Hayley

I’ll be reading Ransom Riggs’ Library of Souls and there’s a good chance I’ll finish Silence too. That sounds interesting! Intrigued by the connection between strawberry shortcake and murder

This sounds like a good idea to me

I actually think that works really well if you’re reading it for the first time! The Shire isn’t a scary place and everything feels pretty relaxed there, even when Gandalf arrives; but that means we experience the realisation of the threat at the same time Frodo does and it just keeps growing as the book progresses. I could be misremembering this as well but doesn’t Sauron not know where the ring is at this point? Because he tries to get the dwarves to get it for him first doesn’t he? And Frodo is actually meant to leave a lot faster but Gandalf gets waylaid and then the innkeeper forgets to deliver the message to Frodo that he should leave quickly? Edit: just to agree about the Black Riders! The ferry crossing part is very creepy.

I've never really noticed that but I suppose it could be a bit scary for younger kids if it was on early.

For the last few days I've been torn between starting this or the next Ransom Riggs book. Maybe this is a sign I also have this on my shelf. I hope you enjoy it more!

Oops forgot to refresh the page! 65 is much more impressive! Huge congratulations! I hope you both had a lovely day!

Red Dog Press (crime, cosy mysteries and thrillers) are offering 15% off until the 30th November. You'll need to use the code 'CyberMonday'. They say they'll also hand gift-wrap every order and send a gift card. I have my eye on a few from this publisher, but I'd highly recommend The Witch House by Ann Rawson and The Cuckoo Wood by M. Sean Coleman

Is it your 25th??

I remember reading something ages ago which pointed out that the argument 'men don't read' arises periodically. The author was suggesting that the very act of publishing that statement over and over again actually puts boys off reading because they end up feeling as though they aren't supposed to enjoy it. Saying that, when I'm tutoring I always ask the students whether they like to read and I have an equal amount of male and female students who do (preferred genre for boys seems to be detective fiction!). I also always wonder with this kind of newspaper research - who did they actually ask?

It's amazing that we aren't all traumatised when you think about it! That's a very cool job. I bet they have a great Christmas display at that museum! Totally forgot about this one too! It's been years since I saw The Nightmare before Christmas, I might have to watch it again this year!

Hi, welcome to the forum . I love finding Victorian editions of books (although, oddly, I don't think I've ever seen a Victorian copy of Don Quixote!). I would love to see your 1700s edition too if you have pictures you'd share!

I think the difference between your examples and Lady Audley is that they do actually love the men the marry. Fanny Price doesn't choose Edmund because he has money (in fact, she doesn't choose the richest option) and Jane Eyre actually walked away from he chance to marry Rochester and have loads of money because he was still married. By the time she returns, as you say, she has her own fortune, which only confirms to us that she doesn't want to marry him for his money. Sometimes I get fed up of teaching and not being able to afford things too but I wouldn't push someone down a well so I can be rich and not work . George didn't have any money to send back. It tells us that he had a really tough life until he happens by chance upon the gold he does find. As soon as he has some money to give her, he returns with it. The grandfather was an alcoholic and didn't even have enough money to buy the boy shoes because he kept spending it in the pub. She only returned to her father when she needed him to help her with the fake death (she gives her son the pocket watch which the father keeps pawning for more drink money). Until that point she'd never been back. Yes, so she thinks she has killed George by pushing him into the well, then she tries to kill Robert and the blackmailer simultaneously by setting the pub on fire while they're sleeping (only Robert isn't asleep which is why he lives, although he is hurt), then she tries to convince her husband that Robert is insane because, since she failed to kill him, having him put away where nobody will listen to the truth is the next best option. I think the main difference between the two 'sides' in this book is that Lady Audley literally doesn't care who she hurts. She doesn't even think about who might be hurt by the things she's doing. As long as she gets what she wants, it will be worth it. Robert spends the whole novel worrying about who he's going to hurt. He didn't even want anything bad to happen to Lady Audley; he still feels bad for her for a long time, even though he thought she'd murdered his friend - he only agreed to dedicate himself to solving the mystery after seeing how heartbroken George's sister was (so, again, because he's thinking of someone else's feelings). He even gave Lady Audley multiple opportunities to run away and start a new life somewhere else, he literally tells her to, but she couldn't face giving up all her money and status.

