Turn to the Music: books

Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Sunday, September 30, 2012

The Minds of Others

Ready to read!

(No spoilers!)

Reading 'The Casual Vacancy' has (thus far - I'm not finished) made me think about how people's minds work. As a longtime hardcore fan of children's literature and, in more recent years, the works of such authors as Dodie Smith and Agatha Christie, I am used to a certain type of thinking. The opening pages were quite jarring to me, as everyone - everyone has an agenda. Everyone's thoughts veer towards the unkind and coarse or selfish with only a few exceptions.

Rather naively, this shocked me. Of course this is a work of fiction and contains heightened characteristics of human nature. I completely understand that, but it has made me think about thoughts and motives. Do people really have such dark thoughts when faces with a sudden death? Thoughts which have absolutely nothing to do with actual death?

At this point I should admit that I am a ruthless self-analyser. I question every thought I have and every action I take. Part of this just a trait of an anxious personality. The idea of causing anyone else unhappiness on purpose is horrifying to me and I'm deeply convinced that something terrible will happen if I ever make anyone suffer, intentionally or not. On the whole, though, I don't have nasty thoughts about people. I'm usually too busy being worried about something.

If someone had asked me sixty pages in to describe the book, I would have said that it's a grotesque depiction of the less attractive aspects of human nature. It sounds strong, but it really did catch me quite off-guard. The topic at the start of the book is sudden death, and how everyone copes or does not cope with it. It's a subject that I have some experience with, and am therefore interested in. Pagford's inhabitants are each self-obsessed, their thoughts are for themselves.

It's a good and very different exercise to be presented with a group of characters with whom I don't immediately sympathise. I'm looking forward to unwinding the rest of the book.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Memememe

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte from Sunday lunch today. Got to have the dark chocolate! ;)

Hooray! I was tagged in this meme thing by The Cottage Smallholder. The rule is to tag eight other bloggers and make your own eight questions.

I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

__..::1* What have you learnt from blogging?
I started blogging when I was an angsty 17 year old. Over the years I've learned that it's a very good idea to just let all the ideas, troubles, annoyances, happiness sprawl on the page. Once they're there it's much easier to be reflective and to work things out. I'm actually looking forward to meeting more bloggers. I'm new to the public blogging thing, really. If anyone has any tips, I'm open to learning!

__..::2* What was your proudest moment and why?

Graduation day at university. I have never worked so hard or suffered so much for anything in my life. It was an incredibly tough course (Music and Drama and Theatre Studies) and I learned so much about the world, people and myself.

__..::3* What is the naughtiest thing that you have ever done?

I picked up all the business cards for a rival soprano, put them in my handbag and replaced them with my own. I feel so guilty to this day. I think I'll put them somewhere else because I can't live with the guilt.

__..::4* Who or what populates your nightmares?

Men with knives coming to stab me. My mother.

__..::5* Do you have “me time”. If so what do you do and why?

I love meeting up with my friends in Cork and Tweeting/Facebook. I find the internet so relaxing. It's better than a bath. I also enjoy tidying....

The whole social thing is good for me. I like socialising and meeting with people and the internet opens up the possibilities of who I might meet. :) It's very useful for keeping in touch with my friends in other countries, which I do every day. I prefer real life contact though, and that's why it's important to me to see my close proximity friends regularly.

__..::6* The one food or ingredient that you fret about running out and why?

Dark chocolate. Things can never go completely wrong when there's good quality dark chocolate in the store cupboard.

__..::7* The best book that you have read in the last five years and why?

OH MY GOD, HARDEST QUESTION EVER!!!! I'm going to say 'His Dark Materials' which is a trilogy by Philip Pullman. It sucks you right it to its world and almost makes you into a character.

From my LiveJournal:

Jan. 5th, 2005 at 1:16 AM

"I've been reading Northern Lights and thinking about daemons. When I'm reading it/thinking about it I'm like "Wow, thank God no one will ever separate me from my daemon." It's actually surreal to think that I don't have one. I feel like I do."

__..::8* If you could erase a person/experience/mistake from your life who/what would it be and why?

No, never. Nothing. I don't think I'd erase anyone or anything. I've learned from everything.

Questions:

1. What inspires you to blog?

2. What's the best thing about blogging, for you?

3. What is your favourite book of all time?

4. It's 9pm and for some reason you've been hungry all day, despite the three square meals. What do you rustle up?

5. Who are three of your style icons?

6. What's your current favourite song/piece of music?

7. What's the last book you read?

8. What is your current favourite recipe?

Tagged:

The Smallest Smallholding

This Yorkshire Life

Operaman's Blog

Elegant Musings

aaand I fail because I need more blogs! I INVITE YOU TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS! :D

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Wuss.

The house has been closing in on me for quite a while now. I finally snapped and as a result, we are about to make some big changes. The kitchen is being expanded to include the dining room and the living room and kitchen are being re-floored.

BORING!

In preparation for the improvements I've decided to either donate or sell many of my books. This is really difficult! I keep thinking "Ohhhh, but, maybe I'll read it again!" or "What if I need it?!" etc. It's so hard. I'm a freak about books too. No one may crease the pages, bookmarks must always be used. They must be kept away from moisture and food. (The exception to this rule are all of the Harry Potters which are frequently read in the bath...)

This morning I was practically just closing my eyes and stacking the books while trying not to look at them too clearly. It's distressing. Hopefully posting little pictures of them will make me feel better. Like proof they existed. :(

If you see anything you like, leave me a comment or a message on facebook. I'll be adding to the list as books go out. The first consignment is going to the second hand bookshop tomorrow!