Kylie

I love Scrubs, although there are only repeats on at the moment. I also love That 70s Show; I know it's been cancelled but we're still a couple of series behind. The only other show I bother to keep up with is House, which is brilliant.

I saw these in a Borders store recently. I was drawn to them in the shop because they were shrink-wrapped and had white covers and a sticker. I think it's an interesting idea but I would never buy one myself. I'm not very artistic and I would never be happy with my work so I'd be afraid to look at it afterwards And what if you made a mistake that couldn't be rectified?! It would be ruined! Ooh, just saw Alice in Wonderland. If I was going to have a go at any of them, Alice would be it. There's so much you could do with that one. Would you buy one Liz? If so, which would you choose?

There's a great Australian classic called For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke. It's a brilliant book and really sad. It's out of copyright so can be downloaded here, although it's a fairly long read. There are a lot of historical writings on that page that might interest you. There's also another one I loved called The Men that God Forgot by Richard Butler. An intriguing point to note is that both books are based, in certain parts, on actual events, and the content overlaps just a little in the books (it's interesting to see the differences in the minute details). I think they're really the only two fiction books I've read regarding the early settlers. Since then I've read two non-fiction books consisting of diary entries and letters from a variety of people; I reviewed both on my reading thread (posts #14 and #16). I also have a non-fiction work called The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes on my TBR pile, which is supposed to be really good (although it's very lengthy!)

I've finished Carmilla, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Not as much as Dracula, but still very much; they're both beautifully written. Thanks for introducing me to Carmilla Kell! I'll have a go at answering these questions. I tried not to read your responses first, Kell, so I wouldn't be too influenced by them. (Don't expect my answers to be as eloquent as Kell's though!) How do the portrayals of vampires in the two novels hold up to one another? In your opinion, is one character more strongly/weakly written, and in what ways? From what I recall of Dracula, I think the Count was more repulsive to Jonathan Harker than Carmilla was to Laura. I think Harker was wary from the beginning whereas Laura was too innocent or naive to notice anything. This made the character of Carmilla far less scary and threatening. I noticed some similarities in the How do the styles of prose compare? Are there major similarities/differences in the way the stories are told? I think Kell has already pointed out that both stories are told in the first person. Dracula is told through letters and diaries by multiple characters and Carmilla is told by Laura, around 8 years after the events took place. And of course both vampires have nobility behind them: Dracula is a Count and Carmilla is a Countess. Both stories are beautifully written and set in Gothic castles in remote countries. I particularly loved the descriptions throughout Carmilla - how I would love to visit/live in a place like that described in the book (without the vampires, of course). I'd love to see a faithful movie adaption of Carmilla. Did you enjoy one novel more than the other? Which was it and why? Was there a particular part of either one that really stood out for you? Were there any parts you struggled with and why? I enjoyed Dracula more. Being a much longer book, the characters and story were able to be developed more fully. I had a couple of unanswered questions at the end of Carmilla, such as I was also puzzled by a couple of reactions to events that took place in the chapel. I struggled a little with the style of writing in Carmilla sometimes but I thought it was beautiful all the same And as for any parts that stood out: probably the ending of Dracula stood out for me. It was wonderful and I cried! What do you think each novel says about society at the time they were written? At the time that these books were written, clearly there was a lot of superstition and paranoia where vampires were concerned! Did you find either of the novels particularly graphic in any way? How do those scenes compare to graphic scenes in more modern novels that you have read? I suppose both books are tame by today's standards but I found Dracula, in particular, to be pretty scary. This wasn't necessarily because of the graphic nature of any particular scene, but more because of the brilliant way in which tension was built up throughout the book. There was a slight build-up of tension in Carmilla, but not as much; again, I think this is in large part due to the shorter nature of the book. I was a little surprised at the graphic nature of Laura and Carmilla's relationship - I didn't expect the writing to be so risque coming from that time period! I think in this respect Carmilla was more graphic than Dracula.

Reading about Australia has given me much more of an interest in learning about the early settlers and the colony. I've bought a few books on this subject now. I've also been driven to look up more info on different places that I've read about in Dracula and The Count of Monte Cristo. After reading A Tale of Two Cities, I realised how little I knew about the storming of the Bastille, so I looked that up too. I tend not to go hunting for more books on the subject though (I have too many already!) Usually I'm just after a bit of further information, and I find that wikipedia will satiate my appetite.

