Athena

I have other books by Ali McNamara on my shelf, Step Back in Time sounds very interesting! I hope you enjoy your new purchases .

Writing! I'd like: - Lots of paper, both lined and unlined - Lots of pens and pencils (and a pencil sharpener) - Some things to keep it all together, ie. tools to make holes in the paper and then a 'snelhechter' to bind it in, no idea what all these words are in English So we can write and draw things.

Yesterday we saw Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, for the maybe 3rd or 4th time? It's really good, I quite enjoyed seeing it again.

Is it an American author?

I'm glad for your good news, muggle !

I have The Earthsea Quartet and loved all four of those novels (the others are on my wishlist).

Welcome here ! I haven't read anything by Kurt Vonnegut yet, though I have a few of his books on my Kindle, so I can't really help you there personally I'm afraid. Hopefully someone else can, though . I've heard his books are pretty famous.

Scarlett Bailey - Married by Christmas Genre: Chick-lit Format: Paperback Pages: 412 (excluding the excerpt of another book) Synopsis (GoodReads): All she wants is a perfect Christmas Eve wedding... It's been on Anna's wish-list since she was a little girl, dreaming of a far happier family life than she'd ever experienced. But now - only two weeks before her big day - her perfect husband-to-be drops a bombshell... Only nothing's going to stop Anna's plans - not even the pesky inconvenience of discovering her groom already has a wife! My thoughts: Last year just before Christmas I read The Night Before Christmas by Scarlett Bailey. I quite liked that book and so bought another one of her books, Married by Christmas. I thought I'd read it this year before Christmas, to get into the Christmassy mood etc. It'd be a bit weird reading a Christmassy book in the summer time, perhaps, so this seemed the right time for it. This was a pretty good book. I really liked the main character, Anna. She loves to plan and organise and doesn't like it when unexpected things happen. I have these character traits too (because of my autism) so I could really understand a lot of her motivations and things she does. She loves to make lists, so do I. So I could identify pretty well with the main character. I also liked the other characters, though some more than others. For example, Anna has a best friend called Liv, I quite liked her too. She sounds like a great best friend to have. The story panned out differently than I thought it would. The ending didn't surprise me, by then I thought that things would happen like that, but especially in the first part of the book I couldn't predict what was going to happen. I often compare chick-lit books to romantic comedy films, at some point you kind of know what'll happen but it's still very enjoyable. I don't mind that predictabilityness, I kind of like that in my books now and then (which is why I tend to vary my genres and the kinds of books I read). I didn't know much about the book other than what the blurb on the back of the book says. I think it's nicest finding things out for oneself, so I won't spoil what happens. The book mainly takes place around Christmas (mostly before), but has quite a few flashbacks and back story to the characters. I thought the main character especially was quite well developed (but also the other characters), she has a back story to her etc. The book put me in a bit more of a Christmassy mood, but not as much as The Night Before Christmas did last year. That said, it's still some time until Christmas whereas last year I read it much closer to Christmas. I also think the other book had more Christmassy elements whereas here the story elements were more focused on the characters. I like both books, they both have the same rating. I enjoyed the contemporyness of the book, elements such as mobile phones and computers. They don't play a huge role or anything, but after reading some books that take place in earlier time periods, this makes for a welcome difference. Overall I quite enjoyed this book. It's not a literary work by any means, but I enjoyed reading it. It has great characters and plot twists and back story. I really enjoyed reading it, definitely after the more heavier, epic books I've been reading lately (such as IT by Stephen King, which was pretty awesome). These kinds of books (what I call chick-lit books) aren't for everyone. They are mainly targetting a female audience, usually in the ages of 20-40. Love and friendship are two important elements in these types of books (in my personal experience). I love to read a chick-lit book now and then, just I like watching a romantic comedy film now and then (I read more chick-lit than that I watch things, though). Anyway, if you like these types of books I'd recommend this one (along with quite a few others ). Rating: ***** (9/10)

Welcome here ! You mention a lot of authors I like or that are on my shelves but I haven't read yet. I love Jane Eyre, I haven't yet read The Professor. I liked The Hobbit but I haven't yet read The Lord of the Rings trilogy or The Silmarillion (I'm not sure how to spell it atm). I liked Dune. I loved The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula K. Le Guin and have a few other books by her unread on my shelf and a few on my wishlist. I loved The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series and have one other book by Douglas Adams to read (on Kindle). I love Terry Pratchett's books and have read about half of those I own (I own most of them, if not all, as far as I know, other than very recent releases). I love IT by Stephen King, recently I've reread it for the 4th or something time. I have other books by him on my shelf but I haven't read them yet. I liked some of Anne Rice's books but I haven't read all those I have. Here are some of authors that you mentioned, of whom I've book on my shelves but I haven't read them yet: Lewis Carroll, Daniel Defoe, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Oscar Wilde, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury (one of shelf, one on wishlist), H.P. Lovecraft, Roger Zelazny, Andre Norton, Dean Koontz, Neil Gaiman, Dan Brown, Agatha Christie. Dexter is on my wishlist. I hope to see you around the forums !

