The Da Vinci Code.

By Dan Brown

I had been reluctant to read this book with all the hype and suchlike surrounding this book, But I have to admit I have found it easy to read, and easy to follow, I do hate books where I have to read an encyclopedia to understand half the words. And it kept me entranced with who the teacher could be.......
A book I truly recommend!

Have sent you all a link to a little swap blog so we can see who has what up for swaps

A Respectable Trade

A Respectable Trade
Synopsis
The devastating consequences of the slave trade in 18th century Bristol are explored through the powerful but impossible attraction of well-born Frances and her Yoruban slave, Mehuru.
Bristol in 1787 is booming, from its stinking docks to its elegant new houses. Josiah Cole, a small dockside trader, is prepared to gamble everything to join the big players of the city. But he needs ready cash and a well-connected wife. An arranged marriage to Frances Scott is a mutually convenient solution.
Trading her social contacts for Josiah's protection, Frances enters the world of the Bristol merchants and finds her life and fortune dependent on the respectable trade of sugar, rum and slaves.
Once again Philippa Gregory brings her unique combination of a vivid sense of history and inimitable storytelling skills to illuminate a complex period of our past. Powerful, haunting, intensely disturbing, this is a novel of desire and shame, of individuals, of a society, and of a whole continent devastated by the greed of others.


One of her earlier books quite enjoyable but I don't feel it's as nicely written as her later ones, nice not to have loads of bodice ripping going on lol

The Guilt of Innocents - Candace Robb

This is Book 9 in the Owen Archer series of medieval murder mysteries by Candace Robb.

Winter 1372, York: a man has drowned in the River Ouse. It soon becomes clear that his death was not an accident...... but why would anyone want to kill a humble river pilot?
As the crowds around the murdered man thicken, one-eyed spy Owen Archer is quickly brought to the scene by his adoptive son, Jasper. Renowned for solving many crimes, Owen is immediately drawn into the case. But right from the start he realises that it isn't a simple question of one victim, as another body is found in the river, and one suspect. And when a valuable cross goes missing and a woman is badly burnt in mysterious circumstances, the web of deceit widens - so Owen and Jasper's lives are in danger as they get closer to the truth.

Although it's part of a series it is possible to read it as a stand alone, as I read Book 1, The Apothecary Rose, some time ago and have now read this one and soon picked up the main characters and their stories.

It was an enjoyable enough read but I was a little disappointed that I managed to guess who the murderer was about half way through the book......... I much prefer it when the suspense and guesswork carries on right through to the last chapter! It was also nice to see how the stories/lives of the main characters had developed from the first book so I might just make the effort to read the "in between" ones now. :0)

I've registered this with the Book Crossing site and am now offering it to anyone who would like it - if no one here is interested then I will do a wild release at some point.

Anyone heard of this??

Read it, swap it

Seems you can swop books with others, there are lots in the library, wonder if its any good ...

Elizabeth Chadwick, The Champion

Here is a little bit about the book , personally I found it hard work for about the first half of the book

Alexander and Hervi de Montroi, half-brothers with no inheritance, meet in France. Hervi is a professional jouster and Alexander, fleeing the beatings of an English monastery, needs a trade. Despite misgivings, Hervi takes him on as his squire, introducing him to the travellers' immoral lifestyle. He befriends a girl, Monday, taking care of her after her parents die until, pregnant with Alexander's child, she leaves, finding shelter in a castle as a seamstress. Noticed by King John, she becomes his mistress in England, bearing his son and gaining a house. Meanwhile, Stefan has returned to England too, in the pay of an Earl - they meet again at court and, now older, fall in love. They have the King's blessing, but Monday's grandfather, now heirless, sees her as a way to gain power. She escapes his kidnapping to be reunited with Alexander on the land granted to him by the Earl.

The Wise Woman ~ Philippa Gregory

This is a haunting story of a woman's desire in a time of turbulence. Alys joins the nunnery to escape hardship and poverty but finds herself thrown back into the outside world when Henry VIII's wreckers destroy her sanctuary.

