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Poppy's Paperbacks 2012


poppyshake

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Hi Miss Poppy

It sounds as if you thoroughly enjoyed the book. I'm a little slow on the uptake,so wouldn't really be able to keep track of the story as well as you have done. I know Atwood is a very popular author. The only one of hers I have read is Alias Grace . I'm not sure if it is based on an actual case or not ( I read it long ago ),but it's about a young lady who is in jail,I believe for murder ? I think . Not sure I remember the story it's been so long . It was a very good book though and written very well .

Maybe one of these days I'll SPROUT a few new brain cells then be able to read more than The Cat in the Hat.

You wouldn't have a problem with it Julie .. it really was easy peasy to understand. I've never read the actual Odyssey or the Iliad and I don't know how easy/difficult they are. I've read a kids version :giggle: .. a sort of comic strip rendition and I understood that :D I will have to tackle the real thing one day.

I have Margaret's Surfacing on the shelves and also The Blind Assassin .. but Alias Grace is one I want to read also and The Handmaid's Tale. She's a prolific writer though .. one of her titles that I really like is Wandering Wenda and Widow Wallop’s Wunderground Washery :D It seems to be a story written solely in 'W' words .. she's cheated a bit with Wunderground though .. is that a word? I think it's for littlies though and only available in Canada so I'll probably never know what happens. Unless someone here has read it to one of their tinies.

 

The first book I remember reading was Ladybird's Lost At the Fair (you'll never guess what it was about ;)) I used to cry buckets over it .. there was a pic in it of little Dan dormouse lost and sitting on a milestone crying and I would get it out whenever I was miserable and empathise with it. I've still got it somewhere, only it's not the actual book with all the tearstains on it .. I expect all the salt rotted it away .. it's a book I bought in sentimental retrospect. The pic still makes me feel a bit wobbly .. but the story had a happy ending. Hand on heart I couldn't recommend it though .. the title gives the plotline away and there's not an awful lot more to it except they do ride on an elephant at one point ... however the pic of that was shocking because it was quite out of scale .. either they were frighteningly big dormice or the elephant was tiny. I couldn't buy it even then.

 

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Miss Poppy

I'm glad you are enjoying the Bryson book . I don't think he is the least bit offensive. He pokes fun at everything in a way that would make even the most somber person chuckle a bit . He seems the sort that would be fun to hang out with,as he probably pokes fun at himself as much as anything else .

I know what you mean about the kid's books you got attached to. You still have fond memories of them even after all these years . Some of them I can remember exactly where I WAS when I finished the book . Like Old Yeller ?

We had gone camping and I was reading it in the car on the way . We got there, the parents got the whole camp set up and had a fire going and sitting around it,with my mother bellering to "Put that book down and get out here ".

I wouldn't leave the car til the book was done. VERY sad ending ,but such a good story . Then I got GRILLED because I sat in the car reading for so long when I was supposed to be having Family Time. What's the matter with you,sitting around with your nose in a book all the time ??

 

Have you ever heard that people who are obsessive readers as kids, do it because they are using it as an escape from the things going on around them ?

 

I used to be puzzled when I heard that ,wondering if it is true with all kids who love to read,or isi t just meant for kids who come from troubled families ? And sometimes you hear adults say they read to escape what is going on around them.

 

Do you find that it's true or not ?

 

Anyhow, keep chuckling along with Bill. I love his books. They make me feel as though I were traveling right along with him ,chuckling at all he has to say .

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Have you ever heard that people who are obsessive readers as kids, do it because they are using it as an escape from the things going on around them ?

 

I used to be puzzled when I heard that ,wondering if it is true with all kids who love to read,or isi t just meant for kids who come from troubled families ? And sometimes you hear adults say they read to escape what is going on around them.

 

Do you find that it's true or not ?

 

Anyhow, keep chuckling along with Bill. I love his books. They make me feel as though I were traveling right along with him ,chuckling at all he has to say .

Thanks Julie :smile: Yes, books are a means of escape aren't they, though thankfully, as a child, I didn't need to escape my situation but I can see how it would be a comfort if you did. Famously Charles Dickens did it .. and he had Scrooge do it too as a young boy. I've never read Old Yeller but I've seen the film and it was a real tear jerker.

