NightOwl

I've nearly finished the book you mention by Susan Hill (Howard's End is on the Landing) - great idea, and I really should give it a try but I'm so easily seduced by all those rows of books in the shops. Maybe I could do a month without buying anything new, then work up to two...and three...

I loaned a book to my friend once - note the 'once' here - and it was weeks later that she finally confessed to the fact that her two Rottweillers had found the book on the windowsill and decided to play tug o' war with it... I only loan books out to careful friends now! BTW, interesting to note how many book disasters involve water or liquid

I'm half-way through Boyd Morrison's 'The Noah's Ark Quest'. It was bought with 'Pillars of the Earth' (£7 for 2 books at the local supemarket) and I had intended to read 'Pillars' first, but somehow 'Noah's Ark' pushed in! Have to admit I'm quite liking this (albeit predicatable) thriller - shouldn't really judge, as I haven't finished it yet.

Kell, you are an absolute star! Some of the books you've suggested have got me quite excited, and I'm going to print out the list and leave it lying around for DH to find: we've just had an anniversary and he owes me a pressie! Thanks to everyone else for the suggestions, too.

I can empathise with you 100% here - we could be twins! After reading all my life, I seem to be going through a spell where I start a book but lose interest almost immediately: nothing I read seems to inspire me. Until, that is, I picked up a copy of 'Flying Under Bridges' by Sandi Toksvig. It concerns a housewife who's lost her sense of self, a murder (which we know happens because we read about the consequences on page one, but don't find out how/why until later) and is written in Toksvig's droll, witty and very funny style. I'm enjoying it and... wait for it...have nearly finished it! Yay! Worth a go - it's horrible to feel that books have lost their appeal.

I can't remember anyone sitting down and reading to me, although I suppose they must have because I could read before I went to school. Both mum and dad read, and we had books all over the house - I think reading must have been absorbed I read to my own children, but they are not readers themselves, sadly. However, my two year-old grandson is showing signs of being a real bookaholic, so I'm pleased with that. In my hallway I have a tapestry of a lady reading a letter, and my grandson always calls it 'the read'! Seems to be his favourite word: let's hope it lasts a long time.

I've raved about Michael Cordy before - superb author, and he was there way before Dan Brown. In fact, Cordy's first novel, 'The Miracle Strain' was re-released after Dan Brown came on the scene and re-named 'The Messiah Code' Well worth reading any of his novels - have a look at this link http://www.michaelcordy.com/MIchael_Cordy_-_Welcome.html

OK, bit of a strange one, but can anyone help me find some works of fiction based around the theme of knitting, sewing, quilting or other craft, please? I've got Kate Jacobs' 'Friday Night Knitting Club' - any more ideas? Thanks!

I use my library all the time and have done for 40+ years, although since its recent refit it seems to have fewer books than before! We also have the option of checking our own books in and out, and I've had one major glitch when a returned music disc was showing up as overdue: good job I had my receipt, as the staff couldn't trace the disc at all. I joined the library when I was five (you couldn't join before this age back then!), but my grandson, who's two and a half, loves being taken there now. He's a book lover, bless him - my two sons didn't take to reading too much, sadly. Here in Lancashire we have a 'library elf' on-line service, which sends e-mails when books are coming up for renewal/return, so since I've been using that I've had no fines. Brill!!

As has been mentioned, it depends on the narrator - and I do get so annoyed with the way some people read my favourite books! So I have to say I generally prefer books to CDs, although I am currently enjoying listening to 'An Eagle in the Airing Cupboard' by Rex Harper - great to listen to when pottering around doing mundane jobs. I can't listen in bed, though: I never get past chapter one before I'm asleep!

Try 'Pickwick Papers' as a gentle introduction - it's light, amusing and will give you a good idea of Dickens' work without outfacing you.

I'll make a note of that and will probably watch. Anything to do with books is worth a look

I want to keep track of what I read in 2010: I start a list every year and haven't managed to keep it up yet, so I don't know how many books I read in a year. I'd also like to try a couple of French books which have been sat on my shelves for ages. Maybe the snow and ice will keep me in and I can make a start pretty soon!

