chesilbeach

Didn't get round to starting the Agatha Raisin book last night, but have had a lovely, cosy Sunday morning reading it instead. Funny and fast-paced - the Agatha Raisin books are pure indulgence, and Agatha Raisin and a Spoonful of Poison was no exception. Already looking forward to the next! The next book at the top of my TBR pile will, I suspect, need a bit more brain power and attention. It's Shakespeare's Wife by Germaine Greer. I'm not a huge reader of non-fiction (other than travel literature), but I've heard her interviewed about the book on a few different radio programmes, and she makes it sound fascinating, so I thought I'd give it a go. Might take a break from reading for today though, and start to tackle it tomorrow.

"Mrs Bloxby, wife of the vicar of Carsely, looked nervously at her visitor." Agatha Raisin and a Spoonful of Poison by M. C. Beaton

When thirty one-year-old Charlotte Merryweather, a successful businesswoman who runs her own PR company follows a diversion because of road works and finds herself face-to-face with her twenty one-year-old self, she realises she has the perfect opportunity to undo some of the mistakes she made ten years ago. Things to advise her younger self include, wearing sun block, not wearing PVC trousers and don't attempt to bleach your hair with lemon juice - it only attracts wasps! But will the twenty one-year-old she take the advice of some one so old? And what will the consequences be for Charlotte? She's about to find out .... For anyone who's read my previous musings on this author's books, they'll know I loved her first two novels, What's New, Pussycat? and my absolute favourite, Going La La, but I'd been disappointed with some of the later ones. Her previous book, Me and Mr Darcy was a lot better, and I was hoping the start of a return to form, so I was really hoping for the best from Who's That Girl? I was delighted to find this was a really enjoyable, modern chick-lit novel. There was enough romance to keep it in the romcom genre, but was more about the main characters relationship with herself. I've written a full review on my blog, but as I've summarised here, that I thought it was very good, and recommend it to all my fellow chick-lit lovers.

Just finished Who's That Girl? by Alexandra Potter, which was very enjoyable. I thought it was almost as good as her first two books, which I adored, and I'm so glad, because some of her books in between those and this one had disappointed me a lot, but this was very entertaining. I've got the latest Agatha Raisin book by M.C. Beaton from the library at the moment, so I'm going to curl up in the armchair this evening and devour the latest adventure of my favourite detective!

I've not read a huge amount of books set in China, but two I enjoyed were this historical novel Empress Orchid by Amchee Min, and a book of contemporary short stories A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li. Both were very good, and friend I know who've read them, also thought they were great.

I'm sure I've read this, and the follow up, The Ballroom on Magnolia Street, but I just can't remember it, even from the blurb. I can even remember which coffee shop I was in as I read it, but I just can't recall the story at all! I must have enjoyed it because I did read her second book, which I do remember, and also liked. I've just looked on fantasticfiction.co.uk to see if the cover would jog my memory, and I do definitely remember it, but I still can't recall the story. However, I have noticed the author has written a book every year, and has five more books out since I read the last one, and I haven't seen any of them jumping out at me in bookshops - something to look out for next year when I've reduced my TBR pile!

This was a one day read for me. I had a day off, so went for a day trip, and with a 90 minute train ride, plus a few coffee shops, I was nearing the end as I had lunch in a cafe. I was so shocked by the events everyone above has mentioned (see the spoilers!), as they were unexpected and brutal, that I ate my lunch with tears running down my face. I loved the book completely, and some of the highlights were the villagers coming into the school house to tell stories to the children, and the joy of the children remembering words, lines and scenes from the book. A very enjoyable read, and I absolutely loved it.

I read this book last year for my book group, and as everyone else had read McEwan before and raved about him but friends had read him and hated his writing, I tried to approach it with an open mind. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it at all, and was thankful that at least it was quite short. I was put off at the beginning when the main character, a neurosurgeon, describes a medical procedure in technical detail, and I just found it left me cold. I couldn't engage with the characters in the novel at all, with the story of how Perowne meets his wife and the denouement of the drama were both too contrived and simply unbelievable. This is definitely an author I won't be revisiting in a hurry.

