The Long War

by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

Chapter two is lovely, it is emotional, it is picturesque and it has comedy, both laugh out loud moments and cheezy moments where you can't help but groan.

"The United States had long been used to being suspicious of every other country on the planet, and was now becoming suspicious of itself."

Shakespeare Reading Challenge - Hamlet

Nicki Greenberg has turned Hamlet into a beautifully illustrated graphic novel. And it still contains the whole text, as far as I can tell.

Before reading it I was wondering if the pictures would make the play easier to read, however I don’t think it did. It was a bit easier to remember who each character was, but often you didn’t have character names for pages after a character had appeared. I also think that a new reader to Shakespeare would be attracted to the book, but I fear that they would put it down after a couple of pages, as the pictures don’t drastically diminish the difficulty reading this mentally demanding play.

It has taken me many readings to get through Hamlet, and I finally finished it for the first time in Spring 2009. Many unsuccessful attempts made me think Hamlet pointless and dismissive of the hype around the play. When I finally finished it I found Hamlet interesting but I still would not recommend it to other people as I found it physically painful to read. Reading Hamlet again, I have been able to enjoy it more, and understand it better, but I still wouldn’t recommend people to read the dithering Dane.

The pages I enjoyed most were of Ophelia’s decent into madness and death. It’s a bit in the play that seems to dash past, but in pictures, having the flowers grow out of the page, breaking the story squares adds gravity to a serious part which zooms past.

Shakespeare Reading Challenge

There are many different Shakespeare Challenges online. They involve reading from one to 38 plays in a month, or in a year. Competitions that are text focused, competitions that include acting, watching performances, or watching movies based on Shakespeare’s plays.

The Shakespeare Reading Challenge has a very tempting completion HERE. And what is nice, is that it has four levels:

1. Puck: Read 4 plays over the year, 1 of which may be replaced by a performance
2. Desdemona: Read 6 plays, 2 of which may be replaced by a performance
3. Henry V: Read 12 plays, 3 of which may be replaced by a performance

To participate, or not to participate, that is the question…

Count me in. I think.

I’ll have to clarify if “replaced by a performance” means acting or watching or either. Six plays over a year sounds sensible - I’ll strive for Desdemona and perhaps read:

Hamlet
Henry V
A Midsummer Nights Dream
The Merry Wives of Windsor
King Lear
The Winter’s Tale

2010 Reading

Here are listed the 77 books that I read in 2010 arranged roughly by author. However if I counted volumes separately it would mean that I read 90 books. Then some of these 90 books I read more than once this year… Then some of them I might have read in December 2009 and put on this list in error…


The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe - Douglas Adams
Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams
So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish - Douglas Adams
Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams
Zoo Story - Edward Albee
The Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander
Man Walks into a Bar – Stephen Arnott & Mike Haskins
The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Last Days - Manuel Casha
The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (part 1 – 482 pages) – Cervantes
White Tiger - Kylie Chan
Red Phoenix – Kylie Chan
Blue Dragon – Kylie Chan
Earth to Hell – Kylie Chan
Hell to Heaven - Kylie Chan
The Mousetrap and Selected Plays - Agatha Christie
And Another Thing – Eoin Colfer

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

The Name Of The Rose - Umberto Eco
Dead Famous – Ben Elton
Past Mortem - Ben Elton

Shades of Gray - Jasper Fforde
The Last Dragonslayer – Jasper Fforde
Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Stephen Fry’s Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music

Coraline - Neil Gaiman
Fragile Things – Neil Gaiman
Smoke and Mirrors – Neil Gaiman
The Sandman Volumes 1-11 - Neil Gaiman
The Sandman: Volume 6 – Fables & Reflections - Neil Gaiman
Sandman: The Dream Hunters - Neil Gaiman
Death: The High Cost of Living - Neil Gaiman
Death: The Time of Your Life - Neil Gaiman
The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains - Neil Gaiman
Stories All New Tales – edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
Patience – W. Gilbert
The Mikado – W. Gilbert
Chinese Folktales - edited by Howard Giskin
An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
The Great Gatsby – A Graphic Adaptation - Nicki Greenberg
Asterix and the Big Fight - Goscinny and Uderzo
Asterix and the Great Crossing - Goscinny and Uderzo
Asterix and The Vikings - Goscinny and Uderzo

Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
Classical Mythology Images & Insights - Stephen Harris
High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

The Trial - Franz Kafka
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey

Weekend - Matthew Lambert
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula LeGuin

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger
Delta of Venus - Anais Nin

Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell

I Shall Wear Midnight – Terry Pratchett
Soul Music – Terry Pratchett
Thief of Time – Terry Pratchett

