Reading etc.

They just keep coming.  Fortnightly.  This fortnight’s offering:

“Had an accident at work that wasn’t your fault?  My god I love you.  Junior lawyer (M, 62) seeks winnable case/easy sex.  Box no. 10/13”

And this week’s winner from the personal ads is:

“Don’t reply to this ad. There isn’t enough of me for you all, and it can only end in heartbreak. Gorgeous, well-educated, well-hung man (35) waiting here for all the pretty ladies to 25 to tango into bed with me. All you have to do is get through this bald, gnomic, flatulent 67 year old exterior and the night will be ours. No refunds. Box no.09/07”

In fact, there are a range of excellent candidates but I can’t be bothered retyping the longer ones. You’d think that they’d restrain themselves as it’s 70p per word, but no.

I offer this short one as well:

“Please send me money. And pictures of yourself naked. And cigarettes. Lifer. Box no. 09/08.”

This edition also contains a piece on Israeli-Palestinian relations by Ilan Pappe who is the head of the Emil Touma Institute for Palestine Studies in Israel. Now, there’s a challenging position.

This Icelandic film is described as bleakly funny.  It is not bleakly funny, it is bleakly bleak.  Most of the film is spent establishing how bored and miserable our hero is. The director masterfully conveys just how little there is to do in a small town in Iceland in Winter. The five minute shot of a fly climbing up a wall is a highlight here. The film ends with all of the characters who have speaking parts (other than our hero) being wiped out by an avalanche. Fun stuff.

Just finished this. Very good. Took a while to get into but worth the effort. It had been sitting on my bedside table for some time saying “I’m a hardback and a birthday present, are you ever going to read me?”Am now looking at the remainder of my bedside pile with some alarm; it is somewhat worthy. Which of the following should I tackle:

“The Bridge over the Drina” by Ivo Andric

“Le Bébé” by Marie Darrieussecq (in French please note, a pressie from the French mama)

“The Blindfold” by Siri Hustvedt (I know that I thought that “What I loved” was brilliant but this is from her back catalogue, suppose it’s disappointing)

“No Vague Utopia” by Emily Cullen (a book of poetry, ok maybe not for reading cover to cover at a sitting).

“Guns, germs and steel” by Jared Diamond (this is very good, but you need to stick with it and every time I get about 100 pages in I abandon for a couple of months and have to start all over again and, to be honest, I’m getting a little tired of the first 100 pages.)

Maybe I’ll just leave them all fester a little longer and reread “Pride and Prejudice”.

Wow, Jack, two minds with but a single thought between them (conveys, I feel a subtle difference to two minds with but a single thought), see my comment in your Cher thingy. Might buy Shade but as discussed am a little dubious. Thing it might end up stockpiled.

Just polished off “Running with Scissors” by Augusten Burroughs.  Entertaining description of, frankly horrific, childhood.  Does not, however, entirely live up to the hype.

Last night saw the flic “In this World” absolutely brilliant, but very, very harrowing story of two refugees trying to make their way from Peshawar in Pakistan to London.  Really excellent though director’s social conscience can be a bit trying when he does voice overs.  This is, however, a minor quibble.  You have to get it out on video/DVD.  Suspect this will not be a problem as it is not exactly top of anyone’s list for an evening in (only got it myself because the rom com I wanted was unavailable).  Do see it, it’s fab.