Maureen

I enjoyed The Bad Mother's Handbook Did not know it was made into a film - might look out for it.

Both options are great, Bobblybear

The Hiding Place - Trezza Azzopardi I have discovered a new author! Her first book - 'The Hiding Place' is a lovely lovely book. It won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, something which is certainly unusual for a first book. The story is about a family living in Cardiff in the 1960s, a Maltese father Frankie, his English wife Mary ,(about whom we do not get to know much background - except that she escaped from an abusive father when young ) and their six daughters. The kids have a rough upbringing - the father is a gambler, and the family is very poor, the mother having to beg and worse to raise her kids. The story is told through the pespective of Dolores (Dol) the youngest kid, who was burned when she was a baby, and suffered deformaties to her arm and hands, and some parts of her face as a consequence. The kids all had a pitiful life, most of all Dol, who also had to deal with bullying from her sisters and dislike and distrust from her father. The book is divided into two parts, the first part dealing with the time when they were all kids, and the second part when they have all grown up, and re-unite for their mother's funeral. The characters in Azzopardi's book are all very much alive and vibrant, even the secondary characters, such as Eva, Mary's friend and Sal, Frankie's partner and family friend. What Azzopardi did with this story is amazing!

1. Is fantasy a genre that you feel comfortable reading? I used to hate fantasy. I could not read it – I used to get pictures of Star Wars, Science Fiction and ugly aliens in my head. However there are many different facets to the fantasy genre and I have found a few that I really enjoy. I could mention Jasper Fforde’s books, or Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveller’s wife, which were my first enjoyable forays into the fantasy genre...but since those I have enjoyed many others. 2. Is this the first Neil Gaiman book you are reading? Actually no, it is my second – I have read his novel Neverwhere, which I also enjoyed. It was our reading circle choice for February 2008. 3. What made you read this book? What did you think of this story? I really had no choice, as it is the Reading Circle Choice for this month, but I'm happy that I read it. I have also downloaded a couple of other Neil Gaiman books for myself and one for my son. I enjoyed it. It is a simple story, targeted at a younger reader, but that does not make it less enjoyable to an older reader. In fact I think some aspects of the story will be lost on younger teenagers. I loved the way Gaiman uses allegories throughout the story. I believe he started writing this story when he saw his younger son riding his tricycle around a graveyard, and continued it as his daughter kept prompting him to see what happened next, but he managed to create a story that would hold an older child’s attention with it awe factors – ghosts, ghouls, vampires and other beings that seems to enthral most children, and at the same time make it interesting and unusual enough to appeal to a lot of adults.

Some easy questions to get us started 1. Is fantasy a genre that you feel comfortable reading? 2. Is this the first Neil Gaiman book you are reading? 3. What made you read this book? What did you think of this story?

It is assumed that you have read the book before reading posts in this thread, as the discussion might give away crucial points, and the continuous use of spoiler tags might hinder fluent reading of posts. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: When his family is murdered one night by the man Jack, an infant boy toddles unnoticed up the street to the graveyard, where he is taken in and raised by its denizens—ghosts, ghouls, vampires, and werewolves. Such an unusual upbringing affords young Nobody Owens (Bod, for short) just about everything he could wish for, but he still longs for human companionship, news of his family's murderer, and life beyond the graveyard. Bod's pursuit of these things increasingly places him in danger, because the man Jack is still looking for him . . . waiting to finish the job he started.

I tried my hand at a Thai soup called Tom Kha Gai, which is a chicken soup with ginger, chillies, corn, mushrooms, chicken and coconut milk. Lovely

I believe you will lauraloves, it's an easy book to enjoy. Unfortunately I have not read much Gaiman, - I think I only read Neverwhere - but I will be reading more of his work for sure.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, for the June Reading Circle. I did not know what to expect with this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is a short book, aimed at young adults, so it is a pretty quick read. The story is fantastic and unusual - a young boy's parents and his older sister were killed at home, but he - still a baby - manages to escape the killer. He finds his way to a graveyard and is then brought up by ghosts. I loved the whole idea of the book - the unusual story line, the adventures of Nobody Owens, as he is named by the ghosts, the allogries, and the ending. Would definately recommend.

Goodness Frankie. Did you have a trolley handy? 20 books!

Ohhh I love that too Frankie. Along with Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Food. I am quite hooked!

