[The Last Film You Saw ~ Part 2]

I Capture the Castle with Romola Garai .. very good and pretty faithful to the book

[Show your bookshelf]

Willoyd your shelves are just amazing My oh my oh my!! .. I was thinking you were more minimalist .. I don't know where I got that idea from cos I know you're a big reader but I thought you didn't 'keep' books necessarily. And they are all so organised. Did you have a tidy up before taking the pic or are they always this ship shape?

Such a lovely library, you're so lucky. I live in a Victorian terrace too (with converted cellar & attic) but I have a feeling (just by looking at your bookshelves) that my Victorian terrace would fit into yours several times over There is not one room in this house that I could fit a floor to ceiling bookcase .. not without having nowhere to hang clothes or put dishes

[Willoyd's Reading Log 2012]

Even so, have been making steady progress with Oliver Twist. I've decided to read through the Dickens novels chronologically.

Alan decided to do this many moons ago but only read Sketches by Boz, Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist & Nicholas Nickleby .. he came to a crashing halt at The Old Curiosity Shop .. he just couldn't get into it and hasn't got any further (though I think he read A Christmas Carol at one point.) I've already read quite a few but randomly, from the above I've only read Pickwick and the Carol but have also read David Copperfield, Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, Martin Chuzzlewit, Great Expectations, The Chimes and A Tale of Two Cities.

 

Have to agree with you about Dickens sentimentality .. he lays it on like treacle sometimes. It's like the bits of a Robin Williams movie that I always have to look away from .. ughhhh! Especially when eulogising about young females .. he had a thing for them (well I know ... most men do ) but he had an almost unatural obsession with young innocents (this is Dickens I mean .. not Robin Williams ) I agree though that when he is at his most gruesome or comic .. there's no-one better.

 

What a shame you weren't able to find vols 3 & 4 of Virginia's essays. They're bound (? ?) to come up at some point though so keep looking. Loving your bookshelves btw .. I'm just going to have a good squizz at them in a minute .. lovely close-up pics .. can read the titles and everything .. heaven

[Janet's Reading 2012]

Since I last posted I have finished Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (loved this!)

Ooh that's good to know

[Tunn 300's 2012 Reading Log]

Glad you're enjoying The Sisters Brothers .. it's such a great book isn't it. I haven't heard very good things about The Sense of an Ending .. and don't feel at all inclined to read it. It's strange isn't it, it's the one book from the list that nobody seems to rave about. I wonder why they chose it? .. I've heard that it's often the second or third choices that win

[Chaliepud's 2012 Reading Log]

Sadly said goodbye to hubby today as he had to return to work in Iraq agin, he'll be home in the school Easter holidays and I'm getting used to managing the kids, dogs and house while he's away.

Aww chalie .. that must be incredibly difficult for all of you .. roll on Easter In the meantime hope you get to read lots of good books to help the time fly by.

[The Last Film You Saw ~ Part 2]

Bugsy Malone ...what a great concept and what wonderful songs .. I never tire of hearing them. It's one of those films that make you smile a lot.

[Poppy's Paperbacks 2012]

 

Running with Scissors - Augusten Burroughs

 

Waterstones Synopsis: This is the story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of grandeur) gave him away to be raised by her psychiatrist, a dead ringer for Santa Claus and a certifiable lunatic into the bargain. Suddenly at the age of 12, Augusten found himself living in a dilapidated Victorian house in perfect squalor. The doctor's bizarre family, a few patients and a paedophile living in the garden shed completed the tableau. Here, there were no rules or school. The Christmas tree stayed up until Summer and valium was chomped down like sweets. When things got a bit slow, there was always the ancient electroshock therapy machine under the stairs.

 

Review: My main thought when reading this book was that I hoped Augusten had made at least some of it up, I couldn't quite believe that anyone could have had such a bizarre and unsettling childhood. I don't expect all families to be like the Walton's .. I know there are some pretty weird people out there (most of them are relatives ) but goodness gracious! .. you couldn't have found more dysfunctional people if you searched the Yellow Pages.

