Athena Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 I hope you don't feel too pressured over the reviews, at least not on our behalf . I hope you enjoy the new book, 60p is a bargain ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Sorry to hear you're not feeling yourself at the moment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 I'm sorry your feeling apathetic at the moment Is it just on the forum or in real life, too? I mean is your forum mojo waning, or is it life in general? I really hope it's only just the latter, because that comes and goes and you shouldn't worry about it! It's no use forcing it, it comes back when it does. I hope you are having a much better time in real life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 I'm sure just the titles and authors would be fine Janet and if you liked or disliked...we don't mind...sometimes I don't know what to say in a review either. Thanks, Diane. Some people just seem to have the ability to write such perfect reviews and I wish I had that same skill sometime! I hope you don't feel too pressured over the reviews, at least not on our behalf . I hope you enjoy the new book, 60p is a bargain ! I like to write them for my own memory really. I find that sometimes I might have really enjoyed a book, and yet six months later I couldn't tell you a thing about it if you asked me. The rest of my memory seems fine though so I don't think it's anything too serious. Thanks, Gaia. Sorry to hear you're not feeling yourself at the moment Thanks, Noll. I'm sorry your feeling apathetic at the moment Is it just on the forum or in real life, too? I mean is your forum mojo waning, or is it life in general? I really hope it's only just the latter, because that comes and goes and you shouldn't worry about it! It's no use forcing it, it comes back when it does. I hope you are having a much better time in real life! It seems to be an online thing mostly. It's not just here but another forum I'm a regular on. That and this site are still two of the first tabs I open when I come online but I just don't seem to be able to say much of any interest and it's frustrating. I'm reading all the blogs so hopefully it (whatever it is! will come back as suddenly as it's deserted me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 It seems to be an online thing mostly. It's not just here but another forum I'm a regular on. That and this site are still two of the first tabs I open when I come online but I just don't seem to be able to say much of any interest and it's frustrating. I'm reading all the blogs so hopefully it (whatever it is! will come back as suddenly as it's deserted me. Maybe you're just finding real life more interesting at the moment You're visiting interesting places more often because of the different work schedule you now have, and you're enjoying that, as well as the summer and your long walks! We're on the back burner in your life for the moment, but that's quite alright! Of course we miss you but you must enjoy the things that are enjoyable to you at the moment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted June 19, 2015 Author Share Posted June 19, 2015 That's probably true. I will never leave this place because I do love it, but life is rather getting in the way at the moment. But my life is great at the moment, and long may that continue, so I'm not really complaining. Thanks, Sari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Echo Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Life got in the way for me, as well, and I thought I was making a permanent break from the forum. But, lo and behold, I can't stay away! Enjoy your life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted June 21, 2015 Author Share Posted June 21, 2015 Hello, Sarah. Lovely to see you on here. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 That's probably true. I will never leave this place because I do love it, but life is rather getting in the way at the moment. But my life is great at the moment, and long may that continue, so I'm not really complaining. Thanks, Sari. That's the main thing .. life is to be lived to the max and enjoyed. I think this place comes into its own during the autumn/winter months when we're all snuggling indoors (Kylie is doing that now ) You're doing lots of walking too .. I've found that's interfered with my forum time but it's much better for me than sitting on my **** I'll always find time for the forum .. sometimes more sometimes less. But it's home for us book readers and a place where we can chat to kindred spirits so we'll always come here Have a great time Janet .. kick up your heels! xx Don't worry about the reviews .. only do them if you feel like it. I think the main problem is we read so many books .. it's hard to keep track of them all and hard to write something different each time I always mean to make notes but I never do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Yup it happens Janet, sure look at me. I'm always swinging back and forth over this place - this is the first year in YEARS that I've kept posting past the first 2-3 months of the year. Life happens. What matters is that you can go and come back any time you want, and it'll be like you never left at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted June 26, 2015 Author Share Posted June 26, 2015 Sorry, guys - I missed these posts. That's the main thing .. life is to be lived to the max and enjoyed. I think this place comes into its own during the autumn/winter months when we're all snuggling indoors (Kylie is doing that now ) You're doing lots of walking too .. I've found that's interfered with my forum time but it's much better for me than sitting on my **** I'll always find time for the forum .. sometimes more sometimes less. But it's home for us book readers and a place where we can chat to kindred spirits so we'll always come here Have a great time Janet .. kick up your heels! xx Don't worry about the reviews .. only do them if you feel like it. I think the main problem is we read so many books .. it's hard to keep track of them all and hard to write something different each time I always mean to make notes but I never do Thanks, Kay. Life is rather wonderful at the moment! We're going away for the weekend (in fact, in about half an hour!) as Peter is 50 on Sunday. He doesn't know where we're going! I mean to make notes too and seldom do. I do mark passages when I read Kindle books, but even then I don't always remember to go back and check them (or if I do, I sometimes can't remember why I highlighted them! ). Yup it happens Janet, sure look at me. I'm always swinging back and forth over this place - this is the first year in YEARS that I've kept posting past the first 2-3 months of the year. Life happens. What matters is that you can go and come back any time you want, and it'll be like you never left at all Thanks, Noll. It's so lovely to have you around more. I've finished Middlemarch by George Eliot. I really enjoyed it. It's not quite a 5/5 for me, but it's definitely a 4½ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted July 1, 2015 Author Share Posted July 1, 2015 I met my lovely Mum in Bath yesterday and she treated me to two books. I've had Stig of the Dump on my 'wish list' for years and years, and I've had The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow on it for a few weeks so I'm very happy. My Mum bought herself the latest Victoria Hislop book, but I can't remember what it was called. She's not an author I've read before, but this is set in Famagusta, the 'ghost town' in Cyprus, (which I've gazed at from a boat! ) so if she recommends it I might just give it a go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Sounds like a great day Janet - with some book presents as a bonus! I've never read Victoria Hislop either although I think my Mum likes her as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 I'm glad you had fun with your mum, and I hope you enjoy the books ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 I met my lovely Mum in Bath yesterday and she treated me to two books. I've had Stig of the Dump on my 'wish list' for years and years, and I've had The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow on it for a few weeks so I'm very happy. My Mum bought herself the latest Victoria Hislop book, but I can't remember what it was called. She's not an author I've read before, but this is set in Famagusta, the 'ghost town' in Cyprus, (which I've gazed at from a boat! ) so if she recommends it I might just give it a go. Nice pressies, well done Mrs Jänet's Mom! I've come across Victoria Hislop's novels in the library, her last name is so unusual (to me) that it's really stuck out. I think I'll go and google her now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 Stig Of The Dump was a favourite of mine, such a lovely story. I will have to read it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 I bought The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow on Tuesday too! I'm planning to read it this weekend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Sounds like a great day Janet - with some book presents as a bonus! I've never read Victoria Hislop either although I think my Mum likes her as well. Thanks, Alex. I’m waiting to hear what she thinks of it before I decide whether to read it or not. I'm glad you had fun with your mum, and I hope you enjoy the books ! Thanks, Gaia. I’m looking forward to them. Nice pressies, well done Mrs Jänet's Mom! I've come across Victoria Hislop's novels in the library, her last name is so unusual (to me) that it's really stuck out. I think I'll go and google her now... Thanks, Sari. Did you Google her? She’s married to a chap called Ian Hislop who is (amongst other things) a journalist and the editor of a satirical magazine called Private Eye, and who is also a captain on a comedy quiz show called Have I Got News for You?. I don’t know much about her though so I guess I should Google her too! Stig Of The Dump was a favourite of mine, such a lovely story. I will have to read it again. Thanks, Chrissy. I’m looking forward to it. I bought The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow on Tuesday too! I'm planning to read it this weekend I hope you enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 The Spire by William Golding The ‘blurb’ Dean Jocelin has a vision: that God has chosen him to erect a spire on his cathedral. His mason anxiously advises against it, for the old cathedral was built without foundations. Nevertheless, the spire rises octagon upon octagon, pinnacle by pinnacle, until the stone pillars shriek and the ground beneath it swims. Its shadow falls ever darker on the world below, and on Dean Jocelin in particular. From the author of Lord of the Flies, The Spire is a dark and powerful portrait of one man’s will, and the folly that he creates. Well this is a tricky one to review! I found it a hard read – hard in terms of the amount of concentration needed! For me it definitely wasn’t a book to be rushed, but rather I had to read it and then go away and digest what I’d read. I think it’s what’s termed a Stream of Consciousness and Jocelin’s head is a very strange place to inhabit! The book is full of metaphors and symbolism (not least the phallic symbolism of the spire itself!) and deals with the Dean’s slow descent into madness as he watches his beloved Spire being built, despite warnings against its construction. I love old churches and cathedrals, and Salisbury, which is the setting of this novel, is one of my favourites and a place I often visit, so when a friend recommended this, telling me it was her favourite book, I thought I’d give it a try. I have a copy of Lord of the Flies on my bookshelf. This has such mixed reviews amongst people I know that I have been putting it off, but I will definitely get round to it at some stage. On initially finishing I gave it a 3½/5 but on reflection it probably deserves a 4/5 because it’s such a thought-provoking read! The paperback edition is 272 pages long and is published by Faber & Faber. It was first published in 1964. The ISBN is 978 0571307821. 