Ooooh there are some interesting theories in this thread. As I have FINALLY managed to finish the book, I’d like to chime in! First of all, I did have some sympathy for Lady Audley at the beginning but I definitely had none by the end! I see your point, Kev, that having thought she’d been abandoned it made some sense for her to marry again - but remember the reason George left in the first place is because she had a go at him for not having enough money. Later we find out that her entire purpose in life was to use her looks to marry the richest man possible. She never loved George at all, he was just the richest man in the vicinity - once he was cast out by his father and couldn’t buy her expensive things any more she accused him of being cruel to her. She was fairly educated and could have made a living as a governess - but instead she chose to abandon her own baby and change her identity so nobody could find her. The same advertisement that told her George was coming back told her he’d made a fortune, but it still wasn’t as much money as her current husband had, so she plotted to play dead with absolutely no thought about who she’d hurt. To keep up the lie she then committed attempted murder twice, manslaughter once and tried to get a perfectly sane man locked up a lunatic asylum. She was greedy and selfish the whole time, using all the men who loved or cared for her and hurting them. I think it was particularly telling that when she has to leave the house the only thing she thinks about is how expensive all the objects in her room are - and how many she can stuff in her case. She doesn’t care about any human other than herself. I think Robert let her off lightly! Agree, that would be interesting! I don’t actually think she did run away though. It’s a bit of a theme in Victorian novels. The book could have been seen as immoral if she was actually allowed to get away with murder, so she had to die, no matter how unlikely it seems.

I hadn't even thought of that one as a Christmas film but you're right, it's always on at Christmas! I was also terrified by the couple who sing 'you're my little chuchy face' while doing horrible things to each other... there's just something incredibly creepy about that whole scene! It isn't?? Maybe this is the year I should give it a try! I don't know the 1947 version very well, but one of my favourite funny parts of the newer one is during the trial when the attorney asks the little boy 'and why can't this man be Santa?' (meaning the lawyer) and the boy says (in, I think, a New York accent) ''cos Santa don't got a grumpy face' . I'd love to know what your favourite quote actually is from this one! Hmm, I'm not sure. My favourite from A Christmas Carol is 'I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year', but I can't remember if that's in the 1951 version!

That is actually a very good idea. I keep all of my unread books together (because I also enjoy just looking at them when I'm deciding what to read next!) but others do have a bit more of a system (books I might need for teaching go together, non-fiction go together and any special edition or signed books go together). I am very bad at remembering what I have on Kindle (not only because I managed to misplace the charger for about 6 months... ). I think I would find this useful! This feels similar to my personal pet peeve - which is when someone sees all of your books and says 'Ah, I wish I had time to read', as though you only read because you have too much time on your hands and not because it's actually your first choice of entertainment.

I'm not sure I have a single favourite! Maybe, if I could narrow it down to three (in no particular order): Miracle on 34th Street (but it's the newer one I've seen, with Richard Attenborough as father Christmas) The animated Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey as Scrooge and the soundtrack by Andrea Bocelli (which I always play while I'm wrapping presents) Santa Claus: The Movie (partly because I associate it with really good memories of my Grandad, who loved Christmas, but also because I loved Father Christmas and Old Father Time in it) That being said, I do also love Elf, Home Alone (1 and 2), The Grinch, basically all of the other adaptations of A Christmas Carol (including the Muppets one) and The Santa Claus... I've never actually watched A Wonderful Life because I know it's supposed to be very sad!

I just accidentally saw a spoiler for the clue with the man looking at a painting (someone posted a picture of the book on twitter to say they found one of the HiddenBookGame books in a charity shop) and I would NEVER have got it. If anybody wants a bit of a clue for it I'll put one in spoilers below:

I would. I've only read / listened to them as audiobooks before.

I now really, really want a garden library. It was a lovely thing to read though, thanks for sharing that . It's funny how being surrounded by your books, organising them or just looking at them and thinking about what to read next, can be so therapeutic. I suppose they are objects that either bought us joy (having read and decided to keep them) or for which we have the expectation that they will bring us joy (when we, eventually, get around to reading them). Either way they make us think and feel good things, even when we're not actually reading. I have absolutely no idea how many books I have. Do you keep a track of which ones you own, or did you count out of interest after reading the article?? I am going to organise some books now

This has just given me an idea for a tree decoration well I fully approve of all things Christmassy by this time of the year. My boyfriend wants us to get a real tree this year, so I'm going to have to wait a while for mine!

I’m on 8 but well and truly stuck now. Has anybody got the ‘Tara’s Caramels’ one? My last attempt at that was ‘sugar fire’ so I’m pretty low on ideas!

Hi, welcome to the forum! You might find this thread interesting: A Dystopian World - Ongoing Blog - Book Blogs - Discuss your reading! - Book Club Forum

Good, I'm glad you enjoyed them Yes, that's fair. Fingers crossed the rates will drop significantly in the next two weeks.

Oooh this sounds interesting...

I didn't realise, until I saw your post, that I forgot to update on the read-a-thon myself! I didn't finish Lady Audley's Secret (still haven't!), I actually had a pretty stressful weekend, so it was rubbish for reading. I did set aside some phone and screen free time, had a long bath and had the book with me, but you know when you keep re-reading the same part because your thoughts are drifting somewhere else? I kept doing that, so didn't make a great deal of progress. That would have been very impressive for one weekend but I'm glad you managed to read most of them before they were due back anyway. Were they good? Hopefully it will be a short partial lockdown, and after you'll be able to go back to the library knowing that it's extra safe