Hayley

Aww! I saw a similar video on a documentary about the born free foundation, I just tried to find it but for some reason none of them seem to have the sound, this one had a little explanation at the beginning though so just in case anyone needs more emotional lion videos... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiGKWoJi5qM

This sounds like a great challenge, you'll certainly get a lot of variety! Are you going through them in the order of the list or just based on what you feel like reading next?

Done, this is so sad

I read differently depending on what I'm reading. If it's something factual I usually sit at my desk chair to read, where I have easy reach of all my post-it's and notepaper! (although actually I don't usually sit normally on the chair, I sit with one foot up on it and rest the book on my knee... I must have lazy arms ) If it's a book I'm reading just for pleasure I mostly read in (or on if it's daytime) bed, propped up with all my pillows (and sometimes a fluffy penguin which, turned sideways, makes a really good head rest). If I've been reading for a long time like this though it starts to make my back hurt, so then I turn onto my side (left because that's the side my light is on). And if the book is particularly big or heavy I sit cross-legged on the floor with it in front of me..

I like the UK one

It's actually really hard to decide! I think I'd go for A Love Like Blood, the first sentence in the description is definitely intriguing!

Well I finished Fludd... To be honest I found it a bit odd. The blurb confused me for a start. The three things that seemed important to me in the blurb were the tapestry, the 'art of coffee making' and the theme of transformations. Both the tapestry and coffee are mentioned once, and not at remotely important times, and it's really not about transformations. I found it difficult to get into the book. By the time I got to chapter five I completely lost motivation to continue because I felt like nothing had really happened. The last few chapters are a bit more exciting, but then the story took on another weird trait. There's a really odd thread of supernatural in the text which just baffled me. I think I worked out what the ending was meant to mean... But if I'm right there are still a lot of things that don't make sense. Those of you who have goodreads will notice I rated it as 'ok', which is because technically I thought it was well written, and there are some parts I thought were done very well. I can see what the appeal might be to others, but overall I just didn't enjoy it that much. It just felt a bit muddled and didn't grip me enough. I think I'm actually going to take a couple of weeks break from my challenge since I'm going on holiday soon and I already have the books planned that I want to read while I'm away. I'm thinking of starting 'The Blade Itself' when I get back, but I might have changed my mind by then so I'll wait and see

I do use bookmarks, but they are so easy to lose! I find them all over the house. I have a little organiser box and I've started using one of the drawers in it just for bookmarks, so whenever I find one around the house it goes in the drawer, then I at least know where I can find one of them For books I'm using for uni, since I'm often reading quite a few at once, I use post-it notes. I keep loads of them by my desk so they're easy to find, and they actually stick to the page so they definitely won't fall out!

Hi and welcome Interesting title, it isn't a reference to 'The Secret of Monkey Island' is it?

I went to an amazing bookshop this year which might be able to help, they have a pretty big collection of antiquarian books, and they're lovely people. They don't have a website but they have a page on abebooks which I'll link you to. You would have to check if they ship to America but I'd say it's worth phoning them. Even if they don't have anything they might be able to help you find what you're looking for http://www.abebooks.co.uk/Bosco-Books-Looe%2C-Cornwall/695623/sf

Thank you Athena It definitely seems like a re-readable book, I'll be keeping my copy for the future too! Thanks Ben. I think there's always that fear with such a popular 'classic' that it can't possibly live up to expectations, but this one certainly did I don't know how my next read is going to live up to it though. I've only read the very beginning, but between the (seemingly) alcoholic priest and the frizzy-haired, nosy housekeeper, I feel a bit like I'm reading an episode of Father Ted... but not a funny one. It wouldn't be fair to judge it this early but it doesn't really have me gripped from the start.

I loved this book, I just finished reading it, it has such a beautiful message. I have a couple of things I was wondering though, for those who have read the book... and second... I would be very interested to hear other people's thoughts

Ok you were both right, I loved To Kill a Mockingbird! Such an incredibly heartfelt message, delivered beautifully by Scout's narrative voice which also gives it a wonderful simplicity. The child's perspective is done so well it really makes you feel just how ridiculous the prejudiced norms and values of the adult world can be. I particularly liked Dill's conclusion.... “There ain’t one thing in this world I can do about folks except laugh, so I’m gonna join the circus and laugh my head off.” There are a few things about the book I'd really like to discuss but I'm sure we probably have a thread for this book so I'll post them there I think I'm back round to best sellers now so I'm going to try Fludd by Hilary Mantel, the blurb for which is.... Fetherhoughton is a Northern mill village, remote, backward, veiled from the twentieth century by moorland fogs. Father Angwin, its parish priest, presides over the souls of its brutish tea-swilling inhabitants. He has lost his faith and replaced it with a strong desire to be left alone - especially by the new-broom bishop. In the convent, the nuns work away at their tapestry, depicting the plagues of Egypt. The young Irish nun, Sister Philomena, yearns for freedom and a good meal, while the demonic Mother Perpetua plots her downfall. One night, a visitor appears at the priest's house, wrapped in a cloak and carrying a black bag. His conversation is learned and his table manners mysterious. Who is this Fludd? The new curate? The bishop's spy? A practitioner of dark arts? He has come to introduce the art of coffee making; to stir up dead passions; to force confrontations. 'I have come to transform you,' he says. 'Transformation is my business.' To be honest I just picked it because it was first on my bookshelf, and it's nice and short. It's not a book I would have bought for myself, and it definitely doesn't seem like anything I've read before but we'll see

