If the offer of embroidery is still open, all being well I will be needing it in about eight months!

Just found out today and we are a bit stunned but very pleased. This is me going to bed and staying there until April 3rd.

:-D

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 5:48 pm (EST) Jul 21, 2008

I'm home! It was nice to be able to spend the week with Andrew and the family members we don't see very often but it's really good to be home.

I don't blame you for wanting to be left in peace while you are on holiday, even if it does mean you can't be here on LT. You don't want to go all the way to Greece just to be bothered by telesales and spam emails. And I don't imagine Skeelo or your kids will be sending too many texts, so you should have a relaxing week. I don't understand the people who go on holiday and want to work or speak to everyone at home every day.

I bought The French Lieutenants Woman and The Magus and I did think they seemed different but I am still hopeful. And I have come home to a lovely parcel from Waterstones too, so I have lots of things to add on here later.

And just in case you are too busy now, have a lovely holiday and think of me while you are enjoying all those delicious Greek salads and fish steaks. And if Skeelo and your son fancy chatting about books and dogs while you are away Skeelo knows where to find us.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 11:55 am (EST) Jul 3, 2008

Well have fun on vacation!! Going to ol' faithful (Greece) or trying out a new place? Wherever it is make the best of it.

I'm the same as you, I can't resist a good deal on a book no matter how many I have stacked up on my 'to read' list. Hey, if it wasn't books it would probably be something as meaningless as shoes or hats, right? I just finished Heart SHaped Box, and I have to say I'm looking forward to reading more of his works. I've tried to purchase the ghost collections one, but it's too expensive every where I check it out (usually amazon or abebooks). Glad to hear your reading another good one. Let me know what you think of it in the end.

If I don't hear from you before your vacay (which is perfectly fine I understand how busy it gets right before you go) have fun and be safe!

Lähettänyt: beckylynn 9:37 pm (EST) Jul 2, 2008

Hi, I'm fine, still with my in-laws so not so easy to get on the computer as their wireless system won't let my laptop access it and we are all using the same PC.

I missed out on the early reviewers this time which turned out to be a bit of a relief in the end, I've bought a few new (secondhand) books while I have been here so the TBR mountain has grown a eleven books taller (with three more waiting at home from Waterstones Online). I found a great charity shop that sells books for either 10p or 30p and a secondhand shop that does them for either 50p or £1.00. I got two new John Fowles books from that last one.

We are either going home tomorrow or Friday, depending on the weather. If it is nice we might spend tomorrow afternoon on the Isle of Wight but if the weather is bad we will just go home. Either way, LT will be dominating my life from Friday as usual.

When is it you go on holiday though? Will you be finding a nice Greek internet cafe for your LT visits?

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 5:41 pm (EST) Jul 2, 2008

You had said something about Joe Hill showing the promise of being really good after his father? Can you recommend some of his work that you particularly liked? I think it would be great for my mom for her next birthday/Christmas!

Lähettänyt: Hollister5320 1:23 pm (EST) Jul 2, 2008

"... mostly I seemed to attract the bulk of the comments from people who have been here since the dawn of time and come over all funny at the thought of change."

Ahhh, God bless the LT Luddites! :) That was exactly the reason I had stressed to you that this feature should be CONFIGURABLE ... so that "The current status quo would be preserved for those "Luddite" LT members (who like things exactly the way they have always been) that do not select the new option." If the feature was configurable then none of those idiots' objections are relevant since they would be totally unaffected by the new functionality. It would only work that way for those of us that chose to turn that option on.

WRT your tendency to post messages to yourself, may I suggest that you take a close look at the palms of your hands. Are you seeing any hairs there yet?

Finally, reading the definition of your "rating system" in your profile just inspired me to address that issue in my own profile, so I thank you for that.

Lähettänyt: Rule42 11:02 pm (EST) Jun 30, 2008

Oh, please forgive me!! It has been so long since I've replied. My class just wrapped up and I spent every waking moment preparing for a huge presentation in it. I do hope you can forgive me? :)

So it's probably been so long since we talked you forgot the last message you sent me. To refresh: Vampire Chronicles. I've gotten through I think 5 of them, and believe me the first was the best. I loathed Queen of the Damned (I think the third one you stopped before you could finish). So I haven't gotten too muc farther then you have in the series, however I did finish the Mayfair Witch Chronicles, which ends with the same demise. The first book is excellent and pressures you to read more then goes 'kaput' and down the drain by the second and third.

Your politics sound about the same as ours do over here. I'm so excited that we're getting ready to have a presidential election. It will be only the second one I've gotten to vote in......which of course I will be voting Democrat (I hope it doesn't bother you for me to voice my political viewpoints). I can't even imagine a Republican winning at this point in time, however I said that 4 years ago too and look what happened.

No, you didn't give the impression that Skeelo had brothers and sisters, I was asking out of my own nosiness. Your children sound like interesting individuals, just like their mother :) Congratulations on having successfull youngn's (Although I should be calling them young considering they're both older then I am)

Anyways, promise to not make it so long next time..hopefully you'll understand because I do enjoy making frienships with fellow book readers (ps finally finished the Dean Koontz book and it was as horrible as what I thougth it was going to be)

Lähettänyt: beckylynn 8:15 pm (EST) Jun 30, 2008

No, not me who recommended the Stephen King A-Z. Perhaps RachelfromSarasota. But I am very interested in the sound of it. More interested if it covers all the books, characters, locations etc than things about him.

I know what you mean about the early reviewers verses TBR piles and books you want to reread. It is great to get a book but then you have to read it immediately. Better to take a break from requesting now and again. I still want to win one now I have requested though.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 1:30 pm (EST) Jun 30, 2008

I forgot about those dogs! If I said he takes after his Dad when it comes to writing about animals would that be too awful for you? He can go either way but I'm not saying which way it finally goes.

It's a good book though isn't it?

I'm impatiently waiting for the ER notifications now. I was impatiently waiting from the 24th, when the requests officially closed. It's so exciting but I am no good at suspense, I NEED to know now. Still, it's giving me a good excuse to get onto LT several times a day.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 12:21 pm (EST) Jun 30, 2008

Hi there. I'm just following up on our earlier conversation regarding your making the suggestion to the powers-that-be at LT to allow these types of privately posted messages to appear on both the poster's and recipient's profile instead of just the recipient's as they do at present. Did you get anywhere with that suggestion?

I see a post to yourself here on June 28 ... was that the result of LT actually listening to your suggestion and implementing the recommended feature, or were you just talking to yourself? - usually the first sign of madness, BTW :)

Lähettänyt: Rule42 5:47 pm (EST) Jun 29, 2008

Just saying a quick hello today between parties, lunches, games of bowling on the Wii and bookbuying in charity shops I don't normally get to visit. I said I was popping upstairs for my medication without explaining that LT is my daily dose of online happiness.
I hope you have had a good weekend and are just about organised for your holiday. Also, I see from the message below that you are talkng to yourself now. If you find out what the Stephen King book is please let me know too, it sounds good. Have you started Heart Shaped Box yet or is it packed in your case already for devouring on the beach? Do you do beaches or are you like us, hiring a moped and doing the whole island (all around Corfu in 13 hours, just stopping where we felt like stopping)?
ohh! Takeaway has arrived, I have to go.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 2:41 pm (EST) Jun 29, 2008

Quick question - I was just having a mooch through the Stephen King stuff and I see you recommended two books about him including one on the links between all the other stuff (Dang! I really thought I might write that one, one day!) Which is that one? I'd love to get a copy but the synopses on book sites like amazon/waterstones/plat etc don't make it very clear which one I should be getting. Thanks.

Lähettänyt: Booksloth 10:41 am (EST) Jun 28, 2008

Nope. I was stuck on the sofa and there's no room to stand up and bowl, so I was doing a kind of overarm hurl. I came last!

