General Chat

Many many apologies in my delay

My First Suggestion is

And The Mountains Echo - Khaled Hosseini

Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their father and stepmother in the small village of Shadbagh. Their father, Saboor, is constantly in search of work and they struggle together through poverty and brutal winters. To Abdullah, Pari - as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named - is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their heads touching, their limbs tangled.

One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand.
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My second Suggestion is

Billy and Me - Giovanna Fletcher

Sophie May has a secret.

One that she's successfully kept for years. It's meant that she's had to give up her dreams of going to university and travelling the world to stay in her little village, living with her mum and working in the local teashop.

But then she meets the gorgeous Billy - an actor with ambitions to make it to the top. And when they fall in love, Sophie is whisked away from the comfort of her life into Billy's glamorous - but ruthless - world.

Their relationship throws Sophie right into the spotlight after years of shying away from attention. Can she handle the constant scrutiny that comes with being with Billy? And most of all, is she ready for her secret heartbreak to be discovered and shared with the nation?

Last nudge for Mersey to add. I will be out all day so the vote must wait until this PM.

Vote tomorrow as soon as we have Mersey's suggestions.

Nudge for Mersey

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

'What are you thinking, Amy?' The question I've asked most often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. I suppose these questions stormcloud over every marriage: 'What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do?' Just how well can you ever know the person you love? This is the question that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife? And what was in that half-wrapped box left so casually on their marital bed? In this novel, marriage truly is the art of war...

White Bones by Graham Masterton

One wet November morning, a field on Meagher's Farm gives up the dismembered bones of eleven women. In this part of Ireland, unmarked graves are common. But these bones date to 1915, long before the Troubles. What's more, these bones bear the marks of a meticulous executioner. These women were almost certainly skinned alive.
Detective Katie Maguire, of the Cork Garda, is used to dead bodies. But this is wholesale butchery. Her team think these long-dead women are a waste of police time. Katie is determined to give them justice.
And then a young American tourist goes missing, and her bones, carefully stripped of flesh, are discovered on the same farm. With the crimes of the past echoing in the present, Katie must solve a decades-old ritualistic murder before this terrifying killer strikes again.
Published in America under the title A Terrible Beauty, White Bones marks Katie Maguire's UK debut.

Phew, found it..

Kate atkinsons "One Good Turn"


Its summer at the Edinburgh Festival, people queuing witness a road rage accident, which changes the lives of everyone involved. Jackson ex army,ex police,ex private eye an innocent bystander, becomes a murder suspect. The body count mounts, each member of the casts story contains a bit of the next, like Russian dolls, They each discover that what they are really looking for is themselves

The Mourning Wedding by Carola Dunn

A who dunnit in the old style, female investigator married to Scotland Yard policeman, set in 1920/30's. Daisy the investigator pregnant goes to stay with her friend who is getting married, Large house, ,lots of difficult relatives and two murders, or is one of them not a murder...bride gets cold feet..Daisy as usual gets involved..part of a series

Be back cannot find notes on other book !!!!!!!!!!!

Are you joining us rollo?

Crash - J. G. Ballard (1973)
Cold In Hand - John Harvey (2008)

Ooh already some authors I like on here.

One Summer - by Roisin Meaney
On Roone, an island off the west coast of Ireland, stands a stone cottage by the edge of the sea. The locals are convinced that it brings luck to those who live there and Nell, its current owner, is certain there's something to it. After all, it drew her back to the island from Dublin and it brought her Tim, her fiancé, whom she's set to marry in a few short months. So when Nell decides to rent out the cottage during the summer to raise money for her wedding, deep down she hopes that it will work its magic and attract the right tenants to her home.

The Way We Were - by Elizabeth Noble
Susannah and Rob were childhood sweethearts. But as with most early love affairs, they broke up, moved on and now find themselves in very different places. And not entirely happy - who is?
A chance meeting between them sends shockwaves through their lives. What happens when your first love makes a surprise reappearance? Is fate telling you it's time for a second chance . . . or should you simply walk away and let the past become ancient history?

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

1986, The Panama Hotel The old Seattle landmark has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made a startling discovery in the basement: personal belongings stored away by Japanese families sent to interment camps during the Second World War. Among the fascinated crowd gathering outside the hotel, stands Henry Lee, and, as the owner unfurls a distinctive parasol, he is flooded by memories of his childhood. He wonders if by some miracle, in amongst the boxes of dusty treasures, lies a link to the Okabe family, and the girl he lost his young heart to, so many years ago.

Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Letters by Brian Froud and Ari Berk
The Cottington Archive is pleased to announce that more information about Lady Cottingon has surfaced: a scrapbook compiled by the notorious fairy smasher herself of "actual" letters, Valentines, calling cards, and more that she received from luminaries Queen Victoria, Annie Oakley, Igor Stravinsky, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Andrew Lang, P.T. Barnum, Rudyard Kipling, Wendy Darling, Beatrix Potter, and more. All about fairies, these hilarious letters contain everything from wisdom to suggestions to chastisement. Lady Cottington has made notes in the margins not to mention smashed fairies throughout (will she EVER STOP this nasty habit?!). And the fairies...ah the fairies...they too have done their part, sprinkling magic and mayhem throughout. Lady Cottington's Correspondence, a facsimile reproduction of this original volume, combines the nutty artistry of the first two Lady Cottington books with the novelty components of Griffin & Sabine. Containing "actual" letters, invoices for "spiritual services," a fairy Valentine, an invitation from Alice Liddell to tea, and more, this newest, interactive addition to the Lady Cottington series is the most innovative to date.

