kicking this month off with The Road by Cormac McCarthy which I'll be starting on tonight - it'll be the first of his books I've read, inspired by re-watching the excellent film adaptation of No Country For Old Men (which is also in my TBR crates) last Sunday.

last month was unfortunately too hectic for me to regularly read aloud to my kids at night, so we're still working on The Vile Village

Oh, I thought The Road was awesome, but I think I still need therapy for dealing with some of the issues. A very (VERY) powerful and upsetting novel. (They are adapting it for a movie. I will NOT be seeing this movie.)

I too have No Country for Old Men in my TBR pile, but missed the movie. (Dagnabbit!!)

Mr Bear is getting a bit bored with Prince Caspian because there is far too much dialogue in the beginning chapters. I might have to offer a summary of the next few chapters and then skip to the action.

And I'm reading The Book of Illusions on the bus, but didn't get very far into it this morning because there was an issue with something in production at work, so I got to spend most of my commute troubleshooting database stuff over my mobile phone. (Wah!)

Bedtime reading is still TBA, but I might choose something good for the Oz VBB, because I don't have much for that this round.

Still stamping through Wicked. I don't read as quickly as some of you speedy gonzales types here!

I also missed No Country for Old Men, wookiebender, but it must be coming out on DVD soon because I saw an ad for it on Foxtel at a friend's the other night. It looks amazing (although that could also have been my friend's massive screen). For my taste, though, I think small rather than large screen suits me best on films like this - weak stomach for violence!

Film or book first for this one - what do you think?

I usually prefer to read the book (then skip the movie) but I couldn't not see a Coen Brothers film in the cinema so in this case the film adaptation came first. I've heard that the film stays very true to the book but I won't know for sure 'til I read the book (maybe this month, probably next month, certainly by the end of 2008)

I saw the film of No Country for Old Men first and then read the book. The film does stay very true to the book, more so than any other adaptation I've seen (but then that doesn't really mean much with my memory being as it is sometimes!!). There is one minor thing early on and a few smallish differences towards the end but nothing to cry foul over.

I usually prefer to read the book first, but in this case I think I'd make an exception and recommend the film first. It is such an excellent film in so many ways and so powerful, that I reckon if you knew what was going to happen it would spoil the tension. When I then read the book, I certainly didn't feel that I should have done it the other way around. I could visualise what I was reading so easily. The film is so faithful in many parts that even whole pages of dialogue are lifted straight out. And he is such a great writer, so I didn't feel that knowing the story before reading it detracted in any way.

freelunch, I agree with *having* to see Coen Brothers on the big screen, but I've missed so many already... *sigh* (At least I got to see "Blood Simple" on the big screen as a teenager, thanks to a good review from John Hinde that meant that Dad took us as a family... Dad & I were the only ones who liked it, and it gives me good street cred with the cinerati. ;)

Have you read any of their books? I bought Gates of Eden by Ethan Coen for Mr TQD one Xmas and he enjoyed it mightily. It has remained on my TBR pile for several years now, regrettably.

Good movies are like good books: far too many of them. (But far, far, FAR too many good books, and only far too many good movies.)

When it comes to books or movies first: yes. :) It really does depend. In general, I'd say "book first!" but there are a number of movies that I think were better in movie form than book form (To Have and Have Not I found unreadable but love the movie with Bogart & Bacall, East of Eden was a rambling monster but it's a great bit of 1950s cinema, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was horribly misogynistic but they took all that out for the movie which was a fun twisted romp, and I think I will always like The Wizard of Oz best in movie form). Call me a philistine.

ETA: Oh, and The Orchid Thief was an amazing book, and "Adaptation" (based on the attempted adaptation of it) was the most twisted movie I've seen for a while. I really recommend reading the book first on that one, just to see how twisted the wonderful Charlie Kaufman got trying to adapt that one. They're completely different, and they're both quite remarkable.

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Out 1, 2008, 5:24am.

there are Coen book(s)?!?

I've just found Gates Of Eden on bookmooch.com so I'll hopefully make amends for my ignorance sometime soon...

I've never seen "Blood Simple" or "Millers Crossing" in a cinema but I've been hooked since "Raising Arizona" and I think I've seen everything they've done since.

I thought "Adaptation" being an adaptation of The Orchid Thief was just a gimmick - if it really did start out that way it might make it even more bizarre.

Well, at least one Coen book. :)

And "Adaptation" is Charlie (and Donald) Kaufman. Of *course* it's bizarre. :)

Oh, back on topic: I started I Capture the Castle this evening while Mr Bear went to sleep. A couple of chapters in, quite charming. I'll offer it up on the VBB this round.

I've been loving this discussion on the brothers Coen & Kaufman, & on McCarthy - great additions to my wishlist and Mt Toobie to be... not that I need any!

This is probably a stupid question but is Adaptation in fact very different from The Orchid Thief? I'd always assumed they were quite similar - which admittedly would probably make The Orchid Thief an even weirder book than Adaptation is a movie... The book was the one budget-busting purchase I had to leave behind on my last plunder on my favourite secondhand bookshop.

Finally finished Wicked - and also reviewed out of pure frustration. Now moving on to something 'worthy' - ie. school-related reading - Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth. Of all things, my Year 11 Extension class chose 'Romanticism' for their elective so we're going to spend *a whole year* reading Coleridge, Keats, Austen, Bronte et al!

Oh, and as for I Capture the Castle - it was a movie-first experience for me that I think should have been the other way around.

Oh, I'm really enjoying I Capture the Castle, I remember the movie had some lukewarm reviews (although I'd be interested in seeing it after finishing the book). About halfway through now.

With Adaptation: Charlie Kaufman was trying to adapt the (completely unfilmable) book, and was so frustrated with it that he ended up writing about his attempt to adapt it, with his (fictional) twin brother, Donald. It's filled with lots of jokes about screenwriting (Donald goes to those seminars where they teach you how to pump out blockbusters, etc), and the first half is all a fairly straightforward movie based on The Orchid Thief interspersed with bits about trying to adapt it. The second half or so is "written" by Donald and is full of car chases and explosions, when you find out just *why* people are so desperate for these orchids...

I find it all terribly funny, but I do understand that humour is a very personal thing. :)

I didn't do any extra english at school (just the basic 2U), so I have no real idea what "Romanticism" covers, but I love the idea of Austen, Bronte and Coleridge! (One of the few poets I do like, although I was impressed with Keats when we did him for the HSC.)

