Frankie reads 2014

[Athena]

I'm going to try and get some reading done today I also want to visit the library. I've missed it We did go and visit one of the Lahti libraries but my friend's little fella in his pram was getting too hot in his winter clothes and we couldn't spend a lot of time there. But at least we got to check out the children's section which my friend has never been to.

 

Re: Kindle. We went to a little Christmas party on Saturday and there were a few single guys there that my friend was hoping for me to get to know. The other one, the one I knew even beforehand that we probably wouldn't mesh, well he and I got to talking about Kindles and he actually said that it's 'teenager-y' to use Kindle. How is it 'teenager-y'?? I would've understood if he'd said it was a hipster thing to do (although I wouldn't have agreed with him) but teenager-y... He was very much against Kindles. And Spotify. No love lost there

I hope you have fun with your reading, and with the library! (I'm always up for reading more about your adventures).

 

I don't see how the Kindle is teenager-y, either . In fact, I know quite a few 'older-than-teenager' people who have an e-reader (not necessarily a Kindle though). I do think we'll all probably have to move to ebooks eventually in the future, though I'm hoping it won't happen very soon because I paperbooks.

[Janet]

My Mum is 77 and she loves her Kindle!    She also likes paper books but they both have a place in her life - and mine come to it.   My daughter has my old one and it's made her read when she's not really a reader (she's 17) - so I think Kindles/eReaders are for all ages.

[frankie]

As some of you already know, my computer's bust. It will be fixed by 23.12. or so, and it's a great comfort knowing that it can and will be fixed. 

 

I'm leaving for my hometown this Thursday, and I can use my Mom's laptop when I'm there. So I'll be able to come on here more in a few days, to catch up with you guys. I have PMs to go through (I've not been able to get back to them all yet ) and reading logs and a whole lot of stuff! Oh, and tons of reviews to write... 

 

I'll see you guys in a bit! 

[Kylie]

Glad to hear you can get your computer fixed. Does that mean all of your files can be saved as well? I've missed you so much.

[Athena]

I'm glad your computer can be fixed . I look forward to see you around the forum more.

[frankie]

I don't agree either that Kindles are for teenagers.   Maybe he thought that only younger people would be likely to use Kindles because it's relatively 'recent' technology?   And perhaps because some older people don't use as much technology as young people? 

I I don't see how the Kindle is teenager-y, either . In fact, I know quite a few 'older-than-teenager' people who have an e-reader (not necessarily a Kindle though). I do think we'll all probably have to move to ebooks eventually in the future, though I'm hoping it won't happen very soon because I paperbooks.

My Mum is 77 and she loves her Kindle! She also likes paper books but they both have a place in her life - and mine come to it. My daughter has my old one and it's made her read when she's not really a reader (she's 17) - so I think Kindles/eReaders are for all ages.

 

Well yeah, I guess younger people are more prone to use new technology more than older people, but I think that Finland being a moderately 'techy' country (having had one of its own cellphone companies and other sorts of techy things), you can't really avoid hearing about all the latest stuff and the older people are sometimes surprisingly technology savvy.

 

The thing is, though, that over here at least calling someone 'teenager-y' is an insult. I don't mean to say that we Finns consider all teenagers to be insert-negative-adjective, but we do use 'teenager-y' as a word to describe things we consider childish and/or ignorant and/or selfish. It's a common adjective over here. So the guy using that particular word was an insult, not just about the age of the people who might use Kindles but the sort of people who would.

[frankie]

Glad to hear you can get your computer fixed. Does that mean all of your files can be saved as well? I've missed you so much.

 

 The computer's actually been fixed already! It was supposed to take 2-3 weeks, but then they said earlier this week that it would be fixed by 23.12. already, but on 19.12 they said it's done! So it took them one week only. Wohoo! I'm not sure about the files, though.

 

I've missed you, too!! I wonder if we could Skype over the holidays? Whatcha doing over the holidays, anyways? Where you at?

 

I'm glad your computer can be fixed . I look forward to see you around the forum more.

 

I've been on here a bit now, but it's sometimes hard when my parents come and sit with me and start talking to me and I'm trying to write posts and then I'm having to concentrate on two different things. So excuse all the typos and grammatical errors during the holidays

[frankie]

I came to Nurmes on Thursday, and on the morning I got a package note from the post office and luckily I had just enough time to go  and get the package from the office (thank goodness there's one at the shopping mall and I can pop in quickly!).

