Hayley

Wow, that's incredible Luna! I absolutely love the cat (and your wallpaper actually, which just goes with the paper cat so perfectly!). How long did the blanket take? There are so may different layers and patterns! I can see why! It almost looks like it's folding doesn't it? Also reminds me of an art deco sort of pattern.

I love this thread Brian! And I’d love to see pictures of everyone’s creations if you have any This year has put a bit of a stop to it but normally I love walking and do quite a lot of camping. The best days are when you can get up in the morning, pack some food in a back back and get kind of lost in a forest for a few hours before it’s time to head back to the tent and light a nice fire to make dinner over. Same! I never really thought about my notebooks as a collection but I suppose they are! Stationary generally is probably the the thing I collect a lot of. I love nice folders and folder dividers. I have a lot of post-it notes and a special box for paper clips and bulldog clips. I can’t think what they’re called at the moment but you know those books of (not sticky) notes you can rip out? I keep thinking note book... but those anyway. I also have an tub of little pins for my cork board, where I pin those rip-out notes . I feel better when I’m organised. They’re not the perfect pen but I like papermate flex grip ultra. They last for ages. I don’t know if I’ve really done enough cross stitch to call it a hobby but I do like that, it’s very relaxing (those of you who remember Poppyshake, she got me interested in it!). When you do a kit you get a lot of extra embroidery thread so I kept that and a few weeks ago I watched a YouTube video on embroidery techniques and tried that out. I could do with some practice and can basically just do flowers but it was fun! I can play the guitar but I’ve hardly picked one up this year, I’m not really sure why. Ouch, I hope it gets better soon! I love that kind of cable pattern in Aran knit jumpers and things. I can’t begin to imagine how you make it though. I assume some sort of wizardry

I'm glad it wasn't just me. I felt a bit bad for not liking it because the original concept seemed so good but yes, meh sums it up really!

These reviews are making me want to read a good crime novel again . The Moor sounds particularly good!

Review catch-up time! Hollow City by Ransom Riggs 4.5/5 - I loved it I like the whole concept of these books, with the story running alongside old photographs of strange subjects. Finding out what the next photograph will relate to, and what new 'peculiarities' people might have makes it so compellingly readable. They're also just really well written. The concept of the Peculiar world is actually quite complicated, but it never feels confusing. For something that has so many characters and so many totally different settings it's very easy to read. There's always a great atmosphere too, even when we're switching between two very different places / time frames fairly quickly, the author sets them up so perfectly with his descriptions that you're immediately there in that new place with the characters. I just bought the next two books in this series so I'm hoping I'll love them just as much . The Cuckoo Wood by M. Sean Coleman 4/5 - I really liked it This is the first book in the 'Alex Ripley Mystery' series and I'll definitely be reading more in the future. Alex Ripley has become known as the Miracle Detective because she researches claims of miraculous events. In a small town in the Lake District teenage girls have been committing suicide and all claim to have seen an angel just before their deaths. Ripley has a friend in the police who asks her to come along and see what she thinks about the angel visions but, once she's there, she starts discovering some strange things about the past of the the village, and the residents don't seem happy about it. This is just a good mystery. Interesting concept, great tension and plenty of weirdness that keeps you guessing throughout the book. I'm interested to see what this author does next. The Frightened Man by Kenneth M. Cameron 2.5/5 - Parts were okay Again, this is the first book in a mystery series. This one is set in the year 1900 and follows Denton, an American author who's moved to London after becoming famous for shooting four men in America. I was originally drawn to this book for two reasons. The first reason is that I was walking past WHSmith (pre-pandemic, that's how long it took me to get to this book...) and it was in a box of books for £1. The second reason is that I like nineteenth-century things. The blurb explains that a terrified man shows up at Dentons house one evening looking for protection because he believes he's being hunted by Jack the Ripper. Denton thinks the story is made up until he hears about the violent death of a prostitute the following day, when he decides he should go and tell the police what he knows. Now, I finished this book, so I didn't hate it. There were parts I thought were really interesting, particularly one character who was was accused of murdering her husband and now works in an institution where she helps women to find paid work. On the other hand, there was a lot wrong with it. On a very basic level it really could have done with stricter editing. There are large sections of description that are so completely unnecessary and drawn out. At one point it happens at what should have been a very tense moment and it just killed the tension completely. I think I mentioned elsewhere that it was taking me a long time to get into this book and, again, I think that was largely to do with all the lengthy descriptions that don't progress the story at all. And, despite all the description, I found it really difficult to care about Denton and his background story. Actually I found Denton's interest in the psychology of sexual violence off-putting very early on. I do see where the author was going with it, because there is an overarching theme of violence against women in the book, but it honestly made him seem creepy to begin with. I won't be looking for the other books in this series. The Fourteenth Letter by Claire Evans 3/5 - I liked it... but. I'm disappointed that I'm giving this such an average review because I really expected it to be good. I'm just going to copy a bit of the blurb because then you'll see what attracted me to it: 'One balmy June evening in 1881, Phoebe Stanbury stands before the guests at her engagement party: this is her moment, when she will join the renowned Raycraft family and ascend to polite society. As she takes her fiancé's hand, a stranger holding a knife steps forward and ends the poor girl's life. Amid the chaos, he turns to her aristocratic groom and mouths: 'I promised I would save you.'' Sounds good doesn't it!? Well, the general concept was good. Each chapter switches between very different characters doing totally different things, which then begin to link together. This is where the problem started for me. I felt like that idea should work for a mystery, should keep things tense and exciting and then cleverly tie everything together. What actually happened was I started to lose interest. Not just in the characters but also in that original shocking murder mentioned in the blurb. I'd get to the end of a chapter and then think 'I cant be bothered to start reading about what this next person is doing'. The characters themselves just didn't seem very believable to me either, they were all a bit like charicatures. Periodically something really shocking would happen (like rape, incest, mutilation), but I couldn't help feeling like those moments were trying to make up for an overall lack of tension (which really should have come from the brutal murder at the beginning of the book but Phoebe's death really fades into insignificance quickly). When the mystery started to unravel I genuinely was interested in how everything would turn out. It's for those moments that I gave this three stars. I highly suspect (without giving the plot away) that the author had the idea to write about the history of eugenics and everything else was formed around that idea. The overall result of that is interesting but not great, or very believable, fiction. I'm going to read Magyk, the first book in the Septimus Heap series, next

