BookJumper

Cranberry & raspberry juice carton end mixed with apple and blackberry.

There was worse in my own school library to be honest (such as the infamous copy of Stephen King's IT I never got to finish). I'd let my child read pretty much anything I think, how else could I expect them to grow as human beings of their own?, the important thing would be to be there to talk about what they've read should they want to.

Loving your colonialist enterprise Frankie!!!

People who ask polite questions and then betray their lack of interest by not listening to the answer. For instance: Housemate: 'Hey, how are you?' Me [pretty much in tears]: *shrug* 'Been better. You?' Housemate: 'I'm good thanks' *walks out of front door* ... just don't ask, it's simpler and more honest.

I know precisely how you feel, so let's see if I can help. Classics to change your life I second Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. Actually quite a sad book but so beautifully written, so full of important things to say about the things that matter in life that it gives one a sense of purpose in spite of all the sadness [let me sleep on it. I know I know others...] Modern books to make you think I third The Book Thief by Markus Suzak. Beneath the wit, charm and easy readability lies a very positive message pitched against a very serious background - funny how a book narrated by Death can make one feel so full of life Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach. After I'd bought this intrigued by the title, it lay unread for about four years, until something inspired me to pick it up just at the moment when my existence seemed to make the least sense. I exaggerate not when I say it saved me. Stunning stuff The Horrific Sufferings of Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot, His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred by Carl-Johan Vallgren. The best book to enter my life since Frankenstein, which has been close to my heart for the past ten years. The title says all you need to know, really Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (& sequels, Book II of The Wicked Years, Son of a Witch, is even better in my opinion) by Gregory Maguire. Everything you wanted to know about the baddest baddie ever... or was she? The Thursday Next Series by Jasper Fforde, starting with the Eyre Affair. Detective story meets literary parody meets dystopian science fiction. Good mysteries, amazing characters and - wait for it - more recommendations for classics to change your life than you could actually read in several lifetimes.

First off, let me start by saying how incredibly pleased I am to return from my little adventure to find you all discussing amongst yourselves good circlers o' mine. Pontalba - so glad that I'd misunderstood your meaning, you'd alarmed me rather! It is true that it'd make for excellent discussion for someone to come along and say, 'What a positively ghastly book, I hated it. Discuss,' but for the life of me I can't conceive why anyone would say anything of the sort. You make a good point about Julian's 'dwelling' on what must have been the most extraordinarily different day of his life. I agree that readers can act in very much the same way, and being a particularly pernickety close reader I must say I enjoyed Julian's constant poking at the same important questions with more than a twinkle of recognition. The mother we know to have been very beautiful, which in gothic novels does tend to go hand in hand with insane unfortunately. Another tendency is to have madness be inheritable along the female line, and if she'd been as unhinged as her daughter, that would explain why she'd have opposed her husband in his plans (conjectured by us, but feasibly I think) to send Merricat away. Also - and I realise this now this very instant, how epiphanic - there must have been a reason for her family to lawfully be able to take away from her the Rochester House, which both Merricat and Constance seem to think should have been rigthfully hers. Ethan - what kind of Reading Circle would this be if each of us thought too little of their opinions to share them ? Do come join in, that's what it's all about. I found interesting that you called Merricat Mirabell - I think your name might have suited the book better in truth, there is after all a Mirabell castle in Salzburg, Austria (definitely a fairy-tale city, that). Now, I haven't seen Psycho* except from its most celebrated scene (to my eternal shame), but one difference that springs to mind is that in said film one actually gets to see the horrified face of the violently murdered: I think the main reasons it's easy to forget Merricat's a killer is because we're told about the murder (by poison, we should remember; she might not have had the cold blood to literally shed that of her family) in retrospective wide circles, always focusing on the "before" and "after" as opposed to the actual moment of death. While I think Pontalba's right in saying she had the psychological potential to kill Cousin Charles, I believe Jackson might have avoided going down that route because being presented with another murder, one impossible to safely ignore as 'backstory', the reader might have empathised with Merricat less. * I have also never felt the need to read/watch Lolita. Does that make me a terrible person? Thanks for that quote from Jackson, it definitely does help put the book in context. I'd like to hear more about why you think Moore's definition fits WHALITC I am not disagreeing with you by any means, just curious.

