Dusty's Frugal Fortnights Return!

beanielou

Jeez.  The bus drivers were having a grumpy day!

When I went to the falls clinic I was the youngest person there by about 30 years 

dustydigger

On the reading front I finished Louise Penny's A Rule Against Murder (aka The Murder Stone)Years after the death of the patriarch of a very dysfunctional family,the family gather to erect a statue of the father in the grounds of a delightful hotel Then one of the daughters is found dead,crushed by the statue,and no-one can understand how it happened Inspector Gamache happens to be staying there with his wife,and it falls on him to solve a crime with a plethora of motives,and a pretty nasty set of characters. As ever the reasons come from the past,and we learn a lot more about the inspector.

Parts of this,and certainly the first half are intriguing and enjoyable. I didnt find some of the motivations very credible really,and was disappointed by the ending. Very little of Three Pines on show here either.

I am also in the process of filling in some Beatrix Potter books I have missed. Read The Tailor of Gloucester,The Fierce Bad Little Rabbit and Ginger and Pickles. This week i want to read The Tale of Samuel Whiskers and Tale of Miss Moppet.That pretty much completes the Peter Rabbit world books.

I've been a major fan for decades, The first book I remember is The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher.I was clutching it on my 4th birthday. I found the little white book with the little circular illustrations intriguing.

Today i want to finish Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived at the Castle.A very strange story,with a very weird unreliable narrator,many decades before the term unreliable narrator became common. About 30 pages left.

I

weenancyinAmerica

My mother introduced me to Shirley Jackson's totally different book, Life Among the Savages, which was her first memoir book. Loved it and still have the family copy which we passed around between us daughters. Totally different from her other books - enjoyable rather than scary.

Bluegreen143

I normally love most classic children’s books but I cannot stand Beatrix Potter 😆. 

Unfortunate as we were given a lovely set when my eldest was born. I ended up hiding it as when they were toddlers, they didn’t enjoy listening to the books, but both only loved taking all 23 mini books out of their dust jackets, creating masses of tidying up for me! I could probably trust them with them now, or at least make them tidy it up themselves, but not sure I can be bothered looking it out when I don’t enjoy reading it 🤣 neither child can read yet so I’d need to do the reading.

I am really enjoying that DS (6) is at the stage where I’m reading him Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, the Narnia books etc all of which I loved as a child.

dustydigger

weenancyinAmerica said:

My mother introduced me to Shirley Jackson's totally different book, Life Among the Savages, which was her first memoir book. Loved it and still have the family copy which we passed around between us daughters. Totally different from her other books - enjoyable rather than scary.

I found ''Haunting of Hill House'' a fascinating depiction of madness,and of course ''The Lottery'' is Jackson's most famous short story. But like those,''We Have Always Lived at the Castle'' is hardly a barrel of laughs!  Read because of a challenge,not for pleasure. I find it a bit too vague,and it trails of at the end. Certainly well written,but not exactly lovable!

Did anyone ever read Minette Walters' award winning debut novel,''The Icehouse.''? Its really  similar in plot to this Jackson book,,.There was TV version with Daniel Craig andFrances Barber

dustydigger

 '' Normally love most classic children’s books but I cannot stand Beatrix Potter''

  You and many others,Bluegreen.Chacun a son gout.

 Often I get the feeling the books were not really for kids. Complex language, and subtle wry humour are often there. Really the books are a paean to the beauties of the English countryside and the way things were changing drastically to a modern world,the illustrations are beautiful and masterful art works.all of which go over the heads of kids,especially modern kids who want flash and excitement in their reading.

She was an strong conservationist,and sadly could see the way the world was already going. Her art work is a lovely testament to a world that has now gone.

dustydigger

How about a little literary quiz for all you book lovers.Called ''I Also Wrote.''  .your job is to match up      the title. An author may be highly acclaimed for some novel,but they also wrote others

Can you match up a title from group 1 with a title from group 2.I'll give the answers tomorrow after returning from the hospital I have no idea what they will be doing. - blood tests,CAT scan. who knows. Oh the anticipation - not!

Group 1

A - Pride and Prejudice

B - Brideshead Revisited

C - Heart of Darkness

D - Animal Farm

E - Gulliver's Travels

F - Eye of the Needle

G - Passage to India

H - Middlemarch

I   - Tess of the Durbervilles

Group 2

1. -  Lord Jim

2. -  Road to Wigan Pier

3. - Mansfield Park

4. - A Modest Proposal

5. - Pillars of the Earth

6. - Mayor of Casterbridge

7. - Decline and Fall.  -

8. - Mill on the Floss

9. -  Howard's End

And the authors?

Evelyn Waugh

George Eliot

Ken Follett

E M Foster

Joseph Conrad

Jane Austen

George Orwell

Jonathan Swift

Ouch,hope I havent been too tough. Answers tomorrow.

beanielou

Hope all goes well & that you get some sleep tonight.

Bluegreen143

Maybe I should give them another try @dustydigger. My son isn’t modern in his reading tastes yet - loves Enid Blyton in particular (he bought a collection of Noddy books with his own pocket money off eBay a while back), Winnie the Pooh, Paddington, Little House on the Prairie. I remember my friend telling me that she tried Paddington but it was too old-fashioned for her little girl, and I was wondering how a 5yo had a concept of something being old fashioned! Clearly picked up by the adults around her. 

Love the literary quiz, know a few but not all. I did English Lit at uni so should know them all really… will sit and jot down my answers properly so I can mark it tomorrow when you give the answers!

Good luck for tomorrow at the hospital. 

Floss

Bluegreen143 said:

... I remember my friend telling me that she tried Paddington but it was too old-fashioned for her little girl, and I was wondering how a 5yo had a concept of something being old fashioned! ...

Perhaps the mum thought it was too old-fashioned to read to her daughter?