July Reads

It's been an interesting month for reading. Once again, eight books were consumed. Some great, some not so much. 

Here's the list with some initial thoughts. 

1) Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - Audio - 5 stars

This has been sitting in my bookcase for many years. I picked up an audio copy of it, and OH MY GOD HOW CAN I HAVE NOT READ THIS SOONER!

This is a Sliding Doors type book. Ursula Todd is born on 11 February 1920. Then dies - Darkness Falls. She's born again. She survives. But she dies soon after. Then's she's not dead. Sounds grim? It's not. It looks at life, and, in the words of T.S. Eliot, "In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions that a minute will reverse." The details in this are awesome. You meet Ursula's funny family and see how her life is impacted by the smallest decision, from a glance, to a knee to a groin, to a visit to Germany. 

This is a stunning, stunning book. 

2) The Midnight Train by Matt Haig - Paperback - 3.75 Stars

I'm love Matt Haig's The Midnight Library - it's a gorgeous little book. This, The Midnight Train, which runs along the same lines as its predecessor didn't win me over as much. 

Wikipedia describes the plot as such, "The Midnight Train follows Wilbur Budd, an 81-year-old bookshop owner on the brink of death. He boards a magical train that allows him to revisit the important events of his life including his honeymoon with wife, Maggie, in Venice."

Look, it's a nice read. Haig spins a great philosophical tale, in this case, from the moment of a person's death, looking at the choices they've made. 

This is not bad - but I preferred The Midnight Library. It had more charm and hope. 

3) God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson - Audio - 4.5 Stars

This was ordered on the back of reading Life After Life - it's the second book in the series following on, yet with a different spin. This one looks at the life of Teddy Todd, Ursula's younger brother, who came back from the war after three years in a prison camp to marry the girl next door, and to get on with his life, marrying, having a daughter and living a quiet life, while his daughter, Viola, stumbles through life making some very questionable decisions which play on her children, Sun and Moon (bloody hippies).

By the end of the book, you know this family intimately. Their loves, traumas, mistakes and triumphs are reflected upon intimately. 

Kate Atkinson is remarkable. I must seek out more. 

4) The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles - Paperback - 3 Stars

This was this month's book group pick, taken up on the back of the most wonderful A Gentleman in Moscow - which we all loved. I've also read his Rules of Civility - which was also very enjoyable. 

This one - not so much. It is the story of three youth, one, recently released from youth detention after an unfortunate accident saw him up on manslaughter charges. Emmett returns to the recently sold family farm to collect his brother and take off down the Lincoln Highway to California, where he and is brother Billy hope to start a new life, and possibly find their mother. However, two other youth, Duchess and Woolly have stowed away in the car bringing Emmett home. And things change. 

I won't go into it further. It was 100 pages too long and I didn't gel with the characters, although the writing was good - and I liked the ending. There was just enough to keep me going over the near 600 pages. It wasn't for me. 

5) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Audio - 3 Stars

I listened to this as an audiobook. I should have read it on paper - I've had a copy in my bookcase for decades. 

Look, it's South American magic realism. It's dense. It's funny in places. It's about a town that has shut itself away from the rest of the world. I've been told that you need to go to South American, particularly Columbia to really understand it. Lots of people get shot. I only half got it. 

Garcia Marquez won a Nobel Prize for literature. I think if I ever go back to this I will need to read it on paper. It doesn't lend well to the audiobook format (Toni Morrison is another who I have the same feelings about audio versus paper.) I am, however, glad I've tackled this. 

6)  When Words Fail Us by Stan Grant - Hardback - 4 Stars

This slim volume of essays written for the Simone Weil lectures is expansive in its though. I was blown away by the talk Grant gave at the Wheeler Centre a few weeks back, and was interest to delve into this. It reinforces what he said in his talk. It's very thought provoking. 

As non-fiction goes, particularly if you have an interest in philosophy, it's worth a look. Stan Grant is brilliant. 

7)  The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff - Audio - 4.5 Stars

I picked this up on spec on Audible on one of their sales and loved every minute of it. 

The Simon and Schuster website describes the plot as such:

"One family. Four generations. A secret son. A devastating addiction. A Texas family is met with losses and surprises of inheritance, but they’re unable to shake the pull back toward each other. 

Ryan and Lillian Bright are deeply in love, recently married, and now parents to a baby girl, Georgette. But Lillian has a son she hasn’t told Ryan about, and Ryan has an alcohol addiction he hasn’t told Lillian about, so Georgette comes of age watching their marriage rise and fall.

