Chapter-by-Chapter: New Moon, Chapter 5

How cool is this? I've managed to get a post up every day for a fortnight! Let's just take a moment to celebrate.

Okay. Done.

Moving on to New Moon. Last week's chapter saw Bella's dad calling her on her moping around so she went out with her friend Jess to the cinema. It was awkward to say the least, especially when she decided to go and confront one of the guys who threatened to attack her in the last book. Luckily it wasn't one of those guys, but Jess was thoroughly unimpressed and it put a total dampener on the evening.

Now on with Chapter 5: Cheater

What Happens?

Bella decides to be reckless and acquires a couple of motorcycles; one of her father's least favourite things in the world. Then she recruits her hot young friend, Jacob Black, to help her get them running. Did I mention he's hot? He's hot? This is the start of a new and improved Bella.

Thoughts as I read:

I'm guessing that either Bella's going to throw herself at one of her friends' boyfriends and therefore become a cheater, or she's going to cheat on some important test, thus causing drama. It's going to be a thrilling fourteen pages, I can tell.

Bella's at work but Mike's suggesting she head off early since it's quiet but Bella's happy to stay. She's got nothing better to do with her time, remember.

I still hadn't been able to sink back into my protective shell of numbness, and everything seemed oddly close and loud today, like I'd taken cotton out of my ears. I tried to tune out the laughing hikers without success.

There's two guys still in the store who are sharing mountain war stories. One's seen massive grizzly bears. He's either lying or there are some sort of shape shifters that we're yet to meet in the series. The guy with a beard tries to get Mike on his side about the giant bears. Mike's a pretty good salesperson and starts trying to sell them bear-safe food containers.

Bella leaves before we can hear any more about the bears, or the bear-safe food canisters.

Instead we get about a page more of Bella moaning. She's still in pain and she's struggling to sleep and when she does get to sleep she's having nightmares. And wah wah wah. I'm sorry, Bella, you're not the only one to have broken up with your boyfriend.

I always had nightmares now, every night. Not nightmares really, not in the plural, because it was always the same nightmare. You'd think I'd get bored after so many months, grow immune to it. But the dream never failed to horrify me, and only ended when I woke myself with screaming. Charlie didn't come in to see what was wrong anymore, to make sure there was no intruder strangling me or something like that – he was used to it now.

One, Charlie is right to insist that Bella needs professional help, and two, if she was being strangled, I'm now sure he'd actually hear her screaming. Just saying.

Bella's dream is pretty much nothing. It's dark and she's looking for something and then she can't remember what she's searching for. And she knows that the nothing is all that there will ever be. And this leads to more moping as she drives without really paying attention to where she's going; so now she's endangering other road users as well. Luckily she pulls over and curls up on the seat to cry. It's better than crashing the car or hurting someone.

Jeez, this girl really needs a counsellor.

Next we're onto the fact that despite Edward's insistence that it would be like she'd never been there, even though it really is like he'd been there because she was completely changed inside. And now there's no reason why she shouldn't be totally reckless, even if Edward's told her she can't be stupid, there's nothing really stopping her from being reckless. Perhaps that will mean we'll get to see something interesting instead of all this whining.

To be reckless in Forks would take a lot of creativity –maybe more than I had. But I wished I could find some way… I might feel better if I weren't holding fast, all alone, to a broken pact.

Yeah, Bella, you're really not that creative. Surely if you had any degree of creativity, you'd have found a way to stop all this destructive cycle and move on already.

With this plan of creative recklessness in its embryonic stages, Bella decides to get out and wander. Except her truck is parked in the way of some of their neighbours' driveways. It's while she's looking at this that she notices a sign in front of one of the houses' mailbox. It's a FOR SALE sign. For a motorcyle. Charlie's least favourite mode of transport. What better way for his daughter to be properly reckless.

