Last chance to vote on a year's worth of books

Voting has been open since the end of August, and you have only one more day to vote. Anyone reading this blog is welcome to vote, so click on your favorites of these twelve ... and also your least favorites in the next poll down the sidebar.

From The Other Side of the Bridge to The Freedom Writers Diary, we've traveled the globe together. Help me remember (in the comments) where we've been.

The Other Side of the Bridge (OSB)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (BSP)
Cold Comfort Farm (CCF)
Pictures of Hollis Woods (PHW)
In Lucia's Eyes (ILE)
People of the Book (POB)
The Camel Bookmobile (CB)
Windfalls (WF)
The Devil in the White City (DWC)
Jim the Boy (JTB)
Suite Française (SF)
The Freedom Writers Diary (FWD)

We have completed a year together, but I think that's enough ... at least for me. I'm sorry, Shirley, but the interest just isn't here. Thanks, Marylyn, for your major effort to make Book Buddies work during August. Thanks to those of you who have read and commented on books we've shared. For now, however, I have decided to devote more time to writing ... and to leading the writers in the Chattanooga region who (foolishly?) try to write the draft of a novel in the 30 days of November. Read about it on Bonnie's NaNoWriMo* 2008 blog.

Essencia Island will continue to be a place for book buddies to talk to each other, so drop by there anytime you want to chat.

Voting for MOST and LEAST enjoyable books

During September 2007, we began to gather ourselves as Book Buddies on this blog. In October 2007, we started reading and discussing books. If you are a current or former Book Buddy, you are invited to vote on the ones you liked MOST and LEAST. If you are a regular ... or even occasional ... reader of our blog, you are also welcome to vote on ones you've read, pro or con.

Please leave a comment on this post about the books, too. Tell us what you did or didn't like about a particular book. Let's see what's been good and bad about this year of plowing through books together.

Oct 2007 ~ The Other Side of the Bridge (OSB) ~ by Mary Lawson
Nov 2007 ~ The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (BSP) ~ by John Boyne
Dec 2007 ~ Cold Comfort Farm (CCF) ~ by Stella Gibbons
Jan 2008 ~ Pictures of Hollis Woods (PHW) ~ by Patricia Reilly Giff
Feb 2008 ~ In Lucia's Eyes (ILE) ~ by Arthur Japin
Mar 2008 ~ People of the Book (POB) ~ by Geraldine Brooks
Apr 2008 ~ The Camel Bookmobile (CB) ~ by Masha Hamilton
May 2008 ~ Windfalls (WF) ~ by Jean Hegland
Jun 2008 ~ The Devil in the White City (DWC) ~ by Erik Larson
Jul 2008 ~ Jim the Boy (JTB) ~ by Tony Earley
Aug 2008 ~ Suite Française (SF) ~ by Irène Némirovsky
Sep 2008 ~ The Freedom Writers Diary (FWD) ~ by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell, 1999

CCF ~ one more post from Bonnie

I have several comments about Cold Comfort Farm. First, the questions may have seemed skimpy, but about all there is to this book is Flora wanting to fix her relatives and, as Shirley asked, what was it that Aunt Ada Doom saw in the woodshed and why did the Starkadders take in Flora in the first place?

I found the best information ... and that wonderful Starkadder family tree chart ... at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Comfort_Farm

That's the place you will also find a list of Flora's solutions to the Starkadder problems. The novel ends when Flora, with the aid of her handbook The Higher Common Sense, has solved each character's problem. These solutions are:

Meriam: Flora introduces her to the concept of contraception.
Seth: Flora introduces him to a Hollywood film director, Earl P. Neck, who hires him as a screen idol.
Amos: Flora persuades him to buy a Ford van and become a travelling preacher. He loses interest in running the farm and hands it over to Reuben.
Elfine: Flora teaches her some social graces and dress sense so that Richard Hawk-Monitor falls in love with her.
Urk: forgets his desire for Elfine and marries Meriam.
Mr Mybug: falls in love with and marries Rennet.
Judith: Flora hires a psychoanalyst, Dr Müdel, who, over lunch, transfers Judith's obsession from Seth to himself until he can set her interest on old churches instead.
Ada: Flora uses a copy of Vogue magazine to tempt her to join the twentieth century, and spend some of her fortune on living the high life in Paris.
Adam: is given a job as cow-herd at Hautcouture Hall.
Graceless, Aimless, Feckless and Pointless: go with Adam to Hautcouture Hall.
Big Business: Flora lets him out into the sunlight.
Flora: marries Charles.

