Well..... there's no stopping me now. Over the past few days of being out and about with Mum I have managed to acquire another 7 books. 6 Of them were Ghost Story ones and were bought together, in the same store in a little place called Berkhamstead. The other one was bought in Warwick when we went to visit Warwick Castle - which by the way is a great place to while away a day, wander round and get scared and spooked in the Dungeon.
So... another 7 means another tally is in order.
Books bought: 7
Books to be read: 72.... and I'm not done yet!!
Friday 29 April 2011
Monday 25 April 2011
Oopsie..
After only a few days of holiday I have already managed to buy a book.
Went to Blecthley Park, had a really good day out and bought a book about what work was done there and how it all helped the war effort... good stuff. Off to have more holiday fun!!
Books bought: 1
Books to be read: 65
Went to Blecthley Park, had a really good day out and bought a book about what work was done there and how it all helped the war effort... good stuff. Off to have more holiday fun!!
Books bought: 1
Books to be read: 65
Thursday 21 April 2011
Solid foundations
This entry is the first one that is written from the comfort of my self-constructed little drop leaf table and fold away chair. It only took about an hour to assemble it all, I only needed an allen key and a philips screw driver, all the bits were in the flatpack and behold....once more woman has triumphed over flat pack furniture! It has been at least 4 years since I have had an actual table to sit at, do things at and leave things lying around on and I am really looking forward to making good use of it.
I have started a new book as well (Agatha Christie one) but it might be a little while before can get down to some serious reading as my Mum is coming over for a visit tomorrow evening. It is one of the best reasons ever not to update a blog. I am really looking forward to the visit and have lots of ideas of fun things to do while she is over here. For one.. we are going away for a couple of days to Leamington Spa and Warwick. then there is the shopping trips, dinners, day trips to wherever we might get up to as well. Hope the weather holds!?
I have started a new book as well (Agatha Christie one) but it might be a little while before can get down to some serious reading as my Mum is coming over for a visit tomorrow evening. It is one of the best reasons ever not to update a blog. I am really looking forward to the visit and have lots of ideas of fun things to do while she is over here. For one.. we are going away for a couple of days to Leamington Spa and Warwick. then there is the shopping trips, dinners, day trips to wherever we might get up to as well. Hope the weather holds!?
Monday 18 April 2011
Thick and fast
Another day another finished book! After having taken so long to finish the previous one this one was a breath of fresh air. It is good to get the total book count down a bit more. Especially since I have made an executive decision and am going to allow myself to buy some books for my birthday (28th April). Quite how and when these books will be acquired is yet to be decided. I might go online, I might decided to spend a wee while at the various second hand book shops of Milton Keynes, I might even go a bit further afield than Milton Keynes! Either way... decision made! I am going to end the dry spell of non-book-buying behaviour and lavish myself in the joy of buying books.... bliss.
Some of the books on the list: Sebastian Faulks - Girl at the lion d'or and Birdsong, Diary of Nobody, The End of the Affair (anything by Graham Greene really!), A woman in white, Ghormenghast, The postman always rings twice.. who was it again that wrote that one? Books by Dashiel Hammett (US pulp writer), oh... and the rest of the Philip Marlowe ones, love them!... ooh ooh and then there is that series by Wordsworth of Books of the Mysterious and Supernatural a lot of them are Ghost story ones so they will be nice for my collection... Ah man I am getting all excited thinking about what I can buy. Some of these were inspired by Sebastian Faulks' recent series on the BBC called Faulks on Fiction. He discussed a lot of books according to themes and some of them sounded really interesting. Another reason for me to treat myself to some new books is that I got a promotion at work and surely that deserves a treat!?
Only 10 more sleeps before the fun can start!!!
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Dean Koontz - By the Light of the Moon
I am not sure if it is me or if I am just getting used to the way that Koontz plots his novels but this one has a simple plot that can be summarised in a few sentences and in effect nothing that much happens. Also the end is a bit... how shall I put it.. disappointing, too sweet, too perfect?
