poppyshake

You really can tell the difference can't you. You're at some B&B having a full English and all you can think of is ... they haven't used Heinz .. cheapskates It's the same with Cornflakes.

Ha that is just like me, if a recipe goes slightly wrong, or I can't find the right tins or where I've hidden the foil etc ... I start revving up (hubby calls me Katie-Ka Boom when this happens). It's his birthday on Monday and I've told him I want to make him a cake .. there's a slight look of fear in his eyes I'm ok with regular cooking, roasts, curry's, chilli's and blog's etc but I'm fearsome when in unknown territory .. I always get overheated, and I hate being hot. I'm a bit of a Delia disciple, I couldn't cook that well until I started following her recipes. I like Nigella too, but I can't achieve her 'standing at the fridge, sticking your hands into some pie and still looking glamorous' look .. I just look like a piggy.

I've not read it but I am a little bit disappointed in Phillip Pullman's attitude anyway .. I read an interview a few years ago where he tore C.S Lewis to pieces because of the Narnia books saying they were propoganda for the religion that Lewis believed in. Also that they were anti-women. We all know as adults that the Narnia stories are allegorical but I certainly didn't when I read them as a child and it didn't indoctrinate me in any way. Besides, to me .. Pullman is doing the same in reverse, he wrote about the world being ruled by a sadistic God in 'His Dark Materials' and now he is setting about to discredit Jesus in his latest book and as you say putting his atheism across. I'd have no problem with that were it not for his comments about Lewis (who wrote the Narnia books in the fifties .. when people's attitudes towards women etc were a little different to what they are today .. you've only got to read Enid to see how much perceptions of a girls/womens role has changed). I haven't got a lot of time for author's/musicians/actors etc who rubbish other author's/musicians/actors .. it's usually just a cheap way of getting publicity. It's like Pullman has found a bandwagon .. and an angle ... and he's going to exploit it to the full. Thanks for the review anyway Tunn .. I wouldn't have read the book anyway fearing that it would just be 'propaganda against the religion he doesn't believe in'. How can he want to do one when he so objected to the other?.

I know that Cloud Atlas is going to be a bit of a challenge ... it may end up being the first book I abandon in 2010. What makes it worse is that it's in hardback .. so I'm already viewing it with disdain .. I'll give it a go, if I don't like it, it can serve as a door stop until it's due back

Thanks Kylie:), I'm sure you'll love it .. it takes a couple of chapters to settle in though. I'm looking forward to reading 'Middlesex', I've heard a lot of good things about it.

My hubby want's to see that .. he was born in Reading and went to college there so he's more than familiar with cemetery junction ... he loves Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant too so he's really looking forward to it. Hope you liked it

Finished 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' and just about to start 'Temeraire' by Naomi Novik. Still listening to and hugely enjoying 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett .. the three narrators are excellent. I'm trying to string it out .. I don't want it to end.

Borrowed these from the library .... Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides Set in Stone - Linda Newbery The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh The Devil and Miss Prym - Paulo Coelho The Elephant Keeper - Christopher Nicholson Fever Crumb - Philip Reeve Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell Oh dear!! ... My TBR pile just got a lot bigger.

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez Waterstone's Synopsis: 'Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.' Pipes and kettledrums herald the arrival of gypsies on their annual visit to Macondo, the newly founded village where Jose Arcadio Buendia and his strong-willed wife, Ursula, have started their new life. As the mysterious Melquiades excites Aureliano Buendia's father with new inventions and tales of adventure, neither can know the significance of the indecipherable manuscript that the old gypsy passes into their hands. Through plagues of insomnia, civil war, hauntings and vendettas, the many tribulations of the Buendia household push memories of the manuscript aside. Few remember its existence and only one will discover the hidden message that it holds. Review: Another book chosen from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. This is a story about the rise, decline and fall of six generations of the Buendia family and the town they founded. A story of absurd situations, alchemy, plague, famine, war and flood. It was hard to get into at first, despite the intriguing first line quoted in the synopsis. All the male members of the Buendia family were either called Jose Arcadio or Aureliano .. and this pattern repeats and repeats (with slight variations) through six generations. There is a family tree at the front which I kept referring back to for the first half of the book, but after that I got to know each individual through their character traits and it got a lot easier. I loved the magical realism of the book, you learn to expect the unexpected all the time. The priest does chocolate fuelled levitations, there are magic carpets, characters that are dead still drift through the house, one of the girl's suitors is perpetually surrounded by a swarm of yellow butterflies .. you can tell where he's been even if you haven't seen him. Remedios 'the beauty' is so beautiful and good that one day whilst folding some sheets in the garden she simply just ascends into the sky and to heaven .. waving as she goes. There is also a travelling gypsy called Melquiades who is a magician. After he dies his spirit lives at the Buendia house and is revealed to some of the descendants as they try to decipher his crumbling manuscripts. All these wondrous events are commonplace to the people of Macondo ... and yet they are utterly captivated by magnets, telescopes, false teeth and ice! It's very mysterious, we are told at the beginning that the world was so recent that many things lacked names .. so it sounds almost biblical but then during the hundred years we see the arrival of the railroad at Macondo. The insomnia plague has a side effect of making you forget everything you ever knew .. so they begin labelling things like 'cow' and 'table' but then it was realised that all knowledge of what to do with said object would be forgotten and so they had to make the labels more descriptive ... 'This is the cow, she must be milked every morning so that she will produce milk, and the milk must be boiled in order to be mixed with coffee to make coffee and milk' .. but even this was not enough as some of the community 'succumbed to the spell of an imaginary reality, one invented by themselves, which was less practical for them, but more comforting'. However much they are separated or well they are educated, they all invariably end up repeating the mistakes of their descendants. And most have violent, untimely and downright bizarre deaths. It ends It's pretty bawdy at times, very challenging and unusual but I really enjoyed it and definitely want to read Love in the Time of Cholera. 9/10

