Madeleine

A sign of how mild it's been - I just noticed that there were some daisies growing again, in the grass!

Exactly the same here, frosty at first, now grey and drizzly.

The Beauty of Broken Things" by Victoria Connelly - Orla lives alone, except for her dog and an occasional visit from her mother, in a castle on the Suffolk coast - following a traumatic incident a few years previously, she has retreated from the world, buying and paying for everything online, even communicating with her gardener using handwritten notes. Luke lives in London, works as a builder and is devastated when his wife Helen is killed in a train crash. When he can bring himself to check her phone, he finds she's been communicating online with a fellow photography fan, Beautifully Broken, to the extent that Helen had promised to send her friend a present. Luke finds the package and decides to deliver it himself. And so begins an unlikely friendship, and a tale of healing, and confronting the past and your problems. It was a nice read, with a lovely setting and two appealing characters, although I'm not quite sure how Orla kept managing to find the money for her castle! It does enter cliché territory a little when her fearsome mother inevitably turns up and throws their friendship into turmoil, but the ending was satisfying without going completely the familiar "Hollywood" route. 7/10

Lethal White - Robert Galbraith

Same here, been quite mild though colder today.

Absolutely, thanks so much for all your hard work Hayley!

M R James is fabulously creepy in an atmospheric way, all quiet villages, spooky churchyards etc! Best thing is to get a short story collection, I think the cheap classics do them.

Quite a haul! Enjoy your books.

I love those dogs!

Very windy, lots of rain yesterday! Mild though.

Both.

I know what the rules are, please don't patronise me. I actually think there is an issue with my computer, it's the work computer and I have similar issues with work applications whereby it will suddenly "jump" to something unrelated, I think this is what is happening here. I have tried to have it repaired, as recently as two weeks ago, and it keeps happening.

Enjoy!

It's been abysmal here, lots of wind and rain with more to come.

Glory Days - Bruce Springsteen

I've seen some of the You Tube videos, they're hilarious aren't they, they're so sweet! And I love his commentary.

Fear on the Phantom Special by Edward Marston - Inspector Colbeck's latest assignment takes him to the Lake District in November, after a young man, Alexander Piper, disappears during an excursion he's arranged for his friends on a special train journey to a haunted wood on Halloween - when the train is suddenly brought to a halt by a fire, he dashes off to investigate, and is never seen again. But he was very unpopular - arrogant and conceited, he'd ruffled many feathers and broken a lot of hearts, and not many people are sorry to see the back of him. So Colbeck and Leeming, his sergeant, have plenty of suspects, as well as trying to unravel Piper's private and business life. This was an enjoyable, if slightly dry read, and a subplot involving Colbeck's wife, who is back home in London and trying to help her father when he claims that his long service medal on the railways has been stolen, felt rather pointless. 7/10

Just started number 29.

Bush

Lonely this Christmas - Mud

I don't think it was there, it's got quite an eye catching cover hasn't it, will have another look next time I go.

I've just found out by chance ie surfing on Amazon, that False Values has been out in paperback for a month, yet I haven't seen it promoted, or even on a table, in one bookshop locally. But they promote the new novel by some reality TV star with no writing experience whatsoever.

No not horror at all, it does have a slightly creepy atmosphere but I don't think it's any creepier than The Corset. So yes more atmospheric than scary!

worm

People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks