vodkafan Posted September 18, 2012 Author Share Posted September 18, 2012 I finished Star Of The Sea last night. Will review it saturday. 13 books to go. Just started Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 I didn't know you had read it Poppyshake. Yes I had a Mitford mania at one point , read the biog (Mitford Girls) then the letters, then Decca's memoirs (Hons & Rebels) and her letters and then Debo's letters .. plus two of Nancy's novels. I have to stop myself blabbing at this point because their lives were so sensational .. do you know anything about them already? do you know about Unity for example? I won't tell you .. you must discover it for yourself. Oh you're going to have to learn to speak boudledidge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookworm44 Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Although I am not supposed to be buying any more tree books, I have gotten on top of my finances this month as well as dealt with some personal stuff and moved on , so I felt I deserved a treat. When all the sums were done and everything put in the bank I had £10 to spend on myself; I spent £4 yesterday in London on some London souveniers and today went into a couple of charity shops and came out with 6 books, 2 music cds and a DVD. I really enjoyed spending that money and got a great haul which I am sure will give me hours of quiet pleasure. the books are: The Midnight Palace Carlos Ruiz Zafon The Book Thief Markus Zusak Pemberley Emma Tennant (P&P sequel?) Girl Meets Boy Ali Smith Gunners On Tour Maurice Court (WWII memoir) The Almost Moon Alice Sebold Everyone deserves a book treat once in awhile! The Book Thief was a great choice. Will most likely be my best read this year. I am not enjoying The Bourne Identity. My image of Bourne comes from the Matt Damon film. The one in the book is totally different and so is Marie. Other things are so different too. If it was not a Genre Challenge book I would stop reading it. I've heard the books are very different from the movies and the movies are actually better! Usually its always the other way around. I'm wondering if you find it hard having to finish a book you don't like so you can check it off your challenge list. Could you substitute it for a better book since yours is a genre challenge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted September 19, 2012 Author Share Posted September 19, 2012 Hi bookworm , thanks for dropping in. Yes, I guess I could substitute books, but because it was a challenge I felt I should stick it out to expand myself a bit. A couple of other books in the challenge were hard work, The Autobiography of Malcom X and The Diary Of A Civil Servant, but I felt that in the end they were worth the effort and I learned from them. The only book I have completely hated in the challenge was Catcher In The Rye. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookworm44 Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Hi bookworm , thanks for dropping in. Yes, I guess I could substitute books, but because it was a challenge I felt I should stick it out to expand myself a bit. A couple of other books in the challenge were hard work, The Autobiography of Malcom X and The Diary Of A Civil Servant, but I felt that in the end they were worth the effort and I learned from them. The only book I have completely hated in the challenge was Catcher In The Rye. That makes perfect sense! Oh, I hated the Cather in the Rye! I've actually re-read that book more than once trying to figure out why so many people love it. I just don't get it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Just seen your book list VF, The Book Thief & Girl Meets Boy i really enjoyed but Almost Moon is a great find i thought it was a fantastic book i couldn't put it down & out of the books i've read by her i would say it's definitely her best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted September 21, 2012 Author Share Posted September 21, 2012 Just seen your book list VF, The Book Thief & Girl Meets Boy i really enjoyed but Almost Moon is a great find i thought it was a fantastic book i couldn't put it down & out of the books i've read by her i would say it's definitely her best. Thanks for telling me Kidsmum, I actually really dithered over that one and almost didn't buy it. But now maybe when I start on those books I will read that one first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted September 22, 2012 Author Share Posted September 22, 2012 Finished Lighthousekeeping. What a great book!! 12 books to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 It's good to see you enjoying some Jeanette (what was it like/what was it about?) .. I want to read her new one but the reviews are iffy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted September 22, 2012 Author Share Posted September 22, 2012 Lighthousekeeping Jeanette Winterson This little book is one of my best reads of 2012. It just made me feel good. Jeanette Winterson does her trademark thing of shuffling time about and mixing up fairy tale, history and (I think) a little bit of her personal experience. It kind of reads like a fairy tale or a sort of parable. It was far better than Sexing The Cherry. It is about a young girl called Silver who lives precariously at an angle on the side of a cliff until her mother one day accidentally falls off . (Funny how I can eat this up but cannot accept The Hobbit). Silver feels lost. Luckily she gets adopted by old Pew the lighthouse keeper, who is a teller of stories. Pew is gentle and loving and Silver adapts to life at the lighthouse. But then one day they are forced to leave