chesilbeach

Thanks for the alert, Michelle. I've been planning to get this at some point, so now seems like the perfect moment!

Believe me, I was tempted

I finished Emma!

Had the day off and drove up to meet Poppyshake for a coffee and a chat, and had a lovely day. Couldn't believe how cold it was and all the trees were white with frost, and had to stop and take some photos: Unfortunately, it was a clearway on a lot of the road, so I couldn't stop to get a picture of the best bits on the road with a canopy of frosty trees forming an archway to drive through, but these give you an idea. Got home to find the roofers have finished the work on the house, and we now no longer need to keep a plastic tub on the windowsill to catch the rain leaking in through the roof any more. All in all, a pretty good day!

Love's Labour's Lost still seems to be missing from the poll

I remember enjoying The Devil Wears Prada too, Laura. I read it before I saw the film version, and although I love the film version (Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep - what's not to love!), I actually thought the book was less chicklit-y, sharper and more vicious than the film.

Hi Ashleigh! I see you're reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower - are you enjoying it? I read it last year and thought it was great. I plan to see the film at some point, but I guess it'll have to wait until it's on television now.

I think it's a choice if they want to get some specialist choreographers for the AT, Charleston and Salsa, so I doubt Vincent and Flavia would bother - why would they?!

I'm halfway through Emma now. On previous attempts to read this one, I'm not sure I've ever got this far before giving up, but I think the difference this time is that I actually know the story now, as I've watched a few screen adaptations which I'd never done before, so at least I can follow where I am in the story.

In case you don't know, Lisa & Robin have Salsa and American Smooth this week and Louis & Flavia have Foxtrot and Jive. Don't know about Denise or Kimberley yet.

Just finished The Chimes by Charles Dickens, and I'm fast coming to the conclusion that I can only read Dickens in small chunks. I loved A Christmas Carol last year, and at only 113 pages, I loved The Chimes too. A short(ish) ghost story (that I probably should have waited until after Christmas to read ), around the bells that ring in the New Year, and with a similar theme to A Christmas Carol, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think perhaps the setting I read the book in helped ... The view from my armchair:

Just finished The Chimes by Charles Dickens. I think I'm discovering that I like Dickens in short stories, but struggle with the full length books - perhaps I need to read the longer books as they were first intended, reading one chapter a week?

I'd really love to know why I can't see what everyone else does about Kimberley!

1. Who was your favourite character and who was your least favourite? I thought all the characters were really well portrayed but I loved Papa, Mama and Minou especially. It was fascinating how she created these characters and all the main characters except Minou, we only knew by their names of their role or profession in the story. It gave the feeling of a detachment between the characters, which was exactly what they felt with the world and why they'd felt the need to travel to the island in the first place. 2. Was there a particular part you enjoyed more than the rest? I was hooked from the first page - the opening paragraphs set up the book beautifully for me, with story, setting and tone conveyed within a that page. It all revealed itself wonderfully from that point onwards. 3. This is Mette Jakobsen's debut novel .. would you read her again? Definitely. 4. Were there any parts/ideas you struggled with? No, not really. I read it in a couple of days and sailed through it as I every time I picked it up, I got caught up in the story again. 5. Do you enjoy books narrated by children and did you find Minou believable? It depends on the child! I don't always like children narrators, but if the story works and the writing is good, then they can be just as good as any other narrator. I imagine that a child who grew up with limited variety in their social group with no other children to interact with, and with those around her still coming to terms with what they had experienced in the war, would end up being exactly as Minou was, both incredibly naive in some respects and very grown up in others. 6. The narrative is quite sparse and the characters few, did you find it easy to engage in the story? Yes. I love this style of writing - it reminds me of the short stories of Simon Van Booy in Love Begins In Winter or Tove Janssons books. (I just read through the other answers and see we are of a like mind, Kay ) 7. What did you make of the theme of logical thinking (Papa) versus imagination (Mama) which played a part in Minou's struggle to come to terms with the loss of her Mama? I thought it worked really well as I felt it reflected how as a reader I use others imagination through their stories to look at different morals and situations, while using my own logic and sense when I have to face them. 8. The dead boy, why do you think the author put him in the story? He was a catalyst for the characters to be able to come to terms with the disappearance of Mama. I thought it was a really clever way to allow them to say their goodbye's to her through telling their stories to the dead boy. 9. Did you approve of the ending? Yes, it fitted the style and tone of the story. 10. Overall was reading the book an enjoyable experience? If you haven't already guessed from the rest of the answers - Yes! 11. Would you recommend the book and if so to whom? I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but there are some friends who I think it would suit their reading preferences, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to them.