I have had 'I Capture the Castle' on my wish list for a while - it is at our local library - just been too idle to go and get it.

If you like murder mysteries - I have just finished BODY COUNT by Aussie writer PD Martin - damn good read - is about an Aussie profiler who works for the FBI - is edge of the seat stuff. That is not a bookcrossing book - it is a library book - but if you like that sort of stuff i recommend it.

during my pre-2005 reading hiatus I regularly almost bought the DVD of the film adaptation of I Capture The Castle, but I never did - maybe I'm supposed to read it instead...

I finally finished reading The Vile Village (A Series Of Unfortunate Events, part the seventh) to my kids tonight. I think as the series progresses each book contains less story and more rambling 'humour' than the last, but they're fun to read aloud :)

Our next read-aloud book will be The Tale Of Despereaux which I gave to my daughter a couple of years ago - and which she's not yet read - I'll now read it to everyone before the film adaptation comes out (the trailer screened before WALL-E and it looked like something my kids might enjoy)

I'm still reading The Road and enjoying it very much. It is a book I could probably devour in a single sitting, but the style it is written in makes me want to read slowly and savour it (plus I've been hellishly busy for the past few days)

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Out 5, 2008, 10:13am.

I love that sensation of slowing down to read a good book, freelunch. That's how I felt with Wide Sargasso Sea. It was a short book & I could have torn through it but I just didn't want to - I just wanted to make it last, as I did with tonight's Sugar Hit dessert as part of Good Food Month. (Oh dear, I've had three already - holidays are dangerous things.)

As for Romanticism, we're basically studying the literary reaction to Enlightenment rationalism - an emphasis on the exotic, the imaginary, the sublime, the natural world and the expression of the emotions. I get to choose three texts from the syllabus to teach my students, and I've narrowed it down to Austen, Bronte, Coleridge and Keats. A.S. Byatt's Possession is on there, but there's no way I'm touching that. I basically love Wuthering Heights, Kubla Khan, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, La Belle Dame Sans Merci and Ode on a Grecian Urn, but thought Northanger Abbey would also be great fun. I've never taught Austen before, and least of all imagined that I'd be teaching Austen to boys, but for once I actually have a class where I think that might be possible and even enjoyable.

I just can't believe a bunch of 17 year olds picked a C19th topic. We'd narrowed it down to Romanticism or 'After the Bomb' - Catch 22, Waiting for Godot and poetry by Sylvia Plath but Rom beat the Bomb in the end. I actually think this lovely little class is a bunch of Romantics at heart - idealistic, visionary and escapist. Good for them!

Can't wait to teach them - just wish I could do it without all the prep!

...and I've finished The Road, and excellent it was indeed!

next up for me (a slight change of mood): Deja Demon by Julie Kenner - I enjoyed the first two books in this series but book three felt a little flat - here's hoping book four is back on track...

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Out 5, 2008, 12:12pm.

Ah, we saw WALL-E today, and we all gave it an enthusiastic two-thumbs-up. :) Miss Boo sat mostly still through it all, Mr Bear was mostly quiet through it all, and I tried to not cry at the end. I'm a wuss. The trailer for The Tale of Despereaux did look charming, and I did seem to remember it was a book. Maybe one to read to Mr Bear after we finish Prince Caspian...? Oh gosh darn, another trip to the bookshop...

Miss-Owl, I love Possession - it's one of the very few books I do actually get around to re-reading. Not sure if I'd have liked it when I was 17 though, I first read it when I was in my early/mid twenties, after studying deconstructionalism (stupidest thing I've ever heard about, IMHO) at Uni so the bits that were the modern feminist critical theory I found completely hysterical. I think that book had a lot to do with my ability to not twitch when confronted with Foucault: I can now find him funny, not remember the completely dispiriting incomprehension I had during many a tutorial...

Still enjoying I Capture the Castle although it's taken a turn towards melodrama, but given it's narrated by a 17 year old, that might be entirely natural. :) Sally906, it shall be donated to the Oz VBB this round: you might be lucky and grab it! Although I'm at the bottom of the list, so you may have to wait until next round...

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Out 8, 2008, 7:03pm.

unless I grab it first B)

I've opted out of this round - but I am sure if freelunch grabs it it will be offered up in due course? :)

no doubt :)

We started on Despereaux tonight - I find some books more fun to read aloud than others - this is a fun one.

Had today off work (making it a four day weekend for those of us with a public holiday Monday this week) and we've now got Despereaux on order at the local bookshop (along with Dresden Files #4; this series just flies off the shelf!). I finished I Capture the Castle at the cafe over a pot of tea (or two) and did enjoy it, but the ending wasn't the best bit of it. Wonderful narrator though, she just kept everything bubbling along nicely.

I'll start The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao tonight, as that's a library book and is due back Saturday week (and I doubt I'll be able to renew this one, I think I was bloody lucky to find it in the first place!).

And back to commuting and Book of Illusions tomorrow morning...

My hat's off to you, wookiebender - I didn't find Possession at all an easy read! On the other hand, I'm laughing at your Foucault reference because, before I adopted my current democratic policy, I actually chose Postmodernism as my elective for Extension this past year. We didn't touch Foucault much, but we spent a fair bit of time bashing our heads up against Barthes & Saussure, Baudrillard and Derrida. It certainly led to a lot of lively debate, and a few existential breakdowns! I couldn't resist the text list - The French Lieutenant's Woman, If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, Orlando (the film) - but having satisfied my curiosity & experienced a brain explosion or two myself during the year, I think Romanticism will be a much safer bet.

It's interesting rereading Northanger Abbey after ten years or so. I've missed Austen's deftness of satire with her characterisation, and how swiftly she paints portraits of people you just want to shake. Very hard.

Hey freelunch, can I join your VBB next time round, please? It sounds fun. I look at your page from time to time & try to get my head around how it works, but have decided there's only one way to find out :)

... I think I'd better qualify that... your next VBB from December onwards please! From the end of this month I'll have the pleasure of being cooped up like a battery hen for the duration of HSC marking. Thank you!

