I choose a book to read by what is going round my head. I'll remember a phrase or a description from a book and then have to read that book to get it out of my head again. Often, if that book is one of a series, I'll read the rest of them too. Giving me a book and saying 'you must read this' is a sure way of making me put it on a shelf and forget about it for a year.

Has anyone else made amazing discoveries in '3 for the price of 2' book offers? Many of our local book chains (Waterstones, Borders, the other one no-one remembers...) have these offers and me being me, can never resist them. I'll always manage to find 2 books I've wanted but never 3. Consequently, there has to be a 'default' book:~ the book that normally I wouldn't buy but as it's free, I'll take it. That's how I discovered C J Sansom, who writes Tudor crime novels, rich in language and historical detail. 'Sovereign' was my default book a few weeks ago and has turned out to be a wonderful find. I've since acquired the other two in the series and enjoyed them just as much. Elizabeth Lovell was another such default book. Again, a crime writer, she sets her tales in small town America and has such incredible descriptive passages as to make me want to live there (when the murderers have been apprehended...).

LTS