I had been thinking about getting a Seasonal affective Disorder (SAD) lamp for a while. Everyone I spoke to about it had friends that swore by theirs, but nobody that I knew actually had one.
So this Autumn, as evenings started to get darker earlier and there was less light in the mornings I treated myself to a Daylight Lamp by Beurer.
I have popped the daylight lamp on my desk and have used it daily, usually in the evenings after work throughout November & December.So what are my thoughts?
They are mixed. The dark mornings haven’t seemed to affect my mood as bad, but this could be the placebo effect.
Despite the Daylight Lamp box boasting that the lamp is medically certified it doesn’t reference any specific research studies to back this claim up, let alone some good longitudinal research studies.
It appears to work. Getting up in the dark mornings hasn’t felt as difficult as in previous years. Nor has my mood seemingly been affected as much as normal by the lack of light. This could be the placebo effect, but does it really matter? As long as it works.
It is easy to setup and work. Simply position it, plug it in and use the one simple on/off switch on the front.
It is super-bright. I have nicknamed it my God Light.
It has a stand, so sits on my desk easily.
It is thin, meaning that it doesn’t take up much space.
It is plastic, meaning that it is easy to dust/clean.
It is lightweight meaning that it is easy to move. You could take it to work or other places with you.
The lamp made no difference to my blood sugars, which is a good thing as a type 1 diabetic.
It was expensive, when compared with other non-SAD lamps, costing nearly £50.
Replacement bulbs can only be bought from the manufacturer and not in any high street shops. I haven’t tried looking online, it’s possible that I’ll be able to get bulbs online. Hopefully they are not to expensive.
Switching on/off the lamp requires you to hold the back, as the product is so lightweight that trying to press the switch without holding the back results in it moving.
The front of the lamp does get warm/hot to the touch once it has been on a while. The manufacturer does recognise this and warms customers about it in the instructions.
Misery by Stephen King is compelling, creepy and will have the reader on the edge of their seat with anxiety and fear.
In Misery Author Paul Sheldon has a dreadful car accident. When he finally wakes up, he finds himself in the guest bedroom of Annie Wilkes.
Annie Wilkes is a psychopath and Paul’s number one fan. She has dragged him from the wreckage, set and splintered his mangled legs. Paul is in an incredible amount of pain and knows that he should be in hospital. Anne Wilkes used to be a Nurse has a stash of painkillers.
Annie is reading Paul’s latest book. Paul’s bestselling books about Misery Chastain have made him a lot of money, but he hates writing them despite their popularity. He see’s the Misery Chastain books as making the money he needs to live, so that he can get on with some real writing. So in this latest book Paul has done something drastic: he has killed Misery Chastain.
Annie doesn’t know about Misery’s death yet, but when she does she calls Paul a dirty bird and demands another Misery book, just for her, called Misery’s Return. And she won’t take no for an answer.
Nobody knows that Paul is at Annie’s remote mountain home. It will be months before the snow melts to allow Paul’s wreck of a car to be found. And meanwhile Annie makes it clear that she is prepared to make him suffer, severely, if he doesn’t cooperate. Paul does the only thing he can: write as if his life depends upon it (which it actually does).
The idea behind Misery is brilliant, clever and excellently expressed through King’s writing. He has turned Misery into a horror classic, with some traumatic scenes that will stay with the reader for a long time after they’ve finished the book. So people with a sensitive disposition be aware.
Misery is told in the first person perspective of Paul, meaning that there is an awful lot of internal monologue, especially at the beginning where Paul is bedbound. The description of pain from Paul’s perspective does lack variety and begin to feel a bit repetitive. The plot is fast-paced, full of tension and has plenty of hooks to make the reader be compelled to read on.
I read Misery in about a week, often staying up far later than I intended to, to find out what happens next.
Misery is gripping and a must read. Misery is available to buy on Amazon and at all good book shops.
The story starts with an old man, sitting on a bench looking at a pond at the farm at the end of the lane. He remembers his childhood.
He remembers when he was just seven years old. Seven years old when he saw the body of the dead opal miner in the back of his father’s car.