 

Augusten's mother Deirdre is a chain smoker who writes 'confessional poetry' .. she wears 'wildly coloured gowns' and everything she says sounds 'like it went through a curling iron'. His father is 'a highly functional alcoholic professor of Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts' who has 'the loving, affectionate and outgoing personality of petrified wood.' They loathe each other and home is a battleground .. which is around the time that Dr Finch steps into their lives .. 'As the mood in my home changed from one of mere hatred to one of potential double homicide, my parents sought help from a psychiatrist'. Deirdre becomes increasingly crazy .. 'not crazy in a let's paint the kitchen bright red sort of way but crazy in a gas oven, toothpaste sandwich, I am God sort of way' and her visits to Dr Finch become daily. Her relationship with Augusten's father completely breaks down and they soon separate. Augusten thinks this is his chance for some stability .. possibly life will now be 'fabric-softener, tuna-salad-on-white, PTA meeting normal' .. no such luck. His mother, unable to deal with herself let alone a child, takes Augusten to Dr Finch's house and leaves him there .. thinking it a 'safe place' for him. The house is a complete shock ... 'in a neighbourhood of whispers it was a shriek' ... but the inhabitants are infinitely worse.

 

They have their own special code of conduct which means that practically anything goes. They holler and shout at one another because bottling up anger is bad, they live in filth, throw food around, curse, eat dog food, indulge in the worst sort of anti social behaviour, dish out drugs, drop out of school .. in fact it's pointless listing it all .. there are no taboos.

 

To give you a flavour - and that's perhaps an unfortunate word to use in the circumstances - and to help you to decide whether this is a book for you, I will just relate how at one point it comes to Dr Finch that God is trying to communicate with him via .... and there's no polite way of saying this .. his poo. He does a humongous coil one morning which appears to have it's tip pointing skywards and he takes it as some sort of sign from God. He gets his daughter to scoop it from the toilet pan (with a spatula that you just know comes from the kitchen drawer ) and takes it ('dripping') out to the garden where they inspect it on the picnic table .. this is repeated EVERY DAY until constipation indicates that God has stopped favouring him. I was constantly gagging ... there is so much here about squalor, food and toilets that my stomach was forever rolling.

 

Augusten turns out to be something of a chameleon because his early horror at life with the Finches soon turns to acceptance and by the time you've turned a few pages he's embraced all their oddities and become a fully paid up member.

 

The thing is, though it makes your hair stand on end, your stomach roll and your eyes goggle .. Augusten relates it all with such humour that, more often than not, you're thoroughly entertained as well as disgusted. There are some very explicit as well as disturbing bits .. you need to have a broad mind as well as a strong stomach. Very early on Augusten figures out that he is gay and embarks on a relationship with Neil .. one of the Finches adopted sons .. ok, that's not so bad .. but Augusten at the time is 14 and Neil is over 30. There's no getting away from it this is child abuse even though at the time Augusten believes himself to be in control.

 

I was quite angry at his mum for most of the book but with the ending comes a revelation that puts her behaviour into some sort of context. It didn't come quite out of the blue, I had an inkling already but certainly it comes as a great shock to Augusten who begins to re-evaluate all that's gone before.

 

I still have to believe that he has exaggerated for the sake of a good story because otherwise parts of it are just too appalling to be funny. Certainly the family (who were renamed the Finches) dispute the story and appear to have bought a lawsuit against him but I'm not quite clear as to the outcome .. what I've read is inconclusive. Still he knows how to write a 'memoir' that's for sure.

 

9/10

[Poppy's Paperbacks 2012]

I think the last book that made me want to do that was by Richard Laymon. It was the first and only book I will ever read by him. Unfortunately, it was on my Kindle, so throwing it across the room might not have been a good idea

Haha .. another advantage of books over Kindles .. you can lob them with very little damage done to either book or surroundings

[Poppy's Paperbacks 2012]

You liked Moby Dick and Dracula? There's no hope

They were both books I thought I'd love, and I ended up not liking either of them. Too high expectations, perhaps? It's sometimes the way, I think.

It's often the case isn't it. I didn't like Anna Karenina all that much and I thought I would, as for Madame B (I'm not using her full name .. my fingers won't type it anymore ) ... I threw it across the room

Ooh, you lucky girl, Poppyshake...again! The books look lovely, but I must admit that our opinions on Black Beauty are rather different. Not quite MB different, but getting there. I really disliked BB.

I haven't read it Kylie but it's on the lists and I might as well read a beautiful copy. I didn't read it as a child .. horses frightened me so I think I avoided it I didn't know it was written from the horses perspective though ... probably everyone in the world knew that but I've only just found out

I read the majority of Wigan Pier one year on holiday when I found it on the shelves of the cottage we were staying in. Excellent book, but I really need to go back and finish it one day

I do love holiday cottage bookshelves although I get a bit cross that they usually haven't bothered much ... just remnants of what other people have left behind usually. I always think about how I would do it better. I read We Need to Talk about Kevin because it was on a cottage bookshelf and I had finished my own book. I would never normally read that kind of book at all because I get freaked out easily but I couldn't put it down.