Miss-Owl, my hat's off to my mother who loves 19th century literature and so I've been immersed in Austen and Bronte novels all my life. (But, try as she might, I haven't gotten much past those two authors. And even then, I'm still yet to read Mansfield Park. I just tell her I'm saving that one up for a special occasion. ;) Possession just wonderfully fit the bill for us, and it's a favourite for my mum and my sister as well (who has read all of Austen!).

Derrida! Baudrillard! Barthes! Run for the hills!!! I've made a pact with myself to never read 20th century French literature after my experiences with 20th century French philosophers... (Although The Stranger was fascinating, and I did like The Lover as well, so maybe not everything is incomprehensible.)

And do join the VBB, it's a lot of fun. To join, you just volunteer a couple of books to the box. When it's your turn, you see what's in the box, ask for the ones you'd like to read and volunteer an equal number of books to the box. Freelunch keeps it all rolling along nicely, and will let you know when it's your turn and where to send your books to as they are chosen. Easy peasy! But be warned: your Mount TBR will be out of control...

Speaking of which, I volunteered for the "Set it Yourself" reading challenge, choosing to read six books from Mt TBR that have been with me for more than one year. Only 70 to choose from. (Ack. I must just pass a large chunk of them along to other readers, that is TOTALLY ridiculous.)

Finally finished The Lollipop Shoes. Boy, did that get dragged out for one reason or another. Unfortunately didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Chocolat, it was pretty predictable and some of the newer characters just didn't ring true. What did work reasonably well was telling the story from the first person view of three different characters.

I'm still travelling through Fantasyland with my Tough Guide, but they're all very short visits. Think I may try The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie next . . . there isn't much point in trying to read the more "serious" stuff at the moment, but Roger is on the 1001 list so at least I can then cross another one off! ;-)

I can't believe there's an Agatha Christie on the 1001 list, crimson-tide! That's certainly one up for my sister - I'm meant to be the 'serious' reader in the family; she loads up my library card with Agatha Christies. (Just returned after checking the Sydney uni library catalogue - they have *multiple* copies!!)

My hat's off to your mother too, wookiebender - I've been a 20th century girl from way back. I think it was the influence of my favourite high school teachers, who taught us One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Gary Snyder and the beat poets... she must have had fun in the sixties!

All the best, too, with your SIY challenge... and... I will still join the VBB despite your wise words of warning :)

Yes, I was also surprised about the Agatha Christie Miss-Owl. The blurb about Agatha at the front of this one (it's a 1993 edition) says "She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare." I have no idea if that statement is still true, or if that is a good enough reason to include her on the 1001 list. She's survived the first culling of the original list though.

My BC bookshelf has literally dozens of ACs on it but they're all for my partner, who loves them and is valiantly trying to read the whole list! Roger is claimed to be her 'masterpiece' and was "the first of her books to be dramatised - under the name of Alibi - and to have a successful run in London's West End".

So there you go - you really needed to know that, didn't you!!

Oh, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is an *excellent* read. I re-read it last Xmas and enjoyed it immensely. Definitely her best book (I read a lot of her stuff as a teenager and I did read Roger Ackroyd then as well, but forgot I had until I re-read it and thought "hang on a minute..."). It's a great murder mystery, and a wonderful bit of Englishness. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Finished The Book of Illusions on the bus. Am pondering it now.

Did start The Time We Have Taken (Miles Franklin winner for 2008) but had to put it to one side to continue contemplating The Book of Illusions.

And very much enjoying The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Gotta go, Heroes is on TV!

Thanks for the information on Roger Ackroyd, crimson-tide. Now my life is complete :)

Looks like I've underestimated Dame Christie. I've read a ton of them myself but have the regrettable habit of forgetting the plots - which, then again, makes for a surprise ending every time! I think I'll reward myself with her masterpiece on my next jaunt to the library...

... which apparently won't be for quite a while: all my bookrings have arrived at once! Now, to start on Pale Fire first, or Middlesex, or White Noise, or Suite Francaise...

Pale Fire should be first up by date of arrival in the house, but it's crying out to be read in a coffee shop. I usually get most reading done before bed. So perhaps Middlesex it will be!

I've only read one Paul Auster, wookiebender - Mr Vertigo. I enjoyed it, but wasn't exactly hooked on Auster because of it. Have you read it? Thoughts?

I always forget plots too. It was about the fourth re-reading of Lord of the Rings that I finally remembered that Sam & Frodo walk across Mordor instead of being surprised. Considering this take up most of the third book, this is a pretty impressive feat of forgetfulness!

Mr Vertigo is the one I haven't read as yet! (Well, one of a few...) I've read six so far - he's probably the most read non-sci-fi/fantasy author for me! I find his writing style slightly bizarre (all a bit stilted or something) but I am quite convinced that one day I will have read enough of his books to be able to see the *whole* picture he's building. Characters and names and plots from his books keep on cropping up in other books. (In The Book of Illusions, references are made to films called Travels in the Scriptorium - which only came out last year - and The Inner Life of Martin Frost - which was a film by Paul Auster which came out last year. In The New York Trilogy there is an author in there called Paul Auster. Etc, because with my memory I have of course forgotten all the other examples. :) And there's a sneaky sense of humour throughout it all - I have a sneaking suspicion that all these plot twists and plots-in-plots and cross references are just pure cheekiness. But then again, it could be the meaning of life. He's very deadpan, so I can never tell. :)

Suite Francaise is one of those books that grew on me. I enjoyed it (especially the second part), but my socks weren't knocked off. I was going to bookcross my copy, but it's now been lent to my usual reading circle (a workmate and my Mum & sister) and all the discussions we've had have made it fascinating, and I'm curious to re-read it now. And curious to see what you think of it! Middlesex is great, White Noise is Don DeLillo (difficult, but compelling), and I've never read any Nabakov since giving up on Lolita in disgust. (I didn't get the humour and thought it was just an extended excuse for paedophilia. Others may disagree, but I doubt I'll ever reattempt this one.)

Oh, Lord of the Rings. I've seen the movies :D I'm ashamed to say I've never got through the books, although a friend reassures me I just have to plug on past the first half of the first book. Maybe one day.

I'd love to hear what you think about Mr Vertigo, wookiebender. Keep me in mind when you get around to reading it!

