Hobbies and Crafts

Thanks Emma for mentioning the book "Diamonds at Dinner, I have just downloaded it, there is a big difference in price in the kindle to the paperback....so thank you :-D <3

Just read Clare Balding's "My Animals and Other Family", her life from baby to adult but with each chapter devoted to her relationship with a different animal. I enjoyed this one.

I'm feeling a bit disappointed as I didn't get a book or a token this Christmas. It's the first time I can remember not getting either. I'm not ungrateful as I did get lovely gifts from my family but I do look forward to my Christmas book.

Happy New Year Bookworms :-D :-D :-D <3

I hope 2014 brings us lots more interesting books and kindle reads for all..... :-) <3

Hi Everyone, haven't been on this thread for a while but have been reading quite a bit.

Among the books I've read are -
Wringland by Sally Spedding.
A mystery horror, ghost and love story all in one book. Set in modern times but the mystery/ghost part of the story takes the reader back to previous lives and times.

Suddenly Single by Sheila O'Flanagan
In contrast to the previous book, this is a light hearted book. An amusing take on things changing suddenly and unexpectedly.

Still Here by Linda Grant

Another author who was new to me. Set in Liverpool, the story harks back to pre-war Dresden. Don't want to say too much (don't want to spoil any of the surprises)- but would recommend this book.
What the family have been told (or believe) about the family is not always true! (As many of us know).

The above were all from the library, so should be easily available.

Have also read -
Making History by Stephen Fry

Found this book in a charity shop, and am very pleased that I did.

The story is about changing history - going back to the past and causing history to change.

Told in a light-hearted manner, this book raises issues of "if I could, should I"

Found it interesting, amusing, and thought provoking.
Highly recommended.

Hoping that my son and grandsons will be taking me to the library soon so that I can get my next batch of books.

Happy reading and Happy New Year.

Read "At Sea" by Laurie Graham. Someone on here mentioned it a while ago (BC perhaps?) and I thought I'd give it a go. Easy, light read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. While the characters were exaggerated of course they were mostly believable and I loved the main character Lady Enid.

Last night I finished "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" which was wonderful. It's a novel by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows and is in the form of letters to and from a writer and her publisher and in particular a number of characters on Guernsey. The letters are written in 1946 so soon after the end of WW2. I knew that the Channel Islands had suffered badly under German occupation but some of the stories that came out in this book were an eye opener to me. I felt the book was well researched. It is funny, moving and in spite of all the sadness it has a real "feel-good" touch about it.

Vera, I read "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" around 4 years ago.

Was attracted to it because of the highly unusual name.

Loved it, and like you found it moving, funny, touching and an eye-opener.

Didn't realise till later that it was written by an American lady. It all seemed so real. Not sure if Mary Ann Shaffer wrote any more books of fiction.

Would highly recommend it. In fact I reckon it is about time that I read it again.
Thanks for reminding me of this wonderful book.

Ann in Glos,

I collected Putting Out the Stars from the library today. Will be reading it in the next few days. Ready for the GReaders Review!

Hi Tess and Vera, great to see you posting as always :-) <3 Its great to think a book maybe mentioned and then passed on to someone else or even to remind us of a great read .........

I have just finished Operation Kingfisher by Hilary Green

Occupied France is a dangerous place for two teenagers, especially when they are the children of a French mother and a British father. Desperate to escape and get back to England they take refuge on a canal barge and find themselves immersed in the complex Operation Kingfisher. There are plenty of forces at work determined to scupper any plans to see Allied airmen safely back to England, and eyes are everywhere. With clandestine operations mounting against the enemy there is one method which remains previously unconsidered: a risky escape via the canals...Hilary Green, presents a thrilling foray into the underground escape routes and fugitive culture of WWII in this new and electrifying novel, which is sure to delight her army of fans.

Well done Tess, enjoy it and we look forward to the review. I do think that maybe this thread and the Greaders review threads sort of work in tandam, so good to get people recommending books with the synopsis. I am pretty sure |I have read the Guernsey one.

