What book are u reading?

[marie]

I usually read to Pablo Coelho. My favorite book of he, is The Alchemist. When I was finished to read it, I like travel all the time. Why? I do not know!
Another Coelho's entertaining book is A Bridle, an Irish young woman, who wants to be a witch. Now I want to read Verónica decides to die.

Almost always I am in the habit of reading on politics, conflicts, Greek mythology, Celtic culture... but with Coelho and another writer native of San Sebastian that then I present you, I do an exception with great pleasure.

In English: Pablo Coelho Web Site (http://www.paulocoelho.com/engl/index.html)

[marie]

Lucia Etxebarria (http://www.lucia-etxebarria.com/) In Spanish only.

Sorry, was very difficult to translate it for me...

Compromisofobia

For every spinster who affirms that she does not want to marry by any means and that is happy, I know five men complaining about his loneliness .Al end and to the end, the majority of the women of my generation we have grown raised by a mother who was not working out of house, and in many cases this situation did not owe to a voluntary election of our progenitora, but to the imposition of a father who did not leave her to study or a husband who was considering a dishonor that his (I underline the possessive one) lady should work.

Many people we have listened to our mother to complain about the mistake that it committed and to assure that the marriage and the maternity had annulled it, that her had not allowed to preserve the minor space - literally or figuratively - for yes same. For limit, our mothers could not conceive even an igalitarian relation with a man - nobody they there was even insinuated such a possibility - with which they were tending, conscious or, to blame unconsciously our father or his one of all hisproblems, and to appear a portrait of the man as being insensitive unable to consider the woman to be few thing more than a slave.

This way the things, to someone he surprises now that between the elite of hard-working and autosufficient women they conceive so many people to the marriage as a jail, a prisión or a torture and promote spectacularly in this microworld the proportion of spinsters, divorcées or alone mothers?

I speak about microworld because the certain thing is that the rate of feminine employment in the first world is very low, it does not come to 33 %. And of this 33 % the majority of the women occupy the underemployment, alienating works and badly remunerated, conceived (for the boss) and accepted (for the worker - slave) only to obtain a complementary salary to which the man reaches to the familiar unit. But some women autoare kept, the inhabitants of this microworld to which supposedly Ally Mac Beal or Bridget Jones concern. (It´s a serie of Tv).

Ally Mac Beal is the pleaded one whom we have never seen to prepare a judgment, to search jurispurudencia, to consult files, that they never fix a sight six months after presenting the demand, one does not even have to embark in endless judgments of three or four years mending the labyrinthine meanders of the juridical system. Or Ally Mac Beal is the pleaded one that does not exist. First she does not exist because a personage like she does not have content in the real world. And to so that she continues slimming, she will not also have it in the cathode world, because any day of these will disappear, will vanish in the ether, and only we still had her voice of woodpecker, Ally reduced to a voice in off.

In general the pleaded one of less than 30 years is working as a negress twelve daily hours, almost always in exchange for a negligible salary, or is in the strike. Certainly what does not pass is the day in the office flirting with the chief, cotilleando with a water closet speaker or sighing for a longed boyfriend who never comes.. For the rest, any thirty-year-old woman does not have Ally Mac Beal's body unless she is anorexic.

As for Bridget... Goddess of my life ... why to speak... I have been employed at the publishing world, precisely recovering the same one since supposedly desepaña the stupid this one and I can assure that a) one works much more, b) always you go badly of time and indeed you do not have the head as to occupy her in such bilges like you to worry for such a boyfriend that it does not come (rather you must worry for avoiding to sobones several, in which they abound in the way) and c) the chiefs are in the habit of being a few gentlemen with beard, belly, grey-haired, footsore, and sufficient neurosises as to lead each one an agreement of psychology; nothing to see with the pijo megacovered and supersexy that one that is the chief of such a Bridget.

Summarizing, it can only clear that neither my friends nor I are obsessed in spite of boyfriend plundered (though I know several obsessed with as achieving that the one that they have finds finally own(proper) apartment and goes away of house), not with our kilos, and it is clear that we all have celulitis and cases (as any major woman of 25, on the other hand), but we do not pass the day counting calories to eliminate them, more than anything because we do not have time as to lose it in such foolish acts. None we read books of self-help, have a sexual life more or less seized costs, is not that of Nacho Vidal, precisely, but probably we do not have Nacho's super libido either), drink the just thing, ...

And it is clear that I have many friends (up to the point of which my mother says that I should retrain and of making me a saleswoman of Tupperware, who was lining me), and that I am employed at a field at that I have to know heaps of women, so it seems to me that I have a work of wide field as to be able to establish a more or less trustworthy statistics. I at the time wonder to what I came this systematical insistence in appearing as portraits of contemporary women to hysterical, immature and vague kids is it a question of a portrait of the reality or rather of the projection of the fantasies of those who still wish women like that?

And the people tell me that Bridget's diary jones was write for a woman and they it buy others. It can. But for every woman of between twenty to thirty years that I buy the above-mentioned book there exist 25 that we it have not bought!!

[marie]

Lucía Etxebarria - "A miracle in balance"

" I hope, Amanda, you are a woman of action and not of feeling, coz the one that feels does not advance, it´s remains paralyzed in the middle of the life without daring to advance, coz the world, Amanda, is a patrimony of the one who imposes his will to his emotions, coz the life is a war and every day a battle ".

http://www.periodistadigital.com/imgs/efep/20070222/172385w.jpg

Lucía Etxebarría de Asteinza is a Spanish writer. She was born in Valencia in 1966, of Basque parents as her name suggests, the youngest of seven children. The Basque surname Etxebarria has no diacritics, although its Spanish version Echevarría has. Etxebarría was a typo that she liked and adopted as a nom de plume, though it is not used in all her books.

Her first book was Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love’s biography: La historia de Kurt y Courtney: aguanta esto (1996). Her first novel, Amor, curiosidad, prozac y dudas (1997) received Ana María Matute's support, and situated her in the Generacion Kronen scope. The following year her second novel, Beatriz y los cuerpos celestes, won the Nadal prize.

With De todo lo visible y lo invisible (2001) she won the Primavera Prize. With Un milagro en equilibrio, she obtained the 53rd Planeta Prize in 2004. In addition to these books and many other titles she has published poetry; her collection Actos de placer y amor won the Barcarola Poetry Prize in 2004. She has published two collections of feminist essays, and has also worked as a scriptwriter.

[theninesisters]

I'm reading 'Chasing Daylight' by Eugene O Kelly. Bout a chap who had everything back in 2006, was at the top of his company and was diagnosed with inoperable cancer in his brain.

The book gives you the biggest ever kick up the arse to live your life for the moment!! :handclap:

[ChrisGeorge]

The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Biography by Sidney Poitier. Very revealing about the groundbreaking Fifties and Sixties screenstar who starred in such films as "A Patch of Blue," "To Sir With Love," and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." I have always wondered about him and knew (or assumed) he wasn't an African American. He in fact grew up dirt poor on Cat Island, in the Bahamas in a hut without electricity or even windows or mirrors. I always thought he comported himself with great dignity, and he attributes his career and the way he has carried himself to his mother and father growing up on Cat Island and later in Nassau and Miami. A most interesting memoir.

Chris

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/239/457626541_b5f52241f6_o.jpg

[Max]

I usually read Graphic Novels.

The only book I ain't finished Is the Mersey Fighters.

I'm on and off when It comes to reading.

[sweetpatooti]

Primo Levi - If not now, when?

[lindylou]

I'm reading

'The Beatles' shadow Stuart Sutcliffe & his lonely hearts club'

by Pauline Sutcliffe (with Douglas Thompson).

[robbo176]

I'm reading
The Black Widows of Liverpool- Angela Brabin
about 2 liverpool sisters who murdered for the insurance money

[marie]

I'm reading
The Black Widows of Liverpool- Angela Brabin
about 2 liverpool sisters who murdered for the insurance money

And is it true? :shock:

[marie]

Now they are putting fashionable the audiolibros. You can obtain in Emule and in other webs. U can be cooking and gathering the house, and listening to the book at the same time ... the fault of everything, it had Yoko Ono!! :)

[SteH]

And is it true? :shock:

Yes, a horrendous crime, they murdered members of their own family. Here's some links

http://www.geocities.com/stevenhortonuk/skirvingstpoisoners.html
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,3604,794659,00.html

[marie]

Yes, a horrendous crime, they murdered members of their own family. Here's some links

http://www.geocities.com/stevenhortonuk/skirvingstpoisoners.html
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,3604,794659,00.html

Houlala!!! First, her husband with arsenic, then John Flannagan, ...
only for money? I can not read it! It´s horrible!

[naked lilac]

The Girl from Pennylane..by Katie Flynn... Its' an old book that a friend from the Pool sent me... LOVE IT...

