chesilbeach Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 Brilliant review Kay - you've hit the nail on the head perfectly! I loved it too, and definitely going to read the rest of the books in the series, and if they keep up this standard, I'm hoping for a lengthy series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 1, 2012 Author Share Posted November 1, 2012 Brilliant review Kay - you've hit the nail on the head perfectly! I loved it too, and definitely going to read the rest of the books in the series, and if they keep up this standard, I'm hoping for a lengthy series Thanks Claire .. and thank you for buying it for me it's been a revelation. Yes, initially I thought it was a trilogy but .. woohoo .. looks like there will be more I've read Moon Over Soho and am now onto Whispers Under Ground Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 Great review! I saw this at the library a couple of months ago and regret not picking it up. Hopefully I can pop to the library this weekend as it sounds like a cracking read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 Great review, as always. The synopsis reminds me of Thursday Next - any similarities there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 Great review! I saw this at the library a couple of months ago and regret not picking it up. Hopefully I can pop to the library this weekend as it sounds like a cracking read. Thanks bobbs .. yes grab that library copy as soon as you see it Great review, as always. The synopsis reminds me of Thursday Next - any similarities there? Thanks Kylie It doesn't really share similarities with Thursday .. perhaps the running commentary .. both are funny. Thursday's life is a little more oddball though (even her real life is oddball) Peter's real life is quite normal or at least it was until now. Their greatest similarity is that they're both brilliant .. I think you'll enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauraloves Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Great review of Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Inspector Nightingale's housekeeper Molly is also fascinatingly creepy .. what is she exactly? I reckon she's been watching too many Japanese horror movies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Thanks KM I have actually read Agnes Grey and enjoyed it but feel that The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is probably her masterpiece and because I read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre so long ago .. and re-read them and re-read them again .. it's like I'm getting a one-sided (or two sided ) view of the Bronte sisters. It's nice actually to have classics still to look forward to .. and I haven't even seen an adaptation of this one so I've no idea of the story I've never read Agnes Grey so i shall look out for that one. I tried reading Shirley & Villlette but couldn't get into either of them but yes i think your right it is nice to have some classics to look forward to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 Great review of Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch Thanks Laura I reckon she's been watching too many Japanese horror movies. Has she? I never have .. and now I'm not sure I want to I've never read Agnes Grey so i shall look out for that one. I tried reading Shirley & Villlette but couldn't get into either of them but yes i think your right it is nice to have some classics to look forward to. I've read Villette and thought it was ok but nothing out of the ordinary, I haven't read Shirley. I'm sorry that Emily didn't write any other novels (her publisher did say she was finalising a novel when she died but nothing was ever found) .. would have been interesting to know what else her imagination held. I think both Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are brilliant novels but if there was a queue and you had to step either one way or another (in deciding which of the two is best) .. I would take the tiniest step towards Wuthering Heights .. for me it is the rougher and readier of the two and the one which rattles up the most emotion in me. Yes, Emily would be my winner of Strictly Come Brontë Writing but then I haven't read Anne's big novel yet Branwell would be last and wouldn't be given the opportunity to show me his improvised poem on resentment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Has she? I never have .. and now I'm not sure I want to Go on, I dares ya! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 Go on, I dares ya! I can't .. I am a serial wimp (and a cereal wimp .. I only ever eat Rice Krispies ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordsgood Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 (edited) The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography - Stephen Fry Amazon Synopsis: Spanning 1979-1987, "The Fry Chronicles" charts Stephen's arrival at Cambridge up to his thirtieth birthday. "Heartbreaking, a delight, a lovely, comfy book". ("The Times"). "Perfect prose and excruciating honesty. A grand reminiscence of college and theatre and comedyland in the 1980s, with tone-perfect anecdotes and genuine readerly excitement. What Fry does, essentially, is tell us who he really is. Above all else, a thoughtful book. And namedroppy too, and funny, and marbled with melancholy". ("Observer"). "Arguably the greatest living Englishman". ("Independent on Sunday"). "Extremely enjoyable". ("Sunday Times"). "Fry's linguistic facility remains one of the Wildean wonders of the new media age. The patron saint of British intelligence". ("Daily Telegraph"). 9/10 I got about 3/4 of the way through this earlier in the year, and really enjoyed the first half. But after that it seemed to get kind of tedious and boring. Maybe it will pick up for me if I ever get around to reading the rest. His "Moab" has been on my Wishlist for a longtime now and everything I've seen here seems to confirm my take that it is better than this installment. Fry is funny, and has a definite gift with language, I'll certainly give him that! Oooh, I did really enjoy the pics of a younger Hugh Laurie! Has anyone seen his (Laurie) US show "House?" Just ended last year and I was completely addicted to it. His character was a genius level medical diagnostician, with a serious drug addiction and had a major 'tude that had nothing to do with his drug problem. Edited November 7, 2012 by wordsgood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 Let's see how I've got on .. Motivational Thoughts ... 