UK Book Club discussion
UK Counties Challenge
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Ian's Counties
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1. London, Middlesex - Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carré.
Thought I'd get the hard counties out the way first.
Hi Ian, Yes, I like to know where locations are. Unless as in many of Ruth Rendel's novels, she has made up a location.
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5. Fleetwood, Lancashire - A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth - http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
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7. Dorset - On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan.
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by Helen Dunmore.This is a beautifully written tale about the sacrifices of the WW1 generation. It's been marketed by the line "Can love survive the war?" but this is no simple love story. It's far more complex and layered than that involving a triangle of people who all love each other in such different ways. And the love theme is but one strand and it mostly just simmers under the surface of the story and remains ambiguous to the very end.
The three main characters have known each other since childhood and have grown up in an isolated Cornish coastal village. Frederick and Felicia are middle class siblings with Daniel being the son of their family cleaner. The boys have been best friends from an early age despite their differing social standing. The novel begins with Daniel having returned from the war tortured by what happened to Frederick who appears in the opening passages as a mud encrusted inhabitant of his friends sub-conscious mind. The narrative moves seamlessly backwards and forwards from the wild, unfettered Cornish coast - a metaphor for their lost youth perhaps - to the fewer passages in the sinking mud and stench of the trenches in Daniel's fevered mind. The author plays throughout with the themes of friendship, fear, guilt, loss and love & at times it reads like a stream of fevered unconscious thought. I'm always a bit suspicious of much hyped novels but this one far exceeded my expectation. It is on a par with Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and that's about the highest praise I can dish out.
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12. Gloucestershire -
by Nathan Filer.Set mostly in Bristol, this novel is about a 19 year old young man called Matt who suffers from schizophrenia. Since a traumatic childhood event he has been trying to navigate his way through an increasingly confusing world but his descent from sanity has eventually led to his entrance into the UK mental health system. As part of his therapy, he is writing his own story, which is effectively what we are reading.
This is no easy read as the story zips wildly about all over the place both chronologically and then in, out and through the canyons of Matt's mind - sorry couldn't resist that Bonzo Dog moment - and Matt is certainly no reliable narrator, though he does often admit to this.
However the insight into the mind of a schizophrenic and the world of MH facilities and services in the UK is on many occasions fascinating, at times heartbreaking, occasionally frightening and often very funny. Sort of like The Silver Linings Playbook but with most of the fluffy sentimentality and hope stripped out........so therefore a much more real experience.
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13.Glamorgan/Morgannwg - Submarine by Joe Dunthorne.
Coming of age tale of a teenage boy in Swansea. Couldn't relate to it much, thought it was derivative and lacked even one believable character. Very surprised I bothered to finish it.
Ian wrote: "I'm on a roll.13.Glamorgan/Morgannwg - Submarine by Joe Dunthorne.
Coming of age tale of a teenage boy in Swansea. Couldn't relate to it much, thought it was derivative and lacked even one belie..."
I didn't like it much either. Perhaps the film is better.
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Terrible psychological thriller. Avoid like plague. Makes living in Stoke sound horrendous.
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Disappointing crime thriller. It was OK but within this supposed psychological thriller some of the main characters were severely out of time and place. As an example, the lead detective, Chief Inspector Marvel suited his name in that he was an unintentionally comic neanderthal stereotype. Sorry to use TV characters as a guide but he was like Gene Hunt from Life on Mars but without the dry humour and then played as Boysie out of Only Fools and Horses. OK in a satire but not in this.
Time for a good UK based book.
I've been looking for her books, may have to rethink.. :)
Bill wrote: "I've been looking for her books, may have to rethink.. :)"Blacklands is the first in the trilogy and is really good. Really atmospheric. She really is worth a read.
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Still on a bad trot with UK crime novels. This was occasionally gritty and disturbing which was probably why I managed to finish it, but it was just far too full of annoying, awkward and frankly lazy plot devices. Plus I had real problems with the knight in shining armour portrayal of the leading man - DCI Tom Douglas. Is this chicklit crime? Gave me one real belly laugh though, relating to a cuffs not matching the collar moment, so not all bad.....nothing to do with the novel really but lifted it from 1 star to 2 stars.
Ian wrote: "15. Somerset - Darkside by Belinda Bauer.Disappointing crime thriller. It was OK but within this supposed psychological thriller some of the main characters were s..."
