Chrissy

Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instrument series; 'City Of Bones', 'City Of Ashes', 'City of Glass'. Great read! Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series; 'Magyk', 'Flyte', 'Physik', 'Queste' and 'Syren'. They are original and beautifully written books. Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy; 'Northern Lights', 'The Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass'. Fabulous books. Strangely all three are considered Young Adult, but I think the subject matter and the depth with which they have been written make them just very good books, irregardless of their intended demographic.

What a wonderful present! You must be chuffed to bits. I loved the Book Of Lost Things, and am planning on working my way through his other books in 2011, you'll be way ahead of me now. All signed too! Excellent stuff!

There's a distinct possibility that this may be my New Year present from Me to Me! Amazon may already have my order pending! *walks away whistling*

OOo, a Christmas mystery about to be resolved.... ......*gets cup of tes and settles in to VF's thread to await the answer to an eternal Crimbo question*

Julian Rathbone is a good writer, and has many books available. I have read three of his historical novels; 'The Last English King', 'A Very English Agent' and 'Kings Of Albion'. Bill Bryson is always a popular read, and I can recommend Mark Wallington's '500 Mile Walkies' and 'Boogie Up The River'. These two are humourous travelogue. Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series of books are brilliant, and for horror I think most would give Stephen King a go. Good luck finding some authors and titles he'll like.

James Patterson's books are pretty readable, and he has written so may, you could definitely pick up a few more by him. Nelson De Mille is a very good writer, I can always recommend Jeffrey Deaver (although he can be pretty descriptive of the crimes). All three are writers of taut crime/ thriller books with well drawn characters. I would suggest that where they are part of a series, you start with the earliest to catch the development of the characters. A site such as Fantastic Fiction is a great site that will tell you in which order to read them.

That's way, way, way beyond contented. with bells on!

I snorted and coughed when I read this! I think there are many on the forum who feel the same way about their buying of special books though.

The Lord Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy L Sayers make terrific reading, and date from the 1920's. Definitely worth a read.

Phew! Disaster avoided. Anyway, what's this slack attitude about reading 333 books? We both know that Kylie will have bought and read at least that many by the new year.

A lovely Jane Austen inspired Google today - can't you just feel all those suppressed emotions?

You've got to turn those numbers upside down! 333, that's how many books you have to read asap to get to keep your booksoul! Quick, get off the computer and read some short books!!!!!!

Drops...

My understanding of Christian belief is that Christ had to be 'betrayed' by Judas and crucified/sacrificed in order that he die and rise again, therefore opening the gates to Heaven. If the betrayal had not taken place, then the greater 'result' could not and would not have therefore been enabled. I see the parallels here with Edmund as Judas, enabling Aslan to be sacrificed, die and be reborn stronger and more powerful. Edmund's understandable and very human weakness when faced with the White WItch is essential to Aslan's plans. Without it the White Witch would likely not be ultimately defeated. I recall in the film version of the book, that in the opening scenes Edmund chases into his house from the family bomb shelter in order that he save a framed photograph of their father. He is roundly told off, as this takes place during an air raid, but it does give an insight into his later behaviour, rather than allowing us to believe that he is just being a brat.

Describe yourself: The Tapestry Of Love (Rosie Thornton) How do you feel: Syren (Angie Sage) Describe where you currently live: City Of Bones (Cassandra Clare) I actually do live right next to a graveyard! If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Too Close To Home (Linwood Barclay) Your favourite form of transportation: Therapy (Sebastian Fitzek) Your best friend is: The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown) You and your friends are: The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe (CS Lewis) Guess who the witch is! What's the weather like: Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) You fear: The Hobbit: (JRR Tolkein) What is the best advice you have to give: Fear The Worst (Linwood Barclay) Thought for the day: Tell Tale (Sam Hayes) How I would like to die: Being Dead (Jim Crace) My soul's present condition: City Of Glass (Cassandra Clare) This was quite tricky, as my reading mojo has been so erratic this year. Remembering what I had read was the second problem!

BBC news.

Happy to close this thread Pixie. It will join our 'Past Book Log/List' section.

I started and finished 'Witch And Wizard', a young adult book by James Patterson. With my 2010 constantly wavering mojo I have really struggled, so it's been great to have an occasional quick but good read, an YA books seem to fit the bill. A fast paced, well described story that delivers the book's concepts with clarity and humour. I am looking forward to getting the next book in the series. I have been quite crictical of James Patterson's books in recent years, especially his collaborations, but this time the formula has worked well.

Despite having many, many books still waiting to be read on my TBR mountain, when I was given this recently (it apparently came free with a paper) I decided to read it straight away. I only have about 50 pages to go, and so far have really enjoyed the fast paced action, the rapid but seamless throwing-in of concepts into the story and the characters. I'll edit to include my thoughts once I've finished, but I'd say this is an absorbing and well described story.

I think that was my reading of it, and of course Edmund's behaviour put him straight into her remit. It's only this later, and somewhat more analytical reading of the story that I noticed how this episode isn't explained in any depth, but is a 'given' within the story. I would assume that this is because this is meant as a way into Aslan's sacrificing of himself.

The Addams Family. I love this daft film!

Walking On Sunshine ~ Katrina And The Waves

Criminal Minds. An early one with the fabulous Mandy Patinkin. *swoon*

In all fairness frankie, I think most if us blame Kylie! I know there are a number of book logs I have to actively avoid when I'm a bit poor ~ some reviews just cry out and insist on a purchase. Why can't I be happy with a wishlist instead? OK, I'm going to do a very quick cursory count on the books in this room, right now that are awaiting my time....187 I can see from where I'm sitting in this little room. I haven't included the hardcover classics upstairs that I plan on explorin, nor the books on the shelves in the room next to this one that I want to read for the first time. *GULP* That is as far as I am prepared to go with counting what I cosider to be the uncountable! Adding them together only leads to lost mojos and frantic choosing.

Frankie blames Kylie!