Hobbies and Crafts

I find it a book that needs a lot of concentration but very interesting. I have read novels around the content so it enhances those. :-)

I've read a lot of Alison Weir and find them very good. The Princes in the Tower is well worth reading!

I read Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee some years ago, it left quite an impression. I've also read some Alison Weir but again it was a while ago. It's so interesting to see what people are reading. Such a variety of things.

Welcome to the thread Evie. I am sure you will find some recommendations on here that will suit your taste.

I've heard of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee but have never read it. I'll look out for it now.

Ann, I like Alison Weir's work but, as you say, they are not always an easy read as they can be quite densely packed with facts and sources. I haven't read her book about the princes in the tower so another one for me to look out for.

Bury my heart at wounded knee is a lovely book. I read it some years ago and couldn't put it down!!
I'm presently reading 'A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century'. A long intricate book, but very interesting if slightly horrifying!!!

At the moment I am reading Bury My Heart at
Wounded Knee, an Indian history of the American west,
by Dee Brown.

I knew a lot about the history of the tribes, or thought I did.
The treatment of the Indians was more horrific than I first
thought and the cruelty they suffered at the hands of the White man
is sad to read.
A good read and very interesting.

Thank you for the welcome. I've been recommended that Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton. Looks good too.

Hello EvieB there are lots of good recommendations on the thread you are sure to find something that appeals. At the moment I am readingRichard 111 and the princes in the tower, By AlisonWeir, it is not an easy read but is very interesting.

Welcome EvieB :-)

Hi All

I've been a member of GR for many years but haven't yet used the boards. I'm an avid reader so this really thread really appealed. I'm always on the lookout for recommendations. Currently I'm reading 'The American Girl' by Rachel English. It's about tracing your roots but in this case a woman who was adopted at birth trying to find her birth mother. An enjoyable read, mostly based in Ireland so ticking two boxes for me already - family history and location.

Still reading! Like Vera, its something I do all the time.

My Ipad has recently updated itself with an Ap called Libby. As long as you have a library card, you can link to your county library and borrow ebooks from them.
That was the original intention for (re)registering with the library, but is was too much of a faff to convert the ebooks to a kindle format.

I've already read one Jack Reacher and a book based on Criminal Intent TV series. May be the book came first?

On the kindle I'm currently reading A Dangerous Road: A Smokey Dalton Novel
by Kris Nelscott. It was free at the time.

Smokey Dalton is an African-American private detective working in 1968 Memphis, Tennessee. The story is linked in with Black Rights & the assassination of Martin Luther King.

Smokey's parents were killed by a lynch mob when he was young. He is hired, rather unexpectedly, by a wealthy young white Chicago-raised woman to find out why her deceased mother has left him $10,000.

He uncovers some unpalatable truths about her parents & the background to his own parents demise. Along the way he falls in love with her, and tries to protect a neglected 10 year old black boy who can identify MLK's assassin.

Not sure how it will end, but its unlikely to be an altogether happy one!

It’s a while since anything was added to this thread. Has everyone given up reading or are you all like me? I am reading all the time but haven’t read anything that it seems worth writing about. I’ve worked my way through a few medieval and Tudor mysteries and a couple of modern crime novels.

The book I have just finished is That Girl From Nowhere by Dorothy Koomson. I wasn’t keen on the writing style and I think the story was a little bit odd, but I found I did want to finish the book. I don’t want to give the plot away - this is the blurb on the book cover.

Clemency Smittson was adopted as a baby and the only connection she has to her birth mother is a cardboard box hand-decorated with butterflies. Now an adult, Clem moves to Brighton, where she was born, and meets someone who knows all about the butterfly box and what happened to her birth parents. As the shocking secrets about her adoption and childhood start to unravel, Clem has to decide if the cost of having contact with her first family is a price too high to pay....

Happy reading everyone :-D

Hope you enjoy it more than I seemed to have done then if you find it Tess.

Thanks Ann, the reason I was asking is that I have (very) recently found that a second cousin, once removed, lived and worked in Chile for many years.
This set the wheels of memory spinning. I thought that I might have read a book by a Chilean author. Digging deeper, I wondered if that auther was Isabel Allende. I checked her on the internet and saw that she wrote "House of Spirits" and the name rang a bell. However the description didn't.

Might check in at the library when I go on Saturday to see if I can get House of Spirits or any other book by her.

Tess I have only read one of Isobel allende's books and from my listings that was House of spirits back in 2001. My only remarks were hard to read, set in S America. So can't really help you there.

Just finished "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory (reconnended on this thread some time ago).

have read other books by philippa gregory and always enjoyed them.

I knew very little about Mary (Boleyn) before I read this book, except that she was the sister of Ann Boleyn and had been mistress to Henry the eighth before Ann.

Was surprised by a lot that I learnt, found it interesting,learning about mary and "her take" on her sister Ann.

Well worth reading.
Off to the library again on Saturday with a list of recommended books from here.

Have also had Isobel Allende (of Chile) recommended by someone else. has anyone else read anything by her? If so, what did you think?

Can't remember which author/book I was looking for on my last visit to the library, but ended up with "The Magdalena Curse" by F.G. Cottam instead.
Had never heard of this book, or indeed the author, but as it was a light book, so easy to carry/hold, I went for it.

The actuall weight was the only light thing about it! A horror story that I found rather scary. Not my usual read at all. According to The Times it is "Atreasure trove of dark dreams and sinister sorcery" The bulrb on the back starts "It only takes a couple of visits to convince Dr Elizabeth Bancroft that Adam hunter is not just having bad dreams. He is a child possessed"
I had to keep on to the end, jsut to find out what happened. So if you like scary books, this is for you.


On a lighter note. was also looking for a specific book by Cecelia Ahern, an author familiar to me. it had been recommended on here, (or perhaps I should say they). Anyway, wasn't on the library shelves, but many other books by her were. I choose one of the slimmer books (easier to hold). "A Place Called Here" didn't realise till I got it home, that I had read it before. Nonthe less I read it again, and am pleased that I did. This time I found it far more serious and somber than before. Not really sure why. Couldn't remember all parts of the story, so it was still a voyage of discovery. I enjoyed it this time too. Just in a different way. Not as lighthearted as I remembered it being. Made me think a bit more this time. For anyone else wondering if they have read it "Here" is where a lot of "lots and missing" things go, including socks and people.

Thanks Mersey, I see it is £3.99 (I think) onAmazon for kindle but I may be like you and buy the book.

Yes Ann it's the new one ....I bought it in Asdà the other day...

Love Lucinda Riley not read this one, is it a new one? I am sure somebody did tell me there was a new one.

Anyway it sound intriguing so I will look out for it. And I often read actual books as well as the kindle, I do find with the kindle that it is difficult to back track to check something, much easier with a proper book. :-)