Are you a reader?????

[Maywalk]

If so what do you like to read?
I have recently started to read in bed but I only like true stories or autobigraphies.
I am at the moment reading the autobigraphy of Dame Vera Lynn and when I have
finished that I have a one of a dog and his owner.
I dont like fictional tales. Its got to have happened in real life for me to get interested.

What is your reading taste?

[caroljoyce]

Fiction for me... I like to get lost in a good story... much like watching a good play on TV.
I mostly go for family saga's or love stories. I don't read murder mystery or detective stories, they bore me.

[Jann]

I can recommend Alan Bennett's " The uncommon reader" a brilliant read,and yes I have moods when I read nonstop,then don't read for months I tend to read factual books.

[Dragon Lady]

My tastes are much the same as yours, Maisie. I like biographies and autobiographies.

I am currently reading a book about the wartime experiences of a German/Jew named Michel Thomas - but I haven't got far enough in to comment as yet. The title is "The Test is Courage".

"Elizabeth: Behind Palace Doors" was an interesting insight into the lives of the Royal Family. It seems they have all "been at it!"

Godfrey's Ghost I thought would be good, but it wasn't. It was written by Arnold Ridley's son to his son to tell him what granddad was like. It get chopping from Arnold's own words to his son's and the grandson's and I found it "bitty".

[drogo]

"Elizabeth: Behind Palace Doors" was an interesting insight into the lives of the Royal Family. It seems they have all "been at it!"

Including HM? Surely not.

[Maywalk]

Well so far DL I am enjoying Dame Veras autobiography.

I have just had one about a midwife in London but some of the stories were SO far fetched and extremely graphic in the swearing I got fed up with it and passed on to my d-i-l.
She wrote that none of the Cockney folk could sound TH and they all pronounced it as V. I come from a line of Cockneys and can never remember my family NOT being able to pronounce their TH.
I admit they did have rhyming slang and my Dad being a true Cockney very often spoke in rhyme for whatever it was that he wanted. Such as
Whistle and flute ...........his suit.
Bird Lime...................the time.
Titfer Tat ...................his hat.

I cant say that I ever heard him use some of the disgusting language that she had written about and to be honest I thought it was sensationalism that she intended to portray NOT true lfe.

[Rowan]

I am a reader - I like detective, historical and science fiction also psychological novels. Not keen on romances but have been known to read labels on sauce bottles if nothing else available!!

[rocky]

[font=Tahoma]History and Biography ... anything that shines light on what really happened -- to a person or a time. Oh, and some sociological works, but I guess that would come under the heading of history.[/font]

[Victors Mate]

Crime, escapism and books that make me laugh.
I'm currently reading Stephen Clarke's "1000 years of Annoying the French".

[Lacemaker]

I like most books but not the sickly sweet Mills and Boon !

I have 'discovered' an author called Edward Bulwer Lytton who has written a lot of historical books - some, I have to admit, are rather dry and others like his 12 volume set about Harold : The Last of the Saxon Kings, excellent. If you are thinking you would never get through 12 volumes of this subject - think again. Each volume is very short and all of them are written in a very entertaining format which is similar to Jean Plaidy's books or Nigel Tranter's series on Scottish History.

I found these books on Amazon's free Kindle e-book list and I intend searching the Gutenberg site for other books from this author.

Other favourite authors are Rider Haggard, Bernard Cornwell, Patricia Cornwell, Elizabeth Peters, Jon Cleary, Zane Grey, Jack London - I could go on for a long time.

[mo]

Autobiographies for me. I have read quite a few, my favourite being Piers Morgan's two latest books.

[Corrie]

Autobiographies for me too over novels.

[mazzy]

I have just finished Street Kid, by Judy Westwater....a 'true' story...

Very moving, but I am afraid I am a little cynical about some of these 'mysery' books. Some of it didn't quite ring true, I'm afraid. However, she has gone on to do wonderful things for street kids in Africa, so fair play.

Quote from website :
After a tormented childhood, much of which she lived as a feral child, Judy Westwater was determined to make her life meaningful. Over the past ten years, she has set up seven day centres for children in the violent townships of South Africa and lectured to many thousands across the UK to raise funds for her work. Her childhood story, was the subject of one of John Peel's most moving interviews on BBC Radio 4's 'Home Truths'. In 2004 Judy was awarded a prestigious Unsung Heroes Award for her tireless efforts to improve the lives of street children through her charity The Pegasus Children's Trust.


I usually read crime novels, Val McDermid, Mark Bellingham ( recommended by VM a long time ago) Graham hurley, but recently I pick up recommended books from our newly revamped library, and have had an enjoyable time reading different genres.

[Jann]

I am at the moment reading "The lost child of Philomena Lee" by Martin Sixsmith .....

When she fell pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to the convent of Roscrea, Co. Limerick, to be looked after as a ‘fallen woman’ and at the age of three her baby was whisked away and ‘sold’ to America for adoption. Coerced into signing a document promising ‘Never to Seek to Know’ what the Church did with him, she never saw him again. She would spend the next fifty years searching for her son, unaware that he spent his life searching for her.


Philomena's son, renamed Michael Hess, grew up to be a top lawyer and then a Republican politician in the first Bush administration. But he was also gay and in 1980s Washington being out and proud was not an option. He not only had to conceal not only his sexuality, but, eventually, the fact that he had AIDs. With little time left, he returned to Ireland and the convent in which he was born to plead with the nuns to tell him who his mother was, so that he might see her before he died. They refused.


The Lost Child of Philomena Lee is the story of a mother and a son, whose lives were blighted by the forces of hypocrisy on both sides of the Atlantic and of the secrets they were forced to keep. A compelling narrative of human love and loss, Martin Sixsmith's moving account is both heartbreaking yet ultimately redemptive.



About the Author
Martin Sixsmith was born in Cheshire and educated at Oxford, Harvard and the Sorbonne. From 1980 to 1997 he worked for the BBC, as the Corporation’s correspondent in Moscow, Washington, Brussels and Warsaw. From 1997 to 2002 he worked for the British Government as Director of Communications. He is now a writer, presenter and journalist. His previous books are The Litvinenko File, Moscow Coup: The Death of the Soviet System and two novels, Spin and I Heard Lenin Laugh.

I can relate to some parts of this book,although my own story ended quite happily....

[Rowan]

That's a heartbreaking story Jann - reminds me why I don't care for any religions -they hurt people