Puzzlebrains

Just in case anyone's missed this...

https://www.facebook.com/SelkiePact/pho ... =1&theater

By our very own Fraggle.

and I can thoroughly recommend it - I proofread it for her. Recommended for everyone aged 9+

Excellent. I fall into that category!

OK you lot...

I'm just about to finally get round to reading Jane Eyre. I seem to recall that a couple of you (ages ago) said that it is your all time favourite book. Anything in particular that I should look out for / consider as I read it? Any subtleties which I'm likely to miss?

Jane Eyre is a terrific book. The main problem with it is that it starts with her unhappy childhood, which can be a bit off-putting and depressing, so you need to persist with that in order to move on.
This is one of my problems with the way that literature is often dealt with at school, because of the belief that children can only be introduced to adult literature if they are given books about children. Thus we were given Dickens "Great Expectations" which is quite frightening, and "David Copperfield" which is less bad but still a bit odd. The same goes for Jane Eyre - if you only know it through being given the section about her childhood, it is enough to put you off picking it up again to read the rest!
But it is a cracker of a story. Watch for the remarkable development of Jane herself as a character......

I read quite a lot of Dickens as a teenager, David Copperfield, Nicholas Nicholby, Bleak House, Dombey and Sons etc. and really enjoyed them. I started Little Dorrit and was bored out of my mind. I tried again with it years later and still couldn't read it, and I have never read another since. I was forced to read Our Mutual Friend when I was about 12 by my mother, and I think I was too young, I just didn't get into it at all, but she raved about how wonderful it was, and we read Great Expectations at school, but I'm not sure we finished it. They very often didn't get to the end of books in English Literature, and once we handed the books in I never got to find out the ending! Reading ahead just made the lessons even more tedious than they already were, as we read aloud in class, and some of the poorer readers stumbled and struggled through them, making the whole process just painful. Jane Eyre was a book we read at school, and I have read it since, when I was going through a Bronte phase, but I wouldn't say it was a particular favourite. Northanger Abbey is one of my favourite books.

I studied Jane Eyre for O level and really enjoyed it. And while the bit about her childhood was sad I didn't find it off-putting at all. I suppose in some ways it was the easiest part to identify with at that age.
But having read it about three times when I was studying it I don't think I've been back to it since.

Now, you see, I've read it more times than I can remember (literally, I have no idea how many it actually is.) I'm not sure I can give you any pointers Bunnylump, but if you're looking for a good TV adaptation, then I'd recommend the most recent BBC one with Ruth Wilson as the one that stays most true to the book.

Okey dokey, thank you folks. I'll let you know how I get on.

Just in case anyone's NOT read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, then you should, really.

When I write my masterpiece, you should definitely read it.

Well, we'll look forward to that with bated breath!

I read it earlier this year and loved it.

EDIT: Eleanor Oliphant, not Sparkout's masterpiece!

Well, we'll all look forward to that. I wonder what it will be called? "The Mystery of the Chicken Poo Dweller"?

Nope, that's been vetoed.
I can't let on the actual title yet, but working reference includes the word "doom".
Oh, be prepared to shed a tear when you read the dedications page.

Bunnylump wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:04 am

Just in case anyone's NOT read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, then you should, really.

On that recommendation I have just started it.

I've just finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I can't remember when I was last moved so much by a book. It takes place in Germany during the second world war but is mainly about a young girl sent to live with a foster family in a small town near Munich. It is narrated however by Death but this is a gentle caring death so the effect is quite comforting.

That sounds a bit different!

Anyone got any recommendations for a good book?

I recently read "In Order to Live" by Yeonmi Park which is about a young girl's escape from North Korea. Obviously not fiction but very interesting and thought-provoking. I joined the local U3A in September and a book club group within that and it was the third book we have read. It was good to be able to discuss it afterwards.

Another book I enjoyed recently was "The Five People you meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. It's about a chap who was a technical maintenance guy for an American pier funfair and five people, not all of whom he knew, but either he had an effect on their lives or they touched in a significant way on his life.

Oh, thank you, shall investigate!!