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Post by Tim on Jun 1, 2019 17:08:28 GMT -5
Of course, the Dickens story that I'm most familiar with is A Christmas Carol
Other British authors I've read.
I've read some of H.G Well's novels, The Time Machine, The Island Of Doctor Moreau, War Of The Worlds, and First Men In The Moon (of course, I've seen the film versions too).
Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (ditto with movie versions).
Last, but not least The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (movies too).
Have you ladies read any of these?
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Post by ladyfiaran22 on Jun 1, 2019 20:43:05 GMT -5
I'm reading a biography of Judy Garland, her family was messed up. Her mother was obsessed with Judy becoming the star she never was and her father had a thing for underage boys, the parents could barely stand each other. Plus the mom got her hooked on pills as a kid and the studio didn't care how many pills she took as long as Judy did her films.
My favorite British author is Philippa Gregory, especially her Cousins' War series about the Plantagenets. I think the Tudors are slightly overrated and one doesn't see many novels about Plantagenet England, her novels are actually the reason why I became interested in that time period and eventually led me to become a Ricardian.
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Post by Melinda Halliwell on Jun 2, 2019 4:06:57 GMT -5
Yeah, the Cousins War series by Phillipa Gregory features the White Queen (Elizabeth Woodville) and the White Princess her daughter also named (Elizabeth Of York) which as I said previously I've watched but not read yet obviously. www.goodreads.com/series/55424-the-cousins-war
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Post by nimue on Jun 2, 2019 13:55:53 GMT -5
Yeah, the Cousins War series by Phillipa Gregory features the White Queen (Elizabeth Woodville) and the White Princess her daughter also named (Elizabeth Of York) which as I said previously I've watched but not read yet obviously. www.goodreads.com/series/55424-the-cousins-war I've read the White Queen, enjoyed it, and do plan on (eventually!) reading the rest... Also enjoyed the TV show.
Phillipa Gregory is a good writer, although she does take quite a few liberties (I didn't care for her version of Anne Boleyn, "The Other Boleyn Girl", for example).
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Post by ladyfiaran22 on Jun 10, 2019 17:54:03 GMT -5
I'm reading the second book in the Blood of Gods and Heroes series by Eleanor Herman, Empire of Dust: www.goodreads.com/book/show/27408710-empire-of-dustIt's a YA fantasy series set in Macedonia and it involves an evil secret society, Alexander the Great and his sisters. It's actually very good, I normally read YA fiction but it's got a lot of action and I love ancient Greece so I'm digging it.
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Post by nimue on Jun 15, 2019 13:19:39 GMT -5
I am also reading a fantasy novel right now: "The Shadow Rising", by Robert Jordan. It is the fourth book in The Wheel of Time series. Here is a brief summary of the book on Goodreads: "The seals of Shayol Ghul are weak now, and the Dark One reaches out. The Shadow is rising to cover humankind. In Tar Valon, Min sees portents of hideous doom. Will the White Tower itself be broken? In the Two Rivers, the Whitecloaks ride in pursuit of a man with golden eyes, and in pursuit of the Dragon Reborn. In Cantorin, among the Sea Folk, High Lady Suroth plans the return of the Seanchan armies to the mainland. In the Stone of Tear, the Lord Dragon considers his next move. It will be something no one expects, not the Black Ajah, not Tairen nobles, not Aes Sedai, not Egwene or Elayne or Nynaeve. Against the Shadow rising stands the Dragon Reborn....."
The Wheel of Time is a great fantasy series, with a very rich mythology, and a great storyline, although the characters can be a bit annoying.
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Post by Melinda Halliwell on Jun 22, 2019 5:30:05 GMT -5
Man, that poor woman's life. Such a pity.
Glad things are not as bad now in that area then.
