TammyRich

Another huge fan of Cloud Atlas here too. I got Black Swan Green for Christmas as greatly desired and will read it next - got it in hardback and am going away for a day or two so can't carry it otherwise I would take it with me. (how come it was available in pbk at the airport?)

A Gathering Light - Jennifer Donnelly Publisher: Bloomsbury This is coming of age novel based around a real life murder of a young woman at the beginning of the twentieth century in North America. The discovery of a body in a lake is witnessed by 16 year old Mattie Gokey who is working at the hotel where the woman had been staying. The story moves backwards and forwards between Mattie's life in a year before and as it leads up to the discovery, and after the event. We see Mattie coping with her life as she is torn between a desire to be a writer and having to support her family in the harsh farming environment of the time due to the loss of her mother. She finds, to her distress, that she has become the custodian of a set of letters belonging to the woman whose body is found in the lake and the same lady had previously asked her to dispose of them. The book is part murder mystery, part coming of age as she is forced to face dilemmas beyond her years, part romance and part historical fiction. I read it really quickly over a matter of days which is unusual for me. I was totally absorbed by the world that Mattie lived in and really felt for her and many of the other characters in the book. It was well written and although labeled a coming of age book I do not think it is purely for a teenage market or even aimed at it. Highly recommended. Winner of the Carnegie Medal

I've read both of those books. They are the sort of books that stay with you for a while afterwards. Does make you think about how 'selfish' people can be - especially in extreme conditions.

I have asked for this from my hubby for Christmas. I really hope he gets it for me. If not I'm off to the library. I loved Cloud Atlas. I would say it was the best book I read this year. Hubby grew up in rural Worcestershire and would have been may be a year or two older than Jason. I think I would have been a bit younger and know the area having visited mother-in-law there. But I read an excerpt in a Saturday newspaper and it read brilliantly and I am sure I will enjoy it. Unfortunatly OH doesn't read novels or fiction so he won't appreciate it.

Because I'm a member of RISI I have books from them hanging around the house but there are also books I've picked up in the past and old faves around. Sometimes my choice is because something's just arrived in the post, sometimes it's cos I've picked it up and glanced in it while tidying and it's grabbed my fancy, sometimes it's cos the author/title has been recommended or I've become hooked on an author and I'm reading the next in the series. All sorts of reasons and mood can have a lot to do with it. It also can affect whether I give up on a book. Since becoming member of online forums I think my reading habits have changed and affected my choosing.

Sure am. I haven't got a freeview box and I was real upset when I heard it was on BBC Three. Then my hubby pointed out to me that it was the Beeb pushing their digital services to make everyone want to get Freeview boxes. Having seen the above I checked the BBC website and hurray it looks as though they have given into pressure and are showing it on terrestrial as well but not making such a big thing of it. It is on BBC2 Wednesday at 9.00. Phew! although a guy at work was going to record it for me. I always thought Capt'n Jack was rather cool in Dr Who and this looks good. It was such fun in the last series of Dr W looking out for a mention of Torchwood in every episode which most of the time they did.

I loved this book too and will also count is as the best book I have read this year. I agree that the number of different writing styles showed Mitchell to be such a talented writer. He is so imaginative in creating such a variety of worlds and I was especially impressed by his futuristic world and the post apocalyptic world which took a bit of getting your head round due to the colloquial dialogue used to tell the story. I was not expecting the stories to start going backwards again and was so delighted when they did as I had been frustrated when they had cut off in the first half. I will definitely read him again. In fact I keep requesting his latest book Black Swan Green on ReadItSwapIt website. It is set in the 1980s and the character is exactly the age I was at the time. I read an extract in the Guardian and was impressed. I also think it is on the Booker long list.

I have read both Silverfin and Bloodfever and prefer Silver altho it did take a while to get to the real story. Bloodfever seems to go on and on with lots of extra bits being added on. As far as I perceive James doesn't yet seem to be developing any sort of suave, sophisticated, characteristics altho he is still young maybe it may come out in the 3rd book. Higson's writing involves a lot more detail and a time I wondered it teenagers would find it a bit tedious going. I like the character of Alex Rider and find myself feeling genuinlly sorry for him being without family and few friends and the fact he keeps getting hauled away from school. The stories are quite original and fast paced and I prefer Horowitz's writing.

Has anybody read the young James Bond series by Charlie Higson and Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz which start with Stormbreaker (of which a film has just been made). What did you think of them - the characters, or the writing, or storylines - whatever interested you.

'That's rude,' said Lisa promptly. 'You shouldn't ask a lady that.' 'I think she's about twenty-five,' persisted Dale. The Bad Mother's Handbook. Kate Long Haven't read it. It just happens to be on the top of my TBR which is currently next to the computer.

I use the first piece of paper I can find to hand be it a receipt or a price tag or old envelope. Sometimes when I clear out my purse or handbag and I come across old cinema or train tickets I tuck them into books I know I will read in the future ready to use as bookmarks! It's always a nice surprise to come across a ticket of a favourite film I enjoyed tucked in a book I had forgotten about.

I'd like to recommend Sharon Penman. She has written a series of superb novels around the medieval period of the 12th and 13th centuries. She brings to life the real historical characters like Eleanor of Aquitaine, Simon De Montford and Llewellyn the Great and their conflicts and relationships with the English Kings from the period. The books read so easily like any other novels but are based on real events and characters from the time. As a taster I recommend her shorter novel The Queens Man but the real quality that she has written are books like The Sunne in Splendour, Here Be Dragons and When Christ and His Saints Slept.

Clicked on a link on someone's signature on the RISI website - can't remember whose - sorry!