They is closing down the centre!

So, a fun announcement to start off the New Year with: HMV and Waterstones shutting shop on 60 stores. Not a good thing but hopefully, it'll keep the chains running a little longer. Even if I don't shop there, I still like having those stores on the High Street to browse through. And I suppose I do shop there sometimes. Anyway, enough of that. Onto my latest acquisitions.

I finally found a copy, and finished, my book club selection - The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore. I'll leave most of my comments aside until Book Club comes and goes (planning to write a regular piece after each month's meeting) but generally I liked it. Very odd, but its nice to have a different kind of Christmas story.

Onwards and upwards - I finally joined the library in my new town! December was much too manic to try and get it done but it has been driving me crazy, not having any access to new books, even if I do still have a small mountain at home to devour. The library, unfortunately, is exceedingly poor. For something that calls itself the 'Central' library, its range of books, its organisation and its generally depressing decoration make it somewhere I really don't want to spend a lot of time. Luckily, living in a London borough means I do have access to libraries in 11 other London boroughs as well as my own. Thank god for small mercies. Needless to say, most of my book browsing will be done online, only venturing forth once I know books I want are in stock. I know the Government/Councils are pulling a lot of funding from the Library System and, while this is a terrible thing, you can see why no one visits when they look like my one. They need dedicated, passionate staff (who will be more so with a decent salary) and some cold hard cash spent on new books and sprucing the buildings up. Seriously, give me a couple of grand and some able volunteers and I'm sure that I could do wonders with the places.

The one book I did pick up on my first trip was a teen fiction one (I had to take something home) and I was quite pleased with the outcome. If I Stay by Gayle Forman, is the story of a teenage girl who is almost killed in a car crash. With her body in a critical condition in the hospital, Mia's spirit (no better word for it really) is left to decide: to live or die, to give in, give up or to stay and fight. The book details Mia going back over her life, and watching the people she loves by her bedside, as she desperately tries to make a decision. Mia's tale, borne out of a real life incident in Forman's life, where friends died in a car crash, strikes home and leaves us to decide (in the words of Jodi Picoult): what would you do?

So January is starting off well for books; I've finished... (counting in my head)...three new books this year, and it's only the 7th. I've also watched a few new-ish films and finally started the third season of In Treatment (mainly because everything else is on Thanksgiving/Christmas/Holiday Season hiatus). It's good but I haven't really watched enough episodes yet to build up a massive interest - it's been too long since I watched Seasons One and Two. So In Treatment is back on the 'Watching' list and, very annoyingly, Boardwalk Empire is off it. I have the episodes (Iphone compatible) but, apparently, ITunes has taken a dislike to them and refuses to acknowledge their existence. And people wonder why I don't like Apple products? ITunes is the biggest waste of RAM I've ever encountered to be honest.

There is more to come, but this post is getting a little longer than I'd like so I shall wrap up and continue on later.

You say goodbye, I say hello.

Hello fellow blogees and blogettes. Once again apologies but it has been a crazy few weeks and, unfortunately, this has fallen by the wayside. Anyway, I'm back now and will crack on regardless.

TV, Films and Books this week. I watched the trailer for Scott Pilgrim the other day and found my interest peaked. A colleague had been talking about the movie for ages and I finally broke and watched the very brief trailer and was pleasantly surprised. Definitely interesting.

Finished Stolen by Lucy Christopher this week and, considering it was a book I picked up on a whim, I really enjoyed it. The main character, Gemma, is kidnapped and the novel is comprised of a long descriptive letter to her captor. However, because Gemma's dialogue remains squarely in the past, we are unaware how her life has progressed; whether she has escaped, been rescued or learnt to accept her life. By the end of the novel, we are of course treated to the outcome, and I'm pleased that Christopher doesn't give away any of the plot before we need to know it.

I'm attempting, at the moment, six novels. Small Island by Andrea Levy, We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver and A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire are all so close to being finished and hopefully I'll have reviews for you next week. A Lion Among Men I've had for much too long and it's just getting ridiculous.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro was one I did finish though. And I am so glad I did. Ishiguro brings to life an impossible alternate reality that, although steeped in our own history, focusses on a entirely different future. Like I said before, parts of it truly are spine tingling and Kathy, the main character, makes us question completely what it means to be human. If you haven't already, it is a novel that deserves to be read.

My final book thought is on Push by Sapphire. The basis for the film Precious, it is simply sensational. Whatever your preconceptions about the book or the film, it is an essential novel for our times. Precious Jones is a beautiful yet destroyed young woman and it is amazing to watch her progress and her gaining of independence through her education. Sapphire is a truly spectacular writer and her characters jump off the page until you want to carry all of them away and to safety.

