Not Feeling Fictional

Hello again, fellow Bookworms!

This one might be quite short. Chief Bookworm has a cold and is still feeling a bit rough. It was a “badger’s arse” situation earlier, but it’s still not good. I might curl up with a good book, although it will definitely be something factual, and I’ll probably continue with On Writing, which I’m really enjoying.

I doubt it’ll be any work of fiction. I’m having one of those times where I’m just not feeling it on the fiction front. I can briefly feel fictional, but it seems very fleeting and I am just not wanting stories right now for whatever reason. I have got a little way into Ready Player One, and have enjoyed what I’ve read thus far, thanks to the 80s references, but even that has failed to turn my head the past few days when I’ve thought “Which of my partially-read books should I get on with?” – it’s been back to Stephen King and his writing advice!

I have just about started my book club read, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, and that, too, with its music references, should appeal to me, indeed it caused me to listen to Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto earlier this evening, which was a pleasant experience – good piece of music for you to look up on YouTube, but it’s still not pulling at me like On Writing is. Maybe I should just get the Stephen King book read? Then read something else? But when I finish the King, will I just want another non-fiction book?

Music to read books to… Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto.

I understand why I had a bit of a non-fiction binge last year… I’d just read A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara, last summer, and that book takes a lot out of you! I really enjoyed it, but it’s a chunky monkey, 720 pages long, and very emotional in its content, so after I had finished that, I didn’t feel like reading any fiction for the remainder of 2016! Non-fiction saw me through the rest of the year, including a couple of sports autobiographies, The Rules of the Game, by Pierluigi Collina, and Faster Than Lightning, by Usain Bolt.

However, I fail to understand why I’ve gone off fiction at the moment. I can’t recall reading anything particularly epic this year. Even the historical fiction I’ve read in 2017 has been under 500 pages long, as I recall, having read The Ashes of London, by Andrew Taylor, and Dissolution, by C. J. Sansom, so it’s not been massive even if it was substantial.

Hope you like the music, by the way! I’m not just an 80s nut, although that is my absolute favourite decade for music! I love a huge chunk of classical stuff. I say classical in this sense to differentiate between that and pop or rock or any other genre, although I know perfectly well that within “classical” music, only some of it is actually Classical… There’s several periods in music, including Baroque and Romantic, and then there’s opera and ballet, so no-nitpicking right now! I can be as pedantic as hell myself, but I’m not in the mood right now, I just wish this stupid cold would piss off and leave me alone!

Perhaps I should read books about books? Essentially, that is what I’m doing with the Stephen King book anyway, lol, so more non-fiction about the joys of reading might be the way to go until I actually fancy reading some fiction again? Perhaps consulting Book Lust, by Nancy Pearl, will help suggest some good reading matter? Maybe The Novel Cure has a cure for not feeling fictional? I doubt it, though.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I like both fiction and non-fiction, it certainly helps matters when you don’t feel like reading one type of book that you can always read the other unless you’re having a complete book slump, and not wanting to read anything at all. (In such instances of Complete Book Slump, perhaps consider seeking medical advice, as it might be due to depression, especially if you normally love to read.) However, it is a concern when your current book club book is a work of fiction but you only want factual stuff!

Well, as I said earlier, I’m sorry this is on the short side tonight, but I need to snuggle up with a hot drink, cold & flu capsules and a good book, so that’s about it for now! Hopefully I will be feeling up to a longer and more waffly blog the next time I publish something on here! Until then, take care and Happy Reading!

Joanne x x x

Books mentioned in this blog entry…

• On Writing – Stephen King
• Ready Player One – Ernest Cline
• Do Not Say We Have Nothing – Madeleine Thien
• A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara
• The Rules of the Game – Pierluigi Collina
• Faster Than Lightning – Usain Bolt
• The Ashes of London – Andrew Taylor
• Dissolution – C. J. Sansom
• Book Lust – Nancy Pearl
• The Novel Cure – Ella Berthoud

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Your Book Club Needs YOU!

Book and a G&T – and I needed that after book club!

Hello again, fellow Bookworms!

My nephew, Reuben, is one year old today (8th October)! Hence we’ve been busy with birthday celebrations this weekend, but it’s now time for me to come over to Computer Corner and tap away at my laptop for a bit to bring you yet another dose of waffly blog which might just mention a book or two, lol! Actually, it WILL mention books, and some rather worrying developments. Basically, the Waterstone’s Deansgate book club is in a critical condition!

When I say that “we” met up on Thursday evening, I mean just me and Anne again! It is bloody ridiculous! I ended up going to speak to Alice, the current store manager, to ask for more publicity for the book club! We need it! You can’t have a book club with only 2 members, you need around half a dozen or so to make it a good club. That way you get some decent debate and discussion, a better mix of opinions, and more ideas for recommendations when it comes to deciding the next book!

So, like the Lord Kitchener posters in World War I, I am putting out this appeal if you’re a bookworm in the Greater Manchester area…

If you are able to make it to Waterstone’s Deansgate on Thursday 9th November 2017 at 6pm, get yourself a copy of Do Not Say We Have Nothing, by Madeleine Thien, published by Granta, RRP £8.99 (although it’s a former shortlisted book for the Booker Prize, so you may find a much cheaper copy in a charity shop if money’s too tight to mention like Simply Red once sang), get reading as much as you can of it, and get your bookworm backside to the coffee shop on the top floor of Waterstone’s on 9th November and join in the fun! Please! Pretty please with a cherry on top! WE NEED BOOKWORMS URGENTLY!!!

