Poppy's Paperbacks 2012

[poppyshake]

 

So .. Molly is not impressed but I know you will be. I went book shopping today .. both virtually and actually I will have to wait a while before my virtual books turn up but I bought these three from the high street because I like to support the local bookshops.

 

I bought Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey from 'Octavias' a little independent bookstore in Cirencester .. she stocks mostly childrens books but there is a small adult section and it's always got great books in it because Octavia knows her books. Actually I should have done my research because my next port of call was Waterstones and they had a £5 discount on it .. still Octavia gave me 10% because she remembered it had been my birthday and I wanted to buy a book from her anyway so all in all I'm happy. In Waterstones I bought Angela Carters Nights at the Circus .. mainly because I saw it reviewed last night on 'My Life in Books' .. it was one of Natasha McElhone's choices (in fact I bought two of her choices today .. the other I've ordered from Amazon) and I remember too that it was one of Sue Perkins' choices last year ... also I want to read more by Angela and this one has long been on the wishlist. As well as that I bought The Monster Calls by Patrick Ness .. it's a YA book and the cover drew me to it (and the title) but when I read the blurb and flicked it I knew I had to have it ...

Blurb: The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do. But it isn’t the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming... The monster in his back garden, though, this monster is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth. Costa Award winner Patrick Ness spins a tale from the final idea of much-loved Carnegie Medal winner Siobhan Dowd, whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself. Darkly mischievous and painfully funny, A Monster Calls is an extraordinarily moving novel of coming to terms with loss from two of our finest writers for young adults.

 

I love the concept and the drawings .. I took a pic as I was flicking through it when I got home.

 

I think Paula has read it and said it was fab so I'm excited.

[poppyshake]

Reading Goals for February 2012

 

Finish off Dracula

Participate in the Feb reading circle (Mistress Masham's Repose - T.H. White)

Non-fiction from the TBR (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya AngelouThe Queen of Whale Cay - Kate Summerscale

Sci-fi (The Blue World - Jack Vance - Thanks VF ... I think )

Romance .. well it IS February (Girl Meets Boy - Ali Smith/Love Story - Erich Segal)

 

How did I fare? ... well not too bad. It's been a short month with so many distractions and upheavals that I'm actually surprised to have read six books. I have almost finished The Blue World so really it's only The Queen of Whale Cay that hasn't been tackled. I read Red Dog too which wasn't a goal but was therapy .. I wanted to read a soppy animal story.

Review wise I'm not quite keeping up to date and have done absolutely nothing about writing those missing reviews for 2011 .. tsk tsk. As usual must try harder and see me after class etc etc.

[poppyshake]

Reading Goals for March 2012

 

Finish The Blue World - Jack Vance

Participate in the March reading circle (The Pied Piper - Nevil Shute)

World Book Night 2012 (Frankenstein - Mary Shelley/Charlie & The Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

Fantasy (Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch)

Long Been on the Shelf (Un Lun Dun - China Mieville)

Edited March 31, 2012 by poppyshake

[Kylie]

Great book hauls, Poppyshake! I should be receiving A Monster Calls any day in the mail. Can't wait to read it.

 

I look forward to your thoughts on Un Lun Dun. If I had a 'long been on the shelf' shelf, all of Mieville's books would be on it. I keep buying them but I haven't actually read any yet.

[Karsa Orlong]

and she doesn't like dogs

 

I knew there was a reason I liked her

[poppyshake]

I knew there was a reason I liked her

Lol ... I made it up .. she may be presidentress of the whippet fanciers association for all I know

[poppyshake]

Great book hauls, Poppyshake! I should be receiving A Monster Calls any day in the mail. Can't wait to read it.

Me either .. but that's still no guarantee that it won't sit on the shelf for ages .. too many choices Kylie!

I look forward to your thoughts on Un Lun Dun. If I had a 'long been on the shelf' shelf, all of Mieville's books would be on it. I keep buying them but I haven't actually read any yet.

I've only got that one ... though if it's good the rest will probably follow No pressure then Mr Mieville

Edited March 2, 2012 by poppyshake

[Karsa Orlong]

Lol ... I made it up .. she may be presidentress of the whippet fanciers association for all I know

I suspect she is - I know for a fact that she hates cats! And now I know I can't believe a word you say

 

 

I've only got that one ... though if it's good the rest will probably follow No pressure then Mr Mieville

 

Haven't read Un Lun Dun but Perdido Street Station is fantastic. You'll no doubt despise it

[poppyshake]

And now I know I can't believe a word you say

Yes, I should have warned you about that earlier

Haven't read Un Lun Dun but Perdido Street Station is fantastic. You'll no doubt despise it

You have no confidence in me .. I can't blame you

[vodkafan]

Can't wait to read your thoughts on The Blue World Poppy.....good or bad.

