Timstar

Not forgetting the best line in the film!

I type it as IT, that's what I always see it as and it helps to differentiate between the book and the pronoun. Hope you enjoy the rest of it/IT, one of my favourite books!

No Muppet's Christmas Carol?? That's the only Christmas film worth watching. oh and Die Hard

Epidemiological Researcher

UK e-books to drop VAT to 0%! ... hopefully.

Cabin in the Woods - Brilliant, so funny and original!

I always seem end up doing that!

Oh don't worry I always read what I want, just people wanting me to read things makes me want to as well... Gotta finish First Law before that and ASOIAF, both recommended by you I might add

Apologies, it's Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. But I know you want WoT on all my reading plans... getting hard to please everyone!

Hehe, might have to... but then again you also wanted RoT, SOIAF and Malazan

I bought this trilogy recently, been on my radar for ages. Did you write reviews for the first two?

I was gonna say, I can't remember Helen Mirren in it... I prefer the TV series, the film is OK but Mos Def is awful as Ford Prefect, he just mumbles every line and all the jokes get lost. Sam Rockwell is good though, as is Alan Rickman.

Finishing reading Ultimate Weapon by Chris Ryan, supposedly his best book. I did enjoy it in a mindless page-turner sort of way. The premise was interesting, it was set during the pre-iraq war era involving the search for WMDs. It was a simple linear plot that didn't go over-the-top until the ending. Also had a prominent Cambridge setting which is always good fun to read. Overall 8/10 Now started Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

Oh well... maybe next year I have Exiles on my wishlist, they look great!

Brilliant wasn't it!

That's true, but other than the letters at the beginning and end most of Frankenstein reads like a normal story. Although at one point you have Inception-esque layering with a story, within a story, within a story, within a letter

Hence why there hasn't been a sequel, one of the more expensive 'missed opportunities' in film history. For the record I agree with you.

A Good Day to Die Hard, tragically bad. Not even passable for a mindless action film like Die Hard 4.

Now I really have no idea what to expect from Dracula! I did really enjoy it, and it's the sort of book I can see myself wanting to frequently re-read.

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley Synopsis Curious, ambitious and brilliant, Victor Frankenstein sets out re-animate flesh using electricity. His creation horrifies him and he sends him away, only to have his Brother murdered at the monsters hands. Now the monster wants a companion and he wants Frankenstein to make him one or he will keep killing. Review Being a big fan of horror I can't believe I hadn't read this before, on par with Dracula (which I haven't read either) to be the most famous horror story of all time. Saying this I didn't know fully what to expect with my only ideas of the story coming from black and white films and comic parodies. Although I wasn't expecting it to fit all stereotypes and pre-conceived ideas, I was surprised when the novel didn't fit any of them! Frankenstein isn't a maniacal scientist, locked up in a castle performing unholy experiments and screaming 'It's ALLLIIIVVVVE'. The nameless 'monster' (or fiend as it's more commonly referred to in the book) isn't a slow, stumbling, brainless creature with bolts in it's neck. The story is told in epistolary form, opening with a series of letters from a Captain Walton to his sister, Walton's ship has become encased in ice whilst exploring the North Pole. In the fog he sees a dog sled driven by an inhumanly large figure. A short time later they rescue a nearly frozen Frankenstein who claims he was in pursuit of the previous figure. Frankenstein then proceeds to tell his story to the Captain. Beginning in his youth, the start of Frankenstein's story moves very quickly, showing us his interests in science, his education and experiment to make the monster all within the first 30 pages. After the creatures escape it slows down a little and we really get a great insight into the thoughts and feelings of Frankenstein, he is completely disgusted with himself and what he has created, even before it kills anyone, and he takes this out on the monster. And it is for these reasons that Frankenstein becomes the real villain of the story, the monster wasn't made evil, he is turned evil after being shunned and feared by everyone including his maker for simply existing. It is when the monster catches up to Frankenstein and has a chance to tell him his story of how he learnt speech and that happiness comes from companionship that the reader really begins to sympathise with the creature, even more so after Frankenstein refuses to make him a companion. The monster is described as having super-human speed and strength and is capable of the same levels of articulation as the well educated Frankenstein which was the most surprising giving the modern idea of Frankenstein's Monster. At only 200 pages long, as well as the still poignant social commentary, the novel is crammed full of horror and suspense but mostly heart, all told in an eloquent prose that is simply joyful to read. The only thing I would change would be the opening of Frankenstein's story to include more motives for his experiments and more science, although I'm not sure how much scientific education an early nineteenth century woman would of had...? A terrific read that I whole-heartedly believe deserves its place in literary history. Overall 10/10

Hmm ok, I'll see what others say, might be worth trying to read them separately. I preferred Lies to Red Seas but only just, mainly because I love a good origins story

Shame you didn't like it as much as the others, do you think the two stories could be read separately from each from? I.e. read all the Interlude chapters first then go back and read the others?

Some good reviews Athena, do you find yourself using and/or benefiting from these sort of books in day-to-day life?

Great Red Seas review! I'm gonna be doing a re-read next year I love finding SF/Fantasy in a charity shop, a few of them in Cambridge even have a dedicated shelf! The Oxfam book shops even have whole bookcases! Very dangerous to go in them. Hope you enjoy your purchases!

Hehe thanks, I didn't look at how long I'm not sure it would make me happy My thoughts exactly, I even had a mini-plan that was inserted in the middle as well as overlapping with my new one, plus a load that weren't on any plan! Thanks, which ones did you love? Started Frankenstein this morning, good so far. I am also very interested in what I will make of a Feast for Crows, not heard much positive things, so it has been put off for a while. They are more a rough outline then a plan