chesilbeach

Watched the team luge this afternoon while visiting my dad - it was brilliant!!! What a fantastic relay competition that was. Congrats to the Germans, winning the first ever team luge Olympic gold medal - over a second ahead of second place.

So sorry to hear the news. Thinking of you and sending you hugs.

I finished the wonderful The Harpole Report yesterday. So glad I'm reading all the J. L. Carr books, they're just brilliant. Had a pre-ordered M. C. Beaton pop on my Kindle the other day, so I thought I'd read that next, and it's another easy, cheering little read.

I think I lost interest in the ice dance and figure skating after Torvill & Dean! I watched the BBC documentary last night about the day they won at Sarajevo in 1984 - it was really well done, describing the entire day leading up to the performance, and ridiculously, as the programme built to when they actually competed, I felt myself getting that nervous excitement all over again, just like when I was a little girl watching it for the first time! It was brilliant to watch it again, and to see the whole routine in full with no commentary and no interruptions, although seemed much go by much quicker than I remember from childhood when it seemed to go on forever. No-one could ever match that for me, and everything else still feels like an anti-climax.

I agree, Steve, the figure skating and ice dancing are the ones I tend to avoid, although I did see the 15 year old Russian girl - man, can she spin!!! Enjoying watching the ski jumping now.

I'm not really the target audience for crime, as that last thing I want from my crime fiction is reality! I prefer the gentler side of life, and I don't find any enjoyment in reading descriptions of violence whether that is a description of the act of violence, or the results of it, and when contemporary crime fiction comes up in my book group, I often either don't even attempt it, or will stop reading as soon as I come across any brutality or gory details.

I mostly enjoy historical crime novels, and I think it's because I actually enjoy reading more about the society of the time rather than the crime itself. I do like the whodunnit nature of them, but I wallow more in the period details of the people and their lifestyles.

I don't enjoy reading most contemporary crime fiction, but I do enjoy some historic crime and thriller series. My favourites are the Daisy Dalrymple series by Carola Dunn and the Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood. I imagine they're probably far too tame for most people here! I do also love the comic Agatha Raisin series by M. C. Beaton, which are contemporary, but again, very tame for crime fiction, and with plenty of humour.

I've seen some good reviews of Trigiani's books and I've had a couple of her books on my wish list for a while. I definitely intend to read her at some point in the future though, so good to read your good review here, Diane

Haven't had any reading time today, but I did buy one of the books on the Kindle Daily Deal today, as it was an M. C. Beaton one I haven't got yet, so 99p was too good a bargain to miss!

Ain't that the truth! I've not read any Dan Rhodes but This Is Life does appeal to me, so I'll be interested to see how you get on with it.

Anyone else watching? I'm already hooked! Just watched Jenny Jones win a bronze medal for Team GB in the women's snowboarding slope style competition. The commentary was fantastic from the BBC team - informal but informative and passionate, and made for brilliant viewing. Loved watching the mens slope style yesterday too, as well as the biathlon and the mens downhill skiing earlier this morning was exciting too. Great coverage from the BBC.

Halfway through The Harpole Report now. Managed to find two more books on my English Counties challenge list in Oxfam today - The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Just watched an episode and was reminded of my favourite recurring joke that happens - will Phil ever fix that dodgy step on the stairs?

I finished Dark Matter yesterday, and thought it was really good - not quite as scary as I'd been expecting, but still a bit unsettling at times. Started The Harpole Report by J. L. Carr today, and am loving it already!

Yes, another fan here. Every time I think I've got a favourite character, another episode comes along and someone else takes the lead! I had a marathon viewing on the weekend while I was doing my sewing, and watched all of series 1 and most of series 2. New series starts soon over here, I think it's series 5.

I started Dark Matter today. About a third of the way through, and I think I've just had the first ghostly sighting! Not too scary so far, but I'm prepared to hide behind the sofa soon …

You're right, I think people who have the space to set aside for their machine so that it doesn't have to be set up again every time they want to use it, would probably get on much better with that method, but I do enjoy hand sewing. I will definitely try to have a go with my machine at some point though.

Thanks - I'm impressed with myself! The class is all hand sewing, partly because lots of it is very small piecing, but also the teacher thinks for learners it's better and you spot mistakes earlier, and it's easier to unpick if necessary. I do intend to do some machine patchwork in the future, but I have to build up the nerve to try using my machine again.

I finished The Rook!!! It was quite a comic fantasy thriller, and I enjoyed it. I need to read my book group choice for this month next, one I've been putting off because I'm a scaredy cat - Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. Fortunately, I love Paver's writing for YA, so I'm confident that aspect will be great, it's just the horror theme might be a bit much for me …

You could add you new words to this thread too, Anna. http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/7203-today-i-learnt-a-new-word/

I've been reading the same book for a couple of weeks now, which is unheard of for me! Not only am I doing my sewing classes, but work has also taken up rather more time than I'd hoped, so it's sort of understandable. The book is The Rook and I am enjoying it, and I've only got a couple of chapters left to read, so hoping to finish it tomorrow, but I do have to finish my patchwork block first, otherwise I won't have time before the class on Wednesday. Anyway, back to the books, and here's my status update as at the end of January: As at the start of 2014 TBR: 34 books Jane Austen reading list: 18/24 books read = 75% complete J. L. Carr reading list: 3/8 books read = 38% complete E. H. Young reading list: 0/13 books read = 0% complete Persephone reading list: 6/104 books read = 6% complete English Counties Challenge: 7/48 books read = 15% complete Current status as at the end of January Books purchased: 1 Books read: 8 Abandoned books: 0 TBR: 30 books Jane Austen reading list: 18/24 books read = 75% complete J. L. Carr reading list: 3/8 books read = 38% complete E. H. Young reading list: 0/13 books read = 0% complete Persephone reading list: 7/104 books read = 7% complete English Counties Challenge: 11/48 books read = 23% complete

Hmmm… based on the quote, is the scene in fog or underwater? Is that important? (really clutching at straws here! )

Is it a male or female main character or is it more of an ensemble?

A week in and I'm still not half way through The Rook. I know I've only had my lunch breaks and the odd little snippets of time to read, but I counted it up, and it comes to six hours of reading, and still less than 200 pages read. It must be really tiny print in the paperback edition, that's all I can think of! On the plus side - I'm really enjoying it. Lots going on, and not sure how it'll come out in the end, but at the moment, I'm wondering if one of the story lines could have been moved to another book, but I suspect it will become more important and relevant by the end.