frankie Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 (edited) Crikey, you're a review machine today, Frankie Well I'm awfully behind on my reviews and I have a free day, so I might as well make the most of it and try and get my reading blog organized ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eating Disorders by Suzanne Abraham & Derek Llewellyn-Jones Is okay but nothing ground breaking. Of course, it’s a rather old edition so naturally new stuff have come up. 2/5 Edited February 22, 2012 by frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule Amazon: In her most personal and provocative book to date, the #1 bestselling master of true crime presents "her long-awaited definitive narrative of the brutal and senseless crimes that haunted the Seattle area for decades" (Publishers Weekly). This is the extraordinary true story of the most prolific serial killer the nation had ever seen -- a case involving more than forty-nine female victims, two decades of intense investigative work...and one unrelenting killer who not only attended Ann Rule's book signings but lived less than a mile away from her home. Thoughts: My third Ann Rule, and the second best I’ve read by her (the best being Stranger Beside Me, about Ted Bundy). This is a book about the infamous Green River Killer who went about his business of raping and killing women for decades, seeming to be simply uncatchable by the police force. He had more victims than the feared Bundy himself, which probably pissed Bundy off. Bundy did in fact invite some detectives to visit him in jail so he could give insight to the Green River Killer’s inner workings, Bundy being a serial killer himself and knowing all what there is to it, as he believes. I struggled sometimes, there were so many victims that I couldn’t keep tally of which one was who. Ann Rule also struggled with this but refused to start referring to the victims as ‘victim number 9’ or ‘victim number 16’, and she spent an evening memorizing all the names and faces and ages of the victims. When I finished the book, I couldn’t believe that the killer had actually managed to maintain anonymous til the new millennium. It was a rather lucky incident that led him to be detected. And I couldn’t believe that it was only less than a decade ago that he was caught, and I don’t even remember hearing about it in 2004. Did it not reach the news in Finland? That can hardly be. I also wikied the case after finishing the book and discovered that there had been some new developments in 2009. It’s possible that Ridgway’s victims keep on turning up in the future, him never being accurate of the body count =( 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Mistress Masham's Repose by T H White Blurb: (as typed by Janet on Reading Circle thread, sorry and thank you Janet! ): Ten-year-old orphan Maria lives in a vast, crumbling mansion, with warm-hearted Cook and the eccentric Professor as her only friends. Exploring the neglected lake one day, Maria discovers a mysterious island - and an extraordinary secret. The island is home to a community of Lilliputians - the tiny people whom Gulliver met on his famous travels. But Maria's wicked governess and the cruel vicar are plotting to steal her inheritance - and once they learn her secret, Maria knows she is in grave danger. Can she keep the Lilliputians safe, while protecting herself? Thoughts: I read this for the February Reading Circle. I’d never heard of T. H. White before and had no idea what to expect. I found the story difficult to get into at first, for the 15 or so pages, but then I met the Lilliputians and the story seemed to pick up the pace. However, I wasn’t as interested in the little people as I had expected, and I much preferred the ins and outs of the ‘normal’ people, especially the Professor, and Cook’s dog, Captain. They were my very favorites. I loved reading about Professors ideas and thoughts and I loved following his stream-of-consciousness And Captain was superbly adorable. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the novel: ”'My dear neighbour,' said he, 'there is one thing which I promise, and that is that I will not say, How would you like to be wrapped up in a handkerchief? I am aware that it is not a question of you being wrapped up in one, but of this person. I will, however, make a suggestion. As we all know, I am a failure in the world. I do not rule people, nor deceive them for the sake of power, nor try to swindle their livelihood into my own possession. I say to them: Please go freely on your way, and I will do my best to follow mine. Well then Maria, although this is not a fashionable way of going on, nor even a successful one, it is a thing which I believe in – that people must not tyrannize, nor try to be great because they are little. My dear, you are a great person yourself, in any case, and you do not need to lord it over others, in order to prove your greatness.'” ”An hour later the Professor tried to scratch his head, found that the hat was in his way, and wondered why he had put it on. He made several attempts to solve this problem, by free suggestion and self-analysis, finally deciding that he had put it on because he was going out. He therefore went out, and looked at the sky. It did not seem to have any message for him. So he went in again, found a piece of paper, and wrote on it the first word which occurred to him while concentrating on hats. This was TRIPHARIUM. He tore it up and tried again, getting RATTO, which he thought was probably something to do with Bishop Hanno and the rats. So he tried HANNO and got WINDUP, tried WINDUP and got CAPE, tried CAPE and got ULSTER. He discovered that he was wearing his ulster, and was delighted. This was followed by a longish tour through the provinces of Ireland, the Annals of the Four Masters, and so forth, which brought him back to TRIPHARIUM. He tried this, and got BLOATERS, which he connected by now entirely with Sweden, took a short circuit through GOTHENBURG, WEDENBORG, BLAKE, and GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS, and suddenly remembered that he was pledged to find Maria. So he balanced the bottle-green bowler still more carefully upon his head, and trotted off to do his duty.” ”Poor Cook, thought Captain, I must be kinder to her. She makes a splendid pet. How faithful she is! I always say you can't get the same love from a dog, not like you can from a human. So clever, too. I believe she understands every word I say. I believe they have souls, just like dogs, only of course you can't smell them. It is uncanny how canine a human can be, if you are kind to them and treat them well. I know for a fact that when some dogs in history had died, their humans lay down on the grave and howled all night and refused food and pined away.” "'It is the same shape as a human,' thought Captain, 'in spite of the size, and it smells the same, too, only less. I think I will keep it for a pet, like Cook. I hope she won't be jealous.'" ”He searched the Orangery, where Gibbon had scratched out a semicolon in the famous last paragraph of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, before presenting the eight volume to the Duke of Gloucester – who had observed affably: ”Another damned thick book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh, Mr Gibbon?” ”He searched the Chinese Parlour, into which Rousseau had suddenly rushed in 1768, when he had indignantly read out an interminable and incomprehensible letter from himself to Diderot, leaving all hearers completely stunned. […] He even searched the State Room, in which Queen Victoria had held the only drawing room ever held outside a royal castle, and in it there was the very chair in which she had sat, with a glass lid over the seat, to preserve the royal imprint. The Professor lifted the lid and sat down himself, for he was beginning to feel tired.” ... and another part of the book that I enjoyed enormously but which was too long for me to quote: "The second favorite, like I mentioned above, is when the Professor visits Lord Lieutenant to ask for his help. Lord Lieutenant is outrageously irritating But I kept laughing as he wanted to show off his numerous little knick-knacks with various functions. So funny! And when he said he'd believe a hound, a horse, and Miss Brown, if the Professor were to produce them. And then Captain arrives and delivers the urgent message from Miss Brown, and LL thinks the hound wrote it himself. And the part about the typo! LL saying that there ought to be an 's' in 'onct', but one can't fault a hound for misspelling, spelling is not in their nature. I was in stitches! Lol." The more I think about the book, the more I seem to like it. There were some really juicy characters and events! 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 (edited) The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty Amazon: The Optimist's Daughter is a compact and inward-looking little novel, a Pulitzer Prize winner that's slight of page yet big of heart. The optimist in question is 71-year-old Judge McKelva, who has come to a New Orleans hospital from Mount Salus, Mississippi, complaining of a "disturbance" in his vision. To his daughter, Laurel, it's as rare for him to admit "self-concern" as it is for him to be sick, and she immediately flies down from Chicago to be by his side. The subsequent operation on the judge's eye goes well, but the recovery does not. He lies still with both eyes heavily bandaged, growing ever more passive until finally--with some help from the shockingly vulgar Fay, his wife of two years--he simply dies. Together Fay and Laurel travel to Mount Salus to bury him, and the novel begins the inward spiral that leads Laurel to the moment when "all she had found had found her," when the "deepest spring in her heart had uncovered itself" and begins to flow again. Not much actually happens in the rest of the book--Fay's low-rent relatives arrive for the funeral, a bird flies down the chimney and is trapped in the hall--and yet Welty manages to compress the richness of an entire life within its pages. This is a world, after all, in which a set of complex relationships can be conveyed by the phrase "I know his whole family" or by the criticism "When he brought her here to your house, she had very little idea of how to separate an egg." Does such a place exist anymore? It is vanishing even from this novel, and the personification of its vanishing is none other than Fay--petulant, graceless, childish, with neither the passion nor the imagination to love. Welty expends a lot of vindictive energy on Fay and her kin, who must be the most small-minded, mean-mouthed clan since the Snopeses hit Frenchman's Bend. There's more than just class snobbery at work here (though that surely comes into it too). As Welty sees it, they are a special historical tribe who exult in grieving because they have come to be good at it, and who seethe with resentment from the day they are born. They have come "out of all times of trouble, past or future--the great, interrelated family of those who never know the meaning of what has happened to them." Fay belongs to the future, as she makes clear; it's Laurel who belongs to the past--Welty's own chosen territory. In her fine memoir, One Writer's Beginnings, Welty described the way art could shine a light back "as when your train makes a curve, showing that there has been a mountain of meaning rising behind you on the way you've come." Here, in one of her most autobiographical works, the past joins seamlessly with the present in a masterful evocation of grief, memory, loss, and love. Beautifully written, moving but never mawkish, The Optimist's Daughter is Eudora Welty's greatest achievement--which is high praise indeed. --Mary Park Thoughts: Wohoo! The Optimist’s Daughter has the privilege of being the first book of the year 2012 to get a 1/5 from frankie! How’s that for a review? No, I want to say more. Be afraid, be very afraid. Jeanette Winterson has company! I read this for the Rory Gilmore reading challenge and Kylie, is this the book or is Welty the author that Rory refers to as an underestimated, overlooked author, or was it Dawn Powell? Anyways. Like Mary Park said in her review, nothing much happens. However, there is no richness here and the only thing that’s being compressed is my brain, and it hurts! The characters, I couldn’t care less about them . Fay is so vulgar that it’s just impossible to consider her to be a real, realistic character in the novel. I thought at one point that she has to be an imaginary alter ego of Laurel’s, because nobody ever responded to her. Surely if I’d been there, I would’ve ordered the woman to shut up if she valued her life. Oh goodness. I was so bored! How is this a Pulitzer Prize winner? Why? What? Rory? Ughhhhhh! 