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The Woman In Black - Susan Hill

Waterstone's Synopsis
: Proud and solitary, Eel Marsh House surveys the windswept reaches of the salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral Mrs Alice Drablow, the house's sole inhabitant, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. It is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose.

Review: A beautifully told, atmospheric, ghost story. Arthur Kipps is a junior solicitor who's sent to deal with the affairs of the lately departed Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. At the funeral he sees a terribly ravaged young woman .. almost skeletonal ... dressed in black. What is she doing there and what is her purpose? .. and why do all the villagers shrink away whenever the house or it's owner are mentioned? :lurker:

I loved all the descriptions of the salt marshes, the creeping tides and mists and the old house bleak, remote and eerily quiet except for the ominous knocking coming from the locked upstairs room :hide: The story builds and builds, becoming more chilling and creepy as Arthur struggles to complete the task that will enable him to leave Eel Marsh House and it's environs for good.

I thought it was pretty easy to work out, once we had a few basic facts, who the woman in black was and why she was there. And I wasn't surprised by the

later tragedy that befell Arthur during his family outing

It didn't ruin my enjoyment though, it felt like an old fashioned horror story told around a fire on Christmas Eve .. as indeed Arthur's family had been doing at the beginning of this book (the whole tale is recounted by Arthur in a letter to be opened after his death for nothing could have persuaded him to tell this tale as entertainment for a Christmas fireside .. it having been only too real and harrowing).

Spine chillingly good.

8/10

Edited by poppyshake
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The Woman In Black - Susan Hill

 

Waterstones Synopsis:

 

Proud and solitary, Eel Marsh House surveys the windswept reaches of the salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral Mrs Alice Drablow, the house's sole inhabitant, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. It is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose.

 

Methinks:

 

A very atmospheric ghost story, beautifully told of Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor who is sent to deal with the affairs of the lately departed Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House. At the funeral he sees a terribly ravaged young woman .. almost skeletonal ... dressed in Black, what is she doing there and what is her purpose? .. and why do all the villagers shrink away whenever the house or it's owner are mentioned?.

 

I loved all the descriptions of the salt marshes, the creeping tides and mists and the old house bleak, remote and eerily quiet except for the ominous knocking coming from the locked upstairs room. The story builds and builds, becoming more chilling and creepy as Arthur struggles to complete the task that will enable him to leave Eel Marsh House and it's environs for good.

 

I thought it was pretty easy to work out, once we had a few basic facts, who the woman in Black was and why she was there. And I wasn't surprised by the

later tragedy that befell Arthur during his family outing

. It didn't ruin my enjoyment though, it felt like an old fashioned horror story told around a fire on Christmas Eve .. as indeed Arthur's family had been doing at the beginning of this book (the whole tale is recounted by Arthur in a letter to be opened after his death for nothing could have persuaded him to tell this tale as entertainment for a Christmas fireside .. it having been only too real and harrowing).

 

Spine chillingly good.

 

8/10

 

I really enjoyed this book. Have you seen the show? I saw it in London and it was proper scary!

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The Colour - Rose Tremain

Waterstone's Synopsis
: Joseph and Harriet Blackstone emigrate from Norfolk to New Zealand in search of new beginnings and prosperity. But the harsh land near Christchurch where they settle threatens to destroy them almost before they begin. When Joseph finds gold in the creek he is seized by a rapturous obsession with the voluptuous riches awaiting him deep in the earth. Abandoning his farm and family, he sets off alone for the new gold-fields over the Southern Alps, a moral wilderness where many others, under the seductive dreams of 'the colour', are violently rushing to their destinies. By turns both moving and terrifying, it is a story of the quest for the impossible, an attempt to mine the complexities of love and in the process discover the sacrifices to be made in the pursuit of happiness.

Review: I don't know why I didn't like this more, Rose Tremain writes really well, creating strong storylines and characters, but I just couldn't warm to most of them and found the story bleak and depressing.

The story starts with us learning about Joseph and why he is embarking on a journey half way around the world to set up home in New Zealand with his mother Lilian and his new wife Harriet (some of the reasons he left England are only darkly hinted at ... we have to learn them piece by piece as the story progresses but it's made clear pretty early on that he is running away from some sort of personal disgrace) .. despite starting off thinking I was going to like him, by the middle of the book I hated him.

Easier to warm to was his wife Harriet ... I was always relieved when the narrative picked up with her again.

After Joseph finds a small amount of gold in the creek near his recently built cob house, he becomes obssessed with finding more. He keeps his findings secret from his wife and mother but when he is unable to find more he decides to travel to the gold fields in the Southern Alps leaving Harriet and Lilian to cope alone.

