Hayley

I had a fairly relaxed Saturday because I didn’t have to work this morning! I even did a bit of online shopping and bought myself a book. We had a letter from The Horse Trust, addressed to the lady who used to live in this house. I was wondering whether I should let them know that she passed away, but it wasn’t a subscription or anything, just a Christmas brochure and a letter asking for support. I had just been thinking about how lucky we are that the woman who lived here left us such a lovely garden (after picking a big bag of apples from the three little apple trees!) so I bought a purple poppy and a pretty edition of Black Beauty from the brochure - which I hope she would have been happy with! Now time to curl up on the sofa with Lilly (my dog) and a hot chocolate

Thank you 😄 I’ve never actually read The Nutcracker, I just know the story from a cartoon film version I used to watch as a kid! Keep any suggestions coming everyone! I’m thinking we will do the poll next week, so we have time to vote and get our books sorted in time for December

Ooooh great suggestions so far. I would like to throw in: A book about a toy or gift. I'm thinking along the lines of The Nutcracker by Hoffman or The Toy Makers by Robert Dinsdale but other interpretations welcome . Also, a Christmas fantasy - for example, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or Terry Pratchett's Hogfather.

How would everyone feel about a reading challenge this December!? The rules would be as follows: Categories to be suggested by members in this thread - the theme can be anything related to Christmas (e.g. 'read a mystery set at Christmas', or 'read a book with snow on the cover'). The suggested categories will be posted as a poll and we will all vote on our favourite categories. The three most popular categories will be this year's challenge. This means that you can choose any book that fits within the themes, although of course we will discuss which books we're picking and you may want to choose the same book as others who are participating! If you have some ideas for categories already, please feel free to start posting them below!

That is a nice touch! I found a single volume of The Strand in a little second-hand bookshop years ago and I was most excited about the Sherlock illustrations!

I think I’d agree with this one too actually. It’s hard to compare them because A Christmas Carol is such a different type of story, it doesn’t lend itself to the same complexities as the others - but in terms of style and quality of writing I do think it belongs amongst the most highly rated!

I just wanted to say that that's very cool! I'm sure Willoyd can correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think there are only four novels (A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, Hound of the Baskervilles and then The Valley of Fear). The Case Book is a collection of short stories and so are The Adventures, The Memoirs and The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Totally agree with Willoyd that The Hound of Baskervilles is the best novel!

I do agree and I think it slightly takes away from the realism of some parts. At the same time though... If I'd been scoring out of 6 I would have given it a 5 . My favourite is a split between Bleak House (which I think is technically the best written) and David Copperfield, which is the book that really made me fall in love with Dickens' style.

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens 4.5/5 (I loved it) There's just something about Dickens. I've never failed to enjoy one of his books and even at times when they are sad, or tense, or dramatic, there's something calming about them. I always love the way he intertwines the stories of different people's lives and how they affect each other. The Old Curiosity Shop definitely has some tension, in fact I think it arguably has one of the most dislikeable villains Dickens ever wrote. It is also very sad. I knew the overall plot before I started reading and the knowledge of what happens made me put off reading it properly for years! It's one of those plots that shows how easily good people can, through no fault of their own, be thrown into dire circumstances. For those of you who've read Hard Times, it's comparable to Stephen Blackpool. As ever with Dickens though, the sad parts are lightened by an overarching sense of hope and so you aren't quite left feeling totally depressed at the end. It isn't my favourite Dickens book (hence the knocking off of half a star) but I'm very glad I finally got over my reluctance to read it

I came back to find this thread after having a thought today - I think Dracula is my favourite horror book!

There isn't a way to do it right now. The two options would involve me activating new ways of changing fonts, either by re-activating the old code (but that would eventually stop working again with future updates) or by setting up a new drop-down menu for font options.

Nice to see lots of good news today! I didn't have a great start to my Sunday (I work with some companies based in other countries and the UK clocks going back caused some confusion!) but then my boyfriend cooked a lovely Sunday roast, I visited my parents and I was given cake. I had a nice Zoom catch up with a friend, making plans for something I'm really excited about, and did some satisfying organising. The good definitely outweighed the bad

Okay, so the answer is that the code you were using has been disabled and is soon to be removed completely because it's an old option. There are potentially a couple of options for font changes now, if you want me to look into it, but it sounds as though you're happy to switch to the default font anyway?

Oh no! I'm glad you're back at home now and I hope you're feeling back to your normal self!

I agree! I like 'long fields of barley and of rye/ that clothe the wold and meet the sky'. It also has a satisfying rhythm! Ooooh haven't seen this one! Definitely going to look it up. Edit: Oh no, I looked it up and now I want to buy the whole series... I'm enjoying In a Glass Darkly so far. It reminds me a bit of Arthur Conan Doyle's Tales of Unease. I can't imagine I'll be able to finish the whole thing in a day though, so my reading will have to go on past Victober!

This just made it worse 😂 Sorry, I worded that badly, I'm going to post it on November 1st, so the Victober reading group has finished first . I'm really glad you'll be interested though!

I'm curious as to why it stopped working too - I'll let you know when I find out!

This sounds like a great day - it was productive AND it had home made cake in it I only had 3 hours of work today, so I've been doing lots of necessary organising that I've been neglecting. I'd started to feel a bit bogged down with too many things going on recently, but organisation always makes me feel better! My boyfriend made a lovely chicken and leek pie too, so I've been well fed .

Oh that's a shame! I want to read that one too. Have you read Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge? I remember thinking that had a good balance of gripping but gentle/ easy escapism. I have finished The Old Curiosity Shop and started In A Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu.

Seconded for Septimus Heap! They’re brilliant

Could you send the code you’re using to me please? I’ll try to find out for you!

I finished The Old Curiosity Shop

Do you mean books about true crime or fiction crime books?

I’d second The Lord of the Rings. I don’t watch many movies either but that’s the first one that came to mind! There are some good Dracula adaptations too if you’re watching near Halloween!

If you like Harry Potter, the Septimus Heap books by Angie Sage are excellent too! The first one is called Magyk. I personally love Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books. You don’t have to read them in order and I’d recommend starting with The Wee Free Men .