bobblybear

^ I'd love to have one of those in my house.

Just bought it.

I'm still reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, and today I bought The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, because it was only £0.99 on Kindle. I know nothing about it but the title is familiar.

I've seen it and I remember enjoying it, but it sounds like I'm in the minority. I'm not a great fan of Shia LaBeouf (or however you spell it), but he didn't bother me greatly. Sigourney Weaver is in it as well.

Yikes, The Sixteen sounds dire, which is a shame because when I first read the synopsis, I thought it would be my kind of book.

Did anyone see the Fallout 4 presentation? I think that's going to be so awesome. I've already pre-ordered the Pip-Boy Edition....I now need to actually buy a PS4.

I haven't started it yet, so I may not be quite so brave.

Under The Skin by Michel Faber is the Kindle Daily Deal for today at £1.09. It was mentioned a few times on the thread about most disturbing reads. I've bought it.

Thanks, Gaia. Yeah, I'm a bit disappointed that I read so many duds in a row, but at least they are off my TBR pile. If you do get around to reading it, I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I shall add Sputnik Sweetheart to my wishlist, I think. I have also read Kafka on the Shore, but couldn't tell you anything about it or even if I finished it. I don't think I was at a Murakami-ready stage of my life back then. I know, three in a row, all carefully selected by the Book Jar. Probably why I've by-passed the Book Jar for my last few reads.

I ended up going with the former - A Walk In The Woods. I've only read a few chapters, but I'm absolutely loving it. Bill Bryson is just so effortlessly funny. I have read it before, and knew I liked it but I couldn't remember much about it. In fact, I stayed up way past my bedtime to read it, and now I'm feeling rather sleepy. Goody! That one was a fun read.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason - Helen Fielding (abandoned) I tried this a couple of years ago, and gave up half way through. The cursed Book Jar selected it (it likes to taunt me, clearly ), and I picked up where I left off, with the full intention of finishing it. I loved the first Bridget Jones's Diary movie and I think I enjoyed the book. I didn't like the second movie (can't remember it though), and I certainly didn't like this book. Bridget was just so, so annoying and wouldn't stop wittering on about endless nonsense. I'll leave it at that as I can't be bothered to waste any more time on it. 1/6

Origin - Randolph Lalonde (abandoned) This must have been the oldest book on my Kindle TBR pile – one of the first I downloaded as a freebie. I didn't get on with it when I first tried reading it several years ago, so I was absolutely dreading my Book Jar selecting it. And of course, the bloomin' thing picked it! It's sci-fi, but I don't know what kind of sci-fi it could be classed as – hard sc-fi? It's not a very character driven story, which is why I struggled with it. It was more about occurances in a heavily militarised environment - so lots of battle scenes, etc - rather than people's personal stories. It's not one for me, but I just had a look at Amazon, and the author has written many books in that series, so it's obviously someone's cup of tea. It's still a freebie on the Kindle, so no loss if you don't enjoy it. 1/6

Z 2134 - Sean Platt and David W. Wright This was a quick read, and to be honest I have forgotten most of it, so it's fortunate that I made a handful of notes. It's the year 2134, and zombies have taken over. There are three main characters – Jonas, and his estranged children, Ana and Adam. Jonas is a prisoner, put in jail by Ana's testimony that she saw him murder her mother. An underground group (called The Underground....heh) hint to Ana that things aren't exactly what they seem, and that perhaps Jonas is not as guilty as everyone believes. In the meantime, Jonas is entered into something called the Darwin Games, which is basically a televised fight for survival until only one person is left (pretty much exactly like The Hunger Games, though I don't know which came first). I didn't really enjoy this much. I thought it had a very amateurish writing style and unfortunately I couldn't get past that. On top of that, I didn't find the story original, so it made it a forgettable read. I won't be bothering with the sequels, but hey, at least it's one off the TBR pile. 1/6

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami This was a very surreal book, and I'm not even sure what the synopsis was, let alone how to put it into words. Toru Okada has recently quit his job, while he figures out what to do with his time. His cat has disappeared, and his wife urges him to search the neighbourhood for it, especially an abandoned house at the end of an alley that runs behind their house. As he begins his search, he meets some strange characters, receives some odd and disturbing phone calls, and as the story goes on, it just gets more and more surreal. There are psychics, vivid dreams, wells, wig factories and hair surveys.....it's just bizarre. I had attempted this many years ago and never got very far, but still kept it on my bookshelf because I suspected (correctly, as it turned out) I would enjoy it at some point. The Book Jar selected this one, and I was dreading it a bit, both because of my prior experience and because it's quite hefty at just over 600 pages of small print. But I am glad that I kept hold of it, because I really, really enjoyed it this time around. The story drew me in straight away, and even though I can't say I fully grasped the strangeness of the story, especially towards the end, I was more than happy to go along for the ride. The book is written with reasonably short chapters, and each chapter is subdivided into sections which is handy if you can only read for a short time. Each chapter starts with several headings about the topics that are to be covered in the chapter, and I found this to be original and quite entertaining (these little descriptions were often obscure). I loved the very slow and deliberate way it was written – ie. how the main character boils his pasta or makes a sandwich is described in great detail and yet it doesn't feel boring at all. It feels like a book that was written with such patience, not rushed in any way and just happily ambling along at the pace necessary to tell the story in full-colour. While I can't claim to fully understand the nuances of the story, I enjoyed it none the less and it has made me quite keen to read more Murakami (and will happily accept recommendations ). 5.5/6

Thanks, both. No, I haven't seen the film....I just checked Netflix in the hopes it would be on there, but it's not. I will give it a go at some point, but to be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of older movies.

I've just finished Elizabeth Is Missing. Liked it, but didn't love it. Not sure which to read next - A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson or The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith.

Loved it, except I was gutted that The best moment was when Then it was non stop action from there. I think this show is next on my watchlist, though I don't know anything about it.

Just finished Breaking Bad. Wow! The last three episodes were just so shocking.

I have this on my TBR pile, and want to get to it fairly soon.

Lost At Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries is today's Kindle Daily Deal for £0.99.

Yup. And with some of my picks, there's a reason why they languished at the bottom of my TBR pile.

Oh, shame you're not enjoying it. I bought this last year, but will let the Book Jar decide when I read it. Are you enjoying it? How do you find it compares to the first book? Holes is a fun read. Have you seen the movie? I'm about 40% through Elizabeth Is Missing. It's pretty good, but I feel so sorry for Maud. I also bought Lost At Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries which is today's Kindle Daily Deal.

I finished Random Acts of Senseless Violence, which was very good, and have now moved on to Elizabeth is Missing, which is also very good.

Oh no, such a shame. I had no idea he was 80 though.