I’m not saying the book club is dead, it’s not yet an ex-book club, but let’s just say it’s in intensive care and desperate for a fresh injection of book lovers to bring it back to good health and keep it going into 2018. I have emailed those who have been in the past, let them know the club is still going, what we are reading next and for when, so I hope some of them will be persuaded to return, but I am also trying to get some new bookworms, including some of my council colleagues! We have an in-house social media thing called “Yammer” so I have mentioned the book club on there to try and get some new members.

Alice did say she’d try to get some publicity on Facebook and Instagram, but I might also try to raise awareness. Certainly with a bookstagram post on Instagram… get some new bookworms that way…

Anyway, I had finished Blitzed in time for book club, and the other day, I finished This is Going to Hurt, by Adam Kay and I was sad to finish it because I bloody loved it! I won’t spoil it for you, but I will advise that there are some parts you really shouldn’t read in public unless you want some funny looks when you’re laughing your arse off! Adam is coming to Waterstone’s Deansgate on 27th October to talk about his book, so I got myself a ticket for that event, and I shall bring my copy with me for him to sign. This also gives you lucky blog followers another book event to read about later this month, lol! Don’t say I never give you ‘owt!

Well, we’ve dealt with the book club book, and you know about my e-book – that one’s for match days and our next home games are not until the end of this month, so there won’t be further progress on Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows until the Spurs match, and then the Champions League home game vs Benfica on Halloween.

On the grounds that I am exactly halfway through it, the Bill Bryson tour of Europe that is Neither Here Nor There makes my photo arrangement. While I’d scrapped the Ongoing Concerns list, essentially, it seemed unfair to Bryson to forget about that one given the significant progress made with it. Also, On Writing by Stephen King will be continued. Manchester England makes the list on the grounds that I am 17% of the way through it and I DID say I was going to resume it this year due to what happened here in May at the Arena. I will be using my “And the bees still buzz” bookmark in that one, as I said in previous blogs this summer.

So, that leaves Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, which I have had for some time now and I must have bought in the first place due to the promising blurb on the back of it which mentioned that there are a lot of 80s references in it, so I thought I should give it a go. The author himself is only a year older than I am, a 1972 baby as opposed to 1973, and thus the creator of the OASIS virtual reality world which is the basis of this novel is also a 1972 baby. It definitely feels like a book for my era based on the start I have made on it. I’m more a pop music nerd than computer game geek, but I do remember some video games and stuff like that from when I was a kid – when Atari systems first came out, with games like Asteroids and Space Invaders!

By the way, when it comes to the end of this year, and I’m publishing the List Challenges list of all the books I have mentioned on these blogs during the course of 2017, it will be a pretty long list, lol! Do Not Say We Have Nothing was the 500th different book I have mentioned! If you’re like me, you prefer the longer lists on List Challenges and feel a bit short-changed if a list only has a few books on it! There will be at least 13 pages for Joanne’s Bookshelf Blogs – Books Mentioned 2017, so something to look forward to in a few months’ time!

Just before I call it a night, I thought you might want to see one of the new £10 notes which came into circulation here last month. I know many of my followers are not on the same side of the Atlantic as myself, so you probably won’t be in possession of our new tenners with Jane Austen on them, thus I thought you might want to see one! The quote on the banknote reads “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!” – I couldn’t have put it better myself, Jane!

With that in mind, I’ll get this published, and you can enjoy this helping of literary waffle! Until the next time, take care and Happy Reading!

Joanne x x x

Books mentioned in this blog entry…

• Do Not Say We Have Nothing – Madeleine Thien
• Blitzed – Norman Ohler
• This is Going to Hurt – Adam Kay
• Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows – Balli Singh Jaswal
• Neither Here Nor There – Bill Bryson
• On Writing – Stephen King
• Manchester England – Dave Haslam
• Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

September Review, Four – Nil Again!

OK, just bought these today 1st October, but I will review last month as well, lol!

Hello again, fellow Bookworms!

Time for the monthly review, and September has been very busy as I started my new job on the 4th, and I’ve been adjusting not just to being back in work, but also to the fact that it’s full-time. A lot of learning, a lot of information to take in, so this could well be why my OC List has gone completely to shit! Well, that might have something to do with it, anyway, as well as the fact that books on the list just weren’t being read. It’s one thing to have a selection of books on that list, and quite a good variety too, but I never seemed to be in the mood for any of them, so the OC thing has effectively stopped for now, certainly in the form that it had taken.

I have realised there is NO point fussing about having a balance if it’s totally fake and you’re just not in the mood for certain kinds of books! I came to realise that if I simply wanted to read all non-fiction, or all fiction, or all young adult, then I should just do that and sod balancing things out. I don’t owe it to anyone to maintain balance! It’s about what I feel like reading. I’m not doing it for anyone else, this blog of mine is personal, it’s not a situation like Nick Hornby‘s where he was blogging for a book reviewing publication, the results of which you can read in The Complete Polysyllabic Spree, and I would recommend it!

Anyway, before we bring you up to date with the first of October’s book-related activity, let’s get September sorted on the review front. Two books were finished this month, those being The Angry Chef, by Anthony Warner, which had been a book club book, and If I Stay, by Gayle Forman, which I read for an online book club of sorts on Facebook. The sequel, Where She Went, is still to hand, and perhaps I should read it while the first book is still relatively fresh in my mind.

