Mo's Mischief series (Hongying Yang)

As the synopsis from Amazon says for Pesky Monkeys, 'Chinese boys can be Horrid too! Join in the fun as Mo-Shen Ma and his mischievous father run riot through school and home. There's no trouble they can't get into -- or out of! Every book in the Mo's Mischief series is packed with hilarious adventures -- and a unique insight into modern Chinese life.'

These books are a funny and vivid read. I almost leapt as high as Mo used to leap when he was a baby after seeing them on display in Foyles.

Indeed, the characters are so like real people and become your friends so quickly that it doesn't matter if you read the books out of order.

9/10

[It was a little odd to see these books in English because I've read them in Chinese: like reading the Chinese translation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - it took me a while to work out that a certain Miaoli was in fact Hermione. But it only took a few pages for the English version to come alive. Good job, translator.]

Bad movies

I thought it would be idea to watch
100 Worst-Reviewed Films of All Time. I thought of this while banging my head against the monitor at work. Now I'm sat down with lucky number 13, Epic Movie, and banging my head against the monitor at home.

I think I'm a part-time masochist.

Got number 9, The Master of Disguise, lined up next.

Returns

Went to a production talk yesterday. Although it turned out to be more book-orientated and not so much related to the type of publishing I'm in, I found some aspects fascinating.
The speaker from HarperCollins had the best solution for returns that I've heard of so far: give them to charities that work in, for example, Africa. No loss for booksellers, and much less waste.