Sorry all ...

elyob came up with the following;:

Quoted message said:

... but it was so nice out I decided to take a quick spin around the block
after lunch .. you can see my route here ..

http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/gpsmap.html (20050802Windsor)

(I turned left visiting two big towns, and on the way back set the
waypoint to 'home' and followed it as directly as I could).

... think I may go and catch the last few rays with a beer and a book 🙂

LOL, I'm sat in the garden now with a Becks, Harry Potters latest, now the
kids have finished it, and the laptop. I _do_ like wifi stuff .. 😉

--
Paul ...
(8(|) Homer Rules ..... Doh !!!

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

... but it was so nice out I decided to take a quick spin around the block
after lunch .. you can see my route here ..

http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/gpsmap.html (20050802Windsor)

(I turned left visiting two big towns, and on the way back set the
waypoint to 'home' and followed it as directly as I could).

... think I may go and catch the last few rays with a beer and a book 🙂

Nathan & I went out and notched up 100km round the lanes of Norfolk,
including a brief CTC meet. It was lovely - mostly quiet lanes, glorious
sunshine, tea & cake in Castle Acre on the way home. I am now thoroughly
cream crackered attempting to keep up with the offspring - who was
deliberately going slowly so as not to wear out his aged mother ;-)

Cheers, helen s

Paul - censored said:

LOL, I'm sat in the garden now with a Becks, Harry Potters latest, now
the kids have finished it, and the laptop. I _do_ like wifi stuff .. 😉

The WiFi is cool, but couldn't you have brought a better book! ;-)

Jon

wafflycat said:

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

... but it was so nice out I decided to take a quick spin around the block
after lunch .. you can see my route here ..

http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/gpsmap.html (20050802Windsor)

(I turned left visiting two big towns, and on the way back set the
waypoint to 'home' and followed it as directly as I could).

... think I may go and catch the last few rays with a beer and a book 🙂

Nathan & I went out and notched up 100km round the lanes of Norfolk,
including a brief CTC meet. It was lovely - mostly quiet lanes, glorious
sunshine, tea & cake in Castle Acre on the way home. I am now thoroughly
cream crackered attempting to keep up with the offspring - who was
deliberately going slowly so as not to wear out his aged mother ;-)

You *do* need the tandem then..

...d

Jon Senior came up with the following;:

Quoted message said:

Paul - censored said:

LOL, I'm sat in the garden now with a Becks, Harry Potters latest, now
the kids have finished it, and the laptop. I _do_ like wifi stuff .. 😉

The WiFi is cool, but couldn't you have brought a better book! ;-)

er ... it's the kids book ...er ... and I just sort of found it ...

😉

--
Paul ...
(8(|) Homer Rules ..... Doh !!!

Paul - censored said:

er ... it's the kids book ...er ... and I just sort of found it ...

My mum was trawling her way through it the day after release. But she's
an English teacher so that's understandable. I read the first two (or
three) but lost interest. It's not that I didn't enjoy them at the time,
just that I didn't care either way enough to read the rest.

Depending on their age(s), and ability, the Northern Lights trilogy by
Philip Pullman is pretty good. Quite possibly the only worthwhile thing
to be published by Point. You probably won't have much trouble forcing
yourself to read them first. :-)

Jon

in message <[email hidden]>, Jon Senior

jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk ('') said:

Paul - censored said:

LOL, I'm sat in the garden now with a Becks, Harry Potters latest, now
the kids have finished it, and the laptop. I _do_ like wifi stuff ..
😉

The WiFi is cool, but couldn't you have brought a better book! ;-)

Read it.

She is an extraordinarily skilled plot constructor. If I could write one
tenth so well I would be a happy man. I'm currently reading The
Half-Blood Prince for the second time, and riffling back through the
previous five books to find where the clues were planted for each of the
plot twists. No, I don't know whether people will still be reading Harry
Potter in a hundred years. No, I don't think it's great literature. But
it's extraordinary story-telling. Obsessive story telling, by someone
who plans and plans and plans, and lays out all her clues in front of
you in plain sight, and /still/ springs surprises.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

... but it was so nice out I decided to take a quick spin around the block
after lunch .. you can see my route here ..

http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/gpsmap.html (20050802Windsor)

(I turned left visiting two big towns, and on the way back set the
waypoint to 'home' and followed it as directly as I could).

