chesilbeach

Read some more of All Creatures Great and Small today. Absolutely loving it so far, and pleased to find that the dialect isn't just written phonetically, which is something I'd been dreading. There is some in there, but not all, so a definite positive for me.

I love coming in the pet threads and seeing all your pictures. I so wish we could have a dog. Maybe one day.

In case anyone hasn't seen it in the schedules, The Great Sport Relief Bake Off in on this week, starting tomorrow on BBC Two at 8:30pm, and then on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 8pm. Looking forward to seeing Michael Vaughan, Emma Freud and Samantha Bond.

The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain is set in the 1980s, and tells the story of the eponymous hat of French president François Mitterand, and after being forgotten at a restaurant, it passes through a variety of owners by forgetfulness, being given away and even theft. But as each new person wears the hat, they each undergo a transformation that enhances their personality, leading to a life changing experience. A tale of coincidence and fate, this was a lovely little read for the weekend, definitely one to relax with. It's a gentle, upbeat story with a variety of characters, that doesn't challenge or tax the reader, but envelopes you up in a charming story with engaging characters who are all a little better off after having come into contact with the hat. If I had a complaint, the ending is a bit too convenient and rather far fetched, but I can forgive it that, as it was still an entertaining read.

I found this in a charity shop this weekend, and couldn't resist starting it almost straight away! Uncle Silas is a rambunctious old rogue, who embellishes the truth to the full while recounting his stories to his great nephew. This really was a joy to read, and although a collection of short stories, because all of them are told by, or relate to Uncle Silas, there is that narrative thread running through them all, making it feel much more like a novel. I loved the length of the stories, just perfect, and without having to introduce them, or tie up any loose ends within each one, they are glorious little nuggets that are a joy to read. Janet summed it up perfectly above in that they … "sum up an idyllic bygone era". Loved it!

Interesting … I thought she was perfect as Katniss, exactly what I'd imagined. I can't remember if I already knew she was playing her in the film when I read the books though, which obviously would have influenced me.

I'm in catch up mode at the moment, and this afternoon, finally saw The Hunger Games. I was pretty impressed with it, and it's been quite a while since I read the book, so while I know they did make some changes, I couldn't actually figure out what they were!

This is why it's important to be a member of this forum … until now, I've never met anyone with a good word to say about any of his books, so at least I'm getting a balanced view! Having said that, I've only managed about 10 pages so far, and have already diverted onto other books I did like it, a pleasant read for a weekend.

Just finished reading My Uncle Silas. Going to carry on with All Creatures Great and Small next.

We've finally cut into the Christmas cake, so I've just had my first slice of that!

Although not really London fiction, I thought this might be a nice place to post a link to an article on the BBC news website which is part of their marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the first world war, and is The map that saved the London Underground and has a fantastic zoomable map for you to explore.

I haven't read it, but it's definitely on my wish list, however, I'd recommend to your friend to read Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon (I know willoyd and vodkafan have also recommended it elsewhere) and I think her affection, particularly for Mrs Bennet, may return. It really gives you a very different viewpoint on the novels, and what the characters would have been going through in a real life situation in that period. Failing that, just watch the BBC adaptation again, and I'm sure Colin, Jennifer and the rest of the cast can work wonders!

Thanks. I am going to try and search out the books I think have potential rather than going for the easy option, but I have to say, it does take a lot to get 5/5 from me! Even on a good year, it doesn't usually hit double figures, usually around 5% of the books I read, but I would like to get more 4/5's as well, which is still a great score from me - I'm notoriously picky! I had a look at Henry James on Fantastic Fiction yesterday, and I had no idea he was so prolific! There's plenty to choose from, so perhaps The Ambassadors was one of his more demanding ones? I definitely want to try The Wings of the Dove as I saw the film many years ago, and absolutely loved it, so I'm hoping some knowledge of the story will help with this one too. Oxfam can be pricey compared to other charity shops, particularly in their dedicated book shops, but at £2.49, it was still reasonably cheap especially as it's not available as an ebook, the new paperbacks I've seen online are about £9, and even if you buy second hand online, when you add the amount you pay for postage then it's still a very reasonable price, and I always think that at least the money has gone to a good cause. I'm more than happy to lend it to anyone else doing the challenge after I've read it, as it might be a tricky one to find.

Hope your mojo returns for you this year, Noll.

I was dead chuffed to find one of the English Counties challenges books in the Oxfam book shop yesterday - My Uncle Silas by H. E. Bates. I've got a list of the ones not available on Kindle, so that I can keep an eye out for them, and fortunately, this particular book shop had a great selection. They split out modern fiction and literature, and their literature section was chocker block with the old Penguin books, and they even had a big window display of them all too. I wondered if someone had donated them all in one go, as I don't remember them ever having had so many before. Fortunately, my OH spotted this one in the window display, so I was able to pluck it out and nab it for myself! I couldn't resist starting it later on, despite the fact I'd already just started All Creatures Great and Small for the same challenge!

