frankie

For me The Complete Polysyllabic Spree was a very quick read. I didn't read it in one sitting but it took me only a couple of days. The 'chapters' are quite short and in the beginning of each chapter (=month) there's a list of books Hornby has bought and a list of books he's actually read. If you take this one with you Ruth, do take other books as well

That's the best choice Sorry to hear you're having problems sleeping, why is that? =( I hope you get to sleep soon (not that I would mind having you around to talk to for longer ) I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they always do midnight viewings in, say, Helsinki but I think our town is not as cultured as that I would think they'd be rather fun and not obnoxious at all. Although I have to say, I've been to a movie in Helsinki and the audience there was so much more outspoken and rebellious and quite filthy indeed! The place was a pig sty after everyone had been eating popcorn and whatnot and not quite caring if the popcorn actually made it's way into their mouths. Here in Joensuu people behave a lot better. The youngsters in Helsinki are quite scary at times, I'm so glad I come from a small town and I like to think I grew up quite nicely. Am I sounding like a redneck hillbilly? LOL! Artistic liberty in translations, that's quite cocky! You'd think they thought they'd written the book themselves?! All the translational issues are quite interesting, sometimes I regret that I didn't try and get to the translation department after one year in uni. Yeah I knew the original story had Rita Hayworth in the title. But it's not as revealing as the Finnish title, is it. It must be a very difficult thing to be a translator though. You hardly ever notice the work the translator has put in if you enjoy the movie and don't even consciously notice the subtitles, because then the translator has done his/her job well. You only notice the translation in a conscious level if s/he has made a mistake and then you think, what a poor translator. Very ungratifying. I'd say the only translator who enjoys wide public recognition here is Jaana Kapari-Jatta who's translated the Harry Potter books. She's done a brilliant job and it's a real joy to read the books in Finnish as well. She's said that it's really difficult to decide whether to translate the English names into Finnish. If a character has a small role in one book and she decides not to translate the name, she'll regret it if it turns out later on that that character will play a more important role. To give you an idea of the Finnish HP translations, there's the name of Snape. It's short, it's clear, it has an edge to it, and it'll remind you of a snake. The Finnish translation is 'Kalkaros', which has two Ks and makes it a very loud and ominous name. It also reminds you of a snake, because in Finnish we have a 'kalkkarok

I'm not sure, if I start reading the books and watch the movies then I definitely will get to that but I have so many great reads ahead of me.... Not that it would take that much time to plow through awesome novels? I'd go with you in a heartbeat as well, I'd love to do a mignight watching, I've never done those before It's definitely interesting, the translator must've been aware about the theme of the original titles and why not just follow that? It's very confusing isn't it. I usually refer to the books by their original titles, or just call them 'the first book, the second' and so on. And you don't sound clueless, it's a valid question. We do have words for 'twilight' and 'eclipse' but now that I actually checked them in the dictionary, they wouldn't sound like great titles in my opinion. I actually like the Finnish name 'Temptation', the Finnish word 'Houkutus' is a great one. Is there anything about people having doubts or suspicions in Eclipse? The Finnish word for doubt starts with an 'E', so I don't know if that is a factor in the decision. I should e-mail the translator Yes, I believe the first Sookie book was Dead Until Dark, and the Finnish translation reads 'The Power of Blood' in English. I don't particularly like the Finnish title 'Veren voima' because it instantly reminds me of 'Veren vangit' (prisoners of blood) which is the Finnish title for Interview with a Vampire. But now that I've seen the Finnish title I'm thinking the translator must be thinking about all the words that start with a V and maybe they've come up with better ones than they'd come up with a K (dead is 'kuollut' in Finnish). These title translations are really interesting. You remember the movie Shawshank Redemption, undoubtedly? Well, the Finnish translation of the movie is That practically spoils the whole movie Soooo stupid. We had this summer course on Hollywood Indie movies and our lecturer, Vickie Olsen, was talking to us about different movies and movie titles during a break. She couldn't believe it when we told her about the Rita Hayworth title You wouldn't happen to know her, peace? She's from the States and she's been to teach in Spain and stuff so she must be quite the international traveller. A very nice and likable person, I loved her movie courses. I don't blame you for disliking the movie! I almost quit watching it myself and kept on going mainly because I liked all the actors so much. And it was about books and authors And yes, Jeff Daniels' character is probably one of the most despicable ones I've ever come across in movies, even though he didn't actually kill or rape or harm anyone physically. But he was such a bitter person. Apparently he thought he was the writer in the family, and he was so annoyed when he hadn't been published for ages and his soon to be ex-wife got published soon after they separated. He'd had a couple of wives (well only one, according to him, because the first marriage got annulled) before Laura Linney's character and he kind of kept saying how people had turned difficult on him. When he was in a hospital recovering from a heart attack and his son didn't want to live with him anymore, he started saying "don't get difficult". It's like when he didn't get his will, it was because other people were difficult. He was so arrogant and awful and full of himself and so jealous of his wife's success... Argh!! I think one of the reasons you quit watching the movie, peace, is because there were very explicit suggestions of a teenage masturbating in school, and rubbing the semen in the bookspines in the library or locker doors in the school corridors. I mean, it wasn't like we saw any private parts but it was so obvious and it was really, really disturbing.

