poppyshake Posted November 8, 2012 Author Share Posted November 8, 2012 You did, didn't you! I hope you might read some more at some stage down the line It's definitely encouraged me to try more .. maybe more hardcore stuff though I wouldn't want to be taking backward steps. Take my ice cream maker for instance .. I've had it years and only made one batch of ice cream. The trouble was instead of choosing vanilla or chocolate or something, I chose to make strawberry ripple cheesecake ice cream which had about a million stages, cost a fortune, took forever and turned out as cheesecake soup It taught me never to be adventurous and I'm proud to say I never have been since I've bought food into this thread again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordsgood Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 It's not a list - it's a post - but instead of containing quotes it's had the colours changed. Well colour me stupid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 8, 2012 Author Share Posted November 8, 2012 Well colour me stupid! I apologise if it was misleading .. I'm a misleading sort of person Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Well colour me stupid! Hehe - I love that phrase! You're not stupid. And you're not misleading, Kay. I made ice cream once (but without an ice cream maker) - it was really nice, but I've never made it since! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 It's definitely encouraged me to try more .. maybe more hardcore stuff though I wouldn't want to be taking backward steps. Small steps, then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 9, 2012 Author Share Posted November 9, 2012 Small steps, then? Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 9, 2012 Author Share Posted November 9, 2012 These are the 20 titles chosen for World Booknight 2013, I've read 4 of them Out of the others, Treasure Island and The Reader are the only ones I have on the shelves waiting. I have heard of most of them though The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde Casino Royale by Ian Fleming A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich The White Queen by Philippa Gregory Little Face by Sophie Hannah Damage by Josephine Hart The Island by Victoria Hislop Red Dust Road by Jackie Kay Last Night Another Soldier… by Andy McNab Me Before You by Jojo Moyes Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness The Reader by Bernhard Schlink No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith Treasure Island by R. L. Stevenson The Road Home by Rose Tremain Judge Dredd: The Dark Judges by John Wagner Why be Happy When You Could be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Get your finger out for goodness sake poppyshake and try and keep this years reviews up to date. FAIL!! .. I'm still writing them out of order and sporadically .. I waffle too much and could write five instead of one if I would JUST LEARN TO SHUT UP!! I made an effort and had caught up, but I find I’m behind again. It’s much easier to read the books than to write about them! Write a more detailed reading list for this year so that the full extent of books you've bought and not read will be shown and you will be chastened. I have done this and tbh I've not bought a lot of books this year, once Christmas and my birthday in February passed I only bought about five at the most. Read quite a lot of this years acquisitions but made shoddy inroads into my already existing TBR. You’ve done much better than me! I, too, resolved not to acquire too many books this year – and I’m up to 47. I’m rubbish, I am! Set a ridiculously low reading target for 2012 .. something like 4 ... then you will definitely succeed and Goodreads won't keep reminding you that you are 48% behind and a failure. Didn't set myself a Goodreads target at all .. had the feeling that if I set a low one it would try and chivvy me along a bit and it would be just as bad as it reminding me I've failed. 2012 hasn't been a great reading year for me and I think I've read less again this year so am continuing on a downward trajectory. I feel under pressure to read more each year than the year before. This year I have already done so, but that just puts more pressure on next year. I do wonder why I can’t just read for enjoyment’s sake and forget the number – but I can’t! Drop heavier hints about books you want ... the family are still including stuff like perfume and gloves in their Chrissy parcels .. what are they for? They are definitely taking note .. birthday prezzies were nearly all books That’s good. I tend not to get books as presents from many people – I guess they don’t know what I’ve read and what I haven’t. I do usually get a book voucher of some sort from my Aunt though, which I’m always very grateful for. Branch out .. read books out of your comfort zone .. don't just dip your toe into sci-fi but jump in and have a good splash about. Read something with gore in it and possibly vampires. Think about reading a Lee Childs book (but keep options open). No .. hopeless! Just one look at my reading list will show that I'm still stuck