Busytown: Holiday reading lust
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Awesome kids books (all English I'm afraid, as that was where I spent my childhood) - which I also re-read on a regular basis:
Oooh, also, Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising - perhaps a little old at this point, but the 8-year-old would probably up for The Boggart. TDIR is the only take on the Arthurian myths I have ever been able to stand (apart from the fabulous current TV series Merlin, emphasis on the faaaaaabulous.)
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Bookiemonster - while I found "The Colour of Magic" (the only Pterry adaptation I've seen) a bit disappointing, I'm willing to give "Hogfather-the film" a go...because it's begat by the book"Hogfather."
Totally agree - the book is fantastic (and I have a special place in my heart for Binky). I think that's why the movie/mini-series just didn't live up to it for me - and will be interested to hear what others think after they've seen it.
What I love about his work is that it tells you almost everything you might want to know about the long 18th century, culturally speaking, as understood from the vantage point of the long 20th century, except on a completely different planet. With jokes.
Yes. Yes. YES! Yes! Yes. I can't say yes enough to this. Yes.
It's so nice to be amongst fellow Pterry-ites.
Oooh, also, Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising - perhaps a little old at this point
Oh yes, another one of my favourite series when I as young. It seemed even a bit out of date then but the plot was enthralling enough for that not to matter much.
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Oooh, also, Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising - perhaps a little old at this point...
I think I was about 8 when I read that series. There was also a radio series of The Dark Is Rising (at least) - or perhaps it was a book on tape. That was beautiful, really atmospheric. I can still hum the music, a little.
Do not under any circumstances watch the movie. Don't tell yourself it might be interesting to see how the story works with an American(!!) protagonist. Don't tell yourself it might be worth it to see Christopher Eccleston as the Rider, or that any movie with Frances Conroy and Ian McShane has to be at least ok. Just...don't.
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I have reread Catch-22 at least a dozen times, though not for a few years now. And Pratchett's Small Gods.
I'm only just turning back to reading fiction, for pleasure, now that I've gotten past the read-three-academic-books-a-week-for-thirty-weeks-a-year ordeal that is the first three years in an American grad school. So this year I have read Wuthering Heights, Borges' Fictions, and the first 200 pages of _2666_ before I packed it in a box and began a transnational itinerary which mitigated against carrying such a tome.
Right now, I'm reading _The Kindly Ones__ by Jonathan Littell. It's an excellent example of how historical fiction can be used to expose the internal, human workings of atrocity, and reach it away from the abstractions of historians and the pomp of the History Channel. I think I'm going to assign parts of it for my students when I teach them about National Socialism next year.
Not really a beach read, though.
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Rob H - so many heroes/heroines to choose from!
Granny Weatherwax when I'm feeling dour: the Librarian when I'm feeling like myself.
Resisting an oook-
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JoJo,
Ahhhh, basking in the Pterry love...
I'm slowly collecting the full set via Wellington's second-hand book shops,
@webweaver - Heeheee. I did that a few years ago. I think I have a spare Jingo, if you need it. Free to a good home :)
I really only enjoyed the tv versions of the books because they reminded me of certain parts of the book - they made me smile with the memory of reading the books, rather than because they were good or funny or accurate representations of the book I had read. Not a glowing recommendation, obviously.
In the catalogue of re-reads, Pterry's and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens is my all-time favourite. Once a year, at least. Pure bliss...
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Ahh @JoJo thank you so much but I already have Jingo... very kind of you to offer, though!
And Good Omens is fabulous! I read it before I discovered the Discworld so it was my first introduction to Beings who SPEAK IN ALL-CAPS, and the little-known but completely true fact that any cassette tape left in the car for more than a fortnight metamorphoses into The Best of Queen. Tee hee.
Personal favourite Discworld characters - Granny Weatherwax, the librarian (sending an "ook" to Islander) Death and Sam Vimes. I just love Sam. I think Guards! Guards! is one of my favourites actually - and Mort.
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For re-reading, I too am a Pratchett fiend. I am always amazed at how new jokes pop out that I never noticed on the earlier reads.
But I must put in a good word for Flann O'Brien. My copy of The Third Policeman is wearing out from use. And this year I finally located At Swim Two Birds and hope soon to own an edition of my own.
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Caught up with "Where's My Cow?" yet webweaver?
One of the disappointments of last year was reading this to one of my grand-younguns, and that very solemn child said, at the end, after a looong silence, "That wasnt funny. You said it would be funny."
And I thought, Just wait 'til I get you in 12 years time kid!
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"Hoo hoo! "At Swim Two Birds!" Fell over a copy at 'varsity (Canterbury, centuries ago) and - literalist that I was, thought, "This doesnt make sense." And then, "Where would it make sense? O, Ireland. Oh."
But enjoy rereading it about once every decade-
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Do not under any circumstances watch the movie. Don't tell yourself it might be interesting to see how the story works with an American(!!) protagonist. Don't tell yourself it might be worth it to see Christopher Eccleston as the Rider, or that any movie with Frances Conroy and Ian McShane has to be at least ok. Just...don't.
