Janet

I hope we're okay to post now - if you haven't finished compiling your thread, please say and I'll delete it and post again later. Welcome to the forum! I have to admit a giggle to the bit above - if you think it's bad now, just wait until you've been here a while and added other people's recommendations! I haven't got my wish list written down anywhere but I have about 8 different classifications of wish lists on Amazon and I dread to think how many books in total are on there! That's quite a Classics list you have there. Happy reading.

I know - I was so thrilled to receive it. I also read to the author of the Wycliffe books, W J Burley (the letter was similarly vaguely addressed) and had a lovely reply from him too!

I'm the same! The book is invariably better than the film! (With a few exceptions).

I always read your blog (I try to read them all) but I think you tend to read quite a lot of fantasy books so we don't really have many in common. It's definitely not a reflection on what you post though.

I don't think I'm going to make my target of 52 either. I had a blitz on catching up on reviews - it's difficult once you get behind, isn't it?

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm a huge Genesis fan, and as I knew he was the band's original drummer I bought this when it came out in paperback. I remember really enjoying it and I even sent him a letter. I addressed it to "Chris Stewart, author of 'Driving Over Lemons', Andalusia, Spain"! I didn't really expect him to actually receive it so I was thrilled when a few weeks later I received a postcard from him! Dear Janet - thanks for your letter. I was delighted you enjoyed my book. It never fails to thrill me the idea of being able to give so much pleasure to people. We've been here thirteen years now, and shall stay here - all being well - for the rest of our days. Antonia y Domingo are indeed still together [then a bit which is rather personal, so I'll omit it] He makes marmalades and jams and has become an amazing sculptor. Yes, I'm in the middle of a new book right now; hope to publish in June '02. Best wishes, Chris Stewart Wasn't that lovely of him! I still have it, tucked inside the book. I haven't read the sequels though - I somehow never got round to them.

My friend started a Book Club back in 2006 and I still love it, even after all these years! We read all sorts of books. Before I joined I only read 'chick lit' type books and now I hardly ever do - my tastes have changed so considerably. As Claire said, even if one doesn't finish the book or hates it, it still gives loads of scope for discussion - and no two opinions are ever the same. We've a change of some members over the last 7 years (there are just three of us left who are 'original' but we've only had one change of members where 3 left and 4 new joined) and I hope we go for at least another 7 years! So yes, go for it.

The Life You Want by Emily Barr The ‘blurb’ Tansy Harris is a horrible mother. The kind who forgets to pick her children up from school. The kind who drinks half a bottle of wine at lunchtime. The kind who contemplates an affair with her son’s teacher. Something must be done, and Tansy decides the answer is a trip to India – where better to take stock, sort her head out? She will leave her husband and two boys at home, and come back a better person. India is incredible, everything – and more – Tansy hoped it would be. But when she visits an old backpacker friend who’s joined a cult in the south, she lifts the lid on something terrifying. And the moment Tansy realises she’s in the wrong place at the wrong time…is the moment it’s too late. I have very mixed feelings about this book! For a start, I didn’t like the protagonist, Tansy, at all. As a reader I don’t think we’re meant to like her, but I found it hard to get into this because I just felt that Tansy was so self-absorbed and selfish that I didn’t really care one way or other what happened to her. However, I persevered because I have enjoyed Barr’s books in the past. Tansy is a borderline alcoholic. The type of person who pretends she doesn’t have a drink problem but clearly does. She can function most of the time but she lives for the time when she can open a bottle of wine. She should be happy – she has a husband who loves her and two children and the family are comfortably off, so she doesn’t have any financial worries. But her drinking is spiralling out of control. Her husband, Max, encourages her to travel to India to meet up with a woman she met whilst travelling years ago and to help out in a children’s’ centre taking care of orphans. After a short stay in Chennai (formerly Madras), Tansy arrives at the centre in Pondicherry (now known as Puducherry). She is concerned to find that Elly isn’t there and that instead of helping out she’s been enrolled on a compulsory yoga course (!) but she soon settles into life at the centre, together with three other travellers she has picked up along the way. But all is not as it seems and the peaceful life in India is about to come crashing down around her. Too late she realises she’s in trouble and thinks wistfully about the life she left behind. Is it too late for Tansy to escape her fate? There was too much at the start of this novel about Tansy’s life in England which made the novel drag. The story really picked up when she arrived in India and Barr has clearly researched, or knows, India well and one of the things I enjoyed about the novel is her portrayal of the country. I would have liked to have known more about some of the other characters. I saw the ‘twist’ coming a long way off and was surprised that Tansy didn’t! I also felt the ending was rather rushed. I didn’t really like Tansy any better by the end of the book! However, overall I did enjoy the story and, having read quite a few of Barr’s other books, I feel sure I will certainly read more. I didn’t actually realise this is a sequel to Barr’s first novel, Backpack until I read it elsewhere as I read that about 11 years ago and didn’t make the connection! 3/5