... think I may go and catch the last few rays with a beer and a book 🙂

give me a target. I need a target ,,,

I want a place to point my bike ...

Nick...

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"elyob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

... but it was so nice out I decided to take a quick spin around the
block after lunch .. you can see my route here ..

http://fishpluschips.com/GPS/gpsmap.html (20050802Windsor)

(I turned left visiting two big towns, and on the way back set the
waypoint to 'home' and followed it as directly as I could).

... think I may go and catch the last few rays with a beer and a book 🙂

give me a target. I need a target ,,,

I want a place to point my bike ...

Nick...

i drank enough beer ...

i'm listening to Eva ...

Days like this are good ..

🙂

Jon Senior said:

Paul - censored said:

er ... it's the kids book ...er ... and I just sort of found it ...

My mum was trawling her way through it the day after release. But she's
an English teacher so that's understandable. I read the first two (or
three) but lost interest. It's not that I didn't enjoy them at the time,
just that I didn't care either way enough to read the rest.

Depending on their age(s), and ability, the Northern Lights trilogy by
Philip Pullman is pretty good. Quite possibly the only worthwhile thing
to be published by Point. You probably won't have much trouble forcing
yourself to read them first. :-)

Disagree. I didn't think they were as good as the hype made out. It
seemed like things appeared to get out of a hole in the plot rather
than a story that was based in a realistic[1] world.

I quite like the HP books but then again the long rambling style is
something I prefer. I have just finished 'The Man in the Iron Mask'
which was rather enlightening as I hadn't read it before, and quite
like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.

OK the characterisation is a bit thin at times, and the latest HP
offering swung very much to the 'hey we have hormones' but it was a
good read.

Currently working though Swallowdale with the kids.

...d

[1] ie one you feel is actually cogent and not being invented on the
spur of the moment.

Quoted message said:

Jon

Simon Brooke said:

Read it.

She is an extraordinarily skilled plot constructor. If I could write one
tenth so well I would be a happy man. I'm currently reading The
Half-Blood Prince for the second time, and riffling back through the
previous five books to find where the clues were planted for each of the
plot twists. No, I don't know whether people will still be reading Harry
Potter in a hundred years. No, I don't think it's great literature. But
it's extraordinary story-telling. Obsessive story telling, by someone
who plans and plans and plans, and lays out all her clues in front of
you in plain sight, and /still/ springs surprises.

The thing that got me was how suddenly Snape turned. There is cleary a
counterplay between HP and Snape but the real surprise could be
Neville. After all there were two candidate babies to destroy HWSNBN,
Harry and Neville and all the focus is on Harry but Neville never
leaves the stage.

So we have the ultimate showdown .. finding all the bits of V (why do I
keep thinking Vordermann) before V gets to H who he can't kill. Is H a
safekeeper for part of V? (can't remember the correct term) so N must
kill H and V to save the world?
Mindless hypothesising too late at night.

...d

Simon Brooke came up with the following;:

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Jon Senior

jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk ('') said:

Paul - censored said:

LOL, I'm sat in the garden now with a Becks, Harry Potters latest, now
the kids have finished it, and the laptop. I _do_ like wifi stuff ..
😉

The WiFi is cool, but couldn't you have brought a better book! ;-)

Read it.

She is an extraordinarily skilled plot constructor. If I could write one
tenth so well I would be a happy man. I'm currently reading The
Half-Blood Prince for the second time, and riffling back through the
previous five books to find where the clues were planted for each of the
plot twists. No, I don't know whether people will still be reading Harry
Potter in a hundred years. No, I don't think it's great literature. But
it's extraordinary story-telling. Obsessive story telling, by someone
who plans and plans and plans, and lays out all her clues in front of
you in plain sight, and /still/ springs surprises.

My problem with all the HP books is that they seem so inconclusive and leave
so many things unsaid. Yes, I realise commercially that might make good
sense, but for readers it's a bit much to take. My wife and I like the
books more than the kids, I think, simply because so much is left untold.

Great stories mind .. 😉

--
Paul ...
(8(|) Homer Rules ..... Doh !!!

"David Martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

You *do* need the tandem then..

..d

oooh no... unless it's a recumbent tandem - that's a different kettle of
fish.

Cheers, helen s

David Martin said:

Disagree. I didn't think they were as good as the hype made out. It
seemed like things appeared to get out of a hole in the plot rather
than a story that was based in a realistic[1] world.