Best Australian Political Cartoons 2010 – edited by Russ Radcliffe
Twitterature - Alexander Aciman & Emmett Rensin

Holes - Louis Sachar
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare
Twelfth Night – William Shakespeare
Plays - Tom Stoppard

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court - Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

Cricket Jokes - Max Walker and Brian Doyle
Complete Short Fiction - Oscar Wilde
The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays - Oscar Wilde
The Picture Of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Rudyard Kipling Mowgli’s Brothers – edited by Christopher Wormell

Arabian Nights – edited by Jack Zipes
Mythology

Two Good Books

I have just borrowed two books from two wonderful people (Well that is not quite true, I borrowed them ages ago, but have only rust read them and I will return them this week). Both books were lesser known books from famous authors, and I enjoyed them more than other works by the same authors. Both books were about being human and about power, but I don’t want to write much in case I give away too much of the stories, go and read them.

‘The Left Hand of Darkness’ by Ursula LeGuin

I put on my winter coat and went out for a walk, in a disagreeable mood, in a disagreeable world.

A profound love between two people involves, after all, the power and chance of doing profound harm.

There are peoples who have no higher mathematics at all, nothing beyond the simplest applied arithmetic. Every one of them is capable of understanding the calculus, but ot one of them does or ever has.

I’ll make my report as if I told a story, for I was taught as a child on my homeworld that Truth is a matter of the imagination.

‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court’ by Mark Twain

You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus

You see, he was going for the Holy Grail. The boys all took a flier at the Holy Grail now and then. It was a several years' cruise. They always put in the long absence snooping around, in the most conscientious way, though none of them had any idea where the Holy Grail really was, and I don't think any of them actually expected to find it, or would have known what to do with it if he had run across it.

Photo of the Day

Books on stage for the performance of 'The Real Inspector Hound'

I like how the spine of 'The Mousetrap' is reflected on the other book, over the dead body. Photo by me.

Interesting Quotes

Here are some quotes that I like, that I have had lying around for a long time...


“Language is part of a person’s character.” – Francis Bacon


Good guy to evil secretary:
“How’s the secretary biz these days? Scheduled any first-rate appointments lately?”
In Mary Doria Russell’s “The Sparrow”


“Trisha knew who Banquo’s ghost was. She had studied English literature at A-level, and had actually done three months’ teacher training before deciding that she was going to spend her life dealing with juvenile delinquents she would rather do it with full powers of arrest.”
Page 352 Ben Elton’s ‘Dead Famous’


The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket. - Kin Hubbard

Winter Reading

Books and Stories:

Chinese Folktales by Howard Giskin

Hell to Heaven by Kylie Chan

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman

Delta of Venus by Anais Nin

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Twitterature by Alexander Aciman & Emmett Rensin

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Mythology


Plays:

The Mousetrap and Selected Plays by Agatha Christie
(And Then There Were None, Appointment With Death, The Hollow, The Mousetrap)

Weekend by Matthew Lambert

The Last Days by Manuel Casha

Zoo Story by Edward Albee

Plays by Tom Stoppard
(The Real Inspector Hound, After Magritte, Dirty Linen, New-Found-Land, Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth)


Re-read:

Four books by Kylie Chan
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays by Oscar Wilde

Three Posts Around Acting

I have a bad habit of drafting posts and then never putting them up. This is a long one, which started as three posts but have similar themes, through written rather badly. They focus on Snatches, two nights of short plays and Candle Ends, a four night festival of word performance held at Brunswick Arts. Though I have split it up into further parts.



Part 1.1: Initial Thoughts.

D and I were watching Glee and at the end D said ‘How weird’. But I thought that that episode wasn’t all that weird. There was a story which had themes and ideas which provoke thought. The characters had to sing a song that described them, yet they sang songs about others, their fathers, their partners, which led me to think that we define ourselves by our relationships. I am A’s son. B’s Partner. C’s dad. This means that when you are in a relationship you can feel more culturally acceptable, when you are not in a relationship you can feel on the outer fringes of society.



Part 1.2: Snatches.

The 11th year of Snatches has just finished and I enjoyed it. I entered thinking I would just do one thing but then fell into a few. On Wednesday I performed in ‘I am a Mac’, ‘Celebrity Lover’, ‘Form and Substance’ and ‘Bonding’. On Friday I performed in ‘Seven Jewish Children’, and re-performed ‘I am a Mac’ and ‘Bonding’.

But I had more fun than some other nights and I think it is partly because I felt that I acted better. ‘Bonding’ on the Friday was so much fun, and to hear the laughter was beautiful. Afterwards I had a great time talking to everyone over a few drinks. I shall miss C and M when they go overseas. I will have to try and visit them.

