Lee Child!

I read pretty much anything, and like to read a good juicy, SMART thriller. My mum loves good thrillers too and always recommends them to me, and she usually knows what I like. She had been telling me for years to read Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, but for some reason I didn't want to. Probably because the main character didn't happen to be a cop like Harry Bosch (Michael Connelly) or Inspector Rebus (Ian Rankin), and the whole idea of an ex-MP roaming the country didn't appeal to me.
For some insane reason I left the house one day back in June without a back-up book, and finished the one I was reading on the way in to work. NIGHTMARE. I was at Grand Central on my way up to see Meg and ended up buying Gone Tomorrow from the newsagents there, as it was the only book that looked remotely worth reading.

Two pages in and I was a goner. I borrowed every other book from my mum over the summer and raced through them, trying to ration them so that I wouldn't suffer from Reacher withdrawal, but to no avail... I finished 61 Hours last week and couldn't believe I was going to have to wait a few months until the next one came out in paperback. I don't like hardbacks as they are too bulky and heavy. But my mum found the paperback UK version for me while she was in Europe last week, so I'm busy reading it...

Anyway. Lee Child held a talk/Q&A session and book signing at Barnes & Noble in Union Sq yesterday. He's entertaining, eloquent and very funny. It was interesting to find out that Lee pretty much knows what time it is at any point without looking at his watch, and that's probably why he gave Reacher that talent too. The name "Reacher" came from the fact that little old ladies were always asking him to reach for things in the supermarket, and his wife had mentioned that if his writing career never worked out, he could always get a job as a "supermarket reacher".
He doesn't know if the movies will ever be made, but the option is still out there. He doesn't know who will be Reacher if it ever happens, but there ARE Reacher lookalikes out there as he had met one from Australia the week before when he won an award.

He signed my book, listened to my story about my mum, told me to say "hi" to her, and told me that "my story only proved that mother's are always right, aren't they?".

I left B&N feeling really happy. It's not that often that you actually get to meet the people who write the stories you love - and it's always interesting to hear what they have to say, why they write and where the inspiration comes from.

CBS were filming the event and it will be on CBS Sunday Morning this Sunday... Maybe you will see me...

Lee Child - Official Site

Karen Elson - Rockwood Music Hall NYC, 10/18/2010

I know I have already posted about her before, but Karen Elson really is amazing.
I feel very lucky that I was able to see her perform in the tiny Rockwood Music Hall on Allen St last night. Karen came on stage just after 8pm with her band members Rachelle Garniez on accordeon, Jackson Smith on guitar and a violinist whose name I didn't catch (if anyone knows please comment!).
There is something so special about seeing such intimate shows - you actually feel like you are part of the show itself. I was a little self-conscious about taking pictures because I was literally right by the stage, so I only took a few furtive ones to capture the moments. Karen is very much herself on stage, a little shy, very beautiful, funny and completely into the music and performing it for her fans. Her voice really is gorgeous. and perfect in both an acoustic setting as well as in a more electric setting, like when I saw her back in June at The Studio at Webster Hall. Let's just say that nearly every song gave me goosebumps last night.


The Secret Sisters came onstage and sang one song with Karen and another song from their new album just together. Seriously BUY the album - it's AWESOME.

And then Angela McCluskey joined Karen on stage for the last song - a great, foot-stomping rendition of Leonard Cohen's Dance Me To The End Of Love. I really felt like I was part of the small crowd, and part of a whole act, not just a spectator at a show. I am so glad I was part of it.

Really important links to click on right now:
Karen Elson Official Site
The Secret Sisters Official Site
Angela McCluskey Official Site

Kristin Hersh - Rat Girl

I read and finished this book last week, after it having been at the top of my "to read" pile for over a month. I LOVE reading autobiographies, especially musicians' autobiographies, but I've read so many this year that I kept pushing it back, and was feeling a little reluctant about reading it.

Oh was I wrong... I should have known better! I loved Throwing Muses growing up, but was always more focused on Tanya Donnelly's career and music rather than Kristin Hersh's, so this actually made me learn about Kristin a lot more than I did before, and I even though I respected her before, I do thousandfold now.

Kristin took her diaries from when she was 19 (1985) and turned her thoughts, feelings and actions from that year into a memoir, interspersed with song lyrics. During this year Kristin is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, signs a record deal with 4AD Records and finds out she's pregnant. Her prose is so colourful and upbeat, even through her "darker" days, and I feel like anyone can relate to certain parts of her book, if not as a whole. I really loved the fact that I was reading a coming of age novel written from real experiences, by a real person who also happens to be an amazing musician.

