Ireadthereforeiam: Number Eight

Hares, by David Tipling

I am currently sort of reading the following books:


Why Social Justice Matters, Erewhon Calling, Voltaire's Bastards (re-reading), The Fear of Freedom

Here is what I have recently read:

Chapters 8,9,12 and 24 (plus 2 chapter introductions) from Self and Society, edited by Ann Branaman

Chapters 1, 2 and 3 of Introduction to Critical Psychology by Alexa Hepburn

Chapters 2 and 10, plus the introduction to the 2nd edition of Critical Social Psychology by Philip Wexler

Chapter 9 and introduction of Revolution in Psychology: Alienation to Emancipation by Ian Parker

Plus class readings consisting of a book chapter and 2 papers per week.

So here is my 8th thread....my presence here may be irregular and unreliable. But please feel free to drop me a line and I will definitely be grateful.

*off to read*

Bunnies!

Love the picture!
Happy New Thread, Megan! I have been a neglectful guest at your feast. Maybe #8 will be a charm for me. Anyway, I hope that school is going well........2 papers a week sounds a bit much to me. Maybe they're small???? My second anyway is that whenever you're here, we will rejoice. We'll keep the spot warm for you.

Lots of psychology reading. Oh dear, poor lass. Be diagnosing friends & family ever afterward. You'll be amazed at how many sickos you know!

Ha! The picture of the rabbits up top look like my neighborhood. We are having an explosion of the rabbit population around here. I have it seems a small herd living in the backyard, and you can see dozens of them running across the streets in the mornings and at night.

>4 rosalita: yup! Here we shoot'em. I love those ones though (the photo anyway- in RL they are a major pest here).

>5 LizzieD: Hi Peggy, the papers are small I supppose. Published research ones, ranging from 8-30 pages in length. It is the theoretical content that is flummoxing me. I am brand new to psychology so it is all about coming to terms with: the terms! And the theories, and the jargon, and the entire body of knowledge that preceeds me. No mean feat!

>6 richardderus: I am well aware that over half the people I know are officially mentally ill. Of course, in the old days they just called it life, now they label it and medicate it. Ah well. It's nice to be relatively sane*, I will revel in it while I still can.
*fingernail-biting is considered an OCD now, its in the DSM, so my sanity is qyestionable, actually

>7 Storeetllr: those rabbits! They breed like, well, rabbits. :)

Happy new thread!

Saying hi ***at last *** and sounds like uni is fantastic! (Despite the workload, and the catching up - on here we all know you will get there and ace every course you're doing!)

Still haven't read Things Fall Apart but it is on the list.

Oh yea! And what I have read so far:

Completed books: October
47. The Library Book, essays on books
48.Stoner by John Williams (288p) BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Completed Books: September
41. Memoirs by Elie Wiesel (418p)
42. Paradoxical Undressing by Kristin Hersh (319p)
43. The High Price of Materialism by Tim Kasser (127p)
44. Herzog by Saul Bellow (320p)
45. Fear of Freedom by Erich Fromm (256p)
46. I Know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Completed Books: August
38. The Trial by Franz Kafka (250p)
39. The Inequality Debate: An Introduction by Max Rashbrooke (76p)
40. Purgatory/Paradise by Kristin Hersh (less than 1oop)

Completed Books: July
35. Tigers at Awhitu, by Sarah Broom (poetry)
36. Moral Relativism by Steven Lukes (158p)
37. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe

Completed Books: June
34. To Save a People by Alex Kershaw (230p)
33. Story of a Secret State by Jan Karski (421p)
32. David Golder by Irene Nemirovsky (158p)
31. Affluenza by Oliver James (510p)
30. The World According to Monsanto by Marie-Monique Robin (314p)

Completed Books: May
29. Why be Happy when you could be Normal by Jeanette Winterson
28. The Second Plane by Martin Amis (200p?)
27. Night Fall by Joan Aiken (185p)
26. Miramar Dog by Denis Edwards (294p)

Completed Books: April
25. Year by the Sea by Joan Anderson (195p)
24. Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (178p)
23.Making the most of your Time, essays from The School of Life (34p)
22. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (184p)
21. Corporate Social Responsibility by Martin Wolf (20p)
20. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie (172p)
19. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (324p)
18. Sustainable Value: How the World's Leading Companies are Doing Well by Doing Good by Chris Laszlo (196p)

Completed Books: March
17. How Late it was, How Late by James Kelman (374p)
16. Dream Story by Arthur Schnitzler (112p)
15. Never Go Back by Robery Goddard (459p)
14. The Fair Society by Peter Corning (194p)

Completed Books: February
13. American Gods by Neil Gaiman (620p)
12. On Equilibrium by John Ralston Saul (234p)
11. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (230p)
10. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (220p)

Completed Books: January
9. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (290p)
8. The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston (233p)
7. Other Halves by Sue McCauley (283p)
6. An American Childhood by Annie Dillard (250p)
5. Crossing Open Ground by Barry Lopez (209p)
4. Clandestine in Chile by Gabriel García Márquez (105p)
3. The Body Artist by Don DeLillo (126p)
2. The Great Degeneration by Niall Ferguson (152p)
1. Portrait of a House by Simon Devitt

I remember when I took Abnormal Psychology in college, the professor told us on the first day that it's common for students to see themselves in nearly every possible abnormal diagnosis, and that's because 'abnormal' usually just means 'the presence of more - and more extreme - type of behavior than the normal person exhibits.' In other words, we all have a little of each behavior, but what makes it abnormal is to show too much of a particular behavior. Makes sense, really. So, yeah, we all see a bit of every abnormal psychology in ourselves and others.

ETA: Happy New Thread!

Happy New thread, Megan! Looks like you are doing some heavy reading. Good luck with that. Try to find some R & R this weekend.

Happy new thread, Megan!

I remember listening to part of The Sociopath Next Door (I ended up abandoning it eventually) and subsequently labeling various people in my life sociopaths, including my old boss and my father's wife. Ha! Oh well.

I hope the essay is coming along nicely.

Happy new thread and Great school time whammys for all in your house :)

>9 nittnut: thank you! It was high time I got myself organised to start a new one.

>10 cushlareads: Hi Cushla- still marking now? It's after 7am (just) so I guess the kids are up by now. We had an early one here too, on my get-up day too! Poor form, kids!

>12 scaifea: the psychology I am doing is all theories related to the individual and society (and the individual/society interface). So it is less pointing out the crazies and more explaining average behaviours. I knew from a long way back that I was surrounded by crazies though :) From when I worked in mental health.

>13 msf59: Yes heavy reading! It is all very interesting, it is also all-consuming, and time-consuming! I did glance over the fiction on my shelves longingly last night (after getting back from the computer lab at 930pm on a Friday night). But unless I get hit by a bus, there might be time left in my life later on for fiction!

>14 DorsVenabili: If you read the diagnostic manual, you will also find that everyone you know is mentally ill. It's kind of funny, if you are in a position that you need not worry about having an actual health issue :)

>15 mckait: good school time whammy's ! Just what we all need. Thank you ((((Kath)))). Wilbur got a bronze certificate at the end of the school week yesterday, for earning all of his care dots. How is that for code!? Anyway, he was pleased as punch.

I'm sorry I lost track of your last thread Megan, I've been doing poorly with keeping track these last few weeks, with another migraine attack that won't leave me be. I'll try to do better though.

Wishing you a Happy New Thread and success in your continued studies.

Love the hares! Just marking my spot, Megan : ).

Happy New Thread, Megan!

Book haul! All 3 for $1. ANd I started Herzog the minute I could :)


Herzog by Saul Bellow, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and Memoirs of an Anti-Semite by Gregor von Rezzori *controversial*

Oooh! Memoirs of an Anti-Semite! Such a book, such an experience!

>17 Smiler69: Hi Ilana :)
I had seen you were migraining more regularly these days, what a huge hassle. I hope you are getting on OK. I am working on my essay on the topic of critical psychology and its take on the individual and the interface of the individual and society....heavy! Inspiration comes and goes, and I feel like Herzog (who I have just started reading) in that I am writing things down that come to me mid-toothbrushing or at some such odd times!

>18 lit_chick: Hi Nancy :) Would your new cat chase those hares you think? I credit our cat with keeping the mice away from our place, which is great. I have lived in mouse-infested places before and it is foul.

>19 lkernagh: Thanks! It was a while in coming. Last week I hardly posed not because of school work, but because the kids miraculously slept in past 6.30am most days, so my early morning meanders on the computer were put to a halt.

>21 richardderus: I was intrigued by the title, and the nice woodcut on the front. And that Bruce Chatwin heavily endorsed it on the back, so.

Voltaire's Bastards made my head spin. I may have to re-read it.

^ me too, Suzanne. I read it just after my 30th birthday and I can't say I really understood it. I recognised its greatness, I suppose, but couldn't get the fundamentals. Like what 'reason' actually is! My first re-read is going much better :)

Herzog is a very fine read!

Hey Megan! It's been awhile and there's no better time to pay a visit than a spanking new thread.

Very interesting book haul. Enjoy!

>25 sibylline: i am loving it so far! But my damned eyes keep closing on me! And then there's the guilt that I ought to be reading something school related.....

>26 Carmenere: And such a cheap book haul too- they are in great condition. A part of me feels sad that such books are worth so little, and then I remember that I am the one benefitting from such a skewed value scale, and then I rejoice ;)

At the Movies:
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
August: Osage County
Frozen
American Hustle
Labor Day
The Dallas Buyers Club
Tracks
Lego: The Movie
Star Wars: A New Hope
Lawrence of Arabia
Like Father Like Son
The Two Faces of January
How to Train your Dragon 2
Boyhood
Into the Void

BOOKS BOUGHT IN 2014
JANUARY
1. Clandestine in Chile by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (biography?) $15 (new)
2. An American Childhood by Annie Dillard (autobiography) $3
3. The Glass Room by Simon Mawer $7
4. The Leopard by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa $1
5. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler $4
6. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, $4
7. Crossing Open Ground by Barry Lopez $4
8. House of Meetings by Martin Amis $5
9. Monkey Grip by Helen Garner $3
10. The Industry of Souls by Martin Booth $5
11. The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer $4
12. To Die in California by Newton Thornburg $3
13. The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano $4
14. Other Halves by Sue McCauley $4
15. Gullliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift $3
16. The House Gun by Nadine Gordimer $2
17. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie $2.50

FEBRUARY
18. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank .50c
19. As the Earth Turns Silver by Alison Wong $2
20. A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler $2
21. Amongst Women by John MaGahern $2
22. Dream Story by Arthur Schnitzler $2
23. Mercator by Nicholas Crane $1
24. Novel About my Wife by Emily Perkins $1
25. Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond $1

MARCH
26. The Collapse of Globalism by John Raulston Saul $1
27. The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi $3
28. Remembering Babylon by David Malouf $1
29. Goldeneye by John Gardner $4
30. Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai $3
31. A Year by the Sea by Joan Anderson $2

APRIL
32. The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett (new, gift)
33. Affluenza by Oliver James (gift)
34. A Child's Book of True Crime by Chloe Hooper $4

MAY
35. Why Social Justice Matters by Brian Barry $26 (new) CURRENTLY READING
36. Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr. $13.99 (new)
37. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne $12.99 (new)
38. Domestic Manners of the Americans by Frances Trollope $2 (Folio Soc!)

JUNE
39. Canada by Richard Ford $6
40. Moral Relativism by Steven Lukes $13 (new)
41. The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur .50c
42. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins $10 (new)
43. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins $10 (new)
44. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins $10 (new)

JULY
45. My Friend Leonard by James Frey $1
46. The Complete Poems of Hart Crane by Hart Crane $1
47. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs $1
48. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter $1
49. Maigret in Court by Georges Simeon $1 woops, accidentally took it back to the library, it must have been an ex-library one!
50. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die $4
51. Outsiders by Gerard Hindmarsh

AUGUST
52. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters .33c
53. Memoirs of an Anti-Semite by Gregor von Rezzori .33c
54. Herzog by Saul Bellow .33c
55. Travels in the South of France by Stendhal $3
56. The Dead Republic by Roddy Doyle $2
57. Monster Love by Carol Topolski $2
58. Purgatory/Paradise by Throwing Muses (Kristin Hersh) $34 (new, including 32-track CD)
59. The Inequality Debate by Max Rashbrooke $14 (new)

SEPTEMBER
60. I Love a Broad Margin to My Life by Maxine Hong Kinston. $3.99 (new)
61. Townie by Andre Dubus III $14.99 (new)
62. Walden by Henry David Thoreau $14.99 (new)
63. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (free)
64. The Beautiful Ones are not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah (free)
65. this Changes Everything by Naomi Klein (present)
66. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki by Haruki Murakami (present)

OCTOBER
67. The Summer Before the Dark by Doris Lessing $2
68. Stoner by John Williams $2
69. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver $2
70. Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro $2
71. Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth $2
72. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy $2
73. Ransom by David Malouf $2
74. The Temptation of Jack Orkney by Doris Lessing $2
75. The History of Love By Nicole Krauss $2 CURRENTLY READING
76. The Good Parents by Joan London $2
77. The Selfish Capitalist by Oliver James $2
78. The Prodigy by Herman Hesse $1
79. Exit Ghost by Philip Roth $1.50

Hi Megan! Congrats on the mini- book haul. I loved Fingersmith. My first and favorite Waters. I have never read Herzog.

