General Chat

Just finished Anne Robinson`s autobiography -very enjoyable , Growing up poor in London by Louis Heren who went on to become the Deputy Editor and Foreign Editor of The Times-very interesting and also Now or Never by Lynda Page-an enthralling saga. Rosalyn

Dee, Well it shows how well i absorb a story. according to my book list I read Father unknown two years ago. probably on holiday as i get books from the library on the complex. i cannot remember any of the story. I expect iw ould if i started to read it, but I can't remember a thing from what you tell us. I have read the Bill Bryson one (A Walk in the Woods and have heard today that the Moonsttone is in at the library so will fetch that tomorrow and try and read it before i go on holiday. Ann Glos

Well I have finally finished Father Unknown – Lesley Pearse and here is a brief synopsis and review Daisy Buchan – Sweet natured but clueless – is happy enough, but doesn’t seem to know what she wants from Life. She takes her policeman boyfriend Joel for granted and drifts from one badly paid job to another But when she is twenty-five, Daisy’s beloved adoptive mother dies and leaves behind a scrapbook of memories, giving Daisy long-hidden information about who she is and where she came from. Her real mother was a teenager called Ellen, a farmer’s daughter from Cornwall, and Daisy sets out to find out more and track her down. But in unravelling the past is she risking her future – with her adored Dad, John and with Joel? As the layers of her family history are stripped away, Daisy is horriefied by what she learns. She is taken on a journey back to the past, a journey that uncovers a gripping story of innocence corrupted, and a family torn by greed and misery……… The above is the description on the back of the book Daisy was born in the mid 60’s and given up for adoption The book was a good read, but at times I found it a bit far fetched, so many things happened to Daisy’s natural mother and her family, but it was fascinating to see what finally happened. It gave a fairly accurate idea of life in the 60’s and the dangers faced by young girls who left home and went to London seeking fame and fortune. A sentence at the end of the book made me think. ‘She (the adoptive mother) would have said Daisy had learned to look beyond herself, found understanding of others’ weaknesses, learned to value her own family, to forgive, and to recognise the true value of honesty’ I think that is something we all need to do when we are researching our family history, perhaps more so if we are looking for natural parents and are trying to understand why they gave a child up for adoption Dee xx

Hi Ann I am having problems getting hold of the books I need for the Medieval Course, and when I do get hold of them I am finding it very hard to take in the events of the time. Victorian times have been so well documented, and covered by TV programmes, that I find that course fairly easy to follow. We are in fact covering topics I have quite a lot of background knowledge on. Not so with the Medieval Course I am hoping to be able to make a start on Wilkie Collins now, but am having trouble finding time for reading for pleasure. Dee :-((

hi Dee, sorry missed this yesterday. What is the problem with the medieval studies? is it the reading material? good job you have the Victorian studies to get your teeth into then. Thanks for the other reviews. there are loads on here now s no excuse for anyone not having something to read. Ann Glos

Thankyou for that some interesting reviews. I shall certainly look out for The Spoiled Earth by Jessica Stirling. It sounds very interesting. I have read a couple of Books by Helen Forester 'Tuppence to cross the Mersey' a very good social history fiction based in Liverpool and easy reading. Also the 'latch key kid' My Mum has read all her books and finds them interesting and compulsive reading. Sue

David Bennun: 'Tickbite Fever' and 'British as a foreign language'. I've just finished reading the first of these, and am on the second. I don't get time to read many books and whilst occasionally it is nice to get into something that draws you in so that you don't want to put it down, at other times it is good to have a book that you pick up and read a little of then leave without losing your thread. I would describe both of these books as being in the latter category. Tickbite fever is a collection of childhood reminiscences of a British citizen who spent a short time living in Zambia then moved on to Kenya where he spent the rest of his childhood before becoming resident in GB as an adult. It is a humerous critique of himself (as an accident prone, trouble-finding youngest child), his family, their experiences and the stereotypes they come across - whether of native inhabitants of of the English 'colonial' type. I wouldn't say the book had a plot - it is more of a drawing together of memories in roughly (though not strictly) chronological order. Having visited Kenya - having married there - I can recognise the environment portrayed. And some of the episodes make you laugh out loud - eg his father stepping out of his car into a swollen river and disappearing in water over his head, baboons relieving themselves on a tent out of sheer spite, and an incident involving exploding cigarettes designed by a brother to get their father to give up smoking but which explode just as as he driving through a military checkpoint. And many more which you just couldn't make up!!!! All told with quiet drollness. Deep sadness is hidden in the episodic story - understated references to his parents' divorce, deaths of loved pets, and underneath it all the constant knowledge that at 18 he would have to leave the country and his family as he would no longer have rights to remain. 'British as a foreign language' takes up the thread as the authore arrives in Britain as a new entrant at Sussex university in the 70s. I haven't got far in but up to now it has continued in humerous vein, looking wryly at the English and England from the perspective of someone who - though legally English - feels like an alien and has huge trouble fitting in and understanding. It has touched on the misconceptions and prejudices of the people he meets without sermonising, and as with the first book, sends up the author himself as much as the people around him. I thoroughly recommend both books as good commuter train/bedtime reading! Neither were books that I would have chosen to read from the covers alone had my husband not bought them. Just goes to show you can't judge..... Angela

