poppyshake

Strictly .. again!

Finished The Dynamite Room by Jason Hewitt .. excellent. I even read the first chapter of his next book which was printed in the back .. something I rarely if ever do and now I'm intrigued to know how it goes on .. but it's not published until next year (what a tease! ) .. I'll have forgotten it by then Started The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler which is one of the books loaned to me by lovely Claire Only on chapter two but really into it already

We merge our books and I don't have a problem with it. Alan's not a big reader anyway .. usually he waits for me to recommend .. so it's not a massive problem. I'm not organised with my displays and that's probably why I don't mind. If his books have the appropriate coloured spines then they stand a good chance of being on the main bookshelves downstairs. It's a free-for-all everywhere else. Possibly if he was a big reader .. and read lots of sci-fi (for instance) .. then I might object to swathes of them getting in between my Mitford's and Woolf's .. that is not likely to happen though. I'm happy for him to read my books and am not too precious about them (there are some .. like the Penguin Deluxes .. that I would wince a bit about) because I quite happily drop toast crumbs in mine so can't object to anyone else doing the same (please note .. if you have lent me a book .. I'm always very respectful with it .. I know how to treat other people's property.) I like the thought of our books co-mingling As long as mine have pride of place

I'm still watching mine grow How does that happen? You're an inspiration Claire but it's not rubbing off I feel my reading is really picking up now though .. it's going to be a bit of a dismal year .. totals wise .. but then that's because I've had a lot of distractions which were mostly amazing .. so I'm not going to worry about it. My plans are to keep up the enthusiasm I currently have .. which will be difficult as November and December are not known to be good months for me as far as reading (or anything ) is concerned. I'm much too frazzled by the thought of Christmas but I'm going to try and keep up momentum. I've enjoyed most of what I've read so that's the main thing .. had some great reads this year

I loved this too and Alan has just finished it and also loved it. I didn't write my review straight after and still haven't I think I will just point people to your review of it Janet .. which is brilliant xx

Yay!! Your mojo is back with a vengeance I feel mine is too .. must be something in the water You've had a stellar year too as far as reading good books is concerned. Your mojo has been rewarded for it's patience That reminds me, we must, must, must, get around to reading those Moomin books soon. I need to know what they're about. I know they're more intriguing than I've ever given them credit for .. I've just been viewing them as shapeless lumps .. something to do with the cartoon series which I could never make head nor tail of. Octavia loves them .. she always has them in her shop window displays .. it's an addiction with her I think. However, I do hope that any Moomin reading won't have an adverse effect on our mojos

QI

How lovely. Books on the shelves can wait .. much more fun to lick all the books in the new libraries Well done me .. I am down with the kids Definitely should have said Häkkinen!

I know .. I'm not nagging I should be the last person to nag about un-read books Ooh .. that's brilliant Look up a word. Has it got innit .. in it?

You've done brilliantly on your health kick Steve .. well done! Excellent stuff .. bet you feel loads better too Great reviews btw .. I really like the sound of The Cormorant but .. do you think I could handle it?

Bat For Lashes - Daniel

Just started The Dynamite Room by Jason Hewitt and it's brilliant and totally gripping Things might change of course but I'm seventy pages in and loving it. Just downloaded Stephen Fry's new book .. More Fool Me .. from Audible. It hasn't had very good reviews but I've read/listened to the other two and so can't bail/bale ( ) out now.

I love Tilda, Edward and Bill I haven't seen many of his films actually so I will look out for those you mentioned. I think Fantastic Mr Fox is the only other one I've seen and I loved it. The cinematography was stunning in The Grand Budapest Hotel .. it was gorgeous to look at and I loved the dark humour

The Grand Budapest Hotel .. very quirky .. I liked it Ralph Fiennes is great.

Strictly Come Dancing

That is exciting .. well done Octavia Such a lot of lovely bookshops .. I'm going to make a note and see if I can't plan my holidays around them

Just about to make a hot drink and settle down for a few more chapters of The Gallery of Vanished Husbands by Natasha Solomons .. I'm about two thirds of the way through now. Also reading The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell .. fascinating stuff but very in depth so best read when all my cylinders are firing .. anyone know when that is?

