Hanananah

Hey guys, was just wondering if anyone had read Welcome to the Working Week by Paul Vlitos? I found it a truly hilarious book which was quick and easy to read. It's set out in email form and there is no storytelling outside of the emails. Great fun to read and so so so funny! Here are my thoughts on it (as well as other books): http://hanananahsboo...aul-vlitos.html and the Amazon link for those who don't know of it: http://www.amazon.co...k/dp/0752885111 Any thoughts on the book would be good, or if anyone's read any other Paul Vlitos I would like to know what you thoughts as I am considering reading some of his other stuff

Hey guys, just put up my thoughts of Welcome to the Working Week by Paul Vlitos, hope you enjoy http://hanananahsbookjournal.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/welcome-to-working-week-by-paul-vlitos.html

Cool, we did more or less the same thing then What did you think of The Great Gatsby, I just wrote a bit about it on a thread on here (in the classics section I think it was), I absolutely loved it! I did Macbeth too, I had already done it in previous years but I found it so interesting studying it at a higher level. We also did 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (not one of my favourites but I can appriciate it nonetheless). We did a play called All My Sons by Arthur Miller, I think it was about war profiteering which was interesting to look at. I remember reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time but I was rather young when I read it so I definitely need to read it again, I do remember enjoying it a lot though. Frankenstein was on our list of background reading as was Dorian Gray, so I'll have to give that a read (about 2 or 3 years too late though ). You mentioned Jekyll and Hyde earlier, I have access to that at the moment and is on my TBR list so no doubt there will be a blog about that soon About what you said about The Picture of Dorian Gray being relevent today with criminals and political figures and I totally agree, it's disgusting when you think about it. I also have celebrities and just terribly vain, for use of a better word 'plastics' in mind too, maybe they should all give The Picture of Dorian Gray a read

I've read this book a couple of times, kinda had to for A-Level English Lit but my god was it worth it. My teacher had told us it was his favourite book of all time and now it is one of mine. I can see why some people couldn't get into it and to be fair it did take me a few chapters. In answer to the original question, the way Gatsby is described, is somewhat magical. I remember when Nick first sees Gatsby, he's standing in the dark with a kinda mystical feel about him. Also at many of his parties no-one really knows who Gatsby is presents more mystery to Nick and the reader. Later through the book we are lead to question 'is Gatsby really great?' what makes him great? Then we have to remember that the story is told through the narrative of Nick, therefore we must assume that Nick admires Gatsby which becomes more and more apparent as the story goes on, especially at the very end. Not sure if that's the type of answer you were looking for but the actual book The Great Gatsby is great, I think, because it is fantastically written and totally encapsulates the time period with all the glitz and glamour as well as the dark undercurrent of the 1920s

I would definitely give it a read, despite being written in 1890 I feel it is still relevent today. It took me a while to read and really get into but once I did, I couldn't put it down

Oh wow! I really wasn't expecting this sort of feedback! I was kinda expecting everyone to tell me I've got it wrong and I didn't understand it at all or disagree strongly with my thoughts or something I do agree with what you said about it being a book that everyone can benefit from. Even though it being written in 1890 I feel it still has a lot of relevence to people today (as I said in my thoughts) I realised it whilst I was writing this up (a lot of what I write it off the top of my head) Dorian's vanity is the same as the vanity many people show today, it's just expressed in different forms now. You mentioned doing A-Level English Lit (I did too!) what books did you study for that? Would be nice to compare and such

Despite being a massive Harry Potter fan, I must say, I'm not overly excited about this. Looking over the Harry Potter series again and having extensive conversations about it with a wide range of people, I've decided rather harshly that Rowling isn't a fantastic writer. I feel very mean saying this as I adored the Harry Potter series as a child but I'm not fussed about The Casual Vacancy enough to physically buy it, I am curious, yes but I think I'm going to wait and see what is said about it and how it is received before investing. :/

