The books I have read this year - 2008:
# 1. "The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Hudson: B
# 2. "Blind Faith" by Ben Elton: B+
# 3. "To the Manor Drawn" by Leslie Ann Bosher: C-
# 4. "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn: A+
# 5. "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer: A+
# 6. "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte: A+
# 7. "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly: B
# 8. "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire: B
# 9. "Billy" by Pamela Stephenson: C+
# 10. "If Not Now, When?" by Primo Levi: B
# 11. "The greatest white trash love story ever told" by "Rhett Ellis: B-
# 12. "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett: D-
# 13. "Naked" by David Sedaris: A-
# 14. "This Charming Man" by Marian Keyes: B-
# 15. "The Rachel Papers" by Martin Amis: B-
# 16. "All seated on the ground" by Connie Willis: A+
# 17. "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusack: A-
# 18. "March" by Geraldine Brooks: A+
# 19. "The Bronze Horseman" by Paullina Simons: B-
# 20. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by Jean-Dominique Bauby: A
# 21. "The Romanov Bride" by Robert Alexander: B-
# 22. "A Scientific Romance" by Ronald Wright: C+
# 23. "Cranford" by Elizabeth Gaskell: A
# 24. "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen: A+
# 25. "Anne of Green Gables" by Lucy Maud Montgomery: A-
# 26. "Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome: B+
# 27. "The Osterman Weekend" by Robert Ludlum: C-
# 28. "Straight Talking" by Jane Green: B-
# 29. "The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove" by Christopher Moore: A-
# 30. "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk: B-
# 31. "The Princess Bride" by Samuel Goldman: B+
# 32. "The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet: C
# 33. "I am Legend" by Richard Matheson: B+
# 34. "The Charm School by Nelson DeMille: B-
# 35. "The Hairdos of the Mildly Depressed" by Doug Crandell: A
# 36. "The Undomestic Goddess" by Sophie Kinsella: C+
#
# 37. "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer: A
# 38. "Notes from an Exhibition" by Patrick Gale: A
# 39. "The Eye of the Needle" by Ken Follett: B
# 40. "Time for the Stars" by Robert Heinlein: B-
# 41. "New Moon" by Stephanie Meyer: B+
# 42. "Mating in Captivity" by Esther Perel
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
What the Festive Season Brings
I am a big fan of most things Christmas-y. So much so that I have an annual Christmas in July celebration to mostly give me an excuse to eat Christmas type food and play yuletide music for hours on end. I trim my house with all sorts of decorations and bake fruit mince pies (my own pastry and mince – OF COURSE!) with great relish and joy. Few men in my life have joined me in such joy, but generally (when they do stick around as long as Christmas) they are obliged to play along – even if it is just to keep me from going ever so slightly mental at them.
Sadly, as much as I love all things Christmas-y, I often find that I am disappointed with the day itself. Despite the effort I put into buying suitable presents, the gifts I receive never seem to fulfil my expectations and the atmosphere is never as magical. This is Subtle and my first Christmas together this year, and yet again, the hopes are high. I have been away all weekend visiting my family and friends interstate, and this has given him the opportunity to shop for my present. The pressure is on....
I was a little concerned when he first told me that he needed to investigate where to purchase it, but declared that it could be found on Sydney Rd. For those who don’t know, we live in Brunswick, barely 50m from Sydney Road. The thoroughfare is full of all manner of shops and emporiums, but by far it features three main types of shops. These shops include; Islamic clothing supplies, second-hand crap shops and sex shops. Yes, there are cafes, and a couple of quirky bookstores and independent designers, but really, those other three are the main ones available. So I am looking forward to a second hand, burkha with built-in dildo.
I am a big fan of most things Christmas-y. So much so that I have an annual Christmas in July celebration to mostly give me an excuse to eat Christmas type food and play yuletide music for hours on end. I trim my house with all sorts of decorations and bake fruit mince pies (my own pastry and mince – OF COURSE!) with great relish and joy. Few men in my life have joined me in such joy, but generally (when they do stick around as long as Christmas) they are obliged to play along – even if it is just to keep me from going ever so slightly mental at them.
