Liz

THE RIGHTEOUS MEN by Sam Bourne Started - Tuesday 26th September Finished - Thursday 28th September Well, I've read it, and I have to say that I didn't enjoy it a great amount. I never really got hooked into the story. There were a few twists and turns in it, but none that made me want to find out what happened next. I think I would have to go the those that didn't get on with the book than those who thought it was fantastic. I thought that it was an "ok" book, rather than a "great" book - not one that I would recommend or want to read again.

Thanks Tracy Marie. Seems like it could be a rather good book. I'll have to keep a lookout for it.

THE RIGHTEOUS MEN - Sam Bourne Ok, so I've decided to read THE RIGHTEOUS MEN for a few reasons. The main one is that it seems to have had mixed reviews. I've seen some that rip it apart and say it was awful, and then there are those that say it's really good and grips you. I know it's meant to be a bit of a rip-off and jumping on the bandwagon of THE DA VINCI CODE, but I haven't read any of Dan Brown so I won't be able to compare the two. So, I've decided I'm going to come to this book with an open mind and see whether I enjoy it or think it's a load of rubbish. - Liz -

THE CHAMBER - John Grisham Started - Friday 22nd September Finished - Monday 25th September Quite enjoyed this little read in the end. I thought that the beginning of the story was good, setting the scene, giving a bit of history and all that, but I felt that half way through it seemed to drag a little. It just seemed to be repeating itself and going round in circles. I was starting to get a bit fed up with it until the last 150 pages or so - then the story picked up again. Reading this has not put me off his books, so I will definately be borrowing another one of his from my sister.

Yeah, I'm still not sure whether to read it or not. I may give it a go if I have nothing else that I really want to read.

The new Peter Andre autobiography. Need I say more?

The English Language group in my school had to character-study HOLES by Louis Sachar. Their thoughts on the book were mixed. Half of them seemed to like it, while the others thought it dragged a bit here and there. I haven't read it myself, so I don't know whether it's any good or not.

I've seen the film of A TIME TO KILL and it did make me want to read the book, so that will probably be the next Grisham book I read.

We've just finished studying ANIMAL FARM and have now moved on to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, which we had to read over the summer. Had read ANIMAL FARM already before studying it - I loved the book the first time I read it, so it wasn't too much bother to read it again. I also enjoyed the school work that came with it. Have only just started to looking deep in to PRIDE & PREJUDICE. I really enjoyed the book, though. Would now like to read another book of that sort of setting and time.

I've wanted to see the film for a while, but I think I'll wait and read the book first. Thanks Kell. - Liz -

Hi Tracy Marie :wave: What is Breakable You by Brian Morton about and what was it like? I haven't really heard much about it, but someone told me to give it a go. - Liz -

GENTLEMEN AND PLAYERS - Joanne Harris Started - Wednesday 20th September Finished - Thursday 21st September I really enjoyed this book. Managed to read all 500 pages or so in two days, which is not bad for me as I'm a bit of a slow reader. Not sure now whether to give another one of Harris' a go. Has anyone else read GENTLEMEN AND PLAYERS? Or even a different book of hers and could tell me whether it was any good or not. - Liz -

Ah....maybe that was it then. Still, I really enjoyed reading the first one. Maybe I'll give them another go sometime and see if I get on any better with them.

I haven't read all of these books, only two of them - Beyond the Deepwoods (Twig 1) Stormchaser (Twig 2) I read them when I was about 10 or 11 years old. I thought BEYOND THE DEEPWOODS was quite good - I read it in a few days and went straight on to the second one. However, from what I can remember, I sort of lost interest in the series after finishing STORMCHASER. I enjoyed reading the first more than the second, so never tried the third Twig book. I'm not sure what age group they're aimed at - maybe I was too young to fully understand the story in STORMCHASER or something.

My sister is a huge fan of John Grisham. She has read all of them so far and is getting quite excited about his new one. I've just started reading THE CHAMBER - I'm about half way and it doesn't seem too bad so far. Not sure whether I like it enough to read all of them, but might give a few of his others a try at some point. Talking about seeing John Grisham, my sister and I have got tickets for his talk at the Cheltenham Literary Festival. Hopefully it will be quite good. We've also got tickets to hear Terry Jones at the festival.

I've read the first two books in the Thursday Next series and very much enjoyed them. I've got the third one waiting on my bookself - along with many others! Will have to get round to reading it sometime soon. My sister and mother are both wanting to read the series as well, but they've also got quite a few books they want to get through first.

