Poppy's Paperbacks 2011

[poppyshake]

The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

Waterstones Synopsis: When a freak cosmic event renders most of the Earth's population blind, Bill Masen is one of the lucky few to retain his sight. The London he walks is crammed with groups of men and women needing help, some ready to prey on those who can still see. But another menace stalks blind and sighted alike. With nobody to stop their spread the Triffids, mobile plants with lethal stingers and carnivorous appetites, seem set to take control. "The Day of the Triffids" is perhaps the most famous catastrophe novel of the twentieth century and its startling imagery of desolate streets and lurching, lethal plant life retains its power to haunt today.

Review: I'm not one for science fiction, anything written in code gives me the horrors, but I am liking the classic sci-fi books very much and this one was no exception. The plotline was familiar, I think it's probably given birth to hundreds of disaster movies/TV dramas since, but this is the original and one of the best.
The concept of reducing the (almost) entire human race to little more than helpless, sightless, babies, staggering around and falling prey to a legion of carrion eating plants is a terrifying one, the real stuff of nightmares. Also terrifying was how quickly the people left acquired a 'dog eat dog' mentality, you can imagine that happening.

My mind did have little niggling doubts (it's amazing how the mind can find the notion of walking plants perfectly rational but have trouble with the details.) I thought, for a start, the likelihood was that there would have been a lot more sighted people - more children for instance, unconscious people, rock stars who always manage to lose a week every month and the inhabitants of Swindon sleeping off a three day bender - also I didn't think that people would have become suicidal so quickly .. is it likely that a doctor would throw himself out of a window just because he had gone blind? Human nature fights for survival usually and it's not as if he didn't know that there were still sighted people left .. and why would they ever allow the triffids to establish?, ok at first they were a curiosity and in typical greedy style we found a way to profit by them but to let them start walking around ... that's unwise .. get the DDT out (I'm not advocating this in general .. I've very much with Joni on this point but desperate times calls for desperate measures.) plus wouldn't they have been tripping over dead bodies eventually, there was only ever a handful of people outside but then, science fiction always calls for a huge amount of suspended disbelief, and I can do that when the story is as good as this one.

I liked the love story, it seemed convincing and natural in the circumstances. Though feisty, Josella wasn't the sort of of kick ass, kung fu type of heroine that sets my teeth on edge (the sort of woman.. not to be too indelicate .. that does cartwheels and climbs ladders in white trousers when Auntie Flo is visiting .. and doesn't sit in a corner hunched in a ball of misery with a knife clenched between her teeth like normal people.) She was a nice mix of capable and vulnerable.

The ending was a surprise because it was ambiguous. I was expecting a clear cut ending and actually had something in mind which I thought was going to sort the little wretches out, possibly I got this from a film version or something. It didn't spoil it for me though, if anything I preferred it, I liked the uncertainty of it all.

 

Of course it does make you eye everything in your garden with suspicion, and I'm definitely more wary of going out into it (bother .. why do I have to have hedges .. perfect camouflage for the blighters) ... the crash helmet is probably unnecessary but I can't afford to take chances.

Highly enjoyable in a shivery, hide behind your pillow, sort of way (I must just add here that I am quite capable of being scared by my own shadow .. allowances have to be made for me being a bit of a custard .. I have never ever watched any of the Nightmare on Elm Street/Scream sort of films .... If I did sleep would be a thing of the past.) The Midwich Cuckoos and The Chrysalids are also on my TBR's and if there anything like as good as this I'm in for a treat.

9/10

Edited November 28, 2013 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

11.Favorite concept series:

I'm not entirely sure what I'm being asked here

 

12.Favorite invented world:

 

The wizarding world created by Jo Rowling for the Harry Potter books. Also Jasper Fforde's Nextian world, C.S. Lewis's Narnia, Terry Pratchett's Discworld and Tolkien's Middle Earth.

 

[poppyshake]

The Brontës Went to Woolworths - Rachel Ferguson

Waterstones Synopsis: As growing up in pre-war London looms large in the lives of the Carne sisters, Deirdre, Katrine and young Sheil still share an insatiable appetite for the fantastic. Eldest sister Deirdre is a journalist, Katrine a fledgling actress and young Sheil is still with her governess; together they live a life unchecked by their mother in their bohemian town house. Irrepressibly imaginative, the sisters cannot resist making up stories as they have done since childhood; from their talking nursery toys, Ironface the Doll and Dion Saffyn the pierrot, to their fulsomely-imagined friendship with real high-court Judge Toddington who, since Mrs Carne did jury duty, they affectionately called Toddy. However, when Deirdre meets Toddy's real-life wife at a charity bazaar, the sisters are forced to confront the subject of their imaginings. Will the sisters cast off the fantasies of childhood forever? Will Toddy and his wife, Lady Mildred, accept these charmingly eccentric girls? And when fancy and reality collide, who can tell whether Ironface can really talk, whether Judge Toddington truly wears lavender silk pyjamas or whether the Bronte's did indeed go to Woolworths?

