Janet

I love metal too - although I haven't read any books based around it! This page has some suggestions - you need to scroll down a bit to get past punk (although I can't recommend the reads as I haven't read them!).

I don't know how I missed your post, Claire, considering Orwell is probably my favourite author. I have seen this article and I can't wait.

Topics merged.

14 June 2012 Dear Kylie. Sorry to go off-topic, but if by any miracle you happen to see this before you attempt my Draw Something, please accept my most sincere apologies for the fact that Mr Einstein looks, in fact, like a reject from a 1980s pop band. The drawings always look so much better in my head than they do when I've actually drawn them! I'm hoping the E=mc2 might help a little! Love, Janet xxx PS - I also realise I sent this to you at about 3.40am - I hope I didn't wake you!

Great thread. My 5/5s so far... Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch Pied Piper - Nevil Shute The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass (aged 37¾ ) - Adrian Plass Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch Broadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum - Mark Stevens A Rose for Winter - Laurie Lee Boy - Roald Dahl Down Under - Bill Bryson Twopence to Cross the Mersey - Helen Forrester The War of the Worlds - H G Wells Carrie's War - Nina Bawden Esio Trot - Roald Dahl

Hurrah, another fan! We don't all go in the car together now the children are older, but it was one that all four of us liked so we always listened to it on long journeys. Such fun!

The Tiger's Wife was chosen by one of my Book Club colleagues - I hadn't got an option for that country so I was quite pleased when I discovered where the author was born!

Sorry to hear about work cutting into your reading time, Alex. I'm also about half-way through Around the World in 80 Days too (on my Kindle) and also nearly at the end of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Moab... is a brilliant book - I still have The Fry Chronicles to read. Too many books, too little time...

I've got it in paperback. (Sadly I gave up after about 200 pages as I just couldn't get into it) and yes, the print is tiny!

Hi Poppy. I did enjoy it, thanks. The Narnia books were firm favourites and I read them many times from (at a guess - it was a long time ago!) the ages of about 8 to 11. I read The Magician's Nephew and TL,TW&TW to my children when they were younger, but to my regret I didn't get any further than that because for some reason I didn't fancy The Horse and his Boy so I didn't get round to picking it up. I don't really remember what this book is about so I'm not sure what it was about it that made me disinclined to read it! I saw the film version of Prince Caspian last week which made me resolve to read all 7 books again. I'm currently half way through TL,TW&TW so The Horse and his Boy will be next - but I will read it and carry on to the end of the series this time! The connection between the stories and the bible escaped me totally as a child, but as an adult I can see where Lewis has used it in his writing, certainly in the Magician's Nephew with the creation of Narnia and the parallels to Genesis. But really I'm just enjoying them for what they are - good fun!

If I see it on TV I might try it just for curiosity's sake! Today I have finished The Magician's Nephew by C S Lewis and bought Memoirs of a Fruitcake by Chris Evans with some of my WHS birthday voucher.

I have resisted the Tom Cruise version, but then that wasn't difficult as I don't like him as an actor anyway! I imagine it to be very different from the book?! That quote is hilarious!

Hurrah - hopefully another fan on the way!

Hi VF. I've never been one to stick to one style of book - I like to mix it up a little. I'm currently reading Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (Kindle) and The Magician's Nephew by C S Lewis (paper)!

As soon as I got to Penrith’s mention I thought of you! (And of my Aunt, who lives in Penrith in the UK!). I think it did only mention the casino. I suppose it’s difficult to put a lot of detail in but it’s a shame he didn’t balance it with some of the nicer things there. Hurrah! Can you bring sedatives too – with 24 hours in the hold of an aeroplane crammed in a suitcase I think I’ll need them! I looked for A Walk in the Woods yesterday in town (I got a gift card for a shop called W H Smith for my birthday this year) but they didn’t have it in stock in the Bath branch, and one can’t use the card when ordering online. I also looked at another (I think it was called At Home ? But it was about 700 pages long and I can’t cope with holding a book that large, so I think I might have to (reluctantly) read it on Kindle. I might buy a paper copy too, to go with my other Brysons! I hope you won’t be disappointed, Claire. I know lots of people who love Bryson, and none who don’t, but from reading Amazon there are a fair few who don’t ‘get’ him.

I haven't read it. I've looked at in and thought it sounded good - in fact, I wondered about suggesting it as a read for my Book Club. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.

It's prominently displayed in Waterstone's in Bath - I saw it there with the other two yesterday. Ditto with WHS. I've read all three. I haven't written up my thoughts about them yet, but am intending to try to catch up with all my reviews later today (after I've been into work for some training).

Sorry - I wasn't very clear in my post. I meant that on the first page of this thread I had a list of 257 countries - that I think I got from this site - but then the spreadsheet I was using came from a different site! I have gone with the spreadsheet list as it's more accurate, although there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer! I've done Serbia but might pinch your idea for Montenegro (when you do it) and add it back in if the book you read is any good!

