A Prayer For Owen Meany - BBC Top 100 Reads

If I'd started to write this review half way through reading this, it would have been one of those posts where I bemoaned the fact that I struggled to comprehend the meaning of this novel. However, every now and again a book comes along that completely surprises me and turns out to be nothing like what I expected to be - A Prayer For Owen Meany is a definite slow burner, which I am so glad I stuck with.

The main narrative of the book is undertaken by John, a childhood friend of the very strange Owen Meany. In fact, Owen is declared so strange that the author types his conversation in capitals. Although there is a very loose story that never seems to go anyway, the author cleverly weaves us through key incidents in Owen's/John's life, dealing with death and prejudice along the way. A repetitive tale that follows them from childhood into adulthood all becomes apparent near the end of the novel and makes the conclusion complete. A wonderful book.

The Last Six...

This week I've been mostly Christmas present wrapping, colour chart perusing (we are getting decorated) and eating Halloween sweets that were meant for the trick or treaters. I seriously think I've eaten so much sugar I don't know what day it is! Therefore reading has gone by the by, as my concentration levels resemble that of a goldfish at present.

I now only have six books to go before I complete this task and yes you guessed it, they are all tombs of books, with the lightest one weighing in at around 600 pages approx. But now that they are sat on my desk staring at me, with Mr Bump keeping a close eye on them, here lies a mini challenge in itself - how quickly can I read all of these? I want to read them properly, to give myself some sort of satisfaction at completing such a huge task and I want to be realistic about it. So I figured, end of November should do it? My to be read pile of 'ordinary' books is calling to me, so that will spur me on, hopefully... I'll keep you updated!

This Week...

I've been mostly finishing Gormenghast and Love In time of Cholera - now starting A Prayer For Owen Meany, which I'm hoping to finish by the end of the weekend and then 5 more books before I've finished this task!

Another Week

Yet another week has past and I've been steadily reading through Gormenghast and doing nothing else related to this blog, I'm afraid. I went on a writing course on Saturday, from which I pinched the idea to have a dedicated reading time, so from 8pm onwards (if not sooner) every night I'm intending to read through the rest of the Top 100 list. I'm sure my husband will be well chuffed, as from now he can watch his beloved Sci-fi in peace - I'll see how long that lasts!

Monday, Monday

Well, my radio appearance came and went faster than an English summer. I was on with Mark Dennison, whom I've never met before, but was very down to earth and quite funny. We were trying to decide what the twist was going to be on the X Factor. I decided that Sharon Osbourne was going to come back and then her and Danni would have a huge fight in the studio, but perhaps that should be on a pay per view channel?! We also managed to have a chat about the blog and I'm booked back in for November 5th.

I'm a little frustrated that I've not completed any more tasks at the moment. I've got a pile of books to read for the BBC Top 100 reads, but all of those are 600 pages +, so no quick wins there. I can't really see any more being completed at the moment, as I'm having to be a little careful with the old pennies - the job situation has not improved any. I'm praying for a miracle, I do hope you will join in...

Has It really been so long...

since I updated this blog? It only seems like yesterday when I was deciding what books to read first. Since then I've read two more books off my list - Crime and Punishment - which was very strange and I never really got into it and Kane and Abel - which I loved and couldn't put down. Personal wise, it's been a real mixed bag of emotions in the last week. I didn't get the job I was interviewed for and I tried to attend a job fair in the centre of Nottingham and failed miserably as the queues were so long to get in (I later found out 4,000 people turned up to this and seeing such long queues of people looking for work was really soul destroying). I've even signed up to do temporary work but still getting no joy in my search for work. I've no idea where life is taking me at the moment, but I wished it would make a decision pretty soon! In the meantime, I'm clinging on to dear life to anything that remains stable in my life; my hubbie, this list, this blog, so please do excuse me if I unburden my soul in the upcoming weeks.

This Week...

I will be mostly reading!

Invincible

I had an interview on Tuesday for a job. My first interview in nearly 6 years and the only one that has materialized out of all of the jobs I've applied for. Although there were elements that I could improve on, I came out of there feeling pretty damn good. Not the sort of 'I've definitely got this in the bag' sort of attitude but a 'I did, I got through it and this will give me the confidence for the next time' feeling. I felt invincible on Tuesday, like I could achieve any thing. Don't you wish you could bag those feelings up some times and save them for future use?

I guess this list has been the substitute for my career in some ways. It takes so many deep breathes to achieve a task, as I always feel so nervous before hand, but for that one moment afterwards I feel euphoric.

I need to just believe in my self a lot more and hopefully the job and the tasks will be complete. I need to build a field of dreams...

Weird Week

Well it's been a funny old week. After completing another task by going surfing, I was on a natural high until the next day when I could hardly walk and wondered to myself just why exactly I chose to do a very active sport with my very inactive body.

On Tuesday, I very nearly thought I'd completed another task when I received a phone call from a TV company saying I was short listed to appear on their show but unfortunately I didn't get a call back so back to square one on that particular task.

Oh and I read, quite a bit actually. I've now completed Brave New World, a weird mix of 1984/Clockwork Orange. I didn't really get it, if I'm honest with you, it kind of lost me in the middle and the ending was weird (I hate it when that happens) but I think it's one that would benefit from another read at some point in the future.

Not sure what I will be doing next, I think I will just concentrate on getting the Top reads task completed, but if the funds allow it, I may just go to the next England match at Wembley next month.

Keep smiling :0)

19) Go Surfing

I've always loved the notion of surfing from an early age - too much Hawaii Five-O I think when I was small. It never occurred for me to try until I started on this list. For one thing I've never liked open expanses of water and the second is that I'm crap at most sports (she says remembering how she used to get picked last for games at school!)

Of course I could have done this right at the outset, when I holidayed in Hawaii for my honeymoon, but we never quite found enough time for it and then of course I've been promising that we will go down to Cornwall for the past three years and never quite got there. So when I was happily reading The Guardian one Saturday, I came across an article for the Scarborough surf school. Perfect, I thought, I love Scarborough and don't need any excuse to go there and the fact that I will tick another task off the list would be a bonus.

So surf lesson was booked, accommodation booked, until I rang on Friday to check on the surf. Umm, can you do Sunday instead? he asked and actually it worked out better for us, as we got caught up in the last of the summer traffic travelling down and would have missed the lesson had it been on the Saturday.

So Sunday came and I was quite nervous. I didn't know how I would react being out in the open sea and of course it didn't help watching Jaws a few days previous. Wet suit was adorned of which I have to say is the most uncomfortable thing I've ever had to wear in my entire life. It's quite horrible having to pull the thing on that's wet from previous use and doesn't quite go were you want it to go without a rigorous amount of pulling. Next we had to carry the surf board down a very steep cliff onto the beach, which about killed me off before I'd even started surfing. We then had a very short lesson on the beach on how to get up on the board etc and then it was in to the water to confront my fears.

I had nothing to worry about. I loved it! Couldn't get on the board on the first few attempts, but after that I was on the board and riding the surf, dude. I was in a learning party of 7, 3 of which were kids and were standing up on the board virtually straight away. The most I got to was to a kneeling position, although one of the other adults managed to stagger up a couple of times. My balance was all over the place and I spent quite a bit of the time face down in the water, after falling off the board a hundred or so times, but I couldn't stop smiling the whole time I was there and I can't wait to try it again.

After about 2 hours my time was over and I walked quite happily back to the surf shop to deposit my wet suit (it's even worse trying to take the thing off!) and back to the hotel for a hot shower and wash the sea salt from my hair.

Definitely one of my favourite 40 things to do!