Kell

Thou clouted hasty-witted bladder! Had to have a laugh at that one! PS I moved the thread to the "fun stuff" section.

From Wiki: 2009: PBS/ITV adaptation of Wuthering Heights[5] on Masterpiece Classic, starring Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley. 2009: A Bollywood musical version of Wuthering Heights toured the UK in Spring 2009, starring Youkit Patel and Pushpinder Chani. [6] 2010: A new film version starring Ed Westwick as Heathcliff and Gemma Arterton as Catherine, directed by Peter Webber, and distributed by Ecosse Films.[7] And more from Wiki on the first one listed above: Wuthering Heights is an ITV television adaptation of the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bront

I'm almost half way through and am enjoying the book. It's obvious you really love Boston, Tom, as some of it reads almost like a love letter to the city, exploring both the modern city and some of its rich history...

Yes - lots of familiar faces: Ryan Kwantan (Jason Stackhouse) was in an Aussie soap (can't remember which one, but I suspect Home and Away) Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse) was in The Piano as a small girl (my, hasn't she grown up?) Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton) was in vampire mini series Ultraviolet playing, yes, you've guessed it, a vampire (he was one of the secondary leads) William Sanderson (Sherriff Dearborn) was JF Sebastian in Bladerunner Several other cast members have cropped up in the same shows (although not at the same time) too. Numb3rs, CSI and Without a Trace all seem very common between them in the bit-part stakes! ER also crops up a whole lot. And there continues to be a whole lot of nekkidness, but not quite as much as there is initially (though it doesn't decrease much - the books are quite sexy, so the series is following suit - and this suit seems to be a birthday one - LOL!).

And there's yet another one called Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters coming soon - LOL!

I loved that about them - it was almost as if they unravelled as time went on - especially where a woman was involved (most evident in the cases of d'Artagnion and Athos, if I remember correctly!). In the case of Milady, she turns the stereotype on its head by turning the handsome (and not so handsome) men. She uses her feminine wiles to do her dirty work and leaves the men high and dry! (Early example of girl power? LOL!)

I don't usually like zombies, but I LOVED Shaun of the Dead and I think the idea of "Darcy of the Dead" is, quite frankly, hilarious!

For those who fancy reading the books, Gyre has very kindly set up a book ring for the whole series HERE.

Wow! Thanks for the vote of confidence!

You know what? I've just gone and ordered it - despite being a fan of P&P and not usually liking zombie-involvement in anything, this sounds like a lot of fun!

BIll and Sookie DEFFO came first and, imo, the books are much better and slightly more believable (in a suspended disbelief kind of way that is required for all fantasy/supernatural based novels) than the Twilight series. For me, Twilight and its sequels was mushy romantic, whereas the Southern Vampire series has the couples having proper arguments and all-out screaming matches culminating in "IT IS OVERRRRR!!!!!" and with next to no fawning (I can't imagine Sookie ever going, "Oh, Bill, I love you, you're so perfect, I can't live without you" *barf!*). Sookie has a lot more feistiness and "oomph" about her than Bella - partially, I think, because the character is a bit older than the teens in Twilight - she's lived a bit, had to work for a living, had to get by in a small town where everybody knows (or thinks they know) everybody else's business even if they CAN'T read minds (LOL!). Overall, I far prefer the dynamics of the Southern Vampire novels - the cast of characters are more realistic (even though populated with vampires, werewolves, et all) and I found it far easier to get on board with them than the Twilight crew (but then, maybe I'm just at a point in my life where I relate more to adult relationships, rather than teen all-or-nothing gushiness). And there's a WHOLE lot more sex in the SV series than in Twilight. As for soulmates, I dunno about that. I only read as far as book four so far, but

OMG! I would totally DIE! I'd love to see that happen - or a series of films. I'm three episodes into season 2 of True Blood and it's fab. The show is jam-packed full of sex (moreso than the books!), but I have to admit, there's plenty of eye candy to ogle! I especially adore Sam and Eric - I think I love them both just a little bit more every time I see them!

I love it - I've read the first four books in the series and enjoyed them, but the tv show is just pure escapism and totally over the top - what's not to love?

I absolutely agree - one of my all-time favourite novels of ANY genre!

List of longest novels over at Wiki. Gives almost all the lengths in no. of words rather than pages, though.

I've started reading First Night (I'm reading another book too, so I'm to-ing and fro-ing between them) and although I'm only a couple of chapters in, I'm enjoying it so far - especially the historical setting of the very start if the novel - I could really picture it all happening. Looking forward ot seeing how it develops.

If you like a chunky soup, you can always just cut up everything finely (or roughly if you like it really rustic!) and add a tin of tomatoes for extra tomato-ey-ness with the stock. I just like a smooth soup/sauce base and add extra chunks to it - I'll often add another sauteed onion and some mushrooms to the soup, and perhaps some extra peppers and courgette too if I'm having it as a sauce. Yummy! Or, if you have the patience, you can push it all through a seive.

I'm the queen of mish-mash - I just pick a load of ingredients I think will go together and give it a bash.

I make a roasted tomato and red pepper soup that, under Weight Watchers, is ZERO POINTS: 1 large carton cherry tomatoes (or tin of tomatoes or jar of passata if you prefer) 1 large onion (pealed and cut in half) 2 large red peppers (de-seeded and cut in half) 2 large cloves fresh garlic (pealed) salt, black pepper, basil and oregano (to taste) stock pot/cube (vegetable, chicken or ham all work very well) spray oil water - Pre-set oven to 200C - Spread the tomatoes*, peppers and garlic cloves on a large baking tray and spritz with spray oil - Pop in the oven for about 30 mins (till the garlic is soft, and the tomatoes, peppers and onions all lightly roasted) - Whack the whole lot in the blender and whiz till smooth - Stick it all in a large pan, add the same amount again of water drop in the stock pot/cube - Add salt, black pepper, basil and oregano to taste (you can also add spices if you fancy - a srinkle of chilli is lovely!) - simmer for about 10-15 minutes - serve * if you're using tinned tomatoes or passata, obviously don't put them on the baking tray! This should make 2-3 generous servings if you're using a carton of cherry tomatoes, and 3-4 if using a tin of tomatoes or jar of passata. It's easy to adjust the amounts if you want to make a larger or smaller amount and you can even freeze batches of it for future use if you like! If you leave out the water and stock pot/cube, this makes an excellent pasta sauce too! You can also use this as a base for adding other items to the soup, e.g. kidney beans, chickpeas, bacon, chorizo, etc; whatever you fancy really (chickpea and chorizo is a favourite combo of mine!). Also, this is a lovely, warming soup in cold weather OR you can eat it chilled in the summer as it works particularly well as a chilled soup - it's a winner all round and a regular in our flat.

I'm a single mum in a family of women who have almost all been left by their husbands over the years (only one sister still married), in a tiny town called Freeville. (The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson.)