Janet

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell The ‘blurb’ Seventeen-year-old Molly Gibson worships her widowed father. But when he decides to remarry, Molly's life is thrown off course by the arrival of her vain, shallow and selfish stepmother. There is some solace in the shape of her new stepsister Cynthia, who is beautiful, sophisticated and irresistible to every man she meets. Soon the girls become close, and Molly finds herself cajoled into becoming a go-between in Cynthia's love affairs. But in doing so, Molly risks ruining her reputation in the gossiping village of Hollingford - and jeopardizing everything with the man she is secretly in love with. Seventeen-year-old Molly lives with her widowed father, Dr Gibson, in the small village of Hollingford in rural England. When her father's apprentice Mr Coxe declares his love for Molly to Dr Gibson, he sends her to stay with Mr and Mrs Hamley from Hamley Hall. They are delighted with her company, especially Mrs Hamley who comes to look upon Molly as a daughter. Molly forms a close friendship with the Hamleys' youngest son Roger and looks forward to making the acquaintance of his older brother who is away at Cambridge and considered to have a sparkling future. Whilst Molly is away, her father proposes to Mrs Kirkpatrick, much to Molly's disappointment – she and her father have always shared a close bond, and she resents that someone will come between that. There is, however, some good to come out of the match, for Molly is to gain a step-sister, Cynthia. Cynthia is everything Molly hopes for and more and the pair quickly become the best of friends. But Cynthia is flighty and fickle and when Molly becomes involved in Cynthia's exploits, the village gossips set to work and Molly risks both her reputation and the alienation of her friends… Having read and loved North and South, and the novella Cranford and, to a lesser degree, Lois the Witch, I was looking forward to this, especially as @poppyshake loaned me the BBC Adaptation on DVD a long, long time ago (so long ago that I can't actually remember when, but well over a year ago! ). Although not as powerful as North and South and with fewer themes, I really enjoyed this book. I loved Molly – who wouldn't and I liked her relationships with various different characters, particularly the Hamleys. I thoroughly enjoyed the DVD too - thanks, Kay. This was Gaskell's last book. She died before completing it, but it wasn't far off being finished and the ending was obvious so it was complete by Editor Frederick Greenwood – I was happy with the way he ended it. I have been um-ing and ah-ing on whether this is a 4 star or 5 star book (if I wasn't trying to eliminate halves it would definitely be a 4½!), but on reflection I didn't enjoy it quite as much as North and South so it gets the former, but nevertheless I enjoyed it very much. The paperback edition is 816 pages long and is published by Penguin. It was first published in 1864. The ISBN is 9780141389462. I read it on Kindle. 4/5 (I really enjoyed it) (Finished 16 March 2018)

I'm trying not to drink coffee with caffeine after midday. I've tried Douwe Egberts, which I didn't like at all, and Kenco Millicano, which wasn't much better, but they're the only instant ones I've tried. I'm not against trying a supermarket own-brand. Does anyone (UK-based) have a recommendation for an instant decaf coffee that actually tastes like coffee, please?

Mine too.. I walked past The Old Curiosity Shop in London last month. It's allegedly the shop that inspired Dickens! Well, there's a cheery thought! At the rate of one a year (from next year) I should get round to it in 2023 if I read them in order - I'll be 56/57... or nine years from next year if I leave it until the end. We never know what's round the corner, of course, but God willing I'll still be alive and well and not pushing up the daisies!

I definitely preferred The Night Circus, but this was very enjoyable. I hope you enjoy it when you get round to it. (I hope I can remember what irritated me about it - I tend to forget quite a lot of things when it comes to books! ). It seems to me that David Copperfield is the favourite of many people. I haven't seen an adaptation of it (although I do have it on DVD) so I don't know the storyline. Peter bought me two box sets of Dickens adaptations for Christmas so I have lots to look forward to. Regarding your last sentence above, helpful or not, it's really good and encouraging to hear that you enjoyed them all so much! It will be frustrating. I think a couple of versions have been filmed (not in either of my box sets) so I'll probably try one of those once I have finished.

I am trying to read my way through all of Charles Dickens' novels. So far I have read the ones highlighted in red above. I seem to manage one a year, so at that rate I will finish in 2027! My question to anyone who has read all/some of these books is... would you read the remainder of them in date order? I am inclined to leave David Copperfield to last because it is my Mum's favourite book, but I'm not sure about the rest. Does anyone have a favourite from my unread ones? Or one they loathed! Also, has anyone read The Mystery of Edwin Drood? It's unfinished - I've never read a book that is unfinished (apart from Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell, but it was obvious where that was headed and was completed by editor Frederick Greenwood). I will read it for the sake of completion, but probably not leave that one until last.

