What Is It About That Author?

This week's Weekly Geeks asks:

• Tell your readers what is it about "an" author that you are most passionate about, that have you coming back for more from them, following their every blog post – literally blackmailing people to read their books?

• Who are some of your all time favourite authors?

• And what is it about them that makes you keep going back for more?

My absolute favourite author is Enid Blyton. I attribute my love for reading to her. Most of my childhood reading was Blyton, and on a bad/rainy day, I still yearn to curl up with one of her books. I strongly believe that children should read her books, and while lately, there's been a lot of criticism about her racist and sexist, I personally think it's the politically-correct police working overtime - much like the whole "Baa Baa Black Sheep" being racist, and changing it to "Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep," which incidentally has homosexual connotations...

I digress.

Moving on to authors of adult books...

There are a number of authors I've enjoyed reading since my mid-teens, including Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Milan Kundera. I'm slowly working my way through all their books, and am enjoying taking my time.

A couple of years ago, I discovered J.M. Coetzee. While I love the three works by him which I have read, and think he's immensely talented, I'd still be reluctant to call him an all-time favourite.

Just last year, I discovered Angela Carter, an author I've enjoyed acquainting myself with. Not only are her works surreal, brilliant and original (well, I've never read anything like her books), but her book covers are so incredibly striking, that you just want them sitting on your shelf, to look pretty!

So, what keeps me going back for more? Well, it's different things about different authors, and in some instances, it's hard to nail down. I haven't listed Sarah Waters as a favourite, yet, I want to read all her books to see if any of them compare to Fingersmith.

With Marquez and Kundera, it's kind of hard to pinpoint what I love. I've almost taken it for granted that if I pick up one of their books, I'm bound to love it. The language is beautiful, the story thought-provoking, and I genuinely feel as though I'm gained something after reading their works. On the other hand, reading Carter is a hell of an experience. I'm sorry, but there's no other way (that I can think of) to describe it.

How about you? Do you have any authors that you're just drawn to, more than others? What keeps you going back for more of their works?

Weekly Geeks - Second Chance

Today's Weekly Geeks asks:

There have been times in my life where I reread a book (or author) I hated--or thought I hated--but the second time around ended up loving. Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever changed your mind about a book or author the second time around? Have you ever given a book or author a second chance?

If you have, I'd love to hear your stories. Blog about your experience(s) in giving second chances.

If you haven't, I'd like you to consider giving a book or an author a second chance. You can blog about your intentions to do so--or if you're a quick reader, maybe you can even squeeze something in.

It is just very interesting to me how time can change tastes and perceptions. How subjective the reading experience is and always will be.

This is an interesting question, and it's something I'm still quite ambivalent about, as I've been ecstatic and disappointed on giving books and authors second chances.

Sometime in 2008, I read Anne Enright's Taking Pictures - a collection of short stories. All said and done, it's a great name for a collection of short stories, but, I found the book to be terrible. I almost wept while reading it, but ended up attributing my dislike to the fact that I don't really like short stories that much.

Come Summer 2009, and I pick up Enright's The Gathering - the winner of the Booker Prize in 2007. If you follow the link, you'll see how disappointed I was (it's the only book I haven't finished this year!), and now, I don't think I'll be able to give her work a third chance. Life's too short to keep giving an author a chance.

However, and here's the BIG however:

I re-read Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children a couple of months back, and absolutely loved it. First time 'round, I found it extremely convoluted and difficult to read. Rushdie's writing style is unique, in the sense that, the words meander around an idea, 'til they completely surround it, and only then is the sentence complete - I wonder if that made sense? Loads of the sentences needed to be read, re-read and read again, and I think back then, patience wasn't my strongest suit. This time 'round though, I persevered, and once I broke the 100 page mark, it was smooth-sailing. It's like the rocky start to a relationship, when you're still learning about each other. Once you're past that, the love affair surges and rises above it all, and nothing can get in the way!

