Peahen

As a former smoker, I have smoked every time it is referenced in a book in the past. Foodwise, Marukami had me hankering a lot for noodles and miso soup, my local carryout was in profit the weeks I was reading all Marukami's books. I have had a book turn me off food, thankfully in regards to this one. A book at school about a boy in the War who gets blown out of his own garden and instead of looking for his parents, decides they are dead, wanders around with his savings adn spends it on cold fish and chips as he sleeps on the beach with his dog, that turned me for life.

1. You're out walking. You come upon a house. Describe it. A small cottage, with an upstairs as opposed to bungalow. It is covered in Ivy and has a secluded and shaded garden. It has large windows and a lot of foilage and trees around it. 2. Inside, there's a table. There are three objects are on the table. What are they? A pen, a piece of blank paper and a candleabra with lit candles 3. Outside, you see a bear. What do you do with the bear? Stick my tongue out at him and run back into the house. 4. Inside you find a cup. Describe the cup. It is a mug, it is white and large with a small design or funny comment on it and a slight chip at the lip 5. What do you do with the cup? Put it back in cupboard 1. Well I suppose I do have big eyes, as with the windows and I do like my privacy hence the foilage, a sense of protection. 2. Ahhh writers block, buying stationery and being a fire hazard - that is actually quite apt, the latter in particular i was deemed as being when I used to steal heaters at work. 3. Actually so true with how i deal with problems, i confront them irreverently and then shut them out. 4. My cup is described as my ideal cup that I have here, it actually is the one i use most as it holds a gallon of tea and coffee as opposed to just a cup full and though chipped, it remains my comfort cup and that everythign is good with the world. My husband has put up a lot with me and he is my safe place. 5. I think under Human Rights Law I am not allowd to put my husband in the cupboard so i will have to review this one.

Indian Summer by Stereophonics

Welcome and all the best with your final year. I went back to continue studying English Literature after my degree as a mature student, as I missed it so much. But this place has been fantastic in regards to populating and inspiring me to read.

Season 3 of Warehouse 13 Trying to fill in the void that Fringe has left behind

Michael out of Eastenders (to extent I don't even like soaps but watch the most depressing one ever made just for this reason)

I was wondering if there were particular historical figures who you, either for some reason or often for no reason at all but more radomly, read about or collect books relating to, and why these figures mean something to you? Mine are as follows: Anne Boleyn, I don't know if it is perhaps that at the age of 7 in P4 that this was the only name I remembered from Henry VIII wife at that young age or the manner of her death, but since then her life has become a fascination to me. I read any historical fiction that relates to her or non-fiction. Stalin Rasputin These two are in a a similiar thread. At GCSE level I studied Russian History and it bored me, apart from these two. The former, it is more to do with his regime and dictatorship and trying to get fiction that relates that more than statistics. To me, that is the beauty of historical fiction, statistics become personal stories with contexts and his vcitims then become people with life experiences and dreams. The latter, Rasputin, I must admit is more macabe, how can you not be fascinated with a man who refuses to die. Finally, Vlad Dracul. I have lived in Romania and learned a great deal about this man at that time, and the random way then Stoker fixated on his name and developed an immortal villian in Dracula. However it is the man himself and how tragedy and childhood abuse can truly twist a person.

George Bernard Shaw, in particular John Bull's Other Island Oscar Wilde, anything really by this man W B Yeats attempts such as Kathleen Ni Houlihan Shakespeare - Hamlet in particular Kit Marlowe - soft spot for him, and feel he was robbed off much of his work

A good book and a quick read. I did enjoy it and it did keep me guessing a great deal throughout.

I do advise those that are having difficulty with Wuthering Heights to perservere. I love both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. The latter, it did take me a few times to get into the story as of the frames - just remember in the first few chapters you are reading frames Wuthering Heights is essentially - the man who comes to the Heights, years after the main action of the book, who then hears the story from a first hand witness, the maid Nellie Dean. At the start the dialogue of Joseph - the manservant, is a little difficult but that soons allieviates. Jane Eyre is the book that I hand up as my first book of falling in love with, in that i had to ration a book for first time so i would not come to end so quickly. However Wuthering Heights is far superior in comparison.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a fantastic adapation of the book, a book that was in my top 3 at the time. Cloud Atlas - much better movie adaption than book, but i think it is as there was a need for it to be visual.

I live in a very small flat, within which I have doubly stacked two of the very large IKEA bookshelves. There are then over 500 books in my old bedroom at my parents' house, a number more in two bookshelves that they have. I also have around 30 out on loan at the moment to various friends which is good in a way, as I don't know where would put them otherwise. I don't really read electronically, however am trying to more. Have respect for those who can read that way rather than snobbery lol. I have Candide on my phone at the moment with the Mayor of Casterbridge. On my Ipad I have a few books on spiritualism and on my PC a few reference books for courses I have taken.

I am very critical of the way in which reading is taught in schools as always being part of a comprehensive exercise - read the questions, read the passage and then read the questions again. Reading becomes a box ticking exercise for the syllabus and books are chosen according to lack of resources and how much previous notes the teacher already has as opposed to books that have the ability to engage and transform the world of the student. It was only in reading myself outside of school that I came to love reading and I never adhered to the rules established in schools. You should identify a few good authors, particularly series, and what interests you and find a book relating to that theme. Avoid the canon, simply as they are recommended reads by some faceless survey. I always chose my books pending on what i want to read and apart from that the blurb at the back and the front page. The front page especially, i have randomly picked up books and read the first page not intending to buy and have to just buy that book and continue reading as soon as get back home.

I think it is the literature graduate in me, that my books I love to have them dog eared, highlighted and notes in the margin and it always then brings something further to the reading when I pick up the book again. Saying that my non studied books, I tend to read without highligting or noting and then often wish I had.

Not only would this be appropriate for children but also more vulnerable adults or adults with different life experiences. For instance there is a website for people who suffer depression indicating what books and movies contain graphic scenes of suicide and I felt that this was a good idea, but when you are in a store you need to have that informatin to hand and there should be that Sky Movies style rating where there are danger signs relating to swearing, sex, violence and sexual agression.