A close shave

I have mentioned before about the DVD player that I own that is obsessed with Richard Armitage. I bought it early last year and the first DVD I played in it was North and South (over and over and over), and then I followed up with repeated viewings of The Vicar of Dibley Christmas special (where Dawn French marries Richard Armitage) and the first season of Robin Hood (featuring Richard Armitage as the dastardly Guy of Gisborne). I never had any issues with the DVD player until I tried to play a DVD where there was no Richard Armitage. After another couple of months of trying to watch other DVDs, the player gave up the ghost completely and wouldn't even play RA movies.

There was nearly a very scary outcome yesterday - a very close shave!

A couple of times a year we have a hard rubbish collection where you put out all those items that you no longer want but that are too big to put in your normal bin. As I was looking around thinking about what I should get rid of, I spied the DVD player and thought that there was no reason to keep that anymore, so gave my son instructions to take it out and throw it out on the pile. He was just walking out when I said to him that we should just check to make sure that there was no disc in there. He gave it a shake, and yes there was definitely a disc in there. Only problem was that it was no longer on the disc tray. It was now rolling around inside the housing. So in order to retrieve the disc, I had to dismantle the whole case. And what do you think the disc was? Yep, a Richard Armitage disc!

I had mentioned on someone's blog a few weeks ago that I haven't been able to locate disc number 1 from North and South for a while now, but I have now got my complete set back again. I haven't quite been brave enough to try the disc in the replacement DVD player. What happens if that one gets obsessed as well?

There is no doubt that the original DVD player had impeccable taste, but I will definitely sleep better at night knowing that something that gets so obsessed is now out of my house!

BBAW Day 3: What does book blogging mean to me (with a special guest)

Today as I was thinking about what to write for this post, I came up with a few different words, all very worthy, that I was going to expand upon. Words like friendship, validation, encouragement, entertainment, and so many more.

Instead though, I want to give an example of the kind of thing that makes blogging so much fun.

Several years ago now, Kristie J from Rambling on Romance started a crusade to get as many people as possible to watch the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South starring the scrumptious Richard Armitage. Now I was prepared to like the mini-series and I did. What I didn't expect was to get completely hooked, and to still be completely gaga over Richard, mainly because I don't tend to get obsessed with specific actors normally.

Since then, I had the DVD player that revolted when I tried to put anything other than a Richard Armitage disc in, I have watched the lovely RA read bedtime stories, The Vicar of Dibley, Captain America, Robin Hood and more, and I can't wait for The Hobbit. More than 4 years later watching North and South and The Vicar of Dibley still bring me joy on a regular basis.

Whenever I happen to see someone discovering the mini-series, I still get excited and it invariably leads me to rewatching more clips. I can pretty much do the final scene of North and South word for word.

Just tonight I happened on a conversation about Richard Armitage on Twitter, which had me thinking about the various famous scenes and then suddenly I found myself watching the final scene of North and South again (sigh) and then all of The Vicar of Dibley wedding specials. And here's the thing. I actually really needed a laugh. As in really needed a laugh because I was in danger of becoming a bit morose tonight. And this moment is something that I can directly attribute back to the influence of bloggers and blogging not only back when my obsession started but also now, just in having a conversation with friends tonight.

Whilst using this as my example does mean that I can insert gratuitous Richard Armitage pictures here, the fact is that I could have talked about the discovery of some of my favourite authors, some of my favourite books, some great friends and so much more to illustrate my point.

If I have to summarise really briefly though, it would be this.

Blogging makes me happy!

And let's face it, you can't ask for more than that for something that you have stuck with for as long as I have, and that I can't see stopping anytime soon!

TSS: Confession Time

The other day on Facebook I was very excited to see that one of my Kiwi friends had posted a link to a newspaper article confirming that there was big news when it comes to the casting of the upcoming Peter Jackson adaptation of The Hobbit.

If you have been reading along with my blog for a while you know that I might be just a little obsessed with Richard Armitage, so when I saw his named mentioned in the article I had to go and take a second look. The role of Bilbo has been filled by Martin Freeman, and more importantly Richard Armitage is going to play the role of Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of the band of dwarves. My first reaction was that Richard Armitage is surely too tall to be a dwarf, and the second was that I think Martin Freeman is an excellent choice to play Bilbo. On further inspection you have to wonder whether that is a good thing for Freeman. I mean, in conjunction with a major role like this is awesome, but to be just told that in random conversation might not be so great.

