New books: What have I learnt and what was the best?

I've managed to read a near even amount of fiction and non-fiction books for the challenge. I’ve read autobiographies, American classics, a children’s book and a text book among others.

With the American classics such as The Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye I felt that if I read them when I was younger I would have liked them, but reading them now meant I was too old to appreciate them in some ways.

I read a number of autobiographies and a number of these were sportsmen and women. One of the books was about a sportsman who I didn't like. For a long time I hated Kevin Pieterson but reading his autobiography made me do a complete 180 and change my view on him and now I respect him, something I never thought I’d say.

The two books I enjoyed reading the most were ones about challenges. So Reading Promise and Eat, sleep, cycle fall into this theme. They were really interesting and completely different challenges to each other; one spanning a few months, the other spanning years and years. It was really interesting to see how they kept going on their challenges.

For two of the books; Eat, Sleep, Cycle and Us I met the authors themselves and asked them both questions. They both took the time to answer my questions which was great and very worthwhile.

There are still quite a few books on my bookshelves waiting to be read. Ones that I borrowed or bought for the challenge, but never got round to reading. Or started and haven’t yet finished. There’s a Virginia Wolff novel, Cloud Atlas, a short Cecelia Ahern story and plenty of my favourite type of books autobiographies to get through.

So what have I learnt from the books I've read: I've learnt traditions on being happy in different cultures, how one moment can change your life and how to pick yourself up when you get knocked down. Lastly I've learnt surprisingly age does matter when it comes to reading books, read one too early and you might not appreciate it but read one too late and you can’t connect to characters you thought you could. So I guess if someone recommends a book to you, read it now and not later.

New book #29: The nicest guy

A few weeks ago I went to the Radio Times Festival with my family. Strange as it sounds I love the Radio Times and it’s a sign that Christmas has arrived when the Christmas edition is out and I can highlight all the films and programmes I plan to watch.

The festival had lots of talks taking place and I went to two. The first was one by Bafta about how to get into TV and the second was a talk with David Nicholls the author who is best known for his books Starter for Ten and One Day which were also made into films.

His talk was about his career and about his latest book Us. It was actually the last time he’d be doing promotion as it had been a year since the book was released.

I decided to go to his book signing after the talk about Us as it was the only book of his I hadn’t read. I had wanted to ask a question at his talk but they ran out of time so I asked him when he was signing my book; I said that I was writing a screenplay and asked how he dealt with writers block. And he couldn’t have been nicer he gave me some tips even though there was a queue of people behind waiting for their books to be signed. So that gave me more motivation for my writing.

Now back to the book it was about a couple called Connie and Douglas who had been married for 25 years and Connie was thinking of leaving Douglas. They had a son called Albie and they planned one last holiday through Europe before he went to university. The book was well written and travelled through each country as well as the couple’s past and how they got to where they are today with ease. David Nicholls books are easy to read and the characters develop quickly which makes you care for them. During the talk quite a few people took either Douglas or Connie’s side on things and I couldn’t decide which side to go for. It might take a second reading to determine that.
So a great book to finish the book part of the challenge.

New books #27-28: Different view point

I had a pretty busy weekend, but somehow still found time to read a couple of books! The first book I read I managed to read on the train while going to and from Hampton Court Palace. I read War Horse by Michael Morpurgo which is the famous book about a horse’s view of the Second World War and the friendship he has with his original owner’s son. Throughout the book they are separated but neither of them forgets their bond. The book is now a play and was made into a film a few years ago. I saw the film when it came out with Bobby and Lord Studman and I remembered how I was the youngest in the audience by a good 30 years.

The book was okay; it was easy to read but took me quite a bit of time to get used to reading a story from a view point of a horse.

The second book I read was called The Yellow Wall-Paper. It’s part of a series of short books Penguin had released to celebrate its 80th birthday. They released 80 books, all at 80p each! I originally bought a few for Matt when I was seeing him as he always wanted to read, but because he was very busy with work he never had the time. I didn't buy all 80 but I bought him around half a dozen or so and was going to give him a couple every few weeks, but we didn't make it that far, so I’m left with some very random books.

The Yellow Wall-Paper is by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the three stories in the book were originally published in 1892, 1893 and 1911. So by far this was the oldest book I’d read in the challenge! To be honest I didn't think much of the stories. I couldn't connect with the female lead character and this maybe due to there not being much description at the start. I also felt like the stories didn't have much happen in them either, so I finished the book asking myself what it was all about.

