Janet

I loved Dick Francis when I was in my late teens/early 20s. I read loads of them. I might re-visit him one day. I'm just under half way through Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor and about a third of the way through Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë - both really good.

A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers The ‘blurb’ In this compilation of the five books in the best-selling Lineage of Grace series by Francine Rivers, we meet the five women whom God chose—Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. Each was faced with extraordinary—even scandalous—challenges. Each took great personal risk to fulfil her calling. Each was destined to play a key role in the lineage of Jesus Christ. A Lineage of Grace contains five fictionalised accounts of women in the bible (I think there is evidence to show that these women were real, whatever your religious persuasion) four from the Old Testament and one from the New. The five women are: Tamar - a Canaanite woman who married a Jewish man and then when he was killed after displeasing God she married his brother, and eventually went on to have a baby by her father-in-law! Rahab, a prostitute who lived in Jericho. She hid a couple of Israeli spies, and later, when the Israelis took the city, they saved Rahab and her family. Ruth who was from Moab and who married into a Hebrew family. When her father-in-law and husband die, Ruth refused to leave her mother-in-law Naomi and instead travelled with her to Naomi's homeland. The women are initially very poor and hungry with no support but Ruth remarries, thus ensuring that Naomi is looked after in her old age. Bathsheba - as a child she told her mother than she was in love with King David. Her parents see this as a childish crush and arrange instead for her to marry a man named Uriah who is a friend of David. Years later, whilst Uriah is away at war she is spied upon in her bath by David, who is wowed by the woman and arranges for her to be brought to him. After she falls pregnant he arranges for Uriah to be killed in battle (not very nice, huh!) and makes her wife number six or seven. Mary I'm pretty certain everyone knows her story! Each chapter comes with study questions, but I skipped over those (the few I did read were like doing comprehension exercises at primary school!). I didn't know much about Tamar or Rahab before reading this – I knew a little more about Ruth and Bathsheba. It's a pity the author put Mary last. I understand why – she's the last of these women chronologically – but because her story is so well-known I'd have preferred her story to be at the beginning. This was chosen by one of our Book Club members – we don't have a 'usual style' of books to discuss, but if we did then this wouldn't be it! We had a good discussion about the women and their stories at book club. It's a bit syrupy and the author does use a lot of 'poetic licence' but I think it helped to bring it to life. I think it's easy to see why the bible is included in Desert Island Discs - whether you believe it or not there are some cracking stories in it! The paperback edition is 560 pages long and is published by Tyndale House. It was first published in 2001. The ISBN is 9780842356329. 3/5 (I liked it) (Finished 9 February 2017)

Yes, definitely. And we can't all love the same things. It does have a lovely cover so it will be staying on the shelves!

The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent The ‘blurb’ Guylain Vignolles lives on the edge of existence. Working at a book pulping factory in a job he hates, he has but one pleasure in life . . . Sitting on the 6.27 train each day, Guylain recites aloud from pages he has saved from the jaws of his monstrous pulping machine. But it is when he discovers the diary of a lonely young woman, Julie - a woman who feels as lost in the world as he does - that his journey will truly begin. Guylain hates his job at a book pulping factory. Every day he has to operate 'The Thing' – a machine he loathes, in a factory he loathes with colleagues he… well, you guessed it! His one act of rebellion is to sneak out pages from the books that the machine has failed to pulp – and then to read them the next morning to his fellow commuters. With only one real friend, former co-worker Giuseppe, invalided out of his job following an industrial accident, Guylain's life is not very exciting. But all that is about to change when he discovers a memory stick containing a diary. Whilst he reads excerpts to his fellow passengers, Giuseppe sets about trying to discover who the diarist is… I had high hopes for this book – the premise was interesting and with it being a book about books (even if they are being cruelly destroyed) I thought I would love it. In reality though it didn't have a great deal of substance and left me feeling somewhat unsatisfied. The protagonist, Guylain, was okay but none of the characters had much depth to them and overall it felt that the story dragged somewhat and then all of a sudden it rushed to its conclusion. I know that makes it sound like I hated the book but that's not really the case. I did enjoy aspects of it (I was amused by one of the minor storylines involving Giuseppe's search for something - I shan't say what as that would spoil it) and I thought the parts in a local care home were amusing but overall it didn't blow me away. Sorry to the Secret Santa who bought it for me. I tried to love it, I really did. The paperback edition is 208 pages long and is published by Pan. It was first published in 2016. The ISBN is 9781509836857. 3/5 (I quite liked it) (Finished 4 February 2017)

Yay! I don't have a deadline on mine either. It's taken rather a back seat since I started the English Counties Challenge, but I do intend to go back to it at some stage.

