What's everyone reading at the moment?

[Miss Mango]

oh, i forgot to say..dont get me started on the cross stitch lol
i used to do that all the time,but with the reading too i had to give it up

I haven't cross stitched for ages but I'm like that, I have big sessions of it and spend days and days doing nothing but then I bore of it and leave off stitching for absolutely ages!

I'm over half way through The Time Travellers Wife now. I'm really enjoying it and its very fascinating. The only small thing I'm not keen on is the use of language for love scenes, I find it a bit uneccesary and feel that with the sort of love story it is, its kind of degrading to that love and makes it sound cheap - but maybe thats just me as I am not a swearer myself. Apart from that, its fantastic.

 

[ronniejacobs]

i am a true book worm too, currently reading Under the Dome by stephen king - probably the first book of his i have picked up in a while, the last one of his i read was Cell which was very good.

Got a large to be read pile and an even larger keeper pile of books (of which i re read them lol) not sure what i am gonna read next tho!

 

[Miss Mango]

I'm going to finish TTTW tonight and would really appreciate some advice on what I should read next please. I'm dreading finishing this as I'm enjoying it so much and would like something equally as absorbing as it. I'm going to read Her Fearful Symmetry but I know I'll finish that quickly.

Are there any good books which are set in World War II? I love diary type books about people's experiences during times like that. I am not up on the latest books out and popular reads, so would appreciate some help thanks

 

[Lynn_]

Small Island by Andrea Levy is set at the end of WW2, and is a compulsive read

This review i have copied and pasted from amazon, treacherous of me i know but its late
Told from the perspective of four different characters, it tells the story of the first wave of Caribbean immigrants to Britain following World War II, through the life of Airman Joseph Gilbert and his wife Hortense. Despite fighting against the Nazi's as a member of the RAF, when Gilbert returns to his 'Mother Country' with ambitions of training to become a Lawyer, all he finds in London is unfriendly faces, hatred, and a job as Royal Mail driver. However, he does find accommodation with Queenie Bligh, who, in need of rent, lets the empty rooms of her house to immigrants and faces just as much scorn and hatred from her neighbours as a result. Events soon come to a head when Queenie's husband, Bernard, returns home from India two years after the War has ended.

 

[bunny_hops]

I'm going to finish TTTW tonight and would really appreciate some advice on what I should read next please. I'm dreading finishing this as I'm enjoying it so much and would like something equally as absorbing as it. I'm going to read Her Fearful Symmetry but I know I'll finish that quickly.

Are there any good books which are set in World War II? I love diary type books about people's experiences during times like that. I am not up on the latest books out and popular reads, so would appreciate some help thanks

I was just about to say Small Island
Have you read Anne Franks diary?
The Road?
Thousand Splendid Suns?
The Help?

bit of a mixture there,worth a google and seeing what you think.

xoxo

 

[Miss Mango]

Small Island by Andrea Levy is set at the end of WW2, and is a compulsive read

This review i have copied and pasted from amazon, treacherous of me i know but its late
Told from the perspective of four different characters, it tells the story of the first wave of Caribbean immigrants to Britain following World War II, through the life of Airman Joseph Gilbert and his wife Hortense. Despite fighting against the Nazi's as a member of the RAF, when Gilbert returns to his 'Mother Country' with ambitions of training to become a Lawyer, all he finds in London is unfriendly faces, hatred, and a job as Royal Mail driver. However, he does find accommodation with Queenie Bligh, who, in need of rent, lets the empty rooms of her house to immigrants and faces just as much scorn and hatred from her neighbours as a result. Events soon come to a head when Queenie's husband, Bernard, returns home from India two years after the War has ended.

