keris stainton

52 Books Project - The Reckoning*!

*To be said in a movie trailer voiceover-type voice.

Well, I've been and gone and done it! I can't believe it's over. This year really has flown by ... I know, I'm showing my age. And I didn't manage to finish Mindy Klasky (funny that, left with two books by women named Mindy at the end of the year!).

So - The Reckoning! First of all, how did I get on with my "must-read" list for 2006?

Little Women - read it, was disappointed;
Emma - nope;
Making Babies - nope;
The Virgin Suicides - tried; it was too sad;
A Room With a View - nope;
Madeleine's World - yes; loved it (again);
Monkey Business - yes; didn't like it;
We Need To Talk About Kevin - hated it; couldn't finish it;
A Confederacy of Dunces - started it ... will go back to it;
King of Cannes - read it, loved it.

Hmm. Not very well. That is a pretty poor showing, but it's partly because, in the second half of the year, I had to prioritise books I could review for Trashionista (excuses, excuses). I'll try and read them this year (or decide not to bother ...).

Diane kindly asked me the following questions and they just about sum it up, don't they? (I was only planning to work out the total books and the total Meg Cabots, but no, don't worry, that's fine, I'll go through the whole bloody list again ... and what's the betting the numbers don't add up?)

How many (adult) novels? 60

My favourite was Marian Keyes's Anybody Out There and I also loved Andrea Levy's Small Island, Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos and Stupid and Contagious by Caprice Crane.

How many YA? 26

And my favourite (non-Meg) was probably The Boy Book by E Lockhart. Ooh, or Fly on the Wall by E Lockhart.

How many non-fic? 34

102 Minutes was the best non-fiction book I read this last year.

How many Meg? 8

I think my favourite was the most recent - Princess Diaries: After Eight, but I loved Avalon High too.

Plus children's books (not including repeated readings of Monkey Puzzle and Is It Bedtime, Wibbly Pig?) - 2 (First Term at Malory Towers and Clarice Bean Don't Look Now)

How many, basically? 129!

(I'm not entirely confident that's right since I got 126 the first time I counted, but you know, it's somewhere in that region.)

How many (of the above) have you reviewed? 57

How many have you hated?

I don't think I hated any. But then there were 18 unfinished books - I haven't got time to keep reading a book I'm really not enjoying.

What have you learned?

... That I'm still excited about books. Each time I'd finish a book, I'd have this moment of disappointment that it was over, quickly followed by a flicker of excitement that now I could go and choose another book to read! You'd think I'd have got used to that after 30-odd years of reading, but no.

... That I can't be trusted with a library card. I don't know what the total fines for the year would be - and I don't want to know - but my last (and final) fine was (David, cover your eyes) £15. It doesn't bother me as much as fines from, say, banks (sorry, I mean "admin charges") because I choose to see it as a donation to the library, but I'm too disorganised to cope with library membership. I've finally had to accept it.

Would you recommend it?

I'm not sure. This is what I said when I started:

... it's a good way to give myself a break from work. I find that when I start working, I can't stop and not only do I need (and deserve) a break, I need to read. So this way I'll have an excuse to stop writing and read.

But once I started reviewing for Trashionista, I made reading work too. While on the one hand that's been fantastic - free books! free books! - and what could be better than reading (free!) books for money?! But on the other, it's meant that I'm never really not working ... yeah, yeah, the heart bleeds, I know.

Apart from that, it's been a bit of extra pressure - must read more books! - but I've always been a bit like that anyway. You know because ... so many books, so little time!

And, as it turned out, 52 books wasn't that much of a challenge, so ... I don't know.

Are you happy with that (crappy) answer? But I'd love to hear how you'd get on with it, Diane. Is it too late to challenge you to do it in 2007? :)

Tell us about your next project, Keris...

Oh, alright then! Much as last year's project was inspired by/ripped off Sara Nelson's book, this year's will be inspired by/ripped off this one:

Would it be possible to live without the designer coffee, the Kate Spade bags, the technology that were a part of my everyday existence? Could stripping away some of those items and habits make me appreciate what I have? I created a plan. Each month for one year, I would choose one of my favorite things and give it up, cold turkey, for one month. This would become my year to live better with less.