I like your At the Movies list: I really want to see Boyhood. It looks wonderful.

Mark: howdy there :)
There is a minute part in Boyhood where a crazy professor is talking to himself, and I cant stop confusing it/him with Herzog- who is himself a crazy professor! I am sure this will dissipate, but it's an observation anyway :)
I remember you liking Fingersmith and recommending it to me. I have had the book on my radar since!

Hi Megan. Happy New Thread! It's cocktail time!

Hi Megan! Hope you and your family are doing well! Looks like you've been doing some great reading this year!

>32 connie53: cocktail time!? *looks around* Did I miss it? :(
I'll have a strong one please, I know it is only lunchtime here now, but I'm thinking a good drink could sooth the nerves :)

>33 ChelleBearss: hello you! Love seeing little bear on fb from time to time. Oh boy do they grow fast huh? She is so sweet, all eyes and head ready to take on the world.
My reading is mainly university stuff these days. All very very interesting, if I can keep my eyes open at night to actually read it that is!

Your university reading looks like too much to my little wee brain! I'm sure it will be no trouble for an A plus student like you though!!

I really want to read Things Fall Apart ..... Someday.....

*waves*to Megan. Not sure if I mentioned before but I got your father's book, Andris, where are you? in the Whitcoulls sale and several photography books as well.

>35 Cobscook: some day....that is the catch cry of the LT population! Oh for week upon week of uninterrupted reading time :)

>36 avatiakh: You didn't mention that! Cool, I hope you enjoy it, even if the style is rather dry the story is amazing. And to go along with that, I am now a fully fledged Latvian citizen! I have (will soon have) my passport and identity card, so can really now call myself a Latvian-New Zealander :)
One of Dad's best moves was to bar his book NZ Landscapes from ever being put on sale, it is still in the shops now but is no longer the bestseller it was in the first few years it was out. Now there are just so many landscape books out!

Uh oh. It has been days since my last comment here! YIKES, I am falling off the LT train!
Rest assured though, I am still reading a heap of books. "Reading" as in that they are sitting on my bedside table and I look at them every night and read a few pages of one at least every day.
Herzog is gooood, and quite psychological, so ties in with my study this semester. Why Social Justice Matters is impt....so remains fairly unread ;). Erewhon Calling I really want to finish this month seeing as there are only a few essays/chapters left (it's about experimental music in NZ), The Scarlett Letter I have barely touched and may have to tag DNF soon. It is getting silly now for me to say that I am even "reading" it. The Fear of Freedom is superb. I am really loving it. It is about the development of the capitalist system at present, and is so insightful and clear. Voltaire's Bastards I am dipping in and out of as a re-read. And Elie Weisel's Memoirs. I am 2/3 through what is rather a factual and dry recollection of his life's events and still keen to get that one done as it is very interesting and full of detail. More?........any more? I can't recall. That doesn't bode well for any stragglers. I guess 7 books is enough.

Last night I saw a fantastic documentary at the film festival. *off to see if I can get a poster image*


eta: *found one*

It was about a local band that I love called Into the Void. They are heavy durgy rocky riffs, wall of sound, anything goes kind of music. Half the band are artists for a living so they are an interesting lot (there is also a librarian and a nurse and a record shop owner). The doco was a massive exercise in reminiscence...most of the band venues I used to go to to see this band are gone now (since the earthquakes), it was great to see on the big screen the old haunts :) And my lovely other made an appearance in one of the shots. I had to elbow him and point it out- hey! That's you!! *famous by association*

Hi Megan! Wow, could you read anymore books at once?! I can barely get through one at a time!

That documentary sounds quite interesting! That's awesome that your fella was in it!

>38 LovingLit: - Into the Void sounds great. I'll see if we can get it here. I will seriously watch a rock documentary about pretty much any band. My favorite of all time is probably Dig! about The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. Have you seen it? Even if you don't like the bands, it's worth seeing.

Chelle: when I say I am reading x amount of books at once, I actually mean "at once". I am concentrating heavily on Herzog right now, and on The Fear of Freedom for my class reading. The rest can (and will have to) wait :)
Are you finding time to read with baby Chloe about?

Kerri: It is so good, and if you do manage to track down the film I will be surprised- the world premiere was the one I attended (very local band, very local premiere). The band only has 2 recordings and no online presence bar a facebook page. They are notoriously not keen on self-promotion. I love that about them. My lovely other's band models themselves as an "into the Void cover band" in music sound and in their low-tech attitude. They already have more recordings than them though, even if none have been 'released'.
I have not seen/heard of the docos you mentioned. But am always keen, so thanks.

Interesting to see that you are juggling 7 books at present - not your normal modus operandi right? I have experimented with reading multiple books at the same time but usually contrive to favour one over the others and it makes reading the others a drag. I am therefore trying to get myself out of the habit of it.

Not been around the threads much lately due to very limited internet time here in Egypt. I'll be home tomorrow and am travelling back in advance of the tribe by three days as I have a humdinger meeting on Tuesday.

Have a lovely, what's left of your weekend, dear lady. xx

Hi Megan - I have fallen off the edge of the LT world too but just wanted to say hi! And you've whacked 2 book bullets into me (Voltaire's Bastards and the Fromm book). As if I will ever get time...

Hope you've had a nice weekend - is it uni holidays at Canterbury this week?

7 books at once? *faints*

>38 LovingLit: " YIKES, I am falling off the LT train!" Me too, my friend. Me too.

Actually she sleeps wonderfully at night so after she is in bed I can manage a couple hours of reading before I am tired enough to sleep. Nate has been helping out with the housework so I can sometimes read during her naps too. This only started in the last few weeks though. Before that I hadn't touched a book for quite a while!

Happy Monday and new week ahead, dearie!

>42 PaulCranswick: well, I have been known to "read" more than one book at a time, but 7 is up there. I, like you, often end up sticking with one to its conclusion. But I find in general that being able to pick one up that fits my mood or situation is a good move.

As an aside, do you think it is OK to use "modus operandi" in an academic essay? I have it in my conclusion as it is simply the best word to fit.

>43 cushlareads: Hi Cushla! Voltaire's Bastards is heavy in its physical sense, and in theory. But it is really really good. I read it nearly ten years ago and didn't really get it (even if I did recognise greatness when I saw it), this time around it is much more my cuppa. And Fromm's The Fear of Freedom is reading like a history of capitalism and the implications of that right now. But it goes right into the philosophies of individuals and societies, it is also so so so good! So you can see I approve of your choices from my thread :)

>44 mckait: wake up Kath! It's ok, I am really dipping in and out of all 7 books :) And not even that with The Scarlet Letter, I haven't picked that one up in a few months!

>45 ChelleBearss: Oh yay! You have a sleeper! You are so lucky :) Spare a thought for baby parents who are woken every hour or two all night long.....I have a friend with a nearly one-year old who is still facing that each night. She says she dreads going to bed as anticipating the night-time stress is awful. Yikes. I remember the days.....I usually get a full nights sleep (by that I mean 5+ hours straight) at least twice a week now.
I was reading poetry and short stories when my littlies were littler :)

>46 richardderus: thanks RD! I have been terribly productive this morning. (aided by a triple shot coffee). Sawn some branches, bought groceries, swept the drive, cleaned out and set the fire, and vacuumed the car! Go me!!

Hi Megan! I've been absent from the threads for awhile, so I thought I would stop by and say hi. Hope you had a good weekend and got some reading in. Hugs!

Go you? >47 LovingLit:? I say that every day that I read what you have been up to!

Just saying hi Megan, as I've been lurking the past couple of visits.

>47 LovingLit: Why ever n0t Megan?

What a wonderful time when they start sleeping through the night!

Sawn some branches, bought groceries, swept the drive, cleaned out and set the fire, and vacuumed the car! Go me!!

I swear that if you posted a message telling us that you had leapt a building at a single bound none of us would be the least bit surprised. :)

Megan, you just wear me out with your doings. Go you indeed!

>48 msf59: Hi Mark- you are busy mixing it with the literary types no doubt. I forgive you :)

>49 mckait: well, I am sure if you listed everything you did in a day it would also be lots. There is alwayls stuff to do....I try to arrange it that there isn't, but there always just is!

>50 Smiler69: Hi Ilana, lurk away, sometimes there isn't much to lurk over, I am sure.

>51 PaulCranswick: ok, I'll do it (use Latin??) in my essay. And I'll send the examiner to you if there are any problems. I am sure the defense of "but Paul told me I could!" works.

>52 michigantrumpet: I remember when the started to do it as babies, it was a lovely and hopeful time. Now I know better than to think any patterns are set in stone! Little Lenny was a wonderful sleeper, but once he figured out how to climb out of his cot, it was all over. There were the pitter patter of tiny feet at all hours! Haha- now he's good again, just as well seeing as he is 3.

>53 kidzdoc: and all that was before lunch! I wished I could have fitted in baking some biscuits as well, but alas. Now, however, am working on my essay and have hit a stumbling block. Hence the LT diversion.....know anything about critical psychology and its treatment of how individuals and society interact?

>54 AuntieClio: I always feel proud of myself on the odd day that I am organised :)

Just checking in there to report: after yesterday's waste of time session at the computer lab- where I managed about 140 words from nearly 5 hours "work"- I have today in less than one hour done almost double that.
Hooray! Let the flood-gates open!
Writers block suuuuucks. :)
*back to it*

Oy, sorry to hear about your latest struggle. Next time will be better. xx

Hi Megan!
>53 kidzdoc: LOL! So true.
I want to know what you eat for breakfast! I need some of that stuff.

Your reading is crazy! How do you keep it all straight? Well, I guess they are all quite different so that must help. I read more than one book at a time (but not 7). The only problem I have is when I read 2 or more books at the same time that are similar. The psychology reading you have actually sounds interesting to me. Normal/abnormal/critical/excessive all affirms that at least we do have a "mental" brain. I think that is a good thing.? heh.

Now I want to read Things Fall Apart. hmp.
And I don't believe I have ever seen even one bunny on our little island. They must not like to swim???

Good luck in school. Just think how many brain cells you are generating in the amazing head of yours!

Good luck with your writing! Writer's block does suck but hopefully you are over that!

>56 LovingLit: I am SO sorry to learn of the difficulty, but YAY you for breaking through!

Hoping your writer's block is a thing of the past. When faced with that, i sometimes will just start writing 'bullet points' and ideas down for later use so I don't forget them. Often can re-arrange into something passable.

>57 Smiler69: next time was better :) Thank goodness. Sometimes you just hit a brick wall I guess, and it takes some stepping back and getting some perspective to get past it.

>58 -Cee-: I will tell you what makes me able to do a hundred things in a morning, coffee. I can go like the energizer bunny when I am caffeinated! That and the experience of parenthood. You learn how to use small chunks of time so productively when you have so few chunks that are kid (read: distraction) free.
Most of my reading is psychology reading (NF) but even one of my few fiction books is psychology ralted! Herzog has heavy psychological leanings. It is quite good actually, I hope to be able to name-drop Herzog to my professor, I am sure he will know him. I feel olike Herzog at present, he is a nutty professor who writes his revelations down feversihly...I am doing that whenever inspiration strikes for my essay- the only problem is that when I go to refer to my ramblings, they read like ramblings! haha, context is impostant I guess :)

>59 ChelleBearss: its funny how stuck you can feel at certain points in writing. I had forgotten. It can really feel like you have nowhere left to go! But then....a walk, or referring back to readings, or a coffee....something tends to make the difference that you need. Phew!

>60 richardderus: I know you know about writers block, RD. Yikes. What a hurdle,and with a deadline looming too (2 weeks yesterday). Luckily for me I feel safe in the knowledge that at least one class member has not even started their essay yet- talk about living in crisis. I would die of worry if I had not started by now!

>61 michigantrumpet: I find that my 15 minute drive (through farm land) is a peaceful way to set my thoughts in order. I make sure I have no music on, and just suss things out as I am driving to university. It is a good method.But I think what got me over that last hurdle was reverting back to some readings. I took time out from writing and spent a few hours taking in information- it sparked something thank goodness. I feel like I have a cohesive report now- which is what I feared i did not hve before.

Thanks so much for the support everyone- you really are a helpful and caring lot:)

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's like that with the current drawing I'm working on. It's very complex, with loads of patterns and detail and typography and I sometimes feel I've bitten off more than I can chew with this particular subject. Today I came to the realisation that I simply need to take smaller bites, have shorter drawing sessions and more of them if need be to help me feel in control and not get freaked out by the level of intricacy. Then, wouldn't you know it, I had an hour-long session as usual, though I'd planned to only draw for 30 minutes, tops. Go figure.

Glad to know things are getting better for you. Keep going. One step at a time!

^ haha! Giving yourself an 'out' can be just the thing you need to maintain stamina. :)
I used to swim laps, and I always swam the longest sessions when I said to myself that I could quit if I felt like it. Humans huh? We are a funny bunch.

