SO. On Monday we all got a day off for some reason (I don't know, because it's warm and sunny and everyone's bored of working? Last Monday in August, we all just agree not to go to work) and I went to the Zooooooooo with my sister and her boyfriend (third wheel forever) but MOST IMPORTANTLY with the giraffes
Anyway! After the joy of the zoo I worked two full days in a row which was possibly the stupidest thing I've agreed to in recent times, especially when it meant working for 10 hours on Wednesday (10 hours of listening to people say crap is not so pleasant. I sort of still haven't recovered, actually!) but it was all fine on Thursday because I saw my lovely friend Becci for the first time since her return from a month long holiday going across the USA (of COURSE I was totally jealous, you know me. But the pictures were AWESOME) and that was preeeetty cool, even though it meant going to bed super late and then waking up early on Friday for no reason. DAMMIT BRAIN.
And now, BOOKS. Because, as you may have noticed, it's the 1st of September, and around these parts that means only one thing- it's RIP tiiiiiime!
So, of course, I might have gone a tiny bit overboard with making a pile this year. I might even, in fact, have made two piles, possibly...
- Hearts in Atlantis- Stephen King
- The Girl who had and did various things Trilogy- Steig Larsson
- The Stepford Wives- Ira Levin
- Warm Bodies- Isaac Marion
- The Silence of the Lambs- Thomas Harris
- Affinity- Sarah Waters
- Rosemary's Baby- Ira Levin
That are the books I want to read the most, but then The Talented Mr Ripley and Shutter Island were on my pile last year and gaaaah what should I read I don't knoooow. (It's very difficult being me.) But those 9 books (sounds like a lot, but I hear those Larsson books are reaaaaaally readable) are pretty much my priority. Right now...
How about you? Are you doing RIP too? (Say yes.) DID YOU SEE ANY GIRAFFES? I think we all want to know the answers to such questions.
My great-granny always loved giraffes, she said it was for their big beautiful eyes and their long lashes. We once drove past a giraffe in a nature reserve, and she insisted on getting out of the car and having a photo with it.
ReplyDeleteTheir lashes are so so beautiful, even if their faces are kiiind of ridiculous (which I say in a truly loving way!) I think your great granny and I could have gotten on well :)
DeleteGIRAAAAAFFES! Awesomeness. Do you know my FAVOURITE thing about giraffes? That thing where the mummy giraffe looks like it's kissing the baby giraffe on the top of the head. THAT IS MY FAVOURITEST.
ReplyDeleteRead The Stepford Wives please, because I AM READING THAT ONE TOO and we could read it sort-of-together-but-without-the-pressure and that would be awesome. I think I stole a copy of Shutter Island from the shop and hid it deep in the YA box in the office where Mum would never look. Thanks for the reminder! Oooh, I'm excited Laura. I AM EXCITED. I'm getting loads of reading done at the new house now I have no interwebs, so hopefully if I can keep that going I should get through a good few books before the end of October! EEEEK!
ELLIE, I genuinely have a framed postcard of giraffes where that is NEARLY happening! (technically the mummy giraffe is just sort of nuzzling the baby, but still!) So yeah, it's pretty awesome. I just love them so much because they shouldn't even be able to stand up, but they do! And it's awesome!
DeleteI think I'm definitely going to read The Stepford Wives because it's the kind of thing where everyone sort of knows the story but no one has actually read it. But if I have to choose between Levin's, I fear I might have to go for Rosemary's Baby because it was this big Thing in Mad Men last season and I want to reaaaad it and get some Mad Men clues lol! I am SO excited, but I'm also reading like 5 books at the moment that aren't RIP books, and I'm like 'unnnngh, I want to finish you but also I want to read scary shit' and I just don't know what to do!
It's really difficult being me.
Hooooray for giraffes. They are just freaking cool, that's all there is to it. Good luck with RIP!
ReplyDeleteThey are THE coolest animal, I'd say. And thanks! I'm really excited!
DeleteHoooray for the zoo!!!! And the giraffes.
ReplyDeleteAnd hooray for reading Warm Bodies except boo to the Larsson book or at least the first one cos it was AWFUL and I didn't read the others because ugh. (That said, I know I'm in the minority on this but still. Stupid book)
Hooray indeed! The last time I went to the zoo, it was the one in Central Park and that was SO LONG ago, dude! (also they don't even have giraffes)
DeleteAlley! You are basically the first person I've ever seen say they suck! EXPLAIN YOSELF!
I am on team Alley - THEY SUCK. Or at least the first one does because I didn't bother with the other two either!
DeleteI am on both sides of this fight, because they are truly horrible, but also page turners. Which, I guess doesn't make for an even pros and cons list. I didn't finish the first one because eeeaaauuurrrggghhh, but I read a bit of it, and then the other two. Have you seen the movies, Laura? Have you heard much about the story?
DeleteI haven't seen the movies and I don't know *that* much about them, apart from SWEDISH which is kind of enough for me? But also, they involve a lot of raping? I don't know at all how I'm going to feel about them but I want to thank you all for the warning! (Imma try them anyway cause if they suck that is a BIG load of book to get rid of which is definitely a good thing for me.)