The story gives us three main characters. Dylan - the dependable one, the older brother, the caretaker, the rock, the one who makes you feel that everything will be okay. Like some other of Koontz' main characters he looks big, bulky, like a bit of a brute but he actually has a kind temperament and is an artist. What you see ain't what you get.
Then we have Shep - the younger brother, he has some kind of autism ans is locked up in his own world where everything needs to be orderly, predictable and square. In a way he is the bane of his brother's life but a burden that is (usually) suffered gladly by Dylan. Both brothers love one another dearly and travel around together. Dylan paints and Shep sheps. They have lost both parents - dad committed suicide and mum got shot by a burglar.. Well, that is what they believe is the truth at the start anyway. We find out in the end that again not is as it seems.
The third of the trinity is Jilly - she is the one that gets involved without any reason, sort of the accidental victim of circumstances. Wrong place, wrong time kind of thing. She is a feisty woman and at times very defensive and fiercely independent. Naturally there is a reason for this behaviour in this case a weirdo dad that used to come round threatening to poke her eyes out.
All three get injected with some kind of experimental serum that will change their lives forever. Dylan gets premonitions when he touches things, Jilly gets premonitions but they are less focused and later one she learns to fold time and space (basically that means she can jump from one location to another). Shep gets a bit more responsive, more talkative less withdrawn and turns out to be ace at folding space and time.
Being injected naturally involves some guys with guns being after you to try and terminate your lease with life early and the three of them have to go on the run. They prevent some major mayhem on the way and become as close as any set of strangers thrown together by a common enemy and common experience. The action of the books is good. Koontz keeps up the pace and by the time you reach the 200 page stage you feel that lots has happened and we are really only on the first day of meeting our newly injected friends. We know a bit about each of the characters' powers and we know there is more to come as Jilly's vision has not come to fruition yet. Her seems to be the big one the one that is going to be dramatic and the one that they are duty bound to prevent from happening!
The problem I have with the book is at the end. They manage to prevent Jilly's vision from becoming real and then fold away to somewhere quiet to contemplate what to do now. They realise that they really have no choice in the matter and that the new "powers" that they have been given will compel them to want to do right even at the expense of their own safety. They feel they are duty bound to act and be agents for good.. for it is the right thing to do. This is where the book could have ended and it would have been perfectly fine. Our heroes are resting, we know they will do the right thing, be agents for good and we can only hope that perhaps mr Koontz will write us another book detailing more of their adventures. However, there is more to come. Apparently we have to find out more about the how and why. Apparently we need to know that the brothers were not chosen at random (although Jilly was), that the deaths of both parents were not as we thought they were accidents but that there was a malevolent force involved. It was then also necessary for the evil to be taken out of the equasion and for them all (they are joined by a guy called Parish Lantern at the end as well... what all the other names were taken, no inspiration?) to form a happy band of forces for good, calling themselves The Moonlight Club. It is like Koontz wants to push the point that these people will be happy and will be fighting evil with a smile on their faces and a song in their hearts.
Well.... actually mr Koontz, I did not need to know all that. I get the fact that you want to emphasise the fact that the good guys are not just avengers out of anger (which they could have been seen as had the truth of their parents' deaths have been revealed to them earlier on in the book) but do good for all the right reasons. I get the fact that there can be evil that is so bad that to remove it from the gene pool can be a blessing and that one can be forgiven for taking that road (do a wrong for the right reasons). But, honestly... next time quite while you're ahead. It should have ended with them siting there, coming down from the boost of adrenaline that they must have had form preventing a terrible thing from happening.... and Shep wanting cake.
Title: By the Light of the Moon
Author: Dean Koontz
472pages
Headline
ISBN nr 978-0-753-4252-5
Books bought: 0 ..... but that will change soon enough!!