Ahh. I read them pre-hype so was not expecting anything. I found
Pullman's style more interesting and the subject matter didn't keep
making me think of "The Worst Witch". I quite liked the world he
created, which was close enough to the real world to be recognisable,
but different enough to force your imagination into play. And hats off
for taking a very different view on a quite conventional subject matter.

Quoted message said:

I quite like the HP books but then again the long rambling style is
something I prefer. I have just finished 'The Man in the Iron Mask'
which was rather enlightening as I hadn't read it before, and quite
like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.

If you're working through the Russians, have you read "The Master and
Margerita" by Bulgakov? Or any of Nabakov's efforts?

Quoted message said:

OK the characterisation is a bit thin at times, and the latest HP
offering swung very much to the 'hey we have hormones' but it was a
good read.

....but well in excess of the hype. I can't complain too much because it
does seem to get kids reading but it has now become a self-fulfilling
hype. It has been suggested by several people that JKR would benefit
from an editor with more backbone who was prepared to point out where
the cutting should begin.

Quoted message said:

Currently working though Swallowdale with the kids.

Vastly superior. ;-)

Jon

in message <[email hidden]>, David

Martin (') said:

Jon Senior said:

Paul - censored said:

er ... it's the kids book ...er ... and I just sort of found it ...

My mum was trawling her way through it the day after release. But
she's an English teacher so that's understandable. I read the first
two (or three) but lost interest. It's not that I didn't enjoy them at
the time, just that I didn't care either way enough to read the rest.

Depending on their age(s), and ability, the Northern Lights trilogy by
Philip Pullman is pretty good. Quite possibly the only worthwhile
thing to be published by Point. You probably won't have much trouble
forcing yourself to read them first. :-)

Disagree. I didn't think they were as good as the hype made out. It
seemed like things appeared to get out of a hole in the plot rather
than a story that was based in a realistic[1] world.

Now I suspect that Northern Lights /may/ actually be literature,
and /may/ still be read in a hundred years time. It is, obviously, in a
very different class than Harry Potter, with a more up-front agenda and
a heavier allegorical burden, but it's also well worth reading. Just a
shame he chickens out in the end, but that's our modern enlightened
society for you.

Quoted message said:

OK the characterisation is a bit thin at times, and the latest HP
offering swung very much to the 'hey we have hormones' but it was a
good read.

At that age people do. I'll be very interested to see how Rowling handles
that in book seven, at least partly to compare and contrast Pullman. I'm
also interested to see how Rowling manages to pull off her cyclical
narrative in book seven, given the consequences of plot developments in
book six.

Quoted message said:

Currently working though Swallowdale with the kids.

Yup, and note that Ransome was, before anything else, a literary critic
and theorist. Swallows and Amazons may look like a cheerful adventure
yarn for kids, but, like Harry Potter, it is a very carefully and
skillfully crafted narrative (Racundra's First Cruise is also an
excellent read). It's a mistake to assume that, because a book is
written about children or explicitly for children, it is in any sense
less ambitious, less serious, or less excellent than any other work of
fiction.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; this is not a .sig

in message <[email hidden]>, David

Martin (') said:

The thing that got me was how suddenly Snape turned. There is cleary a
counterplay between HP and Snape but the real surprise could be
Neville. After all there were two candidate babies to destroy HWSNBN,
Harry and Neville and all the focus is on Harry but Neville never
leaves the stage.

So we have the ultimate showdown .. finding all the bits of V (why do I
keep thinking Vordermann) before V gets to H who he can't kill. Is H a
safekeeper for part of V? (can't remember the correct term) so N must
kill H and V to save the world?

It's just the sort of thing that Rowling might pull off. As far as I'm
concerned the key things I'm looking for in book seven are

* Occlumency. We've learned in book five that HP is very poor at
occlumency, and in book six that Riddle[1] is exceptionally good at it.
And the very casualness about the way these points have been made
implies to me they're important (like the casual way we learned that
Snape was a half-blood in book three, and that his mother's surname was
Prince in, I think, book five). I think we can assume that in book six
Riddle will know everything that HP plans and does, while HP will be
completely in the dark about Riddle.

* Grawp. Hagrid's faith in his monsters has been a consistent theme, and
Rowling is consistently very strongly anti-prejudice (e.g. mudbloods,
Lupin, Luna). I strongly suspect Grawp will have a key role to play.

