BrainFreeze

Ooo will definitely give her a whirly whirl then! Thank you.

Going to have to hunt this one down now I think - didn't realise he'd even written an autobiography never mind two!

It's got a different ending apparently. Personally, my favourite of hers that I've read so far is 19 Minutes. I do like a lot of hers though - especially The Pact, Salem Falls and Vanishing Acts. I couldn't get into The Tenth Circle, and I tried three times.

This is very, very true. In my opinion no book can 'teach' you about parenting - it only comes with experience and relying on your instincts and basic common sense. I have 3 children and each of them is vastly different, what works for one doesn't work for the other and that's regarding everything - food, discipline, teaching...the works. There are books out there that can guide you step-by-step through things such as how to bath a baby (but your baby may like being held in a particular way that's not shown in the book as they only show a 'standard' way), how to feed a baby (again, will show you one way and nearly all babies have a way/position they like being held while being fed) etc etc. Cook books - if you're a total novice to cooking, you could do worse than getting Delia's How To...books which do teach you the basics. Jamie Oliver books are good too I think - very often he has quite a lot of basic recipes that can be built on and tweaked (some of his books, he's written the recipes specifically for that). As a previous person said too, The Hairy Bikers are very good too. Cleaning/home - there is a book that covers 'how to clean everything' and I can't remember if that's the actual name or not so I'm going to go off and see if I can find it for you.

Has anyone read any Anita Shreve? Keep seeing books of hers all over the place and yet I've not read any of hers. Are they in the same genre/vein as Jodi Picoult?

Finished Dexter By Design ~ Jeff Lindsay last night and now can't decide what to read out of; The Soloist - Steve Lopez Blindmans Bluff - Faye Kellerman Kiss of Evil - Richard Montanari The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

I'd like to see Karin Slaughters Grant County series turned into a TV series.

It had never happened to me until recently (well, not that I remember it happening before anyway) and it was while I was reading Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. I had a dream I was Amish and living on a farm. Can't really remember much of the detail in the dream to be honest, but it did weird me out a little when I woke up. Not sure if it was because of the content of the book and the fact I'd just found out I was pregnant at the time too.

I'd have to agree - and actors...

Not in the least bit childish! Actually I still hadn't made my mind up who'd I'd like to swap with - but I think you may have helped me to make up my mind!

I always read the synopsis first - if it's an author who's new to me, I will then pick a random page out and read it to see if I like their style of writing.