chesilbeach

Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) It isn't often you receive a letter from the dead. When Vianne Rocher receives a letter from beyond the grave, she allows the wind to blow her back to the village in south-west France where, eight years ago, she opened up a chocolate shop. But Lansquenet is different now: women veiled in black, the scent of spices and peppermint tea, and, on the bank of the river Tannes, facing the church: a minaret. Nor is it only the incomers from North Africa that have brought change. Father Reynaud, Vianne's erstwhile adversary, is disgraced and under threat. Could it be that Vianne is the only one who can save him now? Review: While I loved Chocolat, I didn't enjoy it's sequel The Lollipop Shoes as much, with the different setting of Paris, and so much focus on magic (as opposed to a more implied feel to the magic in the first book), so I wasn't anticipating reading Peaches for Monsieur le Curé. In fact, it was only reading Diane's review that encouraged me to try it, and I'm very glad I did. Returning to Lasquenet was the best thing that could have happened as far as I'm concerned. It was so good to be back in the world of Chocolat and to find out how things have changed, and to see a different relationship between Vianne and Monsieur le Curé. I loved catching up with the old characters, as well as meeting the new, and I liked the introduction of the immigrants with a case of history repeating itself, but with a different flavour and building to a fabulous conclusion. A very entertaining read, and for any fans of Chocolat, I would highly recommend it.

6/10 for me too.

The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) When the sophisticated Innes Kent turns up on her doorstep, Lexie Sinclair realises she cannot wait any longer for her life to begin, and leaves for London. There, at the heart of the 1950s Soho art scene, she carves out a new life. In the present day, Elina and Ted are reeling from the difficult birth of their first child. Elina struggles to reconcile the demands of motherhood with sense of herself as an artist, and Ted is disturbed by memories of his own childhood that don't tally with his parents' version of events. As Ted begins to search for answers, an extraordinary portrait of two women is revealed, separated by fifty years, but connected in ways that neither could ever have expected. Review: This was a book group read, and everyone in the group had raved about the previous O'Farrell book they'd read (on a meeting I'd missed the book choices being given out), so I was looking forward to this. The opening chapters of the book with Elina in the present day almost put me off reading the book. I'm not in the slightest maternal, and didn't enjoy reading about it here. I also found it a bit unbelievable that Elina could have had such a traumatic birth, and still obviously be suffering from the complications suffered, with no outside help from anyone, but the people in the book group felt that could be valid. However, this is a book of two halves, and I loved reading the early chapters about Lexie's life, the descriptions of the London art scene in the 50s were fascinating, and I loved the development of her story. As the two stories progressed, I felt they both became a bit predictable, but, I did like O'Farrell's writing style, and I was happy to keep reading despite not being particularly interested in motherhood. Not going to be one of my favourite books, but I would be happy to read another of her books in future.

Julie - Amazon sell Spineless Classics, and I've seen them in both book shops and art galleries over here. Hope that helps!

There's actually a thread discussing this here ..> http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/9786-how-do-you-read-a-seriessaga Personally, it depends on if the series is complete when I start reading it. If it's, for example, a trilogy with a definite ending, as in there will be no more books written in the series, then I would probably read in one go, but if it's an open ended series, then I would read them in between other reads. If it's an especially good series, then I try to spread the books out a bit in order to savour them, and use them as a treat, otherwise the temptation is to devour them all in one go!

I've only read The Graveyard Book so far, muggle, and I thought it was good, but not particularly outstanding for me. However, I've seen so many good reviews around the forum, that I plan to try more of his books to see how I get on.

The Spineless Classics are lovely, aren't they? I've been coveting the Pride and Prejudice one for ages, but we definitely don't have room in our house for it! Too many bookshelves taking up wall space.

It was especially interesting last time, as it was a book we both might have given up on if we hadn't been reading together! It would be lovely if we could organise a joint read in future.

Sounds good to me, Kay!

So, the next read-a-thon starts a week tomorrow - anyone got any plans yet? I'm thinking of reading Greenery Street, one of the Persephone books on my shelf, and maybe Clare Balding's My Animals and Other Family.

I've read the first in Cassadra Clare's Infernal Devices series, Clockwork Angel and enjoyed it even more than the Mortal Instruments series. I'm planning to re-read it and get the second and third books for my holiday later in the year.

