DanC_84

Wow. That family is a complete disgrace.

Saw 'Mao's Last Dancer' the other weekend. I thought it was pretty decent and my girlfriend loved it. She is a bit of a ballet nut though.

Got through the first 40 odd pages of 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' last night.

Finished 'Ceremony in Death' by JD Robb last night. Wasn't too bad. A little tedious in places perhaps but overall fairly decent. Next up is 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' by Stieg Larsson, which I'm pretty pumped about.

I loved 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' film so I will be sure to throw that on my wishlist. Cheers for the review.

Finished 'The Shadow of the Wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon last night. Synopsis: Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'cemetery of lost books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out 'La Sombra del Viento' by Julian Carax. But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. Then, one night, as he is wandering the old streets once more, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from La Sombra del Viento, a character who turns out to be the devil. This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax's work in order to burn them. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind. A page-turning exploration of obsession in literature and love, and the places that obsession can lead. My rating: 8/10 My thoughts: I had very high expectations for this book, which it maybe failed to meet completely. I really enjoyed the author's commentary on Barcelona and I thought it was very well written, there were just one or two things about the book that annoyed me slightly. On the positive note some of the characters were really well constructed. Fermin and Daniel in particular I felt were very strong characters and always interesting. In some cases I think he may have overdone Fermin's eccentric personality a little but overall I enjoued the author's construction of that character. The other character I really enjoyed was Fumero. He was entertaining throughout. One of the main things that bothered/annoyed me was Depite these (what I felt were) shortcomings, I really did enjoy this book and I would recommend it to others. The descriptions of Barca are excellent, the writing style flows and for the most part, the story is captivating. Next up I am reading 'Ceremony in Death' by JD Robb. I felt like a lighter, shorter read after my last few.

Finished 'The Shadow of the Wind' last night. I have now moved on to 'Ceremony in Death' by JD Robb.

Despite all the bad things I have heard about this book I am still going to buy and read it. TTTW was just too good for me not to.

Hey there and welcome to the forum!

I'd have to go with the Apprentice, the British version. Hilarious stuff.

Cheers. I'm about 120 pages in and I've enjoyed it so far. I just wish I had a bit more time to read it!

Shame to hear about 'Her Fearful Symmetry'. I was looking forward to that one as well after how awesome TTTW was.

No worries Lexie, definately will. I'm going to make it my next one after 'Shadow of the Wind' I think.

I finished 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' by Stieg Larsson last weekend, but haven't been able to update this thread as I've been a little busy. Synopsis: Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves. My rating: 9.5/10 My thoughts: I loved this book from start to finish. It was a real page-turner, one of the best I have read so far this year. I think the thing I enjoyed most about the book was how engaging the characters were. From the main character Mikael to Lisbeth to Henrik Vanger and even Erika I found each character really engaging and interesting to read about. It was one of those books where you came to truly care about the characters and what happened to them and even in some cases could become protective of the characters. I particulalry enjoyed Lisbeth's weirdness and I thought Larsson got that part of her character across very well. As far as the actual story was concerned I felt it was brilliant. I seemed to be in suspense for massive chunks of the book which is always a good sign for books like this one. I have ordered to second book in the trilogy online and can't wait for it to arrive so that I can find out what happens in the next installment. Awesome book, loved it.

I do. Pretty much all of my purchasing is done online. Bookstores in Australia are just so expensive. I use the Book Depository. Although its more expensive than Amazon it has free worldwide delivery so it ends up being a great deal cheaper than any of the alternatives. In relation to your problem, maybe get a very low limit credit card if you are worried about fraud?

Haha, good haul Kylie. I have a few of the ones you picked up on my TBR.

I finished 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' last night. Awesome book, really enjoyed it.

Man I loved this book. Finished it late last night. Just awesome. Looking forward to reading the second one.

You most definately should! It is still my favourite book this year and I don't like the Sci Fi genre at all.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through this book now. Loving it. Fantastic story, it has exceeded my expectations.

I remember seeing him when he was 17 and thinking he was going to be special. I saw him live at the Australian Open at the beginning of this year and he was one of the sweetest hitters of the ball there. Still, his development this year has been significant. At the start of the year he was a top 10 player but a guy who didn't really have what it took to beat the best. Federer anhilated him at the Australian, it was a slaughter. Now he is beating the top few in the world and winning a Slam. Great stuff, definately a guy who will be a significant force over the next 10 years. Also, just on a side note, Federer accepted defeat with the grace of the true champion he is. Said he had his chances, gave it his best but Del Potro was just the better man. Credit to Roger, what a great year he has had. After so many wrote him off at the beginning of the year he has gone on to win 2 of the 4 Slams, losing in 5 set finals in the other two, and recapture his number 1 ranking.

I finished 'Love Lives'. Wasn't too bad, gave it 7/10, probably not as good as the other Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees books that I've read, but still fairly enjoyable. Next up I am going to read a book I have wanted to read and had on my pile for quite some time, but just never got round to it - 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' by Stieg Larsson.

Finally finished Love Lives. It was ok. Am going to consult the TBR later to decide what to attack next.

Man I loved this film. The best one I have seen in quite some time. Better than Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction IMO.

About 70 pages to go in 'Love Lives'. Its not bad. Not great, but not bad.