New book #26: A day’s commute

For a few years I did the Hitchin to London commute and to be honest I didn’t really mind it. What I did mind was the very high cost, but I think it’s because of my dad’s great interest in trains I quite like train journeys on the whole. It’s a great place to people watch and catch up on reading from my permanent seat of the luggage rack.

I used to have a habit of talking to strangers on trains on long distance journeys, but not short ones and the book One Moment, One Morning explores an everyday commute. One day on a normal commute a man collapses but as a result it changes the lives of 3 people.

The book was a straight forward read and I like how it got into the action straight away rather than build up with lots of description. The characters were well formed and the whole situation was really believable. And to top it off one of the characters was from Hitchin, I kid you not!

New book #23-25: Recommendations

Over the challenge my friends and family have given me many recommendations and the last few books I’ve read have been recommendations.

Love, Nina was recommended by Charlotte and it was a girl called Nina who was a nanny in London during the 80s. The book is letters she used to send her sister during this time about her adventures working. It’s a popular book and upon finishing it, it was announced that they were making it into a TV series. I liked the format of the book and found some of it amusing but I didn’t find it laugh out loud funny like others had.

I also read Miranda Hart’s book Is It Just Me? which was recommended by Charlotte and my sister Lisa. This book was funnier and I liked how Miranda talked directly to the reader all of the time and then went off and talked about random things from time to time.

Lisa also lent me Looking for Alaska which is by John Green who wrote Fault in Our Stars. I’d read that book and seen the film and liked both, however Looking for Alaska I just couldn't get into. I couldn’t connect with the characters and I think it also might have been a case of me being too old to read the book as I think the target audience is probably teenagers.

New Book #22: Another Classic

My good friend Rachel loves reading and has all the classics. She leant me Animal Farm and The Great Gatsby and now it was time for another classic: Catcher in the Rye.

The book took me a couple of attempts to read as I’m afraid I lost interest. The main character Holden didn’t keep me entertained. Catcher in the Rye reminded me a lot of The Great Gatsby because it took a long time for me to get into it. With Gatsby it only got good in the last 2 chapters and for Catcher in the Rye it was in the last 3. Actually it was from when Rachel said the chapter when he talks to his old is good, did it start to get better. The teacher actually said a lot of thought provoking things which lingered after reading.

I’m glad I read it to see what all the fuss was about. Rachel made the good point that if I read it when I was a teenager I would’ve enjoyed it better and possibly changed my outlook on life. So maybe I was just the wrong age. 

New Book #21: From one challenge to another

A couple of months ago it was Hitchin Festival and there was a variety of events happening throughout. One of them was a talk about cycling round the coast of Britain by a local woman called Anna Hughes. I like hearing about motivating and inspiring things as you know, and as it was only a fiver I thought why not.

So off I went to hear about how she made it round the UK by bicycle, not only that but on her own. It was a great talk and I asked a few questions at the end; how many miles she cycled everyday? 60-70 was her answer. And what made her carry on when times got tough? The answer was every time she hit a tough spot, she said to herself she would never to do it again.

She wrote a book about her challenge and it was a great read. Anna had a great way of writing that made you feel that you were cycling along with her. She also inspired me to keep going with the 29 challenge. I've still got an awful lot to do, and times I feel I'm not going to complete it, but then reading inspiring books makes me realise that I can (even if my challenge is small and trivial in comparison.)

So I highly recommend Eat, Sleep, Cycle, it’s very inspiring and who knows you may want to cycle the same route afterwards! 

New Book #20 The Unknown

My mum and I have been fans of Cecelia Ahern books since her first book P.S. I Love You came out. Ahern's second book Where Rainbows End is one of my favourite books, but then her future books got a stopped being real and started being very imagination and away with the fairies based. But because we liked the first two books, we carried on reading the others in the hope that they would be as good as her first two.

Her latest book is The Year I Met You and is about Jasmine and Matt who live on the same street. Jasmine co-founded a company that worked with start-ups, but her contract was terminated and she was put on gardening leave for a year. Matt was a very outspoken DJ who in turn also had his contract terminated and was put on gardening leave also. He said something on air years ago which offended Jasmine, so she has taken a strong dislike to him ever since. The story is how they get to know each other over the year while they deal with their loss of jobs.

