Hobbies and Crafts

Seems a while since anyone posted. Perhaps we will all read a bit more as it gets colder and we're not so keen to be outside.

I've been reading a few novels that didn't take too much thought. They included a DCI Banks book "A Necessary End" and a Falco novel "Ode to a Banker", both of which I enjoyed. I've just now finished "Sisters of Treason" by Elizabeth Fremantle. It is fiction but based on real events and is well researched. It's the story of Katherine and Mary Grey, the two sisters of Lady Jane Grey, the 9 days queen. It really brings out how everyone in court circles was suspicious of everyone else and how you really had to watch your back, particularly with the religion changing from Edward to Mary to Elizabeth. The Grey family seem to have had more than their share of tragedy. If you like Philippa Gregory you will probably enjoy Elizabeth Fremantle.

I was on the phone with my son for 2 hours the other evening and for 1.5 hours we were discussing books and authors. We have quite similar tastes so I have recommended Jodi Taylor's Chronicles of St Mary's series to him. I'll be interested to see what he thinks of them.

Just started Blaze by Richard Bachman (AKA Stephen King).

Two small-time crooks turn babynappers. All goes well until one of the partners, George, dies - or does he? Now 'on his own' Blaze is running from the cops through a howling storm, and the Crime of the Century turns into a race against time in the white hell of the Maine woods.

Also went mad yesterday and bought half a dozen books in the W H Smith online sale. I swore to myself that I wouldn't buy any more to add to the groaning pile in the bookcase but I just can't resist a bargain.

Just read. Casting the First Stone by Frances Fyfield.

Rather a strange book, I wondered if it was part of a series. Such a lot had happened to and between the main characters in the book before the story unfolds. At the end of the book there was still do much left to tell.
The blurb on the back of the book says -
A year after her husbands death, young widow and art collector Diana Porteous is introduced to her agent's stylish, anarchic sister, Sarah. They plan that Di should rediscover her talents a a thief to recover stolen paintings - and begin by stealing from Steven, the neighbour's son, who amassed work stolen from his mother, amongst others, in a strange building in London.

But if Di is interested in his illicit treasures, he is equally fascinated by hers - and in the secrets still held in her house by the sea....


(Just noticed that the rest of the blurb on the back of the book says that this Fyfield masterpiece brings together two of her most beloved characters, Di Porteous and Sarah Fortune .,.... So there probably was a previous book, and may well be a follow up novel)

Goodwin Sands play a part. Art. (painted pictures) are centre stage, fashion also comes into the story. As well as hidden bones, a mystery about parentage, age gap relationships and fishing.

I will try to get some more books by the same author. And I really must visit my local art gallery, not just to check out the paintings, but also to check fashion through the ages.

Has anyone else read any books by Frances Fyfield?

I have at last read The King's Mistress, "the true and scandalous story of the woman who stole the heart of George 1". The lady who passed it on to me gave up after a few pages. I got through it bit by bit but it has taken me ages.

It is written by a historian Claudia Gold and is very well researched. It is the story of George 1 and Ehrengard Melusine von der Schulenberg, known as Melusine. She was born into a minor aristocratic family and ended up being queen of England in all but name, so it is an interesting story but I have to admit I found it a boring read.

It's not the author's fault, of course, but it gets confusing when so many of the people in the story have the same name. George's mother, sister, illegitimate half-sister, wife and daughter are all called Sophia, plus there are a couple of Sophies, so I had to keep checking back to the trees at the beginning of the book to find out who was being written about. Spoils the flow a bit.

Not the book for me.

Well, it is working now. It might have downloaded something although I haven't received a confirmation. We couldn't do anything with it at the time; it just froze! We left it connected and charging overnight as per online update instructions.

There was also a pop-up window saying that its running out of space. Boo hoo!

Hi Det :-) did you sort it out?

I had a similar problem a while back.....

I went into settings and deregistered my kindle device turned everything
Off then turned back on again.....reregistered and it all went back to
normal......... :-)

My kindle's gone nuts!

Connected to the wifi to down load some freebies. Amongst the downloads is something along the lines of Security Update 07-2016.

Couldn't open the file.
Couldn't turn off the wifi
'Killed' it
Still connected.
Can't bring up the screen to sign in!

It 'might' be uploading an update even though I think we worked out earlier this year that it wasn't required.

Eek!

Hi all <3 <3

Det I think I will give your read a try...sounds interesting to me :-)

Thanks

I have just finished what I thought was going to be a light read. It was very readable and I really enjoyed it.

The Secrets We share by Emma Hannigan is a family story, starting off in USA then moving to Ireland.
Devastated after a tragedy, Nathalie finds herself going to Ireland, on her way to stay with her grandmother, Clara. The woman who, until now Nathalie had no idea existed.

As Clara awaits her granddaughter's arrival she is filled with hope. She has spent the past 20 years wishing that her son Max would come back into her life, forgiving her for the past. Her granddaughter may be the thread to stitch the pieces of her beloved family back together in the same way that she sews pieces of material together to make quilts.

I hope I haven't put anyone off reading The Marriage Certificate with my negative review. Please read it if you haven't - you might enjoy it. It's a good story even if I don't think it was very well put together.

