BrainFreeze

Ooo yes another good one! His wife is great as well - Faye Kellerman. I'll shut up now...

In order they are; Final Jeopardy Likely To Die Cold Hit The Deadhouse The Bone Vault The Kills Entombed Death Dance Bad Blood Killer Heat The main character is a Manhattan prosecutor called Alexandra Cooper. Linda Fairstein herself was an assistant district attorney and head of the sex crimes unit so she really knows her stuff.

I've never heard of this book but will hunt it down. It sounds fascinating! I first read The Diary of Anne Frank when I was 11 and have read it many times since. It touched me when I first read it and everytime since. I can see why some people think the way they do (reading through some of the replies) but for me, it was one persons - one childs - account of life in a horrific time. It gave a first hand account that the vast majority of people will never understand. It was touching, moving and in places, yes, I do agree she could seem a little self-indulgent but I doubt anyone would hold that against her considering how hard it must of been to live like that, with the constant fear, dread and wondering.

There's also Fractured which is now part of a new series starting with Triptych. Triptych is basically a story told from 3 different perspectives and one of the people in Triptych goes on to be the protagonist in Fractured and other books she's planning to write in the series. Highly recommend - one of my favourite stand alone novels of hers. I actually preferred this to The Da Vinci Code. She writes 'true-life' pretty similar to her fiction and this book has been widely panned and criticised with claims she didn't do enough research. I personally really liked it - I'm a huge fan of hers and for me it was probably a combination of her writing and the subject matter as I'm a sucker for true crime, workings of the mind etc. Forgot to say, if you haven't already, I'd give Linda Fairstein a whirl. Female lead detective, not schmaltzy, straight to the point, writes from the hip but not too graphically.

Has anyone read any of his work? As you'd expect for a horror writer, he's pretty graphic, but I don't think overtly so. He's quite blunt and to the point, so you need less imagination with him than some horror writers who go into greater detail but in a gentler way. There were two of his books that I found quite hard to read; Spawn and another that I can't remember the name of off the top of my head. It was the subject matter that I found hard going but they were still very readable. So, is anyone else a fan?

I adore Stephen King - I can't say I would read everything he does as I don't like fantasy so The Dark Tower series are a no-no for me. His horror though I can get lost in forever and I can happily re-read his books. A lot of his more recent work I'm yet to read as I've become so engrossed in other authors over the past couple of years. I will get round to them though! I agree with the previous person (sorry I can't remember who:blush:) who said The Green Mile was one of the best book to screen adaptations ever. I did think the book still surpassed the film, but that is nothing new and the film was still fantastic - just not as good. I also thought The Shawshank Redemption was a lot better having been built on to become the film, but as a short story it was still great. There have been some of his books/short stories that I don't think have carried over so well to the screen - namely Rose Red and Cat's Eyes to name but two and I also thought the screen version of The TommyKnockers left a lot to be desired although the TV adaptations of Nightmares and Dreamscapes was great in my opinion. I think someone like Stephen King will always work better on paper as you can lend your imagination to his work rather than it being 'laid out in front of you' the way it is on TV or a film. One of my personal favourites of Stephen Kings is Bag of Bones. I think there was an element of sadness and loss to this story in a way that there often isn't in a lot of his other books (not that they're any the worse off for it). I do remember reading Desperation and not realising he was using the same characters and names, just mixed up, in The Regulators, which totally threw me as I attempted to read them back to back! I had to leave The Regulators for a good 6 months so Desperation had died in my memory a little! For all that I have a lot of favourite authors and for all I follow their work, I think Stephen King has an incredible talent and is a fantastic storyteller. He weaves the story in such a way that you can't fail to be pulled in and get lost in the myriad of tales and fear. He is the writer so many people want to emulate - not just his success but also his talent.

I love Guinness adverts - can't stand the drink but they make cracking adverts! I can't stand the Right Move advert where the woman is running through the houses - it doesn't make me feel like they've got the most to offer, just that they'd rush you!

See, to me, he always looks like he could just do with a good scrub!

I've already read that - quite a few of her others. I think I have about 4 or 5 of her stand alone novels still to get. Thank you for the recommendation though!

Just the one for me. Well unless you count the bedtime stories I read...

