After her friend Godwin is arrested for the murder of his boyfriend, Betsy sets out to prove him innocent. She finds that the victim had some dishonest dealings that made him a lot of money-and a lot of enemies. Now, Betsy has to untangle a cat's-cradle of lies if she's going to save Godwin before the murderer decides to cut off the loose ends for good.
The latest in the needlecraft cosy mystery spiral that Liz is running. Another light, slightly fluffy read - perfect for a cold miserable weekend. In this one Betsy's shop manager Godwin is in a lot of trouble, as he is arrested for Murder. Thankfully Betsy comes to his aid, and begins her own investigation into the murder. Godwin is my favourite character in this series so it was great having him so much in middle of the story. There were a few places where I though Goddy's reactions to things were unrealistic, especially bearing in mind his boyfriend has just died. If I was being horribly picky I would have to say the characters have little depth to them in general, but this is a light cosy read, and not meant to be anything else.
I have had this TBR for so long, it was certainly time I got round to reading it. Why I left it so long I have no idea, it's lovely!! This is such a charming little book. The narrator is a young girl, who is convinced she is a writer. She is a wonderfully eccentric character, full of life, wit and enthusiasm. Hampered by an unimmaginative teacher, war time and the constraits of a curate's chaotic household, Jessica begins to grow and move toward her ultimate goal. Often hilarious, it is a small gem.
From Amazon
Disgrace takes as its complex central character 52-year-old English professor David Lurie whose preoccupation with Romantic poetry--and romancing his students--threatens to turn him into a "a moral dinosaur". Called to account by the University for a passionate but brief affair with a student who is ambivalent about his embraces, David refuses to apologise, drawing on poetry before what he regards as political correctness in his claim that his "case rests on the rights of desire." Seeking refuge with his quietly progressive daughter Lucie on her isolated small holding, David finds that the violent dilemmas of the new South Africa are inescapable when the tentative emotional truce between errant father and daughter is ripped apart by a traumatic event that forces Lucie to an appalling disgrace. Pitching the moral code of political correctness against the values of Romantic poetry in its evocation of personal relationships, this novel is skillful--almost cunning--in its exploration of David's refusal to be accountable and his daughter's determination to make her entire life a process of accountability. Their personal dilemmas cast increasingly foreshortened shadows against the rising concerns of the emancipated community, and become a subtle metaphor for the historical unaccountability of one culture to another.
This is a beautifully written novel, powerful and unforgettable. David Lurie is often an unsympathetic character, his actions and justifications are hard to understand sometimes, however as the novel progressed I began to like him more, and share his frustrations, over his daughters decisions. This is a dark novel, it concerns the difficulties of a time in Sounth Africa when there was still a great deal of inequality and bitterness about the faults of the past. The violence, that David and Lucie come up against, and what happens as a result, is a powerful example of the tragedies of that complex nation, but along with the horror and anger of what is done by three men, is a bitter understanding of why that has happened. This is a story that could only have been written about people in South Africa.
This is definitely my favourite of the Iris Murdoch book that I have so far read for the Murdoch a month challenge. The characters are fascinating complex beings, the story so finely plotted and yet it is a very readable Murdoch, a page turner. I loved the descriptions on London in this one, London is a feature of IM's work, but with this novel there were a lot of references to places I knew in London (I go there very seldom.)I also enjoyed Hilary's "Office life" - with the bickering and gossip and desk moving. I won't say too much else here - because I know Audrey was reading it at the same time as me and may not have finished yet.
Some of the Murdoch books we have read I have bookcrossed and some I have kept - this one's a keeper.
Marvelously though, the internet has allowed me to get almost all my Christmas shopping done already. I have bought a large proportion of my Chrimbo shopping online now for a few years, but this year I have done far more. I have driven the office staff at school slightly mad by having a lot of it delivered to school. Not all of it however, which is why I'll be doing a dash to the sorting office tomorrow morning, although I can't go out too early in case some of the stuff I ordered on Wednesday decides to come. My spare room is beginning to resemble some sort of Santa's grotto.
