Strange Times - The Readers’ Blog

Read by the Author Published in Sept 2017, Clinton gives a blow by blow account of the lead up to the presidential election she lost to Trump. This was on the heels of losing in the primaries several years earlier to Barack Obama. It must have felt that what she thought was her right to the keys of the White House were forever destined to be out of reach. It is well structured and when discussing her early years and rise through the ranks of Democrats there is a real pride...a real joy in describing her family life...her husband and daughter and then her grandchildren is beautifully presented.  It is sad that someone with such sincerity seems to have lost her way so many times..even if she felt her heart was in the right place. A great story that unfortunately as the telling progresses really brings out the bitterness and genuine heartbreak of losing the election. It is sad but clear that the race for the White House ends up as a race of who the US people hated less. It is fascinating

27th April 2020 - Lockdown Week 4 Yes, that Frank Gardner, the BBC journalist who was shot six times in Saudi Arabia in 2004.  A thriller that took a while to get into. Don’t think I’ve read a 550+ page tome - normally that length puts me off but definitely a series I will be returning to. An MI6 operative who goes up against a Columbian drug lord. A story that travels from the depths of South America to the heart of London and leaves you breathless right to the last chapter. Terrifying in places, brutal in others, almost definitely horrifically accurate. Edge of your seat stuff that makes a certain Mr Bond look a bit feeble. Another great read

An Audible Exclusive  I love a good ghost story...I love a scary, creepy one. It needs great characters, to be well structured and brilliantly performed. This is one of those stories... A couple move to an old farm - one of them, played with such sincerity by Lucy Fallon - she inherited from her father. She simply wants to build up a business where she can sell organic goats’ cheeses and restart the project her father had started. Unfortunately her girlfriend, amazingly portrayed by Pearl Mackie of Doctor Who fame, is unaware of the presence that lurks within the cow shed. With great sound effects and a banging door that will have you checking all doors and windows before you go to sleep. The creepiness increases as does the horror so even though the denouement is a trifle predicable the journey there is disturbing enough to be worth it. With each episode lasting around 30mins it is quick to the scares and builds the characters so that we truly care about each one and there is enough i

  20th April 2020 - Lockdown Week 3 Seemed appropriate after reading The JFK Letters that I would move on to this but what a completely different book this one is. These are letters written to President Obama and some of his replies. The book also goes in to some of the letters in greater depth with the author visiting the writers of them and delivering some real feels.  Things I learned from reading the book Obama’s handwriting    is appalling...lol Trump’s team spent less than half an hour with the lady in charge of the mail and said they would send someone again to get more details - they didn’t  Obama insisted every letter sent to the White House was scanned and digitally archived Definitely a book that once you get into it you will need a box of tissues handy. Not just for the letters from the public, which are positive and negative by the way, but for the heartfelt responses. Brilliantly told.

Produced on audio by Big Finish Productions  Another spin through the Big Finish Classics range - First Men in the Moon... I grew up on the Young Ones...absolutely amazing anarchic television at its best but there are so many more strings to Nigel Planer’s bow than I thought possible...there were times that it almost sounded William Hartnell in tone but by the end I was thinking...if Big Finish ever did a Cushing version of Doctor Who...Nigel Planer is the go to guy. The innocence...naivety...and wonderfully single minded scientist he portrays is superb...giddy one minute...lost in wonder the next. Again a story I thought I knew so well was turned on it’s head at least three times...love Jonathan Barnes’ writing. Having seen the 1964 movie and it chilled me but also made me laugh in equal amounts I expected the audio adaptation to do the same. Scary...unnerving and with a soundscape that had me constantly looking over my shoulder to see what was behind me ...another winner from Big Fin

13th April 2020 - Lockdown Book 3 As I said yesterday I  Love Sherlock Holmes, always have...Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Christopher Plummer...then on my travels round the country acquired the Complete Sherlock Holmes read by a Stephen Fry...simply brilliant. Somewhere back in time I was given Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz, of Foyle’s War and some brilliant James Bond books, among many others. A great read, from cover to cover it reads like Conan Doyle was dictating it and with a twist I simply didn’t see coming, seriously, not a clue...some detective I am. Fascinatingly different as Holmes and Watson aren’t in it as it takes place after the incident at Reichenbach and a body has been found at the bottom of the falls. The story is what happens and who fills the gap when the Napoleon of Crime’s syndicate is devoid of its leader. More graphic that a Conan Doyle but with enough clues to see the twist that comes...except...as I have said...I didn’t... Did I like it ? My daughter asked....

