Janet
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I've posted some of this in my book blog, so if it seems familiar then you know why!
I started listening to an audio book version of this whilst walking, but it quickly became apparent that it was an abridged version (which was such a shame – it was read wonderfully by Derek Jacobi). Luckily I came across the book in the back of a cupboard a few weeks ago (I must have bought it about 18 years ago!) so I went back to the beginning and read it myself.
Toad is a proud animal. He is wealthy and of high status and regard amongst the animals he associates with and he is always an aficionado of the latest fad – a fact which sometimes gets him into trouble. Toad’s latest craze is that of the motor car. But Toad is also very impetuous and when he spies a car in a local hostelry he decides to borrow it, which leads him into a lot of trouble. Can his friends Mole, Badger and the Water Rat help save the day and make Toad see the error of his ways?
I can’t believe I’ve got to the grand old age of virtually 48 without reading this book! And what a wonderful book it is! The prose is simply beautiful. For example:
”…remembering the stranger’s origins and preferences
he took care to include a yard of long French bread, a sausage out
of which the garlic sang, some cheese which lay down and cried, and
a long-necked, straw-covered flask containing bottled sunshine
shed and garnered on far Southern slopes”
Doesn't that conjure up such a beautiful image?!
I don't really know Berkshire well as a county - I've visited various towns but I haven't 'done' the River Thames there, but despite this lack of knowledge I feel it probably really did capture the essence of the river, if not the county.
I really enjoyed the story, the characters and the writing of this. I really wish I'd read it to my children when they were younger - I'm sure they'd have loved it too.
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The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
The ‘blurb’
When Mole goes boating with the Water Rat instead of spring-cleaning, he discovers a world he never knew about. As well as the river and the Wild Wood there is Toad’s craze for fast travel – which leads him and his friends on a whirl of trains, barges, gipsy caravans and motor cars, into a lot of trouble, and even a battle.
I started listening to an audio book version of this whilst walking (my first proper experience of listening to an audio book), but it quickly became apparent that it was an abridged version (which was such a shame – it was read wonderfully by Derek Jacobi). Luckily I came across the book in the back of a cupboard a few weeks ago (I must have bought it about 18 years ago!) so I went back to the beginning and read it myself.
Toad is a proud animal. He is wealthy and of high status and regard amongst the animals he associates with and he is always an aficionado of the latest fad – a fact which sometimes gets him into trouble. Toad’s latest craze is that of the motor car. But Toad is also very impetuous and when he spies a car in a local hostelry he decides to borrow it, which leads him into a lot of trouble. Can his friends Mole, Badger and the Water Rat help save the day and make Toad see the error of his ways?
I can’t believe I’ve got to the grand old age of virtually 48 without reading this book! And what a wonderful book it is! The prose is simply beautiful. For example:
"...remembering the stranger’s origins and preferences
he took care to include a yard of long French bread, a sausage out
of which the garlic sang, some cheese which lay down and cried, and
a long-necked, straw-covered flask containing bottled sunshine
shed and garnered on far Southern slopes."Doesn't that conjure up such a beautiful image?!
I really enjoyed the story, the characters and the writing of this. I have The Golden Age on my Kindle, and if the writing is anything like it is in this book then I’m sure I’ll enjoy that too.
The paperback edition is 242 pages long and is published by Puffin. It was first published in 1908. The ISBN is 9780141321134.
4/5 (I really liked it)
(Finished 22 May 2014)
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I think I read Fluke in the early '80s. Is it about a dog who thinks he's a man and a man who thinks he's a dog?! I read a few Herberts back then, but they're not really my cup of tea, although I think I enjoyed The Fog.
I'm reading Sugar for the Horse by H E Bates. It's the follow-up to My Uncle Silas.
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Thanks, both.
I watched The Day of the Triffids in the 1980s. I think it was on TV around the time I studied the book for my English CSE all those years ago...! I like vintage sci-fi when it's set on Earth - it appeals more than the idea of reading something set on another planet somehow.
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Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham
The ‘blurb’
It was Diana Brackley who put the milk out for the cat; who dropped a speck of lichen in it by mistake; who noticed how the lichen stopped the milk turning.
But it was Francis Saxover, the famous biochemist, who carried on from there; who developed Antigerone, the cure for ageing; who then tried to suppress a discovery which was certainly in the megaton range.
And so it was Diana Brackley who went to town with Antigerone in one of Wyndham’s gayest most satirical forays into the fantastic.
