Ellie's third leap towards 75

Hello again! What with all the owl chatter and dream talk and read-a-thon posts, it was time to move on to a shiny new thread... As you were!

My previous threads:
1) http://www.librarything.com/topic/104722
2) http://www.librarything.com/topic/107030

As always, you can also catch up on a load of general chatter and bookshop news over my blog, Musings of a Bookshop Girl... I'm doing a couple of challenges over there this year too, as well as trying for a better result on the LT Books off the Shelf Challenge for 2011. Wish me luck!

And finally, here's this year's ticker:

I won't use touchstones in the Master List (!) - too much hassle to keep loading and correcting them - but I'll add the message number of each review/comment for quick reference.

BOOKS READ 2011

Thread 1:
1) Blacklands - Belinda Bauer
2) The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld 1) - Gena Showalter
3) The Chrysalids - John Wyndham

Thread 2:
4) The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove - Lauren Kate
5) Holes - Louis Sachar
6) Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast - Bill Richardson
7) Seasons of Life: The Biological Rhythms Living Things Need to Thrive and Survive - Russell Foster and Leon Kreitzman
8) Awkward Situations for Men - Danny Wallace
9) Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking - Malcolm Gladwell
10) Garden Spells - Sarah Addison Allen
11) The Thirty-Nine Steps - John Buchan

This thread:
12) To Touch a Wild Dolphin - Rachel Smolker (message 26)
Bonus Read: 50 Physics Ideas You Really Need to Know - Joanne Baker (message 67)
13) Killing Britney - Sean Olin (message 72)
14) The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember - Nicholas Carr (message 88)
15) Boys Don't Cry - Malorie Blackman (message 146)
Bonus Read: A Kitten Called Moonlight - Martin Waddell (message 156)
16) The Reformed Vampire Support Group - Catherine Jinks (message 176)
17) Icefire - Chris d'Lacey (message 205)
18) Stone Cold - Robert Swindells (message 222)
19) Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall - Kazuo Ishiguro (message 240)
20) The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (message 241)

You are just zooming through those books! *Star*

Ah, don't worry - it won't last! Once the weather warms up and the tourists start flocking to Bakewell again I'll be too busy chasing after vile children and fielding tourists to read much at work, and too knackered to think straight when I get home. Though we will then be back to the 'long balmy evenings in the garden with a drink and a book' months, which I suppose might increase my post-shop reading by its mere deliciousness...

To catch y'all up, I'm currently reading Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro and To Touch a Wild Dolphin by Rachel Smolker. The first Ishiguro story is set in Venice, which is definitely a good start, and the wonderful Smolker book is all about the friendly wild dolphins off the coast of Monkey Mia in Australia. I've also had Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential on the back-burner since before Christmas (so many library books to finish first!) and I dip into Neil Pasricha's The Book of Awesome on occasion too...

Hellooo thar! *Stars*
You really are racking up the reads so far this year! I really will have to join in a read-a-thon at some point although it's harder to get away with it when I'm at home cos I reckon my parents wouldn't appreciate me making drinks and snacks at 4 in the morning :P

Hello Ellie! Looks like your thread count is getting up there as well, huh? You're one speedy young lady this year! :)

Hey,

How did you find the 39 steps? I loved the film and was looking forward to the book. To be honest though I was really disappointed. Found it a bit drab :(

Hello visitors!

Rach - you should definitely join a read-a-thon, it'll be nice to have you around! I'm going to try a hosting-free experimental read-a-thon this week, without the hourly posts and memes and sitting on the floor, and see what happens. Just trying taking that 24 hours as a time bubble - read when I want, where I want, fall asleep for ten minutes or six hours, maybe even read ON MY BED (hasn't happened since uni), keep things more laid-back. Will I be more motivated thanks to the relaxing vibe, or less motivated because I don't have the hourly posts and the reading support? Will I read more, or less? Will I feel less crap in the second half if I mix things up a bit all day? It'll be an interesting way to compare methods without being tempted to slip back into the usual style because of hostess pressure... If it all fails miserably (I read ten pages, watch five episodes of Gilmore Girls, sleep for twelve hours then give up) I'll probably host another normal one the week after! :-)

*stops dead* Wait, wait, wait... *pops over to Rachel's thread*... You've read EIGHTEEN BOOKS so far this year! *sigh* Add a read-a-thon into the mix and we could have created a monster! *runs screaming under the onslaught of cyber-Rach's book bullet machine gun*

Stephen - *whispers conspiratorially* Read-a-thons...!!!

Lee - I think any action/adventure plot is going to suffer a little when it's written in the verbose English of Buchan's time - they didn't really do 'snappy and exciting' back then, did they? A film can convey everything a bit faster and more dramatically. But I liked it - my review's on the book's page and back at the end of my last thread - so I've swapped my copy of The Thirty-Nine Steps for The Complete Richard Hannay at our bookshop, and I'll probably try and get hold of an adaptation at some point.

Hooray, I've managed to sweet-talk a woman into buying a £65 book (though we're selling it for my stepbrother so we won't get much of it), and I've just sold a Paperblanks journal which boosts the till a bit. What a quiet Friday. Oh, and I'm in PAIN because my first wisdom tooth has chosen today to break through the gum and start getting on my nerves. I want to chew something, but that hurts so then I want to stop, and my cheek is feeling more and more like a hamster's as the day goes by. At least it explains the general-vicinity-of-ear-ache I've had for a few days now!

Anyone got any wisdom-tooth-coming-through advice?

Over here they've got some pain-deadening drops you can put on to temporarily numb the ache--Glyoxide is one. And aspirin is always good. Sorry you are hurting, Ellie. Makes you understand why babies are so grumpy when they are teething.

There is the standard bonjela teething gel that helps. There is also an over-the-counter gel called Oragel that is AMAZING!

However, it is about £5 for a tiny tube, but that stuff works. You only need a tiny amount and it numbs pretty much everything. It does taste vile, and if you swallow any or put too much on so it gets round your mouth then everything goes numb.

Clove oil is cheaper, but even more revolting than Oragel.

Garden Spells does sound fun :)

*cough*actuallynineteen*cough* but that's beside the point :P Am I not already a monster? ;)

Gah wisdom teeth suck- I have three and two of them hurt like a bugger for a week as the sharp points shoved their evil little way through my gums. I really hope I never have to have them yanked out :S

Hallo! Sorry about the wisdom tooth - I'll second the bonjela thing - I've got all 4 wisdom teeth and it definitely helped (although it didn't solve it...)

I think I missed your Chrysalids comments, what did you think, what did you think? It's my favourite John Wyndham...

...and looking forward to your thoughts on Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall - it seems to get such mixed reviews.

Thirding the Bonjela suggestion: it helped me with the two I had trouble with, although it didn't stop all the discomfort.

My advice for dealing with tooth pain: Go find a crack dealer, buy her/im out of stock, get a pipe and smoke. Anything else is too temporary and not by any stretch guaranteed to work.

*pat pat pat* There, there, sweetie.

Sorry to hear about the wisdom tooth trouble, Ellie. I hope it eases up for you soon.

Tooth pains are no fun, don't I know it. :(

Considering I suffered through a tooth infection for days, I'm not even going to try to offer advice! Although it can't be worse than Richard, I suppose...

Yes, Ohio Boy, but there's a difference between an untreated infected tooth *stern glare* and the 'I need a teething ring' wisdom tooth thing... *adds another stern glare for good measure*

So.... Bonjela and crack, got it! I like the taste of Bonjela so I think I'll start there before I switch to hard drugs. As a middle ground, I've been floating on codeine for the last day or two, which has helped a bit. I think my sister nicked my Bonjela, unfortunately. Tomorrow, I go in search of aniseedy goodness!

The tooth has broken through and it looks fairly straight, but I'm definitely hoping I don't have any problems with these babies. The good news is, when I had braces on at school I had nine teeth removed first, and I think Mr Dentist said it should make room for my wisdom teeth as well. My mum's all came through fine but my dad had to have at least two of his out and I just remember him wandering round clutching his jaw for days on end... *cringes*

Fliss - I really liked it! Very absorbing, a bit different... I haven't read any of his others yet but they went on the wishlist before I'd finished The Chrysalids. I've read the first of the stories in the Ishiguro. I don't normally like short stories much, but this one was very atmospheric. It's a vignette told by a guitar player in a cafe orchestra in the Piazza San Marco, which is definitely a good start for a book about 'Music and Nightfall'! But yes, I'd read the mixed reviews and it wasn't on my wishlist as a result - I just spotted it on one of the display stands in the library and grabbed it anyway. Stay tuned!

*returns to ogling the young man doing the pipes, who keeps vaulting over walls and ducking in and out of the shop and smiling a lot*

Sorry, Ellie, but you are far too young to achieve a proper stern glare. Ladies your age attempting to glare sternly just look adorable and cute. Sorry! :P

I don't know, I think Ellie could pull off the stern librarian look without a hitch.

I'm glad the tooth has come through - I hope that's the worst of it!

Luxx: Nope, won't work. If you want to intimidate me, wave and smile at me in public. Now that is horrifying.

Ellie - I think each new thread requires a new picture of the 2 kitties. I haven't seen them in ages!! :-( ... and since I'm not young, I can certainly adopt the stern glare ... so consider yourself sternly glared at, young lady!

I still haven't uploaded them, have I? I just checked my sister's FB and she hasn't added any of her new ones recently either - I'll have to try and remember when I get home... There are a couple in my FB gallery to tide you over -they've grown up a fair bit since then but the pics are cute! :-)

Well hey, what a surprise, I barely read a thing in that 'bubble read-a-thon' thing... Well, I finished a library book and read a few pages of another, but it wasn't much at all. Instead, I watched GG, had a glorious night's sleep, then spent most of yesterday down in the main house overhauling my iTunes library. Which turned out to be way more satisfying! I don't think I was in the reading mood really. Anyway, I moved all my music around, re-rating things so my current faves were at the top and deleting things that make me lunge for the remote when they come on, and bought LOADS of new music. Old Abba and Queen faves, a few 'blast from the past' old boyband songs, some eighties rock, and a whole load of Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles... Oooh, and some more 'smoky bar in Rue Bourbon' gravelly jazz and blues, and the complete Buena Vista Social Club soundtrack album. Marvellous!

I'm sure the break was nice. Now, get reading missy! ;)

C'mon, maybe if we combine our books we can catch up with Rachel.

Not likely - not with all these huge great non-fiction tomes still checked out of the library! I might have to give up on them soon, just add whatever I haven't read yet back to my wishlist and go back to reading my own books for a while...

Now, for a review. This book was probably my favourite of the year so far, and I'm DEFINITELY going to get myself a shiny new hardback copy for my own shelves. It's like Wesley but for dolphins, amazing...

12) To Touch a Wild Dolphin by Rachel Smolker



Sometimes a book comes along that manages to balance a range of genres with such perfection that you close it having smiled and cried, experienced new places and lifestyles, and learned more than you realise, all without ever having left the comfort of your sofa. To Touch a Wild Dolphin definitely fulfills that description.

Monkey Mia, in Shark Bay, on the West Australia coast, is known for its friendly wild dolphins, who come right into the shallow waters and interact readily with humans. These days they are a huge tourist draw, but when Rachel Smolker first discovered them in the early eighties, hardly anyone knew about them. For Smolker, a marine biologist, they provided the perfect opportunity to study dolphins in the wild, learning to identify individuals, recording dolphin communication, and observing all the different elements of dolphin life, from courtship to hunting. For fifteen years she and her fluid team of colleagues and assistants spent huge swathes of time at Monkey Mia getting to know the dolphins, sharing their joys and sorrows, and reaching ground-breaking conclusions about their previously mysterious existence.

