Saying Hello

[Frances]

Hi, thanks, Ian, for pointing me to this lively group. I live in Somerset, but that's close to Devon, so I'm hoping you'll let me in! I'm a writer as well as a reader and with others, setting up a group of local writers on Facebook, called Wales and SW Writers United! to find lots of ways of getting together with readers. I've been reading and loving the Ken Follett Century Trilogy, and looking for some new historicals to read next.

[B J]

Hello Frances. Lovely county, Somerset. We often sneak over the border in our motorhome for a few nights in foreign parts. Is there any particular time in history that grabs your interest? Carol will be along any minute to promote the 18th century.

[Carol]

Hi Frances, welcome. I haven't heard of Wales and SW Writers United on Facebook, so will look it up, as like you, and also many of the people in this group, I'm also a reader/author, and as BJ said, I particularly like reading and writing about the 18th century.
Welcome also to Jayne and John.

[Frances]

B J wrote: "Hello Frances. Lovely county, Somerset. We often sneak over the border in our motorhome for a few nights in foreign parts. Is there any particular time in history that grabs your interest? Carol wi..."
Thanks for the welcome. I particularly like the 19th century, but I'm open to anything historical!

[Frances]

Carol wrote: "Hi Frances, welcome. I haven't heard of Wales and SW Writers United on Facebook, so will look it up, as like you, and also many of the people in this group, I'm also a reader/author, and as BJ said..."

Hi Carol, thanks for the welcome and yes, do please come along - it's a brand new group!

[Kathy]

Hi John. Welcome! A long time ago I read - and enjoyed - several Evelyn Waugh novels but I haven't read The Sword of Honour Trilogy. Did reread Brideshead Revisited recently with the same pleasure which was almost a relief. Hate to read a favourite and find I've changed and be disappointed!

[Kathy]

Hi to Frances too! Have to agree with BJ: Somerset is a lovely county too. Welcome to the group. :)

[B J]

Frances wrote: "B J wrote: "Hello Frances. Lovely county, Somerset. We often sneak over the border in our motorhome for a few nights in foreign parts. Is there any particular time in history that grabs your intere..."

I find fiction covering the 19th century fascinating. There's such a difference in approach/style between the work of Dickens, Hardy, Collins, Austen, the Brontes etc and that of modern authors setting their work in the same period.

[Carol]

Yes, I'm sure you're right BJ about 19th century authors then and now. The 18th century is, of course, somewhat different, as it saw the start of the novel- Defoe, Swift, Fielding etc and so those authors were being particularly innovative and experimenting.

[B J]

Somehow it seems strange to see Defoe, Swift and Fielding grouped together - although I guess they should be. I find Defoe and Fielding perfectly accessible, but Swift seems to belong to a different era altogether. I recently had another go at reading his "A Tale of a Tub", supposedly a great work of satire. My knowledge of Swift's time is so scant that I have no idea what it is that he's satirising.
How's Mr D?

[Carol]

He's recovered, thanks, and is about to go off to his allotment to tend his crops! Redcurrants, broad beans and still some strawberries at the moment, potatoes are evidently growing well and will be brought home soon!

[B J]

Excellent. Yes, it's that season of torture for me - gooseberry-picking time. I end up with roughly equal numbers of berries and scratches.

[Ian]

John wrote: "B J wrote: "And hello to John, too. I've often teetered on the brink of starting the Anthony Powell series, but when I read that it chronicles the lives of hundreds of characters, and there's a 350..."

Thanks John - I will certainly get to it - but it may be some months. I've got a mountain of books to enjoy - including the ones from each of our lovely local authors from Saturdays event.

PS - thanks for using the link - really helpful

[Ian]

Frances wrote: "Hi, thanks, Ian, for pointing me to this lively group. I live in Somerset, but that's close to Devon, so I'm hoping you'll let me in! I'm a writer as well as a reader and with others, setting up a ..."

You are very welcome Frances and glad you found your way to us. We are a lively and very friendly group, so feel free to recommend us to your friends and family. The more the merrier.

I am also really interested in finding ways to partner you with your writers Facebook group so lets keep in touch on that.

[Janet]

Hi Ian,
Thanks for the tip about adding books - I got there eventually. It's not an intuitive website!
Janet

[Ian]

Janet wrote: "Hi Ian,
Thanks for the tip about adding books - I got there eventually. It's not an intuitive website!
Janet"

No I agree. However, it is better than I could do so am grateful it is there, warts and all. You get used to it after a while. You will also find other ways of adding a book. I see you are reading Possession - that's on my list too. So be good to hear what you think of it. As a little tip re adding books, if you click on the link that people embed in these messages you will see the picture of the book and can add from there too (rather than going to the My Books tab)

[Ray]

Hi Ian

We spoke at the Diversity Festival today, this certainly sounds an interesting group to join.
Ray

[Ian]

Ray wrote: "Hi Ian

We spoke at the Diversity Festival today, this certainly sounds an interesting group to join.
Ray"

Hi Ray - Great that you have found your way here. I really enjoyed talking with you yesterday and hope you will get a lot from the book club. Also be great if you would visit and "like" our Facebook page - all helps to spread the word.

Please let your friends and family know about is as well and I hoep you will drop by often.

Best Wishes Ian

[Ley]

Hello, welcome to the group

[Ian]

Ley wrote: "Hello, welcome to the group"

Hi Ley - met someone from am Ilfracombe reading group on Saturday who knew you - but I've forgotten her name - dont know why I've told you that now - not that helpful is it? Reminded me to ask you to promote what we're doing amongst your local reading groups though.

[Ley]

Ian wrote: "Ley wrote: "Hello, welcome to the group"

Hi Ley - met someone from am Ilfracombe reading group on Saturday who knew you - but I've forgotten her name - dont know why I've told you that now - not t..."

Thanks Ian, there are a range of suspects, I'll do my best to promote the group with them.

[Ian]

Ley wrote: "Ian wrote: "Ley wrote: "Hello, welcome to the group"

Hi Ley - met someone from am Ilfracombe reading group on Saturday who knew you - but I've forgotten her name - dont know why I've told you that..."

Thanks. Also had a great discussion with Carol, down at Sidmouth library today, teeign up our next Indie Book Shop and Cake Crawl in September. She will hopefully be joining us in the Book Club too and is going to help us with our next event.

[David]

Hi, my name is David and I live in Barnstaple.
I have read the catcher in the Rye (for disaffected / alienated youth), and existentialist books The outsider by Camus and crime pasionnel by Satre. I know have started to try a different approach to spoiled identity by currently reading the joke by postmodernist Milan Kundera.
As I have a mental health problem Schizophrenia) I hope to write a book on my experiences. Here is a blog of my writings on the subject (experiential as opposed to phenomenological)
http://psychologicaldistress.blogspot...

[Ian]

David wrote: "Hi, my name is David and I live in Barnstaple.
I have read the catcher in the Rye (for disaffected / alienated youth), and existentialist books The outsider by Camus and crime pasionnel by Satre. I..."

Hi David. You are very welcome. I read The Catcher in the Rye for the first time earelir this year - can't believe I left it so long - I really enjoyed it. I studied L'Etranger L'Etranger/La Pesteat A level and re-read that last year, alongside Voltaire's Candide. The depth of the writing and the insight into the human condition shown by the authors has stayed with me. Similalry Kundera - I read "The Incredible Lightness of Being" a few years ago and it is on my re-read list and Sartre's The ReprieveandIron in the Soul I can see we have a lot in common. I'd be really interested to develop the discussion in the philosophy and belief folder. Thanks for sharing the link to your blog. I'll certainly take a look during the week and look forward to gaining new insight through your direct experience. I just started a new "magazines and blogs" thread today. I'll copy your post there so that people dont lose the link. I look forward to getting to know you in the coming months. Best Wishes Ian

[Ian]

David wrote: "Hi, my name is David and I live in Barnstaple.
I have read the catcher in the Rye (for disaffected / alienated youth), and existentialist books The outsider by Camus and crime pasionnel by Satre. I..."

Hi David. I've read your blog. Thank you for offering such an honest, personal insight into your condition. I can see that literature provides you with a lot of inspiration and i found your poem very moving. The last two lines were very hopeful I thought and I loved the imagery. I tried to leave some comments but it seems to be having some technological difficulty

[David]

Hi Ian,
thank you for your comments on my poetry. When I was in Bristol I had two poems published by what is known now as the Voices forum magazine, I was awarded forty pounds for each poem but did not win any when it came to a competition. When at Kings school at Ottery st. Mary in the seventies I won a record voucher as joint winner in a competition to write a science fiction story amongst the members of my chemistry class. The other person won on grammatical correctness while mine won on technical detail. I saw my doctor recently concerning my mental illness amongst other things and pointed out that I owe a lot to being here as a result of my education. He stated that education is the single most important factor but I replied I thought health comes first implying better bread and water than pudding and trouble, although I feel proud of my education and knowledge of literature and also feel fortunate to have had a chance of an education.
Without inspiration from education, literature and possibly music, I would have come even more unstuck years ago.
Kind regards,
David

[Ian]

David wrote: "Hi Ian,
thank you for your comments on my poetry. When I was in Bristol I had two poems published by what is known now as the Voices forum magazine, I was awarded forty pounds for each poem but did..."

