Frankie reads 2013

[Karsa Orlong]

Mwahahaha, I remember it better than you

 

 

Of course, if you'd read it when I sent it to you . . .     

[frankie]

I have read Replay frankie, but sadly no review.. unless you count a mark out of 5, you probably don't!  (Which was 4 by the way, though in retrospect I think I'd raise that to a 4.5)

 

You should really get to writing them reviews... Although ... I'd rather you kept company to Jojo and doggy pack and kept posting videos

 

 

Of course, if you'd read it when I sent it to you . . .     

 

A good thing I didn't, because now I remember it better than you

 

[frankie]

Oh forgot: went to mail box (good timing, too, I saw two guys who were taking a sauna, and were out to cool off. Topless, of course ) and there were no books, but two notices saying I had a book waiting for me at the post office. Oh dear I think I might wait til Friday and see if the third parcel I'm expecting will have arrived by then, and then try and venture out to town. It was freezing

[Karsa Orlong]

A good thing I didn't, because now I remember it better than you

 

 

 

Well at least it will save me some money: no more presents for frankie

 

[frankie]

 

Well at least it will save me some money: no more presents for frankie

 

 

 

Edit: Edited away too brazen a joke

Edited October 30, 2013 by frankie

[frankie]

#62
 

Howards End Is on the Landing

by Susan Hill

 

 

Blurb:  Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, or forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year-long voyage through her books, in order to get to know her own collection again.

 

Considering everything from Macbeth through Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens and Roald Dahl, Howards End Is on the Landing charts the journey of one of the nation's most accomplished authors as she revisits the conversations, libraries and bookshelves of the past that have informed a lifetime of reading and writing.

 

 

Thoughts: I first heard about this on this forum (of course ) and I very much coveted a copy... Kylie dearly sent me one a while ago, thank you very much!
 

I love reading about books, and so I think I had rather high expectations for this one. I loved how the idea came about to Susan Hill: she'd accumulated hundreds of books she wanted to read but hadn't yet gotten round to them, loads more she wanted to re-read etc., etc., and therefore she's decided to go a whole year without buying new books or borrowing books from the library. I can relate: I could keep myself entertained, happy and busy for a 3-4 year stretch, only by resorting to my own books. The premise of the book sounded so inspirational, I thought it would serve as a self-help book to getting that TBR down to manageable numbers...
 

I did like the book, but to my surprise I don't think I liked it as so many others on here have liked it. And I'm not even sure why that is. Hill's writing and style was entertaining and readable, very approachable. She wasn't high browing and I definitely didn't mind the namedropping, either.

 

I think one reason could be that I found myself disagreeing a lot with her. There were so many instances where I thought 'nope!' and 'you're getting it wrong!' I almost felt like writing these instances down but it would've been a task... So I will give you one example only (the one which I remember): she said that she would never not read a book just out of spite for something or someone. She would always be willing to give something a try, even though she was not too keen. I find that admirable, but I also feel like I have rather broad bookish horizons as it is and that I want to reserve the right to not read something just for the hell of it, if I some day feel like it.

One other reason why I thought the book was lacking, a bit. I had been expecting to hear Hill pick up some specific book and then read it, and tell us what she thought of it! Instead she was quite regimented: the chapters were about different genres. And she might talk about how she came to pick a certain book up, but I think she mostly said she started reading it, I don't recall her ever getting back to the book itself. Like Hornby did. And yes, Hornby's book is different, it was book reviews for a magazine to begin with. But for some reason I had hoped Hill would be a bit similar, at least every now and then.

And to my surprise I didn't become curious about all the books she talked about. With Hornby I was taking down notes all the time, or at least that's what it felt like. Hill didn't manage to bring the books close to me. And it's not because she mostly read books I'd never even heard of, by authors I knew nothing about, because Hornby did that, too, and yet I added at least 15 books off his list to my wishlist.

Conclusion: I did like reading the book, no doubt. But it just wasn't as appealing as I had expected.

 

3/5

Edited October 30, 2013 by frankie

[pontalba]

#61

 

Replay

 

by Ken Grimwood

 

 

Blurb: Jeff Winston was forty-three and trapped in a tepid marriage and a dead-end job, waiting for that time when he could be truly happy, when he died.

 

And then he woke up and he was eighteen, with all his memories of the next twenty-five years intact. He could live his life again, avoiding the mistakes, making money from his knowledge of the future, seeking happiness. [Edited a bit out so as to exclude a spoiler]

 

Replay is a brilliant speculation on time and life, warm, wise and deeply satisfying.

