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Poppyshake's Reading Year 2015


poppyshake

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Met with lovely Claire today and got some lovely bookie presents  :smile: How lucky am I?

Got The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide (brilliant .. I've been wanting to read this since sending it to Kylie)

Wow, I came this close (imagine a *really* small gap between my thumb and finger!  :giggle2: ) to buying you that for Christmas!  :o  I saw it when Peter and I were in Canterbury last September and took a photo of it on my phone and then when I got back I searched on here for the author's surname and didn't find any posts by you so I thought I'd managed to find something you hadn't heard of!  :giggle:   

 

I nearly bought another title for you (which is on *my* wish list) but I wasn't sure about whether it would be too... childish.  Anyway, I bought it for myself today.  It's a pretty worn copy but it was only 10p, so I couldn't pass it by!

 

I don't know if you saw my post in my blog (I haven't looked at it since I got in from my Mum's earlier) but I finished The Dynamite Room yesterday and I *loved* it. Thanks so much for buying it for me.  :hug:  As soon as I've managed to write some thoughts up I'm going to lend it to my Mum. 

 

PS - I'm glad you and Claire had a lovely day

Edited by Janet
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Wow, I came this close (imagine a *really* small gap between my thumb and finger!  :giggle2: ) to buying you that for Christmas!  :o  I saw it when Peter and I were in Canterbury last September and took a photo of it on my phone and then when I got back I searched on here for the author's surname and didn't find any posts by you so I thought I'd managed to find something you hadn't heard of!    

 

I nearly bought another title for you (which is on *my* wish list) but I wasn't sure about whether it would be too... childish.  Anyway, I bought it for myself today.  It's a pretty worn copy but it was only 10p, so I couldn't pass it by!

 

I don't know if you saw my post in my blog (I haven't looked at it since I got in from my Mum's earlier) but I finished The Dynamite Room yesterday and I *loved* it. Thanks so much for buying it for me.  :hug:  As soon as I've managed to write some thoughts up I'm going to lend it to my Mum. 

 

PS - I'm glad you and Claire had a lovely day

So glad you enjoyed The Dynamite Room Janet ... yay!! I thought you would. I lent it to Claire and she loved it too .. wow .. success!!  :cows:  :D Hope Mum likes it xx

 

I loved the look of The Guest Cat as soon as I saw it .. but was unselfish and bought it for Kylie  :angel_not:  :D I quickly wrapped it up as well so I couldn't peek (or it was the smallest of peeks if I did  :blush2: ) but then every time I went back to Waterstone's there it was with its little green eyes looking at me. I so very nearly bought it recently when I went in there but Alan said he needed ideas for my birthday etc. He hasn't got any stuff yet though so it was marvellous to get it from Claire. I think you have a sixth sense because you almost got two of the books I got for Christmas .. but instead got me another book which I loved. Clever Janet xx 

 

Was the book The Family From One End Street? (just been to your blog.) Funnily enough I talked to Claire about that when we met .. it was on a table in Waterstone's and I said I remembered reading it and loving it as a child :D I definitely think we are all tuning in to one another at the moment :D Hope you like it Janet .. what a gorgeous vintage copy and 10p!!!! What can you get for 10p these days? Brilliant!

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Was the book The Family From One End Street? (just been to your blog.) Funnily enough I talked to Claire about that when we met .. it was on a table in Waterstone's and I said I remembered reading it and loving it as a child :D I definitely think we are all tuning in to one another at the moment :D Hope you like it Janet .. what a gorgeous vintage copy and 10p!!!! What can you get for 10p these days? Brilliant!

Yes, that's the one.  :)  I've never read it before but a quick look at my Amazon wish list tells me I added it back on 7 July 2010! 

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Yes, that's the one.  :)  I've never read it before but a quick look at my Amazon wish list tells me I added it back on 7 July 2010! 

Hope you enjoy it Janet :) I remember it being good .. but it was a long time ago :D

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Kay, I hope you enjoy all the new books :)! It's great you and Claire had a fun day together. 

