Madeleine

yes 8 series is s pretty good run.

Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones (from the 3rd book onwards) Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre

I'm glad Sleepy Hollow's been renewed too, it's a bit of a guilty pleasure. We were looking after a friend's spaniel a few weeks ago when they showed the episode with the Banshee, and she was absolutely petrified by the Banshee screaming. Which proves what they say about dogs' hearing being more sensitive than ours - I had to hit the mute button every time the Banshee came on after that!

Just read today that Castle has been cancelled, although Sleepy Hollow has been renewed for a 4th series, and inexplicably Grey's Anatomy has also been renewed - I gave up on that years ago, can't believe they're still churning it out. CSI Cyber is also a goner, but I watched a couple and thought it was quite boring so I'm not surprised.

the sites I looked at yesterday said August.

I've almost finished Little Paris Bookshop, it's quite a nice read, very whimsical, and set mostly on a book barge, although it's more about books than an actual shop, in fact the way he trades I can't believe he would make enough money to keep going! But the setting is lovely, I can almost see the scenery drifting by....

I usually give a book til about halfway through, although I ditched the Suspicions of Mr Whicher after about 120 pages as I was that bored But if I was only about 50 pages from the end, I'd probably speed read last few dozen pages.

Not bad for the last 2 days but still the cold wind, and it's rained for most of today so far, think it's stopped for now but still pretty grey and damp out.

Kylie, sorry to nit-pick but do you mean the 2nd wife from "Rebecca" rather than Rebecca herself, as the second wife is more like the character you describe? I go for escapism during holidays, maybe something nice and summery or something that's easy to read and yes, the Sookie Stackhouse books are perfect, although I've read them all now so might read something similar, or maybe a fast-paced thriller.

I read Tulip Fever years ago and enjoyed it, I think a movie was planned back then but fell through. I can't stand CD either, there are plenty of actresses out there desperate for roles

I love The Chase, I think it's the best of the quizzes at the moment, although I missed last Sunday. Pointless is also quite good. On the drama front. I love Hinterland, but Marcella is a huge disappointment, zzzz.

I just had a similar experience coming home on the train reading one of Jodi Taylor's books, had to try not laugh too much.

I've almost finished reading JE now, and whilst it seems much more wordy than I remember it, I'm still enjoying the main story. Mr R is still my favourite literary character (beats Darcy by a mile, although North and South's John Thornton comes quite close ) and I know much has been written about his treatment of his first wife I think he did the best for her that he could under the circumstances ie he made sure she was kept as safe as she could be, was looked after and fed, rather than being shoved away in some awful asylum. I do think he was a bit naïve in thinking that he could get away with a bigamous marriage though, and he under-estimated Jane there - a man having a mistress was one thing, but he hadn't counted on her scruples. I agree that there is perhaps a slight air of martyrdom about Jane, and the weak spot is probably the coincidence that she should find out she's related to the Rivers (an instant family!) and then inherits all that money (20K, a lot of money back then) - that does seem very contrived. But St John Rivers, what a nightmare of a man - a true religious fanatic and sociopath, he sounds awful, worse than I remembered him . Just gearing up for the ending now....

Started raining around 4.00 and has hardly stopped, got soaked when I left work, my stuff is still drying out. Hopefully the weekend wasn't the best weather we'll get this summer!

Sorry to hear that, Nollaig, but we had a glorious weekend! Well Saturday started and finished nicely, but was quite overcast during the afternoon, but yesterday was lovely. I managed to pot up most of the plants I bought over the Bank Holiday weekend. If it's any consolation, the weather's meant to change this week though, so maybe you'll get the good weather when we're getting rained on!

The village in the Peak District is called Eyam and they have an information board and small museum about the plague. I haven't heard of the Hampstead Vale of Health though, despite having visited the area quite often!

I went through a phase of reading his books, but tired of them fairly quickly, I don't mind a fast-paced read but they're just too bitty for me, and I also gave up on the WMC series after the 4th one. But I've heard he does a lot for independent bookshops, including in the UK, so fair play to him for giving something back to the book industry.

Watched ep 2 this afternoon and thought it was much better than the first one (no Dany for a start) and yes there were several shocks and the ending...that's how you end an episode and leave people breathless for more! Definitely back on form.

Only seen the first episode so far, I think some of the characters seem to have gone back to where they started in the first book - possible spoilers: And am I the only one who thinks that Melisandre looked like Dobby from Harry Potter in the last scene?

Yep I'm a tough marker too, it takes a lot to get 10/10 from me! I've just given my latest read 9/10, it was great but lost a point for being a bit predictable (although it was predictable in a comfort read way) and having a rather stereo-typical villain.

I've just finished The Marsh King's Daughter and loved it. It's one of her older, more romantic novels, but it's romantic without being too soppy, and the hero and heroine are great, although I thought the villain was pretty stereo-typical, and there were no surprises as to how it would end. But a very entertaining, enjoyable read, I loved it and raced through it. Most of the characters are fictional although a few did exist, and the basis of the book - the loss of King John's treasure off the coast of Norfolk/Lincolnshire - really did happen.

We had rain last night but this morning there was a frost, and I've heard a few people say they had snow as well. Cold and bright at the moment, I remember having snow around mid April but not this late ie nearly May. And this morning they were saying it might mean we have a decent summer, which of course really means it'll be rubbish as usual, I wish they'd keep quiet with their forecasts as they're always wrong!

I agree, I don't think you can have HF and impose modern sensibilities on it eg the way women were treated, that many marriages amongst wealthier people were basically business arrangements, how children were sent off for employment at a very young age etc - it can be shocking but it's also fascinating to see how people lived back then (in whatever period a particular novel is set) - just because something now sounds unsavoury doesn't mean it can be airbrushed out of a historical novel. As the previous poster says, this shouldn't be forgotten and hopefully can be learnt from.

Going back to The Ice Twins, I read it recently and, like Nollaig, the setting and the idea really appealed to me, in fact, I think the setting is probably the best thing about it. I got so confused by the twin's identity switching back and forth that eventually I sort of gave up trying to work out which one did survive, but maybe that didn't really matter in the end. I agree that both parents were unlikeable, and pretty self-obsessed, in fact I think the only one with any sense was the dog! I think I rated the book around 6 or 7 out of 10, as the idea is a good one, and the setting and weather were also excellent. But on the whole I found it disappointing, although I would read more by this author, he's written other books under a different name but this is his first psychological thriller, and I think he shows definite promise in this genre.

Been away for a weekend in Norfolk and we had pretty much everything including a sleety hailstorm on Sunday morning, and a very cold wind. Now back home and it's the same, had to run in from the garden where I was potting up some plants when it started to snow. And the cold wind is here too, will it ever get a bit warmer?