Abcinthia

There isn't much of 2011 left but I figured it would be nice to have a reading list for it anyway Here's what I've read so far: 1. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 2. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson 3. The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson 4. The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson 5. The Stand - Stephen King 6. Elizabeth The Queen - Alison Weir 7. The Bachman Books - Stephen King 8. Six Wives of Henry VIII - Alison Weir 9. It - Stephen King 10. The Host - Stephenie Meyer 11. To Kill A Mocking Bird - Harper Lee 12. Cell - Stephen King 13. The Dreams In The Witch House and Other Stories - HP Lovecraft 14. You Are Next - Katia Lief 15. The Gods Of The Greeks - Karl Kerényi 16. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë 17. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel 18. She - H. Rider Haggard 19. Gave Sight - Charlaine Harris 20. Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton 21. The Trial - Franz Kafka (Unfinished) 22. Grave Surprise - Charlaine Harris 23. An Ice Cold Grave - Charlaine Harris 24. Grave Secret - Charlaine Harris 25. 'Salem's Lot - Stephen King 26. Tales From The Tower Of London - Daniel Diehl and Mark P. Donnelly 27. The Man In The Iron Mask - Alexandre Dumas 28. Breathless - Dean Koontz 29. Mary Tudor: England's First Queen - Anna Whitelock 30. The Count Of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas 31. The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold 32. Murder Of The Romanovs - Andrew Cook 33. Blaze - Stephen King 34. She Wolves: The Notorious Queens of England - Elizabeth Norton 35. Under The Dome - Stephen King 36. Les Liaisons Dangeruses - Choderlos de Laclos 37. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner - Stephenie Meyer 38. The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne 39. Needful Things- Stephen King 40. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 41. A Study In Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle 42. The Tommyknockers - Stephen King 43. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 44. Different Seasons - Stephen King 45. Catherine Of Aragon: Henry's Spanish Queen - Giles Tremlett 46. Jamaica Inn - Daphne Du Maurier 47. The Shining - Stephen King 48. The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall - Anne Brontë 49. The Devil Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger 50. Gone With The Wind - Margarent Mitchell 51. Cujo - Stephen King 52. Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII - David Starkey 53. The Green Mile - Stephen King 54. Marked - P. C. Cast 55. Betrayed- P. C. Cast 56. Chosen - P. C. Cast 57. The Hound Of The Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle 58. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 59. Agnes Grey - Anne Brontë 60. The Romance Of Tristan - Béroul 61. The Princesse De Cléves - Marie-Madeleine De Lafayette 62. Untamed - P. C. Cast 63. Manon Lescaut - Abbé Prévost 64. Hunted - P. C. Cast 65. Tempted - P. C. Cast 66. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert 67. The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle 68. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth - Jules Verne 69. Memoirs Of A Geisha - Arthur Golden 70. Emma - Jane Austen 71. The Sweet Forever - George Pelecanos 72. Karl Marx - Francis Wheen 73. The Feast Of All Saints - Anne Rice 74. Villette - Charlotte Brontë 75. Rose Madder - Stephen King 76. The Unpredictable Queen - E. E. P. Tisdall 77. Deception Point - Dan Brown 78. The Greek Myths - Robert Graves 79. Sons and Lovers - D. H. Lawrence 80. Last Of The Mohicans - James Fenimore Cooper 81. The Red Room - Nicci French 82. A Handful Of Dust - Evelyn Waugh 83. 1984 - George Orwell 84. Queen Of This Realm - Jean Plaidy 85. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 86. The Rendezvous And Other Stories - Daphne Du Maurier 87. Shirley - Charlotte Brontë 88. The Ghosts Of Sleath - James Herbert 89. Sylvia - Bryce Courtenay 90. Chocolat - Joanne Harris 91. The Dead Women of Juárez - Sam Hawken 92. Still Life - Joe Donnelly 93. Brother Grimm - Craig Russell 94. Frenchman's Creek - Daphne Du Maurier 95. Labyrinth - Kate Mosse 96. Just Before Sunset - Stephen King 97. The Lady Elizabeth - Alison Weir 98. The Grave Tattoo - Val McDermid 99. Past Mortem - Ben Elton 100. The Russian Concubine - Kate Furnivall 101. Memoirs Of A Woman Of Pleasure: Fanny Hill - John Cleland 102. The Glass-Blowers - Daphne Du Maurier 103. Spiral - Paul McEuen 104. Dead In The Family - Charlaine Harris 105. Deeper Than The Dead - Tami Hoag 106. The Book Of Human Skin - Michelle Lovric (Unfinished) 107. The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher: Or The Murder At Road Hill House - Kate Summerscale 108. Autumn - David Moody

