June books
Jul. 2nd, 2014 11:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slemslempikeWhat is the What - Dave Eggers
Wallflower at the Orgy - Nora Ephron
Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction - Sue Townsend
The Moomins and the Great Flood - Tove Jansson
Diary of a Provincial Lady - EM Delafield
We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson
Life on the Edge - Jennifer Comeaux
The Provincial Lady's Diary - EM Delafield
The Provincial Lady Goes Further - EM Delafield
The Marlows and the Traitor - Antonia Forest
A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel
The Provincial Lady in America - EM Delafield
For Richer or Poorer - Victoria Coren
My Man Jeeves - PG Wodehouse
What is the What in my too read pile for ages, and since it is about South Sudan thought I had better read it before coming out. It's a novelised memoir of a Lost Boy of Sudan who walked across the country to Ethiopia to escape the violence that basically flattened his village, lived in the refugee camps for a while, being one of the youth leaders, and then was taken to America. The story opens with him being robbed and beaten up by American people while living in Atlanta, and I really liked the framing. It wasn't a "oh, Africa was so hard, and now I am in the wonderful USA and it truly is the land of the free" happy ending story, it was different difficulties, told without self-pity. Or pity, given that it was Dave Eggers writing it.
After I bought my Nook I went onto the Edinburgh library website and downloaded a bunch of books. I love that I can do this, and I can keep borrowing books for free anywhere as long as I have an internet connection. The first I read was Wallflower at the Orgy, a collection of Nora Ephron's short non-fiction, which I didn't really enjoy much at all.
My next choice was more successful, Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction. I found out a few pages in that I'd already read it, and in fact have not read the ones between the original 3 and this, so it wa a little confusing at first. Glenn and his friend in Iraq were heart-breaking. I found Adrian's financial stupidity quite hard to read about.
The Moomins and the Great Flood was the first Moomins book I've read... and I don't get it. I'm sorry. I wanted to, as everyone loves them, but maybe you need to experience them as a childhood thing first? Or maybe in hard copy, not an e-book? I feel a little as though I have failed in some way.
The Provincial Lady would never fail you, though she'd worry that she might. I downloaded the collection of the PL books, thinking it would be nice to have them as a back up, then ploughed right through them because they are GREAT and also I wasn't enjoying the library book I had on the go. I very much enjoyed following her through America in particular, with people asking her opinion on The American Problem, insisting that she must be in need of tea, which she doesn't like, and informing her of her opinion of Chicago. Bliss. In case you missed it, there is a PL/Swallows and Amazons crossover which is very good, and an old fic by Ankaret that I still like very much. I would link, but our internet is currently down, and I do not trust myself to remember I have written this bit by the time it comes back and I can post this. [Some time later] Well, actually I DID! Eat THESE shorts, past me!
A Provincial lady Visits the Lake
The Provincial Lady and the Pageant
The Provincial Lady Goes Online
I think someone must have recommended We Have Always Lived in the Castle to me quite recently - I cannot remember who, but thank you very much. I absolutely hated Charles from the moment he came through the door, and was afraid that it was going to be a book where he gradually came between the sisters and there was an irrevocable rift that ended in death. That wasn't true, and I would have been cheering for Merricat to murder him. The scene when the entire town come and destroy their house was astounding, but topped by the dreadful people coming after they'd been so dreadful to tell them off for not letting them help them.
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snowballjane, have you read Life on the Edge? It's a teen romance sort of book, set around skating! I quite enjoyed it, though the heroine was frankly far too sensible for my tastes. It's a library e-book.
