Kell

I'm not sure I understand what this is (forgive me if I'm being totally dense). Is it like a collection of books to be sent to some worthy cause? If so I may be interested.

The thing that jumps initially to my mind is that it's about accepting the outcomes of the choices we make in life, and about being true to yourself, rather than just following the example/path of others. I find it quite a hopeful and positive poem.

I found the longest book title in the world - it's actually so long that the posts here won't accept it (I think!), so here's the link to it HERE. It's an impressive 3,999 characters (with spaces) or 670 words. Another quite long one that I love is Gary Leon Hill for his impressively titled The People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It.

I'm a man fast approaching 30 and not ready to grow up, so I go to find my friends from my childhood and ask if they'll come out to play! (Danny Wallace - Friends Like These.)

I'm feeling a need for stodge, so we're having toad in the hole with chunky chips and beans. Sometimes you just have to!

Since Dale has recently taken to reading in the bathroom (he's finished 2 whole books this year which is more than he's read in the entire 9 years we've been together!), I bought him a bookmark today - it's a metal letter D that clips over the top of the page. I've just slipped it onto the page where he left the little bit of card he's currently using, so he'll see it next time he picks up the book.

You'd also be surprised how many female authors write under a male nom de plume - you might be reading female authors and never realise it!

This is precisely why if I'm ever published I'm going to write under an ambiguous nom de plum - if nobody knows whether you're make or female, they can't decide ahead of the game that they won't enjoy your book based on your gender alone.

I know full well I will never be able to read this book as the film wigs me out so much (honestly, it's the only film I've ever seen that has me cowering behind a cushion when it's on - I have to change the channel immediately or risk wigging out! I can't even listen to "Bright Eyes" - I have to turn that song off if it comes on *shudder*). It's the black rabbit that gets me every time - I was quite traumatised by it as a child and although I've tried to watch it as an adult, it still has the same effect on me and I have nightmares for days afterwards if I catch even a few minutes of the film by accident! Ooh, crumbs, I'm possibly going to have night terrors anyway because I've been thinking about it now!

Earlier CSI was excellent, it's only recently, i.e the last series or so, that it's gone of the boil a bit. It's still good, just not as good as it was...

Most of the authors on my shelf are male: Terry PRatchett, Simon Scarrow, Christopher Brookmyre, Stuart Macbride, Ben Elton, and others. THere are a few female authors on there though, most notably Kelley Armstrong and Philippa Gregory.

I'm not hugely into poetry, but I think it's a great idea!

Mine too - they do such beautifully lavish adaptations! That's exactly what I love about them too!

