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Frankie Reads 2011


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Loving all of your new books .. you're making the rest of us look like amateurs :D I've been to about ten charity shops this week and not bought one book :o something's wrong somewhere.

 

Loving your new bookcases too .. looks like you sniffed out a bargain ... and it's all looking so organized. All those hours spent arranging the books in the secondhand book store are paying off now :lol:

 

Hope you enjoy them all enormously .. but, perhaps that would be boring. Hope you enjoy a few of them enormously, most of them moderately and then hate the rest (for balance and objectivity :wink:)

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Loving all of your new books .. you're making the rest of us look like amateurs :D I've been to about ten charity shops this week and not bought one book :o something's wrong somewhere.

 

That is very flattering, but not the case, I assure you, dear poppyshake! I've been staying away from trouble and mischief (I.e. book buying) for so long, that when I relapsed into my old habits, I did it big time :giggle2: I'll be nice and non-buying for a long time from now on, I promise! How have you not bought one single book? Although I think I might know why that might be, I popped in your reading blog the other day, and noticed the news about Alan. I've been busy and haven't had time to be on the forum much lately, but today and especially this evening I've really concentrated on the forum and I was just about to go read your blog more closely and do my fair share of commenting!

Loving your new bookcases too .. looks like you sniffed out a bargain ... and it's all looking so organized. All those hours spent arranging the books in the secondhand book store are paying off now :lol:

 

I'm almost embarrassed about the deal, it was so cheap I felt like I was cheating all the employees of a normal, fair wage!! Hehe, funny you should mention arranging books in secondhand bookshops... last weekend I was at my parents, and we went shopping. There was this special offer on clothes and goodness me, my Daddy, for once in his life, decided he should take up on it and get some new clothes. It took forever, so I was walking around in the shop and ended up arranging their DVD and CD section! :lol: No, they didn't have books :(

Hope you enjoy them all enormously .. but, perhaps that would be boring. Hope you enjoy a few of them enormously, most of them moderately and then hate the rest (for balance and objectivity :wink:)

 

:huh: Poppyshake, that wouldn't be boring at all! I'd rather I enjoyed all of them enormously. Hate my books, or even some of them?? That can't be. I even gave away my copy of Tess, so can't even re-read it for the sake of reading something that I'll hate! :giggle2:

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That is very flattering, but not the case, I assure you, dear poppyshake! I've been staying away from trouble and mischief (I.e. book buying) for so long, that when I relapsed into my old habits, I did it big time :giggle2: I'll be nice and non-buying for a long time from now on, I promise! How have you not bought one single book? Although I think I might know why that might be, I popped in your reading blog the other day, and noticed the news about Alan. I've been busy and haven't had time to be on the forum much lately, but today and especially this evening I've really concentrated on the forum and I was just about to go read your blog more closely and do my fair share of commenting!

Yes, poor Alan, it's been grim and gruesome, but he has some temp work at the moment and some things in the pipeline so we feel much more positive. Not buying books has nearly killed me and what's worse is that my mojo upped and went :o .. though it is gradually creeping back again thankfully. Alan is much happier when I read, I lurk about too much otherwise and tut about the utter cr*p that he watches on TV. Bless him, he has been trying to find me a copy of 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' and actually offered to buy me a new one from Waterstones :friends3: (obviously he is just wanting me to ... 'go away and read' :D) but I've got it on order from the local library and though they do everything at a snails pace, I'm sure that they'll come up with a copy eventually

 

I'm almost embarrassed about the deal, it was so cheap I felt like I was cheating all the employees of a normal, fair wage!! Hehe, funny you should mention arranging books in secondhand bookshops... last weekend I was at my parents, and we went shopping. There was this special offer on clothes and goodness me, my Daddy, for once in his life, decided he should take up on it and get some new clothes. It took forever, so I was walking around in the shop and ended up arranging their DVD and CD section! :lol: No, they didn't have books :(

You were obviously born to sort :D I said to Alan the other day when we were trailing around the charity bookshops .. 'they need Frankie in here' ... they obviously didn't know one end of the alphabet from the other and though they had separate shelves for fiction and non-fiction, they didn't seem to know which books went where. I did some general tidying up .. nothing in your line, just basically putting the books I'd got down from the shelves back in the right places but I was itching to get them all down and have a good sort out .. but you know, I'm British .. I'd be apologising myself to death if anyone asked me what I thought I was doing.

:huh: Poppyshake, that wouldn't be boring at all! I'd rather I enjoyed all of them enormously. Hate my books, or even some of them?? That can't be. I even gave away my copy of Tess, so can't even re-read it for the sake of reading something that I'll hate! :giggle2:

Well, it would be good to love them all but I get so much pleasure out of the ones that are really, really good that it almost makes me grateful that some of them are a bit middling.

 

I'm not sure if I have a copy of Tess on the shelves ... it's possible I do and it's also possible that I have the detested MB taking up shelf room somewhere. It's a punishment for them, the other books look at them and smirk.

 

Anyhow, I am back to wishing that you enjoy them all enormously and I'm sure you will because you put such a lot of thought into your choices :friends0:

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Looks fantastic, frankie! I imagine a huge feeling of satisfaction wafted over you as you finished placing all those books on the shelves.

