Michelle

Yesterday was the worse day for dropping connections etc. I'm sure it was because it was officially released in the UK.

I was out on my phone earlier, so couldn't actually type much. So, let's see if I can remember some of the things I was going to say... Virginia, the app might be a little buggy, but I think the main problems are with the servers.. I think even they were surprised how popular the app is, and they're trying to keep up! I agree with Noll about the the negativity the app has had - you really can't blame the app for the way people act. For example, Amy is 12, an whilst she is allowed to walk straight into town to meet friends, she wouldn't be allowed to wander around the streets. This has in no way changed now the game is out. We go out together for wanders around, to find pokestops etc, but she knows not to do this by herself. And if people want to wander out onto a road whilst playing, it's not the apps fault! Noll, you're right about the lack of instructions. This is all new to me, so I'm not really sure of the details. I'm tending to sell off my small common ones to get candy, so I can evolve on of them. Once I've stocked up on candy, and I have enough, is it best to evolve first, for the XP etc, and then transfer for another candy? Also - the bit about not having to go into a building made me laugh. When I first got the game, I thought you had to be very close, so was wandering up the street, and down my garden. I soon learnt, however, that I could stay in my living room!

Noll, I do get quite a few pop up, but they're all the same few common ones. I evolved a few, and now I'm a higher level, I am finding more new ones if we go for a little walk. We don't have many poke stops very close, but some a short walk away., so I have to go walking to stock up on my pokeballs! I was never into Pokemon when I was younger, so I have no comparisons, and I'm really enjoying it.

Amy and I are having fun with it. We don't have anything local, but there are a few pokestops a short walk away, so it's encouraging us to go out for walks. I think I've caught 23 pokemon so far, but I'm not go at the gym stuff yet!

Nope, it's not YA.

I've been so bad this year at keeping this thread updated! I've just reached 25 books, so it will be a lower year for me, but I've also spent time on graphic novels. Ok.. Hex is reviewed here, and The Many Selves of Katherine North here. Vicious was another excellent book from V.E. Schwab.. it's set in a world where some are rumoured to have special abilities, and two friends experiment to find out under what conditions these abilities can be developed. Their lives go in very different directions, and they end up pitted against each other. The lines between good and bad are very much blurred, which makes it much more interesting. It's a different book to the author's fantasy books, and this is one of the things I really like about her. The Fireman by Joe Hill was an audiobook, really well narrated by Kate Mulgrew.. I once started NOS4R2 by Hill, and had trouble getting into it, but this one grabbed me from the start. It really does have a feel of his dad's writing, and I enjoyed it a lot. Following on from this, I decided to listen to Kate Mulgrew's autobiography, Born With Teeth. It's an interesting, honest account of her life, which I enjoyed listening to. The Deepest Cut was a good YA book, telling the story of what happens to a teen when a friend is killed. It flashes between his experiences after, and the events leading to the death, and is a good insight into teen mental health. Adam is a good character, and yes, I shed a few tears towards the end! Finally, Alice by Christina Henry... an excellent 'retelling' which is rather dark. I loved it, and will definitely read the next book.

Because, when you watch a play, the visual aspect is important. We are talking here about looking a word on a page, or having it read to you. As for my children, my eldest found audiobooks extremely useful.. she is not a great reader, and had no interest in Pride and Prejudice, for example, when she studied it for school. If I'd left her with just the book, I know her attention would have drifted - listening to the audiobook helped her a lot. As I said before, this is a personal issue, and I don't see how someone who doesn't like audiobooks can judge someone badly who does. It strikes me a pure snobbery, if I'm honest.

I really don't think radio vs theatre is a fair comparison to make here. This is a very personal thing, I believe, and I remain a little upset that so many of you judge that an audiobook doesn't count as reading. I personally would never suggest this to anyone. Oh well, I'm going to carry on enjoying all of my reading, no matter what the genre or format!