So she heads up to the door where one of the Marks brothers answers it. He informs her that the bike doesn't work, but Bella doesn't care, I'm sure she knows someone who can help her fix it up. The Marks brother invites her to just help herself and that it's best if she takes both, for free, since she could use parts from one to fix up the other. I was right, she's got plans to get Jacob Black to do it all for her; the other option is to take it to some guy called John Dowling who charges people a fortune for repairs. Poor Jacob.

Back at home she calls her dad at work, instantly sending him into a panic in case there's something else wrong with her. There isn't, she just wants Jacob's address and directions to it. Once there Jacob comes out to see her at the truck and I get the impression that he might just be her new obsession:

His excited grin stretch wide across his face, the bright teeth standing in vivid contrast to the deep russet colour of his skin. I'd never seen his hair out of its usual ponytail before. It fell like black satin curtains on either side of his broad face.

He's not made out of marble or sparkly but he's definitely getting a 'good-looking guy' description. Especially as the description of him goes on for a whole extra paragraph so we know we're definitely talking about Edward Cullen levels of hotness here. The gist of this is that he's now a lot taller than last year, he's six foot five.

Bella's invited in and it's time to say hello to Billy before going back outside to see the car Jacob's working on. Jacob has a little garage where he does his work. I know nothing about cars, but I'm guessing this is some sort of classic Volkswagen. It's as old as I am anyway and it was Jacob's reward for passing on Billy's warning to Bella at the dance last year.

I don't think Bella's really that interested in the car, as soon as she can get the conversation around to it, she tells Jacob about the motorbikes. He thinks this is really cool, he doesn't want paying and he agrees not to tell Charlie. Looks like Bella's really scored here.

Actually, I take it back, she's offering him the second bike so long as he teaches her how to ride. I'd say that's a pretty fair exchange. And then there's the offer of a date too. Run, Jacob! Run as fast as you can!

This makes Bella happy. I suppose that's something. It's probably because she's finally getting her mind off of Edward and focusing on something positive. Motorbikes might be dangerous but at least it's a hobby. Personally I prefer needlework or knitting, but each to their own.

Jacob does point out that it's going to take some money for parts. Bella's got that covered too. She's going to use her college fund. It's not like she needs to go to college anyway after all.

As we skulked back to the makeshift garage, I contemplated my luck. Only a teenage boy would agree to this: deceiving both our parents while repairing dangerous vehicles using money meant for my college education. He didn't see anything wrong with that picture. Jacob was a gift from the gods.

So not only is Bella being reckless, but she's encouraging a younger friend to join her. Way to go, Bella.

And actually, I kind of think that this book is improving now that we're getting slightly less moping over Edward. Long may it continue.

What's on my needles?

I've been knitting again.

Now that the Nativity is finished, I briefly toyed with making something that wasn't a stuffed animal or toy. And then dismissed that in favour of getting my magic loop on.

On Christmas Eve Eve I had the suddenly compulsion to cast on for something in bright red and dark blue and I spent roughly seven hours working on it the following day on Christmas Eve. I had a bit of a break from knitting over New Year but I'm back on it now, and this is how it looks:

But I'm not giving away any details on what it is yet. I will give you a clue though, this is a hazy photo of what the finished item will should look like:

Any idea what it might be?

Answers on a postcard (or in the comments).

Wordless Wednesday: Lonesome

Books 15 & 16 of 2015: Cursed by Stephen Leather & The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

As I said last week, I'm doubling up on my book review posts to get caught up with my reading material from last year.

The first review of today is Cursed by Stephen Leather. This is an ebook short story which is set between the second and third books in his Jack Nightingale series. It can really be read anywhere in the series, though it makes more sense to read it where it is set, then again, you don't lose anything by not reading it. This one sees Detective Chalmers coming to Nightingale for help with a strange case.

I didn't think that this story was as good as the first two books from the Jack Nightingale series. Part of it was just because I couldn't imagine Chalmers actually going to Nightingale for help, it just seemed somewhat out of character for him. In some respects I think that it might have been a little bit more believable if some random police officer had come to Jack instead; someone who had heard what Jack had been involved in and that he might be able to help.

