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Go Back   Pollensa Forum > BACKGROUND INFORMATION > Books, Guides and Maps

Books, Guides and Maps Read any good books lately? Did you manage to finish Captain Corelli's ...? Recommend your favourite travel guides and maps. Suggest holiday reads for kids.

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  #1  
Old 21-06-2006, 17:22
cheniesbucks
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Hi All,

Just wanted to tell you all about a book I'm reading at the moment. "May contain nuts" by John O' Farrell.

It is a laugh out loud book and is basically about a woman from middle class England who decides to take her daughters 11+ for her to enable her to get into one of the finest schools in the country. Praise for the book includes:-

"O' Farrel is a humerous writer with an acute ear for the absurdities of middle class pretension. its hard to fault his satire on conpetetive parenting or his conclusions regarding social inequalities"

"O'Farrell is one of the best satirists and he has middle class pushy mothers down to a tee in this toe curling, hackle rising chronicle lf hyper - parenting....the one liners are sublime and the comedic situations are hilarious. Dont miss this!

"O' Farrell has tapped into Middle Englands neuroses with terrific wit"

I live in an area that still has the 11+ and my oldest daughter is nearly six but there are so many things that ring true for me in this book. I can see me (yes me!?!?) in some of the things that Alice does and deffinatley see some of the mums who I stand in the playground with every day in this book. Its really really funny...my husband thinks I'm mad when I try to read something out to him and have to stop to have a fit of the giggles.....

Get it on Amazon - which I did for about two pounds! If you have little ones who you're "coaching" already you'll wince!!!!
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  #2  
Old 21-06-2006, 17:23
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Great book cb I just finished it in PP last week and I've left it in the apartment for our guests. Like you I was laughing out loud and reading bits out for hubby..never quite the same out of context and he thought I was mad! I have 3 children who all went through the traumas of 11 + and thankfully they all passed and went on to the grammar schools in Aylesbury. The book, as you said ,reminded me of conversations at the school gates with some of the over competetive mums!

Have you read his other book The Best A Man Can Get? I think it's even funnier ?:rollin . All his plots are fairly absurd but you almost believe them and his humour is right up my street.

Talking of streets my Grandparents (and Dad as a boy) used to live on Chorley Wood road. They lived in 2 houses ..not at the same time :\ ! The first was on the corner of The Clump which was knocked down a few year ago and is now where I think Martin Kemp's house is .The second house (next door) was called Little Acre and still is 60 years later!

Debs
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  #3  
Old 21-06-2006, 17:44
cheniesbucks
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Hi debz

I know exactly where you mean on the corner of the Clump. yes Martin and shirl' do live there. Its very leafy now so I can't stretch around the hedges to have a nose....blast! Ha ha.

Yes, the other book "The Best a man can get" IS very very funny indeed. I had my two girls at home and I remember the second labour vividly (nearly 3 yrs ago!). I wallowed in our roll top bath - with blue tack stuffed into the overflow thingy to stop the water escaping - whilst reading that book!!! The poor midwives had to keep listening to me recite bits to them and they never found it funny like I did for some reason???? (Maybe something to do with the whole cannister of gas and air that I'd used that EVERTHING was funny::lol :lol ) In the end they told me to put the book away although I do remember reading it again a bit later on with 2nd newborns head wobbling around whilst I was trying to feed her AND laugh at the next funny that he was talking about. No wonder I was so rubbish at feeding babies....should have put the blimming books down I guess?...... >D
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Old 21-06-2006, 18:44
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Im reading Marian Keyes Watermelon, is also a laugh out loud, i dont normally read these types of books, as prefer, thriller, crime books, but friend borrowed me 3 of same author, 2 i didnt fancy, but this is about a irish woman, whos husband dump's her in the hospital, the day she gives birth, and leaves her for her very average neighbour, with lots of kids etc, was slow getting started, but is very dry, and funny !!

gonna try Sushi for Beginners, as almost finished Watermelon S f B gets fab reviews, but doenst seem that good from back cover, anyone read it ???

Debs
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Old 21-06-2006, 22:50
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One of the most amazing books that I enjoyed recently & is very short is 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time' written from the viewpoint of a boy with Aspergers syndrome. It was completely unexpected & amazing. It may not sound appealing but everyone I know who has read it, says exactly the same - wow!
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  #6  
Old 21-06-2006, 23:56
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pollensa,

whats asperges syndrome ?
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  #7  
Old 22-06-2006, 00:37
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It's either the same as or similar to autism where a child or adult sees everything in a very different way & doesn't really relate to other people. They see eveything very objectively & black & white. They have their own interior world & routines & are often brilliant at something such as Mathematics or Art.

