Ruth
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If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History Of The Home - Lucy Worsley
(Blurb): Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did Samuel Pepys never give his mistresses an orgasm? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two 'dirty centuries'? Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did people fear fruit? All these questions will be answered in this juicy, smelly and truly intimate history of home life. Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen, covering the architectural history of each room, but concentrating on what people actually did in bed, in the bath, at the table, and at the stove. From sauce-stirring to breast-feeding, teeth-cleaning to masturbation, getting dressed to getting married, this book will make you see your home with new eyes.
An excellent history of the household as seen through the four main rooms - bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen. Everything you could want to know about domestic life is covered in the book. I loved the television series and Worsley writes in a wonderfully chatty style and inserts lots of jokes which gives it a really informal feel - not like your run of the mill history books.
5/5
This books sounds AMAZING! I've added it to my wishlist! Great review, thanks
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I liked Sense and Sensibility (I like all things Austen-related), and loved Marianne.
My favourite Jane Austen is probably Emma; it was my least favourite when I first read, but I've developed a real affection for it over the years. Actually, this thread has made me think that it might be time for a re-read
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After reading some opinions on different books, I recently borrowed To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and The Time Traveler's Wife by Aurey Niffenegger from my local library. I'm about a quarter of a way through To Kill a Mockingbird at the moment and I'm enjoying it so far. I'm glad I decided to move out of the fantasy genre and throw myself into some of these novels, they've certainly made me think.
All excellent books
To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my all time favourites.I started Carter Beats The Devil last night, although I only read about 10 pages. Read some more at lunchtime today, and I think could be a book I will love
Promising start anyway, so fingers crossed... -
I highly, highly, highly (highly!) recommend Hyperion - providing you like science fiction, that is
I do like some sci-fi although I have to be in the mood for it. I'll keep an eye open for Hyperion. (By which I mean I'm heading off to Amazon right now, and will more than likely end up buying it
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I just finished The Shadow Of the Wind. Will review it saturday.
I'll look forward to reading your thoughts on this book. It's been on my tbr for an embarassingly long time!
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Thanks for the list
I'm definitely going to get The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry...looks exactly the sort of book I love. -
Finished The Einstein Girl, and in all honesty have mixed feelings about it. The story was interesting enough, but got a bit too convoluted and tangled up in itself. However, it did have some interesting insights into (now) outdated feelings about psychiatry, and the treatment of psychiatric patients. It also made me quite interested in finding out more about the life of Einstein. Generally though, while I like books that weave fact and fiction, I think this one seemed to lose sight of what was real and what was fictional.
I'm about to start Carter Beats The Devil, by Glen David Gold. A bit of a doorstep book, but it's had loads of great reviews, so I have high hopes for this one.
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Ruth has incredible taste! Watch them all, Ben
At a quick glance, I would also add to her list Now, Voyager (for the awesome Bette Davis) and The Philedelphia Story (Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart - it just doesn't get better than that in my opinion).
Aw, thank you
I've actually never seen Now, Voyager, although it's been on my to-watch list forever. Agree about The Philadelphia Story though - brilliant!
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I've never watched it (actually, I've never heard of it), but you've definitely convinced me. You had me at Robert Carlyle
Seriously, it sounds like a terrific show - thanks for the heads up!
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I loved both the book and the film of American Psycho. Unfortunately, the dark humour appealed to me so much that I got some very odd looks when reading it at work and laughing out loud at some of the funniest bits. Most people don't seem to realise it's got pitch-black humour, so to see the very mild-manered CE's secretary laughing out loud at a book about a psycho serial killer made people think I was perhaps a bit of a psycho myself - ROFLMAO!
I thought the book had some really funny moments as well. I remember sitting in the hairdressers reading it and sniggering away to myself (or so I thought), and when I looked up, a couple of the other customers were giving me very odd looks. The film was pretty good too. Christian Bale was perfect in the part, but they left so much out of the book. Mind you, I guess they had no choice really; there were quite a lot of scenes in the book that could never have been put into a film for general release.
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I've bought The Hunger Games trilogy on Kindle the other day - am saving it for some long flights in November. And I've nearly finished reading The Einstein Girl, by Philip Sington, for my f2f reading group. It's okay - has some interesting moments, but I'm ready to be done with it now.
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My favourite films are (in no particular order):
Singin' In The Rain (1952)**
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Easy Virtue (2008)
Roman Holiday (1953)
The African Queen (1951)
Anchors Aweigh (1945)**
The Pirate (1948)**
Moonstruck (1987)
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
The Bishop's Wife (1947)
Barefoot In The Park (1967)
**These are musicals, so if you're not into musicals, you might want to give them a miss. Although it is my firm opinion that everyone should see Singin' In The Rain
. Oh, and Casablanca. And Cool Hand Luke.Okay, I'll stop now.
