poppyshake

I would like to be more benevolent with my book lending ... but to say I'm reluctant to lend is an understatement. I lent some books to a friend earlier this year and haven't got them back yet .. one of them was my much beloved 'Hons and Rebels' by Decca Mitford!! ... that hasn't encouraged me to be more generous. I used to lend books to my Mum but I think I got on her nerves badgering her about whether she'd read them yet .. she doesn't ask anymore

I've just read that Muse have been asked to provide another song for the next 'Twilight' movie 'New Moon' .. they have a meeting/phone call with the director today .. he want's to use one of the songs off of 'The Resistance' but hasn't told them which one yet (well, he probably has by now as the meeting was today). My money is on 'Undisclosed Desires' or 'I Belong to You'. I have no idea if it's a good thing or not as I haven't read or watched any 'Twilight' stuff. Muse's 'Supermassive Black Hole' was used on the 'Twilight' soundtrack. *Typed especially in vampire purple*

Toad in the hole, mash, peas and onion gravy .. nice and healthy

I look forward to reading it now

Perfect

When he was nearly thirteen my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

I wonder how long it would take to read your way through the complete works of Dickens? It would be well worth it though. I love Pratchett .. perfect escapism.

Is that the book that has some reference to Anne of Cleeves? .. I fancy reading that so will be interested to know what you make of it.

The Lost Dog - Michelle de Kretser Waterstones synopsis: Tom Loxley is holed up in a remote cottage in the bush, trying to finish a book on Henry James and the Uncanny when his dog goes missing, trailing a length of orange twine, tied with firm knots. Tom's lonely childhood in India taught him to tie knots but not to hold on ...The house belongs to Nelly Zhang, an elusive artist with whom Tom has become enthralled. The narrative spans ten days while Tom searches for his dog ...and loops back in time to take the reader on a breathtaking journey into glittering worlds far beyond the present tragedy, from an Anglo-Indian childhood to the brittle contemporary Melbourne art scene, from Tom's scratchy, unbearably poignant relationship with his ailing mother to the unanswered puzzles in Nelly's past - her husband also disappeared in the bush. And the reader fears for Tom as well as for the dog. Set in present-day Australia and mid-20th century India, here is a haunting, layered work that vividly counterpoints new cityscapes and their inhabitants with the untamed continent beyond. With its atmosphere of menace and an acute sense of the unexplained in any story, it illuminates the collision of the wild and the civilised, modernity and the past, home and exile. "The Lost Dog" is a mystery and a love story, an exploration of art and nature, a meditation on ageing and the passage of time. It is a book of wonders: a gripping contemporary novel which examines the weight of history as well as different ways of trying to grasp the world. Methinks: I wish I could say I loved this book .. I loved the cover!!, it's what made me pick it up in the first place and the plot sounded intriguing. The trouble with it mostly is that the writing is very flowery and descriptive .. overly so in most cases .. and it got in the way of the plot. I put it down more than I picked it up which obviously isn't good .. and is not the way forward for someone who want's to read all her books on her TBR pile this year!! Some parts of it I liked .. The bits of the book that dealt with Tom's Mother and Aunt were good and it was those bits ... and the searches for 'the dog' (for all the description he doesn't even have a name!) that I enjoyed most. The parts about the mysterious and arty Nelly I found boring .. I didn't really care enough about her to make unravelling her history interesting. A.S. Byatt gives it a glowing review .. and for lovers of rich, artistic, abstract prose .. it's probably perfect. For bears of very small brain .. it was a struggle. Still a great cover though!! 5/10

I'm just going to have dinner a deux with Stephen Fry I think .. keep him all to myself and just sit and listen. I'm reckoning he's a sort of rocket, olive oil, goats cheese, balsamic vinegar sort of a person .. what do you think?

Is that the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle P&P? I loved that adaptation and the other two too ... Justine Waddell was perfect as Molly Gibson

What in your opinion is/are the best film/s to be adapted from a book? Here are some of my fave's .. Sense and Sensibility ... Emma Thompson/Kate Winslett (even though I did spend a lot of the time in the cinema grumbling about the changes and the bits left out/put in .. this is a really gorgeously adapted film). Lord of the Rings ... Same as above really (though if they had sent Liv Tyler to Helm's Deep to fight as they originally intended.. it would've probably ended up a turkey). Breakfast at Tiffany's ... I know Truman Capote wanted Marilyn but Audrey was just magnificent in the part. Harry Potter ... Most of them have been brilliant ... again I'm always grumbling when I see it for the first time that so much is changed or left out but I've never left a Harry Potter screening thinking it was rubbish or been left un-entertained. Worth the cinema fee to see Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane and Ralph Fiennes .. let alone the rest. The Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe) ... Thought this was magnificent .. I loved Tilda as Jadis .. she got it spot on and young Georgie Henley was perfect as Lucy .. best scene ever with James McAvoy ... I nearly cried when Lucy first meets Mr Tumnus .. it was perfect and just as I had imagined it. I want to say To Kill a Mockingbird ... but I've not read the book yet .. the film is fantastic though.

