August Book Haul, Part 2

Well, this is odd.  Who would have thought that I'd get Part 2 of my August Book Haul up so quickly? ;-D

Thankfully I was able to film this on my small camera instead of the webcam (why are they such  poor quality?) and after a bit of editing, voila, Part 2 is up.  This video includes the romances I found, some miscellaneous titles (dystopian, non-fiction, horror/fantasy, etc.), and concludes with the small stash of cosy mysteries I was able to find.

Let me know in the comments if you have read any of these.  I'd really like to hear your thoughts on them, and until I see you next time,

January TBR

I think this is pretty self explanatory ;-D

 

Book Review | Cheerful Weather for the Wedding

Cheerful Weather for the Wedding
Persephone Books #38
Julia Strachey

First published in 1932 by Hogarth Press
This edition published in 2011 by Persephone Books

Persephone Books, paperback, 119p.
ISBN: 9781906462079

It is a brisk English March day, and Dolly is getting ready to marry the wrong man. Waylaid by the sulking admirer who lost his chance, an astonishingly oblivious mother bustling around and making a fuss, and her own sinking dread, the bride-to-be struggles to reach the altar.

Well, this what not at all what I expected.  After watching a few book reviews on YouTube, I was expecting to find a book seething with emotion, angst and drama - instead I got a story that centers around an oddball family as they muddle their way through the morning of Dolly Thatcham's wedding.

Dolly seems to float through the events under a haze of rum, and Joseph (the ex) hangs around the house like a stray dog, while her family is just tedious.   Little sister Kitty is a gaudy, poor imitation of her beautiful elder sister, and is starting to become man crazy.  The descriptions of her makeup alone would send any gentleman running in the opposite direction!  Then you come across the terrible twosome - her brothers, Robert and Tom.  Robert is continuously going on about Captain Blood, or telling his OCD brother, Tom, to "...go and put your head in a bag." as Tom continuously nags, and manhandles, his brother about changing his socks of all things!  Very odd.

Mrs Thatcham is a disaster as organizer of the household during this stressful time.  She mixed up her buffet orders, double books bedrooms (so to speak, but with funny results), and is oblivious to anything but the goal of marrying off her daughter.

In one of my favourite scenes, Joseph finally unloads on Mrs Thatchum in regards to what Dolly did last summer.  It was probably made up, but there was almost a malicious hint of truth to parts of it that would have made a great addition, and twist, if the story had of been longer.  We only see Owen, the groom, once and that is at the end when Dolly and Joseph were arguing alone in a room and he barges in at the wrong moment.  There is such potential in this book and it is frustrating to see great moments fall by the wayside.

At only 119 pages, I sped through this.  The writing was simple and straightforward, the plot uncomplicated, but that lack of emotion and drama - especially when the ex turns up desperate to speak with the bride before her wedding! - was strange.  Where was the alcohol fueled rant from Dolly about her current situation?  About her discovering that Joseph, the ex, was there?  The wavering of courage and doubt about walking down the aisle?  There was none of that.

So, while not what I was hoping for, CWFTW was still an entertaining way to spend an hour of so, and has me intrigued enough to track down a copy of the adaptation to see what the changed, and how they adapted this into a full length movie.

I'm not sure if I'll collect any more Persephone Books.  They are crazy expensive, especially in Australia, but if you could recommend one last book I should buy what would it be?  Leave a comment and let me know ;-D

And until next time,

 

Pre-birthday splurge

Yeah.  So, this was a thing over the weekend.  Money has been a little tight - still have to pay my electricity and telephone bill this week - but with my birthday coming up I wanted to treat myself to a book or two since my family don't buy me books because they are never sure what I've got, or want to read.  

Enter the smart phone.  I was browsing the Book Depository and Awesome Books websites on Saturday night and after about an hour of idle searching it was a shock to discover that I had 10 books heading my way!  Okay, two were for my mum for Mother's Day, but daammmmn!

Sunday afternoon.  I'm online again and poddling about Awesome Books - again! - adding books to my wishlist (and the cart) when I hit on the 'genius' idea of buying up some more Penguin English Library (PEL) editions to add to my collection.  Yeah, really bright idea.  Bought a further 8 books, and then jumped on AbeBooks to find some OOP PEL editions and ended up spending more money as I found two (and bought a third book anyway)!

So, here is a list of what I bought on this birthday binge of shame...

As you can see, I must have lost my mind for a few hours!  In truth, these are books that I've wanted for a long time - and that I will be reading in the future - so I don't feel too guilty about buying them as a majority of them are used books in great condition.  However, I probably could have timed this splurge better ;-D

In the meantime, I have not been reading as much as I would like.  Everyday chores like laundry, mowing the lawn, gardening, cooking, etc., have been a priority.  Hoping to read Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen this month.  I read Emma last May and loved it, so finger's crossed I have the same reaction to S&S.

