rwemad
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Posts posted by rwemad
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Nice review rwemad and definately not a lot of 'self-indulgent nonsense' at all!
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo.... not a review!!!!
It's my thoughts...... a review would include the blurb etc.... please please please.... NOT a review!!!! You scaring me....
I STILL haven't got to the top of the library list for the grave book.
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Lord of the flies!!!!!!!!! Its a horrid book but loads of teachers love it.
oooooooo Lord of the Flies is a book that I really do think deserves to be loved.
I had to read it when I was in Primary schoo, I was about 10 I think, but thought it was much better when I read it as an adult.
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I am going to bare a little of my soul here
.I sometimes think that books are my escape from my life. As a young person I was a bit of a rebel and constantly sought to escape 'real' life. This led me into all sorts of sticky and quite shameful situations
. Not that my life was/is 'bad' but it was/is never enough for me, at least it wouldn't be if I didn't have the books to bury myself in. However, I don't mix with people very well. It has been suggested that I may be slightly autistic. I am happy to grasp this diagnosis as it excuses me a little from being a miserable old battleaxe who would rather stay home and read than go to the party
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I don't like to be cocky enough to call it review, more just my humble thoughts and I certainly wouldn't dream of comparing it to any of the brilliant reviews on the forum. But again ...
Ha ha........ It's I who don't 'do' reviews
. Way too much responsibility. I write what I think about the book I have just read... self indulgent nonsense most of the time.But yours are in a different league. They really are proper reviews... at least I think so, I like them, and they are very helpful to my picking out reads and that's what reviews are about.
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The Time Travelers Wife I absolutely love, I have read it about ten times now.I just find that it's a beautiful love story told incredibly well. I cannot wait to see the film.
Oh my goodness. Ten times.
I have this book but I can't seem to get past the first few pages. I really struggle with it. I just can't understand myself as it seems to be well loved and recommended by all, I have yet to find anybody with a bad word to say about it. I'm worried about myself. I think I may be a bit weird.
Do you think it was hard to get into to start off with? Or did you love it from the first line?
I think it's the whole time travel bit... it is a fantasy isn't it? I always struggle with fantasy.
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Like Mac I lost interest in Harry Potter too....... the middle of the third book, whichever that one was, apparently it's the best one
.Unlike Mac, I have never felt the need to pick up a Phillip Pullman book. I think I am bored of them before I even start
.That makes me sound awful I know.
I have been thinking about having another go at the HP as they are filming a scene for the new movie near where I live next month. There is options for locals to be 'extras'. Not me I hasten to add, I would HATE it.
I would like to read the book before I see the film and of course I am going to HAVE to see the film to see if I can spot anybody I know in the crowd.
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ooooooooooo I was thinking of looking out for The Historian....... I'm not so sure now.......... vampires.... oooooo.
You write great reviews Charm. I enjoy reading your thread.
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The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall ****
Well, this short book is interesting and thought provoking.
It is set in the, not too distant, future when floods and climate change have wreaked havoc in the UK and society, as we know it, has broken down. There is no fuel and the economy has collapsed (uh oh) leaving the British dependent on food parcels from the US. The govt is controlling the people: where they work, where they live, how they live, birth control and there are curfews and utility restrictions. A modern day twist to 1984?
The lead runs away from the oppressive, controlled living area into the uncontrolled countryside and finds the Carhullan Army which has a self sufficient base. It is women only, although there are a handful of men for breeding and recreation purposes living nearby within the army's control. The story is mainly about the running of, and relationships within, this army and their quest to lead a revolution when their small world becomes threatened.
I picked this book up at the library without having ever heard of it. Since reading it, I have read some mixed reviews and have learned that many think it is all about feminism and poses questions such as: are women as strong, as ruthless, as powerful, as capable as men? Whilst I can see (now
) why this is so, I thought that the story had developed into a sort of modern and adult Lord of the Flies. I thought that, although them being female was clearly important, the book would have worked equally well had the army been all men. I suppose now thinking about it the 'all women' gave it an extra dimension but it could have just as likely been about perhaps regression of society as men reverted to keeping their women etc. See, I am a true equalitist (another new word?). Anyway, I thought it was more about the self imposed limits and lack of socialisation/outer stimulation that seemed to create a haven for insanity to breed and develop. It was really quite disturbing.
