Devouring Books: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (teehee)

"Humans often assumed symmetry and equality where none existed."

I'm not sure if anyone's aware of this (I may have figured it out all by myself) but Robert Galbraith is the pseudonym of JK Rowling.

I know. This seems like a pretty good move to have made since all any reviews of The Casual Vacancy were able to say were 'Well, it's not as good as Harry Potter' and 'Good God, she uses the word cunt a lot,' but then again, whilst reviews for The Cuckoo's Calling were favourable (and no one said 'OMG cunt.') sales were pretty poor until you know, we all found out JK was the author and everyone wanted a piece of that.

I was no different, and after a thankfully short wait and a mere 50p of cash, I had my copy from the library, and I zipped through it in mere days (about 3 of them? And it's a hefty book!) I haven't read a lot of crime books, and so there's always going to be a specific reason I read them (JK) but whenever I do, I find that I really like them. I like not knowing what's going on, and I like having people explain things to me using things we've discovered together through the story and I just like them like them like them.

The Cuckoo's Calling is no exception. The case concerns the death of Lulu Landry, (alliterative names, love it) the bipolar supermodel who seemed to commit suicide one freezing night by jumping off the balcony of her swish London flat (Spoiler: it wasn't suicide. Obvs.) and the detective chosen to investigate it is Cormoran Strike (what a name!), an ex-army officer who, when we meet him, is technically homeless and kind of a mess (is there any other kind of PI? I think not.) Things progress, clues are gathered, suspects are considered then discounted and it's all just really really good fun.

This is where Daria and I part ways because I actually do like fun.

I probably have two favourite things about this book, and they are these:

• London- The London that JK depicts is probably the best London I've ever read in any book ever (you should probably take into account the fact that I don't read a lot of books set in England when I say this...) and by this I mean that, her descriptions brought up an exact picture of the London I know in my head. I'm really interested to know if this setting is as vivid for someone who has, say, never been to London- I'm guessing the picture wouldn't be exactly as clear, but then when that person visited London it'd be like 'WOAH, it's just like being in a Robert Galbraith novel.' The setting is really great, is what I'm saying.
• Cormoran and Robin- It's not quite Batman and Robin, but the relationship JK sets up between Strike and his assistant is truly one of the best things about The Cuckoo's Calling. It's really interesting because you get to see the relationship from both sides, and the things Strike assumes Robin is thinking about him are not necessarily correct, and vice versa (although sometimes they do overlap almost alarmingly). This relationship is set up so well that I can't help but wonder (hope) whether JK plans to write more Cormoran Strike books because I would support that, big time.

What else can I say? It's JK, so you know what you're getting in terms of readability and awesomeness, and you know you're going to read this if you're a Harry Potter fan* so don't even pretend you're not. Rest assured, though, that when you do, it's definitely not going to be a waste of anyone's time and hopefully you'll have a lot of fun when you're not being all sombre and serious because, oh yeah, it's about a murder. Read on, my pretties.

*i.e. a breathing human

Sunday Sundries: Who even knows..?

I feel like I had SUCH an interesting and awesome topic for my Sunday Sundries post this week (something... Feminism? Or... about body image or something? I GENUINELY DON'T KNOW) but I've forgotten what it was because it has been SO HOT here. And I don't like to complain about it because I'm fully aware that I complained when it was all cold and cloudy all June, but the deal is: It's very hot. And I can't actually function with my brain and stuff, so there.

And that's how the week was! Lots of heat and my brain not functioning and really stupidly deciding to walk to work (I KNOW) and then yesterday I spent a glorious day in the garden reading Gone With The Wind (it was just as I always dreamed it would be!), with a break only to watch a load of 8-11 year olds do A Midsummer Night's Dream (if this doesn't make sense to you, my sister's a teacher. And was like a director or whatever of the play. Also I'm an awesome person). How was it? Well, 8-11 year olds fairly universally cannot act, and they should probably not be entrusted with Shakespeare, but I'm sure their parents are really proud of them and they are proud of themselves which is really all that matters. Also I nearly died because we were in a hall with about 2 windows open, many warm bodies and not a fan in sight. Damn summer.

Aaaaaand apparently I'm crabby now! So that's fun. Anyway, let's sweep the whole week aside and talk about something that happened on the back end of last week, because the Ninja Book Swap reached its glorious culmination, and LOOK! I got stuff!

The extremely lovely and generous Bex was my secret... ninja? and she really, really outdid herself with this package. Like... I just felt like she GOT me with this parcel, you know? There's the Moomin postcard (I feel like I don't talk about Moomins enough here, but they are my favourites and everyone should know it!) the Murakami book (I definitely talk about Murakami TOO much) and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy- which I've never read, and my secret shame about it is HUGE. HUGE. Which Bex clearly knows because I maaay have mentioned it that time we met in London and it was the best day ever. So, nice listening skills Bex!

