S says E sniggers now whenever he sees him or J. Not a good thing. J thinks E now thinks that he, S and the chap they had deliver the letter (We'll call him X. (You should hear the middle name that offers X, you really should. Unfortunately, you won't.)) are all playing a joke on the two of us. I'm really starting to get annoyed by his continued disbelief. And obviously there's nothing i can do. That doesn't, of course, mean i'll stop trying. Don't try convince me not to, either, i know i'm a fool.

I used to really like those fabric softener adverts. The ones with the sweet fabric people, you know. I wanted one of my very own. However, the new character is very disappointing. To emphasise the fact that they are appealing to 'sensitive' types they have added a gay character, another complete stereotype. It's so annoying. Gay people can be insensitive too! Look at P!

Oh! I said i'd talk about my books! Prepare to be thrilled. I chose to take in Feeling Sorry For Celia, Not The End Of The World, Vernon God Little and Cloud Atlas. Four brilliant books, i promise. The only one of these i actually got chance to recommend was Celia, an absolutely brilliant book, written solely in letters (We pretentious people refer to it as an 'epistolary' novel. Well, i do it because i'm pretentious. Other people do it because they're english teachers.) from various of the main characters friends, aswell as imaginary organisations, who frequently protest her lach of teenagerly skills and order she commit suicide. Fortunately, she doesn't. I have read it... many times. I think, if i haven't already, i'm close to entering double figures. I've also forced a lot of my closest frineds to read it (Well, the ones that i knew would appreciate it.) and they all loved it.

Not The End Of The World Is the first collection of short stories by the wonderful Kate Atkinson. I do absolutely adore this woman's books. I took Behind the Scenes at the Museum out of the school library a while ago, and it was absolutely brilliant. I've only read three of her books so far, but i'm desparate to read more. Thinkinng about it, i should perhaps have put some on this birthday list i was forced to make. Still perhaps my parents are intelligent enough to notice, and buy me either Case Histories or Human Croquet. However, i sincerely doubt it. Not the End of the World is absolutely brilliant, filled with various classical references, and each story linking somehow to another. However, despite my love of mythology, my favourite is probably the least classicaly grounded of the lot, Dissonance, just because of how brilliantly she writes her warring siblings, Simon and, erm, his sister. But i do love them all really.

Vernon God Little is, as i'm sure you all know, the winner of the 2003 Man Booker prize, (Talking of which, it's almost time for Man Booker 2004! YAY!) and deservedly so. I've only read one other book on the shortlist but it wasn't as good. Wasn't even as good as The Curious Incident of the Dig in the Night-time. Vernon God Little, though was brilliant. I need to re-read it, as i've pretty much forgotten it, but it really is very good. It's based around a columbine-style massacre and the false accusation of the main character, Vernon. It's lovely and critical of pretty much the entirety of American society, in a bally hilarious way, and Vernon really is worthy of all the comparisons to JD Salinger's creation Holden Caulfield.

Finally, i chose Cloud Atlas. I've mentioned this one before, so i hardly need to talk about it again. All i'll say is that i've every intention of reading it again, but that this time it may be fun to have a go at it as a collection of short stories. It's six linked storied, you see, each interrupting the previous one, until the last one finishes and the previous one resumes. Sort of like the Arabian Nights. I might, for instance, read the beginning then end of the book, or maybe just the two parts with my favourite character/narrator in. Sad, i know, but not quite as insane as reading a book completely backwards.