Ellie breaks into her eclectic eighth

Finally! Time for a new thread, and I'm happy to report that I have a whole new lease of reading life now that the nights are drawing in and winter is almost upon us again. Hooray!

Anyway, here we are for round 8, just as the half term holiday comes to a close and the clocks go back... Welcome back everyone!

My previous threads:
1) http://www.librarything.com/topic/104722
2) http://www.librarything.com/topic/107030
3) http://www.librarything.com/topic/108542
4) http://www.librarything.com/topic/111309
5) http://www.librarything.com/topic/114689
6) http://www.librarything.com/topic/116942
7) http://www.librarything.com/topic/121310

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

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

I've added the message number of each review on this thread 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

Thread 3:
12) To Touch a Wild Dolphin - Rachel Smolker
Bonus Read: 50 Physics Ideas You Really Need to Know - Joanne Baker
13) Killing Britney - Sean Olin
14) The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember - Nicholas Carr
15) Boys Don't Cry - Malorie Blackman
Bonus Read: A Kitten Called Moonlight - Martin Waddell
16) The Reformed Vampire Support Group - Catherine Jinks
17) Icefire - Chris d'Lacey
18) Stone Cold - Robert Swindells
19) Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall - Kazuo Ishiguro
20) The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Thread 4:
21) A World Without Bees - Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum
22) Bloodstream - Tess Gerritsen
23) Tipping the Velvet - Sarah Waters
24) Don't Mention the War!: A Shameful European Rail Adventure - Stewart Ferris and Paul Bassett
25) Beach Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones and Anonymous
26) Perfume: The Story of a Murderer - Patrick Süskind
27) Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict - Laurie Viera Rigler

Thread 5:
28) The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld 2) - Gena Showalter
29) Owl Cry - Deborah van der Beek
30) How Reading Changed My Life - Anna Quindlen
Bonus Read: Kate and Wills Up the Aisle: A Right Royal Fairy Tale - Alison Jackson
31) Long Lankin - Lindsey Barraclough
32) The Espressologist - Kristina Springer
33) Wishful Drinking - Carrie Fisher

Thread 6:
34) Does Anything Eat Wasps? And 101 Other Questions - ed. Mick O'Hare
35) My Cousin Rachel - Daphne du Maurier
36) Passion - Lauren Kate
Bonus Read: Your Mother Doesn't Work Here: Painfully Polite and Hilariously Hostile Notes - Kerry Miller
37) Blood Magic - Tessa Gratton

Thread 7:
38) Bumped - Megan McCafferty
39) So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading - Sara Nelson
40) Matthew's Travels: 10 Years of Trips for the Travel Show - Matthew Collins
41) The Princess Bride - William Goldman
42) Haunted - James Herbert
43) The Last Werewolf - Glen Duncan

This thread:
44) Hush, Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick (message 24)
45) Look Back in Hunger - Jo Brand (message 27)
46) Faceless Killers (Kurt Wallander 1) - Henning Mankell (message 32)
47) Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan (message 95)
48) Practical Magic - Alice Hoffman (message 113)
49) The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less - Barry Schwartz (message 132)
50) Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way - Jon Krakauer (message 197)
51) Atonement - Ian McEwan (message 213)
52) Ape House - Sara Gruen (message 248)

*Waves* Hiiiii Elllie! :)

Hi Ellie! This place is so shiny and new :)

Hi, Ellie. Yes, winter is always great for reading, isn't it?

Good morning Ellie!! Hoping I can keep up to date on your new thread.

Hi Ellie. Such a lovely new thread. Although the riff raff has shown up already (HI STEPHEN!!!) so we know that there's bound to be crumbs in the corners before long. ;) Happy reading!

Riff raff? :( Ellie, tell Micky to stop picking on me! *Feebly attempts to disguise his heart-breaking sniffles*

Stop Stephen! You are making me cry!

Hi Ellie! I'm looking forward to the extra snuggly reading time too - my clocks go back an hour this weekend and while it's a little depressing to have it be pitch black at 4:30 pm, I like that most people just want to head home after work. Makes me feel less guilty for being a lazy reading bum! Hope you're doing well, my dear!

S-s-sorry K-Kim... *Turns away so Kim won't see his trembling lip*

**starred :)

Hi Ellie - I'll be lurking here as always.

Found you, Ellie!

Got you starred again! I love this part of autumn/winter, before the snow starts but while the nights are darker and it's nice to curl up with a book and a plate of toasted buttered muffins or crumpets :-)

Also found you and ready to lurk or comment from time to time...

There, there Stephen. Riff Raff isn't that bad. :D

Oh, fine, now taunt me with a link that won't load on my slow internet. You're so ruthless. *Bursts out into full-blown weeping*

Maybe it's time to switch out the hamsters, Stephen. Try this link and see if it works better for ya.

You're comparing me to that!? :(

Stephen, I thought that was you?! : P

ETA: Smiley original posted here has broken. :(

Oh hai! Look at all you lovely people, waiting for me when I got back after a whole day off! *sits Stephen in the corner with a biscuit*

Good news, I seem to have finally balanced my all-new Freeview TV access with reading! Instead of vaulting out of bed at 7am to get ready and watch telly, I now vault out of bed at 7am and sit in my kitchen under my 'Jesus light' (my SAD lamp, so called because at university it made a heavenly white light glow from my bedroom) reading with multiple mugs of tea before work. And having finished lusting after Keith-Lee Castle in series 1 and 2 of the awesome Young Dracula, I can now take my time lusting after Keith-Lee Castle AND Gerran Howell in the new series that just started. Oh, happy days. I've also nearly finished the angel-colouring project for our Christmas window that's been taking up so much of my time of late.

All of which is adding up to READING! I'm moving out of the flat soon too, back into the house for the winter where I don't have to choose between heating and eating. I've already moved a few things in, it's a good opportunity to go through everything again and get rid of yet more crap. I'll probably get even more reading done there, being back in a cosy little room and not having control over the remote. :)

Anyways, at least one review coming up, for Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. I've also nearly finished earthy comedian Jo Brand's Look Back in Hunger, her autobiography, which has been keeping me amused these last couple of days. Days, people, not weeks! Ahahaha!

44) Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick



I'm really hoping that this is the New Moon of this series: the slower novel that introduces a set of characters and a mythology, setting things in motion for the books to come. I already have Crescendo and Silence, so hopefully it'll all take off from here (no pun intended!).

Anyway, back to this book. Nora, a grounded and smart student, is disappointed when her biology teacher mixes up the class seating plan, meaning that instead of her wise-cracking friend Vee she will now be partnered with the new kid, enigmatic Patch. As the novel progresses strange things start to happen to Nora. Someone's out to get her, someone's messing with her mind, and she has no idea where to turn. She's uncomfortably aware that there's something 'off' about Patch, yet her growing attraction to him convinces her that he's not the culprit. Is Patch more dangerous than she believes? If not, who else could be out to get her? Or is she just losing her mind?

If this sounds a little confusing, it's because it is. I started to get some idea of who was behind it all, but Fitzpatrick does a good job of keeping all of her less-than-nice characters in the 'potential suspect' line. Unfortunately, this also means that she has to keep veering off on odd tangents and often seems to lose the focus of the narrative a bit as a result. Towards the end, the chemistry between Patch and Nora increased and things started to fall into place, and that more solid grasp on what was happening meant I enjoyed the last quarter much more. Nora's a great narrator, and I'm hoping that the storylines are now going to get a bit more angel-focussed and that Patch is going to be developed and opened up more as a character. Fingers crossed that Fitzpatrick has upped the stakes for Crescendo!

Glad you enjoyed Hush, Hush, Ellie. As for it being the New Moon of the series, I can't really say. I must admit, I had to re-read my review of Crescendo to remember what I thought about it, and it seems that I had couple bugbears with some plot points but that I enjoyed it overall. I look forward to your opinion. :)

I think I just found it a bit slow, despite all the drama, which was strange! It definitely picked up near the end though, so I'm looking forward to the next one.

At the moment I've decided that if I'm struggling to choose a new book, I'll narrow my reading choices by picking one book from each of my overflowing 'Sunday Confessional' or otherwise incoming-book posts on the blog, starting at the beginning in July last year. So #1 was from my first Sunday Confessional post, and I chose Jo Brand's Look Back in Hunger.

My choices for next time are:
Apache: Girl Warrior by Tanya Landman
Vegan, Virgin, Valentine by Carolyn Mackler
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Cleopatra by Patricia Southern
My Lives by Edmund White
Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell

Anybody care to chime in with their recommendations? Personally I'm leaning towards the Mankell...

45) Look Back in Hunger by Jo Brand



I love Jo Brand. She's down-to-earth, feisty, and always calls a spade a spade. Happily, unlike the autobiographies of some comics who come across completely differently on the page (Dawn French, I'm looking at you) this book abounds with Brand's deadpan humour and mischievous slant on life.

This is a simple, linear narrative, beginning with her childhood and sweet memories of growing up with two brothers, before moving on to the terrible teens when she became a bit of a wild child, breaking away from family life and heartily embracing the counterculture of the time. Moving from house to house, job to job, Brand has lived in all kinds of different places, and worked as a carer for physically and mentally disabled people before training as a psychiatric nurse. Finally, after several years working her way up the ranks at a psychiatric hospital, she at last branched out into her dream career - stand-up comedy.

What I really like about this book as an autobiography is the real every-woman feeling pervading the pages. It's the same style that draws women to her comedy, I think. She doesn't try to lay down every detail of her life, or go into gushing detail about people we don't know (Dawn French, that's you again) but instead picks out the memorable moments over the years, the things that have stuck with her - the kinds of moments we all remember ourselves. Blissful summer days as a child, amazing music gigs, injuries, near misses, bad behaviour, defining moments in her nursing career, the first time she went on stage to perform... She's also very candid about her less-than-wholesome but entirely ordinary experiences with drugs and alcohol, gently pointing out the negative consequences but never judging. I found her time as a psychiatric nurse quite fascinating, and as a manic depressive it gave me even more respect for the people who deal with mental health on the 'front line'.

Altogether this was an amusing, gentle, honest and breezy read, which engages with the reader by presenting a non-judgemental romp through a 'normal' but well-lived and interesting life. Brand comes across as the kind of person you'd have a great laugh with down the pub: funny and intelligent, with plenty of opinions and life stories to share. I loved it! Maybe I'll try one of her novels soon...

NEXT UP:
Henning Mankell's Faceless Killers! And today I found The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric (which was a resounding success with the TV Book Club), Angelology by Danielle Trussoni (recommended by Kath) and one of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, all lurking in the mega-boxes of charity shop de-shelved books we went through at MIND this morning. Hooray!

Unfortunately I've been awake half the night, no idea why unless I'm getting Mum's cold, so not sure I'll be reading much later... I went to bed at 10, then at some point had to acknowledge that I'd been tossing and turning for a while. I hoped it was time to get up, but the clock read 3am. I got up, watched some Brit comedy online while I had something to eat and a mug of tea, then tried to go back to sleep at 4.15am. An hour of semi-dozing and more tossing and turning later, I got up again, made a mug of coffee and read a couple of chapters of the Mankell. I then had about another 40 minutes of pretending to sleep before I gave up, got up, got dressed and had breakfast. Soooooo, I might read loads today (not wanting to be staring at a computer and all), or I might hardly be able to keep my eyes open this afternoon. Fingers crossed for the former, it's a great day for it, all dark and cloudy and ominous and blissfully customer-free... :D

I've been on the fence about whether or not to read Angelology, so I look forward to your review :)

Yes, me too! I nearly bought it when it first came out but some of the more scathing reviews put me off. Then Kath was very enthusiastic about it when I was reading Hush, Hush, and I remembered seeing it on the MIND shelves during our last visit so I was hoping it would still be there for the de-shelving feast this morning. It was! :)

Now, 'tis all quiet here again after a little flurry of activity, so I'm going to carry on reading my Wallander novel. I like to get back into a book while the shop's empty so that by the time people arrive again, I'm already engrossed and I can ignore them all!

Well, I'm about 15 pages from the end of my book, and none of the next batch from my 'Sunday Confessional' posts are appealing right now. So I'm going to take a double shot at not failing my Books To Be Read Challenge 2012 so dreadfully, reading two from the list of my chosen twelve: The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. I was toying with starting Collapse by Jared Diamond, but I think I'll wait until we have two days off each week for that, I flicked through it this morning and it's more than a little intimidating!

A direct copy 'n' paste from the blog, since the 'vile customers and funny stories' posts seem to be most popular... a post entitled Killing me softly - with sheer bloody rudeness:

I'm really trying to finish the amazing Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell today. Sadly, I've been distracted by an extremely rude couple pressing their faces to the glass and dissing us. Said we were 'the deadbeat end of town' and that we were obviously one of those expensive places that bought up old book dealer stock, got rid of the dross at charity shops then sold the rest on at inflated prices. Amazing how they could tell all that without ever having set foot inside.

Sitting right on the other side of the single glazing (but just about out of sight), I could hear every word. So could the couple in here browsing. The guy suggested typing out everything they said then holding the laptop up to the window to make a point; the woman walked down the shop giving them the evil eye at each window. They were still going when they walked off down the street. *sighs* It always makes me die a little bit inside, even if I'm better at hiding it these days... :(

Note to customers everywhere: Shop assistants are not deaf. And any small business owner WILL take it personally if you rip them apart for no discernable reason. Their shop is their baby, and they've usually worked very hard for very little material reward to create a nice place for you to visit. A couple of nights ago I had a dream where a vile woman brought some horrendously unruly children and a large wet dog into the shop, and I got so angry I leapt over the counter, growled menacingly and SQUISHED her. Just sayin'...

