jemimapd

"I was surprised to read somewhere recently that Gilbert was actually paid to do the travelling and write the book. So she knew before she left that her story was going to be published and she had already been paid in advance for it." I'm not really surprised; I've thought how suspiciously pre-planned some of these books seem. I think it would be a very legitimate thing for reviewers to point out more openly the disingenuous nature of these books because it does make a difference in how people will view them. It also would make a pretty interesting story.

I was on jury duty here in the States, and despite the very boring nature of sitting in a big room and waiting for hours, I could not get past approximately page 18 of this atrocious book. Perhaps the rest wasn't so bad, but that first part was so terribly written and such an exercise in cliches - bad ones, at that - that I had to stop. Maybe I'll get back to it one day, but it's certainly not in my plans any time soon. The part where she introduces herself to God had me rolling my eyes. It was like a very bad sitcom from a very long time ago; it did not seem professional, or good.

One title that struck me long ago is The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. It expresses a probably very true sentiment for many people throughout history at some time or another and does this effectively with an elegantly simple adjective and noun.

...that was published in July 1936, two months after the first edition. One of the reasons I like it so much is because it was a surprise find at a library book sale and it cost one dollar. Also, it's apparently worth nothing which I find kind of nice; there's no temptation to sell and painfully part with it and it's good for sentiment and reading purposes only. Then, at another library I got a first American edition of Dorothy Sayers' Busman's Honeymoon. Again, no monetary worth and it cost only a dollar but great for sentimental value! Finally, I found a Greek reader from 1859 that had had a very hard life by the looks of it. I got it mainly, I think, because of the inscription by a previous owner/user whom I later googled and found out a bit about. Is it okay to link to my blog where I wrote about the experience? I hope so. If not, I don't mind if the administrators here want to delete my link. It's just so appropos to this topic! old 1859 Greek reader history http://goodbooksbrightside.blogspot.com/2009/05/library-book-sale-treasures-and-no.html Great topic!

Actually, there are five. I had only thought there were three or so. Just finished the second, A Wind in the Door, and can heartily recommend it. Enjoy!

Then do you pronounce the h in honest, honor, heir, hour? The Eddie Izzard philosophy doesnt' work there, does it? Exactly!

I'm an American and I agree about the 'couldn't' vs 'could' thing. I always say 'couldn't.' You're right.The difference in meaning is pretty obvious. But the herb thing is different. I think that just depends on what you're used to and where you come from. Silent h or not, it's just a dialectal thing; has nothing to do with obvious logic. I prefer the silent h, partly because Herb is a man's name. Didn't know that about the billions. Pretty scary when you can't even trust math!

I read Lost for Words by Lorelei Mathias and quite enjoyed it, but I don't know about other titles.

thank you

Does anyone know if Waterstone's Books Quarterly is going to go online in addition to the print edition? I thought I read something about that in my last issue of the magazine months ago, but I haven't seen anything on the Waterstone's site yet. Are they still doing fun, timely articles? I haven't seen one in months as there's no Waterstone's where I live....Thanks for the information!

I appreciate your opinion but it occurs to me that the answer to that problem is not simply to say 'no, thank you' to the job; that does not solve the problem that there is an employer out there trying to take advantage of its employees. If you, as the employer, receive services from someone, the employee, you cannot expect to get them for free. That's a basic idea that our economies are founded on; so the proper thing would be for the employer to change its ways and that only comes about through discussion like ours. There will always be someone for whom this is the only job he/she can find. If they "agree" to the terms it might be under the duress of overdue mortgages, rent, utilities bills, etc, similar to what Lovereading06 indicated. There must be a labor law in the UK that would prevent such unfair treatment as you experienced. I'd be interested in hearing more about that.

Of course you can. In this economy people are forced to take any job they can get but they shouldn't be exploited because of it. Who in their right mind takes a job like this if they don't absolutely feel they have to.? It's masochistic if they do. So, no matter what the economy, right is right.

I thought it lacked a certain something, too, and I saw it when it opened so I doubt your experience would have been different on the big screen. I still have hopes that the next one could/would be better.

Any Narnia film fans? Looks like Disney has cut off funding to the Narnia franchise. I read that Walden Media is shopping around the next film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but who knows if it will get made. Apparently, Prince Caspian did quite badly at the box office; and there seems to be a lot of criticism (justified) of how the film was made. It didn't have quite the magic of the first one. Still, I'd like to see more made, particularly The Magician's Nephew. How do others feel about the Narnia films?