chesilbeach

It's quite a widely read book on the forum, Chrissy, and I'm pretty sure you've read it.

Thanks Kay. A b&w film would have been lovely, although I might not have got any sleep at all then!

I bought this on your recommendation a couple of weeks ago, and since I've been wondering this evening what to read next, this has just moved to the top of the pile. I'll blame you if I don't like it

No, of course not, Janet - I was glad of the reminder! Here's the next quote: There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife. The knife had a handle of polished black bone, and a blade finer and sharper than any razor. If it sliced you, you might not even know you had been cut, not immediately.

Thanks Hayley and Noll. I don't have any other symptoms, just the cough, but I'll definitely get some Vicks tomorrow if I suffer again tonight!

Oh, I'd completely forgotten! I'll post a new quote this evening.

I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to taking medicines, muggle - I don't believe any of them really work, so I don't keep anything like that in the house, unfortunately. If I have another bad night tonight, I'll get some tomorrow and give it a go, thanks.

Couldn't sleep last night so started a new book, but wanted something easy, so read Lady Margery's Intrigue by M. C. Beaton, and finished it during my lunch break. Not sure what to read next, so off to have a wander through my books and Kindle to see what grabs me.

Had a surprisingly good day after a rotten night. Did something I hate last night, and fell asleep in the armchair in front of the fire for an hour before I went up to bed. When I got to bed, as soon as I put my head down, my wheezy cough started. Because I'd already had a nap, I wasn't so tired that I could fall asleep straight away, and led there coughing every couple of minutes. Decided to get up after an hour of that, and sat in the chair for an hour and didn't cough once. Tried going to bed again, and started coughing immediately, so read my book for a while and eventually felt wide away, so I got up again. Sat in the chair with a quilt around me and watched television for a while (and good lord, there's some rubbish on at 3am!) and then fell asleep for an hour, and when I woke up it was only an hour before I was due to get up for work, but I was actually quite tired then, so went back up to bed and managed another hours sleep. When I got into work, I felt really tired to start with, but soon brightened up, and haven't felt tired all day. I also barely coughed all day, until I left work but I can feel it starting again now. Hoping that if I can stay awake this evening, I'll be so tired by the time I go to bed, I'll fall asleep as soon as I my head hits the pillow!

I finished All Creatures Great and Small for the English Counties challenge today. I absolutely loved it, and it's made me want to go and rematch all the television series from when I was a kid. Almost three weeks into the new year, and I've only bought one book, and that was in a charity shop for the English Counties challenge, so I'm not sure it should count.

I also use Amazon wish lists, but I have separate lists for different genres, and specific authors, and also split between Kindle and tree books, as well as wish lists I keep for books I think other people will like for birthdays and Christmas - I have a lot of lists! It is useful, for when I particularly want to read a specific type of book, such as a travel book, I only need to search one wish list for something to buy. I have hundreds of books on my wish lists, and I do occasionally have a clear out but it still remains high even after that.

We just watched Star Trek Into Darkness - thought it was really entertaining.

Hilary Mantel's next book will not feature Cromwell

Ruth, the Guardian have written a couple of articles on her that I've read and thought were interesting - I think this is the most recent one http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/06/elizabeth-taylor-complete-short-stories, although it's review of a collection of her short stories. The other one I read was this one in the Telegraph but it's about 8 years old now!. Even if they weren't the ones you were thinking of, they make interesting reading!

Glad to have someone else on board, poppy! Hope you enjoy the challenge.

Hello Claire! I'm Claire too, so nice to have another one around

Oh no, that's what I was worried about! I'm a real scaredy cat so I'll make sure I'm not on my own when I read it

I seem to see this book everywhere I go lately - I think it's been in the window display of every bookshop I've seen at some point in the last few months, and lots of coverage on Twitter. Sounds like it's been worth the promotion if it's a good read. Adding to wish list now

I'm still working my way through All Creatures Great and Small but loving every word. Got my next book group book and it's Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, which I've heard is quite scary, so I'm a little nervous!

Good to hear you enjoyed The Harpole Report, as it's up on the shelf waiting for me to read!

Here's a link to the Bookclub page with all the episodes on for you to listen to if anyone else is interested --> http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/bc

No need to be sorry, Vimes, it was just one of those things. There are SO many books out there, it's amazing that any of us have read the same ones! The new quote, I think, is Pride and Prejudice?

Sorry, we'll just have to agree to disagree. I don't agree with you on any of the above episodes of the Matt Smith era, and The Doctor's Wife is one that sticks out as among my least favourites ever. On the flip side, I actually like Fear Her - granted, it's not the best by a long stretch, but I'd still rather watch that than any of series seven at all. I did enjoy some of series five, but I think apart from Vincent and the Doctor which I love, I've only watched them twice, and have no inclination to watch them again. Don't forget this is all personal opinion and whatever you may think of the episodes you've highlighted, I haven't liked the majority of series six or seven, thought the 50th Anniversary episode was okay - better than the rest of the series, but still not a great episode, and don't think there have been any really great Christmas episodes, and the only one I'm happy to watch again is the very first one, The Christmas Invasion. But I should also say, the RTD period wasn't without fault, and there were some pretty dreadful episodes in there too, but at least he understood when it was time to move on, and the stinkers (Gridlock was a low point for me), are few and far between, for me at least. I'm a New Who fan, and it was the first David Tennant series that really got me involved, and then go back and appreciate the Chris Eccleston series more after that. I like the humour and the heart in those earlier series, and I loved Rose and Donna as companions (not so keen on Martha, but again, I think she suffered from the writing to a certain extent), so I've found the lack of humour a major stumbling block to my enjoyment.

We do look after my OH's brothers dog occasionally, and have a gorgeous photo of her in a beautiful frame up on the bookshelf, but it's not often enough! It's time that's the problem, which is why it's a "one day" thing.

I feel like I always just seem to be the voice of doom whenever I talk about Doctor Who now. I didn't like the Christmas episode at all, and even felt my eyes drooping as I nearly fell asleep a couple of times, and the family of the companion (I can't even remember what her name is, she's so unimpressive) were like cardboard cutouts and made me miss the old days of Rose, Jackie, Pete and Mickey or Donna, Sylvia and Wilf. I was so excited when I first heard Steven Moffat was taking over from Russell T Davies, but I've now got to the stage where I don't really want to watch any more. I'll give Peter Capaldi a go, but unless there's some dramatic improvement in the writing, I can see myself putting my headphones on and reading while OH watches. It only makes it worse when I catch a Chris Eccleston or David Tennant episode, and see how good they were, especially the Moffat ones which were among the best of the best. I wish I could be more complimentary.