Oh thank you very much Lynn, I do appreciate you taking the time to find that and paste it for me. I love the sound of that book and I have put it on my Waterstone wishlist and will order it this week some time. I think it will be a great read.
I'm so glad I asked for advice now, I've never heard of that one before so really am grateful for the recommendation.
XX

 

[Miss Mango]

I was just about to say Small Island
Have you read Anne Franks diary?
The Road?
Thousand Splendid Suns?
The Help?

bit of a mixture there,worth a google and seeing what you think.

xoxo

I knew I could rely on my fellow book worm BunnyHops for a little list of recommendations! All of them sound brilliant and thank you very much for telling me about them. I've looked them all up and I like the sound of Small Island and The Help best - so those 2 are going to be first then I'll have A Thousand Splendid Suns. I couldn't find what The Road was about but I'll double check on Amazon as maybe Waterstones haven't got it in?

I have read Anne Franks Diary, it always fascinates and saddens me, I think I've read it a couple of times now, once for school and then twice as an adult. Are there any other books like hers? I have Harry Patch's book to read as well as a few other true stories from the war so I'm going to get stuck into them too.
Thanks again! XXX

 

[happyhippo]

Hi i am reading Slave Girl at the moment, its a true story about a girl that was sold into sex slavery

 

[funcurls]

Small Island by Andrea Levy is set at the end of WW2, and is a compulsive read

This review i have copied and pasted from amazon, treacherous of me i know but its late
Told from the perspective of four different characters, it tells the story of the first wave of Caribbean immigrants to Britain following World War II, through the life of Airman Joseph Gilbert and his wife Hortense. Despite fighting against the Nazi's as a member of the RAF, when Gilbert returns to his 'Mother Country' with ambitions of training to become a Lawyer, all he finds in London is unfriendly faces, hatred, and a job as Royal Mail driver. However, he does find accommodation with Queenie Bligh, who, in need of rent, lets the empty rooms of her house to immigrants and faces just as much scorn and hatred from her neighbours as a result. Events soon come to a head when Queenie's husband, Bernard, returns home from India two years after the War has ended.

Brilliant and tragic read!! I loved that book! Did you see the televised series? It was really well done!!X

 

[funcurls]

I'm reading 'Juliet' by Ann Fortier, the book that the recent film 'Letters to Juliet' was based on (but apparently quite different- what's new!!) It's set both in the modern day and in the 1300s when the Giulietta that Shakespeare's Juliet in 1500s was based on was alive (apparently a real person!!) The modern day Julie (actually called Giulietta when born in Italy) goes back to Italy where she hasn't been since a young child to trace her roots and discovers her ancestory! Chapters alternate between the modern day and events back in 1300s! I'm really getting gripped by it now!X

 

[funcurls]

I knew I could rely on my fellow book worm BunnyHops for a little list of recommendations! All of them sound brilliant and thank you very much for telling me about them. I've looked them all up and I like the sound of Small Island and The Help best - so those 2 are going to be first then I'll have A Thousand Splendid Suns. I couldn't find what The Road was about but I'll double check on Amazon as maybe Waterstones haven't got it in?

I have read Anne Franks Diary, it always fascinates and saddens me, I think I've read it a couple of times now, once for school and then twice as an adult. Are there any other books like hers? I have Harry Patch's book to read as well as a few other true stories from the war so I'm going to get stuck into them too.
Thanks again! XXX

I've read amazing reviews on 'The Help' so you saying this has decided it for me! I am definitely putting that one on my list!X

 

[Laurie]

I absolutely love reading! At the moment I'm reading Katie Price autobiography. I don't know why actually because I don't actually like her, and the books quite boring actually lol.

Just got the new Martina Cole book too xoxoxoxo

 

[funcurls]

I absolutely love reading! At the moment I'm reading Katie Price autobiography. I don't know why actually because I don't actually like her, and the books quite boring actually lol.

