Reading Rainstorm

In the last couple of weeks I've become a little bit addicted to Goodreads. I used to be on it years ago under a different username but during some free time in December I decided that I really needed to add all of my last four volumes of book journals to some sort of record online.

I started with LibraryThing and once I'd updated that I started on Goodreads and then discovered the Stats feature. This may have been what prompted the sudden obsession with getting all of my past books added on to the site. I love seeing the graph of the year of publication of my book choices.

Snapshot of years of publication/date read on January 1st, 2015

It looks like a little rainstorm, doesn't it?

I'm still in the process of going through my 2011 book journal, which is why the left hand side is looking a little bit sparse.

You can see when I got my Kindle (April, 2012) and I started experimenting with free books. I got a lot of recently published free review copies and I began reading some of the free classics. The very first book I read on it was Dracula which on the graph is the right hand dot on the 1900 line of the third column).

Between 2012 and 2013 I was studying literature with the Open University (as well as reading free classics, which gave me a nice little scattering of pre-1900 books. The very oldest two are Othello (dating to 1603) and The Duchess of Malfi (from 1623). I'm pleased than not all of those old books are from my course though, the third oldest is The Pilgrim's Progress which I read in conjunction with my Children's Literature course but which wasn't a set text.

I mentioned that I was going to take part in the PopSugar Reading Challenge. Well, there's a group on Goodreads endeavouring to read through the list in the order that they appear. You pick the books and then share what you've chosen for discussion on the relevant thread.

I'm kick starting the year with Jane Austen's Emma (for a book with over 500 pages) then at the end of this week I'm moving over to Pride and Prejudice (for my 'classic romance'). I'm having a whale of a time joining in with conversations and sharing thoughts on the books we've all picked.

If you're interested, why not come and join in?

Just as a little note, there won't be any afternoon posts this week. I managed to get a wee bit ahead of myself but not enough to schedule them two weeks in advance as I was planning, I'll just be doing my Chapter-by-Chapter posts on Fridays for the next two weeks and then they'll go back to normal.

Weekly Rundown: Reading Challenge

The other week I posted about starting the PopSugar Reading Challenge. Well I found a group on Goodreads specifically for the challenge and ever since about ten past twelve on Thursday I've been getting stuck in.

The Reading Challenge group is working through the list of books in the order that they appear on the list, so rather than jumping around or trying to get certain books to count for several targets, I've got a list of fifty-two books to get through this year. I managed 64 last year so I'm thinking this should be attainable.

Image taken from here.

I've kick started my year's reading with Emma by Jane Austen, as a book that has more than 500 pages. I've got less than a hundred pages to go and I'm really enjoying it. Also I figured out who Emma was going to fall in love with about a hundred pages back. I'm such a shipper, I'm now on tenterhooks to see if she actually ends up with him!

The next book on the list is a classic romance, so I'm sticking with the Jane Austen theme and I've selected Pride and Prejudice, which I'll follow with The Book Thief for my book made into a movie. I've got quite a few books on my list already selected, though obviously I'm open to changing my mind and switching some around. It also means that I will be facing my biggest nemesis at the end of the year, one of the only books I've ever left unfinished; The Great Gatsby. We'll have to see how that goes!

In other news, I'm frantically trying to get blog posts written for my time away this month. Don't be alarmed if posts are somewhat thin on the ground. It just means I didn't get everything done as I intended. I've got a fair few scheduled already, but I think I'll be spreading out the Chapter-by-Chapter posts to help make them last. I hate the thought of having a day without a blog post.

I'm also rapidly coming to realise that 2015 will be the year of the new laptop. Mine is really starting to show her age. She's getting all slow and having hot flushes and seems to spend an awful lot of time thinking about things. I mentioned in my resolutions that I was going to set money aside in my savings account each week. Well, I suspect that that's what the funds will go towards.

So think happy thoughts for my laptop and happy thoughts for my ability to plough through my giant list of reading material!