When a shocking blow scatters their fragile trio, Georgette tries to distance herself from reminders of her parents. Years later, Lillian’s son comes searching for his birth family, so Georgette must return to her roots, unearth her family’s history, and decide whether she can open up to love for them—or herself—while there’s still time.

Told from three intimate points of view, The Bright Years is a tender, true-to-life debut that explores the impact of each generation in a family torn apart by tragedy but, over time, restored by the power of grace and love."

This is fabulous. The perfect book group book. Sure, it has themes of addiction and domestic violence, but this is perfectly pitched and exquisitely written. It comes recommended. 

8) Regime Change by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan - Audio - 4 Stars

The second non-fiction book of the month, and this is important reading. 

I'll admit to being a political animal who's over the situation in America. Swan and Haberman write for the New York Times. This is meticulously researched and written with the highest values of journalistic integrity. It's maddening, irritating and jaw-droppingly gobsmacking and terrifying how low these people in power can go. If Trump were your grandfather, you'd have him committed to a secure ward. 

I'm glad I've read it. It reads incredibly well. Essential reading if you a politics buff. 

Today's song:

Vale Glen Hansard

This has been a shite of a year when it comes to celebrity deaths. On the heels of Sam Neill and Brenda Blethyn, news came through that Glen Hansard had died after being taken in a motorcycle accident. 

You might say, "Who's Glen Hansard?"

I say he was this amazing Irish singer, composer and music luminary who's worked on everything musical that's come out of Ireland. He was down to earth, incredibly talented, humble and an all-round great bloke. 

The first time he registered was in The Commitments. He was the guitarist. You knew he was there, giving weight to this great film. In this clip, he's the baby ginger. 

He wrote and performed in the incredible film Once - which was then turned into a stage musical. This is a film, loosely based on Hansard's time as a busker in Dublin, where the music takes over every part of your body. If you haven't seen it, hunt it out. He won an Oscar for Best Song in 2008. 

He's the musician who led the tribute to Shane McGowan at his funeral. 

Hansard was a musician's musician. Talented, generous, wonderful. 

He used to busk for charity down Grafton Street every year, long after he needed they money. 

His death has hit hard. He's an artist I've hunted out for years, since seeing Once and being blown away. By seeing how he melded into the Irish music scene - ever present, ever supportive, incredibly talented.  He leaves a wife and three-year-old child. He was 56-years-old.

Rest well. Mr Hansard. Thank you for the joy you've brought the world. 

Today's song: 

Sorted

 Well, the gym membership has been sorted. I marched into the gym tonight and saw Chuck. I told him that I was auditioning gyms, but ultimately, I would go where he goes. I told him about the sessions that I’m having at a gym near home.

“I’m sorted,” he told me. 

“Already?”

“I’m off to Gym 24/7,” he says proudly. 

“Thank heavens for that.”

Of the gyms I’ve seen, this is my preferred location. And it’s cheap.

And okay, it doesn’t have ski ergs or TRXs or classes, But it’s five minutes' walk from my front door, it’s got a good atmosphere, and some other things that I think I’ll like. The dry sauna, the reformer beds, and the various areas for training are really good. It’s going to feel strange to be broken up with Fitness First, I’ve been going to that gym for 18 years, consistently two, three, four times a week. 

I think about the fact that it’s been 18 years, and I’m really quite proud of that. 

At least, there is a way forward. And Chuck was his normal bastard self, making me do all sorts of things at a heavier weight. He's a bad man. It's why I pay him. 

And this is why I like training.

Today's song: 

Gym Auditions Part II

Have you got any idea how many gyms there are in the Richmond/Abbotsford area. A stupid, crazy number, and that's not counting the yoga and pilates studios and other health aligned businesses. 

Tonight was the audition for gym number two - with a difference. 

The local Duke's Gym was my check out place. I made an appointment for a check in with a trainer. They also had a deal on - join for four weeks and see a trainer for free twice a week for four weeks. I've got some fitness goals, and as Jay is away for a few weeks, I can see myself kick some different goals. No joining fee. No cancellation fees. 

The poor bloke. I'll call him Mike. He got me after the Ritalin had mostly left my system, so he got full Pandora in Leo mode. 

