Hobbies and Crafts

I've just started The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. It's one of those books you just know you are going to love as soon as you start to read it! :-)

Thank you for bringing the thread back up SV :-)

Was waiting for it to disappear or GR make their own thread :-(

My last post on 14 May mentioned that I was going to see the film of Life of Pi, having just read the book. Well, I went this afternoon and I was really impressed with how well it had been done. I was glad I read the book first though. It meant I knew how it would end but also meant I better understood some bits that were not fully explained in the film.

I'm just nearing the end of a book called "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin. It is the true story of Greg Mortensen, an American mountaineer, who became lost descending from K2 and ended up in a very poor Pakistan village. The people there were very kind and helpful to him and he vowed to return to build them a school.

He starts off pretty much alone, living in his car or a storage facility and making money by working night shifts as a nurse (he was trained), but he raised the necessary money and went back and built the school. Over the next decade the organisation grew, although he was very much the driving force, and so far have built something like 55 schools in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He is doing all this at a time when the Taliban are coming to power. He was in fact in Pakistan at the time of 9/11. In this very muslim area he is also insistent that the girls get education as well and has founded a number of mixed primary schools and girls' high schools.

What comes across in the book is the kindness, friendship and generosity of the ordinary muslim man or woman and how wrong the idea is that muslim equals terrorist.

I think he would be a difficult man to live with but what an inspiration he is.

The joint author, David Oliver Relin, is a journalist who put the book together and I didn't always take to his style. He's sometimes a bit heavy on the adjectives but on the whole I think he has done a good job.

I'm sorry if I've gone on a bit too much but I wanted to give a flavour of the book.

Don't ask, still not getting through Nicholas and Alexandra, it's
not as though I'm not enjoying it, it's a good read but it's like
reading War and Peace :-D
OH is going to pass over two books to me from his kindle, The
Last Godfathers by John Follain, Human Game by Simon Read
and of course The Kingmakers Daughter by PG, which I can't wait
to read :-)

Emma

Welcome Estelle :-)

just finished a true story on Kindle - Escape from Botany Bay - brilliant

Hello Estelle, nice to see you on our lovely thread. Gone Girl sounds right up my street, I like something unpredictable so will give it a go. I have to read about Harold first or I will get overkindled! BC XX

Hi Buttercup Fields, I was looking at 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' as it came up as a recommendation for me on my kindle. I might read it next.

I have to say Gone Girl is very good. It's not historical at all, it's just a sort of thriller. But never has my empathy swung so much between the two main characters. Both very believable. I am about 2/3rds of the way through the book and still have no idea at all how it might end.

Evening folks :-) I am on the last few pages of Iris and Ruby and will then begin 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' by Rachel Joyce. Has anyone here read it? It got some great reviews and seems my cup of tea at the moment.

Happy reading <3

Muffy re The Kingmakers daughter. I wasn't sure if I liked or empathised with Ann Neville or not but I didn't like Isobelle at all.

Over the course of the day I've managed to find many more authors I like the look of having seen the recommendations from Goodreads.com.

I now have a wish list which only a lottery win would provide LOLOLOLOL.

Great site though.....even if it did keep drawing me back in throughout the day !!!!

I'm still in Philippa Gregory mode at the moment and am reading a non fiction book called the Last White Rose by Desmond Seward...it's the story of the start of the tudor dynasty specifically Henry 7th.

Elizabeth of York, his wife fascinates me, probably as a result of reading so much about her in PG's books..but I know very little of what happened to her after she married.......only a little way in at the mo but It's looking promising so far.....

I've just finished Life of Pi which I downloaded a while ago when it was only 20p.

I enjoyed this and found it an easy read but quite thought provoking. It's the story of a boy whose early life is in his father's zoo in India. Emigrating with his family to Canada when he is a teenager, the ship sinks but he survives with a variety of animals, the main one being a Bengal tiger.

The thing about the book is that you are never sure how much of Pi's story is true, how much is in his head and how much of it is an allegory of the human condition.

Our little local theatre (150 seat converted granary) sometimes shows films and they are showing the film of Life of Pi next week. I've got tickets and I'll be interested to see just how they managed to translate the book to film.

