A couple weekends ago I visited Sudley Castle in Gloustershire with my eldest daughter, Jenny. We had noticed that the historian David Starkey was doing a talk about the life of Katherine Parr. The talk was to start at 6pm but we decided to make at day of it and visit the castle and grounds too.
The talk was really good, very informative, he knows his stuff and answered questions very thoughly.
There was a book signing after the event, I chose Six Wives, The Queens of Henry VIII, a hefty book at over 700 pages, my thoughts are to split it into sections on each wife, when I get round to it.
It was our Book & Pudding club last night with a vist from the Author Sally Page. Her recent book, Six Little Words was our book last month.
To be or not to be…
Six little words, printed on orange card, appear one morning pinned to the noticeboard of Kate’s local café. There’s no explanation, no name.
Each day a new line is added, sparking curiosity throughout the café. Among the regulars is Bardy, an ex-English teacher grappling with writer’s block.
For Kate, this trail of words might just offer a second chance at happiness, if only Bardy can find the strength to share his story too…
She was such a lovely friendly person, our host, Jen, did a great job with her questions and Sally answered them all with great detail. It was interesting to hear her thought process while she was writing the book and how she came to include some of the topics.
I did read the book, although It wouldn't normally be something I'd pick up. I enjoyed it in as much as it was an easy read, the characters were mostly all likeable and easy to imagine but It wasn't a book I thought a lot about unless I was reading it. An ok read.
This is our next book to be discussed at the end of the month. I've already read it, very different to the last one.
Ansel Packer is scheduled to die in twelve hours. But this is not his story.
Ansel doesn't want to die; he wants to be celebrated, understood. Yet now he awaits the same fate he forced on those girls, years ago.
This is the story of the women who survive.
As the clock ticks down, three women - a mother, a sister, a detective - reckon with the choices that culminate in tragedy, the impact on those in its wake, and the possibility of redemption.
This won't be everyone's cup of tea, it's very dark and depressing really, very well written, but for me it just didn't hit the mark.
Our library book club book last month was Shy Creatures
Croydon, 1964. Art therapist Helen Hansford is working in a psychiatric hospital, where she has been having passionate but precarious affair with her married colleague, the charismatic Dr Gil Rudden.
Helen's structured life is upended when William Tapping - a silent, thirty-seven-year-old man with a beard down to his waist - arrives at the hospital. As Helen helps William express himself through art, she becomes increasingly entangled in his mysterious past.
Inspired by a true story, Shy Creatures is a life-affirming exploration of loneliness, love and the quiet forces that shape our lives, reminding us that freedom can come in unexpected forms.
Again, not a book I would have chosen to read. I did almost give up, I was a good way in and put a message on our Whatsapp group to ask if it got any better because it was so mundane! Most said they had enjoyed it, so that guilt tripped me into finishing it. Did it get better? slightly. Will I remember it in a years time, possibly not.
From my own TBR shelf I picked up Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena
William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he's been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road.
So, when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter Avery unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.
Hours later, Avery's family declares her missing.
Suddenly Stanhope doesn't feel so safe. And William isn't the only one on his street who's hiding a lie.
As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery's neighbours become increasingly unhinged.
Who took Avery Wooler?
Now this one I am enjoying, the pace is good and the chapters end with something that makes you want to keep reading. I should finish this one tomorrow.
Have you read anything good latley?
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