Middlesex did end up being the book of choice for me... an unusual bout of insomnia (I think it's pre-school depression*) gave me a few stolen hours of reading last night. Although I know it is not really the point of the story, I was really fascinated by the conflict between the Turks and Greeks, and it constantly amazes me - cover your ears, wookiebender, I'm using a postmod term here - how many local narratives the wide world of fiction is opening up to me. It reminds me of Captain Corelli's Mandolin in that respect, which provided a wartime perspective - of WWII - very different to the standard curriculum here. I'm loving all the inventive idiosyncrasies of the characters' lives, capped off by the latest event that I read - the spectacular car-crash on ice.

*as in, depression that school is starting up again, not depression experienced by a four-year old!

After a busy week in which I barely had time to pick up a book, I finised Deja Demon tonight - a light fun read which feels like a good place for its series to end.

next up: Something Beginning With, a book I picked up at a bookcrossing meetup in Sydney last year, which it seems fitting I read and take along with me when I attend a Melbourne meetup later this month :)

Lord of the Rings is one of those books that you either like or you don't. If you're not getting into it, spare yourself the pain. :) It did actually take me several goes to get past the beginning as well, but I was 12 at the time. (Our primary school teacher read us The Hobbit and I enjoyed that so much that I dived into LOTR. Repeatedly and stubbornly. Until I finally did finish it. And I've read it several times since then - last time just before the movies came out.)

And I like postmodernism (love the interleaving of stories, learning about history and life I didn't know, etc), I just don't deal very well with the French philosophers behind it. :)

I actually didn't get past the first few pages of Captain Corelli's Mandolin but I'm assuming it just came to me at the wrong time, and I'll give it another go one day soon(ish).

And we had a bout of pre-school depression yesterday as well from Mr Bear. But he'd cheered up by last night, and was chuffed to be able to wear his NEW school shoes and tell all his classmates about seeing WALL-E at News this morning.

Still enjoying The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao although I might have to find my English/Spanish dictionary because there are far too many Spanish words/phrases! And The Time We Have Taken is beautiful, but possibly a bit too atmospheric (bring on the plot!!) for me at the moment. Oh, and I found Go ask Alice behind the sofa where it must've fallen a few weeks' back and got back into that. Appallingly written trash, but it's like a car wreck and I can't look away.

A car wreck! That's exactly how I felt about Twilight. Utterly predictable yet I still couldn't look away, hating myself while I did so :)

I loved Captain Corelli's - although there's one bit you have to get past there too, early on - an utterly bizarre little interior monologue belonging to one Benito Mussolini. In my next life I think I'll be a book editor. For now, I'm back to... editing essays for my HSC students who are probably experiencing *post*-school depression!

I hope Mr Bear has a lovely term. I'm sure he looks absolutely adorable in his shiny new shoes. I miss News :)

Freelunch - no wonder we hadn't heard from you in a while! I'm utterly jealous of your trip to Melbourne - have a great time :)

I read The Hobbit many many years ago - mid teens I think it was - and loved it, but then when I tried to read LOTR I only managed to get about a third of the way in. I never went back. I also saw the first LOTR film and thought . . . "I can do without the other two". I've never understood all the hype. Yes I know, I'm a heretic!!

Finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd yesterday, and agree with you wookiebender, it is an excellent mystery. I've read a number of hers but not that one. It had all the classic Agatha Christie features: a cast of family members, friends, servants and hangers-on, numerous people with a motive, everyone with a secret of some sort, lots of comings and goings, red herrings all over the place, and a twist at the end. This one was a stunner. I picked up on a couple of things going on but must admit I didn't clue in to the murderer until it was pretty obvious. And dear Hercule Poirot is my favourite of her sleuths. Such a precious darling! I could see David Suchet playing the part in my mind as I read. I much preferred Suchet's Poirot to Peter Ustinov's version.

I can also now understand why it is included in the 1001 list. Apparently when it was published in 1926 it was fairly controversial and "had a significant impact on the genre" according to Wikipedia. Can't say why for obvious reasons.

So do read it Miss-Owl, if you get the chance. It's fun. Not 'action packed' like some mysteries today, but almost totally dialogue driven, analytical, and clever.

re: Melbourne trip, Thanks Miss-Owl :) not long to go now...

I finished Something Beginning With and it was good fun... written like a diary in which each entry has a title which progress alphabetically as the book continues (so the entries in the first chapter are: "Ambition", "Ants", "Attitude" (and each section includes a footnote which lists all related entries in the book.) Despite this unusual format the narrative proceeds chronologically, concerned mostly with the love-life of Verity, a single twenty-something with self esteem issues who reminds me of Douglas Coupland's Eleanor Rigby.

next up: Short Trips: Defining Patterns, a collection of short Doctor Who stories (set during the "classic series", not the current revival.) I scored an extra copy which the publisher said I could keep (ie read and release)

Oh dear, crimson-tide, just as I suspected - I'm barely scraping a D in reading Tolkien. As for the LOTR films, I liked the second best - the parallel storylines appealed to me, and a lot more happened there than in the first. Not sure whether it's the same in the book though.

Sadly, I stumbled across a spoiler for Roger Ackroyd :( I was googling the one Christie plot I do remember - Ten Little, um, Indians, also known as And Then There Was One... and tucked down in a little corner was one innocuous little sentence that just gave away the Roger Ackroyd culprit. Not happy, Wikipedia. And you can bet my unreliable memory to rig it so I'll remember *that* plot forever!!

Do you have much of a Douglas Coupland repertoire, freelunch? I haven't read any - any recommendations for a first book?

I've read Jpod, Girlfriend in a Coma and Eleanor Rigby and enjoyed them all.

I don't think you can go wrong with either 'Eleanor' or 'Girlfriend'

If you're a Smiths/Morrissey fan you might enjoy spotting the lyrics quoted throughout 'Girlfriend', but if you're not it won't detract from the book.

and speaking of the Coens, we saw Burn After Reading tonight. Absolutely Brilliant!

Ack, now I've got Girlfriend in a Coma (I know, I know, it's really serious) going through my head. Coincidentally, I've requested Eleanor Rigby from the "make me read it" relays from catsalive (I think it's originally your copy, too, freelunch!). It was one of three choices (other ones were The Getting of Wisdom and Remake), so I shall wait and see what turns up. I'm not expecting The Getting of Wisdom (I'm sure it's a brick of a book), but catsalive does sometimes surprise me. :)

I half watched Margaret & David last night (while I blogged and wrote reviews and tried to take a photo of the pregnant cat to show off the cantaloupe she's obviously swallowed but she would NOT stay still! and uploaded the least unsuccessful photos etc) and I think they were enthusiastic about "Burn After Reading" (really must limit the multitasking late at night, it never works). Anyhow, I was SO going to be there, awesome cast and the Coens are back on form by all accounts. Now to find some time...