Reading this book and sharing the dolphins' lives felt like a real privilege, and it was utterly absorbing from start to finish. Smolker is a wonderful writer, moving effortlessly from lyrical descriptions of the beautiful Shark Bay area, through profound thoughts on the links between humans and dolphins, to accessible and concise information on all areas of dolphin society, without ever losing the thread of her narrative. She superbly captures the nuances of each of the key dolphins' personalities so that the reader grows as close to them as they would to any character in a novel, and experiences their happiness and their losses all the more deeply. She describes life in the rough camp by the beach, and offers anecdotes about interaction with the dolphins that range from the sublime to the horrific. And alongside all of this, Smolker distils everything she and her team learned from their time with the dolphins of Monkey Mia, from foraging techniques and courtship rituals to communication and male bonding, offering a complete and reverential picture of the wonder and complexity of the dolphins' lives.

This is a tour de force of nature writing, bringing together elements of science, natural history, ecology, autobiography and travel writing. It will make you laugh and cringe and cry, and leave you with a new respect both for dolphins and for the people who have dedicated their lives to studying them and working to develop our understanding of these amazing creatures. Read it!

ETA: Gawd, what is WITH the touchstones today? One minute they're there, the next they're not, then they're refusing to load, then they're doing that annoying thing where they just appear as the number instead of changing to a link... grrrr!

That sounds like an absolutely fascinating book! I'm certainly going to add it to my TBR list! Thank you for the recommendation.

Ellie:

Howdy! Just wanted to let you know that I made pasties with your recipe last night. Well kind of. I had leftover arroz con pollo, so I guess I actually made empanadas. But it turned out well. The boyfriend approved at any rate.

Also, I know you are not in London or anything, but I am super excited cause I found an awesome deal to go to London for a week March 2-9. I think I might go. I am trying to see if my friend will come with me. I love London (I have been 3 times.) My friend lived there for a year to attend grad school at UCL too (and it is her birthday week.)

I am just all excited. I hope I actually go; and don't just think I am going to go for a few hours, then decide I can't.

Ah well, the joy of cooking is that you can adapt things however the hell you want, and as long as it's edible, you can count it as a success! If you've already been to London three times you should be fine...

After a day of listening to my new music (yay!) and watching GG (surprise!) I've been completely swept away by my new read, The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember, which is turning out to be an unexpectedly gripping read. I had an idea it was going to be interesting and thought-provoking, but it's so absorbing... Marvellous.

Ooh, that book does sound interesting, Ellie. Hm, but does the shallowness apply to those who read books, considering how much attention it required? Hmmm... *shrugs*

Dolphin book!!! I love animal books, on the list it goes...

Stephen - I think you'd like it! At the moment it's going through the history of books and reading, which is pretty fascinating. And I agree with so much of what Carr's saying, from experience. Really makes you think.

Faith - it's one of the best I've ever read! Definitely one for that wishlist...

Now, 'scuse me, I'm skipping from Killer Queen (guaranteed to blow your mind) to the Folsom Prison Blues. Oooh, and now 'I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing', which always makes me smile, thinking of Will Ferrell and Jon Heder doing their 'Fire and Ice' dance. Hehe, I love getting new music!

Hi Ellie, miles behind on your threads. Loved the owl pictures on the last one, and thanks for reminding me of The shallows - I've hears several people mentioning that as being interesting... Hope the wisdom teeth are settling down.

Added To Touch a Wild Dolphin to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, Ellie!

My little sister has just started a marine biology degree and wants to work with dolphins at some point, so I'll keep this one in mind for the next time I need a present for her as I think she'd really like it. Thanks for bringing the title to my attention!

>33 gennyt: - Yeah, it seems to have settled right down again for the moment. The Shallows is fascinating so far, really thought-provoking. I read over a third of it yesterday at work, which is nigh-on unheard of for a non-fiction book since I usually find it harder to concentrate at the shop. Watch this space!

>35 Ygraine: - Ooooh, it'd be perfect for her then! :-)

Now, here are a couple of more recent kitten photos at last, for Caro and anyone else who wanted a Millie 'n' Domino update!





Anyway, back to the reading... Not sure how much I'll get done later since I had an awful night's sleep last night! I got to sleep at about half eleven, finally drowning out the Wuthering Heights weather howling around the house, only to be woken up at quarter past 12 by a couple of rats who'd obviously taken refuge in the outside wall behind my headboard. Then there was a night of being semi-woken at regular intervals by a new gust of wind whistling down the chimney or smashing raindrops against the window, until I finally gave up around 6am and got up... *props open heavy eyelids and tries to look customer-friendly* The next THREE DAYS are set to give us more of the same, only with heavy rain in the daytime as well, so it could be a quiet weekend!

*runs in, scoops up kittens, cuddles them and sets them back down*
So.much.cuteness!
Gah so sorry I've not commented for a while Ellie m'dear, I do hope you get a decent night's sleep tonight :) I'll try and mentally send some of my spare sleeping hours cos I've been getting waaay too much recently :P
The wind is pretty howly round here although not quite window-rattling strong - maybe it's a good time for me to try and read Wuthering Heights and see if I get past page 40 this time.
*skips off in search of caffeine*

Hurray for engaging nonfiction reads! I'm having some success myself in the nonfiction department, I'm about to start my 4th consecutive nonfiction book. I don't think I've ever done anything like that! In fact, I rarely read 2 nonfiction books in a row. Hm!

The weather sounds awful there, Ellie. Yikes, we were having ice storms and heavy winds here but it has let up now, thankfully. Keep warm and dry, dear! And I won't blame you if you need to go on a midnight rat-massacre. Blasted things... ;)

Love the pictures of the cats, Ellie!

I am glad to hear that The Shallows is still holding your attention. I have seen that one recommended on several threads.

I hope you get some better rest tonight!

Rachel - Definitely a good time! And if you don't rectify the 'not having read WH' situation soon, I'm only going to have to come down there, tie you to a chair and read the whole thing to you, so it's really for your own good...

Stephen - Yes, their middle-of-the-night parties are so noisy! I swear, it's like they grow to three times the size once they're inside, bouncing about like baby elephants between the floorboards and sliding merrily down inside the walls...

Stasia - Me too! Or the customers had better watch out this weekend... ;-)

Aww, such cute cats.

Yup, we've got the fierce winds as well. My horse went mental this morning because of them! Methinks animals are like children, wind sends them crazy. The cats also kept me awake for a lot of the night, and when they finally settled, it was on my pillow......

Fingers crossed we both get some sleep tonight, and the winds die down. Cats are now playing the stairs game, and they've already taken out a pile of washing and the phone. *sigh*

Oh really? *imagines the hilarity of Ellie storming into the house brandishing rope and a copy of WH fiercely* Ok I'll crack out my nice pretty leatherbound copy and give it another go. Seriously effed up romance is probably all I manage at the moment with my recent return to the singleton's ship.

tie you to a chair and read the whole thing to you

Oh hey! I haven't read Wuthering Heights either... :D

>43 Ape: *snort* :P

#18 Okey dokey, Nocturnes shall be bumped up my TBR pile...

Glad you enjoyed Chrysalids - definitely my favourite, with The Day of the Triffids not far off. The Trouble With Lichen is also a good one, but, while I've enjoyed the others I've read, with the exception of some of his short stories, for me, they just don't quite hit the spot. There are some great short stories though (try Seeds of Time or Consider Her Ways) - bearing in mind that, unlike you, I do love short stories. As long as they're well written...

#36 Not fair. You're giving me cat envy.

Sorry for the lack of sleep, but I'm afraid I love this windy weather ;o)

drive-by smooch, snookiepookums

Cute kitties! Oh, and now I really want to read The Shallows...sounds great.

Eta...ignore my touchstone...it's going to the wrong book...

Kittens are adorable. We had wuthering weather all day and last night too. My dog doesn't seem bothered by it, but I just wanted to huddle under the bedclothes and shut out the noise of lashing rain on windows and howling rattling winds...

Rach - Awww, I didn't know that! (((big hugs for Rachel))) Definitely time for some Bronte gothic romance, they're marvellous sustenance for the intellectual young singleton (I should know!)...

Hey Ricardo! Long time no smooch!

Stephen - Behave yourself! Don't make me go all Cathy on your ass... :-)

Hey all! Yes, the kittens are SO CUTE! When I got home last night they were sitting under the sofa in the hall gently tapping a woodlouse backwards and forwards between them, like a little trundling tennis ball... The Shallows continues to be totally awesome and scarily disturbing. Today's been a good day at the shop - not too many customers, good sales, not my cleaning day - but I'm not looking forward to fighting my way across town in a few minutes, through the wind and bluster. Ick ick ick!

Cats and insects.......they're mad.

One of ours loves spiders. She pokes them and tries to eat them, but drops them when they wiggle in her mouth. Then she pokes them again to try and make them move. And as soon as they do, she lets them run away a certain amount, and then tries to eat them again. And so the game continues.

It's highly disappointing for her when she pokes too hard and the spider dies.

Behave yourself!

While my man-slave tendencies are unparalleled, THIS command is unlikely to be obeyed. And since I don't know who Cathy is, promises won't get you anywhere! :P

>51 Ape: So says a man who really HASN'T read Wuthering Heights...

>50 lunacat: - Oh yeah, Millie found her first spider the other day! She tapped it about a bit, and then it ran up and over her nose, totally freaked her out! Still, once it was back on the floor she was okay...

Well, I was about to go to bed, only to find out that thanks to all the heavy rain and the lovely hilly areas surrounding Bakewell, the river's just a few inches away from spilling its banks and the flood warnings are starting to bank up. Which is AWESOME, since we're the first shop across the path, with a nice handy step down to siphon in the muddy water should the situation arise. And it's set to peak at 3am, which is awesome timing on a Saturday night. My stepdad's had a drink, Mum's had one of her sleeping tablets, so I'm on staying-up duty. Max next door is calling before he leaves in a couple of hours, I have to watch the floodline alerts and get ready to call in the 'rents to go get stuff out... All those books on the floor, all that stock in the office, all those things plugged in, all possibly going to have to be gotten out of that shop in the dark, in the rain, at about 3am. It's just one thing after another with this shop these days! Soooooo, I'm gonna watch Nurse Jackie, make more coffee, and settle in. Maybe watch a DVD. Stay awake but stay distracted. *humungous sigh of hope and resignation*

Oh, I hope there's no flooding! Even a little can wreak havoc.

I've never read Wuthering Heights, but it is sitting on that pesky tbr, owned, about 5 ft away, in my line of vision

Well, it's now half past midnight so Max should be calling me soon with an update. Thus far the official flood warnings haven't changed so we might JUST squeak by, though with more heavy rain forecast on Monday it could happen yet. Ohhhh, my eyes are so tired, I have to work tomorrow too!

*proffers nice mug of tea* you could always have an impromptu reading session to keep you semi-alert in case you need to dash out?
*stumbles off in search of own bed*
Night dearies!

Eek! Water does not play nicely with books! Not good... :(

Hmmm, I think your mum should give you a break tomorrow considering you've had to stay up all night, right? You can say it was my idea too... :)

Well anyway, I won't say the s-l-e-e-p word, but I hope you can get some res...errr, respite soon!

Oh my ... Millie and Domino have grown so much ... absolutely beautiful, Ellie. Domino looks wise. ;-)

I hope the potential flooding disaster is over and you are getting some much-needed rest, Ellie!

I'm at work now. I went to bed after Max called at about quarter past one, and got up again at about half six to check the current alerts. The river's very, very high and the fields on either side of the road on our way here were like great lakes, but at least the water here is still IN the river... Fingers crossed it stays that way - there's still water coming down from the hills and more rain forecast, so we're just hoping that the lull in the rainfall today will give it time to clear a bit. *sigh* Never a dull day round here at the moment, it seems!

Well, at least it's Sunday, so I can sit and read my book, and it's a shorter day, and thus far all has been relatively peaceful... :-)

I am glad to hear that the water is still IN the river. I hope it stays there!

Me too! I had visions of all our lovely books floating around in a tide of muddy water, novels and rare books and our new gifts all swilling around together... *shudders* Apparently the river levels should start to drop this afternoon, hopefully enough that we don't have to have a repeat performance of this panic when more rain arrives tomorrow!