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From her study of the Austen family papers, Claire Tomalin paints a rich, tragi-comic picture of the Austen clan and their neighbours, reaching the conclusion that the facts of Jane Austen's life were even more extravagant and romantic than her fiction.
This is a frequently fascinating account of a remarkable woman's life. Her life itself however doesn't seem to have been that remarkable really, it was a rather small life in many ways. Yet Jane Austen made a lot of time for her family, she was a good sister and aunt, and the affection that many members of her family had for her comes out on this biography. Her dedication to her craft is also interesting considering how difficult it was for her to write with such a busy family, lots of children being born, sister's in law dying etc. It was also a very difficult and complex business getting published, with some of her work only being published sfter her early death.
In this novel we are taken back and forth from 1930's Hong Kong, to 1970's Sutton Coldfield, to Hong Kong in 2008 as the various strands of one family and their secrets become untangled.
Ann is a middle aged woman, married to a dull man, whose children are now grown up. She is the daughter of a very beautiful woman, who once in the 1970's betrayed Ann, and their family. Ann has always lived in the shadow of Vivienne her mother, and harboured a deep resentment for what happened in the summer of 1971. In the years since then, Vivienne, first living in Brighton, then in Hong Kong, and Ann, who remained in Sutton Coldfield see each other very infrequently, and the resentment remains, and the distance between them widens. Now in March 2008, Ann suddenly decides to visit her now seventy seven year old mother in Hong Kong - actually on the less well known Lamma Island. During the visit, Ann finds out a lot about both herself and her mother. She faces the truth of what happened in the 1970's and through the letters and journals of her adored grandmother Belle, she discovers family she never knew she had.
I feel very privileged to have been sent this novel to read, and when it is finally published early next year, I will be buying several copies, one for myself of course, and a couple more as gifts. This novel deserves to do well! As with Christine Coleman's first novel "The Dangerous Sports Euthanasia Society," the characterisation in this novel is wonderful. I loved the characters of Ann and Vivienne, their voices are clear and authentic, as are the more minor characters of Poppy, George and Dawn. Ann's pain, and her feelings of inadequacy are beautifully portrayed, Ann's 16 year old voice, that of so many unremarkable, unhappy girls of that age. As the narrative moves between the 1930's, the 1970's and 2008, the reader becomes as enmeshed in the drama of this family as the characters themselves. Vivienne and Belle, have had similar experiences in their lives and yet they dealt with them differently, but the real reason for this is lost on Ann until towards the end of her stay in Hong Kong.
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and found myself becoming more and more involved with these characters the further I read. I know many people will read and enjoy this novel in the future, and I look forward to it's release, and Christine's success.
A field of strawberries in Kent ; And sitting in it two caravans one for the men and one for the women. The residents are from all over: miners son Andriy is from the old Ukraine, while sexy young Irina is from the new: they eye each other warily. There are the Poles Tomasz and Yola, two Chinese girls and Emanuel from Malawi. They're all here to pick strawberries in England's green and pleasant land. But these days England's not so pleasant for immigrants. Not with Russian gangster-wannabes like Vulk, who's taken a shine to Irina and thinks kidnapping is a wooing strategy. And so Andriy who really doesn't fancy Irina, honest must set off in search of that girl he's not in love with.
I thought this was an hilarious and often thought provoking read. The way in which people and chickens are treated is terrible, and makes this a rather darker story than A history of tractors in Ukrainian. A collection of economic migrants meet in a strawberry field somewhere in Kent, and are housed in the two caravans of the title. What follows is an often hilarious road trip, after a bit of trouble with the farmer and his wife, Andriy, (the Ukrainian) Tomasz, Yola, Marta,(the poles) Emmanuel, (from Malawi) and two chinese girls set off partly in search of Irina another Ukrainian who seems to have been kidnapped by the evil Vulk, who certainly hasn't got strawberry picking in mind for her. There is also a dog, who joins them, and even narrates some of the story. Along the way they meet: workers at a chicken factory, fishermen, "a perfect English family" some old folk, and their nurse, some hippy type "warriors" as Andriy and Irina come close to Andriy's personel mecca - Sheffield. All in all a very enjoyable read.
