Book Club - 04/12/13

I seem to have neglected my book club blog this month, what with the Christmas shindigs and jetting off to Estonia for the weekend!  Apologies I'm back on it!! We met up on the 4^th Dec for Book Club and had a tasty dinner at Apatura in South Croydon to celebrate Christmas.  The book on everyone’s mind was ‘The Woman in Black’ and this had mixed reviews although personally I really enjoyed reading it.  Everyone had seen a mixture of the film adaptation and/or the play in the west end and so had different expectations of the book.  Some were not impressed at all…I think because it wasn’t scary enough and not a typical horror book because nothing hideous and gory happened.  But I thought it was gripping and suspenseful, had an eerie edge to it and I sped through it quite happily.  The book was quite different to the film but very similar to the play which I saw about 12 years ago and I'd like to go back and see the play again as it was such a long time ago. Parts in the book I could visualise in the show, like the Woman in her rocking chair in the child's play room which perhaps made me feel the spookiness of it a bit more.  The others were all somewhere in-between enjoying it but not loving it, giving it a wide ranging score from 2-7 out of 10. 

To be honest there wasn’t much talk about the book this time - I know its disgraceful, but we pulled our Christmas crackers, told silly jokes and stuffed our faces most of the evening.  The next book it was decided we would not vote out of three, and instead just pull one completely at random and the result was…

‘Tiny Sunbirds Far Away’ by Christie Watson

'Blessing and her brother Ezikiel adore their larger-than-life father, their glamorous mother and their comfortable life in Lagos. But all that changes when their father leaves them for another woman. Their mother is fired from her job at the Royal Imperial Hotel - only married women can work there - and soon they have to quit their air-conditioned apartment to go and live with their grandparents in a compound in the Niger Delta. Adapting to life with a poor countryside family is a shock beyond measure after their privileged upbringing in Lagos. Told in Blessing's own beguiling voice, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away shows how some families can survive almost anything. At times hilarious, always poignant, occasionally tragic, it is peopled with characters you will never forget.'

 

Next Book Club:

 

Date: 15th Jan 2014

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: TBC (as always) One day we will find the perfect venue!

 

Enjoy and look forward to seeing you all then x 

Book Club - 06/11/13

This months Book club was held at my house as it was the day after firework night we decided to do some sparklers in the garden.  After attempting to spell out book club I couldn't believe how well it came out and it was so much fun! Thank you for coming guys and girls, it was one to remember!

Amongst gobbling sausage rolls and marshmallows we talked about 11.22.63 by Stephen King.  This is a hefty book, I was impressed that most people finished it as if you didn't start it straight away it would have been difficult to find enough time! I think everyone really enjoyed reading this, it had the odd chapter that wasn't as gripping as the rest but generally it kept you on tender hooks wanting more and took us on a journey through time. 

After getting over the fact that Jake readily agrees to believe and take on a challenge of going back in time to stop the assignation of JFK (which he does seem to do without much question) you are taken back to 1950's America, where Stephen King describes the music, the people, the clothes as if he was really there himself.  An epic amount of research must have gone into writing this.  Because the rabbit hole can only take him back to a date in 1958, he actually has 5 years to wait until the assignation, so the first chunk of the book doesn't really mention much about JFK as he finds many other things to occupy his time, such as saving a family from a murderous father and a girl from a life changing accident.  Once he's been the hero he settles down and actually begins to fall in love with a librarian whilst working at a school.  In fact he really falls in love with the 1950's and the people around him.

Things don't however always go his way he does not have an easy ride of it as the past does not like to be changed (as we are often reminded) and always tries to throw a spanner in the works.  This was a great book to talk about as there was so much going on, Jakes relationships with the different characters and the periods in which it was set.  When Jake considers taking his new love back to the future with him we all agreed that he was crazy to think she would like the future as it would be totally overwhelming, thinking about the way the world is now to back in the 50's there have been so many changes in the way people speak and behave.  Could you imagine living in the 50's with the limited technology they had and coming back to now seeing the internet, mobile phones the lot, you wouldn't think it was only 50 years in the future, you'd think we are all aliens from a space age.

The only bit of the book that I wasn't so keen on was later on when he came back to the future and saw what had happened in relation to what he had changed in the past.  I felt this chapter was so rushed, I'm not sure why in a book that was so hefty you would only save one chapter to describe an entire world and all the things that had changed in its history over 50 years.  The things that had changed were also extremely dramatic and unbelievable when compared with what effect Jake really had on the past, could it really have made that much difference? I guess we will never know.

I don't think we rated it, but the general consensus was that this is definitely worth reading! For quite a few this was their first Stephen King so I think he has made a good impression.

Right the next book for our December meeting (Cannot believe Christmas will almost be upon us) is...'The Woman In Black' by Susan Hill.  This one is a tiny book so no excuses for not getting this one finished after last months epic!  I have seen the play (amazing) and the film (not so great...) but I reckon the books going to be quite good, lets see if its scary as I am very easily spooked!

'Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the sole inhabitant of Eel Marsh House, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows.  The house stands at the end of a causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but it is not until Arthur glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to speak of the woman in black and her terrible purpose.'

Oooooh spooky! Get reading!!

 

Next Book Club:

 

Date: Wednesday 4th December

Time: 7.30pm

Location: TBC (as usual)

 

Just to show we aren't too sensible...

 

 

The Joys of Secondary School

Secondary school was a strange and unnerving experience, and not one I'd like to repeat but looking back makes for some interesting memories.