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Post by ladyfiaran22 on Jun 23, 2019 10:48:27 GMT -5
Plus many of the scandals Clara Bow was involved in weren't her fault. One of them was a doctor who didn't tell her he was married and separated from his wife when they started dating and then blackmailed her, another was her personal assistant who was embezzling money from her. The assistant then told the jury during the trial all sorts of lies about how Clara gambled and drank too much and how she had sex with lots of guys, including a whole football team which destroyed her reputation. On top of that, sound movies had started and she had a Brooklyn accent which didn't square with her sex symbol image and she developed horrible stage fright because of that.
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Post by Melinda Halliwell on Jun 23, 2019 15:15:16 GMT -5
Sorry to say this but I'm glad none of us were born during that time period then.
Clara's trial reminds me of Anne Boleyn's when she was accused of adultery which wasn't true because Henry wanted rid of her so he could marry Jane Seymour of course.
The lies and fake testimonies said about her were clearly orchestrated by the nobles either tortured or paid handsomely to do so and Anne's ladies in waiting fearful for their head's if they said the wrong thing.
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Post by nimue on Jun 23, 2019 15:23:41 GMT -5
I agree, things were really bad back then for women; progress has definitely been made, but we've still got quite a way to go! (especially considering some countries where women have virtually no rights at all).
I am currently reading Big Little Lies, by Liane Moriarty. Here is the summary on Goodreads: "Perfect family, perfect house, perfect life; Jane, Madeline and Celeste have it all . . . or do they? They are about to find out just how easy it is for one little lie to spiral out of control..."
There is a TV show, but so far the book is very good, very thrilling, the characters are interesting and well-written... Definitely recommend it! It's a quick-read.
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Post by Tim on Jun 23, 2019 17:28:42 GMT -5
No, not this Jane Seymour, this one! Although that is where the actor got her name from, her real name is Joyce Frankenberg.
At least Clara didn't get her head chopped off!
When you get done, Jennifer, post your thoughts on what you thought of the book.
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Post by nimue on Jul 1, 2019 12:06:34 GMT -5
So, lately my reading has been quite good
I finished "Big Little Lies" last week: very good, well-fleshed out characters with interesting secrets, an unexpected ending (at least for me, I can never predict these things!) a real page turner
Next, I read "A Room of One's Own", by Virginia Woolf: it's a extended essay on which she talks about the history of literature and women, and where she basically argues that in order to write, all a woman needs is "five hundred pounds a year, and a room of her own"; this actually makes sense when you think about how in the past women had to take care of the house, their husbands and kids, had no proper education, no time for themselves, therefore no time for creating anything; writing (and any type of art) is something you need time and solitude to work on, which most women didn't have... She makes a lot of interesting points that make sense. A must-read for anyone interested in Feminism and/or Literature
And lastly, I am currently reading "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", by H.P Lovecraft. This is a re-read, and was basically my introduction to Lovecraft.
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Post by Tim on Jul 2, 2019 17:00:44 GMT -5
Considering the time she was alive, that is not surprising. According to Wikipedia, she suffered mental illness (which was not properly understood in those days) and she committed suicide by drowning in 1941.
Ah, excellent, a Lovecraft story. I have that one in my collection, of course They made a good movie adaptation of this one called The Resurrection, in 1991.
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Post by nimue on Jul 3, 2019 15:26:47 GMT -5
If there's a movie version, I'll definitely try and check it out! Although I have noticed that Lovecraft is incredibly difficult to adapt on screen: most adaptations will use the general themes or ideas of his stories, maybe certain characters and that's it...
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Post by Tim on Jul 3, 2019 18:01:54 GMT -5
If there's a movie version, I'll definitely try and check it out! Although I have noticed that Lovecraft is incredibly difficult to adapt on screen: most adaptations will use the general themes or ideas of his stories, maybe certain characters and that's it...
The trouble is, IMO, that he tends to write his stories in first person narrative. In most cases, said narrator is not even given a name.
Of course, when adapting such a character to the big screen, they have to be named.
Also, there is the case of, as TV Tropes says, Science Marches On. It was easy to depict an alien city in Antarctica in the early 1930's (The Mountains Of Madness) that it would be today, when there are countless satellites orbiting the Earth.
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