In April this year, I did the Bungay half marathon in 2.28:23sec. It was the hardest 2.28:23 of my life, and when I stumbled across the finish line after 13.1 miles, I vowed never to do another one. Five minutes later, I was thinking about doing another one.

Three months later and I’m training for two more !

On September 25th 2011 I’m running the Run to the Beat half marathon for the amazing charity Riders for Health.  I’d really appreciate donations towards my £150 target.

 http://www.justgiving.com/SuzeRunToTheBeat

On October 9th 2011 (yes, that’s a mere FORTNIGHT after the first one) I’m running the Royal Parks half marathon for another amazing charity,  Leonard Cheshire Disability. I’d really appreciate donations towards my £350 target.

http://www.justgiving.com/SuzeRoyalParks

(this is a different page for a different charity, so please feel free to split the donation between the two, especially as the target for Royal Parks is nearly three times the Run to the Beat one!)

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Apologies for the delay – I read “Alice In Wonderland” a couple of weeks ago but just haven’t found the time to sit down and write the review.

Here’s some information about the book which you may or may not know. Thanks to Wikipedia for providing, as per. Alice in Wonderland was written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pen name of Lewis Carroll, and published in 1865. Seriously. 1865. He wrote it for his friends’ daughter, Alice Liddell, after she asked him to tell her and her sisters a story one lazy sunny afternoon on a boating lake.

The plot synopsis goes as follows: Alice is a young girl who falls asleep in the garden one sunny afternoon.  She follows a talking white rabbit down the rabbit hole, finding herself eventually at the bottom and after a small struggle, in Wonderland itself.

I had thought Wonderland (as in the place, not a ‘hip’ contraction of the title) to be quite fun and slightly strange, basing my knowledge on the Disney version, which I last saw a good decade (and possibly a half) ago. The book is very familiar as that adaptation is very faithful to the source material, but I was struck by how scary it is. Alice tastes food and drink which makes her grow and shrink in size. Perhaps when you’re a child that’s where imagination comes in, but to be honest I was a bit worried she’d never get back to her normal size.

I also found the Queen of Hearts and the Cook (as well as the trial at the end) to be less dream-like and more nightmarish. ‘Off with her head’ sounds hilarious until you stop to think about it, and realise it’s actually a petty dictator screaming for the execution of your subjects, who are merely a frightened pack of cards. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it.

Added to that though, the themes and ideas explored are very adult. Although it’s ostensibly a children’s book, Alice discusses and examines mathematical equations and ponders complex philosophical ideas throughout, based on cognitive understanding and existence. The fact that all of this may or may not take place in her mind, as a dream, adds a whole new level which probably got missed when read as or to a child. I think that’s part of the beauty of it – the story does have many layers and each time you read it, more things emerge. I read some information around the characters and how they’re based on notable people of the time. I won’t bore you with all of the theories now, but suffice it to say that the lizard is apparently Benjamin Disraeli. And the Dodo is Lewis Carroll, who was prone to a stutter and therefore sometimes pronounced his name as Do-Do-Dodgson.

This does rather neatly bring me on to my next point. As it was written nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, some of the in jokes of the day are somewhat lost. Alice spends a lot of time reciting poetry in an attempt to prove that she is still ‘she’ and not someone else. Most of the time she is admonished by whatever creature is listening for not getting the words quite right. This would be funny (or funnier, at least) if I knew what the words were meant to be.

Still, if that’s the only reason I can find for disliking it, it’s doing pretty well.

It was by no means an instant hit, perhaps for reasons I’ve touched on. That aside, the figure of Alice and the cast of anthropomorphic characters that she meets along the way in her Wonderland journey, have entered the collective unconscious the world over. She is instantly recognisable as a blonde haired, blue eyed girl in a blue dress, as is the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat, among others.  There are literally countless adaptations of the story, found on the big and small screens and even onstage.