Good news about the river levels dropping this afternoon. I hope it does some good!

*Breathes gigantic and sleepy sigh of relief* The flood warning is now NO LONGER IN FORCE. Thank heavens! The official river measurement a couple of villages along has dropped nicely, so hopefully we'll be okay even if there's more rain tomorrow. And thanks Stasia, for keep coming back over here, it's always nice to have someone around for a little moral support mid-panic!

Phew! I'm glad everything is looking up, Ellie. Err, except the river, which is hopefully looking down. I hope you can relax now, and that the river behaves itself tomorrow!

Glad things are looking a bit safer. I'd hate to think of all those books floating away. And how awful it would be for you!

Fingers crossed for less rain, and less worry.

Great news, Ellie!

I'm adding a bonus read to my list: 50 Physics Ideas you Really Need to Know by Joanne Baker. I didn't read the whole thing - didn't understand the whole thing - but having skipped the bits on electricity (too yawnsworthy) and quantum physics (too mind-boggling) for the most part, I had a brilliant time perusing all the good bits. The astrophysics section was brilliant, and the longest, so I was happy! Readable, accessible, nice little fact boxes about key scientists, pertinent quotes... Recommended for brushing up on a few basics and reminding you just how amazing our universe really is.

Now then, here's a conundrum: I have a 'SantaThing apology' free lifetime membership going spare... Obviously, participants have already been upgraded as part of LT's post-chaos amend-making, so there's a great swathe of people here who don't need it. My mum and sister don't want it, and I don't have anyone else in RL to give it to! So, I propose a solution. Any of my friends here who might want it, drop me a PM and I'll draw a name out of the hat or something. I don't want it to go to waste!

P.S. Did anyone see that cute idea someone had with theirs, to set up an account for their baby (I think) and use it to track everything she read as she grew up? Children's books, things they read together, then presumably if she was a reader as she got older, she could take over and use it for herself... Such a brilliant idea!

Just trying to catch up on some threads and this was the first one I popped into :-) Loved seeing the owls and the kitties, such gorgeous photos! And so relieved that the waters are subsiding. I can't imagine how scary that would have been.

Glad the flood missed you!

Unfortunately, I got hit by 2 book bullets - the dolphin book & The Shallows.

Yeah, I saw the idea for the account for their baby, it's great. Fortunately I still own all my childhood books (which only adds up to a single box) but I still would love to have a list of books I read for elementary school. :)

My list would be enormous - in year 6 (age 10-11) at school we had a box full of index cards on the teacher's desk, and every child in the class had a card. Every time we read a book we had to write it on our card. I was well known as the kid with about fifteen cards by the end of the year! No surprises there... :-) But I'm glad I'm tracking my reading now - there are books I remember reading in my teens that I'd love to hunt down again but without a name and author it's a bit tricky!

Anyway, today's the second day of my 'weekend' and I've finished another book, yay! Not one of my previously mentioned reads, but I picked it up yesterday after my test-run of Stephen's random-number book-picking system threw it up as a potential candidate a few days ago...

13) Killing Britney by Sean Olin



When a book calls itself a thriller, I often start reading with a dubious sense that it's probably not going to be that thrilling at all. The creation of a gripping and tense atmosphere isn't something every author can achieve - fortunately for me, Olin proves himself very adept in that area throughout his page-turner of a YA novel.

The premise is quite simple. Britney Johnson, still recovering from the death of her mother in a freak rafting accident a couple of years before, has managed to transform her life. She has fledged from ugly duckling to beautiful swan, ingratiated herself with the popular crowd, and is dating a hunky member of the school's unstoppable hockey team. But when her boyfriend Ricky is killed by a hit-and-run driver, she can't help but feel a flicker of paranoia. Was the 'accident' meant to kill her as well? As strange things start to happen around her and more people start to die, only one conclusion seems to remain: someone is out to kill Britney. But who? And will the culprit be found before it's too late?

This book is definitely not one for younger teens - the deaths are pretty gruesome and in finest thriller tradition, the book tends to prey on the mind as the reader works to figure out what's happening. That said, this is a cracker of a novel. The suspects are many and the red herrings keep piling up, leading the reader off down various tangents as the book progresses. I expected to work out the perpetrator before the end, but actually Olin kept me guessing right up to the final pages, never quite sure if my suspicions were correct. It was atmospheric, claustrophobic, tense, chilling and compulsively readable - what more could I ask for? Aside from a couple of slightly confusing leaps in narrative (which are sort-of explained by the end anyway) and a few mistakes an editor should have picked up on, this is well worth a read!

#72: I enjoy a good thriller every now and again. I will have to look for that one. Thanks for the recommendation, Ellie!

It was good! A bit grisly and I had to put my breakfast/tea down once or twice when a nasty bit caught me unawares - but then again, I remember some of the Point Horror books I used to read in my younger years had their moments too...

A note to everyone who might be reading late - the spare lifetime membership c/o SantaThing is now GONE, so while you are free to drop by my profile and leave humorous and/or flattering messages, there are no perks left to fight over... ;-)

Now, 'scuse me, I'm about to break all my own rules and go spend a lot of money on Book Depository with that 10% voucher... Well, I only have until the end of February, right? *ahem*

Oooooh! Here we go, BBC's two top men, one after another! First, during the natural history hour, we can sit and be lulled through David Attenborough's 'Madagascar', with his soothing voice, some amazing music and incredible photography. Then we have Neil Oliver and his L'Oreal locks for a bit of Ancient British history - though his man-bag seems to be rather disturbingly absent, at least judging by the adverts... Gawd, BBC2 is awesome sometimes!

I'm glad the random-number-thing worked for you, Ellie! :)

Aaaand Killing Britney has been successfully requested from the library.

Aaaargh! I've written a long message TWICE and both times the stupid new little netbook has whipped me off to another page FOR NO REASON right before I hit 'post'...

To sum up: greatly virtuous lack of buying from Amazon during the last month, halo-inducing walking past of charity shop this morning, followed by awesome big order from Book Depository using post-ST voucher. Sick of paranormal & dystopian YA, thus return to awesome titles of other persuasions.

To continue: Yeah, some good stuff coming! A book of photographs by a storm chaser. The second Diana Gabaldon book for my mum. The Arsenic Century, about how Victorians were being poisoned to death on a constant basis. The Espressologist by Kristina Springer, which looks fun. Smack by Melvin Burgess, about teens hooked on heroin. The Treasures of the Natural History Museum for some dazzling awesomeness. And more that I can't remember! Ooooooooh, yay! Now I just have to hope it doesn't all arrive on my day off.... :-)

#78: Hooray for the Book Depository order! The Arsenic Century sounds like one I would like, so I am looking forward to your review of that one.

It does sound interesting, doesn't it? I think it's pretty new out here so it was a decent price as well, hooray! I also ordered... ummm... The Big Necessity by Rose George... what else, what else? See, this is why getting big book packages is like Christmas for me - I've always forgotten what I ordered!

ETA: OOOOH! The Devil's Cup, which I think is sort of like the coffee equivalent of Salt: A World History. I'm not too far off remembering everything now, I don't think!

I second Stasia on The Arsenic Century - it's been added to the wishlist and I look forward to your review :-)

#80: You can just be surprised when you get the box since you cannot remember what all you ordered :)

Hi, Ellie. Hear any rumors of a Read-a-thon this weekend? I'm having withdrawal symptoms!

Not this weekend I don't... though I'm considering one on Monday/Tuesday. It might be my last one for a while, since we're working every day the next fortnight because of half term, then possibly dropping to one day off a week after that if business is improving. Though if yesterday was anything to go by... Well, we didn't make a penny until well gone lunchtime - about three or four hours into the day - and the day's total was just pitiful. If we hadn't sold a pair of bookends for £12 in the late afternoon it would have been bordering on a completely wasted day, really! :-(

Anyways, I'm just working on another review, my first five-star read of the year, hooray! I daren't write it here because this netbook is too weird - flipping back pages, randomly restarting itself to install updates without a second's warning... Back when I'm done!

#84: I was going to set one up for Tues-Wed next week, but if you are going to do one from Mon/Tues I will join in yours instead.

This is the first week of the year that we have not had a single Readathon. It feels rather weird.

Hmmm - I'll let you know! It would definitely be helpful because I might be able to get a couple of YA books read and cleared ready for half term week. We're doing a big YA display, trying to pull in a few younger folks, and most of the newer stuff comes from me, so I need to get reading!

#86: OK, keep me posted :)

14) The Shallows by Nicholas Carr



Every once in a while a book comes along that changes your life. You suspect it by the end of the first chapter, and by the time you close the book it’s assured. First came Naomi Klein’s No Logo, urging us to look beyond the gleaming images of big-name brands. Then there was Joanna Blythman’s Shopped, pulling us behind the benign faces of Britain’s most successful supermarkets. And now I can add Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows to the list, this dazzling polemic exposing the uncomfortable truths behind the all-powerful reign of the Internet over our modern lives.

Like No Logo and Shopped, The Shallows is hard to summarise in any meaningful way because its argument is so complex and sweeping. This is not a book to devour whole – it is a book to be carefully read, considered and absorbed. Carr isn’t a nostalgic professor yearning for the old days of leather-bound tomes and quill pens. But while he readily admits that the Internet has become a vital, entertaining and useful tool in his everyday life, he was also beginning to worry about the unseen effects of his online life. This book is the eloquent sum of his extensive and thorough research.

It’s quite a ride. In exploring his subject, Carr reaches way back into the history of intellectual technology, considering the impact of early innovations such as maps, clocks and the book on human life. From there he moves into the age of the computer, from the earliest machines through to the all-pervasive use of the Internet we see around us today. The last few decades, he explains, have raced by in a blur, and suddenly the World Wide Web is our medium of choice for almost everything we do.

But what about the biological impact of the Internet? Here is where things get really interesting. Modern neurobiological studies have shown that the brain’s neuroplasticity allows it to change with each experience, each path to learning we take. And thanks to the Internet, our brains really are shifting, away from paths that allow deep reading and reflective thought, and towards a chemistry geared to process the distraction and rapid-fire information that the Internet represents. Carr shows how even reading a simple page containing links and hypertext is a far cry from reading a page in a book, requiring us to stop, however fleetingly, to process the meaning of the link (What does it link to? Does it sound interesting? Will it be relevant to me?) and demonstrably disrupting our absorption in and thus our understanding of the text. In fact, it uses a different area of the brain entirely, one geared towards problem solving rather than comprehension. A little scary given the way schools and other institutions are already throwing out their books and replacing them with PCs and e-readers, isn’t it?

I could keep going forever, but the point of the matter is this: the Internet can be damaging. And as the future entwines itself more and more tightly with the virtual world, it makes sense to be savvy enough about its effects to be able to use and enjoy it without allowing it to destroy the things we value: our attention, our concentration and our ability to understand and process information that requires a little more involvement to fully grasp. Go, buy the book. It may just turn out to be one of the most timely and vital books of the decade. Open your eyes, open your mind – and maybe it’ll change your life too.

#88: Nice review, Ellie! I already have that one in the BlackHole or I would be adding it again.

Wow, what a review, Ellie! That does indeed sound like a great book. I've heard of how the internet really does change the way the brain works, and quite dramatically, but I never really thought of the implications...

Thumb!

I think it's going to be one of those books that I'll be trying to foist on everyone until they're thoroughly sick of me... As soon as it comes out in paperback Mum's getting a copy, for starters! :-)

The scary thing is that I just didn't realise the extent of the issue. These massive changes in brain connections fundamentally altering the way we think? Scary! And I had no idea that whole schools and libraries had already ditched their books ENTIRELY in favour of electronic media. That we're actually choosing to educate kids more and more exclusively using a medium that has been proven to impair their comprehension and understanding is just mind-boggling. Okay, you got me going again...

I am always on the internet with my nose in a book. My poor brain must be completely scrambled by now.