Review: I enjoyed this story even though half of the time I hadn't a clue what was going on and felt often that I wasn't being let in on the joke .. the penny does drop after a while but you haven't a clue to begin with who is real and who is not .. and I did keep wishing they would calm down a bit as their spirits were always feverishly high.

It's a story of the three Carne sisters (the book ironically starts with 'How I loathe that kind of novel which is about a lot of sisters. It is usually called "They were Seven" or "Three Not Out", and one spends one's entire time trying to sort them all, and muttering, "Was it Isobel who drank, or Gertie? And which was it who ran away with the gigolo, Amy or Pauline? And which of their separated husbands was Lionel, Isobel or Amy's?") Our narrator for the most part is Deirdre, who is a journalist and very high spirited, next in line is Katrine who is an aspiring actress and then little Sheil who's still in the schoolroom.

The girls have gone in for make believe in rather a large way, giving life to dolls and toys as well as pretending that their lives are inhabited by the real life people they admire. In particular the high-court Judge Toddington (or Toddy as they call him) who, though they've never met him, comes to dinner frequently and telephones them nightly. They make pets of these people and endow them with sayings and character traits of their own imagining. Mother is very much in on all of these fantasies (Father is long since dead) and participates in them every bit as much as the girls do. The one sane point of reference is Sheil's governesses (understandably, they come and go) who have the job of trying to check the fanciful imaginings of the impressionable Sheil. The two we read about here get it entirely wrong, in the first instance Miss Martin thinks the girls are just plain weird and tries to make them see reason, her replacement Miss Ainslee see's it as the joke it is and tries to join in with all the raillery but gets it all wrong. Essentially it's all just harmless fun but when Deirdre is actually introduced to Lady Toddington at a charity bazaar and invited home to tea, she's forced to confront reality.

'How could I tell her that I had lunched with her and helped her dress her stall, yesterday afternoon, and that Toddy had come in after the courts rose and given us both a cocktail? How convey the two years I had spoken to them both every day of my life? How blurt her own life to her, her daily round of dressmaker, telephone, at homes, and tiffs with Toddy. How describe to her her own secret difficulties: that she is privily aware that she is not his mental equal? That in the past there have been days when she would almost have welcomed his tangible infidelity as being a thing she could roundly, capably decide about, and no brains needed? That she has long ceased to love and notice him?'

There's a touch of the supernatural about it too, Father has been known to 'return' and, after a séance on a wet evening in Yorkshire, the Brontës come calling.

The thing, is though it's all frightfully silly and incredibly far fetched, there's an underlying sadness that makes you long for a more rational outcome especially for Sheil who is in danger of living entirely in a make believe world. You want something to anchor them back down to earth.
Strange, mad, baffling, touching and funny all in equal doses. You will never have read anything quite like it.

9/10

Edited January 15, 2014 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

13.Most beautifully written book:

 

Another difficult one, I suppose I equate beauty with sadness, if a book makes me cry it's probably because I've got caught up in the beauty of the writing so I'd say 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak is one of the most beautiful books I've read. For a book to be narrated by Death and still be so poetical and moving is incredible. I was so caught up in the relationships that I cried and cried at the end but then right from the start, when Liesel was on the train, I felt emotional about it and then there's Liesel's books and Max's beautiful 'Standover Man' story .. and lovely Papa and his accordion and Rudi just wanting to be kissed It's a book that I'm incredibly in awe of and a book that I know I'll re-read time and time again.

Definitely one of those 'I wish I could have written it' books.

[poppyshake]

Bought three books today though wasn't intending to, none of them either on my wishlist or the 1001 .. but they were cheap!! (£1 each)

 

1. Virginia Woolf : A Biography by Quentin Bell - now you can never have too many books on Virginia, she's fascinating, and this one is by her nephew so high hopes.

2. Flush : A Biography by Virginia Woolf - now you can never have too many books by Virginia. I've already got quite a few and haven't read any of them, I'm almost scared to incase I don't like them which would be tragic (especially for my bookcase.) This is the ideal one to read first because it's about Elizabeth Barrett Brownings cocker spaniel Flush so how hard can it be? I've read it's allegorical though so it will probably tie my head in knots anyway.

3. Chance Acquaintances & Julie de Carneilhan by Colette - I've no idea why I bought this one except for that it has a lovely Vintage cover and I am sort of vaguely curious about Colette's writing after reading about her in Audrey Hepburns biog (Audrey played Gigi in the stage version.)