It was a nice quick read, I managed to read it during a single episode of Starsky and Hutch. It's worth noting that just under half of it was an extract from the first book. I skipped it because I'd read it two weeks before. I'm not really sure why someone would be picking up this book if they weren't already familiar with the story, and if they were then it would make more sense to have an extract from the third book, instead of the first.

It all wrapped up very quickly and easily. That was necessary for the short story but I would've liked it to be a little longer and perhaps to have linked to the story either before or after more. I'd recommend this one for anyone who is familiar with the Jack Nightingale series, but I wouldn't go for this one until you've at least read the first one; it might be free but it's not the best introduction to the character.

My second review for the day is The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. This was another ebook for Week 8 of my Reading Challenge: A funny book. It's the story of two friends who are both pretending to be 'Ernest' to impress two different girls, cue a great deal of confusion when both and neither of them are Ernest, and then some surprising revelations are made about their parentage.

I found this really funny. I copy quotes I like from books into my book journal and there were so many that I couldn't fit them all into my quote list. It was actually funnier than I was expecting. I know I say this every time I read a book which is a classic, or a little older than my other reading material, but it was surprising how well it had aged.

It was a really quick read as well. This was even shorter than the Stephen Leather book above, clocking in at 58 pages. I started it in the morning at breakfast and I finished it a little over an hour later before I left the house for work. I think it benefits from being read all in one sitting as it is in play format and I can find those books a little difficult to pick up and put down; it's easy to lose your place.

I had seen an adaptation of it some years ago. I have a funny feeling it had Colin Firth in it. This meant that I had a fairly good idea of what was going to happen, but all the same, even having an idea of what the ending was going to be, I still really enjoyed it.

I would love to see this on the stage some time. As I was reading it, I was imagining how I might stage it if I was in a production of it, the sorts of people I might cast, what the set would look like and how different bits might be played. It'd be fun to see it done live to see if they would do it the way I imagined.

This is definitely a book you should read, pick it up for free as an ebook and devour it on a journey.

Next week's books will be Stephen Leather's Nightmare and Nightshade, my seventeenth and eighteenth books from last year.

TV Series Review: M*A*S*H

Last birthday, Mr Click got me the complete box set of M*A*S*H on DVD. I was thrilled. I've watched M*A*S*H ever since I was young and I've always enjoyed it. I've watched the first series in its entirety once but I've never seen the other episodes in order; some of them I've only seen once.

I had the box set on my wishlist for ages, but I never really expected to get it. Mr Click had watched the odd episode here and there but had never been particularly enamoured with it so I was really worried that he wouldn't enjoy it. I needn't have bothered, he really got into it.

M*A*S*H was inspired by the film which was inspired by Richard Hooker's book and went on to run for three times the length of Korean War. They actually celebrated one more Christmas in the series than was experienced by the actual people out there. At the time that it started, it took a while to gain popularity, before becoming such a big hit that the final episode broke all kinds of records which weren't broken for another twenty years!

It revolves around the staff and their escapades at the 4077 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, predominantly focusing on Chief Surgeon 'Hawkeye' Pierce, played by Alan Alda. He's accompanied first by 'Trapper' John McIntyre and then by BJ Hunnicutt in both work and pranks. Other members of staff include Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan, Henry Blake, Frank Burns, Radar, Colonel Potter, Father Mulcahey, Max Klinger and Charles Emerson Winchester (the third).

The only two characters who are in the series right from the very first episode to the very end are Hawkeye and Margaret (though Father Mulcahey is technically in the first episode, he's just played by someone different). It's interesting to see how they grow and change over the course of the series, both apart and together. They begin as complete enemies and gradually progress to become friends (and possibly even maybe something a little more).

It's a growth which can be seen in every character, with the possible exceptions of the first three to depart from the series; Trapper, Henry and Frank. The former two wished to leave the series and Henry's exit couldn't have been handled better, with the revelation that he's able to go home only for his plane to be shot down before he can get there. It's a devastating end to the character and a stark reminder that in war zones not everyone gets to get home. It's something we're constantly reminded of with the patients they treat, but it hurts more when it's someone you've grown attached to over the course of several series.

