Nienna

Finished The Thirty-Nine steps last night and started reading A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin. Enjoying it so far but as I'm barely into chapter 3 it hasn't really kicked off yet.

An almighty four pounds lost last week from Slimming World! I was quite pleased to see it considering I'd gone UP half a pound the week before. How it happened I do not know. But nonetheless I am pleased!

For me it would have to be Mr. Pratchett. I find him very easy to read, not to mention clever and hilarious, so if I'm ever feeling like reading is becoming hard work I tend to hark back to him. Thankfully, I haven't even exhausted the Discworld series yet! Another is the Bronte sisters. Purely coincidentally, every time I pick up a Bronte work it tends to apply quite specifically to my life at that point in time. I tend to be reassured by Bronte books and pick up lessons from them, too.

Thanks Ooshie! I'm almost finished The Thirty-Nine Steps, so should have an update soon. I'm looking forward to reading them all too!

I was just going to mention Forever! I think I must've been about 14 when I read it, and I did so because all the girls in my year at school kept going on about it having (omg) SEX in it. It was something I think at that time that we a lot of us were starting to think about and explore, so a book that so blatently referenced it was exciting, I guess. However, as a 14 year old I didn't really read books to search for their meaning. I don't know about the rest of you, but mostly I read books for escapism and excitement. Forever didn't teach me any lessons, it was just a story of someone elses experience of sex. Perhaps if I read it now I'd see quite clearly what Judy was trying to do, but at the time - nothing. If anything, it probably affected me negatively because I probably thought that people must be doing this kind of thing and perhaps I should be doing it to. I was a stupid 14 year old, though, but I'm sure I wasn't the only one. For this reason I'm not sure what I think of such explicit material in YA books. I like the idea of keeping kids kids, and I think that at 14 (contrary to what most 14 year olds believe) you ARE still a kid, and I think that themes like this encourage people to explore themes they shouldn't really need to be exploring at that age. Then again, I'm aware that that is a very idealistic view and young teens probably mostly know about things like sex and drugs from other sources anyway nowadays, so perhaps the need for its exploration through literature is more important. ... God, it's like I'm 50.

2010 Reading List The Classics � The Thirty-Nine Steps - Tom Buchan � The Tenant of Wildfeld Hall - Anne Bronte � Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray � Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy � Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky � Candide - Voltaire � Middlemarch - George Eliot � Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas � Les Mis�bles - Victor Hugo � The Turn of the Screw - Henry James � Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert � Ulysses - James Joyce � The Old Curiosity Shop - Dickens � The Odyssey and The Illiad - Homer � The Red and the Black - Stendhal Others � A Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin � A Clash of Kings - George R. R. Martin � Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel � Witches Abroad - Terry Pratchett � The Wasteland and Other Poems - T.S. Eliot � Poems and Short Stories - Tolkien � Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller KEY ■ Currently Reading ■ Re-attempt ■ Re-read ■ Read

Did anyone see the Going Postal adaptation on Sky1? I don't have access to the channel but the first part was on on Sunday/Monday and I'm interested in seeing what they've done. I saw the adaptations of The Colour of Magic and The Hogfather and didn't think much of them (especially TCoM - even Rincewind was way off!) so was hoping this one is a bit better, but I'll have to wait a while to see 'em!

I'm a man trying to prevent imminent war whilst on the run from the law for a murder I didn't commit.

Oohh SueK Turn of the Screw is high on my TBR pile! Looking forward to that one. I knew it involved ghosty-type things but didn't know if it was actually spooky. Frankenstein was the last book from the "horror" sort of genre that I read and it didn't spook me much, even though it is a fantastic book. Hope this one is able to give me the heebies!

The accuracy of scales is around 5%! Always remember this. (Courtesy of my bf ). SW Update: UNBELIEVABLE. After a week of dieting I have PUT ON half a pound! I will blame it on the slip-up at the weekend and try harder this week. Hopefully it is also something to do with having had a big meal before I went to the weigh-in and wearing heavier clothes too, but I was, as you can imagine, pretty disappointed. Welp, chin up! If next week is the same and I haven't gorged on anything then I'm unsure whether I'll stay, but let's hope that doesn't happen!

