chesilbeach

As I was searching through my bookshelves for a book this afternoon, I came across a book I must have read at least a dozen times as a child, and it made me realise that when I was very young, I would guess upto the age of 13, I would re-read books all the time. My mum never made me get rid of books unless I wanted to, so I still have the majority of my books from upto that age, and looking down the bookshelves, all of them were read multiple times.

Sneak

The first book is SO much better than the film (which I still think is pretty awful, even if I do watch it again occasionally )

I remember buy 2oz of sweets too when I was a kid - my sweets of choice were lemon bonbons or sherbert pips, occasionally liquorice comfits.

I can find all my Malory Towers books except the first one! I think I'll keep an eye out for the first one to match my others, but if Janet can find a cheap copy of the first one and you like it, I'm more than happy to lend you the rest of the series, frankie. Mine are the edition published in 2000, as my childhood copies were so battered and missing pages through repeated re-readings when I was little!

Here you go ... Daily Deal - one (or more) book on offer, usually between 99p and £2.99, starts at midnight and finishes at 23:59 the same day. Books for £2.99 or less - a selection of books picked out by Amazon every calendar month, as it says, at £2.99 or less From the Kindle ebooks page, they will link to any other special sales, e.g. the Twelve Days of Kindle, the Kindle Spring Sale, etc. Currently, they have the Kindle Fire Book Sale, with a selection of books which work especially well on the Kindle Fire devices Whenever they highlight a particular sale on the main Kindle ebooks page, they usually pick a selection to show on the front page, and there will be a "See more in the xxxx sale" link underneath the selection, so watch out for those too. You can also spot bargains in the Bestsellers chart (the top ten are shown in the right hand column of the Kindle ebooks page), as when good books are on offer, they become popular and will quickly appear in the charts. It does sometimes take a bit of effort, as you have to visit every day for the Daily Deal, and remember to keep an eye out for sales, and changes of selections each month, but you should hopefully find something you want eventually!

Thanks, Kay. I'm glad you're enjoying it - I was worried it might not be for you! I know what you mean about the sweets, though fortunately I was never a fan of flying saucers, so I didn't mind all the references to those

Heist Society: Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter. This is the third full length novel in the series, so I won't put a synopsis here, as it will include spoilers for anyone wanting to start the series from the beginning, but this YA series is about Kat Bishop, a teenage high stakes thief (art, jewellery, etc.). In this installment, the job is very close to home for Kat, bringing its own complications and dilemmas, giving us some more background into some of the characters, and as always, even though as a reader you follow the heist through planning and execution, Carter still manages to throw a few twist and turns you never saw coming! Another fast-paced, thrilling story in this series, perfect escapism for a rainy Bank Holiday.

On Friday I put Mary Poppins on while I was baking - practically perfect in every way! Yesterday afternoon I watched the final Twilight[/b] film - well, it was a rainy, Bank Holiday Monday

I've only read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, but if you like that style of books, I would definitely recommend Sam Bourne - I've read the first four of his books and they were all perfect holiday reads for me, plenty of action to keep me turning the pages! Hope that helps.

^ Love Miles Davis - great choice, Buddy!

Finished Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter at lunchtime and started Skios by Michael Frayn.

Roasted tomato and garlic pasta baked with mozzarella.

I've got The Misremembered Man on my Kindle, and I really enjoyed The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, so this bodes well for me!

Like most people have said, I'm not a bit re-reader, although I occasionally re-read the Jane Austen books (probably every 5 years or so), and I've re-read all the Jasper Fforde Thursday Next novels before each of the last two books have been published just so I could remind myself of all that had happened afresh before starting the latest book! There are a few others that I've re-read, and like Athena, a lot of them are books I originally read as a child, but on the whole, I tend to read books once and never again.

Hope you have a lovely time!

Gosh Laura, that's an awful situation for you, so sorry you feel that this is your only option. I agree with chaliepud about trying the Citizens Advice Bureau to see if there are any other avenues open.

Librarieswest has got some other books by Jamaica Kincaid - could you try one of them instead, Janet?

Right, I'm all up to date with all the reviews I wanted to write, so I can do some guilt-free reading this afternoon!

Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) Were you a sherbet lemon or chocolate lime fan? Penny chews or hard boiled sweeties (you do get more for your money that way)? The jangle of your pocket money . . . the rustle of the pink and green striped paper bag . . . Rosie Hopkins thinks leaving her busy London life, and her boyfriend Gerard, to sort out her elderly Aunt Lilian's sweetshop in a small country village is going to be dull. Boy, is she wrong. Lilian Hopkins has spent her life running Lipton's sweetshop, through wartime and family feuds. As she struggles with the idea that it might finally be time to settle up, she also wrestles with the secret history hidden behind the jars of beautifully coloured sweets. Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams - a novel - with recipes. Review: I follow Jenny on Twitter, and she used to be a regular contributer to a book review programme on Radio Five, and I know she's also written for the Doctor Who book series, but I haven't read a single book of hers since her very first one, Amanda's Wedding back in 2000. Jenny dislikes the term chick-lit (and explains why in the Guardian podcast) and so like her, I'm trying to move away from that term, and I would therefore describe this as a romcom, and indeed, won the Romantic Novel of the Year award in 2013 after winning the Romcom category first. So anyway, onto my thoughts on it! I absolutely loved it. Although there is love and romance throughout the story, successful, failed, new and old, I actually thought the main theme of this book was not about getting a (better) man, but getting a (better) life. I think it shows how much this genre has moved on that this theme is becoming more prevalent, as the media and society still attempts to show the successful woman as "having it all", and authors are showing that while it's unlikely that you can have it all, you can do your best to aim for a good life, which will inevitably have it's ups and downs, but you have to try for more ups than downs, and not let the bad times rule your life. The story is mostly about a young woman, who has been working as a nursing auxiliary in London, her mother has moved to Australia, she lives with her boyfriend who she loves, but still shows no sign of proposing or wanting their life together to move forward, and the hospital she's been working in has closed their A&E ward so she's working for an agency. When Rosie's mother phones to say that her Great Aunt Lilian needs help after a hip replacement, and "asks" her to go to Derbyshire to help Lilian find a nursing home and sell her sweet shop business, Rosie thinks it will just be for a few weeks. After the anonymity of London, Rosie initially finds the village life and society claustrophobic, but soon finds that getting both Lilian and the business back to fitness is much more rewarding than she'd imagined. One of the joys of the book is the sweet shop itself. Colgan's description bring back both the sweet shops and the sweets of my childhood, with a lovely sense of nostalgia, but bringing it up to date too. I desperately want to visit the shop, but on the other hand, I've just found out that an old fashioned sweet shop has opening in my town, but I'm being careful to avoid it, as my willpower wouldn't be strong enough to go mad! The story is funny, and sad in places too, as Lilian's history is revealed, but overall, upbeat and a lovely bit of escapism. In a romcom, the final question would usually be "does Rosie get her man?" but for me, I felt the important question that was answered, was "is Rosie happier with her life?" and the answer is a resounding "Yes!"

Contracheck

Diving Belles by Lucy Wood Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) Along Cornwall's ancient coast, from time to time, the flotsam and jetsam of the past can become caught in the cross-currents of the present and a certain kind of magic floats to the surface... Straying husbands lured into the sea can be fetched back, for a fee. Houses creak, fill with water and keep a fretful watch on their inhabitants. And, on a windy beach, a small boy and his grandmother keep despair at bay with an old white door. In these stories, hopes, regrets and memories are entangled with catfish, wreckers' lamps and baying hounds as Cornish folklore slips into everyday life. Review: Lucy Wood was one of the authors who appeared at the ShortStoryVille event I attended last year, and she read the beginning of one of the stories for this, her debut book. I made a note of the book as I was fascinated by the coming together of the folklore with the contemporary, and I've recently read the book in full. The stories are all set in the modern day, but have elements of Cornish mythology woven through them. I haven't read any short stories for quite a while, and it was great to get back to them. They range from beguiling to melancholy but overall, they are just beautifully written stories. I find it difficult to say much about short stories, as there is such a variety within the collection, but I loved all of these, and will happily be reading more from Lucy Wood in the future.

Apparently, Mrs Harris Goes to Paris was originally published under the title Flowers for Mrs Harris in the UK (way back in 1958!), and yes, it's the first book that introduces Mrs Harris, so you'll be off to a good start with that one!

These are the first books I've read by Paul Gallico, Athena, and I have to be honest and say I hadn't looked into his work much further than the Mrs Harris books, but I think I remember someone else on the forum mentioning Jennie (although maybe that's a figment of my imagination!). I know he also wrote The Snow Goose which is on my wishlist. I've just been onto fantasticfiction.co.uk and found out he's got quite an extensive catalogue that I can look into, although I don't know how many are still in print, so I may need to look into the library and second hand options too.

Thanks, frankie. I don't think I've written a review of The History of Love. I think I read it before I joined the forum, and I've had a look at my old blog and think it must even have been before that, so I don't have anything you can read. Although I remember enjoying it, and I still have my copy which means I must have refused to send it to the charity shop, I don't remember it in enough detail to be able to review it now. Maybe I'll re-read it at some point and write something on it then.