:tyou: Thanks Tiger - It's good to be back and talking about books again!

Oh right. Thanks very much. I'll have to give one of them a try sometime soon.

I have read one of his - I read OF MICE AND MEN last year and quite enjoyed it. Which others of his would be good also, or are they all fairly similar?

Books Read 2006 01) NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR - George Orwell (10/10) 02) THE GREEN MILE - Stephen King (8/10) 03) TAMING THE TIGER - Tony Anthony (9/10) 04) JOURNEY'S END - R.C.Sherriff (8/10) 05) LORD OF THE FLIES - William Golding (6/10) 06) THE EYRE AFFAIR - Jasper Fforde (7/10) 07) POLE TO POLE - Michael Palin (8/10) 08) PRIDE & PREJUDICE - Jane Austen (9/10) 09) THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY - Oscar Wilde (10/10) 10) THE WAR OF THE WORLDS - H.G.Wells (6/10) 11) LOST IN A GOOD BOOK - Jasper Fforde (7/10) 12) AN ALIEN AT ST. WILFRED'S - Adrian Plass (8/10) 13) THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES - Agatha Christie (7/10) 14) THE SIGNALMAN - Charles Dickens (6/10) 15) KEW GARDENS - Virginia Woolf (7/10) 16) ERIC - Terry Pratchett (9/10) 17) MEDIEVAL LIVES - Terry Jones & Alan Ereira (8/10) 18) LAST SEEN WEARING - Colin Dexter (8/10) 19) THE DEAD OF JERICHO - Colin Dexter (7/10) 20) GENTLEMEN & PLAYERS - Joanne Harris (9/10) 21) THE CHAMBER - John Grisham (8/10) 22) THE RIGHTEOUS MEN - Sam Bourne (4/10) 23) THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS - Jasper Fforde (6/10) 24) MOVING PICTURES - Terry Pratchett (10/10) 25) THE HISTORY BOYS - Alan Bennett (8/10) 26) THREE MEN IN A BOAT - Jerome K. Jerome (8/10) 27) THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE - Muriel Spark (9/10) 28) LITTLE WOMEN - Louisa May Alcott (5/10) 29) THE TURN OF THE SCREW - Henry James (7/10) 30) SOMETHING ROTTEN - Jasper Fforde (8/10) 31) THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ - Lyman Frank Baum (7/10) 32) THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS - Kenneth Grahame (7/10) 33) THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS - John Buchan (7/10) 34) THE SHINING - Stephen King (10/10) 35) BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S - Truman Capote (8/10) 36) HOUSE OF FLOWERS - Truman Capote (6/10) 37) A DIAMOND GUITAR - Truman Capote (4/10) 38) A CHRISTMAS MEMORY - Truman Capote (7/10) 39) THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY - Patricia Highsmith (10/10) 40) THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - Douglas Adams (7/10) (re-read) 41) THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE - Douglas Adams (7/10) (re-read) 42) LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING - Douglas Adams (7/10) (re-read) 43) SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH - Douglas Adams (7/10) (re-read) 44) MOSTLY HARMLESS - Douglas Adams (7/10) (re-read) 45) FULL CIRCLE - Michael Palin (9/10) 46) REAPER MAN - Terry Pratchett (8/10) 47) WITCHES ABROAD - Terry Pratchett (8/10) 48) SMALL GODS - Terry Pratchett (8/10) 49) A CLOCKWORK ORANGE - Anthony Burgess (6/10) 50) ABOUT THE AUTHOR - John Colapinto (8/10)

I'm taking English Literature GCSE at the moment, and so far we have studied...... The Taming Of The Shrew Twelfth Night Journey's End I have also read/studied for school...... Friedrich The Drunken Forest A Christmas Carol Taming The Tiger Goodnight Mister Tom I have really enjoyed studying the Shakespeare plays and also writing some character studies for Journey's End. I didn't like Goodnight Mister Tom very much, and ended up getting a little fed up with the story and lost interest in it halfway through (I did finish it, though).

The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake I am not sure if this post should be in this section, so I am sorry if I have done it wrong. Anyway, someone has suggested that I read the Gormenghast books next, but I do not know anything about them. Has anyone read them or know a bit about them and could possibly tell me? It would be a great help. Thanks.