A Summer in Books

With September around the corner, the inevitable end of summer is nigh. I can measure my summer in a growing baby bump, a fabulous - if all too brief - holiday in Bangalore... and books. As busy as I've been, I've read tons of great stuff. So here are a few of my favourites. Get 'em if you can, they're worth it!

Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey
This book is so much fun! It's a YA Victorian romp with fraudulent mediums, ghosts and romance - what's not to like?

Confessions of a GP by Dr Benjamin Daniels
This is non-fiction, hilarious and incredibly illuminating - especially if you live in the UK and are all too familiar with the NHS. I had fits of giggles reading it. Highlight: 'Dr Daniels's' list of the weirdest complaints he's ever heard from patients. I think this one is my absolute favourite summer read. And right now it's only 99p on Kindle too!

The Donor by Helen FitzGerald
Will has teenage twin daughters and two perfect kidneys. His daughters' kidneys are failing. He has to choose which one to save... unless he can find a way to save both. I'll admit there were moments all the characters annoyed me, but that's a small gripe compared to how good this was.

Fallen by Lauren Kate
I'd been hearing about this one for ages before finally picking it up; it seems to be something of a YA paranormal classic in the US. The story of a doomed love story between a girl and a fallen angel, it does have its fair share of cliches: slightly unconvincing love triangle, the sassy best friend, the distant-yet-sexy love interest. But in spite of all this I found myself reading it compulsively until I'd finished the book so it gets points for that!

I think I'll leave it there for now. What have you read this summer? Anything amazing?

Summer Lovin'

I don't think I'd do very well on Come Dine With Me, much as I like watching it. I've proven a very shoddy hostess today, as all my well-meaning plans to host my grand blog house-party fell to bits. So I'm going to have to save the party for another day. Never fear, we'll be cracking open the wine and clucking sympathetically at my 'this house is full of spiders' stories soon enough!

But for all you wine-lovers out there, I have to sneak this in: Stone's Ginger Wine. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I've never really liked wine, and until we moved into the house, I never drank it much. Now I drink the ginger wine pretty darn often, it's lovely!

I think the one of the reasons wine has grown on me is the summer. I mentioned our heatwave yesterday, which has been only a small part of this year's English summer. Yes, there's been sun. Gasp. There's been sun in England. There've been whole days when it didn't rain, I mean, can you imagine?

Irony aside, the summer's been gorgeous. I've actually been able to get great wear out of my summer sandals and sunglasses, I've been able to wear what I like - it's even been hot enough that I've stopped boasting that 'I'm Indian, I can take the heat'... erm, yeah. Apparently I can't take the heat all that much.

The downside? The summer hasn't done much good for my writing. When I'm not involved in house stuff, I'm looking for a job, so my writing time is limited already as it is. When I do have the time, it's too lovely outside to stay by a laptop much. More significantly, it's too warm to sit still for long, to concentrate on my story. Even when the story's begging to be written, I find I can't stay focused on it long. Any suggestions on how to fix this that doesn't involve expensive air conditioning?

How do you spend your summer weekends? What do you like best and least about the summer? How does it inspire you - or cut away at your inspiration?

"I've got a feeling, oooooo"

That tonight's going to be a good night?

Well, I think it will, because I'm determined to get to bed early, curl up, and read one of the new books Steve bought me last week. I've been meaning to do this for three nights now, but I've instead ended up staying at the laptop late into the night trying to sort out things like houses, moving in, finances, and other exciting, stressful and dismal things (respectively).

This is where I am! In the heart of that maze!
 

I've always been a compulsive bookworm, but there was a time when I never let a Wednesday go by without going to the Carleton, a cheesy but weirdly fun club that Lancaster University students love (or hate). 

Having out-Carletoned myself in my second year, though, I've spent this year behaving steadily more non-student-like as the months have gone by, which includes sometimes staying in and trying to sort things out/treating myself with a new book.


In fact, last night I did a most un-student-y thing: I went to an art exhibition. Okay, so the exhibition was meant to showcase the third-year art students' work, one of whom happens to be my friend Katy. But you should have seen it: it didn't feel like a student gallery at all. With free wine, stunning clothes and that kind of pure bright light you only ever find in shiny art galleries, I felt like a Sophisticated Woman of Culture.

Oh, yes. My friend Lindsey and I even managed to look thoughtfully at certain pieces of art and say things like well, what do you think this empty space represents, darling? in voices borrowed straight off Jennifer Saunders.

Flippancy aside, it was a really lovely gallery with some amazing stuff in there. Katy's was my favourite. Obviously.


But forget the nights! What about the days?

Today is absolutely gorgeous. I haven't been outside yet, but it looks spectacular from my window. Sunny, bright, possibly even - gasp, dare I say it? - warm. 

To those of you who live in the UK, you'll know what a rare treat this is!

Now I don't want to start counting my chickens and all that, but could this be - could it possibly, maybe, really be - the start of summer? Should I be decking myself out in a floaty little dress and my favourite new sandals and breeze down the campus path with the wind in my hair and my sunglasses firmly in place? Should I be dragging my flatmates down to the green with ice-cold drinks?

Maybe I will.

So what do you like to do on a gorgeous day?