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 5:38 pm (EST) Jun 27, 2008

I like the idea of being a bad-tempered old person too. And all the promises are very reasonable, we don't promise anything lightly. I'm glad you enjoyed The Vanishing but I had forgotten you had seen the film. I haven't read anything else by Tim Krabb but I would like to. I did see the thread and I got a message about the Scottie puppy. Compski has decided to look into older rescued Scottie's instead because Gregor is set in his ways and prefers a quieter dog than a puppy might be.

I am here in Portsmouth now and hoping to get in some second hand book shopping tomorrow before the naming party takes place. We are just playing bowling on the Wii console now so I can't stay on LT for long. I will be on tomorrow though to list any new books. I need my LT fix.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 5:31 pm (EST) Jun 27, 2008

I'll have to check out those two books! Thanks. I love discovering new writers who seem to have that whimsical touch. I think you are right about Harris, though. It would be hard to top her first books. I really enjoyed Gentlemen and Players, however. It was a different style for her, but it worked.

Cheers,

Karen

Lähettänyt: writergirl 2:38 pm (EST) Jun 27, 2008

I'm glad you love Holes too, it is a great book. I've seen another one lurking on the shelves of Waterstones, Small Steps I think it's called, so I will be getting him that one next. This time it talks about the boy called Armpit and what happens to him when he gets out of Camp Green Lake.

It is difficult to keep in touch with all sides of the family and I did know that you don't get on with your sister as we had a conversation about her not liking dogs once - very strange, not to like best living things on the planet. It's like saying you don't like books or breathing. I also have a big fear that my neice (almost 13) will be getting pregnant far too early and running away to my house. While I was pregnant I took great pains to complain to her about it a lot and tell her some of the grisly details about morning sickness etc, just to try and put her off for a bit. I made her make one of our PROMISES (very important these). So far she has promised me that 1. She will get a good job when she leaves education, so she doesn't have to rely on a man. 2. She will marry a sensible man and not a spotty seventeen year old hoodie. 3. When she is rich she will remember which auntie loves her the most (me) and 4. She will never buy a record or watch a programme with Clare Sweeney on/in it. Now we have 5. She will not get pregnant before she is 20, especially not to spotty seventeen year old hoodie and 6. She will only ever run away from home if she comes straight to my house. In return I have promised 1. That I will hate Harriet from the other class at school forever (I'm not sure why though, Beth can't remember) 2. That one day we will go to the Ballet together. I do like the idea of you encouraging teens to behave badly, it does them good.

All brand new babies ought to get books. There's only so many teddie bears and first tooth pots a person can have but there are never enough books. I try to get two, a cardboard one for them to chew on now and a lovely one for them to keep and read later. If I don't buy a book it's because they are getting a Noah's Ark that year instead. I like to get them the When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six books too. My nana used to sing They're Changing The Guard At Buckingham Palace to us and so all the cousins love getting that book for their children now. But I have had the blank stare too. It's such a shame.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 6:38 am (EST) Jun 27, 2008

Yes -- you were absolutely right. The King story I referred to was indeed "The Last Rung on the Ladder" -- and I think it proves my point that King is a master of literature -- he doesn't need to use horror to convey a mood or make a point.

Lähettänyt: RachelfromSarasota 6:30 pm (EST) Jun 26, 2008

As for the auntie bit, I am the auntie that gives them books and reads out loud to them a lot, who incourages them to play word games and to be a bit mad if they feel like it. My eldest niece is just getting to the age where she isn't impressed so much but my eldest nephew is turning out to be more like me than I ever expected. He likes the making things up and he loves a good book. I've recently giving him The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DeCamillo and Holes by Louis Sacher and he loves them both. I have high hopes of him being a future LTer.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 4:29 pm (EST) Jun 26, 2008

I almost got thrown out of Waterstones for laughing at those books without buying them! I say terrible things and buy terrible gifts at Christmas. I swear that if someone invented some sort of loud musical paintball gun where the paint was edible and full of bad colourings I would have found the perfect present for all of them.

I have told them that the reason people say "like a scottie-dog in a manger" is because there was a scottie present at the birth of Jesus and they made him get out of the manger to put the baby in it and my neice asked her RE teacher if that was true. I have told them that Scottie has been on a Japanese TV show similar to Jerry Springer, that my mum's dog is a model for dog beds in the argos catalogue (there was a dog that looks like him in it), I once gave them a soap dish and a spare bath-plug for Christmas because "you never know when you might need a spare plug" and waited until the complaining had turned into shouts of "well we're NOT greatful" before the real presents came out. I once took them to school and got them ready in about five minutes flat by threatening to go and see the teacher of whichever one was ready last to say we were late because s/he had a "bum disease", the most embarrassing thing ever when you are ten apparently, and they still argue about which one had it now. I've taught them how to burp on purpose. I've been a terrible auntie but it has been fun. I see it as a perfectly fair way to take revenge on my brother for being evil when we were little.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 2:40 pm (EST) Jun 26, 2008

I can just picture Skeelo and Ben living a batchelor life for two weeks quite happily. The image of them having a party comes to mind, lots of men on the playstation and Skeelo showing off his chew toys to a collection of doggy friends.

I was the same when they said they were having a naming party. "But they've had names for years now!" They are soap opera children I'm afraid. The eldest is Kyle (from Footballers Wives), then Kane (from Home and Away), then Dylan (from Neighbours) and finally Lexie (from Emmerdale). We call them after the South Park boys though, Kyle gets to keep his name but the others don't. I am horrible to our nieces and nephews though, I make up awful middle names and convince them they really are called them. I hope to be on the internet lots next week while Andrew is at work, it will keep me sane. If I have to drive to a motorway travelodge with wi-fi I will get on here somehow.

I'll go take a peek for the other message now.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 1:57 pm (EST) Jun 26, 2008

At least you are busy for a good reason. Busy now means laying in the Greek sunshine reading something lovely while handsome waiters bring you all that delicious Greek food later on. Well worth it. Just saying that now, I'm having cravings for salads and fish and lemon juice and stifado (oh, we had a rabbit stifado while we were on honeymoon and I swear it was so good I could have left Andrew and run off with the chef just to eat it again).

It was a big sneeze and I did one of those snappy bites after it, like Scottie when she's trying to catch flies out of the air and snaps her teeth together. I am lucky, my dentist is NHS and I am still getting free treatment on my maternity exemption card, so I can get it fixed. I will be okay as long as I don't either bite him by accident or try to hold his hand. I got so nervous once that I got hold of his thumb (from the hand that was in my mouth at the time). I didn't even notice until he asked me to let go.

Is Skeelo looking forward to your son coming to stay? You did say he comes to Skeelo-Sit didn't you? Scottie is going to be with my mum for a week from tomorrow afternoon, as I am going to Portsmouth to stay with Andrew at his parents house. His brother and sister in law are having a naming party for their four children (aged between 7 years to 6 months old) and so he is staying there and I am going to meet him. Scottie won't be able to believe her luck, she gets spoilt and pampered and fussed over so much. She won't miss me for a second and I'll be missing her the whole time.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 11:46 am (EST) Jun 26, 2008

I'm all excited and nervous now to see if you like it as much as I did. It is a tiny book but I don't think I could have taken much more of it than there is in it.

I am always in two minds about thin books, sometimes it's nice to read something not too long but I resent paying the same price for a tiny sliver of a book and a huge doorstep of one. I try not to complain though because I know that if the prices reflected the thickness of a book the skinny ones would stay the same and the doorsteps would double in price.

