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Kell

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Everything posted by Kell

  1. Neither have I - I can't drive at all! I have never... visited the southern hemisphere.
  2. I don't like book trailers either. Not sure why, but most book trailers I've seen have been very basic anyway and I prefer to just read the books and get a feel for the characters and scenes myself. Personally, I'm hoping it's a trend that dies out pretty quickly, but I don't see that happening any time soon...
  3. I usually prefer to watch film/TV adaptations first as there are still some surprises left in the book (because they always cut things out). That way I can enjoy both as seperate entities, rather than loving a book and being disappointed by its adaptation. I might have to get hold of this series to watch as I have the boko on Mount TBR and if I like the series it will most likely encourage me to get to it sooner. It happened with Inkheart - I watched and loved the film, then the book blew me away!
  4. I never used to have a TBR pile - I would just buy a new book when I finished the one I was reading, or would get a stack for Xmas or my birthday and work my way through them then buy some more. Then I came here. Have you seen my Mount TBR? I currently have around 60 unread books waiting on my shelf - and that's after very recently whittling it down and donating about 40 books I'd gone off the idea of reading to a library. At one point I had close to 200. It's been pruned by reading them and passing them on. This place will send your TBR pile crazy-sky-high! But you know what? It's worth it!
  5. Room is an awesome read - I hope she enjoys her new books!
  6. I just started reading Inkheart. I picked it up to start reading in bed and then just kept on rfeading till I was so exhausted I literally couldn't hold the book up (or my eyes open) any longer and realised it was past 3 in the morning - no wonder I was exhausted! I am so excited by this book and cannot believe it's taken me so long to get to it!!! Why didn't someone give me a kick in the pants and say, "Kell, read this book immediately!!!" I love both the story and the writing style, and I'm definitely going to be getting hold of the rest of the series. However, I'm now going to have to get all 3 in hardback as I'm going to keep them. My copy is paperback, so it will be replaced with a beautiful, hardwearing hardback - it's going to need it, because I think this will be read over and over again - and I'll read it to Xan as soon as he's old enough too!
  7. March Book Round-Up As I was fairly busy this month, I’m surprised at how much reading I got done during March! Of course, it helped that I had one of my favourite authors (Kelley Armstrong) scheduled, so I as looking forward to that, but I also discovered a new author whose novel ended up rating at full marks! Two books which I reviewed for publishers were also included, as well as one I picked up for a bargain while out shopping… BOOKS FINISHED: 11. Kelley Armstrong – The Reckoning (Darkest Powers 3) - 3/5 Despite the fact that it’s been quite a while since I read the first two books in this trilogy, I found it didn’t matter as within moments of starting this novel, everything came flooding back to me and I knew exactly what was happening. I’m glad Armstrong doesn’t just give a straight recap (like a “previously, on Darkest Powers…”) as I prefer just to get on with the story, and enough is alluded to in the natural progression of things to do without. Although there was a satisfying conclusion (and Armstrong has said it really is a trilogy of THREE – no Douglas Addams-ing here!) there was still just enough left dangling that, should Armstrong change her mind, things could be continued further down the line. 12. Emma Donoghue – Room - 5/5 Oh. My. Gods! It’s rare I come across such a wholly engrossing novel as this – I literally couldn’t put it down and read late into the night till I was so tired I was falling asleep and physically unable to continue – I still fought the exhaustion and tried to continue! It’s so beautifully written – utterly claustrophobic and poignant. The twist of having the tale told by a five-year-old boy who believes Room (which is 11-square-feet) is the entire world is very clever, and the way things unfold make is refreshing when told from his perspective. I honestly cannot recommend this novel highly enough, and in the wake of such cases as Franz Polzer holding his own daughter captive for 24 years, it’s terrifyingly real. Read it. Read it right now! 13. Sophie McKenzie – The Medusa Project: The Set-Up - 3/5 A fairly decent start to the Medusa Project series. It’s a little predictable at times, and the characters (both teenagers and adults) come across as being more than a little naïve most of the time, but it’s still a pretty good read that will appeal to the younger end of the teen spectrum (I think it would be most enjoyable to the 12-to-15 age bracket). I found the main characters to be somewhat lacking in depth, but perhaps that will be built upon as the series progresses. Despite its flaws, I think I’ll most likely pick up the other books at the library eventually. 14. Alan Hutcheson – Boomerang - 2/5 REVIEWED FOR PUBLISHER It took me quite a while to get through this novel, largely because I had to keep going back and re-reading sections in an attempt to make more sense of what was happening. It jumps around a lot, from continent to continent, and from character to character, never really giving a good grounding with any one person or place, so there’s no real depth. It doesn’t quite seem to know what it wants to be – does it want to be comedy or serious? It veers between the two without anchoring on either – not quite funny enough to be a comedy, but not quite serious enough to be otherwise. With all the jumping around, I quite literally lost the plot, and I found having so many characters (none of whom were employed to their full potential, or given enough oomph and personality to grab me fully) rather jarring. It’s a shame, because I think the story had a lot of potential – it just wasn’t given a chance to really shine. 15. Charlotte Bronte & Sherri Browning Erwin – Jane Slayre - 3/5 With each mash-up novel I read, my love of this subversive genre grows! I loved Jane Eyre, so really enjoyed this irreverent retelling which stuck surprisingly closely to the original, with the addition of a supernatural element that slipped, almost seamlessly, into the plot. If you’ve never tried the classic/horror mash-up genre, this might be a good place to start. Of course, you’ll get far more out of it if you’ve read the original version without the vampires, zombies and werewolves, but even someone who’s never read Jane Eyre could enjoy this for what it is – a jolly good romp! 16. Jean Teulé – Monsieur Montespan - 3/5 REVIEWED FOR PUBLISHER Based on the true story of the husband of the most celebrated mistress of Louis XIII, this is a rip-roaring romp through the reign of the Sun King. I found it difficult to feel sorry for the plight of the cuckolded husband, despite the fact that he raised such a scandal over the affair between the King and his wife, which most men of that time would have taken as a compliment and accepted the many honours, titles and money that would bring. Although I didn’t find sympathy for him, I did find I respected this much-maligned figure and his stance over his position. It’s a well-researched and well-written novel that is both engaging and entertaining, with more than a little titillation between its covers as the exploits of Madame de Montespan, both with Louis XIIII and her husband before him, are described with passion and humour. It’s well worth a read if you’re a fan of historical fiction with a little French flair. BOOKS STARTED (carrying over to April): Ben Elton – Meltdown I’m not very far into this one yet and so far it seems to be jumping around an awful lot – perhaps a bit too much for my liking – but I’m hoping it will all pull together in Elton’s trademark style and be an enjoyable read. This one deals with the economic downturn, so it’s very topical, and if any writer can write a really good satirical novel on that subject, it surely has to be Ben Elton!
  8. Those are brilliant, Weave! I especially love the book scultpures within the pages - awesome!
  9. I saw these in the Craft Gossip and thought they were incredibly clever. First, there's a dress made out of a book (OK, so it's a coupon book, but I still thoght it was clever!) HERE. And you can see it being worn HERE. And then, there's this library reception desk made of books HERE. Then I remembered I had once seen something about books being turned into planters. Take a look HERE. Much as the idea of destroying a book or rendering it unreadable, I couldn't help thinking these were all pretty cool and wondered if anyone else had seen bokos used in an unusual way? I'd love to see them...
  10. I think we'll be using our library more often now, as Xan is really getting into books and we've discovered they do a story, song and rhyme time every few weeks too. I took Xan along for the first time yesterday which was good fun. It's just a half-hour session, but it's long enough and we exchanged his books while we were there too.
  11. Kell