1/5 Edited February 22, 2012 by frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 (^ ... and after that disastrous Rory Gilmore read of The Optimist’s Daughter, it was only right and fair that my faith in the challenge was restored by a wonderful work of literature that is also part of the Rory Gilmore reading challenge, that I happened to read next!) Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie Amazon: At the height of Mao's infamous Cultural Revolution, two boys are among hundreds of thousands exiled to the countryside for "re-education." The narrator and his best friend, Luo, guilty of being the sons of doctors, find themselves in a remote village where, among the peasants of the Phoenix mountains, they are made to cart buckets of excrement up and down the precipitous winding paths. Their meager distractions include a violin - and, before long, the beautiful daughter of the local tailor. But it is when the two discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation that their re-education takes its most surprising turn. While ingeniously concealing their forbidden treasure, the boys find transit to worlds they had thought lost forever. And after listening to their dangerously seductive retellings of Balzac, even the Little Seamstress will be forever transformed. From within the hopelessness and terror of one of the darkest passages in human history, Dai Sijie has fashioned a beguiling and unexpected story about the resilience of the human spirit, the wonder of romantic awakening, and the magical power of storytelling. Thoughts: China, Cultural Revolution, exile, countryside, Balzac… The are all things I know nothing about, and in which I’m not particularly interested in. So one might assume that I would not get on with this book at all. And yet I did. And not even because there were books in the book, which of course was a huge bonus. But because I fell in love with the narrator and his friend Luo, the darling teens who had not lost hope and hadn’t let their spirits break. And because in a way it was nothing like I’ve ever read before. It was a short, magical tale, I was hooked. I can’t describe it. Read it. 5/5, and highly recommended! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett Amazon: A treasure worth killing for. Sam Spade, a slightly shopworn private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. A perfumed grafter named Joel Cairo, a fat man name Gutman, and Brigid O’Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. These are the ingredients of Dashiell Hammett’s coolly glittering gem of detective fiction, a novel that has haunted three generations of readers. Thoughts: To anyone whom it may concern: I promise this novel won’t haunt me, as a matter of fact it did very little to me in the first place. A decent read, spies, plotting, guns, women, the lot, but nothing that would stick with me after I’ve read the last words and have closed the book. 2/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Veitikka by Veikko Huovinen A biography of Hitler, written by a well known Finnish author whose works I don’t believe I have read before. We all know Hitler was evil, and what awful things went down and what people had to suffer. And that’s no laughing matter. However, Huovinen chooses his words so carefully, cleverly and wittily that I was embarrassed to find myself giggling out loud occasionally. I wish I had the book with me so I could find an example, I do not wish any of you guys to think I’m laughing at innocent people getting killed, because that certainly isn’t and wasn’t the case. 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty Thoughts: Wohoo! The Optimist’s Daughter has the privilege of being the first book of the year 2012 to get a 1/5 from frankie! How’s that for a review? No, I want to say more. Be afraid, be very afraid. Jeanette Winterson has company! I read this for the Rory Gilmore reading challenge and Kylie, is this the book or is Welty the author that Rory refers to as an underestimated, overlooked author, or was it Dawn Powell? Anyways. Like Mary Park said in her review, nothing much happens. However, there is no richness here and the only thing that’s being compressed is my brain, and it hurts! The characters, I couldn’t care less about them . Fay is so vulgar that it’s just impossible to consider her to be a real, realistic character in the novel. I thought at one point that she has to be an imaginary alter ego of Laurel’s, because nobody ever responded to her. Surely if I’d been there, I would’ve ordered the woman to shut up if she valued her life. Oh goodness. Iwas so bored! How is this a Pulitzer Prize winner? Why? What? Rory? Ughhhhhh! 