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Janet

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    Janet's Log - Stardate 2014

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    I've just watched a documentary on Tourette Syndrome called Tourettes: I Swear I Can't Help It which was really interesting.  I remember watching some of John's story (he features in this one but was in a more-famous called John's Not Mad which came out in 1989) when it first aired. 

     

    It was really interesting.  Some parts are funny - they shouldn't be, but they are, and the sufferers laugh about it too.  There is a more serious side to it too with people sometimes hurting others or even themselves.  John says that when he puts the hob on he sometimes gets the urge to put his hand flat on the heat - and if he stands near a river he wants to jump in.   He has a dog, Tilly, on whom he dotes - sometimes he tells her to cross the road when a car is coming but she knows whether to or not, fortunately.

    Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens discussion thread

    in Group Reads

    Posted

    My guess would be yes, but not until after the Nickleby's situation is resolved. Does Dickens do happy endings? We'll find out soon … :D

     

    It's going to come down to the happy endings issue again, isn't it? :giggle2:

    I've only read two Dickens books so far.  One had a happy ending and the other had a mostly happy ending - or at least, happy endings for those who deserved them!  :D  I'm sure Nicholas deserves a good end to his tale.  It will be interesting to find out if Dickens agrees!  :)

     

    I'm really enjoying reading this.  I definitely feel encouraged to read more of his.  :)

    Your Book Activity - November 2014

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    I loved A Long Way Down- hope you enjoy it!  It is the only book I've read by him.

    Hope you enjoy it better than I did, Janet. I recall having a bit of a rant when I was reviewing it. :blush2:

    Isn't being a bookworm grand!  :D  I'm not very far in so I'm not sure what to make of it at the moment, but I will comment when I've finished (my reading pace has slowed considerably, so that may not be for a few weeks!).

    Janet's Log - Stardate 2014

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    049-2014-November-03-WhenMrDogBites_zpsc

     

    When Mr Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan

     

    The ‘blurb’

    Dylan Mint has Tourette's. Being sixteen is hard enough, but Dylan's life is a constant battle to keep the bad stuff in - the swearing, the tics, the howling dog that seems to escape whenever he gets stressed... But a routine visit to the hospital changes everything. Overhearing a hushed conversation between the doctor and his mother, Dylan discovers that he's going to die next March. So he grants himself three parting wishes or 'Cool Things To Do Before I Cack It'. But as Dylan sets out to make his wishes come true, he discovers that nothing - and no-one - is quite as he had previously supposed.

     

    I first saw this book a few months ago when visiting Waterstone’s in Cirencester with a pair of lovely like-minded book worms!  :D

     

    Despite liking the sound of it, I didn’t buy it as we were going on holiday and I was trying to be good, so I was pleased to spot it on Amazon for 98p last month!

     

    It’s teen fiction and the protagonist is a sixteen-year-old boy called Dylan who lives with his Mum in Scotland and attends Drumhill School which is a school for children with additional needs.  Dylan has Tourette’s syndrome but apart from that he’s just like any other sixteen-year-old boy.  However one day after overhearing his consultant and his mother talking in hushed tones, Dylan discovers that he doesn’t have very long to live, and so he starts of bucket list.  It doesn’t have many things on it, but Dylan is determined to finish it before he dies, and with the help of his trusty ‘best bud’, Amir, Dylan sets out to achieve his aims…

     

    I really enjoyed this book.  I don’t know a great deal about Tourette’s.  I do know that most people think it’s all to do with swearing, but that it doesn’t always have that as a symptom.  However, Dylan does swear and he also shouts out inappropriate things.   When things are really bad, Mr Dog comes out.  Dylan has no control over Mr Dog when he appears, although Dylan does his best to keep him in check.   As the book unfolds, Dylan discovers that things aren’t always the way they seem – and that sometimes people can be very surprising.

     

    There are a few twists at the end of the book.  I guessed a couple of them pretty early on but it didn’t spoil what was a very enjoyable story.  :)

     

    Having finished the book and then read up about it, there is a bit of criticism of the language used and also accusations that the book is racist.  I really do not think that’s the case though, and in fact Dylan abhors racism, but some people are racist so the book just reflects life – it’s not written to offend.  Maybe if you don’t like bad language this book isn’t for you, but the swearing is in context and as such I don’t think it is offensive. 

     

    Dylan is an endearing character whose heart is in the right place:

     

     

    ’That’s what I want to be when I grow up – caring and gentle,’

    [he says], because that’s what all good men should be like. 

    Even if you don’t have money to buy swanky dinners in flashy restaurants

    like Nando’s or T.G.I Friday’s or wear trendy clothes

    or have a shit-hot hot-rod car, you can still be gentle and caring. 

    All those other things don’t really matter that much.

     

     

    There is no arguing with that! 

     

    If you liked The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer or The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon then I think you’ll probably enjoy this one too.  :)

     

    The paperback edition is 384 pages long and is published by Bloomsbury.  It was first published in 2013.  The ISBN is 9781408838365.   I read the Kindle version.

     

    4/5 (Very enjoyable)

     

    (Finished 3 November 2014)

    Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens discussion thread

    in Group Reads

    Posted

    WARNING --- THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD FOR CHAPTERS 30 - 33

     

    Summary under spoiler

     

    Crummles doesn’t want Nicholas to leave the troop and tries to persuade him to stay but Nicholas is resolved to return to London to check up on Kate even if Noggs doesn’t contact him.  Crummles then resolves to advertise Nicholas’s departure to draw in crowds and if Nicholas manages to stay longer they’ll say his departure was delayed in order for people to be able to see him act before he has to leave.

     

    There is some discussion amongst Miss Snevellicci, Mr Folair and Mr Lenville about how Messrs Johnson and Digby (Nickleby and Smike) are such unlikely companions.  Lenville says that he thinks they have run away from someone or somewhere and that Digby resembles a pickpocket who used to work in Covent Garden, although he could be a relative.