With The Vanishing, I debated between it and a longer book, bought it anyway and got so caught up in it that I was glad in the end that Tim Krabb didn't get too wordy on me. I don't know what else he could have put in there that would have made the book better, so I'm glad he stopped when he did. The ending was just right but in the spirit of The Collector, resist the temptation to peek because it will ruin the rest. You might not get the whole story but you will get the most crucial part of it.

My throat is still sore and I have managed to loose a filling while sneezing (!) so tomorrow I have to see an emergency dentist to have one put back in. I'm more upset about that than the tonsillitis, I am not good with dentists. But the antibiotics are working at last and I think I can feel an improvement to it all. I think we caught it on time. I'm still asking the doctor about having my tonsils taken out, I know it's worse when you are grown-up but it would be the end to all this too, so worth it in the end. How about you, are you having a less rushed day after yesterday?

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 11:15 am (EST) Jun 26, 2008

Good morning,

Thanks for accepting my request. No, we've not had any contact here before, but I saw your interesting library and that you are "across the pond" and I thought it would be great to keep track of your interesting reads. No worries about Hemingway! He is one of many faves, actually, and I should really have Joanne Harris right up there, too. (I notice you are also a Harris reader. Do you have a favorite of hers?) The best place to start for Hemingway is A Farewell to Arms. It's a great romance mixed with classic Hemingway spare and powerful writing.

Have a great week!

Karen

Lähettänyt: writergirl 8:20 am (EST) Jun 26, 2008

I'd have liked to see some Greek in there. My French is terrible but I still managed to get her point. The thing that annoyed me is that she was behaving in the way she was complaining about, a bit superior to everyone else. I was halfway ready to tell them off and point that out when I thought it might just stir things up again. Double standards make me cross though and that's what was happening there. If I do run into language issues on the 'net (or in books) I go to ask.com and type in french english dictionary (or whatever the other language is) because it translates everything. Maybe you could get the Greek letters from there.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 3:05 pm (EST) Jun 25, 2008

Thank you. You should hear my pronunciation, though - it usually makes people cringe.
For me to a large extent english is a written language, not a spoken one ;-)

Lähettänyt: Busifer 3:04 pm (EST) Jun 25, 2008

My throat is still quite horrible but I have been having a lazy day to rest it and the antibiotics are working now I think, so I am happier now. I wish they would take my tonsils out but I somehow managed to go from being too young for the operation to being too old for it.

It is surprising how one change to your day can change everything else too. I'm glad that Skeelo has benefited from the change though. Scottie used to be very fond of Ham Hill in Somerset for scaling muddy hills and rolling in filthy water. We went once and got completely stuck when we were almost back at the carpark because it meant walking up a hill that was ususally okay but had suddenly turned into a wall of mud. We had to walk the mile and a half back the way we came to go back up the steps instead. She was happy but I wasn't. We were head to foot in mud that day and it wasn't me that got to have the first bath when we came home.

I will google 'dog horoscopes' and I bet I get more than one site come back at me. It will be nice to have an advance warning on what to expect from Scottie.

I'll go and be nosy over in the threads now but please don't stop expressing your opinion. If you do then the people who think that we all have to agree with them will think we all agree with them (or something like that, it made sense while I was typing it) and that would be terrible. I've just dipped my toe in the waters of a discussion on free-range cats that is looking like it could all go badly wrong. A lady with two cats lets them roam but lives in a town where cats are not allowed to roam free and her neighbours are upset. Coming from the UK, where we let cats roam, I have sympathy with her but also being a non-cat owner who gets a lot of cats using my garden as a toilet, I have sympathy with her neighbours. The conversation (and her appeal for advice) has turned into a UK/USA divide with two other sub-divisions of cat people/non-cat people and cat people who roam/cat people who don't roam. Everyone wants to be right and I can see everyones side in this one.

And I agree, you can outgrow an author sometimes. Your tastes change, their writing style can change, you find you just don't get on as well with their books anymore, sometimes you just don't like their newer ones or you reread the older ones you used to love and wonder what you ever saw in any of them. It's wrong to think that we reach a certain point as we grow up and just stop. We change all the time and outgrow books, music, films, people, friends even sometimes.

Ooh, The Story of a Marriage, if you like it so far it won't let you down at the end. I thought it was beautifully written too. It reminded me at the start of Anne Tyler, in that she knows how to put words together and make them lovely, even when they are only about ordinary things.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 11:59 am (EST) Jun 25, 2008

I love it when the postman knocks on the door with a parcel of books too big to fit through the letterbox. And the man at the local post office is used to me gathering in parcels of books too. I have a parcel on the way to my mums because I will be in Portsmouth from Friday for a week. Oh and that week will drag by when I know there is a parcel of books at home waiting for me. Still, lots of new bookshops to find so I am sure I will be buying lots of books while I am there.

Oh dear, which group have you upset? If it was Happy Heathens they are quite a resilient lot. I once managed to cause upset on the Heath Leadger condolance thread though and I don't think the other person recovered (I tried an olive branch in the form of a message or two but I haven't seen that person about ever since). I much prefer a good-natured but vocal disagreement to somebody getting upset just for the sake of feeling upset.

On almost a related subject Scottie would like to be introduced to a cat or some pigeons. She had me rushing to the garden twice yesterday, once because a beautiful grey cat had decided to stroll through it but was spotted by an angry black dog and once because a flock of starlings had landed around the birdtable. Cats or birds, nothing arrives in our garden unnoticed. I heard all the commotion and had to go investigate.

Have you looked at the library thing shop (located in tools for some reason) at all? I have been tempted to buy something. I'd like the hooded sweatshirt (because the image of myself as a 33 year old library-advertising hoodie makes me laugh) and was tempted to get the pants to see the look of horror on Andrew's face, but I'll probably end up with the giant coffee mug.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 9:06 am (EST) Jun 25, 2008

I think I forgot to say, I am an Aquarian (but my dad is Taurean). Do Taureans suffer with throat problems? My doctor once told me that my weak ankle is linked to being an Aquarian, we are notorious for it apparently. I spend the rest of my appointment with him searching the walls for his medical diploma but then I read it somewhere too so now I believe it more.

Ha! This just reminded me, I saw a book once to work out star signs for pets. Scottie is a capricorn and is therefore stubborn but loyal, determined and independent, prone to bouts of spitefulness but charming when she feels like it. It was a very accurate description of her but I couldn't buy the book, the shame of cataloging it would have been too much for my secret hope that Stephen King might browse my library one day and see it.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 6:52 pm (EST) Jun 24, 2008

It might have been me who asked about it, I got it in the early reviewers last month, but I can't remember what it was I was saying about it. I enjoyed it though.

The illness has sneaked up on me, tonsillitis, and has left me feeling weepy and whiny. It woke me at just before 5am though so I came on here for sympathy. Scottie is not looking after me because her groomer has been today and she is upset about having her hair cut. She will forgive me later and give me one of her toys to help me.

I'm glad Andrew's microwave knowledge has travelled, so now you will know if an iceburg or a ship is in the vacinity of your house, your microwave will ping unexpectedly.

I just today received a book through the post, it was an early reviewer book only available in the US and Canada but I was interested by the description and ordered it on Biblio.com. It is called Imagine Me and You and is about a man whose wife leaves him and he makes up a new girlfriend to make her jealous and come home, but then starts to see this made up woman all over the place. It got terrible reviews but I still wanted it.

I don't know if you have found biblio.com or not, they are kind of like an ebay for bookshops. I've used it three times now but the last time a message came up saying the site was unsecure, so I need to investigate further about that. But the bookshop who sent me the book was wonderful, valleybooks@comcast.net in Massachuesetts. It took them a week from ordering to delivering and when I sent them a message to say thank you they replied with a really lovely message. If I lived nearby I would definetly shop with them all the time.