The book wasn't one of Ahern's away with the fairy ones and I enjoyed it. It was quite close to home at times as although I wasn't on gardening leave, I didn't pass my probation at my last events job last year. So I experienced the same uncertainty as to what to do next, the big void of the unknown. The characters were well developed, however I think it would've been better if there was a bit more emotion behind them when she described how they immediately felt when starting their gardening leave. Ahern's writing style felt like you were living in the same street as Matt and Jasmine, and that’s quite a hard thing to achieve.

New Book #19: Bedtime Stories

The latest book I read, I heard about in an article a few years ago, and it had been on my Amazon wish list for years. So when I saw it in Waterstones for £1 I couldn't turn it down.

The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma is about a promise Alice and her dad made to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights. Upon completing what this, they then challenged themselves to see how long they could keep their ‘streak’ of reading going. They started the challenge when Alice was 9 years old and finished on her first day of college. This totalled 3,218 nights!

I thought it was a great book to read for the challenge, as what they did was a challenge itself. Alice and her dad Jim have a very close relationship and it explored her being raised by a single father and the ups and downs of growing up.

Jim was a Librarian and his passion for reading and books was shown throughout the book. I have to admit I cried at the end when he retired from being a school librarian, but cried of happiness when in his retirement he volunteered to read to the elderly in old people’s homes and found it rewarding.

It’s a great read for anyone who is close to their dad or has a passion for reading. There’s also a list of a selection of the books Alice and her dad read if further reading inspiration is needed.

New Book #18: Broadening my Horizons

I read this book a while back and came across it thanks to a colleague at work. Recently I’ve been interested in how people can move on from things in their life, and my colleague recommended I look at CBT which is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

I bought Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Dummies and got reading it straight away. It was quite a long book with 20 odd chapters. In essence it was a textbook and was a struggle to finish it at the end, but I did find it really interesting. The theories actually make sense and can be applied for everyday use. It’s a good book to have for friends if they are going through a tough time.

New Books #16 and #17: The biggest Contrast

I wouldn't have thought I’d read this book for the challenge, but after some persuading from my sister Lisa I did. For my 16^th book in the challenge I read Miley Cyrus’ autobiography Miles to Go. Now Lisa wouldn't say she’s a fan of Miley Cyrus, but she’s got 2 copies of the autobiography, one for craft purposes and the other to read. And after not including the Hannah Montana movie as part of the film challenge, she said I had to read the Miley book.

So I did and it was a challenge to finish it because it wasn't the best book, very laughable in a lot of places. I learnt quite a lot of trivial things about Miley Cyrus, for example she wants to be asked more about her hands in interviews! It would be interesting for Miley to read back what she wrote and whether she kept to anything she said back when she was 16.

In the biggest contrast possible the next book I read was Carol Ann Duffy’s The World’s Wife. I've only read one poem of hers before and that’s onion. And probably most people my age would've read it as it was in a poem anthology for GCSE English.

The concept of the collection of poems in The Wife is clever; it’s the view point of famous wives in history and literature. Darwin’s wife, King Kong’s wife, the wives of the Kray twins. However with a large majority of the poems, I didn’t have an extensive knowledge of the husband’s life to fully understand the poetry written. My favourite poem in the book was Mrs Fraust and that’s because of its quick pace and humour to it.

New Album #12 and New Book #15: A country double

For the latest album and book I’ve read I have to credit my sister Lisa as she is a huge country music fan and the large majority of the country music albums I listen to are hers. Country music for her started with Taylor Swift and it grew from there. In 2012 we even took a holiday to Nashville, which is one of the best places, the people are so friendly. It was part of a music holiday for me and my sisters and a way to mark the end of the Harrold sisters’ education. The second part of the holiday was to New York as my other sister Lucy is a huge Broadway musical fan.

It was in New York that I spotted Brad Paisley’s book on sale and Lisa being a big fan of his also, got his book and it’s the latest book I’ve read for my challenge. Diary of a Player: How My Musical Heroes Made A Guitar Man Out of Me is an autobiography or as Brad says a life in progress. It shows how he got to where he is.