 

I nearly bought another title for you (which is on *my* wish list) but I wasn't sure about whether it would be too... childish.  Anyway, I bought it for myself today.  It's a pretty worn copy but it was only 10p, so I couldn't pass it by!

10p! I don't think I've seen books that cheap here all that often. I hope you enjoy it :).

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It's a charity book shop in the town where my Mum lives.  Their books are 60p each and 10p for children's/YA titles.  Bargain!   I don't go there often as it's just too tempting.

 

On the flipside of it being tempting, at least if you're tempted it's not costing you a tenner or something! I have a charity shop that does books for between €2-3, maybe €1.50 if it's short and shabby, but never less than that. 10p!!! :o

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payingguests.jpg
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
 
Synopsis:
It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants, life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.
For with the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the 'clerk class', the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

 

Review: This wasn't the book I thought it was going to be although, as it's Sarah Waters, I should have been expecting twists and turns. I imagined that Frances and her mother were going to take in a number of lodgers .. turn their home into some sort of guest house .. but in fact they only take in one couple .. Lilian and Leonard. At first it's all a bit mortifying, sharing their home with other people. Their lives are not quite their own now .. consideration has to be given to others and it's awkward but then Frances starts to enjoy having people around .. especially Lilian. I don't want to say much more about the plot as it's key really that the reader be kept in the dark. All I'll say is that I was blushingly surprised by the first plot twist (not really a twist but a change or an inciting incident I guess you'd call it :D) and then astounded by the next. The story contains some real heart stopping moments but it does start off at a bit of a plod. I was listening and though it was read by the inestimable Juliet Stevenson .. I kept wandering off and having to retrace my steps. This was a bit annoying but it works well as all of a sudden .. BANG .. you're listening. From then on it really is quite tense but I did start to have a feeling that I knew how it would end .. there was an inevitability about it. Still .. great story telling as usual .. sticky start but after that .. thrilling.

Liked it!

Edited by poppyshake
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Sounds like you two had another lovely meeting. :) The cards and books all look lovely!

 

I loved the look of The Guest Cat as soon as I saw it .. but was unselfish and bought it for Kylie  :angel_not:  :D I quickly wrapped it up as well so I couldn't peek (or it was the smallest of peeks if I did  :blush2: ) but then every time I went back to Waterstone's there it was with its little green eyes looking at me. I so very nearly bought it recently when I went in there but Alan said he needed ideas for my birthday etc. He hasn't got any stuff yet though so it was marvellous to get it from Claire.

 

Aw, you should have read it before you gave it to me! But it will nicer reading a copy that has been received as a special gift from Claire. :) I hope to read it soon!

 

I've had Kyril's Mortdecai books on my TBR pile for years, when hardly anyone seemed to know what they were. But now that it's been made into a movie I feel that they're a bit less special because everyone will be reading them. Silly.  :blush2:

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I've had Kyril's Mortdecai books on my TBR pile for years, when hardly anyone seemed to know what they were. But now that it's been made into a movie I feel that they're a bit less special because everyone will be reading them. Silly.  :blush2:

Claire wasn't that taken with this one (Don't Point That Thing At Me) so it'll be interesting to see what I make of it. I love the cover, the title and the fact that it says it's like P.G. Wodehouse on the front .. but Claire said not to get my hopes up :D

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Just finished struggling with A Strange Eventful History .. Lordy!! .. what a behemoth of a book.

I was sustained through the last third by thoughts of my jar .. and how it would be kinder to me next time .. and give me a nice easy fiction book to read. I'm fed up of reading about real people :D They get on one's nerves so!! 

 

... I'm going to give the jar a good shake, rattle and roll .. say your prayers! :D

Edited by poppyshake
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:( Would you bloomin' well Adam and Eve it!?! 