JULY (CLASSICS READING CIRCLE): The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas: (Available cheaply from Green Metropolis, or for free in audio format from Librivox, or as a free e-book from Project Gutenberg.) A historical romance, The Three Musketeers tells the story of the early adventures of the young Gascon gentleman, D'Artagnan and his three friends from the regiment of the King's Musketeers - Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Under the watchful eye of their patron M. de Treville, the four defend the honour of the regiment against the guards of Cardinal Richelieu, and the honour of the queen against the machinations of the Cardinal himself as the power struggles of seventeenth century France are vividly played out in the background. AUGUST (MAIN READING CIRCLE) (Fantasy): The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde: (Available cheaply from Green Metropolis) 'It looks like he died from injuries sustained during a fall...' Bestselling author Jasper Fforde begins an effervescent new series. It's Easter in Reading - a bad time for eggs - and no one can remember the last sunny day. Humpty Dumpty, well-known nursery favourite, large egg, ex-convict and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. Following the pathologist's careful reconstruction of Humpty's shell, Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his Sergeant, Mary Mary, are soon grappling with a sinister plot involving cross-border money laundering, the illegal Bearnaise sauce market, corporate politics and the cut and thrust world of international Chiropody. As Jack and Mary stumble around the streets of Reading in Jack's Lime Green Austin Allegro, the clues pile up, but Jack has his own problems to deal with. And on top of everything else, the JellyMan is coming to town... SEPTEMBER (CLASSICS READING CIRCLE) Crime Fiction: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins: (Available cheaply from Green Metropolis, or for free in audio format from Librivox, or as a free e-book from Project Gutenberg.) The Moonstone, a priceless yellow diamond, is looted from an Indian temple and maliciously bequeathed to Rachel Verinder. On her eighteenth birthday, her friend and suitor Franklin Blake brings the gift to her. That very night, it is stolen again. No one is above suspicion, as the idiosyncratic Sergeant Cuff and the Franklin piece together a puzzling series of events as mystifying as an opium dream and as deceptive as the nearby Shivering Sand. T. S. Eliot famously described THE MOONSTONE as 'the first, the longest and the best of modern English detective novels'. OCTOBER (Hosted by Kell): The Reader by Bernhard Schlink: (Available cheaply from Green Metropolis) For 15-year-old Michael Berg, a chance meeting with an older woman leads to far more than he ever imagined. The woman in question is Hanna, and before long they embark on a passionate, clandestine love affair which leaves Michael both euphoric and confused. For Hanna is not all she seems. Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael is shocked to realize that the person in the dock is Hanna. The woman he had loved is a criminal. Much about her behaviour during the trial does not make sense. But then suddenly, and terribly, it does - Hanna is not only obliged to answer for a horrible crime, she is also desperately concealing an even deeper secret. NOVEMBER (Hosted by Andy): The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami: (Available cheaply from Green Metropolis) Toru Okada's cat has disappeared and this has unsettled his wife, who is herself growing more distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has started receiving. As this compelling story unfolds, the tidy suburban realities of Okada's vague and blameless life, spent cooking, reading, listening to jazz and opera and drinking beer at the kitchen table, are turned inside out, and he embarks on a bizarre journey, guided (however obscurely) by a succession of characters, each with a tale to tell. DECEMBER (Hosted by ii): The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews: (Available cheaply from Green Metropolis) Hattie, living in Paris, has just been dumped by her boyfriend when she receives a phone call from her eleven-years-old niece. Hattie's sister Min is having a particularly dark episode and Thebes asks Hattie to come and look after her and her brother Logan. By the time Hattie arrives back in Canada, Min is on her way to the psychiatric ward. Suddenly responsible for two children, she realises that she is out of her depth and hatches a plan to find their long-lost father. With only the most tenuous lead, she piles Logan and Thebes into the family van and heads south. At once hilarious and heart-rending, The Flying Troutmans tells the story of a fractured family on the verge of spinning off its axles and a road trip that just might keep them together.

I now refuse to watch any new series until I know a 2nd season has been commissioned. I then go back and watch the first season in its entirety (if I like it, that is - if I don't get hooked by the first couple of episodes, I ditch it), as I'm sick of investing my time in shows that disappear as soon as I start to enjoy them! I'm really pleased that The Mentalist, Castle and Lie to Me have been picked up for a 2nd season as they're all brilliant and deserve to have very long, distinguished runs! Of couse, because I like them, they'll disappear either part-way through or after the end of their 2nd season* - it's always the way. * Especially in the case of Castle because it stars Nathan Fillion and his career choices all seem to lead to cancellation. See Buffy (he was in it not long before it finished), Firefly (one season), Drive (taken off air after 4 episodes). He just doeasn't tend to thave the luck, poor guy, and all those shows were awesome!

A Room With a View is a gorgeous novel - I loved both the film and the book. I've also read and loved Howards End and plan to read more of Forster's works at some point.

Xander and I both had chicken and vegetables - potato, sweet potato, swede, broccoli, carrots and fine beans - and he ate the lot! He especially seemed to enjoy the fine beans as he can pick them up nicely in his fingers and he was chomping away happily on them!

Several of them showed up in Regular NCIS in what will now be a "cross over" episode. More info on IMDb HERE. There's not a whole lot of info at the moment though...

I actually think CSI has gone off the boil a bit over the last season or so. Warwick is dead, Grissam is gone, Sarah has b*ggered off (thank Gods - I could never stand her!) and it's all just a bit old hat now. I still watch it though! NCIS is really still taking off and doing great. It's interesting and alol the characters are developing nicely, the plotlines are excellent - it's all good! What I find really funny is that NCIS, which was a spin-off from JAG, is now getting its own spin-off with NCIS LA - LOL!