  An Audible Exclusive   Have been a fan of Conan Doyle’s literary creation since I first saw Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce stride across the screen in the early 80s not realising the movies themselves were from 40 years previous, through to Jeremy Brett’s astonishing turn as the Great Detective.  There can hardly be any other character who has been reimagined more than Holmes. This brilliant Audible exclusive tells the tale of a kidnapping...but not just any kidnapping...the kidnapping of Queen Victoria herself...the cast is brilliantly realised, from Nicholas Boulton as Holmes to Kobna Holdbrook-Smith’s Watson. Their relationship is tested to the full as Holmes continues to play the game of...‘I’ll explain’ later which nearly breaks their relationship. Difficult to say too much without ruining the plot but family ties are stretched as the investigation takes Holmes from London to Scotland and back....the inevitable appearance by  Holmes greatest adversary is superb and with an amazi

Based on Centurion Ministries -  https://centurion.org/ 6th April 2020 - I have always battled with the rights and wrongs of the death penalty...what if...what if... Grisham is one of my favourite authors as will become apparent over the coming months, easy to read and difficult to put down. Almost all of his books are thrillers about the legal system and this one is too but still comes across as fresh and a real snapshot of the US death penalty system. It is about people on death row; the innocent and the guilty and those in between and the determination of a Christian legal ministry trying to save them. The hardships they endure and the reality of the legal system that is glacial in its speed of squashing convictions.  A real change of pace but will get you thinking again about a legal system I am glad we in the UK have left behind.

 Produced for audio by Big Finish Productions If you haven’t heard of Big Finish where have you been ? They produce some of the best audio dramas available, mostly based on well known TV shows - Doctor Who, Space 1999, The Prisoner and more.  Their Classic range is one of my favourite and it has taken me to spend some quality time with Shakespeare...as BF continue their astonishing adaptations. Don’t be put off by the Shakespeare lingo...I was so engrossed I nearly found myself waxing lyrical just like a flibbertigibbet. But I digress...brilliant directing from Messrs Handcock and Edwards...and once again I was lost in the soundscape so brilliantly developed by Neil Gardner, James Dunlop and Howard Carter...you must listen...more effective when it is dark I think I could go about the performances of Alexander Vlahos as Hamlet and David Warner as Lear and indeed they are superb but...I feel special mention should be made of that BF stalwart Terry Molloy - and of ‘The Archers’ fame - a b

Audiobook read by Andrew Keir Love sci fi...always have...and Quatermass is the granddaddy of all British sci fi that first shown on the BBC in the 1950s. Andrew Keir played him in the movie version of ‘Quatermass and the Pit’ and is outstanding in the role...which takes place prior to the final televised series from the mid 70s. Indeed it dovetails almost exactly into the opening of the series which starred John Mills. I have always thought, to Kneale’s credit, he never allowed for it to be continued apart from one reimagining of the first story in the early 2000s. This has meant the mystique of the four story drama has been maintained over the years. The great story telling remains undiluted to this day. The story takes place in a remote house in Scotland and Quatermass is trying to come to terms with what happened in the first three TV stories. A journalist arrives and makes him face his ghosts that have held him captive for so long. His failures are laid bare and through narration

30th March 2020 – Lockdown week 1, used to listen to audiobooks on my travels round the country to visit schools. Our house is coming down with books I haven’t read and have always been interested in current affairs…so this one was picked up first… When I finished this I thought, what a great read, a true insight into the political relationships Kennedy had with Khrushchev, the Queen, former presidents and so many more. If you want to know a little about the background to the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis as well as how the ‘offstage’ relationship between Khrushchev and Kennedy that developed after their confrontation at the UN, this is a must read.  Easy to dip into and devastatingly brilliant, even dealing with the aftermath of his assassination as his widow developed a trusting and deep relationship with the Khruschev’s, a real behind the scenes look at the political machinations of the early 60s. For any true West Wing fan, this is a must.

I  am very lucky and am in a job that meant I wasn’t furloughed but instead had to work remotely since the first lockdown…lockdown 1.0 ? Anyway…I digress…I was never a big reader but enjoyed certain authors and then when lockdown hit and we knew that ‘ Lockdown 2: This time it’s serious’ was on its way, things were not going to change for a while. So since March 2020 I have been reading at least a book a week…and sharing some reviews with friends and family on facebook…other social media are available. I do it for fun…to pass the time and because I discovered I really enjoy sharing my thoughts. I have discovered I am definitely a fiction fan and my father would turn in his grave to give off to me – he could never be bothered with fiction…and even though there were thousands of books in our house growing up…all of his were factual…a few were poetry. I grew up loving The Secret Seven but not the Famous Five – their books were too long and then was introduced to the late great Terrance D