vodkafan

Ripped a few from you for my wish list Willoyd thanks for the great reviews.

Hi Xander welcome. Another Sci Fi reader we can always use Have you read any Jack Vance ?

Bonzer ! Good on ya Poppy

Well I read your review Babooshka! (sorry about the italics it won't unstick for some reason) Here is mine: Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte I enjoyed this book very much. It is worthy of the epithet "classic". Although I knew a little of the story I did not realise there was so much more in it. For instance I didn't know it started off during the main characters childhood. Jane Eyre was a very likeable character, always interesting, never bland. When shown coldness and disdain she learned to rebel and hate; later when shown the example of forgiveness (by her first friend Helen Burns) she learns patience and compassion for others. She grows into a sensible young woman who nevertheless has a wild streak that yearns for freedom. I found the plot meaty and it never flagged for me. I thought Mr Rochester was a very silly man, also quite selfish and devious. He only ever saw his own wants. In a way he was a large child who had never grown up and faced his responsibilities. I almost laughed at his attempt to "explain" to Jane after his scheme was rumbled that he considered himself free to marry in his own mind . In his self delusion he was almost as mad as his wife. However, Jane's cousin St John was truly much worse. Through all her troubles Jane always acted properly and according to her principles. I didn't really understand why she did what she did at the end , she could have done much better for herself but at least it was her own choice. I might mention that I had read Wide Sargasso Sea some years beforehand. Also one thing that I found interesting was that the language had started to change a little more towards the modern when compared to Jane Austen who was writing about 1805.

Hi Xander do tell!! We love naming names here.

This is a WWII book I have just read, thought I might put my review here too as it seems pertinent. It is available on kindle A Helmet For My Pillow by Robert Leckie. This was a biographical account of a US Marine who fought through some of the big island hopping battles against the Japanese in the Pacific in WWII. It started off with his training at Parris Island . Leckie was already a writer before he joined up and there were times during the early part of the book that I wished that he wasn't; his poetic descriptions of things seemed like it was trying too hard. But then pretty soon he was shipped over to Guadalcanal for his first taste of action, and the book got much more gritty and his writer's insights seemed more profound and worthwhile. He described two things which I have never read in any war book before. The first is of the fatalism of some soldiers (if you your time is up you are going to get it regardless, so why worry) compared to the actions of others to minimise risks and finish the war in one piece. The second was the despair of realising they were considered "expendable" by higher command and what that concept meant compared to them voluntarily sacrificing themselves. Those bits alone were worth reading the book for. Guadalcanal virtually broke his health and those of the others but there was still a war on (the idea of combat stress was not yet fully understood) so his unit was reformed and sent to another island where Leckie made a name for himself as a scout attached to HQ. Throughout this time he struggled with a medical condition where he would wet himself like a child during sleep, and spent some time in a mental rehabilitation unit but eventually asked to go back to his unit. He talks about his friends in the unit, about the stupidity and petty vindictiveness of some of the officers, but he does not gloss over his own failings. He got into trouble many times for minor revolts against the discipline, once going AWOL to be with a girlfriend. His unit made full use of a rest period in Australia where he was in trouble most of the time. The final campaign he took part in was a short bloody battle at Peleliu. Reading between the lines, it is easy to see that by now he was at the end of his rope and did not have much mental or physical strength left to fight with. Shocked by the horror of watching his friends die within minutes of arrival on the Island, he was blown up by a near miss of an artillery shell and was found wandering shellshocked and unable to speak out in the open. He was medically evacuated . I have another book of experiences by the same author. I look forward to reading it.

