The Sunday Salon - Home Internet at LAST!

Sunday's almost at an end, and I have to say, I've just had the kind of Sunday that I absolutely love to have. We went to a car boot sale this morning, and I didn't realise how much I've missed them! Car boot sales = the reason it should be summer all the time. Then for a loooooong walk in the sun, and off for Sunday roast at the local pub. Unfortunately, the service was terrible, but the food was good, so I'm not too put out!

Anyway, to celebrate the fact that I finally have home internet (yes, that's right, no more only being able to post when the library's open!!), and my last weekend of freedom before starting my new job, which requires me to work every Saturday... I thought I'd write a particularly bookish Sunday Salon. I'm slightly distracted by my fiance learning how make pew bows (??) for our wedding via Youtube, but I'll do my best!

This week, I started taking part in the 30 Day Book Challenge, and have just discovered today, that having the internet on one's phone,is adamantly not the same as having it in actuality. The questions which I had, are not the ones on the facebook group. I am now supremely confused, and so will re-post on here the first five days, according to the actual list. Here goes:

Day One:- Favourite Book - Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott

My first response to this question was, obviously 'oh I have so many favourites, how can I choose?', but then I realised, if you've read a book at least bi-annually since the first time you ever read it (incidentally, the first time I remember reading a book all in one sitting) at the age of seven, and it still makes you happy every time, and basically acts as your anti-depressant/escape from tough situations, then it's probably a favourite.

Day Two:- Least Favourite Book - Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

It took me three years to read this book. Yep, years. I hated it. I found it very dry, really really slow moving. It had its moments where I thought it would redeem itself, but basically, Hardy and I just don't get on. I had a very similar experience with Jude the Obscure years later. It's a shame, I really wanted to love it. 

Day Three:- Book that Makes you Laugh out Loud - The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I love this book. I start laughing at the first page every time I read it, and I don't stop. It's not just this one, though, all of the sequels have the same effect.

Day Four:- Book that Makes you Cry - Ravenheart by David Gemmell

Of all the fantasy I've ever read (quite a bit), David Gemmell is the writer who turned my world upside down. His characters are amazing and always bigger than life. This book makes me cry every single time I read it. It's just gorgeous, without being at all gorgeous...

Day Five:- Book You Wish You Could Live In - Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

This isn't the cover I have, but I reckon it'd be great to live there.. Endless tea and madness with the Mad Hatter? Yes please!

So that's that. From now on I'll have to try to answer the right questions! I love it, because it makes me think about books properly, rather than just defaulting to the same few whenever anybody asks me a question. I'm still promising to finish my April Fairytale Feature. I really really will, just finding the energy to concentrate on the actual writing of the thing is proving difficult...

As a distraction from that, this week I've finished a fair few books :-) Links mostly go to Goodreads, as I've not reviewed much yet.

- Beyond the Vicarage by Noel Streatfeild
- The Girl who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
- Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K Rowling (re-read)
- The Woman he Loved Before by Dorothy Koomson
- A Perfect Proposal by Katie Fforde

This week I'm hoping to finish Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor. I was so excited to find this at the library, as he's an amazingly poetic writer - I'm sure his first novel, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, will come up on the challenge at some point! Also wanting to start Emma, as it's the only Austen I've not read, for the upcoming Classics Circuit Duelling Authors Tour!

What's everyone else reading this lovely sunny May?