World Book Night 2013 titles!
What is World Book Night?
Entering into its third year, WBN is at its core, an initiative to get more people reading. With literacy rates falling and people spending more time interacting with their electronic devices instead of the physical written word, it's no wonder that such a programme came about. In total, a million books are given away on the 23rd April and people who receive copies are encouraged to pass the book on when they've finished in order to spread the message about the books that have been chosen.
Sunday, 25 November 2012
Saturday, 24 November 2012
Merlin 5.07: A Lesson in Vengeance
Missed episodes 1-6 of series five? Never fear! You can catch up here: Arthur's Bane Part 1, Arthur's Bane Part 2, The Death Song of Uther Pendragon, Another's Sorrow, The Disir and The Dark Tower
SPOILERS, okay? Don't read if you haven't already watched the previous episodes or read my break-downs of them. Know that you'll be subjecting yourself to considerable heartbreak if you read with the intention of watching the episodes after. There's nothing quite like watching the show for yourself, so watch them first!
Arthur is very proud of himself for remembering his anniversary. He and Gwen are riding in the countryside (with Merlin tagging along reminding them constantly that he isn't there, of course) when they are ambushed. When Arthur's Knights later find traces of sorcery, Arthur begins to agree with Merlin that there was no way that it could have been a coincidence.
SPOILERS, okay? Don't read if you haven't already watched the previous episodes or read my break-downs of them. Know that you'll be subjecting yourself to considerable heartbreak if you read with the intention of watching the episodes after. There's nothing quite like watching the show for yourself, so watch them first!
Arthur is very proud of himself for remembering his anniversary. He and Gwen are riding in the countryside (with Merlin tagging along reminding them constantly that he isn't there, of course) when they are ambushed. When Arthur's Knights later find traces of sorcery, Arthur begins to agree with Merlin that there was no way that it could have been a coincidence.
Thursday, 15 November 2012
NaNoWriMo 2012: Halfway there time-wise if not in wordcount ...
Day Fifteen. I should have 25,005 words by 23:59pm tonight but that's not going to be happening. For one thing, I'm exhausted after staying up late almost every day this week if not every day, trying to bang out the words and I have a full weekend of SIFE/Enactus revelry starting tomorrow with an estimated 3 1/2 hour drive up to Grantham. 400 SIFE students, PGL camp and undiluted SIFE cheesiness? BRING IT ON.
Still, I'm on 22,607 which I consider to be pretty respectable considering the amount of work that I've got to do besides NaNo. Thankfully, my Equity seminars are finished for this term, but I've still got two essays I should be writing, three other seminars to prepare for, notes to catch up on, textbooks and cases to read ... and that's not even including my SIFE stuff. Boy, am I behind.
I'm pretty pleased with myself for making it this far and now that I've got past the 20K mark (the 25K one will feel even better) I don't want to stop. It will be a huge shame if I don't finish now and I'll be pretty pissed off with myself. It looks like I've got another fifteen days of little-to-no-sleep ahead of me. Joy.
Keep up with my NaNo daily wordcount on the sidebar on the right. Isn't it awesome? You'll find out in fifteen days time whether or not I've reached 50K or not. Until then, don't expect any reviews. Bonus if there are any. Why is one day only twenty-four measly hours?
Still, I'm on 22,607 which I consider to be pretty respectable considering the amount of work that I've got to do besides NaNo. Thankfully, my Equity seminars are finished for this term, but I've still got two essays I should be writing, three other seminars to prepare for, notes to catch up on, textbooks and cases to read ... and that's not even including my SIFE stuff. Boy, am I behind.
I'm pretty pleased with myself for making it this far and now that I've got past the 20K mark (the 25K one will feel even better) I don't want to stop. It will be a huge shame if I don't finish now and I'll be pretty pissed off with myself. It looks like I've got another fifteen days of little-to-no-sleep ahead of me. Joy.
Keep up with my NaNo daily wordcount on the sidebar on the right. Isn't it awesome? You'll find out in fifteen days time whether or not I've reached 50K or not. Until then, don't expect any reviews. Bonus if there are any. Why is one day only twenty-four measly hours?
Merlin 5.06: The Dark Tower
Missed Merlin series 5 episodes 1-5? Find them here: Arthur's Bane Part 1, Arthur's Bane Part 2, The Death Song of Uther Pendragon, Another's Sorrow, The Disir. Beware of spoilers!