Poor Scottie. She's just laid down looking unhappy with her tennis ball and she's reminding me of those roast piglets they had in old banquets.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 12:52 pm (EST) Jun 24, 2008

Hi,

I see you own The Story of a Marriage? Have you read it yet? I did, in one sitting last Saturday, and highly recommend that you pick it up. Great writing, good understanding of human nature, and some really surprising plot twists!

Nancy

Lähettänyt: alphaorder 7:42 am (EST) Jun 24, 2008

Andrew spent hours once explaining that microwaves and radars have this same componant in them, the bit that warns you that something is getting close. He went on and on about it with my friends husband for so long that we went through boredom and ended up laughing about how confusing it must be on the ship - is the radar going off for an enemy ship or has the ready meal finished cooking? At first he didn't realise we were teasing him. Now every so often when the microwave pings I shout "iceburg" at him and he shouts something rude back at me.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 12:58 pm (EST) Jun 23, 2008

For someone who likes electrical things, Andrew does have a pretty good job. He works on a ship fitting explosive bits together on planes and helicoptors, so it's everything together. I have been watching Warship (channel 5 tonight) hoping to see him because the series was filmed on his deployment from January to June, but he has only been onscreen for about three seconds. They filmed him for a day and are now saying it might be too sensitive to show the weaponry on TV. Tonight is the last chance for them to show him as it is the last episode. But he also enjoys the airport just as much as the holiday and takes great pleasure in explaining to me just what he would do differently/like to take a look at if he could only get to the engine.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 10:36 am (EST) Jun 23, 2008

I don't blame you for not wanting to risk driving while you feel so tired. Just take it easy and have fun here on LT instead.

I'm sure Skeelo didn't notice you forgetting it was his birthday. I can't say that Scottie ever gets overly excited about hers, even when she does have a fuss made. We had friends come over on what happened to be her fifth birthday and so I told her it was her party. They even brought her a large marrowbone to celebrate. I then made the mistake of telling my neice and nephew about it and they have never let me forget that Scottie had a party and they weren't invited. Scottie is not really a party animal :-D though, so she doesn't mind not getting an invite. She'd rather have a walk and a play-fight than a party any day.

Oddly enough, Andrew is what they used to call Aircraft Engineering Technician (they've changed it now to something complicated) but it basically means he is an electrician too, so I know all about the fixing things. He did a fairly decent job on the washing machine once but the ceiling light in the living room has been broken for 18 months with no sign of it being fixed yet. His main job at the moment is something to do with fitting explosives together, so I have to say I am glad he's not bringing his work home with him.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 9:37 am (EST) Jun 23, 2008

Scottie would love to send Skeelo some happy birthday barks and I wish him a happy birthday too. We bet he got presents. Scottie is feeling a bit old though, she's already six and a half, so all her friends are toyboys, and now Skeelo is younger too. I like to call her Now We Are Six (see has a lot of literary or media-cultural nicknames) and she doesn't seem to mind it but it's usually followed by my grabbing and hugging her and telling her she better live to be twenty.

I think you much be right about the cobblers children syndrome, I have a friend whose partner is a decorator but thier house is in various stages of half done or not quite started. He says it's the last thing he wants to do when he comes home from work. It's still quite an exciting occupation, much more interesting to say "I make stained glass" than "I work in an estate agents" (as I used to do). It used to start the "Really, well how much is my house/your house/that house over the road worth?" conversations but beyond that it was very dull. Keep asking for the lampshade.

I wouldn't really say I was an oil on troubled waters sort of person. I'm too much like Scottie, an "if you don't stop it I'm going to run around you in circles yipping and bite a hole in your shoe while you're not looking" type of worrier. But the other side of that is I will happily lend you my equivalent of the grunting pig toy or mostly destroyed bit of gingerbread man fur should you need comfort.

I hope you got some sleep in the end. Although it does sound like fun, reorganising Amazon.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 6:06 am (EST) Jun 23, 2008

I haven't actually tried reading out loud, my sneak tactics usually include hinting about something and then saying "well, I'm not telling you, look it up" just to get Andrew in the vacinity of a bookcase.

I'm not sure now if it is that people are still being snarky in that thread or if I was just out of date. I only discovered the thread today and thought it was all from today. It's the sort of thread topic that I like to get into, usually to confess my own 'sins' (using books as coasters, book abandonment, occasional sneak-peeks at the end to check a dog is okay) but I was a bit startled that it was taken as a criticism rather than a fun way to laugh at ourselves. I saw your apology and it has carried on a bit after in the way I think you meant, but it is surprisingly easy to get jumped on by people for the most innocent remarks. It is sometimes very difficult to hold an internet conversation.

I like the Oscar and Lucinda verses Ray story, I find exactly the same thing with Andrew. We have great discussions over Who Wants To Be a Millionnaire or Trivial Pursuits and I am usually right with my "I don't know why I know this, I think I read it somewhere" answers. I especially like it if a nautical question comes up that he can't answer and I can. But then, he laughs if a book question comes up and I don't know it.

It must be really interesting to work with stained glass. And very useful if you want a new front door window or something (it's my ambition to have a window in ours with little gold stars and red panels). I visited the Caithness factory once and they made some beautiful things. I'm wondering if Nick Hornby explains the off-side rule in Fever Pitch, although that isn't a novel. Maybe you could rent the DVD film instead. Colin Firth is in it (and he isn't entirely unfortunate looking) so it wouldn't be a total waste of time.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 6:22 pm (EST) Jun 22, 2008

I am absolutely not bored on the subject of The Collector or on Greece. I know what you mean about feeling like you were home to - I had been itching to go to Corfu for years before we went on honeymoon, but I wanted to save it for something special too. We booked the honeymoon the two days before the wedding and I thought it was too much to hope for but when she said they had a last minute cancellation for Corfu that was it. And I completely agree with the quick kiss for the humans followed by a lot of rolling on the floor telling Skeelo you had missed him more than anyone else. My excuse is that "well, you know where I was, Scottie doesn't understand why I abandoned her, I have to make it up to her."

I've been going on and on to Andrew about The Collector. I know he won't read it, he doesn't read at all other than manuals about engines, but I wish he would read this. I'm desperate to pass it on. And I so badly wish there was a sequel that I've been feeling almost inspired to write it. The only thing that's stopping me is that I'm not quite the writer John Fowles is. If he was still alive I'd be harrassing him about writing one right now. I think it might be the best book I have read this year.

I think really that the whole Mitford family were odd to various degrees. Deborah seems the most sensible and normal of them all and I don't really know a lot about Pam but the rest of them - mad, all of them. I do agree about the names though, they are important to a person. I think I am glad that my middle name is Louise, rather than Valkyrie. I wouldn't want to think I had to support Hitler just because my parents got creative with my middle name. They may have just gone all out and called her Unity Nazi and just had done with it.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 5:51 pm (EST) Jun 21, 2008

Thank you. Any advice about the laptop is greatfully received.

Ah, Greece again. I heard an annecdote once about someone winning the Pools (back before the lottery) when the winner was asked if they wanted to go on a World Cruise. In all seriousness they said "No, I'd rather go somewhere nice." The person telling the story took it to mean that there's nowhere nicer than England but I feel that way about Greece. It's the most beautiful place in the world, why go anywhere else. I could be persueded to try Granada and Seville in Spain but really it's Greece or nowhere for me. I think I must have been a Greek in a former life. Who gets the first kiss when you get back, Ben or Skeelo?

That just reminded me, Andrew was watching a programme where the characters were talking about the best day of their lives and he asked me when mine was (obviously fishing for a "the day I met/married you" sort of compliment. I was reading and watching the birdfeeder (one eye in each direction) and gave a quite muttering of "when we brought Scottie home." He wasn't happy but I can't help it, it was a really great day (and we didn't have to wear funny outfits and feed sixty people).

