Sunday 4 November 2012

Sunday Sundries: Administrative Information

You guys, I have SO much admin to get through with you this week that I almost don't have time to tell you about my week! But in a teeny nutshell: work, work, work, work, Shakespeare exhibition that deserves its own paragraph and will get it below (Actually, it deserves its own POST, but I'm not going to write it so it never will get written) AND NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo, is, I guess, its own little administrative thing in a 'this is what I'm doing this month!' kind of way, and actually, you can just take this as a little sort of 'I'm maybe not going to read that much this month so I might not be here that much' thing. But don't worry, I'll still find the time to bore you on a Sunday with my LIFE and all.

So let's talk about Shakespeare, yes? There's been this exhibition at The British Museum (which I keep wittily calling The Stuff the British STOLE Museum, but no one as of yet has laughed because they're all disgusting Imperialists. So please tell me you laughed!) called Shakespeare: Staging the World, and although it was completely different to what I'd expected (specifically Shakespearey artefacts, which was kind of stupid of me since hardly any exist) it was also really really interesting. Like... It was about exploring the history of Shakespeare's time, through the backdrop of his plays, and kind of how current events influenced what he wrote about, and how his plays influenced current events. All just very very interesting and awesome, EXCEPT for the fucking 400 YEAR OLD EYE that for some reason they thought it was ok to include! I swear, I nearly threw up, because OH MY GOD THAT WAS SOMEONE'S EYE.

To say it's my one major memory of the whole exhibition would, in fact, be the complete truth. (A FUCKING EYE!)

Anyway... We need to move on from the eye thing, for it is Sunday and you probably have things to do and, well, I don't really but you know, we should move on anyway. Shall we get some admin done? I think we should. Don't worry, it won't be boring, I promise!

First up:
I've been hearing about this Random Reads thing for the last few months, and I think it's an awesome idea because 1) I hardly ever know what to read next, and can always use some help, and 2) I totally have a spreadsheet of all my books because I'm a NERD, but also because it's totally necessary since I have almost no bookshelves but various book locations, and it would be a NIGHTMARE if I didn't know where any of them were. I'd probably just end up reading To Kill A Mockingbird over and over and over again. So anyway, I did all the things I was supposed to, entered my numbers into random.org (click above to see how it works) and it gave me:

Small Island by Andrea Levy! Which I'm pretty excited about, because I remember Frances telling me all about it YEARS ago and it sounding really good, and because I've literally had it for years now. So yes, that, at least, is getting read. (Also, I'm desperately trying to finish The Audacity of Hope so I can review it on Tuesday and be all YAY OBAMA and try and get all you Americans to vote. It's going to be FUN!)

And then, also, remember when I did the RIP Challenge? Well, that's over now (Weep!) but, you know how the biggest challenge was to read 4 perilous books? Well... I sort of read more. Here's a handy little list of all the reviews for you if you want to check them out (you definitely do. Just so you know.)

Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King
The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Burton on Burton
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Which, I might add, is the vast majority of books on this pile, and I think the rest are going to be put away now for next years challenge. Unless I really need to freak myself out, in which case, I'll know where they are!

Since the 'having a book pile' thing worked extremely well for RIP, I've decided to make a new one for things to read from now until the end of the year, and in doing this, to participate for the first time in Jenn's Monthly TBR meme:
And HOPEFULLY this is going to be really useful in getting me to read my damn challenge books and win all the damn challenges, before I never do a challenge ever again because of the PRESSURE. SO anyway, here's the pile I've assembled:
I think it looks doable over 2 months, but then I haven't included the three books I'm already reading, OR anything even remotely Christmassy. So we'll see. I really really want to get that Steve Jobs biography read though, because I've had it out of the library for LITERALLY about 4 months, which isn't good. Oh hey, should I list the books in the pile? I should, huh?! From the top:
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Timbuktu by Paul Auster
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
I like the pile, I'm just not entirely convinced that it's going to happen. But WE SHALL SEE.

And hey, remember this?
A winner of the greatest book (The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, in case anyone has forgotten) has been chosen, and it has been decreed that it is Jenna of Lost Generation Reader! Yay! She will be getting her book at some future time when I can be bothered to schlep my ass (and all other parts) to the Post Office. But anyway, future YAY!

Phew, that really was a lot of admin, huh? They're all things that I just had to get out there, and not in like 4 separate posts, and now it's all done and I won't have to bother you with them intermittently. I think that's better, anyway! I hope you've all had wonderful weeks, and that this coming one is EVEN better. Because I loves you all.

