Search results

I think it was Bridget's vulnerability and honesty that made her attractive to us and Mark Darcy. Something that we think of as a weakness ourselves (such as self-depracating humour) is often more attractive than ambition and all out strength. So Bridget's neuroses are positive, normal...

They are great books. It was definitely a case of disappointment with the film Papillon when I saw it. As is normally the case, the book was so much better.

I love the Alexander McCall books about the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. They tell the story of a woman in Botswana who sets up as a private investigator. They're amusing, observant and interesting whilst being relatively short. Hope that helps.

It was found in Ampthill Park in the mid to late 1980s. It was quite funny because we had the book and only lived two miles away at the time! Funnily enough, it wasn't us that found the treasure...

Wow Ell, I had never even thought about the crazy governess theory. Interesting... It reminds me of the take on Jane Eyre that the Wide Sargasso Sea brings up.

I may be completely wrong but I think the ghosts of the old governess and her lover exert a control over the children and want to keep them from the control of the new governess. The new governess tries to understand and fight this but to little avail. Someone else may have a completely...

I have read it but it was ages ago. Is it the one about the governess and the children and the old governess - a bit spooky?

Yellow Dog - Martin Amis

It's funny you should mention this because I was talking about this with a friend earlier and we commented on how we humans seem to love a good conspiracy theory. It has been suggested that it shows we have creative minds but some theories are certainly bizarre - as I am sure this will turn out...

Hi Hobitten, I noticed that you read political science books for fun!! I found this amusing because I am writing my literature review for my PhD at the moment and escape to fiction at every opportunity. Have you read Paradise and Power by Robert Kagan? It's a very talked about book at the...

I think you've hit the nail on the head about good books. Sometimes reading a children's book is like a guilty pleasure but why should this be the case? I really enjoy His Dark Materials. Did anyone manage to see the stage version? I think it was on at the National Theatre in London over...

I've just ordered 'Slaughterhouse-Five' Martin, hope I enjoy it as much as you. I loved: The House of Spirits - Isabelle Allende The Tin Drum - Gunter Grass Aberystwyth Mon Amour - Malcolm Pryce Perfume - Patrick Suskind His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman The Alchemist - Paul Coelho...

Well I hope you get lots of it. Happy New Year. :)

That's it, I'm sure of it. Thanks so much, I thought I was going mad.

I don't know if anyone knows this book but it involves a parrot in a parcel and it's such a lovely story. I read it as a child and I seem to remember it was by Gerald Durrell but all the Durrell books I have found are nothing like it so maybe I am completely wrong. I can't remember much more...

Well good luck with it anyway Ruzi

... and a Happy New Year to everyone. Got any good resolutions?

Hi Bookgatherer, I think that's a really valid point you make about your teacher that brought Shakespeare to life. I think teachers have a huge influence on the enjoyment of school books. They can either make them hugely enjoyable by encouraging a greater understanding or they can leave you...

No Haethurn, I am not hostile towards tragic literature. Indeed, Medea is a great favourite of mine. However, when I was at school we read nothing but tragic literature. This is where the balance was completely wrong. Literature does not have to be tragic to be great.

I was put off reading for a few years by what we were made to read at at school, not because they were bad books but because they were so bleak. I began to think that good books had to be written in this bleak style and that everything else was trivial and this led me to think I hated reading...