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Post by nell on Jul 23, 2015 21:15:09 GMT
Read any good books lately? Hell yes! I've read a few lately but the one I just finished really made it's mark. So did anyone else read "The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz"?I can't stress enough what a fascinating book it is. A true story written by 93 year old Denis Avey. The story began when he joined up with the army during WW2 and ended in 2010. It was 70 years before he was able to tell his story. I think this book should be read as part of the school curriculum and held up as an example to show why this type of behaviour should never be allowed to happen again and how 1 man with steely determination and strong moral standards can make a difference even when the odds are stacked against him. It's not all doom and gloom either. There are parts he made me laugh. He wrote with humour in the earlier parts of the book and overwhelming honesty throughout. He described what he saw and how he felt throughout. He spoke most warmly of 2 gentleman named Hans and Ernst. Both German Jews that were suffering persecution to an even greater degree than himself. There are also many very heart warming moments. Of course there is some very dark stuff in there too. Apparently the book is a best seller. I won't tell you any more but urge you to read the book for yourself. I finished the book and thought Denis is a man I'd like to meet. I refused to look him up until I'd finished the book. So I just Googled and sadly found this article www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/140363/the-man-who-broke-into-auschwitz-author-denis-avey-dies-aged-96 He died yesterday. The news had broken just an hour before. It's like he waited for me to finish the book. RIP Denis Avey.
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Post by kissmekate on Jul 24, 2015 6:42:58 GMT
I had not heard of that one, but it surely sounds intriguing.
What a coincidence about his death. May he rest in peace.
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Post by GreenEyesToo on Jul 29, 2015 11:44:19 GMT
Very strange coincidence. Iusually have a biography on the go (currently John McEnroe's) so I'll add that one to the list.
I'm not sure if this one has been mentioned here before, but "Close My Eyes" by Sophie McKenzie was recommended to me. Apparently she usually writes for teenagers and this was her first novel for the adult market.
It's all about a couple who lost their daughter in a stillbirth eight years before. Then one day a woman turns up on the doorstep and tells the mother that the baby had been born alive...and there's CCTV to help prove what happened afterwards....
It's an excellent read - a bit of a slow-burner at first, but a cracker once it gets going - I found myself reading for far longer than I intended each time, just to see what happened next.
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Post by Rachel on Jul 29, 2015 20:50:16 GMT
Oh, GE2 - that one sounds good. I've just hopped over to my library's website and put it on hold. I've been indulging in Peter Lovesey's Peter Diamond books. Diamond is a chief superintendent in the Bath & Avon Constabulary. The books are well written, with good charters, plot, setting, etc. My husband and I are both reading them. We've started with the first and are working our way though the series. He's about 2 books ahead of me and keeps telling me his opinion of the one I'm currently reading. So far no spoilers from him or I would get mad.
Nell, the book you mentioned also looks interesting, I've put that one on hold also.
Frannie, sorry to hear you've had such a glut of bad books. Ah well, you know the old saying, you get what you paid for!
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Post by GreenEyesToo on Aug 1, 2015 11:05:16 GMT
Hope you enjoy it, Rachel - do let me know what you think of it.
I hadn't heard of the Peter Diamond series - must look them up.
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Post by Rachel on Aug 31, 2015 0:13:59 GMT
Well, GE2, I've finished "Close My Eyes" and I'm not sure I should thank you for recommending it! It was well written, great characters, very, very gripping. But oh, that last scene, it's the stuff of nightmares! It really gave me chills, wondering what may happen in the future. But then again, that goes to show what a good book it is.
Nell - throughly enjoyed "The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz". I enjoy history and WWII is a favorite time period. Even though you knew how it ended (I mean you know he survives) but it was still gripping.
I've been obsessively reading all of Peter Lovesey's Peter Diamond books. I've caught up with his backlist and am going to start his most recent soon. I totally recommend Lovesey's, the books are enjoyable, with humor, suspense, and good character development. I read a bunch of them in a row and normally when I do that I end up nitpicking, finding that the author overused some phrase or stock situation and that didn't happen here.
Next up is the newest Sophie Hannah (another author GE2 introduced me to). It looks interesting but the cover blurb references "Gone Girl" and I detested that book. Oh well, I've enjoyed most of her other books so I'll keep,an open mind.
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Post by kissmekate on Aug 31, 2015 7:29:49 GMT
Rachel, good to see you around again, and with so many recommendations, too!
The "Gone Girl" blurb would have deterred me, too, but on the other hand, I quite liked "Girl on the Train", another book which is routinely compared to "Gone Girl". Other than the use of an unreliable narrator (and being big summer hypes), I didn't think the two books had much in common.
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Post by GreenEyesToo on Nov 25, 2015 17:21:24 GMT
Glad you liked "Close My Eyes", Rachel. Which Sophie Hannah book was it you were about to start? I've still got a couple of hers to read - I've got through them totally out of order.
