I haven't been to the cinema in months although each time I go, I tell myself that I should do it more often - not least because the cinema is officially the only place I can watch a full-length feature film without simultaneously playing on my laptop. I also only pulled my iPhone out once to make a note. I think that's totally excusable though, good thoughts have to be noted before you lose them for when you lose a thought there's no simple way of retrieving it. Humour is the best format within which to relay a serious message and I have to say that Bridesmaids did have several of those. The most important message I got was, 'no matter how many times life comes to bite you in the ass, get up, move on'. The groom's sister was serious comedy, the whole way through. The addition of two Brits, one of which was Matt Lucas (of Little Britain) was icing on the cake. My favourite line from Matt Lucas was "There's a needing it today kind of situation" when he was chasing his flat mate for rent, said in an oh-so British cum American fashion. I didn't realize that Maya Riperton was mixed race so I was a little confused by the fact that her father in the film was black, but a little research this morning sorted that issue out. Her mother was the African-American Minnie Riperton, famous for the song, "Lovin' You". She unfortunately died from breast cancer in 1979 when Maya was only seven years old. If Bridesmaids was a book, I wouldn't read it but as a film it is most definitely worth a watch for both guys and girls. I laughed A LOT and came out feeling relaxed and renewed.
0 Comments
Read it. Mary Ann Shaffer very effectively manages to use an epistolary format (a series of letters) to tell her story of the time Germany occupied Guernsey island. The experience of Todt workers saddened me the most, these young boys were worked and starved to death - the strategy was to extract as much labour from them using minimal food resources. The Todt boys were allowed to forage for food on their own at night so that the German soldiers didn't have to waste too much of their own (again, limited) food on them. The islanders guarded their highly limited foodstocks against theft but one night as a Todt worker is stealing food he falls over and is too weak to get up again so two islanders harbour him and nurse him towards health leading to their imprisonment and worse...there was only one line I hated in the book, "Naturally curly is a curse, and don't ever let anyone tell you different." Ugly opinions like this have got a lot of women thinking they have to straighten their hair to look acceptable. I dislike all anti-curl propaganda, I love my Afro curls, they look cool, they feel great and they have far more character than boring straight hair and I'm not gonna let anyone tell me otherwise! The writing of this book is ultra-English but written by an American. She portrays the German occupation of Guernsey through the Islanders' eyes and unlike most novels where the enemy is the enemy and you hate them, she also brings out the softer side of the Germans. In the last twelve months I have read several books on do with war or a restrictive political regime: Birdsong, The Book Thief and to some extent The Moment and I think this was the best, closely followed by The Book Thief. The bad news is that the main author died shortly before or after the novel was published so we will not see anymore written by her; when she took ill her niece Annie Barrows, herself an author, took on the task of completing the piece. The good news? This is an excellent read both for the style and the content. Although it is fiction, it's based on real events and it comes off as being well researched and written in an easy to absorb format.
The Moment shows you life in East and West Germany at the time the Berlin wall was up. You learn most things through the eyes of an American travel writer. There are a couple of longueurs so the book took me ages to finish but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It's a love story, ultimately, but it's certainly not of the atrocious, romantic mills and boon variety, it's laced with tragedy - frankly, that's the only way I would be able to take it. I have read every one of Douglas Kennedy's ten fiction novels! That is surprising even to me because even for an author that I love, It normally only takes four to five novels before I tire of their writing style and want to read something totally different. Not Mr Kennedy. Each one of his books is different. Some of his novels have a similar style to them e.g. his protagonist is an author or a wannabe writer in several of the novels, his protagonists are always a little obsessed with order and cleaning (a characteristic that I definitely relate to) but the similarities end there. He can write equally well in a man or a woman's voice. In each novel, you experience something utterly new, a new place (Paris, London, Maine and New York in the US of A, Berlin, Australia), a new take on life, a new attitude, a different tragedy. His novels sometimes start a little slow but they remain absorbing nonetheless and it is always worth holding on to the end. My favourite of all his novels is The Dead Heart, his first fiction novel which I only read early this year (just before I started the blog) - it was so unexpected, so sad yet also so funny. It's also his only succinct novel. The Dead Heart is a couple hundred pages whilst all the rest are door stoppers. This is the order in which I read his novels. I was introduced to Mr Kennedy by the Team Assistant at work in late 2008 (I think) and I have trusted her opinion on books ever since, she has extremely good taste in books: 1. The Big Picture (published in 1997) - my rating 5* 2. State of the Union (published in 2005) - my rating 5 3. The Pursuit of Happiness (published in 2001) - my rating 5 4. A Special Relationship (published in 2003) - my rating 4 5. Woman in the Fifth (published in 2007) - my rating 3 6. Temptation (published in 2006) - my rating 5 7. The Job (published in 1998) - my rating 3 8. Leaving the World (published in 2009) - my rating 4.5 9. The Dead Heart (published in 1994) - my rating 5* 10. The Moment (published in 2011) - my rating 4 Rating scale: 1 to 5 with 5 being the best I hope the ratings help you to decide which books to read first. The starred books are must reads.
