poppyshake

Salt Monet or Van Gogh?

I think Neil Gaiman has confirmed that they are making a film adaptation of 'The Graveyard Book' also Susanna Clarke's 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' is in the pipeline. Shortly to be released is the children's film 'How to Train Your Dragon' (book by Cressida Cowell) there's a trailer here ... http://www.howtotrainyourdragon.com/

Just started Neil Gaiman's 'Stardust' .. feels good to be reading Gaiman again. I've only just read that you've given up on 'The Childrens Book' Janet! ... I've got this waiting to be read and I am a bit daunted by it .. the length of it and the complexity ... hope it's not going to be trial.

Look forward to hearing what you make of it. After reading the reviews on the back jacket of 'Gold' I'm tempted by his 'Timoleon Vieta Come Home' . However, after reading some of the Amazon reviews about it I'm not so sure ... seems to be unbearably sad .. and the reviews were mixed to say the least. More promising is 'Little Hands Clapping' but that is only in hardback at the moment.

I would've loved ... Rust Never Sleeps - Neil Young, but that would've been taking liberties Golden Cage - The Whitest Boy Alive

Carry On Don't Lose Your Head

It's 'The Fifth Element' isn't it?

Heatwave (if it's just for a day) Harry Potter or Twilight

Ha yeah, I did guess as much ... the trouble with being a Radiohead fan is that their music is not really suitable for the big occasion .. my other half want's 'Exit Music' at his funeral but I am trying to talk him out of it .. I mean I know it's supposed to be a depressing event but that's going too far!!

I used to live in Bracknell and was sick to the back teeth of Andrew Mackay then so glad to see him pulled down a peg or four. I thought the drama was good ... I love Anna Maxwell Martin .. she's great in everything she's in. My MP now is David Cameron .... I don't think that's a lot better tbh.

I love Radiohead .. but I'm not sure that's the most appropriate song for a wedding ... my Auntie's would need smelling salts unless it was the cleaned up version ... how about 'Lucky' instead .. slightly less disturbing for the rellies.

I like 'The Earth Hums in B Flat' too ... also ... 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' and 'The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie' (perhaps I have a pie obsession?)

Gold - Dan Rhodes Waterstones Synopsis: Miyuki Woodward; lover of pints and instant food has been taking a holiday to the same seaside town for eight years. She is made to feel at home, at least during pub-quiz nights, when Short Mr Hughes, Tall Mr Hughes and Mr Puw are especially glad to recruit Miyuki and her trivia prowess to their team. This year, following an act of raw creativity involving some cans of gold spraypaint, Miyuki will take part in the most turbulent events the village has seen since Tall Mr Hughes returned from the pub toilet without remembering to button up Review: I really loved this book, very quirky and witty. I loved all the characters especially Miyuki, the Welsh/Japanese girl who has spent a fortnight every winter in the same seaside town .. only 100 miles from home .. for the last eight years eating junk food, reading a book a day and drinking 'Brains' beer in The Anchor, just so that she can appreciate her love for Grindl (absence making the heart grow fonder and all that ) Not much happens but I could have read about that 'not much' happening for several more chapters because I just loved the people, the place and the whimsical nature of it. It has a surprisingly sad ending but that in a way made it all the more perfect. I would say it was 'laugh out loud' but I never do that .. it was definitely 'smile out loud' though 10/10

Ah what a shame, 'Wolf Hall' is one of those books that you hear about and see everywhere and I've nearly bought it several times being quite interested in Tudor times .. not sure that I fancy it now. I did think of listening to it as I have a couple of credits with Audible and I'm sometimes daunted by long books especially if the subject matter is quite heavy ... I don't know if that would be wise either though. I do hate books that are overly descriptive .. especially if I've lost the thread by the time they've stopped describing the curl of a leaf or something. On a brighter note, I've just bought 'The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie' and I'm looking forward to reading it.

Was that 'The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao'? .. I was really disappointed with it, I thought I was going to love it from the blurb on the back and initially I quite liked it but it went downhill quickly.

Great songs I especially love Paloma and Paolo

Yes Joseph was a trial for me too ... but you're right he's mostly quoting the bible and flinging down curses on everybody. The amazing thing about the book is that

The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson Waterstones Synopsis: The nameless and beautiful narrator of The Gargoyle is driving along a dark road when he is distracted by what seems to be a flight of arrows. He crashes into a ravine and wakes up in a burns ward, undergoing the tortures of the damned. His life is over - he is now a monster. But in fact it is only just beginning. One day, Marianne Engel, a wild and compelling sculptress of gargoyles, enters his life and tells him that they were once lovers in medieval Germany. In her telling, he was a badly burned mercenary and she was a nun and a scribe who nursed him back to health in the famed monastery of Engelthal. As she spins her tale, Scheherazade fashion, and relates equally mesmerising stories of deathless love in Japan, Greenland, Italy and England, he finds himself drawn back to life - and, finally, to love. Review: There's no denying that this book is incredibly ambitious and compelling, however I found it a bit of a trial at times. I'm a bit squeamish so the graphic accounts of the narrator's horrific injuries and the treatment for his extensive burns was a little too much for me and also I found the dialogue quite crude in places. I was captured by the relationship between the (nameless) narrator and Marianne and I found the tales she told completely entrancing and touching. Could Marianne be actually telling the truth when she declares that they were lovers in the 1300's or is she in need of medication and psychiatric care? (after all she was in the psychiatric ward when he first met her.) I had to read some of the passages through squinty eyes as they were too graphic or gruesome .. otherwise I would've rated it more highly. A lot of it was extraordinary though, folklore and myths woven beautifully to run parallel to the main story. 7/10

Sandy beach Elvis or the Beatles

Lover You Should've Come over - Jeff Buckley Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall The Wrong Band - Tori Amos Eloise - Damned Eton Rifles - Jam Agitated - Muse Whippin Piccadilly - Gomez In My Place - Coldplay 10/10 - Paolo Nutini No Hay Igual - Nelly Furtado

I had 'You're the Best Thing' by the Style Council

Happy Spring Mona yay!! Don't get down on yourself for not being able to read much ... some months that's how it goes, something will probably click in to make you want to start reading more but just go with the flow. You have some great books on your TBR pile .. so when you do feel like reading fiction again you've got some treats ahead of you.

I'm English but I found the Yorkshire dialect really difficult ... I had to read it several times to really understand it .. infact, I had to hear it being read .. and then I went back and started again. It's a fantastic book, so atmospheric.

The book is quite short and so they had to expand on it a fair bit .. but I thought it was done well and Neil seemed happy with it. The animation was stunning, especially in 3-D. Definitely worth renting anyway (there are lots of trailers available of it to give you a taste).

Films and TV adaptations hardly ever get it right it's so frustrating. I did like Coraline though .. especially in 3D, though I'm not sure about the invention of Wybie.