poppyshake

So glad you had a good time with Liisa Frankie It's interesting to read her thoughts on Never Let Me Go .. I think it reflects most people's opinion. The book is so riveting, but at the same time very frustrating. I'm so interested to find out what you'll make of it. It's dystopian with a small d .. ie: it's not complicated Emotional Geology sounds fantastic, great review Frankie I will put it on my wishlist directly. I quite like Roddy Doyle, he has his own style. I've never read The Woman who Walked into Doors but it has an excellent reputation. I liked his Barrytown trilogy ... The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van .. hilariously funny.

'Gold', 'Mr Chartwell' and 'Never Let Me Go .... I'm jealous that you have three such good reads ahead of you I really hope you enjoy them Kylie.

You're not butting in Chaliepud .. you're welcome Yes the lady is Jo Brand, the actor is Alan Davies (who is always on the show .. he's like the stooge) and the stand up comedian is the very funny Sean Lock. David hasn't lost any more weight than in those clips .. and he looks mighty fine (I like his blouse too ) I did hear a rumour that he was going out with Victoria Coren (a writer/TV presenter) ... but how much truth is in it I know not.

oh ermmm .. ask your Dad Yes, but 'Letters Between Six Sisters' is the best of the three, and you would definitely need to read it first to get a handle on Decca (Decca was J.K. Rowlings heroine and the reason she called her daughter Jessica .. I've probably told you that before .) I loved Jane's letters to Cassandra, full of the sort of detail you'd expect but also full of surprises .. like how they would want to know, on the death of a loved one, what the corpse looked like The only thing is that Cassandra destroyed letters that she felt were too intimate or too revealing .. so you don't get to know much more than you do already. My copy is just a Penguin copy, with very few black and white pictures. I've seen the set you're talking about, and it looks gorgeous but it's far too much money. It looks as if there are other, less expensive, books that include the letters and colour plates .. hopefully someone can point you towards a good edition I forgot to add to my list a book I bought last week O beloved Kids : Rudyard Kiplings Letters to his Children

Yes, you're right I've never thought male authors could write convincing female characters before, Jasper didn't just write a convincing one he wrote one of the best female characters ever. Though actually I think that Thursday just jumped into Jasper's books and wrote the part for herself

Oh dear, makes you think doesn't it. I never take into account that that might happen. But they can't expect everyone to like their book. What did they say Lucybird?

Me too I am on LT too but find I'm more at home at goodreads.

9.Favorite character: I've answered this one before I think. Thursday Next is my favourite female and therefore (females ruling and all that ) my favourite character. 10.Best villain: Ooh, this one's interesting, there's a lot of good villains out there but I am rather limited as to choice because I don't read a lot of thriller/horror books so I probably don't know any hardcore villains. Mrs Danvers (Rebecca) always gives me the chills, as does Sauron (Lord of the Rings) but the villain that has given me the most spine tingles and frightened the stuffing out of me is *whispers* Voldemort He absolutely terrifies me, he's just sooooooo evil. The scene in the graveyard in 'Goblet of Fire' petrified me (poor Robert Pattinson ) and that was just the beginning really, once he was back to full strength there was no end to the amount of evil he created, it was like a hobby to him. The fact that he has those snakelike features as well, really creepy and I love the way that even his faithful followers are scared witless of him. And he has a giant snake as a sidekick!! I love what Ralph Fiennes has done with him too, perfect .. that unearthly way he has of moving ... I'm terrified of him as well. I must just add that Heffalumps and Woozles are pretty terrifying too .. they steal honey fgs

Thank you Lady M Of course, I don't think you're shallow it's the first thing I do if someone is going on about some man or the other .. look him up and see what I think David probably wouldn't score highly on the 'phwoar barometer' but there's something about him that's incredibly attractive. I do like men that make me laugh. Oh, no pressure then I've only got to do justice to one of Kylie's favourite books .. well I'll add 'Kylie loves it' to my 'it's marvellous, read it' .. that should do it. That's what I thought, but I'm amazed I managed to shut up .. a seven word answer .. must be a record

