~Andrea~

So you DO have a TBR. You're just in denial about it To me TBR is books I own and intend to read (for the first time)

Steak and veg kebabs, couscous and sweet potato wedges.

At last I've chosen book 5 - otherwise I'd have posted sooner. Watership Down - Richard Adams Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte Animal Farm - George Orwell The chronicles of Narnia - C S Lewis The Lord of the flies - William Golding PS - almost making my list were Catch 22 and Dracula. This was sooo hard.

My favourite, and very easy, recipe is here (meatballs) (see fave recipes thread) and veggie chilli here (see veggie sort of thread)

It is hard work to start with - but it's well worth persevering with. I found the further you get the better it gets. I think I struggled for the first hundred pages or so - a long time ago now so not exactly sure. Good luck.

Hmm - The Five People you Meet in Heaven is bugging me so far. It feels a bit like an outpouring of worldly wisdom about life and death - I don't know why but it's annoying me, it's almost like I'm being preached at. Perhaps it irks me that an author would take it upon themselves to 'teach' us their view of the afterlife - something no-one knows what's like. Yes, I KNOW it's fiction. But still...

Psst Gyre - I was thinking of asking you personally this question seeing as you seem to like Japan/amime etc, but I started a thread for the whole forum. I'd be tres grateful if you'd take a peek here if you get a chance - muchos thanks

I try and vary old and new books. If I've read a couple of recent books then I'll try and pick an older one next. Similarly if I've read a couple of older books then I'll 'reward' myself with one of my newer ones that I'm just that bit more excited about. I never had you down as a reader of fluffy books

But sushi isn't raw fish - it's vinegared rice. Raw fish - isn't that sashimi? Sushi may contain raw fish - but not necessarily. Sorry to be pedantic. I love sushi, but I've never had it with raw fish, don't really want to either. You can get lots of fillings, chicken, beef, fruit, vegetable.

I've finally finished this. I have to say I loved it. I loved the detailed descriptions, Hardy really has a way with words. It was poetic and I found the imagery very vivid. But I also found this a lot more readable and less verbose that say Jane Austen. The characters were well drawn and I found them richly complex, some of them having very deep flaws and yet also redeeming features. I really enjoyed the scene at the malt house. I found a lot of humour in the minor characters. I think the best thing about the book was the vivid imagery, I will select some of my favourites later - I don't have the book to hand at the moment. The worst thing was that yes the plot dragged in places. However, I can forgive this. The plot never dipped so low that I wanted to give up. The last 80 pages or so had me on the edge of my seat. I think in those days of no street lighting (I loved the pitch darkness that some of the story takes place in) the night sky would have been much more familiar to your average person. I think it's such a shame that the night sky is so light polluted these days.

Hurrah - I finished Far from the Madding Crowd and I loved it. I loved the language, and the characters and the setting. The story dragged in places but overall I thought it was excellent. Then I started Mitch Alboms The Five People you meet in Heaven. Having just finished FFTMC I am finding the language extremely plain in this. It's enjoyable enough so far though - apart from the annoying little twirls at the beginning of each section

I know I know

Brilliant - thanks both. I'll have to try and get hold of that one day.

You know I've been wondering that for ages. Now I know - thanks

Aw Baggies - it's a long time since anyone's said that to me

I love the midlands accent. It sounds so warm and friendly. Frank Skinner, Lenny Henry - love it. Even the really broad ones. I pretty much love all accents, especially UK/Irish ones. I think all accents can sound good or bad depending on who's speaking them.

Ah - so that explains it then I have a slight welsh accent. Not valleys, not townie, just mild vague south welsh. A bit Charlotte Churchy perhaps, only less townie.

Ah Jackanory. Rik Mayall was fab with GMM. I remember Victoria Wood reading something too that I enjoyed. Some kind of take on Goldilocks - and I never heard the final episode. I'd love to find out what is was so I can finally end the suspense . Seem to vaguely remember Bernard Cribbins and Kenneth Williams but not sure what they read.

pasta and stir in sauce with salad - it's gym and asda night

I'll look forward to that. I agree, the last series was disappointing, one of the writers left didn't he, Rob Grant? I guess he's missing from this one too. I seem to remember he wrote his own series, set in medieval times, with Phil Jupitus and Mrs Doyle from Father Ted. It was diabolical, and made Red Dwarf VIII look fantastic. I guess those two writers work better as a team - a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

War and Peace and Les Miserables are probably the ones that first spring to mind, but also let's see Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina, To Kill a Mockingbird, oh there must be hundreds more.

I hadn't heard of this one. I thought she'd just written the six novels (Pride, Sense, Northanger, Persuasion, Mansfield and Emma) Interesting.

Awww bless you Poppy Yea that's all it is - I didn't just myself spending 5 minutes faffing in front of the mirror when I went to the loo just now - honest.

It can help when I've been depressed. But I have to be very careful what I read at such times. I have to pick kind of warm-hearted, optimistic stuff, by writers who are uplifting. Not necessarily light-hearted, (that can be equally unhelpful when my head's not straight) but nothing with a dark or unpleasant edge I suppose.