chesilbeach

I don't even want to think about how many books I buy every year. It's probably far too many, but it's really my only vice, so I'm not going to beat myself up about it!

A Year of Green Tea and Tuk-Tuks by Rory Spowers was an interesting read. The book is split into three sections, the first being the background story of the path the author had taken before he and his wife decided to move their young family to settle in Sri Lanka. He talks about his childhood, his travels and journeys, meeting his wife and their early married life. Spowers then moves onto book two which is the story of how and where they settled down in Sri Lanka, six months before the devastating tsunami on Boxing Day, 2004. He then explains the impact on the community and how he carried on to build his family life, and develop the 60 acre tea plantation into an educational resource for The Web of Hope, a charity he co-founded who have developed an website which provides information and resources to help people live a more sustainable lifestyle. Finally, the third book is a collection of essays on subjects important to the philosophy of the charity, highlighting some of the current issues surrounding the various topics and looking at initiatives and technologies that he believes can give us hope for the future. The book itself is a bit of a muddle. The first two books are neither a journalistic tale of the tsunami nor the memoir of someone relocating to a new country, but an amalgam of both styles interweaving through the narrative, with a sprinkling of personal philosophising on the authors view on the environment and sustainability. Despite the fact that the tsunami had a direct impact on him during the first years of his time in Sri Lanka, I'm not convinced the mingling of this with the development of the tea plantation worked for the flow of the writing and the narrative. I mentioned at the beginning this is an interesting read, and the italics are definitely intentional. In my own small way, I've done a lot of reading around ecology and the environment, and have an interest in many the subjects that Spowers covers. So, when I came to read the third book of essays, I wasn't convinced by some of the arguments put forward, and there was a feeling of being preached to at times, although, there is still always a hint (and sometimes a good dollop) of optimism from the author which helps to sweeten the bitter pill of his occasionally despairing view of the state of the planet.

Hello Mollie

Thanks Kell . That means I've still got another week to wait to see it

I'm really trying to avoid watching stuff ahead of the shows being on TV, but you are all reallly tempting me to go and look for some Eric!!! Does anyone know what the first episode is he appears in?

Three Men and a Baby

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When I Lived In Modern Times - Linda Grant

Same goes for me - I want to see New Moon in the cinema, but I won't be able to bear it if there's loads of screaming fangirls Even worse, can you imagine the screaming when ? I might need to take some ear defenders with me Apparently, she is shooting a film with Jack Nicholson, and there is an overlap so she would have to miss out on the rehearsal time and 10 days of shooting of Eclipse if she were to stick with that. The production company are claiming she didn't tell them until the last minute, and they're quoted as saying, "We feel that her choice to withhold her scheduling conflict information from us can be viewed as a lack of cooperative spirit which affected the entire production."

You might want to double check the 3 for 2 offer - when I bought the books last week, only the first three in the series were on 3 for 2 and the others were full price. However, Borders had them all on a buy one get one half price, so if you buy the first three from Waterstone's and the rest from Borders, you get the best deal.

That's right, plus there's still the rumours doing the rounds about a possible film. I know there was no announcement as everyone expected at Comic-Con, but there is still a possibility of it, as I think the BBC have said they're considering a feature (film).

Three left to go ... the next one The Waters of Mars should be November time in the UK, then two more which are being suggested will be one at Christmas and one at New Year.

Well, at least with RTD leaving and Steven Moffat taking over, plus a new doctor, I'm guessing that we've probably seen the last of Rose (at least in the tv series).

Buongiorno Carla Don't worry about making mistakes, your English will be much, much better than my Italian! Welcome to the forum

I sort of agree, I would have been happy if Rose hadn't come back (especially with the strange voice!), and we'd just been left with the good memories of series two (my favourite series). I did love Donna as well, but I'm a hopeless romantic, and I was so happy that Rose got "a" Doctor after all Am I soppy, or what?

That's very true Mia, but then I remember all those tears when Rose left, and then she was back again two series later!

