I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth...

Though it probably seems that way. Not had that much to say and have had other things taking up my attention.

Of course I have been studying hard with the photography course, which is coming along very nicely! I had my result for my fourth assignment back today and I was pleasantly surprised just like with previous assignments - the mark was good but I was actually more pleased with the comments from my tutor which made me realise why I'm deserving of good marks :-)

As well as keeping busy with study I have been going through a bit of a reading blip. I enjoy reading but I find every now and then I go through a phase of reading one book after another until I'm burnt out and fed up of reading again. I'm not sure whether I've got to the burnt out stage yet or not.
It started about 2-3 weeks ago when Mr M and I went to Chatswood for shopping as we hadn't been there for a while. We popped into Dymocks and as usual he headed straight for the PC/Telecoms books. I milled about and went to find him just as he was heading towards me, we decided we'd seen enough and headed for the door. And there it was on the table looking up at me saying "I'm here! Buy me! Look at me! I'm here waiting for you", of course it was Paulo Coelho's new book!
I gasped upon seeing it then picked it up and hugged it before rushing to the counter to make sure that it was mine.
Then I realised that I hadn't been keeping up to date with his work as I usually know when his new books are out by frequenting his website, someting I hadn't done in about two years. I felt terrible that I had somehow betrayed my favourite author, particulalry when I realised that he had realsed another book before hand of short stories (I've still yet to go and track theat one down in the bookstore). But the reason I hadn't been so interested in his website was because the last book of his that i read, The Zahir just didn't thrill me they way that so much of his work had done in the past. Don't missunderstand, the Zahir is not a bad book as it is the story of Paulo Coelho of things that he has experienced in his life. But that book didn't give me the spiritual uplift that I love his books for. I much prefer his books where he is the storyteller rather than the subject.
The Witch of Portobello, his latest book, was very enjoyable but I didn't find that I was able to bond with the main characters that well, they weren't in depth enough for me. Or maybe it is that I have become a more cynical person and found the story harder to believe in than I would of a few years ago? All I do know is that I loved his books such as The Fifth Mountain (which was the first Paulo Coelho book I read), The Valkyries, Veronika Decided to Die, The Devil and Miss Prym, Eleven Minutes, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, The Pilgrimage and of course The Alchemist (of which I have mixed feelings about it being turned into a film), pretty much his whole works! But if you are reading this and you know of his works that you may have noticed that I missed out the Manual of the Warrior of the Light. Again, a good book in it's own right but not for me.
And of course I don't have listed his book of short stories, Like the Flowing River. Only because I haven't read it yet.
Generally and for the most part I am a huge fan of him as an author.

After finishing the Witch of Portobello, I saw on the bookshelf a book that I bought the same time as when I bought Valantino Rossi's Autobiography, and of course that was more important to read! So I picked it up and started to read that. It had me gripped from the start and had so much action in it that I had a real film going on in my head, something that you would have expected to see the likes of Bruce Willis or maybe Mel Gibson in. It was called Vanish by Tess Gerritson. One hell of a page turner was that!
After I had finished that book (which didn't take me long at all), I decided to read Porterhouse Blue by Tom Sharpe, another book that has been sat on the shelf that I've been meaning to read for a few years. I have previously read the Wilt series (just found out that a new one was released in 2004 and I haven't read that) which was laugh out loud funny and Porterhouse Blue, I'm glad to say also brought on the tears of laughter. Although I found the first Wilt book the funniest of all of the Sharpe stuff I have read. There is also Grantchester Grind on the bookcase that I haven't read bbut I may delay that as sometimes reading the next one straight away is not the best thing to do.

So after reading three books pretty much in succession I looked at what else I had but hadn't read yet. There it was sat on teh shelf gloating at me - The Lord of the Rings. The book is actually my brothers and he loved it. He also has the Hobbit and I thought it would be best if I read that first. Oh, did that book get the better of me, I don't even think I got to the end of the first Chapter and if I did it was an uphill struggle. I mentioned this years ago to my brother and he said that he struggled with the Hobbit and never finished the book but that the LOTR was much better. I tried reading LOTR about a year ago now but got bogged down by the prologue and other such stuff before you even get to start the first chapter. This morning I picked up the book again and flicked to the begining of the first chapter and marked the page with my bookmark. That is where I shall start my journey, and I may even start it tonight! Wish me luck!