honestfi

Yeah, my sentiments entirely. I don't really want to go higher than

Success, Dear Fatty was in the library today, so have started it tonight, love it so far.

I've become a little...erhem...disillusioned with my current provider of a Broadband/Phone bundle. I'm thinking about adding TV. Price is a factor, but most important to me is customer service TV doesn't have to be added, more important is unlimited broadband, as we have an internet radio which hub uses all evening. I have a mobile phone, but it isn't used much...in fact our home phone isn't used much either. Anybody out there pleased with their service, or even, have you any horror stories from companies I should definitely avoid?

Yup. Just finished one of those, yeesh. Sometimes less is more, if ya know what I mean. Some interesting points here, good thread. Where binding is concerned, I'm afraid I'm rather naughty and do bend my books about a bit. Still, I have no desire to pass any of them on, so I guess in my case it's okay to be a little selfish. Haven't had any of them fall apart on me yet, but some are pretty....hmmm...battered. So the costs are kept down to the barest minimum, but also, unfortunately, we are in a throwaway society. Casual readers don't tend to keep their books any more so they figure the 'shelf life' doesn't need to be that long. Shame.

We're pretty blessed - we have an internet radio. Most times we're both in at 7 Sunday-Friday, so usually listen "live", but sometimes circs dictate that we miss it. No bother, if there's time the following late afternoon, we dial up BBC On Demand and listen to the episode(s) missed. Brilliant.

Pity there's no 'radio' forum in here. Radio 4 and sometimes 3 promote new authors and of course there's Book At Bedtime. Anyway, The Archers, cos I saw this thread last night and could only post quickly. Love The Archers, hate the website who seem to spend all day ranting about how Ruth's dialect is "all wrong", that Tom and Brenda are "boring", as is David yeesh you can't get a decent debate from them lot. I've had a few people rib me about liking listening to it, thinking that it's an old fogey thing, but I think it's great. All sorts of issues are dealt with from the environment to gay weddings - much the same in "ordinary" TV soap operas I would say - and sometimes a darnsight more intelligently

Yep. One here too.

Reading, every time. I have absolutely no desire to travel anywhere.

The second sounds like Ladyhawke, though I didn't know it was a book, I thought it was only a film? (What would I know?) least of all a series. The couple were cursed; the girl changed to a hawk when the sun rose until sun set, and the man turned into a wolf when the sun set until the sun rose. The only point they saw each other for real was in the brief milliseconds in between sunset and sunrise.

I knew before reading the book that not only was James Herriot not his real name, but that all of the characters names had been changed too, and I naturally thought there would be a bit of "artistic" licence. (Although 'Siegfried' apparently didn't talk to him for months after the way he was potrayed in one of the stories - perhaps Alf got a bit too close to the bone...) But some of the very basic facts of his life: where he got his first job, where it was, how he met his wife, how he got the partnership etc etc....all made up. I felt somewhat let down. Yeah, now that one sounds a good one, must look out for that one from the library.

John Christopher's Tripod Trilogy. Heavily influenced by War Of The Worlds, methinks, I'm not a sci-fi fan, but I loved that in my teens.

Nope. Watch so little TV I sometimes wonder why we have a license. I like Top Gear, house and moving programmes such as Grand Designs and (Re)LocationX3, and most things with Jamie Oliver in it (loving his latest travelogue, or should that be cookalogue) Don't watch any crime drama, as I frequently find adaptations of books at best disappointing.

This guy has apparently been around for years but only discovered him just lately: I've picked up one of his books from the library and I love it. Never knew that there were still authors around who write the sorta comedy detective of the old "she opened the door in her dressing gown, which was a funny place to keep a door" style. He must have been heavily influenced by Chandler, but this guy is snappy and funny. Any other fans out there? Any of the Spenser series considered his best? I might just have to "break open" the debit card and buy one of them....

One of the Angel books turned me on to eggs with Marmite soldiers. Does that count?

Absolutely. Why I stopped reading for nearly 15 years. So much for education.

Nah. Wrote a website about them instead.

In a nutshell (IMHO): American writers are better at thrillers/tension. British writers are better with plots. I like a well thought out plot, but I also like a good page turner. There is some terrific talent on both sides of the Atlantic, although some British writers feel that the Americans tend to publish more "production line" stuff to please the masses. Some have even started some sorta "protest group" about it.

I'm lost. And so are the books.

Is noise allowed? The TV or the children? I have learned to tune out all noise, including the radio, causing my husband to make comments on what he's heard on the radio and me saying "yes, dear", followed by him asking me 20 questions about it, realising I hadn't heard a word... Indoors or out? Morning or Evening? Never been successful outside. Morning or Evening, although I tend to forget everything I read in the morning and re-read it at night. Do you read on sofa or do you prefer to snuggle in bed with a good read? Oh in bed every time. Is a cuppa close to hand? Do you feast while you read? C H O C O L A T E. And a fresh glass of water. And maybe peanuts. Or potato crisps. And pray I don't spill/smear any on a library book. Again. Does everything have to be just so? Yeah too right. The chocolate etc should be within grabbing distance, but I do get pins and needles holding my head up for long periods of time.

I've only read one, which was supposedly under the thriller/crime genre, although I think it's more horror: Chrisopher Brookmyre's Pandaemonium. Scared the bejeebers outta me. Mind you, with me, it's easy to.

Me all over, in the library. ...I randomly pick up an author that I don't know, scan the blurb to see if I can tell if there is too much violence, if not, I take it home and read it.

Born reader. Sorta. My parents taught me how to read before I started school, and I was the only one in my class at Infants that was on the "Rainbow" books (remember them...anybody?...are they still going?). However, as reading got more and more compulsory, and we were forced to read books for tests and exams, I gradually lost interest, much to the chagrine and disappointment of my grandfather, who loved reading. He was always trying to get me to read "The Classics", but apart from Cervantes Don Quixote I had no interest at all. The only stuff I liked to read at school was John Betjeman, everything else, Golding, Steinbech and um can't remember, I despised, I found them so boring...and sorry, still do. Maybe partly pyschological. Then, some time in my late twenties, I read a thriller novel: it may have been Adair's Key of The Tower, or maybe Lovesey's Goldengirl...anyway something in a similar vein. Never read anything like it before and never thought reading could draw you in and get your heart beating so fast. Hooked ever since.

Right, I don't do TBR, but methinks I will hunt down Shake!...at some point....until I forget.

Too right it is. Boring? Gotta be kidding. Why do you think I moved here? (Don't answer that:roll:) Have you read Jampot Smith?