Phrases have found their way into our everyday conversation such as the aforementioned ‘Off With Her Head’ along with ‘Curiouser and curiouser’.  The sheer staying power of the story of Alice and the countless adaptations/parodies/slightly creepy spin off merchandise coming from it is testament to the complexity of what appears to be a simple story about a girl having a dream.

xx

Thanks to http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/blog/2010/04/28/how-do-you-choose-a-book/ for the image

Clearly, I need motivation and help to finish or even choose a book from the list.

I managed to get about a quarter of the way through Vanity Fair and will definitely, absolutely finish it.  Unfortunately, life has interfered and I’ve forgotten what’s happened AND it took me so long to get that far I don’t want to have to read it all again.

I thought it would be really handy, and appreciated, if you lovely people could help me decide what book to read next. Of course, I’ll get through as many as I can in the remaining six months of this year (how did that happen!?) and will probably end up extending it to 2012. I’d just like a gentle nudge in the most popular book direction.

Also, I’ve never done a poll before so I thought I’d have a go!

xx

View This Poll

So, I use Nike+ to track my runs.  Better detail can be found via the google, but it’s basically two chips – one for your shoes and one for your iPod. The signal passes from one to the other and records how fast/long and, if you’re super pro, where your runs are. When you get home, you plug in your iPod and it transfers to the nikerunning website via iTunes.

It’s not very expensive (around £18.99 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-Nike-iPod-Sport-Kit/dp/B002WGX19C/ref=dp_cp_ob_ce_title_3 ) but I think that’s reflected in the quality.

Writing about all of the glitches on the site, the fact that it takes two correct tries to log in, graphs very often don’t render properly if at all, runs stop feeding to twitter, iPod and nike+ numbers don’t tally and the site is generally buggy, would take a long time. So I will only mention the one that’s bothering me the most.

Nike+ allows you to set challenges and goals for yourself. The goals break down into run frequency, run distance, run speed and calories burned.  A week before they are due to expire, you get a reminder e-mail.  It’s a little inconvenient, especially as you can set goals for one week, which means as soon as you set it you get a reminder e-mail. Motivational, thanks Nike+.

I hope you can make it out.  Here’s a screenshot:

I’ve blanked out identifiable details.

Here’s the page for the link it takes you to:

It’s quite hard to see with the details blanked out, but basically – that’s not me.  So I received an e-mail from Nike+, one of the biggest sportswear manufacturers in the world, using someone else’s details.

That concerned me as it raised questions about what’s happening with my details if I’m getting someone else’s e-mails, but there are no bank details or other information that could point to the real me without a google or two,  so I wasn’t panicking, the first time this happened.

I must have received no fewer than five of these e-mails. Each time, I’ve e-mailed Nike+ to inform them of the error. I have either been brushed off or not even replied to.

Please see below:

The reply from Sebastian doesn’t at all answer my query – and that was the best reply!

I’ve even posted on Nike’s forum, but haven’t had any replies.

Has anyone else experienced the same issue? Does anyone have any suggestions for other things to try?

Room is the seventh novel by Irish-Canadian Emma Donoghue (thank you, wikipedia). Five year old Jack tells his story in the first person throughout the novel. Aside from the young narrator, the other interesting part of the novel is the knowledge that Jack lives in Room. Room holds everything Jack could ever need, including his Ma. The only blot on the landscape is Old Nick, who visits Ma when Jack’s asleep in Wardrobe via Door, whose code you need to know to get out.

It might not be a surprise to learn that this is based on the five year old boy from the Fritzl case,  without the icky incestuous bits. As far as I could tell (not being an expert on the Fritzl case) this is where the similarities ended, and Donoghue has merely used this as inspiration.

When I first read the blurb on the back of the book, I thought that the premise couldn’t possibly support a whole novel. My initial thought turned out to be incorrect, thankfully.

