Kylie

Hi Miss J and to the forum. What do you like to read?

Mmm, might have to check that out. I was always disappointed Cedric (or should I say, Robert) didn't get a bigger role in the movies.

I used to get Fortean Times. Such a weird magazine. I saw a picture in that mag that will stay with me forever. I won't give the gory details.

I missed We Can Be Heroes when it first aired, but I watched and loved Summer Heights High. Chris Lilley is very clever

Not to mention that the celebrity stuff (at least in the mags around here) is complete nonsense, with all the quotes from non-existent 'insiders'. I wonder how they're allowed to sell that stuff (I wonder even more that people buy it!).

You've certainly come to the right place, Verbena! to the forum!

Phew! Thanks goodness for that, Blossom. Please don't scare us like that again

I'm one of those people that finishes every book I start, regardless of how much I struggle with it (such as recently taking 3 weeks to read The Jungle Book!) I really should adopt this rule. I know I should. I just don't think I could consciously put down a book that I'm in the middle of, with no intention of going back to it. For starters, it would throw all my start/finish dates out that I so carefully keep track of. An unfinished book would be a blight on my spreadsheet!

I've bought various magazines over the years but like Sedge, I find that they're too expensive and too full of ads. For the price of a couple of magazines (that will be out-of-date one day), I could buy a new book to keep forever!

I hope I haven't put my foot in it! Love ya Sedge

I hope not. That picture makes me shudder every time I see it.

But at least she was genuinely sorry when she realised the mistakes she made (even if she didn't always learn from them). I liked Emma, for all her flaws. She was a bit of a fool sometimes, but her heart was in the right place. Unlike that priest guy and the woman he married (the names escape me - it's been a while since I read it).

I actually never thought of my wardrobe thing as being because of monsters; my monster used to live under my bed so I would have to jump in and out all the time. I think it's more because I would be irritated knowing that the wardrobe isn't shut up all nice and neat And also because I keep my TV in my wardrobe (no room for it elsewhere) and those lights on the DVD player and the standby light on the TV are too bright and would keep me awake. (I know, I know...if I have my eyes closed, how can it bother me? But I would know that the lights are there and that would be enough to keep me awake ).

I've read a bit about this book and would like to read it one day. Are you planning on reading it one day? I really loved it. It took a while to get into, but it really got very good and the ending is just brilliant. I have this on my TBR pile. I opened it up recently and read a few random sentences. The writing style looks like it might be difficult to get into but I'm still looking forward to reading it.

Hi Coffeebean and to the forum! I'm sure you'll get plenty of suggestions for new books to read. My Mum has a tonne of cookbooks that she never uses She keeps saying she'll use them when she retires. I've built up a handy little collection myself.

I agree. I've had trouble restricting my number of challenges as well. My problem with the challenges I chose is that I badly underestimated how many books I would be reading. The challenges are supposed to last all year but I've already completed about half of them and am near completion of a few others. It's not much of a challenge when I'm done so early in the year!

The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling Rating: 5/10 Published: 1894-1895 Number of pages: 383 Summary (taken from blurb): A naked baby is abandoned deep in the jungle and is taken in by a she-wolf to be raised as one of her own. Soon Mowgli the man-cub becomes a wise and feared hunter, learning the Law of the jungle from Baloo the bear, and the skills of the hunt from mighty Bagheera, the black panther, and Kaa, the stealthy rock python. At once an outsider in these wilds and a unique bridge between the species that inhabit them, Mowgli evolves in the shadow of a dramatic mortal encounter that is fated to take place between himself and Shere Khan, the man-eating Bengal tiger under whose fiery gaze the whole jungle trembles with fear. The characters and stories that comprise Kipling's Jungle Books are a microcosm of life as he saw it, but like most great literature, Kipling's words speak to us on many levels, blending fantasy and philosophy in a work that continues to delight generation after generation of adults and children alike. Comments: For a book of children's stories, The Jungle Book certainly took me a long time to read! I can't quite put my finger on what was wrong with the stories; perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for them. The style of writing was OK but there was nothing exceptional or even slightly above average that pulled me into the stories and made me want to pick up the book at every available opportunity. I didn't really enjoy the poems that began and ended every story, either. The stories in both Jungle Books focus on different animals (not all from the jungle), which was interesting, and some of the characters, such as Mowgli, Bagheera, Baloo and Kaa appeared in multiple stories. There's not much else to add, I'm afraid. I highly doubt I'll ever read it again. It was a bit of a slog and I was glad to be done with it! Started: 16 June 2008 Finished: 3 July 2008

Same goes for me, although I don't think my subconscious self necessarily agrees. I have woken up several times during the night to find myself standing in front of my wardrobe with the door open a bit. Usually I just leave it open then and go back to bed. I have no idea why I do it This morning I woke up sitting on the wrong side of my bed completely tangled up in quilts and blankets and sheets. Took me a while to get myself sorted.

I'll be in on the Howl discussion as well. From the little snippet I've read so far, it looks like it would make for some interesting discussion.