The book is a good read and by the end of it, it made me want to jump on a plane and go back to Nashville! It was interesting to read that Brad got a D on guitar at college and his story about how his sons try a press down on the strings of the guitar while he is playing reminded me that either me or my sisters did that when we were younger when my dad played guitar.

Going back to Taylor Swift, I listened to her new album 1989. Having listened to all her previous albums thanks to my sister, I have to say it wasn’t as good as her previous albums. Red currently is the standout album for me. The songs on 1989 were okay, Shake It Off and Blank Space were both good, but the others not so much. For me it felt like some of the depth in the songs was lost in transition from country to pop. It’s good that she’s ventured into a pure pop album; as a result it might strengthen her country songs as a result.

 The Gulch where Taylor Swift was apparently living when we visited Nashville back in 2012.

New Book #14: Sisters are doing it for themselves

I have 2 sisters; Lucy and Lisa, both very creative and talented. Lisa did fine art at uni and is currently a teaching assistant. She’s kept up her art with her great blog Always Arty and she has just written her first children’s book, which I of course I read for my challenge.

It’s about a little girl called Lucy (I'm hoping I'm a character in the next book) and she wonders what it would be like to live in different places.

The story is great for children and the illustrations are amazing. If anyone is interested in buying a copy let me know!

New Book #13: Great Shot Don’t Get Cocky

Years ago I was a big fan of Question of Sport, but now A League of Their Own has taken its place for favourite sports quiz show. I used to watch Question of Sport every week with my dad and even when I was at uni we’d Skype each other so we could watch the show together. My house mates eventually got used to my dad’s voice shouting out of my laptop random sportsman names.

During our prime viewing years one of the captains on the show and still is, is Matt Dawson and I decided to read his autobiography due to my interest in rugby earlier this year.

The book was a really good read and Dawson didn't candy coat what went on. He went through the highs and lows of his career and his view on the 2003 rugby world cup final. What I felt was refreshing with the book was that Dawson admitted when he was cocky and arrogant and when he put a foot wrong.

Having read a Paralympic, cricketer and footballer autobiography for the challenge, I think it’s time to retire the sports books. Although I could quite easily read more sporting books…but then it wouldn't be a challenge would it?

New books #10-12: Reading Retreat

Evening all. I hope you all had a good bank holiday. With nothing planned for Sunday and Monday I went to my parents house and spent the entire time reading. For the most part I left my phone in their house and sat in their summer house and read! And it was great, no distractions just being in my own little world and reading.

I finished a couple more books in the weekend which I’ll mention in other blog posts. On Sunday I finished The Very Best of Frasier which was a book of 15 of the finest Frasier scripts. This was a really good book because a) I only got into the show in the final few episodes, and b) from a screen writing perspective it was like a lesson in how to write a great comedy.

After this book I then hit a classic, Animal Farm. I didn't realise how short it was, and to accompany the reading I listened to the Inception and Skyfall soundtracks, just to give it more drama. I can see why people regard it a classic, but it didn't do it for me. I am glad I read it though.

The final book I read was Still Alice, which is what the film of the same name was based on. It won Julianne Moore and Oscar, Bafta and any other acting award earlier this year. It’s about Alice, a 50 year old Harvard professor who has early onset Alzheimer’s disease. I chose to read this book because of my time working in a dementia unit in an old people’s home part time for 5 years. The book was a really good read. It was really interesting to see how the Alzheimer’s developed and more importantly how Alice’s family responded.

There were a couple of observations that rang true to my time working in a dementia unit. The first being how they had to keep the codes hidden to keep the unit locked. This happened with my work as residents would stand behind you while trying to leave and they would memorise them and try and escape. The other observation was how some residents wouldn't have any family or friends visit them and how residents were often forgotten. I wouldn't say this was the case with all the residents I saw, but a fair few of them had no visitors. It would be really interesting to see what the film is like and how Julianne Moore portrays somebody with Alzheimer’s.

New Book #9: Always Managing

In the flat Charlotte and I like two Harry’s; Harry Styles and Harry Redknapp, and for my birthday way back in October she got me Harry Redknapp’s autobiography.

                                                        The two Harry's and I

I finally got round to reading it in the past couple of weeks and it wasn’t bad. When I was 13 I remember going on a family holiday and reading two football managers autobiographies back to back; Kevin Keegan and Kenny Dalglish. When you read books of the same theme, they start to merge into one.

