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Thanks Choccy. That looks interesting. I've been trying to get in to Amazon to download it but all I get is "This page cannot be displayed". I'll try again later.

I'm still on Nicholas and Alexandra which seems to be taking me forever to read but I am enjoying it and learning a bit about late 19th/early 20th century Russia. All I knew about Rasputin was that he was influential in the politics of the time and was a hypnotic and rather nasty character. It seems his influence over Alexandra and, through her, over Tsar Nicholas was enormous. He is a totally repellent character but fascinating at the same time. I certainly feel I'm learning something from this book.

Thanks Choccy, just downloaded to my kindle :-)

Choccy you is a love thanks sweetypie <3 <3 <3 :-D

I read a lot of thrillers but in between I chuck in a Rosie Thomas or a light hearted who dunnit by M C Beaton and also read her historical novels.. can do one of them in an evening.

Plus I have other favourites and am not doing Greaders while I catch up with a lot of my books and have been doing quite well and then a new Rosie Thomas appeared on the scene so am well over half way through "The Illusionists" and really enjoying it. She certainly puts a lot of research into her work. Once again she has turned out a book that is completely unlike anything she has written before.

The nearest I have read to this would be the one about fireworks: The Book of Fires by Jane Borodale where the author's research on pyrotechnology was excellent that was a Greaders group one that I don't think I voted for but was very pleased to read. :-)

Persie long time no see or speak <3

Hope you and yours are keeping well :-D

Emma :-)

'Simply English' by Simon Heffer.

The Author said: "I am far from sure that every act of violence done to the English language is recorded here but the most frequent & the most likely are, as are the means of avoiding them".

An amusing & useful read.

Just finished reading The Villa In Italy by Elizabeth Edmondson.

Four people are invited to stay in a villa in Italy through the will of Beatrice Malaspina. None of them knew her and appear to have no connection to each other.

I really enjoyed this book and best of all it was free on Kindle :-)

Have finished Nicholas &Alexandra at last and enjoyed it very much. Tragic ending of course with the murder of Nicholas, Alexandra and their five children, and the deaths of a number of other people connected with them. As well as enjoying it as a good read I feel I understand the history of Russia a little bit better now. Book seems to be well researched and the same author has written books on Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, which might be worth a read.

The Drowning ~Camilla Lackberg, an excellent series of Scandi crime novels :-)

Pammy I downloaded The Villa too, havent read it but will do now you have mentioned it :-)

SVera I thoroughly enjoyed the book I was even going to suggest it for the GReaders thread...well worth a read.....

Hi Belladonna not sure if we have spoken before but Welcome and its great to see you posting.......I will take a look at the one you have mentioned......

Happy Reading Bookworms & Kindle Tarts :-D <3

I like Elizabeth Edmondson, The Villa is one that came up in GlossieAnn's Greaders group..

Hello Emma, yes it is a long time no speak, have you hugged your rubbish bin, Dermot recommends it?

Persie

Hi Persie long time no see..... :-D <3 always great to see you posting :-D <3

Persie I'm a tree hugger, Dermot is welcome to the bins :-D <3

Yes the villa was a good read. :-)

Glad you enjoyed it, Ann :-)

Last night I started reading A Beautiful Day by Kate Anthony.....

Today is the day that things are going to change for Rachel Bidewell.


She will walk through the doors of Clifton Avenue Care Home and start a new life.


Rachel is returning to work. And as she discovers, juggling a new job, three children and an ex husband can feel like drowning.


Someone needs to throw her a lifeline...


Philip doesn't seem like an obvious lifesaver. He has just lost the one person who ever cared for him and, even as an adult, he doesn't know how to live in the real world.


But might Philip and Rachel each have something the other needs?


This is a story of unexpected friendship; of the messy, muddy territory of those broken by life - and what it takes to fix them. It reminds us that the very darkest of days can be funny, heart-warming and even beautiful.

Started reading In Search Of Martha Brown,
last night, looks to be very interesting.

Emma

My latest read was Len Deighton’s City of Gold.

The City of Gold is set in early 1942 Cairo when Rommel’s army is poised to attack. Major Albert Cutler is charge with finding the spy who is supplying Rommel with accurate information.
None of the characters are who they seem to be - gold should be fools gold.

Although the protagonists are drawn from the British, Army and other countries ex-pat privileged communities, LD does have the space to describe the appalling living conditions of the starving working class Egyptians.

Its a mixture of a spy novel together with a description of life during WW2 and less pleasant aspects of living in an occupied zone, the occupiers being the British Army in a neutral Egypt.

I am catching up on books that have been sitting on the Kindle for ages and have just finished "Symphony of Echoes" by Jodi Taylor, part of the Chronicles of St Mary's series. It could be read as a stand alone book but there are quite a few references to events in the previous book in the series "Just One Damned Thing After Another" so it is probably best to read that one first.

These books are pure fantasy and escapism but I find them quite enjoyable.

Last night I read the first few pages of

EDIT: I had a mad moment and pressed submit half way through the sentence so to continue:

Last night I read the first few pages of "A Life in Secrets - The Story of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE" by Sarah Helm. It looks as though it is going to be interesting. My daughter recommended it some while ago. I got the Kindle edition for £1.99 in April but I see it is now £6.49!

Don't keep us in suspense Vera. First few pages of?????? :-D