I have a few writers that I instantly buy. Richard Ayoade is one of them. I think everything he’s ever written is hilarious and well worth the read. So, I had to pre-order his new children’s book. I could imagine him being the perfect writer to create a unique and engaging story for younger readers.
It won’t have escaped your attention that I should have posted this yesterday. The truth is that I hadn’t finished the book. In fact, I was nowhere near finishing it. It’s been a tough week and I’ve just not been able to concentrate on reading. So, even though this book was a really quick read intended for children, it took me ages to finish it. Although, was that just because I wasn’t in the mood or was it also down to the book?
I have a pretty simple sense of humour. I like silliness and dad jokes. So, Harry Hill is someone I absolutely adore. His show TV Burp is still one of the greatest pieces of television that has ever been created. Despite this, I wasn’t been aware that he’d written a series of children’s books about a pre-teen stand-up comedian. I wouldn’t have been aware if I hadn’t needed to find a quick read on the library app. Yet again it was clear that I was never going to finish my current read in time. I need to get better at reading physical books again. I have so many to read.
I know my review of the first book in the Max Einstein series wasn’t exactly glowing but I enjoyed it enough to listen to the next one. Again, it’s a good way to get through all of those work hours when I’m doing repetitive and dull tasks. Anything to make them seem more exciting. So, when this was recommended on my library catalogue, I figured I’d carry on with the series.
Sometimes you pick up a book because it sounds like everything you’ve ever wanted. Sometimes you pick up a book because it’s beautiful. Sometimes it’ll be because the author is someone you’ve loved before. Sometimes it might be a title that draws you in. This time? It was length and availability. In fact, that’s happening quite a lot lately. Whichever short books are available via my library’s online catalogue are probably going to be read. This was a book I could finish in a work day and one that I didn’t imagine would require a lot of concentration. It was perfect.
This week I’ve unexpectedly finished two books. Two books that I wasn’t intending to read but that I managed to listen to as I was working. I’ve had this for a while but never bothered to read it. I do this a lot with middle-grade fiction. I love the idea of them but I don’t read them. I had bought this after reading and enjoying Katherine Rundell’s The Explorer. This one sounded like an equally fun and charming story. Plus, historical children’s books are becoming a thing for me this month.
I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t put much effort into my film choice for this week but things haven’t gone as I expected this weekend. Being incredibly exhausted and pretty busy was a terrible combination. So, when it came time to watch something, I was mostly looking for something quick and tat didn’t require any real effort. At one point, I’d considered watching the Snyder cut of Justice League but I wasn’t capable of concentrating on something for over 4 hours. Especially something that I didn’t enjoy enough the first time to really want to watch again. Instead of Snyder, I turned to Netflix and found the least appealing film that I could find. The fact that it ran to just under 90 minutes was just a happy bonus.
Am I the only one that seems to miss out on all of the bookish drama? It wasn’t until I finished reading this book that I realised there was a load of controversy around it. When looking on Goodreads, it became apparent that people were taking issue with the title of the book and the effect it might have on children in the care system. I understand that you have to be careful about these thing but it’s clear that most of the people making a fuss haven’t actually bothered to read it. After all, the more you know, the harder it is to complain about everything. You might say that, as someone without any connection to the adoption community, that I’m not qualified to comment on the argument. However, it’s clearly an opinion shared by Adoption UK as they’ve published a positive review of Hana Tooke’s book. I’m sorry a bunch of Karen’s are miffed but this isn’t fair to a good children’s book.
I can’t say that I was ever a fan of SpongeBob SquarePants when I was younger. It just passed me by and I wasn’t really aware of its existence until I was too old to care. I briefly lived with a guy at uni who had been given the nickname Sponge and had the animated character tattooed onto his person. Still, I didn’t feel like checking it out. I didn’t watch a whole episode until I first subscribed the Netflix and started watching it ironically as an adult. I appreciated the series but I can’t say that I saw what all of the fuss was about. So, I’m not exactly the kind of person who would be rushing out to watch the latest movie but these are Covid times. Nothing really makes much sense right now so I decided to watch it. At the very least, I figured that it would work with my current reduced attention span.
I miss going out to the cinema. The news that Cineworld would be closing due to Covid has made me realise just how long it been since I was las sat in a cinema. I obviously hope that cinemas will survive but it seems clear that, post-Coronavirus, the way people watch films is going to change. I’d love to be able to go out and support my local cinema but I just don’t want to take the risk. I’m not officially shielding but as a “high risk” individual in a virus hotspot, it really doesn’t seem worth the risk to sit in a room full of strangers for a few hours. No matter how good Tenet might be. And it’s not fair to place the survival of a whole industry on individuals anyway. But I digress. For the time being, there are plenty of films being released on Netflix at the moment to keep me occupied. It won’t ever be the same but it’s something.
Yipee ki-yay, motherbooker 