Harry Potter Week

Only five more days until the new (and final) Harry Potter book is released. I won't be queueing up to buy it at Midnight but I did pre-order my copy today so I can read it before someone reveals the plot. It's a slight frustration because I don't really want a hardback copy but I also don't want to find out the ending before being able to read it.

In the meantime, this week's little project is to reread all the previous Harry Potter books so I'm ready for the new one. I picked up the 4 books I was missing today at lunch and started the first on the way home. I'd forgotten quite how good they are. Perhaps they got less good later on, but I really don't remember the first book being quite as good as this. (It's also a bit more of a kids' book than I remembered.)

I've just finished the first one so will pick up the second one from my desk at work tomorrow to read on the way home from work. After that I'm stuck because my copies of the third and fifth books are currently in Liverpool. I shall ask my Dad to bring them down with him at the weekend.

Saffy is going to see Wicked! (again)

I've just booked tickets for my Dad and I to see Wicked (the musical) at the weekend which is very nice and shiny. Just a small gripe about TicketMaster's checkout though - it doesn't tell you that it's going to send the tickets to your billing address until after you've bought the tickets which is most inconvenient. Still, much show excitement to be had!

Love is...

... hard to explain.

Except, when you try to explain what love isn't. Today at the chuch day we sang the Godfrey Birtill song "When I Look at the Blood". Now, whilst this is a Christian song, there's still a chunk of it that stands more than well enough without any sort of faith at all (or at least I think it should).

So what can't be seen in an example of Love?

I can't see competition
I can't see hierachy
I can't see pride or prejudice or the abuse of authority
I can't see lust for power
I can't see manipulation
I can't see rage or anger or selfish ambition...
I can't see unforgiveness
I can't see hate or envy
I can't see stupid fighting or bitterness,or jealousy.
I can't see empire building
I can't see self importance
I can't see back stabbing or vanity or arrogance.
(Godfrey Birtill 2004 © Whitefield Music UK Admin Copycare)

Maybe it's just me, but this seems to be a very beautiful idea and one I wish I thought I was vaguely close to. Something to aim for I guess.

Saffy is the winning bidder on a Snoopy watch!

It's ebay time again. I keep intending to get on and sell those Rocket Dog shoes, but instead I have been a-buying things. At least this time I was actually looking for the things I bought:

2 Snoopy Handkerchiefs
1 Snoopy watch

Oh my, that Snoopy watch is pretty. Why is Japan so far away and why doesn't the postman deliver to me on a Sunday evening? Patience...

Saffy is Snoopy-obsessed! Yay!

Books I read in June

I've now read 43/100 books! Yay for Perfume.

Total: 16 books

Perfume (Patrick Süskind)
Conversations With God (Book Two) (Neale Donald Walsch)
The Book of Lost Things (John Connolly)
Why Men Don't Have a Clue & Women Always Need More Shoes (Allan & Barbara Pease)
Brethren (Robyn Young)
Friends, Lovers, Chocolate (Alexander McCall Smith)
The five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom)
The Stolen Child (Keith Donohue)
Shanghai Baby (Wei Hui)
A Spot of Bother (Mark Haddon)
Little Lady, Big Apple (Hester Browne)
Chart Throb (Ben Elton)
A Place Called Here (Cecelia Ahern)
Cage of Stars (Jacquelyn Mitchard)
How Slow Can You Waterski? (Guardian Books)
The End of Alice (A. M. Homes)

I bought Perfume from Borders Oxford Street after seeing a trailer for the film. The film looked somewhat scary but tempted me to look at the book. I'm sort of curious now I've read it to see how they've turned a book that is all about scent into a film... I finished this book on Friday 29/06 on my way up to Derbyshire for a weekend of seeing folk (the lovely Dave and Lizi) and the Kinder BOH concert. A nice original idea - Grenouille murders to capture the scent of innocence - and easy-to-read; I liked this book. I think I shall keep this one.

