Madeleine

Hi Katharina and welcome - do you read German literature, or English language books?

Good luck with the benefits Danno, hope you find something soon.

Where the streets have no name - U2

I think this is one of the most over-rated books I've ever read, I suspected what the twist was about halfway through, and once I was proven right it lost a lot of it's suspense. I think you are meant to hate both Amy and Nick, but it got to the point where they were both so unlikeable that they were unconvincing characters. I avoid any book now which has a tagline comparing it to Gone Girl!

I have 1222 on a tbr pile somewhere, bought years ago at an airport bookshop. I did read one of her other books, Fear Not, and found that quite boring, so I'm interested to read what Ian said about 1222, a shame as the premise sounds great.

Horribly muggy last night but thankfully it cooled down by bedtime, actually beginning to sleep a bit better. Cooler today but still quite pleasant.

the pound cake we have here is just a plain sponge (maybe a bit of lemon in it) with icing on top, but no jam like Victoria sponge. I agree quiche feels more summery, I like either cheese and tomato, any maybe spinach too.

One of your five a day Nollaig!

Hi Danno and welcome, enjoy your reading. Plenty of recommendations on here.

Sorry to hear about the mozzies, I hate the things, I have a few bites on my foot, you can see the route it took across the front of my foot around the thong of my flip-flop

ha ha maybe, not sure if he's that powerful though!

I can imagine Juliet Stevenson being a brilliant narrator.

Shirley you might well find some of the older books a bit dated, I read Notes from a Small Island last year and parts of it felt very out of date, although I suppose it's inevitable when a book was written 20 odd years ago. I did find it hard to recognise some of the places he visited that I've been too more recently, happily most of them were better than when he visited!

Must admit the washing part had me confused as well! we keep them in the fridge (top shelf, for what it's worth).

Humidity is terrible, it's even been quite bad here. Bit cooler today though, and have had a couple of drizzly showers. last night was very sticky and didn't sleep that well.

Oh yes Neither here Nor There is good as well.

It has cooled down a fair bit, and much windier and cloudier.

Blue Monday - New Order

the first 3 Potter books are fairly short, then they started to get bigger with each one!

Hi and welcome.

Like Will, I read Emma as an A level text too, and hated it! I still have my old copy (one of the Penguins with the orange spine) and might re-read it at some point, although at the moment my other A Level text, Persuasion, is next on the re-read list, mainly inspired by a visit to Lyme Regis last year (as that's the only bit of the book that I remember!).

Best: The Marsh King's Daughter by Elizabeth Chadwick Worst: The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult

yes same here, it's a bit cloudier though, meant to cool down a bit after today.

Peter May is very good, another "Scottish noir" but his trilogy set on the Isle of Lewis is excellent. And slightly different to the usual police procedural too ie there's a murder, it's investigated - there's much more background story in these books, and the setting is great. I love the Shardlake books too, very atmospheric and well-written.

Generally I have been pretty lucky, so I suppose the odd duff copy had to happen sooner or later. The company were very helpful and promptly refunded the money, but I haven't used them since then.