Really? Noooo.... surely not? *whistles innocently* ;-)

That sounds fascinating, Ellie. I'm going to look for a copy for sure.

AH! Book Bullets! I've been hit! Blaaargh *falls over

Nice review of The Shallows - I keep hearing about this book, I must get hold of a copy soon.

Sort of related as a fiction read is the Sci-Fi novel WE by John Dickinson (which I'm half way though but got interrupted, must get back to it) in which most of the population of the world is permanently connected to the 'World Ear' - like being physically connected to a social networking site and the internet all the time. The book explores what happens when someone is disconnected from the WE and has to use senses and ways of thinking that he has almost forgotten exist.

Wow I lost your thread... Now I see that you are already at thread #3. I will catch up on everything later. I love the pictures of the kitties!! I love animals, cats, dogs, horses, etc.

Glad to hear that your wisdom tooth came in and seems to be okay. I still have 2 of mine that are impacted. The other 2 started to come in so I had them removed since I didn't have room for them.

Happy Reading!!

pretty kitties!

OK, I've been lurking around and I decided to follow you. I'm really interested in what you might read.

Also way up to #26 is the book To Touch a Wild Dolphin. It sounds like a good book. I love dolphins, they are my second favorite animal.

Mwahahaha! Looks like I might have toppled a few of you with that last book bullet... :-)

Genny - Ouch! You shoot from the hip, don't you? Got me right back - onto the wishlist it goes!

Monica - Ohhh, it's still not through. It breaks the gum, sits there stinging for a bit, then vanishes quietly away until I get complacement again... Never fear, I have Bonjela on hand to zap it next time (or just to eat in the meantime, yummy!).

Hi Nathan! What's your number one favourite? To Touch a Wild Dolphin was really brilliant if you're in any way interested in dolphins - I got mine from the library but I think I'm going to have to buy a copy for keepers...

Now, how did I miss those adorable kitty photos? How old is Millie? Looks like she's still a bit of a baby.

The Shallows points up the eternal verity: "In consuming all things, exercise moderation."

No less true with addictive things like the Interweb. A **wonderful** tool, a huge boon, an enormous problem solved by its use!

Just like heroin.

>100 elliepotten: Oh, I get it. My number one favortie animal. Well that would have to be the dragon. The supposingly "mythical" one. But if that doesn't count then the dolphin is my number one favorite animal.

Excellent review of the Shallows. It's already on my TBR pile. I'm also adding We, which sounds fascinating.

Deborah - I think they're both about six months old now. Millie is smaller and rangier though, like a miniature lion, and she still looks the most babyish when she's asleep or being tickled. Domino's a bit bigger and stockier but she has the cutest little miaow when she wants fuss, rolling the 'rrrrrr' at the beginning. *drifts off on sea of cuteness*

Richard - That's the spirit! But yes, exactly. Brilliant tool, disturbing side-effects...

Nathan - Stupid question, really. Clue's in the name and all that... Actually I thought you were going to say 'tiger', for some reason.

Moving on... :-)

Any more on the Readathon Monday? Are you still thinking on it?

Hiya! The Shallows and To Touch a Wild Dolphin both sound worthwhile! Drive by hug!

I'm back from looking at the Hot Review list and I just wanted to say that ELLIE'S NUMBER 1! Oh, and she has the #1 top hot review as well... ;)

Congratulations, Ellie!

Hi Ellie, delurking to say that while Monday/Tuesday are busy days for me, I might pop in to a readathon if you feel so inclined to have one. I missed the last few and am having withdrawal symptoms. Who would have thought that reading 'together' with a group from all over the world could be so satisfying?

Oh yeah, a few 'catch up' comments. Cute kittens, good books, no flood -- and Ellie still has her felicity with words and life in general. All is right with the world. Oh, and congrats on the hot review. Going over to check it out.

Thanks for the Hot Review, guys! And for the effusive congrats, Stephen... :-)

Stasia - Sorry, it's been a mad weekend! A very very busy day yesterday, and a very quiet but sleepy and generally achy day today (we've all had them...). I spoke to my newly-back-from-Ghana father today and he won't be coming up over those days, I don't think, so I should be good to go! I've started a thread and posted the link on the Read-a-Thons thread.

Donna - I know, me too, a bit! I just haven't felt as inclined to read so much over my days off without the whole read-a-thon set-up to keep me going. But I really need to get a few YA titles read over the next week or so, so that I have some books to contribute to the bookshop shelves and displays for half-term week! The kittens are being very cute and crazy right now, I think you'd approve... :-)

Okay, listen up friends! Another read-a-thon's happening Monday-Tuesday, same set-up as usual and I'll be trying very hard not to go to sleep... A good nap after work might be in order, methinks - I've been getting up much earlier recently to have breakfast and watch an episode of something kooky before work, so I'll need a little snooze before we kick off! If anyone wants to join in, the thread's here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/109947
It's fun, you can read as much or as little as you want, depending on your schedule, and everyone's welcome... :-)

Ellie - too bad it wasn't this weekend! I think I got a total of 8 hours of sleep since Friday, but I was busy with things other than reading. . .

The read-a-thon's started! But I've already had to take an hour out to move down to the family house because my boiler had broken down when I got home from work... Still, 39 pages down, 50 minutes reading, 10 minutes posting, and I'm reading Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman, so I'm not doing too badly...

>114 Ape: Thanks Stephen! Nice ra-ra skirt...

HOUR 3

I've been reading: 'Boys Don't Cry' by Malorie Blackman (ts playing up)
Books finished: None
Pages read: 14
Posting time: 10 minutes
Reading time: 25 minutes

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 53
Total time read: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total time posting: 20 minutes

The Menu: Nada
Comments: Well, I managed to get a little more reading done, for a few minutes in the kitchen while my parents were still watching telly, then after they went up to bed. Now I've got the downstairs to myself, so I should be able to get back to reading now, maybe go make a drink, make sure I keep the fire stoked to keep me warm... I might even relent and let the kittens back in, they've been racing round like mad things so I left them in the next room in the hope that they might settle down!

Yeah well, boys don't cry and boys can't wear skirts, it's no fair! *Cries into his pom poms*

Awww, you can cry if you like.... Though this particular book is about a boy whose former girlfriend shows up, tells him he has a daughter, then deserts them both leaving him very much holding the baby. Possibly not the comparison you were going for? :-)

HOUR 4

I've been reading: Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
Books finished: None
Pages read: 20
Posting time: 10 minutes
Reading time: 35 minutes

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 73
Total time read: 1 hour 50 minutes
Total time posting: 30 minutes

The Menu: A slice of pizza
Comments: The 'rents are abed, so I got a bit more reading done this hour. Only problem is, I'm now having to battle the stupid log fire instead, which just doesn't want to stay roaring and lovely right now. Puff puff puff go the bellows, whoosh go the flames, 'Fabulous', thinketh I... then by the time I've sat down again the bloody thing's back to glowing embers! Grrrrrr. Maybe I'll just let it die down and get the blankets out instead... Onwards!

Oh dear, no, me and girl-children are not a good match. "No dating until your 30" and all that. :o

glitter-graphics.com

>119 Ape: - I don't think me and ANY children are a good match... Not unless they're very sweet, come into the shop, behave very politely, then leave again quietly and painlessly... ;-)

>120 leperdbunny: - Thanks!

HOUR 5

I've been reading: Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
Books finished: None
Pages read: 29
Posting time: 15 minutes
Reading time: 45 minutes

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 102
Total time read: 2 hours 35 minutes
Total time posting: 45 minutes

The Menu: A couple of mouthfuls of New York cheesecake (sooooo good!), Ovaltine
Comments: A good solid hour of reading - and the log fire finally settled itself and crackled away beautifully without too much tending, hooray! The book's not exciting, exactly, but it's pretty interesting and absorbing, reading about this teenage boy who's found out he has a daughter and been left to look after alone, all in the same day. An different perspective to usual, which is good...

HOUR 6

I've been reading: Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
Books finished: None
Pages read: 27
Posting time: 10 minutes
Reading time: 35 minutes

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 129
Total time read: 3 hours 10 minutes
Total time posting: 55 minutes

The Menu: A piece of Spanish tortilla with black pepper, Ovaltine
Comments: Another decent spell of reading - this book is really very good, and rather sweet - but I must admit, I'm getting tired now! I've not really had much to eat or drink, either, being in my parents' house. It feels weird having to creep to the kitchen in case I wake anyone up - I think I'll move back to the flat as soon as it feels legitimately like morning, just get the fan heater running and hole up in the living room. Brrrr! Anyway, it's 2am so I think I might try and get a few minutes' sleep now before I reach that really icky wee-small-hours feeling...

HOUR 7-9

I've been reading: Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
Books finished: None
Pages read: 31
Posting time: 10 minutes
Reading time: 50 minutes

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 160
Total time read: 4 hours
Total time posting: 1 hour 5 minutes

The Menu: A bit of water
Comments: Well, I needed that sleep! Normally I just snooze until my next hourly alarm but I decided to add myself an extra hour on this time, since I didn't manage a nap before I started thanks to the boiler thing. But I had a good 50 minutes reading when I woke up, and now I'm getting hungry so I'm going to go get myself a nice cup of tea and something to munch as a (very) early breakfast...

HOUR 10

I've been reading: Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
Books finished: None
Pages read: 12
Posting time: 20 minutes
Reading time: 25 minutes

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 172
Total time read: 4 hours 25 minutes
Total time posting: 1 hour 25 minutes

The Menu: Tea, a piece each of tortilla and pizza
Comments: Another few pages down, I'm a bit more awake now, I have a cuppa... the morning has begun! I did make the mistake of letting the kittens in, only for one to start chewing the edge of the muffin box and one to immediately discover the pizza, so they're back in the next room for the time being!

HOUR 11-12

I've been reading: Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
Books finished: None
Pages read: 21
Posting time: 20 minutes
Reading time: 50 minutes

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 193
Total time read: 5 hours 15 minutes
Total time posting: 1 hour 45 minutes

The Menu: A little more tea
Comments: A little more reading and another much-needed nap... This time I was joined by a small black and white kitten who pounded away very happily at my entire blanket before finally settling down in the crook of my leg with her head on my knee. Awwww! Now, to stay here and be distracted every five minutes, or to move back up to the cold flat and see how it goes?

The Halfway House

1) What have you been reading over the first half of the read-a-thon?
Only one book so far - Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman.

2) How are you getting on with your current book?
Pretty well! I'm well over halfway through and it's a pretty interesting and absorbing read. I think it helps having the male perspective on the 'teen parent going it alone' story - Dante is a really likeable character and with his dad and brother on hand, it's making for a really good read.

3) Here's something a little different! Name your faves...
- Favourite novel? The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, or maybe The Secret History by Donna Tartt
- Most inspiring book? Biblioholism by Tom Raabe for bookishness, Eat, Pray, Love for a good life attitude - it came along at the perfect time for me!
- Favourite literary hero or heroine? I think Jane Eyre will always be one of my favourite heroines. I fall in love with half the fictional men I come across so it's hard to choose one guy!
- Favourite literary villain? I think Fagin and Bill Sykes in Oliver Twist are amazingly written. Bill Sykes just oozes menace even when he doesn't appear on the page, and Fagin is so exquisitely written that you recoil from him even as you feel faintly sorry for him.
- Favourite screen adaptation of a book or play? Ummmm. I can't even answer my own question - I'm a sucker for an adaptation and there are so many to choose from!
- What's the one book you would recommend to anyone and everyone? The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, no question. Every single person, young or old, should read this witty, honest, heartbreaking, incredible book at least once.

HOUR 13

I've been reading: Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
Books finished: None
Pages read: 8
Posting time: 20 minutes
Reading time: 10 minutes

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 201
Total time read: 5 hours 25 minutes
Total time posting: 2 hour 5 minutes

The Menu: Zilch
Comments: Yet another interrupted hour, in which the house came back to life, little Millie (kitten #2) went off to the vet's to be speyed, and I decamped back up to the flat to see if I could warm the place up a bit with strategically placed heaters. The bloody engineer's not coming until tomorrow sometime so I still have tonight to think about, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it... Hopefully this next hour should be pain-free and reading-full though, hooray!