DeleteIt was just so bloody boring - like there was maybe 50 pages that I raced through, the rest was a real yawn.
DeleteI definitely didn't think the were boring. And I remember really kind of liking the third one (maybe because it was all tying together. And I think it was a bit less rapey). But yes, lot, lot of raping. Very unpleasant. Neil describes like, you know how there's a splatter sub-genre of horror films? Where things are over the top crazy violent just for the shock factor? These books are the splatter of sexual violence themes in books (which sounds soooo gross. And they are).
DeleteMy main issue was the whole side story with that company Wennerstrom (i think), it felt clunky and unnecessary and then went on way too long at the end. If it had just been the main investigation I think I would have liked it a whole lot more. I also think because I read it after everyone was screaming about how provocative and rapey it was, it didn't actually come close to as bad as I expected.
DeleteOK I'm way late on this after saying how much these books suck (cos they do. they suck so much. Well the first one does) but really, I thought the whole book was so boring. I was expecting the first 100 pages to be boring cos I had been warned but then the next hundred and so on were also boring. I really could have cared less about the whole mystery.
DeleteOh and I was NOT warned about the rapey bits. Rapey bits that were for shock value and didn't actually add anything. Stupid book.
Ooh, ZOO! I *love* a zoo trip but I will forever and always love the tiger. I like the giraffes, don't get me wrong but for me, the tiger is the queen of all the animals because a) beautiful and b) powerful. Love them :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, RIP!! I'm properly looking forward to it! My physical book/eBook list is actually pretty hefty considering I profess to be a certifiable WIMP. Maybe because I always forget how much of a wimp I am when shopping? Who know?! Either way, I too have those Gillian Flynn books awaiting me on Colin. And sooner or later, I'll post my piles (as soon as I stop getting distracted by other posts!) and then you can tell me what to read first because I am CONFUSED!
(Also, The Silence of the Lambs? Are you insane?! No...just no. I bought it once and had to return it because just OWNING IT was too much for me!)
Charlotte! Come down to Lahndon and come to London Zooooo with me! (I've never been, except apparently I have but I was in a buggy and obviously I don't remember that!) ALSO- I think tigers and lions etc are gorgeous BUT they make me super sad because they're the most heavily caged animals. For OBVIOUS reasons, I understand, but it's still like :(
DeleteCOLIN! (Sorry, I got excited about it again. Still need to name my Kindle, help me!) And oh hey, I totally just commented on your post but I couldn't tell you what to read first because there was no Stephen King anywhere, FOR SHAME!
I bought Silence of the Lambs last year, just after the end of RIP so I've been saving it for this! It should be fine, it's all just, like, interviews and stuff, right?
Giraffes are my favourite animal! I even adopted one once when I was younger and they sent me photos of it and everything! Plus, when I went to Colchester Zoo once I saw a baby giraffe that was only a few days old and it was the cutest thing EVER.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting Warm Bodies tonight and have high hopes for it, I am assured that it is awesome!
Sam! That is so awesome. All of it. Especially the baaaaby! My love for giraffes is a totally new thing (I used to be a FREAK about monkeys of all sorts. And, I mean, I still love them, but GIRAFFES you are so weird and yet so magnificent.) but it is DEEP and MEANINGFUL. Or something, I don't know, I just think they're awesome.
DeleteI am assured of the same, so I also have these hopes that are high. EVERYONE BETTER NOT BE WRONG.
Unrelated comment of the day: YOU ARE READING TELL THE WOLVES I'M HOME AND I AM SO JEALOUS OF YOU. I should just buy it, because it is a rereader. Are you very far into it?
ReplyDeleteI'm not very far into it at all, but I LURVE it. I keep leaving it in weird places where I can't find it, and I'm too lazy to go looking for it so I end up reading something else, but I still love it already! (I'm like 60 pages into it). You should deffffinitely buy it (I have it out of the library and I can already tell I'm going to want to read it again.)
DeleteI love your choices! Hearts in Atlantis is high on my TBR King list.
ReplyDeleteI saw your millions of zoo photos on Instagram. All the animals! The giraffe totally looked the coolest. (As a side note, nephew DB went to the zoo recently as well, and not he gets down on all fours, squints his eyes, and roars like a lion. Hilarious, and a bit scary.)
ReplyDeleteI haven't decided if I'm going to join RIP! I want to, but am I really going to read that many mystery/thriller/horror books? Probably not. Although I always tell myself I will... OK maybe I should. I could finally read The Woman in White! And other various classics like Dracula or Frankenstein that I haven't read yet. HMMMM...
I've not (yet) signed up for RIP, but considering how many blogs I've visited saying "I'm not doing it officially but I want to read these books soon" I might as well! I'm loving your book piles. Definitely go for "Affinity" ( I <3 Sarah Waters' writing, and this one is amazing!) and also "Warm Bodies" (SOOOO much better than the film. And I love "Gone Girl" and the other books also look amazing.
ReplyDeleteMy not-RIP RIP-books that I want to get read soon include: "Let the Right One In," and a book called "The Last Werewolf," as well as "Perdido Street Station" and rereads of Sarah Waters' "The Little Stranger" and something by Neil Gaiman because it's been, ooh, at least 2 months and I adore him.