Mike

[emjays]

Hi from Queensland, Australia

 

Currently reading Martin Amis, Peter Carey, Tim Winton, Hilaire Belloc and the greatest little entertainer I received for a birthday prezzie: Skylarks and Scuttlebutts - a Treasure Trove of Nautical Knowledge by Lorenz Schrotter. I was a potter and now paint, read and read and keep a Journal. I read just about anything. A bit of a dustbin. I look forward to meeting you, when I have learned about how to travel on this site!

[Kylie]

Hi Mike and

 

I have Winton's Cloudstreet on my TBR pile - I haven't read anything by him before but I'm looking forward to it! Are there any of his that you particularly enjoyed?

[Heather]

Hello Mike welcome to the forum.

[Inver]

Waving to :welcomeboard:you from Scotland

Hope you have fun.

[Echo]

Welcome to the forum!!

[Purple Poppy]

Hi. I'm sure you'll find your way around in no time, but any problems just shout. We are all very friendly and will help if we can.

Welcome aboard!

Pp

[March]

Hi Mike

[madcow]

Hello and welcome Mike

[emjays]

Never, ever in my roaming life have I communicated with a mad cow! My mother, bless 'er, would say 'Do be careful son'. Thanks for the message.

[emjays]

Hi Avid Reader

Wow! Messages pouring in. Suddenly Queensland becomes part of the world. Is it true the War's ended? Mike

[emjays]

Kylie, Cloudstreet is such great writing. Dirt Music seems, to me, a much lesser thing. I do so like the wide imagination of his writing. Something like the West Australian landscape. I'm a Pete Carey fan but he's becoming a bit precious of his public. Why can't he just write and let the rest of it go, I wonder. I would! Mike

[Kell]

Hello and to the forum, Mike. I hope you enjoy it here.

[Karen1]

Hi Mike. Welcome to the board.

[emjays]

Hi Karen

I'm breathing! Not sure of the etiquette here. I want to thank everybody for their kind messages. Maybe a few at a time? Is that ok?

 

Kell. Scotland, O Scotland. Frozen or not. Long, long, long ago, I drove from Edinboro to Glasgow to meet a girl. No! No! I can't go on! Play the Bruch Violin Concerto, very loudly. Mike

 

Kylie, Cloudstreet is such great writing. Dirt Music seems, to me, a much lesser thing. I do so like the wide imagination of his writing. Something like the West Australian landscape. I'm a Pete Carey fan but he's becoming a bit precious of his public. Why can't he just write and let the rest of it go, I wonder. I would! Mike

Sorry. I've messed up big time, In an interview Carey "attributed the muted critical response in Australia to his latest fiction to laziness on the part of local reviewers."

[emjays]

March! How good of you to write to me from so far away! I rejoice daily, in the magic of the Internet that has shrunk our world. I once dreamed of sailing around the world. Now I can just sit at the computer. No sweat. Thanks for your post. Mike

[~Andrea~]

Hi Mike. It's nice to meet you. I hope you enjoy it here

[Nici]

Hello and welcome Mike!

[Spooncat]

Hiya and welcome

[Laramie]

:friends0:welcome

[Esiotrot]

Hey Mike -

Nice to read you

KxXx

[Renniemist]

Hello Mike.

[carm]

Hi Mike and welcome to the friendliest place to talk about books- enjoy!!!!!!

[Icecream]

Welcometo the forum Mike.

[Guest ii]

Hi Mike, and welcome to the forum!

[emjays]

Ah'm always suspishus of folk wiv four stars. An' who told you I was ill? Mike

 

Hello Carm. I've been days on the bookforum site but have not yet talked much about books! Have just received an article from a Scottish newspaper about Peter Carey's home in New York. I have just read "Theft" and looking forward to his latest. There seems to be some hostility in Oz to natives, like Carey, who prefer to live elsewhere. Maybe we still suffer from colonial cringe.

Publishers' Blurbs. Critics. Book Reviewers. To fall readily into cliche, is he, she reading the same book, seeing the same film, hearing the same musician? Should we read blurbs with more than a grain of sodium? I want to write more but I am a model of restraint. Mike