poppyshake

Ooh, now that's what I call power shopping, great haul Kylie I loved 'The Help', 'Mr Chartwell' & 'The Pursuit of Love' and have got 'Skippy Dies' on my shelves too (I almost don't want to read it because it has to live up to that great title and cover!) Am very jealous of the George Eliot, Nancy Mitford/Evelyn Waugh (probably the only set of Mitford letters I haven't read yet) and the George Orwell .. just the sort of writing I love. I haven't read any Margaret Atwood yet although I have a couple of them on the shelves and heard snatches of 'The Handmaids Tale' on the radio the other day and it sounded good. Looking forward to reading your opinions on them all .. not putting any pressure on you mind (just as long as it's before I've lost all my faculties ... which hopefully won't be any time soon ) Sorry to read you've been suffering a reading draught ... this is when I usually buy lots of books, it's like buying them takes the place of reading them. I did fairly poorly last month compared to the one before and that was nothing like as good as January .. Spring is interfering and making me want to do other things

Books read .... 987. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe 959. Evelina - Fanny Burney 940. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen 938. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen 937. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen 936. Emma – Jane Austen 933. Persuasion – Jane Austen 932. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen 916. The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe 913. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens 910. Martin Chuzzlewit – Charles Dickens 909. The Purloined Letter – Edgar Allan Poe 905. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray 904. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë 903. Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë 902. Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë 900. Mary Barton – Elizabeth Gaskell 898. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens 896. Moby-Dick – Herman Melville 892. Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell 891. Villette – Charlotte Brontë 890. Bleak House – Charles Dickens 887. North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell 886. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert (boo hiss!!) 876. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens 871. Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky 869. Our Mutual Friend – Charles Dickens 868. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll 867. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky 865. The Last Chronicle of Barset – Anthony Trollope 863. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott 854. Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carroll 853. Middlemarch – George Eliot 846. Far from the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy 840. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy 821. The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy 808. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy 805. News from Nowhere – William Morris 804. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 803. Diary of a Nobody – George & Weedon Grossmith 650. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons 619. Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell 610. The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien 603. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier 601. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – Winifred Watson 566. The Pursuit of Love – Nancy Mitford 564. Animal Farm – George Orwell 563. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh 547. Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell 542. Love in a Cold Climate – Nancy Mitford 529. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger 521. The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway 494. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien 484. On the Road – Jack Kerouac 478. The Bell - Iris Murdoch 467. Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote 465. Memento Mori – Muriel Spark 459. Cider With Rosie – Laurie Lee 456. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee 451. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller 446. A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch 431. The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark 399. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez 352. The Summer Book – Tove Jansson 305. The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch 272. The Color Purple – Alice Walker 236. Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez 222. Beloved – Toni Morrison 196. A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving 172. Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord – Louis de Bernieres 147. The Secret History – Donna Tartt 143. The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides 133. The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx 120. Mr Vertigo - Paul Auster 112. The Information – Martin Amis 92. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy 86. The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver 54. White Teeth – Zadie Smith 52. The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho 49. Life of Pi – Yann Martel 38. Gabriel's Gift - Hanif Kureishi 33. Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides 28. Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami 26. Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer 19. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon 15. The Colour – Rose Tremain 13. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell 9. The Master – Colm Tóibín 6. The Sea – John Banville 3. On Beauty – Zadie Smith 1. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro That makes 91 so far (though I do object to calling 'Lord of the Rings' one book even though it was Tolkien's intention ... it felt like three books to me!!) These are the one's sitting on my shelf. 911. The Pit and the Pendulum – Edgar Allan Poe 883. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens 862. The Moonstone – Wilkie Collins 825. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain 794. Dracula – Bram Stoker 790. The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells 698. Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf 686. To The Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf 656. Cakes and Ale – W. Somerset Maugham 643. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein 639. Thank You, Jeeves – P.G. Wodehouse 605. Brighton Rock – Graham Greene 596. Goodbye to Berlin – Christopher Isherwood 474. Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris – Paul Gallico 457. Rabbit, Run – John Updike 450. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark 430. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – John Le Carré 375. Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 367. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou 348. The Black Prince – Iris Murdoch 332. Humboldt’s Gift – Saul Bellow 324. Autumn of the Patriarch – Gabriel García Márquez 310. The Passion of New Eve – Angela Carter 293. The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco 275. Schindler’s Ark – Thomas Keneally 237. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson 228. The Old Devils – Kingsley Amis 205. Oscar and Lucinda – Peter Carey 183. Possession – A.S. Byatt 170. Regeneration – Pat Barker 165. Wild Swans – Jung Chang 157. Miss Smilla’s Sense of Snow – Peter Høeg 140. What a Carve Up! – Jonathan Coe 134. Trainspotting – Irvine Welsh 129. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres 117. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry 116. The Reader – Bernhard Schlink 105. The Ghost Road – Pat Barker 93. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden 89. The Hours – Michael Cunningham 63. The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood 24. Fingersmith – Sarah Waters 18. What I Loved – Siri Hustvedt

