poppyshake Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 I love the sound of Where'd you go Bernadette. Added to the wish list! (Also talking of forgetting recommendations, lately I've started linking to recommendations in my wish list so I'll definitely know it was you ) Oh bother! .. there's no escape for me now I hope you enjoy it Andrea .. I think you will if you like the sound of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willoyd Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 (edited) Oh bother! .. there's no escape for me now I hope you enjoy it Andrea .. I think you will if you like the sound of it I certainly enjoyed it, if not quite as much as you, finishing it at the back end of last week: http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/11098-willoyds-reading-log-2013/?p=351004 (Can't say I rated Dora Damage at all - which surprised me. Can't remember why, but gave up after 70-80 pages). Edited July 25, 2013 by willoyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 I certainly enjoyed it, if not quite as much as you, finishing it at the back end of last week: http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/11098-willoyds-reading-log-2013/?p=351004 Glad you enjoyed it Willoyd I was already super excited about the cover and the title so .. possibly .. that coloured my view a bit but the humour was right up my alley. You are right to say that it wasn't always entirely credible .. I thought this too though I didn't let it get in the way of my enjoyment (Can't say I rated Dora Damage at all - which surprised me. Can't remember why, but gave up after 70-80 pages). Oh that is surprising .. especially so early in the book .. that was when I thought it was at its best Ah well, you were wise no doubt and you saved yourself the trouble of reading some pretty disturbing descriptions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 I've been meaning to post a pic of this for a while. I can't actually remember if I bought this with Christmas or birthday money but anyhow .. that's irrelevant (so why am I telling you? .. God I ramble on) some time this year (or it may have been last ) I bought a 'Spineless Classic' to hang over the fireplace in our bedroom (it's not a working fireplace .. it just has candles in it ... goodness there I go again! ). I decided on this one because I liked the pic .. and because it was portrait rather than landscape which suited the space .. also 'Peter Pan' makes you think of bedtime and dreams and dreaming (and flying .. but we won't mention that because thinking about flying would keep me awake). Spineless classics are pics made up of words ... every word in the book that is .. though it would give you a bit of a headache to read it. You will see that there are three additional little French books on the shelf which are the Mr (or Monsieur I should say) Pickwick books I talked about earlier. It just goes to show that you should never buy anything on eBay (and really I should have learnt my lesson with the VW Beetle charm I bought for a bracelet which turned out to be only fit for Lilliputians) unless you have asked all the relevant questions. The fronts of the books are fine but the spines are completely faded and, of course, those are the only bits you see Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, here is a pic of my Peter Pan spineless classic .. that's all I meant to say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 The Spineless Classics are lovely, aren't they? I've been coveting the Pride and Prejudice one for ages, but we definitely don't have room in our house for it! Too many bookshelves taking up wall space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devi Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Amazing! I want one of those pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 That's very nice, Poppyshake! (don't worry about your rambling, I can be like that too and like reading what you want to say) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 I've been coveting the Pride and Prejudice one too, Claire. I really want one of these in our downstairs toilet (is it polite to say toilet, or should one say loo - or lavatory - I'm never sure! We call ours a cloakroom... but it doesn't actually have any cloaks in it! ). I love it so much I can even forgive the fact that Thomas Hardy has nearly been pushed up out of Dorsetshire! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 ^ that is very nice too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 There's a children's version too, which I also love! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Wow ,guys I've never seen nor heard of the spineless classics you are showing pics of. Really pretty and a nifty idea . Something I'd like to look up myself . Not even sure where to find one ??? PS- Janet You could use the hillbilly word for toilet and call it the bathroom . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Julie - Amazon sell Spineless Classics, and I've seen them in both book shops and art galleries over here. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 PS- Janet You could use the hillbilly word for toilet and call it the bathroom . Thanks, Julie. I think of the bathroom as the room upstairs - the one downstairs doesn't have a bath in it - just a toilet/loo/lavatory. Claire's right - Amazon.com sell Spineless Classics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Thanks for the info, Claire and Janet Going to check them out right now .