In light of my post about my Netgalley habit and the fact that after June 19th I’ll have oodles of reading time (because exams will be over), I’ve decided to join Cathy’s 20 Books of Summer reading challenge. Except that it’s winter here. And therein lies the really ace thing about reading – it’s suited to #ALLTHESEASONS. Yes, there’s nothing better than having sand in the crack of your paperback (you thought I was going to say something else, didn’t you?) but it’s equally lovely to burrow under the doona, warm and toasty, and kill an hour with a book. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Judy Blume
Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts
It’s a speed edition. Because up to my eyeballs in bacteriophage genetics. Continue reading
Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts
1. I spent last weekend looking at this view (Phillip Island, Victoria). With my mother’s group. And champagne. And Mint Slices. Sublime. Continue reading
Top Ten Tuesday – A Bookish Wish (Bucket) List
I’m not really a fan of the ‘bucket list’. I find them a bit depressing. Although I don’t have a bucket-list per se, I do have a list of things I wouldn’t mind doing if time and money were no object. As it happens, I crossed one thing off my wish list a few years ago, when I went to Vegas with a friend to see Barry Manilow in cabaret. It was everything I’d hoped (because music and passion are always the fashion).
The Broke and the Bookish have asked readers to nominate their bookish bucket list. I thought I’d play along because there are a few bookish things on my wish list.
Re-reads ahead. Because films on the way.
Given the number of books I haven’t read at all, it sometimes seems a bit mad re-reading particular books. But it is nice to revisit old favourites. And I always like to re-read a book if a movie version is on the way, particularly if the movie is based on a book by one of my favourite authors.
Which is why I’ll have to get my skates on for What Maisie Knew, due for release in the US this month. The movie, starring Julianne Moore, is a modern re-telling of the Henry James classic.
Also on the horizon is Tiger Eyes, based on the book by Judy Blume. Continue reading
My Teenage Dream – to be a Ghost Writer for Sweet Valley High
The covers and titles are so familiar that I can still recite them… How is it that I retained nothing I was taught in Year 12 chemistry but still remember the ins and outs of the lives of the Wakefield twins? Continue reading
Top Ten Tuesday – There’s a new book out by…
When John Irving released In One Person last year it received mixed advance reviews. I read them all but they didn’t stop me from pouncing on In One Person as soon as I was able. And I didn’t really like it which was disappointing because I’d waited for it for so long. But it didn’t matter because Irving is without question my favourite contemporary author and, if he suddenly began publishing his books on the back of boxes of Cheerios, then I’d be an overnight Cheerios eater.
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is ‘Authors On My Auto-Buy List’. It’s not just Irving –
1. John Irving – goes without saying! Continue reading
Top Ten Tuesday – Authors I’m Thankful For
This is it folks – the only time you’re likely to see Henry James and Judith Krantz mentioned in the same list.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new ‘top ten’ challenge is posted – anyone can join in. This week’s topic is Top Ten (or in my case, eight) Authors I’m Thankful For.
1. John Irving – master story-teller and the creator of the most memorable characters.
2. Judy Blume – for everything.
3. E. L. James – for providing my girlfriends and I with SO MANY laughs whilst reading aloud. For the record, reading FSoG in a monotone has become my girls-weekend-away-party-trick.
4. Charlotte Wood – not only a beautiful writer but an awesome recommender of books. Continue reading
Fifty Shades of Grey – not the first and won’t be the last
I went away with girlfriends last weekend. There were eight of us. Like most girls weekends, it included lots of sitting around chatting, eating chocolate, flicking through trashy mags and a spot of shopping.
I spent my reading time alternating between John Irving’s In One Person and New Weekly’s coverage of Matthew McConaughey’s recent wedding (*insert gratuitous shots of Matthew here*).
Top Ten Tuesday – Beach Reads
Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly feature created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new ‘top ten’ challenge is posted. I haven’t participated until now but this week’s topic – Top 10 Books I’d Recommend As Great Beach Reads – reeled me in simply because I have a bit of checklist for beach reads.
Specifically, I like them to be light and easy-to-read (so that I can read a little, doze in the sun, read some more, have a swim…). That said, I don’t want complete trash! I want a book that is well written and with a decent plot (this rules out lots of chick-lit which you can pick up for a couple of dollars from the bargain bin at the newsagent of your holiday destination). So here’s my list (in no particular order) – Continue reading