~Andrea~

Flowers for Algernon is a fantastic book. I think you'll like it. I loved it

Oh, I'm really tempted by this now. I've already been considering watching some of the old Dr Who and Blake's 7 too. What to do first?

Wow - that's great news!! Pleased for you

Pleased to report that I'm really enjoying Jekyll and Hyde. The story is great, the audio narration good enough. I ordered "Seeking Spirituality" by Ronald Ronheiser the other day, which should arrive on Monday.

Is it fiction or non-fiction?

Finished The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Little Women (which annoyingly turned out to be part 1 only) and have started Jekyll and Hyde (audio) again. This time I'm enjoying it much more though I would say I'm not loving Christopher Lee's narration (it's not terrible but not fantastic either)

Right, got back into Making of Modern Britain last night and I'm determined to finish Part 3 before I start or continue with anything else, with the exception of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner which I started and nearly completed on Saturday while I was waiting to have new tyres fitted.

Yea I watch this. We too have been watching since the first series. The first episode of series 3 was quite interesting. Looking forward to seeing where this series will go. I think the first series was the best and it's ending worked quite well as an ending to the whole thing, (I guess because the writers didn't know if it would be recommissioned) so in some ways I feel the subsequent series are a bit contrived. I still enjoy watching it though. Who was the actress playing the rough short-haired girl in S3 ep1? I feel like I recognised her from Eastenders or something. It wasn't Natalie (of the Bianca and Ricky love triangle) was it?

That sounds really good. Another one for the wish list.

Started A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness last night. I also really need to read some more of The Making of Modern Britain as I am way behind schedule to have finished that by end of May!

Finished The Men and the Girls by Joanna Trollope last night. This is the story of two couples, as the title hints, younger women in relationships with older men. Both relationships go through a bit of a crisis at the same time, and this is the story of how things unfold. Julia, a TV researcher is married to Hugh, a TV presenter and Kate, lives with James and her teenager daughter. Their relationship starts to wobble when James strikes up a firendship with a much older woman, whom he accidentally knocks off a bicycle. I really enjoyed this and I wasn't really expecting to. I'd read one of hers before, Other People's Children, and while I liked it, I found the drama too domestic, and not escapist enough (escapism is the usual sort of fiction I go for). This one was exactly the same in tone, but this time I loved it. I guess it shows you just really have to be in the mood for a book sometimes. I loved the humanness of the characters, and the way you rooted for them in spite of their flaws. My favourite character was Kate, as I found myself able to sympathise with her the most; my least favourite was probably Beatrice. I didn't really 'get' her and she didn't really come to life in my mind. I picked this up in a charity shop years ago and had been putting it off. I'm really glad I picked it up and will definitely look out for more Trollope in the future.

Personally I'd rather not have any hints about future episodes regardless of 'what can be expected'. Not a problem if that's too difficult for people. I'll just avoid this thread.

Oh I haven't read the books! Yes probably should spoiler tag that bit then!

We did Z for Zechariah which I loved, An Inspector Calls which I also enjoyed, and some war poetry. No Shakespeare, and nothing if I recall pre 20th century. I think the older classics would have put me off at GCSE though I enjoyed them to some extent at A Level. That's all I can remember - it seems so long ago now :S

Les Mis is a great read (if you can get through some of the more waffly bits) and The Magician's Nephew is my favourite Narnia story.

Sam Mendak's (Where the Wild Things Are) 85th birthday - quite cool

I've been thinking of trying Jojo Moyes. The Last Letter From your Lover sounds like a good one for the wish list.

Sounds great! Added to the wishlist

Sounds like the blurb for The Last Ten Seconds?

Yes I did know about that. I will definitely be getting it at some point. I can't remember when it's out here, *rushes to check* ooh looks like it's available on kobo 20th June. I'm pretty strict with book buying and am quite a slow reader but once I've got through a bit more of my TBR I'll pick it up (well download it). I'm certain I'll get to it this year, probably one for the autumn/winter, nothing like a good spine-chiller when the nights are drawing in. Thanks for the info though

You mean somewhere we plug our favourite authors and books? I'd love that, both to read and contribute.

It might have been me, I'm a huge John Harwood fan, and if it wasn't then I'm going to recommend him all over again Both books are great!

Me too - I try and read everyone's, even though I don't always comment

I like the sound of the Feynman book. I have "Six Easy Pieces" on my shelf which I'm looking forward to.

I recently finished "A very short Introduction to Metaphysics" by Stephen Mumford which I thoroughly enjoyed. It really does only just scratch the surface of metaphysics and I still can't decide whether it's a pointless subject or not, (and that goes for philosophy in general I suppose) but it does fascinate me so I'm sure it's a subject I'll visit again. I also finally finished "The Everlasting Man" by G K Chesterton, which is was an unusual book. It's kind of a history of Christianity, or a presentation of the impact of Christianity on human history which on the whole I liked. However at times it was quite heavy-going and often dated and the language not very PC (but then it was written in 1925). It's partly a response to popular ideas on human evolution at the time and to a book by H G Wells in particular ("Outline of History") so some of the points being made seemed specific and a bit esoteric but perhaps would have made more sense had I read the book it was responding to. I've given up on The Four Loves as I wasn't enjoying it. Might pick it up later. I'm about quarter through "The men and the girls" which I'm going to focus on exclusively as I'm fed up of having had so many books on the go for such a long time, although I am still listening to Little Women on audio but very near the end! Once I'm done with those two I think I'll have another push at "The Making of Modern Britain" and finally get back to reading one book at a time again (or at least one reading one audio)