Ben

I'm saying nothing. Andy was excellent today. 6-1, 6-1, 6-4, is certainly nothing to frown at. Let's hope he continues through in good form.

Hey, welcome to BCF.

Hey, welcome to BCF, look forward to seeing you in discussion. Who are some of your favourite authors?

April 2013 is the next series I believe. I've just finished watching Season 2 of Game of Thrones and I thought it was fantastic. I hate to be predictable but my favourite characters were also Arya, Tyrion and Jason H'ghar - I hope we get to see more of him. Also, what happened to Bronn? I hope he hasn't disappeared entirely, he was one of my favourite characters as well as the others I mentioned. All in all, I thought it made for fantastic television and even though I enjoyed not knowing what happened next, because I haven't read the books, I'm now very tempted to start reading them.

Ah being forced to read a book for class can ruin all enjoyment of it. I was rather lucky in that I enjoyed most of the texts I had to study, although I do think when I don't enjoy a book it's just because I don't like - not because I have to read it.

Maria Sharapova. <3

The fact you enjoyed it sounds promising, but haha you're right that not remembering it is isn't the best of signs.

I'll probably get around to it quite soon seen as though I can have it as part of my classics challenge while at the same time getting some early reading done for next semester.

Haha, other than that one memorable final I mean.

Pretty much all penalties shoot-outs go against the team I want to win, even if it's just some minor team who I've never even seen play before. It's a curse.

Why on earth are we talking about killing books with fire you meanies. Haha, so that's two not so very enthusiastic responses to Tess of the D'Urbervilles and one defence, hmmph! Will get back to you. As for Frankenstein, however, I absolutely loved that book when I studied it at A Level, so I have nothing to worry about with that one. This is one of the one's I'm most looking forward to, I've heard it's fantastic.

Review overdue and coming shortly, I've not been in the mood for reading or writing reviews as of late. I do, however, have reading news. My university finally sent me my reading list for the 2012/13 year. I'll post the first semester books below if anyone's interested: ENG216 Materialist Americas Rebecca Harding Davis, ‘Life in the Iron Mills’. Herman Melville, ‘Bartleby and Benito Cereno’. Tillie Olsen, ‘Yonnondio’. Sloan Wilson, ‘The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’. Douglass Coupland, ‘Microserfs’. ENG217 Post/Colonial Novel Rhys, Jean (1966; 2001) The Wide Sargasso Sea Coetzee, J.M. (1986; 1987) Foe Rushdie, Salman (1983; 1998) Shame Ondaatje, Michael (1992; 2004) The English Patient Dangarembga, Tsitsi (1988; 2004) Nervous Conditions ENG220 The Victorian Novel Gaskell, E. (1848; 2008), Mary Barton Braddon, M. (1862; 2008) Lady Audley’s Secret Eliot, G. (1866; 2006), Felix Holt, the Radical Hardy, T. (1891; 2008) Tess of the D’Urbervilles ENG211: Gothic Fictions Walpole, Horace (1764) The Castle of Otranto Radcliffe, Ann (1791) A Sicilian Romance Lewis, Matthew (1796) The Monk Dacre, Charlotte (1806) Zofloya, or The Moor Shelley, Mary (1818) Frankenstein Williams, Anne (ed.) (2002) Three Vampire Tales Some cracking looking modules, including many books and authors I've never heard of. I better get cracking with ordering these.

Ah, Scholes. I miss Scholes.

WOO WIMBLEDON!

Yawn, same old England. A lot of positives though. Roy looks like he could do good things with the team, we have a young, up-and-coming squad that will be ready for the World Cup or even the next Euro's, and we managed to top what was actually a pretty tricky group. We pushed the Italians to penalties, albeit if we pushed our luck at the same time, and a quarter-final really wasn't a bad effort all things considered. I'm disappointed we came unstuck on penalties again, but that's life. Italy were a superior side, deserved the victory, and all the remaining teams in the competition are stronger than we are. There should be a good couple of semi-finals coming up.

Oh I do hope so, I really, really do.

Most definitely. I mean, it's true that some people believe themselves to be bigger and 'above' society in the same way Dorian did. He was a man that had no morals and in some ways no fears. I think criminals in this day and age have the same mentality, but I also believe that some 'more influential' or powerful figures consider the world their oyster, and that nothing can stand in their way, too. I see from your earlier post that what we did was much of the same. The Great Gatsby and Macbeth were novels I covered, and we also read The Canterbury Tales, a play from Harold Pinter called Betrayed, more Shakespeare with Othello. Hmm let me think, we did Coleridge's epic poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I believe that just about covers everything if memory serves.

Ah Kat, you summed up Fifty Shades of Grey up perfectly. Admittedly I've only read a handful of chapters, but that was more than enough to realise that it was some over-hyped drivel, in the same vein as Twilight. I mean, I can't understand the fascination. It was poorly written from what I read, and there are certainly many books that are much better that don't get half as much attention; a thought that really disappoints me.

Excellent review. The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my favourite novels ever, so I was interested to hear your thoughts. A good point well expressed there. I think you got the idea of 'falling in love' that's ever-present throughout the text, spot on. It's to highlight Dorian's frivolous, ever-changing, hedonistic attitudes, and indeed those of the social circle that he moves in. He's always searching for something new to appease his appetite for entertainment. Again you express this well. I wrote heavily on duality in The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde in my A Level English Literature coursework. In addition I think the dual life that Dorian leads is in some ways representative of the divisions between personal and public nature that Oscar Wilde suffered from, being forced to hide his true sexuality. I'm glad that you enjoyed it; I feel that it's a novel everyone would benefit from and I'm inclined to recommend it to pretty much anyone I talk books with. I'd also personally agree with you regarding the dénouement; suicide in this case is the very climax of his selfishness and vanity. In essence, he does what he does for himself, with no repentant thoughts at all. I look forward to reading your future reviews, and once again great job in summarising your thoughts on Wilde's classic.

Sorry about never getting around to sorting this guys, I've been busy and not been on the forum much recently. I'm good for either day.

Yeah and we didn't get anything. I love how Blatter's now calling for goal-line technology now something went in our favour.

Finished The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura, there was something that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but for the most part it was an enjoyable, well-written read. I'll get around to writing a review tomorrow seen as though it's for the reviews blog. 4/5.

Pessimism is a natural feeling when England play, here's hoping they prove us wrong.

Still would have gone through, who cares?

Well my prediction was a quarter-final exit to Spain, but looks like seen as though France were god-awful and we actually managed to win our group (who knows how), it looks like we'll get knocked out by Italy instead.