Kylie

I was snoozin' on the lounge today when the sound of the postie throwing a parcel onto my door mat woke me up. I knew it would be (at least) one of the books I ordered, so I dragged myself off the lounge (I wouldn't have woken up for anything else!) Happily, two of the books I ordered had arrived together: Boris Akunin The Winter Queen Hunter S Thompson Gonzo Letters Vol. 3: Songs of the Doomed Even though I was tired and wanted to go back to sleep, I of course took the time to open my packages and stroke my new books. Literally. The cover of The Winter Queen is gorgeous, and it has a strange sort of softness to it which I love! And to make it even better, it has floppy' binding, which means I can open the book so it's practically flat without worrying about breaking the spine. That's so rare in a book of this size! I was thrilled. If I get around to reading this book this year (which I fully intend to), it will surely be a strong contender for the 'best book cover' at the end-of-year BCF Book Awards. I can't imagine anything beating it! Enough gushing. I have most of the books that Hunter S Thompson ever wrote, including three of the four Gonzo Letters volumes, so I'm really happy to finally have the volume I've been missing! The others were just ones that I picked up over time, and the covers don't necessarily make it clear that they're part of a set, so it was a while before I put together the pieces and realised I had several volumes of a series and was missing one. I bought this from the BD after they informed me that the price had dropped. It had already been really cheap for a while, but then it dropped even further, and I couldn't resist the ridiculously cheap price!

I've probably just talked about wanting to read it a lot (like I do with many books!) I wasn't sure if you had read it either, so I checked on Goodreads (before I read your post above, obviously) and found it on your wishlist. I really think you'll enjoy The Psychopath Test! It's right up your alley because it's about mental health and criminals. It's also a really fast and easy read, and a bit funny in places. I'm sure you won't regret bumping it up your list! I only have a couple of chapters left to read. I have around four other books by Jon Ronson on my TBR pile. I can't wait to read them all now! In other book activity, I received a couple of books in the mail today. I'll post details in my reading log later.

Great reviews, Noll. You're having an excellent reading year, aren't you?! So glad that you're spending more time with us on the forum, too.

Sounds like fun! Isn't it such a satisfying feeling when you work on a project like that and see the information filling up? I think I'm a bit nerdy like that.

Latest episode of The Walking Dead. OMG.

Yep, it's happened with me and the BD too, Steve. But it recently worked in my favour! I had Cocaine Blues by JG Ballard on my wishlist for ages, and the cover had a sort of multi-coloured strip, which matched most of the other Ballard books I own. Then one day I checked my wishlist and the cover had changed to a different, uglier cover. Then the book went on sale and I thought I might as well buy it because I thought I had missed my chance to get the edition I really wanted. But when it turned up, it was the edition with the coloured strip! I was thrilled.

I haven't heard of Loot Crates or Nerd Blocks before. What a great idea! They look like a lot of fun. Ready Player One sounds great. I look forward to your thoughts on it.

Thanks guys and gals. I did a quick search on IMDB before asking, but I guess I didn't browse far enough (I just checked the titles in the main drop-down menu). Glad to see that Simon Pegg is involved; I had forgotten that he played Scotty, so it was a nice 'surprise' when I was watching. What a cool dilemma for JJ Abrams to have: Should I direct Star Trek or Star Wars?

A TV channel showed Star Trek (2009) in tribute to Leonard Nimoy, so I watched it (not for the first time). Does anyone know if there's another ST movie in the works?

I started The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson today and I'm already one-third of the way through it. It's so hard to put down! I finished one chapter and thought 'I'll just read a page or two of the next chapter', and before I knew it I had finished that one too. Excellent book!

Thanks Athena. Yep! When you go into your wishlist, there are two settings at the top. Check the box that says 'Email me when prices drop'. I think they just do it when prices drop by a certain amount (otherwise I'd be getting emails every day because of fluctuations in the exchange rate).

Around 36 degrees today, but it cooled down nicely in the afternoon. I had high hopes for a thunderstorm and lots of rain, and it was showing on my rain radar that it was heading my way, but we had one measly clap of thunder and a few drops of rain and that was it. Phooey.

We both need to practice more self-control then. I'm not a lost cause yet (and I don't think you are, either!) but I do have to be more self-disciplined for at least the next month or so. I love that you and Poppyshake keep denying responsibility when there's evidence all over this forum that proves you both wrong! Oh dear, she'll be most upset if her source of so many excellent books (and gift wrap) dries up! And I don't want to be blamed for that! No, you'd best keep doing things as you have been. I'll just have to try harder to resist (or work harder to earn more money to keep buying books ).

