Karsa Orlong

'Pretty good' They're a damn sight better than 'pretty good', even if I can't take a decent photo Just downloaded all my recent Kindle purchases, too - shall list them in a bit

Noooo, I'm pretty sure I'm still okay with it

Aw Is it wrong of me to hope she ate the Sanderson book after that photo was taken?

Ah that explains it. I am a bit partial to redheads

I've got plenty of books with black covers - it's nice to have a change Oh but it's about Nikki Heat, not Beckett I don't know about that . . . I'm about 40 pages into the second book, The Witch in the Wood. I really enjoyed The Sword in the Stone, it was quite whimsical and very funny in places, but I sense it's going to get a bit darker from now on

I've had that happen before - Book Depository told me they couldn't guarantee the cover would be the same as shown on the website I really like the red cover, anyway I'm sure it'll be fun It's great so far

Why, whatever has she done to you??

Great review, Laura I'm glad you enjoyed it. His characters do have a way of sneaking up on you, don't they? I agree about the detour for the armour. I can't remember the detail, just that the Drenai armies were supposed to rally to whoever was wearing it, or something

I know, they're rubbish!

Maybe it should have Yes, had a good Christmas thanks, hope you did, too I was asked to post some photos of the illustrated The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings boxed set I got for Christmas, so here they are - they aren't very good, though! There over 70 full-colour illustrations inside the four books as well, but my attempts to take photos of a couple were even worse than these It's a beautiful boxed set Also, I was given this big-ass hardback: I finished The Sword in the Stone last night and started The Witch in the Wood this morning And lovely Sari sent me these, too, which are excellent as they were the only ones I got that were complete surprises Thank you Sari

Yeah, it's a four book series in two volumes

Awesome presents, Laura! I've been wanting the Paul Kearney one for ages

Sherlock mini-episode: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01np1b8/Sherlock_Series_3_Sherlock_Mini_Episode_Many_Happy_Returns/

Book #77: Tatja Grimm's World by Vernor Vinge From Amazon: Born on a primitive world, Tatja Grimm is frustrated by her peers' lack of intelligence. Setting off on a trek to find the ocean, she discovers that she is the most intelligent being on her world. So Tatja turns her eyes to the stars in a quest to find someone with whom she can communicate. Thoughts: This is classed as Vernor Vinge's first full-length novel, but that's a bit misleading, because it is actually two novellas from the 60s and a prequel from the 80s joined together to make a whole. It pretty much works. We first meet Tatja when she is employed by the Tarulle publishing company which operates from a huge, multi-leveled barge that traverses the ocean world of Tu, plying its trade to various island groups and the coast of one mysterious continent about which they know very little. Tatja comes from the interior of that continent, and is brought before the editor, Rey Guille, by Cor Asquasenya as a potential actor to play the role of a barbarian who is the most popular character in their leading publication, the magazine called Fantasie. Pretty quickly, though, we learn that Tatja is not all she appears to be, and the speed with which she learns and out-thinks those around her sees her circumstances changing very quickly. It's not until about halfway through the novel that Vinge starts to reveal the true nature of Tatja's origins, and he handles these surprises very well. But it's a curious book, generally. Whereas his best books take big, quirky ideas and technology, place them in a believable universe with wonderful characters, and then have fun, this one has none of the tech and really only the one big idea, which is central to the plot and its resolution. As it was (mostly) an early work it is occasionally a little rough around the edges, but the beginnings of Vinge's talent are there, especially with characters like Cor. It's interesting that he never once tells the story from Tatja's point of view - we always see her through another's eyes, and since those others don't know exactly who or what she is we are taken along by their ideas and also their confusion. It's an interesting way of doing things, and risks making Tatja completely unsympathetic, but it is successful on the whole, although I did find it occasionally jarring in that I felt I wasn't quite clued in to what he was trying to get across. I would only recommend this as a place to start with Vinge if someone was finding the prospect of diving into his 'Zones of Thought' novels a bit daunting. It is reasonably short and to the point, and never strays from its central story. A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky are, imo, masterpieces. This one isn't, but it's still worth a read - preferable after reading those others. 7/10 Merry Christmas everyone

Yes, that's definitely the case - and I'm not even slightly biased I went to Jersey once and my Guernsey relations never let me forget it

There are rolling highlights of the series on the red button all this evening up until about 3am tomorrow morning

My dad was from Guernsey, Julie, and I've spent a lot of time there over the years. He loved his home and was one of eight children, so I've got loads of family over there It's 9 miles by 4, sort of triangular shaped. It's a beautiful island with lots of lovely beaches, and St Peter Port is one of my favourite places. Due to the occupation during WWII, there are still a lot of German bunkers and such dotted around. They don't speak with a French accent at all, although they do have a slight accent which means they say words like 'glass' with a hard 'a' sound, like the first syllable of 'pacify'.

Noooooooooooo, I'm not buying more books ETA: okay, I might've bought one or two

Ditto to all of this. Really glad Natalie got to the final three, I thought she was brilliant, but Abbey was the one who improved the most (the dreaded 'J' word ) and she seemed a more natural dancer to me. I was surprised Sophie didn't make the final three but her show dance was the worst of the four and her dancing never looked quite right to me Natalie's show dance was the highlight of the whole series for me, though. Shall have to watch it again on Claire's site ETA: I always wondered why they never had an It Takes Two after the final, so was quite glad they had the red button thing afterwards, even if it was a bit rough around the edges

Happy reading in 2014 Sarah Just think, this time next year you might have your TBR under 1,000

When they get off their lazy behinds and tour again, I suppose Or should that be 'if'? They're not getting any younger

Well. Natalie's show dance was incredible. Got my vote. I still think she'll go out first, which will be a travesty. It was STUNNING. I don't like Artem but, blimey, well done mate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUcbGMdfV2M Well it is 21/12, after all

You must have read the wrong ones But I'd wholeheartedly recommend giving Replay a go instead

Not intentionally it doesn't