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Poppyshake's Reading Year 2013


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Absolutely loving it. I can't believe I tried this three or four years ago and failed to finish, but I think it was at a time when I couldn't manage more than a few pages at a time, and one needs time for Dickens. I'm not sure about the story actually (a bit of a soap opera - you just know a disaster is just around every corner, especially just after good news!), but the characters are just amazing, made all the greater by the sheer density of population; I can't think of any other author so assured at dealing with such a vast array of humanity, and who created so many iconic individuals (Peggotty, Mr Dick, Uriah Heep, Mr Micawber, Aunt Trotwood, the Murdstones, Steerforth, and so on and so on). Now if you want to talk of big books......! Currently about 40% of the way through: David has just taken out chambers in London and is trying out becoming a proctor, after returning from his first visit to Yarmouth since a little boy.

I loved the story, I particularly liked the Yarmouth bits which is odd because I hate it when he gets too sentimental and the Yarmouth parts are steeped in sentimentality. But Aunt Trotwood is probably my favourite character from the book :) How are you getting along now .. finished yet?

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I was going to say that these are the last of my Christmas books, but I have just ordered some others (and all because I needed some books to specifically fit on a particular shelf :blush2: I will read them though .. it's not purely for aesthetics ;))

 

Here we have Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee, Gogol's Collected Tales, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente (I don't care what it's about .. what a title!) and Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck. Also pictured are the lovely bookmark Janet sent me and the lovely little Union Jack plaque that Claire sent me. Claire also sent me the five volumes on the left and guess what .. they are made of chocolate :wub: Strictly speaking they are for Alan, though he has been gracious enough to spare me a couple of squares so I can confirm they are delicious. Two of them have chilli in which he was a bit nervous about but after one bite he was fine with it .. it was sort of like ginger and he loves ginger. He is more restrained with those two though, the other three (I'm sorry to say Claire) he woofed down with almost indecent haste (well, you've seen him in action, you know ;)) Thank you very much girls for sending me such lovely things xx (I am reading your book at the moment Janet and am loving it .. it's making me think that having a kitten again would be lovely .. hope I snap out of it by the end of the book :D)

 

These books were delivered at the beginning of this week and I have already read two of them (not that I'm bragging .. well .. hell yes I am actually .. I may as well brag now because I will be hiding my head in shame come December :giggle:) Nora's book is a collection of very funny essays and Edward Albee's play just grabbed me from the start (more of that in a min). The weather is the reason I've got more time on my hands (or am finding more time) I want to be sitting by the fire practically all day so all the chores are done super quick, I've got plenty of kits made up so can deal with them quickly when ordered and by lunchtime I'm my own mistress and can spend all afternoon in front of my fire attached to a tea drip :D Reading is much preferable to having the TV on. I was watching a film on Monday and if I was told about the 'over 50's plan' once I was told a hundred times .. very depressing (and you can stick your free pen.) At one point I shouted out 'shame on you Julie Walters' and Alan turned it off :giggle2: Reading very seldom frustrates in that way, I went to all sorts of places yesterday without stepping outside my front door ... New York, Yorkshire and I travelled around a bit waiting to see where The Night Circus turned up .. fantastic.

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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf - Edward Albee

 

Amazon Synopsis: When middle-aged Martha and her husband George are joined by the younger Nick and Honey for late-night drinks after a party, the stage is set for a night of drunken recriminations and revelations. Battle-lines are drawn as Martha and George drag their guests into their own private hell of a marriage

 

Review: This is one of those books that you pick up and flick and then just carry on reading. It only plopped onto my doormat a couple of days ago but once I started I couldn't stop. It's a play in three acts with a cast of just four so pretty easy to get into.

