poppyshake

Thanks Kylie The Mitfords are fascinating, I'd recommend reading 'The Mitford Girls' by Mary S. Lovell because it's just engrossing and I've bought it a couple of times as presents for people and they always love it. Let's just say they're an eclectic and eccentric bunch ... six altogether (with one brother poor fellow) Nancy of course the novelist, Diana the most beautiful .. much taken with Hitler ... who divorced her husband the month Hitler came to power and married the leader of the British fascist party Oswald Mosley (and who's son is Max Mosley one time president of the FIA governing body for motorsports including Formula One and much talked about here because of his alleged Nazi role play sex games which were videoed) Pam who was wooed by John Betjeman but who went on to perhaps be the most ordinary of them and much more of a homebody, Unity .. perhaps the most notorious ... whose infatuation with Hitler (she sought him out and became a close confidante) led to tragedy, Decca .. the rebel of the family and a staunch communist who ran away with her cousin to fight in the Spanish Civil War and eventually lived out her life in America and Debo .. whose letter's I've just been reading. There were loads of fights especially about politics and they were often on 'non-speakers' with each other. Strangely the two that had the most radically different political opinions .. Unity and Decca .. were perhaps the closest, maybe because of the bond they'd forged in childhood .. they had their own secret language. Decca never really condemned her sister for her association with Hitler .. it was Diana that she railed against (Stephen Fry says that Diana said to him once .. 'of course, you didn't know Hitler did you?' ) They are all extremely funny women though .. sharp and witty and your eyes will be out on stalks reading about their exploits. As for 'The 131⁄2 Lives of Captain Bluebear' .. I've seen it in the shops (well, of course I've seen it who could resist that cover) and been tempted but it's the first time I've read anything about it or the author. It's definitely going on my list I feel like I should be like those people who say they can't make any more friends until some of the one's they have have died .. I shouldn't really collect any more authors until I've read all the books by the one's on my list .. but bother that .. it will take me forever to read all of Iris Murdoch's and I'm definitely squeezing Walter Moers on and anybody else for that matter that takes my fancy. Actually, I have a birthday coming up soon and that means birthday money to spend on books and so I'm looking for suggestions .. thank you Mistress Thanks Weave .. well that's two recommendations in one day, which is irresistible I've put 'The 131⁄2 Lives of Captain Bluebear' on my wishlist and it's bound to lead me to the others. I'm quite excited now .. actually I've just been to Amazon and provisionally put it in my basket, I'll finalise it when I know how much birthday money I'm getting .. it's my favourite part of the day .. people say what did you do and they look a bit puzzled when I tell them that the best bit was sitting in front of the computer with a large cup of tea and an even larger slice of chocolate cake, ordering all my birthday books (I think some of my friends and family feel sorry for me that my favourite hobby is reading .. it's like I'm missing out ) This year, as a bit of a treat, hubby is taking me to Hay-on-Wye (the town of books) for a few days .. I can't tell you how excited I am. It's got over thirty bookshops there .. I think I'll faint with joy.

oh fiddlesticks .. I forgot to not sign .. still, he would have known it was me anyway .. I've written too many 'Honey do' lists. It's probably a bit obvious but I do love Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet 'How Do I Love Thee' How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes Waterstones Synopsis: Charlie Gordon, IQ 68, is a floor sweeper, and the gentle butt of everyone's jokes, until an experiment in the enhancement of human intelligence turns him into a genius. Review: I think I'll keep this one short (hooray ) The key to reading this book is not to know any details of what happens to Charlie after he undergoes the operation which is hoped will greatly improve his intelligence. I had been wanting to read it for some time so was glad when the Reading Circle picked it as their read for this month .. it gave me the nudge I needed. More detailed reviews and opinions can be read here (**but there are plenty of spoilers and revelations so don't read unless you are happy to know the outcome**) Reading Circle - Flowers for Algernon I loved reading it and devoured it in a couple of sittings. Charlie narrates the whole story via his daily progress reports and you find yourself, within no time, rooting for him and hoping that everything will work out well. It gave me back my hope that I can read and enjoy science fiction novels as long as they're not too deep and complicated (science with a very small s in other words ) 9/10

