Polka Dot Rock
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I've just ordered a second-hand copy from marketplace for £2.75
(Actually 1p, but then plus P&P).With that sort of money, I better not be disappointed!!
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Excellent review, cheers Paula!
Made me think about it all over again.The theme of the battle between women is written really well, I feel: it's something I feel quite strongly about as a feminist so I appreciated Atwood's take on it.
I also like the way she really makes Tony, Roz and Charis seem quite isolated within their narratives, so even though they have eachother, they are basically alone with their verious situations and thoughts.
But I also like how Atwood reveals Zenia to be an even more isolated figure, ultimately. I didn't feel sorry for Zenia but I did end up pitying her.
Did you have a favourite character? I think it's hard to choose but Roz did make me chuckle!
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Hmm... let's see *scuttles off to blog*
TBR
Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
Sense & Sensibility - Jane Austen
Villette - Charlotte Bronte*
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop - Lewis Buzbee
Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes (trans. Edith Grossmann)*
No Name - Wilkie Collins*
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens*
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens*
The Woman Who Walked Into Doors - Roddy Doyle
Jamaica Inn - Daphne du Maurier
Julius - Daphne du Maurier
The Mill on the Floss - George Eliot*
The Crimson Petal and The White - Michel Faber
The Big Fat Bitch Book - Kate Figes
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Isherwood
Finn Family Moomintroll - Tove Jansson
Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
The People's Act of Love - James Meek
Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky (trans. Sanda Smith)
Franny & Zooey - J.D Salinger
Anna Karenina - L.N. Tolstoy*
...So 26 and growing!
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I had a wander around Amazon, Green Met and my library, read some blurbs, and found out what was available. My final choice, from Green Met was The Robber Bride and Alias Grace.
The Handmaid's Tale looked interesting, but not very easy to get hold of.. if I like the style, I will try again later.
If I may Michelle, I'd recommend reading The Robber Bride first. Out of the two, I think it'd serve as a good introduction to Atwood's different writing styles, tones, narratives etc, set in a modern(ish) context (Canada in the 1980s).
The Handmaid's Tale may be hard to get hold of as it is a favourite of many so they probably don't want to let go of their copies
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Picked up The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood today for the princely sum of 25p!
That's also on my TBR list. Waiting for my hols! Everyone I know who's read it has flipped over with praise so really looking forward to it
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Glad you enjoyed it Paula
It's a cracker isn't it?I like how Margaret Atwood seems to be a deceptively 'cuddly' writer, yet her books are actually very dark!
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Katie is far too young to uderstand what books are at the moment.
As babies go, I think Katie will be among the first to know what a book is, with a mum like you Emma
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Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Oh pants
I forgot Rebecca... Can I do a top 15? -
Oh damn... Now I want to read it!!
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(Off topic, but since you started the thread: I noticed that you're reading Jodi Picoult - I read a really good article/interview yesterday you may be interested in. Find it here)
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I think she will go on to write more as they are so successful and maybe she will use the female policewoman Louise as the main character.
I'd love it if she did use Louise - I thought she was hilarious! And very sympathetic too...
When she was thinking about her old cat and then when he died... Oh I had a tear in my eye!
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I adored this book! Definitely going to end up being a highlight of my reading year. I bought it my mum for Christmas as she loves Kate Atkinson, and I've bought her Case Histories for her upcoming birthday.
Do you think she'll do anymore 'Jackson Brodie' novels? I hope so!
EDIT: I'd also like to point out that One Good Turn was especially amazing for me as I don't read crime novels!!
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Off the very top of my head, as of right now:
* Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
* Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
* Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov
* Animal Farm by George Orwell
* The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
* Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
* After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell
* The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
* Wise Children by Angela Carter
* On Beauty by Zadie Smith
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1 The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
3 The Color Purple by Alice Walker
8 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
9 Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger
Ah, compatible again Rennie!
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It's a quiet little gothic mystery, that is very reminiscent of the work of authors like Dickens, the Brontes, and Daphne DuMaurier.
Right, that's me sold to that then!!
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Oh, I cry so easily at films!
Was reminded of one last night, when I caught the last 5 mins of Lost In Translation... and STILL ended up crying! I find the ending very moving.
Beaches is a classic weep fest and I now refuse to watch Steel Magnolias because it embarrasses me how I cry everytime I've seen!
But my ultimate sob-fest can be named in just two letters...
E.T.
"I'll be riiiight heeeere"
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Isn't Beswick mentioned in Jane Eyre?
I'm sure there are others but can't recall them at the moment.
You're very right Judy! Jenny Uglow wrote a biography about him last year and I remember reading quite a few articles last year. Here's one: Small Wonders, and here's a bit about how Bewick ended up in Jane Eyre:
Bewick never soared to the visionary heights of Blake, but there was terror and loneliness in his art, as well as comedy and observation, and this, too, had a powerful appeal. A copy of A History of British Birds arrived in Haworth parsonage when Charlotte Bront
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Thanks Kell
I'll be keeping an eye on your progress too I'm thinking of saving The Mill on the Floss for my upcoming hols - seems quite summer-y, strangely.