I liked the performances of ‘Poem’ and ‘Did You Ever Stay Curled in a Ball’ on Wednesday and ‘Tell Them I Said Something’ and ‘Bucket’ on Friday.

I didn’t realise until I arrived at the theatre on Friday that Jack and I were going to do ‘Bonding’ again, and I started stressing. I hadn’t read the script for a couple of days, so I had to read the script a few times backstage whilst busily biting my nails off. The play before us was ‘Tell Them I Said Something’ (TTISS), and I had no idea how long it would go for and as I stood watching going through my lines and actions in my head I became immensely engrossed in the play. I was laughing and totally forgot my worries and that I was going on staged. I loved TTISS.



Part 2.1: Rehearsing for ‘Salome’ - Death

Every picture has a thousand words. Pictures and words, words and pictures. Pictures invoke words and words invoke pictures. Rehearsing ‘Salome’ I am being haunted by a picture. My lines are:

Jokanaan: Get thee behind me! I hear in the palace the beatings of the wings of the angel of death.

Herod: There is an icy wind, and I hear … wherefore do I hear in the air this beating of wings? Ah! One might fancy a bird, a huge black bird that hovers over the terrace. Why can I not see it, this bird? The beat of its wings is terrible. The breath of the wind of its wings is terrible. It is a chill wind.

Herod: I tell you there is a wind that blows … And I hear in the air something that is like the beating of wings, like the beating of vast wings. Do you not hear it?

And these passages make me think of the scenes in the comic Sandman the episode called “The Sound of Her Wings”, Death and her brother feeding pigeons.

I like Neil Gaiman’s death, she is happy and through the stories I think that she is portrayed as more than death, but the circle of life, or the wheel of reincarnation. Of cause Terry Pratchett has a great death as well. I have to get these images out of my head or I will start smiling when I say ‘the sound of the wings of the Angle of death’.

NOTE: ‘Poisoning Pigeons in the Park’ is a song by Tom Lehrer



Part 3.1: After Candle Ends Driving North

Sitting at Wallan Wallan thinking… Sometimes I just want to drive on for ever, through Wodonga, Yass, Sydney, Brisbane, for ever travelling. A journey of healing, thinking, singing corny songs, only stopping to read, sleep and drink.

I’ve seen a bit of theatre lately, or through Candle Ends and it makes you think. Or you chose to think.



Part 3.2: First Date – A Physical Theatre performance by Penny.

Penny’s (from ‘Born in a Taxi’) performance, her facial expressions and her physical struggle to pull words out of her mouth, made me think that ‘yes that is exactly how uncomfortable and difficult interpersonal interactions’ can be. And this month has been difficult for me. At the moment I would love to hide. And in a way that might be what I am doing here.



Part 3.3: Edward Albee’s ‘Zoo Story’

Colin was wonderful as Jerry in Albee’s ‘Zoo Story’, which also spoke about interactions. It was a wonderful performance, both funny and thought provoking. Colin was wonderfully believable as a man down on his luck and had us as the audience in the palm of his hand. Though I have seen it five times I am finding it difficult to recall my thoughts and can only recall the interesting line “I’ll try to kill him with kindness, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll just kill him”.

But I do remember thinking that we show love and interact with others using a whole range of emotions, love, hate and indifference. “But if such a loss, can be called a gain” and that it is partially through our interactions we define our selves. “With a cockroach, with a carpet, with god … and perhaps one day with a human.”

I have really enjoyed my time with M,M,A,T,E,C,et al, but I have not interacted that much. I have not been ready, but I think of them as great friendly people.



Part 3.4: Thoughts

“You cant say ‘A dog I know’ without sounding suss” – from ‘Zoo Story’ by Edward Albee

“To espresso or to Latte, that is the Question, whether ‘tis tastier on the palette to choose white mocha over plain, or take a cup to go, or a mug to stay, or extra cream, or have nothing, and by opposing the endless choice end one’s heartache, to froth, to sprinkle, perchance to drink.” – from ‘Something Rotten’ by Jasper Fforde

Lady Jumping Flea who sings bittersweetly, Ali G, whose audience participation was hilarious and so very clever. Poems from M and M,

I think I may be tired.

“Perchance to dream” – from ‘Hamlet’ by Shakespeare

“I’ve been to the zoo.” – from ‘Zoo Story’ by Edward Albee

Must get a copy of A’s lizard-chicken story

Talking with Peter and Erin, I love Erin’s I believe poem: “I believe in too much coffee and books, both to be shard with friends, unexpected guests.”

I’ve run out of three pens writing this.