 

The thing is, I know it's from one of you guys, it's a Bookdepository package. But I'm not sure who's sent it and if it's a Birthday present or a Christmas present So I don't know if I'm allowed to open it already or not!! I have it with me I'm so excited!!!!

Edited December 22, 2014 by frankie

[Kylie]

I wish I could say it was me, but it's not. I haven't bought your birthday/Chrissy presents yet.

[frankie]

I wish I could say it was me, but it's not. I haven't bought your birthday/Chrissy presents yet.

 

 

Phew! Because I haven't gotten you anything yet, either! Actually I haven't gotten anyone anything yet except for my parents. The thing is, I didn't trust the library Computers to do online shopping, giving my debit card numbers and stuff, so with a broken laptop, I haven't been able to do any of my Christmas shopping of the bookish kind!

 

I can do it now, because I can use my Mom's laptop, but I've completely forgotten to get started!

 

So please please don't feel bad!      I'm in the same boat!

 

And besides, you don't have to get me anything to begin with! Remember how I didn't get you anything for your Bday this year because I was skint?

Edited December 22, 2014 by frankie

[frankie]

Just last week I was thinking about how I said last summer that I might not buy any more books this year, and I thought that it's been so, I've not bought any. But then I remembered the one book I've bought since summer, although that was from a flea market. But it was a bought book, nonetheless.

 

After September, though, I've not bought any, and I thought I've done a good job because I won't be buying any more books this year. I don't go to bookshops anymore and there aren't that many fleamarkets or secondhand bookshops near where I live so there are no temptations.

 

But I've been to the local library twice now, during the holidays, and I've bought 5 books from their removed books selection But it couldn't be helped! The first book is the third novel in this children's book series that I loved as a child. I have the first two books in the series but not the third, so I just had to buy it. 1e, not bad. And it's for the library, so it's for a great cause.

 

Today we went there again and I came away with four more books Two were Jacqueline Wilson novels: The Story of Tracy Beaker and Double Act. And the two other books are by Morris Gleitzman of whom I've not heard before. The books are about a toad. The first novel is called Toad Rage ( ) And the second it Toad Away. I read the first page of the first novel and it sounded good. They are children's novels, and the author is Australian!

 

All in all, I've acquired 38 books this year, of which I've bought 17. Others have been gifts or have been passed on to me for free, or I've found from the free book exchange trolley at the library. 38 books is such a small number of books that I'm quite astounded.

Edited December 23, 2014 by frankie

[Athena]

All in all, I've acquired 38 books this year, of which I've bought 17. Others have been gifts or have been passed on to me for free, or I've found from the free book exchange trolley at the library. 38 books is such a small number of books that I'm quite astounded.

Well done (I mean on the buying)! It's great you're helping your library. I hope you enjoy your new books, they sound interesting .

[Kylie]

Wow, only 38 books acquired! Congratulations!

 

The Story of Tracy Beaker is the first (and to date, only) book I've read by Jacqueline Wilson. I read it at least several times when I was a kid, and I read it again more recently and still enjoyed it.

 

I don't know of those particular books by Morris Gleitzman, but I used to love two of his books called Worry Warts and Misery Guts, where an English family moves to Australia, and the son always thinks his parents were worried and miserable, so he tries to do things to cheer them up (usually making things worse in the process). I just looked up Gleitzman and apparently there are four 'Toad' books.

[frankie]

Well done (I mean on the buying)! It's great you're helping your library. I hope you enjoy your new books, they sound interesting .

 

I'm sure to love the Viveca Sundvall book. Coincidentally I re-read the first two books in the series earlier this year, so I'm extra happy to have found the third novel in the series so I can re-read it, too, and have my own copy. And I've liked all the books I've read by Jacqueline Wilson so I'm rather sure I'll enjoy these, too. And the Gleitzman books seems cool, too, the first page that I read at the library made me laugh

 

Wow, only 38 books acquired! Congratulations!

It's hella little, isn't it?

 

 

The Story of Tracy Beaker is the first (and to date, only) book I've read by Jacqueline Wilson. I read it at least several times when I was a kid, and I read it again more recently and still enjoyed it.

Yeah, I remember that you've read the book, and you were the one to recommend it to me in the Wilson thread Because of you I took a closer look at the book and decided to buy it. And after that I thought 'oh well, might as well buy the other Wilson book, too'.

