Lost in Austen

I'm a big fan of Jane Austen and her novels. The last couple of evenings I have been watching a mini-series called Lost in Austen. This movie is a take-off from Austen's Pride and Prejudice, where the main character, Amanda Price, is in love with Austen's book and wants to find love with a man like Darcy (main male character of Pride and Prejudice for those of you who don't know).

Anyway, somehow she stumbles back in time (by going through a door in her bathroom) into the world of Darcy, the Bennett family and the Bingley's. Her arrival causes all sorts of chaos, such as, Jane Bennett marrying Mr Collins instead of Bingley, Lydia Bennett runs off with Bingley instead of Wickham, Darcy falls in love with Amanda instead of Elizabeth Bennett etc etc.

It was quite a funny movie...

Oh, I have finished An Echo of Bone by Diana Gabaldon and loved it! I can't wait until the next novel, as Roger has gone back in time to search for his young son, who has infact been kidnapped and hidden in modern day time still...oh dear!

Am off to the library tomorrow morning to stock up on some holiday reading...except the other day I discoverred two library books sitting under the bed which were at least 2 months overdue. Oops. So I guess I will be forking up some money before I am allowed to have any books issued to me.

Utter Disappointment!

Bridget and I went to New Moon last week and Ihave to say...we both were a bit disappointed. The movie was long...and the casting agency should be sacked...they did not do a good job in picking Robert Pattinson to be Edward Cullen! The book was so much better. Nonetheless...I will probably go and see the next movie in the Twilight series...just to be curious...

Slow reading of late...

I have been a little pre-occupied with report writing, portfolio assembling, staff functions etc to do any major reading of late. In fact I am still slowly churning my way through Diana Gabaldon's A Breath of Snow and Ashes. I originally picked this book from mybook shelves to re-read before reading the next book in the series...but it seems that I never read it in the first place. Knowing me, I had several books on the go, and I put it on the shelf for a 'must read later'...and forgot about it. I am nearly finished, and am looking forward to the next installment, plus the book i mentioned in a previous blog post that Mum lent me.

I daresay that any major reading will not happen until December 18 - first day of my holiday!

But! My friend, Bridget and I are going to the movies on Wednesday night to see New Moon (second Twilight movie). I didn't really like the first movie that much, but I have seen the preview of this next movie....and it looks GGOOOOODDDDD!


I still think the casting people could have found a better Edward though...

Time Traveler's Wife

Another good movie to come out this month! A great book called Time Traveler's Wife has been made into a movie...marvellous!!!

Looking forward to next weekend

Next weekend, Malcolm and I are going camping at Lake Benmore. This is our first camping trip together...but I am assuming it will consist of Malcolm spending most of his time fishing and me sitting in the sun (because YES it WILL be sunny) reading. Sounds like bliss...

My student teacher had her last day in Room 5 yesterday and she gave me a Whitcoulls voucher to say thank you - very nice of her - so I purchased Diana Gabaldon's latest book An Echo in the Bones to read. I am currently re-reading the book that comes before it (I think there are 7 books in total?) as a refresher. It is called A Breath of Snow ans Ashes. I love this series - it begain with Cross-Stitch. The series is about a woman, Claire, who accidentally goes back in time and falls in love with a Scottish Highlander. VERY GOOD!!!

Also, Mum and Dad were up for lunch today and Mum has lent me the latest Anita Diamant book called Day After Night. Anita Diamant is one of my favourite authors. She hasn't got many books released yet...but the three she has are superb. The Red Tent was the first - about Dinah who was Joseph's (of the technicolour dreamcoat) sister in the Bible, and tells the tragedy of when her jealous brothers killed her husband and his family...another suberb story. Anyway, this new book is about some young women who escaped to Israel from Nazi Europe during WWII...sounds interesting.

Will let you know how the books go after next weekend.

Where's Wally?

It is book week at school, and today everyone came to school dress up as a book character. We had fairies, Harry Potters, Wizards, Hannah Montanas, plus some traditional characters like Cat in the Hat, Pippy Long Stockings and Moonface. Of course, teachers like to dress up too! I thought we all did a fabulous job dressing up; Winnie-the-Pooh, Bottomly Spots, Gruffalo, Peter Pan, and me - Where's Wally. There was a prize for best teacher's costume...I won! Lol! Here is a picture.