Hiya Estelle....Welcome :-D

Nice to see you posting on our little thread :-)

Im actually reading Captain's Daughter - Leah Fleming

These two friends Celeste and May would never have met as they came from two totally different worlds, but because they both survived this terrible ordeal it give them one thing in common which over came the matter of the class differences of the two women. I liked the way the author wrote of these two women who came from such different lives but because of their experiences became as close as two sisters and not only did they become close but other members of their families were brought together. What I particularly liked about this book was that the author showed how this terrible tragedy changed the lives of those that survived, some for the better but for some it was something that was unable to overcome. It also showed how the tragedy affected those who had never been on the boat but it still had an affect to their lives after this terrible ordeal especially to relatives of those that had died.
The author went unto tell the story of the two women's lives throughout the First and Second World Wars and then unto the 1950's. We follow Celeste as she goes back to a horrible marriage but she decides she did not survive the Titanic to go back to a life of domestic abuse. May never got over the death of her own daughter plus her husband but she could not let the child that the Captain put into her arms. She dedicated her life to this child who she named Ella as her own daughter was named Ellen who drowned along with her husband Joe when the Titanic went down. This child she did not know where she came from or who her parents were but she became the child's mother and loved it nearly as much as her own daughter. Unfortunately guilt started to gnaw away at her bit by bit until she became ill but the love of the child she learned to love give her something to live for once again. What I found most interesting was the life of Ella as she does not realise her own father is living in New York pining for his wife Maria and his baby daughter. She knew she was different as she looked so different from May and had really nothing in common with her but she continued to love her as she was the only mother she knew.

Being a cheap skate, I tend to download books on the ‘free’ list for the Kindle. At least that way if I do venture away from my preferred Crime genre, I don’t feel that I have parted with cash in vain.

The last two I paid for were The Last Queen of England: A Genealogical Crime Mystery #3 (Jefferson Tayte) [predictable, eh?]
And Magician (Riftwar Saga) reissued by Raymond E. Feist

The first was a ‘light read’ chronicling the search for a possible heir to the throne of England, a descendent of the Stuarts and the lengths that modern day Repbublicans would go to ensure that this would not succeed. There was a loose end in one strand of the plot - I'd have prefered to see 'what happened next' rather than a sudden and unsatisfactory ending.

The Magician is a magic/fantasy novel. "A magical rift in time-space brings these two worlds clashing together, and the young boy Pug and his soldier friend Tomas are thrown into the ensuing maelstrom of invasion and epic battle, before embarking on a more fundamental magical journey towards the very roots of evil itself".
The paper back version seen in a bookshop is rather thick – the kindle version kept me entertained for some days. The next time the battery needs re-charging, I might see if we have the sequels on the bookshelf.

Muffy, it is fab! We all use it here in the office. You have to add 20 books you have read, but then it offers you suggested books to read based on the ones you've read. Generally, I've found the suggestions to be very good.

Enjoy! :-)

Hi Estelle. Welcome to the thread !

Haven't heard of Goodreads.com......but I'm on my way over there now to have a peep....thanks.

Hope you don't mind me sneaking on here. I am in the middle of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I saw it on the Richard and Judy website so thought I'd give it a go.

I am thoroughly enjoying it. It's very well written and has kept me captivated over the last week. Has anyone else read it? If so, no spoilers please!

Does anyone here use Goodreads.com? I have found that website really useful for suggesting books to me.

I've just finished the Kingmaker's Daughter.

Enjoyed the book but found I really disliked Ann and Isobel Neville intensely lol.

Looking forward to the next one now about Elizabeth of York and her two brothers in the tower !!!!

Just read Lone Wolf by Jodie Piccoult. I found it a bit different to her normal books, about a man who goes off to live among wolves in their natural habitat in Canada. If you are interested in wolves there is a lot of info on them. There is also a court case as is usual for her books. I didn't think I was going to like it but did in the end.

Maybe people on this thread could comment on Genes thread stickied at the top on a book readers board. :-)

I am still reading Iris & Ruby or should that be Ruby and Iris, not quite as entertaining as The Kashmir Shawl but enjoyable. Must read faster...I miss reading it on the Underground! :-D

Happy Book and Kindle Worms :-D <3 oops nearly typed Wums there :-D :-D :-D