In Tearing Haste: Letters between Deborah Devonshire & Patrick Leigh Fermor Waterstones Synopsis: In spring 1956, Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire - youngest of the six legendary Mitford sisters - invited the writer and war hero Patrick Leigh Fermor to visit Lismore Castle, the Devonshires' house in Ireland. This halcyon visit sparked off a deep friendship and a lifelong exchange of sporadic but highly entertaining letters. There can rarely have been such contrasting styles: Debo, unashamed philistine and self-professed illiterate (though suspected by her friends of being a secret reader), darts from subject to subject while Paddy, polyglot, widely read prose virtuoso, replies in the fluent, polished manner that has earned him recognition as one of the finest writers in the English language. Prose notwithstanding, the two friends have much in common: a huge enjoyment of life, youthful high spirits, warmth, generosity and lack of malice. There are glimpses of President Kennedy's inauguration, weekends at Sandringham, stag hunting in France, filming with Errol Flynn in French Equatorial Africa and, above all, of life at Chatsworth, the great house that Debo spent much of her life restoring, and of Paddy in the house that he and his wife Joan designed and built on the southernmost peninsula of Greece. Review: I've read quite a lot by and about the Mitford's over the years .... Mary S. Lovell's The Mitford Girls (which, for me, rates as one of the best biography's ever), Letters between Six Sisters, Decca: The letters of Jessica Mitford, Hons and Rebels and two of Nancy's novels The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate ... I always enjoy their writing enormously and so when I saw this at the bookshop I got my purse out immediately. This is a collection of letters between Deborah Devonshire (Debo), the youngest and now sole surviving Mitford sister who married Andrew Cavendish and later inherited (or at least Andrew did) the beautiful Chatsworth house in Derbyshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor (Paddy) the author most known for his travel writing. They start off quite haphazardly and random, in fact the first letters are only from Paddy indicating that he was probably less meticulous about keeping Debo's early correspondence, but their letters soon become more frequent and confidential. Debo writes like all the Mitford's, wittily and newsy, recounting a lot of her day to day worries and frets about the running of Chatsworth (she's a great lover of chickens and rare breed sheep) plus accounts of her occasional dinners and lunches with Prince Charles and 'Cake' (the Queen Mother) and a description of her day out at the inaugaration of President Kennedy in which, to her wild excitement, she was summoned from the back to come and sit with him during the parade (in Debo's words 'it fuddled the commentators on the telly as they only knew politicians and film stars and when strange English ladies loom they are stumped'). I probably enjoyed reading her letters more, they're briefer but more chatty and amusing. Paddy is a keen observer too and a wicked gossip but he has a tendency to enclose long accounts of his latest travel exploits which interrupt the rapid flow of the letters and sometimes make for tedious reading (I'd be happy to read them in his travel books .. just not attached to the letters) still, obviously, Debo was anxious to hear all about them .. I'm just not sure we needed to They both love words and wordplay and so puns, sketches, and comic verse flow back and forward and they're always on the lookout for things that will amuse the other. The later letters deal a lot with old age, the sad inevitability of the loss of loved ones and the ever increasing visits from 'Dr Oblivion'. They both find writing more difficult now, Paddy especially as he suffers from tunnel vision but at the time of the book going to press they were still corresponding aged 88 (Debo) and 93 respectively. There are lot's of lovely photo's too which is always a treat because it helps to put faces to names. 8/10

Great review Chrissy, couldn't agree with you more .. Jasper's a genius and Thursday's just remarkable .. I want to be her.

Everybody is loving 'The Room' so it's curious that it didn't win the Booker prize .. but then they don't seem able to pick a book that is universally enjoyable. I must read it this year, it's obviously a must

No !! Keep buying the paper copies Kidsmum, books on shelves make a house look like a home and you can always recycle those you don't want or like. I know what you mean about the guilt though, my OH is fairly indulgent with me over my obsessional book buying. It is my major interest though and I don't really spend money on anything else ... if you don't count my occasional splurge on clothes but I do moan about his growing collection of guitar mags and books but that's because once bought he hardly ever looks into them. Perhaps he can get a Kindle and download all the rock/guitar mags to it .. now that I could agree to.