 

 

Thoughts: I got the book as a Christmas present from Steve, thank you! Sorry it took so long for me to get to it

 

And this is actually one of the books that are on the list that Steve gave me as part of our sci-fi/fantasy vs 'normal' books reading challenge. The 2012 list, though I've still to read a book off the 2013 list!

 

I find this a hard book to review. I started reading it a few times earlier but I wasn't in the right mood, and so it wasn't until now that I picked it up again and finished. I did enjoy reading the book. I think we've all entertained the idea of getting to live certain moments of our lives again, either to experience those magical moments again or to do things differently, to make things 'right'. However, I suspect none of use have thought about how we would live it all again, if we had the chance to go back to our high school years, for example. That's a long period of time! So it was wildly interesting to see how the main character set about it. What would he do the same, what would he do differently?

 

At some point it got a bit repetitive, in my opinion, and I had already started to think if it was going to continue that way til the 'bitter' end, but then there were a few major twists I most definitely didn't see coming.

 

The first one was

 

Pamela Phillips. Another replayer No matter how convincing Jeff was when he talked about how he'd never heard of Starsea, I thought it must be just some sort of mix up... I never in my wildest dreams thought there would be another replayer. That definitely took it to another level for me as a reader, and I got freshly excited about what would happen next.

 

 

The second one was

Stuart McCowan. His story was... mind boggling And I thought okay, this is a weird turn, Antareans... I really took him at face value, and that scared me crapless when I read further and Jeff and Pamela talked about him and agreed he was just crazy. I was so embarrassed I hadn't realised that A very interesting twist, though

 

 

 

I have a few complaints about the book, though, and even though I really enjoyed the novel, it's odd how I am a lot clearer on what I

disliked about the book compared to what I liked about it. Here goes:

 

Niggle 1: 

 

Money. Money money money. I understand Jeff not wanting to repeat college again, and I even understand him wanting to bet on the horse race every single time. We all need money, we need stability. But what I didn't get was how he was at first so obsessed by it. And even during the later replays he would go and make a damn good living for himself. Bar that time when he was a farmer.

 

It made me wonder why he didn't go and venture out and go for different kinds of dream jobs of his. Had he never had any other aspirations? It never seemed to be about working for him, it was about money. At least that is my impression of him.

 

 

 

Niggle 2:

I found it odd how during his first replay he called his Mum and Dad and was really taken aback to hear them so young again. But after that we didn't really hear about them. I think his Dad never gave up smoking, so I think he at least tried to make him quit, but I would've thought that even still he would've been more in contact with him. Especially when he didn't seem to have any problems with them?

 

 

Niggle 3:

It was weird how at times he was complaining about having to relive his life, and yet he would always think 'in next replay I will do better, I will do this, I will do that'. And later on he would always want there to be a next life. It's like you can never be happy or even content, but yet you want more. I don't know if that was the point the author was making, though...

 

 

Niggle 4: I thought the epilogue was odd. Or not odd as such, but unnecessary. I didn't feel there was any need for it.

 

Niggle 5: I also realised, and I thought it was quite astonishing, that I didn't actually come to like any of the characters. Liking characters in a book I'm reading is important to me, so I found it really odd that in this one, I didn't have any favorites. I didn't take to any of them.

   

Not a niggle, but observation:

Oh and another point: the way he tried to make Linda like him at the beach was really creepy And quite honestly it made me think of Ted Bundy. I know Jeff's nothing like Ted Bundy, but he could've been in Linda's eyes. I've read a true crime book on Ted Bundy and I remember how he once kidnapped two women off a popular, crowded beach on a beautiful summer's day.

 

It made me wonder how thick Jeff really was: to think he could persuade someone to like him, insisting that they would like him if they gave him time. That he knew they would like him. Creepy!

 

 

I know that's a long list of things that bothered me, but I did really enjoy the book. And I have a feeling the book's going to stay with me for a long long time. I was very torn when I was rating it: I thought 4/5 isn't enough, but I also thought 5/5 was too much. I wish I

could've given it 4,5/5, but I don't do halves, so 4/5 it must be.

 

4/5

 

 

I forgot!

 

Who are the people who've read Replay? I know there are at least, what, 3-4 (5?) of you, but I can't remember you all If you could please holler, I'd like to go and visit your reading logs to read your reviews on the book! I don't think I fully read them all in fear of spoilers. Thank yous!