With Harry’s story it was interesting to read about his footballing career and then managerial. It’s easy to forget he was once a footballer. What I learnt from the book was that he’s a very trusting guy and is hard working. It was written like he would talk, but considering he states near the start of the book that he can only write his autograph and his wife does all the paperwork, a ghost writer did a pretty good job of his story!

New book #8: Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer

When it comes to cricket anybody who knows me knows that my favourite player is Alastair Cook 

(yes even now) and my least favourite player is one Kevin Pieterson.

My friend Ando knew this and so for my birthday he bought me KP’s autobiography, he is too kind! I’ve had a strong dislike for KP for years. I thought he wasn’t a team player, only cared for his profile and was only kept in the team because of the 2005 Ashes, even though his form had long gone.

                                         Me and Ando after meeting Graeme Swann

I started to read the book and slowly but surely my mind changed. When the book came out there was a lot of controversy surrounding it, a lot of things happened in the England changing room that created a toxic environment. And unless you were in that changing room you’d never fully know what went on.

From reading the book I think KP was treated unfairly a couple of times. One in particular was when there was textgate when KP supposedly was texting members of the South African team and revealing tactics. He denied this, but even with the denial KP had to have one to ones with all the team to apologise for his actions. It was supposed to be his way of being reintegrated into the team and if he didn’t do these one to ones, he was out of the squad.

Another time Matt Prior aka the big cheese bragged about being part of the Big Bash, an aussie cricket tournament. When KP talked about the IPL which was a similar format, it was ignored and frowned upon.

It was either very good writing of KP’s or a sign of me maturing but I actually felt sorry for him. He simply just wanted to play cricket for England. Yes he made some off the cuff comments on twitter, but in the grand scheme of things that shouldn’t affect his performance.

Now the dirty laundry has aired so to speak, I’d be interested to see whether KP can get back on the England team this summer. I’m not a fan of him yet, but no longer have a strong dislike to him.

New Book #7: Full of Life

I’m in reading mode at the mo and last week I finished another book. It was Lynda Bellingham’s autobiography; There’s Something I’ve Been Dying to Tell You. She recently passed away with a publicised battle with cancer, and she didn’t go without putting up a fight.

I thought the book would be quite sad because of the cancer, but it was actually a very upbeat and humourous at times. And surprisingly I didn’t cry once at the book. This is probably because Lynda was so full of life and made the most of her time left, that there wasn’t a reason to cry. That you shouldn’t feel sad because she died with no regrets and spent her time with family and friends and doing lots of charity work.

It’s a great read, and not your usual sob story.

New Film #22 and New book #6: Can the book play on film?

I’ve got back into reading mode again, and managed to read Silver Linings Play Book in a week! It was the type I fiction where it gets straight to the action. The characters were in depth, and although Pat’s character ruined quite a few American classics for me, you got see some real emotion from a male character which makes a change. I read the book before I saw the film as it’s easier that way.

The film was a solid film, but there were a few main differences from the book, and I think that’s because of the casting. For example Robert De Niro’s character of Pat’s dad is fleshed out, and has more interaction with Pat. In the book though it isn’t until about halfway through that he makes an effort with his son. The motives of Tiffany in the book are slightly different as well. She doesn’t meet Pat’s family until much later on in the book. Again I think it’s because of the casting of Jennifer Lawrence and the director seeing that the role could be Oscar winning that he gives her more scenes with Pat’s family. The one where she reels off American football stats is particularly impressive.

The book to film adaptation is pretty good, there hasn’t been anything that has been missed out, rather the character dynamics just changing slightly.

New book #5: Not so great Gatsby

There are some books that people are supposed to read, the ones that regularly top the classics list. The Great Gatsby is one of them. My friend Rachel lent me this book when I was going to Rome which was a while back, as I thought I’d have time to read it. I read a bit (see below,) but sightseeing got in the way.

So I've been reading it on/off ever since and today I finally finished, even though it’s a really short book being 9 chapters. Maybe it’s because I didn't read it all in one go, but I just couldn't get into it. I felt I couldn't get to know the characters, as every time the book let you, you get stopped. It was only in the last couple of chapters you get to know Gatsby himself. For me I like books that get straight into the action, and less on the description.

So I’m afraid The Great Gatsby wasn't so great, but I'm really intrigued about how the Baz Luhrmann film turned out. That might be one to watch for the challenge.