Books to be read: 64
Some of the books on the list: Sebastian Faulks - Girl at the lion d'or and Birdsong, Diary of Nobody, The End of the Affair (anything by Graham Greene really!), A woman in white, Ghormenghast, The postman always rings twice.. who was it again that wrote that one? Books by Dashiel Hammett (US pulp writer), oh... and the rest of the Philip Marlowe ones, love them!... ooh ooh and then there is that series by Wordsworth of Books of the Mysterious and Supernatural a lot of them are Ghost story ones so they will be nice for my collection... Ah man I am getting all excited thinking about what I can buy. Some of these were inspired by Sebastian Faulks' recent series on the BBC called Faulks on Fiction. He discussed a lot of books according to themes and some of them sounded really interesting. Another reason for me to treat myself to some new books is that I got a promotion at work and surely that deserves a treat!?
Only 10 more sleeps before the fun can start!!!
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Dean Koontz - By the Light of the Moon
I am not sure if it is me or if I am just getting used to the way that Koontz plots his novels but this one has a simple plot that can be summarised in a few sentences and in effect nothing that much happens. Also the end is a bit... how shall I put it.. disappointing, too sweet, too perfect?
The story gives us three main characters. Dylan - the dependable one, the older brother, the caretaker, the rock, the one who makes you feel that everything will be okay. Like some other of Koontz' main characters he looks big, bulky, like a bit of a brute but he actually has a kind temperament and is an artist. What you see ain't what you get.
Then we have Shep - the younger brother, he has some kind of autism ans is locked up in his own world where everything needs to be orderly, predictable and square. In a way he is the bane of his brother's life but a burden that is (usually) suffered gladly by Dylan. Both brothers love one another dearly and travel around together. Dylan paints and Shep sheps. They have lost both parents - dad committed suicide and mum got shot by a burglar.. Well, that is what they believe is the truth at the start anyway. We find out in the end that again not is as it seems.
The third of the trinity is Jilly - she is the one that gets involved without any reason, sort of the accidental victim of circumstances. Wrong place, wrong time kind of thing. She is a feisty woman and at times very defensive and fiercely independent. Naturally there is a reason for this behaviour in this case a weirdo dad that used to come round threatening to poke her eyes out.
All three get injected with some kind of experimental serum that will change their lives forever. Dylan gets premonitions when he touches things, Jilly gets premonitions but they are less focused and later one she learns to fold time and space (basically that means she can jump from one location to another). Shep gets a bit more responsive, more talkative less withdrawn and turns out to be ace at folding space and time.
Being injected naturally involves some guys with guns being after you to try and terminate your lease with life early and the three of them have to go on the run. They prevent some major mayhem on the way and become as close as any set of strangers thrown together by a common enemy and common experience. The action of the books is good. Koontz keeps up the pace and by the time you reach the 200 page stage you feel that lots has happened and we are really only on the first day of meeting our newly injected friends. We know a bit about each of the characters' powers and we know there is more to come as Jilly's vision has not come to fruition yet. Her seems to be the big one the one that is going to be dramatic and the one that they are duty bound to prevent from happening!
The problem I have with the book is at the end. They manage to prevent Jilly's vision from becoming real and then fold away to somewhere quiet to contemplate what to do now. They realise that they really have no choice in the matter and that the new "powers" that they have been given will compel them to want to do right even at the expense of their own safety. They feel they are duty bound to act and be agents for good.. for it is the right thing to do. This is where the book could have ended and it would have been perfectly fine. Our heroes are resting, we know they will do the right thing, be agents for good and we can only hope that perhaps mr Koontz will write us another book detailing more of their adventures. However, there is more to come. Apparently we have to find out more about the how and why. Apparently we need to know that the brothers were not chosen at random (although Jilly was), that the deaths of both parents were not as we thought they were accidents but that there was a malevolent force involved. It was then also necessary for the evil to be taken out of the equasion and for them all (they are joined by a guy called Parish Lantern at the end as well... what all the other names were taken, no inspiration?) to form a happy band of forces for good, calling themselves The Moonlight Club. It is like Koontz wants to push the point that these people will be happy and will be fighting evil with a smile on their faces and a song in their hearts.