 

BEWARE, THAR BE SPOILERS BELOW.........

 

#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/11186-pontalbas-2013-reading-list/page-7  Post # 131  my review. 

Even though I rated it 5/5, I agree with some of your niggles.  But just when I was nearing the end of my tether, Pamela popped up...then the other guy.  Yowee!

 

 

I could understand his preoccupation with money, he'd had to worry about it in his first life, and didn't want to go through that again.  The drugged up lives really annoyed me, and I was happy that at least it was glossed over somewhat.

 

As far as the creepy factor with regards to Linda, well.  I agree and can see the creepiness, but I think that was just his naivety.  Also I think it showed that he really didn't know her all that well, 'cause if he'd had a real knowledge of her personality, he wouldn't have tried that approach. 

 

Re Niggle #3...I think he didn't go back to them, in a sort of a "been-there-done-that", unproductive sort of feeling.

 

Re Niggle #4...I loved, loved, loved, LOVED the epilogue!  I'd almost rate it as the best part of the book!  But I am a child of The Twilight Zone.......can you hear the music?

 

 

 

#62

 

Howards End Is on the Landing

by Susan Hill

 

 

 

 

Blurb:  Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, or forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year-long voyage through her books, in order to get to know her own collection again.

 

Considering everything from Macbeth through Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens and Roald Dahl, Howards End Is on the Landing charts the journey of one of the nation's most accomplished authors as she revisits the conversations, libraries and bookshelves of the past that have informed a lifetime of reading and writing.

 

 

Thoughts: I first heard about this on this forum (of course ) and I very much coveted a copy... Kylie dearly sent me one a while ago, thank you very much!

 

I love reading about books, and so I think I had rather high expectations for this one. I loved how the idea came about to Susan Hill: she'd accumulated hundreds of books she wanted to read but hadn't yet gotten round to them, loads more she wanted to re-read etc., etc., and therefore she's decided to go a whole year without buying new books or borrowing books from the library. I can relate: I could keep myself entertained, happy and busy for a 3-4 year stretch, only by resorting to my own books. The premise of the book sounded so inspirational, I thought it would serve as a self-help book to getting that TBR down to manageable numbers...

 

I did like the book, but to my surprise I don't think I liked it as so many others on here have liked it. And I'm not even sure why that is. Hill's writing and style was entertaining and readable, very approachable. She wasn't high browing and I definitely didn't mind the namedropping, either.

 

I think one reason could be that I found myself disagreeing a lot with her. There were so many instances where I thought 'nope!' and 'you're getting it wrong!' I almost felt like writing these instances down but it would've been a task... So I will give you one example only (the one which I remember): she said that she would never not read a book just out of spite for something or someone. She would always be willing to give something a try, even though she was not too keen. I find that admirable, but I also feel like I have rather broad bookish horizons as it is and that I want to reserve the right to not read something just for the hell of it, if I some day feel like it.

One other reason why I thought the book was lacking, a bit. I had been expecting to hear Hill pick up some specific book and then read it, and tell us what she thought of it! Instead she was quite regimented: the chapters were about different genres. And she might talk about how she came to pick a certain book up, but I think she mostly said she started reading it, I don't recall her ever getting back to the book itself. Like Hornby did. And yes, Hornby's book is different, it was book reviews for a magazine to begin with. But for some reason I had hoped Hill would be a bit similar, at least every now and then.

And to my surprise I didn't become curious about all the books she talked about. With Hornby I was taking down notes all the time, or at least that's what it felt like. Hill didn't manage to bring the books close to me. And it's not because she mostly read books I'd never even heard of, by authors I knew nothing about, because Hornby did that, too, and yet I added at least 15 books off his list to my wishlist.

Conclusion: I did like reading the book, no doubt. But it just wasn't as appealing as I had expected.

 

 

3/5

 

Husband and I were sitting in Starbucks earlier, munching.  Had car worked on this morning.  oy

Anyhow, whilst sitting in said Starbucks    having brought kindle and book, meaning ^^^^^this book, I read the first pages and turned it over to Charles and said, "Recognize anyone?".......YES!  It's a portrait of yours truly and spouse. 

More later once I've read the thing.

Haven't read the Hornby you mention.

[frankie]

I'm borrowing pontalba's mega beautiful spoiler warning

 

 

 

BEWARE, THAR BE SPOILERS BELOW.........

