Kell

We were sent Xan's school report for reception year yesterday and it is excelling - he's exceeding expectations in almost every area (and in those he's not, he's still at the expected stage, so that's good), and apparently he's a confident, bright, creative boy with excellent manners and a thirst for knowledge. His reading is also one of his best areas and he's read more books in Bug Club (online computer-based reading scheme) than any of the others in his class. In fact, he's probably read more than any three or four of them put together! Got ourselves a mini bookworm here! Proud as punch of our eldest son.

I have bought the following (the ones in bold are part of my permanent collection): William Shakespeare Agatha Christie Enid Blyton J. K. Rowling Leo Tolstoy R. L. Stine Dean Koontz Stephen King (The Stand is one of my all-time favourite novels) John Grisham C. S. Lewis Dan Brown Beatrix Potter (I have all her tales for Xan and Josh) Michael Crichton Astrid Lindgren (Ronia, the Robber's Daughter is a childhood favourite of mine) Paulo Coelho Roald Dahl (I'm building this collection with Xan at the moment) Anne Rice Lewis Carroll (The Nursery Alice is one of my own childhood books which I've kept) Ian Fleming Patricia Cornwell I have to ask, where is Terry Pratchett on this list???

For my personal library, I would love floor to ceiling solid wood shelving (probably oak or cherry wood) with those sliding ladders. All the books would be beautifully bound versions, all leather or cloth or something beautiful - all hardback. The room would be large with huge picture windows letting in plenty of light - there would be comfy window seats at each one. A comfy sofa, a comfy wing-back chair, and a comfy chaise longue would all be placed in front of an open fire for those cold rainy days, and I can choose whether I want to be upright or laid down or whatever. Beautiful handmade blankets would be available to snuggle under as I read, and the cushions would all be hand cross stitched. There would also be lovely little occasional tables so I can have a cuppa and a snack. There would also be tea and coffee making facilities (with all my favourite Twinings blends) and a small fridge, as well as a beautiful and fully stocked fruit bowl. There'd also be fresh cut flowers, because I think they make a room look elegant. I'd have a gorgeous antique writing table, fully stocked with stunning stationery and as many stamps as I could ever use, as I do like to write letters. There'd also be an entire shelf dedicated to the prettiest notebooks in creation, simply because I love to look at them and, on occasion, write in them. I'd have to have a large en suite bathroom so I wouldn't have to leave when I needed to, well, you know, "go", and I could choose to soak in the tub with a book if I felt like it (I'd also have removable plastic covers for my books to protect them when I do this). The bathroom would be well stocked with bubble bath, bath bombs, bath oils, and all manner of bath yummies from the likes of Lush (I love Cerridwen's Cauldron Bath Melt, so there'd have to be a steady supply of them). Entrance to my bookish paradise would be through a secret door.

I went to the library with my Mum until I was in my teens (the library was at the other end of the village from where we lived, which was about a mile away), but I always read my Mam's books too and she was well into horror - Stephen King, Richard Layman, Dean R Koontz, etc - as well as classics and a whole host of others, so she already knew I read those by that time (in fact, she used to recommend some of them to me - Lightning by Dean R Koontz is still one of my favourite books, recommended to me when I was about 13 or 14 by my Mam!). Although my parents were quite strict in many ways, in other areas they were incredibly liberal and reading and movies were two areas where I was pretty much allowed to do whatever I wanted. Not reading related, but indicative of how cool my Mam is, when I was 15 years old, Channel 4 ran a "banned season" and one of the films they showed was Life of Brian (Monty Python film which features full frontal male and female nudity, blasphemy and lots of swearing - it is incredibly clever and funny!). She came up to my bedroom (where I was reading late into the night, as usual) and said, "Come down and watch this film - it's a brilliant one and I think you'll really enjoy it!" We sat and watched it together and hooted with laughter. I remember there was a time when a battered copy of Forever by Judy Blume was doing the rounds at school (I must have been about 13 or 14 years old at the time) and everyone was giggling and reading it in secret before passing it on to someone else. (It features a girl losing her virginity to her boyfriend - she's about 17 years old, if I remember correctly) I didn't see what all the fuss was about - I'd already read it - my Mam had already bought it for me a while back along with a whole bunch of other Judy Blumes. I think I'd read them all multiple times by the time I was 12! So I guess, if the library had ever said I couldn't take out a book I wanted, I daresay my Mam would have gone up there and told them I was allowed to read whatever I wanted, or at least would have gt it out on her card for me (probably the former, as she's very outspoken and forthright!). It wasn't just fiction either - I have followed my Mam in my love of true crime and, like her, I have a fascination with Jack the Ripper. There were always numerous true crime books, some with very graphic pictures and descriptions, on our bookshelves, and I read them all. I am forever grateful for my cool parents and hope when my own kids get asked a question like this, they'll be able to give a similar answer.

I was never aware of my Mum monitoring my reading material, but I'm sure that, to a point, she had a hand in guiding me towards material she felt was age appropriate. I must add, however, that I have supremely cool parents and I was allowed to watch Hammer Horror films from around the age of 6 or 7 (as a result, I attempted to rewrite Frankenstein when I was 7 years old), and my reading age was years ahead of my actual age, so I don't suppose there was much my Mum would have objected to my reading. I'm not saying I would have been allowed to read A Clockwork Orange before my teens, but I had certainly read the likes of Animal Farm before I was in secondary school. I will let my children read anything I feel they are capable of understanding and will let them know they can always come to me with questions if something confuses them. Xan and I have just started keeping a book journal together, of all the chapter books we read together. It encourages him to think about the books we read and to write about them, and it's something to look forward to doing together each time we finish a book. It will be a nice thing to look back on when he's older too. I'll do the same with Josh when he's a little older.

