what i've been reading since last i posted.

well, i can't remember all of them, though there haven't been many. i finally got round to reading the georgia nicholson series by louise rennison, which people have been recommending to me since i was 14, which is, admittedly, a more appropriate age. however, they are still absolutely hilarious and compelling and original and i can read about three a day. they were the perfect relief during year 12 because they're quick and light and nothing to do with the rest of my life.
i also read northanger abbey and persuasion because my dad's going through a jane austen stage and got them out of the library. northanger abbey was really good, very witty but i just absolutely adored persuasion. it is the most romantic book ever written. i've read it a few times and i read the letter captain wentworth sends anne a million times because it proves that boys aren't always dreadful and heartless. plus having a mental image of rupert penry-jones is very enjoyable.
tammy lent me water for elephants at some point and that was really good as well. you don't get too many circus books and this one had a very convincing plot (complete with flashbacks) and was very well written. but it made me wish carnivale was back on tv, that was an amazing show.
i got 84 charing cross road for christmas and i read it in that day. i haven't come across the letter format much in adult fiction but this was genius; it allowed the characters to grow and develop in a much more natural way than conventional prose does. plus i really identified with helene's anglophilia.
i also got one of the phryne fisher detective novels for christmas which i've only finished today. i liked it to begin with but i just didn't like phryne at all. she's made to epitomise the 20s and the flapper lifestyle, combined with a bohemian intellectualism. and the australian setting had absolutely no correlation with her lifestyle, except that she like swimming. she was just too perfect in personality and appearance and when she solved a case it turned out that there was only one piece of the puzzle missing instead of a line of dominoes falling throughout that only makes sense in hindsight. and the whole book seemed to be taken up with descriptions of what people were wearing or what she had for lunch (some of which was incredible for mebourne in 1929) and the important action-y plot points were skipped over. i really didn't like it.
and i really liked chesil beach, even though it was really tense and awkward. so was atonement, i guess. i intend to read more mcewan.
last night i was up 'til 2 finishing high fidelity by nick hornby (the guy who wrote about a boy) because it was just so compelling. all the characters were likable insomuch as they were realistic and the whole novel was just so insightful about the big events in life as well as the small, mundane and insignificant ones. ron found himself at the place that i fully expect to be when i'm 35. wishing i'd done something more before and not really knowing what i'm good at and what i should do with the rest of my life. which is slightly depressing but it all turns out in the end. however, i feel like i have a musical disability. in the book they say you're not a real person unless you have at least 500 records and i have 45. though i never thought i was a musical expert.
anyway, it feels good to get all that off my chest. i haven't just written stuff out in ages, it's theraputic. happy reading.