How To Build A Girl by Caitlin Moran Synopsis: What do you do in your teenage years when you realise what your parents taught you wasn’t enough? You must go out and find books and poetry and pop songs and bad heroes - and build yourself. It’s 1990. Johanna Morrigan, 14, has shamed herself so badly on local TV that she decides that there’s no point in being Johanna anymore and reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde – fast-talking, hard-drinking Gothic hero and full-time Lady Sex Adventurer! She will save her poverty stricken Bohemian family by becoming a writer – like Jo in Little Women, or the Brontes - but without the dying young bit. By 16, she’s smoking cigarettes, getting drunk and working for a music paper. She’s writing pornographic letters to rock-stars, having all the kinds of sex with all the kinds of men, and eviscerating bands in reviews of 600 words or less. But what happens when Johanna realises she’s built Dolly with a fatal flaw? Is a box full of records, a wall full of posters and a head full of paperbacks, enough to build a girl after all? Imagine The Bell Jar written by Rizzo from Grease, with a soundtrack by My Bloody Valentine and Happy Mondays. As beautiful as it is funny, How To Build a Girl is a brilliant coming-of-age novel in DMs and ripped tights, that captures perfectly the terror and joy of trying to discover exactly who it is you are going to be. Review: This is not going to be a book for everyone. If you're already a lover of Caitlin's work, it's a pretty safe bet you'll love it but otherwise it's probably safe to say that you should proceed with caution .. it's extremely rude in places and totally irreverent. It's quite similar to her book How To Be a Woman .. except this is fiction. She's taken the things she knows about and shaped them into a story. A story that had me actually howling with laughter until I thought I'd do myself a mischief. This in part was due to the fact that I listened to it being read by the rather wonderful Louise Brealey and she has the most glorious Wolverhampton accent that just brings Johanna and the Morrigan family to life. There is criticism that there's not much new here .. that if you've read How To be a Woman then you've basically read this but I don't agree .. similarities yes and Caitlin's legendary (her word ) style is all over it but there was plenty that was fresh and new. I guess though, I am of the opinion that there can't be too much Moran and so possibly am not the best judge of it. My favourite books of all are the ones that make me laugh .. if I haven't laughed somewhere during a book then it has let me down in some way (depending on subject matter of course.) Anyway .. it's not often someone can make you laugh yourself sick over cystitis .. that'll never happen to me again I'm sure .. and I value the experience It's a book that's hard to put down (or in my case .. hard to stop listening to) It felt to me like reading about the Rabbite family in Roddy Doyle's books or watching (early) Shameless. Endlessly entertaining, deliciously horrifying and eyebrow raisingly rude. Johanna (especially as the re-incarnated Dolly) does some pretty stupid things but she's already gained the reader's sympathy early on and so you do cheer her on from the sidelines. Her father is feckless, her mother is depressed and the family are one step away from the workhouse .. or would be if this was the 19th century. Johanna wants to save them from poverty by becoming a music journo (bit far fetched maybe but then that's more or less what did happen to Moran herself.) but she needs to re-invent herself first. Nobody would ever employ Johanna Morrigan. I read (?) this a lot whilst out walking and people were giving me odd looks (more than usual I mean ) because it was impossible not to be LOL'ing. I've since insisted that my sister listen to it as I know it's right up her street. I am a bit more cautious about recommending it here .. just because it is so rude (I mean not 50 Shades of Grey rude .. not that I would know how rude that is .. oh dear ) but it's all told with humour. She just knows all the right words to make any situation hilarious. It's also quite bitter sweet and painful as coming of age books often are. Caitlin is quite Marmite but if you're already inclined and you don't mind a large dollop of smut then give this one a go. 4/5

Thanks for that Claire I'll definitely be having a listen. That's a double recommendation then I'll put it on my LoveFilm list Hope it turns up soon Kylie I read that version of Candide and it's gorgeous. I love all the Penguin Deluxe's .. I was convinced I'd got Wuthering Heights but when I dug it out to take to Yorkshire it turned out to be a Vintage copy .. hey ho Thanks Kylie Booky trips are the best.

This is one of my fave songs but this version somehow brings a big smile to my face which is not my usual reaction to Hotel California The one drawback is that I can't sing along .. or not to much of it

Yes .. I've done some already this week but it wasn't half as entertaining as Gene made it look.

Singing in the Rain .. always makes me want to splash about in puddles

She hasn't really .. it was just one or two people that I think were rude to her (or she felt were dismissive or overbearing.) It's just I always think those people are best ignored .. just talk about the good ones (which she did of course .. and very uplifting tales too.) She didn't name the people but the walk/walks were named so it isn't going to be difficult for them to work it out I haven't heard the programme but the book has made me want to tune in. It's only half an hour isn't it? I'm sure I'll have trouble remembering it as I'm hopeless and don't have a routine as such for radio or TV. Sometimes I forget it's the weekend (this is due to Alan's weird shifts) and don't remember Strictly's on I think you'll love it Claire .. especially as you love the programme anyway .. it's just her first book is a hard act to follow. I like it more when it's about her and her family. Yes .. 'back-patty' is now an official BCF term Thanks Claire .. hope you do get around to it and what's more enjoy it. I haven't heard of the film Easy A .. I'll look out for it.