Awful, awful spoilers here. There's no way that I can avoid talking about them, just because it's so heinously against the grain of what's expected from this interpretation of the legend that I'm gobsmacked. More to the point, I don't want to not talk about them. I do hope that there's a real reason for this betrayal - hasn't Arthur been through enough already? So if you plan on watching this episode for yourself and want the 'surprise', as it were, then don't ruin it for yourself and read my review.
I'm seriously heartbroken by this episode; as if The Disir hadn't been bad enough already, they've just completely made me hate a character that I don't normally love. I just don't know how they could possibly take Merlin down this route, especially, like I've said, the shocking blow we received last week. Like there aren't enough evil regular and special-appearance characters already, they had to add another to their midst.
Awful, awful spoilers here. There's no way that I can avoid talking about them, just because it's so heinously against the grain of what's expected from this interpretation of the legend that I'm gobsmacked. More to the point, I don't want to not talk about them. I do hope that there's a real reason for this betrayal - hasn't Arthur been through enough already? So if you plan on watching this episode for yourself and want the 'surprise', as it were, then don't ruin it for yourself and read my review.
I'm seriously heartbroken by this episode; as if The Disir hadn't been bad enough already, they've just completely made me hate a character that I don't normally love. I just don't know how they could possibly take Merlin down this route, especially, like I've said, the shocking blow we received last week. Like there aren't enough evil regular and special-appearance characters already, they had to add another to their midst.
Sunday, 11 November 2012
Merlin 5.05: The Disir
Episode 5 already! Read my lowdown's on the previous episodes here: Arthur's Bane Part 1, Arthur's Bane Part 2, The Death Song of Uther Pendragon and Another's Sorrow.
Beware of spoilers. Don't read if you plan to watch the episode.
WOW was this episode something. Not only is it packed full of highs and lows, but IMO, it's the single most important episode with regard to Arthur's destiny and Merlin's role in it, in a very long time, if not ever. It made me want to cry (a lot) and I have three pages of notes and quotes that I'm going to try and condense into something hopefully resembling logical thought. Apologies if it doesn't.
Beware of spoilers. Don't read if you plan to watch the episode.
WOW was this episode something. Not only is it packed full of highs and lows, but IMO, it's the single most important episode with regard to Arthur's destiny and Merlin's role in it, in a very long time, if not ever. It made me want to cry (a lot) and I have three pages of notes and quotes that I'm going to try and condense into something hopefully resembling logical thought. Apologies if it doesn't.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Admin update
The Favourite Books tab has been updated a little to include some of the fabulous books and authors I've discovered this year. I have a feeling that I might overhaul it again soon to list alphabetically by author rather than title ... when I have more time.
I've taken the plunge and started NaNo. For the first time ever, I didn't have a detailed plan of exactly what was going to happen and a full list of character names etc and I'm sort of liking it. Even in hte years where I had a plan, there were some areas where I would just let my characters take me where they wanted and that's exactly what I'm doing now. For my whole, 50,000 word novel. Apart from a vague idea about the general plot and where I want Marissa and Josh (my protagonists!) to end up, I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen the next time I open up my NaNo document. And you know what? The thought thrills me. I'll be updating my daily total wordcount on the right between the 'About Me' and 'Blog Archive'. As you can see, I had a brilliant day yesterday with 3,205 words bringing my total to 4921 which is just below on target. Let's see what today brings.
I've taken the plunge and started NaNo. For the first time ever, I didn't have a detailed plan of exactly what was going to happen and a full list of character names etc and I'm sort of liking it. Even in hte years where I had a plan, there were some areas where I would just let my characters take me where they wanted and that's exactly what I'm doing now. For my whole, 50,000 word novel. Apart from a vague idea about the general plot and where I want Marissa and Josh (my protagonists!) to end up, I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen the next time I open up my NaNo document. And you know what? The thought thrills me. I'll be updating my daily total wordcount on the right between the 'About Me' and 'Blog Archive'. As you can see, I had a brilliant day yesterday with 3,205 words bringing my total to 4921 which is just below on target. Let's see what today brings.
Friday, 2 November 2012
The Demands by Mark Billingham
The Demands / Good as Dead (2011)Mark Billingham
Grade: C+
Genre: crime
Source: NetGalley / library
Tom Thorne: ... (10) The Demands
Detective Sergeant Helen Weeks visits her local newsagent just as she does every morning after dropping off her son, Alfie, with the childminder. Her chewing gum, chocolate and newspaper are pretty standard staples for her morning commute into work and she always has time for a few minutes of polite conversation with the newsagent, Mr Aktar, while he counts her change. What she doesn’t expect this particular morning is to have a gun pointed at head and be taken hostage.
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