Poppy's Paperbacks 2011

[poppyshake]

Day 10 – Favourite classic book

 

Hmmm .. I need to think about this one!

 

Ok, well I could pick any of about twenty or thirty favourites, but if pushed I'd have to go for Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' even though that seems like the most predictable of answers, it's the first classic that I ever read for pleasure and it encouraged me to try other classic stories. Also, I love the humour in it, it's the sort of humour I love best .. observational and at times absurd.

 

The list of those that I also love would be as long as your arm .. I'll just mention a few ...

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Diary of a Nobody - George & Weedon Grossmith

The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford

Edited May 5, 2011 by poppyshake

[frankie]

Thanks Frankie, the book might not be for you if you're not a fan of sea stories ... 'The Old Man and the Sea' might be more to your taste because .. it's short and to the point .. Hemingway doesn't waste words. The first page of 'Moby Dick' is probably it's finest (so just read that ) I've never seen 'Dogfight' or 'Mad about You' .. I'll have to look them up (always looking for stuff to stick on LoveFilm )

 

Ooh thanks for the tip, I'll definitely start my sea faring literary adventures with The Old Man and the Sea, not at all a bad choice now that I'm keen on Hemingway! I will also try reading Moby Dick at some point, it must be on the 1001 Books list, but I'm not rushing into it.

 

I'm not necessarily recommending Mad about You, I really liked it in my teens but I don't know how it would fare today. Dogfight is a decent movie, but the main attraction is River Phoenix

 

Thanks for the reassurance Frankie I am trying to keep the faith truly, and in my experience he gets better with every book .. it's just that I've read one or two niggling little criticisms of the subsequent two books (I'm not including the 'Nursery Crimes' here) which have made me have the tiniest of doubts. Even if they are a fraction as good as the others though I think I'll be happy. 'Something Rotten' may well turn out to be my 'Azkaban' of the Thursday Nexts but thats ok, it didn't stop me enjoying the rest of the Potters and it won't stop me reading anything that Jasper Fforde comes up with next.

He should sooooooo come here and be featured and mobbed

 

Oh I didn't know that there've been critique about the subsequent books, Uh oh! I now understand your concerns. But there's just no way around it than to read them. And I guess I have to confess at this point, I myself have only read the first book. And yes, mostly because I'm too scared that the second novel won't compare How wrong is it of me to support you on a subject I'm not totally sure of myself and of which I myself suffer?

 

Day 07 – Most underrated book Probably a lot of people will think it's not underrated but I'm going to pick 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' by Susanna Clarke which I thought was just genius. Apart from here on the forum I never hear about it, if I mention it to people they've never heard of it, it doesn't make any of the lists, you don't see it promoted in shops infact you're lucky to find a copy (and I know I've been looking) and, though I think it did win some awards it was not listed for the Orange prize and only longlisted by the Booker and yet I think it is one of the best books to have been written in the last ten years. It is a bit of a housebrick and that might put people off, it has endless footnotes and it does take a while to get going, you have to invest some time at the beginning but the payoff is that you get to read one of the most inventive, imaginative stories ever.

 

It's definitely a huge book and one needs time to get through it, and the footnotes might seem too many and too detailed for some, but I agree with you, the reward for one's investment is great. Such a wonderful novel. And if it makes you feel better, I know some non-BCF members who've read and loved the book and I think here in Finland quite a few people know it.

 

Day 10 – Favourite classic book

 

Hmmm .. I need to think about this one!

 

Ok, well I could pick any of about twenty or thirty favourites, but if pushed I'd have to go for Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' even though that seems like the most predictable of answers, it's the first classic that I ever read for pleasure and it encouraged me to try other classic stories. Also, I love the humour in it, it's the sort of humour I love best .. observational and at times absurd.

 

I think this answers my question for you on my reading blog, I.e. which Austen you like best, if Northanger Abby is your second choice.

Edited May 6, 2011 by frankie

[poppyshake]

Oh I didn't know that there've been critique about the subsequent books, Uh oh! I now understand your concerns. But there's just no way around it than to read them. And I guess I have to confess at this point, I myself have only read the first book. And yes, mostly because I'm too scared that the second novel won't compare How wrong is it of me to support you on a subject I'm not totally sure of myself and of which I myself suffer?

Rest assured the second, third and fourth books are brilliant .. each book so far has exceeded my expectations which is why I'm nervous having read some slight criticisms of the next two (I haven't even got a copy of 'First Among Sequels' yet which is mostly because it is nigh on imposible to get a paperback copy with a cover that matches all the others grrrrrrrr unless you pay £20 plus) but I will probably borrow it from a library and then take my time finding my own copy.

