tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post2875885244955597763..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Of Birds and Butterflies, Books and Differences! - Pauline ChandlerKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-14462621782028902342014-09-22T13:08:25.655+01:002014-09-22T13:08:25.655+01:00But think how you read poetry, perhaps wearing a s...But think how you read poetry, perhaps wearing a slightly different hat? CarolShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00354002254611517326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-68776289273604992442014-09-22T08:20:33.384+01:002014-09-22T08:20:33.384+01:00Ooh, CarolS, perhaps I am missing something by not...Ooh, CarolS, perhaps I am missing something by not reading Ulysses. Don't you think it's a shame that it's unreadable without a guide though? Surely writers have to reach out to readers using a common language.. Maybe that's a discussion for another day though! Pauline Chandlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05260428070144389154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-12787663392056862922014-09-22T03:47:24.725+01:002014-09-22T03:47:24.725+01:00I read Ulysses in a group. It was marvellous, impo...I read Ulysses in a group. It was marvellous, important too. I really got it. And then went to Dublin for Bloomsday - where people know it by heart! It is both life changing and a romp. And I'd read it again. With guides, just not this year.CarolShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00354002254611517326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-56817053959425739982014-09-21T22:44:12.861+01:002014-09-21T22:44:12.861+01:00My W&P still sits, spine barely creased, on a ...My W&P still sits, spine barely creased, on a shelf. I start, I stop. It's the size of the thing (and I LIKE big fat books) with it's tiny print. But of course! On a Kindle it's not a problem. Doh! madwippitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02595748471651052552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-80575058016897538532014-09-21T20:06:23.737+01:002014-09-21T20:06:23.737+01:00Brian - we are the Authors Electric! Reading on a ...Brian - we are the Authors Electric! Reading on a Kindle is anything but anathema to us! - My experience of e-books and, indeed, War & Peace is like yours. Approached both with caution, expecting to be disappointed - but fell in love with both almost immediately. W&P is, truly, a hugely entertaining read.<br /><br />And no one could part me from either my word processor or my Kindle.Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-38767168691174593702014-09-21T19:42:39.902+01:002014-09-21T19:42:39.902+01:00reading is for pleasure after all, and we can'...reading is for pleasure after all, and we can't read everything and still DO anything much less write anything! big fan of birds too, I put out all kinds of food for them and watch them watching me watching them as they scoff it. Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-6540625553110753282014-09-21T18:46:34.186+01:002014-09-21T18:46:34.186+01:00Thanks, Reb! Now I have to read W&P. Heck! I&#...Thanks, Reb! Now I have to read W&P. Heck! I'll get my pencil and notebook ready to make some sense of all those Russian names! Pauline Chandlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14813814657779404453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-26966459443993759712014-09-21T18:27:45.477+01:002014-09-21T18:27:45.477+01:00Pauline, only you could write a post about birds t...Pauline, only you could write a post about birds that isn't *for* the birds. Delightful. And, yes, I guess it's time for me, too, to read War and Peace. glitter noirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11728649916344336118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-27303180973412875182014-09-21T16:44:52.286+01:002014-09-21T16:44:52.286+01:00Mm..I must admit, I'm tempted. Thanks, Brian.Mm..I must admit, I'm tempted. Thanks, Brian. Pauline Chandlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05260428070144389154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-28458741118533257142014-09-21T13:26:37.322+01:002014-09-21T13:26:37.322+01:00I was running a theatre at the time - an 11 hour a...I was running a theatre at the time - an 11 hour a day job, six days a week, plus the odd Sunday. That's why it took so long. You could do it! I know this might be anathema to you, but these days I do almost all my reading on Kindle on my phone while suffering those long journeys on the Tube. I had given up reading novels, except at Christmas, when my family would give me book vouchers. My pension didn't allow of buying books otherwise. Amazon and Kindle (the app, can't afford an actual Kindle) have reinvigorated my reading life. I wrote a book on acting a couple of years ago and one of my ex-students said he had read the whole thing on his phone. I asked, ungenerously whether he had gone blind. He showed me how to enlarge the text. Liberation!! I have subsequent been able to buy and read nearly 60 books in the last year (almost back to the days of my pre-TV youth when I read at least five books a week and lived in the library). So you can tell which side of the pro/anti Amazon divide I'm on...<br />Sitting on a rowdy Tube and being able to disappear into the world of Jane Austen for 20mins is bliss.<br />I lasted approx two pages into Ulysses...Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10954558805590342363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-91075269423024832662014-09-21T13:03:00.195+01:002014-09-21T13:03:00.195+01:00Ah, how wonderful! Of course, I knew there had to ...Ah, how wonderful! Of course, I knew there had to be something about War and Peace that would engage me. Too many people, whose opinions I value, have said so. But do I have the time! Three months! Brian! I'm even busier and time-poor now than ever. I might take it with me on my hols, some time, but somehow I might have to pass on Tolstoy's masterpiece. Lovely to hear your comments though. I'll certainly encourage others to read it. Not sure I would say the same about Ulysses.Pauline Chandlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05260428070144389154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-54051658908504085472014-09-21T11:50:56.515+01:002014-09-21T11:50:56.515+01:00I agree with most of this post, but would like to ...I agree with most of this post, but would like to add a puff for one particular book. <br />When I reached 35 (some time ago now...) 'intimations of mortality' began to haunt my days. The thought occurred: 'I can't die without having read War and Peace - the great novel.' So I bought the paperback of the first half of this monumental tome, and prepared to suffer.<br />Three months later I emerged, with great reluctance, from Tolstoy's wonderful world. Towards the end I was reading less and less every day in a desperate effort to extend the pleasure. <br />What had started off with what I thought would be the kind of battle that I had lost with Proust, had almost immediately plunged me into that wonderful world that only a good book can conjure. The driving narrative, the fascinating characters all kept me carrying the book - and then the second volume - around with me all day so that I could fit in some precious moments wherever I was. I soon learnt there were rather boring philosophical 'bits' at the end of some chapters and would skip lightly over them. Enthusing to long-suffering friends I would gush: 'It's more like Dallas' (it WAS the 70s after all') 'than a worthy novel!!'<br />So I urge you, don't wait for 'intimations of mortality' to scare you - read it NOW, don't delay your gratification!Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10954558805590342363noreply@blogger.com