poppyshake

Yes, I've seen Wilde .. wonderful as you say and very moving. I have only previously read Neil's 'Coraline' and 'The Graveyard Book' .. they were both brilliant but of course mostly aimed at children. The short stories have turned into a bit of a revelation .. I wasn't expecting them to be quite so stomach churningly gruesome. But, you were right to be wary, there are quite a lot of explicit adult scenes .. there is one involving Aslan and Jadis which totally shocked me .. I'm not sure that it isn't blasphemous lol. They aren't mentioned by name but it's clear that he means them as it is a story about Susan (apparently Neil was unhappy at the shoddy way Susan was dealt with at the end of the Narnia books).. and they are called the lion and the white witch ... I nearly fell off my chair in shock at that one.

I'm looking forward to it .. though I'm not rapt that it's on ITV .. I remember when they screened 'My Boy Jack' .. and because of the adverts I could hardly make out if Jack had gone to war or to buy a carpet.

I just noticed that four of Mollies stories from this collection are going to be read on BBC Radio 7 this coming week. One each day starting on Tuesday (1st Sept) at 2.15pm (for a quarter of an hour). They are going to be read by the actress Sylvestra Le Touzel who played Fanny Price in an old 1983 BBC production of 'Mansfield Park'. I hope I can remember to listen each day.

I'm totally embarrassed that I haven't read it yet because so many people have told me over the years how great it is. whoops, I just remembered .. you're not supposed to multiple post .. sorry!

'9987' is on my wishlist cos of your enthusiastic review Ben .. though the premise is really intriguing. I'd be interested to hear what you make of 'Inkdeath' .. I'm sort of not looking forward to it because it took me an age to read 'Inkspell' and I kind of struggled with it ... I loved 'Inkheart' (thought the film was pretty awful though) .. thought it was a fantastic book.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to the Neil Gaiman books especially .. I've gone a bit Gaiman-mad lately. I've already started dipping into 'Fragile Things' because it's a collection of short stories and all I can say is wow ... they're not for the faint hearted though .. bit grim and gruesome some of them.

Thanks for the recommendation, I've been looking at that collection .. I must download it .. the combination of Stephen and Oscar Wilde is irresistible.

Audiobooks listened to 2009: I do a lot of sewing both for a living and for pleasure and obviously you can't read and sew, so I listen to a lot of audiobooks .. some on CD/cassette and some downloaded from Audible ... here is what I've heard so far this year .. (A/R ... means already read in book form) Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (unabridged) - Susanna Clarke read by Simon Prebble (I hadn't read this previously to listening .. it's wonderful, probably the best (next to Stephen Fry's Potter books) audiobook I've ever heard and just a fantastic story) Magyk (unabridged) - Angie Sage read by Allan Corduner Flyte (unabridged) - Angie Sage read by Gerard Doyle (was disappointed it wasn't read by Allan .. I think it was the worse for it) The Graveyard Book (unabridged) - Neil Gaiman read by Neil Gaiman (I had already read it but liked it enough to listen .. and Neil reads wonderfully) Heroes of the Valley - Jonathan Stroud read by Steven Pacey Summer Lightning - P.G. Wodehouse read by Martin Jarvis Heavy Weather - P.G. Wodehouse read by Martin Jarvis Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (unabridged) - Winifred Watson read by Frances McDormand (A/R) How I Live Now (unabridged) - Meg Rosoff read by Laurel Lefkow (A/R) The Book Thief (unabridged) - Markus Zusack read by Allan Corduner (A/R) Telling Some Tales - Anna Massey read by Anna Massey Mixed Fancies - Brenda Blethyn read by Brenda Blethyn Sabriel (unabridged) - Garth Nix read by Tim Curry Company of Liars (unabridged) - Karen Maitland read by David Thorpe Physik - Angie Sage read by Gerard Doylr (currently listening to) I listen to Stephen Fry reading the Harry Potter books all the time .. practically on rotation .. there is nothing like Stephen reading you a story .. also I love Kate Binchy reading Maeve's books and Steven Pacey reading Jonathan Strouds 'Bartimaeous' books.

My TBR pile ... so far Leviathan - Phillip Hoare December - Elizabeth H. Winthrop A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon The Outcast - Sadie Jones The Little Friend - Donna Tartt City of Thieves - David Benioff Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson Away - Amy Bloom Ostrich Boys - Keith Gray The House at Riverton - Kate Morton Yellow Lighted Bookshop - Lewis Buzbee 9987 - Nik Jones Best Served Cold - Joe Abercrombie American Gods - Neil Gaiman (currently reading) Un Lun Dun - China Mieville Tales of Terror from the Black Ship - Chris Priestley The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

Books Read 2009 cont'd Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman review The Lost Dog - Michelle de Kretser review To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee review PopCo - Scarlett Thomas review Excellent Women - Barbara Pym review