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted July 27, 2013 Share Posted July 27, 2013 Never heard of the Spineless Classics but they look wonderful. I especially like the map of England one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted July 31, 2013 Author Share Posted July 31, 2013 Small Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans Synopsis: Stuart Horten - ten years old and small for his age - moves to the dreary town of Beeton, far away from all his friends. And then he meets his new next-door neighbours, the unbearable Kingley triplets, and things get even worse. But in Beeton begins the strangest adventure of Stuart's life as he is swept up in quest to find his great-uncle's lost workshop - a workshop stuffed with trickery and magic. There are clues to follow and puzzles to solve, but what starts as fun ends up as danger, and Stuart begins to realize that he can't finish the task by himself . . . The first children's novel by Lissa Evans, this is a fast-moving blend of comedy and magic. Review: I think, had I been twelve or thereabouts, I would really have enjoyed this story. I did enjoy it actually but you can't help viewing things differently as an adult .. you're less easily fooled. Great characters though, Stuart is very endearing .. he's short bless him and his parents haven't helped much by naming him Stuart (thus making him S.Horten ) His dad I found really funny .. he's a writer .. but not of books .. of complicated crosswords and consequently he speaks like he's swallowed a dictionary, saying stuff like 'I'm just going for a brief perambulation' etc. The triplets next door (April, May and June) are a hoot .. they are writing a daily newspaper as a holiday project and Stuart's arrival on the street is seen as a godsend. He's determined to ignore them but you'd have to get up early to outsmart those girls .. they run absolute rings around him. His great-uncle Tony was a conjurer but mysteriously disappeared one day .. long before Stuart was born. As it turns out he left a set of clues behind .. not really meant for Stuart .. meant for Stuart's dad actually but it turned out that Stuart's dad just wasn't the kind of boy who looked further than his own nose. Stuart is the kind of boy though and he's soon pedalling off on his bike in search of further clues (and the first clue leads him to a phone box where the phone rings even though the wires have been cut .. that's the kind of beginning I like ). It's highly imaginative, inventive and funny. Quite similar to McKenzie Crook's Windvale Sprites in style but even better I thought. 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted July 31, 2013 Author Share Posted July 31, 2013 Going Solo by Roald Dahl Synopsis: 'Going Solo' tells of how, when he grew up, Roald Dahl left England for Africa and a series of daring and dangerous adventures began. From tales of plane crashes to surviving snake bites, read all about Roald Dahl's life before becoming the world's number-one storyteller. This book is full of exciting and strange things - some funny, some frightening, all true. Review: Well, they weren't all true .. some were heavily embellished but I knew that to be the case anyway. Having already read Boy I wanted to read the second part of his memoirs and it didn't disappoint .. he tells his own story very entertainingly. I wonder if the green mamba really did kill the dog though? .. and did the lion take off with the cook's wife? .. those things we'll never know but I hope, with regards to the dog, it's one of the stories he embroidered (the cook's wife survived her ordeal). I loved all of his descriptions of army life, particularly his involvement in WW2's 'Battle of Athens' .. totally hair raising stuff (the allies only had nineteen aircraft .. fifteen Hurricanes and four bombers .. against the Luftwaffe's two hundred plus). Roald was sent up to fight having had only the most minimal of training (and this particular story was backed up in the Storyteller biog) it's nothing short of a miracle that he survived those encounters, sadly most of his squadron did not. Even if bound together Boy and Going Solo would still make a fairly slim volume and he doesn't really touch on his life as a writer which of course would be the icing on the cake but, unlike Storyteller, you never find yourself wandering off because he's incapable of writing a dull word (how does he do it? ) 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted July 31, 2013 Author Share Posted July 31, 2013 Moonlight in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles Synopsis: 'I loved my native city, but how I longed to escape, to go to America - a land full of eligible men'. Twenty-something Daria is an intelligent, bilingual secretary who should have her pick of the men in Odessa - except that the only men who are making advances are a dashing mafia gangster and her boss. Fearful that she'll be fired for refusing to sleep her way to the top, she decides to moonlight at Soviet Unions™, an international marriage broker. But as she bridges the language gap between Odessan beauties and lonely American men she wonders if she will ever escape the trappings of Ukrainian life and find true love. When she intercepts a message from a mild-mannered teacher, e-mails fly back and forth across the Atlantic. Daria soon finds herself much closer to the American dream than she had ever imagined, but will the charms of California prove to be more irresistible than all that she is prepared to leave behind? Review: Very enjoyable and funny. I knew nothing about Odessan life and though this book probably shouldn't be taken as a guide .. it's far too tongue in cheek for that .. it gave me a good insight into the customs, food and architecture etc (did you know they have the third most beautiful opera house in the world? .. well you do now ) and particularly what happened there following perestroika. Now, though that all sounds pretty serious, it's not a very deep story or a very believable one, the enjoyment lies purely in the characters .. or in one character in particular .. the narrator Daria. She's someone you quickly get to know and love, she's very chatty and all her thoughts spill out onto the page. She's particularly proud of her English (which has been somewhat drilled into her) and has a habit .. particularly in times of stress .. of reciting irregular verbs. She's very smart but that doesn't prevent her from making some pretty bad decisions involving men. She lives with her Grandmother Boba who's like a wise old owl .. dispensing sound advice along with her piroshki and aubergine caviar but the pair of them have come to the conclusion that Daria would be much better off leaving Odessa and making a new life in the West .. preferably America, and in order to save some money, Daria does some moonlighting .. working as a translator at a dating agency set up to provide (older) American men with (younger) Odessan brides. Unsurprisingly (given that the humour is coming from the same place) it has similarities to A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.. and I think (leastways I hope) anyone who enjoyed that will enjoy this. It's quite chick-litty, though the dark Ukranian humour prevents it from being totally predictable. I did think it started better than it finished (which is so the wrong way round) but, all the same, a great holiday read 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Your thread is becoming a very dangerous place to visit - every time I come in, another book (or two, or three) gets added to the wish list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted August 1, 2013 Author Share Posted August 1, 2013 I'm not really supposed to be buying books at the moment but a lady was selling some second hand books at a fete I went to at the weekend and she only wanted a £1 for five Agatha Christies!! A £1!! .. I'm not going to turn down that sort of offer and they looked as if they'd never been read (which is sad isn't it? .. though I don't like buying dog eared books). Now the particular Agatha's she had were just what I wanted because they're part of a set I'm collecting for a little shelf in our bathroom/loo. I've actually got more than enough now and so might swap them around from time to time but it's great to have choice. I haven't colour co-ordinated them so you could say I'm cured .. however it's early days and I am getting slight pangs whenever I contemplate them from the bathtub I've read two of them which is a start and I enjoyed them so that's encouraging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Miss Poppy You are on a roll. So many books lately ! Good job . I also like your little bathroom shelf of Christies . Very cute . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted August 1, 2013 Share Posted August 1, 2013 Brilliant haul of Christies! They're just crying out to be colour coded, aren't they?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devi Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 (edited) Definitely crying out to be colour coded, they scream "do it... you know you want to". Love the idea! I co-ordinate my books via size, including thickness. Edited August 2, 2013 by Devi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Awesome haul!! I recently bought my first Agatha Christie book at the charity shop, having never read one, I look forward to reading it and see if I like it. The books look beautiful on your shelf, I love the colours ! For me it depends, sometimes I order them by publication order, series order, sometimes by size, sometimes in the order I bought the books in. Only on rare occasion do I do it by colour. It can look nice though, done by colour, but I find it might be too difficult to find stuff. Especially if the books are part of a series, then I just want them to be in a series order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted August 11, 2013 Author Share Posted August 11, 2013 (edited) I will probably colour code them .. they would look nicer I think Today is my wedding anniversary .. Mr Poppyshake has been putting up with Mrs Poppyshake for 23 years .. longer actually Now, you'd think he'd deserve all the pressies etc but no .. he very kindly took me out to dinner (and NOT just because he wanted to avoid my attempts at a roast ) and then to Waterstone's where I chose three books. Now, you could say .. if you were ungenerous .. that the first book (Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch) is for him just as much as me. We've both read the first two books and I wouldn't mind betting that he gets to this one before I do. The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez sounds great and I like anything set in a coffee shop .. even if it is in Afghanistan The last one was a ridiculous purchase really, its Penelope by Rebecca Harrington and I've picked it up a dozen times before because I love the cover but the reviews for it are terrible .. so terrible that I became intrigued rather than put off .. somone called it 'utter tripe' on Amazon It was only half price so not too much damage done .. if I start whinging about it later down the line then you have my full permission to lecture me on the evils of judging books by covers etc Edited August 11, 2013 by poppyshake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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