Book 16 of the 50 Book Challenge

A Florentine Death  by Michele Giuttari, 355 pages

Started March 14th, finished March 17th

This is a new author for me.  He is an ex Chief Superintendent with the Italian police.  He's worked in various places but was born Sicilian and ended his career in Florence.  He has worked on both the anti-mafia and flying squads.

Obviously his inner, recent knowledge of the workings of what he writes about is a big bonus.  What I can't figure out is how much is him and how much is his main character, Michele Ferrera.  He states that Ferrera is the man he'd like to be.  I get the impression, from his writings, that neither Giuttari or Ferrera suffer from a lack of ego.

I enjoyed this book.  I literally flew through the pages.  I have the next two in the series and I'm looking forward to them.  I'm unsure of his attitude to women.  One female character was introduced with only one adjective, attractive.  Another was described as beautiful but I still have no idea what she actually looked like.  The men's descriptions gave a much better picture of the characters.

This is the tale of a serial killer with some nice descriptions of Florence.  A little look at the Catholic church and a mafia flirtation.  Pretty much what I imagine when I think of Italy.

4 out of 5 pawprints

Total so far, Books - 16, Pages - 4,751

Next - Where's My F*cking Latte? by Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff

The Resident - Film Review (Spoilers Covered)

This was going to have be seen on the big screen.  It was Hammer, it had Sir Christopher Lee and it wasn't an unnecessary English Language remake.

Then there were the doubts.  Looming large, Hilary Swank.  I just don't like watching the woman on screen.  She does nothing to drag me into a story.  It wasn't set in England.  Is this new Hammer really Hammer or have they bought the name?

I can't say The Resident has sold me on Hammer as a company.  It had some good points. Big, creepy, part derelict old house apartment building.  The damsel wasn't really to my taste as a distress victim.  Hell, it's ridiculous but I wanted it to be English!

Has anyone ever seen Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Javier Bardem in the same room together?  The cast were quite competent but I don't think they had much script-wise to get their teeth into.  I would liked to have seen more of the Security Man.  He seems to have a good screen presence.

The rest I'll cover as spoilers.  In case you want to see this yourself.  Rollover the space below to view.

First of all there's nowhere near enough Christopher Lee.  What there is is good but I wanted more.  Secondly things happen and are brushed aside with no explanations.  Christopher Lee's character is killed and never mentioned again.  You'd think if you were one third of the population of an apartment building you'd notice if another third disappeared.

The plot is one of the most predictable I've seen on screen.  I was actually waiting for things to happen.  they always did.  Especially in the final, boring, act.

This wasn't a horror film but a thriller.  It lacked anything that would 'Hammerise' it.  

All in all, I was disappointed.  The best thing I can say it that at only 90 minutes I didn't have to grow to hate it.  I really, really hope The Woman in Black is done much better and more in the style I want and expect from a film company named Hammer. 

2.5 pawprints out of 5

Book 15 of the 50 Book Challenge

The Little Stranger  by Sarah Waters, 499 pages

Started March 6th, finished March 13th

This is a book recommended by a friend.  We have swapped a few book suggestions.  Her blog can be found here - http://karode.wordpress.com/

This is a pretty famous author that has previously passed me by.  I had heard of the TV serial Tipping the Velvet but didn't even realise there was a book behind it.

The tale is set not long after WWII in a rural village in the Midlands.  It is narrated by the main character, a local doctor who is worried about the effect the coming NHS will have on his livelihood.  The story starts after he called to the local stately home to a 'sick' housemaid.  After this visit, as time goes by he becomes closer to the family who live in the house.  The tale looks at various aspects of life for people in this time of change.  How the fortunes of the classes are changing.

It's a highly atmospheric book.  The cat wasn't very popular when he pounced on the bed as I was in a particularly spooky bit!  It is a long book but I enjoyed the time I spent in it's pages.  The progress of the characters was very well done and kept me engrossed.

Spoilers below rollover to view

I particularly liked the ambiguous ending to the book.  Coupled with no happy endings for anyone.  This tale defies expectations in that way.  I like a few ends to be left loose.  It gives me something to chew over once I've closed the cover for the last time.

4.5 out of 5 pawprints.

Total so far, Books - 15, Pages - 4.396

Next - A Florentine Death by Michele Giuttari

Stepping Out at Oldham Coliseum

The first show this season is a tale of a tap dancing class.  It didn't stand out as one for me really.  I have no interest or knowledge of tap dancing at all.

I was very pleasantly surprised.  I had one of most enjoyable nights at the theatre.  This was one of the funniest plays I've seen.  Not the 'laugh here' type play where everyone else is guffawing and I'm not impressed with the predictable line.  But genuine laughs.  

