pontalba

The Bridge Over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle. 3/5 I liked it, but man 'o man, it annoyed me. A product of it's times (written in 1954), Kwai is both stereotypical and stiff in the telling of a 1942, WWII, Pacific Theatre event. I suppose most have at least seen or heard of the film starring Alec Guinness and William Holden. The stiff-necked Brit Colonel Nicholson whose pride blinds his patriotism somehow and the attending figures that surround him. Colonol Saito his Japanese counterpart that is head of that particular POW camp and the bridge that must be built for the Japanese invasion of Burma to go as planned. I'd seen most of the film many years ago, and really Guinness is perfect for the part of Nicholson breathing a life into the character that is somehow flatter in the book. But I must get back to the book. Sorry. Blind pride. Men following orders. Oppressive jungle temperatures. Partially unprepared insurgents. Boulle really brings out the similarities of nationalities, probably a bit ahead of his time, I think. A quote of the first page of the book kind of sums it up. I like that, in other words, we are all the same underneath the skin, as it were. Nationalism, racism and whatever other "isms" one can think of are essentially superfluous. It is true, and I wish more would realize it. We are creeping up on that thought, but faster, please!

Ooshie, OMG. I can understand your aversion in that case. I'm so sorry you (both) went through that. A terrible time, I know.

Yesterday we watched Spellbound with Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck and today we watched A Family Thing wiith Robert Duval and James Earl Jones. Both good, I'd seen Spellbound before, but had forgotten some of it. I'd not seen A Family Thing though....James Earl Jones is fantastic.

Have you read any more of the series? Yes, it is the same as Cross Stitch in the UK. Annoying when they change names like that! I really have loved the whole series and can't wait for the next one.

Hah! Is that ever true. When the computer is down for whatever reason, our reading count goes up.

Kylie! What a great time...wow! Great description too. Thanks for posting.

I'm reading The Bridge Over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle. Interesting style, a bit reporter-like, but he truly puts across the emotion of the moment. Good stuff.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 5/5 Finished my reread last night. /sigh/ I did mine one or two nuggets I'd either forgotten or missed before. The ups and downs of Jamie and Claire's relationship are thrilling and verra extreme, and the reader is not quite sure just how it will turn out till almost the end. For the one or two out there that have not heard of the Outlander series, it is the story of a woman, circa 1945 that 'falls' through the standing stones. The standing stones of fairy tales that usually begin with .....200 years ago..... She, Claire, is thrown back the aforementioned 200(ish) years to a barely pre-Culloden time. The story tells of her survival in, what is for her, a barbaric time, and her bond with a young man, Jamie. How that bond develops, strengthens and culminates makes for a fascinating and enrapturing story. Highly Recommended.

LOL I don't know about that film, but that library was used to great effect in the film The Day After Tomorrow with Dennis Quaid, glacier down the front of the library, slowly rising ice, burning books for warmth.....here is the wiki article on the film. Really good film IMO. http://en.wikipedia...._After_Tomorrow Looks like 1902....there are some great interior shots and a long shot of the exterior in this wiki article. http://en.wikipedia...._Public_Library

Whoops! posted in wrong thread. Coolish, bright sunshine, blue skies.....loverly IOW! Road Trip!! lol

That is soooo frustrating! I hate it when I get like that.

It's true Julie that our local ones are certainly not majestic. However the New York City (manhatten main) library is fantastic. There actually two lions, but this shot only catches one. We visited there on our trip in October.

I have Hand in Glove, Past Caring and Never Go Back. I really want to get to them soon, well worth it. I'm glad I have one of your favorites Julie. As soon as I can, I'll get it out and read it, maybe next. If I can find it.

AIE: Now, Janet, THAT is a Library!!

Actually I find the ones posted by Devi and Kell interesting. They are a nice break from the stone piles.......which are fascinating in their own way of course. Nothing against them, but different is wonderful too! Here is our little library, this is the closest to us. Frankly, they don't have a very good selection. Sorry about the size, it's the only one online I could find. It's in the middle of town, but it's a small town.

I'm doing (another) reread of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I believe her new one is coming out this Fall, so I suppose I'll end up rereading the whole thing.

I read Mr. Whicher back in 2009, can't find a review of it, but as I recall it was a bit slow. I generally liked it though. Actually, the historical bits were my favorites. And the tie in with Dickens/Collins of course. I did feel a bit sorry for Mr. Whicher.

Borrowed Time by Robert Goddard is a rather convoluted murder mystery. A man and woman. A chance meeting. Violence. Murder. Is the narrator a reliable one? What, if anything, is he leaving out? Just when the reader thinks they've figured it out, and have discounted the obvious, another twist comes into play. I thought I had it solved a couple of times, only to be surprised. Goddard is certainly an author to be reckoned with, and one heretofore unknown by myself. Although all of the characters were not fully realized, it didn't take away my enjoyment of the ever thickening plot. Recommended 4/5

She did, and also she loved, I mean loved the cats. Most of them wouldn't give her the time of day, but one of them would wrestle with her. Now, that was a picture I wish I had! Thanks. And so true.

Ouch! So sorry to hear that Lucy...The only thing I know of is if you have the kindle ap on your computer, you can read them there. I wonder though if once on your computer you could transfer to a nook or kobo. I just don't know. Drat. Sounds fantastic!

The Jane Eyre is a lovely cover! I want! lol I first read JE when I was about 11 years old, and I've lost count of the number of times I've reread it. It is one of my all times favorite. Agreed, I think that is true of many books. An example for me would be Catcher in the Rye. I didn't read it till a few years ago, and actually almost hated it. I compared it to chewing, not glass, but cut crystal. IOW, excellent, but disliked. If I'd read it as a youngster I might have enjoyed it. /dunno/

Well, our local library (which isn't so hot) has a Friends of the Library group that hold a sale every 3rd weekend of the month, with half price in August. We used to go more often, but haven't been in quite a while now. For one thing, if I go in with a list I find nothing on the list, usually. But somehow we manage to come out with a couple of boxes of books. /tis a puzzlement!/

She did, and we enjoyed her no end. We had a miniature chihuahua at the time, and he absolutely worshiped her. To see the two of them was hilarious to say the least. He followed her around like a teeny shadow.

Loved Faulty Towers! We drove to Houston, Tx this weekend, a round trip of 728 miles. We were supposed to stay two nights, but the hotel so royally screwed up our reservations that we only stayed the one night and turned around and came home the next day. Gak. They kept us waiting in the lobby/office for an hour and a half. I was steaming, and had a headache from driving westerly facing the sunset. Well, we did manage to spend some time in the Houston Galleria, a 3 story, indoor shopping center the next morning. Two Starbucks, thankfully and loads of Expensive Stores. Yowee, didn't buy anything but a Texas keychain and a few stickers...oy. I am so underwhelmed by Houston.

Those are great pictures Julie! It is great that you have stories to go along with them as well. Plus the other stories of course. I really ought to scan my family pics into the computer. My Great Aunt was a genealogy expert, made herself so, waaaay back, a hundred years ago. She actually travelled to Germany with her daughter to inspect records. She managed to trace my grandfather's (her brother) family back to Charlemagne. She was a verra stubborn woman and very much ahead of her time in every way. She died when I was about 11, wish I'd known enough to appreciate her. My husband has several cartons of pictures of his antecedents that his father assembled and he is sorting them further and writing a history of the family for his children.