[robbo176]

Yes, a horrendous crime, they murdered members of their own family. Here's some links

http://www.geocities.com/stevenhortonuk/skirvingstpoisoners.html
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,3604,794659,00.html
thanks for the links Ste

this is the second time I've read this book,I've just read Murder in Edwardian Liverpool by David Parry
I love true murder books:ninja:

Mandy:)

[PhilipG]

A Guide to liverpool 1902.
It's been reprinted (2004).

It's rather like today, mentioning the changes that were/are taking place.
Then, the Cathedral and the Pier Head were in the planning stage.

Interestingly it names Philip Holt as the donor of Wavertree Playground (which was only 7 years old).
So there never was a "Mystery" about the donor.
Just another urban myth that grew and grew.

[theninesisters]

A Guide to liverpool 1902.
It's been reprinted (2004).

It's rather like today, mentioning the changes that were/are taking place.
Then, the Cathedral and the Pier Head were in the planning stage.

Interestingly it names Philip Holt as the donor of Wavertree Playground (which was only 7 years old).
So there never was a "Mystery" about the donor.
Just another urban myth that grew and grew.

A fine book you are reading! I have my name in the back of that book :PDT11

[Max]

I should write my own stories but I always end up hating my ideas.

[Ged]

thanks for the links Ste

this is the second time I've read this book,I've just read Murder in Edwardian Liverpool by David Parry
I love true murder books:ninja:

Mandy:)

We all must've been reading the same story somehow over the last few days as I also mentioned it, quite coincidentally on the Maybrick thread with it being flypaper poisonings.

Here are the pics of the Trinity Vaults as they look today and the houses built on the site of where the sisters lived on Latimer street, though they didn't actually commit any murders whilst living there. (they were between murders at the time, taking a bit of a rest)

[robbo176]

We all must've been reading the same story somehow over the last few days as I also mentioned it, quite coincidentally on the Maybrick thread with it being flypaper poisonings.

Here are the pics of the Trinity Vaults as they look today and the houses built on the site of where the sisters lived on Latimer street, though they didn't actually commit any murders whilst living there. (they were between murders at the time, taking a bit of a rest)

Its a really good book ,I bought it at St Georges Hall a few years ago,the same day I bought your first book & couldn't put either of them down :PDT11

two great books in one day can't be bad:PDT_Piratz_26:

Mandy :)

[Sloyne]

I am reading 'Collapse' by Jared Diamond. It is a sequel to his book 'Guns, Germs and Steel'. I had started reading this book awhile back but had misplaced it and have just recently found it.

[Ged]

Thanks Mandy. Whatta u after :unibrow:

[robbo176]

Thanks Mandy. Whatta u after :unibrow:

since you're offering how about a tenner?:PDT_Piratz_26:

[Ged]

That was a cheap night out girrrrrl, ta very much.

[robbo176]

That was a cheap night out girrrrrl, ta very much.

Cheers Ged :PDT_Aliboronz_24: :PDT10

[Gnomie]

Im not reading any books im on the computer.

I did read "Spectator in Hell" not so long back, If you get the chance then read it, so sad.

Im about to start on Spike Milligans War Memories, should be good:PDT11

[kevin]

I usually read to Pablo Coelho. My favorite book of he, is The Alchemist. When I was finished to read it, I like travel all the time. Why? I do not know!
Another Coelho's entertaining book is A Bridle, an Irish young woman, who wants to be a witch. Now I want to read Verónica decides to die.

Almost always I am in the habit of reading on politics, conflicts, Greek mythology, Celtic culture... but with Coelho and another writer native of San Sebastian that then I present you, I do an exception with great pleasure.

In English: Pablo Coelho Web Site (http://www.paulocoelho.com/engl/index.html)


Try 'A Woman Unknown' by Lucia Graves. An eye opener on Spanish culture and its attitude towards women. One of the most interesting books I've ever read.

http://www.longitudebooks.com/find/p/19603/mcms.html

[lindylou]

The Way Things were. A backstreet Boyhood. by Denis Cassidy.


The book is about the author's 1930's/40s childhood in working-class Newcastle. The book is a personal account which captures an era that has long gone.

It was interesting to read how street signs and iron railings were removed during the war. I know this happened to the railings in Liverpool, but I didn't know about street signs.

here's an extract from the book:

(describing the street where he lived) .. In common with all the neighbouring houses the ornamental railings which had once given it an appearance of repectability had been hacked down to provide scrap iron for the war effort, resulting in an external appearance not unlike a toothless old man. Since this scrap metal was never used, it must rank as one of the worst cases of bureaucratically inspired vandalism anyone has ever known, arising from crass and uncoordinated central planning.
In the early days of the war we were all on perpetual alert.
Church bells were silenced, by government decree they would thereafter be rung only if enemy parachutists were seen descending or seaborne troops were seen landing. in this way a relay of bells across the land would sound a loud and clear warning bringing immediate armed response, probably LDV or, as they were renamed, Home Guard.
Beaches were cordoned off with barbed wire and some were mined, or at least said to be.
Farcically, all street names and road signposts were removed, further confusing an already bemused population trying to cope with the war and it's consequences.
____________________________

I found the book fascinating. Although it was about the north east, it could have been written about Liverpool.

[lindylou]

Try 'A Woman Unknown' by Lucia Graves. An eye opener on Spanish culture and its attitude towards women. One of the most interesting books I've ever read.

http://www.longitudebooks.com/find/p/19603/mcms.html

I like the sound of that - I'll order it in the library.

[Ged]

Just finished Haunted houses of Britain by Hugo Furst.

[Gnomie]

Just finished Haunted houses of Britain by Hugo Furst.

I read " Emergency Supplies" by Justin Case

[kevin]

I read " Emergency Supplies" by Justin Case

Wasn't that Justin Tyme?
:PDT11

[ChrisGeorge]

Wasn't that Justin Tyme?
:PDT11


Justin Tyme in the Nick. . . . ? :PDT_Aliboronz_24:

[Waterways]

The Way Things were. A backstreet Boyhood. by Denis Cassidy.

The book is about the author's 1930's/40s childhood in working-class Newcastle. The book is a personal account which captures an era that has long gone.

It was interesting to read how street signs and iron railings were removed during the war. I know this happened to the railings in Liverpool, but I didn't know about street signs.


Street signs in Liverpool were not removed. The city was on the other side of the country for any imminent invasion - of which was never imminent or could ever succeed.

Many acts were to focus the minds of people to the war effort. Anderson air-raid shelters was one - an expensive message to get the people alert - great garden sheds after the war. The shelters were little more than useless. In Newcastle taking down street signs was probably a way of getting the people's minds focused on the war effort and working harder in the shipyards. An invasion across the North Sea to around Newcastle would have been suicide.

Another was the propaganda of the "Battle of Britain". Only a few Oxbridge Spitfire pilots were between us and the Nazi invasion. If they failed the Germans would be over, so it went. This was promoting a backs against the wall mentality amongst the population. Nothing could be further from the truth about the RAF. The German were facing the massive Royal Navy with not much of a navy themselves and also a massive armored army to meet them if they were foolish enough to try on concrete barges, on the few beaches suitable along the south coast. The Nazis never tried. The problem with the Battle of Britain, is that the government never reversed the propaganda after the war, Hollywood gets hold of the myths, films are made and fiction become reality in the minds of millions.

Revisionist historians are putting together the real facts way after WW2, through extensive research through, British, US, German and now Soviet archives.

[Waterways]

I am reading "The Wages of Destruction" The making and Breaking of the Nazi economy by Adam Tooze. Enlightening indeed.

[lindylou]

Thanks for the interesting info Waterways. It comes across in the book the government effort to focus the minds of the people.

I remember the houses in my nan's street having stubs where the iron railings used to be.

[lindylou]

The other book I am reading is, Love in a Torn Land. by Jean Sasson.

A true tale of a young woman caught up in Saddam Hussein's poison gas attacks against the Kurdish people of Iraq.

[Waterways]

Thanks for the interesting info Waterways. It comes across in the book the government effort to focus the minds of the people.

I remember the houses in my nan's street having stubs where the iron railings used to be.

All around Sefton Park had railings too.

[lindylou]

Just finished Haunted houses of Britain by Hugo Furst.

I only just realised that's a joke ! lol ! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :p

[lindylou]

I read " Emergency Supplies" by Justin Case

.. and you Gnomie ! :p :D

[A.D.W]

Reading the 'Road to Wigan Pier'.

[chippie]

i,m reading "the back of a bus ticket" but it,s not fare, I,ve read it before:PDT_Piratz_26:

[jimmy]

reading - Goldfinder - by Keith Jessop

The incredible true story of one man's discovery of untold riches beneath the sea

[quincyg]

'Our hidden lives' - the remarkable diaries of post war Britain by Simon Garfield

[Broliv]

Lions, Donkeys and Dinosaurs - Waste and blundering in the military by Lewis Page.

Makes LCC troubles look like childs play

[lindylou]

I am half way through this book about Spain:
Ghosts Of Spain, by Giles Tremlett.
http://www.barcelona-metropolitan.com/Article.aspx?TabID=2&MenuID=6&ArticleID=468

Also, on Kevin's recommendation (post no.27 page 2) I ordered this from the library:
http://www.florin.com/authors/lucia-unknown.html

[piojoso]

Far away from ego (transpersonal psychology texts) - Maslow, Dass, Capra, Wilber and others.

