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frankie

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Posts posted by frankie

  1. I'm not a big fan of (auto)biographies, but I have got the Deborah Spungen book on my tbr 'And I Don't Want To Live This Life' - which I think is the one you mentioned Frankie? I want to get round to it soon.

     

     

    Yes that's the one Ruth! I've read the book in Finnish and it was called Nancy and I didn't stop to think that it could be named something else in English :smile2:

  2. I love (autobiographies) and memoirs - if they're good!

     

    So far I've read

     

    Deborah Spungen: Nancy (A sad but great read! I've read it about three times)

     

    Mark Paytress: Sid Vicious:The Art of Dying Young (to get the other side of the Sid&Nancy-story, I enjoyed Nancy much more and my sympathies are on her side)

     

    Anne Frank - The Diary of a Young Girl (I've read both the first version and the second version that was published after Otto Frank's death)

     

    Beth Peters: Britney Spears (please don't ask me why, I'm not a fan and reading this is so unlike me)

     

    Frank McCourt: Teacher Man

     

    Carol Shields: Jane Austen (A great bio!)

     

    Pentti Saarikoski: Toipilaan p

  3. I've only ever read Skipping Christmas by John Grisham. In fact I was really surprised that he had written something other than thrillers when I borrowed SC from the library. I had thought he would be a great writer because so many people seem to read his novels, but boy did I hate Skipping Christmas. It was a really annoying and predictable read and I wish I had borrowed some other Christmassy book to read over the holidays.

  4. Why does everyone feel that they have to read this list? I honestly can't see why people are choosing their books just because some list tells them to!?

     

    Anyway, frankie.. are all 300 ones you want to read soon, or do you have a 'priority' list? :)

     

    Well, of course I don't feel that I have to read the 1001 books on that list just because there happens to be a book that recommends to do so :) But, I've been browsing through that list for many long hours and quite a lot of the books sound interesting and worth a read, or at least a try at it. Most of them are classics and they are on that list for a reason: at one point or another in history (or present) they have been appreciated as great works of literature.

    Besides, many of the novels that appear on 1001 Books happen to be on my TBR list already for some other reason.

     

    As for the other question, I don't have a priority list with the other ~300 books. Usually I go for the ones that I've bought most recently, or the ones that fit my current mood. But I really have to pick up the pace now with the list... :smile2:

  5. This thread made me sad, it seems like other people have manageable TBRs, lists that can actually be shortened by reading 6 books.

    On my TBR (which I don't have on me right now so this is a rough estimate) there are about 300 novels. I would also wish to read all of the novels on 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (so far I've read 39 of them), and as a fan of Gilmore Girls and Rory I would like to read all the books on Rory's list. I haven't counted them but I'd say there are about 100-140 books on it.

     

    :smile2:

     

    Edit: Maybe the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die marathon isn't realistic. Okay I won't count that one.

    Instead, I remembered that I have about 50 books that I've bought and haven't added to my TBR list yet.

  6. I don't mind inscriptions in used books, I think they are endearing (well, depending on the content of the inscription).

     

    I once bought Astrid Lindgren's The Brothers Lionheart in a secondhand shop. It was quite an expensive copy for a secondhand book but I had to have just that copy because of what was written inside on the first page. Some child had practiced on his/her handwriting, spelling 'a' over and over again on the page, finishing with a careful attempt at the most refined 'The Brothers Lionheart' he/she could write :smile2:

  7. Without having to think long I can name my worst read ever and it is Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Talk about a depressing novel! I had no sympathy for the protagonist, she was such a miserable person without a will of her own, and no matter how many hardships she had to endure, I didn't grow to sympathize with her but I sure grew to hate her. I would never have read it through if it hadn't been on one of our literature courses.

     

    I have to think about the other four and consult my books-that-I've-read -list when I get back home.

  8. I listed these two among my favourites too :smile2:

     

    Sydney is responsible for my favourite final lines ever in a novel. I cried so much. :)

     

    How did I miss that? I was quickly reading and browsing through this thread (I admit, rather in a hurry to post my own favorites) and I was looking if there were anyone else who'd mentioned Sydney Carton and I didn't find any. Momentary blindness :)

    Nice to know there are other fans of Sydney Carton. I think he is one of the most underrated characters in a novel, maybe not by readers but fellow characters.

  9. I've only read The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve. I first saw the movie on television a few years ago (I had to watch it because Sarah Polley was in it), and I liked the movie and was really captured by the story which is based on the true events of the Smuttynose Island murders of 1873. I decided to read the book as well and it was a great read too. In fact it was so good that I had to buy the book :smile2:

  10. Are we talking about Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale? Because if we are, I couldn't be more confused. Never before have I heard of a person who didn't like that book :smile2: And this is the second thread on disliking The Thirteenth Tale that I've come across on this forum! Or was the Finnish translation just so good that it made a poor read fantastic? :) That would be a first...

     

    Seriously speaking, I liked most of the characters and I really enjoyed the storyline and was surprised at the twist in the end. It was one of those books that you want to read in one sitting.

     

    If there's anyone on the fence with this book, go ahead and give the book one try, there's no harm done. :)

  11. I didn't like Virgin Suicides, neither as a book or a film, partly because

    I thought all of the girls would commit suicide one by one, and I was sort of disappointed to learn that first one girl would do it and then all of the others as a group. It would have been much more devastating the way I thought it would be, and I was curious to find out how they all could manage to do it one by one and get away with it, and how the parents would react and try to stop it.

     

     

    However, I really enjoyed Middlesex and I had to buy it for myself after reading it. It wasn't too long for me, I loved how the novel tells the "saga" of three different generations, the first generation's actions being the cause of future events and problems. I recommend!

  12. A prequel to The Shadow of the Wind?? I hardly ever buy any books as new, I buy them secondhand (or borrow from the library), but this is so worth making an exception! The Shadow of the Wind is one of my favorite books. Too bad I read this thread now instead of June 2009, how can I stand the wait :smile2:

  13. Ron from Harry Potter. He has a fantastic sense of humour. And it helps that Rupert Grint who plays Ron in the films is really darn cute :blush:

    Severus Snape from Harry Potter. He is such a complex person, I think he should have his own book series.

    And my all time favorite:

    Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities. What can I say, I really feel for him.

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