No ... she didn't fancy second helpings (I wonder why )

I haven't read anything by her but I want to. I've got 'The Accidental' on the shelf ... it's just a question of getting round to it (usual story.) I will look out for her short stories, they sound great I heard a really rather bizarre but brilliant story on Radio 7 the other day .. it was all told in verse (or songs really) and they said it was written by Ali .. she's very talented.

well done kidsmum, a fantastic haul hope you enjoy reading them

That's quite difficult .. it really does depend on who's dishing them out .... I'm going to say hugs. (The sound of) birdsong or rain falling?

Thanks Jessi I think he was a most remarkable man, I still can't get over how affectionate his letters to Clemmie were .. he had a real romantic side to him. The Pattern in the Carpet - Margaret Drabble Waterstones Synopsis: This is a beautifully written and deeply personal book on the jigsaw puzzle and the part it plays in the puzzle of its distinguished author's life. It is a mix of memoir, jigsaw history and the strange delights of puzzling. James Boswell described the 'innocent soothing relief from melancholy' of playing draughts, and Margaret Drabble - among countless others - has found a similar solace from assembling jigsaws. In "The Pattern in the Carpet", she describes the history of this uniquely British form of meditation, from its earliest incarnation as a dissected map, used as a teaching tool in the late eighteenth century, to the other cut-outs and mosaics that have amused children and adults from Roman times until today.Woven carefully through her account are the author's intimate memories of her Auntie Phyl - her childhood visits to the house in Long Bennington on the Great North Road, their first visit to London together, the books they read and, above all, the jigsaws that they completed. The resulting book is an original and moving personal history about ageing and the authenticity of memory; about the importance of childhood play; and, how we rearrange objects into new patterns to make sense of our past and ornament our present. It will delight and transport its readers. Review: It didn't delight or transport me I'm afraid, it was a slog to get through it. Perhaps it was the subject matter, I do like jigsaws and have had my fair share of rainy days (particularly on holiday) when they have come to my rescue but I think you need to be an absolute jigsaw fanatic to truly appreciate the amount of detail and research that's gone into this book. My mind wandered off frequently, I made mental shopping lists and calculated the cost of putting in a new bathroom, all when I should have been listening to the story. The book is not just about jigsaws, it's about all manner of ancient crafts and pastimes .. tapestry included, which should have been of interest to me but sadly wasn't. Running alongside it is the tale of Margaret's Auntie Phyl, herself a jigsaw enthusiast and here again I was ever so slightly bored. I did find the sections about her more interesting but not much. I can see that she was of immense interest to the family but to everyone else she was fairly ordinary .. it's a bit like me telling you about my Auntie Rose and her latest DIY plans ... you wouldn't give a fig would you? I love writers memoirs and I don't particularly care if there aren't a lot of bells and fireworks but something has to grab your attention and connect and that just didn't happen here. I hated the narration, and maybe this is what made the book seem so insufferably dull, Margaret sounded a little bit snobby and stuffy at times .. which I'm sure she's not. Ridiculous things annoyed me like the pronunciation of Kaffe Fassett's name (the textile artist) ... Margaret is a bit of a fan and has done some of his designs in tapestry and she would have known that he pronounces his first name as Kayf .. but the narrator was making him sound like a high street teashop and his name was mentioned so often that I began .. rather childishly .. yelling at the CD player. Margaret has an interesting family, her first husband was Clive Swift the actor (Hyacinth Bucket's husband in 'Keeping Up Appearances') her second husband is the writer Michael Holroyd .. whose book 'A Strange & Eventful History' I have on the shelf and her son is Joe Swift the TV gardener and of course Margaret herself has written over fifteen novels (one of which is on the 1001 list) and eight works of non-fiction. I would much rather have heard about all of that ... and there were snippets which made me long to know more. But perhaps she wants to keep her private life (that which doesn't involve Auntie Phyl that is) private and of course that's totally understandable, it's just I needed something more to spark my interest. Apparently this was going to be a small stocking filler type book on jigsaws which then grew as Margaret researched it ... now that book I could have probably read with interest. Jigsaws can be quietly entertaining but I found reading about them was not. 6/10 As a little tribute to Margaret and all her research and to show that I bear her no animosity, even though she kept me from listening to much better books I thought I'd include a picture of a jigsaw (alas .. not done by me.) I visited my father-in-law last week and he had just finished a puzzle that we bought him for Christmas and before he crunched it all up into the box, I took a pic.

