Michelle

If you liked The Hunger Games, try Divergent. I'm sure by the time you finish pottering around our little home, you're have lots of ideas for new drugs books!

7/10 pretty good for me.

You did though, because I went on to ask what happens in other countries!

I was simply comparing - no one said your post was useless. I find it interesting to know what happens in other countries.

I wish I had the patience to wait for the box set! I have 6 on my shelf, and have just ordered 2 more from the BBC shop as they were cheaper. Just 3 left to go...

Thanks Raven - I scrolled down and re-read your review of Shada, and I really think that should now go on my wish list.

As someone who loves books, loves modern Doctor Who, and developing a love of the classic series too, these are very hard to resist! Ten Little Aliens – Stephen Cole Dreams of Empire – Justin Richards Last of the Gadarene – Mark Gatiss Festival of Death – Jonathan Morris Fear of the Dark – Trevor Baxendale Players – Terrance Dicks Remembrance of the Daleks – Ben Aaronovitch Earthworld – Jacqueline Rayner Only Human – Gareth Roberts Beautiful Chaos – Gary Russell The Silent Stars Go By – Dan Abnett I originally bought the 9th, 10th and 11th, and have recently added 3rd, 5th and 8th. With only 5 more to go, I'm tempted to complete my collection. Has anyone read any of them, and what did you think? So far, I've read Only Human, which was ok, but a little 'light' in places, and I've just finished Fear of the Dark, which I really enjoyed.. it would be a good story even if it wasn't about the Doctor.

Eleonora - our education gets split, at 15/16 pupils take a selection of GCSE exams, my daughter will be taking 11 subjects. Then after 2 further years they take A-level exams, which are a higher level, and it's usually 3-4 subjects. By the time my daughter reaches her GCSE English Lit she would have studied a lot of books, but for the exam itself they concentrate on a few, and study them over 2 years.

I'm with you on this one, I really dislike cliffhanger endings. The best trilogies, for me, tell a complete story, but leave enough that the story can be developed if necessary in the next book.

It was taken from this article: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/new-gcses-will-be-more-challenging-and-rigorous-says-education-secretary-michael-gove-8653063.html Interestingly, History will have a 'greater focus on the history of Britain'!

For those of you not in the UK, GCSEs are taken at age 16. What are the equivalent English Literature exams like in other countries around that age?

I was just wondering what people think about the content of GCSE, and the changes being brought in in a couple of years. I did GCSE soon after they started, and I recall studying both Macbeth and To Kill A Mockingbird in quite a lot of detail. I've been trying to remember if we did any poetry, but I'm drawing a blank! We had quite a few pieces of coursework, and I remember one being to compare 4 books - I chose Brave New World, 1984, Z for Zachariah and.. erm.. another modern along the same lines, and I really enjoyed it. I can't find details about today's GCSE, but it seems to be a combination of modern-ish texts (Lord of the Flies etc), Shakespeare and Poetry. News articles are reporting that students only study little bits of books / plays, rather than complete ones. Anyone who's studied it recently, what was your content like? The new GCSE will have no coursework, and will apparently have to have: At least one Shakespeare play Selection of Romantic poetry At least one 19th century novel Poetry from 1850 - 1980 British fiction, poetry or drama since 1st World War How do you feel about the content, and what would you like to see? I think I'd like to see more modern fiction, because the idea is to capture a teen's attention, and start to teach them about literature. Of course there should be some Shakespeare and some classics, but for the average teen, too much could be off-putting, and damage a love of reading. So what do you all think?

I actually have a good example of a YA trilogy - I enjoyed Slated by Teri Terry, and was pleasantly surprised by Fractured, the 2nd book. I found it quite easy to remember the 1st book, and got straight into the 2nd, and I actually preferred it. The problem is, I now have very high hopes for the final one!

Trilogies seem very popular in YA books these days, and I'm getting rather fed up with them. My main gripe is the amount of time between the books - I really don't have time to go back and re-read, and therefore getting into the 2nd and 3rd book can often be quite difficult. I also often find that the 2nd book is the worse, as it just pushes the story towards the final book. I'm fast deciding to wait now until all three books are published before giving them a try. I'm also rather wary of starting a series, as so many of them seem to go down as they go along, or again we're left left waiting with long gaps between. I don't want to spend time on a world, just to get fed up after a few books, or lose interest because the gaps are so big. So which do you prefer, do you like the anticipation of waiting for the next book, or do you prefer your story to be finished by the time you finish a book? Any good or bad examples?

