Athena Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 I found this thread, so it must have been a while ago. I look forward to read your answers in the next while . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 Wow, 2011 I thought it was back in 2013 or so... How the years just fly by! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 The post! You were so organised even in your past reading logs . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 Hahaaa Well, I like being organized Wasn't as much in my first log but... Then I learned how it's done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 How brilliant you joined on 08/08/2008! I've always seen your logs as a great example of how to be organised . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 How brilliant you joined on 08/08/2008! I've always seen your logs as a great example of how to be organised . Ah, thanks very much, that's nice of you to say Yep, 8.8.2008 was very random but very neat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 Day 03 – Your favourite series This is a really difficult one. I remember the last time I did this, I did a whole range of sub-categories so I could fit all my favorites under the title I'll be more harsh this time. I'll just go and say the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay. The book series is the one the television show is based on. I've only seen the first two seasons of the series but I love it. And I love the books, too. They are gross, they are funny, they are cunning. And I'm just so glad that they did such a fine job with the TV series. Brilliant casting. Highly recommended! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 (edited) Day 04 – Favourite book of your favourite series As difficult as it was to choose the favorite series, the favorite book in that series is really, really easy. It's the fifth book called Dexter Is Delicious. There were stuff in there that surprised me and made me laugh in disgust And in the novel the reader sees a side to Dexter that hasn't been seen before. I remember when I wrote the review, I had to write a certain scene in spoilers because I thought it was so funny and cunning. (And it's a bit more special because I was reading the book when I was on the plane to Australia to meet our very own Kylie ) Edit: I went and checked, and no I didn't write the scene down, but I talked about it and a few other twists. Gosh I want to now re-read the book!! Edited April 10, 2015 by frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 Day 05 – A book that makes you happy This is an incredibly difficult question. When I was thinking about this, I thought, books don't normally make me happy. They can make me happy about the ending, but not generally happy in life. I think those two things are very different. Some books can get me in a good mood, but is that really the book making me happy? I think it's a whole lot more common that a book would make me laugh than make me happy.... I was going through my books read on Goodreads, and stumbled upon the title Missu löytää ratkaisun by Kaija Pakkanen. It's a Finnish children's novel about Missu who's a young girl and who stutters. She's teased because of it and she has no friends. She's awfully lonely, but has a few adult friends who try to cheer her up and make her more confident about herself, no matter if she stutters. She starts rehearsing her speech, to try to quit stuttering, and she rehearses by reading poems out loud. She enters a competition where she's in front of everyone at school, it's some sort of talent competition, and ... I don't remember how that goes, but the conclusion is that she manages to get over the stuttering and makes friends and becomes a happy kid. I guess that book is the one that is as close to making me happy as any. It's a survival story of a kind, and even though survival stories make me more hopeful about the human kind than happy, this one makes me happy, too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 It'd be so difficult answering some of these questions (but also tempting..)! Missu Löytää Ratkaisun sounds interesting (it's easier than I thought to type the ö and ä on my keyboard), did you read this when you were a child? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 It'd be so difficult answering some of these questions (but also tempting..)! Missu Löytää Ratkaisun sounds interesting (it's easier than I thought to type the ö and ä on my keyboard), did you read this when you were a child? I think I read it first as a teenager... I can't be sure. My read books log doesn't go that far It's a rather old book and not in very great condition, so I was very very happy when I found a newer edition at a charityshop a year or so ago and could buy it as a second copy, in case the old one falls into pieces. A sidenote: we don't use capital letters for the rest of the words in book titles, in Finnish. We only use a capital for the first word in the title For instance, A Full Man by Tom Wolfe is Täysi mies in Finnish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 I think I read it first as a teenager... I can't be sure. My read books log doesn't go that far It's a rather old book and not in very great condition, so I was very very happy when I found a newer edition at a charityshop a year or so ago and could buy it as a second copy, in case the old one falls into pieces. Awww . That's a good idea, to have two copies. A sidenote: we don't use capital letters for the rest of the words in book titles, in Finnish. We only use a capital for the first word in the title For instance, A Full Man by Tom Wolfe is Täysi mies in Finnish. Ah thanks, sorry if I offended . I assumed it would be up to the individual, like I thought it was that way in English and Dutch (I know in German one must capitalise certain words, always). I will keep it in mind the next time I want to write a Finnish book title . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 Day 06 – A book that makes you sad There are a lot of 'mis mems' that have made me sad over the years, but I thought I'd go for a fictional novel as my answer. And I will go with A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I read it for a uni English lit course and for the first 60-80-100 pages it was very slow going and I even switched to a Finnish edition as I thought that would make it go a bit quicker at least... Didn't enjoy the start of it at all. But then the story picked up its pace and the characters came alive. From Amazon: It was the time of the French Revolution — a time of great change and great danger. It was a time when injustice was met by a lust for vengeance, and rarely was a distinction made between the innocent and the guilty. Against this tumultuous historical backdrop, Dickens' great story of unsurpassed adventure and courage unfolds. [...] Brilliantly plotted, the novel is rich in drama, romance, and heroics [...]. I remember crying bucket loads at the end... I think it's a novel that will stay with me forever, even though I've only read it once and that was many many moons ago. The book starts with one of the most epic and memorable lines: " It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. " I remember this very particular passage was used on one of our English pronunciation classes, too It was to do with intonation, and as we were all reading the text out loud, we sounded like a bunch of dolphins And I used the passage in my thank you and see you later! -card at the end of my work practice at the library. Needless to say, I omitted the negative, so I only wrote thus: "It was the best of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the epoch of belief, it was the season of Light, it was the spring of hope." I would heartily recommend the book to anyone who's not afraid of tackling classics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 (edited) Ah thanks, sorry if I offended . I assumed it would be up to the individual, like I thought it was that way in English and Dutch (I know in German one must capitalise certain words, always). I will keep it in mind the next time I want to write a Finnish book title . Don't worry, you didn't offend me at all! It was just a general observation in case anyone's interested. I didn't mean to imply that you offended me in any way. I'm not that fussed I remember when I first joined the forum, I used to write the English titles of books like I would have in Finnish, for example The curious case of the dog in the night-time, and it took me a while to realize that that's not really how it's done Even though I'd taken English lit courses! I guess I'd forgotten about those rules by then... I know about the German words, yes. Coincidentally in my previous post I quoted a passage from A Tale of Two Cities and Dickens says Light instead of light. And you definitely don't have to remember that about Finnish book titles! It doesn't bother me at all, I just thought it might be an interesting thing to know about how we Finns do it over here Edited April 12, 2015 by frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 Don't worry, you didn't offend me at all! It was just a general observation in case anyone's interested. I didn't mean to imply that you offended me in any way. I'm not that fussed I remember when I first joined the forum, I used to write the English titles of books like I would have in Finnish, for example The curious case of the dog in the night-time, and it took me a while to realize that that's not really how it's done Even though I'd taken English lit courses! I guess I'd forgotten about those rules by then... I know about the German words, yes. Coincidentally in my previous post I quoted a passage from A Tale of Two Cities and Dickens says Light instead of light. And you definitely don't have to remember that about Finnish book titles! It doesn't bother me at all, I just thought it might be an interesting thing to know about how we Finns do it over here I'm glad I didn't offend you . I do find it interesting!! Finnish is such a different language from the languages I know. Actually now that I think about it, most Dutch websites have the titles not capitalised either (other than the first word). I just capitalise titles in my own book list, because I find it looks nicer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 I'm glad I didn't offend you . I do find it interesting!! Finnish is such a different language from the languages I know. Actually now that I think about it, most Dutch websites have the titles not capitalised either (other than the first word). I just capitalise titles in my own book list, because I find it looks nicer. Wow, I guess Dutch is the same as Finnish then, when it comes to book titles! I think Swedish also doesn't use capitals except for the first word in the title. But I agree, it looks nicer with the capitals, and as this is an English forum, I do like to do it as it's supposed to be done, with the titles in English Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 The Tale of Two Cities is a great book and very sad. Yes that has to be one of the best opening paragraphs of any book .. what a good idea to use it in your thank you card .. genius and very apt (having left out the negatives ) I sobbed at the end too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 I have to admit, that while I've enjoyed the little of Dickens I have read, I'm still a little hesitant to read more, but perhaps I could be tempted by A Tale of Two Cities after such a recommendation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSchultz19 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 I couldn't agree more about A Tale of Two Cities it was slow going for the first half of the book, but when it picked up it was hard to put down. And I was extremely sad in the end as well. I also think that from reading only a couple other Dickens, it is different from those others I have read. First off it is shorter and second it has a whole different feel to it. Not necessarily a style change, it just evoked more feeling than the others I've read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 The Tale of Two Cities is a great book and very sad. Yes that has to be one of the best opening paragraphs of any book .. what a good idea to use it in your thank you card .. genius and very apt (having left out the negatives ) I sobbed at the end too. I don't know if I usually like books that are very very sad, because they make on ... sad! But this one... I don't mind The end was like, No you wouldn't, no, don't do it. Are you serious? No. No?!? Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! I have to admit, that while I've enjoyed the little of Dickens I have read, I'm still a little hesitant to read more, but perhaps I could be tempted by A Tale of Two Cities after such a recommendation. I will confess that I've only ever read this and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens so far, so I have no idea how this book fairs among the others. But I would be mighty interested to see if you go ahead and give this one a go and see how you'll like it. It is and has been for a long long time one of the top 10 books I've ever read. Quite possibly top 5. I couldn't agree more about A Tale of Two Cities it was slow going for the first half of the book, but when it picked up it was hard to put down. And I was extremely sad in the end as well. I also think that from reading only a couple other Dickens, it is different from those others I have read. First off it is shorter and second it has a whole different feel to it. Not necessarily a style change, it just evoked more feeling than the others I've read. It's interesting to hear that it's different from the other Dickens books you've read. I wonder if there's more wit and humor in the other Dickens novels. Glad to hear you loved the book, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 #22. Black Dog by Stephen Booth Blurb: When smart, sexy teenager Laura Vernon goes missing one long, hot summer in the Peak District, local police mount a full-scale search operation. But it's retired lead miner Harry Dickinson who finally discovers Laura's body, and he seems bent on obstructing their investigation. Even her parents are holding something back. But what could be more important than finding Laura's murderer? Ben Cooper, a young DC living with tragedy, has known the villagers all his life, but his instinctive feelings about the case are called into question by the arrival of Diane Fry, a ruthlessly ambitious detective from another division. As the investigation twists and turns, Ben and Diane discover that to understand the present, they must also understand the past; and in a world where no one is entirely innocent, pain and suffering can be the only outcome. Thoughts: This came up as a Goodreads suggestion and I borrowed a copy from the library. It started out well enough and I was keen to read more. But then all sorts of things happened. I saw one of the big 'twists' or confessions coming long before its time. I like to be surprised by the author and even though I've read quite a few thrillers and crime novels, I'm still quite easily taken aback, so to see this one coming, I wasn't impressed. And then the book dragged out. And the secrets promised to be revealed weren't that interesting. And the female detective was so two-dimensional and she did something in the novel that I thought she would never ever have done, and at that point I thought the author made a huge mistake. I was onto the last 100 pages of the novel and I wanted to throw the book out the window at that point, just because of that one stupid scene. I'm also getting a bit tired with all the detectives having their own secrets and horrid pasts and/or present lives. I don't know, maybe it comes with the territory, but I think it would be refreshing if for once they led normal enough lives and weren't far up to their necks with personal problems. It's made me think of Commissario Brunetti and his family, with a longing. 2/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 OMG OMG OMG!! I went to check my reserved books status online, just to see if some of the movies I'd reserved had arrived for me. Yep, two of them. But there was also a notice that a book had arrived for me. And it was My Madder Fatter Diary by Rae Earl! :exc: They've finally gotten their copy and put the library stickers on it and thus made it an official library book and now it's there, fresh from the 'library print' for me I think I'm going to have to abandon A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon for the diary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I will confess that I've only ever read this and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens so far, so I have no idea how this book fairs among the others. But I would be mighty interested to see if you go ahead and give this one a go and see how you'll like it. It is and has been for a long long time one of the top 10 books I've ever read. Quite possibly top 5. I've read A Christmas Carol and another short story/novella called The Chimes, plus Nicholas Nickleby which we read as a group read for the English Counties challenge. I'd been scared off the longer novels before after giving up on Oliver Twist and The Old Curiosity Shop, but like I said, with such a recommendation from you, I might well make this my next Dickens (although goodness knows when I'll get to it ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 It's always a case of there being so many books to read, and so little time to read, innit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Day 07 – Most underrated book When I think about books that would fit into the categories in these questions, a lot of the time I think about the books and what's been said of them here on BCF. I do have 'real life' friends who read books but let's face it, I don't talk to them almost daily about books, and it's a lot easier to forget what each of them have read and want to read. Over here you get a lot of repetition: you find out about different people's likes and dislikes in different threads, and that makes it easier to remember who likes what. So when I was thinking about the books that I think are the most underrated, I came up with quite a few different titles, but each time I realized that it's not a case of the book being great in my opinion but others having a lesser opinion of it: it's more often a case of me enjoying a particular book and then finding out that not many of you have read it or perhaps even heard of it. I began to think that I might not find anything... Then I came across Forrest Gump by Winstom Groom! Again, more people have probably watched the movie than read the book, but I do know some who've read it and not liked it all that much. Which in my humble opinion is a shame because personally I've really enjoyed reading the book, I think it's marvelously funny. I've read it at least three times, and each time I've enjoyed it as much as the first time I know the book's not for everyone but the humor in the book is the sort that appeals to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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