Since I've spent way too much recently on books, I'm going to concentrate more on my massive TBR pile (300+ books I think) and get a chunk of that read before I allow myself another book order.  I'll settle for reading 20-30 titles.  It will be a challenge, but with winter only a few weeks away, and the colder nights, I'm hoping to snuggle up with some good books over the coming weeks - there's nothing on TV anyway ;-D

Have you had a huge book splurge?  If you have, let me know how many books you got so I don't feel so bad ;-D

Until next time,

October Wrap-up

October has been a good reading month.  

As you know, I started Gone With The Wind earlier this month.  While I don't read it every day, I have made a little bit of progress and am 152 pages into this behemoth.  If you want to know what my thoughts are so far CLICK HERE.  I will say that if I had the option, I would have prefered to read this with a book buddy.

While I have added GWTW to my Goodreads list, I have not added any of the Arcane Society and Rainshadow Island series books I've been devouring to the list.  Why?  Because I decided that I would only add new books to my Goodreads Challenge otherwise I would be forever adding and updating progress on the numerous books I reread every month.  I am a huge rereader, and love to go back into the worlds, with characters I enjoy - who have fun adventures.  For some reason October has been the month of the Jayne Ann Krentz (aka Amanda Quick and Jayne Castle) marathon.  I find these books to be quick, fast paced and fun - especially the books set on Harmony as I adore those fuzzy little dust bunnies!

Then there is this months book purchase extravaganza.  Yes, I spent waaay too much money at Book Depository this month.  I'm still waiting for about 10 books to come in the mail - yes, 10! - and have already received another 13 in the post since the start of the month (I hadn't counted until now!), as well as bought a further 4 books at my local Big W (only place to buy new books in town), and 6 used books.

OMG, I am a complete and total book tart!

Please let me know in the comments what your most extravagant book month was (so I don't feel like it's only me who does this!) ;-D

Until next time,

GWTW: problems already

Last night I finally picked up Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell, and let me tell you that even though I've only read the first chapter, I foresee stormy reading weather ahead.

Yes, only 21 pages in (in my edition), and yet to start chapter 2, and I am surprised to say that I'm not sure if I'll be finishing this book.  I don't think I've ever said that before - at least not so soon - about a book.  So far the characters, Scarlet, Stuart and Brent, are all insufferable, and the twins 'darkie' body-servant, Jeems, is just as biggoted as his white masters in the way he looks down his nose at the slaves from smaller landholders.  

While I was prepared to dislike Scarlet, the fact that I'm only just starting this book and actively disliking the characters, the stereotypes, and the language (see above quote) as well as the tone used does not bode well for completing this massive story before the end of the year.

I know some people love this book, and I'm hoping that once I get a few chapters in, and become used to the rhythm of the text, that the story will improve enough that I can enjoy parts of it.  However I'm not holding my breathe!  I know that in Mitchell's time that segregation was still a huge issue, and the Civil War was still within living memory, but fast forward 80 years and the sensibilities of many people is a total 180° to those held by the majority a century ago.

I just don't know.  So these are my first impressions of Gone With The Wind.  Let me know in the comments whether you loved it - or not? - and why.  I'm curious to see what everyone else thinks about this book and it's themes and use of language.

Until nex time,

Review: The Virgin Suicides

The Virgin Suicides
Jeffrey Eugenides

First published: 1993 (my edition 2002)

Bloomsbury, paperback (format B), 249p.
ISBN: 978-0-7475-6059-3

The haunting, humorous and tender story of the brief lives of the five entrancing Lisbon sisters, The Virgin Suicides, is Jeffrey Eugenides' classic debut novel.

The shocking thing about the girls was how nearly normal they seemed when their mother let them out for the one and only date in their lives.  Twenty years on, their enigmatic personalities are embalmed in the memories of the boys who worshiped them and who now recall their shared adolescence: the brassiere draped over a crucifix belonging to the promiscuous Lux; the sisters' breathtaking appearance on the night of the dance; and the sultry, sleepy street across which they watched a family disintegrate and fragile lives disappear.

I read this book over the course of perhaps 3 hours last night, and to say I was left feeling unsettled is an understatement.  In The Virgin Suicides, we span the course of a year as we follow the narrator  as he reflects on the memories he has of those fragile Lisbon sisters some 20 years later, and the implosion of their family as the sisters all commit suicide that year.

Now that sounds a bit trite, but the way this book is written - through the eyes of a man reflecting on his adolescent crush on these girls, and how he - and the other boys who adored them, too - have seemingly spent 20 years gathering evidence and taking witness statements from as many people who knew the sisters as possible, gives you a real insight into this families dramatic decline.