HOUR 14

I've been reading: Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
Books finished: None
Pages read: 41
Posting time: 5 minutes
Reading time: 50 minutes

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 242
Total time read: 6 hours 15 minutes
Total time posting: 2 hours 10 minutes

The Menu: Choc chip muffin, coffee
Comments: Aaaah, now we're back on a roll! It may be cold up here in the heating-less flat, but at least I'm back on home ground and I've barely looked up from my book the whole hour. It's really gotten good - I've welled up a few times, too - and I think I'll only be another hour or two before I'm finished...

HOUR 15

I've been reading: Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
Books finished: None
Pages read: 40
Posting time: 10 minutes
Reading time: 45 minutes

Total books read: 0
Total pages read: 282
Total time read: 7 hours
Total time posting: 2 hours 20 minutes

The Menu: A piece of tortilla with black pepper, a mouthful or two of cheesecake and a couple of gulps of red grape juice. I'm grazing again!
Comments: This book continues to be absolutely gripping at this point, and I'm having to listen very carefully for the supermarket delivery van so I have time to wipe away the tears and make myself look presentable before the doorbell rings! It's been a long time since I read a Malorie Blackman novel - I'd forgotten how darn good she is at getting just the response she wants! So, there'll be a little disruption next hour - helping my mum with a chore or two, and sorting out the shopping - but hopefully I'll have finished the book within two hours at the most. Hooray!

HOUR 16

I've been reading: Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman; The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks
Books finished: Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman
Pages read: 28
Posting time: 5 minutes
Reading time: 35 minutes

Total books read: 1
Total pages read: 310
Total time read: 7 hours 35 minutes
Total time posting: 2 hours 25 minutes

The Menu: The last of my slice of New York baked cheesecake - heaven!
Comments: I finished my first book! Hooray! And what an excellent book it was. Blackman has her impeccable reputation for a reason. It's about a boy who is, quite literally, left holding the baby when his long-gone ex turns up, tells him the bundle in her buggy is his, then legs it. Throw in a father who's trying to keep his family together in finest manly style, and a brother struggling to balance his out 'n' proud gayness with the homophobia around him, and you've got a thoughtful and moving book. Sooooo, next up I'm onto something a little lighter, a little more escapist - The Reformed Vampire Support Group. Should be fun. My shopping delivery driver's stuck behind a funeral procession right now ('I can't really beep my horn at this one, love') so I'll get cracking on the next hour!

Mornin' Stephen!

HOURS 17-18

I've been reading: The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks
Books finished: None
Pages read: 25
Posting time: 15 minutes
Reading time: 50 minutes

Total books read: 1
Total pages read: 335
Total time read: 8 hours 25 minutes
Total time posting: 2 hours 40 minutes

The Menu: Yummy yummy pizza and white hot chocolate
Comments: I've run my hours together again since I had a big interruption in the middle to go do a few chores and wait for/sort out the food shopping delivery. I've had a good spell of reading since then but now I'm sooooooo tired again! It may be time for a nap again before long, my eyes are going all blurry, never a good sign... On the plus side, my new read, while not exactly gripping, is pretty amusing and a bit different, so I'm hoping for good things. Onwards!

Morning! Or, good afternoon! I see you are doing quite well considering all the interruptions you've had. 330 pages, go you! :)

What Stephen said, Ellie!

Don't speak too soon - I've just spent the last hour and a half huddled under multiple layers asleep!

HOURS 19-20

I've been reading: The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks
Books finished: None
Pages read: 7
Posting time: 15 minutes
Reading time: 15 minutes

Total books read: 1
Total pages read: 342
Total time read: 8 hours 40 minutes
Total time posting: 2 hours 55 minutes

The Menu: Nothing much... I think?
Comments: I don't think TRFSG is going to be the right book for a read-a-thon, it's neither here nor there at the moment. Amusing but not that amusing, vampire fiction but not really vampire fiction, adventure but thus far lacking in adventure... you get the picture. All of which doesn't add up to a bad book, but it does spell disaster for trying to read after a night of wakefulness! I spent the last hour and a half asleep instead...

Hey Ellie! I was going to post a vampire cheerleader but...uhhh, well...none of the images I was finding were what I had in mind...D'oh!

Go you! C'mon, you have to at least hit 400 pages! :)

Well, wouldn't you know, for the first time ever in my read-a-thons I hit the book wall. I just didn't want to read another page! So I put down my book, headed down to the house, and had a break. Millie's back from her op and fast asleep on the sofa, Mum was doing the Times crossword so I helped with that, Domino was desperate for some fuss because she felt left out, then I went and had a glorious shower in the spare room en suite. In the flat, all I have is a tub with a little shower-over thing, pitiful water pressure, tiny surface area, smaller tank, you get the idea. So half an hour in a big shower with a huge flat high-pressure spray.... aaaaaaah.

Anyway, enough of that. Point is, I'm now ready to get back in the game for the last two hours. On we go!

HOUR 23

I've been reading: The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks
Books finished: None
Pages read: 28
Posting time: 15 minutes
Reading time: 40 minutes

Total books read: 1
Total pages read: 370
Total time read: 9 hours 20 minutes
Total time posting: 3 hours 10 minutes

The Menu: Grazing at everything I have left - a handful of M'n'Ms, some sweet popcorn, tortilla, and pizza
Comments: Aaaaaand she's back. Amazing what a decent break and a long shower can do! The book's still leaning further towards 'dull' than I had hoped or expected, but I'll give it this last hour to improve before I decide whether to keep reading or not. It has potential so I don't want to cheat myself by throwing in the towel too early! One hour to go...

Ah, the shower does sound nice! I have pathetic water pressure myself, so it's no good at all. :(

Hey Ellie! I was going to post a vampire cheerleader in the shower but...uhhh, well...none of the images I was finding were what I had in mind...D'oh!

Oh dear... There's just no keeping you down is there? So to speak. I just love that shower! It was installed when the spare room was MY room, before I moved into the flat, and it's so wonderful. My long hair takes UNDER TEN MINUTES to wet through for washing my hair, and I can completely dry off, with room to spare, IN THE CUBICLE so I don't get cold. Marvellous. Oh, and I was LESS THAN ONE PAGE off 400 pages - I would have been over, but Dad rang five minutes before the end, with his impeccable timing!

HOUR 24

I've been reading: The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks
Books finished: None
Pages read: 29
Posting time: 10 minutes
Reading time: 40 minutes

Total books read: 1
Total pages read: 399
Total time read: 10 hours
Total time posting: 3 hours 20 minutes

The Menu: More grazing, plus a white hot chocolate and a mouthful or two of a decadent cheesecake I accidentally accepted as a sub in my food delivery. It's huge!
Comments: Okay, so the book got a whole lot better once I'd had a break... Not a stay-up-all-night page turner thus far, but better nonetheless! Anyway, another read-a-thon is over and although I was definitely more tired (and therefore took more breaks and read less) I don't think I did too badly, especially with all the interruptions! I might carry on reading for a bit actually, at least until I've finished my hot choccy... :-)

The End-of-Event Meme

1) How many books did you end up reading from over the day? What were they?
I only read from two books this time - I read the whole of Malorie Blackman's Boys Don't Cry, which is another RHCB review copy finished AND should be a hit if I add it to our half-term window display at the shop, being so new and all. Then I moved on to The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks. Jury's out on that one...

2) Did you have any hairy moments along the way? Maybe you got super-tired when you wanted to read, or had an unforeseen crisis?!
I was definitely much more tired this time, which had a knock-on effect on every aspect of the read-a-thon really. Plus there were extra distractions - a delayed food delivery, a kitten's operation, a dead boiler (and therefore an icy flat), the subsequent move down to the house for the night and back this morning, phone calls, chores...

3) Which book did you enjoy the most?
Definitely Boys Don't Cry. It made ME cry, and perfectly balanced the grittier side of the story with sweeter and more heartwarming elements.

4) Have you added any books to your wishlist from other participants' reading and discussion over the last twenty-four hours?
Lots! Reading the OED, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Rules of Attraction...

5) What did you enjoy most about the day?
Being back in the game! It's been a week or two... I just like the pampering aspect I guess - although a read-a-thon is more gruelling than it sounds (at least, it is if you're actually going for 24 hours, I must be mad!) and really exhausting, there's still something decadent about sitting down and saying 'right, for 24 hours my life is all about books, coffee and junk food!'

6) What is the one piece of advice you'd give to someone who's thinking of joining in the next read-a-thon?
Remember that whenever it is and whoever's hosting, it's your read-a-thon! The hosts are just there to do a little admin and motivating really - the rest's up to you... My best advice would be to make it your own, post how you want, sleep when you want, read what you want, and let yourself shine through. Have fun, and don't be afraid to chat and cheer! If everyone pours a little of themselves into the day it becomes almost like a long-distance book club-cum-sleepover, which is great!

Well I tried to get back into the thread for the read a thon and I keep getting this warning that there is a possible virus in there so I can't read everyones last posts. So I will just read yours.

You did a great job reading today even with having to change locations and everything. Oh Boy's Don't Cry sounds like a really good book. I love your advice for the last question.

You did another great job hosting this read a thon. Thanks again for such a wonderful time. I just wish I could have read more. Maybe next time. Now go get some rest!! :)

Hey Ellie, thanks again for hosting yesterday's readathon. I am sad that you won't be able to host anymore for awhile (such a good upbeat host!).

I really enjoy tracking what I'm reading, and I have no idea why! Thats how this library thing got started in the first place, because I was forever getting 1/4 through a book and realizing I read it 10 years ago. I needed to start tracking what I read. Then I needed to see if I could read xx amount of books... now it seems that I need to see how many pages of reading I can get done :) its a little bit of a sickness...

Congratulations on another successful Readathon, Ellie!

What Stasia said, Ellie. :)

399 pages is fantastic!

Thank you lovely people! I must say, despite the tiredness and the disruption I really enjoyed it! And who knows, if business stays slow for a bit longer and we sneak in another two-day-off week or two, I might be able to host another one yet... *crosses fingers*

The BAD news is that when the boiler repair man finally arrived yesterday, he couldn't actually repair it. The fan's gone and he doesn't carry the parts for that, so I might have to wait until Monday for a warm flat... It's been okay for the most part, using a fan heater and a microwaveable beanie in the living room, an electric blanket in bed and Mum's shower down in the house, but this morning I slept through one alarm and didn't have time for any hot coffee or heater-time. Brrrrrr, getting dressed without having warmed up a bit first wasn't pleasant! :-(

Little Millie's doing superbly well after her op, she hasn't had to have the lamp collar on at all, she's bouncing about like nothing's happened! And once the initial vet smell dissipated Domino stopped growling at her and realised it was just Millie after all, so they're good... Awwwwwwww!

Right, next up, a review!

Glad to hear that Millie is doing well although I am sorry to hear about the boiler.

ETA: I've removed the touchstones from the review itself - the top one's okay - because the whole thing was playing up something chronic. About six edits and it's still not right so I gave up!

15) Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman



It’s been a fair while since I’ve read a Malorie Blackman novel, so I was delighted when 'Boys Don’t Cry' arrived for review. Blackman is surely one of most enduring and respected figures in young adult literature, taking over from Judy Blume as the foremost writer of brilliantly written teen books tackling serious issues in a smart, accessible way. Happily for me, 'Boys Don’t Cry' is another shining example…

The main focus of the book is young Dante Bridgeman, a seventeen year-old boy whose A-level triumph is flattened when his ex-girlfriend arrives on his doorstep with a buggy in tow. To Dante’s horror, she confesses that the baby girl asleep in the pram is his, then asks him to look after her for a few minutes while she goes to the shops to buy nappies. She never comes back. It is time for Dante to step up and work out what the future will hold for him and his daughter. At the same time, Dante’s younger brother Adam is struggling to balance his ‘out and proud’ attitude with the vicious homophobia running rife among his peers, while his father, the rock of the family, tries to hold everything together.