Marlows and the Traitor was a wonderful reread prompted by the the current readalong discussion in [Unknown site tag]. I had only intended to dip in to the current chapters, but couldn't stop reading right the way through. It was the last AF book I read. My local library couldn't get it on inter-library loan for me, and this was mid-nineties and there was no thought of reprints at all, so I was somewhat resigned to never reading it. Then I did my year 10 work experience at the Schools Library Service, and happened to mention Antonia Forest to one of the women I was working with, who it turned out was also a fan, and was happy to lend me her copy. Jubilation! It was worth the wait. It feels very different to all the others, but then I think that I read that AF thought up the scenario first and then decided she could use the same family as her first book. I like that Ginty and Peter both get a chance to redeem their earlier failures that let to them being captured in the first place. Ginty, previously having seen Foley and failed at her look-out, manages to incapacitate him so that the signalling can continue, and Peter, arguably the coughing bear that gets them into the mess because he is ashamed of having been frightened of heights especially and won't back down, goes all the way around the top of the tower, staying hidden from Foley and managing to get them rescued. If I step back and think about the plot I find it utterly unbelievable and it's just the characterisation and understated writing that mean I don't notice when in the thick of it.
I really liked the Cromwell books and the modern Hilary Mantels that I've read, so I was disappointed that A Place of Greater Safety completely failed to grab me. Possibly this is because I have only Les Mis to tell me about the history of the French Revolution, and had no idea what was going on for most of the book? But it seemed to jump around too much, and I had no sense of place, and I thought everyone was a dick except Gabrielle.
Conversely, I wasn't expecting to enjoy For Richer, For Poorer, Victoria Coren's poker memoir, as I have no interest in or understanding of poker. Some of the book is pretty technical, talking about hands and what one should play with it, but even those were really interesting. The occasional appearances of Alan Coren are very welcome, but just the oddly nicknamed, frankly horrendous sounding, men that she describes with lots of affection are fascinating and just quite lovely.
My Man Jeeves was the result of trawling Project Gutenberg for free e-books. I think I might have read this one before, but I can see why it wouldn't stick. It's unconnected chapters, quite a few of which aren't even about Jeeves, and all of which aren't the Wodehouse best.
Wallflower at the Orgy - Nora Ephron
Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction - Sue Townsend
The Moomins and the Great Flood - Tove Jansson
Diary of a Provincial Lady - EM Delafield
We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson
Life on the Edge - Jennifer Comeaux
The Provincial Lady's Diary - EM Delafield
The Provincial Lady Goes Further - EM Delafield
The Marlows and the Traitor - Antonia Forest
A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel
The Provincial Lady in America - EM Delafield
For Richer or Poorer - Victoria Coren
My Man Jeeves - PG Wodehouse
What is the What in my too read pile for ages, and since it is about South Sudan thought I had better read it before coming out. It's a novelised memoir of a Lost Boy of Sudan who walked across the country to Ethiopia to escape the violence that basically flattened his village, lived in the refugee camps for a while, being one of the youth leaders, and then was taken to America. The story opens with him being robbed and beaten up by American people while living in Atlanta, and I really liked the framing. It wasn't a "oh, Africa was so hard, and now I am in the wonderful USA and it truly is the land of the free" happy ending story, it was different difficulties, told without self-pity. Or pity, given that it was Dave Eggers writing it.
After I bought my Nook I went onto the Edinburgh library website and downloaded a bunch of books. I love that I can do this, and I can keep borrowing books for free anywhere as long as I have an internet connection. The first I read was Wallflower at the Orgy, a collection of Nora Ephron's short non-fiction, which I didn't really enjoy much at all.
My next choice was more successful, Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction. I found out a few pages in that I'd already read it, and in fact have not read the ones between the original 3 and this, so it wa a little confusing at first. Glenn and his friend in Iraq were heart-breaking. I found Adrian's financial stupidity quite hard to read about.
The Moomins and the Great Flood was the first Moomins book I've read... and I don't get it. I'm sorry. I wanted to, as everyone loves them, but maybe you need to experience them as a childhood thing first? Or maybe in hard copy, not an e-book? I feel a little as though I have failed in some way.
The Provincial Lady would never fail you, though she'd worry that she might. I downloaded the collection of the PL books, thinking it would be nice to have them as a back up, then ploughed right through them because they are GREAT and also I wasn't enjoying the library book I had on the go. I very much enjoyed following her through America in particular, with people asking her opinion on The American Problem, insisting that she must be in need of tea, which she doesn't like, and informing her of her opinion of Chicago. Bliss. In case you missed it, there is a PL/Swallows and Amazons crossover which is very good, and an old fic by Ankaret that I still like very much. I would link, but our internet is currently down, and I do not trust myself to remember I have written this bit by the time it comes back and I can post this. [Some time later] Well, actually I DID! Eat THESE shorts, past me!
