Reading as a cheap hobby

-taff

Oh yes, totally forgot Frank Herbert, Anne McCaffrey, Mary Gentle...!

Also forgot, there is a free bookcase in my local Tesco, take what you like off it, bring what you like ot put on it..I've had quite a few from there and struck up conversations with people looking there too.

enthusiasticsaver

Nonnadiluca said:

I'm never without a few books on the go, some physical and some ebooks and audiobooks from Borrowbox  I also like the Ellie Griffiths Ruth Galloway series and her other books are good too, especially The Postscript Murders and The Stranger Diaries. I love Perfume by Patrick Suskind and anything by Claire North, my favourite is probably The Sudden Appearance of Hope. Frederick Backman is also well worth a read. oh ,not to forget The Salt Path and the 2 sequels by Raynor Wynn . I'll stop listing now or I'll be here all night! Reading is just the best thing, free or very cheap, takes you to another world, there's always something to learn. I've had a bit of a tough year and nothing helps lift your mood and lower stress levels than a good book, a cup of tea and feet up on the sofa - bliss!
It's good to hear what others recommend, always something new to try.

 I absolutely love the Raynor Wynn novels although I preferred the first and third ones to the second.  It helps that she lives near me though and I walk sections of the South West  Coast Path every week. Pure escapism and as you say bliss. 

MrsStepford

Went with husband to see the first Harry Potter film. Got a numb bum from sitting so long. Didn't go a bundle on the movie and haven't watched or read other Harry Potters.

I find it easier to watch science fiction than read it. Day of the Triffids was a set book in secondary school and I found that scary.

I loved Fahrenheit 451 though which was in the dystopian genre, I guess. 1984 was another set book and that was scary in the sense that the fictional things were actually happening. 

Dracula by Bram Stoker. One of my favourite books. Anyone else like Dracula ? 

The Art of Eating by M F K Fisher. Mes parents splashed out on a villa holiday in Portugal for their 25th wedding anniversary. I found this book in the villa (which had real marble floors and a maid) and spent most of my time by the pool reading it and gave myself sunstroke. 

Cooking in Ten Minutes (1939) was written by a distinguished scientist, Dr Edouard de Pomiane at the Institut Pasteur and it's quite amusing. It's in the top 50 cookbooks of all time which The Guardian compiled in 2010. Raymond Blanc has stated that Edouard de Pomiane is one of his culinary heroes. Praise, indeed.

I have cookbooks by Julia Child, Katie Stewart and Marguerite Patten OBE but nothing by Mary Berry or Delia Smith. I'm not into baking and Delia seems patronising to me. My mother worships her though. 

The first cookbook which I bought myself was the hefty Ma Cuisine by Auguste Escoffier, originally published in 1934. I got mine at WH Smith in Maidstone, in a sale when I was still at school. Escoffier was born in the South of France and was an apprentice at his uncle's restaurant in Nice, so there are lots of authentic Provençal recipes. He was one of the greatest chefs ever and spent some years at the Ritz in Piccadilly. 

Quasar

MrsStepford said:

Went with husband to see the first Harry Potter film. Got a numb bum from sitting so long. Didn't go a bundle on the movie and haven't watched or read other Harry Potters.

I find it easier to watch science fiction than read it. Day of the Triffids was a set book in secondary school and I found that scary.

I loved Fahrenheit 451 though which was in the dystopian genre, I guess. 1984 was another set book and that was scary in the sense that the fictional things were actually happening. 

Dracula by Bram Stoker. One of my favourite books. Anyone else like Dracula ? 

The Art of Eating by M F K Fisher. Mes parents splashed out on a villa holiday in Portugal for their 25th wedding anniversary. I found this book in the villa (which had real marble floors and a maid) and spent most of my time by the pool reading it and gave myself sunstroke. 

Cooking in Ten Minutes (1939) was written by a distinguished scientist, Dr Edouard de Pomiane at the Institut Pasteur and it's quite amusing. It's in the top 50 cookbooks of all time which The Guardian compiled in 2010. Raymond Blanc has stated that Edouard de Pomiane is one of his culinary heroes. Praise, indeed.

I have cookbooks by Julia Child, Katie Stewart and Marguerite Patten OBE but nothing by Mary Berry or Delia Smith. I'm not into baking and Delia seems patronising to me. My mother worships her though. 

The first cookbook which I bought myself was the hefty Ma Cuisine by Auguste Escoffier, originally published in 1934. I got mine at WH Smith in Maidstone, in a sale when I was still at school. Escoffier was born in the South of France and was an apprentice at his uncle's restaurant in Nice, so there are lots of authentic Provençal recipes. He was one of the greatest chefs ever and spent some years at the Ritz in Piccadilly. 

