frankie Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 I did it! I found an Ali Smith book in a charity shop today so had to buy it on sight. The Accidental. This however puts me back up to 33 tree books to go, dammit!! The Gathering is not getting any better. Oh dear As long as you don't buy any more books, it's still pretty good. Not too much to haul to the new apartment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Oh god, it took forever to move my books to my new place 4 years ago...and I think I only had a few hundred then! I couldn't fill the boxes more than halfway otherwise they'd be too heavy (not a problem for VF, probably, with all his working out ). I cannot contemplate moving them again since I've acquired so many in the past few years. I think I'm stuck here for life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 Oh god, it took forever to move my books to my new place 4 years ago...and I think I only had a few hundred then! I couldn't fill the boxes more than halfway otherwise they'd be too heavy (not a problem for VF, probably, with all his working out ). I cannot contemplate moving them again since I've acquired so many in the past few years. I think I'm stuck here for life! Oh man, I can imagine....my books of all kinds stretch this time to 4 small (but quite heavy) boxes..1 more for DVDs....another for CDs. I get quite stressed now about having too many material possessions, in case I have to move again in a hurry...although I have enjoyed living in this flat I can truthfully say I never truly relaxed here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Oh god, it took forever to move my books to my new place 4 years ago...and I think I only had a few hundred then! I couldn't fill the boxes more than halfway otherwise they'd be too heavy (not a problem for VF, probably, with all his working out ). I cannot contemplate moving them again since I've acquired so many in the past few years. I think I'm stuck here for life! I remember when we moved - we'd packed tea crates full of books without thinking about the weight, then couldn't lift them at all - started unpacking them when the removal man came in and lifted one like it was a box full of pillows! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 He must have had his weetabix that day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 All those gym junkies that frequent the weight-lifting areas at gyms should make themselves useful and get jobs as removalists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easy Reader Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 I remember when we moved - we'd packed tea crates full of books without thinking about the weight, then couldn't lift them at all - started unpacking them when the removal man came in and lifted one like it was a box full of pillows! at work we have to put our confidential waste into special bags and when we have got lots together we phone a man to come and collect them. I always "help" him by dragging a bag at a time closer to the door for him, he comes along and picks up two at a time throwing them over his shoulders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 I did it! I found an Ali Smith book in a charity shop today so had to buy it on sight. The Accidental. That's the one I have & since I bought it I keep seeing it all the time in different charity shops not sure if that's a sign that it's a good read or a bad one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 (edited) Hi Kidsmum longtime no speak!! Hope you are well and doing great. You are right that is strange. Maybe it is one of those books that affect you so profoundly that once you have read it you can't bear to be near it for a while. So I guess that would make it good? It's going to be my next read anyway. Edited May 29, 2012 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Doing good VF thanks for asking how's things with you ? I'll look out for your review then & move it up or down my TBR pile accordingly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 Doing good VF thanks for asking how's things with you ? I'll look out for your review then & move it up or down my TBR pile accordingly Oh my that's a big responsibility Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 I will also look for your review with interest, but for different reasons (sorry to say it, but I detested that book ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 I will also look for your review with interest, but for different reasons (sorry to say it, but I detested that book ) aah interesting...well if I can finish the one I am on I will start The Accidental this very day ladies!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 I hope I haven't put you off - in fairness, I did read it a long time ago, and my tastes do change. If I was reading it for the first time now, I might like it more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 I just finished The Gathering by Anne Enright. Will review it tomorrow. 