Friday, January 20, 2012

Adrian Mole's Reading List!

I had forgotten just how enjoyable it is to read Adrian Mole. It is just amazing the vast amount of books that kids goes through. If you have a teenager at home or you know of one around you, if they haven't read what Adrian has then let them get cracking!

1. The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer
2. Madame Bovary
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Origin of Species
5. Beano Annuals.
6. Animal Farm by George Orwell
7. The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
8. War and Peace
9. The Man in the Iron Mask
10. Waiting for Godot
11. Mill on the floss by George Eliot
12. Hard Times by Charles Dickens
13. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
14. Uncle Tom's Cabin
15. Escape from Childhood by John Holt
16. Glencoe by John Prebble
17. Progress, Co-existence and Intellectual Freedom by Andrei D. Sakharov
18. Wuthering Heights
19. A Town Like Alice by Nevile Shute
20. Crime and Punishment
21. The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch
22. How Children Fail by John Holt
23. Condition of the Working Class in England by Frederick Engels
24. The Quiet American by Graham Greene
25. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
26. The Cruel Sea
27. The Whitsun Weddings by Philip Larkin
28. To Sir with Love

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Calligrapher's Secret by Rafik Schami

This is a story mainly about a Calligrapher called Hamid Farsi and his wife Noura who in the opening chapter we know has run away from the marital home. Rumour is rampant as to why she fled and it is only until the end of the book that the events and characters come together to give us a clear idea of the why and the when.

It is a powerful opening chapter with a beautiful description of Damascus by an author who knows the city well and knows to the dot how the dwellers of that city truly live their lives. Rumours are rampant and feed people's imaginations at times when food itself is scarce and hard to come by. In Syria, as in most of the Arab countries, rumours take on a life of their own so that by the time a rumour has done the rounds and returns to its initial instigator even they fail to know it is the same one they had started themselves. But it is also a powerful weapon that can make or break a person's life and jeopardise all they have strived to achieve all their lives.

There are two sides to this story and they are both based on love albeit in two different forms and what Rafik Schami is trying to conclude is that once we fall into love's trap we are helpless and would do anything and give up everything for love when it is pure and strong. There is Noura, who finds herself trapped in a love-less oppressive marriage which she feels has stripped her of all humanity. Let down by her own parents and society she feels she has reached a black tunnel until she meets the apprentice who changes her life forever and offers that glimmer of hope of a better more worthy life.

Love takes many forms in this novel and it proves time and again that whenever there is a slither of hope there is always a chance for love to make its way through. There is the love between Karam the Cafe owner and Badri the barber, the love of Salman for his mother and his dear friend Sarah, and the wider forms of love between Christians, Muslims and Jews in Syria. Love comes in different forms and our relationships with each other as humans determine how open we are to receive, to give as well as to dedicate ourselves to love and the methods in which we choose to do so. There is no right or wrong we find but just that people's experiences ultimately shape their perception of what love is and one cannot give what one does not know.

The Calligrapher on the other hand has a deep secret that not even his wife Noura knows about. Hamid Farsi is a Master Calligrapher and lives and breathes only for his art. He has high hopes for calligraphy and for the Arabic Alphabet and it is only towards the end of the book that we find out just what these aspirations are and how they could mean the end of all he has achieved.

It is a good story, not as powerful as Schami's The Dark Side of Love but still very entertaining and gripping. Syrian politics are lightly treaded in this book and seem to come as an after-thought at the end of the book or maybe it was because the politics was the main underlying theme of The Dark Side of Love that I personally expected more of it in this book. I just felt that the social issues highlighted here had been dealt with in Schami's previous novel bar the art of calligraphy which is in itself truly fascinating. It was a pleasure to be reminded of the various forms of Arabic writing that as a school girl I had to learn and identify with as part of my Arabic studies. Calligraphy is art, politics, religion and a labour of true love and dedication in the Arab World and its journey has been a hard and challenging one for more than a thousand years. Just for a window into that world, it is well worth giving the book a go.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Article watch!

This has to be one of the best articles that I have read in a long time. Book-lovers please take the time to read it and for those of you who aren't, this is your "I told you so" moment. Genius!

Click HERE to read article.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Valentine's: It's all in the timing!

