Goodreads Ireland discussion
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What Are You Reading
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Paul
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Jul 12, 2014 02:00PM
Go feed the birds
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Well, that sounds like a jolly holiday. ;)
@Gerry. We might see you in the discussion for The Martian, so.
@ Gerry I read Marina a few weeks/months ago and loved it. Wow can that man weave a good story.
I loved Marina Gerry. Its the darkest of Zafons younger books and I love anything with a Frankenstein style twist to it once its done well.
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Speaking of Mary Poppins, did you see the movie with Emma Thompson about the making of it? I found it quite delightful. I have a soft spot for Disney. I went the first year it opened. I was 2. I have a great picture of me on the original Jungle Boat cruise.
We saw that a few weeks ago Susan. Saving Mr Banks. A very good film. Gerry marina is probably the best of his YA / all age books, possibly because it's the only one set in Barcelona but the rest are still worth reading.
I do like the look of horror when she realizes Dick Van Dyke is going to play the part. Do you think Colin Farrell is turning into a better actor? I saw a movie of his when he found a mermaid and set her up in his house.
Colin Farrell was playing a drunk Irishman so it was in his comforr zone. But he us getting better. He used to really annoy me in films, now he just irritates me. he was quite good in Seven Psychopaths,again playinga drunken Irishman.
I love saving mr banks, I've watched it 3 times now. It's how we ended up watching Mary poppins last night. Emma Thompson is so good in it
Emma wrote: "I love Mary Poppins. I remember as a kid it just wasn't Christmas if Julie Andrews wasn't on at least once"Christmas = Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music and The Great Escape.
Gotta agree with Emma. Oliver! made my Christmas as a kid.
You can never watch Sister Act too often. New additions yo Christmas seem to be Harry Potter and Narnia.
Teresa - after I moved to Maryland which is, for me, "The South", I thought it was too hot to knit and didn't for several years. Then I discovered the world-famous Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival up the road and there's been no turning back. Currently I am knitting socks and caps for babies in Afghanistan which have to be in San Francisco by July 21st. It's my favorite charity.Allan - I was so intrigued by Dissolution I actually did knit and listen to the book yesterday.
I just finished the new Deirdre Madden Time Present, and Time Past which I loved. Decided to read one of the Brian Mc Gilloway books on my shelves next.
That takes a special kind of genius Theresa :-)
Thanks Emma, keep me posted on your progress. I might get round to it after I read Mary Barton.
*started a different book but Mary Barton might be next.
@Allan Blood Meridian is such an awesome Audiobook. I'd have to put it in my top 3 or so of best Audiobooks ever. Amazing book + Amazing narrator. But yes also one of quite chillingly violent.
I'm thoroughly enjoying Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. Mary Roach is the most entertaining non-fiction writer I've read since Bill Bryson. And that's really saying something.
Teresa - I actually considered going to the Cumbria Woolfest at the end of June. A knitting friend nearby owns a house over there and goes every summer.The Yorkshire Dales would be a lovely place to have a festival and I'd love to go. Emma - my mother was a knitter and taught me though she didn't knit much when I was growing up as she was super busy with 6 kids. Knitting crazes came and go here. In the 80's a friend owned a shop in Pittsburgh. Then the craze ended and she closed up. The current craze started in the early 2000's and is still going fairly strong. Social media and the internet has made a big difference.
Theresa wrote: "Barbara, there are a lot of country shows around here in the summer, almost every village seems to have one. Often there are trade stands by knitting and spinning businesses, and knitters sell thei..."Theresa - I am most interested these days in the revival of local sheep breeds and wools. Although I am not a royal watcher, I have to give Prince Charles credit for the Campaign for Wool. In the past few years, apparently it has done loads to support and grow the British wool market. According to the wool guru Clara Parkes (I got her book as a christmas present from Secret Santa/Declan) "(in 2010)..."the Prince of Wales launched an ambitious Campaign for Wool, still ongoing, which has helped to transform not only wool but yarn in the UK. Where just four years ago people told me it was nearly impossible to find domestically sourced and spun wool, now you can. And not from one company, but several—with more entering the fray every year."
I think many knitters think about what they would name a yarn shop, but it's not an easy business.
The sheep are lovely too. I will keep my eye out for the wool if I get up to the NY Sheep and Wool Festival. It's my favorite because it's in October at the height of the autumn colors. If you haven't seen them, they are gorgeous. It's my favorite time of year. Hooray for the Prince. I have the impression that some of the charity work the royals do doesn't make a dent in things but it seems in his case, he is making a difference.
Barbara and Theresa, I would love to learn to knit. I always wanted to learn but my mother discouraged me. She hated knitting and couldn't imagine anyone would do it for pleasure. You guys make me want to find someone to teach me. When I was in Scotland one of the stops was at Lanark Mills, one of the very progressive work places at the time. We bought some lovely wool for our priest and she made me an amazing scarf and lots of socks for the homeless.
Susan - Lanark Mills is one of the places in Scotland I am dying to visit. Remind me the name of your town and I will look on knitter's social media (a site called Ravelry) to see what's near you.Theresa - I can imagine it is uplifting for people, especially those who are ill or "less fortunate" to have a visit from any of the Royals.There are too many "forgotten" people, and we should think of them year round, not just at the holidays. One of these days you should take a trip to this side of the pond. You already have lots of friends here on GRI.
