Newhouse Farm

Lotty · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 1:38 pm Post subject:

I've just finished an absolutely brilliant book by John Christopher called "The Death of Grass", excellent read, about what would happen if grass and all related species ( ie wheat, barley etc) went down with a virus... scary...
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zabdiel · Sycamore Standard Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 80

I read a lot of John Christopher's books when I was a teenager and enjoyed them but I've not read that one. I'll have to try and find that one (and some of the others where I read 2 out of a trilogy).

Billy Rhomboid · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:45 pm Post subject:

Very Good book. It was on the radio a few weeks back.
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Snoopka · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:08 pm Post subject:

I have just finished "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (young Nigerian woman - also wrote "Purple Hibiscus") - it is fiction, with much human interactions and complicated relationships and intersecting lives. Set in 1960's Nigeria against a background of mounting horror with the civil war there - and the Secession, Biafra etc...a fantastic read, made me realise how little I know about so many African countries. Really fascinating. Well-written too, and a gem of recorded history.

Also finished "The Outcast" (Sadie Jones). Her first novel, compared to Ian McEwan, it reads like a thriller, hard to put down,
and features highly dysfunctional families.

Has anyone read "Millenium"? (the trilogy). I have only read the first book, "Girl with the Diamond Tattoo" and have seen volume 2 and volume 3 only in French. Since it was written in Swedish (Steg Larsson), I guess it doesn't really matter, but I would prefer to read it in English. Might have to wait until I can find cheap copies.

columbusrat · Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:42 am Post subject:

I've just finished Generation Kill by Evan Wright, a reporter who accompanied a battalion spearheading the invasion on Iraq - not my normal genre, but one chosen for Book Group.

It was downright frightening to read how the men could get such an adrenaline rush from shooting people and being shot at and then try to reconcile that with their feelings when they found they had killed a civilian. The chaos of the invasion, the lack of coherent plans and general ineptitude of some of the higher staff were very clear too.

As we're reading 'themed' books at the moment, usually one fiction and one non-fiction, I'm now meant to be reading All Quiet on the Western Front but have decided I need something a bit more upbeat with a bit less shooting in it, so have started on A Piano in the Pyrenees by Tony Hawks instead.
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happymama · Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 10:25 am Post subject:

Am halfway through Ben Goldacre's Bad Science, and am thoroughly enjoying it - get it from the library and have your eyes opened!

Twas on 2nd book half price in WH Smith's.

It's about bad science.

So far, we've slain Gillian McKeith, Hopi ear candles, Brain Gym (If it's practiced in your kid's school, you should be very concerned), and covered the Placebo Effect in depth. (I use it on my kids all the time, in fact). The Media's MMR hoax appears near the end.

It's sadly printed too long ago for Swine flu, but I'm sure it will appear in future impressions!
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Salena · Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 10:36 am Post subject:

I'm halfway through A World Without Bees it's very interesting but also very scary to find out just how much trouble the bees are in. It also confirms just how many of the worlds problems are ruled by money and big companies.
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SunhillPumpkin · Ancient Yew Joined: 05 Feb 2009 Posts: 757

Im reading the book Andy Taylor from duran duran wrote,some of it was self induced but they had a right misrable time of it

Lou · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:00 am Post subject:

Aberlemno · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 7:39 am Post subject:

I have a selection on the go - almost one for every room (I have a low boredom threshold!) Virginia Woolf's Jacob's Room and To the Lighthouse, and short stories - The Spotted Dog and other Stories - by Trollope, and then I began the first of the Boudicca novels last night.
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happymama · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:39 pm Post subject:

Billy Rhomboid · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:46 pm Post subject:

Having a bit of a John Seymour month. Reread Fat of the land the other day and am now going to crack inot Bring me My Bow - his most opinionated and entertaining rant IMO.

Amazing how the former was written nearly 50 years ago and the latter 32 years ago and yet so spot-on about the situation we all find ourselves in now.
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Pod · Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 5:26 pm Post subject:

Letter from New York - Helene Hanff
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pork · Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 7:14 pm Post subject:

Having read several Colleen McCullough Masters of Rome books on holiday I have moved onto one of my birthday presents - a Flashman book. I love George McDonald Fraser and his political incorrectness. Just got to a bit where Flashy is pondering a half-Flashman.
I also read Artemis Fowl on hols when no1 son had finished it and 2 of his Roman Mystery books.
Mum also had a book called (I think) The Presidents Wife or some such based on Laura Bush which was gripping for some odd reason and makes you almost think fondly of George W as a person.
Happymama - I agree about Jodi Picoult. They are all the same. I had the same problem with Robert Ludlum as a kid. Part of the problem is because I read so quickly I reckon but definitely with JP the them is odd situation requiring lawyer where the whole story takes a while to come out. The Amish one irritated me beyond belief and I spotted the problem in The Pact at the beginning so the denoument was wasted on me. I thought the writing in My Sisters Keeper was very clever - I started off in Chapter 1 hating mum and wondering how she could do that to her daughter. Then Chapter 2 came along and you ended up with a degree of sympathy for her. I thought the ending was a bit of a cop out though and dread to think what the film is like!
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