3½ or 4/5 (I enjoyed it) (Finished 14 April 2015) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 I met my lovely Mum in Bath yesterday and she treated me to two books. I've had Stig of the Dump on my 'wish list' for years and years, and I've had The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow on it for a few weeks so I'm very happy. My Mum bought herself the latest Victoria Hislop book, but I can't remember what it was called. She's not an author I've read before, but this is set in Famagusta, the 'ghost town' in Cyprus, (which I've gazed at from a boat! ) so if she recommends it I might just give it a go. Congratulations on your new books Janet, I read Stig of the Dump at school too. . The latest Victoria Hislop is The Sunrise, I wasn't too impressed with it and haven't finished it as yet. A friend and I agree that she is a bit hit and miss. We both loves The Island and The Thread but neither of us were keen on The Sunrise or The Return. I'll be interested to hear what your Mum thinks of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Thanks. I am seeing my Mum tomorrow so I'll find out whether she's started it yet or not. She's going away next week to stay with my cousin so I imagine she might be saving it for her holiday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Ghosting by Jonathan Kemp The ‘blurb’ When 65-year old Grace Wellbeck sees what she believes to be the ghost of her first husband, she fears for her sanity and begins to worry she's having another breakdown. A second sighting of the ghost later the same day sends her careering back in time to the first day she met Pete, in 1958 at Blackpool Pleasure beach. She revisits their courtship, their wedding day, and the day, six months later, when Pete first hits her. Haunted by her past, and memories of her daughter, Hannah, whose death brought on her first breakdown, Grace realises she has to make some changes. The ghost, Luke, turns out to be very real. As Grace becomes entangled in the disorientating world of art and drugs he and his friends inhabit, she feels increasingly estranged from her second husband and the life they've built together. Grief-soaked, long-buried memories of a violent past come back thick and fast and bring her to a momentous decision. I hadn’t heard of this author and I picked this book up on a whim in Waterstone’s, Bath – I admit I was attracted to the cover which is very pretty! Grace is out shopping when she sees her ex-husband. She is totally shocked, mostly because her ex-husband is dead! As fate would have it she then keeps seeing him and eventually meets him… or at least, the young man called Luke who looks so like Pete. As Grace spends more time with Luke she reflects on her past and the dissatisfaction with her present and as old memories are stirred up she finds her life moving in directions she never thought possible. I like novels with more than one timeframe and this story slips seamlessly from the 1950s when Grace was a young woman with high hopes for a happy future with Pete – her sailor husband - to her present life – very enjoyable. The paperback edition is 209 pages long and is published by Myriad Editions. It was first published in 2015. The ISBN is 9780956251565. 4½/5 (I really enjoyed it) (Finished 16 April 2015) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie H Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Great review of Ghosting, Janet I've never heard of the author before, but this book will go on my wish list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Thanks, Marie. It's only a short book and a quick read, but very enjoyable. I have so many reviews to catch up on...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion The ‘blurb’ Love isn't an exact science - but no one told Don Tillman. A thirty-nine-year-old geneticist, Don's never had a second date. So he devises the Wife Project, a scientific test to find the perfect partner. Enter Rosie - 'the world's most incompatible woman' - throwing Don's safe, ordered life into chaos. But what is this unsettling, alien emotion he's feeling? Don Tillman is a Professor in Genetics at a university in Melbourne. He is wired slightly differently and not very good in social situations. He lives plans his life to the nth degree, even eating the same thing each day each week to keep shopping time and cooking to a minimum. He has had relationships before but they don’t last, so, approaching a milestone birthday, he decides to put together The Wife Project – a questionnaire and selection process to find the woman who will become his wife. But along comes Rosie, who, far from ticking all the boxes is the antithesis of all he desires. However Rosie may just hold the key to his future happiness, and so with her help he sets out to find the woman of his dreams… I came across this book some time ago and added it to my wish list, but I was trying to be good and not buy too many books (hahahaha! As my husband says, there is no harm in pointless optimism! ) so I put off buying it. I then read lots of reviews which said what a great book it is and I was concerned that it wouldn’t live up to the hype, but I needn’t have worried – I loved it! Don is like nobody I know, and on paper he sounds like he might be an irritating character – but I thought he was great – very endearing! I can’t wait to read the next book in the Don Tillman series! The paperback edition is 368 pages long and is published by Penguin. It was first published in 2013. The ISBN is 9781405912792. 5/5 (I loved it!) (Finished 24 April 2015) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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