Silver Travel Book Club
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We know you love travelling, and we also know that many Silver
Travellers are just as passionate about books. So what could be better than
combining both, and giving you the chance to win a book each month with the Silver Travel Book Club, proudly sponsored by HF Holidays?
Our Literary Editor Andrew Morris, has introduced us
to TripFiction, a
wonderful website focusing on books with a strong sense of place, allowing you
to see a location through an author's eyes. Great for reading ideas for your holiday!
Each month, we'll find out what Andrew is reading about a different destination, and two lucky Silver Travel Book Club readers can win a free copy of the month's book.
Andrew's Book of the Month - June
This month the Silver Travel Book Club – proudly sponsored by HF Holidays – is reading Islander: A Journey Around Our Archipelago by Patrick Barkham.
In this evocative and
vividly observed book, Patrick Barkham explores some of the most beautiful
landscapes in the British Isles as he travels to ever-smaller islands in search
of their special magic. Our small islands are both places of freedom and
imprisonment, party destinations and oases of peace, strangely suburban and
deeply wild. They are places where the past is unusually present, but they can
also offer a vision of an alternative future. Meeting all kinds of islanders,
from nuns to puffins, from local legends to rare subspecies of vole, he seeks
to discover what it is like to live on a small island, and what it means to be
an islander.
Andrew's Book of the Month - May 2020
This month the Silver Travel Book Club – proudly sponsored by HF Holidays – is reading The Great British Bucket List: Utterly Unmissable Britain by Richard Madden.
This book is all about achievable adventures that celebrate the very best of Britain. Travel writer Richard Madden has compiled the ultimate bucket list of unique experiences that can be enjoyed in the UK from cheese rolling in Gloucestershire and stargazing in Northumberland, to a cliff-top theatre in Cornwall or an opera with a champagne picnic and magnificent views of the South Downs.To be announced
Andrew's Book of the Month - April 2020
This month the Silver Travel Book Club – proudly sponsored by HF Holidays – is reading Around the World in 80 Novels by Henry Russell.
Sometimes the setting of a novel is as important as the story – where would Dickens be without London, or Edith Wharton without New York? Who can read Jamaica Inn and not want to visit Bodmin Moor, or enjoy Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and not wonder whether perhaps Botswana should be on your bucket list?Book of the Month April winners:
To be announced
Andrew's Book of the Month - March 2020
This month the Silver Travel Book Club – proudly sponsored by HF Holidays – is reading Into Eden by Cate Frances.
This is a fabulous travel memoir of a journey to the Grand Canyon. Cate Frances joins a tightly knit group of adventurers to undertake a charity trek into the unkown.Book of the Month March winners:
vanesspearladams and carowood
Andrew's Book of the Month - February 2020
This month the Silver Travel Book Club – proudly sponsored by HF
Holidays – is reading Shakespeare: The World As A Stage by Bill Bryson.
jaxb and From-marge
Andrew's Book of the Month - January 2020
What would you change if you could go back in time? In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a cafe which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.
Book of the Month January winners:
Rowsie and HenDdraig
Andrew's Book of the Month - December 2019
Jane Eyre ranks as one of the greatest and most perennially popular works of English fiction. Although the poor but plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance, she possesses an indomitable spirit, a sharp wit and great courage.
Book of the Month December winners:
Oggy and Epicurious
Andrew's Book of the Month - November 2019
Murder and mystery are peppered with
romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunnit set amidst the
spectacular Northumbrian landscape.
Read 'In the footsteps of LJ Ross, DCI Ryan and 'Borderlands'' by Andrew Morrris.
Book of the Month November 2019 winners:
No1tealady and GeminiJen
Andrew's Book of the Month - October 2019
This month the Silver Travel Book
Club – proudly sponsored by Emerald Waterways – is
rading The Salt Path by Raynor Winn.
The Salt Path is an
especially appropriate choice for the Silver Travel Book Club as author Raynor
Winn has recently won the Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize for 2019, awarded to encourage and celebrate older writers. It is awarded annually to a debut novelist or
popular non-fiction writer, first published at the age of 50 or over.