There's a list of all previous winners and shortlisted books on Wikipedia here if you want to have a look

I agree that there is indeed potential to learn from anything, and I also agree that learning from reading can be about awareness and insight as well as the immediate fact based learning. However, not everyone reads to achieve this, either consciously or subconsciously. Reading should not be about anything. The joy of reading is that, on the whole, the relationship is between the reader and the book, and that relationship can be whatever the reader wants it to be. Personally, I don't watch a lot of television, and due to my circumstances, I don't get the opportunity to go out socially a lot, so most of my free time is spent reading. Some books I read purely for entertainment, and might finish a light hearted, fun book in a few hours, whereas more literary or complex books might take days or weeks, and I will take my time and submerge myself below the surface of the writing and extract a wider understanding of a subject or environment.

Me too. That and How To Paint A Dead Man are the only two I want to read on the list.

Yes, sorry about that I was so caught up in my mini rant, I'd forgotten you'd already pointed that out earlier in the thread! Not enough information in the article to make any real judgements on the story is basically my point.

I don't think that's true at all. The story doesn't actually give you much detail to be able to judge her reading anyway. For example, have all the books she's borrowed been for her? The story says she has a daughter, so perhaps for some years the books were for her children or grandchildren or her husband. Maybe some of the books she's taken out were reference books, things like gardening, craft, art or cookery books. She certainly wouldn't need to read these from cover to cover, but, for example, there may have been a few recipes she copied out from a cookery book - that certainly wouldn't take much time. Even if all the books she borrowed were fiction, why should she "learn" from them? Some people read books purely for entertainment and escapism, and aren't searching for education or enlightenment. She might have been borrowing Mills & Boon books for all we know, or perhaps she read a lot of crime novels that are more about the plot and storytelling than imparting some meaning to the reader. Of course she can do other things and still read 12 books a week. If you don't watch television or listen to much radio, that gives plenty of reading time. At 91, she isn't working, and probably won't sleep for many hours, so that will give her even more time to read. According to the story she's moved to be with her daughter, so I doubt if she has to worry about cooking or cleaning, or any routine tasks like that, which means she's got plenty of time on her hands, and 12 books doesn't sound like that many! It could also be that some of the books she borrows nowadays are audio books, and if someone else is reading the story to you, or if you've got an abridged copy of the book, that will cut down the time it takes to get through a book as well. It also means you can do hobbies such as knitting, sewing or cooking while listening to a book. And who's to say she reads them all? She may borrow 12 books a week, start them all, but decide after a few chapters that she doesn't like the book, and pick up the next one instead. Sorry to have a rant, but there is too little information in the story to be able to judge how, what or why she is reading all these books, plus I'm not sure how valid the figure of 25,000 books is anyway, as it relies on the library records being accurate for how many years? I think it's based on a guess/estimate by someone at the library, and wouldn't count on it being that many. I just hope I'm still reading and enjoying books when I'm that age!

A full moon rises at sunset as waters from three oceans mingle at our feet. A Year in Green Tea and Tuk-Tuks by Rory Spowers

It was back to the fantasy world for me today, as I read Stolen by Kelley Armstrong. This is obviously going to be another series, recommended by the lovely people on this forum, which will take over my reading time for a while! I've really enjoyed the first two thrilling adventures of Elena and the pack of werewolves, but I notice the next book focuses on Paige the witch, so that will be an interesting change of direction. I've become so involved with Elena and Clay, I'm not sure whether I'll like the switch to the witch. BUT, what I do know, is that I'm not buying these books - I'm definitely going to wait for the library reservation service to do its job for me! This means I can return to my TBR bookshelf and move on with the books I've already spent my hard earned cash on. So next up, I'm going to be reading A Year In Green Tea and Tuk-Tuks by Rory Spowers. I've been looking forward to it for a while, and I'm hoping it will be a good dose of travel/non-fiction to whet my appetite for some of the similar books sitting on the shelf waiting patiently for me to read them.