Oh, I have the best story about that movie. I'd heard it was shite, so two friends and I got a bottle of vodka and sat down to do one-third shots every time they got something egregiously wrong (one-third so as to give ourselves a running chance at making it through the whole movie).
We only got fifteen minutes in because by that point we were so drunk we couldn't process it any more. That is how bad it is.
Personal favourite Discworld characters - Granny Weatherwax, the librarian (sending an "ook" to Islander) Death and Sam Vimes. I just love Sam. I think Guards! Guards! is one of my favourites actually - and Mort.
I'm a huge Susan fan, but Moist (from the last few books) is really growing on me.
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Unfortunately, I have hair just like Susan's and while I empathise with her non-nonsenseness, having her as a heroine is somehow not possible...
(I have trained my curls to stop trying to chew their way through my skull by rigorous pruning. They are currently quiescent.)
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@Islander - no I don't have Where's my Cow? yet - it hasn't appeared on the bookshelves at Arty Bee's as yet - I'm sure it will pop up at some point though.
Oooh I have an old Penguin paperback copy of At Swim-Two-Birds sitting on my bookshelf, and have never read it. Should I give it a go, do you think?
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Webweaver- Yes! But do not expect reason - do expect strange laughs.
(Arty Bee's is on my must go/see/do list for the next time I'm in the vicinity.)
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@Islander - no I don't have Where's my Cow? yet - it hasn't appeared on the bookshelves at Arty Bee's as yet - I'm sure it will pop up at some point though.
Ask Matt nicely, they're very obliging. And massive Pratchett fans.
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I've just taken down "At Swim-Two-Birds" (mine is a Four Square edition published in 1960) and randomly opened it:
p.120
"Though my flittings are unnumbered,
my clothing to-day is scarce,
I personally maintain my watch
on the tops of mountains."The 'party by the name of Sweeney' goes on for another couple of -verses, until the Good Fairy snaps
Put green moss in his mouth,..... are we going to spend the rest of our lives in this place listening to talk the like of that?"
Well. it's like that all the way through. Well reccommended by James Joyce & Graham Greene.
And I have a neat overview by John Banville from the Nov.18th 1999 NYRB tucked inside it...
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Webweaver, your post caught me by surprise, as when I said Earthsea Trilogy, that was my memory from the 80s, and incredibly I missed the 1990 release of Tehuna completely. Well there's my credibility shot. I was in Japan, and it was 18 years after the first three. That might explain it, but probably doesn't excuse it.
I'll jump out to the music thread, it seems safer.
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Heheh - recordari I was somewhat conflicted when I wrote that post - should I call it the Trilogy as that's what it was originally - or the Quartet because that's what it became? Both are correct, I reckon.
How are you feeling? A little less shaky? How fortunate that you interrupted them before they could steal your books. Still horrible though.
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Thanks for that. Actually it was my elderly neighbour who interrupted them, for which I must buy flowers or something nice. She heard the breaking glass and yelled at them "Oi, what are you doing? I'll call the police", to which they answered "Go on then", and proceeded to ride off, casually, on their bicycle.
All a bit surreal really.
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What a glorious discussion and as usual I'm arriving late.
Totally agree about the enduring qualities of Swallows and Amazonas and the irresistible Gerald Durrell books. Less convinced about the Willard Prices. A word here for the fabulous American author Joan Aiken. Much underrated IMHO.
Can anyone here tell me anything about Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book? I just got it for my 10 year old eager reader for Christmas. I am wondering if it might be a bit metaphysical for him, or something like that. He was pretty freaked by Coralline. -
Also great for reading aloud to small persons .. The Hobbit.
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Can anyone here tell me anything about Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book?
Ask, receive, etc. And the comment of Craig's that follows. My daughter is 12 but could easily have coped with it at 10. But she does have a taste for the weird and the dark. She loved Coraline.
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Brilliant, Emma. Thanks.
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Now, havent yet viewed "Coraline" the movie - but all good reports (at least the ones I've read.) And almost ANYTHING Gaiman is wonderful (I restrict myself to one re-reading of "American Gods" et al per 2 years...)
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My eight year old was initially worried about Coraline then, once it was overdue from the library, inhaled it over a drive from Chch to Akaroa and turned around and immediately re-read it. I think I'm just going to put The Graveyard Book somewhere he can find it.
Another one the lad has enjoyed (and I admit i haven't read yet) was George's Secret key to the Universe by Stephen and Lucy Hawking - I suspect his Birthday Borders Token may be used on obtaining the sequel.
I spent a good chunk of this year reading the Harry Potter series to my boys. That's a lot of words! It's taken them quite some time to come far enough out of that world to want to read other stuff.
I really should start keeping a record of what I read - by this end of the year all I can say is "I read a lot of stuff and I'm pretty sure I liked a fair proportion of it".
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