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Book Club

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Re: Book Club

Postby scullion » Wed Jul 22, 2020 4:30 pm

i have recently finished all the available books in the 'challoner' series by susannah gregory and have now returned to the 'brunetti' series, that i didn't have in e version, by donna leon.
they have the feel of the montabano series but set in venice. very readable and quite a bit of food mentioned.
one of the books made me hunt out a recipe and have a go at fried olives - very nice.

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Re: Book Club

Postby Binky » Wed Jul 22, 2020 4:38 pm

Art is an endlessly fascinating subject. The methods used by the great masters, the people/patrons they painted, the apprentice system, the way pigments were prepared and how payment was calculated (based on what paints were used, or gold leaf).


I did an Art History course when we lived in the US, and later took tour groups round our museum. Apparently I could have told them any old rubbish because they liked my British accent according to the museum staff. The legacy of this is that I have dozens of art history books. One of the best reads is Secret Knowledge by David Hockney. It would be my desert island book if ever I was cast away.

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Re: Book Club

Postby Gillthepainter » Wed Jul 22, 2020 5:25 pm

'the secret lives of colour'
Yes I've got that, Scullion. I've not finished it ....
Great, I've got a few things to add to my Chrimbo list, when that time comes around. Mappa and Lucia too, I'll get those now I think.



To Smitch (if you happened to put the conversation on the new Gardener's thread about Armana and the Rameside, I did indeed delete 4 posts there, otherwise nothing else has gawn).

Gill: Image

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Re: Book Club

Postby smitch » Wed Jul 22, 2020 5:31 pm

Gillthepainter wrote:To Smitch (if you happened to put the conversation on the new Gardener's thread about Armana and the Rameside, I did indeed delete 4 posts there, otherwise nothing else has gawn).


Nope, it was directly under Binky’s comment. It was possibly around the time things started being moved over so it might have got lost somewhere along the way.
Last edited by smitch on Sat Jul 25, 2020 7:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Book Club

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Jul 25, 2020 5:57 pm

I'm really not reading much at the moment, I've got a load of audio books to get through but they are so slow it puts me off a bit

I recently read on Kindle the first of the Mrs Bradly books, which are not much like the TV series starring Diana Rigg - for a start Mrs Bradley is small and "like a pterodactyl". The book is called Speedy Death by Gladys Mitchell, it was her first and could have done with tighter editing, descriptions are very repetitive and a few of the red herrings just tail off without being wound up. It's a very much a period piece, in language and attitudes, it was published in 1929 so people are a bit shy of even saying "sexual perversion" (by which they mean same sex attraction) and so on and so forth.. As a period piece, quite entertaining, and has a good twist

I read it because I listen to the Shedunnit show podcasts, which discuss the crime fiction of the golden Age, with special reference to female authors, and particularly to the Bug Three, Mitchell, Christie, and Sayers - I never understand why Allingham isn't counted in there but I suppose her best work was largely post-war, but I enjoy her writing, and I like her detective, Albert Campion, though I suppose her fondness for Bond style arch-villains is a bit of a weakness

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Re: Book Club

Postby scullion » Mon Aug 03, 2020 10:41 pm

having mistaken it for the next in line of the 'brunetti' (a venetian version of montalbano) series of books, i've just read 'the jewels of paradise' by donna leon.
a change from the normal detective type novels - no crime. set, like the brunetti novels, in venice.

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Re: Book Club

Postby Pepper Pig » Sun Aug 16, 2020 7:46 pm

I’ve just read this, a birthday present from my bestie. Not my normal sort of thing but I really enjoyed it. Lovely writing.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368 ... wdads-sing

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Re: Book Club

Postby Busybee » Sun Aug 16, 2020 10:56 pm

I’ve got that downloaded PP, looking forward to reading it.

I finished Shadow of the Wind, enjoyable but had to concentrate at times.

I’m reading a very thought provoking book about food, how we talk about it, weight, body issues and anorexia The Food of Love by Amanda Prowse. Really makes you think about casual throw away comments and how it can effect some people.

BB

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Re: Book Club

Postby aero280 » Mon Aug 17, 2020 12:12 am

I got my six books from the library in March. I read five. Then lockdown.

I'm making the sixth book last. It's "The Second Sleep" by Robert Harris.