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (Unabridged) read by Trevor White Audible's Synopsis: At the heart of Joseph Heller's best-selling novel, first published in 1961, is a satirical indictment of military madness and stupidity, and the desire of the ordinary man to survive it. This is the tale of the dangerously sane Captain Yossarian, who spends his time in Italy plotting to survive. Yossarian is a bombardier in the 256th Squadron of the US Army Air Forces during World War II, stationed on Pianosa, a fictionalised island in the Mediterranean between mainland Italy and Corsica. The squadron's assignment is to bomb enemy positions in Italy and eastern France. Yossarian's mission is simply to stay alive. Review: I loved this book, absolutely hilarious, sharp as a razor but at times incredibly sad and poignant. Fantastic cast of characters, absurd situations but you get the feeling that underneath there's more than an element of truth in the desperate plight of the 256th Squadron willing to do almost anything, including pleading insanity, to avoid flying more missions in WWII .. but all to no effect. 'There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them, he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to, he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. "That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed. "It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.' Fantastically read by Trevor White, I laughed and laughed. 10/10

Currently reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez ... you definitely have to concentrate!! All or most of the characters are either named Jose Arcadio or Aurelianos .. they just keep calling their male children after the founding members. A lot of their female's share the same or similar names too and the family tree at the front isn't helping much .. my brain hurts!! Absolutely bonkers at times but really engaging and worth the effort. Listening to Kathryn Stockett's The Help .. enjoying it immensely. Hope you enjoy Arthur & George Steeeeve .. one of my fave books this year.

Great review Mona, Paul Auster's 'Mr Vertigo' is on my mental TBR list.

I love 'Waterstones' and can spend ages in it browsing, the fact that it has a 'Costa Coffee' in it just about makes it perfect. I've been looking in the charity shops for classics and books on the 1001 books TRBYD list. We don't have 'Borders' here anymore .. when I saw what had happened to the Oxford branch I nearly wept ... really cheap clothes, really loud music and still using the same shelving. RIP Borders. I used to love going to the one in Swindon, and though they were quite expensive ... I used to spend ages in it ... they had chairs and a 'Starbucks' .. I nearly always bought a book just because it was such a lovely place to go on a Sunday afternoon. I hope Waterstones don't go the same way.

Sorry to hear about your back Michelle, hope you feel better soon. I loved the 'Bartimaeus' books and also the audio's .. I've listened to them lots .. as you say the reader is brilliant. Glad you enjoyed 'The Girl with the Glass Feet' .. look forward to your review.

The Red House Mystery - A.A. Milne Waterstone's Synopsis: Far from the gentle slopes of the Hundred Acre Wood lies The Red House, the setting for A.A Milne's only detective story, where secret passages, uninvited guests, a sinister valet and a puzzling murder lay the foundations for a classic crime caper. And when the local police prove baffled, it is up to a guest at a local inn to appoint himself 'Sherlock Holmes' and, together with his friend and loyal 'Watson', delve deeper into the mysteries of the dead man. The Red House Mystery is a lost gem from a time before Tigger and a perfectly crafted whodunit with witty dialogue, deft plotting and a most curious cast of characters. Review: I enjoyed this, a really old fashioned whodunnit first published in 1922. Antony Gillingham is staying at a hotel near to the Red House, he knows that a friend of his, Bill Beverley, is staying at the Red House as a guest and so decides to stroll over there after lunch. He arrives there to find a man, Mr Cayley (a cousin and personal assistant to the owner,) frantically banging on a locked door and shouting ... he has heard a gunshot from within the room. When they eventually break into the room via a window they find a dead man. Cayley is relieved to see that it is Robert Ablett .. a ne'er-do-well brother of Mark Ablett the owner of the Red House but there is no-one else in the room and Mark is nowhere to be found. Inspector Birch soon arrives on the scene and a warrant is put out for Mark's capture and arrest. There are a few things puzzling Antony though, and he decides with Bill's help (his 'Watson') to do a little sleuthing of his own. I loved the relationship between Bill and Antony .. bouncing ideas and theories off each other. This is almost 'Wodehousian' in style although not quite so overtly funny, it's the sort of murder mystery that you want to watch dramatised on a Sunday afternoon. There is a lovely introduction by Milne himself who was a self confessed lover of the detective novel ... lamenting that this is the one sort of detective novel that he'd love to read but never would be able. To be enjoyed with a pot of tea and crumbly cake 8/10