Thanks chesilbeach :friends3: And you're right, I was utterly happy when I finished the task, there was a lot of carrying books around, trying to decide in which category each new book belongs and searching for related books etc. I have to admit, though, that it's not the final order, I want to put my uni related books in the new bookcase so I'll have to move things around in the future. It won't be as big of a task but still... Well it should be all fun :)

 

Yes, poor Alan, it's been grim and gruesome, but he has some temp work at the moment and some things in the pipeline so we feel much more positive. Not buying books has nearly killed me and what's worse is that my mojo upped and went :o .. though it is gradually creeping back again thankfully. Alan is much happier when I read, I lurk about too much otherwise and tut about the utter cr*p that he watches on TV. Bless him, he has been trying to find me a copy of 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' and actually offered to buy me a new one from Waterstones (obviously he is just wanting me to ... 'go away and read' ) but I've got it on order from the local library and though they do everything at a snails pace, I'm sure that they'll come up with a copy eventually

 

I'm very happy to hear Alan's found temporary work, good on him and you! :friends0: I was worried though when I read about your problems with mojo but luckily things have taken a turn for the better. We will not have poppyshake not read and review books! Haha, so Alan buying you books and wanting you to read is at least a bit selfish, in some parts, if he feels better when you're not bookless and mojoless and giving him a hard time :lol: How's things with RLiT, have you already gotten it from the library? For me it was a difficult, painful read, I cannot wait to hear what you make of it :giggle2:

You were obviously born to sort I said to Alan the other day when we were trailing around the charity bookshops .. 'they need Frankie in here' ... they obviously didn't know one end of the alphabet from the other and though they had separate shelves for fiction and non-fiction, they didn't seem to know which books went where. I did some general tidying up .. nothing in your line, just basically putting the books I'd got down from the shelves back in the right places but I was itching to get them all down and have a good sort out .. but you know, I'm British .. I'd be apologising myself to death if anyone asked me what I thought I was doing.

 

Aaaw, bless you :D But you have to be kidding about that last sentence of yours! Besides, they'd only think you worked there and would come and ask you where this and that title might be found :cool:

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A couple of very sorry reviews are in order :giggle2:

Brooklyn

by Colm Tóibín

 

From Amazon: Committed to a quiet life in little Enniscorthy, Ireland, the industrious young Eilis Lacey reluctantly finds herself swept up in an unplanned adventure to America, engineered by the family priest and her glamorous, "ready for life" sister, Rose. Eilis's determination to embrace the spirit of the journey despite her trepidation--especially on behalf of Rose, who has sacrificed her own chance of leaving--makes a bittersweet center for Brooklyn. Colm Tóibín's spare portrayal of this contemplative girl is achingly lovely, and every sentence rings with truth. Readers will find themselves swept across the Atlantic with Eilis to a boarding house in Brooklyn where she painstakingly adapts to a new life, reinventing herself and her surroundings in the letters she writes home. Just as she begins to settle in with the help of a new love, tragedy calls her home to Enniscorthy, and her separate lives suddenly and painfully merge into one. Tóibín's haunted heroine glows on the page, unforgettably and lovingly rendered, and her story reflects the lives of so many others exiled from home.

 

"Thoughts": I read this novel in May, for the reading circle, but unfortunately I was just way too occupied to take part in the discussion. And I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember much about the novel. I remember liking it, and having no problems with it. But that's the best I can do.

 

4/5

 

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Lemmy - White Line Fever

by Lemmy Kilmister

 

 

Well, it's an autobiography by Lemmy, so you don't really need a synopsis: if you're interested, you read the whole book. I was expecting a lot more balls from this book, and a bit of an attitude, or at least some crazy stories like in The Dirt by Mötley Crüe, but I was disappointed. It was okay, but nothing amazing.

 

3/5

 

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The Old Man and the Sea

 

by Ernest Hemingway

From wiki: The Old Man and the Sea is the story of an epic battle between an old, experienced fisherman and a large marlin. The novel opens with the explanation that the fisherman, who is named Santiago, has gone 84 days without catching a fish. He is so unlucky that his young apprentice, Manolin, has been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man and been ordered to fish with more successful fishermen. Still dedicated to the old man, however, the boy visits Santiago's shack each night, hauling back his fishing gear, getting him food and discussing American baseball and his favorite player Joe DiMaggio. Santiago tells Manolin that on the next day, he will venture far out into the Gulf to fish, confident that his unlucky streak is near its end.

 

Thoughts: Me not being a huge fan of boats and deep water, and the possibility of drowning or dying at sea, it was surprising how much I enjoyed this novel. I found both Santiago and Manolin absolutely endearing. Hemingway has a talent for taking everyday, seemingly 'mundane' things and turning them into these incredibly fascinating and powerful scenes. Not as good as The Sun Also Rises, but still very beautiful and powerful.

 

4/5

 

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Gump & Co.

 

 

by Winston Groom

 

This is the sequel to Forrest Gump, one of the most underrated books in the world. A highly entertaining novel, it was a lot of fun to finally read this sequel after having read FG many times and loving it each time. It wasn't as good as the first novel, but still very enjoyable.

 

 

 

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Howards End

by E. M. Forster

 

I was very pleased when I started reading this and realised it wasn't utter crapola like A Room with a View by the same author. Wohoo! I basically read it for the 1001 Books challenge and because I'd found a very cheap copy of it, no other reason. There was a lot more to the story than in ARwaV, and things actually happened and the people didn't irritate me all the time. It was almost enjoyable at times.

 

3/5

 

 

Edit: Why oh why is this text displayed in such a random way? :irked: Fine, be bold, see if I care.

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Haunted

 

 

by James Herbert

 

Sorry, I know some people from the forum have liked this novel, but I just found it a waste of my time and money.

 

1/5

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My Cousin Rachel

by Daphne du Maurier

 

From goodreads: Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in Philip as his heir, a man who will love his grand home a much as he does himself. But the cosy world the two construct is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries - and there he dies suddenly. In almost no time at all, the new widow - Philip's cousin Rachel - turns up in England.

 

Thoughts: Oh boy, this novel was brilliant! There are very interesting characters, the plot just grabbed me, and the setting is amazing. There's the 'costume drama' feel, mystery, intrigue, passion, doubts, plotting... Highly recommended!