1/5 Oh it was so worth you reading it though because your review is hilarious .. I can feel the frustration coming from your fingertips Sorry frankie I don't mean to laugh but I can't help it :D Was it actually ... *whispers* Madame Bovary bad Oh poor frankie .. Rory has led you up the garden path. But you know you must read bad books to appreciate the good Oh I almost want to read it now .. I feel I would learn much from knowing exactly what sort of book bores the pants off frankie. I'm a bit worried .. after the Winterson reference .. that I might enjoy it though and find it highly diverting Love your review of Mistress Masham's Repose .. I concur with every word and I was only thinking yesterday that the more I think about the story the fonder I am of it. Love the sound of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress .. it sounds delightful. One for the wishlist I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Great reviews, Frankie. Dawn Powell was the overlooked author; maybe Eudora Welty wasn't even a Rory book - maybe one of the other characters mentioned it. You poor thing. I must admit, though, I'm rather curious to read it myself to see what I make of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I love the sound of Balzac & the little Chinese Seamstress, it's so going on my wishlist. Thanks for the review Frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 I'll reply to posts a bit later in full, I'm groggy from lack of sleep, but wanted to address this now before I forget: Love the sound of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress .. it sounds delightful. One for the wishlist I think I love the sound of Balzac & the little Chinese Seamstress, it's so going on my wishlist. Thanks for the review Frankie I would definitely recommend it I forgot to mention in my review that the story is based on the author's own personal experiences of the Cultural Revolution in China, back in the day. I don't know to which extent though, I think I'll do some investigating later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ooshie Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 You are quite right about Madame Bovary. You must be one helluva hoarder. Do you suppose I might've seen you on TV? We have these documentaries about obsessive-compulsive people on TV quite frequently these days, and one of the most favorite disorder amongst them peoples is hoarding and I've seen quite a few such shows. Hey, was it you, that one time, when there was this hot but disorganized lady, sitting and typing on her laptop, they were on some bookish forum, and all her walls were covered with bookcases and books and her family only had one room for them, no, I think it was a closet, where they were to stay and keep quiet? And the lady kept on stumbling on different copies of MB, cussing rather violently at them, and then throwing them forcefully across the room? Was it YOU?? Well, no, it wasn't (except maybe the cussing at MB!) - but, what a good idea! My family can live in a closet and all these lovely rooms can just be filled with books! Thank you frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 Oh it was so worth you reading it though because your review is hilarious .. I can feel the frustration coming from your fingertips Sorry frankie I don't mean to laugh but I can't help it Was it actually ... *whispers* Madame Bovary bad Oh poor frankie .. Rory has led you up the garden path. But you know you must read bad books to appreciate the good Oh I almost want to read it now .. I feel I would learn much from knowing exactly what sort of book bores the pants off frankie. I'm a bit worried .. after the Winterson reference .. that I might enjoy it though and find it highly diverting Laugh away if you feel like it, I'm not offended Thank goodness the book was rather short! The thought of it ending kept me going. And the fact that it was a challenge read. I would've given up on it earlier if not for these two factors. I wouldn't compare it to Madame Bovary though... Both were really bad, but... such different novels. It's difficult to explain. But they are both definitely in my least favorite reads. Tess is the clear winner still, though! I've kind of forgiven Rory already, if it wasn't for her I don't think I would've come across with Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Sometimes one has to plunge right in and try and get on with a lesser novel, knowing that the reward will be so much greater when the next superb book comes along! I must stress, though, that the poor Finnish translation played some part in my frustration. There was this particular scene where I just wanted to pull all my hair off for shear despair. It was such a Finglishm. An English phrase translated literally into Finnish, which didn't make sense as a Finnish reader and which I could just hear in my head in English. And think 'good lord. this translator works with Finnish language, and doesn't know how to say this in a Finnish way!!'. I have to quote the part. There was a tragedy in the family and some people had visitors to help support them and offer their sympathy. And one person found none of them came for her, to console her. She was upset that not one of them paid any attention to her and what I'm betting my bottom dollar she cried out in English was this: "I don't have a soul!". This was literally translated into 'I don't have a soul!', which doesn't mean anything other in Finnish that she literally does not possess a soul inside her body and mind. Which was just really disturbing when her previous sentence was something like this: "I don't have anyone to trust but me, myself and I". If I want to totally nit-pick this, she's saying that she can only trust herself and what good does that do when she is a soul-less person. Good lord! *bangs head against wall* Do give it a go if you like But I will not be blamed if you actually buy a copy, end up hating it and resent the fact that you paid good money for it! Great reviews, Frankie. Dawn Powell was the overlooked author; maybe Eudora Welty wasn't even a Rory book - maybe one of the other characters mentioned it. You poor thing. I must admit, though, I'm rather curious to read it myself to see what I make of it! Thank god it was Dawn Powell and not Welty! Like I said to poppyshake above ^, do give it a go if you find a free copy, I'd like to see what you make of it And I want you to join me in my dissing the book! Well, no, it wasn't (except maybe the cussing at MB!) - but, what a good idea! My family can live in a closet and all