Film Review: The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition

One of the presents that knew I was getting this year was The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition on blu-ray. It's quite convenient the way the films come out because it is at just the right time for the theatrical version for my birthday and the extended one for my Christmas. It's taken care of my gifts for about three years now!

My in-laws took care of this for me and I was itching to watch it from Christmas Day onwards. Obviously the bread board incident delayed our return home so we watched it in the evening last Saturday and I loved it!

Mr Click made sure that the version we got matched the one we already had. I wasn't too bothered myself, until I actually got it and saw the case and it's so pretty. It's got both the regular blu ray and the 3D blu ray so this version has the lenticular cover so it looks like you're looking through a window at the scene. At first glance I thought it was just Smaug, but down at the bottom right is a little Bilbo, looking very small beside Smaug.

The extended edition adds roughly 25 minutes to the film and as such it feels like you're watching a brand new film. I won't list here all the extra bits that have been added in or scenes that have been extended, you can find that information elsewhere on the internet with a quick Google search, but I'll talk about some of my favourite ones.

It felt like much of the additional material had gone in at the beginning. One of the main differences between this and the theatrical release is the inclusion of Thrain, Thorin's father. He gets a mention right from the off when Gandalf meets Thorin at The Prancing Pony and then when Gandalf goes to Dol Guldur we actually get to see him as well.

And he's not looking well.

I was pleased to see that the time spent with Beorn was extended too. One of the things I was a little miffed about in the cinema was that they didn't do the bit where Gandalf gradually introduced all of the Dwarves to Beorn by having them come out in pairs while he's telling the story. It's one of those sequences that works well on the page, but I figured was harder to execute on the screen, so I accepted its removal.

That said, I was thrilled to see it back in this version. It wouldn't have been right for the pacing of the theatrical release, but in the extended edition where you're able to watch it in the comfort of your own home (and more importantly, pause the film for bathroom breaks) it fits right in.

We saw the final film before we watched the extended edition whereas normally I would like to see the extended version before because then you can appreciate things you wouldn't otherwise have noticed. Beorn showing up at the Battle of the Five Armies was cool, but I felt like it was odd because we hardly saw him in the first film, he lent the Dwarves his horses and we didn't see anything else of him. This extra interaction helps to add to the final film.

My least favourite bit in the second film is probably the bit in Mirkwood. Purely because of the spiders you understand. I don't think there were any extended bits with the spiders, though to be fair I was watching it from behind my hands for most of the sequence. They did add in the bit with crossing the river which I liked. That's another of the bits that I enjoy in the book.

I'd read that there was more in Mirkwood but as I was watching the film I thought they'd skipped over it. Then the Dwarves come to the broken bridge for crossing the river and Bombur falls in (and asleep). There's even the white hart which is a nice little nod to the book as well.

I was grateful that there wasn't anything (that I noticed) added to the battle with Smaug inside the Lonely Mountain, though there were some more scenes in Laketown, particularly with the Master and Alfrid. Stephen Fry makes a really good Master, he's vile and disgusting and you just have to hate him, which is the complete opposite for how Fry usually makes me feel.

My favourite scene there has to be the 'bollocks' one. You have to watch the extended edition to understand it, hehe. Then watch the special features and giggle your way through the filming of that particular scene.

I've just started brushing the surface of the 9+ hours special features. On Tuesday night we had some time to kill while we ate our tea before I called my Mum, so we watched the introduction and first two documentaries.

I was quite surprised to learn that those fish they poured onto the Dwarves in their barrels were real (and really big to be to scale with the Dwarves). It's the first documentary and I'll admit to finding it hilarious. They couldn't use fake fish because they didn't flop properly and poor Adam Brown, who plays Ori, has a fish phobia. He may have been slightly traumatised by the filming of that bit.

