I haven’t come across Flora Lea or Three Apples, but think I would love both. I adored Miss Mole. I have also struggled to be a DNFer in the past but I am increasingly of the mind that time is too short to plough through a book I’m not enjoying…
I think you would, Angie! Both of them were thoroughly enjoyable..and Miss Mole!! Ah, clutch-to-my-bosom magnificent!
DNFing certainly doesn't come naturally to me -- must be the years of slogging through books I wasn't enjoying in high school and university lol -- but nowadays, I see how inversely proportional is the relationship between time to read and the height of my TBR and WTR pile and..well..as you say, time is short! xo
I haven’t read any fiction for years, I couldn’t find anything that I wanted to read in the library so I stopped looking. I read non-fiction these days. Have just finished Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein and am now reading the Wild Silence by Raynor Winn. I read about a book a month sometimes two so that is my September reading there!
Oh wow, I can't imagine my world without fiction! Then again, it's kind of my job so....lol. I've just started the most wonderful book The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger...just brilliant. Is that the second or third book by Raynor Winn? I've read the second one but can't remember what it was called....
I remember reading Hemingway's 'The Old Man and The Sea' from my parents bookshelf at age 14, and halfway in realising that I felt bored beyond belief, and, thinking about my boredom (because I was an avid reader), it occurred to me that NOTHING in this book was in the least relatable to me. I wasn't an old man, I lived far from the sea which I had visited only once and gotten seasick on the ferry, and all this waiting for something to happen... And right then and there I arrived at a decision that I never regretted to this day, and this day is 50 years later: I shut the book and searched for another one that might engage me more.
Such wisdom in this! Life really is too short to read uninteresting (to us) books!
I'm unlikely to be a person who enjoys modern 'Literature' - the trend towards unlikeable characters and a preoccupation with gloom and despair and how horrible humans can be to one another just doesn't interest me. I used to imagine that was a failing on my part but have since acknowledged that's just bullshit. :) xo
Oh goody! I will be looking for both Miss Mole and Three Apples Fell Out of the Sky, the latter having particular appeal because I am Armenian, and my paternal grandparents were from a small village that might have been a lot like the one in the book (at least they they were until the Turks forced them out in the genocide of 1923.)
I had that Patti Henry book on my kindle from the library but didn’t get to read it before it came due and they sucked it back into the digital stacks. I will try again, it sounds quite good.
And yes to not finishing. I used to persevere until the end, but no more. Life is too short. Part of my general philosophy that, at age @70, there’s not time to waste on things (including books) that don’t feed my soul.
Oh, how perfect, Becca! I believe the author is Armenian herself and that the book is a translation. Part of the story references war and genocide which I'm guessing covers the Turkish assault. It really is a delightful book, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Same for Flora Lea and Miss Mole.
I love that philosophy....I think it's one we can adopt at any age. xo
I shall be on the look out for Three Apples, which sounds exactly like the read I'm searching for. Thank you for the recommendation.
This month I started, DNF, returned to the library, and am now afflicted by DNF remorse about, Anderby Wold by Winifred Holtby, of South Riding fame. I'm not sure I have it a chance. I may dash back and rescue it.
I then commenced a quest which has been lying in wait for a while. My late mother adored John Galsworthy's "The Forsyte Saga," and had the whole set, beautifully bound. I received nothing of my parents, my siblings stole everything. Earlier this year, I discovered the first five, in a charity shop. They are not beautiful. They are definitely the Utility / Book Club version, and are well read. However, the compact size, thin pages, and worn appearance spoke to me almost as much as Paddy's posthumous recommendation. So I began, with "A Man of Property."
It's not for the faint heated. I'll update you next year!
Ah, DNF remorse…it’s a thing. Can’t say I’ve ever experienced it - I never look back…then again, I’m a lot more cavalier with my DNFing these days, it seems possible I may run afoul of my decisions. Go and get the book…give it another go, just to be sure. ;)
I’m late to the book-as-object appreciation camp, previously just wanting to get my mitts on the text and not being bothered what the book(s) looked like….but now the idea of gorgeous editions is very appealing so that beautiful set of your mum’s beloved books being out of your reach makes me sad. Still, it’s a wonderful thing to have embarked upon reading the Saga that she loved so much. I’ll be waiting to hear how you get on ;)
I haven’t come across Flora Lea or Three Apples, but think I would love both. I adored Miss Mole. I have also struggled to be a DNFer in the past but I am increasingly of the mind that time is too short to plough through a book I’m not enjoying…
I think you would, Angie! Both of them were thoroughly enjoyable..and Miss Mole!! Ah, clutch-to-my-bosom magnificent!