The future
There's one other thing I noticed ... Stella Gibbons seems to have been trying to predict the future! If you remember that the novel was written in 1932, you would be surprised at some of what was there. I wrote this in my reading notes when I got to Chapter XII (12), my pages 140-141, and then page 177:

What's with the television in 1932? Especially a phone with a television? Stella Gibbons must have been trying to predict the future ... especially since she mentions "the Anglo-Nicaraguan wars of '46" as something in the past!

The Wikipedia article mentions her use of air taxis. What sorts of things did YOU notice in the book?

CCF ~ "something nasty in the woodshed"

Shirley: "Now that I think about it, maybe the nasty thing was in the woodshed instead of the outhouse."

Bonnie: "Yep, it was the woodshed, and I should have caught that ... sorry, I wasn't thinking, either. Okay, here's a photo of a woodshed. If you click on it and enlarge it, you'll see that the sign above the door says COAL SHED ... even though there is wood inside. Both wood and coal were ways of heating the house, once upon a time. The woodshed was once known as the place misbehaving children were taken to be disciplined by spanking. So maybe THAT was what Aunt Ada Doom saw. Maybe she thought spanking a child was a nasty thing to do to the poor kid."

CCF ~ family obligations (revised)

REVISED to add a photo of a woodshed (below).
__________

Shirley asked, "Why was the family obligated to Flora?"

I think this was a family thing, in spite of the implied debt to Flora's father. A hundred years ago, more or less (I don't know the exact date), my mother's family took in mother's cousin Ruby. The parents had died, and Ruby went to live with my mother's family, while her brother went to live with another relative. I don't know how old the children were when their parents died, but family took in the orphans. I think this was just something families did back then. Now, it would probably have to be something more formal, more legal. I know one of my daughters and her husband put a list in their will stating who should raise their children if anything happened to them, starting with her twin sister. If she were unable to do it, for whatever reason, then the next person was named ... and so on.

Shirley's other question: "What was the nasty thing seen in the outhouse?"

I have now finished the book and can say, you didn't miss the answer because it wasn't there! I think this was Aunt Ada Doom's litany because she needed an excuse to feign her need to keep the family around herself. Nasty? Maybe she simply saw someone else using the outhouse, or maybe anything else you can imagine. I don't think it mattered to the author, only to Aunt Ada Doom. I got the idea that no one else in the story knew the answer to this question, either ... lol.
__________

REVISED to add this photo:

Shirley: "Now that I think about it, maybe the nasty thing was in the woodshed instead of the outhouse."

Bonnie: "Yep, it was the woodshed, and I should have caught that ... sorry, I wasn't thinking, either. Okay, here's a photo of a woodshed. If you click on it and enlarge it, you'll see that the sign above the door says COAL SHED ... even though there is wood inside. Both wood and coal were ways of heating the house, once upon a time. The woodshed was once known as the place misbehaving children were taken to be disciplined by spanking. So maybe THAT was what Aunt Ada Doom saw. Maybe she thought spanking a child was a nasty thing to do to the poor kid."

CCF

1) What do I think of Flora? Actually, the more I read of the book, the more I think she is a hoot. I have finally heard the author's voice. She is writing this as if she was telling a story in a dramatic voice & having as much fun as she can to make this a silly book. She is probably coming up with funny names, & laughing about it. (I'm not done with the book yet, as the book arrived late, so I am behind.) Flora thinks that everyone gets a "kick" out of doing something, so she tries to find out what everyone is interested in. Flora tries to find the psychological motive behind why each person acts the way they do.
2) What do I think of the other characters? Good Lord. I would certaintly feel uncomfortable living in that house with all the strange people. The food alone would kill me, what with eating food that fell on the floor, & I doubt soap of any kind is used to wash the dishes.

Miss Fix-it

I haven't finished the book yet, but I just finished a few chapters that covered Flora's intentions to "fix" Elfine.
What problem does Flora think Elfine has?
The bottom of page 29 covers this well: "Elfine must be transformed indeed; her artiness must be rooted out. Her mind must match the properly groomed head in which it was housed. Her movements must be made less frequent, and her conversations less artless. She must write no more poetry nor go for anymore long walks unless accompanied by the proper sort of dog to take on long walks. She must learn to be serious about horses. She must learn to laugh when a book or a string quartet was mentioned, and then confess that she was not inhibited." Quite a detailed list.
And then humorously she adds,"And there were only twenty-seven days in which to teach her all these things!"
How does Flora fix Elfine's problem?
Aside from above list, Flora tries to dress her better. I love this line: "Do, for heaven's sake, avoid orange linen jumpers and hand-wrought jewelry. Oh, and shawls in the evening."
Her main goal is to get her engaged to Richard Hawk-Monitor, by transforming Elfine before the dance at Godmere. She succeeds--"She felt as though she had shaken her fist in the face of Aunt Ada Doom."
Does Flora herself have a problem?
I probably have to think about that more, or wait until I'm done with the book. So far I would say that she is bossy and controlling, and I think maybe she is rather "inhibited", even though she claims she is not. She does like everything "tidy", but life really isn't tidy, is it?

Bonnie's answers ~ Flora fixes Meriam's problem

3. What "problem" does Flora think each character has?
4. How does Flora "fix" each character's problem?

I'll start with Meriam Beetle, the hired girl. In chapter 6 Flora, wanting her curtains washed, went to visit Meriam. It was just after the birth of a fourth child, whose father was apparently Seth Starkadder. The problem, as Flora saw it, was that Meriam needed to know about birth control. So Flora proceeded to explain contraception. [Sukebind is a weed whose flowering in the spring symbolises the quickening of sexual urges in man and beast.]

"...I will tell you how to see that nothing happens. And never mind about the sukebind for a minute (what is this sukebind, anyway?) Listen to me."

And carefully, in detail, in cool phrases, Flora explained exactly to Meriam how to forestall the disastrous effect of too much sukebind and too many long summer evenings upon the female system.

Meriam listened, with eyes widening and widening.

"'Tes wickedness! 'Tes flying in the face of Nature!" she burst out fearfully at last.

"Nonsense!" said Flora. "Nature is all very well in her place, but she must not be allowed to make things untidy. Now remember, Meriam -- no more sukebind and summer evenings without some preparations beforehand..."

5. Does Flora herself have a problem?

Yeah, I think she's a busybody. On the other hand, maybe it was helpful to bring Meriam up to date with the world as it was in 1932, when this book was first published.

CCF ~ discussion questions

"The heroine, Flora, stays at Aunt Ada Doom's isolated farm in the fictional village of Howling in Sussex. As is typical in a certain genre of romantic nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century literature, each of the farm's inhabitants has some long-festering emotional problem caused by ignorance, hatred or fear, and the farm is badly run. Flora, being a level-headed, urban woman, applies modern common sense to their problems and helps them all adapt to the twentieth century."

I found this summary online (won't say where ... yet ... because of the spoilers there). Flora sets out to change these relatives of hers, according to this, and I've found that to be so:

Mrs. Beetle calls Flora "Miss Interference" (p. 78)
Flora wants to "tidy up affairs at Cold Comfort" (p. 80)

QUESTIONS:

3. What "problem" does Flora think each character has?
4. How does Flora "fix" each character's problem?
5. Does Flora herself have any problems, in your opinion?

