Reading

Lorna · May 5, 2011, 1:41pm

Me again.

An amusing add on. Golding received the Nobel Prize for Literature , a Knighthood and the Booker prize for 'Rites of Passage' in 1988. Lord Snowdon, doing the honours behind the camera, praised him for 'Lord of the Rings' !
Well, he got the 'Lord' bit right.

Lorna · May 6, 2011, 11:52pm

Hi Readers,
I'm working hard on not letting this thread slip away ---- page 6 tonight.

Do you like howlers? Here's a few to make you smile.

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Seen in 'Robinson Crusoe'.
There's a bit where our hero takes off his clothes, swims out to the wreck of his ship and . . . . . . . . fills his pockets with useful items. . . . . . . .

In one of Agatha Christie's books , the narrator finds himself standing next to an 'elderly young lady'

In the Penguin version of 'Tom Jones'. Sophia arrives at an inn where Tom is upstairs in bed with a wrench.

Any more literary bloomers , send them in.

Happy reading.

ncn · May 7, 2011, 3:47am

Bloomers or blunders seem to go back in time and are endless.

An honest friar, who compiled a church history had placed in the class of ecclesiastical writers, Guarini, the Italian poet; this arose from a most risible blunder: on the faith of the title of his celebrated amorous pastoral, Il Pastor Fido, “The Faithful Shepherd,” our good father imagined that the character of a curate, vicar, or bishop, was represented in this work.

A blunder has been recorded of the monks in the dark ages, which was likely enough to happen when their ignorance was so dense. A rector of a parish going to law with his parishioners about paving the church, quoted this authority from St. Peter—Paveant illi, non paveam ego; which he construed, They are to pave the church, not I. This was allowed to be good law by a judge, himself an ecclesiastic too!

But the most singular blunder was probably produced by the ingenious “Hermippus Redivivus” of Dr. Campbell, a curious banter on the hermetic philosophy, and the universal medicine; but the grave irony is so closely kept up throughout this admirable treatise, that it deceived for a length of time the most learned of that day. His notion of the art of prolonging life, by inhaling the breath of young women, was eagerly credited. A physician, who himself had composed a treatise on health, was so influenced by it, that he actually took lodgings at a female boarding-school, that he might never be without a constant supply of the breath of young ladies.

PS.
Now at 0446 I should be in bed!

annebernadette · May 7, 2011, 4:28am

I cannot personally vouch for these, but...

In the Irish Statue Book:
"An Act That The King's Officers may travel by sea from one place to another within the land of Ireland"

An English Act of Parliament:
"The new gaol is to be built from the materials of the old one, and the prisoners to remain in the latter till the former is ready"

Lorna · May 7, 2011, 9:59am

Thanks Abd and ncn.

I've got the bug now, here's more !

The following are from English exam papers written in the 1930's ! And we're concerned with standards in the 2000's !

Milton was a poet who wrote 'Paradise Lost.' When his wife died, he wrote 'Paradise Regained'

Spoonerism - a love affair.

And from the Bible;

Q. What did the Israelites do after crossing the Dead Sea ?
A. They dried themselves.

My teacher taught us how to interrupt poetry.

George Idiot wrote Silas Marner.

In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Sir Toby was Olivia's uncle, but otherwise he was no relation.

There'll be more ! Happy reading.

annebernadette · May 7, 2011, 1:22pm

"One of the great things about books is sometimes there are fantastic pictures"

George W Bush

ncn · May 8, 2011, 1:43am

F in Exams: The Funniest Test Paper Blunders

by Richard Benson

I must for all, full of laughs!
.......................
Now a bit off topic at the moment but I was in Oxford on Saturday and found the £2 book shop. You can imagine,; baited breath as I strolled in!

Came away with;
"Beckett Remembering" Edited by James & Elizabth Knowlson.

"Dali Lama" written by Mayank Chhaya.
The reveling life story and his struggle for Tibet.
Last but not least ,

"Stephen Citron's",
Sondheim & LLoyd-Webber.
All for the princely sum of £6!

Now that's what I call a bargain.

But wait; further up the road at a small book store, my best find of the day.
A copy of Table talk - Being The Discourses of John Seldon.First published in 1689 but this copy in immaculate condition 1906.
It smells old , it feels old , it feels wonderful!
A small book of only 157 pages. All for the price of £6.

Oh, what a day, just now being the owner of it was my reward.
How many hands have touched those pages,liked or disliked it?
Frankly you can keep your "Kindle".
I want to touch and feel the script as I read.
I want a true book that a tree sacrificed it's life for where,
someone poured their thoughts on too its pages.

Happy reading to you all.

Lorna · May 8, 2011, 8:15pm

Hi ,
Just to keep the Reading thread in view and not dropping back to page 14.
Also to show that girls' make mistakes too . Here's a schoolgirl howler this time !

