Kylie
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Posts posted by Kylie
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You already received the copy?!
That was so quick!Yep! I bought and paid for in on Friday and they sent it on the same day. We don't have weekend mail here, and it was sent from elsewhere in Sydney.
Awww
:empathy: I hope things'll change and get better for you 
Me too!
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I received Patty Hearst: Her Own Story by Patty Hearst in the mail today. I read a little but had to tear myself away because I've lost count of the number of books I have on the go at the moment. I can't seem to settle down to just one book.
I've been reading snippets of The Rights of the Reader and Literary Trivia lately, which are great to dip into and don't require much commitment, which is unfortunately all I can give to reading at the moment.
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So Hump was a popular choice for the UK's entry?
I am watching the final now, but I only just remembered it was on so I only caught the last couple of songs in full. Yes, we get it way after the event, so of course I already know who won, but I don't mind because I'm not that into it.
Hey, was the chick from Cyprus standing on a table made of books? They're just recapping all the performances (damn, I missed the grannies that everyone's talking about).
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It's just an ironic thing.
Call 'em the opposite of what they are. A tall person becomes 'shorty' and an overweight person becomes 'slim'.I started dipping into Literary Trivia today.
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I just finished watching S6 of Buffy.
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Take our word for it, Timstar, he was brilliant!
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Very nice.
My Mum often out buys me too. What's the world coming to? -
I went to the new charityshop in town, there wasn't a room full of books like Grandma had told Mum, but there were quite a few. Bought a couple
OK, now you're just doing it on purpose.
Spill! -
I watched Memoirs of a Survivor. I was a bit worried it would spoil Doris Lessing's book for me, but there wasn't a whole that happened anyway. Then I read some reviews about the book and it seems like the book is the same.
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Finally!!!
John Boyne The Congress of Rough Riders
Awesome. Are you also a John Boyne fan?
Yes, yes I am. Actually I've only read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, but I have it on good authority that Crippen is very good.
William S Burroughs and Jack Kerouac And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks
YES! I know how much you've been wanting this book! Too bad you forgot to mention the co-author. But he was only some wannabe, not worth the mention, right? ...
Oh heck. Poor ol' Jack Kerouac is probably rolling in his grave. Sorry Jack! Do you know what this book is about? Back in the 50s, a friend of Burroughs and Kerouac murdered someone and told them about it, but they didn't go to the police, so they became accessories or something. I don't think they got into too much trouble, but I believe this book is about those events (perhaps fictionalised though?)
Raymond Carver Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
NO. I want to comment.
Edmund de Waal The Hare with Amber Eyes
What inspired this? It seems to come up every now and then here on the forum.
I think it's been quite a popular book. Is it on Poppyshake's essential reading list? I'm sure I saved a copy of that somewhere but can't find it at the moment. At any rate, it's supposed to be pretty good.
Tove Jansson Finn Family Moomintroll
Tove Jansson Comet in Moominland
Tove Jansson Moominvalley in November
Tove Jansson Moominpapa at Sea
Tove Jansson Moominsummer Madness
Tove Jansson Moominpappa's Memoirs
Tove Jansson Moominland Winter
Tove Jansson Tales from Moominvalley
I see somebody's gone Mad for Moomins
Well the crazy Finn won't, so I'm doing it for her.
They are adorable books and all matching editions. Yay! Very cheap too - I bought them for 10% off during the BD's recent sale.Lois Lowry A Summer to Die
I remember you mentioning this. I hope it's good!
I hope it's not too sad!
Carson McCullers The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
Funny this should come up. Is this on the Rory list? I'm sure some McCullers is. It was really recently that I read somewhere (and I wish I remembered where!!) that she (or is she a he?!) discovered some other author, and then the other author became really famous and was a better author than she-he McCullers, and she was bitter til the end. Hm, do you think it could've been in the Literary Trivia book you gave me? Do you think you could check for me? As you know I'm in Nurmes and don't have my copy. Or maybe I could wiki it. So yes, um, why did you buy this book?'
Hmm, I checked all the references to McCullers (it is a she, and she had many affairs with women, apparently) but I couldn't find a mention of this. I did, however, find out that Virginia Woolf is William Makepeace Thackeray's granddaughter! Cool. The reason I bought it? Well, nothing very exciting. It was on sale super cheap, so I thought I'd give it a go. It sounds good.
HL Mencken Thirty-Five Years of Newspaper Work
Awesome awesome awesome
Erin Morgenstern The Night Circus
Rescued from the bloody cheeky bogans!! Bogan grubs!!
Hell yeah!
Haruki Murakami 1Q84 (3-book set)
Awesome
I now have 3 copies of this.