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ooooooooooooooo only an 8 out of 10 for After Dark eh?
I am looking forward to reading his other books even more now.
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Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters
I'm going to steal this one off you Gyre. It reads like I would really enjoy it.
Thanks for sharing.
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Amercian Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.
Only book I've been unable to finish, and the only book I've ever thrown in the bin! Nasty piece of junk...IMO
Ahhhhhhh I struggled with it but once I perservered and finished it, I thought it was a great book....... not a 'nice' book and yes... it is a very disturbing book... but a great book none the less.
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Live a Little by Kim Green ***
I have given this book a generous 3* - part of me wanted to only give it a 2* as I found it a little... well... odd.
Should anybody decide to read it, be prepared for a proper girly book with all the silliness, inconsistencies and nonsense that entails. There were some cracking one liners that were laugh-out-loud funny and there were some real tender moments that, had they been in more sombre surroundings, may well be very moving. But the story is about the lead lying.......BIG lies about how she is dying from breast cancer and I found it difficult to like her very much. Some of the more raunchy scenes and language seemed a little out of place too, unnecessary maybe.
Providing this book is taken for what it is... 'fun', then it deserves the 3*.
I will be reading more of her books as I think she writes very entertainingly. It's just that some of the writing in this one felt wasted on such nonsense: the funny bits wasted in a book with such a serious storyline, the tender bits wasted in a funny story... it just didn't gel too well; almost as if she had all these ideas and she made them into a book, rather than wrote one story.
Am I making no sense again?
That must be ironic then:roll:
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I take more care buying books than I do a bikini, too. They're not very good at covering my modesty when I jump in the pool, though...
Ahhhh........ you discovered that too eh? To be honest (should you really want too much information) a bikini isn't up to the job either these days. This is the internet and my subconcious intention to imply that I had no need to purchase new swimwear as I can still wear the bikini of my late teens with some sort of respectable allure, has now fallen a little on it's face. In truth, to ensure my family are prepared to sit with me, I need to wear those two piece swimsuits that are marketed as being 'magic' (trust me they ain't!).
I'm sure you would look great in a bikini........
.........we'll just let that image rest a little in the back of our minds shall we girls?
OK the books that I have chosen to take with me are:
*fanfare please*
- A wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami... I mean he has to come doesn't he?
- Never Let Me Go by Kazio Ishguro... I have HUGE hopes for this one
- This Charming Man by Marian Keyes... for the beachy bits.
We are going for a week and I doubt if I will get through all 3 as I hope to do a fair amount of looking around and just an itsy bitsy bit of partying too.
Have a nice day everybody.
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So I've finished reading Brideshead Revisited. Really, it's a fantastic book. I've loved the other Evelyn Waugh I've read - Scoop and Vile Bodies - but still approched with trepidation. After all, my knowledge is really of fractions of the rather misty eyed 1980s TV adaptation, which thoroughly put me off.
Funnily, my memories of the TV adaptation are sort of right - it is slightly weird aristocratic, vaguely homosexual young men romping around Oxford, to start with. And the book really needs that portrayal at the outset. So, although it would have put me off, it as actually what makes the book great.
It's not, fortunately, like the dreadful "Atonement", although both are sort of country-house period drama things. It's much funnier, and much deeper, and much better written, and keeps the interest. It's funny that, when reading Atonement, I thought it was the country-housey stuff that killed me. It's what puts me off Austen, too. But somehow Brideshead has enough to it to overcome that.
But partly, I think, the delight is that it's set in the inter-war years with a full knowledge of the decline and fall of British aristocracy, and there are so many elements of that decline woven through the book. The obsessions with religion and class and eccentricity and lineage, and how they were falling apart.
All the characters are fantastic and believable, too.
I really, really enjoyed it.
And now I'm reading a book on the US dustbowl of the 1930s called "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan. I've only just started but it's fascinating historical reportage of something I only know from reading Grapes of Wrath 20 years ago.