And my second re-read of this year was Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, another book I didn't really enjoy the first time. I didn't even bother re-reading it just before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released. I did re-read it after seeing the movie though, and was quite satiated. Of course, the book trumps the movie - any moron could've told you that - but, the book is also more Voldemort-centric, which makes it darker and more interesting. It takes us back to the very beginning, and answers some of the questions I had while reading the first four books. Why didn't I enjoy it the first time? Well, because, I thought it was very commercial, and Rowling was making a play for the media, not for the fans of the series. I still stand by that sentiment - her first four books are far superior to her last three, but, I think this book needs a re-read to truly appreciate it! (Of course, I would say that).

How about you? Do you give books/authors second chances? How often are you disappointed? And how often, do you feel that it's been worth it?

Weekly Geeks - Music

This week we have a guest post by Ashley of Complete and Unabridged.

Music is a pretty amazing thing. It can take us back to the past, make us want to dance, put us in a romantic mood, or simply lift our spirits. But sometimes, music does something a little different for me: it reminds me of a book.

Yes, there is nothing more geeky than to be riding down the road listening to the radio and suddenly thinking "That song matches [book title] perfectly!". But that is exactly what happens to me sometimes. For example, whenever I hear Phil Collins' song 'Can't Stop Loving You,' I immediately think of Elizabeth Gaskell's novel North and South. To me, it is exactly the kind of song that describes the two main characters' relationship.

So, my fellow Weekly Geeks, your challenge this week is to come up with at least one song-book match. It could remind you of a theme from the book, a specific part of the plot, or even one of the characters (a sort of theme song, if you will). Be sure to include samples of the lyrics and the reason why that song reminds you of that book. If you can provide a link to a recording of the song so that other geeks can hear it that would be great as well. (One good place to look for links is last.fm, there are others, too).

Rock n' Roll!!

Music and reading have always gone hand-in-hand for me, since the time I was given my first Walkman. I used to curl up in bed, crank up the volume on my Walkman to ensure I was oblivious to my mum calling me for anything, and lose myself in a fantastic book. There were times when I did hear her, but kept reading, knowing I had a fully legitimate excuse! (Shh... don't tell her!)

Based on that, you would think I'd be able to answer this week's Weekly Geeks pronto, but, no! Not me! Believe it or not, I can't make a single book-song connexion at the moment. I've been staring at my bookshelf for the longest time, with no joy!

However, if I replace 'book' with 'poem', this suddenly becomes very easy for me, as every time I hear The Doors' Riders On The Storm, I can't help but think of Alfred Noyes' The Highwayman. The 'stories' both recite are quite different, but the essence is pretty similar. If The Highwayman was a song, I can easily imagine it having exactly the same music as well.

I'll deliberate a bit more on the book-poem link, and see if I come up with something.

Happy Weekly Geeks!

Weekly Geeks - Go!

Hello, Geeks!

So, a while ago, Care sent the Weekly Geeks team a very original idea, and I've been toying with it ever since. The words you're reading right now do not fit in with Care's idea, as I understood it. She wanted no explanation, just one word, and "Go!"

I thought about it, but couldn't resist adding a little more to it.

Ready?

Set....

Go!

Just kidding. Here's your assignment:

1. Go to Creativity Tools' random word generator.
2. Get yourself a random word. Write it down. Then click "new word" to get yourself two more random words, and write them down, too. You should have three words written down.
3. Now find the random sentence generator and get yourself a sentence, write it down underneath the three words. If you don't like that sentence it's okay to click "new sentence" until you get one you like.
4. Use the Random Phrase Generator to generate a phrase. Write it down. You may not need this, but keep it handy, just in case. Again, it's okay to go through a couple of phrases before settling on one that works for you.
5. Now, using the three words from Step 2 and the sentence from Step 3, write one of the following, (but don't tell us which!):

(a) A book review (if you have an obscure book that many of us won't recognize by the title, this would be a great time to do it--or you could omit or replace the title [see -d- below] just for this week)
(b) A scene from a book (you'll need to replace some of the words and a phrase with the random ones).
(c) A scene you make up completely from scratch
(d) A review of a fake book, using the Random Phrase from Step 4 as your book title

6. Send me an email at Worducopia/at/gmail/dot/com, with the subject heading Random Post, letting me know if your review or scene was from a real or fake book and what your random words, sentence, and phrase were.
7. As always, go visit other Weekly Geeks. Try to guess which Geeks have posted fake reviews or scenes, and which used actual books. No fair Googling the phrase as a hint. In the Round-up on Friday, I'll post which were real and which were fake, and you can see how you did.