I was so far behind, and now I'm sort of caught up. Teachers know all about that wonderful ability to make the most of tiny chips of time. When I retired, it took me several months to learn how to concentrate on reading for more than 10 minutes at the time. I'm perfecting that bad boy.
I remember loving Herzog, but I don't remember why. I had a great time with Fingersmith. I don't know von R.
I also remember the great compression and decompression of driving for 30 minutes to and from work. I should find some way to do that in my current day-to-day. I do swim laps 3 times a week, and every session I'm not sure that I can make my quota, but I just do - I'm not allowed to quit when I feel like it. I guess that makes me a contrarian.
Writer's block? I had it for 10 years or so, but I declare that chat on a book site back in the late 90s cured me, not that I really write anything now anyway. But maybe I could.
So keep on, Megan! It's always a treat to follow you!

Megan, well done on beating writer's block! You go, girl!

>38 LovingLit: Cool about Into the Void. My son really likes them. He's really into music and he's found a bunch of NZ indie bands to listen to.

Hooray on getting over that writer's block. :)

>65 LizzieD: Hi Peggy- I am shamefully absent from most other threads other than my own these days, but you are caught up, you know why! THanks for visiting and for reading it all!!
I haven't swum lengths for so long now, I should get back into it in the evenings, I remember it making me feel really good.

>66 lit_chick: Thanks- you just have to keep going. One step at a time :) Just like when I walked for 8 hours along a railway line to get from A to B and avoid a horrendously overpriced tourist train fare. One step at a time did it!

>67 nittnut: So cool that your son knows them! I hope he goes to see the film, there is a lot of swearing in it, but overall it is very good.
Eta: It is coming to Wellington, soon I think.

Tonight I am off to WORD, the readers and writers festival to see the panel discussion including the author of We Need New Names and Eleanor Catton, and Kristin Hersh.....I am very excited and will duly report back how it was.

Hi Megan! I miss seeing you around but you sound very busy. Have a great time at the writer's festival. I hope you have a chance to chat with Ms. Catton. Enjoy your weekend. Hugs!

Came to offer smooches in spite of the jealousy-inducing chance to see Eleanor Catton! (I shan't mention my opinion of NoViolet Bulawayo.)

Mark: no personal encounters with Ellie (as we call her here now...). I listened intently to her read out dialogue from The Luminaries though. She read out the discussion in the parlour that took place before the seance. She talked about loving Victorian (?) literature a la Jane Austen and the way that the dialogue is a clever tit for tat tennis game. I admire that in clever dialogue too, but wonder how realistic it is that people could have been so witty and be able to retort so quickly in real life.

RD: She was lovely, did I mention (did I? did I?) that she grew up in Christchurch??
NoViolet's reading of her Booker nominee made it sound like rather a simple book- prose wise. As it was intended to be, no doubt. But potentially not my cuppa.

**************

It was fab!!!! to see the speakers read from their books. I have never been to a literary fest before, so didn't even know what to expect....I was surprised when they started reading extracts from their latest novels! (duh). Some told stories- like Diane Setterfield who wrote Bellman and Black- the others read their work. Kristin Hersh sang one song, and wasn't even in the front with the others....I panicked that she was going to be absent from the lineup *deep breaths Megan* as I had seen her sitting right at the back. But she came up, all mic'd up in advance, and sang something for us :):):)

Not having had enough of my Kristin Hersh fix from her one song, this morning I scanned the programme, and high-tailed it into town to see her talk with another musician (Dave Graney) about their memoirs and their music. That was much more satisfying. I asked her to sign my CD/book after and she was very obliging. My poor lovely other was saddled with to very grizzly kids, so unfortunately I was collected by car into a maelstrom of tears and drama. Talk about a buzz-kill. Ah well, I got my fix before hand!

Oh yeah, and BOOK HAUL!

56. The Dead Republic by Roddy Doyle $2
57. Monster Love by Carol Topolski $2
58. Purgatory/Paradise by Throwing Muses (Kristin Hersh) $34 (including 32-track CD) as of this morning, a signed copy :)
59. The Inequality Debate by Max Rashbrooke $14
eta remove brackets from last book, as there appears to be no touchstone, yet.

How exciting that you got to attend WORD!
Jane Austen = Victorian......very interesting.
Nice book haul too, but I'm not sure I could do Monster Love. I'll be eager to see what you think.

^I was wondering if I had used the right term to describe what Catton was talking about- I care so little for old writing that I barely pay attention! Shame on me ;)
I bought the Topolski book to maybe give to my sister as part of a housewarming present (already have a cool print for her of a red balloon on old encyclopedia paper). I have another of her books here but have not read it.
eta: the tags for Monster Love kind of give the story away- hate that. And now that I see them, it possibly looks more my cuppa than my sisters! Maybe I will give her Do no Harm instead

Very cool update on the literature festival! Especially the Kristin Hersh stuff. I must get hold of that memoir.

Best wishes on continued abnormal psychology success!

>76 DorsVenabili: Of course I really wanted to go to way more events, but kids/time/life/university duties rammed me into my corner a tad. I already felt naughty escaping to see the talk yesterday morning, but it was so so good to see her in person. I am glad I did, and knew I would be after the drama of the kids wore off :)
My reserved copy of Rat Girl was not taken back to the library on time so I was unable to even get a peek at it in advance of the speaking gig/talk. Grrrrr to late-book-people.

Oooh, WORD sounds like it was worth the drama of homecoming. So this Catton chickie, she grew up in Enn Zed, did she? First I'm hearin' of it.

:-P

*smooch*

^and not just in En Zed, RD, in Chch, En Zed. That's my very own place of residence :)

Megan, thanks for that report on the Lit Fest. It sounds pretty wonderful to me; especially seeing one of the world's hot writers that grew up in your own neighborhood. I rather liked The Luminaries and wish Ms. Catton (don't know her well enough to call her Ellie!) plenty of success. I hope she didn't peak too early in her career.

I see lots of love for Herzog upthread. I own several books by Bellow and have yet to read any of them. I am kind of partial to the title Henderson the Rain King as that is my last name! I'll be looking for your final thoughts on the book, although not too soon. You have a full plate and little time for reading. Good for you getting in some reading every day of something besides textbooks. You are an excellent manager of your time. I must practice accomplishing things in life's small moments, although I am pretty good at cat naps!

A pox on the late-book people!

Sounds like a great lit-fest though and if you couldn't have gone to as many events as you would have liked, at least you did manage to get to some of them. And how cool that you got to see one of your homegrown authors too!

Have a good weekend, Megan.

Hi Megan--Glad you got to go to the lit-fest! So entirely jealous!! And a book haul doesn't hurt either. ; )

Hey Megan! Reading your thread just wears me out! Thinking of 7 books at once makes my head spin.

I have to concur with what Amber said in >12 scaifea:. That's exactly the same speech my professor gave at the beginning of my Abnormal Psychology class. Basically "don't diagnose yourself".

I was just teaching a class on Alzheimer's disease last week and was discussing the diagnostic criteria for depression and the class starts muttering and tittering. I had to give the same speech! I found myself actually quoting my old professor and even using her language "Don't diagnose yourself" using these slides; it is normal to feel down and depressed sometimes...etc., etc. We all have a bit of dysfunction. It only is diagnosed when it begins to interfere with daily life.

>80 Donna828: there were so many more that I would have liked to see, but even at the reasonable price of $20 per (discussion) session, the price adds up quickly! We have had some massive bills lately so I had to restrain myself in the lit-fest separtment. Until next pay day that is, then I can re-live my festival outings my buying books of the presenters at the bookshop! I was given 2 $5-off vouchers when I made my purchases after events there, and I plan to use them well.
Herzog is needing me to dedicate more time than "10 minutes of eye-lid drooping tired reading at the end of the day" can deliver! I plan to do an hour in a row soon, seeing as I just finished my essay :) (still have to do formatting and propers referencing, but the bulk is done).

>81 cameling: hi Caro. I had a great weekend, lit fest activities x2, and on Sunday me and Wilbut walked up the Bridle Path, the historical path over the port Hills which was the only link from the port (Lyttelton) to the city of Christchuch for a long time. This weekend was the 50th anniversray of the opening of the Lyttelton tunnel, so they closed it to allow people to walk or bike through. I was not keen to spend too much time under tonnes and tonnes of hillside, so me and Wilbur walked over the top :)
My fear that he would be too tired were baseless it seems. Once we got to the top and started the 20 minute walk along the ridge to the gondola, he ran instead of walking- AND- did star jumps while waiting for me to catch him up! Cripes, kids have endless energy, don't they?

>82 Berly: And, go me. Both my book-haul books were teensy, so I have already finished them both. Woohoo! August needed the numbers, really. What a poor reading month I have had in terms of actual books......academic readings have been through the roof though.

Megan, put your name down as a volunteer for next year's event and you should get to a lot of the festival events for free. I didn't go this year, but I normally volunteer for the school program and then have a free pass for the weekend events at the Auckland Writers Festival, only barred from offsite events or soldout ones.

glad that you had such a great time!

envious of your lit-festing, and Kerry has a great idea re volunteering next year (when hopefully the kids will be a little older and wiser and more amenable to being left for a bit longer...)

>80 Donna828: Donna Rain King! Who knew?

:-)

>85 avatiakh: oooh, good idea. I will say to my lovely other I need to have volunteer work back on my CV in oder to (eventually) re-enter the workforce...and then I will get a pass out to be a lit-fest volunteer :) Good thinking!

>86 mckait: thanks Kath. I was crazily excited before the evening event - and it proved worth it. And the 'deconstructed gin and tonic' at the cocktail bar afterwards wasn't bad either ;)

>87 Chatterbox: Maybe next year I will have no university essays to be writing either....if I decide to cut my studies in half and call it a certificate (instead of a diploma) that could happen. There just seems to be so little course choice that fits within school hours. Plus....being a 'land-based' (read: ex-farming college) university, the arts are not well represented. I am part of an elite few :)

>88 richardderus: it works for me, anyway.

BOOK HAUL!*

I Love a Broad Margin to My Life by Maxine Hong Kinston. $3.99 from the University Bookshop (not my current university, my old one's bookshop) Written in verse, it appears!

*one book may not constitute a "haul" to most, but it does to me :)

Hmmm, do you want to go for a certificate instead of a diploma? Or would that be a choice forced on you by the lack of course choice?? Does it constrain your options, going forward?

^ I am considering options really. The Diploma required 6 courses, 3 mandatory ones and 3 of your own choice. It would take me three years to do that at one course per semester. The Certificate is 3 courses, so I could get that by the middle of next year. Seeing as the course of study has no vocational focus, the only difference for future options is what the employer sees on my CV- I am not even sure many would make much distinction between a diploma and a certificate! (well, maybe they would). If I call it a certificate, I can go back to do 3 more courses later and have that up-graded to a diploma. And if I complete the Diploma I can at any time go back and do 2 more years part time for a Masters. It is quite a flexible arrangement.
I would not like to take it to a Masters level unless I came across someone in the Arts who I could envisage as a supervisor- someone who had shared study interests etc and was my cuppa, personality-wise.
We'll see. I have to factor in my lovely other as well, who isn't loving his job right now. It would be good in a few years to get paid work so the load was off him.

Another BOOK HAUL ;)

Townie by Andre Dubus III, new from the UNiversity Book Shop sale, $14.99. But lovely hard cover and with a very attractive cover. *couldn't help it*

>89 LovingLit: Megan I Love a Broad Margin to My Life looks really interesting. Resisting the temptation as the books are trying to take over the apartment even more lately. But thanks for drawing my attention to it.

Wilbur may have bounding energy, but I'm impressed by yours. Go, Meagan, Go!

Oh my goodness, I finally finished a book that I have been reading on/off for all of last month.

BOOK 41
All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs by Elie Wiesel (418p)

Having read Night a while ago now, I picked up the authors memoirs as soon as I saw it second hand last year. Having offered it to my dad, who rejected it feeling it too drily written, I decided to read it myself. Just to see. I found his style exact and to the point, even poetic at times, but not dry. Perhaps because I am so interested in piecing together world history, in particular WWII and Jewish history, I found this quite riveting.

A lot of what is written in Night is repeated in the early parts of the memoirs. It is just as harrowing as it was then and I found myself crying tears of disgust and horror at what the author witnessed and faced. In this memoir, though, we also get what happened next. The rebuilding of an adolescent who is family-less and state-less. We also get the description of the writing of the concentration camp book some ten years later. Wiesel goes on to describe in detail the rise of his journalism career and his various roles thereafter. The book is heavy on names, dates and meetings. The back states it is part one of a projected two part series, so I will look out for whatever came (or did not come) next.

>93 AuntieClio: the cover is gorgeous too, which might be why it called out to me ;)
It being written in verse, with wide margins, it might not take me too long to read. That is, if I decide to start it. I do have rather a few things on my plate lately. That said, I have been known to just grab a book on a whim and read a few pages. Just to see.