I thought this was an hilarious and often thought provoking read. The way in which people and chickens are treated is terrible, and makes this a rather darker story than A history of tractors in Ukrainian. A collection of economic migrants meet in a strawberry field somewhere in Kent, and are housed in the two caravans of the title. What follows is an often hilarious road trip, after a bit of trouble with the farmer and his wife, Andriy, (the Ukrainian) Tomasz, Yola, Marta,(the poles) Emmanuel, (from Malawi) and two chinese girls set off partly in search of Irina another Ukrainian who seems to have been kidnapped by the evil Vulk, who certainly hasn't got strawberry picking in mind for her. There is also a dog, who joins them, and even narrates some of the story. Along the way they meet: workers at a chicken factory, fishermen, "a perfect English family" some old folk, and their nurse, some hippy type "warriors" as Andriy and Irina come close to Andriy's personel mecca - Sheffield. All in all a very enjoyable read.
From Amazon
A passionate and accomplished writer, Laura Thompson now turns her highly acclaimed biographical skills to Agatha Christie. Arguably the greatest crime writer in the world, thirty years after her death Christie's books still sell over four million copies worldwide a year.
Thompson describes the Edwardian world in which she grew up, explores the relationships she had, including those with her two husbands and daughter, and investigates the mysteries still surrounding Christie's life - including her disappearance in 1926.
Agatha Christie is a mystery and writing about her is a detection job in itself. But, with access to all of Christie's letters, papers and writing notebooks, as well as interviews with her grandson, daughter, son-in-law and their living relations, Thompson is able to unravel not only the detailed workings of Christies detective fiction, but the truth behind her private life as well.
This is quite a big book, and so has kept me going all week. I am reading slowly at the moment I think too. But it has been a joyous companion to my first week back at work after that lovely break I had in the Lakes. I do love AC and this is a fascinating, and very readable book about all areas of her life. Laura Thompson does come down strongly on the side of Agatha, and although she does make references to the various criticisms and less favourable biographies of her life, she manages to quickly sweep their opinions to one side. I have no problem with that - not all opinions can or even should be balanced all the time, it's ok to have an opinion, and Laura Thompson, is quite obviously a Christie fan, and a knowlegable one at that. In this biography Laura Thompson brings the whole of the Edwardian period to life, the time when Agatha was a young carefree girl in Torquay. She also shows a vast and affectionate knowledge of AC's work, and the things she has to say about Agatha's more autobiographical novels under the name Mary Westmacott has made me want to read them. There are many spoilers to the detective novels in this book, but I suppose with them all now jubbled in my head I won't remember them and most of them were for books I had already read anyway. . I did enjoy Laura Thompson's often detailed exammination of Agatha Christie's books, and how they sometimes reflected parts of Agatha's own life. In a way the most fascinating, and the strangest part of the book, was the lengthy section dealing with that now infamous 11 day disappearance in 1926. Agatha Christie remained pretty tight lipped about this, and I believe (Although I have not yet read it) doesn't mention it in her own autobiography. Therefore Laura Thompson had to reley on pure conjecture. This section of the book, is quite novel like, although Laura Thompson does give us alternative theories to what happened. However I do really think, that, that is the one mystery Agatha Christie left us which cannot now be solved. Thompson describes the Edwardian world in which she grew up, explores the relationships she had, including those with her two husbands and daughter, and investigates the mysteries still surrounding Christie's life - including her disappearance in 1926.
Agatha Christie is a mystery and writing about her is a detection job in itself. But, with access to all of Christie's letters, papers and writing notebooks, as well as interviews with her grandson, daughter, son-in-law and their living relations, Thompson is able to unravel not only the detailed workings of Christies detective fiction, but the truth behind her private life as well.
