Kylie

As far as I can see, we don't have a specific thread for the wonderful Roald Dahl, so I thought I'd start one up. This coming Thursday 13 September is Roald Dahl's birthday and it's also Roald Dahl Day! And if that doesn't sound like an invitation to spend the day reading Roald Dahl books, I don't know what does! Anyone else care to join me? I'm thinking of reading Danny, the Champion of the World, which I have on my TBR pile but have never gotten around to reading. Or maybe I should re-read an old favourite like The Twits or George's Marvellous Medicine. I'm spoilt for choice!

I'm now half-way through the book, and reading Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After. As I suspected it would be, it's difficult to read but the story is OK so far. Letters from Zedelghem is still my favourite. The book is a good read, but I wouldn't say I'm overwhelmed by its brilliance or anything Maybe I'll change my mind by the end.

On Friday, I received two books in the mail that I bought on ebay (one mentioned in an earlier post): Kathryn Kenny: Trixie Belden #30 (Mystery of the Midnight Marauder) Maggie O'Farrell: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

Me too Echo! I still have all of mine. I've thought about getting rid of them at various times but I can't bring myself to do it. I think I have over 130 of them. I stopped buying them because I outgrew them but I think they stopped not long after anyway. Now I wish I'd kept collecting so I could see how it ended. Edgar Allan Poe is just a small step up from BSC isn't it?

The most forgettable book I ever read was The Da Vinci Code. I think I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but as soon as I finished, I could remember absolutely nothing of what had happened. I remembered a vague plot and that was it. Shortly after that the movie came out and when I saw it, I had quite a few 'oh yeah, now I remember' moments. Comparing that book to all others I've read, maybe I generally have a better memory that I thought!

I will follow it up to see who makes the short-list and who wins, but I wouldn't make a point of reading them just because they've been short-listed. I can't see me ever joining in a challenge to read the Man Booker Books! Mostly I only read much older books. I have a couple of Ian McEwan's books on my TBR pile, and if I enjoy them I'll probably track down On Chesil Beach one day, but whether or not it wins an award won't affect my decision. What about you, Kell? You could probably tear through the short-list in a couple of weeks! (Whereas if I attempted it, I'd be lucky to finish them before next year's short-list came out!)

Excellent! I can hold off for a few months. I hope there'll still be a lot of interest then when so many people have read it. Although judging by all the rave reviews, it looks like people will be more than happy to read it again.

It's a wonder this book hasn't been suggested for the reading circle yet! It seems that it's always being read by at least one member. I have it on my own TBR pile, but I was going to hold off until next year to read it because I've already read two Stephen King books this year and I'd like to spread them out a little

Good point Mbwun_Lily. I think I'm much more likely to remember the smaller details of the books that have had a big impact on me, but with the 'so-so' books, I'm more likely to forget little details and only remember the broader plot. Although characters' names are always a problem for me, regardless of how good the book is/was. I wish I could forget the details of the bad books I've read!

My mind is like a sieve. I can remember the major plot but have trouble remembering the smaller events that lead up to the major ones, as well as minor characters' names. If I don't do my review within a couple of days, I generally end up writing a very vague one I've bought a notebook that I carry around with me, but I usually only enter memorable quotes from the book, rather than reminders of plots and characters; should really look into doing that.

I'm at exactly the same place as you PDR! And I have to agree with you about Adam Ewing's diary being a difficult chapter to lead off with. Once I got past that, I began to enjoy the stories a lot more. I'm also trying very hard not to skip to the end stories (the second parts). I hope I don't forget everything I've read by the time I get to them! 'Letters from Zedelghem' is still my favourite so far, but I'm loving the completely different styles of writing. I looked ahead and noticed one story has an awful lot of colloquialism in it - think I'm going to struggle with that one; I don't mind the odd bit of slang but so much of it in one go! And a few intriguing questions and connections have opened up that I expect (hope!) will be resolved in the last few stories.

