no book to read

[eleanor2]

do you feel a bit lost when you have finished a book,and havnt a clue what book to read.i have many books on my shelf waiting to be read.but they are mostly books to read in France.i am at odds at the moment.i just cant think what sort of book i want to read.i was watching howards end the other night.lenoard was reading a very descriptive book about walking through bluebell woods and seeing the glistening drops of rain..walking all night in the moonlight and being there to greet the dawn.this book inspired me.i havnt got a clue what it was called.i would love to read a book with such descriptive pros as anybody got any ideas of such a book.

[dinger]

I was stuck the same as you Eleanor but happened to pick up a book in our charity shop the other day.called Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff. It is not anything like the books I would normally read but have started it and am finding it really interesting.
I have also just finished reading a book by Kitty Neale have never read her books before but enjoyed that one too. I quite like a bit of variety.

[cindy]

I read that a few weeks ago and enjoyed it. At the moment am attempting to read Shylock's daughter by Mirjam Pressler. It's quite interesting but I seem to be skipping quite a bit, so I suppose that says it all!

[eleanor2]

i realy loved the old fashioned descriptive writing.a bit poetic really in its format.i have different moods that call for different reading matter.

[Crocus]

Hi Eleanor, perhaps you want to have a look at this?:

http://www.lovereading.co.uk/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/4248401/100-novels-everyone-should-read.html

[cindy]

I looked at the 100 bets novels from the Telegraph and have read very few of them...but I think book choice is a very personal thing so how anyone can select a definitve list if 100 novels is beyond my understanding

[eleanor2]

liked the look of kisses on a postcard no2 on the list crocus.
but i think i want to read a real old classic....i am going to settle for maeves whitethorn woods at the moment but am going to search out a classic.i want one thats really descriptive about nature and the signs and times of a bygone era.

[Crocus]

I'm reading the book "The Boleyn Inheritance" by Philippa Gregory at the moment. It's quite intriguing - I quite like her books, he style of writing. It's about Katherine Howard, Jane Boleyn and Anne Boleyn - three young women, trying to make their own way through the most volatile court in Europe at a time of religious upheaval and political uncertainty. It's based on true facts and I find it quite interesting.

[eleanor2]

i most definately am going to get into philippa gregorys books one day crocus.i have heard good things about them.

[Crocus]

I love her style of writing Eleanor, and her historical books are fictional accounts of real facts. She does a lot of research as well. I really feel one with her books because of the way she tells a story.

"Bread and Chocolate" is a modern kind of book it seems (I still want to read it) and it contains short stories. I like the name, it can only be interesting I think.

If you want to know a little more about her and her books, here's a link:

http://www.philippagregory.com/work/c20t/

[eleanor2]

thanks crocus will have a look.

[eleanor2]

very interesting crocus.looks a must have book for me .her next novel the white queen.out next year.i have read a novel by sharon penman including the woman this book is about.but in sharons novel it is mainly about the princes and kings.wheras philippa is basing hers mainly on the woman.

[dragonfly]

I met Philippa Gregory at a book reading a couple of months ago and she seemed a very interesting woman. She was talking about her new book which I think is called The White Queen. My mum bought the book and she signed it for her so perhaps she will lend it to you Eleanor after I have read it.

[Crocus]

This book is mentioned on her site as well DF, and I'm going to ask our library to order it for me. The title sounds interesting. x

[Pippa]

I am struggling with Act of Treachery by Ann Widdicombe, it is a book club choice, not mine and as I cannot stand Widdicombe I have had great difficutly getting into it. I have quickly read, in between, Toast, by Nigel Slater, his childhood, which was pretty strange. Also have The Ivington Diaries by Monty Don from the Library so had better get a move on. I just go off reading sometimes.

[Catriona]

Wouldn't mind reading any of those Pippa. I never go off reading, I think I'm addicted to it!

[cindy]

I enjoyed Toast, Pippa and for Phillipa Gregory fans who are interested in gardening she wrote a trilogy about the Tradescant family which was fascinating.

[jazzactivist]

I am a reading addict too, Catriona. I have read books by Sharon Penman and by Phillipa Gregory, eleanor, and enjoy both authors. I am just about to finish The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. This book has taken me much longer to read that most others, as I found it quite hard to get into. It is set in WW2 and the storyline, not that there is a solid one, goes backwards from 1948 to 1941. It is very strong on the detail of people's lives during WW2, though, and I found out a lot that I didn't know, although it is a novel. For example, it had never occurred to me what happened to people in prison during the bombing raids, but the guards all went into the air raid shelters leaving the prisoners in their cells to fend for themselves in the dark. If there had been a direct hit on a prison the prisoners would have been killed or injured but, very worryingly, many would have escaped and become easily lost in the already dark and dangerous streets, adding to people's fears. It also describes how as the war went on many people stopped going to the shelters and either just took their chances at home or a sort of 'extreme sport' develped where people would go out alone or in pairs and walk around the streets during a bombing raid trying to get as close to the 'action' as possible, although it was illegal to do so. The book is very interesting from that point of view, but I don't think that it is her best.

