Cycling the Cycletta

Hi everyone! A bit of a different post today, but something I wanted to share because it's going to be a huge part of my life over the next six weeks: I am going to be riding 60km in a Cycletta event on June 30th!

A little bit of craziness had me signing up for this at the end of last year thinking "ohh, it's ages away, I've got plenty of time to train!" And then my bike got stolen... and then I moved city... and then my replacement bike broke... and then I had a bit of a fall... and before I knew it I'm here, staring at the 6 week training plan with the look of abstract terror you might find emblazoning B-movie horror posters.

Still, I'm doing this thing. And as of about 3 days ago, it looks like I'm doing it alone as my poor Cycletta buddy broke her foot :( Really not great timing for her but I'm sending her all the best wishes in the world for a speedy recovery - and if all goes well, maybe she can join me again next year!

Training has started, and last week I got a 10km ride under my belt. Not a very speedy one, as my boyfriend - a bike-freak - likes to point out (thanks for the encouragement there!) but 10km none-the-less and I'm quite proud! I have never done anything sporty in my life, unless you count school sports days where my main events were the some-what passive shotput, javelin and discuss, and to have nailed 10km felt like an achievement.

Into week 2 now, though, and I am aiming for a 20km ride tonight, and I'm anticipating a world of pain tomorrow.

I'm probably going to blog about the training and the event itself, so I hope you will find it interesting even if it isn't entirely book related. However, you can credit long gym hours for the amount of reading time I'm about to get done - which will directly result in REVIEWS!

I'm doing the event purely for the hell of it, but on a personal level I have welcomed donations from family, friends and colleagues to Parkinsons UK as sponsorship, as our family is directly aided by their work. If you are feeling charitable and would like to support them too, I have a Just Giving page set up here: https://www.justgiving.com/emmibee/

I'll also take any words of encouragement and large-font reminders to GET TO THE GYM! ;) haha

Wish me luck guys!

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Hannibal

Hand's up if you've managed to catch any episode of the new Hannibal TV series on Sky Living?!

I caught a promo for this show a month or two ago, and I couldn't wait for it to start. Hannibal is one of my top 5 books - re-read to the point of pages becoming unattached - and the show looked really interesting. Unfortunately I ended up missing the pilot, but have since seen the second and third shows and I have to say, I think it has a lot of promise.

The show features Hannibal Lecter at the stage of his life when he is a practicing psychologist (ie. not suspected or accused of his "alternative" eating habits). He is put in charge of the mental health of a new FBI field recruit, Will, who (after a complex history I'm not clear on having missed the first episode) has the ability to envision himself as the killer at a murder scene. Laurence Fishburne plays Jack Crawford - a familiar character to the Hannibal canon - who takes Will into his crime-scene team as an investigator and assigns his continued care to Lecter.

The relationship between these three key characters is already complex and intriguing viewing, I really cannot wait to see how it is explored in upcoming episodes. Will is a killer, trying not to give in to the thrill he feels from it, having shot and killed a suspect in a shoot-out. Lecter is, obviously, the master of manipulation and mind games who is professionally and personally absorbed by Will's story and unique talent. He loves to question the way Will feels about killing and keeping his propensity for in under restraint. Crawford is something of a respected colleague of Hannibal which is something very different to the hate-fueled Crawford we see in the later stories. I can't wait to see their relationship sour and change.

Of course, with any adaptation of a premise, there are points that are somewhat conflicting. Watching Hannibal read the news on a tablet/ipad - knowing that in the story's chronology, we have not yet even entered the 80's realm of Red Dragon - is a bit grating. Similarly, the events of Hannibal Rising don't seem to have had much of an influence on this Hannibal. We have not yet seen his "taste for the finer things" and considering the first episode (from what I can tell) featured some rather gruesome goings-on in a hunting lodge, memories of Hannibal's sister made no mention.

That aside, though, I really think Hannibal is worth a watch - and I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the books/films. It reminds me a lot of the BBC show Waking the Dead, which has sadly finished in the UK now. It has the same dark case situations, a bit of gore but not of The Walking Dead levels(!) and some great characters I can see developing well into the future.

So, if you've been watching, what do you think?! Are there bits your love/hate? Do you think you'll tune in if you haven't seen it yet?

(also, if anyone can give me a brief catch-up on episode 1 in the comments, it would be very much appreciated! haha!)

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Under pressure!

You may have noticed a lack of posts on the blog over the last two weeks. I've been feeling the burn, guys. That daunting amount of self despair as the books pile up in front of me and I JUST. CANT. GET. THE. TIME!

I want to read so much. I want to blog so much. I dont want to be one of those people who starts every post with "Sorry it's been a while."

However, sometimes you have to step back and deal with things in a prioritised order. Unfortunately for me, I am not lucky enough to be paid to write my blog and I have no contract to uphold with it - whereas the Day Job comes with all of the above. Recently the company I work for has rebranded, and as the only designer within the marketing team I have been snowed under with work. That means I have had to take a step away from all of you lovely readers for a little while.