Here are the characters:

Judith Starkadder: Flora's cousin, wife of Amos.
Seth Starkadder: younger son of Amos and Judith.
Ada Doom: Judith's mother, a reclusive, miserly widow, owner of the farm.
Adam Lambsbreath: extremely ancient farm hand.
Mark Dolour: farm hand.
Amos Starkadder: Judith's husband, and hellfire preacher at the Church of the Quivering Brethren. ("Ye're all damned!")
Amos's half-cousins:
... Micah, married to Susan
... Urk, a bachelor
... Ezra, married to Jane
... Caraway, married to Lettie
... Harkaway
Amos's half-brothers:
... Luke, married to Prue
... Mark, divorced from Susan and married to Phoebe
Reuben Starkadder: Amos's heir.
Meriam Beetle: hired girl, and mother of Seth's four children.
Elfine: an intellectual, outdoor-loving girl of the Starkadder family.
Mrs Beetle: cleaning lady, rather more sensible than the Starkadders.
Mrs Murther: landlady of The Condemn'd Man public house.
Mr Meyerburg (whom Flora thinks of as "Mr Mybug"): a writer who pursues Flora and insists that she only refuses him because she is sexually repressed. He is working on a thesis that the works of the Brontë sisters were written by their brother Branwell Brontë.
Rennet: unwanted daughter of Susan and Mark

And also:
Graceless, Aimless, Feckless and Pointless: the farm's cows, and Adam Lambsbreath's chief charge. Occasionally given to losing extremities.
Viper: the horse, pulls the trap which is the farm's main transportation.
Big Business: the bull, spends most of his time inside the barn.

And we met these in London:
Flora Poste: the heroine, a nineteen-year old from London whose parents are deceased.
Mary Smiling: a widow, Flora's friend in London.
Charles Fairford: Flora's cousin in London, studying to become a parson.

CCF ~ genealogy

I hope there's nothing here that would be a spoiler, but with all these characters it seemed like a good idea to share this chart. Click on it to enlarge it.

CCF - A Late Start!

I suppose this was not the best time of year to make my entry into the book-blogging world! I just bought the book two days ago after a long, fruitless search of the library for two lost copies. I almost never buy books, having limited funds and space, so I am savoring the quirkiness of the cover art and the freedom to underline and write silly notes in the margins!
I watched this movie a year or so ago, and though I loved the bizarre mood of the movie, a lot of it went over my head and I didn't really get the point. I also don't remember it too well. (I only came upon it because one of my favorite actors was in it--Rufus Sewell who plays Seth.) I've always wanted to read the book to see if I can get more out of it, so, despite the lack of enthusiasm from other entries, I've begun the novel with what can only be described as giddy pleasure (perhaps this is due to Rufus Sewell flashbacks?)

What do you think of Flora Poste?

If I knew Flora personally, I would hate her. As a character in a novel like this, I admire her lack of desire to please anyone no matter what they may think of her, and am amused with her goal to "civilize" the residents of Cold Comfort Farm. I am interested in her name, "Flora" representing the plant world, or flowers? There are also several references to seeds and their fruit. I also looked up "post" in the dictionary, and thought there were many directions to go there: post as in the mail (her letters to the family), post as in to enter on a public listing (she almost advertises herself to her relatives to get them to take her in), or post as in the prefix meaning after ("after"-maybe her name meaning after dwelling on the plant world--the novel being written as a reaction to the agricultural/rural novels of the time.) Does anyone have any other thoughts on that?

