Tag Archives: EA300

Time well spent

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Cover of "The Big Over Easy"

Cover of The Big Over Easy

I was just updating my Goodreads bookshelves and realised that I managed to read more books in 2010 than in 2009, 2008 and 2007.  34 books may not seem that many to some of you – there are some voracious readers out there I know – but it is a decent about considering I do not have a commute which allows me to read, meaning that the majority of my reading time is before bed. Admittedly, my Children’s Literature course played a big part in boosting the book count (including some picture books which I suppose is cheating!) but still, I am pleased that I was able get through so many. I think my favourite books in 2010 were Jasper Fforde‘s The Eyre Affair and The Big Over Easy.  I am so glad I perservered with The Eyre Affair by revisiting it after a previous failed reading. I will also be reading more of Gail Carriger‘s, Lee Child‘s and R J Ellory‘s books in 2011.

read in 2010
Kate's book recommendations, favorite quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists (read-in-2010 shelf)

I will be interested to see if a) Evelina and b) my iPad will a) hinder or b) help my efforts to read even more in 2011.  I plan on getting through my Buffy season 8 comics as well as my various graphic novels which I have been meaning to read and review for some time – V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Batman: Year One and Final Crisis as well as continuing the Scott Pilgrim and Y: The Last Man series. I have so many books to read…

on my bedside table
Kate's book recommendations, favorite quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists (on-my-bedside-table shelf)

Teen fiction and Fforde

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Here’s what I have been reading lately…

Junk (Puffin Modern Classics) Junk by Melvin Burgess

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book formed part of the contemporary teen fiction module of my Children’s Literature course. It is a brutally realistic portrayal of teenage runaways that fall into the world of drugs, sex and crime. It is not an easy read but it is fascinating and certainly a clever deterrent since Burgess uses the unreliable characters of the book to narrate their own stories, in the process inadvertently revealing their ignorance, delusion and naivety. It is a book I would recommend for teens and adults alike – it may deal with some challenging subject matters but I think this is the kind of literature that can actually get through to teenagers and perhaps make them think.

Bog Child Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another book read for my Children’s Lit course, this was a superb read which I managed to get through in one day (more by necessity than anything else, though!). The story follows a teenager in norther Ireland in 1981, right in the midst of the Troubles. He discovers an Iron Age body of a girl preserves in the peat and as the book unfolds, both their stories are revealed. The tension from the volatile political situation plays well with the suspense for this murdered ancient girl. I will most definitely be reading more by Dowd, though I was saddened to learn that she has died and this book was her last, published and awarded the Carnegie Medal posthumously.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another set book from my course, this is the kind of book I would have lapped up when I was in school. I wrote my extended essay on Alice Walker and Tomi Morrison. This book does not quite live up to those great writers but all the same, this brand of social realism is very worthwhile and Taylor’s storytelling is still masterful and particularly compelling for younger readers. The 1930s South in which the book is set was a time of segregation, lynchings, and hardship. The book is inspirational but also revealing – another example of how literature can educate.

Mortal Engines (Mortal Engines Quartet, #1) Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is the perfect example of why I am so happy I did the Children’s Lit course. Once of my set books, this is a book I would never have read otherwise. Not only is it a children’s book, it is aimed at boys (or tom-boys) judging from the cover (which I know you are not supposed to do but I do, so sue me). I am so glad I did read it because it showed me to a whole new world of fantasy fiction for kids which is intelligent, exciting and eminently creative. The world creative by Reeve is an environmental warning but also an intriguing challenge for the book’s characters. I will most definitely be reading more.

The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next, #1) The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I must admit, this one took a bit of getting into. I started reading this book three or four times before it finally ‘took’. the problem was that the world created by Fforde requires a fair bit of imagination and participation by the reader – it is not an easy concept to get a hold of at first. Each time I had tried to start it, I would read late at night (so, tired) and I would read for just a little while. Then on the last try, I read for a good couple of hours and I was hooked. The complex ideas of time travel, moving into works of literature (and characters coming out of their books), the world which is like ours but just a little off (the Crimean war is still waging on in 1984 over a hundred years after it started), all these things make for a challenging but rewarding read. I absolutely loved this book. This is the first in the Thursday Next series and I am sure I will be reading more at some point.

The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, #1) The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Having blasted through the first of my Jasper Fforde books, The Eyre Affair, I was on a roll and couldn’t wait to crack open The Big Over Easy, the first in his Nursery Crime series. Just like The Eyre Affair, Fforde presents a word that is at once familiar and strange. The abstract notions are a lot easier to get your head around one you have got into the flow of his writing and I thought this book was both really funny and also rather suspenseful.

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You would think that after my course, I would be sick of children’s books but it has only increased my love for them! I am currently reading Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book and enjoying it immensely.

15 Weeks

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This week has been mostly (trying) to write an essay so the poor baby inside me (INSIDE ME! I am sorry if that’s getting old but my mind continues to be blown by that fact) has not really had too much of my thinking time in the last seven days except for at the weekend.  We were visited by our great friends Steve and Ev who are also expecting their first child and though Ev is a bit further along to me (with a lovely proper bump – I have bump envy!), we were able to share war stories and get all excited.  I am obsessively looking at myself in the mirror every evening and I think that there definitely is some kind of baby bump going on, even though it just looks like pies.  No matter how much I suck in my tum, there is still bumpage.  It can’t be just pies, it can’t!

