Brian.

Are the movies the Russian ones, Night Watch & Day Watch?

I guess I should count myself lucky that my local library doesnt charge for reserving a book. Its all done online so it can be done from the comfort of my chair.

I'm glad I opted not to pick up 'The Crucifix Killer' when I saw it a few weeks ago. I read the blurb in the back and flicked through it but nothing jumped out so I put it back.

Bought a few more book this morning, 3 from an Oxfam bookshop and 2 from the supermarket as they were on special offer and I was bored. Emma - Jane Austen Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Jules Verne (published 1965 and in superb condition) A Week in December - Sebastian Faulks Trafficked - Sophie Hayes The Sisters Brothers - Patrick DeWitt

The Dead Women of Juarez by Sam Hawken Synopsis In the last twenty years, over 3000 women have disappeared from Ciudad Juárez, on the border between Mexico and the USA. Sam Hawken takes this story of mass murder and abduction and around it weaves the story of Kelly Courter, a washed up boxer from Texas, who doesn't mind playing the stooge in the ring, so long as he gets paid. Courter is sucked into the underworld of organised crime that flourishes in the city, soon finding himself in way over his head. As his life spins out of control he becomes obsessed with seeking the truth about the female victims of Juárez. Sam Hawken is a classic American voice and Kelly Courter is a timeless American hero, fighting for freedom and justice in this fast-paced and brutal novel. (Taken from Amazon) My Thoughts I think I picked this up at my local Waterstones just after christmas, I was drawn in by the cover, the story sounded interesting and it has been short listed for a prize. I hadn't heard of Sam Hawken and I didn't realise that the story is based loosely around a real life phenomenom of women going missing and turning up dead in Juarez, Mexico. The book starts with Kelly Courter who is a likeable character who is down on his luck and an ex drug addict trying to make ends meet by boxing in matches he has no chance or desire to win. Kelly and his back story is developed a little as the book goes on but I would have liked to know more about him. By the end of the book I felt pity but also dislike towards him and like all the charcaters in the book there just seems to be something missing from him. Hawken seems to repeat several things throughout the book, he like vomit and urinating blood it would seem. There is also some sex in the book which seems graphic for the sake of being graphic and not much else. I suspect he was trying to make the story edgy and gritty but in these places it falls down. This is a shame because the descriptions of the places and the dusty, dry oppressive atompshere is got across very well and sets a really effective tone. Overall its pretty easy to read and I kept picking it up to read whenever I had a spare 10 or 15 minutes. I found it to be ok, the story is predictable in a lot of places and I feel Hawken missed a trick in one part of the story when he went in one direction where another would have been better. I also couldn't help but feel that it was being set up for a sequel. 2/5 (It was ok)

Finished The Dead Women of Juarez by Sam Hawken last night. Half decent book, not great but not bad either.

Although a dedicated GPS helps a lot you can use a smartphone app especially when just starting out.

I think geocaching is more popular in the USA but mainly because that is where it started. After the USA I think the UK has the next most caches and it seems to me to be fairly popular. There are a fair few urban caches where I live but I prefer ones in the countryside by a long way, its tricky not looking too dodgy doing urban ones.

Made a start on The Dead Women of Juarez by Sam Hawken when I got in from work this morning. Was so tired I fell asleep about 20 pages in, not the fault of the book though.

Thats an impressive haul for £30.

I do I started years ago but due to a lack of caches I slowly stopped it. Then, all of a sudden towards the end of last year I happened to mention it to a friend of mine and he seemed really interested in it. After checking out the website again I found that the number of caches had really ballooned. I love the fact that its taken me to many places I would never have otherwise found in my local area.

