The Mini-Readathon!- It may be tiny, but in my heart it is HUGE

It is here! It has nearly begun. I've been literally just waiting around all day for this (my start time is 4pm) and when I say literally, I mean it- all I've achieved today is having a bath. And taking photos of books and food and things! Like this one:

And now allow me to tell you why my books are mini!
1) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling- As we've established, it has goblins in it which, you know, are mini, plus children, PLUS it's basically the shortest Harry Potter book, so it passes muster.
2) The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories by Tim Burton- I mean, it's really tiny, and has lots of little stories in it as opposed to being a whole book. So it counts.
3) The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery- This is FOR children, and is also really really short. Or should I say mini? I should. It's a mini book!
4) What Maisie Knew by Henry James- I feel you all looking at me dubiously, BUT this is all told from the viewpoint of Maisie who, I believe, is six years old. And if that doesn't make her a mini-person, then WELL...
Also it's been (re?) made into a film with THIS GUY:

in and I believe it's coming out this year so I need to read it and SHUSH.
5) Touchy Subjects by Emma Donoghue- Short stories. 'Nuff said.

Aand I have a whole set of Moomin books on standby in case none of these are good (which is unlikely because Harry Potter is one of them, but there you go) and also I have a mini-moomin companion to read with me today:

So there's that. And also, SNACKS!

These are all mini-versions of the real things, and just to prove it (and because I had a LOT of time on my hands this morning/afternoon) there are these:

See? Teeny. Sadly I don't have a picture of any big millionaires shortbread, but since I've eaten all 3 in the first picture already, I'm going to say I'm not going to worry about it too much! (They were delicious. Just so you know.)

Anyway! It's just turned 4 so I'm going to do some reading and stuff. And by 'and stuff', I obviously mean reading. Catch you in a bit, or, realistically, in about 2 minutes on twitter. REEEEEADATHONNNNNN <----- Non-mini excitement.

Update the first: 6pm

I have definitely not been reading for enough time to justify an update, BUT I've finished two really teeny books (obviously, since I read both in about 90 minutes) and the rest of my books are actual books and I'm just not sure if I'm ready for that yet. 

This might have something to do with the fact that I've eaten all of the above snacks (except for the ice cream. That's an after dinner treat) and with all the sugar and the caffeine my brain is eeeever so slightly spazzing. I might need something savoury to calm myself down. Or a nap. Naps are good...

ANYWAY! Is it time for Harry Potter? I'm just not sure. Maybe it's time for Henry James. Help me everyone, I've had too much sugar and now I don't know what I'm doing, exactly. CRISIS (I might be being a bit dramatic. Who knows? Not me!) 

Books finished: 2

Pages Read: 204 (calm down, a lot of those had pictures on)

Sugar status: Jittery and confused

Sleepiness: SO MUCH

Snacks consumed: All of them. All of it. Stomach and teeth are rotting.

Happiness: SO HAPPY WE'RE DOING THIS!

Update the second: 8.30pm

Soooo I kind of missed the actual halfway point but THAT IS OK. I was eating and watching tv, obviously, but now I'm back to the safety of my nest/bed with ice cream and about ten pages down of Harry Potter. So that's cool. Also, I am slightly less SUGAR MAD than I was in the previous update, but don't worry, the ice cream should take care of that. Or possibly the miniature vodka and Southern Comfort that I got for Christmas and should almost definitely drink tonight, yes? Yes.

Books finished: 2

Pages Read: 295

Sugar status: Pacified by spaghetti

Sleepiness: See above

Snacks consumed: Well, the ice cream is rapidly disappearing...

Happiness: Yessssssss

Update the third: Midnight (ish)

Welp, I did it! Read some things. Had some laughs. You know the drill. I was about to be slightly confused that I've been reading Harry Potter for two and a half hours and YET read less than 150 pages, but then I remembered TWITTER and everything made sense. So NICE WORK not letting me finish Harry Potter today, twitter. GOD, you're so inconsiderate!

ANYWAY! This was fun, let's do it again sometime and also all vaguely read the same thing so we can go omg! HARRY NOOOOOOO! Or, you know, whatever. 