 

Actually I felt very much like the fifth character, I was cringing so much I might just as well have been in the room with them but I was horribly fascinated too. I just wanted Nick and Honey to go home .. I kept saying it, I mean you would wouldn't you?, especially when the insults start swerving towards you. Even if you sniff a slight row in the air you tend to make your excuses early, but of course that would have been absolutely no good for the purposes of the story. George and Martha probably didn't need company, they could carve each other up in private and enjoy it every bit as much but Nick and Honey's presence is an additional incentive .. an audience to play to.

 

I've seen the film but ages ago, still, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor playing the parts of George and Martha. I'm not sure who played the other couple in the film and that's it isn't it? they're just a foil to the awfulness. Or at least that's what you think at the beginning, but it's not just George and Martha who unravel as the brandy flows on (and in), Nick and Honey have secrets and lies in the closet and it's just about to get a Spring clean. George & Martha are already pretty drunk from the start so there's no real warm up to the vitriol, they are, more or less, in full flow already and getting further into their stride by the minute. There's a lot going on here that at first, owing to their outrageous behaviour, you don't fully realise. It's all simmering underneath the surface (albeit underneath the surface of a volcano). It's almost like therapy, but it's the the worst kind of name-calling, blame-apportioning, cards-on-the-table, therapy ever. There's a definite blurred line between fact and fiction .. you're not always sure where the truth lies, is it the brandy talking or are some of those outrageous accusations true? The arguments are both petty and deeply sinister .. the violence, which is mostly verbal, occasionally tips over into physical.

 

It makes you gasp actually and flinch, I could feel it in my stomach each time one of them (verbally) hit their intended target. I don't know anyone like them (thankfully .. although it might make for interesting Christmas visits :D) and yet I believed in them totally. George in particular has some gorgeously witty lines, you listen in horrified admiration. It's very clever, it's very sad, it's tragic, it's darkly, darkly, funny and altogether marvellous.

 

Edward apparently asked, and was given, Leonard Woolf's permission to use the title :)

 

5/5

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:) How are you getting along now .. finished yet?

You must be joking! I don't/can't read at any decent pace during term-time, especially if it's anything but the lightest of reads.. I rely on the holidays etc. to keep up the volume. Probably won't finish until at least the weekend after next.

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Thank you very much girls for sending me such lovely things xx (I am reading your book at the moment Janet and am loving it .. it's making me think that having a kitten again would be lovely .. hope I snap out of it by the end of the book :D)

 

Aww, I'm glad you're enjoying it. It just sounded like you and your kind of book! :D Aww, get a kitten!

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You must be joking! I don't/can't read at any decent pace during term-time, especially if it's anything but the lightest of reads.. I rely on the holidays etc. to keep up the volume. Probably won't finish until at least the weekend after next.

It's nice to know that you have it there to dip into when you can, you're reading it in installments as was originally intended. There you are waiting on the quayside, anxious to see if little Nell is still alive (wrong book I know but still :D)

Aww, I'm glad you're enjoying it. It just sounded like you and your kind of book! :D Aww, get a kitten!

It is the cutest thing ever Janet and funny too .. very enjoyable. I'd better not get a kitten though ... fifteen years ago it seemed quite cute when they swung around on the curtains and poohed in the flowerpots .. something has happened to my hormones since that tells me it wouldn't be so cute now :D I used to help my mum cater for weddings and I cooked a lot of the evening food, I cooked some sausages once and one fell on the floor and my kitten Toby got hold of it, I tried to get it off of him (had had it drummed into me that human food wasn't good for them) to put it in the bin but he just held on to it growling .. it was about twice the size of him so he couldn't eat it but he wouldn't let go either .. not while there was a chance of me stealing it back :D Little monkey, he didn't live to old age so I'm glad he had his sausage .. life has to have some cherries in it.

