Depression Forums
General => The Lounge => Topic started by: mrmoody on May 26, 2012, 10:10:10 AM
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Beetzart
KateG
mrmoody
Maddymoo
Munchroom
whiteadder
XLONELYX
Zaf
we are going alphabetically through the list and so Beetzart has chosen the first book choice which is Burmese Days by George Orwell(great choice I love Orwell)
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KateG you will be next,we have until the 23rd of June for the next choice. I will PM you a couple of days before on the 20th of June to ask you your choice and then announce it on the 23rd. Apologies to Beetzart for rushing him abit but thankfully he came up with a choice very fast. thanks to Beetzart for his choice of book
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Aces... I read and loved 1984, so am looking forward to his one :)
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Animal farm made me sad, didnt get on with 1984 so not sure what I'll think of this one - I should probably read both the others again as it was early teens when I read them both
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I have actually never read a George Orwell book, how un-cultured am I?!
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well Maddy after book club your going to be one of the most cultured people around lol!
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I don't know how much I can say really, but the briefest synopsis I can give is that it is tragic, and I'm sure people here will relate to the protagonist. I am looking forward to reading it again though.
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:) I'm looking forward to it :) I'm more of a Stephen King addict so it's about time I had a change!
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I've never read any of his books either should be interesting
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Will get to read one of his books I haven't read yet ;D
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Good choice Beetzart, am looking forward to reading that. Hopefully can get it on Kindle. Have read a few Orwells but not this one.
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Good choice Beetzart, am looking forward to reading that. Hopefully can get it on Kindle. Have read a few Orwells but not this one.
£7.99 on kindle
Maddy
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Cheaper as a paperback though - it really irritates me that kindle editions attract VAT >:(
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whats Kindle like? I dont like the look of it, I prefer the feel of a book. Maybe like Ipad and Iphone my reluctance to embrace new technology means I miss out. Cost is often prohibitive but also the fact that I often refuse to give in to the 'latest thing' when all seems about consumerism. Maybe my cynicism means I am missing out on some nifty gadgets
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Its definitely not the same as a real book but the aspect I like is that it stores a huge amount of books. I got an ipad to enable me to work at home but it has other uses ;)
Z xx
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I love my kindle for 2 reasons
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The screen is so easy on the eyes..like a real book
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No need to drive around looking for a book, or wait for it to arrive in the post. Just click and there it is.
:)
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I must admit, my friend who is a massive bookworm loves her kindle and keeps on at me to get one so that she can send me books.... but I love real books! I love the smell of the pages, the handling of them, I like how every book looks and feels different, I enjoy turnig the pages and trying not to drop them whilst I'm in the bath (although I suppose that aspect would be the same with a kindle...) I enjoy seeing my bookshelves stacked with books and groaning under the weight of them. I guess at 27, I'm pretty old fashioned. I've never owned an Apple product either...
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HERE! HERE! Munchroom
if you think your old fashioned for thnking that at 27 then that must make me really old fasioned cuz I'm only 24 and I agree with you 100%. i have no interest in the latest technology for books. It'll always be the real thing for me lol x
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I am with you on this, like the feel of a book etc. people with Kindle love them though so must be something good about them. Same with Apple products, people who own them love them. I refused to buy an iPod a few years ago and got Creative Zen instead. wouldnt be a sad loss though if bookshops and libraries were lost, what a sad loss for society
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I like both, I'm a terrible bookworm and my books probably number over a couple of hundred, I love secondhand bookshops too, I can lose myself in them for hours :)
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I hate to think of a world where there are no bookshops :( Losing libraries is bad enough!
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We still have one in our local market town but since its 'refurbishment' it seems to have half the books it used to :(
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I think many people don't appreciate libraries as much as they use too anymore. Especially the young generation they associate it with being boring, which is a shame. I've quite recently started taking my children to the library and have made it a weekly thing and they absolutly love it. We could easily sit there all day just reading lots of fun stories (mainly doggy stories) it's also great quality time you get with your kids. Now that's something a kindle can't give you.
