Lumo

My student told me she was a hotmess today, I did not know the meaning of the word so looked it up on urban dictionary: HOTMESS: you have gone above and beyond being a mess. You attract attention to yourself in such a displeasing way, people can't help but to clown the shhhhhhh out of you. or: A pretty, intelligent girl who works hard and plays hard. Don't let her looks fool you, she can drink you under the table! Her infectious kindergarden smile is hard to escape. or: A person who makes a stellar leader...can be a disaster 24/7 but pull off any task given to them. Makes things ten times harder than they need to be but handles business. Can laugh off and make look good falling down a flight of stairs, rear ending people regularly and over all making a fool of themselves. I'm none the wiser - I'm not sure which meaning she meant.

I have been wondering about reading this one. I'm now more motivated to give it a go :-)

Does anyone else cycle? Since moving house I've started cycling to work. It's a comfortable distance, about 2.5 miles each way, and I'm really enjoying it. I used to cycle as a teenager but then never had the opportunity until now. I've also taken some longer trips at the weekend to explore the (new to me) local area, and have really enjoyed this too. Duncan

If I feel a cold coming on I take vitamin c and echinacea...and a hot toddy before bed. To make it I use about 1/3 whisky, 2/3 warm water, a teaspoonful of honey and a dash of lemon. I take it to bed, sip and drink it then try and sleep. Honestly, it really works (well I keep telling myself it does).

Can't help you find the original recording you refer to Faramir, but there is is a LibriVox version of DOAN available: http://www.podiobooks.com/title/the-diary-of-a-nobody Also, if you were to get an old walkman type cassette player from eBay then it is not too difficult to record a cassette to a computer and save as an mp3 file.

Yeah, one day I might ask in the bank when I am in there anyway. Indeed, rather than them bringing a box in a top secure area it was more of a room or area with lots of small sized boxes I was thinking of. Seems quite a good idea for documents and valuables that are seldom needed (not that I have many of those). I'm a bit wary of safes at home. The neighbours of a friend of mine had a safe which was built into a brick wall of their house. On a weekday afternoon a group of people drove up to the house in a van, broke in, cut the wall out and carried the wall and safe out into the van and drove off. Presumably they managed to open the safe later. Having a safe always seems to me that it indicates that there is something valuable and that it is right there in the safe.

I've always thought that bank safety deposit boxes were a thing from the films that rich people had. However, I've recently read that these are quite common and indeed that most banks will offer one for free with an account or for a small annual fee. I don't know anyone that has one, but it is possible that's just because I've never really talked about, perhaps lots of people have one and I don't know about it? So, are these really quite common? There is nothing on my banks website about them, and no sign of them in the bank, I'm tempted to go in and ask about one, but have the feeling the person in the bank would be laughing at me for asking. But I wouldn't mind one - a good secure place for important documents I hardly ever need but don't want to loose.

I was going to suggest Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy or Berlin Game, but also thought that they were great books. Billion Dollar Brain is also good, but being focused on a computer it is very dated, but nonetheless interesting, especially I imagine if one likes the history of computers.

Hello HoneyGirl. I'm OK. Well sort of. I'm pretty bored or down or something at the moment. Anyway... Yes, I like going through the charity shops too, there can be some interesting books found that way. Plus it's helping a good cause and cheaper than paying full price for brand new ones. Sometimes I like looking for very old books and seeing if there are notes or inscriptions inside the cover page. I used to live near a second hand bookshop that had some very old books. I remember one had something like "For Edward - as a gift for excellent marks at school, 1892." inside the front cover. I wondered who Edward had been and found it a strange thought that he could have lived a whole life and died of old age since that was written. I haven't been to that shop since I moved, and thinking about it I remember it closed down - so I won't be going back ;-) How's the iPad doing?

I have read books that changed the way I thought about things. However, rather than being general life changing events, it is normally the case that they change my view on a distinct small set of things. The first book that comes to mind is: Reckoning with Risk (Gerd Gigerenzer). I didn't think I would get too much from this book, but his descriptions of statistical interpretations I found very relevant to some current issues (for example, should men routinely be tested for prostate cancer?). I had never before fully realised that the accuracy of a test depends on the risk category that one is in. For example, despite exactly the same test being done, a positive result from an HIV test is more likely to be accurate if the person is from a high risk background than a low risk background. As I said, that is a very narrow change in my perspective on things, but I find this much more common than truly life changing alterations. Indeed I can't think of one book that I could say actually changed my life. On a personal level, some fiction books made me really think about my life, for example: Travels with my Aunt (Graham Greene) made me assess some things about me, but not in a sudden life changing way. Some philosophy texts also made me question how I view things, but again, I can't point to one and see a change with me after reading the book being dramatically different from how I was before reading the book. So I would say that (sometimes) I do learn the lessons taught in books, but often they probably go straight over my head, or I read them and think "this book really is a warning about what's happening" but I wonder whether or not I actually fully take on board the message. This might be good in many ways, I would not like to be able to read a book and be influenced by it so much that I completely change, as you say, that would be quite scary.

Thanks, I'll take a look. They certainly seem a nice alternative to the mass produced fake leather ones.

