Ernest’s Comments (group member since Nov 07, 2012)

Ernest’s comments from the Aussie Readers group.

The title alone drew me to read The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk. It is written from a place of real love of rare book and archives, and while I wanted to like it more, I do not regret the time spent reading it.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

If anyone has both read the Hercule Poirot book Hallowe'en Party and seen the film A Haunting in Venice, I'd been keen to know what you think (I haven't done either, but it is on the (very long) list!).

I recently finished watching The ABC Murders (a 2018 BBC One mystery thriller television serial) on iView (unfortunately no longer fully available). This was based on The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie.

It has been far too long since I read Hercule Poirot, so I came into the TV series not remembering both what happened in the book nor what changes may have been made (as it turned out, at least a few). John Malkovich portrays an older Hercule Poirot and I found the series quite well done. As an added bonus, I've been inspired to read some Hercule Poirot again.

Not strictly sourced from a book, but there's a trailer out for Tolkien, what looks like an upcoming biopic about the famous J.R.R. Tolkien

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Girzu...

Brenda wrote: "It's a shame it's a film script and JK didn't actually write it - just oversaw the script (according to the "experts") - but because of what and who it is, I guess it destined to sell in huge quant..."

Just to clarify, it is the script of a play, not a film. I've finished it and while my review is forthcoming, I really enjoyed it and thought it clever in how it fit within the already established universe.

Phrynne wrote: "That's what made me like it Cindy, the randomness and the fact that it makes a few holes in my TBR list:)"

Anything to get that TBR list down is a good thing, right? :-)

My Goodreads TBR shelf contains just books currently in my possession (owned or borrowed). My larger to read list is a handwritten list, of which some items are other lists themselves - this makes going through that list a very slow process... :-)

For me, this is what it turns out:

#1. Sort by Title - 25th - Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi
#2. Author - 25th - He Chose the Nails by Max Lucado
#3. Average Rating - 25th - Eurogames: The Design, Culture and Play of Modern European Board Games by Stewart Woods
#4. Date Added - 25th - The Evils of Revolution by Edmund Burke
#5. Random - 25th - Dark Digital Sky by Carac Allison

Sorry if this is old news to some, but it looks like The Book Club is moving to a 13 week series starting in May: http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2016/02/t...

I'm disappointed for reasons including that this won't allow them to stay current with book releases and author news happening throughout the year.

I recently finished reading Much Ado About Nothing, read over several months (my problem for having so many other interesting things to read!). Somehow, it didn't 'click' on the page - I was just going through it and then 'oh, is that the end?'. I just didn't feel that engaged just in reading.

Fortunately, it looks like the various libraries I've got memberships with have got multiple versions of performances (especially films), so hopefully seeing it will really help bringing it to life.

It has been really interesting to see what books everyone has enjoyed reading so far this year - I'm not going to pretend that it has been easy not to simply get all of them for my to read list.

Picking a top 5 is so difficult, so with every expectation that this list may change, it currently stands as follows:

1. Judicial Ethics in Australia (my only 5 star so far this year)
2. From Moree to Mabo: The Mary Gaudron Story (a reminder, if ever one was needed, that there is insufficient legal scholarship and writing generally on judicial biographies)
3. Runaways: The Complete Collection Volume 1 (teenagers whose parents have superpowers in a secret criminal society in a volume as much about growing up, loyalty, friendship and identity)
4. Temple (adventure/action at a breathtaking speed)
5. Fables: The Deluxe Edition, Vol. 1 (fairy tale characters ripped out from their traditionally safe confines to be banished to modern New-York)

My favourite is Seven Deadly Wonders, just shading The Six Sacred Stones and The 5 Greatest Warriors. I have yet to read one of his books that I really didn't like - his weakest is still stronger that some authors' best.

Gregory wrote: "Shakespeare's comedies are tragedies and his tragedies comedies."

Interesting thought Gregory - why do you think that?

I recently finished reading Measure for Measure. There were several parts of the play that I just didn’t ‘get’. If it is meant to be a comedy, I didn’t seem to find it that funny, but as a drama/tragedy, it felt too light; without citation, Wikipedia has some critics referring to it as a ‘problem play’.

Also, what was the Duke hoping to achieve? If he already suspects Angelo, then this seems like a really convoluted way of testing/exposing him. This is also a really poor method for lasting societal change – is he going to pretend to go away every time he wants to test someone he suspects? Perhaps I’m reading both too much into it and from a modern perspective.

I’m trying to find some sort of critical analysis so that I can find out more about the play.

I recently finished 1984 by George Orwell. It was such a powerful book, but I could only read it in small doses as I found it quite dense, had lots to think about, was eerily prescient and at times, was uncomfortably close to reality.

My full review can be seen at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've literally just started Skin Game by Jim Butcher and it is already continuing the fine quality of the series.

I finished reading The Merry Wives of Windsor yesterday. The basic premise of the humour was evident, but somehow something didn’t quite ‘click’ in terms of how it read off the page. I’m wondering whether it is one of the issues I previous identified, in that reading plays is different to seeing them performed (like reading a film script and seeing how it turns out on screen?). I’ll try locate a performance of it to see if the humour visually comes across.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Deb.

Just 5? After much deliberating, with the order and selection liable to change tomorrow, and with apologies to those books very close to making it into the top 5:

1. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
2. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
3. Moneyball : The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
4. Cold Days by Jim Butcher
5. Administrative Law: Context and Critique by Michael Head

Of course, there are still 11 days left until the end of the year, and thus still time for other books to break into the top 5! :-)

I happened to chance upon an article regarding Shakespearean pronounciation and how things were originally pronounced - it was a very interesting article: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smart...

In case those reading/in this thread are interested, there is some good stuff happening on the 'making Shakespeare more accessible front: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24...