Anyway, back to the point of my post, in the comments thread, someone was talking about the books of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and I said I had read The Hobbit three times, but I had never actually read Lord of the Rings (earlier this year I did start the LOTR readalong but the book is still sitting beside my bed), and that I had never seen the movies either. Cue the outrage - from comments that suggested we could no longer be friends, to "you call yourself a reader" type comments. When you add to this the fact that I had to admit last week that I had never seen the movie of The Princess Bride, it apparently shows that my cultural education is sadly, sadly lacking.

What if I had also admitted that I had never read Jane Austen, or Charlotte Bronte? Or that as a romance reader I have never read Nicholas Sparks, and have only seen two of the movies that have been adapted from his books.

Or how about the fact that I have never seen any of the Star Wars movies from beginning to end - not one of them. And quite frankly I don't feel the need to watch them given that I pretty much know what happens anyway.

I know that I should read more of the classics, and I will one day, but at this point in time I haven't. Not as convinced that I need to read Sparks, but never say never.

What shocking confession could you make about things you haven't seen or read? Enquiring minds want to know.

And yes, this is a gratuitous picture of Richard Armitage that I am including in the post for my your viewing pleasure.

Sunday Salon: For my listening pleasure...

This week I have been in aural bliss! There's a couple of reasons for this but I will start with two names......

Keith Urban and Richard Armitage

No...not together, but let me just take a moment to appreciate that mental image!

Let's start with Keith shall we? Last Sunday night I had the fantastic pleasure of going to see Keith Urban in concert. He was supported by Benji and Joel Madden who are now performing as The Madden Brothers. Keith's show was totally, totally awesome and I sang and danced from beginning to end! The crowd was totally involved, especially because he came out into different stages in the crowd to perform. In addition to all of his hits, he sang Wonderwall by Oasis with the Madden and Melbourne artist Missy Higgins came out and sang a Crowded House song.

I was a lot more choosy about my companion this time. You may recall that last time I went to see Keith Urban in concert, I took my son and he slept through the entire show! I did say to my friend that I didn't care if she didn't enjoy herself she just had to stay awake! Fortunately, she did enjoy it.  When I was looking for that link I just read the post I wrote last time I went and I could pretty much just say "ditto" because everything I loved last time was great again this time, but just better!

Not only did I listen to his albums before the concert, I have also listened to them pretty much exclusively for the week afterwards (and I might just go and put it on again tonight). Why yes, I can be a little obsessive. In fact, pretty much the only time I was listening to something and it wasn't Keith Urban, I was listening to another obsession, Richard Armitage narrate Venetia by Georgette Heyer.

The book of Venetia was actually the first ever Georgette Heyer novel that I bought. I was in a specialist romance bookstore talking about how much I loved historical romance and the assistant was shocked when I said that I had never read any Georgette Heyer novels and she insisted that I needed to buy Venetia before I left the store. So I did. And then I put it on the bookshelf where it has stayed ever since despite the fact that I have read and loved quite a few of her book since.

The opportunity of listening to Richard Armitage narrate though was too much to pass up so when I got some ITunes vouchers for Christmas it was one of the first things I bought.

I loved the story itself, but I have to say that I could listen to RA talk for hours and hours and hours and hours. His normal voice is so melodious but he also manages to bring such distinct characterisation to all the characters whether they be male or female.

The story itself is firmly in quintessential Heyer territory. Venetia is a young woman who has been left with the responsibility of looking after the family property and her younger brother whilst her older brother is off fighting a war. She has two suitors but she isn't really interested in either of them. One is young and very ardent and the other is very condescending and believes it is his right to act as though he already owns Venetia.

Whilst out strolling one day, she meets Lord Damerel, scandalously infamous rake who is barely tolerated in polite society. So begins a delicate friendship that blossoms more and more into something that is beginning to look like love. He is, however, very much aware of how much damage it would do her reputation were he to pursue her and that is confirmed when her relatives learn of her interest and whisk her off to London out of harm's way...or so they thing.

I loved the humour in this book, and think it may well be up there with my favourite Heyer books!

