Brida

Yesterday I bought - Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami - Sophie's World by Jostein Gaardner - Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer - Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey and am particularly excited about the latter 2, because it was an impulse buy - they seemed interesting and I can't wait to get around to them!

Yes, you can come here and comment, discuss etc., and also as we've done - write your own review if you like Will you be joining us, Eliza? If you'd like to suggest something else, feel free, we still haven't decided officially what the next read will be.

Here's a few of my favourites... Emily Dickinson - Because I Could Not Stop For Death Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality. We slowly drove, he knew no haste, And I had put away My labor, and my leisure too, For his civility. We passed the school, where children strove At recess, in the ring; We passed the fields of gazing grain, We passed the setting sun. Or rather, he passed us; The dews grew quivering and chill, For only gossamer my gown, My tippet only tulle. We paused before a house that seemed A swelling of the ground; The roof was scarcely visible, The cornice but a mound. Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each Feels shorter than the day I first surmised the horses' heads Were toward eternity. William Blake - The Fly (Yes, you might laugh at this one, but I really really *love* it ) Little Fly, Thy summer's play My thoughtless hand Has brushed away. Am not I A fly like thee? Or art not thou A man like me? For I dance And drink, and sing, Till some blind hand Shall brush my wing. If thought is life And strength and breath And the want Of thought is death; Then am I A happy fly, If I live, Or if I die.

Thanks Ooshie! I'm just about to start it The Sea, The Sea sounds good to me, but I'm affraid I won't be able to get around to it before December. Should we make the next book a December/January read? Or do we need more time due to holiday activities

Why thank you I'm affraid not, peacefield... Although one of my friends was all hyped about James Franco, and the other one hates him, which resulted in little fights during the Franco scenes - God, he's ugly... - What did you just say?!!! Breakin' seems hilarious, never heard of it before though

Thank you, poppy! You should definitely give those two a try, they're very enjoyable, and Le Testament is one of the loveliest books I've ever read. Actually, I was just thinking about it yesterday, and decided I need to reread it soon Thanks Chrissy, I hope you'll like it!

That is such a good movie!!! One of my faves too Hmm, what did I watch...Eat, pray, love...Except for the scenery and the endless food scenes...There's also some praying

REVIEW *The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje* Synopsis: The final curtain is closing on the Second World War, and Hana, a nurse, stays behind in an abandoned Italian villa to tend to her only remaining patient. Rescued by Bedouins from a burning plane, he is English, anonymous, damaged beyond recognition and haunted by his memories of passion and betrayal. The only clue Hana has to his past is the one thing he clung on to through the fire - a copy of The Histories by Herodotus, covered with hand-written notes describing a painful and ultimately tragic love affair. I read this as part of the MBP challenge, plus I haven't seen the film yet, so I thought it would be good to see what makes it such a great story. The story progresses very smoothly, new characters are introduced, and there are little details revealed about them through short episodes from their past. That way the reader gets to know the character, retrospectively. First we meet them one by one in the villa, and in each following chapter, there are stories describing some event from the past, giving out information which explains how they are connected. Although it's written, I'd say, very generally, meaning it's literally like a story being narrated, objectively if you will, I didn't feel ''separated'' from the characters. The impression it left on me was as if one of the characters was telling the story themself. Other things I liked – the relationship(s) between the characters. They became like some weird family, drawn together by their scars. I say family, because they're all of a different age, and thanks to that they seemed to help eachother grow (up) and accept...life as it was at the time, I guess. And I love how I still have a picture of the villa based on the description in my mind. Not much detail, but enough to get your imagination going Basically, I'd say this is a story about love Worth the read!

Hello everyone, it's been a while... I'm very glad to hear the challenge has been helpfull, I hope you'll (we'll) enjoy the following books too! This book is certainly different from what I thought it would be, the writing style and the whole ''composition'' of the story (the way things were revealed in the story, if you know what I mean lol) is interesting. I liked it, and hope to write a review soon I've got The Remains of the Day from the library (it was looking at me from the shelf, I couldn't help it ), I'm hoping to start it soon. So, got any ideas on what to read next, for December/January lets say? And if there's anyone who'd like to join in, feel free! Happy reading guys.

