lunababymoonchild

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.

We review the book as we see it and that can generate much in the way of discussion. It seems to me that it's easier to discuss a book on it's own thread than in the midst of three reviews of different books on the one page in a blog. I think that it was Hux. I started off reviewing in the main forum and putting links on my blog but that proved problematic and I stopped. I just list the books I have read and I'll catch up reviewing in the main forum. To be clear, BGO does not have personal blogs so we don't really know how that works, hence the confusion. I don't think that posting the same review twice is useful though. Making sure people are comfortable is the main priority and since we BGOers are new we should just fit in.

Just a suggestion. People are going to have to post in some kind of format. I'm sure that it's just what the individual is used to.

I'm very loud so it probably felt like I had said hello before. Ooooh preferences, difficult to narrow it down. If a gun was held to my head I'd have to say that William Faulkner is my favourite author and stream of consciousness my favourite literary style, although I do love Victorian Gothic too. Love Thomas Bernhard too and Dorothy Richardson and then there's Ian Rankin and John Cooper Clarke - technically a performance poet but he did write his autobiography which was fascinating. I like much in the way of written poetry too and could not narrow that down at all. I'm also partial to a bit of existentialism from time to time but can also settle down to Catherine Cookson's The Mallen series. I'm happily working my way through Charles Dickens oevre and am on book 7 of The Poldark series. Read the whole of the Vera (Stanhope by Ann Cleeves, from the TV series) series. And am exploring William Golding's work. I'm also partial to China Miéville, the Bas Lag triumvirate being my favourite so far with City & The City a close second. I'm always on the lookout for new-to-me authors and reading experiences, which is why I'm so nosy.

I'm from BGO and would like to suggest that books be reviewed in the main section of the forum so the it's easier for members to see them. Members can put links in their personal reading blogs so that that isn't taken away from them. We at BGO have found that reviewing books on the main forum is a great way to find books that we would otherwise have not come across.

I'd like to know why it is the members have their own personal book blogs and don't just post a review of what they have read on the main forum (I hope that's not insulting, I genuinely want to know)?

Hello everybody I'm new. Just seen this section so I thought I'd introduce myself. I read a lot and I have a very wide reading taste. I'm enjoying the forum and seeing what everybody else is reading - I so have to know what other people are reading! I've been choosing my own reading material since I was four and don't remember a time when I couldn't read. Years ago I went through a reading drought - where I couldn't be bothered reading - and it distressed me a great deal but I've recovered and never looked back. Last year I read more books in a year than I've ever read before, it's amazing what panic can do for you! I also like to crochet and I adore paper crafting.

I started The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, yesterday

I started reading The Pickwick Papers yesterday, love it. I previously thought that Dickens would be too hard for me and there's only one way to find out so I read Oliver Twist and found out that it's not too hard for me. I'm pacing myself to one book a year becasue there is a finite amount of them and I don't want to get through the canon too quickly. I have read Bleak House, Nicholas Nickelby, A Christmas Carol and a variety of short stories, all of which I've enojoyed immensely.

I will be starting this whenever it arrives. Just getting around to it.

Currently reading The Red Pony by John Steinbeck

I was advised to read The Dubliners first.

Just to be clear, I have never actually done this but then I don't have arthritis in my hands. If your hands are sore and the book doesn't come as an e-book and the difference is either you separate it into smaller chunks or you don't read it, then I say go for it. Obviously not - as I said - with a library book and you would not want to dismantle a first edition/collector's item/Folio edition but an ordinary paperback? Well yeah, sore hands isn't pleasant.

I read Orlando which I thought was sensational and then tried A Room of One's Own, which I didn't finish. Have yet to try any others but I will.

There was a young Lassie from Tallahassee Who was most awfully gassy She tried holding it in Got pricked by a pin

*laughs* No,I won't

Just bought The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens in paperback. I have it on Kindle but the paperback gives me a list of characters and other information that the Kindle book doesn't. It's the first published book of Dickens and my copy is 784 pages long. It's going to take a while! Looking forward to it.

The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens

There once was a man who stole stamps

There was a young girl from Grimshaw Who had a pet, Ron the jackdaw.. He liked to steal keys And eat Gruyere cheese And she got in trouble with the law

The Strings of Murder, Oscar De Muriel

Here's another unpopular viewpoint : There are always electronic books such as Kindle for the very long and difficult to hold books. Not all of those are available as e-books but if it was a choice of using a Kindle and not reading at all then I'd have to bite the bullet and read a Kindle (other e-book readers are available). Actually I'm getting better at that anyway, not all of Emile Zola's books, for example, are printed on paper any more so if I want to read him then it's e-book.

Tickety tock look at the clock.. I think that it's time to get ready to rock Now here comes the answer To "Who's the best dancer?" The one in the prettiest frock There was a young girl from Grimshaw

Yes, I know, not a popular option. Especially if you want to read it again.

I've never been intimidated by a long book and have read books that have over a thousand pages in them. If I can lift it I can read it! Have yet to come across a book that I couldn't lift. Larger books are, of course, more difficult to handle - I read Emma Goldman's autobiography and got a very sore arm lifting and laying it. I had to find another way to handle it and I did. If all else fails and it's a paperback you can always chop it into smaller, easier to handle 'bits' (but not if it's a library book obviously). I'd second all of Willoyd's tips.