The Corrections

Since the winter evenings have been drawing closer (It's meant to snow tonight! Hurrah!) I have been doing an increasing amount of snuggling under a duvet reading. Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections was a present to myself after Freedom came out and all the hype surrounding it whipped me up into a book buying frenzy.

My favourite thing about Jonathan Franzen is that he had his glasses stolen right from the end of his nose at a party. We'll have to see if this changes after I have read the book.

An early doors Christmas wish list

I bloody love Christmas. In my opinion, it is never to early to see Christmas themed shop decorations or start listening to christmassy songs... it's one of the only good things about winter, so why moan about it? I am, however, pretty rubbish at shopping for christmas presents. So, in light of this, I thought I would present my own wish list for this year:





I'm going to Iceland before starting my new job and it is becoming very, very difficult to convince myself that it would be better to buy myself some much needed new office wear rather than the very tempting winter wear that seems to be everywhere at the moment, like the above gorgeous jumper from JOY and the below earmuffs from MUJI.



The Longchamp Le Pliage shopper, which a friend of mine has in navy blue and I once saw a glamorous lady sit reading the FT with one on the Eurostar, is lovely. Or so I thought until after weeks of dreaming, I saw them in Selfridges and wasn't that impressed with the actual material that the bag is made of - I thought it was a thick, material canvas, much like the very similar Ralph Lauren canvas tote, but they are actually kind of shiny. I didn't buy one on that trip, but I still find myself considering it...

And on the reading list? I usually leave that up to Santa... :-)

Another choice from book group...

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is the next book to be chosen by book group. I've actually already read it but am saving a full review until after the actual book group discussion as these do really help to concrete (and also add to!) my thoughts!

The way we choose books is quite good - everyone added three choices to a list, we ruled out the ones that people had already read and didn't want to read again and then pick out of a hat. The remaining books on the list (so be prepared to see more of these in the coming weeks) are:

1 Austerlitz by WG Sebald
2 Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
3 Disobedience by Naomi Alderman
4 Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
5 Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
6 The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant
7 The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark
8 The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
9 The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
10 The Girl On The Landing by Paul Torday
11 The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw
12 The House at Midnight by Lucie Whitehouse
13 The Queen of the South by Arturo Perez Reverte
14 Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene

Meanwhile, back at book group...

The meeting for the next book, Charlotte Brontë's Villette, was held a while ago, so I've definitely got some catching up to do on here. This was the third book that the book group have read, following Lauren Liebenberg's The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam and another book that I not only failed to procure but actually can't remember the name of (to be fair, this was because it was a preview and the group was meant to write a review of it and only issued us with six copies, so I can be forgiven). It was also the third book that I have failed to read.

I mean, I started it (you can see the bookmark). I just didn't finish it. Lucy Snowe is the most drab heroine - I once read somewhere that the best Mills and Boon heroines are written like blank canvases that women can just project their own personalities onto. Lucy Snowe would be a perfect Mills and Boon heroine. She doesn't say anything, or really do anything; she just observes things, and then sometimes comments on them in a very Brontë'-esque religious way. I have to admit, I'm not really a fan of any of the Brontës - their heroines do have a tendency to be like this and Lucy Snowe is a typical Brontë heroine.

I was told in the book group that it gets better - apparently I had annoyingly just reached the section where she starts to show some personality before giving up - so I might try and finish it at some point. For now, though, it is most definitely on hold.

American Psycho

I read American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (with a wonderful eighties style cover, filched from my mum's black bookshelf at home) whilst on holiday on a Greek island in September, and have been meaning to write a gushing book review about it ever since. But since then, it has all started to feel a little close to home (apart from the orgies and the murders of course)... the sushi, the work, the gym, the nights out etc. And that makes me uneasy. So I will just say two things. Firstly, read this book. And secondly, don't read it on a sun lounger unless you are fine with being eyed strangely by everyone else in your resort (who incidentally, were all reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, more about which later).