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I really really want to see this film.The Artist. Good, very enjoyable, and very well done but think it's been a bit over-hyped.
Watched a couple of films at the weekend. The first one was From Time To Time, produced by Julian Fellowes and starring Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville and yummy Dominic West....thoroughly enjoyed it, although apparently it is not a very faithful adaptation of the book (The Chimneys of Green Knowle by Lucy M Boston). I haven't read the book, so couldn't compare, but really liked the film.
The second film was A Damsel In Distress, from 1937, starring Fred Astaire, George Burns and Gracie Allen. And Joan Fontaine, but it was right at the start of her career, and she honestly didn't make much impression here. Astaire, Burns and Allen were terrific though. A couple of amazing dance routines (I'm more of a Gene Kelly fan, but really like watching Astaire as well), and some great one-liners from Gracie Allen. Lots and lots of fun
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I bought the book a couple of months ago, because it looks like something I would enjoy. I haven't read it yet, but hope to read it sometime soon.
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Hi Julie. There were nine episodes in season 2, plus a Christmas special. And I agree about Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton - they bounce off each other perfectly.
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I have Martyr on my tbr pile. Really liked the Shardlake stories (well, the one I've read anyway), so am looking forward to it.
I thought Before I Go To Sleep was fantastic, and I hope you end up enjoying it too
I haven't read Hyperion, so didn't have the problems with comparisons though. -
I agree about Edith and Sybil. Especially Sybil really...I feel sorry for Edith, because everyone in her family acts like she's hideous looking, when she's actually very attractive. Her character really grew as well during the second series. Mary always strikes me as incredibly selfish
I doubt that she will ever make Matthew happy. I didn't like the way Lord Robert had a personality transplant for series 2 - he hated the fact that Sybil wanted to marry a chauffeur, because he thought that Branson was inferior to the family - but he was perfectly happy to have it away with the maid while his wife was suffering with the Spanish flu!
Despite that though, and even though I though series 1 was better than series 2, it has remained consistently entertaining from day one. Maggie Smith is just amazing. In fact, she's brilliant in everything I've ever seen her in, but the role of Dowager Crawley was made for her!
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Again, not a classic, but Netherwood by Jane Sanderson is billed as 'perfect for fans of Downton Abbey'.
I loved Downton Abbey as well - the first series was better than the second, but both were deliciously entertaining. Maggie Smith is just amazing.
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Sorry to hear about your mom, it must be such a stressful time.
Off the top of my head, I'd say perhaps the Alice In Wonderland stories, or L Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz series? Both light reading, and very enjoyable.
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This year I'm aiming to knock off a few of the older books from my TBR, read more generally, and finally, actually bring the TBR down!!!
Good luck with reducing your TBR list Andrea! Happy reading in 2012
That is my one resolution every year - to get the TBR down. So far I have never managed it, but will keep trying!
So I finally finished The Secret of Crickley Hall. What a load of utter tosh. This book is the worst written, most cliche-riddled pile of rubbish I have read in a long time. Right from the start I found the writing awful. I hoped it would pick up, but no. It's almost as if James Herbert deliberately tried to drop every writing clanger in the book, just to see if he could get away with it. It has it all: cliched themes, boring characters, badly written local dialect, info-dumping, outrageously villainous villains with no redeeming qualities at all, to name a few. The writing is amateurish and repetetive, the story predictable and it's not even scary. I even spotted a couple of continuity errors. It fails on all counts. The atrocious writing aside, the story itself is predictable (did I mention that?) and downright unpleasant in parts. The child abuse aspects are written without a scrap of sensetivity and are pure sensationalism, which is unforgiveable. A horrible book, badly written. A total waste of time.
I have now picked up Think by Simon Blackburn, which is an introduction to philosophy. So far so good.
The Secret of Crickley Hall may not be an entertaining book, but your review definitely is entertaining!
I bought that book ages ago - goodness knows why, because it every time I see it, I think "No, don't fancy reading that yet." I think I may just send it to the charity shop, and be done with it.
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That sounds like an amazing read Kidsmum. Thanks for the great review
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Poppy, are you Ruth's long lost sister?
I'm flattered
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Well....you probably don't need to see the first two to understand the final one, but I would recommend watching them, because they were both brilliant
If time is a factor, then just watch the last one. You absolutely HAVE to see the last one! -
Ha - Chrissy, what you put in your spoiler....I was EXACTLY the same!!
Your book activity in 2012
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