It compiles the works of the most important researchers of transpersonal psychology. It's a bit old (written in 1982), but very interesting.

[lindylou]

I enjoyed this series on TV and now I'm reading the book.
Dan Cruickshank. Around the World in 80 Treasures.

From great churches and temples, to statues, weapons and artifacts, this is the story of Dan Cruikshank's travels in pursuit of the most famous, and infamous, man-made treasures in the world.

[Chris48]

I am 3 quarters of the way through Leslie Phillips' autobiog "Hello" ..... and it's awful!

I need a bloody good laugh. Anyone know any hillarious books?

[lindylou]

I've got a Peter Kay Biog to read.

Generally, I like biographies, but sometimes you can be disappointed. I've had books about famous people where hardly anything about the person is written and just a boring account of theatre dates and the business side of stardom.

[brian daley]

I've just finished Neal Singletons "Quicksilver" the first part of a trilogy.this volume was 925 pages long and was utterly enthralling. The characters were full blown and you felt that you knew them. It is set in the time of the Restoration and runs right up to the Glorious Revolution when William of Orange invaded England and captured the crown,thus setting in motion the event that helped Britain become a major power in the world.Anyone with a love of history, and a curiosity about the CABAL,the Royal Society and the warring European nations ,is promised a gargantuan feast for the mind.
BrianD

[quincyg]

I enjoyed this series on TV and now I'm reading the book.
Dan Cruickshank. Around the World in 80 Treasures.

From great churches and temples, to statues, weapons and artifacts, this is the story of Dan Cruikshank's travels in pursuit of the most famous, and infamous, man-made treasures in the world.

I've got that book too. I love 'brickman Dan' as I call him. got loads of his stuff on video and DVD including a signed copy of 'Invasion' on vid....gutted I missed his last series. he once sent me a DIY cardboard model of the Euston Arch (a passion of his). hubby and I spent ages trying to glue it together. then he knocked it off the shelf and it fell to bits.:rolleyes:

I'm currently on Grumpy Old Women...and frighteningly so much of it is ringing true :shock::PDT_Aliboronz_11:

when I've finished it I've got the John Peel book. looking forward to that one.

[lindylou]

Ha,ha, we've got a copy of 'Grumpy Old men' (a Fathers Day present) :)

[bluchilli]

'Consider Phlebas' by Iain M. Banks - I've only read the first 2 chapters but it looks like gritty sci-fi.

[jack.tar]

^^^ Road to Wigan Pier. Now that is a good book.

At the moment I am reading 'A Rose for Winter' by Laurie Lee.

[Max]

800 years of Haunted Liverpool by our very own research writer. Thanks Yo Liverpool alot In it too and has the link to the forum.

[cobbett clayton]

The Devil She Wont, by Xania Boreanaz :handclap:
I do hope she writes a sequel to this book!


Shelli

[Davec]

I've just finished one of the 'Forgotten Voices' series (WW1).
Also read the WW11 in this series, they're verbatim recollections of those wars and are humbling and inspiring.

http://www.forgottenvoices.co.uk/

[brian daley]

At the moment I am midway through the Life of Pi a fascinating novel about an unusual shipwreck,an unlikely tale ,well written and ,although not a thriller, holds you enthralled. Before picking this one up I read Two Caravans by Marina Lewycka ,again an oddball novel ,but brilliantly written.
For a good laugh try Woody Allens With Feathers,a joy to read,or the late Harry Secombes Welsh Fargo,hard not to laugh out loud when reading it ,and the funniest of the lot, Spike Milligans, Puckoon.Whenever I was reading that at sea I had to make sure that no one was asleep,I literally roared with laughter from the first line on. My wife and children have all enjoyed it ,a great way to dispel gloomy thoughts.

[lindylou]

I've got a Peter Kay Biog to read.

Generally, I like biographies, but sometimes you can be disappointed. I've had books about famous people where hardly anything about the person is written and just a boring account of theatre dates and the business side of stardom.

I'm just on the end of this book. It turned out to be a disappointing read - not what I expected.
The Biography was written by Johnny Dee and is one of those biographies as described above - just a lot of boring facts and figures and nothing hardly worth reading about Peter Kay himself. Not much about his life and very little insight to his character. The book consists mainly of quotes and scripts from Phoenix Nights etc.

[jimmy]

Somme Mud- E.P.F. Lynch.

The war experiences of an Australian infantryman in France 1916-1919

[seasidenan]

I've just finished The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton and loved it. She also wrote The House at Riverton and that was also excellent.
I am also a big fan of Dan Cruickshank and have a couple of his books as well as DVD's which I enjoy very much. Another book I've read recently is Francesco's Mediterranean Voyage which is currently showing on BBC2 and I also enjoyed his Venice and Italy series...mind you I do have a bit of a 'thing' for Francesco da Mosto :):):)

For light reading I enjoy books with a Liverpool background/setting such as those written by Lyn Andrews and of course the wonderful Maureen Lee.
I tried to read Peter Kay's book but it was just too boring! Just a list of facts and figures, nothing about the man himself or his 'real' life. A telephone directory would have been more interesting!

My taste is pretty eclectic and I usually have a couple of books on the go at any given time!

Can anyone recommend any good books about Liverpool that are more or less factual? I love history and especially that of my home city, but I also would love to read about the war years. I was a mere child during that time, and can remember some of it, but would love to know more.

This afternoon I intended to start a new book, but my grand-daughter rang and offered to take me out for a meal, so how could I refuse! We went to a carvery which was very tasty and got home just before the thunderstorms!

Happy reading!

[lindylou]

Seasidenan, Re Peter Kay book - glad it's not just me then who found it boring - - not the fault of Peter Kay of course but the writer. I took it back to the library yesterday - (I'm glad I didn't buy the book).


like you, I usually have 2 or 3 books on the go ! :) although I must admit to reading less since I got this computer !! :PDT_Xtremez_42:

[lindylou]

Have a read through this thread for some ideas of Liverpool books-

http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1528&highlight=liverpool+books

[Anita]

Liverpool through the Lens - Photographs by Edward Chambre Hardman, is a good book for looking at some of the history of Liverpool, not many words to read but a short narrative to each photograph. Also, if you ever get down to the Walker Art Gallery they have some good books for sale in the foyer about Liverpool history. :)

[Klaatu]

The Viz:rolleyes:

[lindylou]

Started a new book this week;


Sushi And Beyond by Michael Booth.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/jul/24/beyond-sushi-book-review-japan

It's a great read; entertaining, factual, funny, a fascinating look at life in Japan - as Michael Booth says, 'Tokyo by night left us dumbstruck. Step outside your door for a moment and it will overwhelm you like no other place earth.. a staggering place'

Max, might like this book :)




My aunt lived in Japan for 10 years in Kobe. Wish I'd visited her there ! It must be a fantastic place to see.

[kevin]

Read Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell last month - really enjoyed it.

Currently working my way through the Martin Beck series (I'm on No2 of 10) - Swedish detective novels. If you enjoyed the Wallender novels, you'll like these.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Beck

[shirleya]

Trawling through Frankenstein and Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde and Mary Barton etc for my uni course-very hard going!!!!!!! I can not seem to get into them at all. I am hoping that the lecturers this year will inspire me to love the books like last year's hard slog-Heart of darkness by Conrad. Thought i would never enjoy that book but i got there in the end!!! What other books have people not thought they wouold enjoy but have been pleasantly surprised????
I enjoy local history if i had a choice of reading matter-especially Liverpool or Lancashire local history! Anyone read any good ones lately ???

[Kat]

Currently reading The Outcast by Sadie Jones. Set in the 1950's, it is a bit strange and also quite depressing...

[scouse smurf]

Do u women ever read light-hearted stuff ??? lol

[Kat]

Do u women ever read light-hearted stuff ??? lol

Yes!!! the book I read prior to that was The Sound of Laughter by Peter Kay :PDT_Aliboronz_24:

[scouse smurf]

Yes!!! the book I read prior to that was The Sound of Laughter by Peter Kay :PDT_Aliboronz_24:

That sounds like a better option :)

Saying that, I'm currently reading the chronicle of twentieth century murder.. Great fun lol

[lindylou]

Getting to the end of this book -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dope-Girls-Birth-British-Underground/dp/1862076189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229498911&sr=8-1

about the drug scene in the 1920s with the flappers and jazz clubs.
Includes stories and cases about drug users and pushers, ie Edgar Manning and Brilliant Chang.
Can't see anything on the net about Manning, but found this about Chang:

http://chinarhyming.blogspot.com/2008/12/dope-girls-and-brilliant-chang.html

some interesting pics of old London Chinatown here -

http://www.nickelinthemachine.com/2009/10/chinatown-the-death-of-billie-carleton-and-the-brilliant-chang/

[underworld]

I'm reading "Forgotten Empress" by David Zeni. Its the story of one of the great Liverpool liners that collided with another ship in the St Lawrence river Canada in 1914.