It's definitely a huge book and one needs time to get through it, and the footnotes might seem too many and too detailed for some, but I agree with you, the reward for one's investment is great. Such a wonderful novel. And if it makes you feel better, I know some non-BCF members who've read and loved the book and I think here in Finland quite a few people know it.

It's clear to me that the people of Finland have the best taste in books in the world (I am suspecting that the people of Australia will run you a very close second ) How clever of you to be born there Frankie

I think this answers my question for you on my reading blog, I.e. which Austen you like best, if Northanger Abby is your second choice.

Yes, there is hardly anything to choose for me between P&P, Northanger Abbey and S&S .. then would come Persuasion but the other two I can take or leave (having said that there are bits of both books that I love it's just that overall they are my least faves.)

[poppyshake]

Day 11 – A book you hated

 

'Madame Bovary' by Gustave Flaubert. I read it a while ago but the sheer dullness of it left it's mark. I can't remember why I hated it so but the words tedious and boring come to mind. Plus I just didn't give a fig for anyone it it, I didn't like them, love them or hate them .. just nothing, no feelings whatsoever one way or another (except for a very slight irritation like an itch that can't be scratched away.) It's my own personal opinion that there are two versions of 'Madame Bovary', the one that nearly everyone else reads and enjoys and the bogus one that was foisted on me. All I thought at the end of it was .. 'I can never get that time back again' .. I could have read at least two far more interesting books, I could have learnt to play an instrument or done something worthwhile like sampled every ice cream that Ben & Jerry's make but no, it's too late, and there's a Madame Bovary shaped hole in my life, somewhen around 2003, where time stood still and the only sound heard was that of my brain crumbling.

 

If you, or anyone you know has had an equally distressing experience whilst reading 'Madame Bovary', please get in touch with Frankie, Ooshie or myself .. we are living proof that you can recover and enjoy books again

[chesilbeach]

Rest assured the second, third and fourth books are brilliant .. each book so far has exceeded my expectations which is why I'm nervous having read some slight criticisms of the next two (I haven't even got a copy of 'First Among Sequels' yet which is mostly because it is nigh on imposible to get a paperback copy with a cover that matches all the others grrrrrrrr unless you pay £20 plus) but I will probably borrow it from a library and then take my time finding my own copy.

 

Hi Poppy - Jasper put this news flash on his website on 2nd March 2011:

 

It's official. The paperback UK version of TN-5 First Among Sequels will have the hardback artwork and will then match the rest of the series. Not sure when, probably in the next couple of months.

 

Definitely borrow it from the library and wait a couple of months to buy it, and you'll get a matching set! I have the hardback version (signed by Mr Fforde from when I went to an event at Waterstone's when the book came out), but that has the same design. I'm not too bothered about having all in paperback or all in hardback, but I was insistent that I had to have the cover to match the others

[poppyshake]

Thanks Chesil ... that is brilliant news I don't mind now how long I have to wait, it will be worth it just to see them all gorgeously matching (and they are such great covers too and match the stories so well.) I may well read a borrowed copy before then though.

[Kylie]

It's clear to me that the people of Finland have the best taste in books in the world (I am suspecting that the people of Australia will run you a very close second ) How clever of you to be born there Frankie

 

Nice attempt at being diplomatic, Poppyshake, but not diplomatic enough! Surely we are at least equal in having the best taste?

[poppyshake]

Nice attempt at being diplomatic, Poppyshake, but not diplomatic enough! Surely we are at least equal in having the best taste?

haha ... you're right Kylie, of course

[Kylie]

haha ... you're right Kylie, of course

 

You British aren't too bad either.

[poppyshake]

You British aren't too bad either.

aah group hug

[poppyshake]

Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore

Hmm this is a difficult one, I can't really think of any books that I used to love but don't now. I've probably blocked out all the really awful one's. The nearest I can get to answering the question is to say that now when I read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott the story seems a little too twee and the girls, especially Jo, a little too self righteous. I still like the story a lot though but it's the best answer I have.

Edited January 15, 2014 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

Stuart : A Life Backwards - Alexander Masters

Waterstones Synopsis: Stuart, A Life Backwards, is the story of a remarkable friendship between a reclusive writer and illustrator ('a middle class scum ponce, if you want to be honest about it, Alexander') and a chaotic, knife-wielding beggar whom he gets to know during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison. Interwoven into this is Stuart's confession: the story of his life, told backwards. With humour, compassion (and exasperation) Masters slowly works back through post-office heists, prison riots and the exact day Stuart discovered violence, to unfold the reasons why he changed from a happy-go-lucky little boy into a polydrug-addicted-alcoholic Jekyll and Hyde personality, with a fondness for what he called 'little strips of silver' (knives to you and me). Funny, despairing, brilliantly written and full of surprises: this is the most original and moving biography of recent years.