The Lovely Bones

Seeing the movie (directed by Peter Jackson) is being released soon, I have read The Lovely Bones again. It was written by Alice Sebold in 2002 (she also wrote Lucky). The book starts with..."My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. My murderer was a man from our neighbourhood. My mother liked his border flowers, and my father talked to him once about fertilizer." I really enjoyed this book because the murder happens at the beginning of the story, and the remainder of the book tells how Susie is looking down from her heaven and watching how her family and friends deal with her death. A little bit eerie - but fascinating.

Anyway, I have added a youtube video of the movie trailer...can't wait to see the movie. Thanks, Renee, for the instructions on how to embed the video - so easy!

I definitely recommend you read the book before seeing the movie...I can see some subtle changes made to the story even in the preview. I always think the books are much better than the movie anyway.

Breaking Dawn

I have finally finished...

Am I allowed to be disappointed in the final book of the Twilight series? I'm not sure if it is because of end-of-term-i-tis or the 'fantasy' genre finally got to me...but I have to say - I didn't actually like the final book.

Well...I did like from p530 to about p672. I hated everything before and I hated the ending...hugely disappointed!

However...on the good front...the second Twilight movie is due out very soon. I've seen the preview and it looks SSSSOOOOOOOOOOO GGOOOOOOOOOOOOODDD!!!!

Still alive...

Just letting you know that I am still alive.

I am currently reading Breaking Dawn (last book of the Twilight series). It is obviously not as addictive as the first three books...taking me awhile to get through it.

I don't like it actually...hopefully it gets better.

Limestone

My friend and colleague, Jenny, lent me Limestone (written by Fiona Farrell). What a great read! I was a little disappointed about the ending...it seemed to finish really quickly.

Anyway, Fiona Farrell is a relatively new author, who was born and raised in Oamaru (only 20 minutes from Waimate!).

The story is about Clare Lacey, who is on a quest. In Ireland to attend an Art History conference, she sets out to find her father who walked out one day to buy a pack of cigarettes when she was a child, and disappeared. She is urged on her way by chance encounters: with a woman in a high tower, a blind man at a crossroads, a couple of rotund earthlings, a singer whose song she does not understand . . . Clues lie all around on a labyrinth of walls - but the final clue lies deep within.

A definite MUST-READ!

Have already started the fourth book in the Twilight series....

Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner

My friend and colleague, Helen, lent me this book after seeing that I wanted to read it. What a hilarious read! A definite must-read if you haven't already.

Kerre Woodham is a well-known radio host and has also presented/appeared in various tv shows. Over the last couple of years she has been in the public limelight for her marathon running. Typically, Kerre was not a runner...by sheer hard work and stamina she first ran a half-marathon, then a full marathon in Auckland. Not satisfied with this, she travelled to New York to complete the full marathon there.

Kerre has a wonderful way of retelling stories...I often found myself laughing out loud. She is up front and honest...and I truly found her story inspirational.

Now, I am about to start Fiona Farrell's book called Limestone. From memory, this story is about a woman who travels to Ireland in search of her father. Apparently, when this woman was a child growing up in Oamaru, her father went out to buy a packet of cigarettes and just never came back. Will let you know what I think...

Oh...and then I am starting Breaking Dawn...

I watched the movie!

Last night I relaxed in front of the box and watched Twilight the movie. The movie was...okay??? Actually I was a little disappointed. As usual the movies never do the book justice, but I am needing to read the original book again - maybe I didn't read it properely? I had no idea that Eric was asian, Laurent was black (African American...which is ever is the correct way to say it) and so is Mike...I didn't get this from the book. It's not that I am a racist person...I am NOT. I just never noticed when I read the book.

As for Edward! I think I may be in Team Jacob now...Edward looked like there was something mentally wrong with him (yes I know he was fighting all desires to eat Bella...but still?) and what was with his hair colour? Some silly orange/brown colour that just did not go with his blueish skin colour! SPeaking of skin colour - I expected his skin colour to glow way brighter in the sun.

