Janet

I'm not familiar with that blog at all, but this sounds good, Benji. I've added Blood, Sweat & Tea to my Amazon Wishlist!

Would you like me to make you a blank post as post #2 so you can copy/paste the recommendations on page 5 there, and to save you looking for it each time?

Aww, Mac, you're far from an idiot! Wouldn't life be boring if we all thought and acted the same!

Really?!! I see people reading all over the place! I always take a book out with me - I read in cafes, parks, sitting on benches waiting for my kids, walls...!

I went to the Bookbarn today (some poor kid was trapped in the lift. He got out before I left, thankfully!) and I bought The Chrysalids by John Wyndham (I managed to get it in an old cover (from the 80s) that matches my copies of The Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes )

I couldn't care less whether something is popular or not - if I like the sound of it I'll read it - and if I don't, I won't, it's as simple as that. I read quite a lot of books when they're in the chart - but equally I read stuff that's donkey's years old. I won't read Twilight because I'm not at all interested in vampires. In fact, I'm sick to death of them - they seem to be everywhere one looks at the moment! I read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone when it first came out but far from going off it when it became popular, I loved them until the last one and I'm so pleased for JKR and her success. I never quite understand why people go off bands when they become mainstream. I'm pleased that a group I've enjoyed have had success and (hopefully) made a shed load of money! But that's just me.

Potential future reads: 1940s non-fiction Delight - J B Priestley - 1949 1980s non-fiction Chaos by James Gleick, Set In a Silver Sea Arthur Bryant, The Living Planet David Attenborough

Excellent, Kell! I got the 'Dorian Gray' one, but if I came across any more that cheap I'd snap them up! Sadly the Bath store doesn't have any (I got Dorian in Carlisle in August!) but I keep looking.

Happy reading - I hope you enjoy them.

I've decided on Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene. I've not read any of his novels before, but my Mum says I'll love this! It also counts towards my 'decades challenge' - the 60s.

Hmm - I really don't know what to read next! I want to pick The Children's Book by A S Byatt seeing as I've been waiting for the paperback since last May when I first saw it in hardback - but it's a fairly long book and I don't know how much reading time I'll have over the weekend and I don't want it to be disjointed.

It's certainly a popular book! Someone else who has reserved a copy is about #33 on their library's waiting list! It'll be worth the wait.

I too have read Casino Royale (there is a review thread of it somewhere) - and I agree that it was dreadful! James Bond was so thick in it that he didn't see something coming that I spotted a mile off - and I'm not even a secret agent!

I have taken the liberty of starting a poll for you in the What Shall I Read Next...? forum.

Chrissy and Kelly - I loved it! My review is here. (Spoiler are tagged ).

I felt sure there would be a thread for this already as I'm sure I've seen it mentioned a few times, but I've searched and I can't find it. Once by Morris Gleitzman The

I have run away from an orphanage and I'm trying to find my bookstore owning parents.

I'm like that - and I'll try at all costs to subtly see what they're reading! Ditto! I perhaps shouldn't admit this but on the flip-side I had to read a book in December for bookworms which is not my usual type of read, and when I was reading it in public I was very careful to keep it flat on the table so people couldn't see what it was!

I agree - I can't imagine anyone setting out on an expedition so unprepared these days! And it has one of the best last lines of a book that I've ever read!

I'm going to read Once by Morris Gleitzman next - as recommended by my 12 year old daughter!

Oooh, you've just reminded me that I have an (unwatched as yet) version on DVD starring Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench which came free with a newspaper. I shall have to watch that after I've read Macbeth. Thanks! I gave up on a Roddy Doyle book several years ago after struggling with the lack of speech marks. I found it really got on my nerves, even though he does use a dash.