Poppy's Paperbacks 2011

[Peacefield]

Delightful review of Miss Hargreaves, Poppy! I have a feeling I would love Frank Baker's work and have added this one to my wish list (along with Let's Kill Uncle).

[poppyshake]

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

Oh I'm so glad I hope you enjoy it when you eventually read it. I'm reading it's companion book now .. 'Love in a Cold Climate' but though I love it nearly as much .. 'The Pursuit of Love' is my absolute favourite.

 

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.

Press proceed, press proceed Only joking Pickle, I have to exercise caution at Amazon too, it's so easy to get carried away there. Hope when/if you do get them that you enjoy them as much as I did.

 

Delightful review of Miss Hargreaves, Poppy! I have a feeling I would love Frank Baker's work and have added this one to my wish list (along with Let's Kill Uncle).

Thanks Peace I'm sure you'll love them, they're so readable. I've got a feeling I'm going to love all of the Bloomsbury group books, which is just as well as I have four others on the shelves, I'm sure I'll get the set before too long .. though I really shouldn't .. where will I put them?

 

[poppyshake]

Day 17 – Favourite quote from your favourite book

This is a bit of a stinker, which favourite book does it mean?, my absolute favourite book? which is the answer to the very last question, my favourite classic?, my favourite book by my favourite writer??? all of them .. none of them ... or am I getting too technical. I don't suppose it matters.

This is the one question which may take me some time to answer as I have to rootle about finding the books and looking up the quotes.

Pride & Prejudice is an easy one to start with ... I could pick hundreds of quotes but the one's that I like best all have a sense of the ridiculous about them ...

"An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do."

"I like her appearance," said Elizabeth, struck with other ideas. "She looks sickly and cross. Yes, she will do for him very well. She will make him a very proper wife."

"Well, my comfort is, I am sure Jane will die of a broken heart, and then he will be sorry for what he has done."

Quotes from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere ...

'Lovely fresh dreams. First class nightmares. We got 'em. Get yer lovely nightmares here.'

'Sir. Might I with due respect remind you that Mister Vandemar and myself burned down the City of Troy? We brought a Black Plague to Flanders. We have assassinated a dozen kings, five popes, half a hundred heroes and two accredited gods. Our last commission before this was the torturing to death of an entire monastery in sixteenth century Tuscany. We are utterly professional.'

'He abused my hospitality' boomed the Earl. 'I swore that ... if he ever again entered my domain I would have him gutted and dried ... like, like something that's been ... um ... gutted, first and then um dried ...''Perchance - a kipper my lord?' suggested the jester.

'Should have followed my idea.' said Mr Vandemar, 'Would have scared her lots more if I'd pulled his head off while she wasn't looking, then put my hand up through his throat and wiggled my fingers about. They always scream,' he confided 'when the eyeballs fall out.'

Edited January 15, 2014 by poppyshake

[Kylie]

Good god I love your reviews, Poppyshake!

 

They make me so excited that I just want to rush home right now and pull both The Pursuit of Love and Miss Hargreaves off my shelves to start reading them.

 

I added all the Bloomsbury books on my wishlist after your reveiw of Let's Kill Uncle, but I decided that adding so many books I didn't know just because they were Bloomsbury (and had pretty covers) was a bit unreasonable, so I removed them all. Now I'm torn. I suspect they're all going to be delightful reads but I should really read the two I have before I go buying more. Perhaps I'll just wait for the rest of your reviews before I buy any more.

 

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.

 

Press the button, press the button!

[frankie]

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.

 

You are very welcome to visit, and if you need a place to stay my door is always open! There's not much room but if you don't mind close quarters it'll be jolly good.

 

BBC is on it's own level of excellence when it comes to TV. I'm not personally a huge fan of Smack the Pony, the jokes go over my head, but I love Sally Phillips, she's great! Little Britain is a hoot, but they've now shown so much of it on TV that they've gone overboard with it. I have not seen Blackadder (but have to, especially having read The Fry Chronicles) but Rik Mayall is so gorgeous... Stephen Fry's a bit jealous of his comic genious and his presence. Which I think is odd because Fry is a charmer himself.

 

I just remembered one of my all time BBC favorites: The House of Eliot. Such fantastic actors, great script and the setting is beautiful. Aden Gillett as Jack Maddox, wooooo!