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munchroom, if you're old fashioned then I'm an antique because I LOVE books, everything about them, just picking one up gives me a warm glow of holding something that isn't going to change and still give me pleasure.
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If I had to choose, I'd lose the kindle and keep the library. Take my kids there every week too and it never fails to disappoint. Kindle comes in handy for the esoteric stuff that neither the library nor the bookshop tend to have.
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I guess both have their good points and can co-exist happily. How is everyone getting on with the book? anyone finished yet?
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Struggling a bit but hoping I'll get into it better once I'm past the preliminaries
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I'm nowhere near finished! I'm finding it hard to get into at the mo, but il get there!
Maddy
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theres no rush, take your time even if you dont finish it
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Going to the library tomorrow :)
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dont worry I havent gotten my copy yet
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Library for me too, after last week's financial carryings on.
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hows everyone getting on with the book?
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Well I won't lie to you, I'm not even a chapter in.
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Once I got past the first chapter or two it got easier reading and I began to engage with the characters a bit more, nearly finished now
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dont worry Maddy, its a relaxed thing and if you cant finish a book or get on with thats no problemo!
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I'm going to persevere, I've never ever started a book then not finished, so I ain't starting now! Lol x
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The library was shut when I went on Thursday 8-) will hopefully be able to pick it up when I go in on Wednesday....
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Off to the library tomorrow too, am hoping they have it in stock
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Finished it last night :)
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Oh bloody hell Zaf! I best get a wriggle on!
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I took it with me to the vets and read quite a lot before our appointment before I took Jade in :)
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That's all I'm going to do tonight is read!
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finished book da other nyt
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Hi all, Alex has asked me to say that its time to start discussing this months book choice. Anyone want to make a start?
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Now not available from kindle store - title is under review :(
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I wonder why :(
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Picked it up yesterday for £1 at a bookbarn.... a place like heaven on earth! Its bery old and has no back cover mind! :P Will get reading tomorrow x
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That sounds a fab place :)
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That sounds a fab place :)
It really is Zaf... we go to one just outside of Bath, not sure how many there are dotted around the country. It is literally a barn with bookshelves and MILLIONS of books. Around 70% of them are quite old, whn I first went, I picked up a copy of the Hunchback of Notre Dame with a handwritten note dated Christmas 1899! And the best thing is ALL the books are £1.... wether they are classics over 100 years old with ornately carved bindings or an old windows pc manual from 1998! :P Its amazing....
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I'm going to have to see if we have one locally :)
Z x
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Not at our library either -hmmph
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Will happily lend mine if that would help?
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Oh knickers, my first bit of review has disappeared :(
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From what I can remember:
I took an almost immediate dislike to most of the characters, partly because they seemed to stand for what I already thought was disgusting about the we treated the people and resources of the countries we colonised. I also found it all rather over descriptive which I found irritating, I really struggled with the first couple of chapters but did keep going, more observations later......
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Posts I made yesterday have dissapeared too.... :-\
I'm on chapter 4 and am not really struggiling but I think I need to get into it a bit more efore I start to enjoy it. The racism and the way Flory treats his 'woman' is quite shocking though....
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i agree with you Zaf there wasn't one character that I liked in this book. The racsim in this book is eye opening to how black people were treated in them days, which was revolting. But what struck me was what the native charcters thought about themselves, how inferior they thought they were to white people.
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I realised there was a lot of inequality but it shocked me too just badly the native people were treated and thought of, really no better than animals. The book really highlighted and reinforced my pre-conceived opinions of the horrible misdeeds carried out during the process and years of colonialism.
Basically we raped and pillaged in a 'civilized' way imo :(
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Well to tell you the truth this was my first insight into the whole colonial rule with the British Empire I don't know much about the history of it all. But I can pretty much guess what was involved and the cruelity of it all.
What did ypu's think about Flory and Elizabeth relationship?
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I'd guess other countries that colonies were as bad but looking back on what we did disgusts me, I found the description of the shoot particularly awful as we slaughtered millions of animals for fun too.