Mum & Dad sometimes complained about me reading because, they said, it gave me headaches .. however what really caused them were the monkeys at Windsor Safari Park .. they climbed all over the car one day and frightened me into migraines (what a pathetic individual I must have been .. Steve??!! :D). My parents and doctors over the years did their best to ruin my life with their 'no chocolate, no cheese, no jam, no reading, no excitement' routine which didn't stop the headaches coming one bit. I did grow out of them though and the trick was .. don't consort with monkeys if you can help it. I eat all the chocolate and jam and cheese I like now and I read until my eyes bulge but I never even look at a monkey if I can help it. I wasn't actually responsible for tearing down the safari park and building Legoland in it's place but I applaud whoever did because a) they used to keep a killer whale in a holding pen no bigger than a shoebox and b) plastic bricks could never frighten you into a migraine. I'm pretty sure that's fact :D

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The first book I remember reading was Ladybird's Lost At the Fair (you'll never guess what it was about ;)) I used to cry buckets over it .. there was a pic in it of little Dan dormouse lost and sitting on a milestone crying and I would get it out whenever I was miserable and empathise with it. I've still got it somewhere, only it's not the actual book with all the tearstains on it .. I expect all the salt rotted it away .. it's a book I bought in sentimental retrospect. The pic still makes me feel a bit wobbly .. but the story had a happy ending. Hand on heart I couldn't recommend it though .. the title gives the plotline away and there's not an awful lot more to it except they do ride on an elephant at one point ... however the pic of that was shocking because it was quite out of scale .. either they were frighteningly big dormice or the elephant was tiny. I couldn't buy it even then.

 

This was one of my favourites too! I've just been upstairs and found mine (fortunately, my mum had the foresight to keep all my childhood books, so I've still got all my Ladybird books :)):

post-4870-0-56382000-1342635161_thumb.jpg

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This was one of my favourites too! I've just been upstairs and found mine (fortunately, my mum had the foresight to keep all my childhood books, so I've still got all my Ladybird books :)):

Yay! We've obviously always had the same taste in books Claire? :smile:

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I have Margaret's Surfacing on the shelves and also The Blind Assassin .. but Alias Grace is one I want to read also and The Handmaid's Tale.

 

Alias Grace is a fantastic read, closely followed by The Blind Assassin. I find her writing very powerful and moving, but sometimes I have to be in the mood for it as it can be a bit deep.

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Alias Grace is a fantastic read, closely followed by The Blind Assassin. I find her writing very powerful and moving, but sometimes I have to be in the mood for it as it can be a bit deep.

Ahh .. I know what you mean. I will try to time it right bobbly :D

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girlreading.jpg

 

Girl Reading - Katie Ward

 

Amazon Synopsis: An orphan poses nervously for a Renaissance maestro in medieval Siena, and an artist's servant girl in seventeenth-century Amsterdam snatches a moment away from her work to lose herself in tales of knights and battles. A woman reading in a Shoreditch bar catches the eye of a young man who takes her picture, and a Victorian medium holds a book that she barely acknowledges while she waits for the exposure.

 

Review: Probably the first thing I should say about it is beware! .. there are no speech marks. If this sort of thing drives you mad then avoid at all costs. It kept tripping me up and was a nuisance early on but you do get used to it and adapt eventually (though why should we have to Katie Ward?). The second thing to mention is .. don't buy it if you're expecting a story about a girl reading because it's not (yes, I will be looking at the blurbs more carefully in the future .. and doing my best not to be taken in by a pretty cover :D). It's a selection of seven stories spanning several centuries. Their slight link is that they are all based on works of art which feature girls/women reading .. the story behind the artwork so to speak but to be honest the characters in the book did a lot of things but they hardly ever read! They sometimes only had a book thrust in their hands for the sake of the picture/sculpture!

