Book Beginnings: Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares

'Once upon a time there were four girls. Young women, you might even say. And though their lives travelled in different directions, they loved each other very much.'

This beginning is in some ways kind of ironic at the beginning of the fourth book where the girls are shown to, in some sense, have lost touch with one another. It's told by Bridget though and it's classic Bridget phrasing in my opinion.

This beginning is actually different than the others, in that the other's all introduce the pants before the girls, the pants in the previous books had been more of a deal. This time around however the focus really is on the girls, and it shows in this beginning. They're able to live their lives more without thinking at every turn, 'ooh it's the magic of the pants.'

I'm linking up to Book Beginnings @ Rose City Reader.

Rowen

For related Posts:

• Book Beginnings: The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
• The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: The Second Summer - Ann Brashares
• The Second Summer - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares
• Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares
• Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares

Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares

Girls in pants wasn't really what I'd come to expect from the sisterhood books. It comes I think from the girls all preparing to leave for the year. There was some kind of sense of expectation which wasn't really present in the precious two. It was a big book of love, the more romantic love.

Carmen becomes a big sister! and actually falls in love!!!! It has to be my favourite Carmen story this far into the series. She seemed more like a real person with actual areas to her character in this book, while in the other stories she'd just been angst in human form. 

Tibby got her act together and saw something in Brian, I think it's something she'd unconsciously seen in him since she first knew him, but in this book she put it out there. And y'know what he's nuts about her too! This actually made me really happy as I'd been rooting for them for a while.

Bridget is on her first summer back as happy-times Bridget after the journey of self discovery she went on in book 2. She's back at Soccer Camp too, but this time as an instructor rather than a camper. Guess who she sees? Eric! The guy she slept with in the first book leading to her downward spiral, problem is he has a girlfriend now. Having said that he actually does love Bridget and ends up leaving his girlfriend to be with her! Happy Times!

In fact the only one of the four girls who doesn't get a happily ever after in this book is Lena. This kind of disappointed me as she's my favourite character, the one I can best relate to, but she isn't over Kostos, and she did get the only happy ending of the first book. Fair's fair right? I actually do like her story for this book though, she learns a lot about herself, and her relationships with her nearest and dearest by trying to look in rather than out. 

So all in all a good book, with some much anticipated storylines resurfacing. I would say read it!

Rowen

For related Posts:

• Book Beginnings: The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
• The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: The Second Summer - Ann Brashares
• The Second Summer - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares

Coursework

I suppose that coursework isn't an unexpected post title when it comes to the blog of a student, but coursework is running my life these days. A month or so ago I got set three pieces of coursework each with a deadline a week apart.

The first of these was a presentation. I hate presentations with a vengeance. I'm not good at talking in front of people, less so a lecture room full of 100+ people. I get nervous, my palms sweat, my cheeks go bright red and my words trip over one another on their way out of my mouth. I actually have volume issues, friends of mine have been known to have trouble hearing me while sitting inches away from me, and in most of my regular social groups people have either learnt to lip read or there's a designated interpreter. I'm actually incapable of ordering my own drinks on a night out, I do tend to pay for them though, and my boyfriend is overfond of the phrase "You're indoors dear, you need to use your outdoor voice."

So although this one required the least work I spent an understandable week and a half fretting my socks off over it. To say I breathed a sigh of relief when it was finished is a very big understatement! 

I spent the next week working on a piece of coursework for my Portfolio Risk Management module. As a brief overview this is a module where we set up a fictional portfolio of around 10 assets and monitor them and perform some basic analysis on them. It's actually kind of fun, but very time consuming and more so when the checker you're supposed to fill in highlights an error in your most basic of calculations when there isn't any causing you to waste 4 hours trying to figure out what went wrong only to take it to a tutor and be told no your working's fine, it just means we'll look.

That was submitted by the deadline of 23:30 on sunday, it always makes me laugh that we get deadlines for this module on sundays. The joys and wonders of online submission, which is really the only way to do things when you need to use excel.

That brings me onto the deadline for this week. It's for a compulsory module called Mathematical Techniques 2, and involves 5 compulsory questions and a 6th optional one which has the great benefit of being able to add to your overall mark without the possibility of costing you any marks because we only got taught the content for it today giving us around 67 hours to complete it before submission. This is by far the hardest piece of coursework I've ever been given and I find myself wondering why on earth I didn't try to do a little more a little earlier. 

