I finished this book last night. It's the autobiography of the language expert David Crystal - or is it his memoir? See his blog here for a discussion of these terms. This was a pretty interesting book because the emphasis was on applied rather than pure linguistics - how it could be of use in speech therapy for instance. The biographical elements were cleverly handled so that dramatic events were hinted at and then revealed in due course (some of them were tragic, unfortunately). Of interest to me as a cataloguer was Crystal's time spent working on a "sense engine" so that internet searches could be placed in context despite the varying meanings of words. I suppose this is a use of the controlled vocabulary that lies behind many web resources these days. He applied it also to contextual advertising (on sponsored webpages or forums you will see related advertising appearing depending on the words in use on the main page. As you can imagine this can lead to unfortunate juxtapositions if the vocabulary is not controlled).
Day 216; Book 213
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
The Basic Guide to Rubber Stamping
At least that's what I think it's called - I'll need to check. For a beginner, this is an excellent book as every technique is described in detail and then projects are given to illustrate them. Some of the projects look beautiful. However some of them are hideous! Mostly the stamping effects are very good though, and you wouldn't HAVE to make things like plant pots with bits of broken up plant pot stuck on the sides ...
ETA: It's The Basics of Rubber Stamping by Inkadinkado (the rubber-stamp company)
Day 215; Book 212
ETA: It's The Basics of Rubber Stamping by Inkadinkado (the rubber-stamp company)
Day 215; Book 212
Monday, 11 May 2009
Book Catch-Up
Here's what I have been reading since I last posted:
First was The Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success by Sandra McCall. I bought this because I thought the Rock Chick would be interested in it. It was an easy read with lots of useful advice for the aspiring art or craft designer, maker and (importantly, if you want to eat) SELLER! Encouragingly in a way, some of the art featured was hideous and yet people seem able to make a living from it!
Then I got all nostalgic and read William's Crowded Hours by Richmal Crompton. Fellow fans, can you remember the names of William's Outlaws? These books are beautifully written and very amusing, even for adults. Touchingly for me, it had "Pat Walker, 1930" written on the flyleaf (that's my dad).
Next I read Harlan Coben's Long Gone and Linwood Barclay's No Time for Goodbye. The Harlan Coben was his latest Myron Bolitar and it was up to his usual exciting standards. The Linwood Barclay was his first novel and an excellent debut, reminiscent of Coben with its mysteries and plot twists.
I read two books by Elizabeth Noble (thanks Jo), The Reading Group and The Tenko Club. Both of these are women's books about a group of friends and their relationships, break-ups and families. They are beautifully written with characters you care about.
I also read two books set in very different Scotlands. Alexander McCall Smith's The Unbearable Lightness of Scones is another of his Scotland Street novels with an Edinburgh setting featuring Bertie and his awful mother and the other residents of his street. It's very witty and perceptive. Much bleaker was Garnethill by Denise Mina, which is a murder mystery set in Glasgow, but you will be rooting for the feisty heroine by the end.
The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd is about a young Scottish girl who in 1902 sails to China to get married. It's fascinating with all its period and local detail and the character of Mary is well-described as a girl and as she gets older. A surprising and terrible thing happens to her, which she eventually comes to terms with.
I had read Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell before but decided to read it again when I came across it on the bookshelf. It's honest and beautifully written. I want a pet otter! Apparently there are more books by Maxwell so I must look out for those.
Finally I read Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz. This is a bit of a potboiler even though Koontz had revised it years after it was originally published. Dean Koontz is a writer whose development has been amazing over the years but this wasn't one of his most original or exciting. Fortunately this one didn't feature a clever dog or mystical happenings (involving the dog).
Day 213; Book 211
First was The Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success by Sandra McCall. I bought this because I thought the Rock Chick would be interested in it. It was an easy read with lots of useful advice for the aspiring art or craft designer, maker and (importantly, if you want to eat) SELLER! Encouragingly in a way, some of the art featured was hideous and yet people seem able to make a living from it!
Then I got all nostalgic and read William's Crowded Hours by Richmal Crompton. Fellow fans, can you remember the names of William's Outlaws? These books are beautifully written and very amusing, even for adults. Touchingly for me, it had "Pat Walker, 1930" written on the flyleaf (that's my dad).
Next I read Harlan Coben's Long Gone and Linwood Barclay's No Time for Goodbye. The Harlan Coben was his latest Myron Bolitar and it was up to his usual exciting standards. The Linwood Barclay was his first novel and an excellent debut, reminiscent of Coben with its mysteries and plot twists.
I read two books by Elizabeth Noble (thanks Jo), The Reading Group and The Tenko Club. Both of these are women's books about a group of friends and their relationships, break-ups and families. They are beautifully written with characters you care about.
I also read two books set in very different Scotlands. Alexander McCall Smith's The Unbearable Lightness of Scones is another of his Scotland Street novels with an Edinburgh setting featuring Bertie and his awful mother and the other residents of his street. It's very witty and perceptive. Much bleaker was Garnethill by Denise Mina, which is a murder mystery set in Glasgow, but you will be rooting for the feisty heroine by the end.
The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd is about a young Scottish girl who in 1902 sails to China to get married. It's fascinating with all its period and local detail and the character of Mary is well-described as a girl and as she gets older. A surprising and terrible thing happens to her, which she eventually comes to terms with.
