Etre et avoir

This is not lit, but this WILL be the other half of my life from...

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 08:20:25 -0400

This is not lit, but this WILL be the other half of my life from now on.

Have been on the Ile de Re for a bit (casual) and busy with...

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 07:53:50 -0400

Have been on the Ile de Re for a bit (casual) and busy with work/being lazy/other first world problems. However I have been doing a LOT of reading (a book a day! WINNING) so will have some posts and reviews up very soon. Not that a lot of you care, although loving my 6 followers, half of whom may be spambots… prove me wrong then!

Book lovin’ x

prettybooks: (by Benjamin Stoehr) Beautiful. In my university...

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:17:11 -0400

prettybooks:

(by Benjamin Stoehr)

Beautiful. In my university room my books are just a jumble by my shelf. I need to sort this out!

The Common Lawyer

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:17:00 -0400

Just finished ‘The Common Lawyer’ by Mark Gimenez. Pretty good! I found it in a charity shop (standard) with a half rubbed off sticker advertising it as ‘the next Grisham’. This was pretty accurate - the book was gripping, the characters were Grisham-esque and the plot contained enough law to make me happy.

An aspect I really enjoyed was that the protagonist, Andy, was not a typical lawyer. His office was above a tattoo parlour and he dealt solely in traffic tickets until one day he’s picked up by the richest man in Austin, Texas, and his life changes. It was repeatedly mentioned that he was a C student - and for someone currently waiting for their exam results that was a nice touch. I’ve never visited Texas but Austin was painted in a good light, and it’s somewhere I’d definitely consider visiting thanks to this book. The first part of the book set the scene, and it was here where the author’s love for Austin clearly shone through. The gripping elements of the book were worked up later and did keep me locked in my room for a bit during a particularly dramatic car chase.

Overall the plot was drama ridden but actually quite believable. Obviously it was overblown, but the rise of Andy from traffic ticket lawyer to a rich city slicker was enjoyable. It allowed the reader to see how money had the possibility of changing Andy - a nice bit of social comment. Similar points also raised with regard to Texas gun laws.

Light law reading, recommended for a beach read and a bit of escapism.

Image found here giving 13 reasons not to love Austin… I’ll need to read them closely but for now I really want to visit, purely based on this book! (Possibly also based on the fact I’m stuck waiting for exam results and with boyfriend drama… but MAINLY THE BOOK!)

Happy Reading x

"So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t..."

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:39:42 -0400

“So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavour, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays.”

- John Keating, Dead Poet’s Society (via e-pic)

"Early in the morning, at break of day, in all the freshness and dawn of one’s strength, to read a..."

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:32:52 -0400

“Early in the morning, at break of day, in all the freshness and dawn of one’s strength, to read a book —I call that vicious!”

- Friedrich Nietzsche (via lifeofliterature)

lifeofliterature: “Always learn poems by heart. They have to...

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:20:38 -0400

lifeofliterature:

“Always learn poems by heart. They have to become the marrow in your bones. Like fluoride in the water, they’ll make your soul impervious to the world’s soft decay.” -White Oleander, Janet Fitch

Escapism

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:46:00 -0400

booklover:

“Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart.”

—

Salman Rushdie (via lifeofliterature)

So very true. Today has been an especially emotional day. Not a surprise, I brought it upon myself, but it was a day that I just needed to get through, to survive, and then everything starts to look up from there. I’ve used books today to escape - lose myself in imagination and escape. Books are much better than films for this, the images in films can remind you of things you are trying to forget, but the beauty of reading is that the images created are all your own - no-one can impose their own interpretation on you.

The book I’m reading is ‘The Common Lawyer’ by Mark Giminez, set in Texas it’s fairly far removed from my University life. I’ll post a review when I’m finished. Not high quality literature but a decent thriller. And I’ve just finished 3 weeks of law exams, who’s to judge?!

booklover: New books I could find in a second hand bookstore...

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 04:34:33 -0400

booklover:

New books I could find in a second hand bookstore selling English books. (Except Hornby and O’Neill as I had bought them before). I plan to read some of them this summer.

One of my favourite things to do, pile up some books and work my way through them.

youmightfindyourself: Coffee table made with Penguin paper...

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 04:30:43 -0400

youmightfindyourself:

Coffee table made with Penguin paper backs (by RobSog)

Overwhelmed with jealousy

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have...

Mon, 30 May 2011 11:14:13 -0400

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning; but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply;
And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in the winter stands a lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet know its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone;
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

- Edna St Vincent Millay

quote-book: ( submitted by ayuliyana )

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 11:57:10 -0500

quote-book:

( submitted by ayuliyana )

"Pour être satisfait, il faut avoir désiré; on peut être content sans avoir désiré rien."

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 06:41:40 -0500

““Pour être satisfait, il faut avoir désiré; on peut être content sans avoir désiré rien.””

- Alembert Jean le Rond d’