vodkafan Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 I'm happy to hear you ended up enjoying The Help, I was so alarmed at your first comment on it not grabbing you. I've borrowed it from the library and will get to it one of these days. BTW, did you say somewhere that you'd like to read Room by Emma Donoghue, or have I been imagining things? Hi frankie, I am sure you will enjoy The Help . And yes, I have already downloaded Room but I also have Never Let Me Go and the two Steig Larsson sequels too, so I have the luxury of choice. I may read a page of each book and see which one grabs me first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 (edited) Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson This series of books of course needs no introduction on here. Although I had no idea what it was about before I read it, my wife saw the film without me and told me that she would not watch it again, that it contained more than a bit of nasty violence against women , and she thought I would not like it. (Then she bought me the book for Christmas. Go figure ) So I could not help but have that in the back of my mind as I read it and viewed it from that perspective. I found the beginning quite intriguing, and because of the mystery that Blomkvist is engaged to investigate I would have kept on reading to the end anyway. "Practical Pig" Blomkvist I found a bit boring on his own though, and was grateful for the character of Salander, who is far more exciting, I think because she is so amoral. When I first got to the end of the book I at first thought , yeah, that it was a great book. But then I read The Help, which I found to be truly uplifting which made me lower Dragon Tattoo in my estimation. You cannot get away from the fact that the subject matter is thoroughly nasty and Salander, fascinating as she is, is a deeply flawed human being. Edited March 6, 2011 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 Review: Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl Written By Herself by Harriet Ann Jacobs This book was a free download from Amazon. First thing, which I feel I must correct, is that although it is credited to the above person, the slave in question was in fact Linda Brent and the story is completely hers; HAJ basically proof read the manuscript and tidied up the punctuation. A few white people at the end attest to the truth of her recollections and to her good character. This was a very interesting book. Nobody would of course defend slavery now, but when Linda wrote her story it was still an ongoing institution. I think it is a book everybody should read, especially teenagers who are at risk from racist propoganda from media and TV. Although it cannot be said that Linda was "lucky" during her time as a slave, she managed to avoid some of the more brutal aspects and cruelties of that existence, which she acknowledges. She notes in passing what befell other slaves. But she was still forced to endure much hardship. It made a very apt prequel to The Help which was set 110 years later . One thing I was surprised at was the amount of close interaction between slaves and owners. But the fact that blacks felt degraded and dehumanised is made clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 Review: Haven by Justin Kemppainen This was either free or a few pence to download on my kindle from Amazon. I am sorry, but I have to say that this was not very good. It is set in the near future. The plot seemed to be a mismash of elements from zombie films Day Of The Dead and Land Of The Dead plus a good bit of Escape from New York I could have forgiven that, but the dialogue was just so bad and unrealistic it became painful. Later on this got worse and was compounded by the actions and motivations of some of the characters which just did not make any sense. There was also a changeling alien creature who's provenance or purpose in being there was never properly explained. The plot became descriptions of people getting shot and killed in various ways-that's not scifi. And to cap it all the ending was rubbish. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Hi frankie, I am sure you will enjoy The Help . And yes, I have already downloaded Room but I also have Never Let Me Go and the two Steig Larsson sequels too, so I have the luxury of choice. I may read a page of each book and see which one grabs me first. Yay for downloading Room! It's a tough read but also very very brilliant. You definitely seem to have the luxury of choice and the choice between luxurious reads, I thinks! I've not read the Larsson sequels yet but I'm sure they're grand, and I think Never Let Me Go should be great too. Looking forward to your reviews when the time comes Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson This series of books of course needs no introduction on here. Although I had no idea what it was about before I read it, my wife saw the film without me and told me that she would not watch it again, that it contained more than a bit of nasty violence against women , and she thought I would not like it. (Then she bought me the book for Christmas. Go figure ) So I could not help but have that in the back of my mind as I read it and viewed it from that perspective. I found the beginning quite intriguing, and because of the mystery that Blomkvist is engaged to investigate I would have kept on reading to the end anyway. "Practical Pig" Blomkvist I found a bit boring on his own though, and was grateful for the character of Salander, who is far more exciting, I think because she is so amoral. When I first got to the end of the book I at first thought , yeah, that it was a great book. But then I read The Help, which I found to be truly uplifting which made me