eyeseebooks

Did you go on any of the dungeons or haunted places walking tours in London? They are better in the winter though when you are wet and cold as well as scared! I think being a member of BCF is already starting to mess with my mind! I don't usually read sci fi or fantasy but have been reading some of the book reviews on here, then when I read your reply about turning the clocks back a strange thought entered my mind: wouldn't it be fun if someone got stuck in time at the very moment the clocks went back?

^ I'm a quarter of the way through The Mayor of Casterbridge and loving it. Nice to see Hardy venturing into Scotland.

You could also try the Chester Chamber of Commerce where they would keep a registration list of all businesses. I expect they would go back that far back.

Oh good. If I start today, I might just it get it finished on 1 November.

I just checked my small appointments diary for Halloween and it is Saturday 31st Oct. The diary gives a significant historical event for each day and the one for 31st Oct reads: The Edinburgh Bodysnatchers Burke and Hare claimed their last victim in 1828. Very appropriate! I've got 'The Secret of Crickley Hall' by James Herbert on the Kindle so I'll try to read that. Would it be alright to start on the Friday night? I always think that's when the weekend starts!

"WHEN MY MOTHER WAS ANGRY with me, which was often, she said, 'The Devil led us to the wrong crib.' Jeanette Winterson - Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal

Thank you, Athena!

Welcome, Madeleine. I like a good detective story as well but can't take too much blood and violence and don't have the stomach for anything by Jo Nesbo or Roberto Bolano. I loved the Swedish Wallander series on tv but have never read any of Henning Mankell's books so am going to rectify that very soon. I think I shall start with the last book Mankell wrote, then maybe go back and start with the first novel. Are there any crime writers you particularly like?

yep, I'm still here! I don't know how I failed to find this forum before. oh, accidental alliteration!

Thank you Madeleine. Welcome here to you too - I'm sure it won't be long before we feel like old hands as everyone here is so friendly!

Thank you Athena. It's dark here already (whatever happened to the summer that never arrived?) so there will be plenty long dark nights ahead for reading! I'm already getting stuck in. We don't put the clocks back here until the end of October, have you already done yours in the Netherlands?

Same here, Janet. Hardy is an author I wanted and attempted to read several times over the years but could never get past the very descriptive passages he uses to set the scene before he gets into the story proper. I don't know why I had that problem because I'm a big fan of travel writing so you'd think it would be just up my street. That all changed this year and I've read four of his books. I love the depth of his characters. Hardy really seems to me to be as much philosopher/psychologist as author and deeply interested in morality and motivation. Some of his perceptions really pulled me up and I had to stop and think about them. I also like the way the countryside figures so strongly, despite my always falling at that hurdle in the past. He's definitely now one of my top classic writers too.

I saw a wonderful documentary last night but wasn't sure where to post about it so thought I'd start a new topic. I hope that's ok. TED HUGHES - STRANGER THAN DEATH Documentary BBC2 last night. Available on BBCi Player for next 29 days. 89 mins. The list of people (all involved with Hughes and Plath) who contributed to this programme was wide-ranging and I found the contribution made by their daughter to be most enlightening. This is definitely one programme I am downloading and saving, The best I can do for you is post the BBC programme information as some of you may like to watch it too. BBC Info: Documentary exploring Ted Hughes, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, focusing on how his life story influenced his work and vision. Ted Hughes is widely recognised as one of Britain's greatest poets. He is also one of the most controversial. The Heathcliff of poetry who 'attracted more scandal than any other literary figure with the exception of Lord Byron' as one contributor notes. Now, for the first time, the events of his life and the breadth and influence of his poetry are the focus of a major documentary. Featuring the first television interview with Frieda Hughes - poet, artist and daughter of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Path - alongside a rich seam of testimony from family members, friends, fellow poets and writers, this film will illuminate one of the 20th century's most influential cultural figures and show how his compelling life story shaped his vision as a poet. Hughes's significance is incontrovertible, yet so often during his lifetime, attention was focused on the scandalous events in his personal life. Love and work collided with tragic consequences during his marriage to Sylvia Plath. When she committed suicide, he was forced to weather a storm of speculation and accusation over her death, which gathered momentum after Assia Wevill, his lover, also killed herself. Hughes's mythic creation Crow proclaims 'But who is stronger than death? Me, evidently', and this film will explore how Hughes's ability to survive the traumas in his own life were bound up in a belief in the power and importance of poetry. It is a journey in which the passions and preoccupations that informed his unique poetic voice - nature, mythology, death and the occult - became increasingly infused with a more personal tone culminating in the searing power of his final volume Birthday Letters - his only account of his life with Plath. Nine months later he was dead.

Thank you, Marie!

Thank you, bobblybear. I don't have much of a TBR but suspect it's going to get much bigger fairly quickly after reading the reviews on here!