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Is the chocolate a chocolate library....I was sent some of those by my niece for my birthday last year...is it Montezuma chocolate or something...and I ate them al lmyself :giggle:

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Is the chocolate a chocolate library....I was sent some of those by my niece for my birthday last year...is it Montezuma chocolate or something...and I ate them al lmyself :giggle:

Yes a Montezuma's chocolate library :) Ooh it is was good :D

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The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

 

Waterstone's Synopsis: The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. The black sign, painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, reads: Opens at Nightfall Closes at Dawn. As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, all over the tents small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies. When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears. Le Cirque des Reves. The Circus of Dreams. Now the circus is open. Now you may enter.

 

Review: I know it's corny but this is a story to experience. You smell it and taste it and touch it as well as read it. It's so very imaginative that I found it hard to cling on, it far outstripped what my imagination is capable of (I know .. big surprise ;)). I couldn't envisage all the illusions .. I got so far and then poof ... I was back in my room again. A number of times I got ahead of myself and started making guesses as to outcomes and as always, I was mostly miserably wrong. I wasn't at all frustrated though, I'd have been disappointed to be right .. in a highly imaginative story like this you don't want to find that the author's mind is in tune with yours .. not if you're me anyway :P You want to be taken by surprise with every twist and turn. This is a proper story. I like all sorts of books (as long as they have nice covers :D) but what I really, really enjoy are the stories that take you away from horrible old real life and transport you to fantastical worlds, worlds that you went to a lot in childhood .. when your mind was more flexible (well .. I can't honestly say mine was .. I had awful trouble in Alice's Wonderland) and this is just such a world. It's set in our world but like all good magical books it's got a foot in each camp .. normal life as we know it and then this glorious, spectacular, theatre of dreams. It's very visual, the imagery it conjures up is striking, the stark black and whiteness of everything with the vivid red splashes. Also a lot of the illusions are book related, beautiful trees made of poems and sonnets and ships with book spine rails and sails made out of overlapping pages ... there is lots of inky gloriousness everywhere and, of course, that made me relish the story even more.

 

I got into the habit of reading this late at night with a mug of hot chocolate and a lit crème brûlée scented candle - which was the nearest I could get to the wafting smell of caramel necessary for authenticity. I don't think it's imperative .. in fact a Twix would do as well but it made me feel like a participant. Actually the truth is that I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere near that circus .. just like I never wanted to find Narnia at the back of my wardrobe. No thank you, I'll stay right here .. it might be dull but there's no chance of being turned into anything. But it's deliciously shivery to read about other people stepping into the unknown .. there's no amount of danger I mind finding them in :D in fact I'm always hoping there's going to be plenty of it.

 

I don't want to say too much about the plot :thud: just that it's mainly about two apprentices .. illusionists .. a boy and a girl .. who are pitted against each other from childhood. It's a contest that they cannot escape from but not one which follows the usual combat rules. Their challenges take the form of illusions, one makes a move and then the other counters .. their battleground is the enchanted circus .. they have no idea how to end the contest or what will become of them once it's over. To start with, each is unaware who their opponent is but, now that they have met, there's an added complication .. they're beginning to fall in love.

 

They are making a film which, on the one hand, is amazing but on the other terrifying because it could so easily disappoint in the wrong hands. If I hear the name Keira Knightley mentioned in connection with it then I will sink into a depression that even Susanna Clarke's next book won't be able to lift me from (if she ever finishes it). I will just have to hope that Keira is washing her hair or something.

 

5/5

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I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman - Nora Ephron

 

Amazon Synopsis: Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally, Heartburn, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail) turns her sharp wit on to her own life.

'Never marry a man you wouldn't want to be divorced from.'

'If the shoe doesn't fit in the shoe store, it's never going to fit.'

'When your children are teenagers, it's important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you.'

'Anything you think is wrong with your body at the age of thirty-five you will be nostalgic for by the age of forty-five.'

 

Review: Very funny and easy to dip into, I think these were originally essays written for various magazines but they've now collated them into one book.