[pablo42]

Can't read too well. Need glasses. I get audio books for when I'm in the car though. The last one was written by a friend of mine. It was stupid war.

[scouse smurf]

I'm currently reading this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anfield-Dreams-Kopites-Neil-Dunkin/dp/1905449801

Dead good and reminds me of good times :)

[Debra]

I'm reading the complete works of Leonardo Davinci ! don't ask me why .

[pablo42]

I'm reading the complete works of Leonardo Davinci ! don't ask me why .

Ha, I was gonna put that...

[Debra]

Ha, I was gonna put that...

Haha ! I got it in the Oxfam when i was bored .

[pablo42]

Haha ! I got it in the Oxfam when i was bored .

Good for holding the door open...

[Debra]

Good for holding the door open...

It makes me look educated if i get a visitor !

[pablo42]

It makes me look educated if i get a visitor !

Yes, I used to have some of them. Clauswitz and The Art of War used to be regular on me coffee table. Folk thought I knew what I was talking about.

Phew... how I managed to get away with that.

[Birdy]

Just nearing the end of and enjoying --The Kite Runner, i know it's been about for a while but only just got round to reading it.

[underworld]

I'm reading the complete works of Leonardo Davinci ! don't ask me why .

I was at his house last summer and also saw his grave.

[pablo42]

I was at his house last summer and also saw his grave.

Nice one UW. Where was that.

[lindylou]

I'm nearing the end of the biography 'My Life Behaving Badly' by Leslie Ash. Her story is an interesting one, of her family, her life as an actress, and her account of her recovery from the debilitating MSSA superbug has been interesting reading.
The book is well written and worth a read.

[Ged]

Wasn't she with that footballer Chapman. Does she admit he beat her up, as I remember he being covered in bruises and saying she fell in the bedroom during some horseplay but the papers were having none of it.

[pablo42]

I had all my books stolen from my car the other day.

Hadn't even finished colouring them in...

[lindylou]

Wasn't she with that footballer Chapman. Does she admit he beat her up, as I remember he being covered in bruises and saying she fell in the bedroom during some horseplay but the papers were having none of it.

She does talk about that. She maintains that Chapman never hit her. She insists that it was not how the press portrayed it. Her and Chapman did used to have volatile rows when they used to drink too much, but she says he was never a woman beater. She insists that it was her sister who gave the press the wrong story about Chapman, and in fact she never spoke to her sister again after that. Even at their father's funeral, her sister tried to approach her but she turned away. I'm just on the last chapter and up to now she still hasn't forgiven her sister for what she sees as her betrayal of her & Chapman.

She did fall off the bed and damage her ribs. A wound went septic and turned into an abscess. She ended up with the superbug which made her gravely ill and she lost the use of her legs. She was in a wheelchair and had to learn to walk all over again.
Her account of her coping and getting through some terrible health problems has been fascinating reading.

[Ged]

Does she mention her fish lips. She looked far better without that plazzy surgery. Joan Rivers, Mrs Stallone, Ivy Tyldsley anyone :)

[pablo42]

Does she mention her fish lips. She looked far better without that plazzy surgery. Joan Rivers, Mrs Stallone, Ivy Tyldsley anyone :)

Ha, that's the first thing I think of when I hear her name. Poor sod.

[lindylou]

She does mention the lip disaster, but doesn't ellaborate too much. The story is focussed more on her being paralyzed and how she was so depressed and hit rock bottom.
She has been through a terrible time

[jobee]

I usually read to Pablo Coelho. My favorite book of he, is The Alchemist. When I was finished to read it, I like travel all the time. Why? I do not know!
Another Coelho's entertaining book is A Bridle, an Irish young woman, who wants to be a witch. Now I want to read Verónica decides to die.

Almost always I am in the habit of reading on politics, conflicts, Greek mythology, Celtic culture... but with Coelho and another writer native of San Sebastian that then I present you, I do an exception with great pleasure.

In English: Pablo Coelho Web Site (http://www.paulocoelho.com/engl/index.html)

Thanks for that maria-i must confess ive never heard of- i am still nosy and inquisitive, will go into it.cheers

[Birdy]

Great little book The Alchemist :thumbsup:

[burkhilly]

I like a good thriller - fiction. At the moment reading a Jeffrey Deaver - "The bodies left behind". Brilliant so far.

[urchin]

I am reading CLOUD ATLAS by David Mitchel at the moment, short listed for a Booker prize in 2004. Very unusual novel, good read
Would also highly recommend THE GENESIS SECRET by Tom Knox. Came out last year. It is a good thriller and stems from the discovery in turkey at GOBLEKI TEPE. You can google that one

[pablo42]

I'm reading the Liverpool A-Z.

Now I'm streets ahead...

[burkhilly]

I'm reading the Liverpool A-Z.

Now I'm streets ahead...

You're mad you are!

[pablo42]

You're mad you are!

Just a little mad BH.

[kevin]

I like a good thriller - fiction. At the moment reading a Jeffrey Deaver - "The bodies left behind". Brilliant so far.

Agree - read it last week.

[pablo42]

Locals are said to be in a state of shock after Police found a stash of guns behind the library in Liverpool yesterday.

A spokesman said 'The people of Liverpool had no idea they had a library'.

[RonnieW]

'The World Turned Upside Down' by Christopher Hill. It's about the Levellers and Diggers in the 17 century who were the forerunners of the socialists.

[burkhilly]

Locals are said to be in a state of shock after Police found a stash of guns behind the library in Liverpool yesterday.

A spokesman said 'The people of Liverpool had no idea they had a library'.

Shouldn't that that read Wallasey instead of Liverpool Pabs?

[pablo42]

Shouldn't that that read Wallasey instead of Liverpool Pabs?

Ha, we are more sophisticated over here...

[scouse smurf]

Ha, we are more sophisticated over here...

yeah, u wanted to close most of ur libraries. What does that say for ur sophistication ?

[pablo42]

yeah, u wanted to close most of ur libraries. What does that say for ur sophistication ?

I never knew we had any...

[kevin]

Ruth has just brought home a book by Robert Crais. This is a stand-alone thriller about a hostage negotiator but he's got an excellent series starring Elvis Cole and Joe Pike - a private detective and his partner. Really good stories and a lot of humour in the writing. Haven't read them all yet but seek them out when I can.

[Davec]

Locals are said to be in a state of shock after Police found a stash of guns behind the library in Liverpool yesterday.

A spokesman said 'The people of Liverpool had no idea they had a library'.

Maybe that's because they all joined online and download their e-books and audio books.....link below


http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/Leisure_and_culture/Libraries_and_archives/How_to_join/index.asp

[Pennylane]

We all must've been reading the same story somehow over the last few days as I also mentioned it, quite coincidentally on the Maybrick thread with it being flypaper poisonings.

Here are the pics of the Trinity Vaults as they look today and the houses built on the site of where the sisters lived on Latimer street, though they didn't actually commit any murders whilst living there. (they were between murders at the time, taking a bit of a rest)

Where about did those sisters live exactley Ged ? My flat was on Latimer Street , one window in the living room faced the Trinity though , i was on the corner block !!!!!!!

[squiggs]

I have just finished An American prince the life story of Tony Curtis !, who I love :), and according to the book so did loads of other women !!

[Pennylane]

I have just finished An American prince the life story of Tony Curtis !, who I love :), and according to the book so did loads of other women !!

Ahh , yes they just don't make them like that anymore Squiggs !!

[steveb]

Just about to start the Cameo Conspiracy, about the Cameo cinema murders

[Pennylane]

Just about to start the Cameo Conspiracy, about the Cameo cinema murders

There's a huge long thread on here about it Steve , it's really good too , sort of picks apart the murder ...

[steveb]

There's a huge long thread on here about it Steve , it's really good too , sort of picks apart the murder ...

Hi

yes I do follow the thread which is what got me interested. You may have seen
my pic of George,s grave in the thread. Bought the book off the author, so it
is signed copy...

[Pennylane]

Hi

yes I do follow the thread which is what got me interested. You may have seen
my pic of George,s grave in the thread. Bought the book off the author, so it
is signed copy...

Hi Steve , i'll have a look for it .... It's quite enthralling is'nt it .

[Oddsocks]

Currently working my way through the Martin Beck series- Swedish detective novels.

Maybe you've read this book if you like Swedish authors. I picked it at random in the library; Henning Mankell - 'Kennedy's Brain' excellent translation by Laurie Thompson.
It's about a mother trying to find out the reason for her son's 'apparent' suicide. Her investigation takes her as far as AIDS riven Africa and back to Europe. A very good read.

[Pennylane]

Maybe you've read this book if you like Swedish authors. I picked it at random in the library; Henning Mankell - 'Kennedy's Brain' excellent translation by Laurie Thompson.
It's about a mother trying to find out the reason for her son's 'apparent' suicide. Her investigation takes her as far as AIDS riven Africa and back to Europe. A very good read.