DNFing certainly doesn't come naturally to me -- must be the years of slogging through books I wasn't enjoying in high school and university lol -- but nowadays, I see how inversely proportional is the relationship between time to read and the height of my TBR and WTR pile and..well..as you say, time is short! xo
I haven’t read any fiction for years, I couldn’t find anything that I wanted to read in the library so I stopped looking. I read non-fiction these days. Have just finished Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein and am now reading the Wild Silence by Raynor Winn. I read about a book a month sometimes two so that is my September reading there!
Oh wow, I can't imagine my world without fiction! Then again, it's kind of my job so....lol. I've just started the most wonderful book The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger...just brilliant. Is that the second or third book by Raynor Winn? I've read the second one but can't remember what it was called....
Wild Silence is her second book, Landlines is her third I am reading that one now so am on a bit of a roll this month onto my third book!
I remember reading Hemingway's 'The Old Man and The Sea' from my parents bookshelf at age 14, and halfway in realising that I felt bored beyond belief, and, thinking about my boredom (because I was an avid reader), it occurred to me that NOTHING in this book was in the least relatable to me. I wasn't an old man, I lived far from the sea which I had visited only once and gotten seasick on the ferry, and all this waiting for something to happen... And right then and there I arrived at a decision that I never regretted to this day, and this day is 50 years later: I shut the book and searched for another one that might engage me more.
Life is too short.
Such wisdom in this! Life really is too short to read uninteresting (to us) books!
I'm unlikely to be a person who enjoys modern 'Literature' - the trend towards unlikeable characters and a preoccupation with gloom and despair and how horrible humans can be to one another just doesn't interest me. I used to imagine that was a failing on my part but have since acknowledged that's just bullshit. :) xo
Absobloodylutely no failing on your part, Melanie. Life's too short for preposterous thoughts like this.
Oh goody! I will be looking for both Miss Mole and Three Apples Fell Out of the Sky, the latter having particular appeal because I am Armenian, and my paternal grandparents were from a small village that might have been a lot like the one in the book (at least they they were until the Turks forced them out in the genocide of 1923.)
I had that Patti Henry book on my kindle from the library but didn’t get to read it before it came due and they sucked it back into the digital stacks. I will try again, it sounds quite good.
And yes to not finishing. I used to persevere until the end, but no more. Life is too short. Part of my general philosophy that, at age @70, there’s not time to waste on things (including books) that don’t feed my soul.
Oh, how perfect, Becca! I believe the author is Armenian herself and that the book is a translation. Part of the story references war and genocide which I'm guessing covers the Turkish assault. It really is a delightful book, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Same for Flora Lea and Miss Mole.
I love that philosophy....I think it's one we can adopt at any age. xo
I shall be on the look out for Three Apples, which sounds exactly like the read I'm searching for. Thank you for the recommendation.
This month I started, DNF, returned to the library, and am now afflicted by DNF remorse about, Anderby Wold by Winifred Holtby, of South Riding fame. I'm not sure I have it a chance. I may dash back and rescue it.
I then commenced a quest which has been lying in wait for a while. My late mother adored John Galsworthy's "The Forsyte Saga," and had the whole set, beautifully bound. I received nothing of my parents, my siblings stole everything. Earlier this year, I discovered the first five, in a charity shop. They are not beautiful. They are definitely the Utility / Book Club version, and are well read. However, the compact size, thin pages, and worn appearance spoke to me almost as much as Paddy's posthumous recommendation. So I began, with "A Man of Property."
It's not for the faint heated. I'll update you next year!
Ah, DNF remorse…it’s a thing. Can’t say I’ve ever experienced it - I never look back…then again, I’m a lot more cavalier with my DNFing these days, it seems possible I may run afoul of my decisions. Go and get the book…give it another go, just to be sure. ;)
I’m late to the book-as-object appreciation camp, previously just wanting to get my mitts on the text and not being bothered what the book(s) looked like….but now the idea of gorgeous editions is very appealing so that beautiful set of your mum’s beloved books being out of your reach makes me sad. Still, it’s a wonderful thing to have embarked upon reading the Saga that she loved so much. I’ll be waiting to hear how you get on ;)