in my comfort zone. I didn't read a Lee Childs bookand the only books with gore in were Tom-All-Alone's and Rivers of London and they're not exactly gory, it's questionable whether I read about any vampires .. I may have touched on it, I read about werewolves and that didn't go well. I did have a good splash about in sci-fi though so well done me .. I enjoyed it all as well so that's a nice surprise. Next year maybe I could splash about in gore I’m not very good at stepping out of my comfort zone, either! The thought of reading books about aliens mostly leaves me cold! I did enjoy War of the Worlds and The Day of the Triffids/The Midwich Cuckoos, but I think they’re fairly tame in the sci-fi world! Stop sneering when you come across a trestle table full of 'Danielle Steel's' at the bootfair, instead buy one of those books (but make sure you haggle) bring it home, read it and display it next to your Austens. You are not narrow minded. You are narrow minded I read a couple of Danielle Steele books in my late teens and remember enjoying them, but the thought of reading them now leaves me cold! Don't judge a book by it's cover ... read an ugly book. I think I read one or two ugly books but they were an exception .. the few books I did buy this year all had gorgeous covers. Hehe – I always judge books by their covers too! I read one with the most hideous cover ever... it was rubbish! Consider reading an autobiography by a twenty-something reality show contestant .. there may be important life lessons within. No .. I couldn't face it. I still read the OK magazine headlines and it's depressing as ****. Nope, I’m with you on that one! Be more reckless .. abandon a book halfway through .. it won't kill you (though it may make you mentally ill.) Oh Lord! I haven't abandoned a book .. I've wanted to but I always feel like once I start I must finish. ****. Just out of interest, would you watch a film on TV right to the end if it was rubbish, or would you turn over? Do it – it won’t kill you! I used to always finish a book, no matter how rubbish, but with so many books and so little time I’ve decided that life’s too short to read bad books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 9, 2012 Author Share Posted November 9, 2012 (edited) Lady Into Fox - David Garnett Amazon Synopsis: The Tebricks, a charming, young, upstanding couple, remove to Oxfordshire to begin their married life, happily unaware of the future awaiting them. When Sylvia turns suddenly into a fox, their fortunes are changed forever, for all her strenuous attempts to adhere to the proprieties of her upbringing, and resist the feral instincts of her current form. Increasingly cut off from the world, Richard does all he can to protect his wife from the dangers inherent in the world outside their grounds, dangers which are impossible to fight, and which inevitably break down the boundaries between them and the world beyond the garden walls. Review: Surprise, surprise .. this is about a lady that turns into a fox There's no warning .. Sylvia is out walking with her husband when suddenly he turns and finds her thus transformed. Now, it's a bit of a shock obviously ... for about half an hour they're not sure what to do and they just sort of stare incredulously at each other. But then bless him, instead of running for the hills, Richard instinctively wants to protect her and one of the first things he does on returning home (readers of a nervous not to say doggy disposition best look away now) is shoot the family dogs .. he also dismisses the servants (yes, Sylvia and Richard have been rather privileged up until now) so it's just Richard and Sylvia alone in their country house. Obviously Sylvia is rather limited in what she can do although at the beginning she makes a rather good show of carrying on as before. She eats toast with quince jelly, picks out the music she would like him to play on the piano and plays a rather good .. if not clumsy .. game of cards. Richard also manages to kit her out in some clothes (wasn't sure about this .. animals in clothes belong solely to Disney don't they?) and he tries to encourage her to feed on grapes which apparently will help with her offensive odour However her foxy nature soon begins to assert itself. She doesn't want to be kept in, she doesn't want to wear clothes and Richards worst fears are confirmed when he leaves her alone with a rabbit while he goes to make tea .. he's comforted by the lack of noise but when he gets back .. bunny carnage!! So the rest of the book is about Sylvia getting more and more foxy and Richards attempts to keep her from harm (the baying foxhounds are a constant source of anxiety .. the ban would've been a great comfort to him had he known). The situation becomes quite ludicrous and Richard does his best to try and estrange himself from her which he can't quite bring himself to do. It's a bit weird, but quirky and unpredictable and I quite enjoyed it. I doubt I would have picked it up at all if it wasn't for its Bloomsbury connection. David Garnett (or Bunny as he was known) was a member of the Bloomsbury Group, a one time