I heard a very interesting debate on radio yesterday about whether the purpose of school was to prepare people for life or, simply put, to prepare the mind. I guess the answer is that we need a mix of the two but I agree that the inspiration we get from education and literature stays with us and sustains us through life - and I would add to that music and art.

[Alex]

Hello

My name is Alex and I live in Dartmouth.

Thank you for inviting me to this group. I love to read, but don't find the time to read as much as I'd like. I mostly like Sci-fi and fantasy but will read any genre if it's of interest. My favourite book series is The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

My job is connected to books too as I do a lot of work for a digital media agency who specialise in all things digital to do with books, publishing and authors. Mostly we design and build websites for authors, with some of the more exciting ones recently being for The Hunger Games and Stephen King. We also do a lot of work for Faber and Faber, Headline, and Hodder & Stoughton. We are a small company that is getting more and more work, it's all very exciting! I absolutely love my job and wouldn't change it for the world. Also being able to work from home in this lovely town is a real bonus!

Anyway, I'm off for a bath and a read, It's my favourite way to relax.

I look forward to contributing to this group and hopefully being inspired to do a lot more reading!

Alex

[Ian]

Alex wrote: "Hello

My name is Alex and I live in Dartmouth.

Thank you for inviting me to this group. I love to read, but don't find the time to read as much as I'd like. I mostly like Sci-fi and fantasy but w..."

Hi Alex. Delighted youve joined us. Sounds like a fabulous job. If you can see any interesting ways the Book Club can hook up with you professionally let me know. Interestingly, one of the areas I am exploring with the Devon Library Service is how we might connect with publishers - so watch this space.

Hope we might get to meet in Sidmouth next month.

[Carol]

Hi Alex. Welcome. You are part of our South Devon contingent. I'm in Torquay.

[B J]

And a welcome from me in Brixham, too.
Welcome back, Carol - we've missed you during your spell in foreign parts.

[Kathy]

Hello Alex. I'm near Kingsbridge. Good to have another 'Devon southerner' join us. Welcome to the group.

[Ian]

Kathy wrote: "Hello Alex. I'm near Kingsbridge. Good to have another 'Devon southerner' join us. Welcome to the group."

There are more on their way! I've just spent a couple of hours tweeting people so look out (I hope ) for some new members.

[Carol]

B J wrote: "And a welcome from me in Brixham, too.
Welcome back, Carol - we've missed you during your spell in foreign parts."
Hi BJ. I couldn't message you so left a message actually on your site, which is probably completely the wrong place. Sorry about that, if that is the case!
Very pleased to be finally home. Exhausted from all the travelling and have been ill as well! Have made 2 return trips to la Belgique. Quite happy driving in a car, although one of the trips took us 2 days, (we seemed to be nearly stationary at Stonehenge for what seemed like hours) but find the train very gruelling, which I had to do at the beginning and end of it all.

[B J]

Hi Carol. Sounds like a tough summer so far. Time to put your feet up for a while.
Any messages left on the contact form on my site are fordarded to me by email. I'm afraid I've haven't received any message from you.

[Tonia]

Hi all. These introductions are always difficult... I am a waffler so always overload people with information!

So... I am currently living in Barnstaple, with "proper" Devon roots - to date I have taken 3 lines of my family back to the mid 17th/early 18th centuries and pretty much the only movement out of the county is down to the multiple times the borders have been shifted around Brushford/Dulverton! That said, we have covered the county pretty well between there and Parracombe!

Anyway... about me: I am a full-time carer, have 3 daughters (2 grown up but still living at home). I volunteer at a local centre helping the long-term unemployed find training to get back into work (very rewarding as a lot of our work is with people with mental, physical and intellectual issues which have made it hard to find work themselves) and have just been asked to help out with a course teaching adults to read.

I am a person who will buy a batch of books, start them all immediately and often only finish one of them. I am working to try to rectify this and actually read all the books I own!

Anything else people want to know, you can find out from reading my profile so I shall leave it at that for now I think!