I was a little bit surprised to find out that this was an abridged recording. My worst ever audiobook experience was an abridgement (it also had a really bad narrator) and so I am always reluctant to listen to abridged books. In that book, there was a scene where it reference two of the characters kissing which was never mentioned previously so it was a bit jarring. It is a testament to the people who did the abridgement that I don't feel like I missed out on much. Of course, I may find I am completely wrong should I actually decide to read the whole book at some point in the future.

There are two other Heyer books that have been recorded featuring Richard Armitage; Sylvester which I have read before and The Convenient Marriage which I haven't read yet. I am a little reluctant to hand over $27 for an audiobook but if I get more giftcards any time soon it will be my first purchase!

To give you just a taste of the pure bliss that is listening to this man's voice, here is a brief recording of him reading a scene from Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South.



And just because I can, here is a video I have included before, but I still love watching it!




Currently Reading

The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing by Tarquin Hall

Up Next

The Little Russian by Susan Sherman, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

More Challenges - yes more!

The Chunkster Challenge is one of my favourite challenges, and this will be my third year of participating. I was really glad when Wendy decided to run the challenge next year. If she hadn't have volunteered, then I was definitely thinking about stepping up. All the challenge details can be found at the challenge blog. I will be signing up for the Mor-book-ly Obese level, which means that I am planning to read six or more books which meet the definition of a chunkster. This challenge runs from 1 February 2010 to 31 January 2011.

The Tudor Book challenge is being hosted by Benedictionary. I am only planning to sign up for The Commoner level, which is to read 5 Tudor novels. I was tempted to go for more, but in the end I decided to go for the lowest level in recognition of the fact that I am signed up to so many other challenges.

Like many other people, Meghan from Medieval Bookworm is one of my favourite Historical Fiction focussed blogs, so when she announced her A Tournament of Reading, I was pretty much instantly going to participate. Again, I am entering this one at the lowest level of Peasant, in this case not only because I have signed up for other challenges, but also, because as much as I love reading historical fiction set in this period, I am not in a hurry to read any medieval literature. Maybe there is something out there that I really should read though. Any recommendations?

And just because I can, have all you Richard Armitage fans out there seen the picture that has recently come out of Richard in his new role in Strike Back. Looking good as always! Thanks to the Richard Armitage Fan Blog for posting this!

This week....

I'm reading....

This week I started reading The Little Bookshop on the Seine by Rebecca Raisin which, as you may have guessed, is about a bookshop in Paris. So far, it's a fun read, and there are numerous quotes about books, bookshops and Paris that have already caught my attention. This is the first of a trilogy set in Paris, with the other two being The Little Antique Shop Under the Eiffel Tower and The Little Perfume Shop off the Champs-Elysee. It is,however, connected to a different trilogy by the same author and, as someone who prefers to read in order, I do feel as though I have walked in part way through Sarah's story.

I have been contemplating what these types of books are called, whether they have a sub genre or category of their own because there does seem to be a lot of them. Generally, they are the story of an outsider moving to a place, or someone who is coming back to the town they grew up in but feels like an outsider, and the locations are always made to seem so desirable, whether it be a major tourist destination like Paris or a remote Scottish island, they often have a cartoony cover, usually feature an unlikely romance and they are always described a feel good or something similar.

When I look back at my reading history I can see a few different examples. I've read a couple of different books by Jenny Colgan which would fall into this category of book. Welcome to Rosie Hopkin's Sweet Shop of Dreams and Christmas at Rosie Hopkin's Sweetshop are both set in a small village in England and The Cafe by the Sea, The Endless Beach and Christmas on the Island set in the islands at the north of Scotland. I've also read Nina George's The Little Paris Bookshop and The Little French Bistro. I;m sure that there are others that I have read too.

It also doesn't take much searching to find other examples. Want to find a book of this kind set in Provence, Verona, Italian mountains, Greek Islands, small town USA, Copenhagen, Croatia all you have to do is look.....the list of possibilities is endless!

Have you read any really good examples of this kind of book?

I'm watching....

We started watching The Stranger this week. It is a British thriller that stars Richard Armitage, Dervla Kirwan and Jennifer Saunders and it is based on a  Harlan Coben book. We've watched the first couple of episodes and so far so good.

