Kell

We have had some snow fall every day for more than 2 weeks now. It doesn't usually hang around for long on the ground, but it falls every day. This morning, we had several hours of almost white out conditions. None of it has stayed and the sun is out now, but it's freezing out there! I'm now officially sick to death of wintery conditions and want spring installed immediately. We all have multiple blankets AND our thick winter weight duvets on our beds, the heating cranked right up, cozy PJs, and we're STILL cold!!!

I loved The Sisters Brothers, so I think I may have to go back and read this debut - sounds like my cup of tea!

The Magic Cottage and Once were the best ones he wrote and they were absolute doozies. RIP Mr Herbert.

I'm taking part in another blog tour today and tomorrow. The book is Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth. You can see my review HERE. Check back tomorrow for the author interview!

It didn't run for the full season - they cancelled it before it reached the end. The other episodes (which had already been made) were aired in subsequent showings but not the original one. It only really got popular by word of mouth after it had been cancelled, and now has a MASSIVE cult following. I was one of the lucky ones who saw it first time round and was devastated when it got cancelled. I was SO pleased when it got reruns and I bought the complete set of DVDs as soon as they came out.

I've done a fair bit of baking over the last week or so. First I made pasties (which were delicious - stuffed with corned beef, potato, carrot and swede), then I made little apple and plum pies (individual sized ones) which were yummy. Then I made a loaf of bread which was great. Finally I made some brownies this week which, according to Dale and Xan, were delicious, but unfortunately I discovered I'm right off cakey things at the moment and I wasn't impressed with them at all. My sister declared them yummy though, so its just me that wasn't keen on them.

1. William Shakespeare - who doesn't love old Shakey? 2. Oscar Wilde - such wit and intelligence. 3. George Bernard Shaw - I adore Pygmalian and St Joan!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY! *does a little happy dance around the room*

Sam Rockwell = insanely talented and strangely hot in an entirely unhot way. His hotness is a bit weird but I adore him. Is it weird that many of my crushes are gay men? John Barrowman, Derren Brown, Zach Quinto - the list goes on - LOL! Maybe I just like that they're unattainable...

I'd be against an "age rating" being displayed on books, but a nice, clear bit on the back that lists things that are included, e.g. "This book contains swearing and descriptions of violent and sexual acts" or something to that effect would be very helpful to worried parents.

I was always allowed to read pretty much what I wanted. Yes, I read loads of Malory Towers when I was about 8, and followed them up with the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but it wasn't long before I started choosing more challenging books of my own accord. This was mostly because I'd worked my way through our entire school library and they were forced to bring in books from the middle school to my first school. By the time I was in middle school, I was reading the books from the high school. I continue to read both adult and young adult books to this day - all genres, time periods, etc. I enjoy them all. I thin kit's important to give kids tha tleeway early on so that by the time they have to read certain books for school, they're already predisposed to enjoying them simply because it's something a little bit different.

It's been a few years since I read this excellent novel, but I'll attempt to answer the questions from memory anyway... 1. Did you enjoy reading this style of novel in the form of letters? Yes, I did. I thought it added to the intrigue as you only ever got a tiny bit of the story at any given time, rather than having an omnipotent narrator who was a step or two ahead of the characters. 2. Were you engaged immediately with the story, or did it take you a while to get into it? I got into it straight away. However, Dangerous Liaisons and Valmont are two of my favourite films and they're both based on this novel, so I was predisposed to liked it. 3. There are a lot of characters referenced mostly by their title instead of their name, did you find it difficult to remember who all the characters were? I never had a problem with that. I found it quite easy to keep track of everyone. 4. Did you have a favourite character? And a least favourite? The Marquise was my absolute favourite - she's just so damned spiteful! My least favourite was Madame de Tourvel - she's just such a wimpy character that I almost felt she deserved to get her heart broken just to teach her to live in the real world and come down off her high horse a bit! 3. Was there a particular part you enjoyed more than the rest? I can't recall anything in particular that I liked over the rest - I just loved the whole novel. 5. Were there any parts/ideas you struggled with? Nope. Not at all. 6. Do you think the Marquise and the Vicomte deserved the fates they were given at the end of the story? Oh, most definitely. They were both absolutely horrible, although Valmont redeemed himself a little at the end. However, I don't believe he would have done so if he had been the victor of the duel! Merteuil, on the other hand, was just mean and spiteful through and through - she absolutely lived for tormenting others and watching them suffer because she, as a woman, was not able to live the life she wanted - free as a man. Her own jealousies are her downfall in the end. 7. We've already had some discussion on the differences a good translation can make, which edition and translation of the book did you read, and what did you think of the translation? I had a paperback edition and the translation seemed very good. 8. Have you watched any film/television/theatre adaptations of this story? How successfully do you think they were? As I've already mentioned, both Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and Valmont (1989) are two of my favourite films of all time, but I've also seen two theatre productions of it. I've never seen a version I didn't enjoy, although Siobhan Redmond (in the first theatre production of it I saw) was terrible as Merteuil. I also rather enjoyed Cruel Intentions (1999) 9. Overall, was reading the book an enjoyable experience? Most definitely! 10. Would you recommend the book to others? Most definitely!

