A very long time ago, about two days before Boy One was born, I finished a book by Louis de Bernieres. It was called Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and it made me cry. Not just a slight dampness, but proper snotters and heaves. A pile of soggy tissues balanced on my belly bawling. Normally, I’m not […]
Right ho, it’s the slackers’ guide again.
In the continued interests of avoiding actually writing anything of my own, I thought it was high time I bothered the internet with some of my thoughts on what other people wrote. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez Lovely language and fantastical ideas. The mythical town of Macondo is a means of telling […]
Top books we lie about reading to appear more cultured
The best blogs are about making you feel that you aren’t alone in your secret little shame. You read them to feel better about feeding your children toast three times a day, cleaning your bathroom with your dirty knickers or fancying Tyrion Lannister. That kind of thing. This one’s about the books you pretend to […]
A slacker’s guide to Treasure Island
OK, I am not as on track with the Slacker’s Guide than I’d hoped to be. In the same way that only getting half-way up a hill twice does not equal having bagged a Munro, half of Moby Dick plus half of Anna Karenina don’t equal two properly ticked off classics. Ho hum. Maybe […]
A slacker’s guide to Middlemarch
The first of the list and I’m nearly there – only 25 of 95 chapters remaining. I’m enjoying having it read to me by Juliet Stevenson. There is no doubt that the skills of an actor make the potentially confusing dialogue easier to digest. This more than makes up for the difficulty in looking up […]