100 Top Books of All Time

This is pinched from my friend Noah at The Life of a SAHM- I can never do the hyperlinky thing, sorry, but here you go! http://proudtobeasahm.blogspot.com/

This is the list of the (apparently) top 100 books of all time. You have to bold the ones you’ve read and highlight the ones you love! If you have a blog, do it too! 🙂

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8. 1984 – George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch – George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis (isn’t this part of #33?)
37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52. Dune – Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses – James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession – AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

He slept through the night!!

OK, so for most of you with thirteen month old sons, this is not a big deal, but in our house, this is cause to open a bottle of champagne and do a happy dance around the living room!

I think I might have been going in to him too quickly in the night. I have been leaving it a minute or two and then going in. However, in desparation I have decided to not go in unless he’s really crying, not at the “letting out a few sqauks” stage. I don’t approve of crying it out, though I respect people who do it, just can’t do it myself. However, there comes a point when you have to say- ENOUGH!

I don’t think for one minute that my children’s sleep issues have been their faults. I am perfectly aware that we made huge, great big massive mistakes with Ricky- we let him have milk at night and that caused SO many problems. With Robbie, we’ve only let him have water at night for a long time now, but it didn’t make any difference.

SO- we’ll keep going with this approach for now and see if we have more success. I really dislike the sleepless nights. My kids are wonderful and I love them so much, but it is hard to keep your cool in the middle of the night and not take it personally. Sometimes I feel like saying “WHY won’t you let me sleep?!” which isn’t fair to him. This is definitely a situation which I have brought about myself. I just wish I knew what it was that I have been doing which has caused it!

I need to grow a set!!

I love ebay. I think I may have a growing addiction issue, actually. I buy and sell and it gives me a lot of pleasure, which is kind of pathetic!

While most of the time, I am really pleased with what I buy, I do find sometimes that I am really disappointed with my purchases.

A few weeks back, I bought a gorgeous Fenn Wright Manson dress which was listed as new. When it came, it was really lovely (though too big, so am going to have to sell it on) but showed signs of washing and was most definitely not new. I’d never have paid anything like as much for it if I’d known that.

Did I complain? No. And now I find myself fuming with my lack of assertiveness.

Yesterday, I received some boy’s clothes in the post. It was a bundle of three shirts and two t-shirts. The shirts are OK, but the t-shirts were absolutely filthy, they are now in the bin. I was disgusted!

Once again, though, I am finding it really hard to complain!! What is WRONG with me! Those of you who know me off net will tell you that I am a fairly assertive person and am not known for holding back when I have something to say, so why does that not seem to apply on ebay?

I wonder if I create a separate buying and selling account, if that would make me leave more honest feedback. I wonder if my subconscious reasoning is that I sell on that account too, so want all my feedback to look good. I know sellers can no longer leave negative feedback, but they can still leave a negative comment!

Why should it even matter??? I have issues, clearly!

Funny Conversation With My Three Year Old Son

Conversation on the way home tonight.

Ricky- Mummy, do you think I am cool?

Me- Yes pet, you’re VERY cool!

Ricky- Why??

Me- Because you’re funny, and handsome, and clever!

Ricky- Do you think Daddy is cool?

Me- Yes pet.

Ricky- Why??

Me- Because HE is funny, and handsome and clever!

Ricky- (after some reflection) Well, he’s funny and handsome, but he’s not clever.

Me- Why??

Ricky- He can’t do star jumps!

😀

He’s distancing himself

Next Wednesday will be the day my kids leave our existing daycare provider. We’re then going on holiday for a few weeks before they start in the new place. The move is purely practical- we’re very happy with the existing provider, but they can’t pick up and drop off when Ricky starts nursery school in September.

We have an appointment for the kids to be shown around next Thursday, after which we’ll drive off on holiday. Ricky has been promised a rare and much longed for trip to McDonald’s as a treat after the meeting at the new place, and knows he’s going on holiday after that.

We’ve been preparing him for the move in daycare from as soon as we knew it was going to happen. We’ve concentrated on the positives, that it’s right beside his “big school” (nursery/primary school) and that a lot of the other kids who are going there will be going to the same big school. Also that he’s going to make lots of new friends. I’ve also been preparing him for the fact that he won’t see his old friends on a daily basis any more, but have tried to soften this by saying that he can always meet up with them outside school. I don’t know how likely that is to happen in reality, but I am hoping he’ll be having too much fun to notice. In the eventuality that he misses some of them too much, I will make an effort to contact their parents to arrange something.