Unity Mitford is just about to start. i think this was on a few months back and I missed it then so I'm glad it's on again now. I've gotten past the part where she died in the letters book but perhaps it will still help me with Diana. I like that she was Unity Valkyrie and was born in a place called Swastika. It sort of fits. The programme seems a bit sensational now it has started. Oh dear. They are already hinting she was pregnant. I'll stop now and concentrate on it.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 3:01 pm (EST) Jun 21, 2008

I noticed the review with the James Wilby name too and wondered if they had read an edition with a changed name. I thought perhaps it was too English sounding a name and had been changed for another country, or maybe the film version too. But possibly they have muddled up the name with someone in another book, if it has been awhile since they read it.

Where are you going on your holidays? I hope it's somewhere nice and hot and restful, although I am sure you will miss Skeelo if you go too far away. If you put the shelves up don't do too much else, much better to stay on the sofa with your book and let someone else do the hard work.

The rain has just gotten worse all day and we are all snoozing in front of the window (Scottie), the TV (Andrew) and the laptop (me). We will wake up for Doctor Who. My laptop is being very difficult, it keeps disconnecting me from the internet, I think there might be a 'time-out' setting somewhere but then it tries to connect me to a network we don't have. If your computer-wizz son has any suggestions that don't involve throwing it out of a very high window then I will be happy to listen.

I forgot the Unity Mitford programme was on tonight and I was hoping to see it, so thank you for reminding me. I'm not sure if we will watch it or record it but I am interested to see it.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 12:24 pm (EST) Jun 21, 2008

I've just done my review of The Collector and it seems to be quite a popular book that has given a lot of people the creeps. It certainly deserves to be well reviewed, although a few people seemed to find it outdated. I don't think it is though really, not when you think of recent events on the news. It seems to be very easy to lock someone up in a cellar and still have people think you are perfectly normal, even now. I think it's just that all the Seriel Killer/Psychological Profiles books now have made people expect a certain amount of over the top drama and so the quiet creepiness of this book was a bit lost to them.

I hope that you enjoy The Vanishing when it arrives. It isn't a very long book but it has so much in it that by the end I didn't think I could take much more anyway, it gave me the creeps so badly. The only problem with getting eight books is that you won't know which one to start first. Still, think of all the lovely Waterstones points you will have for that order.

It's raining here today. Scottie is curled up on a duvet, snoring happily, but still by the window waiting for it to stop so she can let me know it's safe for our walk.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 8:33 am (EST) Jun 21, 2008

Love the name Booksloth! Was the first one I noticed as soon as I joined. How I wish that being a book sloth was a paying job.

Nice to meet you,

Shirl

Lähettänyt: ShirleyUgest 4:11 pm (EST) Jun 20, 2008

Oh dear, sorry (but not too sorry) because you have just bought two really great books there. Bet you can't wait for them to arrive.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 2:41 pm (EST) Jun 20, 2008

I've finished The Collector, I finished it last night and it was brilliant. I felt like I should have expected that ending but the author was so good at leading my theories elsewhere it came as a complete shock to me. I was caught in the loop of racing through the book to find out what happens next but while wishing it wouldn't end. Frederick deserves to be on the worst villains thread. It was really interesting and very chilling to watch him develope from nearly harmless weirdo to outright nutcase. That book is going straight on my favourites list. I wish there could have been a sequel.

Joe Hill, yes his stuff is available, both his short story collection 20th Century Ghosts and his very, very good novel Heart Shaped Box. There has been a bit more fuss and fanfair than most new authors get but not quite as much as you would expect to made for someone related to Stephen King. He seems quite nicely grounded in the "I will acknowledge that my parents are successful authors but I'm not going to let anyone make a big deal out of it" attitude. Quite rightly too because he is a very good writer and deserves to be known for that. I'd recommend both his books but think HSB easily matches any of his Dad's best novels, so I'm glad I started with it. The short stories are varying degrees of good, some outright creepy and some where nothing much seems to happen but you keep thinking about them for ages without knowing quite why.

Sorry Lisey's Story has been such a let down. Maybe he would have been better making more of Scott's back-story because that would have been one hell of a book. Just the little bits we get are very freaky and nowhere near enough for me. I would have liked a lot more on him and his family.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 10:17 am (EST) Jun 20, 2008

And I forget to say, but The Collector...WOW! I have just gotten to the second part, where Miranda is keeping her diary. The first bit was very good and Frederick started out seeming okay but odd, then he got a bit odder but still seemed fairly harmless (for a kidnapper) and then he got even worse and by the end of the first bit he had me terrified for that poor girl. I am very tempted to peek at the end but since I promised you I wouldn't I am waiting to be surprised.

I have theories though. First I thougth she would be brainwashed and want to stay, then I thought he must kill her, then that she must kill him, but now I am hoping that she somehow manages to lock him up and keep him in that room. I have no hope for either of them coming out of this sane though. It's a great book.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 12:21 pm (EST) Jun 19, 2008

Hello glad the book arrived OK and thanks for journalling it. I hardly ever buy things from the supply store- I probably put a nice label in the one for you that I won at the big Convention in April!! I make my own, I can email you the word document if you want them ever. I print them on one label per page labels but that is cos I do a lot of BCing and its easier than sticking them in!!

I have had books go all over. If you go to my profile page, click on bookcrossing archives link and follow through releases old or releases current, you can click on the books that ave a date by them and that gives the nfo on the catch. I had one go to Goa and come back to Swindon, and various others go all over

Sorry for bad typing - on holiday at the moment!!

Lähettänyt: LyzzyBee 12:21 pm (EST) Jun 19, 2008

Oh dear. Which bit of the book did you get to? Do you think it might be less aggrevating to listed to it on CD or would it be worse? I'm very concerned about Duma Key now too. It's different to a lot of his books. I have noticed a big difference in his writing since his accident and I wonder if it might be that. Without wanting to give much away, Duma Key does have a man who has a life-changing accident as its central character and the tone is very different. If you do fall out with him forever though there is always his son Joe to keep you going.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 12:16 pm (EST) Jun 19, 2008

It is the same book as the films but I haven't seen either, although I would love to. The book is very disturbing and the villain has no human feelings at all really, he made me think of those robots in science fiction that go wrong and can do harm to people.

And I have started The Collector. I added it to my library, typed in the first line in the private comments box and just kept going. I like it already and I don't think it will take me long to get through. The poor Mitfords have been bumped again.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 11:49 am (EST) Jun 17, 2008

Poor Skeelo, no don't tell, it's not fair. I don't know what happened to the rest of the pig but she wouldn't have minded it being still attached. It would just have made it harder to roll about on once she has made her 'kill' of it.

I'd forgotten the 'bools' so they can't have annoyed me too much either. I do find myself picking up on King-isms though so when he overuses them they do have an effect on me. My favourite is Annie Wilkes's 'Dirty Bird' and 'Dun-Bun can't be Un-Done' from Insomnia. Scottie is usually on the receiving end of Dirty Bird but she doesn't seem to mind. Geralds Game isn't one of my favourites either, along with Needful Things.

From the back of The Collector I am wondering if the villain might be as creepy as the one in The Vanishing by Tim Krabb. He was a terrible man, so cold and insane, yet perfectly functioning in society and undetected as a complete madman. I think I will start this one very soon.

You haven't already recommended deadkidsongs to me but I have seen you mention it so I had been meaning to look out for it anyway. Now it is recommended I will definately add it to my list.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 11:12 am (EST) Jun 17, 2008

I am glad that things have picked up a bit now in Lisey's Story. I really didn't like her when I first read the book and I'm still not too keen on her now. It was the way she kept saying "smucking" that really provoked me. I halfway wanted something horrible to happen to her just for that. And it was one I thought I wouldn't read again but it kept nagging at me to go back and the second time I liked it a lot more. I think the story of Scott and his childhood could have been a great book on its own.

