Easy Reader

Hello, long time no see I was watching a programme the other week presented by Bradley Walsh which I believe was for the build up to the Specsavers Crime Fiction Awards Bradley and a guest were talking about a book which I thought would be ideal for a friend of mine for Christmas but I can't remember the name of the book or the author I am pretty sure it was a female first time author who is actually a professor and got the idea for the book from one of her students asking her a question. Things that I am less sure about are that it was something to do with anatomy, historical and set in Italy. Does this ring any bells ? Can anyone help me ? I have tried searching Specsavers Crime Awards but have as yet to come across a female author.

Well I enjoyed the book so much I downloaded the audio version and have just finished listening too it. It was even better than I remember the book being, although I do credit the narrator for breathing a bit more life into the characters, but listening to it did highlight the amount of swearing in it I kept looking around me to check no one could hear it and wonder what an earth I was listening I just thought I should let you know you are not alone as I suffer the same problem

Many thanks

Ditto can mine say "Sally's reading lists" I think I can do away with any years thank you

End of year round up Genre Challenge - a different genre every month completed some months better than others 12 Agatha Christies - completed 43 books in total 22 Female authors and 21 male 14,374 pages offering an average of 335 pages a book

I think I will be treating myself to A Tiny Bit Marvellous with my Christmas vouchers as I really did enjoy Oh Dear Silvia to the point I am already considering re-reading it. stopped reading a bit as Christmas kind of got in the way but have just managed to squeeze three more books to cmplete my two goals, being the genre challange and to read 12 Agatha Christies this year Genre challange - December - War was hoping to avoid war as I completely lose interest when war rears its ugly head but I have been meaning to read War Horse for a while so thoght no time like the present kil two birds with one stone so to speak. I did enjoy it but it wasn't really what I was expecting and I had to keep reminding myself that it was being told from the horses' point of view which didn't sit well with me 12 Agatha Christies in the year (ie one a month or as near to as possible) The Sittaford Mystery - didn't like the characters therefore wasn't really that interested. Hercule Poirot's Christmas - slightly meatier than her normal murder really enjoyed this one

I thoght the trailer for it was amazing but I was less impressed with the actual show. Think I would have enjoyed it more if my expectations weren't so high. I shall stick with it though, give it the benefit of the doubt. Three lead characters were very engaging.

to be fair he didn't exactly have much room for anything. perhaps he has an ereader .

Star You can download a kindle app onto devises other than a kindle - if you look on amazon I am sure they will say there which devises you can use so perhaps you could get something that you would be able to get use out of other than using it as an e-reader (if you don't already have something that is). I personally wouldn't recommend anything with a small screen. I have an kindle with keyboard and if I could change just one thing I think it would have to be a bigger screen.

Oh Dear Silvia - Dawn French 8.5/10 I hadn't planned on reading this but someone gave me their copy so I thought I would give it a go. Its a great little book nice and quick and easy to read. Silvia is in a coma and various people have drawn up a rota to visit and talk to her to hopefully bring her out of her coma. Silvia's visitors like to chat. There were a couple of the characters who I found really perked up the story and I couldn't wait for their chapters. Particularly Silvia's cleaner who is very keen on Silvia waking up so she could get paid. The very start of the book I was very conscious of it being written by Dawn French but it didn't take long at all for all the characters own personalities to take over. All in all I really enjoyed this books and will be looking out for A Tiny Bit Marvellous now.

November - Historical Fiction (which according to the genre challenge is pre WWII but this is actually from 1960's onwards but Wikipedia seems to think its historical fiction so I will go with them) The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver I really don't know if I liked this book or not to be honest. Its a story of an American priest's wife and four daughters who all go to live in Africa to convert the locals to the Baptist way of thinking. The books in largely told from the point of view of the four daughters and occassionally the wife. I much preferred the first part of the book when the girls were younger and more naive and really enoyed a lot of the phraseology and their observations when they first arrived in Africa. But from the middle of the book and onwards it became more political and quite frankly boring which was such a shame. I have read two other BK's books and really enjoyed one but not the other. I really like her writing style its just unfortunate that I am not always interested in what she is writing about.

recording it would be an excellent idea but alas I have no means of recording (we have one of those old fashioned sky- boxes and no vcr) I could try it on the iplayer but would have to suffer the buffering. Buffering or Bruce which is worse ? Thanks for the low down on all the dances I don't know how you manage to follow it so closely I just watch and dance and think a) I liked it b) I didn't like it and of course I know who my favs are. Louis, Denise, Lisa, Pasha, Nicky (in that order) also Matthew Cutler and Darren Bennett . Oh and Bruno. And Claudia. Re Robin and Lisa I do feel he kisses her too much (obviously not a bad thing) but I always think he is trying to show people that he doesn't care about what she looks like and has ended up slightly overdoing it, also with the lifting her after the dance. I feel bad for saying it as I do like both of them and they are obviously getting on and enjoying themselves.

I am becoming slightly obssessed with Louis to the point I had to look him up on wiki to check how old he is as I thought I might be old enough to be his mother (i'm not, but only just) I just love how composed he is for someone so young Really enjoyed Denise's dance this week was a little disappointed with Lisa's but I love seeing how much she is enjoying it (unlike someone else who just looks like they are going through the motions and nothing more cough Victoria cough) I wish I could enjoy SCD more but unfortunately "Good Old Bruce" has me leaving the room everytime he starts twittering on and this quite often results in me missing some of the dances :-(

Echinacea all the way - start taking it as soon as you feel a cold coming and then you will hardly notice you have one at all. Plenty of hot drinks (pref without milk) and boiled sweets to suck on. Fresh fruit and comfort food (pref hot). I shunned vicks and all that a couple of years ago and haven't had a really bad cold for a long time.