>94 LizzieD: Thanks Peggy! I may sound like I am energised and enthused. But I am sure you (and everyone) can read between the lines. It's a slog sometimes!!! Lately I am worried about my boy's ears. Thinking maybe to borrow the money for his surgery off one of my parents, as he could do without the 5 month wait.
Aside from that though, I am very pleased to report that I actually have finished my essay just now. I just spent the last 3 hours touching it up and putting in the references...very carefully....the programme is touchy to banana-fingered people like me who thwack the keyboard about. :)
So, a few days break from writing anyway, then on to the next one!!

Congrats on finishing your essay Megan. I've been meaning to read Elie Wiesel for a while, but unlike you, lack the courage to read about WWII from a Jewish perspective, having heard stories from my own father's side of the family growing up. But I have accumulated some great books and just need to give myself a little push.

^thanks Ilana! It is a relief to get it done.....and I am quite proud of it having come from a place of knowing nothing about psychology to having written a lengthy piece on one branch of it's conceptualisation of the individual and society... phew, even that is a mouthful!
I wouldn't push yourself to read about WWII from the Jewish perspective. The process is likely to be stressful. Maybe you will just know when you are ready to read on the topic. One thing I have gained from this memoir is greater insight into the importance of Israel as a homeland to the Jewish people. That is partly why I read so much on the topic, I think. You never get the nuances from the media.

How do, smoocheroo!

Congratulations on polishing off the essay!
I used to teach Night to 10th graders. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to find decent world literature that will appeal to 15 year-olds? {In NC 10th grade is for world lit, 11th, American Lit, and 12th, English Lit. Crazy.}) It never got old for me, and the kids mainly connected with it and were touched by it.
By the by, I have a copy of Constantine's Sword coming to me - the relationship between RC Church and Judaism through the centuries.
I know you're concerned about the ears. If you can borrow the wherewithal, it's likely a good move to do it sooner rather than later.
And I know that you don't have things easy, but you're doing it! And reading some! And maintaining friends here! GOOD for you!

Argh!
I have been neglectful of my thread :(
But I am back, and I have finished a book (and handed in an essay).

BOOK 42
Paradoxical Undressing by Kristin Hersh (319p)

I wish I could have taken this book for Kristin Hersh to sign when I met her after her talk at the Writer's Festival last weekend. It is a library book, I reckon she would have liked the idea. It speaks to me too, as what I got her to sign (her new book/CD) wasn't about having the signature, it was about meeting her and saying hi. I am also quite glad I hadn't read her book before meeting her as I would have had the weight of her story on me. It is a strange thing to know lots of stuff about someone who doesn't know you.

Anyway, the book about a year in her life is wonderful. I cannot give it 5/5 though because I feel angry at it for being so compulsive :) I carried it around the house with me just in case I could catch a minute, or less, to read a few words here and there. That's how I know I am on to something good. I desperately crave a few minutes to read it, and I take it everywhere in case such an opportunity presents itself (including out in the car- in case I am involved in a traffic jam, or some unforeseen situation which results in time to spare). How the last person who had this book out took so long with it I don't know.......

>99 richardderus: Yes. Indeed. I see that on a t-shirt.....it looks good.

>100 LizzieD: thanks Peggy. I handed it in yesterday (the essay) and now I worry for its fate. But I can't worry too much, because I need to start the next one now! This one is a 'report', or a 'case study'...and I have chosen to look into the psychological impacts of living in a consumer society. Too broad perhaps, but we'll see. And then there's the half hour presentation. I am not good at holding the floor, so I may have to have question time included in that half hour. Yikes. I am meant to be getting on to the report now, but have decided to let it stall and catch up on LT instead. My brain may work better later.

>101 LovingLit: - Oh, good! I can't wait to read this. Funny thing, I was thinking about this book the other day and it led me to the thought, "Gee, I wonder if Kim Deal has a memoir (We're going to see the Breeders in a couple weeks, so I have her on the brain). Wouldn't that be cool to read?" So, I did some research and didn't find anything, but I did find that Kelley Deal (Kim's twin sister) put out a knitting book a few years ago called Bags That Rock: Knitting on the Road with Kelley Deal. That amused me for some reason.

Anyway, congrats on the essay completion!

Just had left over butternut squash laksa from the freezer and thought of you :) FYI it was AWESOME!

And I may explode...

Wilbur-ism:

(The scene: kids calling each other names...Lenny is crying....)

Me: its our job as human beings to be nice to each other and to help other people feel better.

Wilbur: I'm not the Easter Bunny.

>103 DorsVenabili: you haven't read it yet?! I had this idea that you had...it is fantastic and poetic (in a stream of consciousness way). The knitting books looks.....specific. How funny!

>104 BekkaJo: oooh, I am glad you loved it. I want to have some now that you have mentioned it! And you remind me, I must freeze my leftover shin beef mushrooom casserole...I might make it into pies one day in the near future. Yum.

Love the Wilbur-ism!

>105 LovingLit: *snork!* I didn't know that the Easter Bunny was the one responsible for all of human kindness. Huh. Learn something every day. Thanks for that, Wilbur!

Just delurking to say hi Megan. Hope you can take time out to enjoy the weekend.

Hahaha love the Wilburism .......

>106 lkernagh: haha, me too. It was delivered so dead-pan as well.

>107 scaifea: me neither, Amber :) It was out of left field, that comment. It cracked me up.

>108 Smiler69: well, as it happens...I did have a fantastic Saturday. It started buy and ended fun. I babysat a friend's children for 3 hours, did some baking (which was duly demolished by the 4 kids), and then the afternoon was taken care of by an all day birthday party for my friend. It was modelled on the Amazing Race and was heaps of fun. Our team, due to our refusal to run between tasks, came last. Which allowed us plenty of time for having a few drinks whilst walking between tasks. It was all mystery and marshalled and bus rides and clues and it was great fun.
So I am a happy camper this weekend, even if my report (essay) isn't.

>109 roundballnz: hi Alex! He comes up with a cracker every now and then.

Brave lady attempting to bake while looking after four children, LOL! Your friend's party sounds fabulous! She must be a great party planner!

^ she was actually in the dark about what was happening as her sister (an airline pilot- organised!? Yes!) sorted all the (many) details. She even dropped the punters home after the post-race dinner! Top marks.
The birthday girl and me have some hairy travel stories, and she made some more for herself yesterday by ignoring race rules to bus to one destination, and her team flagged down a van to beat the rest of us there!

I'm not the Easter Bunny.

I am crying with laughter.

>105 LovingLit: Love that Easter Bunny! Good job on the essays and the book reviews. And good luck deciding between certificate and diploma. If you can always upgrade later....

>95 LovingLit: It doesn't matter, Megan, does it how many times or differing ways the horror of the holocaust is presented to us in fact or semi-fiction, it always grabs the vitals and leaves me in particular speechless (and that is tough to do) at the end. Just read The Devil's Arithmetic this weekend in a single sitting and was affected greatly by the story it told.

>113 nittnut: I shake my head and chuckle whenever I think of it now. It was so fast.

>114 Berly: And the best thing about not deciding yet is that I have til tghe middle of bnext year not to decide. :) And if I continue to not decide, I guesss I will just go ahead and do the 6 courses and call it a diploma. But right now it is hard to think past my report, which is not coming along very quickly. Yet (she says hopefully!)

>115 PaulCranswick: hm. Yes. Too much to comprehend sometimes. Perhaps this is why the world did not act soon enough. People actually could not fathom such atrocious acts towards other people. I don't know. I always feel torn between feeling one should know what humans are capable of, and knowing that finding out can be detrimental to one's own mental health!

>105 LovingLit: - No, I haven't. I just keep talking about how much I want to read it. Ha!

Oh, Wilbur. I would have cracked up too. :-)

^ ah well, there's plenty of time to read it still, right? ALthough, I wouldn't wait too long, as the sooner you read it, the sooner you can re-read it! Cos, it is that good. :)

We are gearing up for an election here...well, we have been. It is this weekend. I can't wait to give my lefty bleeding-heart liberal vote to the Greens (party vote) and Labour (electorate vote). I fear it'll all be in vain as the political climate at present is very divisive and mostly in favour of the right-leaning National Party. There have been so many revelations in the last few weeks, outing our current Prime Minister (and his cabinet) as a liar and a master deceiver, but the people seem hell-bent on having him back.
*despair*
Ah well, I can but cast my vote and hope for the best :)

I would love an explaining of why there are the two votes (party and electoral) and how it actually works. :) I could google it, but I'd rather ask an actual voter...

Since I can't vote I've been mostly ignoring it all, but I can pass on that I heard two people today talking about voting Labour. For what it's worth. ;) Also, many of the National party signs near our house have been rather aggressively and sometimes hilariously vandalized. I saw one today that had "Gormless" spray painted above the words Party Leader. This is not to indicate support in any direction whatsoever - I have no opinion. Haven't been here long enough to form one. It all seems so much more civilized than US party politics.

WooHoo for bleeding-heart liberal votes!

Some point before Friday I need to find the high commission in London so I can vote ...... head its got rather messy/ugly down there or have I been misled?

>120 nittnut: well, I can't explain it in detail, but basically....the electorate vote is for who will represent you locally. It doesn't matter who is in government, the person voted in in your electorate can be from any party (that is running in that area). It is about a local voice. And the party vote is for who you want to be Prime Minister.
Because of the MMP system (Mixed Member Proportional) there can be groups of parties that make a coalition to lead together. All sorts of deals can be worked out with MMP as to who actually leads. And when I give my party vote to the Greens, their expected 12-13% of the party votes means they get x amount of seats in parliament.

There is a facebook page called "National billboard makeovers" showing the funnier vandalised billboard. Some are very clever and I am not sure what it says about society that there are SO many vandalised National ones, and not so mane Labour ones.

>121 scaifea: someone's gotta vote for a better society for everyone (over themselves), don't they? Maybe I am naive, but I still think it's possible.

>122 roundballnz: I am not sure if international voting has already closed, Alex. You might still have time! IT's not so much messy, as complicated. Key has been outed as a liar: by himself....but in typical style, he just slowly changes his position each day for a few days and they people don't seem to notice (just like the Judith Collins thing....). I guess people have their position on each party, and not much will sway them. I certainly do!

>123 LovingLit: I think we have till Friday - gave up on the download method as it still requires a JP to witness ??? .... somethings stay the same then Key being a chameleon

^ oooh goodie. Get out and vote then please :) And have a great day out (few days out!?) in London!

>123 LovingLit:

Made me laugh!

>123 LovingLit: That will do nicely. Muchas gracias.

>127 nittnut: yup! That's about the gist of it. And I recognise that as a Christchurch Central one too....but it wasn't me- honest! Btw, for some reason I really like the comma.

>128 LovingLit: good-o. Nice to be useful :)

Aloha, Megan! I have been fading pretty quickly in the evenings but I squeezed in a few minutes of LT time tonight.
Many Aussies here in Hawaii and a sprinkling of NZers. These sure, feel like my kind of people. I love how out-going and brash they can be.
Have you seen any of my pics on FB? I've been posting a ton over there.

I hope all is well with you.

Hi Mark!
Great to see you here, when you are so busy hiking and beer-sampling ;) I have been seeing your photos - on fb mainly?, and on your thread. It looks amazing. I am in the need for some sunny days here, so please huff puff and get that warmth over the Pacific to me please! :)
Glad to see you are interacting well with a sprinkling of NZers, always nice to hear. Brash though? That must be the Aussies ;)

Hi Megan - I've just had a week in Northland, so seen lots of Hone Harawira billboards. I live in a safe National electorate (Jamie-Lee Ross who is a close buddy of Judith Collins, yuk yuk yuk) so that part of my vote is useless, only my party vote will count.

>123 LovingLit: I'll be naive right along with you, then. Solidarity, sister!

>123 LovingLit: >121 scaifea: scaifea: someone's gotta vote for a better society for everyone (over themselves), don't they? Maybe I am naive, but I still think it's possible.

So right, and sometimes so disheartening when it seems that others just do not look beyond their own circumstances :(

>125 LovingLit: Deed has been done - then spent the after eating strawberries & cream while wandering famers market ..... now i see Auckland is having thunderstorms oh dear!

>126 richardderus: - Nice !

Megan, I just picked up a library book that might appeal to you, Dreamland: a self-help manual for a frightened nation by Icelander Andri Snær Magnason.

Hey, who are you calling brash!

The billboard makeovers are definitely an interesting phenomenon.

>131 avatiakh: Ah well, you will just have to make your party vote count then :) My SiL has outed herself as a National voter in response to one of my facebook baits...I could have guessed really. Not a reasoned argument to be seen.

>132 scaifea: yippee! Thank goodness I have allies ;)

>133 mckait: I know. I am sad enough thinking about the state of society, but when people don't even want to vote to help people, it is upsetting.

>134 roundballnz: well done! Me too now. Just did my civic duty.

>135 avatiakh: great! I will have a look at it, thanks.

>136 evilmoose: oh!? You heard that? It must have been a mis-print ;)

>88 richardderus::, >89 LovingLit:: Donna Rain King... I rather like that. Maybe it will inspire me to finally read some Bellow!

It is interesting to learn about NZ politics. I get tired of hearing about who might be running for President in the U. S. two years from now. It seems a bit premature to me. So much can happen between now and then. Maybe the Easter Bunny should campaign. Love that Wilbur!

