Newspaper headlines

I love punning newspaper headlines! At least if they are good - but what makes one good? I'm not quite sure, to be honest. Have a look at these though, which are hilarious. The first is from The Metro of 25 September 2008, where an innocent man found out that his old SIM card from his phone was being used illegally. He called his story, "I paid for the SIMS of others".

My all-time favourite has to be the Sun's headline from February 2000 when little Inverness Caledonian unexpectedly beat football league giants Celtic. The Sun's inspired headline was "Super Caley go ballistic, Celtic are atrocious".

Reading and rating

I should really think of some way of rating the books I've been reading, like 5 quills for Excellent and one quill for Meh, not so good. I need to find some appropriate little symbols I could import into my blog.

Perhaps I should also give an idea of which readers each book would appeal to. The problem is I like so many different kinds of books myself, and I suspect lots of other people are like that too. How would you decide?

I'll leave this thought to simmer for a while.

Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell by M C Beaton

It's a great feeling which all readers will recognise when you come across a new author and realise they've written lots of books. Off you go to the charity shops or Abebooks for second-hand or out-of-print works, your friends' bookshelves if you have kind and understanding friends*, or you may even go to a proper bookshop and buy new copies (not in hardback though!)

But then after every high must come the low, and you realise that you have made your way nearly to the end of your new favourite author ... I'm not quite at that stage yet with the Agatha Raisins but the end is in sight. I must ration them out. Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell was an excellent read once again, with some rather surprising happenings (as well as the usual murder of course). Well worth a read.

*butters them up*

Drama Queen

I'd heard of the classic film The Winslow Boy, but had never seen it. I was put off in case the story of a boy accused of stealing a postal order was too upsetting - I know, I am such a wimp. I read the script last night, however, and I really enjoyed it. Terence Rattigan wrote the play in 1946 but it is set just before the First World War. The themes are of truth, justice, family and sacrifice. The characters are all memorable, and most of them are admirable in their own way. One poignant scene comes when the older son says he has joined the Territorial Army because he knows there is "a bit of a scrap" coming up and he doesn't want to miss it. Of course from our vantage point we know just how horrific his "scrap" will be. The play was based on the real-life case of George Archer-Shee; when you realise that George did go on to die at the First Battle of Ypres in 1914, Rattigan's foreshadowing of the fate of Dickie in the play becomes even more resonant.

I went to the completely opposite extreme of drama when I then watched the film Bad Santa! The easily-offended, or even the not-so-easily offended may wish to avoid this film, plumbing as it does the depths of bad taste. The redeeming factor is that much of the film is completely hilarious. Also Billy Bob Thornton is strangely attractive in this role ... just don't watch this with your granny (not least for some of the scenes involving Granny in the film). Here is a link to a review of the film on the IMDB website.

How do you decide what is worthwhile?

I've heard that somebody has commented that they don't see the point of my Book-a-Day for a year scheme. They said that they could understand it if I'd made it into a fundraiser for charity ...

I wondered why. Is expanding your knowledge of books not a worthwhile aim in itself? Is there something wrong with challenging oneself intellectually just for the sake of it?

Am I on track with my targets?

Well, I've just counted up the books I've read and I've completed 40. I started reading on the 10th November so (going by weeks on my calendar) on Friday 21st November I should complete book number 42. As this is Wednesday it looks to me as if I am 1 book ahead. I could give myself a night off! On the other hand I have already selected a book for tonight, a play of about 100 pages. It looks as though I could read that AND have time to watch Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa ...

There must be an easier way to count up the books I've read and still have to read. Perhaps there is some sort of Gadget for Blogger. In the meantime I'll continue doing it the hard way!

The Saffron Garden by Jasmine Crowther

This is a book about an Anglo-Iranian family. It opens with a shocking event, and the rest of the book traces the causes of that event, and the lives of the two main characters who are a mother and daughter. The strength of the novel lies in its evocation of the mother's rural lifestyle as a young woman, and the particular problems she had to face in that society. This would probably be considered a woman's book.