[Kylie]

I must just add that Heffalumps and Woozles are pretty terrifying too .. they steal honey fgs

 

You say the cutest darn things sometimes, Poppyshake.

 

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

The ending as I said earlier is phenomenal, and it's hard to say anything here without giving the plot away. What I liked about it so much was the build up which was nail bitingly thrilling. When you come to the final chapter with all it's poignancy and beauty, all you can do is sob quietly and think that there never was a literary hero as heroic as Sydney. Dickens considers it to be one of his best and it is.

 

9/10 .. for the slow start and for Lucie and Charles who aren't perhaps as well fleshed out as they could be, I could see Lucie was a dear sweet loyal girl who loved her father but beyond that I couldn't see. She didn't have a lot of oomph. Charles just suffered by comparison to Sydney, he disappeared from my mind the moment he wasn't on the page and, if it's not giving too much away, I would have been as disappointed as anything to find him in my coach, wrapped in his Sydney Carton giftwrap, as my 'bon voyage' present.

 

You really did justice to the book with this review, Poppyshake. You didn't think much of poor old Charles though, did you? Sydney is indeed a true literary hero *sigh*.

 

Reading your review, I realised I have forgotten a lot of the finer points of the plot, but I'm just happy enough to remember the broad outline. I don't believe there is another book in the world that has such striking opening and closing sentences.

 

I also learnt a lot, historically speaking, from reading A Tale of Two Cities. It inspired me to look up further information about the French Revolution and Bastille Day.

 

The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas - Gertrude Stein

 

Review: This one made my head ache, despite the blurb explaining all to me I really couldn't get the concept for ages. Eventually the penny dropped and I understood (eureka .. what's next .. Proust??) The books title is 'The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas' but it's not about Alice, it's told from the viewpoint of Alice, but it's not by her either. It's a biography about Gertrude Stein written by her as if it's Alice (her friend and companion) talking .. oh my, my head hurts again thinking about it.

 

This one is on my wish list, although I have little hope of getting my ahead around who wrote it and who it is about! Oh wait, I think I have it. So Gertrude wrote an autobiography but pretended it was by her friend, Alice? But then, for whatever reason, the book's title is the reverse of that?

 

The Brontës Went to Woolworths - Rachel Ferguson

 

Sounds intriguing! This is definitely going (back on) my wish list. You seem to have a thing lately for books about Woolies.

 

Thanks again for all the great reviews! They make me want to read every single book that you read. To save me money (in the long run) I wonder if I should just move next door to you in your village. Then, every time you finish a book you could just hand it over to me! The books would probably end up being permanent loans, if that's all right with you (that's a rhetorical question).

[Easy Reader]

The Brontës Went to Woolworths - Rachel Ferguson

 

Oh no another one to be added to the wish list.

Edited June 20, 2011 by Easy Reader

[Weave]

 

The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

 

Waterstones Synopsis: When a freak cosmic event renders most of the Earth's population blind, Bill Masen is one of the lucky few to retain his sight. The London he walks is crammed with groups of men and women needing help, some ready to prey on those who can still see. But another menace stalks blind and sighted alike. With nobody to stop their spread the Triffids, mobile plants with lethal stingers and carnivorous appetites, seem set to take control. "The Day of the Triffids" is perhaps the most famous catastrophe novel of the twentieth century and its startling imagery of desolate streets and lurching, lethal plant life retains its power to haunt today.

 

Review: I'm not one for science fiction, anything written in code gives me the horrors, but I am liking the classic sci-fi books very much and this one was no exception. The plotline was familiar, I think it's probably given birth to hundreds of disaster movies/TV dramas since, but this is the original and one of the best.

The concept of reducing the (almost) entire human race to little more than helpless, sightless, babies, staggering around and falling prey to a legion of carrion eating plants is a terrifying one, the real stuff of nightmares. Also terrifying was how quickly the people left acquired a 'dog eat dog' mentality, you can imagine that happening.

My mind did have little niggling doubts (it's amazing how the mind can find the notion of walking plants perfectly rational but have trouble with the details.) I thought, for a start, the likelihood was that there would have been a lot more sighted people - more children for instance, unconscious people, rock stars who always manage to lose a week every month and the inhabitants of Swindon sleeping off a three day bender - also I didn't think that people would have become suicidal so quickly .. is it likely that a doctor would throw himself out of a window just because he had gone blind? Human nature fights for survival usually and it's not as if he didn't know that there were still sighted people left .. and why would they ever allow the triffids to establish?, ok at first they were a curiosity and in typical greedy style we found a way to profit by them but to let them start walking around ... that's unwise .. get the DDT out (I'm not advocating this in general .. I've very much with Joni on this point but desperate times calls for desperate measures.) plus wouldn't they have been tripping over dead bodies eventually, there was only ever a handful of people outside but then, science fiction always calls for a huge amount of suspended disbelief, and I can do that when the story is as good as this one.