I can only apologise, but rest assured that although the books are piling up at an alarming rate - it means a slew of reviews are in the pipeline! (yay!) I also have a little bank of ideas written down for book related non-review posts. I just need time to sit down and write them properly. No one likes to be short changed by a post. If you visit my blog I want to offer you good content! It's what you deserve!

So if you will, please bear with me while life calms down a little. If you're lucky, I may return with a little surprise for you all! *wink, wink*

Stay tuned folks! (and thanks so much for all the kind words you've been sharing with me on Twitter. I'm always free for 140 characters over a coffee break if you want to chat! @mabismab)

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Sharing some blogging tips @ Dexterous Diva

Hi everyone - I hope my UK readers are finally enjoying some sunshine this week. What a beautiful week it has been! I was beginning to think fantasy fans would no longer get to count time in "winters"... it just went on, and on...!

I've been very busy at work lately and posts have been on something of a go-slow along with my "currently reading" page count. However, this is only temporary and in the meantime I have been lucky enough to be interviewed by the wonderful Jo at Dexterous Diva!

Jo's blog helps creatives of all kinds with blogging and business, and this week I shared some of my own blogging stories and tips. Head on over and have a read - the blog is a wonderful source of resources and inspiration.

Thanks very much to Jo for letting me be a part of it!

You can read the interview here.

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Feature and Follow Friday - Songs and Books

Feature and Follow is a meme hosted by ParaJunkee and Alison Can Read. Go have a look at their blogs! Each week there is a new bookish questions to answer. This week's question is:

Q:  Is there a song that reminds you of a book? Or vice versa? What is the song and the book?

I featured this as part of the Book Blogger Love-A-Thon not long ago, but I think it bears repeating. I am wholly convinced that Philip Pullman was a Queen fan. Listen to Bohemian Rhapsody and tell me it's not the plot for The Subtle Knife!!! 

What songs remind you of books? 

 

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Book Covers of Beauty gets Pinterest

I once posted a blog post featuring some of my favourite book cover designs, and now it has its own Pinterest board!

I love book cover art, and as a day-job designer I love finding inspiration in lots of places - including on the front of my favourite reads. The board will be a collection of wonderfully designed book covers ranging from those with amazing typography, to intricate illustration, wonderful photography and perfectly balanced minimalism. Everything that catches my design-eye will go there.

So why not give it a follow?!

See you there, Pinners!

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The Boy Who Could See Demons - review

Sometimes, it happens. Sometimes you come across a book so brilliant, so gripping, so well written... and sometimes it lets you down when it matters most: The Ending. I'm trying really hard not to rant in this review. I'm trying extra hard not to hash it all out in CAPITALS. I'm saving my emotion for my own End.

The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke is such a wonderful book that wastes so much of its potential.

The book is about a boy called Alex, who claims to see and interact with a 9000 year-old demon called Ruen, and his psychiatrist, Anya. It is set in Northern Ireland, not long after The Troubles - which is a running theme throughout the narrative - and we follow Alex as he tries to explain to his new psychiatrist the presence and effect of demons in his life, all the while dealing with his mother's clinical depression and the secret of his parentage.

Told from two different points of view - Anya and Alex - we discover a rich and multi-layered narrative covering themes of inherited guilt, depression, Irish history, schizophrenia, trust, loss and friendship.  I was absolutely hooked from the start as the book swept me along with it's unrelenting pace, divulging information carefully and temptingly.  Who is Ruen? Is he real or is he imagined? Is he really helping Alex or is there something more sinister going on? I never found myself left wanting for answers. They came at the right time and moved me swiftly onto the next question without stopping for breath. It was enthralling!

I felt the inclusion of the political and religious unrest in Ireland was very well done, and brought a grounding aspect to a storyline that could easily run away with it's own paranormal overtones. The Troubles were featured in a very honest and "this is just life" kind of way that I found shocking, but yet it made sense. The exploration of The Troubles' effect on the next generation was very interesting and, in fact, quite eye-opening. I felt that the setting of this novel is part of what made it so special. It felt new and it felt timely. I can't really explain why...

I loved the characters and felt for each of them individually. Anya was wonderfully crafted with a vulnerability and hard edged views, leaning on her professional abilities as a crutch for her own past. Micheal was a great counter to her tunnel vision. Alex was so fully realised I felt he could walk off the page at any second....

Which is what made the ending of The Boy Who Could See Demons so frustrating!

**WARNING - here be spoilers**

In an almighty error of judgement (I'm sorry, but that's exactly what it is) the entire storyline comes down to "it was all just a dream." I. WAS. FURIOUS. How can such a clever, sympathetic, complex and beautiful novel fall so spectacularly at the last hurdle?!

I felt like the author had been laughing at me the entire time.