A few years ago, I was pretty obsessed with Richard Armitage, but I wasn't alone. It's hard to believe that it has been 10 years since Kristie J from Ramblings on Romance was leading the Great North and South crusade, and since then I have rewatched the series many times, watched The Hobbit movies, listened to audiobooks that he narrates (because that voice is just aural bliss) and every Christmas I try to rewatch the final two episodes of The Vicar of Dibley, just because...well...Richard!

We also started watching the Ken Burns documentary about country music called Country Music. I've long been a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll, and visiting Nashville last year was a bucket list item for me! I would love to go back again one day!

In life...

I traumatised myself last week!

I have a spreadsheet that I have been maintaining since 2004 which lists all the books I have read including date finished, author, and the ratings I gave amongst other things. At one point, I even recorded every book that I acquired so it was an accurate reflection of my TBR pile. I stopped doing that a while ago, but it still is my go to resource if I want to check up on something I have read over the last 15 years. I have it in Google sheets because it meant that I could update the details wherever or whenever although that is a bit harder now as my current employer has blocked all access to Google documents/spreadsheets along with any thing else where you can share files with external parties.

For this week's Top Ten Tuesday post the theme was "Love Freebie" and so I decided I would look for any titles that included some variation on the word love. So the obvious first step is to put a filter on to find any words that include the letters  "lov". So far, so good.

Where I ran into trouble, was having completed that step I accidentally dragged one title down the list, so suddenly I had around 40 books that also had the title of The Virgin's Lover by multiple different authors, instead of just one, and unfortunately, my panicked undo, undo, undo resulted in only limited corrections.

After completely freaking out about having ruined something that I have been maintaining for so long, I spent the next two nights trawling through my blog, author websites and Goodreads to try and rebuild the list. I think it is right now, or maybe I should say I hope it is.'

On Friday it was Valentine's Day. One of the things that still surprises me about my husband is that right from our first Valentine's Day he has been keen to go out for dinner on the day. We are not supposed to do presents, although he doesn't necessarily stick with that. In previous years we have gone into the city and had dinner along the riverfront. This year we decided to do something a little different, and went for a Sunset Safari at the local open range zoo. As part of the package you got to go on a "safari" tour, have an African inspired dinner and then there was a drumming and dancing show.

Apart from the fact that it was very wet, we had a good night, although I think he struggled with the safari idea a bit because he grew up in South Africa and so has been on safari more times than he can remember so this was like safari lite. For a lot of people though this is as close as they will get and it was quite fun.

I enjoyed our outing, and it bought back memories of when we went out into the Pilanesberg Nature Reserve when we went to South Africa a couple of years ago. I can't wait to go back again!

Posts from the last week

Top 10 Tuesday - Love books (traumatising!)
Review of Chalk Hill trilogy by Lily Malone
Weekend Cooking: Beef and Vegetable Red Curry


I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer

When Sylvester, the Duke of Salford, first meets Phoebe Marlow, he finds her dull and insipid. She finds him insufferably arrogant. But when a series of unforeseen events leads them to be stranded together in a lonely country inn, they are both forced to reassess their hastily formed opinions, and begin a new-found liking and respect for each other. Sylvester calls to mind the satirical genius of a Jane Austen novel and is adored for its wit and a fast-paced plot that ranges across a myriad of settings

I first listened to this book just under 3 years ago, but I never did post anything about it, which was remiss of me but I think not really unexpected. After I finished The Passage and then another audio book, I was trying to decide what to read next. I do have a few books that I have already purchased but not yet listened to, as well as a list of books I'd like to get to someday, but none of them really tickled my fancy. And then I hit on the idea of listening again to a Georgette Heyer novel as narrated by Richard Armitage, mainly because it is my idea of aural bliss to listen to him read anything, but he does seem to be particularly suited to narrating Heyer novels.

He has the right tone in his voice that lends itself to upper class accents and his characterisation is so good that it doesn't matter whether the character is old or young, or female or male, each character is individual and recognisable.

Now, I should mention up front that this is an abridged audiobook, but it is a well done abridgement. I don't think I have missed anything through the story so it might be interesting to read in full one time to see what was cut out. That's not always the case. Years ago I listened to a novel where the abridgement wasn't quite so good. At one point the main character was regretting having kissed someone other than her husband and I was like wait...what.

What about the book itself. It is Heyer, so it is all Regency ballrooms and dukes abound, but it is a fun read. I don't want to recap the plot as such because I don't want too start to feel like I should write a full review, rather than just commentary. I will see that I did find myself wondering how much of the language that Heyer used was made up. I am sure that I heard somewhere that she did.

