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Frankie reads 2017


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You're very welcome :) Hope you enjoy them my lovely :hug: 

 

I'm sure I will! :smile2:  :friends3:

 

I saw you wanted to read Plumdog on GoodReads. I hadn't heard of it, so I clicked on the description, it sounds like it could be a good book! I'll look forward to your review when you get around to reading the book :). I hope you enjoy both of the books you've been gifted :).

 

Goodreads was being funny again... I had Lily and the Octopus on my wishlist there, I was sure, but when I checked, it had already been marked as 'Want to Read' instead of 'wishlist. I don't know if that's of my erroneous making or if GR has been going cuckoo again! Surely the latter :D 

 

 

That sounds a very strange mix of dog, although the personality sounds spot on for most dogs!

 

Dogs are best: they don't discriminate :D 

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Plumdog looks gorgeous! My kids loved her book 'Little Miss Muffet Counts to Ten" and Maddie in particular loved her Blue Kangaroo stories, I still have them all in the attic in preparation for grandchildren! :wub:

 

The personality of Plumsog sounds very like Jojo! :D

 

Have you seen the Hairy Maclary books? I think you'd love them too! :)

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I've picked up Lily and the Octopus in the book shop a few times, and it's on my wishlist as well, so I'll be interested to see what you think of it. :)

 

It's high on my priority reading list for when I've read all my current library loans! :) 

 

Plumdog looks gorgeous! My kids loved her book 'Little Miss Muffet Counts to Ten" and Maddie in particular loved her Blue Kangaroo stories, I still have them all in the attic in preparation for grandchildren! :wub:

 

When I got the book, I immediately thought that chalie would love this one, too! :smile2: The book is gorgeous!! I'm going to show the book to my cousin's daughter when she's started studying English at school, I hope it'll make her want to read books :giggle2: She loves animals so this book might do the trick! (I don't mean that I'll just lend her the book and expect her to read it on her own :D  I'll show pictures and maybe she can spot some words she's learned in school and that kind of stuff :) )

 

The personality of Plumsog sounds very like Jojo! :D

 

:D  Is she into fox poop, too? :D 

 

This reminds me of Charm who used to come here, she had a Rottweiler who was a really gentle doggy and he loved nothing better than to roll over in cow pies... :wub::D 

 

Have you seen the Hairy Maclary books? I think you'd love them too! :)

 

No, I've not seen them, but I've googled them and they look great, too! :D  

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4. How to Find Love in a Book Shop by Veronica Henry


 


Amazon: Emilia has just returned to her idyllic Cotswold hometown to rescue the family business. Nightingale Books is a dream come true for book-lovers, but the best stories aren't just within the pages of the books she sells - Emilia's customers have their own tales to tell.


 


There's the lady of the manor who is hiding a secret close to her heart; the single dad looking for books to share with his son but who isn't quite what he seems; and the desperately shy chef trying to find the courage to talk to her crush . . .


 


And as for Emilia's story, can she keep the promise she made to her father and save Nightingale Books?


 


Thoughts: I feel like this book has brought back my mojo! I loved reading it and couldn't really get enough of the characters. I wish I could read more about them! The ending was a bit sappy for a few characters but that was only a few pages... Let them have their sappy ending :)


 


4/5 


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The only one I've read is A Sea Change, which was a novella of the QuickReads books, I liked that one. Oh, and a short story that was part of an anthology. I own a few novels by her, but I haven't read them yet. I'm glad you enjoyed the book and hope you will enjoy other novels by her if you decide to read them :).

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The only one I've read is A Sea Change, which was a novella of the QuickReads books, I liked that one. Oh, and a short story that was part of an anthology. I own a few novels by her, but I haven't read them yet. I'm glad you enjoyed the book and hope you will enjoy other novels by her if you decide to read them :).

 

I don't like short stories... I like bigger stories :D:blush: 

 

Hurray that your mojo is back ! :D

 

Yep, it's a pretty awesome feeling :D Let's hope it lasts! 

 

 

You've sold me on How to Find Love in a Book Shop. :D  I read something last year that sounds like it's on a similar theme which I thought was most enjoyable - The Little Bookshop of Lonely Hearts by Annie Darling - which you might like. :)

 

Haha, I'm way ahead of you! I recently reserved a copy of the Darling book, and I think it's because I read your review, or you recommended it to someone somewhere else :lol: Just waiting in line now... :D 

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Lots of emojis culled...

