I missed last weeks ‘Monday’ meme, partly because I forgot (oops) and partly because I’ve been obsessed about the filming of the new ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 4’ movie that’s taking place in Greenwich. I’ve been travelling up there since Monday to see if Johnny’s arrived yet (excitement!), but no… it was just production setting up bluescreens, castle facades and other piratey stuff. If you’re interested you can check out my blog post complete with pictures.
I heard through Twitter that Johnny’s going to be there today. Whether I’ll go to see him is another thing entirely. For one I’ve got a sore throat which will probably turn into a monster cold! But I suppose that’s what you get for standing around in the cold waiting for a celebrity to turn up! I’d hate to have a job as a London paparazzi. If I do see him, I’m going to *hopefully* have him sign my copy of ‘The Rum Diary’ and ‘Fear and Loathing’ by Hunter S. Thompson. He’s supposed to have the filming rights for it (Hunter gave it to him before he died).
That aside, I’ve also been busy writing a guest review for The Blue Bookcase – the first one for me, so I’m pretty excited about that! About my 50 Books a Year thing… yeah, I’m on no. 50 at the moment and I’ve got about 3 books on the go. So it’ll be a surprise to see which one gets it!
Enough of the banter, more about the books.
Books Read
1. ‘Lavinia’ by Ursula Le Guin
This gets 4/5 stars. Review can be found here!
2. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Although executed in a masterful way, this gets 3/5 stars. Review can be found here.
Currently Reading
1. The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter
This wasn’t really on my list of reads, but my curiosity got the better of me. And would you believe it, its explosive stuff. It’s a novel of beautiful contradictions which looks like it’ll get the full 5/5 from me. A literary buffs heaven. Who said Women’s fiction was all romance and barbie-doll stuff. Angela Carter will eat you for breakfast! Djuna Barnes, read it and weep!
2. Retromancer by Robert Rankin
…And now for something totally different. Fancy a bit of Monty Python on tap? Then I recommend Rankin. He’s awesome. Can’t believe I haven’t come across him earlier. He totally takes the crap out of big, blockbuster novels. This one is a play on WIlliam Gibson’s famous cyber-thriller ‘Neuromancer’. Another 5/5’er, methinks.
3. The Room by Hubert Selby Jr.
We’ve had comedy and we’ve had uber-feminism. To counterbalance all this we have: the Selby. Which by the way, is beginning to irk me very much. I’m skipping pages. Too, much, graphic, gore. I’m not the squeamish kind, but I kid you not when I say that if I didn’t have a firm grasp on what Selby was actually trying to do as ‘writer’ in his art, I’d put this book away and never touch it again. This one will be a tough review indeed.
That’s it for now. Happy reading everyone!
Wordly Obsessions 
Madame Bovary is one I’ve been intending to read….like, forever!
The others are new to me, although Lavinia looks intriguing….
Here’s my Monday:
http://laurelrainsnow.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/monday-memes-mailbox-and-what-are-you-reading-3/
I’m reading a collection of nature writers called The Land’s Wild Music. What a great title! It includes writers like Matthiessen. I love his prose on nature. Few can match him. I’m constantly on the look-out for another Matthiessen, which is how I picked up this book.
Laurel – Thanks for dropping by. I’m sure you’ll love M. Bovary. Lavinia is also a novel I highly recommend. I’ve got word now that my review has been posted, so you can go have a look if you like.
Jacqui – I’ve never read any Matthiessen. But if he writes beautifully about the landscape I’ll make it my business to do so. I know you enjoy collecting fragments of such descriptions (a habit I’ve got into now thanks to your advice) so Matthiessen must be a goldmine of elegent prose.
Very interesting list! A few of those are getting added to my TBR list (because THAT thing isn’t already out of control). Probably not the Selby though. When gore is detailed enough to warrant mentioning like this and skipping over I can’t say that I’m intrigued. Besides, I have a delicate constitution sometimes. 😉
Good luck with your celebrity-hunting. Hope your cold will fade away soon.
Looking forward to your review of Angela Carter now that you recommended it to me on my blog!
I loved Madame Bovary, and I hear what you’re saying about the Hubert Selby book. I think I actually ended putting that one aside — glad I’m not the only one!
have a great week of reading.
Kimberly – It’s not so much gore, just pure gratuitous torture really. But it’s not real, it’s all in the mind of a criminal. He’s safely locked up (thank god) for whatever crime he’s commited. But his feelings of envy, rage whatever you want to call it just grow and grow. It takes guts to write stuff like that.
Leeswammes – Thanks for the best wishes and for dropping by. I’m beginning to fear reviewing that one. I always get like this when I like a book too much!
nancyo – So you’re a tough girl too, yay! I swear, I’m getting close to throwing in the towel. Intense!
Hi Zee! We’ve just posted your guest review on The Blue Bookcase, so go check it out! We also would appreciate it if you would link back to it and encourage people to comment and let us know what they think.
JOHNNY DEPP!!!! I mean, errr….great books this week! LOL
Actually that would be so cool if you had your book signed by him… I am keeping fingers crossed for you and hope the cold goes away! 🙂
Thanks Ingridlola! Somehow I had it in my head that it was going up Wednesday. I’ve done my post, fixed the links in the Monday meme. I hope people like it. Suddenly I’m very nervous!
Sheila – Yeah, it’s been like that all week for me. Depp has replaced books. I’ve lost all concentration! The cold’s a bit better now. I no longer sound like I’m gargling with razor blades.
I’ll have to jump over and read your review of Madame Bovary. I liked it, but found it difficult to read at times.
How awesome! I would love to visit pretty much any set for a movie, but Johnny Depp, wow! I hope you were able to get to see him and forgo the cold.
You’ve got some books I’ve never read before, but been interested in. I’ve always wondered about Madam Bovary, but haven’t been able to bring myself to read it just yet. Sounds like I may wait. LOL
Have a fabulous reading week and thanks for stopping by earlier!