A reminder of why I read...

I have started reading Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver. I am ashamed to say I have never read her before, despite hearing everyone I know raving about The Poisonwood Bible.

Sometimes there are authors that it takes you a while to get round to, you know?

Flight Behaviour is a beautifully written book. The first chapter alone has some astonishing prose, poetic, yet light and accessible. It is pure literary fiction, writing for the sheer beauty that can be created by words and imagination.

The stone is most definitely stonier with this book. I want to be reading it ALL THE TIME.
But you know, between twins and a job, that ain't going to happen.

I just want to lie down and be tucked in to this book......

The Library of Friends

I don’t know about you, but I get a slight sinking feeling when a friend announces ‘I have a book you are going to love’.

I get it, you read a book, you enjoy it and you want to share that enjoyment. You’re just being nice for God’s sake! I do it myself. So why do I cringe a little as I accept the book? Actually, why do I accept the book? I have hundreds of unread books of my own to feel guilty about not reading and now I have to add someone else’s beloved book to that list??

You see, once someone lends me a book, it comes with an obligation; an obligation to be read and an obligation to be read within a certain time frame.  And that’s the problem for me – suddenly I feel like I have homework. The reading becomes a chore, and let’s face it, reading should never be a chore.

So, the Library of Friends has thrown up The Good Father by Noah Hawley and Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter.

I’ve started on The Good Father. So far, so Jodi Picoult. Noah Hawley is a screenwriter and it shows. I’m only 50 pages in and it reads a bit like ‘TV Issue Movie of the Week’ and isn’t quite the page turner I expected. I’ve read it has been dubbed ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ from the male perspective and from a basic plot point of view that seems a fair comparison, but so far, for me, it lacks the nuance and the fire of that particular book. So far, the storytelling is slick, but if that’s what I’m after, I’ll usually just read Harlan Coben’s latest!

But it’s early days and I shouldn’t write it off just yet. Anyone else read either of them? Thoughts?

 

Some thoughts on blogging

So, I started this blog a while a go and thought I would blog about crafting, thrift and my attempts to move away from consumerism.

Noble pursuits and all things I am particularly interested in.

The first thing I noticed was that blogging takes time.

The second thing I noticed was that I don't craft very often, I'm not living to a tight budget financially, although I should be, and finally, I have a penchant for buying books.

I would set myself targets. No spending this month, no perfumes from ebay, no sneaky trips to Oasis, no non food items in my Marks and Spencer basket. And you know, sometimes I would be good. But there was never a month that went by when I didn't slip the odd book on to the end of an Amazon order or purchase an iTunes or Kindle book. They were my wee treat. They 'didn't really count' as shopping.

Because I love reading. And I love books. And I ain't gonna change. I'm never only gonna buy books when I need them. I'm never gonna walk past a bookshop. I'm never going to not be reading something.

When reading the fabulous Refashionista blog (treat yourself if you don't know it), I was struck by her tips for writing a good blog. Her advice was to write about what you do and what you love.
I realised that there is no point in blogging about crafting if I don't do it very often.

I have two year old twins, there isn't time for much, but I make time to read. So that is what I am going to blog about. Books, reading, bookshops, writers, the works.