I liked the love story, it seemed convincing and natural in the circumstances. Though feisty, Josella wasn't the sort of of kick ass, kung fu type of heroine that sets my teeth on edge (the sort of woman.. not to be too indelicate .. that does cartwheels and climbs ladders in white trousers when Auntie Flo is visiting .. and doesn't sit in a corner hunched in a ball of misery with a knife clenched between her teeth like normal people.) She was a nice mix of capable and vulnerable.

 

The ending was a surprise because it was ambiguous. I was expecting a clear cut ending and actually had something in mind which I thought was going to sort the little wretches out, possibly I got this from a film version or something. It didn't spoil it for me though, if anything I preferred it, I liked the uncertainty of it all.

 

Of course it does make you eye everything in your garden with suspicion, and I'm definitely more wary of going out into it (bother .. why do I have to have hedges .. perfect camouflage for the blighters) ... the crash helmet is probably unnecessary but I can't afford to take chances.

Highly enjoyable in a shivery, hide behind your pillow, sort of way (I must just add here that I am quite capable of being scared by my own shadow .. allowances have to be made for me being a bit of a custard .. I have never ever watched any of the 'Nightmare on Elm Street'/'Scream' sort of films .... If I did sleep would be a thing of the past.)

'The Midwich Cuckoos' and 'The Chrysalids' are also on my TBR's and if there anything like as good as this I'm in for a treat.

 

9/10

 

Great review poppyshake

[poppyshake]

You really did justice to the book with this review, Poppyshake. You didn't think much of poor old Charles though, did you? Sydney is indeed a true literary hero *sigh*.

 

Reading your review, I realised I have forgotten a lot of the finer points of the plot, but I'm just happy enough to remember the broad outline. I don't believe there is another book in the world that has such striking opening and closing sentences.

 

I also learnt a lot, historically speaking, from reading A Tale of Two Cities. It inspired me to look up further information about the French Revolution and Bastille Day.

Thanks Kylie, I really did love it and Sydney. I was amazed when I read it, because I thought I knew the story well, that I hadn't realised that Madame Defarge was knitting a register, I thought her knitting was just a kind of smokescreen to make her seem occupied and disinterested (I suspected she wasn't knitting hats .. there can't have been much call for them in Paris at that time ) Now I've laughed, and I feel bad because it must have been the most horrendous time and though, some of them may have had it coming as they say, it all got so very inhumane and barbaric that any original sense of justice got swallowed up.

This one is on my wish list, although I have little hope of getting my ahead around who wrote it and who it is about! Oh wait, I think I have it. So Gertrude wrote an autobiography but pretended it was by her friend, Alice? But then, for whatever reason, the book's title is the reverse of that?

Yes you've got it Gertrude had a dry sense of humour and she liked odd book titles so this one would have tickled her. She kept nagging Alice to write her autobiography and when she didn't, she wrote it for her, but in such a way that it was mostly about herself .. cheeky monkey! that's what she had in mind all along I suspect.

Sounds intriguing! This is definitely going (back on) my wish list. You seem to have a thing lately for books about Woolies.

It's pure co-incidence though, and poor Woollies has gone now and there's nowhere to get decent pick and mix I'm loving the Bloomsbury books so far, every one has been a gem.

Thanks again for all the great reviews! They make me want to read every single book that you read. To save me money (in the long run) I wonder if I should just move next door to you in your village. Then, every time you finish a book you could just hand it over to me! The books would probably end up being permanent loans, if that's all right with you (that's a rhetorical question).

.. and I'm suddenly glad I haven't got you for a neighbour You should live up to your name Kylie .... books lent should come bouncing back. I would have to furnish you with a little form with boxes to be ticked ... loaned and want back ... given and can keep .... thrown into garbage and landed in your backyard. Actually, confession time, though I loan my books out quite a lot I don't actually want to .. or I have pangs anyway as if they're all connected to me with little heartstrings ... when they come back I'm joyous .. when they don't I was awarded a poetry book at junior school one year for good work .. you could pick whatever book you wanted and I said I'd like a poetry book and cos they were so pleased I hadn't asked for a 'Rupert' annual or anything they got me a really nice one and it had a dedication in it and everything. Years later my Mum lent it to my little niece for a school project and I didn't get it back for yearsssssssssssssssss .. and for the longest time there was speculation as to whether they even still had it and hadn't thrown it out with the jumble. When I got it back it was minus it's dedication, scribbled all over, my niece's name had been written in it and it was damp and musty .. but it was still my poetry book and I did a little jig .. after whacking Louise (my niece) around the head with it.

Oh no another one to be added to the wish list.

