Whilst I am sat waiting at home for the courier service to arrive to take the majority of my history books away forever (hopefully), I thought I would write a blog about some (non-history) books I have read this year.
Anyone who I have spoken to in the past on the issue of reading knows that prior to this year commencing it was not a favourite hobby of mine. It had for a long time been something I wanted to do more of, but due to certain circumstances (eg. OCD: having to re-read words/lines numerous times/lack of concentration) reading was often a frustrating past-time.
With issues such as the above now nearly resoloved, reading (for fun) has become a much easier activity to endure and is something I now enjoy. I have told many people about my track record when it comes to books. Before this year I have only probably finished a handful of books in my life. I would approximate at the maximum being 5 or 6 (that number goes up everytime!) This year I have smashed all sorts of Matt Watson reading records. I'm currently past the 20 mark in regards to books I have completed and have a fair few more lined up. When you find a good book with an engaging story you can get lost in it as like with a film, of which I am a lot more used too. I have discovered that The Shining is not just one of my favourite films, but it is also my favourite book, despite their differences.Thank you Messrs Kubrick and King.
Anyways, the point of this blog other than to kill some time is to reccomend a couple of books that I have read that I think other people may enjoy.
So here we go in no particular order:
1.
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Dissapeared (Auther: Jonas Jonasson)
This is Jonas Jonasson's debut novel and is a rather crazy, yet funny and very charming tale of a 100 year old Swedish man named Allan Karlsson who climbs out of his retirement home window and goes on the run. I'd highly reccomend this book to anyone who likes their history, as the story alternates chapter by chapter between following Karlson on his adventorous and darn right crazy present and the amazing past he has lived. His laid-back attitude to life has seen him come through and survive some of the biggest historical events that have occurred in the 20th century and is probably why he still keeps going at the age of 100.
A really enjoyable book and I think most people will fly through it. Highly reccomended.
2.
The Universe versus Alex Woods (Author: Gavin Extence)
This is another debut novel, this time by English writer Gavin Extence. It follows a boy called Alex Woods through his teenager years. Alex is involved in a very extrodianry accident that leaves him in a coma for two weeks and which changes his life forever. Due to large amounts of school time he has off school and subseqently the lack of friends he has acquired, Alex is a very socially-awkward teen who has a thirst for science and is well known throughout his home town for the accident that occurred to him when he was younger. One day when chased by school bullies, events lead him to the backyard of an old American man named Mr Peterson which leads to the pair striking up an unlikely friendship that ends in a very emotional ending to the book. Warm, quirky, funny, but yet ulitmately a tale that ends in sadness. It is another book I flew through quite quickly as it is very easy to engage with. I would reccomend this to you if you're into something a little different.
3.
The Fault in Our Stars (Author: John Green)
This book is emotional but uplifting in its own quirky, humerous way of which from what I've been told is John Green's usual way of writing. The book follows the story of cancer sufferer Hazel Grace Lancaster as she deals with the daily reality of her terminal condition. As she once again attends a cancer support group, of which she hates, she meets a young man called Augustus Waters, who at the time is in a state of remission. Things for Hazel start to change very rapidly after that encounter. At its essense it is a love story, but it is so much more than that. The pairs views on life and the universe are inspiring and insightful and turn what is ultimiately a very sad tale into a book also full of humour, wit and charm. Even I think Augustus Waters is the man after reading this!
The movie adaption of the book is set to come out next year with Shailenne Wooley (The Descendents) playing Hazel and newcomer Ansel Elgort as Agustus. So let us hope it does the book justice as it really is a great read and I would highly reccomend it.
One for Movie Fans:
The Wolf of Wall Street (Author: Jordan Belfort)
Jordan Belfort was a self-made millionaire and this book is a very honest account of how he got there. Drugs, booze, hookers, helicopters, boats and illegal dealings; all normal for the life of a man nicknamed 'The Wolf of Wall Street' by his employees. It is an outragous tale of the rise and fall of a man who had everything, but succumbed to his own self-induced downfall.
January 17th 2014 is the release date for the
film adaption of the book which is directed by Martin Scorese and stars Leonardo Di Caprio, Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughy. If they get it right it could well be a cracker. Given its release date being in award season territory, they obviously fancy their chances.
One for Football Lovers:
Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning (The Biography)
(Author: Guillem Ballague)
Spanish football correspondant and journalist Guillem Ballague has gained a rare insight into the mindset of Barcelona's most successful coach, Pep Guardiola. It gives a very intriguing view into the day to day running of the club under Guardiola's guidance and their meteroic rise to the very top of the footballing world. Whatever is said about the tools Guardiola had at his disposal, Ballague has demenstrated emphatically the genius, dedication and thoroughness of a man who is obsessed with the game of football, as well as his footballing philosophy for the beautiful game and that without Pep the success they achieved in that period would not have happened.
