Kylie

I bought some books that I've been wanting for a long time! I'm very happy with today's purchases Jasper Fforde: The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde: Lost In A Good Book Jasper Fforde: The Well Of Lost Plots (won this on eBay so don't actually have it yet) Jasper Fforde: Something Rotten Mark Haddon: A Spot Of Bother (thanks to this forum) Maggie O'Farrell: After You'd Gone (thanks to this forum) Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse 5 The three Jasper Fforde books were a very pleasant surprise. I had gone to a bookshop to pick up A Spot Of Bother, which I'd seen there recently, and thought I'd look around on the off-chance that there might be some Fforde's in stock (it's a 'bargain' bookshop so you never know what'll you find). They had three of them in stock, and it just so happened that there was an eBay auction ending shortly thereafter for the fourth book I needed to complete the set. I had to make a mad dash back to work, but I made it with a couple of minutes to spare! I tell you, this book buying business can be nerve-wracking sometimes! This means that in the past week and a half, 35 books have come into my house!

I received more books from a friend I commute home with, who is trying to clear some space on his bookshelves. They all look like being great reads! Angela Carter: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories Colette: The Claudine Novels (At School, In Paris, Married, And Annie Michael Chabon (ed): All New McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories (which comprises the following short stories) Lusus Naturae - Margaret Atwood What You Do Not Know You Want - David Mitchell Vivian Relf - Jonathan Lethem Minnow - Ayelet Waldman Zeroville - Steve Erickson Lisey And The Madman - Stephen King 7C - Jason Roberts The Miniaturist - Heidi Julavits The Child - Roddy Doyle Delmonico - Daniel Handler The Scheme Of Things - Charles D'Ambrosia The Devil Of Delery Street - Poppy Z Brite Reports Of Certain Events In London - China Mieville The Fabled Light-House At Vina Del Mar - Joyce Carol Oates Mr Aickman's Air Rifle - Peter Straub Donna Tartt: The Secret History Donna Tartt: The Little Friend I'm not going to add these to my TBR list just yet. It has grown frighteningly long as it is, and the number of books I've read so far this year just looks pathetic in comparison

It does help, thanks! I looked up Colette on Wikipedia and read that originally her books were published under her husband's pen name and he locked her in a room until she had written the required number of pages! I love looking up info about authors and books - it helps give me some perspective when I'm reading them. I didn't know what The Bloody Chamber was about - it certainly does sound interesting! Unfortunately I haven't read any of the books on your list elbereth, but I have heard good things about The Thirteenth Tale - so much so that I would like to read it myself!

Different Seasons Stephen King Rating: 8/10 Published: 1982 Number of pages: 560 ISBN: 0751504335 Summary: Different Seasons is comprised of four novellas, each completely different from the rest. The four stories are (with Stephen King's quotes included after the titles): Hope Springs Eternal - Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, 'about an off-beat prison break'; Summer Of Corruption - Apt Pupil, 'an old man and a young boy locked up in a gruesome relationship based on mutual parasitism'; Fall From Innocence - The Body, 'a quartet of country boys on a journey of discovery'; A Winter's Tale - The Breathing Method, 'an off-the-wall horror story about a young woman determined to give birth to her child no matter what (or maybe the story is about that odd Club that isn't a Club'. Comments: I was mostly interested in reading this book because of Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption; The Shawshank Redemption is one of my favourite movies and I was interested in seeing how the book and the movie compared. I was surprised to find how similar they were - I had assumed that Hollywood would take a lot of liberties but a lot of the dialogue from the movie came straight out of King's story. So it's no surprise that I loved this novella. I think it's a brilliant story and a wonderful movie. I found Apt Pupil to be really disturbing and couldn't wait to get it over with, which isn't to say it was a bad story, just that King did well to stir up my feelings of disgust and horror at these two terrible characters. I enjoyed The Body and the interrelationship between the characters. I've previously seen Stand By Me and enjoyed the movie, but didn't remember enough of the movie to interfere with the book. I liked the fact that the ending of The Breathing Method left many unanswered questions about the Club. Overall, a really good read with some interesting and varied stories. When reading Rita Hayworth... and The Body, in particular, I had to keep reminding myself that this was Stephen King, the 'horror' writer. Highly recommended, even if you would usually avoid Stephen King, as there's next to no horror here. Started: 11 June 2007 Finished: 22 June 2007 Different Seasons (at librarything.com)