Hi Mels Bells! Lady Chatterley's Lover was chosen as the July book for the Reading Circle. A lot of our members read it and like it; you can read more about their views here. Kell also provides a very handy synopsis in the first post.

Today I bought two more books: Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay John Le Carre: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold I'll never get my TBR pile down

I've given up on the audio version of Peter Pan again; I just can't concentrate on audio books at the moment. I've decided to just read the ebook instead. Once read, that'll complete my goal of 15 classics for the year, so I might up the goal to 20, which should be easily achievable. After Peter Pan, I'll be moving onto Anne of Green Gables for the August Reading Circle. And hopefully I'll have time left over at the end of the month to read Lady Chatterley's Lover, which I didn't get around to last month.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey Rating: 10/10 Published: 1962 Number of pages: 393 ISBN: 0141024879 Summary (taken from blurb): Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict, unbending routine. Her patients, cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electric shock therapy, dare not oppose her. But everything changes with the arrival of McMurphy - the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin. McMurphy battles Nurse Ratched and the ward regime, challenging everyone's beliefs about madness...who, of them all, is really insane? Comments: Beware! Contains possible spoilers! This is a brilliant book - every bit as good as everyone says it is. The ending was a bit of a surprise to me, and heart-breaking. It reminded me a bit of Of Mice and Men, which I read a couple of months ago (I cried at the end of both books). McMurphy is a wonderful character, probably one of my favourites in literature, and I loved his relationship with the Chief. He made such a wonderful impact on the lives of the other patients, which Kesey portrayed beautifully in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. I loved seeing the Chief change and become more aware of his surroundings (with the lifting of the fog) and, of course, when he began speaking again. I watched the movie immediately afterwards and thoroughly enjoyed it, although I think the book is much better. Both book and movie very highly recommended. Started: 26 July 2007 Finished: 3 August 2007 One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (at librarything.com)

I started reading Carmilla yesterday, having read Dracula a couple of months ago. I struggled with the writing style at the beginning (during the Prologue) but now that I'm used to it, it's flowing along nicely. I haven't got too far at all yet, but I love the descriptions of the 'schloss' and the surrounding countryside; it conjures up beautiful images!

Absolutely! That's a great movie And I've seen a few that he did with Richard Pryor; See No Evil, Hear No Evil is my favourite collaboration of theirs.

Very nice, Wrath My version is an ebook so I'll be reading it on my iPod. I prefer having a book to hold but I'm going to be a cheapskate Once I finish my current book, I'm hoping to get through Carmilla relatively quickly for the comparative reading circle, then I'll dive in to Anne... I hope I won't be too far behind! I just noticed that locket is taped to the cover. I hope if you take it off that it won't take half the cover with it!

Hi Annie and welcome! Feel free to post a message over on this thread to introduce yourself. I thought the Deathly Hallows was an excellent finish to the series. It's just a guess, but I think that the portraits in Hogwarts and other places must be bewitched in a special way so they can talk. I'm sure there's a passage in one of the books (probably the 5th or 6th) where Dumbledore explains to Harry that someone can only leave their portrait if they have another one to go to. Then again, maybe it's a gaping plot hole! I agree about Tonks and Lupin; I think they deserved much more than that. I think your other questions will probably be answered in the encyclopedia, but in the meantime I would like to think that George would have continued on with the joke shop and perhaps Dudley and Harry would have kept in touch - not as best mates, but at least sent Christmas cards to each other or something! Maybe what we saw of him in this book was the start of him growing up and becoming a better person.

Like others here, I adore The Shawshank Redemption. I also love James Stewart so anything he's in is fine by me (Harvey is a wonderful movie!) Other favourites of mine are: Girl, Interrupted Dead Poet's Society When Harry Met Sally Hair The Sound of Music Alice in Wonderland (Disney) I'm also a huge fan of Orson Welles: The Third Man and Citizen Kane. And I LOVE Gene Wilder! Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Young Frankenstein are a couple of my favourite movies. I'm sure there's more I've forgotten.

