Talisman

Slightly warmer than yesterday, but still very cold. I don't tend to feel it as much as other people though, as I spend so much time running around where I work.

I will bear it in mind. The title sounds interesting.

That's great news - especially for the book sellers, and of course the authors.

We are having a nice veggie shepherds pie tonight made with red lentils and onions with whatever veggies we have in the fridge.

I don't see why not - as long as the book is set in Wales. I will take a look and see if it's available on Kindle.

I have had a busy few days at work now that my grumpy ex colleague has gone. I don't mind though as it so much nicer without him. They are advertising for a replacement who will I am sure be appointed in due course. The rest of the maintenance team have agreed though that as from Monday next week we will have a box in our tea room and every time someone mentions his name they have to put a pound coin in the box. At the end of the year the money will be used for all of us to go to the nearest pub, which happily is less than 5 minutes walk away. It might be quite a party. I must admit that it gave me great pleasure to see his keys hanging up on the hook on Monday. It gave me even greater pleasure to clear out all the rubbish that he left behind in our housekeeping storage shed.

Minus 6 when I got to work this morning. I don't think it got far above 2 degrees all day. It was nice and sunny though.

I finished book no. 6 last night and will start no. 7 later on - Vince Cable's autobiography. It is more interesting than it sounds.

What an interesting book list you have there. Happy reading !

Sounds like a good day. Mine has been quiet by comparison, with a trip to Sainsbury's this morning while Coran did some work on a big website she is working on, followed by an afternoon of reading. I also booked an opera ticket for my trip to Malta in about 6 weeks (The Marriage of Figaro), which will soon come round. We are supposed to have heavy rain throughout much of tomorrow so I expect that will be a day of reading as well.

I completed my first new country of 2017 about half an hour ago from Azerbaijan, a country that is difficult to find books from, especially on Kindle. I get the feeling this is one that will stay with me for a while. Layla and Majnun is billed a classic tale of Persian literature, adpated from a late 12th Century poem penned by Nizami, a Sufi mystic born in what is now Azerbaijan. This is a beautifully crafted epic tale filled with passion and longing - a Persian Romeo and Juliet of star crossed lovers forced to be apart due to tribal feuding. The two characters Layla (the woman) and Majnun (the man - the word means madman in the ancient Persian language) are a Sufi representation of the soul's yearning to return to God. The son Layla by Eric Clapton was apparently inspired by this tale. This is the sort of book that anyone who is interested in mysticism or indeed ancient Persia needs to read.

I finished my 5th book of the year about half an hour ago and I get the feeling this is one that will stay with me for a while. Layla and Majnun is billed a classic tale of Persian literature, adpated from a late 12th Century poem penned by Nizami, a Sufi mystic born in what is now Azerbaijan. This is a beautifully crafted epic tale filled with passion and longing - a Persian Romeo and Juliet of star crossed lovers forced to be apart due to tribal feuding. The two characters Layla (the woman) and Majnun (the man - the word means madman in the ancient Persian language) are a Sufi representation of the soul's yearning to return to God. The song Layla by Eric Clapton was apparently inspired by this tale. This is the sort of book that anyone who is interested in mysticism or indeed ancient Persia needs to read.

It definitely influences my reading. I very rarely read any books that are more than about 500 pages long. It takes a pretty special book to tempt me to read it when it is longer than that, as it just takes too long. In my experience, a lot of these doorstep books are filled with unnecessary narrative anyway that doesn't really add much to the story and I end up just skimming through a lot of it. I prefer a book that I can focus and concentrate on that holds my attention and that is usually shorter books. About 350 pages is the average for me, although of course it does depend on the subject and the writer. Non fiction tends to be longer.

Definitely. I have had enough doom and gloom to last a lifetime lately, so it's time to be a bit more positive. I made it in just after 9am. It was important for 2 reasons really - to make sure that a certain person really did leave, to give him his leaving present and to attend some training for new managers. All three were I am pleased to say achieved and I learnt a lot from all three as well. That really made me laugh as I felt like doing exactly that and I don't think I was the only one. I would have taken the rest of the maintenance team to the pub to celebrate were it not for the bad weather and the fact that he was likely to be in there himself! I will treat myself to something nice over the weekend instead. As for T shirts, it was thermals here this morning. I finally got to work just after 9am. It normally takes about 20 minutes but it took twice as long today because of all the snow and ice. I had to keep swerving to avoid all the branches in the road that had been bought down by the weight of the snow and there were patches of ice everywhere which made getting above 20 mph difficult. It was fine once you got to the main road, but of course the country roads where I live were a different story, as none of them are gritted. It was worth it though not only for the training which was brilliant, but also to see his ugly mug for the last time.