What do you think of the other characters?
Again, I was drawn to the names:
The last name Starkadder: "stark"-rigid, conforming, absolute; "adder"- a venomous viper. There are numerous descriptions comparing the land and characters to snakes--like Judith' hair. The snake references also make me think of the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Adam Lambsbreath: Adam makes me think of the first man, and Adam must be the oldest person there?"Lambs breath maybe refers to the fact that he is so close to the animals, or like one himself. On page 46, it says of him, "He was a tree-trunk; a toad on a stone; a pie thatched owl on a bough. Humanity left him abruptly." Hilarious, though, that he does not realize that his beloved cow has lost a leg!
Mrs. Smiling: It just fits her, doesn't it? And how can you not love a character who collects bras?
Amos: The name of a prophet in the Old Testament. He does seem to have a bit of "fire and brimstone" in him so far. I want to say that Ian McKellan plays him in the movie, but I'm not sure.
Aunt Ada Doom: This name just speaks for itself, though we've only gotten a glimpse of her character.
Seth: Another Biblical name--a son of Adam and Eve. He is someone I would also detest in real life, but in the setting of the book/movie is comically endearing. He seems to represent the basic instincts of man without any societal constraints.
Judith: I don't know much about the name Judith, but she is often described in snake-like terms (Starkadder), and it is always noted that she is wearing a bright red shawl. What's the significance of that? She is definitely obsessed with her son Seth, what with all those picture of him in her room (poor Reuben!) which is slightly disturbing to me.
The Cows: I just love their names, but don't know if there is any further meaning!

I still feel that there is a lot going over my head that was probably more humorous for contemporaries of the novel, but I still enjoy the quirkiness. I feel like there is more behind the characters that was making fun of specific situations in these rural novels she was poking fun at that I will never get, having never read them. I keep trying to think of parodies of our time, and all that comes to mind readily is Spaceballs (sorry!) A movie like Spaceballs would only be mildly funny if you hadn't seen Star Wars or Star Trek. Maybe someone else can think of a better example!

CCF - some thoughts

Just got the book today. Was sent the wrong reprint. I wanted the current one, because of the illustrations of the characters. So, being upset about the book, I read around 20 pages. I did laugh a few times. However, I found Flora's logic ludicrous. Most teenagers/young adults want to be independent & here she had a friend that would be there for her as well as others. I know that this is tongue & cheek, so maybe that was the whole idea of the plot. As for changing others, ha. Naive or conceited. A bit of the ego. Ludicrous or not, it sets us on a path of what will happen next with built in conflict.
I was going to answer the questions from BSP, but I gave the book to my father to read. Then, my nephew came over & I gave the book to him to read. The questions were in the back of the book. I'm not sure how you copy Bonnie's questions other than to type it in. Anyway, I really enjoyed what others had to say & didn't have much more to say anyway. I was shocked by the end of the book.
I just saw a movie on TV the other day, Pictures of Hollis Woods. I cried at the end. The movie was based on a book of fiction. Would anyone want to consider this book for a future book selection?

CCF - Some Early Thoughts

Given how dissatisfied everyone is, I'm a bit reluctant to post! First, I should tell you that I'm not to chapter 5 yet. We are in the last week of classes, so I have not done much reading outside of student work. That said, I am enjoying the quirkiness of the early chapters.

I think it's important to keep in mind that Gibbons wrote this book in 1932 as a parody of novels that romanticized rural life. We can't read it as a modern novel. Some readers are having difficulty with the notion of Flora foisting herself on family. However, relations, even distant ones in this time period would have taken in an orphaned child, even one at such an advanced age. Flora's view that she can set everyone to rights is spot on of the view cultured, urban dwellers had regarding their country cousins. Perhaps the reason I am enjoying this so far is because it is so tongue-in-cheek.

Alright, I need to get back to grading. I hope to get more read this weekend and will post some further thoughts. For those of you not enjoying the book, I hope you find something redeeming before it's over!

CCF ~ Bonnie's take on it

This cover is from the DVD, though I haven't tried to find out when it was filmed. The cover intrigued me because it says she's found the branch of the family with all the nuts. I also don't know how closely the DVD follows the book.

1. What do you think of Flora Poste?
Not much, as Jo said. It's astounding that she just assumes relatives will take her in. She is "in her twentieth year" (first page of chapter 1), so she is 19 years old. In spite of her "expensive, athletic and prolonged" education (same page), she seems not to know very much.

2. What do you think of the other characters?
Mrs. Smiling is the only one I like so far, and I have no idea why she seems to like Flora. I'm mostly wondering why Flora's relatives feel they owe her something, which I guess is the great secret we are waiting to discover.