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, Colin Firth in P&P, you can't really compete with that. I think Firth should do nothing but Bridget Jones and BBC costume dramas... Amanda Root was very touching, I just felt like I wanted to wrap my arms around her and give her a great big hug and say 'just you wait, it's going to be alright!'. I'm glad you agreed that Ciarán is like Alan, because I thought nobody else would see the similarity and I'd only embarrass myself I imdb'ed him and yes he playes Rochester, too. I've only seen Jane Eyre once, I think, so wasn't sure.

 

Another film where I've seen Ciarán is The Weight of Water, which I thought was absolutely brilliant, have you heard of it? (There's also my one of my favorite actors, Sarah Polley, which is the reason why I watched the movie in the first place, and there's also Sean Penn, Elizabeth Hurley and my favorite Danish actor, Ulrich Thomsen) It's based on a novel by Anita Shreve, and the novel is based on a true story but it's a novelisation. It's a story of the Smuttynose Island murders, a really fascinating story. Both the movie and the book are brilliant.

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.

 

Overkill, that's it. I always thought P&P is my favorite Austen novel, but because it's been covered everywhere, in movies and mini-series and because almost everyone always says it's their fave, I've started to think do I actually really like it so much? Which is just horrible because if I didn't like it so much in the first place, I wouldn't have said it was my favorite. I hate it that all the attention on that novel is making me doubt my own judgment!

 

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

 

I think they were all jerks! They should've just locked themselves in that huge house and lit the house on fire

 

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 ...

 

That's a unique take on the concept of favorite male character, nothing wrong with it Yay for Atticus Finch! (Where's Sydney Carton! )

 

 

I've noticed you and Kylie talking about this book and the author and have been curious about it now for a while. But it wasn't until yesterday that I realised it's on the Memoirs section of 501 Books list! So it's autobiographical? After browsing through your review (I didn't dare read it as whole so I wouldn't know too much about it in case I wanted to read it) it's definitely going on my wishlist! Thanks poppyshake Or should I say 'darn you woman!', if I were only to read the books I want to after reading your reviews, I wouldn't have time for any other books during the year.

Edited May 13, 2011 by frankie

[frankie]

Oh my, I just noticed that Stuart: A Life Backwards is going to be shown on TV next week, it's a BBC movie/series, I'm not sure but I'm definitely going to watch it! I assume you haven't seen it, I think you would've mentioned if you had?

[poppyshake]

Good god I love your reviews, Poppyshake!

 

They make me so excited that I just want to rush home right now and pull both The Pursuit of Love and Miss Hargreaves off my shelves to start reading them.

 

I added all the Bloomsbury books on my wishlist after your reveiw of Let's Kill Uncle, but I decided that adding so many books I didn't know just because they were Bloomsbury (and had pretty covers) was a bit unreasonable, so I removed them all. Now I'm torn. I suspect they're all going to be delightful reads but I should really read the two I have before I go buying more. Perhaps I'll just wait for the rest of your reviews before I buy any more.

Thanks Kylie I feel the same about the Bloomsbury books, but not all of them have good write ups so they might not all be gems. Having said that they do look so nice together on the shelf that I probably will get the set (bad reason I know but what can you do I'll wait though and try and find them second hand.)

You are very welcome to visit, and if you need a place to stay my door is always open! There's not much room but if you don't mind close quarters it'll be jolly good.

Thanks Frankie you never know, if my ship comes in then I'll be there with bells on .. I'll be sure to give you notice though

BBC is on it's own level of excellence when it comes to TV. I'm not personally a huge fan of Smack the Pony, the jokes go over my head, but I love Sally Phillips, she's great! Little Britain is a hoot, but they've now shown so much of it on TV that they've gone overboard with it. I have not seen Blackadder (but have to, especially having read The Fry Chronicles) but Rik Mayall is so gorgeous... Stephen Fry's a bit jealous of his comic genious and his presence. Which I think is odd because Fry is a charmer himself.

I just remembered one of my all time BBC favorites: The House of Eliot. Such fantastic actors, great script and the setting is beautiful. Aden Gillett as Jack Maddox, wooooo!

I love Sally Phillips, she's lately been in the comedy series 'Miranda' and she's just fantastic in it .. look out for it if it comes your way. You need to see 'Blackadder', especially series 2 and 3 ... practically everyone who was anyone in British comedy at that time is in them. I know what you mean about 'Little Britain', we've all seen the episodes so many times .. it does get a bit stale but I do like Matt and David.

