life, Motherhood. I haven’t forgotten about filmmaking and still hope to make one or two documentaries... one day.

I would also like to take this opportunity to note that my blogs are by no means a professional ‘critique’ on the books I have read. They are merely a report on my point of view, and how I did or did not enjoy the book.

Day 311 – I picked up one of my books, smoothing the crumpled pages (pg 108)

Coastliners by Joanne Harris is yet another story set within a small island community. Little did I realise when I began this task, that I had somehow gathered together a group of island tales.

This time the story is set on a French Island (as opposed to a Greek island).

Perhaps I am being a little biased, however this island fails to exude the charm or deliver the varied and fantastic characters that inhabited the islands in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and My Family and Other Animals.

It is nicely written and a very easy read, nothing terribly life changing or out of the ordinary though. Not a book I would recommend anyone go out of their way to read.

14 days remaining, 5 books to go

Day 311 – Charlie was rambling on about his book (pg 199)

I’m here. Married and honeymooned and even though I have not blogged for a month, I have been reading! Fear not, for this time I shall not fail.

The Trout Opera by Matthew Condon (a highly celebrated author) started promisingly enough. It opened warm, witty, humorous, with beautiful descriptions. It then migrated towards the Sydney drug scene, and as I started to feel the familiar sense of a contemporary ‘Australian’ story, my interest waned.

The descriptions did continue to be beautiful throughout. The past and the present, the beauty of the country and the grit of city life. I just found I wasn’t really engaged by the story.

My favourite character was by far the one that the story opens on. Wilfred Lampe, aged 6, dressed in his trout costume peering over the jetty and imagining himself as King of the Trout. This innocent, 6-year-old Wilfred doesn’t hang about for much more of the story, which is a real shame.

Another book that has failed to leave an impression on me.

14 days remaining, 6 books to go

Day 271 – Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day...

Time is not on my side it seems, and I have come to the realisation that it just ain’t going to happen. 10 days, 7 books, 1 wedding and 1 honeymoon...

Spending two and a bit months organising my wedding, has sucked significant reading time out of my life.

And so my dear readers (my dear mother!) I am giving myself an extension to the 19th of December 2010. An extra 44 days, which now works out to be 38 books in 325 days.

While I’m mainly only cheating myself by doing this, I am also saving myself from a complete breakdown...

54 days remaining, 7 books to go, ah I can breathe again

Day 266 – The library was small by Carrickross standards (pg 71)

RSVP by Tara Moore is like no other book I have ever read, this is not a good thing.

Characters called Ashling, Honoria, Rossa and Coppelia were the first sign that something wasn't quite right here. Not forgetting the twins, Indigo and Sapphire (who get up to all kind of unmentionable things).

The murder / whodunnit intrigued me, and was the only thing that kept me reading.

With so much scandal and depravity and more incest than is humanly possible, it’s like Mills and Boon on crack, Bold and the Beautiful on steroids... it’s like something I never want to experience ever again.

15 days remaining, 7 books to go

Day 261 – There’s no way I would have stumbled on the book (pg 194)

Old School Ties by Kate Harrison was a light piece of fluff. Nothing overly entertaining, but at least it wasn’t horribly painful to get through.

The main characters were able to redeem themselves, despite all the unresolved teen angst and sex scandals flying about.

The topic at the core of this book was bullying, in schools particularly.

It has re-inspired me to jot down a few more notes pertaining to an idea for a documentary I had a while back on bullying.

It has also added to my many fears of child rearing, no mother wants their child to be a victim of bullies, or worse, to be a bully themselves.

Best not to worry about these things just yet. First comes childbirth, then the rest of the worries are sure to follow!

20 days remaining, 8 books to go

Day 260 – Mandras never did read that book (pg 232)

In the interest of achieving my goal, more than half of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres, was read to me by Michael Maloney. I had never ‘read’ a book on tape, until necessity pointed me in such a direction.

The story was wonderful, the book on tape, a revelation. What began as a way to try and cheat, has introduced me to something I may not have found otherwise. It’s quite freeing too. Even though it takes longer to listen to the story than to read it, I was able to get on with cooking and cleaning while ‘reading’, fantastic!

To be honest I wasn’t looking forward to this book and wasn't quite sure why I had picked it up. All I knew of it was a short trailer I had seen for the film adaptation starring Nicholas Cage and Penelope Cruz. Thankfully it was nothing like it! It is not so much a love story, as a story about a group of very different, very interesting characters whose actions are all intertwined.

Captain Corelli himself does not appear in the story until halfway through, which didn’t bother me at all. All the characters are fantastic. That's not to say Captain Corelli is an uninteresting character, he is wonderful.

The story is set mainly on the Greek Island of Cephalonia during the Italian and German occupation in World War II. Given that my fiancée is Greek, I delighted in recognising the few Greek words used, and was thoroughly amused by the characters and their way of life.

It is a big story, with a lot of history and, like I said, many characters. I think perhaps listening to much of this book enabled me to better understand and keep track of all the characters and goings on, than if I had been reading it myself.

After setting a rather lovely pace through most of the story, the end did seem to gallop through big plot points including incidents involving much meaningless (and historically correct) death and destruction. None-the-less I grew quite attached to the crazy, wise, witty, engaging and humorous inhabitants of Cephalonia, and was sorry to leave them and their Island behind.

21 days remaining, 9 books to go