these lovely rooms can just be filled with books! Thank you frankie You are welcome Ooshie! Just remember to have some soft padding on the walls so they can lean on them when they get tired of standing on their feet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Laugh away if you feel like it, I'm not offended Thank goodness the book was rather short! The thought of it ending kept me going. And the fact that it was a challenge read. I would've given up on it earlier if not for these two factors. I wouldn't compare it to Madame Bovary though... Both were really bad, but... such different novels. It's difficult to explain. But they are both definitely in my least favorite reads. Tess is the clear winner still, though! I've kind of forgiven Rory already, if it wasn't for her I don't think I would've come across with Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Sometimes one has to plunge right in and try and get on with a lesser novel, knowing that the reward will be so much greater when the next superb book comes along! Well everyone can't love the same books can they? .. world would be a freaky place if they did .. it's the same with cheese I must stress, though, that the poor Finnish translation played some part in my frustration. There was this particular scene where I just wanted to pull all my hair off for shear despair. It was such a Finglishm. An English phrase translated literally into Finnish, which didn't make sense as a Finnish reader and which I could just hear in my head in English. And think 'good lord. this translator works with Finnish language, and doesn't know how to say this in a Finnish way!!'. I have to quote the part. There was a tragedy in the family and some people had visitors to help support them and offer their sympathy. And one person found none of them came for her, to console her. She was upset that not one of them paid any attention to her and what I'm betting my bottom dollar she cried out in English was this: "I don't have a soul!". This was literally translated into 'I don't have a soul!', which doesn't mean anything other in Finnish that she literally does not possess a soul inside her body and mind. Which was just really disturbing when her previous sentence was something like this: "I don't have anyone to trust but me, myself and I". If I want to totally nit-pick this, she's saying that she can only trust herself and what good does that do when she is a soul-less person. Good lord! *bangs head against wall* Rory may well have read an entirely different book altogether Didn't you have the same problem with To the Lighthouse? .. though to be fair the translator would have had their work cut out. I'm betting poor old Ginny didn't know what she was on about herself half the time It all just came flowing out like the Thames. Must be terribly frustrating for you. It's just the job for you I think ... you have such an understanding of the English and Finnish languages that YOU are exactly the person for it. A translator of literature?? How do you fancy it? Do give it a go if you like But I will not be blamed if you actually buy a copy, end up hating it and resent the fact that you paid good money for it! No, life is too short and all that and it sounds like the most unlickable book ever Even with the bad translation I think you would have known if there was a good book in there struggling to get out. I cannot possibly read a book that frankie hates and would banish to Room 101 if she could when I have The Selected Diaries of Virginia Woolf, Schindlers Ark and If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things still waiting on my shelves. I'll save my pennies for a better book .. or cake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 Other literary business: I've been such a good little boring girl for the last few months, I was growing tired of myself and wanted to get out, into the wild, to meet people, talk to people and have a few drinks. So, on a Friday night, 1,5 weeks ago, due to people being sick/out of town/skint/working, I was yet again having to face the evening alone in my flat. But I'd had enough of it. So, I sort of cried out in desperation on my FB account, and a really random acquaintance (friend of a few pals of mine) chatted me up on FB chat and said she was going to see this band at a bar and I could tag along if I had nothing better to do. I knew she'd have many friends over there and I'd probably loose sight of her and have to sort of entertain myself there but I thought what the heck. So I went to the bar and the warm up act was still playing. It was surprisingly good, and I've actually listened to that band on youtube ever since then. if you like. After the warm up band finished, I didn't feel like staying for the band I initially came to see, as I'd discovered they were a punkish sort of band and I don't particularly enjoy punk. So instead, I ventured off to this other bar where I've had a few good nights. That's the same bar where I managed to read about 40 pages of Crippen in December, without noticing any of the background ruckus. I had my copy of Pied Piper with me, so I went in and found myself an empty table, the last one at the bar. What luck! I'd only been sitting at the table for a couple of minutes when this group of people came over and asked if they could sit at the table, there being no room in the other tables. As I'm a friendly person and was actually hoping I'd find some people to talk to that night, I said yes, they could. One of them asked if I was really going to try and read a book, in a bar, and I had to stifle a giggle when I said 'yes'. They all wanted to see which book it was, but none of them knew the author or the title. They soon resumed to talking about their own stuff, and as they were all people from the same work place, they were deep in discussion about things I could not contribute to so I kept reading. They all worked for the local (regional) newspaper, that happens to bear the same name as I do as my surname, a thing I found amusing. Later on one of the men in the group asked me where I was at in the book. I told him what was happening but eventhough he had asked it himself, he didn't seem that interested in the answer A bit later, when he went to sit opposite to me next to a friend of his, I noticed (without looking away from my book) that he had his hand infront of his mouth in a 'I'm going to whisper' sort of way, and he actually whispered to his friend 'Look, that girl is just reading!'