Well.... actually mr Koontz, I did not need to know all that. I get the fact that you want to emphasise the fact that the good guys are not just avengers out of anger (which they could have been seen as had the truth of their parents' deaths have been revealed to them earlier on in the book) but do good for all the right reasons. I get the fact that there can be evil that is so bad that to remove it from the gene pool can be a blessing and that one can be forgiven for taking that road (do a wrong for the right reasons). But, honestly... next time quite while you're ahead. It should have ended with them siting there, coming down from the boost of adrenaline that they must have had form preventing a terrible thing from happening.... and Shep wanting cake.
Title: By the Light of the Moon
Author: Dean Koontz
472pages
Headline
ISBN nr 978-0-753-4252-5
Books bought: 0 ..... but that will change soon enough!!
Books to be read: 64
Tuesday 12 April 2011
HURRAH
Yay... I won!!! I beat Blogger... I did adjust the blog editor mode and that might have had something to do with it as well. Take that in your pipe and smoke it Blogger!!!
I really just wanted to claim victory and say that I have started my next book as well. Dean Koontz is my book of choice this time as I needed something a bit more speedy to read.
Now if I can only stop watching Hollyoaks, stop falling asleep on the sofa and stop finding jobs around the house for myself to do I might finish this one before the clocks change again.
I really just wanted to claim victory and say that I have started my next book as well. Dean Koontz is my book of choice this time as I needed something a bit more speedy to read.
Now if I can only stop watching Hollyoaks, stop falling asleep on the sofa and stop finding jobs around the house for myself to do I might finish this one before the clocks change again.
Here's Hoping
I finally managed to finish my ghost story book. This is the one whose last 10 pages defeated me for a week or so. It is also the review that nearly broke my will to live yesterday. I am hoping that today things will go a bit better.... if my blog does not update after today anymore it will be because Blogger has defeated me for real.
Title: The Penguin Books of Ghosts
Author: various,Ed. by J.A. Cuddon
512 pages
Claremont Books
ISBN nr 1-85471-001-X
Books Bought: 0
Books to be read: 65
#### SPOILER ALERT ####
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories - Various authors, Edited by J.a. Cuddon
For this one I am doing the ones I liked the best. There were quite a few stories in the book but to go through all the bad ones as well might make the review a bit toooooo long.
Most of the ones I did not like that much were too cluttered, too long - the main flaw of them is that they drag too many characters into the story and/or the simple storyline is dragged out over too many pages. To me this kind of padding out just makes me switch off. I like my stories relevant and to the point.
One way I managed to make the reading experience a bit better for myself by not reading the introduction (27 pages saved)and then not reading 3 tales that I had recently read (a further 61 pages saved). And yet with all this "help" it still took me aaaaaaages to finish and I am not sure why?
The Beggarwoman ofLocarno
A woman is ill treated when she seeks refuge. She pays back the owners in a way they do not expect. Good atmosphere, short sweet and to the point.
Wandering Willie's Tale - Walter Scott
Has some kind of Scottish spelling and uses Scottish words so it makes it a bit had to read. A man pays his debts but his receipt of the payment of his debt gets lost and the the lord of the manor dies. Our man Steenie has to go through a lot to get his receipt back.
The Queen of Spades - Alexander Pushkin
A man is tempted to play cards and then wants to win every game. Rumour has it that an old woman holds the secret to how to win at cards. Lady luck is on his side at first but as with all gamblers he learns that there is no such thing as the perfect play or the perfect hand. The woman whose secret he tries to use to his own purposes gets him from beyond the grave. Revenge is sweet.
Le Horla - Guy de Maupassant
I really liked this one! It starts out as a diary from a man who is describing the fact that he feels ill at times. He cannot put his finger on it and the feeling comes and goes. In the end he is convinced that there is something that has taken control of him and is taking him over. He tries to catch it out and even has a go at destroying it (cue article which gives us a clue as to what might be happening to him - a bit too coincidental but Guy is forgiven for that one as the tale is quite good).
Sir Edmund Orme - Henry James
This one is interesting as it is not really the main character who is being haunted. It is the woman he loves or rather her mother that is the one most afflicted by the presence of Sir Edmund. Love conquers all in the end and although mother does not make it to the end they manage to lay the ghost.
