READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?

[Sue]

Perhaps we could link this section to the book club forum.

[PanBiker]

Can't really do that Sue as both are separate topics within the Reading sub-forum. Topics can be merged but one would lose it's identity. They are linked in a way already by being part of the same sub-forum.

[Stanley]

Easiest way to 'link' them is to post findings on here after the Book Club has discussed a book. That fits the topic title exactly. That way the topics support each other.

[Sue]

Thats a good idea Stanley, and vice versa. The book clb could read one of the books recommended here

[Stanley]

When you're ready for non-fiction give a bit of thought to Bill Bryson. He didn't get to be a best selling author by being hard to read.....
I'm not reading anything in particular at the moment because my Shed Mojo has returned and I'm giving all my 'spare' time to the engines.... By the way, if anyone thinks engineering is boring, have a look at the four brass sculptures I am working on.

[Stanley]

I always have a book on the go for my frequent rest periods and at the moment it's an old edition of the original '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea' by H G Wells. We see so many film versions of these old classics but it is interesting to go back to the original and see how far the revisions have strayed from the original.

[Tripps]

That's a timely post. I started "The 39 steps" by John Buchan yesterday. I found it lurking on my shelf whilst searching for something else. Didn't even know I had it. Having seen several film versons, I was surprised to see how thin it was. We will see how close the films were to the original story.

[jgb7573]

I've just finished O by Anonymous. It sounds suspicious, but is in fact a well written novel about Barack Obama's re-election campaign. The one that's on the go at the moment. There seems to be a much more structured and managed approach to elections in the US than we have, though perhaps I'm just being naive. It's also interesting from the point of needing to understand motives before you make a big leap. A good one.

[Stanley]

20,000 Leagues is fascinating. All the calculations about the volume of sea-water and electrical theory. No wonder they left them out of the films!

[Stanley]

Had a lazy day and finished 20,000 Leagues. Not like any film version I have ever seen! I shall try to avoid reading today and get into the shed!

[Big Kev]

Halfway through The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson, follows on nicely from Dragon Tatoo. I have The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest waiting nearby...

[Wendyf]

I raced through the first & second books but ran out of momentum a few chapters into the final one. I went back to it after a few months and thoroughly enjoyed it....I just needed a break!

[Gloria]

I have just found a new "vein" of books by an author called Jodi Picoult. I have nearly finished my second and have been to the library this morning to get my third. They are very different to anything I have read before and quite compelling, well worth a try.

[Wendyf]

I just googled Jodi Picoult to have a peek. There are plenty books to go at! Might try one after I've finished the Reading Group book. You could join us Gloria, there is only Sue & myself at the moment.

[Gloria]

I will, but perhaps the next book. the one you are reading now really doesn't grab me.

[Stanley]

I've gone back to 1931 and have A J Cronin's 'Hatter's Castle' on the go. Fascinating to see how writing styles have changed. Very good descriptive writing and one thing that struck me was he mentioned the smell of orange peel in the fairground booth. When I was talking to Boris Hartley about the pre-war days at the Majestic in Barlick he said that when you went in to clean up the morning after the first thing that struck you was the smell of orange peel.....

[Stanley]

Hatter's Castle goes well. Abusive father, pregnant unmarried daughter thrown out in a storm. Father of child killed in the Tay Bridge disaster. Neer do well son fails in the colonies and returns home where he steals off mo0ther. Mother dies of cancer, father's business fails..... Better than a modern soap opera! (Cronin was a GP and his observations on medical shortcomings at the time are good evidence.)

[Whyperion]

Did they used to put Orange zest in the brown dust absorber I remember from school used for the clean just before the beginning of term of the floor tiles and woodblock flooring?

I find the £1 spray of the orange coloured Astonish to be useful for cleaning up most of the dirty bits I bring in ( flower pots , bicycles and the bath ), also handy for removing the oil off your skin if you don't use rubber gloves.

[Stanley]

Much more simple. In the days before snack foods invaded us an orange was the cheapest form of treat.
Finished Hatter's Castle... suitably grisly end! Have started his later novel 'Northern Light'.

[Stanley]

Still on Cronin, finished Northern Light and Spanish Gardener. I hadn't realised that the film starring Dirk Bogarde was based on Cronin's book. I'll start 'Beyond this place' today.

[Stanley]

'Beyond This Place' was a good story of a son trying to clear his father convicted of murder. Have started 'The Stars Look Down' one of Cronin's most famous books. Lots to be said for these old authors once you have tuned in to the old-fashioned style of writing.

[Stanley]

Finished 'The stars look down'. I'd forgotten what a good social document it is. It deals with the problems of society in the NE coal fields during the worst years of the 20th century. A depressing tale where the bad guys win, I had to listen to the Proms to get my mind back in to cheerful mode, but valuable evidence from Dr Cronin's personal experiences. Once more the medical details were accurate and frightening. I have one more of his books, 'The Citadel' which is the story of a young doctor's struggles to improve medicine in the Welsh Valleys in the 1920s and 30s. Not quite as depressing because I know that the good guys win!

[Sue]

Wendy and I have just finished THE KASMIR SHAWL by Rosie Thomas. A complex and excellent novel. Next book? I am reading one at the moment called A Class Act by Kay Vincent. Its set post WW1, with a charcter who has taken a new name and life for some reason, not yet revealed. I think it has something to do with Suffragettes, or at least I hope it is because that is why I bought the book. Another 'Suffragette' book well worth a read is Cat and Mouse by Tim Vicary

[Stanley]

'The Citadel' is going down well. It's a clear picture of the dire state of medicine in the inter-war years and of course, the medical details are superb. I get the feeling that there is a lot of Andrew Cronin's early life in it.

[Sue]

Gosh I have read that a few times Stanley. The first time was after it was a series on TV. I have a copy in France, I may pick it up again.