I've still got another four hours of special features on the first disc alone, plus another four on the second disc and the commentary on the film as well. It'll probably keep me going until nearly Easter!

So is it worth it?

Definitely! Set aside an afternoon, get some popcorn and enjoy watching a nearly brand new film. Then stick the special features on and find just how how they did it all.

Chapter-by-Chapter: The Carnivorous Carnival, Chapter 4

I can’t believe how organised I’m being. I’m actually writing this blog post on Sunday almost a whole week ahead of when the thing is scheduled to post! Just watch how spectacularly behind I’ll be within the next fortnight, this always happens when I celebrate being organised on my blog.

If I end up being unable to post for a day or two, it’s all this blog post’s fault!

What Happens?

The Baudelaires have their first day at their new job and it does not go well. They don’t particularly enjoy having people calling them names, throwing things at them and laughing. When they finish work they decide to have a look in Madame Lulu’s tent, but before they can Count Olaf arrives back with the latest attraction for the carnival; lions.

Thoughts as I read:

At the moment my laptop’s suddenly decided it’s got urgent updates to download and so is running incredibly slowly, so that’s my main thought as I type. Ignoring that, at the bottom of the start of Chapter Four there is a crowd of people. They seem to be pointing and laughing at me trying to cajole my laptop into cooperation. I suspect that’s not actually the case, they;re probably at the carnival and are enjoying their refreshments and the show. In fact, looking at the drink cup and the cap one of them is wearing, they say ‘Caligari’. This chapter is going to tell us all about the Baudelaires first day in their new job.

Having had a bit of a rude awakening, Violet asks the hook-handed man what he was saying about the Baudelaire parents. This is obviously not the right thing to say, as it raises some suspicions about exactly how Beverly and Elliot know about the Baudelaires. Klaus thinks quickly and explains that they’ve been reading The Daily Punctilio. Good save Klaus!

Olaf and Lulu have disappeared for the day and so hooky is in charge of the House of Freaks. They’re all told to start getting ready to perform. The hook-handed man notices that some of Beverly and Elliot’s scars are blurry, once again Klaus thinks quickly and says “They blur as they heal” hehe.

After a brief discussion about how sympathetic they all feel towards the hook-handed man, the caravan crew all start getting ready for the day ahead. The Baudelaires manage to get away from the others to talk about whether or not one of their parents has actually survived. None of them really know what to think any more, after all Madame Lulu’s information seems to have been accurate up to this point. Sunny says ‘Tent’ which means something along the lines of them needing to go to the fortune-telling tent to look for themselves.

They don’t have long to whisper amongst themselves as Kevin thinks that they must be talking about how weird he is. He keeps on going on about how hard his life is with both of his equally strong hands. Oh shut up, Kevin! In fact, that’s the way that all conversations seem to go amongst the ‘freaks’, any time anything is mentioned, they each have to pipe up about how they aren’t normal and can’t do all these things like other people. Even talking about reading a paper!

At the big tent they meet the hook-handed man who has a large whip made out of tagliatelle which he is allowed to use to whip them if they don’t do what he wants. You’d not expect it to be particularly effective. Pasta tends to be sort of floppy and easy to break. I’d expect it to be sort of soggy but not exactly painful.

Some of the small crowd that’s gathered think that the hook-handed guy is one of the freaks. It’s ironic that he actually tells one of the men in the crowd that “It’s not polite to comment on other people’s appearances” but then a second later he’s telling them to go and look at the ‘freaks’ they’ve actually paid to come and see. So they each get on with their routines; Hugo’s act is putting on a coat which obviously won’t fit over the hump on his back, Violet and Klaus have to eat their piece of corn, and the others get on with demonstrating their own unique talents.