 

I don't know of those particular books by Morris Gleitzman, but I used to love two of his books called Worry Warts and Misery Guts, where an English family moves to Australia, and the son always thinks his parents were worried and miserable, so he tries to do things to cheer them up (usually making things worse in the process). I just looked up Gleitzman and apparently there are four 'Toad' books.

 

I like the sound of those books! If I like the toad books I think I shall look for those, too!

 

Oh and Kylie: last night I had a dream where I told my Dad that I was really missing you and that I wanted to fly to Australia to visit you, and Dad said okay, you go ahead and visit, and he helped me financially to buy the tickets. They were really cheap though, in the dream: only 300e!

[frankie]

#57. The Dinner by Herman Koch 

 

 

Synopsis from Book Depository: A summer's evening in Amsterdam and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant. Between mouthfuls of food and over the polite scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse - the banality of work, the triviality of holidays. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened. Each couple has a fifteen year old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act [...]. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children, and as civility and friendship disintegrates, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.

 

 

Thoughts: It's been ages since I read this book This novel seems to polarize opinions: some really like it, others most definitely not. I tried reading the novel some years ago but didn't get into it and didn't see the point in trying further. After that I've seen a lot of reviews of the novel on here and other places, and they've been mostly unfavorable. It was Ruth's review that made me want to try it again, and I'm really happy that I did, as I enjoyed reading the novel very much.

 

I understand why some will find the pace of the novel frustratingly slow and all the details of the dinner, the place and the people possibly boring, but they didn't seem so to me. I enjoyed knowing that there was some serious business that needed to be discussed and that the people were wanting to talk about anything but that particular business. And that particular business? It came as a real shock to me. I knew it must be something bad, but it was worse than that. I think Koch has come up with a real worst case scenario, a scenario that seems more than plausible in today's world.

 

I'm very glad I ended up giving the novel a second chance. I would recommend it, but I think that it's impossible to predict who will enjoy and who will dislike the book. And one needs to be in the exact right mood for it. I couldn't get on with it on my first try but loved it on my second.

 

 

4/5

[bobblybear]

Nice review.   I hope to read this next year, as I bought it specifically because it's such a Marmite book.

[frankie]

You are very courageous! I'm really glad you've already bought the book because it means you're not going to read it because of my review. No blaming frankie if you hate it

[frankie]

#58. The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry 

 

Synopsis from Book Depository: One morning a librarian finds a reader who has been locked in overnight. She begins to talk to him, a one-way conversation full of sharp insight and quiet outrage. As she rails against snobbish senior colleagues, an ungrateful and ignorant public, the strictures of the Dewey Decimal System and the sinister expansionist conspiracies of the books themselves, two things shine through: her unrequited passion for a researcher named Martin, and an ardent and absolute love for the arts. A delightful divertissement for the discerning bookworm...

 

 

Thoughts: This is a rather short novel, 96 pages according to BD. I liked the idea of the story, a book about a librarian, and a reader who's been locked in, and the library going off on some tangent or another. I don't remember much about the book, as it was again ages ago when I read it, but I remember liking the first half or so of the book, and then I got somewhat bored. I'd hoped the book to be more 'down to earth'. To be something I could relate to more. I'm not quite sure how to explain this, because I'm not quite sure what I mean, to be exact There was just something lacking in the novel. I liked it to a certain extent but in the end, the book was a bit of a disappointment to say the least.

 

3/5

[frankie]

#59. The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen 

 

 

Synopsis from Amazon: Only nine people have ever been chosen by renowned children’s author Laura White to join the Rabbit Back Literature Society, an elite group of writers in the small town of Rabbit Back. Now a tenth member has been selected: a young literature teacher named Ella.

Soon Ella discovers that the Society is not what it seems. What is its mysterious ritual known as "The Game"? What explains the strange disappearance that occurs at Laura White’s winter party? Why are the words inside books starting to rearrange themselves? Was there once another tenth member, before her? Slowly, as Ella explores the Society and its history, disturbing secrets that had been buried for years start to come to light. . . .

 

 

Thoughts: When poppyshake asked me on Goodreads if I've read The Rabbit Back Literature Society, I had no idea why she'd turned to me. The title didn't seem familiar at all. I googled the novel and it turned out that it was by a Finnish author, Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen, whom I'd never even heard of I read the synopsis and was immediately intrigued. I reserved a copy from the library, got it a few days later and started reading it after I'd finished my then current read.