Review: Alexander first met Stuart when he saw him sitting in a doorway on the streets of Cambridge ... 'pasty skin, green bomber jacket, broken gym shoes, hair cropped to the scalp and a week's worth of stubble; his face, the left side livelier than the right, was almost mongoloid. Several of his teeth were missing; his mouth was a sluice.' He says something which Alexander has to get down on his knee's to hear ... he whispers 'As soon as I get the opportunity I'm going to top myself.' He meets him again when they come together to campaign against the wrongful conviction of two charity workers and it's not long before Alexander realises he has found the perfect person to interview for his book about the homeless.

But Stuart's not at all happy with the first manuscript, apparently it's 'b****cks boring.' Put briefly, his objection is that Alexander drones on. Stuart wants jokes, anecdotes yarns and humour, he doesn't want academic quotes and background research ... 'Nah Alexander, you gotta start again. You gotta do better than this.' Apparently he's after a bestseller 'like what Tom Clancy writes ... something that people will read .. make it a murder mystery ... what murdered the boy I was? See? write it backwards.' So Alexander begins again and writes the book that I've just read. The first bombshell comes soon and gives you a bit of a shake even though it seems inevitable. On the bottom of page six Alexander writes

'I wish I could have done it more quickly, I wish I could have presented it to Stuart before he stepped in front of the 11.15 London to King's Lynn train.'

 

Stuart is the sort of anti-social nightmare that, apart from possibly throwing some coins his way, you'd probably avoid in the street if you saw him. A man who until recently had been living out of skips, who has twenty pages of convictions, a thief, hostage taker, psycho, drug addict and solvent abuser, self harmer, street raconteur with violent tendencies and a love of knives, really, you could name almost anything crime/vice-wise and Stuart has probably done it. But what were the reasons for it, what turned him from the 'happy-go lucky little boy' of his mum's description to the disruptive, violent and withdrawn individual that he grew up to be.

And the answers are all here, not immediately apparent although hinted at as Stuart recalls his earlier days. At first of course, we start with the here and now so the story is quite encouraging, Stuart is off the streets and living in his own one-roomed flat and he's on a methadone programme (there's even a recipe here for the 'convict curry' he cooks for Alexander during one of their early sessions.) but soon come the years he has spent in and out of prison and living rough and this obviously is when most of Stuart's crimes were committed and as the years strip away we learn more and more about his adolescence and childhood and what we learn there is truly harrowing. Stuart himself has a hard time recalling any of this stuff and indeed can't talk about a lot of it but there is enough here to make you hang your head .. I read it with tears dripping down my face.

This is not just a story about Stuart though but homeless people in general, what it's like to live rough on the streets, what sort of people become homeless and the difficulties of being alienated from the community and although it is relentlessly depressing, thanks to Alexander's great writing (and illustrations) and Stuart's great quotes, there's a lot of humour in it too. I don't want to go into too much detail because, if you are in any way interested, YOU REALLY MUST READ IT.
But I must just warn first, some people may find the content offensive.

Mark Haddon in the book blurb thinks this is 'possibly the best biography I have ever read' and who am I to disagree with him.

10/10 (I did give it 9/10 originally but now that it has filtered through me I can't think why I docked a point .. was it for the swearing? no, I am a lorry drivers daughter after all .. was it cos it made me feel uncomfortable? maybe a bit but anyway, it has stayed with me like only a 10/10 book can.)

Edited January 15, 2014 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

Day 13 – Your favourite writer

Another difficult one, I haven't got an out and out favourite writer. I go through phases, but top candidates would be Jasper Fforde, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, PG Wodehouse, Nancy Mitford, Dan Rhodes, Jonathan Safran Foer and JK Rowling but if I pick the writer that I have probably read the most books by over the past couple of years it would probably be Neil Gaiman, I love his style, I love the weird and twisted way his mind works .. I don't always love his stories .. some of them freak me out but he's always worth reading .. he transports me to magical places and terrifies me half to death .. but in a good way. I think he is quite simply the best storyteller out there.

Edited January 15, 2014 by poppyshake

[Kylie]

Hi Poppyshake. I'm really enjoying all of your answers. I figure I'll just comment on a few in one go.

 

I've seen a pattern developing in your questions. You're basically answering them all the same way I would. I find myself agreeing with everything you've been writing!

 

Day 05 – A book that makes you happy

 

The books that cheer me up the most are P.G. Wodehouse's books and in particular his Jeeves and Wooster stories ..

 

You can't be gloomy when you read Wodehouse it's impossible, he'll cheer you up before the end of the first page.

