Staying Cool with Tea with Tales

While enjoying cheese scones and a cuppa, we shared our “where were you when it happened” historical event moments.

Our reading was from The Siege: the remarkable story of the greatest SAS hostage drama by Ben MacIntyre. This true crime story recounts the siege when six armed men stormed the Iranian Embassy in 1980 taking 26 people hostage for six days. It reads like a fast-paced fictional thriller.

Continuing with non-fiction, several readers enjoyed recent New Zealand biographies.

Steven Adams’ autobiography My Life, My Fight was described as very enlightening. As was Alison Mau’s No Words For This.

Several readers enjoyed Lost and Found by television and radio presenter Toni Street. The recounting of the tragedies that struck her family as well as her personal health battles and surrogacy left our readers with tears in their eyes.

Continuing on the New Zealand theme, A Dim Prognosis by Ivor Popovich struck a chord for our two retired health professionals. Compelling reading on a health system in crisis.

Our last New Zealand book, Lessons of Living, was the final book from Nigel Latta. Two readers found the explanations on how we manage the things that happen to us very useful.

Kerry Irving’s story about Max the Miracle Dog was enjoyed by several readers. Credited with saving the life of his owner, this springer spaniel gained world-wide fame when videos of his walks in the Lake District were posted on Facebook.

To challenge his reading one of our readers read Spare by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. With low expectations our reader was pleasantly surprised to find the book to be very well written. The similarities between the lives of Princess Margaret and Andrew the second son of Queen Elizabeth were thought provoking.

Our last non-fiction title was a weighty tome. The Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham tells the story of how the early European explorers divided up Africa and the start of the slave trade.

Our recommended fiction read was The Lucky Penny by Dilly Court. This historical romance tells the story of a 6-year-old girl plucked from her life of poverty to be the companion for a child from a gentry family.

Tea with Tales, our book group for the vision impaired, meets on the first Monday of the month at 10:30am in Hastings Library.

Posted by Miss Moneypenny

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