It was a delight to watch Dante evolve as a character as the pages went by, first accepting little Emma, then beginning to bond with her, taking on responsibility for her upbringing, and finally learning to truly love her. It was a real twist on the old ‘teen mother left to raise baby’ plot, which was refreshing. This family of three male characters is so likeable and honest and real, that the reader can’t help but root for them every step of the way. You want Dante to bond completely with his daughter, you want Adam to find happiness, you want their father to stay solid and do the right thing to support his boys. Blackman doesn’t shy away from ‘telling it like it is’, showing how hard it is to be a parent and how ugly prejudice of any kind can be, and her novel was gripping from start to finish. It made me smile, and I shed a fair few tears along the way as well… Highly recommended!

Sounds interesting! If my library gets it, I'll check it out :)

On a side note, reminds me a bit of Raising Hope. RH is a comedy tho, but he knocks up a chick who gets the death penalty, so he gets the baby when she's executed. Oh, and the wonderful Cloris Leachman plays senile . . . hilarious.

Sounds... well, interesting! 'Death penalty', 'executed' and 'comedy' in the same movie, hmmm...

Malorie Blackman's a stalwart of teen lit anyway, so I thought it'd be good, but what was really nice was how her book feels so fresh. Some more established teen authors seem to get stuck in their style a bit - I've been reading Blackman for over ten years now! - but this was really clean and up-to-date. And I must say, Dante aside, I thought the Adam storyline, with the homophobic bullying and his slow change away from being 'out and proud' as a result, was absolutely brilliantly done. I just ached for him - and cried a whole load...

Looks like that might have to be added to the wishlist...

I might have to go back through her previous novels and add more of her backlist to mine! I remember Pig Heart Boy from my early teens, and I have Noughts and Crosses, but other than that I'm pitifully low...

In other news, when we arrived at the shop this morning I popped down to the far door to see if there was any post and found a huge stack of Book Depository parcels waiting for me outside. Hooray! Thus far I've had... eight? One was for Mum, Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. It strikes me that the rest of the series would make a fantastic present for her upcoming birthday... It's her 50th, so I figured I'd better start shopping now! I also got The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, which was one of my all-time favourite and most influential books as I grew up, though not necessarily in a good way... The Espressologist by Kristina Springer and The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee by Stewart Lee Allen make an apt pairing. Smack by Melvin Burgess. Treasures of the Natural History Museum by Vicki Paterson and Storm Chaser: A Photographer's Journey by Jim Reed for a bit of natural history to drool over. Ummmm, The Winter of Our Disconnect by Susan Maushart, about a family who gave up all their internet, TV, mobiles etc. as a kind of social experiment. A rather nice little haul, if I do say so myself - now I just need to get through the YA fortnight of half term and finish my library books and I can get stuck in! :-)

ETA: Well, I just checked my order and I already got The Arsenic Century before our days off, so it looks like I'm just waiting for The Big Necessity by Rose George to round things off. Hooray for humungous book orders!

I sympathise with your heating woes, Ellie. Our boiler has broken too (it's been like that since mid-January and we're waiting to see if it can be fixed). Getting out of bed in the mornings is so difficult.

If you enjoy YA fiction that tackles serious issues might I suggest Sara Zarr's novels? I've read Story of a Girl and Sweethearts both of which are really good reads.

Monday!?!? *weeps* I'll try to send some of my warm weather to England, it's a sweltering above-freezing temperature here!

Nice review of Boys Don't Cry, Ellie. Unfortunately for me, my local library does not have a single of Blackman's titles including that one.

Just passing by... and saying 'Hi!' :-)

>151 Ygraine: - Oh yes... Here's hoping both boilers are fixed soon!

> 152 - Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for her books in the shop!

> Stephen - Well, yes, it's above freezing here too, but in an old stone house it soon gets chilled through without any heating! :-(

> Stasia - Not a single one? That's pretty bad... Though I suppose she is a British author so maybe that doesn't help?#

> Ilana - Hi right back! :-)

Millie had to go back to the vet's last night after she pulled every last stitch out while we were at work yesterday, the silly cat. She never it touched them the whole time we were off! It was the same sweet young vet who was there when we had Pippa put to sleep and even though she came out specially out-of-hours, she waived the fee for us. She's so brilliant, honestly... In the meantime, Domino's become alternately the World's Most Bonkers Cat and the World's Soppiest Cat, desperate for fuss and racing round like a mad thing. Poor babies...

Oh, and speaking of kittens, I just put the most beautiful children's book out in the shop. It's called A Kitten Called Moonlight, by Martin Waddell, and it's so sweet, with the most beautiful and adorable illustrations. Definitely one of the nicest I've seen, and very highly recommended for young children!

I hope the kitties are better today, Ellie.

I must say the cover of the book is lovely.

I will need to pick up a copy of Boys Don't Cry! Thanks for the review!

Eek! Sorry to hear about Millie!

(*Mumbles something or other about space heaters*)

My first cat pulled out her stitches twice and the vet just let her go stitch-less the second time - she was fine.

When I had my two girls done a couple of years ago, I had the vet use special internal stitches so that there was nothing there for them to pull out. They're big mutual groomers and I could easily see that the lamp collars might prevent them taking out their own stitches, but they'd have each other's out in a heartbeat. It worked beautifully and they healed with no issues.

Hope Millie keeps these ones in!

*waves* Drive by hug!

I'd swear I just left a post saying hooray for the big pile of shiny new books, and hoping that the cats are being less bonkers, but apparently I am also bonkers because it doesn't seem to be here.

I hope I just forgot to hit submit rather than accidentally posting it on another thread. Hmmm...

Millie's managed to pull two of the four new staples out, but it's starting to heal a bit underneath now so hopefully all will be well in the end... What a little muppet. Mind you, Graham didn't help - he was supposed to be watching her while she had her collar off for a few minutes for some food and a wash, but when Mum came back five minutes later he was reading the paper and another staple had magically disappeared...

Oh, good news on the boiler front: we've had no word whatsoever so it could be as late as next Friday before it's fixed - and it's now snowing. Still, it's making work feel like a sauna in comparison, and it's an excellent excuse to cocoon myself in a blanket with a hot lavender beanie and hot chocolate of an evening! If it didn't make getting dressed in the morning so darn unpleasant it wouldn't be so bad...

Stephen - Mmmmm, space heaters. We don't call them that here (I don't think) so it always reminds me of a hot 'n' hunky Jacob offering to be a 'personal space heater' and snuggling into a sleeping bag with Bella in Eclipse! ;-)

I love my big pile of books! I even took a photo for the blog - maybe I'll upload it and copy it across tonight, when I've finished the post. Oh, AND I went to the Co-op this morning for some different hot chocolate sachets for work (every day I have Ovaltine, then white hot choc, then draw a blank) and bought a gorgeous little book on rocks and minerals. Brilliant photos, nice little sections on each one, cute cover, and all for the bargainous price of £2.99. Hooray!

Glad to hear Millie is on the mend despite continuing to dispose of the staples. Hopefully, she will continue to get better and not have to go to the vet yet again.

Somehow your good news on the boiler front does not sound like good news. I hope that problem gets fixed quicker than it sounds like it is going to!

Ellie: Yes, I know, and I definitely wasn't insinuating anything like that! :P

*Grumbles about incompetent boiler men*

Well, looking at the silver lining on the snow cloud, I get to use the nice shower down in the house, don't I? And snuggle up warm like a bug in a rug of an evening. And keep my electric blanket on alllllllll night in a very decadent manner. And drink hot chocolate. And before that, milkshake with copious amounts of Irish cream in it, 'for warmth'....

P.S. Thanks Stasia! I'll give them both an extra squidge from you tonight! :-)

Still not warm yet, huh? :(

The engineer rang at a stupid time this morning (who rings at half eight on a Sunday? I thought someone must have died or something!) - and he can fix it on Tuesday! Hooray! Saves a wait until Friday anyway, since no one's in on Weds and Thurs... Other than getting dressed in cold clothes and freezing air it's not been so bad - and this morning I tumbled my jeans around in front of the fan heater for half an hour before I got changed, which helped!

Stephen - check your emails, I'm too lazy to go allllll the way to my profile to go to YOUR profile to leave a message... *yawns and wonders why That Sunday Feeling always has to hit even when it's been a fairly chilled day* :-)

Hooray for Tuesday!

How are the kittens today?

They're okay! Domino's gone a bit whappy again, and Millie's being very fussy and having to stay in a cage for a while each evening until she settles down, but both are doing well! I think Millie's side is healing a bit now, so she should be able to start playing and enjoying things a bit more again soon. Silly kitten - we're having to keep them apart for the time being because Domino goes and jumps on her as soon as they're together again!

I've finished The Reformed Vampire Support Group, so I'll get working on the review tomorrow I think. We've had some vile customers and/or kids in here today and there's only a few minutes to go before closing, so I think I'll just get stuck into a new read and leave the thinking for another day... :-)

What? Emails? But it isn't even my birthday! :P

Hurray for fewer frigid days, and lazy Sundays!

Hi Ellie! Found you again. : ) Hope your kitty continues to heal well and sending you lots of WARM thoughts!! Added Boys Don't Cry to my list. Thanks!

Hope the kitty is healing well. It is hard to convince kittens that it is in their best interest not to romp and play isn't it? :)

#170: I am glad to hear that your 'babies' are OK.

I look forward to the review of the Jinks book.

Our boiler is fixed now, so sending warm thoughts your way to last you until Tuesday!

Stasia - Is it weird that we call them 'the babies'? But they are! Baby cats! :-)

>175 Ygraine: - Hooray for boiler repairs! It's snowing again here so it couldn't come soon enough, really...

16) The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks



The Reformed Vampire Support Group takes vampire mythology and popular culture and dumps it unceremoniously on its head. Its unlikely heroine (and deliciously deadpan narrator), Nina, is a 51 year-old vampire who was infected when she was 15 and is sick of being treated like a kid as a result. She is a writer of vampire fiction (though she’s ‘no Stephenie Meyer’) starring the beautiful and powerful Zelda Bloodstone. Sadly, life for a real vamp isn’t quite so exciting. Nina and the other vampires in her therapy group are dead by day and ill most of the rest of the time. They feed on a guinea pig a day, ‘fanged’ in the bathroom (easier to clean) and placed in a ziplock bag in the freezer so the RSPCA don’t get suspicious. They suffer terrible stomach problems and blinding headaches, take numerous supplements to ease their pain, and wear sunglasses all night so their eyes don’t haemorrhage. Sounds fun, huh?

But things are about to get interesting for the Reformed Vampire Support Group and their human friend Father Ramon. When a member of their group is killed by an unknown slayer, they must take urgent steps to ensure that their own lives aren’t in danger. Alas, their investigations lead them slap bang into a shady underworld of guns and silver bullets, underground cells and werewolf fights. Rescuing dangerously sexy young werewolf Reuben is only the start of their problems. The slayer is still out there, and now they have a pair of thugs on their tail to boot…

This really is a very clever novel, referencing all kinds of vampire stories from Dracula to Underworld, and shooting them all down in flames. Jinks’ unique take on vampire fiction is witty and satirical, with a keen eye for the ridiculous. The characters are wonderfully diverse, from frail but feisty little Nina and her chain-smoking elderly human mother Estelle, to sweet old knitting-obsessed vampire Bridget and flamboyant cape-wearing menace Horace. The idea of a ‘reformed vampire’ therapy group, led by a priest and devoted to talking out fragile feelings and vampiric dilemmas, is pure genius. All in all, a solid little read, and well worth a look for a bit of refreshment from conventional vampire novels!

#176: I already read that one, so I can pass on that book bullet.

Is it weird that we call them 'the babies'?

