France

That was the book that made me realise that books didn't just tell stories, they took you to somewhere totally magical.

Definitely not! I've always loathed clowns and don't want even more reasons to!

If you enjoy them (not everyone does, but I did), they're addictive. The TV series is excellent too, it doesn't stick that closely to the books but near enough and the pacing is wonderful.

I'm sure once you've washed and blocked it most of the mistakes will disappear. Mine always do and I have loads.

So did I

Tell us some of the books you've enjoyed.

That's such good news! I thought Lonesome Dove was wonderful and have been reluctant to read any of the sequals in case they fell short and destroyed some of the magic.

Young Woman and the Sea by Glenn Strout is a book club read and getting surprise gems like this occasionally is why I keep going . It's the story of the first woman to swim the Channel a remarkable natural athlete called Trudy Eberle, why the Channel is still so difficult to swim, the history of swimming, women becoming accepted in some sports, the shennanigans around Trudy's attempts and more, lots of themes wound together into a fascinating piece of narrative non-fiction. I absolutely loved it and recommend it highly.

I've read a few of Liz Fenwick's books and thoroughly enjoyed the first one then gradually became less and less interested as I read more. I think maybe because they were a bit samey and, as you said, an OK read (but nothing special) so no impetus to get more of her books.

I can't remember either! I must be getting old (I AM getting old). I didn't go to school until I was 11 and then it was an all girls boarding school. I have a feeling we might have done Heart of Darkness for O level but I can't remember finishing it and there was something about hauling a cannon across Spain during the Napoleonic Wars. We had Richard II as our Shakespeare which I loved.

Oh brilliant! That's terrific news.

Yes, but there's nothing like a waterproof Kindle for reading in the bath!

What a cow! And I agree with Poppy, see if you can get a different HV or if you can't, just ignore her. If she really thought there was a danger of you allowing Ollie to snack on screws and computer parts she could have least waited until he was old enough to reach and grab. I've got three girls 2 1/2 years apart from each other so by the time no 3 came long I was feeding her, reading to no 2, then listening to reading practice from no 1. Your health visitor would have had a fit at the state of the house!

I liked this one a lot.

I got adept at supporting the baby with one arm and hand while she was feeding and holding the book with the other. Even easier these days with a Kindle. However when the next ones arrived it was no longer possible apart from night feeds as whenever I picked up a book another (usually My First Big Ladybird Book) wou!d be dumped in my lap with an imperious command to read! And don't worry about not getting things done. A health visitor told me se aways worried when she saw a new mother with an impeccably tidy house because either they weren't spending enough time with the baby or on themselves.

Wishing you all the best. Eye operations seem to have the most amazing rejuvenating effects, must be something to do with regaining vision you haven't had for ages, even years though when I asked my mother about having her cataracts removed she said it was awful! 'I haven't been able to see myself properly in the mirror for five years and now I can. I've got so old!" She was 89.

Our blackberry season is about to start (providing we get some rain ) and I'll be making blackberry icecream which is something you really don't get in the shops.

I suspect that the accusations have been going around for some time but people either didn't want to believe them or decided that they could be brushed under the carpet. And of course the paper had to be absolutely certain that they had all their facts before they published anything.

And actually Bruce was not a descendent of the family since he was the result of an affair so why was he left the house? Yes full of annoying things but it was still a very readable story.

On your recommendations I got this too, especially as it's currently 99p on Kindle and Kobo. I enjoyed it a lot, much more than the previous books of hers that I've tried, and thought the timesliding concept really interesting. But, as a natural historical pedant (inherited from my grandfather, a history don and prolific biographer and historian) , the historical inaccuracies infuriated me. For instance Pixie wears a crinoline in 1897, no-one had worn them for 20 years, and despite barely knowing how to ride can ride sidesaddle immediately. She couldn't. Still the pace carried me on but I'm not sure I'll rush out to read her next one.

So how are you getting on with To Say Nothing of the Dog? I loved that one, particularly the Victorian Miss with all the frills!

A round up of three absolutely top class reads, all very different. Welcome to Glorious Tuga by Francesca Segal is the sort of book I might have avoided if it hadn't been recommended as one of the Guardian's books of the year as the idea of Charlotte, an introverted vet going to a remote Pacific island supposedly to do research but actually in search of her father and getting drawn into island life sounded a bit twee. In a less good writer it probably would have but this book is a delightful surprise, funny and charming (and quite informative about eco systems too). It's part of a trilogy and I'm really looking forward to no 2. Three Days in June by Anne Tyler It's the day before Gail's daughter's wedding, she's just walked out of her job, her ex turns up -with a cat - and her daughter is having a crisis. The book is short, almost a novella and goes to prove that Anne Tyler may be over 80 but she's still at the top of her game. For me this is one of her very best. Business as Usual by Jane Oliver I'd actually read this years ago but it was returned to me last week and thought I'd see if I enjoyed it as much the second time round. I did. Written in the early 1930s it's an epistolary novel, Hillary Fane, independent, well educated, has decided to work for a year in London while her rising doctor fiance finishes his exams in Edinburgh. She gets taken on a clerk in a thinly disguised Selfridges and quickly rises upwards because she's bright, adaptable and creative. The letters she writes home to her parents and increasingly pompous fiance have a wonderful voice and are interspersed with memos to do with her work. Some of it is very amusing and there's a strong streak of feminism running through it too. It's well worth tracking down a copy (I'm pretty sure there isn't a Kindle version).

This is based on a true story and all the locations are accurate descriptions of real places but with fictional name; For instance Therese's house where she used to look out of the window, so bored, is in the main square of St Symphorien where I lived for 7 years and the trial is set in Bazas (there's a photo of the real Therese standing on the steps). Mauriac's family had a summer cottage at St Symphorien. I agree with you about Mauriac being dry though I enjoyed reading the story but then I could place all the locations.

I'll be interested to hear what you both think as I've read, and didn't like much, a couple of her books. But that was a few years ago and my tastes have changed - and so has her writing probably.

I was looking forward to The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths which is the start of a new series involving time travel and, I imagine, a dual time lines theme with the Victorian and the present day impinging on each other. The main character Ally, a feisty, single parent, who goes back to Victorian times is well rounded and appealing, the problem lies with the modern story and Ally's son where the plot is just plain silly to the extent I put the book down a couple of times with an exasperated 'That wouldn't happen!'. (I've noticed before that Elly Griffiths s better at characterisation than plot.) That said it was a fairly pleasant read with definite hope that once she gets into her stride this series might become something good. I'll give the next one a go. Ovidia Yu is, according to the blurb on the back of the book, Singapore's best selling detective novelist. Hmmm. The Cannonball Tree Mystery is well worth reading because of the setting, Singapore during the war under theJapanese occupation. Su Lin is half Japanese, half Chinese, and is this book the fifth in a series, she is working in the mansion of the Japanese commander. I enjoyed her, I enjoyed the descriptions of Singapore and the life at the time a lot but the plot was far too convoluted and the pace rather slow.