The first two are hardbacks but these paperback came in a little plastic case and the covers feel gorgeous Why is that books I buy from overseas often have a really nicely-textured cover compared to what I buy here? I'm not sure if it's a common thing or whether it's just a coincidence with some books I buy. Now that I think about it, it must just be for 'special' books, because not all books have that type of cover. Anyway, it will be much easier to hold these books while I read.Jamie O'Neill At Swim, Two Boys
This came up just yesterday. Somewhere. What's this?
It's on the 1001 list! I was nearly certain it was a 1001 book when I saw it, so I had to get it. The title was familiar off the list because I always used to confused it with Flan O'Brien's At-Swim-Two-Birds (and I always confused Flan O'Brien with Flannery O'Connor
).Jeanette Winterson Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Poppyshake is evil and chanting, I've only tried Winterson once and hated it and now I'm jealous you have a copy of this, because of poppyshake brainwashing me
Which Winterson did you read? I remember reading some of Poppyshake's comments to the effect that you didn't like Winterson. Has she made you curious to try again? I couldn't remember how well Poppyshake had liked it, so I was really happy to see it on her favourites shelf on Goodreads earlier.
PG Wodehouse Pigs Have Wings
Surely you must have all the Wodehouses already?!
I now have all of the Wodehouses published by Arrow books (with the cartoony-type covers), except for three short story collections that comprise stories I have in the other books already (but I'll probably buy them one day).
I was going to mention this myself but you already brought it up They were everywhere!
And you loved it, didn't you?! Do you remember a conversation we had where you basically said you were equally (or more) fond of bogans than you were of me?
Well, that's what I took away from the conversation anyway. But .. but... how am I supposed to know if you don't just have anything to say to a post, eventhough you've read it through? And you've been busy, I've been nudging you way too much already lately...
Oh, I always have comments to make about your comments. I mean, eventually it fizzles out, but I always want to at least comment on your first round of comments (like in this post).
But yeah, you are such a nag!
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Ah, that's right. Is Chav short for something? It sounds like a shortened word.
Thanks James.
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Thanks Steve, Claire and Poppyshake. I like the Defender of Books title, thanks Claire.
Poppyshake, I can't remember the equivalent name for a bogan in the UK, but they're similar to rednecks in the US. Does that help? Bogans typically have some or all of the following characteristics: They are uneducated, drink and smoke a lot, do drugs and have tattoos of the Southern Cross constellation somewhere on their body (this is probably unique to Australian bogans). They have mullet or rat's tail hairdos, they dress in a trashy manner, they are racist, violent and they despise authority. Female bogans often get pregnant in high school and then live on the dole (benefits) for the rest of their lives. They also have lots of little sprogs to lots of different men, and the sprogs all grow up to continue the bogan cycle. Many bogans know they are bogans and are proud of it.
There are many more characteristics of the bogan. Actually, entire books have been written about them, and I gave one to Frankie (a book, not a bogan) because she was rather enamoured with them when she was over here. Steve, we have a similar thing over here, where people leave stuff out. Ours isn't for charity though. The councils pick the stuff up and take it to the tip. I must admit that I went through a bag once and found two books, but I think that's OK because I was rescuing them from destruction, right?
We have ridiculous laws about squatters too. I often see stories on TV about homeowners who can't get tenants or squatters to leave their property (squatting is also a characteristic of the bogan). It's disgusting! People work hard to own their own houses, and then some dropkick comes along and effectively takes it away from them. Property should be sacred and safe. You shouldn't have to worry about people squatting or thieving etc.
Frankie, I was just going through the last couple of pages of my thread and noticed some long posts from you that I haven't responded too (again!) Sorry. Give me a nudge to remind me if I forget again, OK?
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I wasn't as behind as I thought with listing my new purchases for the last few weeks:
Benjamin Black A Death in Summer
WE Bowman The Ascent of Rum Doodle
John Boyne The Congress of Rough Riders
William S Burroughs And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks
Raymond Carver Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
Charlie Chaplin My Autobiography
Edmund de Waal The Hare with Amber Eyes
Graham Greene The Quiet American
Charlaine Harris Harper Connolly #4: Grave Secret
MR James Ghost Stories
Tove Jansson Finn Family Moomintroll
Tove Jansson Comet in Moominland
Tove Jansson Moominvalley in November
Tove Jansson Moominpapa at Sea
Tove Jansson Moominsummer Madness
Tove Jansson Moominpappa's Memoirs
Tove Jansson Moominland Winter
Tove Jansson Tales from Moominvalley
Lois Lowry A Summer to Die
Carson McCullers The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
HL Mencken Thirty-Five Years of Newspaper Work
Erin Morgenstern The Night Circus
Haruki Murakami 1Q84 (3-book set)
Jamie O'Neill At Swim, Two Boys
HG Wells Love and Mr Lewisham
Jeanette Winterson Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
PG Wodehouse Pigs Have Wings
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I had the exact same feeling when it came to reviewing To Kill a Mockingbird, and I know other people have too. I wrote the lamest review ever for that book.