Ahhh Andy.
You are so refreshing. I too have been put off many a book because of the suspected aristicratic, period drama, Austenesque element.
I thought I was just a moody ol' battleaxe.
I wasn't overly fussed on Atonement either.
I have never considered Brideshead Revisited as a book I may like, however, I may just give it a try now.
I am also going to have a look for the Great Crash of 1929 .... I think there are a couple of us in our house that will find that interesting.
See.... you have real clout.
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I apologise for coming on so strong. I've just re-read my post and it really is a bit rude. I'm sorry. I hate being/sounding rude, but I certainly did here. Again, my apologies, and please don't kick me out of the sandbox. It's way too much fun in here and I'm meeting such lovely people.
Oh my goodness. Unless I missed the post you are referring to I can't see where you were rude.
I haven't joined in here .... but I will, when I've decided. I'm a bit of a ditherer and just can't make up my mind which books are my favourites, which should be read or those which I think are best.
Recent discussion regarding pedantries has added to my ditheriness (thinking of pedantic... is ditheriness a word?).
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I`ll be picking this up from the library on Monday, and I can`t wait to read it! I hope I enjoy it as much as you obviously did.
Oh I hope so too. I am new to this author and can't wait to read more. I love finding a new author to enjoy. Sometimes I go through a bit of a barren patch where I can get quite depressed at reading the same old same old.
Is it considered 'sad' to get so excited over books? I worry about myself sometimes.
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I'm really pleased you liked it! I've got it out to read next, so I'll talk with you about it when I'm through.
He really is wonderful.
You really rattle through them, don't you?!?
Gosh, how many times do I write the word really? Very many, it would seem.
Well, After Dark is a really short book and is also really good so it was really easy to read in the one day.
It took me for ever to read An Abso Scan. I'm having to read my other library take outs before I go back for more Murakami. I have also made a note of your Mcrecommends.... thanks for them.
I like to mix and match my reading a little. I am reading a very light, fun girly book at the minute and it is exactly as it says on the tin. I need 'light 'n' easy' as work is pretty busy at the mo and I am having to pick up and put down with long gaps etc. 'After Dark', and presumably all Murakami books, deserves, peace quiet and the undivided attention of its reader.
I am so silly........ We are taking a holiday soon and I intend to save a couple of books, which I have high hopes of enjoying, to take with me. My husband takes the mick.... 'just stay home and read the darn book... it'll save us a fortune'
However, the books I take on holiday I buy rather than borrow, so where other women choose their holiday bikini with such care... I buy books. -
I quite liked An Absolute Scandal, although I've read better by Penny Vincenzi. I guess I see your point though they do make a big deal about something that is passable
oooo sorry, but ya know ... each to our own etc. It is all about personal preference. I have found what I think are some real good reads on this forum. I find a member who seems to like the same sort of books as me and then I steal their ideas.
Hopefully, other members who don't share my taste will think something like...... 'oooo An Absolute Scandal must be good as Rwemad likes all that weird/dull/tedious/bizarre other stuff'
So even my saying it's useless may even sell her some more books.... so I'm doing her a favour.... sort of....
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An Absolute Scandal by Penny Vincenzi *
*phew* *sigh*
If this book hadn't been a gift I would not have bothered to finish it. I was hoping that when I finished it I would at least be able to feel some sort of satisfaction as to knowing what happened but NO... the ending was wet and inconclusive. Nothing much happened in the entire book really.
As hard and as long as Vincenzi tried I could not warm to any of the characters and I most certainly couldn't raise any sympathy for them, Ok maybe a little for the ones that died...
but really, I was born into a family of frugalites and I cannot enjoy reading about pages of heartbroken people who claim to have lost 'everything' when all they've had to do is sell their country pile and their yacht. Some of these people were drowning their sorrows in champagne and discussing how 'terribly beastly' life was at their favourite restaurants. Well.... there is skint and there is skint and trust me these over indulged spoiled brats have never been skint.As annoying as the whining about their financial lot was, their constant love for each other after having only just met was even more irritating. The pages were full of 'how charming', 'Oh she is sooo sweet', 'Oh I just love'....grrrrrrr I mean there was a fair bit of leaping from bed to bed as well but because these were all very respectable wealthy people who were having a 'bit of a rough time' and because they were all so luuurvly it was all done very tastefully and all jolly good fun old chap.
