Poppy's Paperbacks 2011

[Janet]

You are not butting in and are more than welcome Janet .. as I hope you know I'm glad to hear a recommendation for Nevil, though I mustn't, MUSTN'T, buy any of his books just yet ... perhaps when the dust has settled (they are lovely covers after all.)

Oh yes, I do know.

 

It's only that you addressed Kylie by name so I didn't want you (or her) to think I was answering for her.

[Kidsmum]

You are not butting in and are more than welcome Janet .. as I hope you know I'm glad to hear a recommendation for Nevil, though I mustn't, MUSTN'T, buy any of his books just yet ... perhaps when the dust has settled (they are lovely covers after all.)

 

Cider with Rosie will be a re-read ... but I had to buy it when I saw that cover.

 

 

Thanks Kidsmum would you know it, those two Maugham's aren't in this set .. I'm outraged (ten of them .. and they couldn't fit in the good one's ) Still it's encouraging, perhaps the others are good too.

 

Oh they will be I liked all his stuff that I read it's just that those 2 stood out in my opinion as being especially good. Happy reading let me know what you think of them when you get round to reading them

[Weave]

Hi Poppy, how are you? I love the covers of your books, especially the cover of 'The Fall of the House of Usher' by Edgar Allan Poe

[Kylie]

I think they mostly cost about £5.00 per book (on Amazon) but I was naughty and bought a whole set of Somerset Maughams for £9.99 .. I only wanted 'Cakes and Ale' but 'The Book People' were selling ten of his books for £ 9.99 (Vintage covers) ... and for that matter I also bought their set of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's .. again 10 for £9.99 (but this time Penguin covers)

 

Wow, I can't believe you got all those for such a bargain price! Suddenly $12.95 for one book seems overpriced (but then, I'm used to it).

 

I don't know how I'll get on with the Maugham's ..

 

I've never read Maugham either, so I'll be very interested in your thoughts.

 

Btw Kylie, have you read any of Nevil Shute's books? ... I am loving the Vintage covers for them but don't know much about them.

 

I haven't read anything by Shute yet. I had A Town Called Alice but it was such a terrible edition that I got rid of it and haven't replaced it yet. I'd like to read On the Beach as well. I'll have to look up the Vintage covers for Shute again because all I can recall is a huge row in the local shop of Shute's novels that all have plain red covers with plain white writing. They are very dull.

 

I love your photo of your Vintage covers. I like the Crime and Punishment cover (among all the rest, of course). You have inspired me to take a picture of my own Vintage books.

 

It's only that you addressed Kylie by name so I didn't want you (or her) to think I was answering for her.

 

No probs! I was glad to read your opinion of Shute.

[poppyshake]

Don't they look nice? .. I'm very tempted .. but I won't ... not yet anyway  

Edited November 2, 2013 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

Hi Poppy, how are you? I love the covers of your books, especially the cover of 'The Fall of the House of Usher' by Edgar Allan Poe

 

Hello Weave I'm fine, hope you are too. Yes that's my favourite too ... for now

[poppyshake]

I haven't read anything by Shute yet. I had A Town Called Alice but it was such a terrible edition that I got rid of it and haven't replaced it yet. I'd like to read On the Beach as well. I'll have to look up the Vintage covers for Shute again because all I can recall is a huge row in the local shop of Shute's novels that all have plain red covers with plain white writing. They are very dull.

 

I love your photo of your Vintage covers. I like the Crime and Punishment cover (among all the rest, of course). You have inspired me to take a picture of my own Vintage books.

 

Thanks Kylie Yes the Crime and Punishment cover is lovely .. but look at the size of the book!! It's massive .. I'm scared to death of it. Looking forward to seeing your Vintage book pics.