 

Obviously this book is going to appeal to 'women of a certain age' (ie .. me :D) Younger women could read it out of interest but to be honest it would probably depress the hell out of them, best if they don't know what's coming :D From her credentials you'd expect her writing to be funny and it is, some of it is a little melancholy but never for long. Probably my favourite essay was one near the end entitled 'Rapture' in which she talks with fondness about her favourite books and the couches she read them on however I probably laughed most at her essays on maintenance, skincare, age and the like.

 

'The amount of maintenance involving hair is genuinely overwhelming. Sometimes I think that not having to worry about your hair anymore is the secret upside of death.'

'Remember when we were young? There was only Nivea. Life was so simple.'

' Every so often I read a book about age, and whoever's writing it says it's great to be old. It's great to be wise and sage and mellow, it's great to be at the point where you understand just what matters in life. I can't stand people who say things like this. What can they be thinking? Don't they have necks? Aren't they tired of compensatory dressing?'

 

I would have liked to have been puzzled once in a while but I spent most of the book alternatively nodding and laughing (and then sobbing in a darkened room).

 

4/5

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American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld

 

Amazon Synopsis: In the year 2000, in the closest election in American history, Alice Blackwell's husband becomes president of the United States. Their time in the White House proves to be heady, tumultuous, and controversial. But it is Alice's own story - that of a kind, bookish, only child born in the 1940s Midwest who comes to inhabit a life of dizzying wealth and power - that is itself remarkable. Alice candidly describes her small-town upbringing, and the tragedy that shaped her identity; she recalls her early adulthood as a librarian, and her surprising courtship with the man who swept her off her feet; she tells of the crisis that almost ended their marriage; and she confides the privileges and difficulties of being first lady, a role that is uniquely cloistered and public, secretive and exposed. In Alice Blackwell, Curtis Sittenfeld has created her most dynamic and complex heroine yet. American Wife is not a novel about politics. It is a gorgeously written novel that weaves race, class, fate and wealth into a brilliant tapestry. It is a novel in which the unexpected becomes inevitable, and the pleasures and pain of intimacy and love are laid bare.

 

Review: I loved most of this, I wasn't too keen on the final part but loved everything building up to it. It wasn't always easy to block from my mind that it is based on Laura, and more importantly George W. Bush .. not being a huge fan of his I found it difficult to separate the characters (I just about managed not to boo him when he entered a scene). His alter ego here .. Charlie .. is not particularly agreeable either but he's an interestingly flawed character, I may have even found him likeable in a roguish type way if I hadn't replaced him in my head with George. However that really only affected me towards the end (although the sex scenes were disagreeable :D) I loved reading all about Alice's upbringing though and thought that part of the book and the early years of her marriage to Charlie were just sensational, the characters are very believable and the more you get to know Alice the less you think about her as part of a 'First Couple' .. fictional or otherwise. We bonded quite early on over books :D

 

How much is based on fact I'm not sure (although I'm pretty sure she made the sex up :D), if it is in fact largely based on truth then Laura certainly has had an eventful and at time traumatic life. It's not overly political (it's not at all political in fact until practically the end), Alice indeed seems to hold very sensible, well-balanced views on most things, she certainly doesn't subscribe to Charlie's more right wing opinions. She talks about her duty to him as being one of loyalty but also of being the one person who is not paid to agree or disagree with him. Still, she allows him sometimes to assume that her beliefs are the same which annoyed me slightly (you would never find me liking Star Trek :D) but then again, as she said in answer to critics, 'I married him, it was you who voted for him' and as we all know, there's no rhyme or reason to attraction. Charlie's one endearing quality actually was the depth to which you knew he loved Alice .. although that in effect led to him cleaning up his act and ultimately becoming president (Alice has a lot to answer for ;)) The link to the Bush's does make it intriguing but it's Alice's back story that makes it well worth reading.

 

4/5 (Thanks Claire for lending it to me :friends0:)

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Great reviews Miss Poppy

 

The one about the Night Circus had me chuckling . Your descriptions were wonderful . It sounds like a really neat book .