If the rest of Wigan Pier is anything like the beginning then I'm in for a treat. All the stuff about the boarding house is just pure gold .. my favourite line so far is .. 'On the day when there was a full chamber-pot under the breakfast table, I decided to leave'

[Poppy's Paperbacks 2012]

Poppy

Beautiful gifts you received ! Can you tell me what the bookmark says ? I can see part of it but not the 2 middle lines . Now I can see why the single ladies in here always want to know if you have any available brother-in-laws .

Thanks Julie The one available brother-in-law I've told you about already .. and he definitely wasn't cut from the same cloth. The only thing he would give to his loved one on Valentines Day is grief

 

Soppy Alert : The bookmark says .. 'If you live to be a hundred I want to be a hundred minus one day so I would never live a day without you'

 

I think he's worried he might have to make his own toast

[Poppy's Paperbacks 2012]

awww that's so sweet! I too have a thing for love hearts! hehe. I don't know what it is about them, but I have them on bracelets, necklaces, keychains, picture frames and even a pen! I would love to find a bookmark with one, might make one myself actually.

I even asked a friend if I could take three of the paper love hearts she had scattered around at her engagement party hehe.

Nearly everything here has a heart on it .. I have bracelets and necklaces too and earrings, cups, plates, tins, a teapot and clothes. I've got a big jar filled with hearts (fabric ones the sort that have a little hanging loop.) When we first moved here my niece came to visit and was unsure of the number .. she said she knew it was my house because it had a heart hanging in the front window I can imagine getting up one day and suddenly saying 'I don't like hearts anymore .. they've all got to go' .. the house would have nothing in it

I also love the idea of the The Thorn & the Blossom, how they made it flip and so. I wish I could find books like that.

I think they were promoting it on a stand at Waterstones .. where they had put all their lovey-dovey things

So sweet poppyshake..... :D

That's so lovely Poppyshake, he must love you very much and you must so deserve it

Thanks girls I'm just lucky that's all. I don't deserve it more than anyone else .. and probably a lot less than most.

[Poppy's Paperbacks 2012]

Valentines Day

 

 

Alan bought me Susan Hill's The Woman in Black .. I already have it but this is the gorgeous edition that matches my copy of The Small Hand Also he bought me two new Penguin Deluxe's ... Candide by Voltaire which I'm really looking forward to and Black Beauty by Anna Sewell which is not only a Penguin Deluxe but also one of their 'Threads' series with an embroidered cover pic .. very beautiful. He likes to go out on a limb a bit (this led to a Steven Erikson before so bit worrying ) and he bought me a lovely book called The Thorn & the Blossom which is two stories in one ..the book concertinas out and you have Evelyn's story on one side and then you turn it round for Brendan's version (I'm sure his will be all lies ) It's a love story and I think one of the things that drew Alan to it is that in the blurb it says 'When Evelyn Morgan walked into the village bookstore, she didn't know she would meet the love of her life ... '. Anyhow I'm pretty sure there are no drones or spores in it and I love it anyway because he chose it. He also bought me the hanging bird heart because I have a thing for hearts and birds and a lovely new bookmark in a vain attempt to stop me from using bus tickets and old sweet wrappers. The chocolate bunnies were his but I borrowed them for the sake of the photo and he bought me the tealights at Christmas.

 

Also yesterday he gave me a £10 Waterstones voucher because he had collected ten stamps and I bought George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier .. I sat in a chair at Waterstones reading the first few pages and loved it, can't wait to read the rest.

[Poppy's Paperbacks 2012]

Fantastic review Poppy. I too loved Dracula, although I thought the middle quarter dragged terribly and the ending was a little disappointing. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on Frankenstein. (I hated it!)

Thanks Andrea I think I'll like Frankenstein .. because I already know parts of it but I don't think I'll enjoy it as much as Dracula .. we'll see anyway I've decided to go with Mary Shelleys original text first.

Thing is, I liked the start of the book a lot, too. But once it got to England I got bored. Way too much soul-searching and hand-wringing for my liking.

I was initially reluctant to leave Jonathan in the castle .. I wanted to know more and at first Lucy annoyed me a bit .. all that listless lying about and the others being so dim about it but then I thought she improved immeasurably when she became

the undead

 

I quite like long drawn out books ... Moby Dick for instance .. in the middle of it you get a long, drawn out cetology of Whales .. categorised in species, size, habits, bone structure, mothers name, fathers occupation etc etc .. some people hate it but I loved it. I go to the Isle of Wight a lot so seafaring is in my blood

[Mistress Masham's Repose by T H White]

Whilst reading the book, the word Quincunx came up on a number of occasions.