Nonetheless...can't wait to see the second movie.

Last night I also bought myself a present. I purchased a collectors copy of the last book, Breaking Dawn. The pages have red edges...very cool! Can't wait to start. However, before I start it I hve two other books to finish first.

I am halfway through Kerre Woodham's Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner (it is so hilarious that I often find myself laughing out loud) and then I have a book on loan from my colleague, Jenny, called Limestone. I'm not sure what it is about but am assured that it is a good read.

Cinderella

Wairakei School for fortunate enough to have a visit from 3 actors from the Court Theatre of Christchurch. These actors retold the fairy tale of Cinderella.

The show was fabulous! It included the typical characters of the ugly stepsisters, Cinderella, Fairy God Mother (complete with Amy Winehouse style beehive and a clip board!), Prince Rupert (with a lisp) and the messenger (who happened to be an opera singing Italian).

There was plenty of audience participation and humour for the kids, along with plenty of adult humour for the teachers. Absolutely Brilliant!

Oooohhh! Eclipse was soooooo good!

Best book by far! (until I read Breaking Dawn anyway...). Bridget and I went up north for an ICT bus trip (Auckland - Hamilton - Mt Maunganui - Auckland) and on our travels she read New Moon while I read Eclipse.

This third book (what do you call this - a triquel???) develops the rivalry between Jacob (werewolf) and Edward (vampire) and their love for Bella (human - that so readily accepts that her best friends are a werewolf and a vampire - duh???). Anyway, I still love this story!

I am in two minds about the male characters. In the book, Edward is daper, sophisticated and so good-looking...but from what I have seen in the movies (online sneak peeks) Jacob is so so so much better looking than Edward.

Anyway...this weekend I may just have to hire the Twilight movie and watch it - haven't seen it yet!

To Kill A Mockingbird ON STAGE!

This afternoon my friend, Rhonda, and I went to the Repertory Theatre on Kilmore Street to see the stage production of To Kill a Mockingbird.

I have been a fan of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird since I read it in class at high school. I own the book and the DVD (the 1960's one featuring Gregory Peck).

Rhonda and I thoroughly enjoyed the show. It was so good to see a packed theatre and the sudience containing a wide variety of people (children, high school students, elderly, middle aged, adults and even a collection from the Red Hat Ladies!).

Listening to books

My friend and colleague, Bridget, let me know about this cool website. It is a website where you can listen to stories being told out loud. This is great for me as a teacher, because instead of reading to my class after morning roll, I can put the laptop on and the laptop will read the story to them! Usually there are about 8 books to choose from and these change every two weeks. And it's free...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bigtoe/books/

The Lovely Bones

The movie is coming soon!

The movie is based on the best selling book by Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones is the story of a 14-year-old girl from suburban Pennsylvania who is murdered by her neighbour. She tells the story from heaven, showing the lives of the people around her and how they have changed all while attempting to get someone to find her lost body.

I saw the preview to it not long ago...and it looks superb! Can't wait until December!!!

New Moon

I was reading the third book in the Twilight series today (Eclipse) and I realised that I hadn't written about the second book yet!

As with the first book, I couldn't put the book down. However, I found this book a little flat. The lovely Edward Cullen doesn't make an appearance until the last quarter of the book. It was still really worth reading...

The majority of the book was about Belle suffering because of Edward's absence and of her becoming best friends with Jacob Black, who is actually a werewolf (and Edwards enemy). Victoria ( a rogue vampire from Twilight) returns to Forks (where Bella lives) to seek revenge. In the first book, Edward killed Victoria's mate, therefore Victoria wants to kill Edwards mate.

I dont want to give too much away...so won't say anything more.

Apart from...I'm having a little trouble with understanding Bella. She so quickly accepts the fact that her friends are vampires and werewolves...yeah right! This is probably due to the fact that I don't usually read (or enjoy) fantasy genre books.

Am halfway through Eclipse...so gooooooodddd!!!! I think this third book may be the best of them all...so far!

Twilight

It is done! I have finished! The book is closed!