I’m beginning doubt my acting ability. I’ve always known that I’m not brilliant. But lately I’ve been stuffing up too much in a variety of ways. I thought that Bonding was great and thought that I might have rediscovered something. But I thought that something went wrong with Salome and LLareggub, which is a shame as they are two of the most beautiful bits of poetry I have acted in. To perform, do I need to find a story that fits me, or do I need to change to fit a story? I wonder where I can take acting workshops.

My coffee is almost finished. I have to think about hitting the road again. It’s interesting driving under these conditions. The sky is misty with light spitting rain. Everything is ever so dark. If there is a car ahead you use their tail lights to read the road and if not you stick to the side, your headlights following the curves of the road. Mo moon and stars to light the way, cars either overtake or sit behind you, using you as their guide.

Mothers Day Bistromathematics

One thing that a lot of comedians and actors do well is to take a normal everyday occurrence and point out how totally ridiculous it is.

Douglas Adams in “Life the Universe and Everything” creates a spaceship that runs by the advanced mathematics that occurs in restaurants, including arguing over the bill.

“The third and most mysterious piece of non-absoluteness of all lies in the relationship between the number of items on the bill, the cost of each item, the number of people at the table, and what they are prepared to pay for.” (Page 342)

“… They had had the bill, had argued convincingly about who had had the cannelloni and how many bottles of wine they had had, and … had thereby successfully manoeuvred the ship … into orbit round a strange planet.” (Page 379)

Whilst having a Mothers Day Diner at a lovely Indian restaurant I was laughing at the absurdity of the bill, and realising how beautifully Douglas Adams had got it right.

This ‘light bulb’ moment struck me so late in life, because usually when eating out the bill is picked up entirely by one person, and we take turns to do so – except for in the case of parents and some friends who will remain nameless (I’m looking at you Aidan) who seem to pay more often then they should.

Samosas
Pakoras
Onion Bahji
Aloo Goobi
Dahl Mahkani
Mushroom Mutter
Pumpkin Masala
Matter Paneer
2 Garlic Naan
2 Plain Naan
2 Large Rice
3 Coffees
2 Mango Lassi
3 Lemonades

Seven People.
Food cost: $121.00



$100 from Lynne, argued down to $50, left early and $15 will be returned. Money to pay for Lynne and Gran

$40 from George to pay for George and Anne, argued down to $20.

$50 from Andrew to pay for Anne and Andrew (I had three drinks.)

$20 from Karyn to pay for Karyn and Gran

David did not pay anything or say anything.

Total: $125



(Page numbers are from my “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – A trilogy in four parts” book, so if you subtract 308 from the above page numbers you should get roughly the page number for “Life, the Universe and Everything”)

American Gods

‘One Book, One Twitter’ begins today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are. A world wide book club who will be reading “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman. To participate go to @1T1T2010

I won’t be participating. I have read the book. It is a good book, and one day I will reread it, but not at the moment. I think that since I have now read more of Neil’s works I will enjoy it more a second time. I’m still trying to finish “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. It’s a good book, but my head has been in the wrong space.

I tend to have reading peaks and troughs through out the year and I think I’m in a trough.

Does the post title refer to the book, Neil Gaiman, Huckleberry Finn or to Mark Twain?

Copywrong or Copyright

Copywrong or Copyright

Brother David and I do not see many movies. Cousin Cod is studying Media this year and is going to the cinema to watch a movie every week as home work. David has been challenged to match Cod and is aiming to watch 52 movies at the cinema this year and I’ve been lucky to have been invited along to a couple.

I have seen some terrific movies and some horrible movies. Three of the movies I have issues with include “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief”, “Clash of the Titans” and “Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland”.

Erin at erinvoth.blogspot.com notes that “Percy” and “Clash” are both poorly written, poorly directed, have poor special effects and portray women as either monsters or things. All excellent points but my main issue today is that in addition they destroy (or use) other’s literary works.

Likewise, thanks to Tim Burton (a director whom I admire), a whole generation now know the words and language of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky (originally featured in “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There”) but sadly not in the original context. And I feel that this is a great loss.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
- Lewis Carroll 1872

I know that the Greek Myths and Plays were written before the idea of copyright and that Alice has long been out of copyright, but being at uni for years hearing people talk about plagiarism I think that playing with other’s works is wrong. Especially wrong when you adapt it in such a horrible manner such as “Percy” and “Clash” in a way it destroys the original. And you are destroying Classic works.

To correct mistakes the demigod Io has nothing to do with the story of Perseus, Pegasus is said to have sprung from the severed head of Medusa so therefore can not be met before the slaying of Medusa, and there is nothing to say that Medusa is evil and lives in the underworld but at one stage was beautiful and wouldn’t harm anyone (apart from Athena) if people would just not decide to lop off her head or steal her apples.

