Kylie

Two great reads! And I hope Wuthering Heights goes better for you this time around.

Aw, that's lovely. The great thing about a series of books (especially Harry Potter) is how you can thoroughly immerse yourself in the world for a long time. It's a bit weird coming back to reality then.

I think it looks pretty good, and I'm a fan of Michael Sheen too. I'll definitely check it out at some point!

Many of the stars of Gilmore Girls will be reuniting in early June! Hopefully the discussion panel will be put up on YouTube so we can all watch it. I wonder if they'll all discuss the possibility of a GG movie when they get together? The question will surely be asked by someone!

Ah, finally I know what that FB pic was all about! I don't think I'd be able to let one walk on me.

I've read about 80 pages of The Girl Who Played with Fire. Great so far.

You can never go wrong with re-reads of Harry Potter, can you? I'm well overdue for a re-read. I think I've still only read the last book once.

I wonder how they decided on Germany? I'm not sure why anyone would think that Australia would win, unless people just vote because of the novelty factor, and I just can't imagine Europeans doing that. I'm most interested to see how England votes regarding us. Probably last! I heard a snippet of our entry the other day and wasn't impressed, although I've seen good things said about it. Maybe I need to give it another chance. Or not. I don't care that much.

I finished Rebecca in the early hours of this morning. It has gone straight on to my list of all-time favourites. It was fabulous! I picked a good time to read it too. We're having rather a lot of rain here at the moment, which added to the novel's atmosphere. As mentioned above, I've now started reading (finally!) the second book in Stieg Larsson's trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire. When I recently ordered my colouring books, I also ordered a couple of other books (it helps to spread out the postage costs, you know ). I ordered The Diamond Chariot by Boris Akunin and A Red Herring without Mustard by Alan Bradley. The Diamond Chariot is #10 in Akunin's Erast Fandorin series, and I only have #1 (The Winter Queen) so far, which I haven't read, but I'm absolutely certain that I'll love it, so it doesn't matter that I've skipped ahead. A Red Herring without Mustard is the third book in Bradley's Flavia de Luce series. I read #1 (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie) recently and then bought #2 (The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag), which I hope to read soon. My Mum visited last week and I showed her my book jar. Then I asked her to choose my next book. She pulled out a slip, read it and said 'it has the same name as your cat!' to which I said 'Jasper Fforde!' Indeed, she had selected One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde. (For anyone who doesn't know, I did actually name my cat after Jasper Fforde. ) I've been very keen to get back to this series, so I was thrilled that Mum had chosen it.

I can't believe it either! I'm rather proud of myself *pats myself on my back* Definitely! It's a bit of a classic YA book. You probably don't have to read the rest of them if you don't want to (although I think they're all great). But you should definitely give The Giver a go. Aw, thanks! I think the bunting is really cute too. Thanks Athena! Having just finished Rebecca, I would say it's the biggest stand out for me so far. It was brilliant! I've also enjoyed discovering Jon Ronson (especially The Psychopath Test). Another stand out was the second book in Patricia Highsmith's Ripley series, called Ripley Under Ground. She's a wonderful writer and storyteller. Oh, and discovering Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series (starting with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie) was another highlight!

Thanks Muggles. Have the other two books in the Giver quartet become available yet? No, I haven't read Nightingale, or even heard of it for that matter. Who wrote it? I look forward to hearing your thoughts when you read it. Thanks Noll. Agreed! As my jar is only filled with my 'priority' reads, I'd be happy to choose from it all the time, but I keep getting sidetracked by other books! For instance, my Mum just read the first book in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy (which I've already read). She was talking about it to me throughout, which got me more excited to read the second book. Mum started on the second book straight after the first one, and I thought it'd be nice to sort of read along with her, although she's a faster reader and has more time to read than I do, so she'll finish it long before I do!

German novelist and 1999 Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass passed away last week. He was probably best known for The Tin Drum. Rest in peace. Also, I just read that Jonathan Crombie, who played Gilbert Blythe in arguably the best adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (the three miniseries from 1985 to 2000), died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage last week. He was only 48. So young!