[Ian]

Tonia wrote: "Hi all. These introductions are always difficult... I am a waffler so always overload people with information!

So... I am currently living in Barnstaple, with "proper" Devon roots - to date I have..."

Thanks Tonia. I reckon you definitely count as a true Devonian. Great to hear from you and thank you for joining us. I'll send you a fuller welcome message directly. I hope you'll drop by often.

[Sally]

Hi everyone.

I'm Sally, and have arrived here via a Twitter-invite from Ian. (Thank you, Ian!) I'm a dedicated bibliophile - I like classics and lit fict, but am also partial to some crime (Christie, Marsh, Sayers etc) and some science fiction (particularly Asimov). I'm also into non-fiction - happy to dip my toe into almost everything. But my main interest is poetry - Michael Donaghy is my current bedside companion, but my tastes are eclectic.

I live in East Devon, and dabble in a lot of things, but my main preoccupation is writing, particularly poetry. If you're interested you can find me on Twitter @SallyDPoet.

Looking forward to connecting with other Devon people - even though it's quite hard to navigate around Goodreads!

Sally :-)

[Ian]

Sally wrote: "Hi everyone.

I'm Sally, and have arrived here via a Twitter-invite from Ian. (Thank you, Ian!) I'm a dedicated bibliophile - I like classics and lit fict, but am also partial to some crime (Chris..."

My pleasure Sally - great to have you with us. Sorry about the clunkiness of Goodreads - you get used to it after a while. I am sure that you will quickly find other like minded people in the group. I am not as familiar with poetry as I would like to be and would love it if you could post something in the poetry folder about Michael Donaghy (or anyone else you love). Also, feel free to post about your own work in the writers corner section.

Once again, you are most welcome and I look forward to getting to know you.

[Carol]

Hi Tonia and Sally. Welcome.

[Sally]

Thank you, Carol. :-)

[[deleted user]]

Hello all at Devon Book Club :D !
I'm Karen and was invited to join you from Twitter.
I live in the Midlands but i love the coast and of course love books !
I love reading all sorts of books but mainly fiction and other interests are photography and history.
What has been your favourite read of 2015 so far ?

[Carol]

Hi Karen. My favourite read has definitely been The Martian by Andy Weir.

[[deleted user]]

Carol wrote: "Hi Karen. My favourite read has definitely been The Martian by Andy Weir."
Hello Carol pleased to meet you : )
I've not read any work by Andy Weir so will look out for him.
I adore reading Persephone books my favourite this year 'The Vain Shadow' by Jane Hervey

[Carol]

Hi Karen, The Martian is going to be released as a film with Matt Damon as the star in late autumn.

[Ian]

Karen wrote: "Hello all at Devon Book Club :D !
I'm Karen and was invited to join you from Twitter.
I live in the Midlands but i love the coast and of course love books !
I love reading all sorts of books but ma..."

Favourite reads hmmmm The Master and Margarita; HHhH; Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage; A Riot of Goldfish and The Gormenghast Novels - there you go, a few to play around with.

A tip by the way Karen (in case you've not spotted it yet), when talking about a book or an author its great if you add them by clicking add book/author above the comment box. The link then takes you to further information and reviews.

[Roslyn]

Hello,
My name is Roslyn, I've lived in Exeter for about 53 years- so that almost makes me a local :p
I like watching films and reading , although I sometimes find reading a book then watching the film of it can be a little disappointing.
Since having joined a couple of book groups my book reading horizon has widened and, hopefully, I will get more inspiration from this group.

[Ian]

Roslyn wrote: "Hello,
My name is Roslyn, I've lived in Exeter for about 53 years- so that almost makes me a local :p
I like watching films and reading , although I sometimes find reading a book then watching the ..."

Hi Roslyn. Delighted that you've joined us. I'll send you you a longer welcome message in just a minute. You'll hopefully find plenty to interest you in our pages - including a thread talking about books into films and TV (picking up on your comment above). I hope you'll drop by often and enjoy the group. Best Wishes Ian

[Carol]

Hi Roslyn, welcome.

[Clarissa]

Hello everyone,

Glad to finally be able to utilise Goodreads and chat to people about books.

I always used to have a book in my hand until I went to university and now find a bit of a struggle to pick one up, unless I am on holiday.

I will be updating my profile as there is a good couple of hundred books I need to recommend and review!

Also I would be glad of any inspirational tips from fellow writers as I struggle to put my imagination to paper.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Clarissa