A Helmet For My Pillow by Robert Leckie. This was a biographical account of a US Marine who fought through some of the big island hopping battles against the Japanese in the Pacific in WWII. It started off with his training at Parris Island . Leckie was already a writer before he joined up and there were times during the early part of the book that I wished that he wasn't; his poetic descriptions of things seemed like it was trying too hard. But then pretty soon he was shipped over to Guadalcanal for his first taste of action, and the book got much more gritty and his writer's insights seemed more profound and worthwhile. He described two things which I have never read in any war book before. The first is of the fatalism of some soldiers (if you your time is up you are going to get it regardless, so why worry) compared to the actions of others to minimise risks and finish the war in one piece. The second was the despair of realising they were considered "expendable" by higher command and what that concept meant compared to them voluntarily sacrificing themselves. Those bits alone were worth reading the book for. Guadalcanal virtually broke his health and those of the others but there was still a war on (the idea of combat stress was not yet fully understood) so his unit was reformed and sent to another island where Leckie made a name for himself as a scout attached to HQ. Throughout this time he struggled with a medical condition where he would wet himself like a child during sleep, and spent some time in a mental rehabilitation unit but eventually asked to go back to his unit. He talks about his friends in the unit, about the stupidity and petty vindictiveness of some of the officers, but he does not gloss over his own failings. He got into trouble many times for minor revolts against the discipline, once going AWOL to be with a girlfriend. His unit made full use of a rest period in Australia where he was in trouble most of the time. The final campaign he took part in was a short bloody battle at Peleliu. Reading between the lines, it is easy to see that by now he was at the end of his rope and did not have much mental or physical strength left to fight with. Shocked by the horror of watching his friends die within minutes of arrival on the Island, he was blown up by a near miss of an artillery shell and was found wandering shellshocked and unable to speak out in the open. He was medically evacuated . I have another book of experiences by the same author. I look forward to reading it.

I might have to soon follow you all on boycotting James Patterson. I have started one of his co-authored novels- Sail - and have been shocked mostly at how dumbed down and uninspired the vocabulary is. I was astounded to see the word "thunk" in place of "thought". Is that even a real word? I am going to have to read the whole book as it was a present from my daughter but I am fairly certain it will be my last. So popular too, who would have "thunk" it ?

Surely not with Gemma Arterton in it. That girl has the the acting ability of a housebrick. I saw an article about a British film called Fast Girls that looks very interesting. Rival/buddy type thing.

Hi, I am sure there was already a thread like this but I couldn't see it....I just wondered what authors you have read one book by which you disliked so much you know you can happily never read another by the same author as long as you live.....I have decided Stephen King is on my discard list. It's quite liberating actually

I finished Jane Eyre a few hours ago . I enjoyed it and will write the review soon just can't be bothered right this minute. Started The Catcher In The Rie. Going to try to read a lot this month.

I read Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin when I was a teenager and that helped me form the idea of the type of person I wanted to be. The Help is another good one that deals with racism and as the film is just out on DVD could be a good choice

A little bit behind on my reading. Trying to finish Jane Eyre so I can accredit it to my March total, which is looking a bit poor. I must be one of the few people who has read Wide Sargasso Sea first so I am not as enamoured of Mr Rochester as I might otherwise. He just seems to have an eye for the servants as in the prequel. Jane Eyre is only 18. The gypsy fortune teller trick shows that he can be deceitful and a bit sly.

Australia is only West if you go the long way around. Westerns are usually set in America but we forgive you 'coz you're nice

I know! It's all a bit Father Ted.

But in their view he was not facing up to his problems. It is a difficult one because I am sure their rejection was causing or at least exacerbating his isolation and depression. They had basically cut him adrift. Agreed about the uproar if a man had infiltrated a convent. Never thought about that.

Hi Poppy similar story ...I was born in Romford and we moved to Daventry when I was 7.... That was one of the new "Expanding towns" created in the 60's..it was filled up with all the overflow from London and Birmingham and (for some reason) quite a few Scots. I grew up speaking such a mish mash of accents that my parents and teachers used to despair, nobody could understand half of what I said. The "original" Daventry people had their own accent too. Later on when I moved to Rugby I came in contact with lots of Punjabi Indians (and married one of course) and picked up bits of that accent too.

