What other author are you reading at the moment?

[Fiona1986]

I also gave up on Anne Franks diary though I think I only read a few chapters. I found it a bit slow too, and confusing as she gave everyone pseudonyms!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Must admit I've never found The Diary of Anne Frank too slow. I first read it when I was about twelve and I really felt for Anne. The fact that we find out so many little details of day to day life in the annexe, including the layout of the rooms, mealtime conversations and the performance of various domestic tasks, helps bring home just how terrible it must have been for those in hiding. So much tension, fear and uncertainty, and yet Anne managed to keep herself busy and cope as best she could, even when she found it very difficult at times to get along with her family and the other people in the annexe. What surprises me is that she didn't write much (if anything) about Judaism, as I'd have thought their religion would have brought the family comfort and hope. The thought of having so little privacy and of not being able to go outside at all for several years is suffocating - almost unimaginable. I visited the Anne Frank House years ago and was moved by it. The pictures that Anne stuck on the wall were still there, as was the chestnut tree that she wrote about in her diary (sadly, I heard a couple of years ago that the tree was diseased and would have to be cut down).

I'll have to try P. G. Wodehouse one of these days, Ming. I keep meaning to!

Anita

[Eddie Muir]

I've never found The Diary of Anne Frank too slow either. In fact, I found both reading the diary and visiting the Anne Frank House profoundly moving experiences.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I first read, 'The Diary of a Young Girl', when I was at school, and of course it was less than 20 years since the war had actually ended. I think maybe the younger set of today, may not quite realize the terrible atrocities, (sorry about the spelling) that Anne Frank and the Jewish people had to endure. We'd had to sit through watching news reel footage of the concentration camps etc and then read this book. And you then read it in a totally different light. Very sad indeed.

[Stephen]

Thoroughly engrossed in Arthur C Clarke's '2001: A Space Odyssey'. Funnily enough, I've read the three sequels, but never the original up until now. It's set around Saturn as opposed to Jupiter (Clarke explains in notes at the start why the setting was changed). And while I love the outrageously artistic film, the book is simply a brilliantly fine read.

My favourite Clarke novel is 'Rendezvous With Rama' written around 1973. In later life, he co-wrote three sequels with Gentry Lee. The original was a stunning description of astronauts entering a huge, hollow, artificial asteroid that has entered our solar system. But when I started reading 'Rama II', it just seemed to be a soap opera in space with annoying characters - and they'll just stick in a bit of science fiction to stop the purists from complaining! I only read a few chapters before giving up, but I think I'll have to give it another go sometime!

[Muminah]

I have been reading "Good Wives" by Louisa May Alcott lately. It's a lovely story and highly emotional. The part where Beth dies and where Jo is left alone are really sad and touching. The sayings and how the family spirit works together are wonderful. I have learnt a lot from the books, as I too play Meg's part with three lovely young sisiters.

[Aurélien]

Have nearly finished re-reading Diane Duane's 'The Book of Night With Moon'....the 1997 book in which the late Luciano Pavarotti was sort of, er, 'snapped up' whilst singing 'Faust' in New York City's Central Park.

‘Aurélien Arkadiusz’

[Timmylover]

Referring back to The Diary of Anne Frank, I too first read this book at the age of twelve and was deeply affected by by it. I wrote to Otto Frank (Anne's father - the only survivor of the Secret Annexe) who was still alive at the time (he died in 1980) and received a lovely personal letter from him in return. This is one of my most treasured possessions. I have visited the 'Anne Frank House' several times and was also very upset when I first learned that the old chestnut tree which had, to some degree, comforted Anne as her only contact with nature, was dying.

Anne mentioned the tree several times. In one memorable diary entry, from February 23rd, 1944, Anne wrote: "...I was sitting on my favourite spot on the floor. The two of us (she and Peter) looked out at the blue sky, the bare chestnut tree glistening with dew, the seagulls and other birds glinting with silver as they swooped through the air, and we were so moved and entranced that we couldn't speak." Later in the same entry Anne added: "The best remedy for those who are afraid, alone or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere they can be alone, alone with the sky, nature and God".

I have just received the following information from the Anne Frank Foundation. Cuttings were taken from the dying chestnut tree, which have now grown into 150 saplings. The first of these has been planted in the Bos Park, in Amsterdam. At the planting ceremony the tree was referred to as "a symbol of hope and freedom that we can share by planting its saplings all over the world". Other saplings have been sent to several of the 200 schools around the world that are named after Anne. In addition, one will be planted in the grounds of the White House and another at Ground Zero in New York.

It would seem that the girl who wanted "to go on living even after my death" has had her wish granted.

[dolly]

I was very impressed by the books "A square of sky" and "A touch of earth" by Janina David - she was the "Polish Anne Frank". A movie about her life was made in the early eighties - Dana Vavrova was an excellent actress. It was a story about a little girl brought up in a very wealthy Jewish family and sent to the Warsaw ghetto with her people facing hunger, starvation and epidemic. Gradually the deporations started ...
My parents will give me the DVD for Christmas!

[Moonraker]

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

[Timmy-the-dog]

I've just finished "The School on the Cliff - Ethel Talbot 1926.
I bought the 1st edition earlier this year. It's very interesting reading these very early school stories and spotting the little sections which almost certainly influenced Enid's storylines in the Malory Towers and St. Clare's series twenty years later.
I'm about to start "Self or School" - Doris Pocock - published by Cassell 1926.
cheers

Timmy

[Anita Bensoussane]

I have just received the following information from the Anne Frank Foundation. Cuttings were taken from the dying chestnut tree, which have now grown into 150 saplings. The first of these has been planted in the Bos Park, in Amsterdam. At the planting ceremony the tree was referred to as "a symbol of hope and freedom that we can share by planting its saplings all over the world". Other saplings have been sent to several of the 200 schools around the world that are named after Anne. In addition, one will be planted in the grounds of the White House and another at Ground Zero in New York.

It would seem that the girl who wanted "to go on living even after my death" has had her wish granted.

That's good news - I hadn't heard about that.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

My son and I read A Christmas Carol between us a few weeks ago, Nigel. He read a few pages to me, then I read a few pages to him, and so on. We did the same with Treasure Island and we're now reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It's a way of introducing him to the classics and I've enjoyed rediscovering them too.

As well as Tom Sawyer, I'm also re-reading Carrie's War by Nina Bawden.

Anita

[Stephen]

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

I'm currently on that now!

[Timmylover]

The Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens - one of my favourite pre-Christmas reads.

[hope189]

I desperately want to read A Christmas carol before christmas but, i just can't find a complete version of the book anywhere.