Ooh, I've just borrowed 'Temeraire' from the library. Glad you're enjoying it , it's one of the best books I've ever read. There's going to be a film, I don't know if I'm happy about that or not.

Train journey Chicken Chow Mein or Chicken Chop Suey?

Thanks Janet , yes it was the banner that drew me to the book too ... what can go wrong with an offer like that! They were right, it's a great book, I'm glad I picked it up.

Finished 'City of Thieves' .. thought it was excellent. Started 'The Red House Mystery' by A.A. Milne .. written before the 'Winnie the Pooh' stories apparently. I've only just started it but it's reminding me of Wodehouse at the moment .

You are going to have so much fun putting all your books on the shelves Janet:) .. silly things like finding the right cover amused me for hours. I don't think you have to pay at 'Goodreads' I've got over 400 on there.. and I have about 140 or so books on LibraryThing and they haven't asked for any payment yet .. perhaps they will though and I'll have to take it down to 100

City of Thieves - David Benioff Synopsis: Four months into the siege of Leningrad, the city is starving. Seventeen-year-old Lev fears for his life when he is arrested for looting the body of a dead German paratrooper, while his charismatic cellmate, Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested for desertion, seems bizarrely unafraid. Dawn brings, instead of an execution squad, an impossible challenge. Lev and Kolya can find a dozen eggs for an NKVD colonel to use for his daughter's wedding cake, and live. Or fail, and die. In the depths of the coldest winter in history, through a city cut off from all supplies and suffering appalling deprivation, man and boy embark on an absurd hunt. Their search will take them through desolate, lawless Leningrad and the devastated countryside surrounding it, in the captivating journey of two men trying to survive against desperate odds. Review: I really liked this one, fast, pacey and totally entertaining. Set in Russia during the siege of Leningrad WWII, this tells the story of Lev who has been arrested for looting, and Kolya who has been arrested for deserting. They meet in prison and although both their offences are capital ones, and they expect to be killed, they are given a surprising lifeline. The colonel's daughter is getting married in a few days time and his wife needs a dozen eggs, in order to make the traditional cake. If Lev and Kolya bring the colonel a dozen eggs by Thursday (approx five days time) then they will be set free, if not they will be killed. Eggs are as rare, if not rarer, than goldust in Leningrad but Lev and Kolya must try to find them if they are to have a hope of surviving. The deprivation and hunger of wartime is fully visualised here ... food is scarce, people are forced into melting down the glue from book-bindings in order to make protein bars from them (called library candy) and it is better not to ask what the meat is in the grey meat patties Lev is 17 .. a shy, half-jewish, virgin and dreamer. Kolya is 20, blonde, handsome, confident and charming .. they are polar opposites and yet, despite only knowing each other for a few days, they form an amazingly strong bond and friendship. It's pretty brutal at times, graphic and crude but not overly so ... it's what you would expect from two guys of their age fighting for survival. There's plenty of humour too .. although given their circumstances it is pretty black. Really readable. 9/10

Great review Tunn , this is a book I definitely want to read before I rent the DVD.

Bass Guitar Buttercups or Daisies?

Thank you Kylie .. I am totally new to 'Goodreads' .. although I joined last year I didn't put many books on until recently (and then I went mad .. literally demolishing my book shelves/cases at home to make sure I'd remembered every book). I have no idea how it all works so thanks for the tip. I've just had a good look at your books (isn't it bliss to look at other people's books!?!) and you're right we have similar *great* taste. A few of yours are on my TBR list ... like 'Middlesex' and 'The Book of Lost Things' plus I need to read some more 'Thursday Next' books .. and you've rated them all highly so I'm encouraged

I think Sarah Waters 'The Little Stranger' would be a perfect TV adaptation for over the Christmas/New Year period .. I believe she has had interest both from film and TV production companies and that she's deciding which one to go for so it's probably in the pipeline as we type ... can't wait.