ian

I think this is a very sad story, but living in Birmingham it isn't unexpected. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-33878844

Lady Audley's Secret - By Mary Braddon The flaxen-haired beauty of the childlike Lady Audley would suggest that she has no secrets. But M.E. Braddon’s classic novel of sensation uncovers the truth about its heroine in a plot involving bigamy, arson and murder. It challenges assumptions about the nature of femininity and investigates the narrow divide between sanity and insanity, using as its focus one of the most fascinating of all Victorian heroines. Combining elements of the detective novel, the psychological thriller and the romance of upper class life, Lady Audley’s Secret was one of the most popular and successful novels of the nineteenth century and still exerts a powerful hold on readers. My Thoughts I first came across Mary Braddon a couple of years ago. She was a contemporary writer with Dickens and Wilkie Collins, and was very popular at the time. This is her most well known book. It reads very easily,the language is simple and flows off the page - I found it pretty similar to Wilkie Collins. The story is quite gripping too - and while it's fairly obvious what's going on and how it's all going to end, that doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the book. The lead female characters are all strong, which does make a change from some Victorian fiction. I downloaded this free from Gutenburg onto my Kindle, so no problem getting hold of a copy 4/5

I must admit, this surprised me. I would have thought that it was still more women "hiding" their gender, with the exception being men writing in the romantic fiction genre. It's also giving me food for thought. I would have automatically said I was gender-blind when it came to books; I'll read anything written by anyone and don't care if it's written by a man or a woman as long as I enjoy it. But then I look back at my last 12 months of reading - it's mostly men. Am I unconciously picking male authors? Interesting!

I can't say that I'm too surprised about this. It was in the news as few weeks back that businesses were paying people to write good reviews of their places, so why not books?

Glad you thought so, Gaia. I logged it on Goodreads, and I was quite shocked with all the very negative reviews for it.

I'll try and get one on here - always have problems with photos! And I should confess; I didn't have any actual jars available at the time, so at the moment it's a tin that used to have tea in it!

Esio Trot - Roald Dahl I recently decided to start using a book jar to help me pick my next read. My daughter has a box set of Roald Dahl books, so all the ones I hadn't read went in. Esio Trot took me about half an hour to read, and it was absolutely delightful. The story is about a shy man who lives in the flat above a woman he's in love with, but is too shy to say. The woman has a pet tortoise.....and anymore would be giving it away! As I say, I was delighted by it, it's a very uplifting and funny story - none of the usual Dahl darkness. 5/5

Barnaby Rudge - Charles Dickens I struggled with this, especially the first third of the book. There didn't seem, at least in those first chapters to be the humour that I associate with other Dickens books. It's difficult for me to say, as I think it's more me than the book; I don't think I was in the right frame of mind to read this. It either picked up or I got more into it towards the end, but I would still have to say: not my favourite Dickens. 3/5

I've not read them all, and not in order either. The ones I found easy to read were; Oliver Twist Little Dorrit The Old Curiosity Shop A Christmas Carol and the one's I found more difficult were; A Tale of Two Cities Hard Times The Pickwick Papers (I'm sure there are others I've read, but those are the ones that came straight to mind) Of those, I found The Pickwick Papers very heavy going for about the first third of the book. After that the style seemed to change, and I found it better, so I'm hoping that eventually it will pick up. I say all that, but I am still convinced that this is me, not the book! I'm just in a position were I need something light and easy-going.

The Darling Buds of May series of books by H.E Bates would fit the bill, I think. I'll also second the recommendation of Gervase Phinn's books - they are very good.

That's a great review! I've not considered reading this in the past as I'm not a fan of the film. Knowing that the plot of the book is different means I'll have to get a copy. I should have expected it really. As you say - I've read all the James Bond novels and the title is pretty much all that survives of the books once they become films.

Oh dear, definitely a time to bite your tongue and wait for it to be over!

In the meantime, I'm currently reading Barnaby Rudge, and I am really struggling. I not finding it interesting at all. I'm not sure at this point if it's me or the book, but I suspect it's me. I think perhaps I need to swap onto something a bit lighter in tone and a little easier. But I hate giving up on books, so for now I'm struggling on.

Some things are hinted at in the second book that made Robin more interesting, in my opinion. Not that I thought either her or Cormoran boring. I also thought that the interaction between Cormoran and Robin's fiance were very well written, and came across as authentically male - i.e very ego-driven & antagonistic.

I know next to mothing about wine other than I like it / don't like it. As such, my choice tends to be whatever is on offer at the supermarket. I'll drink both any type of red, and gravitate towards dry whites. I do have a fondness for Pinot Grigio.

I don't think I can say any more without giving the game away - sorry! I didn't find it particularly disturbing. Yes, the method used to kill the victim is revolting,but we only see this when the body is discovered, there isn't any blood-splattered preface like some crime novels seem to revel in. Again, the novel within the book is pretty disturbing, but we only really see the character's reaction to it rather than "read" it ourselves. It's certainly dark in nature, and only suitable for adults, but for me, no more than the last two Harry Potter books. I saw your comment on the Cuckoo's Calling thread - This follows a similar format - Cormoron works it out, but we don't get the reveal to the very end. Actually a question for both of you (once you have read the first book anyway Gaia). I was reading some of the comments on Goodreads for this and one woman had critisised the fact that J.K.Rowling had forgone using a more interesting female lead character (Robin) over a boring (her words) male lead. Was she trying to "pretend" she was a male writer? (Given she is writing under a male psudonym & her gender was disguised by J.K, I would have thought the answer obvious). I think (as a man) she writes male characters extremely well to the point where if she hadn't been revealed, I wouldn't have guessed, but are her female characters as convincing? They are to me, but I would be interested to here a woman's viewpoint.

You probably won't like The Silkworm either then, which follows the same pattern. While I really liked it, I do get your point. It would have been fairly easy to have revealed the killer a chapter or so earlier, and then gone about trapping them without detracting from the overall tension. Having said that, leaving the reveal to the very end made me want to start at the beginning again and read them.

For my next book, I have finally employed the reading jar method (actually a small tin - I didn't have a jar to hand. So my next book is Barnaby Rudge - Charles Dickens

The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days - as he has done before - and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home. But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives - so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him. And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before . . . My Thoughts. I really enjoyed this book. It's always a good sign with me when I conciously try to slow down my reading, the better to take it all in. There were times when I stopped reading, thinking I'd been about ten minutes, only to find I had been going for an hour. Good, believable plot lines and characters. I did guess the killer, but that's thanks to starting out my working life as a chemist, so having a bit of an inside track. The motive completely escaped me till it was revealed at the end. 5/5 As an aside, I can't help but think - if J K Rowling hadn't been revealed as the writer before I read these, would I have guessed it was a woman writing? I find Cormoron's inner monologues to be convincingly male.

I've not read Nickolas Nickleby yet. Must put that one on the list

I think we all do that - I don't feel any different in my head now than when I was 18 - so I occasionally get a shock when I look in the mirror! As for "doing adult", I've given up up that as a bad job!

Hmm, I can't come up with ten straight off, but I'll post the 2 that came to me immediately and maybe edit more in as I think of them. City of Mirrors - Justin Cronin The next George RR Martin and then in the process of investigating the name of the next in the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz, have found out that it's already published! How did I miss this? Excuse me, I need to get to a bookshop right now!

I'm not drinking this right at this moment - as I'm at work and I would get the sack. But... There seems to be a trend for bands to make their own alcholic drinks. I've already tried Iron Maiden's Trooper beer, and now I have discovered Night Boat porter by Madness. That's very nice, and as it's hot here today, I will be stopping off for some on the way home tonight.

Given the length of the average Hollywood wedding, he'll probably be back on the market! I'll be 55 in 10 years time. That is very depressing, but hopefully the kids will be all grown up (23 & 20) and happy with whatever they are doing. I'll be satisfied with being healthy & happy. I won't go any more specific than that, as life has a tendency to throw curve balls at you, I've found!

I haven't got a talented bone in my body - I'd love to be able to play an instrument - Guitar preferably!