What I’ve been reading in September ’14

Hello again, it’s been a while. Back with a what I’ve been reading post – probably my favourite type of post so makes sense that this is my first one in a while! I like being able to keep track of the things I’m reading. September was a pretty hectic month so I enjoyed reading to relax in the evenings after stressful days! I’m aware that it’s already a third of the way through October but never mind hey.

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt – I started this in August, and finished it this month. I mentioned in my August post that at the beginning it wasn’t really urging me to read on, and I found the middle really, really slow and struggled to keep going with it. Unlike The Goldfinch which kept me interested throughout, I found this really dipped in the middle, but at the end it did pick up again. Overall, I thought it was good despite not urging me to read on, because when I did read on I found it really satisfying, but for some reason it just seemed like a real effort to read on. As I said in my August reading post, the novel is about Harriet who is investigating her brother’s death; she ends up trying to get revenge on the person she thinks has killed her brother, and gets herself into bother with a bad family in her town. The ending was really really tense, I don’t want to give anything more away about the novel, but I would really recommend it. Try to stick with it if you’re like me and struggle in the middle, because I think overall it’s worth it!

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by David Levithan & Rachel Cohn – I made a few long-ish train journeys for work this month and they fell in the middle of The Little Friend when I just wasn’t feeling it at all. So I read two young adult novels on trains this month. Dash & Lily is about a pair of teenagers, who communicate through a notebook left in a bookshop, leaving each other clues and dares which lead them to various places in New York. The novel is based in the lead up to Christmas, with both teens having been left by their parents to fend by themselves – isn’t that just the dream? a romantic Christmas adventure in NYC. Kind of like Home Alone 2 but a bit more grown up? Anyway, this was pretty good, I would have loved it when I was  a teenager, it was good enough to get me through a few hours on the train.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman – The second of my young adult train reading this month, and less of a romantic comedy novel and more of a serious young adult novel. From the point of view of Mia, a teenage girl who has been left in a coma after a car accident, who must decide whether to wake up and live the rest of her life or not. A pretty bleak concept for the novel, and I didn’t really find it a particularly fun read, which is probably not surprising. I found Mia and her boyfriend (the two main characters) quite annoying, and the ending pretty unsatisfying. I know there is a sequel but I’m really not fussed about reading it.

The Children Act by Ian McEwan – I am a big Ian McEwan fan, and so this has been quite heavily anticipated by me since it was announced a few months ago. And I bought a hardback copy instead of downloading the e-book, which I think says something about how I feel about his books! and I’m pleased to say that I loved The Children Act. About a high court judge, Fiona, whose own marriage is falling to pieces, while she must make a decision on a case involving a teenage Jehovah’s Witness cancer patient refusing a blood transfusion.  There was a hint of Enduring Love in there with the themes of religion and love, and possibly a little stalking. I loved the little digressions into descriptions of other cases. I just love the way McEwan writes, the characterisation and the way you can see into Fiona’s thoughts despite it being in third person, the way the tale unwinds for you. The novel deals with some heavy topics, but it doesn’t feel heavy it just flows, allows you to think about the topic but not in an unnerving way. I loved it.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver – I bought this after stumbling across some of Carver’s poetry and falling in love, and after some googling I found out he is mostly known for his short stories. I’m a big fan of short stories, I just think there can be something really special about them. Sadly, I’m not that impressed by this collection. To me, a good short story grabs you straight away, and makes you excited, intrigued and desperate to read on. And when you reach the end, you want to read it again straight away. It should make you think, and usually make you empathise with the character or put yourself in that characters position. For some reason, Carver’s stories didn’t make me care about the characters, and just didn’t make me want to read to the end, let alone read it a second time. His poetry however, is beautiful, especially this.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis – I’ve been practicing reading this out loud this month – I’ve been doing some training with The Reader Organisation with their shared reading model, which is why I’ve been practicing this! I was never too keen on the Narnia series as a child – I remember being given it by a teacher at primary school and not liking it at all, I was an avid reader but this just didn’t float my boat. I think I may have been being a little stubborn though. My boyfriend on the other hand loved Narnia as a child, and it was a big favourite in his family (especially the old BBC series, which I have since watched). I also have seen the more recent film of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which I thought was pretty good. Reading it this time around I’ve really been liking it, and I think a lot of that is to because it’s really pleasing to read aloud, as most children’s books are. Just before bed, it’s a really nice way to end the day.