'No. He isn't extraordinary. He is simply a man and no more, and is subject to all the fears and all the cowardice and all the timidity that any other man is subject to.' One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey

This puts me in mind of that old quote about the journey being more important than the destination. Very true. Even if the path is well-trodden, it doesn't become any less exciting to walk! I re-read a lot of books and I can't imagine only wanting to read a book once (unless I really didn't enjoy it). I think re-reads can be good because you might miss something the first time around or you might be able to better understand the events leading up the conclusion. And sometimes I do forget the ending, or important events leading up to it (even in the latter Harry Potter books I recently re-read!) As for mysteries, I don't read too many. I know if I ever get around to dusting off my Nancy Drew books, they'll all seem brand new to me because I've forgotten everything that happens! Ruth, I love To Kill A Mockingbird too. I re-read it recently for the first time in years, and it will be getting read a heck of a lot more in future, that's for sure!

You're welcome I just tried importing mine again because I've recently catalogued a lot more of my books. 89 got imported and 146 didn't. It missed out some really well-known, obvious books and yet managed to add some really obscure books! Weird.

I'm so glad you're enjoying the series Fireball! I kind of wish I'd waited until they were all out before I read them - then I wouldn't have had the excruciating wait between books! And they're only going to get better from where you're at now! I hope you can avoid all the spoilers until you finish - have fun!

HandD, try this: 1. In LibraryThing, go to Tools. In the middle column, under Exports, click 'Export all records as tab-delimited text'. This should create an excel file containing info regarding all of your books. 2. In Shelfari, go to Build Shelf, and under 'Import Library File' click 'Choose File' and select the excel file that was created by LibraryThing. This should go through and search the ISBNs and add the books to your shelf. I hope this helps!

Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut Rating: 9/10 Published: 1969 Number of pages: 157 ISBN: 0099800209 Summary (taken from blurb): Prisoner of war, optometrist, time-traveller - these are the life roles of Billy Pilgrim, hero of this latter-day Pilgrim's Progress, a miraculously moving, bitter and funny story of innocence faced with apocalypse, in the most original anti-war novel since Catch-22. Comments: A great book, with some interesting and thought-provoking ideas. Before I read it, I heard some people say that this book changed their lives and others have said it's not the same when re-read after a long period of time; I think where you are in your life may determine how much you get out of this book. For me personally, I think it's one that needs repeated readings in order to fully appreciate it. One thing I didn't particularly like: I couldn't quite figure Billy out; throughout the whole book he seemed to be in a daze, which can't be what he was like all the time because he was clearly still able to function normally most of the time. The book is amusing in parts (dark humour) and cleverly written, but mostly it's terribly sad as you see what the horrors of war have done to Billy, and the parallels between his memories of the war and the hallucinations that occur thereafter. It's a great anti-war novel (but not as great as Catch-22, in my opinion!) A much better review of the book can be found in this thread. And there are many more great reviews at the librarything.com link below. Not everyone will enjoy this book, and I can understand why, but I would highly recommend it nevertheless. There aren't too many books that I feel should be read; this is one of them. Started: 22 July 2007 Finished: 26 July 2007 Slaughterhouse-Five (at librarything.com)

I imported my LibraryThing books into Shelfari a while ago. It didn't import a lot of them and a lot came across with no covers or wrong covers. I haven't done much with it since. I like some aspects of it; you can add notes to each book (different than adding tags) and dates that you bought/read/loaned it etc. I'm happy to stick with LibraryThing for the moment. It works much better for me.

Conquest also stands out for me. It's a song that immediately stuck in my mind and I keep coming back to it. I still need to listen more to get to know the other songs better. I love Blue Orchid, Little Ghost, The Denial Twist and I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely). I think the whole album is brilliant. I think The White Stripes are brilliant I don't know their other albums so well yet, but I do love Seven Nation Army from Elephant.

I actually liked this part (maybe I'm just a sucker for a happy ending - I'm pretty sure I cried during this part ). I think in the 6th book when Harry was catching up with the Weasleys for the first time in weeks and he asked about the Percy situation, he was surprised that Percy hadn't come around but the Weasleys pointed out that it is hard to admit when you're wrong. I think that Percy realised that putting his pride before his family was pretty stupid when they were all in such danger and might not survive. And he is, after all, a Weasley, so there's gotta be some goodness and loyalty in there somewhere! I guess Ron did the same thing in a way - defected from his 'family' but then came back because he knew where his loyalties really were.

I only bought this book last year but I'm pretty sure I won't read it for years yet. I get intimidated when I open the huge book and see the tiny print inside - and I know it's going to be a 'heavy' book and tough to get through (although worth it in the end, I hope!)

I bought this book recently after reading the recommendations on here. I'm really looking forward to reading it. So, when do September nominations open? Do we even need to bother voting?