Conversations With God (Book Two) was the result of a swap with bexster (UK) for my copy of Successful Interviews Every Time. I read this in one day (26/06) but... don't bother! Without wanting to quote a book completely without context, let me supply you with a little gem: "When you have been a man long enough - when you have suffered enough through your own foolishness; when you inflicted enough pain through the calamities of your own creation; when you have hurt others enough to stop your own behaviors - to replace aggression with reason, contempt with compassion, always-winning-with-no-one

-losing - then you may become a woman". Apparently the words of God. I'm sure fans of this book would say I'm not ready to accept the "life-changing" spiritual truths in this book but I mostly thought that it felt like some bloke's opinions written under a more authoritative banner. There are so many spiritual books I'd recommend before this one. It went straight back onto ReadItSwapIt and it went to rachelsparks (UK) in a swap for Travels With My Aunt.

Yay, another fantasy book! The Book of Lost Things is a very pretty fairy-tale story in a very pretty cover. Lots of Brothers Grimm - Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel. I bought this on that Easter Borders (Oxford Street) trip with Dad and I think this is probably the last of them all. I finished this on 22/06 on the way up to Lancaster for Sinki's leaving weekend (a crazy-long journey due to flooding). A popularly wishlisted book but I shan't be giving it away.

Why Men Don't Have a Clue & Women Always Need More Shoes was a bit too self-helpy for my liking, much more so than Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps. I have started reading this book before (it's been on my shelf for ages), and it didn't take me long to remember this time why I gave up - this book feels very patronising. This book is full of top tips for 'training' the men in your life to respond without nagging, to shop, to obey 'fart-free' zones and it all feels a little bit painful. The later chapters skim over what makes us attractive over the opposite sex but was so condensed it wasn't really worth anything at all (and if I wanted to fill in a quiz to work out how men saw me I'd buy a copy of J-17 or the like). I'm not hanging onto this and I doubt very much I'll bother reading anything else they might write. I read this book in two chunks, finishing after Brethren on 20/06.

Brethren is yet another of those books in the style of The Da Vinci Code. I've read a few of these now and surprisingly they've all been pretty reasonable, this one is no exception. I struggled a little to get started with this (but only briefly) and it's perhaps a little long but this was generally an enjoyable read. I've had this sat on my shelf for long enough that I can't remember where exactly it came from so it's nice to finally be able to cross it off the TBR list. I started this on Monday because I didn't have enough of the other books I'm reading for them to travel with me. Possibly my longest (time and pages) read so far this month, I finished it on Wednesday 20th. It was a good book but there are so many very similar good books that I won't be hanging on to it - I have rehoused it with tracyjane41 (UK) in a swap for Empress Orchid.

Having sat on my shelf pretty much since it was released in paperback (2006 sometime), I suspect that Friends, Lovers, Chocolate did not really get the attention it deserved. I read this on a Sunday afternoon (17/06) whilst in one of those strange moods where I wanted to do everything and nothing all at the same time. It wasn't quite as meaningless as a book for such a mood should be. This is the second in a series of books about Isabel Dalhousie, editor of a philosophy journal. I don't think this being second in a series made any real difference to how the book as enjoyed as it stands well enough on its own. I didn't like this as much as other books by this author and I probably won't bother with any of the other Sunday Philosophy Club books. I made this book available on Bookmooch and it went to anne (Japan).

Another 'I read this in a day', The five People You Meet in Heaven was my on-my-way-home-on-Friday (15/06) book (and I rarely go home on Fridays so that's something of a novelty). It arrived in the post from maire (UK) via BookMooch on the Thursday evening. Eddie arrives in heaven and is greeted by five people whose lives he changes and they explain his earthly life to him. It's an easy read and very enjoyable. I'm hanging onto it for now I think.

The Stolen Child was bought in the Easter Border's (Oxford Street) trip with Dad that has provided many of the books read over the previous two months - it's the first of these for June. A slightly-dark story of changelings which I really liked. It's an easy enough read but with plenty of depth. I read this over three days and enjoyed taking some time over it (I finished it on Friday 15th on my way to work). One to keep for a while I think.

