Janet

Hello Hanananah - welcome to BCF. I read a Sidney Sheldon years ago (something about Windmills springs to mind). I loved Dorian Gray and the first two Millennium books - I have the third on my 'to read' pile but goodness knows when I'll get round to it!

I wouldn’t worry – I do that too – sometimes I just forget which posts I’ve responded to. Plenty of opportunities for Starbucks in the UK. I doubt there are many large towns without one these days! Bath is our nearest one – I don’t often go in as I tend not to stop for a coffee when I pop into Bath for shopping. I’m not into shopping (unless it’s for books!) so I tend to do what I have to quickly and get out! I love musicals! Forever Autumn was a huge hit in 1978, but of course you weren’t even born then! I’ve never seen West Side Story! I love Fame though (or do you mean the modern re-make? I haven’t seen that either!). I typed my review after looking at the customer reviews on Amazon and I was shocked at how judgemental some people are about… not the book itself actually, but those who read it. I don’t really think there is such a thing as ‘bad reading’. Everyone likes different stuff but something like this has, much like the Harry Potter books did for children (and adults), got people reading, and that can only be a good thing as far as I’m concerned. Two people who I know that are reading it (one’s a work colleague and the other an ex-colleague) would class themselves as ‘non-readers’ and in fact one of them told me she hasn’t read a book since she left school, not even on holiday. Now, I don’t know whether either of them will now become readers as a result, but I’m sure there are people out there who will start to read as a result of these books – and as I said, to me anything that encourages reading is a good thing. There is no doubt that the writing is not good – Austen it isn’t! It is highly repetitious and a lot of it got on my nerves but I don’t regret reading them. I try not to read reviews until I’ve finished reading the book in question, so I didn’t realise quite how divided opinion is. I’ve just looked now on the UK Amazon, and the first book currently has 1,342 Reviews – of these, 679 are 5 stars and 368 are 1 star! Now, I have no problem with people hating it and saying the writing/story is bad – but when they start criticising people who do enjoy it, then I start to feel uncomfortable. One reviewer said something like “I can’t wait to get back to the Trollope book I was reading now…” (whether she means Anthony or Joanna, she doesn’t say ) – to me, that’s just pretentious. I haven’t read any Trollope (of either variety) but just because I’ve read these doesn’t mean I haven’t read some more ‘highbrow’ books either – but then I like travel books, memoirs, classics, contemporary fiction, young adult… - it’s a cliché, but variety really is the spice of life! Good or bad, love it or hate it, one thing I do know is that E L James must be rubbing her hands together in glee!

Poppy, you're right - it's pretty amazing after what she went through that she survived into such late life. I loaned the book to my Mum (who I knew would love it too) and she found the second part of the autobiography in a charity shop last week so that will be coming my way soon. Fascinating stuff.

Fifty Shades Trilogy by E L James The ‘blurb’ The Fifty Shades trilogy features Christian Grey, a millionaire businessman with a penchant for spanking, and shy virgin Ana who is captivated by him. What starts out as a business-type arrangement (dom/sub contract) quickly turns into more and both parties make compromises to ensure their relationship works. Apparently, having read these books means that my life must be unfulfilled in some way! That’s rot though, of course – for the record, I love my life, but people are quick to judge when it’s something that they don’t like - especially when it's something that has taken off in such a big way. I could make judgements about why people don’t like the book (aside the poor writing) but I won’t. Anyway… I wouldn’t have paid full price for these books (I’m sure paperback copies will end up in charity shops aplenty before too long) but I was happy to purchase them for the cheap price on the Kindle to get to the story’s conclusion. Okay, so the characters aren’t overly-lovable, but I didn’t hate them either. The BSDM aspect of the first book (which isn’t something I’ve ever read before) was interesting and I liked the edgy will-she-won’t-she feel of it. I found it slightly unbelievable that Christian fell for Ana so quickly and was easily able to adapt his lifestyle to accommodate her. I’m fairly certain that he would have found it harder to give up his totally dominating behaviour and I’ve liked the author to have explored Christian’s lifestyle and behaviour a bit more. I found the plot device of Ana's 'inner goddess' extremely annoying. Okay at first, but it was so overused it just became irritating. The second and third books lost that edgy feel unfortunately, but by the end of the first one I had sufficient interest in the characters to want to find out how the story ended. However, this is why I don’t usually read ‘series’ books. The 'Rivers of London' trilogy are an exception! Great literature it isn’t. It started life as fan fiction, and it shows. The dialogue is stilted and repetitious (I lost count of the number of times Christian’s lip ‘hitched’, and the Holy Crap references were frequent and rather grating) and parts of it were totally unbelievable, but there was enough storyline to keep me interesting in finding out the outcome.

