chesilbeach

Me too! Especially since it's Jay dancing it!!! I love The Gotan Project so it's great to see one of their tracks being chosen. In fact, at this point, Go West is the ONLY song that I object to for the dance this week

Hmm, interesting question … I'm not sure. It's not a difficult read, it's just that I know that the hard back has a fairly small typeface, so with that and being almost 600 pages, it's a *lot* of text to read! I have read a couple of other books in between, but it just takes concentration, as every now and again, he'll throw in something linking the characters stories to the bigger picture … but that hasn't been revealed yet, so you have to remember all those things too. I'm so far in now, I have to finish, but I'm hoping that this latest development is actually going to lead somewhere this time.

Page 392 out of 598 of The Bone Clocks and if *finally* looks like the story is actually going to start coming together!

You're welcome It's occasionally handy to know a Strictly nerd

Thought I'd resurrect this thread for you, as the last series will start next week, here's an interview with David Mitchell and Robert Webb from last weekends Observer: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/nov/01/david-mitchell-robert-webb-on-peep-show-we-just-wanted-to-milk-it-interview

I think if you like Kelley Armstrong, you're going to enjoy Omens, Kell. It's the start of a new series, and a bit of a change from the Women of the Otherworld series, much more along the conventional thriller story route and with a strong female lead, but with some supernatural elements that look like they will be gradually revealed across the series. It's very much her style of writing though, which I find so enjoyable to read, and I finished it today and will definitely be going on to the next books in the series. I'm back to The Bone Clocks now, and just over halfway through. I think it'll be another weeks reading at least, especially with a detour into A Tale of Two Cities at some point this week. Lots of people being introduced over a long time period, but I really want it to start pulling the story together soon, otherwise I'm going to get a bit annoyed … especially as I've invested so much time in it already, I'm determined to finish it, and want it to be worth my while!

The way the voting works is that points are awarded for placing on the leader board, so highest scoring couple get the number of points equal to the number of couples dancing that week (e.g 11 couples, top scoring couple will get 11 points) and then it decreases by 1 point each place further down the leaderboard they get, but unlike rankings, where if you had a joint 3rd then there would be no fourth place, the points decrease by 1, so 5th place would get 1 point less than joint 3rd place. (If you want to see last weeks leaderboard as an example, it's at www.ultimatestrictly.com/series-13-week-6). Then the votes are converted to points so that if there are 11 couples, the one with the most votes gets 11 points and the one with the lowest gets 1 point, and these are added to the points from the leaderboard, and the two couples with the lowest combined number of points will go into the bottom two dance off. If there are two or more couples with the same number of points at the bottom, then the viewers score take would take precedence, (e.g. bottom pair scored 6, then two pairs score 7, the pair with 7 who scored more viewers votes would be safe, and the ones with the lower viewer votes would dance off). In the unlikely event of a tie in viewers votes, then the judges would confer and choose which couple would go into the dance off, and in the event of a tie between the judges, just like the dance off, Len would have the casting vote.

New Star Trek TV series to air in 2017

Bookshop hostel opens in Tokyo with beds hidden behind bookshelves I'm not sure this would be the best nights sleep you ever got though!

The consensus in the office today was that this week was a bit boring and the dancing wasn't much cop either!

You're absolutely right! Despite the fact I have some of the books still up on the shelf, I'm not sure I'd read them again now, despite my love of nostalgia and revisiting my childhood, as in my memory these were aimed at a very young audience and probably a bit too childish for me now, and your review sort of reinforces that for me.

Dry and a bit cooler today.

Hi Amira. I have to say, I rarely read book blog websites anymore. I have an RSS feed set up to the Book Club Forum review blog (which is linked to this forum) but apart from that I can't remember the last time I looked at one, including my own which has been neglected for at least a couple of years now. Personally, I prefer to review here on the forum, and read reviews here, as there's a much easier way to discuss with people rather than rely on comments being posted on the blog. I know that blogs are still popular, and I've noticed that authors I follow on Twitter will often post links to book blogs, so the only think I can suggest is having a look at popular book blogs on the web and see what other types of post they make. On the forum here, lots of members have their own book blog where they share their thoughts on the books they've been reading (see Book Blogs - Discuss your reading!), so feel free to set up your own thread here and share your thoughts on books here.