I’ve noticed though that the past few days, he’s beginning to distance himself from the existing provider, and even from the kids in his peer group. He knows he’s only got a few days to go. He says things like “I am fed up with ***” and “is it my last day yet?”, and seems to be bickering with the other kids a bit too, which is really unusual. He has been saying that “his new friends will be really, really nice to him”!

I am very, painfully aware that he’s feeling tired and in need of a break at the moment. The last couple of times we’ve had leave from work, we’ve needed to do stuff around our new house in terms of decorating, and as a result the kids haven’t had as good a break from daycare as I would have liked. I feel very bad about this, and am glad they are getting a break imminently! I plan to spoil them rotten!!

I’m not sure if the new attitude is because he knows he’s leaving or simply because he’s sick of the sight of the place! Maybe a little of both. I ask him questions like “Are you still feeling OK about the move?” and asking him if he will be sad to leave, but he seems to be feeling fine about it.

Either way, it is impressive to me that even so young a child (he’s three) can implement such strong coping mechanisms for what must surely be a massive upheaval. I hope he’ll continue to take everything in his stride. Maybe I am the one who is feeling surprisingly un-okay about it all!

Fashion victim at three? Surely not!

My son Ricky is three, a stunningly beautiful, capricious child who, like most three year olds, likes to get his own way!

For as long as I can remember, he’s been pretty fussy about the clothes he wear and the shoes he likes. I remember one day when he was about 18 months old, wheeling him around Forestside Shopping Centre in Belfast. All the clothes in M&S, Next and Dunnes were rejected. Wheel him into Monsoon- we have lift off!

He likes to be involved in the buying of his clothes, and gets very excited about them. If he doesn’t like something, no matter how much I do, I know there isn’t any point in buying it, because he’s never going to change his mind! 😀

I actually don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. I like that he’s involved. However, recently, even if I’m looking on ebay, I find myself wondering how on earth it is that he can always pick out the most expensive things as being the ones he wants!

I can’t believe I already seem to have a fashion victim on my hands- especially as those of you who know us off the net will vouch, Ian and I are most DEFINITELY not…. 🙂

Local community festival

Our village, Ballygowan, had a community festival on Monday night. I think it’s a lovely idea, and was really looking forward to going with the kids and Ian. They had a little fairground set up, a tractor display, music, the usual stuff!

Unfortunately Robbie wasn’t very well, so I had to stay home with him, and Ian and Ricky went without me.

Now, to me, the rides they had in the little fairground area were shoddy in the extreme and every time I saw them, all I could think about was the pilot episode of Father Ted, where the fair comes to town. If you’ve never seen it- watch it, it is utterly hilarious! Apparently Ian heard several people asking each other if they had a Spider Baby… 😀

Ricky had SO much fun! He went on some of the rides (they weren’t up to much and therefore were fine for a three year old), jumped about on the bouncy castle for a while, played the “strongman bell” game, winning a massively irritating recorder which he is now insisting on playing in the house without cease, and ate his own body weight in chips and chicken nuggets!

I wish I could have gone with them. Next year, I will be sure to go!

EDITED TO ADD- if you aren’t familiar with Father Ted, and what I am talking about above, click on Phil’s link in his comment below to have a look! Thanks Phil!

Life’s too short to open a jar!

In desparation this evening, I did something I’ve never done before and bought a jar of sauce to add to mince, to serve with pasta. Time was desparately short, and I mistakenly thought it would be a shortcut!

I won’t name the brand, because I don’t want any lawsuits on my hands, ha ha, but it was the work of a well known middle aged man with a silly name and an even sillier anglo-american accent. You get the idea, I hope! 😀

Anyhow, I am deeply unimpressed with the results. By the time you cook the mince, you might as well have chopped the onion and garlic anyway, so time wise it was a wash out- except that I was VERY late home, courtesy of George Bush’s visit to Belfast today (roads closed everywhere!!) and needed to feed the kids quickly without simmering something for hours.

Why the illustrious designer of this sauce thought it would be a good idea to put diced carrot in the sauce is beyond me. I had to add tomato puree too because it was so watery. The effect has not been pleasing. It is now in the bin.

In all, I will NEVER be repeating this gross tactical error. I’d rather the kids had to wait a little longer than ever serve this crap again! YUCK!!!!!