Fly By Wire by William Langewiesche Synopsis On January 15, 2009, a US Airways Airbus A320 had just taken off from LaGuardia Airport in New York, when a flock of Canada geese collided with it, destroying both of its engines. Over the next three minutes, the plane's pilot Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger, managed to glide to a safe landing in the Hudson River. It was an instant media sensation, the "The Miracle on the Hudson", and Captain Sully was the hero. But, how much of the success of this dramatic landing can actually be credited to the genius of the pilot? To what extent is the "Miracle on the Hudson" the result of extraordinary - but not widely known, and in some cases quite controversial - advances in aviation and computer technology over the last twenty years? From the testing laboratories where engineers struggle to build a jet engine that can systematically resist bird attacks, through the creation of the A320 in France, to the political and social forces that have sought to minimize the impact of the revolutionary fly-by-wire technology, William Langewiesche assembles the untold stories necessary to truly understand "The Miracle on the Hudson", and makes us question our assumptions about human beings in modern aviation. (Taken from Amazon) My Thoughts This is a really short book, only about 200 pages long so I managed to read it one go during some downtime at work. The subject is something I have a lot of experience in, I work in the avaition industry and on the type of aircraft the book is based on. The tale needs no real introduction. On the morning of January 15th 2009 a US Airways A320 ingested a flock of Canada geese on take off from LA Guardia causing both engines to pretty much shut down. The captain Chelsey Sullenberger (Sully) landed the aircraft in the Hudson river. The decision of the pilots and the flight charcateristics of the aircraft meant that all the people on board lived and it became one of the greatest feats of modern flying. This book takes a slightly different approach and instead of focusing on what could have been done to avoid the accident it tooks at the facts of the day. It dips in and out of historic examples of similar incidents and the background to the union disputes going on behind the scenes at US Airways at the time. The facts behind the day have been covered many times in the past and this book adds no more flesh to those details. However the comparisons with previous incidents are very interesting especially when looking at the differences between the A320 and other aircraft. One thing that has always bothered me is the lack of explanation that the A320's flight systems and in particular its alpha protection pay a huge part in the reasons why the landing was successful. I've always thought that this was because it was an all American hero (Sully) landing in America on an aircraft which isn't American but from Boeings biggest rivals, Airbus. A lot has been pointed at the safety or claimed lack of safety when aircraft have computers taking more and more of the flying loads aways from pilots and its this part of the book which I found the most interesting. The author takes a little while looking at the fact that humans seem to have a trait of taking more risks in situations that are meant to be safe. Think of the Titanic, a ship which was meant to be un-sinkable and yet sunk. Part of the reason is that the ship took on icebergs which would have been avoided in other ships. A similar thing has happened with the A320 in the past, a pilot at an airshow decided to bypass the safety systems to push it are close to stall possible just off the ground. His decision to bypass 3 levels of protection meant his miscalcualtions cost people their lives. In the Hudson case, a great peice of flying by Sulley coupled with the flight protections lead of an incredible landing and the saving of many lives. The only down point to the book for me is that I felt it was missing a chapter at the end to tie everything together. The last chapter doesnt this to a small extent but I was still left feeling that there was a chapter missing. 4/5 (It really liked it)

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Synopsis At the heart of Joseph Heller's bestselling novel, first published in 1961, is a satirical indicement of military madness and stupidity, and the desire of the ordinary man to survive it. It is a tale of the dangerously sane Captain Yossarian, who spends his time in Italy plotting to survive. (Taken from Goodreads) My Thoughts First up, I've had this sitting on my TBR pile for ages, over a year I think and although I've picked it up when deciding what to read next I've always put it back down in favour of another title for some reason. Having just finished reading Crime & Punishment I was after something a little lighter and more straightforward to read. Having already promised Kylie that I would read this next it was with some trepidation that I picked it up. Although I knew very little about the story I knew that some people find it very hard to follow due to the chaotic structure and that put me off a bit. I found it to be a little slow starting off but I immediately liked Yossarian and even though a lot of characters are introduced I never found it confusing. Some of the names used are absolutely awesome such as Milo Minderbinder and Lieutenant Schiesskopf. The use of humour is great and I found myself chuckling along quite often while reading. The military bureaucracy shown the spotlight in the book is ludicrous but I couldnt help but feel that its only an exageration of what Heller must have experienced during his time in the military. For example, for a long time, Yossarian has a dead man in his tent. He was killed before records show that he was in the unit so no one would remove the body. To all intents and purposes he doesnt exist despite the existence of a body. Along with all the humour and insanity of the bureaucracy there is crushing tradegy, the deaths of the enlisted men along side Yossarian. Some of the men are not afraid of death, being blinded by patriotic zeal or some other sense of duty. There is also Milo Minderbinder who is making vast profits off the war which he states many times is also owned (shared) by everyone. A lot if not all of the themes dealt with in the book are applicable to modern conflicts. Despite my reservations I really enjoyed this book and I only wish I had read I earlier. I rarely re-read a book but I can see this being a book I revisit in the future. Thanks again Kylie. 4/5 (It really liked it)

