Sunday 12 August 2012

It's Monday What Are You Reading?

Hello my readerly friends!

Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh

I haven't read much this week, it has been such a busy time! All I had the chance to do was finish reading Oddfellow's Orphanage which is truly adorable!  There are so many lovely, quirky adventures in this book, including stories of sea monsters, rabbits with antlers, circuses, picnics, and boys with onion heads.


It is reminiscent of Enid Blyton's writing, with her funny little characters and quaint situations, 
and is a book that begs to be read aloud to young children. 

My collection of half-read books is piling up on my ibooks shelves right now, but I keep finding new books to try!  I just found Mervyn Peake's Gormanghast Trilogy, which I have been looking for for about 20 years! I'm so excited to read the first book, Titus Groan, again, with it's poetic, operatic prose, 
and it's gothic, castle setting.


 It is a wonderful, fanciful book, with marvellous characters, and unusual happenings. 
I cannot wait to read the next two books in the series!

My Mum gave me a pile of books to read, as she does, and this one drew me in the most:


Googling the cover, I remember now I have seen this book before with a different cover:


And thought it would be a good read.
It is SUCH a good read! It's all about a book shop, and an author who wishes to tell her 'real' life story. 
And that's all I know so far. But the wonderful descriptions so make me want to have my own bookshop!

Well that's it for this week! 
Hope you're having some exciting reading adventures!

Check out what everyone else is reading over at Sheila's blog:



xx

20 comments:

  1. The Thirteenth Tale sounds good, I can't resist a bookshop tale. And I love Enid Blyton's writing as a child and as a 40+ child at heart so think I'll try and grab a copy of Oddfellow's Orphanage.
    Have a great week and happy reading :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Thirteenth Tale is getting better and better! There is a twin theme and a creepy brother. It's a page-turner! :)

      Delete
  2. I love the children's books. Please let us know more as you read along in them.

    Here's my It's Monday! What Are You Reading? I hope you will stop by!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Titus Groan isn't actually a children's book - it's just that I read it 20 years ago and I'm old, lol! It's an adult book, with a medieval setting, and quirky characters, for instance, Lady Groan, the Countess has hundreds of white cats that swarm to her when she blows a whistle only they can hear.

      I just Googled Titus Groan, and there was a BBC series made about it recently called Gormanghast. I must watch it!! :)

      Delete
  3. Love your photo of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh...I'm currently watching Gone with the Wind...and I have a movie with Laurence in his later years (The Jazz Singer).

    Off the topic of books, though....

    Enjoy your reading. I haven't yet read The Thirteenth Tale. Here's MY MONDAY MEMES POST

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gone with the Wind is one of my favourites! But I really only discovered it last year. I've never actually seen the Jazz Singer - I must add it to my list of TBW (to be watched,lol!)
      Thanks for dropping in! :)

      Delete
  4. 13th looks awesome. Everyone here really likes it but I haven't picked it up yet. Wouldn't it be lovely to have your own book store? :)

    Whatcha readin' this week @ the Brunette Librarian :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the thought of having my own bookstore, but unfortunately it appears bookstores are on the way out. I LOVE Tullamarine airport in Melbourne, for all its bookstores. I drool! :)

      Delete
  5. The Oddfellow book sounds so cute :) The Thirteenth Tale sounds familiar to me...oh my word it's awful when I can't remember if I've read something or not!

    Have a great week of reading!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That happens to my mum all the time because she reads so many books! :)

      Delete
  6. I love reading or rereading Children's books. They are full of magic.
    Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, they are! Picture books these days are so out there with all their whimsical ideas! They're amazing! :)

      Delete
  7. Some really good books there, I loved The Thirteenth Tale when I read it and I've been patiently waiting for her to write something else ever since!

    What I've Been Reading

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hadn't thought about what else Diane Setterfield may have written but I'm sure I'll be waiting with baited breath too! :)

      Delete
  8. I used to think that I was weird about books, starting quite a few, finishing one, having many, many books that I'm in the middle of reading. My sister is the type of person who picks up a novel and reads it from beginning to end. My mom isn't as prolific a reader as we were, but she mainly reads one novel at a time. I was thinking I was weird about books. Then I started participating in this blog meme thing, and realized I am just one of many! We're imperfect in our reading strategy! We all have a case of Book Attention Deficit Disorder. Now I am more relaxed about not finishing every single book I read in a timely fashion. I love when I read in other bloggers' memes that they've started quite a few books, and managed to finish only one novel -So thanks! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I only really started flitting around between books since joining in with The Monday meme, because I feel I have permission to do that now rather than stick with a book that's not grabbing me! It's also a phenomenon that goes with downloading samples of books from ibooks and not being able to tell from 30, or even 200 pages if it's going to be a good book or not! Also, there are too many books in this world to keep reading the ones that aren't a fit with you. :)

      Delete
  9. Those kids books are so cute! My mom has all of her from when she was little and I can't wait to get my hands on them when I have kids! If you get a sec, I'd love to hear your thoughts on my latest posts.

    peacelovedecor.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, you're lucky your mum has kept them! It's so easy for books to wear out though from being well-loved, so you'll probably buy them all again anyway, lol! (Just saying, because that's what I'm having to do now.) :)

      Delete
  10. I loved The Thirteenth Tale! I hope you enjoy the rest of it. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm half way through and it is still so good! I've had such a busy week though, so am only getting about 20 minutes a day to read it. Grr! :)

      Delete

Thanks for leaving me a message. You have made my day! xx