I finished my 4th book of the year last night - The Dark Net by Jamie Bartlett. This was a series of interviews really with people who either buy things from or in some way earn their living from the dark net, which also goes into detail about what it is and how it operates. Very interesting reading indeed but also quite disturbing in some places.

We had quite a lot of snow last night - I was lucky to get home when I did as a lot of the roads were closed around here last night. Poor Coran got stuck for about 3 hours trying to get home from Putney in London. I am waiting for it to get a bit lighter before I see if I might be able to get to work, at the moment though it doesn't look too hopeful. I want to try though as I am meant to be doing some important training today and I need to also give a certain person his leaving present.

It started snowing here just before 5pm and hasn't stopped since. We have several inches of the stuff and my chances of getting to work tomorrow morning look pretty slim unless the temperature goes up and it starts to rain.

What a horrible start to the year Kell. I hope you and the fmaily feel better soon. I am trying to get as much work done as possible this week before my colleague leaves on Friday. Up until my promotion he was paid about £1000 a year more than me because of his so-called extra responsibilities, one of which was maintaining our COSHH (control of substances hazardous to health) sheets. It transpired though that a lot of the areas that need these don't have them, and those that do have them are for the most part not up to date. Some have not been updated since 2012, which is really not brilliant at all, as these things are a legal requirement. I have then been trying to get as many up to date as possible - a mammoth task when there are 30 or 40 different products that we use in so many different areas of the site. I will I admit breathe a huge sigh of relief though when Friday rolls round and will not be sorry at all to see the back of him. It will mean more work for me in the short term until they find a replacement, but in the long term it is a fantastic opportunity to start from scratch as a new Manager myself with a brand new hand picked team.

You never know. Personally I find it hard to understand why a lot of people still insist on reading only paper books. For me eBooks are so much easier - I mean, why buy loads of paper books that have to be stored and carried around when you can store over 3000 eBooks on one simple lightweight device. To me it just doesn't make sense, but of course it's each to their own. I know a lot of people feel that eBooks do not compare with the look and feel of a paper book, but you do get used to it. Personally the only paper books I now buy are reference books such as travel guides and so on.

I wasn't that impressed with Rogue One when I saw it Virginia, but of course it does add to the story. Eventually when all the Star Wars films have been released we will sit down and watch them all in sequence (i.e. 1,2,3 etc) as opposed to the order in which they were released. Yesterday Coran and I went into Guildford to stock up on Lush goodies among other things. There wasn't an awful lot of Christmas stuff left, but I managed to get a few half price soaps at least and we had a nice lunch in Pizza Express. I also got a few pairs of winter trousers for work, as it is getting colder now and a guide book for my trip to Malta at the end of February, as I need to start reading up on what to see and do. Coran is going to try and get her tax done this morning, so it will be a quiet morning for me reading (terrible I know), and then this afternoon we are going to see The Nutcracker Ballet. It is one of those live feeds from London, which is so much better than dragging all the way up there. I am not sure which ballet company it is, but The Nutcracker is always good to watch.

You will enjoy the Ragnar Jonasson book. I have just bought one of his books, the fourth in the Dark Iceland series.

I have quite a bit of money on my Amazon account at the moment thanks to gift cards earned from various survey and cashback sites, so I have put them to good use downloading some books from more obscure countries that have been on my wish list for a while. I am about to go and have another look and see if any of them have been reduced today, as you never know your luck.

That#s fine with me Athena - and yes, I am very happy with the progress I am making. I expect to make further inroads this year as well.

