I enjoy reading before I go to bed. Unfortunately this night-time ritual has been hijacked by my obsession with playing games like Mah Jong and Bejewelled on my iPhone (not exactly relaxing at all!). In an attempt to get out of this bad habit I thought I’d take part in the “Slow Readers Book Club” which starts on March 4th. It’s not about how fast or slow you read – the idea behind the project takes its cue from the “slow” movement where you try to reconnect with what you’re doing, taking time to reflect and renew.

The first book we’re reading is Half-Broke Horses – something I wouldn’t generally read if it was up to me but that is what this is all about. Discovering new things, opening up to new experiences. It’s going to be fun! If you want in, check out this blog post and let me know (in the comments) if you’re taking part.

I’m a big fan of poetry. Back in the day I used to consider myself quite the poet – I’d carry around hard cover journals filled with melanchology and late teenager angst in ode form. Of course, looking back on these now I cringe and I would never, ever, ever disclose their location lest someone may coming looking for them when I become a famous, well paid author ( ).

Anyway, if I could write really exceptional poetry I’d love them to be wrapped in some of these gorgeous covers that were designed for Faber & Faber’s 80th Birthday celebrations. Senior Designer Miriam Rosenbloom and the Faber & Faber team commissioned the works of several talented illustrators to create the covers. Really unique and striking don’t you think?

My favourite is the Ted Hughes volume, illustrated by Mark Hearld.

(via Design Sponge)

I’m proud to admit that I’ve jumped on the Twilight bandwagon. After seeing Jenny’s post about the series I picked up #1 in the saga – Twilight. I absolutely devoured the book in under 4 days (most of my reading was in the early hours of the morning – I couldn’t put it down). I was standing at the doors of Big W bright and early last Wednesday (I got there early and they only opened at 8:30am) so I could get book #2 New Moon. Didn’t start reading it til Thursday evening and had once again devoured it by 1pm Saturday (after staying up most of the night reading).

Tomorrow I’m going to buy the other 2 books Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. I want to try and make them last a bit longer though because once they’re finished there’s no more!! (I’m *really* hanging out for the movie which is released in November)

I’m spring cleaning and selling off a whole pile of books really cheap. Buy as many as you like but get in quick!

Taking inspiration from Si, I’ve decided to show my stack of to-be-read books. I love books. I think I would be happy to live in a house made entirely of books, with book furniture and paper plumbing. It may not be entirely practical but it will be entertaining. And educational.

I’ve just got to finish a couple of pages of Jonathan Kellerman’s The Murder Book then it’s on to American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I finished reading Lunar Park a month ago and while that was incredibly fucked up, I’m told American Psycho is even more so. Yay!

Then it’s on to Break No Bones, the new one from Kathy Reichs, a woman who I believe is set to steal the crown of forensic thriller queen Patricia Cornwell, mainly because Cornwell’s Scarpetta character is getting tired and cynical. Temperence Brennan, on the other hand, is new(ish), fresh and has a positive outlook on life, despite the fact she is often confronted by psychopaths.

Bringing up the rear are two books that I’ve wanted to read for a while – A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers and Naked by David Sedaris. I’m hoping that these two titles will negate the essence of gore that’s been running through my reading list of late.

What are you reading at the moment?

Over the weekend I finished Nicole Richie’s book “The Truth About Diamonds”.

First of all I should mention that I enjoy reading about the small-dog-fashionistas like Nicole and Paris et. al. in the trash mags. I love gossip mongering industry and the whole star system built around people that are talent challenged yet psuedo famous. That being said, my expectations of this book were not high – afterall, she’s only famous for having Lionel Richie as a Dad, but I just wanted to see how many people she’d dish dirt on. And dish she did if only in a thinly veiled kind of way.

when fiction really isn’t fiction
It’s quite odd to think that Richie says the book is a work of fiction, especially when she plonks herself right in the middle of it as the narrator. The book might’ve felt more authentic if she cast herself as a character rather than Nicole Richie former drug addict, musicians daughter, star of a reality tv show etc. Fans of this particular genre of “literature” enjoy references to the real, the bitchy, backstabbing, gossipy trash talk, but I think they like to be told about it from the point of view of someone less fabulous than Ms Richie , perhaps someone a bit more like you or I.

At times it’s an awkward read – she uses way too many metaphors, her sentences are choppy and the plot is weak. Perhaps she and her famous-for-being-rich cronies should stick to vocational pursuits like designing high fashion or creating a signature scent – i.e. something that doesn’t require the ability to form a sentence.

If Ms Richie decides to write another book perhaps she might have the cajones to actually write an autobiography – instead of hiding behind ghetto “fiction”.

I give this book two stars (out of five)

I’m not usually one for Erotic literature but I read about this book in Cosmo or Cleo (can’t remember which but both of them are interchangeable!) and picked up a copy at Angus & Robertson in December 03.

It took me less than a week to read.

It was a great book and quite unlike anything I have ever read before. It was kinda Chick-Lit but was very exploratory. Relationships, friendships, society and self were analysed and manipulated into polar opposites and yes, there was eroticism, but it was eroticism with a point! Fancy that!

Any deep thinking, relationship minded twenty/thirty-something woman will appreciate this book and take something special away from it.

Tony bought this book for his flight to New Zealand in June 03 and I only just got around to reading it in December 03.
I found it quite a good read. The characters were, like all of John Grishams characters, believable and well formed. I found that, like Blowfly, the conflicts were resolved too neatly which took away from the ending of the book but generally I enjoyed it.

Wow, what a disappointing book. It was ok but with 10 pages or so to go, all the loose ends just got tidied up. How convenient! There was none of the usual Scarpetta magic. Instead she seemed to be quite washed up, tired, jaded perhaps.