Sunday Salon: A random variety, plus Short Story Sunday

This weeks Sunday Salon is going to include a random mixture of bits and pieces. Firstly, I have to say that reading this week has been slowly, some of that is down to the fact that I started a book I thought I would love and just didn't want to admit to myself that I couldn't be bothered by it, I wasted 3 evenings on A Carnivore's Inquiry, only reading 120 pages when I could had guessed after 30 pages that I would be giving up on this quickly. I also spent 2 evenings with that horrible foggy brain you get before a cold comes out, which has really affected my reading.

I'm now reading The Famished Road, which I'm loving, but wondering how I'm going to review. I'm quite tempted to do a WG style review, so if anyone has any questions about this book that they'd like to ask, ask away here as it will help me structure the review. I'm hoping to finish reading this by mid week.

Talking about Weekly Geeks, this week is catch-up week and while I don't have any outstanding reviews to write up or completed challenges, I have this mammoth reading list for Fall into Reading to tackle, as I really need to catch up with my reading or I won't be completing many challenges in time. So I'm going to try and finish The Famished Road this week, read Coraline and tackle at least one of my bookring reads. Outside of reading, I also need to catch up on my sign language lessons, I haven't been for 9 weeks, largely because of the school holidays (its run at school), but I haven't practised as I should so I've seemingly forgot nearly everything I spent a year learning, and I need to catch up on my A Level course this afternoon.

Less babble about me, now time for Short Story Sunday. This morning I read Keepsakes and Treasures by Neil Gaiman, from his Fragile Things collection. This story is definitely only for adults but is first rate.
This story is about a man who was born to a woman locked away for clinical nymphomania in the 50's, despite being in an asylum she still managed to fall pregnant, and his father can only be one of the men who are supposed to be protecting her. From a young age, the boy has used murder as revenge and punishment for those who harmed him and his mother. His actions are noticed by Mr Alice, one of the world's richest men, but a man who used his money to stop the public finding out who he is. The boy comes to work for Mr Alice for the rest of his life, he is the person who seeks out and fulfills Mr Alice's desires, whether they are business desires or personal ones. Mr Alice's main desire is for young men to have sexual encounters with. The main part of the story centres around Mr Alice's acquisition of the Treasure of Shahinai, a young exquisitely beautiful boy.
This is an excellent story, but avoid if you dislike sexual scenes or bad language.

I also read yesterday Gaiman's excellent story Bitter Grounds, in this story we follow a young man who is clearly bored of life and just looking for an escape. He decides to drive around America, and meets a professor on his way to a lecture. When the professor mysteriously disappears, the man steals his papers and goes to the conference himself, giving a speech about the zombie coffee girls.
These where read for Short Story September

Weekly Geeks: A Reading Journal in Pictures

Monday

Weekly Geeks this week is dedicated to photos, now I hate having my picture taken so I was wondering how I was going to get around this so I decided on a picture journal of this weeks reading.

First up is this striking image from the slums of Bombay, its hard to remember that people still live like this, that for some people the reality of their day is waking up to this scene and not being able to escape from this to the dazzling city in the distance.
This picture is part of a 'journey' taken when reading the poem 'Blessing' by Imtiaz Dharker to the pupils in my class. The blessing in the poem is a split water main, a day in which they aren't thirsty, they get the water they have been praying for.

Click on the pics to see them up close.

Other WeeklyGeeks pics:

See Chris' collection of books

And Nymeth's cute cat pics

Weekly Geek # 3

This week’s theme comes from Samantha, who suggested that one week we all write about our fond memories of childhood books.

As a child I used to go every Saturday to the library get out the maximum six books and read them all in a week - I think I maxed out the kids and teenage section of the library pretty fast.

My 3 top childhood reads:
My Girl: The novel of the film with Maculay Culkin in it. I must have been around 11 or 12 and read it over and over again, it used to make me cry loads - when a friend died when I was 13 I would read the funeral scene in this over and over as it was my way of letting out what I was feeling. Anyway I leant the book to someone and never saw it again.

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe: I got into this after the BBC made a TV adaptation of it in weekly instalments, we all used to sit around as a family and watch it at tea time on a Sunday evening. I must have been about 9 years old. I loved the book even more, I think it is that idea of being able to escape into another world that all kids love, also a world where there are no parents in charge and the kids have to face and solve the problems themselves.

The third would have to be a Roald Dahl book - probably Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as I loved the family with all the old grandparents in the bed together. I got into his books at around 6 or 7 and read them for years.

Weekly Geek

This weeks Weekly Geek

The theme for Week 2 is something I borrowed (yes, she said it was ok!)
from Darla at Books and Other Thoughts. She says in her sidebar that if she reviews a book that you’ve reviewed, you
can email her and she’ll link to it in her review. I love this idea for three
reasons.
1. As a blog reader, I like that I can have my review linked in
someone else’s blog.
2. As a blog reader, I like that if I’m interested in a
book Darla writes about, there will be other reviews linked at the bottom of the
page, so I can get other viewpoints. You can see how this works here.
3.
As a blog writer, when I review a book, I often remember that I read someone
else’s review at some point, but whose? And when? With Darla’s method, people
tell her about their reviews, and she can see what they had to say about a book
that is still fresh in her mind.
So here’s your challenge! If you’re willing,
adopt Darla’s policy in your own blog. I realize this is a big commitment, so
think it over first, but I think it can be really community-building.

Anyone who wishes to add a link to any of my reviews is more than welcome although I don't have a huge amount at the moment as I'm fairly new.