lunababymoonchild

Thank you. We have book 2 (and book 3) in the house so I'll get a look at that as soon as - the TBR is piling up, lol

Of course!

This is a short story about a boy growing up on a farm in America. Apparently I did not read it all in my copy. Amazon summarizes it well : Young Jody Tiflin lives on his father's California ranch. He is thrilled when his father gives him a red pony, and later promises him the colt of a bay mare. Both these gifts bring joy to Jodi's life - but tragedy soon follows. As Jodi begins to learn the harsh lessons of life and death, he starts to understand what growing-up and becoming an adult really means. As one would expect from Steinbeck the whole thing is superb. I'll read the rest of it someday. Recommended.

I've developed a taste for Georges Simenon's Maigret. The ones I have are very short but lovely. This one is number 43 of 75. This one is about a woman who gets murdered and Maigret's investigation of same. His mistake was taking the interview of one of the characters too seriously and not being able to see the wood for the trees. He gets the correct person in the end. Despite the fact that they are short the are extremely enjoyable and not lacking in story. The characters are well drawn, the plot expertly crafted and the prose good. It's easy to read, difficult to put down and very, very good. Recommended.

The first in a series of 7 crime books, so far, starring Inspector Ian Frey and Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray. Set in Edinburgh in 1888 Frey is sent from Scotland Yard in London to help McGray, in his new but fake department investigating the occult, investigate the murder of a viruoso violinist who was murdered in his own home in a locked room with no other way in or out. This was better than I expected and I learned a lot about violins and catgut - wait to you read about that! I also enjoy the 1800's and being set in Edinburgh made a change from Victorian London. McGray seems to believe in the occult but his backstory emerges through the book and all becomes clear in the end. The characters are well drawn the plot is a pot-boiler and the prose is very well written. It was a page turner and it has stayed with me for quite a while. Recommended.

I'll let you know

Difficult to characterise Thomas Bernhard so I'll just use Amazon's summary : The Austrian playwright, novelist, and poet Thomas Bernhard (1931-89) is acknowledged as among the major writers of our times. At once pessimistic and exhilarating, Bernhard's work depicts the corruption of the modern world, the dynamics of totalitarianism, and the interplay of reality and appearance. In this stunning translation of The Voice Imitator, Bernhard gives us one of his most darkly comic works. A series of parable-like anecdotes some drawn from newspaper reports, some from conversation, some from hearsay; this satire is both subtle and acerbic. What initially appear to be quaint little stories inevitably indict the sterility and callousness of modern life, not just in urban centres but everywhere. Bernhard presents an ordinary world careening into absurdity and disaster. This book is 104 pages long and has 1 short story per page. As Amazon said they are subtle and acerbic and incredibly well written. Worth reading just for the prose. Another of my favourite authors I'd recommend him to anyone but this one may be slightly easier as it's a) short and b) has a new story on each page. Bernhard is famous for his stream of consciousness and writing a whole book in a series of paragraphs without chapters, and sometimes without page numbers - try that for an interesting experience! He is indeed at once pessimistic and exhilarating which is a curious feeling when reading but delicious and should be explored. Highly recommended.

This is the fifth book in the series about Jem Flockhart, Apothecary. E S Thomson is female - should anybody need to know that - and is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. Jem Flockhart is female, has a mulberry wine birth mark on her face and is a lesbian. She also lives her life dressed and behaving as a man. Her father trained her to be an Apothocary and appearing male is the only way that this can be done (both of ther parents are now dead). Her partner in business and adventures is an architect called Will Quartermain whom she thinks doesn't know that she's female. The book is set in London in 1851 and Jem decides to redesign her physic garden, which is where she gets her herbs from, and in doing so unearths a 40 something year old skeleton. The police are not interested in this because it's so old but Jem has to find out and this leads to all sorts of adventures, murder and drug taking. The nightshade of the title is the so called deadly nightshade which is a very poisonous plant, Jem is an expert on poisons, Love this series, I always learn something about medicine and the atmosphere of 19th century London and this was no exception. Poison was the main topic of conversation and it was fascinating. The characters are well drawn, the plot well planned and the prose well written. I'm looking forward to finding out if there is going to be another in this series. Recommended.