I finished it but forgot to post! The second half of the book was definitely more enjoyable than the first. I didn't love it overall though to be honest, it had a few issues. I'm glad you got to read everything you said you wanted to That sounds good to me! (apart from the having to work for the whole weekend).

[Just a note that I've moved this topic to the section for thread games ] 'Twas a blustery day in Great Snoring, And wet! It really was pouring. The hole in the roof

Making good progress on The Fourteenth Letter now. 213 pages so far this weekend and just under 100 to go so I should finish it today . It helps that the pace picked up a lot in the second half!

I’ve heard very good things about Inkheart and been tempted to get it for a while. I hope you’re enjoying it! . Just look after yourself and see how you feel on the day . I’m planning to alternate between the book I’m reading at the moment (The Fourteenth Tale), which I’d like to finish, and some short stories.

I've loved the first two books and can't wait to buy the others. I don't know why but I sort of expected them all to be about the same length, I'm intrigued that the sixth is particularly long! I'm still reading The Fourteenth Letter by Claire Evans. I'm more than a quarter of the way through now and struggling to decide whether I actually like it. I like the concept but I'd really expect this type of mystery novel to be gripping me by now and it just isn't.

These sound interesting, I might have to add it to my ‘to-read’ list. What a shame she was discouraged from writing! I’m a bit late to this but you’ve also reminded me, with your review of Troubled Blood, that I wanted to read more of the Cormoran Strike books. I really enjoyed The Silkworm.

I've only read The Naked Sun from the Robot series but I'm not sure how I'd define it. It was kind of science fiction / detective novel / social commentary. Probably isn't a particular word for that branch of science fiction . I'm pleased that I wasn't being completely ridiculous with my assumption about space opera / soap opera, but I'm still more pleased with the discovery of the term "horse opera". [I thought I posted the above comment ages ago but clearly didn't send it and it saved instead! What I actually came to say was:] It's a shame you didn't enjoy your last book that much. I'm having the same problem with my current book. Interesting idea but there are so many characters. It's kind of hard to care about any of them much when they have so little time to themselves. Did you decide what to read next?

Added to wish list! I need to hear more about the telepathic Irish wolfhound .

