~Andrea~

Oh yes - definitely The Stand!

Both of those Hosseini books are on my wish list, as is Murakami as an author to try. You really make me want to read ATSS and Murakami! Great reviews.

Glad you enjoyed this. I loved it. I think the relationship crises were one of my favourite bits too.

I started The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals. So far I'm not sure about it. It's beautifully written, but the initial premise of an accidental proposal isn't really convincing me. I also started listening to Sue Townsend's The Woman who went to Bed for a Year, read by Caroline Quentin. I think I'm going to enjoy this

Great! I feel it's one of those books that deserves to be read.

I'm looking forward to reading A Monster Calls soon. Hope you enjoy!!

Thanks Chrissy. It was really good. I hope you enjoy it if/when you get to it

I finished Son of Hamas this morning, which my Dad had recommended and lent to me. From the book cover: "Since he was a small boy, Mosab Hassan Yousef has had an inside view of the deadly terrorist group Hamas. The oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founding member of Hamas and its most popular leader, young Mosab assisted his father for years in his political activities while being groomed to assume his legacy, politics, status . . . and power. But everything changed when Mosab turned away from terror and violence, and embraced instead the teachings of another famous Middle East leader. In Son of Hamas , Mosab Yousef—now called “Joseph”—reveals new information about the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization and unveils the truth about his own role, his agonizing separation from family and homeland, the dangerous decision to make his newfound faith public, and his belief that the Christian mandate to “love your enemies” is the only way to peace in the Middle East." My thoughts: This was excellent. A very informative and interesting read which has helped me to understand a lot more about the middle east, and in particular the Palestine/Israel situation, which I was pretty ignorant about. This is a real insider account and you do feel very close to the ground, like you're in the thick of the culture and situation. Mosab grew up in Palestine and is the son of a respected teacher of Islam, who becomes a founding member of Hamas. He starts out hating Israel, as many Palestinians do, and indeed, by some of the treatment you can understand why. But as he tells his story you can see the complexity of the situation, the propaganda, media bias, the culture, the corruption within the PLO, and within Hamas, internal power struggles etc. You can really see that the first casualty of war is truth. When Mosab meets his enemies face to face he can no longer paint things so black and white within his own mind and begins to question his undying hatred of Israel. This book is really interesting from a political perspective but it's also a really gripping personal story, of Mosab growing up with his family, becoming a potential terrorist, and then turning into an undercover agent for Israel. It's fairly brutal in parts, and the descriptions of torture may not be for the faint-hearted but it is not dwelt upon or overtly graphic. I would definitely recommend this.

I've added The Midwife's Confession to my wish list. It sounds great.

Oh dear - deep powder sounds terrible. Loved your review though Glad your next read was a bit more enjoyable.

Thank you Claire. it was a little delight. And yes I agree - too short

I finished the Uncommon Reader and found it a very enjoyable listen. From Amazon: The Uncommon Reader is none other than HM the Queen who drifts accidentally into reading when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked at Buckingham Palace. She reads widely ( JR Ackerley, Jean Genet, Ivy Compton Burnett and the classics) and intelligently. Her reading naturally changes her world view and her relationship with people like the oleaginous prime minister and his repellent advisers. She comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with much that she has to do. In short, her reading is subversive. The consequence is, of course, surprising, mildly shocking and very funny. My thoughts: This is a gentle, ambling little story with plenty of reflections on being a reader. While I didn't get all of the literary references I got some, and found it to be a very pleasant, quirky and wryly amusing listen. It was also quite short and it took me less than a week to finish I think.

Is it a cup of coffee?

I've finished part one of The Making of Modern Britain which so far is excellent. I'm looking forward to reading the rest. I'm currently listening to Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader which is also great. And I've picked up Son of Hamas by Uassan Yousef Mosab, the son of one of the founder members of terrorist organisation Hamas. Very interesting so far.

Is it a bowl?

More like a sandwich than a vase, but like a vase its... (Sorry Monica again )

Mwahaha I have the power Great review - It does sound good. I'm going to add it to the wish list

Ooh you gave more information than you needed to then you only need to say in what way it's like a sandwich (not in what it's not like) (Hope I'm not being too Monica about the rules - maybe that's why so few people want to play with me ) Is it a vase?

A Distant Shore sounds good Ben. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts when you've finished.

Is it a cheese sandwich?

Is it a calculator?

Yes!! Well done I had to google that lol So who's next?

It's more like a pig than anything so far. It's more like a pig than a dog but like a dog it has four legs.

It does have autobiographical elements but it's not a standard autobiog format. Hope you enjoy it Karen

Ooh welcome It's me again. Yay another player It's more like a monkey than a fish but like a fish it doesn't have fur. It's more like a cat than anything else so far.