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Woohoo! I'm so pleased you enjoyed it.
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Trust me to go to a charityshop where they have a really crappy selection of books and come out with one bought book
But what did you buy?
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Whenever I hear of this book, it always makes me think of the film Sleepers - it was the book that helped one of the boys get through his incarceration.
And I always think of the scene in The Shawshank Redemption where the men are sitting around cataloguing books for their new library. One of them comes across the book and sounds out the author's name as 'Alexander Dumb Ass', which cracks the others up.
It is isn't it, in fact I'm on it now!!! Right I'm off..........
I have to go and do some work now, but not before I check in on my time-wasting games on the iPad. 
Today I took delivery (after wrestling it off a thief) of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus. I can't wait to read this.
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I edited the post to remove all that text. I tried to be really careful so as not to delete anything by accident. I hope it's OK.
I'm not sure what the problem is though, and I'm guessing it will happen again. Did you type the post directly here or did you copy it from another source (like Word)? I would suggest copying the post into Word or a text document so you have a copy and can paste it over again when/if you need to.
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You can edit after 10 posts, actually. Frankie was correct.
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People on Facebook, Alex and my brother have all said that I should have hit her back.
I don't condone violence either, but a little scuffle wouldn't have hurt (her...much ). She was kind of a pathetic-looking person though. In hindsight (and I shouldn't jump to conclusions or use stereotypes...but I'm going to), it's possible they were junkies looking for stuff to steal for money.For people who don't know, I live in, well, one of the less affluent parts of Sydney, and there is definitely a stigma attached to my town and the people that live here. I've tried to do my tiny part to change people's perceptions over the years (just by being a nice person, speaking properly, being well groomed etc), because I've lived here for 30 years and never once had a problem with crime until now.
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You'll rant too once you've read it! And yes, I used every cranky emoticon I could find.
ETA: Hehehe. I love a sympathy rant. Thanks hun.
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I received a book in the mail today: Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus. Now, receiving a book in the mail is a pretty regular event at my place, but today was a little different...
The postie dropped off the package at the door, and I was in the middle of something so planned to collect it later. About 15 minutes after he left, though, I saw someone approach my door and then nick off with my parcel! 'WHAT THE
?!' I have never moved so fast in my life as I did to get out the door and chase the person down. There were two people about my age standing at the bottom of the driveway (I live in a complex of 9 townhouses; we have a common driveway) and they had two shopping trolleys between them. I saw a girl putting my package in her trolley. MY BOOK! MY PRECIOUS BOOK!As I went out my front door, I came level with an unfamiliar older guy strolling down the drive like he owned he joint (I realised later he had been wandering around looking for stuff to steal ). I asked him if he was with the other two people and he said they were just collecting old stuff. NOT MY BOOK THEY WEREN'T!! I went to the girl and asked her what the hell she thought she was doing stealing my mail (I was not quite as polite as that). She just calmly got my package out of a bag while I ranted and raved
, and I took it off her, called her an unladylike name, then turned to walk away. Then she had the hide to take offence at me calling her a name (!) and kicked me in the butt!!! Yes! She really did! 
I soooo wanted to take a swing at her
, but she was with two guys, and I had my precious book back, so I just walked out of kicking distance, called her the most unladylike name I know (still too good for her) and went inside to call the police. I could have had her charged with assault, but I was more worried about other people getting stuff stolen. I live at one end of a street full of units and townhouses, so they were just getting started. The police said they'd send someone out to talk to them. I hope they were able to stop them. Grubs! BOGAN GRUBS! Years ago I used to be a very meek and non-confrontational person (no really, I was). But somewhere in recent years I decided I'd had enough of the regret I felt for not speaking up for myself at various times.
I'm very proud of myself for going after them and claiming my book back. There is nothing I won't do for my books. 
*strokes them lovingly*Moral of the story: Never mess with a book lover and her books!
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Suffering a small amount of mojo loss, equally due to getting an iPad for my birthday and struggling to get into 'Delirium' by Lauren Oliver, it's slowly getting moving now I'm halfway into it so hopefully I'll be moving along a little quicker now!
I love my iPad to bits, but it is definitely a mojo killer.
All my spare time goes to my iPad these days. I need to be more disciplined. -
Aww
I could be wrong...Haha! I crack me up.
Kylie's Literary Adventures in 2012
in Past Book Logs
Posted
I was reading an article about our postal service today. They're starting to open parcel pick-up type things, so instead of having an expensive PO box for picking up parcels, you can pick them up at any time from a certain location. Anyway, I was reading the many, many comments left by people, and it turns out that everyone hates the postal service as much as I do.
Poor opening hours for business workers, 'sorry we missed you' cards left at homes when people were there to collect their parcels etc.
The BD are still great though. I was surprised when I saw a package delivered last week (it was the attempted-theft book). It had only been shipped 4 days earlier from England! I think that's a new record.