Poppyshake's Reading Year 2013

[Janet]

I was sort of hoping there'd be nothing to tempt me but .. ooohh!! .. five Daphne du Maurier's for £6.99 .. I am totally smitten  Now, yes .. you're right .. I do already have Rebecca  and it's also true that I have My Cousin Rachel  (the exact same covers in fact) but I haven't got the other three .. and for £6.99 .. I couldn't buy one for that.

Oh my, that is tempting... 

 

ETA: The Dahl set is £15.99 now (still a good price) - but one of the books is listed as "The Giraffe And The Pella And Me"! 

Edited October 10, 2013 by Janet

[poppyshake]

ETA: The Dahl set is £15.99 now (still a good price) - but one of the books is listed as "The Giraffe And The Pella And Me"! 

Something else is strange too .. The description on the website names Jamaica Inn as one of the five of Daphne's .. but the pic and the description in the catalogue shows it to be Frenchman's Creek  I haven't read either so it's not a problem but which one is it?

The Dahl's are slightly different to mine .. different covers etc .. but equally if not more gorgeous  

 

I'm sorry to be tempting you Janet .. I'm a book pusher  

[Janet]

I've just started a wish list on there and added about a million* titles to it! 

 

*this might be a slight overestimation! 

[Athena]

Such great deals!! Shame they don't ship here . I hope you enjoy your books, Kay .

[chesilbeach]

Surely, if you already own copies of Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel with the same covers, you could give them away as presents as you know they are great books, and you still have the bargain of the other books in the set?  That would make you two presents down for Christmas already, and positively virtuous!

[poppyshake]

I've just started a wish list on there and added about a million* titles to it! 

 

*this might be a slight overestimation! 

 .. I've done the same .. but we are only looking Janet .. and there's no harm in that is there?

Such great deals!! Shame they don't ship here . I hope you enjoy your books, Kay .

Aww .. that is a shame but then you've been saved from temptation Gaia

Surely, if you already own copies of Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel with the same covers, you could give them away as presents as you know they are great books, and you still have the bargain of the other books in the set?  That would make you two presents down for Christmas already, and positively virtuous!

That is true Claire but  oh dear  I looked at my copies and they are a bit careworn  and I was just thinking they would stick out like sore thumbs when I put the new shiny versions next to them and though I love seeing a book that has been well thumbed .. I also like to see a nice consistent row of books all yummily matching  

Anyway, I couldn't give them as prezzies to anyone here as they'd all know now and think me forever a cheapskate and I don't know that anyone else deserves them Claire  

[poppyshake]

I saw this today    .. I think even Colin could have walked past and I wouldn't have broken my gaze from it  

 

Just saying  

[poppyshake]

I've got a new bookcase .. Alan built it last week. I had the most fabulous time filling it all up with books and then sorting them .. but not in colour order .. no .. I am cured of that apparently .. for now  (and all those horrible old black and white spines had to go somewhere )  

I apologise in advance for the poor picture quality .. I am not good with the camera particularly and something about the light .. or lack of it .. made the pic come out grainy. I will try to do better another day as I know that what's important are the titles  If you're anything like me though you will have studied books enough to know a few of them just from their colours and blurred lettering  

[poppy]

It's gorgeous Poppyshake!! What a clever hubby you have! But I love the wood, I see on your other post you want to paint it.

[poppyshake]

It's gorgeous Poppyshake!! What a clever hubby you have! But I love the wood, I see on your other post you want to paint it.

Well I do but it will probably remain dark for a while (and it is gorgeous .. it's oak so it would probably be a mortal sin to paint it ) but the room is quite small and I really wanted it to blend with the other things in there .. which are cream coloured. We shall see though .. it will be some undertaking to paint it so I can't see either Alan or I volunteering for a while  (I will offer refreshments though as an incentive )  

I'm glad you like it poppy  Alan only adapted it really .. it was in a grand house in Bath and was quite tall. In order for it to be transported it ended up as planks and there was a lot of sawing and hammering going on to make it (try) and fit the space. I wish I had room for it somewhere where it could have gone back up in all its glory (bother it .. why can't I have the grand room in Bath and they have my attic? )

[poppyshake]

 I'm on the countdown to 5,000 posts  .. I have 23 to go .. 22 now I wonder how many of them will be informative and interesting?* I wonder how many of the 5,000 have been informative and interesting?    Possibly I've written ten that were to the purpose and enlightening .. there was one about Virginia's toilet arrangements that was particularly fascinating

 

If I was the Queen I'd decree it a holiday but I suppose she has better things to think about (can't think what though ) .. perhaps she'll send me a telegram  I'll be sure to bring in cakes anyway.