Hi, how's everyone doing? Just wanted to update the thread since the winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2010 was announced Here's the link The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson Synopsis : He should have seen it coming. His life had been one mishap after another. So he should have been prepared for this one...' - Julian Treslove, a professionally unspectacular former BBC radio producer, and Sam Finkler, a popular Jewish philosopher, writer and television personality, are old school friends. Despite a prickly relationship and very different lives, they've never quite lost touch with each other - or with their former teacher, Libor Sevcik, a Czech always more concerned with the wider world than with exam results. Now, both Libor and Finkler are recently widowed, and with Treslove, his chequered and unsuccessful record with women rendering him an honorary third widower, they dine at Libor's grand, central London apartment. It's a sweetly painful evening of reminiscence in which all three remove themselves to a time before they had loved and lost; a time before they had fathered children, before the devastation of separations, before they had prized anything greatly enough to fear the loss of it. Better, perhaps, to go through life without knowing happiness at all because that way you have less to mourn? Treslove finds he has tears enough for the unbearable sadness of both his friends' losses. And it's that very evening, at exactly 11:30 pm, as Treslove, walking home, hesitates a moment outside the window of the oldest violin dealer in the country, that he is attacked. And after this, his whole sense of who and what he is will slowly and ineluctably change. "The Finkler Question" is a scorching story of friendship and loss, exclusion and belonging, and of the wisdom and humanity of maturity. Funny, furious, unflinching, this extraordinary novel shows one of our finest writers at his brilliant best.

I see you're currently reading Kafka on the Shore. That's one of my fave books this year (and ever, probably ), I hope you'll enjoy it! And though I haven't read these 2 books you're planning on reading (The Great Gatsby and One-Hit Wonder), I enjoyed other books by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Lisa Jewell (her's was a pleasant surprise), so I think you're gonna have fun with those too. Happy reading!

REVIEW *The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel* Synopsis : This memorable debut, originally published in 1993, was hailed for its power and elegance on both sides of the Atlantic. Ranging from the last hours of a condemned man, to the imaginary life of an AIDS patient, to the first performance of a bizarre new symphony, these tales are moving and thought-provoking, as inventive in form as they are timeless in content. They display the startling mix of dazzle and depth that have made Martel an international phenomenon. This is a book of four short stories, told in the first person. That makes them very intimate, and drags you into the story. They're all simple, but very beautiful in my opinion. There's one thing I noticed while reading Life of Pi, and I've noticed it here as well. The love. I know it sounds cheesy, but yes - love. I'll concentrate on the first story ''The Facts Behind...''. The narrator's love for Paul (the AIDS patient, but more importantly his best friend) is incredible. I don't quite know how he creates it, but it seems so real, and so painful. Hell, I loved them both! As I've mentioned, I felt like I was dragged into the story - as if I were one of the characters, living through all of the mess together with them. The first story and the last one (''The Vita Aeterna Mirror Company: Mirrors to Last till Kingdom Come'') are my favourites. Also - love in the last one The stories are a bit weird, so it made me think - what was this really about? But at least it made me think about it, which means it was good. It's an enjoyable read, an easy read despite dealing with serious subjects, but certainly a good read for people who like Yann Martel's work ''I like walking dogs. It gives purpose to aimlessness.''

Now you've made me realise I can't remeber the way the movie ends Nice review Kate. This is (along with A Long Way Down) my favourite Hornby book. The others I've read are ok, but I didn't find them particularly 'special' , but these two (About A Boy especially) are really good (I liked the humour).

The same thing Elin mentioned happens to me. If there's something bothering me and I can't relax, I can't get into the book even if it's a book I like. I think the short stories idea is good, and also rereading something you like. I've had mojo problems this summer, but they're gone now Now, the problem is lack of time. But I think I might even be getting more reading done now, then during the holidays. Anyway, good luck to everyone with problematic mojos, they'll be back! Hang in there peeps

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths

Never Seen The Light Of Day - Mando Diao

Finished Tender is the Night yesterday, and started The English Patient today. Also, went to the library and got 4 other books I probably won't have time to finish, but hey...can't refuse good books, now can you

Never Let Me Down Again - DM

I've used the Routledge Colloquial Russian book and I quite like it. The concept is good, there's a text at the begining, there's grammar notes, a list of new words in every unit/lesson, questions, writting and speaking excercises, and it comes with CDs And I see on their website that they have textbooks for both German and French. Hope it helps. Good luck with the studying

Hello Tumper, see you around the forum.

REVIEW *Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald* Synopsis: Between the First World War and the Wall Street Crash, the French Riviera was the stylish place for wealthy Americans to visit. Among the most fashionable are the Divers, Dick and Nicole who hold court at their villa. Into their circle comes Rosemary Hoyt, a film star, who is instantly attracted to them, but understands little of the dark secrets and hidden corruption that hold them together. As Dick draws closer to Rosemary, he fractures the delicate structure of his marriage and sets both Nicole and himself on to a dangerous path where only the strongest can survive. In this exquisite, lyrical novel, Fitzgerald has poured much of the essence of his own life; he has also depicted the age of materialism, shattered idealism and broken dreams. ''In the Spring of 1917, when Doctor Richard Diver first arrived in Zurich, he was twenty-six years old, a fine age for a man, indeed the very acme of bachelorhood. Even in wartime days it was a fine age for Dick, who was already too valuable, too much of a capital investment, to be shot off in a gun. '' And that is how I knew I was going to like this book . I just love Fitzgerald's narration, I can imagine an old black and white movie with the narration in the background...There's always a touch of irony and/or sarcasm detected in his writing. He's also very observant; in describing an event (e.g. a fight) he'll sometimes interrupt it with a description of something that's happening simultaniously at the same place , without making it annoying (you know, not like ''...and they were fighting. Suddenly XY started yelling. But at the same moment there was a dog licking his tail. His furr was black with a white spot on top of his head. This is of no importance to the storyline but I'm still writing about it because I can...'' ). Anyway, why I liked this very much is because of the fact that it's realistic. Just because we're focused on what's going on with us at a certain moment doesn't mean the rest of the world has stopped existing, we've just stopped noticing. Another good example of the irony I've mentioned above : ''Tommy Barban was a ruler, Tommy was a hero (...) As a rule, he [Tommy] drank little; courage was his game and his companions were always a little afraid of him. Recently an eight of the area of his skull had been removed by a Warsaw surgeon and was knitting under his hair, and the weakest person in the cafe could have killed him with a flip of a knotted napkin. '' The story is good imo, I mean equally good from begining to end, so if you like the begining you'll like the whole thing. All of the characters are very interesting, far from ideal and far from perfect and likeable, but again, it's just the thing that makes them interesting to read about. The whole story is actually pretty ironic, especially considering the way it ends. I recommend it to anyone who likes to read about people and their odd personalities, or likes analyzing...Not just people, anything really

Yay so happy to see Life of Pi mentioned I love that book! And I plan to read Atonement and Never Let Me Go...sometime lol. They seem excellent.

Great,then it's settled. Since this is our first try at this, and we all have other books to read for October too, lets make it an October/November read. In case other things get in the way and we won't have time to read and stuff like that, the ''goal'' is to finish it by the end of November We'll probably finish it sooner but lets just see how it goes If you like, you can come here and discuss the book while you read or when you're finished... I'm probably not going to get it before next week, so I guess I'll start reading it sometime at the begining of October. Happy reading guys

Have we decided on one book? I've decided to vote for The English Patient (I would vote for The Remains of the Day, but I see that pontalba didn't mention it as part of her TBR pile, so I don't want to complicate things). Tomorrow is D day. Decision day

William Dietrich