The Collector has just arrived from Waterstones, along with Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Un-Lun-Dun by China Mieville - I seem to be in my second childhood reading-wise at the moment. I've been buying a lot of teen fiction. I couldn't resist Un-Lun-Dun though, it has a character called Brokkenbroll, boss of the Broken Umbrellas in it, so it has to be good.

Scottie is happy today, she has a pigs ear to eat. But first, it must be hunted, killed and hidden. A pigs ear can fill a good few hours with entertainment before she even takes a bite.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 10:19 am (EST) Jun 17, 2008

The name the SK book thread started seriously by someone trying to track down a book but it got hijacked and turned into a game. I've just put my couple of lines up and think it should be easy to work out, but some of the others have been quite hard to get. It's not the first line that you put, just any bit of the book that you like. I think Lisey's Story is worth sticking with. I hated it the first time I read it but gave it another go after re-reading From a Buick 8 (I wondered if the world the Buick came from was Scott Landon's Booya Moon and wanted to check for clues) and I really liked it second time around. But, if you didn't like Lisey's Story you might not like Duma Key either, they had a similar style to each other I think.

I've finished Nineteen Minutes now and it was okay but it wasn't a patch on Kevin. I was very firmly on Peter's side though and I was hoping that he would get a break, even though I thought it was unlikely he would go free. I guessed the twist though (but only because she always does one and I was expecting it to be there). I do like her books though, My Sisters Keeper is my favourite because it was the first one of hers I read and so was unexpected and surprising. I have avoided reading the trailer for Change of Heart in the back of my copy though.

I also try to set people right on the whole Tony Blair is nice idea and I don't know how anyone ever voted for him. I argued on the day he was elected with my then boyfriend because he thought it was unreasonable not to trust someone because of their teeth. I said that TB ought to just put on a bonnet and start pretending to be Grandma (and my ex didn't get it - one reason why he is an ex) because he was too wolfish for me and I didn't like him. My ex has since told me I was right all along, which was nice to hear. I should have taped him saying that.

I am on dial up with AOL right now and it is very slow but free and better than nothing. I will be very cross with them tomorrow if the router doesn't arrive and broadband isn't reinstated. You are lucky to have a son who understands them. Does he work in computers? And if so, when can you send him here to fix our PC?

I haven't read Eye Contact but it sounds like I might have read a review of it, it's familiar. It sounds like an interesting one so I will have to look out for it. I'm still waiting for Waterstones to deliver The Collector though, so it might have to wait until that one (and the rest of the TBR pile) has had a bit of attention. To recommend back, Tiny Deaths by Robert Shearman - he is a Library Thing author from London who has his first book of short stories out (and they are odd but very good). He writes for the Doctor Who series and has just been nominated for some short story awards.

Scottie seems to be spending her time plotting, she's either wanting to catch one of the blackbird chicks or she wants to steal the peanut cake we put out for them. She has been to the seaside last week and met another scottie (called Buttons) and a spanial (called vicious little beast - by me anyway) both of whom she was pleased to meet until they tried to get "friendly" with her. She's been fixed but they hadn't and it made all three of them snappy and wanting to fight. It's not the dogs fault but I really think they would be happier if they were snipped, it does stop a lot of frustration and aggression. Skeelo's new friend sounds nicer though. I love border terriers. My aunt has one called Max and he is like a tiny little teddy bear, just wants to be loved all the time.

You will have to let me know how the march for the post office has helped. I hope it worked and it stays open. We lived in a village in Somerset for a while and it was very annoying to have to drive all the way from work in town to the village were we lived and find a card saying we had something to collect from the main office back in town. Small village post offices are essential really and it's people who live five minutes from one and probably with some poor minion to fetch anything delivered while they were out that decides to close them.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 8:33 pm (EST) Jun 16, 2008

It is a shame that these situations in real life don't work out so well or so innocently. I don't know that I would have liked a more 'realistic' ending but I thought the ending we got was a bit Disney and that spoilt the book slightly. But it was light reading and I got through it quickly, so it was a good balance to the poor Mitfords and their never-ending letters to each other. I needed the break.

I think I might like the David Kelly book, everything did seem rather too neat at the time. I like a good conspiracy theory even if it is unlikely, but I have a feeling this one might be a bit too true and likely to keep me up late for other reasons besides being a good book. It was all quite nicely forgotten about very quickly too.

On a vaguely linked topic, I have just finished watching Helen Mirren's film The Queen and wanted to slap the actor who played Tony Blair. I know they tried to make him sympathetic but it didn't work. I didn't like him at the time and I don't like him now. I was glad they made the Queen not like him either.

I'm still going on with the Mitfords (and found myself tempted to call people by silly nicknames while using a very posh voice) but I have started Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult too. It isn't exactly light relief but it is a big contrast to the letters and I am getting through it very quickly. It isn't up to the standard of We Need To Talk About Kevin but it is okay.

And thank you for noticing I was not about. I'm hoping that AOL will have fixed the problem by tomorrow or I will be missing again for a day or two (and I have to post a passage from Stephen King in the Kings Constant Readers Group in the Name this Stephen King Book thread.) I'm not at home to check my books for one yet. So it has to be fixed very soon.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 5:28 pm (EST) Jun 15, 2008

I forget to ask, what did you think of Helpless? I finished it quickly but was disappointed by the ending. If you aren't done I don't want to give it away but it felt like it was rushed and a bit weak. Shame really, because I did like the rest of the book.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 1:26 pm (EST) Jun 15, 2008

I'm back! You may not have realised I was even gone but this has been a long week. AOL cut off our service by accident (not good since we have only just signed up with them) and I have had to wait to use my dad's internet access today. Hopefully mine will be back up and running early next week. I have missed LT.

Glad that you are having fun in the Green Dragon. I played the Cats and Engineers thing to my mum today and both Scottie and my mums dog Bob went mad at the meowing.

Scottie and I have taken up bird watching in the absence of the computer. There are three blackbird chicks lurking in the back garden that have become a terrible responsibility for us. They started out just sitting on the grass, so I put some bread out, then some apple, then some lentils and apple tea shards, then we bought a Peanut Cake (it's like a tube of lard and peanut butter with sunflower seeds in it), then we bought wild bird seed, then put out various cereals in case they might like it. Scottie spends all day in the conservatory watching them eat and plotting ways to steal the Peanut Cake and I stand guard in case the fat, ginger cat from two doors down decides to come and get the chicks.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 1:19 pm (EST) Jun 15, 2008

That book you're reading (if you still are) sounds VERY interesting. Thanks for the brief history lesson because I really didn't know the whole situation......especially about Blair. The news media here usually portrays him as a pretty good guy (probably because he agrees with Bush, who is a total idiot). The situation does sound a little strange. Who wrote the book was it a reporter or someone close to Kelly?

As far as Greece I have dropped it a few times on my boyfriend....we don't even have a date set for a wedding yet...we've been together 8 years so we know it will happen one day just don't want to rush into it.

So how old are your children and what do they do? What is your other dog?

Chili came out okay...tell Skeelo thank you. She's really milking it for all it's worth.

Lähettänyt: beckylynn 11:51 pm (EST) Jun 14, 2008

I hope you don't mind if I add you to my interesting libraries - you do have a very interesting library! Not to mention, I'll need it for 20 questions!

Lähettänyt: jfetting 11:00 pm (EST) Jun 12, 2008

Sorry it has taken so long to respond, I've been very busy in the past week or so. Your first trip to Greece truly sounds like a once in a lifetime experience.

So start any new books since we last talked, I'm still struggling through the Koontz one, I can't bring myself to just pick it up and finish it.

