Madeleine

I have lots of tbr piles! Occasionally I do sift through and put some aside for the charity shop, but I rarely give books away, especially if they're part of a series. I've also stopped counting how many I've got to read....I'd love a room for my own library but sadly at the moment most of them are on the floor.

I'm doing my own Halloween read-a-thon - currently on "Prince Lestat" by Anne Rice, and I'm sorry to say I'm about 150 pages in and I'm bored. It seems to be getting like the 5th Game of Thrones book ie too many characters rambling on for ages with not much actual story. Great to see Lestat back on form though, right now that's the only thing that's keeping me going. Then I hope to read the 3rd book in the Mortal Instruments series, City of Glass.

Which is why I refuse to sign up with Virgin, despite them always sending me stuff to entice me.

Yes that makes sense, Nollaig, it just jarred a bit at the time, that was all.

I've only read The Eyre Affair so far but loved it, a sort of cross-over with my favourite book. Very clever too. I have all the Thursday books so must get round to reading the next one. If only Mr Rochester would really step out of the book! What a great idea.

No she wasn't a patch on Saga. I did like Stephen Dillane though.

I know this series is now finished and CH has started a new one, but I loved these books for the most part - book 4 is, of course, the best one and I also really enjoyed book 2 (Eric in pink lycra is worth the read alone, I cried with laughter at that scene), in fact I could read the first 4 books over and over (and have already re-read them once, and can't believe I'd forgotten THAT scene in book 3 with Eric and Sookie when he takes her back to Russell's house after the incident in the bar), however I thought 5 and 6 were very weak (with some appalling plot holes), and then 7 slowly got back on track. I think that 8,9 and 10, and then the last 3 can almost be read as a trilogy, with definite story arcs for each group. It did fizzle out a bit towards the end, and the last book definitely felt rushed, and I felt Eric deserved a better finish, but I'd already suspected what was going to happen with Sookie, in fact I think it's hinted at all the way through the series. It was a great comfort read, though, with some memorable characters, although I could have done without so much of the fae. As for the TV series, I loved it at first, but think it went off the boil after series 4 (it always was a bit erratic), and season 5 was bad, 6 even worse (all that Bilith nonsense and demonic babies, and the fae were just awful), with only a bit of a return to form in the last series. But definitely some memorable moments and characters.

Pretty much my opinion too, I dragged myself through both parts earlier this year, and I think the wheels are beginning to come off a bit with this series. Up until now I've (mostly) enjoyed the books (3rd book is my favourite) although if I did re-read them I'd skip bits (mostly the Dany chapters) but this one was like wading through treacle.

Thanks everyone for all the greetings. Vodkafan, my unread book piles are now into double figures! I'm having fun looking at all the different sections and topics, there's a lot to read, and some interesting topics are covered.

I think Sky 1 showed it before, but there are lots more channels now.

Yes the original (although I did quite like The Tunnel, which was the UK/French version). Oh joy, can't wait either, thanks for that news!

It's always nice when you can "chat" to an author. I had that once with another author, Susanna Kearsley, on a different forum where I happened to mention I'd just read one of her books and she popped up and we also had a little "chat".

I think this is my favourite du Maurier novel, I did visit it many years ago and enjoyed it, although I think it's been refurbished since. Sadly due it's close proximity to the main road into Cornwall (actually pretty much the only road into Cornwall!) the constant thunder of traffic somewhat diminishes the spooky atmosphere! Still worth a visit though, especially as a sort of fan pilgrimage.

My favourite Scandi series - roll on series 3!

I thoroughly enjoyed Merlin, I think it was the best of the Saturday night fantasy-type series, and I like the way the characters sort of grew up along with the show. I think it did have to end the way it did, after all that's the prophecy. I wasn't sure about the last bit with Merlin trying to hitch a lift, it did jar slightly with the sadness of Arthur's departure, although perhaps it was intended to be a bit more upbeat.

I enjoyed this show as a guilty pleasure. Thought the 1st series was great, but by series 2 it was getting sillier and sillier, with so many twists I couldn't remember who was who or what was going on, as characters seemed to suddenly change (which is a major fault with many long running series, especially the soaps) so I just watched it for escapism. I agree that Emily and Aiden were probably the most convincing couple, but it was inevitable who she would end up with. I did watch right to the end, and must admit I miss my Monday night silliness! But it probably went on longer than it should have done.

Actually on reflection I'd like to swap LA Law for the X Files! Honourable mentions to: Person of Interest 24 Ripper Street Sleepy Hollow LA Law (see above) Cagney and Lacey True Detective (the first series) CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Will and Grace Star Trek (original series) Various 1970s/1980s shows eg Happy Days, Miami Vice etc, although I think some of them will look very dated now.

My top 10 in no particular order: Brideshead Revisited NYPD Blue Hill Street Blues The Bridge Game of Thrones Frasier ER Upstairs Downstairs (original 1970s series) Only Fools and Horses LA Law

I wasn't sure about bringing it back at first (one of my all-time favourite series) but now I'm looking forward to it.

Gutted that this is only shown on Amazon Prime in the UK. I hate it when they have that mid-series split - why do they do it? It's so annoying!

I'm really pleased to find a thread for this author. There is another Marshal book, a sort of prequel about John, who was William's dad and is also fascinating, in fact this is my favourite of her books so far, it's called "A Place Beyond Courage". I've read "The Greatest Knight" and "The Scarlet Lion", and also "The Time of Singing", all of which I enjoyed although I think TSL is my favourite of these books. I read "Shadows and Strongholds" earlier this year and that was another good read, I have all of her books and am gradually getting through them! This is my favourite period of history.

It's nice to see the author getting more recognition. I discovered her through another forum and have a few of her books, so far I've only read Cauldstane and The Glass Guardian, both of which I enjoyed, and I loved the settings too.

I'm a huge fan of BE and have read most of her work. I did enjoy Darkest Hour but I don't think it's her best book, I think her characterisation was better than it usually yes (they tend to be a bit two-dimensional) and as usual, the atmosphere was very evocative, but my favourites so far are House of Echoes (my first BE book), Midnight is a Lonely Place, and Hiding from the Light, and I also liked River of Destiny and Whispers In the Sand, and the short story collections are worth a read too. I wasn't keen of Daughters of Fire, which is probably why I still haven't read Warrior's Princess, and I've still got Time's Legacy on the tbr pile too - I'm now worried about those dogs though! I do like the sound of it, as well as the setting.

Hi everyone, I joined yesterday and am currently finding my way around. I like crime, thrillers, historical fiction and family sagas, with a bit of fantasy thrown in - the usual: LOTR, Game of Thrones, Dark Materials, Harry Potter. I'm on a couple of other forums but they've been a bit quiet lately so I've been looking for another one and found this. Madeleine