Hayley

I wanted to start this thread to give you all a clear idea of what's happening with the forum right now and because I'm hoping you're all going to volunteer your excellent ideas . First Things First We are still getting niggling issues with loading, links etc. I know and I'm sorry it hasn't been sorted out already. We need to move to Invision's hosting plan to get this fixed and, as those of you who've been following this for a while know, our current hosts refused to give Invision the file they needed to make the switch. However, I have a web developer working on it at the moment (which is what Invision advised) and he's assured me that he's nearly done. He's been very sympathetic to the situation our hosts have put us in and has given us an amazing price. He's doing this alongside a lot of other (probably much better paid) work and I'm extremely grateful for it. So, with that on track... The Future of the Forum I'm very excited for the future of the forum and the possibilities that being hosted by Invision should open up. Once the move finally happens I'm going to be setting up a few threads where you can all have your say on possible changes. I promise I won't do anything you all hate but I want the ideas to be a surprise for now (the writers amongst you might want to start stretching your fingers though...). Teamwork It's really important to me that we develop the forum together. That's the only way we can continue to have a space that we all enjoy and can welcome new like-minded people to! So I want to know what your ideas are. What do you think would make the forum a better place for you, or help new people join in? BGO people, for example, I know a few of you have mentioned that you used the threads differently on your forum. Is that something you miss? Would you like to suggest that other members start using the genre threads more as well as their personal blogs? Please don't worry that I'm going to take suggestions as criticism. You would actually be being very helpful. Even if you have an idea you think is a bit crazy, just throw it out there! If it's literally not possible I'll let you know but it definitely won't happen if you don't say anything! Ok, start posting please

I finished Flyte by Angie Sage but still can't decide whether I want to read the next book in the series straight away or something completely different! My sister loved that book

I know it's not April any more but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes on this thread

Honestly Luna, I have no idea. There is no official reason. It’s been that way since I joined, many years ago. I just assumed it’s what people preferred and joined in with a book blog. I might send the forum’s original creator an email and see if she knows more about why it changed!

Sorry but I’m not entirely sure what this post is about. Is The Card Collector an existing book or something you’re currently writing?

I hope you're enjoying it! I nearly read to the end of Flyte on Sunday. It was my birthday so I decided I wasn't doing any work that didn't need to be done immediately. I got into bed with only 40 pages to go... and fell asleep. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it tonight. I'm tempted to just carry on with the next book in the series but I have so many books on my shelf that I'm excited about (a nice problem to have!) I'm finding it hard to decide.

I didn’t even know it was a TV series, this is the first time I’ve ever heard of it! Is this one of those things everybody else has known about for years? That does sound pretty good to be fair! Two whole hours . It won’t take me long to finish Flyte now. How weird!

I like the sound of humorously clever detective tales - added to wish list . I can’t remember the last time I went to Waterstones. Definitely over a year ago, before the first lockdown. It will feel weird going again. I actually dreamed that I went to a bookshop last night. It was great. I bought The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex and Himself by Jess Kidd. I was quite disappointed when I woke up and didn’t actually have new books but, on the plus side, I didn’t spend any real money either... I’m currently reading the second book in the Septimus Heap series, Flyte. It hasn’t been an easy week so far and I’ve barely read anything, so planning to set aside at least an hour (hopefully two!) this evening just for reading.

Sadly, no. Very likely to create it though.

Would you like to borrow one? They talk a LOT, you'd pick it up in no time . I do seriously think he did a good job of it though. Most of the time it was perfect. Just occasionally didn't feel quite natural to me.

It’s wasn’t one of the five (the other two were American Gods and Anansi Boys) but I agree with the recommendation, I loved The Graveyard Book!