How is Skeelo doing? Chili goes in to get spayed tomorrow, I'm hoping everything will come out alright... I'm sure it will the vet has fixed all of our other and past animals, he does a great job.

Lähettänyt: beckylynn 7:46 pm (EST) Jun 11, 2008

Hi - I'm near Oxford.
Until I went for a school librarian's job earlier this year (not having any relevant qualifications apart being a bookfiend I didn't get it), anyway, I hadn't read any older children's / YA books since I was that age myself (Harry Potter and Dark Materials excepted) as my daughter is only 7. I found some brilliant reading and have since become quietly addicted - so if you have any recommendations for me I'd love them.
Bye for now
Annabel

Lähettänyt: gaskella 2:50 pm (EST) Jun 11, 2008

Those links worked and they were wonderful. I love the llama song the best. You Tube is terrible for finding things like that.

When you go to the Green Dragon you will have to post them to the Never Know What You Are Going To Get Thread. And while you are on it you will have to look up #80 where the Engineers explain how cats work. I cried laughing and Scottie went mad at the bit with the punishments and cat yodelling.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 5:56 pm (EST) Jun 9, 2008

You are welcome about the invite, it is a fun group.

Have you been to the LTers with Dogs group? In the thread about names there is a terrible post about someone getting a dog from a shelter yesterday and today they have found out she has distemper and is very ill. Only a 50% chance of her surviving. They are upset, I was upset reading it but have no advice for them. I thought perhaps you might have some suggestions on how to help.

I can't bear it when dogs are sick and I am shocked the shelter let them take her. It's so unfair to everyone, including the dog (most of all the dog).

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 5:26 pm (EST) Jun 9, 2008

I've just put a few more points on my Waterstones card by ordering The Collector and a couple of other books just now. And right as I clicked submit order my mini TBR pile by the sofa gave way. I am trying to decide if it is a sign to stay off the Waterstones site or to go on the Argos one and order a new bookcase.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 7:40 pm (EST) Jun 8, 2008

I haven't read The Collector but now I really want too. Another one for the wishlist. I am enjoying Helpless, I like a good creepy stalker-type story.

It was a good effort to try to save the bird. I once spotted a neighbours cat chasing a mouse in their driveway and leapt on the cat. I was scratched by the cat, pretty much hurled him over the fence (good job they land on thier feet), grabbed and was bitten by the mouse, scrapped my knees on the concrete and got stabbed by a thorn while tucking the mouse safely in the hedgerow. But the mouse was safe and that was the main thing. I hope your back and your feet are okay now though. My theory is that although it is natural for a cat to catch and kill a bird, the bird was unfairly handicapped by concussion and deserved its fair chance to get its wings back, so you did the right thing.

Just seen your messages from beckylynn while I was typing this. The Duma Key dog scenes made me cry they were so awful, definetely skim them. And Oy in the Dark Tower - Stephen King might have been picturing a Billybumbler when he wrote him, but all I see when I read about him is a Scottie with stripes.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 5:38 pm (EST) Jun 8, 2008

It is strange that we end up with books in common when there are so many to choose from but I always find it stranger when I see a book I thought was brilliant has only a tiny handful of other people listing it on here. I have to suppress the urge to start spamming the boards with "What's wrong with you people - read THIS book."

I like your idea of having a set of short stories or letters to fill the gap between the end of a book and the need to go to sleep. I might start doing that too. I also love reading about the Mitford family, they were never boring were they? I am fondest of Deborah, least keen on Unity and Diana and always a bit sorry for Pamela as she seems to be left out of the books a lot. There has been one part that made me laugh and like Diana at least a little bit more than I have in the past - when she was in prison during the war she sued a newspaper for saying she was living a life of luxury in prison and then bought a fur coat with the damages she won from them "to keep her warm in her cell." If that wasn't sticking two fingers up at them but also laughing a bit at herself I don't know what was. This book was a bit of a treat to myself with my waterstones points card and I am glad I used them on it now.

I know who you mean from the HH group and he is always very good with his arguments. I don't know if he would call it the wrong place or the right one though - if he can convince one person their of his beliefs it might be a job well done in his eyes. But I think he just enjoys a good discussion and knows where to go to find one. Much more fun to discuss things when you are disagreeing than when everyone agrees all the time. I had my own revelation in the Dog group earlier when I realised I am almost always mistyping dog as god and having to correct it. I think it says a lot about my ideas on dogs (and on Scottie's status in our house) so it was just the right place to bring Skeelo into the discussion.

I'm feeling a bit uncertain about Story of a Marriage now. I loved it, more for the way the author writes than for the story, but I did like the characters too and gave the book a good review and five stars. But I seem to be the only one who really liked it, judging by the other reviews. I've had a moment wondering if I am cheerfully biased towards it for being a gift but really I think it just put me in mind of Anne Tyler and her skill with describing an ordinary domestic scene in such an extraordinary way. I'm interested to know how you like it. I was also sure I would not be requesting a book and then found three in the June batch (more really but only three available in the UK) so I have put in another request now.

I'm intrigued now as to what you were doing yesterday, so I will be keeping an eye out for your next message.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 8:53 am (EST) Jun 8, 2008

I just popped over as I see you have also recently added Helpless by Barbara Gowdy to your library and wondered if you have made a start on it yet. I started it in the Waterstones coffee shop and so am going to have to carry on with it now. Not fair to the rest of my TBR pile but it will be light relief from my reading of The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters, which is good but can be hard work in places (so many people with so many different nicknames, some of them sharing a nickname between them).

While I was here I found a comment from you that I think you meant to send to me, so I am answering it now. I wouldn't worry about not being popular in the HH group, mostly they love a good argument and I've been watching yours closely. I'm not confident enough to join in, I get a bit tongue-tied, but you seem to be having fun with them.

Cinnamon-Raisin Malt Loaf sounds very lovely, I don't think I could resist it either. I'm eating slices of vanilla fudge right now. The girl in the shop tried to explain to me how it is dairy-free diet fudge but I don't believe her. I don't think it is possible. And she didn't say anything about the side effect of eating it, namely that a small black dog would attach itself to my leg and drool carefully on my sock while never breaking eye contact with the fudge. They ought to warn you about that sort of thing.

And I see you have been offered a swap copy of The Story of a Marriage. I have just finished my copy and enjoyed it very much. Have you finished the ER book you got yet? Has it arrived yet actually? Faber & Faber were very quick getting TSOAM out to me so I am very impressed.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 3:17 pm (EST) Jun 7, 2008

Hey no worries! I have finished The Story of A Marriage so just pop me your address whenever - use lbroomfield@ftml.net if you feel more comfortable doing it that way. I have PLENTY of books to be getting along with!!

When you send it, include a note of your address on a note inside the book, then I'll have the means to send it back right away when I've finished it.

Best wishes

Liz

Lähettänyt: LyzzyBee 3:29 pm (EST) Jun 5, 2008

Hmmm, I can't resist getting in there with some of the HH people, especially the ones who aren't heathens themselves, but seem to think they can convert the rest of us. Not sure I'm very popular there right now though!

What a shame about your weekend. You'd think his parents might take the hint no matter how much they want to see him too.

Not sure I agree with you about the weather but I definitely agree about the diet. Skeelo's not the only one who needs to diet right now. Unfortunately I just went shopping for my mum (she's in her 80s now and suffers quite badly from arthritis) and discovered a 2 for 1 offer on cinnamon and raisin malt loaf. It's not in my nature to turn down anything with cinnamom so I think I'll be avoiding the scales for a while now.

Lähettänyt: Booksloth 10:55 am (EST) Jun 4, 2008

I love a good argument in the Happy Heathens but I haven't stopped by for a while. I will have to go look. I haven't been much good at the first line game either just lately. A combination of a bad memory and a lack of books that the others seem to have in comman.

