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Now Reading: Alexandra Potter – Be Careful What You Wish For
The last book I read was typical chick lit – totally predictable with a little twist in the middle, but great all the same – just what I would expect from Belinda Jones. I’ve read a lot of books recently that are a bit different from my normal style, so it was nice to get back to something a little bit easier to read for a change.And I’m carrying that on with the next book I’m reading – Be Careful What You Wish For by Alexandra Potter. I actually started it yesterday and I recognised the first 10 or so pages, so I think it must be one of the books I’ve started in the past that I just didn’t get into and left for later. I’ve got a bit further now though and it seems quite good so far. After this I think I’m going to give Anna Karenina a try, so this will be a nice laid-back book beforehand. Although saying that, I had a lot of books on my Christmas list, so if Santa is nice to me, I may have a lot of books jumping to the top of my reading list!
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Now Reading: Belinda Jones – The Paradise Room
I really loved the last book I read (Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck), I can’t believe that I’ve never read it until now! I loved the relationship between George and Lennie, so the ending of the book really shocked me. I don’t want to say too much in case you want to read it yourself, but I had pictured a few ways which this book could end, and I was way off with all of them! It was a short book which I just couldn’t put down once I started – if you’ve not read it, you really should!My next book is The Paradise Room by Belinda Jones. It’s a book I’ve had for a while, but definitely a trashy book compared to my last few books. It probably won’t take me too long to read, especially if it’s anything like the other Belinda Jones books I’ve read. I really like her style of writing and always find it hard to put her books down once I’ve started. Perfect reading for after I’ve been dragged around the shops by my sister on my day off work tomorrow 🙂
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Now Reading: John Steinbeck – Of Mice and Men
So the last book I read (A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian) was only a little bit about tractors, but I really enjoyed it! A few people had told me that it was a really funny book, but I also found parts of it to be really sad. I loved the character of the Dad, both stubborn but also charming and helpless. The end of the book was totally not what I expected to happen, but I prefer how it ended to how I would have written it. I guess that’s why I’m not an author! I learnt quite a lot about Ukrainian history while reading the book, although these parts were some of the saddest parts, because you know that they are true. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone thinking of reading it, don’t be put off by the title.My next book is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. For GCSE English at school, there were two sets of students. One who studied a set text of a series of short stories, and one who read Of Mice and Men. Unfortunately, I was in the set who had to read the short stories over and over again, so I never got to read this book. It’s only about 100 pages long, so shouldn’t take too long to read, but the thing I hate about short books is I usually get too involved and then they leave me wanting more. I suppose this should be considered a good thing though…
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Some people just don’t know when to quit…
Not much off-season news yet as far as the White Sox go. I’m hoping for something to happen at the Winter Meetings, as long as it doesn’t involve Buehrle moving elsewhere.
MLB released the following statement last night:
“Free-agent Manny Ramirez has applied to the Commissioner to be reinstated from the voluntary retired list. As a condition of his reinstatement, Ramirez will be required to resolve his outstanding violation of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, which was announced on April 8, 2011.”
Apparently, when (if) Ramirez comes back, he will only be required to sit out a 50 game suspension. I really don’t get this. He retired last year instead of facing discipline for a second violation of the MLB drug policy. This would have meant a mandatory 100 game suspension. So how is it possible that he can ‘voluntarily retire’ for a season and then come back to only half of the punishment? If you know the reason, let me know in the comments, because I’m really interested to know what happened to the other 50 games.Regardless, what team is going to pick him up knowing that he is going to miss the first 50 games of the season? That’s almost a third of the season, and I guess that Ramirez is not going to be asking for small money. He’s going to be 40 next year, so personally I think he should have stayed retired and hope that people would eventually forget about the 2 failed drug tests and remember him as a good player, but I guess he just wants to try and prove himself again.
My only consolation is that at least the White Sox are fairly safe from him following the failed experiment of 2010.
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Proverbs 4:18
I read this verse this morning and I loved it. Then I remembered I had the perfect picture to go with it, taken on Marsden Moor earlier this year.
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Now Reading: Marina Lewycka – A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
The last book I read (Eve Green by Susan Fletcher) was really good. It took me a while to get into it, but once it had grabbed my attention I found myself desperate to find out what happened next. When I’m reading I often guess (or try to guess) what will happen next, and I did this often during this book, but I was wrong every time. Most of the books I read are quite predictable, so I really enjoy books that surprise me, and this one definitely did just that!The book was the winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award, and I can see why. Fletcher perfectly captured the thoughts and feelings of Eve Green, the woman recalling her past, and of Evie Green, the eight year old version of Eve who travels through tragedy, grief, mystery and unlikely friendships towards love, happiness and some sort of understanding.
The next book I am reading has been on my shelf for a while, and the title keeps catching my eye. As with most of my books, it’s part of a set from The Book People, so I don’t really have any idea what it is about, although I’m guessing (and hoping) that it’s not actually about tractors. We’ll see…
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My YouVersion Reading Plan
I started a plan to read the whole Bible in 6 months on 6th June. It’s coming up to 6th December now, and I’m sorry to say I am nowhere near finished. I’ve found it quite hard at times to get into a routine for reading regularly, so I am only 43% through the plan. However, I’m not too disheartened, as the Own it 365 reading plan was supposed to be a 1 year reading plan, so I knew I was being quite ambitious. I’m still hopeful that I’ll be able to get back on track and finish the plan before 6th June next year.