That's the one of hers I haven't read. If it's pants I won't bother. I agree with Sue - Blacklands is a very good crime novel. I'm reading Finders Keepers at the moment. Not as good as Blacklands and nowhere near as good as Rubbernecker, which was excellent.
Lol re above.
Ian wrote: "16. Oxfordshire - Only the Innocent by Rachel Abbott.Still on a bad trot with UK crime novels. This was occasionally gritty and disturbing which was probably why ..."
Btw - have you tried Paul Finch for gritty crime? I haven't because I don't like gritty crime, but he gets rave reviews for his books which are based in Leeds I think. I've taken an interest in his career as an indie author. I believe he used to write for The Bill, so he should know what he's talking about. Far too gruesome for me of course. *Shudders*
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Have you tried Stuart MacBride's Logan McRae series? Aberdeen set crime, fairly gritty, occasionally gruesome and amusing dialogue.
Just read up and yes you have. Sorry.
Ian wrote: "Ta.....will have a look at Paul Finch........I need a new genre to emerge.....gritty crime blokelit."Go for it. I think Sacrifice was his first novel, if there is an order. Same detective in each as far as I can gather. Might be just up your street.
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Go for it. I think Sacrifice was his first novel, if there is an order. Same detec..."
Caroline wrote: "Just read up and yes you have. Sorry."
No worries, always good to get suggestions and I really like Stuart Macbride.
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Go for it. I think Sacrifice was his first novel, if there is an order. Same detec..."
Had a look and not for me. Just invested 99p in a Gordon Ferris...crime and HF. Spiffing.
He's my new favourite writer at the moment. Picked the first one up randomly and am now reading my way through the series as fast as the library can get them in for me. (Just finished the 4th - Flesh House). Which isn't very helpful for the challenge (getting nowhere fast!) but I'm really enjoying them so it's all good.
Ian wrote: "Tori wrote: "Ian wrote: "Ta.....will have a look at Paul Finch........I need a new genre to emerge.....gritty crime blokelit."Go for it. I think Sacrifice was his first novel, if there is an orde..."
Glad you got fixed up. You need something to keep you out of mischief ;-)
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by Ruth DugdallThis novel starts in flashback with a brief mystery and then the short trial of Rose, a vulnerable young woman who is accused of killing a baby boy called Luke. She was found guilty and after several years in a Suffolk prison, she is now up for parole for the first time. Enter Cate a probation officer. The story moves back and forth between the present and the past as we are drawn into Rose's back story which will eventually lead to the night of Luke's death. So far so good in terms of plot and the central character of Rose is reasonably well drawn, but Cate is a pitifully shallow portrayal and the supporting cast in the prison are mostly caricatures. I suppose I enjoyed it overall and though this was a debut novel, I don't think this will be an author I will be reading again.
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by Jon McGregor.Really enjoyed this novel about the journey of one man's life and his search for his roots. David Carter had always wanted to work in a museum and his story is told through a series of exhibits - memories brought to the fore by memorabilia of the small things of life that he and others in his family have kept by accident or deliberately saved. Not just photos and letters, but train tickets, to do lists, party invites, old clothes etc etc. Set mainly in Coventry, it is a clever and stimulating read but also an easy and entertaining one.
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by Owen Sheers.Another really enjoyable one. This is a really well written, dark and brooding tale that envisages an alternate history for Britain in WW2. In a remote Welsh hill farming valley Sarah Lewis and all the other local women awaken to find their men have disappeared during the night. They suspect that they have gone off in secret to join the resistance to the invading German army. Sarah and her friends have been left to cope with the harsh, physical demands of their bleak yet beautiful sheep farms under the watchful eyes of a small patrol of German soldiers. As a deeper, colder winter than any they can recognise sets in, the two groups are drawn together in a co-operation that makes life more bearable and the outside world of war and resistance becomes ever more remote. Eventually however, there will come the thaw and the two groups will have to face up to the consequences of what has happened during the winter.
Ian wrote: "19. Monmouthshire - by Owen Sheers.Another really enjoyable one. This is a really well written, dark and brooding tale that envisages an alternate h..."
I read it a few years ago Ian and really enjoyed it as well even though I don't generally like the idea of reimaginings of what would have happened if the Nazi's had won. Perhaps it was the portrayal of the women's isolation and the unfriendly scenery and the tension of relationships. I beleive it was made into a film recently yet not seen it.
