Room by Emma Donoghue

I put off buying this book for months because I was afraid it would be too disturbing for me as the front of the book read: Jack is five. He lives with his Ma. They live in a single, locked room. They don't have the key. Jack and Ma are prisoners.
I couldn't have been more wrong. I started the book at 3:00 in the afternoon and by 11:00 that night, I had 90 pages (of the 336) to go - that's with stopping to do the dinner, bath time & bedtime routines with my 2 year old.
This is one of the most thought-provoking and beautiful books I've ever read. The first half of the book was almost difficult to read due to the images and visions it provokes, but written from Jack's point of view it was innocent and much more bearable. I have never read a book that made me feel so much - the gamut of emotions from sadness to elation, just a wonderful and revelatory novel. I did not find the second half to be as compelling as the first, but overall it was five stars.
Check it out on Amazon.com by clicking the title above or on Amazon.co.uk by clicking here

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Top 20 Lists

Recently, a magazine here in the UK issued their list of their Top 100 women in show business. This sparked conversation between Wayne and I and one rainy weekend when we had nothing to do, we compiled our own Top 20 lists. The rules were we had to judge on looks alone (not their physique) and only one token model was allowed. For fun, I thought I'd add our lists here for you to view and enjoy. Maybe it will even spark conversation between you and a friend or loved one. Wayne and I actually had a really good time creating our lists together - judging each other's taste in the opposite sex and laughing over how long it took for us to prioritize our selections. We still change the order every time we look at it! (although our top five have remained the same) Enjoy and feel free to comment!

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Pond Hopper

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