General Chat

Thank you Michelle, don't think I would have wanted to read it in hardback, the paperback was bad enough!!!

London Edward Rutherfurd

OMG what a huge book, which I finally finished at the weekend and returned to the library today with the fine to pay for the book being overdue :-P and the copy I had from the library was a hardback doesn't make for a comfortable read in bed. I found it somewhat hard going at the start until it got more into the medeavel part (my favourite time in history), it was an interesting read about the what types of people made up the people of the city.

Cheers Ann

All copied and pasted...

Pxx

I have nudged it up for you perse.

http://www.genesreunited.co.za/boards.page/board/general_chat/thread/1281936

Ann

What is your Tenerife reading thread's web link.?

I have also been tree tidying and working outside and we are often out... Have been doing research for one of the GR members - she has a lot of ancestry here.. so with that and reading and Facebook I don't get that much time on here.

Persie

Perse yes and the print was smaller than the usual print. I found it daunting to be halfway through and still have a 'normal' book left to read.

By the way, glad you are OK, not seen you around much lately but now I can see your reading list I can see why!!!!

It wasn't just how many pages Ann, it was the fact that there were so many words on the pages as well.....My daughter said to me "Told you to get a kindle" ...... I took my copy of London down to Wellington with me, but I couldn't really cart it around on the buses every time we went out.

I have now read Sister and Thanks for the Memories, and I finally got a copy of Water for Elephants from the library ... it is in large print (I didn't order large print) as well. Can read it without my glasses.

Persie

review London by Edward Rutherford

Well, what can I say that has not been said already? It is a huge book, both in actual size and in content. I wish it had been in two volumes as it is very daunting to know how many pages there are to go!! Besides length, because it covers so much history between its pages it takes longer to read than normal books, each fact has to be digested and I am afraid at time I had a sort of mental indigestion!
It is an excellent book though for the facts that it gives and as has been suggested it would make good reading for 6th form college history students. In fact I am going to suggest my Grandson who is studying archaeology at Uni reads the final paragraph at least. Especially this line: “When we dig down we find it and we may put it on show. But don’t think of it as just an object. Because that coin, that pipe belonged to someone; a person who lived, and loved, and looked at the river and the sky each day just like you and me.”
I have to admit that at times I found it a little confusing to distinguish between the fact and the fiction. So may actual historical figures are in the story but we have to remember that it is essentially a novel and, as such a lot of the actual human stories are from the author’s imagination.
An excellent book and I enjoyed it but a long read and I am not sure if I would tackle Dublin or Sarum. Although Dublin is a mere 800+ pages long!!!

Ann, I read Dublin a few years ago. Like London, I have passed it on.
As you know it is another BIG book.

I found it quite interesting but it is a story which needs to be digested slowly.

It should be how little I knew about Irish history.

Hope that you enjoy it when you have the time to read it.

Review
Mennonite in A Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen

I was amused by the tales about Rhoda's parents and enlightened about the Mennonites, as I hadn't previously known about them.

The author has a light touch when talking about her parents, and often made me chuckle.
I enjoyed the book on the whole.

However, I would have felt more comfortable with it if it had been fiction.
I felt a bit uneasy about what she said about her husband. He didn't have a right to reply in this book.
I couldn't make up my mind if she kept repeating that her husband had left her for a man he met on gay.com because she was still bitter about it, or if she kept repeating this phrase because she felt that she would be introduced (on the sly) as " the woman whose husband left her for a man he met on gay.com

The Mennonites were spoken of in her early years as very strict and ridgid. Which was part of the reason she fled from them.
However, when things in her life fell apart, she found them to be caring, accepting and sympathic.
I wonder if it was her perceptions had changed, or had the older generation mellowed somewhat in the intervening years.

I agree that she used some words that I didn't understand, and quite frankly, I couldn't be bothered to check in the dictionary, which was in the other room.

Pleased that this book was on the list, otherwise I wouldn't have read it. Not sure though if I would read anything else by this author.

Tess

I have his book Dublin sitting on my shelf but don't know when I will geta round to reading it. Have no knowledge of Dublin at all.

Re what Tess has said about London...

Would be a good book for additional reading when studying London's History.
It is so steeped in History and like others I have ancestry from there though as far as I know not that far back .. my Gr grandfather came over to NZ (on my avatar) and he was born in Shoreditch, baptized at All Hallows.. but the rest of the ancestry in his line is from Kent. Also have some on my other side from London.

