poppyshake

I learnt that it doesn't matter who's died or what humanitarian catastrophe's have taken place .. Cheryl Cole is still going to beat you to the front page of the newspaper .. and the next page .. and the next.

I'm looking forward to reading this. I really liked 'American Gods' and I love Neil Gaiman's writing so this is a treat in store. Ooh I asked this on my reading thread, is the series awful then? .. I so enjoyed the book, it's my favourite Gaiman so far.

Anything that comes under the heading of 'power ballad'.

Great review Scarlette, I haven't read 'Maurice and his Educated Rodents' but I've heard it read by Tony Robinson and thought it was fantastic. As you say, a little different from the normal Discworld novels (if there is such a thing) but still full of Terry's usual wit and satire .. I loved it. Is there such a thing as a bad Terry Pratchett novel? .. I haven't read/heard one yet.

Hi Sheeta , 'Wuthering Heights' is one of my favourite books ever.

Great review , I'm looking forward to reading it now. I too saw Dan advertised on the back of 'Books Quarterly' and was intrigued enough to put 'Gold' on my wishlist at Amazon and Mum bought it for me for my birthday. The book I'm reading at the mo' is 500 pages long and fairly hard work so 'Gold' sounds ideal for my next choice.

Well done, I'm sure you're going to get lots of pleasure from it.

Yes, I couldn't resist it, well done .. your turn Chrissy

Thank you so much, I definitely will read Mitch's book first. I am aware of the subject matter for 'The Lovely Bones' .. so I definitely need a bit of courage before attempting it and I'll take on board your advice about having another book on the go (I do that a lot anyway if a book is sad or complicated).

It's an easy one but one of my favourites ... "We've gone on holiday by mistake"

Dan Rhodes's 'Gold' is one of the books I'm going to read soon so am interested to know what you make of it.

I've got an I-Pod nano for listening to my audiobooks and it's great. I download all my books from Audible .. great site where you can listen to samples.

When Harry Met Sally?

Susanna Clarke

Winter Olympics Chips or Mash?

Death Trip - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

Welcome back Ironfist

They are so, so beautiful but I have never joined fearing it would work out too expensive.

Was that the book Harriet Smith wanted Robert Martin to read?

[ My Favourite People and Me (1978-1988) - Alan Davies Waterstone's Synopsis: Alan Davies was always a hoarder. Pages from Smash Hits, rolled up gig posters, Cup Final ticket stubs, Woody Allen paperbacks, NME covers and Blondie calendars filled boxes once used to ferry shopping home from supermarkets (back when supermarkets would leave boxes out for the ferrying of shopping). Not much that came down from Alan's bedroom wall made it into the bin, never mind the uninvented bin-liner. Growing up is not easy. So many decisions: who to revere, Sheene or McEnroe; who to imitate, Starsky or Hutch; who to dislike overnight in an effort to show maturity, Thatcher or Scargill; and, how to decide which pin-ups to unpin when a batch of Animal Rights leaflets or a satirical poster of Ronald Reagan demand wallspace. The Impressionable Age of a young man lasts around a decade and the idols and icons of that period can reveal much of the time and of the impressed subject. Nostalgic, warm and laugh-out-loud funny "My Favourite People and Me 1978-1988" is an affectionate trip through a suburban childhood in Essex and an eighties education in Kent. As Alan says, 'an attempt to remember who and what I liked as a boy/youth/idiot and to work out why. There are also some pictures. Review: I didn't enjoy this as much as I was expecting to .. mainly because it wasn't quite my era and also because I'm female and this is written very much from a male adolescents point of view (obviously) .. hence lots of drooling over Debbie Harry and Chrissy Hynde etc etc. There are also tons of references to Arsenal football club and as a Spurs supporter I can't condone that .. a lot of his 'favourite people' are former Arsenal players. Other favourites are more diverse ranging from Margaret Thatcher to Michael Foot and Arthur Scargill!! .. though he is at pains to point out that he wasn't very politically aware when Margaret came to power and was just emulating his father's political views. I love Alan on QI, and there is a lot of his trademark dry wit here, the book is very easy to read. The reader doesn't learn much about his personal life, and there aren't many photo's ... it really is a social commentary about the late 70's - 80's and if you happened to be 12 in 1978 (and preferably a boy), then this is the book for you. I would have given him a 7/10 but .. despite the drooling .. one of his 'favourite people' wasn't Kate Bush .. unforgiveable! 6/10

I don't think it's a case of being over-rated .. it's just a question of taste. If so many people love 'Harry Potter' or 'Twilight' etc then they can't be over-rated. I didn't love Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road' as much as I wanted to ... I think you have to be a certain age or be in a certain headspace. I was disappointed that I didn't love it. I couldn't get on with Gustave Flauberts 'Madame Bovary' .... I just didn't like anyone in it and didn't care what happened to them.

Thanks for the reviews Shin 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven' and 'The Lovely Bones' are two that I have waiting in the wings to read. I am a bit apprehensive about reading them as they are obviously quite melancholic and having lost family members recently I don't know how it will make me feel to read them but I'm encouraged by your reviews.

I love all the Walsh family books .. waiting for the next one eagerly

Thanks Fi ... I'm sure I shall. I hadn't read a lot of classics when I attempted this one (I was punching above my weight definitely), but I've done a lot of reading since then (life is so hard sometimes ) and I'm sure I can get into it this time.

A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon Waterstone's Synopsis: George Hall doesn't understand the modern obsession with talking about everything. 'The secret of contentment, George felt, lay in ignoring many things completely.' Some things in life, however, cannot be ignored. At fifty-seven, George is settling down to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his garden, reading historical novels, listening to a bit of light jazz. Then Katie, his tempestuous daughter, announces that she is getting remarried, to Ray. Her family is not pleased - as her brother Jamie observes, Ray has 'strangler's hands'. Katie can't decide if she loves Ray, or loves the wonderful way he has with her son Jacob, and her mother Jean is a bit put out by all the planning and arguing the wedding has occasioned, which get in the way of her quite fulfilling late-life affair with one of her husband's former colleagues. And the tidy and pleasant life Jamie has created crumbles when he fails to invite his lover, Tony, to the dreaded nuptials. Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind. The way these damaged people fall apart - and come together - as a family is the true subject of Mark Haddon's disturbing yet very funny portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely. Review: Although I didn't enjoy this as much as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time it was still a good story and well written. Poor George is going through a bit of a crisis ... his daughter is about to marry an unsuitable man, his son is a homosexual and his wife is having an affair ... on top of all this George convinces himself that he is dying. All this sends George into a downward spiral of epic proportions as his daughters big day looms ever nearer. It's very funny and the characters are well drawn, you really do feel sorry for George and his plight ... and the son Jamie too who is having relationship problems with his boyfriend. The Mum and daughter were hard to warm to though. But overall I found the subject matter really depressing ... even though it was dealt with well and was extremely funny and witty in parts. I suffer quite a bit from anxiety and so I felt I couldn't really enjoy it as much as I would have done had George's episodes not reminded me of bad times (though I've never been face down in a ditch I have to say .. well, not yet anyway! ) 7/10