After the first sister, 13 year old Cecilia, tries to take her life, you get a hint of things to come in the way this family is structured.  So when Cecilia finally succeeds in killing herself, it sets in motion a chain of events that still leaves the narrator, and reader, wondering. . . why?

Mrs Lisbon rules her house.  She is not demonstratively affectionate (and seems to carry no sense of blame in later interviews) and does not seem to see the withering of her daughters under the iron fist she uses to keep them under control.  They are not allowed to have boys in the house, no makeup, and she even went so far as to pull them out of school.  But was that for their sake as she claimed, or rather for her own selfish reasons?  You never really see a softer, loving side of this mother.

Then we have their father.  He is just lost.  He wanders around in a fog, escaping the house only to teach at the school, never seeming to see the isolation and ostracism his daughters encounter at school - and how they cleaved together in support of each other (or looking back, was it?).  Even the attitudes of the community were amazingly destructive. 

While reading this book I didn't see this as a story about adolescent teenage boys fantasizing over the sisters in general (i.e., didn't matter which sister, they were all beautiful and fragile), but rather as a window into this families destruction witnessed through the eyes of young observers who were baffled, scared, and angry at the treatment the girls endured at the hands of their parents, friends, and community.

Note: I also found the symbolism of a dying elm tree as well as the house and yard falling into disrepair and decline wonderfully reflective of the decay of the family as the year went on.  From suburban paradise, or at least no different to any other house in the neighbourhood, to an almost abandoned shell of a home when it was eventually sold.  Broken, just like this family.

If you are reading this book in the hopes that you will discover answers as to why they died, then you will be disappointed - but I think that is the point.  There are no answers.  You can't possibly know what is going through someones mind as they contemplate this course of action.  You can try to puzzle it out, try to use logic to fit all the evidence together, but there will still be key pieces missing, and the picture will never be complete.

Now it has been at least 10 years since I've seen the movie adaptation with Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnett, but I think I'll try to find a copy as this book is something I wish we had read in high school as it is an amazing piece of social commentary about a very taboo topic.  It invites discussion, which is a wonderful thing, and a great way to broach this subject matter.

Will try another Eugenides in the future I think as I found his writing style easy to get through, and well written.  

I hope you enjoyed my thought on The Virgin Suicides.  I'd love to hear what you thought of the book, or movie, did you like it, hate it.  Let me know ;-D

Until next time,

 

Book Review || The Body in the Library

The Body in the Library
Miss Marple #2
Agatha Christie

Originally published in 1942 (Review edition reprinted in 2002)

HarperCollins, mass market, 272 p.
ISBN: 0-00-712083-4

It's seven in the morning.  The Bantrys have awoken to find the body of a young woman in their library.  She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cheeks.

But who is she?  How did she get there?  And what's the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry?  The alarmed Bantrys invite Jane Marple to solve the mystery, before tongues start to wag. . . 

Yes, I know I'm so late in reviewing my February pick for A Year of Marple, but honestly I just wasn't feeling it last month.  However, with the lovely stormy weather I'm enjoying for Easter, it is finally cosy mystery time.  So with that in mind, I picked The Body in the Library up last night and powered through, finishing it in one session... yeah me!

I will state right off the bat that I have always loved the TV adaptations of this particular book, however unlike Murder at the Vicarage, I also enjoyed the original story itself.  So it wasn't a great surprise when I had to scramble to find some paper so I could jot down some notes to myself.  Such is the life of a reader.

... and this is why I usually have an old envelope, or two, handy!

The 1950's feel of the book is very much present.  Clothing and class distinctions are very much of the era, which is no surprise given it was written over 70 years ago.  If you are not familiar with some of the rigid, and tightly held to, prejudices of the day, then you may not pick up on some of the underlying, and subtly hinted at, tensions (such as Colonel Bantrys reactions before and after the revelation of Basil Blake's past injury) but it shouldn't detract from the overall storyline if you are not.

In regards to Christie's style of writing itself, one of the things I enjoyed was the multiple POVs - which was surprising as I usually hate that! - and while there are quite a few differences between the TV adaptations and the novel, it wasn't enough that I couldn't cope with the shift in the storyline.  I was, however, quite surprised to see how little a part Basil Blake played in the novel, and yet this character's involvement with Ruby Keene is always at the forefront of any adaptations investigation into who killed the her.  Strange, but true.

