StormyAlanna

Anne of Green Gables (1985) - Cute film based on one of my favourite ever books, which come to think of it I haven't actually read in a really long time. I'm thinking it might be time for a re-read.

Unfortunately, despite making plans to do nothing but read this weekend, I have had to pull out of the read-a-thon due to last minute plans. I haven't gotten ANY reading done at all this weekend and don't see that changing anytime soon. I do, however, hope to participate next month.

I am so sorry for your community's loss. Such a sad and tragic thing to happen and like others have said, something that is happening more and more often these day. I can't even begin to imagine what her poor parents are going through. I was bullied throughout my last two years of high school, not physically, thank God, but by name calling etc. It was never bad enough for me to even contemplate taking my own life but it did affect me in other ways. By the time I was old enough to leave school my self esteem was at an all time low and although I have gotten a little better as I've gotten older, I still suffer from lack of confidence and as a result have very few friends. I avoid social situations and spend most of my spare time on my own. Even at work I'm not as outspoken or as outgoing as my colleagues and as a result I don't stick up for myself as much as I should do. It's 16 years since I left high school and I'm still dealing with the aftereffects of the bullying I suffered but at least I only had to deal with it whilst I was actually at school - no social media or mobile phones/texts to have to deal with back then, thank God!

I will also be participating in next weekend's read-a-thon; you can count on it. And, seeing as how it will be my first read-a-thon here on Book Club Forum I've deliberately set aside the three days and not made any plans for them. Well, apart from having to work on Friday that is, which sucks! Stupid job! But other than that - and barring any last minute plans - I'm planning on reading pretty much every spare minute I have. As far as my reading choice goes... well, I have a few books in mind but a lot of it will depend on how I'm feeling at the time. But read I will!

I'm without a TV at the moment so after finding myself at a bit of a loose end I decided to check out BBC iPlayer for something to watch and came across Gnomeo & Juliet which I had never seen before. Cute movie, which not only made me smile but also brought a tear to my eye!

That's great, thanks for the info Athena. Once I get my main desktop computer up and running again I think I'll download the free version (it looks like you can add up to 100 books) and see how I get on. If I like it I think I might treat myself to the full book version, and maybe the movie version too. I still can't believe this is the first time I've heard of it.

Athena - Thank you so much for that link. I had never heard of Book Collector before, but it looks AMAZING! Is it easy to use and worth the money?

When I was younger I used to be able to read while listening to music, or even with the television on in the background, but as I got older this became harder and harder to do. These days, in an ideal world, I prefer complete silence but that very rarely happens. If I'm upstairs reading then I don't mind a little bit of background noise drifting up from downstairs, i.e. the television on or people chatting, but if it gets too loud or too distracting then I have been known to put my earphones in. Not to listen to music, but just to drown out some of the background noise. I find it works a treat.

dtrpath27 - I did think about doing some sort of spreadsheet, but in all honesty I'm not a huge fan of them. I find using them a little awkward, although I know you can do some pretty nifty things on them these days... although that's probably a bit beyond me anyway. I did, after doing a bit of a search, find a spreadsheet that a book blogger created and made available for download. It's pretty fancy, is set up ready to go with graphs and what not... but there is a lot of information on it which I wouldn't use. Angury - I like the idea of having an online version so I think GoodReads will probably be what I use for that, but I feel like I need to have some kind of a backup because who knows what will happen in the future. GoodReads could close, I may lose internet access etc. I know these things are probably not very likely but I don't like relying on something I have no control over, plus having a backup seems like a good idea regardless. I'm thinking I may go with three versions - a word document, a handwritten notebook and GoodReads. A part of me does feel its maybe a little excessive, having three versions of the same thing, but this way I will always have access to at least one of them. I'd probably only update one of them on an "as read" basis and then transfer the information over to the others maybe weekly or even monthly. * In fact make that four as I will definitely be having a thread on Book Club Forum.

Signor Finzione - I know, the list totally blew me away too. Ever since I read it I've been kicking myself for not starting my own list sooner. There is NO way I'd ever be able to remember all the books I've ever read though and seeing as I'm a bit OCD about things like this I'd never be able to keep a list with just SOME of them so I've decided to only list the books I read from now on - or more to the point from May 1, 2014. That way, although I've missed out on 30+ years worth, at least it will be a complete list from that date onwards. chesilbeach - Wow! A database application? Is that something you have created yourself or something you have downloaded/bought? I'm certainly thinking of signing up for a GoodReads account but I can't help thinking that some kind of personal/hardcopy (i.e. not online) would be good too, you know, just in case! I'm just not sure how to go about it or what information to keep track of. I'm thinking keeping it simple might be for the best though, otherwise I might get a bit obsessive!

With blogs, forums and various websites available these days keeping track of the books you read is a pretty simple and popular thing to do, and I know there is a section on Book Club Forum specifically for this very purpose. I have to admit that up until now it's not something I've ever done, or even thought about doing to be honest, but after coming across this article - click here - it's definitely got me intrigued. For those not wanting to click the link or read the article, it's basically the story of a young man who, after the death of his father, found a simple spreadsheet listing the 10,000+ books that he'd read over the years (the spreadsheet itself is also available to download). The idea of having a list like that for myself to look back on in the years to come is definitely an interesting one but I can't decide on the best way of doing it - online, Word document/spreadsheet, a simple notebook and pen etc. Other than the threads over on the Reading Lists / Blogs section of the forum do you keep track of the books you read? And if so, how?

I'm ashamed to admit this but I have never read any of Austen's work before. I've always wanted to but for some reason I've never quite managed to find the motivation to actually get around to reading them, so I would certainly be interested in participating. In fact I think reading them as part of a book group would be ideal.