I loved 'House of Eliot' too, such class and fantastic actors/actresses .. shame there isn't more of that kind of thing on. They religiously put on another Austen adaptation every year (or it seems like it) as if Jane or Dickens are the only writers worth adapting. They have branched out a bit lately and done 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher', 'South Riding' and 'The Crimson Petal & the White' and I think we've got an adaptation of Sarah Waters 'The Night Watch' coming soon so I guess you can't be greedy.

Yes, Colin Firth in P&P, you can't really compete with that. I think Firth should do nothing but Bridget Jones and BBC costume dramas... Amanda Root was very touching, I just felt like I wanted to wrap my arms around her and give her a great big hug and say 'just you wait, it's going to be alright!'. I'm glad you agreed that Ciarán is like Alan, because I thought nobody else would see the similarity and I'd only embarrass myself , I imdb'ed him and yes he playes Rochester, too. I've only seen Jane Eyre once, I think, so wasn't sure.

Another film where I've seen Ciarán is The Weight of Water, which I thought was absolutely brilliant, have you heard of it? (There's also my one of my favorite actors, Sarah Polley, which is the reason why I watched the movie in the first place, and there's also Sean Penn, Elizabeth Hurley and my favorite Danish actor, Ulrich Thomsen) It's based on a novel by Anita Shreve, and the novel is based on a true story but it's a novelisation. It's a story of the Smuttynose Island murders, a really fascinating story. Both the movie and the book are brilliant.

Yes, I wasn't keen on Colin in 'Fever Pitch' but I did love him in 'Nanny McPhee', 'The Kings Speech' and 'Bridget Jones' (I thought the whole movie was just fantastic although Sally Phillips was underused in it ... I didn't like the book much though weirdly.) I will look up 'The Weight of Water' both book and film, it sounds great.

Overkill, that's it. I always thought P&P is my favorite Austen novel, but because it's been covered everywhere, in movies and mini-series and because almost everyone always says it's their fave, I've started to think do I actually really like it so much? Which is just horrible because if I didn't like it so much in the first place, I wouldn't have said it was my favorite. I hate it that all the attention on that novel is making me doubt my own judgment!

Yes, but as they say there's a reason why cheddar cheese is so popular (or is it valio oltermanni? ) .. it's because it's wonderful. Maybe it is her most accessible novel .. and the whole plotline with the five sisters is just so engaging. Lizzie is probably the most admirable of Austen heroine's because she's clever and witty, she's good but not a saint, she doesn't suffer fools, she knows her own mind, she's handsome but not the beauty, .. and I mustn't forget those fine eyes She has the most energy and spark of all the Austen heroines.

I think they were all jerks! They should've just locked themselves in that huge house and lit the house on fire

There was nobody to bond with was there?, nobody to like. I thought Lady Bertram's pug had the most character of anyone.

That's a unique take on the concept of favorite male character, nothing wrong with it Yay for Atticus Finch! (Where's Sydney Carton! )

Sydney is a definite hero but truth to tell I haven't read 'A Tale of Two Cities' I know the story well from adaptations and abridged audio's but I've never read it in it's entirety so couldn't include him. I have the book on my shelf but Janet pointed out to me that it's abridged and sure enough when I looked at the back it is (it's a Puffin classic) .. I need to get a full copy and soon.

'The Pursuit of Love' ..I've noticed you and Kylie talking about this book and the author and have been curious about it now for a while. But it wasn't until yesterday that I realised it's on the Memoirs section of 501 Books list! So it's autobiographical? After browsing through your review (I didn't dare read it as whole so I wouldn't know too much about it in case I wanted to read it) it's definitely going on my wishlist!

They are stretching it the teensiest bit to call it a memoir, it's a fictional story but it is said to be semi auto-biographical and there are striking similarities between the Radlett family and the Mitfords so I guess that's why they've put it under that heading. It is on my 1001 but has since been deleted I think. I hope you like it, not everybody does, it is a bit marmite .. if you love it, it was my recommendation, if you hate it, then it's the fault of 501 books

Thanks poppyshake, Or should I say 'darn you woman!', if I were only to read the books I want to after reading your reviews, I wouldn't have time for any other books during the year.

