Reading challenge update

As you may remember I got really excited when I heard about the reading challenge and I quickly chose the books (often based by what the library had) and reserved them straight away.

I should have known better, my library is very efficient and I quickly ended up with a huge stack of books. Oops, a little overwhelming, especially with my stack of uni books too. Nevermind, I will just renew them and plod on through.  I do already have 80p of fines from this challenge already, I really need to put the library books into my Remember the Milk system.

look at the size of the Laymon one!

I should explain that my reports on the books will not necessarily be proper book reports, such as you would turn into school, I don’t really know what they will be at this point in time, but they won’t be that.

Have any of you signed up to the reading challenge?

Book challenge.

I love reading – it has always been a vital part of my life. I am sure the reason why I have bad eyesight is that I read by torchlight under my covers after I had been told to go to bed.

I read at high speed and then often go back again if I feel it is worth it, I have a collection of books which have been read over 20 times at least. They are my go-to books when I am feeling in need of being comforted. These mainly consist of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, but there are others on the list as well.

Aside from books that  I have had to read as a former English teacher, or for studying purposes I do tend to go for Sci-fi/fantasy. It is quite hard to break outside of a genre once you are firmly embedded!

Thanks to Armatius I found out about a book challenge. I do firmly love a challenge! Check out here for details. 

So, despite doing my masters and having a crazy reading list I am going to do the genre-buster challenge to start with and see how I get on, I might then go on to Toe-Dippin’.  Ooh, new books, excitement! And I had just cleared my waiting list at the library too!

Confession time

This blog has become so much more than I originally intended it to be and as such I am beginning to extend what I write about, to reflect much more of my life, rather than the narrow confines of what I planned  when I started it in August last year.

As such, I feel like I have been lying to you. There is a whole side of me which I haven’t introduced you to.

I am a geek. A real geek. Not only in the swotty, reads all of the books she writes on her bibliography (although that is  me too), but a geek who loves sci-fi and fantasy. I play World of Warcraft (WoW). And watch Star Trek, Buffy, read all sorts of fantasy and sci-fi  and love graphic novels etc etc. And right now I am really, really digging The Big Bang Theory – seriously I have watched series one and two in a dvd marathon which leaves one bemused when resurfacing in to the real world. And then gone back and watched them all again.

I hope my confession hasn’t caused you to sneak away.

One thing which repeatedly annoys me, makes me infuriated and angry in fact, is the lack of strong women in sci-fi and fantasy. More often than not the women are there to be raped, has been raped/abused/beaten etc etc etc and this is their driver.The alternative (in fantasy predominately) is that they are there to be mothers or should be mothers, etc etc. It really bugs me and really makes me want to be a writer so that I can address this and write decent female characters with feminist principles. (Minor problem of not having any ideas!)

As a long-term reader of Boing-Boing I knew that Cory Doctorow was big sci-fi writer and when I got Little Brother out of the library last year I was hooked on his work. And then I read Over Clocked. His writing is amazing. He writes strong women characters who just are. My favourite story in this book is Anda’s Game. Click here for the background to the story; just as an overview:

This is a riff on the way that property-rights are coming to games, and on the bizarre spectacle of sweat-shops in which children are paid to play the game all day in order to generate eBay-able game-wealth.

It’s written from a girl gamer’s point of view and I really can identify with it. When I first started playing WoW I played a female elf sorcerer and…. wow. I got so much crap from disgusting guys harassing me and making nasty comments that I quit playing as it disrupted my game and made me feel really uncomfortable. The whole point of WoW is it is a fantasy game and I really would like to be an elf who can throw fireballs! Nowadays I play as a male gnome rogue, with a full on beard, sideburns and moustache. I haven’t had a single bit of harassment, but I am not playing as I want to either (although I really do like being able to sneak up on people, garotte them from behind, punch them in the kidneys and then stab them repeatedly until they die). Ahem.

The story also touches on sweatshops and child labour in a cyber world, which made me think about a new angle on the topic of sweatshops. This is one story in a collection of shorts, but I really do recommend the whole book. Cory writes really well, is relevant and writes strong male and female characters. He also is quite politically active – he has been leading the storm surrounding the Digital Economy Act.

So, that was my geek confession. As I have decided to start writing in a wider capacity I will be coming back to the geekiness. I hope that’s ok with you and if you are geeky then please feel free to confess!

No Impact Man

Seasons greetings and all that. It’s not a big deal for me and I tend not to celebrate it, so no big thoughts on the New Year from me!