This is how I feel about you alllll:

And here are some stats!

Books finished: 2 (still! DAMMIT)

Books read from: 4

Pages read: 440 (heyyy! That's pretty good!)

Sugar status: Nope, it's all gone. Now I'm just tired

Sleepiness:

Snacks consumed: None in this last bit. Not even the booze! Madness.
Happiness: Through the roof! Along with the tiredness *yawns*

*added to avoid my horrific rudeness* Thank you for hosting Tika! You're awesome and I loves you!

HARRY POTTER

There aren't really words to describe how I feel about the Harry Potter readalong of epic awesomeness (if you're not signed up yet, go here and DO IT), but if there were, they'd probably be something like this:

In other words (or, actual words) I'm SO excited that it takes TWO gifs to explain it. TWO. That does not happen!

So, HP. It's pretty awesome, as I'm sure we're all aware (except Megs. But SHE WILL BE) but the thing is... I'm not as much of an expert on it as a LOT of people, and I haven't actually read the books for FOUR AND A HALF YEARS. 

Which is ridiculous, but I guess I was clearly just saving myself for an opportunity like this, or, you know, something *mumbles other excuses that don't really make up for ANYTHING*.

Here are some things you should know about me and Harry Potter though. Firstly, I'm English, so the first book is quite obviously called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and calling it anything else is like accepting some publishing house's idea that you're not smart enough to know what a philosopher is. I say this, and YET I still know that you're all going to call it the Sorcerer's Stone, which FINE, but I'm still going to complain about it. I'm not sorry.

What else? Well, I super hate Dobby (HE IS SO ANNOYING AND RUINS EVERYTHING), I kind of love love love Snape (eventually), and I could go either way on Sirius- I always kind of forget about him and don't think he's that important, but that's only because The Prisoner of Azkaban is the book I always remember the least for some unknown reason.

And, um, oh yeah, I will cry. A lot. Especially at the Deathly Hallows, because HOW CAN YOU NOT?! But mostly I'm just looking forward to going back to Hogwarts because, seriously, it's been way way way too long. I don't even know how I've coped for so long, but finally, FINALLY, I am coming back to you, Harry. 

This is going to be so good!

Devouring Books: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

"I woke up on my sister's couch with a raging hangover and an urge to kill my wife."

I'm about to be not-entirely-complimentary about Gone Girl. You might want to avert your eyes. (Don't avert your eyes. You'll be fine.)

In fact, I'm not really going to be non-complimentary about Gone Girl as I'm going to be non-complimentary of my journey to reading it. I'm sure you've noticed this if you follow the same people on twitter as I do and read the same blogs and whatnot, but if you haven't... Gone Girl is kind of a big deal. It's all thrillery and twisty and turning-y and everyone is reading it, and I thought, well, why not go for something thrillery and interesting to round off the year.

I bet you're thinking that all the hype killed it for me. And it did, only not in the way that you might think. See, it's not that the book isn't good. It is, it's really good, and it is very twisty and turny and it's all the things that people said about it. What it wasn't though? Was surprising. Which was kind of a mood killer from the beginning, because there were certain things happening that didn't sound like the book other people had described, and then when other things happened, I wasn't as surprised as I should have been (i.e. not really that surprised at all) because of the way people had written about it already.

It's amazing how much you can give away, even when you avoid spoilers. I guess with a book like this, everything is a spoiler. 

That's why this isn't really a review at all, it's more of a moan- directed, I have to admit, more at myself than anyone else, because hello! If you wanted to read it, don't read lots about it, yeah? Weirdly enough, even though I was completely dubious all the time while I was reading it, Gone Girl still managed to make me suspicious in all the right ways, and I can't even think about how good it could have been if I'd read it without any previous information. But then, if I hadn't had any, then maybe I wouldn't have read it at all.

Gone Girl. It's pretty good. Just don't read anything about it, but read it.

End of Year Book Survey

I takes the 'end of year' part of an end of year survey really seriously, so this will be going up on New Years Eve, even though I'm writing this before Christmas (and also, actually, after Christmas. So sue me.) I could probably have left it for the dead time between Christmas and New Year (which we've just had, I guess... wasn't it dreadful?) but hey, I'm being all preparey. And possibly procrastinatey.