As prefects in our final year we strolled to the front of the dinner line as other people pushed and shoved each other out of the way to avoid the queue .  My lunch varied quite considerably from chips with cheese, to chips with cheese and beans almost certainly followed by a sugar coated doughnut filled with an oozy chocolate centre.  We were very healthy.  I can't imagine what its like to go to school now where you are encouraged to eat fruit and vegetables.  If that had been the case back then I would have been very skinny.

It was always a race to get out of school first before my brother Rob, as whoever got there first got to give their friends a lift home.  Although I have many memories of all of us piling in, sometimes the two of us plus Steven, Colette, Jenny and last but not least little Ian who got severely squashed once when I saw a spider on my side of the window.  I doubt he's ever got over the trauma.  This was all in the back of my mums mini metro which groaned as it pulled up the hill with the weight of too many teenagers.  Sometimes I'd walk home with Jenny as we both did a paper round after school on a Wednesday evening.  Jenny walked so fast I remember panting to keep up with her but the upside was that we were home in a bout 10 minutes, probably quicker than getting a lift with all the drop offs on the way home. Other times big groups of us would dawdle home down Shirley road, past the sweet shop where there was always a momentary stop to buy ice poles (no matter what time of year).  I remember eating a blue raspberry ice pole with gloves on in winter, they were just so good and only 15p.

No matter what school you went to everyone remembers their teachers who always seem to be extraordinary characters.  Our teachers at Shirley were no exception and particularly in Science had fantastic names, you can't even make this stuff up. Our Physics teacher was called Mr Bean and for Chemistry Mr Sentence.  Its such a shame he wasn't an English teacher I think he missed his calling.  Mr Bean was forever taking his glasses off and Shuva and I used to do a tally chart of how many times he took them off and put them back on again.  I can't remember the final result but I know it was alarmingly high.  Mrs Grant was our Biology teacher a Scottish lady with a fiery temperament who always seemed to amuse the class by accident.  She once walked around with a piece of string attached to the back of her skirt for an entire day.  Jenny and I tried to advise her that at the front of the class Rory had set the bin on fire by putting in a lit splint but she didn't believe us and instead stood there shouting at us and wagging her finger.  She loved us really.  She used to bring in various animal specimens for us to dissect, the pigs eyeballs that she pulled casually out of her handbag one morning caused a particular stir... I'm sure the photosynthesis experiment lasted for an entire term as all I remember about Biology is Lisa continually cutting up potato's.  We didn't appear to be as well prepared for our GCSE Biology exam as we thought as none of us had a clue how to artificially inseminate a cow.  We must has missed that lesson.  Mr Sowen another Chemistry teacher pretty much lived in the library (at least these were the rumours).  He was perhaps the most interesting character of all, speaking Icelandic, jumping around doing helium impressions and putting mysterious powders into students hands before explaining their high levels of toxicity.  Sitting in his lab amongst a collection of pickled hedgehogs and embryos whilst he threw reactive substances into a Bunsen burner was quite an experience. 

Languages...I have to be honest as soon as my options allowed it French became a distant memory, however who could forget the French teacher Mrs Loy who had an unhealthy obsession with Barbie and Ken.  I remember she had a mini plastic Eiffel tower on her desk and taught me for 3 years which resulted in her still not knowing my name.  Karen and Laura used to start Mexican waves around the classroom when her back was turned.  She had no idea.  I really enjoyed German and did quite well but our German teacher Mr Muldoon was Irish, I don't think much more need be said about that.

For one of my options I chose Design & Tech Graphics, which I later discovered was the class which everyone that didn't want to do anything else also chose.  Because of this I became Mrs Miller's teachers pet which was not a bad thing in her class as you did not want to get on the wrong side of her scary shouting episodes.  She once accused someone of cheating and after a full blown row he just walked out of the school.  I remember designing my own fast food chain outlet and designing a pager, I was also the only person to sit their GCSE exam in this subject out of my class.

Home economics was my absolute worse subject (aside from P.E) and Mrs Graham my most feared teacher.  I think I actually used to 'quake in my boots' before her lessons.  Mrs Graham used to use myself and Karen as examples of what not to do.  Karen used to run over to me to check what my food looked like before making food as bad as I did.  Some people never bought ingredient's so they could sit in detention and others bought pre-chopped food so they looked like they knew what they were doing, but they always got found out and disgraced.  My mum used to ring Karen's mum in the morning to swap and share ingredients.  The Teddy shaped jam sandwich fiasco still gives me nightmares, the foul pepper scones and the dreaded tasting sessions.  My biggest problem (apart from not being able to cook anything) was that I never knew how long to leave something in the oven.  So I'd trail behind Mrs Miller trying to get her attention, who would just snap 'I'll be there in a minute' and by the time she came over to my bench (last) whatever it was would be burnt and she'd say 'Why didn't you take it out of the oven?' it was a vicious circle.  

I actually really enjoyed History at school.  The first year we had Mr Evans who used to swear in class to make us giggle and confiscate peoples cigs which he was later seen smoking.  The rest of the time I had Mrs Harker all the way up to GCSE.  She used to put on a documentary and tell the 'fellas' to quiet down.  Shuva and I used to challenge ourselves by bringing in a selection of sweets which were hard to eat quietly.  The best ones were individually wrapped Murray mints as they were impossible to open without rustling.  Strawberry laces were also quite amusing as they always attracted attention.  Shuva and I always sat together in front of Eve and Becki.  Shuva made me laugh so much during our mock exam when she decided that the NLA was the National Lawnmowers Association.  Mrs Harker didn't find it quite so amusing.

