TammyRich
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Posts posted by TammyRich
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I have a Sony e-reader and have so far been able to use it to download everything I want to.I buy books from Waterstones or the Kobo websites. I've also downloaded from Google books and more. I got it because I don't like the way Amazon monopolize everything bookish be it physical books or e-books and deliberately didn't want to buy a Kindle. Interestingly my local library 'lends' out e-books but you can't 'borrow' them on Kindles!!!
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Hello,
I hope you don't mind me putting my review of Casual Vacancy on - I wrote it for the website Goodreads - after reading Casual Vacancy which I bought eagerly being a big fan of Harry Potter. I found it a disappointment and I just wanted to show there are other viewpoints to the first written. I know several people who gave up on the book. I haven't put a synopsis of the story as you have it above;
One of the problems with this book is the same problem that JKR had with the last Harry Potter book. It is too long, too detailed and I just wanted her to get on with the story. Because she is a successful author with all the time in the world on her hands she is free to write as much as she likes, put a plethora of characters into her novel, pad it out with unnecessary scenes and descriptions and her editor is happy to leave them all in and let her get away with them. All through reading it I was itching to get out a big red pen and circle parts of it, cross bits out and scribble all over it.
Another problem is she has come from writing fantasy and all the characters and situations are on the side of fantastical. The characters are larger than life and exaggerations so much so I found them all irritating. I was unable to sympathize or relate to any of them. Again the events and situations were extreme and unrealistic. JKR seemed to use the book to show as many different examples of unsavoury human behaviour as she could fit in, as well as swearing and sex, just to prove that she is capable of writing an adult book.
And yet the subject matter is so dull. If you are going to write about what is a rather boring subject - small town politics at least make it pacy and quick moving but because of her detail and excessive scene setting she loses so many readers early on. I was tempted to give up several times but persisted because I wanted to see if she could finish it satisfactorily and sadly she doesn't. It ends very downbeat and annoying. If you haven't bought it yet, don't waste your money on a hardback. If you have it will make a good doorstop.
Just wanted to reassure anyone else who is finding it hard going that they are not alone!
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C.J Sansom's Matthew Shardlake historical crime series set during Henry VIII's reign starting with Dissolution
Agreed - Shardlake is a great character and the stories are good too. But what actor would be prepared to made up as a hunchback? He is after all only about 40 so it would have to be a youngish one. (Being 41 myself I still think of 40 as young!).
Another character who I'm surprised no American channel has picked up on yet is Lee Child's Jack Reacher. Not sure I would want them to unless it was done really well with a quality actor.
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I am currently reading this book and it is one of the best books I have read in a long time. One of the best things about it and what Mantel is undoubtedly gifted in is she takes what could have been a quite boring subject and weaves a detailed and intriguing back story for Cromwell.
Most of it must be imagined and embroidered by her such as the dialogue and the descriptions but she makes it so believable that she has me hooked. Cromwell appeared to me a boring character from the Tudor period being I thought either a politician or a churchman unlike Anne Boleyn or Henry VIII or Elizabeth I etc but I am now fascinated.
6/10 is way too low. Can't think what else this person reads to give it a 6/10. They have obviously never read any really bad books.
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I'm really sad too. He was a great author - one of my favourites - really original. I always looked forward to his books.
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Knowing the price cutting exercises of the big booksellers/supermarkets it'll probably be really cheap at the tills. I'll probably get someone to give it me for Christmas or pick it up with a gift voucher or Christmas money.
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I re-read Deathly Hallows about 2 months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it as I read it at such a pace when it first came out that I did not take it in. There was so much to enjoy and to understand. I will have to read them again one after another. I will probably do it before the next film.
When is the Tales of Beedle the Bard out? And will others get it? Or is it out already?
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If you want to get rid of a load of books in one go I would back the Freecycle idea too. If you are happy getting rid of them bit by bit the dropping them off here there and everywhere idea is great.
Oxfam also has book banks you can drop books off at usually in the same places as other recycling centres but I always find the slots annoyingly small so you have to bag the books up in small amounts.
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I'm 39, 40 in September. But I'm okay about it. Really. I am. Truly.
*sniffle*
And me!!!
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Black Swan Green by David Mitchell was set about when I was teenager. That reminded me of loads of stuff when I was the same age. I think his character was a tad older than me but all the stuff was familiar to me. A great read for any teenager of the 80s.
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I usually don't mean to watch it - then end up watching bits but get ashamed of myself and stop again. Last year however it just got awful especially at the start with the all women house. Hope they don't do anything like that to start with...
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I feel as though I have been plodding very slowly through books this year. So far I have read 9 completely and given up on 3. Highlights I think have included I am Legend - see Book Ring threads! and the Tenderness of Wolves. Looking back to 2007 however I had only read 9 by this point anyway so perhaps I am not so slow after all!