Anyway. The survey!

Best in Books 2012

1. Best book you read in 2012?

Ohhhh, silly question. Let's see...

Best Classic: Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. So so so much funnier and more cynical than I was expecting. Honourable mention goes to Crime and Punishment though.

Best Shakespeare: This is allowed because I read like 6 or 7 of his plays this year like a nutter. And I'm going to say my favourite was As You Like It.

Best Memoir: I'm actually going to say Long Walk To Freedom by Nelson Mandela, but before I read that it would have been Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Which was definitely shorter.

Best Readalong: The Woman in White. Always. 

Books that are so good I can't even categorise them: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell, Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt, Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson AND The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

If I absolutely HAD to pick an overall favourite though? *mumbles* TheWomanInWhiteTheSistersBrothersNorwegianWoodAShortHistoryofNearlyEverything *mumblemumble*

Stay tuned for more favouritey favouriteness at the end of the post...

2. A Book you were excited and thought you were going to love more but didn't?

I thought We Need to Talk About Kevin was going to be a lot more awesome than it was, but I was kind of addicted to reading it for a while there, so... maybe it did everything it was trying to. But I didn't really like it.

3. Most Surprising (in a good way!) Book of 2012?

Ok, so The Sisters Brothers was continually recommended to me this year and YET I didn't believe that I would like it because 'ew, a Western?' but as it turns out, it's AWESOME. So, yeah, that.

ALSO Freedom by Jonathan Franzen was surprising in that I kind of think the dude is a douche BUT he kind of showed some remarkable insight in that book. Which was good.

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?

I think it was actually It by Stephen King, in that there was this whole readalong of it going on in October and I just went round going 'IT IS SO AMAZING! OMG!' etc. 

Although, obviously, I recommended The Grapes of Wrath a lot too, in that I MADE people read it. Which was fun.

5. Best Series you discovered in 2012?

Ok, I don't really read series, BUT I do believe the one I read this year was Margaret Atwood's series thing that I'm not even sure has a name but consists of Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. It was good!

6. Favourite New Authors you discovered in 2012?

Well. *cracks knuckles* Even though I can hardly believe it, I only discovered Haruki Murakami in 2012, AND WILKIE COLLINS first came into my life this year. They win everything hands down. 

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or a new genre for you?

Um. Let's say MetaMaus, in that there was a lot in it about the technical side of drawing comic books, and it was basically just a giant interview but I kind of really liked it? But then Maus is TOTALLY in my comfort zone, so maybe this doesn't count...

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?

Well, I stayed up really late reading 1Q84 quite a lot, and The Haunting of Hill House was difficult to let go of, but I really struggled putting down Let's Pretend This Never Happened. Because, you know, it was hilarious rather than thrilling. But still.

9. Book you read in 2012 that you are most likely to re-read next year?

Yeah, I'm definitely not going to do that. But if I was... I dunno, probably Bossypants or Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me. Something funny like that. Or Let's Pretend This Never Happened.

10. Favourite Cover of  a Book you read in 2012?

Guys, I read like... at least 4 Penguin Clothbound Classics this year. And you want me to choose the best one? Ok, this is it:

Adds: Favourite gif of the year?

Ok, yeah, I have like 3? And actually I had about 10. I LOVE GIFS DAMMIT.

Tell me they're not appropriate for almost all situations. They totally are.

11. Most memorable character in 2012?

Eli Sisters. Easy. Next!

12. The Most beautifully written book read in 2012?
I kind of want to say 'anything by Murakami', but he sort of talks about penises too much for me to be completely *sigh* ish over it. So I'm just going to go ahead and say The Sisters Brothers, because it's beautiful in that it can switch from being funny to deep in about 3 seconds. Which is pretty awesome.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012?
Eating Animals. Mostly because I read it at entirely the right time, but still, totally impactful. In that I haven't eaten an animal since I read it. Yeah.