Terrible book. Sorry.
After Dark by Haruki Murakami *****
Oh my.... oh my.
Loved this.... totally.
I have looked at lots of reviews for this and they are, as I might have predicted, very mixed. Apparently many Murakami fans think this one is a bit of a letdown after his previous books. I am quite excited (bless my little cotton socks - so easilly pleased:roll:) as perhaps there are ones that I may enjoy even more!!!! However, I may not; I do think that Murakami books are for an aquired taste... a bit like marmite... but on the basis of this book - I just love it. I can't wait to read the 'better' Murakami books.
I so wish I could write like this. I just can't see how he does it! I mean it's simple language, subtle and elegant..... there's nothing flash in there... it's just .... well.... wonderful. He isn't greedy either...there are so many ideas in this short but compact book.... another author may try and get three of four novels out of it... Vincenzi could get a dozen lengthy tomes!!!! Every sentence matters. The book covers: insecurities, loneliness, isolation, ambitions, self doubt, friendship all woven around a cute little love story.
Wow.
I feel really quite mean writing as I did about Abso Scan. It's not that I don't enjoy light chick flitty reads..........as I do (currently reading Live a Little by Kim Green; can't get much more girly that THAT) but I just don't like it when books are dressed up as something they're not. Should a book be aimed at the light beachy readers... then BE that, don't try and be a classic piece of academic literature. I do hope I'm making a little ounce of sense to somebody.
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Well Mac I'm sorry for pushing you off the numbsky no. 1 spot
I have been to the library and Norwegian Wood needs to be ordered but I have managed to get After Dark by Haruki Murakmi...
have you read it?I can't wait to give it an airing, but I MUST finish Abso Scan.......... only 100 more pages to go:)
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thank you Michelle........... just look at my previous few posts 'I'm a techie numbsky'
then
Yes .. I think I read somewhere that there are three set around the post war period and are a sort of 'loose' trilogy... it made some sort of sense at the time.
The Remains of the Day is on the 100 book list somewhere.
'Never Let Me Go' seems to be a popular one.. I'm sure I read about it here somewhere but I can't find it now...
I'm going to get myself a reputaion:blush: and it won't be for being clever.
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Me too. Daft as a brush when it comes to technical what-sits. I'll find those two books and have a go. Was The Remains of the Day one of his?
Yes .. I think I read somewhere that there are three set around the post war period and are a sort of 'loose' trilogy... it made some sort of sense at the time.
The Remains of the Day is on the 100 book list somewhere.
'Never Let Me Go' seems to be a popular one.. I'm sure I read about it here somewhere but I can't find it now...
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Hey Mac.....
Yes he has written a few which I am hoping to read. The Unconsoled and Never Let me Go seem very popular.
By the way......... I don't fully understand everything I can do on this site ... I am a bit of a techie numbsky. I am learning though.
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An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishguro****
Fabulous, fabulous book.
This was sophisticated and beautiful. There was nothing coarse or jarring in the writing; it was smooth and creamy.
I think this book had a way of flattering its readers; it is subtle yet the depth is quite breathtaking causing me to read some passages several times to appreciate them fully. I hope that makes sense
. This book could well be a serious contender for a second read in a month or two as I am sure I could find more to it. I also think it could turn up as a modern classic to be studied. So much to talk about in there... but what stood out for me most was: the addressing of the past, the self analysing, self forgiveness, all of us are just people doing the best we can in our own worlds.Lovely book. My sort of book.
I am keen to find more of this author.
I am going to finish An Absolute Scandal now
Kylie's Literary Adventures in 2009
in Past Book Logs
Posted
Jerome K Jerome: Three Men in a Boat
Laugh out loud funny.
It is one of the few books that I will re read, if ever I feel down it never fails to cheer me. I love it and hope you enjoy it just as much.