Over the past two days I've read about half of And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer, being Part Six of Three of Douglas Adams's Increasingly Inaccurately Named Trilogy of Five. Loving it so far, and I'm a die-hard fan so Colfer can count himself safe.

Sony Readers are now grabbagle for under £100 quid, and I nearly caved. Why only nearly? Well. Because no one thinks of making available ebooks of scholarly editions of The Complete Works of Shakespeare. I'm not fussed - RSC, Arden, Oxford, *insert name of reputable body of criticism here*, they'd all do, except none of them are available in electronic format. It's only one of the most videly read, analysed, adapted and generally consumed in some shape or other books in the entire history of books, its annotated editions counting between 500 and 2,000+ A4 pages... so why oh why oh why is it so difficult to grasp that making those lofty but hefty tomes available in such a back-friendly way would ensure that every student, everywhere, ever would buy one of these gizmos? As it is, I'm keeping the money. /rant over.

I'd recommend Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle - this is our current Reading Circle selection and the response has been unanimously positive. Then, technically modern but definitely gothic and definitely worth reading is Carl-Johan Vallgren's The Horrific Sufferings of Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot, His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred.

Which character does the author feel the strongest affinity with and why? I don’t think this question is truly answerable (fellow circlers, correct me if you think I am talking rubbish!), because my writerly instint suggeste to me that the surviving Blackwoods – though they had a substance not to be found in the villagers – were more different extremised facets (the caring, the unhinged, the fearful) of a same rounded character than entirely different people. Therefore, I wonder whether Jackson actually perceived them as a cast of individuals as she wrote about them. Which character does the author hate the most and how does the reader know that? If the Blackwoods could feasibly be said to be aspects of the same personality, the villagers undisputably represent a single one-dimensional mentality; the contempt Jackson feels for them is to my mind apparent. How does the author feel about existence and life? Does the author ultimately give hope to the human condition? How does the reader see that through the novel? An interesting question I’m not quite sure how to answer – translation: help! On the one hand, there would seem to be a pretty evident “sin (murder) + penance (torment at the hands of the villagers) + redemption (attempt make things right by the Blackwoods at the end)” process going on, but that kind of Christian analysis is undermined by the fact that there’s been no repentance to bring about the redemption: Merricat never regrets the murder, Constance never looks back on protecting her sister, and Uncle Julian seems more fascinated by the murder than disturbed by it. This could maybe be explained in terms of Merricat not having sinned at all, which however would make the threat the dead Blackwoods’ posed to her worse than I like to imagine it. Thoughts?

I’m glad we all agree the book warrants no sequel. I think that very question is the product of an age where it staggers one to find a book, particularly a book of the gothic persuasion, which isn’t in fact part of a seemingly limitless series. I for one quite like finiteness: I find it satisfying, and there’s no risk of a good story being dragged on and milked beyond recognition. I’m sorry you were underwhelmed by the book as a whole though, Pontalba. Is there anything that you would change if you could to make it more appealing, or was your dissatisfaction based on something you couldn’t quite place? It seems from your other comments that you thought it a good book, so I’d be interesting to know why you’re finding it forgettable. I must admit, I (think I) know nothing about Southern Gothic and I definitely haven’t read any Faulkner. Are the genre / is the author worth investigating if I enjoyed We Have Always Lived in the Castle very very much indeed? I loved your definition of Merricat as someone who ‘was just afraid of everything and didn't have the mental filters/brakes to know how far to go in protecting her "domain" was acceptable,’ it’s apt and well-put. Personally, I find it a testament to Jackson’s skill that one suspects her to be the murderer from the very beginning, and yet one doesn’t hate her at any point in the book – the closest we’ve come to feeling negatively about her regarded her immaturity… hardly strong detestation. Ooshie - further to my further reading suggestions, may I recommend Frankenstein first followed by Hercules Barefoot? Both are absolutely beautiful, Frankenstein has been one of my favourite books for the past ten years, and Hercules Barefoot (as well as being my revelation book of 2008) was the closest any novel has ever gotten to making me feel what I’d felt upon reading Frankenstein… so accidentally add away! I don’t have much money to spend on books (like Erasmus of Rotterdam, what I do spend on books I take away from the food and clothes budget), so when I do make a purchase I make a point of shopping around for the best of all possible editions. The Penguin Deluxes aren’t cheap - £12.99 each, which for a book as small as We Have Always Lived in the Castle may seem like a needless splash for some. I consider it money well-spent, because a pretty edition goes a long way to enhance the reading experience.