Taken from my blog - My thoughts on The Picture of Dorian Gray : This book is one of the classics and like most of the classics I’ve read it took me a long time to read. Maybe it’s because of the heavy influence on setting and character description that it takes me a while to get my head round it. I started reading The Picture of Dorian Gray in around January as I remember it was on the recommended reading list for my English Literature A-Level. Unfortunately, at the time I never really found the time to read anything that wasn’t completely necessary. Written in 1890 The Picture of Dorian Gray tell the story of a beautiful young man who is part of the well-off society of the time who is fully taken with the new idea of hedonism which is introduced to him by Lord Henry Wotton. Lord Henry speaks to Dorian telling him that he is beautiful and should live his life to suit him. Dorian’s friend and well known painter Basil Hallward finds great pleasure in painting portraits of Dorian and soon becomes infatuated. One particular piece is painted, which is where the book begins, which is seen as absolutely astounding by all three men. The portrait captures Dorian’s beauty magnificently and Dorian wishes for the portrait to grow old instead of him. Little did he know that his wish had come true. Due to the influence of Lord Henry, Dorian begins to live his life to please himself with his own beauty being the centre of his life. He meets lowly young actress, Sybil Vane becomes besotted and proposes to her. Dorian, so taken with Sybil’s talent, invites Lord Henry and Basil to accompany him to one of her shows. However Sybil had fallen so deeply in love with her ‘Prince Charming’ her talent had faded which angered Dorian as her beauty, which was her acting had gone and no longer had interest in her. He returns home and notices the portrait had changed and realises that the sins he commits are reflected onto the portrait rather than him.Over the next years Dorian experiments with many vices and committing many sins, with his portrait becoming uglier over time. Eventually Dorian’s conscience catches up with him and he begins to realise the damage he’s done by looking at the terrifying portrait. He decides that a confession is what is needed to repent. However this isn’t enough so he takes a knife and stabs the portrait, killing himself. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a fascinating one; it concentrates so much on how beauty and aesthetics are important in life. It is often mentions throughout the book how beautiful Dorian is, or how certain objects or scenes are beautiful. There is also constant talk of ‘falling in love’. I specifically remember Dorian saying ‘I haven’t fallen in love in at least a week’. The concept of love then (or at least to the higher members of society) is very different to the ones we hold today. I often translated characters ‘falling in love’ as just them being fascinated or admiring someone or something rather than the affection and feelings we associate love with today. The novel also highlights the difficulties of leading a dual life. Dorian lives his life being a socialite attending various well-to-do people’s houses for dinners and luncheons as well as attending events; on the other hand his life is full of hedonism, vanity and criminality which are shown through the degradation and his detest for the portrait. It is very apparent that Dorian is heavily influenced by Lord Henry’s hedonistic ideals, this is picked up upon by Basil, who is distraught at the thought of Dorian’s dark descent into vanity. Dorian had served as a muse to Basil’s work and deems his portrait of him as his best work and is mortified when Dorian shows him what the portrait has become. Basil confesses his attraction and fascination with Gray, who then almost mercilessly murders him, adding more deformity to the portrait. The character of Basil is by far my favourite as he doesn’t seem to be influenced by vanity and hedonism as much as Dorian and Lord Henry have. However, Dorian, unable to take responsibility for his terrible actions blames Basil and his portrait for what he has become and even blames the knife he used to kill Basil as responsible for the murder. Basil also represents the homosexual undercurrent of the book. As previously mentioned, Basil is infatuated with Gray and revels in his beauty. The Picture of Dorian Gray was used against Wilde in court for him being a homosexual which at that time was definitely an offence which he spent time imprisoned for. Even though The Picture of Dorian Gray took me a very long time to read, I truly enjoyed it. Reading the slow dark decent of Dorian is upsetting and something I feel is still apparent today, many people are easily influenced into behaviours which are immoral sometimes never escape from them. This leads me to question if Dorian ever really repented for his sins and if we feel a sense of catharsis in his death. Personally I think not, Dorian was simply driven insane by the ugliness of his portrait and couldn’t bear to see himself in that way but due to the hedonistic state of mind he was in I highly doubt that he felt truly apologetic for the crimes he had committed. These are just my thoughts and ramblings really rather than a critical review.