I'd never heard of the word until reading it in Mistress Masham but when I went in to Waterstones yesterday on one of their displays promoting 'Dickens & the Victorians' was this ...

I think the word is following us about Janet You wait .. there'll be a 'Quincunx Tea Rooms' opening in Bath soon

[The Last Film You Saw ~ Part 2]

Apparently it is a 12A Poppy? My daughter wants to see it but I think she'd be terrified!!

What she might be terrified by chalie is the trailers, I don't think it was right to show them to a 12A audience. One of them was for The Devil Inside which I've seen is rated 15 .. not on at all cos there were some young kids in the audience.

Alan seems to think it might have been because it was an evening showing (8pm) .. perhaps an earlier showing wouldn't include such frightening trailers.

 

The Woman in Black was pretty scary though. Whenever she is glimpsed a child dies violently in the village ... Daniels character glimpses her a lot so you can guess the rest. I was terrified but your daughter is probably a lot braver than me .. I'm still haunted by images of the 'other mother' wanting to sew buttons in Coraline's eyes I've put a review in the Shakedown anyway, might help you decide.

[Vodkafan's 2012 Reading List and Genre Challenge]

What do you mean I missed out?? Sagittarii RULE!!

This reminds me of a Billy Connolly joke but I won't tell it for fear it might upset my little frankie If you are an example of Sagittarians frankie .. then they must indeed rule

 

Great review of the Autobiography of Macolm X VF .. sounds like a very absorbing read. I'm reading one of Maya Angelou's memoirs at the moment and it's weird to hear her talking about white people as if they are some sort of alien race (and for the most part hateful.) It's totally understandable because she is writing about a time when segregation was law and black oppression in America was at it's worst but, all the same, it's uncomfortable. She does love Shakespeare though and the Brontes ... but she has to keep this from her grandmother who would never permit her to read books written by whites.

[The Last Film You Saw ~ Part 2]

The Woman in Black and it was nerve janglingly brilliant.

[Mistress Masham's Repose by T H White]

14. Did you find the ending of the book satisfactory? If not, what would you have changed about it?

I did like the ending .. 'the good ended happily and the bad unhappily .. that is what fiction means' .. to quote Oscar Wilde (not sure he used ellipses but still ) I enjoyed the lead-up to the ending enormously, everything that came after Maria's confinement in the dungeon I thought was marvellous. I felt quite anxious for her ... sleeping all alone at the Professors (although only he knew where the key was ) with two arch enemies in hot pursuit .. one at least, intent on murder.

 

Janet Regarding the inheritance, I think it was some sort of old ancestral inheritance which was tied up like 'Jarndyce vs Jarndyce' until that is the Professor found an old document in the dungeons which helped release it. I'm rather hoping to find something similar myself .. 'I'm hourly expecting' as Mr Micawber might say

15. If you enjoyed the book, would you have liked a sequel? How do you think the story could develop in the sequel?

I liked the book a lot but don't think it warranted a sequel. It was nice to leave Maria, Cook, Captain & the Professor in comfortable circumstances but that's as much as I wanted to know.

[Ben's Reading 2012]

Great reviews of Midsummer Nights Dream and the Poe short stories Ben I've read 'The Purloined Letter' and 'The Fall of the House of Usher' but have yet to read any of his other stories though I have a book full of them. I really must pick it up again .. you've reminded me

Midsummer Nights Dream is probably my favourite Shakespeare .. it's got everything hasn't it? I remember being well amused when Hermia called Helena a 'canker-blossom' .. what a shame I've never come across an occasion to use it (though I'm going supermarket shopping later so anything's possible ) I can imagine you as an impish Puck .. how cute

 

I love Dickens the writer but have a few difficulties with Dickens the man .. I have to remember to separate the two when I read him (and perhaps it's not fair to judge him .. what we know we only know in hindsight plus he was a Victorian .. they were a weird bunch and given to some very odd notions about women.) There is some criticism about him being paid per word but all those words are worth their weight in gold imo. When I read him I never think that a good editor would have cut it by half like I do with some much shorter books. I love it when he labours a point .. sort of hammering the nail home as it were, I drink all that stuff up. It's like nourishment to a book reader Take Our Mutual Friend .. there's a great passage in it about John Harmon (who is now going under the alias of John Rokesmith.) He see's that it would be better for everyone around him if John Harmon remained 'dead' .. the girl he loves has no interest in him whatsover but instead of saying it just like that he says ..

 

'And John Rokesmith, what did he do?

