Chelseagirl's Book List

:: moblog UK :

2006-06-08T13:18:00.001Z

:: moblog UK :

2006-06-08T13:18:00.000Z

Haymaker

2006-05-18T22:38:00.000Z

Haymaker

You are one of life’s enjoyers, determined to get the most you can out of your brief spell on Earth. Probably what first attracted you to atheism was the prospect of liberation from the Ten Commandments, few of which are compatible with a life of pleasure. You play hard and work quite hard, have a strong sense of loyalty and a relaxed but consistent approach to your philosophy.

You can’t see the point of abstract principles and probably wouldn’t lay down your life for a concept though you might for a friend. Something of a champagne humanist, you admire George Bernard Shaw for his cheerful agnosticism and pursuit of sensual rewards and your Hollywood hero is Marlon Brando, who was beautiful, irascible and aimed for goodness in his own tortured way.

Sometimes you might be tempted to allow your own pleasures to take precedence over your ethics. But everyone is striving for that elusive balance between the good and the happy life. You’d probably open another bottle and say there’s no contest.

What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.

Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes, 34-36 Kingsland Rd, Hackney E2 8DA

2006-03-01T20:00:00.000Z

Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes, 34-36 Kingsland Rd, Hackney E2 8DA

The perfect wedding rings?

2005-06-10T13:11:00.000Z

I considered this idea for wedding rings for, ooh, about two tenths of a second. Think I'd prefer white gold for ours!

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Rings of bone grown for couples

Update!

2005-06-08T20:55:00.000Z

I'm crap at keeping this up to date!! Anyway, i read a few more books last year and this is the list of what I've read so far in 2005:
[scroll down - not sure why there's this huge gap, can't get rid of it!!]

No.	F or NF	Book title	Author	Source	Comment	Score out of 10
Books read in 2005
1	F	I Like This Poem	ed. Kaye Webb	BC loan	Took me back to my childhood! Great poems, not just for kids.	8/10
2	F	Enigma	Robert Harris	BC ring	Slow starter , reeled me in, race to the finish. Good!	7/10
3	NF	Asperger Syndrome and Difficult Moments	Myles & Southwick	BC loan	Recognised my son's autistic traits, useful info.	7/10
4	NF	The spirit catches you and you fall down	Anne Fadiman	BC ray	Fascinating look at the Hmong culture, interlaced with a child's fight for life.	8/10
5	F	The Chocolate Run	Dorothy Koomson	BC	Heartwarming tale of love, relationships and chocolate. Made me cry!	8/10
6	NF	Last Chance to See	Douglas Adams	BC RABCK	Douglas Adams and amazing animals. What more could you want from a book?	10/10
7	NF	The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly	Jean-Dominique Bauby	BC	Interesting observations of a man trapped by paralysis.	7/10
8	F	Disturbia	Christopher Fowler	BC	Secret societies and puzzles in late night London. A bit disappointing.	6/10
9	NF	A Decade of I-Deas: encyclopedia of the 80s	ed. John Godfrey	BC	Check the entry to see how I define myself in the 80s! Good bathroom read.	7/10
10	F	The Lovely Bones	Alice Sebold	Mine	Lived up to the hype! A family's recovery from a tragedy and an interesting view of heaven.	8/10
11	NF	The best democracy money can buy	Greg Palast	BC ring	Globalisation exposes - done before and done far better.	4/10
12	F	My Sister's Keeper	Jodi Picoult	BC ring	Fantastic novel about a family in an impossible position.	9/10
13	F	The Bad Mother's Handbook	Kate Long	BC ring	Warm novel about three generations of women.	8/10
14	NF	Hard Work: life in Low-Pay Britain	Polly Toynbee	PC	Investigative report into the struggle to live on a minimum wage.	8/10
15	F	Virtual Strangers	Lynne Barrett-Lee	RABCK	Enjoyable chick lit about a cyber romance.	7/10
16	NF	Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader	Anne Fadiman	BC ring	A few interesting essays but ultimately too technical!	6/10
17	F	Flood	Richard Doyle	BC ring	Believable horror scenario - London flooded and on fire - but way too long.	6/10
18	NF	Nickel and Dimed	Barbara Ehrenreich	PC	Similar to #14 - but low-pay work is even harder in the US.	8/10
19	NF	Fragments: memoirs of a childhood 1939-1948	Binjamin Wilkomirskih	BC Ring	Amazing, horrific memoir of a child's fight for survival in the Polish death camps.	10/10
20	F	Old School Ties	Kate Harrison	BC Ring	A school bully reunites with her victims. Good fun read with a serious undercurrent.	8/10
21	NF	Scenes from a Smallholding	Chas Griffin	BC Ring	Entertaining anecdotes of life on a small organic farm; a little bit repetitive.	7/10
22	NF	True Tales of American Life	Paul Auster	BC Ring	Hated this :0( stories with no punchline.	3/10
23	NF	The Devil in the White City	Erik Larson	BC Ring	Unusual novel based on facts about murder and an amazing world fair.	8/10
24	NF	Expecting Adam	Martha Beck	BC Ring	Life-affirming account of a woman's pregnancy with a Down baby.	8/10
25	NF	Maverick!	Ricardo Semler	BC Ring	A business with very unusual workplace ethics. Interesting but dull.	6/10
26	F	Just One Look	Harlan Coben	PC	Great thriller with loads of twists!	9/10
27	NF	Marching to a Different Tune: Diary About an ADHD Boy	Jacky Fletcher	PC	Interesting but doesn't go deep enough - and too many exclamation marks!!!!!!	6/10
28	NF	Dogme Uncut	Jack Stevenson	Library book	Read for college but an interesting look at a lesser known cinematic style.	7/10
29	NF	Let Me Go: My Mother and the SS	Helga Schneider	BC ring	Fascinating and frightening account of the fnal meeting between a woman and her Nazi mother.	9/10
30	F	Ladies of Letters Log On	Carole Hayman & Lou Wakefield	BC ring	Mildly amusing but joke wore off.	6/10
31	F	Hotel World	Ali Smith	BC NSS	Beautiful novel about five women and a tragedy that touches them all..	10/10
32	F	The Way I Found Her	Rose Tremain	BC Ring	A thrilling mystery, love story and coming-of-age novel in one - beautifully written.	9/10
33	F	The Christmas Mystery	Jostein Gaarder	BC	Gaarder's own retelling of the nativity story, very simple.	6/10