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Punainen erokirja

 

by Pirkko Saisio

 

An autobiographical book by Saisio who is a Finnish author, actress and director. Punainen erokirja is the third novel in Saisio's autobiographical trilogy that follows the author's life from childhood to adulthood. This book is about the 70s when Saisio was discovering her own sexuality and author's voice. She was awarded with the esteemed Finlandia literary prize for the book in 2003 and I have to say she deserved it. Brilliantly written, a very passionate self-portrayal. Will definitely read more Saisio in the future.

 

5/5

 

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The Winter Queen

by Boris Akunin

 

From Amazon: Three million copies of Akunin's Erast Fandorin historical mystery series have been sold in Russia, where the author is a celebrity. [...] It's set in Czarist Russia and stars the naive but eager Fandorin as a young investigator with the Moscow police. Why would a university student shoot himself in the middle of the Alexander Gardens? Fandorin sets out to find the answer and soon lands in the middle of a far-reaching international conspiracy. Akunin effectively juxtaposes the comical innocence of his hero against the decadence of nineteenth-century Moscow--aristocrats idling in gambling clubs while the winds of revolution freshen. In his debut, Fandorin comes across as an odd but appealing mix of Holmesian brilliance and Inspector Clousseauian bumbling. Occasionally, Akunin's style seems a bit affected, aping the manner of, say, Thackeray, commenting on the foibles of his characters, but at the same time, that nineteenth-century tone is part of the book's appeal. Anne Perry fans, in particular, will enjoy this series.

 

Thoughts: This is by far one of the most delightful and intriguing detective novels I've ever read in my life. I'm embarrassed to say that eventhough I'm sitting right next to Russia, I know absolutely nothing about it, and have read embarrassingly few Russian novels. It was definitely worth the try with this one. Fandorin is most definitely one of the most delicious and likable detective characters in the genre. The plot kept me hooked. And it was somehow so different from all the 'normal' thrillers I read: it wasn't extremely fast paces, guns weren't blasting and cars weren't screeching. I loved it. It is highly recommended and I will definitely read the rest of the series :smile2:

 

5/5

 

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The Pigeon

by Patrick Süskind

 

From Amazon: Suskind's previous novel, Perfume, was a tough act to follow, so perhaps he deliberately curbed his aspirations for its successor. Where Perfume was a rich feast of language and vision, this slim novella is a light snack, a simple fable simply wrought. After a childhood marked by repeated abandonment, followed by years devoted to cultivating the lifestyle of an urban hermit, Parisian bank guard Jonathan Noel awakes one morning to find the titular bird outside the door of his rented one-room flat, the presence of which so unnerves him over the course of the day, that he finally goes to sleep vowing to commit suicide the next morning. Redemption comes at daybreak in the form of a rainstorm and the realization that, despite the sadness of his early years, he "cannot live without other people." [...] The verbal flights of fancy that dazzled in Perfume are missing here, although that book's less interesting allegorical affinities remain. Readers with high hopes for The Pigeon will be disappointed; those who approach the book with limited expectations will be better suited to appreciate its modest rewards.

 

Thoughts: I kind of agree with the amazon review above: The Pigeon is definitely not up to par with Perfume. However, it is the reader's own fault if they do not take the length of the novel into account and realise from that and the excellence of Perfume that it is probably unlikely that Süskind wrote as masterful a piece as Perfume. That is usually the case with most authors who've succeeded in writing something outstanding. At least that is my opinion. Or maybe that's only my way to defend this adorable little book :blush: I liked it. It was very intriguing to dive into Noel's account of his life and thoughts, he has an abnormal way of looking at things. And I couldn't help but want to read a book in which a man's life is thrown off it's course when a bird starts inhabiting the corridor!

 

4/5

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The Edge of Europe

by Pentti Saarikoski

 

Saarikoski, a poet, a translator, and one of Finland's most prominent authors, travels in Europe and writes about the things he sees and experiences. I find Saarikoski utterly fascinating. Wiki says that he wasn't particularly good at English and because of his free interpretation of the books he translated they are called cover versions rather than translations. I've read books which he translated and I didn't really notice. I suppose I should compare the original English novel to his Finnish translation.

 

In any case, I have to take my hat off for the guy. He translated Saul Bellow, Malcolm Bradbury, Bertolt Brecht, Italo Calvino, F. Scott Fitzgeral, James Joyce (Ulysses for example), Henry Miller, Philip Roth and J. D. Salinger.

 

4/5

 

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The Apprentice - 3/5

The Sinner - 4/5

Body Double - 4/5

Vanish - 5/5

The Mephisto Club - 4/5

 

by Tess Gerritsen

 

All in all, great thrillers. I didn't much like The Surgeon, and only kept on reading Gerritsen because I'd bought so many of the sequels that it seemed like a waste not to read them. The Apprentice was okay, and after that Gerritsen picked up the pace and I really enjoyed the last four novels. Good stuff!

 

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Slam

by Nick Hornby

 

From Amazon: Sam is a disarmingly ordinary 15-year-old kid who loves to skate (that's skateboarding, to you and me). But then he is blindsided: his girlfriend gets pregnant, and he lands in the middle of his mum's nightmare (she had Sam when she was 16). This may sound like an old-fashioned realistic YA problem novel, but it's a whole lot more. Sam, you see, has a sort-of-imaginary friend: the world's greatest skater, Tony Hawk, whose poster Sam talks to when he has problems. And the poster talks back, maybe, or maybe Sam is just reciting quotes from Tony's autobiography. And is it really Tony who is "whizzing" Sam into the future for glimpses of what is to come? With or without Tony's help, Sam gives us the facts about his very eventful couple of years, but as he reminds us, "there comes a point where the facts don't matter anymore . . . because you don't know what anything felt like." Which is where Hornby comes in. We know exactly how Sam feels—even when he feels differently from the beginning of a sentence to the end—and it feels just right: a vertiginous mix of anger, confusion, insight, humor, and love.

