Alexi

Are you There God? It's Me Margaret I remember reading that one (although not in as much detail as the three I remembered) and it was only 57 pennies! Although I remember being quite confused by her description of the items used for periods (can't think what they used to be called) when I had been shown tampons in sex education

Ooops! My poor innocent cat! Although not that innocent, quite cunning where food is concerned to be fair.... Not much reading time this weekend at all, but hope to finish The Shining in the spirit of the Hallowe'en readathon!

Brilliant review and that sounds a fantastic read - straight onto the wishlist!

I congratulated myself on not being particularly scared reading The Shining, and then the cat miaowed and I jumped out of my skin.

Hi BB I downloaded one Judy Blume but I mean to reread them all - although I never read Tiger Eyes as a kid! I seem to remember really enjoying Deenie, and also Just As Long as We're Together and Here's To You Rachel Robinson. I wonder if they have stood the test of time!

No, this is only my second King after 11-22-63 can't imagine it will be the last though!

Thanks J. I have to say, I've really enjoyed the latest instalments. I've certainly not been able to predict where Nicholas is going end up next! Poor Kate, she seems doomed to be manipulated and mistreated. However, I can't wait to see what happens to Verisopht and Hawk ETA: I've been wondering about that too Claire. Would the magazine have wanted a full synopsis before publishing or would Dickens have needed the money as he was writing?!

I'm almost halfway through The Shining and loving it so far!

I'm now up to the end of chapter 29 - have I gone too far?

I loved loved loved Cutting For Stone! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. ETA: really sorry for taking over your thread there! Clicked on the wrong link and though I was in the Book Activity thread!

I'm also caught up on Nicholas Nickleby! I've now started The Shining by Stephen King in honour of horror month - I can't remember the last time I read horror...

I moved in with my boyfriend a few years ago, and he has a few books but nothing compared to mine! We have separate bookshelves, he has one of philosophy stuff, we share a sports bookshelf and then the rest is mine

Sounds good to me! Im working a lot this week which means lots of commute reading time

I've just started Chapter 27, so I'm where I should be I think but only because I've just caught up on the last three weeks' worth in one go!

I'm catching up with Nicholas Nickleby at the moment. Having trouble reading for any length of time at the moment though, the concentration isn't there for me Might tackle something simpler or perhaps a YA next in the hope of shifting along.

I didn't get on with Money, and abandoned ready for another go at some other point down the line, but this sounds really intriguing. Like you, I don't mind vulgar language if it fits with the character - it only becomes an irritant when it feels unnecessary and needless.

Congrats Gaia! Attachments sounds really interesting - a different way of narrating the story. One for the wishlist - again!

Great reviews J. The Shock of the Fall is going straight on the wishlist - sounds great.

I started this in October 2011, which means I'm three years in. I've recently finished Sky of Red Poppies for Iran, which I loved. Set in the 1960s, it centres on two best friends, one who comes from a wealthy family and is encouraged to ignore the increasing signs of revolution, and the other who gets seriously involved in the opposition. I really enjoyed it and thought it was perfect fort challenge. That brings me to 36/224 books completed, which means an average of 12 books per year which isn't too bad. However, I know most of that was at the start and I'm slowing down. I have another 11 on my TBR which count for this challenge so I must make an effort to get all of those read in the next 12 months. I am enjoying this challenge, I've read some great books I wouldn't have picked up otherwise - although I've also read some I would advise others not to go near! (My choices for Phillippines and Vietnam spring to mind!) Favourites so far definitely Iran, Ethiopia (Cutting for Stone), Germany (All Quiet on the Western Front), India (Slumdog Millionaire Q & A) and Iceland (House of Evidence). Honourable mention for Cuba (A Spy's Fate).

Yeah I'm currently having this debate with myself. I think I also need to be less afraid to give half marks - particularly at 2.5 and 4.5 - or create the sixth category people like Janet and Willoyd use for books which really stay with me for a long time. I still sometimes think about A Thousand Splendid Suns for example, loved that book.