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne Synopsis: Fiercely romantic and hugely influential, The Scarlet Letter is the tale of Hester Prynne, imprisoned, publicly shamed, and forced to wear a scarlet 'A' for committing adultery and bearing an illegitimate child, Pearl. In their small, Puritan village, Hester and pearl struggle to survive, but in this searing stufy of the tension between private and public existence, Hester Prynne's inner strength and quiet dignity means she has frequently been seen as one of the first great heroines of American fiction. Review: Not an easy book to get into .. I struggled with it to begin with and didn't know if I could continue. Nathaniel loves words .. that's clear from the start and you have to give the story your full concentration to avoid losing your way amongst the sentences but I dealt with it by reading it aloud to myself and quite soon it began to sink in and I grew to love it. It's very beautifully told but very leisurely told and very subtle .. perhaps too leisurely for some. It kind of meanders but it also builds. At the beginning we're not told who Hester has committed adultery with. As part of her punishment, before she is released from prison, she has to stand (with her baby) on the scaffold and is asked there to reveal the name of her partner in sin but she won't. The reader (or this reader) has their suspicions quite early on. I was mentally patting myself on the back but when the reveal came I realised that the author was well aware that I'd already twigged .. indeed that was his intention .. because it wasn't so much a reveal as a confirmation (bother!! .. I thought my sleuthing had improved ) Hester is a difficult person to get to know. She's a million miles away from anyone I've ever encountered (though not in print .. there are plenty of long suffering, noble, steadfast women in print .. you know .. the ones you want to shake until their teeth rattle ) She doesn't rant and rave as some might in her position, or indeed feel any animosity towards those Puritans who have castigated her and made her wear a big scarlet A on her frocks for ever more. She thinks it's no more than she deserves and is determined to atone. Pearl .. the illegitimate daughter .. is more headstrong. She's very inquisitive and wilful and becomes more so as she grows up. The real meat in this story arrives when Hester's (much older) husband, Roger Chillingworth, turns up. He had left to join her in America some time before but had not arrived as promised. Hester had long given him up and obviously, at some point, been tempted into the arms of another. Roger arrives just in time to witness her ordeal on the scaffold. This is obviously not the reunion he was hoping for (and what terrible timing ) They agree to tell no-one about their connection but he is intent on revenge .. especially against the man in question .. if he can discover his identity. It's not a quick read or something you can pick up to entertain you on a Sunday afternoon but it is a beautifully written piece which is very rewarding .. or at least I thought so I read the beautiful Penguin Classics Deluxe edition which enhanced the enjoyment enormously (and was probably responsible for me not throwing it to one side during the introduction .. which is part of the story and is forty pages long ) 5/5

Ronnie by Ronnie Wood Synopsis: Ronnie Wood is one of rock’s true originals. This is his story, in his own words, about his life, loves, family, friends, music, art and survival against the odds. It’s a roller-coaster ride of unbelievable highs and unimaginable lows. From a small boy growing up on a working class council estate not far from Heathrow Airport who wanted to play music and paint - the first generation of his "water gypsy" family to be born on dry land - to becoming one of the most famous musicians in the world, Ronnie Wood toured the world with his Rolling Stone bandmates - Mick, Keith, Charlie and, for a while, Bill. And the five of them have, arguably, been seen in person by more people on this planet than anyone else in the history of mankind. But as mayhem and hysteria invariably followed on Ronnie's adventure through the excesses of rock ‘n roll, the drugs got harder and his relationships - especially with Mick, Keith, various women and his family - became increasingly more complex. This is Ronnie the husband, father, grandfather and rock star the way you have never seen any rock star before. RONNIE is an up-front and personal look at life as a Rolling Stone, from the inside, and at the Stones as the rest of the world has never seen them. After RONNIE, drugs, sex and rock ‘n roll will never be the same again. Review: Contrary to my expectations this book started well but got more and more boring. I found his childhood fascinating and that part of the story he told well. His family are complete characters. But as Ronnie becomes more famous he gets less interesting .. perhaps his memories are hazy at this point It's all one big drugs and booze fest topped off with a great deal of name dropping and narcissism (how many times do I want to hear how everyone idolises the Stones and Ronnie? I know that! Though he did have the good grace to remark that people often mistake him for Keith ) Also, this was a book written before he broke up with Jo and you can't help .. with the benefit of hindsight .. but feel cynical about the relationship and his professed devotion. Anyone interested in rock music will probably love it but there are better biographies out there I think. This one was a bit too self serving and I wasn't 100% convinced. One thing I did like though were his drawings .. he's a very talented artist. Also photo's .. I always love flicking through the photo's. 3/5