Isn't that just the worst thing about libraries .. the pressure they put you under to finish and return books (ok, you can renew but I'm terrible at remembering to do it.) Glad you enjoyed 'The Woman in White' Ian, I have it on my shelves somewhere (and 'the Moonstone') .. must get around to reading it.

Glad to find out it's a spoof .. I was starting to believe it I had all but made a bonfire in the back garden to burn my Tove Jansson book.

Speaking for Themselves : the Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill Vol Two (Unabridged Audio) read by Michael Jayston and Eleanor Bron Audible Synopsis: This is a fascinating collection of the personal correspondence between Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine between 1931-1964 Review: As soon as my monthly credit became available at Audible I downloaded the second volume of the letters, a further twelve and a half hours to add to the sixteen I'd already listened to. I didn't enjoy this set of letters as much as I did the first, they were a lot more melancholy and sad mostly of course because of the outbreak of war but also because of Winston's (and Clemmie's) failing health. It also irked me somewhat that Clemmie appeared to be permanently on holiday (it probably just appeared that way because of course that's when they would write letters) but when I read about her skiing trip which seemed to last for months it set my teeth on edge a bit, especially as Mary, her youngest daughter, went with her but then had to come back when school term started leaving Clemmie to stay on for weeks. She seemed to go for 'cures' a lot .. which involved going on cruises and to health spa's and I was thinking 'alright for some' and being annoyed with her when she got peevish but that was probably just the green eyed monster coming out in me because I haven't even sniffed the sea for a couple of years. That's not to say that Clemmie didn't suffer from ill health because she did but I just felt the cures were somewhat indulgent. In this house it would be 'have an aspirin and an early night love' but then of course, I'm not .. or ever likely to be (unless some very weird sh*t happens) the prime ministers wife. Clemmie didn't appear to have a very close relationship with her children either (except the youngest Mary) .. at one point she tells Winston to relay something to Randolph (their son) because it would be 'better coming from you as he simply hates me'. I felt that some of this may have been because, in the main, they had been brought up by nannies .. which is quite usual in their circumstances of course but I would think it's hard to form close bonds when that's the case. But then it's amost impossible for me to think of my mother gadding about in Paris for months leaving me at home with Nanny Bloggs or whoever because, as the Who would say, 'I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth' and so couldn't possibly understand it . Anyway this chilliness seemed to lessen as time passed and I think they were all on fairly good terms in later life. For all that it was a fearful and melancholy time, I enjoyed the letters sent during the second world war because they were just fascinating and insightful. Winston was often abroad in secret locations and was usually accompanied by one or other of his daughters acting as aide-de-camp which must have been so exciting for them. He worked tirelessly, often to the detriment of his own health, but the bulldog spirit which he is famous for came over loud and clear in his letters. The children (as adults) had a rather torrid time of it, both Randolph and Sarah had drink related problems and Diana, their eldest daughter, suffering I imagine from the same black dog depression as her father tragically took her own life aged 54. Winston had a lot of health problems, and both he and Clemmie were often worried about their childrens rather messy private lives. Winston did not want to retire from politics though, he had had several strokes, and found both writing and speech difficult at times (he had long had an assistant to write his letters for him but would sometimes write his own and sign them as 'by my own paw') but still Clemmie had a devil of a job making him see that the time for retiring was long overdue. I grew really quite fond of the irascible old bear from reading his letters. He sometimes spoke about foreigners in a rather shocking way but I guess this was all part of the rhetoric of war, but mostly I found his letters loving and interesting. He had an absolute passion for painting and also animals and collected quite a little menagerie at Chartwell. He had a beloved little budgerigar .. Toby .. who would perch on this hand whilst writing and take nips out of his cigar but was heartbroken one day when someone left a window open and it flew out never to be seen again. He loved his animals and chatted away to them like people. The letters stopped with Winston's death in 1964, he was such a powerful presence that I can't imagine what it must have been like for Clemmie to be without him. Their letters to each other were always so full of affection and love which didn't diminish one jot with time. I must just say a word about the readers .. Eleanor Bron and Michael Jayston .. they were both excellent and entirely convinced me that I was listening to the Churchill's themselves. 8/10