Shanghai Baby came following a suggestion on the BookMooch forum to check out Kalle Makinen's (Finland) inventory. I didn't mooch this book from him (though I did mooch i, Lucifer from him instead), but spotted it in his inventory and mooched it from Gavin (UK) instead. I was hoping for something a bit like The Girl Who Played Go or Memoirs of a Geisha but this is a pretty western novel in style. I read this in one day on 12/06 but was really quite bored with a lot of this book. It was back on Book Mooch before I'd reached the end as I was pretty sure I'd be parting with it. I swapped this on ReadItSwapIt with romyashley (UK) for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

A Spot of Bother - I didn't like this as much as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime but it was a rather tough act to follow. The Curious Incident... was hugely popular and really very good. I think also that I may have identified slightly more with boys that numbered pages using primes than a fifty-seven year old retired gentleman suffering with depression and anxiety. Still, this book is a very pleasant read and something I'd wishlisted (if only out of curiosity) since it came out in Hardback before Christmas last year. I picked this up as a Borders (Oxford Street) offer of the week on 07/06 and having started it on Sunday afternoon, relaxing in the sun, finished it on Monday 11/06 on my commute home. I made this book available on BookMooch and it was snapped up within minutes, hopefully I've made marilyn wikinson (UK) a very happy bunny.

Little Lady, Big Apple arrived on my doormat as the result of a Read It Swap It exchange with debbie66551 (UK) for Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination, a book I have struggled to get rid of on swap sites. I'd read the first one (The Little Lady Agency) and not hated it, so I figured it was worth a go. I read this one over the weekend in sunny Lancaster (and it was very sunny), sat in Graham's garden, finishing on Sunday afternoon. I don't think this is nearly as good as I remember the first one being. Chick lit isn't my thing, so I was always going to struggle with this and I did get bored. It's an easy, not unpleasant, read but just didn't hold my attention. Read it if you liked the first one and you can be bothered reading another one. I won't be reading it again and it's waiting for someone to mooch it from me.

Having spotted Jude reading this in the office when it was out in hardback and have him sort of recommend it, I bought a copy of Chart Throb when I spotted it as a Borders (Oxford Street) half price offer of the week. It's Ben Elton's latest offering and it has a similar feel to both High Society and Dead Famous (I've not read either Past Mortem or The First Casualty). I started this on Thursday 7th (the first day of that week I didn't finish a book ) and finished it off on the train up to Lancaster on Friday. I'm beginning to think I'm really not that keen on some of his more recent stuff (and indeed some of his older stuff). I liked the concept but really didn't find most of this book all that funny. It's ok and not a book you slog through but I would be very unlikely to read it again. That said, if you do come across this book, read the telephone sex scene (it was the only point at which I laughed aloud). I put this onto BookMooch once I'd finished with it and it's been claimed by Claire (UK).

A Borders (Oxford Street) half-price offer of the week, A Place Called Here is another of those books I read in a day (06/06) but don't be misled into thinking that means it's any good. It's a very, very naff book with all the cheese you can stuff into 484 pages. The book follows Sandy Shortt, a woman who hunts missing things until she finds herself "missing". It's not a romantic novel and it is easy to read but that's about all it really has in its favour. It's not badly written but it really isn't worth wasting your time over. I gave it away quickly to Alex McG (UK) through BookMooch - I hope she thinks more of it than I did. (I have read another of her books which was a romantic novel and was actually better - PS, I Love You . That one I expected to be pretty bad, it was a Tesco (Minehead) buy when teaching English to Russian students at Butlins in Summer 2004 and was bought after reading almost everything else they sold. I think the world can find better authors to spend time reading).

Cage of Stars has a bit of a Jodi Picoult feel to it (with a bit of Picolt-ish cover art too) without being a crime novel. The book follows Ronnie Swan who, having seen her younger sisters murdered at twelve years of age, plans her revenge on the schizophenic Scott Early. I read this in a day (05/06) and really enjoyed it. It's very similar style to Picoult and is just as readable. I bought this from Borders Gallions Reach (buy 1 get one half price) with Graham and Kimball over the second May bank holiday weekend. I have given it away (swapped on Read It Swap It for The Kite Runner with sally3:UK) but may seek to reread it in the future.