My thoughts on The Picture of Dorian Gray: This book is one of the classics and like most of the classics I’ve read it took me a long time to read. Maybe it’s because of the heavy influence on setting and character description that it takes me a while to get my head round it. I started reading The Picture of Dorian Gray in around January as I remember it was on the recommended reading list for my English Literature A-Level. Unfortunately, at the time I never really found the time to read anything that wasn’t completely necessary. Written in 1890 The Picture of Dorian Gray tell the story of a beautiful young man who is part of the well-off society of the time who is fully taken with the new idea of hedonism which is introduced to him by Lord Henry Wotton. Lord Henry speaks to Dorian telling him that he is beautiful and should live his life to suit him. Dorian’s friend and well known painter Basil Hallward finds great pleasure in painting portraits of Dorian and soon becomes infatuated. One particular piece is painted, which is where the book begins, which is seen as absolutely astounding by all three men. The portrait captures Dorian’s beauty magnificently and Dorian wishes for the portrait to grow old instead of him. Little did he know that his wish had come true. Due to the influence of Lord Henry, Dorian begins to live his life to please himself with his own beauty being the centre of his life. He meets lowly young actress, Sybil Vane becomes besotted and proposes to her. Dorian, so taken with Sybil’s talent, invites Lord Henry and Basil to accompany him to one of her shows. However Sybil had fallen so deeply in love with her ‘Prince Charming’ her talent had faded which angered Dorian as her beauty, which was her acting had gone and no longer had interest in her. He returns home and notices the portrait had changed and realises that the sins he commits are reflected onto the portrait rather than him.Over the next years Dorian experiments with many vices and committing many sins, with his portrait becoming uglier over time. Eventually Dorian’s conscience catches up with him and he begins to realise the damage he’s done by looking at the terrifying portrait. He decides that a confession is what is needed to repent. However this isn’t enough so he takes a knife and stabs the portrait, killing himself. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a fascinating one; it concentrates so much on how beauty and aesthetics are important in life. It is often mentions throughout the book how beautiful Dorian is, or how certain objects or scenes are beautiful. There is also constant talk of ‘falling in love’. I specifically remember Dorian saying ‘I haven’t fallen in love in at least a week’. The concept of love then (or at least to the higher members of society) is very different to the ones we hold today. I often translated characters ‘falling in love’ as just them being fascinated or admiring someone or something rather than the affection and feelings we associate love with today. The novel also highlights the difficulties of leading a dual life. Dorian lives his life being a socialite attending various well-to-do people’s houses for dinners and luncheons as well as attending events; on the other hand his life is full of hedonism, vanity and criminality which are shown through the degradation and his detest for the portrait. It is very apparent that Dorian is heavily influenced by Lord Henry’s hedonistic ideals, this is picked up upon by Basil, who is distraught at the thought of Dorian’s dark descent into vanity. Dorian had served as a muse to Basil’s work and deems his portrait of him as his best work and is mortified when Dorian shows him what the portrait has become. Basil confesses his attraction and fascination with Gray, who then almost mercilessly murders him, adding more deformity to the portrait. The character of Basil is by far my favourite as he doesn’t seem to be influenced by vanity and hedonism as much as Dorian and Lord Henry have. However, Dorian, unable to take responsibility for his terrible actions blames Basil and his portrait for what he has become and even blames the knife he used to kill Basil as responsible for the murder. Basil also represents the homosexual undercurrent of the book. As previously mentioned, Basil is infatuated with Gray and revels in his beauty. The Picture of Dorian Gray was used against Wilde in court for him being a homosexual which at that time was definitely an offence which he spent time imprisoned for. Even though The Picture of Dorian Gray took me a very long time to read, I truly enjoyed it. Reading the slow dark decent of Dorian is upsetting and something I feel is still apparent today, many people are easily influenced into behaviours which are immoral sometimes never escape from them. This leads me to question if Dorian ever really repented for his sins and if we feel a sense of catharsis in his death. Personally I think not, Dorian was simply driven insane by the ugliness of his portrait and couldn’t bear to see himself in that way but due to the hedonistic state of mind he was in I highly doubt that he felt truly apologetic for the crimes he had committed. These are just my thoughts and ramblings really rather than a critical review or something. Any thoughts or discussion would be appriciated