I'd assumed it was everything that didn't fit into any of the other categories! I would expect to find everything here that you'd find in the main fiction section of a book shop, so basically not crime, horror, sci-fi, classics or childrens which is pretty much what the other categories we have on the main board. I noticed in Waterstone's today that they've also got a separate section for "Modern Women's Literature" (or something like that!) which is basically the romance/chick-lit type books, which we've got a separate sub-board in this section as well, so they've obviously been picking up ideas from this forum.

Not updated for a few days, but finished The Other Side of the Stars by Clemency Burton-Hill on Wednesday. It was pretty good for a debut novel and an entertaining read, but with sections of the story told by three different characters, it felt a bit lengthy. The author dealt well the contemporary story of Lara interspersed with the telling of the stories of her mother and father. Started Who's That Girl by Alexandra Potter. A light, fluffy chick-lit author, and I adored her first two novels, but felt the next few books didn't live up to the same standard. This one is starting off promisingly, and I'm hoping it's a full return to form.

I can see where you're coming from, Roxi, but when you have as many books as we do, with so many bookshelves, hardbacks just take up more space and they would just be sat on the shelf with only the spine visible, and chances are I wouldn't read it again either, so it would be a bit of a waste of space and money. Plus, I hardbacks are too heavy to carry around in an already full to bursting bag!

Paperbacks for me every time. I will only buy hardbacks if I'm desperate to read an authors latest book, and even then, I would probably try to get it from the library first, then wait to buy it in paperback. At the moment, the only author who warrants buying hardbacks, is Alexander McCall Smith, but only the Isabel Dalhousie series of books, which I devour as soon as I get my hands on them!

Glad you enjoyed Bookends. Have you read any other Jane Green? I really enjoyed her first few novels, but I couldn't even finish Babyville and was then disappointed with most of them until Life Swap and then her most recent book The Beach House was a return to form, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I haven't read Second Chance yet, but it's on the shelf waiting for me

I read this about 15 years ago, and I didn't enjoy it at all. I wonder whether I would appreciate it more now, as I think my reading tastes have developed since then. I might give it another go, but at the moment, I think my favourite thing about it, is that it inspired the amazing Kate Bush song!

Thanks for reviewing this - I've kept picking it up in the bookshop last year, but never quite got around to buying it. I think once I've reduced my TBR pile (which I've made a good dent in so far this year), I'll give it a go.

Actually, it's a common misconception that the -ize ending is American and the -ise is British - even spell checkers get this wrong. If you look in a British dictionary (I've got a copy of the OED), using the word realize as an example, the only listing is under "realize" with an exception afterwards which says, "(also -ise)". The correct British spelling is the same as the American, and is the -ize version. Compare this to colour / color. The full entry for the word is listed under "colour" with a separate entry for "color" which simply says, "see colour".

You're right. My main problem is text speak, which I find incredibly hard to read, but as long as someone attempts to write properly, I don't actually mind spelling or grammar mistakes. I do also think that reading helps improve the writing skills of most people. I think it's like osmosis, and over time, you gradually notice the improvement in your own writing, or the writing of someone else, if reading books is part of yours or their life. At the very least, I think it helps maintain the level of technical competence you have as a writer.

I've just remembered catalog/catalogue, program/programme, honor/honour as well.

You'd be surprised ... color/colour, humor/humour, tumor/tumour, (basically words that end in -or or -our), then meter/metre, center/centre, theater/theatre (basically words that end in -er or -re), gray/grey are the first ones of the top of my head.

"As she steps out of the airport terminal she can she that the world has turned white, and this makes her gasp." The Other Side of the Stars by Clemency Burton-Hill

There's also another issue with the spell checker - do I want the American or British spelling? Most spell checkers are based on an American dictionary - at least by default - and I always choose to correct them afterwards with the British spelling. I always try to use the correct spelling (English for me;)) and grammar in every piece of writing, whether it's forum posts, letters, emails or even texts. I personally think it's easier to read if the spelling and grammar are correct.

I struggled through Miss Webster and Ch

Great review of The Death And Life Of Charlie St.Cloud. I was sure I'd read this, but couldn't remember it in any great detail, but going back through my old reading lists, I realise I read it in 2005, so I've read over 300 books since then, so it's no surprise I can't remember it in detail! However, I also realised that this is by the same author who wrote The Man Who Ate The 747, which I remember much more vividly despite reading it earlier, and enjoyed much more than the follow up. Have you read it?

That seems to be a consequence of joining this forum - book consumption increases dramatically!