For goodness sake everyone... why is it that Harry Potter of all things seems to divide people and cause problems? It's ok to have differing opinions over books, and over fantasy as a genre, there is no need to make an argument out of it, and to start making sarcastic comments!

I really don't know, to be honest. My kids have spent time at school trying to work out their 'style' but it wasn't something we ever looked at. My personal preference is to write everything down when trying to learn something.. but I do know that if I'm reading something non fiction, I can often drift away from the text, or skim. As I said before, listening makes me slow down and take it in... hmm.. maybe I am an auditory learner! What you are describing is that *you* experience them in different ways, but to say that that's true for all really is playing devil's advocate (I wonder if there really is a game called that out there?). What you have to be careful of is telling people that an audio book doesn't count as reading.. to me that's very similar to telling someone that their chick-lit, Dan Brown or childrens' book doesn't really count as reading.

Yea, I know. I was just a little put out by the responses saying they shouldn't count as reading. Again, I seem to be the opposite of Raven.. I sometimes find myself skimming parts of some books, but when listening I can't do that. I think it's made me appreciate certain books a bit more by listening to them.

Now I'm the opposite.. I started listening to audiobooks at night when I went to bed, as I found concentrating on the story helped me to not lie there worrying about other things.

Actually... I am a little offended.. personally, I don't actually see the difference between reading with my eyes, and listening with my ears - it all goes into my brain for it to process! I love my audiobooks, and I will very happily count them as books read.

I have pretty sensitive eyes in general, and I have the night mode on on my iPhone all the time. I don't know if it actually helps, but I much prefer it. I also tend to turn down the brightness compared to others, and on my work monitor, I have the contrast quite low as well.

I would say A Darker Shade of Magic, which you didn't enjoy. However, Vicious was also very good, and had a different feel, so that might be a good one to try.

The Toymaker has been on my wishlist for ages - I've just added this one.

Noll, I agree - the impression I get is that he would have attacked that club, whether he identified with ISIS or not.

That's one of the things I did in my review of Hex - I would love to read the original, because I think I'd prefer that setting, and I think the tone would be a bit different.

Sorry, I've been hanging around on twitter too much! It's Middle Grade.. so very approx 8-12.

There was a news thread about it.. http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/14019-8th-harry-potter-book-play-announced/- but I think it's fine to have a new thread, to discuss the actual book / script.

It was difficult to know where to put this thread, as Schwab writes both YA and Adult, but I thought I'd stick with here, as my experience so far is of the latter. Anyway, Schwab has recently become a new favourite author, but she's not mentioned much on here. I only noticed her when the list of authors for this year's YALC went up. I always have a look at authors which are new to me, and A Darker Shade of Magic jumped out at me. I loved it, and ordered the sequel. Laura wrote a much better review than I can do, so you can read that here.. http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/13276-lauras-fantasy-corner-2015/page-20#entry440467 Having done some looking up, it appears that Schwab writes MG and YA under Victoria Schwab, and Adult under VE Schwab. Having read A Darker Shade of Magic, and being half way through both A Gathering of Shadows (it's sequel) and Vicious, I would say that, for me, the lines are blurred.. there are lots of discussions as to what makes 'YA', but these could easily be read by a wide age range. This Savage Song is about to be published, and it appears to be classed as Adult here, and YA in the US - confusing! It's about teenagers, and yet on her own site, Schwab classes it as Adult. However it's classed, I've pre-ordered it, because I enjoy her writing so much. So, are there are other fans here, any reviews I've missed? Has anyone read her YA The Archived, or even her MG books? Have I, along with Laura's review, tempted anyone to try her?

You really do have heat intolerance - I would find that a lovely temperature!

Thank you - that does sound rather interesting.

I'm assuming then that The Rook is good??

I believe that there will be security updates for some time yet, just no improvements. Just looked it up - 2020. My mum, for example, feels she'll need a new laptop before then, and would rather not risk her old laptop having problems if she upgrades to 10.