What I’ve been reading in August ’14

Back to normal service after all of those Spain posts, with a post about what I’ve been reading this month. A lot less than last month due to being back to normal life and not lying on a beach (boo), and the fact that one of them is a pretty hefty read so is taking me a while to get through. So here’s what I’ve read this month…

Veronica Mars: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham – First off – I’m obsessed with the TV series, and thought the film was great too. I’ve had this novel downloaded for a while, but was reluctant to read it as I thought it might be disappointing. I was wrong – I thought the story was really strong, with lots of twists that I didn’t see coming. It linked up really well with the film, and definitely leaves scope for future films or a new series on TV. The novel is in the third person, which thinking about it is a little strange (why isn’t it in Veronica’s first person point of view?), and I’ve seen some confusion over this on the internet. But, I liked the narrative style, I thought that Veronica’s voice definitely shone through, and it didn’t effect my reading of it all. I think that all the characters were definitely true to the series, and I guess this is due to Rob Thomas having a hand in the writing of it , rather than just a ghost writer.  I was pleased that Veronica’s mum came back into it – as I was reading the first few chapters I wondering if her mum will ever come back into the series! I also liked seeing Mac and Wallace a little more, but where was Weevil? The stuff with Logan was a bit weird, as he’s thousands of miles away on a ship… I don’t know if I’m happy they’re back together or not. So invested in these characters! Will definitely read the next book which is due out in a few months.

The Husband’s Secret by Lianne Moriarty – I’ve read several rave reviews of this book and I really don’t understand why – I didn’t find it particularly gripping, I felt little empathy with the characters. I found it really really slow, some chapters I was just reading without really paying attention because so little was happening! For example, it takes so long for Cecilia to open the letter, and then she just doesn’t do anything with the information she finds out. All the mentions of the Berlin wall had no relevance. To be honest I thought the epilogue was the most interesting bit, where several things are revealed over the course of a few pages – but it doesn’t make the book a worthwhile read at all. One positive is that I didn’t see the twist/secret coming – but I still wouldn’t recommend this book.

The Story: Love, Loss & The Lives of Women: 100 Great Short Stories edited by Victoria Hislop – I’ve been dipping into this collection throughout the month, and picking out stories to read before bed or during my lunchtime break at work. New to me are the stories by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Yuyin Li and Doris Lessing. I really like that this collection has introduced me to some new authors, and I’m really keen to get hold of some of their own collections of short stories, or read novels by them. I’ve also been enjoying some old favourites by Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth Bowen. I’ve always been a big fan of the short story, I think if they’re done well they can be really exciting, shocking and emotive, sometimes in a way that the novel can’t manage. I downloaded the collection a few months ago when it was on the kindle daily deals newsletter for 99p, but I’ve since seen the separate physical copies of the three sections (Love, Loss & Life) in book shops which I quite fancy having on my shelf!

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt – This is the hefty read that I mentioned above, and I’m about a third of the way through the novel. I’m really liking it so far, it’s about a 12 year old girl investigating her brother’s death, who died when she was a baby. I read Tartt’s most recent novel, The Goldfinch, at the beginning of the year, and really really liked that. I’m reading The Little Friend quite slowly, and it’s not really urging me to read on as much as I thought it would, because with The Goldfinch I couldn’t put it down. It’s making me feel quite uneasy as I read it, which is how I felt with The Goldfinch as well! I don’t have too much else to say about it so far, but I’ll include The Little Friend in my September reading post (if I’ve finished it then!) and give it a proper review.

In other reading news, I’ve started some volunteer training with The Reader Organisation, which is pretty great. It’s for their Get Into Reading model, training us to read aloud with confidence and facilitate shared reading groups in care homes or one to one settings with an older person. I’m really liking it so far, and will probably write a little post about it in a few months. I’ve also been attending one of their weekly open/public shared reading groups in Liverpool which is really fun.

I also joined the Liverpool City Library this month, which is very exciting – mostly because this is true. Oh Arthur. Anyway, after the news that Liverpool Council is thinking of shutting 11 out of 19 libraries, I decided to sign up and make sure that one of the ones that is staying open is well used. Also, I think my bank balance will thank me if I start borrowing books rather than buying them!