Although beautifully written, it was hard to care about the outcome of anyone .. save Harriet. It's unceasingly grim, and extremely slow paced, whenever you think there may be a ray of sunshine something happens to blot it out.

I think the subject matter didn't suit me. If I liked the synopsis of another Rose Tremain book then I would definitely read it because I do like the way she writes.

7/10

Edited by poppyshake
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Interesting review, poppyshake. I've only read one Rose Tremain book (The Road Home) which I loved, although not always an easy read. I've got this one on my shelf to read, and I intend to invest in more, as I've heard from a lot of people that she writes about different subjects, eras and characters in each of her books - they're all completely different from each other, as she thinks she would get bored writing the same type of book each time.

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As I said Chesil, I think I'll definitely want to read more of her books ... I like the sound of the synopsis of 'The Road Home' so I'll probably give it a try.

'The Colour' was the one picked out in the '1001 Books YMRBYD' .. which is why I tried it first.

Thanks for the recommendation :lol:

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The Crowfield Curse - Pat Walsh

Waterstone's Synopsis
: It's 1347 and fifteen-year-old Will, an orphan boy, lives at Crowfield Abbey. Sent into the forest to gather wood, he rescues instead, a creature from a trap - a hob, who shares with Will a terrible secret. Somewhere in the forest behind the abbey where he lives, is a grave. And buried deep in the snow is an angel. But how can an angel die? What has it to do with the monks of the Abbey? When two hooded strangers arrive at Crowfield asking questions about the angel's grave. Will is drawn into a world of dangerous Old Magic. "The Crowfield Feather" was short-listed for the "Times" Chidren's Fiction Competition in 2008.


Review: I enjoyed reading this, it's definitely a book aimed at children or YA and that made it an exceptionally easy read which was just what I needed. Will is an orphan who has been taken in by the monks of Crowfield Abbey .. he's a great central character and very likeable.

Will rescues a hob from a trap in the forest near the abbey, a hob is a magical creature .. not everyone has the 'sight' to be able to see him but Will has. The hob, who they nickname 'Brother Walter' is completely endearing and quite childlike .. he knows some secrets about what is hidden in a grave in the forest .. and he reveals this to Will.

Things take a turn for the darker when two visitors come to stay at the abbey ... the mysterious Jacobus Bone and his servant Shadlock, they have a purpose in mind ... one that involves Will and the forest grave.

The book is set in 1347 and it's steeped in history, folklore and religion. I loved all the wintery descriptions and the authentic feel of it. There is a glossary at the back to help decipher words that are unfamiliar to us now .. but most will be well known to adults already.

This is book one of two apparently, I look forward to reading what happens in Will's life next.

Recommended, especially for children aged nine or above, or those, like me, that still love to read well written children's stories.

8/10

Edited by poppyshake
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Hi Poppy! I get a weekly email from Goodreads with all of my friend's updates, and when I received today's email I was amazed at just how many books you and I have in common (you've been a very busy bee entering all those books! :lol:). We seem to have very similar tastes, and I will definitely be watching your reviews even more closely now.

 

I just went and compared our books on Goodreads, and of the 88 books we share, our tastes are 82% similar. I'd say that's pretty good. :motz: I'm not sure how much you've played around with Goodreads, but if you want to compare books with a friend, go to your friends list and there will be a 'compare books' link next to each name.

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Thank you Kylie :lol: .. I am totally new to 'Goodreads' .. although I joined last year I didn't put many books on until recently (and then I went mad .. literally demolishing my book shelves/cases at home to make sure I'd remembered every book). I have no idea how it all works so thanks for the tip.

 

I've just had a good look at your books (isn't it bliss to look at other people's books!?!:)) and you're right we have similar *great* taste. A few of yours are on my TBR list ... like 'Middlesex' and 'The Book of Lost Things' plus I need to read some more 'Thursday Next' books .. and you've rated them all highly so I'm encouraged :)

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City of Thieves - David Benioff

Synopsis
: Four months into the siege of Leningrad, the city is starving. Seventeen-year-old Lev fears for his life when he is arrested for looting the body of a dead German paratrooper, while his charismatic cellmate, Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested for desertion, seems bizarrely unafraid. Dawn brings, instead of an execution squad, an impossible challenge. Lev and Kolya can find a dozen eggs for an NKVD colonel to use for his daughter's wedding cake, and live. Or fail, and die. In the depths of the coldest winter in history, through a city cut off from all supplies and suffering appalling deprivation, man and boy embark on an absurd hunt. Their search will take them through desolate, lawless Leningrad and the devastated countryside surrounding it, in the captivating journey of two men trying to survive against desperate odds.