I used to collect fountain pens and pens in general. I still have them in boxes and also still enjoy stopping and looking in pen shops. However, larely due to not actually writing very much with a pen any longer, I find I have little need for a dozen fountain pens so try not to buy any more unless they are particularly tempting :-)

A Painful Truth is the (apparently true) story of a middle aged US citizen who, due to not having health insurance (despite her and her husband working) works out ways to self diagnose and self-medicate painkillers for her ever increasing chronic back pain. Part of this involves ordering prescription only narcotic painkillers from foreign websites. The author says that this works well and continues doing so for yaears. Then, one quiet day, after receiving another batch of painkillers, a SWAT team breaks her door down and arrests her for possession of controlled subsances with intent to distribute. The main part of the story is her description of her (brief) time in jail, the jail system and her subsequent experiences with the legal system. These descriptions are detailed, interesting and in many cases eye opening. She ultimately gets a criminal record. Nancy does acknowledge and explain some of her seeming self contradictions (for example, saying that she hates western pharmaceutical medicines, but also saying that despite numerous attempts at other things the only thing that helps her pain is strong painkillers) and at times there is a reasonable amount of humour in the book. Before writing this book Nancy was an activist for many different things, and this becomes very apparent throughout. She attacks the government, the pharmaceutical companies, the legal system, politicians and fellow countrymen. While she may well be correct in what she says, parts of it read like an extremest website and diverge from the main story somewhat. Despite that the book is undoubtedly moving and I agree with her that it is shocking that someone in such a developed country is refused by doctors because she hasn't the cash to pay them up front (she knows that she will need scans and x-rays in addition to consultations, so this will run into the thousands of dollars price range). Her portrayal of the legal system is also eye-opening. I read the Kindle edition of the book, it was low cost (£1 - £2) and I think the print edition is done through self-publication. I'm glad I read this book and while I don't agree with everything Nacy says, I do empathise with her strongly. http://www.amazon.co...f=docs-os-doi_0

Looks interesting. Where did you get it from (or did you make it)?

As far as I remember the only book I have signed is The Selfish Gene, not because I am Richard Dawkins fan, but because he was giving a talk and I thought I would take one of his books of the shelf and ask him to sign it.

I have only a few collections: Fiction General non-fiction Biographies and memoirs Reference Misc (which also inlcudes things which might fit into the above categories, but I want to hold somewhere else until I know if I like them). I put a book in into the collection as soon as I download it, but think I might change that and also keep unread ones out of collections :-)

Well I now have a Kindle Touch and I think it's great. I was worried about the screen getting finger prints or marks on it, but the matt surface doesn't seem to collect these at all. I've never used another kind of Kindle to compare this too, but I'm very happy with this one :-)

Hi HoneyGirl. I'm fine, no, not forgotten who you are ;-) I haven't been online much either but now christmas is over I should be on more often. I have stopped reading the WW2 book for a while. Mainly because I got a Kindle Touch for christmas and wanted to play with that for a while rather than read paper books. I also haven't had much time to read, but I did manage to finish Drowning Rose and Life Below Stairs on the Kindle (both of which I liked) and have started another and also have many more stocked up from the Kindle book sale. I don't plan on abandoning paper books completely and if paying full price for a book I think I would rather the paper than electronic version, but so far I think the Kindle is great. The WW2 one is interesting, but heavy going at times, it turned from a description of life during the war into more of a blow by blow account of war activities which, while interesting, all became a bit of a blur after several hundred pages and not what I felt like reading during the holidays. I will get back into it when I am more in the mood for that. I still like the audio books, but think I will use them most when travelling. At home I find it a bit strange listening to them during the daytime, but during the night they are OK. However, I will definitely have a stock of them ready for any future flights and train rides, it really was fantastic listening to them on planes and enjoying a story when too tired to read rather than staring at my watch every 20 mins. iPad2, that's fancy, lucky you! :-)

I read Jane Eyre a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I certainly liked it better than a lot of the modern fiction. However despite having picked it up a few times and looked at it, I have never bought/read Wuthering Heights, but some day I probably will.

Hi tunn300, I actually bought the 3 month membership at £3.99/month and received £7 cashback via quidco. After 2 months my credit card expired so they stopped taking the money, as I haven't finished the audiobooks I have I haven't entered the new card details yet. However I will probably do that this week and get the last month of the £3.99 intro price. I'm not sure if I will keep the membership at £7.99/month or not, the audiobooks are good, but at the moment I don't seem to be listening to them. Good to know they offer incentives to keep the membership going, I was thinking I would probably have it for a few months then cancel it for a few months, so if they also send offers that's quite handy.

I lend books which I think the recipient will enjoy or appreciate or if they have mentioned that or a similar book before. However, if someone says 'I've got a long train ride, give me any book to read' I feel a bit selfish and not wanting to give away a good book which I probably won't see again, so in that situation I generally lend a popular book which for whatever reason I didn't like and don't mind losing. But I do feel a bit guilty about it. The only books I hate lending are special ones - ones which were bought for me as a particular present or ones which I absolutely love and wouldn't want to part with.

Wow that is annoying! Amazon seem great about fixing them so hopefully they won't mind the extra three days, I wish you the best of luck VF.

I have one of the Good Food cook books, the one pot dishes one, and do indeed find it quite useful. Amazon say the copy of Bills cook book is on its way, looking forward to seeing what it is like. Thanks for the other suggestions all, I've had a look and added some to my wishlist as I like cookery books too. It's tempting just to look things up online, but I find a book more fun to browse through for ideas.

Well I have now ordered Bill's The Cookbook. Yes, I also liked that it is based on old favourites and not full of fancy sounding/looking fashionable things.

Thanks Chrissy, those are good suggestions. I have just been looking at and was thinking of Bill's The Cookbook: Cook, Eat, Smile http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bills-Cookbook-Cook-Eat-Smile/dp/1444703900/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323634599&sr=1-7 based on not much other than the Amazon reviews. I'll check them all out now.