chesilbeach
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Posts posted by chesilbeach
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Hoping to make a start my Christmas shopping this week, and with any luck, I might finish it too!
Not many people to buy for so should be fairly easy. My plan is to get them all wrapped by the end of November, and then I can enjoy my time off over Christmas without rushing around trying to finish preparations.
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It's taken me ages to read a few books this month, but I'm currently reading The Princess Bride by William Goldman and listening to Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.
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Lovely to see you back here again.
Looking forward to catching up with you next week 
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Try Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden. There's a series of books but this is the first and I think sounds like what you're looking for.
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Hi Dan! Welcome to the forum
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As usual, I've been glued to it, as I need to keep my website up to date!
I think it's a really good series this year, and it feels like it's more of a dance competition and not just an entertainment show this year. I love Shirley as the new head judge as she really knows her stuff, and she's been on It Takes Two a couple of times and has been fantastic. They asked her to explain the techniques of the samba last week, and she did that brilliantly, then did a demo with Kevin and it was a full on samba routine!
From the competitors, my favourite was always going to be Susan, as I've always loved her as a comedian and she's been a long term fan of Strictly and I was delighted to see she'd finally made it. I love that she's genuinely trying to dance as well, and not just being a comedy act.
Aside from Susan, after four weeks, I'm loving Gemma and Davood, and think they'll make great progress as long as they stay in. I like Aston and Alexandra too, although like Steve mentioned earlier, Alexandra's jive as fantastic, but I don't think it was worthy of 10s yet, as both Aston and Alexandra suffer from being a tiny bit pigeon-toed at times, but she was better than anyone else on the night, and if you've already given 9s, it would be difficult to justify not giving her a higher score.
Love Jonnie too, and we were talking about it at work, and we genuinely forget his disability when we watch him dance ... except, obviously, when he danced the jive in his blade!
I was disappointed Chizzy went out first, as the judges voted for Brian because he had more dance content, but the celebrities have no control over the choreography, so that doesn't seem a fair justification. Having said that, Brian has improved, and I think he's made the most of his second chance. Charlotte's dance this week was weak, and I think she was actually the weakest on the night (although I have to admit that if Brendan's dancing I find it hard to keep my eyes on his celebrity
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I'll stop there ... I could go on all night!
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I finished Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell yesterday, which is a year in the life of a second-hand bookseller in Wigtown in Scotland, which is like a Scottish Hay-On-Wye being a book town and having its own festival each year.
I'm also reading The French Lesson by Hallie Rubenhold, which is a fictional account of the French Revolution from a female perspective. It's for my new book group, and it's fine, but not the sort of thing I'd normally read, and a bit lightweight. The author has written more non-fiction than fiction, and I think I'd actually have preferred to read a non-fiction account despite the fact I don't usually read history books.
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Getting to the last few weeks of competition on the UK showing of MasterChef Australia. This series is one of the highlights of our telly viewing in our house, and this series has been fantastic. I've managed to avoid spoilers of who wins, so I've still got my fingers crossed for my favourites.
Also watching Strictly Come Dancing, Great British Bake Off, Taskmaster and the utterly hilarious W1A. Haven't seen this weeks episode yet, but it's on the planner for tonight. Oh, and reliving my youth with Top of the Pops 1984.
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I've started my Christmas themes jigsaws on my tablet app already.
Will be starting to think about Christmas shopping in the next couple of weeks.
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Been listening to an early Harry Connick, Jr. album today. Forgotten how much I loved his trio and solo piano work.
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1 hour ago, Janet said:
I found a copy of Chatterton Square today. It's not in italics but I vaguely remember you've got it? I'm in the Book Barn on my mobile and I haven't got good signal so I can't search your thread very well!
Thanks Janet, but I have already got it. It’s in italics on my phone, so might be just difficult to see? But bless you for looking!
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This is the September thread, not the October one, so I'm going to close it. Please reply in the October thread
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I finished Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer yesterday and started My Evil Twin is a Supervillain by David Solomons, and I still have a few chapters of My Family and Other Animals to go too.
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Welcome to October! What books have you been reading, buying, borrowing ... or even just coveting?
I've finished The Good Immigrant a collection of essays from British BAME authors which was excellent, I'm halfway through Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer for my new book group, and about three quarters of the way through My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell. :)
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Currently reading My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell - why have I waited so long to read this one? It's wonderful - charming and funny, I'm loving it.
