chesilbeach

There's already a thread discussing this book here

That Touch of Mink

Hi Tom It is indeed a nice place here!

Halfway across, I stopped as a fresh wave of the scent came over on the breeze. I looked up to see a short, sturdy figure under a dim streetlight. She wore a hooded cloak of some kind, high heels and a short skirt. Broken by Kelley Armstrong

That Thing You Do!

Clayton doesn't do "unobtrusive" well. Broken - Kelley Armstrong

These are some of my favourite films: The Philedelphia Story (1940) Now, Voyager (1942) Indiscreet (1958) A Room With A View (1985) Howards End (1992) Strictly Ballroom (1992) Four Weddings and A Funeral (1994) Only You (1994) Best In Show (2000) Moulin Rouge! (2001) Le fabuleux destin d'Am

Best In Show

Remember Me? - Sophie Kinsella

My Beautiful Launderette

Sookie looks like threatening the dominance of Twilight on the forums at the moment ... at least Eric Northman does! I guess once the first TV series finishes in the UK, we'll be back to looking forward to the New Moon film, and the attention will revert back to Twilight again

Who's That Girl?

I'm not sure if I can face listening/watching the test match today I know you have to take the rough with the smooth, but this was the critical match we just had to not lose. I can't see even the faintest glimmer of hope from the players or the weather that we might be able to eek out a draw now. I used to think that, until I met my OH. He explained the game to me, and after years of having to watch and listen to it, I now see the art of the game. The minute adjustments to the placement of the fingers on the ball and the turn of the wrist can make it spin, swing, bounce up or keep low, testing and teasing the batsman, encouraging them to making errors. The captain has to be a master of tactics to gain the upperhand on the other team. Then the batsmen who can read a particular bowler, and can smash him all over the ground and destroy the bowlers confidence in his own abilities. And it's not just the game itself, it's the commentary that makes a great test match. Listening to Test Match Special is not just about the sport, it's about life, storytelling, entertainment ... and cakes! I used to think I could cope with the one day game, and wonder how a game that took five days could be so interesting to people, but now I realise that the 20/20 and one day game is really just a bit of fun, but the test matches are the real heart of the sport.

I have really enjoyed the series. I read the first one because I loved one of the episodes of Doctor Who that Mark Gatiss had written (The Unquiet Dead), and for me they've got the right mixture of action and comedy, as well as the period settings, make them pure entertainment. The BBC are apparently adapting the first one, The Vesuvius Club for television.

The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness

Look Back In Anger

I haven't read the last book yet (it arrived in the post yesterday), but like you my favourite so far has been Dead To The World which I'm actually re-reading at the moment. I think it's the one book in the series that most people pick as their favourite - something to do with Eric I suspect

"It's distilled from the wings of the papilio obscurus," he continued. "Found only in the Balkans. Butterflies have a sort of dust on their scales." Black Butterfly by Mark Gatiss

Well, I certainly wasn't disappointed by the latest Lucifer Box novel, Black Butterfly by Mark Gatiss. After visiting the Edwardian period with The Vesuvius Club, then the Roaring Twenties in The Devil In Amber, Black Butterfly transports us to the 1950's, where artist turned secret agent, Lucifer Box is coming up for retirement and preparing to hand over his role as "Joshua Reynolds", head of the Royal Academy, which is actually a front for one of Her Majesty's Secret Services (a very secret one!). Despite his advancing years, Lucifer hasn't lost his eye for a beautiful face, or his very egalitarian approach to sex. He also hasn't lost his touch for action, investigation and espionage, although his ageing body might tell him otherwise. It's not long before he's on the trail of the suspected murders of some of his friends and contemporaries, all who've died in suspicious circumstances. I love Mark Gatiss' Lucifer Box series. By moving the period setting for each of the three books, we meet our debonair gentleman spy in different eras, giving each of the stories a different, distinctive flavour. Gatiss doesn't try to explain what has happened in the intervening years, merely dropping in tantalising tidbits of detail about missions Box has completed since we last met him, and allowing the story to rattle along at a cracking pace. Full of wit, charm, style and thrills, the book is a wonderful romp, and I adored it.

I've also read all of both series, and I love them both for different reasons. Both the characters are reluctant heroes of their own stories, both have a similar family background, orphaned with a strong female influence (either aunt or housekeeper), so they're never fully alone in the world. The Young Bond books are obviously set in the pre-WW2 period, while the Alex Rider series are set in the modern day, and I feel this gives the books their difference in tone. The Bond books feel as if they're in muted, dour colours, compared to the bright, explosive colour of the Alex Rider series. By this I mean the Bond books have a darker, melancholic feel to them, while Alex seems to live in the modern world with it's fast moving, immediate nature. Both writers produce exciting, action-packed, fast-paced thrillers, for which I'm always eagerly awaiting the next instalment.

I'm glad I haven't managed to buy a copy of this yet, as amazon.co.uk have a new revision listed for early next year: I think I'll wait for the new edition to be published, since I've already got a lot of books on my TBR shelf, so it won't be too much of a hardship to wait!

The Hammerhead's mouth was jagged as a knife-wound. Black Butterfly by Mark Gatiss

That's exactly the same problem as I've had! I don't know what it is, but if I find a series I like, I have to read the lot as quickly as possible. I've just finished Haunted by Kelley Armstrong, the fifth book of the Women of the Otherworld series. Perfect winding down material after a rubbish week, and an interesting move into another area of the supernatural world Armstrong has created. I'm going to take a diversion from this series next, as I've bought Black Butterfly by Mark Gatiss today, and I loved the first two Lucifer Box books so much, I can't wait to read this one.

Hey Naomi Hope you enjoy The Time Traveler's Wife - it was one of my favourites reads of the last few years.