Nature's first green is gold

E and I went for a walk in the forest this weekend, needed the get away from all the stress, the buildings, the cars the madness.

Take a deep breath, listen the trees rustling in the summer breeze and birds singing

Fish are jumping

May as been a long and busy month but at least the sun is here, well for the odd day at the least.

Took a walk down at Hengistbury Head a few days ago...as much as I love London sometimes I need to be by the sea

And bury my feet in the warm sand

The Gone-away World

I just finished "The Gone-Away World" by Nick Harkaway. Its a hard book to define, part sci-fi part mess with your head but greatly enjoyable. 

Set in world not dissimilar to our own, or at least one that starts out that way which has suffered a man-made cataclysm. The origins of the disaster are unclear for a large portion of the book but the more you read the more you learn but equally more question arise.

Humanity is left striving for life in the livable zone on the fringes of something called the Jorgmund pipe. In the beyond are horrors but what these nightmares are remain unseen until you are deep in the plot. 

 

The novel has several elements that distinguish it from your run of the mill sci-fi. The main character is nameless and just when you are setup in a post apocalyptic wasteland you are thrown back in time - and anytime you get comfortable, think OK I see where we are, the book uproots and takes you in a new direction. 

The digressions from the plot into some minor subplot or the protagonist introspective thoughts are many and long but strangely fascinating - its the sort of thing you either love or hate. I for one was hooked. 

The book is refreshing, insightful and most of all a pleasure to read.

Oh and did I mention the Ninjas?

 

***Tell me about a book you have enjoyed recently!

There can be only one

I've been up in the Highlands of Scotland recently, I love it up there...

Being Nice Destroys Lives

I'm comfortable with the fact I'm not a "nice" person. 

Even though I don't consider myself to be particularly mean or nasty either, I come to the conclusion I just can't live with nice.

Why? Well when your too nice it tends to be the only thing people say about you. Its often used as a substitute instead of saying what you actually think for feel about someone. To me that translates as "well we couldn't think of anything else to say". 

Don't get me wrong, I can't stand rudeness at all but there is this horrid underbelly of overt politeness that can be infuriating. People in an attempt to be perceived as being nice, go out of there way to please others, my mother has this down to an art form and I, alas, am no exception. 

Take for example the lending and borrowing of personal items. Now I'm rather particular about who I lend things to or I wish I could be, because there are people who borrow and Never ever return, people who borrow and destroy and don't care and everyone else who is capable of borrowing and returning without incident. 

Anyone who knows me, know I love my books. But often I go to re-reading something and realise its been lent out and its been soo long that you can't ask for it back - nor can you say no when they ask to borrow something else (of course this depends on the relationship you have with the person). I do have friends that I can lend to and not think about it and then you get the wonderful conversation about whether they liked or hated the book, which is the whole point.

But I can't say no to the others 

This is because I'm trying to not seem like an insane ungenerous cow.  

I'm sure we've all done it and regretted it. I lent a first editions of a book I really loved to someone and even explained to them that it was special to me - that was 3 years ago and now they've left the country. 

When really there should be no problem  in asking for your things back we don't. 

All of this in the name of niceness. 

I could site a hundred more examples of this behaviour. Its a shame as human we just want to be liked and believe being nice will get us this status.

I'm convinced its an illness and I want rid of it.