Snapshots of Spain

View of El Llano, the village where we stayed in Cantabria

This is going to be my final post about our trip to Spain, with a few pictures that don’t need a whole post by themselves but I wanted to save here anyway.

So many cows in the villages surround where the house is – I thought this one looked pretty pleased with itself.

I love daisies, I just think they’re so cheerful. This photo is currently my phone background.

We hired bikes for the day which was really fun & really difficult – cycling up mountains is very hard work and freewheeling back down is slightly terrifying! But it was a great way to explore the surrounding area.

More cows… I think this one is dead cute.

The rainy view from the balcony – I love how green and fresh it looks.

Not just cows! I think these horses look like they’re posing for the picture.

Prawns on the BBQ! I was unsure if I would like these but I did – although I probably prefer them in our paella.

The church which is right next to the house in El Llano.

The hilltop graveyard in Comillas (overlooking the sea)

Bunting up ready for a fiesta in Cabezon – we went on the first night (our last night in spain) but it carried on for ten days after we flew home which is a shame!

We drove up into the mountains on one of the rainy days – what a view.

Comillas by night #2

We went to Comillas one evening again towards the end of our holiday; we wanted to take Rupert’s mum as it had been so lovely last time. We missed the sunset again! But ee walked along the coastal path which was beautiful in the fading light.

#selfie

waves crashing over the rocks

Night fishing – as we went past one man caught a huge fish and everyone ran over to see it

Me and Jane chatting on the harbour

I love this dress – I bought it last summer from Dorothy Perkins for a summer ball at University.

Mine and Rupert’s feet being washed away…

Llanes

A stroll through the center of town – I always have to remind myself to look up at buildings!

When we woke up one morning on overcast and a little drizzly skies, we decided to drive along the coast to see if we could find some sunshine. We ended up in Llanes, a little coastal town. Although we didn’t lose the clouds, we did escape the drizzle, and it was a great day exploring somewhere new.

The beach in the center of Llanes

It was a little windy…! Still loving my asos shorts, the top was picked up the day before in Spain. Does the clash of prints work? I like it.

Next to the beach there is this walkway along the coast & sea, which is really beautiful, you can see for miles & miles across the water

There are mountains somewhere behind those clouds!

We stopped off at a pebble beach on the way home for a little look. It was nice to be by the sea, even if it wasn’t quite bikini weather!

Paella in spain

Something we decided we wanted to do on holiday this year was to try and make paella. We took the basic recipe from here after a quick google using the library wifi, but we didn’t follow it exactly. There are no scales or measuring jug at the house in Spain, so we just guessed all the weights and liquid measurements, and it all worked out fine. I’ll try to give an idea of amounts in cups. Also, we didn’t use all of the seafood that’s included in the link above, as it seemed a little extravagant for just 3 of us. We did however make our own stock using prawn heads & tails which we kept from lunch. So here’s what to do…

Firstly, get the stock going. Chop an onion and add it to a saucepan with a little bit of oil, cook for about 5 minutes. Chuck in the prawn bits, some salt & pepper, and cook for a few more minutes, before adding some water (approx. 2 cups). Stick the lid on and leave to simmer for a bit.

While the stock is doing it’s thing, you can put the paella pan on the stove to heat with some oil, and start sorting out the paella ingredients. Chop another onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, and one pepper, and put in them in the paella pan. After a few minutes, chop the chorizo (about 8cm chunk is fine) and add it to the pan and leave it to release all the delicious oils (yum). Chop a chicken breast and add it to the pan with the rice, a shake of thyme, a few threads of saffron and some salt & pepper. Pour in a glass of wine, stir, and leave for the wine to cook off.

Now you need to strain your prawn stock through a sieve, and discard all the prawn bits now you’ve got all the tasty goodness out! I added a chicken stock cube to this as well for even more flavour. Add half of the stock to the paella pan (don’t fully cover it). Stir every so often, but not too much, as a paella should have a slightly crispy bottom. After about ten minutes, if all the liquid has cooked off, then add some more stock (if you have any left, if not water is fine) until the rice is cooked. De-seed and chop two tomatoes.

Once the rice is cooked, stir in the pre-cooked prawns, chopped tomato, about half a cup of frozen peas and dried parsley, and then leave to heat through for a few minutes. Then it’s done! Serve with lots of lemon. We also ate it with bread which may have been a carb too far but I would recommend this if you’re feeling gluttonous!