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Think I might have to pinch this one! And the DVD is in the library!
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This is a good, well written story set in the hot summer of 1969 in the early days of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Katherine and George are devoted to their kids and seem to have a loving, happy family life. There is however a hidden secret in their past that is gradually drawn out set alongside the fact that the couple originally come from different sides of the growing sectarian divide and are now living in the wrong part of Belfast in terms of the children's religion and schooling.
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by Pat Barker.Great read set in the countryside around Newcastle. The usual Pat Barker themes of art, love and the traumatic after effect of war - in this case on journalists and those close to them when they return home or indeed when they fail to do so. The story focuses particularly on the artist/sculptor widow of Ben, a photojournalist who has recently been killed in Afghanistan and also on his friend Stephen, a fellow journalist who first met Ben amongst the horrors of Sarajevo.
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.Set in Devon and on the Isle of Wight, this is a slow but gently gripping tale that twists through a couple of decades around and about the journey of a man to meet the return of a brother's body from Iraq, but although that particular loss could be the central thing, the novel is much more about loss generally - loss of childhood, loss of livelihood, loss of a way of life, loss of family, and loss of purpose in life. Really enjoyable even though it is a very bleak look at the devastation wrought on dairy farming communities by the successive blights of BSE and then Foot and Mouth disease.
Ian wrote: "23. Shropshire - 
by Maureen Jennings."Interesting, I didn't realize that Maureen Jennings was born in England. She's become quite successful with her Murdoch books and TV series.
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by Isabel Ashdown.Highly recommend this warm and heartbreaking tale of family dysfunction.
26. Midlothian/Edinburghshire -
by Ian Rankin.Rebus.....say no more. Long time since I've read one. Really enjoyed.
They are always excellent, more so when you pick one up after being away from the series for awhile.
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by Graham Swift.28. Pembrokeshire/Sir Benfro -
by Thorne Moore.Pembrokeshire author. Enjoyed this. 3.5 stars. Shame the characters and plotting of the present day story - when written - felt rather lightweight compared to the more emotionally deep feel of the narrative set in the past.
UK Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Mothering Sunday (other topics)A Time for Silence (other topics)
Glasshopper (other topics)
The Hanging Garden (other topics)
Season of Darkness (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Graham Swift (other topics)Thorne Moore (other topics)
Isabel Ashdown (other topics)
Ian Rankin (other topics)
Maureen Jennings (other topics)
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ENGLAND
1. Bedfordshire (Bedford, Luton, Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Biggleswade, Sandy)
2. Berkshire (Reading, Bracknell, Maidenhead, Newbury, Windsor, Wokingham, Abingdon)
3. Buckinghamshire (Aylesbury, Milton Keynes, Slough, Buckingham, High Wycombe)
4. Cambridgeshire (Cambridge, Wisbech, Ely, March, Whittlesey, Chatteris, Linton)
5. Cheshire (Chester, Stockport, Ellesmere Port, Birkenhead, Wallasey, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Crewe)