How Slow Can You Waterski is a collection of science behind the news articles from the Guardian. It was a Christmas present from Graham which I have been reading one or two stories at a time before bed since then. I finally finished it off on Monday 4th June. I expected to enjoy these and was not disappointed though there are some bits of the world I wish I could persuade myself to show more interest in. It's staying on my shelf to dip into again and to grin at like a silly fool.

The End of Alice was bought from Borders Gallions Reach (in the same trip as Cage of Stars) with Music For Torching by the same author. Both books were bought full price after reading This Book Will Save Your Life and reading some reviews on BookMooch. I really liked this book from the very first page. The words are really elegantly crafted and made me want to read them aloud (and I did, wandering about in my lunch hour on Thursday). I finished this book on Friday 1st June and it was a very good start to the month (following some great books at the end of last month too!) I will keep this book for sure and will reread it sometime in the future. It's not especially similar to This Book Will Save Your Life and is far better (and This Book Will Save Your Life was a pretty good book too). It has a bit of a Margeret Atwood feel to it but I can't quite think what makes me say that. The topic (it's about a correspondence between a pedophile and a 19-year-old girl) caught my eye and may put some people off but it's a fine book and I recommend it.

Facebook Wall Name Game

Go to your (Facebook) wall and list the last 12 people who have commented. If someone has commented twice, skip to the next person...

1. Stuart Clarkson
2. Lizi Norman
3. Tom Worrall
4. Anna Grady
5. Rachel Coates
6. Dave Hill
7. Becky Cooke
8. Stephen Watts
9. Joey Baker
10. Naomi Guest
11. Vicky Kirby
12. Sara Bury

Q: Have you ever kissed number 7
A: No. Not my type :)

Q: What's the best memory you have of 8?
A: Lounging about (and possibly flirting shamelessly) in labs whilst he tried to persuade me to educate him some :) Also, beer.

Q: When's the next time you're gonna see 4?
A: Who knows! Maybe one day in concert or something :)

Q: Is number 9 pretty?
A: With his long curly tresses? I think, possibly, that pretty is not the word he would prefer me to use.

Q: What was your first impression of number 10?
A: She was probably little and cute at the time.

Q: How did you meet 3?
A: Maybe choir? I dunno, we did sing in the same choir but I can't remember if that was before or after youth and church and stuff. He was my boyfriend's geeky friend :)

Q: Is 11 your best friend?
A: No, but she is lovely. I've seen her once since I left uni (and that was a suprise) but she's fab and I wish I knew her better.

Q: Have you seen 5 in the last month?
A: No, she's a Spring Harvest person - maybe next year.

Q: When was the last time you saw 2?
A: Never recently enough. Um... her birthday weekend. May 13th.

Q: Have you ever been to 1's house?
A: Yep. Met his mum and everything :) That said, he has a new house, so actually no!

Q: Would you ever kiss 6?
A: He's all takeneded :)

Q: When's the next time you'll see 10?
A. Church, maybe 1st July.

Q: Are you really close to 3?
A: Close enough to debate life the universe and everything much to the annoyance of everyone else. Not really at the moment, no.

Q: Have you ever been to the movies with 4?
A: No.

Q: Have you ever gotten in trouble with 2?
A: Once or twice... :) I can't think of an occasion but I'm sure she'll remind me.

Q: What do you and number 8 talk about the most?
A: How to do coursework, beer.

Q: Would you give number 5 a hug?
A: Yes.

Q: Would you ever go on a date with number 11?
A: Drink and fine dining, yes. Hot sex, no. I tend to go for men that are not girls.

Q: Are you in love with number 12?
A: Sorry MG, but no. We could have done the double dating thing with Pete & Graham too.

Q: When have you lied to number 6?
A: Never. He knows me far too well even if I could.

Q: Do you know a secret about number 8?
A: Does he have any secrets that don't start 'I was drunk and...'?