For some reason the teachers always thought I was good at Maths until year ten when someone finally realised I wasn't and moved me down a set.  When we first started school we had Mr Parker who we thought was really cool as he played electric guitar in the school concert.  Later on I had Mr Cloves who had an obsession with Jestive biscuits.  Lots of the girls fancied him (not I, I'd like to add) but he was funny especially the mix up with the 'Crutch of the matter'.

P.E was pretty awful at school (for me) apart from the last year when we got to go offsite and do things like aerobics and aqua.  I did enjoy Mrs Francis aerobics session which concluded with 10 minutes of relaxation lying on the floor (that was my favourite part) and trampolining was good fun trying to do as many swivel hips as you could in a row.  Mr Box was a stereotypical P.E. teacher, I have a not so nice memory of him making a chubby former self attempt to climb out of the pool without the using the steps, to an audience.  It was always best to have P.E. at the end of the day because then you could try and sneak out of school without getting changed back into your school uniform.  If you forgot your P.E. kit you had to wear something from lost property which essentially meant a smelly item of clothing left behind by a random. I suppose it was a good incentive to remember your kit.  Cross country was hideous, it always seemed to be freezing and I couldn't run, at all.  I think I actually only ran (walked) it once possibly twice as I used to beg my mum to write me a note to get out of it.  My memories  of Netball consist of standing in the middle of a cold winter playground 'blocking' the girl of my nightmares (the tom boy with more muscles in her arms than I had in my whole body) and lamely waving my hands in the air while the teacher screamed at me from the side lines 'BLOCK!!!' What happened to junior school P.E. where you just ran and jumped about in your pants to music.  They've just got it all wrong.

My favourite lesson was Music, in fact I think this kept me sane.  As well as taking music for GCSE I had drum lessons which usually took place during other lessons (bonus) .  The worst thing about this was that you couldn't hear the bell in the practice room and so when I came out of my drum lesson I quite often ending up walking into the wrong class.  Mr Hart was quite strict and would sometimes do a playful drumroll on my head with his drumsticks if I wasn't paying attention, but my favourite lessons were the jamming sessions where he'd play piano and I'd play along on the drums.  Mr and Mrs Aston were our music teachers and also used to run the concerts and drama productions.  Our music room was at the very top of the building so when we set up for school concerts we had great fun carrying the drum kit down all the stairs to the school hall...

I remember in year 9 Mrs Aston always used to make Colette and I put our blazers on which were by then 2 sizes too small and we composed an awesome little tune entitled 'We are Warnock and Harvey' (Colette will remember that one).  When Eve and I joined the orchestra we would wait for Mrs Aston to hand out all the music to the various instruments and then tell us to make something up to go with it.  I always used to mime in the choir which now makes me laugh because I am always singing.  I played my GCSE drum solo at a school concert which was nerve racking mainly because it sounded so loud echoing around the school hall, and I'll never forget Dad winning the raffle prize at the school concert because he was wearing lary bright red shorts and Rob and I pretended we didn't know whose dad he was.  The drama productions were brilliant, I had small parts in a few of the early ones and in the last few years played the drums for the music.  There was an excitement about rehearsals and performance nights. Having a program with your name in it.  Something funny always used to happen during rehearsals, like when Mr Aston ripped his trousers on the piano and when Rob used to blow Fish's music off his stand when he was about to start playing the Tuba.  The orchestra would get smoked out by the dry ice machine and I swear the music for the Fame Game got faster and faster every night to the point where I thought my arms might fall off.   I was definitely not sad to leave school in year 11 but I was sad to leave music.

I have a limited selection of school photographs most of which are terrible and thankfully blurry but I do love this pic of my music class which sums up the best of Shirley for me and there's some faces in there that are still a part of my life including Jamie (who would have thought back then that we would be together), Charlotte, Eve and Mr Aston who recently taught me to drive! Couldn't have predicted that one either!! 

 

So many memories these are but a few, add yours in the comments I would love to hear funny stories I've forgotten all about!!

 







  

Book Club - 02/10/13

I cannot believe it is October already.  This month we went to the Slug and Lettuce in Croydon, which was nice but too loud so we still haven't found our perfect venue yet!! We were discussing 'Everything's Cool' by Justin Carroll.  Its quite a short book so most people had finished it and the verdict was that it was actually quite gripping...until the disappointing ending.  We all agreed that it was so abrupt that we were all expecting to read the next chapter.  I'm all for leaving us wanting a bit more but this did really feel like the last chapter had gone missing. 

Nevertheless it was an interesting read, which took quite a twist towards the second half making most of us speed through it.  Its a bit of strange one really I felt like I couldn't put it down but I didn't really like it that much.  The story is about a guy called Stan who has some very strange behavioural issues.   He lives to a rigid routine, eating and drinking only specific brands and foods he considers safe for consumption and has extreme paranoia that the world is going to end and he is the only person who can stop this from happening.  He doesn't really seem to like life or other people but is intent on saving the world.  Unfortunately he convinces himself that the people around him are against him, one in particular his new boss who has genuine feelings for him and tries desperately to get to know him, not knowing that all along Stan suspects her of being a spy.  Lets say things start to take a turn for the worse.  

