An anniversary and a meme
I meant to post yesterday to say that it was my 11th LJ anniversary but we've been having a great time going to the London Film Festival and my eyes were giving out on me! I can't believe it's been 11 years but it's been fantastic, mostly thanks to all the wonderful people I've met through LJ. My life wouldn't be the same without you all. Thanks everybody :)
Sorry I haven't been around so much recently but there is a lot going on in RL at the moment. All good things, but I don't have as much time as I did. Hopefully everything will settle down a bit more soon but in the meantime here is the book meme. I'll put it behind the cut because I haven't done it for a while, so it's longer than usual.
What I Just Finished Reading
Come, Tell Me How You Live: An Archaeological Memoir by Agatha Christie Mallowan. As we were going to Torquay during the Agatha Christie Festival (an accident of dates) I thought I ought to read something by Agatha Christie. I'm not a huge fan of her mysteries but the title of this one intrigued me and it turned out to be an unexpectedly delightful book. She wrote this account of her life working with her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan on digs in Syria to answer the questions of friends about what it was like and at times it reads more like a journal. It's very light-hearted, as it was intended to be, and could almost be subtitled The Misadventures of an Archaeologist's Wife as she battles with clothing, transport, and uncomfortable accommodation in 1930s Syria. Her colonial attitude may be a little uncomfortable at times as Christie pokes fun at local people but her greater targets are her husband, her husband's colleagues and above all herself. She obviously absolutely loved Syria and it's hard to read this now without sadness as some dark undercurrents showed themselves then too with the quarrels between the Muslim and Christian workforce and their joint treatment of the Yazidis. Overall though it's a charming and entertaining read.
Howard's End Is On the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home by Susan Hill. Susan Hill's premise for this book was to spend a year only reading books she had on her own shelves. This led her to write this thought-provoking memoir about the part that books have played in her life. It wanders off at a lot of tangents about authors and other famous people that she has met but most of the anecdotes are interesting. She doesn't actually say which books she read during the year and the book seems more like a loose collection of essays than necessarily sticking to the original theme, but I found it very interesting, though I certainly didn't agree with everything, and it did make me think about the way I read and whether it's sometimes better to reread old favourites than be on a constant search for new books and obsessing over how many books I've read in a year.
Susan Hill dislikes eReaders but one of the good things about having my Kindle with me on holiday was that when I was seized by a sudden urge to reread a Georgette Heyer I had one sitting waiting so I could do just that! Kindles may be Evil but they are very convenient.
The Quiet Gentlemen by Georgette Heyer. It's a long time since I've read this so while it wasn't quite like reading it for the first time there were some elements of it that I'd completely forgotten. This book combines one of Georgette Heyer's more traditional Regency romances with a mystery element and the two don't entirely gel together as I would have liked to see more of the romance and the ending seemed a little rushed. That said it is full of her usual humour with some memorable characters including the delightful heroine Drusilla. On first reading as a teenager I had completely missed the fun Heyer had with Drusilla's "progressive" parents and their connections with Southey and Coleridge. The hero is rather quieter than some of Heyer's usual leading men but his subtle battles with his stepmother, the monstrous Dowager Countess (closely related to Lady Catherine de Burgh) show his inner steel. A very enjoyable book to re-read.
What I'm Reading Now
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling). I'm cheating a bit with this as I've already listened to it as an audio book brilliantly read by Robert Glenister but I find listening to a book and reading a book quite different experiences so the fact that I know the story and whodunnit doesn't matter to me. It's a classic detective novel with some interesting characters and I'm enjoying reading it.
What I'm Reading Next
As usual I'm clueless!
We're off to another film this afternoon. Apparently there are 248 films shown over 12 days at the London Film Festival and though we're only managing 7 in 9 days it still seems quite a marathon. We've deliberately avoided the big films that are going to be easily seen anyway but I will make a film round-up post at the end just in case anyone is interested.
Sorry I haven't been around so much recently but there is a lot going on in RL at the moment. All good things, but I don't have as much time as I did. Hopefully everything will settle down a bit more soon but in the meantime here is the book meme. I'll put it behind the cut because I haven't done it for a while, so it's longer than usual.
What I Just Finished Reading
Come, Tell Me How You Live: An Archaeological Memoir by Agatha Christie Mallowan. As we were going to Torquay during the Agatha Christie Festival (an accident of dates) I thought I ought to read something by Agatha Christie. I'm not a huge fan of her mysteries but the title of this one intrigued me and it turned out to be an unexpectedly delightful book. She wrote this account of her life working with her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan on digs in Syria to answer the questions of friends about what it was like and at times it reads more like a journal. It's very light-hearted, as it was intended to be, and could almost be subtitled The Misadventures of an Archaeologist's Wife as she battles with clothing, transport, and uncomfortable accommodation in 1930s Syria. Her colonial attitude may be a little uncomfortable at times as Christie pokes fun at local people but her greater targets are her husband, her husband's colleagues and above all herself. She obviously absolutely loved Syria and it's hard to read this now without sadness as some dark undercurrents showed themselves then too with the quarrels between the Muslim and Christian workforce and their joint treatment of the Yazidis. Overall though it's a charming and entertaining read.
Howard's End Is On the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home by Susan Hill. Susan Hill's premise for this book was to spend a year only reading books she had on her own shelves. This led her to write this thought-provoking memoir about the part that books have played in her life. It wanders off at a lot of tangents about authors and other famous people that she has met but most of the anecdotes are interesting. She doesn't actually say which books she read during the year and the book seems more like a loose collection of essays than necessarily sticking to the original theme, but I found it very interesting, though I certainly didn't agree with everything, and it did make me think about the way I read and whether it's sometimes better to reread old favourites than be on a constant search for new books and obsessing over how many books I've read in a year.
Susan Hill dislikes eReaders but one of the good things about having my Kindle with me on holiday was that when I was seized by a sudden urge to reread a Georgette Heyer I had one sitting waiting so I could do just that! Kindles may be Evil but they are very convenient.
The Quiet Gentlemen by Georgette Heyer. It's a long time since I've read this so while it wasn't quite like reading it for the first time there were some elements of it that I'd completely forgotten. This book combines one of Georgette Heyer's more traditional Regency romances with a mystery element and the two don't entirely gel together as I would have liked to see more of the romance and the ending seemed a little rushed. That said it is full of her usual humour with some memorable characters including the delightful heroine Drusilla. On first reading as a teenager I had completely missed the fun Heyer had with Drusilla's "progressive" parents and their connections with Southey and Coleridge. The hero is rather quieter than some of Heyer's usual leading men but his subtle battles with his stepmother, the monstrous Dowager Countess (closely related to Lady Catherine de Burgh) show his inner steel. A very enjoyable book to re-read.
What I'm Reading Now
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling). I'm cheating a bit with this as I've already listened to it as an audio book brilliantly read by Robert Glenister but I find listening to a book and reading a book quite different experiences so the fact that I know the story and whodunnit doesn't matter to me. It's a classic detective novel with some interesting characters and I'm enjoying reading it.
What I'm Reading Next
As usual I'm clueless!
We're off to another film this afternoon. Apparently there are 248 films shown over 12 days at the London Film Festival and though we're only managing 7 in 9 days it still seems quite a marathon. We've deliberately avoided the big films that are going to be easily seen anyway but I will make a film round-up post at the end just in case anyone is interested.