_______________

Do you think I made my point subtly enough? Hehe. Off the back of that post, and on a sudden whim, I changed my blog tagline as well, from THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE DOWNRIGHT BIZARRE: A BOOK ADDICT IN HER NATURAL HABITAT to A DEVOTED READER EMBRACES HER INNER BERNARD BLACK. I think it captures the spirit of the blog quite nicely! ;)

46) Faceless Killers (Kurt Wallander 1) by Henning Mankell



I'd already come across Kurt Wallander thanks to the excellent Kenneth Branagh series, but this is the first time I've picked up one of the original novels. Happily, I liked it so much that I'm all ready to go on a rampage and buy the rest of the books AND the two television series. I love it when that happens!

The novel opens with the discovery of a horrific murder in the isolated farming community of Lunnarp. Called in by a terrified neighbour, Inspector Wallander arrives to find a mutilated and bloodied old man dead in his farmhouse bedroom. His wife is alive, but only barely, with a noose cruelly knotted around her neck. Armed with a host of confusing clues, uneasy hunches and the word 'foreign', repeated by the old woman on her deathbed, Wallander and his team must pull out all the stops to find the killers before the media storm around the case sparks a national wave of racial hate crime.

I found the whole novel absolutely fascinating, and it was a great brain work-out. I couldn't stop mulling over everything that had happened so far, and every time I put the book down I was itching to get back to it again! I think it helps that the reader is basically inside Kurt Wallander's mind from start to finish, even though it's written in the third person. He's a thoughtful, clever, kind and immensely human character, with a fierce sense of justice and a touch of quiet vulnerability - the kind of cop every reader will be rooting for! I also liked that this was very much a procedural novel, rather than a forensic gorefest, and the way the Swedish setting really came to life on the page. Mr Mankell - you have another new convert! Highly recommended.

Good review! I've just got a copy of that one Ellie, so I look forward to reading it. (I've read a couple of the later ones already and they were good too).

Bad, rude non-customers!

Ha, yes, nothing like a bit of through-the-window bitching to dampen the day. I can't wait to read more of the Wallander books - and I'm SO ordering the series. 6 movie-length episodes with Kenneth Branagh, don't get much better than that... :)

Grrrr! What horrible people! Well, don't worry about it too much Ellie. The British have notorious bad taste in food, women, and used bookstores. Obviously they don't realize what a wonderful shop you have, so don't take it too personally! What? Why are you looking at me that way? I was trying to be comforting! ;)

*Hugs* The shop is lovely, no matter how many crabby old women say different.

Hmmmph. Yes, I tell myself the very same thing, through gritted teeth, while wishing I had a bottle of whisky stashed under the counter... Just kidding. Mostly. :)

My little favourite customer (also called Ellie) came in a couple of hours ago and I finally got chance to give her my little hardback Diary of a Young Girl as a surprise gift. She was so thrilled, it was lovely. She's a sweetheart and I know she'll appreciate it, just like I did at her age when my librarian gave it to me! I was a bit nervous actually - kinda shaky - in case it all went horribly wrong (being a slightly unusual thing for a bookseller to do and all), but actually it made my day. :D

>36 elliepotten: - (De-lurking to say) Oh, that's lovely, Ellie! I wish I'd had a bookstore owner or librarian who randomly gave me books when I was a child ;-) (My mother was a librarian and did give me books but that's just not the same...).

Hope you are having a lovely Sunday!

Ellie, your inner Bernard Black is a great thing - those people were a--holes! You should have a lolly. And what a sweet story with little Ellie. You're a lovely, smart, sweet girl, and I hope you're having a good Sunday! (((HUGS)))

I would have treasured a book that a bookseller gave me. You rock!

Hah, yes, I wish I had someone here so I could sit back with my book and shout "Where's my lolly?!" Only instead of a shelf I'd use someone's head to crack the damn thing open. ;)

Today's been hellish - the first non-rainy day in a while so everyone's been out in force - but on the plus side, I've spent much of the day trying to catch up with all of Stephen's threads. I'm up to August and have added multiple books to my wishlist. Hooray!

Umm, errr, uhhh, those book, ummm, not my fault...no, definitely not.

Crap, it's been so long since I've had to apologize/make an excuse for expanding your wish list, I think I'm a little rusty. ;)

Hello! *waves*

Happy days, my recurring hip/groin injury (fondly known as 'my spacky leg') has now advanced to the point where at random intervals pain will shoot through it and my leg will collapse. Think it started a year and a half ago during an unfortunate day of Weeding Stuff, when one leg slipped down a large rockery leaving the other leg waving from the top. Like the splits but even more awkward. Last winter it was a bit sore, like the cold and damp was aggravating it, but this year it's really gotten bad again.

To illustrate: Yesterday after work I scared my mum by suddenly dropping about a foot on my dodgy leg as we walked over a bridge, simultaneously yelling "Ahhhh, shit!" This morning I tried to move out the way of an old man on the street and it went again, plunging me perilously towards a riverside hedge. Then this afternoon I nearly dumped a pile of Georgette Heyers on a customer's head and did the 'Aaaaaah, shit!" thing again. Fortunately I don't think she noticed the swearing - being preoccupied by impending Death By Regency Romance and all...

Think I might have to take a little trip to the walk-in emergency department at the minor hospital down the road, see if they can give me a crutch or some nice drugs or something. If I move back into the main house tonight as well, albeit rather less well-prepared than I'd anticipated, I can sit on my arse all day tomorrow (day off, woohoo!), reading, watching telly and making my mum bring me mugs of tea while I do my best 'dying fly' impression on the sofa. Marvellous. :)

Not to panic you or anything but please try to see a nerve specialist. My sister-in-law had similar issues and it ended up being Multiple Sclerosis.

Don't worry Morphy, one thing at a time! The GP's booked up so I'm probably heading to the local walk-in emergency clinic either tonight or tomorrow (the small-hospital equivalent of the ER, or British A&E) to start settling things straight away. The fact that it started during a horrible slip - the equivalent of a footballer doing that 'changing directions skid and slip' thing, only they aren't normally wearing gardening gloves - leads me to believe there's probably a less malevolent cause... Groin strain, is my guess (NO, Stephen). I'm anticipating some anti-inflammatory drugs, possibly a crutch, some careful walking and probably physio. It's going to be a struggle doing any extra rest/appointments when I'm running a bookshop six days a week, unfortunately. :(

I have a similar issue with my left knee. I was at the library, looking at books on the bottom shelf. My knees aren't very flexible, so I usually kneel on 1 knee. I was on my right knee, so I lifted all my weight with my left leg (like when you do a Lunge exercise) and my knee popped.

Agony for a day or two, and now it 'goes out' every once in awhile. It doesn't hurt at all if I don't move my knee, but as soon as I try to move or put weight on it it's quite painful. I figured out eventually that whenever it does this, I can grab my pants leg at my inner ankle and pull my leg up/inwards so my foot is against my right knee and my left knee is bent outward, then when I put it back down again it's completely fine.

As far as Groin strains go, I don't see what the big deal is. I've been dealing with a straining groin every morning since I was 13. :P

Stephen: *eye roll*

Ellie, it sounds like what's happening to you is what happens to me when my sciatic nerve acts up. I can be walking along, nothing unusual, and then WHAM a very sharp pain and my leg gives out. Normally I can catch myself, but it does look a bit odd to others to so suddenly have dropped a foot or so while walking. Here's hoping they can figure out what's happening and you'll be back to normal soon!

Exactly, Laura! That's just what it's like. Went to the mini casualty dept thingy and I was the only one there so I got straight in, hooray! She said it sounded pretty much exactly like a groin strain, and that she has a similar thing with her knee where the damp and cold weather makes it stiffen up, and then it doesn't take much to pull again. Basically I've got to take lots of painkillers if I need them, try to stay off it as much as possible, use a self-referral form for physio (done), make an appointment with the GP for a scan if it doesn't get any better (in case there's some residual damage or inflammation)... and I have my very own pair of crutches. Which apparently I don't even have to return. I've never had them before and never got a go on anyone else's at school (*hic*) so they'll take a bit of getting used to. But they'll be great at work, and for the journey TO work, and now my sister and my stepdad are so proud that I'm one of the 'always something injured' brigade at last! :)

Now I'm working on moving down into the house a bit early, so I have a nice warm bed to get into tonight, and a nice big sofa to stretch out on tomorrow. It's going to take more work than I expected, but a chunk of my clothes are already down there which is a start. Just food, books, bedding, cuddly Nemo, toiletries and everything else to go, then. *sits down defiantly and waits for pizza fortification before attempting any serious packing*

47: Awww, c'mon, my whole post is disregarded for the 2 sentences I tagged on at the end, and at Ellie's provocation no less? *Whines about the injustice*

So, here's what I read in the last post
-Ellie is advised to stay off her leg as much as possible.
-Ellie is walking excessively on her leg in the process of moving.

:(

I have bad joints from sports injuries and arthritis (I don't feel it's fair to have arthritis start at 14 :/). So any sort of weather fluctuation sucks. I find wrapping (with the stretchy Ace bandages) them helps sometimes or knee braces. Heat pad too. Not sure if those would help you or not though.

Stephen - Haha, yes, that was pretty much exactly it! Only you missed 'climbing up and down the stairs with heavy bags' part... I did manage to pry my stepdad off the sofa to help with a couple of things (at gone 9:30pm, I might add) but Mum was all snuggled up in her dressing gown after her bath so she wasn't too keen on going outside in the wet again! Then I've done the same again today, only after a night's rest it wasn't so bad. :)

Katie - I'm going to ask the physiotherapist about taping. I've read in a few places that it's possible to 'tape up' a groin strain (gawd, I hate that term already - from now on I'll call it 'dodgy hip' or something) but for the life of me I can't figure out how it works. Figure of 8's around the thigh and right around the back, as far as I can tell. I guess it'd keep you from moving too far, but I'm not sure 'support' is the word I'd use. And yes, I have been using a hot water bottle or beanie wrap to loosen it up, and I have some of those stick-on 8-hour heat patches somewhere so that's another (though considerably more expensive) option. Any more tips? Working at the shop six days a week I'm going to need to use everything I can throw at it really! :)

Anyway, I had a crap night's sleep - different bed, much warmer than I'm used to, plus Domino started scratching to come in at 5:15am and spent the next hour and a bit under the duvet/licking my ear/paddling on my stomach/trying to eat my book lamp. Then at 6am the water came on with a noise that sounded much like a hoover being revved up next to my head, followed by a ten-minute gush of water like someone running a bath. At 6:30 Domino decided it was time to get up from the bottom of the bed and stand on my head again, so I gave up and had breakfast with Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief at the desk in my sister's (currently empty) room. Several more hours of moving stuff, and you can see why my head's splitting and I'm starting to get horrible muscle twinges again.

Time for pizza, popcorn, coffee, painkillers and a bit of telly online, followed by a little nap and a book, methinks! ;)

Sleep will help. So if your having trouble with the unfamiliar bed, you could always take drowsy-making meds like Nyquil.

I'll see how I get on tonight, maybe I'll sleep better if I haven't just been lugging stuff around. And I'll open my window a tad as well, cool the room down a bit. If that doesn't work I'll go retrieve my Sominex from the flat... Thanks Katie! :)

Sorry to hear about the lack of sleep, Ellie. I unfortunately don't have any advice to give, considering I'm usually falling asleep at 9:30pm. -.-

You're welcome! I, unfortunately, have the ache routine down. At least it helps others :)

Indeed... It's the best way to use our aches, pains, illnesses and quirks, I think - to stop other people making the same mistakes along the way! :)

Stephen - Yes, me too, which is perhaps the only saving grace when a large black and white cat arrives at the door at 5am every morning! Got up with a splitting headache by 6:30 this morning, but not before Domino had scratched and howled at the bedroom door for 15 minutes, crawled under the duvet for a snuggle, fished my mobile out from under my pillow, shot two feet in the air when the alarm went off, gone weevilish and started chewing on my arm, then finally settled down like a long sausage along my side for a bit... *sigh*

Brought the crutches to work this morning since it was a cold night - I'm going to have killer arm strength I think, based on the ache I've now got after trekking from the other side of town and over two bridges! Just going to sit and read as much as possible, and use the internal shop phone to call Mum for anything I need! Just sent her to get milk and custard danishes for us, actually. ;)

Okay, Sweetness ...

here I am in the right thread, at the right time, even though we are in different time zones. Yeah for LibraryThing and the World Wide Web!

Your remarks cheered me up to the very core, Ellie. Thank you.

I agree, if we are reading books we are connected to our lifeline, and each other...

You wrote, "As long as I'm reading I feel like my strongest lifeline's intact..." perfect. Brilliant.

More lovings are flying across the pond to your heart from mine.

Ruthie

Ruthie - it's so true! Whether I'm feeling depressed or ill or lonely or in pain, the world always seems just that little bit better if I've got a book to escape into. That's why the very worst times are when my concentration's shot to pieces and I can't read at all. Then I have to break out the comedy DVDs and sitcom box sets to distract me until my book mojo comes back! Hope all gets better soon, xxx

*in Dory from Finding Nemo voice* HELLO - hello - hello! ECHO - echo - echo! Nope, just me...

