Karsa Orlong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqQ8SvB4jp8 First time they've ever played it live So wish I'd gone to the Toronto gigs . . .

The Fire Emblem games are fantastic, but they're strategy RPGs rather than the typical J-RPGs like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, more like X-COM but with a full-on story mode. Character development is a huge part of the games, and the relationships between them have an impact on the combat (i.e. two characters side by side on the map will gain stat boosts if they are 'friends'). Also, it features perma-death, so if your favourite character dies in battle there's no getting them back. I've played four of the games and loved them all, but then I'm a turn-based strategy fan. Ocarina of Time is superb. I've only played it on the Gamecube but I'd imagine it works well on 3DS as it uses a 3D view from behind the character, rather than top-down like A Link Between Worlds. I'm really disappointed by what Nintendo are doing with the new 3DS Metroid Federation Force game. Metroid Prime is my all-time favourite game. I want more of that, not this rubbish. I don't know how they could possibly think fans of the series would like this. The problem is, if it doesn't sell, Nintendo will think it's because nobody wants more Metroid games, rather than because they've royally ****ed it up

FWIW, a friend read them a few years ago and loved them

I watched the second half after the cricket had finished and it looked like we'd run out of steam a bit and were under a lot of pressure. Still, we won

Cool, I've also come across several authors who mention O'Brian amongst their influences Pretty much! She used to sit at the window watching the birds (or flies or moths or butterflies or etc etc) and make this weird little noise that was kind of like the start of a meow but then cut off like a bark Surely that's what the mouse said?

Well it was nearly right!

That was something that I really loved about the book Normally I don't bother with footnotes but in this I found myself eagerly awaiting the next one, even when they went on for pages and pages

Is this really England I'm watching??? Such a transformation since the World Cup, so exciting to watch. The world's gone mad

Ooh, I'd like to enter please. I've only recently bought Starship Troopers but have had my eye on the other two. I'd read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress first as I've heard very good things about it.

That seems reasonable, around four books per year I've never read as many books by a single author in one year as I have this year with Patrick O'Brian. Can't see that ever being repeated (by me)

Oooh no, wouldn't want one running around inside the house. My previous cat, Lucky, brought a little frog into the house once. I managed to catch it (eventually) and took it back outside, and she went and brought it back in again I had to say to her 'you're a cat, not a dog. This isn't a game of fetch' Mind you, she used to bark as well

Pretty soon! I'd been waiting for the Kindle edition to come down in price, and it has now Once I've read that I'm up to date with that series I can finally make a start on Sharpe I only read the first Liveship Traders book, that was enough . . .

I can't do that, cos there's always something else I'd rather watch. If I fall out of love with a show then I feel like I'm just wasting time watching hour after hour that could be better spent doing something else. I've made that decision with books, belatedly , as well. If I'm having to force myself to read a book I'd rather dump it and pick up another It's a combination of both, although I got bored with the books long ago - and have posted too many times already about what I think of them, which is why I've never really said in here that I dislike the show. But, since you ask, I can only think of one episode in season 4 that I really enjoyed. It was the best episode the show had done since season 1, but I was already bored with it at that point and it wasn't enough to make me want to carry on watching. I'd stopped caring about any of the characters and was getting fed up with all the hype. I remember reading about new cast members and all the teases the producers were dropping about season 5 and I realised I wasn't at all interested any more, and that was the end of it for me.

Loving this at the moment, especially the section from 9:15 onwards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk9Wk96yzBY

Just had to rescue a tiny little mouse from Pixie. She was running around the garden with it in her mouth, the little bitch I managed to get her away from it, and it was huddled on the ground staring at me. I tried to pick it up to put it somewhere safe but it started moving and eventually made its way across the lawn and into the bushes on the other side. I'm willing to bet Pixie went after it again when I came back inside

Fair enough. It's enjoyable but not particularly great.

True, there wasn't any one incident or death or whatever in the show that angered me like with those people.

