Books, and New!

[spooky_miss]

Hmmm well I've started with this Dreamwidth thing as Livejournal has been a bit dodgy recently, and I don't want to lose everything I write! It seems like you can import everything you've written in Livejournal to here, so I will do that too, just for a back up! And hopefully this will be crossposting to Livejournal as well (which is probably where people are reading this, if anyone is reading it!) Dreamwidth seems almost identical to Livejournal at the moment though, which is nice.

I'm going to carry on with short reviews of the books I've been reading. These have all been from the library, so thats good, I like to support the library - even though it didn't have half the books I wanted to get! But I did manage to get 8 books which are on the "1001" list, so that was ok.

Books Read from 27th March - 10th April

62. Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey - set mainly in Australia, about two people, their lives and how misunderstandings and people not saying what they really mean can really change people's lives...it was quite good.

63. Troubles by JG Farrell - I really enjoyed this and will definitely be reading more books by this author. About a huge crumbling hotel in Ireland, about a visitor there and the residents, mixed in with something about the "troubles" in Ireland. I found this really interesting as I haven't really read much about Ireland before.

64. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner - really disliked this book. I think it was about a family and how they lived, but I didn't get any sense of a narrative, it was just a series of conversations, without anything which really drove the story on.

65. The Collector by John Fowles - this was an excellent book - definitely am going to get more of his books! About a man who stalked a girl and then kidnapped her, with tragic consequences. You really felt like you were able to get into their heads (both the girl and the kidnapper) and knew how they felt. The ending was excellently written.

66. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - this was another good book, about a young woman and her family moving from the country to an industrial town in the 19th century, and how the change of place affected them. There were lots about the rights of workers and things, which I liked.

I'm currently re-reading "Regeneration" by Pat Barker, for my book club. I'm really interested in what other people think of this book, as I really enjoy it.

I've got some gigs to write about, and some really fun weekends I've had (Resistanz Festival in Sheffield was excellent!!), but I think I'm going to go and do some more Open University work at the moment - I'm on the last but one essay of my current course, yay, and have signed up for another course which is just psychology, so I'm really looking forward to reading the textbook for that. Its weird though - in my current course they've given a week to read the chapters and do the associated activities, but in the next course they've given 2 weeks per chapter, when the chapters don't seem to be any longer! So I think I might have this one done rather quicker than they expect!

Comments

[robot-mel.livejournal.com]

I do like John Fowles. I liked the Magus, the Maggot and French lieutenant's woman. Glad you enjoyed North and South. I love all of Mrs Gaskells novels! I just love the way she really understands people.

You're still beating me in numbers this year! I've only read just over 40! *blushes*

[spooky-miss.livejournal.com]

I've read the Magus as well and enjoyed that too, I think I'm going to get the French Lieutentant's Woman next time I go to the library. What other of Elizabeth Gaskell's books do you recommend? They had a few in the library but North and South was the only one I recognised I think, I've read Cranford as well :)

Oh it does seem like I've read loads but I am cheating a bit, I did read about 25 childrens books and about 10 books of poetry, most of which were quite short, so I read them really quickly! In "proper" books I haven't read that many really, hehe! :)

[robot-mel.livejournal.com]

Actually I think all of her novels are excellent. Sylvia's Lovers is set in Whitby! So that's a good one for goths :) Mary Barton is another favourite. Ruth is excellent. Some of her short stories aren't quite as good, though some like Lady Ludlow and Lois the witch are really great.

[spooky-miss.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'll read Ruth, as thats my name :D hehehe! I've looked on the 1001 books to read before you die list and Mary Barton is on there (along with North and South and Cranford) so that might be a good one to read first..and then I do like things about Whitby, haha, so maybe I'll read that one too!

might just have to go to the library and see which one they have I think :) thanks for the recommendations! :)

[matgb]

Hi,

Was updating my DW profile and did an interest search for nearby towns, found you and couldn't resist the icon. Your profile says to say Hi, so, um, Hi.

[spooky_miss]

hi! :) sorry for my very late reply, I haven't been on here for a while... I like your icon too! They're such a great band! :D do you like other goth bands or just the Sisters? :)

Sorry if I take a long time to reply again, I'm not sure if I have set it up to get notifications if people comment on my entries - I know it does that on Livejournal, but I'm not sure about here, hehe :)