UK Book Club discussion

The list ready and waiting:

ENGLAND -
Bedfordshire
Berkshire - A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French - finished 27/02/12, 3*
Buckinghamshire - The Dark is rising by Susan Cooper - finished 12/06/12, 3*
Cambridgeshire - The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry - finished 12/01/12, 5*
Cheshire
Cornwall - Wycliffe And The Tangled Web by W.J. Burley, finished 30/09/12, 3*
Cumberland
Derbyshire
Devon
Dorset
Durham
Essex
Gloucestershire - Gone by Mo Hayder - finished 25/06/12, 4*
Hampshire - The Last of the Last: The Final Survivor of the First World War by Claude Choules - finished 04/07/12, 4*
Herefordshire
Hertfordshire
Huntingdonshire
Kent - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - finished 07/05/12, 2*
Lancashire
Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Middlesex - Anno Dracula by Kim Newman - finished 16/02/12, 5*
Norfolk - The Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry - finished 05/12/12, 4*
Northamptonshire
Northumberland - Ocellus by Andrew McEwan - finished 23/01/13, 2*
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Rutland
Shropshire
Somerset
Staffordshire
Suffolk
Surrey - The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, finished 18/07/12, 5*
Sussex - The Dragon's Eye by Dugald A. Steer - finished 31/01/12, 5*
Warwickshire
Westmorland
Wiltshire - The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham - finished 11/02/12, 5*
Worcestershire
Yorkshire - North Riding - On Extinction: How We Became Estranged from Nature by Melanie Challenger, finished 19/07/12, 2*
Yorkshire - East Riding - Torc of Moonlight by Linda Acaster - finished 06/12/12, 3*
Yorkshire - West Riding

WALES -
Anglesey/Sir Fon - Everything I Found on the Beach by Cynan Jones - finished 16/11/12, 5*
Brecknockshire/Sir Frycheiniog
Caernarfonshire/Sir Gaernarfon
Carmarthenshire/Sir Gaerfyrddin - Hosts Of Rebecca by Alexander Cordell - finished 17/05/12, 5*
Cardiganshire/Ceredigion - The Long Dry by Cynan Jones - finished 25/02/12, 5*
Denbighshire/Sir Ddinbych
Flintshire/Sir Fflint
Glamorgan/Morgannwg - How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn, finished 08/02/12, 5*
Merioneth/Meirionnydd
Monmouthshire/Sir Fynwy - Resistance by Owen Sheers - finished 01/04/12, 4*
Montgomeryshire/Sir Drefaldwyn - The Lambsridge Wolves by Chrissie Parkes - finished 14/11/12, 4*
Pembrokeshire/Sir Benfro
Radnorshire/Sir Faesyfed

SCOTLAND -
Aberdeenshire
Angus/Forfarshire
Argyllshire
Ayrshire
Banffshire
Berwickshire
Buteshire
Cromartyshire
Caithness
Clackmannanshire
Dumfriesshire
Dunbartonshire/Dumbartonshire
East Lothian/Haddingtonshire
Fife
Inverness-shire
Kincardineshire
Kinross-shire
Kirkcudbrightshire
Lanarkshire
Midlothian/Edinburghshire
Morayshire
Nairnshire
Orkney
Peeblesshire
Perthshire
Renfrewshire
Ross-shire
Roxburghshire
Selkirkshire
Shetland
Stirlingshire
Sutherland
West Lothian/Linlithgowshire
Wigtownshire

NORTHERN IRELAND -
Antrim
Armagh
Down - Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People by Susan McKay - finished 16/03/13, 3*
Fermanagh
Londonderry
Tyrone

First one done:

Cambridgeshire - The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry - finished 12/01/12, 5*

I read this last year, actually I listened to it! It was my first Stephen Fry book, I'd like to read more though...

I've read Moab Is My Washpot which is his first autobiography and The Liar, which is fiction and would highly recommend both. I've also got The Hippopotamus to read as well.

I really liked all Fry's early work, but not so much since the stars tennis balls, or whatever it was called.

I read a book I LOVED called Revenantwhich is based on Anglesey, if you need any ideas for that part of country.
and I'd check out Aberystwyth Mon Amour when doing that part of wales...
darkly comic and odd

Louise wrote: "
I read a book I LOVED called Revenantwhich is based on Anglesey,"
I had lots of holidays there so have marked it to read - looking at the reviews it seems to be a real 'Marmite' book!!

