vodkafan

Yes it is Janet, the last one of my Genre Challenge. It is not like I expected though, I expected it to be like a comic strip but it is instead a story made up very cleverly of collaged words and sentences from 1960's women's magazines- like a ransom note kind of thing. It is also the funniest thing I have EVER read so far in my life.

I finished Android Karenina. Will review it saturday. Now reading Woman's World by Graham Rawle.

Cross Of Iron Hi Kylie if you liked Bridesmaids I recommend Friends With Kids by the same director.

Looks interesting Anisia.

Wow good reviews Brian. Glad you enjoyed 1984.

I read this one too. The only Maggie O Farrell I have read. It was interesting.

That's true Brian. I have looked at some of my old reviews and sometimes thought, "did I really think that?" and my opinion has softened. But many I have remembered in a rush what I disliked or liked about them and still feel the same.

Yes, the first year on here I did 51. I was aiming for one a week. But I just naturally got quicker since, or found more time to read, or something. But I never push it, if I don't feel like reading then I just don't.

Bashing on with Android Karenina. It is very funny, better than P & P with Zombies. A thick book though not easy to hide at work!

Yeah definitely a boy book that one Julie, I liked the sound of it. Going on my wishlist.

I too enjoy that mystical surreal quality in a book Poppyshake, like there is an inner truth (like in a painting, not every detail has to be true to life to show truth) but having read Jeanette Winterson and Ali Smith, who do this so much better, it felt a bit lacking here....but hopefully Jakobsen will get a lot better at this.

That dog kind of looks like a fox!

The Summer Tree (Fionovar Book 1) Guy Gavril Kay I would call this book High Fantasy as it has Dwarves, and races that approximate almost exactly Orcs and Elves, although they are not called that, and an Ancient Evil that has been imprisoned for a thousand years but then gets released and needs everybody to band together to defeat it and a lot of Magic and strange Words Of Power , magic dagger etc. etc ...not normally my thing at all. But what is a bit different is that the five main characters are actually transported from our own time on Earth at the the beginning of the book to this parallel fantasy world, so it's a bit like The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe meets Lord Of The Rings . Some of the happenings did come over as very cheesy and a bit tired and over used. So why did I keep reading? Well, one thing GGK is good at is creating quite interesting characters with believable motivations; you can't help wanting to know how things are going to turn out for them. Each of the five has a different path to follow and reason for being there, and at the beginning there are interesting tensions within the group. There are also characters added to the story once in Fionovar itself so now at the end of the first book there are about 15 principal characters to follow. I quite like Jaelle the High Priestess. Quite brutal stuff happens to the five, which is also refreshing, and I have to say it is not looking good for Jennifer right now.

79 completed. 2 more that I MUST read for the Genre Challenge, then 2 more that I have already started so will probably finish. One of those I will likely finish tonight.

Or possibly made into several pies.

1- Who was your favourite character and who was your least favourite? Mama was my favourite, if only because she seemed more normal than all the other adults. The priest seemed fairly useless for any purpose so he is my least favourite. 2- Was there a particular part you enjoyed more than the rest? Description of the island 3- This is Mette Jakobsen's debut novel .. would you read her again? She is Danish, which is near Norway, so maybe. 4- Were there any parts/ideas you struggled with? The basic plot seemed to lack believability for me. All the adults had gone there to get away from things. They did not talk or act as normal people do and because of that it was hard to think of them as real. The idea of the circus performance was a ridiculous thing to do. 5- Do you enjoy books narrated by children and did you find Minou believable? I don't mind books narrated by children but it is hard for a writer to pull it off. Minou seemed incredibly naive to me for a twelve year old, which was partly understandable because she had only known four adults all her life. I let that go, it wasn't the worse thing about the novel. 6- The narrative is quite sparse and the characters few, did you find it easy to engage in the story? Sadly the story did not engage me at al.l 7- What did you make of the theme of logical thinking (Papa) versus imagination (Mama) which played a part in Minou's struggle to come to terms with the loss of her Mama? Yes, that was a little bit interesting but it did not develop enough. As a champion of logic Papa was not exactly a good example anyway. He was obviously only using logic as a crutch to deal with stuff anyway. He was a very limited person. He talked to the dead boy more than he did his daughter. 8- The dead boy, why do you think the author put him in the story? I think he was supposed to be a catalyst to get everybody to change. It didn't work for me. 9- Did you approve of the ending? No there were no real answers there. I sort of knew that Boxman would be involved but we still don't know if she jumped off the cliff deliberately (if so why?) or it was an accident. 10- Overall was reading the book an enjoyable experience? I am ambivalent about it. 11- Would you recommend the book and if so to whom? Amazon sent me two copies by mistake so I gave one to my daughter before I started reading. But I would not recommend it no. I can't see why it got shortlisted for a prize.

Just finished the December reading circle book, The Vanishing Act by Mette Jakobsen, will review it on the reading circle thread.

Relieved to be reading the last couple of books of my Genre Challenge. Somehow have got myself into the position of reading 4 books at once though; Fionovar book 1 The Vanishing Act Berlin the downfall 1945 Android Karenina

It's back on track

Going to start this tonight will be back ASAP!

Oh no the Fionavar book has suddenly gone a bit pear shaped; there is a King Of The Dwarves

I read 20 pages of the first Fionovar book and it is pulling me in so far. For some reason the writing reminds me of AE Van Vogt and the plot reminds me of the film "This Island Earth" ! I read GGK's article on the link you gave thanks Karsa. Most interesting.

Has anybody else seen this film? It is one of my favourites. Charmer really liked it when I watched it with her. But nobody else I know has even heard of it. I love the character of Cameron the artist....it is also so interesting to see Jennifer Ehlles as a complete bitch when she is forever imprinted as Elizabeth Bennet in my mind.

Yeah, but that's the thing what frightens me. If I read Tigana and don't like it or just think it is so-so it will be two strikes down and I won't read the trilogy.....Oh lordy the stress. Oh bugger I'm just going to read 10 pages of the first book in the trilogy now sitting in bed that can't hurt...can it?

Kids are coming but not sure whether all or which ones. Don't know whether to make Chilli with rice or Spaghetti Bolognese...I bought ingredients for both