chesilbeach

Lots of people talking about classic/vintage short stories - do many people here read short stories by contemporary writers? I've just started the collection Once You Break A Knuckle by D. W. Wilson. I saw him at ShortStoryVille in Bristol last year, and the story he read an excerpt from was in this collection, and has been on my wish list since then.

Findings was a wonderful book - made my top five books last year, and Sightlines is still top of my list of this year so far, and it was one of the first books I read this year but had to ration myself to one chapter a day as I wanted to savour it and make it last, it was that good.

And have you noticed, the pink goes with every single coloured book spine on that shelf! Niiice

I haven't had one for ages, but I'm sure I had to do something extra. Looking through the help, have you seen this page - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_sib?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200727540 - looking at the section "Using Gift Certificates for Kindle Purchases" it might be something to do with your 1-Click settings.

Finished reading Bloodstone by Barbra Annino and listening to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire earlier, then started reading a short story collection, Once You Break a Knuckle by D. W. Wilson and a travel book Road to Rouen by Ben Hatch, as well as starting to listen to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Hello This is the comfiest forum I've even known, so I think you've found the right place!

I will add it to the pile

Hi Angee! What are you reading at the moment?

The paperbacks and hardbacks I wanted to read were all too big to fit in my bag, so I've gone back to the Kindle for a book, and have started a light and frothy paranormal comedy thriller called Bloodstone by Barbra Annino. Nice bit of escapism for my lunch break after a heavy morning at work.

That makes me feel a little less apprehensive! Maybe I'll give it a go sooner rather than later.

Hooray! I'm so pleased you enjoyed it Kay. The first book of his I read was Duende which is about his earlier time in Spain trying to learn flamenco guitar, and I'm pretty sure he meets his girlfriend in that book - I can lend it to you if you like. I love flamenco guitar, and I picked up lots of tips of artists to listen to after reading it.

Hello Cheryl!

I'm so pleased you liked your first Barbara Pym! Lots more to read and enjoy from her, and so underrated.

I haven't got too many books on my TBR at the moment, but one that I keep looking at but never actually starting is Capital by John Lanchester. It's just such a thick doorstop of a book that I get a bit twitchy whenever I think about it!

Congratulations on your new job, frankie! Like you, I'm allergic to dogs (although not as much as I am to cats) but I dream one day of having my own. All my dad's family had dogs, but my mum always said they made too much mess, so even if I hadn't been allergic, we'd never have had one. I loved going to visit my grandparents or my auntie when I was little, and would just lavish affection on the dogs, and wouldn't care if I had an itchy nose, runny eyes or started wheezing. Maybe one day ...

Just finished Teacher, Teacher by Jack Sheffield, and in my attempt to keep on top of things this tie, I've already written my review on my reading blog!

Teacher, Teacher by Jack Sheffield Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) It's 1977 and Jack Sheffield is appointed headmaster of a small village primary school in North Yorkshire. So begins Jack's eventful journey through the school year and his attempts to overcome the many problems that face him as a young and inexperienced headmaster. The many colourful chapters include Ruby the 20 stone caretaker with an acute spelling problem, a secretary who worships Margaret Thatcher, a villager who grows giant carrots, a barmaid/parent who requests sex lessons, and a five-year-old boy whose language is colourful in the extreme. And then there's also beautiful, bright Beth Henderson, who is irresistibly attractive to the young headmaster... Review: What a lovely, nostalgic book this was to read. I'm not sure how fictionalised this account of the authors first year as the head of a village primary school is, but it's a told with a warmth and generosity to the life and times of the school, its pupils and their parents, and the villagers of Ragley, who make the new head teacher welcome. It's a gentle slice of life from the late seventies, with mentions of the politics, fashions, pop culture and general feel of the time. Very reminiscent of the style of James Herriot and Gervase Phinn - I'm sure the author was writing with a pair of rose coloured spectacles on - and I loved getting to know the children and the staff, and the gentle everyday life of the school. A very good decision to swap this book with frankie - I'll be adding the next book in the series to my wish list.

Well, I haven't done any reading today, but I have managed to catch up on all my reviews - twelve in one day. Will hopefully be able to keep on top of them a bit better from now on - it's been exhausting! Trying to decide what to read next. I did pick out one book, but it's a largish hardback and won't fit in my bag for work, so I'm off to the bookshelves again.