There is a bit of a rundown pub (bar) in my town centre which has bookcases dotted around it. On the bookcases there are signs saying that you are welcome to read and even take a book with you as long as you return it or replace it with one of equal worth. I only tend to be in there on an odd Saturday night when its real busy so I'm yet to see anyone reading in there.

Made a start on Catch-22 last night and I'm really enjoying it so far so thanks Kylie. Its a massively different reading experience to Crime & Punishment and I'm loving the humour in it.

I used to feel bad about giving up on books but its not something I give any thought to anymore. 150 pages is more than enough to give any book a good shot at catching your attention.

I have a big thing for mexican style tattoos and particularly anything related to the Day of the Dead celebrations. I also wanted colour and Day of the Dead tatts really lend themselves to this.

OK, firstly I apologise for bumping up a year old topic but I saw no sense in starting a new one. Anyone got any new ink so show, I love seeing people's tattoos. I just got my second one done today and I'm very happy with it, you'll have to excuse the bruising in the pic, its still sore.

I think I just saw Charlie Adam's penalty fly past my window Great game to watch but as a Liverpool fan it was painful at times. Cardiff were simply fantastic, Malky Makay is proving to be one of the most promising young managers the country has produced. I often wonder if Jordan Henderson has used someone else's ID because he constantly looks lost on the pitch and not like a footballer. A lot needs to be fix and Lucas can't come back soon enough. Nice to win a trophy again though.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Synopsis Crime and Punishment is one of the greatest and most readable novels ever written. From the beginning we are locked into the frenzied consciousness of Raskolnikov who, against his better instincts, is inexorably drawn to commit a brutal double murder. From that moment on, we share his conflicting feelings of self-loathing and pride, of contempt for and need of others, and of terrible despair and hope of redemption: and, in a remarkable transformation of the detective novel, we follow his agonised efforts to probe and confront both his own motives for, and the consequences of, his crime. The result is a tragic novel built out of a series of supremely dramatic scenes that illuminate the eternal conflicts at the heart of human existence: most especially our desire for self-expression and self-fulfilment, as against the constraints of morality and human laws; and our agonised awareness of the world's harsh injustices and of our own mortality, as against the mysteries of divine justice and immortality. (Taken from Amazon) My Thoughts Hmmm, where to start? I should come straight out and say from the start that this books has been sitting on my bookcase mocking me for a while. Mocking me because despite being just a book it intimidated me. Along with Ulysses this is one of those books that is so large and held in such esteem that it feels as though not liking it or celebrating it's greatness is a crime against writing. It was a crime that I did not want to commit but I also knew that I was drawn to it and that I should read it. Being a classic in the truest sense of the word doesn't help either, I find them a bit hit and miss. Despite all this I found it to be a pretty readable even if it is very wordy. I decided to split reading this with an other book and read mainly at work. I found this to be a bit tricky because although readable I found that I had to concentrate on it. I certainly couldn't read it and take it all in with a TV on in the background for example but it didn't make me want to cut my eyes out like Thomas Hardy does. I found Dostoyebsky's settings to be described very well, expecially the downtrodden, poor atomsphere they created. The ramblings of the main character Raskolnikov a little annoying at times especially when I couldn't see where they were going or what they achieved. The fact that the characters has more than one name (I assume it's a Russian thing) got to me on more than one occasion. Numerous times I found myself thinking 'who is this' and having to read on to find out which character was the focus at the particular time. The subject matter that the book deals with is very interesting and is still relevant today which I guess is one of the reasons that the book has enjoyed such longevity. There were two things which stuck in my mind. Early on after the murder Razumikhin and Zosimov are discussing the current trend of crime and how it seems that there is trend for people wanting to make money as quickly as possible without paying heed to the morality of how that wealth is obtained. Although they are talking about murder, even today great wealth and morality are not often comfortable bed-fellows. About halfway through the book Razumikhin and Raskolnikov are talking to Porfiry about how the law seems to treat people with different standing in society differently. Porify goes on to say that the ordinary must live in odebience and do not have the right to break the law. The extraordinary have the right to commit all sorts of crime. This is still and accurate judgement of society today and is evident most days on the news. I found the interactions between Raskolnikov and Porfiry to be my favourite parts of the book, especially where Porfiry lets on that he knows all about the crime commited by Raskolnikov. Tension is ratcheted up really well in places with Dostoyevsky taking his time. It's during these phases that I enjoyed the book most. Sadly I found these to be few and far between with meandering ramblings to be the order of the day. Due to this I found it to be bit of a slog at times. I have a general rule that if, after 100 pages I find nothing to interest me then a book gets abandoned. Crime and Punishment never reached this point with me but I can't say I would recommend it to anyone unless they loved classic literature (in which case I suspect they will be well aware of it). 2/5 (It was OK)

