Saturday 27 April 2013
debodiddley : The Official 60 Things To Do Before I'm 60 Blog
debodiddley : The Official 60 Things To Do Before I'm 60 Blog: The Official 60 Things To Do Before I'm 60 (OSTTDBIS) list is my version of a bucket list. It is still something of a work in progress ...
Sunday 21 April 2013
I think it's time for some bread-and-butter reading
I have started to compile a list of 60 books I should read before I am 60 and have come up with some rules.
I want this list to include ought-to-read books so I'm inclining towards the classics here. The sort of books that have enhanced people's lives, or are regularly selected as all-time favourites, or are acknowledged masterpieces. The sort of books, in many cases, that I feel I have read because the stories are so well known but that I have inexplicably never got round to reading. I'm only going to include fiction, so no poetry, plays or biographies; only one book per author; only books I have never read in their entirety before (regrettably this means I will be revisiting various books studied in my youth which I only skimmed - my O'level essay on Oliver Twist owed more to the musical than to Dickens and I think Kate Bush was as much of an influence as Emily Bronte when I thought about Wuthering Heights). I am thinking only adult fiction as I feel I probably have read the majority of the children's classics. I would like to include some more recent books - I am thinking about 25% should have been published in my lifetime, but I also need to expand my pre-Victorian horizons.
Having said that I am reasonably well read - by the time I got to university I had got the hang of actually reading my set books. But there are gaps. Books I have just always thought I wouldn't enjoy. Books I have been put off by being told too many times that I must read them because I will love them, which makes me feel stubborn and resistive. Books I have ignored because they are written in the present tense and it gets on my nerves (I am calling this Wolf Hall syndrome). The time has come to embrace them all.
I would love a bit of help with this. I do want to stretch myself but equally I would like there to be a fighting chance of enjoying the book and it not feeling like a total and utter chore. I have come up with the first ten, which should give you an idea of the sort of thing I had in mind, but I would love some recommendations.
1. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
2. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
3. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
4. Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe
5. Zuleika Dobson - Max Beerbohm
6. The Heart of Midlothian - Walter Scott
7. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
8. Casino Royale - Ian Fleming
9. Barchester Towers - Anthony Trollope
10. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
So. What else should I be reading?
I want this list to include ought-to-read books so I'm inclining towards the classics here. The sort of books that have enhanced people's lives, or are regularly selected as all-time favourites, or are acknowledged masterpieces. The sort of books, in many cases, that I feel I have read because the stories are so well known but that I have inexplicably never got round to reading. I'm only going to include fiction, so no poetry, plays or biographies; only one book per author; only books I have never read in their entirety before (regrettably this means I will be revisiting various books studied in my youth which I only skimmed - my O'level essay on Oliver Twist owed more to the musical than to Dickens and I think Kate Bush was as much of an influence as Emily Bronte when I thought about Wuthering Heights). I am thinking only adult fiction as I feel I probably have read the majority of the children's classics. I would like to include some more recent books - I am thinking about 25% should have been published in my lifetime, but I also need to expand my pre-Victorian horizons.
Having said that I am reasonably well read - by the time I got to university I had got the hang of actually reading my set books. But there are gaps. Books I have just always thought I wouldn't enjoy. Books I have been put off by being told too many times that I must read them because I will love them, which makes me feel stubborn and resistive. Books I have ignored because they are written in the present tense and it gets on my nerves (I am calling this Wolf Hall syndrome). The time has come to embrace them all.
I would love a bit of help with this. I do want to stretch myself but equally I would like there to be a fighting chance of enjoying the book and it not feeling like a total and utter chore. I have come up with the first ten, which should give you an idea of the sort of thing I had in mind, but I would love some recommendations.
1. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
2. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
3. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
4. Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe
5. Zuleika Dobson - Max Beerbohm
6. The Heart of Midlothian - Walter Scott
7. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
8. Casino Royale - Ian Fleming
9. Barchester Towers - Anthony Trollope
10. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
So. What else should I be reading?
Wednesday 17 April 2013
no. 25 - have my graduation photo taken (achieved 25 Ocober 2012)
As a matter of fact I only partially achieved this one, because I didn't have an actual, official, me holding my rolled up degree shot. However, I did at least go to my graduation and have photos taken, which was more than I managed the first time I got a degree. So I am totally counting this one, not least because there is absolutely no chance of me graduating again.
My degree was a Bachelor of Nursing in Mental Health (a change of career from my One Thing To Before I Turn 50 list) from Edinburgh Napier University. I loved being a student again and made some wonderful friends. Here I am with my lovely chum Beth just after we collected our gowns. The gowns were great and we had a lot of fun pretending to be dementors later on.
The degree ceremony was at the Usher Hall in the centre of Edinburgh - here we are on the steps before we went in. We had just been sitting outside the pub in the sunshine, which shone most obligingly.