I've had Innocent Traitor sat on my shelf for a while now, so I'm going to make a start on it today. Just the sort of book for those cold winter nights!

Thanks for the suggestions - some good reads there! I did read 'Gentlmen and Players' a couple of years ago but it'll be worth going back for another look. I don't know what fascinates me about school settings: always seem to enjoy them, though.

Hi. Hope you can help: I'm looking for works of fiction either set in schools/colleges/uni etc., or concerning education in general. The Prime of Miss Jeam Brodie instantly springs to mind, so does anyone know of similar works? I've just finished reading 'Mister Teacher' by J Sheffield - not great but ideal as a light read and I'll probably read his other books. I've also worked my way through the Gervase Phinn books - any more ideas? Thanks!

Interesting question. Not sure I can answer it fully, but here goes... I don't believe I read for escapism, as some people tell me they do: I read to be transported to other times and places, to find out how others live or lived, and to find out about so many different things. Reading makes life so much richer, somehow. I also think the physical act of leafing through a book gives so much pleasure. I don't enjoy reading e-books, they're too impersonal, but good quality paper and print is SO satisfying!

I watched with interest because they were in my home town, but it was a pity they got some of the research wrong: the original gallows were originally just down the road from my house, although the team didn't film there. Buck Ruxton was my mother's doctor (in her younger years, it has to be said) and she used to speak of him with fondness. Oh, and my son was in the audience at the Winter Gradens, too: I was so jealous!

Born reader, for sure. I remember being able to read before I was four, and my mother telling me I would be able to join the local library when I went to school - back then, children weren't allowed access to library books until they were considered 'sensible.' SHE LIED!! I had to wait a whole nine months until I was FIVE before I got my precious library ticket: what a con! Apart from the time just after my first child was born, when I seemed to have difficulty concentrating, my library ticket has always had some book or other logged out to me. Best value I can think of!

14/15. I enjoyed grammar school in the 70's (there, that's given my age away!) probably because of the great teaching staff we had. But then I loved school from day one anyway.

Grimlock, so beware of the...

Forgot to mention it's based on a true story...

Hey, thanks Chrissy, that's the one! I completely blanked on both title and author but the book's well worth reading. For those of you who haven't read it yet, here's a review: 'Geraldine Brooks's Year of Wonders describes the 17th-century plague that is carried from London to a small Derbyshire village by an itinerant tailor. As villagers begin, one by one, to die, the rest face a choice. Do they flee their village in the hope of outrunning the plague or do they stay? The lord of the manor and his family pack and leave. The rector, Michael Mompellion, argues forcefully that the villagers should stay put, isolate themselves from neighbouring towns and villages and prevent the contagion from spreading. His oratory wins the day and the village turns in on itself. Cocooned from the outside world and ravaged by the disease, its inhabitants struggle to retain their humanity in the face of the disaster. The narrator, a young widow called Anna Frith, is one of the few who succeeds. Together with Mompellion and his wife Elinor, she tends the dying and battles to prevent her fellow villagers from descending into drink, violence and superstition. All is complicated by the intense, unacknowledgeable feelings she develops for both the rector and his wife. Year of Wonderssometimes seems anachronistic as historical fiction. Anna and Mompellion can occasionally appear to be modern sensibilities unaccountably transferred to 17th-century Derbyshire. However there is no mistaking the power of Brooks's imagination or the skill with which she constructs her story of ordinary people struggling to cope with extraordinary circumstances.--Nick Rennison'

Has anyone read any of Michael Cordy's books, and what do you think of them? I read 'The Miracle Strain' when it first came out, before it was re-named 'The Messiah Code' some years later - the publishers obviously thought it would be good to cash in on the success of 'The DaVinci Code'. Cordy's books have all been better than Dan Brown's in my opinion. I don't think I've read the last Michael Cordy book yet: not sure of the title but it'll be on my list for sure.

I can't remember the title or the author, but this book was set in Eyam during the Plague - I'd love to re-read it if anyone can help. Thanks.