Thanks everyone. I started listening to The Dead and Gone last night, which is the companion book to Life As We Knew It, and already it is different - again there's a teen lead, and family is important, but this one is set in New York, and guns have already been mentioned. (Unfortunately I'm not overkeen on the narrator though.)

At first glance, I'm not keen on the flatness, I quite like my notepad app to look a little like a notepad etc. I agree about the colours - if it's going to go simple and flat, then mute the colours as well. I was considering an iphone when I upgrade in Oct, but now I'm not so sure.

Being a bit fed up with the younger-orientated BBC Doctor Who books, I bought Who-ology, which has been very interesting. It's full of facts and lists, and it has a mixture of old and new, so it's perfect for someone like me who's discovering some of the old episodes. There's probably not enough in there for hardened fans, but good for the more casual fan such as myself. I then read Warm Bodies over the weekend - I do like it when a book grabs me like that. It's an unusual story of zombies coming back to 'life', but the best part is the dry humour. Frustratingly my copy has the movie cover (I got that one in the hope my daughter would read it, as she loved the film), which has the main character as a teen in casual clothes. In the book however, he wears a suit and tie, and says he could be in his 20s or 30s. I assume they made the film to appeal more to teens, but don't let that put you off the book. My latest audio is definitely a teen book, but in a way that was quite refreshing. In Life As We Knew It, an asteroid has knocked into the moon, pushing it off course. This results in tsunami's, earthquakes etc, which almost causes the end of the world. It's told through the diary of 15 year old teen, and it does have a level of innocence about it. There are no armed robberies etc, but rather the main concern is food and warmth. She also talks about the relationship with her family - they end up really close, which I'm not sure would happen if you lived on top of each other! It does make you think though, of how quickly the world could become unstable, and how important resources could be. This is apparently the first in a trilogy (as are most books these days!) and from reviews, it looks as if the 2nd, which tells of the same events happening to someone else, is harsher, so I will probably get that one soon. (And already I feel happier just jotting down my thoughts, and not composing a full review. )

Third Doc - Terror of the Autons was a bit disappointing, I thought they were much better done in Spearhead from Space, and I preferred the actor playing the Master in Logopolis. I then watched Carnival of Monsters, which was great fun, one of my favourites so far. Fifth Doc - Black Guardian Trilogy. I wasn't so keen on Mawdryn Undead, but I really liked Terminus and Enlightenment.

Thanks for the comments. I wish I did work in the industry, but as I don't, I need to make this fun again. I'll still be sharing comments on what I read, and I may write a full review of books I love, but I need the pressure off.

It is mainly relief, but I also feel I'm losing something. I've been in touch with some lovely authors and publishers, but hopefully I can keep some of that going. I've read some early copies recently which I will continue to promote, and if I get sent a brill looking book, I may still review it. But, anything I do do will be on my terms, without the pressure. I want to go back to reading what I want, when I want.

I've made a decision to pretty much stop reviewing. I'm starting to feel very pressured by the books I have for reviewing, which means I'm not enjoying them, plus I have so many books on my shelves which I'd love to get to. It's a difficult decision, because I've discovered some brilliant books, and love reading the early copies, but overall I think I need to. After a trip to Waterstones yesterday, I started reading Warm Bodies last night, which has gotten off to a great start.

Well, you say people aren't encouraged to put thought into their posts, so why not be a good example - I still don't see why you need a special section for it.

Kell is backing up how I feel really. It is a valid suggestion, and I appreciate the thought you've put into it, but I would rather see the sort of post you mention being posted in the existing sections... either in the relevant genre section, or maybe more appropriately in the 'book search and recommendation' section. Hopefully if others like your post, it will encourage them to do similar. If it takes off, and becomes popular, then a sub-section may well become relevant, but I don't see the need for one at the moment.

Is that not something which could be done in the existing sections? 1 sentence posts would soon drop off the first page, and promotional ones picked up as usual.

I guess that's where the moderation comes in - we would review, and not let publishers post. I'd probably make it for those with a certain number of posts as well.