 

Seeing the books come to life on screen with the sublime Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry was just the icing on the cake .. the first two series in particular were phenomenal.

 

I concur. You can never go wrong with Wodehouse; what a joy his books are to read. And it doesn't matter in the least that his books are a bit samey because it just means you know that every Wodehouse you pick up will be a winner.

 

Day 06 – A book that makes you sad

 

It's fairly easy for a book to make me cry, I am a hopeless crybaby when it comes to books and films. Recent tear jerkers for me were Markus Zusak's 'The Book Thief' which I just cried buckets over and J.K. Rowlings 'Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows' which had me in floods (the reasons for which I can't go into without plot spoiling.) The book that makes me most sad though is Anne Franks 'The Diary of a Young Girl', just to read all her private thoughts and feelings, all her hopes and aspirations wrapped up with her fears and anxieties and resentments and worst of all is that you know the outcome so when she's chattering on about her hopes for the future, such as how she would love to be a writer, and how she longs to be outside again, a part of you breaks because you know she never will or will never be conscious of it anyway.

 

I've cried buckets over the Zusak and Rowling books too. I can't recall if I actually cried while reading Anne Frank, but I can't imagine that I didn't. I remember the same incredible feelings of sadness and despair when you know the outcome of her life while reading about her future plans.

 

Day 07 – Most underrated book

Probably a lot of people will think it's not underrated but I'm going to pick 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' by Susanna Clarke which I thought was just genius. Apart from here on the forum I never hear about it, if I mention it to people they've never heard of it, it doesn't make any of the lists, you don't see it promoted in shops infact you're lucky to find a copy (and I know I've been looking) and, though I think it did win some awards it was not listed for the Orange prize and only longlisted by the Booker and yet I think it is one of the best books to have been written in the last ten years.

 

I remember this coming out around Christmastime here, and there were thousands of copies to be found everywhere. It must surely have been selling very well, and I know it to be critically acclaimed among reviewers (both 'professional' and 'amateur'), but I also find that it never gets mentioned outside the forum. I think that's definitely enough to qualify it as an underrated book.

 

And yes, it's brilliant!

 

Day 08 – Most overrated book

 

So the book that wasn't for me but was for a lot of other people is Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy (which is often classed as one book on the lists) ...

 

Aha! One I can't comment on (although apparently that's not going to stop me...) I have this on my TBR pile and I have to say that I have high expectations of it given the endless glowing reviews I've read. It may very well end up being an overrated book for me too if it doesn't live up to the hype.

Edited May 9, 2011 by Kylie

[frankie]

Rest assured the second, third and fourth books are brilliant .. each book so far has exceeded my expectations which is why I'm nervous having read some slight criticisms of the next two (I haven't even got a copy of 'First Among Sequels' yet which is mostly because it is nigh on imposible to get a paperback copy with a cover that matches all the others grrrrrrrr unless you pay £20 plus) but I will probably borrow it from a library and then take my time finding my own copy.

 

I will rest assured, thank you poppyshake! I have the first five novels, and only two of them match, editionwise! I really hate it how it's just impossibly to get a matching series. Well I guess it's my own fault, I think I've only bought the first two from 'normal' bookshops, the rest came from different secondhand bookshops (in Australia heheh, thanks to Kylie! She has a knack for finding Fforde, as well as Rand). You should see my Dexter collection. The first book is a Finnish hardback, all the other are in English but only two of them are nice paperbacks and the other one is a huge paperback. But what can you do, if you really want a book straight out of the press?

 

It's clear to me that the people of Finland have the best taste in books in the world (I am suspecting that the people of Australia will run you a very close second ) How clever of you to be born there Frankie

 

The best indeed! You should come and visit, I think you'd be pleasantly surprised at the huge selection of English titles in our biggest bookshop in Helsinki. You'd also be surprised to see how much the Finns enjoy their British TV. We get a lot of BBC series, Austen stuff and other amazing series, and of course all the best British comedies. I know a lot of Little Britain fans, Smack the Pony fans, my Dad goes silly everytime he sees Mr Bean, etc etc. My current favorite is definitely Black Books. I also quite like Bottom, and my friends is absolutely nuts about it. We have quite a big crush on Rik Mayall... (Oh and I think some of the best thriller/crime series come from UK. I love the miniseries based on Minette Walters's novels, and my absolute favorites are Trial & Retribution miniseries based on Lynda la Plante's novels. They make me so anxious and scared it's not funny!)

Yes, there is hardly anything to choose for me between P&P, Northanger Abbey and S&S .. then would come Persuasion but the other two I can take or leave (having said that there are bits of both books that I love it's just that overall they are my least faves.)