Gobbolino the Witch’s Cat by Ursula Moray Williams The ‘blurb’ Gobbolino is the charming tale of a cat born a witch's cat but who would much rather be a kitchen cat. While his sister Sootica learns how to ride a broomstick and turn mice into toads, Gobbolino sets out to find a family to care for him and a home of his own. But Gobbolino is mistrusted wherever he goes, and blamed for myterious happenings such as the farmer's milk turning sour, and the orphanage children's gruel turning into chocolate! After many such adventures, Gobbolino finally finds the home of his dreams. This was one of my favourite books as a child. I came across a copy in a charity shop with the same cover I used to have so it seemed like fate… then I lost it! However it turned up on the bookcase in my son’s bedroom (which is kind of ironic since he doesn’t actually like reading and it’s mainly for DVDs!). It tells the story of a little kitten, Gobbolino, whose mother belongs to a witch. But Gobbolino is not like a proper witch’s cat, and unlike his sister Sootica he just doesn’t fit. After being left behind he sets out on a grand adventure trying to find a home where he can be accepted for what he is – but this proves to be far more difficult than he ever imagined. I read this time after time as a child, and yet I couldn’t really remember the detail – although it soon came back to me. I’m not sure how today’s youngsters would take it (although I don’t think it feels particularly dated) as I don’t suppose it has enough action in it. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed it – it certainly lived up to my fond memories of it.

Book #31 - Read May Twopence to Cross the Mersey by Helen Forrester The ‘blurb’ When Helen Forrster's father went bankrupt in 1930 she and her six siblings were forced from comfortable middle-class life in southern England to utmost poverty in the Depression-ridden North. Her parents more or less collapsed under the strain, father spending hours in search of non-existent work, or in the dole queue, mother on the verge of a breakdown and striving to find and keep part-time jobs. The running of the household, in slum surroundings and with little food, the care of the younger children, all fell on twelve-year-old Helen. Unable to attend school, Helen's fear that she was to be trapped forever as druge and housekeeper caused her to despair at times. But she was determined to have a chance asn struggled, despite her parents to gain an education. Helen Forrester (real name June Bhatia) and her family went from a comfortable upper-middle class lifestyle in the south of England, to a life of poverty in the slums of Liverpool. Her mother, totally unable to cope with the family’s reduced circumstances had a breakdown and her father spent his time trudging the streets, unsuccessfully looking for work and it was left to Helen to take care of the family. This book is not a tale of misery but rather is a tale of hope over adversity. The author writes with such honesty and I really enjoyed it - if enjoyed is the right word. Social history books are right up my street and it reminded me of some of Orwell’s books (albeit from a female perspective) so it’s little wonder it was ‘my thing’!

Awww, you're doing *so* well - I'm sure you'll be at zero before you know it. I've reserved #3 from the library. I think it's just been released, but it still says 'on order' for this title on the library catalogue so I don't know when I'll get it.