I say paperbacks because on the whole I have an aversion to hardbacks .. though I do succumb occasionally .. if the cover is nice .. or the book is too long anticipated for me to wait. Anyway, this is a list of books that I've read in 2009 .. I wish I'd kept a note of which order I read them in now but no matter. Books Read 2009 Books I loved I'll highlight in purple Books that I nearly loved ... green Books that I like... blue The rest ... black (but there weren't any that I hated ... some were just a bit disappointing or I lost interest etc) I know it's all going to be as clear as mud but here goes ... The Book Thief - Markus Zusak Ice Land - Betsy Tobin Marianna - Monica Dickens Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Winifred Watson Mr Toppit - Charles Elton Dear Dodie - Valerie Groves How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff The Memory Keepers Daughter - Kim Edwards The Time Travelers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Fanny Flagg Inkspell - Cornelia Funke God's Own Country - Ross Raisin The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne Mariah Mundi: The Midas Box - G.P. Taylor Coraline - Neil Gaiman Cheerful Weather for the Wedding - Julia Strachey The Fortnight in September - R.C. Sherriff Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller The Bolter: Idina Sackville - Frances Osborne Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates Bit of a Blur - Alex James The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini What Was Lost - Catherine O'Flynn The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - Paul Torday What a Carve Up - Jonathan Coe Beedle the Bard - J.K. Rowling The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman The Suspicions of Mr Whicher - Kate Summerscale The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer The Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari Strachan Miss Buncles Book - D.E. Stevenson Uncle Montagues Tales of Terror - Chris Priestley Last Argument of Kings - Joe Abercrombie Pies and Prejudice - Stuart Maconie Cider with Roadies - Stuart Maconie The Owl Service - Alan Garner That's Another Story - Julie Walters Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife - Sam Savage Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford - Peter Y. Sussman A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian - Marina Lewycka Chocolate and Cuckoo Clocks - Alan/Giles/Victoria Coren The Little Giant of Aberdeen County - Tiffany Baker

Yes, in reality it would've probably been awful ... but in Enid's world it was the best.

Agree, especially about the overly poetic writing .. it almost always feels false and laboured.

I can't think of any grown up literary heroines I'd like to be but when I was little I so wanted to go to Malory Towers or St Clares (odd cos I hated school) .. and have midnight feasts of sausages and ginger beer and play tricks on jolly beastly girls/teachers .. so I'd like to be Darrell Rivers or Pat/Isabel O'Sullivan ... as the books were about them they got to do more than the other characters. I wouldn't want to be Gwendoline though, I'd have to lob a tin of pilchards at her.

lol, thanks for the tip

Yes. I have a morbid fear of rats.

lol It was probably just me, don't let it put you off .. you might love it

I've just re-read Wodehouse's 'Heavy Weather' lol .. guaranteed to cheer you up anytime

You've taken out the healthy bit lol .. that's one down on your five a day. Was there a tiny amount of tomato in there to make up for it .. ketchup even .. that would count.

We Need to Talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver I never would have bought it but it was on a holiday cottage bookshelf and I'd finished my own book. I don't know if you can say that you enjoyed a book with such a subject matter and when it finally came to the climatic scene .. I read it with one eye shut ... but I really did enjoy her style of writing and thought it was excellent. 'Nineteen Eighty Four' disturbed me quite a lot .. I read that last chapter with one eye shut also and skipped bits of it out of sheer fright.

The Royle Family (Oasis's 'Half the World Away) Paul Oakenfold's Big Brother theme (hate the show but love the music) Carl Davis's theme to 'Pride and Prejudice' (Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle) Hawaii Five O Dr Who (though I think Muse should give it a make-over)

It's so difficult isn't it because every book that somebody dislikes somebody else loves .. that being the case, I wouldn't recommend either .. The End of Mr Y - Scarlett Thomas Mr Toppit - Charles Elton Both started brilliantly and had really promising premises ... it just didn't happen (for me anyway) Books that I abandoned ... Salamander - Thomas Wharton (It just got sillier and sillier) Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert (I did read most of it .. in the hope it might catch fire .. not literally of course!) Books that I didn't enjoy ... The Book of Dave - Will Self (too clever) On the Road - Jack Kerouac (I so wanted to love it .. maybe another time) Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson (and I know I part company with nearly all of the lovers of fantasy fiction here but it's not really my preferred genre .. though I love Tolkien .. I only dip my toes into fantasy occasionally and this was like someone had given me a big shove into an ocean ... I didn't understand one word he wrote and I lost sight of who was who until my mind became so boggled I had to read a chapter of Jane Austen in order to calm down. I read five chapters and then gave up the will). I found that I'm really only suited to fantasy fiction with a small 'f' .. the sort that appeals to children.

I remember Dennis Taylor saying that Ronnie O'Sullivan was a fantastic dancer and that he'd quite like to do Strictly .... now that I would love to see.

I was annoyed with this book because I thought it started well .. it finished terribly imo as in .. it felt like the author had been given five mins to write the second half of the book and nothing was resolved or completed and the characters were abandoned. Grrrrrr and such a nice cover too .. shocking!