frankie Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Victorian Slang: Spunk Fakers, Slap Bangs and Tipping The Velvet The Submissive Scullery Maid I spot a very curious and odd theme... Ought we be scared? 184 books on my TBR pile. Not happy about this. Without buying any more, that equates to TWO YEARS full reading till January 2016. And these are just the books I consider noteworthy. In addition I have about another 30 self-published books on kindle of the freebie type. Have you kept tally of when you were under TBR 100, for instance? When did it get so 'bad'? I offer my sympathy, but I can also say, this is what the place does to you... I just had an idea....going to go through all my past book blogs and retrospectively rate them all so that I can compile a short list of the very best books I have read in the last 4 years since being on here (I didn't use a rating system till this year) I will announce my results soon I see you compiled your list already. Did you already record it in the most recommended books by members -thread? I don't remember what it was titled exactly... But if you didn't, please go ahead and copy+paste the list there, as well! Happy reading in 2014, VF! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted December 31, 2013 Author Share Posted December 31, 2013 The Spunk Fakers book I have dipped into...it is an fantastic source of Vic vocab. Yep I will add my best list to the proper place. I don't know why my TBR just started climbing....I think it was a comfort thing I must have been in some ways a little unhappy inside...I do remember on many occasions not being able to settle to do anything....I had little tasks to do but not concentrate on any for more than a few minutes, not eating not even reading..but going to a charity shop and browsing would cheer me up and let me feel like I was doing something. You are right it has doubled in a year. Thanks you too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 The Spunk Fakers book I have dipped into...it is an fantastic source of Vic vocab. It must be! Something one is probably not used to having in the same context as other Victorian stuff... I don't know why my TBR just started climbing....I think it was a comfort thing I must have been in some ways a little unhappy inside...I do remember on many occasions not being able to settle to do anything....I had little tasks to do but not concentrate on any for more than a few minutes, not eating not even reading..but going to a charity shop and browsing would cheer me up and let me feel like I was doing something. You are right it has doubled in a year. Thanks you too! That sounds all too familiar. Book shopping in charity shops and secondhand bookshops is a bit of a retail therapy thing for me... That's probably why I've gone so bonkers this year, not allowing myself such pleasures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Happy Reading in 2014. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 (edited) Julie and Willoyd, thanks for those recommendations! Just for fun I might read all the books from your two posts first ! The only one that is scaring me slightly is Madame Bovary...I know Poppyshake had a rough time with her.. Edited January 1, 2014 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willoyd Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Am flattered (but feeling a teensy bit responsible now!): should be fun resolving Julie's and my differences! (But we both love Dickens!) I thought Letters To Alice On First Reading Jane Austen was excellent, James, and it gave me a whole new insight into Austen's books and some of her characters. Hope you enjoy it too. Second that! Read this just before Christmas, and it went straight into my favourites list. My non-fiction book of the year, and runner-up overall to David Copperfield. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 The True Deceiver 4/5 Tove Jansson Came across this one in a charity shop...the name of the author sounded familiar...of course it is the woman who wrote the Moomin books. It had an enthusiastic introduction by Ali Smith (which I read in the shop) so I felt I was on safe ground...the book is set in a rural part of Sweden and it immediately feels as though each of the little houses are like an island surrounded by snow and cold ...so letting someone into your house has deeper connotations than it would mean in a temperate climate. Both Katri and her brother are considered strange but then so is the old artist woman who lives alone..Katri wants something from her...so she fakes a burglary to frighten her into taking her as a maid (that is in the blurb so I am not giving anything away) and the story develops from there. A very good book which I am sure I will read again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Happy Reading in 2014 James Your TBR is rather alarming .. as is mine .. but you've got some great books on it though so plenty of pleasure to be got from reading your way through it. As people are putting good words in for various books .. I'll put mine in for Jasper Fforde It's a good idea actually to read his Thursday Next books in a lump as it's all about getting in the swing. I always find I need a good lie down for about 12 months after reading each one though (mostly just to reflect and marvel at it .. and to stop me from buzzing etc ) so it'd be quite an undertaking. I am putting .. another .. bad word in for Madame Bovary Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 Running With Scissors 5/5 Augusten Burroughs This book was so amusing at the beginning especially the running battle between the writer's parents. At that point I was going to give the book to Thoughtful Daughter to read after me. Then I got to a certain point and it was an Oh My God moment . Pretty much every sense is outraged. And there are several other hair-raising incidents in the book. The trouble is you can't stop reading, this kid's life it is like witnessing a car crash. But he is so witty and funny in the midst of this awfulness. Has he wrote anything else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 (edited) Happy Reading in 2014 James Your TBR is rather alarming .. as is mine .. but you've got some great books on it though so plenty of pleasure to be got from reading your way through it. As people are putting good words in for various books .. I'll put mine in for Jasper Fforde It's a good idea actually to read his Thursday Next books in a lump as it's all about getting in the swing. I always find I need a good lie down for about 12 months after reading each one though (mostly just to reflect and marvel at it .. and to stop me from buzzing etc ) so it'd be quite an undertaking. I am putting .. another .. bad word in for Madame Bovary Good luck Thanks Kay ...Jasper is hiding ready to pounce in my kindle the whole series....ah Madame Bovary yes...well maybe it won't be so bad..my Bete Noir was up to now Vanity Fair..can't be worse than that Edited January 1, 2014 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 Am flattered (but feeling a teensy bit responsible now!): should be fun resolving Julie's and my differences! (But we both love Dickens!) Second that! Read this just before Christmas, and it went straight into my favourites list. My non-fiction book of the year, and runner-up overall to David Copperfield. Going to read that as soon as it drops through the front door... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Thanks Kay ...Jasper is hiding ready to pounce in my kindle the whole series....ah Madame Bovary yes...well maybe it won't be so bad..my Bete Noir was up to now Vanity Fair..can't be worse than that Ah well .. I loved Vanity Fair so possibly we're not singing from the same hymn sheet I know lots of ladies that like Madame Bovary ... dear Kylie for instance .. but I do think men are less ill disposed towards it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 James I'd be glad if you 're interested in reading the books Will & I mentioned . I don't want you to feel as if you need to resolve any issues that Will and I have . I really don't feel as if we have any . We are 2 different people who like different books . I have respect for Will's choice in books as I hope he does mine . No hard feelings on this end ! But if you want to add any of the books we mentioned to your reading list, feel free to do so . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willoyd Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 (edited) I don't want you to feel as if you need to resolve any issues that Will and I have . I really don't feel as if we have any . I was being ironic (or at least trying to be!) Edited January 2, 2014 by willoyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julie Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Sounds great, Will I just don't want to have any hard feelings . If I were there, we could tip a beer together and shake hands as friends . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie H Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 The True Deceiver 4/5 Tove Jansson Came across this one in a charity shop...the name of the author sounded familiar...of course it is the woman who wrote the Moomin books. It had an enthusiastic introduction by Ali Smith (which I read in the shop) so I felt I was on safe ground...the book is set in a rural part of Sweden and it immediately feels as though each of the little houses are like an island surrounded by snow and cold ...so letting someone into your house has deeper connotations than it would mean in a temperate climate. Both Katri and her brother are considered strange but then so is the old artist woman who lives alone..Katri wants something from her...so she fakes a burglary to frighten her into taking her as a maid (that is in the blurb so I am not giving anything away) and the story develops from there. A very good book which I am sure I will read again. Good old Tove, she did some great novels (esp. short stories Travelling Light), as well as The Moomins. Running With Scissors 5/5 Augusten Burroughs Has he wrote anything else? I think I read a thread by frankie about Augusten Burroughs recently, but they sounded pretty daunting as subject matter for me! . Since then I've read some of his short tales Magical Thinking, and they were a hoot so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Somebody at work just stuffed the Stephen King book 11/22/63 into my hand and said that he couldn't get on with it.....of course the first thing wrong with it is that it should be 22/11/63 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Running With Scissors 5/5 Augusten Burroughs This book was so amusing at the beginning especially the running battle between the writer's parents. At that point I was going to give the book to Thoughtful Daughter to read after me. Then I got to a certain point and it was an Oh My God moment . Pretty much every sense is outraged. And there are several other hair-raising incidents in the book. The trouble is you can't stop reading, this kid's life it is like witnessing a car crash. But he is so witty and funny in the midst of this awfulness. Has he wrote anything else? Wohoo for enjoying the book! Oh heck yes he's written more I would suggest you read Dry next, it's about his 30s or so. And then there's A Wolf at the Table, which concentrates on his relationship with his Dad. That's one dark book, and it's not as 'lightly' written as RwS. But it was great. He's also written a few books where he talks about different sorts of things. Kind of like essays. I would recommend those, too. And his first book was a novel, which I really enjoyed, too. It was called Sellevision. Here's the thread on him on BCF. Looking forward to seeing how you like his other books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Somebody at work just stuffed the Stephen King book 11/22/63 into my hand and said that he couldn't get on with it.....of course the first thing wrong with it is that it should be 22/11/63 Oy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Somebody at work just stuffed the Stephen King book 11/22/63 into my hand and said that he couldn't get on with it.....of course the first thing wrong with it is that it should be 22/11/63 I hope you enjoy it when you get to reading it. I quite liked it. I think his recent books have been pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Somebody at work just stuffed the Stephen King book 11/22/63 into my hand and said that he couldn't get on with it.....of course the first thing wrong with it is that it should be 22/11/63 x I agree ! I hope you enjoy it, it's on my TBR too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 @ Frankie: thanks for the heads up on Augusten Burroughs. I have made a note and will look out for those other books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Arise Sir Michael Caine 2/5 William Hill One of my favourite actors, and an interesting life story but a pretty run of the mill and slightly sycophantic biography. I enjoyed the descriptions and anecdotes of being on set on the films best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Letters To Alice On First Reading Jane Austen 4/5 Fay Weldon I enjoyed this for lots of reasons, and was debating whether to score it a 3/5, but then decided to elevate it to a 4/5 for the way it made me feel about writing. Lots of useful pointers , not so much about the execution but the way it should make you feel and traps to avoid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 I finished the book I was on while at work (Letters To Alice) and had nothing else so had to start reading the Stephen King 11/22/63..This might take me a long time as it is too heavy to walk home with....will only read it at work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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