This is the sixth book in the Poldark series. The four swans of the title are the ladies in Ross Poldark's life, Demelza Poldark (his wife), Elizabeth Warleggan (his first love), Caroline Enys (his friend's/doctor's wife) and Morwenna Chynoweth (Elizabeth's cousin and unhappy wife of the vicar). The book is based around their lives. It's set in Cornwall, 1795-1799 and times are hard, especially for the working class. Ross is, however, doing fairly well and is elected to Parliament but a young Naval officer develops a crush on his wife Demelza and he wonders if she stays faithful but would not blame her if she doesn't. George Warleggan - his sworn enemy and husband of Elizabeth Warleggan - is also elected to Parliament. Elizabeth confronts George about his continued suspicions that their son Valentine is actually Ross' son and Morwenna gives birth to a son but is desperately unhappy as a result of her husband's marital demands. Until he has sex with her 14 year old sister. Caroline, meanwhile is desperately worried about her husband, Dwight, who was held prisoner in France and met with much deprivation and still hasn't recovered mentally or physically but is determined to keep working. I'm working my way through these and thoroughly enjoying them all. It isn't as soap opera as the above makes it sound (my rather inept reviewing attempt there), it's very well written and the sexual encounters are written in such a way as to make it clear what's happening but not in a graphic/detailed way - which is rather refreshing, to be honest. Recommended.

I have now acquired A Hat Full of Sky and will give this a go.

Most don't see the introduction part they just post somewhere and we encourage them to continue to do so

A black Porsche Jimmy bought in Dalkeith. Purred like a tiger without any teeth In a fit of panic He got a mechanic

Thanks for that I'll give it a try. By complete coincidence my father read the whole lot of them, one after the other, so it should be in the house somewhere.

Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws, And make the earth devour her own sweet brood; Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger’s jaws, And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood; Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleet’st, And do whate’er thou wilt, swift-footed Time, To the wide world and all her fading sweets; But I forbid thee one most heinous crime: O! carve not with thy hours my love’s fair brow, Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen; Him in thy course untainted do allow For beauty’s pattern to succeeding men. Yet, do thy worst old Time: despite thy wrong, My love shall in my verse ever live young. Sonnet 19, William Shakespeare A short analysis of the above, should anyone want to know : https://interestingliterature.com/2017/01/a-short-analysis-of-shakespeares-sonnet-19-devouring-time-blunt-thou-the-lions-paws/

See how to do it? Any takers? Obviously all forum rules apply but other than that that's it.

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough, And stands about the woodland ride Wearing white for Eastertide 'Loveliest of Trees' by A.E. Housman

So, here are the poems that started us off I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. I wandered lonely as a cloud or Daffodils by William Wordsworth

I wonder if anyone here would be interested in this? We at BGO have been doing this since 2005 and it's much fun. It's harder to explain than to actually do so here goes : The idea is that one of the members will post up a short extract from a long poem - maybe four or five lines or so, nothing too big or unwieldy - or a short poem. The next person to come along has to post up another extract, from a different poem, which has a word in common with the first extract. (A distinctive, interesting word, please, rather than "and" or "the", or similar ) The person after that posts another extract, which has a different word in common with the second persons extract. Does that make sense? Please post the title and poet of the extract too, then we have the chance to go away and look it up, and maybe discover some new poetry along the way. Also please highlight in bold what the repeated word is. Extracts don't have to be the start of a poem, they can be taken from the middle or end too. Feel free to use such reference tools as you see fit, it's not a test of the poems you have memorised. If you can find extracts with several words, or a short phrase in common with the previous one, then you get tons of extra points, (though no-one is counting!) and you can go around all day feeling very smug! Poetry is, IMHO, an essential part of reading and this way, I've found, that I read more poetry than I otherwise would.

There once was an awful ventriloquist Who went to work always so pissed He couldn't say much

There once was a man with a dog Which regularly barked at the fog In a fret or a haar He didn't get far

Sad though it was... To be bereft of a cause

I am spectacularly awful at writing reviews but have been told that practice makes perfect. I never finish a book that I don't like so assume that my reviews are boring and lacklustre especially, as you say, in the face of other's reviews. I find it very useful, however, to read the thoughts of someone I can trust on books as opposed to the usual 'this is the best book evah' reviews that can be paid for. Thank you for your answer, that does help.

We welcome new comers and tell them to post on any thread that they feel like because it does re-start the conversation. That has happened and it's been great. We do and we will. We're coming across as pretty grumpy and that's why. I've been with BGO for 12 years and access the forum multiple times a day (I seem to be the only one these days!). We were also generating some income by allowing members to buy through a link on the forum from Amazon, so thought (I did, anyway) that we were fine. I'd noticed that it was quiet but never thought that it would come to shutting us down. We were lightly moderated because, like you, we knew each other well and as a result of this we behaved well, I'm pretty sure that's what Meg meant. I feel certain that we can all make this work.

Just bought Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche . Never gotten on with Nietzsche before so I'll see how this one goes.

I don't want to turn this into an us and you type discussion. I asked about personal book blogs because I'd never seen them before. On BGO we have a pinned thread where members keep a list of what they have read with reviews (or not) in the appropriate forum - we don't always get that right and the mods move them! I think, for me certainly, it's just a case of getting used to what's here and getting to know everybody. To that end, thank you for welcoming us and patiently explaining how things are set up. We are not too happy about BGO closing - and I know everybody here understands that - and we've become used/attached to 'our' format. I'm sure we'll settle in soon.