Bobbly: A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson. I've read this numerous times and have just finished my most recent re-read. It covers such a variety of topics and of course, he makes it all the more interesting by his writing style and sense of humour.
Frankie: This scares me to high heavens becauce I'm not very good at science at all and I fear it'll all go over my head. And I'm saying this even though I just recently read someone's review on the book and they said that Bryson uses layman's terms as he's no scientist himself and it's readable. 
Kylie: It won’t go over your head! It’s definitely written so us laypeople can understand it all. :) It filled me with a sense of wonder and awe at the world we live in. I remember the first few pages in particular, which talk about how many crazy things had to happen just so you and I could be here today. It really makes you appreciate life. Man, I need to go and re-read that section now…


Bobbly: House of Leaves - Danielewski, Mark Z. I've tried this one many years ago but struggled with all the footnotes and stylised form of story telling. I still have my copy on the bookshelf and I'm determined to give it another attempt.
Frankie: This, too, scares me! And it's not good because I do want to read it and I do want to love it!! I got it because of the Rory list, haha :D
Kylie: (I meant to multi-quote the bit where you said I liked it, but you couldn’t remember if I loved it. Anyway…) I LOVED IT! It’s quite a strange read, but it’s brilliantly done, in my opinion (some might say pretentious, and I understand that, but I choose to think it’s clever). READ IT!
  

I think I've told you guys that my computer crashed a few years ago and I lost all the documents and stuff on the hard drive. Meaning the list with all the titles of the books I own, and their price in parenthesis, along with the details of where I bought them and when, or if I got them as a present and from whom. A few weeks ago I tried my old computer, and managed to fish out the document from there. It hasn't been updated since 2012, but there's still a lot of titles! I was so happy


Ooh, that’s great news! And yes, you can easily add your books acquired since 2012 from your lists here at BCF. It’s so handy to have a place where we’ve kept all this information!
 

I could've spend some time today on doing the TBR, but instead I got interested in hand lettering and I spent too much time looking for brush pens that I could buy online


LOL. I’ve lost so much time recently to BuJo and appropriate pens etc! :D
 

My favorite Finnish comedian, Stan Saanila, recently published a book on how to pronounce all things Finnish.


Nice-ten-rice-cow? :o
 

This book is a Birthday/Christmas present from my dear Kylie!! I had no idea what she would get me... Well, a book most likely, but which book, I had no idea! Inside was The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson!! :exc: It's a book that's been on my wishlist for ages! It's a true crime book and it's on the Rory Gilmore reading list, so that's twice the excitement! I'm totally psyched about this book, thank you Kylie ever so much!!  And I love the edition, too!


Naw, you’re welcome! I love the cover too (but not as much as what’s on the inside!) :D
 

Oh yay, that's awesome! I bet you can't wait for the mail I'm really not one for bright colors myself, usually, but the only colors available online were pink and red so I went for pink. But I do like the pink now... I love it very much! But I think pretty much all the Leuchtturm 1917 colors are beautiful... I think if I'd gone to the bookstore and seen them all, I would've had a very difficult time choosing one. So in a way I got lucky that I had fewer options. I might still be standing at the bookstore, choosing "Sorry Boss, I can't make it to work today... Gotta choose a notebook color!"


When I was looking up Leuchtturm 1917s available in Australia, they mostly seem to have only the black version available. The online place that had the widest range of colours available only had the other colours in the plain or ruled style. Thankfully I’m quity happy with ‘boring’ black, and I probably would have chosen it even if the other colours were available, just because I’m so indecisive and black is the ‘safest’ colour. Like you, Frankie, if I had been looking at them in person, I’m sure it would have been a very difficult choice! I’m sort of glad the journals aren’t available locally, because I probably would have made several trips to the store to stare at them, then go home undecided to think about it, then go back again, etc.  :giggle2: 
 

I got another book in the mail from Kylie! :o Maybe The Devil was my Bday present and today's was my Christmas present? I don't know, but I'm mighty happy and grateful for my news books! Thank you Kylie ever so much!!!
 
I got Skippy Dies by Paul Murray, which has been on my wishlist since 2010. As it just so happens, I was in Australia, living with Kylie, when I saw this book at a bookstore or somewhere and read the blurb and added the title to my wishlist. I've been wanting to read it for ages! And now I have my very own copy

 
Yes, one was for Christmas and one was for your birthday. I know it’s hard to tell when they both arrive so long after each day! :( I’m glad you like them, though. I had to get a fiction book to offset the non-fiction (not sure why—it just seemed like I should do it!) And I partly got it because it’s on Poppyshake’s list of books that we both must read. Maybe we could do a group read of it one day.
  