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!! 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. 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. Make more time to read ... forget you ever had a facebook page. Total failure. 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 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 book and 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. 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 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. Stop colour coding your book displays, it's an illness. Put a red book in amongst the yellows .. live dangerously. I only have one shelf where I've colour graded the books but I've taken an almost indecent pride in it and keep tweaking it to make it (in my eyes) even more beautiful. Have persuaded Alan that the shelves he needs in the basement will look good with doors on which have one paperback size glass stripe running along them .. meaning that I can colour grade to my hearts content and produce some sort of artwork in what is otherwise quite a plain room. Amazingly he has agreed to it. There is a stipulation though .. I will not buy books just for the colour of their spines even to make a display look good or that's what I'm saying now anyway. If I do succumb it will be a sign that the illness has taken hold and measures will have to be taken before I start only eating white food or something. 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 ****. Go to Waterstones less often (like every other day) and stop licking the books .. you're worrying the staff. I have tried to limit my visits and they have done their best to encourage this by having a refurb and refurbing in a way that I don't like (ie they have changed things .. I like things to stay the same .. forever .. what food manufacturers have done to the scotch egg is nothing short of criminal .. if I could sue I would .. the first time I had one of those little party eggs my whole world caved in. Waterstone's have done the same with their book displays .. chopped them up small and mixed them with mayonnaise.) Try and understand that people who hate reading are still valuable human beings. They're not though are they Adopt a more loving approach towards Kindle readers .. stop considering buying one just because you've seen some lovely covers. Another year has passed and I still don't own a Kindle I've had a fiddle with my sister's and it did give me a momentary pang to hand it back but I could see how it was of more use to her than me. I work at home and don't travel much .. books don't really get in my way and when I pack I like to see them all (even though I hardly read any of them and probably could do with more knicker space ) I don't want a free book if it's going to be badly spelt (spelled? ) 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 I got about 3/4 of the way through this earlier in the year, and really enjoyed the first half. But after that it seemed to get kind of tedious and boring. Maybe it will pick up for me if I ever get around to reading the rest. His "Moab" has been on my Wishlist for a longtime now and everything I've seen here seems to confirm my take that it is better than this installment. Fry is funny, and has a definite gift with language, I'll certainly give him that! Oooh, I did really enjoy the pics of a younger Hugh Laurie! Has anyone seen his (Laurie) US show "House?" Just ended last year and I was completely addicted to it. His character was a genius level medical diagnostician, with a serious drug addiction and a major 'tude that had nothing to do with his drug problem. Moab is definitely better and funnier. I agree that the first part of The Fry Chronicles was better .. but he still writes a better auto-biog than most. Loved reading about Hugh and seeing his pics .. I've never watched House (must be the only person on the planet) .. though I know of it of course and have seen clips. I'm glad he had such a successful show .. he's very talented. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 I've yet to read your latest posts and respond to them, but I have to post about something. I watched Julie & Julia last night and I loved the movie, and I now want to read My Life in France by Julia Child Anyhow, because half of the movie and the story took place in France I of course thought of you, and wanted to come here and tell you to watch the movie and suggest you try the books, too. Then it occurred to me that maybe you already know of the movie and the books, and have seen it and read them, and I did a bit of searching... alas, the two books are on your wishlist Hehe! Should've known Have you watched the movie? Did you like it? Meryl Streep is divine One of my most favorite actors ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 6, 2012 Author Share Posted November 6, 2012 I've yet to read your latest posts and respond to them, but I have to post about something. I watched Julie & Julia last night and I loved the movie, and I now want to read My Life in France by Julia Child Anyhow, because half of the movie and the story took place in France I of course thought of you, and wanted to come here and tell you to watch the movie and suggest you try the books, too. Then it occurred to me that maybe you already know of the movie and the books, and have seen it and read them, and I did a bit of searching... alas, the two books are on your wishlist Hehe! Should've known Have you watched the movie? Did you like it? Meryl Streep is divine One of my most favorite actors ever. Now my sister bought me the books (both Julie's & Julia's) last Christmas and I'm ashamed to say I haven't read them yet but of course I will and my Mum has the movie and I was supposed to pick it up last time I saw her and didn't but again will .. especially now you've recommended (they get a great big shove up my TBR/TBW lists now ) Thank you for thinking of me those are the sorts of things I like to be kept informed of. Yes, I like Meryl too .. excellent actress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Moab is definitely better and funnier. I agree that the first part of The Fry Chronicles was better .. but he still writes a better auto-biog than most. Loved reading about Hugh and seeing his pics .. I've never watched House (must be the only person on the planet) .. though I know of it of course and have seen clips. I'm glad he had such a successful show .. he's very talented. I must get round to reading this! I've never seen House either, Kylie - so you're not alone - there are two of us! Kay - your post above (the prettyful one) has made me chuckle, but I'm a bit too woolly-headed with cold to reply to it today - I tried copying/pasting into word but with no quote boxes my eyes were swimming - I will come back to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordsgood Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Okay, where did you get that "prettyful" list as Janet calls it? Is there a copy running around somewhere without out answers that we could stea...er, copy and put our own answers down on our blog threads? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easy Reader Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Adopt a more loving approach towards Kindle readers .. stop considering buying one just because you've seen some lovely covers. Another year has passed and I still don't own a Kindle I've had a fiddle with my sister's and it did give me a momentary pang to hand it back but I could see how it was of more use to her than me. I work at home and don't travel much .. books don't really get in my way and when I pack I like to see them all (even though I hardly read any of them and probably could do with more knicker space ) I don't want a free book if it's going to be badly spelt (spelled? ) 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. re Kindles I love mine dearly but I do seem to keep picking up good old tree books, regardless of how many 99p deal of the days I keep adding to my kindle, as an e book is still not like reading a real book. I keep telling myself to just stop buying tree books but then I think what if all the book shops die their ink will partly be on my hands. re Abandoning books halfway - I am pretty sure that is illegal, if its not then it should be. If you have made it half way carry on even if it does mean reading something else and coming back to it later, how are you going to know how it ended otherwise. (note to self 2013 challenge must include re-attempting half abandoned books my metal list of them is getting beyond 4 now and that's not good (that might even have to include Jane Eyre half abandoned in 1993)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Okay, where did you get that "prettyful" list as Janet calls it? Is there a copy running around somewhere without out answers that we could stea...er, copy and put our own answers down on our blog threads? It's not a list - it's a post - but instead of containing quotes it's had the colours changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 Kay - your post above (the prettyful one) has made me chuckle, but I'm a bit too woolly-headed with cold to reply to it today - I tried copying/pasting into word but with no quote boxes my eyes were swimming - I will come back to it. Poor Janet rotten colds they ought to be banned. Get well soon lovely, you are welcome here anytime .. with or without germs. Okay, where did you get that "prettyful" list as Janet calls it? Is there a copy running around somewhere without out answers that we could stea...er, copy and put our own answers down on our blog threads? It was just me rambling away to myself at the beginning of the year .. I was just wondering if I'd managed to achieve any of my 2012 goals. Fill free to answer them, though you seem like a sane person so I doubt they'll apply to you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 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. You did, didn't you! I hope you might read some more at some stage down the line Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 re Kindles I love mine dearly but I do seem to keep picking up good old tree books, regardless of how many 99p deal of the days I keep adding to my kindle, as an e book is still not like reading a real book. I keep telling myself to just stop buying tree books but then I think what if all the book shops die their ink will partly be on my hands. Good girl .. you know it makes sense I do feel though that it's just a question of time but I'm hanging on tight for now. re Abandoning books halfway - I am pretty sure that is illegal, if its not then it should be. If you have made it half way carry on even if it does mean reading something else and coming back to it later, how are you going to know how it ended otherwise. (note to self 2013 challenge must include re-attempting half abandoned books my metal list of them is getting beyond 4 now and that's not good (that might even have to include Jane Eyre half abandoned in 1993)) True .. if it's a sh*t read then at least it is a completed sh*t read Ooh you must reacquaint yourself with Jane Eyre .. brilliant read but then I think it does dip a bit in the middle .. get past the dip Sally The book I've never completed is The Mysteries of Udolpho .. I've no idea what the mystery is yet and it was the weirdest thing .. it just kept sending me to sleep .. I didn't so much abandon it as slip into a coma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easy Reader Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 True .. if it's a sh*t read then at least it is a completed sh*t read Ooh you must reacquaint yourself with Jane Eyre .. brilliant read but then I think it does dip a bit in the middle .. get past the dip Sally The book I've never completed is The Mysteries of Udolpho .. I've no idea what the mystery is yet and it was the weirdest thing .. it just kept sending me to sleep .. I didn't so much abandon it as slip into a coma I always keep in mind that some of my fav books were sh*t to start with but later redeemed themselves. Jane Eyre I have tried to get back into a couple of times and not made it much further than a page each time. Perhaps I should get it on my kindle as the book I have has teeny tiny writing which is never good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Sally (?) - I don't know if your library might help on the print score, but I bought a Puffin version of Jane Eyre because of the tiny print in the Penguin version. It's 'complete and unabridged' but has decent font size! They might have a Puffin version you could borrow? I must say that's one of the features I do love about the Kindle - the ability to change the size of the print. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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