 

Thoughts: A bit of a disappointment for a Hornby novel. I liked it that the protagonist was a younger lad and that there were these normal teenage issues as well as the (hopefully) not so normal teenage issue of pregnancy. However, I didn't really connect with Sam or anyone else, and the whole skating bit was driving me crazy. I thought it was a clever idea to have Sam talk to the poster of Tony Hawk, and have him answer back with the appropriate for the situation -lines from his autobiography. But there just wasn't much in the book for me. Possibly my least favorite Hornby.

 

3/5

 

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Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

by Helen Simonson

 

From Amazon: In her witty and wise debut novel, newcomer Helen Simonson introduces the unforgettable character of the widower Major Ernest Pettigrew. The Major epitomizes the Englishman with the "stiff upper lip," who clings to traditional values and has tried (in vain) to pass these along to his yuppie son, Roger. The story centers around Pettigrew's fight to keep his greedy relatives (including his son) from selling a valuable family heirloom--a pair of hunting rifles that symbolizes much of what he stands for, or at least what he thinks he does. The embattled hero discovers an unexpected ally and source of consolation in his neighbor, the Pakistani shopkeeper Jasmina Ali. On the surface, Pettigrew and Ali's backgrounds and life experiences couldn't be more different, but they discover that they have the most important things in common. This wry, yet optimistic comedy of manners with a romantic twist will appeal to grown-up readers of both sexes. Kudos to Helen Simonson, who distinguishes herself with Major Pettigrew's Last Stand as a writer with the narrative range, stylistic chops, and poise of a veteran.

Thoughts: Thank you poppyshake for sending me the copy! :friends0:

 

I really loved reading this book. It was like a poem, I took in every word. It reminded me of Mr Rosenblum's List, which of course is not a bad thing. I loved Major Pettigrew, he was such a lovely person.

However, when I was in the middle of the book, there came the time when I broke up with BF and was all things sad and confused etc., and kind of lost my place in the book and the plot and all. This is not the book's fault! But I just couldn't find the rhythm anymore and mojo up and went. So therefore the poor rating.

 

3/5

 

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Ruotsia idiooteille

by Mats Wahl

 

A refreshing book about the teenagers in a class for 'special kids'.

 

4/5

 

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3,096 Days

by Natascha Kampusch

 

This was a very harrowing read. I think Kampusch was very courageous to write a book about her kidnapping. I think she did it to get it out of her system, but also to give people the chance to know the true details, and to set the record straight concerning some rumours and/or misinformation that was spreading around. Before reading the book I had no idea how physically abusive Priklopil was towards her. The loneliness and the seclusion she had to go through in the tiny cellar room was just utterly horrible and I don't really know how she could remain sane.

 

Earlier this year I read Room by Emma Donoghue, so this was a kind of a sequel to that, only this story was real.

 

3/5

 

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The Blue Castle

by L. M. Montgomery

 

From Amazon: At twenty-nine Valancy had never been in love, and it seemed romance had passed her by. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she found her only consolations in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle. Then a letter arrived from Dr. Trent -- and Valancy decided to throw caution to the winds. For the first time in her life Valancy did and said exactly what she wanted. Soon she discovered a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams.

Thoughts: This was a most delightful read! Eventhough I love Montgomery's Emily of New Moon books and think she is a great writer, I didn't have very high hopes for this novel. At first we meet the most miserable person, Valancy, who is oppressed by her mean and thoughtless mother. There isn't anything going for Valancy. Then things take an unexpected turn and Valancy feels she can do whatever the hell she pleases, and the following chapters are among the most hilarious on the novel! :D There are a couple of twists that I could see coming, but that didn't bother me at all, I just enjoyed every single page. To be re-read time and a time again!

 

5/5

 

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Pics as promised! First three pics are old bookcase with cardboard box additions as it was, and the new bookcases. Then we have the old bookcase with the new shelves on top and next to it, and then the new used bookcase of mine :smile2:

 

 

I noticed in some of the pictures you have couple of novels by Kathy Reichs. Good choice :)

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Save Karyn

by Karyn Bosnak

 

Thank you Janet for sending me the book! :friends0:

 

This is a true story of a real life shopaholic. A small town girl moves to New York to live on her own, discovers all the great restaurants and boutiques and how easy it is to use one's credit card! Having read and enjoyed all the Shopaholic novels by Sophie Kinsella, excluding Shopaholic and Sister (which I hated) and Minishopaholic (which didn't feel like reading), I found out about this book from Janet and was very curious to read it and see how the whole running into debt thing really goes. My only shopping vice is books and therefore I consider myself quite the un-materialist, so I can't really relate to people who are obsessive about buying things, gadgets, clothes, shoes, purses, the whole nine yards. And yet I find the topic very fascinating. I guess I feel like I'm on moral high ground, how utterly conceited :blush:

 

Anyways. I enjoyed the book and have to say that Karyn was extremely resourceful when she had to figure out how to finally pay her debts. However, I couldn't really warm to her as a person, she was a bit too happy-go-lucky, and I certainly couldn't understand her logic (or rather lack there of) when it came to shopping for more eventhough she was already having problems trying to make ends meet. She did a semi decent job of writing, but I don't think she really has an author in her. And I hated her excessive use of exclamation marks, it just drove me insane.