The greatest writer of the Renaissance was William Shakespeare. He was born in 1564, supposedly on his birthday. He never mad much money and is famous only because of his plays.
He wrote tragedies, comedies and hysterectomies. All in the Islamic pentameter.
Romeo and Juliet are an example of a heroic couplet.
Romeo's last wish was to be laid by Juliet.

I think that's enough,
Happy reading !

JT · May 9, 2011, 7:02am

This is an interesting thread - and how I pity those who have lost the will to read. I couldn't have got through the last 15 years since diagnosis without it. A question: can you think of any novels that feature a character with PD? I know of very few, apart from the deeply discouraging THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathon Franzen - but there's Michael Robotham's crime fiction series with, as hero, a professor of psychology who has PD. Any more...........?

annebernadette · May 9, 2011, 7:32am

JT, it honestly had never occured to me to either choose to read a book because it contains a character who has PD, or to look out for such a character whilst reading.

carolineb211 · May 9, 2011, 6:32pm

I have just ordered one of Michael Robotham's books on Amazon. I love to read but didn;t know anything about a main character with PD. Can't wait

ncn · May 9, 2011, 11:11pm

Have to say I agree with A/B on this one , I've never chossen a book to read because character in story has PD.

Great books seep into our lives as we read them. If we let them, books return to us again and again, offering solace or wisdom. They stand as reflections of the great influences of the past, but also as signposts for the future. Through us--through the way they affect our lives and our reading--the great works of literature will continue to mark us and become an inextricable part of the stories we must tell...

Some people like films and television because there is a physical and not mental image. I prefer mental images,yet at the same time enjoy films.
Personally anything that has the power to stimulate you intellectually is up my street. That can be done with any type of book.

Even , Marcus Tullius Cicero (Ancient Roman Lawyer, Writer, Scholar, Orator and Statesman, 106 BC-43 BC) understood and said,
"A home without books is a body without soul.”

JT · May 10, 2011, 8:23am

I didn't suggest chosing a book because a character has PD, merely that it's interesting to come across.
But now I come to think of it - why not? Many people learn from other attributes of characters in fiction. Could be valuable to do the same in this case.Robotham's hero sets a good example of "carrying on", Franzen's a bad one of spoiling the lives of the rest of the family. Novels provide a way to see ourselves as others see us.

viv · May 10, 2011, 7:36pm

Hi.
I have just finished the crime novel by Michael Robotham and found it well worth reading. I wondered if the author has parkinsons as his description of the main character's coping with his medication appeared to be drawn from his own personal experiences.

annebernadette · May 20, 2011, 9:13am

I am under strict instructions from Lorna to post here. I have no idea how I managed to track this thread down & if I try to retrace my steps I am bound to lose it
E R Braithwate "To Sir With Love" A semi autobiographical novel. Banned in South Africa. When the ban was lifted the author was invited to visit as "an honorary white.
The version of events as described in the book was challenged in another autobiography " An East End Story" written by one of Braithwaites pupils Alfred Gardner

Lorna · May 20, 2011, 10:32am

Hi Abd,
Gosh, what power I have --- that was a quick response! Thank you for putting our thread back on to the first page again.
Will be interesting to see if anyone's both read the book , and seen the film.
Have done both, but ages ago. Mostly I remember poor old ( ? ) Lulu , a teenager then , coping very well with the extremely awkwardly placed lyrics of the title song.

Happy reading.

annebernadette · June 5, 2011, 10:15pm

A book I have just finished reading:
Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna

A novel, but seems like 4 short stories. A young woman from the UK visits family in a (ficticious) West African location. She is told stories by her 4 aunts who are daughters by 4 different wives of her polygamous grandfather.
The stories are multi-layered , I think beautifully written. Without it being "in your face" colonialism, mission schools, independence,the horrors and tragedy of civil war, corrupt elections. The location strongly resembles Sierra Leone.
The author's father was a Sierra Leonian, a doctor who enters politics, is imprisoned as a "prisoner of conscience" and hanged in 1975 for "treason"

deleted.user · June 6, 2011, 4:48am

Hello AB. You have sold the book to me,I shall definately buy it. Have just bought three books to take on hols. The titles escape me at present. Hopefully report back on return.

carolineb211 · June 6, 2011, 6:30am

I have been reading Michael Robotham's crime / suspense novels. Someone on this site suggested them to me as the main character has PD.

I am loving these books, they are well written and full of suspense (just how i like em)and with the added bonus of a character with PD makes for great reading.

Caroline

annebernadette · June 6, 2011, 7:50am

For crime/suspense I highly recommend John Harvey. He writes good stories with style, care and wit. He has been called "the crime writers' crime writer" Reginald Hill even said that "the rest of us may have to kill him"
But I don't think either John Harvey or any of his fictional characters have PD