Ooshie

I'm glad it's not just me that gets confused with names! I hadn't even realised there was a Colin Firth one, must look out for it! But the Glenn Close one really was good and well worth a watch I would say. Ok, stopping DL discussion until Friday now!

I hope you both enjoy it if you get the chance to read it; the stories were quite different from each other, but all quite powerful I thought

My version had about 55 pages of introduction, then 340 pages of text to the book itself (actually, maybe closer to 330, as it had quite a few illustrations in it).

The State of the Art by Iain M Banks Synopsis - from Amazon The first ever collection of Iain Banks's short fiction, this volume includes the acclaimed novella, The State of the Art. This is a striking addition to the growing body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The other stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks's staggering talent. I really enjoyed this short story collection. As mentioned in the synopsis, some of the stories relate to his Culture series, but others are of a variety of genres. Really, really good. I had given it a 4.5/5, but I'm going back to change it to 5/5!

Anyway, I'm glad you say it wasn't too long a book as I am 'nervous' about reading it. I definitely found it a much easier read than I expected, hope you are enjoying it bobblybear

It was even worse because I was staying on my own in my parents house while they were away for a couple of weeks!

Covers changing are a real bugbear of mine - I have some long series, a couple of which have ended up with 7 or 8 different cover designs over the years!

I keep thinking of getting Howard's End is on the Landing too, I enjoy Susan Hill's style of writing and would love to read about her books - but like frankie I am very afraid that I might have to go on a huge buying spree afterwards!

I really like the sound of it too, thanks for such a good review Janet. Like kidsmum, I have read quite a few Virago books and have enjoyed them all - I just wish I had more charity shops to look in around here!

1. Did you like the book? What was it that you enjoyed? If you didn't like the book, what were your reasons for disliking it? Yes, I enjoyed the book a lot. I liked that the story is simply told without too many embellishments and felt that allowed me to feel the atmosphere more. 2. The narrative is quite sparse and the characters few, did you find it easy to engage in the story? Yes, as mentioned above I actually felt that helped. 3. What were your expectations when you started this book and were you proved right or wrong? This was the second time I had read the book and I had worried slightly that I might not feel the tension in the same way this time around, but I needn't have worried, I enjoyed it just as much. 4. If you have seen the stage production, TV version or film of The Woman in Black, how did it compare to the book? I haven't seen either. I had wanted to see the film, but now I know that it is so different I won't make any special effort. 5. Was this the first book you've read in this genre/ by this author, has it encouraged you to read more? I have read a few Susan Hill books; The Small Hand, which is another ghost type story, and five of the Simon Serrailler series, a detective series I enjoy very much. 6. One of the themes of the novel is fear. Did you find the novel creepy – were you scared? Yes. I actually had to stop reading it for a while half way through as something a bit creepy happened to me (a lamp I hadn't switched on was lit, and when I unplugged it it didn't go off!) and the thought of reading the novel afterwards was just too much for me 7. Were there any parts/ideas you struggled with? No, I enjoyed it all 8. Overall, was reading the book an enjoyable experience? Yes, very much so I thought. 9. If you've read any 'classic' ghost stories, how do you think this compares to them? I have, and I did think it compared well. 10. How successfully do you think Hill has captured the feel of the 19th century? To me, very well indeed. 11. Do you think the book works well as a full-length novel, or in your opinion would it have been better as a short story? There was nothing I thought was extraneous to the story that could have been cut out, so I think it worked well as a novel. At first I had just thought they were local children being a bit ghoulish and watching the funeral, but like bobblybear that comment made me think they were the ghosts of the children who had died after Jennet's appearances.

Assassin, wife, lover, boatman, husband.

reality

I Don't Like Mondays - The Boomtown Rats

saviour

Thanks Abbie x

That's exactly what I do! I do occasionally have a clear out of books I am sure I will never read (usually ones given to me by my Mum that just aren't what I like), but otherwise they all just sit there, comfy and happy and waiting for me to get to them...one day Well done you getting rid of 5 shelves worth! If I have enjoyed a book then I do hold on to it because i don't have a very good memory and after a wee while I don't remember what happened in a story and can enjoy it all over again

Your writing and reading your friend's novels sounds more than interesting enough to have tempted you away from Mount TBR! (I still refuse to have an official TBR, it would scare me so much I would never get any more reading done at all...) I haven't got quite as much reading done this year as I do sometimes Jan/Feb but hey, there's time yet! Two books a week sounds a really good goal x

Well, 3/5 isn't too bad for The Remains of the Day! I had seen the film first, and It took me a couple of readings to really pick some of the subtleties of the book, but it's one of my favourites now. I can't remember, frankie, have you read any more Kazuo Ishiguro? I know he is an author that quite often people either take to or just don't.

Hey, Abbie, great to see you - I hope you have a great reading year!

Les Liaisons Dangereuse by Choderlos de Laclos Synopsis - from Amazon Published in 1782, just years before the French Revolution, Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a disturbing and ultimately damning portrayal of a decadent society. At its centre are two aristocrats, former lovers, who embark on a sophisticated game of seduction and manipulation to bring amusement to their jaded existences. While the Marquise de Merteuil challenges the Vicomte de Valmont to seduce an innocent convent girl, the Vicomte is also occupied with the conquest of a virtuous married woman. But as their intrigues become more duplicitous and they find their human pawns responding in ways they could not have predicted, the consequences prove to be more serious, and deadly, than Merteuil and Valmont could have guessed. For some reason I had expected this book to be much longer than it actually was. It took me a wee while to remember which character was which (these names again! I really need to improve my memory) but after I did I got into the rhythm of the book and enjoyed it quite a lot. It has made me want to watch the film with Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer again, I must look out for it.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill Synopsis - from Amazon Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral Mrs Alice Drablow, the house's sole inhabitant of Eel Marsh House, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. The house stands at the end of a causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but it is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose. This was a re-read for the Reading Circle and I was a bit worried that, although I had enjoyed it so much before, it wouldn't have the same impact on me second time around. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though - even though I had to stop reading it for a few days due to a somewhat spooky happening in a house I was living on my own in which made me too cowardly to carry on with it! (I found a lamp on in a room that I hadn't switched on, and when I unplugged it - it stayed on!) A short book, but full of atmosphere, and I fully expect to re-read it yet again in years to come.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt Synopsis - from Amazon Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. Across 1000 miles of Oregon desert his assassins, the notorious Eli and Charlies Sisters, ride - fighting, shooting, and drinking their way to Sacramento. But their prey isn't an easy mark, the road is long and bloody, and somewhere along the path Eli begins to question what he does for a living - and whom he does it for. The Sisters Brothers pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable ribald tour de force. Filled with a remarkable cast of losers, cheaters, and ne'er-do-wells from all stripes of life-and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent, lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that beautifully captures the humor, melancholy, and grit of the Old West and two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love. I am a fan of Westerns, both in book form and on-screen, and had been looking forward to reading this one for a while. I was a wee bit disappointed, though. I did like Eli as a character, and there were some particular sentences that I really enjoyed, but overall it just didn't grab me in the way I had hoped it would. I have quite a lot going on just now, though, and am a wee bit distracted, so maybe at another time it would have made more of an impression on me. I wouldn't rule out re-reading it at another date, but I won't be rushing to any time soon.

I read Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games in the past few weeks; I was disappointed with Consider Phlebas (although I will reread it at some point) but The Player of Games is excellent on every level.