[poppyshake]

I'm so behind it's shameful

 

Beloved - Toni Morrison

Waterstones Synopsis: Terrible, unspeakable things happened to Sethe at Sweet Home, the farm where she lived as a slave for so many years until she escaped to Ohio. Her new life is full of hope but eighteen years later she is still not free. Sethe's new home is not only haunted by the memories of her past but also by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

Review: This isn't an easy read, firstly the style is somewhat random and poetic and it takes some getting used to, and secondly the content is at times extremely harrowing but it's worth persevering with because the quality of the writing is outstanding and the story completely gripping .. it's one of those stories where part of you doesn't want to read on for fear of what you might learn but the other part of you is compelled to continue, and indeed it's a book best read continuously because there is a danger of losing your way if you just dip in and out.

Who knows what we'd be capable of if we felt that our backs were against the wall? Sethe will do anything to protect her family from suffering the same fate as she had. She makes up her mind to kill herself, and her family, rather than let them endure the inhumanity of slavery. She see's it as an act of love, but is thwarted in her attempt and they are all .. except for a nameless baby girl .. saved. The baby's gravestone has only one word written on it ... Beloved ... but Beloved is definitely not resting in peace. When we first join the book Beloved's spirit is wreaking havoc in the household but when she is banished from home by the intervention of Paul D, an old friend of Sethe's, she finds another way back .. this time as a fully grown girl (who is unrecognised by Sethe and her daughter Denver .. who are now the only two still living at home.) She calls herself Beloved (and still they fail to recognise her .. consciously at least) and she sets about, in an increasingly disturbing way, regaining all that was lost to her, greedily insisting that they lavish her with their time and attention .. almost like an aphid feeding off a rose .. until Sethe in particular, begins to resemble a mere shadow of her former self. The timescales are all over the place, dipping in and out of the present and the past, and showing us terrible snapshots of what befell Sethe, her family and her friends and what led her to act in the way she did. The content is just completely horrifying, most of us have read stories and accounts of the suffering endured by black people during slavery but this is probably the most vivid account I've ever read, it's painful at times to read it. The writing really is superb and the book thoroughly deserves it's high reputation, all of the characters live on the page and the supernatural element that weaves through the story makes it all the more compelling.

It was difficult, but I can't fault it.

10/10

Edited November 2, 2013 by poppyshake

[Chrissy]

A beautiful review of a wonderful and exceptionally powerful book.

[Weave]

Wow Poppy, 'Beloved' sounds such a powerful read, very thought provoking, thanks for your review

[Kidsmum]

Great review Poppy, it sounds like the sort of book that 'd get under your skin.

[ladymacbeth]

Beloved sounds really good. I had heard it was a difficult read though which makes me wonder if I'm up to it. I don't think I'm brave enough to give it a go at the moment.

[Kylie]

Excellent review! I have this on my TBR pile and when I read your review I realised that I had absolutely no idea what the book was about. I can't wait to read it now. As an aside, I believe my edition of Beloved is a Vintage.

[poppyshake]

A beautiful review of a wonderful and exceptionally powerful book.

Wow Poppy, 'Beloved' sounds such a powerful read, very thought provoking, thanks for your review

Great review Poppy, it sounds like the sort of book that 'd get under your skin.

Thanks all .. group hug!! .. it's hard to do justice to such a great book, I'm glad I managed to get some of my admiration for the book across.

 

Beloved sounds really good. I had heard it was a difficult read though which makes me wonder if I'm up to it. I don't think I'm brave enough to give it a go at the moment.

It's not an easy read LadyM but it got easier .. I do think that the first few chapters were the hardest, my brain and me had an argument over it ... my brain wanted to give up, it could see the pile of books in the corner and had calculated that it would take me more than three lifetimes to get through them if I was going to stumble and stutter my way through this one and furthermore it said I was giving it a headache but the storyline was so intriguing that I felt I couldn't abandon it .. she has a certain rhythm to her writing which you need to get the hang of but then it really does become much, much clearer. Some books aren't worth the struggle but this one definitely was.

Excellent review! I have this on my TBR pile and when I read your review I realised that I had absolutely no idea what the book was about. I can't wait to read it now. As an aside, I believe my edition of Beloved is a Vintage.

