WestcountryReads

Hell Bay | Kate Rhodes

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Thank you @Lizpixie for alerting me to this crime thriller set in the Isles of Scilly. I really enjoyed it!

After an incident, Ben Kitto returns home to the tiny island of Bryher, to consider his future as an undercover officer. But the disappearance of a local teenager finds him unexpectedly leading a murder investigation, and uncovering the islanders‘ secrets.

rockpools The sense of place was spot-on, & I enjoyed the twists and turns. I could have done without ‘romance‘, mind. But Stephen Perring, the audiobook narrator, gets 8 out of 5 stars for pulling off a range of westcountry accents without ever lapsing into generic farmer/pirate. Can‘t wait to carry on the series.

#westcountryreads 4y

TrishB Not looking, not looking. 4y

rockpools @TrishB Good plan! You definitely haven‘t seen this 😉 4y

52 likes3 comments

jenniferw88

The Breaker | Minette Walters

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5 🌟

Book 9 #murder2020 @Tove_Reads

@RachelO if you want a REALLY LOCAL to me book for #westcountryreads, this is the book!

rockpools Hmm 🤔. Is it super-gorey? For some reason I‘m nervous of Minette Walters... 5y

jenniferw88 @RachelO I wouldn't say so, the only graphic bits occur on pp65-70 (that's where the autopsy report comes in). I will say trigger warnings for rape and drowning though. 5y

rockpools @jenniferw88 Thanks - that sounds doable. I‘ll give it a go when the libraries reopen. Is it set in your hometown? 5y

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jenniferw88 @RachelO no, but Poole is 15 minutes away from me & I could recognise most place names! 5y

rockpools @jenniferw88 Just read the Amazon blurb. It looks really good! I might not wait for the library. 5y

jenniferw88 @RachelO 😊😘 5y

jenniferw88 @TheAromaofBooks another favourite local book! 5y

TheAromaofBooks Oooo thank you!! 5y

81 likes2 stack adds8 comments

rockpools

Lost Devon | Felicity Goodall

Page 2, and already we have curses rather than bookplates 👍

...”It could have been worse; some surviving medieval manuscripts are inscribed with a similar curse, which threatens the borrower with excommunication”

#bookspin #westcountryreads

53 likes

rockpools

Lost Devon | Felicity Goodall

This month‘s #BookSpin 😊 - a bit of local history, which I‘m delighted about, and have been meaning to read for, well, YEARS! (Double figures may be involved.)

That‘s the village of Hallsands on the cover. It was destroyed by storms in 1917, I believe after dredging changed the coastline/led to the loss of the beach.

Thank you @TheAromaofBooks - looking forward to this 🌞

TheAromaofBooks Ooo you're the second person to tell me that they will be reading a book set locally! How fun is that! 5y

rockpools @TheAromaofBooks That IS fun! One of my themes for the year was #WestcountryReads - to get through some of the local-to-me books on my shelves, so this is perfect! 5y

TheAromaofBooks What a fun idea!! I have several local history books that I haven't gotten around to reading as well! 5y

56 likes1 stack add3 comments

rockpools

The Salt Path | Raynor Winn

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Storm Brendan is doing it‘s thing out there, and I‘m grateful to have a non-leaking roof over my head. Also, I adored this book.

Due to a bad business decision, Ray and Moth lose their farm, their home and their business. With just a week to clear out, Moth is diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease. So, obviously, they decide to walk the SW coast path. And it changes them. 👇

rockpools This is a beautifully written tale of two people putting one foot in front of the other, absorbing the world around them and accepting loss. It‘s told with warmth and humour, and an awareness of how easy it would be to sink into self-pity (it doesn‘t). And, without ever hammering the point, it takes a look at what homelessness means in Britain today, and how crazy the narrative around homelessness actually is.

Stunning.