I actually pictured Stan as a young guy in his early twenties but a few people at book club pointed out that he was actually supposed to be an older man.  His behaviour and interaction with other people made him appear much younger, which might have been part of his mental illness.  I like the fact that Stan's character was so well described through his actions and thoughts, it made you feel tense and anxious like he felt himself, but I didn't think we knew enough about his background, why he was the way he was and how he had come to these conspiracy conclusions.

Overall the book got between 5 and 6 out of 10, as it wasn't a bad read it certainly kept your attention but it seemed unfinished and there were so many things that could have been expanded on to make it more interesting.      

The new way of choosing the next book seemed to work well last month so I got people to pick 3 bits of paper, read the blurbs and then we voted on which book we'd like to read out of the 3.  The result was...

'11.22.63' by Stephen King

What if you could go back in time and change the course of history?  What if the watershed moment you could change was the assassination of JFK...11.22.63 the day that Kennedy was shot.

In 2011 Jake Epping, an English teacher from Maine, sets out on an insane and insanely possible mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination.  Leaving behind a world of computers and mobile phones he goes back to a time of big American cars and diners, of lindy hopping, the sound of Elvis and the taste of Root Beer.

In this haunting world Jake falls in love with Sadie, a beautiful high school librarian and as the ominous date of 11.22.63 approaches, he encounters a troubled loner name Lee Harvey Oswald...

I have already started it, be warned it is a hefty book so if you want to get through it before we meet then get reading!!  I have a feeling this is going to be a great book with lots to talk about!

Next Book Club Meet:

Date: Wed 6th November 2013
Time: 7.30pm

Location: As usual I'm undecided - but if there happen to be any local firework displays maybe go to that first and then back to mine for some munchies and discussion! We shall see!

For those who missed last weeks meet up or left a bit early, we came up with the idea of having a Thanksgiving Book Club dinner (mainly so we eat loads of pie and naughty food, wear silly jumpers and be generally jolly)  This is probably going to be at Laura's house on the 29th November but more details to follow at the next meet up...

Portrait Project - Fletcher

It's taken me a while to get going but officially this is my first portrait!

 

 'The Man Who Loves Fantastic Sandwiches' 

 

Thank you Fletch for letting me post this on my blog its a bit scary drawing pictures of your friends and you're the first to brave it!! Who's next?

Book Club - 28.08.13

We had a nice cosy corner of the pub garden this week and it was lovely to take advantage of the warm weather; it may be our last chance to have an outdoor book club as next time we meet will be October (can’t quite believe that autumn is sneaking up on us).  We had a new recruit aswell Laura joined our gang, hoorah!  I’m thinking we need some more men too so if anyone knows anyone please feel free to invite!  Our book that we were discussing was ‘The Plague’ by Albert Camus.  Unfortunately quite a few people didn’t manage to get through it, I think there were only 4 of us that finished it.  One of the reasons was because it wasn’t the easiest of books to persevere with.  Not that it was difficult to read in terms of language but that it was not particularly gripping.

Personally I found the beginning of the story quite interesting as the rats started to come out and the disease began to encroach on the people of the town, however quite a chunk of the middle became quite slow and repetitive.  But when we discussed this it made me consider the fact that by that point of the story that was what life was like in that town, it was monotonous and devoid of emotion because the people of the town could do nothing but try and carry on with their lives and detach themselves from what was going on around them, quote ‘great misfortunes are monotonous’.

Another quote that jumped out at me ‘their despair saved them from panic’ described perfectly the way the towns people reacted to the situation because on reading about the plague my first thoughts were of people screaming, locking themselves indoors and panicking about an epidemic, but in actual fact the complete hopelessness of the situation and being shut off from the rest of the world, watching loved ones pass away, people just fell into despair.

I think it’s a shame that the narrative didn’t invite me to become emotionally attached to any of the characters.  For this reason I found the book less enjoyable than many others that we have read.  Although it’s not my favourite of the books we have read, as always I like the fact that it is completely different to anything I have read before.

This month I decided to be a bit more organised and went through the list of books we have and printed off some blurbs so we could all read what these books are about.  It wasn’t until I did this and read them myself that I got more excited about them because to be honest I didn’t know what half of them were about! After doing this we picked three at random and then voted on the final choice, the result being…..*fanfare*

‘Everything’s Cool’ by Justin Carroll

 

 

Stan has always known how the world will end, and that only he can save it. And he's always known that someone will try to stop him. From his apartment, his thoughts hidden by static, trusting no one and eating and drinking only what he knows is safe, Stan seeks out the man his dreams tell him will be responsible for the apocalyptic 'Project Cassandra'. Faced with a potential spy in new colleague Rachel, Stan's increasingly frantic search takes him down dark paths to darker places. He will have to confront his fears, commit desperate acts and forget all he has known in his mission to save the unwitting, ungrateful world from its destruction. Everything's Cool is a black, paranoid and occasionally funny story of obsession, conspiracies and the end of the world. Stan might be insane, but is he wrong?

My copy has been ordered from Amazon (I couldn’t get a copy in the shops…and no I haven’t tried the library you know what I’m like) so I am eagerly awaiting it to drop through my letterbox!

Next Book Club:

Date: 2^nd October 2013

Time: 7.30pm

Location: As always ‘to be confirmed’ as I have yet to find the perfect venue, most probably the dragon but I will let everyone know nearer the time!

Enjoy!