Anyway, bloody hell, £32.90 takings today... That's got to be our lowest for a while. That's Autumnal Weather for ya. That said, I've had a lovely day catching up on Stephen's threads (*filthy chuckle*) and no vile customers to cry over, so really I win! :)

Now, I'm going to go home, try and loosen this stupid leg of mine up in the shower (not so it falls off or anything), watch the new Big Bang Theory, read Percy Jackson, and maybe have a ridiculously lovely time playing in my LT library making lists of potential books for my very own 2012 reading challenge. While eating toasted teacakes. Woohoo!

skipping down to place a star..

Is there anyway for me to participate in your reading challenge without having a book blog?

I don't even want to contemplate what sort of mental state I would be in without books (and LT!) A life saver, the both of them. :)

Morphy - Ummm, I guess you could join once the 2012 LT groups go up... That way you can still join the Linky, but add the link to your first LT thread of the new year instead of a blog URL. You could have a post at the top of each new thread somewhere in place of a single blog post. (So, whereas I'll keep going back to my one challenge blog post to update it throughout the year, you can keep moving yours as you go, just like you do your tickers, read-so-far lists or anything else that heads up each new thread). Does that make any sense? Not sure I've explained it that well... :(

Hello Kath! :D

Stephen - You mean you could get worse?! *quietly backs away and locks herself in a cupboard* :P

Books are my comfort place :-) They're friends that never desert you. When I lose my book mojo, it's the DVDs of things like Gray's Anatomy and West Wing that help. I hate losing my mojo :-)

Hope the hip feels better soon! I have a dodgy hip that likes to dump me on the floor sometimes when it's feeling particularly mean. I treated myself to a beautiful wooden walking stick a few years ago so that I could feel good and gorgeous even when my hip is being silly and requiring some support.

Hmm, maybe it's time to dust off my blog o that I can join in. Sounds like fun!

Hello! Absolutely - a lost book mojo has to be immediately countered with DVD mojo. Candidates over the years have included Charmed, The Big Bang Theory, The OC, Moonlight, Blood Ties, The Palace, Friday Night Lights and a whole bunch of others. And now, with the interwebs AND Freeview telly, there's usually something to watch to bide my time until my book lust returns!

Ha, 'good and gorgeous' would be nice. I make Mum laugh on my crutches, lining myself up like I'm starting a race so I get off on the right foot, and occasionally getting frustrated and just hoiking them up and stomping off!

Hopefully the challenge will be fun, I thought it'd remind me to look around my shelves a bit and not get too swept up reading one thing. Not that I really do that anyway, but I can get into a bit of a 'reading quite quick and easy stuff' rut if I'm not careful! I'm going to have so much fun making lists, I'm such a nerd! :)

Oh yes, I could get much worse. I mean, I probably only randomly lick strangers' earlobes once a week or so, instead of daily like a real crazy person. Ha! I could be a lot worse, for sure. *Eats the cupboard door so Ellie can't lock herself in there in the future* ...what? It's ironic...

Well, I post a short review of each book I read on my 75 Book thread, so I could link to that particular post. Would that be acceptable?

Hello, just checking in :)

Stephen - *wells up* Hey, I really liked that cupboard! Anyway, Domino's totally got you beat for licking ears... When she finishes grooming Millie she just moves onto whichever human is asleep closest!

Morphy - *gets knickers in twist trying to work it out* You only need to join the Linky once, because it's just a participant list really, so... how about you wait until the 2012 group goes up, add your 75-Book Challenge 2012 thread link to the Linky, then I'll star it so I can read along from there? Decide how many categories you want to aim for in advance and let me know so I can add it to my list, then when you review something for the challenge just give me a clue in that message. Like, 'This is for the MODERN FICTION section of the Mixing It Up Challenge' or something like that.

So, in less rambly terms:
1) Wait for the 2012 75-Book challenge group to be set up here on LT.
2) Add yourself to the Linky on my sign-up blog post (HERE), maybe with the name 'Morphidae @ LibraryThing'. Use your new 2012 thread link in the URL box.
3) Let me know how many categories you're aiming for - if you hit that target you get entered for the prize draw at the end.
4) I'll read along with your threads through the year.
5) If a book is for one of the challenge categories, make some reference to it along the way so I know to add it to your tally.

Hope that makes MORE sense! :/

Megan - Welcome! *Hands over book wristband and free lunch vouchers* Thank you for flying with us today! Did you pack your bags yourself? Could anyone have tampered with them in any way? *eyes Stephen and Sara suspiciously*

Perfect! Sorry for so much trouble.

No trouble at all! The more the merrier... I've just got a cracking sinus-type headache which is making my head spin and leading to a lot of rambling where I was aiming for helpful precision... Having dosed up on lots of painkillers, cookies, a panini and a cold gel compress thingy, I'm now just feeling stoned. :)

That in mind, I'm currently sitting here combing my LT catalogue and writing great long lists of potential candidates for each challenge category. Then I'll narrow them down to 'shortlists' to add to my challenge post. I'll probably end up reading something completely different, knowing me, but I do have a deeply obsessive love for making book lists!

>a deeply obsessive love for making book lists

Hey, we must be related!

Hi Ellie
Your 2012 list seems like the 12 in 12 list!
I stared one of those for the first time for next year! Hopefully I can manage to fill all the categories!

And now I have my list ready. I'm reading all 16 categories, of course.

Morphy - Adding you to my challenge list for the full 16! And yes, book lists are amazing. Every time I'm going on holiday, or starting a new challenge, I sit down and make copious book lists, then wheedle the numbers down with a highlighter pen and REMAKE the list... *stops quickly before she gets too excited*

Chelle - Yes, that had occurred to me. Only in my challenge you choose your own number of categories and you only have to read ONE book for each. I figure given the amount of very fixed romance/YA/paranormal bloggers out there it might be best to be as flexible as possible to persuade people to join in. :(

I might join the LibraryThing 12 in 12 myself though, as a kind of extension to the blog challenge. I had a lot of fun last year for the 10 in 10!

>69 elliepotten: well, I did fond an onion that I didnt put in there, so it cant have been stephen ....

Don't be so sure. The fiend's devious. A gardening glove and a loooooong pair of barbeque tongs would have done the trick. MAYBE HE WAS TRYING TO FRAME SOMEONE! *eyes Stephen even more suspiciously*

Nu uh! *Tries to think of a believable alibi* Ummmm, errrrr...OH! How about, uhhh, I would never soil those tongs with onions, you have no idea what I use them for!

No wait, that doesn't make sense. Well, I guess I can do what any good politician does, I'll just smear Sara. SARA DID IT! She has just admitted on her thread that she hates me (don't let her tell you otherwise) and obviously she is trying to frame me by making it look like I'm framing her! Duh...

*brain explodes*

That's not my fault either... :)

Been having fun playing on my LT library looking for Mixing It Up candidates... Some good stuff coming up, I know I've struck gold when I want to read everything NOW!

Soooo, I figured I'd prolong the book-listing nerdgasm by joining the 12 in 12 (thanks Chelle!) and making not only a list of possible categories, but then A LIST OF POSSIBLE BOOKS FOR EACH ONE! *hops away happily on her Crutches of Doom, completely ignoring the books she was meant to be devouring for THIS year's challenges*

P.S. Just sold my lovely hardback copies of Enid Blyton's The Children of Cherry Tree Farm, The Children of Willow Farm and More Adventures on Willow Farm to a weird guy. I didn't want him to take them and I nearly burst into tears! He said they were for his daughter, who doesn't really like reading that much and likes Spongebob Squarepants better. All I could think was DON'T YOU DARE LET YOUR HORRIBLE CHILD SCRIBBLE ON MY BEAUTIFUL BOOKS! :_(

This month I'll be reading a book to complete a challenge from...

... wait for it...

2007!

Wow. I'm afraid I just write mine off at the end of the year if I'm not done! No staying power.

Course, I still have plenty of unread books on my shelves that have been there since I joined LibraryThing and even further back, so technically I'm still completing that overarching 'Stop bringing so many books into the house, you crazy lady!' challenge...

Happy Saturday, Ellie! I've got a strange question for you - a while ago, I purchased a couple of books from you through AbeBooks. One of them was The Magic City by E. Nesbit. Was this one of yours? It's a lovely old copy.

Nope, that one wasn't mine... I saw your name come up on AbeBooks but I think Mum packaged everything up too quickly for me to stick anything in the parcel!

Had a decent Sat'day, ta. Leg's tightened up again so been on crutches all day, BUT when I got home I stepped out of a hot shower, put my cosy PJs on, was handed a fresh plate of hash browns, fried eggs and beans COOKED BY SOMEONE ELSE, watched my favourite TV programme, then rounded it off by sitting in the window watching a beautiful firework display down in the valley with the cat. :)

BTW, I joined the 12 in 12! My new thread's here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/126676
I'm still picking categories and stuff (wheeee!) but I will say this, if you're looking for a representative picture of someone blaming someone else (for my 'recommended by LTers and bloggers' category) , DO NOT Google 'She did it'. I did manage to find a good picture, but I had to scroll past quite a lot of facial cumshots to do it. On my work netbook. On the counter. At a busy weekend. :(

oh no, re: sad selling of Enid Blyton books, hard to let them go huh? *cry cry* I feel your pain.

Very hard! They were absolute favourites when I was a little girl, I still remember a lot of what they taught me about animals on the farm, and about British wildlife. I've been lucky so far and my favourite children's books have sold to really nice people - sweet kids or people my age or older buying them for nostalgic reasons - but this was one of those occasions where I really wanted to snatch them back and say "Er, no, I'm sorry, you can't have them". The fit was just ALL WRONG, y'know?!

Eeee, me categories are comin' along great! All picked, I think, and I've got some ideas lined up for about half of them so far. It's whiling away some time anyway, the shop's pretty quiet thanks to a combination of traffic jams (due to the Remembrance parade and the service right on the roundabout where the memorial is, oops) and more traffic jams (because Chatsworth House ten minutes away is having its huge Christmas Market this weekend). Lots of people turning the car around and going home, I think...

87: Ugh, Ellie, it's so heartbreaking!

88: Wahoo! I keep saying this, but I really do need to get my butt over there and get my 12-12 challenge set up.
As a slight side note, I read most of Dear Fatty last night, and it was disappointing. I feel badly that I feel that way, especially since I love Dawn, but it wasn't super great. Didn't you have a similar reaction?

I have missed too much to catch up..
I read the Dawn French bio.. an agree. I know little of her work, aside for the Dibley series..
which makes me laugh out loud no matter how often I watch..

Have I been missing your blog posts ? or are you taking a break ? I have to check..

I did indeed feel that way about Dear Fatty. In fact, I gave it up about thirty pages in. I thought it started off quite amusing, but quickly descended into long-winded gush-fests about her daughter and her dad. Which is lovely if you know her daughter and her dad. To me it felt like sitting at the wedding of someone I don't know very well, listening to the loooooong droning speeches by their nearest and dearest, yawning into my meringues and cream. :(

Laura - Get it set up, I'm having a whale of a time already, and writing eighty different lists and playing with my categories is doing wonders for whiling away a few days at work! ;)

Kath - Me neither, I've really only enjoyed Dibley tbh - perhaps it's just such a genius ensemble piece that her other stuff just can't compare? I don't like French and Saunders, for example - it veers away from clever and into stupid for me. I've been blogging on 'Musings' of late, but not 'Dress Rehearsal' - far more to say about books than about life at the moment! :)

#81 You're welcome ;) Glad you are coming out to play for next year. I've got you starred!

Shame about your precious Blyton books, one of the pitfalls of your job. Thanks for your feedback on Dear Fatty, I got an ex-library copy and gave it to my mother to read, I won't ask for it back.

Up early yet again this morning. Domino practically scratched right through the door at 5.15am so I let her in, only to realise when she pounced under the bed that Millie was in as well. So I ended up with Millie under the duvet with me while Domino sat twanging a rubber band round some DVDs in the corner; then Domino tried to paddle on the lump that was Millie and she shot out to play with the blind pull-string while Domino curled up on my dressing gown; THEN they both ended up chewing my rucksack and play-fighting.

At that point I got up, made a big cup of tea and started watching Beastly, which I've been wanting to see for AGES. Forty minutes later I retrieved more tea and a muffin, and carried on. And I still had an hour after that to faff about getting ready for work!

Left my crutches in the car this morning because we parked on the field, and I'm already regretting it. Thought it'd be a good chance to stretch it out, see how it was getting on - only for it to start uber-twinging before we even made it over the bridge into town. Oh well. And now Mum wants me to go Christmas shopping tomorrow! How the heck's that going to work?! Unless I just stay in the library.

On the POSITIVE side, the postman just dropped off Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief on DVD, the complete two series of Wallander with Kenneth Branagh, The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell, AND two shiny new proof copies from Random House, INCLUDING the new Matt Haig, which appears to be about a boy who wishes he could live the easy life of a cat... until he actually gets turned into one. Review of the BOOK Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief coming up!

47) Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan



Life is about to get very interesting for Percy Jackson. Slightly unusual things have been happening to him his whole life - but when he accidentally vaporises his maths teacher during a school trip, it becomes apparent that something much bigger is afoot. Within a matter of days he has arrived at Camp Half-Blood, met a god, discovered that his best friend is a satyr and his father is Poseidon, and been accused of stealing Zeus's master lightning bolt. Can he find the bolt and return it to Olympus before the gods turn on each other and ignite a cataclysmic world war?