It's good that you still have two stores open. I wonder whether Exeter not having any other large cities nearby might be a factor. It's sad about Smith's. When I was a child we always looked forward to going there but they seem to have lost their way a bit. I had an interesting conversation with one of the managers once. She told me they make more money per month from the 'top shelf' magazines (the ones with pictures of unclothed ladies inside) than from all the other products in the store combined. That really amazed me. Quite shocking really.

Seems to be a habit of Waterstones! I'd forgotten all about Ottakers and, yes, they were good too. There used to be a large bookstore on one of the more up-market out-of-town trading estates about 15 years ago, I think it began with a B but I don't recall the name now (it wasn't Barnes & Noble). I'll have to go and google. ETA - it was Borders, I actually remembered it just before googling.

I'm not sure that they are big enough as they seem to have a habit of buying out other book stores then closing them down - that's one way of reducing the competition. At least Amazon welcomes self-publishers and allows other traders to sell on their site. Must admit its ages since I bought anything from Waterstones. The Nook is also sold in the UK, WH Smith sells them instore. I already had a kindle when the Nook was introduced so haven't seen any need to change, although there's no reason why I couldn't have two e-readers!

I love Audible and listen to it on my iPod. I have an annual subscription which works out at just over £5 per book. I tend to use my credits for the longer books. Audible has special offers every week and I sometimes see something that catches my eye for less than £5 and pay for those with real money! You get twelve books on the annual subscription but, unlike the other packages, you can spend your credits whenever you choose. And Audible recently changed the rules so that you no longer have to wait twelve months before renewing an annual subscription. Good news for me as I can now renew as soon as I've spent all my credits. I sometimes spend two or three per month. I think it's great value for money. I've also found that although I hardly ever re-read a printed book, I very often re-listen to audio books. Some I have listened to at least half-a-dozen times. And there are some books where I like to re-listen to favourite chapters, depending how the mood takes me. I listen to audio books whilst I'm doing the housework and other mundane things. I can't imagine being without them. ETA at the moment there's a Two Books for One Credit deal. There's a Murakami I want to get, just need to choose a partner for it.

Thanks - bought it! And couldn't resist The Secret Life of Bees, also 99p on a 75% off deal.

Hi! I can only tell you what happened in the Waterstones that closed down in our town. It used to be a Dillons Bookshop (do you remember those?) and when Dillons ran into trouble, Waterstones bought them out. In my opinion, the Dillons here was much better than the Waterstones we already had in town, and the building that housed it was, and is, big, beautiful, with large windows on all sides. You could tell when you spoke to the Dillons staff that they were passionate readers, but Waterstones got rid of most of them. Over a few years W cleared a large display table of books and replaced them with Kindles for customers to try. Then they cleared shelves near the main entrance of hundreds of books and replaced them with greetings cards, diaries, notebooks, etc. After a while, they stopped selling their own cards etc and put books back on the shelves, self-help, celebrity cook books, that sort of thing. But, they then cleared away all the books from a large room that opened out onto the side street, and leased out the space to Paperchase. Then, on the upper floor, they cleared away all the books save those on one wall, and leased out the space to Costa Coffee. I never went up there after that, so don't know whether the remaining books remained. Costa's and Paperchase were paying Waterstones for the use of their premises, and I'm assuming that Amazon probably gave W money, too, as there would be no point W giving Amazon free advertising space by stocking their items which they were selling at the same price Amazon charged online. No direct sales profit in it. I think, just my opinion, that it was all about money and W ran the store down, rather than help it to thrive, then closed it down. They kept their original store in the town but it is awful, in the basement of a shopping centre, no windows, access for people with mobility problems is very difficult because of the very steep stairs and no proper lift.. There is one of those open lifts with gates for people with wheelchairs and pushchairs, but they keep it locked. The customer has to shout over the balcony to try to get the attention of a member of staff to come and unlock it. The tills are in the centre of the large area below so you have to shout quite loudly to get anyone's attention - you can imagine how embarrassing that is for the customer who needs assistance. I never go in there now, it's too much hassle. Sorry, I think I went off topic a little, but I suspect Amazon was leasing the space or had some other financial arrangement with Waterstones.

I hope so too!

Waterstones maybe stopped selling them because doing so is a conflict of interest with the idea of selling books. And I think most people would find it easier to buy a kindle online than through a store. That's how I bought mine - tried it out in the store, then bought direct from Amazon. We used to have two Waterstones in our town but they closed one down a couple of years ago because it was "unprofitable". Now we have been reduced to one Waterstones (not massive) and WH Smith, which has a very poor selection - especially now half the book department has been turned into a post office!

How about The Woman in Black by Susan Hill?

I'm sorry, I haven't read it so can't really compare. I hope you enjoy it!