I fully expect to listen to more of the Heyer books Richard Armitage has narrated. It is a totally enjoyable treat.

December Reading Roundup

Whilst it is really time to do some kind of summary of my whole 2009 reading year, first I am going to do my regular monthly round up.

In December, I managed to read 13 books. I think my days of reading 18-20 books in a month are gone, mainly because of the reduction in my commute time, so I am pretty happy with 13 books. I think it is more like my new normal than anything. Here's what I read:

Black Hills by Nora Roberts 4/5
Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts 4.5/5
Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden 4.5/5
These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer 4.5/5
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare 4/5
The Conquest by Elizabeth Chadwick 4.5/5
The Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig 4/5
To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt 4/5
This Duchess of Mine by Eloisa James 4/5

Hmm, lots of romance in there! Definitely was feeling the need for comfort reads during December apparently.

So how did I go on reading challenges for December then? How many challenge fails?

As I mentioned in last month's roundup, I didn't complete the Art History Reading Challenge. The idea was that I was supposed to read 6 books during 2009. In the end I managed to read 3. Of course, failing at it this year hasn't stopped me from signing up for the challenge again this year!

I am thinking that I am probably not going to finish the Harry Potter Reading Challenge either. There's still 7 months to go, but I haven't read anything. I will leave it for another month or two before officially declaring

I finally have the first book in the Vampire Diaries series out from the library, so I might actually be able to start that challenge.

You may note that there are no Pratchett books in that list! That's right, I didn't manage to read any books for my own challenge!


The one challenge that I did make progress on this month was the Period Drama Challenge. The other night I watched Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman etc, and I enjoyed it very much! I don't know why but I haven't seen many of the favourite classic adaptations over the year. For instance, I have never seen all of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. I know, it's a travesty. Almost as much of a travesty as the fact that I have never read any of the Austen books either.

I have to say though that the big romantic scene in Sense and Sensibility was not quite as romantic as it might have been if I had not recalled this scene from the Vicar of Dibley so clearly. It's hard not to remember so clearly given how many of times I have seen these particular episodes. And, no this is not just and opportunity for gratuitous Richard Armitage. Really!



Of course, now that I have showed that scene, I really have to show this scene as well:



This one is just for a gratuitous Richard Armitage video! It's the promo for Strike Back which is going to be on in the UK later this year!







Now I need to go and work on my end of year post, my beginning of year post, and you know, maybe do some blog tidying up or some cleaning or reading, or maybe I will just watch these videos again because they make me happy.

This week

I'm reading

I did a lot of starting books this week! Some finishing but nowhere near as many as I started!

One book that I finished was the audio of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker, the final book in the Seven Sisters series. I have listened to all of these on audiobook. Given that each of these books is more than 20 hours long that's a lot of listening time! I started listening to the first book more than 6.5 years ago, so it has been a bit commitment! This final book was narrated by Richard Armitage for Pa Salt's parts and Tuppence Middleton for the modern story. It feels like this book did what it needed to do in terms of tying all the origin stories together, and telling Pa's story, so I was satisfied with the end of the series. I did have one question about what happened on the luxury super yachts (IFYKYK) but overall it was good. 

I then started listening to Away with the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Kerry Greenwood had passed away recently, so I thought it would be a good time to go back to the next Phryne Fisher book. It did surprise me a little that is 16 years since I read one of the books but I think I have slipped back into the world quickly. After listening to Richard Armitage for so long it did take me a little while to get used to the sound of a new narrator but I think I am there now!

We did a bit of a roadtrip on the Friday and Saturday of the Easter weekend, and I convinced my husband that we could listen to a book while we drove. It needed to be something that he would enjoy too, so I chose The World According to Kaleb by Kaleb Cooper. Kaleb Cooper is a young British farmer who is now a bit of a celebrity thanks to his appearances on Clarkson's Farm, a reality TV show featuring well known British....presenter I guess is the best word....Jeremy Clarkson. It is only a short book at around 2.5 hours and it was amusing. Kaleb is a young man who knows exactly what he likes (farming) and what he doesn't like (sheep among other things!). 

