Recently Read

 Chris Ryan's "The Watchman" was an absolute classic. An SAS man whose family has been kidnapped by the IRA, he gets embroiled in a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister in order to get his family back alive.  Gripping stuff :-)

Floella Benjamin's wonderful book details her childhood experiences of dealing with life in Britain as an immigrant. Suitable for children, and lovingly written.

"We Bought A Zoo" is the story of a family who did just that, and the problems they faced. Parts of it are desperately sad, but an enjoyable read.


"It's A Don's Life" by Professor Mary Beard is a rollicking good read, which reduced me to giggles on more than one occasion. She has a lovely writing style and such a keen wit that I was very sad indeed to reach the end of the book. The book is a compilation of posts originally from her eponymous blog and I particularly loved the decision to include the comments readers left on each blog post - these range from the sublime to the  ridiculous, but many were very informative.

  I have fond memories of watching the TV series of "Castaway" a decade ago, and was thrilled to pick this hardback book up for a song in a charity shop. The people chosen for the project came from immensely different backgrounds, and there was a great deal of conflict before the group began to work together. Conflict continued during the year, and it was interesting to read the combatants' viewpoints as to why and what really happened behind the scenes of the TV documentary.

Living on a remote Scottish island for a year with a group of people and being as self-sufficient as possible would be a fascinating  experience if you were with a group of friends, but imagine how much more stressful it would be if you were among strangers.........

"The Otterbury Incident" by C. Day Lewis  is a book I absolutely adored reading in primary school and was another seredipitous charity shop bargain. I loved it just as much reading it as an adult, but it probably would not be published now without serious editing on the grounds of being insufficiently Politically Correct.....

"Rogues' Gold" is a children's Elizabethan period mustery, which I really enjoyed although my twelve year old  struggled to get through the first chapter.

 "Fighter Boys" took me several weeks to read in small chunks. It deals with the lives and experiences of those men in the RAF who fought in the Battle of Britain in 1940. Parts of it were heartbreakingly sad, but described such heroism too.


"Payback" is another teenage - orientated Andy McNab book. A gripping read, and very informative, especially about the Dark Web.

Both of these were absolute delights!

"Wesley" is the story of a biologist who was privileged to adopt a baby owl, and her subsequent life with Wesley.

Martin Clunes' "A Dog's Life"  shows his great love of dogs in general and his own three in particular, and is tied in with the TV documentary series he made about man's relationships with dogs.

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