keris stainton

52 Books Project - Week 17

Only one book read again this week: Beth Kendrick's My Favourite Mistake. I really enjoyed it. Light, easy read with a pretty tasty hero (who seemed to me to have been based on Luke Danes from Gilmore Girls so he was alright with me).

I then started The Virgin Suicides which was supposed to be my April book (from my "must-read this year" list) and, though it's beautifully written, it's just too sad. I found myself dreading picking it up. I will read it at some point, but maybe one chapter at a time between other (happier) books, rather than all in one go.

I then read a few pages of Forever, Amber, which I really want to read, but at almost a thousand pages it just seems like too much of a time investment. Maybe I'll take it on holiday. When Harry's left home.

I seem to have been reading a fair bit of chick lit and YA so I scanned the bookshelves thinking "no YA, no chick lit" but the only thing that leapt out and shouted "read me" was The Ivy Chronicles. So I've started that this evening.

For some reason though - and this happens only very occasionally - I don't really feel like I'm in a reading mood at all. I just want to lie on the sofa and watch TV. I think this must be me chilling out. I'm not sure, I don't do it very often. So tonight I'm going to watch In Good Company and Rescue Me and not read at all (except during the ad breaks).

New love

Those of you who saw Justin Hawkins on Jonathan Ross last night* will be relieved to know that he has been (temporarily) replaced in my affections by Dr McDreamy, Patrick Dempsey.

See, I remember Patrick Dempsey looking like this:

So I was excited when he turned up in Will & Grace looking like this:

But in Grey's Anatomy, he takes foxiness to new levels. He doesn't even have to speak. The minute he appears on screen, I'm panting like a dog in a locked car. How I look forward to Thursday nights.

* Yes, I'm aware he seemed desperately nervous and looked rough as a very rough thing, but perversely, it only made me love him more.

Oh no it isn't!

Oh yes it is!

Favourite Photo Friday

This is me (I'm the baby) and my mum who died in 1999.

It was taken in Canada presumably just before Mum and Dad brought me back to the UK. Some Canadian friends of theirs came to visit a few years ago and brought a bunch of photos of which this was one.

I think it could almost be me with Harry, but no-one else seems to agree!

Anyway, I love it cos I look so happy and Mum looks so cool and proud.

I had a cunning plan for Favourite Photo Friday which is to scan in the photos from around the house first and then if, say, the house burnt down (not that I'm planning anything, you understand), all my favourite photos would be safe, here on my blog ... This picture lives on the windowsill of our grown-up front room (no telly!).

Your questions answered!

Diane asked how many books I've read so far this year and what proportion of them were Meg Cabot. So I counted up. I've read 32 books so far and 4 were by Meg Cabot, which makes my reading so far this year 12.5% Cabot*. And I've just got another one out of the library. So there.

Maxine wants to know what she can do about the fact that she likes the ambience in Starbucks, but doesn't like the coffee. She also mentioned that the tea's rubbish. First of all, don't bother with tea in Starbucks; that's like having a salad in McDonalds. But coffee-wise, it depends what you're drinking. Being a big jessie, I only drink lattes. I know they're too weak for some people, but Starbucks only put in one shot as standard**, so if you ask for a "double latte" it might be better (and it sounds quite cool). If you don't like lattes, I can't help you. Sorry.

* Unless I've done my sums wrong, which is quite likely.
** Cafe Nero's lattes are two shots and I can't drink them. Even the decaf ones give me the shakes.

I *heart* Starbucks (even more than I did before)

Last time I blethered on wrote about how much I love Starbucks, David was worried I'd be barraged with angry emails from anti-globalisationists. He was wrong. (The only angry emails I've ever received were from those Green Wing freaks fans.)

But let me tell you a little story about Starbucks. On Sunday I went to Borders to read through my manuscript of Forget Me Not. I needed to do it in peace and quiet and, of course, at home there is washing-up to ignore, hoovering to avoid and a small child to abandon in front of CBeebies (oh and since you ask, Maxine, we've been married 10 years - "being a wife" just involves making cups of tea). So off to Borders I went. I got there around about 12 so I ordered a decaf latte and some sort of chickpea panini that sounded a bit odd, but, you know, I'll try (almost) anything once.

