What a week (and I don't mean turning 40)- the kids at school have slaved over their SATs - some toughish papers this year we thought- although some were ok too. One very hard maths paer, the writing task was quite hard, the spellings were mean! It does often seem they want to trip kids up. Thank goodness it's over! Amazing how tiring SATs week is - all that nervous tension prehaps.

Tomorrow I'm off to Hay with Liz, Gill and Jen - really looking forward to that, we will be staying at a nice B&B behind the famous cinema bookshop - its the B&B we stayed in 2 years ago so we know its good.

Now I want it fully understood - that any books I buy DON'T COUNT : )

I'm off out in a couple of hours - the Y6 staff are off for a celebratory end of SATs curry. I must remember to drink one glass of water for each glass of wine (bloody hell I'll probably drown) I'm up early tomorrow.
Right off to pack my 'jamas : )

Hope you all have a good weekend .

Poirot's Early Cases includes all 18 stories that were in the print version of this title. In "The Plymouth Express," the body of the daughter of a wealthy American industrialist is found stuffed under a train seat. "Problem at Sea" finds a disliked rich woman murdered in a locked room on a ship. "The King of Clubs" involves a prince, his dancer fiancee, and a fiendish bit of blackmail.


This book has been a good accompaniment to this week - which has been very busy! (out twice already this week in the evening and I'll be out again tomorrow.)

Many of these cases I remembered from the TV rather than from reading them before - which I probably have done as well. ITV have obviously used these short story style cases to make the David Suchet Poirot series. Good vintage Poirot (set in a time I always think he belongs) and most of the stories are narrated by Captain Hastings - who I've always had a soft spot for : )

My 40th today - gulp - but I have survivied it. Work as normal of course - and that meant breakfast club - with extra kids because of it being SATS this week - so it was bedlam!! Then we in Y6 had teo writing tests to supervise and a spelling test. Buts after all that was dealt with - it was lovely.

Sue, Terry and Mum got me a new stereo - I have fixed it up but haven't played with it much yet : ). I have had my old one for ten years or so - and it's had its day - and is a bit wrecked now (long story) so I just hope this one serves me as well - I love my stereos : ) The new one, like the old one - is a Sony. Sound quality is great.

Have just come home from an Italian meal in St. Pauls Square in the city centre - it was very nice. I have been thoroughly spoilt. I had another bag of pressies from Sue and Mum - treats - new 'jamas for the weekend (I'm going away with Liz, Gill and Jen), sanctuary stuff - G&B's choc, rose wine, and Keswick Gingerbread - OMG!! Yum! Also earlier today I had a box of fair trade roses delivered to school from Mum, Sue and Terry - all on top of the stereo!! Also had flowers and book token from staff at school : ) and some other pressies - including another book token, amazon vouchers, a gardening book and bird feeder, and a persephone book.




my new stereo

When your father is a man of expensive tastes but very little money, you soon learn to 'make do'. So when Caroline Fortune's prodigal father finally admits to losing all they possess, he soon has grand designs for her...Caroline is to become the companion of the extremely wealthy and childless Mrs Catling. Although uncomfortable with the plan, she makes the most of this introduction to polite society, and soon her beauty and intelligence attract the attentions of male admirers. But, much to her horror, she is just as quick to discover that love and romance are not what some 'gentlemen' seek. Surrounded by people with an alarming readiness to reveal each other's confidences, Caroline finds herself unjustly implicated in their indiscretions. But will Miss Fortune be able to avoid losing her reputation? And will she realise that there is at least one good man who is more than willing to take her side and, indeed, her fancy?


I thoroughly enjoyed this regency style novel. I suppose it would sit comfortably in the rollicking good read catagory - and nothing wrong with that. The sparring between Caroline and Stephen is really great fun - Caroline Fortune a character that would never have been created by Jane Austen or Fanny Burney - and yet she's not that unrealistic. - Our heroine is the offspring of an unwise marriage between a girl from a good family and a sailor who proves unable to reamin solvent. Her upbringing amoung the more colourful characters of London rooming houses has left her a fiesty young miss, with a colourful turn of phrase and the ability to more than hold her own. As she becomes enbroiled in the indiscretions and secrets of others, she remains a true loyal friend to those around her and a truly likeable character - who often snubs her nose at convention and society. A really good weekend read.

I'll be going off to Sue and Terry's caravan - in fact will be going after school tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will stay as glorious as it has been this last few days. It really does raise your spirits to see a clear blue sky, and throw open all the windows in the classroom at school. When I got home this afternoon, I hung a white wash out on the line - now there is something very satisfying about that on a day like today - or maybe that's just me : ) So as I won't be online much before Sunday evening (I may get chance to log on tomorrow lunch time) hope you all have a bright and sunny weekend - in every way : )

Synopsis
This is the story of Dr Alfred Jones, a fisheries scientist - for whom diary -notable events include the acquisition of a new electric toothbrush and getting his article on caddis fly larvae published in 'Trout and Salmon' - who finds himself reluctantly involved in a project to bring salmon fishing to the Highlands of the Yemen - a project that will change his life, and the course of British political history forever. With a wickedly wonderful cast of characters - including a visionary Sheikh, a weasely spin doctor, Fred's devilish wife and a few thousand transplanted salmon - Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a novel about hypocrisy and bureaucracy, dreams and deniability, and the transforming power of faith and love.