The audience are just as charming as the hook-handed man. They’re jeering and throwing things. I’d set Sunny on them personally. The Baudelaires are not enjoyed all the pointing and laughing. I can’t say I blame them. It’s one thing when you’re doing something funny or deliberately trying to get a laugh, but the people in the audience are just mean. Plus they’re experiencing flashbacks to all the horrible guardians they’ve had in the past, and all the mean things other people have done and laughed at them for. I’m surprised they don’t all snap and go postal at the crowd, then again that would probably reveal them as the murderous Baudelaires and won’t do anything to improve their reputation.

Violet is, understandably, very upset by it all. I feel so sorry for Violet, in the first books she struck me as the one most likely to take charge, but as the series has gone on her confidence has just been sapped. Sunny says ‘Kiwoon!’ (which appears to be the name of a band) meaning ‘I thought I was going to cry when all those people were calling me ‘freak’.’ Poor Sunny. This time it’s Klaus who is holding the group together and remaining optimistic. He points out that while Lulu is away, this would be their best opportunity to check out her tent.

The other inhabitants of The House of Freaks want to know why they’re so interested in the fortune telling tent, after all, as freaks there’s nothing else for them to do. Violet brightens up a little and tries to convince them otherwise. Kevin shoots them down though; an ambidextrous person’s opportunities are just as limited as those for a two-headed person. Instead they’re just supposed to settle down and enjoy their hot chocolate.

This is where we start learning about one of Sunny’s other little talents, after all, she can’t just bite stuff forever. Sunny’s added cinnamon to the hot chocolate and it’s actually improved it. I think Sunny is the one who grows the most over the course of these books, not least because she’s little more than a blob who speaks gibberish at the beginning. Now she’s walking, talking in almost recognisable words, and she’s learning to cook! She may be my favourite character.

Violet, Klaus and Sunny use the hot chocolate as an excuse to head outside under the pretence of visiting the gift caravan. At this point they hear the sound of Olaf’s car coming back, which probably means that they don’t have much time if they do want to investigate her tent. I can’t help but think ‘investigate her tent’ sounds a little like a dirty euphemism. Considering it’s Olaf, it’s entirely possible that it is.

But there’s another sound which they can hear. A roaring sound which doesn’t seem to be coming the car or Sunny (the only other thing in the vicinity which is known to roar).

We don’t learn anything else about that noise right away though, Snicket decides to digress from the tale he has been telling us with a different one called ‘The Story of Queen Debbie and her Boyfriend, Tony’. It’s in an entirely different font from the rest of the Baudelaires’ tale. The gist of it is that Debbie and Tony are having a long distance relationship when it’s Tony’s birthday, Debbie send him a myna bird but Tony wants diamonds, to prevent them from being stolen Debbie feeds the diamonds to the royal lions and sends the lions to Tony, who promptly tries to get them out with obvious consequences.

The reason Snicket has chosen to tell us this equally depressing tale (though to be fair, Tony was kind of too stupid to live), is because when Count Olaf arrives back at the carnival he’s towing a trailer containing lions (not tigers as I suspected from the front cover). The lions are not happy about this. He announces to the crowd that the lions are to be part of a new attraction.

And this does not bode well for the Baudelaires.

Resolutions

I never used to be one for making New Year's Resolutions, but I'm coming to quite like giving myself a little list of things to do (or try to do) so that I can check them off as I do them.

Last year I made Knitting New Year Resolutions. This year I have a mix of general and blog resolutions that I'm setting myself.

I'll kick off with the blog ones:

1. Stay on top of my Master Book List
About a year ago I set up a page up there for keeping track of all the books I've read and reviewed. The idea was that I would update it each time I finished and/or reviewed a book so it would always be relatively up to date. As you can probably guess, what I planned and what actually happened didn't really work out that well and now it's going to be a big job to get it all updated.

I did contemplate doing it over the Christmas holidays, but soon realised that I didn't want to spend all of a day off doing that, especially as it would eat into my blogging time. I'm going to dedicate a couple of days to updating it all and then going through putting in all the links in.