lover of Duncan Grant (and now it gets confusing) who was himself a lover of Virginia Woolf's sister Vanessa Bell. Duncan later moved in with Vanessa and her husband Clive Bell. What takes it even further into the realms of oddness is that on the birth of Vanessa's daughter, Angelica, (who for a long time thought her father was Clive but later found out it was Duncan), David proclaimed that he would one day marry her even though he was twenty six years older (hope you're still with me) and he did much to the horror of her mother and aunt. They did eventually separate but had four daughters together. David also wrote Aspects of Love on which Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical is based. Yesterday I had one of those weird experiences where you find that certain books, though not known to you before, start following you around and you see them everywhere. Having only just heard of Lady into Fox and only just finished reading it, it turned up in title in my current read The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel. Alberto discusses, not just his own library, but libraries ancient and modern, famous and forgotten, big and small etc and one of the libraries I was reading about was that of novelist Jorge Luis Borges who despite calling the universe a book and saying that he imagined paradise 'in the shape of a library' had very few bookshelves in his house .. 'here in Buenos Aires we don't like to show off' Perhaps in part this was due to his eyesight which was failing but in his living room he only had two low bookcases and Alberto lists the few books on them .. Lady into Fox was one of them .. curiouser and curiouser .. I wonder why he chose it in particular? It gave me the feeling of two jigsaw puzzle pieces clicking into place but I have no idea what picture it will make if it's ever finished. 8/10 Edited November 9, 2012 by poppyshake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 9, 2012 Author Share Posted November 9, 2012 I made an effort and had caught up, but I find I’m behind again. It’s much easier to read the books than to write about them! I do find them difficult and my memory is a bit rubbish so if I don't do it straight away I'm struggling. I feel that this year I will leave more books unreviewed than last year do not pass Go, do not collect £200. You’ve done much better than me! I, too, resolved not to acquire too many books this year – and I’m up to 47. I’m rubbish, I am! Well number one you are definitely not rubbish and number two I feel I've been a bit misleading there because I spent an awful lot of Christmas and birthday money on books and that's one of the reasons why I reined it in a bit afterwards. I reckon I added over 60 books to my TBR this year so you see .. you've done better than me. I feel under pressure to read more each year than the year before. This year I have already done so, but that just puts more pressure on next year. I do wonder why I can’t just read for enjoyment’s sake and forget the number – but I can’t! Me too .. but I'm failing at it so you'd think I would have given up worrying about it by now. That’s good. I tend not to get books as presents from many people – I guess they don’t know what I’ve read and what I haven’t. I do usually get a book voucher of some sort from my Aunt though, which I’m always very grateful for. Most of my family are linked into Amazon and have wishlists of their own up there. They used to be a bit resistant as if it was a cop out to buy me a book but now they know that I'd rather have that they're fine with it. Mum even nagged me the other week cos I hadn't put anything on my Amazon wishlist at all .. I went there forthwith and put that right straightaway I can tell you I’m not very good at stepping out of my comfort zone, either! The thought of reading books about aliens mostly leaves me cold! I did enjoy War of the Worlds and The Day of the Triffids/The Midwich Cuckoos, but I think they’re fairly tame in the sci-fi world! Well they're vintage aren't they and I prefer vintage too because they don't stray too far away from the norm. I do like it when I can still recognise the world they're living in, I'm all for tame sci-fi Janet I read a couple of Danielle Steele books in my late teens and remember enjoying them, but the thought of reading them now leaves me cold! I may have read some when younger, I did used to read all sorts of Mills & Boon and goodness knows what else, anything found lying around the house (and our lodger had all the Mills & Boons) or anything that looked good at the library. In my teenage years I was drawn to chick-lit covers .. it's the opposite now. Hehe – I always judge books by their covers too! I read one with the most hideous cover ever... it was rubbish! Alan finds it fascinating that I can spot a book I like by the cover .. not always obviously but a lot of times. I get really annoyed though, when waiting for the paperback version, to find that they've changed it .. for the worse Just out of interest, would you watch a film on TV right to the end if it was rubbish, or would you turn over? Do it – it won’t kill you! I used to always finish a book, no matter how rubbish, but with so many books and so little time I’ve decided that life’s too short to read bad books. I'm a terrible wanderer-offer when it comes to films .. or I have a nap so I should be able to abandon books. I have done it but not for a while. I've got a bit superstitious about it which is ridiculous because I will happily walk under ladders (which might not be unlucky but is definitely stupid). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 11, 2012 Author Share Posted November 11, 2012 I am hideously behind with my reviews and at my wits end .. some of them go back to February/March (some go back further than that). There is only one solution, I need to stop wittering on and just write down a few thoughts about each book (like normal people's reviews in other words). I'm going to attempt to do this in November .. to see if I can get up to date. Start with some easy ones .. that should do it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 11, 2012 Author Share Posted November 11, 2012 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou Waterstone's Synopsis: In this first volume of her six books of autobiography, Maya Angelou beautifully evokes her childhood with her grandmother in the American south of the 1930s. She learns the power of the white folks at the other end of town and suffers the terrible trauma of rape by her mother's lover. 'I write about being a Black American woman, however, I am always talking about what it's like to be a human being. This is how we are, what makes us laugh, and this is how we fall and how we somehow, amazingly, stand up again' Maya Angelou. Review: I enjoyed this a lot more than Letter to My Daughter. She writes well and has a gift for describing the sights and smells of her childhood so that they leap off the page. It's harrowing though, there's a lot to make you feel uncomfortable and if you're white, then you often feel like the enemy because, in Maya's childhood at least, you were. Growing up she had very few decent male influences in her life but her brother Bailey, Grandma and Uncle were all mainstays and for the most part positive influences on her. Grandma was one of those solid no nonsense figures who didn't do showy displays of overt love and affection but would fight to the death for you. Quite shocking and upsetting in parts but never sentimental. I'm not sure if I want to read the others .. perhaps not at the moment but I may come back to them. 8/10 Goodness .. is that it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 11, 2012 Author Share Posted November 11, 2012 Gigi - Colette Waterstone's Synopsis: Gigi is being educated in the skills of the Courtesan: to choose cigars, to eat lobster, to enter a world where a woman's chief weapon is her body. However, when it comes to the question of Gaston Lachaille, very rich and very bored, Gigi does not want to obey the rules. Review: This is a charming story, I knew it of course from the film but it was nice to read the original. You're sort of dropped into the action as it were and there is Gigi, being taught the polite way of doing this and that .. how you should keep your knees together when sitting on a low seat and the right way to eat ortolans etc (golly .. what ARE ortolans? .. I've just looked them up .. they're little songbirds of some kind ) In short her grandmamma (there is a mamma .. but she just flits about singing opera) is trying to bring her up to be a credit and an asset to the wealthy man she will no doubt attract. But Gigi is a little bored with it, it's stifling her and she's looking for some excitement. There is a nice contrast between the stuffy old, stiff backed yester-year of the grandmamma and the fresh vivacity of Gigi. It's a novella so only a short read and not very in-depth or ground breaking but it puts a smile on your face. There is a second story in this collection called The Cat .. but I haven't read it yet. 8/10 There is a law you're no doubt aware of, that when you write anything with even the vaguest connection to Audrey Hepburn then you must post a pic .. I have never failed to observe this law. Here is a pic of Audrey in the stage version of Gigi .. and anyone who knows anything about anything will know that for Colette .. Audrey was Gigi. Having searched for a suitable actress to play the part she had almost given up when she spotted Audrey doing cartwheels and apparently said 'Voila .. there is my Gigi' .. or something very like it in French. Casting her was a bold move because she hadn't really done any acting at that point but, of course, she was a triumph .. sadly she was unavailable for the film and the part went to Leslie Caron who was almost as good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 Now I'm all for you catching up with your reviews, Kay (lord knows, I need to get my own backside in gear in this area too ), but do you have to make the books sound so good? I now have Gigi on my wishlist - fortunately, I've already read I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings so that's one I don't have to do the same