I saw them live at Download Festival in 2010. They were AMAZING (one of the best bands I saw at the festival). Five Finger Death Punch ended up getting their set cut because they invited people to crowd surf up to the stage and shake the lead singer's hand whislt still performing. It ended up in mayhem and was a real health and safety issue (though it wasn't as bad as Rage Against The Machine who had to ask people to step back because the people at the front were getting crushed and one person was seriously hurt) so the organisers cut them and Lamb of God ended up playing a longer set.

I really enjoyed Jacqueline Wilson books when I was younger (I have not read any of the books released since the early 2000s). Vicky Angel and The Illustrated Mum were my favourites. I liked how her books were well written and dealing with problems like death, mental illness, divorce, abandonment etc but still enjoyable to read. They always ended on a postive as well,; no matter how bad the problems were there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I've finished Shirley by Charlotte Bronte and am now about to start reading Sylvia by Bryce Courtenay.

I used to collect old British currency (mainly shillings and halfpennys I'd dig up in the garden) and a lot of foreign currency (mainly coins but I do have some banknotes). I haven't really added anything new to it in about 5 years.

I grew up with Harry Potter (I was 7 when I got the first one from my great nan and 17 when the last one was released) so I might be biased when I say they are great. The books do get better as the series goes on so do the characters. The main characters are young at the beginning (11 years old) but as the series progresses they mature and you see them turning into adults before your eyes. I think Jo really captured the awkwardness of crushes, first love and jealousy in the last half of the series.

I'd say 3+ I tend to have one book that is a project to be read over a long period of time and 2 that are read at the same time.

Since I last posted, I've found the library. Immy and I have both got new library cards and have been taking out plenty of books The local library is fantastically stocked and everything is easy to find. When I lived in High Wycombe the library was MASSIVE but it was impossible to find anything - most of the books I read where ones on the return shelf. There were hundreds of sections, thousands of books and no order at all (for example Jane Eyre could be found in the classics, fiction, chick lit, young adult and history sections). Even the staff couldn't find a book despite seeing on the system that it was there and hadn't been taken out.

I went to the library today and got out: Shirley - Charlotte Brontë The Rendezvous and other stories - Daphne Du Maurier Sylvia - Bryce Courtenay

Wow that looks amazing! I am really jealous

I'm listening to an album called Razorblade Romance by HIM.

I'm about a third of the way through Oliver Twist. I really enjoy it so far.

Kiss Me Kate. I haven't seen it before but I did enjoy it.

No I'm not having one. I'm young, generally healthy and do not live with anyone who is at risk so I don't really think it is that important for me to have it.

I can play the recorder. Performed on stage two years running when I was in Primary School at the local theatre. About 8 primary schools took part in a show every year which included singing, dancing and music. I also sang as part of a massive choir made up of all the different schools but I can't really sing. I got so scared on stage during the singing parts of the show I mimed both years!

I used to use the library a lot. Since moving I haven't been to the new local library. Mainly because I am not sure where it is. My boyfriend knows but he just tells me it is "on that road, near that other road. Gone down the other road before." I keep meaning to ask him to take me there on his day off but keep forgetting.

Finished 1984 and I've now started Queen Of This Realm by Jean Plaidy

About two thirds of the way through 1984.

Hello and welcome!

I've had my eye on it for ages. It's the kind of thing that really appeals to me so hopefully I'll enjoy it

About half way through A Handful of Dust and I may finish it tonight if I get the time. Also bought 5 other books from my local Oxfam: Dead In The Family - Charlaine Harris Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure - John Cleland Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson - Paula Byrne Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy The Suspicions of Mr Whicher - Kate Summerscale

I just finished The Red Room and I'm about to start A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh.

Today I made apple, fudge and chocolate muffins. My first attempt at muffins and I was really pleased with how they turned out.

I finshed Sons and Lovers and I'm now about 100 pages into Red Room by Nicci French. It's an easy read but it doesn't have me griped yet.