Thanks Kylie I do hope you enjoy it (enjoy is perhaps the wrong word.) Mine was a library copy but it has gone down on my list of books that I must buy .. if I didn't have a thousand other books waiting in the wings I would read it again immediately because it's a book that cries out to be re-read. I want the Vintage copy of course and am green with envy about yours. I'm a bit cross now that I read a library copy and didn't trust enough that I would like it .. I'll bet there's loads of books that I've bought that will turn out to be turkeys

[Weave]

I added the vintage version of 'Beloved' to my wishlist, thanks again poppy

[poppyshake]

I added the vintage version of 'Beloved' to my wishlist, thanks again poppy

 

You're welcome Weave Hope you like it

 

[poppyshake]

 

The Master - Colm Toibin

 

Waterstones Synopsis: In January 1895 Henry James anticipates the opening of his first play, "Guy Domville", in London. The production fails, and he returns, chastened and humiliated, to his writing desk. The result is a string of masterpieces, but they are produced at a high personal cost. In "The Master", Colm Toibin captures the exquisite anguish of a man who circulated in the grand parlours and palazzos of Europe, who was astonishingly vibrant and alive in his art, and yet whose attempts at intimacy inevitably failed him and those he tried to love. It is a powerful account of the hazards of putting the life of the mind before affairs of the heart.

 

Review: This is a beautifully written and hypnotic book. I've never read anything about Henry James or by him so I can't say if this novelisation of his life is authentic or not but it felt authentic, it felt for all the world like Henry James was pouring out his thoughts, feelings and reminiscences onto the pages. The story starts off with a failure, it's 1895, Henry is 52 and his play 'Guy Domville' has opened in London to a less than warm welcome from the audience (to say the least, the play and the playwright are jeered.) In contrast Oscar Wilde's 'An Ideal Husband' is enjoying great success ... Henry is crushed and so are his aspirations to be a successful playwright. As Henry reflects on this failure, and his career so far, he travels back in his mind and we learn about his childhood, his adolescence, his move from America to England and his literary career. The man we come to know is a solitary, lonely figure. He has friends and some close relationships with women which could have gone on to blossom into something more but Henry always seems to withdraw before becoming too close, with devastating consequences in the case of fellow writer Constance Fenimore Woolson (although this may be supposition on Toibins part.) It's a story really of a closet homosexual (and these are dangerous times for homosexuals .. as the trial and subsequent imprisonment of Oscar Wilde soon makes clear) but Henry's homosexual tendencies seem to be confined to his thoughts and feelings only. For one reason or another they are not acted upon and it's this perhaps that makes the writer, for all his literary success, seem to be a melancholy and lonely figure.

 

He's not particularly at home in the great drawing rooms and dining halls of the rich and priviledged, although as a famous writer these are the situations that he increasingly finds himself in. He see's all their petty conceits and snobbery all too clearly but he uses all situations as grist for his stories. He's a great observer of people and someone who's not afraid to draw on the characters of family and friends to supply his writing, thus his sister Alice becomes the model for a character in 'The Turn of the Screw' and his cousin Minny the template for 'Daisy Miller' and so on. Even his brother Wilky's fresh war wounds provide the sort of detail that Henry relishes.

 

It's quite slow going but I didn't find it plodding or tedious just reflective. It's the sort of book that draws you so completely into the world of it's subject that it's like losing touch with a friend when you've finished. His voice is so clear. I must read some of his novels now which are so thoroughly explored and talked over here.

 

I probably did fall into the trap of believing every word written and perhaps shouldn't have because some artistic license is always used in biographical/historical fiction but this was because Colm Toibin's writing was just so believable and detailed. Everything rang true, but I am interested to find out more about Henry James and will try and read a more accurate account of his life at some point in the future.

 

9/10

[Weave]

 

The Master - Colm Toibin

 

Waterstones Synopsis: In January 1895 Henry James anticipates the opening of his first play, "Guy Domville", in London. The production fails, and he returns, chastened and humiliated, to his writing desk. The result is a string of masterpieces, but they are produced at a high personal cost. In "The Master", Colm Toibin captures the exquisite anguish of a man who circulated in the grand parlours and palazzos of Europe, who was astonishingly vibrant and alive in his art, and yet whose attempts at intimacy inevitably failed him and those he tried to love. It is a powerful account of the hazards of putting the life of the mind before affairs of the heart.

