December 2011: Mark your plaice, we've a new thread and a fresh catch of <haddock>

[LittleMissFlustered]

anyone?

I like a bit of Sue Townsend for giggles, James Rollins for crap and Robin Hobb and Jim Butcher please can I have a Harry to play with for fantasy:o

lmf yep, I cry at Deathly Hallows too. I also want to be Molly Weasley when I grow up - her DC were Home educated too. and mine WILL be getting their Hogwarts letters at 11 I think my world view was largely shaped by Mr Pratchett's witches.

missree you must! The writing isn't great in the first couple, but the story is so good that it doesn't matter much. And I am usually snobby about good writing.

I'll put a pic of it with the candles if I remember!

Reading Alan Bennett's Writing Home; have every Sir T P book going, and also every Bill Bryson! Am a total bookworm; I think Wild Swans is my favourite auto-b/real life/historical one, loved We Need to Talk About Kevin, and loved Arundhati Roy's God of Small Things.
Will read anything sci-fi (Iain M Banks Culture ones are great) and anything historical- Wolf Hall was brilliant.
Oh, and political diaries!
A good trashy crime/murder/pathology novel never goes amiss either.

I too can nerd out on my book love MsB!

And yes, the cinema is ridiculously expensive, we never go...

Rowling as a writer grows with the kids, 'tis an epic journey for them all:)

As for Pratchett, I'm 'that Agnes that calls herself Perditax'

I also love: Of mice & men and To kill a mockingbird.

Confession: Never read any Terry Prachett books.

I have always been a total book addict (used to walk along reading many a time.....) recent reads include Look me In The Eye by John Elder Robinson (life story of a chap with undiagnosed Aspergers who made pyrotechnics for KISS in the seventies), Moab is my Washp

Stephen Fry also =

Arg, frigging post button! Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry, never let Me Go (novel version, was a film with Keira knightley, v sad)
And A Household Guide To Dying (the nearest to chicklit that i will countenence)....am about to read A Face Like Glass (new Frances Hardinge book just out: she's a fab fantasy author!)

Figgy dp and I are avid cinema goers and always take in a carrier bag full of goodies in! A can of pepsi each, sometimes some sandwiches if we're going around lunchtime and a giant bag of crisps and/or a big tub of Ben & Jerrys! We don't hide it either, I don't think they mind these days because they can't afford to turn away the custom in this age of streaming films :)

Ah books, love them! I have loads of Enid Blyton which I'm keeping
for dd and still read myself, although they are pretty outdated. Have all of Harry Potter too, I can't wait until dd is old enough to be read them. I also got a load of ladybird classic fairytale books from The Mirror which dd likes, although I hadn't realised how macabre Chicken Licken was!

I love reading all types of fiction but have a particular liking for psychological thrillers and crime books - favourite authors include Tess Gerritsen, Harlan Coben and Karen Rose.

Been a full on day, kids party this morning (it was crazy - Children's entertainer, cooked catering and the party bags were proper bags. WTF?!) and round a friends this arvo for a birthday get-together which included pizza! Not long back, children in bed so relaxing with a cuppa.

Sorry for lack of name checking, can't even blame drunkenness...

Ooh and read Life of Pi last week (missed it when it first came out), interesting if a bit grim in the closing scenes...

And read The Lottie Project by Jaqueline Wilson the other day: was playtesting it to check suitability for DD1. That was fun, a bit predictable but it's a kiddies one and so a degree of formulaic is common if not inevitable.

I have a few Jacqueline Wilson books on standby for dd - also collected via The Mirror. Not read them myself yet ...

I love kids books:o Rick Riordan, Derek Landy, Eoin Colfer... Bring it on!:o

Those are Percy Jackson, Skulduggery Pleasant and Artemis Fowl books for those not in my loop:)

I love Stephen Fry too, although on Twitter a while ago he did say that women don't like sex to which I pulled this face . I loved his autobiographies.

Cinema - yes, horribly expensive. We used to take vodka in to add to our Coke as teenagers and get progressively sillier. The indie cinema here (shows foreign films, also where a friend informed me that I was probably pg when having DD1!) has a reasonably priced bar and lets you take your drink in and is cheaper than the Odeon so we occasionally go there.

aethel when I just had DD1 I used to walk her to sleep in the sling while reading...endless walking around the park!

