I found this list I wrote at some stage last year, of books I'd discovered on the net which I thought sounded interesting. A few I had heard of before but a few I hadn't, and then reading other blogs discovering how popular they are.
So I thought I'd better post them as a reminder and get onto reading them. Since I made the list though, I have read numbers 2, 6, and 11.
1. Beloved by Toni Morrison
2. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
3. Peyton Place Grace Metalious
4. The Princess bride by William Goldman
5. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
6. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
7. The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullugh
8. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
9. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
10. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
11. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
12. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
13. I Love You Beth Cooper by Larry Doycle
14. Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
15. Prep by Curtis Sittenfield
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Confesssions of a Shopaholic
Having just seen the movie today, I thought I'd compare the book and movie as they were quite different.
Rebecca Bloomwood is a journalist who is somehow working at a financial magazine although she is in debt and has a debt collector (or a 'stalker' as she explains to her parents) hounding her for money throughout the novel.
Rebecca Bloomwood is a journalist who is somehow working at a financial magazine although she is in debt and has a debt collector (or a 'stalker' as she explains to her parents) hounding her for money throughout the novel.
She lives with her friend Suze who practically lets her live rent free as she never has enough money for her rent cheques to be cashed.
Becki gets a good 'warm' feeling from shopping for mostly designer clothes, shoes, and bags and feels compelled to put everything onto her credit card and forget about the consequences of using all that plastic until she gets her statement and is convinced someone has stolen her credit card.
Becki does realise she has a problem though and tries 'cutting back' and then 'earning more' neither of which help the situation as she keeps making more and more excuses to shop. She even tries one disastrious day working in retail where she fights with a customer she's meant to be helping, for a pair of pants.
Luke Brandon, Becki's love interst in the novel is the head of Brandon Communicatiosn, a financial PR company. He and Rebecca have the usual misunderstandings about where they stand and eventually face off (very unrealistically but it is a comedy) on a morning breakfast show after Rebecca outsed one of his companies in an article for misleading clients right before they could have received a monetary windfall.
Rebecca does very well in the debate and it leads to a permanent slot on the show. She also sorts it all out with the bank manager and gets together with Luke who has broken up with his girlfriend.
The main differences are that the novel is set in London, while the film in New York.
Luke Brandon is Becki's boss in the film but in the book someone unrelated to the company she works for.
Suze has a boyfriend then fiance name Tarkin, who in the book was actually Suze's cousin, has a thing for Becki, is a multimillionaire and Becki considers him mostly for this reason but does grow a conscious and can't go through with anything.
In the book Luke is described as a self made millionaire and a genius. This doesn't come though so much in the film. They invent a story about his mother beiing a great rich fashionista but Luke wants to make it on his own, not on his mother's coat tails.
He's also a bit self doubting in the film in some ways, and he and Becki get together quite a bit earlier than in the novel.
I think the novel and film were both okay. I probaly enjoyed the film a bit more, the role was excellent for Isla Fisher (we like to compliment any Perth people pretty early on, see Ledger, Heath) and she comes across a lot more likable in the movie than in the novel.
Becki does realise she has a problem though and tries 'cutting back' and then 'earning more' neither of which help the situation as she keeps making more and more excuses to shop. She even tries one disastrious day working in retail where she fights with a customer she's meant to be helping, for a pair of pants.
Luke Brandon, Becki's love interst in the novel is the head of Brandon Communicatiosn, a financial PR company. He and Rebecca have the usual misunderstandings about where they stand and eventually face off (very unrealistically but it is a comedy) on a morning breakfast show after Rebecca outsed one of his companies in an article for misleading clients right before they could have received a monetary windfall.
Rebecca does very well in the debate and it leads to a permanent slot on the show. She also sorts it all out with the bank manager and gets together with Luke who has broken up with his girlfriend.
The main differences are that the novel is set in London, while the film in New York.
Luke Brandon is Becki's boss in the film but in the book someone unrelated to the company she works for.
Suze has a boyfriend then fiance name Tarkin, who in the book was actually Suze's cousin, has a thing for Becki, is a multimillionaire and Becki considers him mostly for this reason but does grow a conscious and can't go through with anything.
In the book Luke is described as a self made millionaire and a genius. This doesn't come though so much in the film. They invent a story about his mother beiing a great rich fashionista but Luke wants to make it on his own, not on his mother's coat tails.
He's also a bit self doubting in the film in some ways, and he and Becki get together quite a bit earlier than in the novel.
I think the novel and film were both okay. I probaly enjoyed the film a bit more, the role was excellent for Isla Fisher (we like to compliment any Perth people pretty early on, see Ledger, Heath) and she comes across a lot more likable in the movie than in the novel.
Having read 2 of Sophie Kinsella's books now I feel she comes across as a bit obsessed with the finer things in life (read: outrageously expensive). I read Remember Me? recently and the preoccupation with mentioning expensive things can get irritating.
Overall the movie and novel were both similar pieces of fluff which are easy to watch/read when you don't want to press your mind too much.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Does it get any easier?
I'll be honest, I'm not getting any younger. I turned 25 last month and while this isn't incredibly old in the scheme of things I do feel I'm getting a bit old to not have a few things sorted out.