1pt - JRR Tolkien 2pts - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 3pts - Charles Dickens 4pts - George Orwell 5pts - Oscar Wilde 6pts - Terry Pratchett 7pts - Jane Austen

9/10

I kind of do at present as Xan is only 5 yrs old. He chooses his own books from the library that he will read himself, and we choose others together that I read to him. We're working our way through Roald Dahl's works at the moment.

Katie Price never represented us. She tried/auditioned, but failed to go through. Javine won and represented the UK that year with Touch My Fire. Greece won it that year (2005) with My Number One.

Conchita Wurst is a worthy winner for Austria. Fantastic song and superb performance. A shame Molly and the UK didn't do better - it was a good song and she performed it really well - our best song and performance in years. She deserved better.

I'd join the Narnian Society, but only if our clubhouse/room was accessed through a wardrobe. Also: The Stu Redman Society of Regular Guys (The Stand by Stephen King) The Logan McRae Society of Jaded Scottish Coppers (Logan McRae series by Stuart MacBride) The Jack Parlabane Society of Cynical Investigative Jounalists (Parlabane series by Christopher Brookmyre) The Macro and Cato Society of Embittered Legionaries (Romans/Cato series by Simon Scarrow) The Laura INgalls Society of Pioneering Women (Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder) The Katniss Everdeen Society of Survivalists (Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins) The Society of Otherworldly Women (Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong) The Jeeves Society of Wry Witticisms (Jeeves and Wooster series by P. G. Wodehouse) Those are just a few off the top of my head, but not only would I be a member, I'd be the founder of the lot of them!

It's very, very good - but then I love Aaron Sorkin's stuff. We've seen all of seasons 1 and 2, but apparently season 3 will be the last.

It took me a long time to come to the Harry Potter books - it wasn't till after watching the third film that I thought I'd give them a shot as I thought there were a couple of things that could have been better explained in the movie and figured the book would fill in the gaps. Of course, to get to the third book, I would have to read the first two before it. I fully acknowledge they aren't the most well-written books in the world, and that the plot and characters borrow heavily from other books, but I admit, I rather like them. And there's no denying they introduced a LOT of children who wouldn't ordinarily have chosen reading as a pastime to reading for pleasure, and that has to be a good thing. They also reminded many adults how much they'd loved reading as children, or gave them a love of it in adulthood - another good thing. So, while I know there are countless better books out there, I kinda like these and am looking forward to reading them to/with my children. We're currently reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Xander, but he has seen all the HP films and loved them, so I don't think it will be long before we start reading those to him, chapter by chapter, at bedtime too. He already loves books, and this kind of thing, with boy wizards, magical creatures, flying broomsticks, good versus evil battles etc, will be something that will engage him and help keep his interest in books alive, even when reading isn't seen as a "cool" thing for a boy to do with his time. And when push comes to shove, they are FAR better written than the Twilight Saga nonsense, which I hate with a passion!

Something tells me the UK warehouses don't work this way, but the American ones are the biz! If only we'd had something like this when I was working in the Argos stockroom - my life would have been a whole lot easier!!!!!

I've read ife of Pi and I have Inferno on my Kindle waiting to be read, but that's it from that list.

The skiing and shooting event is, I think, the biathlon. We caught some of that. We also watched some of the luge - they go crazy fast! I'd LOVE to try that sport!!! I hear the Jamaican bobsled team have qualified this year, so I'll be watching that and chanting "Cool Runnin's!" when they compete!

Watched some of the figure skating this afternoon. The Russian pair were AWESOME!

All three sound awesome.

I read in cafes all the time (when Josh sleeps - LOL!), so I would LOVE something like this. Imagine, a cafe where you can read and not be surrounded by other people chattering, just other people reading! <3

Out is really very good. Dark as all hell, but really very good. And not as "incredibly tough" as some people would have you believe. I actually found it rather an enjoyable read. But then, I laughed my socks off reading American Psycho (which wigged out my colleagues at the time no end - LOL!). I think you['ll enjoy it. Girl Power and all that! Flavorwire's 50 Incredibly Tough Books For Extreme Readers This is a shorter TBR I've put together from the list. 1. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn 2. Coin Locker Babies by Ryu Murakami 3. House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski 4. The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski 5. Out by Natsuo Kirino 6. Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar 7. Bad Behaviour by Mary Gaitskill 8. Tampa by Alissa Nutting 9. The Demon by Hubert Selby Jr.

I wanted to give multiple answers!!!

Loved it. But I'm still certain Mary is up to something. After all, NOBODY likes Sherlock, especially not fro the first meeting. She's something of a suspicious character...

I wasn't impressed with the Xmas episode, but I think I was destined not to think much of it as I have studiously avoided watching the show since Matt Smith took over the role. I watched the first few episodes with him and that Amy Pond lass and hated both of them - they put me right off - and I vowed not to watch again till the role was recast. Not sure about Capaldi in the role, but I'll give him a shot... I kind of wish they'd go back and do a mini series focusing on the War Doctor with John Hurt - he was brilliant in the role.

So far this year I've watched: 1. Shadow of the Vampire (2000) - 4/5 2. Flash Gordon (1980) - 4/5 3. The King's Speech (2010) - 4/5 4. Saving Mr Banks (2013) - 4/5 5. The Ruby in the Smoke (2006) - 3/5 6. Get Him to the Greek (2010) - 2/5 7. Anastasia (1997) - 2/5 8. Carrie (2013) - 3/5

I've also moved all logs that hadn't been posted in after the end of 2012 into the past logs section, even if they didn't have a year mentioned in the title. Anyone who decides they want to resurrect their old thread, just send the link to your thread to one of the Mod Squad and we'll move it back. Of course, you might just decide to start a new log after all if you haven't touched it in so long...