Janet

I go in fits and starts with it! I have Poland on my Kindle (think you might have that one too - The Long Bridge: Out of the Gulags by Urszula Muskus?) but I don't fancy it at the moment! I've found a few really good books by accident in the library (and some not so good!).

I liked this one. It should have been a quick read but I've been poorly this week. I came across it by chance on my way out of the library - I saw the author's name and looked in the front to see where he was born!

Finished Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz - the author was born in Israel 44 Countries - 18.88% - 170 remaining

Oh gosh, it must have been so hard to go through something like that, knowing there was nothing you could do to help. I'm not surprised you don't like it.

The second book is called The Traitor's Wife in the UK and The Wolves of Andover in the US as far as I can work out. It appears to be a prequel rather than a sequel. I'm afraid I don't know if there will be any more - or whether it has a proper ending.

I do still have it. I'm not sure how good it is, especially to someone of university standard like yourself (it had been 24 years since I left school when I did GCSE English) - it's probably not detailed enough and I haven't read it for years. I got an A for it so it can't have been too bad! PM me your email address and I send you a copy.

Great review of Of Mice and Men, Ben. Is your Kurt Vonnegut quote in the front of your book? I believe the actual title comes from a Robert Burns poem. I read this first when I did GCSE English about 7 years ago as a mature student. We did a piece of coursework on it - I wrote an essay entitled: (To anyone who has not read the book, do not click on the spoiler ) Have you seen a film adaptation or was this completely new to you?

I totally agree regarding coursework, Ian. I think this sums it up...

Welcome to the forum. I'm just moving your thread to the correct forum - but I'll leave a link up for a few days so hopefully you'll find it.

It's good to broaden one's horizons!

I haven't fancied trying the book, Kay, and do so even less after reading that - but I'll probably try the BBC adaptation - but it just feels wrong to read someone else writing about Darcy, Lizzie et al! ETA: Padding, Kay?! As if...!

My tastes have changed fairly dramatically over the years. Until I joined a book club (and then here) in 2006 I pretty much exclusively read chick-lit or travel writing. I still love the latter but don't enjoy the former any more - they don't have enough substance for me and I find them largely predictable. There is the odd exception - I do enjoy Emily Barr's books still. When I was a teenager I read Catherine Cookson a lot! Then I went on to Dick Francis and read him pretty exclusively - I wouldn't read Cookson now, but I'd probably still enjoy the odd Dick Francis. Nowadays I have quite a varied reading diet - in the last 7 years I've read some cracking books that I wouldn't have attempted before joining the book group.

In Cold Blood is also an excellent book - I much preferred it to Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird - it's such a fab book. I did GCSE English in 2006 when I was 40. It wasn't classified as Literature or Language as it covered both. We did Othello (which we did all of, not just a bit). We read the whole thing through in character - I read Desdemona's part! We also did Of Mice and Men and poems from other cultures. It was great - I loved it (and got an A*!). ETA: I did A level English afterwards - for AS we did A Woman of no Importance by Oscar Wilde, Richard III (again, we read this - we also read Henry VI part 3 before it), Wise Children by Angela Carter and a collection of poems by Carol Ann Duffy called The World's Wife. For A2 we did A Winter's Tale as our Shakespeare, we compared The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. For poetry we looked at John Clare and the synoptic unit was World War 1. I got a B at A Level.

I hope you enjoy it, Cookie. I read it a few years ago and really liked it. I think there is a sequel to it (oddly enough, I'd forgotten about it - and Michelle's just started a thread about series books!) - I'd better Google it!

I don't tend to read series very often. There are exceptions, of course - the Ben Aaronovitch ones being a prime example. I've loved those and am looking forward to part 4. I have read others too - I've read all the Harry Potter books and one or two other series, but I much prefer stand-alone books.

Thanks, Ruth. I've put it on my library Wish List (a friend's Mum leant me it last time I tried it) and will give it another go some time.

I loved Tess! Hmmm, so difficult... possibly Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier?

Thanks, Athena. I'm not sure when I'll start Great Expectations but would definitely like to read it this year!

Thanks, Alex. I know some people don't rate ACC, but I love it - and it really puts me in the Christmas mood!

Thanks, Kay. I believe that's true about him looking wistfully at the house - and if it isn't, well... I'm happy to believe it is! Some of the covers of this set are bleak (haha!) - I quite like this one. I think I might try Great Expectations as my next Dickens (not now, but when I get round to my next one) as I'm also familiar with the basic story of that one. It might help.

I don't see why you should think I think it slow just because I said it took a while for me to read. I'd read 46% of it by last Sunday (from Friday when I started it) and it took me a week to read the remaining 54%. For the record, I loved it and I have already posted my reviews in my reading blog.

Apparently he died at The Midland Hotel, Bradford, shortly after finishing on stage at a nearby theatre. Hotel website Announcement in the Telegraph I guess it's a misprint in the book.

I think at least 85% of statistics are utter rubbish! If you two work together then I think you have as much chance of lasting the course as any other couple. The thing to do in any relationship is to communicate with one another and to work at things when problems arise - which they do in every marriage/relationship.

I just read that on another forum. Very sad.