Frank didn't really get to evolve that much as a character and once Margaret was married he had sort of served his usefulness. I understand why Larry Linville wanted to leave but I did enjoy the character of Frank Burns. It would have been easy to just replace him with another similar character, after all, his main purpose was was act as a foil for Hawkeye. Instead they brought in Charles, someone who was totally different to Frank. Charles is probably the person Frank would've likes to have been.

That's something that I really loved about the way they brought in new people. They never made them cookie cutter versions of the departing character. It would've been easy to make BJ a playboy character like Trapper, instead he was a family man who was utterly faithful to his wife; Henry was replaced by Sherman Potter, an army career-man who knew when to play by the book and when to break the rules; and Frank was replaced by Charles, an upper-class guy who came across as aloof but actually had a heart of a gold. It helped to keep the series feel fresh and real.

I also really liked the fact that Hawkeye was quite a believable character, especially in terms of the finale. This begins with Hawkeye being admitted to a psychiatric hospital following a breakdown. The whole way through the series, we see him teetering on the edge with sleep walking, a strange allergic reaction, his defensive mechanism where he defaults to jokes rather than other more serious reactions. And as we've seen him deal with each of these issues in the past and resolving them, we're unsurprised when he makes it through the breakdown as a changed person but still the familiar Hawkeye we've come to love.

There are so many fantastic episodes that it's hard to pick a favourite. The last episode is easily the best one of the lot, but there's another which is told through the eyes of a patient which is brilliant. I also like the interview episode where a war correspondent comes to the camp and interviews the staff. This episode was filmed largely by giving the actors questions and asking them to answer them in character; it gives a brilliant insight into the characters.

It's also fun to watch the episodes to see lots of actors and actresses who went on to be in films and TV series later. I couldn't begin to list them all here, but it was fun to play 'what've we seen them in before?'

The box set also includes a whole host of special features, including bloopers, a thirty-year anniversary reunion special, as well as multiple interviews and behind the scenes snippets. It was really interesting to watch, especially to hear the stories of the series from the actors themselves. I'd never seen the film of M*A*S*H either, so that was a new experience for me. From watching the trailer I knew it would be right up Mr Click's street. There was an element of the 'Carry On' films about it. I found it a little weird watching it after having seen the series, it was tough to get my head around someone else being Hawkeye. It's definitely one I'm going to watch again in the future.

At the moment I've been watching Bones on a Saturday afternoon, off and on. As soon as I've finished watching Bones, I suspect that I'll go back to the beginning of M*A*S*H and I'll watch all those episodes all over again. It's the sort of series that you can watch over and over again. And I intend to.

Weekly Rundown: Back to Work

I have had a lovely ten days off so it was a bit of a shock to have to get back into the swing of things with work again. It was a bit of a shock to the system to go from nothing to a full five day week, but it went quite quickly. Unfortunately the weekend is going by equally quickly, but I've got a trip to Wales coming up to look forward to.

I've started the New Year with a reread of The Lord of the Rings and I'm currently about halfway through The Fellowship of the Ring. Since I'm taking part in my Walk Middle-earth group, I felt like I needed a little reminder of the books to help me come up with challenges and keep up with the more knowledgeable members of the group. In the past I've read it quite quickly but I'm going pretty slowly this time around.

I overtook my walking progress with the book this week. As much as I'd love to read it at the same speed I'm walking, if I did that I'd still be around the third chapter!

Speaking of walking, I'm doing very well towards my target of 458 miles this year. Yesterday my sister-in-law came to visit with her partner and we went for a lovely long walk around the estate which meant that for the second day in a row I managed to hit my Fitbit goal of 10,000 steps. On Friday night I was only 1,300 away by bedtime, so I paced up and down the living room whilst catching up online to hit the required steps. I did it mainly to see what happened when you reach your goal on the Fitbit; yesterday I managed it before lunch!

