What I'm reading
This is a book blog after all, so books first! I'm currently reading Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi and loooving it. I raced through the first 150+ pages and have slowed down a little now, not because I've lost interest but I just don't have the time. Also, I've been trying to stop doing the whole love-this-book-so-much-keep-reading-oops-finished thing which ends up making me feel miserable that I've read it so quickly and suddenly have no more wonderful book to read. It's a really interesting book, fantastically written and with a brilliant concept so I'm quite excited to break it down in review for everyone.
I'm also making my way through John Ajvide Lindqvist's Let The Old Dreams Die. I find I need to take short story collections slowly to stop from burning out on them, but this is a really different collection of horror shorts. If you've read anything by Ajvide Lindqvist you can probably guess the overall feel, it's almost a melancholy ache, using monsters and the supernatural as physical stand-ins for emotions. I can totally get the Stephen King comparisons people seems to love to give him, although I don't think he's even close to being as accomplished as S.K is at short stories just yet.
I'm also listening to The Goldfinch which was maybe a huuuuge mistake. It's 32 hours long and I wanted to listen to it to and from work, which only takes up about 2 hours a week. So I'm currently about 13 hours in, and have started to listen to it whenever I can find the time so that I'm not still listening to it in September. I am really liking it though. It's not at all the story I expected, but it's a really warm story and it works amazingly well as a audiobook (as slow as I may be progressing). It has almost a bed-time story feel, even if it isn't actually a fairytale or children's book and David Pittu is an amazing reader, he is so accomplished at all the different voices that if I didn't know better I would think he had an actual woman standing in and voicing Theo's mum.
What I'm Watching
Ugh, so much. Aside from keeping up on the new seasons of my favourite shows (Game of Thrones, Orphan Black etc etc) I've put some real time into catching up with Psych, the Sherlock Holmes show before Sherlock Holmes was cool again. It's actually just finished for good, but there are 7 seasons of delicious, silly and downright strange episodes. Basically (in case you haven't heard of it) Sean is the son of an ex-cop who was trained from a young age to pick up clues (deduce, one might say) so when a messy situation arises, he claims to be a psychic and starts to work for the Santa Barbara as a psychic consultant. What's really great about the show is the relationship between Sean and his Watson, Gus (played by Dule Hill from The West Wing). They're like Turk and J.D 2.0, so even if the cases get a little repetitive, they kept me entertained the whole time.
I also discovered the new series Broad City. Holy shit you guys, this show is AMAZING. It's like Girls on speed. It's produced by Amy Poehler (so you know it's good) and the two leads (who also created and write the show) are fucking brilliant. It's much more light-hearted than Girls but I actually kind feel like its's a better representation of life in your mid-20s. Maybe because it doesn't take itself so seriously? I dunno, but it's amazing and must be watched IMMEDIATELY.
I also watched the documentary Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father and OMG I have never cried so much in my life. You should go into this knowing as little about the case as possible* but a basic run down is that Andrew Bagby was murdered, and the woman believed to be responsible soon comes out claiming to be pregnant with his child. So the filmmaker travelled across the country collecting stories and memories from Andrew's friends and family to give to this child, so that they can grow up knowing their father - even if technically they can't. It's this crazy mix of heartbreaking and life-affirming. Andrew was clearly loved by everyone who met and spent time with him, which makes his untimely death all the more unsettling. Anyway, it's on Netflix so if you're in the mood for tears then check it out.
What I'm Doing
Outside of uni? Not much. I went wedding dress shopping with a friend last week and it was so much more stressful than I expected. A lot of the stores would give you these little tags and tell you to put them on the dresses you like, but after a couple of minutes every dress looks exactly the same - puffy, white, sparkly. My poor friend struggled to explain what she wanted to the assistants (lace top, not too formal/wedding-y, light basically) and she ended up trying on so many duds before finally finding the perfect store with the perfect selection. I am less excited about the whole wedding process now that I've seen it first hand. God it must be exhausting (you still hanging in there Alley?!)
Oh, I wear glasses now!
While I was in Japan I got word that my sister had her eyes tested and needed glasses which meant that my two sisters and one brother have all been prescribed glasses in the past year, so when I got back I went and got my eyes tested. It's so annoying, I was always told my vision was perfect yadayadayada and then all of a sudden, BLAM, glasses. I don't need to wear them all the time, but it doesn't hurt to (apparently) - so I'm slowly getting used to having frames on my face 24/7. I'm still not entirely out of that "whoops still wearing sunglasses, oh wait no they're glasses" phase, and I'm still not used to seeing my reflection wearing glasses. Also, is glasses shopping the worst or what? It is firmly up there with jeans and swimsuits as far as I'm concerned.
Hmmmmm. I'm redecorating my house? When I moved out of home I moved into a furnished house (worst move, SO not worth it) and then when I moved out of there my dad offered me all of his furniture which was in storage down in Sydney. So for the last 5 years I've mostly been using his furniture but replacing it ever-so-slowly each year. Now I just need to buy a couple of final big items (new couch and armchair) and I'm pretty much set up in a house that represents me and Tom, instead of the parental hand-me-downs. Which is nice, plus it means the house will be better for entertaining and having people over for movie nights, which our previous couch-situation did not accommodate. If anyone has any tips for online homeware stores, please share!
