Cairo Jim

When i was in year four at school, we had an author come and visit us. His name was Geoffrey McSkimming and he is the author of the series, Cairo Jim. I remember being in awe of him, and how funny and vibrant he was. I started reading his books and from memory i think I’ve read every single one of the Cairo Jim stories. The other day on eBay i saw someone selling a bunch of his books and i couldn’t resist. I bought them. They are such a fun read, and books that i can’t wait to introduce to the children we hope to have one day. As a kid, i read them over and over again and i remember thinking to myself that Geoffrey McSkimming was actually Cairo Jim, he was just pretending to be Geoffrey McSkimming.

“When Geoffrey McSkimming was a boy he found an old motion-picture projector and a tin containing a dusty home movie in his grandmother’s attic. He screened the film and was transfixed by the flickering image of a man in a jaunty pith helmet, baggy Sahara shorts and special desert sun-spectacles. The man had an imposing macaw and a clever looking camel, and Geoffrey Mcskimming was mesmerised by their activities in black-and-white Egypt, Peru, Greece, Mexico, Sumatra, Turkey, Italy and other exotic locations. Years later he discovered the identities of the trio, and has spent much of his time since then retracing their footsteps, interviewing surviving members of the Old Relics Society, and gradually reconstructing the lost true tales of Cairo Jim, which have become the enormously successful Cairo Jim chronicles.”

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Third Lot – And It’s A Lot

I received another stack of books from the lady in And Then There Were Two… and Second Lot

I was down to my last two borrowed books, hoping to start making a dent in the other stack of books i have, ones that i own. However it looks like i will again have two major stacks of books to read again. Plus the 100+ eBooks i have on my Kobo, the books i am reviewing for authors, and the list of books i don’t actually have a copy of but want to read. Sigh. I think that if i never did anything but read books for the rest of my life, i still wouldn’t be able to read all the books that i want to. I just have to remember to break it up and read both the books from the borrowed stack and the books that i’ve bought otherwise i will find myself in the same situation i was in with Upside Down Inside Out by Monica McInerney.

As before, i researched them all by either reading reviews of each book on Amazon or skimming through if there were no reviews to go by. Three books didn’t make it, Scandals by Penny Jordan, The Defiant Hero by Suzanne Brockmann (both because of sexual content) and The Trophy Taker by Lee Weeks (due to graphic content).

Now to relax and remind myself i love reading, that it is a pleasure and not a chore. It’s not a race to try and get through every book i want to read – it’s an adventure.

My Favourite Movie

My favourite movie in the whole wide world (and i have no idea why it’s my absolute favourite) is ‘The First Wives Club’ starring Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton. I watched it on TV one Saturday night when i was a teenager and i laughed so hard and enjoyed it so much. The story is great, however i think that the three women in the starring roles is what makes it even greater. When i got the DVD as a present one year, i would watch it almost every weekend. I still watch it regularly now (not every weekend) and enjoy it immensely.

For my birthday about a month ago, my husband bought me the book, The First Wives Club by Olivia Goldsmith, as i had never read it. He got a deal where he could buy three more books by the same author for a good price so even though he had no clue whether i would like the author or not, it was worth getting the extra three.
I am quite excited to read the book that my favourite movie is based on, however i am also a little nervous about it because i know how much books and movies can differ. I understand the need to change things when writing the screenplay for a movie when it is based a book because not all things that work in a book, work on screen and vice versa. I just want to make sure that i read the book for what it is, and not continually compare it to the movie.

I am also hoping that i have found another author to enjoy! We shall see.

Second Lot

 

I received another stack of books from the lady in And Then There Were Two…

Having learnt from my previous experience, i researched them all by reading many reviews of each book on Amazon. Only one book didn’t make it, Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter.

This is the review that made me decide not to read it. I just wanted to say thank you to them because i know i wouldn’t be able to handle the book’s contents and i am glad they were able to warn me, and others like me. Some of the comments in response to their review weren’t very nice. Just because some people can handle certain things, doesn’t mean everyone else can and i don’t understand why people have to ‘hate’ on other people just because they can’t. I could really get into my opinion on this but i will leave it to another day 😉

And Then There Were Two…

I don’t know whether i wear a sign that says “Lend me books!” or if people just catch me reading all the time (most likely the latter!), however the other day while i was working, a local lady came in and she asked me if i would like to borrow some of her books. She told me that she is forever buying the $5 or 3 for $10 books that they sell at newsagents (she’s the first person i’ve ever heard of who’s bought one of those books – i for one always wonder why they are so cheap. Is it because they are terrible?) so she has an abundance to lend. Not one to turn down a personal lending library, i said i would love to borrow as many as she would like to lend.

So now i have this stack of books to read. When i’m done, there’s many more.

Between her and that sweet old man, i think i’ll be quite right for new books to read for quite awhile. However knowing me, and the stack of my own books that are beside my bed waiting to be read, i know that this won’t in fact stop me from buying or borrowing more.

What’s a life without books?

That Sweet Old Man…

I work at the post office and general store in the small country town that i live in. There are many characters who live in the town and around the area (i was thinking about writing a blog on living in a small country town and how it is EXACTLY like the movies and television shows – everyone knows everything about you and you have NO IDEA how they found out. I decided not to though because they are real people and i don’t like to gossip). There is this one old man who comes in every day to buy his newspaper. He is as deaf as a doorpost so you have to shout at him if you want to say anything.

One day when he came in he had to pay some bills at the post office. He told me that he knows you can pay bills on the computer now but he doesn’t know how to. He told me how his wife used to do all that, and how she was very good on the computer and understood what she was doing. He was very proud of her. Then he started tearing up and became silent. I didn’t know what to do. I almost burst into tears for this old man’s broken heart. Here he was, obviously still so proud and so full of love for his wife, and almost breaking down at the post office of all places, because of how much he missed her. That’s true love.

The other day while i was reading Those Faraday Girls by Monica McInerney in the shop, he came in (that’s right, i was even reading the book between customers because i couldn’t put it down!). He saw me reading and asked if i read much (what a question to ask me). He asked what i liked to read. Anything. Then he wondered if i’d like to borrow some of his books. Of course!

On Friday when he came in he had a stack of books with him. There’s plenty more where they came from he informed me.

So those are the books that i will be reading for the next little while. I will be sure to review each one 🙂

Such a sweet old man.