vodkafan

Hi Jo haha everybody is going to give you their favourite fantasy authors so why should I be any less partizan? Personally I hated what I read of Tolkein. My favorite fantasy author is Jack Vance, check out The Lyonesse Trilogy. Here is a wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyonesse_Trilogy You can stop before the plot summary if you don't want to know anything about the actual stories.

Hi Ninthword, one of the books on your read list made me sit up straight. King Of The Golden River I had a very old copy of this book bound in gold leaf when I was a very young kid, profusely illustrated. It was probably a Victorian edition. I used to tag along with my mother to jumble sales and she would give me a few pennies to let me go off on my own. I bought the book only because I had never seen gold leaf before. I didn't remember the title or who wrote it until I read it on your list. I kept the book for years but sadly lost it about 20 years ago. Thanks for the reminder.

"May his name be lost between cushions" I simply HAVE to read a book that has that line in it. Thanks Ooshie. Added to my wishlist.

Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson I enjoyed this far more than the first book. It did irritate me a little at the beginning with Blomkvist seeming to have sex with every woman he meets, and we are forever being told how great he is in bed. And if it was not Blomkvist having sex it was Salander instead. However it soon got passed all that and the plot hotted up quickly. I found that this second book was simply a much better story. There is a lot more of Salander in it, which is what you want. But also towards the end I found that Blomkvist became a lot more real to me too-his actions were always consistent, he seems to have definite character traits. Another interesting thing was:

That does sound a very cool lightweight read Weave I will add that to my wishlist. I sometimes have wished I was a teenager then in the 60's, I was decade too late as I was born in 61, and the mid-late 70's were pretty depressing as I remember. Thanks

I suppose it will depend if the mystery at the centre of the plot grabs your attention or not. It's not a hard book to read I would say, compared to some.

> .< > .< Wow! How many town/cities did you two hit? You must have had carfuls of books. You two are crazy I can imagine you now in the car laughing like loons with your loot like a literary Thelma and Louise.

Well, I didn't want to go into too much detail. Slavery in the south was not a uniform experience all over. Plantation slaves were very hard worked and could not get away with much, they were basically worked to death. Domestic slaves were treated better and were sometimes allowed to marry. There were also small communities of free blacks who stayed around because others in their family were still in bondage. But ALL slaves of both sexes , and "coloured" people in general were completely open to sexual abuse and other kinds of abuse from white people. All forms of coercion, violence and emotional blackmail were used. Slaves were given promises to ensure good behaviour which were often broken. Children could be taken away at any time and sold. To be female and attractive was a special curse and burden. But some slave women took white lovers willingly and had children which were sometimes given legal status and set free by their white fathers. That is the part that surprised me. But slavery shamed everybody, white and black alike. There was no escape. White wives of slave owners were often jealous of female slaves and treated them more cruelly than the men. If you are interested in the human condition frankie you really should read this book. Maybe Kylie can still get it for you?

I just think that humans are capable of anything. There are no limits to how loving and altruistic a human can be, but the other side of the coin is that there are no limits to how low and hateful and twisted someone can get either. It is a strong theory that serial killers and psychopaths are a product of the industrial revolution , living in cities etc; I read that somewhere. I could read about that side of it, the why? Maybe you have read more frankie?

Review: Haven by Justin Kemppainen This was either free or a few pence to download on my kindle from Amazon. I am sorry, but I have to say that this was not very good. It is set in the near future. The plot seemed to be a mismash of elements from zombie films Day Of The Dead and Land Of The Dead plus a good bit of Escape from New York I could have forgiven that, but the dialogue was just so bad and unrealistic it became painful. Later on this got worse and was compounded by the actions and motivations of some of the characters which just did not make any sense. There was also a changeling alien creature who's provenance or purpose in being there was never properly explained. The plot became descriptions of people getting shot and killed in various ways-that's not scifi. And to cap it all the ending was rubbish. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK!!

Review: Haven by Justin Kemppainen This was either free or a few pence to download on my kindle from Amazon. I am sorry, but I have to say that this was not very good. It is set in the near future. The plot seemed to be a mismash of elements from zombie films Day Of The Dead and Land Of The Dead plus a good bit of Escape from New York I could have forgiven that, but the dialogue was just so bad and unrealistic it became painful. Later on this got worse and was compounded by the actions and motivations of some of the characters which just did not make any sense. There was also a changeling alien creature who's provenance or purpose in being there was never properly explained. The plot became descriptions of people getting shot and killed in various ways-that's not scifi. And to cap it all the ending was rubbish. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK!!

