Living With Keith

Undiagnosed but definitely not quite "right". I'm just gonna leave it all here.

Recent Posts

  • I’ll Just Leave It All Here.

    Slow Reader, Oct 19th

    How has your reading week been?

    I struggled through the early pages of A Tale Of Two Cities, but I was never going to give it up and now I am being rewarded for my little bit of persistence. Typically for Dickens, the characters are so interesting, and we love the ones we should love but also, sometimes, love the ones we shouldn’t.

    “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…”

    I am now just over half way, and getting to the part where I know my emotions will be tested, there will be highs and lows and no doubt we will lose people along the way, but I am ready for all of it.

    The Book That Changed My Life

    If you are in the UK, look out for this programme on BBC iPlayer – if you are not in the UK I am sure there are ways of finding it. If you love books, and if you feel that your life has been improved by books, then it is well worth an hour of your time.

    The programme follows four people who have overcome various challenges in their lives with the power of reading. It’s an inspiring watch and, not that we really need it, it’s a great reminder of why we love to read.

  • I’ll Just Leave It All Here.

    Slow Reader vol.1.

    My Reading Week. To Oct 12th. Middlemarch.

    As the weather continues to turn, the chances to settle down and read have increased and this week saw plenty of hours with my nose in a book, accompanied by generous amounts of tea. What a great time of the year this is.

    I mentioned in my last post that I wasn’t feeling the love for Middlemarch, and it sort of stayed that way until the end. I found for myself full of love for Dorothea and I thought Lydgate a decent chap, if a little bit of a dreamer (but then, so am I) but as for the rest of them, I could take it or leave it – mostly leave it.

    The fact that I managed to get through all nine hundred pages in just over two weeks says something about the book I suppose. A book of this size would normally take me well over a month usually, but it could also indicate that I just wanted to get it over with more quickly.

    So, although I am disappointed not to have found the love, at least I know now and can tick it off the old TBR.

    I am excited about my next read though. For the past few years I have been working my way through the works of Dickens and I have become a massive fan. So much so that I am now a member of the Charles Dickens Museum on Doughty Street and love my occasional visits there.

    I read online last week that the BBC will be screening a four part adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities this December and it occurred to me that I haven’t yet read this book – said to be one of the greatest selling novels of all time.

    So I picked up this copy from World of Books for three quid delivered and have just started it. It’s seen better days but it will do. I’ve noticed that with the current boom in used book sales, the “Very Good” description of the quality of a lot of titles on some of the biggest re-sellers is doing some heavy lifting, with some of the books I have received of late not meeting the accepted criteria at all. But then, what do you want for less than four pounds I suppose.

    I won’t finish this book this week, but I look forward to letting you know about some of the fun I have been having with it next week.

    Happy Reading!

  • I’ll Just Leave It All Here.

    Slow reader, vol.1.

    My reading week. To Oct 5th. Jane Eyre.

    Oh Jane, what have you done to me? I don’t think I have ever enjoyed a female character more or struggled to face up to the fact that I have to move on without her. Looks like Charlotte never did get around to a sequel.

    Jane might have been described, rather rudely, throughout the book as plain to look at, but who cares when she is as feisty and outspoken as she is, and also as trustworthy and loyal?

    Within twenty pages I found myself completely and utterly on her side and ready to fight alongside her all the way.

    It might be almost five hundred pages long but I urge you, whatever your gender or age to read this book. The writing is absolute gold standard and there were many occasions when I had to stop and re-read a passage or sentence, simply because it had such an impact on me.

    The scene where Rochester tells Jane that it is her he intends to make his bride, sitting in the dusk of a mid summer evening, along the laurel walk, will stay with me for a long time. And I’m not normally one for the romantic stuff, well maybe just a little.

    So I reluctantly got to the end, with my mind full of Jane and her experiences, and tried to move on to Middlemarch, often described as one of the great English novels – possible even the greatest. But I couldn’t get “in to it” because my thoughts remained firmly with Ms Eyre.

    So next week, I’ll let you know what I think about Middlemarch, but I can already say to you “It ain’t no Jane Eyre!”