Thanks ! Awww, I'm sorry to hear you didn't make your goal. I hope the next year will be better for you.

x Thanks . A page a minute sounds pretty good. I agree, I think my reading speed is a fast enough as well. Saying no can be difficult, in my opinion, the chapter on it might be of some use to you. I could tell you what's in it but it'd take some time for me to translate it and type it all out, and also I'm not sure if it's legal to do so. I also find it difficult to say no without offending people, sometimes it goes better than other times. x x If the short stories are bundled in one book that I read, for example Arthur C. Clarke - The Other Side of the Sky consists of ~15 short stories, I consider it one book read. If the short stories are seperate books or on the Kindle, seperate items, then I consider them as multiple books. I'm not sure yet what I'd do with my omnibus editions, I have big omnibusses of for example Jane Austen's books (1400+ pages), I think in that case I'd consider the books individually instead of one big omnibus (especially since I probably won't be reading them all after the other and the review would get massive if I were to try to review six books into one). With the manga omnibus I read I did consider it to be one book (Wild @ Heart 1-3 Omnibus) and not three seperate volumes (I suppose also because they're part of the same story). According to GoodReads the average amount of pages of books read in 2013 is 234 pages (in total I read 29000+ pages). One book seems to be missing, as it says I've read 124 books and not 125. The average amount of pages of books read in Jun-Dec 2013 is 372. I am reading more, shorter books, that's true. For the read-a-thon I try and pick shorter reads, because most of the time I feel more like reading longer books. The average amount of pages of all the books I own is 370. The total amount of pages of books that I own is 970000+ (minus some Kindle books of which I don't know how many pages they are). I need to buy some more books, then it'll be a million (actually I ordered a few books but they aren't here yet). Would you consider short story collections and/or omnibusses one book or multiple?

Nice review! It sounds like a good, interesting book that I might enjoy .

x Ah sorry, I didn't know that. That's true .

Nice that you've all completed the list of all the counties and their books! I have to say it was quite informative for me to read your discussion, I don't know a lot about counties in the UK. Good luck all who do the challenge! I might read some books from it too but not in a challenge kind of way, just because I'm interested (and I don't want to pressure myself).

Isn't kebab Turkish? Or am I mistaken .. There are some traditional Dutch dishes but they're not my favourite good. I'd say rookworst stamppot and particularly hutspot are traditional Dutch dishes, I don't much eat the latter so I'm not 100% sure what goes it in (I can Google it though if you want). I think it's a mashup of potatoes, carrot and.. something but I'm not sure what.

TintagliaIceFyre, you get to do the next quote !

x I'm glad to hear you enjoyed The Book Thief ! It has some very touching moment that make one want to cry. I'm glad you liked it .

I can read 60-100 pages per hour, depending on how many words there are on the page and the complicatedness of the text. So about one page per minute or faster. If it's a complicated book or I'm supposed to study it, then it's slower of course. If the book is a manga, graphic novel or comic, reading it goes quicker too. EDIT: My biggest problem is my sensory input issues. After I've been reading for a while, especially when a lot happens in a book, I need time to process it.

x I do that too, sometimes it's satisfying enough just to put it on my Amazon wishlist.

Welcome here !

Welcome here ! What are some of your favourite books or authors?

x Thanks ! x x I hadn't even thought of that ! Thanks .

x That's interesting! Personally I use Book Collector on the computer, and then the CLZ Books app on my phone. Atm you can't add things using your phone (though with the CLZ Barry app you can scan ISBN codes that you can then send to the program on the computer) but it allows me to check my collection while I'm out, without needing wifi or 3G. Do you use any app on your phone? x x I do that too! Though I think in some cases, it may be true..

x Thanks !

x Awww, I hope you'll be less stressed soon . Know that you can always talk with your friends here on BCF . I finished all the books I was reading and have now started Scarlett Bailey - Married By Christmas as a Christmas read. It's a chick-lit book. I've read one other book by this author (also Christmassy) and quite enjoyed it. I'm at page 105 and am enjoying it so far. The main character and I have some similarities, so I can understand her motivations quite well, so far (for example, she's also organised, loves to plan and doesn't like it when unexpected things happen).