Review: I really liked this one, fast, pacey and totally entertaining. Set in Russia during the siege of Leningrad WWII, this tells the story of Lev who has been arrested for looting, and Kolya who has been arrested for deserting. They meet in prison and although both their offences are capital ones, and they expect to be killed, they are given a surprising lifeline. The colonel's daughter is getting married in a few days time and his wife needs a dozen eggs, in order to make the traditional cake. If Lev and Kolya bring the colonel a dozen eggs by Thursday (approx five days time) then they will be set free, if not they will be killed.

Eggs are as rare, if not rarer, than goldust in Leningrad but Lev and Kolya must try to find them if they are to have a hope of surviving. The deprivation and hunger of wartime is fully visualised here ... food is scarce, people are forced into melting down the glue from book-bindings in order to make protein bars from them (called library candy) and it is better not to ask what the meat is in the grey meat patties :o

Lev is 17 .. a shy, half-jewish, virgin and dreamer. Kolya is 20, blonde, handsome, confident and charming .. they are polar opposites and yet, despite only knowing each other for a few days, they form an amazingly strong bond and friendship.

It's pretty brutal at times, graphic and crude but not overly so ... it's what you would expect from two guys of their age fighting for survival. There's plenty of humour too .. although given their circumstances it is pretty black.

Really readable.

9/10

Edited by poppyshake
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The Red House Mystery - A.A. Milne

Waterstone's Synopsis
: Far from the gentle slopes of the Hundred Acre Wood lies The Red House, the setting for A.A Milne's only detective story, where secret passages, uninvited guests, a sinister valet and a puzzling murder lay the foundations for a classic crime caper. And when the local police prove baffled, it is up to a guest at a local inn to appoint himself 'Sherlock Holmes' and, together with his friend and loyal 'Watson', delve deeper into the mysteries of the dead man. The Red House Mystery is a lost gem from a time before Tigger and a perfectly crafted whodunit with witty dialogue, deft plotting and a most curious cast of characters.

Review: I enjoyed this, a really old fashioned whodunnit first published in 1922. Antony Gillingham is staying at a hotel near to the Red House, he knows that a friend of his, Bill Beverley, is staying at the Red House as a guest and so decides to stroll over there after lunch.

He arrives there to find a man, Mr Cayley (a cousin and personal assistant to the owner,) frantically banging on a locked door and shouting ... he has heard a gunshot from within the room. When they eventually break into the room via a window they find a dead man. Cayley is relieved to see that it is Robert Ablett .. a ne'er-do-well brother of Mark Ablett the owner of the Red House but there is no-one else in the room and Mark is nowhere to be found.

Inspector Birch soon arrives on the scene and a warrant is put out for Mark's capture and arrest. There are a few things puzzling Antony though, and he decides with Bill's help (his 'Watson') to do a little sleuthing of his own. I loved the relationship between Bill and Antony .. bouncing ideas and theories off each other.

This is almost 'Wodehousian' in style although not quite so overtly funny, it's the sort of murder mystery that you want to watch dramatised on a Sunday afternoon. There is a lovely introduction by Milne himself who was a self confessed lover of the detective novel ... lamenting that this is the one sort of detective novel that he'd love to read but never would be able.

To be enjoyed with a pot of tea and crumbly cake :)

8/10

Edited by poppyshake
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Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (Unabridged) read by Trevor White

Audible's Synopsis
: At the heart of Joseph Heller's best-selling novel, first published in 1961, is a satirical indictment of military madness and stupidity, and the desire of the ordinary man to survive it. This is the tale of the dangerously sane Captain Yossarian, who spends his time in Italy plotting to survive. Yossarian is a bombardier in the 256th Squadron of the US Army Air Forces during World War II, stationed on Pianosa, a fictionalised island in the Mediterranean between mainland Italy and Corsica. The squadron's assignment is to bomb enemy positions in Italy and eastern France. Yossarian's mission is simply to stay alive.

Review: I loved this book, absolutely hilarious, sharp as a razor but at times incredibly sad and poignant. Fantastic cast of characters, absurd situations but you get the feeling that underneath there's more than an element of truth in the desperate plight of the 256th Squadron willing to do almost anything, including pleading insanity, to avoid flying more missions in WWII .. but all to no effect.


'There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them, he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to, he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.'

Fantastically read by Trevor White, I laughed and laughed.

10/10

Edited by poppyshake
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One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Waterstone's Synopsis
: 'Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.' Pipes and kettledrums herald the arrival of gypsies on their annual visit to Macondo, the newly founded village where Jose Arcadio Buendia and his strong-willed wife, Ursula, have started their new life. As the mysterious Melquiades excites Aureliano Buendia's father with new inventions and tales of adventure, neither can know the significance of the indecipherable manuscript that the old gypsy passes into their hands. Through plagues of insomnia, civil war, hauntings and vendettas, the many tribulations of the Buendia household push memories of the manuscript aside. Few remember its existence and only one will discover the hidden message that it holds.

