Anyway, I started briefly glancing at it that evening and before I knew where I was, I was into the book. Dewey was adopted by the library staff after he was dropped in the book return one cold January night. It is a great book, with many funny antics and also a bit of an emotional roller coaster. The town was suffering during the downturn of the 1980′s and the arrival of Dewey proved to be a turning point for the library and the town. The writing is easy and very descriptive; you are just there in the story.

A book that I would most definately recommend. It took me a week, because I was busy and couldn’t get back to it, but I could easily have sat and read it all day.

The story is about a 13 year old called Marcus, who is disabled and confined to a wheelchair. His parents died when he was young and he is being shuffled from one state-run boys’ school to another. He has dreams of an imaginary place that he calls Farworld and friend there, a girl his age, called Kelly or Kristen or something like that. While dreaming about Farworld, he has a vision of a black robed figure who tries to kill him. When he wakes up, he has a visitor at school, the man from his nightmare. He is rescued from this man, by Kyja, the the girl from his dreams who pulls him magically to Farworld, which isn’t a dream. Kyja is the only person on the magical world of Farworld who cannot do magic.

Farworld is in danger from the Dark Circle, and the two of them need to find the four types of Elementals, water, land, air and fire and get them to work together. The problem is, elementals don’t talk to each other and absolutely don’t talk to humans. They have to try anyway and set off for Water Keep, the home of the water elementals.

This book is the story of their adventures on their journey to Water Keep and although there are some predictable directions there are still many unexpected turns as well. I read it over the course of a couple of evenings and found it an easy read. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will look forward to the next one in autumn 2009.

The real test of whether it worked as a young adult book was to let my son read it. When he came home from school on Friday, I told him that there was a book he could read if he wanted to. Bookworm that he is, he immediately started on it. I knew it was going well, when he didn’t take a break from it to play on the computer. By mealtime he had already read half of it, (I’m not sure, I think he reads even quicker than me). He took it up to bed with him and when we went up to say goodnight he was reading something else. Wondering if he had had enough, I asked if he had finished it and was answered enthusiastically ‘Yes, can you get me the next one please’. I explained that it wouldn’t be out until autumn next year and after a short pause got ‘I can’t wait until autumn 2009′. I think it was a hit.

He particularly like the ‘huge fish’ at Water Keep and when two characters got turned into fish. He thinks it is as good as The Hobbit, so there’s a big vote.

So, thank you Scott, from two very satisfied UK readers.

Scott’s website for the series has moved to http://www.readfarworld.com.

Another book that I have pre-ordered is Raymond E. Feist’s next book Rides a Dread Legion (The Demonwar Saga). It’s scheduled for release 2nd March 2009, hopefully it will be on time, the last one slipped by about 6 months and that was a long wait. I really enjoyed the last book Wrath of a Mad God (Darkwar), which only took me a couple of days to read.

I love this film and have lost track of the number of times I have seen it. I much prefer the earlier Director’s cut released in 1992 to the original version with Harrison Ford’s voiceover.

The film is based on Philip K. Dick’s novel ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?‘ and is set in Los Angeles in 2019. Harrison Ford plays a cop named Deckard who comes out of retirement to hunt down and eliminate four androids who have escaped from off planet colonies and have travelled to Earth to confront their designer.

Amazon have the new version available for pre-order as either a 2-disc version with some extras or the 5 disc ultimate collectors’ edition. The 5 disc version contains all
of the previous versions of the film. Both are due for release on 3rd December. My copy of the 5 disc set is on order.

No spoilers, but definately a good read

Tags: harry potter deathly hallows

now reading – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K.Rowling

The weather here this last week has been exceptional for the time of year. We had the wettest day of the wettest June on record on Monday. It wasn’t too bad in the south of the country but further north, parts of South and East Yorkshire were severly affected with over 100mm of rain in one day (1.5 times the average rainfall for the month). At least four people have been killed and more than 3000 properties have been flooded. I was reading on the BBC website that more heavy rain is expected on Saturday. It has also been unseasonally cool for June with temperatures overnight around 10-12′C

Unfortunately, the bad weather has proved a disappointment for the kids’ school. The PSA at Watling Lower School had organised a funfair for this coming weekend, but due to the weather, the school fields are too muddy and soft for the heavy equipment, so this has had to be cancelled. The PSA put a lot of work into organising these events and so it is sad when the weather spoils it. A meeting will be held after school tomorrow to see what can be done instead.

I finished listening to the audio book today of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini read by the author. This book was recommended to me by jmb back in February in the comments to my Book Meme post. In the same comment she also recommended The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay. Both books were excellent in their own ways; the later is a good fantasy book which I must now get the others in the series of. The Kite Runner isn’t a book that I would have naturally picked up to read, but very soon after starting I was transported to Afganistan in the 1970′s and how life and society changes there with the coming of the Taliban. A big thank you to jmb for the recommendation and if you come across it pick it up and have a read.

On Saturday, Gary posted Instant Message Me Direct from Azazil.net where he talks about Plugoo, an instant messaging widget for your website/blog. On Sunday evening, while watching a re-run of Ramsey’s Kitchen Knightmares on More4, I was checking out some blogs and while I was there I thought I’d give it a try. I had a quick chat with Gary, and as all Brits do we discussed the weather (as a nation we are obsessed with talking about the weather!). I can vouch for the fact that Plugoo works really well, although it would be better if you had a bit more control on the size of the widget. I liked it so much that I have added it to my contact me page. The only problem it seems to have is that it is beta at the moment and sometimes the Plugoo servers are not responding or a bit slow. So if you want to have a chat when I’m online by all means pop over to my contact me page and chat away.

Last night I watched a film that I hadn’t seen for about 20 years. I watched Kagemusha by Akira Kurosawa. This is a film set in 16th Century feudal Japan, where the powerful warlord Shingen is replaced when he dies by a double to deceive Shingen’s enemies. The double is a thief who has to transform himself into the great leader and maintain the deception. There is a battle scene at the end of the film that I remember from when I saw the film 20 years ago and in my mind it was a much bigger battle. It’s strange how your mind plays tricks on you like that.

So that’s it for the moment, normal posting should now be resumed. If it isn’t give me a kick.

• Bold means I’ve read it.
• Italics means I want to read it.
• An X means I don’t want to read, nor will you get me near it.
• A + means I have it on my shelf.
• An * means I haven’t heard of it.
• Regular text with nothing added means that I have heard of it, have
  not read it, and have not formed an opinion as to if I want to read it.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. X Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. X Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. + The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. + The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. + The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. * Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. * A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. + Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. + Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. * A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. + Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. * Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. X Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. + The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. * The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. * Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. X Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. * Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. + Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. * The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. + 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. * I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. * The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. * The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. * The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. * Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. * The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. + Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. * She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. * The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. * The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. + Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. * The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. + Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. * Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. * One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. * The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. * Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. + Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. * A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. * The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. * The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. X Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. * The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. * Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. * In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. * The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. * The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. * White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. + The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

I was quite surprised to see how few I had read, only 22 out of the 100; without JK Rowling and JRR Tolkien I’d have been in trouble. I think what surprised me more was that this was exceeded by those I hadn’t heard of before. I think it’s safe to say that my book interests are mainly scifi and fantasy with a small variety of others to broaden it a bit.

I’m not reading anything at the moment. I’ve got and want to read Shogun, so it looks like it had better be next.

It was an excellent read, one of his best since Magician. He did say on Monday that he would get hate mail for leaving it as he did, and I can to an extent understand this. It was really left on a cliffhanger, and now I have to wait until the next part is written.