Thank you very much for your recommendations. I'll see if I can get hold of a copy of 1 of them for my reading challenge book No. 5.
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Moxie
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If you have a chance, start with "Just Kids." More accessible. And it makes a certain sense of "M Train." But either way, really, if you're open minded.
Thank you very much for the advice. I guess it will depend on what I read as reader's challenge book No. 4. a bestseller. If that is a heavy book I'll go for the simpler 1. If it's basic I might go for the heavier 1 for the challenge. I've no ideas on what to read for the best-seller because most of my books are classic, antique or non-fiction.
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I'm reading my reading challenge book #3 a banned book now which in my case is Lady Chatterley's lover. It was banned because of all the copulation which was a taboo subject at the time. I've just read chapter 1 & if it came out today it would have been banned for a different reason. The reason being it uses the terms cripple, crippled & invalid to refer to disabled people which was acceptable at the time but isn't now in the same way as reading about fornication wasn't acceptable at that time but is now.
I've just finished reading, reading challenge book #3, a banned book which was Lady Chatterley's Lover & I think it ends funny. It got me thinking if I should make up another ending which answers all questions left hanging. I had lots of ideas. Do other people do this or is it just me?
I was lost for reading challenge book #4 a best-seller but remembered when I worked in W.H.Smith's on reading materials & had to do charts (I remembered so easily as some of the humour chart titles really stuck in my mind, I still laugh at them now) so thought I'd go along to my local W.H.Smith's & see what they had on book charts. I bought the child by Fiona Barton which I started today. I'm on page 84 already.
I've finished reading, reading challenge book #4 a best-seller which was the child by Fiona Barton. I was going to read 1 of the recommended books I have in which were the "child called it" series of books or books by Hillary Mantell or Philippa Gregory but they were rather gruesome for me so I'm leaving it until tomorrow & seeing whether I can get hold of either of the books @Moxie very kindly recommended (thank you very much), Women's room by Marilyn French, the secret by Rhonda Byrne or any Penny Vincenzi.
Thank you very much for the recommendation. I'll write it on my list when I go to the book shop tomorrow & buy the book I've been recommended that I see rather than read the recommended books I've got which I'm too squeamish to read.
I went to the bookshop to look for a recommended book other than the Hilary Mantell's & Philippa Gregory's that I had bought after previous recommendations because I couldn't stomach any of the one's I had in as I'd just read page 1 of bring up the bodies yesterday & couldn't hack it how I was feeling. I couldn't find any of the recommendations I'd received but the sales assistant was very helpful & after I'd explained the reading challenge gave me 2 more recommendations. I picked the 1 she said was funny as I could do with a laugh at the moment. That was "Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine" so reading challenge book #5 is "Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine". She told me it was on buy 1 get 1 1/2 price. I'd seen a book called "the age of horses" about the history of the relationship between horses & humankind. I know some of it but just had to get the book as I absolutely adore horses hence the name, avi & sig (well for the sig I 1st spoke to Britbox on Camelot which I joined after Clay spoke to me a few times on twitter about it after he followed me as I told him what I thought about his horse pictures & I just sprung the fact I was a rhyme artist on him at the last minute & decided to join here as I like Britbox & Clay created the sig for me & shared it here & Britbox asked me if I'd like to use it here too & I answered yes but I didn't know how to so he very kindly added it for me) as if you couldn't guess. I'm looking forward to refreshing my memory about the history of the work horses have done for us in history.
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I've just finished Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine & think it's very funny in some places, sad in others, witty & touching. I'd definitely recommend it. I'm onto reading challenge book #6 & don't know whether to choose Villette because it's my favourite, Anton Chekhov's short stories but they'd put my reading challenge out of sync because they give me so many ideas I've just got to write, or Pride & Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Dr. Zhivago or Romeo & Juliet because I joined a literary classics book group & Gone with the wind (which I found the film to, too gory), Pride & Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Dr. Zhivago & Romeo & Juliet are this months choices. Wuthering Heights is too dark for me though.