The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison Waterstones Synopsis: The chronicle of the tragic lives of a poor black family in 1940s America. Every night Pecola, unlovely and unloved, prays for blue eyes like those of her white schoolfellows. She becomes the focus of the mingled love and hatred engendered by her family's frailty and the world's cruelty Review: This book was slightly easier to read than 'Beloved', easier in writing style (though still beautifully poetical and mystical) but not easier in subject matter because it's every bit as harrowing. Central to the story is 11 year old Pecola Breedlove and her family ... a family beset by poverty and hardship. 'You looked at them and wondered why they were so ugly; you looked closely and could not find the source. Then you realized that it came from conviction, their conviction. It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question ... And they took the ugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it.' The story is narrated partly by an unknown third person and partly by Claudia (now looking back as an adult,) a girl living in the same town as the Breedloves and observing events as they unfold. Pecola leads what can only be described as a dogs life, she is spat at, ridiculed, ignored, wrongly accused of crimes, she's not loved or admired, she's deemed ugly and worthless. Her home is a home of poverty, violence and hostility and her parents, who have themselves been similarly knocked about by life, don't seem to care about her. If that wasn't bad enough, her father has raped her whilst drunk and she is carrying his child. She prays every day for beauty, and in her mind, that means a pair of blue eyes. To read about her was one of the hardest things, her spirit was absolutely crushed and everytime I thought a ray of light had appeared, it was snuffed out. At the beginning of the book there's a paragraph taken from a child's reading book ‘Here is the house. It is green and white. It has a red door. It is very pretty. Here is the family. Mother, Father, Dick and Jane live in the green and white house. They are very happy. See Jane. She has a red dress. She wants to play. Who will play with Jane? See the cat. It goes meow-meow. Come and play. Come play with Jane. The kitten will not play. See Mother. Mother is very nice. Mother, will you play with Jane? Mother laughs. Laugh, Mother, laugh. See Father. He is big and strong. Father, will you play with Jane? Father is smiling. Smile, Father, smile. See the dog. Bowwow goes the dog. Do you want to play with Jane? See the dog run. Run, dog, run. Look, look. Here comes a friend. The friend will play with Jane. They will play a good game. Play, Jane, play.’ and this passage is repeated randomly throughout the book but fractured now, without spaces or punctuation. It's a safe and cosy world this Shirley Temple world, one of innocence and comfort but what if it's not your experience of the world? what then? it's just a world that you don't fit into, a world of reproaches and taunts. There's little hope in this book, what hope there is lies with Claudia and her sister Frieda, but not with Pecola. It's brutal and harsh and it contains scenes that will repulse you and make your heart sink but it's a really powerful piece of writing, you can feel Toni Morrison's anger and sorrow pulsing through the pages. 8/10

No, I didn't know that ... interesting. Do you mean for their Bloomsbury group novels or just for publishing anyway? because I was wondering if they were going to add any more to their Bloomsbury Group set (Now I'm going to have to look for 'The Haunted Bookshop' ) . I've just read my third Bloomsbury group novel and it was odd, but great Ahh yes, be careful because it could just be the screenplay, but then they might have just called it that to attract lovers of the film. Good old Dad As Frankie said, we want photo's (not of Dad .. of bookcase )

I bought this recently and am looking forward to reading it even more now .. thanks Sally