Now that you've done your civic duty, Megan, you can relax and enjoy the rest of your week end.

I love the latest Wilburism! Are you collecting them for a bestselling book?

Dear Megan, just about in time to wish you a happy weekend. Love the blow-up doll billboard - could be an image for politicians the world over. I realised I could never get along with my father when it became apparent to me that his support of conservative politics was as a result of the self-interest of a high earner. My thinking has always been a little too distributive for a supposed ruthless business man and I make little apology for thinking that I am happy to donate a fair slice of my earnings so that the old, the infirm and the disadvantaged can be taken better care of.

>138 Donna828: I did have a good weekend, Donna, in spite of the election result showing a NZ trend for selfish individualism. :(
It was Wilbur's birthdfay party and it went of spectacularly. He was chuffed- saying- "I can't believe I went to the best birthday party ever today and it was mine!!"

>139 kidzdoc: ha! I do write them down actually, in my diary. It is fun to flick back and look. He waws talking from an early age, so I have a lot now. If you listen to kids, they come up with brilliant things.

>140 PaulCranswick: Paul, I love what you have said there. (((hugs)))
I am finding that my relatives who are "of that persuasion" are appealing less and less to me now.

And......our home computer is on the blink (NZism!!?- it means busted). I think it was dissillusioned with the state of NZ politics and gave up the ghost. So I will be sparrodic (as usual) here for a while til we get something sorted. Thank godness for university technology!

Nope, on the blink is a term we use widely here, too. Although admittedly when I am describing a computer that is busted, my language is usually substantially more colourful!

I'm loving both the Wilbur-ism and the billboard makeover! There are a few billboards around here that could use that kind of decorating. :)

I'm the lone bleeding heart liberal in my family; and it gets very lonely. I depend on my liberal-thinking friends here to keep me afloat. Thank you all!

>143 lit_chick: (don't tell anyone but I am at university supposed to be writing my essay!!)
I am resigned to the fate of the old computer. It was gradually dying anyway, the kids spilling water over the keyboard was the final straw. I am sure if we replace the keyboard- do you think I need a Mac one for it?- it will go again, however slowly. In the mean tiime I will make do- something which infuriates my friends for some reason: "WHY don't you ever check your emails/reply to my text within 13 seconds/HOW can you live with such a slow computer/no drier/no dishwasher/no designer clothes etc (those last few mainly come from my SiL) ;)
I kind of like being given the opportunity to go bush for a while (that must be a NZ/Australianism!!??- it means go off grid, go quiet, be uncontactable).

>144 TinaV95: Yay, Tina ((((hugs)))). I feel that way too, it is lonely being considered a freak by people - until you remember that you have a valid position and that there are other awesome freaks out there too :) My parents in law think I am some sort of hard core environmental activist because I dont like labels/grafitti on kids clothes, or plastic coated vegetables from the supermarket. There is no telling them otherwise either.

Howdy Megan! Hope you had a good weekend. I am also surrounded by the "right". A few of my friends and most of my family. At least my wife and kids are safe. Whew! I rarely bring up politics anymore. It is so futile.
Have a good week.

"Go Bush" sounds, to my Murrikin ears, like "go down the path of the ultra-ultra-Right-Wing religiosifyin' dumbass conservatives." Please don't do that.

>146 msf59: thank goodness we all have each other! There really is no point in bringing up politics around people whose ideas/values (dare I say!?) are completely opposesed to yours. It ends up with butting heads, and sore egos all around. But it is a good reminder to spend time with people who are AWESOME instead!

>147 richardderus: ha! You are right correct. ;)
I am not going to do that. Fear not.

BOOK 44
Herzog by Saul Bellow (320p)

This book started with a bang. We have Herzog, going mad, living alone in a run-down country house, and writing stream-of-conscious letters to all and sundry. And then he goes back to describe what life events occurred in the weeks previous. His wife leaving him, struggles with his job and strained family situations. It is a long and descriptive journey. Although it paints an intricate picture, and words are cleverly put together, I did not feel pulled into Herzog's world as much as I wanted to be. I nearly changed my mind about the book at the end when it all tied up together fairly nicely, but it was overall a little too drawn out for me.

*whew*

^woah, that is some loose lip action!

Makes me giggle every time I see it!

Hmm going off grid is very underrated something we shd all do now & again ..... I annoy my younger friends by having a smartphone but not looking at it every 10 seconds & shock horror leaving it home deliberately!

Though it was very useful for finding my way around cities in UK

Sorry Herzog didn't work out for you in the end Megan. Frustrating when one of those much-touted books ends up not living up to the hype. I hope I end up liking it more when I get to it, as it's definitely on the tbr.

Loving the Wilburism.

My mother thrust my baby book on me a while back. Was paging through it recently and ran across an anecdote about going to visit people or out to dinner in a restaurant. when told I couldn't take my teddy bear (named Cindy), I apparently stated firmly, aged 2 1/2 "I would be embarrassed without my Cindy." Somehow I doubt that it did any good.

Love the proportional representation concept in action.

BOOK 45
Fear of Freedom by Erich Fromm (256p)
Wow.
Writing from 1942, this guy sure had a handle on what was going to become increasingly wrong with the world. A critical theorist, he is challenging the notion that what is (an isolating and divisive capitalist economic system and a society full of individualistic individuals), is what ought to be. I used this book as one of the sources for my last essay, but rather than pick and choose from it, decided to read the whole thing. It was worth it.

>153 roundballnz: "no one can own me!" is how I feel regarding being avaiulable at someone elses beck and call :)

>154 Smiler69: well, I did enjoy reading it, but it was not as rewarding as I had hoped it would be given the dense writing style. It was fantastic in that it covered a lot of psychological themes, which fits with my course this semester. Fascinating stuff.

>155 Chatterbox: haha, maybe the 2.5 year old you was searching for a word, any word, that would be grand for your sentence. I recently slipped Wilbur's first love note into his baby-book. A girl at school loves him, you see. She put a note and some pictures in his bag, which, when he discovered he rolled his eyes and said "I wish she would stop putting things in my bag!" It had a pictre of the two of them holding hands!!

****Newsflash****
Someone got a A for her essay on critial psychology! And that someone is ME~!! Woohoo! I was very very pleased, and even more pleased with the comments section which used words like "exceptionally clear" and "sophisticated". *ear to ear grin*

WooHoo!! Congrats on the A!!

#157 Wooo! Well done - that's brilliant feedback :)

Wonderful Stuff! Am also grinning ear to ear, very happy for you Megan! :-D

>158 scaifea: thanks!!! I am still basking in its glory...whilst sweating about the next 3500 words and 30 minute presentation to get done. And wouldn't you know it - it is school/kindy holidays so I will be an evening study-fiend until the presentation!

>159 BekkaJo: thanks Bekka- I was pleased with the feedback, as you can tell :)
ANd I am tentatively pleased with my next report topic, the title of which has been through many changes! It is now: Consumerism and disatisfaction. (the spelling of the last word I will need to clarify- I think US spelling gives it two s's and British/NZ only one).

>160 Smiler69: thanks Ilana! I never got A's at school or university the first time, so I am loving them. My family were very happy for me too, bar my brother who laughed derisively and called me an adult student nerd who all the other students probably hated. He has a strange way of showing he cares....to say the least. That right there is why I didn't tell him the result of my first course .

Yeah, for getting another A, Megan! You are nailing it, my friend.

I enjoyed your thoughts on Fear of Freedom. I've not heard of that one.

^thanks Mark! I recently told the post-grad studies coordinator that I constantly feel on the brink of failure, and she said that is par for the course! But I have not done too badly so far, and fear of failure is keeping me real :)
I know 120 people who would think The Fear of Freedom the most boring book they had ever had to read, but I just loved it. It was music to my ears to hear about why the capitalist system engenders feelings of isolation and disatisfaction. Things that I have felt instinctively I am now reading academic accounts of, and I feel validated.

Congratulations on the A grade!

Good luck with school holidays and studying. Call me crazy, but I swear we just had holidays...

Another A? That's our Megan!!! You can do anything! Very happy for and proud of you!

>161 LovingLit: Gee, *thanks brother*. Sounds to me like he's envious or something. No wonder you didn't want to share with him at first. At least you have us here encouraging you and truly happy for your successes! And the rest of your family too of course. :-)

You're killing in on the As, Megan! Go, girl!!

Congrats ... all that hard work is paying off !

>164 nittnut: thanks Jenn :)
School hols are usually a source of fun and excitement, but I think anxiousness about getting my report and presentation done might colour it! Plus, we are not going away this holidays.

>165 mckait: another A! I know! And it was worth 45% of the final grade, so that is something. The next one is also worth 45%, and the presentation 10%. That's a hard 10%, as its half an hour of talking. Yikes. I am not one who likes to hold the floor, as it were.

>166 Smiler69: yea. *rolls eyes* He is a bit like that. I wasn't actually offended this time, as I am kind of used to it. I even wonder if it some sort of warped attempt at affection. We are certainly aligned differently when it comes to politics, and sometimes he is able to talk about that rationally, but other times he is antagonistic and baiting. It is just him.

>167 lit_chick: thank you! It is a great feeling. As is finishing so many books this month! Last month was a slow one as I was reading so many, and the payoff is this month when I am finishing some of them. I am very nearly done with I Know why the Caged Bird Sings, and it is wonderful.

>168 roundballnz: hi Alex! Yep- it does feel like it is worth it when you get a good mark. It is weird as even though I was proud of my essay, I still had no idea what mark I would get. I felt it could have gone either way.

Hi Megan, congrats on the A grade my dear and don't worry about the presentation. I am like you and don't like to be in the limelight but when I have had to do one I practised in front of a mirror and then once I got started I focused on one thing in the room and after a few minutes things began to flow and I felt at ease and the time was soon up. As with other Lters I wish you well and keep it up my dear.

>1 LovingLit: "sort of" reading?
I know, it's the being a student thing and all that. And excelling at that, I see. So cool!

>156 LovingLit: I remember reading Erich Fromm in college (psych major, you know) but I don't think I read that one. It sounds worthwhile.

I hope you have a great weekend, Megan!

Sophisticated is excellent, and even better than exceptionally clear!! Kudos!!!

^I know. I loved the comments even more than the A. Almost :)
It is a buss though, to get good feedback, especially from a Psyc lecturer who has been doing this for decades. A few, at least. He must have seen all sorts of writing over the years. I got the feeling my last lecturer went a little easy on us, which bugged me. I want to earn my A ;)

Congrats on the A! You're a superstar student! Clearly.

>156 LovingLit: - Hmm. I'm almost tempted to put this on my wishlist. Nice job!

^ you will now when you don't see talk of grades on here that I am no longer getting As :)
The Fromm book is worth it, I think. It makes a great reference book. There is talk in it of the psychology of nazism, his lot (European intellectuals) fled them to the US in the late 1930s (I think). I wasn't as interested I that as I was in the talk on the history of capitalism and how it explains the way people 'are' today.

BOOK 46
I Know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

This story of the author's life growing up in the south and her more to the city in her teens is deceptively simple. She writes in an easy style to take in, but when re-reading several paragraphs, the inferences and invitations to think deeply are there. She manages to seem unjudgemental but also to convery her anger and hatred of the system and people who were making her life more difficult than it ought to have been.
The book really started to shine for me in the last third, where her growing awareness of the injustices that surrounded her got her thinking and fired her up. Her tone is so warm and welcoming, even if the injustices she faced were repellent. I can see why this is a classic, and I wish i had read it sooner.

#177 So glad you liked this - I read it when I was about 17 and have loved it ever since. She was a truly amazing lady.

^ I was worried this wouldn't live up to its reputation, but it did :)
I wonder what else she got up to in her life...I think I will have to find out.

Anyway...back to my birthday (!!)

I am having a great day so far. I have been at university working on my report since 8am. And I finally feel like I am pulling something together that I might be proud of. It has been 'blood out of a stone' style writing so far for me on this one. Yikes. Each sentence was hard fought and won. I am 2/3 done, and hopefully the last part will flow better seeing as I can use parts of my last essay for it. It is called: Consumerism and Dissatisfaction.

This afternoon I will go and pick up the kiddos for my birthday afternoon tea, and then back home for resumption of school holiday action and drama. I may need coffee....

A-ha! It is your birthday today. Facebook kept trying to tell me it was tomorrow but I think it is bumfuzzled by the time difference. :-)

Have a wonderful birthday, Megan!

^facebook doesn't know squat about NZ/US time difference ;)
Thank you! It is today (for me) and I am about to pause on the essay for a drive to the country for my celebratory afternooon tea with my kids and niece and nephew.

>181 LovingLit: Have a grand afternoon .....

Thanks Alex. I did. Although, now that I am home and it is 8:38pm, Wilbur is only just in bed and Lenny just woke with a temperature (higher than normal is inferred there) and PLUS I found nits in his hair toady. That is what you call payback for having a morning and afternoon off!

Woohoo- birthday loot.

I got two for two!
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki (although my edition has the correct spelling of 'colour') by Haruki Murakami and This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein. My loved ones know me so well :) I love that about my two most loved adults- the lovely other and my sister.