 

I agree on Mansfield Park, I've read it twice and I really, really don't like it. I didn't like any of the characters, and to me it's pretty important to like the main character. I didn't have any sympathy towards her because I found her quite annoying in different ways. I even gave my copy of the book away because I think I'll never read it again. Emma, however, I liked. I have a hard time trying to decide which is my favorite. I guess I always thought it is of course P&P, but for a while now, everytime I think about re-reading the book I shudder. Mostly because I've seen the mini series probably 6-8 times and know the story so well. That's kind of led me to re-evaluate my thoughts on the books and which is the best.

 

My favorite filmatization is probably Persuasion from 1995, made for TV. With Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds. Wentworth is swoon-worthy, and Hinds is amazing. I remember when I first saw the film, I thought it was Alan Rickman It was ages ago and I wasn't that familiar with Rickman's face back then.

 

Day 11 – A book you hated If you, or anyone you know has had an equally distressing experience whilst reading 'Madame Bovary', please get in touch with Frankie, Ooshie or myself .. we are living proof that you can recover and enjoy books again

 

You can recover, but you can never hear the name 'Flaubert' without cringing. And some of us also have problems with reading certain Julian Barnes novels... Life is not quite the same as before!

 

Nice attempt at being diplomatic, Poppyshake, but not diplomatic enough! Surely we are at least equal in having the best taste?

 

I'd like to have a superior taste but that's just my ego. I do have to agree with Kylie on this. Hence I'm pleased to have witnessed the following quote:

haha ... you're right Kylie, of course

Edited May 9, 2011 by frankie

[frankie]

 

I didn't read your review in full because I want to read the book first, but I skimmed it through and you certainly enjoyed it, I'm so happy! Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree was a hoot to read on it's own, but now you've proved us that there's more to it than just that: you've now read a book he reviewed and have enjoyed it. Ooooh I can't wait to get to this. A biography, an interesting subject matter, and Haddon, as well as poppyshake, to recommend it? What more can one really ask for. Thanks for the review, as always

[poppyshake]

Hi Poppyshake. I'm really enjoying all of your answers. I figure I'll just comment on a few in one go.

 

I've seen a pattern developing in your questions. You're basically answering them all the same way I would. I find myself agreeing with everything you've been writing!

Thanks Kylie

I concur. You can never go wrong with Wodehouse; what a joy his books are to read. And it doesn't matter in the least that his books are a bit samey because it just means you know that every Wodehouse you pick up will be a winner.

I could read his stories forever it's probably the only thing the late Queen Mother and me had in common, she loved to go to bed with Wodehouse too

I've cried buckets over the Zusak and Rowling books too. I can't recall if I actually cried while reading Anne Frank, but I can't imagine that I didn't. I remember the same incredible feelings of sadness and despair when you know the outcome of her life while reading about her future plans.

Yes, with fiction books, even when they're sad they usually leave you with a little bit of light or hope but of course with Anne's story there wasn't any

I remember this coming out around Christmastime here, and there were thousands of copies to be found everywhere. It must surely have been selling very well, and I know it to be critically acclaimed among reviewers (both 'professional' and 'amateur'), but I also find that it never gets mentioned outside the forum. I think that's definitely enough to qualify it as an underrated book.

And yes, it's brilliant!

I'm so glad you liked it too. Actually I want to re-read it soon but it's such a doorstep!

Aha! One I can't comment on (although apparently that's not going to stop me...) I have this on my TBR pile and I have to say that I have high expectations of it given the endless glowing reviews I've read. It may very well end up being an overrated book for me too if it doesn't live up to the hype.

I imagine .. and hope .. you will love it because practically everyone does .. it just didn't click with me. Some of it, as I said, I loved but on the whole it just felt cold. Our planets didn't align

 

I didn't read your review in full because I want to read the book first, but I skimmed it through and you certainly enjoyed it, I'm so happy! Hornby's The Polysyllabic Spree was a hoot to read on it's own, but now you've proved us that there's more to it than just that: you've now read a book he reviewed and have enjoyed it. Ooooh I can't wait to get to this. A biography, an interesting subject matter, and Haddon, as well as poppyshake, to recommend it? What more can one really ask for. Thanks for the review, as always

You will love it I'm sure Frankie, it's brilliant and I'm thankful to Nick for highlighting it. There was a drama too of it which completely passed me by .. must check it out.

 

[poppyshake]

Day 14 – Favourite book of your favourite writer

Well that would be Neverwhere .. I just adored it. Very, very inventive writing from one of the very best writers of fantasy fiction .. but it's not the sort of stuff that addles your brain and makes you turn the book around to see if you've been reading it upside down for the last half hour. It's clever and imaginative but also really, really readable and enormous fun.