So far I've spent hours on it and managed to complete only 1.a, 2.a, and 4.a, Although I have made a little headway with other areas. My friends and I have organised a massive coursework busting session for tomorrow where we hope to make headway! It's been getting me up early and to bed late, so you can see that coursework is running my life.

Wish me luck!

Rowen

Book Beginnings: Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares

'If you are reading this, you may know about us. Or at least about our pants anyway. If you do, you can skip ahead a few pages. If you don't, hang here with me for a minute. I'll try to make it painless.'

This time around the prologue is coming from Tibby's POV. It is once again filled with her character, dripping with cynicism. 

There's one pretty obvious difference this time though, and I think it stems from the fact that this is the third book coming at a time when the series had achieved some form of success. That difference being that the assumption, or rather presumption, is made that the reader has heard of the travelling pants. 

I think this beginning gives less of a feeling for the contents of the book. On the other hand the prologue is coming from Tibby, and I felt that her storyline this time around was the more major of the four. 

Anyway, I'm linking up toBook Beginnings @ Rose City Reader.

What're you reading this week?

Rowen

For related Posts:

• Book Beginnings: The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
• The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: The Second Summer - Ann Brashares
• The Second Summer - Ann Brashares
• Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares

The Second Summer - Ann Brashares

I was less keen on the second summer than I was on the first book in this series. It was frankly rather sad, although Bridget got some closure and moved out of the depressive state she ended the last book in none of the girls really had a happy story this time around.

Tibby and Bridget perhaps got the closest to it as Bridget put her demons to rest and Tibby began to maybe see Brian in a new light. I liked what was blossoming there. 

I think it's a shame that Carmen likes to cling to the past so much. In the first book I thought we'd seen her get past her parent's happiness issues but in this book she just repeats the same mistakes she made the first time around on the other parent. It's all the more bitter because up until now she's had an amazingly close and happy relationship with her mum.

Lena's story however is the most heartwrending. At the end of the first book she entered into a relationship with a guy who is basically her ideal. After seven months or so apart she decides she can no longer cope with the long distance aspect of her relationship and so calls it off. In the summer however Kostos comes to visit unexpectedly. She pushes him away because she's not sure she can take the pain but eventually lets him in. At this point, after mere days together, Kostos returns to Greece suddenly and this time he calls it off. Lena's heartbroken. She goes to Greece at the very end of the book and runs into Kostos, at the funeral of her Bapi no less, with his brand new wife! You feel every nuance of her betrayal and the hurt she is going through.

When I say I didn't like this book as much as the first it is simply because of the sadness. I still enjoyed reading it very much.

Rowen

For related Posts:

• Book Beginnings: The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
• The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: The Second Summer - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares
• Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares

Book Beginnings: The Second Summer - Ann Brashares

'Once there were four girls who shared a pair of pants. The girls were all different sizes and shapes, and yet the pants fit each of them.'

The beginning of the second summer is not dissimilar than the beginning of the sisterhood of the travelling pants, it contains the same basic elements because it has the same point it's trying to get across. 

However this beginning is told by Lena rather than by Carmen and I think that her voice really comes through to distinguish it. It becomes more dreamy and less wordy. It seems less like a diary entry and more like the start of a fairytale, and I think at this point it in some ways doesn't fit the book. 

The book does have fairytale magic but there's also a lot of sadness in it. 

I'm linking up with Book Beginnings @ Rose City Reader. 

Rowen

For related Posts:

• Book Beginnings: The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
• The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
• The Second Summer - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares
• Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares

Those kinda lectures...

Going to University to become a full time student involves a workload which is pretty unlike any other experience. There's a good chance you'll only have 10-12 hours of contact a week, but then you're expected to put in a minimum of another 30 or so hours a week by yourself. Studying in this way really does become a full time job, not to mention that a number of students have actual jobs on the sidelines as well. Anyway for those hours when you're making contact you'll be expected to sit and listen to someone talk for a large majority of the time. 

This is what my workload looked like in Sixth Form, it doesn't look much different except it's bigger with less chocolate!

I agree that this could be considered a good approach to learning if you're studying a subject along the lines of English or History where the general idea of the course is for you to gain a huge basis of knowledge on some pretty specific subjects, and where most opinions towards the topics could be considered correct. Your main aim for lectures in these subjects is to come away from the lectures armed with a brief overview of a topic and an arsenal of places to go look into it in further detail. You're expected to do a lot of reading in your own time, and from friends who do study these subjects I'd say that it works pretty well. 