A twist should never make the reader feel like they're stupid. A twist should make you go "wow, I totally didn't see that coming! I need to read this again NOW and see where I missed it!" but at the end of this book, I felt like a fool. A fool for putting a lot of belief, enjoyment and time into something that was going to GIVE UP on me when I never once thought of giving up on these characters. I thought that "it was just a dream" was so cliched, overused, predicatable and SILLY that this book would never even THINK about it.

I was geared up for a twist, but I was geared up for a mind-blowing revelation of cleverness! I was ready for Ruen to be something I had never considered. I was ready for Alex's dad to have been drugging his onions and making him hallucinate or something. I was ready for cause-specific brainwashing. I was ready for ANYTHING but "it was all just a dream" ARGHHHH!

(Sorry, I failed at the no caps thing)

**Here the spoilers end**

Right. So, at the end of the day I need to rate this book. Here's what I think:

If it had ended with Anya on the floor at the "final meeting" and Micheal's "Anya, what have you done?!" as the final lines - 10/10

However, that wasn't the ending, and although I loved every single second up until the real ending, I have to take it into account as a whole. Therefore - 5/10

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World Book Night - round up

It's World Book Night! Tonight, lots of lucky people will receive free books from World Book Night Givers. So what do you have a chance of recieving? Here is the Book list for 2013:

So, if I'm honest I have only read three of this year's selection: The Knife of Never Letting Go, Treasure Island and The Island. I would probably say that Treasure Island was the best... The other two just didn't live up to their hype for me, but Patrick Ness' Knife Of Never Letting Go series was quite interesting, stylistically, and is hugely popular with others.

So if you could choose to recieve any book from this year's crop - what would you choose?!

I think I would pick the Philippa Gregory one. I love me some melodramatic historical fiction!

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Loser - review

This has been a long time coming - seems ages since I've had a book to review!

Loser, by Jerry Spinelli, is a book I bought on a bit of a whim. Spinelli is one of those authors I look at and think "why haven't I read more of your work?!" Before now, all I had read was the Stargirl series, and I remember how much I loved it. So Loser found its way onto my Kindle.

The book is about a kid called Donald Zinkoff. He's a kid who is inherently "uncool". His handwriting is illegible, he likes to squeal "yahoo!", he wears a 3ft giraffe on his head, he likes winning silver stars for his shirt... and, he's always last. Last in the alphabet, last to be picked for teams, last in races, last in the class to get an A... To those outside of his family, Donald Zinkoff is a loser; in all senses of the word.

We follow Zinkoff as he makes his way through school right up until graduation. We see him naive and oblivious to the way that his fellow students' perception of him changes as they grow, we see him making a strained best-friendship based on mutual loneliness, we see him connect easiest with adults in various stages of isolation more than with kids his own age...

I have to admit that not much happens in this book. I would say it was more of a character study, but there wasn't any character development either. I think there was a message in the last paragraph, but in all honestly I found it confusing and un-affecting, and I think I interpreted it wrong. This was hugely surprising to me, because I felt the message in Stargirl was so well realised - It affected me. I wanted to go out and be a better person. Loser simply left me thinking "well, that was nice. Zinkoff seems like an interesting kid." But at the end of the day, so what?!

Weirdly, I really enjoyed reading the book. Chatting with Orisi B the other day she mentioned that despite disliking a certain book's ending, she very much enjoyed the journey to it - and that totally applies here. I really liked exploring Zinkoff's quirks and especially the relationship between Donald and his father. (Another book with present and un-monstrous parents! YAY!) The chapter in which Donald goes to be a mailman with his dad is lovely. I also enjoyed meeting the characters of Nine Hundred Block, but I do wish their stories had been fully fleshed out. The Waiting man had such a presence, but was never actually a character, and I wanted to know so much more about him!

Having recently read Wonder, I couldn't help but to see large comparisons between the two books - despite a large difference in the central character (August has a facial deformity, Zinkoff is just "different"), Wonder proved to have more of an emotional connection than Loser, though.

Overall, Loser is a book well written, by a brilliant author, but I would recommend Stargirl more.
5/10 for Loser.

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Feature and Follow Friday - Which author would you hang with?

I haven't blogged in a week, guys - I'm so sorry!  I've been putting in all hours at work and it's left little time for much else, but don't worry I'll be back on it soon! I liked this week's hop question, so I'm joining in with another Friday feature :)

Q: If you could hang out with any author (living) who would it be and what would you want to do? 

Without hesitaion, the first author that came to my mind was Carlos Ruiz Zafon - my favourite author. I admire his writing style so much, and his characters stay with me long after I finish reading his novels. I would love for him to show me around the Barcelona that inspired the way he writes about it; the gothic, cobbled Barcelona that makes his books so atmospheric.

I would also love to go to the pub with Caitlin Moran. I'm pretty sure I'd snort wine with laughter, but the embarrassment would be worth it ;) I'd love to chat feminism and put the world to rights with her!

So how about you? who would you choose?!

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