Hope you had a great one, my friend. Congrats on the new Murakami. Keep in mind, I am hosting a G.R. of this one, mid-Oct. Love to have you...

I hope that our favorite A student (along with Stasia, of course) is having an A+ birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Mark: lovely birthday greeting font there, thanks. Mid october is only 2 weeks away! Maybe I can make it. My first proper Murakami- yay.

Darryl: thanks for the birthday message. I can't help but notice that + though, and in doing so notice that it missing from my grade. Adult students are so picky, aren't they?

Rhian: thanks, boo hoo its already over here. But in many parts of the world my birthday lives on.

#179 So sorry - missed a happy birthday there! Hope you had a lovely day?

And you should read the rest of Angelou's books - they carry on from Caged bird and the next few are very good, though I found they petered off a bit towards the end.

>189 BekkaJo: there are more Angelou books?? (obviously I haven't googled her yet ;)) I will check'em out. Thanks.
Birthday good. Kind of a non event as you age, I suppose. Especially in the wake of a child's birthday as mine is :)

Oooh, Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday!!! Whoohoo!!



And congrats on the

>184 LovingLit: Nice Haul there ! Hearing great things about This Changes Everything already ..... I think this Murakami maybe a great one to start - Enjoy!

Hope you had a great birthday. Belated felicitations. :)

>177 LovingLit: We read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings for book group this month. I have read it before, and somehow, something new strikes me every time. The first time, I listened to it, narrated by Maya Angelou herself, and followed it up with Gather Together in My Name and The Heart of a Woman. I think I've got myself out of order in the series, but it doesn't matter a whole lot. Unless you're obsessive that way. Anyway, it was a treat to listen to her read.

Hi Megan, Belated birthday greetings to you my dear, hope you had a great day.

>191 ronincats: thanks! The big four - oh looms over me now. I am not scared of it so much as surprised it's here so soon.

>192 Berly: *aw shucks*
I don't want to make a big deal of my A....Actually, I DO!!! :P

>193 roundballnz: I hadn't even heard of This Changes Everything at all, so I was really pleased to get it. Nice job lovely-other!

>194 nittnut: thanks for the titles of her next books. I will jot them down on my handbag paper that goes with me everywhere, if I happen to stumble across a second hand book sale, say in 2 days time, then I will be armed with the necessary info :)

>195 johnsimpson: thanks John, the joy and excitement of the day of study (yes, I am that person) is fading. But I am looking forward to some more of that this or tomorrow evening.

Wilbur's karate grading. :)
He made it up to a junior yellow belt. Here he is in the middle!

An A, a birthday.... I come back and sooo much has happened. Congratulations on both counts! .... Make that on three counts (adding Wilbur making junior yellow belt)!

#196 The other one is Singin' and swingin' and gettin' merry like Christmas and it's in between Gather Together and Heart of the Woman :)

I'll admit I only got as far as Heart of a Woman but I think there are a couple after it.

Oh and edited to add - #197 Yay! Go Wilbur. You'll feel my pain after I found out my husband had borrowed my camera and deleted all the photos off it. Including my only photos of Cass pre and post her first ever ballet exam. Only 4 photos but I really wanted to keep them.

Yay Wilbur!

Sounds like you may have an actual encounter with a book sale planned...

I am now going to request your input on travel. :) We are planning what may very well be an epic trip to the South Island mid-November. It probably will not include an LT meetup, but I am quietly making a plan to fly down to Christchurch on my own sometime - maybe I can convince Cushla to come a long - when you are not in school and find a book sale.
Anyway, back to the epic trip. My in-laws and my parents are coming for a visit. Their visits overlap about 5 days and we are planning to hit the South Island (all 9 of us) during that overlap. My husband wants to stay in some wee town - Twizel (?) that he found when he was there for work. We will probably drive to Christchurch the first day and then on down. I like the sound of the place you went with the odd boulders... I am dying just imagining all of us in a massive rental van tooling around. Hopefully nobody commits murder.
On the bright side, both sets of parents get a long remarkably well as long as they stay away from politics. They are so far apart on the spectrum, they almost meet. LOL

Well, lookie here!! A birthday and an A since my last visit??? I should go away more often! We had NOT a doubt in the world you would continue to knock it out of the park, Megan!

We are all so proud of you! What other student has a world-wide cheerleading squad in her corner?!? You are the best! Whoop whoop! :)

Happy belated birthday!

>198 lkernagh: why thank you, please I am too on most counts.

>199 BekkaJo: oooh, thanks. I shalll copy that down and consider it a memorandum :)

>200 nittnut: epic trip indeed! 9 people in one vehicle......interesting option for a holiday ;)
The place I went to with the odd boulders was Moeraki. It is 3-4 hours drive south from Christchurch. Coastal, quaint, rural and with an award winning restaurant too. Google may help you with places to stay....bookabach or holidayhomes websites too. Twizel is inland, and close to stunning high country scenery. If you go a little further and have the $$$, Lake Ohau Lodge is awesome. It is by Lake Ohau, off the beaten track by just a smidge, and lovely. PaulCranswick would say don't go past Tekapo, which is not far north of Twizel. There are many holiday homes there to rent, as well as motels.
I am sure you will have a great trip, and you don't need that many days to have fun in the South Island.
Depending on how much time you want to spend in the car....you might even have time for a West Coast section. But I reckon with 5 days, you might be better sticking to the East and middle sections. Kaikoura is a noce coastal stop on the way south to Christchurch if you wanted to break that part of the journey.

>201 TinaV95: hi Tina! Thanks for your faith in me. My current report is so so so slow in coming to fruition. I am running low in faith in myself! But, I will slog on.

And then happy birthday

Book haul!!


The Summer Before the Dark, Stoner, The Bean Trees, Never Let me Go, Sabbath's Theater, Blood Meridian, and Ransom. All $2, all in great condition. I am particularly happy with Stoner, by John Williams as I have wanted to read that for ages.

BOOK 47
The Library Book- essays on libraries and books

It sounds like around the time of this books publication that libraries in the UK were being threatened with closure. These essays are from authors, writers, musicians, commentators, actors and the like, on the value that libraries hold for them. It is rather political in nature, and makes a great case for holding on to provincial and smaller libraries that have been the lifeline for so many.

>202 LovingLit: Thanks!

^ you're welcome ! And.....hmph...no comment on my awesome book haul? A tiny part of me feels you don't care, about my book haul. (did I mention a book haul?) ;)

Love the book haul and super love the price!

^ thank you Lori.
That was more what I was after ;) I am drooling over them right now, they are so pretty.

Liking this list, as seen on AuntieClio's thread.

Greed
1. What is your most expensive book?
Visible Music at $125 (over ten years ago which makes it $1025 in today's money)

Wrath
2. What author do you have a love/hate relationship with?
Michael Chabon (I have tried, but I think I am more swaying towards hate these days)

Gluttony
3. What book have you devoured over and over again with no shame?
I rarely re-read, but of those I have the best contender for a re-re-read is My Name is Asher Lev.

Sloth
4. Which book have you neglected reading due to laziness?
War and Peace. Omg, so long.

Pride
5. What book do you most talk about in order to sound like an intellectual reader?
Any existentialist literature will do....Albert Camus The Outsider, Kafka (The Trial), Dostoevsky....but I have found no audience receptive to such talk. Yet.

Lust
6. What attributes do you find attractive in a male or female character?
Depth. Deep deep depth.

Envy
7. What book would you most like to receive as a gift?
Some big beautiful thing that I would be too frugal to consider buying myself!

>207 LovingLit: I am ashamed. I did notice. I even went so far as to think about which ones I had read and which ones I haven't... and didn't say a word. Sigh. I will do better next time. :P

Love the meme.

Love the meme, too. And great book haul! I read Never Let Me Go a few winters ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it may have been one of those novels that people either really enjoyed or really didn't?

Goodness, I've really fallen behind here. Do you mean to tell me I wished you a Happy Birthday on the wrong day if I did so on FB? Oh dear. I meant well, I did.

I have a hate/hate relationship with Michael Chabon, and that, after reading only one of his books. I just felt like he was a pompous ass, and that, I just can't forgive an author. But Mark sent me another of his books, which we traded via BookMooch, so I'll have to give him another chance eventually.

There are less than half-dozen books I've reread at least 3 times, among them Alice in Wonderland, The Handmaid's Tale, Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre and Nana by Émile Zola. I think I'd reread those again eventually too. Several of the books I've already read a couple of times I definitely intend to read again, and more than once, like The Grapes of Wrath, Animal Farm, The Old Man and the Sea, the Austen novels, to name just those. Among those I've read just once so far, James Joyce's Dubliners is one I hope to return to often. Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy too. The Great Gatsby is probably one I'll return to several times in my lifetime. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Wolf, has become a great favourite. I just may return to some of the Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey crime mysteries for comfort reading, as they're so well written and so clever. All of those are classics, but there are a few contemporary novels as well, just not as many. I just find there aren't as many that have lasting power, but that's a personal opinion of course.

Of course there are so many books out there to discover, but I don't see rereading old favourites as time lost or wasted because for one thing, it's like spending time with an old friend, which can never be time wasted, and for another, one can never fail to discover things one has missed on previous readings. But of course, that's my opinion and I respect you all the same if you do not share it.

Megan, I'm sooooo behind on your thread.

Finally delurking to comment that I love your meme and I'm going to steal it for my thread. :-)

I'm hoping things will calm down a little for me to enjoy some LT time this weekend and next week ...before I jump into the deep end of crazy work obligations again.

Ooh, enjoy Stoner, I read it a month or two ago and found it definitely interesting reading. And I've also got My Name is Asher Lev on my multiple re-reads list :) Have to say it's definitely beaten by Spike Milligan's Hitler: My part in his downfall though.

#204 Loving the book haul. I think the Lessing has a matching cover to my version of Diary of Jane Somers - they are just pretty and understated. I'm another who loved Never Let me Go - though it did make me cry.

Book, haul, kiddo pics, good meme and great grades at school. You are truly sliding into spring on a high note. Keep it up Megan dear :)

Love the book haul!! I noticed that a lot of the covers are sunny, yellow/orange joyous colors, too! (Do I get bonus points for that??)

Put me in the camp of really liking Never Let Me Go. It may have been that and one or two others that firmly pushed me toward dystopian books.

And yes, I'm going to steal that meme too!

>203 AuntieClio: hi Stephanie! Almost forgot to respond to you in amongst my keenness to get to your meme. thanks for that btw.

>211 nittnut: aaah, that's better.
I didn't mean to scold you, lol. I am glad you took in my haul, and that you stopped by to say hi even if you didn't gush over the haul demonstratively. ;)
Sheesh, look at me all antsy about my haul!

>212 lit_chick: Hi Nancy- the film version of Never let me Go was on telly the other day and I deliberately avoided it. I am looking forward to the read. I don't generally do fantasy books, but alternative future/dystopian I am interested in for sure.
I can imagine some pretty dire future scenarios myself!

>213 Smiler69: I remember you talking about Chabon before. I think I am over the 'love' part of my love/hate relationship with him now actually. But I couldn't think of any other authors who I really really tried to like :)
I don't see re-reading as a waste of time either. I am just desperately trying to read all the books I see that are new (to me). I see a future in which I re read lots.

>214 cameling: do crazy work obligations involve a trip to NZ? *hoping*
The meme is cool huh!? I grabbed it from Stephanie, who I think grabbed it from RD.

>215 evilmoose: My dad loves Spike Milligan, I will have to ask him if he has read your re-re-re-read fave of his.
I have started Stoner, and I can't stop reading it. It is heading for a firm 5 stars from me. And I have only rated one book this year with 5 stars....out of 46 (or thereabouts). It's not that it's depressing that I like it, it is the real life aspects of it. There must be millions of people out there just existing- it fascinates me.

>216 BekkaJo: I really loved the Doris Lessing cover. Design. It gets me every time :) Plus. I really liked her book the Fifth Child. It was spooky in a real kind of way, the disconnect she felt with her son reminded me of We Need to Talk About Kevin.

>217 mckait: thanks Kath! I am barley about the threads these days but I am glad I am not forgotten yet. Thanks!

>218 Chatterbox: you do get points for noting the yellowed theme of my latest covers :) I noticed it too.
I say I love dystopian literature too, but other than The Road and Handmaid's Tale, I can't say how may others I have read! I love the idea of it though and mean to read more.

Hi Megan - nice book haul!! I loved The Bean Trees and hope you do too. Haven't read Never let me go but one day...

I think it was reading The Handmaid's Tale when it first came out that first ignited my interest. This was at a time when Phyllis Schafly was campaigning against the ERA in the United States -- before your time! -- and I couldn't help but wonder what would happen to HER life if she got her way and was confined to a domestic sphere. And lo and behold, along came Atwood's novel to address my question...

Cushla: I hadn't actually heard of The Bean Trees til I saw it! But I liked her others I have read: Prodigal Summer, Small Wonder and the more obvious Poisonwood Bible.

Suzanne: Phillis Schafly? *google* :)
I suppose with my topic of study lately, I am thinking more about how the world might turn out if we keep going as we are....so far it's looking more DYS than U.
Mum says she read Handmaid's Tale at the time it was published, and that it freaked her out.