But I also think that it's perhaps hands down the worst way to learn a subject like the one that I'm studying. If you don't know that's maths, and actually I didn't do all too badly last year based on this kind of teaching, but I think that has a lot more to do with the effort and time I put in by myself than anything that my lecturers gave me, with one exception. My lecturers last year, with the aforementioned exception were deadly dull. We would come in, sit down and listen for two hours with a 10 minute break in the middle. The lecturer would very quickly go through a whole host of rather complicated computations and often each would build upon the last, there would be no pause to check that the concept was understood and no chance for you yourself to check that you actually did get it. 

It probably does work for some people, but I'm inclined to say that they're in the minority. For most people I think that subjects require a more active approach with slightly more guidance. I think on the whole we'd learn better if we were given more opportunities to practice questions during the course of lectures, so we could notice our problems immediately and ask if we could be shown a different approach.  

Too often you find yourself lost after just a little while and the problem only builds on itself. You then find yourself spending a week trying to wade through a huge list of problems you had before you can get through your work and reach a neutral position for the start of the next. I'm not saying that all the work should be done for you because that will get you nowhere and teach you nothing. I'm just saying that you'd probably get a lot further if they made it a little easier for you.

It is their job to teach after all.

What d'you think?

Rowen

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares

My friend tried to persuade me to read this book at the beginning of my teenage years and at the time I have to admit I was sceptical. I was still sceptical this summer when I bought the film from work because it was ridiculously cheap and seemed like it would be an ok flick. I put off watching it for a while. I watched it and then needed to know what happened next cue buying all five books and the second film from Amazon. 

I still haven't watched the second film or read the final book, but I have to say that this book didn't disappoint. It went into more depth than the film and although I felt some things were a little skimmed over it had plenty of depth for it's intended audience I felt.

Bridget's was my favourite of the four storylines, closely followed by Lena's. They were both the kind of Romantics that I love to dig my teeth into. Tibby's felt a little lack-lustre to me, pretty much right up until the point that Bailey dies, then Tibby became more like a real person to me. Carmen was tricky, I could kind of see where she was coming from, but to me she seemed a little shallow and as far as I could tell was mostly taking things out on the blameless. 

I'm way behind the general populace in reading these books so I was wondering if anyone else had anything to share about the storyline?

I'm linking up with Speed Date Night @ The Book Swarm.

Rowen

For related Posts:

• Book Beginnings: The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: The Second Summer - Ann Brashares
• The Second Summer - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares
• Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares

Count the little things

So today I was sitting in a pretty dull lecture. I had a headache and generally wasn't that interested. A greenfly flew in front of my friend and I prompting her to say 'ooh a greenfly'.

This made me smile.

Which leads to the point. Count all the little things which make you smile and smile at them. After all lots of little smiles leads to a happier person.

Have a fantastic day.

Rowen

Oh and the pictures of a Cactus that lived in my room for several years; I could never get it to flower but it moved to my nan's conservatory when I went to uni last year. She got it to flower this spring which made me smile. Turns out my north-facing room was just a tad too cold for it.

Psalm 46:6

'Nations tremble and Kingdoms shake.

God Shouts and the earth crumbles.'

I spent my Saturday in London, with the intention of seeing the Mayor of London Parade fireworks, but they weren't on this year due to the Olympics and Jubilee celebrations. Instead I spent a brilliant day with my boyfriend. We went to Oxford street. We went to the National Gallery to see John Constables paintings of our native Suffolk. We had Ice Cream at Harrods. 

Then on Sunday it was Remembrance Day which involved Church Parade, this year we had a respectable turn out from the Scout Group, which was good. It also meant I saw a friend from High School who's running things with the Army Cadets these days, but who I never bump into except for on Remembrance Day. 

It always chills me a little during the silence, when you stop and think about the sacrifice oru servicemen and women make for us as a general populace.

What did you do for Remembrance?

Rowen 

Book Beginnings: The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares

'Once upon a time there was a pair of pants. They were an essential kind of pants - jeans, naturally, blue but not that stiff, new blue that you see so often on the first day of school. They were a soft changeable blue with a little extra fading at the knees and the seat and white wavelets at the cuffs.'

This first beginning is given by Carmen. It's a little longer than I'd usually put a beginning, but that's because I've already read all four books and wanted to compare/contrast them a little. Not so much in this post however.