#30 - read May Wycliffe and the Guild of Nine by W J Burley The ‘blurb’ The artists' colony is at the site of a disused mine working on the moor west of St Ives, and it's run by Archer and his wife Lina, according to astrological principles. The newest member of the colony is Francine, a beautiful if fey young woman with a legacy to invest. Archer isn't keen - not least because she is a Scorpio - but Lina takes a more pragmatic view. Then Francine is found dead, killed by a deliberately blocked gas-heater flue. Wycliffe investigates - and soon discovers that several members of the colony have very good reasons for not wanting the police poking into their affairs... This is the last Wycliffe book published before W J Burley’s death. It’s also the last Wycliffe book for me as I’ve now read them all! It started with a holiday in St Ives years ago when we had a day on the beach and I couldn’t get into the book I’d taken with me (P D James’ Devices and Desires, which I have still not read!) so I went into a local bookshop and as a Cornish writer, Burley had a prominent display of books just inside the door, so I decided to give it a go! Then followed years of trying to track the other published books down - oh, how did we cope before the internet?!). I even wrote to the author and had a lovely reply from him. He told me that Wycliffe had just been commissioned as a TV series and sure enough six were adapted by HTV (the rest of the Wycliffe series were ‘based on the books by…’ rather than being adaptations) and the books were suddenly available everywhere! Anyway, I’ve gone off at rather a tangent! This book features some characters from and earlier story, Wycliffe and the Quiet Virgin although it isn’t a sequel and can be read as a standalone story. Wycliffe is enjoying a relaxing bank holiday with his wife Helen when he gets a phone call to say that a young woman at a craft colony has been found murdered. Wycliffe discovers it’s a someone he knew from a previous case – he feels guilty that he didn’t keep in touch with the victim, Francine, the ‘Quiet Virgin’ from the earlier book. As he investigates it becomes clear that there are a number of suspects and as a second and then third death occur, Wycliffe must keep a clear head as he investigates past and present to try to find the murderer. The books are very easy reads for when you want something that isn’t at all taxing – in fact, they are rather formulaic and, had it not become a quest for me, I probably wouldn’t have read them all! That said, I did enjoy them and I am sorry that Burley didn’t get to complete the one he was working on when he died. I felt this story was rather weaker than some of the earlier Wycliffe titles. On a completely shallow note, they look very prettyful on my bookshelf and although I am highly unlikely ever to read them again I can’t bring myself to part with them!

Well, it's scheduled to be a trilogy so far - but it could end up as a trilogy of five books for all I know!

#29 - read May Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch The ‘blurb’ Following the events of Rivers of London Police Constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant is called in to help investigate the brutal murder of a journalist in the downstairs toilet of the Groucho Club in London's Soho district. At the same time Peter is disturbed by a number of deaths of amateur and semi-professional jazz musicians that occurred shortly after they performed. Despite the apparently natural causes of death each body exhibits a magical signature which leads Peter to believe that the deaths are far from natural. This is the second in a trilogy of books featuring apprentice wizard Peter Grant. This time Peter must investigate the death of Cyrus Wilkinson who is “a part time Jazz saxophonist and full time accountant”. He discovers a series of similar deaths amongst other jazz musicians in Soho – killed by… well a method that would make the male population’s eyes water just thinking about it! I enjoyed this as much as the first book. It has it all, action, adventure and humour in spades and some fabulous quotes (I like this one: “For a terrifying moment I thought he was going to hug me, but fortunately we both remembered we were English just in time. Still, it was a close call.”). It was a pity that Lesley (recovering slowly from her injuries sustained in book 1) and the Thames girls didn’t appear a bit more in the book – I hope we might see them in instalment three. I don’t want to say too much more about the storyline as I don’t want to give anything away.

It was the one about your daughter's reading. I had copied the post in case you replied, but I forgot and copied an ISP of someone to check out so it's gone. I said something about it been a good idea to let her choose what she wants to read and that I'm sure she'll always love reading. Of course I have WP - how daft of me!

No, I haven't yet, but I'm keeping an eye out to see if it comes on TV.

I just tried to reply to one of your posts on your blog, but it wants me to sign in with Word Press to do so, and I don't have an account. It suggested FB but I don't want to allow Word Press to access all my details so I can't reply! Sorry.

I've got one of those - lucky, aren't we! I'm not buying books at the moment. So today I didn't buy a beautiful colour illustrated copy of Prince Caspian for £1 in the British Red Cross charity shop - oh no I didn't. I already have a copy on my book case, so why would I buy a second?! Although, someone had cut the price off the back - can you imagine it?!

I shall look forward to it then! I saw it in a charity shop today! I said I will read it some time, not that it will take some time to read it! I have so many others to get through. I will get onto it soon, no doubt. I haven't heard the Orson Wells version, Karen. The musical version of WoTW is on YouTube, I believe. Richard Burton is the narrator - he has the perfect voice for it!

Hi Andrea. No, those are the only Plass books I've read so far. The lady who loaned them to me has now given me The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass Christian Speaker Aged 45¾ and An Alien at St Winifred's but I've warned her it may be some time before I get round to them - I haven't even read the 'blurb' of the latter. (Oh, the pressure of too many books to read!). I finished The Horse and his Boy by C S Lewis this morning.

