BB FANS

yes I was just thinking how I was the one who didnt want that yet I read it in good faith


I have done a thread on Memoirs so it can be a book of the month if you want or just another books thread for me to waffle on

right I will re-buy it tomorrow and have it read by the end of the week.
I can remember some bits of it, but not in detail.

I read Memoirs years ago and came across just a few weeks ago. As soon as I've finished reading Robbie's bio I'll re-read that.

I rarely re read a book scotslass but I may well do that one. Welcome back btw


I have just finished reading ''The Damage Done'' by Warren Fellows. He spent 12 years in a Bangkok prison and writes graphically about his treatment there. he knows he did wrong and fully accepts he was wrong in trying to smuggle drugs, but that asside the treatment of him as a prisoner and the others in the overcrowed prisons was horrific and he saw some terrible, terrible things. strong stomach needed if you plan to read this or something like it. He now has a website campaigning for the treatment of people in prisons around the world.

Yeah I don't often read books twice but it's been so long I will. Thanks, it's good to be back. Sadly it's because I'm in yet another job which is boring tho

I'm reading 'The woman who walked into doors' by Roddy Doyle. Can't believe it's written by a man!

I'm glad it's not just me taking along time to read Robbie's Bio.

Roddy Doyle is good, isn't he? Brilliant with dialogue, too...when his books came out first, it took us a while to realise how accurate and realistic his portrayal of the language of Dubliners was - shocking!

Finally finished Brick Lane - wow! Won't ever forget that book. Might even buy it, when I return the copy I got from the library.

Will continue with 'This Blinding Absence of Light' now.... - I know, I'm hopeless. Have six editions of the Saturday newspaper to get through, sometime.

I've never read Roddy Doyle before GG but I will try some of his other stuff after this one. The book is very moving and like I say it's hard to imagine it was written by a man.

You're not hopeless. I've read loads of books this year so far but only because I haven't been at work (or fed the kids or washed or cleaned etc ) But I go back to work tomorrow and I won't have time to read as much. I have tons waiting to be read I think I need to go on a book diet.

The Woman Who Walked Into Doors is a fantastic book HC and GG and I agree it is hard to believe that is was written by a man. I read it about 7 or 8 years ago and still remember it so clearly. The characters of Paula and Charlo are so wonderfully written. I never forgot the part where Paula realised that life was not going to turn out as she had thought. It was when she was at school and she was so enthusiastic and loved everything about school so much, until she found out that she was in the 'thick' class. That was the start of her loss of innocence imo.

There was a TV programme made about the characters in the book called The Family (at least I think that was the name). They changed the format slightly and each week concentrated on one of the characters of the book, Charlo, Paula, the daughter and a son of about 11. They wrote the younger son out of the tv programme but although they changed it slightly, they still stuck to the main story of the book, Charlo and Paula's marriage. It was a wonderful programme, beautifully acted. In fact when I see the character who played the part of Charlo in other TV programmes now, I still think B***ard .

Most of Roddy Doyle's stuff is great but I would particularly recommend Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. In this book Roddy Doyle shows that he can write from a child's perspective just as well as he can write from a womans. I am not so keen on his latest two books. One of them is called A StarCalled Henry and I can't remember the name of the other one but it is about the same character of Henry. They are well written too but I found I didn't care about the characters as much as his previous stuff.

When 'The Family' was screened as a drama on Irish television, it caused uproar. No harm in that - it made us look at the reality of life for many people.

I remember that GG but I thought it was because it rang true. I knew families like them and definitely knew lots of Charlos and Paulas.

I didn't see the programme made of it. I thought the book was very moving though. The understanding the author had. The way Paula felt as she went to hospitals and doctors, how they looked down their nose at her and thought she was a drunk and never questioned the domestic abuse. ''ask me. ask me.'' was what she was always thinking. Just wanting someone to look at her as a person.

It's interesting I know someone who was abused and they put up with it but their breaking point was when they saw this person was going to do it to someone else. Then they found the strength to stand up to the abuser. It's the same in this book. Paula found the strength only when she saw her husband looking at his daughter.

Excellent and moving book.

Oh I forgot about that bit of the book, HC when she was in hospital. Paula herself thought she was pretty worthless didn't she? A lifetime of abuse and maltreatment would do that to you, I suppose.

I'm reading 'Forgotten voices of the Holocaust' by Lyn Smith. I can only read it in sections as it is so terrible I have to read other stuff in between, it's too heavy for me to read in one go but I feel I owe it to the survivors to read it.