As that book was so short, we then started listening to The Satsuma Complex which is both written and narrated by Bob Mortimer. Bob Mortimer is a British comedian who appears regularly on panel shows such as Would I Lie to You and he makes us laugh a lot every time he is on! He's a great oral storyteller. We will listen to this when we are in the car together for the next little while!

In terms of books I was reading myself, I finished The Best Days of Our Lives by Helen Rolfe. The review for that will be up this week. 

I then read The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer, which is another super interesting book by her! It's a bit of a genre bender but I will say more when I review it next week!

I also started The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson which is going to be my read on a theme book club selection this time around. The theme is 1960s and this book is set in 1966 so it fits the theme beautifully. 

I also started The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe by Catherine Greer. I picked it up on a whim when I went to the library last week, but I can only borrow it for a week so I needed to get going with that one sooner rather than later!

Finally, I didn't take the physical books I was reading with me when we went away so started The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods. I am a bit torn now as to which book to finish first as I did get sucked into this one pretty much straight away!


I'm watching


We are big fans of the archeological show Time Team here in my house. It is often on the Real History channel at around dinner time so we will watch it if it is on, even if we have seen the episode multiple times before. I was a bit surprised to find that over the last couple of years they have been making Time Team specials that are only on Youtube! This week we watched one called Digging Band of Brothers which was an excavation of the camp where the US 101st Airborne Division was based in Britain. There are a few other specials that we will watch now! If you are interested this is the link.

We also started watching a new series of  the American Baking Show which is the first one I have seen where Paul and Prue are the judges.

I also watched How to Steal a Million as part of the Springtime in  Paris event hosted by  Erin from Still Life, with Cracker Crumb and Lisa from Boondock Ramblings. What a fun movie! It starred the beautiful and ethereal Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole, who was very handsome as a young man.  The premise is that Audrey Hepburn's father is a serial art forger. He agrees to hand over a famous statue to display in a museum without realising that he has agreed to have the piece authenticated. If it is tested, then it will be revealed as a fake then he will be found out. Hepburn's character then enlists the help of a man she caught stealing a painting from her own house (or so she thought) and hijinks ensue. The movie had such charm and naivety. I couldn't help but think if the movie was made today how very different it would be! I am planning to watch the next couple of movies for the event this week.


Life

I had to go to the funeral of a friend last week. He was a larger than life character who drew people to him. It was a reminder to live life to the best of your ability as you don't really know how long you have. Also #$%$ cancer.

In Australia, Easter is a four day weekend with public holidays on both Good Friday and Easter Monday. A lot of people choose to go away for the weekend. Originally, we were planning to go away overnight next weekend, but then my son is going interstate that weekend so we decided to go on Friday and come back on Saturday.

You probably recall that we like a good art silo, and this trip we managed to see 4 full size ones, plus a collection of smaller ones. The main reason for heading up the highway was to go to the Lake Boga Flying Boat Museum. During WWII, Lake Boga was a secret base for the repair of flying boats like the Catalina aircraft and saw Australian, American and Dutch planes landing on the lake.  It was also a key point in the communications between the Allies. It was a fascinating place, and I think it might be a place that we go back to should we be up that way again. Recently there has been a new art silo done at Lake Boga, which reflects this history. The other photo is of a silo at a place called Sea Lake, which was cool because in the day you can see the image below, but at night they projects some films onto the silos taking about the farming and the dark sky environs around which means amazing stargazing

One of the highlights of the trip was going to a nearby lake called Lake Tyrrell which is the largest salt water lake in the state of Victoria.  We went at sunset the first night and it was spectacular. I took so many photos. The next morning we went at about 8am and we were pretty much the only ones there. Well...us and the flies. 

We had to come back on Saturday as we had a show from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival featuring another British comic, Tom Allen! He is on various UK show and he was very entertaining. This was the only show we got to go to in this year's festival as we were away for most of it!


Posts from the last week


Top Ten Tuesday: What I Read on Holidays
Blog Tour: Under a Riviera Moon by Helen McGinn
Blog Tour: Secrets Under a Riviera Sky by Jennifer Bohnet

Weekend Cooking: What We Ate on Holidays: Japan and South Korea - the Sweet Edition

Spell the Month in Books - April





I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date and Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz

I need someone who is good with DVD players

Does anyone know anyone who is good with electronics who can program my DVD player to be able to automatically take some actions. My request is very specific.