Book of the Month October 2019 winners:
SuzCG and The-Ochils
Andrew's Book of the Month - September 2019
This month the Silver Travel Book
Club – proudly sponsored by Emerald Waterways – is
rather excitingly about more than just reading a book.
Back in 1955, some Oxford & Cambridge undergraduates jumped into two new Land Rovers and completed the first overland journey from the English Channel to Singapore. Seven months, 12,000 miles, rivers, jungles, mountains and too few roads. A remarkable expedition and achievement, where many had previously failed.
Tim Slessor was in that 1955 team and his book First Overland: London-Singapore by Land Rover has recently been republished, with a foreword by Sir David Attenborough.
And now Tim has combined forces with Alex Bescoby (from Grammar Productions) and others to return one of those original Land Rovers from Singapore to London. Sponsors of this exciting expedition include our friends at the Singapore Tourist Board. The team departed on August 25th and watch this space for updates on their journey across a challenging landscape which has changed dramatically over the last 60 years.
Watch a trailer of the Last Overland expedition and read more about the route and the team – which includes Tim’s grandson Nat.
GypsyWanderer and DRSask
Andrew's Book of the Month - August 2019
This month the Silver Travel Book
Club – proudly sponsored by Emerald Waterways – is
reading Underland: A Deep Time Journey, by Robert Macfarlane.
In Underland, Robert Macfarlane takes us on a journey into the worlds beneath our feet. From the ice-blue depths of Greenland's glaciers, to the underground networks by which trees communicate, from Bronze Age burial chambers to the rock art of remote Arctic sea-caves, this is a deep-time voyage into the planet's past and future.
Book of the Month August 2019 winners:Upstart and mexicanhat
Andrew's Book of the Month - July 2019
This month the Silver Travel Book
Club – proudly sponsored by Emerald Waterways – is
reading To Oldly Go,
published by Bradt Travel Guides.
Book of the Month July 2019 winners:
GBG and
Sararose
Andrew's Book of the Month - June 2019
This month the Silver Travel Book
Club – proudly sponsored by Emerald Waterways – is
reading The House on the Edge of the Cliff,
by Carol Drinkwater.
The past and present spectacularly collide in this gripping story of love and betrayal echoing across the decades.
Carol Drinkwater is a
much-loved actress and also an author of many books, including the ‘Olive
series’, based on the 10-acre olive grove where she lives in the South of
France. We’re delighted that she will be interacting with Silver Travel Book
Club readers on the Forum thread throughout June.
Book of the Month June 2019 winners:
Grosvenor and terrypaul2
Andrew's Book of the Month - May 2019
This month the Silver Travel Book
Club – proudly sponsored by Emerald Waterways – is
reading The People We Were Before,
by Annabelle Thorpe.
Book of the Month May 2019 winners:
Shirley and JKM
Andrew's Book of the Month - April 2019
This month the Silver Travel Book Club – proudly sponsored by
Emerald Waterways – is The 50 Greatest Castles and Palaces of the World, by Gilly Pickup.From the flamboyance of Germany’s fairy tale-Neuschwanstein Castle to the gothic, Dracula-inspiring Bran Castle, perched high in the craggy peaks of Romania’s Carpathian Mountains; Tokyo’s Imperial Palace, previously home to samurai warriors to Ireland’s Blarney Castle, where ‘the gift of the gab’ will be granted to any who kiss its stone, the world’s castles and palaces are steeped in history and stories to tell.
Book of the Month April 2019 winners:
FlyingFlish and Grey-Wolf
Andrew's Book of the Month - March 2019
This month the Silver Travel Book Club – proudly sponsored by Emerald Waterways – is reading the thought-provoking The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton's travel guide with a difference.
With the help of a selection
of writers, artists and thinkers - including Flaubert, Edward Hopper,
Wordsworth and Van Gogh - Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel provides
invaluable insights into everything from holiday romance to hotel mini-bars,
airports to sight-seeing.