 

As for the one supposedly based on Laura Bush, it sounds as if her life were much more exciting than I would have ever figured . I think for the most part, whether people liked her husband or not, she seemed to be pretty well respected for the most part. For those few who are fanatical Democrats, they wouldnt have liked her if she were Mother Theresa . One part of her life in particular they treated her extremely awful ,which I won't give away here,since that is probably the part in her book you talked about .

I knew she was a firm lover of books and reading,so that part would be interesting to read . I honestly couldn't imagine her life being interesting enough to fill a book ,maybe only one page . She seemd so VANILLA . Ordinary, very UN-controversial, no personality to speak of (by that ,she seemed very subservient to her husband, no temper, no opinions, just YES ,DEAR )... so maybe I'm highly off the mark on her,but that's how her public side came across to me .

I myself wasn't a huge Bush fan either .When he got elected, I figured here we go again, Bush part 2, and for the most part it was .. it seemed our country had kinda stopped in time ..I like a president with a more VIBRANT personality ,and his light bulb was pretty dim in that department .

I DO have to respect him for the way he handled 9-11 ( the immediate reactions ,not the long term ones ) .It showed some glimpses of POWER,SYMPATHY, ANGER,and HEARTBREAK ,which we were all experiencing .

I agree with you, I wouldn't even wanna picture in my mind what their bedroom life was like . Let's just keep their clothes on ,and let them be VANILLA .

 

 

Great job on your reviews-- you are moving right along in your reading this year !

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The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

 

Review: I know it's corny but this is a story to experience. You smell it and taste it and touch it as well as read it. .....5/5

 

It's not often a review, however good, makes me want to go away and read a book that I've not really thought of before: confirmed I've wanted or not wanted to read one that I've already formed some sort of opinion on, yes, but not got me going from scratch! This review did - I've added it to my fiction wishlist, as this sounds just my sort of read! (BTW American Wife confirmed I wanted to read it!), Thank you Poppyshake.

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So pleased you enjoyed American Wife, Kay. I can understand what you mean about loving most of it, but I still think it's a fantastic book, and Sittenfeld hasn't put a foot wrong for me yet. She's got a new book coming out this year (June, I think) and I can't wait to read it.

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I shall have to bump the American Wife up my tbr list after your review.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did Jessi :)

You've sold me on getting a copy of The Night Circus now!

Ooh .. no pressure, I was a bit surprised to see that on Amazon the reviews are mixed. It's not going to be to everyone's taste but I think anyone that likes the sound of it will love it ... hopefully :blush2:

Oh no I shouldn't have come on here! Poppyshake stop reading these interesting books! You will cost me money..

I will try to read dull books in future VF.. but I'm not promising anything :D I've been lucky with my reads so far .. it can't last.

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Great reviews Miss Poppy

The one about the Night Circus had me chuckling . Your descriptions were wonderful . It sounds like a really neat book.

Thank you dear Julie :) It really is a very neat book.

As for the one supposedly based on Laura Bush, it sounds as if her life were much more exciting than I would have ever figured . I think for the most part, whether people liked her husband or not, she seemed to be pretty well respected for the most part. For those few who are fanatical Democrats, they wouldnt have liked her if she were Mother Theresa . One part of her life in particular they treated her extremely awful ,which I won't give away here,since that is probably the part in her book you talked about .

I knew she was a firm lover of books and reading,so that part would be interesting to read . I honestly couldn't imagine her life being interesting enough to fill a book ,maybe only one page . She seemd so VANILLA . Ordinary, very UN-controversial, no personality to speak of (by that ,she seemed very subservient to her husband, no temper, no opinions, just YES ,DEAR )... so maybe I'm highly off the mark on her,but that's how her public side came across to me .