. He whispered it so loud I could hear it, and I had to stiffle another giggle! I kept on reading though, as if I'd not noticed a thing. And later on, when I'd left the table for good (I couldn't concentrate on my book sitting next to the people and yet they didn't seem too interested in talking to me) and had found myself another table, I happened to go and order a beer at the same time when one of the men from the previous table was doing so as well. He said to me 'some people in my table admired you for reading'. I was like, well, what am I supposed to say to that... And then he left. It was so silly. The lesson learnt? Hell yes I can go to a bar all by myself if I can't find a friend to go with me. All there is to it is to take a book with me and read. That's the 'worst' thing that could happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Wish I could come to a bar and read with you ... though we would probably not be reading books but yakking about them instead Wish I could though .. it would be the best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian. Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 There is a bit of a rundown pub (bar) in my town centre which has bookcases dotted around it. On the bookcases there are signs saying that you are welcome to read and even take a book with you as long as you return it or replace it with one of equal worth. I only tend to be in there on an odd Saturday night when its real busy so I'm yet to see anyone reading in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Good on you for reading in the pub and not caring what anyone says! The bit where you overheard someone talking about you reading and you tried not to smile reminds me of the GG episode where a similar thing happens to Rory in class (I was going to write it all out but I know you'll know exactly which scene I'm talking about). On a vaguely related note, I hate bookshops with cafes where they put tables and chairs right in front of the bookcases, so when you're trying to browse there are people sitting right in your way! They don't even try to move to make it easier for you to browse. I don't know why owners put them there, and I don't know why people would sit there when they know they're going to be in people's way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 (edited) Well everyone can't love the same books can they? .. world would be a freaky place if they did .. it's the same with cheese No, I suppose they can't, and eventhough the stubborn 11 year old kiddie in me said 'well heck they should at least try and love the same books as me!', I do think it would be a rather freaky (your word, sorry, I borrowed it ) and boring (my word ) place if we did. Same with cheese! Yum, cheese. I like all kinds of cheese, except for blue cheese (which smells and tastes like sweat, yuck!), which is funny because blue is my favorite colour and I really like cheese The more foul it smells, the better the taste! Which reminds me of this one time (not at band camp but at my ex's flat). We'd gone groceryshopping and we'd bought a deliciously looking bit of cheese to eat later. We forgot all about it. Then, later in the evening, I started sniffing around and told my ex that the flat smells of shhhhhhh. He took a good whiff of the air and agreed. We first looked into the toilet, thinking somebody'd forgotten to flush. But the toilet was okay and smelled normal. The smell was the strongest in the kitchen-corridor area. Finally we located the area that smelled the worst: the fridge! Well, knowing what ex was like, I thought that just as usual, he's forgotten to throw away all the bits and pieces with an expiration date from the year before last. But there was nothing odd in the fridge. Then he smelled the cheese and yuck, he almost vomited Oh but it was delicious to eat. We still remember the cheese and refer to it as 'the cheese that smelled like poo'. Edited March 9, 2012 by frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 Rory may well have read an entirely different book altogether Didn't you have the same problem with To the Lighthouse? .. though to be fair the translator would have had their work cut out. I'm betting poor old Ginny didn't know what she was on about herself half the time It all just came flowing out like the Thames. It is actually possible that Rory may have read a different book, because the Rory list says something like 'complete works of Eudora Welty' or perhaps 'short stories by Eudora Welty' or something like that (don't remember and can't be bothered to check ). And I don't even know in which context Eudora Welty is mentioned. It could well be that a literature professor was talking about Pulitzer Prize winners and Rory thought of Eudora Welty and her abominable Optimist's Daughter. So there, it really is a hazardous reading challenge And yet we go on! To the Lighthouse was a bit different. I don't remember noticing any Finglishms in that, but I did think that overall the translator must've had a heck of a job translating the book and that maybe it's just one of those books that one should read in English if possible. I don't think I was saying the translator had done a bad job with it. But with The Optimist's Daughter, that was a clear case of somebody needing to find another, better suited occupation. Must be terribly frustrating for you. It's just the job for you I think ... you have such an understanding of the English and Finnish languages that YOU are exactly the person for it. A translator of literature?? How do you fancy