Sadly, as much as I love all things Christmas-y, I often find that I am disappointed with the day itself. Despite the effort I put into buying suitable presents, the gifts I receive never seem to fulfil my expectations and the atmosphere is never as magical. This is Subtle and my first Christmas together this year, and yet again, the hopes are high. I have been away all weekend visiting my family and friends interstate, and this has given him the opportunity to shop for my present. The pressure is on....
I was a little concerned when he first told me that he needed to investigate where to purchase it, but declared that it could be found on Sydney Rd. For those who don’t know, we live in Brunswick, barely 50m from Sydney Road. The thoroughfare is full of all manner of shops and emporiums, but by far it features three main types of shops. These shops include; Islamic clothing supplies, second-hand crap shops and sex shops. Yes, there are cafes, and a couple of quirky bookstores and independent designers, but really, those other three are the main ones available. So I am looking forward to a second hand, burkha with built-in dildo.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
I am woman, hear me whimper!
I like to pride myself on being a strong feminist. I mean, I shave my legs and everything, but I identify with the feminist movement and their former struggles and the current challenges and all that. I am offended by society's expectations on women with regards to age and beauty. I baulk at the unfairness in the workloads expected of working mothers compared to working fathers. I empathise with my sisters-in-arms who still suffer from atrocious treatment in other cultures and countries.
So, with my feminist qualifications established I can now proceed with my story.
I am generally good with directions in traffic and maps. Like most women, I probably need to rotate the map to work out what direction I am going, but as a generall rule, me and maps get on. But, I don't seem to remember street names. Never have been able to. In my home town, I know very few street names, and tend to know how to get to places by pure gut instinct or just years of practice. When I moved to Melbourne 6 years ago, I didn't know the place and had to learn quickly. Time has passed, and my skills at getting around have improved, but mostly only in the inner 6km ring around the city. Getting around for me has often meant me printing out a copy of directions from whereis.com and then proceeding to drive and read at the same time. I believe that this is only a little safer than texting whilst driving.
So in the interests of road safety, I bought a GPS system for the car. It has proved to be fantastic in guiding me around town, and also fantastic at annoying me when I "may" go over the speed limit by alerting me gently*. But I have issues with the system (oh, feign surprise!). The choice of voices for me to listen to are limited. Since I want it to announce the street names, I have to use a computer generated voice, rather than the slew of available celebrities that have lent their vocal chords to GPS systems of the world. And of course, I don't want to pay for any voices. So, I am left with the free, computer generated voices. And then we add in my issue, and where the preamble to this post comes in.
As much as I love women (but not in the physical down-and-dirty sense), and admire all that they can do, I really don't take direction from women well**. A female GPS voice telling me when to turn and so on, just makes me want to scream at her and then throw the unit out the window. A male GPS voice might rile my anger, but not to fits of violence. I am not sure what in my psychology has made me manifest this anger in this way. I reckon it must be my mother's fault. Yeah, that's it.
* The selected tone is a cow mooing, which is somewhat disturbing - but effective.
** Although some might say, I don't take direction well from anyone....but that would be just harsh and uncalled for!
I like to pride myself on being a strong feminist. I mean, I shave my legs and everything, but I identify with the feminist movement and their former struggles and the current challenges and all that. I am offended by society's expectations on women with regards to age and beauty. I baulk at the unfairness in the workloads expected of working mothers compared to working fathers. I empathise with my sisters-in-arms who still suffer from atrocious treatment in other cultures and countries.
So, with my feminist qualifications established I can now proceed with my story.
I am generally good with directions in traffic and maps. Like most women, I probably need to rotate the map to work out what direction I am going, but as a generall rule, me and maps get on. But, I don't seem to remember street names. Never have been able to. In my home town, I know very few street names, and tend to know how to get to places by pure gut instinct or just years of practice. When I moved to Melbourne 6 years ago, I didn't know the place and had to learn quickly. Time has passed, and my skills at getting around have improved, but mostly only in the inner 6km ring around the city. Getting around for me has often meant me printing out a copy of directions from whereis.com and then proceeding to drive and read at the same time. I believe that this is only a little safer than texting whilst driving.