 

Violet to Vita : The Letters of Violet Trefusis to Vita Sackville-West edited by Mitchell A. Leaska and John Phillips

 

All the more annoying as Vita appeared at the end of the last book and I wanted to get away completely from a similar timescale and set of people etc. Stranger still is that all the jar books have had one thing in common ... Virginia Woolf has been quoted and mentioned in each (well .. she has in the last two and I've no doubt she'll get a mention or two in this one) .. perhaps my jar is channelling her spirit :D I expect one of her diary collections will come out next (but I'd be happy to see it if so :) ) 

It's odd as the number of non-fiction books in the jar is as nothing compared to the number of fiction. Still, the jar probably knows that I live on a diet of fiction normally and it's trying to improve my mind etc. My mind is not improved however it is positively frazzled by facts and figures. Oh dear! .. I've had a peek and the intro is enormous. I'd better read it though as I'm not quite sure of the set up here. Book itself not too large .. about 300 pages which is positively slim compared to the last one. Oh well .. plod on  :blush2: 

 

I've already decided to read The Guest Cat also .. which is just the sort of book I wanted the jar to pick :D At least I'm looking forward to that  :blush2:  

post-5612-0-35051900-1422288471_thumb.jpg

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Anyone would think that these are not books that I've personally chosen :giggle:

I was just thinking that! :D

 

My Box wasn't too kind yesterday but I'm trying to think positively, at least I have (what I perceive to be) the best ones yet to come. And I was very grateful that The Stand didn't appear!

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I was just thinking that! :D

 

My Box wasn't too kind yesterday but I'm trying to think positively, at least I have (what I perceive to be) the best ones yet to come. And I was very grateful that The Stand didn't appear!

 

Exactly what I was thinking on both counts! :lol:  Think how delighted you'll be when it throws out a novel you've been dying to read! :D

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Haha! Of course, if you really want to read one specific book, you could also just read it :P. This comment is probably not what you had in mind :lol:, but I think the jar / box does make each of you aware of what you feel more like reading and what you feel less like reading, which is I think a good thing :).

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I know, I know  :blush2: It's just .. such big books and all non-fiction. I'd like to make a dent in the list this year but it'll take me ages at this rate. I've probably read them a lot quicker than I would have normally .. that's the pull of the jar but it's charms will wear off. I think I could have read three or four shorter fiction books in the time and the books haven't particularly rewarded me for my dedication. Should have perhaps have abandoned the last one but couldn't .. such a beautiful looking book  :blush2: I did like it but only in patches .. would've been long at 300 pages let alone 574  :D  

 

My head is buzzing .. I don't know what war I'm in or how much butter costs a pound :D

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Haha! Of course, if you really want to read one specific book, you could also just read it :P. This comment is probably not what you had in mind :lol:, but I think the jar / box does make each of you aware of what you feel more like reading and what you feel less like reading, which is I think a good thing :).

That's why I've picked up The Guest Cat .. my choice and the jar's choice .. let's see who wins :D 

 

The jar is actually doing what it should do .. making me read the books I was ignoring because all of its picks so far were destined to be shoved to the bottom of the pile. I did so want a fictional story this time though *sigh* The last two have been hard work but this one might not be .. hopefully :blush2:  

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You could pick out two and choose your favourite of those? :)

I could .. I might .. if things get desperate :D The jar has a horrible hold over me at the moment .. I feel I have to obey it. This is just another way I've found of making life miserable :D I'm not worried .. except for my mojo .. you know how easily it can be frightened off or wearied away. I haven't enjoyed or loved anything the jar has thrown at me yet but then it's early days and I shouldn't have bought the books if I didn't want to read them. Could be a valuable life lesson and it may change my book spending habits .. I doubt it though :D 

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Your jar sounds positively painful, it's making me very glad that I'm just making the choices myself... although, as you say, you DID put these books in there haha! :lol:

Very true :DIt is making me face the music though which I'm sure I'll be glad of in the long run.

Imagine if you had a jar full of the names of all the food stuff you've got in the cupboard .. and you had to make a meal out of whatever you picked out :o  .. that tin of borlotti beans for instance .. or that old rice pudding. I know I've got some chestnut puree that I've been ignoring since probably the Christmas before last .. and a jar of peaches in brandy that I won in a raffle at my Mum's fete :D

 

Moral of the story: It could be worse! :D 

 

There's outfits too .. at the back of the wardrobe  *shudder*  

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