 

#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*

 

 

BEWARE, THAR BE SPOILERS BELOW.........

 

#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*

 

 

http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/11186-pontalbas-2013-reading-list/page-7  Post # 131  my review. 

Even though I rated it 5/5, I agree with some of your niggles.  But just when I was nearing the end of my tether, Pamela popped up...then the other guy.  Yowee!

 

Thanks for the link, I went and read your review! A great one! It's kind of scary to think how many cycles it would take myself to learn how to be happy... So maybe I was being too hard on Jeff.

 

Pamela and Stuart, huge WOW moments, right?! Amazing. Brilliant! And I never saw any of it coming.

 

 

 

I could understand his preoccupation with money, he'd had to worry about it in his first life, and didn't want to go through that again.  The drugged up lives really annoyed me, and I was happy that at least it was glossed over somewhat.

 

I could understand that

he wanted a nest egg, but after he earned his first million, didn't he at any point think enough was enough?

But that's just my personal opinion of course.

 

I wasn't happy about

the drugged up cycle, either, but in a way I did understand why he would go for it. I think he felt he needed to numb his brain out, because losing Gretchen was too much for him. And I think it was during his drugged up cycle that he did a 180 and left everything to become a farmer. So I think that was a learning curve for him, too.

 

 

 

 

As far as the creepy factor with regards to Linda, well.  I agree and can see the creepiness, but I think that was just his naivety.  Also I think it showed that he really didn't know her all that well, 'cause if he'd had a real knowledge of her personality, he wouldn't have tried that approach. 

 

I understand your point, but how

does a 50yo man get to be so naive? That's what I don't get.

 

But yes, I think that's a great point you make, that he didn't really know Linda at all. That one didn't even cross my mind before. Good point!

 

 

 

Re Niggle #4...I loved, loved, loved, LOVED the epilogue!  I'd almost rate it as the best part of the book!  But I am a child of The Twilight Zone.......can you hear the music?

 

So funny you and I had such a different reaction to the epilogue

 

Husband and I were sitting in Starbucks earlier, munching.  Had car worked on this morning.  oy

 

Sounds like the start of a good story. Munching!

 

Anyhow, whilst sitting in said Starbucks    having brought kindle and book, meaning ^^^^^this book, I read the first pages and turned it over to Charles and said, "Recognize anyone?".......YES!  It's a portrait of yours truly and spouse. 

 

Did Charles demand to see if it was truly a book by Hill or if it was something you'd written yourself

 

More later once I've read the thing.

 

Can't wait!

 

Haven't read the Hornby you mention.

 

I think so far I'm the only one who's enjoyed the Hornby book (The Complete Polysyllabic Spree) more than Howards End Is on the Landing... So I don't know if I should recommend it to you or not

[frankie]

Two things I forgot to say about Replay in my review:

 

I loved how

real events of the past were woven into the story. John F. Kennedy. The Kentucky Derby although I didn't know about it beforehand. I googled it afterwards and looked at the pics. It was wonderful finally seeing Chateaugay And then of course Stuart McCowan talking about Charles Manson and a few others. It reminded me of Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. Which I really really really need and want to re-read soon!

 

 

Also: I loved how meticulous and detailed Grimwood was.

When Jeff used the word 'condominium', and wasn't understood, he realised he'd used a word that hadn't been 'invented' at that time yet. It totally reminded me of Quantum Leap And when anything reminds me of Quantum Leap, it's a damn good thing

 

Edited October 31, 2013 by frankie

[poppyshake]

Two things I forgot to say about Replay in my review:

 

I loved how

real events of the past were woven into the story. John F. Kennedy. The Kentucky Derby although I didn't know about it beforehand. I googled it afterwards and looked at the pics. It was wonderful finally seeing Chateaugay And then of course Stuart McCowan talking about Charles Manson and a few others. It reminded me of Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. Which I really really really need and want to re-read soon!

 

 

Also: I loved how meticulous and detailed Grimwood was.

When Jeff used the word 'condominium', and wasn't understood, he realised he'd used a word that hadn't been 'invented' at that time yet. It totally reminded me of Quantum Leap And when anything reminds me of Quantum Leap, it's a damn good thing

 

Oh I intend to read it so can't hit on the spoilers   

[frankie]

Oh I intend to read it so can't hit on the spoilers   

 

Sorry for being such a spoiler pain in the behind

 

Edit: Kay, I think you can hit the second spoiler button, about Grimwood's meticulousness. It's not a plot spoiler!