Two biochemists, Francis Saxover and Diana Brackley, who work together at a research centre owned by Saxover are surprised by an unexpected reaction to some milk that had lichen dropped in it. Francis Saxover suppresses his results fearing what might happen if the discovery is revealed and Diana leaves the centre and sets up a beauty clinic – but both continue to experiment with Antigerone in private. When one of Diana’s clients suffers an allergic reaction to a treatment at the clinic, it seems that the secret of Antigerone will be revealed, with potentially catastrophic results…
This is the fourth Wyndham book I’ve read, and I was expecting it to be of a similar theme, but there are no aliens in this book! Instead it explores the moral dilemma of whether the discovery of an anti-aging ‘cure’ would really be as good as one might think. It seems to me to be a departure in the writing style of the other books too. There are excerpts from newspapers and television reports which also give it less of a sci-fi feel. It does, of course, feel rather dated in places but despite that it’s an enjoyable read and I will definitely be reading more of Wyndham’s works – I already have Web and The Crysalids on my to read pile.
The paperback edition is 204 pages long and is published by Penguin. It was first published in 1960. The ISBN is 9780140019865.
3½/5 (I liked it)
(Finished 15 May 2014)
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I don't tend to read historical fiction much, but I loved Sacred Hearts which I read a few years ago. I wouldn't have read it if it wasn't chosen for book club but I was very glad I did.
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Thanks, guys. It was a lovely surprise.
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Awww, he's such a star.
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I finished Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham a few days ago. I enjoyed it, although not as much as the others of his I've read. This is still a 4/5 though.
I received this lovely parcel in the post last week... see if you can guess who sent it?
Isn't it gorgeously wrapped...
And inside...
Which is right up my street!
Thanks so much...
Kay. I love it.
As you know, I love visiting literary sites and this book covers some great ones. I can't wait to try some out. -
Thanks.
I've read one of his books before (autobiographical) and have another on my shelf. I like his writing style. -
Well done, but oh dear! I've loved the two Hardys I've read so far - I wonder if it was the book that didn't suit you, or if it's the writer?! I have this on my 'to read' pile (although I'll probably read it on my Kindle when I get round to it).
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Buster’s Diaries as told to Roy Hattersley
The ‘blurb’
Buster became famous in 1996 after he defended himself against a goose in St James’s Park – a goose which, unfortunately, belonged to the Queen. Pursued by the press ever since, he has sought solace in writing. Buster’s Diaries is a heart-warming story of triumph over adversity, as the author describes his rise from living rough on a Paddington waste ground to nights spent in a sheepskin (fake) lined bed. It reveals – with reckless honest - the secrets of the strange relationship between dog and the Man on the other end of the lead.
Buster sprang to fame after attacking one of the Queen’s geese in a royal park in London. It wasn’t really Buster’s fault though, but it meant the Man had to go to court. Despite this, and other such adventures, the Man loved Buster almost more than anything else in the world.
After the famous adventure with the goose, Buster started dictating diary entries to the Man and this book is the result. Buster’s insights into his life with his beloved human are very humorously written. After a disastrous spell of dog-ownership a few years ago I have come to the conclusion that I’m not really a dog person (in terms of not wanting another dog – I do like dogs but not as an owner) but whether you own dogs or not, this is a really well-written and funny book which made me laugh out loud in places and I definitely want to read the sequel, Buster’s Secret Diaries.
The paperback edition is 187 pages long and is published by Warner Books. It was first published in 1998. The ISBN is 9780751533316.
5/5 (I loved it)
(Finished 07 May 2014) -
Oh dear, that doesn't bode well!
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I wasn't complaining! I simply meant that when I came to that question I considered whether it was meant to have any significance (eg was the reader meant to feel more sympathy to Mathilde because of her disability) but that it didn't really alter my opinion that I didn't consider it relevant!
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As ever, I have responded without reading anyone else’s answers
1. In summary, what did you think of the book(s)?
I have only read one specifically for this circle – A Very Long Engagement –I have The Soldier’s Return on my Kindle and will doubtless get round to it at some stage.
Although I haven’t read it for this circle, I have read A Month in the Country before and I loved it. The writing is poetical feel about it and the author manages to capture exactly how I imagine 1920s rural Yorkshire to be.
I absolutely loved A Very Long Engagement. It didn’t take me any time at all to get into it and it made me cry at the end – it really brought home the absolute futility of war. I didn’t want it to end.