I said I'd join for the four weeks. I could use somebody, who didn't know me, to kick my bum on some cardio goals - which my other two trainers don't do. (They're cardio averse). Treat it like a reset - and I'll keep my normal workout regime for weights and strength. 

Mike is lovely. He also said that 80% of his clients were perimenopausal and menopausal women - so he's used to dealing with stroppy, loud, bolshie women.

Anyway, here are the pros and cons. 

Pros:

• It's a five-minute walk from home
• 24/7 access
• $19 per week (Not as good at Gym 24/7, but still not bad)
• Modern equipment
• Normal people
• Clean and well maintained
• A women's only area

Cons:

• Less equipment than Gym 24/7
• No recovery area
• No ski ergs or TRXs
• No classes

I won't joining this one (unless Chuck comes here, but I doubt that will happen) but as a cardio gym for the next couple of weeks, I'm good with that. 

Here's to kicking some cardio goals in the next few weeks. 

Today's song:

Gym Auditions

It's started. 

Auditioning for a new gym. I haven't done this for nearly twenty years - but I'm being a grown up and starting to look at my options. I can't function without a gym - and forewarned is forearmed and it's good to see that there are some choices that can be made. 

Also, I'm fairly sure I'll go with Chuck, wherever he goes - because he's great and I don't want to lose him. I also wrote a stroppy letter to Fitness First thanking them for wrecking a community - which is what is happening. I was at the gym this evening and caught up with some of the community. We all feel the same way. I'm getting the odd call from gym buddies. We're all in the same boat. Disliking the schlep, lack of parking and prominence of posers at the Church Street sight. 

Today, I had a look at the gym around the corner. Gym 24/7. 

Pros

• It's five-minute walk away. 
• At $14 a week it's economical
• It's open 24/7
• It's not too busy.
• I know a couple of the trainers who work there
• It's got a lot of equipment which appears to be well maintained
• There's a recovery room with massage chairs and infrared saunas that you can book. 
• Not that I need it, but the on-street parking is not bad
• And there seems to be lots of normal people in there. 

Cons:

• There are no TRX bands (from what I could see - and I love the TRX)
• There are no Ski Erg rowers (I like them).
• I know a couple of the trainers who work there
• There are very limited classes (Jay likes classes - me, not so much)

In all, it's not a bad option. 

I'm auditioning another one tomorrow night. 

Today's song:

Too Tired

 Donated blood today. 

All good - no issues. Just a bit tired. 

Can't be bothered writing. Just want to go to bed.

Will find something to write about tomorrow.

I should finish the review of the play I saw on Friday. (It has been nice to take a break from looking at screens, to be honest). 

Today's song:

Sunday Stealing Adjusts for Inflation

 I'm not thrilled with this week's questions. They're not my cup of tea - but that's okay. It's lovely that somebody sets the questions every week, and for this I'm grateful. 

According to the blurb it says: 

Back in 2007, Sparky Duck at Philly Transplant played the $50,000 Meme. That was nearly 20 years ago. To make it more relevant to our day and age, it's been updated and is now the ...

The $80,000 Meme

Premise: A philanthropist awards you USD $80,000 with the stipulation that you must spend half on yourself and half for the benefit of others. This translates to around AUD 114,000.

Questions, as always, come from Sunday Stealing. 

1. Of the $57,000 you must spend on yourself: 

a. First you throw yourself a lavish birthday party. Tell us about it. 

If I'm honest, I'd take a few friends to Paris, business class flights, for a few weeks. No party, just hang out in Paris, in style. That sounds like fun. 

b. Then you take off on a cruise. Where are you headed?

You have two chances of getting me on a traditional cruise. None and f*ck all. 

If it was a small charter cruise then either a luxury cruise around Australia's top end, or may down the Croatian coast - but it would have to be a small boat with fewer than 50 people on it. Cruises sound like a fantastic way to get COVID or gastro. They're not my thing, even though I love boats. 

2. Of the $57,000 you must spend for the benefit of others: 

a. Who would be on your gift list? What would buy them?

It's too late to think about this stuff. I'll give the money to charity. Most of my friends have everything they want and need, thank goodness. 

b. Which charities would you support?

Here are some of the charities who would receive money from me:

• The Leukaemia Foundation
• Catherine Hamlin Fistula Foundation
• The Fred Hollows Foundation. 
• Planned Parenthood
• Canteen
• Go Gentle Australia
• And an animal charity of some description - Lort Smith Animal Hospital / RSPCA

Today's song: