What are you reading at the moment?

[Ruby Slippers]

I don't think you'd regret it, LLL!

[LovelyLadyLux]

Am not finished reading this book "WHALE SONG" by Cheryl Kaye Tardif quite yet but I've found it to be really realistic in that this story takes place on Vancouver Island in Canada where I'm from. This story takes place in Bamfield which is SSW coast and I live more to the NE but as Vancouver Island is long and not too wide we get really close to the same scenery, weather, First Nations people etc. 'tis a bit of west coast Canada I thought I'd share!

This is what Amazon/Kindle says about this book which does carry a 5 star rating: Originally published in Canada in 2003 (but never distributed in the U.S.), this moving story features Sarah Richardson, whose family moves from the Montana countryside to Vancouver Island just as she's about to enter sixth grade. Sarah soon finds that island life suits her perfectly--thanks, especially, to her new best friend, Goldie, whose Native American heritage Sarah finds fascinating, especially the wisdom passed to the girls from Goldie's grandmother, Nana. Sarah is also intrigued to learn that her marine-biologist father shares a passion with her new Indian friends: killer whales, which the natives revere and her father studies. Life isn't all native spirituality, however, as Sarah must confront a family tragedy that will change her life forever. Though overly melodramatic in places, Tardif's story has that perennially crowd-pleasing combination of sweet and sad that so often propels popular commercial fiction, especially coming-of-age stories. Tardif, already a big hit in Canada, may soon be a name to reckon with south of the border. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

[Ruby Slippers]

I've just finished reading 'The Kashmir Shawl' by Rosie Thomas! An absolute blockbuster of a novel! I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended!

[Ruby Slippers]

I've just finished 'Me before You' by Jojo Moyes. Ladies, read it - but make sure you have the tissues handy! I loved it!

[Winged Isis]

My packing and shopping checklists..... only 21 days till I'm back in Egypt! :cheer: No time for any other reading (except the forums, of course).

[Ruby Slippers]

I've just started reading 'Lara's Child' which I've had on my bookshelf for an age, I'm ashamed to say! It's a follow on to 'Dr. Zhivago' but not written by Boris Pasternak. It's by an author named Alexander Mollin who is a British writer. He also writes under a couple of different names. I'll let you know how it goes.

[HEPZIBAH]

My two most recent reads:
The Touch by Colleen McCullough - perhaps not her best novel but still very readable.
From the fantasticfiction website:

Not since The Thorn Birds has Colleen McCullough written a novel of such broad appeal about a family and the Australian experience as The Touch.

At its center is Alexander Kinross, remembered as a young man in his native Scotland only as a shiftless boilermaker's apprentice and a godless rebel. But when, years later, he writes from Australia to summon his bride, his Scottish relatives quickly realize that he has made a fortune in the gold fields and is now a man to be reckoned with.

Arriving in Sydney after a difficult voyage, the sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Drummond meets her husband-to-be and discovers to her dismay that he frightens and repels her. Offered no choice, she marries him and is whisked at once across a wild, uninhabited countryside to Alexander's own town, named Kinross after himself. In the crags above it lies the world's richest gold mine.

Isolated in Alexander's great house, with no company save Chinese servants, Elizabeth finds that the intimacies of marriage do not prompt her husband to enlighten her about his past life -- or even his present one. She has no idea that he still has a mistress, the sensual, tough, outspoken Ruby Costevan, whom Alexander has established in his town, nor that he has also made Ruby a partner in his company, rapidly expanding its interests far beyond gold. Ruby has a son, Lee, whose father is the head of the beleaguered Chinese community; the boy becomes dear to Alexander, who fosters his education as a gentleman.

Captured by the very different natures of Elizabeth and Ruby, Alexander resolves to have both of them. Why should he not? He has the fabled "Midas Touch" -- a combination of curiosity, boldness and intelligence that he applies to every situation, and which fails him only when it comes to these two women.

Although Ruby loves Alexander desperately, Elizabeth does not. Elizabeth bears him two daughters: the brilliant Nell, so much like her father; and the beautiful, haunting Anna, who is to present her father with a torment out of which for once he cannot buy his way. Thwarted in his desire for a son, Alexander turns to Ruby's boy as a possible heir to his empire, unaware that by keeping Lee with him, he is courting disaster.

The stories of the lives of Alexander, Elizabeth and Ruby are intermingled with those of a rich cast of characters, and, after many twists and turns, come to a stunning and shocking climax. Like The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough's new novel is at once a love story and a family saga, replete with tragedy, pathos, history and passion. As few other novelists can, she conveys a sense of place: the desperate need of her characters, men and women, rootless in a strange land, to create new beginnings.


Kensuke's Kingdom by Micheal Morpurgo - a delightful tale written for children/young people.

From Micheal Morpurgo's website
http://michaelmorpurgo.org/books_kensukes_kingdom.html

Michael is washed up on an island in the Pacific where he discovers there is no food or water - so he curls up, prepared to die. When he wakes up he sees a plate of fish, fruit and a bowl of fresh water by his side. Who has brought this? A thoughtful adventure story.

". . . combines a magical Crusoe-esque desert island adventure story with a poignant exploration of the growth of friendship and trust."
Guardian, Saturday November 19 2005

[LovelyLadyLux]

Loved the Thorn Birds so will have to see about finding this novel. Sounds like a super good read.