The Moonlit Road - Ambrose Bierce
The interesting thing about this one was that it looks at the same event from different perspectives. All the ones involved in the story get to tell their side and it is all brought together in a very factual way. A very nice way to set a story up and as you get the differing perspectives you piece it together.
AHaunted Island
An isolated island, indians intent on murder and a man intent on finishing a project. He is staying in a cabin on a island and feels uneasy staying in his original bedroom so he moves rooms. Just as well as a bit later two indians get out of their canoe and come and do some damage to his spiritual self. Still, it cannot be nice to see yourself scalped and dragged down the stairs.
My Adventure inNorfolk
A man on a trial run of a holiday home gets a bit more than he bargains for. A woman's car breaks down in the early hours of the morning and that's not really what you want with a body on the backseat. The little twist in the tale is cute!
The Inexperienced Ghost - H.G. Wells
A man finds himself chatting to a ghost and in trying to help him along lands himself in deep trouble. Not a good one to read if you talk with your hands a lot. Apparently you never know what might happen when you flap them things around.
One Who Saw - A.M. Burrage
A man goes to stay in a hotel where he has a room with access to a garden, totally enclosed. He keeps seeing a woman sitting there. The hotel staff try to dissuade him from going into the garden and he finds out the truth about the lady in the end. It is a tale of woe as per usual, but it is done rather well and it is not too over-dressed with characters.
Afterward - Edith Wharton
We are told at the start that there is a ghost about the place but that you will not find out till afterwards when you first saw it. A couple live perfectly happily at a house until hubby disappears suddenly, never to be seen again and the wife is left to wonder why. She puts it all together in the end though as do we.
The Tower - Marghanita Laski
Very nice one. A woman is exploring the countryside and gets drawn into climbing a tower. There is a bit of a quick back story of a who the tower was built for but that does not detract attention from the main event. Keep counting them steps!
The Wind - Ray Bradbury
If people ever say that they can hear voices on the blowing of the wind then this tale must be their dream come true. A phone conversation during a windy night. Unfortunately for both men concerned the wind has some sinister plans and it will huff and it will puff....
The Axe - Penelope Fitzgerald
A man is writing a report about having to lay off staff and not liking it one bit. It focuses on mr Singlebury who decides to stay on even after he has been let go.... much to the alarm of our author. And then there is this damp smell that seems to be getting worse day by day?!
Most of the ones I did not like that much were too cluttered, too long - the main flaw of them is that they drag too many characters into the story and/or the simple storyline is dragged out over too many pages. To me this kind of padding out just makes me switch off. I like my stories relevant and to the point.
One way I managed to make the reading experience a bit better for myself by not reading the introduction (27 pages saved)and then not reading 3 tales that I had recently read (a further 61 pages saved). And yet with all this "help" it still took me aaaaaaages to finish and I am not sure why?
The Beggarwoman of
A woman is ill treated when she seeks refuge. She pays back the owners in a way they do not expect. Good atmosphere, short sweet and to the point.
Wandering Willie's Tale - Walter Scott
Has some kind of Scottish spelling and uses Scottish words so it makes it a bit had to read. A man pays his debts but his receipt of the payment of his debt gets lost and the the lord of the manor dies. Our man Steenie has to go through a lot to get his receipt back.
The Queen of Spades - Alexander Pushkin
A man is tempted to play cards and then wants to win every game. Rumour has it that an old woman holds the secret to how to win at cards. Lady luck is on his side at first but as with all gamblers he learns that there is no such thing as the perfect play or the perfect hand. The woman whose secret he tries to use to his own purposes gets him from beyond the grave. Revenge is sweet.
Le Horla - Guy de Maupassant
I really liked this one! It starts out as a diary from a man who is describing the fact that he feels ill at times. He cannot put his finger on it and the feeling comes and goes. In the end he is convinced that there is something that has taken control of him and is taking him over. He tries to catch it out and even has a go at destroying it (cue article which gives us a clue as to what might be happening to him - a bit too coincidental but Guy is forgiven for that one as the tale is quite good).