Another good one on the same theme is Living with the enemy by Roy McLoughlin, first hand eye witness accounts of life in the Channel Islands while under German occupation.

Mersey that one sounds a good read. Is it on Kindle?

Yes Ann its £3.99 at the moment , it only came out in November, I have read all Hilary Green's books, ive thoroughly enjoyed them all......

This recent one is left wide open, she does like to write sequels........well worth a read......

Ann I agree with you about your's and my thread they work very well together, heres to it continuing to be enjoyed by many <3

Is operation Kingfisher a sequal Mersey?

I want to get the final book in the Cazalet series by Elizabeth Jane Howard but the kindle edition is £7.99 so Is hall wait a while.

Hi Ann Operation Kingfisher is the first one in this story but there will be no doubt a sequel .......

And now for something completely different.....

Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett
(part of the discworld series)

Following on from the last 3 releases, it features Moist von Lipwig who has to oversee the introduction of a railway system. Virtually all previous characters except The Witches get a bit-part or mention.

(extract from the blurb - Steam is rising over Discworld, driven by Mister Simnel, the man wi' t'flat cap and sliding rule who has an interesting arrangement with the sine and cosine. Moist will have to grapple with gallons of grease, goblins, a fat controller with a history of throwing employees down the stairs and some very angry dwarfs if he's going to stop it all going off the rails . . .)

Despite TP's affliction with Dementia, it is as well written as the other Moist von Lipwig books.

I have never read or fancied Terry Pratchett, who knows though I may like him so might give it a go.

Mersey I have ordered operation Kingfisher onto my Kindle. :-) :-)

Son introduced me to Terry Pratchett many years ago now and I've read nearly all his books (except Raising Steam). I find he has become very predictable but, having said that, I still re-read them from time to time.

If you are going to give him a go Ann I'd start with his earlier ones, such as Colour of Magic, which I think are funnier and less "obvious" somehow

I've seen a couple of his books put on the stage as plays and they have been very funny. In May our local am dram are doing Monstrous Regiment so I'll probably go and see that.

It's always worth revisiting TP's books as it gives you the opportunity to explore the allegories he makes with today's larger society - and the pokes he makes at it!

OH who is the true fan in this household (he has first dibs at a new book) suggests Soul Music to a new reader as you can draw parallels with the 1960/70's Pop-rock scene.
The other one he would suggest is Going Postal, where Moist van Lipwig has to get the Postal Service up and running again. In competition with it are The Clacks which could be compared to the Internet.

Thanks I will make a note of those.

I hope you enjoy Ann, its a very easy read..........

I am now reading Two Brothers by Ben Elton .... at the moment its £2.99 on kindle

My friend mentioned this book but I was put off by the author :-S. She told me to just open the book and read.....im hooked !! The reviews for this book have been really good....I will let you know how I get on...

Berlin 1920
Two babies are born.

Two brothers. United and indivisible, sharing everything. Twins in all but blood.

As Germany marches into its Nazi Armageddon, the ties of family, friendship and love are tested to the very limits of endurance. And the brothers are faced with an unimaginable choice....Which one of them will survive?

Ben Elton's most personal novel to date

Evening all and Happy New Year if I haven't said it before and if I have then I will say it again :-D Afraid I have my Kindletart hat on again as got bored half way through my Jack Reacher book so deserted the lovely Jack for a new (to me) author called Patrick Gale. Has anyone read him? I like his quirky style and the name of the Kindle is>>>>>>>>>>>>>runs over to check on Amazon.......'The Whole Day Through'/

So far, it is about a woman, probably in her forties, who worked in Paris but comes home to take care of her independent mother who is poorly and keeps falling in the garden. But as she (the mother) is a lifelong naturist she sometimes lands in a pricjly bush...ouch...and needs help to get up again. Anyway the daughter one day bumps into a lover she had at University. He is a doctor and currently working in a GUM clinic ..

That's as far as I have got, but I am enjoying it immensely.

Happy reading :-D <3