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I just got a book present through from Sofia in America. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood and Miss Perguine's Home For Peculiar Children. Thanks Sofia! Going to add these now to my TBR list. Miss Pereguine I am especially happy to get, it was high on my wishlist.

Yeah, no doubt it will be all Greek to me

ooo the Iliad does sound pretty groovy. I wonder if I can get that free on mister kindle.

Good luck Diane, Lilywhite and Pontalba too!

Athena, that sounds sensible the way you learned to eat at certain times. It would be nice if you found that excercise worked for you in exactly the same way, sort of regulating your body processes from without. Good luck. It must be really hard for you to concentrate on your studies having that to deal with, but it looks like you are making progress. .

The Hot Zone looks pretty good Brian but I don't think I would enjoy reading Disgrace. Good review though.

Oh wow all those pictures are fabulous. My fave is the one with the mist in the valley between the mountains at Keylong.

Really getting interested in Emma.

Hi Athena, welcome.

Hi Kate welcome to the forum.

Hi Stiggy , nice piece but I am not sure it fits every situation. For one thing, how do you define the path of least resistance? For instance, the effort required for you to write one of your poems. It would be a lot easier not to write at all wouldn't it? , but you still feel compelled to do it according to your nature. I have a bit of trouble with the "Acceptance" thingy in every situation. Sometimes deciding to struggle against something, even though you know it will be hard, brings inner peace because you know you did the right thing. Inner peace is not only gained always by passive acceptance. What I am getting at is that deciding to struggle is the essence of free will. We change the world around us when we intervene and make conscious decisions. Otherwise we become passive blobs that events just happen to.

I down loaded the other 3 volumes of WWII London Blitz Diary today. Total cost: £3.80.

I have seen it in Blockbusters. I do think Katherine Heigl is OK so I may watch it. Only trouble is if I don't like the people who play Morelli and Ranger and Lula and Grandma Mazur I will be stuck with them in my head every time I read the books

Joe Gotti gets mentioned in the book.

Lots of good boy books on there. I am just going to look at a few reviews on Amazon I will PM you thanks Brian.

For The Sins Of My Father Albert DeMeo 4/6 Albert always wondered as a small child why his father was always around and did not go everyday to work like other fathers seemed to. And as he got older, also why everybody in the neighbourhood seemed to know and respect him and rush to give his father gifts and services. In truth, Roy DeMeo was a feared Mafia assassin and racket runner for the infamous Gambino family. Although Albert and his sisters grew up with plenty of money and privileges and their father at home was a loving and devoted father, little by little Albert came to know his father's lifestyle. This part of the book was the most interesting as each significant fact gets revealed in turn and adds a sort of pressure onto the boy's life, which is really fear. For instance, he was only 6 or 7 when he found a gun and knife inside his dad's car. Albert was 11 when he realised with an sort of instinctive certainty that his father would one day be be killed by the same people he worked for and he never slept properly ever again. The book was for me split into four parts; Albert's early childhood and loss of innocence; his adolescence and fear as his father rises higher in the Mafia ranks and then becomes a liability; The time after Roy's murder when Albert tries to start a new life, hassled by both the FBI and the Mafia; and finally his descent into mental breakdown and a new beginning. It all seemed to have the weight of truth and I was very into it until the last part , which just seemed too glib and made up. But still an absorbing read.

Thanks Julie I see you have had a change too!

Hi Mona your review of the Casey Watson book was interesting. I know what you mean though I also have trouble reading anything like that. I too look forward to your opinion of The Handmaid's Tale.

Have a good reading year Ooshie. Liked your reviews so far.

Good review of Bring Up The Bodies Poppyshake. Mantel sounds like an author I should note down for looking at later. How does she compare to Phillipa Gregory ? ( Although I haven't read any of hers either)

Death Star thing is funny. Good review of the Wheel Of Time book 1. I haven't read it but it does seem very derivative. (thinking: Tolkien lite). I think he should have called the creatures Trollopes instead . That would have been far more interesting being chased about the countryside by trollopes.

It is good I have almost finished it. PM me your address Brian I can send it to you after if you want.

Started 2 new books today. Emma by Jane Austen and For The Sins Of My Father written by the son of a mafia informant.