General Chat

nudge

goodness knows where Kaz is, she always rushes in at the las minute, I know she is a busy person. I do seem to remember Maisie saying that she would be away on holiday and would go with whatever is chosen. Ann Glos

Just Kaz now and Maisie if I am wrong and she is not away.

Sorry to be so late, friends just left so back to ourselves again Sarum, The novel of England by Edward Rutherfurd A first novel, Rutherfurd's sweeping saga of the area surrounding Stonehenge and Salisbury, England, covers 10,000 years and includes many generations of five families. Each family has one or more characteristic types who appear in successive centuries: the round-headed balding man who is good with his hands; the blue-eyed blonde woman who insists on having her independence; the dark, narrow-faced fisher of river waters and secrets. Their fortunes rise and fall both economically and politically, but the land triumphs over the passage of time and the ravages of humans. Rutherfurd has told the story of the land he was born in and has told it well. The verbosity of a Michener is missing, but all the other elements are present, from geology and archaeology to a rich story of human Bad Blood by Lorna Sage Nobody's unhappy family was ever quite like that of Lorna Sage, whose ruthlessly funny, excruciating, inspiring memoir Bad Blood won England's Whitbread Biography Award. She grew up in the '40s on the Welsh border, in the crossfire between her grandparents, a bitter, bibulous, bookish vicar resembling Jack Sprat and his short, 'fat doll' of an ignorant wife. He preached earthy sermons about how one might prefer for a wife 'Martha before dinner, Mary after dinner.' His wife's 'notion of marriage [was] that a man signed you up to have his wicked way with you and should spend the rest of his life paying through the nose.' Grandma blackmailed the vicar with his diary of adultery, in which she scribbled vicious comments invaluable to the family historian. She gobbled sweets; he drank, fumed, and helped make Lorna Sage a noted literary critic. There is much more: the vicar's affair with his daughter's school chum, the cosmic impact of Bill Haley and his Comets, Lorna's precocious pregnancy, and the strange way lives ricochet and echo each other. Sage manages to give her rural upbringing a brooding Gothic poignance and the comic force of Cold Comfort Farm. She describes a moment after her grandfather's death in the vicarage, 'where everything seemed to be wearing thin and getting see-through, as though a spell were dissolving.' X Jill

Ann, did you have a senior moment ??? I missed it ;-)))

n

Hi Ann Ducking out this month as I've too much on. Back next month or the one after. Daisy

Yes, but Lorraine reported it so she wins the star prize, she can read four books instead of three! Ann Glos

I noticed those dates last night Ann.....but I had had a little drink at the time so didn't trust my judgement! LOL

Maisie I seem to remember might be away, so there are just Kaz and Daisie (plus Jill) to make their suggestions now. Ann Glos

thanks Lorraine for spotting the deliberate mistake, you win this weeks star prize! Sorry didn't see your post when I came on ealier. Ann Glos

I have put the vote date forward a day as I think some may be away for the BH. ann Glos

This was so far down, does it mean everyone who is interested has made a suggestion (except Jill who has already said she will put hers on later)? I will have to check last times list. Ann Glos

just reread your bit at the top ann - regarding the dates etc - are they right ??????

thank you Jill. Ann Glos

Just to let you know that I have seen the thread. will put my books on in the next couple of days as have people staying at the moment and not about much. xx Jill

Alaina, welcome, of course you can join. The more the merrier.. Ann Glos

Hi Ann Could I suggest two books which I have recently read and enjoyed? I saw the Greaders thread for April/May but didn't join would it be possible for me to join this time round? 1st book:- Don't Ever Tell by Kathy O'Beirne With no one to confide in, Kathy suffered in silence as she was battered by her father and molested by local boys. At the age of eight, she was torn from her family and incarcerated in a series of Catholic homes. When she was sent to a phychiatric unit, she suffered terrifying electric-shock therapy and further cruelty at the hands of her supposed carers. After ending up in a Magdalen laundry, she fell victim to sexual abuse and gave birth to a baby Anne just weeks before her fourteenth birthday. Don't Ever Tell is Kathy's harrowing account of her ruined childhood and of her subsequent fight for justice. This one made me cry and is extremely eye opening. 2nd book:- Our Yanks by Margaret Mayhew It was August 1943 - and into the quiet country village of King's Thorpe roared a Fighter Group of the American Eighth Army Air Force. The villagers had never seen anything like them before. They were glamourous, exciting, and ready to win the war. Some, like the Brigadier, called them 'Damned Yanks' and hated them on sight. They were late for this war just like they'd been for the last. They chewed gum, smoked in the street and whistled at girls. Young Sally Barnet from the bakery - fifteen-going-on-eighteen - thought them gorgeous and used her large blue eyes to good advantage. Timid Miss Cutteridge found herself forming a warm and wonderful friendship with corporal Bilsky, who didn't know how to use a cake fork but was great at digging her garden. Nine-year-old Tom Hazlet discovered the Yanks were an excellent source of business and traded stolen eggs for cigarettes which he sold at a profit. He really liked the Yanks. On young, newly-widowed Erika Beauchamp, and Agnes Dawes, the Rector's daughter, the Americans were to make and overwelming emotional impact. The one thing you couldn't do about the Yanks was ignore them, and finally everyone - even the Brigadier - came to accept them as their own. They became OUR YANKS. I really enjoyed the second one it is easy reading and I'm really into the impact the americans made to the second world war at the moment. Alaina

The Last Coyote - Michael Connelly 'Suspended LAPD Detective Harry Bosch reopens the ancient file on the murder of his prostitute mother and is irresistibly drawn into the shadowy past. COnfronting his personal shame at his mother's prfession, he discovers a trail leading to the high-ups in the Hollywood hills and finds that flames of an sncient passion don't die, they kindle fresh fires.' (Have started reading this and it is really good so far!) Under the Knife - Tess Gerritson ' For David Ransom, it begins as an open and shut case. Malpractice. As lawyer for a grieving family, he's determined to prosecute a negligent doctor. Then Dr Kate Chesne storms in to his office daring him to seek the truth - that she's being framed. When another body is discovered, David begins to believe her. Somewhere in a Honolulu hospital, a killer walks freely among the patients and staff. Who is next and why?'

The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas - John Boyne The journey of a nine year old boy, Bruno. The blub on the back cover fascinated me - and i seem to remember it being listed before but never choosen. (taken from the back cover of book) Usually we give some clues about the book on the cover, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of the book - we think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about. The Divide - Nicholas Evans (taken from back cover) In a journey of discovery and redemption that takes us from the streets of New York to the daunting grandeur of the West, this book tells the story of a family fractured by betrayal. It explores the pain we inflict on those we love the most and charts the passions and needs, the dashed hopes and disillusionments, that connect and divide all men and women.