32 tree books to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 The Gathering Anne Enright I picked up this book in a charity shop because I remember somebody read it on here and liked it about 2 years ago and thought I would give it a go. I found it hard going although there is no doubt that the writing is very good; it wasn't that at all. I think I struggled because the subject was sad, death and what happens to us in childhood affecting how we turn out as adults, leaving us very little choice. The story is told in first person by Veronica, brother of Liam who has just committed suicide; The actual time is the weeks between finding out about Liam's death, running sequentially through the events of getting the body back, the wake and finally the funeral. Veronica is in charge of all this, although there are 7 other surviving siblings. During this period she is detached and feels estranged from her husband; most especially she cannot sleep with him while she sorts her head out. She feels disgust for men during this time. She is writing down her thoughts and memories, some real, some imagined, and the reader has to pay close attention to these flashbacks , as they build into the answer to why Liam's life turned out the way it did. For only Veronica knows, and she had blotted it out; now she must re-live it to be at peace with herself. The story does come to a satisfying conclusion at the end; we see that this was part of a process, and Veronica is not lost for ever. She is able to make some decisions and carry on with her life. This one will definitely stay in my head for a while. I think I will not dump this one straight away but keep it to re-read in a year or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arukiyomi Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 hmmm yeah, I didn't really get this one either, especially it being a Booker winner. My review here. Looking forward to seeing what you make of a second reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 I will also look for your review with interest, but for different reasons (sorry to say it, but I detested that book ) Sorry Ruth, but I am enjoying what I have read of The Accidental so far ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 Ok I am back. I read 2 books on holiday but then I went and bought 3 second hand. King Arthur Man or Myth? Paul White A Short History Of Tractors In Ukranian Marina Lewycka Devoted Ladies Molly Keane I also found a brilliant Map of part of Norway Total spend including the map: £3 I still have 33 Tree Books to go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 Just finished The Accidental. back down to 32 Tree Books to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 (edited) Finished The Jewel In The Skull by Michael Moorcock. Now reading The Weaker Vessel by Antonia Fraser. 31 Tree Books to go Edited June 16, 2012 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 16, 2012 Author Share Posted June 16, 2012 (edited) The Accidental by Ali Smith Ali Smith is a new writer to me. I really, really enjoyed the book of her short stories I read before this. This novel left me a bit unsatisfied although I can't put my finger on why. Maybe because the elements that I liked in the short stories- the quirkiness and the great descriptions of feelings and relationships- seemed to be missing in this story. It starts off quite quirky enough with an unnamed woman seducing a boy in the milk bar of a cinema and conceiving a girlchild who is named after the cinema. We never find out the mother's motivation for this act. It is not giving anything away to say that this girl, grown up is the main, somewhat amoral character who descends on a disfunctional family renting a house in Norfolk. At first she seems to give every member of the family something they need. That is all I am going to say about the plot. The annoying thing about this story for me is that it stretches credulity too far that a woman they don't know would just be allowed to walk in off the street and become part of the family without the mother, at least, questioning it. I can appreciate a certain level of abstraction and "what if" in a novel but it just didn't add up to a great deal in the end. Smith goes off in places and sems to be trying to draw parallels with life, and cinema, morality and stuff going on in Iraq and what have you. It has not put me off the writer but I know this cannot be her best. Edited June 16, 2012 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 16, 2012 Author Share Posted June 16, 2012 King Arthur - Man Or Myth by Paul White This is a slim volume I got in Devon. It just discusses the origins of the Arthur myth and examines the evidence for him being a real person. It was interesting. He was most likely a warlord or general who fought a couple of big battles to hold back the Saxons with some success and then disappears back into history (probably killed). The legend maybe a composite of at least two different people who lived half a century apart . There is no evidence of him ever being a proper king at all. I like reading about both the true evidence and the myth. If I had read this first I would have enjoyed Patrick Cornwell's book more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 Struggling a bit with The Weaker Vessel (part one) by Antonia Fraser. Not because it is boring (it's not) but because I am having a busy time right now and never seem in the right mood to read this kind of history and digest it. I picked up and started a book of horror short stories called The Nightmare Chronicles by somebody I can't remember which is a light read. But dammit that book was not on my TBR pile I will never beat Chesil at this rate if I keep adding books. Hope to get the Antonia Fraser book finished by tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Mwah-hah-hah! If I had a moustache, I'd twirl the ends evilly ... I'm almost finished with Cloudstreet (25 pages to go) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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