Sunday Summary Monday Missive

It's been yet another relatively quiet week at QB Heights so I'll put out a precursory warning for all the padding prevalent in this particular post... and the alliteration. So much of that, too.

Oh and the snakes and spiders. I should probably give you a heads-up about those.

---

This week, I have mostly been...

Finishing

***HERE BE SPOILERS!***

****AND QUITE A LONG BOOK REVIEW FOR THOSE OF YOU FOR WHOM QUITE LONG BOOK REVIEWS ARE NOT YOUR BAG****

I'll be honest: while it made a quick read, and a fairly intriguing one at that, there were several elements of this novel that made me think, is it just me or do I deliberately not go crazy for the books 'everyone else' likes? (But then I thought, I am not a sheep, I am a' individual with certain literary standards.)

{No offence, guys.}

All the characters were flawed. Which is how humans are... but these characters' flaws made them all considerably unlikeable. There was literally no one character I rooted for; and at least in Gone Girl I felt a little empathy for both Nick and Amy before I ultimately decided they both needed to be locked in a room and made to fight to the death using only their fingernails for weaponry.

Also, really?! Rachel, the unreliable narrator, with her 'convenient' alcoholic black-outs and her insistence on continuing to commute into London to a job from which she's been fired (who does that -- commute for funsies?!), effectively 'realises' (or at least worms out the truth of) whodunnit because the police are clearly incompetent (!), and oh by the way the perpetrator is someone very, very, VERY close to her? COME ON. That's much too convenient.

I was also not particularly enamoured of the repetitive way in which every part of the story was told in terms of Morning or Evening occurrences, beginning in present tense and then flashing back to past tense. It just felt amateur. It wasn't wrong per se, but it was noticeable. Ergo jarring.

Ahem.

I've moved on to The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden, which I picked up a couple of months ago on the second-hand book stall on the South Bank, and which looks like this:

{Smut. It looks like smut. It's not, though; it's
from the 1950s.}

Also finishing

{Flight of the Conchords}

The
Whole.
Entire.
Series.

(OK, there were only two but that's not the point.) So many great songs. So many great cameos.

I now know not what to do with my slightly weird crush on both Bret and Jemaine and their musical genius.

The complete song list can be found on YouTube -- I'm a particular fan of this one, though: Foux da Fa Fa, a rather spectacular homage (Camembert! Baguette!) to 1960s French films:

(Bret is adorable speaking French. Or, just, speaking. Or, just, existing.)

Stroking Snakes

That's not a euphemism.

On Sunday afternoon I pootled along to Reigate to support my lovely friends who were doing a star turn singing at a charity day in a local pub, in an attempt to lead the karaoke.

They deserved a more attentive audience, but even my friends' vocal stylings can't compete with a local straddling a Bucking Bronco, apparently.

(QB big-ups and kudos due nonetheless to Dan, Pete, Jos, Charlie, Alun, Ali, Martin and "Bisto" Steve)

Still, for Charlie and me particularly, one of the highlights was the 'rent-a-reptile' part of the day: there was a delicious assortment of things slimy, scaly, several-legged and swivelly-of-eye to handle, and we being the fearless sort decided we needed to have a go.

***HERE BE SNAKES AND SPIDERS!
TO THE PHOBIC, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!***

{That's actually elation on my face, believe it or not!}

{He's so fluffy I'm gonna DIE!}

{Nice necklace you're sporting there, Charlie}

{Ali isn't too taken by Martin's new friend...}

{"Karma karma karma karma..."}

The other highlight was an impromptu dinner at the Toby Carvery with C & J, plus Steve, Keira and Paul (and a fleeting guest appearance by AJ): this involved much, much meat and a Rolo sundae, and most importantly a lovely, lovely chat with my ladies, who just get me (but whom I can still surprise with the stuff I come out with sometimes!).

Jos and Charlie, you are golden. So much love to you both.

And in less exciting news I've been busy

Rebuilding my iTunes library

...after the Windows 10 Wipeout. It's a long process (hey, I likes my choonz) but it has also meant rediscovering gems long forgotten in a spindle of CDs.

Like this (audio only -- Tea for Two, Jo Stafford & Gordon McRae)

Oh, and this. Having a bit of an INXS moment this weekend. Here's a bit of Mystify for your viewing and listening pleasure:

Pinterest Pin of the Week

Weekly Web Finds

Serious

• Scotland pilots automatic child library membership | on The Bookseller
• Seven Stories to publish book on history of illustration | on The Bookseller
• On having your book made into a film | Emma Donoghue on the film adaptation of Room | on Literary Hub, via NYPL

Silly

• A compilation video of adorable baby owls | on YouTube, via Alice D

• Cows get Autotuned | on YouTube, via The Poke

• How a typical game of Monopoly usually ends | on The Poke

{via here}

Er, oh. That's it for now.

Next week ought to be much more action-packed, with four Social Interactions on one day alone including a party that isn't even just a me party:

There are other humans invited. I know, right?!

qb xx

Sunday Summary

This week, I have mostly been...

Reading

Counting sheep

...52 sheep out of a possible grand total of 70 Shaun the Sheep statues dotted around Bristol (the other 50 were in London. We disregarded those). This was all part of the Shaun in the City endeavour, raising money for children in hospitals.

