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Post by Pauline on Sept 2, 2006 13:54:46 GMT
I love a good read while away in the van and wondered if anyone had any favourites or recommendations?
My most recent reads are:
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
An old fashioned love story with a twist!
This is one of the few books I've actually read twice! Because it has quite a complex storyline I decided to read it again to make sure I hadn't missed anything first time round and also because it was a really good book!
The blurb on the back reads:
This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry who met when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true because Henry suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. In the face of this force they can neither prevent nor control, Henry and Claire's struggle to lead normal lives is both intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.
I would warn that it does contain occasional strong language and a few descriptive sex scenes so best avoided if that's not your type of read.
Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe
A classic I'd been intending to read for years but never got round to until this summer.
A harrowing yet at the same time heartwarming novel which describes man's inhumanity to man during the black slave trade.
First published in 1852. The story focuses on the tale of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave, the central character around whose life the other characters—both fellow slaves and slave owners—revolve. The novel dramatizes the harsh reality of slavery while also showing that Christian love and faith can overcome even something as evil as enslavement of fellow human beings.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
A fascinating book, very easy to read. It is written in the first-person narrative of Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old boy with Asperger's Syndrome (a form of Autism)
Although fiction the author must have either had first hand knowledge or Asperger's Syndrome or done some detailed research.
A lovely novel in it's own right it also give insight into the workings of the mind of a child with special needs.
Amazon book review reads:
Christopher Boone is a 15-year old autistic savant in Swindon, England. He hates being touched, cannot tell a lie, or understand metaphors or jokes. He is a whiz at math and enjoys puzzles. When the neighbor's dog is killed with a pitchfork, he seizes upon it as a puzzle and math problem in hopes of understanding something that makes no sense to him. This begins a journey for Christopher that takes him places he never imagined, both physically and emotionally. Mark Haddon's novel is narrated by Christopher, which creates a nuanced character who is neither stereotyped nor stiff and unoriginal. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has received praise from almost all reviewers. The Fort Myers News Press says, " It would be curious indeed if this little gem of a novel didn't find its way onto the best-seller lists."
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Audrey
30+ posts.... a 2 wheeler!
Posts: 38
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Post by Audrey on Sept 2, 2006 18:04:58 GMT
I too have read The Curious Incident ... and found it a very unusual read - an unusual book to be in the charts for so long last year.
I have also recently read The Time Traveller's Wife, which I enjoyed very much.
The latest book that I've read from the charts is On Beauty by Zadie Smith. It was a Booker prizewinner, but I didn't really enjoy it that much. It seemed to me to be too steeped in the University/Academia type of wrangling and I couldn't connect with the characters at all.
My favourite books are crime novels, and I am really enjoying reading the Eve Dallas books by J D Robb. Quite surprisingly really because her novels are set in the future and I'm definitely not a Sci-Fi fan.
I'm looking forward to reading some other reviews/recommendations here.
Audrey
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Post by viv on Sept 5, 2006 15:18:55 GMT
I love reading tips so can someone give me a tip on how to find more time to do it.
I seem to have less time now than when I was at work all day!!!!!!!!! anyway I am just reading 'Little Girl Lost' a book about a small German girl and her sister who set off to find the mother in wartime Germany as they have become separated from her . I am enjoying it as it is an adventure but extremely easily written and just a straight forward account of this moving and difficult true journey.
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Post by wendy on Sept 5, 2006 17:59:25 GMT
My recent reading includes:
Clare Francis: Homeland (2004)
It is 1946, and the eve of the harshest winter for a hundred years. Servicemen are pouring home from the war to a land beset by food and job shortages. As anti-Polish refugee propaganda reaches its heights, Wladyslaw Malinowski, a young verteran of Monte Cassino, attempts to start a new life on a withy farm in the middle of the wetlands. His taskmaster is Billy Greer, newly demobbed, and itching to escape to a job in London. Stella, the local schoolteacher, has been waiting for the return of Lyndon Hanley, a hero of the Burma Campaign. But Lyndon is troubled, elusive, and ultimately unresponsive. When he goes away again, she finds herself falling for the beguiling and irrepressible Wladyslaw. As the country is brought to its knees by blizzards and coal shortages, people start to go hungry and attitudes harden. Then a death occurs on the wetlands, and it seems Wladyslaw, the outsider, will be held responsible.
