chesilbeach

Irene's musical compositions do start to evolve, Kay … although not by much! I guess it's hard to write a description of somebody humming a tune. As for Belinda drawing at the talent contest … why not? Have you seen what some acts do on Britain's Got Talent?!!! At least drawing is a talent! I'm halfway through the final book now, and have enjoyed every one of them.

Aargh, can't believe I haven't popped in here yet … a very belated happy new reading year for 2015, Hayley. Oh, and I love your reading box, it's so pretty! I really must read Jamaica Inn soon. I loved Rebecca (although not so much The House on the Strand) and I've been promising myself to read more Du Maurier. Good to see you enjoyed it so much.

At last, the jar has been kind! Perfect curl up on the sofa reading for a wintry January afternoon. Make the most of it, CBTD might be next ...

Bit late to the party, but I love the Weasley twins too! The thing that saves The Order of the Phoenix for me, is their taunting of Umbridge with their inventions, starting with the little things like those puking pastilles, but especially the portable swamp They were my favourite part of that whole book.

Bit late catching up, but love your review of How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won The F. A. Cup, Janet. I loved reading it, and I think Carr achieved his goal to make an unbelievable feat believable. I think A Month In The Country is possibly going to be the high point in his books, but I'm thoroughly enjoying reading the others too. Luckily, my other half is a massive fan, and already owns all the books (and more than one copy of most of them!), as they're quite difficult to get hold of, but he's very protective of them.

I wasn't that keen on this book either, and like you, I'd read different plot points in other books before, so it didn't feel that original. It was ok, but nothing more, and I actually felt it was quite predictable. I was actually a bit bored by it most of the time. I've just read her second book, and I didn't get on with that either, so I won't be reading any more of her books.

I'm halfway through the last Malory Towers book, so should finish that today. I still have my last book pick from my jar to read, and my library book group choice for the next meeting, so not sure which one of those I'll read first, but one of them will probably be my next read.

I'm almost finished with the Malory Towers books, and I think you were too, weren't you Alex? I was still planning to set up a thread for Middlemarch this weekend, but how about for the first book we give it three weeks, just to give ourselves a bit of extra time to finish off other things, so we would aim to finish reading the first book by 22nd February … how does that sound?

I loved that! "My name is Greta. Like cheese greta." (at least that's how I remember it, it might have been slightly different) Andrew Davies has written some brilliant stuff.

Quite happy with my 7/10 this week

Oh, and I forgot that I also finished listening to the Queen Lucia audiobook this morning. Very, very funny!

Aww shucks. Ah well, probably a good thing not to visit a bookshop anyway … I've got more than enough to read at the moment!

Just catching up with the thread (and blimey, who knew there would be so much discussion about some 70 year old children's books! ), and here are a couple of points so far ... I can't believe some of you don't like Darrell!!! Along with George from The Famous Five she was my hero as a child … at least up to my teenage years. She was a bit of a tomboy, she wasn't perfect, but she tried hard, worked hard and was confident and gregarious … everything I wanted to be. For some reason, I think that she was how Enid would have seen herself … I don't know why and have no evidence to back it up, but that's how it always came across to me. As for the boy/girl issue, my feeling is that you have to look at the class she is writing for and the times, the books were written in the late 1940s, a time when upper middle class and upper class girls would still have been having their "come out" at debutante balls when they were in their late teens (these went on until the late 1950s in the UK) and would have been expected to remain girls (and not young women) until then. The books are also aimed at the pre-teen reader, so again, I don't think in that period, Blyton or the parents of the readers would have wanted to bring boyfriends and sexuality into the mix for this age group. Anyway, I'm up to almost the end of book five now, and loving every minute of it!

A Persepone Classic for £1.99 … I must get to a Waterstone's tomorrow!!!!

I left work and it was dry … within two steps of being out of the building, it started to hail, by the time I got to the car (within 30 seconds) it has started to snow, and as I reversed out of my space, the car park was white as the snow had covered it. I started to drive home, and I got to the motorway ten minutes later (it's about four or five miles from work) and it was blue skies and bright sunshine in front of me and big grey snow clouds behind!

I'm still feasting on Malory Towers, and just about to finish In the Fifth …

There are actually a couple of episodes of the old ITV series of Mapp and Lucia on YouTube if you're interested.

Especially since I've just finished book 4 and started book 5!

Started Upper Fourth at Malory Towers today.

I finished the third book this evening. I'm going to carry on with the rest of the series as well. With regards to the midnight feasts, I've been thinking about it, and although I haven't read the St. Clare's books and I don't know about midnight feasts in those, I'm sure I remember reading about midnight feasts in another Enid Blyton books and I'm sure they included boys, so I think it must have been in a different book. I've still got all the ones from childhood, so I might have a browse through those at the weekend and see what I can find.

I finished Third Year at Malory Towers this evening. Think I'm just going to carry on and finish all six books in the series, and get it out of my system!!!

Now don't forget, Lucia Rising is an omnibus of three books, so it definitely counts as three on your list! I know we chatted about it last week, but I'm so pleased you enjoyed them … they've become some of my favourite books of all time in the few years since I first read them, and I've read them a few times since then too! I'm still listening to Queen Lucia in the car and it's a lovely start to the day before I get into work. OH has moved the books around the house … I hate it when he does this, as I can't find anything and typically, I was sure I knew exactly where the second volume of the Lucia books was until the week after Christmas, and now it's bloomin' disappeared!!! I'll have a proper hunt around for it at the weekend, and bring it with me next time we meet up.

The problem is, lots of my reading time is done when I'm passing the time, not specifically just sat in my armchair at home, so I often find I finish a book during my lunch break, for example, and if I stop at the end of a book, I've got nothing else to do. I've nearly always got the next book I'm going to read ready and waiting, so over time I guess I've jut got used to immediately starting a new book and then allowing the book I've finished to occupy a different part of my brain, and mull it over later.

I was hoping for something soft since I've been to the dentist, so OH is making pasta with a dolcelatte and walnut sauce … might just need to avoid the walnuts!

Yes. Enjoy your reading woman, and definitely read those Thursday Next books!