“Blue Monday” by Nicci French
Posted: May 9, 2012 Filed under: Monthly reading selections | Tags: Fiction, Nicci French, Thrillers Leave a comment »
This book turned out to be a complete surprise, another ‘new to me’ author who is actually a husband and wife partnership with twelve other bestsellers to their credit.
Listed as a psychological thriller I did not know what to expect but three chapters into the story and I was hooked. Sometimes I can only manage to spend half an hour reading at once, but I had to keep spending more time as the action drew me ever onwards.
The abduction of a small boy begins to link to another abduction of a similar aged girl twenty years ago, this in turn linking to a client of the psychologist Frieda Klein and of course involving the police chiefs of the two periods of time. It is very cleverly presented.
This book is the first of a series featuring the character Frieda Klein and I shall certainly look out for more from Nicci French.
Jean
In Depth
Posted: May 9, 2012 Filed under: Your poems | Tags: Philip Beverley Leave a comment »
a nautilus and a horseshoe crab
came together for a think one day
and they thunk with a clunk
the familiar crustacean way
one said to t’other
i hear talk of bother
yet in half a billion years
i’ve seen nowt similar
came reply “nor i”
Philip Beverley
Another Good Boy For Jesus
Posted: May 9, 2012 Filed under: Your poems | Tags: Lynn Myland Leave a comment »
When I was a boy, every evening
I would climb the tall beech tree at the end of our garden
So far, but no further.
One day I branched out.
When I got to the top of the tree Jesus spoke to me.
He said “We are all one family and families look after one another”
And then I twigged.
At first I helped the priest on Sundays
Lighting incense and passing round wafers in my long red frock.
Until I altered.
After that I had to make do with helping Mummy with the groceries
Standing in line in Polish delicatessens
And pushing trolleys through busy supermarkets.
Then she shopped me.
For a while I sewed blankets for sailors
And starving children in Biafra.
But then I cottoned on.
That clearing tables and sterilising filthy clothing
In Salvation Army hostels
Just didn’t wash.
And the sum of a lifetime
Spent in the service of others
Simply didn’t add up.
Growing older and uglier
Until they’re no longer laughing with you
They’re laughing at you.
Go figure !
“What a shame he never married.
He manages that big house all on his own, you know.
Single handed.”
You know
A nervous breakdown
Really isn’t
All it’s cracked up to be.
Lynn Myland
Domino
Posted: May 9, 2012 Filed under: Your thoughts | Tags: Mary Mortimer Leave a comment »There isn’t such a thing, we know that, but all through the week before Easter a nut-brown pidgeon with white spots joined the common or garden guzzlers which gobble up whatever there is to gobble in the precinct.
“Ee, ah’ve nivver seen one o’ them afoor.” Pedestrians stopped and stared for a while, wondering what to do. “’Appen it’s escaped thrum somewheer. Naw, ah’ve nivver seen nowt lahk it.”
Domino, we called it, because of the perfect arrangement of spots. Domino was tame and friendly but skilfully evaded attempts at capture.
The other pidgeons accepted Domino with no show of surprise or aggression. “One of us,” they seemd to imply. “Plenty of scraps for all of us. Keep Cleckheaton tidy.”
Every day Domino came to the feast of crisps and crumbs but by Saturday, the last day before Easter, he or she was looking rather the worse for wear. Feathers puffed out and rumpled, the bird pecked desperately at the bare tarmac.
The shops re-opened after the Easter Bank Holiday but Domino never came back. Where are you now, amazing spotted visitor?
Somewhere out there a top pidgeon fancier, owner of a prize-winning experimental breeding loft must be missing this rara avis dreadfully.
This nut-brown pidgeon with the neat white spots could have been the only one in the world.
Be safe, young Domino, wherever you are.
Mary Mortimer
Who You Were
Posted: May 9, 2012 Filed under: Your poems | Tags: Philip Beverley Leave a comment »
if bedtime came so soon after breakfast
if goodbye came
when hello’s ring still echoed
by the hat stand, on the whatnot
in the hall
where the telephone held sway
if winter’s shortest counted
as equal to the wide horizoned
summer’s day
if what’s left when darkness
always shrouds your shoulders
could count as equal to who you are
in hot July
there’d be no if, there’d be no how
nor why should I, there’d be
only midnight sun
and come what may
and catch me if you can
single-handed
double-sided stick-ability
school’s out and Saturday
Philip Beverley
“Hungry as the Sea” by Wilbur Smith
Posted: May 9, 2012 Filed under: From our bookshelf... | Tags: Fiction, Wilbur Smith Leave a comment »
After seeing a whole stall full of his books all laid out face up at an event I attended, I thought that maybe I should review one for you, as it seems strange to find an author of so many (over 30) books of which I haven’t even looked at one.