So in the interests of road safety, I bought a GPS system for the car. It has proved to be fantastic in guiding me around town, and also fantastic at annoying me when I "may" go over the speed limit by alerting me gently*. But I have issues with the system (oh, feign surprise!). The choice of voices for me to listen to are limited. Since I want it to announce the street names, I have to use a computer generated voice, rather than the slew of available celebrities that have lent their vocal chords to GPS systems of the world. And of course, I don't want to pay for any voices. So, I am left with the free, computer generated voices. And then we add in my issue, and where the preamble to this post comes in.
As much as I love women (but not in the physical down-and-dirty sense), and admire all that they can do, I really don't take direction from women well**. A female GPS voice telling me when to turn and so on, just makes me want to scream at her and then throw the unit out the window. A male GPS voice might rile my anger, but not to fits of violence. I am not sure what in my psychology has made me manifest this anger in this way. I reckon it must be my mother's fault. Yeah, that's it.
* The selected tone is a cow mooing, which is somewhat disturbing - but effective.
** Although some might say, I don't take direction well from anyone....but that would be just harsh and uncalled for!
Friday, December 05, 2008
In the absence of anything interesting to write...
I made a statement yesterday to Subtle that it seems like my life is very unbloggable at the moment. He took this as a bad thing. But it isn't necesssarily so.
In times gone by, well, really since the inception of this blog, it seems that what makes good blog fodder is drama and emotion. And when I say good blog fodder, I mean for both the reader and me as the writer. My life was always full of dramatic ups and downs - rather in the way of a person with bi-polar (now that is concerning to note isn't it?). Bond used to say was that I thrived on drama - although I still stand by the fact that life while having him in my life, things would have been greatly enhanced by the injection of him telling some truths.... but I digress.
But with Subtle, there is no drama. Well, a lot less anyway. This is, after all, still me. After the (slight) drama of me being gone for seven weeks of our relationship so far, Subtle moved in, virtually the moment I got home from Russia. We have easily fallen into a state of domesticity which sounds a little tedious to some perhaps. The drama in my life is (mostly) limited to that performed on the stage or inflicted upon me at work. Our relationship is so full of love, respect and security that drama has taken itself on a long walk away from me.
So here I am... with nothing interesting to blog about. Doesn't it seem dull to say, "Life is wonderful - I have a fantastic relationship with a lovely man who supports and loves me - Work is fine - Isabella is gorgeous....."? Why should it seem dull to have a life full of positives at the moment? Or I could just say, Fuck it, I am happy.. deal with it!
So, be prepared for less salacious blog entries and more examinings of minutiae of everyday life until some new drama befalls me*!
*Fingers crossed for no dramas.....
I made a statement yesterday to Subtle that it seems like my life is very unbloggable at the moment. He took this as a bad thing. But it isn't necesssarily so.
In times gone by, well, really since the inception of this blog, it seems that what makes good blog fodder is drama and emotion. And when I say good blog fodder, I mean for both the reader and me as the writer. My life was always full of dramatic ups and downs - rather in the way of a person with bi-polar (now that is concerning to note isn't it?). Bond used to say was that I thrived on drama - although I still stand by the fact that life while having him in my life, things would have been greatly enhanced by the injection of him telling some truths.... but I digress.
But with Subtle, there is no drama. Well, a lot less anyway. This is, after all, still me. After the (slight) drama of me being gone for seven weeks of our relationship so far, Subtle moved in, virtually the moment I got home from Russia. We have easily fallen into a state of domesticity which sounds a little tedious to some perhaps. The drama in my life is (mostly) limited to that performed on the stage or inflicted upon me at work. Our relationship is so full of love, respect and security that drama has taken itself on a long walk away from me.
So here I am... with nothing interesting to blog about. Doesn't it seem dull to say, "Life is wonderful - I have a fantastic relationship with a lovely man who supports and loves me - Work is fine - Isabella is gorgeous....."? Why should it seem dull to have a life full of positives at the moment? Or I could just say, Fuck it, I am happy.. deal with it!
So, be prepared for less salacious blog entries and more examinings of minutiae of everyday life until some new drama befalls me*!
*Fingers crossed for no dramas.....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)