So far I've hit my target of walking 1.2 miles per day. It was fairly easy to attain while I was off work, but now I'm back, I'm having to make more time to get out walking. It was tempting to just count all walking that my Fitbit registered, but now that I have it, I can't help but want to continue walking an extra 1.2 miles anyway. It certainly gets my steps up.

The hardest thing about going walking with Tara has been the fact that it's so dark. I've been walking in the morning alone, but at night it's so dark and creepy I've been dragging Mr Click with me as well. I think he's been enjoying these dark and scary walks, possibly because I insist on holding his hand the whole way! I've now figured out that by doing the walk to the bottom of the hill in the morning gives me about half a mile, while the walk to the bump and back in the evening is 0.7, giving me exactly the total I need. Where possible, I'll walk a little extra to give me a buffer against days when I can't walk.

My view as I walked to town for Star Wars.

I even walked to the cinema last week, when we went to see Star Wars. I did have to do an extra lap outside the cinema to make up the 0.11 that I was short for the day. It's amazing how much more active the combination of the challenge and the Fitbit are making me. Here's to a far healthier 2016!


How is your 2016 shaping up now we're returning to normal after the holidays?

Sleep Tight Wicket

I know I said that I would post the first part of my Desolation of Smaug review today, but my sweet Wicky rat passed away last week and I wanted to give him a post all of his very own. The film review will go up next week instead.

When I decided it was time to dig out the old rat cage and fill it up again, I knew I wanted a pair of boy rats. We had the choice of four and I picked my beautiful fawn hooded, Yoda, and my handsome black rat, Wicket.

From the get go he was nicknamed 'Wicket the Cricket'. He was lifted out of the cage, where upon he promptly jumped out of the girl's arms, bounced off a shelf and landed on the floor. When I was handtaming the guys by sitting in the (empty) bath with them, he was the first to figure out how to jump onto the side of the bath; something which nearly gave me a heart attack in case he overshot the mark and fell to the floor, and completely baffled Yoda at how his brother kept disappearing.

Despite his boldness, he was always a bit of a 'fraidy rat. My little bundle of contradictions. He'd be the first to venture out of his cage into a new environment, but he was distrustful of any food we handed him. Often he wouldn't even take a tasty treat from us until he had seen Yoda having a safe nibble first. Had Yoda been the one to go first, Wicket would have shed ounces within a week!

Even though he was cautious of his food, he loved it. Especially Chinese and rather bizarrely, cranberry juice:

About six months ago we noticed that he had a little lump developing. After our past experience with rats and lumps we decided against having it operated on (we have a 100% success rate at rats having lumps removed, and a 100% fatality rate with them getting through the following 24 hours afterwards). He was far older by then than any of our rats who had had the op, so we decided to keep him comfortable and trust that he would let us know when he'd had enough.

And it didn't slow him down or stop him at all. Until the second week of December he was still climbing up and down the bars of the cage. He'd even put himself to bed if you popped him on the staircase and told him where to go.

Then he started to slow down. Almost over night he decided to stop climbing up the cage, so we added extra bedding for him, moved the food down to the ground floor, and made him comfy. We hoped he'd last for Mr Click's birthday. He did. We hoped he'd last through Christmas. He did. And the whole time he kept eating and drinking and washing and doing all the usual ratty things. He was happy, but he was obviously starting to fade.

Wicket saw in the New Year and then he slipped away.

I had a feeling that he wasn't going to be there any more when we got home. It was like he was just waiting to see what 2016 looked like and then he decided it was time to go.

He was my cute and chunky little guy. He was black with a soft white belly, but he wasn't just solid black, he had brown and grey and white and dozens of other colours in his coat; like a little ratty kaleidoscope, you saw something different each time you looked at him.

And he way better eyesight than Yoda, so he didn't nip you when you stuck your fingers in the cage to rub that cute little nose.

I miss him. Sleep tight, little guy.