Current reading matter

[loringa]

Won't take you long Maggie, but you will enjoy it!
I still can't recommend highly enough Melvyn Bragg's 'novel' (though it is clearly autobiographical) entitled 'Remember Me'. Beautifully written and breathtakingly honest.

When was this released? I imagine that it is the next in the series that started with The Soldier's Return. The next two are A Son of War and Crossing the Lines. They too are clearly autobiographical but written as novels. They take him through his early childhood, through adolescence and end with Oxford. If you haven't read them then you are in for a treat. I have also greatly enjoyed those of his novels that I have read and thoroughly recommend Credo,an historical novel set in Dark Age Britain and opening in 647.

[kerrensimmonds]

I think it was published last year. It opens with the narrator meeting a French student (female) almost by accident at a Christmas party in Oxford, in the year before he graduates (early 1960's). And then it goes on.
I repeat that I can't recommend it highly enough. Astoundingly honest, and brilliantly written. It was a pleasure to read, even if there were tears now and then.

[englishangel]

I was given a Waterstones card for my birthday in February and have just spent it on "My word is my Bond" by Roger Moore, clearly written by the man himself and while not a literary read it is a very good read. I took that and "Dreams of my Father" by Barack Obama to Canterbury to read while waiting for my daughter to say goodbye to all her friends. As Waterstones were doing 3 for 2 I also bought "Ross Kemp in Afghanistan" which I didn't take to Canterbury.

One of these authors was signing his book in Waterstones in Canterbury. I will give you a clue, it wasn't Barack Obama or Roger Moore.

[MKM]

I'm currently reading "The Children's Book" by A.S. Byatt. I suspect there are lots of deep meanings which I am totally missing.

I've never read any Georgette Heyer. Would someone like to suggest a good one to start with?

[lonelymom]

I'm reading 'Innocent Traitor' by Alison Weir. It's about Lady Jane Grey, from her birth, through her nine-day reign and to her death, and is written from her perspective, and that of her mother, her nursemaid, cousins etc. It says on the front page that 'if you don't cry at the end, you have a heart of stone'. I'm dreading getting to the end now

[kerrensimmonds]

I have just finished 'Spies' by Michael Frayn. Won the Whitbread Novel of the year 2002. Couldn't put it down.

[icomefromalanddownunder]

Yesterday I read 'The Spare Room' by Helen Garner and thoroughly enjoyed it. I began it with trepidation (three weeks in the life of someone who has a terminally ill friend to stay), but it is beautifully written, not at all black or depressing, and covers issues and emotions that we will all, no doubt, experience at some point with empathy, humour and sensitivity.

[J.R.]

'The House Of Horrors'.

The very harrowing and recent story of the Fritzl case in Austria.

[englishangel]

'The House Of Horrors'.

The very harrowing and recent story of the Fritzl case in Austria.

Either this or another on the same subject was put in a rack for "Ideal Father's Day Gifts" at a couple of Tesco and W H Smith stores.

[J.R.]

'The House Of Horrors'.

The very harrowing and recent story of the Fritzl case in Austria.

Either this or another on the same subject was put in a rack for "Ideal Father's Day Gifts" at a couple of Tesco and W H Smith stores.

I really think ALL parents should read it.

[englishangel]

So do I but I don't think "Ideal Father's Day Gift" is quite the correct tone.

[J.R.]

P'raps some Tesco's and D.H.S. staff have a warped sense of merchandising !

[Angela Woodford]

This is driving me crazy.

Has anybody read "Death in Holy Orders" by PD James?

I just can't work out who sent the anonymous letter to Sir Alred Treeves.

"Why don't you ask some questions about your son's death? Nobody really believes it was an accident. Those priests will cover up anything to keep your their good name. There are a number of things going on at that college which ought to be brought into the light. Are you going to let them get away with it?"

You see, at first I thought it was part-time Matron and Mistress of Linen, Margaret Munroe! She liked and felt sorry for the wretched Ronald Treeves. But no, she believed his death in the sand at the foot of the cliffs was accidental! Then I thought it was the most handsome ordinand Raphael Arbuthnot - but no... couldn't have been...

"The smashed skull; the Archdeacon's spectacles lying a little apart, but unbroken; ... the purple padded dressing gown stiffening with his blood."

Eek!

But who wrote the letter?

[NEILL THE NOTORIOUS]

I have a problem ----- no not that one -- I have another, amongst many.
I am trying to introduce one of my Grandchildren (Aged 21) to some of the books, which I read and enjoyed in my youth.
I remember, with affection, Sellers and Yeatman's "1066 and all that" --- which was a GOOD THING
but I have been trying to find "Horse Nonsense" -- also by S&Y.
I remember we had both in the Ba B Dayroom, and they were much loved.
I have tried Amazon, but without much success.

[Fjgrogan]

Sorry Neill, I can't help with Horse Nonsense, but is my memory right? - I believe there was another one based on gardening? The main quote I remember from 1066 and All That is that WilliamanMary discovered the National Debt and built the Bank of England to put it in - how true!