Book club is this coming Thursday, 5th October. Thankfully, the politicians will have buggered off back to London after their conference, so it shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t even want ANY party coming to Manchester, even if it had been a left-wing one, because it’s a bloody nuisance and inconvenience to us, but I really didn’t want who we’ve got! ALL parties should have their conferences in London, as I’ve probably said in blogs before now, because it’s the only damn place most politicians give a shit about! They’re about as welcome around here as a fart in a wetsuit, as Sir Billy Connolly would put it!

The book club book is Blitzed, by Norman Ohler, and I am at 60% read on that one. This is Going to Hurt, by Adam Kay, his diaries from his days as a doctor, is at 40% read, and On Writing, by Stephen King, at 23% so clearly I am in a non-fiction mood of late. It’s not unusual, to quote the Sir Tom Jones song! My current e-book read on my Kindle, Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, by Balli Kaur Jaswal, is now at 20% having read some more of it yesterday evening while in the car park at Old Trafford, and in traffic in Trafford Park, following our 4-0 win over Crystal Palace. Yes, yet another 4-0! If last season was the 1-1 draw season, which it certainly seemed to be in the league at home, then we’ve started this campaign with quite a few nice 4-0 wins!

On this occasion, a quick opening goal from Juan Mata, two goals from Marouane Fellaini, and one from Romelu Lukaku near the end gave us the win. Poor Palace can’t defend and they still can’t score! They are yet to score a goal in the Premier League this season! You won’t be terribly surprised to learn that they have lost all 7 of their fixtures thus far and are at the bottom of the league, completely pointless.

On Friday, after work, I headed into town to enjoy the Manchester Food and Drink Festival. I had a drink and a read of This is Going to Hurt while I was in a coffee shop, as I recharged my phone! Then I went over to sample the grub, having some pasta with pesto sauce, some churros and chocolate, and then a rhubarb gin and ginger ale, all of which I can recommend! I will visit again, at least on Thursday, as I can eat at the festival after book club! Epic Win!

Maybe some more people will join us on Thursday? There were three of us last time.

Also coming up shortly, next Sunday in fact, is my nephew’s 1st birthday! Reuben, the Chunky Monkey, will be a year old! Doesn’t time fly?! Charlotte is 7 and now in the juniors at primary school, and Reuben is almost one! I shall report back on the birthday after the event, but that’s coming up on 8th October.

Charlotte is definitely taking after her auntie, and on the music front as well as the books! She started learning the violin in the previous school year, and now she’s in the juniors, she’s joined the school choir!

Right, onto the books I acquired earlier… The footy one is one which is published every year, and is full of stats for the previous season. I haven’t always bought it every year, but given that my lads did win both the EFL Cup and the Europa League last season, I definitely thought it was worth getting on this occasion! It’s probably not going on List Challenges, but the other two are, as they’re fiction, and they caught my eye, even if it does seem a bit daft having a title which seems like a spoiler, lol! John Dies at the End, by David Wong, is the book in question, although I’ve also heard of a book, published a few years ago now, called Skippy Dies, by Paul Murray, and you’d think the author wouldn’t really want to give the game away like that, wouldn’t you?! The thing which always gets me with that one is that the Skippy in question is a human – even though the TV show was a little before my time, I am so used to thinking that Skippy was a kangaroo, lol!

I have to admit that if an author goes and calls his novel Doughnut and puts a photo of said item of bakery on the front cover, that is VERY likely to attract my attention! You know by now what a foodie I am, and that I’ve always had a sweet tooth, and I am VERY fond of doughnuts, so it was rather inevitable that this book by Tom Holt caught my eye. It is NOT the only book I own with doughnuts on the cover, either, as I also have This Book Will Save Your Life, by A. M. Homes on my notorious TBR pile! I picked that one up some time ago from a charity shop, probably in Salford, and it’s a wonder I hadn’t already mentioned it in a blog, but seemingly I haven’t as it wasn’t previously on my List Challenges list – if it had been, I’d have got a message saying “item already exists” but I didn’t get that error message!

So, a couple of doughnut books! Just right for reading if you’re enjoying the said items at Krispy Kreme, lol. Perhaps, also, at Timmie’s, if the Manchester branch or branches of Tim Horton’s have opened up yet? I enjoyed coffee, doughnuts and Timbits when I was in Canada in 2009, so I was delighted at the news earlier this year that they were opening up in the UK. I shall have to look up as to where Timmie’s is in town.

Mmmmmm…. Doughnuts!

Anyway, never mind my Homer Simpson moment, lol, back to the matter in hand. The badge you can see in the photo was from Waterstone’s and says “I believe in tea & books”, thus just right for me! Sometimes tea, books and music as well, although it depends what I’m reading. If I feel the need to concentrate on the book, I am better off without the music and have to pause it, but on other occasions I can happily have some tunes on while I read, or have a music channel on, such as Vintage TV.

Anyway, I think that’s we’re we’ve got to for now. The book situation is up to date, and into October we go! I may yet return to stuff which used to be on the Ongoing Concerns of old, but for now I’m reading what I’m reading and it’s mostly factual! Some of it is pretty funny, especially the Adam Kay book! Until next time, take care and Happy Reading!

And, yes, before you ask, I probably will feel the need for a doughnut in the next day or so! I blame Tom Holt and A. M. Homes, lol!