Thanks Frankie, I could say exactly the same for you and Kylie, and I like it cos I love to have books buzzing in my head. I've got lots on my Goodreads to read list which Alan thinks is mad but I like to have books to look forward to .. they're all on bookshelves in my head .. and one day they'll materialise and go on my actual bookshelves.

Oh my, I just noticed that Stuart: A Life Backwards is going to be shown on TV next week, it's a BBC movie/series, I'm not sure but I'm definitely going to watch it! I assume you haven't seen it, I think you would've mentioned if you had?

Here's a case in point, I would never have picked up 'The Polysyllabic Spree' if I hadn't read your review ... I didn't even know of it's existence. I loved it and thanks to Nick, and therefore you, I read Stuart : A Life backwards which I loved also. I did know about the drama, but I didn't see it (I think it was on a while ago now). Benedict Cumberbatch plays Alexander (the writer) and he's someone who's very popular here after being sensational as Sherlock Holmes recently. I expect it'll be good. But what a dilemma, to watch it before you've read the book. I've already put it on my LoveFilm list .. I doubt it'll be as good but I'm sure it'll be worth a watch.

[poppyshake]

Day 18 – A book that disappointed you

 

'Rapture' by Liz Jensen and I was disappointed because normally I love her writing. To me it felt like she had one eye on the movie/TV adaptation. I was annoyed because I quite liked the premise but it started firing off all over the place and not being at all credible. I know books don't have to be credible but sometimes the plot calls for you to be convinced and I wasn't. I didn't like the characters either, one of them in particular needed a good shake, so that didn't help.

Another one is 'Phineas Finn' by Anthony Trollope which I've only lately listened to. I love Trollope's writing but this one was just a bit too political for my taste. I got bogged down in all the politics and was constantly wanting to be back listening to details of Phineas's complicated love life.

[poppyshake]

Day 19 – Favourite book turned into a movie

 

Again I couldn't pick an out and out favourite there are too many. I love the old b&w 'Pride & Prejudice' with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson (didn't like the Keira Knightley one,) the old b&w 'Rebecca', again with Larry and Joan Fontaine. I love 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' with Audrey Hepburn but didn't like the book so that doesn't really count (ditto 'Bridget Jones'.) 'Lord of the Rings' .. I loved both the three books and the three movies. 'I Capture the Castle' with Romola Garai, 'Sense & Sensibility' with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslett, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' with Gregory Peck, The animated 'Coraline', 'The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe' with Tilda Swinton and James McAvoy and nearly every version known to man of 'A Christmas Carol'. I've got an especially soft spot for the Harry Potter movies, the books are far superior to the films but the films are still magical .. and I love the cast.

 

If we can count TV adaptations as movies then there are loads more .. 'Love in a Cold Climate' with Elisabeth Dermot Walsh, Rosamunde Pike, Celia Imrie and Alan Bates, 'Pride & Prejudice' with the gorgeous Colin Firth and the equally gorgeous Jennifer Ehle, 'Wives & Daughters' with Keeley Hawes and Justine Waddell, almost all Dickens adaptations especially 'Martin Chuzzlewitt' (Tom Wilkinson, Julia Sawalha and Paul Schofield,) 'Our Mutual Friend' (Steven Mackintosh, Anna Friel, Keeley Hawes, Paul McGann & David Morrisey,) 'Bleak House' (Anna Maxwell Martin, Carey Mulligan, Gillian Anderson & Johnny Vegas) & 'Little Dorrit' (Claire Foy, Tom Courtenay, Russell Tovey & Matthew Macfadyen.)

& 'Poppy Shakespeare' (Anna Maxwell Martin & Naomie Harris.)

& 'Jane Eyre' (Ruth Watson)

& 'Cranford' (Judy Dench & Dame Eileen Atkins)

& 'Sense & Sensibility' (Hattie Morohan)

and practically all BBC costume drama's

[vodkafan]

If we can count TV adaptations as movies then there are loads more .. 'Love in a Cold Climate' with Elisabeth Dermot Walsh, Rosamunde Pike, Celia Imrie and Alan Bates, 'Pride & Prejudice' with the gorgeous Colin Firth and the equally gorgeous Jennifer Ehle, 'Wives & Daughters' with Keeley Hawes and Justine Waddell, almost all Dickens adaptations especially 'Martin Chuzzlewitt' (Tom Wilkinson, Julia Sawalha and Paul Schofield,) 'Our Mutual Friend' (Steven Mackintosh, Anna Friel, Keeley Hawes, Paul McGann & David Morrisey,) 'Bleak House' (Anna Maxwell Martin, Carey Mulligan, Gillian Anderson & Johnny Vegas) & 'Little Dorrit' (Claire Foy, Tom Courtenay, Russell Tovey & Matthew Macfadyen.)

