~Andrea~

ooh, I'll be interested to watch that, probably my BF too since he loves TP. Thanks amethyst

Hi Magdalen, welcome. I am sure you will enjoy it here it's a lovely place

Welcome Lizzie. Good to have you here

I haven't voted as I haven't read either, but my BF is currently enjoying the innocent man. I am sure you have a good read ahead of you either way.

Yum!! I love Dhal with bread. There is something very satisfying about making your own curries. We have a great book of healthy curries and have made quite a few from there. (They are quite easy recipes which helps)

Hi Bagel Queen. I read Keeping Faith this year. It was my first Jodi Picoult. I thought it was quite good, well written but lacked a little something. I think I found the characters a bit on the lack lustre side although the story was quite engaging. I'm not sure I would read anything else by her. Anyway welcome to our forum. Nice to meet you

Oh last night we made our own lentil and spinach dhal. It was lovely, but quite spicy. We had it with rice, pitta bread and a chicken curry (chicken and veggies and a jar of balti sauce) Tonight it will be pasta

Jacket potato with cheese and a corn cob.

To buy less books, adding them to my wish list rather than my bookshelf To read more. I should try to read every night. To plan ahead less and get less stressed about my reading schedule. I always have loads of books lined up which makes my reading less spontaneous.

Well I am a little under a third of the way through this and I must say it is absolutely gripping. I am just passed the bit where The number of characters to begin with made the book a little disjointed but now that I am getting to know the characters I am really enjoying catching up with them when they reenter the story, and enjoying meeting new characters as they come up. This book is showing me what a good writer Stephen King really is. Can't wait to get back to it

This year I will aim for 20 books (since I didn't quite reach my target of 25 last year. I am also in the first quarter of The Stand so that's an instant handicap.) I will try not to be too prescriptive or put myself under too much pressure. Absolute must reads for 2008: The Virgin Suicides - J Egenides (tick) E11even terrible months - R L Royle (tick) The ghost writer - John Harwood (tick) Guards Guards - Terry Pratchett (tick) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (tick) Hooray all ticked!! Other TBR bookshelf: Minnette Walters - The shape of snakes Minnette Walters - Acid Row PD James - A Certain Justice Wilkie Collins The Woman in White Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales (modern translation) From the Holy Mountain - William Dalrymple Thomas Hardy Far from the madding crowd Joanna Trollope - The men and the girls Justin Cartwright - The promise of happiness Damaged - Cathy Glass James Herbert - Haunted Othello The Merchant of Venice King Lear Julius Caesar Twelfth night A Winter's tale Lucy's monster - R L Royle Misery - Stephen King Pet Sematary - Stephen King The face - Dean Koontz Dark rivers of the heart - Dean Koontz ShadowFire - Dean Koontz Strange Places, Questionable People - John Simpson Man and Boy - Tony Parsons Logic - A very short introduction Informal Logic Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle The Power and the Glory - Grahame Greene Star Gazing - Linda Gillard Any way you want me - Lucy Diamond Marley and Me - John Grogan The Five people you meet in heaven - Mitch Albom Wish list: The Testament of Gideon Mack A spot of bother - Mark Haddon James Herbert - The Secret of Crickley Hall Walking Ollie - Stephen Foster The House on the Strand - Daphne Du Maurier The Secret Garden Superstition - David Ambrose LOTR - Tolkein Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier Something Wicked this way comes - Ray Bradbury The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury The Time Travellers Wife The book of lost things - John Connelly Chocky - John Wyndham The Kraken awakes - John Wyndham Winnie the Pooh - (complete short stories and poems) A. A. Milne Rumble Fish - Susan Hinton Dirk Gently's Holistic detective agency - Douglas Adams (reread) The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery Stuck in neutral - Terry Trueman The Oyster House Siege - Jay Rayner Memoirs of a Boy Soldier - Ishmael Beah IT - Stephen King The Clan of the Cave Bear - Jean Auel Orthodoxy - G K Chesterton Weaveworld - Clive Barker A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle The five people you meet in heaven - Mitch Albom The Book Thief - Markus Zusak For One More Day - Mitch Albom Boy A - Jonathan Trigell The Third Man & The Fallen Idol - Grahame Greene Footprints in the sand - Sarah Challis Emotional Geology - Linda Gillard The Heaven Tree - Edith Pargeter The Haunting of Toby Jugg - Dennis Wheatley Just Courage - Gary Haugen (IJM) Savages - Shirley Conran The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova The Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith Authors to try: Phillip K Dick Anthony Horowitz David Baddiel Anne Tyler Kelley Armstrong Raven Hart Tess Gerritson Sam Hayes Jonathon Coe John Updike 2008 Reading: The Stand - Stephen King (10/10 07 - 10/02/08) Life of Pi - Yann Martel (8/10 05/01/08 - 12/01/08) Great Expectations (audio, abridged) - Charles Dickens (7/10 15/01/08 - 01/02/08) Guards Guards - Terry Pratchett (5/10 10/02/08 - 01/03/08) Eats Shoots and Leaves - Lynne Truss (10/10 01/03/08 - 02/03/08) The Virgin suicides - J Eugenides (7/10 03/03/08 - 21/03/08) On Writing - Stephen King (9/10 15/03/08 - 25/03/08) Love Rules - Freya North (Unfinished 26/03/08 - 30/03/08) Fear Nothing - Dean Koontz (8/10 30/03/08 - 15/04/08) Shakespeare - Bill Bryson (8/10 15/04/08 - 23/04/08) Divine Nobodies - Jim Palmer (7/10 21/04/08 - 01/06/08) The Ghost Writer - John Harwood (10/10 24/04/08 - 17/05/08)) Carrie - Stephen King (9/10 19/05/08 - 30/05/08) Short Cuts - Ray Carver (19/05 - ) The Jungle Book (book 1) - Rudyard Kipling (5/10 31/05/08 - 13/06/08) The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom (9/10 08/06/08 - 24/06/08) Dinner with Mugabe - Heidi Holland (9/10 14/06/08 - 17/07/08) Out of the Silent Planet - C S Lewis (8/10 25/06/08 - 06/07/08) Bridget Jones, Edge of Reason - Helen Fielding (7/10 08/07/08 - 04/08/08) African History: A very short Introduction - OUP (18/07/08 - 23/08/08) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J K Rowling (9/10 23/07/08 - 21/08/08) How to talk to a widower - Jonathon Tropper (unfinished - 12/08/08 - 15/08/08) The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham (8/10 18/08/08 - 31/08/08) Entertaining Angels - Joanna Bell (01/08/08 - unfinished) Eleven Terrible Months - R L Royle (7/10 03/09/08 - 28/09/08) Five Little Pigs - Agatha Christie (6/10 12/09/08 - 20/09/08) The Mind of God - Paul Davis (28/09/08 - 30/11/08) This Sweet Sickness - Patricia Highsmith (10/10 30/09/08 - 14/10/08) Persuasion - Jane Austen (7/10 15/10/08 - 19/11/08) Over You - Lucy Diamond (20/11/08 - 16/12/08) -----to be carried forward to Informal Logic - (03/12/08 - ) Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy (17/12/08 - )