Have turned a corner in The Time We Have Taken - it's still atmospheric more than plot-driven, but the atmosphere and characters have suckered me in. And still enjoying The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I was up Far Too Late last night reading it. *yawn*

>35. That's a bummer about Roger Ackroyd Miss-Owl . . . and very naughty of Wikipedia! *smack*

wookiebender The Getting of Wisdom is actually quite a small book. My copy has only 211 pages of mass market paperback size to read, and some editions on Amazon have even less. I was surprised.

Yesterday I finished Love Among the Butterflies by Margaret Fountaine which was for our Book Club; subtitled 'the travels and adventures of a Victorian Lady'. Not the sort of book I'd normally read but then I guess that's one of the reasons I joined up, so I can't complain. It was excepts from her many diaries picked out by the editor and strung together with summaries and explanations (and judgmental comments). It was pretty tedious, but improved as the book went on and she travelled more and more. I blame the editor more than her though as it was his choice which bits went into the book. He spent far to much time on her very early life and then concentrated on her 'relationships' (term used very loosely) with various men, rather than on all the incredibly fascinating places she went to and pretty amazing escapades she got up to for those times. And THEN he ended the book with three (of twelve) diaries not even touched, although he gave a very brief summary in two pages and they were filled with more fascinating travels. All this was to indulge in her hobby of collecting butterflies!

Next up is Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. It certainly looks different - has anyone else read it?

And I'm still trudging through Fantasyland. It certainly is a tough trip!

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Out 17, 2008, 1:08am.

Hey, snap, crimson-tide! I'm about to read Pale Fire too. I think I had a brief conversation with wookiebender back in... wait, yep, there it is, in #26 & #28. I'm not quite finished with Middlesex yet but knowing you're about to read it is a good incentive to get to Nabokov soon.

wookiebender, you might be interested to know that after a test I did with my Extension students, I found out they're all Romantics, with the exception of just one, who was a Modernist. Further to this, they've decided to focus on the Gothic in their Major Work compositions for Extension 2! - so it looks like I'm going to spend a whole year immersed in "spontaneous overflows of powerful feelings" and lots of mysteries inside locked rooms :)

So... any suggestions? I'm looking particularly for
- Modern Gothic - eg. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- Gothic humour - these resources have popped up on LT but I haven't actually read any of them. Any thoughts?

The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
Good Omens - Nail Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
The Devil's Dictionary - Ambrose Bierce
Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce - Ambrose Bierce
Undead and Unemployed - Mary Janice Davidson
The Gashleycrumb Times - Edward Gorey
The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories - Tim Burton
Squee's Wonderful Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors - Jhonen Vasquez
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac - The Director's Cut - Jhonen Vasquez
Lenore: Noogies - Roman Dirge

Thank you! I'm going to cross post on the BC Book Talk forum too.

Jhonen Vasquez!!!! Omigod!!!!! He wrote some seriously *sick* comics, and also created "Invader Zim" which is a totally disturbing cartoon series that someone thought "oh it's animation, we'll put it on during kids tv"... I hope said someone lost their job over that! Having said that, it's **AWESOME** stuff, but not for anyone younger than about 15. (We own all the DVDs, and only this morning Mr TQD quoted "it's not stupid, it's *advanced*" at me, and we broke into The Doom Song. It shall not be shown to Mr Bear for another 10 years or so.)

Good Omens is one of my all-time favourite books, a wonderful spoof of Damien-esque horror: you get the humour of Pratchett along with the humour of Neil Gaiman and it **works**. I haven't read The Zombie Survival Guide but I have read his other book, World War Z which was **brilliant**, but not funny, it's one of those books that made me cry quite a bit, it's all stories from the "zombie war" and some were awful (parents sacrificing themselves for their children) and some were amazing (the Japanese blind man taking out zombies with his gardening implements). If you can deal with horror (and I usually can't, but I make an exception for this), it's HIGHLY recommended. Apparently being adapted into a movie by J Michael Straczinski, who is a wonderful writer of sci-fi television and comics but a bit useless at actually getting things finished, which is a damned shame. I really enjoyed the first two in the Undead series, but be warned, there is a lot of sex. (And shoes. And shopping. Not for blokes.) And the next two were so dreadful I've given up on the whole series. Everything else listed sounds good (and I've heard good things about) but can't personally vouch for. (Even if I do own several of them, hm.)

Sorry for the rave, I've had a glass (or two) of wine. It is Friday night, after all. :)

Now, I have a vague definition of "gothic", but I'd suggest Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (son of Stephen King, horror); American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and any of the Sandman series by him... oh hell, just anything he's written, Coraline is quite delightful; Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake; Dead Europe by Christos Tsiolkas. If you're recommending to students, Heart-Shaped Box and American Gods do have sex scenes (and I'd say HSB has "adult themes"), and Dead Europe has a lot of homosexual sex scenes. Not sure what your guidelines are here. :)

I'm sure I'll think of some more over the weekend.

I just popped on to say that I finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and did enjoy it: all about a fat role playing science fiction addicted nerd. What's not to like? :) And, in a burst of reading, Go Ask Alice which has the Most Annoying Ending I've read this year so far. Bloody stupid propaganda (Mr TQD said he was reminded of the poster he once found stating the dangers of shooting up marijuana), and it got totally on my nerves in many ways, but the ending was just so *LAME*. Argh, it completely overshadowed the few good points of the book (that people take drugs because it makes them feel good, and that one can recover from addiction). Argh, argh, argh. Bloody manipulative book. It's getting one star from me, and it was heading to maybe a 3 or a 4 for a while there.

Oh, and I can't be bothered editing the above scree, but also Sunshine by Robin McKinley. It's vampire romance, but I really liked it. Less twee than a lot of other vampire romance out there (if not as funny as the Undead series).

I'll second Sunshine and Good Omens and throw in a plug for Agyar, a really (really!) good vampire tale (in which the word "vampire" never actually appears)

and Invader Zim rules!

{edit}

and after posting here I just checked today's Lio (my current favourite online comic) and had to share this.