I like the sound of that one ..

[Oddsocks]

I like the sound of that one ..

I hope you get it, Penny. You'll not be disappointed.

Oddsocks

[Oddsocks]

Here's one that will shock all those with a humanitarian soul. It's about Robert Peary, Arctic explorer who brings back from one of his expeditions a family of Inuits (Eskimos) at the behest of the New York Natural History Museum (who financed his travels).
To Peary and the NHM they were merely "Live ethnographic specimens"

Give me my Father's Body by Kenn Harper:

[underworld]

Hi

yes I do follow the thread which is what got me interested. You may have seen
my pic of George,s grave in the thread. Bought the book off the author, so it
is signed copy...

Oh great stuff Steve. Hope you enjoy it, let me know. I'm doing the photograph touch ups for Georges new book about the Cranbourne Road murder.

I'm reading "Spycatcher" by Peter Wright. He was the deputy director of MI5 and was stitched up over his pension when he retired. So he puplished his memoirs and the Government banned the book. So he went to Australia and published it. Very interesting read into the methods and secrets of the security services back in the 40s, 50, 60s and 70s.

[Ronijayne]

I usually read to Pablo Coelho. My favorite book of he, is The Alchemist. When I was finished to read it, I like travel all the time. Why? I do not know!
Another Coelho's entertaining book is A Bridle, an Irish young woman, who wants to be a witch. Now I want to read Verónica decides to die.

Almost always I am in the habit of reading on politics, conflicts, Greek mythology, Celtic culture... but with Coelho and another writer native of San Sebastian that then I present you, I do an exception with great pleasure.

In English: Pablo Coelho Web Site (http://www.paulocoelho.com/engl/index.html)

I bought Veronica Decides to Die but could not get into it and put it on the pass along pile.

[Ronijayne]

I am reading EMPIRE, A tale of Obsession, Betrayal and the Battle for an American Icon. No, it is not a novel but does read like one. It is the amazing story over the battle to own the Empire State Building. I keep thinking I am reading a novel until Leona Helmsley (horrible woman) Donald Trump keep popping up

[Ronijayne]

Oh great stuff Steve. Hope you enjoy it, let me know. I'm doing the photograph touch ups for Georges new book about the Cranbourne Road murder.

I'm reading "Spycatcher" by Peter Wright. He was the deputy director of MI5 and was stitched up over his pension when he retired. So he puplished his memoirs and the Government banned the book. So he went to Australia and published it. Very interesting read into the methods and secrets of the security services back in the 40s, 50, 60s and 70s.

How is Spycatcher? I bought it when it first came out years ago as you could not buy it in the UK so I wanted to read it but never did. I think it just went out with the 75 hard cover books I just gave to the Sally Army. If you say it is great I will be disappointed I did not read it.

[steveb]

Oh great stuff Steve. Hope you enjoy it, let me know. I'm doing the photograph touch ups for Georges new book about the Cranbourne Road murder.

I'm reading "Spycatcher" by Peter Wright. He was the deputy director of MI5 and was stitched up over his pension when he retired. So he puplished his memoirs and the Government banned the book. So he went to Australia and published it. Very interesting read into the methods and secrets of the security services back in the 40s, 50, 60s and 70s.

Hi
yes thanks for your help, got it no problem had a qwik look and it looks
a good read. Just goto find time now to read it :)

[underworld]

How is Spycatcher? I bought it when it first came out years ago as you could not buy it in the UK so I wanted to read it but never did. I think it just went out with the 75 hard cover books I just gave to the Sally Army. If you say it is great I will be disappointed I did not read it.

I'm enjoying it sorry. I bought it in a charity shop too.

[Henry the horse]

A Lennon bio by Philip Norman.Not bad.

[Partsky]

Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard. He was such a good writer.

[Mark R]

Island by Richard Laymon. Sort of a cross between Lost & Friday the 13th:eek:

[pablo42]

I can't remember where I put my Sherlock Holmes book.


It's a mystery......

[Henry the horse]

I can't remember where I put my Sherlock Holmes book.


It's a mystery......

Elementary dear Watson....

[pablo42]

Elementary dear Watson....

Ha, love it HH...

[kevin]

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - the third book in the Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larson.
http://www.stieglarsson.com/

Every bit as good as the first two but there is quite a bit of background to the Swedish security services to wade through in the early stages.

[Henry the horse]

Once Ive finished the Lennon book,I'll probably go for something by Spike Milligan.Probably.Could do with a good laugh.

[Henry the horse]

Been meaning to pick up,Liddypool,Birthplace of The Beatles by David Bedford.Looks excellent.

[RonnieW]

I'm re-reading 'Popular Politics, Riot and Labour. Essays in Liverpool History 1790 - 1940' Edited by John Belchem. I first read it in 1997.

[Henry the horse]

Sounds like an interesting book,Ronnie.

[RonnieW]

Sounds like an interesting book,Ronnie.

It covers the period of The Chartists and explains why the movement wasn't as strong as it was in other British cities. It covers the roots of sectarianism and how the Tories exploited it for their own ends, the Liverpool General Strike etc. It's a L'pool University book and I'm no intellectual, but I didn't find it a difficult book to read.

[Pennylane]

I'm reading Paul Mc Kenna , ' I can make you thin' ! While eating a chocolate brownie !

[scouse smurf]

I'm reading Paul Mc Kenna , ' I can make you thin' ! While eating a chocolate brownie !

Excellent !!! U should just listen to the cd that comes with it. Have u tried the brownie's from the co-op. I'm sort of addicted to them :)

[Pennylane]

Excellent !!! U should just listen to the cd that comes with it. Have u tried the brownie's from the co-op. I'm sort of addicted to them :)

There's a CD in the back of the book , i'll have a listen to it later , or better still i'll listen to it while i'm driving .. These are called Gu brownies with a fudge layer .. fabulous :) I'll have to give the co-op a try !!

[scouse smurf]

There's a CD in the back of the book , i'll have a listen to it later , or better still i'll listen to it while i'm driving .. These are called Gu brownies with a fudge layer .. fabulous :) I'll have to give the co-op a try !!

u won't be able to listen to the cd while driving, coz it's supposed to put ya into a relaxed state etc. Not tried the make u thin one but I remember starting to listen to one of his others while watching the footy on telly and can only remember me saying now wake. Didn't listen to it again !!!!

[Pennylane]

u won't be able to listen to the cd while driving, coz it's supposed to put ya into a relaxed state etc. Not tried the make u thin one but I remember starting to listen to one of his others while watching the footy on telly and can only remember me saying now wake. Didn't listen to it again !!!!

It's a good job you told me that Smurfie , i'd have fallen asleep at the wheel ..... The books not too bad , he goes on a bit , but i'll give it a go i suppose .. My friend is going to come walking with me of a night , and she's very very thin , i don't wanna go too thin though because i might look wrinkley and stringy , my friend looks a bit stringy ...

[scouse smurf]

I'd hate to see what u'd say about her if she wasn't ur friend !!!

[Pennylane]

I'd hate to see what u'd say about her if she wasn't ur friend !!!

I've told her to her face that she looks stringy , she needs a bit of plumpness to her skin , i can get away with it because i'm a beautician and i do her face :)

[scouse smurf]

lol, maybe u need to put a plate of brownies nearby when u're doing her face :)

[Pennylane]

lol, maybe u need to put a plate of brownies nearby when u're doing her face :)

Haha , yeah now theres an idea :)

[kevin]

lol, maybe u need to put a plate of brownies nearby when u're doing her face :)

One tucked into each cheek should do the trick.

[Darian5]

I'm reading "Who moved my choose"
It's a wonderful book..If possible try to read it..

[suzi]

Im reading who will love my children. Very sad

[Pennylane]

Im reading who will love my children. Very sad

There's a film about that , if it's the same one .. it's a scream the house down film ... With red eye's for a week .

[Jill]

There's a film about that , if it's the same one .. it's a scream the house down film ... With red eye's for a week .

I've seen that film. It really pulls your heart strings.

[Pennylane]

I've seen that film. It really pulls your heart strings.

Oh i know :(

[Jill]

Oh i know :(

I think I cried for a week.

[Pennylane]

I think I cried for a week.

So did i , and when i first seen Titanic , well that was it , i was singing my heart will go on , while crying my eyes out , at 3 o'clock in the morning !!!

[Jill]

So did i , and when i first seen Titanic , well that was it , i was singing my heart will go on , while crying my eyes out , at 3 o'clock in the morning !!!

Lol. I was crying at that film too, bored me to death. I couldn't wait for the ship to sink. I watched it at the movies with my then boyfriend. I can't remember who was worst, the movie or him.

[Pennylane]

Lol. I was crying at that film too, bored me to death. I couldn't wait for the ship to sink. I watched it at the movies with my then boyfriend. I can't remember who was worst, the movie or him.

