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chaliepud

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    Your Book Activity - November 2013

    in General Book Discussions

    Posted

    I started reading Eowyn Ivey - The Snow Child, so far it's pretty good. The pacing's a bit slow perhaps but I'm enjoying reading about the characters and their life. It's a great wintery read.

     

    I thoroughly enjoyed The Snow Child, not great if you like exciting reads but it was wonderfully atmospheric and a great book to read in the winter! I hope you enjoy it too. :)

    Chaliepud's 2013 Reading Log

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    I also have Alone In Berlin on my TBR pile, i'm sure Steve has read it & really enjoyed it, so look forward to hearing your thoughts on it  :smile:

     

    I love listening to Woman's Hour, i didn't know there was a book about it though. How nice of you to think of your M-I-L  :D

     

    I haven't read any Elisabeth Taylor either but i like the sound of Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont , i checked it out on the website & my local library has a copy due back in January, i guess i can wait that long  :P

     

    I am very fortunate and have a lovely M-I-L, in fact I think I like her more than my Steve does, she is very chatty and has lots and lots of interests so can be a little ear bendy  :giggle: but I like it and find her very interesting. :)  I'm hoping she will like the Women's Hour book as she has been listening to the programmes for probably almost as many years as it has been going! She may have read it already of course.

     

    It's strange how Elizabeth Taylor has kept below the radar for this long.. Maybe if we all like her we should shout her name from the rooftops? Of course we would have to make it clear exactly which Elizabeth Taylor we are referring too!  :giggle2:

    Poppyshake's Reading Year 2013

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    mrspalfrey.jpg

    Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor

     

    Waterstone's Synopsis: On a rainy Sunday in January, the recently widowed Mrs Palfrey arrives at the Claremont Hotel where she will spend her remaining days. Her fellow residents are magnificently eccentric and endlessly curious, living off crumbs of affection and snippets of gossip. Together, upper lips stiffened, they fight off their twin enemies: boredom and the Grim Reaper. Then one day Mrs Palfrey strikes up an unexpected friendship with Ludo, a handsome young writer, and learns that even the old can fall in love.

     

    Review: This was quite a bittersweet read, it was gently amusing (and occasionally hilarious) but the overall feeling was one of sadness. Now she's no longer able to live alone, Mrs Palfrey has moved to the Claremont Hotel. She's in great hopes that her grandson Desmond, who works at the British museum, will visit and the rest of the residents have come to expect it too but weeks and weeks pass and he doesn't show. It's on one of her nightly walks that she slips and is helped up and seen home by Ludo, a struggling young writer. The two instantly become friends and it helps put a bit of sparkle back into Mrs Palfrey's life.

    She invites him to dinner at the Claremont and he comes, the other residents presume it's Desmond and Mrs Palfrey enjoys playing along .. at last she's competing .. and Ludo too once he's been put in the picture. But Ludo has relationship problems of his own which preoccupy him and he sees his visits to Mrs Palfrey as something akin to research for a novel he's planning. Bittersweet as I said, these are people hanging on to the edge of life .. their pleasures are often overridden by their pains and disappointments .. consequently they're petty and apt to be resentful and querulous. It's quite a sobering thought to think that this is where we're all heading .. IF we are lucky.

    So kick up your shins .. while you still can smiley-dance001.gif 4/5

     

    I received this yesterday as a gift from a friend, along with two other Elizabeth Taylor books so I'm glad to see you rated this one so well as she is not an author I am familiar with.  Fingers crossed I like it too! :)

    Thanks to Sari for pointing me in your direction for a review.  :friends3:

    Chaliepud's 2013 Reading Log

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    Thanks for the tip! :D I have to have treats for the others, too, though, so they won't think I'm favoring Obi. That wouldn't be fair at all! :no::)

    Of course, the first rule for doggy friends! :)

     

    :D Well she does have beautiful hair, it's very long and thick and shiny, so I'm not surprised :yes:

     

    She does indeed, I have no idea how Steve and I achieved that!  :giggle:

     

    Alone in Berlin has gotten great reviews on here, I hope you enjoy the book :)

     

    I think I remember Ian recommending it, and possibly others too and I am rather keen on books set in this period so fingers crossed I like it! :)

     

    Oooh! :D I hope you enjoy the book :)

     

    I hope so! :)

     

    Poppyshake read Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont recently (or at least she reviewed it relatively recently) and it sounds good, and I believe she liked it :) Can't wait to see how you like these books! :)

     

    Ooh, I shall have to have a look for that! Thanks Sari!  :friends3:

    Frankie reads 2013

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    I wanna know what it is, too, but .... I wanna be a good girl!!

     

    :D It also said 'do not bend'... What if it was a typo and Santa had meant to write 'do not open until Christmas' :o

     

    I can say, with great certainty that you MUST open it when you return home. You will be very disappointed if not.. I may have insider knowledge of this. ;):)

    Chaliepud's 2013 Reading Log

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    Sari, Obi is a fan of any food so anything you choose would be fine, obviously meaty things are always a favourite but the meatier the treat the faster the drool will flow!  :giggle2:  Not with Jojo, she is too ladylike to drool.  :angel_not:

     

    I thought I could imagine Maddie asking for a motorbike but then I remembered the hair, she would never participate in something that would give her helmet hair voluntarily!  :P She was horrified at the school ski meeting on Wednesday when they said the kids MUST wear helmets, her first thought was her hair!!  :giggle2:

     

    Despite my best efforts I am now 6 books better off after yesterday.  It was my youngest sons Christmas Fair and they have a second hand book room where I picked up - 

     

    Alone In Berlin - Hans Fallada

    and

    Woman's Hour: Celebrating 60 Years of Women's Lives - John Murray (I bought this more for my M-I-L)

     

    I also received Newes from the Dead (Mary Hooper) from the lovely Claire, thank you Claire! :friends3:  Kay and Janet have already enjoyed it so I am highly optimistic I will too.  :smile:  :readingtwo:

     

    From another friend (a Cattle Dog friend on Facebook who also loves books) I received three Elizabeth Taylor books -

     

    A View of the Harbour

    Angel

    Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont

     

    She isn't an author I've come across but the reviews for her books look favourable on Amazon so will give them a go. 

     

    :smile:  :readingtwo:  :smile: 

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