Amazed & Confused

A momentus occasion...

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…

Homecoming

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...

Two weeks to Potter 7

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...

Geek out

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...

The Celebration of Discipline

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...

Wolves, reality & the Number 19

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...

Caught between Aes Sedai and Dragons!

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

Time for Jazz

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…

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

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

The Drawing of the Three & The Stand

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...

Half Blood Prince & The Horse & his Boy

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...

The Gunslinger

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...

HOW DARE HE!!!

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...

Book Fever

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...

Cat's Cradle

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...

The Philosopher’s Stone

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!

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

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!

To Kill a Mockingbird

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...

Generation X

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'...

Now in the Vow...

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...

Half Blood Prince!

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!

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

"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.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

"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.