Super Idee, tolle Sammlung mit dem Thema ZEIT. Ich fand noch 3 dazu: J. M. Coetzee: Summertime, und 2 andere, ebenso grandiose, mit Zeitbegriff: Sunjeev Sahota: The Year of the Runaways, und Elif Shafak: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World.
WIZ

- 10. März
- Beitritt 14. Juni 2023
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I am a teacher of English and Russian languages and literature on pension. My passion is reading books in English and discussing them.
At the moment I am reading Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, an up-to-date novel about the importance of books, society versus individuum, knowledge and ignorance, sheer and shallow entertainment etc.
I would like to join the circle and get to know readers interested esp. in contemporary
Belana_st Hi Belana
The last part of the book was a real page-turner, putnotdownable for me, and as I noted already at the beginning, there was more to it than met the eye i.e. more than mere chatty smalltalk suggested by the cover. Though it got finished with a kind of happy ending, it was done with twists and turns, raising and heightening the tension until the climax.
What I also liked was the development of the characters, esp. Daphne’s from an innocent, to everything yes-noddy into a self-confident if not a cynical but an understanding friend, daughter and lover. And I was more than happy to learn, she was working on being excited instead of nervous about the unknown, because as she states together with the author and me, the humble reader “So many of the most beautiful things in life are unexpected.”
And in order to be able to deal with uncertainty, because life is complicated and sometimes difficult, you’ve got to stay alive, to wake up from your sleep and face the conflicts, the newness of a situation, yourself.
Daphne will remain in my memory as the happy girl in a library surrounded by books and reading to kids during Story Hour.
About translation: as it often happens you can’t give a word-by-word translation because it doesn’t correspond with the original or has a different, in worst case a non-sensical meaning in the other language. Therefore I completely agree, it is a very delicate question, you’ve got to keep the register and the style as well.
I wouldn’t have given the title ‘Funny Story’ to this particular book in the first place. It sounds as if the author was trying hard to be funny, to entertain. And the pic on the blurb seems to me just commonplace, with a hint of small talk, not more.
I preferred the cover of Graham Swift’s Mothering Sunday, also a romance. Modigliani’s nude figure suggests more depth and intimacy.
Hi ZooeyyZueri
I couldn’t agree more to what you are saying. To be a good book, it needs the development of the character/s.
And Daphne does this, indeed. Buttoned-up here, I think means that she doesn’t like to open up to people, not to speak up of strangers. As for Miles he reminds me of a teddy bear, cosy and warm-hearted, which is exactly what Daphne needs at the moment. Different opinion? good for discussion.
Hi Beliana and everybody else
I’m happily back from London, full of inspiringly gorgeous impressions. And now my reactions to the first part of the book. Well, as I ’d noted before ( though nobody followed me, I wonder why? Technical problems? ) it was a somewhat absurd start with a not-to-believe and yet almost clichèd beginning, promising more surprises to come, i.e. a real page-turner.
The two main characters, Daphne a children’s librarian and Miles, bar-tender and jack-of-all-trades in Cherry Mill winery, are brought together by strange, hard to believe circumstances of necessity. Both, in their twenties have been jilted by their partners. For Daphne all the more painful as she was just about to marry Peter, wedding dress bought and ready to be worn by the would-be bride. The absurdity of the situation is that her ex, Peter left Daphne for Miles’ ex- girlfriend, Petra.
First they show no interest in one another, merely try to make the best of sharing the flat, but as time goes by, seemingly against their will, they get closer to each other. There’s nothing like a closure, or a closed book, as Ashley, Daphne’s coworker and later friend tells about Daphne. In the meantime we get to know quite a lot about the two characters and their former relationships. The readers realize how naive and too trusting Daphne was towards Peter, she just ‘belonged’. So I think, though hard for her at the moment, it’s better to get to know life and herself a bit better instead of chaining herself to an uncaring, possessive guy like Peter. Luckily, she finds pleasure in her job, she gives her heart to the kids. “It’s the piece of my life that feels right” she says and knows, she can’t leave for 85 days when the Read-a-thon event, she’s looking forward to so much, happens. I loved the passages in which she talks about the difference between the kids and adults, or her former reading experienceWell, and so the countdown begins, Daphne and Miles spend the first night out together planning to deliberately make Peter and Petra jealous, coaxing them into believing that they ’re dating and have a crush on each other.
Daphne, the control-freak is not yet ready for a new relationship, but out of the blue, it just happens.She can hardly to admit even for herself how she lusts after her new room-neighbour, the chaotic dyslexic but mindful and outgoing Miles. He shows her places she’s never been to before, does things with her she’s never experienced before. This newness certainly has a refreshing, invigorating effect on Daphne. It was worthwhile leaving her comfort zone.
“The oddball parings are so cliché, so expected. But then again, they work, ” says Emily Henry. And how right she is!
Hi everybody
Many thanks for the book and the tote bag. I love reading books about relationships. What is love? What’s real, what’s fake? This seems to be the main question at the beginning of Emily Henry’s Funny Story. A romance, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. It is a page-turner! Funny, as well as thought-provoking. What happens if you mean one thing and say another ? I can’t wait to find out the consequences in the story.
On Thursday I am flying to London for a week but I’ll be with you as soon as I am back.
Enjoy reading the book.