Janet

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C S Lewis The ‘blurb’ Book five in the Chronicles of Narnia sees the intrepid Edmund and Lucy returning to Narnia--with their beastly cousin Eustace in tow--on the ship The Dawn Treader where their old friend Prince Caspian is searching for lost friends of his father's. As the children take to the Eastern Seas in their hunt for the friends they find themselves embroiled in a dangerous adventure that leads them once again into the arms of Aslan the lion. This story features Edmund and Lucy – the two youngest Pevensie children – and their irritating cousin, a boy “ called Eustace Clarance Scrubb and he almost deserved it…” (which is a cracking opening line!). Peter is staying with Professor Kirke (with whom the children stayed in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Susan is in America with her parents, having both been told by Aslan at the end of Prince Caspian that they wouldn’t come to Narnia again. Edmund and Lucy are sent to stay with their cousin Eustace whilst their parents are away. He’s a nasty, spoilt boy and they don’t relish the prospect of their stay at all. One day they are in Lucy’s room arguing about a picture of a boat hanging on the bedroom wall, which Lucy says looks like a Narnian vessel and Eustace is taking the rise out of them as, of course, he doesn’t believe in the existence of Narnia. However, the picture becomes a door to Narnia and soon draws the children in! On the ship – the Dawn Treader – they find King Caspian. He is on a journey to find the end of the world in order to find out what happened to the seven Lords sent out by his evil uncle Miraz (whom Caspian and the Pevensies defeated in the previous book) who failed to return. Caspian asks the children to come along, and so begins their adventure – and the reformation of Eustace! I think this is probably my third favourite of the Narnia books (the first two faves being The Lion, the Witch the Wardrobe and The Magician’s Nephew). The journey takes them on many adventures, told as standalone stories with a moral. One thing that amused me was the way that Eustace’s parents are described ‘progressively’ as “up-to-date and advanced people [who were] vegetarians, non-smokers and teetotallers and wore a special kind of underclothes”!

Burmese Days by George Orwell and English Journey by J B Priestley. I really want to read both of these soon but other books keep getting in the way!!

3001 now! Here's to the next 3,000! How to be a Woman is cheap on Kindle at the moment. I might just download it - it sounds great.

It is a trilogy... at the moment. But then having a trilogy of five books is not unheard of, so who knows?! I love the characters in the books and I'm sure there are plenty more London crimes for them to solve!

I've just finished it - and you were right, I did love it! I've given all three books 5 stars - I think #2 was my least favourite but I really loved all three of them. I would love (a really good) BBC adaptation of them - or a British film. As Ben Aaronovitch is a scriptwriter I guess it could happen. I wonder if we'll get any more Rivers of London books?!

Nope, I've never stolen a book. I was chatting to a friend last week and she has a library book on her shelf that she borrowed about 5 years ago and forgot about. For some reason the library didn't chase her about it. She'd like to return it but is worried about doing so as she has no idea how much the fine would be. I told her I imagine there will be a top limit for fines - I can't imagine it would be more than about £10 - it's on her conscience so I think she'd benefit from giving it back! ETA: I've just looked and libraries in Somerset charge a maximum of £10 - in Wiltshire (where she might also have borrowed it from) the maximum is £6.

It's taken rather a back seat at the moment because I randomly decided to read my way though the Narnia chronicles instead! It was because I watched the film version of Prince Caspian and have been meaning to re-read them for years. I have a couple left to go and then I shall pick up some more Dahls.

#43 - finished 1 July Prince Caspian by C S Lewis The ‘blurb’ "Look sharp!" shouted Edmund. "All catch hands and keep together. This is magic -- I can tell by the feeling. Quick!" The evil king Miraz and his army can only mean trouble for Narnia, and Prince Caspian, rightful heir to the throne, fears for the future of his country. He blows the Great Horn in desperation, summoning Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy to help with his difficult task -- that of saving Narnia before its freedom is lost forever. Spoilers if unread... I watched the film version of this a few weeks ago, which is what prompted me to re-read the whole series, and I think that watching it probably didn't help, as although it wasn't an exact adaptation it meant nothing about the book was new (I can't really remember the other ones apart from TMN and 'Wardrobe' despite reading them loads as a child) but it wasn't as good as the first two books (in suggested reading order!). However I did enjoy it and I’m looking forward to the remaining three adventures in Narnia. Nothing to do with my review really, but I was pleased to see Somerset getting a mention in this book, when Lucy describes “when the rich loam had taken the edge off their hunger, the trees turned to an earth of the kind you see in Somerset, which is almost pink. They said it was lighter and sweeter.” I can’t say our soil is as lovely as this sounds, being rather sticky, heavy red clay soil - not that I've ever eaten it!