Great selection of books you've got there, Athena! I haven't read Black Beauty since I was about 8 years old, but to be honest, I wasn't much of a horsey girl, in fact, the one time I tried riding, I was so scared I had to get off after 5 minutes! I'm going to try the follow up to The Devil Wears Prada at some point, as I enjoyed the first one, although I didn't like either her second or third books, but I'm prepared to give a second Prada book a chance. I read the third of the I Heart books - I Heart Paris and it was good, but a bit too young for me, perhaps. I think I liked it more at the time, but now I'm too old for the original style of romcoms, and a bit too girly for me, and I haven't read any of the others. A Discovery of Witches was a great read, but I think I've left it too long between reading it and getting the second one, as I was dead keen initially to read it, but now I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about whether to bother with it. I've seen a few reviews around, but I'll be interested to see what you think of it too. I hope you enjoy the Cassandra Clare books - I think they're pretty good for that genre. I've read the first four in that series, and have been meaning to get the fifth. I'm sure I'll find time for it at some point!

We saw Now You See Me the other day - entertaining enough, but utterly ridiculous and my friend thought it was the worst ending in a film EVER! My expectations were pretty low, but I thought it was fun if silly.

I finished listening to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban yesterday, and I'm still reading The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen by Syrie James. The downside of my Gromit hunting is that I've had less time for reading this week, so it's taking much longer to read than I'd anticipated! Very enjoyable though

Do you mean comic as in humorous, or comic as in comic book writer? Perhaps you could also tell us who your favourites are, and why you like them?

I've never heard of this author - perhaps you could give us some more information about their books, what genre they write, what books they have written, and tell us which your favourite novel is?

The lovely Kay has lent me some books, so my TBR has increased thus: The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin Q: A Love Story by Evan Mandery Lady Into Fox by David Garnett

Hello Chris! Welcome to BCF Sounds like you've made a great start with your reading.

I've just finished No and Me by Delphine de Vigan and still reading The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen. OH has just finished reading Fibber in the Heat by Miles Jupp, so that will be my next read, and looking forward to it, as it fits nicely in with the Ashes summer.

To be honest, I think your best bet would be to read the book and make a note of them all. If it's that important that you know them all, the only guarantee would be to make the list of them yourself. I doubt if any of us as casual readers (i.e. not studying literature) would be likely to be 100% certain that we could name every single character in a book, without going back and re-reading it. The only other option I can think of is a website or resource dedicated to Ayn Rand or the book itself, but as Michelle mentioned, probably an internet search would be better for that.

We went into Bristol again early this morning and found another 9 Gromits, but unfortunately, quite a few which are listed as outside, and within venues that weren't open, otherwise we'd probably have had another half a dozen or so. Still, home by 9am again, and I've just finished washing the car (I hate the seagulls in Bristol ). Plan for the rest of the day is just to watch cricket and read, so should be nice and relaxing.

Thanks Steve. Out of 9 people at the meeting, one person had read it before, one started and didn't finish, and three of us finished - the rest didn't attempt it. The three of us who read it this time around all felt pretty much the same, and I was surprised that a few of them had actually read more science fiction when they were younger, talking about Arthur C. Clarke and Asimov amongst others. We even convinced one of the non-readers to give it a try, so that can't be bad! The person who'd read it before has read a lot of Reynolds work, and she was telling us about one of the short stories which sounded a bit nasty.

Dream car would definitely be a classic one - this is probably my favourite: The Jaguar XK120. I've only ever seen one in real life, but it was in immaculate condition, and looked absolutely amazing. Most of my favourites would be from the 40s, 50s and 60s, and most of the Jags from that era are all fabulous - an E-Type would find a very happy home with me! . Being a Bond fan, I love the Aston Martin DB5, and from more contemporary Bond films, the V12 Vanquish and the DBS too (although that may be influenced by having Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig behind the steering wheel ). I've got a soft spot for TVRs, particularly the Chimera and the Cerbera

Up early and off to Bristol for Gromit hunting this morning - bagged eight in a walk around Clifton, all while it wasn't too hot, and back home by 9am! Not sure what the rest of the day will bring, but some reading and cricket watching will definitely be featuring in there somewhere.

I've started two books since yesterday evening - on my Kindle, No and Me and my present from Kay, The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen in paperback. Enjoying both so far!