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Currently Reading…
How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran. It's funny cos it's true.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Stuck half way, but it's true, her eyes do change colour. Like David Bowie. Or a Blythe doll.
Recently read…
Gumble's Yard by John Rowe Townsend.
Noah's Castle by John Rowe Townsend.
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness. Grim, but brilliant kids' book.
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Brilliant dystopian book for teens. The short prequel is a free Kindle download.
Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliot Perlman. 607 pages, seven viewpoints of the same extraordinarily inter-twined events. Clever, full of good ideas but I didn't warm to the main character and didn't love it anywhere near as much as A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz.
The Fear by Charlie Higson.
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson. I HATED this book - which was a surprise as I really liked the previous 3 Jackson Brodies, esp the previous one. Why? Too many characters I didn't care about. Not enough Jackson Brodie. And I know it's grim up North - but just too, too grim. Forced myself to finish it, but only because I bloody paid for it.
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson. MUCH better than the TV adaptation, which I found very confusing. Very readable - some of the turns choices made by the main characters have had me going 'whaaat'? but it's all the more believable and enjoyable for them.
One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson. Good, but didn't enjoy it as much as Case Histories.
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. Bliss.
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer.
Solar by Ian McEwan. Good holiday read but not stunning literature.
One Day by David Nicholls. I am officially the last person-but-one in England to read this. Loved it, though. Bastard.
Moonraker by Ian Fleming. Ah, another improbably-named young woman to see you, Mr Bond. (Like I can talk).
Obstacles to Young Love by David Nobbs. This lad Nobbs will go far. Funny, touching, very occasionally annoying, but a damn fine novel.
The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim by Jonathan Coe. Hated the ending. Sorry. Sure it's been done elsewhere. My first, and probably last, Coe.
Hungry the Stars and Everything by Emma Jane Unsworth. Delicious!
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. It's Dickens with swear words. In a good way.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. From 1949. Perfect. It's so good, I love it so much. Cannot believe I've never read this before.
Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason - bit disappointed. Just a police procedural. Not that odd. No big DNA conspiracy.
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford - I proof-read a neighbour's uni essay on this and had to read it. Bleak it is, so bleak - especially for a man of my age and circumstance. Almost gave up but half way through I 'got it' and glad I finished it. But grim. Grim.
The Game by Jack London.
The Man Who Went Up In Smoke by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. 2nd Martin Beck novel from the original masters of the modern (1960s) police procedural.
Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming. I enjoyed this WAY more than Engleby. Really good, flavour of Bond captured very well indeed.
Dead Man's Cove by Lauren St John. Great children's book, set in St Ives, Cornwall. If the Laura Marlin Mysteries continue like this, I might have to write my own Caitlin Ros Mysteries. (Geddit?!)
Sweet Desserts by Lucy Ellman.
Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming.
Engleby by Sebastian Faulks. My first Faulks - he's too damn popular with the ladies for my liking. I almost gave up on it on page 85. Luckily something happens on page 86. Blog post coming...
Street Kids by Chandrika Kaviraj. Excellent unpublished story for older children set in Pakistan and India during Partition.
The Sacred Art of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre.
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. My first Bond. It's just as I would have hoped and expected. And me oh my does Vesper Lynd remind me of someone.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. There's a stunning novel in here, struggling to get out. Just spare me the state of Russian agriculture, Leo, I beg you...
Nemesis by Jo Nesbø - this is shaping up very nicely, up there with The Snowman and The Redeemer.Calendar
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Category Archives: computers
Master and servant
Charlie Brooker has already written, far more amusingly than I could, about the hell that awaits an iPhone user who dares to try to manage their phone from a new computer. I’ve found myself in the same kind of nightmare … Continue reading
Why I don’t get Instagram
Maybe I’m too old, maybe even I’m just getting a bit jaded with the faded faux Polaroid aesthetic – but I really don’t get Instagram. Instagram is a suddenly fashionable iPhone camera and social networking thing that aims to snatch … Continue reading
More Kindle finds & features
Found a few more things out about the Kindle 3 today: You can choose, navigate and skip around MP3 files by putting them in the ‘Audible’ folder – so you can have MP3 audio books. Or, presumably, music. You can … Continue reading
Amazon 3G Kindle first impressions
I finally got my Amazon Kindle today – here are my first impressions. It’s my first electronic book-reader – partly because it’s the first one to come up to snuff, but I also bought it because I was intrigued with … Continue reading
Will you sign my Kindle?
The other night I ordered a 3G Kindle. I admit, it was late, I was bored… but in the cold light of day I’ve still not cancelled the order. I’ve never hankered after an electronic book reader before – this … Continue reading
Posted in Apple, fiction, literature, thrift
Tagged book signings, books, Charlie Higson, ebooks, kindle
8 Comments
That Apple Presser in Full
Today Steve Jobs shocked the world by making some unexpected apologies at a press conference in Cupertino, CA. He announced to a stunned press pack, “I am sorry. We lost our way.” As reporters dropped their iPhones in shock, he … Continue reading
Posted in Apple, computers, fiction, iPhone, MacOS X
Tagged Apple, ios, iphone, steve jobs
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OS X parental controls on a netbook
My kids want to use my Hackintosh netbook – a Lenovo Ideapad S10-2 running Snow Leopard. One of the great things about OS X is its excellent built-in parental controls, but on a netbook with a small 600 pixel-high screen, … Continue reading
Posted in computers, lowendmac, MacOS X
5 Comments
Suppertime! on your mobile
Suppertime! is now iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry and Android-friendly… so you can browse recipes on your phone in the kitchen, on the train or where ever you may find yourself. http://www.suppertime.co.uk/pages/ It’s all done with the WPTouch WordPress plugin.
Best free iPhone apps
The shame of it… I had my brain surgically removed by a very nice man in the shop and he gave me a shiny new iPhone 3GS in exchange. In case you’ve not heard of the iPhone, it’s a … Continue reading
Simple dual-boot OSX and WindowsXP on Lenovo IdeaPad
If you want OS X running on your Lenovo S10 then a retail copy of Snow Leopard and the Snow Leopard Enabler are clearly the way to go. So far pretty much everything seems to work except sleep and ethernet … Continue reading
Posted in computers, MacOS X, Windows
Tagged dual boot, ideapad, lenovo, OS X, windows XP
7 Comments