It's really a very clever premise, and one that would have completely swept me away as a younger teenager. I'd have been in the library poring over books on the Ancient Greek gods before you could say Apollo. Now, in my mid-twenties, it was a really fun way to brush up on some of the myths and legends I used to know - and I'm probably more likely to remember who's who on Olympus after reading Percy Jackson than if I'd read a textbook instead!

The story roars along at a cracking pace, with lots of exciting action and adventure and some hilarious little touches - Cerberus, the three-headed canine guardian of Hell, playing catch with a red rubber ball being one of the highlights! Riordan mixes the modern world with the mythology of the Greek gods beautifully, bringing them right up to date while maintaining their dignity and all-powerful other-worldliness. I loved it - and needless to say, I'll be ordering more of the series very soon!

I keep meaning to get around to Percy Jackson but I haven't yet. I had a phase when I was 11 or 12 where I was really obsessed with Greek mythology so I have a feeling I'd really enjoy the books. However, be warned that the film adaptation is not that great (at least for someone who hasn't read the book anyway). Hope the leg feels better soon, Ellie!

Yeah, it was a very sad time leaving the theater after seeing it.

>94 elliepotten: Uber-twinging: doesn't sound great :-/ Hope it stops soon

Actually, I haven't minded the movie! Grover and Chiron are perfect, I think. I've nearly finished it - despite having the DVD, I've ended up watching some of it on YouTube and getting hooked... I'll stick the DVD on tonight and watch it properly, right to the end.

**Possible Spoilers!**

I think I can see why they've made the changes they have so far. Cutting down the build-up to getting to Hades in the Underworld, for example. And the pearl thing is definitely different - but it almost makes some things less 'coincidental'. Like, in the book they just HAPPEN to end up in mythical company all the time, like winding up in Medusa's lair, and in the time-warp casino. Altering the pearl storyline gives them a legitimate reason to keep stumbling into these scenarios. The only thing I've really missed so far was the 'Big Reveal'. Instead of everyone knowing who Percy is already, I really wanted to see the Capture the Flag moment when the water heals him and Poseidon claims him. The 'Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon' moment is one of my favourites in the book!

**End of Spoilers**

But there you go. I saw that Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters is set for cinema release soon, which is exciting - I'll read the book first, obviously, but it might even lure me to the cinema instead of waiting for the DVD! I bet it'd be amazing on a bigger screen.

You mean Twilight won't be luring you into a theatre, Ellie? :)

Yes, it will... The Twilight movies have been the only films I've seen at the cinema since my agoraphobia kicked in - going to see the first movie with my sister was once of my first 'big' outings as I got better. Besides, Breaking Dawn was my favourite of the books!

Okay, I'm attempting to pick books for a blog challenge next year - 12 books from my TBR pile, plus 2 substitutes as back-up. There's no changing the list once you hit 'post' so I have to be sure!

This is my current line-up:

My twelve books:

1. Case Histories - Kate Atkinson (2005)
2. Spitfire Women of World War II - Giles Whittell (2007)
3. World War Z - Max Brooks (2006)
4. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)
5. Submarine - Joe Dunthorne (2008)
6. The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman (2008)
7. Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Aron Ralston (2004)
8. Keep the Aspidistra Flying - George Orwell (1936)
9. The Real Toy Story: Inside the Ruthless Battle for Britain's Youngest Consumers - Eric Clark (2007)
10. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (1960)
11. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
12. ??

My two alternatives:
1. Evermore by Alyson Noel
2. A Play on Words by Deric Longden

My leftover ideas:

1. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
2. Hunting Unicorns by Bella Pollen
3. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
4. Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel

So, basically, I have to condense these 4 leftover choices into one of my total of 14... I've tried to pick things that have been on my shelves longest, but I do have to read ALL of the books I pick so I'm trying to strike a balance between fiction and non-fiction, classics and contemporary, light and harder going...

Any thoughts, input, recommendations or suggestions? Last year I had less than 24 hours left to sign up so I pretty much had to be decisive, but this year I'm struggling!

I really like the books you've picked so far, but sadly I have read a SINGLE one of your leftover ideas, so I'm not a bit of help there. :(

Ellie, The Book Thief must be a definite read.

I absolutely concur about The Book Thief. Read it this year and it is now firmly established on my list of favourite books of all time.

I'd recommend The Book Thief too. I haven't read any of the others but always see great reviews for One flew over the cuckoo's nest. I'd beware of The bookseller of Kabul, wasn't the writer sued by the family she wrote about. The Virgin Suicides is also on my tbr pile so I'll give it a nudge.

Okay, I'll add The Book Thief to the pile. This is the problem with having so many unread books on my shelves - narrowing it down to 14 is nigh on impossible!

Kerry - Yes, I believe she was. Something to do with the family not being heavily enough disguised in the book (the guy's a well-known figure) and him not liking what she wrote about treatment of women in the country. But the book had amazing reviews at the time and it's still on Mount TBR, so I've got to read it sooner or later! ;)

You have a good list going for your 12!
I'm not much help for chosing from your leftover 11, as I've only read The Virgin Suicides. Enjoyed it though, but it wasn't mind blowing or anything.

I might end up just scrapping the last eleven for now and picking something at random for the last one. Maybe something lighter, since I'm kinda overwhelmed with challenges already! A YA or chick lit read, perhaps, though I feel a bit embarrassed doing that when so many of the other participants have classics and lit-fic galore on their lists.

I've signed up for my own 'Mixing It Up' challenge, reading one book from each of sixteen genres or categories; my friend Hanna's 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' challenge, reading the original novels behind each character (Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray, King Solomon's Mines etc); my 12 in 12 here on LT, AND this one where I pick my twelve titles in advance. Fat chance of finishing 'em all but it might be good motivation!

Ellie, of the leftovers, I'd suggest the Fanny Flagg book. The Kesey is a tough one. I liked the Virgin Suicides, as I recall, but read it some time ago, before I joined LT, I think.

Ellie, of your leftovers I've read Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-stop Cafe and one Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. They are both pretty accessible reading, but Cuckoo's Nest (for all its absurdist humor along the way) ends on a real downer which may not be what you are looking for.

Is it wrong to use your list of what you will read in 2012 to add to my own TBR pile? You may see some of them show up on my 'Mixing It Up' challenge post, if I can ever get it finished!

Ohhh, I'm still torn! Okay, I'll ditch the Kesey for now - I can always read it for my 12 in 12 or next year instead, right? Last year I discovered this TBR Pile Challenge with less than 24 hours left before the sign-up deadline and it forced me to choose more quickly! I got behind over the summer but I've just finished Practical Magic for it (review on the way), and now I'm reading Atonement and The Paradox of Choice. Three more to go after that, eek!

Last year's list looked like this:

1. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier - Read
2. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan - Read
3. Atonement by Ian McEwan - Currently reading
4. The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz - Currently reading
5. The Princess Bride by William Goldman - Read
6. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman - Read
7. Holes by Louis Sachar - Read
8. A Fish Caught in Time by Samantha Weinberg
9. The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
10. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Read
11. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
12. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen - Read

Alternatives:
1. Diana's Story by Deric Longden
2. City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende

Hmmm. The pondering continues...

48) Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman



I'm afraid I ruined this book for myself somewhat by having already seen the film a fair few times. Back before I'd even heard of Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic was one of my favourite movies! As so often happens when I watch an adaptation first, I found myself comparing screen to page too often, and inadvertently reading certain parts faster than I should, waiting for the two versions to tie up again.

This, however, is not Hoffman's fault in any way, hence my 4-star rating. It might even have toppled The Ice Queen from its position as my favourite Hoffman novel so far, had it not been for the movie thing. Anyone who's read Hoffman before knows what to expect: a beautifully written, wistful novel blending elements of magic (and more subtle magical realism) with strong, unusual characters and an exploration of the bonds we form with places, lovers and family.

In Practical Magic the story revolves around Gillian and Sally, the beautiful Owens sisters. Orphaned at a young age, they have had a strange upbringing in their aunts' house, where they are simultaneously feared and revered by the local townspeople. Desperate to escape, Gillian runs away to seek her own path and Sally marries a wonderful man and has two headstrong daughters. But when Sally loses her husband in a tragic accident, and Gillian accidentally kills hers, the two are reunited at last. Will Sally's teenage daughters, Kylie and Antonia, make peace with each other and be happy? Will Gillian and the aunts reconcile their differences? Will Sally ever find love again? And will they finally escape the dark and vengeful spirit of Gillian's abusive husband, which casts its bitter shadow across their whole existence?

If you've seen the film, read this anyway - but go into it with a more open mind than I did, because there are substantial differences between the two. If you haven't seen the film, then I highly recommend the book. Hoffman is such a lyrical and haunting writer, and Gillian, Sally and their quirky aunts are some of the most appealing and relatable characters I've come across in her books yet. I still love the movie though!

Okay, I'm down to four choices for that final spot: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe, Prozac Nation, Prep and Hunting Unicorns... This is what happens when you have too many long-unread books, you just can't choose!

Hi Ellie- Finally tracked you down! Whew! I like your Blog Challenge picks. You have some terrific choices there. I loved Case Histories, World War Z, The Graveyard Book, Mockingbird and The Book Thief.
I'm glad you enjoyed the Last Werewolf and Faceless Killers. Good reviews too! I loved both of them.

Hi Mark! Glad to have picked so many good 'uns for next year - and yes, I very much enjoyed The Last Werewolf and I LOVED Faceless Killers. Now I get what the Mankell hype is all about!

Now, to that last elusive book pick... I'm thinking Hunting Unicorns. I think Fried Green Tomatoes has some race-hate stuff in it, right? Which makes me think I'll stick with Mockingbird as a definite choice so I don't double up some fairly heavy themes. Prozac Nation... well, I might not be in the mood for it anyway. And Prep is just the last casualty. I reckon Hunting Unicorns is one of the oldest of that bunch anyway - the one that's been on my shelves longest - so it's a good one to finally read.

Phew, I'm glad that's out of the way! :)

mmmm I think there is more hate in Mockingbird than in Tomatoes...

I just caught up with your thread this morning.. I have been getting behind.
SO many Challenges!!! It makes my head spin.. I will just wander through books in my usual
unchallenged way :)

Hi Ellie- As far as the Kurt Wallander series go, I think they get better as they go along. I've read the 1st 4.

Kath - Definitely, of course! But I thought having two southern-set books with race hate themes somewhere in them might be a bit much for one 12-book challenge... To be honest, I may well end up reading Fried Green Tomatoes in 2012 anyway, but I prefer to keep my list for this particular challenge varied each year, since I can't swap books around after Jan 1st! The guy who runs the challenge always has great incentives for his readers - extra competition entries through the year, and a very nice giveaway in December - so of all of them, this is the one I like to be sure to complete! ;)

Mark - Hooray! Then I should be in for some fabulous reading in 2012!

Now, I'm not caught up with you and your thread, I will admit, but ... when I came across this short video this morning I wanted to post it for you, one of my favorite "owl" people.

I hope you enjoy it.

With love,

R

http://youtu.be/3G1PFLuTrgM

Aaaaaaw, what a gorgeous little owl! He's just like Geoffrey, the one the shop sponsors! That look on the owl's face was like the one our kittens get when we do the head-scratch-and-stroke thing. And the barn owl looks just like Gilbert too! Me, my mum and my nana have just cooed and giggled all the way through the video, thanks Ruthie, xx

I just found out that Anne McCaffrey died on Monday. I think I'll make an effort to read Dragonflight in early 2012 for one of my challenges...

One of the first adult books I ever read from the library as a little girl was her Dolphins of Pern. I'd almost exhausted the teenage section and had started casting around for something else, and it had the world 'Dolphins' in it, and DRAGONS! After that, one of the first books I saved to buy myself with my meagre pocket money and burgeoning independence was Dragonsinger.

I all but gave up after that, because the bookshop was so expensive for my tiny budget, and the library didn't have anywhere near all of the books. It was only recently that I decided to start anew and bought Dragonflight. I think it'd be a fitting tribute to read it as soon as my challenge reading for 2011 is done!

I was in college in *cough* 1983 *cough* and looking for a gift in the campus bookstore to send to a friend who loved dragons. I came across The White Dragon in paperback and bought it. I wasn't going to give it to my friend for a little while, so I decided to read it first. Short version: I still have it. I can't remember what I bought her instead. :)

I think I've read them all now (may have missed 1 or 2 of the most recent ones). I envy you, Ellie, still having that world to explore anew!

Ha! I love that! Yes, The White Dragon has been repeatedly mentioned on Twitter over the last couple of days, I noticed, as people pay tribute. In between references to her happily riding a dragon in heaven now, which I thought was kinda sweet... :)

I found out this morning. It makes me sad. I love them. I read the 15 or 16 that were out when I was in high school. Haven't tried the ones by her son--wary that they won't be as good. But I pretty much lived in Pern for a couple years.

Eerie, without knowing she died I checked out my first Anne McCaffrey book yesterday with Black Horses for the King. Well, maybe I'll make extra sure I actually get around to reading it.

First 'adult' book is an interesting discussion. When I was a boy, and my love for reading was yet to be tainted by required reading in high school, I used to go to the adult section for the Magic: the Gathering books. However my first book away from that paticular shelf involved dragons as well. It was The Dragon Delasangre, which was probably a bit to 'adult' for me at the time considering it was a romance involving people who could transform into dragons, resulting in mid-flight dragon sex...