 

3/5

 

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The Talented Mr Ripley

by Patricia Highsmith

 

From Amazon: One of the great crime novels of the 20th century, Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley is a blend of the narrative subtlety of Henry James and the self-reflexive irony of Vladimir Nabokov. Like the best modernist fiction, Ripley works on two levels. First, it is the story of a young man, Tom Ripley, whose nihilistic tendencies lead him on a deadly passage across Europe. On another level, the novel is a commentary on fictionmaking and techniques of narrative persuasion. Like Humbert Humbert, Tom Ripley seduces readers into empathizing with him even as his actions defy all moral standards. The novel begins with a play on James's The Ambassadors. Tom Ripley is chosen by the wealthy Herbert Greenleaf to retrieve Greenleaf's son, Dickie, from his overlong sojourn in Italy. Dickie, it seems, is held captive both by the Mediterranean climate and the attractions of his female companion, but Mr. Greenleaf needs him back in New York to help with the family business. With an allowance and a new purpose, Tom leaves behind his dismal city apartment to begin his career as a return escort. But Tom, too, is captivated by Italy. He is also taken with the life and looks of Dickie Greenleaf. He insinuates himself into Dickie's world and soon finds that his passion for a lifestyle of wealth and sophistication transcends moral compunction. Tom will become Dickie Greenleaf--at all costs.

 

Unlike many modernist experiments, The Talented Mr. Ripley is eminently readable and is driven by a gripping chase narrative that chronicles each of Tom's calculated maneuvers of self-preservation. Highsmith was in peak form with this novel, and her ability to enter the mind of a sociopath and view the world through his disturbingly amoral eyes is a model that has spawned such latter-day serial killers as Hannibal Lecter.

 

Thoughts: I read this because it's on the 1001 Books reading challenge. I've seen the movie but that was many moons ago, so didn't really remember all the ins and outs. I found the review above really interesting: I wouldn't have thought of Lolita when reading this book. And I don't certainly believe that the reader is being 'seduced into empathizing with him', at least I wasn't (and I didn't certainly sympathise with Humbert Humbert, either!) I found Ripley to be a very petty person. Granted, he had a miserable childhood, but I always believe that one always has the chance to turns things around for themselves when they are adults and fully responsible for themselves. But it was an interesting theory, at least, eventhough I didn't agree with it.

 

I did agree that the book was surprisingly readable. I also really enjoyed reading it, and I was biting my nails at times when I was turning the pages to find out what Ripley would do next and how he would get out of this and that trouble. The book was a great deal better than I had anticipated. Kudos for Highsmith.

 

3/5

 

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The Woman Who Walked into Doors

by Roddy Doyle

 

From Amazon: Roddy Doyle follows Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, winner of the Booker Prize, and The Commitments with another remarkable book that readers will find funny, sexy, and sad. He takes an unflinching look at the life of Paula Spencer as she struggles to regain her dignity after marriage to an abusive husband and a worsening drinking problem. Capturing both her vulnerability and her strength, Doyle gives Paula a voice that is real and unforgettable.

 

Thoughts: Ha ha ha! I was led to believe that this book was funny, but the only thing I find funny about the whole thing is that review on Amazon. "...book that readers will find funny, sexy, and sad". Hehe! I don't know if it's a cultural thing but I definitely missed all the funny parts. Sexy? Please! What? Did I read a completely different book? Paula's voice was very forgettable. I don't remember one single thing about the book. A hit a miss. I have no idea why I rated it at the time as 3/5, but there you go.

 

3/5

 

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And No Bird Sang

by Mary McCarthy

 

I couldn't find a decent synopsis of this anywhere, I'll try to remember as much about the premise of the novel as I can. Oh goodness me, can't remember any of the names of the characters :giggle2: Well there was this lady who'd had a very disappointing marriage, but stuck to it, only to become a widow in her forties. She decides to move to a small village, in order to sort out her life and to have the peace and quiet to write a book. She's a psychologist and wants to write a book on the subject of grief, and will use several of her patients true stories as examples of different kinds of grief.

 

We meet a range of quirky characters, for example the hotel keeper and her demented mother, who pulls a 'Bertha Mason' of sorts. We also get to meet the hotel keeper's strange, hermit-like nephew. And we learn that years ago a young woman was murdered in the village, and the case is still unsolved.

 

All in all, I enjoyed reading this novel. It was very, very different from The Group by the same author, which some of us on the forum read for the Rory reading challenge. If I hadn't seen the author name on the cover page of the book, I could never have told that these two books were written by the same author. I enjoyed the plot and there was a twist in the end, concerning the murder investigation that I kind of, partially, saw coming, but it was still pretty clever from McCarthy. I think the book dragged a bit in the end, though, McCarthy sort of dwelled on the main character's love life and I found it uninteresting.

 

I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but I liked it anyways.

 

3/5

MEGA EDIT: This is ridiculous :haha: I just wikied Mary McCarthy to see where in Ireland she lived, and found myself on a wiki page on Mary McCarthy, who was an American. I was like, wtf, I'm sure I just googled her and found out she was Irish. And I had been wondering, like I wrote just earlier, how the same person can write so different kind of novels, and McCarthy's The Group is set in America, and is so credible, and here we have a novel by the same McCarthy who is Irish and writes about people who live in Ireland. So then I realised, there are two different Mary McCarthys who are both authors :haha: I feel so stupid now. I wouldn't have picked up And No Bird Sang had I known it wasn't by the McCarthy whose The Group I had read earlier this year. I mean, how likely can it be that two authors share the same name!