[Winged Isis]

Memors of a Geisha. Fascinating view into another lifestyle.

[HEPZIBAH]

Memors of a Geisha. Fascinating view into another lifestyle.

I read this years ago when it first came out. I found it excellent reading at the time. What facinated me was it was so intimately and beautifully written by a not only a non- Japanese person but by a man! I know that there was some controversy over how he got such wonderful details of the inside world of the Geisha - a world that is still pretty much hidden - but it should not be allowed to detract from the book itself.

I saw the film when it came out, which although I enjoyed as a film did not think it came anywhere near the standard of the film.

[Horus]

Just to throw my Two Penny Worth into this thread as I don't read many of the books that you ladies enjoy, but I downloaded that book from Amazon where the author was donating his royalties to charity in Luxor. I put it on Mrs H's Kindle and she had a read of it, although it was directed at a younger audience, she said that she enjoyed it very much and that many places familiar with regular visitors were identifiable in tne book. She did say that she would certainly look to read any more books by the same author as she liked the storyline.

[HEPZIBAH]

Just to throw my Two Penny Worth into this thread as I don't read many of the books that you ladies enjoy, but I downloaded that book from Amazon where the author was donating his royalties to charity in Luxor. I put it on Mrs H's Kindle and she had a read of it, although it was directed at a younger audience, she said that she enjoyed it very much and that many places familiar with regular visitors were identifiable in tne book. She did say that she would certainly look to read any more books by the same author as she liked the storyline.

Horus - which book are you referring to please?

[Horus]

It was called, The Egyptian Adventures of Kathryn Black - The Theban Curse by G P Warren.

It was on that fateful day at the British Museum with her guardian, Agnes Westbrook, that Kathryn - Kate to her friends - first became aware of Pharaoh Nakhtifi. This is a Pharaoh that does not exist according to the academics, yet at this very moment, is the sole reason why Kate is about to encounter 3000 year old soldiers, at the bottom of an ancient Egyptian tomb in Luxor. What is worse, is that these ancient soldiers have been sent with a single aim - to kill her. Definitely not something that every thirteen year old expects to encounter, not when on a two week holiday in Egypt, but then after all, this is Kathryn Black.
Join Kate, Alex and their Egyptian friend Cairo as they visit tombs and temples, and experience fear, friendship and humour in equal parts.

This approximately 110,000 word novel with its unique story, where there is not an Egyptian mummy in sight, will leave you wanting to follow their adventures in Kathryn Black ~ Death in Luxor. Available in the second half of 2012.

100% of the author’s profits of Kathryn Black and the Theban Curse go directly to Animal Welfare of Luxor - AWOL. Read, enjoy and know that your purchase will help this very hard working charity, to look after even more of the hard working animals, in the very poor farming villages on the west bank of Luxor.

[HEPZIBAH]

Thanks Horus,

Having had another kindle/Tesco disaster I have reached a compromise and downloaded Kindle to the Laptop. At least it's a
start and should get me used to checking out the book lists and seeing what is available etc.

[Horus]

And don't forget Hepzi with any book you can also get a few free sample pages to read so you can decide if its what you fancy reading before deciding to buy it.

[HEPZIBAH]

And don't forget Hepzi with any book you can also get a few free sample pages to read so you can decide if its what you fancy reading before deciding to buy it.

The only thing that worries me about that is that if I liked the book I was sampling I'd end up ordering it as a book anyway!

I've just downloaded a few assorted freebies for now to see how I get on.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I check the freebies on Amazon.com each week. I order the ones that are rated and have a 5 star rating by 'at least' 4 or 5 other people. So far this has served me well although there are times that I've wondered how on earth anybody could have ever rated the book so high. Once I read a book I move it over to my deleted section as I find that when all I am seeing is the title without the book cover I often forget if I've read it or not until I actually open it and start it. Probably the only downside to the Kindle I've found. I think the NEW Kindle Fires are all in colour with graphics so am sure the read is able to get the cover page to help them identify if they've read the book yet or not.

[Ruby Slippers]

Having run out of library books and being stuck indoors waiting for a delivery of fabric, I'm re-reading 'A Town Like Alice' by Neville Shute. I always forget what a great book this is and I've been looking for the DVD of the TV mini-series for an age now but still can't find it. Anyone on here seen a copy please? The only one I've seen so far is region 1, which is for America.

[Horus]

Here you go Ruby S, available quite cheaply at £6.99 from Amazon UK and the info says it it regional compatible for the UK.



OOPS, sorry that was for the original film, you said TV mini series

[Horus]

Here you are Ruby S, to make up for my above error:

Links to all the 21 episodes of the mini series A Town Like Alice, so you can watch the whole thing on Youtube. If you click the 4 corner bracket symbol below the video pane, (far right) you can watch it full size on your monitor, but remember that the original was on tape so the quality is a bit poor compared to today, just left click each link.
Due to upload limitations of the forum I have had to split it into 3 seperate posts of episodes 1-10 then 11-20 and 21

1 / 21
2 / 21
3/ 21
4 / 21
5/ 21
6/ 21
7/ 21
8/ 21
9/ 21
10/ 21

Links continued on next page: