poppyshake

Happy Reading in 2014 Schultz! You've got some brilliant reads ahead of you

Happy New Year Hayley and Happy ... stress-free ... Reading in 2014 From your TBR Balding, Clare - My Animals and Other Family Think you will enjoy this one ... her love for dogs and horses shines through. Black, Holly - The Coldest Girl in Coldtown Always like the look and the sound of Holly's books but haven't read any yet. Carter, Angela - Nights at the Circus I've had this on the shelf for ages and started it twice .. I was enjoying it too both times but I think it has a spell on it or something Du Maurier, Daphne - Jamaica Inn Hoping to read it this year too Gaiman, Neil - American Gods I enjoyed this one ... hope you do too Juster, Norton - The Phantom Tollbooth Need to continue with this soon. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia - Love in the Time of Cholera Excellent Rodriguez, Deborah - The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul Also on my TBR. Shafer, Mary Ann - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society Brilliant .. you'll love it. Sixsmith, Martin - Philomena Seen this one in the shops recently .. looks very interesting. Steinbeck, John - Cannery Row Steinbeck, John - East Of Eden Steinbeck, John - Of Mice and Men Steinbeck, John - The Pearl Steinbeck, John - The Red Pony Did The Book People get to you too? Tartt, Donna - The Secret History Amazing story .. totally gripping. Taylor, Elizabeth - Angel Taylor, Elizabeth - A View of the Harbour Taylor, Elizabeth - Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont I enjoyed Mrs Palfrey .. hopefully her others are as good.

The Book Thief .. released here the day after my birthday .. good timing I think

No .. it's definitely not aimed at you Hayley It's actually quite a sweet quote in context .. (Henry Tilney says it in Northanger Abbey in response to Catherine who is embarrassed at having asked him his opinion of a book she's been reading .. she counters immediately by saying that she expects he never reads novels because 'gentlemen read better books' and he answers with the quote featured on the print and elaborates further to completely put her at her ease ) Out of context though it is a bit accusatory

Happy New Year my lovelies for keeping me company here ... I have still many reviews to write so will keep my eye on the place and run the vacuum around occasionally but will be moving all the pics etc to my new place (and on that note .. I do apologise about the somewhat glowering portraits of Virginia that stare down from the walls ... her eyes do tend to follow you around the room I always wonder what happened to the famous twinkle .. I did try to jolly them up with tinsel but the effect was somewhat horrifying As a result I didn't dare put any pics up of Charles Dickens .. I don't want to keep you awake at night ) xx

Thanks Gaia All of it happened in 2013 and now hopefully the healing properties and total gorgeousness of 2014 will do it's work Despite the terrible weather outside I'm determined to think well of this new year in the hope that it will think well of me .. and mine .. and all of you .. and yours

My mum and dad bought me this Jane Austen print for Christmas and I've just ordered a frame (cream) to put it in so should be able to get it up on the wall soon Alan asked whether it might not be considered insulting to visitors but my view is that if they don't read then they probably won't read it anyway .. and the quote is not saying what sort of novel you should find pleasure in .. only that it be 'good' and though both me and Jane probably have fixed ideas about what constitutes a good novel I don't think anyone will worry about it .. we always think our own taste is the best It may be a tad insulting to non-readers but then ... what are non-readers doing in my house anyway? I can't take a pic of it until it's framed for it's rolled up like a swiss roll. I can't even admire it properly without holding it down with bricks

The incredible exploding man!! .. I dish up like my mum .. as if there are twenty coming to dinner and not just two We had so much turkey left over (mainly due to being out all day on Boxing Day .. I normally can hoover up large quantities of turkey on BD) that Alan has decided we might try a goose next year It does appeal .. doing the whole Charles Dickens thing etc but I don't think goose makes good sandwiches so I'll be sad to lose my turkey sandwich. But then mum always gives me loads of hers so I will get a couple of good sandwiches out of that anyway. I'm more worried about the fat aspect .. not the eating of it but the being covered in it .. you have to pour it off regularly apparently or else your goose will drown All that hiking it out of the oven every five mins will mean there'll be an increased chance of it hitting the deck .. a la the turkey two years ago

I forgot to put up pics of my new Astrid Lindgren's Frankie has recently been reading these and I'm so looking forward to getting started .. think I'll probably have as much fun as I did last year with the Dahl's .. maybe more