I’d heard that making paella can be quite difficult, but I didn’t think it was in actual fact, and (if I do say so myself) the end result was pretty great. When we went out for a meal I ordered paella as a starter, and to be honest I thought ours was far better (I may be a little biased). But I think we can say for certain that we mastered the art of paella! Don’t worry too much about measurements, just go with what feels right, the amount of people you’re cooking for and their appetites. Remember, you can always add more liquid, but you can’t take it away. And if you end up with too much rice, don’t fret, because cold leftover paella is pretty tasty for breakfast too!

(Ingredients: one chicken breast, chorizo, cooked prawns (we had two each), rice, onion, garlic, pepper, tomato, lemon, frozen peas, white wine, chicken stock cube, thyme, saffron, parsley.)

…Comillas beach by night

One night on holiday, Rupert & I went to Comillas town for some drinks, and to look at the beach in the evening, which we hadn’t done before. It was nice to go in the evening when it was a lot quieter – although there was still a few mad people jumping into the sea when we first got there! Other than that, we only saw a few runners, dog walkers and two people with metal detectors searching the sands for goodies.

We missed the sunset, but the sky was glowing the most beautiful orangey pinky colour.

Rupert found an abandoned net and so we decided to look in the rock pools and see if there was anything interesting. We couldn’t see much apart from a few tiny shrimps swimming in the rock pools, and sea snails. We did spot a few crabs but they scuttled off before we could get a proper look at them, and a hermit crab who prompty slid back into his shell when we picked him up.

So we decided to give up and have a proper stroll along the beach…

…and who did we spot scrambling across the sands away from the sea? We were very pleased to see this crab, and managed to scoop him up without being nipped! After close inspection we let him carry on along his way. Not sure where he was off to in such a rush!

Comillas beach by day…

The beach that we visit in Spain is in a town called Comillas, about ten minutes away from the house. It’s just beautiful, it’s the cleanest and most relaxed beach I’ve ever visited. We spent a few full days and a few extra afternoons here on our holiday. The weather can be quite changeable in Cantabria, so we had a few rainy/overcast days on our holiday too – when we wake up in the morning you can tell what type of day it’s going to be, and whether it’s going to be a ‘beach day’ or not!

This is what I like to do most on the beach… read. I love to read in the sunshine, this is basically my happy place. Having a kindle made it so much easier! I know that it’s an electronic item but it’s pretty sturdy/well sealed so I wasn’t too worried about getting it sandy/touching it with suncreamy hands/getting a few droplets of water on it. Books go a bit manky in the sun/sand/salt/suncream and the kindle just wasn’t bothered. It’s also a lot more convenient to read comfortably with a kindle due to the way you hold it and turn the page etc. Of course, it also holds all of the books you could ever need for one holiday, rather than having to lug several paperbacks everywhere you go. You can check out what I read on holiday via this post. When we went three years ago the sea seemed freezing, I think I must have been comparing it to the Mediterranean I’m used to in Greece. But this time it didn’t seem so bad, so I enjoyed going for a dip to cool off, and playing with Rupert’s beach rugby ball in the waves.

For lunch we head over to a little restaurant round by the harbour. You can see it in the picture above – it’s the building with the orange roof, by itself, in about the centre of the photo. We like to head around here because it’s less busy and better priced than the restaurants overlooking the beach, and it’s nice to have a change of scenery each day!

At lunch we share a few different plates of food. Throughout the holiday we had, rabas (calamari in any other place), chupitos (pictured above – baby squid battered and fried – yum), mussels in salsa, a cheese plate, beautiful salads. I much prefer chupitos to rabas – they’re a lot crunchier and don’t have the rubbery texture that rabas can sometimes have. Served with lots and lots of lemon they are perfect!

Walking further along the harbour, away from the beach, there is a beautiful pathway along the coast. The water just seems endless, and the wild flowers growing along the coastal path are beautiful too. The sound of crashing waves and chirping crickets fills the air.

We always get an ice cream when we go to the beach – This one is strawberry (‘fresa’) but my favourite flavours were ‘avellana’ (hazelnut) and ‘crema tostada’ (creamy roasted caramel). Yum.