So there I was crossing out words, making little notes, chortling to myself at how Carrie Bradshaw I am and then, about halfway through the panini, there was a tough bit. I almost just swallowed it anyway - I barely chew my food as it is, so it's no skin off my nose if something's inedible - but I decided, no, and spit it delicately into my hand. Don't worry, it was just a bit of wrapper (from the panini) that had somehow found its way inside the panini itself.

I mooched up to the counter and said, expecting nothing, "Er .. there was a bit of wrapper in my panini". The staff reacted as if I'd brought them a little toe or something. I ended up reassuring them that it was fine, these things happen, it was only a bit of plasticky paper, it would've been different if it'd been a plaster (or a condom, as David suggested), but no harm done, etc. In fact, another customer joined in and we shared stories of wet wipes in Chinese takeaways and slugs in salads until the Starbucks staff came around from their swoon. Bless em.

Well. They offered me a replacement sandwich, but I'd eaten quite a lot of it and was no longer hungry. So they gave me a free latte. And three vouchers for future free drinks. And a refund on my sandwich.

And today I received a letter of apology and £10 in Starbucks vouchers.

So I don't care what people say, I *heart* Starbucks.

52 Books Project - Week 16

Argh! Two days late and I nearly didn't make it tonight either since David's nagging me to get the hell of the computer and be a wife for a change.

So. I read Pulling Princes as sent to me by lovely Luisa. At first I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it, but it was actually really good fun. Not up to Meg Cabot standards (of course) and I'm not sure I'll read more in the series, but there were some good jokes and I liked the main character.

I then read What Remains as sent to me by gorgeous Gabrielle. This is a memoir by Carole Radziwill whose husband, Anthony Radziwill, a Polish Prince and nephew of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, died of cancer just three weeks after their best friends, John F Kennedy Jnr and his wife Carolyn Bessette, died in a plane crash.

Even though it was slightly self-consciously written, I really loved this book. I thought Radziwill described Anthony, John and Carolyn beautifully. Unlike the portrait of Sergei Grinkov in My Sergei (also recommended by Gabrielle) I really got a sense of Anthony as a person, but it was John and Carolyn - particularly Carolyn - whose characters really shone out of the book.

I never really knew much about Carolyn Bessette. I saw pictures in which she always looked icy and miserable and just assumed she was a socialite or something. In fact, she comes across as a kind, warm and funny woman (and far from being a socialite) and I missed her in the final chapters of the book. (I've been trying to find a photograph of Carolyn and John, but they're all rubbish.)

Anyway, I read the second half of the book in one go on Sunday in Borders (drinking free lattes which I'll tell you about tomorrow) and the ending was extremely painful to read. Even so, I thought it was a lovely, honest, book.

Favourite Photo Friday

In homage* to Ms Mac's Favourite Photo Thursday, I'm going to start doing Favourite Photo Friday. (Yes, I know today's not Friday, but I did so much typing yesterday that my hand hurt too much to do this last night.)

When Harry was small and woke up in the night for a feed this was the face he presented.

Do you know, even 2am feeds are bearable when you get to look at that face. It made me laugh then and it still makes me laugh now.

* i.e. I've pinched her idea.

Hold the front page!

My article's not in today's Express.

I'll let you know when it's going to be in.

Ha!

From Hollywood.com:

According to Hebrew linguists, Suri has only two meanings - one is a person from Syria and the other "go away" when addressed to a female.

VBFs (Virtual Best Friends)

The postie came this morning with a couple of parcels and a bunch of letters. One was a credit card bill. One was a letter from the same credit card company asking why I hadn't paid my last bill (which I have .. just a bit late).

One was a letter from my VBF Luisa enclosing a magazine of things to do for kids in the area in which she lives that's meant to encourage me to visit her in the summer. Totally unnecessary, since her loveliness is encouragement enough (well, that and the beaches!).

Then there was a parcel from my VBF Bege, returning a book I'd loaned her.

And another parcel from my VBF Diane, loaning me one of her books and also, fabulously, enclosing a pack of Peanut Butter KitKats and a New York Times article by Nora Ephron (whom we both love).

Add this to the fact that I'm currently reading What Remains and sobbing through Oprah DVDs as sent to me (from Paris!) by Gabrielle and I've just finished watching the latest Gilmore Girls (missing them already) series as sent to me (from Switzerland!) by Ms Mac, I have to say that I have the loveliest VBFs I could ever wish for.