Of those that I can remember .. Letters I've read .... Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters - Edited by Charlotte Mosley Decca : The Letters of Jessica Mitford by Peter Y. Sussman In Tearing Haste : Letters Between Deborah Devonshire & Patrick Leigh Fermor - Edited by Charlotte Mosley Dear Mr Bigelow : A Transatlantic Friendship - Frances Woodsford Love Letters : Leonard Woolf & Trekkie Ritchie Parsons Speaking for Themselves : The Letters of Clementine & Winston Churchill My Dear Cassandra : Jane Austens Illustrated Letters The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien Letters from Father Christmas - J.R.R. Tolkien (does that count if they're make believe? ) The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters - Enid Blyton (it's getting silly now) Journals I've read Something Sensational to Read on the Train - Gyles Brandreth Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank Nella Last's War : The Second World War Diaries of Housewife 49 Bridget Jones's Diary Wishlist/Bookshelf A Life in Letters - George Orwell Down and Out in Paris & London - George Orwell The Diary of Samuel Pepys The Journals of Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plaths Letters Home Ever Dirk : The Bogarde Letters Selected Diaries : Virginia Woolf Selected Letters : Virginia Woolf Journal of the Plague Year - Daniel Defoe Love Letters of Great Men The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh Phillip Larkin : Letters to Monica The Letters of Nancy Mitford & Evelyn Waugh Love from Nancy : The Letters of Nancy Mitford Tommy's War : A First World War Diary

8.Book that everyone should read, period: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Mr Vertigo - Paul Auster Waterstones Synopsis: The story of Walt, an irrepressible orphan from the Mid-West. Under the tutelage of the mesmerising Master Yehudi, Walt is taken back to the mysterious house on the plains to prepare not only for the ability to fly, but also for the stardom that will accompany it. Review: I got a bit annoyed with this book, it was well on it's way to a 10/10 but halfway through it went off the boil a bit and lost a lot of it's early impetus. It did pick up again but I just felt frustrated that a book with so much spark and imagination could wander off like that. It has a great cast of characters, especially early on. Walt is a bit of a rascal, a Huck Finn character, he's been sold by his uncle to Master Yehudi, he doesn't know why, all he knows is that Master Yehudi says he has 'the gift'. Master Yehudi takes Walt to Kansas .. 'and a flatter more desolate place you've never seen in your life ... there's nothing to tell you where you are. No mountains, no trees, no bumps in the road. It's flat as death out here, and once you've been around for a while, you'll understand there's nowhere to go but up.' Walt finds it all very strange 'if someone had told me I'd just entered the Land of Oz, I don't think I would have known the difference.' The other inmates of the house are Mother Sue (the Queen of the Gypsies with no more than three teeth jutting from her gums) and Aesop (a frail, scrawny black boy who is learning to be a scholar.) Though the conditions aren't bad and he isn't being treated cruelly, Walt is a city boy at heart and his first thought is to run away, he tries it several times but however far he goes and however secretly, Master Yehudi is always waiting for him at the other end to bring him home again. Master Yehudi's plan is to teach Walt to fly like a bird and what's more he promises Walt that if he can't fly by his next birthday, then he can chop off Mr Yehudi's head with an axe. But first he must learn the technique and the technique doesn't involve any of the things you might imagine, no jumping from great heights, no flapping of arms, no trampolining, but sheer physical endurance of a terrifying nature (or an 'unremitting avalanche of wrongs' as Walt puts it) almost as if Walt's spirit needs to be broken before change can happen (a theory inspired by Master Yehudi's love of Spinoza,) the fact that we're taught to think a thing impossible means that we will never achieve it, hence why Walt is chosen because intellectually he's a bit of a blank page. He is flogged with a bullwhip, thrown from a galloping horse, lashed to the roof of a barn for two days without food or water, he has his skin smeared with honey in the midst of a swarm of flies and wasps, he sits in a circle of fire, is dunked for six hours in a vat of vinegar, drinks cow p*ss, eats horse sh*t, is buried alive, cuts the tip off of his own finger (you're getting the picture right? ... life isn't a bowl of cherries) and eventually, after some time has passed, Walt finds himself levitating - only a few inches at first but gradually more and more. To say what happens next would be giving too much of the plot away, suffice it to say that though fame and fortune are awaiting them, tragedy and disappointment are too and Walt has a very bumpy ride ahead of him. On the whole I thoroughly enjoyed it, of course the whole thing requires an awful lot of suspended disbelief but that wasn't a problem at all, my only gripe with it was that it didn't sustain it's absolutely electric beginning but I still thought it was a fantastic piece of storytelling. 9/10