That. Is. AWESOME!!!

World Book Night is pretty awesome. 20,000 people are selected to hand out 20 books each (it was 24 books each last year), but books are also sent to various institutions to reach people who don't usually read. In total, 1 million books are given out. Applicants choose from a list of available books, giving their first, second and third choices, and also give details on where they intend to hand out the books, and everyone is told on 23rd February whether or not they have been successful. I'm SO excited to be chosen again this year. Last year I handed out copies of The Damned United by David Peace. I took them into work and handed them out to customers. I work in a bookies, so I figured a sports-related book might appeal to them.

I've just received notification that I've been selected as a World book Night Giver for the second year running - hurrah! Not only that, but I will be giving away copies of my first choice book - Judge Dredd: The Dark Judges by John Wagner (it's a graphic novel). Has anyone else been selected as a WBN Giver this year? And if so, which book will you be handing out?

I know it's updated with computers etc, but I really do believe it's faithful to the spirit of the characters and how he would react in modern situations.

6/10 for me today, but I swithered over two questions and both times passed over the correct answer for an incorrect one - so if I'd gone with my first instincts, I could have had 8/10 - LOL!

oh, I knew about it alright. I've studiously avoided watching it because I cannot reconcile it in my head. It's just so utterly wrong on every level. And it's not a sexist thing, it's a character thing. It's a HUGE part of Sherlock's character that he shows disdain for women on the whole and he would never work with one unless begrudgingly, so to have him voluntarily team up with a woman just screws up the whole thing for me. I'll just stick to the very excellent British version which has remained utterly faithful to the spirit of Holmes.

The Americans have remade this as Elementary, starring Johnny Lee Miller as Sherlock (which is, in my opinion, terrible casting to start with), but then they've gone and filled the role of Watson with, wait for it... Lucy Liu! That's right, Watson is a WOMAN!!! In what universe would Sherlock Holmes work with a woman???

(Sex Crime) 1984 by The Eurythmics - based on the book of the same name by George Orwell and (I think) the closing credits music for the film starring John Hurt...

The only poem I've ever memorised is Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll from Alice Through the Looking Glass.

I'm afraid sharing of ebooks is not something we can condone on the forum. As far as I'm aware, authors prefer that people get their e-books from authorised sources, e.g. Amazon - including their free ones. Also, as far as I'm aware, the only facility for sharing e-books would be either through a local library (in which case you need to be registered to that library and the e-book disappears from your e-reader after a specified time), or through a scheme like the Kindle Share programme through Amazon - again, you have to be a member (premium member, I think) and register for the facility. There are plenty of reputable sources for e-books, both free ones and those for which you have to pay. This forum does have a thread to share links to free e-books (see the Kindle Klub thread HERE), but that would be the best we could do, I'm afraid.

I've just started reading Thank You, Jeeves - enjoying it so far.

I really wish I'd kept my Malory Towers and Little House boos now - I donated them many years ago to a jumble sale or something. I remember swithering over doing it too. *facepalm* I used to watch Little House on the Prairie every Sunday (or The Waltons when they switched over - it was always one or the other!), and even now, if I come across an episode when I'm channel hopping, I get completely overcome with nostalgia. It just totally takes me back to my childhood when I always wished I could experience living that way. I'd still love to give it a try now. I know my view of it is entirely romanticized, but I'd love to try it for a week or two anyway. Just to be completely without technology for a little while and do everything by hand, cook from scratch with o fancy ingredients, to have set days of the week for different chores, to get up and go to bed with the sun, and to enjoy the simple pleasures in life, like singing together as a family, playing instruments, dancing around the room, making gifts for each other. I know it would be such hard work to do it all the time and life was terribly hard for those pioneers, but wouldn't it be lovely if we could go back to even some of that now? Even if just for a little while? I guess I just hanker after simpler times. Maybe that's awfully old fashioned of me, but it's true!

I'd like to re-read the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder too. I must have read them all about 20 times each when I was a kid - I loved them!