Oh dear, that's awful. I feel your pain. I'm glad they're replacing it for you though. I have The Winter Queen winging its way to me at the moment. I do hope I get the right cover! I've had one or two arrive with different covers before, but luckily I haven't minded in those cases.

I started reading The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson today. I was pretty sure I would love it, and sure enough I became completely engrossed and had to tear myself away after the first chapter so I could get back to work. This is the type of book that I just want to drop everything to read. I've already laughed out loud several times (but in a guilty sort of way).

Thanks Claire. Although Poppyshake is right (see her first line below)...You are actually to blame for some of my purchases too! Don't think I haven't noticed that some of the my recent acquisitions are books that you originally reviewed and sent her way! Thankfully Poppyshake is currently reading an Agatha Christie that I have already read, but that won't hold her long. I'll only be safe for a day or so, I think! I suppose I could ask the BD not to email me when books on my wishlist have become cheaper, but that seems counterproductive. When I see an email arrive titled 'Wishlist book price drop alert...', I immediately drop everything I'm doing and open it excitedly. I haven't dared to click on the link to Piggly Plays Truant yet. It sounds very cute and might be too enticing, even if it is a children's book.

I think the relationships in the Harry Potter books are very different to 'real world' relationships. They went through so many huge and life-altering events together that I think it's absolutely natural that their strong school relationships would continue well into adulthood. And even putting aside their experiences, it seemed to be the same for the generations before them, like members of the Order of the Phoenix had been friends for many years, and some since high school. Maybe it's because the magical world is smaller than the muggle world, but I think their relationships are generally stronger and longer lasting than ours.

I've read 9 books so far this year, which is far less than some of you, but I'm a little ahead of my target of 50 books, according to Goodreads. Secretly, I hope to read at least 52 books this year, but I had to make my goal 50 because it is a nice round number. Two of those books were ebooks, and therefore not on my TBR pile. After buying zero books in January, I fell off the wagon this month (this seems to be a regular thing each year with me). I mostly blame Poppyshake for her wonderful reviews and the Book Depository for sending me emails telling me books on my wish list had dropped to irresistibly low prices. I ended up buying 13 books (only 11 have been added to my TBR pile, as two are reference books). Also, I'm still waiting for three of them to arrive. So, having read 7 books off my TBR pile and added 11, my pile has increased from 1995 to 1999. I cannot let it get over 2000! I think I can be disciplined this month because I have received/will be receiving some lovely books to keep me away from the temptation of buying more. For the month ahead, I'll be reading Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (for a group read), more of Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I don't have plans beyond that because the latter two books are rather long, but I might squeeze in another lighter read if I can.

You appear to be having a fabulous reading year, dear Poppyshake! That's an impressive-looking list of 'read' books on page 1 of your thread! And I'm pleased to see lots of purple and green but thankfully no blue. Long may it continue! Given the popularity of Murder on the Orient Express, it probably goes without saying that I rank it 'up there' with my favourites of hers. I can't remember if you've read any Dorothy L Sayers, but I was looking up her books at the Book Depository recently (Chrissy's fault) and I was disappointed to see that none of her books have been given lovely modern makeovers like the beautiful Agatha Christie series that you and I both own. In fact, they're all rather ugly covers. (Sorry to go off on a bit of a tangent, but the pic you posted got me thinking about the covers. )

I managed to see some of it! It was a poor batting effort by the Australians, and it looked like we would be thrashed, but then it ended up being such a close game!

Glad you enjoyed it. It's a gem, isn't it? How's The Rosie Effect going? I finished The Humans today. Excellent book. I've gone back to Guns, Germs and Steel, but it's not a book I can read it chunks, so I'll intersperse it with Sonnets from the Portuguese and perhaps pick up Rebecca in the next couple of days.

Great news! I'll be adding this to my wishlist for sure. Thanks Claire!

Ooh, I'd very much love to read that!

Just finished watching the season finale of How to Get Away with Murder. Excellent!

I started reading my edition the other day. I only read the first sonnet and the introduction (not in that order ), but I wanted to mention that it might be a good idea to have a little background knowledge of Elizabeth Barrett Browning before diving into the poems. I think it will be a little easier to analyse her poems then. My edition dates back to the 1930s or thereabouts, and I'm not sure what sort of introduction more recent editions have, if any. Wikipedia has plenty of information.