I followed the No Impact Man blog for a while, before I decided I needed to cut down on my  internet time. So when the book came out I got on the waiting list at my library for it.

I read it twice in quick succession and really enjoyed it. I don’t want to give a review of it, as there are professional critics out there, but I want to talk about how it made me think.

There are a lot of facts in this book many of which are quite horrifying. But I found it all made me feel guilty and I should be focused on how I can improve my life.

One of his main points is how much easier it is living in the city to be green. I can relate to that – when I lived in London I could easily get everywhere I wanted to go, I didn’t have a car, it was easier to live in a greener way. In fact for just under a year I lived in a community, with the aim of living lighter on the earth.

Here in the suburbs it is more difficult to be as green, but I think I am using that as an excuse. By moving in with my partner I have had to change many things (he was 36 when I moved in, me 29 and we were both set in our ways somewhat!), but I think I have changed many of my eco ways for the worse, watching TV,  particularly eating take ways much more frequently and using my car to get around when I could get my act together and cycle. Part of the problem is I can’t get access to the bike as my back gate has swollen shut. Excuse alert!

I am already doing a lot of the basic green stuff, making my own beauty products, not getting plastic bottles and bags etc, growing my own veg, making a lot of my own food, but I think I am just doing the easy stuff and I can push myself more.

But one things that I found most thought-provoking was his mention of the Story of Stuff. Now, I have seen this linked to on many of the blogs I read and yet I have continued to ignore it. Why is that? Am I afraid of what I might see? Or is it a touch of arrogance on my part? If that is that case why haven’t I watched it, just to prove myself right?

So, I commit to watching this and posting my thoughts on it within the next 2 weeks.

Lastly, something I found very interesting is he came to the conclusion that we should be focusing on what we gain by being green – mainly communities and better relationships with people around us – saying (paraphrase)

We need to draw lines around people, not between them

That is something I like! For me this is what the blogging community is, what the D2E forum does, and I think this is the fundamental key for getting ourselves out of the environmental mess we are in.

Pagan normality

As usual I have been late to the party on this. I saw them in Pagan Dawn and then I heard an interview with the author on OBOD‘s Druidcast. What am I talking about?

The Stonewylde series of books, written by Kit Berry.

They are set in a closed Pagan community in Dorset and it is about the way their live their lives there, focusing primarily on the leader, Magus, Yul, a young woodsman and Sylvie, a girl who has just joined the (normally closed) community from London and the way their relationships are interlinked.

It is wonderful that the backdrop to all of this is Pagan rituals, day-to-day greetings of ‘Blessings’ and phrases like “Goddess knows” and “Altar stone” as a place the young protagonist visits on a daily basis to his fill of the earth magic and the pub is called “Jack on the Green”.

It is so nice that this is the Pagan normality – just part of day-to-day life. Not where people have to watch what they say just because their vocabulary and frame of reference is so different to everyone else’s and although for the most part people are curious rather than nasty you end up having to explain everything.

I bought all 3 books which are currently out and I devoured 2 of them in a couple of days and now I am reluctant to start the 3rd as, according to Kit’s interview on Druidcast, the 4th will not be out till summer next year and the 5th sometime after that. I just can’t wait!

I have even been talking in my sleep about this it has effected me so much.

Magus is a nasty piece of work and there are many characters who are not very nice – just like in the real world, it is not some hippy utopia, but realistic and grounded (within its context).

In the first book I occasionally felt the writing was a little stilted, but for the most part this is a highly entertaining, thrilling and deeply fulfilling series to read and I want the next book to come out now so I can read the 3rd.

It is my understanding that Kit Berry set up a publishing company as she struggled to get anyone to take this and I hope all of the hard work has paid off for her. She and her partner have to do all of the work marketing this book, as well as her writing it. I really hope this is the start of a long and successful publishing career for Kit she deserves it – she has even given talks to the Women’s Institute about these books!

On the Stonewylde website Kit Berry says

It’s a strange thing, but many people who’ve read Stonewylde become just a little obsessed

I can really believe that!

Mr Spock vs Homer Simpson

I have recently read “Nudge” – a book about ‘liberal paternalism’, as the authors put it. This is where we are guided towards the better option for us, but not cutting out other choices, nor making it hard to take other options.

For example – the food in school canteens have to be laid out in someway. Liberal paternalism would have the healthy food at the front, in the eye line and easy grab-ability of students. The unhealthy food is still there, they still have the choice to take it and it is not difficult to do so, it’s just easier to get the healthy food.