Speaking of characters.  I adored seeing more of Sir Henry Clithering.  He is such a dear.  I love this character as he isn't as pompous or arrogant as the other males that deal with Miss Marple tend to be.  The retired former head of Scotland Yard could have been an arrogant cross between Inspector Slack and Conway Jefferson in personality, but instead we have a shrewd yet personable gentleman - just what you need when dealing with Miss Marple.  He understands her, which is a step up from the other neanderthals in the police force, and is demonstrated when he asks her for the "Village parallel, please".  Such a pity that he didn't end up in the 2004 adaptation with Geraldine McEwan.

The other main characters were well done, and played off each other nicely.  There was not one particular character that was horrible, or that I hated - although Inspector Slack comes close as I really do not like his attitude - and yet if you did not know anything about the story, there is nothing to give the culprit away either.  The scene with Basil Blake confessing to Miss Marple about his drunken prank seems to come out of the blue, plot wise, and there is also a few snippets from Raymond Starr that I have never seen in an adaptation.  Was this a very well crafted whodunit, or a story that is missing elements?  I'm still not sure which, but I had a good time anyway.

This would be a great book to start with if you like classic whodunits, or are curious about the Miss Marple universe.  There is more action and odd tangled threads that should appeal to mystery readers. 

I hope enjoyed my review of The Body in the Library.  It was a fun read, and I'd love to know what you though of the book, or any of the adaptations.

The next book in my A Year of Marple is The Moving Finger, which I hope to get up during the week.

Until next time, my lovelies.

 

Picks for February

It's the start of the month, so it is time to choose the next book in my Classic a Month as well as the next book in my A Year of Marple challenges.

For the classic I ended up going with The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  I have seen the amazing movie by Baz Luhrmann.  The world he envisioned was so beautiful and full of colour.   Can't wait to see what I think of the book, and if it evokes a similar response for me.

The next book in my A Year of Marple is The Body in the Library.  Perhaps my favourite adaptation, along with The Mirror Crack'd, I am a looking forward to reading it, but a little hesitant because of my reaction to The Murder at the Vicarage.  I really did not like reading the story from anyone else's POV.  All the adaptations, whether on TV or a movie, are always from Miss Marple's POV.  I am having trouble following the story through another characters eyes.  

So, those are the next two books in my self-imposed book challenges for 2016.  I still haven't cracked open Gone with the Wind yet.  I'm a little worried about that brick ;-D

Until next time,

First week gone already!

Hello fuds and duds!

I can't believe that the first week of 2016 has already gone.  It seems the older I get, the quicker it goes... {I really need to have a stern word with Father Time 'bout that}.  I was hoping to do more posts this year, but the carpal tunnel in my wrists, especially the right one, is putting this in doubt.  Hard to type with a wrist brace on, yet very painful without.  Will do my best however to get something up every now and then ;-D

On the book front, I've been busy re-reading Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series.  Haven't touched it in nearly 2 years, but for some reason I had to read all ten books that are currently on my shelf (while putting the missing four on my wishlist!).  While I still have favourites (Lucas, Vaughan, Clay, Tally, Sascha, Sienna, Judd, etc), I have been enjoying every book.  Just borrowed Heart of Obsidian from my library - the only Nalini Singh book they had! - and have got a few more on Inter-library loan (ILL) just in case I can't find a copy in the mean time.  Can't wait to see what happens next.  Perhaps I'll start re-reading one of my other guilty pleasure series, paranormal romance of course, to pass the time.

In regards to my self imposed classics challenges, 'a year of Marple' has officially started, and although I'm only about 40 something pages in, I'm eeking it out.  It is so different from the adaptations that I've seen - and love! - because the POV is not from Miss Marple's perspective.  I suppose it will take me a while to get used to that, but seeing the world through the Vicar's eyes isn't that enjoyable at the moment.  He's a bit of a prat and I really don't like him that much.  Does not bode well for the rest of the book, but I hope that it improves once the hunt for the murderer is afoot.

My classic for the month is Playing Beatie Bow, and I won't be cracking that baby open until I've finished the Miss Marple.  Will try to get my hands on a copy of the 80's movie adaptation.  I have vague memories of it from Year 8 English.  More than a few moons ago. 

That about wraps up my reading week.  I will be ordering a few books tomorrow (3 at most) that I need to keep going with a series, or for my challenges.  Can't wait to get a few of them under my belt so that I feel more comfortable with mandatory reading lists.  Usually I'm just a read-what-you-feel kinda girl.

Anyway, I hope you're had a wonderful start to the year.

Until next time,

 

2016 Book Challenges

Looks like this is the year for self imposed book/reading challenges.  I have a couple of the books that I'd like to get to this year, and hopefully by posting this list it will give me the motivation to finally read them!

First challenge is...

This really needs to happen.  I have loved the TV adaptations (first with Joan Hickson, then Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie) for so long that I can't believe that I haven't actually read any of the books... even though I own most of them!  So embarrassing.