There you go, problem solved!

Oooh now I remember the Finnish title that seemed weird, meaning different. I was at the store looking at books and there was the first Sookie Stackhouse novel translated in Finnish! The title was 'Veren voima' which means 'The Power of Blood'

I started thinking about this 'the' thing and there are few things that I want to mention. We don't have definite or indefinite articles in Finnish, which you English speaking people might find odd. Also, Eclipse has a Finnish title so I guess I'd be calling it by the Finnish name, or then I'd only say "the new Twilight movie". Then I started thinking about the Finnish titles for the different movies/books and Twilight is in Finnish 'Houkutus', meaning 'Temptation'. New Moon is a literal translation. Eclipse is 'Doubt' or maybe 'Suspicion'. And Breaking Dawn is 'Dawn' or 'Daybreak'. Then I started thinking about this novel that had a weirdish translation title in Finnish but I forgot what it was. Maybe I'll remember that later. I was just out with a friend, we had a couple of beers (haha, wrote bears and thought to myself that looks wrong) and a lovely time. Then I went to the grocerystore and yay, I found Trainspotting on DVD for a quid or so! I've been wanting to watch it for a couple of months now, I'm so excited I wathed The Squid and the Whale last weekend BTW, I'm not sure what to make of it. When it was finished and there were the credits, I was like "wow, did it end already??". Lots of great actors in that one, Jeff Daniels and the ever so talented and beautiful Laura Linney, and that young guy who was in Zombieland as well, he's really cute. And the boy who played the younger brother was really good as well. Oh and one of the Baldwin brothers. Oh and Anna Paquin! I wonder if anyone has watched this and liked it?

I don't know if we'll be having any midnight showings here Aaaa shucks, my English skills have failed me Anyways, I think I'll be waiting a couple of weeks til all the tweens and teens have seen the movie and the audience is a smaller scale, more mature one

I hear you, loud and clear! I have no intentions of NOT being able to go and see The Eclipse in the movie theater!!

Thanks vodkafan Feeling good about oneself is of course more important than how one looks, but I have to confess my body image is and always has been very tightly connected to my self esteem, and that's wrong. But like I said, I feel so different about that nowadays Thanks Kylie Don't feel bad about not always having the time for gym, because sometimes life and obligations just get in the way and there's no helping that Besides, it's sounds like your eating habits are in check and that already helps so much. I agree, going to the gym makes you think really hard about what you put in your mouth

I have to say I haven't lost any weight in the last month, partly due to not exercising as much and partly because I've been eating too much. This doesn't bother me too much because now I'm going to the gym three days a week and I'm also looking after my eating a lot more. Yesterday I went to the grocerystore right after I finished my gym routine. Usually I'd pick up chips and that kind of stuff when I'm hungry and in a store, but I bought cabbage, chicken, milk and that kind of stuff. And eventhough I haven't lost any weight lately, I feel very different about my body. I still carry at least 20 kilos excess weight but I feel so much better about my body now that I go to the gym. I feel like I'm taking control of it and making more of it and more with it than I've ever done before. I feel so empowered, it's so hard to explain. I feel a sort of an accomplishment everytime I'm at the gym and particularly afterwards. And I feel like I've found somewhere I belong.

I agree, Jonathan's voice is really distinctive and unique, I love it! I love it how he can use it to shout and whisper and sing softly. I admit that I only have Take a Look in the Mirror, See You on the Other side and Untitled. I do have some other albums as well but I have them on my other computer which I don't use any more so I mainly listen to those three albums. I like the earlier stuff and the dark tones they have but like you said I really enjoy those more experimental albums of the later years. And I love how they can make really thought-provoking, disturbing stuff, but at the same time they can make songs where they don't take themselves too seriously. Have you seen the episode of South Park where Korn visited? I loved them in Monk as well Such well behaved and gentle souls Monk had a real problem with the R that was written all wrong I'm currently listening to Korn on Spotify, so the songs are in a random order.