Edited October 31, 2013 by frankie

[poppyshake]

The weird thing is .. and I wasn't expecting this .. the spoiler is revealed if you quote it  However I spotted this quickly and squinted so didn't see anything. Now I've read the second one and .. ooh .. that sounds like it could mess with your head  That could happen in a Thursday Next

[Athena]

I'm fighting with the quote system so going to make a few posts instead.

 

Frankie, I read Replay earlier this year, here is my review. It's not as long a review perhaps as some of my newer reviews and I didn't use spoiler tags, but I agreed with some of your comments (and disagreed with others). Below some of my thoughts:

x

At some point it got a bit repetitive, in my opinion, and I had already started to think if it was going to continue that way til the 'bitter' end, but then there were a few major twists I most definitely didn't see coming.

x

I agree!

x

The first one was

 

Pamela Phillips. Another replayer No matter how convincing Jeff was when he talked about how he'd never heard of Starsea, I thought it must be just some sort of mix up... I never in my wildest dreams thought there would be another replayer. That definitely took it to another level for me as a reader, and I got freshly excited about what would happen next.

 

 

x

 

I very much agree, I didn't see this coming at all. Loved it though, thought it made the story very interesting.

 

x

The second one was

Stuart McCowan. His story was... mind boggling And I thought okay, this is a weird turn, Antareans... I really took him at face value, and that scared me crapless when I read further and Jeff and Pamela talked about him and agreed he was just crazy. I was so embarrassed I hadn't realised that A very interesting twist, though

 

x

 

I didn't see this coming either, and at first wasn't sure what to believe. I hadn't realised that at first either! I agree, an interesting twist.

 

[Athena]

I have a few complaints about the book, though, and even though I really enjoyed the novel, it's odd how I am a lot clearer on what I

disliked about the book compared to what I liked about it. Here goes:

 

Niggle 1:

 

Money. Money money money. I understand Jeff not wanting to repeat college again, and I even understand him wanting to bet on the horse race every single time. We all need money, we need stability. But what I didn't get was how he was at first so obsessed by it. And even during the later replays he would go and make a damn good living for himself. Bar that time when he was a farmer.

 

x

 

I fully agree, I didn't really get this point either. He seemed a bit too obsessed with it at times.

 

x

Niggle 2:

I found it odd how during his first replay he called his Mum and Dad and was really taken aback to hear them so young again. But after that we didn't really hear about them. I think his Dad never gave up smoking, so I think he at least tried to make him quit, but I would've thought that even still he would've been more in contact with him. Especially when he didn't seem to have any problems with them?

 

x

 

I don't remember enough of the book to really comment on this, but I thought they could've played a bigger role in the story.

 

x

Niggle 3:

It was weird how at times he was complaining about having to relive his life, and yet he would always think 'in next replay I will do better, I will do this, I will do that'. And later on he would always want there to be a next life. It's like you can never be happy or even content, but yet you want more. I don't know if that was the point the author was making, though...

 

x

 

Personally I thought that was the point the author was making, but I'm not sure.

 

[Athena]

Niggle 4: I thought the epilogue was odd. Or not odd as such, but unnecessary. I didn't feel there was any need for it.

x

I'm with pontalba, I loved the epilogue! I can see though, it was perhaps not necessary, but I found it intruiging.

x

Niggle 5: I also realised, and I thought it was quite astonishing, that I didn't actually come to like any of the characters. Liking characters in a book I'm reading is important to me, so I found it really odd that in this one, I didn't have any favorites. I didn't take to any of them.

x

I did like some of the characters, so here we should agree to disagree.

x

Not a niggle, but observation:

Oh and another point: the way he tried to make Linda like him at the beach was really creepy And quite honestly it made me think of Ted Bundy. I know Jeff's nothing like Ted Bundy, but he could've been in Linda's eyes. I've read a true crime book on Ted Bundy and I remember how he once kidnapped two women off a popular, crowded beach on a beautiful summer's day.

 

It made me wonder how thick Jeff really was: to think he could persuade someone to like him, insisting that they would like him if they gave him time. That he knew they would like him. Creepy!

 

x

 

I agree, that was creepy of him!

 

 

I'm happy you enjoyed the book, frankie !

 

(stay tuned for more posts )

[frankie]

The weird thing is .. and I wasn't expecting this .. the spoiler is revealed if you quote it  However I spotted this quickly and squinted so didn't see anything.

