Book List

From Maude in Progress .

The top 100 or so books most often marked as “unread” by LibraryThing’s users.
Bold the books you have read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn’t finish.

I always finish a book even if it’s a struggle. From this list I don’t see much I had to read for school. Perhaps a reflection of once you get GCSE English at 16 you don’t need to satisfy any other English requirement. For GCSE English we did 1984 (but I’d already read it I was and am a bit of a George Orwell fan), Macbeth and Flowers for Algernon. We did Romeo and Juliet in Year 9 (8^th Grade) along with a bunch of 20^th Century young adult writing. The Aeneid was the set text for the literature component of my Latin exam so I’ve read it in both English and Latin. I found it bizarre that I did Latin literature and never French. Especially as I did a total of 7 years of French. I have read Camus, Beckett and a couple of other things in French though (when I had time to attempt to stop my French getting rusty).

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel (Although I've read it for teaching my undergraduate tutorials and lecturing about environmental determinism, as opposed to having to read it for a course I was taking)
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter (brought and read my first time in the US, I also re-read all the relevant American literature I had at the time including the Buccanneers by Edith Wharton)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves

The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion is this (?)
There is Confusion (?)
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
The Aeneid (in English and Latin, I was a geek at school and did Latin in my lunch hours)
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit (in Junior School)
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield

Life happens...

So in the past month I have (in no particular chronological or meaningfulness order)

* Been to a celidh (aka barn dance, square dance). I'd forgotten how much fun they are and we're planning on going to more. Unfortunately I'm going to be in the States when the Proms celidh is :-(

* Marked a whole load of exam papers. Personally, the incentive that worked for me (developed over my increasing teaching load over the last couple of years) is chocolate and sweets after so many papers marked.

* Written more than I thought on my thesis. Still having silly blocks over tiny silly things such as graph drawing but its all part of the process.

* Had some interesting conversations with friends. Why is it when you're single people decide to tell you they're interested even if you've known them for 9, 7 or 5 years (and know you're 'involved' with someone)?

* Been travel advisor to quite a few people on Vienna, New York, Zambia, London, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland. I love travelling and sharing stuff about cool places with people so seriously considered just becoming a travel agent.

* Won a prize at a conference for my presentation. Quite a big thing but my non-uni friends don't seem to get how big a deal it is for me.

* Got shocked at how much petrol prices have risen just in the time that I've had my car (less than six months) a 10% rise. Luckily my car does just under 40 mpg and most of my journeys are at around 50 mph but its a bit shocking especially compared to how much petrol is in the US. I can't really complain about the weak dollar as I'll save far more when I'm there this summer from the exchange rate than suffer due to high oil price double impact.

Meme for the week

From Semi-Charmed Wife .

Apple juice or orange juice?
Apple.

Are you a morning or night person?
Night. I can do mornings if necessary but used to have a mug that claimed I was allergic to morni

Which do you prefer, sweet or salty foods?
Generally sweet.

Ninjas or pirates?
Pirates.

What was your favorite childhood television program?
Button Moon.

Are you a collector of anything?
No.

If you could be any animal, what would you be?
A monkey.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Timetravel.

What’s your favorite color?
Blue (and variations of it).

Do you believe in extraterrestrials or life on other planets?
Not sure.

Do you believe in ghosts?
Yes.

Ever been addicted to a video/computer game? Which one(s)?
Tetris (but it was my final year and a major procrastination tool).

You’re given one million dollars, what do you spend it on?
A house in the UK and one in the USA.

List three of your best personality traits:
1. I'm loyal.
2. .
3. .

List three of your worst personality traits:
1. I don’t cope well with stress.
2. I don't give up soon enough on bad things.
3. I procrastinate easily.

List one thing you wish you could change about yourself:
Having more confidence in myself.

Any tattoos or piercings?
Just pierced ears.tattoos, all before I turned 16. I’ve had two removed with lasers, so I currently have one. No piercings except the ears.

Are you mostly a clean or messy person?
Messy except in the kitchen and bathroom

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
Near a certain someone. Generic description of place would be near the coast, but with some hills nearby so its not too flat.

If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?
At the moment new places to visit list includes Iceland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Mozambique, various Greek Islands, Mexico, Nicaragu

Name one regret you have:
Staying in not one but two bad relationships too long.

You’re about to walk the green mile, what do you have as your last meal?
Seafood risotto and a really good chocolate mousse/terrine. Accompanied by good wine, with a decent gin and tonic aperitif and followed by good coffee.

Name one thing not many people know about you:
My liking for trash movies and books.

If you HAD to change your name, what would you change it to?
Something a bit more Welsh maybe, although its common I like Jennifer and its diminutie forms. Maybe Bronwyn or Ester.

Do you believe in the afterlife?
Yes.