I don't recall being read traditional fairy tales as a kid, but I know I had a big book with bedtime stories for every day of the year, and it's very likely there were a lot of fairy tales in there. Several years ago I bought The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm and worked my way through it slowly. There are so many stories and they start to get a bit repetitive, but I enjoyed reading them and seeing the differences between the Disney 'censored' versions and the original 'uncut' versions. I also recall my Mum reading Roald Dahl poetry to my brother and I. She was wonderful at it

Got off to a slow start with this book because life kept interrupting (don't you hate that? ) but now I'm getting into it more and enjoying it. I'm up to the third story; I thought the first one wasn't too bad and I really liked the second story: Frobisher the Composer was pretty amusing

I have no idea whether my brown hair suits me or not! Despite not being that interested in changing my hair colour, for years I've wanted to dye it black but everyone tells me 'no, No, NO!', because I have pale skin. But I think that's what makes it look so great; the contrast between black and white. Maybe one day I'll say 'to heck with it' and get it done. OK, five more things about me: 1. I crack my knuckles a lot. I can't help it and wish I could stop but it's so very addictive! 2. I loathe cheese and can only tolerate it when it's melted (and then I love it!). If I get a burger with unmelted cheese sticking out the sides, I have to pull it off but leave the melted part in the middle. My Mum once tricked me into eating a cheeseburger that she accidentally bought by telling me it was butter. Oh, how young and naive I was! 3. Like Kell, I'm very pale, but unlike Kell, I burn VERY easily. I only need to be in the sun for a couple of minutes before I start burning. Does anyone else find the concept of a ball of fire billions of miles away scorching our skin (cooking it, if you will) as disturbing as I do? My eyes are also very sensitive to the light. I find the sun excruciating to my poor eyes and have to wear sunnies even when it's overcast. 4. I was once in a school production where I dressed in overalls and danced to 'Karma Chameleon' as part of Boy George and the Culture Club (one of the guys dressed up as Boy George). 5. In other school productions, I have dressed up at different times as a fairy in the Nutcracker, a beach ball in Santa's toy workshop, a crow in an Aboriginal dreamtime story, and Jesus.

I have difficulty reading about the privleges and friendships denied to people of a lower class at that period of time. It seems like such a strange idea to me, but it makes the novel all the more intriguing I think. So despite what Emma would say about these things (and knowing that I would never have been in her class had I been around then), I could still like her because I know that that's just the way society was back then. I think the beauty of Jane Austen's writing is that, even though this book was written nearly 200 years ago and contains some long outdated ideas, it still remains very relevant to today. I agree. It must have been nice to live in such a time where things were more simple! I absolutely loved this book but I won't gush too much about it here; I've already done that in my own reading list.

I'm a lot like you Echo on 4 of those points - not dying the hair though. I've put colour in my brown hair a couple of times but can't be bothered with the time and expense. Honestly, I like my hair a boring brown colour; more so when I see sooo many women every day with bleached blonde hair. What does everyone have against brown hair? It's so rare these days that I think it's become more special

My favourite poem is Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven. I also love The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, whom we studied extensively in school. I also like Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas and Howl by Allen Ginsberg. Other than that, I'm not very well versed (pardon the pun!) in poetry, although I would like to change that. I must devote more reading time to poetry! I've downloaded plenty of poetry that is in the public domain...just got to read it!

Forgot to mention when I posted my review that a new French adaptation of this movie has recently been released (or maybe it's been out for a long time in the UK), which is timely considering it was our reading circle choice. A trailer can be seen here. I don't know that the characters look much like I imagined, especially Mellors.

