ian

I'm really enjoying these two programmes. Cradle to Grave is very funny, and while Boy meets girl isn't laugh out loud funny, is has made me smile and is quite heart-warming.

Now that Planet Rock has been taken away from FM here in the West Midlands, I've had to go back to CD's in the car. So I decided to listen to all of them in alphabetical order. So today, we have Alice Cooper - Trash. An oldie, but a goodie!

Well, in my case, I think it's because I am quite literal-minded, so unless something is spelt out to me beforehand, I can miss things that are very obvious to others. Sometimes, I'm just enjoying the story too much to think about the sub-text. It used to bother me that I "didn't get it", but now I've come to the opinion that if I didn't understand the first time, It gives me a reason to re-read a book and "getting it" the next time may give me a new level of enjoyment I didn't get the first.

Best. Band. Ever!!

So THAT's where John Bush went to (or back to, really I suppose) after Anthrax! This is a band that just completely disappeared off my personal radar.

I think it was only on my third or fourth re-read of Lord of the Rings that I realised that the whole book is a huge christian allegory.

Oh I agree - the series was fantastic.

The Day of the LIe by William Brodrick is a book I read recently that might fit the bill. Also a crime novel.

That's a great pic! Never properly met an author, but I was walking through a bookshop (as you do) a few years back to find Terry Pratchett signing copies. The queue was waaaaayyyy too long for me to join, but it was nice to see a proper author in the flesh. Going back to the original topic... Stephen King and Dean Koontz (although Koontz doesn't write horror any more) are favourites of mine. I still haven't read any Joe Hill, which is something I need to put right soon.

Doctor Who & Rugby world cup - This Rugby liking nerd is a HAPPY rugby liking nerd!

Das Boot (The Boat) by Lothar Gunther-Buchheim. It is autumn, 1941, and a German U-boat commander and his crew set out on yet another hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. Over the coming weeks they must brave the stormy waters of the Atlantic in their mission to seek out and destroy British supply ships. But the tide is beginning to turn against the Germans in the war for the North Atlantic. Their targets now travel in convoys, fiercely guarded by Royal Navy destroyers, and when contact is finally made the hunters rapidly become the hunted. As the U-boat is forced to hide beneath the surface of the sea a cat-and-mouse game begins, where the increasing claustrophobia of the submarine becomes an enemy just as frightening as the depth charges that explode around it. Of the 40,000 men who served on German submarines, 30,000 never returned. Written by a survivor of the U-boat fleet, Das Boot is a psychological drama merciless in its intensity, and a classic novel of World War II. (taken from Goodreads) My Thoughts. Long before I knew this was a book, there was the film. In my opinion, one of the best war films ever made. Knowing that many of the things that happen in this book actually did happen make this book more horrific than some more graphic fictional book seem. What's impressive is the author's ability to not only articulate the fear and the tension of living and fighting on a submarine, but also the long periods of boredom. It stands as a great testament to the futility of war. The middle section dealing with finding and hunting the allied conveys are probably the best sections of the book. I have to admit that I found both the begining and the end sections a little over-long. The book, for me, could have lost 100 pages or so and not lost anything. 4/5.

For me, It's Pennywise / IT from IT

A Penguin biscuit - yum!

I've not read the books, so I can't comment as to the differences, but I did enjoy the programme; perfect Sunday night viewing for me. A nice mix of comedy and drama. I hope they make some more.

I realise I'm very late to the party, but I'm finally watching Big Bang Theory, having brought the DVD's for my son for last Christmas. I'd seen a few episodes before, but I'd never really sat down and watched it properly. I'm now on the 3rd series, and loving it!

What is your definition of critical mass? I'm not good with self-imposed book bans, though I'd like to think I have cut down quite a bit. Well, my TBR pile is now so large, it's generating its own gravitational field, judging by the fact that I find myself drawn to it every time I see it!

Must have a re-read of this myself soon - such a great book. For me, now that my TBR pile has reached critical mass, I've imposed a book buying ban on myself (yeah, right - that'll last!), till I've made some serious in-roads into it. The physical part of the TBR pile lives on a cabinet at the bottom of my bed, so I pass it first thing every morning and last thing at night; it actually gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling every time I see it.

Oh dear - I like the Jack Reacher books, but I haven't read any of the short stories. It doesn't look like I'll need to bother. A Reacher book with no fighting? What's wrong with the world?

White Fang - by Jack London A classic adventure novel detailing the savagery of life in the northern wilds. Its central character is a ferocious and magnificent creature, half dog, half wolf, through whose experiences we feel the harsh rhythms and patterns of wilderness life among animals and men My Thoughts This book has some great memories for me. I first read it when I was about 12 years old. At that time (early 1980's), a bookshop that sold cheap paperbacks opened in Birmingham - on the corner between Rackhams & Lewis's for those that remember. I went in with my mom, and was immediately fascinated by the Classics section at the back. Three for a pound, and I got a pound pocket money. My first experience of the real pleasure a bookshop can bring. Did I buy White Fang then? Now that I can't remember, but if not, I certainly did buy it on a future visit. I was introduced to a lot of classic books thanks to that bookshop - and no I can't remember the name! I digress. I loved that White Fang then, and I find that I still love it. Jack London knew all about the wildness and beauty of the northern wilderness, and his descriptions really evoke the time and the place. Some books you read because of how they make you feel; White Fang for me is one of those books. 5/5

The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver It's the night of the full Cold Moon - the month of December according to the lunar calendar. A young man is found dead in lower Manhattan, the first in a series of victims of a man calling himself the Watchmaker. This killer's obsession with time drives him to plan the murders with the precision of fine timepieces, and the victims die prolonged deaths while an eerie clock ticks away their last minutes on earth. Lincoln Rhyme, Amelia Sachs and the rest of the crew are tapped to handle the case and stop the Watchmaker and his partner, Vincent Reynolds, a repulsive character with a special interest in the female victims of the killer. Amelia is not only Lincoln's eyes and ears at crime scenes on the Watchmaker case, but she's now running her own homicide investigation-her first case as lead detective. The policewoman's unwavering efforts in pursuing the killers of a businessman, who left behind a wife and son, sets into motion clockwork gears of its own, with consequences reaching to people and events that will endanger not only many lives but Lincoln's and Amelia's future together. My Thoughts As ever, I read Deaver knowing that I'm going to get twists and turns and try to figure them out beforehand. As ever, I either don't get them, or if I do then I find that I've fallen into a double bluff trap. Excellent writing, good plotting and perhaps unusually for crime thrillers involving serial killers, a non-reliance on stomach-churning details to keep us turning the page. Really good stuff. 4/5

Couldn't agree more. I like the idea of donating my used books to them. I know one local library here in Brum is doing that, but not sure which.

My reading mojo knows its place. Any thoughts of desertion, and it gets a damn good talking to!

It was discussed on the radio, which is where I first heard about it. They had a local MP and writer S.J.Watson. They had a statement from the council that whilst they aren't buying books, the libraries still have internet access and local groups etc. But as Mr Watson pointed out: libraries are about books! To be fair to the council, they have worked to make sure that all Birmingham's libraries have remained open, where other cities have chosen to close local ones.

I loved your review of the Raymond Carver short stories. He isn't a writer I've heard of before, so I'll have to go and find some.