But this use of other’s works is not just a 2010 phenomenon, but has been going on for a while. For example pride of place in my bookshelf lives books written by Jasper Fforde and Neil Gaiman, and on other shelves you can find Corneilia Funke and Gregory Maguire, all who use other’s creations, some which are still in copyright and some who are not. (Am I a hypocrite?)

Fforde’s works contain ‘credits’ where he, in a humorous manner, acknowledges those whose work he has used; Shakespeare, Austin. Likewise Funke acknowledges her sources. However on the other hand Neil Gaiman and ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief’ both use mythology or characters from mythology who have never been under copyright and a lot of them are long forgotten such as Zeus, Loki and Bast.

But one of my issues is that the use of these characters has changed the audience’s view towards the original works. And I think that this is a line that should not be crossed. One of the most pronounced change is Maguire’s “Wicked” (and the following musical) where he tells the tale of Baum’s “Wizard of Oz” through the eyes of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Feedback on Maguire’s “Wicked” included: “Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again” and Maguire states in his dedication “Please don’t sue me.” So surely someone must realise that if something is not rotten in the state of Denmark, it is certainly rotten in the bookworld (no pun intended). I have observed people leaving the musical “Wicked” believing that it was what Frank Baum wanted, that the wicked witch of the West is good and the wizard is evil. In the social conscious of the Earth hear-and-now ‘Wicked’ is now canon. Admittedly this could also be partly due to the stupidness of people. But I feel that this is wrong.

I enjoyed Maguire’s “Wicked” there are some wonderful questions posed along the lines of evil, propaganda and free speech. And I love Fforde and Gaiman’s works, but I just feel that the line must be drawn somewhere.







On Tangents:

I’ve been wracking my brains trying to remember where I’ve heard some one say “but the line must be drawn somewhere” and after a lot more searching than I would have thought possible it is from this literary line, written by Gilbert in 1878 (though there could be others): “I attach but little value to rank or wealth, but the line must be drawn somewhere. A man in that station may be brave and worthy, but at every step he would commit solecisms that society would never pardon.”

I have not used the word “intercontextuality” or worked out how to spell it in today's post.

I prefer the Greek god names over the Roman.

Medusa has often been used to portray the raging aspect of the human psyche. I would love to be able to draw a picture of all aspects of the human psyche crowded around a person. The classical conscious with an angel and a devil, a troll and wolf symbolising the deep aspect of flight or fight, personification of fear, love, anger…

The Fall and Rise of my Reading

At work Caroline says it is wrong to re-read books, but I feel that re-reading is like visiting an old friend. But if you don’t re-read, what is the point of owning any books. We could talk about useless possessions, cost, etc. But I wonder how long I could last without going into a bookshop and buying anything, only going to Libraries and borrowing books off friends and family. There is something, nice, sweet and selfish about having a ‘fresh’ book. Then again I would have over nine boxes of books and growing.

Anyway I have recently read:

“Complete Short Fiction” by Oscar Wilde
Of which my favourites were; The Happy Prince; The Devoted Friend; The Fisherman and His Soul and Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime. Both mum and I loved The Happy Prince, though we didn’t realise that it was written by Wilde. Mum thought that it was collected by Hans Christian Andersen. Andersen did write ‘The Steadfast Tin Soldier’ and ‘The Little Match Girl’ who are both reflected in The Happy Prince. As kids, my sister and I had a collection of children’s stories, which all came with cassette tapes, which had the ‘The Happy Prince’ and kid’s versions of Andersen and Grimm and the Thousand Nights.

“The Sandman Volumes 7-11” by Neil Gaiman
Also read “Sandman: The Dream Hunters”, “Death: The High Cost of Living”, and “Death: The Time of Your Life”, all by Neil Gaiman. Yes this has become a very expensive addiction – but a very enjoyable one, and I will re-read them again and again.

“Tess of the D’Urbervilles” by Thomas Hardy
This is a good book, but just not one of my favourites. It skips time in a manner which confuses the reader as to how much time has passed and it skips parts of interesting discussions. The bad guy is a huge pain in the neck – I dislike him so strongly that it might have interferred with my enjoyment of the text. I can understand how some people would think that it is a wonderful book, and there are many nice passages, just not one of my best.

“Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens
This is a good book, has an interesting start, but the best part is the last third, so if you find it a hard slog and give up you wont get to the good bits. I liked David Copperfield better as it was more pleasurable.

“Bridget Jones’s Diary” by Helen Fielding
It’s an okay book, has a number of good moments and laugh out loud moments, but nothing special. Not my type of book, though I can see how others would enjoy it. I will need to ask people whether this story would be in the small pile of books that are better as films. Any way one more book down from the list.

