Marie H

Another good review . I think that The Rector's Daughter by F M Major is somewhere in my TBR piles .

Wow Athena, 124 books so far this year! That is a very good rate books per week . Congratulations at reaching your goal. Good review of the Dr. Phil McGraw - The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom book . It's crucial to change bad food habits and eat healthily. But it is difficult to keep your diet healthy, all the time . I am trying to eat healthier, as many of my extended family have type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and all my aunts/uncles on my mum's family have died of heart attacks, when they were quite young (in their 50's to early 70's). My blood pressure has been significantly reduced since I lost weight, so I should keep it healthy. But it is hard to keep my willpower not to eat fatty and high sugar food all the time. They taste so good! Where I live in the UK, there is a huge choice of 'take away' food shops, eg. Indian, Chinese and Pizza/Burger/Fish and Chips etc.,rather than actually eating out in fast food restaurants. The food is not that expensive, but not that cheap either, but it is very convenient, so people don't have to prepare and cook their own meals.

Started The Shooting Party by Anton Chekhov. Only read as far as page 6, but I'm already enjoying the writing style, which a good sign .

Very true, as I forget that I have some ebooks (and I've only had my ereader for 3 months ). Then it's really exciting, when I find them all over again .

Some very good tips Athena , but I have very weak willpower when I try to keep to them. . At least I am managing to only buy ebooks, (unless I buy reference books and art books). Ebooks don't take the space of tree books .

Oh I'm glad you're liking Girl Stolen, I'm picking a copy from the library tomorrow .

Finished Purge this afternoon . It has been a bit of a slog, but worth it . As for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - my oh my . I knew that it was going to about foot binding, but as the book blurb said as being "startling vivid" doesn't really explain how very graphic the book is! I'm glad that had my tea before I had read further than page 28 . I think some light evening reading with P G Wodehouse is the best for me...

I have another 62 pages go to read of Purge by Sofi Oksanen. There was another twist in the tale when I read last night. Hope to finish it this weekend. Started Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See yesterday, but only read as far as page 28, so it's too early to if it will be good.

No frankie,you didn't offend me ,but I just wanted to make the subject clearer, as you were curious. .

Do I avoid disturbing books? I suppose sometimes I do avoid them. I have never read an Irvine Welsh book, or seen any of the films, and I don’t intend to do in the future. Am I avoiding these subjects? Some would say that I do ignore them, but as life can be a hellish nightmare, why read books about them? I hope that I have made these choices not to read some books, simply as it is my choice. I read some non-fiction on subjects that are disturbing, but that for me is a different choice again. I know that this can be an incredibly thorny subject, what people choose to read. But I feel strongly about this, and I need to explain why I might avoid from some books. Books on the list that have and hope to read sometimes are Swannn’s Way Book 1 and Within a Budding Grove Book 2 (30% read of Swann’s Way so far) To The Lighthouse, Virginia Wool Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy I hope that the mint liquor had the desired effect, , with helping you with the flu symptoms . Alphabetical Africa sounds interesting , I have a soft spot for Oulipo, I must make a post for Kylie about it soon.

Good luck frankie, if/when you embark on this challenge . I think you have a glint in your eye, and this a challenge not to be missed.

Well, over the last 30 years I have owned 10 of 50 books, but only started 6 of them . All of them were difficult, disturbing, or so dull, I never got past the first 20 or so pages. This is too much of a challenge for me - life is too short to cause that much 'book anguish' . Good luck to who takes this as a challenge

I haven't read any since No 10, but as you say, they are all a good 'fun read' . Glad to hear that Ranger is still on the scene . I found hardback books of nos. 12 and 14 in a charity shop yesterday. I did manage to restrain myself and not buy them . It is quite a long time since I've seen parts of my bedroom floor, underneath all the piles of TBR books .

I do hope that you read, and enjoy, the book poppyshake. I think the characters are rather weird, it's as if Steve Toltz has a rather warped sense of humour; a bit like Clive James, but more warped. Oh yes, I know what you mean about the superstition . In my case it is slightly different; I went to a funeral of a friend who we have been quite close to, and she died suddenly at 40. The music played at the end of the funeral was Eva Cassidy's Somewhere Over the Rainbow,but the worst thing was that the CD playing was jumping,repeating and leaping about, so was terrible to listen to. I can never listen to it now, without thinking of her funeral.

Listened to the first cd of A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz last night. What a corker of a book it is , I giggled so much. Bought the ebook today, as there were so many memorable gems in the book, I have to re-read them again (and again). Bought three ebooks by Robert Louis Stevenson: Kidnapped, Catriona or David Balfour (A Sequel to Kidnapped) and The Black Arrow. Never read RLS's novels before,so it will be a new direction for me.

Oh joy, for you and for the indie bookstore , they are so rare these days. Indeed, as you say "happy happy joy joy"!! The owl was just so beautiful too!

I hope that you can read The Plague sometime in the future, as it is a wonderful book, that I still think about it every now and then. One of the best existential novels,imho . I still have an old Penguin Classic of Camus' The Outsider that I haven't read, yet another in a TBR list...

Definitely The Pursuit of Love! Shropshire The most famous Shropshire setting are the Cadfael series by Ellis Peters. Precious Bane by Mary Webb -but not well-known(or that enjoyed either) -maybe Gone to Earth? My vote would be one of PG Wodehouse Blandings Castle series, maybe Pigs Have Wings, Galahad at Blandings, Summer Lightning are good books, in fact, any Blandings Castle books that have Lord Emsworth's prize pig Empress of Blandings are wonderful! Quintessentially Shropshire

Ooh, I have been thinking of trying The Husband's Secret for a while. Look forward to your review Audiobooks from the library today - Doppler by Erlend Loe (Norwegian author), and A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz (Australian). Both will be for my World Tour by Fiction. Very excited about Steve Toltz' book after reading review recently!

I like the sound of Kraken Wakes from your review poppyshakes . For someone who has had "SF intolerance" ( ) for decades, I avoid the usual type of storyline of Science Fiction. KW is more my style of Speculative Fiction, rather than Science Fiction. Who knows, I might have a nibble at KW over the festive season, to see if my" SF intolerance" is any better . ( I also read your review of Christmas Carol/Christmas schedule/nightmare . Poppyshakes, hang in there gal!

Hi Julie, that was a great review of Alice Ozma's book . I've put that book on my public library wishlist, as it will be a book to read in times of book-doldrums.

Got myself a free ebook of The Count of Monte Cristo after your recommendation . So many classics I've never read . My ereader TBR is full of H G Wells, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Leo Tolstoy and Daniel Defoe, just to mention a few

Oh dear, another way to buy books! I have managed to restrain myself, just let them my email, that's all . I would hate to miss out anything in the offer .

Hello Sagesmith, and welcome to the forums

Hi Sara, and welcome to the forums I love P.G. Wodehouse's books, especially the Blandings Castle series It's only recently that I've start reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, which is a bit embarrassing . I should have read those years ago... I'm trying to read more novels by international authors, so I will look up books by Miro Gavran and Marija Jurić Zagorka. Hope you enjoy the forums!