January A Gift from Bob: How a Street Cat Helped One Man Learn the Meaning of Christmas - James Bowen Dragon Games (The China Trilogy) - Jean-Philipp Sendker (China/Hong Kong) This Is London - Ben Judah The Dark Net - Jamie Barlett Layla and Majnun: The Classic Love Story of Persian Literature - Nizami (Azerbaijan) Free Radical: A Memoir - Vince Cable Rupture: Ragnar Jonasson (Iceland) Reading the Ceiling - Dayo Forster (The Gambia) All Fall Down: Mark Edwards/Louise Voss February Why Did You Lie - Yrsa Sigurdadottir (Iceland) Beyond the High Blue: A Memoir - Lu Spinney The Reader on the 6.27 - Jean-Paul Didierlaurent (France) A Man Was Going Down the Road - Otar Chiladze (Georgia) March Cape Verde Blues - CW Childs (Cape Verde) The Good Immigrant - Nikesh Shukla No Men, No Cry - Ligne Barauskaite (Lithuania) Behold the Dreamers - Imbolo Mbue (Cameroon) Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City - Matthew Desmond (United States) Senselessness - Horacio Castellanos Moya (El Salvador) The Golden Shower: Or What Men Want by Luka Novak (Slovenia) Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now? Ian Dunt April Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: Peter Pomeransev (Russia) Earth Weeps, Saturn Laughs by Abdulaziz Al Farsi (Oman) The Earth Hums in B Flat Major by Mari Strachan (Wales) Beloved Land: Stories, Struggles and Secrets by Gordon Peake (Timor Leste) The Sea Around Them by Gordon G Gautreau (St Pierre et Miquelon) By Night the Mountain Burns by Juan Tomas Avila Laurel (Equatorial Guinea) Impossible Journey: Michael Asher (Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Niger, Sudan, Egypt) The Descent of Man by Grayson Perry May Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot by Mark Vanhoanacker Behind Closed Doors: Kathryn Croft Quiet: The Power of Introverts - Susan Cain The Little Book of Tourists in Iceland - Alda Sigmundsdottir (Iceland) The Eagle Tree - Ned Hayes Barometer of Fear: An Insider’s Account of Rogue Trading and the Greatest Banking Scandal in History - Alexis Stenfors Broken Glass: Alain Mabanckou (Zaire) June The Jesus Man: Christos Tsilkas (Australia) Night: Elie Wiesel (Romania) The Twin: Gerbrand Bakker (Netherlands) Shadows Before Dawn: Teal Swan The State is Out of Date: Gregory Sams Hillbilly Elegy: JD Vance (United States) July The Circle: Dave Eggers The Scroll of Seduction: Gioconda Belli (Nicaragua) The Transition: Luke Kennard Our Endless Numbered Days: Claire Fuller Helga's Diary: Helga Weiss (Czech Republic) The Poisonwood Bible: Barbara Kingsolver (United States/Zaire) August An Accidental Tourist: Jason Smart The No Spend Year: Michelle McGagh The Rosie Effect: Graeme Simsion (Australia) South of Forgiveness: Thordis Elva/Tom Stranger (Iceland/Australia/South Africa) A Streetcar Named Desire: Tennessee Williams (United States) The Legacy: Yrsa Sigurdadottir (Iceland) The Lucky Ones: Mark Edwards The Trans Partner Handbook - A Guide for When Your Partner Transitions: Jo Green Secrets of My Life: Caitlin Jenner (United States) Sky of Red Poppies: Zohreh Ghahremani (Iran) Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine: Gail Honeyman Naïve Super: Erlend Loe (Norway) September The Betrayers: David Bezmorgis (Latvia) Another Day in the Death of America: Gary Younge (United States) The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari: Robin Sharma The Jive Talker: Samson Kambalu (Malawi) Things Fall Apart: Chinua Achebe (Nigeria) 3096 Days: Natascha Kampuche (Austria) Attack of the 50 Foot Woman: Catherine Mayer Whiteout: Ragnar Jonasson (Iceland) A Life in Death: Richard Venables A Tunisian Tale: Hassouna Mosbani (Tunisia) Mans Search for Meaning: VIktor E Frankl October The Moonlight Palace: Liz Rosenburg (Singapore) After the Storm: Vince Cable How to Stop Brexit and Make Britain Great Again: Nick Clegg The Man in the High Castle: Philip Dick The Corruption of Capitalism: Guy Standing Walking the Nile: Levison Wood The Girls: Emma Cline Of Mice and Men: John Steinbeck November Kinder than Solitude: Yiyun Li (China) The Girl Who Beat Isis: Farida Khalaf (Iraq) The Doves Necklace: Raja Alem (Saudi Arabia) A Lullaby for No One's Vuk: Ksenija Popovich (Montenegro) Voices: Short Stories from The Seychelles: Glynn Burridge (Seychelles) The Girl Who Beat Isis: Farida Khalaf (Iraq) Sane New World: Ruby Wax A Course in Miracles Made Easy: Alan Cohen December The Good People: Hannah Kent (Ireland) Snare: Lilja Sigurdardottir (Iceland) The Psychopath Test: Jon Ronson Poverty Safari - Understanding the Anger of the Underclass: Darren McGarvey In Limbo - Brexit Testimonies from EU Citizens: Elena Remigi Under the Udala Trees; Chinelo Okparanta (Nigeria) On a Small Island: Grant Nicol (Iceland) The Shadow District: Arnaldur Indridason (Iceland) Outposts - Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire: Simon Winchester Equal Ever After - The Fight for Same Sex Marriage: Lynne Featherstone The Secret Life of Cows: Rosamund Young

As I start this thread I am about 15 percent through book no. 3 already. I managed 94 books last year, so am aiming for at least 90 again this year, which should hopefully be achievable. I read some great ones last year I have to say which were very mixed in a lot of ways - almost a third of them I believe were non fiction on various subjects. Of course I will also be continuing with the Around the World Reading Challenge, which I am now about two thirds of the way through. For this reason I will put the country the book is set in after the names of books that I use to help me finish the challenge. Around the World Reading Challenge 2016 2014 2013 2012 I thought I had a thread for 2015 as well, but can't seem to see it, so I will have to add the link for that later on.