Natural beauty

Waiting for the sun, originally uploaded by lunajade.

Coldish Sunday morning in October, purple, pink and orange sky, waiting for the sun to rise over the bay.

Rotating personalities and more

Sometimes you think you know someone really well and then all of a sudden they change and become someone completely different, someone you would never ever have even bothered to get to know. Or they never were the person you thought they were in the beginning anyway, and now you are seeing the real them. For the former, if you are over the age of 30, well that tends to happen to only people with no personality or no self-confidence; for the latter then they just were not worth your time anyway, so don't stop to think about them a moment longer in your life.

And then there are those people who make changes in their lives, sometimes for the better, other times for the worst, but who remain themselves at the core. Those people with whom you don't always agree, who you sometimes upset, and who sometimes upset you, but in the end, they are the people who always surprise you by turning around, hugging you, and letting you know they are still who they always were. There are a couple of people in my life who are this way, and the fact that they are still here makes me happy. As well as the fact that they are doing things for themselves that is making me love them even more.

I'm rambling... Because for all the people who have disappointed me this year, these two never changed who they were and will always be there for me (even though I didn't speak to one of them for three months). And this is for them...

There's nothing wrong with CHANGE. Just don't go around changing your entire personality every time something new and more important/interesting/better drug comes along. Unless of course you are practising the art of acting. In that case stop practicing and go and perform, and when you come back be yourself.

I'll come back to this topic at some point in time but I just wanted to get the gist of it out there tonight. And now I am going to go to bed with my book, read about the evilness of the Stalin regime in the 1930's, and then hopefully not have nightmares about said evilness.

xxxx

Real Happiness?

As with anything, I always get some kind of inspiration to write from a simple word someone may say, a song that comes up on my playlist and reminds me of a certain time in my life, a smell that brings along a feeling and then an idea... Today's thoughts came from a friend wondering whether she would ever be happy. I suppose that is a human being's eternal question...
When I was in my early 20's that's all I looked for. Some kind of eternal, all-encompassing happiness that would make my life worth living. I had no idea where this happiness would be (probably assumed that I would immediately be happy once I found the "love of my life"). I would appreciate the moments of happiness, joy, contentment that i felt along the way, but it was never enough, I was always looking for something more. How depressing when I think about it now... Running through life desperately searching for something that didn't exist, or at least didn't (doesn't?) exist in the form that I was imagining it to be.

And then comes the awareness that you are not going to find it. In my experience this wasn't a sudden, life-changing realisation, not like the ones I had experienced earlier on in life (realising I really never would see my father again, realising this world would never experience Peace etc). It was more like a gradual acceptance that this WAS life, and that happiness was not something with a capital "H", but it was a feeling, just like sadness is.

Nowadays I just look for all those moments of happiness as much as possible: chatting with friends over coffee, listening to a great song, writing something GOOD, taking an amazing picture, walking in the Autumn sun listening to music, reading a great book etc etc etc.

Or am I just all wrong? Am I just settling because I am too tired to keep searching anymore?

California California California

I'm back again. It went too fast and I feel quite sad today. New York has been my home for over five years now, but California was the first place I came to in the States, over ten years ago...

Mum was transferring from France to California with work and she took me with her on her "looking for a house" trip in June 2000. I fell in love the moment I landed in San Francisco. Since then it has been my second home, wherever I happen to find myself in the world, because my closest family has been living there. Mum had a three year stint on Long Island, but is moving back to California this year, so I am going to be alone on the East Coast again, and it makes me wonder if I should start thinking about moving out there too... We will see.

Karli took me down to Santa Cruz and Monterey this year, reliving our road trip from 2004. We literally laughed non-stop for two days straight. I could seriously live in Santa Cruz. Or Bodega Bay. Or Monterey. As long as I am by the ocean I am happy...
Dylan and I went book and music shopping and talked and laughed.
I miss my siblings a lot...
And it was also wonderful to be near my second family too, Mo, Tiff, Jess, the kids.

Time to think things over a lot methinks.

Here are some pictures that pretty much capture the wonderful week I had. Even writing about it now makes me sad so I am going to go back to listening to Nirvana and dancing around my room right now :)

Santa Cruz & Monterey

Sacramento