Down time brought the beautiful opportunity to take more than 15 minutes in a day to read (oh the luxury) and a few much needed visits to the old cinema. Purely for fun I thought I'd run through the narratives that have inspired or bored me in the last few weeks...
What an amazing book. I am truly blown away by its subtlety, intelligence and depth. Wow. I thoroughly recommend this one to absolutely anyone. Very easy to read and totally engaging as you experience life, family, fear and adventure through the eyes of an emotionally detached teenager. xc
Never has an email made me scream so hard for so long! Today Pete Ward broke some terrible news to me in a rather flippent manner... Robert Jordan author of the epic Wheel of Time series died. Very sad, my thoughts are with his family though my vocal disstress was for a slightly more selfish reason...
I've been reading the most engaging book this week, "The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. The story of a young indian boy who is at once a Hindu, Muslim and Christian and his adventures on the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal Tiger. Discribed as a story that will "...make you believe in God" it's full of magic realisim, adventure and faith. Even if that faith does seem a little conflicted...
I have always found the witch hunt of J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series a little bewildering. Well maybe witch hunt is a strong phrase. I can totally understand why parents would choose not to read them to their children, especially as the story progresses with maturity in proportion to the age of it's heros. I would not give a 12 year old Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as a little light bedtime reading. I found it traumatic and I'm 26 next week...
Last night I finished reading For One More Day by Mitch Albom. He has a very engaging narative style and it reminded me quite strongly of his other book The Five People You Meet in Heaven, similar theme but distinct enough that my deja vu was mild...
We've done it! Last night Stephen and I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows aloud to each other, though Steve had to do most of the reading, tears were sliding down my cheeks for the last two hours, stealing my breath. It was absolutely fantastic! She truly surpassed herself... !!!PLOT SPOILER WARNING!!!
This evening will be a momentous occasion in my young life. I am not however referring to the Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix film out tonight, but to the construction and careful filling of my first ever, proper bookcase. I cannot tell you how excited I am…
Ever read something that conjours so tangible an image in your mind that it takes your breath away? Night before last I was lieing accross my sofa opening my new adventure/book "The Return of the Prodigal Son" by Henri J.M. Nouwen, glass of wine on the floor next to me and high expectations of the contents awaiting my perusal...
I have been very restrained and not blabbed about my excitement about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows but as today is 14 days til the release, the dam is broken, I'm all about Potter baby! Here are my predictions, you probably don't want to read it if you're still catchig up on the story, it will include plot spoilers for the story so far. Potter fans please read, I want to hear your thoughts...
Preperations for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has begun. I found out the release date a few days after the rest of the world as it was announced during the period I like to call the winter of my disscontent aka being sick in bed and only realised there was news when Pottercast from the Leaky Cauldron released two episodes instead of their usual singular weekly offering...
There are times when I'm simply ready to hear something. Today is one of those times, Spiritual Discipline is the topic. In the absence of any decent books on prayer I picked up Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline feeling a little guilty. I was supposed to read it a year ago on Transit but when I flicked through it's pages I was terribly bored...
I am in awe... My journey through The Dark Tower: The Wolves of the Calla has come to a close and I feel like the finali was blow after blow of sophisticated story telling. I feel the need to be reading this with someone just so we can marvel together at the clever use of intertextuality and how rich and expansive the story has become...
I'm in a bit of a pickle, trapped between two great books, anticipation waxing whilst my reading stamina is waning. I'm currently four fifths through The Wheel of Time: Crossroad of Twilight, the excellent 10th installment in the series whilst I'm starting to get really excited about diving in Eragon, the adventure trilogy. If WOT was pap, I'd skip or skim read it to rush to my next story but instead I'm caught between quality and excitment. If only I could stay awake for more than three pages at a time. With everything happening my late night reading is being replaced by waking and wondering if I have print on my cheek... xc
The two great pleasures of this holiday so far have been the overwhelmingly heavenly feeling of cold seawater on hot, sandy skin and the hours I’ve spent each day, lying in the sun, reading…
There's something about the perspective of a child that brings an entirely fresh, sublte and straight forward take on a well trodden subject. The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is a fabulous example of this perspective used with menacing yet enchanting effectiveness. I can't say what the book's about as part of it's charm is your own journey through the clues of a child to dicifer the world he's living in but I reccomend this book to anyone who fancies a weighty subject told by a fresh and intrigueing voice. xc
I arrived back in in the UK on Sunday morning and was greated by the gorgeous Stephen Harding looking quite scrummy with a freshly shorn head and new clothes. Kos was a wonderful oasis in a busy August and I am very grateful for the rest...
After a week of Potter cold turkey I pounced on the half bood prince with an enthusiasm I usually reserve for Star Wars. After months of anticipation it was in my hands and I whipped through it like Mansell through Brans Hatch...
Continue reading "Half Blood Prince & The Horse & his Boy" »
I finished The Gunslinger last night, it came to an end all of a sudden and took me by surprise. It's left me slightly frustrated... I feel like I've glanced over a work with real genius permeating it and I haven't had a chance to explore...
I've been listening to the radio this afternoon as I've sat infront of my computor and I can't tell you how mad I am about what I just heard!!!!!! I'm listening to Scott Mills (I don't particularly like him anyway) and as part of his show he just read out the key event at the end of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince...
Whilst planning for Transmission my reading life depleted and my energies had to be focused elsewhere. Not an easy task when you've just discovered Stephen Kings Dark Tower series and you desperately want to hide away and tear through The Gun Slinger...
I finished Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle on my first day in Germany and I've been mulling over it for the last week. It took me quite a while to get used to his writing style and about half the book to really get into the story. It's an unusual book, well written with some interesting thoughts but I would struggle to say that I like it because I fundamentally disagree with it...
I’ve just finished one book and I’m starting two more. The reading bug has me in it’s grip and I’m loving it!
What a classic! I loved it. Totally different things struck me reading it as an adult. I laughed, cried, found words for things I haven't been able to articulate about God and felt challenged about my attitudes; all in a kid's book!
What a fantastic book! I finished it earlier this week and it's been mulling round my mind since. It's so simple, weighty social narratives told from a child's idealistic perspective. Predjudice, jealousy, racism, hypochrisy, love, fatherhood, faith and freedom...
Yesterday was my beautiful Mother's Birthday! Like the faithful daughter that I am I spent approximately 9 1/2 hours on trains yesterday to get to Grendon and back to celebrate with her! 'Quelle horror!' I hear you cry but no! I had 9 hours of time to write in my journal, bring my head noise to God and finish Douglas Coupland's excellent 'Generation X'...
I'm now about two thirds of the way through The Vision & The Vow and I really can't tell you how much it's impacting me. It feels like it's been written to articulate many of the things I've felt challenged, encouraged, dissatisfied, hopeful and excited about in the last 6 months...
Aaaaaahhhh!!!!!! I am soooo excited I just found out that the 6th book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, is finished and will be released on the 16th July 2005! You don't know how shallow I feel at being so excited by this piece of news!
"Time", the Captain said, "is not what you think." He sat that down next to Eddie. "Dying? Not the end of everything. We think it is. But what happens on earth is only the beginning."
Eddie looked lost.
"Having grown up as readers of the printed word (and possibly even scribblers in the margins), we may take for granted the processes involved in the traditional activity of reading - so let us remind ourselves. The printed word is presented to us in a linear way, with syntax supreme in conveying the sense of the words in their order. We read privately, mentally listening to the writers voice and translating the writers thoughts.
Andrew Wilson: Incomparable: Exploring the Character of God
Current
Andy Stanley: Communicating for a Change
Finished - Thought provoking (****)
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