Thanks everyone. And thanks for warning me that I'd get addicted! I stayed up until the wee hours of this morning reading Rebecca. I have around 100 pages to go. I've never wanted to be able to read faster so badly before. I'm desperate to know what happens! I finally got to the twist last night. I knew there'd be a big twist at some point, so I was wracking my brain the whole time trying to predict it...but I still didn't see it coming! I must admit that I flicked ahead to find it, but it was just a couple of pages away, so I really didn't ruin anything for myself. (And it took every ounce of willpower not to read ahead before I did!) I didn't realise you had tried to read it before! I can understand why you might be bored by the first couple of pages, because they basically describe the trees and plants lining a driveway (although I personally didn't mind it; I thought it set the scene quite nicely). I do hope you'll try it again one day because I think you'll really like it once you get past those pages (after all, all of your trusted friends seem to love it!). But I understand about you needing to be in the right mood for it. Forcing it might just backfire and make you dislike it again, and that would be awful (for both of us ). If it helps, I know you enjoyed Jane Eyre, and I think that's a really good indication that you'll like Rebecca. It looks like the two novels are often compared, and even before I knew that, I was noting similarities between the two while reading.

^ So much for that! When I said that I had 'started' Rebecca, I had literally read one page. Now I'm up to page 108. Totally hooked!

Ooh, well done you! You totally deserved to buy yourself a treat, and I thoroughly approve of all of your purchases!

* In my best brain-washing voice* Jooiinn uusss... Goodness me, I couldn't colour in cakes. It would just make me hungry for cake! And everything would have to be chocolate, so I'd wear out my brown pencil in no time. Perhaps you shouldn't read my review then.

I finished Haruki Murakami's Underground this morning. I don't often post reviews, but I have a lot to say about this book, so I'll be posting my thoughts at some stage. I started Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier this morning, but I won't have much time for reading in the next few days, so I'll probably make a proper start on it next week. I also picked up Secret Garden by Johanna Basford from the post office. It's lovely!

Yaaaay! I thought it'd be much later in the year.

I've seen photos of that lovely library before, but I didn't realise it was painted on the parking garage and not the library itself (although of course it makes sense now that you've mentioned it; otherwise how would people see out of the windows?! ) I think we should start a movement to petition all of our councils and governments to cover up our ugly parking buildings with pictures of books.

Hopefully it will be shown again for you one day!

I was going to say the Flavia de Luce books too, and then I remembered that someone on here (I thought it was you?) had already said it was being made into a series. I can't wait to see it! I'd also love to see the Rivers of London books made into a series. I'll look it up. I've seen it mentioned on the forum a bit lately. To be honest, the references to 'seasons' and 'episodes' keeps weirding me out. But I like it when authors do unusual things in books, so it might be right up my alley! I'd also like to see John Marsden's Tomorrow, When the War Began series made into a TV series. I'm glad they made the first one into a movie, but I always thought it would lend itself better to a TV series (with perhaps 2–3 episodes for each book).

Ooh, it's one of my favourites too! Such a stellar cast.

Emoticons culled. Aww... Indeed! Maybe. But I'm certain I would 'win' if we were to compare the number of recommendations (I mean, I bet you've recommended more to me than I have to you ). Uh oh! I probably wouldn't have a mortgage anymore! Oh dear! That's no good. I still have it on my TBR pile, so I'll probably read it one day. I made my Mum read it first (she likes that genre) and I remember she had a lot of trouble getting into it, but I think she enjoyed it by the end.

Fair enough. Sounds good to me! That sounds like one I should have heard of, given the location! Is it particularly scary? It's not a Wolf Creek-type story, is it? Ooh, I don't believe I knew that. Thanks for the info! Some of my favourite books (like Dickens' works) were serialised, so I'm glad they were paid by the word. (Although I know some people think they're too wordy for that reason.)

I just discovered that The Thirteenth Tale was made into a TV movie a couple of years ago. Has anyone seen it?