for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 11, 2012 Author Share Posted November 11, 2012 Now I'm all for you catching up with your reviews, Kay (lord knows, I need to get my own backside in gear in this area too ), but do you have to make the books sound so good? I now have Gigi on my wishlist - fortunately, I've already read I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings so that's one I don't have to do the same for! I'm very happy and you've encouraged me Claire I was thinking I needed to literally hypnotise people into putting any books I'd recommended onto their wishlist .. bludgeon them over the head with words so to speak until they submit (all done very artfully though so they didn't notice). I may now have discovered a shorthand for this which is nothing short of miraculous. I am finding this non-rambling lark easier than I thought .. not many jokes though .. I need to contact Brucie's script writers The Ballad of Reading Gaol - Oscar Wilde Review: This is the poem Oscar wrote after he was released from Reading prison and it's dedicated to the memory of the 'Sometime Trooper' of the Royal Horse Guards, Charles Thomas Wooldridge, who was executed for the murder of his wife .. inspiring the line 'Yet each man kills the thing he loves'. Wooldridge was hanged at Reading whilst Oscar was still a prisoner. There are themes of betrayal and loss in the poem as you would expect. I walked, with other souls in pain, Within another ring, And was wondering if the man had done A great or little thing, When a voice behind me whispered low, 'That fellows got to swing.' Dear Christ! the very prison walls Suddenly seemed to reel, And the sky above my head became Like a casque of scorching steel; And, though I was a soul in pain, My pain I could not feel. It's emotional, raw and touching, but I did occasionally see (or seem to see) him studying for a rhyme .. and that jarred a little but that's probably because I can never quite let go with poetry .. I'm always thinking too much about it's creation. 8/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 11, 2012 Author Share Posted November 11, 2012 The Moving Toyshop - Edmund Crispin Amazon Synopsis: Richard Cadogan, poet and would-be bon vivant, arrives for what he thinks will be a relaxing holiday in the city of dreaming spires. Late one night, however, he discovers the dead body of an elderly woman lying in a toyshop and is coshed on the head. When he comes to, he finds that the toyshop has disappeared and been replaced with a grocery store. The police are understandably skeptical of this tale but Richard's former schoolmate, Gervase Fen (Oxford Professor of English Language and Literature), knows that truth is stranger than fiction (in fiction, at least). Soon the intrepid duo is careening around town in hot pursuit of clues but just when they think they understand what has happened, the disappearing-toyshop mystery takes a sharp turn. Review: Very quirky, I liked this in fits and starts because it did go through a few lulls. I absolutely loved the beginning where Richard goes back to what he thinks is the scene of a murder only to find that the toyshop he was in the night before has disappeared, it's now a grocery store with no signs of ever having been anything else. He enlists the help of his friend, Oxford don, Gervase Fen and the pair of them turn to sleuthing. Now although it's very vintage in feel (and not at all sophisticated) it has a surreal streak which is intriguing. The writer occasionally writes himself in, at one time his characters, who are in a fix, spend some time discussing what he might call the book. It's all very unlikely, quite madcap and farcical and your eyebrows will be constantly raised either quizzically or in stupendous disbelief. I laughed though .. there were plenty of jokes .. not all of them funny but not annoying and the silliness of it all gives you a certain feeling of goodwill towards the story (unless you're easily irritated.. don't touch it with a bargepole in which case). Also Richard and Gervase play literary games such as naming unreadable books or naming 'Annoying Characters in Books Meant by the Author to Be Sympathetic' which are entertaining but poor Jane Austen .. he shouldn't really poke fun at her The eventual villain of the piece is a bit cartoon but these are small niggles because on the whole it's fun and engaging. 8/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 I have The Ballad of Reading Gaol on my Kindle, Kay. I got rid of The Moving Toyshop a few months ago though - whoops, sounds like I made a mistake!