Okay so I'm going to stop prattling so that I can go and finish my final Japan post and hopefully finish up a book today and maybe get a review written (WHAT! I know right?) How has everyone been lately? I missssss chatting to everyone on twitter and commenting on blogs and stuff, WHAT IS HAPPENING IN YOUR LIVES RIGHT NOW, I MUST KNOW!
*I feel a little icky writing that, since this is real life not a movie. But the way the doco is shot, events unfold as the movie is being filmed, means that it actually is better to watch it this way. You learn things with the people, you feel the shock when they feel the shock etc.
I'm also making my way through John Ajvide Lindqvist's Let The Old Dreams Die. I find I need to take short story collections slowly to stop from burning out on them, but this is a really different collection of horror shorts. If you've read anything by Ajvide Lindqvist you can probably guess the overall feel, it's almost a melancholy ache, using monsters and the supernatural as physical stand-ins for emotions. I can totally get the Stephen King comparisons people seems to love to give him, although I don't think he's even close to being as accomplished as S.K is at short stories just yet.
I'm also listening to The Goldfinch which was maybe a huuuuge mistake. It's 32 hours long and I wanted to listen to it to and from work, which only takes up about 2 hours a week. So I'm currently about 13 hours in, and have started to listen to it whenever I can find the time so that I'm not still listening to it in September. I am really liking it though. It's not at all the story I expected, but it's a really warm story and it works amazingly well as a audiobook (as slow as I may be progressing). It has almost a bed-time story feel, even if it isn't actually a fairytale or children's book and David Pittu is an amazing reader, he is so accomplished at all the different voices that if I didn't know better I would think he had an actual woman standing in and voicing Theo's mum.
What I'm Watching
Ugh, so much. Aside from keeping up on the new seasons of my favourite shows (Game of Thrones, Orphan Black etc etc) I've put some real time into catching up with Psych, the Sherlock Holmes show before Sherlock Holmes was cool again. It's actually just finished for good, but there are 7 seasons of delicious, silly and downright strange episodes. Basically (in case you haven't heard of it) Sean is the son of an ex-cop who was trained from a young age to pick up clues (deduce, one might say) so when a messy situation arises, he claims to be a psychic and starts to work for the Santa Barbara as a psychic consultant. What's really great about the show is the relationship between Sean and his Watson, Gus (played by Dule Hill from The West Wing). They're like Turk and J.D 2.0, so even if the cases get a little repetitive, they kept me entertained the whole time.
I also discovered the new series Broad City. Holy shit you guys, this show is AMAZING. It's like Girls on speed. It's produced by Amy Poehler (so you know it's good) and the two leads (who also created and write the show) are fucking brilliant. It's much more light-hearted than Girls but I actually kind feel like its's a better representation of life in your mid-20s. Maybe because it doesn't take itself so seriously? I dunno, but it's amazing and must be watched IMMEDIATELY.
 |
| Damn Dean, you just never get it. |
What I'm Doing
Outside of uni? Not much. I went wedding dress shopping with a friend last week and it was so much more stressful than I expected. A lot of the stores would give you these little tags and tell you to put them on the dresses you like, but after a couple of minutes every dress looks exactly the same - puffy, white, sparkly. My poor friend struggled to explain what she wanted to the assistants (lace top, not too formal/wedding-y, light basically) and she ended up trying on so many duds before finally finding the perfect store with the perfect selection. I am less excited about the whole wedding process now that I've seen it first hand. God it must be exhausting (you still hanging in there Alley?!)
Oh, I wear glasses now!
While I was in Japan I got word that my sister had her eyes tested and needed glasses which meant that my two sisters and one brother have all been prescribed glasses in the past year, so when I got back I went and got my eyes tested. It's so annoying, I was always told my vision was perfect yadayadayada and then all of a sudden, BLAM, glasses. I don't need to wear them all the time, but it doesn't hurt to (apparently) - so I'm slowly getting used to having frames on my face 24/7. I'm still not entirely out of that "whoops still wearing sunglasses, oh wait no they're glasses" phase, and I'm still not used to seeing my reflection wearing glasses. Also, is glasses shopping the worst or what? It is firmly up there with jeans and swimsuits as far as I'm concerned.
Hmmmmm. I'm redecorating my house? When I moved out of home I moved into a furnished house (worst move, SO not worth it) and then when I moved out of there my dad offered me all of his furniture which was in storage down in Sydney. So for the last 5 years I've mostly been using his furniture but replacing it ever-so-slowly each year. Now I just need to buy a couple of final big items (new couch and armchair) and I'm pretty much set up in a house that represents me and Tom, instead of the parental hand-me-downs. Which is nice, plus it means the house will be better for entertaining and having people over for movie nights, which our previous couch-situation did not accommodate. If anyone has any tips for online homeware stores, please share!
Okay so I'm going to stop prattling so that I can go and finish my final Japan post and hopefully finish up a book today and maybe get a review written (WHAT! I know right?) How has everyone been lately? I missssss chatting to everyone on twitter and commenting on blogs and stuff, WHAT IS HAPPENING IN YOUR LIVES RIGHT NOW, I MUST KNOW!
*I feel a little icky writing that, since this is real life not a movie. But the way the doco is shot, events unfold as the movie is being filmed, means that it actually is better to watch it this way. You learn things with the people, you feel the shock when they feel the shock etc.