February is a special month. Not only is this year a leap one thanks to February ending on the 29th, but also in between those very few days lie two other special days. That of the 14th and 23rd of February. Aha, I know that you know that we all know the significance of the 14th; It is the day of love meaning: there is no other day in the entire year good enough for those three simple words of I Love You, they had to have their own special day. And if that were not pressure enough, those three words can't just be proclaimed outright but there is this mind boggling charade of robotic foreplay ranging from the surprise breakfast in bed (think of the crumbs people) and the roses (allergies) and then that mass dining experience where the price of a meal (and the roses aforementioned) rise like it's the Last Supper experience. I mean honestly for crying out loud, do people still celebrate Valentine's Day?

But hold on, WAIT! there is always in February a silver lining for cynics like myself. The 23rd looms big and large, full of ennui and melodrama where without hesitation my romantic streak comes to full bloom as my soul rejoices in the re-reading of the ultimate of all romantics John Keats. On this same day in 1821, poet John Keats died in Rome of tuberculosis. He was only 25. You have only to read some of his letters to Fanny Brawne and it is enough to make you weep for hours on end. To  Fanny he wrote:

"... I have been astonished that Men could die Martyrs for religion - I have shudder'd at it - I shudder no more - I could be martyr'd for my Religion - Love is my religion - I could die for that - I could die for you.  My Creed is Love and you are its only tenet - You have ravish'd me away by a Power I cannot resist: and yet I could resist till I saw you; and even since I have seen you I have endeavoured often "to reason against the reasons of my Love."  I can do that no more - the pain would be too great - My Love is selfish - I cannot breathe without you..."

Well, if this is your kind of romantic thing (cheesy you might think, but our lives and relationships could do with a bit more cheesy these days) or maybe you would like to do something different with your partner this year, then check out the Keats House in Hampstead. On Friday, 10 Feb, they are having a fab candle-lit tour of Keats house FOR ALL AGES with fizz, chocolates, and even a writing challenge inspired by Keats and then on Saturday 11 Feb, they have an event entitled Love is my Religion which entails reading excerpts from the letters Keats sent to his fiancee Fanny Brawne.

Why am I mentioning Valentine this so early in January? Because places people are very LIMITED and if you want to truly impress someone, preparation is key. Feel free to thank me anytime!

For more info, click HERE.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Diary Talk!

So, welcome back from the weekend. Hope it was good for you as it was for me (have always wanted to say that!). Anyways. Enjoyed watching the Golden Globes last night although E! UK were having a moment and I completely missed Ricky Gervais's opening speech. Did catch up on it later but I was sooo disappointed. I thought that he would come out this year with something so totally different and mind blowing like just plain stand up comedy but it just felt regurgitated and fake. He looked totally uncomfortable being there (although he still "doesn't care" which is really starting to sound hollow and enough already!). I love Ricky Gervais to bits and am saddened when he falls short. Shame!

Let's see, this weekend I finally got to reading The Calligrapher's Secret by Rafik Schami which has been sitting in the "To Read" pile for months now. I can report that so far is fab. The characters are set in 1950's Syria. It is fascinating on so many levels particularly how Schami manages to paint a very vivid image of life in Syria back then It is also fascinating for me in that Syria was where my parents would holiday as children and later as adults (I have only been there once when I was very tiny and hardly remember it). My dad must have been in his late teens in the 1950s and so it in a way has turned into a hunt to try to find him in some of the characters. I am only a 100 pages in so will let you know how that develops.

Found out this weekend that Adrian Mole turns 30 this year. Gosh I can't believe how time flies. Diary writing is back in fashion especially with the hit Diaries of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. But Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole rules. In celebration, I am re-reading Adrian Mole: From Minor to Major which covers the first ten years. So incorporated are the complete texts of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole together with selections from True Confessions of Adrian Mole and Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians. Gosh, I remember now how I got bitten by the diary bug in the early 80s. It was fun to start but then when things really started happening in my life (and discovering that mum did really go through my things while I was at school) I made the wisest decision of my life back then; what happens in my young life should just stay there and no more diary nonsense.

