Square Eyes

I recently read 'Slam' by Nick Hornby too. Surpisingly I also enjoyed it, read it in two train journeys to work.

Also recently just finished 'The Lollipop Shoes', sort of sequel to 'Chocolat', though it can be read individually. I will say though its not a patch on 'Chocolat', at all.

I am about to start 'The Last Empress', by Anchee Min, the sequel to 'Empress Orchid'.

Not had time to read much other than course books recently, seeing as outside work all Ihave been doing is studying, training for the Sunwalk in July and also looking for another job as the romance has simply gone with the railways and definatley need a change after eight years.

In the afternoons, I'm reading The Groucho Letters, correspondence from and to the legendary, moustachioed, cigar-smoking comic. As you would expect, it's hilarious and I plan to plagiarise large chunks of it in my own letters

I'll have to read 'Slam' soon too. I hadn't even realised Nick Hornby had another book out until reading about it here, so thanks for the tip, Charliegirl and Abf!

Talking of Hornby-esque books, I've just finished Starter For Ten. I think a few other people here have read it already, but I hadn't so all I can say is: fantastic! Best book I've read for ages. Unputdownable!

I've recently read the first Septimus Heap book and now I'm reading Hamlet in the mornings (it took me about 3 hours just to get through the 50 page introduction!) and Brave New World in the afternoons, which is very good indeed.

I'm currently reading 'An offer you can't refuse' by Jill Mansell.

I'm reading Churchill Wanted Dead Or Alive, a biography of the car insurance advert dog. Only joking. It's about some other bloke called Churchill's experiences as a correspondent in the Boer War. This bloke truly knew no fear. No wonder he was so good at war & stuff (to give it its technical term!).

I'm also reading yet another Monty Python biography: The Pythons by The Pythons.

Still reading Hamlet and have just started on The Hours. I can't help thinking of Nicole Kidman with a false nose.

Now I'm onto The Da Vinci Code (thought it was about time I saw what the fuss was about) in the mornings and about to start Paul Magrs' Something Borrowed (which, appropriately, I have borrowed) in the afternoons.

I've just read "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" by John Boyne.

Without giving too much away, it's set during WW2 and is about a 9 year old German boy who has to move away with his family due to his father's "important job".
Near the house they move to is a large fenced off area where he's not allowed to go, but one day while exploring he meets a thin shaven haired boy in "striped pyjamas" who's on the other side of the fence and they secretly become friends.

The subject matter is obviously familiar and has been dealt with in lots of books and films before, but this one is from a different perspective.
It's definitely worth reading and doesn't turn out quite how I was expecting.

I'm still reading Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs, but I am over halfway, and I managed 3 chapters in one night I should have it finished before the end of September. Two months ahead of schedule.

Sutti's big hair wrote:about to start Paul Magrs' Something Borrowed (which, appropriately, I have borrowed) in the afternoons.

Finished that - a really unusual style and idea but very funny - read a good one called Lottery (during which a man passing by me told me that I should stop reading novels and read the koran or I'd go to a firey crack), then I went on to The Joy Luck Club, which was easy to read, and now I'm half way through Brideshead Revisited.

Finished Deja Dead on the last day of July, so now I'm reading Death Du Jour by Kathy Reichs. Only read the firs tchapter so far though.

I've just finished Something Happened by Joseph Heller. It took him 13 years to write, and me almost as long to read! But then it is basically a 569-page inner monologue from the point of view of a depressed executive. I really need - no, deserve, dammit! - to read something light now after such a test of endurance

I'm afraid I've failed to read past chapter one of Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs. It's hard going and I've moved on.

I picked up a book called "Honeymoon" by James Patterson which belongs to my Mother-in-Law. I read that in just under two weeks. Far easier to read and now I'm reading "Cross" by James Patterson. I also the first Alex Cross book by Patterson (Along Comes a Spider) and "Kiss the Girls" too.

So many books to read, so little time.

This week I have been mostly reading I Am An Oil Tanker: Travels With My Radio by Fi Glover. It's very good. I like her dry wit.