A romantic weekend has been the last thing we managed. At first we couldn't get rid of Andrew's parents (the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond could have been written about us) and then the minute we got home our boiler decided to break down so we have the man from British Gas here (for the second day) fixing it. And one of the first things Andrew said when we got back was "Do you know what I really want to do now? Cut the grass." So I feel entirely justified in going shopping for books in the middle of it all.

Poor Skeelo on his diet. I know just how he feels. I couple of treats here and there and all of a sudden you are a size bigger and reduced to salads only, with no dressing :-(

I love our British weather and the way we cope with it. It's been lovely apart from the flooding. Where else to people get to say that?

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 6:27 am (EST) Jun 4, 2008

I am so jealous of you! I guess it's probably much more affordable air-fare wise for you guys then it would be to fly from over here (Right smack dab in the middle of the states...Missouri). I'm still a college student so every project I have to do I usually try to do it Greek oriented :) so I'd like to say I know a little about the culture, but it's always different once you experience it. So you have seen the ruins? I bet they were breathtaking. And the beaches? My boyfriend and I wen tdown to Mexico about 5 years ago and it was pretty...but I'm sure it doesn't compare to Greece.

Don't feel bad about putting down that book.I'm considering doing the same myself. I'm half way through Dean Koontz's Strangers and I have no idea what is going on!! It's driving me mad.

I think I will check out your guys' book of the month thing. I have a summer class starting this Friday so I don't know how much I'll be able to allow myself to get involved, but the class ends at the end of June and then I can have a little self indulgence! My class is actually Children's Literature....so I'll probably be stuck reading a bunch of children's books. Oh well, I guess that's part of the game plan when your studying to become a teacher.

Lähettänyt: beckylynn 4:28 pm (EST) Jun 3, 2008

Just saying hello as I haven't been about for a few days and haven't seen you about now I am back. Andrew came home at the weekend and I went to meet his ship in Portsmouth. I got to visit some lovely bookshops while I was there (and I made him detour to Oxford on the way past as we were driving home) so it was a lovely weekend but I missed LT.
Scottie is recovered from all her illnesses but has started to be very naughty in the aftermath of them, definetely a bit too full of herself. She seems to be turning into one of those badly behaved dogs that are not good to walk, so I am thinking that we need to find a trainer to help get us both into disciplin again. A couple of obedience classes to refresh us will do us both good, she's been a bit too spoilt of late. It's my fault, with everything that happened last year she has been a bit too petted and pampered and now thinks bad behaviour is okay.
I hope you and Skeelo and Mr Sloth are okay and having better weather than we have been getting. Walks have been in short supply and we have to rush round the streets when the rain stops and usually end up wet and windblown and running back home because the rains have started again.

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 4:02 pm (EST) Jun 3, 2008

It is so ironic you go to Greece every year....I want to go there so bad I can hardly stand it. I've been talking about it for the past 5 years but there's no possible way we could afford it. (I'm hoping honeymoon...) I would love to see the ruins and of course, the beaches (prettiest in the world I've been told). That's so cool you named Skeelo in Greek. So not only is he a teddy-bear, he's also a pretty boy too :) You caught him at exactly the right time, no puppy training (that's what we're going through with Chili right now).

Well each one of my dogs has it's own unique story (don't they all). Boo was picked up in front of a grocery store and Chili was from a litter of a friends dog (I actually got to watch her be born). Tizzy's is by far the saddest. I got her when she was six weeks old and she had been taken away from her mother at 4 weeks. The two weeks in between she was in a horrible home where other dogs bit her and she had extreme infections (worms) and almost lost her left eye. My vet didn't think she was going to make it. Needless to say she is now the boss of all the other dogs and I couldn't love her anymore unless I gave birth to her myself :) She still has issues about bathrooms (where they locked her up at) and thuderstorms from the horrible way her life started. All is great now though and that's what truly matters.

I thought that's how your heath services worked....or had an idea anyways. There's pro's and con's to that believe me. I haven't had insurance for 6 years and it gets very expensive over here without it.

So what book(s) are you currently reading?

Lähettänyt: beckylynn 7:19 pm (EST) Jun 2, 2008

Thank you ! Yes, we did it this morning (it's 5pm here now - have been at my running partner's for lunch afterwards) and it was great! 8.5 miles in 1 hour 38 mins which is the furthest and longest either of us has ever run!

We were doing it for LUCIA http://www.luciacharity.org.uk which is a small charity supporting Ethiopian women and children. A colleague of mine started the charity and it's so brilliant to know the £300 odd we have raised will go to change people's lives!

Thanks for thinking of me!

Liz

Lähettänyt: LyzzyBee 12:11 pm (EST) Jun 1, 2008

Okay so you got the point I was trying to make (about the SK books). Yes, those are the ones I am least fond of...but I don't want you to prejudge Lisey's Story just from my comparison. I agree with you whole-heartdly....those books were bad but not near as bad as some of the non-SK one's I have wasted my time on (the absolute worst ever was Bentley Little's The Return)...I don't think I'm going to even give the author a second chance.

If I remember correctly about the healthcare system around your area it's all 'free', let me rephrase that, not paid for by insurance, but like a publically provided thing? Correct me if I'm wrong (I met some Scots a few years ago who tried to explain it to me). Sorry to hear that it's taking so long for your back ordeal.

On to lighter things...I just love the photos of Skeelo. The one on the couch is my favorite. He looks like a big teddy bear (he?she?) Where did the name Skeelo come from?

Lähettänyt: beckylynn 1:30 pm (EST) May 31, 2008

Yeah, I love making friends on this thing...(people who actually understand the nerd within me) :) I can understand why Lisey's Story has been giving you difficulties. It's what I call one of the 'weird ones' (others that fall in this category are Dreamcatcher,Tommyknockers, and From a Buick 8). I would recommed reading Duma Key first, because it's much better.
So you had back surgery? I hope everything went and goes well, my grandpa has been through 3 and my dad 2 so I know they an be rough.
I changed my picture on my profile (finally got all three to look at the camera....beef jerky!) Tizzy is small and black and Chili is brown. Yours are so very cute as well!! I just love being a dog mommy.
So where in the world are you from?

Lähettänyt: beckylynn 4:56 pm (EST) May 30, 2008

Hello! Mine arrived yesterday, it's only a short novel so I should get it read quickly, although most of Sunday will be taken up with a Fun Run I'm doing...

Lähettänyt: LyzzyBee 10:04 am (EST) May 30, 2008

I just put the pic at the top of my page. Thanks! Boo is the big one and no she's not full lab, but your partially right. She's half black lab and half boxer. She's got the bow legs and underbite but the rest is all lab. I have another one too, but I'm sure you can imagine how hard it is to get three dogs in one picture :) I'm getting ready to go look at your babies pictures....

Lähettänyt: beckylynn 7:40 pm (EST) May 28, 2008

Have you read the Dark Tower Series yet? I love the character Oy in those...even though he's not quite a dog he is in my imagination. I think the correct term is billybumbler...or something along those lines.

Lähettänyt: beckylynn 9:49 pm (EST) May 27, 2008

Oh, I don't mind at all, I was trying to find people to talk to!!! Don't be afraid to read Duma Key because of the dog scene, it's graphic, but short. It's at the very begining and believe me you'll know when to start skimming...

Lähettänyt: beckylynn 9:42 pm (EST) May 27, 2008

Scottie is definately better today, she proved it by rolling in some very smelly poo that someone didn't clean up in the park. We had to come straight home for a shower and she is very ashamed. She's had a stressful day now, being in the shower and now someone is letting off fireworks, which she hates. How's Skeelo with fireworks?

Lähettänyt: Jodyreadseverything 5:08 pm (EST) May 26, 2008