It is weird this obsession with recording our every action. Blogs are an such an example as well as Facebook and Twitter. This generation may not realise it and may scoff at our lock and key diaries of olden days with their scented paper recording our childish whimsies and yet these recordings differ in that they truly were secret diaries. Whereas this now is a generation who feels the need to share every teeny tiny bit of their life with the ENTIRE world. Where did the privacy go, where is the secrecy? In a way I envy this generation their confidence and exuberance and yet I fear that their exhibitionism will one day backfire on them. but some might argue that having a blog is in a way exhibitionist of me too. So hey ho, whatever rocks our boat I guess.

Enough from me now and see you tomoroz!
mwah!

Friday, January 13, 2012

At One with Nature!

I have gone back into my running routine this week. Didn't want to blog about it until I made sure I stuck to it this week. I've already been three times and I tell you it is amazing. There is something so liberating about running. It's just like me, myself and I finally come together as one and are for once harmonious and in sync. Life becomes good, hardships diminish and all lists melt away for that one hour. Truly, life becomes wondrous.

I do listen to music when I run but I also run without any sound and just let my mind wander where it would like. Surprisingly and without me having anything to do with it, my mind always strays to the world of books. Running in the park, you can easily see why authors like Shakespeare were inspired by the landscape of countryside themes, there is a lot about nature that we take for granted. How inspiring it can be, how calming and therapeutic. So today I thought I would share some of my most favourite quotes on nature:

"And this, our life exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything," - William Shakespeare.

"Forget not that the Earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair" - Khalil Gibran.

"There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough to pay attention to the story." - Linda Hogan

"I've made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant, I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I'm convinced of the opposite" - Bertrand Russell.

And my absolute favourite:

"If you don't go out in the woods, nothing will ever happen and your life will never begin" - Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Dickens and London: Oh do go see it!

If you haven't done so already then maybe - if you've got the time- should nip into the Museum of London to catch the Dickens and London Exhibition. It costs only £7 for a ticket and it is money well spent. The layout of the exhibition is just so well done, and the displays are nicely arranged so that there is an easy flow to the viewing whereby if one exhibit gets too much crowding, you could always skip it to come back to it again.

If you're looking to be surprised, then this is not the exhibition for you. This is more like 'Dickens in a nutshell' with no new information (mind you it's so hard to do that with everyone celebrating his 200th birthday this year). It just seems that the BBC have left no stone unturned regarding this topic (but more on that in a later post). Back to the subject at hand, I did enjoy my time there and it was brilliant to see how fascinating and relevant Dickens' work holds to this day. 

I am a Dickens fan, so they could have had a white board with the names of his novels displayed alone in an empty room and I would still have paid to see it. The real star of the exhibition though is London which never loses its sparkle and you will come away feeling all the better for living in this grand old city.

Needless to say I came out with a book purchased from the gift shop: Charles Dickens: A Very Peculiar History by Fiona Macdonald. It is concise and handy with entries summarising his novels. To know more about the exhibition, click here.

Monday, January 09, 2012

To Be or Not To Be a Feminist? That is the Question. Or Is It?

What a weekend I've had. Brilliant time to myself yesterday vegetating on my Sunday Sofa (christened the name by son) and miraculously being able to read through all the Observer, and Saturday's Guardian paper. I also managed to finish reading How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran. Stroke of fate should have it that Caitlin Moran's book coincided with the Guardian's main magazine story about female Tory MPs turning feminists. I know what you're thinking and probably Janet Street Porter has said it for you in today's Daily Mail, but seriously after reading Moran's book I am HAPPY and Comfortable calling myself a feminist.

Why declare it? Well because for so many years now the word feminist has been hijacked by women who I'd rather not have fighting The Battle for me. Caitlin sets everyone straight by what feminism is and should be. If you'd like a hint what this book is about then here it is in nutshell: If you want to have a boob job, go for it if it makes YOU happy and you are going for it for the right reasons and not to live out someone else's wet dream.

This is a hilarious book and you don't have to learn anything from it but you will. There are pages that had me snorting with laughter (waxing, menstruation and handbags) and others shedding bucket loads of tears (the chapter on her own abortion and her first pregnancy). It is a wonderful read and a very empowering book whether you agree with her ideas or not. It is also a dirty filthy book, the type of filth that you wish were more abundant in the real world.

Read this book and hold your judgement until the very last page. Then read it again and pass it on to each and every person you know. Men can benefit from this too!

