1000 Years of Annoying the French

OK
First off, the book's 570 pages long, so, no I did not stay up all night reading it... I'm saving it for the plane trip home next week... so no book review here.

As I mentioned yesterday, WH Smith put on the signing with Stephan Clarke last night, and it was a blast. As with the previous event, the release of Elizabeth Bard's "Lunch in Paris," Stephan did a bit of a reading, answered some questions and then signed the books... who knew, he did the Brisbane International Writers Festival last year (or recently anyway).

and, as so happens when you ask if someone's books are available in a random country like Australia, the minute it was over, I was surrounded by Australians. Including someone I went to high school with, another gal from Brisbane, and a third from Sydney. Itty-bitty world.

anyway, back to the reading - the book, "1000 years of annoying the French" is a brief history of franco-anglo relations - the gaffes, the humor and the sublimely ridiculous. Stephan has used a mixture of sources, including throwing kudos out to the Gutenburg Project (who deserve as much Kudos as you can throw!), wikipedia, and primary source texts from the era.

there are some quite contentious things in there - Joan of Arc, Napoleon, and then there are other, less serious and incredible stories - who kept the bubbles in champagne, and who actually invented the baguette. (French Politics and Food... nothing more serious nom?)

anyways, I haven't reviewed anything in ages, because I haven't had any astonishingly good reads... only lots of fun adventure/urban fantasy. I will rectify this when I get back to Terra Australis.

L.B.

Thursday's Slacker Excuse

I know, poor form;

This has been a hectic and silly time to set up a blog, so what are you going to do?

Heading to see Stephan Clarke at WH Smith tonight for the release of his latest: "1000 years of annoying the French" don't you just love the title? hopefully will have something interesting to write about afterwards.

This will be my last foray into the Parisian Literature scene, which has been a lot of fun, and Kudos to WH Smith for being such champs, putting on events and having a great selection of random book-like goodness for me to consume! (now I just need to dispose of them all again...)

which is a point I could get riled up about right now - what to do with all the books? I love my books, and for all my belief in removing clutter and simplfying my life, throwing a book out? giving it away? that I struggle with. Having post-university disposable income means I've moved beyond buying books which I need to buying books I want, and SB can tell you, the house is rapidly filling with ikea bookshelves... If i find a good solution to this (a Perth charity or something) I'll let you know... in the meantime... thank goodness for the Orwellian Kindle, which at least limits the volume and weight...

I will be back on form next week

LB