What a result Hope you enjoy reading it Bobbly

The Diary of a Nobody - George & Weedon Grossmith Waterstones Synopsis: 'Why should I not publish my diary? I have often seen reminiscences of people I have never even heard of, and I fail to see - because I do not happen to be a 'Somebody' - why my diary should not be interesting.' The Diary of a Nobody (1892) created a cultural icon, an English archetype. Anxious, accident-prone, occasionally waspish, Charles Pooter has come to be seen as the epitome of English suburban life. His diary chronicles encounters with difficult tradesmen, the delights of home improvements, small parties, minor embarrassments, and problems with his troublesome son. The suburban world he inhabits is hilariously and painfully familiar in its small-mindedness and its essential decency. Both celebration and critique, The Diary of a Nobody has often been imitated, but never bettered. This edition features Weedon Grossmith's hilarious illustrations and is complemented by an enjoyable introduction discussing the book's social background and suburban fiction as a genre. Review: Bless him, you can't help but be rather fond of Charles Pooter. He's a bit pompous and forever getting his knickers in a twist but he means well and his pathetic little attempts to rise above his rather ordinary suburban life are rather touching. He has a terrible sense of humour, making puns which are not very funny but which keep him amused for hours .. at one point he even wakes up laughing in the middle of the night so tickled is he by a pun he'd made during the evening (you won't be tickled .. you'll just groan.) His diary entries early on are laughably banal, just basic recounting of his terribly dull days at the office and terribly dull evenings at home with his wife Carrie and their fairweather friends Mr Cummings and Mr Gowing (who are habitual visitors unless they're at home sulking over some perceived slight.) So exciting are his days that twice he starts his diary entry with 'mustard-and-cress and radishes not come up yet' and all his little tiffs and disagreements with Gowing, Cummings and the maid are written down and chewed over. But for all that you can't help but become engrossed in his tales, you sort of cheer him on and hope that tomorrow will be a better day because he is forever suffering little (and large) disappointments and embarrassments (there's a good deal of farce and buffoonery.) Whatever grand schemes he and Carrie embark on .. disaster and disappointment often follow. Some of these disappointments involve his son Lupin, who is a bit of a cad. Charles and Carrie (Carrie especially) are apt to think the best of him (naturally) but the reader can see from a long way off that Lupin is a a scoundrel. The humour is subtle but it actually entertained me far more than a lot of so called hilarious books. It helps if you're fond of the characters and I was. How can you not love a man who buys some red enamel paint on his way home from work and then proceeds to paint practically everything in the house in it (including book spines) ... just because it looked so nice on the flowerpots (ok ... if he's your husband then obviously you would kill him but as a literary character you can't help but feel indulgent towards him.) It's one of the 1001 books that I've been told I must read before I die and I have to agree with them .. it's a peach. 9/10