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Thank you Janet for sending me the book! :friends0:

No problem - it was absolutely my pleasure. :hug:

 

This is a true story of a real life shopaholic. A small town girl moves to New York to live on her own, discovers all the great restaurants and boutiques and how easy it is to use one's credit card! Having read and enjoyed all the Shopaholic novels by Sophie Kinsella, excluding Shopaholic and Sister (which I hated) and Minishopaholic (which didn't feel like reading), I found out about this book from Janet and was very curious to read it and see how the whole running into debt thing really goes. My only shopping vice is books and therefore I consider myself quite the un-materialist, so I can't really relate to people who are obsessive about buying things, gadgets, clothes, shoes, purses, the whole nine yards. And yet I find the topic very fascinating. I guess I feel like I'm on moral high ground, how utterly conceited :blush:

I couldn't relate to her in that way either - clothes and the like are necessities and I only shop for them when I absolutely have to!

 

Anyways. I enjoyed the book and have to say that Karyn was extremely resourceful when she had to figure out how to finally pay her debts. However, I couldn't really warm to her as a person, she was a bit too happy-go-lucky, and I certainly couldn't understand her logic (or rather lack there of) when it came to shopping for more eventhough she was already having problems trying to make ends meet. She did a semi decent job of writing, but I don't think she really has an author in her. And I hated her excessive use of exclamation marks, it just drove me insane.

Yes, she was resourceful - I enjoyed it more from the meltdown and recovery than I did the build-up.

 

And I hated her excessive use of exclamation marks, it just drove me insane.

Whoops - that's an absolutely terrible habit of mine too! I didn't notice them at all! I guess this explains why! :giggle2:

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And we've finally reached the final four books to review, wohoo! Never ever will I again neglect reviewing my read books for such a long time.

 

 

Reading Lolita in Tehran

by Azar Nafisi

 

From Amazon: This book transcends categorization as memoir, literary criticism or social history, though it is superb as all three. Literature professor Nafisi returned to her native Iran after a long education abroad, remained there for some 18 years, and left in 1997 for the United States, where she now teaches at Johns Hopkins. Woven through her story are the books she has taught along the way, among them works by Nabokov, Fitzgerald, James and Austen. She casts each author in a new light, showing, for instance, how to interpret The Great Gatsby against the turbulence of the Iranian revolution and how her students see Daisy Miller as Iraqi bombs fall on Tehran. Daisy is evil and deserves to die, one student blurts out. Lolita becomes a brilliant metaphor for life in the Islamic republic. The desperate truth of Lolita's story is... the confiscation of one individual's life by another, Nafisi writes. The parallel to women's lives is clear: we had become the figment of someone else's dreams. A stern ayatollah, a self-proclaimed philosopher-king, had come to rule our land.... And he now wanted to re-create us. Nafisi's Iran, with its omnipresent slogans, morality squads and one central character struggling to stay sane, recalls literary totalitarian worlds from George Orwell's 1984 to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Nafisi has produced an original work on the relationship between life and literature.

 

Thoughts: I read this for this month's reading circle, and the book is also on the Rory reading challenge. Going into the book, I had high expectations. I was really looking forward to reading about the small reading group of Nafisi's seven most literature-inclined students and their thoughts and analyses of the books Nafisi was teaching in her classes. I guess I was kind of expecting a Jane Austen Book Club sort of read (you know the book by Karen Joy Fowler?), but with more meat to it. However, the book was more about politics and Nafisi's life and the university's literature class. I suppose that's all good and well, but it just wasn't what I was looking forward to. Nafisi's style was, in my opinion, stern and sort of uninviting. I wasn't gripped by the happenings and I didn't feel for the people in the book. I did enjoy the book analyses, but other than that I could've given this book a miss.

 

2/5

 

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Lolita

by Vladimir Nabokov

 

From Amazon: Humbert Humbert is a European intellectual adrift in America, haunted by memories of a lost adolescent love. When he meets his ideal nymphet in the shape of 12-year-old Dolores Haze, he constructs an elaborate plot to seduce her, but first he must get rid of her mother. In spite of his diabolical wit, reality proves to be more slippery than Humbert's feverish fantasies, and Lolita refuses to conform to his image of the perfect lover.

 

Thoughts: Inspired by Reading Lolita in Tehran, I finally decided to give this classic a go. It's been haunting me in my bookcase for a few years: for some unknown reason the book has always intimidated me. I've always thought I would either hate or not 'get' everything about it.

 

I was pleasantly surprised, however. I did have a Finnish copy, but I think the style and brilliance of Nabokov came through in the translation. It was very poetic and one could definitely catch up on the fact that Humbert Humbert was deeply in love, and very articulate about it. I didn't empathize with him, though, like some critics have suggested one normally would. No sirree. But I fully enjoyed reading the novel and I will definitely read it again and treasure my copy.

 

4/5

 

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A Man and His Dog

by Thomas Mann

 

This is a book about Bauchan, Mann's dog. And their very close relationship. Mann makes many incredibly insightful observations about his canine friend, and it is written with such love and incredibly witty way and with such excellent use of adjectives that it kept me smiling pretty much throughout the whole book. Thomas Mann has class, skills, and excellent approach to dogs and life :smile2:

 

4/5

 

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The Dog Who Rescues Cats

by Philip Gonzalez & Leonore Fleischer

 

From Amazon: This poignant canine memoir recounts the story of Ginny, a Long Island dog with a remarkable ability to seek out and rescue homeless cats. Simple but delightful, the story is narrated from the perspective of Ginny's owner, Philip Gonzalez. Badly disabled in an industrial accident, Gonzalez quickly fell into a downward spiral of despair. His saving grace arrived in the form of a small, scruffy grey dog. Ginny quickly provided Philip with a focus in life: cats--hundreds of them. Each chapter recounts Ginny's amazing rescues of helpless felines. Particularly heartwarming is the image of Ginny running across broken glass to reach a kitten in distress. As Ginny saved cats, Philip housed them, and soon his life was taken over by the creatures--many disabled or disfigured.

