Kell

It's more about her past, her emoptional state and her journey to freedom than that. It's actually quite a riveting read and a testament to King's writing prowess that he can make a seemingly impossible subject so interesting and vital.

I think he makes at least a cameo appearance in almost all of them - LOL!

Well, I've managed to order this one from an alternative source, so it'll hopefully be with me within the week and I can start reading it and joining in with the discussions! Andy, you're something of a Murukami fan, aren't you? Have you read very many of his books? And is this one very typical of his style? (I'm rather dying to get into this one!).

The chocolate biscuits got snaffled up double-quick, so I guess they were pretty good - LOL! I'm baking almond cookies right now. My kitchen (and the rest of the house too, actually!) smells like it's straight from heaven!

I just want to thank everyone who read and took part in the discussions on The Reader in October - it's been very interesting and I've enjoyed hosting the circle for the month. Just because October is over doesn't mean that people who haven't yet read it can't do so and leave their comments in the thread though - it will remain open permanently, like all the others, for members to come to as and when they please. Thanks again - it's been a pleasure!

My non-fictions are: - a handful of auto/biographies - a bunch of books on various aspects of Paganism, |Witchraft theory and practice, and herbalism - natural remedies and essential oils - nutrition, dietry and cook books - a whole bunch of cross stitch books Overall, they take up about 40% of my permanent collection. I'm actually surprised, now I come to tot them all up, that I have so much non-fiction in my permanent collection as I thoughtit would be far more fiction-heavy (don't get me wrong, there are a LOT of fiction books on my shelves too!).

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin: Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse were delighted at the chance to move into Bramford, one of Manhattan's oldest and most celebrated apartment houses. Their friend Hutch urged them not to; he knew of too many shadows in Bramford's past - unsavoury tenants like Adrian Marcato, who had practised witchcraft, and the monstrous Trench sisters. But Rosemary and Guy were clear-thinking and not at al superstitious. They dismissed Hutch's warnings and moved in. At first they were completely happy. Rosemary hung curtains and planned a nursery for the baby she hoped to have some day. Guy pursued his career as a stage and television actor. They met their neighbours, who were friendly and unintrusive. But then, one day when Rosemary was down in the basement laundry room, a girl her own age came in... Quietly and with a compelling matter-of-factness, Ira Levin tells a story of mounting terror and icy climactic shock in a book that manages to be wildly entertaining as well.

Hey, if it's relevant to the discussion, go right ahead - it can only bring more to the discussion and possibly even more points to further look into!

Made some lovely shortbread biccies the other day (which have gone down a storm!), and today I'm making chocolate biscuits - yummy! They're busy baking right now...

Well, there's time for another question before the month comes to a close, so here's another one from the back of the book: Michael refers to the many images that have been produced of the camps, particularly in films. Is there a danger that the continued exposure of Holocaust images lessens their impact until they become frozen into clich

It's almost identical to the recipe I use, but I roast my pumpkin and use evaporated milk for extra flavour and richness. You can order the canned pumpkin online - I did that the first time.

Ridiculous! The percentage of people who are registered paedophiles in this country is, in relation to the number of people living here, a tiny minority (even if you factor in the ones that are unregistered as have not been reported yet). The vast majority of parents take damned good care of their kids (leaving a small minority who don't). Ergo, surely the best people to keep an eye on kids in the vast majority of cases is the parents of those children? I,for one, would not be taking my son to a park where I was expected to leave him under the supervision of strangers who had been "vetted by the local council" as there are plenty of examples where people in such positions have abused those positions and committed gross acts of abuse against children (how many news stories have we read where foster carers, "house parents" of care homes and, very recently, nursery workers doing just that?). I'd rather take my son somewhere I can keep an eye on him and play with him any day of the week!

If someone breaks into my home, I'm going to defend it and my family by whatever means I deem necessary. If someone has come, uninvited, into my home, they are breaking the law and I would deem them a potential threat to my family and wouldn't think twice about using as a weapon anything that came to hand. Chances are they'd be brained with a two-by-four!

Doesn't show up in Belthers for me either.

I don't thnk we have any professional reviewers here, but we do have a review team who do it for the sheer love of it. My advice would be write reviews - lots of them - and if possible, join a review team without pay to gain experience and build up a portfolio. THen contact magazines, papers, whatever publications you like, and find out their policies on hiring reviewers and what it involves. After that you need to see if you can tailor your style to theirs and apply to them to see if they'll empoly you. Best of luck!

I made the most delicious frui tea loaf this afternoon. Am chuffed to ribbons with how it turned out. Just had a slice with a cup of tea (after putting Xander down for a nap) and it sent my tastebuds to heaven and back! This is the best bake I've done so far and I might even make this instead of a Xmas cake! If you want the recipe and to see a picture of how it looks, it's on my blog HERE. And yesterday, I made some feta mini scones which went beautifully with the chicken soup made for lunch today. They're HERE.

I've listened to the new Muse album and found it largely disappointing, but they've put the worst track from the album on the soundtrack!

For World Book Day we opened it to anyone with more than 25 posts. I can send you the rules we used for that if you like if you hink it'll help formulate ones for this.

Stuart Macbride has realeased his new book under the name of Stuart B Macbride. From his website:

Why focus on just that one Harry Potter? I'm sure all the other Harry Potters get the same amount of flack, so this guy just seems like a whinger who deserves mocking because of this. If he'd just got on with things he wouldn't have looked and sounded like such a numpty!

I won a copy of Wolf Hall but haven't got round to reading it yet - sounds great though! Am definitely now more inclined to read it sooner rather than later!