Q: Describe the relationship between number 9 and number 5.
A: I don't think they've met.

Q: What is the best thing about your friendship with number 2?
A: She's amazing.

Q: What is the worst thing about number 1?
A: He's always asleep.

Q: Have you ever danced with number 7?
A: Nope.

Q: How long have you known number 12?
A: Known of/spoken to online a while longer but matched names to face and spoken to and stuff about a year and a half.

Q: Have you ever been in a fight with number 8?
A: He'd have lost, no.

Q: Does number 9 have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
A: I'm not sure, I don't think so.

Q: Have you ever been a co-worker with number 6?
A: No, he does all fun peopley work which'd be good.

Q: Have you ever wanted to punch number 2 in the face?
A. Aw, no.

Q: Has number 1 ever met your mother?
A: Um, I don't think so. My dad at my graduation though.

Q. How did you meet number 6?
A: Ridge Danyers CU - he always sat on the opposite side of the room until I walked into him at Spring Harvest and he played the kindly gently superhero he is :)

Q: Did you ever accidentally physically hurt number 5?
A: No, I don't think so.

Q: Do you live close to 7?
A: No. I did once.

Q: What is 2's favorite food?
A: Chocolate Brownies, Chow mein... other stuff.

Q: Out of your top 12, which one would you say is the funniest?
A: Lizi, not always deliberately :) Having said that Dave's sense of humour is legendary.

Q: Who is the most flirtatious?
A: Me? I don't see many of them in action... Joey was always a pretty good flirt :)

Q: If you could change one thing about number 10, what would it be?
A: I can't think of anything!

Q: Say something nice about number 4.
A: She's got an ace voice and is a very lovely person.

Q: Which one lives the farthest away?
A: They're all miles away. Maybe the Derbyshire lot?

Q: Who is the loudest?
A: Lizi.

Q: What kind of car does number 12 have?
A: I don't know. Does she have one at all?

Q: Have you travelled anywhere with number 3?
A: Spring Harvest and other church outings, Norfolk and other choir outings.

Q: If you gave number 10 £100, what would they spend it on?
A: A hot date with Billie Joe Armstrong?

Books I read in May

My first proper list, accurate and everything. I've still only read 42 of the top 100 books :).

Total: 12 books

- The Year The Gypsies Came (Linzi Glass)
- The Naked Woman (Desmond Morris)
- This Book Will Save Your Life (A.M. Homes)
- The Boleyn Inheritance (Philippa Gregory)
- The Pig That Wants To Be Eaten (Julian Baggini)
- Electricity (Ray Robinson)
- Double Fault (Lionel Shriver)
- The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
- Liars & Saints (Maile Meloy)
- Wicked (Gregory Maguire)
- The Last Family In England (Matt Haig)
- The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (John Boyne)

The Year The Gypsies Came is a lovely, sad and beautiful novel. It was one I bought the second time round as part of a 3 for 2 (Borders, Oxford Street). I read this mostly in one day on the 30th. It's got a similar feel to John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men, especially towards the end. I'm keeping onto it and I'd recommend it as a read.

The Naked Woman was another full price Borders buy (Oxford Street). I read this one and Graham looked at the pictures :). An interesting book about the female from a zoologist's perspective. I'll hang onto this one. I read this over the bank holiday weekend and finished on 29/05.

This Book Will Save Your Life was bought a fair while ago from Borders, Oxford Street (3 for 2). Chaotic and bizarre whilst still in the 'real world', I quite liked this. It's full of chance encounters, relationships and acts of kindness. I wasn't a particularly special read but it has prompted me to go find some other books by the same author. I finished this on Thursday 24th. Good as it was I've passed it onto someone else (Katsi:UK via BookMooch).

The Boleyn Inheritance is one of those books where I've been waiting for it to come out in paperback since I saw it advertised in hardback. It's a historical novel by Philippa Gregory so I had to read it :). I bought this from Books Etc., Oxford Street (half price offer of the week) after a disastrous Amazon attempt. It was as good as I expected though it's hard to tell now if this one is as good as The Other Boleyn Girl, the first one I read and the one that got me interested. I finished this on Monday 21st May. A very fine read that will sit on my shelf with the others.