 

Thoughts: This book was amazing! If you know me at all, you know that I love dogs, and am therefore keen on reading doggy tales. However, there can be badly written doggy books and I wouldn't be afraid to say so, if I read a really bad one. So, you can believe that frankie is true when I say that it was bloody brilliant. Ginny had a really special talent and I have no idea how that came to be, but she saved loads of cats, and also Philip. There are some pretty amazing stories and it never gets old when Ginny rescues yet another cat. You'll have to read it for yourself. It made me cry, smile, and laugh, and cry again. With sadness and with happiness.

 

5/5

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I noticed in some of the pictures you have couple of novels by Kathy Reichs. Good choice :)

 

Kathy Reichs is one heck of a thriller writer, I agree! :smile2:

 

I couldn't relate to her in that way either - clothes and the like are necessities and I only shop for them when I absolutely have to!

Exactly! I only buy new pants when I rip the ones I'm wearing at the moment :blush::giggle2:

 

Yes, she was resourceful - I enjoyed it more from the meltdown and recovery than I did the build-up.

 

Me too :) She should've splurged on a book or two, I could've had more sympathy for her for that!

 

Whoops - that's an absolutely terrible habit of mine too! I didn't notice them at all! I guess this explains why! :giggle2:

 

:lol: You're not the only one, I've realised this year that I use exclamation marks constantly, and it's just so annoying, but I can't stop! I guess I noticed it in the book because it's something I've started to pay attention to, and Bosnak finished almost every sentence with one. Or two. And it wasn't even that rare to see a sentence ending with three exclamation marks. If she ever intends to write another book, I will go down there and remove the key with the exclamation mark from her laptop. Oh that would set her off, wouldn't it? She'd just go and buy a new laptop, a really pretty and shiny one. And a new mouse in case the touch pad breaks down. And a new purse for the new laptop. Then she would have something to write about again! A sequel! Oh boy :huh:

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Phew! I'm exhausted reading all those reviews, Frankie. Great stuff. :) I have a problem with using too many exclamation marks as well (and too many brackets). I wonder who edited her book though, because it's an absolute no-no to use more than one exclamation. There should be none of this!! Or this!!!

 

:haha: for reading two different Mary McCarthy books!

 

I'm so glad you enjoyed Lolita. I wonder how well you would like the English translation, because I'm not sure how Nabokov's beautiful style could possibly translate properly into Finnish. I know you said it was a good translation, but I would still recommend that you read it in English one day. :)

 

I'm pretty much with you on Reading Lolita in Tehran (at least, in terms of overall enjoyment). I've abandoned it for now. :(

 

 

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She's written a work of fiction, I think.

 

ETA: Yes, Twenty Times a Lady - it's being made into a film!

 

:huh: Oh no! I'm almost tempted to read it, to see how many exclamation marks she was allowed to use on that one!

 

Phew! I'm exhausted reading all those reviews, Frankie. Great stuff. I have a problem with using too many exclamation marks as well (and too many brackets). I wonder who edited her book though, because it's an absolute no-no to use more than one exclamation. There should be none of this!! Or this!!!

 

You were exhausted? Try writing those bloody reviews. It took me most of yesterday. I only had time to watch 1,5 Gilmore Girls episodes.

 

As for the exclamation marks, I've never noticed you or Janet using them excessively. And eventhough I'm no editor, I would've also figured that it would be a no-no.

 

 

:haha: for reading two different Mary McCarthy books!

 

I felt so stupid, although how was I to know, they had the same name! What with all the 'scepter'-'sceptre'-'spectre' thing yesterday and this, it was like a literary Twilight Zone episode :giggle2:

 

I'm so glad you enjoyed Lolita. I wonder how well you would like the English translation, because I'm not sure how Nabokov's beautiful style could possibly translate properly into Finnish. I know you said it was a good translation, but I would still recommend that you read it in English one day.

 

I remember being very confused when I started reading Lolita. I was sure Nabokov was Russian. And yet when I checked my edition, the original title was in English. This totally threw me off. I thought maybe he had Russian parentage and was born in the US, but I soon discovered that this was not so. And I came to the realisation that the man had actually written the novel in a foreign-to-him language. A second language! I'm so in awe of him, and utterly jealous. I've read bits and pieces of the original text on the net and it seems like a lot of, I wouldn't say tongue-twisters, but their relatives (rellies! haha), mind-twisters. I think I would have a hard time with the English copy, I admit. The Finnish translation I loved. It might not be a match for the English original, but I think it was beautiful. I'm definitely keeping my Finnish copy and I'm relieved that I read it in Finnish first, but I'm going to try the English version at some point in my life, yes :)

 

I'm pretty much with you on Reading Lolita in Tehran (at least, in terms of overall enjoyment). I've abandoned it for now. :(

 

But I thought you really liked it! You wrote somewhere that you were actually enjoying all the political stuff, and was less enthusiastic about the literary analysis? I'm so sorry to hear you're having problems with it. I know we both expected so much from this book! :empathy:

 

 

Okay. I started reading Between the Sheets - The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th-Century Women Writers by Lesley McDowell last night in bed. I only got through the 17 page introduction, but my mind was already blown. It is so fascinating, I want to buy my own copy! Just the sort of book I love: biographical, and about authors. I think this will definitely be one of the best books I'll read this year.

 

Another book-related thing: This week on Friday, it's the annual Joenyö here in Joensuu. The name stems from the name of the town and the word night, 'yö'. Basically the town will be packed with artists playing in various locations, there are different sorts of performances, show, and exhibitions. The library is going to have a sale :b7ydance: I've only attended one of those Joenyö library sales before, the place was PACKED! I rushed for the English titles, and got myself some Daphne du Mauriers, which is excellent, I wasn't a fan back then, had never read anything by her, but now would like to read everything she's ever written (having read the superb My Cousin Rachel). I'm thinking I'll have to go and establish myself in the line 1 hour before it starts, the queue was ridiculous last year. I might bring a book and read it while waiting.