What I’ve been reading in July ’14

Rather a long list this month as I went on holiday to Spain for ten days – in this time I read 9 books! As I usually do, I’ve read a mixture of literary fiction, less-literary fiction and young adult fiction. I think it’s clear which ones I enjoyed more by how much I had to say about them here.

Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O’Porter – This had been in my amazon wishlist for quite a while, when the price  went down to free (!) one day, so I snapped it up! I read this in one afternoon at the beginning of the month while home with my boyfriend’s family in Yorkshire. Paper Aeroplanes is based around the friendship of two teenage schoolgirls, Renée & Flo, on the Island of Guernsey. The story is told from their alternating points of view, but I found it quite difficult to distinguish between the voices, which is a shame. It’s a compelling story and fairly interesting read; enjoyable but didn’t blow me away. Good enough for a lazy afternoon in the sun!

Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead – This is one of the few books I’ve purchased which has been featured in the Kindle Daily Deal newsletter from amazon, despite being on the mailing list for several months now. None of the books ever really appeal to me, but I’m glad I chose to download this one. It’s based around the events of a weekend of a wedding, told from various points of view, but mostly the father of the bride, Winn. The strange thing about this novel is that nothing really happens in it! Not particularly satisfying, but fairly enjoyable and probably worth 99p.

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann – I found this book after searching for books where chapters are each told from different characters points of views, and the stories are all interrelated but it’s only as you go through that you realise how they are connected.  This is one of my favourite styles of novels – is there a name for this? It would make it a lot easier for me to search for books like it! The fictional chapters of Let the Great World Spin are set alongside the real life event of Phillip Petit walking a tightrope between the Twin Towers in 1974. This doesn’t connect the other stories told in the novel, but gives a centralised image for the citizens of New York to stop and look up at.  To me, what links the characters is their loneliness and pain. A group of mothers brokenhearted by the loss of their sons in Vietnam, a 38 year old grandmother prostitute on trial, the brother of a radical Irish monk in the Bronx… the weaving of the stories is masterful, and the characters and tales painted by McCann are dazzling. I really really loved this novel, and I can’t wait to read more by McCann. In the author’s note at the end, McCann says, “Literature can remind us that not all life is already written down: there are still so many stories to be told.” I love this, and I think it’s key to Let the Great World Spin; as one background character comes to the foreground in a later chapter and gets to tell their tale – everyone has a story to tell, and a voice to be heard.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart – Based around the Sinclair family, who spend every summer on a private island, the story is narrated by Cady, the eldest of the Sinclair grandchildren. Cady bands together with two of the other grandchildren around the same age, and a friend, Gat, who Cady falls in love with. At the end of summer 15, Cady has a terrible accident, that causes her to have amnesia. She returns to the island two years later, and tries to work out what happened two summers ago. The twist at the end of We Were Liars is genuinely shocking, I did not see it coming at all, it’s very very brutal and haunting – it stuck with me for a few days. This was another very quick read for me in an afternoon in the sun, but definitely worth it – a satisfying YA novel.

The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton – And now the holiday reading begins! After struggling with The Luminaries I decided to try Catton’s debut novel, The Rehearsal. The novel begins with a sex scandal between a teacher and pupil, and develops into the interconnecting stories of a group of students at a local drama school, and a saxophonist teacher and her students, including Isolde, the sister of the girl involved in the scandal. Isolde starts dating one of the drama students, Stanley, whose class decide to base their end of year performance on the scandal at the local school. With the various story lines, the non-linear narrative and scene-like sectioning of the novel, The Rehearsal is a rather complex read. I found that I wasn’t sure what to believe throughout the novel – what is real and what is being rehearsed. I felt like the depiction of teenage-hood was realistic, and I liked the idea that perhaps our younger years are a rehearsal for real life – and that the saxophonist teacher was living vicariously by watching the pupils ‘rehearsing’. I really liked this, and I need to pick up The Luminaries again!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – And the winner of the cheesiest novel title goes to…! Written from the point of view of Anna, an American teenager, who has been sent by her parents to spend her final year of high school in Paris. She slowly falls in love with the city and her fellow students, in particular the beautiful but already spoken for Étienne St. Clair. After visiting Paris last November I liked the references to the city. I think the premise makes it sound like it’s going to be a lot more cheesey than it actually is, and the title is rather off putting. The narrative style of Anna’s voice is really natural and makes her character really likable – although she does get a little annoying at some points! Definitely a guilty pleasure read, but it reminds me of the types of books I used to read and love as a teenager, as well as the boarding school element reminding me a little bit of Enid Blyton books!