The major coup here seems to be the cast.  Everyone inhabited their character perfectly.  I believed in each one, even though a lot was played for laughs.  There was a definite lack of 'theatricality' about them.  Each one was someone you knew.  Each character was kept even whilst the focus was on others.  All those personal movements stayed there all the time they were on stage.  

The second half had some moments of feeling in.  Though it never strayed into pulling at the heartstrings, you felt for these characters you hadn't had long to get to know.  This could on;y have worked with a cast this good.

The final act was just splendid.  I won't say any more though, go and see it for yourself.  Box Office info here - http://coliseum.org.uk/who-are-we/box-office/

The cocktail of the play was a 'Dancing Mojito' and a damn good mojito it was too :-)

My only complaint was that the 'rough' character had exactly the same gym bag as me!

5 out of 5 pawprints.  This is as good as The Road to Nab End was though very different.

Park Run

Last year I started running.  Maybe the hardest physical thing I've ever done.  I'm a lazy devil and have many trips to the gym under my belt but have never really pushed myself too hard.  As I'm also a greedy devil something had to give.

I trained last year for a 5k which I completed.  Then as most would predict my running tailed off, especially as Royton got wetter and colder.

This year I signed up for a 10k, earlier in the year.

I have upped my training considerably and I'm pleased that my fitness hasn't dropped all the way back.

One way of measuring your fitness is to enter races.  The problem is races are not always nearby and not always on a day you're free.  As well as costing at least £5, probably more to enter.

This is why I think Parkrun  is such an amazing idea.  They run a FREE 5k run in local parks EVERY Saturday morning.  I'm lucky in that I have 2 within a reasonable distance.  Hopefully you'll be able to see your times getting better as you spend more time in training.  I'm lucky enough to be at the wrong end and have plenty of scope.  If you can't make one run you know there'll be another next week.  No hassle, just turn up and run.

All races are properly measured out, properly timed.  You get an email later in the day telling you your placing and time.  All you have to take with you is your own personal barcode you print off form their site.  The stat's available on their website is fantastic. With times, PBs, number of races ran and also a grading percentage.  This tells you how well you're doing for your age and how much scope for improvement there is.

If you fancy giving it a go, and what is there to lose?  have a look on their events page - http://parkrun.com/events/UK.aspx and find your closest Parkrun.  On each course homepage you can see a map of the course and directions on how to get there.

Jog On Kitties :-)

Some readers may know that I'm a bit of a Mad Cat Lady.

Most things to do with cats gain my interest.  Apart from cats in clothes and those deliberately 'cute' pictures you find on some greeting cards.

Last year I was entranced by Bobo a free-running cat.  No matter how many times I saw the ad I was still never tired of it.  (Though I can't say Mr Meks is as pleased when I rewind the ad if I find it on a ff through the ad break.)

I rarely catch ad's unless in the cinema where I can't escape. I have to thank Murdoch for my Sky+ box, I can FF through all the ones at home.  My sister in law has however brought a new one to my attention.  It's the best ad for milk I've seen.  Better even than the Accrington Stanley one!

I hope it makes you smile too.

Book 14 of the 50 Book Challenge

Cabal  by Michael Dibdin, 248 pages

Started February 28th, finished March 

This is the third and final book in the Dibdin omnibus I borrowed.  It starts off with a 'jumper' who falls from the dome of St Peter's onto the floor of the Nave during a mass.  Now here is why I resent Dan Brown.  This book, being a mystery, set in the Vatican City, centering around St Peter's, with a church conspiracy, well it reeked of Angels and Demons.  Even though this came many years before and isn't anywhere as silly.  That's what you get for enjoying a silly, fun beach read.

My main problem as I began this book was that I took a dislike to Zen.  Not good when he's the main character.  I wasn't taken with his girlfriend either.  This didn't get any better as the book went along.  The relationship issues were so predictable as to be painful.

The book got sillier as it went along with a seemingly unnecessary strain added in.  It wasn't silly enough to be put in quite the same box as Angels and Demons but it was definitely heading that way.  If it had been that ridiculous I probably would have been more enjoyable.  It was daft enough to make it unbelievable to me.  Without being ludicrous enough for me to throw care to the wind and enjoy the ride.

Now I can watch the BBC adaptations.  Which I'm hoping I will enjoy more.  From the clips I've seen it looks like a gorgeous production.  As I've decided to give Dibdin a wide berth from now on I won't be too bothered about discrepancies from the original text.  And, well, it's Rufus Sewell ;-)

2 out of 5 pawprints

Total so far, Books - 14, Pages - 3,807

Next - The Little Stranger by Sarah Walters