>126 Ape: Good to know your perversion started early! ;)

My first 'adult' book was probably The Hobbit (which I didn't finish that first time) which was followed swiftly by Jane Eyre (which I finished and adored, even though I didn't understand it all yet). The Dolphins of Pern was my first from the library though, I think. It wasn't that big a deal because the whole library was in one big room in the parish hall, so there was no division as such. Then when we moved house when I was 11 and I had a new teen section to attack, my first books from the 'grown-up room' next door were a P.G. Wodehouse Jeeves & Wooster novel, and The Chase by Louisa May Alcott. The latter was so far removed from Little Women that when I tried to find it again years later I was semi-convinced I'd imagined it! :)

Ah, but as usual the perversion was totally not my fault, and I was just as innocent then as I am now... :D

#122> I read my first Pern book (Dragonflight - a good place to start!) when I was in my late teens. I had the flu and Mum brought me a stack of books from the library to read while I convalesced after the worst was over. It included Dragonflight because "she'd heard it had dragons and the librarians thought I'd enjoy it".

I've read all the Pern books, including the ones by her son, and a number of her other books. They're all fantastic and I was very sad when the news of her death started filtering through Twitter.

126: Ahahaha, that sounds pretty ridiculous, but to be fair, there is dragon sex in the Pern series too--and their minds are linked with their riders' minds. . . soooooo, yeah. . . . also ridiculous sounding.

>128 Ape: - *sprays coffee across the counter* Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.

>129 archerygirl: - I'm looking forward to rediscovering them more than ten years on, I must admit! I'm sure I'll appreciate them even more now.

>130 katelisim: - There is? I evidently wasn't reading closely enough!

49) The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less by Barry Schwartz



I had such high hopes for this book. I was expecting it to focus largely on consumer culture, and to have some profound 'light bulb' moments that would really make me stop and think. Not that it didn't try, but unfortunately it never really hit the spot for me.

In actual fact, Schwartz focuses more on the psychological than the sociological, and widens his arguments to cover the choices we make in everything from education and careers to houses and cars to jeans and jam. The prevailing theme of the book is how the growth of choice in modern society, and the emphasis on the individual as the maker of choices, has taken us beyond freedom and into the realms of tyranny. Choice no longer liberates us; it spins us into its web and holds us there, stuck in our own uncertainty and fear. We no longer choose between three pairs of jeans in a store - we choose between ten different fits, three different leg lengths and four different colours. The same decision, however trivial it might be, now has higher stakes and many more alternatives to consider. This, Schwartz argues, plunges us into a constant whirlwind of regret, comparison, uncertainty, disappointment and even depression.

I think Schwartz provides a compelling and relatable case against excessive choice, which certainly made me stop to ponder just how much of our time we devote to comparing, researching and choosing between different options in even the most inconsequential areas of our lives. His eleven methods for reducing the negative effects of choice make sense, though for me as one of his 'satisficers' (people happy with 'good enough', as opposed to 'maximisers' who make their task more difficult by always looking for the best) I didn't feel I really had too much to learn from them.

My main problem with the book was that it was just too long. There was a lot of repetition - of ideas, anecdotes and examples - and the middle of the book really started to drag. Cutting the whole thing down by about 50 pages and sharpening the pace would have improved the reading experience without damaging the argument. I also noticed from the notes at the back that some of Schwartz's examples had been directly lifted from other people's work, without it being evident in the main body of text (the notes aren't numbered), which I thought was a bit sneaky. To sum up, maximisers and perfectionists might learn something important from this book, but satisficers - I wouldn't bother. It'd be like preaching to the choir anyway, so use your superior powers of choice to take you on to the next book!

Catching up with you....
I read a lot of the Pern books, not all.. it has been a while since I have visited there, don't think I have read The White Dragon.. hmmm

I imagine there'll be quite a lot of people re-discovering Pern in the next couple of months! It's always a good sign when people of all ages, all walks of life and all reading tastes come together at the death of an author, with stories and memories of reading their books, and a desire to revisit their work again.

You make my try and think of my first "adult book", I think it would have been one of my fathers MAN books about helicopters or Russian spys or 4 wheel drives. I read Trinity as a 14 year old which was a pretty large one....

We'd better not keep mentioning 'adult books'. Stephen might get the wrong idea and then who knows WHERE this conversation could end up...

Christmas Weekend is here! So far I've had a huge argument with my mum (because everything went wrong this morning and I was running late), a couple of idiots have chosen this morning to drag in two banana boxes of books even though we're not buying, and - on a happier note - I've already sold a £15 Bodleian book bag. It remains to be seen whether we get a good trade boost or not, but I am SO not staying until 8pm if we're quiet. *tugs on Santa hat and sulks*

Oh, trust me, I have very little to comment on where it concerns 'adult' books. Books built on nothing but hunky cover models in steamy situations and lots of sex are not for me, and I find their magazine counterparts equally unappealing.

Sorry to hear about the argument with your mom. *Hugs*

*sputters* What, not so much as a single filthy double entendre? *Calls 911, tackles Stephen to the floor and insists on attacking his face with a cold compress* It's okay sweetie, it'll aaaaaaaall be over soon...

Hmmm, it's possible that the cocodamol and 5am wake-up might have done some lasting brain damage for the day. Everything I write comes out sounding more like one of my 'Hour 20 of a Read-a-Thon' posts. Y'know, when I can barely remember my own name and I spout some slightly surreal crap alongside occasional moments of pure bizarre genius...

Domino (or 'Spud', as we often call her, she's grown HUGE!) arrived as I staggered back to bed clutching tablets and coffee, and managed to wedge herself between me and my laptop to watch 'Stand up for the Week' with me (topical stand-up comedy, non-Brits) while the painkillers kicked in. Then we both curled up for a 15-minute doze before breakfast. :)

The argument with Mum is now RESOLVED. She nearly killed me in the car, I think, but all was well by the time the shop opened. And she agreed to go fetch me a panini from Jamie's over the road so I didn't have to battle my way precariously through the busy traffic, so I think we're okay!

Happy to hear the argument is resolved!

I'm ignoring the suggestion that I might have some kind of perverse sense of humor or something. Obviously you are just delusional from you cocodamol-induced read-a-thon-like state of mind and have forgotten what a sweet, innocent little boy I am.

We'll talk about this once the meds start to wear off. For now I think it would be unsafe for you to remain standing, what if you pass out and hit your head or something? I think it would be in your best interest to sit in my lap. And I know it's cold outside but it's toasty in here, and those meds must be making you sweat a little...all those clothes you are wearing must be suffocating! Why don't you just take some of them off, and coold own a bit. Your groin injury isn't stiffening up, is it? Because I hear massaging the muscles can do wonders and...errr, what? Why are you looking at me that way? I'm just trying to be helpful!

Sheesh, a perfectly innocent young man is just trying to look out for someone he cares about and everyone thinks his intentions are bad. Like I was trying to do anything other than make poor Ellie more comfortable. *Sigh*

Ahhh, what a gentleman... doesn't everyone think... *slips hand into her pocket to check that her personal alarm's still there*... Yes, quite the gentleman! *laughs uncomfortably*

Oi! Hands where I can see them, sunshine!

How am I supposed to be keep my hands where you can see them when I'm messaging your...groin muscle... ???

Messaging my groin muscle? *gets very angry, having already told her groin muscle to stay the hell off her MSN Messenger account* There, that'll free up your hands nicely!

Sorry about your dodgy hip. Ellie, you really should trust Stephen. He is completely innocent. : p Love Ann McCaffrey! And the first adult book I read was probably Watership Down.

Massaging! I typed it right in post 139, you knew what I was talking about! But yes, you really should be careful, or your groin muscle is going to be all over the internet. It happens all the time, you know.

Kim is a very smart person, and a good judge of character. You should listen to her, definitely.

Don't make me haul in some sort of authority figure, like Mo, to make sure you behave yourself, Stephen!

Yes, and you will definitely need to 'haul' him in here. I do believe he is still passed out or hung over from what he was doing Friday night. Such a crazy party animal, that moose maniac is. However, while I'm rather tired of his debauchery polluting my thread all the time, I would never wish to pass him off on poor Ellie here! I'm willing to be the bearer of bad moose.

Besides, the medication wore off hours ago and she's still on my lap. I'm starting to think she's sitting there for more than her own safety...

Kim - are you sure we're talking about the same Stephen?

Stephen - I'm sure you've researched the prevalence of groin muscles on the internet quite extensively. I've added child safety controls to my internet browser in case mine gets any unwholesome ideas.

I think I might borrow Mo as a guard moose. Do you think you can spare him for a day or so? Only Stephen's trying to hold me hostage over here and I can tell you right now, that's definitely NOT a gun in his pocket...

I'm willing to be the bearer of bad moose.
*Groans*

Nu uh! I've only researched the prevalence of groin muscles on the internet somewhat extensively. That makes a big difference! And I'm not refering to the gun in my pocket when I say 'big difference'...

Just popping in to see what you are up to!
Nothing unusual for you I see :)

Stephen - If you do say so yourself... Hmm, which should I painfully deflate first, your ego or your....???

Hi Kath! Don't blame me for this filth - blame our new (and extremely enthusiastic) LibraryThing Masseur over there...

If I could refer you to message 136, in which I CLEARLY stated:
We'd better not keep mentioning 'adult books'. Stephen might get the wrong idea and then who knows WHERE this conversation could end up...

I rest my case. :P

Hi Ellie- I'm going to try averting my eyes from the filth over here and just say I hope you are enjoying a nice weekend.

which should I painfully deflate first, your ego or your....???

Depends on your method of deflation...

Kath! It's totally Ellie's fault. She provoked me. I'm innocent, I tell you.

Which part of 'painfully' did you find ambiguous?

Hi Mark! Definitely don't read the filth, you'll be in therapy for the rest of your life.

Kath - Don't believe a word he says! I was about to write "If something hits you in the eye it's Stephen's Pinocchio nose" but I realise that would create yet another, er, opening for Stephen's perverted side to run riot.

DAMMIT! THERE'S NOTHING I CAN WRITE ANY MORE THAT DOESN'T SOUND DIRTY!

See what I mean, Kath? I didn't even have a chance to READ the post and she's already pinning her perverted Pinocchio thoughts on me. See? I'm just sitting here being my innocent self and I'm getting blamed for doing things I didn't do. No fair, right? You're on MY side, right Kath!?

:)

Oh my! The stitches in my sides hurt so much. Don't! Stop! Don't stop!

Go on, Ellie, take, invent a perverted thought that I'm NOT thinking and accuse me of thinking it.

Kim, you believe me, right? I know you trust me, and know I'm not one of those guys who thinks like that. ...by the way, how is your daughter doing? ...just concerned, is all!! ...

Stephen and innocent do not remotely belong in the same sentence..

Sure it does. Like "Stephen is more innocent than Ellie." It has both words in the same sentence AND it's true. :)

ETA: I'd like to point out that the discussions on BOTH of Ellie's threads involved horrible disgusting filthiness. What's being discussed on my thread? Biscuits and vegetables. So yeah, I'm definitely innocent-er.

You are more than welcome to borrow Mo for as long as you need him, Ellie.

Horrible disgusting filthiness? On my Books off the Shelf thread? I think we must have been reading two different threads, sweetie... The last thing I remember of our charming narrative, I had you strapped safely into an electric chair and was threatening you with increasing voltage if you didn't behave yourself. It's not my fault you'd managed to warp it into a vibrating chair fantasy...

AND during the biscuit and vegetable discussion, was I not the one heartily advocating eating all your veggies? Yes. Picture of innocence and responsibility, people. *hides behind Mo*

You're cute when you're in denial, Ellie. :P

Carrots, cucumbers. Are you saying these aren't naughty? What garden are YOU growing?

*nudge nudge wink wink*

Moprhy: Ah, but I'm not a huge fan of cucumbers and I prefer my carrots in tiny chunks and cooked. Once again I'm innocent! :)

Morphy! *facepalm*

Stephen - Are you more of a fan of mangoes, melons, that kind of thing? *watches all the LT men running away to avoid having their carrots cut into tiny chunks and cooked, Ohio-style*

ye gods.. for a second I thought I wan in APE's thread..

Wash your mouth out with soap, Kathleen! Oh, who am I kidding...

*sits in a corner and weeps as her beautiful thread burns*

No no, I definitely prefer carrots and pickles over mangoes and melons. Crap, just what are you getting at here? :P

*Pat pat* There there. Your thread isn't dying, sweetie. In fact, since the whole thing is so saturated with this filthy perverted goopy slimy stuff, I'd say this place isn't flammable in the least bit. The musky smell of it all is a bit overpowering though, maybe we should open a window.

*throws the French doors open and leans out, gasping*
Gifts of fresh flowers, fresh baked goods and cleaning services gratefully accepted. :)

glitter-graphics.com
glitter-graphics.com

*sings tra-la-la and has pack of mice, birds, and other forest creatures cleaning out Ellie's thread to an impressive level of shininess*

There, all better. Now if we can just box Stephen into a corner behind Mo, everything should be just fine.

...I suspect you'll be taking Micky's advice...right...Ellie? *Sighs pitifully* :_(

*takes deep breath like woman on air freshener commercial* AAAAAAAAAH. Delightful.

I managed to go to town today, though it definitely wasn't a total success. I woke up at 5am again (thanks Domino) with a headache and a rather sore achy muscle. I finally got up at 7am but for whatever reason wasn't quite ready to go when it was time to leave. Still writing lists, actually. When we got to town we headed straight up to M&S but had a little detour via the market for Mum. In M&S 'getting me a dressing gown for Christmas' turned out to be 'getting me a dressing gown for Christmas, trying on a few tops, getting stuck in a queue for twenty minutes, getting stuck at the counter for another fifteen minutes thanks to an inept checkout girl, then popping into the food section as well'. By the time I'd been to a couple of stores for Christmas stuff, and run round Waterstones without buying anything (grrrr), I only had about 15 minutes left to go to the library. My leg collapsed on me en route. Mum retrieved me from the library where I was running a couple of minutes late, flustered and hot and bothered and struggling with an armful of books. She had a go at me all the way to the station to pick up my sister. I'd planned to buy us all a Maccy D's lunch, just for a bit of a break and something to eat after our shopping, but no one wanted it. I burst into tears and we went home!

Thankfully we were okay again by the time we got home. We went back out to the supermarket and I made up for my duff morning... So, what did I manage to buy in the end?

The Works
Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead by Paula Byrne (3 for £5)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
Delirium by Lauren Oliver (3 for £5)
My Booky Wook 2 by Russell Brand (3 for £5)
The new Life Stories book by David Attenborough (for Mum for Christmas - the touchstone for New Life Stories isn't appearing)

BHs
Christmas Cookie mix in a kooky pouch - for my sister
Artisan chocolates - for one of my grandmothers
Preserve set - for one of my grandfathers, shame I damaged the box en route home...

Marks and Spencer
Earrings - for my other grandmother
Dressing gown - for ME for Christmas! It's so soft and squidgy, the cats'll love it.
Long-sleeved tee

The Library
City of Sin: London and its Vices by Catharine Arnold
Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Ape House by Sara Gruen
White Noise by Don DeLillo
Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of the World's Most Dangerous Creatures by Carl Zimmer
Microcosm: E.Coli and the New Science of Life by Carl Zimmer
A Time to Dance, a Time to Die: The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518 by John Waller
Henry's Demons: Living with Schizophrenia, a Father and Son's Story by Patrick Cockburn
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

Not my full 16, but some of the ones I was really hoping would be there had mysteriously disappeared since THIS MORNING (obscure ones too, dammit!), plus Mum would probably have dragged me away by the hair if I'd stayed another second. Oh, but when I went to Sainsbury's 'just for something for tea', alongside the vegetable samosas, huge pizza, banoffee cheesecake, AAA batteries and other healthy, nutritious stuff, I also bought:

Round the Bend by Jeremy Clarkson, for Dad for Christmas (no touchstone)
11.22.63 by Stephen King
My Week with Marilyn by Colin Clark

Marvellous. :)

>169 calm:
WOW Ellie, what a lovely tidy thread you have! Your place sure scrubs up nicely!

sheesh, I turn my back for 2 days and all of a sudden it's mayhem over here- I LOVE that about your thread :)

LOL... well done, young lady..
thread is all nice and tidy and aired out now...

*glares sternly over glasses at Stephen*
I certainly hope it says this way!

Lovely fresh smell in here, Ellie. Glad you were able to get back out and finish your day on a positive note--so important!

It IS nice in here, isn't it? If anyone's looking for Stephen, you'll notice that Mo is currently concealing a rather garish fluorescent yellow quarantine tent. It's for our own protection... but if you shout loud enough he'll be able to hear you. :)

Hey, it wasn't all bad. Just the end in the library when we had that big bust-up. (Of all places, mother! You don't have a slanging match in a LIBRARY!) At least I managed to get a few Christmas pressies sorted, I didn't have so much as a flicker of panic (too busy rushing around!) and I my leg only went from under me a couple of times without my crutches. I've not brought them to work today either. To be honest, the biggest disappointment was Waterstones. Again, some of the most popular stuff, the new novels and classic fiction and YA bestsellers, just weren't there. And being fully aware of the time, I just couldn't stand around deliberating between the rest, so I walked away with NOTHING. *keels over*

Last night I had a nice evening with my sis anyway. Her shoulder's still playing up and she was getting stressed out so she's home until Saturday now. Mum was taking my stepdad and grandparents out to a lecture by Chris Packham (wildlife presenter, non-Brits; English 20-somethings pretty much grew up with him on The Really Wild Show and now our parents and grandparents love him on Springwatch and Autumnwatch!), so we had the house to ourselves. We chatted to Dad (he's in Dubai at the moment) over MSN, and watched some comedy telly, and ate muffins and ice cream, then watched Black Books for two hours. It was nice!

Now, scuse me, I want to get stuck into Atonement for a bit. Then maybe do an Amazon order. I've got a couple of Christmas pressies I want to buy from there, but I haven't decided whether I can sneak any of my 'didn't get yesterday' titles in as well. Mum might actually disown me this time. On the other hand, if I can disguise them in a batch of presents, I can inform her she's not to look in the box anyway, then stash my new stuff under the bed. Much like yesterday at Sainsbury's, where I stashed my new books under a frozen pizza in my basket, and zipped them through the till and into my bag before Mum could spot the extra two books in there! :)

Sorry to hear not everything went perfectly as planned during your shopping trip, Ellie, but it looks like there was some payoff in the end. That's a lot of books!! :)

Wait, did you say quarantine tent? You said I was going camping!

It is a stressful time of year... sigh.. that is the problem.

Hi Ellie! What a nice shiney thread you have ;)

Nice book haul! You've got some good ones there! I've been eyeing up Delirium for a while, I'll keep and eye out for your thoughts on it!
Just started 11/22/63 and it's great so far, hope you love it!

The one on the Dancing Plague sounds fascinating. My wishlist just grew :-)

Hooray for growing wishlists and deceitful book acquisition! (Do they make a cake for that?)

Stephen - You just stay there quietly... and make sure you use that, er, 'mosquito repellent spray' six times a day as instructed. Don't worry about the boozy antiseptic smell, it's meant to be like that. *cough*

Kath - But wouldn't you agree that it's mostly a stressful time of year because we MAKE it a stressful time of year? If we'd all stop obsessing about getting the biggest presents, the brightest lights and the best bargains, there might be less people being trampled/pepper sprayed/shot/yelled at/stabbed/going bankrupt at this time of year... I'd be very happy with a couple of small, thoughtful gifts, some movies on telly, some good food and plenty of time curled up in front of the fire with my book. :)

#181> You've just described my perfect Christmas :-) My entire family enthusiastically use Amazon wishlists so my Christmas shopping is one evening in front of the computer clicking buttons and typing notes. As they all go to my parents in England to be wrapped/distributed, it's even easier than it used to be! I'm laying in a stock of food, DVDs and books for my break and planning several days of lazy indulgence. December is a nice, quiet time for me (apart from a few parties) thanks to the joys of online shopping and a dislike of crazy shoppers.

Not looking forward to needing to pop into the mall at the weekend for some bits and bobs that I forgot about last week :-(

Okay, Ellie, I trust you. Although I must say I can be a little dangerous when I'm bored...

...

*Yawns*

...

*Scratches head*

...

Hmmmm... *Examines spray can of flammable 'bug repellent.'* Hmmmm, I wonder what would happen if I filled this entire tent to bursting with bug repellent and then lit a match!?!? I bet there wouldn't be enough oxygen for ignition...but there's only one way to find out. *Starts emptying entire can into the tent*

*leads Mo as far away from Stephen's Molotov cocktail as possible*

Ha! That was my plan all along, Micky! I win! I'm victorious! I knew I... *passes out from oxygen deprivation*

*puts on oxygen tank and then goes back to drag Stephen's unconscious body away from old quarantine tent to new quarantine tent in opposite corner behind Mo*

Now behave yourself, mister!

...

*Yawns*

...

*Scratches head*

...

*Searches for something troublesome to get into*

........looks like someone is about to go shopping online for a flame thrower.......

PS Ellie: I'd be very happy with a couple of small, thoughtful gifts, some movies on telly, some good food and plenty of time curled up in front of the fire with my book
Sounds IDEAL to me! Im sold.

Woohoo! I also like the idea of using Amazon wishlists for everything. Not quite as personal, perhaps, but it makes things a hell of a lot easier! You get things people actually want, and as long as you buy via their wishlist there's no chance of duplication because it disappears from the list when it's bought... Sadly whenever I mention my Amazon wishlist my family members yawn and tell me it's a cop-out and is there anything I want BESIDES books? *chuckles*

At least the strike's over today, anyway. That makes me happy. So many harrassed parents and grandparents, and bored kids in town. And it's disgraceful that schools were closed, hospitals were operating on skeleton staff and emergency services were all but non-existent just because some people think they're not getting a big enough pension. I've got news for you, guys: If you're running your own business, say a cafe or shop in a little town where people with actual time off like to idle away a few luxurious hours being a pain in the ass, YOU DON'T EARN ENOUGH TO EVEN GET A PENSION! Nope, but we DO pay taxes to ensure that YOU get one. You're welcome. And by the way, we're in a recession. The government has no money to do even the important stuff, so why do you think your pensions are more important than all the other services and budgets that have had to be squeezed? Suck it up and grow a pair, fellas, like the rest of us.

*Sweeps into a deep bow and hops back off her soapbox* Yeah, sorry, it was just pissing me off watching the news last night... Hadn't really expected to go on that long about it, to be honest! I'll just be, er, over here, reading to Stephen and Mo in the corner...

Ooooh, I just found out that the 'new bookshop' down the road has changed hands. The old owners have retired and I didn't even know! Someone else has done an instant takeover and is settling in as we speak. You know what this means, don't you? Yes! It means that in a couple of weeks I can go down 'to introduce myself and see what it looks like' and accidentally buy more books! Hooray! :D

#189> Anyone in my family who hasn't got a wishlist or doesn't keep it up to date gets the rolled eyes and the complaining. After all, with such a variety of reading and/or DVD interests, trying to predict what someone might like only ends in heartbreak or a rash of duplicates. The year everyone bought my father the newest Stephen Hawking tome was not fun.

I'd rather spend my cash on something that I know people want and wouldn't otherwise indulge themselves with :-)

Of course, my Mum has insisted on lists even before Amazon to make the whole shopping thing easier and there is always a collective groan when people announce proudly that they've gone off-list.

There is a reason that I gave ten cat statues to a charity shop before I moved. Ugh.

Well.. for me .. it is stressful because I don't get to have my kids at home..
and yes.. this year, I haven't got the money I am used to having for the holiday..
I Give each of my kids and their spouse a gift card... so shopping is not typically an issue..
I do mose shopping online. No job, sick furkids and paying Cory's bills for months did me in. It isn't so much about getting.. as giving.. I am used to being able to do more for the family. And I miss my kids
who don't make it home..

Also, my sister gets all crazy if I try to invite someone to "our" time on Christmas night.
IF that is, they let me actually have it here.. When Kim got her house, she wanted to do
Christmas Day Night at her house.. so.. "shrug"

Ah, then yes, I think your stress is probably well founded Kath! My sister is very much a giver, and she actually CRIED when we mentioned the possibility of cutting back for Christmas last year. I'm not that close to most of my extended family, so presents and visits aren't a priority, and the family I'm closest to aren't too worried about gifts anyway (besides my sister) so I'm a bit slap-dash with them, I have to say. Really cuts back on my buying woes...

I try and get something nice for my mum, dad and stepdad, the grandparents just get a token, and I reserve most of my gift-buying focus for my sister. This year she's probably easiest because she's saving for her next law course, which isn't subsidised. One little 'present to open' (the Christmas cookie mix) and the rest will be in vouchers and cash for her to use at her own discretion.

I hope everything comes together for you by the holidays Kath - things usually have a way of magically melding into a happier shape by 25th... *hugs*

Im so glad my family is chilled out about Christmas, we mentioned maybe doing small gifts this year (like the last 2 years) and everyone went YES YES Great Idea!
I for one am not into getting ornamental crap given to me that I feel like I have to keep. We have a box of things in the garage that were given to us over the years that we are waiting for the appropriate amount of time to pass before we destroy or give away or throw away. The thought of all that money wasted makes my skin crawl.

Really, all I want are Barnes & Noble gift cards and maybe a token of love from my sweetie. I love buying gifts for other people though. It is one of my favorite things to do, so I understand where your sister is coming from. My hands have been tied on the gift giving as well. I essentially can only buy for my sister and my boyfriend these days.

The thing is, my sister has no money anyway! She's at university so anything she DOES buy is indirectly coming from my parents, and all her hard work over the summer has been to save for her next law qualification. I think we would all rather she kept her money and saved it for next year instead of frittering it all away wanting to buy multiple presents for everyone. She's a sweetie but we have a hard time persuading her that it's really not necessary. :)

*sigh* I'm fairly sure Christmas isn't supposed to be this complicated. Talk about a social minefield!

50) Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way by Jon Krakauer



"I wish I understood the pathology that has compelled the unending need to embellish the truth so flagrantly. With one hand Greg has created something potentially beautiful and caring (regardless of his motives). With the other he has murdered his creation by his duplicity." - Tom Hornbein, American physician and mountaineer, CAI chairman 2001-2

This quote pretty much sums up the argument of the book. I remember Three Cups of Tea soaring into the bestseller lists and garnering rave reviews. I didn't buy it - and now I'm glad I didn't. Because the truth behind the schmaltz was rather different. Krakauer was one of the generous millions who donated a significant sum of money to Greg Mortenson's school project, and now he is the man exposing the lies that conned him into doing so.

This is a short book, but if you've been swept away by Mortenson's two offerings, you shouldn't hesitate to read it. Krakauer lives up to his reputation by unpicking truth from lie in Mortenson's narrative - and there are a lot of lies. Encounters and stirring promises that never happened. A 'kidnapping' that was actually a generous welcome into a community which has now been disgraced by Mortenson's dramatic retelling. Schools that are already lying empty thanks to poor building decisions and a lack of resources and support.