Synopsis: Under the streets of London there's a world most people could never even dream of - a city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, and pale girls in black velvet. Richard Mayhew is a young businessman who is about to find out more than he bargained for about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his safe and predictable life and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and yet utterly bizarre. There's a girl named Door, an Angel called Islington, an Earl who holds Court on the carriage of a Tube train, a Beast in a labyrinth, and dangers and delights beyond imagining...And Richard, who only wants to go home, is to find a strange destiny waiting for him below the streets of his native city.

Edited January 15, 2014 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

I will rest assured, thank you poppyshake! I have the first five novels, and only two of them match, editionwise! I really hate it how it's just impossibly to get a matching series. Well I guess it's my own fault, I think I've only bought the first two from 'normal' bookshops, the rest came from different secondhand bookshops (in Australia heheh, thanks to Kylie! She has a knack for finding Fforde, as well as Rand). You should see my Dexter collection. The first book is a Finnish hardback, all the other are in English but only two of them are nice paperbacks and the other one is a huge paperback. But what can you do, if you really want a book straight out of the press?

Oh it annoys the life out of me, you save your pennies and buy the books and then all of a sudden .. they change the covers and mess up your bookshelves there should be a law against it.

The best indeed! You should come and visit, I think you'd be pleasantly surprised at the huge selection of English titles in our biggest bookshop in Helsinki. You'd also be surprised to see how much the Finns enjoy their British TV. We get a lot of BBC series, Austen stuff and other amazing series, and of course all the best British comedies. I know a lot of Little Britain fans, Smack the Pony fans, my Dad goes silly everytime he sees Mr Bean, etc etc. My current favorite is definitely Black Books. I also quite like Bottom, and my friends is absolutely nuts about it. We have quite a big crush on Rik Mayall... (Oh and I think some of the best thriller/crime series come from UK. I love the miniseries based on Minette Walters's novels, and my absolute favorites are Trial & Retribution miniseries based on Lynda la Plante's novels. They make me so anxious and scared it's not funny!)

I'd love to go to Finland *wishes for it very much* .. ahh you never know one day You can't beat a bit of BBC .. tbh I'd be happy with just the two BBC channels, I rarely step outside them and when I do HaHa I do love 'Smack the Pony', 'Little Britain' and Rik Mayall .. especially in Blackadder (did you see him in that?) he's just a comedy genius. I am a bit of a scaredy cat so it depends on how dark the thriller/crime programmes are .. I watched 'the Sculptress' though and thought it was brilliant.

I agree on Mansfield Park, I've read it twice and I really, really don't like it. I didn't like any of the characters, and to me it's pretty important to like the main character. I didn't have any sympathy towards her because I found her quite annoying in different ways. I even gave my copy of the book away because I think I'll never read it again. Emma, however, I liked. I have a hard time trying to decide which is my favorite. I guess I always thought it is of course P&P, but for a while now, everytime I think about re-reading the book I shudder. Mostly because I've seen the mini series probably 6-8 times and know the story so well. That's kind of led me to re-evaluate my thoughts on the books and which is the best.

 

My favorite filmatization is probably Persuasion from 1995, made for TV. With Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds. Wentworth is swoon-worthy, and Hinds is amazing. I remember when I first saw the film, I thought it was Alan Rickman It was ages ago and I wasn't that familiar with Rickman's face back then.

I think I am in love with Colin Firth so my favourite drama would be P&P but I love all of them and thought Amanda Root was just so touching as Anne Elliot. Ciarán is like Alan isn't he!! Both lovely and always worth watching. I think he also played Rochester didn't he?

Yes, that's the only problem with P&P .. the amount of coverage it gets with dramas and films etc .. it is in danger of overkill but then it's like my favourite old jumper .. all comfy cosy and familiar and when I re-read it, I still find stuff I had forgotten was in there.

Fanny Price is just too insipid and too pious .. it's hard to like her. I'm sure Edmund lived to regret his choice and wished he had taken his chances with Mary Crawford and lived life a little. Having said that, he was a jerk as well

Edited May 9, 2011 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

Day 15 – Favourite male character

It's weird but a lot of my favourite male characters are not characters that I actually like ... there's Heathcliff, Scrooge and Uncle Matthew (from 'Love in a Cold Climate' and 'The Pursuit of Love') .. all absolute monsters but great to read about. There's also lots that I admire like Atticus Finch, Jonathan Strange, Jeeves, Mr Rochester and Eugene Wrayburn (from 'Our Mutual Friend') but I think best of all is Bertie Wooster .. for the same reasons as I gave earlier .. he has such a 'sunny disposish', nothing is ever wrong in his world for long .. he's a twit it's true but then reading about twits is great fun and he is such a lovable twit. I did love him long before I saw Hugh Laurie playing him but Hugh just captures him perfectly ...

