Vanwa

Or that bloomin' Can't Get You Outta My Head by Kylie Minogue. It's my all-time most hated song. La la la la la la la la la la la la....................etc.

@ BlackGemRoach: I may well be flayed alive for saying this, but here is my delayed response. If you like those kinds of romantic/tragic/slightly spooky novels, I would suggest Poe's Annabel Lee. It is first and foremost a short story written in the form of poetry. The passion and sensuality of the love affair it describes combined with the tragedy of a love forbidden and lost makes it spine-tinglingly delicious. @ Lukeozade: What kind of subjects do those one-off poems tackle? Is there a particular approach in poetry that elicits an emotional response? I'm wondering if those poems you do enjoy are of a more classic nature, or perhaps more modern, say Byron vs Auden, that kind of thing. And of course your tuppence counts, every voice matters @ BookJumper: *Raises eyebrow* Avril Lavigne? People don't often surprise me, but you have. There is nothing wrong with her of course, but I didn't suspect she might be your cup of tea. Are there any other dark secrets in your music folder we should be aware of?

I made a lovely broccoli and cauliflower cheese bake, which just so happens to be my favourite

You're right Katrina. There are 12. The 12th was written by someone who's name I forget, who compiled the text from Jordan's notes. However, the notes were so extensive and the story is so large that the final part of the series will be a trilogy - two more books to come. So there will be 14 in all.

Ok, now I have two options. I can pretend it was deliberate, which after much consideration doesn't seem possible. Or I can accept defeat on this one occasion, with much proofing of future posts. I vote for option 2, as it has some possibilities at least: Awwww pants. See, and you've quoted so I can't even hide it with a little edit. "Mumble, mumble, grumble, grrr..." @ BJ: Your younger self staggers me, as does your current self. Allow me to ammateurishly expand: Genius - Innate yet Undiscovered, Leaves one In Awe.

Here here BJ. @ Sirinrob. I was referring to the writer's style, themes, symbolism, emotive text and dialogue such as humour, and also components of the text such as metaphors and similes. Pretty much anything which isn't written in the "Biff through the ball for Chip. Chip chased the ball" kind of simplicity is open to interpretation and can be subjective.

I read this a few years ago. Putting aside the coarseness of some of the language it is a rather romantic yet tragic tale. Personally I enjoyed it. (note to BookJumper, if you haven't already then don't read it, I know how you feel about some of the types of scenes it contains).

BookJumper, may I just say "Oi". Can I please read some short stories and much lyrical poetry please?!

Gah, I have two... both by the same author though, so in the end it's not too painful to pick just one: Ian McEwan - Atonement. 2001. McEwan has a brilliant way of taking a fairly common situation and making it real and distressing for the reader. (And I read this prior to the screening of the film.)

If I understand your meaning correctly Sirinrob, you may be right. Poetical language is a different side to any language it is written in. Similarly the rule applies to technical jargon and other apects of languages also. Languages within languages if you will. First you must think of it in words you understand, and then develop a taste for the type of language used. Only once you understand something can you then start to appreciate it. I think it goes beyond just poetry in literature though, and can be extended to prose also. For instance, I might have a better understanding and therefore appreciation of Austen than someone else, and they might have a better understanding and appreciation for King than I.

I will just pretend I didn't see this

Ooh I like the noun BJ Not a bad guess on my part then Sirinrob eh? (And ever so slightly off-topic) However, I am vexed to learn that your Shorter is more detailed than my Concise. This was something I was looking at myself on the OUP site last night. My own edition is a little outdated (2006) and I was pondering my options for a more up to date edition in the New Year. How does one choose a sensible dictionary in this day and age? Short of buying the OED in its full glory and oh my gosh, how many volumes, I am officially stuck. Halp! By the by, in order to retain law and order, may I direct potential replies to this towards my Odds and Ends thread in General

Ooh good one SueK, forgot about that one

Indeed I think you coined it; after a quick check the Oxford doesn't have it. I would suggest singlarize, which the Oxford doesn't have either, however it does have pluralize. I personally prefer singularify though, far more ingenious.

I only have two collections of letters in my possession, but considering my love of both authors it will hardly come as a shock. Tolkien's and Austen's. Both collections make for extremely interesting reading. Unfortunately, so many letters of Tolkien's were uncovered in the making of The Letters of JRR Tolkien that they intentionally omitted any which did not have some reference to his writing, and many of these were cut to include only the passages referring to writing. It would have been nice to further read his letters to Edith, his wife, during their courtship. Mainly because I am a very nosy parker.

I find that I have a terrible non-talent for memorising literature. Besides a scene from Midsummer Night's Dream, Poe's Annabel Lee, some passages from The Silmarillion and possibly the odd other passage or two which escape my memory currently, P&P is the only lengthy piece I have committed to memory. I have reread it so many times that I can open the book at any page, read the first line on that page and recite (without further looking at the page) probably two or three paragraphs or more. I also find that I cannot watch any screenplay of P&P without correcting the dialogue to Austen's original version out loud, word for word. In particular, a certain proposal scene between Lizzie and Mr Darcy. I of course do not claim to possess any ability to recite the entire novel by heart, but certainly a decent amount of it. As for the translation of "And dwell in lovers' eyes": from school and my own later attempts in life at translation of certain phrases from English to German and vice versa, I am well aware that direct translation can be a tricky affair. However, I do not have the skill in any language to translate a phrase such as this, and so I simply sat for a while trying to think of an English alternative. Surprisingly difficult I must say. I can only conclude that with my own difficulty in putting it in an alternative way in its original language, the problematics of direct translation, and knowing all the while that the poetic tone should be kept the same, corr blimey how did you do it?!

Austen's Pride and Prejudice has a fantastic first line, and it was that line, with all of its wit which founded and propelled my addiction to Austen: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. I can think of no other books in all my reading that have captured me with the first sentence. P&P is the exception.

I actually preferred Sleath to Haunted, in my opinion the story had a far better setup and a terrifying conclusion.