I tried Paddy Clarke years ago but couldn't get on with the writing style, so I'm interested to hear how you get on with it, Bree. I think a few years down the line I probably wouldn't find it quite so irritating.

You'd be better off using spoiler tags instead of this method. You either highlight the spoiler and then click on the image in the tool-bar that looks like a photo (third from left) and select spoiler from the drop-down box, or type [ spoiler] one side of the text you want hidden (but without the space after the first bracket) and [ /spoiler] the end of it (but again with no space after the first bracket and That way people can read the non-spoilery bits of your post without the risk of ruining bits of the plot.

That's okay - I think it's funny and I like Bernard spotting in his films! I remembered after I'd logged off last night that 'cousin Bernard' was the man in Bridget Jones 1 who turned up at the Vicars and Tarts party (where Uncle Geoffrey didn't tell Bridget or her father that the theme had been cancelled) dressed as an archbishop!

I'd agree that Notting Hill is the poorest - but who could fail to love William's friends in it - especially Spike! Did you know that the writer, Richard Curtis, usually puts a 'loser' character in his films called either Bernard or Bernie? I think (I ought to Google to check but I'm just off to bed) that it's because his wife had an ex-boyfriend of that name). Bernard in Notting Hill is the dippy investment banker - in Four Weddings he's the groom in Wedding 2 - in Love Actually Bernie is Karen (Emma Thompson) and Harry (Alan Rickman)'s son (a few of his scenes were cut from the film). I'm sure there are others!

Oh gosh, if you haven't already then you need to watch the excellent Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually and Notting Hill - all three are utter class (in my opinion!).

It's one of my favourites! Don't get me wrong - I don't dislike Hugh Grant (and Daniel Cleaver is possibly my favourite role of his) but he's one of those actors who seems to play himself. Keira Knightly is another!

I haven't come across these before, Michelle. What with my Dahl challenge (which has taken something of a back seat at the moment) and me reading my way through the Narnia chronicles I'm not sure I have room in my life for any more children's books, but but they certainly sound interesting. Great review.

I'm such a numpty! Oooh, I love the film About a Boy. It's not hysterically funny, but there is something about it that is just so good - despite that fact that (again) Hugh Grant plays Hugh Grant! I hope you enjoy it. ETA: Did Hornby write a book called High Fidelity? I saw the film at the cinema and thought it was utter crap! Set in a record shop, iirc?

Nope - I don't know anything about Stephen King (apart from the fact he writes horror) - I only found out they were the same person when I Googled the other bloke to see if Stephen King had sued him - or given him permission to use his characters. LOL @ 'ass of u and me' - I'd forgotten about that phrase. What lovely gifts from Brian - the bookmarks are gorgeous.

Ah, okay. I couldn't see you saying anywhere in your post that they were the same person, and I was a bit confused as to why Stephen King would allow someone to plagiarise his characters.

Am I missing the point (I'm a bit woolly headed today) - Richard Bachman is Stephen King. Am I being dense - I've reread your post several times? Feel free to say yes - I'm mightily confused!

The film version of The Help was really good - I thought it was a good adaptation.

I had Book Club last night. Of the seven of us, 5 have read or are reading it, including our oldest member who is in her late 60s! She said she had to have a dictionary by her side to find out what some of the stuff meant! She's bought them for her daughter-in-law for her birthday and wrapped them with some bubble bath and all she's written on the label is 'enjoy'! She also said that not only is it for her d-in-l but it's also for her son!

Hope the date went better than that!

Enjoy your new career (and your PJs! ), Kylie.

It did generate some good discussion at Book Club last night, despite the fact none of us particularly liked it! I haven't read much for the last two days because of Wimbledon. It's frustrating because I was really enjoying Whispers Underground and I've lost the plot momentum now. I'm also just over half-way through The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (it's my 'read-in-the-bath' book) but that doesn't take much concentration!