A Self Portrait

I recently bought a book of photography projects to give me some ideas and encourage some creativity.  Although it is a photography project I've decided because I really want to draw more I'm going to combine the two. My first project is going to be portraits, so watch out I may come after you with my lens!

After taking a picture of myself in a mirror, I decided to draw from the photo and actually prefer the drawing, so this is the official start of my project.  You may think I'm cheating a little here as you can't see my face but essentially this is my self portrait as a lot of the time I am hidden behind my giant lens.  It also represents what I am about to do, I am going to photograph other people doing things they enjoy, love, something they are passionate about.  Primarily the images need to represent my friends personalities!  I finally had a reason to use my new funky sketchbook that I got for my birthday too which is perfect, charlotte you must be psychic. 

 

 

Volunteers with ideas welcome ;)

 

I was undecided on where to document this project, on my normal blog or my photography blog but I thought to start off with it might be more suited to Gem's blogspot as I feel I can reflect more on here for some reason.  Maybe I'll put the grand finale collection of portraits on the other blog as an official ta dah!

 

Book Club - 31/07/13

Great turn out last week sorry its taken a while to blog but I've been a busy bee this week! We met up in the Green Dragon which tends to be a favourite pub for most of us Croydon lot but it was a bit noisy so I'm not sure we've found our perfect venue yet! Venue for next time is to be confirmed, someone has suggested upstairs in the Spreadeagle so I'll let you all know nearer the time!

Well this was an interesting book club, we discussed 'Me Before You' by Jojo Moyes.  I'd say it was a pretty controversial discussion but I think the 5 women had a bit to say on this one when Bill immediately displayed his dislike for the book.  I think its fair to say that it is more 'girly' than any of the other books we've read for book club but I'm pleased the guys gave it a chance and read it! Most of us thought that although written in a chick lit kind of way, because it was quite a serious theme of disability and it wasn't all happy and fluffy that it didn't fall in the same genre.  Saying that it was easy to read and it turns out the girls much preferred it to the men!  And we do like a controversial discussion at book club it would be very boring if everyone had the same opinion about everything!

Personally I really enjoyed reading it, I liked the way their relationship grew from nothing.  They didn't like each other, for Lou it was a job she had to do because she needed the money and Will didn't want a carer/companion to baby sit him.  But as they spent more time together and became used to each others ways their relationship started to grow to friendship and then something more. Its a very sad book, in many ways.  The relationships between Will and his family are strained and in different ways to Lou and her family.  They both have personal struggles going on, but its the way that Will makes Louise come out of herself and develop as a person in such a short space of time which I liked and also how just through friendship Lou makes a big difference to Wills quality of life.  I don't believe if they'd met in other circumstances that they'd be together because before Wills accident he was a high flying businessman, who appeared to be able to get whatever and whoever he wanted and I don't think he would have given Lou, a quirky girl working in a tea shop a second glance.  But that's why it was interesting watching their relationship develop.  There were romantic parts in the story but I think the front cover actually puts some people off by saying its 'gorgeously romantic' because that's not how it appeared to me at all.

I won't give away the ending as some may not have finished and or read the book yet but i'd definitely recommend it, and it would be a good holiday read, although you may have to disguise the sniffing as hayfever!  We decided to let Bill choose the next book as he has been with book club since the start and none of his suggestions have actually come up yet! So our next book is....

'The Plague' by Albert Camus

'The towns people of Oran are in the grip of a virulent plague.  Cut off from the rest of the world, living in fear, they each respond in their own way to the grim challenge of the deadly bacillus.  Among them is Dr Rieux a humanitarian and healer, and it is through his eyes that we witness the devastating course of the epidemic.

Written in 1947 just after the Nazi occupation of France, Camus magnificent novel is also a story of courage and determination against the seeming absurdity of human existence.'





I have no expectations of this book as I've not heard anything about it, but it sounds interesting.  I'm looking forward to reading it because again its something completely different and also not something I would have read if it hadn't come up on our list so even if you're not sure you like the sound of it give it a go, you might well be surprised! I've ordered mine but it hasn't arrived yet but I will be diving straight in when it comes through my letter box!

Next Book Club:

Date: Wednesday 28th August
Time: 7.30pm
Location: TBC (Green Dragon or perhaps Spreadeagle, Croydon)

Get reading! :)

   

It's been a while

I haven't blogged for a while, apart from book club blogs which don't really count.  A friend let me read her first blog today which inspired me to write on mine.  I don't just blog for the hell of it, and I don't blog for other people, I blog because I like to write stuff.  It makes me feel better.  I'm home off sick today and it seems like a good time to write to make me feel better.  I'm actually feeling a little more alive since I started taking my antibiotics, hay fever tablets, eye drops and nasal drops.  Although earlier I did get somewhat confused and nearly put the eye drops up my nose.  What can I say I'm not used to all this medication!!

I just watched Silver Linings Playbook (again) it made me laugh and cheered me up, I love that film.  I laughed out loud as I do, I'm loud.  The man who lives next door probably now thinks some madwoman has broken in to his neighbours house as I am normally at work.  I've nearly got through two boxes of tissues in the last two days, I hate being ill.  On the upside I slept through all night last, a big improvement on the previous nights two hours sleep on the sofa sitting up so that I could breathe.  Life's been very busy the last few weeks, I think this is my body's way of saying ok calm down. What with studying till my eyes fell out on my PTLLS coursework (Preparing to Teach in the Life Long Sector), which to be honest I did find interesting and helpful for my training but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if they gave us more time.  Just under three weeks to complete the coursework was too much in to short a time.  If I were retired it would have been fine.  But that's done now and sent off, just waiting on the results now which should be anytime this week.     