Joanne x x x

Books mentioned in this blog entry…

• The Complete Polysyllabic Spree – Nick Hornby
• The Angry Chef – Anthony Warner
• If I Stay – Gayle Forman
• Where She Went – Gayle Forman
• Blitzed – Norman Ohler
• This is Going to Hurt – Adam Kay
• On Writing – Stephen King
• Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows – Balli Kaur Jaswal
• John Dies at the End – David Wong
• Skippy Dies – Paul Murray
• Doughnut – Tom Holt
• This Book Will Save Your Life – A. M. Homes

Bad Medicine

Warning: Reading this book may cause your sides to split.

Hello again, fellow Bookworms!

Open wide and say aah, lol! Bit of a medical theme tonight, really, on the book front. Hence the Bon Jovi song as blog title, although I could just as easily have opted for Doctor Doctor, a hit for the Thompson Twins back in the 80s. But, Bad Medicine it is! So, I’m prescribing this mad, waffly blog for you!

I doubt there’ll be any new books mentioned I’ve not already mentioned this year, though.

Not only am I still reading about the Nazi druggies in Blitzed, just over half way read now, book club a week away, but I am loving the book in the above photo This is Going to Hurt. Adam Kay is a former doctor, and these are incidents from his time in the medical profession before he became a comedian, and if you read it, you can see why he became a comedian! You may end up as a patient whose rectum has become detached from the rest of your body. In less than medical terms, you might laugh your arse off!

A look through my List Challenges list of all the books I’ve mentioned thus far this year throws up quite a few dealing with matters of life, death, health, illness and disability, some fiction, some non fiction, so instead of the one usual list at the end, there will be two for this one. One factual, one fictional, with lists of books and their medically-related themes. Some might just be vaguely on the subject, others might focus very much on the matters of life and death and all which comes in between. One or two books will be mentioned in the coming paragraphs, then there will be the two lists at the end of this blog.

APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE, BUT THERE’S PROBABLY GOING TO BE A FAIR FEW SPOILERS COMING UP HERE FOR SEVERAL BOOKS! SCROLL DOWN QUICKLY IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW!

Reasons to Stay Alive – Matt Haig. Author of The Radleys and The Humans, amongst other books, but this is his own personal tale of battling against severe mental health issues and the suicidal thoughts he was having at one point.

The Book Thief – Markus Zusak. Set in Nazi Germany just before and during World War II, so Death, the narrator, is exceptionally busy! One of my favourite books, I gave out copies for World Book Night in 2012.

Blitzed – Norman Ohler. My current book club book. Drug addiction on a grand scale, especially drug addiction dressed up as being respectable and in the national interest during the war effort!

The Novel Cure – Ella Berthoud. This book deals with Bibliotherapy, the concept of prescribing certain novels to help patients with a range of illnesses and other issues. This is the book which said Shantaram was a cure for constipation! I don’t know if it’s true or not, lol, as I’ve yet to attempt that epic novel, although I do own a copy and it’s hanging out right here by Computer Corner!

When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi. My favourite non-fiction book from last year! Paul was a surgeon who, himself, got cancer. He was helping other patients with cancer while having to deal with the fact he also had the disease.

A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara. My epic novel from last year, the one which caused a major Book Hangover, lol! 720 pages long, but well worth it. It’s a big pull emotionally, though, and issues of illness, disability, abuse and death run through it, hence it has to be mentioned on the Bad Medicine book blog!

A Quiet Kind of Thunder – Sara Barnard. Young adult novel, in which one of the main protagonists suffers from selective mutism, and the other main protagonist is deaf. British Sign Language plays a big part in this novel.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl – Jesse Andrews. More YA fiction, this time with a couple of nerdy amateur film makers and a classmate with cancer…

The Fault In Our Stars – John Green. I know, this one’s pretty obvious to those who are well-up on their YA. Two teens meet and fall in love at a cancer support group, get to go over to Amsterdam due to a charity which grants terminally-ill youngsters a wish.

The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old – Hendrik Groen. At the other end of the age scale, life in an old people’s care home in Amsterdam. Elderly care, dementia and death are the issues raised here. Fiction, I think, although probably based on a real Dutch OAP in an old folk’s home…

The Angry Chef – Anthony Warner. A recent read, obviously, but with all his advice on food and on diets, I think it should be included in our medically-themed blog!

One Italian Summer – Keris Stainton. YA novel, in which the main characters are sisters suffering bereavement after their dad had died suddenly, so this novel looks at themes of grief and coping with loss, especially when faced with a lot of reminders of the person you’ve lost.

Tuesdays With Morrie – Mitch Albom. Mitch returns to one of his former favourite teachers, finds him in seriously ill-health but still able to impart valuable lessons. Again, terminal illness, deterioration and death are prominent.

If I Stay – Gayle Forman. YA novel in which a promising cellist suffers multiple serious injuries and multiple loss. I really should stop giving out spoilers, though. As there’s a sequel, though, you already know she lives, albeit a very different kind of life from the one she’d had before the family car was ploughed into.

Pear Shaped – Adam Blain. Not sure if this is available in hard copy, but I read it a while ago on my Kindle and finished it earlier this year. The true tale of Adam’s brain cancer.

The Ten (Food) Commandments – Jay Rayner. One of them is about not mistaking food for pharmaceuticals, so it touches on some similar ground to Anthony Warner’s book. Indeed, there’s praise from Jay Rayner on the cover of Warner’s book.

