Ooshie

I found most of the book a straightforward and enjoyable read, and it made me cry at the end which I wasn't expecting *sniff*. But I wasn't joking when I said it had lots of long poems in it - several pages long, many of them - and it also had quite a long section with letters written between two Victorian poets. I have to admit that I did find these bits very hard going, and I think that when I reread this book in the future I will probably miss them out! I am full of admiration for A S Byatt for having created the poems and letters, and the different voices she successfully gave each poet, but to me the poems in particular didn't add anything to the story and just made me long for them to end as I dutifully read through them!

There was a message behind Tommyknockers? Even now you have told me that, I still can't guess what it is!!!

Finished Possession. What a lovely book. I will get on with reading Alice now.

There are 4 kilo buckets? :eek2: I should be thinking myself lucky it was just 1.5 kilo ones I ordered then! I haven't tried it yet, I really hope I do like it! And for a bad gym day, frankie - that sounds really good Well done Lexiepiper, that's fantastic, what a nice surprise you must have got when you stood on the scales! I've been getting myself in the mood ready to start on Monday and am feeling quite positive about it. The reason I'm not even trying to start over the weekend is that I want my strawberries and cream to eat while I'm watching the Wimbledon tennis finals; what an excuse, eh? I haven't been bad this week, though, except for the whole tennis/strawberries/cream thing.

Eek! More poems! Possession has big, long poems in it, too - well, by the end of the week I should definitely know if I can cope with poetry or not! We are definitely going to have to give matters careful thought before we decide to abandon our boat completely; it has given us many years of faithful service and deserves that much consideration

Me too, I have deliberately avoided reading Alice over the years. Good to know you are enjoying it! I am not going to finish Possession before I start Alice - I am going for a lovely long bath now, and need a paperback to read while I am relaxing! (Sorry, Possession, I promise I will read more of you later tonight )

I'm a bit apprehensive about it myself, I'm not very good at reading poetry, but I'm kind of looking forward to it at the same time as taking myself out of my comfort zone and trying something different. If that makes sense! Like you, I will have to read Alice first, though - and I'm trying hard to finish Possession before starting Alice (only about 150 pages to go!)

I never actually saw it, but I think it was an American soap opera in the sixties.

Peyton Place is one I have been looking forward to reading, frankie, I'm pleased to hear it's so good! I am still reading Possession. It hasn't killed my reading mojo, far from it, I'm really enjoying it, but it's not always convenient for me to read a hardback so it's taking me ages to get through it!

Yes, I think that could well be the case - I hadn't carried my thought process far enough to have though of that! I feel that when you are dealing with/responsible for/loving a child yourself, you realise that you make mistakes which affect that child even though you are doing the best you can at the time, which allows you to see episodes in your own childhood in a different light. I think that could well have been the case with Smilla.

Why do I never understand what's going on?

Very well done, Talisman! frankie, I'm tired just reading about your exercise, I'm really impressed! My vitamins/minerals have started arriving - along with the chocolate flavoured whey protein shake mix I had ordered. I had no idea what size of container of mix I had ordered (although I did think it was a bit expensive). It is massive! It will do me for months if I only have one a day! And I had bought two... Oh, well, this change in eating habits is meant to be a long term thing!

Why would you not want to know?

Women in Love

Salley Vickers

Out of the Silent Planet - C S Lewis

Morning Has Broken - Cat Stevens

Hugs...

I'm so glad you enjoyed Smilla, pontalba, I was feeling guilty for single-handedly killing everyone's reading mojo by suggesting it in the first place!

Like Kylie, the only one I have read is Brave New World, and I did enjoy it very much.

That's all I took from it, too! Messages are truly wasted on me.

2. How do you feel about a male author writing from the point of view of a woman? How successful was Peter H�eg in portraying the inner life of his heroine, Smilla? I very rarely even remember the sex of an author when I am reading their book, so that doesn't bother me at all. I thought he was very successful in portraying Smilla, who I hugely enjoyed as a character - everyone is different, and there is no "right way" or "wrong way" to portray the way a particular female character thinks or behaves. Not all women are emotionally literate or think or express themselves in anything like the same way. 3. Is Smilla devoid of feelings or is she merely hiding them? What are the causes of her antisocial behavior? I felt that Smilla was good at dissociating herself from her feelings when they would have got in the way of the actions she needed to take. And her unconventional behaviour regarding society would have been due in a great part to the trauma she suffered when she was removed from Greenland after her mother's death. Regarding her use of expensive clothes and make-up, I was surprised the first time I read this, but then felt that it was the exterior she put on to face the world she was living in and to help her be a part of it when she needed to. 4. Discuss Smilla's relationship with her father. What are the causes of the rift between them? Do you feel he deserves the poor treatment he receives from Smilla? Is there some degree of reconciliation between them in the course of the novel? When reading the book, I did feel that Smilla was too harsh on her father. But many people, particularly (I think) when they haven't had children themselves, find it hard to forgive a parent for mistakes they made and failings they had/have. I do think it would be uncomfortable not to feel loved for yourself, but just because you were the only remaining part of their loved one. There was some reconciliation between them, I felt, particularly when Smilla's father chose to help her after she had been betrayed by his girlfriend. That showed where his loyalties truly lay.