Brida

Yay for this thread. I love it when Jane says (in the first episode) : ''He irks me. He's irkesome.'' Simon Baker is a great actor, why in God's name he played in Sex and death 101 will remain a mistery to me...

Snatch Dirty dancing The Piano Four weddings and a funeral (I know,I know...) Out of Africa The horse whisperer Juno ^^Some of the movies I enjoy(ed) watching.There's more I can't think of at the moment.

I haven't found a thread about her yet, so I thought I'd start one. Unfortunately,I've only read two books by her so far, couldn't find more, but I'm working on changing that Ok, so the two I've read are ''The song reader'' and ''Once upon a day''. Here's a short text about both of them (from her website) : 1.The Song reader: ''Leeann's older sister Mary Beth has a gift. She is a "song reader." She doesn't read palms or tarot cards; she reads people's secrets and desires from the songs they can't get out of their minds. But as Leeann soon learns, every gift has its price.'' 2.Once upon a day: ''A famous man disappears from L.A., taking his two children to a rocky, desolate corner of New Mexico where he raises them in complete isolation in a utopian "Sanctuary." He is trying to protect his children from a dangerous world--and from the truth of the terrible day that unraveled all their lives.'' I know, doesn't sound as fascinating as you (possibly) were expecting. But I've enjoyed both of them. They're easy to read, emotional too, but in a realistic kind of way. Not the whinning kind. Even though that didn't happen to you, nor were you in such a situation, you can still feel compassion for the characters. That's at least what I felt, of course, others could disagree. Anyway, anyone read it? Or something else by the same author? (Or should I just give more info about the subject? ) Please feel free to share your thoughts here

Thank you all I'll be sure to do that, vodkafan. Btw, I see you're reading Sophie's world - that reminded me of my high school philosophy teacher (),she always said we unexperienced philosophers should read it to get the hang of philosophy. Still haven't gotten around to it,though... Anyway,see you all around

Thank you both I'm sure I'll have a great time here.

Hello.I've been toying with the idea of joining the forum for a while now,I thought I'd just lurk due to lack of time to post,but yesterday I though - ah,what the hell,I'll find time I think it'll be good to keep me busy and I'll get more work,and more reading done that way. As you might have noticed,I'm a Paulo Coelho fan,I also enjoyed reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel,Lisa Tucker's The song reader and Once upon a day to name a few. Anyway,I'm looking forward to reading and posting and getting new reading tips Bbye.

^^That sounds great!!I wish we had that. I use libraries almost regularly.Well,less frequent now that I'm at uni,but still frequent.I always find something interesting,but I hate it during the summer when you can keep the books for 2 months (because of the holidays) so most of the time only the lame ones/the ones I've already read are left.But still,if I'm quick enough,I get the good ones

^^Thanks,I'm sure I will. (And thanks for the chat,I'm always nervous when I start posting somewhere new )

I usually stay in bookshops for about half an hour,but mostly because I'm always on my way somewhere else when I happen to pop into one.And because I visit them often But when I go with the intent of buying a book,I just get what I want and get out,cos otherwise...I could end up without any money. Most of the time when I'm in bookshops I read the text on the back of the book,flip through a few pages and if I like it,I write down the title (quite handy those cellphones,aren't they),and I get them from the library.If I *really* like the book,I buy it straight away.

Really?Well,I was kinda affraid of that,cos of the searching-for-the-lost-mother-and- sister-thing where he uhm ''likes'' random women,and then thinks ''oh could that be my sister?I better stop being pervy''. Ah that Haruki

So true.And it's actually true for Coelho's work in general. I'm one of those who love the book,and it's for most of the reasons the author of the thread/review stated as negative. I love the simplicity of it,I don't think the more complicated the message is,the better - on the contrary (in this case). In my opinion,Coelho left out all the unnecessary details (yes,I'm not saying description is bad or unnecessary,nor are details such as names,age etc,I mean,were it not important,what the hell would Proust do ) - unnecessary for him to get the message out.Also,for some strange reason,I enjoyed not knowing what year it was set in,it seemed to make the point timeless. Like most of his books,it was very picturesque to me.I could picture everything,and it was vivid enough. Yes the characters too are very,umm,how shall I put it,very 1D instead of 3D lol,simple if anything,but once again,I didn't mind. All of the things I've mentioned are things I would probably appreciate in other writers books (details,deep and complex characters etc),but in PC's case,I enjoy the opposite. The alchemist has all the characteristics of a typical PC novel (all the above^^ plus some more),but what I'd also like to point out - it's also one of his earliest works.So,he got even better with time

This is one of the books forming a huge pile on my desk,waiting to be read.And being a Paulo fan of course I'm looking forward to it,but I have to say I wasn't very amused with the subject he wrote about here,and reading the previous comment,well,that just scares me even more :/ But I'm still hoping Paulo will surprise me as always

^^Actually,I agree with everything you've said here. I think it's semi-autobiographic,about his college days (if I remember correctly),so yeah,how can you leave out the sex xD But I think it just seemed too annoying to me,constantly reading something happening-SS-something else happening-SS...They seemed boring compared to the other things he wrote about,so it didn't seem to fit in for me.But that's just me Kafka seems much better than NW,so I guess I'm gonna like it

Oh how I love this book.I have to admit it did take me a while to get through the boat part of the book,but I got me thinking sooo many times.About life,and will,and hope,and religion and faith...God.My favourite part though is the one where learns about the Church,Christ,the ''pedestrian God'' part it's so simple,and human like and so honest it made me laugh and want to cry at the same time. And the ending,I think I've read it 2 times just to see whether I got it right.It is a fantastic ending,isn't it.And painful,which ever version you choose to believe.

Glad to see other people enjoying Paulo's work And I'm also glad because you've mentioned it being well written,because most people who diss him say how his style of writing is very simple,and make it sound like a bad thing.Well,we all have different tastes What I also liked about Brida was how,like most of Paulo's books,it's a bit like a fairytale,but still realistic.Realistic characters wanting to live in a specific,almost fairy tale-like world.Ok,I'm getting too emotional here,lol,so I'll stop now

I'm currently reading Kafka on the shore,and so far I like it.Very much.I think it'll turn out to be a great book,but I'll just wait until I've finished it before I make that statement official As far as Norwegian wood goes,I've read it some time ago,and I remember I didn't have a very good feeling about it before reading it, because Murakami just seemed to be so..Dunno.In I guess.Overblown or sth.But when I read it,it changed my opinion a bit,because the book was well written (of course,keep in mind I've read a translated version,not the original,so this statement is a bit silly,but you know what I mean),easy to read,and it seemed honest.What annoyed me was the sex scenes,they seemed unnecessary most of the time.But I've noticed the sex motif in his other books so...Guess he's just a teeny guy in an grown man's body Anyway,it seems to me that Norwegian wood is not one of his best books,but seems to be one of the most popular for whatever reason.