Top Ten Tuesdays - Ten books I am excited to read in 2012

This is part of a meme hosted by THE BROKE AND THE BOOKISH

So - which ten books am I excited to read this year?

Well.. Maybe not excited - but I am for sure looking forward to read them:

1. THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett (2009)

~ love the colours of this cover.. ~

2. MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY by Winifred Watson (1938)

~ I love the Italian cover.. ~

3. LADY SINGS THE BLUES by Billie Holiday (1956)

~ This is such a great cover.. love this handwriting style.. ~

4. THE WINTER OF HER DISCONTENT by Kathryn Miller Haines (2008)

~ even the cover is a mystery.. ~

5. DIANA DORS : HURRICANE IN MINK by David Bret (2010)

~ wonderful, glamourous cover.. ~

6. ANATOMY OF A MURDER by Robert Traver (1958)

7. MOULIN ROUGE by Pierre La Mure (1950)

~ yay for vintage cover!! ~

8. FINGERSMITH by Sarah Waters (2002)

9. ROSEMARIE NITRIBITT : AUTOPSIE EINES DEUTSCHEN SKANDALS (= which you could translate into "Autopsy of a German scandal") by Christian Steiger (2007) - A non-fiction book about a German callgirl who was murdered in 1957

~ pretty daring Miss Nitribitt, hm? ~

10. THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF MAF THE DOG AND OF HIS FRIEND MARILYN MONROE by Andrew O'Hagan (2010)

~ I like this cover.. It's kind of retro.. ~

So - any books you're looking forward to read?

Thank you for reading (at all and especially this blog..)

Yours

Irene

It's Monday - What are you reading?

This is part of a Meme hosted by BOOK JOURNEY.

This month is right now filled with books - though I planned to have a slow start.. 

With my Goodreads-Reading group I am reading:

THE SCARLET LETTER by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)

With one of my friends I will soon start to read 

WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys (1966) 

- I am pretty excited to find out all about Mr. Rochester before he met Jane Eyre and even more to find out about the first Mrs. Rochester.. I already know the BBC film with Rafe Spall - but still.. A book might telling me more.. they usually do..

I am also reading - because he is our guest star of the month at the new film blog I am doing together with one of my best friends Monty Hawes LET THE SHOW BEGIN - 

BOGART by A.M. Sperber and Eric Lax (1998).

I did kind of a review about two books dealing with Cocktails and Hangovers on my film blog AND THEN START TO SPARKLE (<- read my post here..)

So - have a great start into the New Year - and read lots and lots of wonderful books!

Yours 

Irene

Is it just me? - or: What happened to the books I resolved to read in 2011?

Some long, long - loooooong - time ago in January 2011 (gee.. we were so young and carefree back then..) I participated in the TOP TEN TUESDAY MEME - and resolved 10 books to read in 2011.. 

Of those ten titles I actually read 

ASH by Malinda Lo (2010) which was okay.

IT SEEMED IMPORTANT AT THAT TIME : A ROMANCE MEMOIR by Gloria Vanderbilt (2004) which underwhelmed me..

The German Edition of Vita Sackville-West's Gardening Columns - which made 3 books in the whole. Small books to be honest..

THE WAR AGAINST MISS WINTER by Kathryn Miller Haines (2007) - which I enjoyed very much..

MANSFIELD PARK by Jane Austen (1814)- which I loved. Well - JANE AUSTEN!!! What shall I say..

Two of them I began to read - but didn't finish them:

THE LOST ART OF KEEPING SECRETS by Eva Rice (2004) - and I can't even remember why I ceased reading - because I liked the book (as far as I read it..)

MY WICKED, WICKED WAYS by Errol Flynn (1959) - which I enjoy that much that I'd like to read it forever.. so I just read a bit and put it away - and then read again a little bit later.. 

A few books from that list are still on my To Read Pile - but they don't have to be finished this year:

A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY by Libba Bray (2003)

PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS by Michelle Zink (2009)

So - did you count? Well - if you did you now know that there is one book left - one book I want to read this year for sure:

ANATOMY OF A MURDER by  Robert Traver (1958) - and: yes - I also want to write a review about the film then.. 

Did you read all the books you want to read in 2011?? 