Biting Bad by Chloe Neill Review: As this is the sixth book in Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampire series, I'm not going to post a synopsis as it may spoil the plots of some of the earlier books. I really enjoy this series for a bit of pure escapism, and this latest one doesn't disappoint. Merit is still the strong, independent, determined heroine that I love to read about, and the development of the Cadogan house vampires story still holds good, and hasn't lost its way as lots of other series of this length (or longer) tend to do. There's plenty of action, with shocks, thrills and spills, alongside a good health dose of friendship and honour. I would say the series is a bit more grounded than the Sookie Stackhouse series, but a tad more light-hearted and humorous than the Women of the Otherworld series, so if either of those float your boat, then give Neill's books a go.

My Animals and Other Family by Clare Balding Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) 'I had spent most of my childhood thinking I was a dog, and suspect I had aged in dog years. By the time I was ten I had discovered the pain of unbearable loss. I had felt joy and jealousy. Most important of all, I knew how to love and how to let myself be loved. All these things I learnt through animals. Horses and dogs were my family and my friends. This is their story as much as it is mine' Clare Balding grew up in a rather unusual household. Her father a champion trainer, she shared her life with more than 100 thoroughbred racehorses, mares, foals and ponies, as well as an ever-present pack of boxers and lurchers. As a toddler she would happily ride the legendary Mill Reef and take breakfast with the Queen. She and her younger brother came very low down the pecking order. Left to their own devices, they had to learn life's toughest lessons through the animals, and through their adventures in the stables and the idyllic Hampshire Downs. From the protective Candy to the pot-bellied Valkyrie and the frisky Hattie, each horse and each dog had their own character and their own special part to play. The running family joke was that "women ain't people". Clare has to prove them wrong, to make her voice heard - but first she had to make sure she had something to say. Review: I adore Clare Balding on television and radio; she just has the knack of making people and events interesting, bringing out the best of people she interviews and has a genuine love of life and nature. I've been wanting to read her book since it first came out, and have finally now done so. I love the premise of telling her life story from the lessons that her animals have taught her. She writes with the same enthusiasm as she presents, with added heart and soul coming through on the pages. I'm not a big horsey person (I'm a little bit scared, and a bit allergic too), but she brilliantly expresses the connections she has made with the horses in her life, and growing up as the daughter of a horse trainer, there have been plenty of them! She describes the personalities and quirks of the horses, and makes you realise why they can become firm friends. In addition to the horses, there are also the dogs that were always present in her childhood home, and here I felt much more of a connection, as I love dogs (although allergic to them too ) and could totally understand how much they can mean to their human masters. And then on top of that, you get to read Clare's own childhood and adolescence, including the problems her boisterous nature and trying to fit in at school, as well as the difficulties of being a girl in what, at the time, was a male dominated world of equine business, but still having a determined feminist streak from an early age to prove that women are every bit the equal of men. A joy of a book to read, and probably one of my favourite memoirs for a good many years.

Lady Into Fox by David Garnett Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) On walk in an Oxfordshire forest, a beloved wife is unaccountably transformed into a fox. Written in 1922 by a member of the Bloomsbury Group, this modern folktale combines humour, fantasy, allegory, and realism in a portrait of a husband's devotion and a woman's struggle to maintain her humanity. Review: I borrowed this book from Kay, as her review of it was intriguing, and the novella itself is an intriguing little tome too. I imagine it was quite unusual for its time, and what we would nowadays probably call magical realism. It's exactly what it says in the synopsis, the tale of a young woman who turns into a fox one day while out on a walk with her new husband. The story follows them as the husband tries to care for his wife in her new state, and how initially she is still appears to have human sensibilities in her animal form, but over time, more and more of her humanity slips away. It's a fascinating story which looks at love, loss, change and the devotion of a man to his wife. I'm not sure it's an easy book to get hold of, but it you find it, I would recommend reading it. At under 80 pages long, it won't take long to get through, but will be a rewarding and interesting story to read.

Greenery Street by Denis Mackail Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) Ian and Felicity are shown as they arrive at 23 Greenery Street, an undisguised Walpole Street in Chelsea. Their uneventful but always interesting everyday life is the main subject of a novel that evokes the charmingly contented and timeless while managing to be both funny and profound about human relations. Review: Another present from Kay, and another fabulous book. We read it over the read-a-thon weekend, and I enjoyed it immensely. The story is narrated by Greenery Street itself, as if the houses draw in young couples just starting out in marriage, but who will grow out of the house within a few years, but in the mean time, they are in the thrall of the street itself. Set in the 1920s, it follows the story of Ian and Felicity from their engagement and through their first year of marriage in their Greenery Street home. The book is a lovely slice of life from the upper middle class of the time, told with wit and affection for the characters, and a cheeky mild lampooning of some of their ideals of marriage and life and the all-knowing way that young people often have. Although nothing major happens in their lives, there is enough of the everyday crises and encounters to keep it moving along at a lickety-split pace. As this was a Persephone book, it will come off my challenge list, but more importantly, it's helped keep up the 100% record of the number of their books I've read that I've enjoyed. I wouldn't say it's my favourite of theirs, but it's certainly pretty near the top.