Review: Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl Written By Herself by Harriet Ann Jacobs This book was a free download from Amazon. First thing, which I feel I must correct, is that although it is credited to the above person, the slave in question was in fact Linda Brent and the story is completely hers; HAJ basically proof read the manuscript and tidied up the punctuation. A few white people at the end attest to the truth of her recollections and to her good character. This was a very interesting book. Nobody would of course defend slavery now, but when Linda wrote her story it was still an ongoing institution. I think it is a book everybody should read, especially teenagers who are at risk from racist propoganda from media and TV. Although it cannot be said that Linda was "lucky" during her time as a slave, she managed to avoid some of the more brutal aspects and cruelties of that existence, which she acknowledges. She notes in passing what befell other slaves. But she was still forced to endure much hardship. It made a very apt prequel to The Help which was set 110 years later . One thing I was surprised at was the amount of close interaction between slaves and owners. But the fact that blacks felt degraded and dehumanised is made clear.

Review: Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl Written By Herself by Harriet Ann Jacobs This book was a free download from Amazon. First thing, which I feel I must correct, is that although it is credited to the above person, the slave in question was in fact Linda Brent and the story is completely hers; HAJ basically proof read the manuscript and tidied up the punctuation. A few white people at the end attest to the truth of her recollections and to her good character. This was a very interesting book. Nobody would of course defend slavery now, but when Linda wrote her story it was still an ongoing institution. I think it is a book everybody should read, especially teenagers who are at risk from racist propoganda from media and TV. Although it cannot be said that Linda was "lucky" during her time as a slave, she managed to avoid some of the more brutal aspects and cruelties of that existence, which she acknowledges. She notes in passing what befell other slaves. But she was still forced to endure much hardship. It made a very apt prequel to The Help which was set 110 years later . One thing I was surprised at was the amount of close interaction between slaves and owners. But the fact that blacks felt degraded and dehumanised is made clear.

My Review (copied from my reading blog) I had no idea what it was about before I read it, my wife saw the film without me and told me that she would not watch it again, that it contained more than a bit of nasty violence against women , and she thought I would not like it. (Then she bought me the book for Christmas. Go figure ) So I could not help but have that in the back of my mind as I read it and viewed it from that perspective. I found the beginning quite intriguing, and because of the mystery that Blomkvist is engaged to investigate I would have kept on reading to the end anyway. "Practical Pig" Blomkvist I found a bit boring on his own though, and was grateful for the character of Salander, who is far more exciting, I think because she is so amoral. When I first got to the end of the book I at first thought , yeah, that it was a great book. But then I read The Help, which I found to be truly uplifting which made me lower Dragon Tattoo in my estimation. You cannot get away from the fact that the subject matter is thoroughly nasty and Salander, fascinating as she is, is a deeply flawed human being. Reading the second one now, I am hoping the story will take a different direction, but it doesn't look like it will so far.

Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson This series of books of course needs no introduction on here. Although I had no idea what it was about before I read it, my wife saw the film without me and told me that she would not watch it again, that it contained more than a bit of nasty violence against women , and she thought I would not like it. (Then she bought me the book for Christmas. Go figure ) So I could not help but have that in the back of my mind as I read it and viewed it from that perspective. I found the beginning quite intriguing, and because of the mystery that Blomkvist is engaged to investigate I would have kept on reading to the end anyway. "Practical Pig" Blomkvist I found a bit boring on his own though, and was grateful for the character of Salander, who is far more exciting, I think because she is so amoral. When I first got to the end of the book I at first thought , yeah, that it was a great book. But then I read The Help, which I found to be truly uplifting which made me lower Dragon Tattoo in my estimation. You cannot get away from the fact that the subject matter is thoroughly nasty and Salander, fascinating as she is, is a deeply flawed human being.

So weird when books go missing. Maybe someone else in the family decided to read it too?

When you put it like that it kinda sounds like a female version of Donnie Darko?

Hi Frankie, I can't wait to see what happens when you release your inner hippy ! Don't like the sound of the psychopath books though. The end of Alice sounds particularly disturbing- probably because I have a daughter called Alice.

Hi frankie, I am sure you will enjoy The Help . And yes, I have already downloaded Room but I also have Never Let Me Go and the two Steig Larsson sequels too, so I have the luxury of choice. I may read a page of each book and see which one grabs me first.

I have not yet read Jane Eyre but I read Wide Sargasso Sea by chance a couple of years back without realising it was anything to do with JE at all. I thought it was an excellent character study, not boring at all.

Hi Brida long time no speak . I think I will add those two books to my wishlist thanks

thanks kidsmum, before reading The Help I read Incidents In The Life of A Slave Girl which was a free download on the kindle. I will be reviewing that tonight.

No! I just happened to be eating a custard cream as I was reading your blog so thought I would ask.

Yes I can believe that. All my kids like Oreos although I do not. Official confirmation I am not young I guess