KimmyS

Ok so I tried very hard to like the series but I simply cannot share all your enthusiasm. Now I am so grateful I never succumbed and ordered the full DVD set from the U.S. when it became first available. I detest that many characters are written totally opposite to what they were like in the book. So Eric or not, I will not continue to waste my time on the series. I think I much rather read the books all over again

I started on "From Doon With Death" today - have ordered "last Exit to Brooklyn" and put "The Defense" on my wishlist. I can't get over the fact how excited I can get about some books published in 1964...I feel a right saddo

Pleasure

yah, thanks for making me feel ANCIENT. My first ever record owned/bought was: "When" and yep, I still own that 7" (not that I have the according record player anymore, mind)

Queen Mary 2 - a compilation

yeah!!! I couldn't have put it better myself!

Well, I put "The Book of Common Dread" to bed for the time being..somehow it just does not grab me. I had to re-read the first ten pages over and over and over again, yet I found the music on my iPod more interesting in the end...not a good sign So I started on Ruth Rendall "From Doon with Death" now. here's hoping for more interest

Yep yep yep - don't want to sound like your cheerleader but I 100% agree with what you are saying. Hanna strikes me as the kind of person who KNEW what she was getting herself into, but somehow it appears to me to Schlink changed his mind half way through, trying to "fish" for a reason why she did what she did. Let's face it - in all aspects of life we will come across people who will do something "just because". They do not worry about the why's and what's, they just get on with it and some "grow" a conscience because they feel it is the "right" thing to do. I am sorry but if you work in a Concentration Camp you KNOW what is going on. Maybe, just maybe Hanna (or rather Schlink) tried to convince herself that she was not all bad by "choosing" the Reader's to make their last months more bearable... Anyhow, I ramble - To tell you the truth, I enjoy the discussions about the book more than the book itself

I sure hope so. Last night I watched the second episode and again - was not convinvced. I just totally dislike the Tara/LaFayette storyline. Remind me, WHY do we need tara to pull the race card every five seconds? I don't find the scenes flow at all full stop and the more sexual scenes are rather embarrassing (not for me mind...but I am embarrassed for the actors as it looks sooooooooo soul-less) Dunno, I am deeply disappointed so far I give it a few more episodes but I doubt I will become a fan. I much prefer to re-read teh books

See, this is where the book really started to get on my nerves - if in doubt, just make one of the main characters be part in one way or the other of the Nazi Regime...so much easier to dislike them immediately, or find excuses for why someone did what they did. It did not matter to me what her past was, it would not change my sympathy or dislike for her. As I stated before I changed my mind about her the minute she lashed out at Michael. Whatever her reasons, I do not find violence acceptable.

Ok, so after waiting for sooooooooooooooooooooo long for the series to hit C4 I am not quite sure what to make of it. I knew of course that there was some artistic license going on (like Tara in the bar...I really do NOT like her character as it is nothing like Tara in the book) but the one thing that really irked me was how Anna played Sookie. I HATE t he way she is swooshing her head around and that jerky motion. At first I thought it was to underline the fact that everyone sees Sookie as weird anyway and that why she is enforcing the jerky head movements. But watching sookie with her Grandma, she is doing the same thing....if that carries on throughout the series I am gonna flip

Thank you for that. Only a couple of days did I choose this book from my "Books published in your birthyear" list. So now I am definitely getting this one first

Yeah, I can totally see what you mean and I would agree with it Bless, you know I was only joking...right?

I feel like the sad little loser here - I am only going to see the first episode of the first series tomorrow night on 4 Finally!

oh oh oh oh - that is on my wishlist....so far you would recommend it then? I have just started Kelly Armstrong - Bitten. Up to page 59 and I like it

Exactly - and I believe that I would have had more sympathy for her if she just held her hands up and said "yup, I did that knowingly". I also think that Schlink tried to get more sympathy for her character when he described her in court at standing up for herself when she believed she was done an injust but agreeing to things she did do, no matter how bad. (Actually that is a very German thing to do, arguing the point when you feel you are in the right and I should know, I am German... so don't you start arguing with me ) Definitely confused but I am not too sure about the simplifying...maybe more (dare I say it) political correct? He cannot be seen as someone who would get his readers to actually feel sympathy for a camp guard? So maybe he is trying to 'swing both ways' (steady now, I couldn't find a better choice of words to say what I mean...)