A solid 500 pages of an adventure featuring the largest luxury liner in the world was my choice. Born in Africa many of Wilbur Smith’s books feature the country of his birth and some seem over-violent but I usually enjoy books about the sea so hence my choice. The main character in the tale owns a salvage company with a super-special tug which comes to the rescue of the over-sized crude oil carrier. You will have to read the book to see how a cruise liner becomes an oil carrier.
Jean
Funding survey results + donations
Posted: April 13, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment »
Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our survey about the Reading Circle’s funding.
Thank you especially to those who told us what the Reading Circle means to you and what a positive impact it has on your health and well-being.
The survey results show that our best option is to ask our participants for a voluntary donation each year. This means that we can raise some money towards our running costs and, most importantly, we will not exclude anyone in the process.
If we introduced a mandatory annual membership fee, we would lose many of our members, and we would have less writing to share (making it more difficult for us to inspire others to write). It would also make it more difficult for us to encourage new people to join.
Those of you who are willing to make a voluntary donation have offered to contribute between £5 and £24 per year. The average suggested voluntary donation was £12.60 – roughly £1 per month, so that’s the sum that we are going to suggest.
Some of you kindly said that you are willing to help with fundraising. Your suggestions included:
• Grant funding from elsewhere, e.g. The Arts Council, Lottery.
• Sponsorship from businesses, colleges, individuals or other organisations.
• Support from (or partnerships with) other groups e.g. Rotary, literacy organisations.
• Publications and CDs of members’ work that can be sold at events and in local venues.
• Fundraising events, e.g. a faith lunch, raffle, coffee morning, poetry reading, book sales.
• Exhibition of memories in photos and writing, with an entry charge.
• Members making greetings cards to sell on behalf of the group.
• Activity workshops or social evenings.
• Promotional events, media activities and merchandise.
• Ask a local author to become a champion.
Some of these suggestions are difficult given the virtual nature of our group, some of the ideas would require initial expenditure, and some are things that we have already tried. Perhaps you can help us to decide which of these suggestions are worth us exploring further? We’re very happy for members to get involved with fundraising, if you’re willing.
How to make your donation
Would you like to make a donation to the Reading Circle? Our suggested annual donation is £12, but you can donate any sum that you like.
Please make cheques payable to: The Reading Circle
Please post your donation to:
The Reading Circle, c/o Jean Sims, 32 Hart Street, Newsome, Huddersfield HD4 6LS.
Thank you
World Book Night 2012
Posted: April 11, 2012 Filed under: Projects | Tags: Daphne Du Maurier, World Book Night Leave a comment »
World Book Night is taking place on Monday 23rd April 2012, when one million free books will be given away by tens of thousands of volunteers. Each book giver has chosen a favourite book from a selection of 25 different titles. Our Reading Circle have been selected to take part again this year, with the result that we have some free books to distribute.
Our chosen book is: “Rebecca” by Daphne Du Maurier
Rebecca is one of the greatest psychological thrillers ever written. Several of our members have commented on it in the past. One reader said: “This book is wonderful, the pure elegance in her writing is outstanding. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a great, sometimes sad, romantic, heart-rending novel. 10 out of 10.”
We hope that you will write to us after reading Rebecca, to let other participants know what you think of the book. You might also like to pass the book on to someone else afterwards.
Margaret Forster wrote of Daphne Du Maurier: “No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification… She satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied the exacting requirements of ‘real literature’, something very few novelists ever do.”
If you would like a free copy of Rebecca, please contact us so that we can post your book out to you. Reading Circle members will get first chance.
We hope that you will write to us after reading Rebecca, to let other participants know what you think of the book. You might also like to pass the book on to someone else afterwards.
“Titanic” by W. B. Bartlett
Posted: April 11, 2012 Filed under: Monthly reading selections | Tags: W. B. Bartlett Leave a comment »
9 Hours to Hell, the Survivors’ Story
As a tribute to the people who lost their lives when the great liner sank 100 years ago I have chosen the above book out of the many which have been written on this subject. It is the human story of the disaster rather than just the history of the ship.
For someone who has had an interest in ships since an early age, Titanic has always had a fascination for me, the largest steamship in the world, much more interesting than the box-like cruise liners of the present.
I followed Dr Robert Ballard’s attempts to find the remains of the great ship on the ocean floor while eventually realising that once found they should have let her be and not violated the site by removing the many items brought to the surface and put on show.
There is a new museum opening in Belfast this month. The cranes at the Harland and Wolff shipbuilding yards now have something else to look at. I am impressed by the building representing the bows of the Titanic, while dreading what is inside it. There will now be something else to focus on regarding Titanic, so perhaps they will leave the great ship to rest in peace.
Jean
Uphill Down
Posted: April 11, 2012 Filed under: Your poems | Tags: Philip Beverley Leave a comment »
we only name the mountains
that were foothills in our fathers’ time
they are the stuff of current clime
but as for foothills
that were mountains when our fathers climbed
we think them molehills in their prime
Philip Beverley