Bless you as I said before, I'm just glad you read them at all. As I said to Frankie, it's not his looks its the whole package .. and he has lost a tremendous amount of weight and a lot of his google pics haven't caught up with that but I can understand you not being impressed .. going on his photo's. I'll try and put a link in to him chatting (or ranting .. which he does a lot) it might give you an inkling or a slightly better understanding of the attraction of Mr Mitchell. He's like an intelligent but naughty schoolboy. She would wouldn't she?, Stephen is always fantastic and more often than not his guests are brilliant too. How I will do it justice I will never know and it doesn't help when you're behind with your reviews to have absolute gems like this waiting in the pipeline. I think I'll just say it's marvellous .. read it

I have read 'Lord of the Rings' and thought it was just fantastic but I do need to read it again, there's so much to absorb. I read them when the films were out and was just amazed at how much more detailed they were and loved all the bits that weren't in the film (which was a lot) because they were new to me and exciting. I liked Michael too and felt sad for him. Oh bother .. no I didn't. I'll have to go back now and read it again. Genius! I've always wanted to be Thursday but never really thought of putting her to such good use. I can see you now .. stomping around Wessex with the largest most heavily bound hardback version of 'Tess' you could find and battering them all to death with it, if you need back up give me a shout .. then we'll head off to France and biff Madame Bovary

I've read 'the Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas' now, it was very interesting but a bit of a mind boggle. I need to write a review but I'm behind with others so by the time I get around to it, it'll be lost in the mist .. it's definitely worth reading, that much I can say, but it does take concentration. That's a great idea to read 'Mr Chartwell' with Kylie .. I can't wait to see what you both think of it. You have to know David to love him, I don't think I'd be impressed with just his photo, it's his whole persona that's attractive (I do like a man who rants ) I find him very funny and very clever and while not perhaps conventionally attractive, he has a nice face, so all in all ... mmmmmmm You must see 'QI' and 'Would I Lie to You?' .. and 'Jam & Jerusalem' ... we need to demand that Finnish TV puts them on immediately

It's not a rubbish review at all Bobbly, you've got your enthusiasm for the book over perfectly it's my favourite Harry Potter but that doesn't mean to say that you haven't got lots of good stuff to come because you have, lucky you

7.Book that everyone should be made to read in school: I'd choose two books that probably are read quite a lot in schools, though I sadly never read them there. 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee and 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens both beautifully written books with strong messages.