Then there was my driving test last week which was stressful.  I tried not to worry about it, but I am a worrier, I can't help it.  And I passed, although I swear to god I thought I had failed and so did my instructor who was sitting in the back of the car while I had my test.  I don't know who was more surprised him or me when the instructor said 'I'm pleased to tell you, you have passed'.  I didn't hear anything she said after that it was all a blur.  The driving went really well and I actually felt confident, probably one of my better drives (not to big myself up or anything) but the manoeuvre went totally tits up.  It actually couldn't have been much worse.  All I hoped for was that in my test I wouldn't get reverse around a corner, so when she pulled me over and said we are going to reverse around that corner, my heart sank.  And I fluffed it in ways I've never fluffed it before.  But maybe she saw that in other ways I'm a pretty safe driver and for some reason she chose to pass me so I am not going to complain about that!  There was a slightly hairy moment before I even got in the car when she didn't believe I was the same person as the picture on my driving license.  If it was a joke it wasn't very funny.  She made me take my glasses off and told me I looked about 12 in the photo.  My instructor who was actually my music teacher when I was at school was about to step in and say he knew me when I was 12 its definitely her, when she relented her questioning and let me lead her to the vehicle.  It was a hot day but that's not the only reason I was sweating.

I am so relieved but have yet to take my first solo flight.  I drove to Bromley and back on Saturday with Jay in the car which was good but scary on a busy Saturday afternoon, we got there and back in one piece.  I did however tackle a multi story car park for the first time, but I kind of cheated and drove round and round to the very top where not many people park so I had ample room to get into a space.  It was good though.  I can't believe how far I have come in a year from when I first started learning to drive.  I have always said I would never drive, and I was literally terrified when I started lessons but I made the decision that I wanted more independence.  I want to be able to do my photography when I want without making Jamie chauffeur me.  I want to disappear off to national trust parks miles away and take photos without having to wait for everyone else to be free to drive me up there.  I nearly gave up several times, one day in particular when I came home crying I told Jamie that's it I can't do this anymore.  But then I changed instructor and this made all the difference.  I started to realise I can do this, its going to take me a long time but I can do it.  Then I started to enjoy it.  I was still nervous before every lesson but it got less and less.  And now its done, the test is over but the real test is going out and driving around.  Which I know is going to be scary for a while yet.

Jays recently taken one of his exams, and although it wasn't me studying I still found it stressful, and I'm sure he found it stressful watching me study and moan about my coursework.  During the actual course I rediscovered that I like to teach.  But I also discovered that the reason I don't love what I'm doing at work is because the people I teach (generally) don't really want to be there.  I want to teach something people have booked, they have decided I want to learn this, they are interested.  I'd also like to teach something that I am enthusiastic about.  How can I get people to enjoy something which I don't really enjoy myself.  So my next big challenge is to find that something that I want to learn and then learn to teach it.  This could take some time.   

I am very excited about starting a sign language course in September.  I went to a free taster session a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it.  I've been thinking about doing it for years but kept putting it off as it is quite a big commitment, but the taster session was the push I needed. I am now looking into art classes.  When I was at college doing my theatre design degree, one of the things that I always felt held me back was my drawing skills.  Although friends and family told me my drawing was great it was clear on that course that my drawing was no where near as skilled as what others can do.  I watched my friends sketch and paint with fine art skills and felt deflated as I struggled to do my best.  One of my teachers tried to encourage me to enrol on a drawing course to improve myself but for some reason it knocked my confidence and I felt like I couldn't do it.  I hadn't drawn anything for years and then recently this last year I started to draw the odd thing again, mainly animals as this is something I find I really enjoy.  I just love animals.  Then I realised that I do have skill it is just not as honed as it could be, but I do love to draw.  So I am going to find a course in some sort of drawing or painting, just for fun, to get me back into it and make me a better artist.  Now that I am not being marked on my art skills it doesn't matter if I make mistakes, if I draw something crap.  I can just screw it up, shrug my shoulders and draw something else.

I cannot wait until our holiday in two weeks time.  We are going on a cruise around the med for a week.  I have never been on a cruise and we didn't set out to book one either it just happened really.  I am just so excited about seeing lots of new places, taking photos and us just having a new adventure everyday.  Lots of good things to look forward to.  This is why writing makes me feel better because all the crap comes out, I look at it, read it through, then realise that I've already come past it and now have lots of good things to look forward to.  Now piss off germs, thanks for making me realise I need to take it easy this week but you can go now you've done your job.  I'll finish this blog with a picture that always makes me smile and then I'm going to eat some chocolate cake because in my experience I've found this to be much more effective than antibiotics.

Book Club - 19/06/13

Last week was so hectic I have only just got around to writing up June's book club blog!! We met in the Odd Shoe which was uncharacteristically noisy (but the weather was good for once).  For next months I'm thinking if the weather is good then we can have book club in my garden as we finally have a table and chairs outside!! However if the weather is pants perhaps we'll go to the Green Dragon for a change.

Anyway Tess of the D'Urbervilles seemed to go down quite well.  It's a classic so I enjoyed reading it, its not really like anything I've read before, although it is very depressing.  Let's just say there never appears to be a silver lining for Tess! Although its not that big of a book I did only just manage to get through it in the 6 weeks and I think most people were the same.  At first I decided I was going to look up the meaning of any words which I didn't understand as I went through the story however there were so many words I had never heard of that it would have taken me months to read it so I changed my mind!! But it didn't hinder from following the story it just made me think this Thomas Hardy bloke knows alot of long words and wants me to know it.