Like most people, Mary Carlomagno was stressed out, overscheduled, and tripping over the clutter of her days -- until she decided to take control and simplify her life. Each month she renounced one thing: alcohol, shopping, elevators, newspapers, cell phones, dining out, television, taxis, coffee, cursing, chocolate, and multitasking. During the course of the year, Mary took stock of her life, discovered what was really important, and gained a deeper appreciation for the world around her.

I'll have to make a few substitutions - giving up elevators wouldn't have much effect on me since I rarely leave the house - but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. January's - alcohol - is certainly one of my favourite things (or it was until this morning), so we're off!

52 Books Project - Week 52

Can you believe it's week 52? Where's the year gone? Where?

I'm leaving 2006 with one unfinished book - Melinda Roberts's Mommy Confidential. I will finish it - I'm enjoying it - it's just really long!

I forgot last week that I read and loved Miriam Toews' A Boy of Good Breeding as highly recommended - and loaned to me - by Diane. I loved it too. It reminded me of Richard Russo and Eric Kraft (have you read any Eric Kraft, Diane?). Very gentle, sweet and funny.

Not long ago I received an email from Pan Macmillan asking if I'd be interested in a review copy of the latest Princess Diaries. Ha! Two PDs in a year. Pan Macmillan, you're really spoiling me. I'll be reviewing it for Trashionista and Chicklish, but you know I loved it, don't you?

Of the three books hubby bought me for Christmas, I've read one so far - The World of Karl Pilkington. It's a bit of a rip, because it's mostly the transcripts of the podcasts so I've heard it all before, but it's still hilarious:

Karl: No, but they explained it. They said it's from the time when caveman was wandering about and he would go, "Hang on a minute" and he would look round and there's a dinosaur there or whatever, and he'd leg it.

Ricky: Right, this is nonsense. "When caveman was wandering around". Cavemen and dinosaurs, oh they used to live together, yeah sure. Oh that's the same era. What have you been watching, Raquel Welsh in One Million Years BC?

Karl: What do you mean?

Steve: You do know The Flintstones is only partly based on fact?

Ricky: You know cavemen didn't mix concrete in a pelican?

My final book of the year - how can that be? - was Mindy Klasky's A Girl's Guide to Witchcraft. I haven't finished it yet, but will do later today (if I have to hide in another room to do it!).

We're making the unprecedented move of actually leaving the house tonight - don't get too excited, we're not going far - so 52 Books Project - The Reckoning! (I'm hoping to sell the film rights to Vin Diesel) will be done tomorrow once I've sobered up.

Have a brilliant night, everyone! If you're really sad and stuck for something to do, can you go and comment on our Top 10 Extravaganza! posts on Trashionista, cos they took us ages and the commenting has been minimal. Ta.

See you next year!

52 Books Project - Week 51

I have no idea what day it is ... is it Friday? Then this is very late and no doubt Favourite Photo Friday will be too. Oh no, I've got a new photo I've taken which I can post later. Sadly, it's of Harry again. When will I get the scanner fixed? When? When?

Anyway, 52 Books project. Only two and a half days left. Yikes.

So last week I read Sloppy Firsts and Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About and started Melinda Roberts's Mommy Confidential (it's enormous, I'm never going to finish it before the end of the year).

I know I was supposed to be coming up with insights, but I can't think of any. Does anyone have any questions about the "project" and I can answer them - and reveal the total! - on Sunday? Anyone? Bueller?

52 Books Project - Week 50

Finished In Between Men, Dirty Sugar Cookies and the Strictly book (which was great) this week (and I'll be reviewing at least two of them!).

I've just realised part of the point of this project that I was meant to be ruminating on which books I chose to read and why and stuff like that, but since I started writing for Trashionista I've mostly just been reading the next book in line ... I've loved it though and I'm looking forward to working out exactly how many books I've read this year (cos I'm funny like that).

(Oh and can you let me know if you can see the video on the left or if it's knackered the formatting or anything. Merci.)

52 Books Project - Week 49

I finished What Would Murphy Brown Do and Me vs Me and reviewed them both for Trashionista. I also read The Principles of Love and, yes, reviewed it for Trashionista. Today I finished My Fat Brother and later this week I'll be ... yep, you guessed it.