I meant to say that mum and dad both have sister's living on the same park .. but dad's sister has the same condition as dad and is in a wheelchair and mum's sister and BIL are well into their eighties and not in the best of health themselves .. though my uncle does still drive so can get prescriptions or run mum to the doctors sometimes etc. My sister lives about an hour and a half away and we live about two hours and a half away ... .. Alan and I were only saying yesterday that is was nicer when the family were all within walking distance of one another. Though we all lived in Bracknell then and those that have moved away wouldn't necessarily want to go back (understatement!! )

Yes .. Mum and Dad live on a mobile home park which sounds pretty bleak but isn't at all .. it must be one of the loveliest in the country .. the caretakers love growing plants and so the whole place is always a mass of flowers .. it's south coast too so they have the best of the weather usually. Everyone is retired there or of retirement age so they're all in the same boat and there's a great community spirit. Some are thankfully more able than others (quite a few still work) and luckily Mum's neighbour is one of them and he helps out as much as he can .. Mum helps him out with pies and stuff I wish you lived closer too Whenever I ask Alan what he thinks of the dinner .. more often than not I get the reply .. 'it's nice .. but really filling' and then somehow or the other he can manage two puddings no bother

Thanks Julie Dad was always so strong and 'Desperate Dan' (that might not mean anything across the pond .. DD was a character in a comic who was immensely strong and ate cow pie with two horns sticking out of it ) and so he hates feeling helpless and remains as strongly independent as he is able which sadly now is not much as Mum has to do so much for him. He does love the sun but doesn't fare so well in the winter. He wasn't able to have his flu jab this year as he had a bad cold .. and now he has a second bad cold so I doubt he will get to have the jab at all Mum has lovely neighbours thankfully

Well he is someone that usually slightly irritates me I haven't listened to his radio show (though I hear good things about it) but whenever I see him on TV he goes on so much ( ) that I get bored. So I wasn't expecting to be all that bowled over .. and maybe there are parts that irritated a bit .. but on the whole it's really interesting and very funny. Caitlin Moran wrote positive things on the blurb so that encouraged me to make a start on it ... it says Vol 1 so there's obviously going to be more .. I think he is only about 24 at the end of this one. Particularly fascinating to anyone interested in the British music scene late seventies, early eighties He interviewed Michael Jackson for NME just before Thriller was released and what he (Danny) had to say about it gave me more insight into Michael and his state of mind than anything else I've ever read on the subject. It's actually worse than that (there are few times when leftover trifle would be unwelcome in my fridge but Christmas-time is one of them ) The trifle was to take to my cousin's on Boxing Day .. which we did .. but we were supposed to meet other family there etc and they didn't come because of illness and whatnot so there was still a lot of trifle leftover .. some of which came home. I made a huge (9") apple and caramel cheesecake to take to my sister's and have ended up with all of it. Again usually this wouldn't be at all a problem .. and I expect Alan will be heroic in his attempts to make it disappear but all the same .. I am craving chicken noodle broth now I guess I could freeze it? There's not a lot of space in the freezer but I could portion it up I suppose .. that's only just come to me my brain is completely fuzzed by carbs etc Spots are indeed IN Kate ... which doesn't help my bank balance at all

Thanks for all your messages BIL is still awaiting the results of some tests. I got my Mum's message all wrong though .. she hadn't fallen over at all it was my Dad When I called her back she said that Dad had fallen out of his wheelchair (they're not quite sure how .. Mum wasn't in the room ... but she thinks a mat got caught in the spokes .. the mat is now in the bin.) Dad's legs are only for show these days so he couldn't get up .. and he's not little so Mum couldn't get him up either. Two neighbours thankfully came and got him upright again (so humiliating for poor Dad) and then they pressed his panic button which is the wrong way around of doing things but still .. I know that most people with panic buttons would rather suffer in silence than press it (thinking they will be carted off because they can't look after themselves or something.) The people that came out were very good and dressed some cuts that Dad has to his head Oh .. poor Dad .. his muscles give him so much pain anyway and now he will be feeling awful ... and he has a bad cold too bother and blast!! Mum has a dreadful cold and can hardly speak. I just want to wrap them up in cotton wool and keep them warm and snug until Spring.

