chesilbeach

Careful missy, don't start criticising Mansfield Park or you and I are going to be having serious words tomorrow

That's the taller version of my jar, Kylie! I, too, threw away the cheap paper gingham cover. I don't envy you having to write out all those book titles again on your coloured paper … I handwrite so little now, I got an ache in my wrist doing mine

Um, yes, fiction and 322 pages. Not short, but not too long (… unless I end up hating it! ). To be fair, I only have a few non-fiction books in there, and I don't think I have many doorstops waiting to be read either … except, while I was typing that, I've just remembered some of the English Counties books aren't exactly short!

Well, my first £1 coin has gone in the tin, as I've finished The Battle of Pollocks Crossing, and a fine book it was too … worth every single penny! So the jar has once again decided my destiny, and this time has given me The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton. I've been putting this off for a while, so probably a good thing to come out of the jar now and means I'll actually read it at last.

Found out the next book for my reading group is All Our Worldly Goods by Irène Némirovsky, which I'm very excited about. Not often they pick something I haven't read and am interested in before I start it! I finished The Battle of Pollocks Crossing at lunch time, and it was another fantastic book from Carr, then couldn't resist starting on First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton for our group read.

Literary tights. Yes, you read that correctly, I give you literary tights: https://twitter.com/TransworldBooks/status/557897989440962561

You'll be very welcome to join us Susanne! Best wishes for your hospital visit, hope it goes well and you're home soon. I finished my other book part way through my lunch break, so I've started the first few chapters … so nostalgic, makes me feel 8 years old again

'No, not if ten Vice-Presidents and each with two heads on his neck were coming to unveil it,' Mr Gidner said sourly. The Battle of Pollocks Crossing by J. L. Carr

Oh no! I'll bet mine's just lulling me into a false sense of security and next it'll come up with some monstrously big book that I've been putting off for ages! The Mapp & Lucia omnibus is TOTALLY three books, there is no way I'd expect you to read it as one! I'm glad you're enjoying it though … although I always knew you would

I've replied in your thread too! Thread up and running.

A few of us have decided to read Enid Blyton's Malory Towers books as a group read, and we're ready to start our read-a-long tomorrow! From www.enidblyton.net (slightly edited for spoilers in later books): Malory Towers is a boarding school for girls in Cornwall. Enid Blyton wrote six books for this series between 1946 and 1951. The heroine is Darrell Rivers, who enters the school in the first form, and of course it's not all plain sailing for Darrell and her friends! We're starting at the beginning (a very good place to start) with First Term at Malory Towers originally published in 1946. A brief synopsis: Scared and excited, Darrell Rivers has just arrived at Malory Towers. It's fantastic - but huge. How is she gong to remember everyone's name, let alone find her way around? And will she ever have a special friend of her own? Please feel free to join in, but please bear in mind, there will be spoilers!

I can probably start tomorrow … I've got a couple of hours left in my current book, so I'm hoping to get a chunk read tonight, and then even if I don't finish it today, I'll finish it in my lunch break tomorrow, so can start MT in the evening. Gosh, this is jolly exciting!

There's an excellent film adaptation with Anthony Hopkins and (the always wonderful) Emma Thompson. I haven't read the book, but I love the film, especially as a few scenes were filmed in the town where I live! I think you do get the sense of a developing relationship between them more in the film that it sounds as if you do in the book, but Hopkins plays Stevens exactly as you've described him in your review, and it seems right for the period and the position he holds. I'd recommend you watch it, even if only for a comparison.

Blimey, that jar is really throwing everything at you at the start, isn't it? Should I feel guilty that my jar gave me a short 156 page novel to ease me in gently?

Going to visit my dad

I can't decide if I want one of these, or as I'm old enough to remember the original that I should take that as a sign that I'm too old to buy the remodelled one! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-30810148

Just above freezing here, but dry and the sun has been shining most of the day but the water in the water butt in the garden has frozen over, about half an inch thick!

Just had a look at your film list, and I spotted Jane Eyre, and wondered if you'd seen the BBC mini-series from a few years back with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens? That was actually my first adaptation of the book, and I thought it was excellent. You've also reminded me that I've still got the 2011 film version with Michael Fassbender recorded which I haven't watched yet either. Have you seen that one? I'm a bit trepidatious about watching it as I loved the BBC mini-series so much.

Started The Battle of Pollock's Crossing by J. L. Carr during my lunch break, and I love it already!

It really was, and there were definitely a few moments where I could feel my heart pounding!

I did test my jar before putting the paper in, as I was worried about exactly that thing happening to me!

Finished the brilliant The Dynamite Room this evening. I'll put some more detailed thoughts down later, but a very good book indeed. The Jar of Destiny has now had it first outing … and the first pick was ... The Battle of Pollocks Crossing by J. L Carr i'm so pleased! I'd been hoping to read another book by Carr soon, so I was dead chuffed to pull this one out of the jar first time around.

I've just finished The Dynamite Room this evening - hadn't intended to, but I couldn't put it down. Very good indeed.

I adore José Saramago! If you haven't read it yet, you must read The Stone Raft - brilliant. On Beauty is a definitely a novel, not a collection of essays or short stories. It's actually a very loose interpretation of Howard's End by E. M. Forster, which is another of my favourite books, so it could have gone either way for me, but I ended up really enjoying On Beauty.

Thanks everyone! I've used this idea before, although usually it's when I've got something I'm not particularly keen on doing or requires a bit of effort, and it just adds a little incentive so that if I do it, when I get to the end of the process, I've got a bit of extra cash to treat myself to something. I've done it before, for example, where I've tried to save money by taking a packed lunch to work, so every day I've done it, I've put £1 in a jar. The packed lunch is much cheaper than the bought lunch, usually healthier, so even putting the extra £1 in the jar, I'm still much better off. Then at the end of the month, I've got £20 or so to spend … usually on books!