The Countdown Begins

In a week, I'm off for two weeks to the Caribbean - Barbados for one week, and St. Maarten for the other. As this is my first holiday in 2009, you can imagine how excited I am! I've been looking forward to this break for the last couple of months, and I can't believe it's almost here. Honestly!

I'm all prepared for a lazy holiday, where I spend most of my time drinking margaritas or pina coladas, or go swimming, or snorkeling, or trekking, or just taking in the breathtaking beauty of the white sands. Of course, a book list to go would be mandatory! I'd hate to find myself in paradise without a good book to read, and I'd be miserable if I found myself to be a victim of a 'bad' book (read, a book I didn't enjoy). For some time, I have been "saving" books - books I can't go wrong with, and books that I've been looking forward to reading for ages. So, here's the likely short-list:

1. Sarah Waters - Fingersmith : Ok, I'm running about seven years late. Yes, I know it's The Little Stranger which is the flavor of the season, but, I really want to read one of her earlier books, and this one's been rated very highly by most people. Even Amazon has a 50:3 ratio (50 five-star ratings, and three one-star ratings), so, you know - it makes it to the list.
2. Haruki Murakami - Kafka On The Shore : I've already mentioned that I've been saving this book for the past eight months, plus, it's part of the Japanese Literature Challenge 3. What better time to bring it out?
3. Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Angel's Game : I loved The Shadow Of The Wind, and this book starts off in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books as well. How can I go wrong with it? However, this is a hardback, and while traveling, I'm not sure hardbacks are the way forward.
4. Daphne Du Maurier - Rebecca : A while back, you probably saw this on my "I'm reading" widget, because well - I started reading it. However, after eight pages, I put it down, because I felt I couldn't do total justice to the book if I continued to read it while commuting. It's a book I want to soak in, and enjoy, and hopefully, I'll get a chance to do so.
5. James Scudamore - Heliopolis : I'd feel guilty if I didn't try to read at least three or four of the books on the Booker long-list of this year. I'm reading The Wilderness at the moment, which is great, but that just morphs the baker's dozen into a layman's dozen. I don't have this book at hand yet, so I might need to pop into Waterstones or something next week.
6. Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber : This is literally a last minute addition. I loved The Magic Toyshop, and this went straight on to my list after reading that. It's a book of short stories, which might be a nice change, as I haven't read short stories in the longest time. The only dilemma with this book is, where can I find a copy with a cover as stunning (if not more) as The Magic Toyshop's.

The other books that I have stacked neatly, but are unfortunately going to miss out on the Caribbean include: Out {Natsuo Kirino}, The Cellist Of Sarajevo {Steven Galloway} and How To Paint A Dead Man {Sarah Hall}. Would you guys swap any of the books I've included with any of the above three? How about with any of the other books on the Booker long-list? Or, do you have any brand new recommendations? Maybe something that is actually set in the Caribbean?

What kind of holiday reading are you inclined to do? Do you also find yourself 'saving books', to dig out when the time is right?

I Hate WordPress - I do, I do!

I spent the last two and a bit hours doing a really nice layout of all the Booker Prize winners, complete with images, and links to the books I had read, as well as a massive red cross against the books I had read, but not reviewed. I did the whole thing in HTML, as opposed to using the "Visual" tab, as I thought it would be easier and quicker, and HTML gives me a tad more control over what I'm doing. Throughout, I kept previewing my changes, to make sure there were no syntax errors. And then - then I publish it, and guess what?! Wordpress decides to strip out all the images and just leave a table of years, with links, and nothing else! :( Argh! I'm not a happy bunny, and I'll need to re-do this... and, it looked so nice as well! I'm going to bed, and crying myself to sleep. I expect this to happen to me five days a week at work - when I code something, and it doesn't quite do what it's supposed to. But here, at home, as my Sunday draws to a close - now, that's just wrong on so many levels!

So Much To Do, So Little Time

Time - it's the one thing I always seem to be running out of (excluding a fresh pair of socks). I have a to do list a mile long, and I'm going to start by ticking some things off this weekend. On the blogging front, I started early, finishing two outstanding book reviews, and one Q&A post from the Weekly Geeks two weeks back. Not bad for a hard day's night! Reviews completed:

1. Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture 2. Sophie Kinsella - The Undomestic Goddess

Weekly Geeks Q&A:

1. J.D. Salinger - Catcher In The Rye

Unfortunately, I still have the below outstanding:

Reviews:

1. Terry Pratchett - A Hat Full Of Sky 2. John Le Carre - A Murder Of Quality

Weekly Geeks Q&A:

1. Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale 2. Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials 3. J.M. Coetzee - Disgrace

Hopefully, by the end of the weekend, I'll be up-to-date. I really don't understand where time flies - I don't waste much time, but I still never seem to have enough. Do you guys ever feel like you're in the same boat? Or, is it just me, and I need to go in for some time-management-therapy?

Apologies

I've been pretty bad at keeping this blog up to date. In my defense, I've been working on a big project that's been wrapped up now. However, I have still been reading - what with commuting about four hours daily! Read a few exceptional books; in fact, most of them from the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die list, including Plot Against America, and The Handmaid's Tale.  With a nice lazy long weekend planned, I'll try and get the reviews up-to-date. 

Wish me luck... x

Resolutions

"This year, I resolve to..."

Every new year, it's the same thing. Lasts for a few weeks, and then the resolve fades away into nothing, until it's that time of the (new) year again. Be it, 'I will shop less', or 'I will go to the gym 5 times a week', or 'I will not bite my nails'.... the list continues. I gave up making resolutions about three years ago, just because, well, it seemed pointless.

Not this year. This year, I decided I might as well do the whole shebang. Why not? Worst-case, I don't keep the resolution, and so, I become another statistic. It's a chance I'm willing to take....

So here it goes: This year, I am going to read a hundred books! Yes, I know. That's about a book every 3.6 days. And yes, I'm aware that's a tough challenge, but I'm inspired by some of the people at librarything, and I really do enjoy reading, and god knows, there are actually enough good books out there to read. I did about 62 last year, so....

Anyone fancy joining me? Or, recommending some good books? 

Danke.

It's Late In The Evening

... and she's wondering what clothes to wear ... whereas, I'm wondering about WordPress, and my first post, here: a world where goblins lurk, demons dance, monsters dwell and pixies make merry. If you're lucky, you might catch a quick glimpse of reality. Or, is that supposed to be "if you're unlucky". I forget.  It's a world of digressions, meanderings and ramblings. A world of literature and music. Apple and Oranges (seriously - keep your eyes peeled). Contradictions and Controversies. Most importantly, it's about me unleashing my narcissistic self into the blog-o-sphere. And for that, I apologize (you'll find, I do that a lot). 

Thanks for stopping by.