Bertie singing Minnie the Moocher

Edited January 15, 2014 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

Day 16 – Favourite female character

 

Not that I've said this before but my favourite female character is Thursday Next from the Jasper Fforde novels. She's just an ordinary girl but extraordinary things happen to her, she has a time travelling dad and a dodo for a pet. She gets to do all sorts of weird and wonderful things, fighting monsters and villains etc but is usually back at home again in time for tea. Best of all she hangs out in the bookworld and gets to chat to people like Heathcliff and Miss Havisham. She only lives down the road from me and so I feel I could be her for a day because I've had lots of experience of driving around the magic roundabout in Swindon.

Other favourite literary ladies are Elizabeth Bennet ('Pride and Prejudice,) Cassandra Mortmain ('I Capture the Castle',) Molly Gibson ('Wives and Daughters',) Tiffany Aching (Terry Pratchett's Discworld,) Liesel Meminger ('The Book Thief') and Miyuki Woodward ('Gold') .. I don't seem to like the feisty females as much as I like the feisty men so Becky Sharp and Catherine Earnshaw do nothing for me but I do like comic creations so love characters like Lady Catherine de Bourgh (P&P,) Lady Montdore (Love in a Cold Climate) and Sairey Gamp ('Martin Chuzlewitt'.)

[poppyshake]

 

The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford

 

Waterstones Synopsis: 'Obsessed with sex!' said Jassy, 'there's nobody so obsessed as you, Linda. Why if I so much as look at a picture you say I'm a pygmalionist'. In the end we got far more information out of a book called "Ducks and Duck Breeding". 'Ducks can only copulate,' said Linda, after studying this for a while, 'in running water. Good luck to them'. Oh the tedium of waiting to grow up! Longing for love, obsessed with weddings and sex, Linda and her sisters and cousin Fanny are on the look out for the perfect lover. But finding Mr Right is much harder than any of the sisters thought. Linda must suffer marriage first to a stuffy Tory MP and then to a handsome and humorousless communist before finding real love in war-torn Paris..."The Pursuit of Love" is one of the funniest, sharpest novels about love and growing up ever written.

 

Review: I only picked this book up for five minutes, I'd just been talking about it to Kylie and I thought I'd flick through the first few pages to reacquaint myself with it and before I knew it I was halfway through. I'm not sure what it is about it that I find just so perfectly right for me, it's probably the humour which is the sort I like best .. observational, biting and a little bit wicked. There's a touch of the Wodehouse's about it and the Waugh's and If Jane Austen had written in the 1940's it wouldn't be far off this. It's said to be semi-autobiographical in that the Radlett family certainly bear more than a passing resemblance to the Mitford's.

 

This is the story of Linda Radlett as told by her cousin Fanny Logan. Linda is beautiful, naive and a hopeless romantic. Not everyone takes to Linda as a character but rather like Fanny, I love her to bits. When the book starts the girls are fourteen and desperate to fall in love, they settle on the most unlikely imaginary suitors (the Prince of Wales for Linda and a fat farmer from the village for Fanny) and have conspiratorial chats in the Hons cupboard (a secret Radlett society which takes place in the warm linen cupboard .. anyone who is admired is a 'Hon' all enemies are 'counter Hons'.) Their great hero is Oscar Wilde ...

 

Fanny : 'but what did he do?'

Linda : 'I asked Fa once and he roared at me - goodness it was terrifying. He said "If you mention that sewer's name again in this house I'll thrash you, do you hear damn you?" So I asked Sadie and she looked awfully vague and said "Oh duck, I never really quite knew, but whatever it was was worse than murder, fearfully bad. And darling don't talk about him at meals, will you?"

Fanny : 'We must find out'

Linda : 'Bob says he will, when he goes to Eton.'

 

A couple of years later at Linda and Fanny's coming-out ball, Linda meets Tony and falls deeply in love with him, she thinks him handsome and glamorous and doesn't look far beyond it. She's in love with love and refuses to listen to the advice of those around her .. when the mist clears and the stars fade she finds herself married to one of the most terrific bores in the country. This leaves her in a bit of a dilemma, Linda needs to love and be loved and it's clear that Tony see's her as little more than a 'trophy wife' on the other hand she doesn't want to turn out like Fanny's mother (a woman who ran away from her men so often that she became known as 'the Bolter'.)

 

The star of the book is definitely Uncle Matthew (Linda's father,) a roaring, rude, ogre of a man with a list of prejudices as long as your arm and an entrenching tool over the fireplace to whack huns with. His bark is invariably worse than his bite and despite his fearsome reputation he is generally beloved by all those that truly know him.