What I do think of this beginning is that it gives a concise summation of the feeling of the whole book, and the bond that the four girls share.

I'm linking up with Book Beginnings @ Rose City Reader.

Have you read this book? What did you think?

Rowen


For related Posts:

• The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: The Second Summer - Ann Brashares
• The Second Summer - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares
• Girls in Pants - Ann Brashares
• Book Beginnings: Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Forever in Blue - Ann Brashares
• Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares

Leaves

This post should have been about Halloween, but that's tomorrow and what do I write about that anyway. But the leaves are ever present in my mind. I like them best when they're fresh green, spring green. New, full of hope.

They were still green a month ago, but it was becoming an old green. Other people were talking about how autumn had arrived and I was thinking thank you that it's still green. I love the green!

Then the colours changed. To the beautiful autumn russets, oranges filled the world for a few short weeks. And now they're nearly all gone. 

We're back to bare trees and it makes me sad. Winter is my least favourite of the seasons.

But I guess there's always spring to look forward to. Right?

Rowen

Ecclesiastes 3:12

'So I realise that the best thing for them

 is to be happy 

and enjoy themselves as long as they live.'

This week has been long. I've had a multitude of deadlines thankfully they're all past now, with work submitted. It hasn't left a lot of time for me, but that's not the end of the world.

Yesterday I was able to go out for lunch with Robert. We talked and just spent time together it was good. Not to mention you've gotta love Mexican food!

I'm linking up with Your Sunday Best @ A Rural Journal. 

I hope you've all had good weeks. What've you been up to?

Rowen

Pride and Prejudice - Screen Adaptations

My introduction to the story of Pride and Prejudice was perhaps a little unorthodox. I first saw the book when I was perhaps 8 or 9, it was a beautiful big leather-bound book, possibly fake leather I now realise, with bible thin pages. It contained all six of Austen's completed works.

It features in this picture of some of my favourite books which once upon a time was central in my blog header. At roughly that age I guess I had a vague understanding that it was a somewhat famous book and I read the first sentence. I then decided that maybe I'd come back to it when I was a bit older, I hadn't been reading 'real' books for very long at the time.

It then got pushed to the back of my mind until I was in high school. At this point I began to express an interest in period dramas. I liked, and still do, the pretty dresses, balls and strange words. I think I may have watched a bit of North and South with my mum, and for Christmas my parents bought me the boxset of the 1996 BBC TV adaptation. You know the one with the famous scene of Colin Firth walking out of the pond.

Me and my mum watched it on a day when it had snowed, I think both my siblings were playing outside and we spent the day with the fire and watched pretty much all six episodes. It was good, and it's one of the sparse times I can remember feeling really close to my mum, generally I have more in common with my dad. I was hooked and that day to this I've lost count of the number of times I've seen it. I'm pretty sure it reaches double figures though.

It was the third Jane Austen book I actually read, in year 11, and as I had all the books before I started I'm fairly sure this was more due to the prettiness of covers than anything else. It's actually not my favourite Austen, Emma is, but it comes a close second. And I actually prefer the TV adaptation to the book, a shock I know!

So when I recently acquired a secondhand copy of the Keira Knightly film I watched it. Because of comments various people had made I was fairly sure I wouldn't like it, but it wasn't that bad. It's not my favourite, I think the TV adaptation did better justice, mostly because it was three times as long. I also thought that the film was too crowded. But I found that the most interesting thing about watching it having watched the series so many times is that I was able to pick out a lot of the lines which were taken straight from the book. I think it was fantastic that this is possible. 

So hey a question or two. Which version of the book have you seen? Have you seen any? And which adaptation would you recommend, why?

Rowen

Isiah 64:6

'All of us have been sinful;

even our best actions are filthy through and through.

Because of our sins we are like leaves that wither and are blown away by the wind.'

I love this time of year. I love the colours as the trees turn orange.

I don't particularly like the Bible verse I found for today, but I struggled with finding one which related to the changing colours of autumn. Maybe I should have gone with a poem instead.

In brighter news my boyfriend's been staying with me this weekend and we're having a form of Big Bang Theory marathon, on series two of the five box-sets I happen to own. It's looking good :)

I'm linking up with Your Sunday Best @ A Rural Journal.

What're you doing this weekend?

Rowen

Book Beginnings: Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe

'I was  born in the year 1632 in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen who settled first at Hull.'

