I am so excited because books by two of my favourite authors, Robert Jordan and George RR Martin, are being or have been released this month.

George RR Martin hasn’t published in years, even though he is currently writing a series of books called A Song of Ice and Fire which are breath-taking in their scale and viciousness. The latest instalment, A Feast for Crows was published on 17 October 2005, and I’m desperate to read it. Only problem is, it’s been so long since I read the first three books, that I can’t remember what happened. So, looks like I’ve got a bit of re-reading to do.

Another book out in hardback from 11 October 2005 is Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan, another fantastic fantasy author. His Wheel of Time series has taken hold of me and won’t let go. Knife of Dreams is the penultimate book in the series, so I imagine the pace will be fast and furious, and un-put-downable. Only problem is, all the other boks in the series I have are in paperback, so I’ve got to wait until Knife of Dreams is out in paperback before I can read it. Pah.

I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the penultimate offering of JK Rowling in the Harry Potter series. I started reading it on Wednesday morning, so it’s taken me just over 3 days to read 605 pages.

It was quite a different style of book from the previous 5 books, and I think it could be my favourite one so far. There was a lot less action in it, but to compensate for that, it was a far more complex and intelligent piece of work. I won’t give away any plot developments, as I know some of you are or will be reading it, and I don’t want to spoil it for you. What I particularly liked, I think, was how Harry, Ron and Hermione are depicted as real teenagers – this raised a lot of laughs at my end.

I won’t say any more. If you haven’t read it yet, go get it and read it!

The next book on my reading list now is a re-reading of Stephen King’s Wizard & Glass, the fourth book in The Dark Tower series. The reason I’m re-reading it is because I have the last 3 books in the series: Song of Susannah, Wolves of the Calla and The Dark Tower, and because I read the first 4 books ages ago, I’m re-reading to remind myself what happened before reading the new ones.

After I picked up Rachel yesterday at Paddington, we went for a meal in Garfunkels before going to the opera in Islington.

Arriving at the Hammersmith & City Eastbound platform at Paddington to get the train to King’s Cross St Pancras, we found a book on one of the benches. Picked it up; it was book that I’d been wanting to buy but thought it was too tasteless. Lol.

Anyway, it seemed that someone had misplaced it, and I debated about whether to take it. Rachel persuaded me to (I think she wants to read it too, hehe!).

So, I added another book to my collection, all for free! )

Oh yeah, the title of the book is Doing It, by Melvin Burgess. What’s it about? Well …

If its yours, email me and I may just think about giving it back to you (grin). After all, you shouldn’t go round leaving books at tube stations for other people to grab hold of!