John Conolly is pretty good, although the last time I read one of his was when I was about 17. The only thing that has genuinely freaked me out in the last 10 or so years has been Paranormal Activity. DO NOT WATCH IT ON YOUR OWN.

I started The Thirty-Nine Steps this morning and I must say, without appendices or an intro I am more than mildly confused. D:

SHOULDA GIVEN THEM TO ME

For me, whilst I know that I love books and enjoy getting into them, I do tend to get easily distracted from them. For this reason I need peace and quiet to read, so if I ever feel like I'm not going to get that I'll look at a book as a little bit of a chore because I won't be able to settle into it and then I'll have to re-read parts or miss plot points because I'm not concentrating. So it's weird, I think, but for that reason the only time a book ever feels like a chore for me is before I pick it up. The train is the perfect place for me to read because I'm on it every day so it's boring and the background hum isn't distracting, so I'm always eager to get my book out when I'm there.

Almost done with The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. The font is huge and there's barely any of it on the page but it's STILL taking me ages to read. Pffff...

I'm Jesus' brother, Christ, and I'm following him to write down his words at the instruction of an anonymous stranger.

Day 3 of Slimming World diet (they don't like people calling it a diet, but it IS). It's trickier than it looks! I am craving chocolate, which I can have, but if I eat a bar of, say, dairy milk, then I have about 3 syns left for the day and I can probably get away with having those in my dinner for sauce. If I go over them then I'll be super annoyed! Bah! I better have lost something come my next weigh-in.

Kimmy, we all get like this, but you have already lost weight! Whatever your doing has been working! However, it's clearly psychologically difficult (for all of us, not just you ) and the best thing for this is encouragement from friends and family, or other dieters like us. You should try to keep talking to others who are in the same position - we all struggle, but we can all help too. If, however, it's just a little too much, I would recommend a book: Paul McKenna's I Can Make You Thin. It's all about the psychology of dieting and positive reinforcement, body image and not restricting yourself too much. Its main focus is on listening to your body's needs, for example being able to identify when you want to eat for comfort and when you are actually hungry. Also stopping when you're full is important. He encourages you not to deny yourself anything, but if you aren't physically hungry, just don't eat it right now - it won't disappear! I found it an interesting read (it's a very short book) and a really good approach to dieting, although you do have to re-read it once in a while to re-motivate yourself!

Read about a quarter of The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. I've just started realising what he's trying to say. He is tricksy! Interesting take on the "story of Jesus" though.

I could drink tea all day long. It goes well with breakfast and serves as something to warm you up on cold days. I also find it really helps sometimes when I have headaches or my eyes are tired - the wonders of tea! I mostly drink Punjana tea, but all English breakfast teas are lovely. I usually would have 3 or more cups a day - it is my drink of choice!

A beautiful, beautiful book. One of my favourite contemporary works. I love the emphasis on 'the power of words' as it's something quite dear, I think, to all of us! Hope you're enjoying.

Finished Frankenstein last night! Excellent read. About to start The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman.

1857 is quite early for Dickens books. A lot of Dickens novels started out as weekly or monthly installments in the newspaper (namely the Daily News) and according to Wikipedia he finished writing Barnaby Rudge and Martin Chizzlewit for the paper in 1841 and 1844 respectively. The "BOZ" I would suspect refers to his editorial pseudonym (Boz). I was going to suggest AbeBooks as well, but I've just had a look there and can't seem to see any 1857 editions. Ebay has a lot of editions but not all are dated in the titles, so you might want to have a look through those. They probably also will only be estimated values. You should check 2 important things in the book cover: 1. The publisher - this will make it easier to look up the exact edition you own and value it using the powers of the internet! 2. The edition - if you can find the edition number this will be able to help value the book, as 1st (and even 2nd editions sometimes) go for a lot of money. It may simply have "First Edition" or "Second Edition" printed somewhere within the first few pages, or it may have a number line (though I doubt it with a book this early). If the number line counts down to 1, e.g. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1, the book will be a first edition. If it stops at 2 it will be second, etc. Hope this helps you a bit!