Upstart and The-lone-traveller
Andrew's Book of the Month - February 2019
This month the Silver Travel Book Club – proudly sponsored by
Emerald Waterways – will be all
about Kate Humble’s inspiring Thinking on My Feet: the small joy of
putting one foot in front of another.
Thinking on My Feet tells the story of Kate's walking year - shining a light on the benefits of this simple activity. Kate's inspiring narrative not only records her walks (and runs) throughout a single year, but also charts her feelings and impressions throughout - capturing the perspectives that only a journey on foot allows - and shares the outcomes: a problem solved, a mood lifted, an idea or opportunity borne. As she explores the reasons why we walk, whether for creative energy, challenge and pleasure, or therapeutic benefits, Kate's reflections and insights will encourage, motivate and spur readers into action.
Book of the Month February 2019 winners:
JKM and Judergn
Andrew's Book of the Month - January 2019
This month the Silver Travel Book Club will be all about the mouth-watering Food Trails from Lonely Planet – ‘Plan 52 perfect weekends in the world’s tastiest destinations’.For everyone who loves travel and trying the local delicacies, this beautifully illustrated hardback is the must-have handbook to a year's worth of perfect weekends around the world for food lovers. Featured trails include an homage to Buenos Aires steak, cosy wintertime French Canadian cuisine, Puglia's distinctive dishes, and Parisian patisserie. Each trail is an itinerary, detailing when and where to indulge in the local specialties. There are 52 trails, each with gorgeous photography, a bespoke map, expert writing and practical details of how to get there and where to stay.
Book of the Month January 2019 winners:
GerryK and Upstart
Andrew's Book of the Month - December 2018
The Silver Travel Book Club choice this month is the rather special Journeys of a Lifetime from National Geographic. Completely updated for its 10th anniversary, this best-selling inspirational travel guide reveals 500 celebrated and lesser-known destinations from around the globe, from ocean cruises in Antarctica to horse treks in the Andes. Compiled from the favourite trips of National Geographic's legendary travel writers, this fully updated and revised Journeys of a Lifetime spans the globe to highlight the best of the world's most celebrated and lesser-known sojourns.
Book of the Month December 2018 winners:
elena_2 and MOUNTAINGOAT
Andrew's Book of the Month - November 2018
This month’s Silver Travel Book Club is reading Sail Away by Celia Imrie.
The deliciously witty, irresistibly indulgent new novel from the top
ten Sunday Times bestselling author of Not Quite Nice follows the
exploits of two women on an Atlantic cruise ship.
Vividly evoking the old-world glamour of a cruise ship – and the complex politics of its staff quarters – Sail Away is at once a hilarious romp and a thrilling tale of intrigue, from the acclaimed pen of Celia Imrie.
GeminiJen and yorkshirecat
Andrew's Book of the Month - October 2018
This month’s Silver Travel Book Club selection is Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome.
First published in 1889, this book charts the journey of
three London clerks as they travel for two weeks along the Thames from Kingston
upon Thames to Oxford. It captures the essence of messing about on the
river, with hilarious moments that are still relevant today.
Book of the Month October 2018 winners:
almonds and The-lone-traveller
Andrew's Book of the Month - September 2018
This month the Silver Travel Book Club is reading For some people, retirement dreams consist of comfy slippers and gardening. Not so David and his wife Helene, whose dream was of adventure.
You can contact David, and read all about his great retirement travel adventure, on his own website www.davidcmoore-author.com
And you can find out much more about the author and his wife Helene, and their experiences travelling around the world, in this Q&A interview article with our Literary Editor Andrew.
Book of the Month SEptember 2018 winners:
ESW, Kay9, Sararose, GypstWanderer and CCH
ESW also won the star prize of a signed print by Tim Bulmer, the humorous artist who designed the book cover for David.
Andrew's Book of the Month - August 2018
This month the Silver Travel Book Club is reading Flight Before Dawn
by Megan Easley-Walsh. Set in Normandy, the book vividly captures the constant fear and mistrust of life in the Resistance, in the midst of a community torn asunder by the German occupation.
