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Your Book Activity Today - Take 8!


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I'm over halfway through my Titanic book, it's extremely comprehensive regarding the crew and passengers; names, actions, attitudes, deaths and survivals etc. Everybody knows Molly Brown and the band that played until the ship went down, but there are other bits too. The Junior Wireless officer, Harold Bride, whose superior Phillips failed to get the ice warnings to the captain throughout the 14th, refused to leave his post despite the captain's dismissal, and went down with the ship (as did Phillips). He survived being stuck in an air pocket for 45 minutes under a boat, and once aboard the Carpathian he started working, despite injury and exhaustion, with the Carpathian's wireless officer Cottam (whom he had earlier contacted with distress calls) sending telegrams documenting the names of the 700 odd surivors. Lots of photos of everyone too.

 

That sounds really interesting, how long is the book?

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It was very weird where I got in 1,5 hours when I started from Truman Capote's novel!

 

:( I love the random places that reading takes me. I often get caught up going from Wikipedia article to Wikipedia article reading up on various things. I've learnt a lot of interesting things that way!

 

I've come home with probably over 100 books!!! Best christmas present ever!! And all for free!!

 

Wow, what a haul! I look forward to hearing more about these books.

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That sounds really interesting, how long is the book?

 

76 BIG pages with small text. I read about 30 pages today and it took a while. The information is so condensed that you're trying to remember names and you end up flicking back (tells you all the names of the senior crew, captain, chief officer, first/second/third/fourth/fifth officers, how they got assigned and what they ended up doing on the night of the disaster, and the same for the designers/various people associated with the building of the ship. It's actually very, very good.

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I've come home with probably over 100 books!!! Best christmas present ever!!
Oooh, very nice :D any ones you're particularly looking forward to?

 

Working on The Divine Comedy. I'm a few chapters in and my brain is starting to go numb.
I did warn you :( is it the good kind of brain hurt though, i.e. releasing the endorphines of exercise?
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I did warn you :( is it the good kind of brain hurt though, i.e. releasing the endorphines of exercise?

 

Mental excercise yes, just like when you do a few squats for the first time and weeks and then the next day your thighs are so sore you can barely sit. It's like parts of your brain that you didn't realize you hadn't been working properly are now in use. :D It hooked me from the first line, though. Very compelling stuff.

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I'm so glad you're enjoying it, it's one of those pieces of literature that are hard work but return everything you give them tenfold and then some.

 

*hands some hankies over for when you reach Canto V :(*.

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I look forward to offering my recommending services on your forthcoming thread :(.

 

 

lol - Thanks BookJumper, you're very well read and i'll look forward to your suggestions :D.

 

Actually, i was looking through the 'classics' board and a post reminded me of a book i read (years ago) for GSCE English Lit called 'North and South' by Elizabeth Gaskell. As i recall, i quite enjoyed the book, but i guess that was because our English teacher explained every word and sentence of the novel to us. It's currently selling on Amazon for a couple of quid, might purchase this and see how i get on.

 

Have you read this book BookJumper? If so what did you think? Hope it's not as intimidating as Frankenstein!

 

76 BIG pages with small text. I read about 30 pages today and it took a while. The information is so condensed that you're trying to remember names and you end up flicking back .....

 

Hi Nollaig, this sounds very interesting. Saw a programme about the Titanic on C4 a few weeks. I missed the start of the show but it was reverting hearing the survivors stories etc. I checked back on your previous posts, sorry if i've missed it but what is the title and author of the book.

 

Many thanks

 

nightingale :exc:

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I checked back on your previous posts, sorry if i've missed it but what is the title and author of the book.

 

It's an awesome book, I'll write a review when I'm done. It's by a guy called Beau Riffenburgh - he's been involved in a series of these 'Experience' books, so this one is called 'The Titanic Experience', with 'the Legend of the Unsinkable Ship' as a subheading. It's well worth purchasing in my opinion - great info for newbies to the subject and the facsimiles and photos for enthusiasts.

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@ Nightingale: alas, I've not read North and South, however I mean to at some point as I'm told the story is compelling (some of my friends loved the recent-ish mini-series). I'd say it's probably a good thing for you to be reading at this stage - your teacher's explanations will jump to the fore of your brain as you pick it up again, so it shouldn't be as uphill a struggle as Frankenstein!

 

@ CaliLily: wow, you're getting through that quick!

 

I stand by what I said, go find some hankies between Cantos IV and V, though I will not spoil why... you'll find out soon enough, at this rate.

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It's an awesome book, I'll write a review when I'm done. It's by a guy called Beau Riffenburgh - he's been involved in a series of these 'Experience' books, so this one is called 'The Titanic Experience', with 'the Legend of the Unsinkable Ship' as a subheading. It's well worth purchasing in my opinion - great info for newbies to the subject and the facsimiles and photos for enthusiasts.

 

Thanks for the information, Nollaig! :D. I'll definitely have to get my hands on this. Glad it's accessible to newbs. I always thought of the Titanic incident as something that happened years ago and i didn't really connect with it. After seeing the tv show i think i'd like to learn more about this awful disaster. What really stood out in the story, was the number of occasions when the iceberg collision could have been avoided, but wasn't either due to human error or plain bad luck. All very sad. I look forward to reading your review :exc:. Thanks again.

 

Wow, i'm slowly building up a booklist! :(

 

edit: BookJumper, didn't see the mini-series, shame i missed it. No matter, thanks for your input, i'll take the plunge and go for it :).

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I finished reading Sushi for beginners by Marian Keyes yesterday afternoon. I really liked it after struggling through the first 100 pages it was a great book.

 

This morning I started One night with a goddess by Judi McCoy. Second one in the muses/goddesses collection and looking forward to reading this

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Almost in the middle of The Secret Garden.

Oooh, I LOVE the Secret Garden!!! That, and A Little Princess, I could read over, and over, and over again... and I do!!! :lol:

 

As for today's reading... managed a few pages of The Other Boleyn Girl at lunch, and gonna read a bit more this eve....

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