 

Review: This is a beautifully written and hypnotic book. I've never read anything about Henry James or by him so I can't say if this novelisation of his life is authentic or not but it felt authentic, it felt for all the world like Henry James was pouring out his thoughts, feelings and reminiscences onto the pages. The story starts off with a failure, it's 1895, Henry is 52 and his play 'Guy Domville' has opened in London to a less than warm welcome from the audience (to say the least, the play and the playwright are jeered.) In contrast Oscar Wilde's 'An Ideal Husband' is enjoying great success ... Henry is crushed and so are his aspirations to be a successful playwright. As Henry reflects on this failure, and his career so far, he travels back in his mind and we learn about his childhood, his adolescence, his move from America to England and his literary career. The man we come to know is a solitary, lonely figure. He has friends and some close relationships with women which could have gone on to blossom into something more but Henry always seems to withdraw before becoming too close, with devastating consequences in the case of fellow writer Constance Fenimore Woolson (although this may be supposition on Toibins part.) It's a story really of a closet homosexual (and these are dangerous times for homosexuals .. as the trial and subsequent imprisonment of Oscar Wilde soon makes clear) but Henry's homosexual tendencies seem to be confined to his thoughts and feelings only. For one reason or another they are not acted upon and it's this perhaps that makes the writer, for all his literary success, seem to be a melancholy and lonely figure.

 

He's not particularly at home in the great drawing rooms and dining halls of the rich and priviledged, although as a famous writer these are the situations that he increasingly finds himself in. He see's all their petty conceits and snobbery all too clearly but he uses all situations as grist for his stories. He's a great observer of people and someone who's not afraid to draw on the characters of family and friends to supply his writing, thus his sister Alice becomes the model for a character in 'The Turn of the Screw' and his cousin Minny the template for 'Daisy Miller' and so on. Even his brother Wilky's fresh war wounds provide the sort of detail that Henry relishes.

 

It's quite slow going but I didn't find it plodding or tedious just reflective. It's the sort of book that draws you so completely into the world of it's subject that it's like losing touch with a friend when you've finished. His voice is so clear. I must read some of his novels now which are so thoroughly explored and talked over here.

 

I probably did fall into the trap of believing every word written and perhaps shouldn't have because some artistic license is always used in biographical/historical fiction but this was because Colm Toibin's writing was just so believable and detailed. Everything rang true, but I am interested to find out more about Henry James and will try and read a more accurate account of his life at some point in the future.

 

9/10

 

Sounds a fantastic read poppy, do you think you will read some Henry James's fiction?

[poppyshake]

Sounds a fantastic read poppy, do you think you will read some Henry James's fiction?

 

Yes I'm sure I will Weave ... definitely 'The Turn of the Screw' and probably 'The Portrait of a Lady' and 'Daisy Miller' too. It's just a question of time I wish I had more of it to devote to reading.

[Weave]

Yes I'm sure I will Weave ... definitely 'The Turn of the Screw' and probably 'The Portrait of a Lady' and 'Daisy Miller' too. It's just a question of time I wish I had more of it to devote to reading.

 

 

Looking forward to reading your thoughts, I have read 'The Turn of the Screw', which is very creepy

[poppyshake]

Looking forward to reading your thoughts, I have read 'The Turn of the Screw', which is very creepy

I'll probably read it in the winter .. I love reading spine chillers then

 

[poppyshake]

 

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle

 

Waterstones Synopsis: Paddy Clarke is ten years old. Paddy Clarke lights fires. Paddy Clarke's name is written in wet cement all over Barrytown, north Dublin. Paddy Clarke's heroes are Father Damien (and the lepers), Geronimo and George Best. Paddy Clarke has a brother called Francis, but Paddy calls him Sinbad and hates him because that's the rule. Paddy Clarke knows the exact moment to knock a dead scab from his knee. Paddy Clarke loves his Ma and Da, but it seems like they don't love each other, and Paddy's world is falling apart.