I hope you find it. It's not really my thing either (I don't mind the spotty stuff and the stationery though) but it is very distinctive.

The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield The ‘blurb’ With a cover design by Cath Kidston Behind this rather prim and proper title lies the hilarious fictional diary of a long-suffering, disaster-prone Devon lady of the 1930s, and her attempts to keep her somewhat ramshackle household from falling into chaos: there's her husband Robert, who, when he's not snoozing behind The Times, does everything with grumbling reluctance; her gleefully troublesome children; and a succession of tricky servants who invariably seem to gain the upper hand. And if her domestic trials were not enough, she must keep up appearances, particularly with the maddeningly patronising Lady Boxe, whom the Provincial Lady eternally (and unsuccessfully) tries to compete with. I picked this book up in Frome library when I’d just popped in to return something and it caught my eye (I later found it on my Amazon wish list, added several years ago!). I didn’t realise this edition was only the first part until I went into Waterstone’s in Exeter and spotted it on the shelf – four times the size I was expecting! The Diary of a Provincial Lady is very loosely based on the life of the author - her pen name was a play-on-words of her real name - Edmée Elizabeth Monica de la Pasture - and is told in diary form (a sort of forerunner to Bridget Jones’s Diary?!). It tells of the day-to-day life of the titular lady, her long-suffering, dour, husband Robert and two lively and energetic children, Robin and Vicky, an upper-middle class family living in rural Devon and, at times, struggling to keep up socially with their neighbours. This, the first diary, is set before World War Two. Although loosely autobiographical, Delafield actually lived quite a comfortable life and was a debutante in 1909. She was asked by the editor of the British magazine Time and Tide to write a series for them and this was the result! The Provincial Lady moves in social circles that are often slightly higher than her own, necessitating very careful juggling of her finances (including the occasional discrete visit to the pawnbroker) and chronicles her exploits with the locals and an endless stream of visitors to the house. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I did think it might be a bit dull – or maybe something suited to an older person (which just goes to show that one should never judge a book without trying it) so I was happily surprised to find it was an entertaining read which had me chuckling out loud in places including such gems as… (taking about a letter from Lady B saying she’s only just heard the PL has measles) “[Lady B writes] She cannot come herself to enquire, as with so many visitors always coming and going it wouldn’t be wise, but if I want anything from the House, I am to telephone without hesitation. She has given ‘her people’ orders that anything I ask for is to be sent up. Have a very good mind to telephone and ask for a pound of tea and Lady B’s pearl necklace – (Could Cleopatra be quoted as precedent here?) – and see what happens.” I imagine that it will get a bit ‘samey’ but I very much enjoyed this and I am definitely going to read the other parts of it.

I've edited the first post because now it's been established what the book is, the description is a bit spoilery.

Are you going to read it, frankie? It was very good.

Will do.

I think they are a bit predictable but I love the way she tells a story. This one was very enjoyable - if you're not in a hurry you could have my copy after my Mum has read it. It's second hand (the seller on Marketplace described it as very good - it isn't, but it's very readable) but if you'd like it after she's finished you'd be more than welcome.

I could have answered too - I read it recently Steve made me thanks to Steve's recommendation and I loved it!

Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper The ‘blurb’ It is 1650 and a baby lies dead before it even drew breath. A young servant girl, terrified and alone, is accused of its murder and sent to the gallows. Protesting her innocence in the chill air of a December morning, Anne Green is hanged. Moments later her lifeless body is lived down from the scaffold and carried to the College of Physicians for brutal dissection. But as Anne’s corpse lies on the table and the doctors assemble, a strange rattle is heard in her throat. Could she be alive? Mary Hooper is easily my favourite modern young adult author – or at least, for her historical novels she is – I haven’t read any of her contemporary books. This one is based on a true story - Anne Greene really did ‘survive’ hanging. Mary Hooper has taken this event and some of the people involved, but has told the tale from Anne’s point of view. Obviously some of the characters and events are invented and there is a lot of guesswork involved, but it makes for a great read, and as always, brings the period to life. This was slightly more ‘gruesome’ than the other books of hers that I’ve read and it says on the back that it’s not suitable for younger readers. Hooper’s characterisation is, as ever, spot on, and one instantly feels transported back to 17th century England with her excellent descriptions of the sights and smells of Oxford. If you don’t mind young adult novels and enjoy historical tales then I would recommend this and I very much look forward to reading more of her work.