 

And I loved it I loved the fantastical elements, I loved the intrigue, I loved the story. I loved that I was reading a great Finnish fantasy novel. A literary fantasy novel at that. I'm going to sound very patriotic now, but I'm so happy and proud to have this sort of gem in our Finnish literature canon. In the future, when foreigners want recommendations for Finnish novels to read, this one is going to be one of my two patent recommendations (the other being Purge by Sofi Oksanen).

 

5/5

Edited December 25, 2014 by frankie

[Kylie]

#58. The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry 

 

3/5

 

I remember you saying that you were disappointed in this book when you originally read it. I think it was only a short while later that I found a copy at the book fair (*cough* I don't believe you've commented on my book fair haul yet *cough*), and I just couldn't pass it up, even with your warning ringing in my head. Hopefully I'll like it more than you did!

 

#59. The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen 

 

5/5

 

Defo on my wish list. Although I should really read Purge first! (Maybe after you read The Phantom Tollbooth )

[frankie]

I remember you saying that you were disappointed in this book when you originally read it. I think it was only a short while later that I found a copy at the book fair (*cough* I don't believe you've commented on my book fair haul yet *cough*), and I just couldn't pass it up, even with your warning ringing in my head. Hopefully I'll like it more than you did!

That's a terrible cough you have! I hope it hasn't ruined your Christmas!

 

Others have liked the book more than me, so I'm fairly confident that you will as well

 

 

Defo on my wish list. Although I should really read Purge first! (Maybe after you read The Phantom Tollbooth )

It's a bit different, though, as The Phantom Tollbooth is not an Australian novel! But yes, I should read TPT soon. I'm going back to Espoo on Sunday, and I will have a few days before the New Year to read books, maybe I could read it then!

[Athena]

I'm glad you enjoyed The Dinner much more this time! I liked it when I read it earlier this year. I bought the film on DVD but haven't yet watched it.

 

I'm also glad you liked The Library of Unrequited Love even if you didn't like it as much as some other people.

[frankie]

I'm glad you enjoyed The Dinner much more this time! I liked it when I read it earlier this year. I bought the film on DVD but haven't yet watched it.

 

I remember you reading the novel pretty much around the time I did, too, and I remember you enjoying the novel, too. I guess we were two of the lucky ones

[Marie H]

 

#59. The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen 

 

 

Synopsis from Amazon: Only nine people have ever been chosen by renowned children’s author Laura White to join the Rabbit Back Literature Society, an elite group of writers in the small town of Rabbit Back. Now a tenth member has been selected: a young literature teacher named Ella.

 

Soon Ella discovers that the Society is not what it seems. What is its mysterious ritual known as "The Game"? What explains the strange disappearance that occurs at Laura White’s winter party? Why are the words inside books starting to rearrange themselves? Was there once another tenth member, before her? Slowly, as Ella explores the Society and its history, disturbing secrets that had been buried for years start to come to light. . . .

 

 

Thoughts: When poppyshake asked me on Goodreads if I've read The Rabbit Back Literature Society, I had no idea why she'd turned to me. The title didn't seem familiar at all. I googled the novel and it turned out that it was by a Finnish author, Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen, whom I'd never even heard of I read the synopsis and was immediately intrigued. I reserved a copy from the library, got it a few days later and started reading it after I'd finished my then current read.

 

 

5/5

 

Good to see that you loved The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen  , it's on my TBR list too. Sorry you didn't get on so well with the The Library of Unrequited Love.

[willoyd]

#57. The Dinner by Herman Koch 

I'm very glad I ended up giving the novel a second chance. I would recommend it, but I think that it's impossible to predict who will enjoy and who will dislike the book. And one needs to be in the exact right mood for it. I couldn't get on with it on my first try but loved it on my second.

Interesting to see we share two recent reads in common - doesn't seem to happen to me very often! I have to admit with this one, I gave it another go, having read it for our book group and thoroughly disliked it, but had a thoroughly interesting discussion with others who were rather more positive. Turned out rather the opposite from your experience - if anything I disliked it even more intensely, and couldn't get through more than 70-80 pages before binning it for good! As you say, it's definitely a book that polarises!

 

I also enjoyed reading your comments about The Rabbit Back Literature Society. You'll be pleased it was a rather more positive reading experience (!). Even if not quite the 5/5 experience you had, it was definitely very different to anything else I've read lately, with much provocation of thought! I'm certainly glad that I read it, especially given that I only picked it up on a complete off-chance.

Edited December 26, 2014 by willoyd