The Complete Polysyllabic Spree - Nick Hornby Waterstones Synopsis: In his monthly accounts of what he's read - along with what he may one day read - Nick Hornby brilliantly explores everything from the classic to the graphic novel, as well as poems, plays, sports books and other kinds of non-fiction. If he occasionally implores a biographer for brevity, or abandons a literary work in favour of an Arsenal match, then all is not lost. His writing, full of all the joy and surprise and despair that books bring him, reveals why we still read, even when there's football on TV, a pram in the hall or a good band playing at our local pub. Review: Oh I do love reading these sorts of books, it's wonderful to be able to have a nose around an author's bookshelves. This is the complete collection of monthly columns (which were entitled Stuff I've Been Reading) that Nick wrote for 'The Believer' magazine spanning from September 2003 to June 2006. Each month starts with two columns ... a list of books he's bought and a list of books he's read and just like the rest of us it seems he can't resist buying books even when there are hundreds waiting to be read on his shelves. He's also a serial abandoner and unfinisher, not seeing the point of plodding on with a novel he's not enjoying ... his view is that reading will never survive as a leisure activity if we all think we have to continue reading books which are a trial for us. I loved the description of his struggle with Iain M. Banks' Excession ... 'the urge to weep tears of frustration was already upon me even before I read the short prologue, which seemed to describe some kind of androgynous avatar visiting a woman who has been pregnant for forty years and who lives on her own in the tower of a giant spaceship. By the time I got to the first chapter which is entitled 'Outside Context Problem' and begins '(CGU Grey Area signal sequence file #n428857/119)' I was crying so hard that I could no longer see the page in front of my face, at which point I abandoned the entire ill-conceived experiment altogether. I haven't felt so stupid since I stopped attending physics lessons aged fourteen' ... although I did get further than the first chapter this is exactly how I felt when I tried reading Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon .. it may as well have been written in Greek for all I understood it. Because of the books chatty style and magazine column format, it's a book you can dip in and out of easily (though you'll probably prefer to hoover it up all at once like I did ) It's quite informal and you just feel like you're chatting with a friend over coffee, albeit a friend with an incredible knowledge of books and writing. He's not smug or pretentious at all, he's got a great sense of humour and that comes over in abundance ... saying stuff like (about Motherless Brooklyn) ... 'it wasn't just up my street, it was actually knocking on my door and peering through the letterbox to see if I was in' I was constantly laughing. He makes some great points too about the need not to be sniffy about other people's book choices which I know I can sometimes be guilty of, it's the same with music .. if it's making someone happy and entertaining them then that's all that matters. The books that he read and discussed for the most part were new to me but his enthusiasm for those he enjoyed is simply infectious, you will find yourself jotting down book titles and authors constantly and I have a feeling that I'll be trying books that I never would have thought of otherwise (and that's one of the themes of this book .. Nicks belief that reading one book often leads you to another.) I'll try and gloss over the fact that he's an Arsenal supporter and therefore my sworn enemy (by rights I should have docked a point for that) It's a great book and I just wish the column had run and run. 10/10

Sorry Janet, but there's lots of stuff in the book that I left out I promise you (I know it's hard to believe) and it really is a wonderful book, I'm sure you'll love it No, I only found out later. I think it was the title that attracted me, I love books set in cafe's. It's a job I'd love (to own a cafe/bookshop) and so I can dream a bit at the same time.

I'm going to attempt the impossible and try and write a short and concise review. I'm going to commit the cardinal sin of reviewing a book out of sequence because if I don't review it soon I'll have no memory of it and it's already back at the library. The Bluebird Cafe - Rebecca Smith Waterstones Synopsis: John Vir owns a newsagent in Southampton - the only shop that still stocks packets of petrified celery soup, drosophila-studded fruit and boxes of henna. Lucy and Paul are his favourite customers - they live across the road above Snooke's Electrical Stores, soon to become the Bluebird Cafe. Stencilling blue doves below the picture rails and buying stripped-pine chairs from the Oxfam furniture store Lucy works in the newly opened cafe whilst Paul spends his time at the Badger Centre as a volunteer. Meanwhile John Vir thinks of little else but Lucy and invites her to the cash 'n' carry, hoping of course, that it will be a prelude to something more exciting, for them both. Review: This was a bright, breezy and quick read (just like this review hopefully) about Lucy and Paul. Lucy owns and runs the Bluebird Cafe (not very successfully it has to be said .. the place is vegetarian and more often than not empty) and Paul is mad about wildlife and conservation. It's quite funny, especially the secondary characters like Mr Vir who runs the corner shop, he's infatuated with Lucy and schemes to get rid of Paul with poisoned samosa's, slow witted Gilbert who is the cafe's most regular customer (but somehow they never have the heart to charge him for his food) and his girlfriend (who's name quite escapes me) who's the sort of person who always sit's next to me on the bus (I.e. nutter) .. I loved her, she wears loud, unmatching, cast off clothes and doesn't understand the concept of personal space. Lucy and Paul are nice, but that's it .. they're just nice, I'm not sure I cared enough about them. It's not rubbish, it made me smile a lot, I didn't want to abandon it .. I just didn't get swept away by it . Rebecca is a distant relation of Jane Austen which was the thing I was most excited about. 7/10