Great review Chrissy I couldn't agree with you more, it's definitely my favourite Gaiman and among the top 20 of my favourite books ever .. it's also one of the few books that my hubby picked up and read after I'd finished with it. He finished it in no time which was a great testament to it because he is sometimes a bit of a plodder when it comes to reading and what's more he absolutely loved it. *sighs* I wish I had Neil Gaiman's brain.

I've got one Richard Yates Vintage too .... 'Revolutionary Road' and I enjoyed it, so am interested to hear what you make of the others (have you read the one's you already owned?) Ah well, you can't blame a girl for trying To be honest I'm having trouble squeezing my own books in here but that's more to do with bad planning. I've started looking at my big pieces of furniture with an eye to replacing them with bookshelves .. nothing is safe here except books/bookcases/shelves .. and comfy chairs

I want to get this ... I really liked her '19' album. Glad to hear that it's good I bought an old album 'The Glory of Gershwin' .. I haven't heard it in ages but it was just as good as I remembered. Gershwin songs sung by Sting, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Elvis Costello etc and all accompanied by Larry Adler .. lovely.

Thanks Jessi, it really is a truly remarkable book. I must write my review for 'Speaking for Themselves' soon .. I read (or I should say listened) to the first part some weeks ago and enjoyed it immensely. I didn't like the second half quite as much but still it was very interesting and a good insight into the life of a British PM. I do love reading letters .. it's like being terribly nosy with permission

Great review Bobbly I loved 'The Help' too .. fantastic writing. I was telling someone the other day about the 'terrible awful thing' ... they nearly choked on their dessert (perhaps not the best time to have told them! )

wow .. what a fantastic haul Kylie and how nice that your Mum came too and bought books ... yay There's lots on your list that I have in mind to read too, especially the one's from the 1001 and I love the sound of the Calvino's, Carter's, Colfer's, Hill's .. the Morrison and the Flagg (need to look them all up and find out more.) Are any of them Vintage covers? Have you got room on your Billy for all of these? I've plenty of room here if not

You're welcome Ooshie, I love Trollope I must read, or listen to, the rest of the Palliser novels. I get so sucked up into the world he creates and even though, as I said earlier, his heroine Lily Dale is the most infuriating woman ever written about (this is really only because of my fondness for the rejected Johnny Eames,) I must still recommend 'The Small House at Allington' which has long been one of my favourite reads.