The Circumferential Dragon by award-winning Xu Hua is a futuristic novel, starting in China, but taking the reader around the globe with its protagonist's adventures. Chinese intelligence officer, Changying Liu, had been acting as a double-agent, selling Chinese military secrets to the American government, thereby ensuring that the Chinese plans were seriously compromised. When the Prime Minister, Juan Quingzhao, was made aware of this atrocity, Liu was immediately put in a black-ops cell, where she would be forced to reveal all she knew about the American intelligence.

The cell was divided into fourteen sections, each having one prisoner of war, strapped to a machine. Dr. Hong headed this unit, as he tortured people into revealing what he wanted to know. The prisoners were given a drink, laced with a kind-of drug that put them in a catatonic state. When they returned to consciousness, Dr. Hong questioned them, in their semi-delusional state. More often that not, he got the information he needed, to elevate China's position in the War, increasing their bargaining power.

What Dr. Hong had not counted on was Liu's resilience to such treatments. When she drifted between catatonia and consciousness, the machine despaired, as it showed her vital stats fluctuating between two extremes. Dr. Hong was bewildered. He had never seen anything like this before. At least, not so consistently.

After further discussions with the Chinese ruling party, a decision was made to sneak Liu out of her holding cell, and put her in a 'military' taxi, while she was still catatonic. The idea was that she would try and contact the Americans, and hopefully lead them straight to their enemies. They implanted a device in her neck, which she would be oblivious to, and which would only be activated remotely. Hence, regular scans would not be able to discover this device.

As the story progresses, we see Liu running from the Chinese, and then, when the Americans become suspicious of her due to the device implanted without her knowledge, she absconds to a faraway island, hoping to escape from the fate that awaits her. On the hit list of both, the Chinese and American intelligence, and subsequently, on the radar of most countries world-wide, Liu has to struggle, find various disguises, undergo plastic surgery, forge identity papers, and always keep on the move.

However, as the War gets uglier and nastier, she manages to pull one of the greatest feats to get a hero's welcome home, and there is a happily ever after........

This book is a fast-paced action-packed read, which is gripping and exciting. The reader cannot help but be disgusted by the torture mechanisms used during War, and the horror of War itself. It's incredible how every choice made, inadvertently or otherwise, can lead to serious consequences, and a single mistake can be fatal, eliminating all the past successes.

As the book progressed, though, I thought that the story was getting predictable, and I could see the ending coming about three-quarters of the way in. I'd definitely recommend it though, if, for nothing else, the description of Dr. Hong's cell.

Oh, and no prizes for guessing who the Circumferential Dragon is.

So, can you guess if this a real review or not? What are the random words generated? How about the random sentence?

Weekly Geeks - Great Movie Adaptations

This week's Weekly Geeks asks:

With the release of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince this past week, I thought it would be good to turn once again to movie adaptations. In March, with the release of Watchmen (using that as a jumping off point for discussion), I brought up the subject of worst movie adaptations. This time, I'd like to bring up best movie adaptations (not saying if the recent Harry Potter movie is or isn't faithful to the book since I'll be honest I haven't read the book, but using the subject as a jumping off point for discussion).

So what are some of your favorite movie adaptations of books? Include trailers or scenes from Youtube if you'd like.

More oft' than not, I think movies don't live up to the books. Books leave so much to the imagination, whereas in movies, nothing is left to the imagination, which makes it still less enjoyable, as far as I'm concerned. For example, I think the hippogriff in the third Harry Potter movie (The Prisoner of Azkaban) looked more like a friendly dragon, than the deadly creature the book described.

If I had to choose my favorite movie adaptation, it would be Erich Segal's Love Story. The movie starts off exactly as the book does:

What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant? That she loved Mozart and Bach, the Beatles, and me.

While I can't find a trailer for it on youtube, the main song on the soundtrack is equally touching and beautiful.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7676EC06oc]

This is probably the only book that has almost reduced me to tears, and the movie did live up to its expectations.