{/edit}

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Out 17, 2008, 9:58am.

Good Omens is the only one of the list I've read and I'll certainly give it a thumbs up also. But is it Gothic? I think my definition of "gothic" is worse than very vague.

I'm terrible at assigning genres so usually stick to seconding other peoples suggestions in situations like this :)

I'm pretty sure Agyar qualifies as at least a little bit Gothic.

I just looked at what was already suggested and thought "what else is like that...". :)

I assume Northanger Abbey is at the top of the list of "gothic humour"? A wonderful spoof, I haven't read it for years, but I did enjoy the BBC adaptation ABC showed a few months ago.

ETA: What about the "Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket? I've only read the first (so far), they definitely felt gothic to me, but maybe they'd be too young for HSC students.

I'm trying to think of some Australian gothic, and not doing very well. In kids' books there is The Shadow Thief and The Lampo Circus, but again probably too young for HSC students. Gould's Book of Fish? Oscar and Lucinda? Dark Palace? They have elements of the grotesque, but I'm not sure if they really qualify. (And it's been a while since I read them, so I could be quite wrong!) I think we might just be too sunny a country for gothic tales. :)

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Out 18, 2008, 1:15am.

Mick Thomas's song "The Lonely Goth" was turned into a picture-book, but it probably doesn't qualify :)

good song though, definitely Australian.

You champs! I *knew* I'd come to the right place! Thanks too for letting me know which texts might have dubious content for school contexts. My last year's lot were a pretty street-wise bunch in the literary 'hood. Bret Easton Ellis had quite a slavish following, as well as Chuck Palahniuk and all his ilk, whereas I couldn't even stomach the whole of American Psycho and drew the line at Choke.

This year's lot, though, I've picked up from a departing colleague, so don't really know how 'advanced' their tastes are.

My next question is... does anyone where these books mentioned can be bought relatively cheaply, or even secondhand? Maybe I've not been looking, but I don't see these sorts of texts available in the bookshops I frequent. Our school library's pretty good & they'll buy a few texts for me, but a few of the more adult ones won't make the cut.

Northanger Abbey is actually on the syllabus, but I've chosen not to teach it - because the other options were Keats, Coleridge and Wuthering Heights and they were my top three. It'll be good for reading though, regardless.

On another topic - wookiebender, The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao sounds awesome. *Loved* your description (#41)! I must get hold of that for my bro-in-law. He's not fat, but everything else fits :D

I buy most of my books from The Book Depository, their prices are often reasonable and delivery is fast and free - you might find some of the books mentioned here there.

I finished Short Trips: Defining Patterns tonight (this morning?) - not bad as Doctor Who short story collections go, but definitely one for the fans :)

next up: Terry Pratchett's Nation

I've read one Bret Easton Ellis (The Rules of Attraction) and was the ONLY person on the bookring who managed to finish it, and I wasn't even all that impressed. I've got Less Than Zero and American Psycho on Mt TBR though, and that's only because they're 1001 books. Am feeling rather dubious about both of them (although the bits of the movie of American Psycho I saw were rather excellent, and Mr TQD enjoyed the whole movie; but sometimes movie adaptations can be better than the original text). And I really enjoyed Choke (and am looking forward to the upcoming movie adaptation, although I almost choked (no pun intended) on my wine when I saw the trailer in shock that someone would give that book a go!). Actually, I haven't met a Chuck Palahniuk I haven't liked yet, although I am picking his stuff carefully.

And a neighbourhood friend of ours teaches English, so we recommended some stuff to her (and her daughter, who just did the HSC last year) without thinking about the "adult content" side of things. It all turned out well, but I've learnt to give warnings now. :)

I buy my books from my local bookshop, which is in Newtown (and hence has a heavy goth following, since Enmore - local goth hangout - is the next suburb). So it does tend to have a *wide* variety of books and good staff who know their expertise: I buy a large number of books just because they've put "staff pick" stickers on them and they rarely steer me wrong. (Finally, they've got someone in who likes sci-fi/fantasy, so their weakest spot is being fixed up, much to the detriment of my bank balance.) They are online, with cheap shipping, at www.betterread.com.au, but it's the bricks and mortar experience I like with them.

Oscar Wao was a romp, I loved a literary book with references to 2D10 damage and Sauron and that sort of thing. I can't see it being widely popular though: the sci-fi and roleplaying references may not appeal to the "literary" crowd; the literariness of it may not appeal to the sci-fi crowd (although a lot of sci-fi can be very dense reads); and the liberal smattering of Spanish throughout had me regretting giving away my Spanish/English dictionary.

Almost finished The Time We Have Taken, which is quite beautiful: whole moods painted in just a few words. One quibble this morning on the bus though: a comet does NOT travel at the speed of light, no matter how poetic that may be. :) Should have it finished tonight, and then it'll be time to start Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow, the first of my "Set It Yourself" reading challenge books... I did *sort of* start it on the weekend when I had no other books to hand and was too tired to go looking for one of the books I had already started, but only the first few pages.

Thanks again! I'm currently planning an excursion to Sydney Uni library for my students, so, wookiebender, I'll definitely make the Newtown bookshops an essential destination on the itinerary. My school librarian is ordering a whole bunch of worthy C18th & 19th literature for me, but I'm happy to leave the edgier material to our own bricks-and-mortar expedition :)

Ooh and freelunch, thanks for the book depository recommendation. I can see many happy hours buried in its depths!

I too choked on the Choke preview! Saw it when I caught Burn After Reading on the weekend, which was excellent. When I came in, the preview was already screening & it took me a while to work out what the film was - but when I did, my jaw dropped. Good luck to them!

Currently reading the magical Middlesex... when I'm not reading 'worthy' things like Romanticism: an anthology :)

I'm only two chapters in and already loving Nation.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Melbourne for a week and I probably won't have much Internet access while I'm there. I'm taking four unread books with me:
Modern Love by Paul Magrs
Jennifer Government by Max Barry
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Caught In The Light by Robert Goddard
and whichever of them I read I'll wild release while I'm there - I doubt I'll finish Nation plus four more even given a week off with no commitments, but I like to have a choice :)

I also have a nice selection I've been stockpiling for Thursday night's bookcrossing meetup (in contrast my spur-of-the-moment appearance at a Sydney meeting last year, when I had only the book I'd finished reading that day)

freelunch, I hope you enjoy Jennifer Government! I found it rather entertaining, and also liked his Company and Syrup. Good satire. And you did turn up to the Sydney meetup with a great book, I loved On Stranger Tides! Zombie pirates!

miss-owl, glad to push another book buyer to Better Read Than Dead. If there's anything obscure on your list, you might want to ring first to confirm they've got it. Or you can just go in and wander. :)

Damn, thought of another gothic tale last night, but have forgotten its name... In the fantasy genre... Oh, I'm sure it'll come to me again.