List five goals on your life’s to-do list:
1. Finish my PhD.
2. Live in the USA.
3. Get married
4. Visit all the continents.
5. Have a child.

April days

So I have been super busy.

This past week I was at a conference in Vienna, Austria. It has over 8000 participants from around the world and deals with all manner of Geosciences. Last year was my first year there and I spent a good amount of time worrying about missing something useful and getting lost in the conference centre. This year, despite co-covening a session, I was more chilled out.

More people from my institution were at the conference this year than last, I ended (as I thought I might) drinking a lot more than normal. Not having to drive home makes a difference. I also was braver about networking this year and ended up going for dinner a couple of times with people who submitted stuff for our session who work in my general subject area. However, I think I am recovering from stodge overload due to Viennese cooking.

I shared an apartment in a central location with an old office mate. She was a post-doc and now has a lectureship outside of London. We hadn't caught up properly for ages and it was so nice to be able to do so and have an easy going relaxing room mate experience.

So on Saturday we went to Bratislava, Slovakia. It cost 14 euros return took less than an hour and was a good day trip. Bratislava is developing (tell tale signs of investment banks, property management companies, property rental companies) and is a mish mash of architectural eras. Beautiful in a slightly shabby chic way, nice to see a city not sterile and reminded me of Prague 10 years ago.

Apart from that I had a PhD progress meeting (a college 6 monthly requirement). They depress me preparing for them but the meetings make me feel more optimistic. My supervisors tell me I'm too much of a perfectionist and I'm not far off.

Which is a good thing as I've got a ticket to the USA booked. I LOVE planning trips abroad. I'm going to the boy's sister's wedding in Philly, staying with him and his housemates in LA, then flying back via Atlanta to stay with my friends whose wedding I went to in November. We are either taking the plane from Philly to LA or the train. Travelling together is on our to do lists (long story about our whole involvement deserves its own, probably multiple, post). I jokingly suggested doing some this trip by train. This would involve taking a train overnight from Philly to New Orleans, stay overnight in NO then take another train to LA spending two nights on the train. We would get sleeper accommodation incl food and drinks and it would be a good way to catch up properly. But the boy has started a new job so is about to start negotiating time off so we'll see.

Cool Meme

From several people ( ProfGrrrl , Dr Medusa , Anastasia amongst others)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Go to http://www.photobucket.com/

2. Type in your answer to the question in the “search” box.

3. Use only the first page.

4. Insert the picture into your Blog.

1. What is your relationship status?

2. What is your current mood?

3. Who is your Favorite Band/Artist?

4. What is your favourite movie?

5. What kind of pet do you have?

6. Where do you live?

7. Where do you work?

8. What do you look like? (Apparently)

9. What do you drive?

10. What did you do last night?

11. What is your Favorite TV Show?

12. Describe yourself:

13. What are you doing today?

14. What is your name?

15. What is your favourite candy?

16. What is your favorite drink?

A dress and memories

I was unpacking some things that had been in my Mum's storage before she moved house. Amongst them were some clothes, in particular my dressy dresses, the ones I wear for formal dinners (black tie) and more dressy weddings.

And I came across it. A dress that brings back so many memories from when it was purchased to every time I wore it, a dress that so has its own personality. Normally I'm not like this with clothes, I abhor clothes shopping unless I'm in the mood (and weirdly if I'm in the US, perhaps as I suddenly become 2 sizes smaller and tops are long enough).

So I brought this dress at what is now Topshops flagship Oxford Street store in June 1997. I'd been to an open day at the college in London where I would start my undergraduate career in Chemistry (I switched to Geography somewhere else after two years but thats another story). After looking around the place and deciding that it was really where I wanted to go (above Oxford or Cambridge) I decided to go shopping for a dress for the upcoming sixth form party.

In the basement where there were concessions for other small designers. I found it, a floor length, pretty much backless dress, that clung in the right places, fairly high necked and strapless, with a slit up the back so you can walk. Basically the first dress I brought that flaunted my femininity but not too much that I was out of my comfort zone. It was reasonably priced and with a student discount under thirty pounds (my maximum budget). I remember showing the dress to friends when I got back home and them being slightly shocked, it was me but not expected.

I wore the dress to multiple compliments, for me the geek of the year this was unusual. I think I enjoyed challenging people's opinions of me. I got a kiss from the boy I liked (another chapter in our long drawn out relationship) and got scared. I got asked whether I was engaged to a good friend of mine that night, something that shocked my and my supposed fiance so much we laughed for about five minutes. (He was the first of my friends from home to get married though). I had an amazing night at that sixth form party, partially because it was after a summer concert at the local theatre in which I had played in several groups, had a couple of solos go well and sing in the chamber choir finale. Going from the natural post-concert high to a party meant everyone thought we'd been drinking already.

