Ben

The 18,000 words+ of extensive back-story sounds interesting though..

Thanks again, so nice of you to be giving these out for free.

That doesn't surprise me in the slightest; I think I might get myself a copy or something like it at some point in the future.

I'm entirely agreed on this one. In comparison to watching Nadal, Federer and Djokovic so far, who have ran through their opening matches with ease. Like I said though, we'll have to wait for the second week to see how Murray responds to some 'real' tests after all. I felt so sorry for Heather, thought she looked entirely like she would win after the first set. Laura was wonderful, but has a much bigger test this afternoon against Maria Sharapova, really looking forward to that one. I do hope Laura manages some sort of miracle to pull off a victory, but it's unlikely if we're honest. Ah well, time to toddle off and watch Novak who seems to be managing quite easily in his second match against Anderson.

Welcome to the forum. I'll be studying English Literature at university come September, so it's refreshing to hear you're enjoying it. In any case, hope to see you around the forums in discussion, and welcome once more.

Hello and welcome to the forum; I'm sure you'll absolutely love it here.

I really enjoyed that match today, Venus really tested but showed the calibre of a champion, like you would expect. I've found myself feeling like the woman's tennis is a lot more competitive at the moment, in comparison to the men's. All the top four seeds have looked relatively comfortable, Murray and Nadal both winning in straight sets with ease today, but in the woman's competition, there seems to be a little more competition. Although Zvonareva looked comfortable in straight sets today, she had a much tougher match against Alison Riske in the first round. I'm certainly not complaining though, excellent to watch. I'll be honest, the Brits have looked impressive so far, aside from the normal bunch that don't manage to pass the first round. It was fantastic to see young Laura Robson come from a set down to fly through to the second-round; something she has failed to do in her two previous Wimbledon contests. Also Heather Watson was unlucky to not progress, as she put on a fantastic display of defensive tennis to hold back her Mathilde Johansson of France, taking the first set. Unfortunately, perhaps due to injury, she couldn't quite finish the match off in the end. Last but not least, Andy Murray. He's looked brilliant so far with his two comfortable victories, but we'll have to wait until the second week to see if he's got the calibre to win this.

Hope things are okay for you and get back to normal soon.

Oh my Chrissy, this sounds like a wonderful thing to own, although after my frustrations with Middle English this year I'd be avoiding that for a while.

I haven't read any Proust before, but always wanted too; any idea where I should start?

I'll take Angels Flight if nobody is interested, Inver.

Hey James welcome to the forum; I do hope you take a part in discussion across the boards.

I noticed that, but then again there's always an aura around Wimbledon that no other tennis tournaments produce; even non-tennis fans know of and sometimes watch this one. As for the comment on upsets, I'm not sure I want to see some in terms of the top male players; the quality of tennis they produce is too good to watch. Although saying that, I would love to see Murray reach the final, and the route through to the final means he'll be coming up against Nadal in the semi-finals if they both get that far, that is. Rodger looked very tough in his opening match today, even if he will need to step up his game in order to match Novak, who looked even more formidable today. It's going to be a sensational tournament if everyone starts playing their best tennis, as the power four players look really up for this. Of course with Wimbledon though, who knows what's going to happen. Kicking back to see what Maria Sharapova can serve up against her fellow Russian opponent Chakvetadze this evening, whilst obviously keeping an eye on the Isner verses. Mahut game, which last year of course was a phenomenal marathon battle between the two big servers. Hopefully this one won't quite hold out this long, but after Isner has taken the first set on a tie-breaker, who knows.

I'm always a little pedantic in that I want to read the books in order, even if they can be read as stand alone titles, so I do agree that it is a shame about the translations.

Hope you have a wonderful day of book shopping Frankie, I think that's one of everyone's favourite pastimes on here.

Interesting you should mention this series, as I was looking at it just the other day. Pullman's His Dark Materials series is one of my favourite, ever, but strangely I have never bothered to check up on any of his other work, such as the Sally Lockhart series that you've talked about here. One of my best friends absolutely adores this series, and I have promised him that at one stage I will get around to reading it. Seeing your comments has prompted me to remember to check them out, so thank you.

Fantastic opening day to Wimbledon, enjoyed watching most of today's action. Nadal looked impressive after the opening set tiny wobble, which did nothing but detract from the inevitable straight-sets emphatic win on centre-court. In the woman's tennis typically Venus breezed through her opening round, but I certainly enjoyed the underdog Alison Riske battle it out against second seed Zonareva this afternoon; Riske lost the first set 6-0 and it looked like she wouldn't be on the court much longer, but she remarkably battled back in a three-set thriller in which the Russian star Zonareva only managed to drag out a victory: an admirable effort from the American, Riske. I could go on, but of course I'll mention Andy Murray's opening efforts today. Everyone sighed when he lost his first set 6-4, but after coming back to win the second 6-3, that was the end of the match: two further sets without dropping a game, 6-0, 6-0. He looked strong and up for it after the early scare so it'll be interesting to see what he brings out of his locker this tournament. In any case it's been a good opening day, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the competition.

I enjoyed The Redbreast and have a few more of Nesbo's work waiting on my to-be-read pile. I do agree with your view that it was an excellent read, though; I enjoyed it immensely.

Bright and blue skies at the gate opening. I am so looking forward to this, Wimbledon always gets everyone excited and rightly so.

Well I'm not even eighteen yet and on a rough estimate I'd say around 270 actual books, Kindle excluding - which is over a hundred but it's too easy to rack up a lot of books on there quite quickly. I hope one day to own thousands of books and have a nice collection in a library that I am determined to own. Seen as though I don't have much room at the minute this is a fantasy hope for the future, but looking around at all my books I am quite proud of what I have so far.

Right I have definitely been missing out on this one, time to get to get Emotional Geology on the wishlist, it looks interesting and seems to be highly praised on here.

Not the biggest of Twilight fans then, Inver? Got to admit I'm with you on that one; shoddy writing, and much better books out there that deserve the attention.

I've been meaning to get hold of this for months now; really does look fantastic. I'm hooked on the golf US Open at the moment, watching Rory McIlroy make history and can't take my eyes off the screen.