2. Spend more time taking photos
I feel like a blog post isn't a proper blog post without a photo. I like to have a pretty picture that is somewhat relevant to the post that I've written. But I'm guilty of not always taking be best of photos. Usually this is because I've written a post, got it all formatted and then realised that I've not got a photo to go with it so inevitably take a quick snap on my phone or on my Samsung camera, then upload it without any editing.

I want to make sure that I spend more time taking photos in the coming year and also getting them edited so they look pretty and attractive.

3. Explore what I can do with my blog
I've signed up with Bzz Agent in the hopes that I can get some freebies to test and review. I also used to use Amazon Affiliate links in the past and I've toyed with putting adverts on my blog as well. I'm not sure if this is something I want to do (except the reviews, I like reviewing things and I definitely want to do more of that). But I'm going to look into it and decide.

The first step for this will be writing up a disclosure statement to add to a page up there, just to let people know that my reviews are written for my own pleasure. I've been meaning to do it for ages and I found a handy template to use.

As for non-bloggy stuff.

1. Keep using my savings account
Towards the end of the year, when I had a trip away to save for, I started using my savings account again. I have no idea why I stopped doing it, but it's such a great incentive to save. Each time I log into my online banking I can see how much I've saved and it encourages me to transfer a little extra in whenever I can.

I also want to put some more money in Premium Bonds, because that's a little bit less accessible than my savings account (especially as each time I need to get access to it I need to reset my password because I never remember it)!

2. Keep on crafting
Last year I relearnt how to cross stitch and I'm wanting to continue to do that because it can be a lot more portable than knitting. Also, I want to keep on knitting. I had a long break from it this year and it wasn't really until I started again that I realised how much I missed it.

I don't want to set a target for how many things I want to make otherwise that might suck all the fun out of it, but I'll be happy to just have something on the go at all times. And if one isn't giving me much pleasure, than to switch to something else that does. Oh, and I need to buy some more needle tips and cables for my Knit Pro supplies in order to work on this resolution.

Also reorganise my stash. It was on my list last year and I never did it. Now everything is worse than ever, and I'm adding cross stitch supplies to the mess. I need to get a handle on it before it gets completely out of control.

Are you setting yourself any resolutions, challenges or plans for the coming year?

Chapter-by-Chapter: The Carnivorous Carnival, Chapter 3

As I said earlier, Happy New Year. I can’t believe that I’m writing my first blog posts of another year, it hardly feels like any time since I set up my blog, but it’s been a good few years now!

This afternoon we’re onto Chapter Three of The Carnivorous Carnival.

What Happens?

Madame Lulu interviews the disguised Baudelaires, who are now calling themselve Beverley, Elliot and Chabo the Wolf Baby. After watching Beverly and Elliot trying to eat corn and seeing how violent Chabo is, they’re hired. They are shown to the caravan where they are to live and meet their new colleagues, Hugo, Kevin and Colette. The next morning they learn just what Olaf has asked the crystal ball and what its shocking answer is.

Thoughts as I read:

We’ve got a charming little picture of the sign at the entrance to ‘The House of Freaks’ at the beginning of this chapter. It’s got a three-eyed girl in the centre with the words ‘Welcome to the House of Freaks’ above and below it. The Os in ‘welcome’ and ‘to’ have got little eyes in them as well. Perhaps I should’ve started counting eyes in this book again, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing plenty of them!

Snicket opens this chapter with a discourse of job interviews. Personally I’ve never really minded them, although I do find them nerve-wracking, but then again I’ve only had a few and none seem quite so involved as the one Snicket describes:

I once had a very difficult job interview in which I had not only to explain that I could hit an olive with a bow and arrow, memorize up to three pages of poetry, and determine if there was poison mixed into cheese fondue without tasting it, but I had to demonstrate all these things as well.

The Baudelaires are currently experiencing an equally difficult job interview. They’re pretending to be other people and are surrounded by all their enemies. There’s a moment when Olaf mentions that the children look familiar but Lulu brushes him off and gets down to business.