We had a discussion about who we felt loved Tess the most out of the characters and who really betrayed her the most.  To be honest it was difficult to judge this one for me as they all seemed to love her in some form, but really she was wronged by all of them, her mother, her husband and Alec D'Urberville.  I kept thinking that something was about to go right for Tess and then a turn of the page and I realised that there wasn't going to be a happy ending.  I was very surprised by the twist of events at the end which I won't share for those who didn't get there... (you know who you are). Being set in the late 1890's we talked about how men and women spoke and behaved towards each other and the meanings of being a lover in contrast to today.  There was some confusion as to whether Tess had her baby after being raped by Alec because that chapter ended so abruptly, however Bill reckons there was another chapter that was cut out about Alec engaging Tess in a 'fake' marriage to lure her into his bed.  I'm not sure on this one but if that is true then it does make quite a big difference to the story!

Overall I think score wise most people gave it a 7 out of 10 (I may be making this up as it was last week and I can't remember to be honest) but I don't think there were any hideous marks, we didn't let Rachael rate her 8% as her favourite character had been the horse (pretty much the only one in it so far ;).  

The next book *Drumroll* 

'Me Before You' by Jojo Moyes

Right I've got to say here that I am really pleased this has come up because I got it for my birthday last year and have been waiting to read it, but also because its modern and sometimes after a book like Tess its quite a relief not to have to concentrate too hard.  Unfortunately for some (mainly Bill and Kevin) there were gasps of horror at the words 'gorgeously romantic' on the front cover.  Sorry guys but we're covering all the genres here! To be honest I've just started it and I don't think its a typical trashy girly book you may be surprised so I hope you give it a go! 

'Lou Clark knows lots of things.  She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home.  She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.  What Lou doesn't know is she is about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live.  He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now, and he knows exactly how he is going to put a stop to that.  What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour.'



Next Book Club Meet:

Date: Wednesday 31st July
Location: TBC (Possibly my garden if not Green Dragon)
Time: 7.30pm

Book Club - 08/05/13

Last night we had a book club/movie night, with a discussion about White Teeth followed by a viewing of 'The Colour Purple' which we read last month.  It was a lovely evening and a lot of fun, thanks to those that came and squidged in my front room! Although there were fewer people than normal this is the first time ever that everyone has pretty much agreed on how they felt about the book, and the verdict was that none of us were very keen.  Some didn't finish it and to be honest I really struggled with this one, I only finished it the night before and reading it had become a chore...not a good sign.  It did however win the 2000 Whitbread First Novel award and has some fantastic reviews so it may be some out there, but it was most definatley not my cup of tea.  

There was just way too much crammed in there (and its not a small book) we had immigration, racism, terrorism, animal rights activists, scientists, war heroes (debatable) and yet with so much going on not alot really happened.  Towards the last few chapters it started to build some tension leading to what you might think was a grand finale but again I found the end of the book unsatisfying.  We did all agree that the best thing about it was the way the characters were written, they were described so well you could picture them all, but this being said I just didn't feel anything for them.  The only character I liked was Irie, maybe because she was the most relatable character and seemed to be experiencing her family in the same way as I felt reading about them - exasperating.

Really enjoyed watching 'The Colour Purple' directed by Steven Spielberg in 1985.  It did have a very different feel to the book, although the general story was the same the book was alot more serious whereas the film seemed very light for the subject matter.  I loved Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in the film both played their characters so well, Shug Avery was not how we pictured her though, not quite the glamour puss we all expected.  I think there will definatley be a few more book club movie nights to come! 

Next Months Book is... *fanfare*

'Tess of The D'urbervilles' by Thomas Hardy

'It tells of Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of a poor and dissipated villager, who learns that she may be descended from the ancient family of d'Urbeville. In her search for respectability her fortunes fluctuate wildly, and the story assumes the proportions of a Greek tragedy. It explores Tess's relationships with two very different men, her struggle against the social mores of the rural Victorian world which she inhabits and the hypocrisy of the age.'

 

Next Book Club Meet: 

Date: Wednesday 19th June

Time: 7.30pm

Location: The Odd Shoe Pub (Park Street, Croydon)

See you there book worms! 

Grandads Tulips

Spring is finally here and my garden has started to see some beautiful tulips and daffodils spring up.  Last year grandad gave me a huge bag of bulbs which I planted all around the garden.  Sadly he passed away in February this year, but now that the bulbs have bloomed, everytime I look out the window or wander down the garden I think of my grandad.  Hopefully they will come up every year so that he will always be sitting in the garden with me.  

I never realised how many different types of daffodils there are but there are three different types in my garden!

Now that we've given the pond a bit of a tidy up you can see the fishes, we were surprised to count about 12 fish including 2 black ones that we couldn't see before! It still needs a proper clean out really but think that will have to be next year now...

I love my little garden!

