Reading, Writing and Watching: Weekly Round-Up

READING

I finished The Goldfinch! Yes, only one year late. But still… 784 pages is a big commitment and quite frankly it’s taken me that amount of time to muster up the courage.

To be honest, mid-way through, I did start to rush through it a bit. I did skim sections, yes I did. Every time I would lug The Goldfinch onto my chest, by TBR pile would sigh, huffily, at me. You’re STILL reading that thing! I’m not going to write a review. I suspect all that needs to be said about this book has been said. And besides, I think if you’re going to review something you should, you know, read every word, which I certainly did not.

Were I expected to live until the age of 200, I would have savoured this book slowly. The writing deserves it. And there are some big ideas, which are worth pondering. As it is, I’ve got a lot of books to read and only a few decades left in which to read them. So, as much as I enjoyed The Goldfinch, I wish it was about half the length – and just secretly – I think it probably would have been just as amazing.

In brief: Gold star for writing and plot. Black cross for editing.

Speaking of lengthy books, I am also flirting with the idea of picking up Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life. I have attempted this book before, but put it down in the first 20 or so pages, finding it difficult to follow and distinguish between the four key characters. However, after an impassioned debate on The Book Club (ABC TV) I’m thinking I might have to give this another chance. Four of the five panelists love it, and found it a profoundly moving experience. Leigh Sales dropped it about 100 pages in, not wanting to subject herself to the horrors that the pages ahead would present. I’m in two minds, but I think I ought to at least give it more than what I have so far.

WATCHING

There’s only one thing I hate about summer. And that’s the television.

When Kerry O’Brien signed off from his last Four Corners, my heart sank. Not just for the loss of Kerry, but for the invisible sign flashing above his head. Last Episode of Year. Big Bang and QI ahead.

In this day and age of Netflix and Stan and whatever other weirdo name they give to streaming services, the non-ratings period should be a non-issue. Except that my husband and I are luddites and don’t yet have these services connected.

For the moment, I still have a couple of episodes of favourite shows to go and I’m also stockpiling some movies on our Foxtel recording thing-y for those nights when the only thing on TV is the 20/20 cricket.

 WRITING

Only blog posts this week. A couple of listy-things to help Christma-phobes out there to GET THAT SHOPPING DONE! One for kids books. One for adults.

Also posted a review of Clancy of the Undertow, a really excellent YA book, thanks to the hugely entertaining voice of Clancy. It’s not hard to see where the humour comes from – read this interview with the author, Chris Currie, and you’ll see it in his answers.

So, that’s me for the week. Over to you. What have you been reading/writing/watching? And, is it just me, or is everyone’s brain too cluttered to have any truly great, creative ideas at present?