 

* Just to try and make this post informative and a little about books  .. I've finished The Kraken Wakes and started Titus Groan .. it's all going incredibly well  I'm also about three quarters of the way through .. listening to .. The Shadow of the Wind and that is going well too  

So on the whole I am going well  .. hope you are too  

[vodkafan]

Sounds good Poppyshake. Gosh if bookcases could talk maybe yours has seen Jane Austen in person

[Athena]

 I'm on the countdown to 5,000 posts  .. I have 23 to go .. 22 now I wonder how many of them will be informative and interesting?* I wonder how many of the 5,000 have been informative and interesting?    Possibly I've written ten that were to the purpose and enlightening .. there was one about Virginia's toilet arrangements that was particularly fascinating

x

If you ask me, all of them have been fascinating ! I love reading your posts . Congrats on soon reaching 5000, it shouldn't take that long anymore!

 

Shadow of the Wind is on my wishlist, I'm glad to hear you like it.

Edited October 12, 2013 by Athena

[poppyshake]

Sounds good Poppyshake. Gosh if bookcases could talk maybe yours has seen Jane Austen in person

 Wouldn't that be good VF .. however, I can't fool myself, it has some brass fitments which are definitely 20th century  .. maybe the oak came from a tree she knew though   

x

If you ask me, all of them have been fascinating ! I love reading your posts . Congrats on soon reaching 5000, it shouldn't take that long anymore!

It's very good of you to say so Gaia .. I hope you will join me in cake

Shadow of the Wind is on my wishlist, I'm glad to hear you like it.

Hope you do too  

[Athena]

It's very good of you to say so Gaia .. I hope you will join me in cake

x

I would love to !

[vodkafan]

 Wouldn't that be good VF .. however, I can't fool myself, it has some brass fitments which are definitely 20th century  .. maybe the oak came from a tree she knew though   

 

Yes I can feel it! Jane  was definitely kissed under that oak tree on a summer's evening

[poppyshake]

x

I would love to !

Excellent  

Yes I can feel it! Jane  was definitely kissed under that oak tree on a summer's evening

 I am quite of your opinion

[poppyshake]

       5,000 posts!!

 

.. and I bought two books to celebrate Actually I only paid about £3.85 or something as I had a £10 Waterstone's voucher and bought two on the 'buy one get one half price' offer so all in all .. I feel quite virtuous  

 

I bought C.S. Lewis: A Life by Alistair McGrath and The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter  

 

Help yourself to a 'fiendish fancy'

 

Heres to the next 5,000      

[Marie H]

Congrats on your 5001 posts poppyshakes!

[poppy]

Congratulations Oh Chatty One  

Love to hear what you think of the CS Lewis biography. I've read The Man Who Created Narnia: The Life of CS Lewis by Michael Cohen and thoroughly enjoyed it. He's a man who fascinates me.

[Devi]

Congrats on the big 5,000!

[Athena]

Congrats on the 5000 posts !!

[poppyshake]

Thanks everyone  

Love to hear what you think of the CS Lewis biography. I've read The Man Who Created Narnia: The Life of CS Lewis by Michael Cohen and thoroughly enjoyed it. He's a man who fascinates me.

I love biogs about authors and as I loved most of the Narnia stories it'll be fascinating to read about their invention etc. Hope it's as good as Michael Cohen's  

[poppyshake]

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Amazon Synopsis: Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'cemetery of lost books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out 'La Sombra del Viento' by Julian Carax. But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. Then, one night, as he is wandering the old streets once more, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from La Sombra del Viento, a character who turns out to be the devil. This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax's work in order to burn them. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind. A page-turning exploration of obsession in literature and love, and the places that obsession can lead.

Review: I did really like this story as my mark for it shows, but I didn't love it quite as much as I was hoping. I had actually tried reading (or I should say listening to) it before but couldn't get it to stick .. some of this was undoubtedly the fault of the narration which, though by no means bad, had the effect of making my head wander off in search of cake  .. it was so ridiculous actually that I suspected witchcraft .. I could never hear more than ten minutes without mentally tuning out. I do actually have a copy of the book on the shelf but I hate to waste an Audible credit so I pinched myself continually through the first few chapters and eventually I had gleaned enough of the story for the interest in it to outweigh the soporific effect of the narrator's voice. The other problem I had was undoubtedly nature's fault .. in that I felt I would be enjoying it more if a boy .. this is such a minority view as to be called positively solitary but still, some of Daniel's teenage musings made me slightly uncomfortable (I didn't like it that breasts 'quivered' either .. breasts shouldn't quiver .. that just says cold jelly to me  .. however I do believe something may have been lost in translation .. I'm sure the Spanish word was much more the ticket.) The other niggle was the language .. some of it sounded too modern to me and though the story is not an ancient one .. I had trouble reconciling some of the expressions with my idea (mostly gleaned from John Mills' films ) of standard 1940's vocab. I occasionally had a feeling not unsimilar (though not nearly so violent) as the one that came across me when Kate Winslett gave someone a very 20th century hand gesture on board the Titanic   