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Since decided to change the perimeters of my Doorstep Challenge a bit, so The Tenderness of Wolves now qualifies as a chunky monkey
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
Started 10/04/2007 - Finshed 22/04/2007
Paperback: 466 pages
Publisher: Quercus; New Ed edition (8 Feb 2007)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1847240674
ISBN-13: 978-1847240675
1867, Canada - As winter tightens its grip on the isolated settlement of Dove River, a man is brutally murdered and a 17-year old boy disappears. Tracks leaving the dead man's cabin head north towards the forest and the tundra beyond. In the wake of such violence, people are drawn to the township - journalists, Hudson's Bay Company men, trappers, traders - but do they want to solve the crime, or exploit it? One-by-one the assembled searchers set out from Dove River, pursuing the tracks across a desolate landscape home only to wild animals, madmen and fugitives, variously seeking a murderer, a son, two sisters missing for 17 years, a forgotten Native American culture, and a fortune in stolen furs before the snows settle and cover the tracks of the past for good. In an astonishingly assured debut, Stef Penney deftly weaves adventure, suspense, revelation and humour into a panoramic historical romance, an exhilarating thriller, a keen murder mystery and ultimately, with the sheer scope and quality of her storytelling, one of the books of the year.Wonderfully powerful beginning: In fact, I can't remember the last time I was so impressed by the opening pages of a novel! However, that means it has to continue to impress
Very promising start though!I'm only about 70+ pages in but I'm loving it thus far: it's extremely atmospheric and very readable. It's establishing a lot of characters, who are all so interesting that I want to know more. I really like how Penney switches narrative point-of-view between third person for the majority of the time, then uses first-person narration for Mrs Ross (who's a very intriguing lady...).
Really enjoying it, just wish I had chance to read more this week! Still, it's the weekend very soon, so some quality 'sit down and tell the world to shut up' time is ahead!
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The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney was an absolute joy to read: I throughly enjoyed it and it well deserves it's award winning status ("Boo!" to the Orange Prize for not shortlisting it: "Boo!" again, in fact).
I will review it properly as I'd like more people to hear about it. Beautiful characterisation, wonderful plotting, AMAZING atmosphere (I can't think of anything I've read that captures a mood and landscape so completely)... A beautiful and compulsive novel, and I can scarcely believe it's only Penney's first! She is also a screenwriter, and although the dialogue is pitch-perfect, I can't imagine this particular story as anything other than a written narrative.
It's one of the few books where I've got to the end and felt a huge need to read more. I demand a sequel! I can't be left without knowing more...
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I've decided to change the perimeters of my Doorstep Challenge a bit, so The Tenderness of Wolves (466 pages) now qualifies as a chunky monkey
Which is nice. -
Here I am again, wading in with yet another challenge that ties in with my heaving TBR list.
I've decided to put Modern Classics here too, which will be in the pink. These will usually be post-1900, although not always!
January
Vanity Fair - W.M Thackeray (8/10)
March
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (6/10)
April
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (5/10)
May
Jamaica Inn - Daphne du Maurier (8/10)
Watchmen - Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons (10/10)
My Cousin Rachel - Daphne du Maurier (8/10)
TBR
Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis
Money - Martin Amis
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
Sense & Sensibility - Jane Austen
Villette - Charlotte Bronte
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes (trans. Edith Grossmann)
No Name - Wilkie Collins
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
Jamaica Inn - Daphne du Maurier
The Mill on the Floss - George Eliot
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Isherwood
Watchmen - Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami
Franny & Zooey - J.D Salinger
Anna Karenina - L.N. Tolstoy
To The Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
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A similar situation to me: once I came home for my year out, I found that I could read all the books I wanted to... But had no-one to talk about them with!
It's funny really, as many people were speculating about the internet being the death knell for the poor old fashioned book, but it's actually given it a whole new lease of life! A solitary pursuit has now become a social one, because of sites like this. And a very good thing it is too
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Ooh.. I have this one upstairs. I may have to get to it soon.. let me know your thoughts.
Hey Michelle!
I will keep my thought on it updated for you!Speaking of which...
I'm only about 70+ pages in but I'm loving The Tenderness of Wolves thus far: it's extremely atmospheric and very readable. It's establishing a lot of characters, who are all so interesting that I want to know more. I really like how Penney switches narrative point-of-view between third person for the majority of the time, then uses first-person narration for Mrs Ross (who's a very intriguing lady...).
Really enjoying it, just wish I had chance to read more this week! Still, it's the weekend very soon, so some quality 'sit down and tell the world to shut up' time is ahead!
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Ah excellent news! Thanks lowek
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
in General Fiction
Posted
Yes, I thought West was a very weak person. I was quite angry with him!
Yes, I don't think it's until the end you realise that the same thing keeps happening. When you get to Roz's part, you start thinking "uh oh"
Y'know, I think this may have slipped me by without thinking too much! Thanks for flagging it, it's very true.
She's a really odd character, isn't she? I almost felt like she was inhuman. She would seem normal at the start of everyone's story, then slowly become this total monster!!