 

Oh yes, I'd forgotten that that happens, it's kind of troubling!

 

Now I've read the second one and .. ooh .. that sounds like it could mess with your head  That could happen in a Thursday Next

 

Isn't it a great detail? And how likely would someone be to remember when this word and that came about. Not me!

[Athena]

I wish I could remember all the detail to discuss it properly now. Gives me an excuse for a re-read, I suppose

x

I agree! I only read it earlier this year but I also feel I don't remember certain things any more.. I think my tiredness is to blame but I'm not sure. At least it'll be fun to re-read it at some point .

x

Oh forgot: went to mail box (good timing, too, I saw two guys who were taking a sauna, and were out to cool off. Topless, of course ) and there were no books, but two notices saying I had a book waiting for me at the post office. Oh dear I think I might wait til Friday and see if the third parcel I'm expecting will have arrived by then, and then try and venture out to town. It was freezing

x

Awesome! I hope you get all of the books you're waiting for. Sorry to hear it's freezing , that's not nice at all.

[Athena]

I love reading about books, and so I think I had rather high expectations for this one. I loved how the idea came about to Susan Hill: she'd accumulated hundreds of books she wanted to read but hadn't yet gotten round to them, loads more she wanted to re-read etc., etc., and therefore she's decided to go a whole year without buying new books or borrowing books from the library. I can relate: I could keep myself entertained, happy and busy for a 3-4 year stretch, only by resorting to my own books. The premise of the book sounded so inspirational, I thought it would serve as a self-help book to getting that TBR down to manageable numbers...

x

I could do the same, and might have to in the future. Buying books is so much fun, though , for now.

x

One other reason why I thought the book was lacking, a bit. I had been expecting to hear Hill pick up some specific book and then read it, and tell us what she thought of it! Instead she was quite regimented: the chapters were about different genres. And she might talk about how she came to pick a certain book up, but I think she mostly said she started reading it, I don't recall her ever getting back to the book itself. Like Hornby did. And yes, Hornby's book is different, it was book reviews for a magazine to begin with. But for some reason I had hoped Hill would be a bit similar, at least every now and then.

x

That makes sense. I thought after reading a couple of books where the authors specifically talked about what they thought about the books, this was a nice, refreshing change on the subject. But I can see why you'd have liked it to talk more about the specific books.

[Athena]

And to my surprise I didn't become curious about all the books she talked about. With Hornby I was taking down notes all the time, or at least that's what it felt like. Hill didn't manage to bring the books close to me. And it's not because she mostly read books I'd never even heard of, by authors I knew nothing about, because Hornby did that, too, and yet I added at least 15 books off his list to my wishlist.

x

I was kind of the other way around! I don't know why though. Personally I felt Hornby talked too much about football and since this doesn't interest me, it annoyed me a bit.

x

Two things I forgot to say about Replay in my review:

 

I loved how

real events of the past were woven into the story. John F. Kennedy. The Kentucky Derby although I didn't know about it beforehand. I googled it afterwards and looked at the pics. It was wonderful finally seeing Chateaugay And then of course Stuart McCowan talking about Charles Manson and a few others. It reminded me of Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. Which I really really really need and want to re-read soon!

 

 

Also: I loved how meticulous and detailed Grimwood was.

When Jeff used the word 'condominium', and wasn't understood, he realised he'd used a word that hadn't been 'invented' at that time yet. It totally reminded me of Quantum Leap And when anything reminds me of Quantum Leap, it's a damn good thing

 

x

 

I agree, I loved to see real events interwoven with the story and loved the detail of the story.

 

Edited October 31, 2013 by Athena

[pontalba]

I loved the way Grimwood worked in the '60's references.....I was a teenager then, and remember all of it well, so it had more resonance for me.

 

Regarding the money

First and foremost, I HATE these spoiler things!!!
Ok, that's out of the way.

Frankie, you said, after the first million, so what (IOW). The more money people have, the more they are afraid it will be taken from them, or they'll run out, or, or, or, or.........ad nauseum.
It was fear that made him go after more money. Fear and after a while, it's a game.....what can I get away with, what can I manage?
Anyhow, that's my take on it...

 

 

Kay, hurry up and read it! Oy. 

 

Frankie said: Did Charles demand to see if it was truly a book by Hill or if it was something you'd written yourself

 

Hah!  Good one. 