A note to all circlers My most sincere apologies regarding my sudden disappearance, as of Wednesday night I've been awaiting a (routine, I'm fine) operation and only now have I managed to get my hands on an internet connection of sorts - expect me back tomorrow with more answers, questions, and the universe knows what else... let us make these last ten days* count! * should burning insights strike you after those are over, however, don't hesitate to fire them off and keep the flame of the thread burning (see what I did there?)!

For the past six days, dinner had been hospital food me unhappy, and sorely tempted by the takeout menus that litter the orthopaedics waiting room...!

What she said. Will you stop reading good-sounding books faster than I can buy and read them please (no, not really )?!

Do give Hellsing a go Echo, if you enjoy good vs. evil stories which blur the boundaries between the good and the evil, you'll love it. The only way I can describe Alucard is a Lestat with a sense of humour - and guns. Doesn't get much better than that.

The favouritest book my Mum ever read to me - and continued reading to me even when I was perfectly able to read for myself - was the Paddington Bear omnibus:) can't go wrong with that.

It is entirely possible though to lay a character's thoughts bare and suit the style to different characters in the third person, mind personally I find this approach vastly more impressive, as IMHO it takes a different level of storytelling skill. I also loved The Vampire Lestat, though unfortunately I read it over ten years ago, and I'm not sure I've encountered as effective a first person narration since - you've hit on the nail on the head for me when you said that when they're good they're very very good, and when they're bad they're terrible. Most of the ones I've encountered post-Lestat have been terrible, I'm afraid. My writerly tuppence is that writing in first person seems easy, but is in fact - once the end results are studiously scrutinised - no such thing...

I thought you were making a lot of wonderful sense all art (music. paintings. you name it) is about emotional connection. Why do people get talkative with strangers in front of figurative masterpieces, propose with classic love songs, write dedications inside books they want to share with those they care about? They do all of the above because creativity equals communication, between creative types and their audiences, as well as amongst audiences themselves. I for one write, apart from the simple fact that I happen to enjoy it rather a lot, because I want to reach out to people, tap them on the shoulder, tell them something - I most certainly do not write because I want to do all the thinking for a load of lazy bums...! *un-Mod-like snigger*

I don't seem to ever have the money to invest on mangas, so I usually borrow them and then the person I'm borrowing from stops buying the series in question just when I'm getting into it *grrr* still, my favourites - whether I actually managed to finish them or not is another matter altogether - are: Dragonball & Dragonball Z Hellsing Berserk (technically too violent, too graphic, too everything for me, but the story is just that good!) Fushigi Yugi I also adored the animes of Versailles no Bara and Saint Seya (together with Dragonball & Dragonball Z, I watched little else as a teenager), so the mangas of those are definitely on my TBR.

