Yearly Archive: 2010

Books

A primate’s memoir by

I first came across a mention of Robert M. Saplosky on Metafilter and I was a little interested, so I did what any librarian might do, and ordered one of his books. To be honest my expectations weren’t all that high. My personal reading challenge for 2010 might be to read more non-fiction, but at the same time I know that non-fiction often requires more concentration and time than fiction, and then there was the fact that Sapolsky is a neurobiologist, and to be totally honest I really didn’t think it’d be all that interested. But I challenged myself, and was I ever glad that I did because from the opening page this really is a delight to read. …

15 April 2010
Weekly memes

A meme! a meme!

It’s been a long time since this blog has played along in a meme, but lets hop back on the bandwagon with Teaser… Tuesdays? Hmmm, today’s a Wednesday… Ah well. I’m guessing I’ll usually be late so why not start off as I’ll probably continue :)

14 April 2010
Books

The forest of hands & teeth by

Author: Carrie Ryan
I think that one of the main reasons I picked this book up was because of that title; The forest of hands & teeth it just seems so evocative somehow. And the blurb itself sounded vaguely interesting; “In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent.”

11 April 2010
Moving Pictures / Reviews

Clash of the Titans by dir. by , , , ,

The film opens at sea, in a storm. A fisherman hauls in an ornate box and after prising it open finds a baby boy and his dead mother. He and his wife raise this child as their own, loving him just as much as their flesh and blood daughter, whom they bear some years later. We know this because Pete Postlethwaite tells us so. This boy, Perseus, does not know it, but he is a demi-god, the son of Zeus himself. And he is about to get caught up in a conflict between humanity and the Gods of Ancient Greece.

9 April 2010
Books

Leviathan by

It is 1914 and Europe is on the brink of war. In Austria-Hungary young Prince Aleksander’s life is suddenly in turmoil. His parents have been murdered and he is on the run and in disguise. His once-upon-a-time allies have turned out to be enemies and there are very few people he can trust. In England Deryn Sharp wants nothing more than to be an airman. The only problem is, she’s a girl, and airmen are.. well, male. In disguise she gets accepted and is soon serving as a Midshipman aboard the Leviathan. A huge airship built around a fabricated beast.

4 April 2010
Moving Pictures / Reviews

Glee

So I’ve been watching Glee. And liking it, for the most part. But I’m not really loving it. And I think I know the reason, and it is the characters. I...

2 April 2010
Books

Whose body? by

The body of a stout man is found in a bathroom, naked but for a gold pince-nez. At the same time, a prominent banker goes missing. Is the dead man the missing Mr. Levy? And if so, how did he manage to end up in Mr. Thipps’ bathroom? And was he murdered?

This is the first book Sayers wrote to feature Lord Peter Wimsey. He is the second son of an ancient English house, his elder brother is the Duke of Denver. And his hobby is criminology. Already he has solved the case of some missing emeralds, now he is on two cases at once; to find the missing Levy & to figure out the who, why and where concerning the mystery body.

2 April 2010
Moving Pictures / Reviews

The blind side by dir. by ,

I was a bit uncertain about this film. It sounded just a bit too heart-warming, as though it’d be full of overly sentimental “and everything works out in the end” stuff that makes me think of the flawed philosophy behind stories such as The Pursuit of Happyness:””:http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2007/01/18/the-pursuit-of-happyness/, you know the sort of victim blaming that says you wouldn’t be poor if only you tried harder.

Luckily enough this film is not like that. Okay, it has the heart-warming aspect. Heart-warming by the bucket-full. But it is told in such a way that you just can’t help but smile.

29 March 2010
Books

Once Upon a Time by

Ever since Carl announced that it was time for this year’s Once Upon a Time reading challenge I’ve been trying to decide what to read for it. It’s a dilemma!! but...

28 March 2010
Books

The game by

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes have returned home to Sussex in order to enjoy the new year, but soon enough they travel to London to visit Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, whose health is not the best. While there he suggests that perhaps they might look into a case for him. A possibly-missing person. In India.

Of course they head off, and the person they are looking for, none other than Kimball O’Hara, known to many from Rudyard Kipling’s Kim.

28 March 2010
Books

Marley & me by

I’ve had this book on my shelves for years now. It was on sale for half-price when I bought it; that’s the only reason I own it in hardback. I much prefer paperbacks, more practical. Since I bought the book it has been made into a film and become even more famous. To be honest the film looked god-awful, so I didn’t bother to watch it. But I always knew I’d eventually read the book, and when better than on a lazy Sunday when I should have been cleaning the apartment?

I’m sure everyone knows the story. A newly married couple decide to get a dog, and so buy a labrador puppy, who grows up into the world’s worst dog. Only of course he isn’t the world’s worst, he simply has some bad habits. Very bad habits that include his destruction of numerous items. But at heart Marley is a sweet good-natured dog whose labrador-ish optimism teachers his owners all about life and, eventually, loss.

28 March 2010
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