Generally daily although I don't always post, but I like to see what everyone is up to

#49 Sky of Red Poppies by Zohreh Ghahremani Synopsis: Sky of Red Poppies begins with a casual friendship between two schoolgirls coming of age in a politically divided 1960's Iran under rule of the Shah. Roya, the daughter of a prominent family, is envious of the fierce independence of her religious classmate Shireen. But Shireen has secrets of her own. Together, Roya and Shireen contend with becoming the women they want to be, and in doing so, make decisions that will cause their tragic undoing. In the unraveling of family secrets, Roya begins to question how she was raised and how to become the person she wishes to be. Set against the backdrop of a nation forced to mute its profound identity, Sky of Red Poppies is a novel about culture, politics and the redeeming power of friendships. Thoughts: This counted for Iran in my world challenge. It was a great choice for it, it really gave me a flavour of the culture and history of a country I know little about other than the news reports. Roya, the daughter of a wealthy family whose father has undoubtedly benefited under the rule of the Shah, is our narrator through a decade of change and upheaval in Iran. Her best friend, Shireen, comes from a devout family who are active in opposition to the Shah and must evade the eyes of SAVAK, the secret police. It's a slow start, as the two girls meet in their early teenage years, but by the end I needed a good cry! Essentially it's a coming of age thing, Roya questioning and searching for her own identity, trying to live her life and graduate from university, fall in love etc while the Iranian regime faces increased opposition and SAVAK are increasingly brutal - a scene her best friend Shireen is caught up in. It's a tear jerker, really well written and the characters well drawn. If the pacing feels a bit odd at times, persevere, it is worth it a thousand times. I finished this three days ago and it's still haunting me. 4.5/5

#48 The Wedding Gift by Marlen Suyapa Bodden Synopsis: In 1852, when prestigious Alabama plantation owner Cornelius Allen gives his daughter Clarissa's hand in marriage, she takes with her a gift: Sarah—her slave and her half-sister. Raised by an educated mother, Clarissa is not the proper Southern belle she appears to be, with ambitions of loving whom she chooses. Sarah equally hides behind the façade of being a docile house slave as she plots to escape. Both women bring these tumultuous secrets and desires with them to their new home, igniting events that spiral into a tale beyond what you ever imagined possible. Told through the alternating viewpoints of Sarah and Theodora Allen, Cornelius' wife, Marlen Suyapa Bodden's The Wedding Gift is an intimate portrait of slavery and the 19th Century South that will leave readers breathless. Thoughts: I can't remember what made me pick this up from the library, but really glad I did. Sarah and Clarissa are sisters, but while Clarissa is the legitimate child of the master of the plantation and his wife, Sarah's mother is a slave who the master takes to bed (for want of a better phrase!). The two girls grow up side by side, but when they reach teenager years, Sarah becomes Clarissa's maid. The story switches between narrators - Sarah, and also Theodora, who is the plantation master's wife which helps the reader understand that while slaves enjoyed no rights whatsoever - they could not even legally marry and you can't murder your own property so masters could and did kill their own slaves as punishment - white women enjoyed few rights in practice. Theodora is also a prisoner, although she has a more comfortable cell. The first half of this ripped along for me. I really rooted for Sarah and her mother Emmeline instantly. We initially meet Theordora through the age of a childhood Sarah, and then when we are introduced to her a few chapters in it removes a lot of what we have already learned. Hearing from both women works well, initially seeing two different versions of the same event and then filling in the blanks when the two are later separated. Let's be honest. I loved this. It was an emotional ride through the horrors of slavery, and the hopes and dreams Sarah has of one day running away to freedom. The two plantation masters we meet provide perfect villains while the women we meet all draw incredible sympathy. It's a great plot, the characters are great and it's emotional stuff. The only thing that let it down was the ending, I felt like the author didn't really know how she wanted it to end and it sort of dribbled off a bit. But no matter, it's a great read. Recommended (and only £2.99 on kindle.... ) 4/5

Oh the pressure I found it a bit slow in parts, but now I've finished I realised how much it spoke to me, if that's the right phrase! I'm going to leave off the review for a couple of days and see how I feel then.

I've finished Sky of Red Poppies and I'm really not sure what can follow it. I wasn't sure what I thought of the book when reading it but it's really effected me and I can't stop thinking about it. It's about opposition groups in 1960s Iran. Not sure whether to go for a non fiction as a result or some YA nostalgia.