A book you really enjoyed over the last two years.

Last summer I read Orphans of the Storm by Celia Imrie. It’s not like any of her other books. A fascinating story based on true experiences with a twist at the end.

Urmstongran I've just reserved "White Chrysanthemum" at the library on your recommendation after checking out the storyline.

I really enjoyed and would most definitely recommend the following:

Still Life: Sarah Winman

A Keeper: Graham Norton.

Home Stretch also by Graham Norton

V for Victory: Lissa Evans
(In fact, any book by Lissa Evans is worth reading)

I thought it was a brilliant read Sparklefizz! I do hope you want to race through it as much as I did. Several friends took me up on my recommendation and they all thought it was hugely enjoyable. I love how one or two of them ring me up pre-holidays to ask my advice on good reads!

A review if anyone is interested:

www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/08/white-chrysanthemum-mary-lynn-bracht-review

eazybee

Just finished A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.
A witty, thought -provoking book about a Russian aristocrat under house arrest from 1922, but in Moscow's Metropol Hotel.

I read that a couple of years back on a friend's recommendation and frankly wasn't looking forward to it, but I loved it and got very fond of the strange characters.

I'll keep you posted Urmstongran. I could only find one copy on our library's system so it may take a while for me to get it.

😊

NotSpaghetti

I came upon this book accidentally.
I understand it's a film now.
I'd never heard of it/the author so came with no expectations.

* *

What book was that, NotSpaghetti? I looked for a link but couldn't find one.

Oh, I get it now - you mean the one in the post above!

Great thread! I liked Crawdads, too.

JackyB - The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox.

Here's an Amazon link.
www.amazon.co.uk/Vintners-Luck-Elizabeth-Knox/dp/0099273896?tag=gransnetforum-21

To add to your list, I would recommend:

Between Sisters, by Kristin Hannah

Outside the sky is blue, by Christina Patterson

The Muse, by Jessie Burton

Em and Me, by Beth Morey

Saving Missy, also by Beth Morey

Happy reading! 😊

Oh, yes, another fan of ‘Crawdads’!

These threads drive me mad, I have a huge list that I keep adding to - I’m not going to live long enough to get to the end of it.

“All the Light We Cannot See”

Anthony Doerr

Beautifully written, a book that will capture and enthral

La Bella Figura by Kamin Mohammadi. Good Read has this to say about the book "One woman's story of finding beauty, and herself--and a practical guide to living a better life, the Italian way!"

It took me back to an earlier stage in my life, different industry but similar treadmill, and changes I made. Sadly didn't end up living in Italy :-)

Also re-read Where the Crawdads Sing after going to see the film.

Whitewavemark2

These threads drive me mad, I have a huge list that I keep adding to - I’m not going to live long enough to get to the end of it.

Yes, loved that too. I will keep adding to my list of favourites.

Whitewavemark2

“All the Light We Cannot See”

Anthony Doerr

Beautifully written, a book that will capture and enthral

This one!

The Madness by Fergal Keane - harrowing, not for the faint hearted …

'Hester' by Mrs Oliphant. A book written in the 1880s. Concerning a woman who took over and saved a country bank in the 1850s and the story of Hester, the daughter of the family member that nearly destroyed the bank.

It is a story of a woman succeeding in a mans profession, in mid Victorian England and how impossible it is for the girl to woman, heroine to do anything even faintly similar. Her only way forward is marriage and who she chooses.

Lessons in Chemistry… give it to your daughters and granddaughters!

A book that I bought, just by chance, on Kindle - Betty by Tiffany McDaniel. Very much in the vein of Where the Crawdads Sing, but in my opinion, even darker.
I think the book I enjoyed the most recently was Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, based very loosely on David Copperfield.
In complete contrast to the books above, I am also a fan of Mick Herron books after seeing Slow Horses on Sky.

Kathleen Jamie’s “Sightlines”. Not a novel but a collection of very thought provoking essays about life and the natural world.
Recently, Pat Barker’s latest novel “Women of Troy”, a follow up to “Silence of the Girls”. I can’t recommend these two books too highly. They eclipse ever other novel that has been written about the Trojan Wars and I don’t say that lightly as a fan of Nathalie Haynes and Madeline Miller. What gripping, powerful, heart breaking narrative of the futile tragedy of Troy from the female perspective. She has another novel coming out this year to finish the trilogy. Can’t wait.

A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe
It starts off with a young embalmer called in to assist after the Aberfan tragedy, but that's only covered very briefly, the rest of the book is about him growing up and his time at boarding school and as a Cambridge chorister.