I've never really gotten to grips with Poe (my loss I'm sure, everyone I know who shares my tastes seems to revere him so it's all very odd), on the other hand I absolutely loved Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat - although I always thought they were flat out horror rather than gothic...? - so I'll look into the titles you mentioned my own favourites are: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus Carl-Johan Vallgren, The Horrific Sufferings of Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot, His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred Bram Stoker, Dracula Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey It's amazing how discussion may gently lead to shifts in one's perspective - you have helped me to think more kindly of Constance, whom I thought of as essentially a wet rag, and I have helped you to think more kindly of Merricat, whom you found childishly tiresome. Am I allowed to be excited by this twin epiphany, what with this being my first circle and all ? Now for the new, shiny, gripping questions - Part #1: Does the book challenge the stereotypes of its genre [gothic] in any way? Does it break the mould? Gothic has always been about those who were scarily different. We Have Always Lived in the Castle is different from other books I've read which portray sympathetic accounts of misfits and outsiders however, in that after everything bad that befalls the Blackwoods, there is a happy ending of sorts. In comparison to something like Frankenstein, with its utter lack of hope for the Creature though his creator was in fact the true monster, this was a positively mirthful read. I always root for the Frankensteins and Blackwoods of literature, so I was glad to be surprised by a glint of redemption here. Do you feel that it was dated well? Absolutely - the language is still current, and (more importantly) so is the theme. What kind of person would you recommend this book to? Anyone pressed for time but still looking for a short yet deep, challenging, inspiring read. Do you agree with the reviews of the book you've read? When I researched the book in preparation for the Circle, I read a review on Amazon UK that concluded by saying, 'But there is also much tenderness to be found here alongside the pain and horror of the Blackwood family story. This is tragedy surpassing even the best work of Sophocles. Anyone who reads this novel and is not deeply affected emotionally is simply not human. If I could have reached into this fictional world and pulled Merricat, Constance, Julian, and Jonas out, I would have done so. The powerlessness I felt as a reader, quite unable to protect and comfort the characters, was truly agonizing, and it was sometimes all I could do to keep myself from getting up and running around the room in exasperation. Anyone feeling at all depressed really should not read this book; there is so much emotion stored in these pages that it really should come with a warning label.' It was this review that made me want to read the book, and now that I have, I can say that I wasn't in the least let down. How well do the book’s cover and synopsis of your edition represent the book? Do they suit the story / do it justice? I shopped around for my particular edition (the Penguin Deluxe one) precisely because I loved the haunting black & white cover, the slightly unnerving presence of creepily-styled intriguing quotes sprawled where the blurb 'should' have been, and the beautifully old-fashioned look and feel of the rought cut page edges. Too bad the £12.99 sticker peeled a bit of black of the back cover... If you were writing a sequel, what would you plan for the characters? I wouldn't be writing a sequel at all; it doesn't warrant one, for it has successfully said everything it needed to say. If pushed, I'd write an extended dream sequence scene in which Merricat and Constance journey to the moon.

Oh, so do I (Jasper Fforde should start paying me commission any day now !), I just wish authors whose story would make a marvellous standalone had the courage of conviction to write that one marvellous book rather than ruin the whole story by dragging it out beyond the pages it's meant to fill.

In general terms, I'm annoyed by series. They take up space, time, and often end up milking one good idea well past its sell-by date. There have of course been exceptions to these findings, but I do try to research series 100% more thoroughly than standalone books, for I have much more to lose than with standalones should they turn out to be horrible. Although I believe in the reader's right to abandon a book, I don't like doing it unless I'm utterly forced to, so much so that even though I couldn't bear to finish HP6 and 7, I will get Stephen Fry to read them to me for the sake of completeness. Then, having experienced them, I can pretend like they never happened.

My inner librarian being as neat as she is, I cannot bear to see a book mis-shelved, to the point that if there's no bookseller at hand I'll move it to the correct alphabetical position on the correct shelf myself. If a bookseller is at hand, I will politely but resolutely direct their attention to the mistake. I once found The Glass Book of the Dream Eaters in the YA section of Forbidden Planet...!