Sniff.

As for the rest of you - I love you too. Just not quite as much. As the lovely Carson Queer Eye would say, sending me stuff is never the wrong answer. ;)

Leaking vital fluids .. slight headache .. loss of appetite

Just read this, or at least as much of it as I could stand before I felt my lifeforce slipping away.

Honestly, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. (Though I did laugh at the "how do you really know it's a hat" comment.)

Yawn

Do you ever have a day when it's all just too much work? Today I had tons of stuff to do. Last night I was feeling quite excited and optimistic about the long day ahead and how much I'd get done. How much have I done? Not much. Everything seems like too much effort.

I want to finish rearranging and tidying my office and I've reached the point where I pick up one piece of paper, put it away, sigh heavily and sit back down to watch some more Oprah 20th Anniversary (thanks, Gabrielle!).

On days like this I have to designate the Most Important Thing and then be satisfied as long as that gets done. And anything else is a bonus. Today's MIT was sending out all the ebay parcels that stacked up over the weekend and transferring the ebay money to my bank (since, you know, I've already spent it). I've done that. And that'll just have to do.

In fact, just writing that has made me feel a little stronger. I think I might go and make myself a cup of tea (and wash the sink full of glasses) and try the next MIT (drafting a query letter for Forget Me Not). Eek. I feel a little more Oprah coming on ...

Oh and the other thing I wanted to do was to finally get some of my articles up on the wall. And I did that too. Look:

Thanks, ebay!

I bought myself a printer/scanner/copier deely today with my ebay profits! So now, not only can I print out my novel (ha! my novel!), but I can also scan my articles in for your viewing pleasure. I'd quite like to have them in the sidebar, but I think that's beyond my capabilities (also they look crap as thumbnails).

So this was the first one, in the November 2005 issue of Essentials*. Click on each pic to enlarge. Enjoy!

*And, no, I don't know where I stand copyright-wise. I'm hoping that linking back'll do the trick!

Book stuff

I just read this on Meg Cabot's blog:

That is all I have to say for now…I am using this break between houseguests to get a good start on TOMMY SULLIVAN IS A FREAK which is due May 1. So future postings may be brief, and in the words of Cher (from the immortal movie classic CLUELESS), sporadic.

She wrote that on 20th March. She was wanting to "get a good start on" a book which was due IN FIVE WEEKS!!!! I've said it before, but she must be a robot. It's the only explanation.

Princess Diaries 7 isn't out here until September, but it's out in the US (and Canada) and I'm going to Canada next month. Hmm. It'll be a couple of quid more and it's in hardback and it won't match the rest of the series (but they've redesigned the UK ones anyway so even the UK version won't match). Yep, think I've talked myself into buying it in Canada!

From her blog I also learned that RoboMeg has yet another book out any time now. Nice cover.

I totally disagree with that old 'don't judge a book by its cover' bollocks. Some of my favourite books I only picked up in the first place because of their covers. Like this one:

And I'll pick up anything with New York on the cover. Like this:

Or this:

And who could resist this?

All these books are making me feel a bit funny. You know how I'm working through The Artists' Way course with my coach? Well this week is "reading deprivation week". Yep, we're not supposed to read anything. At all. Never gonna happen. I'm negotiating (with myself) about just reading in bed (at night) but I really don't think I can do it. I mean, right now all I want to do is go downstairs, get a cup of tea and the last of the chocolate brioche* and make a start on The Ivy Chronicles (another New York cover). I'll let you know how I get on.

*If you've got an Aldi near you, I highly recommend you get down there and buy some.

52 Books Project - Week 15

First I read and really enjoyed Andrea Semple's The Man From Perfect, then I tried Alexander McCall Smith's The Sunday Philosophy Club.

I've actually read the first chapter before and wasn't keen; this time I lasted out until 50 pages but I just didn't enjoy it at all. Though the comments on the cover disagreed, I felt it totally lacked the charm and humour of his No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series, so I gave up. I then tried Ron McLarty's The Memory of Running and, while it was an interesting premise and well-written (plus, I liked the main character), it was just too sad, so I stopped reading that too.

