Thoughts of the day

North Korea is the new Cuba, or so T tells me.  She's my political friend and we like nothing more than to talk politics over a Chinese meal and a bottle of white wine.  A visit to Cuba has been our pipe dream for the last couple of years, but since she's watched the coverage of Kim Jong-il's funeral, she's trying to persuade me to change our destination. I'm not at all convinced.

She's recovering from a major op and so is housebound at the moment. To save her from the horrors of daytime TV, I've left her with a copy of one of my favourite books, 1984.  That should make for a good discussion next time we meet.

You know how it is, your social life is quiet for weeks and then everything happens at once.  I spent Saturday evening with one of my book loving friends who was still raving over Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending.  She's a big Barnes fan, but I must confess that his last book is the only one of his I've managed to finish.  She tells me I must try Talking it Over. Another to add to my 2012 part 2 list perhaps?

My find of the month is The Coward's Tale.  More on this later as it definitely deserves a post of its own.

Reading and writing of the leisurely kind will have to take a back seat this week, with an Italian assignment and a Middlemarch essay due on consecutive days. Plus an under 10 football match this afternoon. Ah, the joys of trying to do it all!