I think I tried to read this book when I got it as part of a box-set aged about ten. I think at the time I found it a little dry, and to be honest it isn't the fastest paced I've ever read. But it's not far off what I'd expect.

I'm linking up to Book Beginnings @ Rose City Reader, also I'd like to apologise for this post having been in draft for over 24 hours. 

I have a vague idea of what happens in this one. It should be good, what d'you think?

Rowen

The Accidental Mother - Rowan Coleman

This story is really quite a sad one. At it's heart is isolation, bereavement and a lack of trust. Two sisters aged three and six lose their mother, the only parent they have around, about six months before the start of the book. Their Godmother, the central character in the story, effectively inherits them as she was named legal guardian in the will.

She is someone who has no idea how to deal with children, who has built herself a life of comfortable loneliness, and who has no idea her best friend is dead until a social worker turns up offering her the children.

The book ensues with hilarity as she learns how children work, and they learn to trust her. There are many hilarious incidents which rotate around her insular flat and the chaotic children. Everything becomes a lot more serious once the father of the children is located and returns to take on his responsibilities. 

As she falls in love with not just the children but their father as well she comes to realise how empty her life has been, and eventually she fixes it. My only criticism of the story was Bella, she's supposed to be six years old, but her vocabulary and actions speak of someone who could more be considered pre-teen.

I'd very much like to read the next book about Sophie Mills, 'The Accidental Family'.

What was the last emotionally wrenching book you read?

Rowen

What can you do with M&M's

So last weekend I visited my friend. We're perhaps somewhat juvenile, but we managed to amuse ourselves for the better part of an hour making pictures with M&M's...

 The whole packet.

 Separated into colour groups.

 A 'Perfect' group.

 All the perfect groups.

 A Bar chart with the least perfect on the left and the most perfect on the right. My friend told me she was taking no portion of the blame for that one.

A sun created using all of the 'warm' colours. 

 All the 'cold' colours.

 A Tree made using all the 'cold' colours.

 The tree and the sun together.

A Giraffe.

When was the last time you gave in to your childish side? Isn't it fun?

Rowen

Luke 12:34

'Your heart will be where your treasure is.'

I've come back home for the weekend for the first time this academic year. I'm lucky because it's not too far and I don't like being away from home, although I cope better than I used to.

The painting above was done by my sister for her GCSE's, it's of the cherry tree which is outside the Science labs at the high school we went to. It hangs above my bed.

In other news my student finance finally came through mid-week and I spent most of yesterday doing Scout Leader training, and then in the evening I went to the district Scout Swimming Gala. I met several new people during training yesterday, and in the evening I saw people I hadn't seen in a while.

It was fun. 

I guess that's why I love home.

I'm linking up to Your Sunday Best @ A Rural Journal

What's your week been like?

Rowen

Dance With Dragons: Dreams and Dust - George R. R. Martin

I have mixed feelings about these books, and they grow the more of them I read. I love the story, it's literally epic and I love the fact that it has so many strands, that we have so much scope to see what's happening in this world, but at the same time the number of strands decreases my reading speed. 

By the end of a chapter I'm always into what's happening with the character in point, but it leads to a reluctance to read about the next character because I'd rather carry on finding out what's happening with this character first. The reluctance isn't aided by the fact that the chapters are so long. With each Chapter nearing 30 pages it means it can take me up to an hour to get through it, due to the fact I like to read my chapters in one sitting it limits the times I can sit down with this book. 

My third criticism with this book isn't actually a fault with the book. I simply wasn't ready to read it, I was planning on reading it in the new year while I had a bit of free time, but my mum started to read these books over the summer and she wanted to read this soon, I've been quite proud that I'm ahead of my mum with this series and it leads to a reluctance to let her read my book before me. 

As far as the actual story goes I'm loving it. Tyrion is still one of my favourite characters; he may be an 'imp' and a little bitter about it but he's hilarious, chivalrous and downright the nicest character in the book. So what if he committed patricide. So what if he's married to a woman who doesn't love him. So what if he rejected the one woman who actually did love him leaving him with a lifetime of scars, he's brilliant!

Jon and Daenerys both have very interesting storylines as well, but I'm a tad confused why Daenerys is just sitting still, I had come to expect her to be more proactive. There're very few characters in this book I dislike in fact, but I do dislike that there are many characters I like very much who don't put in a single appearance. I'm looking forward to part 2 and catching up with Jaime, Arya and Sansa!