Book of the Month August 2018 winners:
BigDreamer and Happy-Traveller_3
Andrew's Book of the Month - July 2018
This month the Silver Travel Book Club is reading The Damascus Cover
by Howard Kaplan. Set in Cyprus, Damascus and Jerusalem, it is a riveting spy thriller played out in the complex Middle East theatre and written by someone who knows this area and milieu well.
Originally written in 1977, the author has republished the book recently to coincide with the release of a major new film, starring John Hurt in his last role. A trailer for the movie is on the author’s own website.
Book of the Month July 2018 winners:
Sologirl and NedtheRed
Andrew's Book of the Month - June 2018
This month the Silver Travel Book Club is reading Roam Alone: Inspiring tales by reluctant solo travellers edited by Phoebe Smith from Bradt Travel Guides. It has been chosen to tie in with this month’s holiday prize of a trip to Santorini with ClubSolos from Solos Holidays.
Book of the Month JUne 2018 winners:
Cruzeroqueen1 and shellee1
Andrew's Book of the Month - May 2018
This month the Silver Travel Book
Club is reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer.
It
has been chosen to coincide with the release of a major film adaptation
of the book, and also with a generous holiday prize of a trip to this
beautiful Channel Island with GuernseyTravel.com.
Book of the Month May 2018 winners:
PaulineTurner and Jackie99
Andrew's Book of the Month - April 2018
This month the Silver Travel Book Club is
reading A
Mountain of Crumbs: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Elena Gorokhova,
with no apologies for its relevance today, given recent shenanigans in genteel
Salisbury.
A Mountain of Crumbs is the moving story of
a young Soviet girl's discovery of the hidden truths of adulthood and her
country's profound political deception.
Book of the Month April 2018 winners:
marietravel and DRSask
Andrew's Book of the Month - March 2018
This month the Silver Travel Book Club is reading Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy, to tie in with launching this year’s prestigious Silver Travel Awards, for which the prize for voting will be a Saga cruise to festive Hamburg with Silver Travel partner Saga cruises.
When
Liv and Nora decide to take their husbands and children on a holiday
cruise, everyone is thrilled. The ship’s comforts and possibilities seem
infinite. But when they all go ashore in beautiful Central America, a
series of minor mishaps lead the families further from the ship’s
safety.
Thanks
to the generosity of publishers Penguin Random House, there are three
winners this month, rather than the usual two.
Book of the Month March 2018 winners:
SA-Takkies, Sararose and Sue_95
Andrew's Book of the Month - February 2018
This month the Silver Travel Book Club is
reading As
I Walked out One Midsummer Morning by
Laurie Lee, to tie in with Jennie’s February holiday prize of a 3-day break with
Silver Travel partner HF Holidays.In 1934, aged just 19, Laurie Lee walked out of his family home in rural Gloucestershire, carrying a rolled-up tent, a violin in a blanket, a tin of treacle biscuits and some cheese. For the next 2 years, he walked. To the south coast of England, to London and then the length of Spain, from Vigo in the north-west to Andalucia – and briefly across to Gibraltar – in the extreme south.
Book of the Month February 2018 winners:Lottie and NedtheRed
Andrew's Book of the Month - January 2018
This month the Silver Travel Book Club is
reading Road to
Rouen by Ben Hatch, to tie in with Jennie’s January holiday prize of a week
with Silver Travel partner Eurocamp.
Ben Hatch is on the road again. Commissioned to write a guidebook about France (despite not speaking any French) he sets off with visions of relaxing chateaux and refined dining. Ten thousand miles later his family has been attacked by a donkey, had a run-in with a death-cult and, after a near drowning and a calamitous wedding experience involving a British spy, his own marriage is in jeopardy.
Book of the Month January 2018 winners:GBG and SilverMarie
Andrew's Book of the Month - December 2017
This festive month the Silver Travel Book
Club is reading Skipping Christmas by John Grisham. Yes, the same John Grisham
who usually writes fast-paced novels with a legal twist.
Imagine a year without Christmas. No crowded shopping centres, no cheesy office parties, no crackers, no unwanted presents. That’s just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just this once, they’ll skip the holiday altogether. Theirs will be the only house on Hemlock Street without a Santa on the roof, they won’t be hosting their annual Christmas Eve party, they aren’t even going to have a Christmas tree.