“White Tiger” by Kylie Chan
Recommended by David. Also read “Red Phoenix”, “Blue Dragon” and “Earth to Hell” all by Kylie Chan. A very good read. A sort of Dungeons and Dragons book, but set in a real time Hong Kong with interesting Chinese mythological characters. The only annoying thing is that the first series (White/Red/Blue) ends at a horrible place with a thousand plot lines unresolved. However “Earth to Hell” closes up a lot of these story lines and finishes in a much better position. I am looking forwards to the next two books. I just hope they tie up the story lines.




And here are some old friends that I have recently re-read. I think I have almost stopped quoting Adams (Apart from airports and 42).

“Shades of Gray” by Jasper Fforde
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams
“The Restaurant at the End of the Universe” by Douglas Adams
“Life, the Universe and Everything” by Douglas Adams
“So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish” by Douglas Adams
“Mostly Harmless” by Douglas Adams by Douglas Adams




I have now read 37 books from the list of 100. I'm contemplating stopping after the 42nd. For the entire list go to http://outofthemindsofandrews.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-is-intelligence.html

Summer to Autumn Reading

“The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays” by Oscar Wilde
Recommended by Erin. Lady Windermere’s Fan; Salome; A Woman of No Importance; An Ideal Husband; The Importance of Being Earnest
The plays are lovely, filled with brilliant repartee. I want to see them! No! I want to act in them!


“The Name Of The Rose” by Umberto Eco
Recommended by George. The Name of The Rose is a good whodunit, filled with discussions on Catholicism. Sometimes the theological debates were a bit over my head, but I still enjoyed it. I would like to know how much is based on history and Catholic theology and how much is made up. I like how the main character predicts the contents of a book, by reading other books. Doing a bit of reading tells me that it borrows from the tale of Scheherazade and the Thousand and One Nights, however it has made me want to read Don Quixote. I think my brain must work in very weird ways.


“The Picture Of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde
Enjoyable but I enjoyed the plays. George thinks that I prefer the plays because I am a simpleton who does not like brainy debates and ideas.


“Shades of Grey” by Jasper Fforde
I enjoyed Shades of Grey and its post-apocalyptic setting made me want to read 1984. Shades is a great book however I wouldn’t recommend it until the sequels arrive. I want to see what happens next. There is an ill-explained contradiction there.


“Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell
Recommended by everyone, from conspiracy theorists to government personal.

Summer Reading

I’ve been busy reading books that have been recommended by friends and family, and having a second childhood re-reading books that I read as a kid. Is it worth buying books that you would only read once? Most of these books I read in December. I might have read more in December than the entire year combined.


(in no particular order)


“Holes” by Louis Sachar
Recommended by Julie. It is a very good book about a boy who has been sent to a ‘camp’ because he was found guilty of a crime that he did not commit. I couldn’t put it down.


“Coraline” by Neil Gaiman
Recommended by Aidan. The book was okay, but I preferred the movie – There are not many books that I would say that about.


“An Abundance of Katherines” by John Green
Recommended by Caitlin, well technically she recommended anything by John Green. An Abundance is a very enjoyable book, very simple to read and intelligent in it’s own way.


“Cricket Jokes” by Max Walker and Brian Doyle
Recommended by Dad. It has jokes, it is a joke book, what more can be said?


“David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens
Recommended by Mum. It is a wonderful book! Like most classics there are parts that are a drag, but then there are huge sections that fill you up with wonderful feelings of happiness that you fly through. Would be in my top ten book list, if I had a list.


“The Great Gatsby – A Graphic Adaptation” by Nicki Greenberg
I haven’t been able to find “The Great Gatsby” by F Scott Fitzgerald which is on the BBC’s list of 100 books that people haven’t read, so when I found this book in the library I borrowed it, and I enjoyed it a lot. It is the first graphic novel that I read, so started with a bit of intrepidation but the language, which I imagine is mostly straight out of Fitzgerald’s work is amazing. I enjoyed it a lot! Now to find the original work.


“The Sandman: Volume 1 – Preludes & Nocturnes” by Neil Gaiman
Aniko recommended The Sandman, and having read my first ever graphic novel I picked it up and enjoyed it. I found most editions/chapters interesting, with only one that I found a bit freaky. Reading the introduction and afterword it sounded like that Neil felt he did not start writing in his own voice until the later parts, therefore I will have to find Volume 2.


“The Sandman: Volumes 2-6” by Neil Gaiman
Enjoyable. I like how new books/novels/stories build on mythologies of the past earthly civilizations. My favourite is “Volume 6 – Fables & Reflections”. The stories seem longer, there are more stories and they are well constructed. However the only problem is that I think that I’m hooked. This could become a very expensive addiction – however everything looks cheaper on Amazon, just please remind me to convert to Australian dollars.