Couple of others worth mentioning are Schindler's List:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAH3RTRlCHY]

And, Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange. I did think the book was better here, though.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVnngDWb9WE]

So, do you have any favorite adaptations? Do you find that you normally prefer books as well?

Weekly Geeks - Where In The World...

This week's Weekly Geeks asks you to tell us about your globe trotting via books. Are you a global reader? How many countries have you "visited" in your reading? What are your favorite places or cultures to read about? Can you recommend particularly good books about certain regions, countries or continents? How do you find out about books from other countries? What countries would you like to read that you haven't yet?

Use your own criteria about what you consider to be "visiting" -- whether a book is written about the country or by a native or resident of the country.

For fun, create one of these maps at this website ticking off the countries you've read books from - you might be surprised how many (or how few!) countries you've read. Include the map in your blog post if you're so inclined.

Feel free to tell us about any actual world traveling you've done in addition to your literary travels.

I'm sticking to global-trotting via the medium of books in this post, restricted to the last seven months. I don't think I can recall all the books I've read, based in different destinations, but, this year, I have been trying out a self-imposed 12 Country Challenge, where I try and read books from twelve different authors belonging to twelve different countries. I'm almost done with this; have one more book to go.

I am not including books from United States of America and United Kingdom, due to the sheer volume of them. However, am including some of the countries the books were based in.

Europe

1. Denmark {Anne Holm - I Am David}
2. Germany {Bernhard Schlink - Homecoming}
3. Hungary {Gyorgy Dragoman - The White King}
4. France {Patricia Duncker - Hallucinating Foucault}
5. Spain {Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Shadow Of The Wind}
6. Czech Republic {Milan Kundera - The Book of Laughter & Forgetting}
7. Ireland {Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture}
8. Ireland {Anne Enright - The Gathering}

Middle East

1. Turkey {Orhan Pamuk - The White King}

Africa

1. Nigeria {Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Half Of A Yellow Sun}

Asia

1. Japan {Haruki Murakami - Norwegian Wood}
2. Japan {David Mitchell - Number9Dream}
3. India {Rohinton Mistry - Such A Long Journey}
4. India {Vikas Swarup - Q&A}
5. India {Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children}
6. Pakistan {Mohsin Hamid - Moth Smoke}

South America

1. Columbia {Gabriel Garcia Marquez - News of a Kidnapping}

As for books I'd like to read - well, some Brazilian/Argentinean literature would be nice. Also, books based in China/Hong Kong. Don't think I've read anything based in those countries, which is a pity.

How about you? Do you enjoy globe-trotting as well?

And, I have one more book for this challenge left. Any recommendations?

Weekly Geeks - Guilty Pleasures

This week's Weekly Geeks was sent in by Maree, and it revolves around those things that we do when we're not reading. So. Weekly Geeks, we're going into the confessional this week.

What's your non-reading guilty pleasure?
Trashy TV?
Trashier movies?
Junk food?

I'm not a big fan of TV or movies. Never have been, to be honest. I always preferred curling up with a good book, and some music, instead of watching TV - even cartoons. So what are my guilty pleasures (barring chocolates, which, I would say is more of a necessity, than a guilty pleasure!). Well, three things:

1. Gadgets - anytime I see something new, that looks funky, I want to buy it. Even if I don't need it. I just have to have it! I probably subscribe to more techie blogs and magazines than book blogs. And some of it really blows my mind away. Ok, so that's +1 on the Geek-o-meter for me!

2. Football - as in, proper football. I'm a Manchester United fan (ok, stop rolling your eyes. I am not a glory hunter!), and watching them play football is heavenly, most of the time. The Wednesday just gone by was painful, but if something gives you infinite pleasure, it's bound to cause you pain as well, right? I hate the summer, because the lack of football means I end up twiddling my thumbs wondering what to do on weekends. 

3. Swimming - is amazing. You can lose yourself in the water, and as you cover length after length, all your worries ebb away, and you just end up feeling really relaxed and happy. While at university, I used to swim twice a day - first thing in the morning, and in the evening... specially during exam time (it might have had something to do with procrastinating...). Now, I barely get time to swim thrice a week... but, when I do, it's always like a brand new experience. Of course, when I slip in the pool and my back bumps off all the steps, it's not that much fun. Luckily, that happens rarely! 

