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eyeseebooks

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About eyeseebooks

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location:
    UK
  • Interests
    The great outdoors, classical music, art, walking, trees, clouds, architecture - old and new, 1950s and 60s films & Woody Allen, writing poems in my head - they're always much better in my head than on paper, so that's where they stay.

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  1. Did you go on any of the dungeons or haunted places walking tours in London? They are better in the winter though when you are wet and cold as well as scared! I think being a member of BCF is already starting to mess with my mind! I don't usually read sci fi or fantasy but have been reading some of the book reviews on here, then when I read your reply about turning the clocks back a strange thought entered my mind: wouldn't it be fun if someone got stuck in time at the very moment the clocks went back?
  2. ^ I'm a quarter of the way through The Mayor of Casterbridge and loving it. Nice to see Hardy venturing into Scotland.
  3. You could also try the Chester Chamber of Commerce where they would keep a registration list of all businesses. I expect they would go back that far back.
  4. Oh good. If I start today, I might just it get it finished on 1 November.
  5. I just checked my small appointments diary for Halloween and it is Saturday 31st Oct. The diary gives a significant historical event for each day and the one for 31st Oct reads: The Edinburgh Bodysnatchers Burke and Hare claimed their last victim in 1828. Very appropriate! I've got 'The Secret of Crickley Hall' by James Herbert on the Kindle so I'll try to read that. Would it be alright to start on the Friday night? I always think that's when the weekend starts!
  6. "WHEN MY MOTHER WAS ANGRY with me, which was often, she said, 'The Devil led us to the wrong crib.' Jeanette Winterson - Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal
  7. Welcome, Madeleine. I like a good detective story as well but can't take too much blood and violence and don't have the stomach for anything by Jo Nesbo or Roberto Bolano. I loved the Swedish Wallander series on tv but have never read any of Henning Mankell's books so am going to rectify that very soon. I think I shall start with the last book Mankell wrote, then maybe go back and start with the first novel. Are there any crime writers you particularly like?
  8. yep, I'm still here! I don't know how I failed to find this forum before. oh, accidental alliteration!
  9. Thank you Madeleine. Welcome here to you too - I'm sure it won't be long before we feel like old hands as everyone here is so friendly!
  10. Thank you Athena. It's dark here already (whatever happened to the summer that never arrived?) so there will be plenty long dark nights ahead for reading! I'm already getting stuck in. We don't put the clocks back here until the end of October, have you already done yours in the Netherlands?
  11. Same here, Janet. Hardy is an author I wanted and attempted to read several times over the years but could never get past the very descriptive passages he uses to set the scene before he gets into the story proper. I don't know why I had that problem because I'm a big fan of travel writing so you'd think it would be just up my street. That all changed this year and I've read four of his books. I love the depth of his characters. Hardy really seems to me to be as much philosopher/psychologist as author and deeply interested in morality and motivation. Some of his perceptions really pulled me up and I had to stop and think about them. I also like the way the countryside figures so strongly, despite my always falling at that hurdle in the past. He's definitely now one of my top classic writers too.
  12. I saw a wonderful documentary last night but wasn't sure where to post about it so thought I'd start a new topic. I hope that's ok. TED HUGHES - STRANGER THAN DEATH Documentary BBC2 last night. Available on BBCi Player for next 29 days. 89 mins. The list of people (all involved with Hughes and Plath) who contributed to this programme was wide-ranging and I found the contribution made by their daughter to be most enlightening. This is definitely one programme I am downloading and saving, The best I can do for you is post the BBC programme information as some of you may like to watch it too. BBC Info: Documentary exploring Ted Hughes, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, focusing on how his life story influenced his work and vision. Ted Hughes is widely recognised as one of Britain's greatest poets. He is also one of the most controversial. The Heathcliff of poetry who 'attracted more scandal than any other literary figure with the exception of Lord Byron' as one contributor notes. Now, for the first time, the events of his life and the breadth and influence of his poetry are the focus of a major documentary. Featuring the first television interview with Frieda Hughes - poet, artist and daughter of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Path - alongside a rich seam of testimony from family members, friends, fellow poets and writers, this film will illuminate one of the 20th century's most influential cultural figures and show how his compelling life story shaped his vision as a poet. Hughes's significance is incontrovertible, yet so often during his lifetime, attention was focused on the scandalous events in his personal life. Love and work collided with tragic consequences during his marriage to Sylvia Plath. When she committed suicide, he was forced to weather a storm of speculation and accusation over her death, which gathered momentum after Assia Wevill, his lover, also killed herself. Hughes's mythic creation Crow proclaims 'But who is stronger than death? Me, evidently', and this film will explore how Hughes's ability to survive the traumas in his own life were bound up in a belief in the power and importance of poetry. It is a journey in which the passions and preoccupations that informed his unique poetic voice - nature, mythology, death and the occult - became increasingly infused with a more personal tone culminating in the searing power of his final volume Birthday Letters - his only account of his life with Plath. Nine months later he was dead.
  13. Thank you, bobblybear. I don't have much of a TBR but suspect it's going to get much bigger fairly quickly after reading the reviews on here!
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