14. Book you can't believe you waited until 2012 to finally read?
Crime and Punishment- I've known about it for what seems like forever, but actually I kind of knew nothing about it. So I'm really glad I do now.
A Short History of Nearly Everything- It literally BLEW. MY. MIND. For some reason before this year I had some kind of 'Bill Bryson is olllld so it's going to be boring' (I KNOW, I'm an idiot) mental block, but that book really cleared it, let me tell you!

15. Favourite passage/quote from a book you read in 2012?
Really? You want to get me started on this? Alright, hang on a minute...

"Drive away and try to keep smiling. Get a little rock and roll on the radio, and go toward all the life there is with all the courage you can find and all the belief you can muster. Be true, be brave, stand. 

All the rest is darkness." (It, Stephen King)

"So that's how we live our lives. No matter how deep and fatal the loss, no matter how important the thing that's stolen from us- that's snatched right out of our hands- even if we are left completely changed people with only the outer layer of skin from before, we continue to play out our lives this way, in silence. We draw ever nearer to our alotted span of time, bidding it farewell as it trails off behind. Repeating, often adroitly, the endless deeds of the everyday. Leaving behind a feeling of immeasurable emptiness." (Sputnik Sweetheart, Haruki Murakami)

"I followed her through the beaded curtain and into her private world. The beads felt lovely and tickling on my face, and I experienced a shudder of happiness at this. It is true, I thought. I am living a life." (The Sisters Brothers, Patrick DeWitt)

"We never see ourselves at all; we have no clear idea of ourselves; our mirror reflections reflect only what we wish to see, or can bear to see, or punish ourselves by seeing. Nor can we trust others to see us either. For they too see what they wish to see, with their imperfect eyes." (I'll Take You There, Joyce Carol Oates)

"I know you don't believe this- but don't philosophise too subtly; plunge straight into life without deliberation; don't be uneasy- it will carry you straight to shore and land you on your feet." (Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky)

16. Shortest and Longest books read in 2012?
I don't keep track of page numbers (although I kind of really really want to now...) But I think the longest book I read was It by Stephen King, which has about 1100 pages, and I think the shortest was probably Night by Elie Wiesel, which I'm pretty sure had less than 100. But considering the subject matter and density of Night, compared to It, they probably meet in the middle on ease of reading.

17. Book that had a scene in it that left you reeling and DYING to talk to somebody about it?
Shit, I don't know! The Woman in White and The Moonstone? Or maybe I was just dying to talk about them because doing so was SO MUCH FUN.

18. Favourite relationship from a book you read in 2012?
Oooh, ok, Jennifer and Beth in Attachments? And by favourite relationship, I obviously mean the group (pair) of friends I'd most like to be a part of. Because those girls are AWESOME.

19. Favourite book you read in 2012 from an author you'd read previously?
I've just realised that I've read SO many new authors this year, so I'm going to just have to pat myself on the back for that for a minute. So, I guess I'm going to say A Short History of Nearly Everything, ostensibly because Bill Bryson and Stephen King seem to have been practically the only authors I revisited this year, and of the books by the latter I hadn't read... none of them were that great. So yeah, that.

20. Best book that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else?
Have I mentioned The Sisters Brothers a lot yet?

Book Blogging/Reading Life in 2012

1. New favourite book blog you discovered in 2012?

Ok, so I've really poorly kept track (i.e. haven't kept track at all) of new book blogs I found in 2012, but I know I found Bex this year and so that's a good enough answer for me! Also, Mandy's blog isn't strictly book-limited, but nor is mine, and so I get to plug her's too! (and TIKA! Who is new. And I love her.)

2. Favourite review that you wrote in 2012?

Hmm, shameless plugging, eh? Would you believe me if I tell you that I can hardly remember a LOT of the reviews I wrote? Because you should. Let's see...

3. Best discussion you had on your blog?

So, I really liked ALL the readalong discussions I had ever, which was, let's face it, a lot. And by a lot I mean there were 4 readalongs, but each of those had 4 posts, so... you see where I'm going with this? In terms of just a normal review though, I was really pleased with the discussion that went on with We Need To Talk About Kevin, because when everyone's read something... you can really get some good discussions cooking!