At the moment the book is due back by 1st September, but the date keeps getting moved back. The library is still closed.

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Re: Book Club

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon Aug 17, 2020 12:13 am

Pepper Pig wrote:I’ve just read this, a birthday present from my bestie. Not my normal sort of thing but I really enjoyed it. Lovely writing.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368 ... wdads-sing


We read that a couple of months ago with our book group and we all loved it. Yes, it is lovely writing. I recommended it to a friend who is a keen ornithologist and she absolutely loved it too.

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Re: Book Club

Postby scullion » Mon Aug 17, 2020 10:41 am

aero280 wrote:I got my six books from the library in March. I read five. Then lockdown.

I'm making the sixth book last. It's "The Second Sleep" by Robert Harris.

At the moment the book is due back by 1st September, but the date keeps getting moved back. The library is still closed.


if you read ebooks i can email you a load!

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Re: Book Club

Postby herbidacious » Mon Aug 17, 2020 3:17 pm

I am still reading Claire North's The Pursuit of William Abbey. Not really enjoying it so dragging my heals a bit. I think I have gone off her.

When I finally finish it, I was thinking of reading a Japser Fforde. Or maybe the second Erin Morgenstern. I also have the latest Matt Haig on order. (A signed copy from local bookshop as a treat to self.)

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Re: Book Club

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Aug 17, 2020 4:14 pm

I haven’t really been reading or audio booking so as a way back in I thought I’d read some classic detective fiction, starting with Whose Body? It’s the first Peter Wimsey book by Dorothy L Sayers. Seems to have worked, I enjoyed it though somehow all the numbers had been removed from the e-book, presumably when they stripped the page numbers from the text file so people caught the . train instead of the 6.12 train

Proceeding (in an orderly manner) with Clouds of Witness, #2 in the series

I just need to get back into enjoying reading at my new slower pace, light stuff good for that, might try Jasper fforde. The other thing oddly enough is factual that can be read as a series of not-too-long articles. If I read a lot the pace will pick up a bit too

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Re: Book Club

Postby herbidacious » Mon Aug 17, 2020 4:22 pm

I loved the Peter Wimsey books. Even went to see a stage version on my own, which felt liek a big thing then) with Edward Petherbridge in the '80s. I should read them again.

The first few Jasper Fforde Thursday Next books are great fun, partly because of the literary refs. The one I have lined up looks like slighlty more hard work. He's packed a lot of 'gimmicks' into it (I started reading it) but I imagine that once he's set that all up, it will calm down a bit.

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Re: Book Club

Postby Amyw » Mon Aug 17, 2020 6:38 pm

Busybee wrote:I’ve got that downloaded PP, looking forward to reading it.

I finished Shadow of the Wind, enjoyable but had to concentrate at times.

I’m reading a very thought provoking book about food, how we talk about it, weight, body issues and anorexia The Food of Love by Amanda Prowse. Really makes you think about casual throw away comments and how it can effect some people.

BB


I’ve read that , it’s really good isn’t it

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Re: Book Club

Postby herbidacious » Sat Aug 22, 2020 10:14 pm

Not a bedtime book, perhaps, but I am looking forward to this:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1116203 ... 38938.html

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Re: Book Club

Postby Earthmaiden » Sat Aug 22, 2020 11:12 pm

Definitely a bedtime book to start with!

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Re: Book Club

Postby aero280 » Sun Aug 23, 2020 12:53 am

scullion wrote:
if you read ebooks i can email you a load!


I've tried ebooks, but I don't really get on with them. Maybe something to do with the brightness.

I'm filling the gaps by reading my road atlases! :)

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Re: Book Club

Postby herbidacious » Sun Aug 23, 2020 11:20 am

They are useful for foreign holidays (remember those?!) I used to take 3 or 4 books with me on the plane on holiday in the old days.

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Re: Book Club

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Aug 23, 2020 12:29 pm

If you don’t like the brightness of a screen for reading, most ebook readers can be set to reverse colour, white print on black background which causes much less glare and dazzle, and then with Kindle you can choose font size, font style and adjust the brightness. Actually Kindle have recently upgraded their accessibility options in the iPad app, and it’s now very good

In fact a couple of people with good eyesight who have seen me reading with those settings have found that they can comfortably read on a phone screen with them, though hard going on white screen

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