Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

I discovered the website called 'Fantastic Fiction' a few years back.

I love it and have been using it ever since. It was first created by a Lancashire family and, over the years, has gone from strength to strength.

Then Amazon discovered it, and, seeing the potential, adopted it for their own purpose, instead of compiling their own catalogue of all-time fiction books, and have now linked it to Amazon's own website; linking each written work to Hardback, Paperback, Kindle and Audio formats.

A new innovation gives the reader the opportunity of making their own private list of all the fiction stories they've ever read.

I've rattled my brain to come up with my list, and it currently stands at 341.

Who else has discovered this website gem?

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

can you only get stuff for kindle from amazon? my wife uses it and i wondered can she get anywhere else?

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

No Cashman. Kindle was created by Amazon but there are other companies that make ebooks that you can download electronically, too.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

I ordered 4 Kindles off Amazon. They sent me four candles.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

Ah! But were they electronic candles? If not, send 'em back, Bob!

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

Ha Ha, Hello, Mister Ronnie Barker.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

Be VARY wary of Audible.com. We had absolutely no contact with them and they started taking money from us. Only about £8 a month but it's still a fraud and they have been doing this to thousands of people

https://www.complaintsboard.com/audi...-fraud-c186327

Luckily our bank reimbursed us as the account they stole from us had not been used prior to this theft but some people who actually signed up for them were over charged and not reimbursed. They've been scamming people for nearly a decade and are supposedly linked to if not owned by Amazon so just not sure how they have been getting away with it. Must be costing the banks a fortune.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

MY wife has use ebook readers (kindles) for years and while I initially found her thousands of books she has since gone on to find loads herself and kind of become the Kindle Guru where she works.

One thing that helps if you have your own collection of books on your PC is Calibre which can organise and convert all book types to your chosen format.

You can even load these books onto your Kindle, they on't all have to be the ones obtained from Amazon.
See this page for info.

DRM security can even be removed with a plugin for Calibre so dodgy book (how can a book be dodgy? lol) can be read on it.

I have my wifes old KIndle1 right next to me waiting for me to put a load of Terry Pratchett books on it for reading at lunchtimes..

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

In fact, this thread has prompted me to get on with sorting the Kindle out, Using Calibre Im deleting the hundreds of books on it and when finished will be copying my TP collection to it.
As I can make the books use large print, this is gonna be really useful for me as I cannot read the paper versions I have without a pair of jamjars. :)

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

I have had Calibre on my computers for about 6 years....though I have to admit I use my kindle Less these days.
I do like the kindle for weighty volumes, but I really like the feel of a real book.
I buy my guilty pleasure from Charity shops and donate them back once they are read.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

Pop in the Welfare for the blind book shop this Saturday (29 feb) Margaret and have a browse through our selection of books, I'll be running it with Marlene from 10am to 2pm.. We have reading for every taste.

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Thanks Russell.
I have very wide tastes so I can usually find something to suit.
My problems arise when publishers change the book jackets....I think it is something I haven't read, buy it and half way through(or sooner) realise that I know the ending!

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

:lol: Maybe it really is kindle in another language. Did you return it?

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

A few years, I needed to greatly reduce my stock of secondhand books ( I deal in them). I did so, and told my pal that the day before I had given a carload to the Accrington Blind Shop. He said "Were they all in Braille"

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

I've been laughing my way through 'The Flat Share' by Beth O'Leary, a funny, quirky, read throughout.

My Total in FF is now up to 355. Voracious reading or what!

Just got my hands on two books called 'The Key' and 'Changes' by Linda Sawley. They're both about Burnley and Clitheroe, very Josephine Cox - like.

Both books are about the same family and set in the 1880's.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

I am currently reading The Familiars by Stacey Halls.
It is about the Shuttleworth Family, and Gawthorpe Hall and it is set in the time of the Pendle witch trials.
Based on the history of the hall, it is a very enjoyable read

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

i am reading Good Rocking Tonight its a history of Sun Records and the birth of Rock and Roll am really enjoying, probably read it before but memorys knackered and dont recall.:D

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

I received a good pile of books for my birthday and I have been trying to go slowly with them.(I am waiting for the charity shops to reopen....to give some books back but to get some new reading matter too)
Another really good read was The Carer by Deborah Moggach.
It had a couple of unexpected twists in the plot....and I did not see them coming.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

Deborah Moggach's books are good, strong stories. I've read 'In the Dark' while holidaying on the Isle of Wight a few years back.

