slywaka1

My boyfriend would usually rather watch telly, and does get a bit crabby if I ignore him too much or read late at night when he's trying to sleep, but he's really enjoyed a few books I've told him to read when I've finished them. I re-read Goodnight Mr Tom last year and persuaded him to read it and he loved it (he's African and doesn't seem to have read any of the same books as me as a child). Also Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, and at the moment I've given him The Shadow of the Wind, and Twilight (Stephanie Meyer), but I don't think he's got very far with either of those. Anna

What a good idea! Very original! Anna

I hate the Oasis, Cactus Kid ones. They really make my skin crawl. Anna

I used to quite like Rex but seeing the way he has been with Nicole, and Rachel before, my opinion of him has gone completely down. I do think, though, that Nicole is being pretty immature (I know she is only 19 though, but I know people younger and more mature than she is), and they kind of suit each other. Anna

Hello!! Anna

Dinner party was a big success, and we even talked about the book we'd chosen (The Book Thief)! Admittedly not very much, but some! Everything tasted lovely, although I was cooking from 8.30am till 7pm, with about a 10 minute break at 4pm. I'm really tired today, so tonight I'm going to have takeaway, maybe curry...... I am NOT cooking tonight!!! Anna

I'm having a dinner party/book club meeting tomorrow night with 7 friends, so am cooking the menu below. Only found out today that 2 of the blokes coming are vegetarian, so have had to hurriedly come up with veggie alternatives. Will have to go shopping AGAIN tonight to get the bits for their meals. And they're not even my friends, they're friends of a friend. I really hope it will be ok, it's quite a big project to do in a day.......... Canap

On the Tube to and from work, an hour each way. Sometimes at lunch time at work, but sometimes I spend that on here...... Anna

I just finished this on Friday night and on teh whole I eally enjoyed it. I found that it was quite slow, in a good way- I didn't find myself racing through it and therefore missing bits. The only thing that slightly annoyed me was the frequency of occasions when objects were doing the actions. (There's a term for that but I can't think of it.) I've not got the book with me but from memory the first time I noticed was page 49 (I think) when 'a dressing gown stood' meaning (As I took it) in Liesl's eyes her foster mother's most noticable point was that she wore a large dressing gown, which overtook this first impression of her. The first time I noticed this I found it quite endearing and child-like, but I started to notice it every few pages, even when it was seen from Death's, rather than Liesl's, point of view, and in the end I just found it quite unnecessary, like it was a deliberate attempt by the author to write in this way. Which is fine, it was just a bit much, I thought. Also, what does 'the cupboards were the shape of guilt' mean??? Anna

I can't wait to see the film, I've read the first 2 books and keep looking for the third (not seen it yet and I don't want to order it because I'll probably end up spending more money if I start ordering...). I thought they casting looked really good, except Carlisle. He doesn't look anything like I imagined him to look. I think they got most of the others fairly close though. Anna

Thanks Kell and Kylie, I just had a bit of a look about and according to http://www.cla.co.uk/copyright_information_aboutcopyright.php "Copyright protection in the UK generally lasts for 70 years following the death of the author." I hope that is correct, don't want to misquote anyone, but I just thought I'd share that in case anyone else was wondering..... Anna

I just looked at the website, can anyone help- when it says if you're not in USA check copyright laws what does this really mean? Is it sort of a given that it's ok to download them?? Also, (I'm not very good with computery things) what do all the different formats mean? Compression and Encoding?????? Other than that, what a good idea!!!

I almost always buy, and I have a couple of friends that we swap books between us. I try and use charity shops, but I do love a nice crisp, unread new book. I always keep my books, but I often lend them to friends. I don't think I've ever sold a book, and I've definitely never thrown one away. I've still even got all my books from when I was a kid! Anna

Ooh, good idea, thanks guys. I have to say I would have loved to throw buckets of fishy water at Jen and Bex, I caught that bit this morning, or was it last night..... Anna

I remember reading Julius Ceasar, The Merchant of Venice, (My favourite Shakespeare play) To Kill A Mockingbird, An Evil Cradling, by Brian Keenan about when he was kidnapped in Beirut with John McCarthy and Terry Waite (roughly anyway, it may not have been Beirut and he was only kidnapped with one of them but I can't be bothered finding the details now!) I must have read more seeing that is 7 years of high school in 4 books, but I can't for teh life of me remember them now. The above were obviously my favourites. Anna

I think I'll go for Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, I bought it the other day and was going to read it soon anyway! Or maybe Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.... I always fancied that but I've never got round to it...... Anna

I missed it again!

Thanks! I'll let you all know how it went after we've had our first meeting. I am not an outgoing person naturally, I wouldn't have done this if it wasn't a small group of friends I know pretty well. I'm hoping I won't have to be a sort of chair person and we'll be able to just get on with it as a group..... Thanks for teh ideas of what we can discuss also, that's a very good place to start A

I'm getting left overs from Wimbledon for the next couple of weeks (or however long there is to go). A friend of mine works for a television equipment type company and each year he works Wimbledon setting up the camera stuff, so he stays at my house and brings us Wimbledon food!! Anna

I asked 4 book loving ex-collegues a couple of weeks ago if they'd be interested in a book club. As it was my idea I picked The Book Thief, we're going to meet up in early August to have dinner and talk about it. I was a bit worried that we'd not really have much to say, I don't want us to just all agree that we liked it and then go on to talking about other things, for example!!! If it doesn't really work at our first meeting I will try and find/think of some topics/questions that we can think about for the next one. When we meet one of the others will pick the next book and we'll meet a month later. It'll be nice as not only will we be able to read the same book and discuss it but it will give us a good excuse to meet up-we don't get much opportunity these days! Anna

That sounds amazing!! Anna