You see, the DVD player needs to firstly recognise that the disc that has been put in there is North and South (the Elizabeth Gaskell version not the US version, although I wouldn't really mind watching that one again either).

The second requirement is that the DVD player must understand that as soon as I have finished watching the second disc that it automatically needs to reset itself so that I can watch the final scene over and over again, at least four or five times in succession. The DVD must also understand that it is likely that this sequence of events is going to need to be followed quite regularly for a number of days, and also that it could be that I might wish to replay numerous other scenes randomly as well.

Of course, if my DVD player could be coordinated with my computer so that it knows that not longer after watching the last scene of North and South several times I am going to NEED to go to Youtube and watch the final two episodes of The Vicar of Dibley where Richard Armitage co-stars that would be great too! He's too damn fine to just watch in just one show!

That final scene of North and South....sigh........ could I just say that he had me at "Where are you going?"

I am so glad that my son gave me this for Christmas, even though I had to buy it and wrap it myself. It's a bit sad really. I gave myself Elizabeth and Pride and Prejudice for Christmas as well, but I still haven't unwrapped the plastic off those DVDs yet! Maybe by the time we get to February I will be ready to crack them open!

If you want to read more about the Great North and South Crusade, I think that campaign headquarters are to be found over at Ramblings on Romance!.

By the way, even though Richard Armitage is definitely one of THE best reasons to watch North and South, he is not the only reason. I can't remember who, but someone mentioned that Nicholas Higgins was quite good too..and I have to agree! If you want someone a bit rougher around the edges he is definitely worth giving a look.

Top Ten Tuesday: Celebrity audiobook narrators

 

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the them

e is Favorite Audiobook Narrators (or, if you don’t listen to audiobooks, name people—celebrities or otherwise—who might make you reconsider.) I have decided to go with celebrity audiobook narrators, but I am trying to not choose examples where they are reading their own autobiography. Not that there is anything wrong with that, and it might make a good topic another day, but not today.

Richard Armitage - It's no coincidence that I have started with RA. I mean...that voice equals aural bliss. I have listened to a number of books narrated by him. My absolute favourites are his narrations of Georgette Heyers books including Venetia and a couple of others. Might be time to listen to those again.

Emma Thompson - In my Audible library I have the Turn of the Screw. The introduction is narrated by Richard Armitage but the rest of the book is narrated by Emma Thompson.

Joanne Froggatt - Best known for her role in Downton Abbey, Joanna Froggatt narrated The Clockmakers Daughter

Stephen Fry - Fry narrates a lot of his own books, but for the purposes of this post I am interested in his narration of the Harry Potter books.

Dan Stevens - Stevens has narrated a number of books. It was only as I was writing this post that I realised that he has narrated a couple of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's book. I see one of those audiobooks in my future.

Wil Wheaton - Best known for his role on Star Trek, Wheaton narrated both Ready Player One and The Martian which I recently enjoyed.

Kathy Bates - I listened to her narrate an abridged version of A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley years ago. I didn't love it but it does count for the purposes of this post.

Bill Nighy - The last couple of years I have listened to Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. The main narration is by reading Sian Clifford, Death is voiced by Peter Serafinowicz and the footnotes by Bill Nighy.

Tony Robinson - The earlier version of Hogfather was narrated by Tony Robinson. I love watching his TV shows from Time Team to his shows about London, about trains, about anything really.

Phillipa Soo -If we talk about more modern stories, the I am going to mention The Stand In by Philippa Soo. I first heard of Philippa Soo when she starred in Hamilton.

Have you listened to any of these celebrities read audiobooks? Or other?

Six Degrees of Separation: From Rules of Civility to Venetia

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz. 

The starting point for this month is Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. When this was announced as the starting point I boldly declared that my starting point would likely be a different author that I know I should have read but haven't. Except...it's not.

Instead, my starting point is Everyman's Rules for Scientific Thinking by Carrie Tiffany because...rules. 

My next choice is a different kind of science - cryptology - which is the science of making and breaking codes. The breaking of enemy codes during  WWII is central to The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, one of my favourite reads of 2021.

Having pondered on the words rules and codes, I found myself thinking of the words of Captain Barbarosa from The Pirates of the Carribean

And when you start thinking along the lines of pirates, this leads me to Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown, which I have been reading recently. This book features a lady pirate who is sailing the seas, intent on revenge against those who done her wrong.