The Garden Party by Sarah Challis

The perfect family celebration requires the perfect family... Alice Dunlop knows the best things in life are free. But the approach of her 40th wedding anniversary and 60th birthday surely warrants a proper celebration. With visions of a glorious family gathering complete with a marquee, champagne and beautiful sunshine, Alice has big plans for the big day. Her husband David isn't so enthused. He seems to have lost his lust for life since retiring from his job. And he's not the only one who isn't in the mood to celebrate. Each of Alice and David's four grown-up children has their own problems to contend with and things aren't going as smoothly as any of them had hoped. As Alice focuses on preparations for the party, her family begins to unravel around her. Even her husband's sudden rise from apathy isn 't as great a blessing as it first appears. It's only a matter of time before Alice's special day is at risk of disaster...
(when I saw this I thought of my cousin when she turned 60 about 16 years ago, it was also their 40th Wedding Anniversary and the invitations said come and celebrate a 100 years with us. They had five grown-up children and it was held in a large tent.. there the similarity ends ..I think)

Triburbia by Karl Greenfield
Thrown together by circumstance, a group of fathers--a sound engineer, a sculptor, a film producer, a chef, a memoirist, a gangster--meets each morning at a local Tribeca coffee shop after walking their children to their exclusive school. The sound engineer looks uncomfortably like the guy on the sex offender posters strewn around the neighborhood; the memoirist is on the verge of being outed for fabricating his experiences; and the narcissistic chef puts his quest for the perfect quail-egg frittata before his childrens well-being. Over the course of a single school year, we are privy to their secrets, passions, and hopes, and learn of their dreams deferred as they confront harsh realities about ambition, wealth, and sex. And we meet their wives and children, who together with these men are discovering the hard truths and welcome surprises that accompany family, marriage, and real estate at midlife. Fascinatingly layered and multidimensional, these linked stories, arranged like puzzle pieces, create a powerful portrait of unlikely friends and their neighborhood in transition

My first suggestion is
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The Fortress by Hugh Walpole

"It had been the wish of her whole life to flee from all the Herries but Walter Herries Had challenged her and she had takek up the challenge"
Judith paris, now nearing fifty, returns to the Lakes, to confrontthe bitter fued between two branches of the Herries family. Walter, now living in Westaways, and as powerful as it is determined, wants to own Fell House, which once belonged to his father, but which is now home to the defenless Jennifer and her children. To this end he ensures that everything Jennifer plans to improve her situation meets with failure, and he bigins to build the huhg house known as The Fortress which will overshadow her land. His one weakness is his children, whom he loves with a fierce affection, but will they too be drawn into the web of love and loss.
This third volume of the Herries Chronnicles, traces the rich and romantic history of an English Lake District family through fifty years - from the summer fair at Keswick to the coronation of Queen Victoria.

Secon suggestion is -

The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin

A faboulously rich and entertaining novel of detection and conspiracy in nineteeth-centuary Istanbul.

One bloody night in 1836: a young concubine is strangled in the Sultan's harem, and a young cadet is butchered in the streets of Istanbul.
Yashim the eunuch has just ten days to uncover a plot - and prevent a killing - that could bring the Ottoman Empire to its knees.

My suggestions

The Devil’s Music by Jane Rusbridge
From a readers review.
The opening chapter details a moment of everyday ordinariness which turns, in a split second, into a moment of nightmarish, life-changing horror. That tiny fraction of time when a life changes for ever.

The book is composed in five parts. In the first part, apparently unconnected stories of different people in differing times and places are laid down. The second and third parts find these stories touching, crossing, connecting and becoming clearer. In the fourth part of the book, the beauty of the pattern of this story has emerged and in the final part all strands are joined in a satisfying and interesting way. Rather like the tying of a complex knot I guess.

I particularly enjoyed the chapters written from the perspective of a nine year old boy, reminding me of Dirk Bogardes wonderful 'Great Meadow'. How might you feel when faced with a plate of Spam, lumpy mashed potato and beetroot? Yuk!

Very British, pleasingly understated and written in an entertaining style, the book touches on issues of interpersonal relationships, obsession, social taboos even the borderline-autism of the male mind.

I was left with a slight regret when I finished the book and feel a little jealous of those who haven't yet read it. That's how I usually feel when I finish a great book.

The summer Season by Julia Williams
Heartsease House is in desperate need of renovation, its owner, widower Joel is struggling with life as a single dad. His plans to refurbish the house and garden suddenly seem like one burden too many.
Mum to twin girls, Lauren’s life is a constant juggling act. When her ex, Troy, turns up wanting to see his daughters, she’s determined to keep her distance. But it is a lot harder than she imagined.
Then guerrilla gardener Kezzie bursts into their lives, with her infectious enthusiasm to restore the gardens. But who is Kezzie and what is she running away from?
As the warm days of summer draw on, Heartsease House and its love knot garden are transformed. But will Joel, Kezzie and Lauren be able to restore their own hearts?

From Helen


My friend bought round two books for me to read and I have been glued to them ever since.

No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay. A Richard and Judy read.

Cynthia, age 14, wakes up, very hungover, the morning after an unsupervised date with an unsuitable boyfriend and a huge row with her family, to discover her parents and brother have vanished without trace. Fast forward 25 years and a TV show is trying to gain viewers and help her out by raising an appeal for information. Told in the words of her husband the truth gradually emerges.

Too Close To Home by Linwood Barclay

(Review from Julia Flyte.) Jim Cutter is shocked when his neighbours, the Langleys, are murdered, but even more shocked when it turns out that Derek his teenage son is keeping a secret about the crime and that all the evidence points to him. As suspicion turns on his family, Jim starts to do some investigating of his own into who might have committed the murders. As he starts to uncover some long-buried secrets, his own life comes under risk.

Please add your suggestions. Two books as usual Vote by Saturday PM.

Review date will be:
20 July 2013