Oh I hope you like it Sally, it's an absolute hoot and as mad as a box of frogs

Great review poppyshake

Thanks Paula I'm looking forward to reading his other books. Hope they're just as good.

[poppyshake]

14.Funniest book:

 

I've already half answered this before by saying that PG Wodehouse's books are the one's that make me the happiest and part of this is that they make me laugh lots, especially Right Ho, Jeeves. Other books that make me lol are Joseph Heller's Catch 22, Bill Bryson's Notes From a Small Island, Dan Rhode's Gold (I still laugh when I think of the pub landlord who thought it would bring the customers in if he was rude to them .. give the pub a bit of edge ... get it a cult following ... and getting it all horrendously wrong )

I haven't yet read Douglas Adams Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy yet which is supposed to be one of the funniest books ever, but I do intend to. The Discworld books make me laugh but I've never actually read them only heard them and they were abridged versions (must remedy that soon) so can't count them. Going on what I've heard though ... I love Granny Weatherwax. A Prayer for Owen Meany made me laugh a lot too but then it made me sad also so you can't really call it a funny book (same could be said for 'Gold' I guess.)

[poppyshake]

 

John the Revelator - Peter Murphy

Waterstones Synopsis: John Devine yearns for escape. Stuck in a small town, he's worried over by his chain-smoking, bible-quoting single mother Lily and the sinister Mrs Nagle. So when Jamey Corboy, a self-styled boy-wonder, arrives in town, John's life suddenly fills with possibilities. But as they dream and scheme is John simply hiding from the reality of his mother's ill health, and the terrible dilemma that awaits him? Brilliantly evoking all the frustrations and pent up energy of a parochial adolescence, "John the Revelator" also gradually becomes the story of Lily herself, and the secrets of her past. Suffused with eerie imagery, black humour and told in hypnotic prose, "John the Revelator" is a novel to fall in love with.

 

Review: I don't know why me and this book didn't get on more, it has nothing to do with the writing which was superb, I think it was just that I wasn't in the mood for something fairly dark and depressing.

 

It's got a definite touch of the Roddy Doyle's about it (which under normal circumstances I would love,) it has his ironic humour and also his way with words, with short, punchy, matter of fact, sentences. I liked the way John's relationship with his mum Lily was played out and I loved Lily's dark Irish wit - she worries about him and he worries about her (with good cause as it turns out.) She says things like 'I knew you were a boy .. heartburn. Sure sign of a man in your life' and her answer for 'what's for dinner?' is 'pigs feet and hairy buttermilk'. They are protective of each other in a way that single parents and lone children often are .. they only have each other but Lily is unwell and increasingly so and John (who is fifteen) is naturally concerned. John is, by nature, a loner but when a new boy, James Corboy, comes to town, he recognises a kindred spirit and they join forces. John is happy to escape from his burdens for a while especially as James is cool and a little bit different and more daring than he, but he's not escaping, he's only hiding and sooner or later reality is back to claim him. James writes short stories and they, as well as John's nightmare dream sequences, are woven into the story supplying further insight and bolstering up a sort of creeping menace that builds as the story progresses.

 

Very melancholic and atmospheric, with a strong supernatural element weaving through. In a different frame of mind I might have loved this book but sadly as it got darker I began to wish for it to be over. I did love John and Lily and would have been happy to eavesdrop on their banter for ages ... but that probably wouldn't have made much of a story.

 

8/10

[willoyd]

Bought three books today though wasn't intending to, none of them either on my wishlist or the 1001 .. but they were cheap!! (£1 each)

 

1. Virginia Woolf : A Biography by Quentin Bell - now you can never have too many books on Virginia, she's fascinating, and this one is by her nephew so high hopes.

2. Flush : A Biography by Virginia Woolf - now you can never have too many books by Virginia. I've already got quite a few and haven't read any of them, I'm almost scared to incase I don't like them which would be tragic (especially for my bookcase.) This is the ideal one to read first because it's about Elizabeth Barrett Brownings cocker spaniel Flush so how hard can it be? I've read it's allegorical though so it will probably tie my head in knots anyway.

Over the last year or so, I've developed a real passion for Virginia Woolf's books, but have not found many others who have a similar leaning (although I get the impression it's more the individual you find fascinating than her books, at least as yet?). Have just finished To The Lighthouse, which has gone straight into the short list for book of the year! I've yet to read Flush though. I'd be interested to know what you make of the Quentin Bell biog, as am part way through Hermione Lee's. Thoroughly enjoying it, although I have got a bit lost chronologically on occasions, as she focuses chapters on particular topics or themes rather than on sustaining chronological order.

Have been dipping into some of her essays, which have been consistently superb.