Ohhhh, I haven't updated this in a while! I have read Brooklyn, by Colm toilbin, for the May Reading Circle. A sweet, easy read book, set in Ireland and Brooklyn in the 60s. It tells the story of Eilis, a young girl who left Ireland to try and make a better life for herself in America, and her first few months of living there. Keeping Mum by Marianne Talbot ISBN 978-1-84850-291-8 Published by Hay House Marianne Talbot was a middle-aged, busy, single woman when her mother was diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s. She took the difficult decision of caring for her in her own home. This book is a diary-like account of the best and worst moments of the ensuing years, peppered with tips, practical information, useful contact references and advice which the author gained from her harrowing but life-enriching ordeal. Describing her personal feelings, such as when she feels she is going to burst with love for her mother, or when she feels she actively dislikes her, and her resentment for robbing her of her life, or her pride in her mother’s performances make this book a very intimate chronicle of her experience. She describes incidences which make people like me, who have never been in her shoes, appreciate and understand a little bit better this debilitating disease, which robs a normal, articulate and intelligent human being of even the basic skills which we acquire during the first two or three years of our lives, and she does this very honestly as well. Some people assume that taking care of someone suffering from Alzheimer’s is similar to caring for a baby or a small child. But whilst caring for a cute little baby, which one can pick up and put down, who looks cute and smells great at the best of times, is difficult, looking after an older person is very different to that. It is a laborious, exacting ordeal, which requires skill, patience and most of all, a lot of love. This book is a must –read for anyone who could be a carer in the future, as well as siblings or close relatives of carers. It is also a good source of information and understanding for those who are not carers, but have felt bored to tears when visiting their old grandma in a nursing home, and feel guilty for having these thoughts and feelings.

6. What role did Father Flood pay in Eilis' life? Father Flood was an important character in this novel. A lot of what happened, came about with his intervention. He was of great help to Eilis, he encouraged her to take the opportunity of building another life in a strange country, where he managed to procure lodgings and a job for her. He kept an eye on her, talked to her bosses, trying to get her a better job than the one she started with, checked out the people she was befriending - he took a great interest in Tony, and not only because Rose, Eilis' sister asked about him. He was also the person who patched things up between Eilis and the ogre when the latter suspected that she had let Tony in her room. I think more than a spiritual Father to Eilis, Father Flood was also a replacement father to her - she found in him a source of comfort, help, and understanding, and a friend when she needed one.

Oh, I loved the Green/Yellow/Red Curries, the fried rice and the Tom Yum soup. Those are what I remember. We also love seafood and fish. I would try a wide variety of foods, but wherever we eat has to have something my young son would eat too - so not spicy I did not realise that the food in Chang Mai would be different to that of Bangkok and Southern Thailand. How is it different?

I keep it in sleep mode too - but with the wifi turned off. My battery lasts a long time too.

Yes I know it is time consuming, but the food is good. (I like it ) I want to ask you about good food in Chang Mai when you have some time

Kurtz, do you cook Thai food?

4. What do you think of the relationships between the characters? The relationships are strange to describe, as they are always discussed from Eilis' point of view. What struck me most is that Eilis and her mother do not seem to have a very strong relationship, in my opinion. They were both closer to Rose, she was her mother's and her sister's confidant. Tony's and Eilis' relationship was one- sided for a long while, and I never had the impression Eilis was as fully comitted to it as Tony was. In fact, she allowed herself to be roped into another sort of relationship when back in Ireland - one which had she been free to persue it, could have given her much more perhaps. 5. What did you learn about life in Ireland and Brooklyn in the 1960s? I do not know much about either place, never having been to either. However Ireland seemed to be a place where it was quite hard to make a decent living, and Irish people where flocking to other places to find better opportunities. In fact there seemed to be a whole community of Irish living in Brooklyn, the head of which being a local priest for their spiritual needs.

3. Which parts of the book did you dislike? I think I hated the ending the most. I disliked the fact that Eilis went back to Brooklyn, because of - 1.What people might think 2. It was expected of her 3. She felt it was her duty, and 4. Miss Kelly implied she would tell everyone she had married in America. It was not a decision she took because she wanted to. That made me sad, although it is a fact of life that sometimes we have to take decisions because of one or more of these reasons.

I just love these google animations. Simply gorgeous!

Yes true, but she was a product of the time. There are people like that up to this day, mostly people who have never been in a relationship, who live alone, or are taking care of an older relative, and who perhaps do not lead the most exciting or fun life. Their only outlet is other people's lives and stories, and they percieve themselves as 'above all that'. They are not necessarily bad people, they just do not have a life of their own, so try to judge everyone else's.

Yes. And she reminds me of my ex-boss in a previous job!

I learnt quite a lot about British History from Philppa Gregory's Tudor series.

I liked the main characters - actually I think all the characters in the book are pretty agreeable and likeable in the own way - except for Miss Kelly of course. There is nothing anyone could like about her. Rose was the wise and strong older sister - looking out for her siblings and her mother, and trying to do what's best for all of them. Father Flood is the perfect Christian priest, always ready to help, and always kind and wise. Eilis underwent a change from the beginning of the story to the end - she was an innocent girl at the beginning of the story, but a young woman with responsibilities at the end. I loved the way Toibin developed her character. Tony was the perfect Italian gentleman - although I would have wished to read a bit more of his thoughts and feelings - whatever we get to know about his is always through Eilis's thoughts and feelings. I loved the part when Eilis went to Tony's house for the first time. I felt I could picture the scene as it unfolded. I also loved Eilis description of her meal - She was obviously describing Spaghetti bolognese and Cordon Bleu. I laughed when reading how she hated the espresso at the end of the meal

David Browsing through this forum ((Horrow/Supernatural/Fantasy/Sci-Fi) should help. Good Luck.