I do not think it is weird at all myself :)

>177 alcottacre: - Dammit! I just hate a misfire... ;-)

#178: I miss people on my thread all the time. Get used to it :) lol

don't worry Ellie, that book bullet hit me

Me too. I've been watching the various reviews people have posted, and I think yours just put it over the top.

Hit me too! I hadn't heard of it until now, so *BAM* you got me... owww...

Weeeeell, it's a bit of fun and a good firm poke in the direction of conventional vampire lit... I enjoyed it! I've read a good chunk of Icefire today - another rainy, miserable, snowy, sleety, foggy day keeping those elusive tourists away from Bakewell. We might end up having a day off this week after all, it's hardly going to be worth working a 7-day week if no one's here!

#176 I've been eying that one at work the last couple weeks. Onto the TBR list it goes.

I'm glad you enjoyed The Reformed Vampire Support Group. I read it last fall and thought it was great! Have you read anything else by Catherine Jinks? I've loved everything I've read by her, though Evil Genius stands out in my memory - very fun and twisty!

dang you got me!
Well actually it was already on my radar cos I loved Catherine Jinks' Pagan Chronicles which are hilarious although I've still not been able to get my hands on the last book due to them being out of print :( But I really will have to get a copy of The Reformed Vampire Group

I've also read and enjoyed The Reformed Vampire Support Group and its sequel. So pleased you enjoyed that one.

Wow, I didn't know she'd written so many other books! I guess I'll be keeping an eye well peeled for her in the shop and the charity shops, then... Plus I might order The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group at some point... Darn it, rebound book bullets! *clutches wishlist desperately and slowly keels over*

You'll be damn lucky if you actually find any of her earlier books it was hard enough for me to get 3 of the 4 Pagan books but it might be possible to find on Abe books.
I don't suppose I could call cheeky dibs on the Reformed Vampire Support Group before it goes? *bats eyes* pretty please and I can send you a book for the shop in it's stead?

I haven't tried any of her books, the only ones I had heard of were the Evil Genius ones from seeing them at the library.

Rachel, do you get Half.com over there? I just did a quick search and they have all 4 on there starting at 75 cents.

>Katie hmm I dunno if they'd ship over to the UK and even if they did I reckon it'd add like £10 to the price :/ Maybe I can hunt up a copy when I go to Florida in June.

I think the problem might partially be to do with the fact that she's an Australian author - or at least, I'm assuming so, since it's set in Sydney - so perhaps she hasn't been published over here so much?

ETA: I just checked, and hooray! You can get The Reformed Vampire Support Group for about £1 on Amazon, plus buy it new from Amazon itself, so evidently it HAS been published here. As has Evil Genius... There's hope after all!

Another ETA: I searched by author instead of title and it turns out a whole swathe of Jinks books are available! New from Amazon as well as used - and the ones that aren't available from Amazon itself are still only a couple of quid or so, new, plus p&p. Fantabulous... :-)

Anyone know where I should post a 'help, what the heck is this book?' request. There was a ghost story I adored at school and I can't remember the title!

It's about a girl called Helen (maybe) who was writing a sonata when she died, leaving the sonata unfinished and a sinister blot of ink on the page at that point. Years later, another girl (Megan? Meghan?) finds the sonata, but when she tries to play it, she feels like she's dying and blacks out when she gets to that awful ink blot. She starts to see Helen's ghost, and every night she goes into a kind of trance and when she wakes up another section of the sonata is written - and when she's finished, the only way to set the 'ghost' free is to finish what she started: wear the white dress she was wearing when she died and play the sonata in public, right through the ink blot to the end. My cover had a girl with long red hair wearing a white dress and playing the piano, with her back to the artist.

Does this ring a bell for anyone? I've searched on Amazon and tried every possible combination of key words I can think of on Google, and I'm still having no luck!

Try the Name that book group. And they will love you the more if you follow the directions on the group page home page about thread titles.

Thanks! Have done... Don't you just hate it when you read a book from the library or something, and it stuck with you for a decade or more but you can't for the life of you remember a title or author to find it again? Grrrr!

#195: Kate beat me to the suggestion. Sorry I cannot help, Ellie!

ellie/193: I did a quick tagmash of ghost,piano but none of the returns looked like yours. ghost,music returned quite a lot of titles, but I don't have time to look at each one of them. Do any of these look like yours?
http://www.librarything.com/tag/ghosts,+music

Sounds good, whatever it's called!

Nope, no luck so far. I tried different tagmashes too, like 'piano, young adult' and 'young adult, music' but so far the right book remains elusive. Somebody out there must have read it, sometime... *sigh*

On the plus side, I've discovered a couple of new books from the lists, and remembered a couple more much-loved old teen reads as well! Oh, and MY HEATING'S BACK! I walked through my door after work and was hit by warmth instead of Arctic tundra!

Is it possible to access that cover-thing they were working on before? Where people went through each cover and tagged it, so that tag-mashing would retrieve the cover, and then you'd know the title. Or was that just for LTFL?

No idea! Silly book. Maybe the title will spontaneously come to me sometime when I'm in that half-thinking state. Y'know, like when you're washing up or in the shower or something... *crosses fingers firmly*

Rach - Did you want me to send you TRVSG or would you prefer to order it from Amazon for yourself? This one is probably in 'good+' condition - the spine's creased and so's the cover, but in a fairly clean and recently-used kinda way rather than a 'beat up old wreck' kinda way, if you see what I mean. Up to you, it's still here in the YA bag... :-)

And lo! We're at the shop again. With children and mobile phone ringtones and muddy footprints and half-term idiots. *shudders* I was so sure today would be a welcome day off. I'm seriously hoping the rain will come down and everyone will GO HOME so we can go too! They've had their several hours-worth of bonus open time, we've made some bonus cash, so now I just want to get home and do something fun! *sigh*

Ooooh, hey, you know that book? Well, it's been driving me crazy for months, as you know... Yesterday I spent hours trying every combination of terms I could think of on LT search, tagmash, Google, Google images, Amazon, everything. Nothing came up. So I did what I said in my last message. I sat and half-thought about it, and tried to picture the cover exactly as I remembered it, see if I could 'see' the title. It used to work for exam revision, remembering what the page looked like and therefore exactly what was where, and IT WORKED!



Talk about clue's in the bloody title! I don't know whether to be frustrated with myself since the title was right under my nose the whole time, or exhilarated that I've finally got a name and title and I don't ever have to forget about it again! :-)

Cool! And its exactly as you described it!

eta: Ahh! Only two other people had it cataloged before you, and neither of them used tags. That's why it couldn't be found.

I'm finally caught up with you again Ellie! Thanks to your review, I really really want to read The Shallows - Nicholas Carr now....edited to fix touchstones...

17) Icefire by Chris d'Lacey



This is the second book in d'Laceys 'Last Dragon Chronicles' - though it evidently works well enough in its own right, since I got all the way to the end before it even occurred to me that there might have been another book before this one! Although the simplistic cover and larger-than-normal font scream 'children's story', don't be fooled: this is actually a pretty complex little novel and its hero is a college student rather than a schoolboy. Age 13 and upwards would be about right, I think.

Anyway, on to the book itself. David Rain is an aspiring writer who lives with his landlady Liz Pennykettle and her daughter Lucy in a house full of dragons. Not 'real' ones, mind - Liz models them from clay and has hundreds of them in her studio, fondly known as the 'Dragon's Den'. It's only when odd things start to happen that David begins to wonder. Is he really 'imagining' his writing dragon Gadzooks noting helpful hints on his paper pad? Could Liz’s listening and guard dragons really be living up to their names? It quickly transpires that not only are the clay dragons really living and moving, but something much bigger and more dangerous is afoot. Yanked headfirst into a world of dragons and fire, polar bears and ice kingdoms, seers and destinies, David and his new friend Zanna must work with Liz and Lucy to save the day and protect everything they hold dear...

On occasion the complicated storyline, with its weaving legends and histories and magic, seemed to leap away from me for a moment, and I had to stop and focus to draw the threads back together. In hindsight, one or two of those little leaps could have been more to do with my missing the first book than with the writing itself! D'Lacey has created a fascinating world, intertwining the familiar with the novel, the historical with the modern – fire with ice. I must say that the human characters were eclipsed for me by the wonderful clay dragons, at once comically anthropomorphic and achingly cute, and by Bonnington, the Pennykettles' feisty thief of a cat. I couldn't help but smile at their capers and definitely felt myself welling up once or twice at the more moving moments!

All in all, for me the overall story and characters won out over the occasional moments of confusing mythology and minor plot hops, and the sporadic bouts of less-than-stellar writing. I was well and truly absorbed in David's quest for the truth about the death of Gawain, the last living dragon, and what happened to his fire tear – his life spark, as it were - when he was gone. The chapters were snappy and ended on mini-cliffhangers, and the whole book finished on a slightly ominous note that made me want to read on. Time to buy the rest of the series, methinks - including that skipped first book!

I don't know why everybody suddenly is reading this series. You kind of did read The Fire Within, but I accidently, at first, read the fourth one first which was The Fire Eternal, but only partially. That was confusing. It's the most unusual dragon series I have ever read or heard of, I can tell you that. Have luck with the rest, especially the first one, because it's not the same as the one you have first read, and it will be even more boring, since you have read the second.

Wow, I'm drowning in the positivity there Nathan! I'd never heard of the series before actually - hence not knowing about the first book - I picked this one up in a charity shop on a whim, thinking it would be perfect for a busy half term or a sleepy read-a-thon. And I was right! It's been great for keeping my mind on my book and off the vile children running riot in the shop. I think I'll quite enjoy working backwards in book one and filling in the gaps in my knowledge. I'll just think of it as a prequel! :-)

Nice review! Makes me want to watch Dragon Heart :)

>208 katelisim: Love that movie. Some of my friends think Draco looks like Scooby-Doo, but I don't see why. Do you?

I don't think he does. It's been ages since I've watched it but, the only thing I remember that could be similar is how they run, maybe? Otherwise, I see no similarities.

Yeah me neither.

Just had to stop by with this little half-term pearler! A little boy was looking at a joke book in the children's section with his mum, and asked if he could please buy it. His mum told him to go and ask his dad, so he wandered round past the desk and loudly proclaimed, "Daddy, Mummy says if you don't buy me this book you can't sleep in her bed tonight!"

It's moments like that that make this job worthwhile! :-)

>212 elliepotten: LOL, what a precocious child!

But very enterprising...

Indeed. Did he get his book? :)

Yes, he did! I think his mum went into some kind of beetroot-faced humiliation trance and just couldn't stop herself...

LOL. I love kids. Honestly, they make me laugh almost every day I'm at work. I just have to write what they say/do down at the moment, or I forget by the time I'm home!

Though occasionally it's the parents who make me laugh. One day I saw a young boy carrying a stack of books from his chin to about as low as he could reach at his navel, and his mom's response was, "Is that all you're getting?" (All I could think was, man, my mom never said that, I always had a library book limit - until I started working there!)

Eeek! I'm so behind that I don't have the heart to try to catch up, though I did see that you boiler is working again and that your kitty is on the mend. Will be back to read your latest review.

Oooh, Ghostly Music sounds like a great teen read - onto the TBR heap it goes! And another great review in Icefire, Ellie! I just purchased the first in the series for a friend of mine, and when I read the back cover it made me want to read it before sending it off - I restrained myself, but I'll probably just get it from the library instead.

Glad to hear the babies are doing well! Those vet collars make me so sad, I always feel so badly for the animals wearing them. Hopefully all staple-pulling sibling-jumping shenanigans will be over with soon and they can get back to being the crazy little fur babies that they are! Hope you're having a wonderful and warm Friday eve!

