May


This month I:
- Started attending a kettle bells class.
- Stressed out over swimsuit shopping.
- Submitted - and passed - my final essay on my current Open Uni module. Thank. Goodness.
- Caught a cold that never seemed to end.
- Thoroughly enjoyed having two whole weeks free from public speaking.
- Went to Tunisia with some of my best friends! (More on that to follow. Much, much more.)


I read:
'The Subtle Knife' by Philip Pullman
I read the first in this series as a teenager a long long time ago (or so it sometimes seems) and remembered thoroughly enjoying it, so when I saw part two and three for 50p each in the church book sale I quickly pounced! I was very much looking forward to reading the next installment in the story and whizzing through a bit of young adult fiction at a great rate of knots. But it didn't happen like that. It might be because I left it too long between parts, but I really struggled to engage with this book. I'm going to persevere and read part 3 sometime soon, but part 2 felt a lot like the half-hearted filler stuck in between.

'Eat, Pray, Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert
I read this on holiday because, y'know, nothing quite beats a walking cliche. I laughed out loud, I shed a few tears and I enjoyed the book overall. I must confess, however, that I don't really see what all the fuss is about ..there must be thousands of similar stories out there and I can't quite figure out what makes this one any better.

'Wintergirls' by Laurie Halse Anderson
I ploughed through this entire book on the plane/train back to Scotland, which probably tells you two things: 1) it's young adult fiction and a really easy read, and 2) it was really good. I really enjoyed Laurie Halse Anderson's 'Speak' as a teenager and had often meant to pick up this book. Now that I finally got round to it, I still think that 'Speak' is the more memorable/powerful story, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the way in which it addresses mental health issues in such an accessible way.

I watched:
On TV, Hebrides: Islands on the Edge on BBC 1 (Scotland) - a super pretty nature documentary which is made even better by Ewan McGregor's narration - and The Fall on BBC 2, which completely gripped me and also entertained me by having half of Hollyoaks in its cast!

And movie-wise there was Fish Tank, which I enjoyed, and The Tree of Life, which I desperately wanted to love for its pondering of life's big questions and all its creativity, but which I just didn't 'get' at all.



So there we go. I can't believe we enter the 6th month of the year tomorrow, nor that I hit a quarter of a century in about a week. Where oh where has all that time gone?

Hope that May was gentle with you all.

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2 Comments

  1. Gosh you had quite a month of May, didn't you? I'm very curious to hear about Tunisia. I'm interested to hear about 'Wintergirls' - I might check that one out. I saw the movie of 'Eat Pray Love' (with my daughter who was about 13 at the time, and found it endlessly tedious), and like you, I didn't really see what the fuss was about.

    A very happy birthday to you, Laura, when it arrives. Numbers are very strange, where ages go. I try to ignore them for the most part.

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  2. I'm so glad I'm not the only person to miss out on the 'Eat Pray Love' bug!
    Saying that, I recently read a blog by a girl who went to visit the medicine man from the story and found him to be quite the con artist, so we're clearly not alone in our skepticism.

    All very bizarre.

    I hope May was a good month for you too xo

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