Violet introduces herself and Klaus as Beverly and Elliot and they expound on how difficult life is when you have two heads. Before long Olaf is making the children eat corn on the cob so that everyone assembled in the room can laugh at them eating. It’s a bit awkward as they only have one hand each to hold it. Everyone finds this very amusing, including the hook-handed man who Violet and Klaus observe will probably have just as much difficulty eating corn cobs as they have.

All the same, the job interview is going quite well. Everyone is very amused by the children eating their corn and Olaf is forecasting great success for Lulu’s carnival. Attention is soon directed on Sunny as they speculate about whether or not she is a ‘living scarf’. Sunny responds to this with ‘Chabo!’ which means ‘I know this is humiliating, but at least our disguises are working!’ instead Violet explains that the furry thing is Chabo the Wolf Baby, the unholy product of a female hunter who had a liaison with a wolf. That’s it folks, bestiality in a children’s book! Even the hook-handed man is shocked by this!

When they catch sight of Sunny’s sharp teeth Klaus takes the opportunity to explain that Chabo’s not totally tamed. Violence is a great sell for the carnival so Madame Lulu hires them both on the spot.

And so the children are led out to the caravan where all of the other freaks live. The other freaks consists of Hugo, Colette and Kevin. Klaus raises the question of how much they’ll be paid, instead the children are just supposed to be grateful that someone is willing to employ them considering they look the way they do. Talk then moves on to Count Olaf as Lulu tells the children how wonderful he is, not mentioning that he appears to have acquired a new girlfriend.

Soon we arrive at the caravan with the sign on it that we saw at the beginning of the chapter and we get to meet the Baudelaires’ new roommates. The first person we meet is Hugo, who has a hunchback and is unhappy at Madame Lulu waking him up. He takes the children inside where they find that the caravan is very neat and tidy with a little kitchen and some potted plants. It’s not a mansion but it looks cosy enough. Instead of bedrooms there are hammocks for sleeping in.

And then we meet the other inhabitants of the caravan. There is Kevin who is also annoyed at being woken up, he was having a dream where he wasn’t freakishly ambidextrous. The other person is Colette and Sunny immediately says ‘Renuf!’ meaning ‘I don’t see anything freakish about you either, but even if I did I wouldn’t laugh at you because it wouldn’t be polite.’ Colette explains that that she is a contortionist and then demonstrates how she can tie herself in knots. This motley crew maybe explains why the House of Freaks isn’t particularly successful, they’re not particularly freakish either.

Colette is ashamed of her freaky talents but when Klaus suggests that she just doesn’t do it Colette points out that as she is in the House of Freaks she has to do these freaky things, otherwise no one would come to see her at all! Klaus doesn’t go on to point out the obvious, namely that she could leave because I’m guessing that wouldn’t be an option either. All the same, she’s hopeful that a miracle might soon occur to make things better.

Miracles are like meatballs, because nobody can exactly agree what they are made of, where they come from, or how often they should appear.

Can’t argue with that!

Despite the above truism, the Baudelaires are focusing on the miracle that is the possibility of one of their parents surviving the fire that started all these unfortunate events. And that sustains the children all through the long uncomfortable night in the caravan.

If you remember, Olaf is allowed to ask one question of the crystal ball when the sun comes up, so as the sun comes up the children wonder if he’s asked it yet, and what the answer might have been. The children soon learn as the hook-handed man starts banging on the door to waken everyone inside.

Apparently the crystal ball has revealed that one of the Baudelaire parents is still alive. And the gift caravan has nearly run out of souvenirs.

This is very big news indeed!

And the information about the Baudelaires is dramatic too.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Hope 2014 was a good one for you and I hope that 2015 is set to be even better!

Here's to another year of blogging, reading books, watching films, exploring new places, taking photos and making new friends.

All the best for the year ahead.