I diverted myself to a book that Sophie Hannah actually recommended to her readers (again, I'm not sure if it's already been mentioned on this thread or not) - "The Burning Air", by Erin Kelly.
Synopsis, from the back of the book:
The MacBrides have always gone to Far Barn in Devon for Bonfire Night, but this year everything is different. Lydia, the matriarch, is dead; Sophie, the eldest daughter, is desperately trying to repair a crumbling marriage; and Felix, the youngest of the family, has brought a girlfriend with him for the first time.
The girl, Kerry, seems odd in a way nobody can quite put their finger on - but when they leave her looking after Sophie's baby daughter, and return to find both Kerry and the baby gone, they are forced to ask themselves if they have allowed a cuckoo into their nest . . .
It is excellent! There's a killer twist that appears halfway through the book (I literally gasped out loud when I came across it) - strange place to put it, but it heightened expectations of what was going to happen next. Thoroughly recommended. I've just started Erin Kelly's first book, "The Poison Tree", which is shaping up to be another cracker, and already have another of hers lined up to read.
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Post by kissmekate on Nov 26, 2015 9:37:45 GMT
That sounds great, GE2. Thanks for the recommendation!
I've read quite a few good things since I last posted on this thread. Hopefully, I'll get around to sharing them before the year is over!
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Post by lovethemanrs on Nov 26, 2015 11:34:10 GMT
I do so admire you ladies with your voracious appetite for reading. I tend to go through spells, I wish it were different! I always have a book (or books) at hand, but sometimes don't read for a while, then finally I get going. I do have to read when Mr LTM is not around though. I don't know what it is , but he always seems to want to talk to me the minute I pick up a book!!! I am not a good reader, I tend to read/skim/scan faster than my brain can comprehend, thus have to backtrack a lot sometimes. Being constantly interrupted by my better half does not help with my concentration span!!!
I do envy people who can just read things and absorb text like a sponge. It takes me ages to get through most books. At present I am reading 'The Young Melbourne & Lord Melbourne' by David Cecil. It's actually two books in one, but I am getting there in my own fashion. So far it's more enjoyable than I anticipated.
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Post by francesca on Nov 28, 2015 18:05:32 GMT
Many years ago I was given a paperback and was told that it was very good. I took one look at the cover a busty girl in a torn dress with a Highlander in a garish tartan behind her! I read the blurb on the back 20th century girl time travels meets handsome Scot Not for me, I thought. Mills and Boon ( Do you have Mills and Boon in the States , they publish cheap trashy novelettes?) I put it on my bedroom window sill where it remained for some time till I eventually threw it out without even opening it. About 2 weeks ago, I joined Amazon uk instant video in preparation for TMITHC. They had a freebie series. I thought i recognised the rather lurid cover but i thought, it's free, why not? in case you haven't guessed it by now, it was Diane Gabaldon's OutlanderIt is saucy, sexy, sadistic, violent with nudity of the full frontal kind ... when i say i have seen everything now, I do mean everything! it is beautifully filmed and acted. in a word.. Brilliant ! I immediately bought the kindle version of it and am now on the second book 'Dragonfly in Amber'
The TV series is very true to the books and I must say that Ms Gabaldon's prose is beautiful and is of the can't put it down kind. I recommend it ( Both books, and the series as long as you don't mind the loads of explicit sex)
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Post by kissmekate on Nov 29, 2015 15:11:38 GMT
About time you discovered those, Frannie! The series was a big hit in Germany from the first book on, but I didn't care to try it until a friend recommended it very, very warmly. I have been a big fan ever since (although there was one volume I found a little slow). Those big fat novels are the perfect holiday read.
There even is a character who'd be great for Rufus to play. I think he first shows up in Part 2. Green-eyed, dark-haired, funny and blessed with a beautiful voice.
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Post by kygal on Dec 5, 2015 13:00:18 GMT
Have not read the Outlander books but have watched season one. I liked it. I do have the first book but haven't read it yet.
I am not familiar with Mills and Boon.
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Post by francesca on Dec 9, 2015 16:44:25 GMT
About time you discovered those, Frannie! Kate , I must confess I was guilty of being a literary snob and of 'judging a book by its covers'. Kygal, again I am guilty of literary snobbery. Mills and Boon is a British publishing house which specialises in badly written, silly, romantic paperbacks, usually with lurid covers, suitable for mid teen age girls. In UK, to call a book a Mills and Boon, is more than a little derogatory.
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Post by midoro on Dec 9, 2015 18:40:17 GMT
Have been a fan of the Outlander book series from the beginning, but thought the TV series quite hard to watch. I´m now grappling at the last book, the first I´m reading in English.
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