I read this book a couple of months ago. Two things amazed me about the book: firstly, it was self-published but it still made it as a best-seller because the quality of the writing and the plot of the story was as good as, if not better than, any published thriller that I have read, and I have read very many. Books like this definitely prove that a publisher is not necessary and a worthy product will sell without the need for one. There was something very Val McDermid about this story, it's reminiscent of Fever of the Bone by Val albeit definitely a better read. Sorry Val, I still enjoy your writing but Fever of the bone is not as good as some of your other output. The second amazing aspect of this book was the price, it was only £0.75, most people don't even pause to think before spending 75 pence. Saffina's justification was that she doesn't have to charge so much because she's cut out the middleman, the publisher. I beg to differ with her reasoning: yes, she can afford to charge less, but 75p? - come on, how about the effort that went into this book? and how about the VAT one has to pay for eBooks, a tax that printed books are not subject to. Artists should charge more for their efforts because writing is hard work, even when it is enjoyable, time is precious and that time needs to be valued appropriately. If she wants to maximise volume, perhaps give some books away for free and charge more for the rest but don't charge 75p! Put a different way, let's say you buy a book as a present for someone, you wouldn't want to buy a 75p novel regardless of it's quality because it might send out the wrong signal. If you did get a book that was that cheap you would have to add other presents to the bundle. People like to feel valued and although it is the thought that counts, this should never be an excuse for being a cheapskate. On the other hand, this may be Saffina's strategy for getting her name known. She maximises volume on book one so that by the time her second book comes out she can charge a by now captive audience more - I certainly hope this is the case. I know the same book is being re-written in an American setting to appeal to the American market - I personally prefer to read about things that are foreign to my ordinary day to day life - that is the point of reading, is it not? To learn new things and stretch one's imagination? I think the time would have been better spent on a new novel. I personally, won't re-read the same book just because it's now in set in New York but I would buy an entirely new novel by Saffina Desforges. I don't know how the strategy will work but I wish Saffina luck. She is truly talented. Ultimately, it might be me who doesn't understand the consumer's behavior when it comes to the purchase of fiction material as the story of this investment banker turned author shows. This book is only available as a kindle book. Links to the US-version and the UK-version are provided below for both Amazon.com and .co.uk.
Technology advances in leaps and bounds with every passing year but I believe the fundamental principles of money and wealth haven't really changed one iota in centuries. Ever since I heard Benjamin Franklin's quote: "The way to wealth is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words, industry and frugality: that is, waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality nothing will do, and with them everything." I have endeavoured to live by the principles of industry and frugality. It's not easy, in fact, it's an even greater challenge when you're surrounded by hoards of self-promoting (yet still lovable) Alpha males on a trading floor day in day out. Poor Richard's Almanack is a collection of aphorisms that Benjamin Franklin first published in 1732 and although the book talks about everything from health, love and marriage to business and money, I found his quotes on money and humility most engaging. There were some quotes I didn't get at all and his poetry was even harder to comprehend. That said, I think the bulk of the book, the portion with all the quotes was reasonably easy to read and I would recommend everyone to give it a go. From his writing, Benjamin Franklin saved whatever he could, he spoke only when necessary and he made the best use of his waking hours and I think it's no bad thing to work off the same model. My colleagues think I'm a complete miser and they associate my frugality with misery and being boring, they completely fail to comprehend that one can gain satisfaction from such things as a lone two hours in the park, writing. All their pleasures seem to have crazy nights out drinking absurd amounts of alcohol or spending money at their core - they complain and worry about it but are so deeply rooted in consuming that they do not see it as a problem. One of my colleagues expressed this phenomenon best when he stated his wish for a meter that showed how fast his net worth was falling the moment he hit hit High Street Ken every Saturday morning because it felt as though money just drained out of his pockets from the moment he left his flat! We debate this issue often and in my opinion, I am way happier than they are (yes, not doing too well on the humility stakes today). I am quite content with what I have but that is not to say I don't want more, (almost) everyone wants more, it's what makes us people but to simultaneously be content with your current lot, that is difficult. I have never been a big spender but there was a time when "getting my eagle on" up in the club was what I looked forward to but one day I woke up and I wasn't that girl anymore and Benjamin Franklin's quotes help me to realise that that is actually ok. He was a lot more abstemious than I will ever be but I will try to stick to my belief that no matter how much you have, one should aim not to be wasteful, firstly, because the earth's resources are limited and secondly, because a life of excess erodes the value out of the small pleasures of life. I think the second reason warrants a little explanation: one of my colleagues (the same one as above) told me he feels there is nothing special about a meal out because he eats at Michelin starred restaurants so often. I limit myself to two or three meals out a week, normally to ordinary restaurants and each occasion feels special to me even if it's just to Wagamama's because I love food and if I had it my way I would have a Michelin starred breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday of the week - but unlimited fun limits the pleasure - diminishing marginal utility to my fellow economists. This is the first Benjamin Franklin novel that I have ever read and on the back of it I hope to read more about his life.