Yes, thinking about it - there was an instance when I thought this too. When were told that after hanna learned reading, she was in particular interested in anything regarding Concentration Camps, etc. I had the impression that we were steered into thinking that Hanna did not know what she was doing but in reading about it, she felt remorse. At least that is the impression that I got from it and I wholeheartedly disagree - just because she couldn't read or write does not make he a dumb person. She knew what she was doing and I doubt she felt remorse - shame maybe, but not remorse. And I also don't buy the "she chose the Reader's to make their last moments in the camp more bearable". I know that this is what Michael would like to think as he does not want to believe that she could have knowingly become a guard in the camp. But his thought is subtly repeated throughout the book so I guess Schlink wants us to feel the same way, have sympathy with Hanna.

WOOOOHOOOOOO!!! I love me some Prieval. Funny thing is I never got into the first series. The other half watched it and I was like "ah ****...another dino show". And then one day I sat and watched one episode and found it really great. Since then I was hooked and I cannot wait for it to come back. I wonder how they are getting back though...the last cliffhanger was pretty much 'end of'

Ok so I finished the second book and now I quickly need to get my hands on the third one. Like the series a lot so far but I am a bit irked that the books seem so short...It only takes me two days to finish them

Good question. Generally when a book doesn't "speak" to me first time around, chances are it will fail to do so next time. I did it twice though that I picked up a book again which I didn't finish the first time around and I kinda liked it next time,

Trust me, it can - which is why I gave up on them. My bag is HUGE and I generally rumble around in it lots during the day, getting bits in and out and nothing stays in the bag the way I initially put it in But I really like Ned's idea with the post it note - I can't believe I never thought of that! I shall do this from now on and see how I go with that. Thanks for the tip!

Well, I had high hopes for the book when I read the synopsis but I could only bring myself to give this 1/5. I would have preferred to give it 0/5 but remembered that there were a few ickle bits that I actually didn't mind too much. I cannot even tell you why I don't like it but it just didn't grip me - under normal circumstances I would have not read this to the end but felt I should give it a try, it may get better in the end. When it came to the "big revelation", the deeper secret and it turned out to be the illiteracy, all I could think was "is that it?" Of course, for someone being impaired by not being able to read and write it is a very big deal, but I had hopes for something more sinister I suppose I could not warm to any of the characters as much as I tried. In the beginning I think Hannah was the one I could have liked best but when she hit Michael I went totally off her. Michael is a character I disliked from the beginning - I found him to be selfish and weak. Most of the time it appeared to me that he was happy to have Hanna and their relationship as a scapegoat to blame for everything that had happened to him/with his life. If a woman was not good enough for him it was because of Hannah and her memories. Everything was because something reminded him of Hannah.... One thing I did like in the book was the paragraph (I think in the first book?) when Michael questions that when we find out that something is not as we thought it was, all of a sudden the happiness we felt before is erased. I actually like that train of thought. But yeah, that is all I took from the book to be worth reading. Sorry - I wish I could have liked it better but in the end I found myself skimming the pages as I just wanted it to be over with

What a superb idea - I need some incentives to start on some other books and widen my horizon. 1964 is my year In my true shallow style I have chosen some books by the sound of the title (hey, if it works for the horse racing...) Edgar Rice Burroughs - Tarzan and the Madman H. P. Lovecraft - At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels Hubert Selby Jr. - Last Exit to Brooklyn Ruth Rendell - From Doon With Death Vladimir Nabokov - The Defense I actually really like the synopsis of the Nabokov book - marked all of the above on my Amazon wishlist for now

Glad to see that there are others who enjoy this series too. Well so far I only read the first one but the second arrived yesterday on my doorstep, so I quickly have to finish "The Testament" and then I can start...

He looks very nice, but IMHO he is waaaaaaaaay to young. Terry is a Vietnam Vet and would certainly be much older than this delightful chap