Sir Edmund Orme - Henry James
This one is interesting as it is not really the main character who is being haunted. It is the woman he loves or rather her mother that is the one most afflicted by the presence of Sir Edmund. Love conquers all in the end and although mother does not make it to the end they manage to lay the ghost.
The Moonlit Road - Ambrose Bierce
The interesting thing about this one was that it looks at the same event from different perspectives. All the ones involved in the story get to tell their side and it is all brought together in a very factual way. A very nice way to set a story up and as you get the differing perspectives you piece it together.
A
An isolated island, indians intent on murder and a man intent on finishing a project. He is staying in a cabin on a island and feels uneasy staying in his original bedroom so he moves rooms. Just as well as a bit later two indians get out of their canoe and come and do some damage to his spiritual self. Still, it cannot be nice to see yourself scalped and dragged down the stairs.
My Adventure in
A man on a trial run of a holiday home gets a bit more than he bargains for. A woman's car breaks down in the early hours of the morning and that's not really what you want with a body on the backseat. The little twist in the tale is cute!
The Inexperienced Ghost - H.G. Wells
A man finds himself chatting to a ghost and in trying to help him along lands himself in deep trouble. Not a good one to read if you talk with your hands a lot. Apparently you never know what might happen when you flap them things around.
One Who Saw - A.M. Burrage
A man goes to stay in a hotel where he has a room with access to a garden, totally enclosed. He keeps seeing a woman sitting there. The hotel staff try to dissuade him from going into the garden and he finds out the truth about the lady in the end. It is a tale of woe as per usual, but it is done rather well and it is not too over-dressed with characters.
Afterward - Edith Wharton
We are told at the start that there is a ghost about the place but that you will not find out till afterwards when you first saw it. A couple live perfectly happily at a house until hubby disappears suddenly, never to be seen again and the wife is left to wonder why. She puts it all together in the end though as do we.
The Tower - Marghanita Laski
Very nice one. A woman is exploring the countryside and gets drawn into climbing a tower. There is a bit of a quick back story of a who the tower was built for but that does not detract attention from the main event. Keep counting them steps!
The Wind - Ray Bradbury
If people ever say that they can hear voices on the blowing of the wind then this tale must be their dream come true. A phone conversation during a windy night. Unfortunately for both men concerned the wind has some sinister plans and it will huff and it will puff....
The Axe - Penelope Fitzgerald
A man is writing a report about having to lay off staff and not liking it one bit. It focuses on mr Singlebury who decides to stay on even after he has been let go.... much to the alarm of our author. And then there is this damp smell that seems to be getting worse day by day?!
Title: The Penguin Books of Ghosts
Author: various,Ed. by J.A. Cuddon
512 pages
Claremont Books
ISBN nr 1-85471-001-X
Books Bought: 0
Books to be read: 65
Monday 11 April 2011
I tried...
I have just spent about 3 hours tying to get Blogger to do my bidding and Dear Reader.... I have failed to get it to do my bidding. I was doing the review for my ghost story book that I finally manged to finish but Blogger kept insisting that I really did not want paragraphs, indentations or italics... and I did.. I really did!!! The long and short of it is that I have now given up for today (it is 23.45 after all) and I will have another go once I have calmed down enough. Never in my life have I come this lose to throwing my laptop out the window!!!
Anyway, the book was a bit 50/50 and with a bit of luck I may manage to elaborate on that some day this week. I might have to do this one in bits or something. I am not sure my nerves can take much more of Blogger's idiosyncrasies but I will try and plod on... now though... making my bed and going to sleep. Maybe I can dream of hitting virtual Blogger over the head with a typewriter?!
Anyway, the book was a bit 50/50 and with a bit of luck I may manage to elaborate on that some day this week. I might have to do this one in bits or something. I am not sure my nerves can take much more of Blogger's idiosyncrasies but I will try and plod on... now though... making my bed and going to sleep. Maybe I can dream of hitting virtual Blogger over the head with a typewriter?!
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