I had read Ring of Bright Water by Gavin Maxwell before but decided to read it again when I came across it on the bookshelf. It's honest and beautifully written. I want a pet otter! Apparently there are more books by Maxwell so I must look out for those.
Finally I read Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz. This is a bit of a potboiler even though Koontz had revised it years after it was originally published. Dean Koontz is a writer whose development has been amazing over the years but this wasn't one of his most original or exciting. Fortunately this one didn't feature a clever dog or mystical happenings (involving the dog).
Day 213; Book 211
Some Useful Advice
1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me alone.
2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire.
3. It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbour's newspaper, that's the time to do it.
4. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
5. Always remember that you're unique. Just like everyone else.
6. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
7. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.
8. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.
9. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is probably not for you.
10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day .
11. See a penny, pick it up. And all day long you'll have... a penny.
12. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably a wise investment.
13. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
14. Some days you're the bug; some days you're the windshield.
15. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
16. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.
17. A closed mouth gathers no foot.
18. Duct tape is like 'The Force'. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
19. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.
20. Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving .
21. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
22. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
**AND**
23. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire.
3. It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbour's newspaper, that's the time to do it.
4. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
5. Always remember that you're unique. Just like everyone else.
6. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
7. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.
8. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.
9. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is probably not for you.
10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day .
11. See a penny, pick it up. And all day long you'll have... a penny.
12. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably a wise investment.
13. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
14. Some days you're the bug; some days you're the windshield.
15. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
16. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.
17. A closed mouth gathers no foot.
18. Duct tape is like 'The Force'. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
19. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.
20. Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving .
21. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
22. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
**AND**
23. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
Friday, 1 May 2009
Finished at last!
I've finished that book I didn't like, and here's the name: Ghost Heart by R. J. Ellory. To be fair it did have an ending which came as a complete surprise (and was very clever). The rest of it was kind of predictable though, and the main characters could have been more sympathetic.
But in other news I have the new Harlan Coben novel! It's called Long Lost and it's the latest in the Myron Bolitar series. I'm tempted to go back and read all the others in proper order first but I know I won't - I'm going to start this one tonight (and then lend it to anyone else who wants it).
Off on a course now and then on holiday so I will report back in a week with my latest reading.
Day 203; book 200
But in other news I have the new Harlan Coben novel! It's called Long Lost and it's the latest in the Myron Bolitar series. I'm tempted to go back and read all the others in proper order first but I know I won't - I'm going to start this one tonight (and then lend it to anyone else who wants it).
Off on a course now and then on holiday so I will report back in a week with my latest reading.
Day 203; book 200
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Still reading the boring book
I still can't remember what it's called, which isn't a good sign, but I have persevered and it's getting a bit more interesting. Still not thrilling though. A lonely girl has just been dumped for mysterious reasons by the love of her life ...
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
More photography books
My first choice was a little book of the photographs of Julia Margaret Cameron. A Victorian, she was amongst the leading exponents of photography as art, specialising in atmospheric portraits and dramatic scenes with her models dressed as biblical or literary characters. (It helped that she moved in artistic and literary circles). Her niece, also Julia, was the mother of Virginia Woolf, and there is a very beautiful photograph of her. You really can see her fine and lovely features (surprisingly, because often women described as great beauties of the day would not meet our expectations today). Speaking of modern standards, we would consider each and every one of the models photographed to be having a very bad hair day. No hair straighteners of Frizz-Ease for them! Yes, it's a shallow observation, but mine own ...
The next book was The Commissar Vanishes by David King. This was an eye-opening work about the revision of history under Stalin, specifically by altering photographs to exclude the one who had gone out of favour. King illustrates this dramatically by comparing the original photographs with the altered ones (sometimes they went through several incarnations). It is shocking to look at the people shown and to realise that at least 90% of them did not die a natural death. The photographs were altered by air brushing or cropping (as a scrapbooker I flinched at the evil use cropping was being put to here). Even more horribly, private citizens and schoolchildren were expected to carry out their own revision of books in their possession, blanking out the faces of the out of favour. These pages look particulary creepy and upsetting with just the face gone. Despite the horror of the situation, in some cases the altering of the photographs was carried out in rather an amateur manner and the author points this up with some humorous titles which serve to puncture the pomposity of Stalin and his minions. A very interesting read.
Day 201; Book 199
The next book was The Commissar Vanishes by David King. This was an eye-opening work about the revision of history under Stalin, specifically by altering photographs to exclude the one who had gone out of favour. King illustrates this dramatically by comparing the original photographs with the altered ones (sometimes they went through several incarnations). It is shocking to look at the people shown and to realise that at least 90% of them did not die a natural death. The photographs were altered by air brushing or cropping (as a scrapbooker I flinched at the evil use cropping was being put to here). Even more horribly, private citizens and schoolchildren were expected to carry out their own revision of books in their possession, blanking out the faces of the out of favour. These pages look particulary creepy and upsetting with just the face gone. Despite the horror of the situation, in some cases the altering of the photographs was carried out in rather an amateur manner and the author points this up with some humorous titles which serve to puncture the pomposity of Stalin and his minions. A very interesting read.
Day 201; Book 199
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