I found this an enjoyable story as well as learning a bit about the Polish soldiers at the end of the war.
Carol Drinkwater: The Olive Season (2003)
The Olive Farm told how Carol Drinkwater and partner Michel fell in love with and bought an abandoned Provencal olive farm. Now, in The Olive Season, Carol is pregnant and their ever-loyal gardener is leaving to oversee the marriage of his son. Often unassisted, and with new challenges to face, Carol takes on the bulk of the farm work alone. Water is, as ever, a costly problem, and she goes in search of a diviner who promises almost magical results.
I had previously read 'The Olive Farm' and so was interested to read the sequel. The second one was probably not as interesting as the first but it was nice to read about Provence again - one of my favourite areas.
Dan Brown: The DaVinci Code (2003)
No need to add anything about this! I found it a good story and the underlying hypothesis was interesting. I don’t feel inclined to read any of his other books and I don’t intend to go and see the film.
Bill Bryson: Notes from a Small Island (1995)
Memoirs of a now forgotten England – I was reading it for a second time and it still made me smile, even laugh out loud sometimes.
I've read the 'Curious Incident......'as well and found it thoroughly enjoyable.
Mary Wesley is an author that I like, although I have read all of her books, still I quite like to re-read them if they crop up in the charity shop.
I usually use the local charity shops as a sort of lending library as well as receiving and passing on books to friends. Trying to be environmentally friendly.
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Post by Pauline on Sept 5, 2006 18:43:26 GMT
I love reading tips so can someone give me a tip on how to find more time to do it. I seem to have less time now than when I was at work all day!!!!!!!!! anyway I am just reading 'Little Girl Lost' a book about a small German girl and her sister who set off to find the mother in wartime Germany as they have become separated from her . I am enjoying it as it is an adventure but extremely easily written and just a straight forward account of this moving and difficult true journey. Yes - leave the    to someone else!  Little Girl Lost sounds like a good read, could you tell me the author? A quick search of Google brings up quite a few of the same title but nothing that sounds like this book. I'll soon be starting Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden - I'll let you know what it's like when I've finished it. |
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Post by wendy on Sept 5, 2006 20:04:26 GMT
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Post by viv on Sept 5, 2006 22:00:26 GMT
Hi Wendy - Yes it is. I suppost if I analyse the books I like they seem to be true stories of adversity with romance involved and tragedy- maybe epics, saga type reads.
I did read Uncle tom's cabin but if I remember it is written in colloquial accent and I found it difficult but now I have more time I wwill maybe try again.
|My favourite book that I have read about 4 times and always love is Green Dolphin Street, by Elizabeth Goudge. A romantic adventure taking in unrequited love, south sea adventures, Maori uprisings, childbirth in earthquake, tidal waves, romance, from poverty to wealth. Just love it.
However my second favourite is gone with the Wind so that tells you what I like and I am probably a bit old fashioned with my love of romantic heroes and heroines.
Viv
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Post by wendy on Sept 6, 2006 8:01:46 GMT
I remember reading Green Dolphin Street many years ago and really loved it. Must see if I can get a copy to read again.
Maeve Binchy is another author that I like - have not yet read her newest book.
Easy reading is what I generally go for - can't concentrate on anything too heavy!
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Post by Pauline on Sept 6, 2006 8:18:07 GMT
I did read Uncle tom's cabin but if I remember it is written in colloquial accent and I found it difficult but now I have more time I will maybe try again. Yes, there is a lot of colloquial accent to start with but if you can stand it for the first few chapters then it does drop off. I found Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes much the same, the way it was written in childish talk was difficult at first, but well worth perservering with. First read that when I was about 15 !!!  |
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Post by wendy on Oct 2, 2006 18:42:22 GMT
Some books that I have recently read and enjoyed are:
The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory
A novel based on the history of Katherine of Aragon from the time that she was betrothed at the age of 4 to Prince Arthur, her subsequent marriage to him and then to Henry VIII and ends as Anne Boleyn is taking over. Based on historical fact this is an absolutely fascinating read.