A classic morality tale for modern times, Skipping Christmas offers a
hilarious look at the chaos and frenzy that have become part of our holiday
tradition.
Book of the Month December 2017 winners:
FKarbal and
Solent_Richard
Andrew's Book of the Month - November 2017
This month Andrew is reading A Year in the
Woods: The Diary of a Forest Ranger by Colin Elford and you could win a copy
too.
Colin Elford spends his days alone - alone but for the deer, the squirrels, the rabbits, the birds, and the many other creatures inhabiting the woods. From the crisp cold of January, through the promise of spring and the heat of summer, and then into damp autumn and the chill winds of winter, we accompany the forest ranger as he goes about his work - stalking in the early morning darkness, putting an injured fallow buck out of its misery, watching stoats kill a hare, observing owls, and simply being a part of the outdoors.
Book of the Month November 2017 winners:
Susmal and Kelpie
Andrew’s Book of the Month - October 2017
This month Andrew is reading One Summer in Venice
by Nicky Pellegrino.
Addolorata Martinelli knows she should be happy. She has everything she thought she wanted – her own business, a husband, a child. So why does she feel as if something is missing? Then when her restaurant, Little Italy, is slated by a reviewer, she realises that she’s lost the one thing she thought she could always count on, her love of food.
So Addolorata heads to Venice for a summer
alone, aiming to find the ten things that make her happy.
Book of the Month October 2017 winners:
Paulinet and Carol Anne
Thurley
Andrew's Book of the Month - September 2017
This month Andrew is reading Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe.This classic novel of 1980s excess introduces us to Sherman McCoy, a 'Master of the Universe' Wall Street bond trader. But Sherman's extravagant Manhattan lifestyle is under threat after he takes a wrong turn into the notorious Bronx district, driving from JFK airport with his mistress.
This was Tom Wolfe's debut novel and transports us to the glamorous heights and the sleazy depths of New York City through a perceptive narrative and vivid characterisations.
Silvertravellerfan and Jo Carroll
Andrew's Book of the Month - August 2017
This month Andrew is reading The Rome Affair by Karen Swan, a book which brings the glamorous capital city of Italy to life, and sounds like the perfect summer novel to take on your travels. 1974 and Elena Damiani lives a gilded life. Born to wealth and a noted beauty, no door is closed to her, no man can resist her. At twenty-six, she is already onto her third husband when she meets her love match. But he is the one man she can never have, and all the beauty and money in the world can't change it.
Book of the Month August 2017 winners:
Silvertravellerfan, LH and Manja
Andrew's Book of the Month - July 2017
This month Andrew is reading The Talented Mr. Ripley. Written by Patricia Highsmith in 1955, this is a stylish psychological thriller and the author's first outing for Tom Ripley. Four more followed and the series has collectively become known as the Ripliad. But the original remains the best known, partly no doubt because of the hugely successful 1999 film adaptation, starring Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Tom Ripley is a low-life chancer, languishing in New York, until offered an attractive proposition by wealthy shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf; go to Italy and retrieve errant son Dickie from his hedonistic lifestyle, and persuade him to return to the US to join the family business. Tom ingratiates himself into Dickie's entourage and is soon enjoying the luxurious life too. Reluctant to return to his own sad life, how far will Tom go to ensure he lives as self-indulgent an existence as Dickie?
Book of the Month July 2017 winners:
Grey-Wolf and Applegroupie
Andrew's Book of the Month - June 2017
This month Andrew is reading Into the Water by Paula Hawkins, the much anticipated follow up to her 2015 blockbuster debut The Girl on the Train.Based in the imaginary town of Beckford, in rural Northumberland, Paula describes her new novel as “a psychological suspense novel centred on the fractured relationship between two sisters, Nel and Jules. When Nel dies unexpectedly, Jules finds herself trying to figure out not just what has happened to her elder sister, but what has happened between the two of them to leave them so estranged. This is a book of many mysteries. It is about searching for answers, for meaning.”