So, how about you? Non-reading pleasures? 

Weekly Geeks - Here Comes The Sun!

And here's part two of this week's Weekly Geeks:

Again with Memorial Day Weekend here in the U.S. starting traditionally on Friday evening, it also is unofficially the start of summer. You've probably been asked this in other meme groups in which you participate, but do your reading habits change over the summer? Do you choose lighter fare? What do you enjoy to take to the beach, for example? What is the ultimate summer book? OR what are your favorite travel guides -- official or unofficial guides? Again, an example, I think of Holidays In Hell by P.J. O'Rourke, of places I'd rather not vacation. Along those lines, where do you vacation? Any places you recommend or even don't recommend?

Gone are the days when I get a summer vacation, and can contemplate a few weeks of blissful laziness. I miss school. I miss university. I miss sitting in the summer sun, as you see the odd tulip sprouting, the grass looking greener, and the skies bluer. Adulthood. It's overrated. 

So nope, my reading habits don't tend to change over the summer. I still read what I normally would, as I try to strike off a name from my TBR list, without adding another eight on. 

However, when it comes to vacationing, and beach holidays, I have a very simple rule: paperback fiction. Ok, stop judging me. Buuuut... on a beach, a Grisham or a Mary Higgins Clark will work beautifully. It's essentially easy-reading, as you sit on a deck chair and watch the waves coming in. I love the waves, I love the ocean, and I just adore sunrise and sunset on the beach. It's breathtaking. It's stunning. It's almost like being in paradise. 

This year, I'm planning a trip to Barbados or Florida with some friends, as my 'summer' holiday, and a trip to Egypt or Morocco as my 'end of summer' break. None of the plans are definite yet. It's all tentative, but hopefully, something will work out. 

Happy Weekly Geeks, folks, and enjoy the summer. 

C'mon, sing one of my favorite Beatles melodies with me...

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,  and I say it's alright 

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter  Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here  Here comes the sun, here comes the sun  and I say it's alright 

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces  Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here  Here comes the sun, here comes the sun  and I say it's alright 

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...  Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...  Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...  Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...  Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... 

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting  Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear  Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,  and I say it's alright  It's alright.

Weekly Geeks - On Wars...

This week's Weekly Geeks has two questions. One for Memorial Day, and one for summer reading. Due to the diametric opposites of the topics, I've decided to split this up into two posts. First one's on war....

With Memorial Day in the U.S. this coming Monday, I thought it would be appropriate to focus on the military. Either share your favorite book on war or movie on war and why. Provide a clip from the movie if you'd like or a passage from the book that shows us why you it's your favorite book or movie. Or do both. OR choose your own military theme, for example, if you have a relative or friend in the military and you would like to send them a video or a message of thanks, do that on your blog. OR do all three. The book and movie also don't have to be "patriotic" necessarily. For example, one of my favorite fictional books on war is Johnny, Get Your Gun by Dalton Trumbo.

This is going to be on books - I'm not a big movies buff. However, this book made a great movie as well, apparently (haven't seen it). Cutting to the chase, it's Schindler's List/Ark. The book won the Booker Prize in 1982, despite being a non-fictional masterpiece, and it follows the quest of one man to save the life of thousands of Jews from the gas chambers during World War II: Oskar Schindler. It's an incredibly absorbing book, which its author, Thomas Keneally, has tried to make as factual as possible, so as not to 'debase' the record of Schindler - fiction, according to the author, would do exactly that. 

I unfortunately don't have the book at hand, so I can't pull out a passage, but, I would recommend that book to anyone interested in that era. It's well-written, non-fictional, and fills us with hope, that even during the grossest of times, there was one man out there striving to make a difference. 

There are some other books that come to mind, including Philip Roth's The Plot Against America, which portrays an alternate reality, where Lindbergh won the Presidential elections in 1940, instead of Roosevelt. That was creepy: imagine a Fascist America! 

There are loads more, but, I think these are probably the two books I was completely blown away by. 

Happy Memorial Day, folks (albeit we don't celebrate it this side of the pond). 

Weekly Geeks - Literature in a 'City Much Like Hell'

 So, this week, 'Weekly Geeks' asks us to take a literary tour of our hometown.