This thread has come along at a good time. I was given some books yesterday and was going to ask if people had read any of them. Donna Tartt - The Secret History Donna Tartt - The Little Friend Colette - The Claudine Novels Angela Carter - The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories Michael Chabon (ed) - All New McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories (collection of short stories by Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, David Mitchell and many others)

A Star Is Born

I went to a Winter Magic Festival at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains today. There are quite a few good bookshops up there (a happy coincidence) so I thought I might get to look in a few. Seems most of them were closed because of the Festival but at least one shop had a book stall. $2 per softcover book so I got 14, much better than I thought would do! Richard Adams: Watership Down Ian Fleming: Diamonds Are Forever Miles Franklin: My Brillilant Career Helene Hanff: 84 Charing Cross Road Hermann Hesse: Steppenwolf Aldous Huxley: Point Counter Point James Jones: From Here To Eternity Elyne Mitchell: The Man From Snowy River Robert O'Brien: Z For Zachariah George Orwell: Animal Farm George Orwell: 1984 Mario Puzo: The Godfather John Steinbeck: The Winter Of Our Discontent Charles Webb: The Graduate I've read both Orwell books before, but I didn't have them in book form.

I looked up Chocky on Wikipedia and it sounds a bit scary for a kids book! Still, it looks pretty good. Thanks for the recommendation - I'll keep an eye out for it, as I will for other Wyndham books I don't have. Thanks Judy I've read a lot of good reviews about it on here.

The Thing From Another World

Good question! I like mosaicing and bushwalking, although I don't get to do either as often as I'd like. I also love watching movies - oldies mostly. I love cricket too (something I get quite a ribbing for at work). I took every day off work during the Ashes (well, the days they were playing) and stayed at home to mosaic my Mum's xmas present while I watched the cricket. What a perfect holiday! I'm starting to enjoy tracking down second-hand/independent bookshops too. Can that be a hobby?

I'm glad you enjoyed To Kill A Mockingbird Bagpuss, it's one of my all-time favourites! I hope I get along better with Emma than you did when I finally get around to reading it!

I should probably have mentioned that I've only been interested in seeing the movie for a couple of years (it came out 7 years before I was born, after all!) Still, I know there is no excuse for not having watched the movie/read the book. I promise I'll get to it right after Harry Potter! In fact, if it looks like I'll be finishing up the 6 books with time to spare before the 7th comes out, I'll start reading it then (you've inspired me!)

I was just having a look at my ever-expanding TBR pile and thought I would post a note to remind myself what I consider to be my 'essential' reading for the rest of the year, because obviously I'm not going to get through the entire pile! I guess you could say that I'm setting myself a goal, and this being around the middle of the year, it seems like a good time to stop and take stock of the reading situation The lucky books to make it onto my short-list are: (drum roll, please...) Jane Austen: Emma So far, the only Austen I've read is Pride and Prejudice, which I absolutely loved. I haven't yet gotten around to reading any more of her work this year, :eek2: and I want to read this one the most. At this rate (setting myself a target of one book per year), it'll only take me 5 years to read them all! Ray Bradbury: The Small Assassin I bought several of his books recently, and it's been a while since I've read any of his work (actually, I've only ever read Fahrenheit 451, which I love). I chose this particular book solely because I've had it the longest Bill Bryson: A Walk In The Woods Again, I haven't read any of his books this year. I like to throw a funny, 'light' read in among the 'heavy' classics. Charles Dickens: Great Expectations I read my first Dickens last year (A Tale of Two Cities) and loved it. I think I'll enjoy this one too. Thomas Hardy: Far From The Madding Crowd I've been wanting to read this for so long! It'll be my first Hardy. Jack Kerouac: The Town And The City It's been over 18 months since I read my first (and last) Kerouac. He's a very unique writer and I'm really looking forward to reading this. Ken Kesey: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest I've been stubbornly refusing to watch the movie until I read this book! It'll probably be top of the list after I get through the Harry Potter books. JK Rowling: Harry Potter (Books 1-7) Does this really need an explanation? I want to re-read the first 6 books before the 7th comes out. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into them again after my current book (which seems never-ending, despite how much I'm enjoying it!) Bring on Harry Potter! John Wyndham: The Midwich Cuckoos I was going to go for The Chrysalids (being a dystopian novel - my favourite type of book ) but I think I should spread my dystopians out a bit more (I've already read 3 this year!) This sounds like a really good book, and I've been hankering to read more of his work since I read The Day Of The Triffids last year. I would really like to have put Jane Eyre on there, (I can't read The Eyre Affair until I've read this), but I think I'll run out of time. Poor old Vanity Fair has been put back again and again for so long, and I really want to read it A Confederacy Of Dunces will also be added to the list if I have time.

