Things what I did, aka MacGyver is the King of All Men.

I love the Mothership, even if she is walloping me in three games of online Scrabble simultaneously (I logged on yesterday to discover that she’d dropped diuretic on a triple word score, giving her eighty six points. In response, I  said a rude word.) The last time I saw her I gave her Like Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightttime by Mark Haddon to read, and she called me during the week to tell me how much she loved them – especially the latter, as she is a teacher aide who works with kids with Aspergers. She got so excited about it that she’s lending it out to people left and right.

I love it when a book finds a good home like that. Since I started reading the Harry Potter books in 2001 I’ve forced about ten other people to read them (although none of them would come and line up with me the morning the books came out, the ingrates). I’ve also talked one of my non-reading friends into such books as Like Water for Chocolate, Bridget Jones’ Diary and other assorted books not about rich powerful divorcees (not that there’s anything wrong with those). Book recommendations make the world go round, so make sure you let me know yours.

Speaking of which, my TBR pile has gotten big again, thanks to my tax return. Love tax time! Due to my inability to gain a job that pays much money I’ve successfully avoided paying my HECS debt for another year. Take that government!. To celebrate my tax return hitting my bank account I went book shopping (again) and went to see State of Play and Transformers 2 back to back in the city this afternoon. Transformers 2 was fantastic (having been forewarned of the gratuitous Megan Fox – if I’d been a teenage boy I would have been over the moon), but I loved State of Play. Russell Crowe was fantastic, as was Helen Mirren. I love a good thriller, especially one involving a newspaper – I think it stems from when I was a kid and I used to be obsessed with Press Gang.

It was a good day, but not the highlight of the week. That was yesterday, when I spent the whole day eating chocolate and watching the first season of MacGyver. Incidentally, I’ve had the best idea I’ve ever had – MacGyver the Musical.  How genius would that be? I think Macgyver building a homemade flamethrower to defend the jungle plantation from the killer ants* while tap dancing would be the single greatest thing ever seen by anyone anywhere.

* this was an actual episode of MacGyver. I nearly spontaneously combusted with excitement. In another episode he sandboarded away from the terrorists on a MAP, which he then used to patch up the bullet hole in the HOT AIR BALLOON he used to escape. He is my hero.

I swear, I’m still offline…

My To-Be-Read pile is breeding, mainly because Borders keep having sales and I keep going.

Here’s the list, in order of the stack on my clock radio:

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Ghost by Robert Harris
Lady Chatterly’s Lover by DH Lawrence
Everything’s Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Graham-Smith
The Childrens Book – AS Byatt
Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman
The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler
My Booky Wook – Russell Brand
The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo – Stieg Larsson
The House at Midnight – Lucie Whitehouse

The good news is that I admit that I have a problem when it comes to buying books. The bad news is I have no intention of doing anything about it, so there is a very good chance that the stack will end up higher than my head before too long.

Right, essay.

Muchas Gracias K-Dog.

For those of you who aren’t from the merry ol’ land of Oz, our fearless and benevolent Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has attempted to buy our love with a nine hundred dollar payment to stimulate the economy.

I received my payment last Thursday, after three weeks of making jokes about being stimulated by Kevin Rudd, and whinging when everyone else got theirs before me.

A lot of people I know are being careful with their money and saving it.
Sod that, says I.

For those playing at home I bought

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Ghost by Robert Harris
Lady Chatterly’s Lover by DH Lawrence
Everything’s Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Middlemarch by George Elliot (not actually pictured)

And the jewel in my book tower…

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES. Oh how I rejoice just saying those words.  It’s an early birthday present to myself, but I can’t read it until after I finish Middlemarch, which is a little way off yet. And just so y’all know, it is killing me. The cover alone makes me  happy.

So, to Kevin07, K-Rudd, the Milky Bar Kid, whatever you want to call him, I say thanks. Kev’s brought $900 worth of my love which is pretty substantial, but not as much love as Andrew O’Keefe has brought. (Plus, he gave me money in the form of a giant novelty cheque. Something to think about Kevin?)

Huzzah for books! That should take my mind off Richo being out of the team for 12 weeks (Sob. I really do think that Richmond has been cursed this year. NOTHING HAS GONE RIGHT. I blame swine flu).

Holy Zombie Invasion Batman!

I am generally hopeless at naming a favourite of anything – I usually say one thing, but add a few hundred on so that they don’t feel left out.

However, there is only one favourite book, and that is Pride and Prejudice. So imagine my excitement at news of this.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”
I burn, I pine, I perish. I am going to send a mass email to the world. My birthday is soon and THAT is what I want. Forget world peace, I want brain eating zombies.