Jack and his Ma’s lives within Room are written as claustrophobic and monotonous, filling their days with manual tasks such as hand washing sheets and towels in order to get through the hours between waking up and going to sleep as quickly as possible. Little events take up hours for Jack, such as the leaf that came to visit on Skylight. Usually I get irritated with affectations in novels, such as adopting patois or capitalising nouns, the latter of which is what Donoghue does with Jack. In this instance it makes sense – Jack has only ever known one Room so why would he not load it with importance? I have heard complaints about Jack’s extensive vocabulary, but that is also understandable – they have television and a limited number of books and his mother is there 100% of the time to teach him all of the words and knowledge pockets she knows. Added to that, he is the only other person there to have a conversation with, so it’s no wonder his speech is more mature than for the normal five year old. Similarly, Jack and his mother play a game called Parrot, where Jack listens to the TV until his mother presses the mute button, at which point he has to repeat all of the words he can remember. Normally it is the news, which means that Jack can literally parrot long or politically complex words and/sentences without having a clue what it’s about.

Inevitably, a plan is hatched to escape from Room. This relies heavily on Jack, although I won’t spoil all of the details here. He is reluctant to be involved, and pleads with his Ma to let him wait until he’s six. I found that to be the most thought-provoking part of the story – why would he leave his whole world to go somewhere that he’s only just heard about and might be rubbish? This is handled very well in the writing – just enough emphasis on how bewildered Jack is without labouring the point.

Although The Escape doesn’t happen until about half way through the book, it doesn’t feel like the story is confined at all. This may be due to the references to Jack’s fantasies and the books he and his Ma read. If were to read it again, or read this with a book club (the popular choice, I think) I’d read Alice in Wonderland alongside it. There are repeated references to Alice by Jack, and it’s quite clear that he is comparable to Alice – down the rabbit hole and trapped in a strange world where nothing is as it seems. Of course, for us we would perhaps assume that Wonderland is Room, but in Jack’s case, as mentioned previously, it’s the world as we know it.

Another aspect of the story that I enjoyed was Jack’s perspective on ordinary things, especially in the real world. He dislikes rain and even showers, as he has only ever had a bath. This means that although he is five years old and his literacy levels are advanced, he cannot do basic tasks such as climb stairs. He is also confused about why people keep mistaking him for a girl – he has never had a haircut and wears a big t-shirt which looks like a nightdress, so for us it’s an easy mistake to make, but for Jack it’s unfathomable.

Although this book is the first one in a long time that I have read and enjoyed (Wicked! By Jilly Cooper, I’m looking at you) it’s not without criticism.  The device of a sole narrator, a five year old one at that, was a very clever one as it added a new slant to a story that had perhaps been seen before. However, it made for slightly narrow chapters as Jack was filtering everything he had seen and heard through his own personality. It also meant that everything was about Jack. Although it was a bold move to retain the narrator for the whole book, I would have liked to have seen more from his mother.

The other slight criticism I have is that the book was anti-climactic, despite being very tense in places, I felt that there was always something else, waiting around the corner. Unfortunately, whatever it was did not materialise.

Looking back at the last two paragraphs, both of the criticisms are about areas that are absent from the novel, not present. I don’t think it’s fair to judge a book (or film, or anything) on what’s not there as at that point you’re trying to make it yours and not the creator’s.

I would recommend Room as a book that is easy to read and yet stays with you for a while. No doubt there will be a glitzy Hollywood film version in production at some point in the near future, but I would urge you to read the book first. No film can conjure the feeling of comfortable claustrophobia that Jack does.  I’m also going to see if I can find another of Emma Donoghue’s books to read.

PS I have a confession to make. I haven’t finished reading Vanity Fair. I will do at some point though.  Pinky swear.

Thought I’d do a quick update:

I’m currently reading Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. My kindle tells me I’m about 9% through, so hopefully I’ll be able to finish it at the weekend!

Hope you’re all having a fantastic week and hurrah for Hump Day.

xx

I read Never Let Me Go last week, sadly in preparation for the film. I really prefer to have read the book before I know anything about a film as it makes it impossible to picture anyone else in the roles you know about. With this, I actually don’t know which one Carey Mulligan is, although it’s pretty obvious who Andrew Garfield plays.