Only 202 pages long and is a young adult book but I finished The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón within 24 hours - I thought it was great.

#37 - Spain - The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - 4½/5 37 Countries = 15.88

It got a very brief mention... Still, some means must be found to cross the Atlantic on a boat, unless by balloon - which would have been venturesome, besides not being capable of being put in practice. I haven't seen the David Niven version before. I do have a version with Pierce Brosnan in (which came free with a newspaper) but I haven't ever watched that either - I might now! ETA: I've just looked on IMDB and apparently it was a TV mini-series! I have seen the 2004 version with Steve Cooghan and Jackie Chan - which I've now discovered is very, very different from the book! It's entertaining enough and I do like it, but I prefer the book version and in this case I'm glad I saw the film first!

I have not read the other answers yet, as I didn’t want mine to be confused by other people’s thoughts. 1. What do you think of Phileas Fogg ? I really liked him. He is sometimes cool in his behaviour (and I don’t mean in terms of the modern definition of cool!) and doesn’t always show his emotions, but I think that is how someone of his class, and certainly at the time it was set, would have behaved. Despite his reserve, he clearly shows he does have feelings with his behaviour towards the people he meets along the way, particularly his rescue of Aouda and also the rescue from the Sioux of Passepartout, which put the chances of winning his bet in severe doubt. He is no doubt a romantic. Not in the obvious sense of the word, but I, myself fell in love with him at the end of the book. I love you!” he said simply. Yes, by all that is holiest, I love you, and I am entirely yours! Swoon! 2. Although Aouda is depicted as a passive female, she made quite a mark on the other travellers. What do you think about her? I loved her loyalty to Fogg and the way she gently fell in love with him. Her proposal of marriage was lovely (and also, I imagine a daring thing for a nineteenth century woman to do). 3. Do you think Jules Verne made a play on some of the names he chose for his characters? Yes. Some of them are obvious (Fix, Fogg...) and l looked up the definition of Passpartout on dictionary.com when I started reading and it defines it as “something that passes everywhere or provides a universal means of passage.”. 4. Do you think that Verne really leans on certain stereotypes during the book? Yes. Fogg himself is a stereotypical eccentric upper-class gent, who spends all day at his club. I also think that many of the characters and countries that Fogg visited along the way were quite stereotypical, although I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. Aouda’s characterisation might be considered slightly atypical in how one might think of an Indian woman in the late nineteenth century would behave, particularly in regard to her proposal (see question 2). 5. Why do you think Phileas Fogg took the bet? I think it was largely to do with pride. Having made the declaration that a person could circumnavigate the world in 80 days, he would have lost face if he had not taken the wager and opened himself to ridicule – he was already seen as eccentric by some of the club membership! Other random thoughts One of the features I love about the Kindle is its ability for one to highlight passages or words. I used this feature more than ever reading this – there were so many references to things that I thought might be real. Many turned out not to be! For instance Gauthier Ralph was not a Director of the Bank of England (but someone called Ralph Gauthier had his obituary in the Calgary Herald a few years ago – I wonder if his parents gave him his forename as a conscious thing?!). The Mormon Elder, William Hitch is also fictional! I have learned that the word ‘thug’ comes from the ‘thuggees’ – a religious cult who travel as assassins! I love the Michael Portillo programme Great Railway Journeys, so I was pleased to see that Fogg was armed with a trusty Bradshaw guide! I enjoyed reading about the places and cultures he visited, and this is one of those books that makes me head to Wikipedia and look up various subjects encountered along the way – I love books that make me want to find out more! I will read through the other answers a bit later. An excellent choice!

That's what I was going to say, Sofia! I'm very envious anyway, Alex - I want to bump into Stephen Fry! And Colin Firth, which has nothing to do with this thread at all. I've just finished Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, and have started The Prince of Mist (a young adult book) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, which is for Spain in my World Challenge.

It took me a little while - which was my fault as I got that it was cricket, but thought it was the name of a cricketer and I was trying to think of the name of a black, Australian cricketer!

Aww shucks - thanks! Sometimes I see really good ideas in my head, but I can't always translate the on to the screen! Phew - it was only after I hit send that I even considered the time difference.

I have finished The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C S Lewis today. Still reading Around the World in Eighty Days and will start of The Horse and His Boy soon.

Oh wow! Did you ask him to sign your book?