Don't Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson

I used to read quite a lot of personal development books and I believe I am where I am now (doing ok in the pharma industry) in part because of the lessons I’ve learned from them. Books like “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and “How to Make Friends and Influence People” all contain reminders of how we should act and might have forgotten or not place enough importance on such behaviors or, occasionally, teach us new behaviors. Like many other “Don’t Sweat………”takes the format of very short chapters (a couple of pages) or one could almost call them lessons. There are many useful things in there to remind how we should act when faced with irritation or adversity (what is this person / event trying to teach me?) and I do think that is one of the keys of a contented life. I think in Buddhist teaching it is known as “mindfulness” where you are not upset by each issue that crops up every day and that you can put it into perspective of the big wide world and your whole life. It may seem like a raw deal today but ask yourself ……………… in a year’s time ……………… how much will it really matter? Now to practice living that philosophy even more than I already did and truly master it. I think life will be even better and I’ll be even more fun to share it with 

He’s a boy-superstar……

Three years ago when my eldest son Tom did his GCSE’s he did pretty well, coming away with a eight of them including five at grade B. That was pretty amazing. This summer it was Robin’s turn and although I had a very busy August so did n’t write, last night I went to his awards ceremony at Swavesey Village College which has inspired me to put finger to keyboard.

I always knew he was a bright lad, but the problem is that he is not overly interested. Don’t get me wrong, I get the impression that he is quite interested and tries somewhat but he’s just not dedicated, in the way that he is to playing games on his laptop. This last point I thought would be his undoing. Apparently not though, he rocked up with GCSE grade A results in maths, English literature, English language, chemistry, biology, physics, geography and history with B’s in Spanish and RE to boot!!!!!!!!!

As he was on a performance bonus system it turned out to be an expensive summer for me ;-)

The Colony by F G Cottam This was a stunning novel– right up until the last few pages it could have been my best read ever but tn very sadly it fizzled out without any real climax. So I’ve read Cottam before; The Waiting Room must have been one of the last real books I read before the arrival of my Kindle last Xmas. That was a very solid and interesting ghost story. I’d marked the author down to revisit later and having recalled my intention I had a look on the Amazon reviews to see what else he had out. This seemed quite interesting and had good reviews. Based on the tale of a Scottish Hebridean island where all of the inhabitants went missing at the turn of the century. Recently, a wealthy newspaper owner was to solve the mystery and it looks like it’s to boost the sales of his flagging newspaper but the reality is that he is a UFO-ologist, determined to prove that the islands inhabitants were taken by visitors from another planet. He enlists the help of various experts such as geologists, phsychics, medics etc to go up there, and at the last though a cleric, in order to ensure that all angels are covered. However, even before our intrepid party lands the security team sent ahead suffer a fatality and then discover the empty craft of a rival news team. The horrors of this story are n’t spawned out of alien beings but in fact voodoo, the curse of a vodoo priest brutalized and murdered by a sea captain coming back to haunt the living. I have to say it was a very powerful and unusually for me had shivers running down my spine on a number of occasions. There are two entities to deal with (although one gets sort of forgotten at the end), there is the daughter of the sea captain who flies around (quite literally) with wholey black eyes and then the black demon. The final confrontation with the demon though is over in what can’t be much more than a page or two (remember, I’m on my Kindle!), there is no build up of intensity to the story it’s like a balloon that somebody lets go of before they’ve tied it. On saying that, I will read this author again because overall it was an excellent novel, just work on your endings man ;-) Now, finally I guess, I have a date with a girl with a dragon tattoo!!!

Getting together :-)

Huge, huge couple of days since I got back from Japan on Friday. The trip to the land of the rising sun was a rollercoaster ride and probably deserves an entry of its own but too much of it would be company secret. Anyway, what has happened since has dwarved it by miles. So, last night I told Robin and Chloe that Kate, Ava and John would be moving in with us in the next six months. Chloe punched the air and was delighted. Robin was content too. Last night I also told my mum who was very happy for us. Tonight I told Tom on the phone and Kate told John and Ava. John had a similar reaction to Chloe but Ava needs a little time to get used to what will be a massive change in her life. I am so unbelievably thrilled that things are going to start really moving forward now and hopefully by the springtime, we will all be living under the same roof. In the meantime Kate's Mum and Dad will be visiting this weekend and everybody will be staying here! I'm a very happy bunny!!!

David Baldacci - Zero Day

First Baldacci that I've read. I actually spotted this on the Amazon Daily Deal and thought it was something Kate might enjoy. We read it at about the same, although she started first I managed to just beat her to the line, moohahah!!!!

And a good read it was, we both enjoyed it, in her case some much so that has moved directly onto another story by the same author, and whilst I'll certainly read more of his I prefer to mix things up a little more!

John Puller is a bit of an ex-army James Bond - Lee Childs kinda guy who is sent to investigate the murder of an army intelligence officer and his whole family. One of things I liked about this book was it was n't at all obvious who had done it until right at the end, in fact, I did n't even know who to suspect the author kept his cards so close to his chest.

However, it was well written. Puller is an engaging and believable character. The plot roled along nicely and continually with barely a boring moment and the ending was well executed.

At £0.79, it sat nicely with my northen beliefs of value ;-) 

A Clash of Kings by George R R Martin

Another huge tome by the bearded one that I read on my kindle. On the whole it was quite good, although I felt that after the battle was done on about 90%, it just needed some kind of sting in the tale as in volume 1. In this book, the second of the series, magic comes into play and takes a very sinister and destructive role.

In the main this is the story of the final fued of the Barotheon brothers and how the victor, Stannis, goes on to loose his battle against the Lannisters. Whilst in east, Daenerys is wandering round a bit lost looking for supporters and an army to take back to the mainland to persue her claim to the throne. Those bloody baby dragons are taking forever to grow up - I wish they would get a move on and do something useful!!!

Up North, the bastard Jon Snow goes with other warriors beyond the wall to learn that the Wildlings are amasing to march on the south. He decides to become a turncoat.

As I said, all-in-all a decent story but nothing spectacular and I'm not sure it was as good as the first book (although at 800 pages I think it was longer). Sadly, the next three boooks don't get any shorter but their customer reviews do get worse. I'll take a break, but I think I'm compelled to move on with them!!!