Just got the new Martina Cole book too xoxoxoxo

Ooh I've got a few Martina Cole books to read, but have never read any of hers! I saw 'The Take' on TV and was in awe of it! I find the whole gritty East End stuff fascinating! So I bought some books but just haven't got round to them yet!! Have you read any of her others Laurie? x

 

[Laurie]

Hiya, I've actually read all of Martina Cole's books.
I must say her earlier books are a lot better than her latest offerings.
Also watched the films too and actually prefer the books!
xoxoxoxo

 

[happyhippo]

Ooh I've got a few Martina Cole books to read, but have never read any of hers! I saw 'The Take' on TV and was in awe of it! I find the whole gritty East End stuff fascinating! So I bought some books but just haven't got round to them yet!! Have you read any of her others Laurie? x

I have read all Martina Cole books too and enjoy them. Another few authors that is good and similar to her is Mandasue Heller, Sheila Quigley, Kimberley Chambers, Jessie Keane, June Hampson

i have read and enjoyed books by all these authors

 

[bunny_hops]

I knew I could rely on my fellow book worm BunnyHops for a little list of recommendations! All of them sound brilliant and thank you very much for telling me about them. I've looked them all up and I like the sound of Small Island and The Help best - so those 2 are going to be first then I'll have A Thousand Splendid Suns. I couldn't find what The Road was about but I'll double check on Amazon as maybe Waterstones haven't got it in?

I have read Anne Franks Diary, it always fascinates and saddens me, I think I've read it a couple of times now, once for school and then twice as an adult. Are there any other books like hers? I have Harry Patch's book to read as well as a few other true stories from the war so I'm going to get stuck into them too.
Thanks again! XXX

This is what Waterstones has to say about The Road...its quite a bad synopsis,so i'll find you another..i dont want to give too much away as its a really fabulous book! it was made into a film. You could see if your local library has a copy.

i'll look again for you on my other sites

xoxo

By the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2007, this is the story of a father and son walking alone through burned America, heading through the ravaged landscape to the coast. It has been hailed as 'the first great masterpiece of the globally warmed generation. Here is an American classic which, at a stroke, makes McCarthy a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature ...An absolutely wonderful book that people will be reading for generations' - Andrew O'Hagan. Harvey Weinstein's film is to be released in the UK on 8 January 2010 with an all-star cast including Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and Robert Duvall, and introducing major new young talent, Kodi Smit McPhee, with a soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. 'A work of such terrible beauty that you will struggle to look away' - Tom Gatti, "The Times". 'So good that it will devour you, in parts. It is incandescent' - Niall Griffiths, "Daily Telegraph". 'You will read on, absolutely convinced, thrilled, mesmerised. All the modern novel can do is done here' - Alan Warner, "Guardian".

 

[bunny_hops]

To Miss Mango, this is a review of The Road.


“When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him.”
A father and son are striving to survive a wilderness that used to be a country that used to be the most prosperous nation on earth. All that is left is ash, floating and falling when the wind chooses not to breathe. This is the setting of The Road, a journey of survival only Cormac McCarthy could envision.
McCarthy carves this world in a harsh, stark lyricism reserved for those who speak unflinching prophecy. Both the father and son are surrounded by a nightmare and are frightened by others when they sleep. They are always starving, always cautiously alert, only having a grocery cart with a few blankets and a gun with two bullets, either to protect against the cannibalistic humanity following their tracks or for the father to finish their lives before despair consumes them both.
As they journey to the coast in search of something, the father tells the boy it is better to have nightmares because when you start dreaming, you know the end is near. McCarthy allows the reader to dream for them, striving on with them until a conclusion that whispers, under the pain and futility, of a sovereignty that is older than the destruction ever looming in the world. The Road is a brutally astonishing work.

 

[bunny_hops]

I knew I could rely on my fellow book worm BunnyHops for a little list of recommendations! All of them sound brilliant and thank you very much for telling me about them. I've looked them all up and I like the sound of Small Island and The Help best - so those 2 are going to be first then I'll have A Thousand Splendid Suns. I couldn't find what The Road was about but I'll double check on Amazon as maybe Waterstones haven't got it in?

I have read Anne Franks Diary, it always fascinates and saddens me, I think I've read it a couple of times now, once for school and then twice as an adult. Are there any other books like hers? I have Harry Patch's book to read as well as a few other true stories from the war so I'm going to get stuck into them too.
Thanks again! XXX

Something else i found..