I have 2 pages to go and then the problem of searching for the next book to read. We have so many in our house that it could be a library or book shop, but that doesn't make it any easier to find just the right one!

[eleanor2]

jazz that book does sound interesting.i have just read a book about the build up to the second world war.you can pick up bits of history as well as have a good read.i am enjoying reading whitethorn woods.i think maeve books are good comfort books.

[eleanor2]

mmmmmm i am finding whitethorn woods is really like a collection of short stories.i am not one for short stories.so am now finding it hard going.determined to finish the book tho.what next i wonder.....

[buecherwurm]

I didn't much like Whitethorn Woods either, eleanor. Try Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy. It's really a good read.

[eleanor2]

is that a new one beuch.i have read most of hers and havnt heard of that one.

[jazzactivist]

I love short stories, eleanor, as it is so difficult to say so much in such a short space. Unfortunately, there aren't that many short story books being published now as they aren't so popular. Like you, I am reading a novel that it more like a collection of short stories - just random pieces of writing really that make sense together once you have read it all. It was written in the 1980s by feminist writer Valerie Miner and is called The Movement. I picked it up in a charity shop, as the novel is set around the anti-war, socialist and women's movements that were also part of my life then. It is quite good, but very 80s in its style. I have a page to go and then must look for another one to read. Oh no!!!

[eleanor2]

i am nearly finished too jazz.......i have to choose another book.mmmmmmmmmmmm

[buecherwurm]

hi eleanor, "Heart and Soul" was published last year, I think. But well worth reading.

[eleanor2]

will be looking for it beuch.i find maeves book very calm and comforting.tried to get phillipa gregorys white queen off mum last night.but she hasnt read it yet.tut.

[annie fenbug]

We're lucky in that our local Oxfam shop has an above-average selection of quality books - there are obviously some serious readers around here! I gave my mother a pile of books for Christmas; it took 10 minutes to make an educated guess as to what she might enjoy or at least find interesting (plus a couple of random ones to see what happens) so she's got a range of familiar and new authors to try. It cost me about the same as a new hardback, and she won't feel guilty if she doesn't 'get on' with any of them, we'll just put them back into the charity system - once I've read them! One was by Margaret Atwood - apparently mother had tried one of her 'science fiction' novels before (Handmaidens Tale) and hated it for some reason, but she's well stuck into The Blind Assassin (just as well, as she's gone down with flu and is stuck in bed at the moment) and looking forward to a Mary Wesley, PD James, and a Ben Elton novel about World War One as well as a couple of gardening books and a biography. We're going to make this a family tradition for birthdays and Xmas from now on!

[Crocus]

I'm reading "The Visitor" by Anita Burgh at the moment. I've yet to find out why the title as I'm halfway through, but I'm sure all will be revealed. I do have a hunch though. xx

[jazzactivist]

I have just finished reading The Same Earth by a Jamaican novelist living in Scotland called Kei Miller. I really enjoyed it, as it was quite a funny glimpse into the lives of people living in a small village in Jamaica duirng the 1980s. I have just started a trio of short stories by Annie Proulx which I am also really enjoing too. I love her writing, as it is so evocative of the parts of America that we don't really hear anything about other than myths and legends. She wrote the original story for the film Brokeback Mountain, and also the novel on which the film The Shipping News was based. There is something about those homesteading prairie yarns that I love... it must be because of my early passion for the Laura Ingles Wilder books! Give me a half-hewn log cabin and a prairie dog any day of the week.

[eleanor2]

i am stil struggling to finish whitethorn woods.annie funny you should mention second hand books.i found my mum a brill one.all the historical facts on every place and name in the cadfael books.it was signed by ellis peters and the author.i also bought the dads army book second hand for dad.my mum says they absolutely loved both books.she said she read most of the dads army book as well as her own. crocus you and jazz seem to get through some books.we have some avid readers on here dont we...........i feel i am really dragging on this one.

[jazzactivist]

I read a book about every 3-4 days, eleanor, athough occasionally one will take me a bit longer. I never seem to stop reading, but if I did I am sure that I would really miss it. It is like breathing to me. OH is the same. We have even been out on boat trips and taken our books in waterproof bags, just in case we capsize and need a read!

[eleanor2]

oh jazz i can imagine it.if i'm in a good book. read avidly.if i'm in a slow book i dont get drawn to pick it up.i need a good book next.must look at my stock pile.

[Crocus]

I read mainly in the evening in bed when all and everybody is quiet, and it's just me and my book. That's when I enjoy it the most. I can't read through the day, there's to much happening. x

[dragonfly]

I bought a load of Readers Digest books with four stories in each book. It has been really good because I am reading books and authors I wouldn't normally read. I have just finished one about students going through medical school and becoming doctors and am now reading about people emigrating to Canada in the 1800's. I have read a true story about a man who lived with wolves in Canada and one called Remembering Anne Frank. I thought it would be all about Anne but it was written by the woman who befriended the family and kept them alive while they were hidden and was more about her life. I think the freedom fighters were wonderful people and greatly deserve to be praised.