Seven years old when he met the Hempstocks’. Lettie Hempstocks, the girl that looks eleven years old, who speaks the first and most ancient language of the world. Lettie knows so much about everything and who he suspects is really, much older than she looks. Ginnie Hempstocks is the mother who cooks the most amazing food the boy has ever tasted and at one point in the story takes him into her bosom.
And finally Old Mrs. Hempstocks the woman so old that she remembers the moon being made, always has a full moon shinning on the back of the farmhouse at night and is full of wisdom, knowing how to solve the problems that the other two Hempstocks’ don’t know how to solve. (Madian. Mother. Crone. She what Gaiman did there?)
After the death of the opal miner, a malevolent spirit enters the seven year old boy’s life. This spirit appears as Ursula Monkton, a lodger who will pay her way by looking after the boy and his older sister. But Ursula means no good for the boy, quickly manipulating the boy’s parents and threatening to keep him in the attic. That is until she is done with him, at which point, Ursula will tell the boy’s father to kill him. The boy believes his father will listen to Ursula and do as she says, rather than listen him because he is only a child.
So the boy goes to the Hempstocks’ for help. What follows is a magical, frightening, exciting, heart racing and wonderful story told from the perspective of the seven year old boy remembering in his old age.
The description is vivid and allows the reader to imagine every scene perfectly. There are some scenes in this book that should go down in descriptive history for being so simple with very few words, but yet so effective and powerful. The plot is fantastic and full of twists and turns. It is completely captivating and makes The Ocean at the End of the Lane almost impossible to put down. Gaiman put a lot of what he remembers about his own childhood into the story. The ending is inventive, almost spiritual/god-like at one point and wholly satisfying to the reader.
Overall The Ocean at the End of the Lane is magnificent, even if it is a little difficult to describe just how magnificent it is.
Richard Mayhew is a young business man in London. He has a small apartment, a job were he gets little recognition of his hard work and a high maintenance girlfriend named Jessica.
One night whilst he and Jessica are on the way to meet her boss, he sees a young homeless woman whose been stabbed lying in the street. Jessica tells Richard to leave her. But Richard can’t. The homeless woman insists on not going to a hospital or involving the authorities, so Richard, being a good samaritan, takes her home.
After Richard nurses the homeless woman, named Door, back to a reasonable state of health, she leaves. Then Richard bizarrely seems to slip through the cracks in London Above (his London) and falls into London Underside, also known as Neverwhere.
Neverwhere is filled with all sorts of creative ideas: a Royal Court in an underground train carriage, Rat Speakers, The Floating Market, velvet women whose kiss can take a person’s life, monks, an Angel, a Beast and even a labyrinth.
In this strange world, Richard decides to seek out the Marquis de Carabas. Richard having previously met the Marquis on Door’s behalf when she was at his house recovering from the stab wound. Richard is convinced that Door somehow caused him to lose his London Above life and he wants it back.
Richard finds the Marquis de Carabas with Door at the Floating Market. Door and the Marquis are auditioning for a body guard. Door is on a mission to find out who murdered her family and why. Richard asks Door for his life back and she explains that she doesn’t think it’s possible.
The Marquis and Door recruit Hunter to be Door’s bodyguard. Richard with nowhere else to go, goes along with Door, the Marquis and Hunter. The four of them set off on Door’s quest, but each has their own intentions and wants and some are not compatible with the quest.
The characters are likeable, complex and clever. The reader will enjoy getting to know them and find himself/herself caring a great deal for each of the characters. The plot is pleasant, paced perfectly and continually shifts and twists, keeping the reader hooked in.
The setting and action descriptions were tremendous, allowing the reader to picture the scenes and what was happening. However the character descriptions were repetitive, Gaiman using the exact same words to describe characters again and again. Looked like a copy/paste job. After a while these did become grating, so maybe skip reading character descriptions once each of the main characters has been introduced.
Overall Neverwhere is easy to read, a pleasurable read, fun and moderately entertaining. Well worth a read once, but it’s not the sort of book you’ll read again and again.
Neverwhere is available to buy no Amazon and at all good bookshops.
Review soon,
Antony
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Tuesday 29 November 2016
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Antony Simpson - Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.
Author of eight books.
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