Polka Dot Rock

Don't forget, there's also the Buy, Sell or Swap Books bit here on this forum That can be a good way of shifting books too, especially non-bestselling type ones.

Hello! I'm a relatively new seller at GreenMetropolis: I've sold three books so far and each has gone smoothly (so far!). There are quite a few experienced GreenMetropolis sellers on this forum. They have info on postage here, and they also allow you to add extra depending on the book's size. Its very fair. And don't be sad: they're going to people who want them. I end up feeling quite chuffed for them as I'm packing them to post (P.S. Has anyone else noticed how some cheeky sellers are selling those new Penguins on GM? They're selling them for

I'm still whizzing through The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and am now up to page 470: I squeezed in a hundred pages in an hour last night! Firstly, I reached a very tense part of the book ( ). Then - I have to say - I found the next part ('Radioman') quite boring, so I employed my champion 'skimming' abilities! It was just a bit cliched, I felt ( ). However, I'm still really enjoying this novel Can't wait to get back to it! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * In other news, Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allen arrived at my house yesterday, whilst I was at work. Well, I have no idea how that happened! So I'll just view it as a happy accident that will remain a mystery... *cough*

Update Now up to page 470: I squeezed in a hundred pages in an hour last night! Firstly, I reached a very tense part of the book ( ). Then - I have to say - I found the next part ('Radioman') quite boring, so I employed my champion 'skimming' abilities! It was just a bit cliched, I felt ( . However, I'm still really enjoying this novel Can't wait to get back to it!

Ooh I remember looking at that in summer! I'll keep an eye on your progress with it. May be (ANOTHER) one for the TBR pile...

Forgot to mention this: I ordered The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan (after buying the sequel by mistake ). It arrived yesterday and I dipped into it last night. Very readable and really interesting! There's already a great quote that I want for my signature, so I need to sort that out. Ooh, and Book Depository sent me the new Classics version which I wasn't expecting, so it matches the other one now These things make me happy. I've also updated my reading list. Again.

Oh don't you just hate it when books do that?! I have the same problem in bookshops - they practically pummel me to death.

Sorry Louise!! I can have this affect on people (See: Purple Poppy).

So true... or big fat devils in this book's case!

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is the March book for my 'Doorstep Challenge'. I've been commenting on it there mostly, so I thought I'd splice my thoughts so far for my blog: I'm just about halfway through now and I'm really enjoying it. Definitely one of those doorsteps that doesn't feel like a lot to wade through. I polished off a hundred pages on Sunday alone! The characterisation of Joe and Sam is wonderful, and that's one aspect that's guaranteed to get my interest in a novel. Joe's escape at the beginning was jaw-droppingly amazing (and tense! My nerves were shot). But I've also decided that this novel is evil: it makes me stay up late to read it! I'm so tired! Just when I think I'm going to finish a chapter and go to sleep, I look for the end of the next and think 'Oh. It's not that long. I'll read another chapter'. Then I repeat the previous behaviour at least five times It's a brilliant book to properly start the Doorstep Challenge - you just fly through it, yet absorb everything. It reminds me of Middlesex although they are quite different from one another (although both won the Pulitzer prize!). Like The Night Watch, it's a different prespective of WWII which I really enjoy reading about: this time, it looks at how Jewish-Americans reacted to what was going on in Europe... although that's only a small (but significant) part of a novel that's thematically rich. Plus it's also about comics (ahem, graphic novels), so that's doubly interesting for me!

Update I've decided that this novel is evil: it makes me stay up late to read it! I'm so tired! Just when I think I'm going to finish a chapter and go to sleep, I look for the end of the next and think 'Oh. It's not that long. I'll read another chapter'. Then I repeat the previous behaviour at least five times It's a brilliant book to properly start the Doorstep Challenge - you just fly through it, yet absorb everything. It reminds me of Middlesex although they are quite different from one another (although both won the Pulitzer prize!). Like The Night Watch, it's a different prespective of WWII which I really enjoy reading about: this time, it looks at how Jewish-Americans reacted to what was going on in Europe... although that's only a small (but significant) part of a novel that's thematically rich. Plus it's also about comics (ahem, graphic novels), so that's doubly interesting for me!

Hooray! *solo Mexican wave for Judy!* I'm intrigued by The Historian as Dracula is one of my favourites - I'll be asking lots of questions!

