Karsa Orlong

Castle 5x22

Thanks! Well if I told you then there'd be no point in calling it 'the one no-one saw coming' I do have another one in mind, though, but I've no idea when it'll be. I'm struggling to finish the existing plan at the moment No, I haven't. Are you going to try and convince me? It probably won't work at the moment - there's too much other stuff I want to read for now

To Kill a Mockingbird. Well most of it, anyway - my Sky box managed to cut off the last few seconds

Har har, that gave me such a good laugh! That's not a very nice thing to say about Janet in her own thread!

I don't think it's a question of rating it higher in either case. The film is also very good, and pretty faithful to the book - condensed, of course, but most of it's there (I re-watched it last night). I think I would have got more from the book had I read it when I was younger in terms of the main plotlines, but maybe not so much from the more subtle aspects that I really liked now Right, some historical fiction now: have made a start on Cornwell's The Last Kingdom

Some of the Blackhawks players came on stage at the Rush show I went to at the United Center last September, and then the band played Chicago again in June this year, and they brought the Stanley Cup itself along:

Very true. Shame, really. It'll always be the Wars of the Roses in my mind

Book #48: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee From Amazon: 'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.' A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the thirties. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much. To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story, an anti-racist novel, a historical drama of the Great Depression and a sublime example of the Southern writing tradition. Thoughts: I probably didn't need to post that blurb, did I? I'm sure everyone on here has read the book - even me, now So I'm not sure exactly what I can say about it that hasn't already been said before. I thought the main storyline was in itself quite simplistic - it was the more subtle touches that I really enjoyed, little things like the alienation of those who refuse to follow the pack, the loss of childhood innocence, the gentle humour, and - above all else - the story of a widower trying to raise his children with the values he holds so dear. For me, Atticus Finch towered above all else in the book, to the point where I wanted to know more about him than about anyone else. In telling the story from Scout's point of view (I loved Scout, also - her movie incarnation is one of many reasons why Arya has always been my favourite character in George RR Martin's books) we are allowed to see Atticus and his struggles with an innocence, charm, and not a little fear. That is probably Lee's masterstroke, although I did feel it also allowed things to get a little preachy, when adults felt the need to explain things to Scout which were already apparent to me. Those bits disrupted the flow a bit for me. And the flow of the story is generally great. It has a gentle pace to go with its gentle humour, which makes the ingrained attitudes of the time all the more difficult to read about. I very much like the way the two main storylines dovetailed, and the way the book starts by almost telling you what happens at the end. Very neat, and very clever. For me, there was something of a dead patch once the trial was over and done with, but things picked up again at the end. Lee's ability to create tension and fear at certain times gave it the unexpected feel of a thriller in places. These parts were few and far between, but I thought the change in atmosphere worked really well. Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I think I would have drawn more from it had I read it when I was younger, but that's a side issue. It's a bit of a shame that I had seen the film some time ago, and pretty much knew what was going to happen. Coincidentally, the movie was shown on ITV2 last week, so I recorded it and shall probably watch it again this weekend. It was hard, throughout the book, not to picture Gregory Peck as Atticus. 8/10

Yeah, I looked into Virgin, but it was going to cost me about the same to get the same channels, but with nowhere near as many in HD I'm sorely tempted not to renew the insurance, but I did that about three years ago and my Sky box promptly developed a fault, which then involved much wrangling with Sky to get fixed. The cynic in me says that, if they know someone hasn't taken their insurance, they send a kill signal to your box. Knowing them, it's probably true

I actually read about Sir Walter Scott last night when I googled the Wars of the Roses, so that all makes sense to me now, thanks!

Completely OT, but does anybody else have a Sky Protect insurance policy for their Sky equipment? I've just received a renewal reminder from them and they've put the price up 15% from last year

That's exactly what's been putting me off the tv series. I may give The Lady of the Rivers a go to see what it's like. Fortunately, my mum has them all so I can just nick it off her Oh I know why she's called it that, I was just curious if she was the first one to give it that name, cos I've only ever heard it called The Wars of the Roses before. I was watching her two part 'documentary' about 'The Cousins' War' and she said it came to be known as that, which didn't seem right. Anyway, I googled 'Cousins' War' and the only results that came up seemed to be for Philippa Gregory, so that seems to answer my question Thanks!

I think that's the case with most historical fiction - they play pretty fast and loose with the known facts for the sake of a good story (that's not a complaint). I'm curious as to why she's called the series the 'Cousins' War', though - I've only ever heard of it called The Wars of the Roses until this I'm quite interested in giving these books a go, though, as the period leads into my favourite part of history, but the tv series has put me off a little, as it's so lightweight (and badly acted/directed ). Do you think I'd prefer the books?

Oh thanks Dex - Eric's description sounded so familiar to me but I couldn't for the life of me remember which book it was

Very true! That's what Book Depository is for

I've been to a handful - a couple when I was in Toronto (but they were pre-season), and also the opening games of the season that were held in London a few years back, plus I went to see the London Knights when they were around Problem is, they've marginalised it here in the UK by taking the tv contract away from ESPN and awarding it to Premier Sports, which I subscribed to for a little while but found its coverage pretty poor, so I cancelled it while the lock-out was on last season, and probably won't re-subscribe

See, now what actually happened was I recommended it to Janet. Janet then read it, and then she started pestering everyone else to read it I already knew that

Replay was on last year's list Just sayin' Ha! As if! I didn't harass anybody

I'm about 80 pages in. It's alright, I suppose

That's terrible

*cough* and Peter Straub *cough* It's a great book, shame about the narration

Yeah, it's a mistake I've made so many times, reading them too soon after one another On the plus side, the fact that I went on to the third book so quickly is a sign of how much I enjoyed the first two If I ever re-read them I might get a better idea whether my slight disappointment in the last book was down to burn-out or that Bakker's ambition wasn't matched by his ability. A good thing, for me. It was making my brain hurt to the point where I ended up not taking it in