So then, since I was going away for the night and didn't want to risk a book I might not enjoy, I re-read the first book in Enid Blyton's Malory Towers series. I absolutely adored these books when I was a kid and I remembered why as soon as I started this one: great characterisation and Malory Towers itself sounded glorious. But nothing happens for at least 50 pages, no conflict, no nothing, plus there's a lot of telling rather than showing and there was one particularly dodgy paragraph about being a first-rate person as opposed to a second- or third-rate person, but you have to read Blyton as a product of her time and I'll definitely be re-reading the rest of the series.

Oh and can I just mention that I've got a MySpace page if anyone would like to "friend" me .. I've only got three friends at the moment and one of them was automatic. Plus if anyone knows how to change the background, etc., to make it match my blog, I'd love to know. Ta!

Ouch poor brain

I still haven't caught up with my blog reading. I've got a plan though. Each day I start at the bottom (least number of posts) so that I stay caught up with the ones I've caught up with and then I read one of the mega-post ones. Today I read Jilly's (hello, Jilly!) and tomorrow I'll read Lauren's.

I'm excited that I've got 20 - 20! - unread Meg Cabot posts to look forward to (and 56 Jennifer Crusie - 56, for the love of god!), but frankly the whole thing's exhausting. Remind me to never get this far behind again. Thank you.

How do you all keep up to date with your blog-reading? Haven't you got tellies?

Forget Me Not

Um, is it normal to cry at the ending of a book you wrote yourself?

I've just finished the first edit of Forget Me Not, the Young Adult book I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year. The amazing thing is, I can't remember writing much of it (which is appropriate, given the subject matter!). I assume that's because during NaNoWriMo you're writing so fast that it's almost from another place, but - re-reading it - I've laughed, I've cried, I've even got excited at moments of tension wondering what's going to happen next and then actually been surprised at what did happen. But I wrote it!

Plus, it's the first full book I've ever finished. I was waiting for this big sense of achievement. A big "I did it!" While that didn't come (probably because I was so busy celebrating the end of NaNoWriMo and being relieved it was over to really appreciate the fact that I'd written a book), now I definitely feel a sense of achievement. I laugh out loud whenever I think about it. I've written a book. I've written a book! I've written a book!

This year is turning out to be pretty amazing.

52 Books Project - Week 14

Better late than never.

I loved Stephanie Calman's Confessions of a Bad Mother - so reassuring and really funny. If you haven't been on the website go there immediately (although it seems to be down quite often).

Then I read Elinor Lipman's The Dearly Departed. I bought this years ago and loaned it to my then-boss because I didn't think I'd get round to reading it for a while, then I forgot I'd bought it and bought it again. Doofus. Anyway, it's a lovely book. Sort of reminded me of Elizabeth Berg crossed with Gilmore Girls.

I'd love to write a gentle small town comedy type book sometime in the future. In fact, if I get my finger out I could turn Luna Beach into something along those lines. Hmm. That's a thought.

WTF?!

Moses Martin?!?

Hot choc

I know I haven't done my 52 Books post yet this week, but I'm tired and my eyes are sore (from wearing mascara two days running) and hubby's made me a cup of hot chocolate .. so I'll have to do it tomorrow.

But you can read my review of Jennifer Weiner's Goodnight Nobody here.

Controversy!

Remember how I got into trouble when I reviewed the first series of Green Wing for BellaOnline? No? Haven't you been paying attention? Well, I did. Because I said (and I quote myself - ha!):

Many of the reviews have compared it to Scrubs and I think that's the problem. Where Scrubs has character development and some semblance of a plot, Green Wing is a series of sketches which just happen to be connected by the hospital. (Also Scrubs is pant-wettingly hilarious.) I know I'm not really missing anything other than more of the same.

And, yes, I subsquently took it back. No, not because of the tediously pompous and slightly hysterical emails I received (calm down, dear, it's only a TV show*), but because when I watched the repeats I found that I really loved it. The second series has been anxiously awaited in this house and so far it hasn't disappointed. (I'm even prepared to forgive the Mac-has-amnesia thing because it means they can torture poor Dr Todd even more.)

I've also decided the reviewers who compared it to Scrubs were just being lazy (since I quoted those very reviewers I don't like to think about how lazy that makes me) because the only thing Green Wing's got in common with Scrubs is that it's set in a hospital. They may as well have compared it to ER. Or Casualty. And Green Wing does have character development (after a fact) and, well, I guess you can call it plot ...