I will try to remember to look when I've read it - probably during June/July. Today I finished The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield. I got it out of the library and didn't realise it's only the first part until I popped into Waterstone's and saw a version on the shelf that was about four times the size! Peter has ordered it for me as the library don't have all the other parts. We have had a few days away this week celebrating our silver anniversary. We had a one night stay at a lovely hotel called The Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales, and then a night in Exeter, Devon. Whilst there I Googled Delafield and discovered she is buried in a little village called Kentisbeare, so we stopped there on our way home and had a pub lunch and then visited her grave!

Welcome back, Kay.

Thanks, Claire. I spotted it on the way out of the library (it has a pretty cover!) - and discovered yesterday that it was on my Wish List! I finished a book this morning so I think I might read it next.

He does! Is it just me, or does John Torode need a slap with a shovel?!

Thanks guys. It sounds interesting. I will see if I can find that discussion after I've read the book - just out of curiosity. Pontalba, I hope you enjoy I, Coriander and The Girl from the Fiction Department when you get round to them.

They were. I hope you enjoy them when you get round to them. I acquired two new books yesterday. My Mum gave me her copy of The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern (I *think* from hints that one of our Book Group is going to choose it for her next read), and I got The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield from the library.

It was very good - thanks for recommending it. It's a pity he didn't get to finish the sequel to it - I'd like to know what happened next! I do like to think of him replaying! I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

And now, especially for Steve... Replay by Ken Grimwood The ‘blurb’ At forty-three Jeff Winston is tired of his low-paid, unrewarding job, tired of the long silences at the breakfast table with his wife, saddened by the thought of no children to comfort his old age. But he hopes for better things, for happiness, maybe tomorrow… But a sudden, fatal heart attack puts paid to that. Until Jeff wakes up in his eighteen-year-old body, all his memories of the next twenty-five years intact. If he applies those memories, he can be rich in this new chance at life and can become one of the most powerful men in America. Until he dies at forty-three and wakes up in his eighteen-year-old body again… What would you do if you could live your life again? And what if you had knowledge of what was to come? Would you try to save the world – to prevent tragedies from happening? Would you use that knowledge to become rich? Famous? Would you use it for good or for self-gain? Would your lifestyle be similar to your old one – or hedonistic, or charitable? Although I’m perfectly happy with my life, there have been times when I wondered what might have happened if I’d made different choices – worked harder at school, married my first ‘love’, taken a different job... I think at some time or another we’ve all had the fantasy of revisiting the past. For Jeff Winston, this fantasy becomes reality when he suffers a heart-attack in 1988… and wakes up as a college freshman in 1963. At first he’s completely bewildered, but soon he comes to realise that this situation could work to his advantage. After all, a well-timed bet might change his fortunes – and he is onto a winner, being able to back a dead cert. But will he be happy with his new-found life? And what will happen when he dies once more – and wakes up in 1963 again? I mentioned that I don’t “do” fantasy and was challenged by Steve to read this so it was with trepidation that I got it from the library and started to read... I needn’t have worried though – it was great. It’s such a good story. Despite the fantasy element of the book, Jeff is a totally believable character. Although he changes the course of his history, he doesn’t become egotistical and try to change his life into something extraordinary or to make himself into a hero. I guessed a few things in the book but that didn’t detract from it at all. If I have one, tiny, criticism of the book it’s that some of the secondary characters, even some of those with whom Jeff becomes very involved, maybe lack a little depth, but that’s only a minor criticism. I hardly like to admit this, but this is definitely one of my favourite reads of this year. Thanks for the recommendation, Steve. According to Wikipedia, Ken Grimwood was working on a sequel to Replay when he suffered an untimely heart-attack at the age of just 59 and died. Or maybe he just went back to being 18 again…?!