Hobbies and Crafts

Hello Magpie, great to see you on our little thread..... :-)

I really enjoy reading what everyone else is reading and have found books that I would not normally read and have found myself enjoying a variety of different topics and stories......

Please feel free to let us know anything that you are reading or have read that might interest one or more in here.......

DET the book you have just mentioned sounds a great read and right up my street so will go and look on Amazon........Thanks <3

HAPPY READING

~~~~~s to all book worms and kindle tarts <3 <3

Has anybody read 'The Lost king of France'? (can't remember the author, It'll be on line) I read this some years ago and it was one of those books that rather preyed on my mind. As I'm sure you all know it is the story of Louis Charles, Marie Antoinette's younger son. It is quite a shocking account of the brutality meted out to this child, and is one of the worse cases of child abuse in history. Apparently the French (those in the know) still feel a sense of horror at the treatment of this little boy. the Princes in the Tower was bad enough, but this is worse by quite a long margin. Just wondered if anyone here has read it and what their view is?

The author Magpie is Deborah Cadbury, kindle price £6.02p

Emma :-)

Thanks Golden Girl, I need to finish 'Peter,' and the U.Boats(!!) before I order anything else, but it is a book I would like to have,
Thank you too everyone for welcoming me to this thread. I love books so I'm sure I shall enjoy posting here.

Hi Magpie do you have a kindle or do you prefer books.....??


:-)

I have just started Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (Kindle £3.99)

Louis Zamperini was one of America's greatest heroes. An Olympic runner and WWII POW, his life story was written by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Laura Hillenbrand (author of "Seabiscuit") and the book "Unbroken", released in November, 2010.

Lucky Louis Zamperini, Olympic hero, WWII bombardier, plane crash survivor, POW, and survivor of post-war turmoil was one of the last of the greatest generations.

I am hooked already :-)

Mersey, I do prefer a proper book, but as we now live in a small bungalow, an e.book has been a godsend on the storage front, so now nearly all my new books are on kindle. 'Peter' and I are on the verge of parting company! Think I'll go onto Alan Bennett next with Writing Home', and leave the Uboats for a while!! Glad you're enjoying your latest read.

Kept going back to have another look at The Lost King of France
by Deborah Cadbury £6.02p and have now downloaded it.

Emma :-)

I'm sure you'll enjoy it Golden Girl. It did, prey on my mind though, the treatment of that little boy was quite shocking.

Read the reviews Magpie and that decided me to
look into what happened to this young boy as I
know nothing about him to any great degree.

Emma :-)

Well I have struggled through a third of The Little Friend – DonnaTart and still haven't a clue what it is about, can't get into it, and definitely don't like her style so I am going to give up on it for now.

Do let me know how you get on with it G.G. I shall be interested to have your opinion.
Liz

Liz I will have to finish Borgia Bride first but will
certainly let you know my opinion.

I agree with you about the Little Friend, Ann.
Isn't it funny how the blurb can make the book sound completely different from the actuality. I shall try to finish as it is for Greaders but I probably wouldn't bother otherwise.

Just finished reading Bernard Cornwell '1356', the story of archer Thomas Hookton during the 100 years war, leading to the battle of Poitiers. Really enjoyed it (so did OH) exciting but a little bloody!

Well, I will try it again when I have read one of the other choices, life is too short to waste on rubbish (my opinion of course).

well I have just re-read some of the comments and I wish I had read more than just the first one before I started to read. Some comments written by 'a customer' which always makes me suspicious, compare the book to To Kill a Mocking Bird. I can't go with that. Somebody else rightly said it should have been edited. I agree it is too long. However I shall persevere.

I've been reading Dervla Murphy's "Full Tilt: from Ireland to India with a Bicycle" .

This is an account of a journey she undertook in the early 1960s, put together from the diaries she wrote at the time. I didn't think I was going to enjoy it at first as the beginning of the book is quite rushed as she hurtles through several countries. The bulk of the book is about her travels in Afghanistan and Pakistan and it is interesting as a historical document in view of what has happened in these countries since. The author clearly loves these places and people, particularly the Afghans.

She puts up with some amazing hardships along the way but also is helped by a lot of influential people and it is not clear from the book how much of this was arranged in advance. After all, how many people in her situation would get to have dinner with the President of Pakistan?

She also makes one or two sweeping generalisations - the Kashmiris are the most moronic people she met and teachers in Pakistan display a very low level of intelligence!

I think this was the first of Dervla Murphy's travel books and, once I got past the first couple of chapters I found it well written and enjoyable.

Has anyone read.. Empress Dowager Cixi..The Concubine
Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang £4.68 Kindle.

She became a Concubine at the age of 16 and gave birth to
a son, when he was aged 5 he inherited the throne on the death
of his father but his mother Cixi took over the role of Empress Dowager.

She is reputed as having death by hundred cuts and foot binding banned
amongst other things...this is her biography, and documents only came to
light after the death of Mao.

Worth having a lot at the intro on kindle....what do you think?
If you are interested in history this could be a book for you.

Emma :-)

Just finished The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro, can't tell you the story as it is a Greaders book but if you look at the Greaders suggestion thread you can get an idea. It is under a £1 on amazon for Kindle. A very readable book, I enjoyed it.

Pammy. I finished it :-( Did you? So pleased to get to the last page. :-D

Yes, Ann, I finished it too, tho I wasn't sure if I had reached the end or not! :-S

I'm enjoying the Perfume Collector as well.