I didn't word it very well, did I? I guess what I mean is that I either read it that she thought the children and the ghosts were in league together, and that she was being manipulated by all four of them, or that the children were using the idea of ghosts to manipulate her. But was this because they wanted to get rid of her? Was she supposed to be mentally unstable, and paranoid that they were trying to send her away, and therefore the clue to this was that she did fall in love with them all so quickly, as to show that she was not quite the sensible woman you would expect someone to hire as a governess? I've been thinking about this for a week now, trying to get around it in my head to write a review, and all it does is throw up more questions. Maybe that was the point. I certainly won't forget it in a hurry!

Welcome back

You should be able to use the search function. I have an older Keyboard version, but I think the Search function is probably similar. I access mine from the Menu button, but I think it's on the toolbar at the top of the screen for the Paperwhite. If it's the same, my search function gives me the option to search online and dictionaries, etc., but also lets me choose "Search my items". It does take a little while (maybe 20-30 seconds on mine, which seems like ages if you're impatient like me ), as this will search in the books not just the titles, but it will come back with titles as well. Hope that helps!

We finally got around to watching the first new Star Trek film this evening. Having never seen a Star Trek film and no more than about 10 minutes of the original series, let alone any of the subsequent series, I actually quite enjoyed it. We've got Star Trek Into Darkness lined up ready for next weekend.

I think it's perhaps lost on me because I didn't read it as a child, or even know the story. This sounds a bit odd, but I always had it in my head as a child that it was a for "posh" people … that looks completely ridiculous as I type it here, but it's just the perception I had, that it was something that other families read to their children, while I stuck to the Enid Blyton!

Just had homemade pizza for tea (not made by me, I should add - OH is the pizza king )

I read this book a couple of years ago, after being given a free copy from something like World Book Day (or some other initiative), but I have to say, I wasn't that impressed. I know so many people who love this book, but I just found it was very old fashioned. I didn't engage with the characters, in fact the only character I even remotely liked was Mole, and felt Toad selfish and vain with no redeeming characteristics at all. But I also didn't like how the book was written - most of chapters felt like short stories but not all of them. I would have been happier if they'd all been individual stories with a narrative threading through them all. I do enjoy reading children's books, and I can see why people who've grown up with it would love it, but I think I'm too old to read it for the first time. I do think, however, that it would make up a good book to read aloud to children.

I've just read your review after posting mine, Kay, but there's some interesting parallels! One of the things I've highlighted it how I do like his writing style, but for me, in this case, it was the plot and characterisation that let it down. Either they changed the story a lot, or I'm amazed you remembered that Colin was in it, as his character is barely in the book! Everything seemed to happen really quickly, didn't it? That just felt unreal to me. This is where we'll disagree - I didn't find it chilling at all, as I didn't feel any sense of malevolence from the ghosts, they were merely there.

I've copied this review from over in my own reading blog, but thought I'd add it here too. I know not everyone gets on with Henry James writing style, but this is the second of his books I've read, and I haven't had a problem, I've just had to make sure I concentrate, as there are plenty of long sentences to contend with. It started really well, and I loved the little set up so that the actual ghost story would be a reading from a real story written by someone who had experienced it first hand. I don't know if this makes sense, but I enjoyed the reading of the book, more than the story itself! The problem was, I'm not sure I really understood the plot. That might actually be my fault, as I often struggle with ghost stories, and this was one I found didn't quite work. It all seemed very rushed, with the narrator falling in love with the gentleman who hires her to be a governess for his charges, then she seems to fall in love with the children almost immediately too, and forms a strong friendship with the housekeeping in no time at all. I didn't know what the intent of the ghosts was, and I couldn't work out if they were controlling the children, or what the children hoped to gain from the ghosts? Who were they threatening? A fairly confused reader here. As far as the choice of this book in the English Counties challenge, I didn't really feel that there was any sense of place in the story. I don't know if I missed that part in the narrative, but it could have been set anywhere in the country as far as I could tell. All this sounds very negative, but like I said earlier, I have enjoyed reading both books I've read by Henry James, but for this one, I just didn't think it worked for me. Maybe I don't read enough ghost stories to appreciate them, or maybe I wasn't concentrating as much as I thought, but not a book I could recommend, although I would still like to read more James, but I think I need to tackle another full novel next, and I think The Wings of the Dove would be my next attempt at his work.

Found a copy of My Uncle Silas by H. E. Bates in the Oxfam book shop this morning, and it's one of the English Counties Challenge that isn't available as an ebook, so I snapped it up. It's a 1958 Penguin edition, with an original price of two shillings and sixpence on the front cover, and I paid £2.49 for it, so that's gone up by approx. ten times it's original value! I did try to start the Only Time Will Tell last night, but we were out for the day and didn't want to carry it around with me (as it's quite a big paperback), so I took my Kindle with me and ended up starting All Creatures Great and Small first of all (another of the English Counties Challenge books) reading the first five chapters, and then couldn't resist the lure of the new, and also read the first three stories in My Uncle Silas too.