What're you reading?

Rowen

Scouts Speak Up

This past weekend I went to Birmingham. One of the main objectives was to see a friend who I went to Explorers with, but the other was that we were going to the Conservative party version of Scouts Speak Up. An event where Scouts under the age of 25 are invited to speak to politicians. It's a fairly open event and you have to apply to go.

For me this was a bit of a surreal experience and a situation I wouldn't normally put myself into, but I actually kind of enjoyed it. The event officially lasted for 2 hours, although I'm fairly sure it probably extended a couple of hours either side of the time-scale. The first hour of the event we were put around tables in groups of roughly 10 and were able to speak to conservative MPs and ask them their opinions about current political issues and get our viewpoints across. 

On the table where my friend and I were sat the main topic of conversation was Uni tuition fees. Both of us, as well as a couple of others at the table, are at University on the lower fees of approximately £3600, but there were 3 at our table who were planning on going to University next year with the new higher fees of approx £9000. It raised some interesting points. Firstly someone asked what extra they would get for the £6000 extra they're paying, to be honest the answer was not much. They're paying much more for exactly the same courses people in my year were able to take, and the reason why is that the Government wants more money to fuel into different directions. It was also suggested that maybe too many people from my generation are being herded into higher education, a point I'd agree with, much though I wanted to go to Uni I definitely felt pressure to attend. We also wondered why with the fees being so high more courses aren't offered which run through the summer. I love having a four month summer, it's brilliant, it allows a lot of opportunities I'll never get again, but It does question whether we're getting as much from our time as we could be. One guy even said that he's a part time student and hour for hour his course costs him £50 for every hour he spends there, with lectures running a standard of 50 minutes that's £1 for every minute!

We talked about some other topics which I found less relevant and didn't really stick with me so much. But then in the second hour we listened to a guest speaker who spoke about his journey into politics and his ambition for there to be more volunteer schemes and clubs run from school buildings which he thinks should be open for free to such groups. I think this would be fantastic. There are a lot of clubs who need the rooms and have to spend a huge part of their funding hiring spaces. 

All in all it was an interesting Sunday!

What are your views on these topics?

Rowen

1 John 2:17

'The world and its desires pass away,

but whoever does the will of God lives forever.'

This week I was away from my computer for the entire weekend, hence my Sunday post going up on a Monday. I went to Birmingham to visit my friend, and attend a Scout event. The above picture is of Birmingham New Street.

In other news my Student Finance still hasn't come through, but I've been to see my Uni and it should do in the next couple of days.

Linking up with Your Sunday Best @ A Rural Journal.

Rowen

Book Beginnings: Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

'It was Love at first sight.'

Not really what I expected as the beginning to a book about a man who, according to the blurb, 'is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him.' 

I have few preconceptions about this book beyond that it's supposed to be fairly fast-paced. I guess I'll find out more about it tonight.

I'm linking up to Book Beginnings @ Rose City Reader.

Let me know what you thought of this book? And was it made into a film? I'm not sure...

Rowen

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay is a book I didn't enjoy as much as the previous two in this trilogy. I still enjoyed it a lot but it was a little bit sad to tell the truth. In fact there were several very sad moments and even the happy ending was somewhat bitter-sweet.

Mockingjay was as fast-paced, if not more so, than the two previous books and the events in it felt in many ways more natural. Perhaps because it wasn't inside an arena where contestants fight to the death. 

I was glad however that Suzanne Collins didn't start to shy away from the difficult moral questions while writing this ending, she maintained a balance which included facing the question of large scale technological warfare.

It was a fitting ending, it just pulled at my heartstrings a tad too much. And I don't think I can be the only one who thinks Katniss and Peeta deserved their chance together!

I'm linking up to Speed Date Night @ The Book Swarm.

What're you reading?

Rowen

For related posts:

• Book Beginnings: The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
• The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
• Book Beginnings: Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
• Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
• Book Beginnings: Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

Sometimes

Sometimes I feel listless. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I was planning on writing an interesting post tonight but an amalgamation of things means that hasn't happened. 

I'm stressing a little at the moment because my Student Finance hasn't come through yet. It should have done, it's been approved and I've been registered, but what this does mean is that I currently have little to live on and my tuition fees havn't been paid.

Fun times!

Anyways, tell me something interesting about your life instead?

Rowen