Ooh crikey, that's my local indie too!! Which library do you use, Rosie?

Well. I love bookshops and I should buy books from independent bookshops, as I do believe in having a creative and 'open' bookselling market. And I have bought a lot of books from my local indie in the past. But then I became a student and money became an issue. And as I was a literature student, I had to be careful where I bought them because of cost. By the looks of things, I'm going to be a perpetual student () so I STILL have to be careful. So, the dream scenrio is "I buy all my books from independent bookshops" The reality is actually more like Amazon.co.uk and Amazon Marketplace, Play.com and PlayTrade, "3 for 2" offers at Wa*cough*ones and second hand shops (love second hand shops! Especially the fabulous Oxfam Books shops. Fantastic! But we don't have a local one ). I love GreenMetropolis too, but I haven't bought any yet: building my credits up from selling on there

Update I'm on page 257 and I'm really enjoying it. Definitely one of those doorsteps that doesn't feel like a lot to wade through. I polished off a hundred pages yesterday alone! The characterisation of Joe and Sam is wonderful, and that's one aspect that's guaranteed to get my interest But can I finish it by the end of the month...?

Y'know: I like that description so much, I might use it as my signature!

Your wish is my command Louise! The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon One night in 1939, Josef Kavalier shuffles into his cousin Sam Clay's cramped New York bedroom, his arduous and nerve-wracking escape from Prague finally achieved - with the help of his mentor, the master illusionist Kornblum. But little does he realise that this uneasy first meeting is the start of an extraordinary friendship and even more fruitful business partnership. For Sam, Joe's formidable artistic skills are a chance to liberate them both from lives as inventory clerks at the Empire Novelties Incorporated Company. Together, they create a comic strip called The Escapist, its superhero a Nazi-busting saviour who liberates the oppressed around the world with his Golden Key. The Escapist makes them their fortune and their name, but, as the situation worsens in Europe, Joe can only think of one thing. How can he effect a real-life escape, and free his family from the tyranny of Hitler? Michael Chabon's exceptional new novel is a thrilling tight-rope walk between high comedy and bitter tragedy, and confirms his position as one of the most inventive and daring of contemporary American writers. In Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay, he has created two unforgettable characters bound together by love, family and cartoons. Their story, which ranges from the heady heights of the American Dream to the desperation and grief of the Second World War, and which journeys from New York and Czechoslovakia to the Arctic Circle, will live on in the mind of every reader long after the final page is turned.

I keep more than giveaway. If I've really enjoyed a book (or if it seems something to me), I hang onto them. I like seeing them around - mainly on my bookshelves, but they're normally hanging around on tables as well... But I'm certainly not averse to giving them away, as you will see here In fact, I like to re-home them: it's nice to think a book is wanted I have this dream of creating a library of one's own. But as it's probably going to be a good while before I have a place completely on my own, the 'library' will only get bigger and bigger and bigger!

Well, here I (officially) go: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (656 pages) Started 21/03/2007 - Finished 30/03/2007

I have decided upon The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon Started reading it last night and it's immediately grabbed me. So much so, that I've even brought it to work with me, on the off-chance I might be able to sneak a few pages!

Like, don't wig out over it...? It's no biggie, it's all five-by-five you know...?

Yes, I think that's definitely the way for many of the classic books. I'm going to have a nosey for critical stuff... So did I! It was very graphic: I thought it'd be more a case of

I bought a comic today for the first time in years: scanning the Guardian website, I discovered that Joss Whedon has written the 'eighth' series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer... but as a monthly comic! I was so excited, I pratically flew out of the fire escape at work So I trotted into town and got my mittened hands on the first issue (out last week). Sooooo looking forward to reading it!

Update on list Well, I finished Madame Bovary last night... Not sure what to think about it at the moment. I definitely think it'll be one to re-read in the future. It didn't particularly 'grab' me but I still kept on reading. I think it may be that I'm quite ambivalent about the 19th century European and American 'realists/modernists'. I studied quite a bit on my American literature course, and a few bits I loved (like Frank Norris' McTeague) but the rest I was quite "meh" about (like Henry James). I think I could do with reading some critical work on Madame Bovary then re-read it again. I had a similar thing with Wuthering Heights and that's now one of my favourite novels! Next up... Can't decide between Villette or The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay... What's a girl to do?

Thank you Angel! Aaaaah, I know it well... And it never did me any harm! Plus I also now use it on my mum