Yay! That's how I felt too - it lost a mark for having a slowish start, but it's stuck with me. I bet you loved Bran! I know I did! We're planning to listen to The Blackhouse when we go 'up North' later this year.

Hi Mandy. Welcome to the forum. Good luck with cutting down your 'to read' pile. Be warned though - most people seem to increase their lists when they get stuck in here!

I started reading Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor yesterday. I had picked it up a few times and then it was only 99p on Kindle. He's a new author to me, but so far, so good. My Mum said she enjoyed American Boy and we have similar taste in books.

Ugh - I bought the latest book by Children's author Katherine Woodfine yesterday and it's been changed. I Tweeted: and she said: Ugh. It's just a horrid ploy to sell more copies. At least the cover design is similar, I guess. The annoying thing is that her website shows the book with the matching wording.

I've discovered my problem - it's added The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald and says I've read it twice on the same day! It's a known bug which they're working to fix. Someone said it's possible to delete the second copy, but another bug is that not everyone can see the 'X' to delete the post - which is the issue I have. Fingers crossed the fix it quickly!

No, but my challenge says I've read 15/52 books when I've only read 14. If I click on the '15 books completed' it only shows 14 books! I have queried it and someone said it's because I added a book this year that I read in 2012, but I know I've added them retrospectively before without this happening. Edit: I've deleted the book I read in 2012 but added in January and it still says 15. Grr!

Congrats on your 10th anniversary. Here's to the next decade!

The Secret of Nightingale Wood by Lucy Strange The ‘blurb’ 1919. Mama is ill. Father has taken a job abroad. Nanny Jane is too busy to pay any attention to Henrietta and the things she sees - or thinks she sees - in the shadows of their new home, Hope House. All alone, with only stories for company, Henry discovers that Hope House is full of strange secrets: a forgotten attic, ghostly figures, mysterious firelight that flickers in the trees beyond the garden. One night she ventures into the darkness of Nightingale Wood. What she finds there will change her whole world ... When Henrietta 'Henry' Abbott moves with her family to a tumbledown house in the country it is because they are trying to escape a harrowing event from their past. Her father has to go to work abroad and her mother becomes very withdrawn and distant. With only the company of her baby sister Roberta, known affectionately as Piglet and their nanny for company, Henry is very lonely. Things go from bad to worse for Henry when a local doctor takes an interest in her mother's case. Henry believes he has a plan that is not in her mother's best interests, but with her father away and nobody to help, what can she do? She goes out exploring and in a field in the woods she discovers a caravan. Can the mysterious occupier help Henry to help her mother…? This is Lucy Strange's debut novel and I very much enjoyed it. I loved the characters we're meant to love (especially the very sassy Henry) and I hated the 'baddies'. Although I didn't feel that the character of Henry was very representative of a teenager from the early 20th century the book did have a feel of that period of history, which is a era I like. This was a Christmas present from Claire and I very much enjoyed it – and isn't the cover simply gorgeous! Thanks, Claire. The paperback edition is 295 pages long and is published by Chicken House. It was first published in 2016. The ISBN is 9781910655030. 4/5 (I enjoyed it) (Finished 1 February 2017)

I know!! This was my biggest problem - usually if I find duplicates I let them know so they can merge them, but with ACC I had to find a version that wasn't merged and add that or my numbers were all wrong. But no more!

These Foolish Things was rebranded as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel after the film came out. A rare case when I actually preferred the film (which was quite different) to the book! I hate film tie-in covers too. I also hate it when they randomly change the style of covers. I understand why, but I like it when my covers all match!

Alleluia!

Happy birthday, Charles Dickens. 205 years old today! We lived in the same village. Although not at the same time...!

Thanks. I'll probably give the films a go if I come across them on TV.

I hope you do enjoy it, Noll. I really liked the characters, so that helped.

That happens to me all the time these days!

This is my review from when I read it - I'm rather at odds with everyone else! I know a lot of people read this at school, but for some reason, it bypassed me and it’s one of those books that I’ve mean to read for years and years but it was only because I found an old copy for £1 in a charity shop that I’ve finally got round to it. It’s the first part of Laurie Lee’s autobiography, which starts in 1917 when he was three years old, and tells of his life in the rural Gloucestershire village of Slad. Lee’s mother married a widower with three daughters - who moved to London and left her to raise them, together with their own children. Their scatterbrained mother believes that one day Laurie’s father will return to them, but in the meantime raises his children and theirs in her own inimitable way! I’ve clearly missed out on a real gem. What a delightful, charming book which, despite being old-fashioned still entertains today. His prose is wonderful and it has some really chuckle-out-loud moments in it. I gave it 10/10 back then. It might get a 4/5 now - it's difficult to say without rereading it (which I'm not planning to do). I've gone on to read three more of his books and have very much enjoyed those too. I started his selected poems last night. (I've just remembered I haven't logged it on Goodreads yet).

