I ♥ BOOKS - Bill Bryson

I got my English teacher nerd on this week.  I read Bill Bryson's Shakespeare. 

Bill Bryson can make some of the most boring and most technical stuff on this planet understandable, so I was looking forward to reading his biography.  It was pretty cool!

Apparently so much of what I know about Shakespeare really is just stuff that people have made up or surmised. I loved when Bryson admitted that the reason why is book was 'so slender' was because the aim was to 'see how much of Shakespeare we can know, really know' (2009, p.21).

We have a few other of his books, I like his language studies, and C likes his science and travel stuff.

With holidays coming up, I'll have more time to devote to reading - but I'll also want to sew and spend time chatting, maybe watching TV shows,,, and possibly some house work.

I ♥ BOOKS - Phryne Fisher

 This episode of I ♥ BOOKS is brought to you buy my love of murder mystery series which are aired mostly on the ABC.

I love them. Midsommer, Gill Mayo,,, Phryne Fisher.

But I don't tend to watch TV. I normally get a hold of the hold entire series (on DVD right?) and try in watch it all in one sitting.  There's a meme about that, I'll go find it...

This is totally true.


So that's what I did with Phryne Fisher's Murder Mysteries. I love it.  Even more so when I ventured into civilization over the Christmas holidays and bought the first book in the series.  When I went to Brisvegas the other week I bought the next 5.  Note though, that book stores are notorious for not having the books available that you actually need - so I did have to go searching.

I have only read the first 3 in the series so far. I'm keeping the others for later.

Basically:
Phryne Fisher arrives in Australia, she gets a little bored and gets involved with all sorts of adventures which takes her interest so she begins her own private investigator practice.  It's set in the 1920s, she's a bit of flapper and a vixen. I also find her a little conceited.  

What do I love?
I love the characters, the times, the clothing descriptions, the quaint dialect, the stories are interesting and can be pretty gritty.

I'm not one of those people that compares the novel to the movie but I do like that for the most part the stories are basically the same - even sometimes down to the costumes.

What don't I love?
The plot is an intertwining of several things that are going on, too coincidentally at times and you can often tell what is going to happen in the end pretty early on - possibly not helped by the fact that I have seen the TV shows. Errors in editing - small but enough to catch my attention - novels that I pay for should be perfect.

In case you would like to know more:

The website of the fabulous Phryne Fisher

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries - ABC TV

I ♥ BOOKS

Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Title: The Secret Garden
How: Kindle

To be honest, that isn't the cover of my book.  Mine was the free version from Amazon, the one that converted by volunteers. I love these free ones, I love those volunteers.

These sorts of books make me feel warm and cozy and wish for a more simpler life. The children are true, the food is good, you can almost smell the dirt.

There is a little bit of religious stuff which I've now found out is Christian Science thanks to Wikipedia. But it's not in your face - I remember what I was like when I was their age (not too long ago hehe) and we were making up 'religions' and running around in the bush telling magic stories. And besides which it's historical ideology. But I do feel that the author's own personal voice becomes stronger during this section rather then the rest of the novel, if that makes sense. Who am I to judge though - I haven't written a novel - yet.

But it's so lovely. I want to marry Dickon when he grows up, that or steal his animals.  I want to play with the ivory elephants and find my own secret garden. I so would have loved exploring that house.

I ♥ BOOKS

Author: Miranda Hart
Title: Is It Just Me?
How: Paperback

C and I like to watch QI. Have you seen it? It's a group of comedians getting asked impossible trivia questions. I have my favourite guest comedians, that includes Miranda Hart.

At some stage while I was 'People who liked this also liked' hopping IMDb I saw that she had her own TV series. So I DL it and watched the whole lot in a day. I then made C watch it all with me during the week.

So when I saw her autobiographical book in Dymocks a few weeks ago I swopped it up, made fantastical fish faces of awe, and promplty bought it.

I am trying to pace myself with this - because as shown from above experience I tend to power watch/read anything I love.  So far I have read 3 chapters. In the first two I managed not to laugh our loud, I just made little squirty farty noises as I tried to keep the laugh in,,, but by the third I couldn't help myself.

If you like her TV show then you will like the novel - it's more of the same really.

Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Title: Howl's Moving Castle
How: Kindle

I do love the anime of this novel, I watch it a lot.  I knew it was based on a book, but I swear the last time I looked on Amazon it wasn't there. Last night it was.

I stayed up power reading last time - I didn't finish the novel because I was too sleepy and I know when I have to stop.  See - not addicted.

Ohhhh, but I love this novel.  The movie really reflected so far of what I have read - it 'feels' the same and I love the authors 'voice'. It's dainty, mystical and amusing.