ian

A couple of years ago I was persuaded by a friend to read Pride & Predudice. Up until that point I had no knowledge of any of the stories through either TV, film or the books themselves (other than a vague knowledge of some bloke called Darcy!). So I had no preconceptions to get in the way. I loved it, so have been working my way through the rest and have since read Persuation, Emma and now Northanger abbey. I'm sure I don't need to do a "proper" review here, as I'm sure most of you will already be familiar with it, so I will just say that I really enjoyed it and of the four Jane Austen's I have now read, this would be a very close second after P&P. If you haven't read it - I would heartily recommend it Ian

Completely agree, Andrea. She was just lucky enough to be on the winning team, but had done nothing to contribute to their success (unless her whinging spurred all the others on). Totally negative. My money's still on Stella.

Did you hear what happened to that cowboy, The Brown-Paper Kid? He was hung for rustling! Did you hear about the man who was run over by a train? He was chuffed to bits!

Let's stick together - Brain Ferry

Another very quick snack I made the other day. Got home from work and wasn't very hungry, so had a look through the cupboard and found some chicken flavour Super noodles . As I was cooking them, I was reading the back, and saw the suggestion of adding some cooked ham and grated cheese at the end. Oh boy! Healthy? Probably not. Tasty? Oh Yes! Ian

Welcome to the board! Ian

Blimey, what happened?! Did the writers get to the last episode and realise that there was vast ammounts of the original story they hadn't used? So they just chucked it all in in any order they fancied and changed the ending a bit! Particularily didn't like disappointing Ian

Coloured pencils. Tomato sauce or Mayonnaise? (with chips / fries)

Those dentistry jokes you were after, Raven....... It must be a ful-filling job It's a job you can really get your teeth into A dentists library? Must be a lot of wisdom contained there! I'm sure there must be more, but I can't extract any! Ian

For a fairly quick snack, I love to do a cheese & potato pie. Basically, just make some mashed potato. Layer some in an oven-proof dish. Then a layer of grated cheese. Another layer of potato. Top with more grated cheese and pop under the grill. Crusty cheese on top - gooey cheese in the middle! Ian

Anyone from Birmingham is welcome here! Wecome Donna!

There are some very interesting choices here, many of which I haven't read, so I'll put them on my virtual TBR pile The only thing you all seem to agree on is how evil I am! Muhaa haa haa! (little finger at side of mouth)

Ok it's simple. You have the chance to give everyone one book of FICTION to read. What would you pick? Something obscure, or something classic? For me it would be "The many-coloured Land" by Julian May. This is the first book in a saga of four with a sci-fi / fantasy theme. I first read it when I was 15, and would put it (and the rest, but I'd be breaking my own rule of only one book!) up with Lord of the Rings Over to you! Ian

In defence of the film, at least we didn't have to suffer the completely unecessary sex scene that's in the book of jaws! Ian

Mostly true, yes. There are very few films I have seen, having read the book, that didn't in some way disappoint. Maybe a scene that was in the book, that didn't make it to the film. Perhaps a character that "feels" different on screen from what it was between the pages. Most times it's just that the book is too long for a 1.5 to 2 hour film to do justice to. That's why some short stories work better as films IMHO. You can actually use Stephen King stories for examples of all of the above; Lawnmower Man - no resemblence to story - awful Salem's Lot - follows story for most part, but swaps physical characteristics of the vampire and his familiar - which doesn't make much sense. Shawshank redemption - follows the book almost exactly and is excellent. One niggle. When they tar the roof, and Andy tricks the guards into bringing them all a beer. In the book, the beer is warm (the guards revenge); in the film, it's icy cold. A little thing I know, but it still niggles! Ian

Alex had to go, if only for that remark at the start of the programme about apple pies! He had me in stitches for at least 5 minutes! Ian

They were talking about this book on Simon Mayo's Radio 2 show a few weeks back, where it was the first book in his new book club slot (which I unfortunately miss as I am back home by the time they actually do the review). From the bits I did hear, and from your review Ruth, it sounds a really unusual read. Another one for the TBR pile, I think. Ian

Oh, these sound excellent. Have to agree, while his full novels have mis-fired to some extent lately (Cell, Under the dome), his short stories/Novella have always been brilliant, from Different seasons to Hearts in Atlantis. My long-suffering family now have an even longer christmas list! Ian

I agree Mummymunt. Could quite easily have done without the last TWO Odd Thomas books really.

I used to be bothered about what I hadn't read. But these days, I'm much less concerned about what other people think! In the past I've wasted too much time trying to get through "must-read" books that were frankly rubbish in my humble opinion. These days, I read what I like, and as a result, have found that my tastes have widened Ian

Yeah Charm, have to agree. Also "Catcher in the rye". Utterly pointless!

Please - rant away! It would be nice to see George Lucas make a NEW film, rather than keep releaseing old ones! Ian

I think if you haven't read the book, you would be utterly confused. I have read it, and even then I was a little bewildered! I think they tried to introduce too many charactors too quickly, so you didn't have time to develop much empathy with anyone. They have also chopped and changed the order of the story a little it seems. Perhaps it would have come across better if they had made it in more parts, so giving more time to concentrate on one charactor? But I guess that budgetary constraints these days mean that's not possible? Still, I have to say I wasn't initially looking forward to the idea of Ian McShane as Waleran. (he didn't fit the mental image I had built up from the book) but I thought he played the part really well. I will still watch next week, and hope the series is suffering from "first episode" syndrome. Ian