“The Trial” by Franz Kafka
Interesting but is a very very long read for such a short book. Small parts are terrific but there are paragraphs that go for over seven pages that just seem to drag and drag and drag. There are a few places where the story seems to take a huge jump – but as I discovered when I finished it, The Trial was unfinished at the time of Kafka’s death. And what I find interesting is that Kafka requested that all his notes be burned after his death unread, but his friend published them believing that Kafka only told him to burn them knowing that he wouldn’t do so.


“Her Fearful Symmetry” by Audrey Niffenegger
I usually don’t like stories that have ghosts in them, but I did enjoy this book.


“Past Mortem” by Ben Elton
The main character is a policeman trying to solve a few very weird murders, who gets involved in his past through a online school reunion site. Reading this I was trying to decide whether to go to my tenth year high school reunion. However as I was acting I missed out. There was a lot of people that I would like to see, but I was not close friends to a lot who said that they would be there. An enjoyable book, but my favourite Ben Elton book is still Inconceivable.


“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood
On the BBC’s list of 100 books that people haven’t read. I enjoyed it. Nice ideas and a bit disturbing near the end, and a very weird end.


“The Chronicles of Prydain” by Lloyd Alexander
I never read these as children, but they would always be advertised in the back of my Chronicles of Narnia books and they had such interesting titles and I always wanted to read them. I finally read Stace’s copies a couple of years ago but recently found a free second hand copy, The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer and The High King. They are a good book, recommended for children and plot wise much better than Narnia. As an adult I love the references to Welsh Mythology.


Stephen Harris (2008) “Classical Mythology Images & Insights 5th edition” McGraw-Hill
I like Greek Mythology, and while at S&A’s this book was lying around and I read bits and pieces. As it has both myths/plays and analysis it is more cerebal and enjoyable than just reading straight mythology.


Asterix and the: “Great Crossing” and “The Vikings” and the “Big Fight” by R Goscinny and A. Uderzo
This second childhood of mine is because the play Titus Andronicus reminded me of a scene in one of the Asterix comics where people are always in baths. However I just can not find it. Though they are still an okay read.

Titus Set and Prop

I like sets and props. However sometimes they are not given any recognition.

Set by Sophie

What could I hide?

Spring Reading

(in no particular order)


Books:

“And Another Thing” by Eoin Colfer
On behalf of Douglas Adams’s Trust, Eoin Colfer set out to write the next book in Douglas Adam’s Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy, and as such we now have Part Six of Three. I enjoyed the book, however there was not the same amount of Science and Maths which existed in Adam’s books which I found disappointing. Instead Eoin Colfer uses religion. 6/10


“Unseen Academicals” by Terry Pratchett (twice)
I enjoyed Unseen Academicals; however I know that a lot of people didn’t. I quite like football, well, Australian Rules Football, and that probably helps. But, I thought the story was more about people then football. There were a few plot leaps, but enjoyable. “The thing about football – the important thing about football – is that it is not just about football” 6/10


“Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” by Patrick Suskind
I loved how Suskind was able to describe common everyday things in language that was gripping and made the book so lovely to read. At the end of every chapter you I wanted to keep on reading, I had to start making my breaks in the middle of chapters. My only negative would be why wasn’t there more people with that same unique scent. 9/10


“Stiff Upper Lips and Baggy Green Caps: A Sledger’s History of the Ashes” by Simon Briggs
This book was rather disappointing. With a sub-title such as “A Sledger’s History” I was hoping for a lot more sledges. “Which of you bastards, called this bastard a bastard?” 3/10


“The Complete Polysyllabic Spree” by Nick Hornby
I bought this book thinking that it had been written by Mark Haddon. Well not Mark Haddon as clearly Nick was written on the cover, but the person who wrote “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” which turns out was by Mark Haddon and not Nick Hornby. The Complete Polysyllabic Spree is a collection of articles that Nick Hornby wrote for a paper which listed the books that he bought and the books that he read each month. It would be very interesting to keep a list of books read, however I think (sorry, I know) that some people will make fun of my choice of reading. A large positive about this book, is that it inspires you to read more. Now where did I put that Dickens… "If you are reading a book that is killing you, put it down and read something else, just as you would reach for the remote if you weren't enjoying a TV program." 9/10


“Fever Pitch” by Nick Hornby
This was just not my cup of tea. There are some lovely sentences and the descriptions of society are interesting, but you can’t like every book out there.