{Screengrab from the official Shaun the Sheep sheep spotter app}

I like Bristol. I like it a lot. I like it even though I tripped over a wonky paving slab and took off a layer of skin from both elbows and a knee. Like a small child. #faceplant

{A fairly accurate representation}

Bristol is a wonderful dichotomy (yes, one of those) of old and new, with boats, bridges and bombed-out buildings, and creative, arty, scientific places. And sheep. So much of sheep.

Behold: more photos of architecture. You know I loves me some arkitetcher.

{St Peter's Church}

{Bristol Cathedral}

{Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, from the top of the hill}

{Cascade Steps}

{Pero's Bridge details}

{Solar Energy Tree, Millennium Square}

{Planetarium, Millennium Square}

{Obligatory panorama #1, with most of the SS Great Britain in shot... | Click to view in greater splendour...}

{Pop of colour | St Michael's Hill}

{The Llandoger Trow, deliciously historical and literary according to the internet}

On the second (full) day we managed to find time to wander round the gorgeous Botanic Gardens and see lotus flowers in bloom in the tropical greenhouses:

{Spot the flahs}

{A tasteful array of cacti... aye...}

as well as crossing the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

{Click to expand for that full Clifton Suspension Experience...}

That evening before heading harbourside we saw fit to celebrate our achievements thus far in true QB and Ma QB style in Queen Square:

{Keeping it classy all the way... #wineincostacupsbaby}

And we shall probably never know the origins (or indeed level of mental balance) of the man in football gear asking for his photo to be taken with the Shaun in that park, or more crucially the man trying to shooting a hollyhock through some strange projectile device. #onlyinbristol

In spite of hills and frustrating motorist-centric pedestrian crossings (!) Briz is very walkable (unless you do want to go to the outer reaches to tick off those last 18 Shauns, in which case you do either need an extra day or wheels or something).

Ma (Maaaa...) QB and I earned our trophies and our libations big-time, and didn't get back to the hotel room until at least 9.30pm two nights running, such was our quest to tick off as many inner-city Shauns as we could. So worth it.

{QB with Bumble | designed by Marie Simpson}

Trails like this are a great way to see a new city (even when you end up on the harbourside at dusk and the map doesn't quite show that you can't just keep following the river all the way back over).

{Finally, the SS Great Britain in full, well done, QB...}

Someone else has taken much better photos of all the Bristol Shauns here  -- but then they probably weren't being hurried out of the way by a family with 7 children, all of whom had to clamour onto the Shaun right that moment in spite of instructions not to and urged on by an ineffectual parent: "Tarquin... I don't think you're supposed to..." (cue the taking of 25 identical photos of child atop Shaun) and fight over who got to sit beneath Shaun's undercarriage... ahem... ;-)

In all fairness, most other Shaun trailblazers were very polite and patient (and helpful!), and some of the kids with their cuddly Shauns in tow were just too cool for skool.

Listening

...to David Levithan, Louise O'Neill and Lisa Williamson in conversation with Marie Claire's Corinne Redfern about their respective books and the issues of identity they raise.

{from left, O'Neill, Williamson, Levithan and Redfern}

On Thursday night, having barely recovered from all that sheep-walking, I met friend Clare at Waterstone's Piccadilly (sorry, Jill and Jo!) for a very interesting discussion on Another Day, Only Ever Yours and The Art of Being Normal 

  

Another Day, I think I've mentioned previously is the companion title to Every Day in which A is an identity without a body, and floats between different people's lives, falling in love with Rhiannon along the way (Rhiannon tells her point of view in Another Day); Only Ever Yours is a dark, dystopian homage to The Handmaid's Tale, about a post-apocalyptic world in which women are either phased out (female foetuses are automatically destroyed in utero -- horrible thought) or forced into one of three subservient roles; and The Art of Being Normal is the tale of a transgender teenager.

I took down a few key quotes from the talk but most don't make a lot of sense out of context so I will share my favourite David Levithan quote. of the night, which was:

[Your] teen years are your origin story

insofar as your teens are when you have the most autonomy and drive to craft your own identity, and also this is the time that has the most impact on your adult life. All three authors reflected that their own teen years were mirrored in their works here, both literally and figuratively.

And since I seem to have a burgeoning collection now of signed David Levithan novels, I added another one -- and a photo -- to the mix. Like the overgrown fangirl I am.

{Totally not awks at all!}

Pinterest Pin of the Week

Weekly Web Finds

Sensible (with a thinly veiled literary slant...)

• Malala celebrates top GCSE marks | on BBC News 
• Smith warns library closures thread to 'democracy of reading' | on The Bookseller
• Morgan and Walliams want literacy to be 'national mission' | on The Bookseller
• Chris Evans: parents must read to their children | on The Telegraph
• Pullman blasts government over status of arts in schools | on The Bookseller | Quite right too. And Nicky Morgan is in danger of contradicting herself if she thinks literacy and the arts are not in any way intertwined...

Silly and Spurious

• Vogue colouring book to Conran Octopus | on The Bookseller 

• This new complex near Battersea is getting a sky pool. A SKY POOL | on Time Out

• 15 ways to really annoy your partner | on The Guardian, via Ma QB | for my coupled-up companions...
• 8 films that are completely different when watched backwards | on The Poke

• How do different animals react to a magic trick? | via The Poke | The alpacas' expressions are the best {Evie, this is what I was on about!}

And finally...

This did make me chuckle! Thanks, AJ!

Baa-ck next week, if you're lucky!

qb xx