Do you live in a place where a famous author was born? Does your town have any cool literary museums or monuments? Does Stephen King live at the end of your street? Was Twilight set in your hometown?

You can talk about famous (or not so famous) authors who live there, novels set in there, or any other literary facts that you know about where you live. Feel free to embellish with pictures of places and/or authors, maps of the area, and fun facts about the authors. 

So, a 'city much like hell'? Did you get the reference? How about if I say, it's the city of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Changing of the Guards. And a couple of more hints: a famous song about a bridge falling down? The host of the 2012 Olympics. Guessing all of you have gotten it by now: London! 

London's a great place for literature. Many famous authors and poets have lived here/been buried here, and some incredible books have been based in London. In fact, Waterstones now-a-days has a table devoted to books on London (fiction and non-fiction), much like it has a table devoted to children's best-sellers, and many tables devoted to their everlasting three-for-two sale. 

So, while I could easily make this a five thousand word essay, let me just stick to a few of my favorite authors, and a few books that I have enjoyed tremendously. Oh, and for the record, it was Shelley who compared London to hell. I didn't know that 'til much recently, and I don't agree at all. For all its horrors, I haven't found a city I'd rather live in. Not New York, not Hong Kong, not Rome, not Paris. Maybe Los Angeles, but.... let me move on, before I digress much further. 

So, a few random facts: Milton, Hardy, Kipling, Tennyson, Chaucer, Dickens and Beatrix Potter are all buried in London. Orwell lived here for a while, and wrote the book Down and Out in Paris and in London based on his experiences slumming it out in London during the Great Depression. A few of Dickens' novels were based in London, focusing on poverty, orphanages, pickpockets and of course - the Victorian Society. Oliver Twist, which takes us back to the 19th century London, is easily the first book that comes to mind, when I think of Dickens and London. And, apparently (I wish I could confirm this), it's the first book in English that has a child protagonist. 

One of the greatest detectives of the millennium lived in London as well. Who, you ask? Elementary, my dear Watson. As he himself once said: Eliminate all other factors, and the one remaining must be the truth. The other variation of that, being, Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. The last one is actually one of my favorite quotes of all times (I used to love mystery novels, and used this principal to try and figure out the whudunnit). Anyway, it's good old Sherlock Holmes living at 221B Baker Street, with Dr. Watson. 

Moving from detectives to plays: The greatest playwright, Shakespeare, lived in London for a bit. The Tempest, Romeo & Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing were all written while he was in London. Weirdly enough, I've been to Shakespeare's home in Stratford-upon-Avon, but not done any Shakespeare related sight-seeing in London. Is that weird, or is that typical? 

Anyway, thought I'd share some pictures of Shakespeare's birthplace/home from my trip up to Stratford-upon-Avon a few years ago:

And to wrap it up, here are some more random facts:

John Keats gave up medicine to become an author. He trained at a hospital near London Bridge (Guy's Hospital). I don't know much about him as a doctor, but some of his poems were amazing. 

Oscar Wilde's last evening in England was in London. 

Lord Byron lived in Piccadilly before being driven into exile in the 19th century. 

Moving to slightly more recent times, Kings Cross station has erected a Platform 9 3/4 sign, as well as installed half a trolley against the wall, so that is looks like the other half goes over to the magical world of Harry Potter, from where he can catch the Hogwarts Express. 

Oh, and John Le Carre lives in Hampstead, which is about 20 minutes from mine. Never seen him or met him though... maybe I need to hang out there more often? 

So yes, that's literature in London for you, in a nutshell - and the little I can remember. I'm sure I'm forgetting loads.

Do you have any more facts about literature and London? Have you met a famous author here? Have you met a famous author anywhere? Do you have a favorite book that's based in and around London? Or, a movie? Maybe a song? 

.... and have a nice weekend, fellow-geeks. 

Weekly Geeks - Mark It Down

Do you use bookmarks or just grab whatever is handy to mark your page? Do you collect lots of different bookmarks or do you have a favorite one that you use exclusively? If you're not someone who uses bookmarks on a regular basis, have you ever used anything odd to mark your place?

