The Kintyre Forum

Well Ags, I was one of the ones you are talking about that has not finished it... I am really struggling with it for entertainment value. I will give it another go but am meant to be working on my HNC stuff right now and have ended up on here--- so really should not read anything enjoyable for a while.

I have asked Ninja to read the ikea catalogue and he wont even do that so there is no chance of him reading much in the way of books!!!

Not exactly true love.

Ags I have just finished reading from cover to cover a book titled.... 6x1, it had some good pictures on the third page of our queen, 6 to be exact, and to add for govangirls benefit, my thoughts on it.
I would have to say it was (First Class).

Good thread Ags, I will keep you posted on any other books I may read.

I've just read the second and third Dave Pelzer books, "The Lost Boy" and "A Man Named Dave". I don't have the first " A Child Called It", I'll need to get it from the library. But very good can't put down books!

Just started reading "Just A Boy" about the family of the first victim of the Yorkshire Ripper.

But I do enjoy a good old Marianne Keyes book and Chris Manby too!

A Child Called It is a disturbing book, well worth a read. Dave Pelzer is a man I have much admiration for.

http://www.davepelzer.com/

If you get on with that you may want to try, or may have read The Kid by Kevin Lewis.

http://www.kevinlewisonline.com/

I think I've actually read The Kid a while ago. I reconise the cover, and I went on the the link and I read the first chapter.

Someone said to me the first David Pelzer book was a difficult read.

It's certainly not for the timid, let's say it's powerful.
I read it in one sitting as I couldn't put it down.

Ninja Mania wrote:Not exactly true love.

Ags I have just finished reading from cover to cover a book titled.... 6x1, it had some good pictures on the third page of our queen, 6 to be exact, and to add for govangirls benefit, my thoughts on it.
I would have to say it was (First Class).

Good thread Ags, I will keep you posted on any other books I may read.

Very clever.

I apologise but I just can't stand any of these 'misery memoir', 'Please don't Daddy' books. I could see the attraction when they first came out (I'm old enough to remember The Flowers in the Attic set) but it's got out of hand now, a complete genre all on its own. I cannot believe how many shelves there are of them in Waterstone's!!!!

Many children's books are so successful that they end up having an 'adult' cover put on them. One of the most successful books with my young teens was 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' by John Boyne. My 12 year-old read it twice and she spent a great deal of time with me discussing how deeply moving and shocking it is. The fact that we see it through the eyes of a child makes it even more poignant. I see they have now made a film of it but do try and read the book. The blurb is probably right - it's better not to tell you what it's about so you have no preconceptions. It only took me a night to read it but it was with me a long time after (and after I finished greeting hard).
Another one that boys really like is 'The Messenger' by the author of The Book Thief. I don't know if you can get it here yet as I couldn't and had to get it in the States. Some of my pupils said it was the best book they had ever read!

I usually read about four at once. Just finished a biography of Anne Boleyn about a week ago, read another one about Henry VIIIth's politics at court. Been halfway through The Dice Man by Luke Reinhardt (good fake name) for a few months. I'm reading one called How The Scots Invented The Modern World just now. Can't remember the chief who wrote it's name, and can't be arsed going into the next room to check either. Once I has finished that one, I'm going to start Crime and Punishment.

As for recommendations, well I can't really say, because the only books I wouldn't read are the plethora of Da Vinci Code rip-offs that sit proudly displaying their unoriginality at the front of Borders. Pretty sure I'll get round to The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins at some point, but he does seem a bit pompous. I've also got a Chomsky book somewhere or other.

Oh Ninja !
I hope you will go back to the book thief kintyre 84, it gets better and better as you go!
I just CANT read these true life, bad to children type books at all. Only true life horror story I ever read and enjoyed - and I can't find it to get the exact title, was by a girl called Cupcake Brown who suffered sexual abuse became hooked on cocaine and alcohol and got herself through it and to law school to become a successful lawyer! I am just gutted tonight after grabbing the new James Patterson book from a shelf today! Love his Alex Cross tales so didn't think to read the synopsis, only to get it home and find, in the words of Govangirl, its a "misery memoir"!!! It will be going straight back tomorrow!! A new venture for him!
I looked at "the boy in the striped pyjamas" the other day but thought it was maybe a bit similar to the book thief for reading straight after it. I will read it soon though.
I have now picked up The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid which seems to be a kind of fictional take on 9/11 - not sure - only just a few pages in but I'm in the shop tomorrow and in this weather dont expect to see many folk so will report back tomorrow probably having finished it

I didn't think that I had ever read anything in this genre until Ags’ description reminded me that around 27 years ago (surely not that long ago?!?) I read 'Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo', in the original German. It tells the true story of Christiane F, a young teenager in Berlin in the 1970’s who became a serious heroin addict, working as a prostitute, while she was still school-age. The story was originally serialised in ‘Die Stern’, and caused quite stir internationally at the time. It was a compelling read, not least because Christiane was (and still is !) almost exactly the same age as me, and so it was easy to identify with her. By the time I had read it I had also become very familiar with Berlin itself, so the whole thing resonated so strongly at the time. [Google, Wiki and YouTube can provide you with more info on Christiane F/ the book/ the film if you want to know more].

While the book – and the film (featuring David Bowie’s music, and an appearance by Ziggy too, as I recall) - are a bit dated now, both are a stark and grim portrayal of the sheer misery and destitution that awaits any young person unlucky enough to find her- or him-self in this predicament. I felt that it was very realistic, and it patently did not glamorise illegal drug use – self-evidently a good thing. Unlike Trainspotting which – although I enjoyed the film – did tend towards making drug abuse more attractive than was warranted, in my view.

Ags wrote:I have now picked up The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid which seems to be a kind of fictional take on 9/11 - not sure - only just a few pages in but I'm in the shop tomorrow and in this weather dont expect to see many folk so will report back tomorrow probably having finished it

Finished it and managed to wrap all the wee ones birthday presents which are "hiding" in the boot of the car and still an hour at work to go!! Back to school tomorrow and won't have time to blink so making the most of my quiet day
Just a wee book which is why I managed to finish it so quickly! Has anybody read it? I think I liked it! It was certainly very easy to read once you got used to the style of writing. It was one side of a conversation taking place over a table in the Pakistan city of Lahore about the narrator Changez and basically his tale of the impact of being a young Pakistani living and working in New York after 9/11 when he starts to see America and himself from a different perspective. Something a bit more "jolly" for me next I think!

Govangirl - The Messenger is available in Amazon. It came up as one of my recommendations last night!

Ninja - saw your van at the top of the pier at lunchtime....was that you reading the follow up 2nd class 6 x 1?

i`m half way through the Beano summer special...the bash street kids stole a car.... went to the beach,got blootered on buckfast, and robbed 2 old ladies,

theyre due to appear at the end of September.......watch this space

This thread reminds me of a Scotch and Wry sketch.

Drunk lady at an upmarket party tries to chat to a well dressed guy. "Whit dae you dae?" she asks him, "I'm an author" he replies in a very Morningside accent, "Oh" she says, "I read a book wance", "Did you" he says, "which book was that then?"

"It wiz a green wan" she answers

Roy Williamson,My Father..................Karen Williamson.

That sounds like one to keep in mind for the folks at Christmas time Bill....would you recommend it?