Being a big Beatles fan, I've read a LOT of biographies, both Beatles and solo. And they're not the same thing over and over, as you might expect. A lot of the authors bring a new perspective or have something different to tell. I read Gene Wilder's autobiography recently, and I have a biography of Graham Kennedy on my shelf. Other than that, I'm not too interested, although Richard Branson kind of intrigues me and I think it would be interesting to read one of his (he has more than one, right?)

I gave away a lot of my childhood books (Roald Dahl, Charlotte's Web etc). I wish I had kept them - I've been rebuilding my Roald Dahl collection and in the process have read some of his books that I never got around to when I was younger. I would like to track down Charlotte's Web again, and I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting. I have kept all my Baby-Sitter's Club book though They're packed up in a couple of boxes (I think I have over 150 of them or something). They're not classics, by any means, but I used to love reading them.

I don't have a particular aversion to reading online, but I do tend to only read short books on my computer or iPod because I do worry about eye strain a bit. I love Project Gutenberg. I've downloaded so many books from there (many of which I'll probably never get around to reading!) and they're easy to put on my iPod. I like the way your site is set up but seeing as I don't have net access on my laptop, and I'm still in the dark ages of dial-up at home, I probably wouldn't read books online that way. I like the uncluttered look of your website - the user doesn't have to wade through a ton of rubbish to find what they're looking for. When all is said and done, I still prefer to have a book that I can hold in my hands and turn the pages, and carry around with me (much like a security blanket ). So even though I can get the classics for free from Gutenberg, I tend to still buy them and read them that way.

I paid a visit to my local library on the weekend for the first time in about 7 years. I wanted to see if they had Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, because I want to read them but don't know if I want to invest all that money buying them. They only had about the last 5-6 books that were published. Looks like I'll be buying them after all! They had some other books there that I wouldn't mind reading but I couldn't find any books for a lot of the authors that I'm really interested in reading.

Well, I almost lasted a month without buying any books! And just when I was starting to get my TBR pile down a bit I just about cleaned all the Ray Bradbury's out of my local second-hand bookshop. I did originally intend on getting more, but I was strict with myself and only got 4 of his books instead of 7. Don't know I bothered - I'll probably go back and get the others soon enough Pierre Boulle: The Planet Of The Apes Ray Bradbury: Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury: The Golden Apples Of The Sun Ray Bradbury: S Is For Space Ray Bradbury: Something Wicked This Way Comes Daphne du Maurier: Jamaica Inn John Wyndham: The Kraken Wakes John Wyndham: Stowaway To Mars

I don't think I've ever cried during a happy ending, but I've certainly cried often enough at sad endings. I wouldn't go out of my way to avoid a sad book. I like a book that stirs up powerful emotions, and even though it might make me miserable, I think it's still a wonderful thing to be able to be moved that much by a book. Does that sound weird? Usually I'm at home when I read a sad ending, but I think that's usually a coincidence. If I'm in public and I sense a sad ending coming up, I would probably stop reading until I got home.