When I was much younger, I used to make bookmarks, using stickers and color pencils. I aimed at making one a week, and had then in a neat stack on my bookshelf, so that they were always easily accessible. Grab & go - for everyone who ever needed a bookmark at home. 

Those days are long gone!

There was also a time I used hotel key-cards and old credit cards as bookmarks as well. Or, if I was on holiday, and had purchased one of those $20 phone-cards, they did the trick... Yes, I kept misplacing them, and yes - the people around me used to get quite infuriated with my carelessness... But, it just made sense at the time! 

I have a couple of bookmarks (both presents) which I tend to use, now-a-days. One's an extremely adorable Winnie The Pooh one, that is commonly available at Waterstones, whereas the other is a souvenir from Switzerland.

However, more often than not, I end up using my travel card as a bookmark, as I mostly read on the tube. Of course, this ends up being painful sometimes, when I've finished a book but forgotten to take out my travel card. I'll tell you this - reaching the station, and then realizing you've left your travel card in a book at home (or work) is one of the most frustrating experiences ever! 

I also try and remember the page number. Of course, this is not foolproof, and very frequently, I end up scrambling through a fair few pages, in order to determine where I need to start reading from again. 

Sometimes, when I get to work, and I'm in the middle of the book, I just grab a pen/pencil/stapler from my desk and place it between the pages. It's convenient, and I don't need to fumble around at all when the day's done, and I'm ready to immerse myself in the book again. 

However, I don't dog-ear the pages, nor do I ever leave the book face-down. I'm one of those annoying finicky people who likes my books looking brand new. Yes, I know - books are supposed to look used and read and enjoyed. But - I don't know. To me, it feels realllllly wrong, as I think books are supposed to be treasured and valued and kept well. My copy of 'The Fountainhead has been read about sixteen times (by me alone), and the book still looks almost brand new, and strangely (and geekily) enough, I'm quite proud of that. 

Weekly Geeks - It's All About Animals

This week at Weekly Geeks, it's all about animals. In books, movies, or real life. So, here goes...

Which are your favorites?

Of course, there are the usual suspects, like Black Beauty, The Jungle Book and Charlotte's Web. All classics, all incredibly written, and they can be read over and over again. 

Also, Morpurgo's WarHorse has to get a mention. WarHorse reminded me that animal 'autobiographies' (i.e. where the narrator is the animal) can occasionally be more thought-provoking than a first person human narrator. 

There was Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals, which described his adventures as a ten year old in the Greek island of Corfu. It was a funny warm light-hearted read, which ended in me yearning to have the same experiences as Durell. 

Finally, saving the best for last, is Shadow the Sheepdog, an Enid Blyton classic. Probably not her most famous work (in fact, far from), this book is a collection of short stories about Shadow, a sheepdog (hmm, I wouldn't have guessed that!), and his adventures with Johnny (his owner), and the other farm animals. As Shadow grows up, from being a naive pup to being a responsible sheepdog, we see his relationship with the young boy (Johnny) changing; and resulting in the reader literally being able to feel the bond between the dog and his master. 

Which touched your heart the most?

It has to be Shadow the Sheepdog, for the reasons mentioned above. It's a feel-good book, a must for every child. It's a book about honesty, friendship, growing up, and sacrifices. And the penultimate chapter actually has you reaching for the tissue box. If you haven't read this book yet, please do!

Which have found their way onto your wish lists or TBR stacks?

Watership Down; Marley and Me; and, The Wind In The Willows.

Is there a childhood favorite?

You mean other than Blyton's Shadow the Sheepdog? Let's see... I enjoyed reading Aesop's Fables, which were essentially animal stories. Loads of the Lady Bird books I read, like, Puss In Boots and The Little Red Hen. Dr. Seuss' The Cat In The Hat has to pop up if we're talking about childhood favorites. And there are a fair few other Enid Blytons, where the pets may not be the absolute central character, but they are one of them: be it Buster in the Five Find Outers, or Timothy in Famous Five, or Scamper in Secret Seven.

Have you ever named a pet after an animal in a book or movie? 

I've never had a pet, but I did name one of my stuffed toys Boxer - the horse from Orwell's Animal Farm. I've also always wanted to own a horse called Comanche. Don't ask me where the name came from though!