General Chat

Jude, have you just brought the book "Roots", if so could you tell me where you brought it as l know OH would love to read it.

Alex Haley is related to my cousin`s hubby - can`t remember in what way!
A book I enjoyed recently was "Tommy`s War " ---diary written around 1st world war

Not read either Jude, let us know how you get on with Roots.

Everyone: I go away tomorrow until the 19th, would you keep this thread going for me please? Thanks.

Ann

Just finished "Pop Goes The Weasel", it did keep me reading but not an unsurprising ending.

Just going to start "Roots"...by Alex Haley.

Do you remember the series on the telly, brilliant:o))

It took 12 yrs to research and write. Was first published 1976, although a condensed version was published in Readers Digest 1974

Based on a true story about slavery in 1750 when Kunta Kinte was born!!

This will take me weeks to read:o)

jude:o)

Karen I have read a Thousand Splendid Suns. But I am tempted by Behind the Scenes at the museum, that does sound good.

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS
by Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner).

Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry the troubled and bitter Rasheed, who is thirty years her senior. Nearly two decades later, in a climax of growing unrest, tragedy strikes fifteen year old Laila, who must leave her home and joins Mariam’s unhappy household. Laila and Mariam are to find consolation in each other, their friendship to grow as deep as the bond between sisters, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter.
A thousand Splendid Suns is an unforgettable portrait of a wounded country and a deeply moving story of family and friendship. It is a beautiful heart-wrenching story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely bond and an indestructible love.

“A suspenseful epic”…”Hosseini has that rare thing, a Dickensian knack for storytelling”…Daily Telegraph.

“This is an energetic and thought-provoking read”…Literary Review.

“Hosseini writes beautifully and is a natural storyteller”…Spectator.


A wonderful and powerful story where, from a woman's pont of view, I am grateful I was not born in that part of the world.
There, but for the grace of God, go I......Karen

BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM
by Kate Atkinson.

Ruby Lennox was conceived grudgingly by Bunty and born while her father, George, was in the Dog and Hare in Doncaster telling a woman in an emerald green dress and a D-cup that he wasn’t married. Bunty had never wanted to marry George, but he was all that was left. She really wanted to be Vivien Leigh or Celia Johnson, swept off to America by a romantic hero. But here she was, stuck in a flat above the pet shop in an ancient street beneath York Minster, with sensible and sardonic Patricia aged 5, greedy cross-patch Gillian who refused to be ignored, and Ruby…

Ruby tells the story of The Family, from the day at the end of the nineteenth century when a travelling French photographer catches frail beautiful Alice and her children, like flowers in amber, to the startling, witty, memorable events of Ruby’s own life.


“Impressive and entertaining…Quirky and colourful…Overall it is ambitious and assured, its whimsical nature cloaking a tragic but delicately rendered revelation”…Yorkshire Post.

“….The interconnecting web of holidays, weddings, funerals, births and deaths and runnings-away takes in tragedy, history, mystery and comedy through the sarky, perky, pessimistic voice of Ruby Lennox”….Sunday Times.

“If you tot up the deaths and other family tragedies in this feisty first novel it seems almost rude to find it so amusing and delightful…anyone who thinks that all the sassy new writing by women is coming from North America should check out this gem from Yorkshire”…Independent on Sunday.

“A many layered account of an ordinary family’s life, written with an extraordinary passion…Atkinson’s prose is rich, satisfying and self-assured, but never over-indulgent, and always surprising. Packed with images of bewitching potency, this is an astounding book…this is not so much a novel of lost opportunities, but of opportunities never realised in the first place. Atkinson herself has such a remarkable way with words that you return to them again and again, for her prose is really poetry in disguise...”…The Times.



A brilliantly written book, the quirkiness being in the way the writer leads you through an episode in her family story only up to a point. You are left wondering about the outcome, or in some cases how that particular family event started, until you happen upon it in another chapter, later on in the book where all is revealed. The author does this all the way through, and you find yourself looking out for, and mentally noting, clues all the way through! Quite an extraordinary read....Karen.

Ah, I have read that one. Very good it was too.

Sorry l should have said, if anyone wants any of the books l mentioned l am quite willing to post them on, please pm me lf you would like them.

Have to agree with Frances have read a lot of what she has.

I thought "Faraday Girls" by Monica McInery was great - a thick book over 600 pages and trade paper back size - I was quite disappointed when it ended. I bought it because it was set in Tasmania and I love Tasmania.
Can thoroughly recommend it.

Persey

Ann I was one who had a book from Mummo and posted it on when I finished.
I have Shadows of the workhouse if anyone wants it

Just add on here and PM me your address

I'll see what others I have when I get a chance and add them too.

Linda :o) XxX

RB Mummo and I and a couple of others managed to do just that with a couple of books. cheaper to post than buy in some cases.

Pity we couldn`t do a swap shop.

x

Oh Ann.....................so many to choose from.
Like the look of some of them ~library look out here i come.

Thanks for this thread.

x

Just thought it was worth a mention............l went into As** 's the other day and pick up two paperbacks, were meant to be £2 each but if you brought two you got both of them for £3, not a great selection but the two l brought seem good.

Colin, that one sounds very good will look out for it.

Frances, I like both Kate Morton and Kate Moss and have read at least three of those, not sure if I have read Ravensdale though.

Ann

May I suggest 'Dancing With Spirits' by Carol Arnall she describes the story as...

The story begins thousands of years ago on the outskirts of Rugeley, in the heart of Cannock Chase.
It tells of the anguish of a young girl, Elvaennia whose love Deimuiss, has disappeared without trace, and of her desperation to find him. Her search leads her to the 21st Century where she begins a new life.
Eventually Elvaennia will have to decide whether to return to her old life or to continue to live life in the 21st Century. She discovers something that may well destroy her family back at the settlement and realises that, yet again, tough decisions will have to be made regarding her life.
Will the challenges of her new life take over the old Elvaennia, making her disregard her promise to love Deimuiss for all time and beyond? Will she forget the old ways and values, or decide to pursue this new life.
Deimuiss also finds himself torn between his new life and the old one. New challenges await him in the 21st Century, but will his past, and his love of Elvaennia, beckon him back?

The reason Im suggesting...well a) its a good read and b) I did some of the research for it lol

Frances, is The Return as good as The Island?

I have read those two books by Elizabeth Noble as well, she tells a good tell, also love all the Marcia Willetts books and Erica James.

Not read some of those on your list so will make a note.

I also like the books by Lilian Harry but that is because a lot of the series are set in Portsmouth in the war, and one set in the late fifties could almost be about my life at that time!!!

Ann
Glos

Do any of you fancy the electronic book? My son has one and finds it useful for travelling but I can't imagine reading off a screen I just love the feel of books.

I too like Rosie Thomas and enjoyed Sun at Midnight.

Another favourite is Jodi Piccoult, read a lot of hers and have several to read on my book shelf.

Ann

Mummo, the Susan Sallis one - The Pumpkin Coach was a sequel to another book, I love Susan Sallis especially those thata re centred in Gloucester, some even in the village where I live.

Ann
Glos