Hahaha , i remember being on a coach with a load of old people , we were going to Lourdes 'childrens week' .Anyway they put that film on , and i think all the old ones felt the same as you , it was so funny , the said ' Bleedin hell , all we've heard is ' Rose Jack Jack Rose' hahaha , they hated it !

[Jill]

Hahaha , i remember being on a coach with a load of old people , we were going to Lourdes 'childrens week' .Anyway they put that film on , and i think all the old ones felt the same as you , it was so funny , the said ' Bleedin hell , all we've heard is ' Rose Jack Jack Rose' hahaha , they hated it !

I knew how it was going to end. I like surprises.

[Pennylane]

I knew how it was going to end. I like surprises.

Hehe ! I watched ' my sisters keeper' last week , that was really good , and very sad .

[suzi]

Lol. I was crying at that film too, bored me to death. I couldn't wait for the ship to sink. I watched it at the movies with my then boyfriend. I can't remember who was worst, the movie or him.

I saw that with my ex. So know how you feel

[scouse smurf]

Just finished reading Espedair Street by Iain Banks.



Daniel Weir used to be a famous - not to say infamous - rock star. Maybe still is. At thirty-one he has been both a brilliant failure and a dull success. He's made a lot of mistakes that have paid off and a lot of smart moves he'll regret forever (however long that turns out to be). Daniel Weir has gone from rags to riches and back, and managed to hold onto them both, though not much else. His friends all seem to be dead, fed up with him or just disgusted - and who can blame them? And now Daniel Weir is all alone.


Was pretty good. Think I've found out I like first person narrative books.

Gonna read Frank Hird's Old Merseyside Tales or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick next

[Oudeis]

I got a book out of the library on the strength of an appraisal on here, henry-the-horse I think.
It is 'Voyages that changed the world.' by Peter Aughton. His book about Liverpool was not on the list.

[pablo42]

I've just started reading a book about a lad I served with. Should be good. He was a good laugh and a good soldier.

[Oudeis]

I've just started reading a book about a lad I served with. Should be good. He was a good laugh and a good soldier.

What's this? "Hitler and my part in his downfall"? :)

[kevin]

Wolf Hall

[pablo42]

What's this? "Hitler and my part in his downfall"? :)

He was one of the best soldiers I had the pleasure to serve with. A good man indeed.

[Henry the horse]

Almost finished a Lennon bio.Might start on a Martin Luther King book.Probably.

[lindylou]

I've just started reading this -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/About-Time-Growing-Old-Disgracefully/dp/184854023X

this bit made me laugh - - (talking about her mother sending her to school) -

' The poor woman lived under such illusions! She sent me to a convent school in Fulham road. I was just six. And when the other girls discovered I was a Protestant, I got locked in dark cupboards. I remember the first time a nun took me for a bath. It was winter, and she said: 'Undress yourself. Face the wall and don't look down when you undress.' And she put a bath vest on me because you must never see yourself naked. Afterwards I got into a damp nightdress and slept on an iron truckle bed. I didn't cry. I shared a room with a terrifying sixth-former who wore pebble specs and who said: 'Don't expect me to mother you; I am going to be a nun!'

Here's the bit that made me laugh - -

I loath all religions, all of them. I remember one of the nuns took me into the chapel. I had never been in a chapel. And she showed me a stone statue of someone with golden locks and big blue eyes, and she said: 'who is that?'
And I said: 'Jeantette MacDonald!'

:lol: Jeanette MacDonald !' ha,ha, thats tickled my sense of humour. hee,hee. :lol:

[scouse smurf]

I've just read Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years. Was pretty good :)

[ericfaragh]

The Greatest Show on Earth, Richard Dawkins.

[Kev]

Replay: The History of Video Games

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ymm8yxrUL._SS500_.jpg (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ymm8yxrUL._SS500_.jpg)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Replay-History-Video-Tristan-Donovan/dp/0956507204/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283831748&sr=1-1

[kevin]

Nine Dragons.
Michael Connelly.

The latest Harry Bosch tale - always good.

[robbo176]

Jack the Ripper by Tom Slemen

[scouse smurf]

I'm now re-reading the Wasp factory by Iain Banks


About the book:
Frank - no ordinary sixteen-year-old - lives with his father outside a remote Scottish village. Their life is, to say the least, unconventional. Frank's mother abandoned them years ago: his elder brother Eric is confined to a psychiatric hospital; and his father measures out his eccentricities on an imperial scale. Frank has turned to strange acts of violence to vent his frustrations. In the bizarre daily rituals there is some solace. But when news comes of Eric's escape from the hospital Frank has to prepare the ground for his brother's inevitable return - an event that explodes the mysteries of the past and changes Frank utterly.

[goldenface]

His Robot Girlfriend

[Jengo]

"Lowlife" by Simon Eddisbury

The blurb: -

"On 31st October 2008, I was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for supplying three grams of MDMA to an undercover officer. It was a crime of naivety- I was attempting to supplement my student loan by dabbling in things that I knew very little about. During my time inside, I interviewed armed robbers, murderers, gun runners and gangland debt collectors and put together a book containing the life stories of twenty-three different career criminals. I uncovered a world in which hand granades are sold for as little as £50 and torture is a standard means of extracting money. Pool balls in socks, double-bladed prison shanks, inedible food, widespread heroin and Subutex abuse... I went from a hedonistic highlife of partying and recreational drug-taking to the Lowlife- a struggle for survival in a lawless society where might is right."

It's quite interesting- there's a chapter on a smuggler from Liverpool which I found particularly fascinating in a morbid kind of way.

http://www.amazon.com/LowLife-British-Dealers-Runners-Murderers/dp/1844549607/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283889825&sr=8-1 for those wanting to check it out

[lindylou]

I'm reading this -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Speaking-Myself-Autobiography-Cherie-Blair/dp/1408700980

I've been reading about her childhood and school days in Waterloo/Crosby, and onto university life. I am now up to where she meets Tony Blair :)

[Oudeis]

Cherie Booth
broad of tooth
Who could have taught young women more?
"Hang a mirror by the door".

[raycake]

I'm currently reading; The Little Grey Men by Denys WatkinPitchford and A Creel of Willow by W. H Canaway.

[kevin]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-snowman-by-jo-nesb248--trans-don-bartlett-1916170.html

The Snowman - Jo Nesbo.
Really enjoyed it and can't wait for more books featuring Harry Hole (really) to be translated into English.

[tomslemen11yearoldfan!!!!]

Tom slemens latest book :)

[fortinian]

I'm currently reading 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool by John Reppion.
Fantastic book, you get a feeling Reppion really questioned the stories behind the tales and dug deep into Liverpools history.

Also, I've just re-read Richard Whittington-Egans books - classic scouse writing at its best. Nearly every folk-tale, spooky-story and tales of unusual characters can be traced back to Egan's seminal works. He writes with an authority and credibility that other writers struggle to master. It's a shame he hasn't been celebrated as one of the greatest folklorists this city has ever produced.

[ericfaragh]

Life of George Stephenson by Samuel Smiles and Burr by Gore Vidal

[GeorgePorgie]

"The Gay Irishman" by Patrick Fitzmichael

[wsteve55]

"The Forgotten Voices of Burma" by Julian Thompson. Personal recollections of of the Burma campaign,known as the forgotten war,by those who served in it!

[lindylou]

I've had 4 books on the go lately. :)

Just finished reading these 3 books:

Underground Liverpool by Jim Moore.

Michael Shield's story - http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=107688

A Rough Guide To Wales. http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/catherine+le+nevez/paul+whitfield/mike+parker/rough+guides/the+rough+guide+to+wales/6533769/


Half way through reading this book, The Marian Conspiracy, because of my interest in Wales. Quote; 'This book is controversial for Catholics in so far as it suggests that the tomb of Mary might be located in Anglesey.'

The Marian Conspiracy by Graham Philips.
http://www.kton.demon.co.uk/marianconspiracy.htm

[Saoirse]

I quite like the Rough Guides but do prefer Lonely Planet for travel.
Just started reading,Confessions of an Irish Rebel by Brendan Behan.Quite a character.:)

[ericfaragh]

Just finished re-reading The Big Sleep and halfway through Farewell My Lovely. Raymond Chandler is one of my favourite writers.

[bluesareus]

Random by Craig Robertson, also The Sir Bobby Charlton Autobiography,My Manchester United Years

[wsteve55]

"The Great War for Civilisation":the Conquest of the Middle East,by Robert Fisk. Pretty hefty in paperback,at 1,300 pages,and I've only read about 50,but some fascinating insight to the causes of the problems there!

[underworld]

"Tickling the English" by Dara Obriain. Yawn!

[Oudeis]

"Tax Justice" (putting global inequality on the agenda)
Edited by: Matty Kohonen & Francine Mestrum.

The plot sickens?

