Kell

I enjoyed The Constant Princess, but not as much as I did The Boleyn Inheritance - that one was more up my street. I hope you'll enjoy this one as much as I did - I'll be getting hold of the next one once my book embargo is finished!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did, Ronny. He has a new one coming out at the beginning of August - I can hardly wait!

I think you're right - this was definitely more character-driven than action-packed, but I think that's what I liked best about it and it worked particularly well in this case, where in other circumstances it might not have worked so well.

This is why I read in the bath - Dale understands that this is my "me" time and leaves me in peace, so I get about an hour of soaking and reading most nights. At work, I choose the smallest possible table and face the wall, so that other people are less likely to approach me and I can read without being disturbed. It's only recently that I've employed the "face the wall" technique, because people had started bothering my while I was reading, as I seem to be known throughout the Council as "The Book Girl" and everyone thinks it's fair game to talk to me and ask about whatever I'm reading. I'm always tempted to reply, "Nothing at the moment because you've stopped me!"

And from me too - hope you had a great day!

I just got to this bit at lunch time - I loved the idea, especially as I'm fascinated by the Tudor royals anyway.

Hi Raven, I'm reading The Vampire's Seduction at the moment and really enjoying it. I was wondering, how much more difficult does it make it for you as a writer when all your characters are from different eras? Was it hard to get your head round it when you were researching /writing, or did it all flow quite easily?

Nip along and register it as a CHUNK!

I love lots of different things, depending on my mood. I adore a good, hot curry, or a spicy, fruity Chinese, I also love tangy Italian sauces. Another favourite of mine is Turkish food - you can't beat borek followed by kofte, finished with baklava! And my chillis are to die for.

I liked that the narative was in both third and first person (from the POV of Stratham Younger). I wonder if getting to see his inner mind in particular was because he's a psychoanylist and makes a living trying to do just that with other people. The mix of factual historical events, albeit occasionally slotted into a different timeframe to suit the story, gave it an air of realism that might otherwise have been lacking. I also thought I had sorted out a couple of red herrings and worked out the guilty party's identity. As it turned out, I was half-right and for some of the right reasons, but part of it took me completely by surprise, which is always nice with a murder mystery.

Not to worry - there's no time limit on commenting on the reading circle books.

Based on a few posts that came about here, the Doorstep Challenge was born for those who wanted to band together and tackle something chunkier. There is no set challenge - no target for which to aim - other than what you set for yourself, as larger books can seem rather intimidating until you get into them. My own interpretation of a hefty tome would be something in the region of 500 pages or more, but what you read is entirely up to you. However, if you come across something spectacular, it's be nice to share it with the rest of us and perhaps inspire others to give it a try. This thread reserved for questions about the doorstep challenge. To make or get suggestions for chunky books to read, please go to the Suggestions for the Doorstep Challenge thread.

I was wondering, Jo, what it was exactly about the language that had you in histerics? Just out of interest... I'm about half-way through, just about, and I have my theories on who the murderer might be and why - I have it narrowed down to two suspects, neither of which are currently being considered ni the book as such, so I'm wondering if i've managed to avoid the red herrings and suss it out, or if it's a double bluff and I'm completely wrong! I find the switching between first and third person persepctives slightly odd, but it's not detracting frmo my enjoyment of it as a whole. It's really making me think. Just in case anyone's interested, there's a picture of the cast of this book here on Wikipedia's entry about Jung! It was taken at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1909, so yes, they were there at that time.

I read part one today and very much enjoyed it. I think I'm going to do a little basic research on Freud and Jung so I can get some background to their ideas and practices though, as I'm not really very familiar with them other than very superficially. There was one little bit I liked in particular, about great discoveries and "revolutionary bursts of genius" all occuring at the beginnings of centuries. I did find it funny, however, that Shakespeare writing hamlet in 1600 was included in that, as 1600 was the last year of the 16th century, not the 1st year in the 17th - it kind of cracks the theory a little, but it did make me stop and think!

Hi Raven. I'm another fan of all things vampiric and my question relates to the mythos behind vampires. Just about every book that features vampires has a different set of "rules" - how did you go about deciding which ones would apply to your vampires and which ones would be dismissed?

There are some questions posted on http://www.readingcircle.co.uk which I thought it might be nice to think about, but in case you don't want to see them before reading the book, I've popped them in spoiler tags.

The Reading Circle choice for the month of March is The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld:

It's been wonderful to have you here, Carole - I hope you won't be a stranger, but will drop in occasionally to say "hi"!

Out sounds like it'd be right up my street - I'm popping it on my wish list right now!

It's not only my favourite King, it's one of my all-time favourites. I must have read it at least a half-dozen times & every time it feels just as fresh and freaky as the first time.

Carole, I was just wondering, as you enjoy the promotion side of things, which place has been your favourite to visit for a booksigning? And which (if it's not too cheeky to ask - you dan't have to name names, just a description would be fine ) was your least?

I'll still be buying good old-fashioned books when that time comes - i like to feel the pages between my fingers & I have trouble reading huge swathes of text from a screen. And as for 6 books a year, well, I must be bringing home about 10 times that, so I'm taking care of 9 non-readers! LOL!

I'll admit to being a bargain-buyer - I scour places like The Works & Bargain books for new authors to try, but then if I enjoyed the one book they were seling cheaply, I'm more likely to buy more by the same author. And I tend to ask for books as birthday & Xmas prezzies,which invariably end up being hardbacks, so I figure I'm making up for it in the end.

Ooh, enjoy Wee Free Men - I'll look forward to hearing what you think of it. I'm going to lend the Tiffany Aching booksto Purple Poppy next time we get together - she's been dying to find out about the Nac Mac Feegles!