Karsa Orlong

Game of Thrones 3x05. Charles Dance is acting everyone else off the screen at the moment

I quite like the movie, the director's cut at least But yeah, Orlando Bloom couldn't act his way out of a paper bag

Nice to hear that The Cult are still popular in the future!

If the Waterstone's on Oxford Street has got it on my way home today! If not, I'll be getting the Kindle version first thing in the morning, I think, and then getting the paperback when I see it (to complete the trilogy on the shelf)

You could do worse than Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane, I reckon. It's part of a series but it stands okay on its own. I thought Broadchurch was definitely trying to emulate the Scandi crime shows, like The Killing and The Bridge, so it might be worth taking a look at the likes of Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbo etc

Finished East of Eden. Now I must get to Waterstone's today. Must. If I don't have a copy of Necessary Evil by the time I get home I'll . . . I'll . . . Well, I'll have to read something else

Book #24: East of Eden by John Steinbeck From Amazon: An epic allegorical novel chronicling the fortunes of two families as they try to escape the sins of their forbears. Set in the rich farmland of the Salinas Valley, California, this powerful, often brutal novel, follows the intertwined destinies of two families - the Trasks and the Hamiltons - whose generations hopelessly re-enact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. Here Steinbeck created some of his most memorable characters and explored his most enduring themes: the mystery of identity; the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence. Thoughts: I have to say, I never thought I'd type the words 'East of Eden by John Steinbeck' at the top of one of my posts, but there they are. I'm not entirely sure what made me want to read it. I've seen it on my mum's bookshelf over the years, and I know she's read it several times and loves it, but her tastes and mine have never been exactly similar At the start of the year, I kind of wanted to read a few books that are outside my usual fare, and I guess this qualifies. So I borrowed mum's copy. I couldn't find an image of the cover on this version of hers, which is a shame, so the one above will have to suffice. Anyway, I'm not sure I can do the book justice, and I'm certain there are others here who will have a far better appreciation of its content than me. I found it was the sort of book where sometimes I could read it very quickly, and at others I had to slow down and try and absorb it, yet the strange thing is that it is very easy to read. The story itself could probably be described as straightforward, but it's in the characters - and their thoughts and their actions - where the depth shines through, and it's how they - for the most part - try to fight against the Cain and Abel template that I found fascinating. The story is largely about two families: the Trasks and the Hamiltons. Their stories are used as a framework on which Steinbeck hangs a lot of philosophising on human nature, how we live our lives, what we hope to get from it etc. I found the truths in this could be evidenced by the number of times I had to stop reading and work through memories of things that have happened in my own life that it seemed to directly address. I should add that none of these memories had anything to do with Cathy He uses mainly two characters for these philosophies: Samuel and Lee. They were my two favourite characters in the book. What a brilliant character Lee is. I don't want to say too much about him, so as not to spoil it, but he (and Samuel) really came alive in my head. But, then, most of the characters did so. Cathy is a creation of such malevolence that I am actually quite surprised my mum likes the book so much The strange thing about her - Cathy, that is! - is that she was the character who really pulled me into the book, just because I couldn't really believe what I was reading, and I had to see what she did next. Her relationship with Adam Trask takes up most of the first half of the book. The second half is mostly about the next generation, Caleb and Aron, and I spent most of that second part hoping and praying that they would not just re-enact, on some level, what had happened to their parents. There's a fine sense of history about the novel and a vibrant sense of time and place. Steinbeck obviously loved the setting for the novel. At times it felt a little bit preachy to me and, at times, I wanted him to get on with it, but it's one of those novels that needs to meander and take its time about things. Overall, it wasn't at all what I was expecting. I'm glad I read it. 9/10

You're doing the right thing, Kell. When I was a kid, if a spider ran across the floor my mum would jump on a chair and scream the house down. I'm convinced this is why I'm arachnophobic

^^ Likewise, Michelle The only good spider is a squashed one

That's probably because Wolfgang Petersen completely removed that side of the story from Troy That's just the way it is, I think. I certainly read that comment many times when I was deciding which translation to buy. You have to take into account, I guess, that - in its original form - it was probably chanted, so repetition would have formed part of that because it allowed the audience to join in as well. You really should give David Gemmell's Troy trilogy a try. The women in his version are incredibly strong characters. Awesome book! I look forward to your review of Wool - it's on my wishlist

Yeah, it is true. I don't have a problem with long books providing there's enough of a pay-off to make it worthwhile, but some of my more recent fantasy reads have not had that, and I include books like A Dance with Dragons and Forge of Darkness in that, not just the Jordans and Sandersons.

It's my favourite, too. I remember I was reading it when there was a tube strike on, back in the late 80s it must have been, and I had to take a different, longer route to work on a crowded train, and I was just so totally involved in that book that the rubbish journey didn't bother me at all. It's the only Koontz book that I've kept after reading it. Must read it again one day

Curses! Tregillis's Necessary Evil seems to have been released a few days early and I didn't realise. My mate received his copy from Amazon yesterday I can see a trip to Waterstone's happening tomorrow

I doubt I'll get through them this year, myself. The ones I've read so far have been so good I want to spread the rest out and savour them

This is never good! I know that, if I'm wanting to get through something faster and checking the page count all the time, then I'm really not enjoying it. The hardback is just over 800 pages . . . Right, that's it then. Thanks for the excellent review, Tim. What little enthusiasm I might have had for reading The Desert Spear has just disappeared completely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHgOeWUZjug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXZAxcSA4z4

Defiance 1x02

She was just a bit tipsy and having fun on the way home after a Christmas party, 'tis all

Typical reaction of commuters in London, trying to ignore her

Yeah, I think it's reached the point where even second hand copies are getting more expensive, because it's gone out of print

Hmm, Stover's 'Acts of Caine' books are finally getting a Kindle release in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_sabc?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&pageMinusResults=1&suo=1366969709926#/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=acts%20of%20caine&sprefix=acts+%2Cdigital-text&rh=i%3Adigital-text%2Ck%3Aacts%20of%20caine I had the first one in paperback but didn't read much of it and gave up, especially seeing as the second book was pretty much unavailable, unless you were prepared to pay a lot for it (which I wasn't). Might be tempted to give them another go now.

Yep, wall-to-wall goodness.

In the pub the other night, we discussed, deliberated and cogitated - and came to the conclusion that it's been going downhill since about halfway through Tom Baker's run

Yep, I agree on that. ETA: And so is The Island of Doctor Moreau.