Have you ever been put off an author’s books after reading a biography of them? Or the reverse - a biography has made you love an author more?
Remember: email me, don't comment!
"'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.'"
| Pre | Post | |
| Wendy | 6 | 7 |
| Bec | 5 | 6 |
| Rick | 7 | 7.4 |
| Renae | 6 | 7 |
| Debbie | 6 | 6 |
| Rebecca | 8 | 8 |
| Susan | 0 | 2 |
| Tracey | 8 | 8 |
Last year I put up a new quote every month, one related to books and/or reading. Well, this year I thought I'd try something new. Every month I'm going to pick a quote FROM a book - I'll try to keep them reasonably well known, but still have a variety of genres - for you to guess what it's from. At the end of the year, the person with the most correct guesses will win a prize... not sure what yet, but there'll be a prize.
I'll try to start of relatively easy, but if they're too hard or too much of the same thing, let me know. And remember, when you guess, be sure to email me instead of commenting, you don't want anyone to see your answer
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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife.
Welcome to a new year of BookFreaks - I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm very much looking forward to our second year!
I've updated our reading list, which can be found on the side bar to the right. And, in accordance with my New Years resolution to be more organised, this blog will be updated more regularly - so check back soon.
I’ve asked, in the past, about whether you more often buy your books, or get them from libraries. What I want to know today, is, WHY BUY?
Even if you are a die-hard fan of the public library system, I’m betting you have at least ONE permanent resident of your bookshelves in your house. I’m betting that no real book-lover can go through life without owning at least one book. So … why that one? What made you buy the books that you actually own, even though your usual preference is to borrow and return them?
If you usually buy your books, tell me why. Why buy instead of borrow? Why shell out your hard-earned dollars for something you could get for free?
| Author | Title | Suggestor |
| Adiga, Aravind | White Tiger | Tracey |
| Austen, Jane | Sense and Sensibility | Wendy |
| Barrie, J.M. | Peter Pan | |
| Brooks, Geraldine | People of the Book | Rebecca |
| Burroughs, Augusten | Running with Scissors | Kirsty |
| McCarthy, Cormac | The Road | Renae |
| Chevalier, Tracey | The Girl with the Pearl Earring | Wendy/Rebecca |
| Cooper, Susan | Under Sea, Over Stone | Wendy |
| Facey, Albert | A Fortunate Life | Renae |
| Fitzgerald, F. Scott | The Great Gatsby | Renae |
| Ford, Jamie | Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet | Renae |
| Gilbert, Elizabeth | Eat, Pray, Love | Kirsty |
| Harvey, Samantha | The Wilderness | Renae |
| Heller, Joseph | Catch-22 | Rebecca |
| Huxley, Aldous | Brave New World | Wendy |
| Ishiguro, Kazuo | The Remains of the Day | Wendy |
| Jones, Lloyd | Mister Pip | Renae/Rebecca |
| Kundera, Milan | The Unbearable Lightness of Being | Wendy |
| Lanagan, Margo | Tender Morsels | Wendy |
| Maguire, Gregory | Wicked | Renae |
| Marsden, John | Tomorrow When the War Began | Renae |
| Martel, Yann | Life of Pi | Rebecca |
| Maurier, Daphne du | Rebecca | Wendy |
| Mulligan, Spike | Adolph Hitler: My Part in his Downfall | Wendy |
| Nabokov, Vladimir | Lolita | Rebecca |
| Noble, Elizabeth | Things I Want My Daughter to Know | Renae |
| Orwell, George | 1984 | Rick |
| Reilly, Matthew | Seven Ancient Wonders | Renae |
| Salinger, J.D. | The Catcher in the Rye | Renae |
| Shaffer, Mary Ann | The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society | Renae |
| Stevenson, Robert Louis | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | |
| Treasure Island | Renae | |
| Stewart, Mary | The Crystal Cave | Wendy |
| Stoker, Bram | Dracula | Rebecca |
| Styron, William | Sophie's Choice | Wendy/Bec |
| Tolkein, J.R.R. | The Hobbit | Rick |
| Tsiolkas, Christos | The Slap | Kirsty |
| Walker, Alice | The Colour Purple | Rebecca |
| Wells, H.G. | The War of the Worlds | Wendy |
| Woolf, Virgina | Mrs. Dallaway | Wendy |
| Wyndham, John | The Day of the Triffids | Wendy |
| The Midwich Cuckoos | Wendy | |
| Updike, John | Rabbit, Run | Renae |
What can you tell him, Fish? Right now, while you're down there on that side of the water with your strange brain and your black, wide eyes. What do you understand enough to say? You stand there in the morning and the afternoon and see Quick all closed, white and hard. Motes rain down. The sun is alive. The whole house is shaking with sound. Why won't he look at you? How do you bear it? How can you just stand at the end of his bed like that, with the patience of an animal? It's like you're someone else down there, Fish. Or does it just hurt me to think it's not so? (p. 92)
| Book | |
| Wendy | 8 |
| Bec | 5 |
| Rick | - |
| Renae | 8.5 |
| Debbie | 9 |
| Rebecca | 9 |
| Sue | - |
| Tracey | 8 |
Next Month:
Book: The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch; and The Devil's Dictionary - Ambroise Bierce
Host: Renae
Date/Time: November 21 - hosted by Rebecca
October’s meeting, for Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet, marked our most lively meet-up since our first gathering. While it is clear that Cloudstreet was an excellent choice for our little group, credit must also be given to our two new members: Debbie and Tracey, who both added considerably to the discussion. So thanks and welcome to them both.
As said, it was a very active meeting, with many opinions (only some of which corresponding) about almost every aspect of the book – we really could have used another meeting for this one. Questions of Lester’s moral fibre, Dolly’s past, and the ‘haunting’ of the Cloudstreet house were just three of the topics bought up. The question of Dolly, in particular, was interesting, and I can happily report that after sitting everyone down and having them listen to our arguments (as well as plying them with many cookies) the last holdouts came over to our point of view…
…
What? I can’t make up whatever I want just because I’m writing this? Oh fine then.
Overall, I think we had a great night, far too much was discussed to take note of everything but I’m sure we’ll be talking about this one again over the next few months.
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