Anyway: I hope this year will be for all of us just marvellous!

Yours

Irene

Have a great start into the New Year!

Have a wonderful New Year!!

I hope we all discover some great new (or old) books in this brandnew wonderful year - which is waiting for us just around the corner.. 

That's it for this year on this blog - but I have some reviews waiting to be published.. 

Thank you all for following! - and thank you for leaving nice comments!

Yours

Irene

To the New Year!

~ I posted this one on my film blog before - but I simply love Paul Newman's expression here.. ~

Merry Christmas!

I hope you found some great books in your stocking - though Marilyn Monroe would have been also a nice find.. 

yours 

Irene

What Alice Knew by Paula Marantz Cohen

 I feel that I have a lot to pick up now.. It's quite a time since I posted here the last time.. Well - those of you who are still here: thank you very, very much! So without loosing more time - here we go with the review about a book I enjoyed very much reading - in English just by the way..

WHAT ALICE KNEW : THE MOST CURIOUS TALE OF HENRY JAMES & JACK THE RIPPER by Paula Marantz Cohen

 In a nut-shell:

In 1888 London is shocked by a horrible murder series - Jack the Ripper is enjoying himself very much.. Scotland yard asks William James who is a specialist in psychology to help them - that is especially Inspector Frederick Abberline to solve the case.

But William isn't the only one who thinks a lot about this case - his bedstricken sister Alice and his brother Henry, the world famous author, who both live in London - are helping their brother find out who is the vicious murderer..

Have a quick look at the Dramatis Personae - which is pretty interesting for those are persons who actually excisted outside of their authors and readers minds:

The actual (though you wouldn't guess it from my summary..) main character:

Alice James

August 7, 1848 - March 6, 1892

The brothers Henry & William James

Henry James 

April 15, 1843 - February 28, 1916

William James

January 11, 1842 - August 26, 1910 

Inspector Frederick George Abberline

January 8, 1943 - December 10, 1929

And of course there are some other persons having parts in this novel:

Notorious wonderful genius Oscar Wilde - love his wit!:

October 16, 1854 - November 30, 1900

Walter Richard Sickert
- one of my favourite painters:

May 31, 1860 - January 22, 1942

same goes for John Singer Sargent

 (this is a self portrait - I wasn't able to find a photo of him..)

January 12, 1856 - April 14, 1925

The very quick-witted Samuel Langhorne Clemens better known as Mark Twain

November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910

So - though this book is pure fiction and you shouldn't expect to find now revealed who Jack the Ripper actually was - it's a great book - and a fast read. You just mustn't take it as non-fictional book - otherwise you'll be very much disappointed I guess.. Frankly, I am a bit obsessed with the Ripper murders - I read almost every book ever written about these murders. (not even talking about the films about them..) 

I enjoyed very much to "join" a party with Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain. This really was fun to imagine.. It's a book that I might re-read at some time.. 

And for my luck we had some very heavy fog during the time I was reading this book in November - which appeared in shortest time and was really, really thick..

(well.. it is really hard to take a picture of fog, you know..)

So please take care, ladies and gents!

I hope to write soon again!

yours 

Irene

It's Monday - what are you reading

This is part of a meme hosted @ BOOK JOURNEY.

Well.. I had kind of a book-repellent phase.. I grabbed some books started reading - put them away.. grabbed another book .. and so on.. I hope this is over now.. And because of this "dark times" I won't be able to finish some challenges.. [.. please insert annoyed grumbling here..]

Anyway:

I finnally finished:

FRAGMENTS : POEMS, INTIMATE NOTES, LETTERS BY MARILYN MONROE

(which is wonderful if you're a die-hard Marilyn Monroe aficionada/aficionado like me - otherwise you'll better stay away.)

and I am really deep in reading and working with

MY WICKED, WICKED WAYS by Errol Flynn. (It's amazing!)

Oh - and I did a review of

THE GIRL WHO WALKED HOME ALONE by Charlotte Chandler

(^ read the review..)

- posted on my film blog - I have a new series there in which I review film books - mainly (auto-) biographies but also anything else connected with films.. I will link them in the "It's Monday..." posts here.

Anyway: Have a great week!

Yours

Irene