 

Review: A detailed look at life through the eyes of ten year old Paddy. It's written in Doyle's trademark style, short pithy sentences with no padding and the grimmest of grim humour. I was a bit shocked at some of Paddy's exploits (I mean Just William was naughty but he's no match for Paddy and his friends) but then I asked Alan and basically he said that's what most ten year old boys are like so here we have it ... boys behaving badly, punching, kicking, spitting, bullying and thieving their way through life. One minute they are sharing jokes and being conspiratorial and the next they are slugging it out in the playground and ignoring one another. Friends become victims become friends. Paddy is trying to work out the world really and find his place in it, but he's thrown off course when he detects problems between his Mum and Dad which start off as a mere hum of discontent (mild disagreements, short sentences, silences, slammed doors etc) but, bewilderingly for Paddy, soon escalate into violence (and it's affecting to read about Paddy at bedtime straining to hear the sounds or silences of discord.) The narrative can be confusing to follow because it jumps and wriggles around a bit (just like a fidgety ten year old) and the sentences are short and stacatto, but Doyle's writing is always engaging and fascinating.

 

I spent most of the book feeling sorry for his little brother Francis (nicknamed Sinbad) who has to undergo some pretty horrible treatment, in the manner of nearly all younger siblings, at the hands of Paddy and his friends. Poor Francis doesn't rage and lash out in the way Paddy does when threatened or confused he just gets quieter and more withdrawn. This is a coming of age book, Paddy needs (rather than wants) to grow up, face up to what's happening at home and learn to deal with it maturely.

 

Reading it was a bit like watching a kitchen sink drama on TV, you feel as if you've been put through the mill a bit emotionally and there are few laughs but once you're in the grip of it you're compelled to see it through. I can't help thinking though that readers made of frogs and snails and puppy dog tails would prefer it over those made of sugar and spice and all things nice

 

7/10

[poppyshake]

 

The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis

 

Waterstones Synopsis: On its first appearance, The Screwtape Letters was immediately recognized as a milestone in the history of popular theology and has since sold more than a quarter of a million editions. Now stunningly repackaged and rebranded as part of the Signature Classics range. A masterpiece of satire, this classic has entertained and enlightened readers the world overwith its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to 'Our Father Below'. At once wildly comic, deadly serious and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the worldly wise old devil to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man. Dedicated to Lewis's friend and colleague J.R.R. Tolkien, The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account of temptation -- and triumph over it -- ever written.

 

Review: This is the Reading Circles choice for March. On the whole I liked it, I certainly enjoyed Screwtapes demonic sense of humour and the more he railed at Wormwood the more I enjoyed it (I must be more wicked than I thought ) I think, as the synopsis says, it is truly original, I've not read anything like it and it gave me plenty to chew over. At times I wandered a bit (no doubt my own personal Wormwood was doing his job and filling my head with nonsense,) and I had to make a concerted effort not to let my mind stray, but, for the most part, I found it intelligent, insightful and entertaining.

 

Full thoughts can be found here .. (** SPOILERS BEWARE**)

 

Reading Circle - The Screwtape Letters

 

7/10

[poppyshake]

 

Can You Forgive Her - Anthony Trollope

 

Waterstones Synopsis: Alice Vavasor cannot decide whether to marry her ambitious but violent cousin George or the upright and gentlemanly John Grey - and finds herself accepting and rejecting each of them in turn. Increasingly confused about her own feelings and unable to forgive herself for such vacillation, her situation is contrasted with that of her friend Lady Glencora - forced to marry the rising politician Plantagenet Palliser in order to prevent the worthless Burgo Fitzgerald from wasting her vast fortune. In asking his readers to pardon Alice for her transgression of the Victorian moral code, Trollope created a telling and wide-ranging account of the social world of his day.