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 11, 2012 Author Share Posted November 11, 2012 I have The Ballad of Reading Gaol on my Kindle, Kay. I got rid of The Moving Toyshop a few months ago though - whoops, sounds like I made a mistake!! well it wasn't a massive mistake Janet .. but if you ever feel like reading it you can always borrow mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 Aww, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 11, 2012 Author Share Posted November 11, 2012 Ella Minnow Pea - Mark Dunn Synopsis: The story of a battle against tyranny, this extraordinary novel, written with an ever shrinking alphabet, is at once a moving love story, a brilliant political allegory and an unforgettable celebration of language. Review: I thought this was just sheer genius. Ella Minnow Pea (LMNOP .. of course) our heroine lives in Nollop, a fictional island which was home to the equally fictional Nevin Nollop the supposed author of the pangram 'the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' (which uses every letter of the alphabet). There is a monument in Nollop built to commemorate Nevin with his pangram inscribed upon it. The island is governed rather rigidly by the high council and when one day a tile falls to the ground bearing the letter 'z' .. the council meet and come to the conclusion that it is a sign from the long-dead Nevin that the letter z must be totally erased from their language (rather than it is a sign that the glue has worn off after 100 years of use). Ella recounts all this in a letter to her cousin Tassie (also a Nollopian but behind with the news) and it's through their correspondence and the correspondence of others that the whole story plays out. Now losing a z from the language is not a catastrophe as such .. how often do we use it after all? but there are other problems in Nollop and this is just the tip of the iceberg .. the high council are just one big bunch of killjoys (aren't they always? ) seeking to limit and isolate the inhabitants wherever possible. One of the first things they do is shut down the library and the poor teachers (Tassie's mother is one) stumble and stutter and are tongue tied half the day trying to remember not to say any words which contain the banned z. Not long after the letter q falls to the ground .. and so on and so on until only LMNOP are left. Failure to comply with the rules means public flogging, imprisonment or banishment to the USA (no, no, anything but that .. actually this was the one thing I didn't quite understand .. why they didn't all just rush straight off to the land of the free .. but it was fear of the unknown I guess and a loyalty to home.) Families are torn apart and people are left isolated and fearful. I loved the way in which the Nollopians tried to compensate for various lost letters getting more and more inventive .. 'other news; last night my sister's man was stanting pheneath the senotaph when a new tile plonge. The tile with the letter x. It hit him right on his het.' As the tiles continue to fall their correspondence becomes more long winded and convoluted as they struggle to say simple things without using a long list of banned letters and the reader is also caught up in decoding the sentences and working out the meanings. Despite the story being quite alarming and moving it's also very funny in parts (Tassie in particularly is a delight) and absurd. I was surprised actually that it was written by a man because he has written the women characters so well .. not that there's any reason why he shouldn't but I thought a female had written it until I read the authors name, it had that feel. Anyone who likes riddles or conundrums or playing with words will love this. As all the letters fall, Ella is in a race against time to come up with a solution (another pangram) before the island dissolves into silence. Exquisite 10/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 I loved Ella Minnow Pea too, Kay! Great review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 Ok, this isn't funny - I already have Ella Minnow Pea on my wishlist, so it's now been moved up, and I've also added The Moving Toyshop too. I know you need to catch up on your reviews, but haven't you got any books you didn't enjoy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 11, 2012 Author Share Posted November 11, 2012 I loved Ella Minnow Pea too, Kay! Great review. Thanks Janet It was definitely one of my faves this year. I'm thinking of buying it as a Christmas present .. I like to buy books for people where possible and I think this one fits the bill. Ok, this isn't funny - I already have Ella Minnow Pea on my wishlist, so it's now been moved up, and I've also added The Moving Toyshop too. I know you need to catch up on your reviews, but haven't you got any books you didn't enjoy? Sorry Claire I'm sure I did dislike a few books this year I find those reviews harder to write though .. other than putting or or I never know what to write (of course .. that won't stop me from having a go ) Hope you like them both, you will like Ella Minnow Pea I am sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 Great review of Ella Minnow Pea. I loved it, thought it was brilliant and so original. I remember just loving the creativeness of the characters trying to omit the fallen letters from their correspondence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 I buy my best friend a book for Christmas every year. This year it's a toss up between Ella Minnow Pea and The Art of Racing in the Rain so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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