* Malfoy. Draco Malfoy has consistently been portrayed as weak, I
think /rather/ than actively evil (contrast his father, who is not weak
and clearly is evil). Malfoy did not kill Albus[2] when ordered to do
so. I shouldn't be at all surprised if Malfoy changes sides - and even
less surprised if HP doesn't believe it.

Apart from that, the core team will continue to be as presently, and I
agree with you Neville is a key member of that team. His specialist
knowledge of plants /must/ be there for a reason. But one thing I'm
certain of: Rowling will manage to spring at least one major surprise
which will have been quite clearly and openly forshadowed at least three
books back, and which no-one will have picked up on.

[1][2] Those who've read with attention know who I mean, those who
haven't won't have the plot spoiled for them.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; If Python is executable pseudocode,
;; then Perl is executable line noise
-- seen on Slashdot.

David Martin said:

Simon Brooke said:

Read it.

She is an extraordinarily skilled plot constructor. If I could write
one tenth so well I would be a happy man. I'm currently reading The
Half-Blood Prince for the second time, and riffling back through the
previous five books to find where the clues were planted for each of
the plot twists. No, I don't know whether people will still be
reading Harry Potter in a hundred years. No, I don't think it's
great literature. But it's extraordinary story-telling. Obsessive
story telling, by someone who plans and plans and plans, and lays
out all her clues in front of you in plain sight, and /still/
springs surprises.

<SPOILERS SNIPPED>

Does make it sound interesting.
--
Ambrose

Simon Brooke said:

Quoted message said:

Disagree. I didn't think they were as good as the hype made out. It
seemed like things appeared to get out of a hole in the plot rather
than a story that was based in a realistic[1] world.

Now I suspect that Northern Lights /may/ actually be literature,
and /may/ still be read in a hundred years time. It is, obviously, in a
very different class than Harry Potter, with a more up-front agenda and
a heavier allegorical burden, but it's also well worth reading. Just a
shame he chickens out in the end, but that's our modern enlightened
society for you.

I did find bits of it quite fascinating (such as the idea of the soul
having a seperate character and science as a religion) but found his
agenda (essentially a cyclical argument about the nature of God or lack
of one) particularly clumsy and spoiling a reasonable story. I didn't
find his worlds logically self consistent in the way they were
presented.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

OK the characterisation is a bit thin at times, and the latest HP
offering swung very much to the 'hey we have hormones' but it was a
good read.

At that age people do. I'll be very interested to see how Rowling handles
that in book seven, at least partly to compare and contrast Pullman. I'm
also interested to see how Rowling manages to pull off her cyclical
narrative in book seven, given the consequences of plot developments in
book six.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Currently working though Swallowdale with the kids.

Yup, and note that Ransome was, before anything else, a literary critic
and theorist.

And a Russian double agent and a few other things..

Quoted message said:

Swallows and Amazons may look like a cheerful adventure
yarn for kids, but, like Harry Potter, it is a very carefully and
skillfully crafted narrative (Racundra's First Cruise is also an
excellent read). It's a mistake to assume that, because a book is
written about children or explicitly for children, it is in any sense
less ambitious, less serious, or less excellent than any other work of
fiction.

Indeed. The books still remain amongst my favourites. I am gradually
using the excuse of reading to the kids as a chance to populate the
library with the hardback versions with the coloured covers (Jonathan
Cape editions). And for those who say they are out of touch wiht the
modern world, I find them easier to relate to than fantasy parallel
worlds and magic spells. It is also interesting for the kids to notice
the differences in attitudes and technology between the 1920's and
today.

...d

Ambrose Nankivell said:

David Martin said:

Simon Brooke said:

Read it.

She is an extraordinarily skilled plot constructor. If I could write
one tenth so well I would be a happy man. I'm currently reading The
Half-Blood Prince for the second time, and riffling back through the
previous five books to find where the clues were planted for each of
the plot twists. No, I don't know whether people will still be
reading Harry Potter in a hundred years. No, I don't think it's
great literature. But it's extraordinary story-telling. Obsessive
story telling, by someone who plans and plans and plans, and lays
out all her clues in front of you in plain sight, and /still/
springs surprises.

<SPOILERS SNIPPED>

My apologies if I have spoilt it for anyone.

...d