I can't say I am particularly enjoying the book either, but I am somewhat curious to see what happens. I need to go tell Tricia, who suggested the book, to come help us think about it. More later.

CCF questions 1 & 2

I am not enjoying this book. I have finished about half the book in hopes it would improve. I still am not enjoying it. I will probably finish it because it is a group read. I understand from the prologue that this book is intended to funny, but I haven't found the humor as yet. I find it to be more satirical than humorous.

1. What do you think of Flora Poste?
Not much. She is supercilious and egotistical.

2. What do you think of the other characters?
They seem one dimensional for the most part. I find little to endear me to Adam except for the small mystery he brings with his musings about Elfine. She seems a free spirit wrapped in what little mystery the book contains so far. Judith seems like a very sad soul and Amos revels in the negative. Seth is useless and Reuben is wrapped up in farming the land no matter how poor.

CCF- Questions 1 & 2

At first I really didn't care for CCF. Once I started to get more familiar with the language (especially Adam's lol) I found myself enjoying the book a little more. I kind of knew it was going to be a bit corny by the cover. And then when the cow's leg fell off well that kind of reinforced it. I try to make analogies when I read. For this book the best I could come up with was a modern person from the city suddenly living in Armish Country or Flora a kind of Dorothy where we learn later that she is sick with a fever and this is all a dream. Lol.

1. What do you think of Flora Poste?

I think Flora is a spoiled girl that is used to getting her own way. I can't wait to see what sparks will fly or not when she meets with Aunt Ada Doom.

2. What do you think of the other characters?

I think that Adam is quite the character, he is strange but tends to grow on you. I don't know enough about the other characters yet to really form an opinion.

Cold Comfort Farm

Although I am finding this book somewhat humorous, I am not particularly enjoying it as it is more corny than my type of humor and I prefer more believable story lines.

I keep reading hoping that it will become more interesting and knowing that the discussion should make this worthwhile.

I did find the new posted cover interesting. It appears to add to the possibility that these folks could be real. Scary thought.


1. What do you think of Flora Poste?
I don't like her eagerness to mooch off of unknown relatives even though she was given an opportunity and encouragement to become self-sufficient. I also dislike her determination to change the lives of the Cold Comfort Farm residents. Flora obviously doesn't believe in the adage of not biting the hand that feeds her.

2. What do you think of the other characters?
I like Mrs. Smiling's offer to help Flora become self-sufficient and her genorosity in wanting her to remain with her.
I haven't met Aunt Ada Doom yet.
Elfine I haven't formed an opinion of yet.
Seth sounds like quite a jerk. However, his high opinion of himself and his belief that he is God's gift to women were traits that were developed because of his mother.
I don't find Reuben or Adam to have much substance. Such dull lives.
Judith and Amos are quite the couple. Amos seems more realistic than most of the other folks.

Cold Comfort Farm ~ discussion questions

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons is a comic novel. Flora, a recently orphaned 19-year-old socialite, moves in with her country relatives, the gloomy Starkadders of Cold Comfort Farm. It's time for our discussion, so here are our first two questions.

1. What do you think of Flora Poste?
2. What do you think of the other characters?

CCF discussion schedule
Nov 23-30 ~ start reading CCF
Dec 1-7 ~ discuss chapters 1-5
Dec 8-14 ~ discuss chapters 6-10
Dec 15-21 ~ discuss chapters 11-16
Dec 22-31 ~ discuss chapters 17-23

Genealogy of characters

Answer for Shirley

Yes, Cold Comfort Farm has been around for a long time, so it has had other covers. That book doesn't come until DECEMBER, though, and our next book is The Boy in Striped Pajamas for NOVEMBER.

The vote for Cold Comfort Farm was 8 votes (44%):

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency 5 (27%)
Night Journal 1 (5%)
Gilded Chamber 1 (5%)
Cold Comfort Farm 8 (44%)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle 3 (16%)
Total votes: 18
Poll closed