Although CAI itself - that's the Central Asia Institute - comes across as a worthy and inspirational organisation, it is clear that its founder is out of control. The high and rapid turnover of the more capable staff suggests that people arrive with great aspirations and leave disillusioned almost immediately.

Mortenson comes across as a man consumed by vanity and greed, driven by book sales and rapturous welcomes wherever he goes, yet failing to be accountable to anyone and siphoning off CAI funds - funds donated by individuals as well as by schools and other organisations - at a rate of millions. His pay is astronomical, he flies by private jet, none of his royalties benefit CAI, he uses CAI money to fund his expenses, and he seems to be a keen practitioner of creative accounting. In short, he is a disgrace.

I can categorically say that I will not be selling his books via my shop, ever. And anyone who asks for Three Cups of Tea or Stones into Schools (as someone did yesterday after her friend mentioned how 'inspiring' it was) will be receiving a hearty recommendation to pick up this book instead. Read it and weep.

P.S. The book is currently available to read online for free at: http://images.bimedia.net/documents/Three_Cups_of_Deceit_Jon_Krakauer.pdf

Ellie- Great review! I read this earlier in the year and was also very angry and frustrated. I loved Three Cups of Tea when I read it. Very inspiring. Let's hope there was enough good things that came out of it, that it made it worth it.

I'm just hoping they get rid of Mortenson and carry on without him, because it sounds like the rest of the folk at CAI are eager to fulfil the original promise of their organisation properly. Y'know, with actual research, knowledge of an area and accounting...

All the way through it, all I could think was "You jammy bastard." :(

hugging you back sweetie...

Thanks! I need nice warm hugs today, I'm absolutely freezing. And the bathroom upstairs at the shop is even worse, and I have to go up there soon. Happily, I have a day off tomorrow, and I ALSO have the most divine turkey and stuffing sub roll here that's giving this cold, empty, snowy-rainy-sleety day a delicious silver lining... :)

*Goes flying into the air from across the room to tackle Ellie with a nice big warm anti-cold hug*



197/199: Ugh! I fully support refusing to sell his books. The worst part is not only do people who lie in their memoirs ruin their own reputation, but they make me question the validity and honesty of other writers as well. -.-

My sympathies on being cold, Ellie. I am usually freezing at least half the time. I may just be cold-blooded...

Stephen, that pic reminds me of this video that I'm sad you won't be able to watch. . . but everyone else can.

I am joining you in the being cold business. Our heat doesn't work upstairs where my room is. . . in Minnesota. It is 18F outside (which is -7.8C, for those of you using that) and will be getting colder by the day -_-;;; Just borrowed and turned on an ancient space heater from a friend--hopefully that will make things tolerable, or at least so my fingers don't go numb and I can get homework done.

My thermostat in my downstairs rec room keeps randomly switching itself to 4C. As it's half in the basement, that makes my rec room (where my TV and comfy chair live) very cold at times.

I tend to sit shivering until I think to look at the thermostat and swear a lot. Bloody technology.

So I feel you all on the cold thing.

Helloooo! Review for Atonement on the way at some point soon - wow, what a book! At the moment I'm sitting here reading through my old threads - 2009, 2010 - so good to look back sometimes at all our hilarious conversation and what I was reading! The wind is howling outside, the rain is lashing down, I haven't seen anyone for about three hours, and a few minutes ago we had a sudden crisis when the gutter blocked, sending a merrily flowing waterfall of water over the edge and straight under our door. :(

Crisis averted, happily, thanks to a little swift sweeping/mopping/towelling on my part and a brave 'going outside on a stepladder and sticking her hand in the gutter to fish for leaves' on Mum's. Ugh. Hopefully we'll be able to go home soon, since anyone with any sense will have already departed and be sitting at home with a cuppa staring out at this vileness instead of walking around in it. *sighs*

What is it about today and nasty storms? I'm getting drowned on this side of the Pond, too!

Oh, for heaven's sake. I haven't seen a single soul in FOUR HOURS, it's now dark, and just as we were about to give it up and close two bloody time-wasters have wandered in! The first has already left after a cursory glance at a couple of shelves, but seriously... WHERE THE BLOODY HELL WERE YOU ALL AFTERNOON?!

It is amazing, the knack people have of turning up just as you're about to close/have lunch/do something invasive like cleaning or moving stock around. *facepalm* I just want to go home, so I don't have to splash through the cold puddles in the dark! >:/

Update: Well, thanks to the Lone Shopper we've had to stay open until normal closing after all that. I reckon we've spent 80% of the day completely empty, and we've made a grand total of £13.20. That's takings, not profit. I don't think that even covers the electricity we've used firing up the heaters/laptops/de-humidifier/lights... :(

Well, the weather here is a bit cool (it feels like -17C with the windchill) but sunny. However, in lousy work situations, the library where I work has a broken water pipe and they've shut the water off to the entire building for an amount of time that is currently undetermined. :|

*Hugs* That must be worth AT LEAST £13.20.

Don't you love those shoppers... ?
You need a bell that you can ring at ten minutes til closing..
ring it and alert the laggers.

Love love love your review of Three Cups of Deceit. How disappointing that he turned into (or always was?) such a poo bum @$$ wipe

What a charming turn of phrase! :P
Unfortunately, my review on the blog has now been discovered by some kind of pro-Mortenson groupie who is relentlessly spamming it with links to CAI's accounts, various websites and other things, and claiming that I 'owe GM a lot!' Um, no...

Now, finally, my review of Atonement! Apologies if it seems long or convoluted, but there was so much I wanted to say and it's such a complex book, I adored it!

51) Atonement by Ian McEwan



Wow, what a book! Yet another novel that has stayed on my shelves for far too long, partially because I was so intimidated by it and partially because of all the hype surrounding it a few years ago. As it turns out, I needn't have worried on either of those counts. It wasn't a difficult read at all, and the hype was entirely justified!

At its barest of bones, this is a book about two lovers and the girl who tears them apart. Cecilia Tallis, a rich young woman, and Robbie Turner, her charlady's son, have both recently returned to the Tallis estate from Cambridge University, where they have been studiously avoiding one another. It is only during the hot summer following their return that they realise how deep their feelings really are.

Waiting for them back home is Cecilia's younger sister. I have to admit, I hated Briony in the first half of the book. She reminded me of a young version of Barbara in Notes on a Scandal. Manipulative, naive, attention-seeking, self-obsessed and utterly destructive in her unswerving self-righteousness. Briony wants to be a writer and a grown-up, not necessarily in that order, and her imagination tends to run away with her. When a collection of bizarre encounters and Briony's overactive mind are thrown together during one frightening night, Robbie is arrested for a crime he didn't commit, and the Tallis family falls apart.

Moving on a few years, Robbie is fighting his way across France in a desperate attempt to get back to Cecilia; the love of his life is pouring out her devotion in her letters, waiting for him to return, and Briony is seeking to redeem herself by following in Cecilia's footsteps and training as a nurse. From the innocence and family atmosphere of the first half of the book, suddenly the reader is plunged into Robbie's terrifying trek towards the beaches of Dunkirk, and from there into Briony's horrific experiences in the hospital as the first soldiers are brought back from the retreat. Will Cecilia and Robbie be reunited? And will Briony ever manage to atone for what she did and finally set things to rights?

I cannot believe how much I underestimated this book. McEwan's writing is simply sublime. He keeps the pace steady, picking out tiny details and observations, exploring personal motives and flights of fancy, revisiting memories, and immersing the reader completely inside his characters' heads - yet I never felt impatient for things to speed up. It would have been so easy for chaotic moments in France and in the hospital to be flitted over and churned together into a frenzy, but their impact would have been halved. There is no escape from the thoughts, the joys, the horrors, the beautiful and haunting things that McEwan wants us to see. With a single sentence he can rip the rug out from under the complacent reader, then with a beautiful description encourage us to regroup and reflect once more. As with so many books in which I become deeply attached to and emotionally invested in each and every character, I had a feeling I was going to be a bit tearful by the end, and I was right - I spent fifteen minutes sobbing into my pillow!

I could go on and on, but instead I'll stop here and just say... please read it. You will recognise yourself in parts, and recoil from others; you will be educated and shocked; you will feel elation and joy but also be plunged into sadness and anger. It is an epic and exquisite rollercoaster, and I am so glad I finally chose to stop procrastinating and experience it for myself!

Lovely review of Atonement, Ellie. I definitely enjoyed the book when I read it, although my reading was coloured by having seen the film first. However, that is in no way a bad thing as the film is absolutely beautiful and think really reflects the novel very well.

>213 elliepotten: yeah, I have a way with words....that's why I have to use all those symbols to stop people copying my work :)

Excellent review Ellie. I have not read the book, but I have seen the movie. I will look out for the book. Thank you.

Anyone who's interested, would you mind popping over HERE to look at the comments on this review?

A little background - this woman has already posted once with a great long list of CAI-related links and accusations about my responsibility to direct my readers towards neutral ground. I deleted it immediately. I also received another, more aggressive comment, which didn't make it past the spam filter and may have been her or not, since it was posted completely anonymously (the woman in question posts under 'Anonymous' to avoid linking to a profile, but signs her name at the bottom). According to a message on another review or forum, she basically sits at home all day googling references to Greg Mortenson to praise/attack.

So, do I let her keep going? Do I reply? Do I ignore her but leave the comments intact? Do I delete her comments? Do I let her keep going but then write a proper article about reviewer responsibility in response if she doesn't back off? I mean, I found the first comments quite aggressive, the latest one not so much. But I do think it's inappropriate to keep coming back for more and adding all these links. Am I in the wrong for having a strong response to the book?

Grrr. I think I might just have to eat this delicious bacon sandwich to dull my moral outrage. *waves it around so the smell permeates every corner* :)

P.S. *through mouthful of bacon cob* Thanksh for de rivoo commentsh guysch! I'm lookin' forwud to de moveeee!

>217 elliepotten: I think you've given her more attention than she and her soapbox is due. Let it drop and stop responding. You don't need the grief.

Morphy - Cheers m'dears. Normally I wouldn't pay too much attention, but it's a controversial subject and she's not really a troll I don't think, just a very passionate (and rather tragic) advocate for The Other Side Of The Story. That's why I responded - in case it was a valid, if odd, debating point rather than just an attack.

But I think you're right - I'll give her the week I promised, then delete her comments, my responses (which don't need to stay if hers are gone) and anything else she throws out after that. It'll make me feel better anyway, and I've given her a fair chance to make an actual point instead of just churning out propaganda! ;)

Copied and pasted from Stephen's thread, to avoid Trying To Write It All Again The Same But Different:

NEW THING LEARNED TODAY: the coelacanth isn't extinct after all. Or so I'm getting from the huge picture of a Curator Lady With Enormous Fish (Not A Euphemism) at the end of the first chapter of A Fish Caught in Time. I've put it back on one side for a bit to read Ape House instead because wouldn't you know, I'm getting a second chance at my trip to town this week! And this time I have no Christmas shopping to do. Which means library time, AND a full hour or more of browsing at Waterstones, without a list, an agenda, or a tight schedule. Marvellous. I fully expect to spend a startling sum of money. :)

Not that I need to, because OH GOOD HEAVENS another book arrived, didn't it Stephen? With a cute little owl on the front and a shiny shiny cover! A book that just screams READ ME WITH HOT CHOCOLATE WHEN IT'S SNOWING OUTSIDE, OR ELSE. Awwwww. *grins in a very soppy girlie way* Fank you sweetpea. :D

>217 elliepotten: I think your response was totally justified.

...You handled it beautifully, ellie...

*Repeats what Kath said, but waggles his eyebrows while doing so*

...errr, sorry, I'll stop that now. Have fun with your obligation-free trip into town, Ellie! And you are most welcome for the book. You can tell everyone that "Some American fella online sent me something that shines and sparkles" and make me sound like some smitten foreigner lavishing you with expensive gifts...y'know, instead of some smitten foreigner lavishing you with a shiny book after years of speaking to you.

We have had an interesting exchange of books. You've given me zombie survival and an epidemic of diarrheal disease, I've given you a shiny owl and an elephant's ass. :P

*snorts* Yep, what can I say, I was feeling festive! Is that a subtle hint that next year you'd prefer a frothy Christmas tale with a girl walking a dog in the snow on the front? (Complete with your choice of optional extras: a present with a bow on it, a holly wreath, the Eiffel Tower...)

So, you're saying that a foreigner online sending someone diamonds is LESS weird than a foreigner online sending someone books? Because personally, to me that says "You will be my wife. You will do cooking and cleaning and I will have green card!" Think I'll stick with the book story... :)

Hehe, a guy's just done that thing where someone tries to take a book down from the Bodleian gift wrap/poster and then pretends he didn't... What's even better, instead of the 'I was just going to comb my fingers through my hair, actually' maneouvre, he started TAPPING it, like he'd meant to do that all along! And all I could think was "Basil Fawlty!"

Or, anyone here who watches 'Merlin', "checking for woodworm." :P

223: Only if it's about Distemper as a biological weapon. :D ...okay, maybe not...