Review: Another book chosen from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. This is a story about the rise, decline and fall of six generations of the Buendia family and the town they founded. A story of absurd situations, alchemy, plague, famine, war and flood.

It was hard to get into at first, despite the intriguing first line quoted in the synopsis. All the male members of the Buendia family were either called Jose Arcadio or Aureliano .. and this pattern repeats and repeats (with slight variations) through six generations. There is a family tree at the front which I kept referring back to for the first half of the book, but after that I got to know each individual through their character traits and it got a lot easier.

I loved the magical realism of the book, you learn to expect the unexpected all the time. The priest does chocolate fuelled levitations, there are magic carpets, characters that are dead still drift through the house, one of the girl's suitors is perpetually surrounded by a swarm of yellow butterflies .. you can tell where he's been even if you haven't seen him. Remedios 'the beauty' is so beautiful and good that one day whilst folding some sheets in the garden she simply just ascends into the sky and to heaven .. waving as she goes. There is also a travelling gypsy called Melquiades who is a magician. After he dies his spirit lives at the Buendia house and is revealed to some of the descendants as they try to decipher his crumbling manuscripts. All these wondrous events are commonplace to the people of Macondo ... and yet they are utterly captivated by magnets, telescopes, false teeth and ice! :D

It's very mysterious, we are told at the beginning that the world was so recent that many things lacked names .. so it sounds almost biblical but then during the hundred years we see the arrival of the railroad at Macondo. The insomnia plague has a side effect of making you forget everything you ever knew .. so they begin labelling things like 'cow' and 'table' but then it was realised that all knowledge of what to do with said object would be forgotten and so they had to make the labels more descriptive ... 'This is the cow, she must be milked every morning so that she will produce milk, and the milk must be boiled in order to be mixed with coffee to make coffee and milk' .. but even this was not enough as some of the community 'succumbed to the spell of an imaginary reality, one invented by themselves, which was less practical for them, but more comforting'.

However much they are separated or well they are educated, they all invariably end up repeating the mistakes of their descendants. And most have violent, untimely and downright bizarre deaths.


It ends

 

with the last member of the Buendia clan finally able to decipher Melquiades parchments .. he has just observed his newly born son being dragged into holes along the stone path by red ants ... he sees that it is written on the parchment 'The first of the line is tied to a tree and the last is being eaten by the ants' ... he can see all the events listed there births, deaths and marriages, he realises that he is reading the history of his family and then, just before it happens with a gale whistling outside ... he reads that the city will be wiped out by the wind and exiled from the minds of men



It's pretty bawdy at times, very challenging and unusual but I really enjoyed it and definitely want to read Love in the Time of Cholera.

 

9/10

Edited by poppyshake
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Borrowed these from the library ....

 

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides

Set in Stone - Linda Newbery

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

The Devil and Miss Prym - Paulo Coelho

The Elephant Keeper - Christopher Nicholson

Fever Crumb - Philip Reeve

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

 

Oh dear!! ... My TBR pile just got a lot bigger.

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100 Years of Solitude sounds amazing, Poppy. For some reason it had never really appealed to me before. will definitely add it to my wish list now because it sounds intriguing. Thanks for the great review.

 

Middlesex was one of my favourite reads from last year. I think you'll really enjoy it to. :irked:

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Borrowed these from the library ....

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbar Kingsolver

Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

 

From the ones you borrowed, I've read three - my favourite being Poisonwood. Excellent book. Also enjoyed BR but absolutely disliked CA. I will be interesting to see how you like them Good reading, Poppyshake

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I know that Cloud Atlas is going to be a bit of a challenge ... it may end up being the first book I abandon in 2010.

 

What makes it worse is that it's in hardback .. so I'm already viewing it with disdain .. I'll give it a go, if I don't like it, it can serve as a door stop until it's due back :tong:

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The Devil and Miss Prym - Paulo Coelho

 

I love Paulo Coelho, but this book is not amongst my faves (in the category of his books). I blame it on the translation though, because the story is great, and the idea(s) (as always :lol: ) are as well, but the text itself didn't leave me ... ''wow''. I'll be glad to see what you think, maybe it really was the translation. :tong:

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Again it was another recommendation on the 1001 Books to Read list .. I think I must have memorised some of it cos books kept leaping out at me from the library shelves.

 

At least it's thin, it's a paperback and I didn't have to buy it, so no real harm done (except to the books that were already waiting on my shelf before the trip to the library).

 

Btw I'm wanting to read 'Kafka on the Shore' so look forward to hearing what you make of it Brida :tong:

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