Into The Water is a very different read to the Silver Travel Book Club’s first Book of the Month – Rosanna Ley’s The Little Theatre by the Sea – in terms of genre, complexity and location!
Book of the Month June 2017 winners:
Sally Hill and Denise Bridge
Andrew's Book of the Month for May 2017
In May, Andrew was reading Rosanna Ley's latest novel The Little Theatre
by the Sea. The author whisks you off to sunny Sardinia, with an
enchanting tale of intrigue and romance, whilst immersed in local food, wine
and culture. And travelling with Silver Travel Advisor partner Sardatur
Holidays, Andrew is planning to visit sunny Sardinia to follow in the
footsteps of Rosanna's principal character, interior designer Faye.
He will visit the real town that becomes fictional Deriu in
the novel, the location of the mystery-laden Little Theatre by the Sea. He'll
visit the walled Catalan city of Alghero, which Faye explores with her father
on a road-trip while they both mark time at important times in their lives. And
he'll force himself to try some of the Sardinian food and wine that Faye enjoys
whilst working on the historic theatre.
Read all about Andrew’s trip to Sardinia in search of Faye.
Book of the Month May 2017 winners:
Sally Dowling and Mags Addison
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To leave a comment, please Sign inOther Members' Thoughts - 31 Comment(s)
This is no 14 in the DCI Ryan series and as always there is a good storyline with DCI Ryan and his team at the heart. It can be read as a stand alone. This novel is vividly set in the heart of North Northumberland around Otterburn and several strands come together to produce a satisfying read. Enjoy!
I am a member of the U3A and persuaded their walking group that walking the length of the Malverns was a brilliant idea and plans were made to travel there by coach, followed by a long walk and a meal in a local pub, I had had a hip replacement earlier in the year but was determined to undertake the walk myself. I was so proud when i succeeded and , in fact, walked further than I had for years,
I also think Heaven can be much nearer home. Try Alderney in the Channel Isles of England for sweeping crescent shaped bays and Puffins.
Our first book was Rosanna Ley's "The Little Theatre by the Sea", based in Sardinia. I have just got back from there, following in the footsteps of the author, her characters and locations. Read about my adventures #OnLiteraryLocation here: https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/forums/travel-places/5823-silver-travel-book-club
Our current book is "Into the Water" by Paula Hawkins, based in rural Northumberland. If you haven't already found it, there is a separate Forum thread here, where the best two entries talking about their own Northumbrian adventures and memories: https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/forums/travel-places/5903-silver-travel-book-club-book-of-the-month-june-2017
Good luck and enjoy!
Andrew
There is now a separate forum thread for the June Book of the Month - Into the Water by Paula Hawkins - here, by the way: https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/forums/travel-places/5903-silver-travel-book-club-book-of-the-month-june-2017
And don't forget to check out http://www.tripfiction.com/ for books firmly located in the places you have already visited...or why not before you travel, and during your trip?
Happy reading, and happy travelling!
Andrew
I’m off to Sardinia in June, to follow in the footsteps of Rosanna Ley’s character Faye from The Little Theatre by the Sea, the first Silver Travel Book club of the month.
Thanks to Silver Travel partner Sardatur Holidays, I’ll be staying on the west coast of this beautiful island and close to unspoiled Bosa, the town that was the inspiration for Rosanna’s fictional village of Deriu. It’s here where Faye helps with the restoration of the village’s old theatre, and uncovers secrets from the past that nobody could have foreseen.
I will try to bring some of Faye’s story to life for you, meeting some of the people from this pastel-coloured village on the river Temo, immersing myself in the area’s history culture, food and wine, just as Faye did.
Join me on this literary journey….the essence of TripFiction http://www.tripfiction.com/
Andrew
Other Silver Travellers are probably better qualified to give ideas on art & poetry etc., but I'll put my creative thinking cap on too.
What a great trip to look forward to this summer. What is your son doing in HK?
Andrew
I'm not at all sure that this is any use to you in understanding the place better, but if you come across a local with european features, say hello from their Uncle Riversiderouge!!!!