It's a rare occasion when I give up on a book. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've done it in the past few years. I guess I'm a bit of a slogger and will keep at it, even when there's no enjoyment to be had. This past year has been a bit of a revelation though and I've given up on two books! Two! The first one was by Ali Smith and I just couldn't. I tried and tried but I was so confused and what's the point when you just don't know what is going on? The second one was this beast:
Step up The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. Actually, it could probably be used as a step as it's over 800 pages!! (double exclamation marks definitely required)
It was on my to read list but I had no idea of the size of it and frankly, it was a bit of a shock when I picked it up from the library. Is there really any need? I have to be honest, I kept on putting it off and pushing it further down the pile on my bedside table, but eventually it came round to it. I had no choice. I was going in.
It got the better of me quite quickly. It's just so intimidating! It's heavy, it nearly breaks your shoulder when you put it in your handbag to carry around, and the writing is really small. I took it back to the library the next day so that it wouldn't taunt me from my bedside table #wuss
The real truth? I reckon it would have taken me about 5 weeks to read, possibly longer, and I'm approaching the end of my book challenge and it would seriously have held me back! I'm determined to have one successful challenge this year, determined!
I think I'll come back to it again in the future. The story seemed to have a lot of potential and I remain intrigued by it. But I might have to build up my shoulder first by lifting some weights, and perhaps build a book prop for when I'm reading in bed? I'm sure Dave could do that no problem...
I finally got around to finishing one of my projects last weekend - the box of books. We've had this planned since we moved in way back in February. Instead of conventional shelves I decided that I wanted lots of boxes that could stack books any which way but house a whole heap of them. Success! Dave built me a basic box and I painted it. I have to admit that the paint job is less than ideal, well actually it was the varnish that did for it. I used outdoor varnish instead of internal varnish and it's a bit rough and ready. But the box looks cool. I'm so happy with it and it's full of books! Our second living room is slowly starting to take a shape and character all of its own.
Next up for projects is to take our pine bedside cabinets and turn them all white and shiny. This is just the beginning for Operation Bedroom. Stay tuned for updates.
I love Lena Dunham. I loved Tiny Furniture and I am a huge fan of the TV series Girls. I am in complete awe that someone in their 20's has achieved so many amazing things. She writes, she directs, she stars...some days I can barely even achieve a couple of hours in front of the computer...but she's an all round whirlwind of massive talent and busy-ness and I admire her massively for it. I was desperate to read her book, Not That Kind of Girl, and finally picked it up a few weeks ago.
And it's brilliant.
It's honest, funny, witty, dirty, and raw - kind of like how I imagine she is in real life. Or would like to think so, because of course we would be friends if ever our paths should cross...
It's the kind of book you can dip in and out of, which comes in very handy when you're on jury duty, like I was last week. (On a side note, I kind of want to write about the experience (not the case obviously), but an overview of how it was but I'm not sure if a) I'm allowed to talk about it and b) if anyone is interested. If you would like to read about it leave a comment below).
I wish I'd had this book when I was 20. When you're floundering around and not sure of anyone or anything. But even at 40, when I've long gone past that giving a shit what people think stage of my life, there's such a lot to take from it. As I said in my previous post, I'm really not very good at doing book reviews so I won't even try. I will just say, this is definitely a book worth reading.
I like it.
A lot.