Emma Jane Austen Rating: 9/10 Published: 1816 Number of pages: 508 ISBN: 0141028092 Summary (taken from blurb): She's beautiful, rich and clever, and has decided she's perfectly happy with the single life. What Emma does love, however, is interfering in other people's business (and she is always convinced she's right). When she ignores the advice of her friend Mr Knightley and insists on matchmaking for her friend Harriet, her carefully laid plans go disastrously wrong. Is Emma so wrapped up in other people's love lives that she fails to spot happiness when it's right under her nose? Perhaps, when it comes to affairs of the heart, she can't control everything after all... Comments: I read my first Jane Austen last year, Pride and Prejudice, which immediately became one of my favourite novels. Today I finished my second Austen, Emma, and I'm pleased to say that Jane Austen has now cemented her position as my favourite author. Her style of writing is delightful to behold and I thoroughly enjoy every single sentence I read of hers. Even though not much appears to be happening, I find that I'm hooked from beginning to end. I think Jane Austen builds up her characters and situations beautifully, and if I've learned anything from reading her novels, it's that deep down I'm a hopeless romantic. I'm usually pretty good at resisting flicking forward through a book to see what happens, but I'm a lost cause when it comes to Austen. Even though I may guess early on in the novel what's going to happen, I just have to flick through to see the manner in which the most important events take place between the characters. Emma is an exquisitely crafted piece of writing. A lot of the characters are annoying in some degree, but that's how they're supposed to be. I thought I would find it difficult to like Emma, but I think, for all her faults, she is quite a decent person and she tried so very hard to avoid making the same mistakes twice. I could see her growing and maturing throughout the novel and I came to like her quite a lot. There is the same sense of humour here as there is in Pride and Prejudice, but not quite as much. I suspect that Jane Austen's novels have their faults, but it's as though I'm looking at them through a haze (or, more likely, rose-coloured glasses). I know they're there, but for me they get lost in everything else. I've given a rating of 9 to Emma, only because I loved Pride and Prejudice a bit more <sigh> This is why I love to read. And just think, I have four more of her books on my shelf that I still have the honour of reading for the first time! Started: 24 August 2007 Finished: 31 August 2007 Emma (at librarything.com)

Penguin publish both children's and adult's books and you certainly shouldn't feel stupid or uncomfortable for reading them! In fact, Penguin publish books across every conceivable genre, including a very large range of classics; I have quite a few of them myself (I'm reading Penguin's Read Red version of Emma right now!) and I often prefer to buy Penguin-branded books as opposed to other publishers. They usually have quite nice covers and are reasonably priced. And by the way, there is no shame in reading children's books either! There has been a bit of discussion on this forum lately relating to this subject, and I think we're all in agreement that just because a book is aimed at children, it shouldn't preclude adults from enjoying the story just as much. You will find a lot of Harry Potter fans here, and last month a number of us read Anne of Green Gables for the reading circle. Also this year, I've read Peter Pan and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, among others. I feel that reading these books as an adult gives me a better appreciation for them and I'm proud to tell anyone who'll listen that I love reading children's books! Last but not least, welcome to the forum There is an introductions thread that you can post in if you like, and you can tell us what you like to read. Did you end up getting through both Dickens' novels? I read and loved A Tale of Two Cities and I have Nicholas Nickleby on my pile of books to be read.

The Midwich Cuckoos John Wyndham Rating: 7/10 Published: 1957 Number of pages: 220 ISBN: 0140014403 Summary (taken from blurb): Cuckoos lay eggs in other birds' nests. The clutch that was fathered on the quiet little village of Midwich, one night in September, proved to possess a monstrous will of its own. It promised to make the human race look as dated as the dinosaur. Comments: An enjoyable book, though I didn't think it was anywhere near as good as The Day of the Triffids. I felt like it could have been fleshed out a lot more; it is a fascinating concept and could have been more exciting than it was. Still, it was interesting as a reader to keep coming back after intervals of time to see how things had advanced in regards to the Children, and the ending was pretty good! Overall, a slightly disturbing book which provided food for thought, especially in terms of the place of humans in the world. Recommended. Started: 22 August 2007 Finished: 25 August 2007 The Midwich Cuckoos (at librarything.com)

Because there are some barbaric people in the world! I don't think I've ever read an abridged version of a book before. I'm sure I would always be wondering what had been left out. And who are the publishers to decide what is and isn't important to the reader? I saw a book club show on telly once where a woman mentioned she was listening to an abridged audio version of Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (which, if you haven't heard of it, is a novel of 7 volumes and is exceptionally long). Having read the entire novel before, she was disappointed to find one of her favourite parts missing in the audio! Anyway, <ahem>, back on topic now.

I've won a couple of books on ebay recently: Michel Faber: The Crimson Petal and the White Maggie O'Farrell: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox I chased up both books solely because of reviews I've read on this forum. Thanks BCF! (Or should I be cursing you all for making my TBR pile grow even more?!)

I agree Echo. I would have expected a couple of weeks or months but I think by the end it had been a few years! I can't wait to read the following books to see what happens between them.

I agree with ii and angerball; it would be very useful to have a list of books to give people more ideas. If the mods think the challenge worthy of being set up as a sub-forum, we could have a post set up as a sticky that can be continually added to. I would be happy to take on the responsibility of keeping it updated if members were to post suggestions to me or the forum.