Madeleine

I preferred Bone China to Shape of Darkness, now the ending of that one really is a mess.

wow, congratulations!

Trouble is, they always seem to show Nightmare.... quite late at night, which is annoying, as I forget to record it.

The house down the road has a whole display on top of the covered porch, went up last week. I guess more will start creeping in soon. I plan to put my own tree up this weekend.

The Nightmare before Christmas -perfect antidote to all the schmaltz!

Yes it's like being surrounded by friends. Not sure how many I have, Library Thing says 2,065 but I haven't entered all my books, however some that are on LT have gone to a charity shop, but 2,000 is probably about right!

I think it's always been the case, that males don't read as much as females. And one friend (bless!) who loves nothing more than films, claims he would never read fiction because 'it's all made up'. Like films, aren't, of course? - not much you can say to that is there!

I remember thinking it was a bit sluggish at the start. I guess Frodo was very young and was a naive young hobbit back then, hence his not realising the urgency of his task. He does of course, grow throughout the books. the Black Riders scared me silly in the film, especially that first one who sniffs them as they're hiding in those tree roots! And yes the scene at the Ferry was scary too.

It's a while since I've read them, but would be happy to see what everyone says and hopefully join in!

Which I think is the point that Pullman was trying to make (referring to Raven's spoiler).

I've read interviews with Pullman where' he's said he's actually attacking the hypocrisy of some people who use religious ideology to commit crimes (if you read a bit further than the first book you would come to this), rather than religion itself. I did enjoy the first 2 books but found them very derivative - after all raising an army of the dead had been done years ago in Lord of the Rings. And when I first read Northern Lights (it's original title) i thought that the experiments on the children were more reminiscent of experiments carried out by the Nazis. These books are certainly divisive!

The Shrine by L J Ross - this is the 16th book in the series, and starts literally with a bang, as explosions rock the sacred site of Durham Cathedral, and when the smoke clears, it transpires that a priceless artefact - St Cuthbert's Cross - has been stolen from it's supposedly secure display case. Ryan's pregnant wife is seriously injured in the chaos, and when a fellow officer is shot dead on her doorstep, his team find themselves dealing with two high profile cases. At first there seems to be no connection between the two incidents, but as the bodies start to pile up it seems they may well be linked. This was another enjoyable story, which looks like it's setting up another possible story arc, can't say any more for fear of spoilers! 7.5/10

One for the Money - janet Evanovich

Shy Boy - Bananarama

Hi Cath, I enjoyed Song of Ice and Fire too, apart from the 5th book, which could have been a lot shorter!

Yes I felt the same about the ending of "The Corset", but in that case I felt it sort of worked, however "shape has a much more abrupt, ambiguous ending, the sort of ending where I felt like chucking the book across the room, and a bit annoyed that I'd spent several hours of reading time that I won't get back.....! As I said in my review, I did enjoy most of the book, which is another reason why the ending felt such a letdown. I've always found that's the problem with ghost stories, that the ending is a disappointment.

Hello Cath, do you have any favourite authors/books?

The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell - I pretty much tore through this book, it's a very easy read, with the chapters alternating between the story of child spirit medium Pearl, and silhouette cutter Agnes, who narrates her sections. It's set in Bath, but it's not the Bath of Jane Austen, instead this is a sinister, grimy city, and is far removed from the genteel tourist image. Agnes is scraping a living cutting silhouettes, but when two of her clients are found dead under very suspicious circumstances, she begins to wonder if she is being targeted, for what reason she does not know. Her closest friend is her brother-in-law Simon, who was married to her sister Constance, who was killed in an Accident (as it's referred to in the book), which Agnes herself barely survived. When strange things start to happen, she reluctantly consults the White Sylph, a frail waif-like albino child who, under the guidance of her half0sister Myrtle, leads seances for wealthy clients, for it's the 1800s and the Victorians were of course fascinated by all this. But when she strikes a deal with Pearl to conduct a private séance, she begins to wonder what exactly she's unleashed. It's difficult to say more about this book without giving away spoilers, but there was one twist I didn't see coming, and another which I did start to suspect about halfway through. But unfortunately the ending let it down, it finished very abruptly, and I must admit I did feel slightly cheated, as it's very ambiguous, to the point of being vague. A shame as it has marred an otherwise thoroughly enjoyable read. 7/10

I finished The Shape of Darkness last night, I must admit I was brought up a bit short by the abrupt ending.

Finally gave in and bought my first new decoration, well it is November. Also ordered a potential present, but I might keep it for myself!

Tell No One - Harlan Coben

Yes they seem to have a logical explanation, eventually!

The Strings of Murder by Oscar de Meriel - this is the first in a series featuring two detectives in late 1880s Edinburgh, I was introduced to it on another book forum and can thoroughly recommend it to anyone who loves historical crime. It features two chalk and cheese detectives, the uptight, Englishman Ian Frey, who's been working on the Ripper cases, and "Nine-Nails" McGray, his Scottish counterpart. Frey isn't happy when he is pulled from the Ripper cases, in fact his boss is being "removed" from office and big changes are afoot. Then a late night visit from none other than the Prime Minister himself dispatches Frey to Edinburgh, to help out on another murder with the Ripper's hallmarks, except the victim in this case is an elderly violinist, found brutally murdered in his locked room. Frey hates Edinburgh on sight, the weather (it's not long before Christmas), the food , the accents, you name it he hates it, and he and his new colleague clash from the off, with the earthy McGray teasing Frey mercilessly about his southern ways and his immaculate suits, which inevitably keep getting ruined with depressing regularity. But they're baffled by the murder, and when another violinist disappears it looks like they may have an unearthly killer on their hands. McGray is a kind of Victorian XFiles style Fox Mulder, in that he's been given a secret department to look after, which investigates the supernatural, which he is fascinated by - more of this is revealed in the prologue, and also through the book, and presumably there's more to come as the series continues. I enjoyed this, it's a fast paced, well-written story but the pacing doesn't detract from character development, and I'm looking forward to reading more, and finding out more about McGray's story. There's some great banter between the two men (usually at Frey's expense) and some funny moments, although it does get a bit gruesome, and I know more about catgut now! I can see why this series (6 so far with another one out next year) is so popular with readers on the other book forum, yet seems to have remained under the radar (it would also probably appeal to readers of the Rivers of London series). 8/10

Glad to hear it!

Just finished this last night, stayed up til about 12.15, went to bed feeling very glad I don't have a fireplace! And I see what you mean about the catgut! An enjoyable romp, and a great start to a new series, I did like some of McGray's banter towards Frey, even if he wasn't very kind at the time. Will be interesting to see how their partnership develops.