4. Most thought provoking review/discussion you read on someone else's blog?

Duuuude, there were probably loads of them but am I likely to remember them? I can't even remember the things I've written myself! But let's just say that Alice's place is always the best for discussion, so go there all the time.

5. Best Event you participated in?

Hey, so remember when I met Caitlin Moran and it was the BEST. EVER? That was clearly it. Total bookish event.

Honourable mention goes to the trans-atlantic Clueless watching that Alice, Alley, Megs and I did in July which was so weird but also too awesome and was just basically the greatest. And I've just realised that that didn't involve books, but it involved Book BLOGGERS, which is obviously better.

6. Best moment of book blogging in 2012?

Did I mention the above Clueless-watching? That was pretty best-y. I feel like the best bits are like all the things that keep arising from book blogging- I have new blogging friends (some of them are even English! Which is totally a thing I moaned about not having last year) and sometimes we send each other post and it's the best and everything is just awesome. Basically.

7. Most popular post this year on your blog?

I don't know man, how do you get a yearly breakdown on stats? The most popular post that I wrote this year was The Taming of the Shrew (presumably if you google 'The Taming of the Shrew' and 'sexist filth' you get to my post) but my post about how much I love Dolly Parton has gained remarkable speed considering that it's not very old! (*checks why* Ok, it's because there's a picture of young Dolly Parton on it. Ok, this makes sense.)

8. Post you wished got a little more love?

Ehrm... Whenever I write about films, I get less comments, but I'm ok with it because I get that like, everyone who comes here is about the books. But still... COMMENT ON MY FILM POSTS, YEAH?

9. Best bookish discovery?
Ok, I didn't understand this question really, but I'm just going to say that I found Foyles in London and it's an awesome bookshop and everyone should go there, ok good.

10. Did you complete any reading challenges/goals you had set for yourself at the beginning of the year?

YES. But I don't want to talk about it.

Looking Ahead

1. One book you didn't get to in 2012 that will be your top priority in 2013?

Ok, I think this is going to be Ready Player One, just because I feel really excited about it, but I also feel like that excitement could easily fade? So I want to get there before it does! And also I want to finish The Blind Assassin because I love it and was so excited to start it, but it's kind of gone off my radar a bit...

So that's January sorted...

2. Book you are most anticipating in 2013?

Don't be silly, I don't know any books that are coming out in 2013! Let's just say I just reserved Quiet by Susan Cain at the library, and I really really really want to read it. So, that.

Oh! I just remembered the third part of Margaret Atwood's Maddadam trilogy is coming out next year. Let that be my most anticipated book!

3. One thing you hope to do or accomplish in reading/blogging in 2013?
I kind of think I might start tracking page numbers now! But I don't know... I want to learn how to properly fit it in to having a job now, and not just rush off posts whenever I can because I think I don't have enough time. Because I do. I just have to arrange it better.

Just for Meeeeee

Please watch as I perform the amazing feat of working out some stats because I just super want to and it's fun for me.

Books read: 91

Fiction/Non Fiction Books read: 67/24

Male/Female Authors read: 61/30 (actually pretty ashamed of this one...) 

Rereads/New reads: 10/81 (yessssss! I win at reading new stuffs)

Books of the year, by month: (totally stolen from Sam, cheers love!)

January: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

February: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (technically I reviewed this in March. But I read it in Feb!)

March: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

April: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

May: Bossypants by Tina Fey

June: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

July: The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt AND Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray 

August: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (duh)

September: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

October: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

November: Moranthology by Caitlin Moran

December: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Sunday Sundries: It was CHRISTMAS and now it isn't

Hey, so, does everyone remember CHRISTMAS?! That was good, wasn't it? And now we're in that weird time between Christmas and New Year where it feels wrong to actually do anything, but not doing anything after THE MOST EXCITEMENT (I mean, not as much excitement as I had when I was a kid, but still- I was pretty excited!) feels kind of dismal, so basically, since Thursday, I've just been eating.

I'll be wearing dresses until this whole eating thing blows over.

Do you want to see the books I got for Christmas though? I know you do!