I quick and short update to my list. I have now read Fight Club (which I'm pretty sure is on the list) and Crime & Punisment. I really liked Fight Club and thought Crime & Punishment was ok although I didnfind it a bit of a slog in places.

I have managed to finally finish Crime & Punishment, its been a bit of a slog at times and an OU course I have been doing has got in the way of my reading a bit. I shall post a proper review in the next few days.

I'm With Fatty by Edward Ugel Synopsis For most people, weight loss is spurred by a pair of tight pants or a photo that shows one too many chins. But Edward Ugel isn't most people. Ugel was forced to lose weight after his wife recorded him snoring--a sound so deafeningly horrible that his "turncoat" doctor made him wear a CPAP machine to sleep every night. That's when Ugel, weighing in at 263 pounds (or, as he likes to describe it; 119 kilograms), realized he had to lose 50 pounds in order to live (literally) and sleep like a normal guy, and so his wife could see his face when she refused to have sex with him. "I'm with Fatty" is Ugel's honest and wickedly funny chronicle of a father, husband, and all-around-food-obsessed man as he attempts to lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks. A foodie who can't remember the last time he exercised but can describe every bite of his last Chinese takeout meal, Ugel is a typical guy. But "I'm with Fatty" is a far cry from a typical weight-loss memoir, a category usually reserved for perky, inspiring fatties-turned-aerobics instructors who want to sell their brand of you-can-do-it. For Ugel, losing 50 pounds isn't about looking good at the beach. It's about trying to save his life and figuring out how to live in a world without dim sum, smoked Italian meats, and the daily pleasure of cooking whatever, and however, he wants. Ugel merges this love of food with his all-male sensibility as he sets off on a yearlong journey to answer the questions, "Where does one draw the line between being a lifelong foodie and a food addict?" and "Can I really live without bacon?" (Taken from Amazon) My Thoughts I obtained this book up after someone discarded it on an aeroplane. Most of the time these discarded books get trashed by the cleaners but if I can get there first I rescue them. It was left for me at work but a joker who assumed I would be annoyed (I'm carrying some extra timber these days). The cover caught my eye with the 'fifty miserable weeks' strap line. I knew this wouldn't be the usual feel good story of soomeone who got fit and loved every minute of this. As Edward happily admits he wouldn't have undertaken this period of weight loss had it not been for the fact his weight had given him sleep apnea. This meant that he had to wear a breathing mask at night which he hated and scared his kids. It also scared him to think about what damage he had done to his body over the years. I wont go much more into the ins and outs of what happens but will say he tells it with great humour. Not everything goes well and he really looks into why he fails when he does and what makes him push on when he doesnt want to. The tone is light hearted and this makes it a very easy read. The only slight downer is that he doesnt have a job during all this time as he is a writer and using the experience to write this book. This makes it a little hard to really identify with his life at times. 3/5

Although its a little off topic Scar Tissue by Anothony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is a great read. It obviously spends a lot of time dealing with the drugs issues that the band faced. There is little bravado in it, its pretty heartfelt.