She wrote 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' too.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

Yes, I have read a few of her books.
She builds good characters....ones you can almost see....or is that just me?

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apart from raymond chandler novels i,m more of a one for railway and bus books. present read is one about war time utility buses.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

Monkey hanger....whatever floats your boat!

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

Perhaps that should be, 'whatever rings your bell'?

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that as well Less...I DID consider that phrase but thought it sounded a bit corny.

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Bloody 'ell, it's like an introduction to university challenge, representing Accrington Uni of hard knocks & life in general ...... :)


I recently read, George Orwell "Road to Wigan pier" hard work & somewhat dull, Aldouis Huxley "Brave new world", not that inspiring & most definitely dated & at present "Undeading bells" by Drew Hayes.


All about an accountant called Frederick Fletcher who get turned into a Vampire, he ends up forming his own clan with other paranormal beings while daily struggling to fight off those that would see him & clan destroyed & doing tax returns & other accountant stuff for folk (oh & in this one hes got an impending wedding to his fiance Krystal Jenkins paranomal agency agent & demon). Appeals to my humour & enjoyment of off beat fantasy adventure. ;)

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

If you are a fan of off beat fantasy, please read the recent Boris Johnson/ Tory manifesto, you will split your sides laughing.

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Taddy it is no worse than the stuff published by the Labour party.(I have no political affinity...they are all a shower of fisons.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

What the devil is a Fison? it is not even listed in my Oxford senior Dictionary.

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fisons....? Taddy do you mean to tell me that you have an allotment and have never heard of this branded fertilizer?
Maybe you just use connymuck for growing your rhubarb.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

Well said.
I only use my own compost that I have made from last years Rhubarb leaves, Brussel Sprout stalks and potato haulms plus any tomato stalks, pea and bean stalks etc, with a a few dried chicken manure pellets.
The name Fisons, takes me back a while, I don't know if they are still going.
Ah well never mind,thanks for the lesson, Your's once again, the Luddite.

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Always happy to help Taddy and yes...I think that fisons is still going.
I guessed that you might make your own compost(is that the same as fertiliser...I know nothing at all about growing stuff)

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Not quite Marge, put simply, compost is added late in the year to feed the soil in order to create a medium that will encourage plant growth, whereas Fertiliser is added during the growing season in order to feed the plant itself.
By eck, I do believe my writing skills are improving. Your's as ever, the Luddite.

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Not to be confused with "seed and general purpose" compost that you buy at garden centres of course

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I did think that fertiliser was a bit different...it smells a lot too....well the stuff the farmer uses to fertilise his fields does...fair put you off your hotpot.

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You could be living in North Korea where they fertilise the land with human excrement, thats why the population is riddled with worms and I don't mean the worms that turn my soil into workable loam.

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No Taddy, it is too far to walk.
Anyway I don't like foreign food so the worms would probably starve before me.
I know...I am a weird bird....although I prefer to think I am a 'limited edition'.

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[QUOTE=Margaret Pilkington;1241968]
Anyway I don't like foreign food

neither do i or places they charge 40 quid for a meal for 2 to get the 5 pound off monday to wednesday. for 30 i could get a better meal for two for three days from keighley market and served by a lass who does not look like a welder.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

Have you read Down and Out in Paris and London? quite a facinating read into how bad the poverty was back in the 1920's

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A man of his times and not a prejudiced bone in his body:- :D

I liked his advice to restaurants:-
Jamie Oliver eat your heart out.

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Hello Rob, long time no postee, you well? As to your book choice, no can't say I have, but I'll bear it in mind as a back up, have got several queued at the moment so it may be some time. :)

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Just finished 'Big Girl, Small Town' by Michelle Gallen.

A new author's first book, and if she publishes another, I want to be first in the queue to buy it.

Very down-to-earth, and tells it like it is. The book consists of muses from Northern Irish girl, Majella, who works in a Chippy in an Irish border village - hilarious and dead serious and provocative and un-put-down-able.

Now to find a new read . . .