it? Well, it wouldn't be that awful if I would just read everything in English. Which just goes to show how brilliant my New Year's Resolution of sticking to original language is. It's my own fault for having bought TOD in Finnish. Although I'm happy I did, I got it cheap in a charityshop, I'm glad I didn't order an English original and pay more money for it. I did think about becoming a translator of literature in my youth, but quickly I realised that I simply don't have what it takes. I'm not fluent in all the different sorts of registers and styles. And translating a book takes months, I don't have that kind of patience. Translating TV series, that I might be able to do (and still sometimes fantasize about it ). In a nutshell, I do know a bad translation when I see one, but I couldn't avoid producing one myself And I assure you, that's not false modesty but the truth. No, life is too short and all that and it sounds like the most unlickable book ever Even with the bad translation I think you would have known if there was a good book in there struggling to get out. I was going to support you had you chosen to read it but I'm glad you didn't And yes, it wasn't just the bad translation, it was 50-50 with the author and the translator. Poor devils. I hope they are not members on here! Wish I could come to a bar and read with you ... though we would probably not be reading books but yakking about them instead Wish I could though .. it would be the best Maybe next year? Yep, we wouldn't be able to concentrate on our books, we'd talk shop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 There is a bit of a rundown pub (bar) in my town centre which has bookcases dotted around it. On the bookcases there are signs saying that you are welcome to read and even take a book with you as long as you return it or replace it with one of equal worth. I only tend to be in there on an odd Saturday night when its real busy so I'm yet to see anyone reading in there. That sounds like a really nice pub! I'd definitely visit it if I lived around. Maybe you should check the place out on week days and see if the books are put to good use. I've seen a few bars/pubs in my life where they have bookshelves and books but from what I know, they tend to be decorative solutions There's this one pub called 'Old Dog' (an Irish pub), it's actually probably the closest to my house and they have a bookcase on the back wall of the smaller room with arm chairs, but the books there seem like at least half of them are Readers Digest sort of things. I've never seen anyone pick one up and start reading it. Good on you for reading in the pub and not caring what anyone says! The bit where you overheard someone talking about you reading and you tried not to smile reminds me of the GG episode where a similar thing happens to Rory in class (I was going to write it all out but I know you'll know exactly which scene I'm talking about). Hehe, I don't think the guy who was 'whispering' about it meant it in a bad way, he sounded like he was taken aback. Which was really weird because in a way he seemed like he wanted to talk about it, but then didn't, eventhough he had plenty of opportunities Yep, I remember that bit. Although she wasn't reading, she was doing the assignment. No, not a slam book On a vaguely related note, I hate bookshops with cafes where they put tables and chairs right in front of the bookcases, so when you're trying to browse there are people sitting right in your way! They don't even try to move to make it easier for you to browse. I don't know why owners put them there, and I don't know why people would sit there when they know they're going to be in people's way. I come from a small town where we don't even have a bookshop (we used to, ages ago but it wasn't very successful). The bookstore in Joensuu, where I now live, does have one table and chairs around it, but nobody ever uses it. When I visit Helsinki's Academic Bookshop, I'm always astounded how many armchairs they have and how people actually sit in them, and read books. I'm like, wtf, if they read the books here they are not going to have to buy them! So I'm very curious and doubtful about bookshops that have couches and serve coffee and whatnot. I'd feel like I'm set up for some kind of crime Kylie, that's so stupid. If you own a bookstore and have couches, please arrange them in a manner that the CUSTOMERS who come to BROWSE for BOOKS and BUY BOOKS aren't obstructed from doing so!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 (edited) I was having a bit of fun with goodreads never ending trivia quiz yesterday (I'm still ashamed about the Woolf episode!) and I learnt a few things and had quite an interesting tour through the pages of wikipedia. There was this question that got me totally sidetracked from the actual quiz. The question was something like 'which one of these authors died in suspicious circumstances' and there were four authors to choose from. One of them was Ernest Hemingway but I knew he committed suicide and as awful as that is, it's not a suspicious circumstance. I don't remember the other alternatives, but there was Edgar Allan Poe and I thought, 'I know nothing about how he died' and chose to go with him. And I was right, EAP was the correct answer. I was happy I'd gotten one thing right, but that didn't exactly do anything to my curiosity. How did Edgar Allan Poe actually die? Wiki wiki wiki! So, I found out loads about Poe, some really curious stuff. Apparently, on the night before he died, "Poe was found on the streets of Baltimore delirious, "in great distress, and... in need of immediate assistance", according to the man who found him, Joseph W. Walker. He was taken to the Washington College Hospital, where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849, at 5:00 in the morning. Poe was never coherent long enough to explain how he came to be in his dire condition, and, oddly, was wearing clothes that were not his own. Poe is said to have repeatedly