Is there a more beautiful song than this .... I've heard it a thousand times and it still moves me to tears every time Vincent (Starry Starry Night) Lyrics Starry starry night, paint your palette blue and grey Look out on a summer's day with eyes that know the darkness in my soul Shadows on the hills, sketch the trees and the daffodils Catch the breeze and the winter chills, in colors on the snowy linen land Now I understand what you tried to say to me How you suffered for you sanity How you tried to set them free They would not listen they did not know how, perhaps they'll listen now Starry starry night, flaming flowers that brightly blaze Swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue Colors changing hue, morning fields of amber grain Weathered faces lined in pain are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand Chorus: For they could not love you, but still your love was true And when no hope was left in sight, on that starry starry night You took your life as lovers often do, But I could have told you, Vincent, This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you Starry, starry night, portraits hung in empty halls Frameless heads on nameless walls with eyes that watch the world and can't forget. Like the stranger that you've met, the ragged man in ragged clothes The silver thorn of bloody rose, lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow Now I think I know what you tried to say to me How you suffered for you sanity How you tried to set them free They would not listen they're not listening still Perhaps they never will.

Ooh that's good .. it's sitting on my tbr pile and it needs a good review to enable it to escape to 'currently reading' I'm looking forward to it now

Well done!! .. now for book 101

I've read it recently ... my OH recommended it as he had loved it as a child. It was very weird .. and quite disturbing and I'm still not sure if I fully understood it

Sorry yes, that's what I meant.

My Mum's roast dinners and I'm going to have one this Sunday

Bands would be (in no order) 1. Muse 2. Radiohead 3. Coldplay 4. Beatles 5. Bloc Party (I'm loving the Fleet Foxes at the moment too .. but that might be a fad) Singers would be (in no order) 1. Kate Bush 2. Jeff Buckley 3. Nelly Furtado 4. Neil Young 5. Tori Amos (also love Joni Mitchell, Regina Spektor, Paolo Nutini, Corinne Bailey Rae, Stevie Wonder and Seasick Steve)

So have you started 'Inkdeath' Ben? .. how's it going so far?.. or have you been seduced by a new book?

I've just read 'Fragile Things' which is another collection of Gaiman stories ... from what you've said the two collections seem to be quite similar .. there were stories that were too explicit for my taste but there were others that just fired up the imagination. I so looked forward to reading this book but it just didn't live up to my expectations. I'd read good reviews and the premise seemed good but although I enjoyed parts of it .. several times I lost interest and I very nearly didn't finish it, like you say not bad but not great either.

Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman Waterstones synopsis: A stunning book of short stories by the acclaimed fantasy writer. The distinctive genius of Neil Gaiman has been championed by writers as diverse as Norman Mailer and Stephen King. With THE SANDMAN Neil Gaiman created one of the most sophisticated, intelligent and influential graphic novel series of our time. Now after the recent success of his latest novel ANANSI BOYS, Gaiman has produced FRAGILE THINGS, his second collection of short fiction. These stories will dazzle your senses, haunt your imagination and move you to the very depths of your soul. This extraordinary book reveals one of the world's most gifted storytellers at the height of his powers. Methinks: This was a bit of a book of two halves .. in as much as I liked about half of the stories and the other half I found either uninteresting or too disturbing. Definitely not one for the faint hearted and also not for those as I said earlier that don't like graphic adult content. Neil gives a little synopsis at the start of the book about each story (what or who had influenced him to write it etc) which is a nice touch .. a few seemed to be about or influenced by his friend Tori Amos and her music. My favourite story was 'Harlequin Valentine' a story of Harlequin giving his heart (literally) to his Columbine on Feb 14th .. which is both gruesome and amusing .. I loved it. Also good was 'Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire' which is a parody of gothic novels and their worst excesses .. very funny. He writes beautifully, so imaginative and creative. I seemed to prefer the stories that had a good dollop of humour in them .. perhaps I'm too much of a scaredy cat to enjoy the more gruesome and graphic tales. 7/10

I was disappointed in it .. I didn't watch most of the second part. The time lines were all over the place .. characters spoke other people's lines .. I wasn't convinced by most of the leads .. though I thought Heathcliff was good. I usually like Burn Gorman but I was cringing for him here. Joseph was terrible .. no attempt had been made to capture him at all. I'm too anal about the book I know ... there has never been a decent adaptation and I knew as soon as it started and saw that they had done away with Mr Lockwood that we were going to get a sort of potted version .. and then every fifteen minutes or so Cathy and Heathcliff went to buy a new sofa .. awful. It needs to be a good six parter .. like 'Pride and Prejudice' or 'Bleak House' .. and it needs to be BBC.