poppyshake

Great review Ben .. spot on I think I read it at much the same time of year and it was useful for that ... not being too taxing but then again I was taxed because I thought it was all too preposterous. Shame as she's very funny when on song.

Happy New Year Ian! Sorry that your year didn't get off to the best of starts re: reading but then it wasn't awful either so not so bad. Hope your next read is awesome Good luck with re-reading the Harry Potter's .. you have hours of guaranteed pleasure ahead of you

The Goblet of Fire was my fave HP book ... I thought she took the story to a whole new level ... the graveyard scene just totally surpassed anything she had written earlier. It was darker and less jokey .. which in some ways made it a more serious read but I thought it was amazing. Great review Gaia x

Happy New Year Karen and Happy Reading in 2014! You've got off to a great start

We are fickle creatures aren't we? I do believe I'm quite capable of having a mood swing between the bookshop and home This is my view too The challenges are there to encourage and inspire but not to oppress. I do get an awful lot of pleasure in highlighting the ones that I've read though .. more pleasure probably than I get from reading (some of) the books Yes .. I do the double stacking thing too .. out of sight and all that Usually though I've read the ones at the back .. so it's ok to take my eye off them as it were. Well, the 'infantry' are on their way to you now and I shouldn't wonder if they don't start pulling all your books from the shelves .. into a heap .. that's how they do things. Also they drink an inordinate amount of tea/coffee/rum .. so you might want to lock your stuff up. They will run errands though and are brilliant at protecting you .. should you get into a skirmish .. so the benefits outweigh the drawbacks .. and I you

You too Samantha Lighthousekeeping is a strange one .. I enjoyed it too though have only the faintest grip on the storyline now (and only read it last month ) I probably argued very robustly for the titles I'd already read in the counties challenge Most of them I read a while ago so they will need re-reading .. once I've read the unread Good luck with your reading this year and the counties challenge in particular

Oh my! .. I never expected to be attacked by a chocolate eclair in here That's quite put a dent in my resolve

I've never tasted woolly hat .. probably tastes a bit like lamb! They're on their way .. and wearing their delicious red coats Possibly he should get a letterbox fitted to that attic door ... so that he can post books and toast from a safe distance I love watching movie adaptations of books .. I have a shelf devoted to them. Sadly they're not all good .. but this one has excellent reviews (and one heads up from you so must be good ) I did choose Carter Beats the Devil

Yes .. I think I got halfway .. perhaps a bit further but I know I'll have to start again as it's one of those books where getting involved in the story is everything .. so much clever wordplay etc .. I think I'd be lost if I attempted to re-start it from the middle No .. it's not the history thing at all. It's the .. as one reviewer put it ... 'stomach churning scenes' I am a little bit of a scaredy cat as don't really read crime or any books with graphic scenes (Agatha doesn't really do graphic ) .. though usually I'm fine with it if it turns up in a story that's already grasped me so to speak .. so I imagine that will be the case here. My imagination is such that even Mrs Danvers creeping about talking about Rebecca's underclothes is enough to keep me awake for a week I will be sure to come to you if I'm bamboozled by any of the history parts Naughty Russia!! Yes .. now this is something I learned from your Christmas letter .. I had no idea beforehand I'm ashamed to say (I'll leave this emoticon in .. even if they tell me to start deleting .. as it perfectly sums up the strength of my embarrassment.) Woohoo!! ... could you help me with any of the other 243 titles?

Is this not a beautiful cover? I could never part with it What a co-incidence though .. it has a quote from A.S. Byatt on the front saying it's the best book she's ever read for a long time Really? .. poor thing Perhaps I would get along with it better now? Oh well if it can wait until I've read the 200 odd books on my TBR .. I might stick my nose into it again I still get pleasure from looking at the cover so the money was well spent

Perfect .. I needn't worry about it now She's not much of a reader .. though she is getting into it these days. She read both Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies last year and got so into them that she bought a biography on Thomas Cromwell but was then disappointed because she had quite liked the man Mantel had written about but hated the one in the biog No!! Don't give him a legitimate reason to chuck stuff at me I think I will like it once involved. Last time though ... with a different book of hers .. I had to make notes about the characters as I lost track of them very early on (and there were hundreds of them .. well a few anyway ) I am liking it whatever ... would have to be pants for me to send it off to the charity shop. I seem to have a different rule for books about books/libraries/bookshops/toast etc then I do for books about anything else .. and a different rule for books with nice covers. I read one once called The Lost Dog ... beautiful cover but I didn't really get on with the story. Book is still on the shelf though .. pride of place actually .. owing to it's brilliant cover and beautiful spine I am both happy and relieved to hear it .. they've earned their place and so should stay there Arggghhhhh!!!! I HAVE NOT used too many emoticons!! Imo I haven't used nearly enough!! =D =D =D

If only

I was only joking. Even my auntie who knitted me a jumper to fit a ten year old gets a proper handwritten letter I think I probably should have added a photo but the shock might finish her off

Good .. I do like licking odd books .. one gets bored of them all tasting the same Neither will I =D I've obviously got militia on the brain .. like Mrs Bennett =D Alan actually calls me Bertha quite a lot I think you're probably right ... a subscription to the circulating library was all she needed =D I'm sure I shall like it .. I love the blurb .. the story sounds so up my street I hope so too ... how terrible to be a rubbish chooser of books .. there must be at least one gem or I'll never have the courage to go book buying again You too my lovely