and Silver is alone again... This book is about much more than just the simple plot. I found the author's way of looking at things really profound at times and it really cheered me up. I sort of can't help grouping JW with Angela Carter because they both seem to throw off really startling combinations of words. They also both retell Fairy Tales. I am sure this is a marmite book and 50% of readers will hate it. But I will certainly read this again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 It's a while since I read Lighthousekeeping but it's one of those books that has stuck in my mind (and that's no mean feat these days .....just ask Muggle ) Jeanette Winterson's writing has an almost lyrical quality to it, I thought it quite beautiful. I started to read Sexing the Cherry but found it rather surreal and laid it aside. I saw the semi-autobiographical Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and would love to read that, she certainly had an unusual upbringing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 Hi Poppy, yes lyrical is a good word to describe JW's writing, wish I had thought of that one! Sexing The Cherry was surreal indeed , I will re-read that at some point. I do like the way JW mixes things up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Wow, you're doing well, James - I long for the day when I have so few books on my TBR list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 Wow, you're doing well, James - I long for the day when I have so few books on my TBR list Ah well about that..... I have sort of started another "new" TBR pile for next year ...it's those charity shops..I live in the middle of them..what's a compulsive reader supposed to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Ah well about that..... I have sort of started another "new" TBR pile for next year ... Sneaky! I like this idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Great review ..I love the sound of Lighthousekeeping .. thank you James .. but what's all this?! You don't accept that .. 'in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 It's just too twee for me..or I am just prejudiced against Tolkein .. but what's all this?! You don't accept that .. 'in a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 The Cassandra Compact. John Ludlum/Richard Shelby This is the last of four books my daughter bought me last Christmas. I enjoyed it much more than The Bourne Identity, perhaps because it was more up to date? It is a fast -paced spy drama. A Russian Biological Weapons Inspector finds out something so terrifying that he contacts the only man he trusts in the US government . However, he is killed by someone before he can divulge the information. Top secret elements of both Russia and the US join forces to find out what the info could be but are not quick enough to stop the theft of some germ samples from a supposedly secure facility. We find out quite quickly who is behind the plot, and later on we find out why , but the main strength of the story is the race against time to stop the criminals before the deadly biological weapon is unleashed on the world. Later on there is a damsel in distress, but she is far from helpless. My only slight irritation with the book is the way that the hero , when faced with some situation, always seems to guess the right answer. However, this was an easy escapist read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 It's just too twee for me..or I am just prejudiced against Tolkein So will you not go and see the film then? I thought everyone was going. Oh I feel better now, I was worried that I'd never find a cinema seat .. not for at least a month after opening. It never occured to me that there might be 'people not going' Actually, Claire said she might not go .. that's two of you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 So will you not go and see the film then? I thought everyone was going. Oh I feel better now, I was worried that I'd never find a cinema seat .. not for at least a month after opening. It never occured to me that there might be 'people not going' Actually, Claire said she might not go .. that's two of you Or me, so there'll be a seat in Camberley if that's a help... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 If they ever make a film of a Jack Vance book I will take all 3 of you to the cinema !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Or me, so there'll be a seat in Camberley if that's a help... This is going to be easier than I thought If they ever make a film of a Jack Vance book I will take all 3 of you to the cinema !! We'll keep you to that. Is that likely do you think? Is there, or has there ever been, any murmurings about it? I thought Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was going to be made but haven't heard anything in ages. You'd ALL have to go to that .. I'd make you .. by gunpoint if necessary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 We'll keep you to that. Is that likely do you think? Is there, or has there ever been, any murmurings about it? Sadly no. But I live in hope. Can you imagine The Blue World as a film ? Wow. But I would probably moan that it was all CGI and complain about which actors they chose. Who would you see for Meril Rohan and Sklar Harst poppyshake? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 If they ever make a film of a Jack Vance book I will take all 3 of you to the cinema !! Can I come too!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted September 28, 2012 Author Share Posted September 28, 2012 Absolutely Timstar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.