chesilbeach Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 I only knew that Talking Pictures was on freeview too and didn't look to see whether the film was on. I can't see it on the Sky Guide either, so I guess it's not on in the next week at least. I'll keep an eye out for it and let you know if I spot it in on in the future, as I'd like to record it to watch after I've read the book too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 Thanks, Claire - I'd appreciate that. I've never even noticed that channel on Freeview before. I've 'liked' them on Facebook so maybe I might notice it on too - I'll let you know if I spot it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inver Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 . A J Cronin was a doctor by trade and wrote his first novel after being prescribed six months’ bed rest following an illness. He is probably most famous for creating Dr Finlay who featured in a TV series in the late 1960s (not that I’ve ever seen it, but I had heard of it!). Not there is a coincidence....friends and I were just talking about Dr Finlay from the 60's on Monday over coffee and the programmes we remembered.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Pixie Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 It's also on Freeview, channel 81 Ooh, I hadn`t noticed that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 Not there is a coincidence....friends and I were just talking about Dr Finlay from the 60's on Monday over coffee and the programmes we remembered.... Spooky! Ooh, I hadn`t noticed that. I hope they might show it eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 More William by Richmal CromptonThe ‘blurb’William is up to his old tricks in More William, Richmal Compton's second set of classic William adventures. When Aunt Lucy tells William that 'a busy day is a happy day', William does his best to keep himself very busy indeed. Unfortunately, not everyone appreciates his efforts to cheer up Christmas Day - and when a conjuring trick with an egg goes very badly wrong, William finds himself in more trouble than ever! This is the second collection of stories about the mischievous rascal William Brown! This time William’s escapades include him inadvertently giving a stranger valuable inside information about various residents in the village, running away from home to teach his family a lesson and ‘helping’ the men who have come to pack up his home when the family move house. As ever, William gets into plenty of scrapes that leave his family in a state of permanent wariness! He does, however, have lots of redeeming qualities in this set of stories and some of them go to show that despite his shenanigans, his heart is mostly in the right place!I very much enjoyed this collection – especially as they were wonderfully narrated by Martin Jarvis. I wish I’d read them when I was younger. I’m not sure I shall listen to, or read, any more for a couple of years, but I feel sure I shall revisit William at least once more in the future.The paperback edition is 272 pages long and is published by Macmillan. It was first published in 1922. The ISBN is 978 1447285595. I listened to it on audio book.4/5 (I really enjoyed it)(Finished 24 February 2016) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 The Herring Seller’s Apprentice by L C TylerThe ‘blurb’His latest novel is going nowhere, a mid-life crisis is looming and he's burdened by the literary agent he probably deserves: Elsie Thirkettle, a diminutive but determined individual who claims to enjoy neither the company of writers nor literature of any sort. But however bad things look, they can always get worse, as Ethelred discovers when his ex-wife, Geraldine, vanishes close to his Sussex home. When the disappearance becomes a murder enquiry, the police quickly decide that Geraldine Tressider has been the victim of a local serial killer.I picked this up on a whim and okay, I admit it, the only reason I did was because of the cover! Not only is it very pretty but it also feels lovely – like velvet. The premise sounded great too – a mystery where the sleuth is a writer – and his crime-solving partner a literary agent. Unfortunately it quickly became apparent that I didn’t like either of the lead characters very much. Ethelred is bearable… just, but I found Elsie to be rather irritating (I don’t know whether the author ‘L C’ Tyler identifies with the character of Elsie, or whether the similarity in names is just coincidence).I didn’t hate it - the investigation element of the book made a good story so it wasn’t all bad. I had an inkling of where it was going and I was right. Unfortunately the fact I didn’t like Ethelred and Elsie means I am very unlikely to read any more of the series. Pity, as the other covers are equally gorgeous…The series has some great reviews on Amazon and Goodreads so clearly I’m missing something. I just think the humour didn’t work for me.The paperback edition is 350 pages long and is published by ALLISON & BUSBY. It was first published in 2007. The ISBN is 9789780749018269.2½/5 (I was okay)(Finished 27 February 2016) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 I finished listening to Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell on the way to work - oh my, I *loved* it! Prunella Scales narrated it - it's the first audio book I've listened to with her as a narrator - she was very, very good. I really want to read some more of her stuff now! I think North and South is a Counties Challenge so I am going to push it up the list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Yes it is! I'm half way through North and South (narrated by Juliet Stevenson) and I love it - I think you will too, Janet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 Thanks - I've just spotted that it's £2.99 on Audible so I'm going to have to buy it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willoyd Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Yes it is! I'm half way through North and South (narrated by Juliet Stevenson) and I love it - I think you will too, Janet I love Juliet Stevenson's narrations of the Jane Austen books - so a combination of a great reader with a great book (N&S may not be quite in Jane Austen's league, but it's not a million miles away IMO). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 I've downloaded it. I think Cranford is my favourite read of this year so far. I really didn't want it to end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 It was excellent, and I adored the ending! It's one of those books where I'm actually jealous that you get to listen to it for the first time and I'll never be able to do that again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 It was excellent, and I adored the ending! It's one of those books where I'm actually jealous that you get to listen to it for the first time and I'll never be able to do that again. North and South? Thanks - that's good to know - I shall look forward to it even more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 North and South? Thanks - that's good to know - I shall look forward to it even more! Yes, that's the one I meant I was so excited about telling you, I forgot to mention what I was talking about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 17, 2016 Author Share Posted March 17, 2016 It was me - I was so tired last night that nothing was making sense! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 24, 2016 Author Share Posted March 24, 2016 I had a day out in Dorset with a friend yesterday and bought two books whilst I was out! They were £1.50 each. I've just noticed that the Emma Carroll one is dedicated to 'Fabia' and signed by they author with a note saying "hope you enjoy the story" - I don't know whether the fact Fabia gave the book away means she didn't, but hopefully I will! Some of you may recognised this photo I took yesterday... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Pixie Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 What a beautiful photo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 I hope you enjoy your new books ! Great photo . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 Wow, Janet! That photo looks like a painting! Gorgeous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 I had no idea where the photo was from when I saw it on Facebook the other day - I love old ads like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 24, 2016 Author Share Posted March 24, 2016 Thanks, all. I took the photo via Instagram (no filter, but I did lighten it up slightly) - I saved the larger copy when I opened Instagram on my laptop. Noll, I think that ad was voted the Nation's Favourite once upon a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 I took the photo via Instagram (no filter, but I did lighten it up slightly) - I saved the larger copy when I opened Instagram on my laptop. Noll, I think that ad was voted the Nation's Favourite once upon a time. And I think it was directed by Sir Ridley Scott before he became a proper Hollywood film director. Excellent book buying choices, Janet. I hope you enjoy them, especially the Emma Carroll one, as you know she's a favourite of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 29, 2016 Author Share Posted March 29, 2016 And I think it was directed by Sir Ridley Scott before he became a proper Hollywood film director. It certainly was. Excellent book buying choices, Janet. I hope you enjoy them, especially the Emma Carroll one, as you know she's a favourite of mine. Thanks - I've just started it, and so far, so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted March 29, 2016 Author Share Posted March 29, 2016 A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle The ‘blurb’ From the moment Dr John Watson takes lodgings in Baker Street with the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, he becomes intimately acquainted with the bloody violence and frightening ingenuity of the criminal mind. In A Study in Scarlet , Holmes and Watson's first mystery, the pair are summoned to a south London house where they find a dead man whose contorted face is a twisted mask of horror. The body is unmarked by violence but on the wall a mysterious word has been written in blood. The police are baffled by the crime and its circumstances. But when Sherlock Holmes applies his brilliantly logical mind to the problem he uncovers a tragic tale of love and deadly revenge... The book where it all started, A Study in Scarlet is Conan Doyle’s first book to feature Sherlock Holmes and his faithful sidekick Dr James ‘John’ Watson. Watson, recently returned from Afghanistan after his army career was brought to an end by an injury, now seeks some cheaper accommodation to his current lodgings. A chance meeting with a friend leads him to Sherlock Holmes, and despite his friend’s warning of the latter’s eccentricities, Watson takes up the room offered to him at 221b Baker Street. Watson, who is amazed by Holmes’s scarily accurate assessment of his situation and past life with no apparent information having been given away by Watson, is soon drawn into Holmes’s world when the pair investigates the death of a man found in an empty house off the Brixton Road. The man has a look of horror frozen upon his dead face and the word ‘rache’ is scrawled on the wall in blood. The investigation stretches from the streets of London to Utah in the United States of America as Holmes sets out to discover the meaning of the word on the wall and what it has to do with the man’s untimely death… I listened to this on audio book and very much enjoyed it. The story is in two parts and I was rather surprised by the second book as it took us away from Holmes and Watson’s London to the US. I liked the way the story unfolded and I didn’t guess the ending. From a listener’s point of view, I wasn’t entirely keen on the narrator. It wasn’t that he didn’t read well, but I felt that Holmes’s accent wasn’t quite right… not quite high class enough (maybe because I recently watched a Jeremy Brett adaptation of one of the ‘Adventures’ and therefore had his accent in my head?) and whilst it didn’t spoil me enjoyment of the book I did find it a little distracting. However, I very much enjoyed the story and I am looking forward to reading or listening to some more of Conan Doyle’s books. The paperback edition is 176 pages long and is published by Penguin. It was first published in 1887. The ISBN is 9780241952894. 4/5 (Very good) (Finished 3 March 2016) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.