kernow_reader

Hi Nellie I read HG Wells' "The Island of Dr Moreau" late last year. What did you think of it? I did enjoy it even though it freaked me a bit.

I read this years ago. I loved it.

To me reading is not a competition. If you read, surely you read, ergo are a reader? I read what I want when I can find the time. Some books I whizz through others move me so much that I chew and savour every word, greedily re-reading passages and pages. Then there's books I read where I spend time looking up words, countries, cross referencing . . I can be with these ones for weeks idyllically happy with each page caring not about the time spent nor the pace at which I'm reading them.

What an interesting challenge, Library Nook. Do keep us posted on how it goes ~ Trish.

That's hilarious but I can see people's attraction to "being Cathy". . or can I? My favourite Bronte book and sister is Anne's The Tennant of Wildfell Hall.

Yeah, this is a fantastic challenge, Janet. Some great choices there. Well Done.

At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neil ~ Tells the story of two young Irish boys, their friendship and affections for each other up to and during the time of the Dublin Easter Rising in 1916. Upon reading this I was reminded of James Joyce's prose and indeed on researching found that this novel had been likened to him. Not always an easy read as it's written in a stream of consciousness narrative mode where the speaker's thoughts are written as "heard in the mind" or "addressed to oneself" and at times this was irritating and difficult to follow. I'm glad I persevered though and on the whole I liked the tale told. 6/10.

Hi Paul and Welcome to the forum

Hope you enjoy

Fantastic way to spend your time isn't it? I might switch my life round and have 5 weeks work with 47 vacation. Think they'd go for that?

I'll start with what I read through December 2008. This Christmas I looked for something seasonal but different and came up with these: Mr Ives' Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos ~ Mr Ives, a foundling born and raised in New York City believes in forebearance, tolerance, patience and walking the path of righteousness even when it concerns the person who murders his teenage son. My first discovery of Hijuelos an American-Cuban novelist of whom I seek more. While some people may possibly feel annoyance with Mr Ives' "naivety" I loved his steadfast character and identified with his Catholic principles. 10/10 A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg ~ A somewhat twee chocolate box tale but highly readable and charming. Plus Flagg's characters always have that delightful eccentricity; like who could not love a protaganist called Oswald T Campbell called so because he was left on the doorstep of the convent with a tin of Campbells Tomato soup? This tale follows Chicagoan Oswald's progress after his Doctor advises him to relocate down south to endure the last of his pulmonary disease. It does more than that! 8/10 Then I read the one I've read every Christmas for the past 30 years A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ~ An excellent seasonal literary piece of which I never tire. To it I raise an enormous glass of stinking bishop. 10/10 2009 Every Light In The House Burning by Andrea Levy ~ Great tale of Jamaican family enduring life on a council estate in London through the 50s and 60s. Told in retrospect as the youngest daughter Angela tries to obtain help for her seriously ill Father and his main carer her Mother. Loved this book as I love all the Levy's I've so far read. Identifiable family life from my generation The Golden Shot, Pontin's Holidy Camp. Laughed out loud many times. Also readily identified with the NHS of the late 60's and the general attitude towards illness/death/dying. 9/10

Hello there and:welcomebcf: ~Trish

Not always one to say too much I must comment on Far From The Madding Crowd, one of my all time favourite stories! Oh how I love this book and have done for many years now. To me Hardy's pastoral prose is exquisitely charming and delightful: when he writes of things like the farmhands "wimbling the haybales". I am tense as I read and forsee the dramatic tragedies which are about to unfold: the sheepdog scene, Fanny and Troy's church rendezvous, the coffin, the Christmas Party . . . like the secondary characters in the book you can see what's coming but cannot warn or intervene. That is clever.

I'll second that if I may.