I may do a bookring for this - so let me know if you are interested.
Liz mapped the route when we got back and reckoned we did roughly 4.9 miles - which I am chuffed with. Had a hot bath, cooked my tea and sat down to eat it just in time to watch Strictly. Now that's a good day in my book.
103 The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt | Rulka Langer NF |
104 Crewel Yule | Monica Ferris F |
105 The secret Scripture | Sebastian Barry F |
106 The Sacred and Profane love machine | Iris Murdoch F |
107 Tulip Fever | Deboragh Moggach F |
108 Sand in My shoes | Joan Rice N F |
109 The lady Elizabeth | Alison Weir F |
110 The wasted Vigil | Nadeem Aslam F |
A Russian woman named Lara arrives in Afghanistan at the house of Marcus Caldwell, an Englishman and widower living in the shadow of the Tora Bora mountains. Marcus' daughter, Zameen, may have known Lara's brother, a Soviet soldier who disappeared in the area many years previously. But like Marcus' wife, Zameen is dead; a victim of the age in which she was born. In the days that follow, further people arrive at the house: two Americans who have spent much of their adult lives in the area; a young Afghan teacher; and a radicalized young man intent on his own path. And Nadeem Aslam paints a moving, beautiful and powerful portrait of a land and a people torn apart through love and war.
This is a beautifully written, complex novel, that using memory, and some truly beautiful imagery weaves a tale of Afghanistan that is really quite unforgettable. Often sad and brutal, the story of these people sometimes makes the reader want to look away, and yet you read on, for the stories are compelling. We are used to hearing about Afghanistan these days, we have all seen the news, many of us have read "The Kite Runner" "A thousand Splendid Suns" and "The bookseller of Kabul" but if you only ever read one book about Afghanistan, then this should be the one. There are no clear lines in this novel, no definite "goodies" or "badies" what we have instead are simple human beings, affected by the various wars that Afghanistan has endured, sometimes these people do bad things, sometimes good things and sometimes these people suffer horribly, and there are reasons why the bad things happen and people suffer, although utlimately while understanding that, it leaves a rather bitter taste, because there is no real feeling of hope for the future. Unforgettable.
Alison Weir was already one of Britain's most popular historians when she wrote her first novel, "Innocent Traitor", which stormed the "Sunday Times" bestseller list to a chorus of praise. Now, in her second novel, Alison Weir goes to the heart of Tudor England at its most dangerous and faction-riven in telling the story of Elizabeth I before she became queen. The towering capricious figure of Henry VIII dominates her childhood, but others play powerful roles: Mary, first a loving sister, then as queen a lethal threat; Edward, the rigid and sad little King; Thomas Seymour, the Lord High Admiral, whose ambitions, both political and sexual, are unbridled. And, an ever-present ghost, the enigmatic, seductive figure of her mother Anne Boleyn, executed by Henry, whose story Elizabeth must unravel. Elizabeth learns early that the adult world contains many threats that have to be negotiated if she is to keep her heart and her head.
I did enjoy this novel, I love Tudor fiction, and Elizabeth is a great character to read about at any time. However I do have one fairly major issue with this book, quite a bit of license was taken with what is generally excepted as the truth. In the author's note Alison Weir makes no apology for this, she even admits that in one part of the story she has strayed away from what she as an historian believes. I imagine for an historian, constantly dealing with facts, suddenly having the freedom that fiction gives you, it is tempting to just let your immagination run wild. Although Alison Weir hasn't gone mad - and I suppose her story of the young Elizabeth, and the consequences of Thomas Seymour's improper behaviour is just possible - it irritated me, as I didn't believe it. Other than that - this is another very readable book, which brings the whole Tudor period to life.
Last night I and 8 million others stayed up to watch the vile man on question time. What a pathetic induvidual he is, with no credibility whatsoever. I am not going to say anymore, as enough has been said generally in the media and elsewhere already- so many people talking about it at work today too.