He went to his room and buried John Harmon many additional fathoms deep. he took his hat, and walked out, and, as he went to Holloway or anywhere else - not at all minding where - heaped mounds upon mounds of earth over John Harmon's grave. His walking did not bring him home until the dawn of day. And so busy had he been all night piling and piling weights upon weights of earth above John Harmon's grave, that by that time John Harmon lay buried under a whole alpine range; and still the Sexton Rokesmith accumulated mountains over him, lightening his labour with the dirge "Cover him, crush him, keep him down"

 

How fantastic

[Poppy's Paperbacks 2012]

 

Love Story - Erich Segal

 

Waterstones Synopsis: He is Oliver Barrett IV, a rich jock from a stuffy Wasp family on his way to a Harvard degree and a career in law. She is Jenny Cavilleri, a wisecracking working-class beauty studying music at Radcliffe. They are opposites in nearly every way. But they fell in love. This is their story.

 

Review: 'Love means never having to say you're sorry' - so I'm going to stop apologising for my rubbish reviews

It's February so I thought I would indulge in some romance and it doesn't get much more romantic than this. Nearly everyone has seen the film and knows that it cannot be watched without the accompanying massive box of tissues (there are other films which apparently require the same .. but we won't talk about them here )

 

I love the film but had never read the book and was pleasantly surprised by it. Not that it differs much from the film, but that's probably why I liked it. It wasn't another Breakfast at Tiffany's experience anyhow (and I'm not saying that either book or film was rubbish .. just that they were poles apart.)

Of course I had the lovely Ryan O'Neal and gorgeous Ali MacGraw in my head the whole time .. they were just perfect as the interminably bickering and sarcastic Oliver and Jenny. The story is a simple one, boy meets girl .. they're not at all compatible but somehow they're attracted .. boys parents object and withdraw their financial support ... boy and girl marry anyway and live off scraps .. boy studies hard, passes exams and gets a good job .. they no longer have to live like paupers .. and then ... and then

 

I could probably watch it and read it a thousand times and still sob like a child at the end of it .. you know it's coming but you just can't help it. Just the first few bars of the theme tune is enough.

 

It's a short book, just a novella really, so reading it took no time at all .. recovering from it took longer ... it took a cup of hot chocolate and three biscuits to make me feel that I could face such a cruel world again

 

8/10

 

[Poppy's Paperbacks 2012]

It sounds like such a great book ... they both do and I will read them both this year .. only I can't guarantee when

The hearts are easy peasy to make .. as long as you've got a book you don't mind destroying (actually I did wonder what would happen if I gave what's left of the book to the charity shop ... the poor person reading it would get a very odd abridged story .. I made sure I cut out all the good bits )

[Julie -2012 Book List]

Thank you Miss Poppy.

You are such a sweetie pie .

Just something scarey coming up at the docs and not sure how it will end up .Actually I don't have the energy to be afraid,so I KNOW that's a bad sign . (Or good, at least I wont drive myself bonkers worrying .)

Oh I'm very, very sorry to hear that Julie sending love. Don't worry .. I know you said you wouldn't but just incase .. I'm sure it will turn out fine. Keeping everything crossed for you

[Claire's book list 2012]

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Pigeon English Claire. I loved it but I can totally see why others maybe wouldn't. I didn't see the inevitability of it .. even though I knew it was based on Damilola Taylor .. so the ending took me by surprise. The slang was hard to follow at times too, I did look 'hutious' up because it was driving me mad not to know .. it means: frightening

 

I love the sound of Now All Roads Lead to France .. great review Claire.

[Poppy's Paperbacks 2012]

Today and yesterday I received book presents through the post There aren't many things that can cheer me up on a cold February day but book presents are definitely top of my favourite things (I do very much like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens too ... but I don't particularly like copper kettles or doorbells .. unless it's the postman bringing books )

Anyhow I must have been a very good girl because TWO parcels were sent by TWO very special ladies and I must say a big THANK YOU to them for being so kind and deliberately setting out to cheer me up and make me smile.

The lovely Miss Kylie sent me Among the Bohemians and the wonderful Miss frankie sent The Library at Night .. both of which I have been pining away for and licking whenever I go into Waterstones. Thank you so much girls

 

Now I didn't cut them up already to make hearts you'll be glad to hear. I cut up a very old and tired out copy of Pride & Prejudice because it's one of the most romantic books ever. Some might consider this book abuse but I saw it done at Richard Booth's bookshop in Hay-on-Wye last year and no-one reveres books more than they do. Besides, if I'm being honest, I do love my books in a similar way to how I loved my teddy as a child .. in that they don't always end up with eyes and ears etc .. I hasten to add however that these books will be very well looked after.

 

I'm looking forward to reading them very much thank you frankie xx thank you Kylie xx