     

    Nicholas visits Miss Snevellicci’s house where her parents and Mr and Mrs Lillyvick are also living.  There is a bit of an altercation when Mr Snevellicci gets drunk and flirts with Mrs Lillyvick which Nicholas breaks up.   Mrs Snevellicci tries to make a match between her daughter and Nicholas but he is having none of it.

     

    That evening at the show a London manager is in the audience.  Mr Crummles believes he’s there to sign up ‘the phenomenon’ [why doesn’t she have a capital letter for her nickname – or is that just my version?!] but to Mr C’s disappointment the manager falls asleep and then leaves the show early.

     

    Nicholas receives a letter from Noggs and returns to London with Smike.

     

    Ralph mulls over his meeting with Kate which is preventing him from concentrating on his work.  He likes her and wishes her mother and Nicholas were dead so that she could move in with him.  This makes him feel very lonely.

     

    Noggs delivers a package for Ralph and then calls on Miss La Creevy who has returned from visiting her brother whom she hasn’t seen for many years.  Miss La Creevy has called on Mrs Nickleby but found her to be quite unwelcoming.  She would have liked to have visited Kate too but is worried that the Witterlys wouldn’t approve of her and plans to write instead.  Noggs tells her that he’d like to attack Ralph Nickleby and that he believes that one day the desire will become too much and he will actually carry this wish out.  Miss La Creevy is alarmed.  Noggs tells her how Ralph has used Kate as bait and that she is now suffering unwanted attentions from Messrs Hawk, Vesisopht, Pyke and Pluck.  When Miss La Creevy is concerned that Nicholas will deal with these men and Ralph aggressively and that they need to deal with the situation delicately when telling Nicholas what has been going on.

     

    They agree to both be out when Nicholas arrives so that he won’t find out what has been going on until very late at night in order that he will have some time to cool down before acting.

     

    On arrival in London, Nicholas and Smike find lodgings and Nicholas goes to Noggs’s house, only to discover that Noggs is not in.  Noggs’s neighbour Mr Crowl informs him that Noggs will be back and midnight and that he will entertain Nicholas for the evening but Nicholas is restless and instead goes to visit Miss La Creevy only to discover that she is not at home either.  Nicholas goes for a walk because he can’t settle.  He stops at a hotel for some refreshments and then encounters a group of men who are talking about his sister!  He listens for a while and then confronts Mulberry Hawk.  The pair argue and when Hawk leaves Nicholas follows him.  They have an altercation and both end up injured and bleeding.  Nicholas leaves the scene.

     

    Noggs returns home before midnight.  He and Smike worry about Nicholas as he has not returned.  When Nicholas does come back they can see he is injured – he tells Noggs that he has heard some of the story and worked out the rest but still wants to hear what Noggs has to say about the situation.

     

    They plan to remove Mrs Nicholby from Ralph’s house with the help of Miss La Creevy and Nicholas writes to his Uncle.  The next morning Nicholas visits Kate at the Witterlys’ house and the pair plan for her to leave.  Mr Witterly is introduced to Nicholas and Kate tells him she is leaving.  He is glad to see her go!

     

    They go to collect Mrs Nicholby and her things.  Mrs N is confused about what has happened and thinks that they should hear Ralph’s side of things but Nicholas refuses. Mrs N is also upset that Hawk isn’t the man she thought he was – she would have liked Kate to have married him, which in turn would have helped Nicholas’s career prospects. 

     

    Mrs N and Kate go to live, on a temporary basis, with Miss La Creevy.  Nicholas gives Noggs a letter he has written to Ralph, together with the key to his uncle’s house.  He asks Noggs if he knows how badly Hawk was injured in the previous evening’s altercation but Noggs doesn’t know.  Noggs urges Nicholas to rest as he is clearly unwell due to the injury he received from Hawk.

     

    Noggs takes the letter to Ralph Nickleby – the letter contains statements as to the disgust and contempt that Nicholas feels towards his uncle and hopes that when Ralph is dying he looks back on these events with shame.  Ralph Nickleby is furious, especially because Noggs is in the room, but Noggs pretends to be doing his work and appears oblivious to Ralph.

     

    I hope you don't mind if I continue to post a summary - it helps me remember what's going on! :lol:

     

    This is just supposition on my part as I didn’t know the story before we started reading this together and I don’t know anything that is to happen in later parts of the story.  Therefore I haven’t tagged them as it’s all guesswork – I hope that’s okay.  :) 

     

    I’m sure this one has probably crossed your minds as well anyway, but I wonder if there really is a pickpocket in Covent Garden who is related to Smike?  I love how Nicholas has taken Smike under his wing and he obviously feels real affection for the boy – and vice versa.  Part of me would love it if Smike does have some family – but only if they are able to take him into their affections.  Hopefully if this is not the case then Smike will always have a family with the Nicklebys.

     

    Miss La Creevy being reunited with her brother is good news for her.  I wonder if she’ll end up moving to live with them as they’d asked?

     

    Mulberry Hawk is a really nasty piece of work, isn’t he!  I wonder how badly injured he was.  I hope he doesn’t die of his injuries.  :o  That would be terrible for our Nicholas, wouldn’t it!

     

    As for Ralph, I’m still unsure as to whether I think he’s likely to redeem himself in the novel or whether he will die a bitter, lonely old man!

    Your Book Activity - October 2014

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    My niece sent me a message on FB a few weeks ago telling me of a new independent book shop near where she lives.  I imagine it's the same one, Claire.  :)  I must try to visit it some day.  Peter sometimes plays hockey not too far away so if the timing works out I might have a lift over and have a mooch round whilst he's playing.

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