I've come across some more: Throne of Glass (I'm assuming this is so people can look up their own backsides ) The Falcon Throne (this one's about Han Solo's toilet, apparently) The Empty Throne (written after flushing) Throne of Jade (cos Mick Jagger abdicated) Throne of Stars (only in their eyes) I'm sure there are more

Yeah, I've read quite a few of the Jack Reacher books. I like them, generally, though some a lot more than others.

Seriously, if you didn't enjoy this one then do yourself a HUGE favour and dump the series now - the last one goes on and on and on and it's just plain bad, imo. There's really no point putting yourself through that torture

Just finished Open Season by C J Box during my lunch break. I thought I had more of it left to read, but it's one of those books where the story finishes and then you get a 30 page preview of the next novel in the series. I was tempted to dive straight into the next book but I think I'll hold off for a bit. Soooo, I now need to decide what to read next

Open Season (Joe Pickett Book #1) by C. J. Box 2001 - Corvus ebook - 278 pages I was looking for a blurb for this and I don't think I've ever read one as spoilery as the one on goodreads. It tells you pretty much the entire story. I'm glad I didn't see it before reading the book. I suppose it's kind of a moot point anyway, as I had the plot and the culprits figured out from very early on. It's not so much a whodunnit or a whytheydunnit as it is howlongtilltheheroworksitout-unnit. Joe Pickett is a game warden new to the town of Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, where he has recently taken over the position from his retired mentor. He and his pregnant wife, Marybeth, and their two daughters, Sheridan and Lucy, live in a state-owned house a little outside the town. One morning, six-year-old Sheridan tells him that she saw a monster outside during the night. When he goes outside he finds the body of a hunter. As is usually the case with crime novels, this is just the beginning of a much bigger case, more bodies turn up, and Joe gets dragged deeper and deeper into the mire. So it's not the greatest murder mystery, but I can pretty much guarantee that the motive is quite different from any other I've encountered, and I really liked that. Also, although the plot is straightforward and easy to figure out, it was the characters that kept me reading. In Pickett and his family, and the other inhabitants of Twelve Sleep, Box has created some genuinely likeable (and some genuinely detestable) characters who I quickly grew to care about. And, when the characterisation is so distinct, I found it easy to do what I often do and insert actors into the roles. Andrew Lincoln (in Rick Grimes mode) was Joe, Julie Benz was Marybeth, Jon Voight was Vern, and so on and so forth, and the people and the place really came alive in my mind. It was Box's debut novel, so there are rough edges, repeating of certain words and such, but I found it very readable, quite addictive, and there was a genuine sense of peril. Joe is no Jack Reacher - he's not invincible or omniscient. At the very start of the story we're told how he messed up in the past, and he is a character with fears over his job, money, and his family - and he is flawed and vulnerable. He's a character that really worked for me. It's the second C J Box novel I've read (the first being Blue Heaven a few years ago) and it certainly won't be the last. A few of his books have been in Kindle Deals for 99p recently, including Open Season. At that price, it's well worth a look. Memorable Quote:

"It's like a cross between Jurassic Park and Game of Thrones." I'd take that more seriously if it was someone other than GRRM saying it Also, it appears he's forgotten what his own series is called Seriously, though, epic fantasy with dinosaurs? I might read that Off to read the sample chapters on Tor

I watched the first episode of Sons of Liberty. It was okay but nothing special. I'm not sure if I'll watch the rest.

Yes, I do remember I looked back at my review of it and it took me eight days to read, at about 3 hours per day, so I guess 32 hours for an audiobook is about right, given that the narrators read much slower I'm curious, though - how did they deal with the footnotes in the audio version? I agree. If the viewing figures aren't up to scratch, though, it would seem that it hasn't captured enough casual viewers. Most - if not all - of the people I know who are enjoying it were already fans of the book, so they don't need the tv show to explain everything. I know a couple of people who haven't read the book and one of them is still watching but thinks it's only 'okay', whilst the other one watched one episode and gave up. To me, that seems to indicate that the script, whilst faithful to the book, isn't doing enough to engage a lot of those - not all, but a lot - who haven't read it. I also wonder if it's not a bit too 'out there' to appeal to the viewers who tune in for the normal Sunday night period dramas. Maybe being screened on a different night would've found it a larger audience