Isn't that basically the blurriest picture you've ever seen?! It got dark really early on Thursday (the day after Boxing Day, OR the present sorting out day, if you live in my house) and I wanted to get the books put away, so this is the photo I got. At least the Christmas tree is in the background, right?! Anyway... Allow me to list them for you too!
Set of Moomin books by Tove Jansson
On Writing by Stephen King (I finally own it, Alley!)
Sunset Park by Paul Auster
The Melancholy Tale of Oyster Boy and Other Stories by Tim Burton
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Back Story by David Mitchell
And then also at the bottom are a couple of cookbooks and a crafty book about making animal hats, about which I am disturbingly excited.

BOOKS! And I also got a sewing machine that I'm scared of, and some other stuff and things too. And about a million pairs of socks, as always. Could have stacked them in a pile and taken a picture too, but, you know, we all have our limits.

SO. That was Christmas and it was nice. And now, as I guess we all are, I'm looking ahead to the new year and just thinking about what I'd like to be different, what I'd like to change; which is a state of mind that, I think, leads to dissatisfaction with one's current life. Which is something I try to avoid, because if I look too closely at my life (living with my parents, sharing a freaking bedroom, not having a full time job, no money... and so on) I'm bound to see the things that are wrong with it rather than the things that are good, and the things that I've done this year in particular.

Like, you know, looking after my mum when she needed me too, like I did for the majority of this year, that wasn't nothing. And finally, finally stopping eating meat after sort-of-kind-of trying to do it for so long. And getting a job, even though it is a part time one. All of these things are actual things, and not nothing, and I need to remember that, rather than going 'well, this is wrong and I hate this and everything is awful.' Because it isn't. Apart from sometimes.

This is the bit where I suppose I should do some resolutions or something, but I don't really wanna because hello, setting oneself up for a fall! Plus, I still have ongoing goals or whatever that I set on my birthday and I'm doing pretty well with them, so... Might as well just keep going! But I sort of have two resolutions that I really... not even want, but need to do, and those are

• To walk to work- I want to basically do this every day because, firstly, I could use the exercise, and secondly, it's kind of douchey to make my mum take me every day. And by 'make', I mean 'she totally didn't expect that anything else would be happening', but still. I want to do it.
• To not buy any books for 100 days (at least)- I say 100 days because that takes me up to my birthday (don't ask me why I worked out how many days into the year my birthday is. I like numbers, ok? And actually, that's only on leap years, technically. So, 99 days) I don't know that I've ever 'officially' done a book buying ban before, but oh MAN, do I need one! So this is happening. I'm going to read the books I own, the books that were so important to me that I had to BUY THEM ALL this year and all the previous years. This shit must stop.

And that's about it, really. Or at least those are the achievable things that I want to do, as opposed to the things that I would like to happen but completely don't have enough money for. Do you have any resolutions? And hey- Happy nearly new year to you!

Devouring Films: Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids wins the award of the film I have watched most whilst blogging and yet have never actually talked about it here. I realise that's a really long name for an award, and yet it is the truth. The thing is, I LOVE Bridesmaids so much, and also it makes me kind of sad (I kind of AM Annie in a lot of ways, only I never had the success to begin with) and ALSO I find much of it hilarious, but it's almost like... I didn't really have an angle to write about it from, and frankly I'm a little bit tired of just going 'OMG this is so amazing I love it!' about things I love, because, even though it's true, it's also kind of boring. Like, really boring.

But. Now I finally have an angle! I was watching it last week, thoroughly enjoying myself/feeling a little uneasy as always with it, when I realised exactly what I wanted to talk about in it. And that's about girls, and friends, and the ways that girls are friends with each other. The thing is this. Annie and Lilian have been best friends forever, and Lilian announces that she's getting married and wants Annie to be her chief bridesmaid- so far, so good. At the same time, Annie's life is imploding, and has been for a while, but still she's determined to be a good bridesmaid for Lilian and make things really nice for her because she's a good friend. At Lilian's engagement party, Annie discovers that Lilian has a new friend,  Helen, and that she's rich and poised and a lot of other things that Annie isn't. Mayhem ensues.

