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On the Irish note, the majority of words that we use in the UK tends to be used in Southern Ireland as well, obviously there are some regional dialects and a lot of those tend to be adopted from Norhern England and Scotland to Ireland rather than the South. But the for the most part, torch, rubbish, drove me mental, all would be said in both countries.

On my own reading - I've just finished Geisha of Gion, which was brilliant. Now I need to find more true life stories about Geisha . But I've moved onto Howl's Moving Castle. We had a powercut today so I've read about 10 chapters already. Very good. Very different to the film though...

Howl's Moving Castle is a great book Kino, very good. In comparison to the film, I have to say that I think that the book is a little "darker" and there are no flying machines, Suliman is a woman and there is no war. The Witch of the Waste is entirely different as well and it doesn't end at all the same.

It's a nice and easy read and everything flows very well, if you enjoyed the film then I'd definitely recommend picking this book up. Fantastic .

Now I'm reading Autobiography of a Geisha, only just read the first couple of chapters though. It's totally different to the happier worlds depicted in Memoirs and Geisha of Gion, it's much rawer and takes place outside of Gion.

I agree, Archaic, the book has an entirely different feel to it than the film.

Spoiler-talk:

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What did you think of Howl being Welsh and that entire arc? In the film you just have SURPRISE THE DOG WAS A PRINCE whereas in the book you actually get more into it and he's a larger character. I did like the obvious play-on-fairy tales with a larger deal being made out of Sophie's "oldest daughter" status.

Overall I think I enjoy the film more, but for different reasons.
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Also need to read Earthsea before that movie comes out. Garrhgh really want to see it!

[spoiler]I know! I really didn't expect Howl to be Welsh at all, I had to kinda not think about it as a nothing sounds important or scary in Welsh, it all just sounds stupid.

I did find it odd how a lot of the main characters were changed around - a lot. They made Michael/Markl end up being a lot younger in the film and the entire triangle relationship that ended up to be nothing between Howl/Michael and the Letties was amusing.

I also enjoyed the play on fairy tales and I was impressed with how the Waste was depicted. I never though of it as a desert, I always pictured it more moorlike, kinda like Exmouth (maybe Utah in the US?), there's life, but empty. Not a desert. The Witch was completely different, completely completely different - even until the end. Also the entire castle scene was completely different, I enjoyed the films one more though if I'm honest.

I think I preferred the film's version of the dog over the one in the book, I just like the idea that Heen was connected with Suliman. Although I can see the link between the book and the film there.[/spoiler]

The Earthsea Quartet is a brilliant collection of books, I've read them several times. I'm still yet to the see the film, but I believe it's based on the first one, which in my opinion is the best - but I do vary with that! The books almost have a LotR "feel" to it, with a hint of His Dark Materials. It's a good read, but I think that the description could be expanded and towards the end the travelling becomes a bit too fast for me, even though it's all magically orientated.

[spoiler]

Utah, in the US, is definitely a desert. There's the Salt Lake Valley which is where the inhabitants of that state mostly reside. I think maybe North Alaska is about as barren as you get without being desert around here, or maybe like Louisiana swampland.

But I agree with the moors; that's sort of what it was in the movie as well, and what I imagined.

Also, lol at Welsh being "dumb" sounding. All I can think of is Eddie Izzard's Welsh-bit in Dress to Kill... "Oh, help ye push it along then? Not too far is it?"

Other than that, never met a Welsh-speaker. We did listen to some Welsh in my History of the English Language class, but it was mostly to emphasize the Old English/Welsh vowel similarities so I wouldn't say it gave me a good idea of what the language sounds like.
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Yeah, I know the Ghibli film is the "Tales of Earthsea" and such... I've only read Le Guin's short stories before, so it'll be interesting to get into some of her longer works.

With the Welsh thing, just listen to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pBXf08Nm3Q . It's not "super" Welsh, but just imagine something like that when Howl's trying to court the girls or shouting at someone.

Tales of Earthsea is brilliant, you've got to read it .

The Ghibli movie of Earthsea was made by Goro Miyazaki, not Hayao Miyazaki. I haven't seen the movie, but know that it deviates quite a bit from the book(s). As I recall, LeGuin wasn't pleased with it at all.

Also, I think Earthsea consists of five books now? It's been a while since I read them.

Does it really? I bought the Quartet a few years ago, so it must be a fairly recent release? :: goes to check :: yep, it looks like it's a Quintet now. The fifth book is called The Other Wind and came out in 2001 (my book is 2000 - OMG so old (). Time for another purchase I thinks .

nothing is cooler than SHETLAND DIALECT

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kglDVOfqNTE[/youtube]

When I first read Earthsea it was still a trilogy actually. The fourth and fifth books are more philosophical than the first three.

I've been hungering to re-read Maurice recently, and also to watch the movie again.

I've already told my fiance I want Maurice on DVD for Christmas. I have it on VHS, but I desperately need to upgrade.

noodles, I'm reading The Waste Lands, now.

Mental paradoxes for the win.

And and just like to say that I would be enormously happy if someone wrote a book titled Copulating with Cthuhlu.

The Wasteland...<3

It takes you back to The Gunslinger in terms of travelling through that dreamy desolate world and encountering awesome things

I'm just not so sure about this book at all and I'm actually quite honestly ready to throw it up against a wall and just wikipedia it, spoil it, and be done with it.

So if the beginning wasn't fucking boring enough for the first 200+ pages, suddenly the author starts narrating as if the MC is writing post-book and reflecting. It was a sudden thing and smacked horribly of "ooooh, foreshadowing..." Ok, whatever. We all like to be dramatists once in a while. I'll let her have this, though I think it's something she should have started from the beginning.

But now, it's just off the wall. "If only I had paid attention...." "After the events I feel I should have realized the pattern..." blah blah blah. And aside from this, it's still boring as fuck except for those few moments that the author finally decides "Ok, time to put Crucial Scene ## here."

>_< It's just irritating and annoying and even worse I think I'm starting to lose track of the characters' names.