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, it's really, really funny, okay? So please don't send me any snotty emails.

* I only thought of that after I'd already emailed everyone back. Damn.

Deja vu all over again

Ooh look, something in the current affairs category - I'm not just pink and girly, you know?!

Did anyone see this a month or so ago (oh, not so current, after all)? I hadn't been particularly worried about bird flu until I saw France's President Jacques Chirac demonstrating the safety of chicken by eating some (though he doesn't look too keen, does he?).

It reminded me of this:

In 1990 then Agriculture Minister John Gummer appeared on television feeding his daughter a burger and pronounced beef "perfectly safe".

And we all know how that turned out. So in the Stainton household chicken and eggs are, well, not off the menu exactly. But definitely less on the menu.

Mess

And they said it wouldn't last ...

I've spent much of today trying to rearrange the office, which meant first I had to rearrange the bedroom to make room for the stuff piled up in the office which meant I had to pack tons of Harry's leetle teeny clothes away and clear out all the crap from under the bed and then shove it all back again (but in a more organised way). I'll do almost anything to get out of working. It needs to be done though. The office was looking less like an office and more like a junk room with a desk shoved in the corner.

I'm going to "feng shui" it too (listen, I'm submitting to agents in a couple of weeks .. desperate measures) so I need to move the desk so I'm not facing a wall (because a wall is an obstacle and I don't want any of those!) and then set myself up with a lovely Success Area (i.e. stick all my published articles to the wall with blu tack). Oh and then there's this: Arrange your desk according to Feng Shui. Water or coffee goes in the north; a picture of your inspirational person or mentor* is in the northwest. In the northeast, put a book of inspiration. In the east, a vase of flowers; southeast, a small green plant. To the south put a lamp or something red, the southwest a crystal paperweight, and to the west, electronic equipment such as computer or radio. That’s a more auspicious arrangement. I need a compass. And where the best feng shui place for all my piles of crap?

I sadly missed that skinny celebrities program on Living last night, but my sister told me someone said, "One in every five anorexics will ultimately die". So does that mean if you're anorexic you've got an 80% chance of living forever?

* Meg Cabot? George Clooney? Oprah? The Shake'n'Vac lady? Ooh! Ooh! Nora Ephron. And relax.

Billy-no-mates

Would someone mind testing that 'email me' link over there?

To my knowledge, no-one's ever emailed me through it and I was just wondering if it works ...

Thanks!

Vomiting Sunshine

I actually came here to tell you about my Bloggy Award, which lovely Ms Mac made me aware of earlier today, but then I had to check my stats to see if getting such a prestigious award had brought readers flocking here in their thousands and while I was there I just thought I'd have a quick look at the searches that led people to my blog. And there I found that if you Google "sexiest lyrics ever" lesbian four of the five results are me. I don't know myspace's emo_love_emo_lust, but I wish they'd sod off and let me corner the market in "sexiest lyrics ever" lesbian. Bastards. In case you're wondering, "sexiest lyrics ever" referred to Jordan Knight's solo single Give It To You ("It's creeping around in my head, me holding you down in my bed"). "Lesbian" referred once to author/Life Coach/goddess Martha Beck and once to Heather Graham in Scrubs (in the context of "I'm no lesbian, but - yikes - those boobs!").

But, wait, what's this about an award?! Well, yes, my blog has been reviewed by the folks at Bloggy Award and given an overall score of 9 out of 10. Woo-hoo! Just in case you're too lazy to click the link, I copied it for you. Look! (You should be able to click and enlarge it if it's too small to read.)

It's funny cos I don't actually think of myself as that much of a girlie-girl, despite the girly colours of my blog. I said to David earlier, "Am I girlie?" and he said, "No, you're more like a bloke" and he was serious. (Years ago, he said he loved me because I was like a mate you can have sex with. This was before Harry was born. Obviously.)

I like being described as a "lover of life". I'm not sure about "a cheer-pill waiting to pop into your mouth" though. Still, nice that they liked it, even if it does make me sound .. well, a bit like Molly Clock as played by Heather Graham in Scrubs:

Molly: Oh, Dr. Kelso's all bluster. Underneath it all, I bet he's a sweetheart.

