Current reading matter

[blondie95]

I am ripping through Jilly Cooper's Wicked, although so far no where near as good as Riders, Polo, Man who and appassionata! Ohhh I love them

Blondie, I am so thrilled to hear that you love Jilly Cooper!

I do agree that "Wicked!" is far more put-downable though. Although I enjoyed Uncle Harley.

I still retain a soft spot for the early romantic novels - Prudence, Imogen and Octavia particularly. Maybe because my dear CH friend Deirdre Hobbs sent me the collection when I was particularly down, divorcing my first husband. I thought at the time I would never laugh again, but those little novels were so fresh and funny.

And when I had a much younger boyfriend, I realised the research that must have gone into the Man Who Made Husbands Jealous!

See you in Waterstones, Maidstone?

Love

Munch

yes i love them, i remember as child mum had them when they were first published and being told they were grown up books! So when I finished uni in 05 i decided to get back to reading for pleasure as i never got to do so doing an English degree- first stop was Jill Cooper!!!

I just think she has the best imagination and knows how to write a good story!!!!

After wicked Im going to go back to the Alan Bennett my mum lent me!

[Ruthie-Baby(old a/c)]

I am reading Vikram Seth 'An Equal Music', I haven't got into it yet, it was very highly recommended but .... Do you have to be musical to enjoy it?

I really enjoyed it, and I'm not musical. I never really got into 'A Suitable Boy', though I did eventually finish it.

I loved "An Equal Music" but then I'm musical... read half of "A Suitable Boy", loved it but stopped cos it was too heavy to carry on the train. Must get round to finishing it...

Also reading "Labyrinth" by Kate Mosse at the mo.

[cj]

With Christmas just gone, I felt I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a good murder, so have worked my way through a few Agatha Christie's. Hercule Poirot's Christmas (suitably seasonal with vile family members at every turn), The Sittaford Mystery (located near us in Devon), Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, The Moving Finger, And Then There Were None (renamed after the original Ten Little Niggers was deemed inappropriate) and something else. They are wonderful studies of society and its mores and values at that time. I really enjoy them - plus I never get who did it until the reveal.

Am now on my fourteenth Agatha Christie since Christmas. Obsession?

[bap]

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins - heavy in every respect

[Katharine]

I am reading Vikram Seth 'An Equal Music', I haven't got into it yet, it was very highly recommended but .... Do you have to be musical to enjoy it?

I really enjoyed it, and I'm not musical. I never really got into 'A Suitable Boy', though I did eventually finish it.

I loved "An Equal Music" but then I'm musical... read half of "A Suitable Boy", loved it but stopped cos it was too heavy to carry on the train. Must get round to finishing it...

Also reading "Labyrinth" by Kate Mosse at the mo.

Finished "An Equal Music" some time ago - my trouble was that I wasn't getting the chance to read it in large enough chunks. I really enjoyed "Labyrinth" Ruth, hope you do!

[Mid A 15]

Matchday

What makes Saturday special?

Chris Green

This book looks at football from the perspective of nearly every party involved Chairman, Player, Groundsman, Supporter, Chaplain, PA Announcer etc, etc, covering leagues from the Premiership down to the Hertfordshire Senior League.

Unbeknown to me before I started reading, there is a CH interest in that the Brighton And Hove Albion PA Announcer featured is one Attila The Stockbroker aka John Baine, an Old Blue apparently. There is reference to his hit record "We Want Falmer" which reached number 17 in the charts in January 2005.

Also an extract that might strike a chord with his contemporaries: ...."He is 100% Brighton & Hove Albion and has been a fan all his life. Like me, Attila is a 46 year-old ex punk who is losing his hair badly. And what do old punks wear? Attila sports a Bad Religion T-shirt, leather biker jacket, narrow jeans, pointed shoes and a chain looping around his belt. All a little too tight, if truth be told.

On the face of it, asking Attila to play the music at a football ground is a bit like asking Hannibal Lecter to mind the kids while you pop out to a movie. He's not going to be satisfied playing Kylie or Rachel Stevens tunes. And what about football's much vaunted ageing audience, the people who are steadily filing into those plastic seats opposite? How old are they? What music will they relate to? Attila's answer, on his debut for Brighton when they were exiled at Gillingham, was to slap 'Anarchy in the UK' by the Sex Pistols on the turntable. The chief of police on duty had a fit. By that I don't mean he started pogo-ing; rather, he raced to the PA booth and ordered Attila to stop it immediately.

'Why?' asked Attila.
'Isn't it obvious?' replied the policeman. 'It will cause a riot.'
Attila's response was stunning: 'I have heard this record played hundreds of times in public. I have seen people leap around to it, but I have never seen it lead to violence. On the other hand, if you order me to play 'In the Air Tonight' by Phil Collins I will turn into a raging psychopath and cannot be held responsible for my actions.'
Point made. The policeman scurried off.".....

[Katharine]

I have just finished reading 'The Bookseller of Kabul', and highly recommend it. It made me think of unexpected consequences of actions - the Taliban enforcing burkas and seclusion on girls led to an increase in ricketts (amongst other things).

I am sure that knowing the region slightly did help although the Peshawar I knew 30 years ago was not full of Afghan refugees. (We had the hippies coming through en route to Kathmandu.)

I will never forget seeing a group of burka clad ladies chatting, a little boy appeared from underneath one of them. He started chasing a sparrow, then realised he had gone quite far from Mum - he did not know which was his Mum and had to lift the hem to peer underneath until he found the one he wanted.

[J.R.]

I have just finished reading 'The Bookseller of Kabul', and highly recommend it. It made me think of unexpected consequences of actions - the Taliban enforcing burkas and seclusion on girls led to an increase in ricketts (amongst other things).

I am sure that knowing the region slightly did help although the Peshawar I knew 30 years ago was not full of Afghan refugees. (We had the hippies coming through en route to Kathmandu.)

I will never forget seeing a group of burka clad ladies chatting, a little boy appeared from underneath one of them. He started chasing a sparrow, then realised he had gone quite far from Mum - he did not know which was his Mum and had to lift the hem to peer underneath until he found the one he wanted.

Sounds like good fun to me !

[Great Plum]

I have just finished reading 'The Bookseller of Kabul', and highly recommend it. It made me think of unexpected consequences of actions - the Taliban enforcing burkas and seclusion on girls led to an increase in ricketts (amongst other things).

I am sure that knowing the region slightly did help although the Peshawar I knew 30 years ago was not full of Afghan refugees. (We had the hippies coming through en route to Kathmandu.)

I will never forget seeing a group of burka clad ladies chatting, a little boy appeared from underneath one of them. He started chasing a sparrow, then realised he had gone quite far from Mum - he did not know which was his Mum and had to lift the hem to peer underneath until he found the one he wanted.

I have just finished reading this as well - very interesting...

[ben ashton]

Constantly re-reading anything by Len Deighton.
Having a phase of Tom Clancy.
Aldous Huxley's always a winner too.

[englishangel]

Jonathan Kellerman anyone? Writes psychological detective stories. Great stuff.

[midget]

And Faye Kelerman isn't bad either.

[englishangel]

Yes, but I have read all hers, I am waiting for the next one.

[J.R.]

At the absolute insistance of Grand-Son, (who I introduced to the pleasures of reading rather than using a play-station), I have only just started to read 'Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince'.

I'm addicted to J.K. Rowling, yet again !

[cj]

It's very good, J.R. We've got the next one pre-ordered, but there will be a bl**dy fight to the death to read it first, unless I intercept the postman, tee hee

Incidentally, I mean bl**dy as in "with lots of blood" rather than anything else ...