Nella Last's War:the second world war diaries of housewife 49.

In September 1939, housewife and mother Nella Last began a regular diary that lasted for thirty years. The account that she left of life during the Second World War is moving, fascinating and unique. While Nella's younger son joined the army, she and the rest of the family tried to adapt to the transformed rhythms of life in Barrow-in-Furness, which suffered terribly from enemy bombing raids. Writing each dar for the 'Mass-Observation' project, Nella's diary entries tell a powerful story about the war years, covering everything from sex to the genuine fear of invasion. This was the period in which Nella reviewed her life and her marriage - which she eventually compared to slavery.

 

[bunny_hops]

I knew I could rely on my fellow book worm BunnyHops for a little list of recommendations! All of them sound brilliant and thank you very much for telling me about them. I've looked them all up and I like the sound of Small Island and The Help best - so those 2 are going to be first then I'll have A Thousand Splendid Suns. I couldn't find what The Road was about but I'll double check on Amazon as maybe Waterstones haven't got it in?

I have read Anne Franks Diary, it always fascinates and saddens me, I think I've read it a couple of times now, once for school and then twice as an adult. Are there any other books like hers? I have Harry Patch's book to read as well as a few other true stories from the war so I'm going to get stuck into them too.
Thanks again! XXX

Tommy's War: a first world war diary.

The extraordinary diaries of Thomas Cairns Livingstone represent twenty years of gorgeously idiosyncratic daily records of a middle-class Glasgow household, over a period spanning shortly before the Great War to the early 1930s. Thomas Cairns Livingstone, a mercantile book keeper, began his diaries in 1913, when he, his wife Agnes and their son 'wee Tommy' set up house in the Glasgow neighbourhood of Govanhill. For the next twenty years, Livingstone dutifully recorded each day's events in his Collins diaries, from small domestic dramas to troop movements as news of the Great War filtered back to the anxious home front. Rescued during a house clearance, the intricate details of these journals -- interspersed throughout with Livingstone's wonderfully warm and idiosyncratic illustrations -- provide a priceless record of the impression world events were making on the ordinary people at home and an extraordinary chronicle of the ups and downs of working-class life in the period immediately before, during and after the First World War.The details of the family's early life, notes about the (usually dreich) Glasgow weather, and comments on the carnage on the front and on the high seas, are written and illustrated with such warmth and charm that the story of this very ordinary household in the early part of the 20th century becomes completely addictive.

What about...

• Goodnight mister tom...
• the boy in the striped pyjamas
• when hitler stole pink rabbit

few other ideas

xoxo

 

[Miss Mango]

To Miss Mango, this is a review of The Road.


“When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him.”
A father and son are striving to survive a wilderness that used to be a country that used to be the most prosperous nation on earth. All that is left is ash, floating and falling when the wind chooses not to breathe. This is the setting of The Road, a journey of survival only Cormac McCarthy could envision.
McCarthy carves this world in a harsh, stark lyricism reserved for those who speak unflinching prophecy. Both the father and son are surrounded by a nightmare and are frightened by others when they sleep. They are always starving, always cautiously alert, only having a grocery cart with a few blankets and a gun with two bullets, either to protect against the cannibalistic humanity following their tracks or for the father to finish their lives before despair consumes them both.
As they journey to the coast in search of something, the father tells the boy it is better to have nightmares because when you start dreaming, you know the end is near. McCarthy allows the reader to dream for them, striving on with them until a conclusion that whispers, under the pain and futility, of a sovereignty that is older than the destruction ever looming in the world. The Road is a brutally astonishing work.

Thank you so much BunnyHops for finding this for me - its not the review I found last night - goodness know what I came up with but it was late last night, thats my excuse!!

Sounds a fascinating book and definitely one I'm going to buy. I'm going to read Small Island first, it sounds great. I really appreciate all your help hun, you've been great - thank you! xoxox