Vocal Voices

I'm reading Maeve Binchy's last book A Week in Winter, she just about finished writing it before she passed away.....it's terribly disappointing and the only reason why I'm sticking with it is because my brain is very sluggish after the flu and it's about all I can manage.

I am reading a self help book They F**k You Up by Oliver James, the title is based on the Philip Larkin poem. It is about how your first 6 years influence the person you are now. The introduction really made sense to me and I was looking forward to reading it, but it is becoming a bit repetitive and I am struggling to find bits that I can relate to. It talks a lot about the importance of where you fit in the sibling order and how you perceive the treatment of your siblings compared to you. As an only child most of that is not relevant. He is also very interested in schizophrenia, which again has no relevance nor interest to me

I might start skimming it, as I have a Susan Lewis to read instead (so much for self help)

I know the poem Shell xxxxxxx

Still not started The Sunne in Splendour yet................been finishing Moley..................but am hoping to this weekend

I know the poem, too, but I wouldn't care to recite it.

I'm reading an unusual book now - Akenfield by Ronald Blythe. It's about a village and the various people
who live there. It's based on a real village somewhere. It's the sort of book you can open at random and find it
interesting. I don't seem to find much time for reading lately, so this sort of book fits the bill nicely.

This colourful, perceptive portrayal of English country life reverberates with the voices of the village inhabitants, from the reminiscences of survivors of the Great War evoking days gone by, to the concerns of a younger generation of farm-workers and the fascinating and personal recollections of, among others, the local schoolteacher, doctor, blacksmith, saddler, district nurse and magistrate. Providing insights into farming, education, welfare, class, religion and death, Akenfield forms a unique document of a way of life that has, in many ways, disappeared.

I'm reading The Doctor's Wife by Brian Moore, a novelist who grew up in Belfast. This one was a Kindle Daily Deal and was written in 1976. Since I know so many of the places in Belfast that he mentions I'm enjoying it, and I remember the attitudes of the day and the political situation at the time it was written.

I finished Jane Yeadon's It Won't Hurt A Bit, it was quite interesting. Then I started Thursdays in The Park by Hilary Boyd, it was a gentle and predictable read and I can't complain as it was, and still is, a Kindle 20p book.

I started another last night but can't remember what it was now!

I read that one Jo, as you say for 20p it was fine, I pay more than that in charity shops!

I finished Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling and after a slow start really enjoyed it.

Last night I started The Kingmakrrs Daughter by Philippa Gregory. I can't put it down!

Diflower wrote:I read that one Jo, as you say for 20p it was fine, I pay more than that in charity shops!

Crazy isn't it? I've seen that book in the Top 20 section in Asda whilst it's been 20p on Amazon!

Unsuitable Men by Pippa Wright is what I'm reading now.

I have just started on the Honey Queen by Cathy Kelly. Enjoying it so far.

Kathy 22