6. Cornwall (Bodmin, Truro, Camborne, Redruth, St. Austell, Falmouth, Penzance, Newquay)
7. Cumberland (Carlisle, Whitehaven, Workington, Penrith, Keswick, Brampton)
8. Derbyshire (Derby, Chesterfield, Glossop, Ilkeston, Long Eaton, Swadlincote, Buxton, Matlock, Ashbourne)
9. Devon (Exeter, Plymouth, Torquay, Paignton, Barnstaple, Tiverton, Newton Abbot, Tavistock)
10. Dorset (Dorchester, Poole, Weymouth, Sherborne, Wimborne Minster, Shaftesbury)
11. Durham (Durham, Sunderland, Stockton-on-Tees, Darlington, Hartlepool, Gateshead, Washington)
12. Essex (Chelmsford, Basildon, Romford, Southend, Colchester, Harlow, Brentwood, West Ham)
13. Gloucestershire (Gloucester, Bristol, Cheltenham, Stroud, Cirencester, Tewkesbury)
14. Hampshire (Winchester, Southampton, Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Basingstoke, Newport)
15. Herefordshire (Hereford, Ross-on-Wye, Leominster, Ledbury, Bromyard, Kington)
16. Hertfordshire (Hertford, Watford, St. Albans, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Hatfield)
17. Huntingdonshire (Huntingdon, St. Ives, St. Neots, Ramsey, Yaxley)
18. Kent (Maidstone, Canterbury, Bromley, Rochester, Margate, Folkestone, Dover, Greenwich)
19. Lancashire (Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, Bolton, Warrington, Barrow-in-Furness)
20. Leicestershire (Leicester, Loughborough, Hinckley, Melton Mowbray, Coalville, Lutterworth)
21. Lincolnshire (Lincoln, Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Boston, Grantham, Stamford, Skegness, Louth)
22. Middlesex (City of London, Harrow, Enfield, Staines, Ealing, Potters Bar, Westminster )
23. Norfolk (Norwich, Great Yarmouth, King's Lynn, Dereham, Cromer, Hunstanton)
24. Northamptonshire (Northampton, Peterborough, Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough)
25. Northumberland (Alnwick, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Morpeth, Hexham, Berwick-upon-Tweed)
26. Nottinghamshire (Nottingham, Mansfield, Worksop, Newark, Retford, Southwell)
27. Oxfordshire (Oxford, Banbury, Witney, Bicester, Henley-on-Thames, Carterton, Thame)
28. Rutland (Oakham, Uppingham. Cottesmore)
29. Shropshire (Shrewsbury, Telford, Oswestry, Bridgnorth, Whitchurch, Market Drayton, Ludlow)
30. Somerset (Taunton, Bath, Weston-super-Mare, Yeovil, Bridgwater, Wells, Glastonbury)
31. Staffordshire (Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Cannock, Lichfield)
32. Suffolk (Ipswich, Bury St. Edmunds, Lowestoft, Felixstowe, Sudbury, Haverhill, Bungay)
33. Surrey (Guildford, Croydon, Woking, Sutton, Kingston-on-Thames, Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Brixton)
34. Sussex (Chichester, Brighton, Worthing, Crawley, Hastings, Eastbourne, Bognor Regis, Horsham)
35. Warwickshire (Warwick, Birmingham, Coventry, Nuneaton, Rugby, Solihull, Stratford-upon-Avon)
36. Westmorland (Appleby, Kendal, Windermere, Ambleside, Kirkby Lonsdale)
37. Wiltshire (Trowbridge, Salisbury, Swindon, Chippenham, Devizes, Marlborough, Warminster)
38. Worcestershire (Worcester, Dudley, Kidderminster, Stourbridge, Halesowen, Malvern, Evesham)
39. Yorkshire
a) North Riding (Northallerton, Middlesbrough, Scarborough, Whitby)
b) East Riding (Beverley, Hull, Bridlington, Driffield, Hornsea, Filey)
c) West Riding (Wakefield, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Halifax, Harrogate)
WALES (including Monmouthshire)
40. Anglesey/Sir Fon (Beaumaris, Holyhead, Llangefni, Amlwch, Menai Bridge)
41. Brecknockshire/Sir Frycheiniog (Brecon, Builth Wells, Hay-on-Wye, Talgarth, Llanwrtwd Wells)
42. Caernarfonshire/Sir Gaernarfon (Caernarfon, Bangor, Llandudno, Conwy, Pwllheli, Porthmadog)
43. Carmarthenshire/Sir Gaerfyrddin (Carmarthen, Llanelli, Ammanford, Llandovery, Kidwelly, St. Clears)