I did feel like it was a disappointment - not the way a lot of people apparently felt it was, in that Karin Slaughter had 'let them down', just the whole feeling of loss I think. Made me sad - and made me wonder where the characters will go from there.

I vary. It depends how I'm feeling (if I'm feeling off colour with a headache for example I tend to read a little less), how my children are (if one or both is poorly then I definitely read less!) if I've got a lot on that day/week etc etc. It also depends on the book - some books I can read without having to put a lot of thought or 'work' into (the Simon Kernick book I've just finished - Severed - being a case in point. Good book but don't need to think too much about it) whereas others need a lot of thought and concentration and I need more focus to take all the information and details in as I'm reading so I read slower and sometimes go back over bits to remind myself. So for me there really isn't a simple answer - personally I don't think either a fast, slow or average reader makes for a better reader, if there even is such a thing. To me, it's not a competition, just something to savour and enjoy and how long that takes you is irrelevant.

We've got 5 shelves in the living-room filled with books, mainly collections such as Stephen King, James Patterson etc and also cookbooks. They are groaning - one shelf even came off the wall! Upstairs we have a 5 shelf bookshelf with more collections, individual books, autobiographies, true life etc and they are two deep. Again, they are groaning - a couple of the shelves are bowing...

The ending of Skin Privilege by Karin Slaughter floored me. I was genuinely gutted (and still am a little bit even though it was months ago I read it). Not enough to want to send Karin Slaughter hate mail though

In a word, no I don't. I have to admit, I have done so in the past though and it only served to confuse me - which is something I really don't need any assistance with!

Ooo yes they're lovely! Think I may have to invest in a few of those myself! Atm I have a Roald Dahl 'The Twits' bookmark.

Well yes he does add a certain 'something':D

Well last year I set myself a 50 book challenge and only just exceeded that by 2. So this year I've set it for myself again and I've added a twist in that I have to include some books outside of my 'comfort zone' (horrors, thrillers, medical dramas etc). I did this last year but only with one author (Jodi Picoult). This year I want to expand on that. I also want to get the books I haven't yet read from my regular authors. Read Severed - Simon Kernick Reading A Good Day To Die - Simon Kernick Want To Read The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khalid Hosseini Atonement - Ian McEwan The Reader - Bernhard Schlink Defiance - Nechama Tec Songs of the Humpback Whale - Jodi Picoult Harvesting the Heart - Jodi Picoult Picture Perfect - Jodi Picoult The Pact - Jodi Picoult Keeping Faith - Jodi Picoult Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult Second Glance - Jodi Picoult My Sisters Keeper - Jodi Picoult The Tenth Circle - Jodi Picoult Change of Heart - Jodi Picoult Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky The Case of Mary Bell - Gitta Sereny Cries Unheard:The Story of Mary Bell - Gitta Sereny Obviously this is a work in progress and I'll update asap.

Wow! Thank you for the lovely warm welcome! I shall be sticking around and have already 'intruded' on a few threads.

I read Candis which is a magazine I subscribe to by contributing to charities. I've also just subscribed to a magazine called Psychologies.

I'm another big fan and am so glad it's continued. I know there was talk of it not being recommisioned after the 2nd season!

I don't think it's possible for me to name my top 10 songs or singers/bands to be honest. I have so many singers I love from Elvis and Nina Simone to Kings of Leon, The Script, Scissor Sisters, Sam Sparro, Seal, Elton John, George Michael, Nickleback - in all honesty, the only thing I don't really listen to is folk music and classical. Or country.

I absolutely adore Tess Gerritsen and have quite a few of her books. So far I have read The Surgeon, The Apprentice, The Sinner, Body Double, Vanish, The Mephisto Club, The Bone Garden, Life Support, Harvest, Bloodstream, Gravity, Whistleblower and Never Say Die. Personally I'd start with The Surgeon and if she's a writer you'll appreciate, this book will have you hooked and going back for more.

I mainly read late evening in bed although if I'm not busier earlier on in the evening then I'll read then too. I occasionally read in the day but I am a stay at home mum and 2 little one's don't afford you a lot of reading time - well unless you count Thomas, Charlie and Lola...et al...