[poppyshake]

Can't wait to read your thoughts on The Blue World Poppy.....good or bad.

I finished it last night and enjoyed it I was a bit in at the deep end ( ) to begin with .. had to adjust a few of my ideas to get to grips with their watery world but by the end of the first chapter it started making sense I got quite excited about that final confrontation ... kept me turning pages until very late (or very early I should say ) The only thing was, despite the fantastic descriptions, I couldn't visualise King Kragen .. or any of the Kragens. Is the cover pic representational? I couldn't quite understand the terminology (and didn't pay enough attention in biology quite clearly) .. and was confused by the words maw and mandibles and vanes and palp .. I guess I should have looked them up. It didn't spoil my enjoyment at all though, it's just that every time a Kragen was mentioned I pictured something different I loved the way that they defeated them by cutting of the top of their turrets (you see this makes me think of castles ... I can't quite build it into a creature .. I lack the imagination required) and pulling out all the nerve cords .. there's a few people I'd like to do that to .. in theory

All in all a very absorbing read which I didn't think it would be when I started ... there's a lot to take in .. all the stuff about hoodwinking and castes and floats .. I'm quite proud of myself that by the end I could visualise their world and them and was quite comfortable there ... all except for those blessed Kragens of course. Thanks for sending me the book James .. it is exactly what I need to shake up my reading habits .. I can't stick with bonnets and boy wizards forever.

[vodkafan]

Hi Poppy I am so glad you enjoyed it. I know what you mean about the kragens, that cover picture is totally misleading, the artist should be shot. I have worked out over many readings that the kragen is a thick black blubbery rectangle with swimmy things (the vanes) all around the edge, rising in the middle of its body to a raised lump near the front (the turret) with its eyes in . At the front it has a large mouth (maw) with feeding arms like a spider or a crab (mandibles).

 

I liked Sklar Hast the hero and his unconventional ways, and Roger Kelso the "scientist" . Barquin Blasdal was a totally nasty baddie. I loved it when they made the epic journey to the New Home Floats and the discoveries they made. This is my favourite SciFi/fantasy world.!!

Edited March 2, 2012 by vodkafan

[poppyshake]

I loved Sklar Hast ... once he was determined nothing could sway him. He was rock solid, brave and outspoken .. I would have followed him to the ends of the earth too. As for Barquan Blasdel (and I hate to have to pull you up here James but you've spelt him wrong and I'm a bit of an expert now ) he was such a great baddie .. my hackles went up whenever he was mentioned. Like all good baddies he got more and more tyrannical, made even more outrageous speeches and started widening his epaulettes He took to wearing a cloak too which is a sure sign of evilness (unless you're at Hogwarts ) I could actually see the mad gleam in his eye.

Co-incidentally, one of the home floats was called Quincunx .. as I said to Janet .. the word is following me about now. If it turns up in Pied Piper I'll be positively spooked

 

Thanks for explaining about King Kragen, I should have asked you. He was a funny old lump wasn't he? .. very uncommunicative but able to get people to bend to his will through sheer bulk (I try that occasionally ) Had a terrible temper though, worse than a thousand Orcs when roused and vindictive too but not clever thankfully or at least too certain of his power to believe himself vulnerable. He hadn't moved on .. the men of the New Floats had made all sorts of discoveries which gave them the upper hand while he was still munching on the sponges. The girly side of me would have liked to know more about Sklar and Meril's future .. I felt there was more to tell but sometimes less is more.

[vodkafan]

The girly side of me would have liked to know more about Sklar and Meril's future .. I felt there was more to tell but sometimes less is more.

 

Oh my gosh I can't believe I spelt Barquan Blasdel's name wrong thanks for pointing that out. I am sure Meril founded her university and they lived happily ever after...I imagined that Sklar Hast built big steel and copper diving bells and tried to explore the sea bed to find the Ship Of Space..I don't think he would have been happy unless he had a big task to do.

I believe I could be quite happy living there as captain of a kragen -hunting boat or exploring for new floats .

 

Are you going to read Slaves Of The Klau Poppy? That is totally different.

 

Happy Quincunx to you have a good day

Edited March 3, 2012 by vodkafan

[poppyshake]

Happy Quincunx to you to! May all your happinesses come in fives

Yes I will be reading Slaves of the Klau .. not quite sure when, probably in April.

 

I know I put an extra o on 'to' .. they took it out again

Edited March 3, 2012 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

Went into Waterstones in Cirencester this morning to get a book signed for my niece Jaime (she's actually my great niece .. but no-one's said that since Jane Austens days.)

Christopher Edge is lovely and very friendly .. he wrote a lovely message in it for me and even allowed me to take this pic so I could enclose it in the book. He wrote 'Happy Birthday Jaime .. beware of the spiders' which I haven't got a clue about .. I guess you need to have read the book. The Book is called Twelve Minutes to Midnight I hope she likes it .. he assures me it's suitable for twelve year olds though the kids in the queue seemed younger. Jaime will be twelve on Monday.

 

Blurb says : Penelope Tredwell is the feisty thirteen-year-old orphan heiress of the bestselling magazine, The Penny Dreadful. Her masterly tales of the macabre are gripping Victorian Britain, even if no one knows she’s the real author. One day a letter she receives from the governor of the notorious Bedlam madhouse plunges her into an adventure more terrifying than anything she ever imagined… A thriller with a fast-paced cinematic style, Twelve Minutes to Midnight is an electrifying story.

 

Here is lovely Jaime holding her sister Rosie .. aren't they just the cutest

[Janet]

too

Happy Quincunx to you to! May all your happinesses come in fives

Yes I will be reading Slaves of the Klau .. not quite sure when, probably in April.

 

I know I put an extra o on 'to' .. they took it out again

I'm not sure what you mean? The word too isn't in the filter?

[poppyshake]

too

I'm not sure what you mean? The word too isn't in the filter?

I was not serious Janet .. I'm sure it was there to begin with but I probably took it out with an over zealous backspace When I said 'they' I meant gremlins

Edited March 5, 2012 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

The last of my Amazon birthday books arived today. I bought these with my Amazon voucher and a bit of leftover birthday money. That's probably it now for the rest of the year I will endeavour to be good and what's more ... I will endeavour to READ some of them.

 

Pied Piper - Nevil Shute: For the March Reading Circle ... I would have got a secondhand copy but I've long coveted Vintage's Nevil Shute covers

 

The Fifth Child - Doris Lessing: For the April Reading Circle .. this one was secondhand .. just a penny plus postage.

 

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley: Bought the 1818 text version. Looking forward to reading another classic.

 

The Moving Toyshop - Edmund Crispin: I've been wanting to read this for ages, I have a feeling it might be odd .. I like odd books.

 

Virginia Woolf - Hermione Lee: No explanations necessary

 

De Profundis - Oscar Wilde: Another book that Natasha McElhone has talked me into buying (from her appearance on 'My Life in Books'.) This is Oscar Wilde's 50,000 word letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, written from Reading jail. The first half is an examination of his time spent with Lord Alfred the second details his new found spiritual growth and self-realisation. Also included here is his poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

 

Saved by Cake - Marian Keyes: I don't often post my new cookery books on here (though I am an insatiable cookery book buyer) but as this is by author Marian Keyes I thought I would. Marian fans will know that she's been ill for some time suffering from very bad depression, baking has given her something to focus on and though she's not recovered as such she's back to novel writing again now. Just by flicking through it I can see that it's written in Marian's trademark witty style. Looks like there are lots of gorgeous recipes too that won't help my diet one bit

Edited March 5, 2012 by poppyshake

[vodkafan]

Some great looking books there Poppy....hey I didn't realise you were friends with Natasha McElhone...does she know?

[poppyshake]

Some great looking books there Poppy....hey I didn't realise you were friends with Natasha McElhone...does she know?

No!! She'd run a mile if she did

[Kylie]

Lovely books! De Profundis sounds great. One for the wish list.

[chesilbeach]

How are you getting on watching My Life In Books, poppyshake? I do enjoy it, but I don't like Anne Robinson's style of presenting it. Last night with Chris Addison and Kate Silverton was probably my favourite so far - I've added a couple of their choices to my wishlist

[poppyshake]

I haven't seen it yet Claire but Mum said it was the best yet too. I have it taped so will probably catch up with last nights and tonights tomorrow. It's such a hit and miss thing with the celebrities isn't it? On the whole they've been dismal. I do like hearing about the books though so I stick it out even if the people are annoying me to death. Not a big fan of Anne Robinson, she's marginally more tolerable on this but only just. Some of the guests you can tell are not big readers and have only chosen books because they've been asked to .. some love their books and it shows. I wish they'd have more authors on. As much as I LOVE the Mitford sisters last year they had Debo on, and it's a well known fact that she never reads So far Natasha McElhone has been my favourite guest, I've bought two books that she recommended .. good job they don't have many people on there that inspire me .. my purse would be empty

[Easy Reader]

I keep forgetting to watch that (its on at the wrong time of day for me) got some good recommendations from it last year