Hi Megan! Just popping in for a quick hello. That is a GREAT book haul! I LOVED the McCarthy, Ishiguro & the kingsolver. Fantastic choices! And for a knockout price.
Hope you had a good weekend.

>222 LovingLit: Yup, I suppose I am closer to your mother's age than yours, and remember the days when apocalyptic threats like global warming seemed a bit more distant than they do now. yes, there was nuclear war -- but not the kind of terrorism/anarchic world that we seem to be existing in now. And I would imagine that someone looking at the US today and reading Handmaid's Tale could STILL find a lot to worry about, given that the religious right has only gained ground & support. Oh dear, I'm rambling...

Mark: you like my style huh? I remember you loving the McCarthy. You know he is one of my faves, and that I like to savour the ones I think I am going to like. So they can tend to sit on the shelves for a while.
Currently *ick alert to the faint hearted* I am listening to Wilbur talking Lenny through a toileting experience...am hearing encouraging things like "now just go like this *exerting pushing noise*". Haha!!! Poor Lenny has a phobia of #2's on the loo....I am trying to remain un-phased about it!

Suzanne: well, my mum is 67, and I am 39. You can figure out who you are closest to in age ;)
The religious right has no ground here, thank goodness. There is no group as irrational I think, even if they are able to rationalise everything. No wonder it's confusing!
I guess no one could have predicted the incidences of seemingly individual acts of terrorism about the place these days. Or that the internet might connect them all, in a sense.

Loved Never let me go ... but test to read Stoner is on a very long list ....

^ last night I stayed up (after 90 minutes of uni reading) and read Stoner until 11pm. Now I am tired, but at the time it was all I could do to tear it out of my hands and drop off top sleep. We are talking a safe 5 stars from me, I can see it now :)

BOOK HAUL


The Temptation of Jack Orkney by Doris Lessing (matching book design to one in last haul), The History of Love By Nicole Krauss (I recall Cee raving about this one), and The Good Parents by Joan London (cos I met her when she worked in the book shop in Fremantle, and I liked Gilgamesh) $2 each!

What a great day we have had today too. A trip to the dirt bike track where W and L tore about BMXing on their wee bikes while I encouraged them from the side lines and read a little too :), then op-shopping (where I got my books and W got a paint set), then an hour at the library where W painted (!!) and L chatted to all and sundry, then a quick fruit and vege shop stop, and now home for fried rice for tea and the digestion of Stoner which I just finished and can label the best book I have read this year. Oh boy, what a book.

#95 - Thanks for reminding me of Wiesel's Memoirs - I've read his Night-Dawn-Day trilogy which is very good - another one to the TBR.

#149 - Agree with your thoughts on Herzog - many passages that I loved - Bellow is such a good writer - but it drags on for too long. I got tired of it.

Hi Megan! I'm caught up -- with this thread, anyway. Love your thread topper, and the books you are "currently sort of reading" LOL -- I'm right there with you.

I'm so glad you loved Stoner I read it several years ago and loved it also.

Hope you're having a good week! You are sleeping, aren't you? It's so hard to do it all when you're in school. I admire you (and am grateful those days are behind me).

Carsten: hi there, so nice to see you here. I have not been able to find the Dawn and Day parts of the trilogy of Weisel's. But I aim to one day, in spite of his memoir potentially covering the same parts of his life.

Anne: hi to you too! You know, I was just thinking the other day how well I had been sleeping and how much easier it is with life. And I know you know that by sleeping I mean that my kids are :) It occurred to me that I never talk about sleep unless I am lacking it, like health I guess.
I am really struggling with my latest project though. Even though I am nearly finished the writing part, it has been so slow and strained, and I still am not sure I am telling the right story in it. I may have tackled a 'too big' topic without considering which aspects of it were more important than others. All part of frantic just-get-started-and-it-will-all-work-out method!!

Hello Megan, just making my way slowly around the threads and have to see that you started studying Abnormal Psychology whilst I was away, and what I can see so far you are enjoying it. I saw in one of your posts that you worked in mental health before, in what capacity if I may ask? and was that the reason for you to choose this subject?
Looking at this I think you might would enjoy The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer which I read earlier this year and which I can truly recommend, especially for anyone with an interest in mental health issues.

I see that you still managed a very varied and interesting reading. Stoner by John Williams, Herzog by Saul Bellow, Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki by Haruki Murakami are still on my TBR pile.

However, I read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, Never Let Me Go by Kazuro Ishiguro and American Gods by Neil Gaiman which I all enjoyed very much. Also I could see that you didn't like American Gods.

Sabbath's Theatre by Philip Roth is on my slow reading pile.

I wish you good luck with your papers and no doubt you will stay an "A" student *smile*

Wow, you had a great day yesterday, Megan! Love your book haul. I'm looking forward to a little book splurge time tomorrow because I'm meeting some friends for drinks after work, and the place they've picked is just next to a large bookstore. :-)

>232 drachenbraut23: hi there!
Thanks for visiting little old me, even though I don't get about the threads much these days.
I am not actually studying abnormal psychology....I'm doing a psychology course as part of my social sciences post-grad diploma, and I am concentrating on Critical Psychology as part of that. It is an approach within psychology that I had never heard of and it is fascinating. My previous role in mental health was as an employment advocate/consultant for people with mental health issues. It's not really related to my course of study other than it was something I did not so much for the money as for the experience.

>233 cameling: I did have a great day yesterday, today I am paying for it. Ratty kids have got me wound up tighter than a two-bob watch! (love that saying). But, we are about to go to a play date at a friends place who has a fort and a huge trampoline so that could help...plus....I am wearing my new vintage $2 skirt so feel all swish ;)

I think I'm closer to your age by a year, but I probably have more friends in your mother's age group than in yours (ie late 50s/early 60s).

I can't believe I've never read any Saul Bellow or Roth, or... too many others. Sigh.

^ hehe. We are all ageless on LT anyway! For all you know I could be an elaborately constructed 12 year old. Yikes, don't get me thinking about the potential for that....
There are too many others I ahve not read also. I feel impatient about all I have to read still. *trying to enjoy the journey* (and feel I am succeeding I must add)
eta: if only I could spell..

Hi Megan! Congrats on another nice book haul. You sure can sniff out a good deal. LOL. I LOVED The History of Love. It is a jaw-dropper!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Hi Mark- I love a good bargain (like my recent $2 bottle-green vintage skirt and $5 polka dot tunic dress). And books....well, why wouldn't you!? ;)
The History of Love was not living up to Stoner so I took a day off to ruminate on the latter, and now that i have laid my best book of the year to rest I can concentrate on Krauss's one. It's a bit like that after a fantastic book I find.

Yesterday I spent a lucky day working on my presentation - a birthday present from the lovely other who took a day off work for me to study- and I got it done! It actually took the whole day to produce the powerpoint presentation and content, so I will practice it this weekend, in the evenings.

Good luck on your presentation and I am so glad you had fun in your swishy vintage bargain skirt! ; ) Enjoy the weekend.

^ I know you were thinking, I wonder what the swish vintage skirt looks like, right? well, this is what is looks like :)

Loving it!! Can you be my personal shopper? I don't like to shop and as a result never bargain hunt. ; )

I bargain hunt, but only opportunistically :)
I actually dislike 'shopping', which is why I stop if I spot something, then it can't be counted as an activity.

I love it, too! I'm with Kim on needing a personal shopper.

I am a believer in picking up something lite or completely different, ometimes a day or 2 off reading blogs or other stuff, when I have just had that "wow" book experience .....

I love when people experience 5-star reads! Stoner is on my wishlist, but I haven't picked up a copy yet. Also, I collect the NYRB Classics books and I want to make sure I get that version of it.

I know I loved Herzog when I read it many years ago, but it would be interesting to do a reread now to see how it holds up for me. It just doesn't make sense that I'd like it, due to my extreme aversion to the self-absorbed, male, mid-life crisis novel.

>240 LovingLit: - I like the skirt too! Nice find.

>242 LovingLit: Okay then...I can "shop" with you! Well-dressed opportunistic book lover. Perfect.

Catching up here, Megan…looks like I missed your birthday…congrats on your 'sophisticated' A paper…two good book hauls (Stoner and The History of Love are favorites of mine…loved seeing Wilbur in his karate garb…

My favorite line has to do with being ageless on LT. Yes!!! I am older than most of the people here but we can talk books and be friends. I love it!

>234 LovingLit: He he, I am a really bad shopper really. I think I may have told this story before, but I got a voucher once that had to be spent in a mall, and I went there- to redeem it. The whole experience was weird for me as I wasn't as conditioned then as I am now to life in a mall. My mum was laughing at me for being so creeped out by the otherworldliness and false nature of it. So I got my things and left. :)

>244 roundballnz: It can take a while to 'get over' a 5 star read.

>245 DorsVenabili: I have not seen or heard of the NYBR Classic editions. I suppose they are not common here. I happen to have bought the only stink cover of the book I have seen (stink=not good). The cover I actually own isn't on LT so I chose the one I liked best to illustrate my haul :)

>246 Berly: well, when you put it like that.... I do sound alright!

>247 Donna828: The History of Love is grabbing me now. I am enchanted by it. I feel lucky to read two such great books back to back.
Thanks for catching up on me....Wilbur is back at school today after 2 weeks off. We have done lots of cool stuff, but I am glad to have the term start back as we have had fractious relations with the siblings around here. Sheesh. It has been enough to turn my hair grey.

BOOK HAUL

77. The Selfish Capitalist by Oliver James $2
78. The Prodigy by Herman Hesse $1
79. Exit Ghost by Philip Roth $1.50

At a huge book barn on the way to Ashburton (nearly an hours drive south of here). We took the kids to a train park there, had and picnic and a lovely day out.

Lucky you! I want a huge book barn to visit...pouts a little!

^ I have really been buying up this month, Mark. Being an opportunistic shopper it just works out that way sometimes.
Tomorrow I have my big half hour presentation and I finally feel comfortable with what I am presenting. How is it that I feel completely anxious and out of my depth right up to the time that I feel prepared? ;)

Good luck tomorrow, not that you need it. : )

Going back to another book haul, I've yet to read another Doris Lessing book beyond On Cats, though I must say that one affected me quite a lot as a cat lover and it's on my reread list. I started reading The Golden Notebook once, gave up on it after a hundred pages or so as wasn't in the mood, and since got in on audio narrated by one of my absolute favourite readers, so it's just a question of time before I get back to her. Herman Hesse: I read Siddharta once (or was it twice?) which I loved and Steppenwolf which was... interesting and then decided I'd read enough by him. He's an author I would have enjoyed exploring a lot more of when I was younger and had a more philosophical bend. Lovely vintage skirt in >240 LovingLit:. Hope your presentation went well, though somehow I'm not too worried for you.

Kim: thanks! I do need it, my hands are shaking....I have just done my final re-re-re-read of the presentation and am killing 15 minutes before heading in to the lion's den ;) I will be fine once I get started. And thank goodness I am up first thanks to the convenience of having a surname at the beginning of the alphabet. I will report back in due course!

Ilana: the Herman Hesse one looked very interesting, it is about an intelligent child whose passion for leaning is ruined by over arching parents and educators. I liked the sound of it. I remember really liking Siddhartha however long ago I read it.
Doris Lessing-wise. I loved The Fifth Child but remember it more for the story than the writing, so that makes me wonder if I will actually like other things she has written. The follow up to The Fifth Child was not as exciting to me. But, I will give her another go, and the snazzy covers help :)
I just said to Kim (^) that I am about to go in to do the presentation....*fingers crossed*

>240 LovingLit: - I love that outfit! I am a vintage gal - completely born in the wrong era - so always happy to see others 'working' the vintage look, and so well too, I might add!

>255 lkernagh: The shop I bought my skirt from is called Anissa Victoria Loves Vintage. It is a second hand store run by 'Anissa', who clearly loves vintage ;)
She is always decked out in lovely old dresses and red lipstick. So much more satisfying than purchasing from some disinterested waif on minimum wage at a chain store.

Presentation report:
I did well! I was on time- exactly! I felt goo (ETA good is spelled with a D...I know that now), although maybe I spoke a little too fast...I hope not. But I felt like I knew my topic well and that I stuck to the question which others maybe didn't so much...
PHEW. Now, for the report. I am 2800 words done out of 3500. Then that is it for the year! Yikes.

Book hauls galore! Cool to find books that match. I find the best books in op shops. I also find the coolest things to remake into clothes for my kids. My daughter and I have been making her a bunch of summer skirts from ladies' t-shirts. She loves them, and she can pretty much make them herself. Love your vintage skirt. :)

Funny mall shopping story. I am a fairly indifferent clothes shopper. I don't enjoy it, I don't usually like the available options, so I generally have identified the thing I want and where I'm getting it, and I go, I get and I'm done. Well, I went into Farmers to buy a jean skirt because it was basically fine and it was on sale. At the register, the lady was trying to get me to sign up for the loyalty card, because "If you spend $2000 in one year, you get like 20% back." I stared at her in stupefied amazement as I tried to guess how much money I had spent total on clothes for my entire family since January, and didn't quite come up to $300. Including the skirt I was trying to buy. Then I tried to imagine spending $2000 in Farmers just on clothes and I couldn't wrap my head around it. That all took just long enough to be awkward, then I just said "no thanks," paid for my skirt and left.