Good for you I keep thinking I wouldn't mind cycling but then I would have to get a bike and I have no idea what sort of bike I would like (there is just too much choice these days) and I don't like spending money and then even if I did get a bike where would I bike to. I did a couple of years ago visit a forrest where you can hire bikes and cycle on a bike track there which was great fun.

I took me a while to get into it too for the same reason but I decided to just read through it rather than try and figure who was who each time it jumped and got on with it much better after that and it wasn't long before I was recognising the characters through their actions rather than names. You should defintely give it another go.

I always keep in mind that some of my fav books were sh*t to start with but later redeemed themselves. Jane Eyre I have tried to get back into a couple of times and not made it much further than a page each time. Perhaps I should get it on my kindle as the book I have has teeny tiny writing which is never good.

re Kindles I love mine dearly but I do seem to keep picking up good old tree books, regardless of how many 99p deal of the days I keep adding to my kindle, as an e book is still not like reading a real book. I keep telling myself to just stop buying tree books but then I think what if all the book shops die their ink will partly be on my hands. re Abandoning books halfway - I am pretty sure that is illegal, if its not then it should be. If you have made it half way carry on even if it does mean reading something else and coming back to it later, how are you going to know how it ended otherwise. (note to self 2013 challenge must include re-attempting half abandoned books my metal list of them is getting beyond 4 now and that's not good (that might even have to include Jane Eyre half abandoned in 1993))

For some reason this book took me ages to read but that is in no way a reflection on the book itself as I really enjoyed it so I am going to blame my reading mojo for trying to take a break. Great book. I could easily relate to all the characters (well not Krystal's Mum) and liked most of them too. There are a lot of characters but they are well written so it is easy to differentiate between them. All characters have their own story and their own woes and some are interwoven and its these that make the story what it is. There were a lot of areas where I think some ideas could have been explored a little more but then again that could have made them more tedious there were only two of the characters whose own stories I found were a little pointless but these two helped with the stories of other people/parts of the book and helped carry other areas of the book. I thought the second half of the book was much better than the first and the last section of the book was, for me completely unexpected, I thought I knew how it was going to end but turns out I was wrong. A couple of pages got a bit blurry when my eyes got unexpectedly wet . I did throughout read the book keep thinking to myself would I have the same opinion if it was by an unknown author and to be honest I don't think I would have been so keen to read it in the earlier half but would have been glad I stuck with it when I got to the end. Also in the interview JK did on the Culture Show before the book was released I remember her saying that she hopes readers like Krystal Wheedon, I have finished the book wondering why on earth anyone wouldn't like her, she was my favourite character by far.

Frankie ^ The Radley's - yes I liked the end it all rounded up nicely Poppy ^ On your recomendation I treated myself to Shades of Grey for my birthday so will be reading that soonish October - Something newly Published in 2012 The Casual Vacancy - J K Rowling I really enjoyed this book especially the second half and more importantly the ending. Hopefully a review will be coming soon.

I have only read his Thursday books I said to myself I would read all the Thursday then try one of his others and then the last Thursday came out so I waited and now I have read that I see there is another hardback (will wait for paperback) I am well thank you I have been quite busy lately and not really been keeping up with the forum but I have finished one of my bookmarks. How are you keeping ?

Looks Like I have got some catching up to do (my main reason for not keeping up to date with my reviews is I don't really have much to say about any of them but feel I should give some acknowledgement) Charlotte Street - Danny Wallace I read this for my comedy month. Although it was light hearted it wasn't exactly a comedy but was enjoyable to read. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Both re-read both of which I enjoyed much better second time around There's a Boy in the Girls Bathroom - Louis Sacher I read this for children's month as it was recommended by my niece. I didn't really enjoy it I got the feeling it was supposed to have a "message" but I didn't learn anything from it. One of Our Thurdsy's is Missing - Jasper Fforde Good old Thursday I think her stories are going to be endless. Deception Point - Dan Brown I wasn't looking forward to reading this and have had it on my shelf since reading the da vinvi code many moons ago but I decided it was time to read it or send it to charity. I didn't really enjoy the first half but it soon picked up and I did enjoy it by the end. Viridis - Calista Taylor My first venture into the world of steampunk. I really hope that this book isn't a good example of the genre. There wasn't much of a story, the characters were very one dimensional and two of the characters may as well have been the same person they werre so similar. But it was a free book so I wasn't really expecting groundbreaking stuff. The Mystery on the Blue Train - Agatha Christie Too many characters Around the World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne Better than I was expecting glad I did give it a go. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling Again re-read better second time around (I am now wondering how long I should leave the whole series before another re-read) At Bertrams Hotel - Agatha Christie Nice quick and easy although I did remember who did it from watching this one on television Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris My favourite in the series so far slightly. More grown up that the previous ones. Mrs McGinty's Dead - Agatha Christie It could have been anyone and I am still not sure who did it. Why Didn't They Ask Evans - Agatha Christie Really enjoyed this one two twenty somethings solve the mystery with what I read to be comic effect but I don't think it was written like that. My new favourite Christie. The Radley's - Matt Haig I started reading this for children's month but didn't finish it then so carried it forward to fantasy month but didn't finish it then either. Its a young adult book about a family of vampires where the teenage children don't know they are vampires at the start and about how they find out and then deal with it. Although it didn't hold my interest to read it quickly it was easy to put down and pick up again in between other books.

I got over excited when I saw it for sale in shop doorway on Friday so brought it there and then. I have already made a start, I am enjoying it.

I watched that too and I think I am more inclined to read it now. I have decided that I will read it sooner or later and now would like to read it sooner while that interview is still fresh in my memory.

^ that must have been a difficult round I have been trying to think what I would have done and am not coming up with any ideas I liked the heart in every slice cake