But I'll just have to deal with it. At least I have Netflix and books to read


Ah, I’ve been wondering if you kept your Netflix after the first free month. I’ve kept mine, but only because I keep forgetting to cancel it! 
 

Thank you poppyshake for my new books!


Aw, cute doggy books! :) 
 

4. How to Find Love in a Book Shop by Veronica Henry


This sounds lovely! Would you say it’s a bit like the AJ Fikry book, I mean, in spirit (if that makes sense)?

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4. How to Find Love in a Book Shop by Veronica Henry

 

Amazon: Emilia has just returned to her idyllic Cotswold hometown to rescue the family business. Nightingale Books is a dream come true for book-lovers, but the best stories aren't just within the pages of the books she sells - Emilia's customers have their own tales to tell.

 

There's the lady of the manor who is hiding a secret close to her heart; the single dad looking for books to share with his son but who isn't quite what he seems; and the desperately shy chef trying to find the courage to talk to her crush . . .

 

And as for Emilia's story, can she keep the promise she made to her father and save Nightingale Books?

 

Thoughts: I feel like this book has brought back my mojo! I loved reading it and couldn't really get enough of the characters. I wish I could read more about them! The ending was a bit sappy for a few characters but that was only a few pages... Let them have their sappy ending :)

 

4/5 

 

 

Hmmm...this one sounds intriguing, Sari!  I will be adding it to my wish list (in my new BuJo of course ;)).

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Reading your description of "How to Find Love in a Book Shop", it sounds really familiar. I think I probably saw the book somewhere and then didn't end up taking it with me. The only reason I can imagine for that is that it must have been in Dutch. The story sounds really lovely. Reading your review has made me want to find it!

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5. Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

 

 

Blurb: The Bennet sisters have been summoned from New York City. 

 

Liz and Jane are good daughters. They've come home to suburban Cincinnati to get their morther to stop feeding their father steak as he recovers from heart surgery. 

 

With five sisters under the same roof, old patterns return fast. Soon enough they are being berated for their single status and it really is too much to bear. That is, until the Lucas family's BBQ throws them in the way of some eligible single men...

 

Bingley is not only a charming doctor, he's a reality TV star too. But Chip's friend, haughty neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy, can barely stomach Cincinnati or its inhabitants. As Liz is consumed by her father's medical bills, her wayward sisters and Cousin Willie trying to stick his tongue down her throat, it isn't only the local chilli that will leave a bad aftertaste. But where there are hearts that beat and mothers that push, the mysterious course of love will resolve itself in the most entertaining and unlikely of ways. 

 

From the hand of Curtis Sittenfeld, Pride & Prejudice is catapulted into our modern world singing out with hilarity and truth. 

 

 

Thoughts: I've read P&P a few times and love the book, and I've seen the miniseries at least half a dozen times. As much as I love the story and the characters, the hype surrouding the book sometimes gets to me and annoys me, and therefore I've not been in the mood to read the book or watch the series in quite a few years. And I think I personally prefer Northanger Abbey. I read chesilbeach's review on Eligible maybe last year and it kind of convinced me to give the book a go at some point, maybe. When I got the book from the library, I was taken aback by the size of it, and I did take the copy back without reading it, as someone had reserved a copy :blush: I did reserve it again and this time I actually picked it up to read it. 

 

I knew it's a re-telling, but even so, I don't think I realized how modern the book would be. These are 21st century women! They have their cell phones and they live on their own (some of them...) and they are the women who sit next to you in the subway. :thud:

 

I got into the book rather well and thought that the book might actually be worth 3/5, which I was thrilled about, seeing as I've read one book by Sittenfeld before (Prep) and having not cared about it much. I really liked how the 'flow' of the book is the same: there will be as many curveballs in the book as there are in the original, but the curveballs have had to have been modernized by Sittenfeld. What would she come up for when this and that would have happened in the original? I couldn't wait to read it! 

 

I absolutely loved it how Bingley was made into a character who'd been on a reality TV show :lol: A version of The Bachelor, to be more precise (this comes up very early on in the book so it's not really a spoiler). That's definitely modern! 

 

And the other things that I loved (and these I have to put in spoilers):

 

Jane having sex with Chip on their first date, Liz having hate sex (!!!! :lol:) with Darcy, Willie being named Willie and there being an anecdote about his willy, and him being a Silicon Valley nerd, etc. I think the Ham plot was a bit out there, but I understand why it had to happen. Or rather that something had to happen about him. Oh and Mary being a passionate bowler :D

 

 

 

 

All in all, I'm so happy I read this book. Thanks chesilbeach!!  :flowers2:   And I'm really sad that I've finished the book and don't get to read more about the characters :(

 

 

4/5

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Fantastic!  I'm so pleased you liked it frankie. :smile2:

 

 

Weirdly, it took me ages to figure out that Ham was Wickham :doh::lol:  It was certainly a different take on his and Lydia's story!  Agree with you about all the things you've put in the spoiler, it was all so delicious.