I feel like I'm reviewing Emma as I go along, but I can't believe it's by the same author as some of my favourite books of all time???!!! Mr Woodhouse is irritating in the extreme as a character, but worse than that is the poor, poor dialogue for him, and don't even get me started on the lack of character development so far. I know I'm only a quarter of the way in, but it's only just started to go anywhere remotely interesting. I know remember why I've never managed to finish it before.

Ella is my absolute favourite - she'll never be surpassed. I don't even know where my love of jazz, and particularly Ella, comes from as no-one in among my family or friends listened to last sort of music when I was growing up. I do love other music as well, but these songs will always be at the top of my favourites lists. This particular version of Moonlight in Vermont comes from an album called Ella and Louis for Lovers, and I've got it on in the car at the moment, so I've been listening to it a lot lately, but the two of them together are just wonderful.

I did think most of the couples danced well, and I was surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did - Dani & Vincent were my favourites, but Lisa went wrong or forgot her steps a lot, didn't like Nicky's routine at all, and his technique was poor, and although I liked Kimberley and she danced very well, I thought she was overmarked. Would still like to see the dance fusion be a one off and not come back again next year, but then I'm a traditionalist, and don't like pfaffing around with dances (and it messes up the stats on my site!). I'm expecting to see Lisa and Nicky in the bottom two, but I wonder if Lisa's public vote will be too high for that? I think the last few weeks have proved that Nicky doesn't have as much support as I had thought he would with the Westlife fans voting, and I think if anyone else is in the bottom two other than Lisa, it could be his turn to go.

A pre-ordered Christmas treat arrived on my Kindle today - Agatha Raisin and the Christmas Crumble which is a short story with one of my favourite grumpy old women, so I read that this morning, and I've also read most of The Chimes by Charles Dickens, another short story (although about 120 pages, so not that short!). Also read a bit more of Emma but I'm still wishing Austen had had an editor for this one , but determined to finish it this time.

My song of the day has been:

Don't forget the summer holiday adverts will start in earnest alongside the January sales adverts from Dec 26th onwards

It's a strange one chaliepud, as I know others love Emma but personally, I would never recommend it as the first Austen to try - I'd probably go for the ever popular Pride and Prejudice or the light hearted Northanger Abbey.

Been feeling a bit under the weather the last couple of days, so haven't felt up to reading much, but I am gradually working my way through Emma at the moment, and I'm about a quarter of the way through so far, and I can see why each time I've tried it before, I've never managed to finish it. I think it's her worst writing by far, but I think the story is good - maybe she just needed a good editor!

I finished Tempest's Fury by Nicole Peeler today, which was ok, but a few books into the series now, and I'm not enjoying them as much the first couple of books, but basically a whimsical urban fantasy, and fine for a light read. One of the my book groups choices this month is Emma by Jane Austen, which fits in nicely with my year long re-read of the Austen books, so I made a start on this one today.

Unfortunately, I'm as much in the dark as you are! From what I can tell, it's something they've picked up from the US Dancing With The Stars (aren't all their bad habits ones they've picked up from there?). I imagine it will be something like they've done in a couple of the finals, where in series 4, Mark & Karen and Matt & Lilia both danced to (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher but Matt & Lilia started off the song with a quickstep then Mark & Karen took over half way through and danced a samba, but instead of two couples dancing in like a tag team, it'll be one half of one dance and one of another for each couple. Flavia tweeted that they can choose any two styles of dances as long as they haven't danced them in the week before or scheduled to dance them in the week after the fusion week. One of the fan twitter accounts says she and Louis will be dancing a rumba / ballroom tango fusion.

I've just finished it. It's fiction, translated from Italian, and it's about a young Sicilian you can speak fluent Arabic and is recruited by the Italian secret service to help infiltrate a terrorist cell in an immigrant community in Rome. His narrative is alternated with that of a young Muslim wife who has moved from Egypt with her husband who is trying to better himself in the European economy. She has secretly harboured the wish to become a hairdresser but after marriage her husband has asked her to take the veil. I really enjoyed it, although I have my reservations about the ending.