chesilbeach
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Posts posted by chesilbeach
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Kenneth Grahame
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It Was Written In The Stars - Ella Fitzgerald
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Going to watch Best In Show tonight
I love that film! Peanut. Hazelnut. Cashew nut. Macadamia nut. Pistachio nut. Red pistachio nut. Natural, all natural white pistachio nut.
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Glasses.
Chandler or Joey?
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Malcolm Gladwell
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Highway Star - Deep Purple
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Lost Highway - Bon Jovi
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Dancing Queen - ABBA
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Love Is Noise - The Verve
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But Beautiful - Claire Martin
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American Boy - Estelle
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Flightless Bird, American Mouth - Iron & Wine
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Germaine Greer
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Fair enough.
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Diana Gabaldon
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Pasharo D’ermozura (Bird of Beauty) - Los Desterrados
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Is it The Virgin Suicides?
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Female.
Coach trip or train journey?
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Camilla Gibb
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Title: Twilight
Title: New Moon
Title: Eclipse
Title: Breaking Dawn
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Atom
Rating: 3/5
Synopsis (from fantasticfiction.co.uk):
About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him----and I didn't know how dominant that part might be----that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.
Although my books have this quote on the cover, the actual wording inside is ... and I didn't know how potent that part might be ...
Review:
I'm not going to dwell too long on these, except to say, this is my umpteenth time of reading the series, and it was only because I'd had little reading time, no reading mojo, and these were perfect for reading before bed to send me off to sleep. (I only re-read books at bedtime, as I forget what happens or fall asleep in the middle of sentences of new books, and have to go back and read again sentences/pages/chapters). I give the series 3/5 overall, but this is probably 2/5 for quality of writing and 5/5 for my own enjoyment of them, and I'm still entranced every time, and never tiring of reading them again.
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Title: A Spot of Bother
Author: Mark Haddon
Publisher: Vintage
Rating: 3/5
Synopsis (from amazon.co.uk):
George Hall doesn�t understand the modern obsession with talking about everything. �The secret of contentment, George felt, lay in ignoring many things completely.� Some things in life, however, cannot be ignored.
At fifty-seven, George is settling down to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his garden, reading historical novels, listening to a bit of light jazz. Then Katie, his tempestuous daughter, announces that she is getting remarried, to Ray. Her family is not pleased � as her brother Jamie observes, Ray has �strangler�s hands�. Katie can�t decide if she loves Ray, or loves the wonderful way he has with her son Jacob, and her mother Jean is a bit put out by all the planning and arguing the wedding has occasioned, which get in the way of her quite fulfilling late-life affair with one of her husband�s former colleagues. And the tidy and pleasant life Jamie has created crumbles when he fails to invite his lover, Tony, to the dreaded nuptials.
Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind.
Review:
This was one of my reading group books last month, and I have to admit, I was apprehensive before I started it, as I've never managed to get past page 22 of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Easy going writing, and a great characterisation of the male lead, I found this a comfortable book to sit and read. The short chapters, in turns focusing on different characters, were a god send for someone with limited reading time and the small number of characters (the main focus is on the four members of the family, George in particular) meant it was easy to dip in and out when time allowed.
I thought the characterisation of the men was very good, but the females seemed to be slightly more sketchy, although their stories were all there if you looked carefully enough, and picked up the details from a small, often throwaway line in their own chapters.
I was unfortunate enough to be reading while having lunch one day, when I read the squirm inducing scene where
George decides to cut away the lesion
, but it was actually one of the best chapters in the book for me, as it really seemed to show the depth of what George was going through mentally, and yet how he managed to make it seem to himself like a perfectly sensible thing to do.
Overall, I thought it was a good read, although I'm still not sure I'd read any more by this author unless I was prompted to by a book group or reading circle.
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Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Author: J. K. Rowling
Read by: Stephen Fry
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Rating: 3/5
Synopsis (from http://www.waterstones.com):
Harry Potter is preparing to leave the Dursleys and Privet Drive for the last time. But the future that awaits him is full of danger, not only for him, but for anyone close to him - and Harry has already lost so much. Only by destroying Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes can Harry free himself and overcome the Dark Lord's forces of evil.
Review:
Not having time for proper reading, and having run out of podcasts, I decided it was about time I listened to the mellifluous Mr Fry reading the final instalment of the Harry Potter series. I hadn't actually read the book since the day it was released, so while I could remember the plot, it was nice to go back and remind myself how the series that I know so well (as I've read and listened to all the other books many, many times).
I remember how I felt when I read the book (the camping section was far too long, self indulgent at times, and liked the epilogue but it was a bit twee), but I have to say, I actually enjoyed it much more having it read to me. I no longer felt it dragged while under canvas, and it actually rocked along at quite a pace. I suspect this has more to do with hearing the dulcet tones of my favourite narrator sweeping me into a fantasy world of wizards and witches than the actual quality of the writing, which actually proves that there is definitely a benefit to audiobooks!
My favourite of the series is Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban, which I think was the strongest in terms of story, plotting and writing, and all the subsequent books were too long and, for my money, needed some serious editing, but I suspect the publishers may have become slightly sycophantic towards their leading moneymaker, and allowed her to do whatever she wanted. Deathly Hallows is by no means the worst of the series (that falls by a long margin to Order of the Phoenix), but still suffers from an over indulgence of a popular author.
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After weeks of neglect, I'm focusing on getting back on track with my reading this weekend. Today, I've sorted out my library books and renewed:
Anne of Green Gabled by L. M. Montgomery
Carbon Diaries 2017 by Saci Lloyd
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
Started the first book for my next reading group meeting, Our Farm by Rosie Boycott.
I received an amazon.co.uk gift certificate last month, so will be ordering some books later today - my basket currently has about 11 books in it, but I might change a few, but will be making my final decision later on
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Due to sewing commitments, I've got a bit behind with this thread, although I haven't actually read much either. Still, I'm now taking the opportunity of a free afternoon, so catch up with reviews and updates on my reading blog.
The movie quote game
in Quiz Room / Thread Games Jokes etc
Posted
How about this one:
We have so much in common, we both love soup and snow peas, we love the outdoors, and talking and not talking. We could not talk or talk forever and still find things to not talk about.