 

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I also prefer novels to short stories, nothing to be ashamed of. That doesn't mean I don't read short stories though, just that I usually get on better with novels.

 

One of my favorite authors, Linwood Barclay, has written a short story/book some years ago, and at the moment, I've read all of his novels but not the short one, and I've been wondering if I should give it a go, even though I do like longer books... 

 

Bobbly: A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson. I've read this numerous times and have just finished my most recent re-read. It covers such a variety of topics and of course, he makes it all the more interesting by his writing style and sense of humour.

Frankie: This scares me to high heavens becauce I'm not very good at science at all and I fear it'll all go over my head. And I'm saying this even though I just recently read someone's review on the book and they said that Bryson uses layman's terms as he's no scientist himself and it's readable. 

Kylie: It won’t go over your head! It’s definitely written so us laypeople can understand it all. It filled me with a sense of wonder and awe at the world we live in. I remember the first few pages in particular, which talk about how many crazy things had to happen just so you and I could be here today. It really makes you appreciate life. Man, I need to go and re-read that section now…

 But you are much more into this sort of thing... Like physical wonderful stuff of the earth. I'm not! I don't know how to explain it. :D But I should just read the first few pages and see what you mean and then go with it. Right? I'll try it someday for sure.  

 

Bobbly: House of Leaves - Danielewski, Mark Z. I've tried this one many years ago but struggled with all the footnotes and stylised form of story telling. I still have my copy on the bookshelf and I'm determined to give it another attempt.

Frankie: This, too, scares me! And it's not good because I do want to read it and I do want to love it!! I got it because of the Rory list, haha

Kylie: (I meant to multi-quote the bit where you said I liked it, but you couldn’t remember if I loved it. Anyway…) I LOVED IT! It’s quite a strange read, but it’s brilliantly done, in my opinion (some might say pretentious, and I understand that, but I choose to think it’s clever). READ IT!

  

Yay, you loved it! :D I just hope that I'm not one of those who would think it's pretentious. As intimidated as I am by the book, I do hope to like it :yes: 

 

Ooh, that’s great news! And yes, you can easily add your books acquired since 2012 from your lists here at BCF. It’s so handy to have a place where we’ve kept all this information!

Exactly. This place rules :) But the idea of the copy+paste job haunts me... I'm still in the middle of culling my wishlist. 

 

LOL. I’ve lost so much time recently to BuJo and appropriate pens etc! 

 

Me too :D One could look at pictures of BuJos for hours... And I now can't walk into a bookshop and NOT take a look at what they have on offer, to see if they have any cool washi tape. I also always take a look at their markers... Even though I usually go to the same freaking bookshop and the markers they had there the last time are the ones they still have there, and nothing else :D 

 

Nice-ten-rice-cow? 

How did you remember that?!? :thud: Yes, nice-ten-rice-cows :D

 

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I'm another who has had Lily and the Octopus on my Wish List for aeons, so I hope you enjoy it.  

 
I do dare think I will!  :smile2:

 

Excellent! Glad to be of service 

 

You very often are =D
 

Hmmm...this one sounds intriguing, Sari!  I will be adding it to my wish list (in my new BuJo of course).

 
Yay for having you add something I've read on your wishlist! I feel like it's been a while =D I hope you're enjoying your BuJo! 

 

Reading your description of "How to Find Love in a Book Shop", it sounds really familiar. I think I probably saw the book somewhere and then didn't end up taking it with me. The only reason I can imagine for that is that it must have been in Dutch. The story sounds really lovely. Reading your review has made me want to find it!

 

I hope you find a copy soon and that you will like it a lot!  :smile2:

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Something happened when I was previously posting, so here's the rest of my comments to Kylie's post on my thread! 
 

Naw, you’re welcome! I love the cover too (but not as much as what’s on the inside!)  

:D I dare say both are/will be great! I can't wait to read the book :smile2: 
 

When I was looking up Leuchtturm 1917s available in Australia, they mostly seem to have only the black version available. The online place that had the widest range of colours available only had the other colours in the plain or ruled style. Thankfully I’m quity happy with ‘boring’ black, and I probably would have chosen it even if the other colours were available, just because I’m so indecisive and black is the ‘safest’ colour. Like you, Frankie, if I had been looking at them in person, I’m sure it would have been a very difficult choice! I’m sort of glad the journals aren’t available locally, because I probably would have made several trips to the store to stare at them, then go home undecided to think about it, then go back again, etc. 