#52

2004-11-12T14:59:00.000Z

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
BC Ring
5/5
Beautful poetic simple book full of worldly wisdom.

Reached my half century!

2004-11-09T22:39:00.000Z

#50 Geek Love
BC Ring
5/5
Excellent book to bring me to my half century - fascinating and revolting at the same time.

#51 C is for Corpse - Sue Grafton
BC Ring
4/5
Enjoyed, didn't guess whodunnit at all!

The list so far for 2004 ...

2004-11-03T09:54:00.000Z

TITLE AUTHOR WHEN FINISHED Where from? RATING 1 - 5 COMMENTS

1 Pay it Forward
Catherine Ryan Hyde
Jan 2nd 2004
BC ring 4 Good easy read

2 The Woman Who Walked into Doors
Roddy Doyle
Jan 17th 2004
BC ring 4 Emotional topic (DV) handled well

3 The Story of O
Pauline Reage
Jan 22nd 2004
BC Ring 2 Car crash novel – hated but rubbernecked.

4 Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui
Karen Kingston
Jan 22nd 2004
BC Ring 4 Motivating – just have to hope it works!

5 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
Mark Haddon
Jan 25th 2004
Birthday present 4 About an autistic boy. Lovely tale, unusual style, tactile cover!

6 Rabbit-Proof Fence
Doris Pilkington
Jan 31st 2004
BC Ring 2 Far too simply told, good basic story but style disappointed.

7 Girl, Interrupted
Susannah Heysen
Feb 4th 2004
BC Ring 5 Excellent observations of life in a mental institution

8 The Five People you Meet in Heaven
Mitch Albom
Feb 11th 2004
Bought myself 4 Who will be waiting for me? Who will I wait for?

9 Eats, Shoots and Leaves
Lynne Truss
Feb 16th 2004
Xmas present 4 Enjoyable, where’s the Tippex?!

10 Googlewhack
Dave Gorman
Feb 19th 2004
Bought myself 4 Writer rushed towards the end, but a good funny read.

11 The Tin Drum
Gunther Grass
Didn’t finish
BC Ring N/a Just couldn’t get going on this one, only read 56 pages in three weeks!

12 I Don’t Know How She Does It
Allison Pearson
March 5th 2004
BC Ring 4 Much deeper than was expecting, serious issues yet good fun.

