I think you and Trish have persuaded me to try South Riding. It's not a book I have thought about reading before. I love Thomas Hardy, but would like to read more. Jude The Obscure was the first text to speach book I ever read, because I found it free on a website when I was learning to use the computer. I wouldn't have tried Hardy if it hadn't been the only book I came across, so I'm so glad to have been forced to try him. This is still my favorite of his that I've read so far. I either love or loath Nevil Shute, but A Town like Alice is one of the ones I really enjoyed. Beyond The Black Stump was my most loved, or possibly The Pied Piper. I remember one called something like In The Wet, which I really didn't get along with. I did enjoy the Cone Gatherers too and have thought about it and the 2 brothers often since we read it. Shell. -------------------------------------------------- From: "Pele West" <pele.west@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2013 5:56 PM To: <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [ebooktalk] Desert Island Books > Hi Everyone > > I thought I would change the subject line as we had had lots of messages > all going different ways. > > I have been thinking of my five favourite books today. It might be > different tomorrow, but here goes. Actually, people on the list will > already know about some of them. These are books that have stayed with > me from the time I either first read them or heard them on the radio. I > have put them in alphabetical order. > > "The Cone Gatherers" by Robert Jenkins. I heard this as a play on Radio > 4, then a Book at Bedtime, and then I managed to get the book. It is > about two brothers sent to work on a Scottish estate in the Second World > War. One of the brothers is severely disabled, and it is about the way > they are treated. When I was on this list before I chose this book for > everyone to read. > > "Far from the Madding Crowd" by Thomas Hardy. I came late to Thomas > Hardy, but I really love his writing now. This was the first unabbridged > book I listened to on cassette, beautifully read by Stephen Thorne. I > love the descriptions of agricultural life in Victorian times. > > "South Riding" by Winifred Holtby. Trish has already mentioned this one, > about life in Yorkshire in the 1930s. I heard it on Book at Bedtime, > then a radio dramatisation in the 1970s and I have read the book a > number of times. When my brother was doing Economics A Level they were > given it as background reading. I love the descriptions of life at that > time. > > "Strumpet City" by James Plunkett. This is about life in Dublin at the > time of the Dublin Lockout in 1913. I love the way it was written and > was quite surprised when I found it was written in the 1960s. > > "A Town Like Alice" by Nevil Shute. I first read this when I lived in > Singapore, so the parts about Malaya struck a chord with me. While I was > reading it we went camping on a small island off the east coast of > Malaysia, and I had to take a volume with me to read. I have read it > many times since and it still works for me. > > Sorry, this message is a bit long. > > > -- > Pele West <pele.west@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > > >