The Kite Runner
2. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini, 2003 (first-time reading) This was a really lovely book with a great narrator - I found Amir a complicated and engaging protagonist. And it dealt so well with...
View Articlechocolate orange + chocolate brownies = perfection
I'm making brownies, half for my friend's birthday tomorrow and half for mine on Sunday. They're turning out delightfully. I was a little wary of a recipe that called for mayonnaise and buttermilk...
View ArticleDinner at the Homesick Restaurant
3. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant - Anne Tyler, 1982 I don't know. I didn't love it. I could see that it was good and I could see complexity and skill in how it was written, I could see the themes...
View Articleit's my birthday tomorrow!
I'm going out with my family tonight and my friends on Monday, and on Tuesday I'm hitting the road for my first driving lesson. After a year of watching all my friends turn seventeen and learn to drive...
View ArticlePale the Winter Days
Title: Pale the Winter DaysRating: PGWords: 329Summary: A short fill for this prompt at the ASOIAF/Game of Thrones meme. Preseries; despite her preparations, Catelyn is overwhelmed by the harshness of...
View ArticleTwo Graves
Title: Two GravesRating: PGWords: 703Spoilers: s1Summary: For this prompt at the ASOIAF/Game of Thrones meme. Sansa pushes Joffrey off the ledge.OneIt is done. Splayed on the stones below her....
View Articlejust had my first ever driving lesson
It was awesome. In an hour I got to the stage of driving round quiet streets at moderate speeds, and it felt awesome. Next lesson is in nine days, I can't wait.
View ArticleThe Pianist
5. The Pianist - Władysław Szpilman, 1946 (first-time reading) One of my friends gave me this for my birthday (I asked her for it, after renting the film, liking it, and being intensely irritated...
View ArticleThe Accidental Tourist
6. The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler, 1985 I read this years ago and ended up rereading it after being disappointed by Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, to see if I'd enjoy it again as much as I...
View ArticleKraken
7. Kraken - China Miéville, 2010I read this when I was on holiday last year and enjoyed it, and shortly afterwards was thrown, with the advent of my AS English course, into a world where to be prepared...
View ArticlePersuasion
8. Persuasion - Jane Austen, 1816 I suppose this was part two of my I-can-read-whatever-I-want-now kick. I think it was literally the first pre-twentieth-century novel I've read in a year. I think...
View Articlegoing to a party tonight
It's the first one I've been to in ages - I don't get out loads anyway but, with exams, until the end of last week I had basically no social life except for maybe going out for a coffee to commiserate...
View ArticleThe Other Side of the Story
9. The Other Side of the Story - Marian Keyes, 2005 Great book. It's one of those where you pick it up and instantly feel deeply invested in the characters - I've read a lot of Marian Keyes books,...
View ArticleGuns, Germs and Steel
10. Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond, 1997 (first-time reading) One-tenth of the way through my hundred books! Excellent. So this one was recommended to me by a couple of people, mostly family...
View ArticleI made a cheesecake today
I'm very proud of myself. I would post pictures, but it's already been somewhat ravaged by my family. It was very attractive, though, white lemon filling marbled with chocolate ganache. I had great fun...
View ArticleLyrics Alley
12. Lyrics Alley - Leila Aboulela, 2010 (first-time reading) This is a nice, reasonably entertaining book with a cast of reasonably appealing characters, but there's just nothing special about it. I...
View ArticleA Place of Greater Safety
13. A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel, 1992 (first-time reading) This book is absolutely stunning. Mantel is an incredible writer; her prose is lovely, as is her dialogue (this is a very...
View ArticleRevolutionary Road
14. Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates, 1962 (first-time reading) Ohhhh my God. This book is amazing. I can't even write about it properly without going into either an essay or a lot of pictures of...
View Articleraining, freezing, blowing a gale
I don't think there's been a single point in the last month where it hasn't been at least two of the above. I'm not sure I can take much more of this. All of the clothes I would normally be wearing in...
View ArticleAnna Karenin
15. Anna Karenin - Leo Tolstoy (trans. Rosemary Edmonds), 1877 (first-time reading) I really loved this. I expected it to be quite heavy and intellectual, but it was actually comparatively quick and...
View ArticleJust Law and The Rivals
16. Just Law - Helena Kennedy, 2005 (first-time reading) Interesting and compelling reading. It's very political and that was a slight drawback for me on a purely personal level, because it's mainly...
View ArticleWinter in Madrid
18. Winter in Madrid - C. J. Sansom, 2006 (first-time reading) This is not a good book. It has an interesting setting, which Sansom does a good job of depicting with breadth and detail, but that's...
View ArticleThis running thing is going really well
I decided to do the Couch to 5K this summer, starting on Week 3 because I'm not so totally unfit that I'm at couch level, and Week 4 is going great. Yesterday I finished the last five-minute stretch...
View ArticleThe Rule of Law
20. The Rule of Law - Tom Bingham, 2010 (first-time reading) I really enjoyed this. It's less overtly political and more general than Just Law, but it's such a great book and I can understand why...
View ArticleMiddlemarch
21. Middlemarch - George Eliot, 1874 (first-time reading) This took me a while to read, but it was by virtue of its length rather than any lack of enthusiasm. I really liked it - it was easy to get...
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