chesilbeach

Your reaction to this person is completely understandable. The post they've made comes across as glib and presumptious, as well as being inaccurate, while your response seems to be considered and much politer than I would have been in the same situation. Thankfully, the only responsibility any of us have as readers, is to read what we want. There's no requirement to finish every book, let alone to review them or provide feedback to anyone we don't want to. And, I'm going to fall back on the good old saying my mum always produced, "Wouldn't it be a boring world if we all liked the same thing?" Thank goodness we all have different tastes and aren't just sheep following each other saying how wonderful one thing is to the exclusion of all others. With regards to finishing every book you start reading, some people feel they have to, but I'm with you, life is just too short to plod through a book you're not enjoying, when you could be reading something you might actually like. For those of us who have hectic lives of work and/or study and/or family etc., then reading time is precious and an indulgence, so for goodness sake, you have the right to read whatever you like, and give up on whatever you want!

I read this about 10 years ago, and thought it was a very good book indeed. I do, however, remember enjoying the first half of the book slightly more than the second, as I felt the descriptions of the training and early life of the main character as a Geisha were extremely interesting. For some reason, whether it was my naivety as a reader back then or not, I'm not sure, but I was about three quarters of the way through the book before looking at the cover and realising it was actually written by a male author. I thought the voice of the female character was truthful and convincing, and very well written overall. In fact, seeing this thread has reminded me of the book, and I wonder why I never bothered to look for any more books by the same author! I'm off to do that now ...

I'd been posting about books on another forum (not a book or reading forum), but not many were getting involved in the discussion, so I searched on Google for a book forum, and this one came up. Once I started looking at the boards, I realised I'd found somewhere I could discuss the books I was reading with like minded people, and haven't looked back since!

It's called Small Steps.

I'm happy to read a chick-lit novel, any time, any place, anywhere! Having said that, I'm probably happiest reading a chick-lit in a coffee shop with a lovely caramel latte.

I found the first half of the first one a struggle, but once I got past that, it was okay. I went on to read the first five books in the series, but was getting bored with them so haven't bothered with the rest. I have read Alexander McCall Smith's other series of books, the 44 Scotland Street and the Isabel Dalhousie books, and I'm absolutely addicted to them - I even buy them in hardback, I'm so desperate to read each book as it comes out! I'm not even tempted by any more of the The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency though.

It is a relatively little-known fact that, over the course of a single year, about twenty million letters are delivered to the dead. The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris

I remember my friend getting really cross with someone on the bus who was having a conversation on their phone at the time The Sixth Sense had just come out in the cinema, and giving away the twist at the end to everyone on the bus. I think her comment to me was "What's wrong with people??!!!" which has become a staple of our conversations now!

According to Waterstone's website, the hardback is out tomorrow, but not sure about the paperback

Although Jodi Picoult is not my cup of tea, she was on the Daily Mayo radio programme today on Five Live. They have put the interview into a podcast, which you can get here. The BBC tend to keep the podcasts available for one week after transmission, so you'll need to download it before Monday 4th May 2009 if you want to listen. It's just under 30 minutes long.

WELCOME to the forum

I'm going to visit a book shop I've never been to before on Friday, on the premise of "just having a look", but I suspect Teacher, Teacher might just end up on my bookshelf by Friday night! Thanks for letting us know about it, Melisa.

Finished Soul Eater this afternoon. The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series has surprised me by being original and engrossing. The author has obviously researched her subject heavily, and recreates historic landscapes and human society, while writing exciting, thrilling adventures. I am thoroughly enjoying the series, and have to tear myself away from the next one on my book shelf to try and make sure I finish my reading group book in plenty of time for the meeting in a few weeks. So with a slightly heavy heart, I leave Torak and his adventures and move back to modern day France to catch up with Vianne, and read The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris.

I agree with you, good but not her best. I've read a few of her books, and I like them, but I find them instantly forgettable, and even reading the blurb doesn't jog my memory, so it's important to keep a list of which ones I've read! This is on my wishlist. I read the Gervase Phinn school inspector memoirs and loved them, as did my Dad, and I got him Teacher, Teacher on audiobook which he said was just as good, so I'm going to get the book myself (once I've reduced TBR dramatically!).

I suspect the UK PLR fund of money will reduce significantly with the credit crunch and authors will get even less of an income from borrowed library books. I think it was 5.98p per book last year with a maximum payment of

I think that might be the one book of hers I read, although if it was, the UK version is called A Wedding In December. It was a reading group book, and not something I would have chosen to read. The rest of the group had previously read The Pilot's Wife and loved it, but I hadn't read it, and based on my experience of A Wedding In December, I won't be inclined to read any more of her books. The only redeeming feature was the book within the book, which was quite interesting.

I've finished The Book Thief today. I was actually slightly underwhelmed by it. It was a good plot, an interesting take on the subject, and I thought the idea of Death as the narrator was unusual. However, I did feel it was too long, and there were sections I personally, would have edited down. I also wasn't convinced by the development of some of the relationships, and I don't think all the characters were well developed. I don't want to sound too negative, as it was readable and I did want to finish it to see how the author finished the story, but I'm not sure I would recommend it to anyone else. My next book will be Soul Eater by Michelle Paver, which will be a quick read before ploughing into The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris.

Whilst it's not the best book ever written, I thought it was an interesting and enlightening read about a subject I knew nothing about. It does have faults, and I can't say I was keen on the two parallel running plots (would have preferred it without the modern day segments, and just had a straight forward historical story), but I still enjoyed it, and I thought it would make a good holiday read.

I think I've still got a few of the Mallory Towers books somewhere, although at least one of them has a broken spine and pages falling out, if I remember rightly. I'm going to have to have a look for them, and see if I can get the missing ones and replacements for the one(s) that is falling apart, as I'd like to read them again.

I'm so glad you're enjoying it. I would heartily recommend Quartet In Autumn by the same author, although it is slightly more melancholy and poignant in tone.

Well, if we're talking Persephone Books, then can I also recommend Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson. A completely joyous book.

Looks like I'm in the minority then ...

I hope the mods don't mind this off-topic, but sort of related, post in this thread, but I've always been curious about the role of an editor in the publishing of books today, and as Maggie has commented about agents and editors feeling their readers dislike prologues, and I came across a blog entry on the Guardian website relating to an award for the unsung editors. One of the comments to the post is from an editor, and I was intrigued to see him say this: Trying to get back on topic, I wonder if it is the agent/editor who think the prologue is disliked by readers, or whether their experience of trying to represent books with prologues to the marketing/publishing departments is that they don't like them. I don't think I've ever come across anyone as a reader, who has specifically said they don't like a prologue in a book. I've been going to my library reading group for over three years now, and discussed probably 50 or so books, and I don't think the issue of a prologue has ever come up. I think we may have once discussed the inclusion of an epilogue which was felt unnecessary, but I can't remember a single comment about a prologue.

Thanks, it's going well so far! (60 pages in)

Count me ... out The Da Vinci Code was dreadful, so badly written it almost made Twilight look like a masterpiece! Thankfully, I had to read it for my library reading group, so I didn't have to pay any of my own money for it, but that did mean I had to read it all to be able to talk about it fully