Dr. Cox: No, no. Underneath it all, he is pure evil.

Molly: Perry, no one's pure evil! I mean, yeah, some people have a hard outer shell, but inside, everybody has a creamy center.

Dr. Cox: There are plenty of people here on this particular planet who are hard on the outside and hard on the inside.

Molly: So they'd have more of a nougaty center?

Dr. Cox: Lady, people aren't chocolates. D'you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling. But I don't find them half as annoying as I find naive bobble-headed optimists who walk around vomiting sunshine.

Molly: I'm touching your creamy center!

Dr. Cox: Ohh, I am...so very angry...that I'm going to find someone to kill...just to prove her wrong.

Baby bleurgh

When I was pregnant I set up a blog where I mostly talked about throwing up and various problems with my nether regions. Then, when Harry was born, David put the first photos (of Harry, not of my nethers) on there and gave the address to his parents. Every now and then I still mentioned my "private area", but really it didn't feel right (and neither did my private area - boom boom!).

More and more I feel inhibited writing stuff there knowing that my in-laws are reading it. Don't get me wrong, they're lovely, but you don't want to know that your father-in-law knows what lengths you went to to try and stretch your perineum do you?* And anyway, I just don't like to be inhibited in what I write. I've decided that blog will be mainly a photoblog where family can coo over the cute boy (I don't link to it and it's password protected thanks to some dodgy searches).

So apologies to the more delicate amongst you (hello, Jonathan!), but that means when I want to ruminate on my nethers and other mothering .. er .. issues I'm going to have to do it here. I just wanted to warn you that, in the future, there will be some baby/parenting talk. (And, yes, I included that pic of Harry looking cute as pie to soften you all up.)

* Nothing works.

Off-off-off-off-off-off-off-Broadway

Y'all know how much I loved Avenue Q when I saw it in New York last year. Well, it's coming to London! I know! And so is Monty Python's Spamalot, which I haven't seen, but I've got the soundtrack and it's great. And so is Wicked, which I've heard is, er, wicked.

So now I really need an excuse to go to London for, um, three nights (or two nights and a matinee).

Anyone else up for a Big Blog Musical Theatre Meet-up?

52 Books Project - Week 13

Just realised I didn't do this yesterday so I'll take a brief break from listing Wallace & Gromit books on ebay (don't ask).

I finished the Suze Orman (on Wednesday when I had a lovely temp job with nothing to do but read). It was incredibly useful and inspiring while still being full of common sense and practical advice, just what I've come to expect from Suze Orman thanks to her O magazine column. It's made me ever more determined to sort my finances out once and for all.

I also read Elizabeth Berg's The Art of Mending. I love Elizabeth Berg, but I'd put off reading this because I'd read poor reviews. Stupid me. I really enjoyed it. Granted it's not one of her best, but a weaker Berg is still a damn good read.

I was also influenced by poor reviews of Jennifer Weiner's Goodnight Nobody, but I loved it. Jennifer's writing is effortlessly intelligent and funny and the only thing that bothered me about this book (though it's certainly not the book's fault) is how differently it was reviewed to Tom Perrotta's similar (and, in my opinion, inferior) book, Little Children. While his is a "biting satire", Weiner's is "superior chick lit", but I think Weiner's is both more biting and more satirical. I shouldn't be surprised, but it still makes me want to smack someone.

Coughing, un-shopping and writing

Sorry I've been a teensy bit absent.

Who would've thought that selling stuff on ebay was just as addictive as buying stuff on ebay?! The Homepride man sold for £13.00! Woo-hoo! That's thirty Peanut Butter Kit Kat Chunkies!

The entire weekend was spent listing stuff on ebay and coughing until I see stars. I've been sleeping downstairs on the sofa bed for three nights so as not to wake the men of the house, but tonight I'm being permitted to return to the marital bed. I might keep the sofa bed made up in case I have to depart in the night. The coughing is waaaay worse at night. (I even resorted to swigging from Harry's bottle of Tixylix the other night. Even though it says "Not suitable for adults". Whaa?)

Plus I've got two commissions due tomorrow so I'm deep in my read, make a tiny change, print out, read, make a tiny change, print out phase.

Miss you all! Back soon!