Please, be my guest Along the Enchanted Way - William Blacker Waterstones Synopsis: When William Blacker first crossed the snow-bound passes of northern Romania, he stumbled upon an almost medieval world. There, for many years he lived side by side with the country people, a life ruled by the slow cycle of the seasons, far away from the frantic rush of the modern world. In spring as the pear trees blossomed he ploughed with horses, in summer he scythed the hay meadows and in the freezing winters gathered wood by sleigh from the forest. From sheepfolds harried by wolves, to courting expeditions in the snow, he experienced the traditional way of life to the full, and became accepted into a community who treated him as one of their own. But Blacker was also intrigued by the Gypsies, those dark, foot-loose strangers of spell-binding allure who he saw passing through the village. Locals warned him to stay clear but he fell in love and there followed a bitter struggle. Change is now coming to rural Romania, and William Blacker's adventures will soon be part of its history. From his early carefree days tramping the hills of Transylvania, to the book's poignant ending, Along the Enchanted Way transports us back to a magical country world most of us thought had vanished long ago. Review: I'm not much of a traveller but I do like reading about it. William doesn't just travel through Romania, he falls in love with it and that's what makes this particular book enchanting. He's a man with wanderlust, a bit of a free spirit, a man who hates city life and treading on pavements. We join William as he heads out of London towards Berlin just after the fall of the wall, from there he heads eastwards through Dresden, Prague, Bohemia, Slovakia and Hungary and several days later reaches the Romanian frontier. It's a tumultuous time in Romania, the country has ceased to be under communist rule, after the execution of Ceauşescu, and it's still in some disarray. William is a sort of happy go lucky traveller and so he's not particularly equipped to deal with the freezing conditions or the scarcity of food but amazingly it's not long before he's invited into the home of some local peasant people and given a bowl of soup and a hunk of bread to help him on his way. This is by no means an isolated incident, William finds the generosity of the local people staggering. He is welcomed into homes, given shelter and sent to the front of bread queues .. payment is refused .. he is their honoured guest (and yet they don't know him from Adam.) I have to admit that if a stranger knocked on my door asking for refreshments (as William sometimes did) I would be extremely suspicious and wouldn't let them in. It made me sad to think of it. This visit is only a short one, but Romania has cast a spell over William and he spends the next few years trying to free himself of ties and obligations which will enable him to return and in 1996 he succeeds. The Romanian people continue to live as they have done for centuries, they farm the land, produce their own food, bottle and preserve, make their own exquisite tools, clothes, shoes and never travel much further than their local doorstep. But they're not inward thinking, they're inquisitive and ask William many questions about life in England (not really understanding why we all don't keep cows!) In Maramureş he meets an elderly couple Mihai and Maria and starts a friendship which is to last until the end of their days, more than a friendship in fact for Mihai and Maria come to look on William as the son they never had, sharing their home with him, teaching him the local customs, working with him on the land, making him clothes and shoes. William continued to travel and Mihai would always wave him off with tears in his eyes and eagerly await his return. As William says of the Romanian people .. 'they knew the great secret of being happy with little. Is there something of a sham about the modern world - are we, in the western world, for all our wealth and washing machines, any happier than these people - emphatically no.' But you know boys will be boys and men will be men, and the day that William sets eyes on Natalia, a gypsy girl from Halma, is the day when rational thought jumps out of the window. Natalia is beautiful (and there's a photo to prove it) with her dark hair, flashing eyes and fiery temper and it's not long before William is in a whole heap of trouble. He decides that the trouble is worth the risk and, after some haphazard correspondence between them, he leaves on a visit that will keep him away from Maramureş for some time. Life with the gypsies is every bit as tumultuous as you would imagine, they have a completely different work ethic to the ordinary Romanians. They live in the moment, and put pleasure before toil, it doesn't occur to them to save for a rainy day so during winter they have very little food and have to beg or borrow it. William finds that the local people, who were once so fond of him, turn away from him once they realise that he has disregarded their ominous warnings about consorting with the gypsies. But thankfully not Mihai and Maria, for one thing they're not judgmental and for another they love William .. they would love for him to meet a nice Romanian girl (and there are several excrutiating attempts at this) but whatever he decides is fine with them. William for his part soon learns some harrowing tales from the gypsies, shocking accounts of hostility, corruption and police brutality and it's not long before he experiences it first hand. Ultimately though, although he is incredibly fond of them, life with the gypsies doesn't suit (and really, you could have told him long before that it would never work out ... they were just too different) and William decides to leave. He now spends his time divided between England and Romania (for he still has one very precious reason for returning often.) He's been active too in campaigning for the preservation of the ancient Saxon villages and their buildings and churches (in fact he did a lot of repair work himself whilst there).. so much so that he's managed to persuade Prince Charles to come on board. Sometimes progress can be a sad thing. TV comes to Romania, tarmac roads are installed, girls give up their national dress for trousers and plastic packaging begins to clog the streams. Naturally the younger people, mesmerised by TV adverts, are inclined to think that the grass is greener and they try to seek their fortune elsewhere .. sometimes with disastrous and harrowing results. Of course they would look at our lives of modern conveniences and 3D cinema's and be envious but they wouldn't necessarily notice how buried in the rat race we are, how strung up we are by our own possessions and debt and how pure and free their lives are in comparison. I spent the last few pages in tears ... again, just reading about the last time William (or Willy as they called him) saw Mihai and how Mihai, as ill and bent over as he was, walked on and on waving until he couldn't see him any more .. Mihai died soon after and when William attended the funeral there was a letter from Mihai to William read out by the priest which practically had me in floods ... everyone should have a Mihai in their lives. Mihai's letter to William I'm rambling again but that's because I liked it so much. 9/10 (I took a point off because I spent too many pages wanting to shake William until his teeth rattled and he came to his senses again.) This is why I'm so behind with my reviews ... I'm incapable of keeping it brief. I'll try a short version ... **THIS IS THE ONLY BIT WORTH READING ** I liked it a lot .. if you like books about travel ... buy, beg or borrow it.