So it's been quiet on the book front for a while. Films and TV have been thriving however. I saw Alice in Wonderland the other day for example, and I must say I was very underwhelmed. Such a big hype, so many big names but such a small film. Burton seems to be walking a line between the absurd and the traditional and it, unfortunately, doesn't work in this particular film. Burton is a master of his craft but I think his style has become slightly stale. His films no longer shock because we expect the weird and the wacky. The films that shock now have to break different boundaries. Take Kick Ass for example (a film I am still dying to see). Seeing a child swear THAT profusely and kill without regret makes us sit up and pay attention. Not much else does.

I did say last time that I had almost finished In Treatment Season 1. I am now on the final two episodes of Season 2 and am still enjoying it so much. It's great mostly because you feel like you really shouldn't be hearing what these people are saying, witnessing their breakthroughs and breakdowns. It feels illicit, watching their private lives unfold and for this reason I would recommend watching it alone. If you're with someone else, it breaks the spell.

I'm going to leave it there for today. Until next time.

the best laid schemes of mice and men...

Go often askew. As mine have done.

So with all the best intentions in mind of beginning this blog and updating regularly, I apparently couldn't even get past the first introductory post! Unfortunately, I've begun to really love that 150 character limit on Twitter. All expectations of witty and intellectual comments are null and void, which makes it a lot easier to sit down to write anything.

Even so, I'm going to attempt this. I make no promises and apologise for any extremely short posts. At least they're posts right? Anyway, I'll crack on.

Just this week, I finally got round to reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I wasn't holding out a lot of hope, especially when I realised it's a travel memoir. I will say I love Bill Bryson but I've never been compelled to read any other travel writing. A term at University of Travel Writing only convinced me of the fact that it was very difficult to write interesting and exciting travel books. You may have had the most wonderful time away in Singapore or Australia but it doesn't mean it will necessarily translate back in dreary old England. Thing is, Gilbert managed, for me, to make her writing feel much more personal than most travel writing. I have no desire to live in an ashram or study with a medicine man but she made both those experiences sound exquisite and profound. Italy I have visited and perhaps because my experience was vastly different to hers it made it very enjoyable to read. Gilbert has definitely made me see how visiting a country for a holiday and staying for as long as she did are very different and give you often completely conflicting views of a country or city. I've never really been interested in travelling before and although I haven't felt a huge peak in my interest since reading the book, it has made me understand the desire to see a country from that angle.

As always, I'm watching more films and T.V. than I really should. This week it was Driving Aphrodite, Adam, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and the BBC version of The Other Boleyn Girl. Also, I'm attempting to catch up with In Treatment with Gabriel Byrne.

Driving Aphrodite was (another!) Nia Vardalos number. Not saying she's not entertaining but I do feel sorry for her that is never cast in a film that at some point doesn't refer to Greece. In this one, she is an American teacher, living in Greece who has ended up working as a tour guide. Of course, she is hapless, without a clue and hilarity ensues. Complete with a host of racial stereotypes, it ticks every box if you want to switch off your brain for an hour and a half.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a manga creation and it was only when the teenage characters referred to 'jerking off' did I realise it wasn't a Ghibli film. Apart from that, it has all the characteristics of a regulation Miyazaki masterpiece. Perhaps the animation is slightly under-par but otherwise it lived up to my expectations. I do have to admit, I watched it dubbed. I'm fine with subtitles in live action but I can't stand them in animation. And, as in the case of Spirited Away, the drawing is so beautiful I don't want to have to look at the ugly text at the bottom.

Adam, with Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne, was a film I found really interesting when I first heard about it. A man living with Aspergers Syndrome (a condition I have witnessed) meets a woman who opens up the world to him and introduces him to things he has never even considered. Although not quite as good as I had imagined (to be honest, I probably expected something way too sensitive for Hollywood), it was interesting, if only to have a look at a syndrome that I've only observed in children. Hugh Dancy plays the title character very well and Adam's discomfort in social situations is brilliantly illustrated. I recommend it, especially if it's a condition you're unfamiliar with, as around 1 in 100 people in the UK have it.

BBC's version of The Other Boleyn Girl is a film I watched quite a few years ago and only recently bought. It still shocks me every time as it's really low budget for a BBC production and I hate the way the characters talk to the screen as if it's a confessional. However, it is more true to the novel than the recent Hollywood remake and that does endear me to it. It is truly disturbing in parts and although Mary Boleyn is portrayed as much more shrewd in it than in the novel, Anne's insecurities and humanity are allowed more of a forum. If you enjoyed the novel, it's an interesting adaptation to watch.

In Treatment is Gabriel Byrne's relatively new T.V. show about a psychiatrist and the relationships he builds with the patients he sees every week. A brilliant format, each episode focussing on one session and one day a week, we experience the shocks and the reveals as the character would. It is infuriating having to wait five episodes to get back to a storyline you find particularly interesting but as the series progresses, the story lines tend to merge. I'm about half way through the series at the moment but I will keep you updated! It's definitely worth a watch but make sure you've got the patience, it's 43 episodes long!

Well, that's all from me for today. What I'll try is a post like this once a week and we'll see how we go. Until next time.