Can You Forgive Her - Anthony Trollope Waterstones Synopsis: Alice Vavasor cannot decide whether to marry her ambitious but violent cousin George or the upright and gentlemanly John Grey - and finds herself accepting and rejecting each of them in turn. Increasingly confused about her own feelings and unable to forgive herself for such vacillation, her situation is contrasted with that of her friend Lady Glencora - forced to marry the rising politician Plantagenet Palliser in order to prevent the worthless Burgo Fitzgerald from wasting her vast fortune. In asking his readers to pardon Alice for her transgression of the Victorian moral code, Trollope created a telling and wide-ranging account of the social world of his day. Review: Can I forgive her? ... no, not really Alice has a perfectly lovely fiancé in John Grey, he's handsome, considerate, wealthy, kind etc etc etc .. a real gentleman. On the other hand, her cousin George .. who she was once engaged to until he behaved badly ... is profligate, ambitious, ruthless and self centred. Yet, still, Alice is wavering, and she decides she can't marry John Grey. And her reasoning seems to be that .... wait for it ... he's too good for her All of her friends and relations, except for George's sister Kate, are exasperated with her and she's bombarded on all sides by disapproving looks and letters. Eventually she is persuaded (mostly by Kate) to become engaged to George again, she soon sees that she doesn't really love him but she can't be a jilt again! She begins to view the engagement as a sort of pennance for being so wicked and turning down a man as worthy as John Grey. George has political ambitions and needs money to advance his interests and Alice has plenty of it which he is desirous of obtaining. Alice is like a martyr, dishing out money like a cashcard machine to a man who doesn't give three straws for her and who, if left to his own devices, will soon spend every penny she possesses. In the meantime, John Grey ... a sort of personality cross between Mr Darcy and Colonel Brandon ... remains steadfast and loyal and hopes for a reconciliation (the idiot!) I would accuse Alice of being the most infuriatingly stubborn and slappable literary heroine ever if it wasn't for Trollope's other creation Lily Dale who must always take the title of 'heroine you most want to shake until their teeth fall out'. There is no competition, I can't even think of Lily without foaming at the mouth. I've read all of Trollope's 'Barchester' novels and loved them but this is my first 'Palliser' novel. I love his style of writing, a cross between the descriptive and comic style of Dickens (although he never quite strays into Dickensian absurdity) and the narrative style of Thackeray. I love also how the characters from his novels are always popping up in the background of subsequent stories .. in this book there were appearances from characters that I know from his Barchester novels, such as the gloriously named Duke of Omnium. The other main narrative concerns Lady Glencora, a cousin of Alice's, who is married to the kindly but serious Plantagenet Palliser. They are not very well matched, Glencora is fun loving and witty whereas Plantagenet is a rather stuffy politician. Like Alice, Glencorra had once been engaged to someone else, the more exciting and dashing Burgo but the same relatives that were outraged at Alice's conduct concerning John Grey persuaded Glencora to abandon Burgo and marry Plantagenet. She finds life with him boring and suffocating and soon regrets her decision, she begins to think about Burgo and fosters secret hopes of an elopement. Alice stays with Lady Glencora often and each tries to help, or persuade, the other as to the correct (as they see it) course of action. The third narrative, and the most comic, involves another relative, Kate and Alice's Aunt Greenow. She was married to a rich elderly man, but now that he's dead she has been left a wealthy widow. She has a couple of ardent suitors in Mr Cheeseacre and Captain Bellfield. On the one hand Mr Cheesacre is a farmer and wealthy (which he can't help but point out nearly everytime he opens his mouth .. just as he can't help pointing out that Captain Bellfield hasn't a shilling) on the other hand Captain Bellfield, though penniless, is more charismatic and charming. It's great fun seeing these two former friends fight it out for the love of the widow (who, despite constantly dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief at the mere thought of her dear departed husband, manages to fast track her mourning period by the simple expedient of continually adding several months to those that have actually passed.) Sometimes Trollope can get a bit bogged down with detail and there are parts of the book that drag. This was helped considerably though by the excellent reading of Timothy West who is the perfect narrator for Trollope's novels .. and Thackeray's too. The only thing that makes me think that I may forgive Alice is that disc number two of my unabridged audiobook wouldn't work in any of my CD players, it happened that disc two followed the account of Alice's trip to Switzerland with her cousin Kate chaperoned by George. This trip must have been the catalyst for her subsequent decisions but all I know of it is that by disc three she was home again and her experiences abroad were only vaguely mentioned. Something happened though on a balcony somewhere which changed her mind and perhaps that something was that George slipped some mind altering drug or other into her glass of wine. If that's the case I might forgive her but without this evidence ... then no. 8/10