I cannot understand how so many jars get sold when it’s so easy to make your own stuff. Forgive me as well, my dear American friends (and please don’t take offence, ’cause I love you girlies and guys!!), but I can’t fathom opening a can of mushroom soup, pouring it over chicken breasts and cooking it, and thinking that’s a delicious dinner. I’d rather cook! 🙂

Dinner at Deane’s at Queen’s

Some friends and I eat out once a month or so, and try a new place every time. Last night, we visited Deane’s at Queen’s. Located at the bottom of the Malone Road opposite Methody (my old school!), it’s been on the go for I think about six months now as a branch of the main Deane’s restaurant on Howard Street in Belfast, one of the most expensive restaurants Northern Ireland has to offer! Deane’s at Queen’s is a more cost effective option, but still fairly pricey- kind of place you’d book as a treat.

The decor is minimalistic and fairly stark- the walls are painted a steely grey, with wood on the ceiling. There are lots of bare lightbulbs, and a rather scarily realistic painting of Michael Deane! I would have preferred more warmth to be injected into the decor- looking out as it does on Methody, with the green in front of it, and it’s warm red brick, it makes Deane’s feel a little cold and soul less. Tables were a good size though and the seating very comfortable, plus the spacing of the tables was good and you had a sense of privacy from other diners.

The toilets are absolutely bizarre- they look like they belong in the school across the road, not very clean, basic in the extreme and one shoddily constructed cubicle was even missing it’s door! It’s as if they ran out of money before they got to the loos!

The menu sounded lovely and they had some interesting specials on the blackboards. For starters, I chose smoked salmon salad with baby potatoes and horseradish creme fraiche. Two of my friends had soup (not too sure what sort, but it was vegetarian and had a dollop of gorgeous pesto in it!) and the third had chicken liver pate. The starters were beautifully presented and delicious. My salmon was lovely and I particularly liked the horseradish creme fraiche- such a simple idea, I will definitely try that at home!

We had a long wait for our main course as the place was pretty busy by then! Unfortunately I could see the cheeseburger I’d ordered sitting under the lights for ages while they cooked my friends mains, and it wasn’t the warmest when it arrived. The burger was lovely, but the bap that came with it was greasy and soggy from sitting out. It was served with a red pepper relish that was too chunky and dry- I would have preferred something more “saucy”. The skinny chips which came with the meal were very good but again could have been warmer, and once again I would have liked some sauce to dip them in. Emer had the salmon, served with asparagus, and it was gorgeous- the colours were beautiful and I was quite envious! Jacinta is vegetarian, and had a pasta dish which she was very pleased with. Heather had chosen  braised sausages, which were served with a lovely gravy and it looked very tasty. We had also ordered sides of potato wedges, a green salad and some mixed green veg, all nicely cooked and tasty.

Whilst choosing our desserts, the table next to us were delivered a portion of the lemon tart, which Jacinta and I had both been thinking of having. It didn’t look all that appealing, so she went for pavlova (as did Heather) and I went for pannacotta with vodka and (I think) strawberries. Emer went for the lemon tart, and when it came, and we all tried some, we were very sorry that we hadn’t chosen it! It was absolutely delicious, very lemony, perfect. My pannacotta was gorgeous, with vanilla evident through it and the vodka was interesting and unusual. I would definitely have it again (if the lemon tart was off, lol!) The pavlova was beautifully presented but a little overdone for my friends taste- was served more like meringue.

With one glass of wine, three soft drinks and three coffees, the bill came to £116 or so, but take note, they add 10% service charge before you get your bill. Personally I really dislike this practice- surely it should be up to the customer to decide how good the service has been?

The waitress assigned to our table was absolutely charming, a very pretty girl who smiled constantly and was very friendly. None of the waiting staff seemed to be Northern Irish, I think she was maybe Polish or Slovakian but we didn’t ask her so I am unsure! However she had a number of tables to run, and getting the attention of any of the other staff was like drawing blood from a stone! They need to be a little more flexible on that front.

Michael Deane was much in evidence, as he hovered at the perifery of the kitchen, but to my astonishment he didn’t move all the time we were there and looked a little bit like it was his first day in the job- kind of standing there looking a bit embarrassed while everone around him charged about! I kind of wanted to see someone take more charge…that’s just me though!

All in all, a good eating experience and good value for the quality of food produced. Portion sizes were excellent, you got plenty on your plate and side orders were not particularly necessary but were also generous and tasty. Service was fine but needs to loosen up a bit! Toilets really could do with a facelift, and maybe the decor just wasn’t to my particular taste.

Not sure where we are off to next month! We might try a bring your own place- I’m open to suggestions! 🙂