Thanks ladies ... it is a positive mountain I was supposed to be going to my sister's this evening to see in the New Year and stay over etc but my brother-in-law was rushed into hospital this afternoon with terrible stomach pains .. very worrying .. my niece did text later to say that he has some sort of blockage and they are going to investigate with a camera etc but in the meantime morphine has made him more comfortable. Also my mum fell over today and is feeling very sore I am counting all of this as 2013 .. and good riddance to it I didn't like it from the start Anyhow ... bit disorganised here as had nothing in for tea (though .. it's Christmas .. the fridge is still packed) and at a loose end obviously so just had a couple of huge glasses of Buck's Fizz and finished one of my Christmas books .. Danny Baker's Going to Sea in a Sieve .. very good and just the sort of raucous stuff to be reading on New Year's Eve. Happy New Year everyone and all the best for 2014

Happy Reading in 2014 Sari! I'm very glad you're open for business now as this is one of my very favourite places to be on the whole of the internet and I've been pacing up and down outside You're bound to read all sorts of fantastic books .. and I'll be wanting them all .. but I'll just have to get some willpower from somewhere Have already bagged myself a comfy chair and am hoping for a Karelian pie Wishing you all the best in 2014 my lovely xx

What an absolutely beautiful cushion and just right for your chair ... well done Mum Happy New Year Janet! xx

Your TBR looks at least as long as mine (and very similar) so I'm less chastened than I was .. however you have tempered yours with a very small wishlist which shows a responsible attitude towards getting the job done Happy Reading in 2014 KM I must put in a good word for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell .. it'll be on TV hopefully this year so good time to start reading it .. on the other hand there's no hurry to read Carter Beats the Devil

The very best of luck for 2014 Claire I hope by the end of it you will have read some fantastically awesome books .. and have a very nice quilt for cosying up with I hope to be tramping about the English countryside too .. literarily speaking .. so I expect we will cross paths at some point. We will definitely cross paths in actuality and I'm already looking forward to our next meet-up

I do like your categories .. 'Duffer of the Year' There are bound to be duffers in 2014 ... it's all part and parcel of being a reader but I hope you have as few as possible Happy Reading Willoyd!

Well it is pretty listastic in here I don't feel quite so bad about my own plans now Happy Reading in 2014 Steve! I think you did marvellously well last year to get your TBR down to under 50 .. even for 24 hours It's best not to set targets .. the only time I didn't was the only time I read more than the previous year. Be aimless .. that's the key

Great thread as always Steve Glad the 'Applecrumbles' came out tops (in their genre) .. I bought them for Alan and will be borrowing them of course Very encouraging news about East of Eden .. that's on my list for 2014 .. with about 300 others I haven't bought any Jules Verne's though so phew!! Bring Up the Bodies was awesome indeed Looking forward already to your 2014 thread .. and the reading of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell which is bound to take place at some point Happy Reading!

Poppyshake's 2014 thread is now open for business .. welcome one and all Please feel free to come in and make yourself comfy .. there are drinks and nibbles on the side. I am raising a glass to you all as I type (which is a skill in itself ) to wish you all the best in 2014 and Happy Reading of course. May all your reads be tolerable at the very least I'm already getting excited about the absolutely brilliant books I'm bound to read in 2014 I didn't set any goals this year (2013) but did rather better than last year so will carry on in the same style with hopefully the same results. My house is probably at groaning point now with regard to books so I need to think of other ways of acquiring them. I'm still not at home with my Kindle (well I am obviously .. but .. you know .. we're not best friends ) but that might change .. however .. I need to re-acquaint myself with the library and use their reservation services etc as much as possible .. especially if I'm to crack on with the county challenge. Will probably have to pluck my eyes out to stop myself from being attracted to all the nice covers .. it's just not possible to own every one ... it's very hard on the rest of you but I will be wishing to see only ugly books this year When writing up my books TBR in 2013 I came to the figure of 130 .. since doing an 'infantry' (a howler of epic proportions but it was a mammoth task so not wholly inaccurate ) I realised that the figure is much nearer to 250 It would be entirely reasonable for my husband to confiscate my purse and lock me in the attic (where most of the TBR's are) until I have at least got the figure down below 100 .. thank God he relies on me to make his sandwiches for work. Anyway .. this wasn't supposed to be generalised waffling ... I've left a space for that. I'll just add (without emoticons .. I've emoted enough apparently) Happy New Year! xx Don't be strangers ... please make a nuisance of yourself here as I will certainly be doing the same in your thread.

No .. I haven't seen that one .. will look it up for sure .. thanks Hayley

Yes .. very noisy and ridiculously over the top .. I thought the first one was more subtle. This had more than a whiff of 'we know it's popular .. let's bang out some more' I haven't seen Monsters University but loved Monsters Inc