& 'Poppy Shakespeare' (Anna Maxwell Martin & Naomie Harris.)

& 'Jane Eyre' (Ruth Watson)

& 'Cranford' (Judy Dench & Dame Eileen Atkins)

& 'Sense & Sensibility' (Hattie Morohan)

and practically all BBC costume drama's[/color][/font]

 

If you are doing BBC cossy dramas don't forget Sarah Waters....FingerSmith, Tipping The Velvet and Affinity..

and wasn't there a BBC adaption of "Emma" ?

I like to watch the Patrick Stewart version of A Christmas Carol at least once a year too..

[poppyshake]

If you are doing BBC cossy dramas don't forget Sarah Waters....FingerSmith, Tipping The Velvet and Affinity.. True, and I can't wait for 'The Night Watch'

and wasn't there a BBC adaption of "Emma" ? I wasn't keen on Romola Garai in the part though I loved her in 'I Capture the Castle' and it was all a bit too contemporary for me. It was beautiful to look at though.

I like to watch the Patrick Stewart version of A Christmas Carol at least once a year too.. I love them all, it's a struggle to fit them all in at Christmastime.

[poppyshake]

Day 20 – Favourite romance book

 

It would be too easy and too predictable to say 'Pride & Prejudice' and in any case, for me, 'Persuasion' was more romantic. Who hasn't blubbed their way through the following passage?

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight and a half years ago. Dare not say that a man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in F. W." I melted like a malteser on a sunbed when I read that.

[Weave]

Day 20 – Favourite romance book

 

It would be too easy and too predictable to say 'Pride & Prejudice' and in any case, for me, 'Persuasion' was more romantic. Who hasn't blubbed their way through the following passage?

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight and a half years ago. Dare not say that a man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in F. W." I melted like a malteser on a sunbed when I read that.

 

I haven't read 'Persuasion' but

[poppyshake]

I haven't read 'Persuasion' but

I know ... it get's me every time.

[Weave]

I know ... it get's me every time.

 

:hug:

[poppyshake]

:hug:

Thanks Weave

[poppyshake]

Despite being practically poleaxed by a carousel full of books in the Red Cross charity shop on Saturday, I did manage to buy four books over the weekend.

The Winter Book - Tove Jansson (I'm hoping this will be as good as her 'Summer Book')

Love Letters of Great Men (This should be a great, misty eyed, read)

Girl Meets Boy - Ali Smith (Thanks Chesil for recommending this one )

The Ladies of Grace Adieu - Susanna Clarke (A beautiful charcoal grey/pink copy with it's own slipcase)

[chesilbeach]

Despite being practically poleaxed by a carousel full of books in the Red Cross charity shop on Saturday, I did manage to buy four books over the weekend.

The Winter Book - Tove Jansson (I'm hoping this will be as good as her 'Summer Book')

Love Letters of Great Men (This should be a great, misty eyed, read)

Girl Meets Boy - Ali Smith (Thanks Chesil for recommending this one )

The Ladies of Grace Adieu - Susanna Clarke (A beautiful charcoal grey/pink copy with it's own slipcase)

 

Good choices! I really hope you like Girl Meets Boy, you know how much I loved it *fingers crossed*

 

I loved The Winter Book too and I'm not sure if your copy is the same as mine, but mine had a foreward by Ali Smith - what a coincidence!

[poppyshake]

Good choices! I really hope you like Girl Meets Boy, you know how much I loved it *fingers crossed*

I'm sure I'll like it .. I've had a sort of flick through already

I loved The Winter Book too and I'm not sure if your copy is the same as mine, but mine had a foreward by Ali Smith - what a coincidence!

Yes, mine has too and I really enjoyed reading it. It seemed like such a magical thing to do to spend a few days on the island that inspired the stories, especially as she was such a fan of the book .. lucky thing.