Started O is for Outlaw last night, and couldn't put it down.

thanks wookiebender :) I've read (and enjoyed) "Syrup", and I have "Company" in one of my TBR crates to get to one of these days...

my Melbourne plans have suffered a slight hitch - I'm still in Cairns but hope to be there before Thursday night.

And Mr Bear & I finished Prince Caspian last night. We'll probably start The Tale of Despereaux next, although he's having a hard time picturing a book without Aslan. (Or without Lucy, more to the point.) But Prince Caspian wasn't the easiest - there was a lot of dialogue and the tale at the beginning cuts between the Pevensie children and Prince Caspian, which confused him.

Although when we sword fight with our foam swords, he now has a new "skill" where he wiggles his sword and I have to drop mine. This is "Narnian" fighting (based on the scene where Edmund proves he is kingly by disarming the doubting Trumpkin), as opposed to "Star Wars" fighting. (And we've always done The Princess Bride fighting, as every time we change hands, I always say "I am not left-handed!" in an outrageous Spanish accent.)

freelunch, best laid plans! Good luck, I'm sure you'll get down there soon. Enjoy Minotaur, when I went there last year I was so overwhelmed by everything that I couldn't choose anything! :)

I finished Nation shortly after arriving in Melbourne this afternoon. It got a little dark before it was done to be a suitable read-aloud book, but I'll be adding it to my wife's TBRs then passing it on to my 13yo... and I released a second copy at tonight's bookcrossing meeting :)

next up for me: Modern Love

Your 'fighting' is so cute, wookiebender :)

I finished Middlesex and absolutely loved it. *So* much better than The Virgin Suicides - I felt it had all the heart & the poignancy that the former lacked, without loss of Eugenides' mordant wit. Loved how he interweaved the personal stories of the Stephanides family with monumental world events like the conflict between Greece & Turkey, through to Prohibition era & race riots of the sixties. An epic & memorable read.

Next up, Suite Francaise. I really should be reading Pale Fire but am having readers' block with that for the moment. How are you going with it, crimson-tide?

Ah well, the going is not good! I started on Pale Fire one night when I really shouldn't have tried to read anything; I was so tired I fell asleep over it. :( So it was put aside . . . and there it has stayed for the present. I also discovered I didn't need to read it quite as soon as I thought, so it was bumped back in the queue a tad. It was sidelined by Fade Away by Harlen Coben - not in the same class I know, but I owe it to someone as pert of a trade. Haven't read any of his before so thought I'd take a squizz. It's good enough to keep reading, but not good enough to go off and find more of the same too fast.

We obviously have similar TBRs Miss-Owl. I also have Middlesex and Suite Francaise waiting in the wings.

I spent today traipsing through used bookstores seeking my own particular Holy Grail of out-of-print books, How To Become King*, to no avail...

...but I did find eight wishlist books priced under $7 at Dirt Cheap Books in Collingwood, and another on a bargain table at Borders, so all in all it was a good book day for me :)

*I remember loving it as a kid and now I want to share it with my family, but it is out-of-print and the only copies I've been able to find online are either obscenely overpriced or in Dutch.

You're doing well finding 8 - I am going to Adelaide region in next few weeks - hope to pick up a few from my children's wish list at some of the country 2nd hand bookshops

yes, I'm very pleased with eight (four of them are kids books I want to read to or give to my kids, four are for myself)

I finished my Melbourne bookshop tour this morning - lots of good stuff spotted but it was all much more expensive than mail order, and my luggage space is limited so I only bought one more book.

If I finish Modern Love today and wild-release it tomorrow I'll be returning home with three more books than I arrived with, which isn't ideal, but it could have been much worse :)

I've read several of Paul Magrs books, until now they've all been fantasy. Modern Love is a family drama set in Northern England spanning three generations of lies and deceit (as these things do) - it was a little grim but enjoyable (and Goths feature in one scene!)

next up: Jennifer Government

nothing to do today (I'm all bookshopped out) so I spent the day sitting in a park reading. I finished Jennifer Government (a fun read) and wild-released it this afternoon.

next up: Caught In The Light

"I'm all bookshopped out"... "I spent the day sitting in a park reading"... so jealous, freelunch, so jealous :)

Not sure if "enjoying" is the right terminology here, but I'm finding Suite Francaise a great read. I know so many historical events simply as monoliths that to get individual stories from the perspective of someone who was really there, living in WWII German-occupied France, is absolutely fascinating. Perhaps some of the characters are a little two-dimensional at best, and villainies are a bit transparent, but from the sound of it, Nemirovsky, sadly, never had the chance to do a proper edit.

Right, back to marking. The English Extension 1 exam's on Thursday. (See why I'm jealous, freelunch?)

"to get individual stories from the perspective of someone who was really there, living in WWII German-occupied France, is absolutely fascinating"

Agreed! That was the main thing for me, the veracity of the tale. It was just so damned TRUE. (And things about the war I never knew about too: the Germans strafing the refugees fleeing Paris was news to me...)

Finding Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow rather... nordic, I guess. Lots of background about Denmark/Greenland taken for granted, and it's quite a perplexing mystery. On the plus side, Smilla is a great character, and I am very curious to know where it's going, and it's quite unlike any other mystery I've read. (I'll put it back in the VBB when I'm finished, I'm only halfway through now.) Almost finished O is for Outlaw and I think it's one of my favourite Kinsey mysteries yet. Very curious to see whodunnit and whydunnit!!

Mr Bear and Miss Boo had a sleepover at my parents' on the weekend (24 hours child free!!! we saw "Burn After Reading" and it was most excellent) and when we picked them up they were mesmerised by the movie adaptation of Horton Hears A Who. So guess what was on the reading list tonight? :) Plus another (short) chapter of Despereaux, which I'm finding very charming.