Read it to find out - it's very short - I stayed up all night reading it...

See www.amazon.co.uk
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  #8  
Old 22-06-2006, 00:43
bonez1977
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curious incident is one of the best books i have ever read,, it's so close to the mark, it gets you gripped and you just can't put it down. i hardly ever read a book twice, but i have lost count at how many times i have read this... it's especially touching if you have a family member with asperges (sp) or autism ... a great book... i loved it !!!!!!
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Old 22-06-2006, 01:54
cheniesbucks
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Oh wow yes!

Pollensa and Bonz - the curious incident of the dog in the night is FAB!! Loved it. Read it 3 times I think!!!

Deb, if you liked Marion Keyes you should buy "Under the Duvet" by the same author. A real girlie giggler of a book. ALSO, one of my "other" faves is another book similar to John O' Farrells "may contain nuts" It's called "I dont know how she does it?" which is by Alison Pearson. Its about a working mum who counts minutes "as though they are calories". Its a very funny book but has a sad side to it too. I dont know one of my friends who hasn't read it. ( I dont juggle a full time job and motherhood but I still found it very funny. I'm a yummy mummy who stays at home instead! ::evil :rolleyes

Anything by Tony Parsons is good too although for some strange reason I couldn't get into his latest one (cant even remember the name >D ) Its all about a reporter on a newspaper in the 70s who travels the world interviewing rock stars. Shame, cos I loved all his others ie, One for my baby, Man and boy and Man and wife....

I love reading books like all of the above we've mentioned so far - so any other recommendations let me know....?
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  #10  
Old 23-06-2006, 05:54
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Anyone read the Freya North Books ........... Chloe;Sally;Cat Pip etc ...... great beach reads, not many brain cells required but fantastic entertainment ........ just what we need on hols, don't you think.

I would also recommend Joanne Harris , especially 5 quarters of an Orange and Coastliners

Other books I have loved are the Annie Hawes books Extra Virgin and Ripe for the picking ........ I actually went to the place where these books are set in Italy last year ........ it was fascinating ........... did a post all about it but I think it was in the Tapas Bar so not around any more ....... mustn't go off topic but must remember to ask Pollensa what happened to all those posts

Another interesting read ( am half way through ) is Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon ...... requires a bit more attention but not at all heavy ( life's too short to have to work at reading a book :rollin )
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  #11  
Old 23-06-2006, 15:31
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Anyone read 'Incident at Pollensa Bay' by Agatha Christie?

I've been meaning too but never got round to it.
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  #12  
Old 23-06-2006, 16:40
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pollensa, thanks for details.

chesniebucks, ive just finished Watermelon, (she has a great dry sense of humour) and just started, Sushi for Beginners, i do have Under the Duvet, just cant find it, at mo, so started on the other, will defo read tho, thanks.

A blinding unput downable has to be Martina Cole Faceless, granted not everyones cup of tea, and is harsh at times, but god, what an eyeopener, fantastic intense read...my fave book to date, but am getting into these lighthearted funny ones.....

debs
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  #13  
Old 23-06-2006, 16:59
cheniesbucks
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If you like the Martina Cole books you should buy "Kaitlyn" by Kevin Lewis. (He wrote The Kid a couple of years ago which is his true story of his struggle as a child who was abused.)

Kaitlyn is a novel and it is very gritty and gripping. She (Kaitlyn) is separated from her little brother after the step-father bruttally attacks their mother one night. Kaitlyn ends up staying with her mum while her brother is adopted by a rich couple somewhere. This story is about Kaitlyns life with her druggie/prostitute mum and then her quest to find her now grown up brother. Lots of twists and turns and very very harrowing and gruesome in parts. Kept me hooked though - I read this in PP in March and my poor husband (I think) felt like a single parent!

Vikki x
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  #14  
Old 23-06-2006, 17:23
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I am reading Don Quixote, its my equivalent of War and peace, got it for Christmas and so far about a quarter of the way, only get to read it in between as so busy at the moment, well worth the effort as it is a bit had going at times.
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  #15  
Old 23-06-2006, 19:31
Debilicious
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perfect, my type of read.....

ive made a note of them both, as both sound like what i like to read, as you say, harrowing, but keeps me turning the pages....cheers vic !

deb
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