I agree with you on most of the points you make, Vera. I experienced many of the same thoughts as you as I continued through the book.

I found it an interesting read but, as you say, it certainly could have benefited from some serious editing and expansion of the main characters. It annoys me so much when there are so many errors when even a final read-through by someone would at least have corrected many of the typos - and there were quite a few in this book.

Quite a few books I've read from some of the big publishers suffer from poor proof-reading. I was so annoyed with one publisher once that I gathered and sent a list of errors and typos to the publishers of a particular book and got a thank you by return and a free book of my choice. They said they would implement the changes in the next edition but suspect they probably won't.

Just reading a couple of James Rollins books; Excavation and Subterranean. Indiana Jones type fodder but really quite good reads.

That's a shame Vera - its sounded quite a good read.

The most recent read worth mentioning is

The House Fell on Her Head by Kate Mitchell
This one was a free download a couple of weeks ago. It’s not something I’d normally choose, but am pleased to have read it.

Set in Sheffield, the remains of a body is discovered in a buried Anderson Shelter in Violet’s back garden. Violet, now a frail 90 year old, has lived in the same house all her life.
Her daughter Alice moves back in temporarily to care for her while the police investigations are ongoing and tries to work out who the body might belong to.

In Australia, Frank reads the newspaper reports and decides to re-visit his old town. During his journey, he reminisces about his up-bringing, family, love, life and loss during the Sheffield WW2 bombing. We meet Violet and Frank’s family through the eyes of a 10 year old.

Frank and Alice confront Violet and uncover secrets and lies that have been hidden for seventy years. Frank finds things are not as he thought, and Alice is not who she appeared to be.

Not quite a murder mystery or a gritty family saga, but with elements of both. Although the story is complete, I’d have liked there to have been an epilogue, just to see how the characters come to terms with the truth.

I've just finished The Marriage Certificate as well and we will have to agree to differ Stephen. Far from being un-put-downable, I had to force myself to finish the book.

After a few pages I realised the book must have been self published and looking into it further, that seems to be the case.. It was in such drastic need of editing and pruning that no reputable publisher would have had it printed without a lot of revision. One example that comes to mind is when the amateur genealogist meets someone outside a house which he is investigating. They have a long conversation and the genealogist gets some useful information. That was all that was needed or maybe something like "Over lunch he told his wife what he had learnt". Instead we have three pages of him repeating the entire conversation to his wife. The book is full of irrelevant and unnecessary detail.

It also suffers from the author not being sure what type of book he wants to write. Is it a genealogical mystery, a "how to do family history" textbook or a romance? It suffers from the author trying to do them all and doing none of them well.

I found the style of writing clunky and a bit like a school essay. There's quite a lot of stilted conversation and not very much description. Stephen Molyneux can't seem to decide how much explanation to give his readers. For instance, I don't imagine many people need to be told that a child of your aunt and uncle is your cousin yet he mentions the GRO several times without giving the name in full or explaining what it is, which could be puzzling to a non genealogist.

As for the 'postscript' at the end of the book, I had guessed the main fact of it, though not the detail. I did have to look back in the book to see where I had come across one of the names before. (I'm being vague as I don't want to spoil it for anyone still to read the book.)

I am sorry to be so negative about the book. I know a lot of people enjoyed it and I do think the idea behind the book was a good one. Unfortunately I think it was badly executed.

Finished The Marriage Certificate by Stephen Molyneux. I really enjoyed it and could hardly put it down. I hope he writes another.

I was a bit baffled at the end at first, though. I thought that I must have missed some clue or something so I skimmed back through again and I sort of get it now - I think. I might read it again.

I won't say any more as I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet.

Glad you are liking it Ann :-D

I am reading The Daughters of Red Hill Hall- Kathleen McGurl suggested by Mersey. Enjoying it so far.

I've never read any of the DI Banks books or seen any of the TV series but I do enjoy crime/detection novels. Some of them are a bit more than I am prepared to pay for Kindle books but the first in the series, Gallows View, is available for 98p so I'm going to download that now.

Love the posts on here because they make me look at authors I haven't tried before.

Finished Watching the Dark. A good read, not a fast-paced story but a page-turner non-the-less, though with a somewhat predictable outcome.

Just started The Marriage Certificate.

Stephen - Your latest read is the sort of thing I might buy. Unfortunately the cost is a bit too steep at the moment.

One I've bought recently on Kindle was Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin. Its the most recent in the Rebus series. If I'd waited a couple of weeks, I could have borrowed our daughter in law's paper back!

Although Rebus is retired, DI Siobhan Clarke asks for his help on a case - "Clarke's been investigating the death of a senior lawyer whose body was found along with a threatening note. On the other side of Edinburgh, Big Ger Cafferty - Rebus's long-time nemesis - has received an identical note and a bullet through his window."

Malcolm Fox, late of the 'Complaints' who investigated Rebus and worked with him in the previous book Saints of the Shadow Bible, is involved in a seperate investigation. A man with links to drug smuggling has gone missing.

Clarke, Rebus and Fox may not be on the same cases, but they do socialise with each other and discover a link.