I wore the dress to a post-production party a couple of weeks later. The english class had adapted "Room with a View". I had ended up getting involved with stage crew, partially to manage a good friend who is a designer not a stage management person. We thought we invented the idea of a prop table! It may have played a part in my most short lived dating episode (dating someone to make someone else jealous, very silly and not worth it, particularly when the object of your desire is doing the same thing!).

I wore the dress to a couple of freshers balls (along with my very plain black dress, which has a history associated with it). It became my clubbing dress in London being worn to Turnmills (now sadly closed), Ministry of Sound, Fabric, Heaven amongst other places (it shocked my most recent ex that I once was into the club scene). I wore the dress to my new college freshers event two years after my first experience of starting a degree course.

I hadn't worn the dress in years. So when I found it I wondered did it still fit. My weight went up when I first started university and has fluctuated since. However, I knew from another dinner dress I'm about the same size as I was as a 17 year old (I don't know how but I'm not complaining). The dress still fits, it still makes me feel good and I would feel fine wearing it on a night out. Not to a formal dinner but for something else.

Normally my memories are so lucid when associated with place and landscape (I'm a geographer it figures), this is one of the few pieces of clothing that I can remember vividly the experiences each time I wore it.

Evidence of Snow (in a very British obsession with the weather)

So a couple of images (from my phone so not fantastic). One from my bedroom window. We had around an inch of snow. Bizarrely my boots (fabulous for teaching in) were the safest thing I could find to walk to church in. I forgot about my walking boots, but it was early in the morning. Its tried to snow a couple of times today and we've had some hail.

Easter

I woke up this morning to see abiout 3 cm of snow on the ground. This is not normal, neither the amount or presence of snow or the timing.

Yes, Easter is early this year but snow in late March is not usual.

Dad's is located in a place that is so central and away from the coast that moisture has run out by the time it reaches here whether the front comes from the East or the West.

It was fun walking to church this morning in the snow (the last time I did this was when it snowed on Christmas Eve a while ago) and made decorating the cross with spring flowers seem that bit more special.

Sunday Scribblings: I just don't get it

I Just Don't Get It.

Something that slightly bugs me is the inability of some of my long time friends in London to get the fact I actually teach and its not a minor thing. I've taught more than most grad students do here as my old advisor left at quite short notice so I was on a p/t teaching contract (the year I was 1.5 people: p/t RA, p/t lecturer and p/t PhD student). Some people don't seem to get that I can't go on holiday as I have to teach on a Monday afternoon and you can't just move a 2 hour lecture for 60 students easily. Especially when the 10 week course in a very short term is taught by 4 people who have agonised over the order of lectures. It must be said these are the same people who didn't really get the fact I had a proper job with an office with my name on the door. Perhaps because they've known me since I was an undergraduate.

On the other hand people who I have know since 2001 (as opposed to 1998). who met me in a context where I was employed to teach (albeit music to 8-17 year olds) don't seem to have an issue with it. Perhaps because they're mainly american and therefore PhD students teaching is the most normal thing in the world.

K posted a while ago about how being a grad student isn't a formal job but it is and people don't get it. Yes, you set your own hours (convenient when friends from far away are in town) but this means that you work when others don't so calling at any time of the day may interrupt one day and not another.

Rant over...

Five years

A couple of days ago was the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

I remember watching the situation unfold on tv comparing it to images and reporting in the first Gulf War. The contrast was amazing, the impact of embedded reporters, my greater knowledge of the region (I'd taken a course of territorial disputes the previous year in amongst the other Asia and Africa centred course of my degree). In the first gulf war the son of the village librarian served in the army and wrote letters back to his old primary school which were read out in assembly. It provided an interesting insight to a 10 year old. Compared to a 22 year old at a college which was the centre of the student stop the war movement (people slept in college nights before big marches). I knew it was inevitable but wished there was another way. In the back of my mind was that if it turned into another Vietnam quickly my american male friends were liable for the draft. I knew really that it wouldn't happen, and that if it would they would escape it like their fathers and uncles had (enter seminary, rabbi school, medical school abroad) but it was scary. My feelings about whether the war was and is justified are very separate from my concern for people are serving in theatre and their families, who deserve our support and respect no matter what our morals say about the situation.

Five things this week

This week has been mixed to say the least.

1. The RAC (a British equivalent of the AAA) are very efficient in coming out quickly and fixing ill tyres. Particularly useful when you are driving to the station to take the train into London to give your last lecture of the year. I made it with 20 minutes to spare (to the amazement of the wonderful department admin staff). If I had been late it wouldn't have been too bad. I work on the primary school adage that a child can only concentrate for as many minutes as they are old. Therefore with undergrads I work my lectures in 20 minutes chunks and Monday's lecture was on my field of study complete with cool 20 min video (that is also partly on YouTube). But all panic re-arranging of the lecture was needless. However, I did lecture drinking a cup of tea for the first 15 minutes.