Fibber in the Heat by Miles Jupp Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) Fanatical about cricket since he was a boy, Miles Jupp would do anything to see his heroes play. But perhaps deciding to bluff his way into the press corps during England's Test series in India wasn't his best idea. By claiming to be the cricket correspondent for BBC Scotland and getting a job with the (Welsh) Western Mail, Miles lands the press pass that will surely be the ticket to his dreams. Soon, he finds himself in cricket heaven - drinking with David Gower and Beefy, sharing bar room banter with Nasser Hussain and swapping diarrhoea stories with the Test Match Special team. Amazing! But struggling in the heat under the burden of his own fibs, reality soon catches up with Miles as - like a cricket-obsessed Boot from Evelyn Waugh's Scoop - he bumbles from one disaster to the next. A joyous, charming, yet cautionary tale, Fibber in the Heat is for anyone who's ever dreamt about doing nothing but watching cricket all day long. Review: As we're slap bang in the middle of the Ashes, it seemed like a great time to read this cricketing memoir from comedian Miles Jupp. We saw this book in The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop in Tetbury a little while back, and as we both love cricket, thought it would be a good read for both of us. OH nabbed it as soon as we got home, and he's not the fastest reader in the world, so it was a couple of weeks before I could get my hands on it, but when I did, it was worth the wait. From how his love of cricket developed, to how he ended up trying his hand at being a cricket correspondent for the England tour of India in 2006, the book is not just about cricket, but about how the dream job is perhaps not all it seems, why meeting your heroes is not always what you'd hoped, and how bluffing your way into a situation can lead to worry, embarrassment and frustration. But, for a England cricket fan, it is an absolute joy. Jupp must be a similar age to me, and some of his heroes and his greatest England moments are ones I know and remember, and it was fascinating to get an insight into what goes on among the press corps following an overseas tour. It was a warm, affectionate, funny and wry look at cricket and I would highly recommend it for any England cricket fan.

Our Songbirds by Matt Sewell Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) In this beautiful follow-up to 2012's hit, Our Garden Birds, street artist Matt Sewell offers more watercolours and quirky descriptions of British songbirds. In Matt's world, the peewit sings the blues, and the bittern fills his neck 'like a tweed pair of bellows'. Distinctive and enchanting, with a songbird for each week of the year, this delightful gift book will appeal to birders, children and adults, and art and design fans alike. Review: This is such a delectable little book. Sewell paints beautiful but charmingly naive pictures and writes a cheeky but affectionate little piece about each bird. Not really much you can say about it, but if you love birds and nature, this one would be worth a look at. More of a gift book that perhaps something you'd buy for yourself, but if someone gave this to me for my birthday, I'd be absolutely delighted.

High Tide by Hugh Hastings Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) What is so important that a sinister trap is laid for Ella and her brother Archie? Why were they sent away from London? Will Archie remember a very important act? And why does the incredible ‘Uncle Larry’ suddenly appear in their lives? Who is he? ‘High Tide’ is the first adventure of the Lighthouse Gang, bringing together four children into a maelstrom of adventure in a beautiful Cornish seaside town. It’s a sort of MI5 meets Famous Five except that Larry Almasy, the fifth member is an old ex spy, soldier, and adventurer with history. Will engage thrill and entertain ages 8 to 14. Review: We picked up this book on holiday in Cornwall, as it had a striking cover, it was a signed copy, a local setting, and it looked like a great children's story. It didn't quite live up to my hopes, unfortunately. It wasn't bad, but "MI5 meets Famous Five" it was not. Despite its modern day setting, it felt very dated, and since I've finished it I've looked up the author who seems to be in his late fifties or sixties, and I think that could be part of the problem. He probably grew up on Famous Five and the like, and I think maybe if he'd set the story in the 1950s, it might have been more successful. I also had a problem with the age of the children - their behaviour seemed to be all over the place with the ages I think they were supposed to be. I could have placed them anywhere between six and twelve, and as for the book being suitable for 8-14, I would have said more like 8-11 at best. There was also the problem that the four children don't really come together at all. Although they meet early on in the story, they don't really work together, and their stories do build to the conclusion at the end, it's not like they are friends or relatives, and it's just a bit of a coincidence. I sound like I didn't like the book at all, and although I'm obviously not the target audience, I just felt that even children reading it would perhaps find it felt a bit dated. I did like reading it, but it did miss the mark as far as I was concerned.