[poppyshake]

Day 21 – Favourite book from your childhood

 

I loved Enid's 'Malory Towers' and 'St Clares' book and would have given my eye teeth to have gone to a boarding school (in theory that is .. in practice I used to have a panic attack if my Mum was more than five paces away!) .. the girls always seemed to have such fun and I was just desperate to have a secret midnight feast and fry sausages by moonlight *sigh* ... but the book that I really fell in love with was Mary Norton's 'The Borrowers' .. I was just fascinated by them and used to be very liberal with my toast crumbs, pencil sharpenings and birthday candle stubs. Whenever an odd sock went missing I had visions of a little borrower unravelling it and making blankets for winter. I did look around the house for Borrowers but never saw them .. they're too clever for that of course but I thought I detected signs of them everywhere.

[Kylie]

I did look around the house for Borrowers but never saw them .. they're too clever for that of course but I thought I detected signs of them everywhere.

 

Too cute!

[poppyshake]

Day 22 – Favourite book you own

 

Having said that I don't collect antiquated books, my favourite books are actually antique. Strictly speaking they're not mine, they're my husband's but they are living under my roof and therefore I count it as the same

 

Alan is a massive Dickens fan and over the years he's collected some gorgeous editions. Probably my favourite is a beautiful red cloth copy of David Copperfield which is just lovely with gold embossing and beautiful pictures interleaved with tissue. In the pic I've put a normal size Penguin book next to it to show how large it is (it can give you serious wristache when you pick it up.) Another one that I love is a two volume proof edition of the 'Pickwick Papers'. It's got beautiful hand cut paper and the drawings, which are by Phiz, are engraved (you can feel it if you run your hands across them.) They're an absolute pleasure to look through and breathe in.

 

Another favourite which I've only just acquired this year is my signed copy of Jasper Fforde's 'One of Our Thursday's is Missing', just to have the book signed was wonderful but it's also a great reminder of a lovely evening and a lovely birthday surprise.

[poppyshake]

Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t

 

I could probably list a hundred or more but the one that annoys me the most (in that I'm annoyed I haven't read it) is 'A Tale of Two Cities' by Charles Dickens. I know the story fairly well from movie adaptations and abridged readings but, like with all Dickens books, you have to read it in it's entirety to fully appreciate it.

 

Others include ...

'Uncle Toms Cabin' - Harriet Beecher Stowe

'Dracula' - Bram Stoker

'Frankenstein' - Mary Shelley

'To the Lighthouse' - Virginia Woolf

'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' - Muriel Spark

'The Bell Jar' - Sylvia Plath

'The Mysteries of Udolpho' - Ann Radcliffe

[poppyshake]

 

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer

 

Waterstones Synopsis: Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and collector of butterflies. When his father is killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre, Oskar sets out to solve the mystery of a key he discovers in his father's closet. It is a search which leads him into the lives of strangers, through the five boroughs of New York, into history, to the bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima, and on an inward journey which brings him ever closer to some kind of peace.

 

Review: I'm really impressed with Jonathan Safran Foer's writing, he's just so creative and innovative - his stories are almost woven not written. This is the tale of Oskar Schell, a very bright nine year old with an enquiring mind whose ambition is to be a great inventor. Oskar's father died in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre and he is having a terribly hard time dealing with it, thinking about it gives him "heavy boots" and he is haunted by the answer phone messages, left by his Father just before he died, which only he has heard. He lives and re-lives the tragedy, and continually thinks up all sorts of imaginary inventions that would help prevent such a disaster happening again .. such as skyscrapers which have deep roots so they could never topple, airbags for skyscrapers and incredibly long ambulances which connect every building to a hospital.

 

Rather like 'Everything is Illuminated' there are several narratives running through the story, Oskar's is the main one but there are also narratives by Oskar's Grandmother and Grandfather (told separately in letter form,) stretching way back to when they were young and living through their own tragedy .. the terrible bombing of Dresden. These are the only bits that can at times seem wearying .. it's a story of lives not lived, voices lost and life stories written up as blank pages ... literally, there are blank pages scattered through the book along with incredibly closely typed pages and pages with just numbers on etc etc but eventually it all melds together to make a beautiful whole.

 

Again, like the last book, this is a noisy chattering story especially where Oskar is concerned, everything he thinks and feels just comes rattling out - along with all his quirks of speech and flights of fancy and this is what makes you get to know him in double quick time. He has found a key in an old vase in the back of his Fathers closet and, believing it to be a quest, sets out to try and find the lock that the key fits (this is one of those impossible quests which only happen in books and one that introduces a lot of oddball characters to the story as Oskar searches the New York boroughs for every family by the name of 'Black' .. the one word written on the envelope which contained the key) hoping that what he finds will help him to make sense of everything.