Thank you My sister read it at school too and liked it but my year did different books (I can't actually remember which was my GCSE one, I think it was Enduring Love) I've had a bit of a crazy week (deadline combined with a series of weirdly unlucky events, like the side mirror randomly dropping off my car in the middle of the road...) so I haven't been able to spend much time reading To Kill a Mockingbird but I'm about half way through and it's really good so far, but I'll say more once I've finished! I agree that the first half is better...

I agree! Surely Terry Pratchett has sold more books from his (how many now, about 40?) Discworld novels than, for example, Stephanie Meyer? And where's Charles Dickens?? To be honest there are a lot of authors on this list I have never heard of but I have bought... William Shakespeare Agatha Christie Enid Blyton Dr. Seuss J. K. Rowling Stephen King James Patterson (kind of... I bought a book the library were getting rid of by him last week. I haven't read it yet though) J. R. R. Tolkien C. S. Lewis Dan Brown Beatrix Potter Roald Dahl Lewis Carroll Although actually Blyton, Seuss, Rowling, Lewis, Potter, Dahl and originally Carroll were bought for me by my parents when I was younger... does that still count??

My niece loves them too, they seem to be the new 'thing' at school. Does anybody remember skoobies? Aww that's so cute!

I've finished Cell now and I'm happy to say I really enjoyed it. I've seen negative reviews where people say it's just a zombie apocalypse novel, and in a way it is but at the same time it's much, much cleverer than that. There are quite a few really gruesome parts, but they don't dominate the story at all, the fear for most of the novel comes from how realistic King makes it feel. There are a couple of things, towards the end that I thought... ok it's pushing it with the realism now, I don't think that's very believable... but I would say 95% of it is. And the characters were really good, likeable and believable, you do feel as though you care what happens to them at the end. On a more serious note it's an interesting view on how quickly the world would change if we were to loose our communication systems, and on how we would behave towards each other once survival instincts kicked in. Overall it was a really enjoyable book, even if it did freak me out a bit at times but I would recommend it I've just started To Kill A Mockingbird which, based on its classic status and Ben's very enthusiastic recommendation, I have high expectations for

I was thinking about my dream library and I remembered a scene from a film, which I found on youtube so I'm sharing it. I'm sure you've all seen it already https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fM7q3g8kjc Although personally I would have made it more purple

Is there anyone in particular you thought should be on there Athena? I have to admit I don't recognise any of the authors from the Dutch team, is there anybody you would recommend? I agree, and I think Pratchett should be on there too (I'd love to hear the conversation on that bench!)

I just wondered if anybody had seen this, I thought it was a pretty fun idea http://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/penguin-cup/#uk Would you make any changes to the teams?

Dodger was great Athena, I'm sure you won't be disappointed when you come to read it It feels a bit weird at first when there are real historical characters introduced, but it's really well written (of course!) and you get used to it pretty quickly. I just checked (using goodreads) and I'm apparently 51% through Cell. I did think I'd have finished it (or at least nearly) by now but I've been doing a lot of non-fiction reading for my thesis which has taken up a lot of my reading time. Luckily the really short chapters in Cell make it easy to read in short bursts. For example I just read a chapter while my laptop was starting up

I would definitely recommend I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. It fits the criteria perfectly, although it's hard to explain exactly why without giving away what happens in the story! It has a brilliant message about ordinary people's ability to be extraordinary, and to learn from their past and their mistakes and keep going. And it has a really good mystery element, which really makes you want to read the whole thing in one go! It also won the Michael Printz award for excellence in Young Adult literature

I'm not sure what you mean by an illustration of the photo at the front of the book, but if the photo is on the cover, the source reference will be somewhere near the barcode on the back cover. If the photo is just in the middle of the book, and doesn't have the source directly underneath (or to the side of) it, there should be a list of image sources either on the first or last few pages of the book. Near the contents or the index. Hope that helps, I know it's frustrating when you can't find a source reference!

I got a bit side-tracked from my challenge again I was having a bit of a stressful couple of weeks so when I spotted Terry Pratchett's Dodger in the library, I decided that would definitely cheer me up I am enjoying Cell though. Not even half way yet so I won't give any kind of review, but it has been really interesting, and not quite what I expected

A lot of the time the source is written under the photograph, but I guess that isn't the case here. Sometimes there is a page at the beginning of the book, near the contents page, that lists the images used with their sources. I have seen books where this list is at the back though, generally next to the bibliography. But if the picture is on the cover of the book, it will definitely be on the back cover, by the ISBN as pontalba said