Daniel Pink explores the issues surrounding what motivates people. Key to his analysis is the argument that people generally enjoy work and that the stick and carrot approach favored by most businesses to encourage people to work may actually me demoralizing and counterproductive because it strips the implicit enjoyment out of work. I fully agreed with this premise, I think it is true for me although it is not necessarily true for all people. That said, I did not agree with every example he gave, for instance, he presented a study showing that if people are paid to give blood, fewer people give blood because the good-will aspect is taken out of the giving. This may well be true for the developed world but I know for a fact that Malawi has increased blood donations by providing some food and a generous “expenses” allowance. In a country that is so poor even quite a small amount can be a powerful motivator to donate blood, I gave blood myself but gave my money away. Perhaps Daniel’s argument explains why I felt the need not to keep the money. My favorite take-away from this book is the idea of a ROWE (results-only-work-environment), that is, a working situation where people are given targets and tasks of what needs to be achieved but are given carte blanche on how it is achieved – they don’t even have to come to work – they can work from wherever; this would suit me just fine. I constantly talk about how I hate waking up to be in my office from 7.30 to 7.30, those hours don’t suit me at all. I love work for work in itself but I loathe being micro-managed and I despise face-time even more. It’s Saturday and I started this write-up at 4.50 a.m. because for today, that is what is convenient for me, most people are asleep now and probably will be for quite a few more hours but that’s what suits them. More businesses need to take a serious think about how they could be more ROWEy (yes, I coined that phrase) because it is not only intellectually appealing, it has been shown to be very successful by those that have taken the step. Amongst many things, employees are happier, productivity rises (increasing revenue) and turnover falls (reducing hiring costs).
I started reading this book last year but only picked it up again this year. The book is divided into 3 main sections: 1 Obsessives, Pioneers and Other Varieties of Minor Genius 2 Theories, Predictions and Diagnoses 3 Personality, Character and Intelligence Part 3 was hands down the most interesting section. Part 1 was good enough to keep going, however, once I reached part 2 I failed to read on, I even had to skip a couple of chapters because those topics didn’t interest me. When Malcolm Gladwell discussed strategy in sport or war my brain seemed to shut down, however, anything related to intelligence, human behaviour and the criminal mind had me gripped. Once I got to part 3 I zoomed right through to the end. Outliers remains my favourite book of his followed by Blink and then What the Dog Saw. I was most interested by the “stereotype threat” apparently, once a certain group is confronted to perform a task that they are stereotyped as not being good at, they underperform e.g. in a test of intelligence blacks underperform if they are told it is a test but perform equivalently to their white counterparts if the test is just given to them without an explanation; the same underperformance was observed with white men jumping and women on quantitative ability. I didn’t even know some people believe black people are less intelligent until last year!! I guess you’d have to know the stereotype existed to feel threatened by something. A girlfriend of mine who’s a trader told me that her boss consistently makes snide comments about her being ditsy and less intelligent than “the boys” such that whenever he puts her on the spotlight with a question she find herself hesitating even when she knows the answer. Now I can tell her why.
A very good read. The book is about a drug and alcohol addict trying to get over his addiction. I expected to come out thinking it was his own fault and I anticipated a lot of self pity but by the time I was through I had a lot of respect for the guy. I feel better able to relate to the life of an addict and although James Frey refused to accept a genetic predisposition to his addiction, I think it could well be the case for many people. My favourite lines in the book were: - When one lives without fear, one cannot be broken. When one lives with fear one is broken before one begins to live - Confront the difficult while it is easy, accomplish the great one step at a time - Miles on women: "There's no use 'trying' with them. You just 'do'." (Clever man!) - Sometimes skulls are thick. Sometimes hearts are vacant. Somtimes words don't work. The violence was necessary
|
By Heather Katsonga-WoodwardTime allowing, I love to read. If I read anything interesting, I will blog about it here. Categories
All
Archives
November 2015
|