Talisman

Thanks - will have a look.

It was one of the better books I have read this year - very thought provoking.

Just back a few days ago from my summer holiday to the Isles of Scilly. I managed to get through 6 books during the 2 weeks, but only one more country - Hungary - The Door by Magda Szabo. This really struck a chord with me, as the book is about a writers relationship with her ageing housekeeper. Given the fact that I am a writer, and also a housekeeper in a nursing home, this gave me plenty to think about. I also completed another book from Saudi Arabia (a country that I have already completed) that others may be interested in - The Consequences of Love by Addonia Sulaiman.

My 5/5 are as follows: Veronica Roth: Divergent (reading this at the moment) Jojo Moyes: Me Before You Addonia Sulaiman: The Consequences of Love Magda Szabo: The Door Sofi Oksanen: Purge Yasmina Kadre: What the Day Owes the Night Roma Tearne: Mosquito Kishwar Desai: Witness the Night Lauren Oliver: Dilirium/Pandemonium

I had wondered whether I would lose any more weight while I was away with all the walking I did (about 8-9 miles most days), but it seems not. I was a bit of a gannet mind you, with ice creams and cream teas ! At least I didn't put any more on.

Some good suggestions there - some of which I have read already, the rest of which will be noted to see which are available on Kindle.

Just got back from my summer holiday to the Isles of Scilly, where I managed to get through 6 very different books - The Consequences of Love by Sulaiman Addonia (Saudi Arabia), Signs of Life by Anna Raverat, The Door by Magda Szabo (Hungary) - loved this one, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, Heart Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne and Outrage by Arnaldur Inridason (Iceland). The best by far was the Hungarian one, but I enjoyed all of them in different ways.

I wish there were more readers like you Andie ! Piracy issues aside, most authors prefer Kindle, as with self published books in particular, you can earn royalties of up to 70 percent as opposed to nearer 10 percent (if you are lucky) on a paper book. Kindle books are also cheaper to produce (no cover designer and no print costs and wholesaler fees to pay). Plus the fact that they are also not returnable, so you know that will not be lumbered with having to buy your own books back from greedy wholesalers and book shops if they order too many and don't sell them. Another big plus is that they are for the most part not lendable, meaning that if you want a copy you have to buy it. I estimate that I lost out quite a lot from so-called friends borrowing my book rather than buying it. I don't mind the odd one but I do mind when everyone does it ! If you wouldn't work for free, then I don't think you should expect an author to ...

And of course the wonderful thing about Kindle is the fact that you can download a sample chapter to help you do just that.

I have read 2 books so far this month - one set in India (Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai), and one in Scotland (The Panoptican by Jenni Fagan). Both are very different books but explore some interesting themes,the former female infanticide and honour killngs and the the latter problem teens, drugs and prostitution. Both quite gritty then, and definately not for the faint hearted. I am off to the Isles of Scilly for 2 weeks tomorrow and have downloaded 7 books for company, since the Wifi can be a bit iffy there - again all of them are different. 1) Outrage - Arnaldur Indridason (Iceland) -this is the 7th in a series of 8 so far published 2) The Door - Magda Szabo (Hungary) 3) The Conseqences of Love - Sulaiman Addonia (Saudi Arabia) 4) Signs of Life - Anna Raverat (England) 5) Me Before You - Jojo Moyes (England) 6) Heart Shaped Bruise - Tanya Byrne (England) 7) Divergent - Veronica Roth (United States) Not sure which one I will read first. I will have to see what I feel like when I get on the train tomorrow morning. If this weather carries on the way it has been, I may have to download some more as I won't get much walking done !

Why can't you make a load of money from it Bookerzman ? Because books are undervalued, and sold in most instances at discount, or even worse, given away for free. If you totalled up the number of hours it takes to write (not to mention edit, rewrite and proof read) the average book and divided the royalties earned from it by that number of hours, I would wager that you would find in most instances a salary of pennies per hour rather than pounds. Authors are without a doubt one of the lowest paid in the country, if not the world. It's a mugs game, but we do because its part of who we are, and our means of expressing ourselves. I went through that sad and angry phase just as you are in now, as I am sure most authors do, where you have that burning passion to get your message out there and change the world, but being angry doesn't do that and it certainly doesn't change the world either ! If you want to do that, then you have start witihin, in other words, with yourself. Fortunately both writing and publishing are very good places to start, if you can learn to view the challenges as just that rather than obstacles. I remember what someone famous once said - "I am not a failure because I didn't succeed, but a success because I tried". Hold on to that, and you will be fine.

The Power of Love - Jennifer Rush

Success stories such as what Ian mentions above are sadly the exception rather than the norm. The overwhelming majority of members of the Society of Authors earned less than £5000 from their writing last year - in fact from the authors that I know (and personal experience) even this is a high figure. I would say that at least 90 percent of authors need a 'proper job' in order to supplement their income (in fact it is reall more a question of their writing supplementing their income). Rags to riches stories do exist, but they are exceptionally rare. I would always advise any would be writer NOT to give up their day (or night) job. I have met a few authors in my time who have these as wel and write during the day. It wouldn't work for me as I need my sleep.

sister

Finished Portugal - Last Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier. I found this a very difficult and laborious read - not one of the best I have read this year.

Jungle Fever - Stevie Wonder

Shake Your Booty - KC and the Sunshine Band

My weight seems to be have stabilised for the momentat around 9 stone 5 lbs, which is still on the heavy side for someone of my height, but a good half stone less than I was at the beginning of the year. With my holiday a little over a week away, the thing I am most concerned with at the moment is avoiding wheat, as having got rid of all of my bloat, I want to make sure it stays that way!

My partner who is a website designer, uses a company called Krystal Hosting who will not only host your site, but can also register your name. They offer different packages depending on the level of service that you need - and of course if you need someone to design it for you, I know the perfect person !

Donwloaded 2 new ones today - Rumur - Boys Don't Cry and Sigur Ros - Valtari. Both very different.

Rumur - Boys Don't Cry - love it !

Completed Pakistan - Partitions by Amit Majmundar - another great read that I recommend. Now completed 48 out of 230 countries - not many left to go then !

I won't be !

They are still paying Amazon sellers fees. The books themselves might be a penny, but they are bumpin up the cost of postage to pay for those sellers fees, which stil go into Amazon's profits. If you can't afford new books then why not try charity shops, at least that way the money is going to a good cause. Or what about borrowing from the library? They can always order books for you if they don't have what you want.

Yes it is true - although they are based in Luxembourg rather than Jersey. It was I believe a topic of discussion on this weeks Panorama, which I have not got round to watching yet. Sadly, not much about Amazon surprises me, and this I suspect is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to theirs (and others) dodgy dealings. I love the way that this book shop has turned it round though - it will be interesting to see if it works.