Matching Curtains

Harvest time

OK, I know this tangent is nothing to do with what it says on the tin (i.e. movies, music and literature), but I wanted to share another gardening update with y'all. And by way of justification for this foray into the world of organic wonders: just as the arts sustain me, so do these resplendent looking vegetables. Enough with the crowbarring of metaphors I hear you say. Oh, alright. But before you go, you must admit that they're LOVELY looking! What you see before you represents my very own first crop of vegetables and I am rightly very proud - so proud the fact I will be eating potatoes for the next two months is a minor matter :-) It'll be jumpers with patches on the elbows next ...

Whiling away the weekend

So this weekend seems to have flown by ... But it was not unconstructive. I picked my first batch of onions from my veggie patch:

Small, but perfectly formed and 100% organic. I'm mightily pleased with myself!

I also decided to abandon Michel Houellebecq's novel Atomised, which I've been struggling with for some time. I've tried, I really have, but I just find it so utterly bleak that it's hard to appreciate it for what critics have lauded it's existential array of ideas. The characters just seem there to drive forward a variety of attitudes which I found too disturbing to continue reading and are not people I can bring myself to empathise with. OK, you're not necessarily supposed to like every literary character, but in this novel, everything seems so depressing. Religion, science, even sex seem passe to these men (a pair of brothers are the book's protagonists). I'm sure I'm just not clever enough to understand the philosophical bent Houellebecq's writing adopts but even so, if it's not fun, why read on? At uni I endured Spenser's The Fairie Queen and the wearying Clarissa - the only low points of a wonderful three years of traversing the English canon (yes, I'd rate Bleak House higher than these trials). It's consequently hard for me to get out of the mindset of not reading something all the way through, but life's too short and I have a LOT of books TBR. Here are just some recently acquired tomes:

I can't wait to get started on one of these: I think This is Your Brain on Music might be one to dip in and out of whilst I read Psalm 119 by Hannah McRobie. I was asked to review this and so far I'm pretty astounded (and jealous) by the accomplishment of this young Oxford graduate. A full review will follow.

Other news from this weekend: Martha Wainwright's new album I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too is pretty darn excellent - expect a review soon. I've also been listening (incessantly some might argue) to Frank Turner's Love Ire & Song which is fabulous. He has such a clear, resonant voice which conveys some very thoughtful lyrics: the album is, as they say, 'quality'.

Oh, one more thing. I passed my driving theory test which I am rather chuffed about. Only the hard bit to go now ... 

Toodleloo.