Ooh, I did that once and only once MsB- we left such a mess of sticky alcopop-y things, popcorn and sweets, I felt awful!

I loved the Judy Blume ones, but did all the Enid Blytons, Roald Dahls, etc, and I think HP is great. Can't wait to get reading with DS

Does anyone remember the teenage Point Horror books? They were all the rage in the mid 90s. I loved them although they were quite predictable!

MissRee Yeah I uses to read Point Horror.

I love to read Charles Dickens too.

I preferred Point Crime:o

Random fact but Charles Dickens used to live down the road from me

Omg, lots to catch up on here! Hope everyone that was ill is feeling better now!

Thanks for the purée suggestions, going to try out potato and leek next! Cauliflower & broccoli went down surprisingly well!

I love reading, when I was little I think Roald Dahl was my favourite, and I loved Judy Blume, Enid Blyton, I think the was a series about mice something like Redwall?

I still love reading, I've just started reading 'The Help'! It's my book but my mum got in firsthand read it, quite funny as she said when she used to clean people's houses she was told to use a different toilet too...how times change (not!)...

DS has been sleeping 8 hours the last few nights and taking two to three naps in the day, it's a bloody miracle! He always switches onto good behaviour just as I'm starting to think "help! Can't do this for much longer!" :o I'm going to bed in a minute, don't want to stay up too late and tempt fate!

Wow, you lot have been very chatty; I have finally managed to catch up on all your posts as we've been away for DP's step-brother's wedding since Wednesday morning.

We spent 2 nights at a hotel on Hayling Island, Portsmouth stopped in Southampton for 4 hours of shopping at the West Quay Centre on the way there & popped in to see my friend in the New Forest & her 3 mth old twins on the way back. Shattered.com!!! Had a great time though. Wedding was lovely. DS was very well behaved & adored by all; he obligingly napped before the wedding & then again in our room before the meal was served (while everyone was outside for photos or at the bar) then again after the meal & I even managed to stay for the evening do as I fed him in the sling at 8 & he slept through some seriously loud music until I got tired & sloped off to our room at 10:30 where he slept through-ish until 8am! With dreamfeeds every couple of hours; does that still count when you're cosleeping? It was good enough for me; must get better curtains for the bedroom as the ones in the hotel made it pitch black & I'm wondering if that was the secret or could it have been the 2 glasses of champagne?

The sling must have magical properties though as he also slept though the Olympic Torch Relay passing through our village this morning while I jumped around waving a flag Can't say I agree with the billions they've spent on the Olympics but the relay was the most exciting thing to happen in the village since I've lived here so I'm glad we got out for it.

Too many posts to namecheck. Gah, I should've taken notes...lets see...

Oi good luck with the house. It's huuuuge!!! Ali's going to love it
NC Cake sounds divine. I'd have it with a side of Cornish Clotted Cream for good measure
LMF Hope you're feeling better soon.
aethel glad DS made it through the night.
BJR your post made me go all mushy; I love all the stroking & finger holding during feeds; I'm really going to miss it when he's all grown up...is this how women get addicted to having babies
DSM Darcie's comment made me chuckle :)

Sorry, that's all I can remember except to say I hope all the poorly mums & babies are feeling better & I'm reading The Hunger Games right now; love kids books (big DR Seuss & HP fan here) I also like psychological thrillers, crime & sci-fi...not much I won't read to be honest; I really hope DS is the same as my OH doesn't read a thing. Oh & DS is sitting up pretty well now too, although he does tend to dive for cats & toys which is a bit scary. It's all happening so fast

30 bastard mins was all I got in bed before the nights dun has begun. And judging on previous experience f will be up at least every 2 hrs if

Not more frequently.

Really don't need it after an exhausting day attempting potty training DS1 which has been really hard already. He was rather clueless today but hopefully tomorrow will be better. It broke my heart when he said sorry rather pitifully after weeing in his trousers for the 15th time

Evening all, don't read much these days I'm afraid. I used to buy the booker prize finalists every year from The Book People - and yes, Northern, the god of Small things is beautifully written. Loved it.
It's taken me so long to catch up, I'm now falling asleep. Fingers crossed for a decent night for us all. X

Awful night over here. So tired can't see straight. Update later