momo

I recently got a Kindle and am finding the "daily deal" the most difficult of all to resist! Even if I had not up until now thought of reading it, what if I pass by a Daily Deal and subsequently decide I did want to read it after all? Eeeek!

Thanks for turning the link into a photograph, Janet. The second one was someone else's Flickr pic, so maybe that is why it would not work. I am glad the pictures brought back some memories, Chaliepud One of the benefits of the restricted hours that Hertfordshire Libraries now have is that I now travel round to different libraries according to which is open on the day I want to go. I had mostly used Stevenage Library until recently. I have now also explored Hitchin, Letchworth, Welwyn Garden City and St Albans. They all have their different characters and I enjoy the variety.

Thanks Bree. This link is to a picture of Hitchin Library that I use quite often: It has a lovely Physic Garden right next to it: http://flic.kr/p/a4qRNv Unfortunately there is quite a lot of traffic noise, so not as peaceful to sit in and read in as it could be, but very pretty. I still haven't worked out how to upload the actual picture here.

I love this thread - I want to go and in all of those lovely libraries! I have placed an image on Flickr, but can't work out how to upload it here. Any hints?

Did you enjoy this? You have just reminded me about F G Cottam and I will look out for this to read. I really enjoyed 'The House of Lost Souls".

I have read Charlaine Harris's Harper Connelly series (as suggested by Frankie) and think they could be what you are looking for, as Harper uses her special insight to help solve murder investigations. They are, though,'teen' novels and as such an easy read. I have also enjoyed: Seeking the Dead (Joe Plantagenet #1) ,Playing with Bones (Joe Plantagenet #2) ,Kissing the Demons (Joe Plantagenet #3) by Kate Ellis. They are crime novels with supernatural overtones and link historical events to a modern day investigation.

I have really enjoyed the Joe Plantagenet Murder Mysteries series by Kate Ellis. The three books so far have been about serial killers in York (although it's not called York in the books). They also have a historical/supernatural element to them. They are quite a light read (as serial killings go) , so not for those that want lots of dark psychological tension.

I have only just found this thread too. I want to go to Iceland! http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120321.html

Maggie Tulliver in George Eliot's 'Mill on the Floss'. She has always been one of my favourite characters. She rebelled against the restraints of the society she lived in. It is supposed to be one of Eliot's most autobiographical novels As a girl, Maggie would not have generally had access to many books, but her father indulged her by giving her some. I always wonder what Maggie would have made of modern society, with our easy access to books. "...everybody in the world seemed so hard and unkind to Maggie: there was no indulgence, no fondness, such as she imagined when she fashioned the world afresh in her own thoughts. In books there were people who were always agreeable or tender, and delighted to do things that made one happy, and who did not show their kindness by finding fault. The world outside the books was not a happy one Maggie felt. If life had no love in it, what else was there for Maggie?"

Thank you everyone, for your welcome. This is such a friendly forum

Out of those two choices I would go for 'Pure' by Andrew Miller - based on Amazon synopses and reviews. I read 'Before I Go to Sleep' recently and highly recommend it. I still find myself wondering what it must be like to have no memory from one day to the next.

I had better move this higher up on my TBR pile - I prefer to read the book before seeing the film.

What a good idea for comfort food - but make mine a glass of Rose!

Posted 01 February 2012 - 12:59 PM Just saw that he passed away last month: http://www.guardian....3/reginald-hill I have read some of his 'stand-alone' novels and enjoyed them very much. Thank you for the link to his Guardian obituary Karsa, it sounds like he was a lovely person as well as a great novelist.