Watch Your Mouth - Daniel Handler

I really liked Handler's first novel The Basic Eight, and I was hoping for more of the same. But this is a very weird book. The narrator starts off by explaining that everything you are about to read may or may not have happened and gives a selection of potential openings. It's supposedly set out like an opera, or so Joseph Last-name-changed-to-protect-the-innocent claims. But is anything as it seems. By the end I still wasn't entirely sure what was going on. Most unsatisfactory. And odd.
Trivia fact: Daniel Handler is also Lemony Snicket, author of A Series Of Unfortunate Events.

The Children's Book - A.S. Byatt

I loved this book. I wasn't sure at first, I didn't enjoy Possession at all, and it took a while to warm to this one. But once I did, oh boy! I'm not sure about the title, it doesn't give anything away, which is good, but at the same time, it's not something that adds enticement.
The story is rather epic, covering the late Victorian period upto and including WW1. It centres on several families, the Wellwoods, the Cains, the Fludds, the Warrens and their friends. Following the growing up of the children in these families, Olive and Humprey Wellwood's seven, their cousins, and friends as they try to work out what they want to be and who they are in the early years of the 20th Century. It's beautifully well written, delicious old-fashioned storytelling, with some poignant and tragic moments. Not to be read in one go, but slowly and savoured. It was nominated for last year's Booker prize, and it's a shame it lost. On my 'to read' list is the eventual winner Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, but I wonder if I'll enjoy that as much as I did this.

"Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold..."

Why, when I think I'm getting it together, does it all fall apart again?

I have a post-it stuck to my wall, it says "Everything will be ok in the end. If it's not ok, it's not the end."
Doesn't feel that way right now, it's not ok, but it might just be the end. For now. Of this chapter. Things are not in my control. But when are they. Never.

My head is spinning with all these plates I have to keep rotating, or they'll fall, and smash, and then where will I be. I need time out from my life. Time out from this horrid mess that has been my existence so far. Just a day off from myself. Maybe that'd fix it. I don't know. One thing's for sure. I don't have the answers.

New Music Monday

So following on from the Amanda Palmer "Fuck the volcano" gig on Thursday, I found myself in a basement underneath The World's End pub in Camden, appropriately called Underworld, yesterday for an Amanda Palmer surprise gig. Down the stairs from the bright Spring sunshine to the cosy venue we went, unsure what we would find.
The excellent Bitter Ruin from Thursday were just getting the crowd warmed up as we arrived, and they were followed by the less excellent but game for anything Robots in Disguise, who were very cheerful. Then Jason Webley, Amanda Palmer's Evelyn Evelyn partner, took to the stage. He hadn't been able to make Thursday's show, so I hadn't heard him before. He's awesome, and rather nice to look at too (minus the beard). Finally the always awesome Amanda Palmer brought her ukulele out to serenade us. Jason joined her for a hilarious song called Electric Blanket that they had composed in Manchester on a previous tour, some Evelyn Evelyn 'covers', and another celebration of the life of Malcolm McLaren, and then Michael Jackson. They did a rendition of Webley's Icarus, and finished with The Dresden Dolls Sing, one of my favourites. An excellent, rolicking show.

Changes to the blogness

I'm thinking of combining my other blog with this one. The other blog ( called A Book A Day Bookworm) is where I write about my love of reading, of books, and review my last read book. It gets a bit neglected, as I don't always write a review or post for it when I should. Sometimes I leave it for weeks and then decide to write about whatever I've recently been reading. I think I could just do the occasional review here instead and not bother too much with having it seperated out. Reading matters to me, and this is my blog. I write my thoughts, random things, lists and post photos. I guess what I'm saying is, there are about to be a lot more book reviews (although there are currently none here) and a few literature based posts. I might try it as an experimen for a bit, then make a decision as to whether or not permanently switch to just this one blog.
 I also just joined 20-something bloggers, so hopefully more people will be reading my scribbles too. Let's see how it goes.

Once Upon A Time I Left My Hovel And Ventured Out...

Had a terrific night out last night. Went to see Amanda Palmer with Evelyn Evelyn, however, due to the volcanic ash cloud it ended up being an AFP solo show. Which was awesome. The support acts, Bitter Ruin, Robots in Disguise (I don't actually like them, but they were ok) and Melissa Auf Der Maur were fantastic, even though it was acoustic on borrowed instruments!
Amanda Palmer inspires devotion in her fans, people genuinely love her. She's funny, sweary, and talented. She played a selection of Dresden Dolls and solo material, and Jason Webley (the other half of EE) joined her via web cam on his plane to London for a couple of songs. I loved the rendition of Delilah (one of my favourite songs) and I Would For You, with Melissa auf der Maur on bass. The whole show was fantastic, including when she invited the front row onto the stage to help honour Malcolm McLaren whose funeral procession she'd seen driving through Camden that morning, so she rocked out with the lucky fans to Anarchy in the UK. Someone even smashed up their ukulele!! Then she went crowd-surfing, the look of horror on the security guard's face! Her phone got lost in the crowd, but was reunited with it's owner very swiftly, no one there would steal from her.
 All in all it was an fab night. After the show Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman were signing stuff, and I got my copy of the EE album signed and Gaiman's American Gods (aka one of my favourite books) signed.

I wish I could remember what she was singing at this point!

Signing my stuff!

Melissa auf der Maur

AFP & Bitter Ruin performing 'Fuck the Ash Cloud' as debuted in Dublin (we had to pretend to be Dubliners!)

Delilah (with Bitter Ruin's Georgia)

I Would For You (with MadM)

Crowdsurfing (much to the security guard's horror)

Things to look forward to

For a change there's a fair bit going on in my life, and all of it's good stuff!!
This week I'm seeing an old friend I haven't seen for ages, he moved up North and never came back, til now! We've been friends since we were kids, so it should be good to get together and catch up.
Then, on Thursday, I'm going to see the awesomeness that is Amanda Palmer with another old friend. I've needed a night out for a while, and live music's always good. I've seen AFP before, in the atmospheric setting of Union Chapel, last year, just before my birthday. So I'm looking forward to seeing what she's going to do this time round, photos to follow.

I'm hoping that there are more fun things coming my way soon, fingers crossed!!