I'd guess the relationship between Flory and Elizabeth was considered not unusual in the time period and setting, especially the aim to marry off female dependents to the most eligible man, but looking from a modern day perspective it struck me almost as desperation on both their parts.
I hated the description of the shooting of the dog too as it was incredibly realistic :(
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just letting you all know that Zaf is going to run the book-club from now on. I will still be a member and read the books and suggest one also when it comes to my turn. Thanks
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I'm hoping to collect Jade tomorrow and its the day to announce the new selection so I'm going to do it today in case I forget ::)
This is Kate's selection - Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (hope I've got that right Kate as some of my pm's have disappeared)
I guess we can continue discussing the last book too so wonder if there are any other comments?
Z x
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yeah my mate Steve says its a good book
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Yep that's right Zaf
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Thanks Kate xx
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I didn't get far enough with this book to comment really, I've found it difficult to get into (not just this either, could even read a Stephen King), and family stuff has conspired too. I'm going to keep at it til I finish it though, I think it will be one of those I keep dipping into. Hopefully I won't be as rubbish with the next one!
Maddy
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Its awful when we cant concentrate enough to read :(
Z xx
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Don't worry Maddy, me too - circumstances conspire against us sometimes
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Well I'm definitely into this one! It was hard for the first few pages but I'm sucked in now!
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Omg I havent started yet, got it but not sure where I put it ::)
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I've finished. I loved it!
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I cant made up my mind about it, about a third of a way in
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Just downloaded it on Kindle...gonna make a start tonight $%$
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It took me probably half of the book to come to grips with the dialect, but yeah, not my usual read but it was good!
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I'm just over half way through and just getting to the dialect too _)_
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I'm not really sure what I made of it, I read to the end expecting an explanation for the old Aunt's weird behaviour and to find out what wrong had been done to Flora's father.
I'm sure normal people didnt get bothered the bull was kept in a dark smelly shed or the horse appeared to be badly treated and I didnt understand the bits about parts of the cows' anatomy dropping off (or have I got that totally wrong?)
I'm not sure if the author was poking fun at the ways of strange country folk or the interfering Flora, one day I will read again (when I'm feeling better physically and mentally) to see if I get the same impressions.
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Those weird bits made me laugh, how can you not notice your cow's leg falling off, and then not know where it is?
I wanted an explanation as to the wrong that was done to flora's father, and what were her rights?
With regards to the mad aunt, I think she probably stumbled across two lovebirds getting up to rudeness in the woodshed, and simply learned to use that trauma to her advantage as he got older and saw how she could manipulate the family to get her own way
Maddy
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I thonk you're right about the aunt, possibly a bit batty too
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I'm trying not to read your replies as I'm about 1/3 through...like it so far...if only families still worked like that...taking one another in I mean
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Sorry whiteadder, I think it may have been expected in those days
Z x
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So far I think the main character is a bit of a snob.
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Could that be the way the class system worked in those days?
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Let us know when you've finished Whiteadder, then I'll explain why I picked it
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Just to let everybody know I will be taking my name off the list as I am really struggling to read books at the moment. Well I am reading but can only manage a few pages at a time.
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As I'm fairly useless at this Alex is going to take over again _)_
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Zaf you aint useless, your under alot of pressure. Just to let you all know I will be taking over again as Zaf is ill and I dont think its fair on me to be giving her extra pressure. Sorry I couldnt be around to fulfill my role but what with starting a new job, pressures at home with all the crap going off here and feeling very screwed up emotionally I didnt think it was right for me to run it. I will fullfill what I started as I only think thats fair. Let me check when the next book choice is due and whos up next and will PM them and sort it. Thanks to Zaf for being so kind(as she always is, great friend that she is to me) to have run it for a wee while.
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ok so its me. I would like you all to read The Road by Cormac Mcarthy. Warning though, this book maybe depressing to some and I am fore-warning you now that this is not an easy read. But please remember that it is fiction and remember to look outside your window and appreciate the beauty around us in the world. And each other