Tuesday 13 May 2014

Reading Pile

The books on my reading pile keep increasing, I can't read at a fast enough pace to keep up with them.


You may remember me reading A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen towards the back end of last year. I've recently read the follow on to this book, The World According To Bob. This book continues telling the tale of James and Bob's life together and the ways in which Bob has helped James through many hard times. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Bob's antics.


I've also read the third book in the Nightingale series by Donna Douglas, The Nightingale Nurses. This book is my favourite so far, perhaps because I've got to know the characters so well through the first two books. I couldn't resist buying the fourth book, Nightingales On Call, when it came out at the end of April and I'm reading that now. New characters have been introduced in this book so I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.


While passing a bookshop in Leeds which sells discounted books, I saw Call The Midwife by Jennifer Worth for just £1.99. I love the television series which is based on these books so I'm sure I'll enjoy reading these memoirs.


I buy many of my books from charity shops these days, though I'm careful about which ones I buy from as some want to charge nearly the same price as it would cost new. These two books cost me the princely sum of 99p for the pair, they were buy one get one free. Midwives by Chris Bohjalian sounds worlds away from the gentle pace of Call The Midwife. The blurb:-

Sibyl Danforth is a midwife, highly experienced and respected in her local community for delivering babies at home. Then the unthinkable happens. On a winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont, in the middle of a lengthy and strenuous labour, tragedy strikes. With phone lines down and roads slick with ice, Sibyl is forced to perform an emergency caesarean on a mother she believes has died of a stroke.

But what if Sibyl's patient wasn't dead - and Sibyl inadvertently killed her?

Related through the eyes of Sibyl's 14-year-old daughter Connie, Midwives is powerful and gripping to the end. A courtroom battle ensues as Sibyl faces the antagonism of the law and the accusations of her own conscience, while trying desperately to keep her own family and reputation intact.

The other book, One Day by David Nicholls, has now been made in to a film and though I haven't seen it myself, Eleanor has watched it over and over again, she loves it. Perhaps it's something to do with the fact that the one day which the title relates to is the 15th of July, Eleanor's birthday. More often than not, I prefer a book to a film, so I thought I'd give this one a go. The blurb:-

You can live your whole life not realising that what you're looking for is right in front of you. 15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows?


We've recently started decorating Daniel's bedroom while he's away at university. Whilst packing the books on his bookshelves away, I came across the copy of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee which he used in secondary school whilst studying for his English Literature GCSE. It's a book which I also studied for my English Literature O Level and I'm now looking forward to rereading it. Flicking through the book, I can see that Daniel made notes in it and underlined various text. I've seen the film version of this book starring Gregory Peck many times and I never tire of it so I'm sure I'll be able to say the same for the book.

I'm not a fast reader, I only read a chapter or two when I go to bed so I think there's enough there to keep me going for a while.

20 comments:

  1. I bought the Call the Midwife series of books, but I only managed to read the first few chapters as it was so harrowing. The start of the book was set in the poor house and I just found it too upsetting to read.
    You've got some good books there = many happy hours reading :0)

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    1. I'm a bit like that, things can really upset me, so I hope I manage to read Call The Midwife. I've got a good selection of books so they should keep me entertained.

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  2. You can never have too many unread books! It's been a very long time since I read To Kill A Mockingbird. Flighty xx

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    1. That's true, though I don't want to get too far in front with them all as I'm hoping for an ereader for Christmas. It's a long time since I've read To Kill A Mockingbird too, though I remember it fairly well, a book I really enjoyed reading.

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  3. Wow, you certainly have lots of reading material there! I have read the first of the midwives book and enjoyed it, and I have two more in my massive pile waiting to be read. I am trying really hard not to acquire any more books at the moment, otherwise I would look for several of the ones that you showed above! Happy reading! xx

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    1. That's the problem, there's such a choice of great books that you can amass a huge pile before you know it. I'm pleased to hear that you enjoyed Call The Midwife, I've enjoyed the television series so I hope I'll enjoy the book too.

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  4. Oh happy reading, I love having a huge pile of books in my to read list. The problem is mine seem to be craft related at the moment, the midwives books look good.

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    1. I haven't mentioned all the non fiction ones I've got by the side of my bed, both craft and gardening related. Then there's the wish list, there's lots more I want.

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  5. Oh Jo you're going to be a very busy lady. As you know I read to Kill a Mocking Bird earlier in the year and if you love the film you're going to really love the book. The film is very true to the book but you get a few extras in the book. I've not read the book Midwives but I have seen the film and that was fantastic so enjoy. Lucky you finding 'Call the Midwives' for £1.99 I've got a sample on my Kindle but not downloaded the full book yet. I bought number one son Life according to Bob for Christmas not sure whether he's read it yet as he was still working his way through a pile of books that were part of a series. But may be the World according to Bob will be in his stocking this year instead. If we don't see you on here for aw while we will know it's because you're too busy reading.

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    1. It may take me a while to get through all I've got, but I'll get there in the end. I really enjoyed A Street Cat Named Bob so I'm sure your son will enjoy it. The World According To Bob is an update on how he and James are getting on with lots of anecdotes which I loved hearing about.

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  6. That's quite a pile of books to work your way through! It's a funny thing that sometimes you fancy reading one book over another so it's always good to have choice xx

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    1. That's true, it's nice to have a choice of things to read. I'm loving the Nightingale series at the moment, a nice easy read which is keeping me interested.

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  7. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all time favourite books, I re-read it when my son studied it for GCSE a couple of years ago - it was stunningly done at the theatre too.
    I read One Day when it first came out and thoroughly enjoyed that too. - I must remember to put the Bob books on my wishlist as I've been meaning to read them!

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    1. I enjoyed To Kill A Mockingbird when I read it at school so I'm looking forward to rereading it, I don't read many books a second time. I don't really know what to expect from One Day, you'd think I'd have caught a bit of the film the number of times that Eleanor's watched it but I haven't. I've enjoyed reading the Bob books, he sounds such a clever little cat, though I think that most cats and dogs are very intuitive.

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  8. Sounds interesting reading matter and were you a nurse or midwife by any chance? I've not read a novel since we decided to move house, but have quite a lot that I really should pick up. Happy reading and take care.

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    1. I do have a bit of a theme here but no, I was never a nurse or a midwife. I only tend to read when I'm in bed, and then it's only a chapter or two so a book lasts me quite a while. It'll take me some time to get through these.

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  9. I have to say that Midwives is one of the best books I've ever read. I've reread it four or five times, it's that good. Call the Midwife was really good too, I liked it even more than the show. :)

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    1. I'd never heard of Midwives before I picked it up in the charity shop so I'm pleased to hear a good review of it, I'm really looking forward to reading it now. I often think that books are better than tv or films, I suppose it's because they have to cut lots of things out because of time restrictions.

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  10. I loved the Call the Midwife books! Some of the stories are similar to the TV show, but others are quite different. Thanks for the suggestion for the Nightingale series. I'm off to Amazon to check it out! :-)

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    1. I'm looking forward to reading Call The Midwife, I loved the tv series so I'm sure the books will be just as good, if not better. I'm really enjoying the Nightingale series, a nice easy read. I hope you enjoy them too if you do decide to read them.

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