I have also read ‘The Other Boleyn girl’ by Philippa Gregory and that I found very enjoyable too. This tells the story of Mary, Anne’s sister, who was a mistress of Henry VIII and had a daughter by him. She then had to move over for Anne and instruct her in ways of keeping Henry happy.
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
A young girl and her sister are sold into virtual slavery – one to train as a geisha and the other to become a prostitute. A fascinating glimpse into a very different world of the geisha and a good story. While I do like ‘happy ever after’ endings, this one seemed very false, although the book was enjoyable. I now have to read Geisha of Gion by Mineko Iwasaki – see below.
After the Japanese edition of Memoirs of a Geisha was published, Arthur Golden was sued for breach of contract and defamation of character by Mineko Iwasaki, a retired geisha he had interviewed for background information while writing the novel. In 2003, Golden's publisher settled with Iwasaki out of court for an undisclosed sum of money.
Iwasaki later went on to write her own autobiography, an account vastly different from Arthur Golden's novel, published as Geisha, A Life in the US and Geisha of Gion in the UK.
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Post by Pauline on Oct 2, 2006 20:14:02 GMT
I'm about half way through Memoirs of a Geisha! Really enjoying it so far.  Might have to follow it up with Geisha of Gion by the sounds of it. |
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Post by snobbyafghan on Oct 11, 2007 15:17:19 GMT
Hey - these are all books recommended by gels..!!!
To re-dress the balance:
While I was in France recently, I read Elephants and Castles by Alfred Duggan. I read it first about 20 years ago and it's now out-of-print but I managed to get a second hand copy just before going away from Amazon for £1.45 (postage was about twice that much..!).
Anyway, Duggan is an historical novelist and a very good writer. He was a friend of Evelyn Waugh. He bases his works very closely on the facts so far as they are known and avoids sensationalism. It's a style I like but it's not everyone's cup of tea.
Elephants and Castles is about the struggle amongst the Successors of Alexander the Great which lasted for decades after his death. It centres on Demetrius son of Antigonus who came within an ace of reuniting Alexander's Empire several times but never quite made it. An absorbing read for me which prompted me to re-read another Duggan book, God and My Right which is about Henry 11 and Thomas a Beckett.
This weekend we are off in the van and I haven't got a Duggan book to take with me!
Doug
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Post by viv on Feb 24, 2009 22:38:30 GMT
HI, popped in here to get a recommendation for some good reads for this Summer whilst away. I have tried for the third time to get in to Star of the Sea, but just can't get there although my sister and cousin rave about it.
I have just read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, simple narrative and story told through the eyes of a child. Every now and then an icy shiver went right through me as I read it.
I am really trying to brush up on my history and I have piles of books on the Tudor period starting from Edward III, I find it hard to remember if the kings are I, II or III or IV of whatever names they are and the dates of the battles and all the intriguing devious characters. Should have paid more attention at school!
I have been working at the Tower of London and Hampton Court a lot lately and it has certainly fired my imagination with regard to this period so I rather fancy The Constant Princess and The Other Boleyn Girl - well reviewed by Wendy.
Will have a look at the library catalogue before I buy one though.
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Post by wendy on Mar 9, 2009 9:26:24 GMT
Phillippa Gregory is always a good read, I think. I haven't read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas or seen the film as I think that I would find it too distressing. What a wimp I am.  |
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Post by viv on Mar 17, 2009 17:09:08 GMT
Wendy thanks for the recommendation. I thoroughly enjoyed The Constant Princess and will think of Catherine of Aragon in a different way now. What a clever, brave woman she must have been. I know some of the facts are embroidered and enhanced but the general history is very good.
I have just been to the library and borrowed The Innocent Traitor, about Lady Jane Grey. I have always found her story fascinating. I also have The Other Boleyn Girl and then I can start on Henry VIII. Once I have read all these I should have learnt a bit more about the other characters in this period of history and the politics and intrigue. There are so many facets and characters it is difficult to remember just who is who.
I don't blame you for being sensitive about books that portray such horrors as the holocaust as it is such recent history and quite horrifying. ~You are not a wimp at all.
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