Madeleine

Rain for most of the last few days, although we had thick fog on Sunday and Monday - I think the next few days are meant to be pretty gloomy and rainy. But it's very mild though.

I used to belong to this site too, and I think the combination of rising postage, possibly fewer physical books being passed on with Kindle becoming more popular, and maybe more people going to charity shops and other online used book stores also forced it to close. I did buy a few books from them, and didn't have too many problems, but I think it was possibly the postage issue which was the main thing.

I must admit I was very surprised when Waterstone's started selling kindles, it seems to have been a rather short-lived enterprise. Glad to see that "real" books are making something of a comeback, apparently the British Library crime classics have been massively successful, going to re-prints and selling really well. I think Kindles are a great idea for holidays, long train/plane journeys etc (as someone who's been charged excess baggage as she once took about 12 books in her suitcase!) but I don't have one myself.

Apparenyly he's accidentally kicked her in the head a couple of times

That's odd, I thought Smith's had stopped selling those sort of mags. I was in Exeter in the summer and went into the Waterstone's which you can walk through and come out opposite the cathedral, I did see the other store but assume that both stores can do OK as it's a university town? Is one more of an academic store than the other one? I also went to Sidmouth and saw they had 2 independent book stores, but no WH Smith which was interesting. Both shops had a pretty good selection too.

Always good news to hear of a book shop opening, whoever runs it! Talk about coming full circle.

The book's called Cross Stitch in the Uk, I've found a few threads on this site discussing the series and the author.

That should be interesting (the Dark Materials) - I did read it years ago but may have to re-read it now, although I'm not about the 3rd book, I found it got bogged down with too much going on (the wheeled people section went on for ever) and I started to lose interest in it, but the first 2 books are great.

I joined the forum as I'm already on a couple other book forums, but they've been a bit quiet lately, so I was looking for another one which was a bit livelier - and found this one! My favourite book is probably Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, not quite sure why but probably a mixture of the story (although I don't generally read romance that much), the setting and the Gothic-ness of it. It was also I think the first classic novel that I actually enjoyed (the usual thing of having to read these books at school).

Probably the weakest week so far, dance-wise, either awful or good, not much in-between although a few were a bit mediocre - I think Peter was disappointing again, he was good at first but seems to have lost it a bit.

Yep,watch out for splinters Not much room to turn over either, but I like the idea.

Oh you are organised, well done!

Have to disagree with you re Bad Romance, I thought it was an awful version, but I agree about Kirsty's dancing though! Jeremy is fascinating to watch, always entertaining and a real trier, and a couple of times he managed the right moves, and in time with his partner so he has improved a bit. But yes Carol, nice as she is, should have been in the dance off. I think Anita and Gleb are a dream couple, he looked the very image (well mine anyway) of a fairytale prince with those hair extensions, sigh and Helen's samba was great, brilliant costume and one of the best routines of the night, although for some reason I find her difficult to warm to. But I agree that once the best dancers are left, there will be some difficult choices to make, and definitely some shock exits. I also loved the professionals' routine last night, where they were chess pieces, very clever.

Saturday was glorious, really warm and sunny, but yesterday was very foggy and stayed that way for most of the day, and it was still pretty thick this morning.

Now it's November I might start my Xmas shopping, can't deny it any longer!

Likewise!

HI Amira and welcome.

Having watched the results show I was reminded of more of the music choices - yep I thought Thriller was an odd choice for a salsa, and the Time Warp a strange one for Jamelli's dance - I kept expecting them to go the actual Time Warp! Thought she danced better in the dance-off but Kirsty was the right one to go, although Carol should have been in the d-o with her. Loved Anita's Maleficient costume as well.

Yep Darcey looked lovely in that wig, really suited her. The first two dances were truly terrible - Kirsty and Carol - who will probably both be in the dance-off; in fact most of them were either great or hopeless and after those two I was beginning to despair of seeing anything decent; best ones as usual were Jay, Kelly and Helen - I'm afraid I can't remember any of the others! And some of the music choices again... I always thought of Phantom of the Opera as more of a tango than the paso, although School's out just about worked, loved the Harry Potter theme although I did find the table bits a bit of a distraction. Probably not the best Halloween episode, although great costumes and make-up.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier The American Boy by Andrew Taylor The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett To kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (not in any particular order)

I'm sorry to hear about your dog, I hope he's still doing OK and being spoilt! What type of dog is he? And I read the earlier post about Jojo's foot, is that OK now?

Hi Mumford, not sure what country you're based in, but if you like classic crime in the UK we have a series called British Library Crime Classics, and they have just published a couple of Christmas crime themed books, one is called The Santa Claus Mystery (set in a country house where a man in a Santa suit is found murdered), and the other is a short story collection called Silent Nights. If you like cosy crime, Elizabeth Peters' book Trojan Gold is very snowy, set in a German ski resort, but it's quite light-hearted and fast-paced.

Good luck with the exams Sabry. Happy belated birthday Athena, hope you've recovered now!

That's a shame bobbly bear, it's been lovely here for the last couple of days, and quite mild too. Rained all day Saturday though but since then it's been nice. The trees are beginning to change colour now, and are looking lovely.

Yes it must have been a very strange life, although to their credit Anne and Charlotte did both manage to get out and work abroad for a while. There's a new book out about the Brontes which I read a review of last week, I can't remember what the title is but they sound even stranger than I thought they were. Fascinating though. It's Charlotte's 200th birthday next year so lots of Bronte stuff coming up. Hope the house renovations went well and there's not too much dust to clear up!