[ItsaZappathing]

Bought the book Heave Abit Driver yesterday.
Very funny in parts.:PDT_Piratz_26:

[Oudeis]

Cash-strapped avid readers may find this of interest...

http://www.readitswapit.co.uk/TheLibrary.aspx

[beat]

hello, very good books: The Road by Cormac Mccarthy; amazing writer, The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, Rainer Maria Rilke Lettres à un jeune poète...Nietsche Ainsi parlait Zarathrousta...good reading

[CharlieSays...]

The Hound of the Baskervilles.. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.. :)
Films excellent too, Basil Rathbone of course.... Not forgetting Nigel Bruce of course.... Poor old Doctor Watson....

[GNASHER]

Life by Keef

[underworld]

"Hunting Evil" by Guy Walters. Its about the Nazis and how they were helped to escape after the was through Odessa. Just started it really and it looks quite good. I know Walters actually went on the knock and came face to face with one or two of these monsters.

[knowhowe]

Having yet another bash at Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth. Just discovered it on a pal's bookshelf- who I'd forgotten I'd lent it to. Bad idea lending out your favourite books cos you never get them back except by lucky accident. Beggar hadn't even read it.

That aside, this is a wonderful and moving epic yarn of the slave trade. The action starts in a shipyard on the Liverpool shore in the 18th century and I shall say no more except to highly recommend it to all. Sacred Hunger won the Booker Prize and I always thought it would make a really great film.

[John Doh]

I agree - a great read! It appears very well researched too, but with something like this that fuses historical events with fiction I always can't help wondering how much can really be relied upon as regards the factual side...

[Oudeis]

for YOU the war is over. By Sam Kydd.

Dedication.
"This book is dedicated to all those p.o.w.'s who never made it and to those who did. The Red Cross Society. To my mother,...and all the other Kydds wherever they may be--on the job, "inside" or just released! Also to my wife Pinkie and my son Jonathan, born out of captivity.
Last but not least to my Accountant, my Bookie, the Inland Revenue, Hammersmith Labour Exchange and the Halifax Building Society, who hope that the receipts from this book will at last pay off the mortgage.
Also to the bailiffs for their forbearance."
[sorry Sam, I got it from the library a moment ago]

[Lizzie1]

'It's a Long Way from Penny Apples' by Bill Cullen

'The Blood Detective' by Dan Waddell

though one of my favourites.................... 'Birdsong' by Sebastian Faulks

[Oudeis]

for YOU the war is over. By Sam Kydd.

Dedication.
"This book is dedicated to all those p.o.w.'s who never made it and to those who did. The Red Cross Society. To my mother,...and all the other Kydds wherever they may be--on the job, "inside" or just released! Also to my wife Pinkie and my son Jonathan, born out of captivity.
Last but not least to my Accountant, my Bookie, the Inland Revenue, Hammersmith Labour Exchange and the Halifax Building Society, who hope that the receipts from this book will at last pay off the mortgage.
Also to the bailiffs for their forbearance."
[sorry Sam, I got it from the library a moment ago]

Well. That's that. A soldier's story told as only a soldier can. Especially one that lasted in active service for all of three or four days. Before capture.
He and many many others spent the war imprisoned in Poland and shortly after Poland was overrun by the Russians they made their way home from Odessa via North Africa to Liverpool. Where many had to stay put until seen by a medic, many that is except the locals who swam for it. Wouldn't you?
An eventful tale of war-life from an odd angle indeed. Well worth a read.

---------- Post added at 02:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------

As I had taken the 'trouble' to let you all know what I thought of this book I thought I might as well go the whole hog. To this end I have written and said thank you to his son. [ruddy internet! No sooner thought than done?]

http://www.jonathankydd.com/samkydd.html

[Oudeis]

P.S.
I got a pleasant answer to my e-mail, justly proud of his father, I had not troubled him...1,2,3...ahh!
Jonathan Kydd is at the moment trying to find a publisher for his father's second volume of memories:his early years in acting.

[lindylou]

I read this one first -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Insider-Private-Diaries-Scandalous-Decade/dp/0091908493/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

now I'm onto the second one - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Misadventures-Mouth-Brit-Piers-Morgan/dp/0091913942

I agree with some of the reviews there - Piers Morgan whether you love him or hate him, these books are entertaining and an eye opener. :)
I see him in a different light now.

[Oudeis]

What with all the seaman's tales we get here, lucky we, I thought I'd re-borrow this from my neighbour (the author's niece). He may be a little older than our very own 'salts' and it is hardly Liverpool, but it goes to show if you have a story to tell there are outlets for you...

http://www.unitedwriters.co.uk/Export36.htm

[Oudeis]

This week I am mostly reading...

Tony Judt: Reappraisals

Bits can be read here....(I am up to the bit about TB)

http://www.tomhull.com/ocston/books/judt-reappraisals.php


Of the other Tony (TJ)...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/08/tony-judt-obituary?INTCMP=SRCH

[lindylou]

I watched the tv series of this, then read the book - a facinating read, and I agree with the reviewers that you don't want the book to end.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/If-Walls-Could-Talk-intimate/dp/0571259529/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307290768&sr=1-1


This one - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bear-Mind-These-Susan-McKay/dp/0571236960 - I read half of it but didn't finish it. It was an eye opener to real events that happened to real people. Very shocking and harrowing to read what really went on - what those families suffered - the details are shocking. It was too hard to finish this book.
Not for the feint hearted.

[scouse smurf]

That series wasn't too bad. I don't mind history type things as long as they're not too serious or stuffy (I loved the supersizers eat/go series)

I'm reading Jack Dee's autobiography. Got it from the poundshop so gotta say it's value for money :)

[lindylou]

That series wasn't too bad. I don't mind history type things as long as they're not too serious or stuffy (I loved the supersizers eat/go series)

I'm reading Jack Dee's autobiography. Got it from the poundshop so gotta say it's value for money :)

The tv history series was really good, but the book even more so :)

Jack Dee - I like him.

[Marty1]

This one - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bear-Mind-Th.../dp/0571236960 - I read half of it but didn't finish it. It was an eye opener to real events that happened to real people. Very shocking and harrowing to read what really went on - what those families suffered - the details are shocking. It was too hard to finish this book.
Not for the feint hearted.

Thanks Lindy, I must get a copy of it, I have lost Lives that accounts for each death in N/I but it is more reference than story ! Just ordered !

[scouse smurf]

The tv history series was really good, but the book even more so :)

Jack dee - I like him.

Check out poundland then, they still had copies today :)

[lindylou]

Thanks Smurf, I'll look out for it.

[lindylou]

I didn't get that book Smurf, but I picked up a copy of a Michael Jackson biography. It will do for something to read on holiday.


I've just started John Prescott's autobiography. :)

I didn't know his father was from an Anfield family( where I live), but his mother was from Chirk on the Welsh border. His parents married in Hoylake, lived there for a while then moved to north Wales. Prescott was born in Prestatyn and classes himself as Welsh even though he spent his childhood in Brinsworth near Rotherham and he has a Yorkshire accent. The family had moved to Yorkshire because his father worked for the railways and was offered work there.

I'm only at the begining reading about his childhood, I'm expecting the rest of the book to be interesting and entertaining.:unibrow:

[Lizzie1]

Milligan's Meaning of Life by Spike Milliagn, edited by Norma Farnes

Might put this on my Christmas list............


Milligan was born in Ahmednagar, India, and spent his childhood in Poona and Rangoon. ‘It was an ideal childhood,’ he reminisced. ‘I loved the lakes, the beautiful colours and the gentle people.’
When, in later life, he endured many a nervous collapse, it was as if he sought to return to this paradise that was now lost. For, in 1933 when Milligan was 14, the family returned to South London - and this was a severe dislocation, or culture shock, for the young teenager.
Spike worked as a clerk in an engineering firm, as a confectionery shop delivery boy, as a stockroom assistant, and as a drudge in the Chislehurst laundry. He was propelled out of this low-level existence by an invitation to join what he called ‘The Adolf Hitler Show, starting at seven shillings and sixpence a week’.
These army wages Milligan gave to his mother, who in turn gave the money to the Poor of the Parish.
‘I couldn’t understand it,’ he said. ‘We were the poor of the parish.’
Though he said ‘I’m a hero, with coward’s legs’, the war was the making of Milligan

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-2046123/MURDER-BY-POTATO-PEELER-How-Spike-Milligan-tried-knock-Peter-Sellers-MILLIGANS-MEANING-OF-LIFE-BY-SPIKE-MILLIGAN-EDITED-BY-NORMA-FARNES.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

[Ronijayne]

I am at the beach and after two days of HOT sunny weather 85 degrees it is cool and raining!! Went to the village drug store, lol not much selection but it is going to rin tomorrow too so had to get something......got CROSSFIRE, Dick Francis and his son Felix, just the ticket to read whilst watching the waves crashing outside

[kevin]

The Affair, by Lee Child.
The latest 'Jack Reacher' novel.