^ I love LT, I feel so much less of a freak here :)
I reject shopping out of habit and I am sure I get raised eyebrows when I mention things like how little I spend on clothes, or that "look at my outfit- every single thing is second hand!", or that I hate malls. (let alone how much I have read recently).
I am sure the Farmers lady would regularly come across people who spend $2000 a year there. My SiL would spend that on one designer lampshade! It is pointless trying to explain yourself, like you said...just smile and move on :)

I much rather spend $$$ on experiences & books ..... sorry I will go to extremes to avoid stepping into a mall

>258 LovingLit: I know!

>259 roundballnz: I know!

Where we used to live, in the US, was a very upwardly mobile, wealthy sort of type A personality community. We had been in our house about 3 months and had finished decorating the lounge. My husband built a huge dramatic shelving unit/cornice box for floor to ceiling drapes, which I made, we made wooden boxes and upholstered them for end tables, we bought the sofas in the back room of the furniture store and we bought lamps at Salvation Army and spray painted them to match. One of my neighbors came over and oohed and ahhhed and said "I love your decor. Is it custom?" Another opportunity to just smile and say Absolutely! Very, very custom. :)

What normal person spends $2k on clothes in a year?? Even if I did have that amount of expendable income to spend, I can think of far far better uses for it!

Clothes shopping (*shudders*). In a mall (*vomits a little in her mouth*). I, in fact, wore an outfit yesterday to my substitute teaching gig that was made up entirely (well, except the socks and shoes) of thrift store and garage sale purchases. That's the only kind of shopping I enjoy.

Also, I'm enjoying reading about your class experiences, although a little exhausted by it, too. Cheering you on from afar!

Malls are only good because everything is there and I can check things off my list FAST! I know what I want, I go yet it, and OUT! I knew I liked you guys. : )

>256 LovingLit: Congrats on a great presentation!!

posts #259-263
:)
I feel so supported.
*happy face*

I know a lot of people who would buy second hand clothes, and who love a bargain, but precious few who aim to do it as the norm and for reasons of disliking the upwardly mobile (ie: show off/ keeping up with the Joneses- whoever the heck they> are!) aspects of it, and with the aim of reducing your environmental footprint. My dislike of malls comes from those aspects of consumerism, I guess.

The birthday money I got for shoes after all my foot operations was to not be spent on second hand shoes, I was told by the SiL.....so now I have a pair of $180 new shoes. Have worn them three times in 13 months, so they are officially out of fashion now, but I still like them and will wear them for the next ten years if I can. Even if I do feel bad about their cost each time I look at them!

I have to admit that footwear is the one thing that I will always invest dollars in. As you have mentioned, you will probably continue to wear these shoes ten years from now, which really makes them quite inexpensive when you think about it. *says the woman with three under the bed storage containers full of shoes she continues to wear on a regular, albeit rotation basis*

^hehe, well now, I rarely buy second hand shoes. It was more that my SiL stipulated that my money (from her, my brother, my sister and my dad) must be used for brand new shoes.

Oh, I agree about shoes - they're on the list of the few things that I would never buy used (along with socks and underpants). Shoes conform to the original owner's foot - not yours - so used shoes are just not very good for you, I think. That doesn't mean that I like shelling out the cash for them, though.

^ Yes to all the above regarding shoes (and knickers). Some things should truly just be our own. I might spend a goodly portion of the not shopping at the mall savings on shoes. Sometimes. :) I justify it by wearing them for ages. Most shoes can be stylish for years, even if the fashionistas say they are dated. The thing about shoes is that (except when you're pregnant) they always fit. Fat day? Skinny day? In between? The shoes always fit.

Hi Megan, glad to hear you did well on your presentation. I knew you would. :-)

Hurrah for mall hatred, reducing of footprints and wastefulness, and the lovers of all things 2nd hand! (Except knickers). Books and bicycles are where it's at, and even then you can often get what you need 2nd-hand :)

Shoes can be fashionable for years, Docs are still fashionable & always will be ! can't go wrong just think about the long game when handing the card over :)

Yep. Plus, who really looks at the shoes people are wearing, anyway? Seriously, think about it: how often do you make a point of looking at the shoes people are wearing? So there you go - go for comfort and wear them forever. Ha! (I've had the dame pair of Docs for 17 years now...)

Plus, who really looks at the shoes people are wearing, anyway?

I often do, to be honest. When I attended the AAP conference in San Diego this week I met Jenny, a close friend of a dear friend of mine. She wore lime green clogs on Saturday, the first day that I met her. As another friend and I left the convention center to have lunch on Monday I saw a woman crouched over, talking on her cell phone. I couldn't see her face, but I did notice those clogs, so I tapped her on the shoulder and said hello to her, as I invited her to join us for lunch. We had a good laugh about it next day when I told Jenny that I recognized her by her shoes (which she wore that day as well).

I've been lurking and just sort of reading along with interest. I hate malls too, but I also don't have the patience to shop for second-hand clothes, so I basically mail-order my clothes which is now called online shopping, and take advantage of the sales. Not great as far as carbon footprint and all that, but I do my bit in other ways. I went through a very long phase that lasted at least a couple of decades of not being able to tolerate touching things other people had worn or handled, like clothes or books, but I think I'm more or less over it now, but it took me a long time to be able to enjoy the library services!

Plus, who really looks at the shoes people are wearing, anyway?

More people than you would think. While I know that comfortable, durable shoes are the norm where I live, what you wear in an office environment can be be very different from causal, non-office wear, depending upon the office. It is very noticeable when someone wears footwear that doesn't fit the office environment, which is why I wear one pair of shoes/boots walking to and from work and then change into my office shoes for my work day. The plus side to this is that I only wear my office shoes indoors, so the wear and tear on my pricy foot gear is minimized.

Besides, wasn't there a huge outcry a few years back when some U.S. women's sports team met and posed for a picture with the President of the United States while a number of the athletes were wearing 'flip flops' - those cheap beach sandal things that have no arch support, etc and have no appropriate use beyond casual wear?

>272 scaifea:, >273 kidzdoc:, >275 lkernagh: Ooh. I look at shoes. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. I don't like shoes as much as I like books, but I like shoes. So, on the bus or train, at work or in the library, I will look at what you are reading, then I will look at your shoes. LOL.

Another shoe geek here! Always notice people's shoes, for better or for worse, LOL. eta: perhaps shoe observer is a better term?

Woo hoo! Shoe controversy. :)
I reckon at a pub/club or fairly dense party you could almost get away with wearing no shoes for all that people look at them. If you are in a group of people talking, generally you are looking at their faces, and not down. But as soon as you get some space, you can do the full 'look' and that is when shoes are more visible. I like to think the former scenario is at least possible, seeing as I wore my cherry docs to both my graduation ceremony and then the ball soon after (not to mention tramping soon after that). Talk about versatile!

>267 scaifea: I bought a cool pair of old man shoes once, I loved them. But of course, my huge old clod-hoppers burst out of them.

>268 nittnut: re: shoes always fitting....I can say that is true for me now that I have had 2x bunion-ectomies!!! In the not so distant past I was able to freak shoe shop assistants out by stating in full truthfulness that my feet are (were) the exact dimension of a brick and *smiles* did they have anything that might ft? Now, however, my version 2.0 feet are more normal and there is the possibility that a shoe might fit me. Plus, the real bonus, they don't hurt anymore *yay*

>269 AuntieClio: thanks Stephanie! I am never sure how I did, and although was happy at the end of it, I still wasn't convinced i had done all I had needed to. And today I got the results back, and I am pleased to report that I got very favourable feedback and an A!!

>270 evilmoose: 2nd hand bikes are so great! I have had a few crackers, and for a fraction of the normal price. My best was a $15 old fashioned bike- all the rage now- but mine got stolen when I lent it to a friend. I was gutted.

>271 roundballnz: Alex, see my Doc's story in post here at the top of this post! I loved them a long time ago but went off them because of all the laces, when I had a dodgy hip it was a hassle and a half reaching down that far to lace them up.

>272 scaifea: aaah, the creator of controversy! hehe, I addressed the issus of "who looks at shoes anyway" in the above post, but yea, I know what you are saying. And I hope what you say is true seeing as I have never had fancy shoes really (on account of my clod-hopper feet making dainty shoes an impossibility)

>273 kidzdoc: I like the sound of green clogs, well, clogs anyway. I love slip on shoes and have stolen my lovely other's gardening crocs as day time slippers about the house- so light and easy to get into fast when trying to chase little ones about the place.

>274 Smiler69: my lovely other does not abide by other people's clothing. I gave up bringing home op shop bargains for him a while ago now. It was fruitless :)
That is a shame you 'had a thing' about other peoples things. It severely limits your access to the 2nd hand market ;) Does/did your library have crappy old books in it? That can't have helped..I avoid them at our libraries, and we are lucky to have a heap of new and well looked after books at ours.

>275 lkernagh: that is a great idea- do you leave your office shoes at work then? That would really save on wear and tear. I feel pretty happy if I can get more than a year out of shoes, but the ones I wear every day (black street sneakers) only usually last 4 months or so- they do get 14 hour days though and not much time off!

>276 nittnut: I always tried to avoid looking at shoes on account of my affliction (see brick-sized feet comment above). I was wary of liking something that was pretty much unavailable to me ;) But now....I am more inclined to glance! Like you, I will always look at what book is being read first though!!

>277 lit_chick: Shoe observer!? OK. You can call it what you want, but you are a shoe fetishist...admit it??! Hehe. I have notices at university there are a lot of gumboots!!!! That was not the case at my last university and I wondered if things had changed....but it turns out that my uni being a land based (farming focussed) one, a lot of the students are off a farm based lesson, or field work or something (I guess). So I guess I notice them too.

*newsflash*

(in case it wasn't noticed in the post above)

Presentation results are it. I got an A.

*happy dance*

Of course you did. :)

WooHoo on the A!! Congrats!!

Also, I should clarify (clearly!) my 'who looks at shoes?' statement - I still believe that *most* people don't bother to notice shoes, so long as said shoes are fairly excepted/'appropriate' footwear for the occasion. Yes, if you wear lime green clogs, people are gonna notice. Ha! So, my point is that, so long as you're not gagging for attention, shoe-wise (again, lime green clogs, I mean, really?), then you needn't spend a fortune to get the super-trendy, in-style-right-now style. You can go for inexpensive and comfortable and no one will really care.

Yah, for an A!!!!!!!! Impressive, as usual. Have a good weekend and I hope you can find that Murakami.

>279 LovingLit: - I usually have three pairs of office or dress shoes stashed at work but I tend to rotate them out and bring in other shoes from home, depending upon what the outfit of the day will be. ;-)

YAY for A!

*joins in happy dance*

Well done you! You are storming through this course!

Congratulations, Megan!

>281 nittnut: you sound like you knew that was going to happen ;)
(I wasn't so sure) I need to get a grip and have more confidence in myself.

>282 scaifea: hi Amber, thank you! My fingernails are barely there from the anxiety of writing and presenting to a deadline. I am clearly not made of the tough stuff.

>283 msf59: Thanks Mark!! I only go on so much about my As here seeing as I can hardly believe it is me getting them.
And this morning I found my book that I had been reading but couldn't find (The History of Love). Which was why I was wandering the house looking for 'a book' to sub in. It went AWOL for 48 hours!!!! I found it under my pillow this morning at 5:55am, when Lenny graced us with his presence. So I will be book-horning something in.....

>284 lkernagh: You clearly have a work/shoe plan sorted out.
I often think about work shoes, and being prepared at work. When our big earthquake hit in 2011 there was footage of a lot of high-heeled women walking about the rubble, (well, maybe even the stockinged feet that had previously had high heels on them) and I thought to myself how pleased I was that (a) I wasn't in the CBD, and (b) that I had 'sensible' shoes on. The teachers at the pre school Wilbur attended at the time said that late in the day a lot of mums turned up who had walked from the CBD (10km or so), some in bare feet. I still think about that. I still have a mini torch and a muesli bar in my handbag for just in case!

>285 BekkaJo: thanks Bekka! It is all over at the end of next week, when the final report is due. Then I will be off til March, which seems just crazy. I wanted to fit in a summer course, but with school out for all of January, I would never have been able to fit in the two classes a week the only course I was keen on has.

>286 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl! I could have gone to the university garden party yesterday to celebrate the end of lectures, but (of course) I was using the time to work on my final report. Truth is that Lenny was only at kindergarten til 11:30am, so I wouldn't have had much time for much frivolity anyway :)
And, you know me. I loved sitting in the library with my coffee, reading. The bright green of the new Spring growth on the trees outside was radiating into the seated area at the library, and the couches are the same colour, so with the sun as well it was quite an incredible scene. I wish I had had a (working) camera to capture it.

Congratulations on the A!!

I always leave shoes near the bed since you told me to in case there's an earthquake. So far I haven't needed them but they will be ready for me.

Hurray on the A!

(it rhymes!)