The Book thread

[jeanelle]

And talking of being miscast, does anyone read the Jack Reacher books? Do you see Tom Cruise as REacher?

Yes! Yes! Yes! and Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

[TheyCallMeMrGlass]

Yesterday, I had a nice day trip to Oxford attending The Times Litarary book festival. I came back home with 17 novels, alas not as goodie bags, I pa*d for all the books at their normal prices BUT they were all signed by the authors. These included "Silver, The Return to Treasure Island" by Andrew Morton. All 6 books of Skulduggery Pleasant (all signed by Derek Landy whose signature looks suspiciously like a slightly wobbly straight line). Rawr_xoxo told me to read these and I am highly enjoying the first book but my blasted Time Travel group book read commitments keeps interrupting my read. I also b*ght all 8 books of Alex Rider series signed by Anthony Horrowitz who also talked a bit about the New Sherlock's Holmes adventure he is writing and 3 other new author books that I felt compelled to read after listening to the authors lectures (2 of the books are about time travel, my favourite genre)

I've been to Oxford a few times before with friends and to play cricket but never really explored it. Being on my own gives me an opportunity to. So I walked around beautiful Oxford, made a little climb up on of the town spires. But it was the Uni iteself that held the most wonders.

I attended 4 Times Literary Festival panel sessions. All were entertaining. The first was a session with Andrew Motion, who has just released the first official sequel to Treasure Island on which this session was largely about. He read a lot of extracts from the book, so much that I felt he was giving the story away! I swear he even had the book open reading close to the end of it. He is an ex Laureate and a top authority in English literature, does he not know the etiquettes of spoilers!?! But he is enjoyable to listen to.

The next session was a bizarre but entertaining q&a plus History Quiz show by the Scarrow brothers Alex and Simon (Simon writes the Eagle gladiator series while Alex writes the Timeriders series). I think if the 2 brothers ever hit permanent writers block they could become tv quiz show hosts as a back up career. Audience participated in the history quiz. I hardly knew any of the answers but refrained from answering any but for some reason I answered one and was the only one to put my hand up that Spain was called Gaul by the Romans (dont ask me why I did that) whereas the rest of the audience put their hands up thinking it was Hispanic. Thankfully, i was sitting right at the back, inconspicuously so no one in front can snigger at my poor general knowledge. Naturally, I refrained from contributing my arm to further audience questions to avoid further embarrassment. I wanted to b*y Simon's Eagle series (I have only read Alex's Timeriders) but they only had his latest book series aimed for kids called Gladiator in which children kills each other in arenas...um sounds familiar!

Another session was the final panel of the week-long Times Literary Festival featuring 4 finalists of the Blue Peter Children's author of the year award. Hosted by Andrew Horrowitz, author of the Alex Rider series and currently penning the first official non-C.Doyle Sherlock Holmes novel. This was a very entertaining panel that was set in what looked very much like The Great Hall at Hogwarths complete with the long bench tables and potraits on the walls. This made me a somewhat giddy as I sat at the table looking around me...bloody hell, I'm in Hogwarths School for Wizards. And then there is the courtyard just outside which is the very same seen in the movies. What a treat, it felt so surreal sitting in this Great Hall and walking those same courtyard corridors as in the HP films and this is real, not a film set where I can huff and puff and blow down the cardboards. I should have taken pictures Unfortunately Andrew Horrowitz looked and sounded nothing like Professor Dumbledore which shattered the illusion slightly. But 2 of the authors in the panel were teachers so that compensated slightly. I almost wished one of them said 50 points from Ravenclaw house for daydreaming (I figured that was the table I was sitting at).

Anyway, that was my book day of the year. So which book do I read first...grrr hate having million choices.

[canadian_turtle]

*cough Anthony Horowitz *cough*

Glad to hear you had a great time and I can't wait to hear what you think of the Alex Rider novels (one of my favourite series)

[TheyCallMeMrGlass]

*cough Anthony Horowitz *cough*

Glad to hear you had a great time and I can't wait to hear what you think of the Alex Rider novels (one of my favourite series)

Oh yeah, Its Andrew Motion that muddled me up

And its from your past recommendations that I b*ght those Alex Rider books!

[jojojoanne]

My Son loves the Alex Rider books. Have you seen the film? (probs a silly question!!)

[TheyCallMeMrGlass]

My Son loves the Alex Rider books. Have you seen the film? (probs a silly question!!)

Actually I did but I cant remember much about it and I didnt realise it was an Alex Rider story until yesterday. I recall Ewen Mcgregor playing an Uncle who is actually a spy and only appeared in the first quarter but I cant remember if I enjoyed it or not!

[jojojoanne]

It's a nice enough film. It's only been played in our house about a thousand times .....!!!!

[tilly]

Carnaby Book Exchange – London’s most diverse free book exchange

There are in excess of 130 million books in the world, with the average person reading one book per week.

The Carnaby Book Exchange is a space where you can pick up a book, relax in an armchair and explore the vast expanses of fashion, travel, music, photography, design and history, to name but a few topics. You are able to leave a book that you have read, and in return take one away from the space for free.

The project has been curated by the MA Fashion Curation students at London College of Fashion. Located in Kingly Court, just off Carnaby Street, you can even share your thoughts and recommendations on the book you are leaving behind, with the swapping concept not only involving the sharing of books, but also the sharing of memories. Carnaby is world renowned for being an incubator for fashion, music and style-tribes. The Carnaby Book Exchange will serve as an incubator for a passion shared, at what will possibly be London’s most diverse book club.

G5, Ground floor, Kingly Court, Carnaby, W1
Opening Hours: Monday – Saturday 8am – 6pm and Sunday 12pm – 6pm

[anakin]

This is great, thanks for this Tilly! Might go and have a nose and swap a book or two!

[canadian_turtle]

Oh that sounds amazing! I have so many books I'd like to swap