Christmas Pudding

I really want to share a few funny quotes from a book I read recently!

Here's Goodreads' summary:

An outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease may have terminated the hunting at the Compton Bobbins' in the Cotswolds, but it has not dampened the Yuletide spirit of the Bright Young Things who find themselves among the oddly assorted guests of the not-so young and quite formidable Lady Maria Bobbin. Hilarious misadventures abound as Lady Bobbin's serenely beautiful daughter, Philadelphia, meets the advances of the very eligible, and equally dull, Lord Lewis and of the charming but penniless Paul Fotheringay, whose terribly serious first novel has, to his dismay, just been hailed by critics as the funniest book of the year. With signature wit and gentle mockery, not to mention her acid malice for the second-rate, Nancy Mitford romps rippingly through the wold and the life of the county set in the cozy English 1930s.

 And my review:

Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford
 4 stars

 A clever satire; extremely ridiculous yet very good fun.
Here are a few funny quotes to give a sense of the style (I just love the last one!)

‘Were they, now?’ said Paul with interest. ‘And how are they? Happy?’
‘Wretched, I believe. Did they expect anything else? What a silly marriage that was, to be sure.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Paul gloomily, ‘it really is rather disillusioning. When one's friends marry for money they are wretched, when they marry for love it is worse. What is the proper thing to marry for, I should like to know?”

‘You are a wordily little beast, Bobby,’ said Paul gloomily, but without rancour.
‘Yes, aren’t I? It does pay so much better to be.

‘...Father’s sisters all married well, as it happens, which leaves me quite nicely connected.’
‘You’re a damned little snob.’
‘I know; I glory in it.’

'Surviving a relationship with a writer'

A funny list I saw on Writers Write:

It all Makes Sense Now

Every now and then when I'm reading a book, I come across something that I understand the gist of but all the same, don't fully understand or know.  Sometimes, I look it up and find out. More often than not though, I'm enjoying reading so much that I just don't bother.

Weeks or months later, I tend to come across those little pieces of information and suddenly everything falls into place.

In this case, I was reading some of the Brother Cadfael books. Although I knew when Matins, Vespers and Compline were, I certainly didn't remember (if I ever knew) the rest of the monastic hours. So here they are:

 Midnight:      Matins
3am:            Lauds
6am:         Prime
9am:       Terce
Noon:       Sext
3pm:        None
Sunset:        Vespers
Nightfall:           Compline

You never know when it might come it useful.

An Idea!

For the last few months, I've been doing a lot of descriptive writing. At the same time though, I've been thinking of ideas for a book.
So far, I've rejected everything I've come up with but today I had a brainwave!
I'm going to write an epistolary novel! :)
At the moment, I'm in the midst of planning my characters and settings but I'm really looking forward to getting started!

Which Austen Heroine are you?

Today, I was thinking about re-reading one of Jane's books and I found this quiz.

 I was a bit surprised but definitely pleased! Elizabeth is one of my favourite characters and she's also the one I relate to most.
Actually, I've done some other quizzes a few years ago. I always seem to get either Elizabeth or Marianne (in that order) so I don't know why I was surprised...
Remembering that makes me think about the similarities and differences between the two heroines and I think I may do a post about that sometime.

A Revelation and some Mini Reviews

Two posts in a day! For yours truly, that's completely unheard of :) The thing is, I've realised something interesting.

One of the reasons I've neglected my blog in the past was that I was afraid to publish short posts.
Now that I think about it seems ridiculous (!) but at the time I didn't even realise what I was doing. From now on, I won't worry about how much I'm writing.

To start with, I'm going to do several posts of mini reviews.
I'll be rating out of 5 stars because I originally wrote them for Goodreads. Also, I'll try to put contrasting genres and reactions together so there's some variety.

---

Blaze of Glory (The Laws of Magic #1) by Michael Pryor

 4.5 stars

A really interesting and well-written book! The Laws [of Magic] were fascinating and had obviously been planned carefully. The setting was well portrayed and I loved the main characters. Interestingly, I thought the book had quite a few similarities to Sherlock Holmes.
I would recommend this to people interested in fantasy, mystery, historical fiction or mystery.

---

Troubled Waters (Elemental Blessings #1) by Sharon Shinn

 1.5 stars

Not worth reading.
To be honest, after about a third of the book I skim-read the rest.
The setting and the concepts were interesting and the world building was well done.
Unfortunately, the main character Zoe was inconsistent and unrealistic. She was barely concerned by the reveals and 'plot twists' (which could be spotted a mile away anyhow). Also, there were so many events that were too convenient and everything was so predictable.
I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

---

Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston

3 stars

A pleasant, sweet sort of book. There was some really lovely imagery and I liked the concepts. In some parts I found myself skimming over bits and had to force myself to slow down and read it properly. I'm glad I made the effort.
I'd recommend it to people who are capable of appreciating the book's subtlety without expecting lots of action.

---

P.S. The fact that I'm a perfectionist is another issue for me. I have numerous draft posts I've never published because I don't think they're good enough. And when (if) I finally convince myself, I edit it countless times (quite literally), agonizing over that terrifying orange button.

So here we go...

2014 Reading Challenge and a Thank you

This year, I've decided to try to read at least 200 books! (Can you tell that I'm excited? :D )

I've been really enjoying it so far, it gives me a great excuse to spend my time reading when I should be studying. :)

The decision hit me when I was in a library with one of my close friends. The funny thing is, I was originally planning to aim for 150...
 Until my friend said that it was a ridiculous goal and 100 would be plenty.

Well.

I immediately decided on 200, walked over to a nearby bookshelf and got started.

So thank you (you know who you are). I'm so grateful  that you encouraged me to aim higher.
Perhaps it was an accident. But it really wouldn't surprise me if you'd thought I'd do something like that. After all, you know how contrary I like to be.

Neglect (or 'A Very Long Holiday')

As you've probably noticed, I haven't blogged for a very long time! I went away for the holidays and just haven't had the chance.
On a positive note though, I'm planning to use a routine of some sort this year. In other words, I'll be posting more regularly.

And on a final note :)