I'm about two thirds of the way through Omens and it's been really good to come back to Kelley Armstrong after a break. This one is the first of a series of books set in Cainsville, and it's very intriguing so far, and as always, Armstrong's supernatural characters living in the modern world we know are brilliantly developed. Hoping to read more this evening … maybe even finish it, as it's such a page turner!

I read about 300 pages of Omens yesterday, and a couple of chapters of A Tale of Two Cities, so I think in total, I read about 750 pages over the weekend. Not too shabby!

I was a bit behind and only finished today, but you're right, Janet, we're definitely moving faster now. Miss Pross is one of those Dickens characters that are often parodied nowadays, with her description as a wild red woman, and her tendency to exaggeration, but she does being a little comic interlude at times. It just occurred to me today that our meaning of the word Lorry wouldn't have been the same as in Dickens time, so I actually looked it up, as I was curious to know whether it had any relevance to his character at the time, and it's not that far off what we know now, in that it would have been a long flat wagon without sides, and used between the engine and carriages on the railways to carry luggage, so I guess it is sort of a nice description of him, as he has been a carrier of messages and people in the plot so far. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, but I have to say, I do like reading in instalments, as I like the anticipation of waiting for the next bit of the story each time.

Looks quite promising today, mostly blue sky and the sun is out, but cool. A lovely autumn day … my favourite!

I finished The Dead House yesterday. Really out of my comfort zone, but I was absolutely gripped by it, and it kept me thinking all the way through about what was actually happening. Going to try and read Omens by Kelley Armstrong today. It's the first in the Cainsville series, but it's another one with over 400 pages so doubt if I'll finish it. Also need to try and read my chapters for A Tale of Two Cities for this week.

Four of Gaiman’s fantastical short stories are being made into a series for Sky Arts by directors who conjure ‘a state between reality and hallucination’ http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/29/neil-gaimans-likely-stories-to-begin-filming-for-tv

Happy All Saints Day! It'll soon be Bonfire Night and then Remembrance Day in the UK, and we'll have Veterans Day and Thanksgiving in the US, there's the Melbourne Cup and Australia Day in Australia, Koningsdag (King's Feast) in Belguim, Armistice Day in France, but what's going on with you in November? Not much planned for me today, just going to try and get some reading done, and think about starting to plan for Christmas … sorry, it's not that far away now, and don't want to leave everything to the last minute!

Tell us all about your daily book reading, buying, acquiring, organising … anything you've done with books today! I finished The Dead House yesterday for the Hallowe'en Read-A-Thon, and today, I'm planning to read Omens by Kelley Armstrong too, as well as trying to fit in my group read chapters of A Tale of Two Cities. What will you be reading?

Agreed! The dances that could have been really good (Anita, Georgia, Helen, Jay) were spoilt by the theme for me, and OH and I both felt that all the dances seemed too short - I think it was too much faffing around trying to tell the story and the beginning of the dances, but as soon as the actual dancing got going, it was over. Think the leader board was right though, and I think Carol might actually end up in the dance off this week, and probably with Kirsty.

I loved the Wombles too! I still have one of the Wombles albums up in the attic along with a Great Uncle Bulgaria soft toy (even though Orinoco was my favourite too) and I think I might still have some of my Wombles books up on the bookcase on the landing too. I always thought it was “The Wombles of Wimbledon Common, are we…” as in they live on Wimbledon Common, but just the phrasing of the singing on the song makes it sound more like The Wombles of Wimbledon. Common are we…?

Sorry to hear you're feeling poorly, hope it doesn't last too long. Get well soon

It may be Hallowe'en, but it smells like Christmas in our house this morning … the cakes are baking in the oven as we speak! Not much planned for today … more reading (obviously!) for the Hallowe'en Read-A-Thon, plus I need to get some shopping done, and will visit my Dad too. One of the cinemas in Bristol is showing Casablanca tomorrow lunchtime, and I've never seen it at the cinema, only on the small screen, so I might make the effort to go and watch it, but Sundays are lazy days, and not sure if I can be bothered to drive there and back just to see it, as that'll take up most of the day. See how I feel tomorrow, I think.