Tonight something easyish, pasta with chopped ham, veggies and a stir in sauce, and side salad. Nice and healthy after all the sweets (which I am still getting through)

Well it's more than me. And 50% up on last year, that's a pretty good achievement. I think I'll be at 22 by the end of the year.

We had chinese takeaway. I had mixed vegetables, spring rolls and some of the fried rice and mixed meats. A welcome change from roast dinner

I'm on Chapter 23 now. To be honest I had been finding this not AS good as I was expecting. I think that was because it has been very hyped up on this site. So I let my expectations drop a little and now I am enjoying it a lot more. It's getting very gripping at the moment. No way I'll be finished in time for the Jan reading circle though. I guess I'm going to have to double up on books again

Ooh I will look forward to reading and discussing with you!! (Be warned though, there are a few books in the queue at the moment )

No pleeeeease dont say anything !!!! I remember wanting to see the film because it had great reviews but then discovered it was from a book and decided to go for the book first. But once I've read it I am sure I will give the dvd a whirl as well.

Hi Bright eyes, lovely to meet you. The Virgin Suicides is on the shelf and i'm absolutely dieing to read it. Welcome to the forum

I definitely read more than usual which is thanks to this site no doubt. I still only managed about 22 I think, but that's very good for me. I had been wanting to try and read more which was one of the reasons I went looking for an online book club. So thank you everyone I am very pleased that I have read as much as I have and really pleased that I finally got around to reading Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Anne of Green Gables was an unexpected delight. I would have been very unlikely to read it if it hadn't come up as a reading group choice. I also read two autobiographies, (new territory for me) both of which I found very powerful. They were by Daniella Westbrook and Constance Briscoe. Highlights of the year are The girl in a swing by Richard Adams and the fabulous Flatland by Edwin Abbott.

curry

That's exactly how I feel! I'm glad I'm not the only one (well not glad your stressed but you know what I mean ) Kylie, I love your attitude

My favourite reads this year: Ugly - Constance Briscoe The other side of nowhere - Daniella Westbrook Flatland - Edwin Abbot

Thanks Nici. I don't think it helps that I only manage about 25 books a year. Maybe I should make a new years resolution to stop buying new books

I have soooo many books to read I constantly feel I am fighting a losing battle. I add books to my wish list faster than I can read them so the list keeps growing and growing, not to mention those unexpected books that I buy randomly and impulsively. Sometimes it takes the fun out of it all Doh! Typo in the title - "Does" should be "Do"

Ooh i've got that on the bookshelf. I'm glad you liked it HandD. I'll look forward to reading it now.