2. Had you read any of the authors before? Would you want to read any of them again?
As I said above, I’ve read one Carr before and I loved it. I already have The Battle of Pollocks Crossing on my ‘to read’ pile and his others on my Wish List. As for Japrisot, I would like to read more based on this story but I will have to research them first. There don’t appear to be any others in print, although there are some on Amazon Marketplace.
3. Did you have expectations about any of the books beforehand? How did they match up?I didn’t know anything about the Japrisot book – in fact I hadn’t actually heard of it before it was nominated for this circle so therefore I didn’t have any expectations.
I picked up A Month in the Country on a whim from the library (although I later discovered that I’d added it to my Amazon Wish List in January 2009 – I think my Mum probably recommended it to me.
), so I must have thought I’d enjoy it!
4. Different locations (France, London, North Yorkshire), different styles (mystery, humour/elegiac idyll, social drama), very different books. Which, if any, did you prefer (can you rank them)? Why?I’m really not sure I could choose between the Japrisot and the Carr – I enjoyed them both so much, and because they are so different I’m finding it hard to compare one to the other. Sorry!
5. Japrisot's is a view of WW1 from a French point of view. Did it provide you with a different or fresh perspective on the war compared to what you already knew? How about the other two books?I did A Level English in 2008 and the synoptic unit was WW1 so I already had a fairly good knowledge of how people felt. Before my A level I only really though about war from a British perspective – it hadn’t really occurred to me that the war didn’t actually take place on British soil, so whilst there is no doubt the people ‘back home’ were horribly concerned about their loved-ones in France, they didn’t have a real grasp of what it was really like, whereas the people of France, whether they were fighting or were civilians were totally surrounded by the conflict.
6. Did the characterisation in the Japrisot novel work for you? Any favourite characters? Any in either of the other two books?I thought the characters in <i>A Very Long Engagement</i> were very well-written and convincing. The protagonist, Mathilde, was a strong character who never gave up – I liked that. As I said, it’s been a few years since I read Carr’s book but I seem to remember that I liked most of the characters that too.
7. All three books feature soldiers damaged by the war, and the effect that has on the people they love, know and meet. What, if anything, did each have to say that was different from the others?
I have taken my time answering these questions as I found some of them to be quite… not challenging exactly… but they took a lot of thought. However I don’t really sure how to answer this one. I think the only thing that I can come up with is that Mathilde stayed totally loyal to Manech and to discovering his fate… I *think*, if I remember correctly, that Tom Birkin was married, but that his experiences of war had changed his relationship with his wife – they had separated, perhaps, or at least become distant? However, Tom had actually experienced war, whereas Mathilde hadn’t, so they were bound to react differently.
Apologies if I’ve misunderstood the question entirely.
8. Mathilde is confined to a wheelchair. Was this important? Does it have any real effect on the story, or on your perception of it or her?To me it was irrelevant so it didn’t have any effect on my reading of the book. I’m not clear, having read this question, whether we’re meant to have any specific perceptions of her disability because of it?!
9. Tina Lombardi reacted very differently to Mathilde to the same event. Did this contrast play any useful part in the story?Both characters sought to find out the truth of what really happened to their loved ones in very different ways – Tina Lombardi wanted, and exacted, revenge on those who prevented her lover’s pardon from saving him, whereas Mathilde just wanted to find out whether Manech was dead or alive. I think the contrast served to show how grief can affect people in different ways. Tina’s outcome was death and Mathilde’s was life.
10. Did the conclusion surprise you? What did you think of it?It did surprise me. I wasn’t sure whether Manech was going to be dead or alive and at various points throughout the novel my opinion changed. By the end I was fairly certain he was dead. I liked the ending – I was glad that Mathilde found Manech, even if it was a little bittersweet with Manech not having his memories.
11. The conclusions in the other two books are equally important. What did you think of them?I very much liked the ending of A Month in the Country. It’s been a couple of years since I read it but I seem to remember that it took me by surprise.
I will be going to bed shortly as I have to be up early tomorrow, but I will come back and read the other replies.
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Oh dear.
Have you read any other of his books.
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I have one that I bought last time round.
I also have a Kindle which I use more often, but I use my Nook for library books as you can't get library books in the UK on Kindle. It doesn't have a light in it, but for £29 I wouldn't expect a light. I really like it. It's slightly larger (wider) than my Kindle, but I don't find that a problem. -
It's self-published so it's possible to buy new copies (not that you need to) direct from the author.
I am going to check out some of those books with multiple stories/countries in. I have a couple on my Wish List.