Hi Paula One of the courses I am doing is The Victorian Age and it is through The University of Kent We did Crime and Punishment on Saturday and both Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell were interested in prison reform and the conditions that prisoners lived in. The tutor suggested the title and I jumped at the chance to write about something which I personally find interesting. My other course is on Medieval History, through the same University, and I am having major problems with that one Dee xx

Dee, that sounds really interesting, I didn't realise that you were doing Victorian studies as well. What course are you doing exactly and who is it with? Just curious, Paula.

Dee, My daughter is studying English at the momment and has opted to do a victorian literature module. She had a good book of criticism of women writers 'the mad woman in the attic' but I can't remember who it was by. She did rennaissance literature last year which she enjoyed. I have just read 'When you wish upon a star' by Olivia Goldsmith. It was book of the month in our local library so I though I would give it a go. It is a modern fairy tale about a Manhattan office worker who comes to England and gets a job in a wool shop. It is quite interesting to get an American eye view of London and if you want a feel good book with an impossibly happy ending I would recommend it.

Hi Ann, Paula and folks I am so excited, had to share this with you, my tutor has agreed that my first essay on Victorian History can be to compare and contrast the works of Elizabeth Gaskell and Charles Dickens, with special reference to Crime and Punishment I have been feeling totally disheartened about my Medieval course so this has been a great bonus, it will hardly seem like work at all Dee ;-))

Hi Ann I shall try and remember to put Mary Barton down as my choice for next month, I will review it when I read it anyway, from what Paula says it sounds as though it will be good Dee xx

Happy are the Poor in Spirit by Andrew M Greeley Set in Chicago, Bishop Blackie Ryan attempts to solve two mysteries/murders(?) and exorcise 'a ghost'. His perceptive views of human beings and their foibles are amusing (and true!). I won't spoil the plot but, although it was written over ten years ago, it could still be relevant to today. I don't usually enjoy books by male authors but this one kept me interested. A good, light read... I took it out from the Library - the synopsis on the inside of the cover appears to be of another book altogether! Curious. Lily

Dee According to my book list I read 3 by Lesley Pearse in 2002. Father Unknown, Trust me Charlie I can vaguely remember them and I know I enjoyed them. probably if I were to read a couple of pages I would remember but I have a terrible memory for the actual stories of books i have read (especially 3 years ago). I have just started a Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Ann Glos

Ann, I really enjoyed The Tea Rose, a bit far fetched (as all good books are).

Dee, sounds like one you could suggest for the list next time. Jackie Like the sound of Tea Rose too. Ann Glos

Dee, Mary Barton by Mrs. Gaskell is an excellent read I'm sure you'd really enjoy it. Very much of its time. A bit like Dickens in the social message it's putting across. Set in industrial Manchester and has some good descriptions and a good storyline for those not particularly interested in history. best wishes, Paula.

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly East London, 1888. A place of shadow and light where thieves, whores, and dreamers mingle, where children play in the cobbled streets by day and a killer stalks at night, where bright hopes meet the darkest truths. Here, by the whispering waters of the Thames, a bright and defiant young woman dares to dream of a life beyond tumbledown wharves, gaslit alleys, and the grim and crumbling dwellings of the poor. Fiona Finnegan, a worker in a tea factory, hopes to own a shop one day, together with her lifelong love, Joe Bristow, a costermonger's son. With nothing but their faith in each other to spur them on, Fiona and Joe struggle, save, and sacrifice to achieve their dreams. But Fiona's dreams are shattered when the actions of a dark and brutal man take from her nearly everything-and everyone-she holds dear. Fearing her own death at the dark man's hands, she is forced to flee London for New York. There, her indomitable spirit-and the ghosts of her past-propel her rise from a modest west side shopfront to the top of Manhattan's tea trade. Fiona's old ghosts do not rest quietly, however, and to silence them, she must venture back to the London of her childhood, where a deadly confrontation with her past becomes the key to her future. The Tea Rose is a towering old-fashioned story, imbued with a modern sensibility, of a family's destruction, of murder and revenge, of love lost and won again, and of one determined woman's quest to survive and triumph.

Has anyone read Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell? It is on the reading list of my course, wondered if anyone knows what it is like? Thanks Dee xx

Hi Ann It was a bit scary, mind you it was also a cliff hanger, the ending came as a bit of a shock I am about to start Father Unknown - Lesley Pearse. It is about a young womans search for her birth mother. Mike intorduced me to Lesley Pearse as an author, and I am really enjoying her books. Strangely enough she was born not far from where we live. Dee xx