In books read on June 26, 2003
Not the best of Joanna Trollope's books.
(I seem to have thought all of the last handful of books I've read to
be not as good as others by the same author so this is quite possibly
me just not being in a good reading mode rather than all these authors
being not in good writing mode.)
I thought there were a lot of interesting themes and issues raised
but none of them got explored properly and the characters weren't
fleshed out enough to make the story worth it without the themes. The
book wasn't long enough to tell the characters stories properly. The
Charleston family, grandmother Sarah, mother Martha and granddaughters
Gillon ("the girl from the South") and Ashley would have populated a
good book by themselves. And the London contingient could also have
populated a book though I don't think it would have been as interesting
a book. And whilst the intermingling of these two sets of characters is
fun it all feels rather superficial. I felt like I didn't really get to
the heart of the matter.
Borrowed.
2 copies of this book are available on BookMooch.
In Uncategorized on June 23, 2003
am i the only person in the world who’s thinking that i’ll wait for a
paperback to match the other four books? will this book even get to a
paperback printing or will they have printed more hardbacks than there
are readers in the world by then?
In books read on June 23, 2003
Another
out of print Nell Bray story that I found lurking in the library.
Enjoyable as always but not one of the best ones. I found the high jinx
to be all a bit silly.
Borrowed.
In books read on June 21, 2003
For
once I don't think this Hill book is the best thing since the last one.
It is of course pretty good all the same. I like the fact that Hill
keeps trying new things even though this one doesn't work that well for
me. I enjoyed the fact that various characters from old books popped up
years and years later than their original appearances.
I kept hearing that people didn't like this book because there was too
much of Ellie in it. I like Ellie and I like her in this book but the
story as a whole didn't gel for me as well as other of Hill's tales
have done.
Purchased on 6th December 2002.
A copy of this book is available on BookMooch.
In Uncategorized on June 19, 2003
from new scientist:
A hypoallergenic grass genetically modified to lack two common hay-fever allergens is set to enter field trials in the US.
atchoo! hurry up and invent it already! plant it already! i’m all for
this gentically modified crops thing all of a sudden….
In Uncategorized on June 15, 2003
when you come across mention of a knitting exhibition
that sounds quite interesting you don’t expect to find that it’s going
to be, ooh, maybe a hundred metres down the road…. my mind is
boggling, i wonder what else goes on round here?
it makes sense though, this is yorkshire textile country after all, many of the houses are old weaver’s cottages and rowan yarns are only down the road too.
In books read on June 14, 2003
I've
never read any Stephen King - not sure how I've avoided that actually.
This book on writing is probably an odd place to begin but it as
entertaining Darren so much I thought I'd give it a whirl.
Since I'm not really an aspiring writer I didn't really find the
writing bits that interesting but since there's more autobiography than
writing instruction it was still a pleasant read.
Borrowed.
In Uncategorized on June 12, 2003
i’m not even thinking about trying to work out the answers to this test. no i’m not. really i’m not. there are only 520 possible solutions after all, that’s only 9.5 x 1013.
hmmmm. i can’t even decide on the answer to question 20 so there’s no
chance [ok, it's pretty obvious once i remember what a barometer
measures]. i’m not even printing it out to scribble on. ….whirring
sound of printer coming to life…. dammit.
[found via as above]
In Uncategorized on June 12, 2003
a treasure hunt by camera sounds like a fun thing to get involved in. (why 26? why not, i suppose.)
[found via web-goddess]
In books read on June 7, 2003
The third volume of the Roth trilogy was also the best but that might have something to do with the build up to it. I'm really very impressed with this threesome. As a whole it's unlikely to get beaten as my 'best book of 2003' - it's published in one volume now so I think I can get away with that.
Purchased on 28th May 2003.
nocto