Bought the first book for the new book group I'm going to join this week. It's called Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer, and I've never heard of it before, but it sounds like an interesting YA book, so I'm looking forward to it, but I need to get a move on with my current book so that I can make a start as soon as possible!
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1 hour ago, Lau_Lou said:
I haven't read your hidden comment, but if I remember I'll come back and look at it after I've read the book.
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2 hours ago, Athena said:
I hope you enjoy all of these! I've read My Brother is a Superhero and liked it but I haven't read My Gym Teacher is an Alien Overlord and My Evil Twin is a Supervillain yet. I've heard great things about The Hate U Give, and I read a few pages in my copy but at the time it didn't grasp me, so I'm hoping to get into it another time.
Thanks. I bought The Hate U Give because I'd heard the author interviewed a couple of times and it sounds like a story that needs telling. I'm getting very conscious that I'm reading mainly white authors, and particularly in children's and YA books, and I don't want my goddaughter not to see herself in books as she's a big reader but most of the characters in the books I buy her seem to be white or if not, then at least written by a white author, so I'm try to find more BAME authors although this is a bit old for her at the moment.
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Finished The Improbability of Love this afternoon, and apart from a couple of pop culture mistakes, it was a really good read.
Bought some new books this week:
The Midnight Peacock by Katherine Woodfine
My Evil Twin is a Supervillain by David Solomons
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
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Finished Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie - brilliant book, but very readable. Also read The Bookshop on Rosemary Lane which was an easy romance to follow such a serious previous read. I've now started The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild about the discovery and auction of a painting with the same title, and I'm really enjoying it.
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Finished Look At Me by Anita Brookner yesterday and it's been my favourite of her books so far.
Today, I started Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie, which although longlisted, didn't make the shortlist for the Man Booker this year. I'm enjoying it immensely, especially compared to Lincoln in the Bardo which was shortlisted and I found a chore.
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I don't think it matters too much if they're hidden or deleted, only the author of the post and staff would see the hidden ones, but I've deleted them anyway. :)
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11 hours ago, willoyd said:
Pretty much everybody I've heard or read reviewing Autumn has liked it, although several have said that they think she'll be a runner-up, so that's promising if you're a fan already! Apparently, Smith herself has said she's pretty relaxed about winning (although what else can she say?), not least because Angela Carter never won either. Which says a lot about the Man-Booker methinks.
Yes, I've heard the same, that it's a good book, but people don't think it will win. I have to say, having seen her talk twice, I can't imagine that she's bothered about prizes in general. She's got an infectious enthusiasm about both writing and reading (and when she reads excerpts from her books, she brings them to life more than any other author I've heard talk), but I don't think she worries about literary criticism or being famous as such. She also doesn't do any sort of social media or court attention from any other type of media, and has a set pattern to her time for writing, publishing and promoting and also taking time off from work. To me, she comes across as an ordinary person who writes extraordinary books, and her feet are planted firmly on the ground. :D
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18 minutes ago, willoyd said:
About par for the course with the Man Booker for me then! It's favourite to win too.
The House at the Edge of the World looks intriguing though.
(8 books in one week, that's going some!).
I know what you mean about the Man Booker - I rarely take much notice of it. I know I talk about Backlisted a lot, but they talked about Lincoln in the Bardo and it was on offer on Kindle for 99p, so I thought I'd give it a go. I've got Autumn by Ali Smith (also shortlisted) and Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (long listed but didn't make the shortlist) to read too, but that's because the first is Ali Smith and she's my favourite
and the second because she's doing a talk with Ali Smith locally in November and I'm going along, so I thought it was only polite to have read the books they're talking about before I go! :lol:
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I've merged your post with the existing topic of music to read to, as it's the same subject. As a new member, your links to external sites won't work until you have posted more on the forum, so they have been removed from the post. Perhaps you'd like to list the music in some of the playlists instead? I don't have a Spotify account myself, so I don't think I'd be able to see the playlists anyway, but would be interested to see what your music choices are.
Janet's Log - Stardate 2017
in Past Book Logs
Posted
I'm in a similar situation, I've done some reviews, but quite a few missing going back to April, and then everything from the end of June onwards.