Last book read

[Bag Lady]

Calories and Corsets - A History of Dieting over 2,000 years
by Louise Foxcroft

Reminded me of the Spirella corset company's building in Letchworth. Also reminded me of the career decision I made 25 years ago that led to me walking passed that building.

Half a grapefruit anyone?

[laurie]

The Sayers-Tried And Tested At The Highest Level
Well worth a read if you like true crime books

[kjblack]

Abandoned War and Peace after 800 pages.

The translation I was reading had some bewildering dialogue.

I guess I'd have to learn Russian to fully appreciate it.

[droopsnoot]

Reminded me of the Spirella corset company's building in Letchworth.

I remember going to a meeting with a supplier in that building, in the late eighties.

[Bag Lady]

Reminded me of the Spirella corset company's building in Letchworth.

I remember going to a meeting with a supplier in that building, in the late eighties.

Beautiful arts and crafts building. Only got to walk passed though.

[Bag Lady]

Abandoned War and Peace after 800 pages.

The translation I was reading had some bewildering dialogue.

I guess I'd have to learn Russian to fully appreciate it.

That must have been about two thirds of the way through? I've only managed 300 pages <hangs head in shame> I gave up because it felt like a brick, too heavy to hold for long and wouldn't lie open flat on a table because it was quite a compact version. I will return to it one day!

[Bag Lady]

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence

She's welcome to him!

[kjblack]

Abandoned War and Peace after 800 pages.

The translation I was reading had some bewildering dialogue.

I guess I'd have to learn Russian to fully appreciate it.

That must have been about two thirds of the way through? I've only managed 300 pages <hangs head in shame> I gave up because it felt like a brick, too heavy to hold for long and wouldn't lie open flat on a table because it was quite a compact version. I will return to it one day!

There was a time when I would never give up on a book once I started.

The turning point was a biography of George Bernard Shaw by Michael Holroyd (volume I) when he quoted Shaw's advice to, "Never read a book that bores you." Cue said biography flying across the room.

That said, I would like to finish War and Peace. Maybe after a third, and final, attempt at Ulysses.

[porkymeat]

Petersburg, 1805: glitzy party at Anna Scherer’s. Napoleon is on the march. Kuragins? Flashy, dodgy crowd, especially minx Helene. Rostovs? Nice, penniless Moscow clan, with headstrong son, Nikolai.

Gauche, thoughtful Pierre Bezukhov: a count’s bastard, super-rich (when dad dies) but adrift. Unhappily wed Andrey Bolkonsky’s the real warrior toff, but those dark nights of the soul! Pierre marries flighty Helene.

Catastrophe! Rows, affair, duel, break-up (and Helene’s bad end) guaranteed. Andrey, Nikolai confront Napoleon at Austerlitz: Russian debacle. Widowed, Andrey falls for blooming Natasha, who’s ensnared by married cad Anatol Kuragin.


Do-gooding Pierre tries to save the world: fails.

1812: here’s fateful Napoleon again, making history (but what is history?), invading Russia. Bloody slaughter at Borodino; Russia resists. Andrey’s injured, Pierre a fugitive, then PoW. Rostovs flee as Moscow fall.

Amid the misery, Natasha grows up fast; Pierre too, helped by saintly peasant. Nikolai rescues Maria, the dying Andrey’s sister. Napoleon retreats. Hurrah!

Liberated, Pierre bonds with Natasha; Nikolai and Maria spliced. Poor cousin Sonya, Nikolai’s long-suffering intended! Two new families: happily ever after?

Almost but what does it all (time, history, freedom, destiny) really mean?


Still too long.

[Bag Lady]

Petersburg, 1805: glitzy party at Anna Scherer’s. Napoleon is on the march. Kuragins? Flashy, dodgy crowd, especially minx Helene. Rostovs? Nice, penniless Moscow clan, with headstrong son, Nikolai.

Gauche, thoughtful Pierre Bezukhov: a count’s bastard, super-rich (when dad dies) but adrift. Unhappily wed Andrey Bolkonsky’s the real warrior toff, but those dark nights of the soul! Pierre marries flighty Helene.

Catastrophe! Rows, affair, duel, break-up (and Helene’s bad end) guaranteed. Andrey, Nikolai confront Napoleon at Austerlitz: Russian debacle. Widowed, Andrey falls for blooming Natasha, who’s ensnared by married cad Anatol Kuragin.


Do-gooding Pierre tries to save the world: fails.

1812: here’s fateful Napoleon again, making history (but what is history?), invading Russia. Bloody slaughter at Borodino; Russia resists. Andrey’s injured, Pierre a fugitive, then PoW. Rostovs flee as Moscow fall.

Amid the misery, Natasha grows up fast; Pierre too, helped by saintly peasant. Nikolai rescues Maria, the dying Andrey’s sister. Napoleon retreats. Hurrah!

Liberated, Pierre bonds with Natasha; Nikolai and Maria spliced. Poor cousin Sonya, Nikolai’s long-suffering intended! Two new families: happily ever after?

Almost but what does it all (time, history, freedom, destiny) really mean?


Still too long.

Any chance of an advance spoiler alert next time? I didn't give it up through boredom but because I couldn't carry it around.

[kjblack]

I see there's going to be a tv adaptation of War and Peace in 2016.

What's the likelihood that Pierre will be, "A massive, fat young man with a cropped head, in spectacles," as he's described by Tolstoy.

And, to Porkymeat, and to echo Bag Lady, how can you post on an internet forum and not observe the etiquette of issuing a "spoiler alert?"

[Bag Lady]

Abandoned War and Peace after 800 pages.

The translation I was reading had some bewildering dialogue.

I guess I'd have to learn Russian to fully appreciate it.

That must have been about two thirds of the way through? I've only managed 300 pages <hangs head in shame> I gave up because it felt like a brick, too heavy to hold for long and wouldn't lie open flat on a table because it was quite a compact version. I will return to it one day!

There was a time when I would never give up on a book once I started.

The turning point was a biography of George Bernard Shaw by Michael Holroyd (volume I) when he quoted Shaw's advice to, "Never read a book that bores you." Cue said biography flying across the room.

That said, I would like to finish War and Peace. Maybe after a third, and final, attempt at Ulysses.

I was given similar advice by a woman when I started work - give a book the first hundred pages but if it's not interesting you by then, give it up. I used to usually finish books back then because of the commute and other work travel. Now I wouldn't wait that long before throwing a book out. I've abandoned some in the first few pages. (Before anyone mentions it, yes, I know I shouldn't even pick up a book by Mr Cornwell let alone put myself through the agony of finishing it.) I do sometimes put a book to one side if it is not suiting my mood and return to it only to find me flying it through it later. I hate it when my children have been told by teachers that they have to finish a book before going onto another. People are able to watch several different TV serials without getting confused, why should books be different?


I'd go for War and Peace over Ulysses, think I'd have a better chance there!