Mind Your Head – Juno Dawson. Non-fiction young adult guide to mental health issues and where to get support.

I think that’s enough to be getting on with. They’ll be listed soon enough, along with a few others, plus the odd one or two non-medical mentions right at the end. Anyway, talking of medical, and of mental health, I really do think the men in white coats should hurry along to the White House! As if we didn’t already know that the Mango Mussolini was several sandwiches short of a full picnic basket, he really has gone and done it this time with perhaps the barmiest and most pointless decision ever…

You remember that travel ban of his? Where people from certain countries couldn’t go to the US of A? Well, look which country the dozy Dotard has added now…

North Korea.

Yep. North Koreans cannot visit the United States of America.

Hello! Earth calling Donald! Got some news for you, sunshine, and it sure as hell ain’t fake! Get this little fact into your stupid orange head, dipshit…

NORTH KOREANS AREN’T EVEN ALLOWED OUT OF NORTH KOREA!!!

I think this therefore constitutes The Most Pointless Ban Ever! It has to! In the long history of things being banned in various countries at various times for various dubious reasons, this has got to be the most ridiculous ban ever! Fancy banning people from something they already couldn’t do anyway?! I was trying to think of a more pointless ban, but I don’t think I am able to! The nearest I could get would be to ban someone from doing something they wouldn’t want to do anyway, for instance banning die-hard Stretford Enders, like myself, from ever swapping clubs and supporting Liverpool! That would be a pointless ban ’cause die-hard United fans wouldn’t dream of supporting that lot!

But if citizens can’t even leave their own country, no other country needs to worry about admitting them, therefore Donald’s ban is even more pointless than a pointless answer on the TV quiz show Pointless!

I would have said that Dodgy Donald had lost the plot, but that would imply that the Tango-tinted Twat had a plot to lose in the bloody first place! For the good of the whole planet, PLEASE get Donald under psychiatric care PDQ!!!

Well, that’s about enough about President Fart’s mental health, so I think we should get this finished off and those lists made! Until next time, which will probably be the September Review, take care and Happy Reading!

Joanne x x x

Some non-fiction books on a medical/health theme…

• Blitzed – Norman Ohler (drug addiction)
• This is Going to Hurt – Adam Kay (life as a doctor)
• Reasons to Stay Alive – Matt Haig (mental health)
• The Novel Cure – Ella Berthoud (bibliotherapy)
• When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi (surgery, cancer)
• The Angry Chef – Anthony Warner (diets, food fads, health scares)
• Tuesdays With Morrie – Mitch Albom (terminal illness, death)
• Pear Shaped – Adam Blain (brain cancer)
• The Ten (Food) Commandments – Jay Rayner (food is not medicine)
• Mind Your Head – Juno Dawson (mental health, esp for teens)
• This Is Your Brain On Music – Daniel Levitin (music and health, psychology)
• Fragile Lives – Stephen Westaby (heart surgery)

Some fiction books with medical/health themes in them…

• The Book Thief – Markus Zusak (death)
• A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara (disability, mental health, drugs, abuse, death)
• A Quiet Kind of Thunder – Sara Barnard (mutism, deafness)
• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl – Jesse Andrews (cancer)
• The Fault In Our Stars – John Green (cancer, cancer support)
• The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old – Hendrik Groen (old age, mobility, dementia, death)
• One Italian Summer – Keris Stainton (bereavement, grief)
• If I Stay – Gayle Forman (serious injury, loss, disability)
• Me Before You – Jojo Moyes (severe disability, mental health)
• The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje (injury, deformity, disability)
• Wonder – R. J. Palacio (facial disfigurement)
• All The Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr (blindness)
• Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho (mental health)

And a few which were mentioned even though they’re not on a medical theme…

• The Radleys – Matt Haig
• The Humans – Matt Haig
• Shantaram – Gregory David Roberts

 

Necessary Adjustments

Hello again, fellow Bookworms!

Welcome to another helping of utter waffle! You can’t say you’re not used to it by now, lol! We’re almost at the end of September, I’m on for week 4 of my new job, and I am enjoying it very much, even if it does take a lot out of me at times. There have been times when I have come home and needed naps! I think it’s the amount of information I’m taking on board at times. Office jobs might not be physically demanding, but they can be taxing on the ol’ grey matter! Eventually, although there’ll still be things to learn, it will probably plateau out on that front and my brain cells might not feel quite so overloaded by the time I log out and shut down my computer!

For now, though, while I’m still very new, there will be necessary adjustments, and that affects the book-reading and the blogging. This blog might not be all that long, and it might be started one day and continued another. It probably won’t be the only blog where this happens, either.

I’m up to 45% of Blitzed, by Norman Ohler. Need to get on with it, book club is next Thursday, 5th October. As with certain other non-fiction books, I am enjoying it, but I feel the information can’t be rushed. I was going to say that the Nazis were a right bunch of Ben Johnsons, and make the comparison with the cheating sprinter from the 1988 Olympics, but Ben Johnson actually won on drugs before he was found out. I need another example of people cheating and still not managing to win, so I can compare the Third Reich’s pill-poppers with other cheating losers!

They took drugs, and the RAF still sorted them out! Ha! Serves them right!