I wasn't sure if she would go through with it. I guess the books need Matthew to stop Strike and Robin actually getting together because it would change their working relationship? I think JKR said there would be six books in total - maybe they'll have a fling in book 6?!

The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz The ‘blurb’ A woman is strangled six hours after organising her own funeral. Did she know she was going to die? Did she recognise her killer? Daniel Hawthorne, a recalcitrant detective with secrets of his own, is on the case, together with his reluctant side-kick – a man completely unaccustomed to the world of crime. But even Hawthorne isn't prepared for the twists and turns in store – as unexpected as they are bloody... Well this got off to an odd start, it's fair to say! This book followed me on a trip to London last year when it was first out in hardback – it was in shop windows everywhere we went. It was on posters on numerous London Underground stations, and Waterstones wonderful flagship store in Piccadilly had a large display which featured a London telephone box (as depicted on the front cover). As I said, the book was… odd. I started reading it and immediately liked in in the first chapter, but then something odd happened. It's not really a spoiler in terms of plot, but I'll put it behind a spoiler anyway, just in case. and I felt ready to give up as it was not only odd but also irritating, but I decided to persevere, and once I actually got past that and settled into the story I really enjoyed it! There were plenty of twists and turns along the way. I worked out some of the outcome, but the ending took me by surprise. I have read The House of Silk by this author and really enjoyed it (and have seen plenty of his TV adaptations/films). This was very different to that – he's obviously a very versatile author – I will have to look at his other books. The paperback edition is 400 pages long and is published by Arrow. It was first published in 2017. The ISBN is 9781784757236. I read it on Kindle. 4/5 (I really enjoyed it) (Finished 3 March 2018)

I can't imagine ever reading one one or two books year, but my husband doesn't read much. He read more before he started his current job. However, he's started listening to audio books in the car with me so from that point of view he reads more now. We're working our way (slowly) through Le Carre's George Smiley books. I've just downloaded the third for our upcoming holiday.

I love books set in India too. If I'm remembering correctly, this one is quite a hefty tome? I looked at it when it was the Deal of the Day but didn't download it in the end. I hope your next Indian read is more to your taste (whatever it may be)

Thanks, @Alexi - my hearing still isn't fully recovered (to what it was before - I've always had reduced hearing in my left ear) but I feel so much better than I did - I'm nearly there I'm sure you'd enjoy it. Social history is so interesting, isn't it. I wonder whatever happened to the book I sent you? It must be somewhere! I can't find the proof of postage (it must be somewhere in the house...) so we'll never know! Maybe we'll be one of those "parcel arrives 5 years after it was posted" stories you see in the local press?! I've just looked at she Tweeted on 23 March that she'd finished writing it, so hopefully it'll be out this year? The first three came out in quick succession but Career of Evil was published back in 2015!

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith The ‘blurb’ When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman's severed leg. Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible - and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality. With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them... A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, Career of Evil is the third in the number one bestselling series featuring Cormoran Strike and his assistant, Robin Ellacott. This is the third book featuring Cormonan Strike's detective agency. Strike's colleague Robin receives a parcel at work which she opens without really thinking. Inside is a severed leg! The parcel was delivered by motorcycle courier and the box contains a note – an extract of lyrics from the Blue Öyster Cult song Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl). The song was one of his mother's favourites and Strike thinks the perpetrator must be someone from his past with a grudge – and there are several options to choose from! Robin is in the middle of planning her wedding to fiancé Matthew at the same time and there are tensions between the two of them that come to a head, so Robin is happy to escape from London to travel first to Barrow in Furness and then to Corby, as she and Strike try to nail the killer before he strikes again… I always prefer to read a book before I watch a film or TV adaptation (obviously that's not always possible) so when I saw a BBC trailer for this a few days before it was due to be shown on TV, I quickly downloaded the book on Kindle. I told Peter we couldn't watch it until I'd finished reading the book and that we'd have to watch on iPlayer. However, I whizzed through more than half the book before episode one was broadcast and then finished the whole book before part two so we were able to watch it when it was actually shown! I really liked the characters of Cormoran and Robin in the first book and this has carried on through all three. Book three of the series was equally as good as the first two – it kept me guessing from start to finish. In terms of the TV adaptation, obviously it wasn't as good as the book – it would have had to have been much longer than the two hours overall length, but it was still very enjoyable. Whoever cast the two main characters - Tom Burke as Strike and Holliday Grainger as Robin - did a fantastic job! J K Rowling Robert Galbraith really writes a good story and I'm looking forward to the fourth one, Lethal White. Sadly there is no release date yet. Come on, Jo! The paperback edition is 592 pages long and is published by Sphere. It was first published in 2015. The ISBN is 9780751571417. I read it on Kindle. 4/5 (I really enjoyed it) (Finished 27 February 2018)

It's just so interesting reading about people's lives in the past, isn't it.