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Told mostly from the point of view of Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman who moves to America for 13 years, before returning to Nigeria. Throughout the novel Ifemelu observes, firstly as a Nigerian in America, and then back in Nigeria as the ‘americanah’ (the nickname given to her by her friends when she returns home). The nuanced levels of perception and observation by Ifemelu are what make Americanah so interesting and clever. She comments on race in America via her blog, noting that she never saw herself as black before moving to America, and how much this impacts on her life now. We do sometimes get the point of view of Obinze, Ifemelu’s estranged ex-boyfriend, and I liked hearing about the experiences of an illegal immigrant in the UK. The novel constantly loops back and forwards in time and is punctuated by Ifemelu’s blog posts, and scenes at a hair salon just before she’s about to return to Nigeria. The novel is primarily a love story, but not just a love story between Ifemelu and Obinze, but a love story between Nigeria and America. I found the ending a little bit abrupt to be honest, and maybe not completely believable. But Americanah definitely deserves all of the high praise and nominations, and I’m excited to read more by Adichie.

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, & Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – I read all of the trilogy in about 2 days (I need to stop commenting on how long it takes me to read books, yes, I read quickly). I’ve seen both of the Hunger Games films that have been released so far, and did really like them, but I’m not really sure how I feel about the books. They left me feeling a bit uneasy, which I supposed they are supposed to. The first and second installments were fairly enjoyable, but as I’ve seen the films, I knew what was going to happen and raced through them. But by the end of the series it just left me feeling a bit cold – I think this was mostly because I found Mockingjay, the third book, really frustrating, and just not very good.  In general, I think the idea behind the series is really clever, and the portrayal of a dystopian society and war is really strong. It’s a shame that the third installment lets the series down.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Jay Fowler – I didn’t know anything about this before downloading it onto my kindle, but it was announced as part of the Man Booker Prize longlist on the day I went on holiday (just before I got on the plane!). Narrated by Rosemary, telling the story of her family, but she’s keen not to say too much. There’s something different about her family. She keeps looping back on herself, and  I keen not to say very much about this, but it’s not that I don’t like it, I just don’t want to spoil it – I’d recommend not reading any reviews about this before you pick it up. If you have read it and know what happens – I really enjoyed the subject because I’ve studied areas of it for both A-Level Psychology, and linguistics modules whilst at University, and found it absolutely fascinating. As I didn’t know what the subject was before reading We are all Completely Beside Ourselves, it was a nice surpise when the twist was revealed! I’m keen to read some of the other Man Booker nominations – I might try to read all of the longlist but I’m not sure I’ll manage it!

Longbourn by Jo Baker – One evening on holiday I listened to the BBC World Book Club podcast celebrating 200 years since Pride & Prejudice was published, and it made me really want to read that, but I didn’t have it downloaded to my kindle. I remembered that I had downloaded Longbourn a few months ago.  Longbourn very accurately maps the events of P&P, but told from the perspective of the servants. The drama of the Bennet’s life seems trivial from this point of view – the characters are recognisable but the element of their spoiled nature is intensified. Longbourn also goes into the history and future of each character, before and after the confines of P&P, and portrays elements of Georgian life that would not have been mentioned in the original. I don’t think I’ve ever read any other books based on Austen’s works, but I know there are quite a lot out there. I found Longbourn to be a very clever and worthwhile read; I’ve now dug out my old copy of P&P to read asap!

My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki – A slightly strange premise behind this novel – a weekly television show airing in Japan, that showcases an American wife, her family, their wholesome lifestyle and featuring her cooking her best meat dish. Told from the point of view of Jane Takagi-Little, the Japanese-American director of the show, and Akiko Ueno, the Japanese wife of the producer, with occasional snippets from the wives featured in the television show. Jane strives to show more of real America, rather than the fake, ‘wholesome’ portrayal which the producer Joichi ‘John’ Ueno wants to air in Japan. Akiko watches the show weekly and recreates the recipes, in the hope that she will become healthier and be able to become pregnant to appease her abusive husband, ‘John’. While making the show, Jane finds out more about the dark side of the American meat industry, including the use of DES hormone. There is a lot going on in this novel, it’s one I think I would need to read again to full get all of the little pieces.

