Diary Talk!

So, welcome back from the weekend. Hope it was good for you as it was for me (have always wanted to say that!). Anyways. Enjoyed watching the Golden Globes last night although E! UK were having a moment and I completely missed Ricky Gervais's opening speech. Did catch up on it later but I was sooo disappointed. I thought that he would come out this year with something so totally different and mind blowing like just plain stand up comedy but it just felt regurgitated and fake. He looked totally uncomfortable being there (although he still "doesn't care" which is really starting to sound hollow and enough already!). I love Ricky Gervais to bits and am saddened when he falls short. Shame!

Let's see, this weekend I finally got to reading The Calligrapher's Secret by Rafik Schami which has been sitting in the "To Read" pile for months now. I can report that so far is fab. The characters are set in 1950's Syria. It is fascinating on so many levels particularly how Schami manages to paint a very vivid image of life in Syria back then It is also fascinating for me in that Syria was where my parents would holiday as children and later as adults (I have only been there once when I was very tiny and hardly remember it). My dad must have been in his late teens in the 1950s and so it in a way has turned into a hunt to try to find him in some of the characters. I am only a 100 pages in so will let you know how that develops.

Found out this weekend that Adrian Mole turns 30 this year. Gosh I can't believe how time flies. Diary writing is back in fashion especially with the hit Diaries of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. But Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole rules. In celebration, I am re-reading Adrian Mole: From Minor to Major which covers the first ten years. So incorporated are the complete texts of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole together with selections from True Confessions of Adrian Mole and Adrian Mole and the Small Amphibians. Gosh, I remember now how I got bitten by the diary bug in the early 80s. It was fun to start but then when things really started happening in my life (and discovering that mum did really go through my things while I was at school) I made the wisest decision of my life back then; what happens in my young life should just stay there and no more diary nonsense.

It is weird this obsession with recording our every action. Blogs are an such an example as well as Facebook and Twitter. This generation may not realise it and may scoff at our lock and key diaries of olden days with their scented paper recording our childish whimsies and yet these recordings differ in that they truly were secret diaries. Whereas this now is a generation who feels the need to share every teeny tiny bit of their life with the ENTIRE world. Where did the privacy go, where is the secrecy? In a way I envy this generation their confidence and exuberance and yet I fear that their exhibitionism will one day backfire on them. but some might argue that having a blog is in a way exhibitionist of me too. So hey ho, whatever rocks our boat I guess.

Enough from me now and see you tomoroz!

mwah!

The Book Bit: The Cool New Kid on the Block!

This summer if you've been keeping up with all things fabulous, you must have come across the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Well, this summer the whole fabulous family took a trip to LA and my fab son of eight got to see the movie there before it actually made it to the UK. He was hooked and thought it totally radical and funny (curiously enough I agreed). But the miracle this movie has produced in our household is that it has made my son want to read. How?

When we got back we came across the books at all the major booksellers around the place where we live. Five books are out already or four if you consider the Do It Yourself as a stand alone book. Anyway, Greg, the wimpy kid in the book has all the signs of a future cool dude that even in his wimpiness you just want to emulate. You feel sad for him and yet at times loathe him for his laziness and utter uselessness. Mind you we are talking about a boy in middle school who yet has a lot to learn and is also the middle one in a family of three brothers. Lacking in proper role models (his older brother Roderick is a musician in a loser band and is always getting his dad to do his homework for him), and his only off-on best friend Rowley is an only child a bit spoilt by his parents, he really has to make do with what he's got making the best out of some rubbish situations he gets himself into. (note: if you're looking for a role model for your child, I suggest you look elsewhere).

The books, or actually sophisticated comics, take us through the ups and downs of Greg Huffley's life where he wants us to see the world as he does and then gets frustrated when the adults just don't seem to get him. There are a lot of funny laughs in there and there's an opportunity for adults to learn a thing or two about not only being young but about being young in this day and age.

There are a lot of subjects that author Jeff Kinney touches upon, from first day back at school to family days out and dealing with younger and older siblings. It is light hearted yet poignant and relevant at the same time.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading them after I saw the interest they sparked in my son and was happy that Jeff Kinney had given something with which to bond with my son. The comics may be a bit daft at times but again as Greg puts it in the latest book, Dog Days, "At least we agree on the important stuff".

Check out Greg Heffley's blog by clicking here.