2. There are lots more academic blogs out there than I originally knew about. This week I've been discovering good ones by females in academia which is cool and nice to know I'm not the only one struggling with writing.

3. I have two chapters overdue to my supervisors. They're nearly done and I'm aiming to have them in their inboxes by the end of next week. The large carrot is that once they're not my responsibility (albeit temporarily) I can book my flight to the US for July/August to see the boy (a family wedding of his is a very convenient excuse).

4. I finally feel happy with the new office setup. I used to have my office space due to my job (part-time PhDs don't get desks but part time RAs do). We moved into a new building about 2 years ago into a room for 12 (but there were generally only about 6 of us in). When I changed from p/t to f/t there was a re-arrangement of rooms and the old researchers room became the final year PhD room so everyone moved around me. I loved being with the RAs because of the people but they've all left (bar one) either to permanent lectureships or back to home countries. I've had some amazing room mates who have helped my PhD. The RAs were chatty, final year PhDs not at all (an old resident of the room called it deathly silent when she came to visit me). After 4 years of a very productive but conversational environment its taken some getting used to. However, the new residents are a bit more chatty (I suppose its tough coming from a room for about 35) and we've all got used to each other. I adore my next door neighbour we've got on well since we started together, just never got to talk much and there is a tea rota in place.

5. Three people I know had interviews on the same day this week. All went well but they're all waiting to hear. Fingers crossed as they all really need/want to move.

Coffee, coffee, coffee

I was surveying the cupboards for coffee this morning and had forgotten I had such an interesting collection.

I've just finished my jar of fairtrade Kenyan medium roast so am onto using cafetiere (french press in USA) coffee. I do have an expresso machine but its currently in a cupboard so it was too much hassle to get it out, set it up. However, I do have some very nice Lavazza Italian expresso for it.

So I ended up drinking Australian coffee (yes, Australian) that my sister and Dad brought back from the Whitsunday Islands on their trip there for Dad's Jim'll Fix It*.

I rediscovered where my Zambian coffee had gone (back of a cupboard behind hot chocolate powder). I have three types, one brought direct from the coffee plantation and two that were grown within a couple of hours from the capital and sold in the supermarket. These range from medium to very strong and need a bit of extra brewing. I did my work/thesis research in Zambia so its nice to have coffee that I know where it comes from and is ethical. As an aside instant in Zambia, much like the rest of Southern Africa generally contains chicory and therefore is no effective at 7am when it needs to wake you up. Therefore, I got into a bad habit of visiting one of the Greek bakeries on my way into meetings to pick up a coffee (and more often than not a pastry too). Seeing as I was in charge of buying drink and biscuits for group research meetings there, I made sure there was decent coffee (generally from Egypt for some reason).

The best airline coffee I have ever had was on Ethiopian Airlines, really smooth not as strong as I thought it was going to be, and amazing service.

I also have Taylors of Harrogate variations, this is a Yorkshire company that has been fairtrade for years (before it became trendy). One of them is half caffeinated and half de-caf so perfect for late night drinking.

I refuse (at home at least) not to drink coffee that is fairtrade. I've known about fairtrade since my childhood, mainly due to Traidcraft at Church. I did my undergrad at a place that charged less for fairtrade coffee and tea (before they got rid of the non-fairtrade stuff altogther). My current university is designated fairtrade. I've just finished lecturing about development in the global south and touched on trade issues. I know its become the trendy thing now but its a small thing to do and per cup the price difference is so minimal.

And I'd never buy or willingly drink Nescafe. Just don't get me started (baby milk, rowntrees, blue smarties, kit kats etc).

As for tea, I work near the original Twinings tea shop in London. As its cheaper and has a wider range (and lovely staff) I go there to buy my tea. When I buy my usual stuff (earl or lady grey, ceylon, ceylon orange pekoe i.e. anything that doesn't require milk) I always pick up a sample tea bag for around 25p to see whats around (rhubarb and roibuis anyone?).

Seeing as I'm living on my savings and a bit of teaching this year. I've cut down on my coffee shop habit. However, I've always gone to the college place (where its cheap but has few opening hours) or Neros (voted the best coffee of the cafes here). I dislike Starbucks not only due to some of their business practices but their coffee is not good and overpriced.

* "Jim'll Fix It" was a TV programme in the UK where people wrote in asking for Jimmy Savile to fix it so they could do certain activities. My Dad's company after you've worked there for 25 years gives you £10 000 (just under $20 000) and 6 weeks extra holiday for two years. Therefore its got the nickname of the Jim'll Fix It. If you have no desire to take up the extra holiday (he gets over 6 weeks per year anyway, the joys of UK/EU employment law) you can retire 6 months early (i.e. at 59.5 instead of 60, everyone can retire at 60 there too). So he took my sister to Australia and New Zealand and he and I went to the USA last summer (plenty of posting material in that).