Aw ... a lovely book award :)

From a lovely blogger _ Karen Beth at http://kbpinkbookmark.blogspot.com/

Here are the Rules...
1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.

3) Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Wow. Okay, well, the award is really flattering and makes me smile, but the truth is I don't think I have discovered 15 new blogs lately. I kind of wish I had, because it would mean I was doing something more useful than googling Adam Lambert and obsessively reading the Idol forums. Yes ... I'm going through puberty a second time. Because the first one was ever so much fun!

Anyway. I'm sure that I can come up with at least three new (or new-ish) blogs to me _ I tend to be the same way about my Subway sandwich (chicken fillet on roast garlic bread with cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo and salt and pepper) that I am with the bloggers I read: I have a few that I read every day and kind of stick to them. Which doesn't make me elitist, I promise.

Just lazy.

Anyhoo, three new(ish) to me blogs are:

1) Jodie at http://bookgazing.blogspot.com/ We did one of the Dewey mini-challenges together, and now I regularly check out her updates :)

2) Chris at http://www.dreamstuffbooks.com/blog/ Who isn't exactly new-new to me, but I've only recently started tracking his posts and commenting more. :)

3) http://hiddenplace.wordpress.com/ Who I only just started reading recently.

Great blogs, all. And thanks again :)

A review, and an award

Austenland, by Shannon Hale





I was looking for something lighthearted after Handle With Care, and Mrs Dalloway.
But you know, something enjoyable to read. Unfortunately, Austenland didn't really live up to what I hoped it would be.

Jane, a 30-something New Yorker is obsessed with the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice _ and Colin Firth's Mr Darcy in particular. She believes it what keeps her from foring a real relationship, and so when an aunt leaves her a holiday to Austenland _ a kind of theme park/performance home stay in Britain _ Jane takes it to try and deal with the obsession once and for all.

And so begins nearly 200 pages of vague waffling. Honestly, if the book had been longer, I wouldn't have bothered finishing it. The only reason I did was because it only took a couple of hours.

And ... is it me? I seem to be saying "I don't get it" in my reviews an awful lot lately. But I don't get it. I mean, I kind of get the whole Colin Firth/Mr Darcy thing, but I got almost no sense of Jane at all. And Pembroke Park, where the Jane Austen experience happens?
Totally don't get it at all.

Actors fulfill roles of archetypes in Jane Austen novels, and provide a bit of a thrill for the holidaymakers _ usually women looking for their own Darcy.

Jane has a fling with a garderner, waffles over the Darcy character for a bit ... and goes home.

And I'm sorry, but STOP calling the author "Austen!!!!!!!!!!!" That really grated on me the whole time. Who refers to authors by their surnames? Really? Call her Jane Austen.

So two books in a row like that have made me a mite grumpy. I have now started The Adoration of Jenna Fox, and so far, so good.











Now for the award :)

Gavin at http://page247.wordpress.com/ very kindly gave me this award, that I keep forgetting to blog about.

Here's the deal:

If you wish to spread the sisterhood spirit:
1) Post the award on your blog.
2) Remember to link to the person who gave you the award.
3) Give the award to up to ten women who show great attitude and/or gratitude.
4) Link their blogs to your post.
5) Let them know you have given them the award.

I'm touched, and I do love getting awards, and suchlike, but I really, truly suck at passing them on. But since I suck at passing these things on ... if you read here, consider yourself part of the sisterhood :)