42.30 / 50kg (85%)

The Children of Húrin by JRR Tolkien
I saw this at the library and thought I'd try it. I find Tolkien's books quite hard going because the language is so flowery and there's so much unneeded description going on. I had trouble with the introduction, so I thought it was only going to get worse from then on, but no, it was actually quite easy to read. It helped that it was quite short. Towards the end I recognised the story as well, once she'd accidentally married her brother. The annoying thing about it is that there's a map at the back, but none of the places mentioned in the story are on it, so it was completely useless! There's bonus Elrond in the family trees at the back too.

Doctor Who: The Green Death by Malcolm Hulke
This is an interesting novelisation when it comes to the relationship between Jo and Cliff. It has something going on between them much earlier and the ending is really sudden. I suppose you won't get the same sort of poignancy in a short book as you do on screen when you can see they're all a bit upset. But even so, I think I preferred the TV version - not least because it implies that Jo's going because it's something she wants to do, the marriage is incidental.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
I hadn't read this at all or seen the film and I wanted to see what it is that has everyone reading it. I knew from I've Never Seen Star Wars that it isn't great literature and I'd agree with that because it is quite badly written. There's one part where there's two lines recapping what's just happened in the last two chapters - there's no reason for that! I had also heard that the plot's really gripping and I agreed with that - but only once I was on about page 450 of 600. Overall, I thought it was quite boring and I intensely dislike all the characters. Dan Brown desperately needs a beta reader and Brit picker.

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