Liz Going On

The book thing
As nicked from several people.

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed. Well let’s see.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE, or strikeout the books you read but didn’t like.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who’ve read only 6 or less and make them read.

36 read.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith, this gets all three as I intend to read it again its so lovely.
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane and Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

… and I bet most of you can tell, with four blog posts today!

Actually I’ve been really productive and got loads done, and I’ve suddenly found my blogging voice again.

Weird.

How I laughed today.

A taxi was stuck in a flood. Most people were sensible enough not to drive through the 50 ft long and 3 foot deep puddle under the railway bridge, but a blue private hire car wasn’t. And got stuck. And then opened the car doors. What utter fools.

As they were so foolish, and other people looked like they were going to try and drive through it too I phoned the police. As I didn’t have the local police station’s number in my phone I called 999. I did appologise to the lady on the end of the phone that it probably wasn’t a 999 matter, but people were trapped so I thought the police should know.

I didn’t laugh when I got soaked putting my shopping in the boot of my car. It’ll teach me for buying so much shopping.

I also got soaked when swimming today. But that’s the point of it. I quite liked the swim, but didn’t really like the aquatic centre. Mixed changing rooms and showers are just too freaky for me.

I took the shite handcream back to Asda and told them it was crap.

They gave me my money back and then more money cos it was crap.

Result!

I’ve had a bonus day off today. I was scheduled to work from 2-4pm, but as there was no teaching today I didn’t have to go in. Hurrah!  I found this out when I was leaving, late, about 10pm last night. But then someone phoned me at 9am check I knew I didn’t have to come to work, which was nice to let me know, but not so nice as it interrputed my beauty sleep (and I really need that!).

I’ve had a super productive day. I’ve done lots of revision, a little sorting and a tiny bit of lamp breaking, which annoyed me as it was a nice lamp. It just fell over and shattered, I think my chair knocked it. Bugger. The glass went everywhere, so I’ve done some cleaning too. I’m off tomorrow too, well until the night shift starts. Yep, more nights. I’ve got another 10 between now and the start of August. And I’ve done 12 since May, which is 22 nights in three months (ie one week in four on nights). That has to be more than my fair share, but I don’t mind really as I like intensive care and I get some days off in compensation.

I’m about to head to JL to buy a present for choir and a sports bra. I’d forgotten how vital a sports bra is (sorry boys for this unsexy underwear talk) but I’m playing rounders for charity soon (we should have been practicing now, but its raining a LOT) and have no appropriate underwear.  Then I’m going swimming.

Anyone still reading this?  I’m kinda curious who my audience is (apart from the person who found my blog while googling for ’skoda hubcaps’.  I still get hits for flaming boobs and Liz is grumpy….)

Asda’s 49p handcream is only 49 p for a reason.

Its shit!

I am a bit more settled than I was last week. I’m still not quite right, but maybe I’m over analyzing things.  I started thinking if I was happy, and then I started to concern that I didn’t even know what happy was. I guess I just feel overwhelmed with busy rather than happy, and that’s a bit overwhelming really.  But I’m not tired now, as I’ve spent my afternoon off resting.

I went to London on Saturday for a course. It was very helpful, but quite tiring. I have a lot of hard work to do before my exam in October. Which seems so far away, but there’s so much I need to learn.

It was also Gordon’s 30th Birthday party on Saturday. It was ace! There were lots of his friends from over the years at his house and yummy food too. Hurrah!  But I was really tired, so wasn’t really on my best form.

I am addicted to Dexter this week, I’ve almost got to the end of the second series. I know I’ll just want more, but series 3 isn’t out yet. Boooo.

I love holidays. Being paid not to go to work is a lovely thing.

My mouth hurts. Damn wisdom teeth. Hoping it’ll go away soon, but I expect I’ll need to have it removed.

Revision sucks. I don’t know where to start.

Dieting isn’t great either. Ok, so I’ve not put any on, but I want to lose more and am struggling.

Berwick upon Tweed is a nice place. They have lovely kippers.

I’m not handling stress particularly well at the moment. I wish I knew why.  

I’m being good and posting more than once a week.  But I’m likely to be posting less next week as I’m on holiday.  I really feel like I need a holiday, and I’m really looking forward to having some fresh air and being by the seaside.

Tonight was choir. Singing makes me happy, but sadly doesn’t pay the bills. Work pays the bills, but thankfully that’s ok, mostly, although it does stress me out sometime.

I’ve been a bit stressed and angry and a little agressive lately. Sorry if I’ve snapped at any of you. I wish I knew why I’m in a bit of a negative space, but I’m trying hard to break out if it.

I’ve made a diet decision. I’m going to be strict for three more weeks and then start food rehab.  On the 14th July I’ll have been dieting for a year, and what a year its been. I’m really pleased with how much I’ve lost, and how I look now. And I know that keeping like this will be the hard part, and at times its been petty tough already.  I’m hopeful that I can do it, and I’ve got lots of nice friends to help me succeed. 

Hmmm, I appear to only blog once a week.  I am quite busy, but what’s new?

Friday was ace! It involved Charlotte, Dan, Alsion, Gin and other nice people and nice food.

Saturday was more ace. Kate and Ant’s wedding, and I was the bridesmaid. Much fun.

Sunday was also ace. Sun, picnic, Platt Fields and entertainment.

That’s all for now.