'The next morning I told Mom I couldn’t go to school again. She asked what was wrong. I told her, “The same thing that’s always wrong.” “You’re sick?” “I’m sad.” “About Dad?” “About everything.” She sat down on the bed next to me, even though I knew she was in a hurry. “What’s everything?” I started counting on my fingers: “The meat and dairy products in our refrigerator, fistfights, car accidents, Larry –“ “Who’s Larry?” “The homeless guy in front of the Museum of Natural History who always says ‘I promise it’s for food’ after he asks for money.” She turned around and zipped her dress while I kept counting. “How you don’t know who Larry is, even though you probably see him all the time, how Buckminster just sleeps and eats and goes to the bathroom and has no raison d’être, the short ugly guy with no neck who takes tickets at the IMAX theatre, how the sun is going to explode one day, how every birthday I always get at least one thing I already have, poor people who get fat because they eat junk food because it’s cheaper. . .” That was when I ran out of fingers, but my list was just getting started, and I wanted it to be long, because I knew she wouldn’t leave while I was still going. “. . . domesticated animals, how I have a domesticated animal, nightmares, Microsoft Windows, old people who sit around all day because no one remembers to spend time with them and they’re embarrassed to ask people to spend time with them, secrets, dial phones, how Chinese waitresses smile even when there’s nothing funny or happy, and also how Chinese people own Mexican restaurants but Mexican people never own Chinese restaurants, mirrors, tape decks, my unpopularity at school, Grandma’s coupons, storage facilities, people who don’t know what the Internet is, bad handwriting, beautiful songs, how there won’t be humans in fifty years –” “Who said there won’t be humans in fifty years?” I asked her, “Are you an optimist or a pessimist?” She looked at her watch and said, “I’m optimistic.” “Then I have some bad news for you, because humans are going to destroy each other as soon as it becomes easy enough to, which will be very soon.” “Why do beautiful songs make you sad?” “Because they aren’t true.” “Never?” “Nothing is beautiful and true.” She smiled, but in a way that wasn’t just happy, and said, “You sound just like Dad.”

 

It's impossible not to snivel your way through most of it as you read about Oskar and his grief over 9/11 and the Dad he has lost (and what a Dad! ... the sort of Dad that makes every day exciting.) He visits foreign websites which show and tell him far more about 9/11 than he has been able to glean from American news footage and he painfully invents and re-invents the details of his Father's death. He picks over all these details and gives himself bruises, he has phobias about tall buildings and the underground. Reading it gave me heavy boots and I ended up with a binful of crumpled soggy tissues.

 

It's true to say that anyone who hated 'Everything is Illuminated' will not like this because they are written in such a similar style but anyone who even vaguely liked it will probably enjoy this one more because it is that little bit easier to read and keep track of the threads, only a little though. It's also true to say that Oskar is perhaps a little bit too advanced and knowing for his age but not unbelievably so (such is his cheek that to gain sympathy on his quest he sometimes gives his age as eight but ups it to twelve if there is any sign of a sexual encounter .. though he knows next to nothing about it ... 'I know lot's about birds and bees but hardly anything about the birds and the bees.') His mum, who herself is suffering but trying to move on, comes in for some pretty harsh treatment at times from her son in that unreasonable way children have of thinking that they are the only ones affected. In the story Oskar keeps a scrapbook entitled 'Stuff That Happened To Me' which is full of pictures and clippings, not of stuff that has happened to him but stuff that is affecting him, like a recurring image of a body falling from the twin towers (which, in order to discover if it's his Dad, he has zoomed in to until all that can be seen is pixels,) and these are scattered throughout the book, somewhat distressingly.

Not an easy read, not an escapist comfy cosy read, but a book to make your brain and heart ache.

 

10/10

[poppyshake]

Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read

 

This sounds a bit like the same question as 'most underrated' so one answer would definitely be 'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' by Susanna Clarke another would be 'Gold' by Dan Rhodes .. it's a simple story but just so enjoyable, everybody I have lent the book to loves it.

The classic that I wish more people would read is 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez which is just a triumph of imaginative writing .. and last but not least, I wish Nancy Mitford's books were more widely read.