The Pig That Wants to be Eaten was borrowed from Mike when I travelled up for Lizi's birthday weekend. I read 80 of the 100 "thought experiments" on the train down to London after that Lizi weekend and the remaining 20 traveling back up for my sister's 21st birthday curry on the 18th. I was going to give him the book back then only I forgot so I've left in in Liverpool with my dad. An easy-going philosophy book I've passed over on the shelf before this was an ok read. A bit empty for a book on this topic but a good intro for someone who wants to poke a bit into philosophy without knowing they're doing it.

A first novel, Electricity is another very readable book. I finished this book after most of a week's commuting on Thursday 17th. I swapped this on Read It Swap It for 101 Experiments In The Philosophy Of Everyday Life with mouseymouse (UK). It follows Lily, an epileptic in her search for brother Mikey and it was pretty good. Another easy read (aren't they all at the moment?), read it if it lands in your hands.

Another 'I read this because I liked...' book, Double Fault is the second book I've read by Lionel Shriver. A very different book to We Need to Talk About Kevin this is a much easier read but not nearly as good. That said, I did like this book a lot, it's about the marriage of a couple of pro tennis players as their careers change. It's a good characters/relationships book. I read the whole book on the train home from Derbyshire after the Lizi weekend (14/05). I bought this one from Borders, Oxford Street (3 for 2) and gave it away on BookMooch (Robin:USA). (Read We Need to Talk About Kevin, it's hard work but worth it - I've persuaded only my dad on this one so far).

I finished Liars and Saints on the 9th. I mooched this from jill adams (UK) after reading A Family Daughter by the same author. This book is the semi-autobiographical novel written by the character Abby in the second novel A Family Daughter. Maybe I'd have appreciated this book more if I'd read these two the other way round but I much preferred the second of these. I'm waiting for someone to mooch this from me but won't be keeping it.

The Secret Life of Bees was a very enjoyable read which I mooched (Susan:UK) following a recommendation from the Lovely Lizi. The book is roughly about a girl's journey discovering herself and her mother's past. It has some very sad moments. I basically read this in a day on Friday 11th on the train home for Lizi and Thom's birthday partying. A good weekend and a good, easy-to-read, book. This book isn't on my shelf in Ewell and I haven't given it away so I think I must have left it with Lizi.

As a musicals and soundtracks addict, Wicked is a book I bought (Borders, Oxford Street) almost as soon as I saw it. Unfortunately, for quite a while that's all I did. It became a TBR that stayed TBR as new things came and were conquered. However, I went to see the show with Kimball one Wednesday which did prompt me to pull the book off the shelf and actually read it. It took me a little while to get into but wasn't a hard read. I finished this the Tuesday after the bank holiday (08/05/07) after reading it off and on through the preceding week. It's got fairly loose connections to the musical but I enjoyed both. It is, as the musical, based around the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's novel The Wizard of Oz. I'll keep this one and no doubt reread it more than once.

The Last Family in England is a book I mooched (David:UK) after reading The Dead Fathers' Club also by Matt Haig. I read it over the bank holiday weekend, finishing on Monday 7th. It wasn't as good as good as The Dead Fathers' Club, and I won't be keeping onto it (it's gone to Evil Olive:Singapore via BookMooch), but it was good and worth reading at least once. DO read The Dead Fathers' Club though. Someone reviewed it as being like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time which it sort of is and sort of isn't - I can see where they were coming from. I've forced it onto Graham but everyone should read that one. Both books are easy reads.

This book was acquired from Borders (Oxford Street, 3 for 2) in that expensive Easter trip with my Dad along with Electricity and many more. I read The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas within a day's worth of commuting on Friday 4th May. It's a children's book so it's not a difficult read, but it is not an easy read either. It's thought-provoking and lovely-horrible. I've kept it and I'd recommend it.