Synopsis from the book cover:

Churches are all around us. Their steeples remain landmarks in our towns, villages and cities, even as their influence and quthority has waned. They contain art and architectural wonders – one huge gallery scattered, like a hanful of jewels, across these isles.

Thoughts:

The book meanders through through Britain exploring churches and sharing their history, art, nature and people. It was lovely to revisit old gems and see them through the eyes of others and learn new things about them. I was also introduced to new churches that I am tempted to visit. After my recent visit to Southwark Cathedral I returned to the book to re-read Peter’s experiences of the Cathedral, he is right; the Cathedral is an oasis of calm in contrast to the hustle and bustle surrounding it.

Synopsis from the book cover:

Born a girl to parents who expected a boy, Jihad grows up treated like the eldest son, wearing boys’ clothing and sharing the finanacial burden of head of the household with her father.

Now middle-aged, Jihad tells her daughter a story from her life each night. As Maleka prepares to leave home to attend university abroad, her mother revisits the past of their Palestinian family, tenderly describing their life in exile in Kuwait and her own experiences of love and loss as she grows up.

Huzama Habayeb weaves a richly observed and affectionate potrait of a family displaced from their homeland, and of the women at its heart: women with too much to do, too many mouths to feed, and too many thwarted dreams. Told with humour and poise, this is a story of the love and betrayal that pursues Jihad and her family from Kuwait to Jordan to Dubai.

Thoughts on the book:

The female protagonist in this novel is a second generation refugee who was raised in Kuwait. The book explores a series of memories that build to give an overall view of Jihad’s life. I enjoyed that the chapters were themes rather than in chronological order. We know that Jihad and her daughter are safe and we are slowly learning the trials and tribulations that led to them being in that eventual place of safety and security. Despite the serious story of a displaced refugee there is a lot of humour in the book.

I would recommend this book. It is a difficult subject matter but I found it easy to read. However many others in the ShelterBox Book Club struggled to read the book and some of the group were unable to finish reading it.

Synopsis (from the book cover):

Bestselling writer Bill Bryson’s brilliantly readable biography of our greatest dramatist and poet William Shakespeare is updated to mark the 400th anniversary of his death.

Examining centuries of myths, half-truths and downright lies, Bill Bryson tries to make sense of the man behind the masterpieces. In a journey through the streets of Shakespeare’s time, he brings to life the hubbub of Elizabethan England and a host of characters along the way. Bryson celebrates the glory of Shakespear’s language – his ceasless inventiveness gave us hundreds of now indispensible phrases, images and words – and delights in details of his fall-outs and folios, poetry and plays.

Stitching together information from a vast array of sources, he has created a unique celebration of one of the most significant, and least understood, figures in history – not to mention a classic piece of Bryson.

Thoughts:

The book exposes how little is known about Shakespeare, even the pictorial images we know him by might not represent his true likeness. These images are based on three original artworks, two af which were painted years after his death. Bill Bryson writes at length about society in the Elizabethan era bringing it to life but was unable to find many facts about Shakespeare himself.

This book served as a reminder that we should do our own reasearch rather than accept what is presented to us as fact.