Lanark Mills is well worth the visit. I was so impressed. I am in Willits, CA. Thanks.Theresa, you know you have friends in Baltimore, Boston, Iowa and CA. so that's a good start.
Well after finishing Good Omens and The End is Nigh within a day I've now gone for a 19th century classic to read -Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
I loved this when I was younger and its an interesting reread
I've started reading The Mangle Street murders.It's the first in a new series and sounded right up my street. It's a Victorian crime/mystery featuring a detective duo. But after 40 pages I'm not sure what I think. The main detective, Sidney Grice is obviously a parody of Sherlock Holmes as he has exceptional observation skills, clipped tones and little time for lesser mortals but rather than being amusing it's a little hammy so far. I'll persevere for now and see if it improves.
Susan wrote: "Lanark Mills is well worth the visit. I was so impressed. I am in Willits, CA. Thanks.Theresa, you know you have friends in Baltimore, Boston, Iowa and CA. so that's a good start."
Susan- I found someone who lives in Willits, CA. on our knitters social media forum with tens of thousands of users all over the world. Asked what opportunities there were nearby for someone who wants to learn to knit.
Great. Let me know when you know. Thanks for doing that for me, Barbara.
Susan wrote: "Great. Let me know when you know. Thanks for doing that for me, Barbara."I found out the place to go for classes is Heidi's Yarn Haven in Ukiah and I checked the webpage and they have classes, including for beginners:
http://www.heidisyarnhaven.com/
Allan, I was trolling around other groups and found this quote by a member. I thought you might get a kick out of it:"There are one or two settings I'm not keen on: I find the Spanish Civil War a very depressing background (I love C.J. Sansom's Shardlake books but couldn't deal with his Spanish stand-alone novel), and I hate reading about Ireland, particularly the north."
Sacrilege, Susan :-0 !! Almost my complete opposite in reading taste (aside from the fact that I enjoyed the first Shardlake myself)!
I take it you mean you were lurking in other groups btw? I can't see you as being the type to be posting unwarranted abusive comments anywhere, which is what I understand trolling to be. (just in case anyone reading the comment thinks that you are!)
Sorry. I mean I was looking at a mystery group to see if I liked the people. How can I be in a group that doesn't like to read about Ireland? It was just surprising.
Seems an odd exclusion on there behalves . Just be careful not to offend anyone in this the new mystery group ;-)
Theresa, I read that book on North Korea a couple of years ago myself-it was a tough read alright, but well worth it even from an education standpoint. I've read a few memoirs / histories written about the old East German regime-Stasiland by Anna Funder and The Berlin Wall by Frederick Taylor-which are similarly tough reads at times but are both well worth reading from a social history point of view, to see how far a regime will go to keep control of its population.
Stasiland
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Berlin Wall
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
Re NI, Theresa, look no further than Eureka Street, our quarterly read from last August. It's probably the best NI novel I've read, and the group loved it last year, a lot of people putting it into their best books of the year. It is a post ceasefire novel, and has some sad parts, but is very funny as well. My review was wiped when I lost my last account, but you can read Susan's and Barbara's great reviews on the book's page. :)
Eureka Street
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
I'll have a think about other NI books to read, and I know Barbara will have a few suggestions, but don't worry, we don't all wallow in resigned hopelessness over here-not all of the time anyway! ;)
I struggle with the older Irish authors myself. I find some of the works dreary to read so I can see why someone might make that comment.On the other hand there are some brilliant Irish authors that Alan mainly has put me onto. So maybe the person who made that comment just needs to try more contemporary works.
Theresa, if you order from Kenny's there is no postage charge. We did a Secret Santa last year and used that and another place so we could easily ship to Ireland, US, Australia, New Zealand, etc.Allan was not the only one to lose his profile. It happened to Jamie Lynn too. We all worried about her for awhile before she was able to get back to us. You will see some discussion threads that say they were started by a deleted member. That's Allan.
Seraphina, unfortunately some people just have blinders on. I can't understand why people don't want to read about Ireland, obviously. I struggle with some African novels like Little BEe because their content is so heart wrenching not because of their location.
Allan wrote: "Theresa, I read that book on North Korea a couple of years ago myself-it was a tough read alright, but well worth it even from an education standpoint. I've read a few memoirs / histories written..."
Perfect time to recommend Ian Sansom. :)
Theresa, you'll get Eureka Street for a penny plus £2.80 postage off third party sellers on Amazon, second hand. That's what I pay for most of the books that I buy off that site, and if you go for Good or above with the described condition, you'll always get a perfectly fine book.
I buy the used books off amazon too and have never had any problems Theresa, just check it's shipping from the Uk because the one time I didn't check too closely I got a copy from France. My French isn't quite good enough to read a full novel ;)
I get a few used off Amazon, Abe books and Awesome books. Never had anything bad really
One Christmas I bought 7 books,all hardback by Jasper Fforde second hand from Awesome books. With postage it all came to about 15 Euro. They arrived in immaculate condition and 3 were signed. The same copies would have been about 30 Euro each from a dealer signed. Not a bad second hand experience. I gave them all to Trelawn as presents.
I can confirm that they are fab :-) I spent the whole Christmas reading the Thursday Next and Nursery Crime series.
We'll make up for the old books and collectables here. We have quite a few 19th century books stored safely on the top shelves.
I envy your collection, Paul. I am desperate to see a cloth covered book that you talked about.Theresa, I know I am weird but I like old books. I know they have used and loved. They are a little like me.
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