chesilbeach

Please don't duplicate threads. I'll lock this thread and if any one can help with your query, they'll respond to your original post. Thank you

I've added spoiler tags to your post so that it doesn't spoil the books for others. Sorry I can't offer any other advice as I'm not familiar with the books.

It's a lovely sunny day here today but very windy too!

Finished The Castlemaine Murders yesterday, and starting Foxes Unearthed today

Hello @Gillian Welcome to the forum

I was so sad to hear this too, Janet. I've read a few of her books and her last book, Birdcage Walk is high on my wish list when it comes out in paperback. There was a lovely interview with her on Open Book a couple of months ago, and also there's this wonderful piece she wrote in The Guardian too https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/04/helen-dunmore-facing-mortality-birdcage-walk

I don't have so much of an issue with friends lending books based on my own personal experience. I'm probably in the minority, but I know that when I've borrowed books, it's often books that I've either never heard of, or have thought they might be good, but would probably have never got around to buying myself. Very often, the borrowed book has been a gateway book into an author, so although I've not paid for that particular book, I've then gone on to buy one or more other of their books that I would never have bothered with if I hadn't borrowed that first book. I know the same has happened with books I've lent - someone has borrowed it, loved it, and either bought their own copy, or gone on to buy further books by the same author, that again, they never would have picked up otherwise. I might also write a review of that book that recommends it to others, and they might buy a copy that they might not have come across otherwise, so again, that could be more sales for the author of this book, and possibly their other work, that might not have happened otherwise. And where do you draw the line, can I not lend it to my next door neighbour but I can lend it to my partner who lives in the same house? What's the difference? Second-hand books are also debatable. If I've read a book and don't have space to store it, should I just throw it away? If I give it to a charity shop, someone else benefits from the sale, and someone who is in need of help. Plus the person who buys it, might not be able to afford to buy the book full price, or even be able to afford the library reservation fee (which is sometimes more costly than the book in a charity shop). If a second-hand book seller buys it and sells it on, then it's helped their business which might also carry lots of books that are out of print that would otherwise be unavailable and good books forgotten. Like I've said, I do appreciate that the author has a right to be paid for their work, but I also believe there are arguments for and against both lending between friends and second-hand sales of books.

It's not even taking that long to change here! In the last 20 minutes, we've had heavy rain, howling wind, blue skies, sunshine, clouds and now the rain is just starting again. Yesterday was awful - very wet, very windy and dismal all day. At least we've had a smidgen of sunshine occasionally today.

Wild Kingdom by Stephen Moss Synopsis Can Britain make room for wildlife? Stephen Moss believes it can. The newspaper headlines tell us that Britain’s wildlife is in trouble. It’s not just rare creatures that are vanishing, hares and hedgehogs, skylarks and water voles, even the humble house sparrow, are in freefall. But there is also good news. Otters have returned to the River Tyne; there are now beavers on the River Otter; and peregrines have taken up residence in the heart of London. Stephen Moss travels the length and breadth of the UK, from the remote archipelago of St Kilda to our inner cities, to witness at first-hand how our wild creatures are faring and ask how we can bring back Britain’s wildlife. Review I decided to start this years selection with this book, as I liked the fact that it starts with an optimistic premise. One of the capacities we have as humans is to understand the impact we've had on the natural world, and in some cases, try to put it back to how it should be, and in some cases, just the simplest actions can have astounding results, and prove that, at times, nature can recover itself. Taking a different environment in each chapter, Moss talks about his own personal experience of a particular memory, trip or even his own garden of the current situation with regards to wildlife and plant life in that setting, and then looks at some successful programmes to help recover lost habitats and with that the species that have disappeared from the area or our nation as a whole. He talks about how we have affected the area whether that be damage to the land, change of purpose, use of chemicals and the like, and what we need to do to encourage the return of the missing inhabitants. He also touches on non-native species that have become native, such as the grey squirrel, and also what happens when top predators are removed from the environment and cause over population of some species, such as deer in Scotland, and whether we should consider removing or reducing the numbers of these species to allow the native wildlife to return. There's a lovely, easy-going feel to the writing, and it's a very companionable read, and I read it in a couple of sittings. There are some topics that I was already familiar with while others were new, but I enjoyed the balance so that it never felt preachy or dictatorial about what we should do, but gave me hope for the future that we are already undoing some of the damage we've done to our natural world in Britain, and there are postives moves afoot to do more, but it does require action and consideration to not just charge in with short term wins, but measured thought to make sure that we change things for the long term. My rating: 8/10.

If it was just a fad diet, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, but there is a lot of scientific research gone into it, and how it's actually a natural state for humans going back to when we were hunter gatherers and would have low calorie intakes between successful hunting feasts. I've watched the documentary and read a few books on the subject, and I'm confident that it's not going to cause any damage to me. Starvation mode will make it hard to lose weight if you do a sustained fast/very low calorie diet, as the metabolism adapts to it's a new routine, but doing only one day at a time and then eating normally again for two or three days afterwards doesn't have the same effect. I think for me, I have confidence that it's working in that I'm only losing weight at 0.5-2lbs per week, so not too fast, but consistent. There are other health benefits associated with the diet as well, as it's supposed to decrease blood pressure and help with blood sugar levels, and also to not reduce muscle mass, only fat, so all of that sounds good to me. You are absolutely right though, in that everyone has to find what works for them - sounds like your healthy eating and exercise is working for you!

I definitely still intend to read Landskipping, but having had a quick browse through Weatherland, I'd decided to give that one a miss (although I can't actually remember why now! )

Yes, I'm sure I've heard of someone reading it, and I think you might be right that it was Kay. I have high hopes for that one at least!

Before the list was announced, I'd been thinking I wouldn't bother this year, as I'm very close to finishing the English Counties, and I've done a lot of reading off that challenge this year, and I wanted to start reading books I've picked up here and there on offer or on impulse at the bookshop, but when I saw the list and started looking at the books, I couldn't resist! I didn't finish last year, and I'm not sure I'll read all the books on the list this year, but I'm definitely planning to give it a good go. First review to follow ...

I never quite finished this challenge last year - I still have one book on my shelf and another I never got a copy of, so I only finished 10 out of the 12 books. I wasn't sure whether I'd try and read the long list again this year, but the long list for this year was announced on Friday, and when I went into Waterstone's on Saturday, they had at least four of the books in paperback, so I ended up buying the first two! The 2017 long list is: 1. Love of Country by Madeline Bunding 2. The Otter’s Tale by Simon Cooper 3. The Nature of Autumn by Jim Crumley 4. Foxes Unearthed: A Story of Love and Loathing in Modern Britain by Lucy Jones 5. The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel 6. Where Poppies Blow by John Lewis-Stempel 7. A Sky Full of Birds by Matt Merritt 8. Wild Kingdom by Stephen Moss 4/5 9. Fingers in the Sparkle Jar by Chris Packham 10. Love, Madness, Fishing by Dexter Petley 11. The January Man by Christopher Somerville 12. The Wild Other by Clover Stroud I bought Wild Kingdom and Foxes Unearthed and I've already finished Wild Kingdom which was a good start (full review to follow later) and it's made me keen to read more, so I think I'm going to attempt to read as many as I can before the prize is awarded on the 3rd of August, so I have two months to read all twelve. Might be tough going as I need to read a fiction book in-between non-fiction reads, so that might make it a bit of a squeeze, so we'll just have to see how I get on.

I think it's human nature to judge people based on everything about them, whether it's the clothes they wear, their hairstyle, the way they walk and, yes, the book they may be reading. We all do it, whether it's conscious or not, and when I recognise I'm doing it, I try to overcome any negative thoughts. Personally, I couldn't care less what other people think of what I'm reading, I'm usually too engrossed in the book anyway to even notice them.

I've bought a few books since I last posted. On Kindle: The House at the Edge of the World by Julia Rochester The Castlemaine Murders by Kerry Greenwood Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders And I've also bought a couple of paperbacks from the Wainwright Prize 2017 longlist: Wild Kingdom by Stephen Moss Foxes Unearthed by Lucy Jones I've read Murder in Montparnasse by Kerry Greenwood and also Wild Kingdom by Stephen Moss, and have started The Castlemaine Murders by Kerry Greenwood this morning.

54 now, and hoping to finish the 55th today.

I'm not immune to buying discounted books, I've just today bought a Kindle book for only 99p when it's currently only available in hardback with a RRP of £18.99, and I often make use of offers in bookshops such as 3 for 2 books or buy one get one half price, but I have to say, I rarely buy physical books from Amazon or online. Most of my physical books tend to be impulse buys from browsing in bookshops, and even then I'm often getting delayed discounts in the way of reward points or card stamps for paying over £10 to be collected for a later discount. Even if I didn't use these discounts, it wouldn't change the amount the author received for the books I had purchased as far as I'm aware, as this is agreed at the point where the bookseller accepts the book to sell in their shop. I don't agree with the new Amazon process, but as I don't buy books from them, it doesn't really make any difference to me personally. In fact, I think the only physical books I've bought online recently have been unavailable in books shops (and I tried to get them to order them as well, but they weren't available to them as they were specialist craft books) or they've been through the Amazon market place as the books have been out of print and unavailable to buy new.

The retailers also have to cover their overheads too though, which will include staff costs, property rental, business taxes, insurance etc., and if it's a chain like Waterstone's, they'll also have head office costs like any other business e.g. pensions, human resources, accountants and the like, so you have to factor in those as well when accounting for their costs. Although I agree that the author does deserve to be paid for their work, they are just one of potentially hundreds of people involved in the book between their writing it and the reader buying it.

I bought Lincoln In The Bardo by George Saunders from the daily deal today - I've heard it discussed on quite a few of my book podcasts and radio programmes, but it's not been out in hardback long, so full price hb edition is still £18.99, and paperback not due until Feb next year, so thought it would be a while before I bought it, but at only 99p today, I couldn't refuse.

It's a very wet Monday here, but I'm not letting it dampen my spirits!

The link swouldn't work as new members can't post links until they have reached a certain post count, so they have been removed. I have let yuvals know. Apologies for not mentioning it here.

Happy birthday to both Thomas Hardy and Barbara Pym today!

The long list for the Wainwright Prize for this year has been announced today. This prize recognises the best nature, outdoors and UK travel writing. The long list is: Love of Country by Madeline Bunding (Granta) The Otter’s Tale by Simon Cooper (HarperCollins) The Nature of Autumn by Jim Crumley (Saraband) Foxes Unearthed: A Story of Love and Loathing in Modern Britain by Lucy Jones (Elliott & Thompson) The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel (Transworld) Where Poppies Blow by John Lewis-Stempel (Orion) A Sky Full of Birds by Matt Merritt (Ebury) Wild Kingdom by Stephen Moss (Vintage) Fingers in the Sparkle Jar by Chris Packham (Ebury) Love, Madness, Fishing by Dexter Petley (Little Toller Books) The January Man by Christopher Somerville (Transworld) The Wild Other by Clover Stroud (Hodder & Stoughton) I read ten of the twelve long listed books last year, and for the most part, they were excellent, so I'm tempted to try and do the same this year too.

I've merged this topic with an existing topic on the price of books