called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before his death, though it is unclear to whom he was referring. Some sources say Poe's final words were "Lord help my poor soul." All medical records, including his death certificate, have been lost.Newspapers at the time reported Poe's death as "congestion of the brain" or "cerebral inflammation", common euphemisms for deaths from disreputable causes such as alcoholism. The actual cause of death remains a mystery; from as early as 1872, cooping was commonly believed to have been the cause, and speculation has included delirium tremens, heart disease, epilepsy, syphilis, meningeal inflammation, cholera and rabies". I had no idea what 'cooping' is, so wikied it and learnt something new. I then read that Rufus Wilmot Griswold wrote a memoir on Poe, but that he'd considered Poe to be a rival of his and that he pretty much tried to show Poe in a really bad light: "...Griswold depicted Poe as a depraved, drunk, drug-addled madman and included Poe's letters as evidence. Many of his claims were either lies or distorted half-truths. For example, it is now known that Poe was not a drug addict. Griswold's book was denounced by those who knew Poe well, but it became a popularly accepted one. This occurred in part because it was the only full biography available and was widely reprinted and in part because readers thrilled at the thought of reading works by an "evil" man. Letters that Griswold presented as proof of this depiction of Poe were later revealed as forgeries." Poor Poe! When I was reading about 'cooping' on wiki, I noticed that Edgar Allan Poe's death was mentioned, and not only was there a link to Edgar Allan Poe on there, but there was also a particular link to his death! On that page I found talk about Poe's 'character assassination' and eventhough I know what that means, I couldn't resist but click on that idiom and it took me to some other interesting places. On the bottom of the page there were links to similar kinds of 'activities', if you please, and I looked some of them up. Here's what they were as listed: Mudslinging Black propaganda Fair Game (Scientology) Pittura infamante McCarthyism Hollywood blacklist Damnatio memoriae Smear campaign Personal attack Most of those are to me pretty clear cut subjects but I wanted to investigate some of them. I've read and heard about McCarthyism in uni, on our US history course, and it's actually one of the few things that have stuck in my head, I'm usually really bad at history. This lead me to Hollywood Blacklisting, which we also talked about when discussing McCarthyism. I went through the list of the many, many blacklisted people and was surprised to see Lillian Hellman's name on the list. She's the author of The Children's Hour, which is on the Rory list and which I've been wanting to read for a long time. I then discovered that Hellman had a 30 year affair with Dashiell Hammett! And, apparently she and Mary McCarthy, the author of another Rory book called The Group, were no bosom buddies! "In a 1979 television interview, author Mary McCarthy, long Hellman's political adversary and the object of her negative literary judgment, said of Hellman that "every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'." Hellman responded by filing a US$2,500,000 defamation suit against McCarthy, Dick Cavett, and PBS. McCarthy in turn produced evidence she said proved that Hellman had lied in some accounts of her life. Cavett said he sympathized more with McCarthy than Hellman in the lawsuit, but "everybody lost" as a result of it. Norman Mailer attempted unsuccessfully to mediate the dispute through an article he published in the New York Times. At the time of her death, Hellman was still in litigation with Mary McCarthy, and Hellman's executors dropped the suit." Wow. From Poe to McCarthy. I didn't much enjoy The Group, so I'm all the more curious about Hellmann. She was a leftist so I think her political views might be close to mine. I didn't read the whole wiki article about her, I felt my head was spinning from all the info that had been crammed to my brain already, but I did notice she's written a memoir called An Unfinished Woman and needless to say, it's been added to my wishlist Edited March 9, 2012 by frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 All very interesting! I love how looking up one thing leads to another, and another... Didn't Poe also marry his 13/14-year old cousin who died an early death? I think he never got over her. Poe fascinates me. I'm off to look up biographies. I hope there's a book of his (real) letters. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Long shot though, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 All very interesting! I love how looking up one thing leads to another, and another... Me too, especially if it's all authors and such Didn't Poe also marry his 13/14-year old cousin who died an early death? I think he never got over her. Poe fascinates me. I'm off to look up biographies. I hope there's a book of his (real) letters. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Long shot though, I think. I wouldn't know about that. When I was writing that long post I remembered that I didn't read the wiki article on Edgar Allan Poe the person, only the wiki article on the Death of Edgar Allan Poe. So I don't know much about his life. Must wiki now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruth Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Ah, when I saw you mention the Children's Hour, I thought "I'm sure that was made into a film with Audrey Hepburn." (I love Audrey Hepburn.) Just checked, and it was. I didn't realise the film was based on a book...it's well worth a watch. I often find if I go onto Wiki to look up an author - or anyone really - I always end up clicking one link, then another, then another. It's kind of like six degrees of separation, only done in reverse! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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