Yes, my life is very busy! I'm happy with the number I read - I'm just seriously impressed with the speed at which you read. I hope you get to do some crafts soon - my Kindle cases are much admired.

Sorry - I didn't mean to sound like I was complaining - it's just that Claire reads exceptionally fast. I was just making a comparison - I'm happy with 21 (22 now)

Vicarage Family by Noel Streatfeild The ‘blurb’ A Vicarage Family is the first part in a fictionalized autobiography in which Noel Streatfeild tells the story of her own childhood, painting a poignant and vivid picture of daily life in an impoverished, genteel family in the years leading up to the First World War. In the story there are three little girls - Isobel, the eldest, is pretty, gentle and artistic; Louise the youngest, is sweet and talented - and then there is Vicky, 'the plain one', the awkward and rebellious child who doesn't fit in at school or at home. Growing up in a big family Vicky feels overlooked but gradually begins to realize that she might not be quite as untalented as she feels. The Vicky of this story is, of course, the much-loved Noel Streatfeild who went on to write so many wonderful family stories, the most famous being. Ballet Shoes I love books about social history and the Edwardian era is one of my favourite periods. Vicky (Noel herself) is a real character – she's constantly trying to behave whilst managing to get into trouble, much to the exasperation of her parents, and particularly her father with whom she is very close. Although the family were from an upper Middle Class background they were not wealthy, having to live on a Vicar's stipend, and they had their fair share of hardship in terms of keeping up with their peers, although they weren't poor. I had had this book on my wish list for a long time so was chuffed when I came across it for 50p in a charity shop! Despite Streatfeild being a very prolific writer I haven't read any of her books (I don't think – I may have as a child), although I have seen the TV adaptation of Ballet Shoes! I really enjoyed this. There are two more volumes - Away from the Vicarage and Beyond the Vicarage, both of which I will look out for. The paperback edition is 416 pages long and is published by Puffin. It was first published in 1963. The ISBN is 9780141368665. 4/5 (I really enjoyed it) (Finished 23 February 2018)

Oh, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I didn't know it was going to be a series when I read it last year. Like you, I won't continue if it goes on for too many books (I gave up on the Rivers of London series - I can't keep up!) but I will try #2. I have only read 21 books this year (one more than you read in March! ) - I'm normally fairly equal in terms of Male vs Female authors but this year I have (so far) read F/M: 14/7!

@chesilbeach sent me card and a Ladybird edition of A Christmas Carol to add to my collection to cheer me up - which it did. Thanks, Claire.

Thanks, @Little Pixie, @Michelle, @Athena, @Madeleine, @Nollaig and @~Andrea~ I'm hoping this lovely warm weather might help!

Thanks all. I have an infection in both ears. The doctor started me off with antibiotic drops, but I was allergic to them so then I had tablet antibiotics for a week with no improvement so I went back to the surgery and saw the practice sister who looked in both ears and then called a doctor in who told me that I have a 'normal' (for want of a better word) infection in my left ear, but a fungal infection in my right - and that the antibiotics would have been feeding that infection and making it worse! So now I have a steroid spray but no antibiotics (I also have infection in the tube that goes between my ears and the back of my throat!). I have about 50% hearing back now, which is better, as I was virtually totally deaf for a week! It's been a horrid one!

Caraval by Stephanie Garber The ‘blurb’ 'Remember it's all a game. What happens beyond this gate may frighten or excite you, but don't let any of it trick you.' Once a year the infamous Master Legend hosts Caraval - open only to those who have been invited. This year the week-long game is on Legend's glittering Isla de los Sueños, where the winding streets are an elaborate snow-covered maze and the people are never who they seem. At midnight on the first day, the show begins and the visitors become players. Each of them is vying for the coveted prize: a single wish. All they must do is unravel the mystery of Caraval. But in a game where danger hides behind every charming smile, winning isn't without loss, and their wish might be their last... Tella and Scarlett are sisters who live with their tyrannical father. He has become not only distant since their mother's disappearance some years earlier but also very cruel. Scarlett has been writing to a man called 'Legend', host of a magical game called Caravel, for years, trying to persuade him to bring the game to where they live, but to no avail. She hopes her future arranged marriage to a mysterious man she has never met will help save her and her sister, and when the girls are invited to attend Caravel Scarlett is reluctant – but events mean that they end up playing the game, together with Tella's friend Julian. But is Julian all he seems, and is Caraval really a game? Will it be an escape for the girls, or are they playing into dangerous hands…? This young adult book was chosen for Book Club. I don't often read fantasy-type books but it was likened to The Night Circus which we also read for Book Club and which I really enjoyed, so I had high hopes for it. I found one certain element of it rather irritating (but I can't say what that is as it would be a huge spoiler!) but I very much liked Scarlett and overall it was an enjoyable read. What I really liked about it was how colourful the story was – I am a very visual reader and the story was so colourful in my head. There is a sequel coming out later this year – I am undecided as to whether to read it or not. The paperback edition is 416 pages long and is published by Hodder. It was first published in 2017. The ISBN is 9781473629165. 4/5 (I enjoyed it) (Finished 22 February 2018)