#WestcountryReads (edited) 5y

Moray_Reads We're also feeling it north of the border. I'm clinging to the hope that it'll be over by the time I have to catch a flight tomorrow 5y

rockpools @Moray_Reads Oh no - hadn‘t realised it was the whole country! Good luck! 5y

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Moray_Reads @RachelO I think Edinburgh is missing most of it, it's worse on the west coat and the highlands and is supposed to have calmed down by tomorrow. Here's hoping 5y

rockpools @Moray_Reads 🤞 Hopefully it‘ll have blown past by tomorrow- Looks like we‘re expecting it to hang round a little longer. It‘s very wild out there! 5y

TrishB Lovely review Rachel 👍🏻 rain is bonkers here at the moment. 5y

rockpools @TrishB Thank you for the book Trish! I probably wouldn‘t have picked it up myself for ages! I really need to read this now:

Walking Away

TrishB Another good read 👍🏻 5y

Cathythoughts We had Storm Brendan yesterday ! Very wild weather , it passed over in a couple of hours. We escaped any damage , but other parts of Ireland got hit harder 5y

rockpools @Cathythoughts Glad it didn‘t do too much damage in your part of the world. Think we got away lightly as well. It‘s still wild here today - today I learnt that the bridge across the river is referred to as the singing bridge. It whistles when it‘s stormy - I‘ve been trying to work out what the sound was for months! 5y

60 likes5 stack adds10 comments

jenniferw88

Shades of Milk and Honey | Mary Robinette Kowal

Here you go @RachelO - some #Dorset settings for you. I've only pictured books I've read above but there's also:

📚 The French Lieutenant's Woman - John Fowles
📚 Many of the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton, and
📚 On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan

rockpools Thanks Jenny - this is great. The only ones I‘ve read are Persuasion and some of the Famous Five - I hadn‘t made that connection! The tagged one looks really fun. #WestcountryReads 5y

jenniferw88 @TheAromaofBooks here are some - my favourite is the Hardy! 5y

TheAromaofBooks Thank you!! And I had kind of forgotten that Persuasion takes place in Dorset! 5y

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rockpools

The Salt Path | Raynor Winn

Next up on local-to-me books that I really should‘ve read but haven‘t...

This was a gift from (I think) @TrishB last year. I started it this evening and think I‘m going to be rattling through it. The opening description of escaping the incoming tide at 3am is just 👌. And the chapter on UK homelessness has some horrendous stats.

#WestCountryReads

Tamra Really enjoyed this one! 5y

rockpools @Tamra I think I‘ve been putting it off because I expected it to be doom-and-gloomy - I‘m pleasantly surprised that it‘s told with humour. 5y

Tamra @RachelO it really is and the characters are relatable. 5y

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ljuliel 5⭐️ book 5y

rockpools @ljuliel I saw! Think that‘s what finally prompted me to open it. 5y

Cathythoughts Beautiful post 👍🏻❤️ 5y

TrishB I‘ve brought this for a couple of people but still not read myself!! Glad you‘re enjoying it. 5y

rockpools @Cathythoughts I need to get out and take more coast path pics. 5y

rockpools @TrishB Same, actually- it‘s good to finally get to it. 5y

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rockpools

A Year of Marvellous Ways | Sarah Winman

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Beautiful writing, oodles of atmosphere, gorgeous unexpected storytelling and all the feels!

For whatever reason, tho, I struggled badly to get into it - right book, wrong time? I‘d have liked to spend more time with the later characters too 🥖 ⭐️

Thank you for choosing this one (sorry for holding on to it so long!) @Cathythoughts - it‘ll be in the post to you tomorrow. At some point, we need to ask @jenniferw88 how she chose her name. @jhod

rockpools I‘d planned to have a couple of reading themes this year, one of them being local-to-me books. This would definitely qualify, so as well as being the first book I finish this year, it‘ll also be the first of my #WestcountryReads 5y

Cathythoughts I‘m glad you enjoyed it ! No worries about posting it .... whenever is grand 😘 5y

jenniferw88 If you need some help for Dorset feel free to ask me! 5y

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rockpools @jenniferw88 Now you come to mention it.. yes please! I had an interview at Dorchester library once - fairly sure my lack of Thomas Hardy reading contributed to not getting the job. Any suggestions v welcome! 5y

jenniferw88 @RachelO ok. Couple of questions before i put my thinking cap on! Do you want fiction or non-fiction? And do you want the setting to be in Dorset, the author to be based in Dorset, both of these or a mixture of both? Or are you not fussed? 5y

rockpools @jenniferw88 Aw, thank you! My answer to both is I Don‘t Mind! I normally do geographical challenges by where the author‘s based, but in this one I seem to be going for setting- (I have Welsh, Northern and Unknown authors on my list, along with Agatha) - my plan is to mop up any of the vaguely-local books sitting on my shelves and see what else I‘ve missed. I‘ve probably got 50/50 NF/F on the list so far. 5y

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