[poppyshake]

Over the last year or so, I've developed a real passion for Virginia Woolf's books, but have not found many others who have a similar leaning (although I get the impression it's more the individual you find fascinating than her books, at least as yet?). Have just finished To The Lighthouse, which has gone straight into the short list for book of the year! I've yet to read Flush though. I'd be interested to know what you make of the Quentin Bell biog, as am part way through Hermione Lee's. Thoroughly enjoying it, although I have got a bit lost chronologically on occasions, as she focuses chapters on particular topics or themes rather than on sustaining chronological order.

Have been dipping into some of her essays, which have been consistently superb.

I loved Flush so that's a good start (it's only short but I was so entranced I sat and read it in one sitting) but I know it's not indicitive of her other work so I'm not getting carried away. Sometimes you just get the feeling that you're going to like a particular writers work and I feel this with Virginia. I've read quite a lot about her already, and much of that has covered her novels so I sort of know what I'm in for ... I've caught bits of them on the radio too (there was an adaptation of 'The Waves' on Radio 4 extra a few weeks back) and haven't yet heard anything that I didn't like. To the Lighthouse is the book I'm most intrigued about and it is ready and waiting on my shelves, I felt though, before I got stuck into her novels, that I wanted to read up on her so I could get a handle on where she's coming from etc. I've got a copy of her selected diaries and also want to get her selected letters .. she absolutely fascinates me.

I should be starting the biog soon, I'm reading a short piece by Hemingway but after that I'm going to push on with it.

Thanks for the recommendation re: To the Lighthouse .. I'm much encouraged

[poppyshake]

Had one of the worst weeks ever .. Alan was made redundant last Monday and we have been panicking around revising his CV and making phone calls etc. I've had to brush up on my extremely rusty typing skills. In any case it has made us both feel a bit Eeyoreish and one of the side effects has been that I can't read a thing .. my mind is just not in it. Anyway, enough of my woes, I'm dreadfully behind with reviewing so I'll just write some thoughts down here ..

 

 

The Journals of Sylvia Plath - Edited by Ted Hughes and Frances McCullough

 

Amazon Synopsis: No other major contemporary American writer has inspired such intense curiosity about her life as Sylvia Plath. Now the intimate and eloquent personal diaries of the twentieth century's most important female poet reveal for the first time the true story behind "The Bell Jar" and her tragic suicide at thirty. They paint, as well, a revealing portrait of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose stature has seldom been equalled.

 

Review: Firstly, thank you frankie for bookswapping this with me .. I adored it. This book made me ashamed of my own pathetic adolescent scribblings in the same way that Anne Frank's diary made me throw all my childhood diaries away .. they didn't actually tell me anything, it was just a list of what I wore and what I ate and who I fancied and who said what to whom .. terrible. Sylvia doesn't just write an account of her day to day life, she pours out all of her thoughts and feelings into her journals and reading them is like reading her very troubled, unquiet, but oh so vivid and vital mind. She really was an all or nothing sort of person, she was fiercely ambitious about her future as a published poet/author and every rejection letter received was like a dagger to her. I was touched by the little self help lists she included in her diary entires .. stuff like (early on) 'don't drink too much ... keep troubles to self ... don't criticize anybody to anybody else' and later 'immerse self in characters ... forget saleable stories, write to recreate a mood' .... All her joys seem short lived, clouds formed and demons lurked in the wings, you feel that she never really knew what it was to have a mind at peace with itself. She writes just beautifully .. this piece about Ted enchanted me ... 'and he sets the sea of my life steady, flooding it with the deep rich color of his mind and his love and constant amaze at his perfect being; as if I had conjured, at last, a god from the slack tides, coming up with his spear shining, and the cockleshells and rare fish trailing in his wake, and he trailing the world: for my earth goddess, he the sun, the sea, the black complement power: yang to ying' .. so glorious but of course, with hindsight, you ache for her when you read it.

She writes with her heart and soul, it's very raw and intense, and as such it can make you feel sad and exhausted but ultimately it's enormously rewarding and enlightening .. it makes you long to know more and, of course, I want to read the edition that was not edited by Ted now (because the omissions here can frustrate a bit) but also I'd like to read his letters to see if they can provide balance.

 

10/10

 

 

Flush : A Biography - Virginia Woolf

 

First published in 1933, "Flush" is the lively story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's cocker spaniel. Although Flush has adventures of his own, he is also the means of providing us with glimpses of the life of his owner and her days at Wimpole Street as an invalid, her courtship by Robert Browning, their elopement and life together in Italy.