My favourites from the list are Winnie The Pooh - A.A. Milne Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling The Twits - Roald Dahl The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien I would have included the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe but as it's grouped under all the chronicles and I didn't like all of them, I didn't.

Thursday Next from Jasper Fforde's books .. she's a fairly normal person that extraordinary things happen to. She gets to jump into books and hobnob with literary characters and she has a pet dodo and a time travelling dad. I'm not sure that I fancy having to suffer the eradication of my husband, as she did, for a couple of years (who would make the tea?) but it would give me a lot more reading time But if I was to be a character in children's fiction. I think I'd choose Alice just so that I could attend that mad tea party.

Hi Punkafoo, you're well on target. You've read six books already Good luck with your reading this year.

I've got Crime and Punishment on my TBR too and it's been sitting on my shelf for a while looking daunting. I have listened to an abridged audio of it (mine was narrated by Alex Jennings .. is that the same as yours Andrea?) and loved it but looking at the size of the book compared to the amount of cassettes, there must be an awful lot of the story left out (and I bet it's all the complicated stuff ... the stuff that gives you knots in your head.) I will get around to reading it sometime this year hopefully when I'm feeling brave. Another book that I always think I should have read by now is 'American Psycho' but I just don't fancy it and now, having read your review Brian, I definitely don't think it's for me.