The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis Waterstones Synopsis: On its first appearance, The Screwtape Letters was immediately recognized as a milestone in the history of popular theology and has since sold more than a quarter of a million editions. Now stunningly repackaged and rebranded as part of the Signature Classics range. A masterpiece of satire, this classic has entertained and enlightened readers the world overwith its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to 'Our Father Below'. At once wildly comic, deadly serious and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the worldly wise old devil to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man. Dedicated to Lewis's friend and colleague J.R.R. Tolkien, The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account of temptation -- and triumph over it -- ever written. Review: This is the Reading Circles choice for March. On the whole I liked it, I certainly enjoyed Screwtapes demonic sense of humour and the more he railed at Wormwood the more I enjoyed it (I must be more wicked than I thought ) I think, as the synopsis says, it is truly original, I've not read anything like it and it gave me plenty to chew over. At times I wandered a bit (no doubt my own personal Wormwood was doing his job and filling my head with nonsense,) and I had to make a concerted effort not to let my mind stray, but, for the most part, I found it intelligent, insightful and entertaining. Full thoughts can be found here .. (** SPOILERS BEWARE**) Reading Circle - The Screwtape Letters 7/10

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle Waterstones Synopsis: Paddy Clarke is ten years old. Paddy Clarke lights fires. Paddy Clarke's name is written in wet cement all over Barrytown, north Dublin. Paddy Clarke's heroes are Father Damien (and the lepers), Geronimo and George Best. Paddy Clarke has a brother called Francis, but Paddy calls him Sinbad and hates him because that's the rule. Paddy Clarke knows the exact moment to knock a dead scab from his knee. Paddy Clarke loves his Ma and Da, but it seems like they don't love each other, and Paddy's world is falling apart. Review: A detailed look at life through the eyes of ten year old Paddy. It's written in Doyle's trademark style, short pithy sentences with no padding and the grimmest of grim humour. I was a bit shocked at some of Paddy's exploits (I mean Just William was naughty but he's no match for Paddy and his friends) but then I asked Alan and basically he said that's what most ten year old boys are like so here we have it ... boys behaving badly, punching, kicking, spitting, bullying and thieving their way through life. One minute they are sharing jokes and being conspiratorial and the next they are slugging it out in the playground and ignoring one another. Friends become victims become friends. Paddy is trying to work out the world really and find his place in it, but he's thrown off course when he detects problems between his Mum and Dad which start off as a mere hum of discontent (mild disagreements, short sentences, silences, slammed doors etc) but, bewilderingly for Paddy, soon escalate into violence (and it's affecting to read about Paddy at bedtime straining to hear the sounds or silences of discord.) The narrative can be confusing to follow because it jumps and wriggles around a bit (just like a fidgety ten year old) and the sentences are short and stacatto, but Doyle's writing is always engaging and fascinating. I spent most of the book feeling sorry for his little brother Francis (nicknamed Sinbad) who has to undergo some pretty horrible treatment, in the manner of nearly all younger siblings, at the hands of Paddy and his friends. Poor Francis doesn't rage and lash out in the way Paddy does when threatened or confused he just gets quieter and more withdrawn. This is a coming of age book, Paddy needs (rather than wants) to grow up, face up to what's happening at home and learn to deal with it maturely. Reading it was a bit like watching a kitchen sink drama on TV, you feel as if you've been put through the mill a bit emotionally and there are few laughs but once you're in the grip of it you're compelled to see it through. I can't help thinking though that readers made of frogs and snails and puppy dog tails would prefer it over those made of sugar and spice and all things nice 7/10

I'll probably read it in the winter .. I love reading spine chillers then

Yes I'm sure I will Weave ... definitely 'The Turn of the Screw' and probably 'The Portrait of a Lady' and 'Daisy Miller' too. It's just a question of time I wish I had more of it to devote to reading.