Friday, January 06, 2012

Cooking Matters!

Great for the hard times ahead!
I love my cooking and might I be allowed to toot my own horn I would say that I am darn good at it. I am also very good at eating my food but that is another story for another day. There is nothing I like more than the smell of baking wafting in the house on a cold and dismal rainy day. Onion soup with melted cheese and baguette is enough to cure any Seasonal Affective Disorder symptom. Chocolate mousse, bliss! a cottage pie with butternut squash, divine! Hell, butternut squash with anything is divine.

Saying this and judging by the praise I receive on the dishes I make, you'd never guess that my first few attempts at cooking at the age of 28 were so shockingly horribly bad that the end result was chucking away the food whilst inside the casserole. Nothing could be saved. Luckily we lived close to a pound shop at the time and I became their best customer. Perseverance paid off and voila; an amateur cook is born!

Great for when at home alone!
In a previous article, I mentioned that I have signed up for Weight Watchers, so it has become a challenge to try and cook up recipes that follow the pro-points system and that will also taste palatable (a key ingredient that will ensure I stick to this program). I could easily live off their canned soups and frozen ready meals but really, seriously it isn't an ideal situation is it?

I had previously purchased the Weight Watchers cookbooks last year when my husband was on the program but I just thought a bit of a change would do us all good. They are the first choice you would have to go to as the recipes have a pro-point already assigned to them and no calculation needed but with other recipes unless the recipe states the protein, carbs, fat and fibre content then it becomes a matter of guessing the pro-points and too tricky.

On a visit to my local discount bookshop the other day, I happened upon these fantastic books from The Australian Women's Weekly and each recipe clearly states the nutritional value components and all you have to do is calculate the pro-points using the Weight Watchers pro-points calculator which you can buy from their website. These recipes are not from low-fat recipe books so their pro-points value is quite high at times but they are good for those days when you have a few points to spare and would like a change. Thought I'd share for those on the same path as myself.

Just Great!
The RRP for each book is set at £6.99 but they were on sale for £2 each. Needless to say I bought the lot!

Thursday, January 05, 2012

The Deluge of Self-Help! Where is it the rest of the year?

It's a funny time January. No matter where you go, what you do, who you talk to and whatever channel you switch on there is always someone hankering on about how they changed their life and how you could do the same too. From addictions to weight loss to sleep apnoea; the help the solutions the specialists are all there to offer help and advice and then come February 1st and just like magic they're all Gone! 

Just to make it clear, I think it's brilliant having all these inspirational people sharing their experiences. You never know which one will be the one to utter that one sentence or that one word that will make you want to change your life forever. I love a good story anytime and all the better if it's one about a before and after. What I am whingeing about is that the media and the medical profession should instill in people that the change should be a life-time one and that it is a good idea to highlight these issues along the year and not just in January. 

The way I see it is the message specialists and media people are sending out is that unless you make your resolutions in January and seek help for whatever is ailing you in that month then you're on your own. See if I was lying under a rock presumably all of January missing this deluge of self-help advice and woke up to complain in February about the fact that I had in effect spent all January under a rock (I would think it as cause for concern) then would the response I get be "Sorry mate, that was January, we're on Valentine's now!" or if I decided I had had enough idleness by July then do I wait for January's celebrity endorsed DVD to start an exercise program?

And if you ask me this is the problem we are facing as a nation who is now fast becoming the fattest in Europe. It's because we never seem to follow up on our resolutions and the media stop highlighting problems such as addictions and obesity as if they were a seasonal affliction that come round once a year. My solution? Press the record button and tape these interviews or cut out those magazine/newspaper articles and keep them to hand for when you stumble on your life-changing journey or you could just keep them handy for that sod who spent January dozing under a rock!

My favourite self-help books have been:
1. I Can Make You Smarter by Paul McKenna (for improving memory and promises to make you read faster which means more books on the shelf. Who can say no to that!)

2. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne: Based on the Laws of Attraction, it teaches each one of us how positive thinking attracts positive outcomes to our life and vice versa and how we can set about doing that.

3. Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Probably one of the best books you'll read as a woman. It is not really a self-help book but teaches about contacting the power of the wild woman within and how strong and intuitive and brave women are and can be. It is a beautifully written book with lots and lots of stories designed to rejoice in the feminine power.

4. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, by Dale Carnegie. A powerful book published some twenty years ago and still holds true today. It lets you imagine the worst possible scenario to anything and then how to deal with it so it becomes less significant and more manageable. Truly inspiring.

5. The Beck Diet Solution by Judith S. Beck and its accompanying weight loss workbook. It teaches you how to train your brain to think like a thin person. It really is compelling reading and so easy to follow.

6. French Toast for Breakfast: Declaring war on emotional eating by Mary Anne Cohen: This book sheds light on why eat and why we overeat and why it is essential to have the foods that we crave. This is one satisfying read!

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

The 2011 Costa Winners for now!

One of these winners will get a chance to win the £30,000 grand prize when the result is announced in three weeks's time.

• Novel award Pure by Andrew Miller
First novel award Tiny Sunbirds Far Away by Christie Watson
Biography award Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas by Matthew Hollis
Poetry award The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy
Children's book award Blood Red Road by Moira Young.

I'm thinking it's a toss up between The Bees & Blood Red Road ... we shall see!

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Habibi by Craig Thompson

What a fantastic surprise it was to receive this book underneath my Christmas tree (sounds like a song title). I had been pining to get my hands on this graphic novel for months ahead. The reason I hadn't? I had already blown my allocated money allowance on books which left me with no way to explain the cost. In case you're wondering, the book is only in hardcover (can't see it printed otherwise really and comes steeply at £20).

I have just finished my first reading of it and I know that I will return to this time and time again. First let me get the blurb of what this book is about out of the way: Habibi tells the love story between Dodola and Zam. From the very start, their relationship is complex. They meet as slaves (Zam nee Chams a three-year old son to a slave woman; Dodola a child-bride kidnapped by slave traders). The love between these two blossoms when they flee the slave traders and set up home in the desert where they make a haven for themselves. Nine years later and it all changes when now Zam is a thirteen-year old on the brink of manhood and it all changes dramatically when he finds out just how Dodola has been providing food on the table.

I found the love story very intense and quite sad but the true beauty of the book lies in the illustrations and detailed drawings. Here is Craig Thompson at his best. As a speaker of the Arabic language it was just divine following the cursive Arabic letters, the calligraphy, the blend of Eastern and Western interpretations of the stories in the Quran and the Bible. Attention to detail at its best. The ink flowing from one page to another. Too much for the senses to absorb in one go. This is a book that should be viewed over and over again. Controversial? Absolutely!

Note: This is a very adult graphic novel with a lot of nudity and topics of a sexual and violent nature. So NOT for the kids!

Monday, January 02, 2012

Happy January Resolution!

Happy New Year to us all but mainly a very Happy New Year I am hoping 2012 will bring. Reading yesterday's Observer it turns out that our brains are inherently programmed to see the bright side of things and even to believe that the choice we make is actually the correct one. Kind of like the brain insisting on the glass being half full. I could sit and disagree with the author, but then I thought you know what instead of disagreeing then let me this year believe that every decision I make is the correct one and that the end of this year WILL see me achieve what I want.

I must admit that I am sick and tired of New Year Resolutions that get taken (and repeated in my case like a mantra) each beginning of the year and then come March have melted faster than the fat I'd vowed to see melt by the same time from my thighs. So this year I won't make them. Instead I am making a resolution a month  and then making (adding) a new one the following month. This may seem insane but so far what I have been doing in the past - setting all those unrealistic goals and setting myself up for a fall each time - hasn't worked a bit, so I gather it can't harm to try something different.

So for my January resolution I am going to do the following:
1. Walk my son to school three times a week (it would do us both good).
2. Stick to my pro-points plan like glue (I'd signed up for Weight Watchers in December).
3. NOT weigh myself for the whole month of January (this is based on something I read a while back about the number on the scale not measuring up to your expectation making you inadvertently sabotage your diet. So no numbers is the new thing I will try this January (and this has to be the hardest thing I am ever going to do because I weigh myself daily).

So there it is folks. A resolution (guess there are three up there but they seem to be connected under a health theme so it kind of makes it OK somehow).

If you would like to read the Observer's article that inspired all this, click HERE. And I guess the book I will be downloading on my kindle is Tali Sharot's book, The Optimism Bias.

mwah!