So in previous posts I have extolled the virtues of reading books as God first thought them out i.e. ink on paper and for all intents and purposes I don't think you can go past the whole book reading experience smells and all. However, books cost money, and in New Zealand books are unbelievably expensive and I'm not as down with that as I once was - even going to the second hand book shop isn't as fun as it once was. Truth is mostly it because I found a lovely little file sharing site which allows me to download whole series of books in pdf form, in very quick fashion for nothing. Nada all free. I am so, so okay with this - and as B said why don't you go to the library - trouble is they often don't have what I want, or if they do I have to wait for it, and the truth is I am a voracious reader. I read a lot, in the last few months I have read 49 books (which reminds me need to update the list), which, if I had to pay for would have chewed into my budget a fair whack. I have read them on my mac baby which I love, but lugging it around and reading at the bus stop or on the bus is less than thrilling or really practicable. Which leads me to thinking that it might be time to invest in a kindle that will allow me to read my pdf's where and when I want.
I think I may be being dragged kicking and screaming into the world of the kindle, sigh. Sob - Santa can I have one for christmas? Or even as a pre christmas taster?
It was freezing last night and its colder than cold tonight brrrr! But warm on the inside cause my UK visa came through - hallelujah and thank the baby jesus! Not necessarily well planned my timing as I will be enjoying three winters this year, but with double glazing and a hefty set of thermals I sense no real problems ahead. Ewww and highly likely I will get a paper out of six months of work - which works for moi - Im liking that.
Have been reading a lot lately - I found out that around 15 books is the max my brain can tolerate in a two week period before I need a break. Good to know my limits - will review them later.
I'm quoting Eminem - nice! It has been grey, rainy and gloomy lately. Not surprising really it's winter in the deep dark heart of the southern hemisphere. Today was lovely though - blue, blue sky, but so cold if you came too close your eyes would be in danger. Snow on the hills was the spectacular reason for the very low temperature last night. So what does one do when it's cold and rainy and you have no car and the bus service to your suburb doesn't run on Sunday and public holidays? You read lots of books, listen to music and watch fun movies.
La faute a Fidel! (Blame it on Fidel!)
A lovely wee movie by Julie Gavras about the upheaval a young girl goes through when her thoroughly bourgeois parents decide to take a step sideways and become far more proactive in left leaning humanitarian causes such as abortion in France and advocating for Chilean activists. It's a really cool look into 1970's French society and social change from a child's perspective. It is also a look at how parental choices affect children, no matter how well meaning they are. I really liked the conversation about how group solidarity was different to be a sheeple.
I would say watch it! It is in French with subtitles in English.
Lungs - Florence and the Machine (2009)
I love Florence's voice. I love strong interesting female vocalists and Florence is definitely one of them. I have to say Dog Days Are Over is my favourite song - that and Rabbit Heart (Raise it up). I also quite liked Hurricane Drunk. There is a very modified 80's feel going on in this album. I keep thinking I can hear Talking Heads in Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up). I like the harp in the background and the fact that she can sing is a definite plus. Nice to have a boogie and chill out music on the same album.
We saw her live on Jules Holland's New Year's Hootenany and frankly it rocked - this album was a birthday present for my 30 mumblemumble birthday - thank you darling man!
As an aside I-tunes has flung up Fly My Pretties and Fur Patrol - I think I need to have a chillax music night me thinks.
Now I like her - I like that she writes her own lyrics and music and I like her crusty rusty voice. It is a plus she is good looking and hails from New Zealand. She does get a bit thrashed on the radio but Im okay with that cause when Im in the lab doing monotonous stuff singing helps drive away the lab bench blues :D. Her songs have strong beats and they are very catchy songs that worm their way into your head such that you find yourself singing away to them all day. I really like Oh My and Too late for Lovers. She's funky and kinda hot - it will be interesting to see how she develops as a musician. Her earliest offering Hallelujah was good and I think she's brewing like a nice nana tea.
The live video isn't that flash, you can find another better version here. She wrote the song when she was 16 - I couldn't write my name at that age :D.
In the world of Wideacre (the first of a trilogy), it pretty much sucks to be a woman, with no real rights to anything in 18th century England. Beatrice Lacey loves her bit of land farmed by her semi gentry father - he takes her everywhere teaching her the lay of the land and how to take care of it. Turns out she is good at it, but she's a bit of a sociopath who will do anything to control that land and see her children inherit that land. Anything includes murder (twice), attempted murder, fraud, incest, starvation of people on her land and lots of sex. Oh and she forces her husband to become alcoholic and steals his inheritance. It is not for the faint of heart and she isn't a particularly likeable character but it's a great to see a strong, dark character in the pages of a nicely, nicely author. It was a good tale, it got a bit phaffy at the end of the book, felt a bit rushed. I would possibly read it again. I think I have to read the rest of the trilogy now.
If you are a microbiologist or evolutionary biologist don't read Virolution by Frank Ryan. It's pop science repetitive vomit. If you have had any sort of genetics learning it becomes very boring very quickly. Pity because I thought it would be good. Now Im not a great decryer of pop science - I just like well written science books that dont read like a massive ego boost on the authors behalf. For a really cool pop science book on microbiology read these books - I have read them and they are good. Yes I am a scientist - so you know they're good. The bold ones are written by author's I just could kiss - they are just that good.