I myself wasn't a huge Bush fan either .When he got elected, I figured here we go again, Bush part 2, and for the most part it was .. it seemed our country had kinda stopped in time ..I like a president with a more VIBRANT personality ,and his light bulb was pretty dim in that department .

I DO have to respect him for the way he handled 9-11 ( the immediate reactions ,not the long term ones ) .It showed some glimpses of POWER,SYMPATHY, ANGER,and HEARTBREAK ,which we were all experiencing .

I agree with you, I wouldn't even wanna picture in my mind what their bedroom life was like . Let's just keep their clothes on ,and let them be VANILLA .

Great job on your reviews-- you are moving right along in your reading this year !

I had no pre-conceived ideas about Laura at all really, I didn't know that much about her apart from her connection to George so it was interesting to take a look at her, even from a fictional point of view. If the book is anything to go by, she's a really interesting and what's more intelligent woman but I think I read somewhere that the character is a mix of Laura and the author (and probably other embellishments, not many people have lives that would interestingly fill a book .. mine might fill a chapter ;)) The sex scenes were quite raunchy .. I didn't want to think about it. I was picturing them now rather than then which was a bit unfair :D Sometimes you forget people were once young .. not that I'm saying only young people have sex .. oh goodness .. how did I find myself here? :blush2:

It's not often a review, however good, makes me want to go away and read a book that I've not really thought of before: confirmed I've wanted or not wanted to read one that I've already formed some sort of opinion on, yes, but not got me going from scratch! This review did - I've added it to my fiction wishlist, as this sounds just my sort of read! (BTW American Wife confirmed I wanted to read it!), Thank you Poppyshake.

:day: Thanks Willoyd :)I'm very glad, but also very nervous, I hope you enjoy them both.

Great review of The Night Circus, I haven't read it but it's one I've wanted for a while.

Thanks Noll, I think you will love it. I know you liked Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and .. well ... that means you like brilliant books :D

So pleased you enjoyed American Wife, Kay. I can understand what you mean about loving most of it, but I still think it's a fantastic book, and Sittenfeld hasn't put a foot wrong for me yet. She's got a new book coming out this year (June, I think) and I can't wait to read it.

I must read her earlier work, she writes in a style I like. Thanks again for the loan Claire, I will put it in a little pile with The Moving Toyshop .. let me know if anything else on my reading list takes your fancy :)

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Is this bordering on obsession? .. you would tell me if things were getting out of hand (? :D) wouldn't you? I'm not showing any overt signs of trying to colour co-ordinate my feet with the books .. that would be the point in which to seek help I feel. Alan has just pointed out that the time is right for a snow pic :D .. not sure if I'm daft enough for that.

 

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I am however colour grading my books and these shelves have got worse since last year .. only the bottom shelf was colour graded last year so the illness obviously spreads if you don't keep an eye on it. My other shelves are all mixed which is victory of sorts or would be if they weren't causing me pangs whenever I look at them. Have pinched nearly all the good colours for this display and so am mostly left with blacks or whites or really annoying colours that don't go with anything!!! Cannot lay my hand on a book if needed unless I can remember it's spine. Am pretty sure Mr Darcy of Pemberley didn't have this problem. Longing for more orange and yellow books in the world .. purple wouldn't be bad either and there's a distinct lack of pink which I think they should be addressing .. there is pink but they belong to all the flirty, gossipy books that I don't read .. why can't pink be taken seriously? Actually went in the bookshops looking specifically for coloured spines .. went home in shame. Should really go away for the weekend and get someone to just alphabetize them. Am beginning to hate Vintage for not putting more thought into their spines, the blocks of red are taking over. I've put most of them in the bedroom .. they look terrible against duck egg blue. Might just print this out and take it to the docs .. see if he can help. Have read a lot of these books but not all of them .. really should have colour substitutes waiting for when gaps appear .. nightmare .. I've only just thought of that. Possibly will read a library copy. Any advice gratefully received (it is rather one-sidedly red isn't it? :D)

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