Bear with me while I do a litte hop and a skip to get to my next link! I was thinking about lady pirates and the scene that came to mind was from that iconic, so bad it's good, early 1980's movie, The Pirate Movie. This was based on the musical The Pirates of Penzance, and Penzance is in Cornwall

Now there are a number of choices that could be made for books set in Cornwall. Daphne du Maurier for is an obvious choice for starters, but instead I am going to choose Ross Poldark by Winston Graham. This is the first book in the Poldark series which was adapted for TV a while ago.

My next choice is also a period drama TV adaptation - North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. Now I could share a book cover, but instead I bring you a gratuitous picture of Richard Armitage as Mr Thornton.

It's funny how often my direction changes while I am writing these posts. I start out mapping out the links nd then as I am writing the words around it, the choices change. Instead of going to a book with East in the title, I am instead going to choose Venetia by Georgette Heyer. Why, you ask? Because the abridged audiobook is one of my favourite audiobook experiences of all time. I have listened to it multiple times and still love it. And who is the narrator? Why it is Richard Armitage, which equals aural bliss!

Next month the starting point is No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood. Heaven only knows where I will end up!

Six Degrees of Separation: The Turn of the Screw to Ready Player One

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.






This month's starting point is The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. I haven't read Henry James before, so both that fact, that it is short and also that is a spooky read made it a perfectly ideal time to read it. I could also count it for the RIP XV challenge, and that was going to be my theme for Six Degrees of Separation - books that I have read for RIP  (Readers Imbibing Peril) challenges over the years. It was a solid plan right?

You know that there is a but or a however coming though.

In order to read it, I decided to listen to it on audiobook. Just over 4 hours to listen to is doable. And so I began to listen, and was in for a surprising treat when I realise that the first couple of chapters are narrated by Richard Armitage, and then the meat of the story is narrated by Emma Thompson, who I find very soothing to listen to.  So, instead of the more obvious theme of spooky reads, my theme this month is going to be audiobooks with a celebrity narrator.

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - This morning I spent some time reading posts from 10 years ago which show just how obsessed I was with Richard Armitage. I mean, it's understandable, but still. One of the reasons I do like to gush fangirl, I mean admire him is as as audiobook narrator. He has now done around 40 or so. I have listened to a couple of other books narrated by him, but it really is the Georgette Heyer books he has narrated that I go back to time and again. And every time I do listen to one of these my review is bound to contain the words aural bliss or something similar. The other Heyer books he has narrated are Venetia and The Convenient Marriage. Venetia is great too.

The Further Tales of Peter Rabbit by Emma Thompson -  It would have been remiss of me to have not included an audiobook narrated by Emma Thompson given that she narrates the vast majority of The Turn of the Screw. I was, however, surprised to see that she has written a couple of Peter Rabbit books that she has then narrated.

Mythos by Stephen Fry - Another example of a celebrity who is an author reading their own audiobooks is Stephen Fry who has narrated many of his own books. He also famously narrated the Harry Potter books when they came out. I have listened to the first of series of short stories that were Audible exclusives and really enjoyed those so I do intend to listen to more by him.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman - If Stephen Fry is an example of a celebrity who is an author, then Neil Gaiman is pretty close to being an author who is a celebrity, and someone else who likes to narrate his own audiobooks, not to mention the mythology link here. When we went to hear him speak back in February, he did a reading of the new childrens book that is about to be released called Pirate Stew. I think one of the reasons I like hearing authors narrate their own books, if they are good at it, is that you can hear the expression and emphasis as they meant for it to be heard.

One Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley - There are occasions when the celebrity narrator (or any narrator really) doesn't work for a book, and for me that was true of this book. It didn't help that the book was abridged and I didn't realise it but the narration wasn't for me either. Given that I listened to this 15 years ago (on cassette tape no less) it is probably time for me to let it go, but it certainly has turned out to be memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - I wanted to finish on a positive not though! This is not one I have listened to, but I have heard so many rave reviews about Will Wheaton as the narrator. He is also going to be the narrator on the sequel, Ready Player Two, when it comes out later this year so I think I might listen to it instead of reading it!

So there you have it! The Six Degrees of Separation celebrity audiobook narrator edition.

Next month the starting point is the book that you finished this month with, so I will be starting with Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Goodness only knows where that chain is going to end up.