10 Good popular science books (emphasis on the micro side)
The Coming Plague - Laurie Garrett (Awesome book - been out a while but still very, very good. It is on the long side but dont let that stop you very good book)
Parasite Rex- Carl Zimmer (one of my favourite pop sci books - really well written and the parasites are just cool)
Yes dear readers - your very absent blogger has returned. So what have I done since I last posted? Got married, promptly ran away to a faraway land, started a new work contract and moved house. Not much really. I have been reading - lots of science guff but also a few books as well.
Moral corruption, theft of bodily tissues and the multi-million dollar business that is of the world that is HeLa. HeLa cells are quite frankly God's gift to this world - they have enabled a very large amount of life saving science to proceed eg Polio vaccine, cancer research etc. None of it would have happened if Henrietta Lacks had not contracted the HPV virus which caused cervical cancer. The tumour grew wildly and spread throughout her body eventually killing her. The short and the long of it was that the doctor who first cultivated the cells took them from her pathology without patient permission or any sort of informed consent. He then proceeded to send the cells around the world for a fee. Did I mention this occurred at John Hopkins? It is a really, really interesting book about the life and death and immortal cells of Henrietta Lacks. Oh and the really slack, pass the buck culture that has occurred within the Science community at large and at John Hopkins and Invitrogen in particular.
Who doesnt love a bit of Zombie gore and biowarefare? I liked it - good for reading on a plane - which is what I did. It is all about our main character chasing, killing and generally blowing up the terrorists and their pet zombies. Not too hard out Im in a thinking mood kinda book - but we all need a blow em up book every now and then.
I like Tess Gerritsen. I like her slight fluff style of murder thriller novels. I liked this one too. It has nuns, blood and gore, and dirty secrets. Dr Isles and Detective Rizzoli on the case. Good for killing time.
Eww and I have been watching some movies and docos:
Compelling and disturbing is an accurate description of this documentary. It revolves around the San Francisco Bay Bridge and the people who are determined to jump off it. Literally the stood and filmed for a year people walking the bridge, some stopping, some jumping, some being hauled back over the bridge by worried citizens. They took note of the jumpers and then went and interviewed the relatives and friends of the jumpers. In one case it was a guy who stopped a female jumper, in another it was one of the jumpers who decided half way down he didn't want to die and changed his position on the way down, so instead of dying he just shattered most of the bones in his body. It was really weird watching these people walk across the bridge trying to pick the one who was going to jump - odd. It also worried me that they were waiting for these people to jump to film it and not doing anything to stop them - icky ethical issues. If you get the chance watch it.
Im a microbiologist - I inherently wanted to watch it. A space shuttle crashes bringing a type of alien virus with it and it spreads through blood or body fluid contact (loved the vomiting into coffee pots at a CDC conference). Enter Nicole Kidman, psychologist and her son (who by rare coincidence has had a type of chicken pox from which he almost died and so is now immune to the scary virus). The virus enters the human host and become symbiotic once the human enters REM sleep, they then start talking and feeling as one and talk about being harmonious because there is no Other - so no fighting or wars just everyone working together minus the emotions. The fight is to keep Nicole awake and her boy from his infected father. Fluff movie but I liked it.
I love the UK's charity shops. They have the best range of second hand books for the most reasonable prices ever 1 - 2.50 pounds - awesome. I found Austerlitz on the shelf - love that. The range of books I find is really cool - it's like people read them once and then give them away - I am so not that kinda girl. I often read my books once, twice - sometimes three times. Sometimes more if I am in love with the book. Go figure.
The trains were hideous on Friday - but... I finished reading The Interpretation of Murder by Jeb Rubenfeld - awesome book I liked it a lot. Will review it later. I went to Oxford and loved the wonderful number of really good bookshops - it was like a test from God and I failed. I caved and bought Wedlock (which is on the list) and If this is man/truce by Primo Levi (which is not on the list). Am enjoying Primo Levi - but it's a bitsa book where you have to read it in bits as it's a bit intense and I need a bit of time to do justice to the author's words. I felt the same about Crash, although the book content is worlds apart.
Hard drive is really, really dead. Need a new one.
So I have read a lot of books in my lifetime. Other people have booze, narcotics and quilting, I have my books. However, each time I move house I do a cull on my books so I couldn't tell you all the books I have read (unlike this man - mildly disturbing but I really cant speak and I'm almost jealous). I found this list, is quite interesting much more me, although apparently I've only read sixty-one on it, tell lies sixty two I have read the bible - although I am unlikely to read it again.
The list - Ones in green I have read and I agree that you should have read them by now. Ones in blue have read and would read again, but they didn't rock my world, may not rock yours. Ones in pink have read and in all truth wont read again. Yellow I started them but for various reasons (boredom being the big one) didn't finish them and unlikely to finish reading them.
Hmmm I appear to have a deep divide I have read a number traditional classical literature and tbh most of them I would read again, and contemporary literature. I also am wary of so called contemporary literature (with a capital L) they just don't resonate with me (well most of them anyway). I read a lot of historical fiction. I also have a tendency to read the back of the book and if it doesn't grab me I don't buy it. I'm not a big believer in if someone says its awesome I should read it (although The Time Traveller's Wife was indeed rocking).
