Books

For some time now I've been following members of "Blog This", a community of varied bloggers who participate in themed posts once a week or so. A blog I had followed for a few years now began contributing a few months ago, and I've watched  the community grow and grow, finding some really different blogs that have become fast and firm favourites. As with all things, there have some been some train-wrecks I've found on there, and some blogs I'd never normally have bothered with, but even then, some of them have gven me insight into whole other ways of living your life to what I choose for myself, and even if their style of living is totally not my choice, the voyerism-thing had me checking back over and over (thanks google reader) and snippets have given me insights into myself that have held immeasurable value. As we all know, I'm rediscovering a heap about myself lately, and doing a heap of things differently fr the first time in my life. I can feel myself growing, hanging, but more on that another time.

So anyhoooooooooo

Books.

This weeks theme is books. And boy oh boy do I love books!

It has been such a long time since I have had the time though to devote to a seriously good book. Or a seriously trashy one! I find myself reading compilations in recent years, so that I can easily pick them up, and more importantly, put them down when life gets in the way! Things like "Girls Night In" I love. A whole series of books, each one a collection of short stories written by popular chick-lit authors, with proceeds going to War Child. What more could one ask for?

When I was younger, I used to spend countless hours, and I mean COUNTLESS hours reading just about everything I could get my hands on. I literally destroyed my vision by reading too much, for too long, and even under the covers at night with a torch when mum or dad would tell me it was time to go to sleep, or  through the crack of the bedroom door, utilising the hallway light that would sneak through into my bedroom after having the torch confiscated! It was a world I could escape to, and escape I did. I loved books like "The Neverending Story" or Tolkein's "The Hobbit" which at that age I considered to be far superior to the  "Lord of The Rings" Trilogy, which was still a bit tough for a 7year old in 2nd Grade! All that was of course before it was "cool" thanks to Hollywood, and earned me more than a little ribbing from my peers, way back in the mid/late 80's!

 

After a while, I exhausted mine and my two sisters' EXHAUSTIVE collection of children's literature, which included substantial contributions from the libraries of both my parents. I come from an intelligent family (shock, I know) and it was (and still is) the norm for birthday & xmas gifts to be books. My mother would take my sisters and I to the library where we would borrow the maximum 8 books allowed each fortnight, and would have them ALL read before the fortnight was up. My parents took to using their quota of 8 each to "bulk up" our borrowings, and STILL we would be demanding a return to the library before the books were due back.

Desperate for reading material, I expanded through my father's collection of Tolkein, Alastair MacLean, Wilbur Smith and such ilk. By early primary school I was avidly borrowing practically whole catalogues from the library, and supplimenting this with my fathers newspapers, as well as business magazines, and even reading entire volumes of the encyclopedias my parents had purchased at significant expense. Yep. Encyclopaedias. Whole volumes, every word.

Sad, but true. Perhaps that's why I have an enormous amount of knowledge on a gigantic range of content. Which sounds really "up myself" but mostly it's totally useless JUNK!

Then, as with most things, you become a teenager, and then a mother, and well, you just aren't the same person, let alone have the time for that old stuff you used to do, like have a life!

Nowadays things are different. I read many blogs, some of the paper, the occasional (half) magazine, school notes and newsletters, book clubs, and plenty of Captain Underpants, Paul Jennings and so on. Half of which I read many times each as a child, so although I dont recall the whole story some 20 yars on as it were, I do recall enough about the endings to spoil the plot entirely and make it even more of a chore to read with the sproglet than it can often be!

Nowadays, I spend the majority of my "reading" time on the net, or on things printed off the net, or off a computer anyway. Recently I have spent COUNTLESS hours of my life, hours that I will never get back, reading about legislature changes from such entertaining sources as these:

 

 

Amongst many others. Thrilling, aren't they?

Outside of work, I have now learned to read multiple books at once. Not the best way to read a book, yes, I know. But depending on the day, the time, my mood, the length of time I have to read, how tired I am, and whether people will shut up and leave me alone whilst I read, I find it is the only way I can amanage to get through anything at all!

So, on my nightstand right now, in no particular order, I have and am reading the following.......

Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol. I just finished this. Thank god. What a waste of time! Personally I preferred Digital Fortress and Angels & Demons to The Davinci Code, but then I usually think an author's most "popular" work is rarely their best. This I purchased on special, and I'm glad it wasn't full price. Brown even alludes to his own shortcomings within its pages. The whole thing positively REEKS of it being a cash-grab.

Courtenay is a master craftsman, and no I don't care to hear how you think he is ordinary! Although I far prefer his tales from South Africa, and the nostalgia contained within (I'm from SA too, like him) I thoroughly enjoy all he has written. One of the few authors that I not only CAN read again, but actively WANT to. I have read this before, along with all his works, but am re-reading and re-discovering new nuances I missed the first time.

This book I bought many years ago, and have attempted (unsuccessfully) to finish. Actually, I've not even gotten very far into it, truth be told. I have a strong curiosity for what it contains, however this I think is a book that needs to be read in quiet, with an empty mind. Both of those are in VERY short supply in my life!

(The Qur'an, for those who don't recognise it)

And finally, for many, MANY reasons, I am re-reading parts of this book, and others for the first time. And again, for many MANY reasons, I am thoroughly enjoying it! Even if it does have far too much god-bothering bullshit for me. Praise be unto - OH SHUT UP!!!!! I GOT IT THE FIRST 6 BILLION TIMES! Allah is an awesome dude? Ok, understood, now can we just get on with the rest of the story????

That Mohammed really needs a good editor who isnt afraid to get out the red pen!

And on that note, to Inadequate Boyfriend, Z, M, W, B, M, T, T, A, A, A, H, A and their families: Happy Eid!