World Book Night 2012 and Pirates

Monday I took a trip to Ashford to see a film at Cineworld,as it was one of my visits. The film I saw was “The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists”,the latest Aardman animation movie, the people who brought you Wallace and Gromit.

Afterwards I popped into the Ashford library for the World Book Night evening. It was nothing like the Brighton one last year. Five givers and only five books to give out from the 25 different titles given on the night. So I picked up all five they had to offer and caught the train to Maidstone to see the new library which opened on that day.

When I got to the new library in Maidstone they were about to close and I was only able to pick one other title from the list, since all the rest had gone. I must admit I felt somewhat deflated and peeved by the whole affair, and wished that I had gone to Brighton, Brighton, for many reasons, is better organised , guaranteed that you would get all the books on the list available, with readings, and an occasional author to talk to,Secondly the event in Brighton at the library there is open till ten o'clock , not closing at eight or , in the case of Maidstone, seven!

I was going to do a much more acrimonious rant but don't have the energy to do so now that my ire has been quenched by the cold light of day, and a few bevvies last night, including some whisky that,supposedly,Ali gave to Tim early evening.

Anyway,these are the books I was given last night -

Bernard Cornwell – Harlequin
Dodie Smith – I Capture The Castle
Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice
Stephen King – Misery
Cormac McCarthy – The Road
Bill Bryson – Notes From A Small Island

I was very happy to get the Bill Bryson book. I have already read “The Road” and the Jane Austen classic I read a long time time ago for a primer course before I studied the O.U. Arts Foundation Course many years ago. Strangely enough, I have never read any Stephen King novel, so this one will be the first.

So when World Book Night comes around next year I will definitely swan off to Brighton.

What I did find strange is why did they opt for April 23 this year, which happens to be both St. Georges Day and Shakespeare's birthday. Surely these separate events would detract from the evening, and being on a Monday rather than a Saturday.

(Actually checking back to March 5th 2011, I picked up seven books, plus three directly from the authors. These were -


“The Reluctant Fundamentalist” Mohsin Hamid
“New Selected Poems 1966 - 1987” Seamus Heaney
“The Blind Assassin” Margaret Atwood
“Beloved” Toni Morrison
“The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time” Mark Haddon
“Cloud Atlas” David Mitchell
“Agent Zigzag” Ben Macintyre


and from the authors , not WBN books,

“Master Plan” Charles Bancroft (Raptor Press)
“The Architect” Charles Bancroft (Raptor Press)
“Colonel Barker’s Monstrous Regiment” Rose Collis (Virago) )

So overall, I didn't do too bad this time around. Plus, the Charles Dickens one (A Tale of Two Cities) from this year's list I already have in hardback from a visit to Faversham recently.

I think the poor rain soaked weather made me grouchy, and that overall, it was a good day.

Just one final rant, these books once read read should be given away again free for somebody else to enjoy, but I have found them turning up in charity shops for sale! That cannot be right! It goes against the grain of the whole idea. Once I read this lot I shall be given them out to friends, leaving them in prominent places, or giving them to the gals next door. Last year they had the Ben MacIntyre book on Eddie Chapman, Agent Zigzag.

Link to my post last year -
http://davesmusictank.livejournal.com/595561.html

My tweets

• Mon, 15:01: A right crappy day
• Mon, 17:06: I saw the Pirates movie and it was very funny
• Mon, 17:43: Ashford WBN only had five books
• Mon, 18:34: In Maidstone and going to WBN event here
• Mon, 19:56: In Wetherspoons having a pint of Einstein - perhaps i will have a eureka moment
• Mon, 20:01: I thumped my knee earlier and its throbbing a bit
• Mon, 20:04: Bus up to Chatham next and then home
• Mon, 20:52: And why did they move it from March ? It classes with birthday of Shakespeare and St George's Day
• Mon, 21:06: Its a bugger when you have to change trains at Sittingbourne to get to Teynham

( Read more... )

Don't Stop Me Now

This is bloody ace! Really funny Quite apt.

Shouldn't we have some sort peasant's revolt over these blinkered bastards? No mandate but full steam ahead with their Thatcherite policies. Can we please have an opposition that will fight them!

World Book Night and Shakespeare Revisted

My earlier diatribe against some aspects of World Book Night might have been a bit premature vis a vis being concomitant with the birthday of Shakespeare. Looking closer at each of these free books I noticed that each one has a different sonnet by Shakespeare, and that with each of the thirty titles there is a different sonnet for each book.

Also this week on television will start a season on the oeuvre of Shakespeare and a special QI evening centred on the bard, hosted by the affable charms of Stephen Fry.

My blog entry on that evening has made the first page on Google search. Amazing!

Today I have felt a little lacklustre in mood, and for no apparent reason. I suspect that the weather has something to do with, but a few moments in the garden this afternoon,when the sun came out to warm the air, bucked me up no end. Sunny weather makes me feel good inside.

I have been filling in the questions of a quiz I picked up from Ashford library , and I am now left with four of the most fiendishly difficult ones left , and all associated with books. The deadline for doing them is May 5th.Due to answering this quiz has resulted in doing very little book reading except that one on Montaigne, and I am wondering will I ever get to the end of that book.

I now know why my sales on Play have been stagnant. I have noticed that my listings, whilst appearing on my own page, have not shown up when customers log in to look at items online against my competitors. I have emailed Play about this to get them to sort it out. It has happened once before and an email to them did the trick. That débâcle with the Big Bang Theory DVD has been resolved as well. They have refunded my money and now it is back in my site balance. I might just use the balance to buy some books or more Woody Allen movies,or even purchase BBT series 4 from another affiliated Play trader.

I have also added some singles to the Discogs site, as this is doing quite well currently with another slab of vinyl to post off tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will be in Sittingbourne again but will traverse to Faversham beforehand , as I have a Folio Society edition of the best of Punch magazine (from the Faversham Society charity shop) to pick up in the morning, and a cheque from Santander to deposit.

Finally, birthday wishes go to my sister-in-law for Thursday. Brother is taking her somewhere special over the weekend and my lips are sealed on the subject as to where it is.