As I was saying earlier, when I was telling my mum about this book, the Pervitin, which the Germans were practically wolfing down like sweets, is essentially the exact same substance we know these days as crystal meth! Sure, it kept them awake for ages at a time, but one of the other side effects of such substances is to give the user extreme confidence to the point where it becomes arrogance, and that, therefore, probably brought about their downfall. Early successes in France at the start of WWII just added to this cockiness. Some officers were expressing concerns, but those who did were often outnumbered, and just laughed-off by others who could only see the perks of Pervitin.

Anyway, enough about High Hitler and his narcotic-addled officers, there are other books to be mentioned. We are nearing the end of the month, meaning the September Review will probably be occurring this coming weekend. Probably Sunday, as United are at home to Crystal Palace on the Saturday afternoon. In all likeliness, with a full house expected, we will be back to the traffic problems in Trafford Park, and I will get some reading done on my Kindle on the way home from the match. Time to continue with Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows on my way home from Old Trafford. I had read 11% of that one last time I checked.

One of the recent acquisitions, which was bought at Waterstone’s after my last book club meeting, has been started, and I must say how much I am enjoying On Writing, by Stephen King! 23% of that has been read of that so far, so almost a quarter of the book already! It’s actually pretty funny in parts, particularly when he recalls some amusing incidents from his childhood! King might be most famous for writing horror novels, but he also has the capacity to be amusing! He’s also pretty nifty at trolling the Tango-Tinted Tosser on Twitter! Well he was until Fart sulked, stamped his little foot, and blocked the author! Donald’s maturity level wouldn’t even earn him a Happy Meal.

King wasn’t the only one turning 70 recently, though. In fact, my dad beat him to it by a few days, as his birthday was the previous weekend, turning 70 on 17th September. United won 4-0 against Everton to mark the occasion, and I gave him the biography of John Le Carré, by Adam Sisman. You may recall I’d found it and bought it a few months ago. Dad’s always enjoyed spy thrillers, particularly by John Le Carré and also by Len Deighton. Back to the Everton match for a moment… Antonio Valencia’s opening goal after 4 minutes… pure class! A volley Paul Scholes would’ve been proud to score!

I just had to post that. Goals that good deserve repeat viewings!

Anyway, I have read two full books this month. The Angry Chef, by Anthony Warner, and If I Stay, by Gayle Forman, so despite the new job and the naps, some reading has been done, lol! I might start Where She Went soon, while the first book is still fairly fresh in my mind. But I think I must be on a non-fiction fix at the moment, what with the Norman Ohler book about the Nazi druggies, and Stephen King’s book about writing books!

I think that’s about it for now. Apologies that this is quite a short one, but I think I’ve mentioned all the books I’ve focused on lately! Bit of non-book news to round off the blog… The Manchester Food & Drink Festival starts this coming Thursday! Yay! Might have to pay one or two visits to town after work… Still waiting for the dental appointments for the x-ray and extraction, though. I hope the letter comes soon, at least for the damn x-ray! So that’s my news for now. Until the next blog, take care and Happy Reading!

Joanne x x x

Books mentioned in this blog entry…

• Blitzed – Norman Ohler
• Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows – Balli Kaur Jaswal
• On Writing – Stephen King
• John Le Carré: The Biography – Adam Sisman
• The Angry Chef – Anthony Warner
• If I Stay – Gayle Forman
• Where She Went – Gayle Forman

Gone for a Burton!

Hello again, fellow Bookworms!

Back again for another blog! I know they’re not as frequent as previously, but having been back in work since the start of this month, that is to be expected. I will have been working for 3 weeks by the time I shut down my computer and log off from my phone tomorrow at 4:30pm UK time! I do try to get some reading in at lunchtime, although that is not always possible, so it has to be out of hours, mostly. However, I am a third of the way through Blitzed, by Norman Ohler, which is our book club book, and I have two weeks to go until our next book club, so I hope to get more of it read in the remaining fortnight.

Didn’t get my Kindle read last night, though. My reading plans had gone for a Burton, just like Burton Albion themselves, although our visitors had improved since their one and only previous visit to Old Trafford, which was in the FA Cup way back in 2006! Back then, a 0-0 draw in that cup earned them a replay up here, which was a huge windfall for them – they were able to pay for their new stadium at the time thanks to forcing that replay. We stuffed them 5-0 in the replay in 2006, and they were a non-league side then, in what used to be known as the Conference. They are actually a Championship side now, just a division below United, and we still stuffed them last night, but 4-1 was an improvement for the Brewers, lol!

The reason I didn’t get any post-match reading done on my Kindle is that Mum and I were out of the United car park fairly quickly. I should have expected it really, given that it’s the League Cup, and people opt out of it. The attendance was around 50,000, which is down on our usual 75,000 full houses, so with fewer people there, it doesn’t take as long for us to get home. I expect I will need my Kindle again at the end of this month, though, when we play Crystal Palace at home in the Premier League. One of the ebooks I have started lately is Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, by Balli Kaur Jaswal – it sounded amusing enough. I have read 11% of it so far, so it could class as an OC, although ebooks are being kept as a separate matter, they’re a football thing, lol!

While we’re still sort-of on footy, I’d just like to slap whichever killjoy arseholes are getting their knickers in a knot about the song some of our fans have come up with for our latest star centre forward, Romelu Lukaku. Since WHEN has it ever been offensive to imply that someone has a LARGE willy?! Give your heads a wobble! Fair enough, suggesting that someone is NOT well-endowed in the trouser department might be quite insulting, but a large cock is something your average bloke is quite proud of, from my understanding of the male of the species! Indeed, blokes themselves often exaggerate the size of their own, ahem, upstanding members, so singing that a footballer has a 24 inch willy is simply a bit of a laugh! NO-ONE has a two-foot cock, for crying out loud! Plus, you also have to remember that the average terrace song is invented by drunken blokes down the pub, usually on their way to an away match!