 

I've managed to make it sound unenjoyable which it isn't at all. I did struggle with the first two stories (set in 1333 and 1668) and whether it was the time she was writing about or the lack of speech marks I don't know but they seemed a little bit dry and dusty but then came stories three (1775) and four (1864) which I loved and became engrossed in. I was dreading the last story because the time scale had jumped from 2008 to 2060 and I thought uh-oh .. she's bound to lose me here but I was pleasantly surprised, not only did I enjoy it but it tied all the other stories together and by doing so gave them more structure. They're quite complete little stories, you don't ever get the feeling that the writer has left you in the lurch because they've reached their word count limit ... but like most short story collections .. some are better than others.

 

I'll put an extract in so that you can see the deal about the speech marks .. if it reads ok to you then you won't have a problem. Thankfully she didn't do away with any other punctuation .. or none my dull brain noticed anyway.

 

There is a flicker of astonishment in the artists face, and a glimmer in his eye like the breaking of day which fades as his features rearrange themselves into the mask of deep thought. Then your demeanour, and your recent disappearance are finally accounted for. What can you tell me of your young man?

Laura fixes her suspicious stare on him. Why? What are you going to do?

Nothing. Not anything. Not one thing, without your express wish: you have my word.

At this she relents. His name is Bartolomeo Pavoni. He is a citizen of Siena, I think. I had not considered marriage until I met him and he began paying me attention. He was very charming at first.

 

8/10 (I do believe I've given it an extra mark for the great title and cover :smile: .. it is the most beautiful green and looks lovely on the shelf :giggle:)

Edited by poppyshake
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  • 2 weeks later...

monstercalls.jpg

 

A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

 

Synopsis: The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do. But it isn’t the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming... The monster in his back garden, though, this monster is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth. Costa Award winner Patrick Ness spins a tale from the final idea of much-loved Carnegie Medal winner Siobhan Dowd, whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself. Darkly mischievous and painfully funny, A Monster Calls is an extraordinarily moving novel of coming to terms with loss from two of our finest writers for young adults.

 

Review: A beautiful book, very emotional as you would expect but with occasional light touches. Actually you start feeling emotional before the story starts when you read the author's notes and his tribute to Siobhan Dowd, whose concept this was .. as he puts it 'she had the characters, a premise, and a beginning. What she didn't have was time'. His only guideline was to write a book that she would enjoy and I definitely think he's achieved it. Conor is a character you instantly take to, he's got a whole load of problems on his plate .. his Mum is sick, his Dad is living abroad with his new wife and baby and he's being bullied at school. One night a monster calls but not the monster he's been expecting, this is a different one and surprisingly he's not all that scary but the monster has some stories to tell and when he's through he wants Conor to reveal his story and the truth behind the real nightmare monster.

 

I started blubbing very early on and carried on for most of the book so obviously it's not a book to be read by anyone feeling down because, although there is hope, there's also huge rafts of despair. It's beautifully written though .. it stays the right side of sentimental and of course is all the more affecting for it. It's all helped enormously by Jim Kay's absolutely stunning illustrations which adorn nearly every page. I studied them almost as much as I studied the words.

 

It's deservedly won all sorts of awards for writing and illustration.

 

10/10

 

 

 

jimkay.jpg

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Thanks all :) I recommend it wholeheartedly, it truly is such a special book. Keep your tissues at the ready though :cry2:

I am definitely interested in reading more from Patrick and he has commanded me to read Siobhan Dowd so will keep her name in mind when book browsing too.

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A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

 

Great review, sounds like a good read but I can't quite forgive him for what he did in The Knife of Never Letting Go:

killing Manchee. :hissyfit:

 

Edited by bobblybear
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Great review, sounds like a good read but I can't quite forgive him for

killing Manchee. :hissyfit:

 

Bobblybear - I think you should preface that spoiler saying that it's a spoiler for The Knife Of Never Letting Go otherwise people might think it was for A Monster Calls and read it without realising!

