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Frugal Mule

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About Frugal Mule

  • Birthday 12/13/1985

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  1. Finnniisssshhed! What a brilliant book! Loved the ending. But now I have that horrible lost feeling you get when you finish a book that contained a whole other world I had become accustomed to escaping to... No more magic
  2. Just thought I'd say; I'm just over half way through this at the moment and really loving it I bought it on the recommendation of this thread and am very grateful for it
  3. For me, above anything else the most important thing is the atmosphere of the book. To be completely enveloped in it's atmosphere is just pure escapism. If it's sterile and cold for too long it becomes a chore.
  4. Thanks. I don't think that's a bad thing and I'm not surprised it made the top 50. Contrary to the amazon review I quoted, I don't think it's a bad book. I enjoyed most of it and the story is interesting, and that's why I want to recommend it. There's just something about it that niggles at my conscience and warns me not to give it too much credence. I'm not comfortable with all the self congratulating I suppose. Then again, it's just a book, and no one said it was supposed to be taken seriously...
  5. Was that a rhetorical question? My face is... there's a mask on my... I'm sorry, what did you want to know?
  6. I read this about a year ago. I'm glad I read it. I sort of liked it. I can see why lots of people like it. I'm not being very articulate, I know. The thing is, whilst I enjoyed the story (except for the Afghanistan stuff which I found really tedious) I found myself becoming more and more annoyed with the author who seemed a little too in love with himself. I wanted to bop him on his big preachy nose. A few times I've wanted to buy a copy for a friend, but something stops me from doing so. It's not just the fact that my only friend is a dog. No. Aside from that, I think I'd be slightly embarrassed to; incase they thought I was unaware of the self indulgent over-dramatized nature of it and I'd want to say "oh, uh, yeah, I thought he was a twit too. Honest". He (Gregory David Roberts) paints himself as a tortured hero that the reader is supposed to be so in awe of, but I think he comes off as a glorified, pretentious thug. I didn't like him. Anyway, I found this review on Amazon a few months ago and it made me laugh so hard I had tears rolling down my cheeks. Then again, my friend's a Spaniel so I'm easily impressed. In fact, I should have just pasted this in to begin with: R. Gray (Edinburgh) The cover blurb looked interesting. The opening pages, describing the author's arrival in Bombay, were good. I'm going to enjoy this, I thought. How wrong can you be. This is an awful book. Awful. My top four moans are: - The way ALL the characters constantly speak in sub-Wildean aphorisms. Ever heard of tone of voice? - The constant and cringeworthy GCSE-grade philosophy that we're meant to think is profound. - The embarassingly florid prose that litters every page, and especially any passages involving Karla. - The author's relentlessly inflated opinion of himself. Every other page we're meant to be in awe of the fact he learnt some of the local languages, and is therefore the most amazing Westerner to have ever visited India. Ever. (And every Indian thinks so too, of course.) As another reviewer said wearily: Everybody loves Lin. Simple villagers love him, slum dwellers love him, beautiful ex-prostitutes love him, gangsters love him, Afghani drug lords love him, taxi drivers always love him at a glance and so on and so forth. As a character, he's just unbelievable. And that's without getting into the fact he's absolutely The Best at Everything - from fighting to lovemaking, medicine to philosophy. It soon became apparent that this book is shamelessly aimed at a certain kind of buyer: the upper middle class 18 year old on their 'gap' year, who thinks that smoking a few joints in Goa qualifies as discovering the real India and you just have to read this book man, it's like the real India and like sooo deep and profound and if like everyone read it the world's problems would be solved dude... I invite all future reviewers to start contributing their own Shataram efforts. To get the ball rolling, here's mine... "That's not a review of the book, it's a book of the review," stated Karla, as the stars of Bombay's glittering sky danced in her eyes like a thousand diamonds. "You're just trying to be clever," drawled Didier, waving the Caf
  7. Write more dammit! You make me chuckle.

  8. Jodie Picoult - My Sister's Keeper: I read this with a completely open mind and without having read anything of hers before. I found it trashy and cheap and not unlike a cheesy American made-for-TV film. A poignant subject matter doesn't necessarily make for a proufound book. Do you want to send me poo in an envelope now? Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale: I wanted to like this, but really didn't. I don't really understand why it's so popular. Emile Zola - Germinal: When I read the reviews on Amazon I got really excited about read this. I was sure I was going to love it. I finished it but nearly lost the will to live whilst doing so. Sometimes I think the term "Classic" means no more than "Really old". Elizabeth Kostova - The Historian: "There were trees everywhere. Everywhere there were trees. I scanned my eyes over the vast scene before me - trees everywhere! Finally, I arrived at the crypt, my heart pumping. There was a crisp coldness to the air and an uneasiness in my being. Suddenly - look - trees!" Zzzzzzzzzztreeszzzzzzzzzzz Sorry If I was looking at my book shelf right now I could think of loads of others that I didn't 'get'. I am beginning to take a five star rating as a sign to avoid a book at all costs. It does make the illusive 'good ones' all the better when I find them though.
  9. I keep every book I read and often like to stare at them on the shelf thinking about each one and reviewing them in my mind I also have a little rule that nothing goes on the shelf until it's been read and finished. Keeping them is my little indulgence and I don't collect anything else.
  10. Hi all, thanks for the welcome. Yes, I'm not quite half way through yet but really enjoying it so far. Usually I buy a book and read it right away but I'd neglected this one for a while, not sure why as it's good!
  11. I just finished this book last week. I really got in to the second part but started to get a bit of a sinking feeling when it all started getting a bit surreal. I had been hoping for a straight story with a satisfying ending having just read a fair bit of Haruki Murakami (which NEVER has a conclusive ending). Even so, I really enjoyed Life of Pi and am glad I read it. I found an interesting analysis on the ending which contains spoilers at the red room . com Unfortunately as this is my first post I can't post the link but if you google "Life of Pi Ending" it's the third listing.
  12. Hello! I decided to join, this is just the sort of place I've been looking for. My name is Holly, I read a lot. Actually, I'm quite a slow reader but I always have a book on the go and I crave it when I finish one. I don't have anyone to talk about books to so I'm looking forward to doing that here. See you around!
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