So, to go back to the beginning – Never Let Me Go is the sixth novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, UEA Creative Writing alumni, which makes him East Anglian, as far as we’re concerned. It has been translated to the big screen and stars Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield as three friends who all attend/ed the same Kent-ish boarding school. From the trailer, it looks like a triangular romance involving Merchant Ivory standards of longing looks and pertinent sighs next to the window. Except. If you watch it again, there’s something off about it, something not quite right. The tone is slightly menacing and definitely mysterious.

Kathy is the narrator throughout the novel, and you learn fairly early on that her friends Tommy and Ruth are no longer around. The whole tone is nostalgic as Kathy recalls the events in their lives that led to the actions and situations that happened. This is all told without a lot of emotion as the language Kathy uses is oddly flat. As the story unfolds there are certain trigger words that Ishiguro, through Kathy, uses. These include ‘carer’, ‘complete’ and ‘donor’. Their reason for being alive is only spelled out once in the book, by a teacher they call guardians – they are clones, bred purely as living organs to be donated when real people need them. They way this incident is told in the novel indicates that Kathy doesn’t really like to think about the reality – something she alludes to a number of times before and after. We as the readers are able to piece together what happens – I won’t tell you everything but the donations are grotesque. Most donors are expected to make up to nine donations before ‘completing’. Kathy talks later about how completing is not dying – you’re treated as if you are dead but you ‘re still aware of the world around you, kept alive by machines and unable to communicate.

The reveal of the sci-fi element of the story is done beautifully, and would have been shocking if Glamour hadn’t have spoiled it in their three line review (thanks very much, Glamour). I find it really interesting that the trailer is deliberately misleading, so that if you weren’t watching you would think it was almost a period drama about heaving bosoms and marriages when in reality it encourages readers/viewers to ask existential questions around the ethics of growing people as skin-bags or the existence of souls.

The narration itself lends itself to the overall idea of whether Kathy, Ruth and Tommy are human or not. While re-living highly emotional incidents in her life, there’s no real sense of how Kathy felt while this was happening. It’s very factual, and the focus point becomes what she’s not saying –the absences. Tommy and Kathy clearly love each other but it is only talked about when they are adults and Ruth is dying from her first donation. Even then, even when they finally get together she is curiously detached, apart from the odd comment. It could be argued that there are some people who do that anyway – removing yourself from the scene stops old wounds being re-opened. This raises the question of – is Kathy’s narration cold because she is alone and afraid to venture into that territory again, or is it because she’s not a ‘real’ person?

Ishiguro is very good at portraying characters with stiff upper lips on the outside, but with a river of feelings just under the surface. Remains of the Day, his 1989 novel which was adapted into a Merchant Ivory film, examines the relationship between a butler and housekeeper, employed in a large house. Comparisons can be drawn between the two novels, as Tommy and Kathy are kept apart by environment and even their own friends. Some may find this to be flat or difficult to get involved with on a deeper level, but as I mentioned before, it’s not what the narrator says that’s important but more what he or she does not say.

If there was one thing to criticise, it would be that there are too many peripheral characters within the story. There are dozens of boys and girls at Hailsham, the boarding school as well as at the half-way house they move to when they graduate. This makes it difficult to place people or link them to incidents in Kathy’s school life when she encounters them later. On the other hand, they are normally referred to in context and it also makes for satisfying re-reads as more layers of the story is revealed.

I’m looking forward to re-reading this, even though I only finished it a couple of days ago. It’s a book that has left me thinking about this not too distant future alternate reality. I’m also looking forward to seeing the film, largely because I like the leads but also because a lot of it was filmed in Norfolk, where they journey to in the novel. Ishiguro has clearly experienced the pull that East Anglia has on all those who live here.

There is nothing better than reading a book – the smell, the feel, the beautiful illustrations some of them come with, but I wanted a kindle after I realised it can hold around 3,500 books in the weight of a very slim paperback. No longer will I struggle on holidays with tonnes of books, some of which may not be as fun as promised by the front cover or the blurb on the back.