I have finally finished Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I purchased it on Friday night, started it on Saturday afternoon and finished it last night...the house is a tip, as I forewent the housework to read instead (isn't that what weekends are for? to relax?).

Twilight is the first book of four, and tells the love story of Bella and Edward. I have heard Twilight described as “a vampire story for people who don’t like vampire stories” and I think I would agree with that. (I hate fantasy type books, but absolutely loved this one.) Bella and Edward's love story is doomed right fro the beginning really (with Edward being a vampire and Bella being a human)...so the Twilight book really explains how they never give up and fall in love anyway.

I am so in love with Edward! What a dreamboat! I haven't seen the movie yet, but have seen the actor who plays Edward...I'm sorry what is the fuss all about??? I think he is a let down after reading the book.

I can't wait to read the next book Blue Moon...which I hear includes another character, Jacob, who is a werewolf. Might buy it today...

Change of book...

I have ditched the To Cry Inside by Lesley Martin (the one about the woman who euthanised her mother) temporarily...and am reading Twilight! OMG! I can't put it down...so so good! I'm sorry Renee (sister-in-law) but I hate the Harry Potter books. Anyway, am nearly finished...have to get back to reading...

How Are You Feeling? Food With Moods

It has been a while since my last post but I am currently reading an interesting book about a woman who euthanised her mother (who was dying of liver cancer)...a thought provoking read. I would tell you the title, ut it is in the other room and I am recovering from first day back at school (after the holidays)...so will let you know in my next text.

In the mean time, however, this book was sitting on our classroom library shelf...and it is quite clever. It is called How Are You Feeling? Food With Moods by Joost Elffers and Saxton Freyman. Each page has a brief text and colour photographs of carvings made from vegetables which introduce the world of emotions by presenting leading questions such as "Are you feeling angry?". Anyway, the kids in my class love looking through it (even though it is probably meant for a younger age range?).

Paper Plus Book Reviews

I've added a web link (related websites on side panel) which is a Paper Plus Book Review site. Kerre Woodham recommends a variety of books and writes a review to go with them. Not bad.

http://www.paperplus.co.nz/books/book-choices

Speaking of Kerre Woodham, I would actually like to read her book called short fat chick to marathon runner. For those of you who don't know, I took up running last year and ran my first half-marathon a couple of months ago. I have seen Kerre Woodham a few times on tv before and imagine that her book might be amusing to read.

The BBC Book List

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an ‘x’ after those you have read.
2) Tally your total at the bottom.

...or you can do what I did and change the read books to a different colour.

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling (Started)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible (parts of it when I was a bible basher!)
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
5/10

11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (have read some works!)
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien (fell asleep after page 3!!!)
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
5/10

21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
2/10

31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hussein
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
6/10

41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
2/10

51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert X
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
3/10

61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
2/10

71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
1/10

81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
3/10

91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo X
4/10

I have read 33/100 of the above books...great list...have now got a few more books on my MUST READ list.

Love in the Present Tense

Over the weekend, I also read Love in the Present Tense by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It wasn't until I had read the first few chapters when I realised that I had actually read this book before (I chose it from the library - South Christchurch Library is a FABULOUS library!). Nonetheless, I carried on reading...

The book is written in the Jodi Picoult style - where each chapter is seen from a different character's perspective and is about a young boy called Leonard. Leonard was the son of a very young girl who disappeared when Leonard was 5 years old. Before she disappeared, she and leonard had befriended their neighbour, 25 year old Mitch. The story tells the story of the bond between Mitch and Leonard...what else to say???

Hopefully, I will get better at writing book reviews. It is hard to know how much information to give without spoiling the storyline.

My first post

As you have seen, I LOVE to read. I am currently on holiday and I have relished the days where I have sat in the warmth and read books.

Currently, I seem to be going through a 'suspense or mystery' phase, where I have read a lot of Mary Higgins Clark and Elisabeth Hyde (American) books.

One of the books I have read over the weekend was Elisabeth Hyde's The Abortionist's Daughter. This is a story about a woman (the abortionist) who is found floating in the family swimming pool (dead of course!). The book takes you through some of the controversial arguments of abortion, the doctor's relationship with her daughter and the mystery of her murder. A good read...