TheNeil Report post Posted November 23, 2008 Hattie - The Authorised Biography of Hattie Jacques by Andy Merriman Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheNeil Report post Posted November 26, 2008 Finished the Hattie Jacques biography. Hmm, OK but not exactly great - kind of felt like it lacked a lot of detail and was a bit 'lightweight'. Next up, Hitler's Scientists by John Cornwell. A nice slice of German science from WWI to WWII and the way that it influenced the world...apparently Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pearl Report post Posted November 27, 2008 I've been reading non fiction for a change: Imperfectly Natural Home by Janey Lee Grace (you might have heard her on Steve Wright's show in the afternoons if you're an old fogey like me & listen to Radio 2) Based on the very reassuring principle that none of us is perfect, its how to make your home more eco-friendly (and save money) without sending yourself mad. Full of ideas to pick & choose from, some sensible, some innovative, some frankly bonkers, its given me lots of things to consider. She also doesnt fudge the more contentious issues, for instance outlining the pros & cons of energy saving bulbs (I remember a very lively discussion on here about that very same thing) The one thing I'm planning to do is: acquire my MIL's old style spin dryer, which I don't think she uses any more. Did you know that if you give your washing an extra spin in one of these, after you've used your automatic, you can get another pint of water out of your clothes. A 2 minute spin equals 20 mins less in the tumble dryer Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stella63 Report post Posted November 28, 2008 Hi Don't know if it's already been mentioned cos I really didn't want to wade through 12 pages but started reading The Island by Victoria Hislop the other day (to take my mind off other matters!!) It is truly amazing - its about life in a small Cretan village with an island close by which was a leper colony. It's interesting to me cos my DH is Greek Cypriot so I have an understanding of what life was like for his parents growing up in small villages (his grandfather was a shepherd), also we have been to Crete several times and also my great uncle was a missionary in a leper colony in Hong Kong (which I am going to find out more about before everyone dies and can't give me any family history!!) Anyway, wonderful book and I can't put it down (except for now cos obviously I am on the computer and even I am incapable of that kind of multi tasking!!) Stella xx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pearl Report post Posted November 28, 2008 Ooh I might try that one Stella Finished All In the Mind, Alastair Campbell's debut novel. Its about a psychiatrist who suffers from depression, and five of the patients he helps. Very, very good, but not to be read if feeling fragile - the account of his breakdown, I think, can only have come from Campbell's personal experience, it rang so true. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aruaspie Report post Posted November 30, 2008 Val McDermid - A Darker Domain Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pearl Report post Posted December 13, 2008 How (not) to murder your mother by Stephanie Calman. A funny & touching exploration of the love/hate relationship between the author & her mum, focusing in particular on negotiating the role-reversal that happens when your mum gets old & frail but remains as bolshy as she ever was. My goodness, I identified. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billabong Report post Posted December 13, 2008 'The Beacon' by Susan Hill. It's meant to be eerie but not that I've noticed so far ie almost two-thirds of the way through it. It has the advantage of being a short novel and a very quick read . Looking forward to reading 'The Island' and the book DH has bought me for Christmas, only I don't know about it, do I? nor did I drop big hints ... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pearl Report post Posted December 24, 2008 I've just finished The Ghost That Haunted Itself, an investigation into the Mackenzie poltergeist that we tried to raise on our ghost walk in Edinburgh. It gave me nightmares. I try to read spooky/christmassy/wintry stuff over the christmas period. This year I'm rereading A Traveller In Time (Alison Uttley) about a little girl who travels back to the 16th century & gets involved with Mary Queen of Scots. Lovely. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted December 24, 2008 (edited) A Greater Psychology...Sri Arubindo. This is my Christmas treat to myself, although it's considerably longer than I thought! Once I have read and inwardly digested I shall discuss with the Mad Russian at work (who is still patiently helping me meditate...a long, uphill battle I can tell you! ) during the wee small hours, when just about anything anyone says sounds profound due to sleep-deprivation! Boho Edited December 24, 2008 by bid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aro Report post Posted December 24, 2008 Just finished "call the midwife", very interesting and last night started "Labyrinth" by Kate Mosse. A x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stella63 Report post Posted December 24, 2008 Inkheart by Cordelia Funke. OJ wants us to see it at the cinema so I'm reading the book first - always prefer it that way round! Its a childrens book but so far its quite magical with a dark edge to it! stella xx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marco Report post Posted December 29, 2008 George Herriman: "He nods in quiescent siesta" His final book of the eternal love triangle between Ignatz, Krazy and Pupp. Anyone who becomes disheartened with events in this world would be well advised to visit Kokonino Kounty for a view of a very weird heaven. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ScienceGeek Report post Posted December 29, 2008 Dear Fatty by Dawn French Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marco Report post Posted December 29, 2008 Dear Fatty by Dawn French read some Herriman, Science Geek! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tally Report post Posted December 29, 2008 I'm reading Elephants on Acid by Alex Boese. It's about weird and mostly really dangerous and unethical scientific experiments. My brother got it for me for Christmas. It's really good. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baddad Report post Posted December 29, 2008 This Book Will Save Your Life by A. M. Homes... I was a bit put off by the sticker on the front which seid 'shortlisted for Richard & Judy's book club awards 2007' but then figured it was probably shortlisted by consultants working for R&J rather than R&J themselves Besides, the donuts on the jacket looked very inviting Anyways, really good book about a 'lost soul' rediscovering a place for himself in the world again. Very quirky and surreal and lovely . The last page I read had this gem from a character called Cynthia: "As I was leaving a nurse said I should enrol in something called day treatment - apparently it's like being in a mental hospital during the day but you're home in time for dinner. She said it helped her son. I said being home in time for dinner never helped any woman with children and got the hell out of there." Also recently read Stephen King's "Duma Key" - best of his new stuff I've read in ages Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted December 29, 2008 Julie Walters' autobiography, which I got for Christmas. I think she's great and I'm enjoying her book. K x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smiley Report post Posted December 30, 2008 DARN IT!!!! Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaads!!! I could never get into that book - I'd pick it up, read a page or two, get bored n go find something more interesting to do............ My friends all kept nagging at me to read it - telling me it was truly worth the effort (and muttering something about the attention span of a gnat under their breath...)...... Anyhow, one of said friends gave me the audiobook as a gift for Christmas, in a last ditched attempt to make me at least listen to it............ Don't need to listen to the last page now do i.....................??!!??? HUMPH! <'> Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheNeil Report post Posted December 30, 2008 I'm mentally stretching myself and reading My Word is My Bond by Roger Moore. I think chocolate has dulled my brain Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baddad Report post Posted December 30, 2008 DARN IT!!!! Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaads!!! I could never get into that book - I'd pick it up, read a page or two, get bored n go find something more interesting to do............ My friends all kept nagging at me to read it - telling me it was truly worth the effort (and muttering something about the attention span of a gnat under their breath...)...... Anyhow, one of said friends gave me the audiobook as a gift for Christmas, in a last ditched attempt to make me at least listen to it............ Don't need to listen to the last page now do i.....................??!!??? HUMPH! <'> I said the last page I READ not the last page... I'm only half way through so have no idea what the ending will be! It's slow paced, sho'nuff. but how can you not enjoy a book that has a filmstar rescuing a trapped horse from a sink-hole by helicopter and winch? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billabong Report post Posted January 2, 2009 Just finished 'The Grandmothers', four novellas by Doris Lessing. Just started 'The Gathering' by Anne Enright. Just dipping into 'Freakonomics'. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pearl Report post Posted January 2, 2009 I'm reaching the end of "Dissolution" by something something Sansom. A murder mystery set in a doomed monastery in the 16th century. I think I know whodunnit .... Perfick for this time of year, set in a snowy winter landscape & nicely spooky. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tally Report post Posted January 3, 2009 I'm reading The School Run by Sophie King. It's light and enjoyable. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheNeil Report post Posted January 4, 2009 Finished My Word Is My Bond (no Roger, I think you mean 'My words are dull and boring' ) Now started Tony Hancock: The Definitive Biography by John Fisher. It looks big and it looks as though it'll take time to get going but... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oxgirl Report post Posted January 4, 2009 I've just finished 'The Greatest Gift', very difficult reading for me. Before that I read 'The Trials and Tribulations of Lucas Lessar'. ~ Mel ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brooke Report post Posted January 4, 2009 Coming Home by Rosamund Pilcher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smiley Report post Posted January 9, 2009 I said the last page I READ not the last page... I'm only half way through so have no idea what the ending will be! It's slow paced, sho'nuff. but how can you not enjoy a book that has a filmstar rescuing a trapped horse from a sink-hole by helicopter and winch? OOOoooooooooo.............. ........................ Erm............ sorry me love! (guess what....... I have been listening - but find myself wandering about getting sturf done.... and then realise I'm not listening... doomed I tell you...) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tally Report post Posted January 9, 2009 I've just read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted January 9, 2009 I read The Boy in the Striped PJ's a couple of months ago. Very harrowing, all the more so because the horror is being seen through an innocent child's eyes. K x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baddad Report post Posted January 15, 2009 Wow... i picked up 'Lullabies for little criminals' by Heather O'Neil last week on the off-chance when i couldn't find anything up the Library. Started it a couple of days ago and it is absolutely brilliant. On the downside, I know it's going to go into some really horrible, dark territory, and the main character is so believable/lovely (think Scout Finch with all hope/opportunity stripped away and transfered as a homeless 12 year old to the present day ) you don't want to 'watch' it happen. A random bit of text: He had lost a lot of weight and seemed sickly all over again. Once he coughed all day, and he acted as if each cough was a kick in the stomach. It got worse and worse over the next couple of days. He coughed for ten minutes at a time. It sounded like an umbrella being torn apart by the wind. The way i remember it, dishes bounced up and down in the sink when he coughed and the lightbulbs started to flicker... It's like that on every page Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zaman Report post Posted January 16, 2009 This Book Will Save Your Life by A. M. Homes... I was a bit put off by the sticker on the front which seid 'shortlisted for Richard & Judy's book club awards 2007' but then figured it was probably shortlisted by consultants working for R&J rather than R&J themselves Besides, the donuts on the jacket looked very inviting Anyways, really good book about a 'lost soul' rediscovering a place for himself in the world again. Very quirky and surreal and lovely . I really liked that book, but felt the ending was a bit fudged. Everyone that I've recommended it to hated it though . . . I'm reading 'No time for goodbye' which seems to be in all the charity shops at the moment. I guessed the key to the plot by chapter 3, which was frustrating, but am nearly at the end and realised I got it all wrong! (That only happens in fiction) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pearl Report post Posted January 16, 2009 Don't Sleep, There are Snakes by Daniel Everett. An account of the authors 25 years spent living & working with an Amazonian tribe, who's language bears no resemblance to any other known language. They have no words for please, thankyou, hello, goodbye, sorry etc. They have no mythology, live entirely in the present, and believe nothing unless they can confirm it through their own experience. The authors job was to learn their language & then translate the Bible into it. Eventually, realising that they were the happiest people he had ever encountered, he started to question his own beliefs & is now an atheist. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
baddad Report post Posted January 16, 2009 I really liked that book, but felt the ending was a bit fudged. I agree - and the pace was relentlessly slow, which while reflective of the nature of the chief character did make it a bit of a slog. Won't read no time to reply now, as I'll be trying to work out the plot-twist like Roy with his movie in the IT crowd! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mumble Report post Posted January 16, 2009 I'm reading Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. It's quite an old study (late 1960s) but it's very basic premise is how groups of 'socially outside'/deviant individuals are given a particular label and that following this, every action of that individual is seen as stemming from the attached label rather than having any other origin. I'm wondering if there's something in that in relation to how ASD diagnoses can be used. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pearl Report post Posted January 16, 2009 Thats one of our Key Resources texts at the library - it goes out an awful lot, I'm guessing its a set text on some course. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tally Report post Posted January 16, 2009 I'm reading Maxine Ashton's Aspergers in Love. It's interesting, but I'm not sure how representative it is. It doesn't paint a very pretty picture, but maybe it is accurate and I just don't like it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sallya Report post Posted January 18, 2009 Just read Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer, was so good went and got the next 3 in the series, Moonlight, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, read the lot in 2 days, haven't had such a good read in ages. s xxx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sandyn Report post Posted January 18, 2009 The business by Martina Cole. When Ive finished that one - it the autobiography by Alan Carr. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tally Report post Posted January 19, 2009 I've just read Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella. It's about a woman who is a nervous flyer and there is a problem on the plane and she thinks she is going to die and spills all her secrets to the passenger next to her. They land safely and they never see each other again . . . until he turns up at her work and he is the owner of the company. It's a very girly book and not the kind of thing I would normally choose, but I really enjoyed it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