[Doris Mousdale]

Just finished the latest Lee Child The Affair a prequel to the Killing Floor did you know he used to write for Coronation St and was made redundant so wrote his first novel The Killing Floor. We have just finished a bookclub evening here in my bookshop *(10.00pm)lots of chat about books and wine and cheese, check out the bookshop on Facebook or www.arcadiabookshop.co.nz.
I have a book programme on BBC Worldwide here in NZ and tomorrow I do a review section on NewstalkZB
will be talking about the new Robert Harris The Fear Jeffrey Eugenides The Marriage Plot an Michel Houellebecq The Map and the Territory

[lindylou]

I'm reading The Pueblo, a Mountain Village, by R Fraser. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pueblo-Mountain-Village-Costa-del/dp/0713905824

I'm half way through it. Really interesting book; it's a cross section of accounts from the village, and each chapter is dedicated to a village resident. They tell of the hungry years throughout the decades until the tourists came. It was published before the death of Franco.

http://dannyreviews.com/h/Tajos.html

an extract from the book: In Sevilla, 9,000 were reported executed and threats were 'bellowed over the radio'.

When Malaga fell there ensued the most ferocious proscription that had occurred in Spain since the fall of Badajoz.
Hugh Thomas comments in the book 'The Spanish Civil War' that the exact numbers executed may never be known.
Estimates of those executed from Tajos vary. It is certain that in the first months the figure was more than 50 - many claim that it was more than 100 - and twice the number imprisoned. At least 9 men who were shot do not appear on the list.
The repression continued until 1941. (R. Fraser).




Also, to lighten the mood, I've got Paul O'Grady's The devil Rides Out. :)

[123dave]

Alan Sugar autibiography

[kevin]

I'm reading The Pueblo, a Mountain Village, by R Fraser. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pueblo-Mountain-Village-Costa-del/dp/0713905824

I'm half way through it. Really interesting book; it's a cross section of accounts from the village, and each chapter is dedicated to a village resident. They tell of the hungry years throughout the decades until the tourists came. It was published before the death of Franco

http://dannyreviews.com/h/Tajos.html

an extract from the book: In Sevilla, 9,000 were reported executed and threats were 'bellowed over the radio'.

When Malaga fell there ensued the most ferocious proscription that had occurred in Spain since the fall of Badajoz.
Hugh Thomas comments in the book 'The Spanish Civil War' that the exact numbers executed may never be known.
Estimates of those executed from Tajos vary. It is certain that in the first months the figure was more than 50 - many claim that it was more than 100 - and twice the number imprisoned. At least 9 men who were shot do not appear on the list.
The repression continued until 1941. (R. Fraser).




Also, to lighten the mood, I've got Paul O'Grady's The devil Rides Out. :)

Hi Linda,
When Franco's health was failing you couldn't buy a bottle of Champagne anywhere in the country - it was being stockpiled, ready to celebrate his death.
I was reading a history of The Spanish Civil War last year, but lost my way eventually. There were so many different factions on opposing sides it was hard to keep track of who was supporting who and who was killing who.

[prenton01]

Just finished Steven Adlers ( guns and roses drummer ) autobiography excellent read all round

[Lizzie1]

I really enjoyed reading this.............Dear Tom, Letters from Home - Tom Courtenay



When Tom Courtenay left his home in Hull to study in London his mother Annie wrote him letters every week. In them she would observe the world on her doorstep. A world of second-hand shoes and pawnshops, where all the men worked "on Dock" and Saturday nights were spent down the Club. It was a world in which Annie often felt misplaced. Having always longed to write, the letters to her son gave Annie a creative means of escape. "It's after tea now, your father is examining the bath, I'm awaiting Ann and outside it's India". Like his mother, the young Courtenay also felt he was supposed to be elsewhere. Unlike his mother, he was given the opportunity to educate himself and chase his dream. In Dear Tom: Letters From Home Courtenay intersperses recollections of his days as a student actor in the early 1960s with his mother's engaging and enchanting correspondence. Raw but real, her prose not only paints a graphic and gritty picture of everyday drudge, it displays an inquisitive insight into a life that denied a fishwife her dreams. In a world where working-class women learnt to make do, Annie felt at odds with her artistic aspirations. "Just lately I have had the feeling that I am more than one me. It is very strange. There's the me that goes careering off writing, thinking, Then there is the ordinary me that mocks the writing me and thinks she is silly and a boring fool". After his mother's untimely death, her letters became Tom Courtenay's most treasured possessions. Dear Tom: Letters From Home is a memoir of a mother's love that pays posthumous homage to a creative spirit stifled by circumstance. "What magic if, after all these years, people read her letters and are affected by them", writes Courtenay. It would be impossible not to be. A beautiful book that won't fail to touch. --Christopher Kelly

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dear-Tom-Courtenay/dp/0552999261

[essexscouse]

'It's a Long Way from Penny Apples' by Bill Cullen

'The Blood Detective' by Dan Waddell

though one of my favourites.................... 'Birdsong' by Sebastian Faulks

Penny apples is a great read loved it

[Doris Mousdale]

Me too I thought it was better than Angela's Ashes
Penny apples is a great read loved it

[lindylou]

another interesting one I finished a couple of weeks back -
http://www.justinehardy.com/pages/books/in-the-valley-of-mist/intro.htm

[Spike]

Im flicking through ' An Autobiography of a Liverpool Slummy ' Pat O'Mara

Really good.

[Lizzie1]

Penny apples is a great read loved it



Me too I thought it was better than Angela's Ashes



Penny Apples is one of those books you can't put down!

I'm now reading The Wit of President Kennedy - Bill Adler

"I have just received the following telegram from my generous Daddy. It says;
Dear Jack, Don't buy a single vote more than necessary , I'll be d.a.m.n.ed if I'm going to pay for a landslide."

[Ramsey Campbell]

Christopher Priest's quietly disturbing (like much of his work) novel The Separation - in some ways a companion piece to The Prestige.

[Max]

Brief History Of France by Cecil Jenkins.

24368

[lindylou]

I've just finished reading ' In Hiding' the story of Manuel Cortés who spent thirty years hiding in his own home to escape execution. Manuel Cortés, a socialist and mayor of Mijas, became a marked man once Franco’s forces took power. Cortés stayed under cover until amnesty was decreed in 1969.
http://www.amazon.com/Hiding-Life-Manuel-Cortes-New/dp/1844675963

Unbelievable how a person could stay hidden in the house undiscovered .. and in a village where everyone knew everyone else -- for 30 years without being found! :eek:
Even when organised searches took place in the village, and also later when workmen were in the house renovating - Cortés was never discovered!

[Oudeis]

I've just finished reading ' In Hiding' the story of Manuel Cortes who spent thirty years hiding in his own home to escape execution. Manuel Cortés, a socialist and mayor of Mijas, became a marked man once Franco’s forces took power. Cortés stayed under cover until amnesty was decreed in 1969.
http://www.amazon.com/Hiding-Life-Manuel-Cortes-New/dp/1844675963

Unbelievable how a person could stay hidden in the house undiscovered .. and in a village where everyone knew everyone else -- for 30 years without being found! :eek:
Even when organised searches took place in the village, and also later when workmen were in the house renovating - Cortes was never discovered!

[Have I over-quoted?]

Many of the short stories of Robert Graves are about his life in Spain (Majorca, I think) and he often touches on life under the General.

[Brian-P]

[QUOTE=Lizzie1;371442]Milligan's Meaning of Life by Spike Milliagn, edited by Norma Farnes

Though he said ‘I’m a hero, with coward’s legs’, the war was the making of Milligan[/B]

QUOTE]

Lizzie, now that made me chuckle a little too loud!! Lots of disapproving eyes on me.

I remember Spike getting interview on Wogan back in the 80's and when one gag received only one person's applause, he replied with "a lone clap is better than a single herp!!".

The man was a genius.

[Ged]

The Killing of Julia Wallace by John Gannon.


(see also the Julia Wallace murder thread on yo - it seems a few of us are/were reading it) ;)

Only on page 72 up to now - so staying away from any prejudices on the above thread up to now :)

[Brian-P]

The Killing of Julia Wallace by John Gannon is next on my list.

Currently reading 'The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover' by Anthony Summers.

I highly recommend it. The stuff he (& others) got away with is absolutely breath-taking.

[Ged]

Dam-n, I must get round to that one ;)

[Brian-P]

You want to read the stuff he drags up.:handclap:

[Lizzie1]

Lizzie, now that made me chuckle a little too loud!! Lots of disapproving eyes on me.

I remember Spike getting interview on Wogan back in the 80's and when one gag received only one person's applause, he replied with "a lone clap is better than a single herp!!".

The man was a genius.


Hi Brian yes he was a genius! I could spend a while just reading his quotes!

http://www.spikemilligan.co.uk/spike-milligan-quotes.html

---------------------
My most recent read (and I can’t ‘get into’ another book since!!!) was The Help by Kathryn Stockett. One of those books you can’t put down yet you don’t want to get to the end!! Hope Ms Stockett is working on a sequel!
I know they’ve made a film of The Help but I’m reluctant to see it………..if the recent BBC dramatization of Bird Song is anything to go by!!............I was very disappointed in that.