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I finished book #24 of the year today. Set in Basutoland, southern Africa, I'm using it for my World Challenge book for Lesotho which is what that country has been called since gaining full independence. This is my review:
Green Mountain Doctor by Colin Smith
Colin Smith, the author, was my GP from when I was a little girl until I got married just before I was 22. He also sang in the choir at my wedding! When he retired, Colin moved from Kent to Dorset, but kept in touch with my in-laws. I last saw him at my father-in-law’s funeral about 8 years ago! However, I didn’t know until recently that he’d written and self-published books. Some are fiction, but this book is factual and is about his time as a young newly-qualified doctor who went to work in Basutoland – at the time a British Protectorate – as a Government Medical Office. Wikipedia define a British Protectorate as “a territory under the British Empire which is not formally annexed but in which, by treaty, grant or other lawful means, the Crown has power and jurisdiction.” Basutoland is now, since gaining full independence, called Lesotho.
The book starts by detailing some of Colin’s childhood and his training before moving to Africa. Whilst there he decided that he should be married – his letter of proposal is very funny – it’s amazing his wife said yes! He then goes on to speak about personal and medical matters, some of which I found rather difficult to read due to their rather descriptive nature (but that’s me – I have to watch programmes like Holby City from behind the sofa!
). The African surgeries and hospitals which Colin served in during his time in Basutoland were very basic, and Colin’s training slightly inadequate for the challenges he faced and therefore he had his fair share of very sad failures, but throughout he speaks with compassion and humour – the tone is informal and easy to read and I very much enjoyed it, although having personal experience of the author probably helped!In the 1970s, Colin Smith and his children - and my father-in-law and his children - took part in a televised documentary about Higham Marshes in protest at some potential development (a battle that would happen again in the 2000s with talk of an airport) - my father-in-law played Charles Dickens and Peter (my husband) played Pip!
This is them - Colin Smith is the adult on the right - Peter is the dark haired child in the centre of the photo!
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The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole, Margaret Hilda Roberts and Sue Townsend by Sue Townsend
The ‘blurb’
True Confessions of Adrian Mole, Margaret Hilda Roberts and Susan Lilian Townsend is the third book in Sue Townsend's brilliantly funny Adrian Mole series.
Monday June 13th.
I had a good, proper look at myself in the mirror tonight. I've always wanted to look clever, but at the age of twenty years and three months I have to admit that I look like a person who has never even heard of Jung or Updike.
Adrian Mole is an adult. At least that's what it says on his passport. But living at home, clinging to his threadbare cuddly rabbit 'Pinky', working as a paper pusher for the DoE and pining for the love of his life, Pandora, has proved to him that adulthood isn't quite what he expected. Still, without the slings and arrows of modern life what else would an intellectual poet have to write about…?
Included here are two other less well-known diarists: Sue Townsend and Margaret Hilda Roberts, a rather ambitious grocer's daughter from Grantham.
This, the third instalment of Adrian Mole’s diaries, left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. It didn’t seem to me to be as amusing as the first two books and in fact I preferred the Margaret Hilda Roberts part of the diaries to the Adrian Mole books. It’s only been a few days since I finished the book but I have found the Mole bits have faded and I don’t really know what to write about them! It won’t let it put me off the next of the series, but I’m hoping for an improvement on this one.
The paperback edition is 240 pages long and is published by Penguin. It was first published in 1989. The ISBN is 9780141046440.
3/5 (It was okay)
(Finished 02 May 2014)
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I'm about to reply to your PM now. You've probably read on my Facebook, but my exciting day was singing with a local opera group in the bandstand in the main park in Bath for a friend who was proposing to his girlfriend (another good friend). He engineered it that they'd be walking past whilst we sang a song from the first opera they sang in together - and where they met. It was a total success... she said yes!
I didn't cry.
Oh no. Not at all. No, no no! -
UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED, the books are from the country the author was born in.
This is one such book - Basutoland (now Lesotho)
49 Countries - 21.03%
Green Mountain Doctor by Colin Smith
The ‘blurb’
In the early 1960s, the 'winds of change' were blowing through southern Africa.
A young doctor, recently qualified and ridiculously inexperience, found himself in charge of a hospital in Basutoland, high in the Drakensberg mountains.
In this remote British Protectorate, in surroundings completely alien to his background and training, he was expected to cover all aspects of medicine, including obstetrics, surgery, public heatlh and forensic pathology, with the sole responsibility for the medical care of many thousands of people.
As he struggled to conquer his fear and adapt to his surroundings he was also learning to be a husband and father.
This is the story of a fascinating, and extraordinary, period in a young man's life.
