Kell

There are a whole bunch of them recommended already, hence me moving your thread and merging it with the existing one.

I am DYING to see this film! Im' a huge fan of Burton and Depp as well as of Alice!

If I remember correctly, this is the one that features a foreign version of The Hedgehog Song entitled Il Porcupino Nil Sodomy Est!

My personal choice of 5 would be: The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis The Twits by Roald Dahl Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh The Snow Spider Trilogy by Jenny Nimmo The Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett

At the mopment, the only time I can bring myself to read is when I can't stitch - i.e. in the bath (after everything else is done, e.g. Xander is sleeping and house is looking presentable).

I've enjoyed this one too - I was lucky enough to review it on publication for a children's books site. I gave it 9/10: "To handle stone is to handle the stuff of life and death, of time and change, the mysteries of the Earth itself..." Fourwinds, a country house close to the South Downs, is the pride of its owner, wealthy widower Ernest Farrow. Samuel Godwin, a gullible young artist employed by Farrow as painter and tutor, is irrevocably drawn into the lives of the three young women at Fourwinds: demure Juliana; Charlotte Agnew, governess and companion, who reveals little of her thoughts and aspirations; and Marianne, the younger daughter, passionate, wilful and unpredictable. Intrigued by Marianne to the point of obsession, Samuel little suspects how thoroughly he is being manipulated. It's not only the people who fascinate. Samuel is equally entranced by the house itself: Fourwinds; beautifully designed and furnished in Arts and Crafts style, a house to delight and surprise with the attention paid to every detail. What, though, can account for the absence of the West Wind carving, and the disappearance of its creator, the gifted sculptor Gideon Waring, whose name must never be mentioned in Mr. Farrow's hearing? Awed by Waring's skill, Samuel longs to meet him and see more of his work. But in doing so, he uncovers secrets that are both horrifying and dangerous to all. Set in Stone is incredibly intense and deals with some very adult themes (which are dealt with tactfully and sympathetically) therefore it's aimed more at the young adult market rather than younger teens. Very well-written and told from the viewpoint of two characters looking in at the family on the brink of madness that employs them. It's incredibly heady stuff! Love and possession; art and immortality; convention and defiance; ambition and desire:There’s mystery and drama in equal measures which makes for a winning combination, with strong characters, clever plot twists and shocking revelations. Very highly recommended.

Well, it's official - my reading mojo is completely gone! I'm now only reading twice a week when I have a half-hour soak in the tub on Dale's days off (Sunday and one rotating day during the week), and yesterday I had a shower instead as I was busy trying to get other things done, so no reading. I wouldn't mind so much but I'm actually enjoying Captain Corelli's Mandolin, but I just can't bring myself to make time to read when I am so heavily into my cross stitch at the moment! Perhaps if I had a long train journey I might break my time into two halves of reading and cross stitch, but I can stitch and watch telly at the same time (when Xander's gone to bed) - I can't concentrate on the TV AND a book at the same time!

That's the whole point of the spoilers - you don't read them unless you're up to date ot don't mind finding out what's going to happen!

I think she is -

Apparently Meyer's old rommate is trying to sue her for plagiarism, claiming that she saw the film with her other half and reckons the story is a dead ringer for a short story she wrote at college. The news has halted filming of New Moon.

About what? Can I help at all?

I actually think she was way better than Susan Boyle, tbh! I'm usually a very harsh critic of child acts as I think the cute factor usually blinds people to their actual talent or lack thereof (a few years back that 6 year old with the terrible, crackly, warbly voice singing Over the Rainbow - I HATED her!), but this lass really does have a very good voice and with proper training, she could havean AMAZING voice! I'm a bit sad the knife act didn't go through - it was a proper, old fashioned variety performance and I think the judges missed the point (LOL!) of the act in that it's SUPPOSED to look like he's impaled himself at that point. Those dancers - Diversity - OMG! They were absolutely amazing. I mean, I thought Flawless lived up to their name but these guys blew them out of the water! The DJ act should be dragged out into the streets, whipped soundly, and then shot. Why he was allowed to pollute the airwaves and then get put through to the next round is beyond me. Again, I caught all these on YouTube, rather than watching the show...

Well, looking on IMDb, their synopsis was totally wrong -

Everyone still stitching? Pics of my two WiPs: Biscornu keyring wedding favours: Civil Partnership sampler:

That is also a sentence in itself - LOL! Sounds like someone's been dropping their Discworld books in the bath!

I agree about The Name of the Rose being overrated (and the filmk being better), but I still rather enjoyed it. I found that because the Latin sections were all in context, I understood the gist of what was being said and so it didn't detract from the story, for me, that there were no footnotes.

Watched episode 19 this morning. Really excellent episode, though!

Homemade roated cherry tomato and red pepper soup with garlic bread, followed by chicken and pasta in a homemade tomato and basil sauce - yummy!

I'm so pleased you're enjoying this series, Paula - it's one of my favourites.