Kell

I think it would be very difficult to make into a very good film because there are certain elements I think Hollywood would feel they had to cut which are, in my opinion, integral to the plot - things like the continued breastfeeding, which would be difficult to film with an actual 5-y-o, or even a young actor slightly older than that. People tend t obe wiggged out enough by breastfeeding (which is a shame) without seeing long-term nursing in films. If they cut that out, it would change a large part of the relationship dynamics between Ma and jack, and how their relationship is viewed in the outside world. That said, I would love to see them try, so long as they were true to the story.

The film is a very very loose version of the book bearing very little resemblance to it really. The film is pretty good as it is, but the book, I think, is far better because it is what actually happened, and if you've read any of Danny's other books, you can totally imagine it all going down - LOL!

Ver ywell deserved - it's incredibly well written, perfectly cast, beautifully directed and superbly performed. It deserves praise heaped on it from every direction. Loved it and will definitely watc hit again.

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 it a 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!

February Book Round-Up So, in January, I finished five books, and in February I finished five more – well on track to hitting my target of 52 this year. If I can continue to finish five each month, I’ll overshoot and reach 60 – hurrah! BOOKS FINISHED: 6. Stuart MacBride - Shatter the Bones (Logan McRae 7) - 4/5 MacBride just keeps getting better and better! Although I managed to work out part of it (I pride myself on usually being able to do this – I’m very observant!), it still managed to surprise me, which is exactly what I want from crime thrillers. This latest installment taps into the reality TV/talent show phenomenon and is really quite gruesome in parts, but never gratuitously so. Love it! 7. Seth Grahame-Smith - Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter - 4/5 A completely brilliant read! A wonderful combination of fact and fiction, so cleverly woven you’d be forgiven for believing it to be the complete truth. Heartily recommended for fans of mash-ups, alternative histories, biographies, horrors and comedies – it surely cannot fail to impress if you enjoy any of those! I absolutely loved it and was genuinely sorry to come to the end. It’s very cleverly done and written in such a way that you could almost believe every word of it is true… 8. Richard Laymon - No Sanctuary - 1/5 In short, this novel is utter rubbish – a completely pointless collection of gore and sexual perversion with little real flow and, for me, zero enjoyment. It also ended very abruptly and without any real climax. I read a lot of Laymon as a teen, but grew out of them pretty quickly. This is one of the worst of his I’ve read. 9. Richard Castle - Naked Heat (Nikki Heat 2) - 3/5 Like its prequel, this will never be considered high literature, but it’s certainly a lot of fun and manages to keep one guessing most of the time. It’s a really quick read that doesn’t take up much brain action, but it’s highly enjoyable fare and a must for fans of Castle. Oh, and there’s a third installment due out later this year – yippee! 10. Terry Pratchett – I Shall Wear Midnight (Tiffany Aching 4) – 4/5 Oh, Mr. Pratchett, how I do love your books! The Witches are some of my favourite characters, and Tiffany Aching is a wonderful part of that set. This is her fourth outing and it just keeps getting better and better. I love that Tiffany is growing up and that we also get to see something of what happened to a character introduced to us very early in the Discworld series… BOOKS STARTED (carrying over to March): Alan Hutcheson - Boomerang (FOR REVIEW)

I guess we'll find out tonight...

No, Laura, it's a work of fiction.

I'm currently reading I Shakll Wear Midnight. So far it's excelllent (as expected!).

Depends on what kind of thing you like. If you like musicals, I can highly rcommend Chicago, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserable for a start. A I agree with Janet - Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward are awesome. And if you like classics, go to any Shakespeare production you can find!

I liked Mr Donner too - he struck me as an inheritantly good man who tries to do good for others less fortunate than himself. I could see why he turned Charlie away once he'd changed completely, but he stuck in there as long as he could, despite obviously feeling rather afraid of Charlie and the changes in him. But, as you say, Charlie didn't really need that help then - he really needed friends, but nobody understood what was happening, which caused a barrier between Charlie and Donner. I felt that if Charlie had explained to Donner what was happening, Donner would have been the one person at the bakery who was very happy for Charlie and would have encouraged him to look to other options long before the confrontation that caused Charlie's leaving. The parting then would have been on better terms and perhaps as proper friends.

LOL @ Pixie. I don't recall it actually being specified in the book. Am I wrong there? Does it say anywhere?

I don't know why, but I always thought he was white, right from the start, even the first time I read the short story back in school. Gimpy, I always thought was black, and Professer Nemur, I always thought was Asian. Is that odd?

I read this one just the other week. Absolutely loved it. It's not really a mash-up ni the same way as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is, more an alternate biography with a supernatural slant. I love how it worked vampires into Lincoln's life - ver ycleverly done.