Job wise I still don't have much of an idea what I want to do. I have things I think I would enjoy but am getting to that stage where I don't want to start studying something again and then lose interest and decide I don't actually want to do this forever/full time.
Things I've tried (retail):
Toys r us, my first job lasted a couple of years after starting as a Christmas casual
McDonald's, a terrible 9 months which I hated and just did as I needed money. Worked the late Friday night shift 11pm-5am once and had drunk people through drive through asking me if I wanted to be burnt on the arm to become part of their 'club' *shivers*
cafe, lasted 4 years part time and really enjoyed the people I worked with and free muffins and slices
Office/administration:
lasted 2 days in an office for a courier company...Hated it with a passion and had a feeling from the beginning I wouldn't like it when they first told me I had 'won' the job
company I'm currently with, very small office have stayed nearly 2 years, pretty easygoing and low key but can get boring
other company I'm currently with, have lasted nearly a year..really don't have much of a clue about the industry, was meant to be a temp job until I worked out my plan...haven't gotten around to it.
In addition:
Have worked a few days as a dog washer, pretty hard work but I do love dogs but decided against it...I was young (19) and naive...thought working in an office was more 'glamorous' as you go to wear nicer clothes.
Also worked for 3 months for a rugby organisation but they let me go because I wasn't doing the accounts correctly (when I'd had no experience, formal training and was 19!).
So I have tried a few things and also studies. Straight out of high school I completed a certificate 4 in natural therapies and then did 2 years of an early childhood bachelor of education when I was 21. But I decided I wasn't ready to be a teacher, the whole thing was beginning to stress me out.
So I'm thinking maybe I need a job I can leave at work, I'll be stress less etc. But then I see all these high powered women with 'real' careers, passions and I want to be like them.
Maybe I just haven't found my niche yet.
Eh, this ended up being a lame journal type post.
Job wise I still don't have much of an idea what I want to do. I have things I think I would enjoy but am getting to that stage where I don't want to start studying something again and then lose interest and decide I don't actually want to do this forever/full time.
Things I've tried (retail):
Toys r us, my first job lasted a couple of years after starting as a Christmas casual
McDonald's, a terrible 9 months which I hated and just did as I needed money. Worked the late Friday night shift 11pm-5am once and had drunk people through drive through asking me if I wanted to be burnt on the arm to become part of their 'club' *shivers*
cafe, lasted 4 years part time and really enjoyed the people I worked with and free muffins and slices
Office/administration:
lasted 2 days in an office for a courier company...Hated it with a passion and had a feeling from the beginning I wouldn't like it when they first told me I had 'won' the job
company I'm currently with, very small office have stayed nearly 2 years, pretty easygoing and low key but can get boring
other company I'm currently with, have lasted nearly a year..really don't have much of a clue about the industry, was meant to be a temp job until I worked out my plan...haven't gotten around to it.
In addition:
Have worked a few days as a dog washer, pretty hard work but I do love dogs but decided against it...I was young (19) and naive...thought working in an office was more 'glamorous' as you go to wear nicer clothes.
Also worked for 3 months for a rugby organisation but they let me go because I wasn't doing the accounts correctly (when I'd had no experience, formal training and was 19!).
So I have tried a few things and also studies. Straight out of high school I completed a certificate 4 in natural therapies and then did 2 years of an early childhood bachelor of education when I was 21. But I decided I wasn't ready to be a teacher, the whole thing was beginning to stress me out.
So I'm thinking maybe I need a job I can leave at work, I'll be stress less etc. But then I see all these high powered women with 'real' careers, passions and I want to be like them.
Maybe I just haven't found my niche yet.
Eh, this ended up being a lame journal type post.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Picnic at Hanging Rock
This is such a classic Australian book and I was just curious if it was popular in other countries as well. It is a pretty old novel and tells an even older story about girls in a boarding school in the year 1900. The book was written by Joan Lindsay and first published in 1967 and the movie directed by Peter Weir came out in 1975. I watched the movie when I was in primary school before I read the book only a few years ago, but they are both equally good.
I think I felt compelled to read the book because I found the movie to be so haunting and knowing it was one of the first international hits of Australian cinema, I suppose I wanted to see where it all began. I discovered the book has all these other dimensions relating to the characters which wasn't more explored in the movie, as so many book to film adaptations have due to the time restraints of the film.
I have to admit to imagining the characters from the book as they are portrayed in the movie which is good because it is an old timely book and it really gave me an image of just how British Australia was back then. Now we seem to be more American which I'm not really sure which is better but I digress.
In simple terms the book tells the story of how on Valentines day in 1900 during a school excursion to hanging rock in Victoria, 3 schoolgirls and a teacher mysteriously disappear.
The events that unfold concerning the headmistress, the two boys that help search and another student at the school all take up the majority of the book. The disappearance happens quite early in the novel.
Hanging Rock is apparently a picnicking area, although I have never been there myself living on the other side of the country. There is something about the Australian bush which is majestic but also a little frightening. There is a place I go bush walking about 20 minutes from my home and there is just that feeling like you are all alone and this is 40 minutes from our capital city!
The book has a few supernatural themes done in a simplistic yet haunting way. It's not like the book sets out to be completely spooky and throws in all these odd things it just seems to transpire that way.
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