Louise wrote: "I really liked all Fry's early work, but not so much since the stars tennis balls, or whatever it was called.

I read a book I LOVED called Revenantwhich is based on Anglesey, if you..."

I've only read The Liar fiction wise so far but I do have The Hippopotamus on my to read shelf.

Thanks for the suggestions for Anglesey and Ceredigion, I've seen many of the Aberystwyth series around and heard good things so I'm definitely going to give them a go.

Sussex - The Dragon's Eye by Dugald A. Steer - finished 31/01/12, 5*

Have to admit I was disappointed with the Fry Chronicles although he remains one of my favourite human beings.

Ian wrote: "Have to admit I was disappointed with the Fry Chronicles although he remains one of my favourite human beings."

Really?!?!?!? How come? I thought it was great (but I absolutely love Stephen and I doubt he could ever do wrong by me!!!)

Sam wrote: "Louise wrote: "I really liked all Fry's early work, but not so much since the stars tennis balls, or whatever it was called.

I read a book I LOVED called Revenantwhich is based on..."

Everything I Found on the Beach is starts in Ceredigion and ends in Anglesey!

The Fart technically happened just inland from Llanrhystud, Ceredigon..

The Fart

Cynan wrote: "The Fart technically happened just inland from Llanrhystud, Ceredigon..

The Fart"

Okay, any book with a title like that I'm gonna get :-D

Thanks for the suggestions Cynan :-)

Sam wrote: "Ian wrote: "Have to admit I was disappointed with the Fry Chronicles although he remains one of my favourite human beings."

Really?!?!?!? How come? I thought it was great (but I absolutely lov..."

Just a bit too much name dropping for my tastes.

Ian wrote: "Sam wrote: "Ian wrote: "Have to admit I was disappointed with the Fry Chronicles although he remains one of my favourite human beings."

Really?!?!?!? How come? I thought it was great (but I abso..."

A few people have said that about it but I didn't mind that so much.

Got my first Wales county with Glamorgan - How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn, finished 08/02/12, 5*

Llongyfarchiadau Sam - I'm presuming you are now fluent in Welsh.

Diolch Ian, yn ffodus rwyf wedi llwyddo i lynu ymlaen at rai o'r gwersi Cymraeg fy hen yn lle! Although I really wouldn't describe myself as fluent, I'm more stuttery in Welsh than fluent!

Bloomin' 'eck Sam. I'm more fluent in Scouse. Had to look my word up in an online dictionary....so what's all that about then....other than I know Cymraeg = Welsh. I had a mate at uni who taught me a few choice words and all the words to Sospan Fach but all long since forgotten.

Basically saying that I remember a bit from my school Welsh lessons although I did have to check what fortunately was (its yn ffodus in case you were wondering). I can imagine what those words were, I did the same with my uni mates so they ended up walking around town shouting some very colourful language (luckily I went to Northampton so no-one knew what they were saying!)

Sam - want me to send you a book to help your challenge along? The Long Dry, or Everything I Found on the Beach - both set in Ceredigion (though Everything then heads north). You choose. (The Long Dry is shorter!)

Mail me if you'd like a book.

All the best, and good luck.

C.

Cynan wrote: "Sam - want me to send you a book to help your challenge along? The Long Dry, or Everything I Found on the Beach - both set in Ceredigion (though Everything then heads north). You choose. (The Long ..."

Oh thank-you Cynan, I never turn down the opportunity of a free book so will mail you now. Thanks so much and I'll let you choose which one to send (should be dealer's choice after all) :-D

Ceredigion - The Long Dry by Cynan Jones - finished 25/02/12, 5*

Monmouthshire - Resistance by Owen Sheers - finished 01/04/12, 4*

For a short cut round the UK, why not read Granta 119: Britain - stories from round the country. Or is it countries?

Granta 119: Britain

Meanwhile, Check out my recent podcast on 'an influential book' with Dafydd Prys of Planet Magazine:

http://www.planetmagazine.org.uk/html/newsite/leafing_through.html

Cynan wrote: "For a short cut round the UK, why not read Granta 119: Britain - stories from round the country. Or is it countries?

Granta 119: Britain

Meanwhile, Check out my recent podcast on 'an influent..."