Some brilliant points being brought up. I agree with them all. To me if a different name gets coined then that in itself shows a significant split. When you start off reading in any genre you lump them all together because you don't know enough. You are a Lumper. Then with continued reading you become a Splitter. The differences between Speculative Fiction, Sci-Fi, Space Opera , Urban Fantasy and Fantasy and Fairy Tales are quite real to me and I enjoy them all. Coming back to your original point Alyson, if Atwood herself wanted to call her book Speculative Fiction I guess that's fair enough I got no argument with her. Without knowing her it is hard to say whether she was being snooty about Sci-Fi or just reacting to others dismissal of the book as Sci-Fi. It is a great book to me anyway.

Onto chapter 5 when she infiltrated the monastery. This is the first factual account I have ever read of life in a monastery so I had nothing to compare it to. Also never having been a monk I found nothing much to relate to so my notes here will be short. The first part of the chapter I just thought they were a bunch of idiots. They had become monks because they could not hack it outside in the real world. The fact a couple of them were gay fitted right into my preconceptions that they were in full retreat from life and were hiding out. So I left the book alone for a week and only went back to it two days ago. To learn anything I had to ditch my earlier attitude and just try to see it through Norah/Ned's eyes. I could see that this group of men were in fact trying to do something very hard in devoting their lives to God in this way. Sexuality should become irrelevant in such a level environment so I could see why Brother Jerome (and later Brother Virgil) was there. The plight of Brother Crispin who had been shunned by the others was quite interesting. Forgiveness was their creed but they could not forgive this brother in their own circle for relying on medication. The rules were in fact quite rigid. Norah said that she experienced real spiritual growth but it was also apparent to me that her guilt at the deception was staring to grow greater at this point too. I can sort of understand the need for monks and nuns in the world but it hasn't changed my opinion that it is unnatural and we were never intended to be islands without love or touch.

No doubt you did!

If you were in Coventry Janet you were only 10 miles away from me! But I was at work saturday anyway.....did you look at the Motor museum? That is pretty good

My 15 year old daughter is seeing this tonight with friends. She has read all the books and is pretty excited. She is responsible for most of her friends having read at least the first one now too. I probably won't get to see it for another week.

OK sorry it has taken me so long to get back to the discussion. Onto the dating/love chapter, (which is 3 or 4 depending on what edition you have). I thought this was one of the better, more insightful chapters. I believe that because the author had previously dated women as a woman that gave her a much more useful perspective when it came to trying to do it as a man than if she had been a straight woman just playing at jumping the fence. What her wing man was telling her about rejection is absolutely true. We get rejected 90% of the time. I was amused that Norah was so upset by this that she only lasted ten minutes (in the bar scenario) before she had to out herself to the females she was trying to chat up. However, for us biological men there is nothing else for it but to keep trying or get used to being alone our whole lives. And don't forget that somehow or other most of us do manage to partner up with someone of the opposite sex by our mid-twenties, so it is not all doom and gloom. It is like a game really I suppose, the only game in town that matters from teenage till you are 30 .(it doesn't matter so much when you get older and have had your kids) Often you lose and sometimes you win but you have to play to get anywhere. I have never been much good at dating and I was never good looking so I got rejected a lot. But then Miracle of Miracles ! My two ex-wives both made a beeline for me so I did not have to work hard to chat them up. The only time I find rejection hurtful is when it is undeserved. For instance there have been many times when I have been talking to a woman and not trying to chat her up at all, but have been given the brush off or treated rudely. Basically the woman has had her armour up and phasers on stun. It is insulting to be dismissed and categorized when I was just trying to give her normal respect as a fellow human. Looking back this seemed to happen most when I was in the 30-42 age group and I was talking to women in their 20s. I was not what they were looking for so I didn't even warrant a modicum of respect. I can forgive it now; Biology is ruthless when you are a female with unfertilized eggs going to waste and can't find the right mate. It is always easier to talk to women of the same age and it is easier still now the pressure is off. Unlike Ruth, I was not surprised one way or the other that some of Neds dates still wanted to see her after she came out to them; I still don't understand anything about women anyway.

Is Subhas Chandra Bose mentioned much in the book Milo?

Not finding time to do any reviews lately. Am enjoying Jane Eyre very much.