Thanks Brian I think any programme that get's people talking about books and literary characters has to be a good thing and I think you've absolutely hit the nail on the head, if he'd have chosen more conventional heroes, it wouldn't have sparked much of a debate. Although I was a little bit disappointed with it, I'll still eagerly watch the others because on the whole it's fascinating (even though at times Sebastian did look like he was on a Thomas Cook holiday.) I'm imagining that Alec D'Urberville will come under the 'The Villain' category, I guess it's possible that Tess and Angel could come under the 'The Lover' category but imo their story is really dreary. Angel could come under the 'Hero's You Would Like to Slap' category and Tess might well be chosen for the female equivalent (though there's some pretty stiff competition) but Sebastian's not doing those .. not until next series anyway

I watched 'Faulks on Fiction' on Sunday and wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. Having said that I did watch it at my mum and dad's and they're not particularly interested in books (though mum does read and dad does listen) and so I may have been a bit distracted (by the snoring and sweet paper rustling.) The first episode was entitled 'The Hero' and I felt some of the characters listed were strange choices (there weren't many in the list so the choices were crucial.) Becky Sharp for instance was listed, her ability to act like a man qualified her apparently but though Becky is the most interesting character by far in Vanity Fair, she's not heroic. Her treatment of her son for a start is enough to cross her off the list and she's also manipulative and untrustworthy. The only real candidate for a hero in Vanity Fair would be either William Dobbin, who is a constant hero, or Rawdon Crawley, who comes good in the end (and that is the real test of a hero.) I also had a problem with Winston Smith, though only partly ... his behaviour is heroic for a lot of the book but then he goes and betrays Julia when he should have done a 'Sydney Carton', entirely natural and understandable of course but not heroic. Maybe though the idea here is to think of people you admire or 'hero worship' and that's something slightly different, I can see both Becky and Winston coming under that heading. I guess everyone's idea of a hero is different, perhaps it's going too far to call Mr Darcy a hero .. and maybe I'm thinking again of Colin Firth ... but then he does do something heroic for Elizabeth when he tries to save the family from ruin and disgrace re Lydia and Wickham. But I believe he is probably going to be included in a later episode entitled 'The Lover' .. and I guess Heathcliff will also come under that bracket, though he's not a hero (in the literal sense) anyway. I would definitely have put Atticus Finch on my list and Sydney Carton. There will be a further three episodes .. 'Lovers' (I'm guessing at Elizabeth/Darcy and Cathy/Heathcliff) 'Villains' (possibly Bill Sikes, Mrs Danvers and Alec D'Urberville) and 'Snobs' (has to be Emma Woodhouse, I'm not sure who else) I think hubby has bought the book for my birthday which is a few weeks away. I'm looking forward to reading it because it's bound to be more in depth. Plus it will be less distracting .. Sebastian and his cerise shirt were making me migrainous (is that a word?)