I'm sure that would constitue cheating Cynan...brilliant plan though ;-)

I could always claim that my piece in Granta - 'The Dig' - is set in Carmarthenshire, if that would help.

Also, check out Sebald for Norfolk etc.:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5622662.W_G_Sebald

Cynan wrote: "I could always claim that my piece in Granta - 'The Dig' - is set in Carmarthenshire, if that would help."

I've actually got one on my TBR pile that covers that, it's Hosts Of Rebecca, just got to get around to it. Although I have managed to tie it into my Snakes and Ladders Readers Edition Game I'm doing in another group :-)

As I say on my podcast (wierd timing!) - Alexander Cordell probably the first books to blow me away. I was a 14/15yr old. Think perhaps they were the first stories that I read that were set to a backdrop I could relate to intimately - both the rural elements, and the left overs of the industrial Rhondda where my father is from.

I've only read one of his so far with This Proud and Savage Land but I do have two more to read and I'm in the process of hunting down the others (I'm being picky as I want them all the same style so I have a complete matching set) and it was a pleasure to read a book where everything was so familiar, both in the surroundings and the attitudes and traditions.

Also, not to be missed. Robert Lewis's trilogy. I had to buy second had copies of his first two books as they're out of print. Ironically, they were ex prison copies.

- mostly Bristol, but ...

- Swansea

- Carmarthenshire? (Just started reading it myself)

Cynan wrote: "Also, not to be missed. Robert Lewis's trilogy. I had to buy second had copies of his first two books as they're out of print. Ironically, they were ex prison copies.

[bookcover:The Last Llanell..."

Oooo, thanks for the recommendations. I'll have to see if I can hunt down my own prison copies!

Finally another one done with Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel for Kent finished 07/05/12, only 2* though

Once Removed is set in West Yorkshire, if that's any help ;0)
Once Removed

K.b. wrote: "Once Removed is set in West Yorkshire, if that's any help ;0)
Once Removed"

Thanks K.B, I'll keep that in mind and added to my list as I'm lacking options for that one. Been completed side-tracked by other challenges too but that's another matter ;-)

Got another one with Hosts Of Rebecca by Alexander Cordell for Carmarthenshire finished 17/05/12, 5*

Thanks K.B, I'll keep that in mind and added to my list as I'm lacking options for that one. Been complete..."

I would have thought this was challenge enough for anyone! I wonder which part of the country will produce the best read?

K.b. wrote: "Thanks K.B, I'll keep that in mind and added to my list as I'm lacking options for that one. Been complete..."

I would have thought this was challenge enough for anyone! I wonder which part of th..."

I'm a sucker for a reading challenge so I've got about five on the go, not even counting the toppler challenges that I do every other month!

And another one down with Gone for Gloucestershire finished 25/06/12, 4*

Another done with The Last of the Last: The Final Survivor of the First World War for Hampshire, finished 04/07/12, 4*

Another one down with The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells for Surrey, finished 18/07/12, 5*

Another one down with On Extinction: How We Became Estranged from Nature by Melanie Challenger for Yorkshire-North Riding, finished 19/07/12, 2*

Hi Sam,

How far round the isle have you got so far? I strongly recommend Robert McFarlane's 'The Wild Places' - stunning writing that will transport you to some very out of the way spots.

Hi Cynan,

I've hit a slight block at the moment as I've been distracted by another challenge for another group so haven't really focused on it too much.

Thanks for the suggestion though, that looks brilliant (now just to wait for next month's book budget to kick in).

Another one down with Wycliffe And The Tangled Web by W.J. Burley for Cornwall, finished 30/09/12, 3*

Tollesbury Time Forever is set in Essex if that helps! Great challenge by the way - good luck with it!

Stuart wrote: "Tollesbury Time Forever is set in Essex if that helps! Great challenge by the way - good luck with it!"

Thanks Stuart, I'll be sure to look that one up once I've made a bigger dent in my own TBR pile...it's currently taking over my living room! ;-)

Don't know if you've got a Derbyshire yet but ou book group read Year of wonders by Geraldine Brooks which is fictionalised account of the town of Eyam's isolation when the plague hit. It was generally well liked!

Got one for Anglesey with Everything I Found on the Beach by Cynan Jones - finished 16/11/12, 5*