I have been poorly for over three weeks now. It started off with a hideous cold (not quite 'flu, but not far off) and then morphed into an ear infection (in both ears), which has been horrendous. I still don't have full hearing, but I'm feeling so much better than I was. On the plus side, I was still able to read for most of the time I was ill (after the first three days when I pretty much didn't move!) - I have completed six books since 26th March and have read around 750 of 801 pages of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens in nine days! It would usually take me a minimum of three weeks to finish a Dickens so I'm particularly pleased about this! I am very behind with this year's reviews already, but am slowly catching up. I'm also trying to catch up with last year's reviews! I'm trying not to heap too much pressure on myself though.

Phew - thanks.

Nor do I! I have downloaded so many free Classics it would take me a month of Sundays to log them all!

I'm trying to buy fewer books this year (I say that every year!) although I have some lovely Waterstone's vouchers, so they don't count! The freebie was definitely my favourite of those three, so 'buying' that's not really cheating, Little Pixie!

Cowboy Song - The Authorised Biography of Philip Lynott by Graeme Thomson The ‘blurb’ The first biography to be written with the cooperation of the Lynott Estate, Cowboy Song is the definitive authorised account of the extraordinary life and career of Thin Lizzy guiding spirit, Philip Lynott. Leading music writer Graeme Thomson explores the fascinating contradictions between Lynott's unbridled rock star excesses and the shy, sensitive 'orphan' raised in working class Dublin. The mixed-race child of a Catholic teenager and a Guyanese stowaway, Lynott rose above daunting obstacles and wounding abandonments to become Ireland's first rock star. Cowboy Song examines his key musical alliances as well as the unique blend of cultural influences which informed Lynott's writing, connecting Ireland's rich reserves of music, myth and poetry to hard rock, progressive folk, punk, soul and New Wave. Published on the thirtieth anniversary of Lynott's death in January 1986, Thomson draws on scores of exclusive interviews with family, friends, band mates and collaborators. Cowboy Song is both the ultimate depiction of a multi-faceted rock icon, and an intimate portrait of a much-loved father, son and husband. Philip Lynott was born in the West Midlands, and lived in Manchester with his mother, Philomena until he was eight years old when he moved to Dublin and was brought up by his maternal grandparents. He was in several bands before forming Thin Lizzy in 1969 with Brian Downey, an old school friend, and Graham Bell and Eric Wrixon who they met in a club in Dublin. Their big break came in 1972 when they supported Slade and later that same year they had their first hit with Whiskey in the Jar. The band went on to have great commercial success and Lynott also had a solo career. Unfortunately, the hedonistic rock-and-roll lifestyle took its toll and Lynott died in 1986. As a teen my friends and I, from the same street, would sit in our friend Andrew's back room playing Risk and Backgammon and listening to bands such as Rush, Pink Floyd, Genesis and Thin Lizzy. The latter's lead singer, Philip Lynott, was one of my first teen crushes! It was a sad day for me on 4th January 1986 when he succumbed to the pneumonia brought on by his terrible drug addiction, and died. This is the only authorised biography of Lynott and was written with his family's consent. Whilst not holding back at all, Graeme Thomson portrays Lynott sympathetically. He had his insecurities and demons, but he had masses of personality and people generally liked him. Although it was all over the news at the time, I had no idea the extent of his addiction until I read this book. It made me feel sad all over again, but this time largely due to the terrible waste of a talented life. I was lucky enough to see Thin Lizzy on their Renegade tour in November 1981 at Hammersmith Odeon, and despite everything, Philip Lynott still holds a special pace in my heart! The paperback edition is 368 pages long and is published by Constable. It was first published in 2017. The ISBN is 9781472121073. 5/5 (I loved it) (Finished 21 July 2017)