On Monday it was back to the grind and for the most of this week, I was seriously doubtful that I would have anything worth submitting come the midday deadline this Thursday. But (drum-roll please) I HAVE FINISHED!!! Which also means I have finished my degree (provided I pass this module!) – no more essay, no more deadline, no more whingeing, no more studying EVAH!  Ordinarily, I would crack open a bottle of vino, but you know.. harmful to baby etc. etc. so instead I will have this:

14 Weeks

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My weekly pregnancy journal entries are starting to confuse me (it doesn’t take much at the moment, admittedly) so I will be switching to blogging on a Wednesday from next week.  Rather than blog the first day of the next Week (ie today is the first day of Week 15), I will entitle the posts a bit more intuitively how far along I am.  Make sense?  Nope? Well, I am sure it really doesn’t matter to anyone but me anyway so just hum a little tune while I sort myself out.  I suggest ‘Maybe This Time‘ originally from Cabaret but ‘recently’ on Glee.  It’s in my head on a loop since I caved and downloaded Glee CD 1 the other day.

So back to Baby, I am now 14 weeks and still no bump.  I had a nasty but short-lived bug this week which I thought at first was just really active morning sickness but it was definitely something else and it made me feel rotten.  The timing could not have been worse because, as I have telling anyone that will listen, I am (meant to be) writing my final FINAL End of Course Assignment for the Children’s Literature module I am taking with Open University.  This module is the last one to complete my BA (Hons) Literature degree and frankly, the end could not come fast enough.  Only not *too* fast since I still have all 4000 words to write.  I have today managed to make some pretty paltry progress (which is an improvement on the past 3 days) and I now have my essay plan down. Tomorrow I have one hell of a task ahead as I would like to have the VAST majority of the word count on the page by the end of the day tomorrow.

So as you can tell, I am all consumed by the coursework and Baby is really taking a back-seat in my thoughts (despite his/her best efforts to distract me by simply being inside me (INSIDE ME!!)).  I have my next appointment through which is with a consultant.  The midwife at my booking appointment placed me in risk group B due to some very minor problems I had cervically-speaking back in 2004.  This means my midwife appointments will sometimes not be with the midwife at all but with a consultant.

Otherwise, the hip is almost completely fixed (have I told you lately that I love you, Mr Chiropractor) and my boobs are almost completely unsore.  TMI? I’d get used to it, if I were you.

Words and Pictures

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The fifth block of my Children’s Literature course requires us to consider picture books, picturebooks and illustrated books (trust me, there is a difference!). I was delighted to be able to read some classics and some new books, all the for the first time:

The Arrival The Arrival by Shaun Tan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Haunting, beautiful, quiet, this book without words has a lot to say. Shaun Tan’s recognisable fantasy world is an amalgam of all places for all immigrants who leave their families and loved ones to try to find a better life for the people they care about. It am not sure I really took it all in the first time I ‘read’ it but I will look forward to poring over the pages again and again.

I bought this book as it was listed in my course materials and suggested reading – yet another reason I am so happy to be doing this course. I should remind myself of this in the coming days as the next essay deadline looms.

Cockatoos Cockatoos by Quentin Blake

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another book bought for my course (although it is not required reading), I adored Quentin Blake’s illustrations and ironic narrative. I can just imagine what fun this would be to read with a child.

The Velveteen Rabbit The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco (SPOILER ALERT!)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It is once of the books that I have known about for years but somehow have never read. It is really quite magical and special and the illustrations certainly go a long way in adding to its charm. I can understand why this book is so beloved.  At first, as I was reading it, I was afraid it was going to be sad, bleak and upsetting.  I couldn’t understand why this poor rabbit was going to be burned ‘alive’ out in the garden and if so, how this book could so well loved.  The arrival of the fairy was such an over-whelming relief – here I am, an adult, being played by a children’s cook written in 1922! – and I got it. It’s about coping with death. It’s about believing. It’s about being real.

Voices in the Park Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is one of the set books on the course and I am not sure I would have read it otherwise. There are so many books available for children that by the time I am in a position to be buying books for my kids, who knows if this would have been one I would have picked. I am glad, though, that I do have it as it has a really interesting slant: four different voices tell the story of a walk in the park. Each character tells the story from their point of view and this is cleverly illustrated using different fonts. Using typography to add to the story is very appealing to me since I am a firm believer that font’s carry a lot of meaning and value statements.

Finally there are a couple of books that I have re-read (the first time as an adult) for this section of the course:

Where the Wild Things Are Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have still not seen the film of this, largely because I really wanted an excuse to re-read the (admittedly short) book first. The illustrations are so recognisable and appealing, I found myself lingering on each page, reluctant to turn the page and end the book. I am intrigued as to how an entire film can be made out of such a simple story but I suppose the beauty of this story is how is it born out of Max’s imagination. The strength of imagination is not to be underestimated.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It is hard to rate these children’s books using the same criteria that I would use for adult fiction. However, I have to say that my re-reading of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, especially in conjunction with the critical essays provided in my course materials, have given my a newly found respect for Beatrix Potter. The book is more complex than you might imagine and her sparse, unpatronising narrative, couple with the simple yet revealing illustrations make this book more than just a frivolous artifact.

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