1. Last week I mentioned that I had a few too many balls in the air. I dropped some. Feels good.
2. The Stella Prize is a major literary award celebrating Australian women’s writing. The shortlist for the 2014 Stella Prize was announced last week. I would like to say I’ve read them all and can therefore offer my opinion but no. I’ve read one and a half (the half being Night Games… oddly, this didn’t grab me but I will pick it up again before the Prize winner is announced on April 29). I’ve heard fantastic things about The Night Guest but at this stage, I’ll be cheering for the beautiful, memorable, heart-breaking Burial Rites.
3. On the topic of Burial Rites, check out Hannah Kent’s playlist for the book.
4. I’m on a book-buying ban. Earlier this week I completely forgot about it (honestly) and accidentally bought a book (Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill after reading this review).
5. I always have two or three books on the go at any one time. And I always notice odd links between seemingly unrelated books. For example, most recently I was reading The Virgins, The Light Between Oceans and March at the same time. The Virgins and March both have New England in common, while March and The Light Between the Oceans both have soldiers as a main character. This is one example of many. I’m going to keep track of the links and see if I can find stepping stones between everything I read.
6. It was the 30th anniversary of the day the ‘Breakfast Club-ers’ went to detention this week. That made me feel spectacularly old, particularly given that I remember going to see the film (my nana was going to take me but a last-minute change of plans saw us at The Gods Must Be Crazy instead. Probably lucky, as there are parts* I wouldn’t have wanted to sit through with my nan. Ended up seeing it with friends).
7. During my lab session at uni this week we had to observe colours of solutions in test-tubes. My lab-partner looked at the orange solution and said “In my heart of hearts, I’d like to record it as Burnt Sienna… But I’m sure they’re looking for just orange.” I think we’ll get along just fine.
8. On the topic of uni, I’m thoroughly enjoying myself. Thinking about the membrane on the nucleus of a cell** boggles my mind (in a really good way). It’s the same when I think about infinity and outer space – I know it’s ‘true’ but it’s brain-stretching.
9. And finally, this story about a tree filled me with happiness. I’ve watched the video a dozen times already – it’s stunningly beautiful.
Christine at Bookishly Boisterous started this meme – get amongst it.
* This bit for example.
** That’s really quite small.