 

Review: Another one that I loved and wished I still was reading because it's the sort of read you need when you've got the 'mean reds'. I know I'm easing myself in a bit by making this my first Virginia Woolf read but it more or less came about by accident, I saw it at a local bookshop, bought it and the size of it (short) made it perfect for a sunny afternoon spent in the garden. This is a fictional reconstruction of the life of Flush .. Elizabeth Barrett Brownings spaniel and I though it was just adorable. I am a bit of a sucker for animal stories anyway and who doesn't love a spaniel? The book starts ... 'It is universally admitted that the family from which the subject of this memoir claims descent is one of the greatest antiquity. Therefore it is not strange that the origin of the name itself is lost in obscurity. Many million years ago the country which is now called Spain seethed uneasily in the ferment of creation. Ages passed; vegetation appeared; where there is vegetation the law of Nature has decreed that there shall be rabbits; where there are rabbits, Providence has ordained there shall be dogs.' and we are soon with Flush as he travels to Wimpole Street to become the beloved pet of the invalid Elizabeth. Obviously the story is a simple one but it's told with great intelligence and wit. Life isn't all plain sailing for Flush, his first disappointment comes in the shape of Robert Browning ... Flush is not at all amused by Robert's attentions to his mistress and feels rather neglected and usurped ... his behaviour is perhaps a little unworthy of a noble dog but life as he knows it is changing and he feels threatened? He then falls foul of the dognappers and spends a miserable few weeks chained up in a hovel waiting for a ransom to be paid (in actuality this happened several times to Flush but is only accounted for once here.) The vengeance exacted by the dognappers, should their ransom demands remain unheeded, was a gruesome parcel sent to the owner containing the head and paws of their beloved pet Flush's life hangs in the balance as Elizabeth's family and Robert try to persuade her against paying these murderous louts. Eventually, with Flush returned and Elizabeth's health much improved, she elopes with Robert to Italy taking her maid and Flush along too. Flush soon discards his old sedate London ways and becomes quite rakish, wandering the streets of Pisa and Florence, availing himself of the ladies, getting home late and sunning himself on the rocks. The most idyllic retirement in other words. Virginia gleaned most of her information from two of Elizabeth's published poems and plucked the rest from her imagination. It's not typical of Virginia's writing so I'm not getting carried away but it's a great start and the other Virginia Woolf books on my bookshelf immediately looked more inviting and less daunting (deluded fool!) If it was allegorical it completely went over my head .. which I knew it would .. it's nice not to be troubled by intellect

 

10/10

[Kylie]

That's terrible news, Poppyshake. I really hope Alan finds another job soon. to you both.

 

She writes with her heart and soul, it's very raw and intense, and as such it can make you feel sad and exhausted but ultimately it's enormously rewarding and enlightening ..

 

Two more great reviews, Poppyshake. I particularly loved the above lines, which sum up my exact feelings of Plath's journals, but in a much, much better way than I could have ever written.

 

Flush sounds so cute! One more for the wishlist.

Edited July 4, 2011 by Kylie

[Janet]

Had one of the worst weeks ever .. Alan was made redundant last Monday and we have been panicking around revising his CV and making phone calls etc. I've had to brush up on my extremely rusty typing skills. In any case it has made us both feel a bit Eeyoreish and one of the side effects has been that I can't read a thing .. my mind is just not in it. Anyway, enough of my woes, I'm dreadfully behind with reviewing so I'll just write some thoughts down here ..

Oh, I'm so sorry for you both. Peter was made redundant in 2005 and it came completely out of the blue. It was such a shock and I went into complete panic mode to start with. You will get through it, I'm sure, and it's easy to say, but try not to worry too much. I hope he finds something soon.

[poppyshake]

That's terrible news, Poppyshake. I really hope Alan finds another job soon. to you both.

Thanks Kylie

Two more great reviews, Poppyshake. I particularly loved the above lines, which sum up my exact feelings of Plath's journals, but in a much, much better way than I could have ever written.

Flush sounds so cute! One more for the wishlist.

Awww, you're too kind bless you. Reading Sylvia's journals had quite a profound effect on me. I'm glad in a way that I read them before this current situation befell us because I was empathising so much with her that I felt quite dispirited at times. I wanted so much for her to be happy

 

Yes, you must read Flush .. such a lovely doggy tale.

[poppyshake]

Oh, I'm so sorry for you both. Peter was made redundant in 2005 and it came completely out of the blue. It was such a shock and I went into complete panic mode to start with. You will get through it, I'm sure, and it's easy to say, but try not to worry too much. I hope he finds something soon.

Thanks Janet we'll be fine I'm sure, the initial panic is wearing off now and we're getting practical. I packed up a lot of stuff that we had been hoarding and we took it to Cheltenham racecourse and did a bootfair on Sunday (my mum also had a clear out and donated her stuff to us) and we raised enough money to be able to see us through this week. I've put a lot of things on eBay too, ornaments that were just packed up in boxes .. it's quite cathartic really de-cluttering. He will be due some money but, of course, these things take time to come through and because he was weekly paid we felt the impact straight away. He's a printer and has been steadily ringing round all the printers within a 30 mile radius, with no luck as yet but you never know what's around the corner.