Those posters are tricky, I tell you! I mean yes, they are flat two-dimensional images with creases and glossy reflections...but still... :)

Just letting you know there will be a nice -leisurely- read-a-thon after Christmas and that you should check out the read-a-thon thread, because I can't be the only silly one in the middle of the night ;P

Ooooh, oooh! When?! Admittedly I AM having to work a couple of days around Christmas and New Year this year (thanks Mum, really, way to ruin our ONE BREAK), but for the time being there's still the glorious possibility that this STUPID plan will be snowed off. A read-a-thon would be good! :)

Soooo, guess who went to town again? A whole glorious two and a half hours of wandering around in the winter sunshine. Leaving Mum and my grandmother to their shopping (my grandma actually sputtered when I turned up looking so cheerful and panic-free!), my first stop was a book stall I spotted tucked into a little side-road. I bought Jumper by Steven Gould for £1, and No and Me by Delphine de Vigan for £2. Bargain!

From there I wandered across to Chesterfield's famous Crooked Spire, so called because it looks like this:



It's actually caused by the weather warping the wood, but legend tells that the Devil landed there and when he took off again, his tail was still wrapped around the spire and twisted it. Apparently if a virgin marries there it will untwist again - which doesn't say a lot for the innocence of the local folks down the ages... ;)

There was a 'Save the Children' charity shop just across the road so I popped in there (ahem) and bought Shopaholic Abroad by Sophie Kinsella and Freedom by Jonathan Franzen for a grand total of £2.50.

And on to Waterstones! After a good hour and a half trawling the shelves, without a list and open to all possibilities, I emerged a modest £50 lighter (I managed to stay away from the shiny new hardbacks) with:
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (which is HUGE!)
I am Number Four by 'Pittacus Lore' (Most Stupid Pen Name Ever)
Anno Dracula by Kim Newman (what would happen if Queen Victoria had married Dracula)
Wolf Within: How I Learned to Talk Dog by Shaun Ellis (about a man who, literally, runs with wolves)
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

And THEN I went to the library. :)
Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin
The Silent Land by Graham Joyce (perfect for winter! Stephen, check it out)
The Man in the Picture by Susan Hill
Annexed by Sharon Dogar
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl
Incoming!:, or, Why We Should Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Meteorite by Ted Nield

And THEN we went to see Breaking Dawn (with hot chocolate and popcorn) and there were only seven of us there and it was awesome.

And THEN today I went out again, ostensibly for a chocolate bar for my grandmother and a gift wallet for my sister. I actually came back with both those things, an extra two chocolate bars, AND more books.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (for a blog challenge next year)
Flat Earth News by Nick Davies
The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud by Ben Sherwood
The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton
Eragon by Christopher Paolini

*sighs happily and goes back to her Amazon shopping* Yes, there's more to come. I love Christmas time! :)

Here's the a href="http://www.librarything.com/topic/127843#3092201">new read-a-thon. We're prolly going with Dec 28-30.

Also, I've wanted to read Jumper for a while. Let me know how it is, K? That is, if you get to it in that giant heap of books :P

Apparently if a virgin marries there it will untwist again - which doesn't say a lot for the innocence of the local folks down the ages
Haha, thats too true! We wont hold our breaths.

I wish you luck with Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Sadly it was one of my few ditched books this year. But I'm sure you can do it.

Speaking as someone who is also fond of the Twilight series, what did you think of the movie?

Hello? Has anyone seen Ellie? I haven't seen here in days. Ellie? ELLIE!? ELLLLLLI- oh, there you are, behind that giant pile of books.

The Silent Land looks interesting, and definitely something I would read as a 'winter' book. :P I've read Requiem by him and liked it.

Hi Ellie - delurking to say that I really liked Jumper, so much better than the movie. I read No and Me earlier this year, it's a good one too.
Lovely piles of books, I'm always happy to visit a fellow book buyers thread.

Yay to book buying! Never fear, I'm still going... trawling my Amazon wishlist for any last-minute Marketplace wants before the New Year! :)

Been trying to do some 'admin' type stuff the last couple of days - tidying up emails, files, that kind of thing - but I haven't really gotten very far. Maybe on Tuesday.

Last night was going to be a reading night but I ended up getting the most awful crippling stomach/back pains after I'd eaten my tea (IBS, grrr!). It lasted about three hours, and at a few points I was actually on the floor doing 'labour breathing' waiting for the latest rush to subside. Not good. I ended up curled up under a blanket dozing for a good hour or more, then watched a half-hour TV programme and went to bed. This morning I feel like I've been beaten up! My abdomen hurts, my back hurts, my ribs hurt, everything hurts! So I think I'll be doing more reading today, which is good. :)

Micky - I loved it! Best one yet, I reckon. Some little nostalgic moments and fan in-jokes, great music, some interesting short dream-sequences that finally let us get INSIDE Bella's head, everyone was less wooden, and you could have heard a pin drop during the transformation sequence. Everything about it was just... better. It took it back to romance and family after all the revenge plot and confrontation of the last two movies, y'know?

I wasn't actually going to go and see it - I was going to wait for the DVD then see #2 at the cinema right after - but a few people informed me that I'd got to see it on the big screen instead. I'm glad I did! I got a bit lost at one point near the end (not sure where we flipped from OMG BELLA'S DEAD! to She's Totally Coming Back Vampy) so I kinda even want to go see it again - and it's been a long time since I've said that about a movie, being agoraphobic and all!

#233> I have full sympathy on the tummy thing. My tummy spent most of the evening being horrid and hurty, which is ridiculous considering how many medications I take to keep it from doing that. I'm taking to threatening it with a visit to Awesome GI Guy if it keeps doing that kind of thing.

Also, Amazon is way too tempting...

Glad you enjoyed Breaking Dawn. I personally didn't care for it. The best part is when Bella is just lying there in the bed like she is dead. I loved it. I love the books more then the movies. In the books I love Edward. In the movies I love Jacob. I went with my co-worker and she loved it. I just didn't find it as great as it could be. I never cared for the actors for Edward and Bella. All the other characters are fantastic and I love them. I just don't feel the chemistry between Rob and Kristen on the screen. Okay I am done with my rant about Breaking Dawn.

I have trouble keeping up with your threads Ellie. Your threads are always so popular. Hope you are able to get alot of reading done today and that your tummy feels better. :) Happy Holidays!

I liked Breaking Dawn, but I think New Moon may still be my favourite film adaptation. While I definitely agree that Breaking Dawn had some good moments, there were a couple scenes that were just so awkward they made me giggle.

>234 archerygirl: - I know! I take so much for it and usually it works a treat - hence my related agoraphobia and anxiety being so much easier to override these days - but every now and again it plays up anyway. I couldn't have thrown much more at it - loperamide, buscopan, peppermint oil capsules, lactase capsules, ginger capsules, painkillers, a hot water bottle, a hot beanie - so I think it must just have been 'one of those days'.

Monica - Oh, I loved Breaking Dawn - the book AND the first movie. I think it was the complete change in tone, the altered dynamic between Edward and Bella, and the entirely new focus of the storyline after the Victoria plot. Bella was a stronger character in this one too, like Edward and Jacob were in the background a bit more. And I thought that FINALLY in this movie some of the awkwardness between Rob and Kristen had disappeared. They were more convincing as a couple, and more relaxed in their roles, I thought.

My Team Edward/Jacob thing kept changing! In Twilight it was all about Edward. In New Moon it was all about Jacob. In Eclipse I liked Edward better in the movie, just, but I still liked Jacob better in the book. And in Breaking Dawn it didn't really matter - but Jake was a bit of a jerk.

Micky - Nothing can beat the giggle-inducing ballet-school 'cross-eyed' moment from the first movie though. All the tween girls in the cinema were sighing and oohing and aahing, and I burst out laughing! The wedding speeches were funny in Breaking Dawn - the sly reference to Edward's hair! - and the Renesmee name disaster. It was kinda like the writers were reacting a bit to the Twilight fan base, throwing in these little in-jokes for everyone who's followed the series this far. That was nice!

Oh, and P.S. I got another new book! Mum let me take this one home from the shop last night because I managed to sound knowledgeable enough about it... Morgan Spurlock's Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America. I really enjoyed Super Size Me so I'm hoping for an interesting read...

Now, I need to get cracking with Ape House by Sara Gruen (amazing so far) and A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth by Samantha Weinberg (also amazing so far!). I'd really like to squeeze in something a little more festive before Christmas - I don't feel like we're a week away from a break at all. Definitely ready for one, but no one seems to be feeling the festive spirit round here at the moment...

I just watched my first festive telly of the year! And may I say, I never thought I'd well up watching a lonely singing skeleton kiss a sewn-up dead girl... Yes, I finally watched The Nightmare Before Christmas for the first time EVER! And it was awesome and heartbreaking. And weird. And downright scary, a few times. But mostly awesome. :)

P.S. I finished Ape House and that made me cry too. Review coming tomorrow, hopefully. G'night for now!

The Nightmare Before Christmas is an awesome movie. I am glad to hear you enjoyed it. I look forward to your review of Ape House.

I watched Coraline with Cory a few weeks back before he moved... it showed up on tv.
Very enjoyable.

I've loved Nightmare Before Christmas since I first saw it when I was 6 or 7 :D

>237 elliepotten: Oh I agree, the first Twilight movie is chock full of awkward. For me, the CGI wolves talking to each other with their minds was extremely giggle worthy. Some things only work on paper, y'know? Also, creepy digital baby freaked me out.

Glad you're starting to feel more festive, Ellie. Throw a candy cane in some hot chocolate and that ought to help too. :)

243: My friend and I started laughing when the wolves were mind-arguing too! I mean, how can you not?!? It was still a pretty good movie, but that part was just flat-out funny!

Glad to hear you're feeling better, Ellie, and I hope you can get into the Christmas spirit before it's too late!

Oh, yeah, that was funny! Especially on the big screen where it was so echoey, because straight away I could just SEE the guys standing around in a studio doing the voiceover... Did I miss the creepy digital baby part?!

The Nightmare Before Christmas was amazing! Normally I hate skeletons (it's the skulls) but I almost warmed to Jack by the end. And I was all choked up during the sad numbers, it was so lovely! Didn't like some of the nastier Halloween characters though - like that clown... *shudders*

Now that I've finished Ape House there's not much point starting another library book until I know if anything's got holds on it... I'll renew them first thing tomorrow so I'll find out what I can keep for the Christmas break! So I'll be carrying on with A Fish Caught in Time and going for something festive with Nickolai of the North. I've had it for ages and it should be a quick Christmassy read, still time for another one before next weekend I think!

I adore The Nightmare Before Christmas. My mom was a huge fan so my sister and I watched it every year growing up. It's wonderful! I'm a huge fan of Tim Burton, he does a great job of making the weird and creepy...well, enjoyable, and less weird and creepy. :)

#246: Danny Elfman has that same skill. He wrote all of the music and does Jack's singing voice. He also fronted the band Oingo Boingo (Weird Science, Dead Man's Party) in the 80s/90s which always had some darker creepy lyrics but almost always had upbeat music in the background, including a brass section. I'm a huge fan of both :D

Danny Elfman is amazing, isn't he? A beautiful voice, and his scoring is fantastic. The music for Edward Scissorhands for example, just floors me every time I hear it...

Now, I'll just sneak one more review in before I have to start a new thread!

52) Ape House by Sara Gruen



Most of the reviews I've read of this book have been quite unanimous on one point: that Ape House isn't as good as Water for Elephants. Which bodes very well for my future Gruen reading, considering how much I enjoyed this one!

Before I even started reading, I was fascinated by Gruen's description (on the dustjacket) of meeting some of the bonobos at the Great Ape Trust during her two years of research, bringing them backpacks of goodies and having a two-way conversation in American Sign Language. Some of this experience translates directly into the novel, which opens with John Thigpen, a reporter, meeting scientist Isabel Duncan and the bonobos at her Great Ape Language Lab.

Shortly after his visit, the lab is bombed, with an extreme animal activist group claiming responsibility for the bonobos' 'liberation' via an internet video. While Isabel is in hospital recovering from her horrific injuries, the bonobos are recaptured and end up forming the central premise for a new reality TV show, the Ape House of the title. The novel follows the impact of the bombing on the lives of Isabel and her friend Celia, John and his wife Amanda, and, of course, the apes, along with multiple other people on the periphery of their story. Will Isabel and her ape 'family' ever be reunited? And will the perpetrators of this devastating attack be found and brought to justice?

On the surface, this is an easy and compelling read. The plot is well paced, the main characters are well drawn and sympathetic, and the minor characters are diverse and, in several cases, quite amusing. Underneath all of this, however, is an incredibly fascinating glimpse into the world of the great apes. The bonobos - six of them, including Bonzi and her baby Lola, and the wonderfully named Mbongo - are brought to life in such an endearing and delightful way that it is impossible not to root for them at every turn. The linguistic and cognitive capabilities of the apes in the book are all closely based on real bonobo language research. There is also a horrendous section describing the activities of a rather less scrupulous scientific laboratory (though Gruen does point out in her author note that such cruel experimentation is, thankfully, now illegal).

All in all, I would say that this is an eminently readable novel that covers a lot of complex issues, including family relationships, scientific ethics, modern media, and what it really means to be human. Gruen includes a couple of further reading suggestions at the back of the book, which I'll definitely be chasing up, and she has given her readers a thoughtful insight into bonobo behaviour and how closely related we are to our ape cousins. Recommended!

New thread time peeps! I forgot to use the 'Continue this topic' thingummy (in fact, I didn't even notice it until last week) and I hadn't realised that you clicked on that BEFORE you start a new thread, not to link between two you've already made. Oh well, next year I'll do better! Join me for the home stretch:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/128821