Janet

I've only recently watched the BBC version of P&P (I read the book first - the DVD was a freebie from a newspaper) and mmmmm - I've always liked Colin Firth so the lake scene was lovely. Lark Rise to Candleford is my favourite thing on TV at the moment. I was pleased to hear this week that the BBC have commissioned series 3 - yay!

I used to get migraines on a regular basis when I was going through puberty (although they started when I was much younger) - they would always start with a tiny pin-prick sized dot in the front of my vision and within about half an hour I wouldn't be able to see at all. All I had in my vision were those patterns like you get when you rub your eyes with your fists for some time - sort of geometric patterns - I'm not sure how else to describe them. They usually came on at school and my Dad would have to come and pick me up and take me home. The only thing I ever tried was Migraleve (sp?) but that didn't seem to help. My GP didn't want to prescribe anything as he said it was hormone related and that they would stop - and it's true that they've decreased in that I only suffer about one every two years now - thank God - but they're a killer. The only thing to do is to be sick and then sleep in a darkened room for several hours. Chocolate, cheese, tomatoes and oranges (only 'real' ones - I don't like orange flavour as the tartrazine (sp?) that used to go in orange squash was another trigger so I can't bare the smell/taste of artificial orange things) seem to be triggers - I have often craved them just before the onset of a migraine. Hopefully after today's, I won't have another for a long time. I slept for a solid 5 hours today and then dozed until I got up at 8pm. Consequently I'm now wide awake, although at the same time I feel drained...

Sorry to jump into Beth's thread but I must recommend Rachel's Holiday - I definitely think it's her best.

This is a fantastic book - I highly recommend it - I loved it! Durrell's writing is very poetical, I really should dig out some more of his works.

From Wikipedia... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haruki_Murakami

Well done, Kate. I shall endeavour to enter next year (if Kell does this again too). Great fun. Thanks to everyone who shared their pics!

I've never heard of them! Are they like Mills & Boon (but perhaps better)?

I agree - you might not fancy the 'next' book - this way you're freer, and it's a big enough challenge without making it even harder. Good luck.

I'm guessing that 'sometimes' will be the most popular answer, but there may be people who always do - or make a point of never reading it! I answered 'sometimes'. It largely depends on how long it is. Usually I skip it because I can't wait to get stuck into the book, but when I was doing A level English, I found the introductions could prove invaluable background reading!

I thought we had a thread on this before but I've searched and I can't find it! Inspired by a couple of comments about The Scarlet Letter, I was wondering - do you read the introduction in a book? These usually (but not always) come in the 'Classics' and are quite often very long! So, do you read or skip?!

I don't think it's about quantity of reading, Sarah, it's about quality of reading. It doesn't matter if you only read 12 books in a year as long as you've enjoyed them (or at least most of them). We all read at different rates and some people seem to manage so many books in a year but I know if I tried then I wouldn't absorb them (sometimes I struggle to remember storylines in books I've read recently!). Finding books you didn't remember having is always a plus.

It sounds really good. Thanks for the review.

It affected me in exactly the same way.

I tell people about here quite happily. However, I keep my membership of a certain Neighbours forum quiet from those in my personal life! I'm a bit disillusioned with Bookcrossing, to be honest. I've released a few books in the last six months and none have been caught. That's fine, apart from the fact that I know one was because I found the plastic bag that I'd written on the outside of in a gutter in Bath - so someone had found my book, chucked the rubbish on the floor (litterbugs ) but that's the last I heard of it!

The Land of Far-Beyond by Enid Blyton The ‘blurb’ Peter, Anna and Patience set out from the City of Turmoil to the beautiful Land of Far-Beyond. On the way, they meet many extraordinary characters including the Demons of Boredom, Laziness and Sloth, the giant Cruelty and his page-boy, Fright. Peter and his sisters are out of control. Living in the City of Turmoil, a dirty place where the people are cruel and unkind, they spend their day bunking off school and making mischief such as knocking on people’s doors and running away and getting enjoyment from throwing stones at defenceless animals. One day they meet a man called 'Wanderer', who shows kindness to a small dog they’ve been tormenting. The children are intrigued by this stranger and start talking to him. He tells them that they each carry great burdens around with them. When the children ask him to prove it, he makes them clear their minds. They then think happy thoughts and a great pain appears around their hearts. When they open their eyes, they each have a heavy weight upon their backs - their burden, which is all the anger and guilt and bad-behaviour each of them has inside them. Some adults who have gathered to watch insist that they don’t carry burdens like this, and five of them go through the same process and end up with much bigger burdens upon their backs. Wanderer tells them that they must make a perilous journey to The Land of Far-Beyond, which is the only way for them to get rid of their burdens. So begins a big adventure. Along the way they are tempted to ‘stray from the correct path’. Will they make it to The Land of Far-Beyond or not? I first read this when I was about 9 years old. I lived in a small village where there was only one shop that sold books - and in very limited amounts on one of those white spinning round racks like you see in charity shops. I'd read lots of Enid Blyton so bought this, having no real idea of the story's origin. It's a Christian allegory based on Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress but obviously it's aimed at children so it's very simplistic. A few years ago I came across a copy at a market for 40p and thought I'd like to revisit it. It's the same version I had as a child with illustrations by Horace Knowles so it brought back happy memories for me. Written in 1942, some of the language is obviously quite dated. Whist it is, of course, religious, Blyton manages to retell the story without it sounding either overly preachy or patronising. It's out of print now - there are several copies second-hand on Amazon but prices start from around

Yeah, me to, it became a firm favourite. I think I might post a review in the relevant forum to see if anyone else has memories of it.

Finished a children's book from the 1940s, The Land of Far-Beyond by Enid Blyton published in 1942 - 7/10

The Flower Boy by Karen Roberts The ‘blurb’ Lizzie Buckwater is born on a stormy night into a household nestled in Glencairn, on the lush tea estates of 1930s Ceylon. As Chandi, a little servant boy, plays in the mud outside, he promises himself that the English baby will become his best friend. He christens her Rose-Lizzie after the flowers he loves, and the bright, perceptive boy soon forges the most important friendship of his life. As Chandi and Rose-Lizzie’s closeness grows, so their two families - English and Ceylonese, master and servant - become entwined. But unspoken feelings cause tension at Glencairn, and with the approach of Ceylonese independence the whole idyll faces destruction. The Flower Boy is Karen Roberts’ debut novel and the ‘blurb’ doesn’t really do it justice. Although Chandi and Rose-Lizzie are the central characters the story deals with the relationships of all the characters. Lizzie’s family - her siblings and her father John with his unhappy marriage to Elsie, the English woman who really doesn’t want to live in away from ‘home’ in this strange, foreign place. Chandi’s family - his strong, proud mother, Premawathi - her mostly absent, aloof, husband - and Chandi’s sisters. As time goes by and Ceylon heads towards independence, the characters are all affected by the changes taking place. It’s quite difficult to categorise this novel which is part family saga, part love-story, but I really enjoyed it. It got great reviews on Amazon, as did her next book (which I haven’t read) but then Roberts seems to have disappeared, which is a real shame, and her books are no longer print. The paperback is 340 pages long and is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. The ISBN number is 978-0753809563. *This book is no longer in print* 8/10 (Read February 2009)

I hope you don't mind, but I've copied your map idea. I'm hoping that seeing it visually might spur me on.