So my thing is this. I'm kind of wondering who the worse friend is, Annie or Lilian? There are two really really good cases for each of them, to be fair. It seems like the film wants to set Annie up as the bad friend- she gives the whole wedding party food poisoning, gets them kicked off a plane so they never make it to Vegas, and has a complete freak out at the wedding shower thing, all of which are really very funny incidents and necessary to make the film what it is. So Annie accidentally, and then on purpose, ruins a few things about Lilian's wedding, and that is not very good friend behaviour.

But the things that Lilian does, or rather doesn't do? I mean, she's getting married and everything so obviously she has a lot on her plate, and I don't expect her to like babysit Annie through every disheartening experience she's having, but the thing is? Annie's life is pretty rough, and Lilian's too busy hanging out with her new friend who can afford to do a lot more fun things with her, and it does very much seem like she kind of forgets Annie in the shuffle, and it feels kind of unforgivable. The thing is, hilarious as they are, the things that Annie does to ruin things are basically entirely accidental (she didn't cook the food that poisoned them, and it was freaking Helen who like drugged her on the plane!) whereas Lilian's neglect feels a lot more purposeful and vindictive. Annie really needs her, and all she can do is complain that her wedding things aren't going perfectly. Which just really sucks.

I don't know, maybe I just sympathise with Annie more because I am her (minus the sex with Jon Hamm which, frankly, would make me feel better, I think) but it really does seem to me that Lilian is guilty of real friend neglect, whilst Annie is just guilty of... choosing bad restaurants and listening to Helen that one time on the plane. But how about YOU? Have you seen Bridesmaids? (of course you have). Do you have feelings about who is the worse friend? I really really want to hear them!

Devouring Books: The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

What's this? A strange apparition on Christmas Eve, come to bring glad tidings of a nice book or something? Yes. That is exactly what this is.

So I've been reading The Christmas Mystery this month since, guess what, Christmas is TOMORROW! and I have to say it's been a really nice experience. I've had this book for so very long that I can't remember when or how I got it, and apart from a few half-hearted attempts to pick it up maybe a couple of Christmases, this is the first time I've actually read it. It's basically split into 24 chapters, one for each day of December leading up to Christmas, just like an advent calendar, and I believe that you're supposed to read it accordingly- a little bit of a story each day, leading up to Christmas.

So, of course, I started it on the 13th. Because I didn't know this beforehand! But you do now, so pay attention.

Much as the book is like an advent calendar itself, it's also about an advent calendar that has a story contained within it, and then (just one more, I promise) inside that story there's also a teeny advent calendar. This is all par for the Gaarder course, I have to say, but it's not made that much of a big deal of, and honestly, if you don't think about it too much, it won't bug you. Probably. The story that we're reading is about Joachim, the boy to whom the advent calendar belongs, and who eagerly awaits opening it every morning to read the story, which in turn is about this girl who follows a sheep all the way from 1940s Norway to the Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. That story is sort of kind of a history of the spreading of Christianity, whereas the original story is more one of the anticipation of Christmas and all the wonderful things there are leading up to it.

I really like it, is what I'm saying. And it's not even that I think the story is that amazing, and I definitely like the one of Joachim and his parents and the acquisition of the advent calendar better than the one inside that, but I like that there are any layers at all, but mostly? I just like the ritual of reading a chapter a day and thinking about what might happen next, just as Joachim does with his story that is also a story that I don't know the end of. Apart from the whole birth of Jesus thing that I totally assume is coming. Obviously.

So, as you may have just guessed, I haven't actually finished this one yet (since I'm writing this on the 23rd and all). But I don't so much think the end is important as the ritual of reading it is- like so many things at Christmas, doing a little bit of it each day builds up the excitement of the story, and makes it feel like a long-standing tradition, even though it isn't. At least not yet. And even though I expect the mystery to be solved tomorrow, and everything to be nicely tied up, in a way, the story doesn't matter so much as the act of reading it. Which is actually something I'm going to miss, almost as much as that teeny piece of chocolate I've been having every morning. Because I have my priorities.

So, if you see a copy of this hanging round anywhere, I can't but recommend buying it and saving it for next Christmas. Because a book that's also an advent calendar and also about an advent calendar? To me, that's like the perfect Christmas book!