 

Oh and if anyone's curious about the prices, one book costs 1e, if you buy individual books. That's not recommended. They give out plastic bags and you can stuff as many books as you can in the bag, and it'll cost you 5e. Not a bad deal at all! Wohoo, I'm very much looking forward to it. I wish I had Kirja-Kylie with me, though :)

 

Edit: It just hit me. Worst case scenario: I'll find enough book to make my TBR of 472 unread books go over 500!! :o

Edited by frankie
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One thing that's been bothering me, or at least has lately caught my attention a lot:

 

The English vs Finnish spelling of Russian names. I think some of you might have noticed that I write Russian names differently from how you native English speakers would. For example Maxim Gorki (your Gorky), Fjodor Dostojevski (Fyodor Dostoyevsky), Leo Tolstoi (Tolstoy). As you can see from those examples, we have 'I' where you have 'y', at the end of the names. And where you have 'y' in the middle of the names, we have 'j'. As Russians have the cyrillic alphabets, there's no way for me to know which spelling is closer to the correct Russian spelling. And I've been very curious about this for a while. I wish a Russian member of the forum would come here and clear this out for me, once and for all :)

Edited by frankie
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Wow Frankie thats alot of reveiwing! I've just had a read through and added a couple to my wishlist, theres just so many good books out their!

 

Oh c'mon Laura! You can't just come in here and tell me that and then leave and expect me not to be curious about the titles you added to your wishlist :D

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Oh c'mon Laura! You can't just come in here and tell me that and then leave and expect me not to be curious about the titles you added to your wishlist :D

 

 

Well . . . :giggle2:

 

3,096 Days by Natascha Kampusch - I know its not really a happy book, even a little bit morbid, but having seen the story on the news I think its a book I should read!

 

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith - its on quite a few lists and I think its one of those must read books! Thanks for putting it back on my radar!

 

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - Having not read this before reading Reading Lolita in Tehran I really need to read this too!

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Well . . . :giggle2:

 

3,096 Days by Natascha Kampusch - I know its not really a happy book, even a little bit morbid, but having seen the story on the news I think its a book I should read!

 

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith - its on quite a few lists and I think its one of those must read books! Thanks for putting it back on my radar!

 

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - Having not read this before reading Reading Lolita in Tehran I really need to read this too!

 

Very good choices, I approve :smile2: You know, I have a spare copy of 3,096 Days on my bookshelf, it's yours if you want it? :wink:

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I went out to go to the grocerystore, and before that I was going to pop in in a flea market and a charityshop, to do a bit of comfort book shopping if possible. The flea market was closed, they had relocated, which was a bit annoying. I went to the charityshop however, expecting not to find anything. But I kind of did. I found me some excellent books!

 

I got Veikko Huovinen's (a Finnish author) book called Veitikka. It's basically a kind of a biography of Hitler, and Huovinen's views on him and all the things he did. And it's seeping with black humour. Hitler was a real badass, and it's really not funny what he did, but I read a couple of pages and I chuckled a couple of times. It's also a kind of a reproach to all the people in power who lived at that time and didn't stop Hitler and his advocates.

 

Then. I found. 5 books. By Simone de Beauvoir! Wohoo!! What a great find, I'm really really pleased. Only one thing is slightly casting a shadow over my glee: I have a really hard time figuring out what these book are in English. And then there are two separate books with two different Finnish titles, but they have the same French title. I already checked, it's not an error with the cover page, the contents are totally different. I think it might be the case of the original French book being a very long one and the Finnish book is divided into book I and II.

 

I'm going to write the names down here, just to organise my mind, you don't have to pay attention to this (unless you see any errors):

 

Voiman vuodet - La force de l'âge, 1960 - The Prime of Life

Pariisi 1939-44 - La force de l'âge, 1960 - The Prime of Life

Maailman meno - La force des choses, II, 1963 - Force of Circumstance

Asioiden laita - Tout compte fait l-lV, 1972 - All Said and Done

Loppujen lopuksi - Tout compte fait V-Vlll, 1972 - All Said and Done

 

Edit: I think it should be mandatory that they have the original foreign titles next to the English titles on authors bibliographies on the English wikipedia!!! :irked:

 

Edit: Well who am I to complain... The Finnish wiki doesn't have the French original titles either, and besides, they are listed in an alphabetical order, not the order in which they were first published in French or even in Finnish!! :irked:

Edited by frankie
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Thats a really kind offer Frankie :friends0: feel really guilty though cos you've already sent me one book this year!

 

Oh who can remember such minor, irrelevant details :giggle2: I believe I have your details, I shall send the book to you some time next week when I get to the post office :smile2:

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I'm very much looking forward to today's book sale at the library. Last year I think I went there about 20-30 minutes before they opened the doors, and there was already a longish line, this year I'm going over one hour before it starts. A pal of mine is also going, when she noticed my FB status post about the whole thing she asked me if she could join me, excellent, now I have good company. I don't think she reads the kinds of books I read so there won't be any competition between us.

 

My biggest worry is: shall I go straight for the English literature section, knowing that there won't be that much stuff and I need to go through the books before any other possible Anglophiles come rushing over? Or, should I go straight for the (auto)biographies, which I'm most keen on? I know more people will be interested in those than English lit, but then again, one serious Anglophile might do more damage than 20 people who are into biographies.

 

I know I'll have plenty of time to worry about this later, when I'm in line, for 60 long minutes, but still, I can't stop thinking about it :giggle2:

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