Love the children stories! :)

Ok. Phew. Caught up now. (wipes brow)
That dragon book sounds like fun. I'll add the first in the series to the WL, though they don't have it at the library. :-|

My last YA novel of half-term finished! And hallelujah, today's our last day of our non-stop fortnight and we're OFF tomorrow! *sighs with relief* I've had a couple of super-bad days this week, including yesterday, where it was really busy and the customers left a lot to be desired and I wasn't feeling so great and everything seemed to go wrong, so I am REALLY looking forward to a couple of days of R&R... (reading and relaxation!) :-)

18) Stone Cold by Robert Swindells



I read Stone Cold at school and remember being confused as to what all the fuss was about – but since Robert Swindells is such a well-known name in children’s literature I thought I’d give him another chance when a copy arrived in the shop. To be honest, it still wasn’t a fantastic read, but from a more mature viewpoint I appreciated the underlying message more this time around.

The novel (novella, perhaps, at 132 pages) is narrated by a young man who calls himself Link (not his real name), with his chapters alternating with the log book of a sinister ex-military man called Shelter (also not his real name). Link has escaped his home life and his mother’s abusive boyfriend and travelled to London, only to find that the plentiful jobs and new life he’d hoped to find there are no more forthcoming than in his home town. Within weeks he is homeless, with nothing but his pack, his bedroll and the few pounds left in his pocket. Fortunately for him, he is befriended by Ginger, a seasoned ‘dosser’ who takes him under his wing and teaches him how to survive on the streets. But when Ginger disappears, and a handful of others follow suit, Link starts to fear for his own safety - which is where Shelter’s chilling diary comes in…

Although my copy has the tagline ‘Fear stalks the streets’ emblazoned across the cover, the thriller aspect of the book was almost a sideline for me. By alternating Shelter’s log with Link’s narrative, Swindells removes a lot of the tension and suspense from the story, and it was quite obvious what was going on right up to the minor twist at the end. Where Swindells excels is in his portrayal of homeless life for a young person. His descriptions of survival on the street – of the fear that haunts every night and of the bleak hand-to-mouth existence of every day – are well done, and his exploration of society’s perceptions of the homeless are brutal. We’ve all seen – and often used – the reactions that Link experiences when he is begging for change, and the author lays bare the hopeless spiral in which homeless people become trapped: needing work to survive, but not being able to find any because they have no permanent address, thus becoming more and more entrenched in street life, which means that no one will give them a chance in employment… And so it goes on. It’s thought-provoking, to say the least. For that reason, I’d definitely recommend the book to younger readers for its important introduction to a major issue, but for adults there are probably other books, done better, out there to read instead.

Wow I sure have missed a lot since my last stop in here. I see some great books. I am glad to see that the broiler is fixed and that you found out the name of the book you were looking for. It sounds interesting.

Enjoy your night off and get some well deserved rest.

Thanks - I ended up sleeping for 11 hours last night, and even though I've had a cracking nauseous headache all day it's been a pretty productive one! I finished Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro this morning, I've read a good chunk of The Hunger Games (see, Jess/Rachel - I've finally picked it up!), our shopping arrived, and the kittens have each had a complete tour of the garden and field on a lead. It was quite cute - we helped them out of the cat flap between us, then took them up and around my flat end of the house, right down through my garden and Mum's, down into the field to see the chickens, across past the pond, back up to meet the battery hens recuperating in the stable, then up and back round to the cat flap. They were both very good, very inquisitive, and had a really good first wander, I think!

Right now I'm watching Jeanette Winterson on 'My Life in Books' (funny, I'd always thought of her as quite posh, but she's broad as anything! Brilliant!) then I'm going back to my book. Later on my stepbrother should be arriving with my stepdad - he's had swine flu for the last week and he's still really sick, but his brother was heading off on a round-the-world trip so there's no one home to look after him. He lives about three hours away so Graham's bringing him up here so we can look after him until he's back on his feet. I just hope none of us get it - he's been horribly ill, and he's still really feverish a week on, and has eaten next to nothing during that time. Not nice.

So that's my day! Review for Nocturnes coming in the next day or two... :-)

Fab on the Hunger Games Front! :D
Sad times for the sickly step-brother I hope he feels better soon and doesn't take you all down with him :S
Oh and if you don't want to take a massive battering to your wishlist I'd avoid my thread for bit :P

Glad to hear you were able to get some rest. I started reading The Hunger Games when I borrowed a co-workers Nook. The book looks interesting and I am hoping to pick up a copy sometime soon.

Sorry to hear about your stepbrother and I hope your family does not get the swine flu.

Happy Reading!!

Glad to hear you were able to get some rest. I started reading The Hunger Games when I borrowed a co-workers Nook. The book looks interesting and I am hoping to pick up a copy sometime soon.

Sorry to hear about your stepbrother and I hope your family does not get the swine flu.

Happy Reading!!

Yay for the Hunger Games! Hope you enjoy it.

I second yay on the Hunger Games! I'm hoping you liked it!

I'm seeing a readathon brewing over on the readathon thread... any interest over here? I know you're busy busy but wanted to make sure you knew it was going on!

I third yay on the Hunger Games.

Did you like Nocturnes, Ellie? That was one I read last year and I found it quite haunting

I finished Catching Fire last week, and am itching to get my hands on the final installation of The Hunger Games, Mockingjay... addictive stuff!

Wow, look at all the pretty blue messages... I'm about three quarters of the way through THG now - I finally had to put it down at 2am and picked it straight up again over coffee this morning! Wow, it's exciting. I've been in tears twice already. Neil's not doing fantastically well - he went to bed early last night with a fever of over 40C (yikes), and this morning the fever's gone down but he's gone from red and hot to white and sickly, and nodded off on the sofa downstairs. Mum tiptoed in to see if he needed anything a few minutes ago only to find Millie just about to jump on him, so we'll see how that goes... :-)

Now, I'm throwing the field open for ideas here... I'll start a new thread in a bit if needs be, since I'm nearing 250! My sister's 21st is coming up in May and I've decided that rather than taking a stab in the dark and getting an expensive pair of earrings or something that she might never wear, I'm going to make up a '21 for 21' bag with 21 different things. I've got a few ideas - I already bought the Hunger Games trilogy (she doesn't even OWN it!) and a pair of 21st socks(!). Other ideas include some form of chocolatey goodness, a Paperblanks notebook, a Me to You bear (she loves them!), and a bottle of something boozy. Ideas can range from the sublime and slightly more classy to the cheap 'n' cheerful - any thoughts?

Wow you have some great ideas there for your sister's 21st birthday. I am actually drawing a blank on ideas. I will keep thinking and see what I can come up with.

A bookmark? Stickers? A teabag or little box of tea? Hmm... a glittery pen, or a hairband, or a pair of nail clippers for her purse (I'm forever losing mine!)...

Let see, a new (cheapy/trendy) set of sunglasses, a little bikini to prepare for summer (it will eventually get here), nice smelly candles, the really expensive nailpolish and a new nailfile, cute pair of flipflops, a bag of the expensive coffee (if she drinks coffee), and nice personalized note paper (for all the thank you notes she will have to send you :)

All those little things that you normally wouldn't buy yourself!

Hmmm... I had thought of a bookmark and stickers, actually. If I can find some fun ones! She doesn't really wear hairbands or use nail clippers though. She's pretty glamorous (compared to me!) but in a very thrown-together way, she's fabulous! We have a wonderful gift shop in Bakewell too, filled with all sorts of wonderful nick-nacks, so I'll keep an eye out there too. Hmmm, I now have two reviews to get writing tomorrow - Nocturnes (yes, Caro, I thought it was beautifully written, and I adored the focus on music) and now The Hunger Games. Though that will be less of a review and more of a collection of awed thoughts, I think...

Jessie - Cross-posted there, oops! Something makeup related is definitely an idea... I don't want to go TOO expensive with many items because buying 21 is already going to mount up. At least I have a couple of months to make up the collection!

Is 21 the drinking age where you are? You could get a little bottle of something tasty. My daughter wants to celebrate in Reno (this June - ack!)so she can legally gamble too.

It's 18 here - I'm thinking maybe a little bottle of Bacardi, or pear cider - she likes that!

A split of champagne! You could toast her health with her.

19) Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro



This was my first Ishiguro, and although I’m not usually a fan of short stories this book really impressed me. The title pretty much sums it up: Nocturnes is a collection of five stories, each weaving a tale of music and romantic heartache. Crooner is set in Venice, where a guitarist in a café band meets his mother’s favourite crooner and helps him woo his wife one last time before they separate. Come Rain or Come Shine is a farcical story about a man coming home from a life roaming abroad, only to find his friends’ marriage in trouble and himself involved in a plot to bring them back together. Malvern Hills was the only one set in Britain, in which a young aspiring songwriter comes up against various tourists and locals in his sister’s café. Nocturne, the longest of the stories, brings together a celebrity wife and a brilliant saxophonist on a secret floor of a Hollywood hotel after they’ve both had plastic surgery. And finally, Cellists, possibly my favourite of the five, is about a young man, eager to become a master of his music, who manages to attract a mentor in an Italian piazza who may not be all that she seems.

It’s always hard to review a book of short stories because they’re all so different. What struck me the most about the book as a whole was definitely the writing itself. It was just delicious to read, lyrical and exquisitely composed. Each story was subtle and quite gentle in both message and plot, entwining love and heartbreak with the strumming of the guitar or the deep notes of the cello; music and romance brought together in the fresh breeze of the Malvern countryside or the bustling atmosphere of an Italian piazza. And that was what really made the book for me – the atmosphere. The stories weren’t the most memorable, nor was the book as a whole something I’d read again or remember forever, but the atmosphere was so beautifully wrought that it reached under my skin, and made me feel like I was sitting right there in that English café or sipping cappuccino as a warm Mediterranean night drew in. I have several other Ishiguros already on my shelf, and if all of his books are this much of a delight, I should be in for a treat!

20) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins



Y'know what? I couldn't even review this one. If you've already read the book (I couldn't really avoid spoilers!) then you can check out my rambling thoughts and a video on the blog:

http://musingsofabookshopgirl.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-finally-read-hunger-games.h...

If you haven't read it - well, there's now Jess, Rachel AND me to harangue you until you do... :-)

Well, after my post-day-off review catch-up session seems like as good a time as any to start a new thread! Come join me:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/111309#2556181

What the heck is a 'battery hen', Ellie? Did I miss something that explains that? I'm thinking battery operated toys in the shape of hens, but something tells me that I'm dead wrong on that.

Loved your description of the kids' trip outside.

*Tries to suppress giggles* Ummm, no. They're hens from a battery. Y'know, lots of wire cages, hens crammed in side by side... When they're first rescued they're a scrawny mess - hardly any feathers, pecked and battered, they can hardly stand up...

We took four ex-battery hens from the latest RSPCA batch, and they're in the stable with a heat lamp while they get stronger and regain some of their feathers. I think the kittens just thought 'mmm, drumsticks' but they enjoyed getting a good look anyway!

I knew it! Strangely, that makes a lot more sense than toy hens running on batteries.
Am very impressed that the little ones can go on leads. Have always found my attempts with Willie do not end well. Lots of standing still and staring into the distance by him and leash jiggling by me while saying "C'mon -let's go! What are you - made of stone or something?!"

I have never been able to get my cats to walk with a leash. I have a neighbor who has a cat and I have seen her taking her cat for a walk. I know it can be done but I think it is something that you have to start early with.

Awww...I love that you rescued hens! I want to rescue hens now, too...we'll see if my dad/landlord will approve of that idea. :)

For what it's worth, tell your dad they keep weeds down. We have had chickens living in the area on one side of the house and have never had to weed. There are some very happy trees there - one plum and 2 figs.

Good idea. Just wondering...when the hens get healthier again do they start laying eggs, or are they past the egg laying point when you rescue them?

We've talked about having a chicken coop in the backyard before, but I think the only way dad will 'go for it' is if we can get some eggs in return...

I would hazard a guess that if they are young enough and don't have any other health problems, they will lay again when they have enough sunlight. They're pretty resilient.

Well that's good to know, thanks!

Yup, they're laying a-plenty again already... Come join me over on the new thread - link's up in message 242!