And then, BEST OF ALL, Harry Potter jewellery!

(My hand looks really weird in this picture, but ignore that, please!) So yeah, I get to wear a Dumbledore quote on me wherever I go and that is basically the best thing EVER. I don't think I even have another piece of bookish jewellery (I KNOW) but this is especially special because come on. HARRY POTTER. Also this is the thoughtfullest and shows that Bex has been paying attention over the past FOREVER (ok, 6 months) and she even added a little note to say that this is to commemorate the end of the HP Readalong and awwwww, she knows how I miss it!

So yes. The Summer Ninja Book Swap was a huge success (from my point of view, anyway!) and whispers on the internet are that it could be an annual thing, so yesssssssssss. Honestly, I'd rather do that than a Secret Santa, really.

Yeah, that was cool. Now I simply must go and stick my head in the freezer. Catch ya on the other side of the heatwave where the weather will once again be unsatisfactory to me. SIGH.

Sunday Sundries: It's back!

I know how much y'all must have missed Sunday Sundries, so I know you'll be excited that it's back. Cue Moomin dance!

There. I think we've all adequately celebrated now.

So. I didn't really have much of an excuse for NOT having done Sunday Sundries, other than week 1 I missed was after the Readathon, and last week I kind of forgot and then I went to the cinema, and just yeah. Life things. You didn't really miss much, BUT here are a few things that happened:

World Book Night! I left books in random places and hoped they would improve people's lives! This one I left in a changing room- wouldn't you just LOVE to find a book when you went to try on clothes? (Or is that just me..?)

I went to Ascot Races with my friend Justine! It was pretty awesome, even if I did get sunburn that's still peeling now (about 10 days later). I had one bet and MY HORSE WON! It was awesome. (Even if I'm sort of vaguely against horse racing. But this was flat racing which looked fairly un-strenuous.)

I bought my first pair of trainers in about 10 years (and this isn't really an exaggeration- I have about a million pairs of Converse, but no ACTUAL running trainers.) to do a 'run' in 3 weeks (I'm obviously going to walk. Obviously.)

SPEAKING OF WHICH- Hey guys, I'm doing the Race for Life in 3 weeks, and if you would like to sponsor me/give money to Cancer Research, which is important to me for, you know, really obvious reasons then that would be totally cool and you can do it here.

Awkward asking for money bit out of the way... How about some cool things I've seen on the internet lately?

• I don't know if you watch New Girl, but even if you don't, Nick Miller's facial expressions are the absolute best. Unrelated: I'm completely in love with Nick Miller.
• Ross is definitely my least favourite Friend, so these 35 Reasons Ross Geller is the Worst made me really happy. Also awesome? 27 Ways You Are Not Carrie Bradshaw.
• This is truly old (as opposed to the above, which are just old for the internet) but it's the best. Literally the best thing ever: Joni Mitchell. Enough said.
• I enjoyed this post about how NO ONE understands that you can have the best friendships online. Also, I MUST MEET ALL OF YOU.
• I'm kind of obsessed with Arrested Development, and the Bluth Banana Stand has been spotted in London! I'm genuinely considering taking the day off work on either the 15th or the 21st of May so I can go and see it and get a freaking banana! No, I'm not insane.

Wow, so those links were practically all about tv, huh? I might have a problem. But it's a problem that's AWESOME, so who really cares?

THIS WEEK- Monday was a Bank Holiday so I got to sit in the garden a fair bit and chill and be happy that I wasn't working, but I also worked two full days AND stayed late another day at work and so managed to work MORE hours than in a regular week. Because I'm smart. Saturday I would have rested, but instead I walked for 3 hours and sort of got a tiny bit lost whilst training for the aforementioned run-walk. That was ALSO smart, and really I should win some kind of award for being the smartest. 

What I'm saying is- I'm tired. And I have a bet with myself that if I finish Les Miserables (the book) by tomorrow (when the DVD comes out) I get to buy myself a present, but like I say, I'm tired. And I might be TOO tired for Hugo's bullshit. We shall see.

NEXT WEEK (or this week coming... whatever): I have decided to sign up for Bout of Books!

Bout of Books is, from what I understand, a week long readathon where obviously you don't read for every available minute (unless, I don't know, you REALLY want to) but just make a bit of an effort to read more and, I guess, read something every day. Which, I think, is an admirable goal and I want to do that! And so I shall. I don't really know how I'm going to play the updates, but I might just have one GIANT post that I update throughout the week (if anyone knows how to do that thing where you keep one post at the top of your blog for a bit, then I wouldn't mind knowing that...)

I don't really have any goals, apart from to read SOMETHING every day, but I WOULD like to finish these two books that I have that are like offshoots from Little Women, because I feel like they're going to be books that I can read once and then get rid of, and right now, those are the best kinds of books for me. Callous, but true.

And that is what I'll be doing! You all better have spectacular weeks too, or ELSE.