poppyshake

Afterwards, he would remember paddocks stroked with light. The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser

I love Marian and Maeve .. a bit of Irish charm and wit is always good

Someone has purchased it for me off of my Amazon wishlist .. thanks Mum!! I expect I will have to wait until Christmas but it sounds like it'll be worth the wait.

.. or if I'm being entirely shallow Joe Abercrombie

Russell Brand .. my life would be terrible but hilarious

Thanks, I love piggies .. they are everywhere in my house

I have cried several times over the Harry Potter books .. the latter one's. Also 'The Book Thief' .. that really moved me.

My faves are .. My Booky Wook .. Russell Brand Moab is my Washpot .. Stephen Fry Wodehouse: A Life .. Robert McCrum Dickens .. Peter Ackroyd The Mitford Girls .. Mary S Lovell Dear Dodie (Life of Dodie Smith) .. Valerie Grove Cider With Rosie .. Laurie Lee The Bolter (Idina Sackville) .. Frances Osborne Dream Brother (Jeff & Tim Buckley) .. David Browne Our Betty .. Liz Smith I also enjoyed 'Looking for Enid' by Duncan McLaren which I know a lot of people hated .. it was quite bizarre but I liked it. Some I'd like to read ... Shadowlands (the story of CS Lewis) .. Brian Sibley Muriel Spark .. Martin Stannard Mad World (Evelyn Waugh) .. Paula Byrne I've just finished listening to Anna Masseys autobiography 'Telling Some Tales' which was read by Anna herself which I enjoyed .. I didn't even know she'd been married to Jeremy Brett .. she recounted a story about going to see Michael Jackson at Wembley with Carly Simon ... mad!! Brenda Blethyn reading her own autobiography 'Mixed Blessings' was also really good. I imagine Russell Brand is hilarious reading his.

I really, really struggled with 'The Book of Dave' by Will Self .. it's an extremely clever book but far too clever for me .. I did finish it but I didn't enjoy the challenge .. it didn't seem worth the effort in the end.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Delias-Happy-Christmas-Delia-Smith/dp/0091933064/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1250613647&sr=8-7 I'm definitely getting it, my old copy is battered and bruised now plus this has got 100 new recipes in it. I expect Norwich City FC need some more cash but I don't mind .... I just love her recipes, especially the Christmas one's.

This is my little bookcase of favourites .. it's terribly neat and orderly I know (it was very nearly worse .. I colour co-ordinated all the books at one point .. it looked terrible) but we are trying to sell our house so absolute clutter is out for the time being. This is my tiny Jane Austen collection ...

I've just seen another collection by Margo called 'Red Spikes' ... (ten steps to the heart .. ten tales to jab and poke at your darkest fears and deepest desires). The cover alone is fantastic. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/0385613229/sr=8-1/qid=1250545406/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=266239&s=books&qid=1250545406&sr=8-1

Mostly Enid's Malory Towers, St Clares .. some of her Famous Five books and lots of her Mystery books (with the very politically incorrectly named Fatty!). Also Just William, Jennings, What Katy Did, Wind in the Willows, Mrs Pepperpot, Black Beauty and Milly, Molly Mandy. I felt I'd really stepped up a gear when I read The Hobbit and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

I loved 'Inkheart', was disappointed in 'Inkspell' and really struggled to read and finish it. I bought 'Inkdeath' because you have to know how the story ends after committing to two books .. but I can hardly summon up the will to read it .. I hope it will be better than 'Inkspell'.

That's what I think too .. I've got the audiobook as well as the book and Frances reads it .. and she's just not the Miss Pettigrew I had in my mind when I read it

Yes, I have and I loved it. It's really, really quirky and really, really sad. A story of a rejected rat living in the basement of a bookshop .. forced to eat pages from a book out of hunger and necessity. By doing so he finds he can suddenly understand the words printed on them. He discovers a love of literature, a love of the movies and Fred and Ginger, a love for Norman the bookseller and a need to communicate and converse with humans. Obviously you have to do a fair amount of suspending disbelief because it is rather whimsical but none the worse for that. There are some adult scenes in the book though (this is not at all a Disneyesque tale) .. Firmin talks about the 'Lovelies' both in the seedy movies that he goes to watch and the magazines .. and some people might be offended by the content. But mostly he talks about books .. and his longing to find a kindred spirit amongst the humans.

I loved Miss Pettigrew too .. it was my first Persephone book .. bought from Waterstones I think .. probably the only Persephone book that you can get in the larger bookstores. Have you seen the film? .. I haven't .. you never know .. when you love a book .. whether a film adaptation is going to do it justice or not. I'd be so disappointed if they messed it up.

I recently heard an interview with Neil Gaiman and he recommended this collection of short stories .. has anyone here read them? The product description at Amazon seems rather bizarre .. but I'm intrigued. Amazon Product Description Short stories, no translation rights, no Australian rights, US (and first world) hardback published this month. Sometimes writing is so extraordinary that you just have to publish it. Even if it breaks all the rules. BLACK JUICE is such a collection. However few copies we sell of this book, Margo Lanagan is the sort of writer that every list has to publish if that list cares about good writing. These are stories of immense confidence, the faith they have in the believability of the worlds they describe is such that they explain nothing, concede nothing but still leave you entranced because of the beauty of the writing and the intense clarity of the characters. Whether a family singing their daughter to her death, a young boy braving pestilential angels to give his grandmother the death she deserves and himself the freedom he deserves, or clowns on a sniper spree at a clown convention these are people you believe in, peopling stories of quite extraordinary power

Yes, that's the same as me ... I don't often buy them but all the one's I have bought have been great. I did leave the catalogue lying around with ticks next to my preferred choices .. and dropped some heavy hints .. and my husband ordered a couple to be sent to me for my birthday .. and they came in bright pink tissue with a silky ribbon tied round .. I was in seventh heaven. Marianna has been my favourite so far.

That would be fantastic

Breakfast at Tiffany's .. infact anything with Audrey in it His Girl Friday Lord of the Rings (all three) Sweeney Todd Harry Potter (all six) The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe I Capture the Castle Serendipity Jungle Book All Wallace & Gromit's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' .. I read it every December (thankfully it's short). Jane Austen's 'Pride & Prejudice' .. I've read this a couple of times and listened to it being read lots. The Harry Potter books .. read them all once but Steven Fry has been constantly re-reading them to me ever since .. and very good he is too

The Book Thief .. Markus Zusak Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell .. Susanna Clarke Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows .. J.K. Rowling The Kite Runner .. Khaled Hosseini How I Live Now .. Meg Rosoff

Tea .. I'm never happier than when my teabag tin is full .. when I can see the bottom of the tin I start to feel anxious ... like it's 'always Winter but never Christmas'!! I can't wait to fill it up again. Toast .. goes so well with the above .. preferably uncut bread and real butter. Scotch eggs .. my Mum always bought me one every Saturday with my comic .. I didn't want sweets just a Scotch egg. They don't make them like they used to though ... they've gone all grey and suspect