chesilbeach

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!

Not much fiction makes me actually laugh, I find them generally more humourous than funny, but these did make me laugh: The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde The Nursery Crimes series by Jasper Fforde The Vesuvius Club and The Devil In Amber by Mark Gatiss Non-fiction tends to make me laugh more, and these have been the best for making me laugh out loud: Are You Dave Gorman? by Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace All of Tony Hawks books

I read Fire In The Blood by Ir

"She heard an English voice." Miss Webster and Ch

I read The Host after I finished the Twilight saga, although didn't enjoy it as much, and it was too drawn out for me, but I'll be interested to see what you think, Ben. On the other hand, Private Peaceful is a fabulous book, and very interesting as it dealt with issues from the First World War I didn't know much about. Hope you enjoy it too.

I finished For One More Day by Mitch Albom yesterday, which I was a bit disappointed by (see my comments in the thread for that book here). This meant I felt I had to "treat" myself to something I was pretty much guaranteed to like, one of my favourite authors for entertainment, Meg Cabot, and luckily I had Queen of Babble in the Big City in my TBR pile. I'm not going to give a review of it with a synopsis, because if you haven't read the first Queen of Babble book, then it will give away the end, but it was exactly what I expected from Meg - a well written, fun, girly chick-lit book, the perfect pick me up. I know there is a third book in the series, and this one ends on a cliffhanger, so I can't wait to get the next one when it's published in May. But, I did have a massive problem with the book - the synopsis on the back of the book tells you a huge plot point that only happens on page 263 out of 307! Why do publishers have to do that? Doesn't anyone check these things? Who thinks it's a good idea to give away something that happens 90% of the way through the book????!!!! Jeez, some people

And can you imagine how many books each of us would bring, just so we could recommend them all to everyone else!

I love The Eyre Affair - as soon as I read it, I went out and bought all Jasper Fforde's books, and went to "An evening with ... " the author at my local Waterstones and got a signed copy of First Among Sequels. Hope you enjoy it!