I just came here to say this! I would hugely recommend Neverwhere, Stardust and The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

I have no idea how old you are but I doubt that you are really old. I would quite like my age to be measured by reading time though, it sounds so much nicer. I definitely think it should be in there, to make the voice identifiably Abigail, like you say. I think it is generally really accurate too. I have a teenage niece and a nephew who's the same age Abigail is meant to be and they definitely do use most of the same slang. There's just very occasional moments (and I actually think there's a lot less in this one than the other short story from Abigail) when it distracts me slightly and I think '... are you sure that's how that word would be used?' or 'does this sound more like what an adult thinks a teen should sound like, than what an actual teen sounds like?'. There was one in particular that really stood out for me as weird context for a word but I can't remember what it was now. It's not a huge problem though, it didn't stop me from enjoying the book. It's just a little niggling thing that stops me getting totally engrossed in the story like I can with Peter Grant as narrator (although I also totally agree that Tobias sounded so much like Peter you could probably have interchanged them).

Is this one I don't know or is it a combination of The Colour of Magic and Making Money?? You have had a few years extra Pratchett reading time than me, but I had the excitement of discovering just how many books already existed in the Discworld series after I loved The Wee Free Men! I actually have a couple of reviews to update my thread with this time : Magyk by Angie Sage 4.5/5 - I really, really enjoyed it! I heard of this series from Chrissy's thread and I have to agree totally with her praise of it. I believe it's aimed at older children, possibly young teenagers, so there's an element of simplicity to the writing, but it's very nicely done. The world and the characters remain vivid and interesting. There's humour running through the book that reminded me of Terry Pratchett, in the sense that it's quite silly in itself but fits with the magical world (like the marsh serpent who gets stuck around an island and thereafter always swims a little to the right). It's just a good magical adventure, well-written and easy to read. With the world being so stressful at the moment it was nice to get lost in this kind of classic adventure story. I've started the second one already! What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch 4.5/5 - Again, really, really enjoyed it! I'm going to get the one negative out of the way first and say that, if there's one thing I don't love about reading Abigail's perspective, it's that I sometimes find the use of slang a bit jarring. When she's actually talking to somebody I agree that it makes sense but occasionally, when it's just in the text, I sometimes feel like it's a bit much, even a bit cringey? But, anyway, that doesn't change the fact that this was a very good book. I love that we're getting to know more about the foxes and it felt like Abigail was really developed as an important character to the series as a whole. I'm really intrigued by where the story is going with her and what role she's going to have later in the series. I also thought [BIG spoiler so don't open unless you've read all the other books]

We don't allow promotional posts on the forum, I would suggest that you contact the original poster privately if you want them to provide you with a link.

It was the next best thing!

This does sound interesting! I’ve never heard of it before.

If we had a like button I would be liking this repeatedly . A huge part of the importance of reading, beautifully summarised.

I hope this one breaks the trend for you! I generally really like epistolary novels so I was intrigued by this review but I don't think I'll be rushing out to buy it now!

Maybe disturbing was the wrong word, it has negative connotations that I didn't actually mean. The film looks really intriguing. Haunting was probably closer to what I meant. It is beautiful but it has a surreal quality and it feels quite emotionally complicated, if that makes sense.

Madeleine's films are the only ones so far that I've actually seen but I'm discovering a lot of lovely new music from this thread! I know it's the point, so cleverly done, but this is really intense and kind of disturbing!

Hey! What is this, the Daily Mail? 😂 I actually want to add a third option to mine, which I can’t believe I forgot to post. I love absolutely love ‘Concerning Hobbits’: https://youtu.be/SRgBI0WqWp4

I started thinking about this (thanks to Raven and Classic fm) and now I can't stop. What do you think is the best film score/ soundtrack?? I'm going to start with a potentially controversial one but the first thing that came to my mind was the Jurassic Park theme. I just always loved it and it really sounds like discovery and adventure to me. I also always loved the theme from The Secret Garden, but I don't think it's technically as good: The Secret Garden Piano Theme Music - YouTube

Magazines definitely do count! I accidentally skipped a bit already. I blame the fact that it's organised by presenter. I thought I had the beginning but he just said it's number 259 and I definitely haven't had it on for that long!

Wow that is horrific! Scorcher seriously just ignored all of that!? That seems odd in itself. I usually like a bit of weird magical realism/ folklore/ gothic but this description totally puts me off!