chesilbeach

Although I'm supposed to be reading Moral Disorder at the moment, it wouldn't fit in my bag for work because it's a hardback, so I took Murder Most Fab by Julian Clary with me for my lunchtime reading. I love it already, and suspect it might take precedence over Moral Disorder this evening! Added to that, I collected my reserved book from the library, Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong, and I'm itching to start that as well now.

I've already got Dead and Gone in hardback, so I might as well get any future books in that format now! At least I get to read them as soon as they come out

It's a nightmare, isn't it? I almost wish authors didn't post excerpts online - I'd have thought only existing fans would read it, so it wouldn't increase the book sales. Having said that, it has definitely whetted my appetite and will probably buy the book in hardback rather than wait for the paperback, so maybe it does achieve its goal after all!

I was disappointed by both Everyone Worth Knowing and Chasing Harry Winston after enjoying The Devil Wears Prada a lot. In fact, I think her books have got progressively worse, and probably won't bother with any more. Their only saving grace is the fact I love the look of the book spines on my bookshelf!

They do sound odd, Janet, but they really are just great fun and well written books. I read them before I joined the forum, and never found anyone else who'd read them, so I'm delighted that so many people on here are fans.

Ok, I admit it, I couldn't resist any longer. Just been over to the Charlaine Harris site and read the first chapter of Dead In The Family. And now I just want to read the rest of it Why did I have to do it? Why don't I have any willpower? I can see a re-read of some of the earlier books coming on now, as I need a Sookie fix

I've never watched Celeb BB and won't be starting this year, but Stephanie Beacham is comedy gold! She was absolutely brilliant on Strictly Come Dancing a few years ago, despite going out her first week. Very funny lady

Waiting for the PDC Darts Championship final to start ...

I'm sure you'll enjoy it - knowing some of the books we've both read in the past and had similar opinions on, I think it's one you're going to like

It's actually the second Lucifer Box book by Mark Gatiss, and although it isn't essential to have read the first, I would suggest reading them in order if you can. The first one is called The Vesuvius Club - there are three in total, and I think they're excellent.

BBC Pride & Prejudice Episode 5

Excellent! Always great when someone sees the (sparkly) light I guess it must have been! I must admit, I haven't been near it since before Christmas, as I do all my reservations online (more convenient and cheaper than in person), and I just visit to collect the books when I get an email to say they're in. I loved the new one, Ben! Just as good as all the rest of the Alex Rider stories As for me, well, I'll be reading more of Moral Disorder today.

Twilight's on while I'm doing other stuff so not really concentrating on it, but it's great background noise!

AAARGH! You guys are killing me. I've never seen Gilmore Girls, but all this talk of Rory and her reading list, frankie's avatar and all the snack foods, and I'm now hunting out where I can get the DVD's (as they're currently only showing series 5 over here as far as I can see), so that I can go back, start from the beginning and see what this is all about!

Forgive me for being such a fangirl here, but I'm going to spout off about my feelings on RTD the scriptwriter. Although I agree that RTD didn't write the best episode of Doctor Who ever, I would like to defend him as I think he has written some great ones in the past. However, it is interesting that from what I understand, the scripts I think are his best, are also the ones he apparently had to deliver in very tight timescales and mostly with small budgets. My three favourites are Boom Town from series one, and Tooth and Claw and Love and Monsters from series two. Boom Town was a last minute script which had to be low cost and I thought was an incredibly thought provoking piece on the moral dilemmas facing the Doctor. Tooth and Claw was written in the space of a week when another script had to be dropped, and I think has almost everything I want in a Doctor Who episode - scary monster, comic moments, lots of running and a thrilling plot. Love and Monsters was the first "Doctor-lite" episode due to the last minute inclusion of a Christmas special that year, meaning they had to film 14 episodes in the time allotted for 13. I know it really divides opinion, but I think it is a fantastic moment of reflection on the consequences of coming into contact with our great hero. And this leaves me with an issue with the series to come this year. I think RTD wrote too many scripts in the series he has been in charge of, and that he had too much control over his own work, leading to these supposed "epic" finales, which I think for the most part, were too big on budget and effects and trying to impress, and not about the story and the characters. The best scripts from all of the new series so far, have come from other writers, who have been limited to one story each (in my opinion, the top two writers have been Steven Moffat and Paul Cornell). So, the probiem I have is that will one of my favourite writers be able to deliver the same level of scripts and stories he's produced in the single stories he's written in previous series, or will he spread himself too thin in his time as head writer? For the first time since the launch of the new series, I have been trying to avoid looking at the news and forums around Doctor Who, as I want to be surprised and (hopefully) delighted when the new series with the new Doctor starts, but this means I have no idea how many scripts Moffat himself is writing, or who the other writers are. I hope that Paul Cornell will be writing a new story and that Moffat sets himself limits better than RTD has done, but I have such high hopes for him, I worry that I'm setting him up for a fall in my own eyes.

I read the book in my late teens and don't really remember it very well, except that I know I was glad to get to the end, and couldn't understand why this was a supposed classic book. However, I've just seen on IMDB that Baz Luhrmann has a new film version of this "In Development". Luhrmann is my favourite director, so if he is going to make this film, I know I'm going to have to think about adding a re-read of this to my TBR list, although at least it's unlikely to be out until at least next year, if not two or three years time, so that will give me plenty of time to schedule the reading time in!

I still think it would have been better if

Read the first couple of chapters of Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood this evening, and also got an email to say my reserved copy of Men of the Otherworld has arrived at the library

PDC Darts semi-finals.

Yes, but it was supposed to be And, there is no way I think . Sorry, but that's just not believable to me. I would rather have left it with one final visit back to and left it at that. Even more evidence that this was self indulgent on RTDs behalf to

It's morning. For now, night is over. It's time for the bad news. Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood

Gavin and Stacey - The Out-takes

This thread in the Fiction section has some useful tips on writing book reviews

I hope you like it, Janet - I thought it was excellent