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Hi Slim - welcome to the forum. I saw the film first then read the book and the two should really be taken as seperate entities in my opinion. I enjoyed the book more which is excellent sci-fi/fantasy/horror writing and very compulsive. So much is different in the film you would probably find it really annoying unless you were prepared to accept them as different - e.g. the film is set in Manhatten, New York!
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I found myself watching Casualty a few years ago and there was a guy who had been in the same year at school as my sister and lived round the corner as us when I was a kid - Vincenzo Pellegrino . Not very well known to others but got a really distinctive name!
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I'm looking forward to it too but I'm glad I've read it already as I've got the characters in my head already and it will be fun comparing how I imagine them to be and how other people interpret them. Very sad about Anthony Minghella though. Still I'm sure it will be a fitting tribute.
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Yeah - I was surprised to find it on. I knew it was due but only came across it last night when I was flicking through the Freeview channel list on my telly where it said what was on now and what was on next and there it was on ITV2. I thought it was going to be on a terrestial channel like Channel 5!
I should think they will repeat it. Everything on the digital channels seems to get repeated loads especially on the minor channels.
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Did anyone see this last night? It was on ITV2 and was a remake of the original series. Was a bit unsure whether I was going to appreciate it or not but was pleased to say that it wasn't a let down. Michelle Ryan - British actress was fine playing an American (good on her considering the number of US actresses playing key British roles in the movies) so much so I forgot she used to be in Eastenders (there I've said it).
Looking forward to the next episode.
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The authors Margaret Forster and Penelope Lively write these sort of books set in current times. I usually enjoy their novels. 'The Memory Box' is one of the latest by one of them but I can't bring any other titles to mind right at this moment in time -it's late! I've also been reading The Cazalet Chronicles which is about a family starting before the 2nd World War and then continuing over at least 4 books. They are by Elizabeth Jane Howard and she writes really well with lots of characters whose stories she interweaves without overwhelming you.
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I remember a book I had pre-school in the Dr Seuss range called "Bears in the Night" which I adored. I also remember being taken to a toy shop and saying I could have anything up to a certain value and choosing a book published by Disney full of pictures of a particular scene on each page e.g a farm or a school room and everything in the scene labelled - desk, chair, teacher etc. I loved that book and it was partly how I learnt to read.
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Just seen the film which I found rather disturbing but also quite compelling and there were aspects I wanted to know more about that the film didn't go into that I would hope would come into the book. Therefore having read this thread I am going to put it onto my TBR list!
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Yeah - Painted House was the first Grisham I ever read. It was only on enjoying that that I got to read his legal thrillers. Don't think I would have tried them otherwise.
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This year I am not going to persevere with anything I am finding tedious to read. I am just going to make sure I read only things I enjoy reading! I tried to read too many books this/last year (it is rapildy approaching midnight as I type) that I wasted time on and didn't enjoy and should have given up reading much earlier than I did. There is so much good stuff to read in the world and not enough time to read it!
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In John Grisham's 19th book the story is centred around Ron Williamson a man who is convicted of a crime he hasn't committed and spends 11 years in prison for, most of that time on Death Row. A young woman was found murdered and raped but the last person to see her after she left a bar never gave hair specimens or fingerprints but when interviewed later pointed the finger at Ron who was mentally unstable and was known to visit the bar in question. It was later found out that he supplied drugs to the police. The police were convinced 2 people had committed the crime so accused Ron's friend Dennis Fritz too. Neither were at the bar that night.
Grisham shows how small town American cops once convinced they had the right people built up a case around them with the minimum of evidence such as hair analysis, jail house snitches, dream confessions and by exhuming the body of the deceased just to check the victim's palm print.
He also intertwines the stories of other Death Row prisoners wrongly convicted whom Ron mixes with as he endures years of mental torture. Due to refusal by the authorities to allow him to be assessed his mental conditions go untreated and he develops extreme paranoia and schizophrenia. Prisoners on Death Row who are judged to be incompetant cannot be executed!
Grisham writes clearly and compellingly. This is the quickest book I have read this year since Harry Potter. I became engrossed in Ron's story and also his family. He was at home with his mother Juanita on the night of the murder but she died just before the trial. She went to the police station to make a recording of her statement so it could be played at a trial but it was never produced by the police.
I highly recommend it to all Grisham fans and anyone who wants to know why we shouldn't support the death penalty.
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I'm a bit of a Sci-fi fan although not as widely read as some of the above. I like the Star Wars novels but I think you have to be a fan of the films to appreciate the books.
Another vote for John Steinbeck from me - Day of the Triffids is my fave from him.
And I suggest Kim Stanley Robinson as another Sci-fi author to try - Red Mars is a good book and I keep meaning to read it's sequels - Blue Mars and Green Mars.
Psychological drama book, please help
in Book Search and Reading Recommendations
Posted
Hi - in a similar vein is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly written by the editor-in-chief of a French magazine who had a massive stroke and was completely paralysed He was diagnosed with 'locked-in' syndrome where the only communication he could make was by blinking one of his eyes. He wrote the book by doing this. It's a concise but riveting read.
Tammy