#28 - read April Down Under by Bill Bryson The ‘blurb’ It is the driest, flattest, hottest, most desiccated, infertile and climatically aggressive of all the inhabited continents and still Australia teems with life - a large proportion of it quite deadly. In fact, Australia has more things that can kill you in a very nasty way than anywhere else. Ignoring such dangers - yet curiously obsessed by them - Bill Bryson journeyed to Australia and promptly fell in love with the country. And who can blame him? The people are cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted and unfailingly obliging; their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water; the food is excellent; the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines. Life doesn't get much better than this... I love Bill Bryson! So far I've read Notes from a Small Island, Notes from a Big Country, The Lost Continent, Neither Here Nor There, Shakespeare and the African Diary – Down Under is my favourite so far! I must confess I don’t know a great deal about Australia (apart from the stuff everyone knows) and I don’t suppose I’ll ever get to visit due to cost and also my fear of flying. This book is just fantastic because Bryson talks not only about the things one knows – or thinks one knows – but also about the more obscure things that only someone who has travelled the country or lived there would know. As usual it had me laughing out loud and I felt I really got a good insight into the country. I seldom re-read books, but I’m fairly certain I’ll pick this one up again one day. Fantastic stuff. The only criticism I can level at the book has absolutely nothing to do with the content – but rather the font used. I think it’s peculiar to the publisher, Black Swan, as my mother-in-law loved Joanna Trollope and they have the same font but I find it rather crowded! Not that it would ever stop me from reading more of his works… although I’m still to pluck up the courage to pick up my nemesis Short History of Nearly Everything! One day… If you’ve never read Bill Bryson before I urge you to give him a try!

Book 27 - finished April The Evacuee Experience by Michael Roberts The ‘blurb’ In this interesting and touching memoir, Michael Roberts gives an intimate firsthand account of being a child evacuee during the second world war. To a little boy of 6 the world seemed a very dark place when he and his brothers were put in a train to who knew where, leaving their parents behind for 5 years. Mick was taken in by a woman in Clapham, Bedford, who to him looked like a witch. He received no warmth or kindness and tried to run away, but was brought back to face a hard time. There were however lighter times where the teachers at the village school were kind and he made many friends with the children. Clapham was a village he would never forget and this is his story.... This is a non-fiction account of three brothers who get evacuated to a village near Coventry in WW2 and written by one of them. It was okay and I quite enjoyed it, but it’s only short and a quick read and whilst it’s not great literature (well, it’s non-fiction, but you know what I mean) it was interesting to read of the author’s experiences. It was a feebie when I downloaded it but it costs now and I’m glad I didn’t pay for it as there wasn’t a lot of substance – it’s not the sort of memoir that I could see ever getting published in print, but I guess that’s one of the things the Kindle is good for – it allows ordinary people to get their stories ‘out there’.

I've just realised I wasn't following this thread which was how I missed your original comment. Haha - I just had a little chuckle at you discovering the book. I think you're right about your subconscious. I think it might be interesting to read someone's books in publication order to see how they've progressed (or maybe even regressed!) but you're right about it not mattering with Dahl.

George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl The ‘blurb’ George’s grandma has some pretty odd views. In fact, she’s not a very nice person at all. She thinks caterpillars and slugs are delicious and likes to crunch on beetles best of all. George can do nothing right in grandma’s eyes, so when it’s time for her medicine he decides to give her a dose of his own special brew. George’s grandmother is a really nasty piece of work. One day, George is left on his own to look after her, and after being nagged once too often, he decides to get revenge and using various items he finds lying around the house, he creates a disgusting potion to give to her in place of her usual medicine. In the days of ‘PC gone mad’ I’m sure there are plenty of people who frown upon this story, although the book does contain a message in the front just before the story starts warning children not to try making their own medicine at home! As an adult, I love the dark nature of Dahl’s stories. This one is one of my favourites so far!

I've no idea how I missed the following posts - if you do come back and find my replies I'm sorry for my omission! I'm just reading them in any old order. I guess publication might have made sense, but as I already have quite a few on my 'to read' pile, I'm just picking them randomly. I also hope you enjoy them if you do manage to re-read some, Easy Reader. I'm looking forward to Going Solo, just because of how much I loved Boy, although of course it might not be as good. I must confess that I hadn't even heard of ...Henry Sugar before I started this challenge, Kylie! I still haven't read a synopsis so I'm none the wiser. Maybe I should make sure I don't leave this one until last just in case it doesn't live up to some of the really good ones!

Thanks, Paula. Peter's out at an opera rehearsal all afternoon, Abi is at a friend's and Luke is upstairs watching The Inbetweeners which has just arrived from Amazon, so I thought I'd have a catch-up as I'm massively behind - again!

#25 - finished 4 April The Theatrical Tapes of Leonard Thynn by Adrian Plass The ‘blurb’ Yes, good old Leonard Thynn has taken it upon himself to record the extraordinary meetings in which members of his church prepare and plan ten minutes of drama. Adrian Plass, Sacred Diarist and director of the show, has his hands full as people like Percy Brain, Victoria Flushpool, Vernon Rawlings and other familiar characters claim to know exactly what should be presented and how it should be done. In the end they settle for a simple little piece about Daniel in the lion’s den. Straightforward? Well, not really. A last minute hitch causes Daniel to appear in circumstances that, to say the least, don’t quite conform to the story as we know it in the scriptures. Having loved The Sacred Diary… book by the same author I read this one straight afterwards. It centres round a village event taking place where various groups will perform plays in front of an audience at the local village hall. Adrian and some of the characters who appeared in the ‘Diary’ book get together and decide to perform the story of Daniel in the Lion’s den - but a mix up with costumes and a few cast members who don’t quite grasp the full gravitas of their subject-matter mean that the play ends up memorable for all the wrong reasons! It was funny but not as good as the first book I read by this author. I am certain I shall read some more of his stuff though.