Talisman

It's the first day of October tomorrow, and given the glorious weather we have experienced these last few days, that's very hard to believe. September has been a great month in terms of reading, having managed to get through 7 books. That is the most I have ever managed in one month. As the year goes on, I seem to get through more and more of them. The 7 titles I have read then this month are: In the Country of Men by Matar Hisham, Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson, A Rural Affair by Catherine Alliott, Throwaway by Heather Huffman, Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes, Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys and The Kindest Thing by Cath Staincliffe. It was a pretty close call, but the best books by far were Before I Go to Sleep and Into the Darkest Corner. Both are dark thrillers, one about a woman who has lost her memory and one about a woman in an abusive relationship. Thw worst by far was Throwaway - this book lived up to its name in as much as it deserves to be thrown away, as it is such complete and utter tosh. I only got it because it was free, and I won't be making that mistake again - there was no way I would have paid for it. I am almost sorry to say that it was and is everything that gives self publishing such a bad name. I have though read some great books written by authors (and set in) from many different places, so there have been far more highlights than lowlights. October starts off with a book set somewhere different again - That Summer in Ischia by Penny Feeny.

Both were brilliant - both the types of books where you actually feel that you are there, watching it all happen. I would recommend them both as thought provoking books that raise many questions, and hopefully some answers too !

Sounds right up my street, as an Icelandaphile (someone who loves anything Icelandic - and bear in mind that the Icelandic settlers were mostly Norwegian and brought their myths and religion with them) I totally 'get' the idea of trolls. Anyone who has see the Icelandic landscape would too, as some of those rocks really are very strange shapes, and and it can be pretty desolate in the interior !

Feel Up - Grace Jones/Bill Withers, depending on which version you prefer.

By checking to see who the publisher is on the books page - there are certain publishers like Lulu, Authorhouse and so on that you know are self publishers. I don't really understand why anyone would want to check this anyway though, as if the book interests you then it shouldn't matter if it is self published or not, the writing should be allowed to speak for itself. On the other hand, if you are specifically want self published books (or as they are sometimes called these days, independantly published books) then Amazon have their own Indie book store where you can find loads of them - if you subscribe to the Kindle newsletter you will get details of some of them in there.

I think you can, but I may have got that wrong.

I read this recently as well, and it is certainly one of the best books I have read this year. I never used to enjoy books like this, but I find that I am reading more and more crime fiction and thrillers these days. I will definately be looking out for more by this author.

What do you mean by book spam ?

That sounds quite good Chesil, I hadn't heard of this one, but I do love anything Scandinavian, so will keep an eye out for it too - of course the Scandinavian film (if you can call it that) I am looking forward to the most is the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It will be interesting to see how it compares to the Swedish originals, as I hear that the ending at least might be somewhat different. I just hope they don't ruin in by having American accents.

I finished Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes yesterday - the best book I have read by far this year and one that I suspect I will be thinking about for a long while to come. I am off to Cornwall tomorrow and have downloaded 3 more books to my not so new Kindle (I have had it for a whole month now) - The Kindest Thing by Cath Staincliffe, That Summer in Ischia by Penny Feeny and Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys - all very different books. I am not sure which one to start next, but I suspect it will be the Russian one, although The Kindest Thing sounds good, and is a subject quite close to my own heart - it is about a woman who helps her terminally ill husband to end his life and ends up being charged with murder.

You may not be able to 'flick', but there is a search facility.

I second this one - I am reading this book at the moment, and it is brilliant ! The other one I would recommend is Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson

Stevie Wonder - Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants

Stevie Wonder's Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants - one of his best, most underrated and very different works

My absolute favourite music wise has to be Stevie Wonder - to me the man is just pure genuius. He is an inspiration in so many ways, not only musically, but also in terms of his politics and the causes that he helps to support. Like others though, I like different types of music for doing different things. For working out I like modern dance music or 70's/80's disco, and for general relaxing, depending on my mood, jazz and/or classical. My tastes are pretty varied really, with heavy rock and country music about the only things I don't like. For reading though I prefer silence, so that I can concentrate fully on the words without distractions.

On the Wings of Love : Jeffrey Osborne

I have only had my Kindle for about 3 weeks, but have read 4 books on it during that time - if you look at my book list for the year you will see that at the beginning of the year it took me 2 whole months to read this much ! Like others I too find myself browsing the Amazon store for all sorts of books to read - it is just so easy to search for different types of books, bu genre, by author, or even by country, which for the most part would not be possible in a store, plus Amazon stock or can access every single book that is currently in print, which for obvious reasons a book store also cannot, hence the huge range of choice. I then have found myself looking at all sorts of different books that I would never have known about where it not for my Kindle -I have downloaded sample chapters from at least half a dozen other books in addition to the four that I have read, and while most of the free classic books do not necessarily appeal to me, have downloaded at least one non classic freebie. I used to think that Amazon were the bad boys when it came to their treatment of authors and publishers with their agressive stance on discounts and marketing, but with the Kindle, they appear to the authors best friend, with a very reasonable royalty structure, far better than you would ever get on print books, and NO middle men to pay meaning that for the first time, the independent author can stand alongside and compete equally with the big boys.

I feel exactly the same now I have one - I don't think I could go back to paper books now (aprt from certain types of non fiction) as e-books are just so much more readable and convenient.

Maybe it just wasn't published in the US, that's the most likely explanation.

It is also something to with the fact that there is no VAT on paper books.

Can't say that I have - but I will check it out on Amazon next time I log on.

I thought it was brilliant actually, and will definately look out for other books by this author. I won't say too much as you haven't read it yet, but I liked the way that so much of it was very true to life - I have met characters like Margot in real life, and could imagine such things actually taking place. Even though it was fiction, somehow it didn't seem that far fetched. I also liked the way that she blends the light and the dark aspects, as that to me is also very true to life - you can't have the one after all without the other !

Well, there is always me of course ! Am I allowed to say that ! Nice thread by the way ...

That doesn't necessarily mean a thing though Duncan - as we live in rip off Britain where everything costs more ! I haven't personally heard anything about a new Kindle yet, but if I was going to launch such a product, I would probably want to do it in the month before Christmas ...

If you really want to know about God Paun, I would recommend that you read the Conversations with God books by Neale Donald Walsch. The first book is quite slim from what I recall, but I should warn you that you won't want to stop there, but read the entire series. There are about 6 or 7 of them now, all of which are well worth a read. I can guarantee that you will learn a lot more from these about the nature of God/the Divine, whatever you choose to call it than you will from any version of The Bible and you won't ever look at things in the same way again !