The Chapel at the Edge of the World - Kirsten McKenzie Waterstones Review: Emilio and Rosa are childhood sweethearts, engaged to be married. But it is 1942 and the war has taken Emilio far from Italy, to a tiny Orkney island where he is a POW. Rosa must wait for him to return and help her mother run the family hotel on the shores of Lake Como, in Italy. Feeling increasingly frustrated with his situation, Emilio is inspired by the idea of building a chapel on the barren island. The prisoners band together to create an extraordinary building out of little more than salvaged odds and ends and homemade paints. Whilst Emilio's chapel will remain long after the POW camp has been left to the sheep, will his love for Rosa survive the hardships of war and separation? For Rosa is no longer the girl that he left behind. She is being drawn further into the Italian resistance movement and closer to danger, as friendships and allegiances are ever complicated by the war. Human perseverance and resilience are at the heart of this strong debut and the small Italian chapel remains, as it does in reality on the island of Lamb's Holm, as a symbol of these qualities. Review: This was a bit of a slow burner, in fact I'm not sure it ever caught fire It took me quite a long time to get the characters fixed in my mind and I don't think I ever understood them completely but then I think that was a reflection of the austere times they were living in, they were quite secretive and introspective. Emilio is sent abroad to Africa to fight for Mussolini during WWII and his fiance Rosa is left behind in Lake Como. Emilio and his fellow soldiers are soon captured and are due to be transported as POW's to India but fearing another hot climate, along with it's attendant flies and disease, he is able to wangle a favour from a British corporal (Emilio is a painter and becomes popular among his captors by painting little portraits of their loved one's from photo's) and secures a place on a ship bound for the Orkney Islands, Scotland (to work on the Churchill Barriers.) Struggling to cope with heat is one thing but the alternative proves to be, if anything, more oppressive. When they land at Orkney they are overwhelmed by the sheer desolation of the place, it's the colour of concrete and the wind, which blows fiercely every day, is like a wall that hits you in the face every time you turn a corner. The sky and sea are a mutinous grey, the temperatures are freezing and the landscape is barren and flat as no trees can survive. It's a million miles away from the beauty and climate of Lake Como. Rosa meanwhile is at home, both living with and helping out her mother at their hotel. She is a little confused regarding her feelings for Emilio, she thinks about his return and their marriage and feels suffocated by it. Italy is now under German occupation and everyone's movements are watched. The hotel is a favourite haunt of the German officers so caution is needed. Rosa finds a job at a little print shop and there meets a childhood friend of hers and Emilio's - Pietro - with whom she becomes incredibly close and it's through this friendship that she learns of, and becomes involved with, resistance work. Her little errands for the resistance become increasingly risky especially as there is a German officer at the hotel who has taken a shine to her and who always seems to be watching. Rosa's letters to Emilio become more and more general and less and less personal, letters about the hotel guests and the local flora and fauna. Emilio is depressed and demoralized but a small ray of light occurs when the new CO of the camp announces that they can convert an old Nissan hut into a chapel. Nobody is particularly excited by this but Emilio is inspired when he reads a newspaper article about a girl who made a wedding dress out of seaweed and custard powder. His enthusiasm soon rubs off on the others and they begin work on the transformation. Not only will it give them somewhere to worship it will give them something to do as they wait to be transported back home. By this time they are no longer prisoners in the official sense but, Germany still has occupation of Italy, and there is no knowing how long it will be before they return home. Hopes are raised and dashed continually. It was a good read, nothing particularly enthralling but quietly compelling in it's own way. I didn't feel there was enough descriptions of how the POW's built the exquisite little chapel, when you look at the pictures of the real chapel it's just breathtaking. That prisoners could create such a beautiful work of art out of nothing but scraps and salvage is amazing and should have been described in more detail. Also I felt some of the sting went out of the tale by having the aged Rosa and Emilio talking at the beginning of the book ... obviously you knew that nothing particularly catastrophic was going to befall them. The book cover however is beautiful, probably my favourite so far. 7/10

That's interesting Kylie, I've seen his (David Sedaris) books whilst I've been rootling around for writer's memoirs in Waterstones. From the title I was expecting something quite bizarre and out there but from your review I gather that the book is fun but light ... so perhaps his books are more suitable as library loans than actual buys. I don't mind light hearted reads but sometimes get disappointed if I was expecting more .. and somehow from the title I was ... so thanks for the tip off mistress

I couldn't help thinking that he chose Robinson Crusoe just so that he could go sauntering along that magnificent tropical beach .. I mean, that wasn't Skegness was it.

I enjoyed it, but I thought that some of the characters that came under the hearding of 'heroes' .. weren't. I can see the case for Winston Smith but I think he rather loses his heroic status when he betrays Julia (it was understandable and natural .. but it wasn't heroic) but the choice I was most at odds with was Becky Sharp .. for one she's not a man and two she wasn't heroic, she was an entirely fascinating character to read about but she was calculating, self absorbed and manipulative .... how can that be heroic? If anyone was a hero in 'Vanity Fair' surely it had to be Dobbin. I guess it's all subjective .. everyone will feel differently and have different characters in mind. I liked the programme though and look forward to the rest.

yeah sorry about that, very remiss of us Glad you're enjoying it.

Bother!! I'm going to have to accost perfect strangers in Asda now and force them (I mean persuade them) to take a detour on their way back to the car. I must start reading the Stieg Larsson's, I feel like I'm the only person in the world who hasn't read them and they always get good reviews.