13 Eating Cake
Stella Duffy
March 29th 2004
BC ring 4 Again deep chick lit, made me think hard about marriage etc

14 Do Not Pass Go
Tim Moore
10th April 2004
BC ring 4 London via the Monopoly board – too much info for one read

15 The Eyre Affair
Jasper Fforde
9th April 2004
BC ring 5 Fab literary detective book

16 Traveling Mercies
Anne Lamott
16th April 2004
BC ring 3 Enjoyable but didn’t quite get what it was about

17 Jenny – My diary
Yorick Blumenfeld
16th April 2004
BC ring 4 Diary of a nuclear war survivor – scary stuff

18 Lost in a Good Book
Jasper Fforde
14th May 2004
BC ring 5 Excellent, roll on part three!

19 Exodus
Julie Bertagna
21st May 2004
BC ring 5 Survival in a drowned world; a stark warning

20 Dad’s Life
Dave Hill
26th May 2004
My book 3 A pleasant read but not groundbreaking

21 A is for Alibi
Sue Grafton
1st June 2004
BC 3 Okay, will give the next a try. Nothing special.

22 Electric God
Catherine Ryan Hyde
4th June 2004
BC 3 Not as good as PIF but enjoyable all the same

23 The Songlines
Bruce Chatwin
14th June 2004
My book (now on BC ring) 4 Fascinating stuff; a bit heavy in the middle but
ultimately satisfying

24 The Summer Book
Tove Jansson
15th June 2004
BC RABCK (but bought my own copy now!) 4 Lovely book, about summer in Finland but about so much more.

25 She Said Yes
Misty Bernall
5th July 2004
My book (now on BC ray) 3 Posthumously controversial!

26 The Well of Lost Plots
Jasper Fforde
22nd July 2004
BC ring 3 Disappointing compared with the previous two books.

27 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
JK Rowling
16th July 2004
Library book 5 Overlong but best of the HP books so far.

28 Angels in the Mirror
21st July 2004
BC Ring 4 Really interesting book about the Vodou culture, accompanying CD good

29 Vurt
Jeff Noon
10th August 2004
BC Ring 4 A challenging sci-fi read but well worth the effort – eventually!

30 Painting Ruby Tuesday
26th July 2004
BC Ring 4 Enjoyable read, a slightly different spin on a novel.

31 Spirit Paths and Fairy Roads
28th July 2004
BC Ring 3 Interesting but too much geography and not enough background

32 Try and Make Me
2nd August 2004
Mine 5 Defiant child parenting – inspiring!

33 B is for Burglar
Sue Grafton
4th August 2004
BC Ring 4 Much better than A is for …

34 Not on the Label
14th August 2004
Mine 5 Never go in a supermarket again – scary. Anyone fancy The Good life?!

35 No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
Alexander McCall Smith
18th August 2004
Mine 4 Took a while to get into but was a lovely unusual read.

36 The Food Our Children Eat
Joanna Blythman
Didn’t finish BC ring 1 Gave up after seventy pages. Far too preachy!

37 Notes on a Scandal
Zoe Heller
22nd August 2004
Mum’s 4 A gripping tale of obsession but a disappointing ending

38 What We Did on our Holiday
John Harding
15th August 2004
BC (out on ray now) 5 Mentions Cromer! Touching tale of family life and aging parents.

39 The Defiant Child
Douglas Riley
24th August 2004
Mine 3 Description of ODD good, action plan not much help

40 Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom
26th August 2004
BC Ring 5 Fantastic book about life and death, made me weep but ultimately uplifting.

41 The Explosive Child
Sept 2004
Mine 4 Much better ideas for dealing with ODD

42 The Solitaire Mystery
Jostein Gardner
Sept 2004
BC Ring 5 Fantastical sotry of a strange islan, interlaced with philosophy. Love it. Look out for copy for PC.

43 The Prophet
Gilbran Kahil
Sept 2004
BC Ring 4 Interesting spiritual poetry, some really good sections on children and love.

44 The Little House
Phillipa Gregory
Sept 2004
BC 5 Easy read, spooky story, loved it.

45 The Ruby in the Smoke
Phillip Pullman
3rd Oct 2004
BC Ring 4 Lovely read, Victorian London, much easier than Northern Lights!

46 Tears of the Giraffe
Alexander McCall Smith
Oct 2004
Mine 3 Very slow, got halfway through and decided nothing was happening but still enjoyed it in an odd way … too gentle really.

47 24/7
Jim Brown
Oct 2004
BC RABCK (now out as ray) 4 Enjoyable thriller about a reality TV show turned nightmare. A bit convoluted but good fun.

48 The Duchess of Bloomsbury
Helene Hanff
Oct 2004
BC Ring 4 Follow up to 84 Charing X Rd. London through the eyes of a US Anglophile. Good fun, easy read.

49 The Bang Bang Club
Greg Marinovich
Oct 2004
BC Ring 5 Harrowing but thought provoking. About photographers following violence in apartheid SA. Difficult subject but glad I made the effort.