Moxie
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If you've never read Pride and Prejudice, you're in for a treat! Or, even if you have, a lot of people, myself included, love revisiting it. Gone with The Wind is a page turner. But it is set during a war, so I don't know what to say as to how much of that you can tolerate.
I've got the original version of Pride & Prejudice. I like it when I've just read something heavy to relax me a little. It's a quick read for me as I managed to read 189 pages of it while doing the washing. I don't think Gone with the Wind would be suitable for me, then. I loved studying Romeo & Juliet in High School & I quite like Dr. Zhivago so I think it's going to be between Romeo & Juliet for a quick read, Pride & Prejudice for an easy but enjoyable read or Dr. Zhivago for a longer read. Well saying that, I've got the Mother of all headaches so Pride & Prejudice it is then. Thank you very much for your help.
Moxie
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It's your right to determine what you're too sensitive to read, but I think you cut yourself off from some very great literature, just because it challenges your sensibilities. I'm guessing that Lolita is off the table, although it is one of the most amazing works in English, in part specifically because it was written by a non-native speaker. Oh, right...the pedophilia. IMO, if you don't challenge yourself in your reading, you won't challenge yourself in your writing. Have you read John Banville? I think you'd like him.
Definitely. I agree. I've been trying my best to stop being so sensitive. I read abandoned & the "child called it" series of books as well as got started with "Wolf Hall". I got advised to give War & Peace & the Iliad by historian friends of mine another go which I might do at some point. I've just been feeling extra sensitive recently so don't think that this is the right time. I don't know, I've never tried reading it. I challenge myself in my reading by reading "En tour du monde dans quatre-vingts jours" by Jules Verne (original French version because he was French). I set myself writing challenges. It's just that all the things I'm in the process of writing are longer pieces. I've tried writing in blank verse & free verse sometimes. I'm also writing a long poem on life using quite a lot of perspectives in rhyme. I haven't. Thank you very much for the recommendation.
I've just finished "a history of ancient Britain" by Neil Oliver. It is very interesting, funny in areas & well-written & got me reading critically from page 1. It's based on his T.V. shows of the same name which I've got on D.V.D. & really enjoyed & there's more in the book. I'd definitely recommend it. I'm going to read his "a history of Scotland" as my next non-fiction book but am going to wait a few days before reading it as Scotland's history has been gory & I've been feeling a bit down recently so now I'm feeling better I'll give myself a bit of a break before reading it.
I've just finished revisiting Pride & Prejudice for reading challenge book #6. I enjoyed it & it perked me up a bit. I had to choose a book out of my comfort zone for reading challenge book #7. I gave myself choices from books I'd started reading but put down & didn't pick up again because they were too disturbing for me which were the plumed serpent, the Iliad, war & peace, the child called it series of books, Wolf Hall, bring up the bodies, the red Queen, the white Queen & the valley of horses. I've just started trying to read the valley of horses again. It's o.k. so far.
mrzz
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Just read a fantastic Portuguese book called (roughly translating) "Impossible victories in Portugal's History", that collects historical situations were Portuguese people succeeded against all odds. The historical research is quite careful. Unfortunately the chance of it being translated are small, but the stories about the military victories of Nuno Alvares Pereira are fantastic, as well as others like the first aerial crossing of the southern Atlantic. The Lindbergh flight is more known, but the Portuguese flight is quite more important technically because they invented and used for the first time aerial navigation techniques -- they invented the "artificial horizon". All in all a nice collection of quite interesting stories.
That sounds fascinating. It actually makes me feel like trying to learn your language again if I could get hold of a copy but then again I don't see why I shouldn't. It's similar to Spanish in places & I learnt enough Spanish for my holidays. I guess if I pushed myself a bit I could learn even more & learn some of your language too. English is supposed to be the hardest language to learn but I can't see where.