First he tried to play innocent.......who, me??  But I've got his number. And it's the same as mine..............

[Karsa Orlong]

 

 

Yep, it was fully appreciated by this reader! Those were some real hard-core 'woooow ' moments

 

And of course now I want to watch 

Starsea

 

 

That was one of those bits where the whole thing kicked into another gear, for me

 

I remember thinking "hang on, I've never heard of this movie", cos everything up to that point had been based on fact, I think, and then it was "But Star Wars was the biggest movie at that point!"   Then it all started to click and, like you say, OMG!!!    

 

 

Of course, the man was obsessed with dolphins

[Timstar]

Reading your thread about Replay is like trying to read an MI6 redacted document. 

 

I should really read it, starting to feel left out on BCF 

[frankie]

Frankie, I read Replay earlier this year, here is my review. It's not as long a review perhaps as some of my newer reviews and I didn't use spoiler tags, but I agreed with some of your comments (and disagreed with others).

 

Thanks for the link, I went and read your review, I think overall we had a pretty similar reading experience.   One thing I like about modern days and the technology: the Internet is always there for you so you can look up all the stuff you don't understand. I don't think I personally struggled with the references to the 1960s etc. with this book, but if I had, I could've easily looked them up online We didn't have that luxury back in the 90s (I only got my first computer with Internet in 2003, but I know I was probably a 'late bloomer'). 

 

 

 

Personally I thought that was the point the author was making, but I'm not sure.

 

 

If it was what the author intended, then I applaud him, because he made it work for me

 

 

xx

I was kind of the other way around! I don't know why though. Personally I felt Hornby talked too much about football and since this doesn't interest me, it annoyed me a bit.

 

I'm not into football, either, but I can't even remember Hornby talking about football in the book, so I guess it didn't bother me at all That's so odd. Because I have read Fever Pitch and I really didn't like it, and I have enjoyed most of his other novels.

[frankie]

I loved the way Grimwood worked in the '60's references.....I was a teenager then, and remember all of it well, so it had more resonance for me.

 

Yeah I can see it was all the more previous to you I found the linguistic bits great, the 'condominium' etc. Although I don't think there were tha many instances.

 

 

Regarding the money

 

Frankie, you said, after the first million, so what (IOW). The more money people have, the more they are afraid it will be taken from them, or they'll run out, or, or, or, or.........ad nauseum.

It was fear that made him go after more money. Fear and after a while, it's a game.....what can I get away with, what can I manage?

Anyhow, that's my take on it...

 

 

I get that, I do.

Sometimes when I have more money than usual, it can actually get more stressing, because I'll start to think of things I've been meaning to purchase when ever I have enough money, and I start worrying if I have enough to buy them all... As opposed to when I had no extra money, I didn't have to worry about any of that, because it was out of my hands.

 

But I would think that with a million, a person is set for life. It's all choices after that. Do you have to have a huge house. Do you have to re-decorate every few years after the latest trends. Do you really need a new car.

 

I understand that when one has money, it's nice because one doesn't have to be consumed by the idea of 'do I have money for this yoghurt, or should I buy the one that's 50c less in price', but it's kind of scary how easily people get carried away by money. I'm not saying I could never do that, who knows, we'll wait and see what happens when I win the lottery But it's very scary.

 

 

 

Kay, hurry up and read it! Oy. 

 

Here here!!

 

First he tried to play innocent.......who, me??  But I've got his number. And it's the same as mine..............

 

And thank goodness for that!

 

 

That was one of those bits where the whole thing kicked into another gear, for me

 

Same here!

 

 

I remember thinking "hang on, I've never heard of this movie", cos everything up to that point had been based on fact, I think, and then it was "But Star Wars was the biggest movie at that point!"   Then it all started to click and, like you say, OMG!!!    

 

 

I know, I was the same I wonder if we should put up a production for the movie....

 

Reading your thread about Replay is like trying to read an MI6 redacted document. 

 

 

I should really read it, starting to feel left out on BCF 

 

You, left out on BCF when talking about a fantasy novel? Surely not This is, what, the first book you've not read that others have? Your first and last? Don't worry, it won't probably happen ever again in my thread

[Timstar]

You, left out on BCF when talking about a fantasy novel? Surely not This is, what, the first book you've not read that others have? Your first and last? Don't worry, it won't probably happen ever again in my thread

 

 I hope so!

 

It is sitting on my shelf at the moment, but it's not on my reading plan...