Polka Dot Rock Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 From January 8th to April 22nd (Continuing Blog can be found here) Alongside this blog, I have also taken up both the Doorstep Challenge and the Classic Challenge - novels that are part of these are indicated by the corresponding colour (occasionally, a Classic is also a Doorstep, so this noted by an asterix) Read Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi (9/10) Vanity Fair - W.M Thackeray* (8/10) Wicked - Gregory Maguire (7/10) The Night Watch - Sarah Waters (8/10) The Girls - Lori Lansens (9/10) Restless - William Boyd (3/10) One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson (10/10) Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (6/10) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon (8/10) Poppy Shakespeare - Clare Allen (5/10) Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood (8/10) Disobedience - Naomi Alderman (9/10) The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney (9/10) Currently Reading A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens By the Bed The Book of the City of Ladies - Christine de Pizan (trans. Rosalind Brown Grant) How Novels Work - John Mullan TBR Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood Mansfield Park - Jane Austen Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen Sense & Sensibility - Jane Austen Villette - Charlotte Bronte* The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop - Lewis Buzbee Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes (trans. Edith Grossmann)* No Name - Wilkie Collins* David Copperfield - Charles Dickens* The Woman Who Walked Into Doors - Roddy Doyle Jamaica Inn - Daphne du Maurier Julius - Daphne du Maurier The Mill on the Floss - George Eliot* The Crimson Petal and The White - Michel Faber The Big Fat Bitch Book - Kate Figes Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Isherwood Finn Family Moomintroll - Tove Jansson Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones The People's Act of Love - James Meek Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky (trans. Sanda Smith) Franny & Zooey - J.D Salinger Anna Karenina - L.N. Tolstoy* On Order Watchmen - Alan Moore Want Nightwood - Djuna Barnes Will & Me: How Shakespeare Took Over My Life - Dominic Dromgoole This Is Not a Love Song - Karen Duve Then We Came to the End - Joshua Ferris Howards End - E.M Forster The Odd Women - George Gissing Carter Beats the Devil - Glen David Gold The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing Affluenza: How to be Successful and Stay Sane - Oliver James The Cement Garden - Ian McEwan Valley of the Dolls - Jacqueline Susann Last Orders - Graham Swift The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova Re-Read Nights at the Circus - Angela Carter Wise Children - Angela Carter Unless - Carol Shields On Beauty - Zadie Smith Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted January 16, 2007 Author Share Posted January 16, 2007 Update: I've posted a review of Vanity Fair in the Review Room Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanMargaret Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Oh, I notice you have Madame Bovary on your list. This is the only book of Flaubert's that I have read. Let me know what you think of the book when you have finished. I enjoyed it. The chemist/druggist in the story is a rather humorous and clever fellow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Poppy Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Cold Comfort Farm is brilliant. Full of wit and very funny. Also tongue in cheek! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 I have a copy of 'Anna Karenina', I think I will add to my TBR pile... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 Update: I've added to the TBR pile and Want wish list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Oh, I notice you have Madame Bovary on your list. This is the only book of Flaubert's that I have read. Let me know what you think of the book when you have finished. I enjoyed it. The chemist/druggist in the story is a rather humorous and clever fellow. Yes it's one of those unforgettable stories - the dangers of ennui (be happy with what you have!). I loved it and found it quite a daring book of its time - certainly didn't pull any punches and there are some brilliant scenes in it. Similar novels I've read are The Awakening by Kate Chopin and Therese Raquin by Emile Zola (I think this is my favourite Zola - he doesn't pull any punches either). Notice that Villette is on the list - I've started and abandoned this but am determined to go back to it when I can give it the attention it deserves - it's supposed to be one of the best of the Bronte novels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 Ah, I forgot I'd read The Awakening! I'm pretty sure I did an exam question on it too. It was pretty good, from what I recall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted January 29, 2007 Author Share Posted January 29, 2007 Update: Finished Wicked, so will try and post a review soon. I've also updated my Want list after reading two fantastic articles last week by Oliver James and Kate Figes, and after getting a couple of recommendations from a friend (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Carter Beats the Devil). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted January 29, 2007 Author Share Posted January 29, 2007 Just thought of another list... Books that I'd like find (as I can't figure out where the bloody hell they've disappeared to!) Lolita - Vladimir Nabakov Franny & Zooey - JD Salinger Lolita's one of my favourite books and I really want to read Franny & Zooey, but I can't for the life of me think where they might be in the house, garage, caravan etc. Grrr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted January 30, 2007 Author Share Posted January 30, 2007 Update: I've now posted a Review of Wicked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Update: Finished Wicked, so will try and post a review soon. I've also updated my Want list after reading two fantastic articles last week by Oliver James and Kate Figes, and after getting a couple of recommendations from a friend (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Carter Beats the Devil). I absolutely love Kavalier and Clay. It's a wonderful book. I hope you enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted January 30, 2007 Author Share Posted January 30, 2007 Ooh good! It was part of a final year course that I didn't do, and I'd never heard of it until my friend mentioned how much she'd enjoyed it on the course. Carter Beats The Devil was on it too, as well as one of my favourite novels, Middlesex. I know what I'm spending my gift vouchers on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 It's a big novel, and incredibly rich. The subjects covered, of immigration and separation, of loss and so on, are taken on with very light touch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 Eh up, the TBR and Want lists are swelling. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing! I've added The Cement Garden - Ian McEwan and Valley of the Dolls - Jacqueline Susann to the Want list. I've fancied reading both for a while: from what I've read about The Cement Garden, it reminds me of How Live Now by Meg Rosoff (which I loved). Apart from the incest part, mind you! (Although they were cousins in How I Live Now...). I watched a TV movie about Jacqueline Susann and I've been intrigued by Valley of the Dolls ever since. I'm thinking of buying it and saving it for a time when I need something desperately trashy! Plus, the cover's fabulous darling: Link anyone for a pill? Thus far, I'm really enjoying The Night Watch: I'm savouring it and reading it very carefully as I think I might benefit from it later on in the novel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted February 7, 2007 Author Share Posted February 7, 2007 I've found Lolita and Franny and Zooey! Hooray! I spent all day sorting out which books can be sold and given away, and there they were. As well Salinger's short-stories collection For Esme - With Love and Squalor, which I forgot I had so that was pleasing. Still really enjoying The Night Watch: the twists in the plot are brilliant, and the ambulance scenes are amazingly depicted. It's so easy to forget how brave the women volunteers were during WWII. Happily, I'm also loving John Mullan's book. It's so easy to read and accessible. It's a great 'back to basics' that also teaches you alot. And after years of people trying to explain to me what the Perfect Present tense actually is, I finally understood it last night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louiseog Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 Have finally clicked with Night Watch, Kay is becoming much more interesting isn't she? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted February 7, 2007 Author Share Posted February 7, 2007 Yes, definitely. I think the 'backwards' narrative is really interesting in her case: do you think she seems to be suffering from Post-Traumatic Shock in the first part? At what point did you click with it, btw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louiseog Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 In 1944! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted February 14, 2007 Author Share Posted February 14, 2007 I finished The Night Watch last night. Really enjoyed it, definitely one to re-read in the future I thought the 'backwards' narrative worked extremely well, actually enriching the story rather than simply being a 'gimmick'. I thought the characters were hugely convincing, and quite endearing. Although, I didn't really warm to Duncan that much: I think he reminded me too much of Billy in Lilies (Fridays BBC1), so I was probably a bit exasperated of following two similar characters at the same time. Am probably going to start on The Girls tonight, although I did pick up William Boyd's Restless on my lunch break , since it was half price and I had my gift vouchers. I also bought The Crimson Petal & The White (finally). After being free of Book Need/Greed for a few months, I feel ravenous again! After reading an interview, I really want Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves as it's out in paperback, which surprised me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 I got The Tenderness of Wolves today as a Valentine's pressie, I've been looking at it for ages but never actually got round to buying it. The story looks so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louiseog Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 I finished The Night Watch last night. Really enjoyed it, definitely one to re-read in the future I thought the 'backwards' narrative worked extremely well, actually enriching the story rather than simply being a 'gimmick'. I thought the characters were hugely convincing, and quite endearing. Although, I didn't really warm to Duncan that much: I think he reminded me too much of Billy in Lilies (Fridays BBC1), so I was probably a bit exasperated of following two similar characters at the same time. That hadn't occurred to me but that is right. Bit of a stereotype. Did think she wrote the women better than the men? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted February 15, 2007 Author Share Posted February 15, 2007 In this particular case, I do think she wrote the women better than the men. Saying that, I thought Reggie was a really interesting character, as he really could have been a stereotype, but the conclusion gives him more depth and I think you could understand what Viv saw him in. It was great to read about people that don't get regularly discussed in fiction (such as WWII's civilians and non-combatants) or have largely been ignored in history (until recently), such as gay women. Helen and Julia were really distinctive, individual characters but I liked that Sarah Waters also didn't ignore the mid-20th century 'butchies', like Kay and Mickey, and handled it sensitively and without explanation. Perhaps the problem with Duncan wasn't so much that the women were written better, but they were more vividly written and had a more interesting narratives...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted February 19, 2007 Author Share Posted February 19, 2007 I've been a naughty little scamp this afternoon and ordered from Amazon So The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, The Big Fat Bitch Book and The Tenderness of Wolves should be winging their way to me... Soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted February 21, 2007 Author Share Posted February 21, 2007 Er, I went for a walk in my lunchhour and somehow ended up in a large bookshop chain. And bought ANOTHER book. Oops. But I do want to read it (was looking at it last week), and it's half-price AND I had a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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