Literature-ical
IF you have been reading this blog religiously...well may God have mercy on your sole(....not a typo....it's just that good shoes are really important).
If you have been following (thank you) you would have noticed by now this blog is very much about resolutions.
So, if I get to my 52nd post on December 31 and am forced to write, "...well, that year happened and the only resolution I achieved was writing this blog each week..." I'll be slightly proud of myself for achieving at least one resolution.
I will of course also question what happened to the other goals which fell by the wayside...along with my dreams, aspirations...my childhood toy - a turtle, with the unfortunate name, Turdy....(it might have been my slight dyslexic tendencies showing through...I actually meant for it to be called "Trudy").
One of the resolutions I'm struggling with is number nine: "Read one novel / play each fortnight".
I totally set myself up for failure on this one.
The first book I'm reading, it's taking me weeks!
And that's not because it's written with words that are longer than "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" or trickier to spell than the title of the movie they'll one day make about that volcano spewing ash that in 2009 threw travellers, including myself into disarray. The movie will be: "Eyjafjallajökull" with the tagline - "Not every cloud has a silver lining".
A real human of this day-and-age has written this book without the bells and whistles. Just some darn good story-telling.
So, the reason this book is taking me weeks isn't because the content is rubbish or even hurts your brain like reading Atonement, by Ian McEwan...I'm engrossed, and only have time for about three chapters a night (so if I keep going at this rate I'll be done by the time I'm 92).
The book I'm reading is The Crossroad by the 2009 Victoria Cross winner, Mark Donaldson. It's awesome. My bro, an army guy, finished it in 48 hours - only stopping for bread, water, and toilet breaks.
My issue is that every now and then I have to stop and look up words that are quite "army" - even though generally Donaldson does a pretty good job explaining most of the lingo. There was one bit of terminology that stumped me: "drake-shoot". I googled the definition for about 3.5 seconds, found a definition that didn't seem to fit within the context, gave-up and continued to read (I sometimes like to leave things to mystery).
Yesterday at work, I decided it meant positioning your body like a male duck while holding a gun.
I did the action for my colleagues' amusement (which turned out to be a good thigh workout - pretty much squatting and walking). I'm not really sure how I defined that I was a male duck...I just tried to look pretty because let's face it, female birds are never all that.
Anyway - lesson learned. If I'm to achieve this one play or book a fortnight thing, or whatever I promised, I best start finding some really brief books...even ones with just pictures.
All I'll have left will be Spot, The Little Train That Could...and a Garfield comic, plus books from The Beatrice Potter Complete Collection Mumsy gave me for Christmas (It seems a collector's item. I'll have to read the books while wearing a white glove - some people might mistake me for a person about to shift a grand piano).
And then I'll be a terrible speller...an even slower reader, but have more time for activities......such as dancing...working on my own novel (and the rest of the other 14 resolutions).
But damn it, for now... I'm too involved...I have to see how this one ends ...
If you have been following (thank you) you would have noticed by now this blog is very much about resolutions.
So, if I get to my 52nd post on December 31 and am forced to write, "...well, that year happened and the only resolution I achieved was writing this blog each week..." I'll be slightly proud of myself for achieving at least one resolution.
I will of course also question what happened to the other goals which fell by the wayside...along with my dreams, aspirations...my childhood toy - a turtle, with the unfortunate name, Turdy....(it might have been my slight dyslexic tendencies showing through...I actually meant for it to be called "Trudy").
One of the resolutions I'm struggling with is number nine: "Read one novel / play each fortnight".
I totally set myself up for failure on this one.
The first book I'm reading, it's taking me weeks!
And that's not because it's written with words that are longer than "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" or trickier to spell than the title of the movie they'll one day make about that volcano spewing ash that in 2009 threw travellers, including myself into disarray. The movie will be: "Eyjafjallajökull" with the tagline - "Not every cloud has a silver lining".
A real human of this day-and-age has written this book without the bells and whistles. Just some darn good story-telling.
So, the reason this book is taking me weeks isn't because the content is rubbish or even hurts your brain like reading Atonement, by Ian McEwan...I'm engrossed, and only have time for about three chapters a night (so if I keep going at this rate I'll be done by the time I'm 92).
The book I'm reading is The Crossroad by the 2009 Victoria Cross winner, Mark Donaldson. It's awesome. My bro, an army guy, finished it in 48 hours - only stopping for bread, water, and toilet breaks.
My issue is that every now and then I have to stop and look up words that are quite "army" - even though generally Donaldson does a pretty good job explaining most of the lingo. There was one bit of terminology that stumped me: "drake-shoot". I googled the definition for about 3.5 seconds, found a definition that didn't seem to fit within the context, gave-up and continued to read (I sometimes like to leave things to mystery).
Yesterday at work, I decided it meant positioning your body like a male duck while holding a gun.
I did the action for my colleagues' amusement (which turned out to be a good thigh workout - pretty much squatting and walking). I'm not really sure how I defined that I was a male duck...I just tried to look pretty because let's face it, female birds are never all that.
Anyway - lesson learned. If I'm to achieve this one play or book a fortnight thing, or whatever I promised, I best start finding some really brief books...even ones with just pictures.
All I'll have left will be Spot, The Little Train That Could...and a Garfield comic, plus books from The Beatrice Potter Complete Collection Mumsy gave me for Christmas (It seems a collector's item. I'll have to read the books while wearing a white glove - some people might mistake me for a person about to shift a grand piano).
And then I'll be a terrible speller...an even slower reader, but have more time for activities......such as dancing...working on my own novel (and the rest of the other 14 resolutions).
But damn it, for now... I'm too involved...I have to see how this one ends ...
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