 

I can totally sympathize with that scenario :D When I first saw the Leuchtturm 1917 section at the bookshop, I was like, wow.... I'd already bought mine (as I thought they didn't have any at the bookshop and so got mine at an online notebook shop, which claimed to have only a few pink ones on store and red ones. But I've told everyone this before, actually...) but I was swooning over them and wanted to buy all of them :D Well, all of the dotted ones.

 

I just love the dots on the notebook! It's so handy!! I don't think I want to use other types of notebooks anymore :D

 

Edit: I almost forgot, having to write this a second time because of the mix-up with having to post again: if you ever want a LT1917 of some other color, at any point, just let me know and I can get it for you (if they have them in store at the local bookshop)! I mean should you not have that color available over there. Don't hesitate to ask! :smile2: 

 

Yes, one was for Christmas and one was for your birthday. I know it’s hard to tell when they both arrive so long after each day! I’m glad you like them, though. I had to get a fiction book to offset the non-fiction (not sure why—it just seemed like I should do it!) And I partly got it because it’s on Poppyshake’s list of books that we both must read. Maybe we could do a group read of it one day.

  
Hey, I've send you many presents very late, very very late. We both do it, so it's really no hassle and no grievance!! And I never got you anything for your Birthday last year. I meant to, but I never got around to sending the package! So please, don't beat yourself up about anything when I've been just as late :blush::giggle2: I don't want anyone to stress about these things! 

 

A group read on the Skippy book would be great! :smile2:

 

 

Ah, I’ve been wondering if you kept your Netflix after the first free month. I’ve kept mine, but only because I keep forgetting to cancel it!

 

:D Cancel it NOW, woman! :D

 

Aw, cute doggy books! :)

 

Indeed :wub: I went to a cafe the other day and it was a doggy-friendly cafe and one dog came in (he was actually one of the employee's), and he was soooo cute! :wub: 
 

This sounds lovely! Would you say it’s a bit like the AJ Fikry book, I mean, in spirit (if that makes sense)?

 

Well, both were enjoyable and were about bookshops and people who loved books or to some extent, people who got to enjoy books. However, I think the AJ Fikry was a bit more literal. In the sense that I think there were more characters to the Veronica Henry book and a lot of the action took place somewhere else besides the bookshop. And I think I added the AJ Fikry book to my 1001 Books list, whereas I don't think I would add the Veronica Henry book to the list. But both were really, really enjoyable :yes:

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Fantastic!  I'm so pleased you liked it frankie. :smile2:

Me, too! I honestly didn't probably expect to like it much if at all, but wow. I still miss the characters!

 

 

 

Weirdly, it took me ages to figure out that Ham was Wickham :doh::lol:  It was certainly a different take on his and Lydia's story!  Agree with you about all the things you've put in the spoiler, it was all so delicious.

 

:lol: :lol:  Well, in your defense

 

Ham wasn't first sucking up to Lizzie, and only then moving onto Lydia. Also, Ham didn't have a personal history with Darcy. So Ham and Jasper were the Wickham, together. Also, Kathy de Bourgh was a major feminist?!? I loved this twist on things :D :D Oh and re: cousin Willie: Liz was asking him if he was seeing any women and he said a lot of them were gold diggers. And he told her how he'd recently gone out with some girl who turned out to be a lady of the night. :D I of course thought he'd then proceed to give her a lift home and go home alone and maybe play with his computers... Me thinking of the BBC production Willie.. And then he said, "There was no penetration. Just a BJ. I hope that doesn't make you thnk less of me, Lizzy." 

 

:thud::lol: :lol: I had to subdue my giggles because I was reading the book in bed and it was late at night :D

 

 

 

I'm just so happy that I read the book. I can't thank you enough! :smile2:

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Because of something that happened earlier today, and because of an article I read the other day, I've now thought about starting the Around the World -challenge which some of you have been doing on here. It's not an easy challenge as there are many, many books to read, and it might sometimes be difficult to choose what to read, but I'd like to give it a try. I hope it will help me to get back my mojo in the sense that I'd finally be able to read something other than modern (light) literature and thrillers. I miss reading books that are meatier and have more depth. 

 

It's going to be a big long challenge, and I won't ever put a deadline on the whole thing, because I don't want the pressure. I just hope it might steer me in the direction of books I might otherwise not read. And all the other good reasons to do it :) 

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