 

Review: Can I forgive her? ... no, not really Alice has a perfectly lovely fiancé in John Grey, he's handsome, considerate, wealthy, kind etc etc etc .. a real gentleman. On the other hand, her cousin George .. who she was once engaged to until he behaved badly ... is profligate, ambitious, ruthless and self centred. Yet, still, Alice is wavering, and she decides she can't marry John Grey. And her reasoning seems to be that .... wait for it ... he's too good for her All of her friends and relations, except for George's sister Kate, are exasperated with her and she's bombarded on all sides by disapproving looks and letters. Eventually she is persuaded (mostly by Kate) to become engaged to George again, she soon sees that she doesn't really love him but she can't be a jilt again! She begins to view the engagement as a sort of pennance for being so wicked and turning down a man as worthy as John Grey. George has political ambitions and needs money to advance his interests and Alice has plenty of it which he is desirous of obtaining. Alice is like a martyr, dishing out money like a cashcard machine to a man who doesn't give three straws for her and who, if left to his own devices, will soon spend every penny she possesses. In the meantime, John Grey ... a sort of personality cross between Mr Darcy and Colonel Brandon ... remains steadfast and loyal and hopes for a reconciliation (the idiot!)

 

I would accuse Alice of being the most infuriatingly stubborn and slappable literary heroine ever if it wasn't for Trollope's other creation Lily Dale who must always take the title of 'heroine you most want to shake until their teeth fall out'. There is no competition, I can't even think of Lily without foaming at the mouth. I've read all of Trollope's 'Barchester' novels and loved them but this is my first 'Palliser' novel. I love his style of writing, a cross between the descriptive and comic style of Dickens (although he never quite strays into Dickensian absurdity) and the narrative style of Thackeray. I love also how the characters from his novels are always popping up in the background of subsequent stories .. in this book there were appearances from characters that I know from his Barchester novels, such as the gloriously named Duke of Omnium.

 

The other main narrative concerns Lady Glencora, a cousin of Alice's, who is married to the kindly but serious Plantagenet Palliser. They are not very well matched, Glencora is fun loving and witty whereas Plantagenet is a rather stuffy politician. Like Alice, Glencorra had once been engaged to someone else, the more exciting and dashing Burgo but the same relatives that were outraged at Alice's conduct concerning John Grey persuaded Glencora to abandon Burgo and marry Plantagenet. She finds life with him boring and suffocating and soon regrets her decision, she begins to think about Burgo and fosters secret hopes of an elopement. Alice stays with Lady Glencora often and each tries to help, or persuade, the other as to the correct (as they see it) course of action.

 

The third narrative, and the most comic, involves another relative, Kate and Alice's Aunt Greenow. She was married to a rich elderly man, but now that he's dead she has been left a wealthy widow. She has a couple of ardent suitors in Mr Cheeseacre and Captain Bellfield. On the one hand Mr Cheesacre is a farmer and wealthy (which he can't help but point out nearly everytime he opens his mouth .. just as he can't help pointing out that Captain Bellfield hasn't a shilling) on the other hand Captain Bellfield, though penniless, is more charismatic and charming. It's great fun seeing these two former friends fight it out for the love of the widow (who, despite constantly dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief at the mere thought of her dear departed husband, manages to fast track her mourning period by the simple expedient of continually adding several months to those that have actually passed.)

 

Sometimes Trollope can get a bit bogged down with detail and there are parts of the book that drag. This was helped considerably though by the excellent reading of Timothy West who is the perfect narrator for Trollope's novels .. and Thackeray's too.

 

The only thing that makes me think that I may forgive Alice is that disc number two of my unabridged audiobook wouldn't work in any of my CD players, it happened that disc two followed the account of Alice's trip to Switzerland with her cousin Kate chaperoned by George. This trip must have been the catalyst for her subsequent decisions but all I know of it is that by disc three she was home again and her experiences abroad were only vaguely mentioned. Something happened though on a balcony somewhere which changed her mind and perhaps that something was that George slipped some mind altering drug or other into her glass of wine. If that's the case I might forgive her but without this evidence ... then no.

 

8/10

Edited September 4, 2012 by poppyshake

[Ooshie]

Thank you for your review of Can You Forgive Her?, poppyshake. I had read the first couple of the Pallisers series, and your review reminded me of just how much I enjoyed them. The rest are on the shelf waiting patiently, and have moved up my tbr list again now!