Mad World : Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead - Paula Byrne Waterstones Synopsis: A terrifically engaging and original biography about one of England's greatest novelists, and the glamorous, eccentric, debauched and ultimately tragic family that provided him with the most significant friendships of his life and inspired his masterpiece, "Brideshead Revisited". Evelyn Waugh was already famous when "Brideshead Revisited" was published in 1945. Written at the height of the war, the novel was, he admitted, of no 'immediate propaganda value'. Instead, it was the story of a household, a family and a journey of religious faith -- an elegy for a vanishing world and a testimony to a family he had fallen in love with a decade earlier. The Lygons of Madresfield were every bit as glamorous, eccentric and compelling as their counterparts, the Marchmains, in "Brideshead Revisited". William Lygon, Earl Beauchamp, was a warm-hearted, generous and unconventional father whose seven children adored him. When he was forced to flee the country by his scheming brother-in-law, his traumatised children stood firmly by him, defying not only the mores of the day, but also their deeply religious mother. In this engrossing biography, bestselling author Paula Byrne takes an innovative approach to her subject, setting out to capture Waugh through the friendships and loves that mattered most to him. She uncovers a man who, far from the snobbish misanthropist of popular caricature, was as loving and complex as the family that inspired him. This brilliantly original biography unlocks for the first time the extent to which Waugh's great novel encoded and transformed his own experiences. In so doing, it illuminates the loves and obsessions that shaped his life, and brings us inevitably to a secret that dared not speak its name. Review: Evelyn Waugh has got a difficult reputation to say the least, he is often portrayed as a nasty, spiteful piece of work but this biography shows another side. That's not to say that he's not capable of being waspish and snobby but that's not the whole picture. He could be incredibly supportive and kind to his friends and was very loyal and loving. It's not a full biography, what this book sets out to do is show the links between Evelyns private life and his fiction concentrating particularly on his great friendship with the Lygon family who are undoubtably the models for the Marchmain family in 'Brideshead Revisited' (though Evelyn always denied it.) You get the feeling that the Lygons were far more important to Evelyn than he ever was to them, although they were obviously fond of him, they were rather haphazard at keeping in touch etc and for the most part, and especially early on, Evelyn did most of the running. It also details his marriages (his first wife was also called Evelyn and they were known as She-Evelyn and He-Evelyn, bizarrely she left him for a man who came within a hairs breadth of also being called Evelyn .. he was named after the writer John Evelyn and his parents deliberated for some time between the two names .. thankfully he was spared the jibe 'Evelyn left Evelyn for Evelyn') This marriage wasn't successful, which doesn't come as much of a surprise to the reader because they seemed mismatched. Evelyn though was devastated, he wrote that he 'did not know it was possible to be so miserable and live.' The most interesting part of the book focuses on Evelyn's time at Oxford where he met the men who were to become his lifelong friends and also embarked on several homosexual relationships. It's here that he meets Hugh Lygon and is eventually invited to spend time at the family house Madresfield Court (or 'Mad' for short) which is a place every bit as steeped in ritual and scandal as Brideshead. Hugh Lygon was so obviously the model for Sebastian Flyte (with Evelyn taking the part of the infatuated Charles Ryder) but it's with his sisters that Evelyn forms the strongest bonds. When their father, Earl Beauchamp, is forced to flee the country in disgrace (he was afflicted with a galloping and insatiable passion for footmen) the girls stand by him and take it in turns to stay with him in his various homes abroad. Again this is mirrored in 'Brideshead' with subtle changes made although, in this case, the real story was far more scandalous and fascinating than the fictional one (as it was Earl Beauchamps Brother in-law, the 2nd Duke of Westminister, who set about trying to ruin him .. and did so in a very underhand and spiteful way.) Evelyn was a great observer of character and many friends and acquaintances found themselves written into his fiction, with not altogether flattering results. They always recognised themselves which is hardly surprising as he described them so accurately, and he was often in trouble with them and called upon to make changes or give explanations (though he secretly enjoyed it and would sometimes write 'your turn next' in his letters to friends.) It's not only a captivating account of the life of one of Britains best known 20th century novelists, but it's also a fascinating snapshot of life in the 1920's/30's especially life at Oxford which is described in all it's glory, with all the fights, the plays, the beautiful clothes, the jokes, the drinking, the homosexual encounters, the friendships, the jealousies, the painful love affairs and the scandal .. the one thing that they didn't seem to worry about was getting a decent education. 8/10

I love that comment .. 'I'm a big fan, despite not having read any of his books' I know exactly what you mean, I'm a big fan of writers I've never read too (somehow we just know ) Great book haul Kylie .. well done 'Auntie Mame' interests me, I think it's popped up on Amazon a few times when I've been browsing, as in, if you liked that you'll like this (when I've been looking at the Bloomsbury books I think.) I'll be interested to see what you make of it. I want to read 'A Kestrel for a Knave' too, I liked the film 'Kes' so if it's anything as good as that then it's brilliant. I see you're getting a bit of a thing for Hunter S Thompson?, I'm sure I've got 'Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas' somewhere .. I need to dig it out and read it. Have a great bank holiday weekend Kylie, you can arrange these new acquisitions on your Billy's if you've nothing else to do