Although I usually read a book based on the author’s country of birth, it’s not the case with this one.
Colin Smith, the author, was my GP from when I was a little girl until I got married just before I was 22. He also sang in the choir at my wedding! When he retired, Colin moved from Kent to Dorset, but kept in touch with my in-laws. I last saw him at my father-in-law’s funeral about 8 years ago! However, I didn’t know until recently that he’d written and self-published books. Some are fiction, but this book is factual and is about his time as a young newly-qualified doctor who went to work in Basutoland – at the time a British Protectorate – as a Government Medical Office. Wikipedia define a British Protectorate as “a territory under the British Empire which is not formally annexed but in which, by treaty, grant or other lawful means, the Crown has power and jurisdiction.” Basutoland is now, since gaining full independence, called Lesotho.
The book starts by detailing some of Colin’s childhood and his training before moving to Africa. Whilst in Africa he decided that he should be married – his letter of proposal is very funny – it’s amazing his wife said yes! He then goes on to speak about personal and medical matters, some of which I found rather difficult to read due to their rather descriptive nature (but that’s me – I have to watch programmes like Holby City from behind the sofa!
). The African surgeries and hospitals which Colin served in during his time in Basutoland were very basic, and Colin’s training slightly inadequate for the challenges he faced and therefore he had his fair share of very sad failures, but throughout he speaks with compassion and humour – the tone is informal and easy to read and I very much enjoyed it, although having personal experience of the author probably helped!The paperback edition is 160 pages long and is self-published by Colin Smith. It was first published in 2000. The ISBN is 9780953889501.
4/5 (I really liked it)
(Finished 06 May 2014)
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One of my aims for the reading year 2014 was to get TBR under 400, so I've accomplished that now
Huge congratulations.
I just popped in to say I'm not ignoring your PM. I've had a really busy (but brilliant!) day today but I haven't been online a great deal. I will reply tomorrow if that's okay.
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Oh dear!
Janet's Log - Stardate 2014
in Past Book Logs
Posted
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
The ‘blurb’
When Harold Fry nips out one morning to post a letter, leaving his wife hoovering upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the other. He has no hiking boots or map, let alone a compass, waterproof or mobile phone. All he knows is that he must keep walking. To save someone else's life.
Despite having the paperback, I borrowed this on audio book from the library and listened to it over the course of a week whilst walking. Actually, it was quite an apt book for that purpose!
Harold Fry lives with his wife Maureen in Kingsbridge, Devon. Since retirement his life has become very mundane and he and Maureen barely talk any more. One day a letter arrives for Harold. A letter he finds very difficult to respond to. Clutching the envelope containing his rather lame reply, Harold tells his wife he is going to the post box at the end of the road – but when he gets there he keeps on walking, resolving to deliver the letter by hand. However, the destination is more than 450 miles away and Harold has no training whatsoever. In spite of this, and despite Maureen’s assertion that he’ll never manage it, he keeps on walking.
On the way he reflects upon various subjects including his marriage to Maureen, work, his son David with whom he always had a faltering relationship and Queenie, the woman who wrote the letter – and back in Devon Maureen’s side of the story also unfolds.
During his journey Harold meets up with various people who offer help and, as Harold tells his story, he finds that each of them has a story of their own. As he travels further, Harold experiences a gamut of emotions from abject grief to euphoria. At times he is ready to give up, but there is always something that makes him continue on his quest.
The story is told from both Harold and Maureen’s perspectives. I liked following Harold’s progress up the country – he mentions places near where I live, which I think helped to add to my enjoyment of the book. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is a complex story which unfolds gently but never slowly.
At first I didn’t like Maureen at all (which I guess was the idea!), but as her story unfolded I started to have sympathy for her.
I fleetingly wondered if their son had died when, at the start of the book, Maureen was tidying his room and ensuring it was always kept tidy, ready for when David came home – but I dismissed that idea as the story progressed! I loved the way Maureen and Harold’s fractured relationship repaired as his journey unfolded and although it was sad that Queenie died, that was inevitable, but Harold and Maureen’s rediscovering of each other balanced that sadness.
I’m fairly certain that listening to the audio book is what made it such an enjoyable story for me – it’s narrated by by Jim Broadbent and he did an excellent job – just the right quality of melancholy in his voice when he voiced Harold!
The paperback edition is 368 pages long and is published by Black Swan. It was first published in 2012. The ISBN is 9780552778091.
5/5 (I loved it)
(Finished 23 May 2014)