lower Dragon Tattoo in my estimation. You cannot get away from the fact that the subject matter is thoroughly nasty and Salander, fascinating as she is, is a deeply flawed human being. TGwtDT is one of the most graphic movies I've seen, the violence was so harsh and very explicit, it's definitely not an easy watch. I laughed out loud when you said your wife nonetheless got you the book for Christmas Classic! I had to google Justin Kemppainen because the surname is Finnish. I found out that he lives in Minnesota, so yes he's American but he must have Finnish ancestors. Too bad you didn't enjoy the book, but at least you gave us a fair warning to avoid the book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson This series of books of course needs no introduction on here. Although I had no idea what it was about before I read it, my wife saw the film without me and told me that she would not watch it again, that it contained more than a bit of nasty violence against women , and she thought I would not like it. (Then she bought me the book for Christmas. Go figure ) So I could not help but have that in the back of my mind as I read it and viewed it from that perspective. I found the beginning quite intriguing, and because of the mystery that Blomkvist is engaged to investigate I would have kept on reading to the end anyway. "Practical Pig" Blomkvist I found a bit boring on his own though, and was grateful for the character of Salander, who is far more exciting, I think because she is so amoral. When I first got to the end of the book I at first thought , yeah, that it was a great book. But then I read The Help, which I found to be truly uplifting which made me lower Dragon Tattoo in my estimation. You cannot get away from the fact that the subject matter is thoroughly nasty and Salander, fascinating as she is, is a deeply flawed human being. I so need to bump this up my reading list but because I've read that it takes a long time for the story to get going I'm worried that it'll kill my mojo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 I so need to bump this up my reading list but because I've read that it takes a long time for the story to get going I'm worried that it'll kill my mojo. I suppose it will depend if the mystery at the centre of the plot grabs your attention or not. It's not a hard book to read I would say, compared to some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maureen Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I must admit I am liking the kindle very much for its "readability". I find it easier than holding a physical book which takes two hands , as you need to turn pages, and some books are awkward and heavy. I have never noticed this until I had an alternative. I guess it is like not realising how crappy the quality of VHS tapes were until I saw DVD. I find I read much more at one sitting on my kindle. Yes that sums it up rather well. I particularly like the fact that I can read and hold the kindle comfortably - whichever side I am lying on in bed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted March 12, 2011 Author Share Posted March 12, 2011 Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson I enjoyed this far more than the first book. It did irritate me a little at the beginning with Blomkvist seeming to have sex with every woman he meets, and we are forever being told how great he is in bed. And if it was not Blomkvist having sex it was Salander instead. However it soon got passed all that and the plot hotted up quickly. I found that this second book was simply a much better story. There is a lot more of Salander in it, which is what you want. But also towards the end I found that Blomkvist became a lot more real to me too-his actions were always consistent, he seems to have definite character traits. Another interesting thing was: Blomkvist and Salander do not meet until the very last page. They spend the whole book apart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 Review: Galaxy Unknown book 1 by Thomas DePrima This is the first in a series of books about the space career of Ensign Jenetta Carver of the Galactic Space Command in the 23rd century. If you groaned inwardly at that sentence then this book or series is probably not for you. As the author explains in his preface this belongs to a sub genre of sci fi called space opera. There is nothing wrong with that as long as you don't expect something else. I read this as a quick fun read . I suspended disbelief and for the most part I enjoyed it. There was a part in the middle however which dipped into what amounted to a stupid sexual fantasy with the heroine taken prisoner and forced to wear corsets and bondage bracelets which almost made me stop reading. It would have been much better without that. I doubt if I will read another of these books, it was OK but I like harder scifi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pickle Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Is it anything like The Gap series by Stephen Donaldson which I read part of and enjoyed years ago actually stupid question if you haven't read it, so if you have is is like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 Is it anything like The Gap series by Stephen Donaldson which I read part of and enjoyed years ago actually stupid question if you haven't read it, so if you have is is like that? Hi Pickle , sorry not read any of The Gap so can't answer..