Money : A Suicide Note - Martin Amis Waterstones Synopsis: This is the story of John Self, consumer extraordinaire. Rolling around New York and London, he makes deals, spends wildly and does reckless movie-world business, all the while grabbing everything he can to sate his massive appetites: alcohol, tobacco, pills, pornography, a mountain of junk food and more. Ceaselessly inventive and thrillingly savage, this is a tale of life lived without restraint; of money, the terrible things it can do and the disasters it can precipitate. Review: This book is truly filthy, my ears were blushing as I listened (I'm sure it made it worse to listen .. there was just no escape .. the words just came blaring out of my headphones.) Having said that I don't know if I would have ploughed on with it if I'd been reading it. It's a great big book of sleaze This is a searing, cynical look at life in the 1980's for the rich and successful John Self. John is an ad director who is now working on his first feature film. He spends his time between London and New York basically indulging in all the worst habits of the rich and privileged ... booze, drugs, porn and fast food, it's all so seedy that you feel quite grubby reading it but the story is laced with deep, deep sarcasm and irony. Amis is having a pop at celebdom here and the Hollywood film industry in particular and he doesn't pull his punches. John is killing himself with his excesses, he knows it, but he just can't help himself, he binges and indulges to the point of saturation. He behaves abominably and so does everyone around him, there is nothing or no-one that can't be bought with money. John has a number of friends (or more accurately hangers on) who are palpably only interested in him because of his success, they are shallower than a puddle, but the lifestyle is just too addictive and John is in deep. He veers between self loathing and self justification, sometimes believing he can pull himself back from the brink sometimes revelling in his hedonistic lifestyle. It's a very funny book in a dark sort of way, hilarious at times and also totally cringeworthy (awful toe curling scenes between John and his father's girlfriend who shows him her centrefold pictures) but it's also a bit depressing, probably because it's just so repellent, it made me feel physically sick as John wallowed around too boozed up to function properly doing irreversible damage to his health (he's obese, with rotting teeth, tinnitus and a dodgy heart) and being mysogynistic. There is a point in the story where you feel he might just turn it all around and, though he isn't really likeable in any way, you're hoping that he will (though the sub-title is a bit of a giveaway.) Amis is a really clever writer and there are moments of sheer genius, John's ramblings are the best part, he gets all the good lines and I loved his sarcasm. I quite liked the way Amis wrote himself in as a character, the ordinary fairly sensible writer who John asks to write the screenplay .. he sort of sees John in the same way as we do, a bit appalled by his lifestyle, wishing he would change but not being at all surprised when he doesn't. I also liked the way in which various people tried to rehabilitate John by getting him to read proper books (something other than porn in other words.) Not a book to be lent to anyone of a nervous disposition and not for those who are easily offended ... definitely don't lend it to your gran/mum/neighbour .. not unless they are fairly broad minded with their reading choices. It's clever (sometimes just a bit too clever) and I can see that Amis is a really accomplished satirist .. it's just that I didn't particularly enjoy listening all that much .. after all, as someone or the other said 'young ladies are delicate plants' Despite the fact that it made me blush from the knees upwards, Stephen Pacey's narration is sensational. 8/10

6.Worst book you were made to read in school: I think that was probably 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' I found everyone in it either obnoxious or terribly drippy. I guess I wasn't much of a romantic at the time so didn't really engage with the whole Tess/Angel love affair and just thought the pair of them were pig headed, obtuse and weak. .. I just thought

oh dear I'm not inspired .. but then I imagine there's quite a few on the list that will be a bit I'm going to .. just for the hell of it (I never did do anything original.) well done Frankie you're doing brilliantly.