20 comments:

  1. I laughed re: The Stuff the British STOLE Museum :D

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    1. I LOVE YOU GUYS FOR THIS! That is all.

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    2. I've only been to the British Museum once, 4-5 years ago, and the whole thing was spoiled by that depressive feeling that it was all thieved. So yes, you're right.

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  2. THE EYE I kind of want to google the eye because I'm intrigued and disgusted.

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    1. Okay, I Googled it... and eeeeeuw! It's put me right off my sausage roll!

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    2. TELL me about it, Ellie! I really was not expecting it at all. And, ok, I'm going to link to a picture of the eye, and you can look at it or not Frances... make your choice!
      http://www.culture24.org.uk/asset_arena/8/99/29/392998/v0_master.jpg

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    3. I am far too scared to look now! But still want to...
      No.
      Maybe...

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  3. Woooooow, you read so much for R.I.P.! And cool books too, I am very impressed. I had lots of cool books on my own list but wound up reading exactly none of them... I just ended up winging it and trying to shoehorn things in to make up my four! Faaaaail.

    Some very groovy titles on your up-to-Christmas TBR pile too. Crime and Punishment and Birdsong are on Mount TBR, The Psychopath Test is *ready and booked* - I mean, on my wishlist - and I thought Fear and Loathing was well funny. Bonus points if you can read it without getting a sudden craving for alcoholic beverages! I haven't really got anything festive on the book horizon this year, I can't seem to get excited by any of 'em. Maybe I'll get inspired come December! Good luck... :)

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    1. I did read SO much for RIP! But I had all these scary books and I was kiiind of saving them throughout the year so that I could have a big RIP binge! So it was awesome. Scary books ftw!

      None of my books are in any way festive, and this makes me sad! Perhaps I will buy myself A Christmas Carol as a pre-Christmas treat and that can be my Christmassy book. Or I can just watch Elf about 3 times a day to prepare myself. I'm cool with either!

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  4. So true about the British Museum, and there have been lots of requests to return certain items denied.

    I love the idea of Random Reads, might have to try it one day. I absolutely adored Small Island, hope you do as well.

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    1. Stupid British Museum. Stupid British People. Stupid Empire.

      Isn't it awesome?! I've been meaning to do it for months but I kept doing other things, but now MY TIME HAS COME! :) (and I'll probably forget to read it or something. Ha)

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  5. Good luck for the random read and your pile.

    Mine is here – http://wp.me/p21FJY-1gn

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  6. I WANT TO GO TO THAT SHAKESPEARE EXHIBIT! I can come visit yeah? I just need to stumble on a bag of money. Even if I see the eye.

    You read so much for the RIP challenge. That's nuts. And amazing. Given that pile I'm sure you can make it through your next stack. Or you'll get distracted by something else...

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    1. Dude, you can totally come and visit. Just get a plane ticket and I'll take care of your accommodation when you get here! THE EYE IS SO WRONG.

      I did read a lot. But no more than I'd read over two months normally, I just really really wanted to read all the scary all the time for two months! It was pretty awesome. I really hope I can get through that next stack! I pretty much WANT to read them all, which is a good start for anything!

      I will almost definitely get distracted though.

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  7. Ewwww, eyeballs. And HA at the "Stuff the British Stole" part, except that's basically all museums. Well, at least all American and British museums maybe? Damn, I want to go to a museum now, and we don't have a really good one in my city.

    Yay for joining in on the Monthly TBR thing! It's a good motivator, and you get to post pictures of books at least once a month and that's always fun. GOOD LUCK reading that Steve Jobs book, it's huuuuuuge.

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    1. Yeah, white people are really terrible at taking things that don't belong to them... Stupid white people. Also, museums ARE kind of awesome though... *sigh* DILEMMA!

      I'll tell you what, that Steve Jobs book is actually shorter than the Nelson Mandela one, and it has bigger writing. So I'm much more confident about getting through that as opposed to Long Walk To Freedom!

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  8. I received Dracula in the mail! Hooray! Thank you so much! I saw the play last month to set myself up for Halloween, and to the chagrin of my theatre friends, I have never read the darn book! Thanks again for the book :)

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  9. That's a really big pile of books. I hope you get through most of them (if not all of them). Crime and Punishment is one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy it.

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