I am a natural worrier, it's an Olympic sport with me but it's funny, I think you get stronger when the worries are bigger, it's like your spirit suddenly rises up and goes all Xena warrior princess.

 

At the bootfair I went for a walk around in search of tea and as usual there were lots of secondhand books for sale and I felt a bit numb looking at them because reading has been impossible for the past week but then I started to see one or two books that caught my eye and, in the end, I spent my tea money on a book. It was Fludd by Hilary Mantel and I don't know if it's good or not but Alan was delighted when I came back with only one tea and a book because when I'm not reading, he panics. I think he thought that it was a step back to normality. Of course he may have been delighted because the book only cost 30p, and though I didn't have enough money left to buy myself tea, I did have enough to buy him a hot doughnut.

[Roland Butter]

This probably won't sound much help right now, but I was made redundant a few years back, and it was the best thing that could have happened to me. At the risk of sounding like a one-man HR department (and don't get me started on HR Departments ....), it really is an opportunity to step back, take a look at what you want from your life and have a think about what part work is going to play in it. Can't give you any more advice than that, I'm afraid, or I'll have to start charging for it , but believe me, if you support each other and have faith that it'll turn out right, it will do.

Edited July 4, 2011 by Roland Butter

[poppyshake]

This probably won't sound much help right now, but I was made redundant a few years back, and it was the best thing that could have happened to me. At the risk of sounding like a one-man HR department (and don't get me started on HR Departments ....), it really is an opportunity to step back, take a look at what you want from your life and have a think about what part work is going to play in it. Can't give you any more advice than that, I'm afraid, or I'll have to start charging for it , but believe me, if you support each other and have faith that it'll turn out right, it will do.

Thanks RB you're absolutely right, it could well turn out to be for the best, he worked long awkward shifts and the company was miles away, he was forever travelling. He is my rock and hopefully I'm his (though I'm probably more of a pebble ) there's no way that we won't get through this and we've done all our wallowing now ... we're not hippo's fgs ... positive thoughts .. that's what's needed.

 

[Chrissy]

I was trying to fathom what 'hippo's figs' were, then I re read what you had written!

 

Good, good luck sorting through hubby's redundancy ~ I'm another one with a husband who has experienced redundancy. It's an odd sort of thing to experience for all concerned, so many big hugs, for you, the hippos and their figs.

[chaliepud]

Oh Poppyshake, I so know how you're feeling, it's good to hear you're feeling more positive, we had a truly horrid month or so where we didn't know what was going to happen... But it's true, you never know what's round the corner, it's also true, these things can bring you so much closer x

[poppyshake]

I was trying to fathom what 'hippo's figs' were, then I re read what you had written!

 

Good, good luck sorting through hubby's redundancy ~ I'm another one with a husband who has experienced redundancy. It's an odd sort of thing to experience for all concerned, so many big hugs, for you, the hippos and their figs.

Thanks Chrissy Hippo figs are just what's needed ... I'm sure they will be a bestseller .. Waitrose will be snatching my hand off and so will Delia.

Oh Poppyshake, I so know how you're feeling, it's good to hear you're feeling more positive, we had a truly horrid month or so where we didn't know what was going to happen... But it's true, you never know what's round the corner, it's also true, these things can bring you so much closer x

Thanks Pud I'm feeling so much brighter today, the family have rallied round and basically said they will help us all they can and though we can probably manage without, it's nice to know that they're there. We are treating ourselves to lots of power hugs and pep talks and yesterday we even laughed once .. so things are improving.

[Kylie]

Alan was delighted when I came back with only one tea and a book because when I'm not reading, he panics. I think he thought that it was a step back to normality. Of course he may have been delighted because the book only cost 30p, and though I didn't have enough money left to buy myself tea, I did have enough to buy him a hot doughnut.

 

Aww, you are just the sweetest thing, Poppyshake. So is Alan, from comments you've made. You'll get through this undoubtedly and one day soon it'll just be a bad memory.

 

He is my rock and hopefully I'm his (though I'm probably more of a pebble ) there's no way that we won't get through this and we've done all our wallowing now ... we're not hippo's fgs ... positive thoughts .. that's what's needed.

 

No way! You're definitely a rock. I like your positive attitude.

[poppy]

14.Funniest book:

 

I've already half answered this before by saying that PG Wodehouse's books are the one's that make me the happiest and part of this is that they make me laugh lots, especially Right Ho, Jeeves.

 

I'm doing a different booklist to you Poppyshake but have answered with PG Wodehouse (particularly the Jeeves and Wooster series) for a book that makes me happy. I'm also a great fan of Bill Bryson, he is side-splittingly funny.

 

Sorry to read your hubby has been made redundant and hope everything works out real soon