For the record, the ONLY song I know of in our fans’ repertoire which actually mentions someone’s colour is the song we had for Wayne Rooney, where we called him the White Pele! We do NOT discriminate! We have fans all around the bloody world, FFS! All colours, all faiths, all nationalities, so being a Red is NOT for narrow-minded, bigoted knobheads! I think that as long as Romelu himself doesn’t mind, and I’ve not heard any word to say he does, then there is no problem. If he did have a problem, and said so, we would stop, but I imagine there is more chance of snowballs being found in Hell…

Right, OK, back to the books. Trying to overhaul the OC list is not that easy. I did finish If I Stay for that book group on Facebook, but am not sure what to do next. They have chosen The Fault In Our Stars for this month, and I have already read that a year or two ago now. Forthcoming books are Emma, by Jane Austen, and Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, and so I might try to get a head start on one or both of those. Like a lot of classics, there are free editions of Emma available for e-readers, as a lot of classic books were written so long ago that they are out of copyright. So, I downloaded that one on my Kindle for free, and I already own a copy of Ready Player One. I like the sound of that one, there’s supposed to be a lot of 80s references in it.

Besides the e-book about Punjabi widows, the other book for match-day e-book consideration is Gold, by Chris Cleave. I’ve had that on my Kindle for a while, actually, and recently picked up the paperback in a charity shop. This is the author of The Other Hand (known as Little Bee in some countries), which I read and enjoyed some years ago now.

I may just have to knock the OCs on the head for now, and see how much I can get through. We may or may not resume this format at some point, but with work, and with book clubs, actual and virtual, the Ongoing Concerns are not really ongoing at present, lol! Apologies to all the books on the list but right now I’m probably going to have to cut things right down, maybe to just 2 or 3 books at a time. Some of the OCs weren’t getting read anyway, so my list wasn’t truly effective. I need an ebook for home matches, whichever book I’m reading for the Waterstone’s Deansgate book club, as long as I’m enjoying that book enough, plus maybe 2 or 3 others. And that might have to be it. Perhaps one of those books could be one which is part of a series, whether that’s resuming the Shardlake series by getting on with Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom, or reading one of several YA series I own…

The books on the list before I had an overhaul could have priority for when I want to start or resume a book, I guess, but I’m going to have to cut things right down and not take on too many books. I can read a few at a time, have been able to since my uni days, but I can’t really have a massive list of ongoing books, or most of them won’t actually be ongoing!

Well, perhaps I should get down to a spot of literary action. Those books aren’t going to read themselves, are they?! Well, not unless they’re wizarding books which have had a self-reading charm cast upon them, but I’m a muggle, not a Hogwarts student, so I haven’t got any of those kind of books, sadly! Until the next blog, take care and Happy Reading!

Joanne x x x

P.S. Happy Birthday to Stephen King! Perhaps I should start one of his books? Maybe On Writing would be the place to start? I do have a couple of his (non-horror) novels on my TBR list, too.

Books mentioned in this blog entry…

• Blitzed – Norman Ohler
• Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows – Balli Kaur Jaswal
• If I Stay – Gayle Forman
• The Fault In Our Stars – John Green
• Emma – Jane Austen
• Ready Player One – Ernest Cline
• Gold – Chris Cleave
• The Other Hand (aka Little Bee) – Chris Cleave
• Dark Fire – C. J. Sansom
• On Writing – Stephen King

Bookworms Wanted!

Our next book club book – Blitzed by Norman Ohler

Hello again, fellow Bookworms!

Sorry about the infrequency of blogging, but I am adjusting to being back in work again, and full-time at that, so it’s not just that I am having to fit in my reading when I can, but it’s that it has taken a fair bit out of me being back in a job, and I am still getting used to it. I have a lot of new stuff to learn, so that can actually be quite mentally draining and I have nodded off a few times of an evening during the past week. I also think I’ve picked up a cold from someone at work, came down with a sore throat last night/this morning, so that doesn’t help matters, does it?

Book club met on Wednesday, and there were three of us, so a slight improvement on the previous month when it was just myself and Anne. We also had Anna on Wednesday, so a trio of us discussed The Angry Chef which we found enjoyable and a pertinent read. I had picked up a fair few books of different kinds prior to the meeting, so I put a selection on the table. This is Going to Hurt, by Adam Kay, caught the eye, but as it’s a hardback, it was felt maybe it would be better waiting until it was in paperback, thus Anne and Anna thought Blitzed would be an interesting choice – which was pretty good news for me as I had already bought it the other week!

We really could do with some new members, though! I have messaged Waterstone’s Deansgate on Facebook again to let them know the date and book for the next meeting, which will be Thursday 6th October, and I have also put a notice on the council’s internal social media site at work, and by going home time on Friday, I had 4 likes and a serious expression of interest, so I may well have managed to recruit a new bookworm!