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Out 27, 2008, 5:51am.

wookiebender, we saw "Burn After Reading" last Friday and I agree it was great fun. Discovered a new term (it was used toward the end of the movie) for which I am now seeking the perfect moment - and the right audience, mind - in which to try it out!

Fade Away ended up better than I had thought it would be, so a win there. It was full of one liners and wisecracks, some of which were funny, some very lame, but it was well plotted.
I picked up on one piece of important information very early on but while it was important to the story as a whole, it didn't help me work out whodunnit.

Not sure at this stage what is up next. Still dipping in and out of Fantasyland and Pale Fire is not calling loudly enough as yet, so . . . .

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Out 27, 2008, 6:25am.

Finished O is for Outlaw and I didn't see the ending coming. But it wasn't one of those ones where you get frustrated that you couldn't work it out in advance. A great Kinsey read, lots of background story on her (but not annoyingly, like in the later Kay Scarpetta novels where it was all about her and her failure of a love life, not about the mysteries any more).

Will start Don't Move tonight, as I've got to get that to jubby for the October Southern Cross. Don't have a hope in hell of getting it to her by the end of the month, but I've seen her Mt TBR, and I don't think she'll mind a short delay. :)

Caught in The Light was as good as I've come to expect from Robert Goddard (who I discovered last year via a bookcrossing bookring I joined more to help keep the book moving than because I wanted to read it) - I was going to recommend it to my wife as her first taste of his work, but the ending is a little 'dark' for her I think.

next up: Shadow of the Jaguar, a "Primeval" novel - we're enjoying the TV series and my son (10 soon) is keen to read the book(s) - I need to work out whether they're suited to him or to slightly older kids...

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Out 30, 2008, 5:56am.

Hello everyone!

I've finally turned up here after a gentle nudge from Crimson-tide.

Now, I've got a little one on my knee, so typing with one hand - so will make this brief.

Take your time with Don't move TQD - there really is no hurry.

I've currently got several books on the go, at various points in the house:
- Landscape of Farewell by Alex Miller, as part of DrCris' 2008 Miles Franklin shorties
- The final solution by Michael Charbon for Jennymidget's November Southern Cross Exchange
- Napoleon's double by Antoni Jach for my on-line reading group in November
- Love in a lunchbox by Susannah Mac, because it is a little bit of amusing fluff
- Great lies to tell small kids by Andy Riley, which I got on www.bookmooch.com, and it makes me laugh. I've since learnt that you can buy cards with the cartoons on the front (http://www.reallyfabcards.com/cat_riley....), but they are in the UK, and the humble $AU being what it is, I'll not be buying any this year.

I'd like to hear what you think of Pale fire too Crimson-tide. I've not read anything of his before. But, I do have a copy of Lolita about the house somewhere...

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Out 30, 2008, 5:24am.

Hey, welcome Jubby. Good to see you here! :)

I still haven't got back to Pale Fire yet, but shall duly report back when done. I'll have to read it next month as it is to go to VeganMedusa for the December Southern Cross.

I've almost finished the Fantasyland Tour, and the other day read a lovely little gem Artemis Fowl: The Seventh Dwarf. Colfer wrote it for World Book Day as a short story that stands alone and chronologically fits in between the first and second of the full length Artemis Fowl books. Mulch Diggums stars as the seventh dwarf, naturally.

Now I've started on The Broken Shore by Peter Temple, one I've been looking forward to for a while.

Hi Jubby! I never would have mentioned Don't Move if I'd known you were going to come visiting in this forum. :)

I really enjoyed Love in a Lunchbox. Nice to see Mums being shown in a not-so-perfect light. Made me feel an awful lot more normal, and I got a giggle out of it. A perfect book!

crimson-tide, I've got The Broken Shore on Mt TBR, and it's been there far too long. I hope you enjoy it, it got some great reviews, and I've been looking forward to it (for far too long!).

Still going on Miss Smilla and Don't Move. Life just starts getting a bit frantic this time of year (I work in e-commerce, and Xmas is just around the corner so we're hectic at work; and at home it's Mr Bear's birthday in a few weeks and Xmas is just around the corner...). Bring on January, says I.

Oh, and I'm also enjoying Secret Lives of Great Authors - I've secreted that one by the sofa so I can read a page or two while the kids are mesmerised by TV (Bad Mothering 101) and while it's nothing terribly new or incredibly well written, it is rather fun. I particularly loved the Lewis Carroll bit (someone published a book back in the 1990s "proving" that Lewis Carroll was Jack the Ripper by making anagrams of the first four lines of Jabberwocky that were all about killing, maiming, and hog masturbation (no, really); and someone countered with "ahah, Christopher Robin is Jack the Ripper!" by doing the same with some Winnie Ther Pooh poems. Ah, nutters do make the world go around some days). And I think I might just wild release without finishing The Da Vinci Cod which is just a bit too long for a parody. "Dan Brown goes to the autoteller" in Pistache was much pithier and funnier, and Cod is suffering by comparison.

Hello again,

You should keep going with Miss Smilla's feeling for snow. I remember reading it years ago (I gasp to think, but it was over ten years ago!!), and finding that it took a sharp turn in a direction that I really didn't expect.

The odd thing was, the week I finished reading it, I was staying at a hotel, where the in-house movie was (you guessed it!), 'Miss Smilla'. The film, in my humble opinion didn't quite work. The suspense wasn't there, and the casting would have been different if I were the director.

Ahh, if I were the director, many, many things would be different...

I like the sound of Secret lives of great authors too. I'll have to add that one to my wishlist (which I imagine will grow and grow if I keep visiting book related websites).

The mention of Christopher Robin reminds me that I have a book here on my tbr pile called The enchanted places by Christopher Milne. I've not read it, but it does look like poor old Christopher didn't grow up to have such a rosy adult life.

I think I'll move this one up the pile.
And add Artemis Fowl: the seventh dwarf to my wishlist too...

From what I understand, Christopher Robin grew up rather bitter and twisted about having his childhood so well known by strangers. (As you would, really.) I'm planning on ignoring his adult life and continuing to enjoy the kids' stories. (Speaking of which, we seem to be on a Dr Suess kick this weekend, with Horton Hears a Who, I Wish that I had Duck Feet and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish all being demanded to be read.)

Although I suppose that should go under November Reading Log now. Where did October go???