44. Cardiganshire/Ceredigion (Cardigan, Aberystwyth, Lampeter, New Quay, Tregaron)
45. Denbighshire/Sir Ddinbych (Denbigh, Wrexham, Ruthin, Abergele, Llangollen)
46. Flintshire/Sir Fflint (Mold, Flint, Rhyl, Prestatyn, Connah's Quay, Holywell, Buckley, St. Asaph)
47. Glamorgan/Morgannwg (Cardiff, Swansea, Merthyr Tydfil, Barry, Caerphilly, Bridgend, Neath, Pontypridd)
48. Merioneth/Meirionnydd (Dolgellau, Bala, Tywyn, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Barmouth, Harlech)
49. Monmouthshire/Sir Fynwy (Monmouth, Newport, Blackwood, Cwmbran, Abergavenny, Chepstow, Tredegar)
50. Montgomeryshire/Sir Drefaldwyn (Montgomery, Newtown, Welshpool, Machynlleth, Llanidloes)
51. Pembrokeshire/Sir Benfro (Pembroke, Milford Haven, Haverfordwest, Fishguard, Tenby, St. David's)
52. Radnorshire/Sir Faesyfed (Presteigne, Llandrindod Wells, Knighton, Rhayader, New Radnor)
SCOTLAND
53. Aberdeenshire (Aberdeen, Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Inverurie, Huntley, Ellon, Turriff)
54. Angus/Forfarshire (Forfar, Dundee, Arbroath, Brechin, Montrose, Carnoustie, Kirriemuir)
55. Argyllshire (Inveraray, Oban, Dunoon, Campbeltown, Lochgilphead, Tobermory)
56. Ayrshire (Ayr, Kilmarnock, Irvine, Saltcoats, Kilwinning, Largs, Troon, Cumnock)
57. Banffshire (Banff, Buckie, Keith, Macduff, Portsoy, Dufftown)
58. Berwickshire (Greenlaw, Duns, Eyemouth, Lauder, Coldstream)
59. Buteshire (Rothesay, Millport, Brodick, Lochranza)
60. Cromartyshire (Cromarty, Ullapool)
61. Caithness (Wick, Thurso, Halkirk, Castletown)
62. Clackmannanshire (Clackmannan, Alloa, Tillicoultry, Tullibody)
63. Dumfriesshire (Dumfries, Annan, Lockerbie, Moffat, Sanquhar, Langholm, Gretna)
64. Dunbartonshire/Dumbartonshire (Dumbarton, Clydebank, Cumbernauld, Helensburgh, Alexandria, Kirkintilloch)
65. East Lothian/Haddingtonshire (Haddington, North Berwick, Dunbar, Tranent, East Linton)
66. Fife (Cupar, Dunfermline, Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy, St. Andrews, Cowdenbeath, Burntisland)
67. Inverness-shire (Inverness, Fort William, Kingussie, Newtonmore, Portree)
68. Kincardineshire (Stonehaven, Banchory, Laurencekirk, Inverbervie)
69. Kinross-shire (Kinross, Milnathort)
70. Kirkcudbrightshire (Kircudbright, Castle Douglas, Dalbeattie, New Galloway)
71. Lanarkshire (Lanark, Glasgow, East Kilbride, Hamilton, Motherwell, Coatbridge, Carluke)
72. Midlothian/Edinburghshire (Edinburgh, Musselburgh, Penicuik, Dalkeith, Bonnyrigg)
73. Morayshire (Elgin, Forres, Rothes, Lossiemouth, Fochabers)
74. Nairnshire (Nairn, Auldearn, Cawdor, Ferness)
75. Orkney (Kirkwall, Sromness, Balfour)
76. Peeblesshire (Peebles, Innerleithen, West Linton)
77. Perthshire (Perth, Crieff, Pitlochry, Callander, Blairgowrie, Rattray, Coupar Angus, Kincardine)
78. Renfrewshire (Renfrew, Paisley, Greenock, Johnstone, Port Glasgow, Barrhead, Kilmalcolm)
79. Ross-shire (Dingwall, Stornaway, Tain, Alness, Invergordon)
80. Roxburghshire (Jedburgh, Hawick, Kelso, Melrose, Roxburgh)
81. Selkirkshire (Selkirk, Clovenfords, Galashiels)
82. Shetland (Lerwick, Scalloway, Baltasound)
83. Stirlingshire (Stirling, Falkirk, Grangemouth, Kilsyth, Bridge of Allan, Denny, Alva)
84. Sutherland (Dornoch, Helmsdale, Brora, Golspie, Lairg, Durness, Tongue)
85. West Lothian/Linlithgowshire (Linlithgow, Livingston, Bo'ness, Broxburn, Whitburn, Armadale, Bathgate)
86. Wigtownshire (Wigtown, Stranraer, Newton Stewart, Whithorn)
NORTHERN IRELAND
87. Antrim (Antrim, Ballymena, Carrickfergus, Larne, Lisburn, Newtownabbey)
88. Armagh (Armagh, Newry, Craigavon)
89. Down (Belfast, Newry, Dundonald, Newtownards, Bangor)
90. Fermanagh (Enniskillen, Lisnaskea)
91. Londonderry (Londonderry, Coleraine, Limavady)
92. Tyrone (Omagh, Cookstown, Dungannon, Strabane)