With nothing to support her but her looks, her magic and her own instinctive cunning, Alys has to tread a perilous path between the faith of her childhood and her own female power. When she falls in love with Hugo, the feudal lord and another woman's husband, she dips into witchcraft to defeat her rival and to win her lover, but finds - as her cynical old foster-mother had advised - that magic makes a poor servant but a dominant master.

Since heresy against the new church means the stake, and witchcraft the rope, Alys's danger is mortal. A woman's powers are no longer safe to use!

You can read the First Chapter here if you think this might be a book you would be interested in.

I did enjoy this book, it was my first Philippa Gregory. It does have lots of naughty words in it so some might not like it!!

A new start next on 'Barbara Erskine, Midnight is a Lonely Place'
Karen kindly sent me this when she had finished reading it (thanks Karen, hope it doesn't give me nightmares!)

new book started

I have at last finished the Lesley Pearse book I was reading. A friend has lent me a trilogy of books by Adriana Trigiani entitled Big Stone Gap(1) Big Cherry Holler (2) and Milk Glass Moon(3). She is author of Lucia,Lucia but I haven't read that one. It is an easy read but one that has you thinking you are up there in the mountains with the kind hearted collection of quirky sharp tongued folk.The blurb on the back is as follows.....
Ave Maria Mulligan if still single at 35 and she's well known for being the town spinster as for being the town pharmacistl.Not that it matters Ave Maria has her work,her best friend Theo and her loving Mama. So she isn't lonesome. Not a bit . Not even in aplace like Big Stone Gap where most people are married by 18 and you cant park your car outside a man's house without rumours flying, but now Aves Mama has died and as if that isn't painful enough,a letter has arrived with a secret from beyond the grave.A secret that raises as many questions as it answers.
Nothing stays private in a small town and before long Ave has a whole host of things to worry about.
This isn't my usual kind of book ,but my friend and I usually have similar taste so I thought I would give it a go. Will let you know what I think when I have finished it.
Karan I have read the Curious dog in the night-time and enjoyed it.Again not a book I might have chosen but certainly different.

The friend that lent me this trilogy has also taken part in the book crossing. I will ask her if she would like to join us shall I Karen.
Has anyone read any of Lee Childs books. I also see someone has or is reading the Wise Woman I enjoyed that too. Haven't had the new B.E.book back from son yet . Hope everyone is engrossed in a book. I think ELISA reads,.. perhaps she would like an invite . What do you think of asking on the board Karen. Anyway that is it for now take care Barb

Book Releases

Some of you may be aware, from reading my other blog, that I joined the Book Crossing web site whilst on holiday in the Lake District during August. I did this as I wanted to release the book I'd just finished reading (The Labyrinth) into the wild, to see who would pick it up and how far it would travel. I reasoned that, as the release place was visited by people from around the world, there was a strong possibility it would travel far........ but that book still doesn't seem to have gone anywhere yet.

In the hopes of better succes I opted to release my next book, The Alienist, in a cafe just down the local High Street. Several books that had previously been released in this area had been picked up by other people who then took the time to make a journal entry on them and pass them on. No luck with it yet but it was only recently released, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

A little disappointed with my first book releases, but undaunted, I decided the next book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, would be the subject of a controlled release. Angela, a fellow Blogger, expressed interest in it, so I duly posted it off to her at the weekend and I'm glad to say that she received it today. Angela has agreed to read the book, journal on it and release it into the wild on one of her walking and camping weekends. Even if no one journals on it after that at least I have one book that I know for certain has travelled!

What is the appeal of this? Well, there seems to be a prevalent attitude in society that "you don't get something for nothing" and this goes some way to disproving that rather cynical outlook on life. It's a way of sharing a good book with someone and anything that encourages people to read isn't a bad thing, is it? It spreads some good Karma. It's also going to be exciting to see where a book will travel........ if ever one of those wild releases is picked up by someone who is just as interested in spreading the good will and sharing in the journey. :0)