What are you reading at the moment, part2

Yes Annodomini, that would have been me who recommended the Warlord Chronicles! Have moved on to Mary Renault's Alexander the Great trilogy now. (Recommended I think by absent).

(They are great too!)

Oh. You would have to be reading this from Greatnan's to see this!

I still can't get my mind away from Seabiscuit, and even stayed up really late on Sunday [even though I was back at work on Monday morning] to re watch the film which I hadn't seen since it was on at the cinema. It's probably because I'm dotty about horses, but the writing is so beautiful. For example a decription of someone goes like this 'he had a colorless translucence about him that made him seem as if he were in the earliest stages of progressive invisibility'. That's almost Dickensian or am I just totally biased? Laura Hillenbrand wrote an article called 'Four Good Legs Between Us' which went on to become the book when it was very well received. Worth a google, perhaps?

There are also wonderful Lady and the unicorn tapestries in the Cloisters museum in New york*crimson*. You could fly to Paris and fly on to NY

You mean when I do my 'world tour' ? My son and his girlfriend are going to New York next year; perhaps they'll slip me into their suitcase?

...I could then go on to Santa Anita Racecourse and pay homage to the statue of Seabiscuit and 'The Iceman'....

Long way to go pay homage , 2,763 miles from New york to Arcadia CA. We were there in May .

You were at Santa Anita?

Of course , we did not see any racing as it was May/june . The calender starts December 26 to April . In fact the times we go to the U.S. ie May and September we never get to see any racing ., except when we go to Albequerque New Mexico, for the State Fair. They have racing on in the afternoon so we go in and watch , in fact last year we watched Jesse Garcia [don"t know if you have heard of him} ride his his 2,000th winner and he gave me his goggles as a memento ! nice eh . We are not going this year as DH wants to go to Detroit , and up to the great Lakes then a big curve round to Philly then Florida and pick up some properties designed by Frank LLoyd Wright, famous American architect, on the way.

Oh, my son studied him at Uni; got a few books about the houses he designed. Bit of a controversial character, wasn't he? Santa Anita looks beautiful in photos with the mountains in the background, all Art Deco'y. I've loved American racing ever since seing Royal Academy win at the Breeders Cup with Lester Piggott on board [only saw it on the telly, alas] and then saw the ding dong battles between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer on utube. Then followed the exploits of the wonderful Zenyatta [although an American friend is adamant that Rachel Alexandra was the better horse at the time]. I'll google Jesse Garcia now....

Tell your son we have seen about 25 properties of FLW scattered around and loved every single one . yes he was a bit of a "boyo" but to be quite frank I don"t delve into that as I would rather enjoy what he created .

Good night All !

One final point we have also been to Keenland , Lexington, Kentucky, and Louisville , Churchill Downs .

For those of you fans of Janne Harris' Choclat I'd really recommend "Peaches for Monsieur le Curé" The next book about Vianne was set in Pais and I felt didn't work, but this one does.

A changing summer wind brings a letter from the dead, calling Vianne back to Lansquenet. But in eight years, Lansquenet has changed. The cobbled streets, the whitewashed church, the disused tanneries along the river – all are just as they always were. But in Les Marauds, a community of Moroccans has arisen, with women veiled in black, the scent of incense, spices, kif and mint tea, and facing the church, on the far side of the Tannes, a minaret.

I couldn't put it down and had it with me when DH went for a hospital appointment this morning; was rather put put when is name was called! Came back and galloped through to the end. A wonderful read and so good to have all the original characters from the first book back, though just a wee bit changed! Enough; no more you all read it too and let me know what you think!!

"The Hundred Great Persons"written by Michael H. Hart...
I love read about history...great book...like it!!!

Waiting for Sunrise, William Boyd's latest novel. I think his plots get more contorted with each new book! An English actor gets involved with a strange woman in Vienna where he has gone for psychoanalysis. First World War starts and he is somehow chosen for a mysterious mission in Geneva....From there on the plot takes even more twists and I haven't reached the end yet. If you are a fan of Boyd, you will read it with interest, but acclaim? I wonder.

Reading Agatha Christie for the first time ever "Nemises" Very gentle little book.

I was a massive Agatha Christie fan in my teens, read practically everything of hers, then as I got older I went off them.
I`ve just finished a book I picked up off the bookshelf at our holiday site, in return for 3 of mine. It`s called Blood and Judgement, by Michael Gilbert. It was okaaaay, but as it was written in 1959, it was a litttle dated, police methods have changed quite a lot since then.
Am now just starting on The Killing Kind, by John Connelly, first one of his I`ve ever read. Looks OK so far.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, very moving, about the French editor who had a massive stroke and dictated this book with one eyelid movement!
I have wanted to read this for a long time.

I'm trying to concentrate on Marilyn's Last Sessions a novel by Michel Schneider.

I'm rereading Katherine by Anya Seton.

That was the first historical novel I ever read jeni - a classic.

The Killing Kind was very good, am now reading I Am God, by Giorgio Faletti, great so far.

just finished " the brass ring " by dianne chamberlain, very page turning! just beginning victoria hislop " the thread " which i,m told is a good read x

'In the Midst of Life' by Jennifer Worth. I picked this up in The Works on the way down south for my holiday and didn't even read much of the blurb on the back. After having read Call the Midwife, I thought this would be in much the same vein. Jennifer Worth died last year not knowing how successful Call the Midwife would be on television. 'In the Midst of Life' deals with how people, when they get very old or ill, are gradually preparing themselves to die. She believed that that's just how it should have been. It's not a morbid book at all, but very sensitive.