When I first started the plan, I tried reading it on a night before I went to bed, but I often found myself too tired, so I was turning pages but not paying much attention to the words. I then started reading on my lunch break at work, but there were too many distractions in the office to concentrate fully. I’ve started reading now while I’m eating my breakfast, and I’m finding that it’s working really well.
I love all the features that YouVersion offers. I’ve downloaded the free app to my iPhone and iPad, and these are synced automatically every time I read something. I can also catch up on my PC if I need to. I love being able to create bookmarks so easily (similar to the hundreds of sticky notes I’ve got in my Bible).As much as I love the app, I do prefer reading my Bible, so often I’ll keep the reading plan open on my iPhone and use it to find where I should be reading in my Bible.
If you want to find out more about YouVersion, click the link below. Why not try the Countdown to Christmas reading plan to get you started?
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Moneyball…Finally!
Finally, about 2 months after it came out in America, and after I’ve read countless reviews, I went to see Moneyball yesterday. It came out on Friday, and the Saturday showing only had 6 people in (including me and my Dad). I did think that might be the case though, as the film was purely about baseball, and not many English people are that interested. I’m guessing Brad Pitt is the main reason the film is even showing in the UK.It was really cool seeing baseball on the big screen, and I loved the film. Having read the book, I sort of knew what to expect, but I think the film was really well made. Brad Pitt played a great Billy Beane and Jonah Hill was great! I loved the way that they interspersed real clips of baseball with the film, to give it that authenticity, but then reproduced some great shots from different angles (like David Justice chasing the ball into the corner, the camera angle on that was so unusual from normal baseball viewing).
One thing that I found quite interesting (if that’s how it really happens), is how General Managers call each other up to discuss trades. I don’t know if it’s at all like the movie, but I like the idea of Billy Beane calling Mark Shapiro and saying ‘ I need a outfielder, what have you got…’It’s hard to pick a favourite part from the film, but I loved the end where Billy puts in the CD with the song his daughter (played by Kerris Dorsey) recorded for him. The 20th consecutive win was also pretty great. Not being a baseball fan in 2002, I never saw that, but I found myself genuinely caught up in the excitement, especially when Scott Hatteberg hit the walk off home run – great moment! My favourite quote from the film had to be this exchange at Hatteberg’s house:
Billy Beane: You don’t know how to play first base?
Scott Hatteberg: That’s right.
Billy Beane: It’s not that hard, Scott. Tell him, Wash.
Ron Washington: It’s incredibly hard.
Billy Beane: Hey, anything worth doing is. And we’re gonna teach you.According to Ron Washington, that conversation did actually happen, just not at Hatteberg’s house.
Now the film was great, the experience at Cineworld, not so much. I usually go to the Vue, but the film wasn’t showing at the right time, won’t be making that decision again. When we got there, they let us in to the film 20 minutes late because they took too long cleaning up from the film before, but they had already turned off all the lights and started playing the trailers. Not great for my disabled Dad to walk up the stairs in the dark. Then about 5 minutes before the end, they dragged in all the cleaning trolleys and stood in the entrance talking on walkie-talkies. Obviously in a rush to get us out of there, and didn’t really care about the 6 of us who were actually interested in the film and how it ended.I’ll leave you with this clip of Kerris Dorsey singing The Show with some clips from the film, great voice!
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Matthew 6:34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34
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Family Records Rock My Socks
This last week has been kinda tough, so when I got home from work this evening, I was pretty tired and not in the best mood. Waiting for me on the table was this package:
When I saw ‘Family Records’ written at the top, I racked my brains frantically trying to think of what I had bought, really hoping that I wasn’t losing my marbles or buying things in my sleep.I opened it up to a beautiful letter from Emma at Family Records letting me know I had been chosen for a secret customer delight package. The letter gave me the hugest grin on my face – it was a really kind letter, and I am honoured that they chose me 🙂
After I read the letter, I pulled the rest of the package out, and that huge grin got even huger (if that’s even a word). In the package was a copy of In Your Head by Casey Shea (featuring the songs from his recent shows) and a copy of God Bless Your Weary Soul, Amanda Richardson by Pearl and the Beard (featuring songs from their recent show).
But what completely blew my mind was a copy of Wakey!Wakey! Wednesday’s, which was handmade with stamps by Wesley Verhoeve from Family Records and Mike Grubbs from Wakey!Wakey! Only 100 were made, and I am now the proud owner of number 58!
There was also a beautiful pouch from Wesley’s trip to India (in Wesley’s words – “It’s from 2003 so it’s kind of vintage…right?”, in my words – “It’s beautiful!”), and a selection of Family Records stickers.
So, if you want good music, and to know you’re buying from people who are awesome, go check out the Family Records Store. You really won’t be disappointed.
Louise Douglas
(I've got no) Shelf Control…
Louise Douglas 