 

It is a great review Kay, and I'm really looking forward to reading it now :)

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Wow Poppyshake, not my sort of thing usually at all, but you make it sound compelling reading. On my library list it goes :blush2:

Yes but remember poppy .. people have been caught out by this before :D Still, as it'll be a library loan I'm not too worried. It is very much a YA book though .. not sure that was made clear in my review ... but I for one hope I never grow too old to read them or indeed children's books either. I enjoy The Wind in the Willows every bit as much now .. and Winnie the Pooh .. and Alice. I don't enjoy Enid as much though when I read her back ... most of my (once) favourite characters seem a bit smug and self satisfied ... I find myself siding with the villains and outcasts instead now. It's like ... 'she's being jolly beastly .. let's sort her out' and then it turns out they've been getting their own back on a poor girl with a terminally ill Mum or something. Of course when they find out they try and turn it around by frying up sausages for her at midnight or something but all the same .. what little prigs :D

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Never fear Poppyshake, I'm just as much a big kid as you. Love Wind in the Willows (which I didn't read until an adult) and Winnie the Pooh. Haven't tried Enid Blyton again though, since I was young. I can't help thinking of them all now in terms of the Famous Five parody Five Go Mad In Dorset, which starred Dawn French (as George) and Jennifer Saunders (Anne). If you haven't seen it, I'm sure you can imagine :giggle2:

 

Excerpt ......

 

Five Go Mad In Dorset (Picnic scene)

 

Dick: I say, this is a jolly wizard lunch, Anne. You really are going to make someone a great little housewife some day.

 

Julian: Ummm. My favourite. Ham and turkey sandwiches, heaps of tomatoes, fresh lettuce and lashings of ginger beer.

 

(In the background two large men are seen carrying a box across a field. They stop and start digging a pit)

 

Anne: This is just the kind of holiday I like, picnicky meals and not too much adventure.

 

Dick: Hah! Well don’t speak to soon, old thing.

 

(A black car draws up. A black-gloved hand throws out a piece of meat)

 

Man’s voice: Here, Fido.

 

(He drives off at speed, Timmy, the dog, gobbles the meat)

 

George: That’s strange. Why on earth would someone want to feed Timmy?

 

Julian: Yes, that was rather odd.

 

Dick: Shh. I say, look over there.

 

(They notice the two men digging)

 

George: What a strange pair!

 

Julian: Yes, one’s got a big nose and thick lips and the other one’s got mean, clever little eyes.

 

Dick: And they’re unshaven. Just look at the way they’re slouching.

 

Anne: Ugh! Pooh! I hope they don’t come anywhere near me. I feel as if I can smell them from here.

 

George: Shh. I can hear them talking.

 

First man: What about the sparkler, Punchy?

 

Second man: Don’t you worry about them, I’ll take care of that.

 

First man: Well, now that you’re out of gaol you’d better lie low.

 

George: Do you think they’re escaped convicts?

 

Dick: Yes, or traitors to our country.

 

Julian: We’d better call the police.

 

Anne: Look – Timmy’s fallen over.

 

George: Oh crikey, he’s been poisoned!

 

Julian: Never mind, George, we’ll get another. spacer.gif

Edited by poppy
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Haha :D I love that .. it's a classic. I haven't seen it in ages though .. last time was on video I think and I haven't a player anymore.

 

Dick: I say, this is a jolly wizard lunch, Anne. You really are going to make someone a great little housewife some day. :D :D :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't enjoy Enid as much though when I read her back ... most of my (once) favourite characters seem a bit smug and self satisfied ... I find myself siding with the villains and outcasts instead now. It's like ... 'she's being jolly beastly .. let's sort her out' and then it turns out they've been getting their own back on a poor girl with a terminally ill Mum or something. Of course when they find out they try and turn it around by frying up sausages for her at midnight or something but all the same .. what little prigs :D

 

That made me laugh Poppy :giggle2:

 

I've been reading The Naughtiest Girl at School books to my youngest DD she's only 8 & absolutely loves them & they're great fun to read out loud because you can't help but put on a kind of jolly hockey sticks voice while your reading.

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I've been reading The Naughtiest Girl at School books to my youngest DD she's only 8 & absolutely loves them & they're great fun to read out loud because you can't help but put on a kind of jolly hockey sticks voice while your reading.

 

I used to love these when I was little. I can't count how many times I must have read them, and I still have my old battered cardboard covered copies from back them. Aw, I feel all nostalgic for my little self now :)

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