There now follows a small boasty paragraph where I tell you that not only did I get my degree with Distinction, but also I was awarded the class medal.
There are no photos of me getting my degree although there is a video somewhere on the university website. After the ceremony we went to Napier's Craicklockhart campus, where we had most of our lectures in first year, for drinks and nibbles and patting ourselves on the back and celebrating our utter brilliance. Here I am with my husband, Philip and my daughter, Charlotte.
My degree was a Bachelor of Nursing in Mental Health (a change of career from my One Thing To Before I Turn 50 list) from Edinburgh Napier University. I loved being a student again and made some wonderful friends. Here I am with my lovely chum Beth just after we collected our gowns. The gowns were great and we had a lot of fun pretending to be dementors later on.
The degree ceremony was at the Usher Hall in the centre of Edinburgh - here we are on the steps before we went in. We had just been sitting outside the pub in the sunshine, which shone most obligingly.
There are no photos of me getting my degree although there is a video somewhere on the university website. After the ceremony we went to Napier's Craicklockhart campus, where we had most of our lectures in first year, for drinks and nibbles and patting ourselves on the back and celebrating our utter brilliance. Here I am with my husband, Philip and my daughter, Charlotte.
We finished up meeting my other children for a meal at Chop Chop in Leith, which seems to have become a family favourite. My daughter, Polly, had come down from Aberdeen to surprise me. We very rarely manage to have all six of us under the same roof these days so it was the perfect end to a great day. And a pretty good start to my bucket list.
The Official 60 Things To Do Before I'm 60 Blog
The Official 60 Things To Do Before I'm 60 (OSTTDBIS) list is my version of a bucket list. It is still something of a work in progress and I reserve the right to tweak, edit and add to it as I go along. There's no rush - I'm not even 50 yet so there's plenty of time. As long as I have achieved 60 personal triumphs by 17th August 2023 I'll be happy.
The current version of OSTTDBIS will follow shortly. However Thing One on the list is to start an OSTTDBIS blog so this seems like the place to start.
In no particular order, before I am 60, I want to:
The current version of OSTTDBIS will follow shortly. However Thing One on the list is to start an OSTTDBIS blog so this seems like the place to start.
In no particular order, before I am 60, I want to:
1. Keep
a Bucket List blog (achieved 17
April 2013)
2. See
the Cirque du Soleil again
3. Climb
a Munro
4. Learn
to play the flute and perform in public
5. Write
a novel
6. Go
inter-railing in Europe
7. Walk
the West Highland Way
8. Keep
chickens again
9. Do
the Moonwalk in Edinburgh and raise at least £500
10. Visit
Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island
11. Join
a choir
12. Stay
at the Hotel Levant in Llafranc, Spain
13. Learn
to hoot like an owl
14. Finish
my tapestry
15. Run
a 5km race
16. Take
a trip to the Achensee in Austria (achieved August 2013)
17. Go
ski-ing
18. Ride
in a gondola in Venice
19. Make
a patchwork quilt
20. Buy
a house
21. Stay
in a castle
22. Make
a list of 60 books to read before I am 60 (and read them)
23. Go
to the Louvre in Paris
24. Own
a pair of Dubarry boots (achieved 17 August 2013)
25. Have
my graduation photo taken ( achieved 25 October
2012)
26. Throw
a coin into the Trevi fountain in Rome
27. Visit
the Bronte Parsonage at Haworth
28. Have
a holiday on a narrowboat
29. Have
my fortune told by a gypsy at St. Boswells
30. Do
the Four Abbeys Cycle Path
31. Celebrate
our Silver Wedding Anniversary (achieved 13 August 2013)
32. Skim
a stone so it bounces at least 3 times
33. Go
on a spa day with Polly and Charlotte
34. Stay
on a houseboat in Amsterdam
35. Go
to a Christmas Market in Europe
36. Appear
as an extra in a film
37. Learn
to play bridge
38. Go
to the opera
39. Have
a teppenyaki meal in Newcastle with the family
40. Go
to the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle
41. Go
on the London Eye
42. Go
to a live sporting event, preferably gymnastics
43. Cook
a roast suckling pig for a family celebration
44. Visit
the Outer Hebrides
45. Go
to New York and eat pastrami on rye at Katz’s deli
46. Take
a boat trip to the Farne Islands and see puffins
47. Sing
karaoke
48. See
a play at The Globe Theatre in London
49. Go
on a cruise through the Norwegian fjords
50. Visit
Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona
51. Have another tattoo
52. Be
debt free
53. Go to Moominland in Finland with some Moomin fans (you know who you are).
54. Have my nose pierced (achieved 3rd July 2014)
55. Crochet a Granny Squares blanket
56. Watch
this space
57. Watch
this space
58. Watch
this space
59. Watch
this space
60. Watch this space.
60. Watch this space.
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