chesilbeach

I've just finished The Beautifull Cassandra by Jane Austen, what a sweet little collection of naive pieces.

I don't need to worry about being considerate as I just keep my ratings to myself!

Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid was fabulous, I enjoyed it immensely, and it was my 50th book of the year. Just had a nice little session checking my book lists, then sorting out the book jar (taking out the books I've read without picking them out of the jar and making sure all my new books had been added), so I now know I have 44 books left in the jar to pick from, plus 9 I've set aside for holiday reading and 3 that are books in a series where I'm waiting to buy earlier books in the series before reading them. Decided to pick my next book from the jar, and it's come up with The Beautifull Cassandra by Jane Austen … what a coincidence!

Yes, that's what I meant. I'm not afraid to abandon books nowadays, so if I actually finish a book, it's because it must have some redeeming features, so it must warrant at least a 2/5.

I know I don't publish my ratings, but I give any book I abandon 1/5, but if I manage to finish a book, I give it at least 2/5 … seems only fair

I've found books about climate change difficult to read too, bobblybear. I did do some research on the subject when I did an Environmental Science A level at evening classes about 10 years ago, and read mostly articles and scientific journals about it. Books suffer from the problem of being out of date before they're even published on such a rapidly changing scientific subject, and I often found they were just going over subject matter I'd already read. The only book I really enjoyed, was one of James Lovelock's books on the Gaia theory (he's written a few, all relating to the same theory, and I can't remember which one it was exactly, I'll have to check the bookshelves for it), but I thought it was fascinating.

Thank goodness!

Can't you borrow them from the library for your Kindle, muggle not?

http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/apr/23/ten-ways-to-buy-books-without-money-world-book-day I hope some of these book fairs pop up somewhere near me

I've just found out that a new Moomins animated film will be showing at the end of May. It's called Moomins on the Riviera, and I think I'll try and find time to go and see it at the cinema.

Shakespeare on Toast is on offer on the Kindle Daily Deal today for 99p. I've had it on my wish list since Ruth wrote a great review of it a while back, and I think some other members have read it as well. Also, I know there are Diane Chamberlain fans on the forum, and her book, The Lies We Told is also only 99p today in the Kindle Daily Deals.

Over half way through Northanger Abbey now, hoping to finish it later on today. Bought Shakespeare on Toast this morning, as it's been on my wish list for ages, since Ruth wrote a great review of it, and it was on offer on the Daily Deal.

I don't know how you managed to finish a 1/5 book, frankie. It sounds to me like I'd have abandoned it before the 200 page mark! Fingers crossed your next book is much, much better.

Raining on and off this morning, overcast with no sign of the sun, but not too cold.

Looks like it's going to be a stay indoors sort of day today, as it's raining and dark outside at the moment, so I'm going to have another book day! Will need to go out to the shops later on, but other than that I don't have anything planned, so I'm going to try and finish Northanger Abbey and then try and catch up on reviews. My kind of Sunday.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/24/girl-8-strikes-blow-for-equality-over-boys-only-books There is a whole campaign for Let Toys Be Toys, and an associated one for Let Books Be Books, where parents and children are trying to stop manufacturers, publishers and shops from branding toys and books as either "for girls" or "for boys". Scholastic is one of the major suppliers of children's books to schools in the UK, and it's great to see a young girl directly trying to change something she sees as not right.

It does seem a bit ungracious to use the same names, and they don't even make a mention to Austen on the front cover, but the authors names are distinctive on the cover, so it's clearly not the original. They have also released a set of pocket size hardback editions of Austen's original books with an introduction by the author who wrote the reimagined story. I've just been looking them up on theaustenproject.com, and found out that Curtis Sittenfeld is writing the Pride and Prejudice story … I'm so excited, but the website is over a year out of date, and says it should have been published in Autumn 2014, but Amazon shows it as April 2016 But I have read 20% of Northanger Abbey now, and I love it! Plan for today is to settle down somewhere comfy and read the rest.

Hi Tiger, good to see you again! Got woken up by a sneezing fit this morning. I hate sneezing. I know it's illogical, but I hate it when other people sneeze and I hate it even more when I sneeze. Not a good start to the day.

Looks like we're in for a grey day today, possibly with a bit of rain later on. The sun is trying to peek through the clouds, but I don't think it's going to succeed!

Thanks Kay. I was actually thinking of getting some of the new gel insoles that Scholl have been advertising, and I had a look at them today. They're quite expensive, but I noticed that Boots have them on offer so I might give them a go. I think they would be better with some sort of support, but they still have a flat bottom so I'm not sure whether the insoles would be enough for longer walks. If I do splash out on them, I'll report back and let you know.

Just saw the first ident/mini trailer for it on BBC One!!!! Just says "Coming soon …" and I still can't see it in the programme info on the BBC Media Centre, so it's going to be at least the second half of May, possibly the end - I wonder if they'll start it over the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of the month?

Hello!

Tomato and mozzarella pasta bake tonight, our usual Friday night fare.

I wore the wrong shoes on my walk yesterday (my converse ones) and they are very flat and don't provide any support for the instep, and my feet were killing me by the evening. I've gone back to my walking shoes today, and although it was more comfortable, my feet are still a bit achy from yesterday, so I only walked about half the distance I've been doing the last few days. Going to rest my feet this evening and hopefully I'll be back up to full strength tomorrow, so I can do my full walk over the weekend again.

How did you get on, Kell?