    Hiya, Jase. Just wanted to be the first to welcome you to the board, mate. ;)

  12. My older sister went to see them in Newcastle and said they were awesome. They're no tmy cup of tea, but she loves them and says they're great live, so they're in for a good night by all accounts!
  13. If you like this one, you'll most probably like The Lady Elizabeth too - very good.
  14. I've only ever read one - The Winter King - and I enjoyed it a great deal. Might be worth a look if you haven't already. It's based around a more historically plausible version of the Arthurian legends, so if you like that kind of thing, it should be right up your street.
  15. Kell

    Tattoos!

    Like! Like! LIKE!!!
  16. I hail from Ashington and still have family in Ashington, Blyth and Bedlington, so I still get down to visit every now and then.
  17. I know - we totally suck at making plans, don't we? LOL!

  18. I was born at Ashington Matty as well - LOL! My mam still loves in Blyth with my Step-Dad, and my Grom and other family members are all in Ashington and Bedlington. I still get down to visit every now and then. The only time I get the accent back is when I've been talking to other Geordies as I've been up here since I was 11-y-o.

  19. There's nothing on IMDb about either of them yet (at least, not on the regular version - I don't have IMDb Pro), but since the news came direct from official sources, I'm taking it as gospel that they're going ahead. *squaeeeeeeeeeee!* I can hardly wait to see the cast lists!
  20. I I'm working thursday and Friday again (grrrrr!) Had to accept though, as I need the Saturday off as my sister got us theatre tickets. hoping that next week I'll be able ot get one or the other off! :)

  21. My sister has become a reader over the last few years, and my 2-y-o son loves books too, but I've only known my hubby to read 2 books in our entire 11 years together! My Mam's a big reader, but not as much as she used to be.
  22. I got my Discworld Monthly Extra delivered to my inbox last night and thought my fellow Pratchett fans might be interested in this. (From the man in the hat himself: There's also this hot off the press: I am SOOOOOOOOOO excited about both of these projects!!!
  23. Hi Habeebie! I'm' originally from Northumberland, but now live in Aberdeen. I think we have a couple of other Geordies on here somewhere (we can be found everywhere in the world - I usually bump into some wherever I go - it's like we're taking over the world inch by inch - LOL1). on't worry about turning 30 - I promise it doesn't hurt as much as you think it will. Saying that, I didn't turn thirty, I turned twenty-ten, and then twenty-eleven and twenty-twelve. However, I did turn thirty-three and am now very happy being thirty-four, s oyou get used to it eventually, I promise! (PS I merged both your threads so everything was in the same place.)
  24. The film is definitely more "Hollywood" and, strangely, less interesting than what actually hapened - LOL!
  25. Hi, Habibi. I live in Aberdeen in N. E. Scotland, but I'm originally from Ashington, Northumberland. :)

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