Hi Victoria and welcome! I know exactly how you feel. I have so many books at home waiting TBR (to be read) and so many more that I want to get. There just isn't enough time to read them all! You'll certainly get a lot of good recommendations from this group. I've been inspired to read books I never would have picked up before. You'll never be stuck for anything to read again. Are there any particular genres or authors you like?

No, I don't read the ending. The closest I've come was when I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time last year. I kept skipping ahead to all the Elizabeth/Darcy parts because I was desperate to see what happened between them (I had a pretty good idea how it was going to end, but I just wanted to see their interaction with each other). I do have a terrible tendancy to look ahead a few paragraphs or on the next page if I'm getting to a really good part of the book. I just sort of skim the text and read the good bit, then I have to go back and read the rest. It's really a struggle to keep on my eyes on the lines I'm supposed to be reading sometimes and I get very annoyed with myself for doing it Maybe I should cover the text with a piece of paper and slide it down. I know skipping ahead is going to be a problem when the new Harry Potter book comes out. This discussion brings to mind a quote from When Harry Met Sally:

I finished Through The Looking-Glass a couple of days ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Next up on the classics list will probably be One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, but first I need to start re-reading the Harry Potter books in preparation for the release of the final novel next month. I was going to leave it until the beginning of July to start reading them (they're light reading so it shouldn't take long to get through them) but I really want to start on them soon so after the Stephen King novel (Different Seasons) that I'm reading right now, I might get through a couple of HPs and then start on Kesey's novel.

Through The Looking-Glass Lewis Carroll (ebook on iPod) Rating: 8/10 Published: 1871 Number of pages: 224 ISBN: 0486408787 Summary (taken from Wikipedia and slightly altered by me): Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, although it makes no reference to its events. In it, there are many mirror themes, including opposites, time running backwards, and so on. Whereas the first book has the deck of cards as a theme, this book is loosely based on a game of chess, played on a giant chessboard with fields for squares. Most main characters met in the story are represented by a chess piece, with Alice herself being a pawn. The looking-glass world is divided into sections by brooks, with the crossing of each brook usually signifying a notable change in the scene and action of the story. Comments: It's a close call, but I think I enjoyed the sequel more than I did the original. Whereas in Alice's Adventures In Wonderland I found a couple of the characters to be irritating, in the sequel I found the characters to be more likeable and interesting to read. The humour is still present, as is Carroll's wonderful play on words. I enjoyed the poetry more in this one as well - in particular, The Walrus And The Carpenter. A very good read and highly recommended if you've read (and enjoyed) Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. Started: 10 June 2007 Finished: 10 June 2007 Through The Looking-Glass (at librarything.com)

Glad I'm not the only one who was into The Baby-Sitters Club! I also read quite a few Goosebumps books, and Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew mystery novels. More recently, there's been Harry Potter, of course, and I think that's about it. Series I own but have yet to read: Chronicles Of Narnia by CS Lewis Nursery Crimes by Jasper Fforde Series of five fantasy novels by Julia Gray Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams (read the first and I think I left off during the second one) The Complete Father Brown stories by GK Chesterton And I really would like to start on the Discworld series one day.

The Age Of Chaos (Book 3 of the Unbalanced Earth trilogy) Jonathan Wylie Rating: 8/10 Published: 1989 Number of pages: 352 ISBN: 055213418X Summary (taken from blurb): On the southern continent, history has reached a turning point, and the struggle for the future is reaching its climax. Now that Gemma has at last come to terms with the powers within her, and the role she has to play, she believes that it is possible for her to change what is to come, and thus avert the terrible devastation threatened by the Age of Chaos. With Arden at her side once more, and aided by a force that includes the meyrkats, the people of the Lightless Kingdom and the Undergound, Gemma faces her ultimate battle. Comments: Another good read. See the review of Book 2 for my comments about this trilogy. Started: 4 June 2007 Finished: 10 June 2007 The Age Of Chaos (at librarything.com)