52 Books Project - Week 48

Just two this week - Daughter of the Bride and Phosphorescence (which I'll be reviewing for Chicklish). I'm absolutely loving Me vs Me and I might even finish that today .. depends what's on the telly tonight.

I seem to have a bunch of half-read books littering the place, though, and I'll try and finish them all by the end of the year.

52 Books Project - Week 47

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: seeing how far along the year we are really focusses my mind. Well, it focusses it on going "Argh! Argh! There's only 5 weeks left!! What have I achieved? What is there still to do? That means it's only 4 weeks til Christmas! When am I going to buy presents? What are we doing? Where are we going?"

Then again, I've spent the rest of the week going, "Brendan Cole or Nick Knowles? Brendan Cole or Nick Knowles? Brendan Cole and Nick Knowles?" so a bit of panic is probably preferable. (Yes, I know .. I've got strange taste.)

Anyway, the books! Two read this week. Amy Peppercorn I didn't like much, but I'm not really sure why (and that's why I don't write book reviews for The Guardian). Breakup Babe I liked very much and will be reviewing for Trashionista this week.

The other thing about week 47 is that I have to go and look up next year's project and see if I really want to do it. I will do it (probably), I just need to see what I'm in for and psyche myself up.

Oh and in other news, I watched the first half hour of Queer Eye on FTN last night (before the Strictly results show came on) and it's only bloody ALL NEW Queer Eye! Why wasn't I informed? Who knows how many I've missed (and will continue to miss unless we can get our video to tune in to terrestrial)?

52 Books Project - Week 46

I was right about Miss Understanding, it was a hard one to review, but I managed it!

I've started What Would Murphy Brown Do and I'm really enjoying it. It's subtitled 'How the women of prime time changed our lives' and it's so interesting. Plus it's giving me a hankering to watch Roseanne. I don't think we ever got Murphy Brown over here. Has anyone seen it? Is it worth hunting down?

I read Ellen Meister's Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA and loved it. I expected to like it since it features George Clooney, but it's a really engrossing book about female friendships and gossip. It reminded me of Peyton Place and Jennifer Weiner's Goodnight, Nobody. Fab. (And I'll be reviewing it for Trashionista later this week.)

52 Books Project - Week 45

I enjoyed Cross Your Heart, Connie Pickles and will be reviewing it for Chicklish tomorrow .. probably.

I really enjoyed Heidi Raykeil's Confessions of a Naughty Mommy. Seriously, every mother who has struggled with her post-baby sex life (and that's all of us, surely) should read this book. It's brilliant and honest and intelligent and enlightening. I'll be reviewing it for Trashionista soon too.

I'm struggling a bit with Miss Understanding. It's going to be a hard one to review, I can tell ...

(And can you believe there are only 7 weeks left of this project and therefore this year? Yikes.)

52 Books Project - Week 44

I loved Don't Look Now, the latest Clarice Bean book. I don't think it was quite as funny as the previous two, but, like all Lauren Child's books, the Clarice Bean books are just so sweet, charming and good-natured. I love them.

Ah, the next book, Caprice Crane's Stupid and Contagious, I also loved, but you couldn't quite call it charming or good-natured. It's definitely funny though. I'll be reviewing it for Trashionista this week, but I urge you to read it. I could happily read it again (except I've loaned it to Diane .. and I've just realised I should've checked with Gabrielle since she loaned it to me - Gabrielle, expect an email!)

On the way to Sheffield to meet Diane (I will be blogging about this historic meeting (!) at some point, but there's just so much to blog about!) I read Nora Ephron's essay collection, I Feel Bad About My Neck. It's wonderful, of course. I'll be reviewing that too.

Then I read another proof - Dramarama by the fabulous E Lockhart. I love her books and this one did not disappoint. Fabulous.

I'm loving Why Moms Are Weird too. In fact, I'd quite like to make myself a cup of tea and get back to it, if you'll excuse me.

(David's gone to see Motorhead tonight and I was planning to watch The West Wing on More4, but Harry's "hidden" the card thingie from the Sky box!!! Luckily, I've got The West Wing on DVD, but it's so much more fun to watch it on TV somehow!)