A Provincial lady Visits the Lake
The Provincial Lady and the Pageant
The Provincial Lady Goes Online
I think someone must have recommended We Have Always Lived in the Castle to me quite recently - I cannot remember who, but thank you very much. I absolutely hated Charles from the moment he came through the door, and was afraid that it was going to be a book where he gradually came between the sisters and there was an irrevocable rift that ended in death. That wasn't true, and I would have been cheering for Merricat to murder him. The scene when the entire town come and destroy their house was astounding, but topped by the dreadful people coming after they'd been so dreadful to tell them off for not letting them help them.
snowballjane, have you read Life on the Edge? It's a teen romance sort of book, set around skating! I quite enjoyed it, though the heroine was frankly far too sensible for my tastes. It's a library e-book.Marlows and the Traitor was a wonderful reread prompted by the the current readalong discussion in [Unknown site tag]. I had only intended to dip in to the current chapters, but couldn't stop reading right the way through. It was the last AF book I read. My local library couldn't get it on inter-library loan for me, and this was mid-nineties and there was no thought of reprints at all, so I was somewhat resigned to never reading it. Then I did my year 10 work experience at the Schools Library Service, and happened to mention Antonia Forest to one of the women I was working with, who it turned out was also a fan, and was happy to lend me her copy. Jubilation! It was worth the wait. It feels very different to all the others, but then I think that I read that AF thought up the scenario first and then decided she could use the same family as her first book. I like that Ginty and Peter both get a chance to redeem their earlier failures that let to them being captured in the first place. Ginty, previously having seen Foley and failed at her look-out, manages to incapacitate him so that the signalling can continue, and Peter, arguably the coughing bear that gets them into the mess because he is ashamed of having been frightened of heights especially and won't back down, goes all the way around the top of the tower, staying hidden from Foley and managing to get them rescued. If I step back and think about the plot I find it utterly unbelievable and it's just the characterisation and understated writing that mean I don't notice when in the thick of it.
I really liked the Cromwell books and the modern Hilary Mantels that I've read, so I was disappointed that A Place of Greater Safety completely failed to grab me. Possibly this is because I have only Les Mis to tell me about the history of the French Revolution, and had no idea what was going on for most of the book? But it seemed to jump around too much, and I had no sense of place, and I thought everyone was a dick except Gabrielle.
Conversely, I wasn't expecting to enjoy For Richer, For Poorer, Victoria Coren's poker memoir, as I have no interest in or understanding of poker. Some of the book is pretty technical, talking about hands and what one should play with it, but even those were really interesting. The occasional appearances of Alan Coren are very welcome, but just the oddly nicknamed, frankly horrendous sounding, men that she describes with lots of affection are fascinating and just quite lovely.
My Man Jeeves was the result of trawling Project Gutenberg for free e-books. I think I might have read this one before, but I can see why it wouldn't stick. It's unconnected chapters, quite a few of which aren't even about Jeeves, and all of which aren't the Wodehouse best.
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Date: 2014-07-02 05:06 pm (UTC)And Provincial Lady yay. I am currently enjoying the E M Delafield goes to the Soviet Union one I bought from you, which is not quite provincial lady but not far off. I particularly liked her encountering the commune's women's toilet that seated six.
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Date: 2014-07-03 05:35 am (UTC)I love the pictures of the Moomins I see, and I had a lovely woodcut out of a Moomin on my desk for a while. Maybe I will try again, but I am relieved to know I am not the only one who doesn't adore them instantly. I feel in good company with your excellent children.
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Date: 2014-07-04 06:58 pm (UTC)Surprisingly, islington library do have it. Getting Alan coren too.
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Date: 2014-07-03 11:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-03 03:36 pm (UTC)