I've just realised The Eclipse will be in the movie theaters at the end of the month (30.6 to be exact) and I haven't even read the third book of the series yet!! And, I still haven't watched New Moon. I'm thinking maybe I should dedicate the next couple of week to reading the whole series, re-reading the first two and then moving on to the others.

I really enjoyed this book and could've read on and on and was sad when it ended. The most disturbing and annoying thing in the book was when Hornby revealed he didn't list all of the books he'd bought. I would've liked to see how many books he actually buys per month! It was particularly enjoyable when he was talking about a book that I had read myself and liked. Too bad he wasn't the biggest fan of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Books that made their way to my wishlist because of this book: The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem George and Sam: Autism in the Family by Charlotte Moore How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer (also on Rory Gilmore challenge) Enemies of Promise by Cyril Connolly Old School by Tobias Wolff (also on RG) True Notebooks by Mark Salzman Early Bird by Rodney Rothman Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler Candide by Voltaire (also on RG) Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy Tyson What Good Are the Arts by John Carey Pure Pleasure by John Carey Ghosting by Jeanie Erdal Scenes from a Provincial Life by William Cooper The Dirt by M

Ooooh, finish line for Smilla coming up, yay! I bet you're glad when it's finished, even if you've enjoyed reading it? It's such a difficult book to read, must concentrate 100%. I didn't know what to think of The Perks at first, I found Charlie to be really odd but the further I've read the further I've gotten to know him and really adore him and he's really growing on me I wonder if this is a YA classic of some sorts, and how old this book is. Edit: Wow, apparently this book has been first published in 1999? I thought it was early 90s novel.

I've read a novel by that particularly handsome Ethan Hawkes but I must say I wasn't particularly impressed by it. Then there's Stephen Fry, of course. Then there's Jimmy Carr who's written at least one book on jokes but I haven't had the pleasure of reading it yet. I can't think of others right now.

Yes indeed! This is the album where I started my Korn fandom, so it's very special in that way as well. I love the guitar vibes that are the very essence of Korn. And I find the singer very fascinating. I'd buy his autobiography in a heart beat.

According to me, everything on that album is great

Korn - Take a Look in the Mirror

I started reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

Yay! Have you read anything by Hornby before? There's an American singer-songwriter in this one so there's a bit of a common American ground for you in the novel I've just finished it and I really enjoyed it! I've given it a 4/5, I try to limit the amount of 5/5s I give to books.

Both The Ghost Writer by John Harwood and The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud by Ben Sherwood sound interesting, meaning my wishlist is expanding yet again. Thanks for the wonderful reviews Paula

I'm still reading Hornby's Juliet, Naked, and I'm still enjoying it immensely

I've picked up The Brooklyn Follies from the library a couple of times but have never gotten to actually reading it, although I am determined to do so at some point in the future. So glad you liked it! And I'm happy to hear The New York Trilogy didn't discourage you from picking up another Auster

You are just flying through the books aren't you Kate I wish I could read as fast as you do!

madcow, sorry you have to wait longer but at least you'll get it properly done tomorrow Rawr, good luck with your aim! I went to the gym on Saturday and spent 2 hours there. First five minutes on the crosstrainer. It was my first time on it and it felt so weird And then I noticed that I was going backwards! But going forwards wasn't much better than that. It was good and I started to feel it in my thighs but I can't say I'm used to the machine, I'll be having many funny sessions with it before I'm all settled in. Then I did about 5 minutes on the threadmill, just walking though. Then me and my friend did half of the stuff we're instructed to, because doing all of them takes like 1,5 h from each. We took turns and were chatting quite a bit so the 2 hours went by really fast. We're going again today and I'm hoping we'll be able to make the route speedier today. Those of you who go to the gym: what kind of routines do you have, which equipment do you like the best? I like the equipment that are focused on my arms and such because my upper body is totally out of shape and strength. My most favorite is the abdominal crunch <3 Leg press and pulley are fun too. I hate the glute thingie, it feels so stupid doing it And arm curl is the one with which I have the most problems with, I started with the lowest amount of weight and I still can't do the whole 15 reps in a row.