Kidsmum

It's always nice to be appreciated I'm so envious of you working in a library Frankie, our library has those new machines as well & i hate them something always goes wrong when i'm trying to check books out & it drives me mad i'd much rather give my books to the lady at the counter like you used to do but if you try that now they just direct you to the machines .

Know what you mean Julie , i spent most of last year feeling scared spitless but all things pass Glad to hear your feeling better though & hopefully the kidney doc will have only have good news for you.

My heart went out to poor Joan the little girl who never got a letter or birthday card from her mummy because she'd loved her brother who'd died more than Joan

Brilliant isn't it, if it hadn't come up as a reading circle book choice i don't know when i would have got round to reading it but i'd put it up there with my all time favourite books Great book Just started The Land of Painted Caves Jean M Auel hoping to get through this quickly as i've promised to pass on the series to a friend unfortunately i haven't enjoyed the last few books as much as i thought i would so looking forward to finishing the series.

That made me laugh Poppy I've been reading The Naughtiest Girl at School books to my youngest DD she's only 8 & absolutely loves them & they're great fun to read out loud because you can't help but put on a kind of jolly hockey sticks voice while your reading.

Totally agree with your thoughts on A Month in the Country Ooshie it's one of the few books that i've hung on too as i know i'll read it again.

Hi Julie, Not been able to get on the forum much with the kids being on holiday but i've been thinking about you & wondering how you're doing.

I like the sound of Wild Mary Claire as I have the Camomile Lawn on my TBR pile

Well got back yesterday from our holiday in Wales, had a lovely time, really enjoyed visiting Hay on Wye & brought back some great books The Queen of Whale Cay Kate Summerscale The Murmur of Stones Thomas H. Cook The Fallen Leaves Wilkie Collins My Name is Red Orhan Pamuk The Return of Captain John Emmet Elizabeth Speller Chronicles of Carlingford The Perpetual Curate Mrs Oliphant The Tree of Man Patrick White The Razor's Edge Somerset Maugham Voyager Diana Gabaldon Fattypuffs & Thinnifers Andre Maurois Christmas Holiday Somerset Maugham The Case of the Gilded Fly Holy Disorders Edmund Crispin Swan Song Looking forward to catching up on the forum when i can get 5 mins to myself without the children badgering me to get off the computer

Hi Julie Hope your feeling perkier today The tiredness is awful isn't it but it does pass. I felt hugely better after i had my final scan & got the all clear it was like a weight off my shoulders, so hang in there

I finshed Memoirs of a Geisha, loved it, i've decided to read the next book in the Earth Children series The Shelters of Stone i expect it'll take me to the end of the month to finish now that the school holidays have started.

Thinking of you Julie hope you get good news on Thursday

I agree with Poppyshake , i'm definitely going to move this up my pile. Thanks for the review Claire

I've had this on my shelf for ages so look forward to hearing what you think of it Sofia I finished Jigs & Reels by Joanne Harris i didn't think much of it though, there was only one story i liked. I've decided to read Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden in the hope that it'll pep up my mojo.

I have a huge TBR pile, enough to keep me going for years without having to buy any new books & if i'm honest it's beginning to feel like a bit of a millstone round my neck. In order to justify buying so many books, i feel like i have to spend all my free time reading but does it stop me from adding to my mountain, nope, guess i'm just a lost cause

Finished Cloudstreet & have started Jigs & Reels a collection of short stories by Joanne Harris. Took some books to the charity shop yesterday & came out with Drums Of Autumn Diana Gabaldon The Line Of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst

Yes i take your point about the history & the book needing to accurately portray that period in time & i didn't have a problem with them being poor or working class but to me it just seemed unrelently joyless & i really struggled to have any strong feelings for any of the characters which for me is really important in a story & i think it was that which affected how i felt about the book. That's very interesting about the serial killer being a real person , is the part about his son drowning & the authorities refusing to grant his wish for them to be buried together true as well ? Thanks for that Bree, it kind of reminded me of the Simpsons cartoon Yes i guess it just wasn't the book for me . I know Rose & Quick did eventually come to terms with their loss & there was light at the end of the tunnel but for me it was too little to late coming right at the end of the book. I too remember The Sullivans, particularly Kitty & Mrs Jessop, it used to be on at lunchtime when i came home from school in the days before there was any Jeremy Kyle & Cash In The Attic. Happy times

