[Sundae]

Just read Smashed - Growing Up A Drunk Girl by Koren Zailckas.
I think Brianna recommended it to me, but I just happened to see it in a charity shop. Her story is nothing like mine, but some of her descriptions of coming off and going back on booze, and her descriptions of depression really resonated. I've sent it to my Mum because I think it's worth reading. With a note to say it doesn't mirror my experiences! Don't want Mum to suddenly start worrying I was drinking spirits at 14!

Currently reading The Mill on the Floss, George Elliot. Working my way through all the important books I seem to have missed out on. It's holding my attention better than Dickens or Austen because it's funnier. Even if I have to switch my brain into a slightly different gear in order to appreciate some of the sly humour.

Just read I Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. Disappointed. I loved Fried Green Tomatoes...and Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, but recently they've been too winsome for me. Perhaps I was less cynical when I read the other two. Nah, they were definitely funnier and harder hitting.

What else... Oh - I read a great book the other week Darkmans by Nicola Barker. It appears very simple to start with, but the strands of story soon begin to diverge and the characters really draw you in. I found myself looking out for them in my daily life and realising with a start that they were fictional. It's set in the present day but the past resonates in the story. It's almost but not quite supernatural and you're never really sure whether you can trust the characters to report what is really happening as they all have their own problems and agendas. Well worth a read.

I'm also working through Patricia Highsmith's Ripley books - I've read them slightly out of sequence and just finished Ripley Underground. Am going to see what else they have for me when I finish on here (I'm at the library).

Oh and finally I also picked up If I'm So Wonderful Why Am I Still Single in the charity shop. It has almost but not quite persuaded me that I will go speed dating on Valentine's Day as it advises treating looking for a partner in the same way as you would looking for a job. Good point. And just as scary.