I did come home from Waterstone’s with some books, though, despite already having acquired Blitzed. I decided to get the Adam Kay book – he’s a former junior doctor here in the UK, writing about his days as a member of the medical profession. My other choices are On Writing, by Stephen King, and Noah Can’t Even, by Simon James Green, the latter of which is a UK YA novel, and sounds pretty funny, so I thought I’d add it to the notorious TBR list! There’s plenty of YA on that, as you no doubt know!

One book which has come off the YA TBR is If I Stay, by Gayle Forman, as I am currently reading that for a virtual book club – a book group I joined recently on Facebook has chosen it as their current book and the date for discussions is 15th September! So, I’m trying to get through it. To be fair, it’s not that long, and it’s pretty good, so it shouldn’t take too long to finish. Only 210 pages of actual story. Yes, there are more pages afterwards, but those are extras – acknowledgements, music playlists inspired by the plot, bits about the making of the film version, and a sneak preview of the sequel, Where She Went, but I also have that book, so I can just go onto that one when I’ve finished the current one.

So, looks like I’m having another OC overhaul. Books for book clubs, in person or on Facebook, will be a separate matter now, and will have priority. Then there will still be a selection of Ongoing Concerns, plus there will also be the Match Day Book, which will be an e-book on my Kindle.

We’re now in autumn, so even afternoon kickoffs will mean it will be getting dark when we’re coming home from Old Trafford and getting stuck in the inevitable traffic – as I said in a previous blog, Trafford Park is a total arseache at the moment and will be for at least a few years while they prepare parts of it for the trams! And, with European footy starting up again, plus domestic cup matches, certainly in the League Cup (we don’t enter into the FA Cup until January), there’s going to be a fair few evening kickoffs, so if I am going to be reading in the car before or after a match, I would either need to use the flashlight on my mobile phone to read a paperback, which might not be the best idea if I need to save the battery, or use my Kindle, as it has an inbuilt light in the holder, so the sensible option is to take my Kindle and read e-books.

My lads drew 2-2 away to Stoke yesterday, our first dropped points, although we are top of the league, as we still have the best goal difference. Four matches played, 12 goals scored, 2 conceded. Won three, drawn 1, lost none, so we have 10 points, as do our neighbours from across town. We now have three home games on the trot. Firstly, FC Basel come to Old Trafford this Tuesday for our first group game in this season’s UEFA Champions’ League, then we are at home to Everton in the Premier League on Sunday 17th September, and then on Wednesday 20th September, we welcome Burton Albion in the 3rd round of the League Cup, now the Carabao Cup, sponsored by some energy drink, but that cup’s had more sponsors than you can shake a stick at.

Oh, and I was able to have another Belgian chocolate seashell, as Romelu Lukaku was one of our goalscorers at Stoke, the other being Marcus Rashford.

Right, that’s the footy updated, back to books, lol!

So, what about some of those I didn’t bring home on Wednesday, but were still put on the table for Anne and Anna to look at? One was Midnight Sun, by Trish Cook. I think it’s on a similar premise to Everything Everything, by Nicola Yoon, in that the protagonist is a girl with a medical condition which means she’s unable to leave the house, although in this case, the condition is probably one of those photosensitive ones, as she can’t go out in daylight. Perhaps I should have bought Midnight Sun so I could read both books and compare? That might be a future blog post actually, or at least part of one!

The Good People, by Hannah Kent, was one of the other books I picked up, and I must say what a gorgeous cover it has! Regular readers of my blog will know that Hannah is the author of the brilliant novel Burial Rites, and that when that book was first published in hardback, back in 2013, she came to our book club, read from her book, signed copies for us, and explained how she came to be writing historical fiction set in Iceland – she’s an Aussie, but went on an exchange programme to live in Iceland and while she was there, she found out about the last woman to be executed in Iceland, and it piqued her interest. Burial Rites is based on that case and how things may have been for the woman, and for the family she was placed with prior to her execution. The Good People is set in Ireland, though, not Iceland.

The other book I placed on the table was The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wohlleben, well that’s the other book I remember picking up. Not sure if I picked any others, but I put a good few on the table before putting some back after the meeting.

Buying books certainly makes me happy!

Buying them for ridiculously cheap prices makes me even happier, and on the occasions where I have acquired books for free, my joy is uncontainable, lol!

Anyway, that’s nearly about all for now, I have to sort out this latest OC Overhaul, plus do a bit of reading, and work out when I’m going to fit in Fathomless Riches, by the Revd Richard Coles. Perhaps, on my new OC List, there should always be a biography or autobiography – I have got plenty to be reading, so it might be an idea! Plus, my mum also wants to read it after me, so it should be one I read soon, along with Not Dead Yet, by Phil Collins, as my friend Sarah lent that one to me in the summer when we went to see the Pet Shop Boys in Blackpool. And with that information, I shall get this finished off and published so you can have a shufty while I get ready for work in the morning… Until the next time, take care and Happy Reading!

Joanne x x x

Books mentioned in this blog entry…

• The Angry Chef – Anthony Warner
• This is Going to Hurt – Adam Kay
• Blitzed – Norman Ohler
• On Writing – Stephen King
• Noah Can’t Even – Simon James Green
• If I Stay – Gayle Forman
• Where She Went – Gayle Forman
• Midnight Sun – Trish Cook
• Everything Everything – Nicola Yoon
• The Good People – Hannah Kent
• Burial Rites – Hannah Kent
• The Hidden Life of Trees – Peter Wohlleben
• Fathomless Riches – The Revd Richard Coles
• Not Dead Yet – Phil Collins