No it’s not done yet! We’re close though. I ended up going in circles for ages, essentially because our current hosts said they couldn’t give the new hosts a file they needed. So, after many very frustrating conversations, I reached out to a local company I’ve used before (not for the forum but for pc repairs) and they (to cut a very long story short) are going to help the new hosts get what they need. They did warn me that they’re very busy at the moment, so they’d have to fit it in between other things, but they’ve been working on our files behind the scenes for the last week now and, when I spoke to them a couple of days ago, said they are 90% done. I will post an update here, as well as on Twitter and patreon, when the actual server transfer happens.

I wish I could tell you it was! (We’re making good progress towards the move though, I spoke to the person who’s working on it earlier and he said we’re 90% there!)

Well at least I know that should be something to look forward to I agree, it would be great to have this list by someone who really knows/ cares about books! (I think it would be great to have genre specific ones too). I know you’re not negative, you’re one of the funniest people I know . And anyway it’s not like I wrote or bought this list / poster. The friend that sent it to me isn’t a reader but knows how much I love books, so it was very thoughtful of him and I will try to get the most out of it

I do have both so I’ll take your advice. I’m still hoping I won’t totally hate The Time Machine though! Well the box just says ‘Gift Republic’ with a note that you can also get ‘100 films’ and ‘100 albums’, so I don’t think there was any particularly deep thought about which books made the list. It’s more of a novelty thing. I think it’s pretty likely that they just looked at existing ‘top 100’ book lists and merged them together. Exactly this

Oooh good mix! I'm a big Neil Gaiman fan too I'm reading The Fourteenth Letter by Claire Evans (but finding it quite difficult to get into!)

I looked up Noughts and Crosses (I do recognise the plot now) and it has actually been on a couple of other ‘top 100’ lists (‘most inspirational’ by the BBC and ‘best books of the 21st century’ by the Guardian). The author was children’s laureate and was awarded an OBE for services to children’s literature. There are a couple of other children’s books on the list so I can see why they included this one. I wonder whether they actually used various ‘top 100’ lists to make this one, which is why it seems oddly disjointed.

There are a few non fiction books on there, ‘A Brief History of Time’, ‘Notes from a Small Island’, ‘The Selfish Gene’, ‘The Complete Art of War’ and ‘Long Walk to Freedom’ (there might be more, there are some books on there I’ve never heard of). I really don’t know how they compiled the list though, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of of theme. (I like your new profile picture by the way!) I feel like I should also point out that I don’t think these lists matter in any way. The only books you ‘should’ read are the books you want to read, because everyone has different tastes and interests. My friend just thought this would be fun for me and that’s what I’ll be treating it as. There’s a very good chance I’ll never complete all of these these books, even if I manage to try them all.

I loved those books! The Amber Spyglass was the first book I ever cried at (although I think I was about 13 at the time...). Oh dear... two of the books I was most looking forward to! The size of the Game of Thrones series too! I actually liked 1984 but I haven’t read Animal Farm. I agree that’s a strange one to include! I’m glad you liked all the ones you read, apart from The Time Machine! I have heard of it but I don’t know a lot about it. I think it was made into a film or tv series recently? Why don’t you think it should be on the list?

It sounds like part of the general slow loading problem. Someone is working on it at the moment so hopefully it will be fixed soon!

Hi Katrina, welcome to the forum! What are your favourite books?

Part of me really wants to read this but the film made me so sad as a child that I don’t know whether I’m prepared to deal with it emotionally! I just finished The Frightened Man by Kenneth Cameron (which was okay but not fantastic) and now I’m going to stick with the murder mystery theme and start The Fourteenth Letter by Claire Evans

I'm a bit late with this but I missed it when you first posted. This is exactly how I felt about the one James Patterson book I read, like it had come from a book conveyor belt. I'm really glad you reviewed Vox because I've been tempted to try it a couple of times. Like you, I saw it everywhere. I do think it's an interesting concept but I know, from your review, that I would hate the main character. I thought it would be about a woman fighting back, finding new ways to get her voice heard in the face of this sexist new law, but it sounds like she's mainly just angry that nobody else saved her. There's definitely irony (intentional, perhaps?) in the fact that she wants her husband to be more violent and aggressive in order to protect her. Looking down on a man for not being violent is toxic masculinity at its finest.