I buy the majority of my books brand new, or at least I certainly have done over the past couple of years. Occasionally I'll get a book from a charity shop, but for the most part I get most of them either from Amazon, Book Depository or the supermarket. Previously I was a regular visitor to my local library and although I do still visit it, it's now only occasionally, where as before I was there pretty much every week getting new books out. It's a shame because I miss visiting it and coming home with a massive pile of books. As for whether I bin books, hell no, what a waste. However, as a result things have gotten a little out of hand so I am going to be having a little bit of a clear out soon. I can see a few trips to the charity shop in my future! You know, there really should be some kind of help/support group for bookaholics!

I have the first three books in the Cedar Cove series in my TBR pile. I find Debbie's books really quick and easy to read so will be slotting them in amongst some of the more indepth books I have waiting to be read. Has anyone seen the television series based on the series? I only saw the first couple of episodes before deciding to read the books first but what I did see, I really enjoyed. Chair - I didn't know that about the numbering system so thanks for the info. It will come in handy as I'll be borrowing the rest of the series from the library.

I've only recently started watching this show and although I'm only about 11 episodes in (the last episode I saw was Season 2, Episode 1) I'm hooked. Nathan Fillion is lovely by the way!! I don't think I've ever seen him in anything before, although apparently he was in an episode of Lost so I would have seen him in that but I can't picture him in it. I might need to look out that episode! I've just purchased all the fiction books I can find in paperback form that are connected to the show - the ones written by 'Richard Castle' - four Nikki Heat books, along with the fifth on pre-order, and a Derrick Storm novel. Has anyone read any of them?

I also have a copy of this book, although I'm not sure which version I have. I was actually given it as a gift a couple of years ago and, to be honest, other than flicking through it from time to time I haven't really done much with it. I'm hoping to read the books featured at some point, or at least some of them anyway, but I'm not sure when that will actually be. I must set aside some time to go through it properly and pick out a few of my favourites. I certainly won't be reading the actual book itself from cover-to-cover; too tedious! I will be using it more as a reference book and the basis for a potential reading challenge. It may even be one of the very few books I write on.

Thanks again for the welcome everyone. Michelle - Thanks for replying. It's good to know that no-one will be offended if I resurrect old threads. I figured it would probably be okay to do so, rather than starting new threads which are duplicates to older more established discussions, but just wanted to double check. Athena - It's nice to meet another chick-lit fan. I personally like all the usual chick-lit authors like Sophie Kinsella, Jill Mansell, Melissa Nathan etc. but I've also just recently branched out into the contemporary romance genre, which to be honest is really just an extension of chick-lit. I'm currently working my way through the back catalogues of Kristan Higgins, Julie James and Jill Shalvis all of which are very chick-litty in nature.

There are loads of books that I would love to be able to read again for the first time, but the one that stands out the most to me would definitely be the Harry Potter series. Books 1-4 had already been released before I read them, but after that I was completely hooked. I didn't go to any midnight release parties or anything like that, but I was certainly down the bookstore as soon as I possibly could on the day of release in order to pick up my copy. I then went straight home to read them, avoiding friends, the internet, radio and television along the way in order to avoid being spoiled. The excitement and anticipation of reading the last three books in the series, along with the bittersweet feeling of knowing there would be no more was just too damn good. At the time I had never known that feeling before and haven't since. I'm quite jealous when I hear that someone I know is reading them for the first time because they get to experience all of that - without the long months waiting for them to be released, that is - where as I will never get to experience that feeling again.

A monthly read-a-thon? What a fantastic idea! I know I'm a bit late to the party this time around but you can definitely put my name down for the next one, and the one after that. In fact my intention is to participate each and every month. I'm sure I can clear one weekend each month to do nothing but read; sounds like heaven. Am I right in thinking the next one will be held the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of May? If so, I'll jot a quick note on the calendar so I don't forget. I'm looking forward to it already.

Thanks for the welcome everyone. I had a really good look around last night and, so far, I like what I see. It's great to find some like-minded people to chat with about one of my favourite things - books! I'm particularly interested in the Reading Lists / Blogs section of the board. I love the idea of having a personal thread to post my book reviews and thoughts on, and it seems like a great way of keeping track of the books I read too. Is that something newbies are encouraged to participate in or is it more for the established members? Oh, and one more thing. What is the general feeling about new members resurrecting old threads? Is that frowned upon? I don't want to step on anyone's toes so thought it best to ask first. Thanks.

Hi all, I've been sitting here staring at a blank screen for what seems like ages trying to think of something witty to say as my introduction and have come up with zilch. I have trouble introducing myself to new people in real life and thought doing so on a relatively safe place like a forum would be easy-peasy in comparison but apparently not. So, here are the boring facts: I am a thirty-something female from the UK. I work full-time and spend all day sitting in front of a computer so I'm trying to cut back on the time I spend online during the working week. This means that I will be making most of my contribution to the forum at weekends and non-work days. I have been an avid reader since I was a child and am wanting to revisit some of my old childhood favourites, as well as broaden my horizons and participate in some interesting discussions along the way. I'm particularly fond of chick-lit, contemporary romance, young adult fiction and crime/medical thrillers, although I will give anything a try at least once and I'm always up for suggestions and recommendations. I am slightly addicted to tea and drink copious amounts of the stuff. I may also have a bit of a sweet tooth; if it's got chocolate on it, in it or over it, I will eat it. I don't watch that much television but do have a really bad habit of having DVD boxset marathons and have become obsessed with various television shows because of it. The latest to arrive is Seasons 1-5 of Castle which I will be starting shortly, so no doubt this will be my next new obsession. So, that's basically me in a nut-shell. I'm pleased to meet you and look forward to chatting to you all.