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Can I recommend to you The Carer by Deborah Moggach?
It is a really good read with a few unexpected twists.
Another book that I have just finished is a debut novel by a local(to me) author, Stacy Halls and it is called The Familiars.
It is a historical novel, set in the times of the Pendle witches....all around the Gawthorpe area.
It is based on the family who owned Gawthorpe Hall and is another very entertaining read.

I have also recently read The Corset....this was not really to my taste at all.
I finished it, but I found it a disturbing read.

Re: Reading; Books, Kindle and Audio books.
 

Thanks Margaret.

I've started a new book - 'Good Samaritans' by Will Carver. I chose that one, from my wish list in FF, in kindle format because it was cheap.

Your list of good reads is interesting - especially 'The Carer'. That one's going into my wish list.

'The Corset', an historical mystery by Laura Purcell sounds interesting. I like dark stuff.

Talking of dark stuff, if you want to get into audio books, start with 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks, and read by Peter Kenny. He's a great narrator, and he had me in stitches when he reads the telephone calls in the story.

The book about Gawthorpe Hall reminds me of the biography of Daphne du Maurier and Manderlay. I'll look into that one.

I read, many years ago, the Harrison-Ainsworth original book on The Pendle Witches, but I never finished it; too hard going, with it not being the modernized version.

Have you ever read 'Forever Amber' by Kathleen Winsor.

I absolutely love this book and have read it over and over about 6 times. It's a historical romance. It's never been produced in audio, but there's a kindle version, though rather expensive, but it's quite easy to find on ebay, in paperback and hardback editions.

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I have read the Harrison Ainsworth Pendle Wiches a few times.
It fascinates me.
The Corset got good reviews but was too dark for me....seeing as I read at bedtime.
I am not keen on books or films that deal with graphic details of cruelty.

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Stay away from party political manifestos then, in particular labour, proper horrifying that one! :D


Think I've mentioned it before, but Terry Pratchett, any of his to my mind are worth a read, but i particularly enjoyed "The Wee Free men" & their involvement elsewhere.:)

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Many years ago, Hazels auntie hired a professional to look into and print out her family tree, when it came back to her horror she realised that one or more of her ancesters were in some way related to or involved with the witchcraft that was supposedly rife around Pendle.
We still have the document but unfortunately hazels aunt has torn off the relatives that she took offence at.
I have always thought that hazel has a strange aura about her.;);)

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Taddy, you had better watch what you say she might have a spell or two for you.:)

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'The Carer' in the Kindle format is a bargain at only 99p, so I snapped it up to read on my desktop PC, while I can carry on reading 'Good Samaritans' on my ipad. Hehe! (Not at the same time, of coarse)

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I hope you like it Pompeylass, there are some surprises that I did not see coming.
Enjoy.

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Marge, she put a spell on me in 1963, when I was 16 years of age and she was was 14 years of age;we have been together ever since.
We married four years later in 1967, the best seven shillings and sixpence for a licence that I have ever or, ever will spend.and that is not Hobgoblin talking.
Oh, but I don't know since I have had more than half a couple.;);)

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Taddy, that is lovely to hear.
I put a spell on my man...he even travelled 6 weeks by boat to come back 12,000 miles for us to get together again.
We married in 1966 and have been together ever since...I won't say with never a cross word, because that would be lying.
If we make it to October we will have been married for 54 years and a couple for a bit longer than that(57 years in total).

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margaret and taddy you do not know how lucky you are. its hard finding a job you like never mind someone to spend the longest amount of life together. someone with three divorces and other failed relationships i really envy you two and others in your boat.

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Three divorces! is that what's known as a triple lock? ;);)

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Yes, I feel very lucky...though no relationship is all plain sailing...it has to be worked on.....a bit like a house.
There are times when I could give his throat a two handed massage, and I am sure that I irritate the bejasus out of him sometimes...but heck it would be boring if we agreed on everything...difference are the salt and vinegar in life.


PS....I was also lucky to have a job that I loved too!

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No Taddy, that is a triumph of hope over experience....and maybe a liking for wedding cake :)

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Can recommend 'The Light in the Hallway' by Amanda Prowse, just started another of her books 'The Coordinates of Loss' - so far, so good but the content's a little harder to read than the other one, not that that is a bad thing - means it will last me longer :)

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Amazon have some kindle downloads for 99 pence.....I haven't looked to see what is on offer.