The Master - Colm Toibin Waterstones Synopsis: In January 1895 Henry James anticipates the opening of his first play, "Guy Domville", in London. The production fails, and he returns, chastened and humiliated, to his writing desk. The result is a string of masterpieces, but they are produced at a high personal cost. In "The Master", Colm Toibin captures the exquisite anguish of a man who circulated in the grand parlours and palazzos of Europe, who was astonishingly vibrant and alive in his art, and yet whose attempts at intimacy inevitably failed him and those he tried to love. It is a powerful account of the hazards of putting the life of the mind before affairs of the heart. Review: This is a beautifully written and hypnotic book. I've never read anything about Henry James or by him so I can't say if this novelisation of his life is authentic or not but it felt authentic, it felt for all the world like Henry James was pouring out his thoughts, feelings and reminiscences onto the pages. The story starts off with a failure, it's 1895, Henry is 52 and his play 'Guy Domville' has opened in London to a less than warm welcome from the audience (to say the least, the play and the playwright are jeered.) In contrast Oscar Wilde's 'An Ideal Husband' is enjoying great success ... Henry is crushed and so are his aspirations to be a successful playwright. As Henry reflects on this failure, and his career so far, he travels back in his mind and we learn about his childhood, his adolescence, his move from America to England and his literary career. The man we come to know is a solitary, lonely figure. He has friends and some close relationships with women which could have gone on to blossom into something more but Henry always seems to withdraw before becoming too close, with devastating consequences in the case of fellow writer Constance Fenimore Woolson (although this may be supposition on Toibins part.) It's a story really of a closet homosexual (and these are dangerous times for homosexuals .. as the trial and subsequent imprisonment of Oscar Wilde soon makes clear) but Henry's homosexual tendencies seem to be confined to his thoughts and feelings only. For one reason or another they are not acted upon and it's this perhaps that makes the writer, for all his literary success, seem to be a melancholy and lonely figure. He's not particularly at home in the great drawing rooms and dining halls of the rich and priviledged, although as a famous writer these are the situations that he increasingly finds himself in. He see's all their petty conceits and snobbery all too clearly but he uses all situations as grist for his stories. He's a great observer of people and someone who's not afraid to draw on the characters of family and friends to supply his writing, thus his sister Alice becomes the model for a character in 'The Turn of the Screw' and his cousin Minny the template for 'Daisy Miller' and so on. Even his brother Wilky's fresh war wounds provide the sort of detail that Henry relishes. It's quite slow going but I didn't find it plodding or tedious just reflective. It's the sort of book that draws you so completely into the world of it's subject that it's like losing touch with a friend when you've finished. His voice is so clear. I must read some of his novels now which are so thoroughly explored and talked over here. I probably did fall into the trap of believing every word written and perhaps shouldn't have because some artistic license is always used in biographical/historical fiction but this was because Colm Toibin's writing was just so believable and detailed. Everything rang true, but I am interested to find out more about Henry James and will try and read a more accurate account of his life at some point in the future. 9/10

You're welcome Weave Hope you like it

Ha .. yes I would recommend it .. but it's a bit off the wall and may be not to everyone's taste .. the language is a bit ripe for a start and there's lots of slang (it's a satire of Britains mental healthcare system) I can't really describe what it's like so I'll point you towards the Guardians review of it. It was the book I was reading and enjoying when I joined the forum (oh happy day!!) Poppy Shakespeare - Guardian review