There's nothing weird about fancying him - he's lush! I have an autographed photo of him - yummy!

I recently saw this and loved it. Hope it sweeps the board at the Oscars! Watched The Social Network tonight. Not bad at all. Have to say, Justin Timberlake is shaping up to be a fairy good actor too - I hope to see more of him in films in the future.

I had a feeling it was beginning to wind up towards a conclusion. I'll be sad when they're all finished, but at the same time, I think it's ending at the right time - better to go out on top than jump the shark!

There are three authors who spring to mind here: Kelley Armstrong is the author of the awesome Women of the Otherworld series, which began in 2001 with Bitten, and I got in on the ground floor, reading it the year it was published. I was blown away. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting it to be the first in a series (and I’m pretty sure I’ve read somewhere that Kelley has said that it was originally going to be a stand-alone novel, but it was received so well that she was asked if she would consider writing a sequel). I recommend her all the time and I’ve yet to hear anyone who has taken my recommendation give anything other than a glowing report when they’re done! And she doesn’t just write supernatural/paranormal fiction either – there are the wonderful Nadia Stafford series, focussing on an ex-cop-turned-hit-woman. On top of that, Armstrong has taken care of young adult audiences with the Darkest Power series. One thing all Armstrong’s books have in common is the empowerment of women – all her females are feisty, or at least have a bit of bite to them. No wimpish damsels in distress on her pages! Simon Scarrow‘s first Roman Legion novel was published in 2000 and I managed to pick up a copy very cheaply. I was hooked from the start and found myself eagerly awaiting sequels. I’ve collected them all as they’ve been published and cannot get enough of Cato and Macro. The novels are incredibly well researched and the writing is gritty and real.I’ve been on campaign with the Roman legions for ten years now and I cannot see a time in the future when I will not want to be! I also have the Revolution series (set during the Napoleonic war), but I haven’t read them yet. I plan to rectify that very soon! Stuart MacBride is the third author I caught at the beginning. MacBride burst onto the crime fiction scene in 2005 with Cold Granite and has terrorized the city of Aberdeen* with macabre murders ever since. Each novel has been even better than the last, and seeing as how Cold Granite is absolutely bloody brilliant, that should give you a great example of just how fantastic the other books are! The Logan McRae books are doubly wonderful to me, as I live in Aberdeen and recognise all the locations, but anyone not familiar with the Granite City will love them too (my Grom adores the books, grisly and gruesome as they can be, despite not being too familiar with the city itself). Not content with nailing the Aberdonian crime underworld, MacBride has also written a novella set in America (Sawbones) and grappled with a near-future Glasgow in the sci-fi-crime thriller Halfhead (under the name Stuart B MacBride). Both are brilliant. Now that I’ve told you all about these fabulous authors, I fully expect to be inundated with comments filled with heartfelt gratitude for turning people onto them. Go on – get thee to thy nearest book repository and read thy fill! * It’s worth mentioning that I’ve met Mr MacBride several times now and he strikes me as a very nice man. He even came along to our book group when we were discussing one of his books and joined in all the chatter while happily signing our copies.

(Pinched from Booking Through Thursday blog) There’s something wonderful about getting in on the ground floor of an author’s career–about being one of the first people to read and admire them, before they became famous best-sellers. Which authors have you been lucky enough to discover at the very beginning of their careers? And, if you’ve never had that chance, which author do you WISH you’d been able to discover at the very beginning?

I've now merged all the "book into film and TV" threads.

And why not? He's yummy AND extremely talented.

I react exactly as I would were I reading alone - LOL! It's got me some funny looks now and then, for example, when I was laughing at the darkly comic moments in American Psycho, or at parts of a book called How To Kill Your Husband And Other Handy Household Hints - I had to assure people it wasn't actually a manual.

I'd say the greatest vampire novelists aren't even mentioned in the poll. You've neglected the likes of Stoker and LeFanu for a start - LOL! I don't rate either Meyer or Rice as writers of merit. Rice can spin a good yarn, but her writing is pretty duff. Meyer doesn't seem to have an ounce of originality in the Twilight series and can't write for toffee either. But that's just my opinion - many think otherwise. One of the very best vampire novels I ever read was A Taste of Blood Wine by Freda Warrington, which was exciting, packed full of originality, and pretty well written too.

In case anyone's interested in watching a film version of Flowers For Algernon, there are a couple of versions: Charly (1968) starring Cliff Robertson and Claire Bloom Flowers For Algernon (2000) starring Matthew Modine and Kelli Williams A new version is apparently slated for release in 2013, but far I can't see any information regarding who might be attached to it...