Once I got into the story though I was hooked. It's incredibly rich and detailed and I imagine, if left to my own imagination more, I would have been completely captivated because the pictures it conjures up are amazing. Any story about books is immediately interesting and this has all the right ingredients. At times it's a bit of a romp which is very entertaining and at others it's quite heart breakingly sad. The characters too are so vividly drawn that you feel you know them well and either love or hate them accordingly. Perhaps the villain of the piece is a bit too pantomime .. or he/she became so anyway .. but this tale has a very storybook feel to it and so it didn't jar. Unfortunately, I guessed the main twist fairly early on .. I thought it was actually pretty obvious, but there were a couple of other twists which almost made me gasp I was so taken unawares so that evened it out. There is a nice red herring dropped in as well which was very clever and totally unexpected. I did think there were too many endings though .. I'm not good with epilogues  

I took a point off as a direct result of the irritating way the narrator said 'Avenida del Tibidabo' and the frequency in which he said it (so .. not totally the narrators fault but .. it doesn't irritate me now I look at it so I think it was mostly down to his annoying pronunciation) but I put it back on after reading how the harlot, Rociito, gave up her fee to buy sweet buns and hot chocolate for the elderly residents because that was something that 'always made her forget the sorrows of life'   Another book that didn't benefit from listening to but I think most of the problems I had with it would still have rankled slightly. 4/5 .. so the problems were .. in the end .. negligible  

[poppyshake]

Greenery Street by Denis Mackail

Synopsis: Greenery Street can be read on two levels – it is a touching description of a young couple's first year together in London, but it is also a homage – something rare in fiction - to happy married life. Ian and Felicity are shown as they arrive at 23 Greenery Street, an undisguised Walpole Street in Chelsea. Their uneventful but always interesting everyday life is the main subject of a novel that evokes the charmingly contented and timeless while managing to be both funny and profound about human relations.

Review: This was a Persephone read .. I've got a small number waiting on the shelves to be read (and I'm hoping they might grow up one day to be a big number ) and it's always a pleasure and a joy to read them because they're so uncomplicated and gentle (but usually .. as is the case here .. they're also full of razor sharp insight). This is probably where the germ of the idea for the Nov reading circle came from because the street, and in this case the house, plays an important part in the story. The sad thing about Greenery Street (or probably it's a good thing) is that the couples who fall in love with the houses only stay until the first pitter patter of tiny feet and then they find that, though they never thought it before, the hall's too poky and the stairs are too steep .. meaning that there is an almost constant turn around, but while they are there, the couples love living in Greenery Street.

What was nice about reading about Felicity and Ian was how normal they were (though these are days long gone by and circumstances far above my station .. I suppose I would've been in the kitchen peeling spuds in truth but one never thinks of this until after ) It was entertaining to read about their first year of marriage and all their little worries about bills and Felicity's particular worries over the fish kettle that she's lent to a neighbour (and ridiculously .. I found a great deal of amusement in these household anxieties ) She's also succeptible to the lure of a new outfit which throws the budget to blazes ... 'Extravagant? It was monstrous to say she'd been extravagant, when she'd bought nothing for herself - absolutely nothing - since that hideous little cotton frock which she'd never been able to wear'.  The pair of them are so sweet that, though they both need a shake every now and then, you can't help but feel indulgent towards them. It probably does register quite highly on the 'twee scale' but then I don't mind this sort of Pym'ish preciousness and there is plenty of gentle satire to stop it from completely dissolving in its own twee

It's not a complicated read obviously but the characters and situations are so endearing that you just drink in every word. Also, I found that, though their situation was vastly different to mine, I recognised so much in this portrayal of a new relationship (all the misunderstandings and the getting used tos and the tiffs were so spot on) .. much more than I often do with more contemporary fiction. PG Wodehouse said that it was 'so good that it makes one feel that it's the only possible way of writing a book, to take an ordinary couple and just tell the reader all about them.' and I totally agree, when the writing's this good you don't need bells and whistles. 4/5