“The Sparrow” by Mary Doria Russell
It’s a good book, but I found the ending very very fast. I liked the constant changing from the past to the present, though it did take me a while to get used to it. I’m always a bit slow when two characters have similar names. 7/10


“Man Walks into a Bar” by Stephen Arnott and Mike Haskins (parts)
Quite punny. How can you grade a joke book? Actually how can you grade any books, it is so dependant on how you are feeling at any particular time. And the purpose for what you are reading. The 7/10 for Man Walks into a Bar is very different to the 7/10 for The Sparrow. Also when grading out of 10 for books, no book gets a 10.



Plays:

“The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” by William Shakespeare
It took me too long to read, partially because I lost the book. But it was okay. The question is: Will I go and see it as a play? Probably.


“Katerina” by Paula Armstrong
It’s a good play that will make you laugh


“Titus Andronicus” by William Shakespeare (read a million times)
Well maybe I didn’t read it quite that many times, but it would be close to one hundred times.

An Affair to Remember

I’m doing something that I have promised never to do. Again and again I have made this promise to all parties concerned but I have not been able to keep it. Seven at once! It’s not fair for them, and it's not fair on me. And the juggling is impossible. But I keep on doing it. Isn’t that horrible? Irresponsible? They deserve better; more time, more savouring. Some people seem to be able to do it and not cause trouble. But it always causes trouble for me which makes me feel bad. I’m Shocking!!! I am going to promise not to do it again, and hopefully this time I can keep my promise.

I promise to never ever read more than one book at a time. I will read books one by one and give them the time and effort that they deserve.

The only good news is that I have managed to finish Hamlet – it only took me two months. Thirty down, a few more to go...

What is Intelligence?

What is Intelligence?

For a number of people intelligence is perceived to be linked to what you/they have read. Who hasn’t heard someone say: “You haven’t read Niffenegger? What sort of slime have you crawled out of?”

I love lists of books. I love circling the books that I would love to read. My friend Erin sent me this list of 100 books (And most of them are very well known – there are only six that I have not heard of) and I have read 29 of them. That made me feel a bit un-intelligent, also because the ones that I have read are mostly either kid’s books or science-fiction. Then again, I think people should read the types of books that interest them, and not read books just because the book is a “classic”.

Working at a leading educational University I showed the list to an academic and she said “I’ve read ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ and it is an awful book” . Movies on the other hand, any one who hasn’t seen “The Dish” should be deported...

...However, getting back on topic… “The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books” If I only have to admit to reading six, I will choose…

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
I quote it almost every day (well definitely every day that I talk to Stace – thanks for suggesting that I read it, it’s just a shame I didn’t read it for about three years after you suggested it)

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Because of how it relates to Jasper Fforde – and I shouldn’t hide my geekiness (thanks E and S).

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
Amazing book and I like it how list incorporate new books, especially books such as The Curious Incident, which I can imagine will be seen as a classic in ten and fifty and a hundred years time.

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
Because I read most of it to my nephew which was a very nice experience.


I don’t like how the list contains both: “The Complete Works of Shakespeare” and “Hamlet” I have not read Hamlet. I’ve started Hamlet, and I’m sorry to say that I couldn’t get into it and I couldn’t finish it. It just might not be my cup of tea. I’ll give it a rest and have another go in a year or two. But I think the list would be better served by replacing Hamlet with: “The Princess Bride – by William Goldman.” Or something else…

Am I a book snob? I hope not – though I probably am. Anyway I’m not going to let the list get me down. I will use it as motivation (though that is not quite the word I want) and find five books that I would like to read (I leave the fifth book as your suggestion):

1. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
2. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
3. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
4. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
5. ___________________________

Or what books would you like to add to the list????

Anywhoo here is the list, do to it what you wish.

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

Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read. Tag other book nerds---and that would include me. I want to know who's read what.

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
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

Total Read: 7

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (about half of them)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger -
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

Total: 3

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
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

Total: 3

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 Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

Total: 3

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

Total: 2

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
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 - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Total: 3

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

Total: 0

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 Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt

Total: 2

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

Total: 4

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

Total: 2

Grand Total: 29

Work again

At work I liked my old title “program administrator” and as such I provide “program support”, my new title “academic services officer” says I provide services to academics – all true to a certain degree (no puns intended). However at the moment it seams that some academics are not happy with the services they have been receiving from other admin staff. My two academics seem to be very happy with me and are telling the other academics that they can not pinch me. However I do have one academic who sends me emails telling me that I’m incompetent which gets me down a lot.

At least I have a book full of “fencing, fighting, torture, poison, true love, hate, revenge, giants, hunters, bad men, good men, beautifulest ladies, snakes, spiders, beasts, chases, escapes, lies, truths, passion, and miracles” to read. It is a good book!

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