1. Who was your favourite character?. Oriel was my favourite character because she was strong, held everything together & she was the one to turn to in a crisis. I also felt very compassionate towards her when Fish stopped acknowledging her that must have been incredibly hard for her as a mother & a lesser woman would have gone under i think. 2. ... and your least favourite? Sam & Dolly Pickles because they were so weak. I hated the way he gambled away all their money & she was too lazy & shiftless to look after her own children & because of them Rose had to leave school early, that drove me mad. 3. Was there a particular part you enjoyed more than the rest? Really had to rack my brains over this one but i think the way Oriel waged war against the rival shop & won i thought good for her. 4. Was this the first book you've read by this author and has it encouraged you to read more? This was the first book i've read by Tim Winton & no i don't think i'd actively seek out anything else by him . 5. Were there any parts/ideas you struggled with? Yes i didn't see the point of the aborigine to the story , why was Quick glowing in the dark after his fishing trip? The way Fish as a mentally retarded person came across in the story. The whole thing about the murderer seemed pointless perhaps it would have been more interesting if it had turned out to be someone who we knew. As Chesil mentioned why did Oriel move into the tent ? 6. How did you feel about the Western Australian colloquial and slang words? Did they add flavour to the writing or did they distract you from the story? I didn't have a problem with the slang words most of them i could work out what they meant & the others i made a guess at . 7. Were you engaged immediately with the story, or did it take you a while to get into it? I read it at quite a steady pace but to be honest i never really got into it. 8. Overall, was reading the book an enjoyable experience? I'd have to say not really . I'm not sure why because this is usually the type of story i really enjoy but i couldn't get into any of the characters & found the book a bit depressing. When Rose gets a job & meets someone i thought finally something is going right for someone but no it all went wrong & then when her and Quick get together but she loses the baby it was just so depressing. 9. If you enjoyed the book, would you have liked a sequel? How do you think the story could develop in the sequel? 10. Would you recommend the book to others? I don't think i could recommend the book to anyone else as i didn't really enjoy it myself but i think perhaps that was more down to my personal taste rather than the quality of the writing

Thanks for the review Claire. I've had The Childrens Book on my shelves for ages & keep thinking I must read it if only because it will free up quite a bit of space for other books, your review has spurred me on to give it a go

We've rented a house in Wales for a week, it's quite a rural location so we're going to do lots of exploring weather permitting of course & we're in spitting distance of Hay on Wye so I'm hoping to get some time to myself to go book shopping

I've finished One, Two Buckle My Shoe & am going to make a start on Cloudstreet next. Visited the charity shop today & came out with Running With Scissors Augusten Burroughs Whoop Whoop!!!....What a find Madame Bovary Gustav Flaubert

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did VF , there 's 9 books in the whole saga so it's quite a commitment but well worth it in my opinion I'm really looking forward to reading this one so I've earmarked it for my holiday read in August

I loved it & it's one I wouldn't have picked up if I hadn't read about it on here so thanks to everyone who recommended it I finished God's Own Country by Ross Raisin yesterday, it was good but strange, lots of Yorkshire dialect words that I'd never heard before. I'm going for a quick read next just to finish off the month One, Two Buckle my Shoe by Agatha Christie

The Woman In Black Susan Hill Waterstones Synopsis First published in 1983, The Woman in Black is Susan Hill's best-loved novel, and the basis for the UK's second longest ever running stage play, and a major film starring Daniel Radcliffe. Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer, travels to a remote village to put the affairs of a recently deceased client, Alice Drablow in order. As he works alone in her isolated house, Kipps begins to uncover disturbing secrets - and his unease grows when he glimpses a mysterious woman dressed in black. The locals are strangely unwilling to talk about the unsettling occurrence, and Kipps is forced to uncover the true identity of the Woman in Black on his own, leading to a desperate race against time when he discovers her true intent... I used to really like ghost stories when I was younger but haven't read any for quite a long time now that I'm old & cynical & don't believe in such things but I really enjoyed this story it's a good old fashioned spooky tale just the sort of thing to read on a rainy night with the lights down low 4/5

Dragonfly in Amber Diana Gabaldon Waterstones Synopsis For twenty years, Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to the majesty of Scotland's mist-shrouded hills. Here, Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones, about a love that transcends the boundaries of time, and about James Fraser, a warrior whose gallantry once drew the young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his. Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful daughter as Claire's spellbinding journey continues in the intrigue-ridden court of Charles Edward Stuart, in a race to thwart a doomed uprising, and in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves. The second book in the Outlander series this is a historical adventure / romance story I don't know how accurate the historical element of the story is but it was very entertaining. Claire is a great character passionate , fiesty & loyal to her man . The book ends leaving you wanting to know what happens next. 4/5