If you are a tika taka enthusiast like me, this is a perfect book to get your football brains into.
My current read is Stephen King's Carrie, which I am quite enjoying.
The book is once again being adapted to a film, this time starring Julianne Moore and Chloe Grace Moretz. The release date has been set for November 29th 2013.
If anyone has any reccomendations of their own, please let me know. You can tweet me @MattWatson91.
If you would like to borrow one of these books (if you know me, that is), I would be more than happy to lend you any of them. They are just sitting on my bookshelf collecting dust.
Happy reading!
The Shining is regarded as one of the greatest horror
stories of all time. Its author, Stephen King, is known as the king of horror
stories, and rightly so. 
A lack of sleep, sore feet and the fact I still have a bit of a cold does leave you feeling a little groggy. However, the experiences of the past few days make it all worth wild. To our professional guides' own admittance, it was one of the more dramatic three peaks challenges they have took part on. 
We began our ascent of Ben Nevis at 7:10am and after the first 30-40 minutes we were quickly split into four groups that were dependant on our position on the mountain at the time. After just failing to make it into the front pack (I tried and failed to put on waterproof trousers which cost me my position/time and I never fully caught up) I was put in group two. Ben Nevis was a frustrating one as we lost a lot of time. Conditions were not great, but sadly injuries (and a race of 200-plus people taking place) meant that we had stop many times for people to catch up. The mountain itself was great, though. The weather was bad on the way up, but nice on the way down. Unfortunately the weather at the summit was poor so it spoilt the views that surrounded us, but when they were visible it was pretty darn spectacular. 
So as we reached the coaches back at the bottom of Ben Nevis we were already well behind the time. We reached Scafell Pike and began the climb at around 9pm knowing we really had to get a move on to catch up. After another stop-start beginning to our ascent we were given an ultimatum over timing which saw only seven (out of nineteen who attempted the mountain) continue to try and make up some time and bomb on to attempt to get as near to the top as possible. Known now as the 'Scafell Seven' we managed to do it in great time and were able to get to the top before the final cut off time for the mountain. This was my own personal highlight of the trip as we looked dead and buried (in regards to time), but we managed it and I was with such a great bunch of people too, which made it even better. Plans of a movie aptly named the 'Scafell Seven' are now in the pre-production stages. James Franco will be playing myself. This is where conversations turn too when its dark, wet, late and your descending down a mountain... We (the seven of us) had given ourselves a chance again of completing all three peaks, although time was still most definitely against us.
This time in four weeks I hope to be sat down in front of the telly box with a huge tub of chocolate fudge brownie flavoured Ben & Jerry's ice cream toasting a job well done rather than a commiserative 'I got knackered after one mountain and had to stop' prize. 
With the money I have recieved and what I have been promised by others, I'm really close to the £550 fundraising mark I need to reach for Mind. If I can get there before I head off to Scotland on September 6th it would just be amazing. Mind's a fantastic charity who do such great work in helping people struggling with mental health problems. It is a cause very close to my own heart for reasons I shared in a Mind blog post back in March. Mental health is something I have had to deal with first hand and something I am still dealing with now. Thankfully I am most certainly on the up, feeling better and a hell of a lot more like myself than I have done for a long, long time. Hopefully, after spending over nine months (of a third spell) so far on anti-depressants, I'll be able to come off them in the not so distant future. 
Unfortunately not everyone is in my situation. I am lucky not just that I am feeling a lot better, but I was able to get treatment; both in regards to medication and CBT for both OCD and depression. Not everyone is so fortunate and that is why charities like Mind are so important in not just raising awareness, but supporting people in dire need of help. Your money, if you are able to donate anything at all, will not go to waste. It really is vital what they (Mind) provide to so many people. 
With issues such as the above now nearly resoloved, reading (for fun) has become a much easier activity to endure and is something I now enjoy. I have told many people about my track record when it comes to books. Before this year I have only probably finished a handful of books in my life. I would approximate at the maximum being 5 or 6 (that number goes up everytime!) This year I have smashed all sorts of Matt Watson reading records. I'm currently past the 20 mark in regards to books I have completed and have a fair few more lined up. When you find a good book with an engaging story you can get lost in it as like with a film, of which I am a lot more used too. I have discovered that The Shining is not just one of my favourite films, but it is also my favourite book, despite their differences.Thank you Messrs Kubrick and King.
Firstly I would like to thank everyone who came to the day and I hope you all had a great time. Thankfully the weather was fantastic, although it left a few of us players with sunburn afterwards. 