Don’t get me wrong – it is strange reading a book on the kindle. I keep looking for the other half of the book, which is testament to how good the text looks on it. It does look just like a page of a book. It’s also easier than a book as you don’t need to use both hands to keep it open, and the previous/next page buttons are on both sides. This means that basically, you only need a finger to read a book. Perhaps a thumb.  It’s the lazy person’s way of reading, and if it makes it easier then who am I to argue?

Amazon’s information on the kindle includes some stuff about wanting the kindle to fade away and for the reader to forget that he or she is reading a book on a kindle at all. They have definitely achieved this, but I would like to see it slightly prettier. I know, I’m being very girly, but I like my gadgets (and my books) to be a bit sparklier than matt black. I suppose in theory I could customise it myself. This leads me on to my next point.

As tough as it is is, it still has a big screen which is liable to get scratched after being carted around for a little while. A quick google on kindle covers revealed that….they are all pretty expensive and again, not very pretty. There were some that were cute, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy something that’ll cost a fifth of the price of the kindle itself.

So I made me a cover instead. It’s very basic – made out of black felt with sparkly bits on, blanket stitched together and with a toggle sewn on to keep it closed.

I know, get me. I blame the Hobby Craft that’s just opened. Incidentally, that leads me to my new year’s resolution – to use the sewing machine my mother bought me a while ago, sans manual. I really will get on eBay and see if I can buy a manual, or even get one from the manufacturer. I also need to spend a bit of time trying to thread the thing – tried to do it ages ago, but got frustrated and gave up.

The digital ink on a kindle looks amazing, just like a real book. Well, nearly like a real book. It looks so real that I’ve found myself trying to touch the screen like you would an iPhone. The battery life is also astounding – it claims to last for a month without constant 3G and/or wireless connection, although as I haven’t had it for a month I can’t confirm or deny this. Nevertheless, it makes the kindle even more convenient – download your books at home using your own wireless internet connection, then read to your heart’s content for a month without worrying about battery or chargers.

Besides  how pretty it is/isn’t, I’ve had it for a good three weeks now and haven’t paid for a book, despite downloading a number from the kindle store. This is great for kindle owners but potentially disastrous for kindles – why pay for a book when you can get the classics for free, which will take months to wade through and keep you occupied until the good books are available? There are two points in this – the first is that the books are almost off-puttingly expensive and the second is that the available books aren’t the ones I want to read on the kindle.

You can get an e-book for around the same price as a real life, tangible copy. This is partly down to the youth of the technology (the profit margins are smaller as fewer people are buying) and the realisation that e-books are taxed, unlike print books.

The books that I’m willing to pay a fiver or more for are, sadly, the ones I’ve read already and know I’ve enjoyed. This includes “The Time Traveler’s Wife”, Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy and the Garth Nix Abhorsen series. None of them are available yet on kindle.

This basically means that I won’t shell out for books until they either come down in price or better ones become available, and this won’t happen until people shell out for books – the profit increases and publishers can see the audience available. A conundrum indeed, although I’m sure this will sort itself out in the next year or so.

The technical specifications and the functionality behind the kindle far extends what I’ve described in this review, but it’s meant to be a preliminary explanation based on user experience.

The kindle will not replace books, but will enable owners to carry their library around with them for the weight of a novella. In the future, there might be colour screen kindles that can support complicated textbooks and graphic novels, or the software to scan a copy book directly onto the kindle itself, like we do with CDs already. eBooks might come as standard when you buy the hard copy – for 50p extra, you get a code which gives you the digital version. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing it unfold, and going on holiday without packing ten books and still reading Catherine Cookson in desperation…

I’m posting this so it hasn’t been three months since the last post. Where does the time go?

I can’t seem to stop listening to this song

… although of course,  there are others I listen to! Top 5 currently:

1. Marina & The Diamonds – Numb

2. Arcade Fire – Rococo

3. Vampire Weekend – I Stand Corrected

4.  Edith Piaf – Non Je Ne Regrette Rien ( thank you, Inception)

5.  Interpol – Heinrich Maneuver {sic}

What are you listening to? Is it too early for That’s What I Call Christmas?

xx