Also today, I had a phone call from governor support, it looks like I am going to be a governor again, at a school that has just gone into special measures. The school is near me, and I think I can walk there in about 15 minutes, so it won't be too hard to get there either. I am waiting for a letter to confirm it all, but it seems sure to go ahead. The next meeting isn't till the 7th December, so I will have time to find out about the school, and read the ofsted report.
This is a moving and personal account of a young woman's experiences of the Second World War from the mother of Sir Tim Rice. Joan Rice had the same ambitions as many young women of her generation: she wanted to write; wanted to travel; and wanted to be famous. With the outbreak of World War II, she hurried to enlist - aged 20 - in the Women's Auxillary Air Force, hoping for change, for adventure, and for the chance to 'swank around in uniform'. Throughout the early years of the conflict, she kept a regular diary of her life as a WAAF. Working first at RAF Hendon, she soon moved to a job in British Intelligence, and ultimately to postings in Egypt and Palestine. She witnessed the 'phoney war' explode into the Battle of Britain, lived through the London Blitz and was forced by Rommell's advance to flee Cairo. But her diary also tells the story of everyday war life, of the social whirl of service society and of her very first encounters with the man who would become her husband. "Sand in My Shoes" is a compelling first-hand account of life and love in a defeated Europe. Written with flair and exuberance, Joan's story has lain untouched for some fifty years. Incorporating additional material from her husband's own notes, her diary is a testament to the many women who kept the RAF in the air.
What is surprising and really lovely about these diaries, is just how well they bring these people to life. No longer seen as vague black and white images they become real people with just he same concerns as young women today largly. The diaries begin when Joan is just 19, and there might be a war going on, and she might be a WAAF, but at 19 there is also a lot of preoccupations over boys and dances, chocolate is still enjoyed with as much relish as before, although maybe appreciated more. What these diaries also highlight is how quickly people began to understand the fraility of life, and Joan fully understands the reckless abandon, with which some of the young men, she meets, are living, as they literally may be flying out to their deaths at very tender ages. These dairies are light exuberant and very readable. Incidently Joan Rice, I discovered on opening the book, is the mother of Sir Tim Rice the lyricist.
Thouroughly enjoyed this day run by the Francis Brett Young society, for their 30th anniversary. It was an early start, I left the house about 7.30 Liz and I had to catch the bus to Quinton, which was a trip down memory lane for me, as I lived there for 9 years from 1978 when I was 10. We went and had a look at the house we lived in back then, it looked different. We then got a lift from someone I have known for years whose husband is chairman of the society, and probably the country's leading expert on FBY. The event itself was held in a methodist church hall in Bluntington, a sweet little black country village. It was all lovely, some fascinating talks, and lots of nice people. We opted to go for the walk around nearby village, Chaddesley Corbett - rather than have a recital of organ and piano music associated with FBY- where This Little world a wonderful FBY book is set. The village is gorgeous and I want to live there. We had sandwiches and fruit for lunch, and then a catered hot meal at 5.30. After which we watched a 1949 film of My Brother Jonathan one of FBY's books, which was hilariously not like the book at all - as "all the wrong people died" as Liz put it : ) We both joined the society and paid our £7 a year, and were told we had halfed the average age by 40 years, well we had kept being referred to as the young ones (Liz is 37 and I am 41) all day. It all finished about 8.45 We were then given a lift in Birmingham city centre by a lady whose name neither of us knew - and i got home tired about 10.20.
oooh dear - bad Ali - this has been on my tbr for over a year. Have read it now though. This is a really pacy pageturner, and historical too, and I enjoy historical fiction. Not sure the narrative voice was always authentic to the period - Sophia did not feel like a 17th century young woman to me at all. But it was certainly a good read. The lies and deceptions carried out by the characters in the well constructed plot make this unputdownable. I felt really sorry for poor old Cornelis, who is the one most duped by everyone. Not knowing anything about the Tulipomania in Amsterdam at this time I found it an interesting backdrop to the story. Overall a good read, but not a great historical novel really.
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