poppy

Today we have the artist Mary Cassatt's birthday. I love her paintings.

Kell and Charm

I think I'm like you Bookjumper, fictional horror doesn't really disturb me (although I'm not a fan of horror) but realistic violence disturbs me deeply. I quite like murder stories but only 'nice' murders

I've made heaps of muck-ups over the years, but my most recent was to get corned beef mixed up with a roast of beef (admitedly the label had worn off). I boiled the roast and I can tell you, there is nothing much worse than boiled beef with mustrard sauce I can remember at school when we had cooking lessons, that one of the girls when told to soften butter over hot water, poured the hot water INTO the butter and had to throw the whole lot away. And another girl tried to flush a disastrous meringue attempt down the loo but it persisted in floating on top. *whatever has that poor girl got wrong with her???? *

Thanks Rosegarden, that sounds fascinating. Will put it on my list of books to look for in the library.

"Trouble is, you're not dressed the part," Lula said to me. "You gotta be in black leather." "I'm not wearing black leather," I told her. "And you shouldn't either. You look like an S&M ad." "This is bounty hunter clothes," Lula said. "All the bounty hunters on television wear clothes like this." Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

Have you read any Bill Bryson Andy? He combines humour with incredibly interesting snippets of information and wry observation. Be prepared to laugh and snort out loud

Yeah, you could say to guests, "Sit down, I'll just whip you up a cake in 5 mins."

I've been reading "Too Close To the Sun - The Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton" but I've got side-tracked onto another book for a bit. He was an adventurer in Kenya during the early 1900's and had an affair with the author Karen Blixen who was running a coffee plantation over there. (Basis of movie Out of Africa ) I'm quite fascinated with this time period in Kenya and have read several other books concerning settler life. I loved The Flame Trees of Thirka by Elspeth Huxley and there are several about the antics of the aristocracy in the Rift Valley (nicknamed Happy Valley due to them being high most of the time).

Wow!!! How cool is that????

I think you made some very wise observations here rwemad. Nothing like a few mistakes of our own to change our "I would never do that!" attitude. And it certainly makes us more compassionate towards other people.

I remember looking at Animalia with my kids, the illustrations are amazing. Didn't know Graeme Base was Australian, a very gifted guy.

Can't say it really bugs me, but something I just heard which had me rolling my eyes ....an ad for a cleaning product which has "detergent free intelligence." Why can't they just state things simply? There's a word for over-complicated descriptions but I can't think what it is.

a sudden thunderstorm accompanied by torrential rain, resulted in a very unfortunate .....

One of my most favourite authors. The Blandings series is very funny too ...Lord Emsworth and his prize pig 'Empress of Blandings.'

Oh I know Pont, it was soooooooo sad Ceinwenn, your list reminded me again of Trains, Planes and Automobiles and Cool Runnings. I loved those too. John Candy was great, such a sad loss.

Has anyone been watching this? I've just caught up with it in it's latter stages. I'm particularly impressed with Danny and Allison, but they are all very good.

Gone With the Wind Dr Zhivago Out of Africa The English Patient Shrek The Shawshank Redemption Love Actually Japanese Story Shadowlands The Piano V for Vendetta The God's Must Be Crazy Crocodile Dundee Forrest Gump Shine Howard's End

Oh, BookJumper, I just thought that was so funny Can just picture you going to give big friendly hugs and loves and little old ladies jumping back in horror Don't give up, I'm sure there's plenty of people who would appreciate a good hug. Perhaps next time you could carry a sign "Free Hugs Today"

I really like this song too Roxi.

I sort of see your point a bit Cougar, if you dissect something too much it can spoil your appreciation of it. I found that was rather the case at school when we studied poems. Rather than enjoying the whole thing, it was pulled to bits and analysed. It sometimes felt too clinical. But different people have different views on books. What one person criticises may be what another likes best. There is no right and wrong, just different opinions and I suppose that what a book forum is for ....to discuss books

I read Maurice fairly recently. I probably enjoyed it least of the E.M.Forster books I have read, not because of the subject matter, which was handled well, but I somehow did not find the characters particularly likeable. Perhaps I'm just out of my depth with high-brow academia. I became rather bored with the long-winded conversations. Did you enjoy it Ravenwood? (you're allowed to disagree )

Hi Dan and welcome. I'm really liking your haiku's

Actually, I'm not entirely sure Muggles. They are very English, dealing a lot with English manners and class divisions in the early 1900's. Without meaning to be sexist, they may appeal more to females. But nothing ventured ...you know Give one a go, 50 pages or so should give you a good idea if you're going to like it or not.

It's always handy to have a book like that for those pesky nights of insomnia. I can always remember reading in a James Heriot book how he used to keep 'The Brothers Karamazov' by Dostoyevsky (I had to look that up) and Seigfried 'The Anatomy of the Eye', by their beds for just such occasions