Author: Ron Hansen
ISBN: 0285637541 DDC: 813.54
See also: LibraryThing ;

He was growing into middle age and was living then in a bungalow on Woodland Avenue. Green weeds split the porch steps, a wasp nest clung to an attic gable, a rope swing looped down from a dying elm tree and the ground below it was scuffed soft as flour.

I think this is one of the rare cases where watching the film version improves your enjoyment of the novel. Maybe because for certain passages I could really here the narrator from the film while I was reading. I think that this might make an excellent audio book. Then again, I’ve never listened to an audio book, so what do I know.

In case you didn’t pick the basic plot up from the title of this novel it revolves around the infamous Jesse James and his murderer Robert “Bob” Ford.

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Well. So much for my much heralded return to blogging eh. Still, we can hope for better this week can’t we? There is always hope after all, unless you are busy dying, as whatshisface in that Stephen King film^[1] once said.

In recent weeks I’ve been adding a fair few feminist blogs to Google Reader^[2] And I think maybe they’re brain-washing me, cause every time I watch the telly lately I see nothing but the patriarchal oppression of the feminine^[3] Or some such. And it is far too much hassle. I mean, isn’t it easier to just say ah well, things are a lot better than they used to be, and so what if there is still some amount of sexism going on, isn’t it on its way out, why bother making a fuss^[4]

Tut tut. Terrible thing to think.

But you know, me = Teh Laziness.

A lot of them also make reference to racism and how under-represented POC^[5] are in films where they really should be in the majority. So when I went to see Step Up 2: The Streets^[6] the one thing that really struck me was that both the main characters were white. Sure, they had friends of different colours and races, but why were the two main ones white? Hmmmm.

Bloody political^[7] blogs making me think things. That just isn’t right.

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• An expert is a person who avoids small error as he sweeps on to the grand fallacy (7)
• Ye can’t be doing dat lads (11)
• When you feel neglected, think of the female salmon, who lays 3,000,000 eggs but no one remembers her on Mother’s Day (4)

Author: Timothy Findley
ISBN: 0140050116 DDC: 813.54
See also: Library Thing ; The Stay at Home Bookworm ; Wikipedia

Prologue
She was standing in the middle of the railroad tracks. Her head was bowed and her right front hoof was raised as if she rested.

The Wars tells the story of Robert Ross, an officer in the Canadian army during WWI, a young man full of guilt over the death of his sister. This sister, Rowena, suffered from hydrocephalus, and Robert had promised to never leave her. But, when she is being watched by their younger brother Stuart, she falls, hits her head and dies. In the aftermath, Robert enlists.

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Author: Benjamin Black (aka John Banville)
ISBN: 9780330445320 DDC: 823.92
Book 1 in the Quirke series
See also: LibraryThing ; MetaCritic ; Grumpy Old Bookman ; PopMatters ;

She was glad it was the evening mailboat she was taking, for she did not think she could have faced a morning departure.

Supposedly this is the first book in a series of crime novels by John Banville, writing as Benjamin Black, but to be honest there really isn’t that much crime in it. A few people being beaten up, some documents being faked, but it is a long way from the murder-thriller that readers may be expecting.

Christine Falls is set in 1950’s Ireland, so right away you know to expect the Catholic Church to be the “ebil authority” for our protagonist(pathologist Quirke) to rail against. And we even have the nun-run “laundries” for unmarried mothers and the whisking away of babies to the United States of America.

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I’m still not totally on board with the new Wordpress layout. I think long term it’ll turn out to be handy, but at the moment I’m still getting used to it.

I’m also still thinking about what to read for this year’s Once Upon a Time Challenge. Carl’s deadline for participating isn’t til Midsummer’s Eve, so i have a bit of time left, and a fair few books I think’ll fit sitting on the “I really should start reading” pile. But I’ve also almost finished two other books, final few chapters yet I can’t seem to get motivated enough to pick them up, which is surprising, as one^[1] is very very good.

As you can see I’ve changed the theme, but I’m not sure if it’ll stay for long. I may see about altering the header image. Not hugely, but a tad. We’ll see.

Anything else? Erm… not really so I’m off now.

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and how are we all? Been a while since the last proper post, and I don’t know if I’m back in the swing of things yet, but sure, what the hell. Felt like a post so here I am.

Let me see, what has been going on since last I made an appearance. Not very much at all to be honest. Work is kinda busy. Exam time is coming and the geese are getting fat… or the students are busy cramming, something like that.

Took a few days off and visited Rome. Which was nice.

Apart from that nada. Haven’t been reading all that much, and haven’t really seen anything fantabulous in the kino either. Well, In Bruges was great, but apart from that.

I’ve upgraded wordpress to the newest version, and I gotta say, I’m not totally sure about it. Tis very different. Maybe that is the problem. Too different, I gotta get used to it.

Agus sin é for the mo.

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• Why don’t you tell the cow about its beautiful eyes? (4)
• white shining silver studs with their nose in flames (3)
• We make excitment happen! (3)
• Wasting time (12)