Ahh, quote now works for me!

Yes I love Dracula. In fact I did find a very good audio reading on youtube, not too long ago.

1984 is scary, but you if read Brave New World, you will find another kind of scary. To give you an idea, in 1984 people do not read books because they are forbidden and information is strictly controlled. In Brave New World, people do not read books because they just don't want to, as they grow up and live in an uber-shallow society where the flood of trivia is such that what would be useful information is lost in a sea of irrelevancies (and sexual promiscuity is a must - just the opposite to 1984). Well worth a read, and you shall see that our own society already has disturbing elements of both dystopias. 

Brambling

-taff said:

Oh yes, totally forgot Frank Herbert, Anne McCaffrey, Mary Gentle...!

Also forgot, there is a free bookcase in my local Tesco, take what you like off it, bring what you like ot put on it..I've had quite a few from there and struck up conversations with people looking there too.

I haven't read him for years but i use to like Raymond Feist, all my Anne McCaffrey, Terry Patchett etc were 'borrowed' by my nephew who as a teen cleared my shelves of all sci-fi / fantasy books.  I haven't read any Mary Gentle I'll keep a eye out for them.  

connorandco

I read lots of fiction when I was younger many years ago - Charles Dickens, the Bronte sisters, CS Lewis etc. but I much prefer non-fiction now. I love it when I'm reading and am reminded of another book and can then find it on my shelves. Colin Tudge is one of my favourite authors but I like Richard Dawkins, Marcus Chown, Richard Leakey, Henry Marsh, Joe Simpson, Oliver Sacks, Dava Sobel and so many more. Our library is good and I have a Kindle and also buy from second hand / charity shops.

ancientmum

I've just caught up with the thread, prompted by by it being highlighted on the Home page, and am finding interesting what people read as children.  I loved Little Women and saved up birthday and Christmas money to buy the sequels.  I also liked Heidi, Black Beauty,  Swallows and Amazons and the Enid Blyton adventure stories.  I had forgotten Malcolm Savill, who was mentioned a few pages back, but did read some of his books.  Rosemary Sutcliffe was also a favourite.  As a teenager I read science fiction by the 1950s masters:  Asimov, Clarke, and Wyndham 

These days I tend to read detective stories, like those by Anne Cleeve, Donna Leon and Ian Rankin.   Elly Griffith is a recent discovery and I'm working my way through the different series via the local library.  

The library is my main source of reading material but I do sometimes buy from charity shops or stalls, especially if going on holiday as I worry about losing a library book while I'm away.  New books are for buying as presents of if I am lucky enough to be given a book token.

At the moment I have a James Bond "sequel" by Anthony Horowitz on the go.  He has also written "new" Sherlock Holmes books as well as original stories.  All are excellent, in my opinion.

Savvy_Sue

MrsStepford said:

There was a series of books featuring Peter and Jane. Peter would help pipe-smoking Daddy in the garden and Jane would help Mummy in the kitchen. They seemed old-fashioned and sexist to me, even before I got to double digits Did anyone else have these at school ?

Oh dear me yes! And still traumatised by them. Ladybird Books, I think. It is frankly a surprise that I ever took to reading at all, after being 'taught' on Janet and John, which were equally dreadful. 

Savvy_Sue

Our local library is celebrating its 90th birthday this year. They know what the first book lent out was ... 

PipneyJane

@Savvy_Sue don’t leave us in suspense!  What was the first book the library lent out?

It seems that a lot of us “voracious readers” could read before we went to school and were most put out that we weren’t allowed to immediately pick up a book.  I was.  I was furious(!), having taught myself to read the year before. In my class, reading lessons were done in alphabetical order by surname.  Our class was A to M, so  with a surname starting with L, I was one of the last children to be “taught” to read.  My memory says that it was at least six weeks before I was officially allowed to read.  There were 36 pupils in my class. 

I learned to read on “Little Black, A Pony” and “Big Red”, which were my very favourite books when I was 5.  (I was horse mad, even then.  First rode when I was 3 or 4.). Must have read them a thousand times.  Like many, I hated Janet And John.  I did have a choice of other Ladybird books at school, so could avoid them.

What are people reading today?  As mentioned earlier, I’m currently working my way through my collection of Dorothy L Sayers novels and am now reading Five Red Herrings.  My biggest impression is that Sayers had reached the point where she was bored with Wimsey, so she focused on other characters.  Also, I think she was playing with writing styles, since there aren’t straightforward chapters, instead each section has the label of a different character who is either being interviewed or is the interviewer.

- Pip (The best part about re-reading a mystery book I haven’t touched in 25+ years, is that I don’t remember “who done it”)