November Book Review

November has been a slow book month or rather a slow reading month.  Either way, slim pickings this month. 

The girl on the train - Paula Hawkins
I started this after finishing a truly awful book (see October Book Review) so I was desperately in need of a good read.  This did not disappoint.  Lots of good twists and turns that were not obvious from a mile down the road. I'm really hoping that this is not a one hit wonder as would definitely like to read more from her. 

The Son - Jo Nesbo
Good old Jo Nesbo, he always delivers.

Bridget Jones's Baby - Helen Fielding
When I read the first Bridget Jones book back when it first came out, I didn't take to it or to her as a character. I found her a bit whingy and self obsessed. I read it again a few years later and maybe it was the fact I was older (or maybe I was self obsessed by that stage too) but it resonated with me more second time round. This was a bit of fluff really, I preferred Mad about the Boy but this was a nice easy on the brain read which was exactly what I needed at the time.

Too lazy to add the links, go to Good Reads for more info.

 

 

Balancing Act

Last night's yoga class had balance as it's theme. As I drove home I happened to glance at the passenger seat of my car. It rarely holds passengers but usually gives a pretty accurate snapshot of what is going on in my life. Here is what it contained:

 

- 1 x yoga mat

- 1 x green cowboy hat
- 1 x six pack of a beer called Bohemian Rhapsody

Sounds like a recipe for a fun night doesn't it! 

The yoga mat was obviously mine, the green cowboy hat was part of a costume and was en route to school and the beer was a belated birthday present for my husband.  Some days the seat is full of stuff for other people, some days there is nothing at all but right now I'm feeling pretty impressed with my level of balance, both on the mat and off.
 

October Book Reviews

These are the books I read in October and here is what I thought of them.

My grandmother asked me to tell you she's sorry - Fredrik Backman
I tried, I really did.  The first few chapters were good, starting to build the story and the characters.  Then it took a sideways turn into la-la land and still I persevered.  After another few chapters I realised I was skim reading through so much that I was skipping half the book and there wasn't really much point continuing so I abandoned it.

The Wonder - Emma Donoghue
I really liked Room.  I thought it was well written, didn't glamorise the subject matter and yet told the story in a way that made you want to keep reading it.  I've read another of her books, Frog Music and liked it too so I started The Wonder in a very positive frame of mind.  It didn't last.  The story itself was ok, she captured the hold the church had (has?) on people living in Ireland but I found it really hard to take to the main character.  Towards the end she seemed more human but for most of the book she was pretty unlikeable.  There was a bit too much "begorrah bejapers" for my liking too.    

Blood on snow - Jo Nesbo
What can I say, I'm a fan.  I have been fooled before by the "the next Jo Nesbo" written on the front of a book but there is nothing like the original.  Don't think I have read a book of his yet that I didn't like. 

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson
I am loving Jonas Jonasson books at the moment.  The first one I read was The girl who saved the King of Sweden and really enjoyed that.  Next on my hit list is Hitman Anders and the meaning of it all.  His books are really easy to read, funny and interesting at the same time.

Craving - Helen Hardt
Utter shite.  Only read it as my book club picked it.  Spent so much time rolling my eyes that I'm surprised I didn't detach my retinas.  This line from the first paragraph will give you an idea of how bad it was - " Who wouldn't want to meet a couple of ruggedly handsome cowboys who were also billionaires from their ranch and wine business?".  It went downhill from there......

Friday Night Style

Some weeks your Friday night outfit is a little black dress, other weeks it includes a felt tiara and a cape.....

Faff Fest

This weekend is going to be an in-law fest.  It's not that I don't get on with my in-laws, it's more that I am quite an organised person and they, quite frankly are not.  There will be epic amounts of faffing around and lots of discussion about the best way to do something without anyone actually doing the thing that needs to be done. 

All the while I will be breathing deeply and repeating my mantra.....

Blah Blah Sunday

God I hate Sundays.  Ever since I was little, it has always been my least favourite day of the week.  It is such a nothing of a day.  It reminds me of forgotten essays and boring films and masses that seemed to go on forever.  All with the threat of Monday looming overhead.  Now that school and religion are a distant memory and films can be accessed at the touch of a button, you would think things would have changed, right?  Nope it's still the same old nothing of a day it ever was.

Back in my twenties when my social life involved actually leaving the house rather than scoffing sauvignon blanc and doritos on the couch, Sundays were spent lazing about, watching bad tv and recovering from a hangover.  These days the hangovers are few and far between.  Children + hanging together = more pain than that extra glass of wine is worth.  So Sundays drag on with nothing specific to do and not even the memory of last night's craic to break up the monotony.  I have been known to get swallowed by the black hole that is Pinterest.  Maybe this should be my new Sunday routine?

  

Slacktober

It appears that for me this month should be renamed Slacktober.  I have been very lax lately with my blogs.  A combination of feeling a bit down and being a bit busy have resulted in zero posts so far in October, sorry Slacktober.  Well I've got 8 days left, it's a long weekend and I've just downloaded the Blogger app onto my phone so now I officially have no excuses!

Part of the difficulty of blogging is believing that you have something worth saying.  This month a lot of my internal dialogue has been negative so I've been practicing what I preach when it comes to the old saying "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all".  Not much of a blog though if I don't say anything at all.  So I'm going to filter less, find ways to make things a bit more positive and get on with it. 

I have this on my fridge and while they are certainly words to live by, there is enough on my to do list at the moment without adding something scary every day.  Today though after a fair bit of procrastination, I felt the fear and did it anyway.  I got my eyebrows threaded for the first time.  Now I am a big wussie when it comes to pain.  I can't even rip a plaster off, so when it came to childbirth you can imagine how relieved I was when the epidural kicked in.  As I drove to my appointment I contemplated a pre-emptive painkiller but figured it wouldn't kick in in time. 

 

 

So in I went, slightly anxious that I was about to yelp in a most undignified manner in front of a complete stranger and it was.....fine.  Not something you would do to relax but not as evil as some of the descriptions I had read online.  The most disconcerting part was the noise of the thread rubbing together.  Obviously my eyes were closed but the noise was conjuring up images of those long handled scythes cutting through hay.  When I opened my eyes I was very glad to see that my eyebrows had not been converted into neat haystacks.  The moral of the story?  No pain, no gain?  Try everything once?  I think it should be "things are rarely as bad as you think they will be".  Not a very catchy slogan I'll grant you but it worked for me today.