I'm happy for you to do all my reviews whilst you're sitting here .. I've just read Dear Lumpy .. tell us what you thought of it? =D Yours is the lovely squashy armchair with the big chocolate labrador underneath .. that is he is chocolate coloured .. not made of =D Roberts Space Industries of course =D My Mum always says it's her fave book .. which could be viewed as a great recommendation .. or a rubbish one Thanks =D From all I've heard it is worth it .. but there it is still sitting unread on the shelf after all these years .. I think it needs to actually throw itself in front of me (it worked for Alan ) The reviews aren't brilliant but as soon as I saw it I knew we were destined to be together Great cover and great subject Ooh .. a bigger frankie list .. I should've saved you an extra space Ahh but I remember now .. you're not averse to relegating them. I know, I know I feel bad as I started it last January All sorts of sh*t happened and I put it to one side ... I need to pick it up again and banish all thoughts of sh*t happening again. I made it through A Fraction of the Whole perfectly well so the same can be done here. Reading what you had to say .. and what other people have had to say .. I am just the teensiest bit scared of it I will of course get around to it but am girding up my loins first (will have to watch a YouTube tutorial on loin girding =D) Since reading Enid I've never strayed more than a few steps away but it would do me good to shake up my reading habits. I am curious actually to see how I'll fare (you'll pay for the rehab .. yes? =D ) I think I will .. I like what I've read of hers so far.

Just keep focusing on that new house Laura with all the lovely bookshelves which I have no doubt you're planning to incorporate As Julie said you have noticed the problem in good time and moved the books to safety so big pat on the back. Choosing a few books at a time will help you stay disciplined and you'll probably put more thought into which books to choose .. think of it as .. you're off to boarding school and you need to pack your reading books for the term (put them in a suitcase if it'll help with the visuals ) It's exciting really ... and you have that lovely house to look forward to. I lived in a caravan for a short while before we moved in here .. it was only briefly really but I found it quite relaxing not to have so much stuff about me. The caravan had them cute little shelves that caravans do and the owner had put some books on them .. all very well and good but I shoved them in a drawer and put my own out I put all their little knick knacks away as well ... more room for my books Keep snug in your caravan Happy New Year and Happy Reading in 2014!

I don't believe it is quite as fluffy The plotline was thin .. it's got 'we wanted to make a sequel' written all over it. The kids are still cute .. the minions are hilarious .. it just was too bitty and ridiculous I thought (I'm not it's target audience though .. I do understand that )

I'm a bit ashamed of my books TBR at the moment. I do like having plenty of choice when it comes to book selection but there is such a thing as too much choice and I'm finding that's just as bad as not enough. I do intend to get it down this year and not just add to the problem but I can't say .. hand on heart .. that I have much faith in it happening I will consider it a success next year if the figure is even the teensiest bit lower. I do better though when I don't set myself too many goals so it's all going to be fairly relaxed (and it'll be the only thing about me that is )

Review of Jeanette Winterson's Lighthousekeeping

Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson Amazon Synopsis: From one of Britain’s best-loved literary novelists comes a magical, lyrical tale of the young orphan Silver, taken in by the ancient lighthousekeeper Mr. Pew, who reveals to her a world of myth and mystery through the art of storytelling. Motherless and anchorless, Silver is taken in by the timeless Mr. Pew, keeper of the Cape Wrath lighthouse. Pew tells Silver ancient tales of longing and rootlessness, of the slippages that occur throughout every life. One life, Babel Dark’s, a nineteenth-century clergyman, opens like a map that Silver must follow, and the intertwining of myth and reality, of storytelling and experience, lead her through her own particular darkness. A story of mutability, talking birds and stolen books, of Darwin and Stevenson and of the Jekyll and Hyde in all of us, Lighthousekeeping is a way into the most secret recesses of our own hearts and minds. Jeanette Winterson is one of the most extraordinary and original writers of her generation, and this shows her at her lyrical best. Review: Its almost impossible to review anything I've read in December as my head resembles a cabbage for most of the month and no doubt thinks like one too I read this as part of December's Reading Circle but haven't had time yet to take part and have probably forgotten all the finer points. The story is very lyrical as you would expect from Jeanette. I particularly loved the set up .. all the stuff about living with her mother in a house cut deep into the bank and how the furniture had to be nailed down and the food had to be the kind that stuck to the plate (they couldn't have toast then? .. oh hang on though .. a touch of marmalade would do the trick ) and how they used to have to lash themselves together and use a rope 'just to achieve the front door' .. it's just so marvellously inventive and visual. Also I loved Mr Pew and enjoyed reading about Silver's time at Cape Wrath lighthouse and especially liked his stories concerning Babel Dark. I did wander off in the middle which may have been more to do with my preoccupation with turkey timings than weakness of plot .. I feel it needed a better concentration that I could give it but was enthralled again by the end. It's very mysterious .. she doesn't offer it all up on a plate so it requires a good deal of thought but it was well worth the effort though I don't think I understood all of it. I need to re-read and languish over it (when does languishing time come around again? ) 4/5 (would happily re-visit) Was there a toast quote? Yes .. there were at least three I've selected .. what I think is .. the best one. The psychiatrist asked why she had not sought help sooner. 'I don't need help .. not this kind anyway. I can dress myself, make toast, make love, make money, make sense.' It seems to me she's got it all covered

It's 2014! .. there's every reason to be cheerful

Roast lamb, roast potatoes, carrots, peas, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Possibly followed by a walnut whip

imho .. it's not!

Happy New Year Gaia and Happy Reading in 2014! .. you've made a great start xx

Happy New Year Deborah and Happy reading in 2014! Hope it's a much better year for you