I read pretty much anything really, it's hard to find a specfic genre I would say I like the most. I took English Literature for A Level are really enjoyed it, we read, The Great Gatsby, Dracula, MacBeth, King Lear, Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit, The Bloody Chamber, there were others I read around those such as Atonement. I enjoyed all of these Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit possibly the least but I think that was more to do with a limited understanding of the religious culture of the time period the book was set in. Dorian Gray was on the background reading list but I never got round to reading it at the time. I have recently finished it despite starting it around January I greatly enjoyed it and will hopefully be writing a post about it tonight. I need to get hold of the next two Millennium books as I enjoyed the first so much. The first was very hard hitting but it was written so well it didn't make me feel needlessly uncomfortable. I didn't think I'd enjoy Stephen King but Carrie was so well written it took me by surprise! I will have to read some of his other stuff to determine if I like him as a writer or I just enjoyed the story and concept of Carrie too much. I just happened to come across Sidney Sheldon the other day and am in the last thrid in the second day of reading it. I enjoy the writing style and am thinking of picking up some others.

Watched this the other day, loved it. I'm a big fan of the first three films and Reunion is a massive fan service film but that's okay for me. I got what I expected, predictable humour, references to the first three films and just lots of stupid, easy to watch fun.

Only just started watching this as friend recommended it to me and I must say I absolutely love it. I'm only a few episodes in but it is fantastic, love the evil queen, well I should say I love to hate her I remember reading somewhere that series 2 is going to start in september, I assume that's in the US, does anybody know about the UK release yet?

I absolutely loved this film! My boyfriend and I went to see near the time it came out and we were both absolutely stunned and upset that it had ended. I have a massive soft spot for superhero films as it is and this was just like Heaven to me. The mixture of action and comedy was spot on and the acting was suberb. I also enjoyed how all the other Marvel fims in the lead up to the Avengers fitted in nicely. Really looking forward to the next one as well as Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 I also think, unfortunately, that it's going to be better than The Hobbit which is coming out later this year.

Oh right, I see, thanks for letting me know Currently I am reading Morning, Noon and Night by Sidney Sheldon but I do have a few more posts to put up on my blog (and on here of course) including, The Picture of Dorian Grey, Welcome to the Working Week, and Stephen King's Carrie. Pontalba, have you read the others in the Millennium trilogy, if so what did you think of them?

Thanks pontalba I'm still debating on if I should bother reading the next two but if I can get them cheap I suppose I probably will as the first took me no time to read at all. I think my main problem with the inner goddess thing was that they were used far too much, pretty much every page as I remember which I just found annoying as, for me, they didn't add anything. However that's just my opinion, I'm glad you have been enjoying them

I recently finished the first book. Despite the poor writing, it's repetitiveness and being unable to relate to the main character, I some how still managed to enjoy the book. It was a really quick read for me. However I'm unsure if I should bother reading the next two, I think they'll just be the same as the first. I wrote about it in my blog here: it give a more detailed look at my thoughts on the book.

I agree with what a few people are saying about it being a slow start but I would say to keep going with it, I really enjoyed it. I haven't read the other two yet but I certainly plan to. I wrote a bit about it in my blog.

Hey guys, bit new to the site but I've recently started up a little blog on the books I've read recently and will continue to update it as I read more books over the summer and hopefully after that. There's only a couple of posts on there at the moment but I do intend to update at least weekly as I go through books fairly quickly. So any thoughts on the books I've read or the blog itself would be much appriciated http://hanananahsboo...al.blogspot.com Thanks xx