I would have never have read it if it had not been for Greaders. I have to admit I finished the last 60 pages earlier in the day here before I had to do the review... was cutting it fine. Was a great read. So thanks whoever suggested it...

Persie :-)

Seems like it is only me not finished it. I am sure I would have done had I not been away for 4 weeks. I shall read on, I am over halfway through.

Review -
London Edward Rutherfurd.

My main concern about the book is that I borrowed it from the library, and will therefore have to take it back
I really must get a copy to keep. I had read it before and stupidly gave it away, euther that or I have put it in the attic with other books too good to hand on.

One of my interests in researching my family tree is the additional information I gather re general history. This book does this = = =
An ideal book to dip in and out of (after reading the whole), helped by the family trees at the front with the corresponding era/chapter headings.
Although I don't usually make notes in my books, it would have been useful to do so in this case, to jog my memory. For instance, this week in UK the WDYTYR (Len Goodman) spoke about being a member of a Guild in London. This book spoke about it at length.
The maps were also useful.
A great book of social, religious, political and economic history, linked by the stories of a few families. So history in the raw - @real@ stories, instead of just a list of dates to remember.
What a marvellous way to learn history - an interesting, and at times gripping story, with people who seemed real and earned my sympathy, admiration or dislike.
I like d the fact that it depicted real events.

Will be putting Edwars Rutherfuds paperback books on my Christmas list!

"London": what a big book! I have only just finished ploughing through it.

I have to say I did skip a few pages but, on the whole, I enjoyed the stories. The bits I liked best were the explanations for names of streets and the different areas of london and which immigrant groups lived where and when (I know London fairly well.) It was also interesting seeing the family names emerging through the generations. In fact I think I will read it again and take notes!

Because "London" took me so long to read I haven't finished "Mennonite" yet but so far I agree with everyone's comments. Rhoda's mother is hilarious and the tales of the camping trip had my laughing my socks off! I am looking forward to reading the rest of the book. And I'd better hurry up because the library want it back!

Berona, I feel that London would have been better in two volumes. Because it is so big it has to move fast. Also it is hard to remember that we are reading a fiction novel when there are so many obviously factual pieces. I am enjoying it, but slowly :-)

thank you everybody for posting so promptly this time without me having to jog memories, it does make a difference for me.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress.
I still know nothing about Mennonites and I’m not sure what this story was about, but I saw a young woman who had to accept that ‘the other woman’ was actually a man and there was nothing she could do about it. I felt sorry for her but admired that she was able to get on with her life. Other than that, there didn’t seem to be anything in the story.

London
I waited for two weeks for my book delivery, so I’m still reading this one – and I’m struggling with it. I thought I would enjoy it because I have been there and know all the famous landmarks and how they are situated from each other, streets, etc. However, I find that the mixture of fact and fiction doesn’t impress me. I will keep going with it, but I am not enjoying it. I feel that I will need to read it again sometime in the future, to get the full impact of it.

I actually read 23 books while in Tenerife for four weeks, I did put up a thread with all the titles.

London, well I agree, without the family tree that I was going back to every other chapter, I would of been very confused. There seemed to be a lot more name changes in this book than in Saram but I still enjoyed it nearly as much. Its no wonder we have problems finding our own ancestors :)
I kept waiting for the pot of gold to be discovered and could then see where the saying that the streets of London are lined in gold was being linked, a nice touch :)

I think this is a book that needs a couple of reads to get to grips with the characters and events .

I am on the move around the end of December and will be busy up til then plus will then be getting new home ready and might not be able to join in with the group until Feb / March but in those famous words-- I will be back :)

xx Jill

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

I found this book really amusing as well as touching. I liked the way Rhoda poked gentle, affectionate fun at the Mennonite way of life. I thought she was very clever by starting the story with her husband leaving her for a man met online so we felt sympathetic from the beginning. It was only as the story of her marriage progressed through Nick's bipolar problems, bisexuality etc. you began to wonder why on earth did she marry him in the first place? The progress of her recovery from what basically seemed like an abusive marriage, helped by the memories and idiosyncrasies of her Mennonite heritage was heart warming. I too loved her mother and her inconsequential remarks.

London

A real epic of a book. I agree with Persephone, thank goodness for the family tree. I loved the way he linked important historical events with their lives as well as the background information on the way people lived in the past. Some of my ancestors came from London and I found myself wondering if they thought the same way as some of the characters in the book about life. I think I will have to reread it sometime in the future and concentrate on the historical side rather than the story.