 

Don't take too much notice of the synopsis which has been taken straight from the book blurb. It makes the book sound more like 'Sex and the City' which is misleading. The girls are only obsessed with weddings and sex in the manner of girls who have no inkling about either. They want to know everything but in fact know nothing and their attempts at guessing are hilarious. But for all of it's hilarity the story of Linda's search for love is also incredibly sad. The ending is short and sharp and makes me catch my breath every time.

 

I don't think I've ever agreed with the Daily Mail before but this book is 'utter, utter, bliss'

 

10/10

[poppyshake]

 

Miss Hargreaves - Frank Baker

 

Waterstones Synopsis: When, on the spur of a moment, Norman Huntley and his friend Henry invent an eighty-three year-old woman called Miss Hargreaves, they are inspired to post a letter to their new fictional friend. It is only meant to be a silly, harmless game - until Miss Hargreaves arrives on their doorstep, complete with her cockatoo, her harp and - last but not least - her bath. She is, to Norman's utter disbelief, exactly as he had imagined her: enchanting, eccentric and endlessly astounding. He hadn't imagined, however, how much havoc an imaginary octogenarian could wreak in his sleepy Buckinghamshire home town, Cornford. Norman has some explaining to do, but how will he begin to explain to his friends, family and girlfriend where Miss Hargreaves came from when he hasn't the faintest clue himself? Will his once-ordinary, once-peaceful life ever be the same again? And, what's more, does he want it to? Miss Hargreaves is part of The Bloomsbury Group, a new library of books from the early twentieth-century chosen by readers for readers.

 

Review: This is the second of the Bloomsbury Group novels that I've read, the first being 'Let's Kill Uncle', and I'm glad to say that they are continuing so far to be delightful. It's very Wodehouse in feel, Norman is at times a bit like Bertie in that he's naive and gets himself into scrapes, unfortunately for Norman he hasn't got a Jeeves to sort it all out for him, he tries to manage things for himself and thus ends up in a right old pickle.

 

It's a great premise, Norman and his friend Henry become bored whilst in Ireland on holiday being shown around a decrepit old church and invent a character, the elderly Miss Hargreaves. They give her characteristics and traits and even go so far as to name the book of poems she has had published. As a continuation of the joke they decide to write to her at the hotel in which they have said she is residing and invite her to stay but when Norman returns home, much to his alarm, there is a letter waiting there from her. He is inclined to think that Henry is playing a joke on him but then his father, a bookshop owner, comes home carrying a rather worn copy of her published poems. Henry is more than a little disturbed.

 

Miss Hargreaves has decided to take him up on his offer and comes to stay with him in his hometown. She is everything that he and Henry described and she greets him as one old friend to another. He tries to shun her and tells everyone who will listen that she's not real, she's just a figment of his and Henry's imagination but of course he only ends up looking like a madman and it's true Norman is a bit of a fantasist ... he tells us so in the prologue .. he doesn't even know if we will believe his account of things.

 

'We dashed into the refreshment room and hurled down double brandies. We couldn't speak. Through the window we watched, our empty glasses trembling in our hands. "Henry," I moaned, "she is exactly as I imagined." Limping slowly along the platform and chatting amiably to the porter, came - well, Miss Hargreaves. Quite obviously it couldn't be anybody else.'

 

This is a novel (rather like 'Let's Kill Uncle') which manages to be both comic and disturbing. Miss Hargreaves seems harmless enough but grows increasingly more sinister as the book progresses. At first she is a friend to Norman but, because of his erratic behaviour towards her, soon becomes a fearsome opponent. This 'Frankenstein's monster' suddenly finds a life force of her own ... she doesn't need her creator anymore. She has practically all of the townspeople eating out of her hand and begins to convince them that Norman is mad and needs help. Norman veers between admiration and disgust .. he's incensed at her nerve but can't help feeling a little proud.

 

As problems mount for him, he ponders on the thought that just as 'creative thought creates', 'destructive thought destroys' and he tries to figure out ways to get rid of her but he soon realises that, just as Henry was in at the conception of Miss Hargreaves, so it needs the both of them to un-imagine her, but can they do it?

 

The only thing that I found a bit tedious were the passages about the church services which did get a little bit involved at times but other than that it's a delight. It's a book to make you laugh, cry and be a little bit spooked.

 

8/10

[Kidsmum]

After reading your review I couldn't resist adding Pursuit of Love to my wishlist Poppy

[pickle]

I have Miss Hargreaves and Lets Kill Uncle in my basket on Amazon but am trying to be good and not push the button to proceed just yet great reviews.