I am: #4

Doing : last weekend it was the annual steam engine rally in the village my parents live in. I used to go every year since before I can remember. I went through a stage where I thought it was so uncool and avoided it, but now I like it again! I don’t go every year now, but managed to go this weekend. It was a great weekend spending some time with my family, in the sunshine, driving a traction engine and drinking some beer.

Looking forward to : holiday! I’m going on holiday today to northern Spain for ten days with Rupert and his mum. I’m also looking forward to starting some training to be a volunteer with The Reader Organisation that I’m starting in August. I went in to meet the volunteer coordinator last week and it was just so lovely, so I can’t wait to get started!

Feeling : excited for holiday, of course! I can’t wait to relax, read lots of books, eat lots of great food… Usually before holidays I feel like I have loads and loads of stuff to buy but this time I wasn’t fussed. A lot kinder on my bank balance! I came home to my family at the end of last week and so we packed before then, which really did stress me out, as we had a few days at home so were trying to pack for both this and the holiday. Also because it’s so hot in the UK right now it’s been impossible not to do the usual holiday thing of not wearing what I want to pack to make sure they’re clean.

Reading : still reading Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann, but I’ve been reading a few other books as well. I’m going to do a July reading post at the end of the month. I’m going away on holiday today so there should be a lot more to add to this as well – really excited to be able to relax and read for ten days! I’ve discovered Vivatramp blog this week and am loving the book posts, and also added loads to my amazon wishlist after reading this holiday reads article on the guardian.

Listening : music wise, I’ve mostly been listening to the bands featured in my summertime playlist. Also lots of John Grant, The Beautiful South, Arcade Fire, and other bands who I loved at Glastonbury. Podcast wise, I’ve been continuing my love for Desert Island Discs, I really enjoyed Judy Murray’s, and I love love loved Lily Allen’s. I’ve also been listening to quite a few This American Life podcasts, I liked 20 Acts in 60 Minutes, and hearing about Nasubi and the Japanese reality TV show in Human Spectacle.

Watching : Australian Masterchef, still. It was such a fix that Sarah went back in! I feel like they clearly set up that episode to get her back in because she was hot favourite before she was eliminated the first time. I do like her but it’s funny that she was eliminated again about a week later. Also, so sad that Colin went out! He was my favourite. I’m not sure who I want to win now. Maybe Brent. We finally started (and finished) Mad Men series 7 part one – we watched an episode a night for about a week. I loved it, I think it’s so clever the way that Don and Peggy’s relationship has completely changed, their roles have just swapped. I often think Mad Men is quite slow but a lot happened in this half a series. 7 episodes went by too quick and I can’t wait for the final episodes in 2015! I watched the Silver Linings Playbook film last week and thought it was great, I read the book a while ago and was interested to see the differences. The film finished with a very cheesey rom-com ending, but other than that the adaptation was good.

Eating : lots and lots of salad, I may turn into a tomato. It feels good to be eating healthily though, and to be eating something fresh in the hot weather. However, we have also been doing some baking. We made some brownies which were actually a little disappointing because we used dairy milk instead of dark chocolate. I also made some Banana and Nutella Cupcakes (recipe from Two Red Bowls here) as I had lots of bananas that were very very ripe. Last week we made a few things from A Girl Called Jack (full review here) as we had the fun task of finishing things up/emptying our fridge before going on holiday, including pea and mint risotto which was amazing. Fish and chips at the weekend and a family bbq. I’m excited for some tasty food on holiday!

Buying : vintage clothes for £5 a pop. Little Red Vintage in Liverpool had a five pounds sale a few weekends ago and I got a skirt, shirt, some cut off levi shorts and bag. The bag needed some fixing, the shorts need to be turned up, and the shirt is probably a bit questionable, but I’m pleased with my purchases! I bought two books for 50p each at the rally, Spies by Michael Frayn and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I also finally bought some carnations to go in my decoupaged jug which brightened up our flat.

As I’ve said at least twice in this post I am off on holiday for the next few weeks, and I don’t have any scheduled blog posts going up so this will be it for a while! However when I’m back there will be a July books post and hopefully a few posts about the exciting things we got up to in Spain.