Book Club - 03/04/13

I forgot to mention tonight it was book clubs year anniversary!! Next month I will ask everyone which is their favourite out of the years reads :)

Tonight it was all about 'The Colour Purple' which immediately sparked some passionate opinions on its strengths and weaknesses.  Quite a wide rating out of ten this one ranging from a low of 5 and a high of 9 (and the majority amongst the 7.5 mark).  I really enjoyed reading this book, it was something really different that I wouldn't have chosen to read (in fact had never heard of) and the thought of it being written in letter format had made me a little uneasy, however once I got started I forgot it was written in letters and got really into the story of Celie's life and the characters surrounding her.  I gave it a 7.5 out of ten because I thought it was an excellent book, well written and interesting.  I felt for the characters and was emotionally invested in their stories but I didn't go as high as an 8 because I didn't think it was amazing.  I didn't put it down and struggle to comprehend what I was going to do now I had finished it (which I have with some) but it is well worth reading and I would definatley recommend it.

Up until about three quarters of the way through the book is incredibly sad, Celie's life really at a low point but it did pick up and offer hope and a brighter ending.  The book covers so many themes incest, domestic violence, racism, religion, homosexuality, the lot really.  Celie is writing letters to God about her life and her experiences as she has no one else to talk to, up until a turning point where her faith in God begins to change.  She then starts to address the letters to her sister who she has not seen for many years, not knowing if she will receive them or even if she is still alive.

It is really a novel about the resilience of women and although Celie has a traumatic life, towards the end of the book you know she has turned a corner and things turn out ok for her in the end.  There are some really interesting characters,  and I thought they were well developed as you saw how they changed during their life experiences.  I liked Sofia who stood up for her rights no matter what the cost, she was a powerful example to Celie that you don't always have to take what life throws at you lying down.

So the next book we did a random pick and came up with 'White Teeth' by Zadie Smith. Amusingly while googling this aswell as the book I got lots of pictures of gleaming teeth (a little scary)      

'At the centre of this invigorating novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. Hapless veterans of World War II, Archie and Samad and their families become agents of England’s irrevocable transformation.

Set against London’s racial and cultural tapestry, venturing across the former empire and into the past as it barrels toward the future, White Teeth revels in the ecstatic hodgepodge of modern life, flirting with disaster, confounding expectations, and embracing the comedy of daily existence.'





The next book club is going to be at my House as we are going to watch the film of 'The Colour Purple' so anyone who is coming I will send you my address.  We are going to see how many people I can fit in my tiny living room! :)

Next Book Club Meet:
Date: 8th May 2013
Time: 7.30pm
Location: My Gaff

Book Club - 27/02/13

Another Book club been and gone, next months will be our year anniversary! Great turn out last night and we met at a pub called 'The Odd Shoe' which for some reason I had never heard of/noticed even tho I stand outside it waiting for the bus most days!! But it was alot better in there than the last few places so we'll stick with that next time too.

So this time we were discussing 'The Hunger Games' and it seemed to have a pretty positive review overall.  Some people went a bit mad and read all three books in the series (myself included), I think everyone agreed it was very easy to read and quite gripping so it didn't take long to whizz through!  Although we were technically only discussing the first book I have to say that I found the second and third books a little disappointing.  They were still good but really her first book was excellent to the point where it could have just stopped there really and kept us guessing!  I also had a bit of a different experience reading it to the others as I had seen the film already, which I loved, but it also meant I knew what was going to happen and I pictured all of the characters as they were in the film which is not really the best way to read a book. But there was so much more detail and depth in the book, as there always tends to be, that I did find it really enjoyable to read.

We talked about teenagers and whether we thought her personality and character traits were realistic for someone of Katniss's age and situation.  We thought she was quite a likeable character, headstrong and gutsy who has had to grow up way faster than she should have, becoming the mother figure in her family and providing for her sister and her mum.  The characters were interesting and had alot of questions hanging over them about their pasts (some of which may well be answered in the next two books, I can't possibly say!) but Haymitch was mentioned as a favourite character as he is quite a mysterious one and everyone wants to know how he won the Hunger Games in the past.  I really liked the stylist character Cinna (not just because Lenny Kravitz plays him the film) but although he doesn't feature alot he was a really important character in the book and becomes an important person in Katniss's life.  

Alot of it is quite far fetched (but then it is young adult and science fiction) but the way its written seems to let you forgive that.  There are alot of questions asked about the fact that if this is the 74th Hunger Games why has none of this happened in the past, has no one rebelled in 74 years?  How did the people in the Capital come to be the ones who lived there and were spared and why does everyone dress in crazy clothing? But the main thing for me is that from the moment I started reading it, it gripped me and made me want to keep turning the pages.  I wanted to know what happened next and I cared about the people in the book.  Marks out of 5 ranged all the way from 2 to 4 so it was a bit of a mixed bag but I think it was good to read something in a completely different style to those we've read so far!

Right this time we decided to choose the next book by voting and the book that came up trumps was 'The Colour Purple' by Alice Walker.

     'Set in the deep American South between the wars, it is a tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation.  Raped repeatedly by the man she calls 'father', she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie, and is trapped into an ugly marriage.  But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker - a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny.  Gradually Celie discovered the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves'

I am quite excited to read this, I think it is going to be a major tear jerker though.  There is also a film adaptation from the 1980's which I am hoping to get a hold of a copy so once we have read it those who want to can come to a dvd night at mine and cry with me!

Go get your copy and get reading :)

Next Book Club:

Date: 3rd April 2013
Time: 7.30pm
Location: The Odd Shoe (Park Street, Croydon)

Ape Drawings

I am loving drawing again, but for some reason all I want to draw are Apes! These are all pencil drawings. I toyed with the idea of adding colour (especially on the leaves of the top one) but I decided against tampering with them.