Thanks, Poppy. Hmm - I think I might not bother with it then - there are too many other books out there to read!

I hope you're enjoying it. I can see why it wouldn't appeal to everyone, but it was right up my street.

Copied from my blog: I absolutely loathe the word belly! Sorry if that offends anyone, it's probably just me, but ugh – it's up there with moist! However, Winifred Foley's excellent book A Child in the Forest, first published in 1974, has been rebranded as Full Hearts And Empty Bellies: A 1920s Childhood from the Forest of Dean to the Streets of London - catchy, huh! In the 1960s, the social historian John Burnet put out an appeal for people to write down their memories, and so, aided by her husband who helped to edit her writing, she submitted her memoirs which were turned into this book. I managed to find a copy of it in the Bookbarn and read it for Gloucestershire, having already read (and loved) Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. Foley and Lee were born within a month of each other in 1914, but their reminiscences are quite different, in particular, Lee's are more whimsical than Foley's. Winifred, known as Poll to her family, was a lively child who lived with her mother and father and younger siblings in the small Gloucestershire village of Brierley. The family lived in abject poverty, subsisting by cadging food from willing neighbours, persuading the local shopkeeper to let them have goods 'on tic' and even, on occasions, scrumping – an activity which wasn't always successful! The conditions in which the family lived – the fleas, the hunger, the ragged clothing are almost incomprehensible (although of course poverty does, sadly, still exist). Despite the family's lack of money it was mostly a happy childhood for the young Poll. She recounts her early years in the Forest, and the period from the age of 14 when she went into service in London up until the point she met her husband, with humility, warmth and humour. She uses quite a lot of dialect in the book. Although I'm not a native of Somerset I have lived here for nearly 29 years and have learned many phrases. The language of Somerset is quite similar, which I think helped! I very much enjoy books about social history, particularly the Victorian to post WW2 period, so this book was right up my street and I very much enjoyed it. It also really gave a feel of the county. There are two more 'Forest' books (both rebranded for a modern audience) and I would definitely like to try the second one at some stage.

A Child in the Forest by Winifred Foley The ‘blurb’ Winifred Foley grew up in the 1920s, a bright, determined miner's daughter - in a world of unspoilt beauty and desperate hardship, in which women were widowed at thirty and children died of starvation. Living hand-to-mouth in a tumbledown cottage in the Forest of Dean, Foley - 'our Poll' - had a loving family and the woods and streams of a forest 'better than heaven' as a playground. But a brother and sister were dead in infancy, bread had to be begged from kindly neighbours and she never had a new pair of shoes or a shop-bought doll. And most terrible of all, like her sister before her, at fourteen little Poll had to leave her beloved forest for the city, bound for a life in service among London's grey terraces. I absolutely loathe the word belly! Sorry if that offends anyone, it's probably just me, but ugh – it's up there with moist! However, Winifred Foley's excellent book A Child in the Forest, first published in 1974, has been rebranded as Full Hearts And Empty Bellies: A 1920s Childhood from the Forest of Dean to the Streets of London - catchy, huh! In the 1960s, the social historian John Burnet put out an appeal for people to write down their memories, and so, aided by her husband who helped to edit her writing, she submitted her memoirs which were turned into this book. I managed to find a copy of it in the Bookbarn and read it for Gloucestershire, having already read (and loved) Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. Foley and Lee were born within a month of each other in 1914, but their reminiscences are quite different, in particular, Lee's are more whimsical than Foley's. Winifred, known as Poll to her family, was a lively child who lived with her mother and father and younger siblings in the small Gloucestershire village of Brierley. The family lived in abject poverty, subsisting by cadging food from willing neighbours, persuading the local shopkeeper to let them have goods 'on tic' and even, on occasions, scrumping – an activity which wasn't always successful! The conditions in which the family lived – the fleas, the hunger, the ragged clothing are almost incomprehensible (although of course poverty does, sadly, still exist). Despite the family's lack of money it was mostly a happy childhood for the young Poll. She recounts her early years in the Forest, and the period from the age of 14 when she went into service in London up until the point she met her husband, with humility, warmth and humour. She uses quite a lot of dialect in the book. Although I'm not a native of Somerset I have lived here for nearly 29 years and have learned many phrases. The language of Somerset is quite similar, which I think helped! I very much enjoy books about social history, particularly the Victorian to post WW2 period, so this book was right up my street and I very much enjoyed it. There are two more 'Forest' books (both rebranded for a modern audience) and I would definitely like to try the second one at some stage. The paperback edition is 256 pages long and is published by Abacus. It was first published in 1974. The ISBN is 9780349122182. 4/5 (I really liked it) (Finished 30 January 2017)