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson I enjoyed this far more than the first book. It did irritate me a little at the beginning with Blomkvist seeming to have sex with every woman he meets, and we are forever being told how great he is in bed. And if it was not Blomkvist having sex it was Salander instead. However it soon got passed all that and the plot hotted up quickly. I found that this second book was simply a much better story. There is a lot more of Salander in it, which is what you want. But also towards the end I found that Blomkvist became a lot more real to me too-his actions were always consistent, he seems to have definite character traits. Another interesting thing was: Blomkvist and Salander do not meet until the very last page. They spend the whole book apart Great review, looking forward to starting the second one if it's better than the first. I laughed when I read the sex bit as I thought the same thing when I was reading the first book, especially Blomkvist & Salander that seemed an unlikely pairing:rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 Great review, looking forward to starting the second one if it's better than the first. I laughed when I read the sex bit as I thought the same thing when I was reading the first book, especially Blomkvist & Salander that seemed an unlikely pairing:rolleyes: I look forward to reading your review of the second one kidsmum, to see if you enjoy it as much as I did. I am really struggling with Vanity Fair. Might force myself to read a chunk tonight to break it's back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I'm planning on reading the second one next month I seem to have spent the whole of March starting one series of books after another so I plan to continue with them in April Good luck with Vanity Fair, for me Becky Sharp was a great character & she really made the book one of my favourites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 I'm planning on reading the second one next month I seem to have spent the whole of March starting one series of books after another so I plan to continue with them in April Good luck with Vanity Fair, for me Becky Sharp was a great character & she really made the book one of my favourites. I am still struggling on with Vanity Fair, 41% in. Becky is still my favourite character, followed by Dobbin. They are just about to have the battle of Waterloo so I am expecting some life changing events. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ooshie Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Overall I enjoyed Vanity Fair, although I thought it was just too long for the lightweight storyline. I know it was that length due to its being seralised, but by the end I had got very fed up and just didn't care what happened to any of the characters anymore! I just couldn't take to Becky; I know she was an entertaining character in the book, but I would hate to have someone like her in my life and couldn't get over that feeling while I was reading. Look forward to hearing more about how you are getting on with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 Overall I enjoyed Vanity Fair, although I thought it was just too long for the lightweight storyline. I know it was that length due to its being seralised, but by the end I had got very fed up and just didn't care what happened to any of the characters anymore! I just couldn't take to Becky; I know she was an entertaining character in the book, but I would hate to have someone like her in my life and couldn't get over that feeling while I was reading. Look forward to hearing more about how you are getting on with it! Now 52% in Ooshie I am really itching to start reading something else but I will make myself finish it. I will certainly let you know what I think at the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted April 22, 2011 Author Share Posted April 22, 2011 I finally finished Vanity Fair yesterday. I am free! free at last! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 I finally finished Vanity Fair yesterday. I am free! free at last! Well done, I'm guessing it doesn't make your top ten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 Well done, I'm guessing it doesn't make your top ten You're right there! I enjoyed the story itself, the characterisation was very good too (I used to be friends with a woman who was just like Becky Sharp; she was also a bad mother and selfish, but a complete survivor). What made it torture for me was the way the author/narrator kept breaking off the story and giving 2 or 3 pages of his own "witty" repartee and views on people and things, which to the modern mind is invariably sexist and racist, and all mixed up with references to people and habits of the time, which I got about 70 % of. Yeah going to read something easier on the brain next. Happy Easter everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ooshie Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Happy Easter, vodkafan! And well done for finishing Vanity Fair. I hope you really enjoy your next read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Congratulations VF! It's a feat to finish a book that size if you enjoyed it, and even more so if you didn't! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 I hope you had a nice Easter, vodkafan. And congratulations on finally breaking free from the prison that was Vanity Fair What are you reading now, or have you not started anything yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted May 2, 2011 Author Share Posted May 2, 2011 Hello all, thanks Ooshie, Frankie and Kylie. I have been having a rest from reading because a lot of other things needed doing. Worked all through the Bank Holidays. Been playing with my Kindle though and have downloaded 40 more books, all sorts. My wife has read the two books I got her for Mother's Day, Room and The Help. She really enjoyed them (Hey, I couldn't go wrong with those)so is now into reading again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.