They apply this principle to a whole range of topics, including the environment and being green.

They also talk about Mr Spock vs Homer Simpson, your logical side vs your irrational, easily led side. You may plan logically to get out of bed early and do some exercise, your Mr Spock will set the alarm, in the morning your inner Homer will turn off the alarm and continue to snooze. Needless to say Homer is responsible for a lot of what is wrong with my life and I am sure you can think of some examples in your life too.

Nudging is all about helping people to control their Homer.

The authors raise some good points and provide some very good case studies and examples of how this can be used to cut traffic accidents, help people save more money, get the right health care and make the right choices for them, without descending into a nanny state which impinges our free choice. More often than not in the examples they give someone has to make a default choice for everyone and this book talks about making it easier for people to make the best decisions for themselves, the country and the environment.

I realise that sounds very grandiose, but I really think that if more politicians were to read this book and put its theories into play then we would start to live in a better society.

I dont want to give any of the book away – for an economics book it is highly interesting, engaging and thought-provoking. The  strapline for their website is

improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness.

So, if you have read it – what do you think, if you havent – are you going to now? If so, let me know!

Take a stand and shout it out!

When I visited my library last weekend it was filled with small children. I was a bit bemused by this until I saw the HUGE Peter Rabbit, Gruaffalo and another creatures I didn’t recognise. The library was being visited by characters from childrens’ story books!

There was much laughter around the room and awed looking children. That is apart from  one little girl, who insisted her mum took her up to see the Gruaffalo. When she got to him she stood there frozen to the ground and I could just see the fear building up her body, her chest start shuddering, her eyes open wide and her lips trembling before howling the place down!

But when I got to the counter to take out my book I had reserved (Nudge – review coming soon!) the librarian told me the council is planning on cutting the opening hours and making redundancies. You know my feelings about our library, so I decided to take a stand and shout it out.

I have written to the councillor in charge of making this decision, our three local councillors, the MP and the local paper. The local paper has said they are covering the story, they are just waiting for the council to tell them what they are planning on doing. The have said that they will quote me because I highlighted some important issues to them in my email.

I have to say I was feeling quite proud of myself, but then I thought, why am I not doing more? Why didn’t I complain about the bins? What else can I do in my local community? When I originally wanted an allotment all of the waiting lists were very full and I did complain again to the councillors and they did opening up a new site. I’m not claiming it was down to me, but others must also have complained and together we were taken notice of.  Often as individuals making our own small steps we forget that if we join together with others the sum of our steps is greater than the individual.

So, how do you take a stand and shout it out?

The library

Since moving to a new area I decided to start investigating our local library. The one in Brixton, where I lived a couple of house moves ago was beautiful; housed in an old, old building originally built by Tate & Lyle. Stretching over 3 floors it was stunning. However it seemed to have no books in it and was primarily taken over by computers. We could order books, but this had to be done in person and we were charged 50p per book (not a fortune, I realise, but still) and we were notified by a postcard, which we filled in.

What a difference at my new local library.

I can search, reserve and renew books online. This is great for when I read about a book on blogs, I can just go there straightaway and order. It is free to reserve books and I get notified by text message. How modern is that!

They have an Internet cafe as part of it and so there is still ample amounts of free Internet access, important in our town as (without seeing any statistics) I would say there is a very high proportion of unemployment and poverty.

So I get lots and lots of lovely free books, there has been very few books I have searched for which haven’t been available, which is superb. This is saying something considering my eclectic reading habits.

Although I am not a parent I can appreciate the lengths the library goes to to engage children. In the past there was an ‘invasion of Darleks’ event, which sounded so cool I was thinking of going down. Over summer there has been an ‘Adventure Seekers’ promotion with a list of books they recommend for different ages and some sort of sticker collection for books read and there is always a member of staff wandering around in a purple satin cloak (I assume this is connected)! There is lots of places for children to sit and read or interact with the surroundings and there is desks all around the upper floor for adults, including some comfy (ish) chairs near the daily papers and magazines.

There is also free Internet access courses for people, teaching them how to use the Internet. The foyer is used for community promotions – free energy efficient light bulbs, free blood testing for over 50′s, information pn the new recycling scheme about to be launched across the borough. The local theatre is also housed here, so there is lots of information about the local arts groups.

I am going to miss going into the library so often now that I am starting university TOMORROW! It has helped me move to a new community, given me an opportunity to talk to people who I wouldn’t normally encounter and gives me an excuse to walk or cycle into town. If you haven’t been to your library recently check it out!