This is an enormously readable novel, darkly comic with a touch of pathos at times. I have really enjoyed reading this over the last three days or so - it has in fact been a real pleasure to settle down with this one after a long and tiring day. I loved Dr Alfred Jones - the reader just can't help but warm to him immediately - and the Sheikh is real delight. I found I wanted to go to the Sheikh's Scottish home and learn about Salmon fishing. The passages that describe fishing are actually quite lovely - and shows how the author himself must have a real love of the sport himself, and also a real affection for the Middle East. This is a novel about faith, and love, really wonderful stuff.

Synopsis
While travelling through France, a young American becomes entangled in an array of both comic and romantic adventures. But, her love and trust are betrayed and she is forced to reconsider her priorities. In doing so, she discovers herself on the threshold of an adventure - that of true love.

The narrator of this novel - Sally Jay Gorce - is a wonderful character, funny, and sweet, a lovely fresh voice from the fifties expierencing life in a way we don't expect from this era maybe. At first I thought I would love this book - I had expected to which was why it was on my wishlist in the first place. Sally Jay's adventures and misadventures in Paris, with a host of zany and colourful characters, are certainly entertaining - but I did find about two thirds of the way through that I began to find it all a bit samey and tedious. It perked up again at the end and I did like the way it all ended for Sally Jay.

Synopsis
This is the tale of the author's life growing up in a beautiful, remote valley in Kashmir. It is a memoir of the exotic food, ancient folklore, bawdy wedding traditions, gossamer-soft pashminas and the rhythms and colours of the valley itself that made up the author's childhood, and the traditional ways that are gradually being lost to younger generations. Set against this is the wider story of Kashmir's painful history, as it is torn apart by fighting between Muslims and Hindus, with repercussions that are being felt across the modern world


I really enjoyed this book, the early part of the book is very evocotive - the sights and smells and traditions of Kashmir - and the up bringing of a young girl who is educated by nuns. Some wonderful anecdotes - including a school drama society production attended by Pandit Nehru, his daughter Indira Ghandi and her two sons. The later part of the book charts Sudha Koul's work in the Indian administative service, where she had many small villages under her jurisdiction, and then following her marriage her life in America. A fascinating memoir.

Synopsis
Martin Lynch-Gibbon believes he can possess both a beautiful wife and a delightful lover. But when his wife, Antonia, suddenly leaves him for her psychoanalyst, Martin is plunged into an intensive emotional re-education. He attempts to behave beautifully and sensibly. Then he meets a woman whose demonic splendour at first repels him and later arouses a consuming and monstrous passion. As his Medusa informs him, 'this is nothing to do with happiness'.

I read this for the first time at the end of August - before we had decided upon this Murdoch a month project. Oddly - I liked it better the first time I read it - maybe it was just too soon for a re- read - however it was intresting how many things I picked up I hadn't the first time. It is a strange little book, packed with metaphor, and very farcical - I'll say no more as I'm not sure who of us (I know Liz has) has finished this one.

37 The Bell Iris Murdoch
38 Purple Hibiscuis Chamamanda Ngozi Adichie
39 Brown Owl’s Guide to life Kate Harrison
40 Elephants Can Remember Agatha Christie
41 Crampton Hodnet Barbara Pym
42 Footsteps in The Sand Sarah Challis
43 Out to Canaan Jan Karon
44 A letter Of Mary Laurie R King
45 Doreen Barbara Noble
46 Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri
47 The Home-Maker Dorothy Canfield Fisher
48 Last Orders Graham Swift
49 Village Diary Miss Read

The enchanting follow-up to Village School, Miss Read's beloved first novel, Village Diary once again transports us to the picturesque English village of Fairacre. Each chapter describes a month in the life of the village school's headmistress, Miss Read. As the villagers prepare for their country pageant, Fairacre welcomes many newcomers, such as the headstrong Amy, Mr. Mawne (whom the villagers would like to see the reluctant Miss Read marry), and the earnest new infants' teacher, Miss Jackson.


Another cosy slice of English country village life - where nothing much happens in a way, and that of course is part of the charm of these books. Wry observed, and nostalgic, they are great escapism if nothing else. This has been spoilt only by my excessive tiredness - and my irritation resulting from that tiredness.

Y2!!!

Having said she would tell us on Thurs - our head decided to whip around after school and start telling people today - I was about to leave when I heard this was happening so hung around for a bit longer. Finally heard about 4.45 this afternoon. The trouble is - some people had already sloped off - so it meant that as some people have heard and some haven't she couldn't tell me the rest of the team as some of them won't yet know. Who you are working with can make a massive difference to how you feel about work. So I am pleased - nervous - but pleased - it's going to mean a big change, but I am now just waiting to find out the rest of the team.

I had expected these last few weeks befoe the dreaded SATs at school to crawl - in fact the are fairly flying by. Last friday - I was stunned to think it had been a week since I was setting off for that convention - it seemed barely a couple of days. Another messed about week this week - as we have local council elections - and part of the school is used for that. Therefore on Thursday school is closed to all children (staff in of course) - except - yep you've guessed it - y6 - too much work to do yet and not enough time to do it in - and those tests just 2 weeks away. So we'll have kids in for the morning to do Literacy and numeracy - and then they'll go home at 12. I think they all feel a bit hard done to having to come in on Thurs morning, but this is proabably about the fourth year we have done this and they all generally turn up - and other local schools do the same, where they can keep the y6's and the elections seperate.

I had a governors committee after school today - so didn't get home till after 6.30 - felt like a long day. Going to my sisters tomorrrow for tea, Mum's going too, as for various complicated reasons we weren't able to go over on Sunday to see her. So with all this going on, I suspect that this week will be going just as quickly. Also there is a chance that we will be finding out our placements for september on Thursday.

Hopefully going to Sue and Terry's caravn on Friday night - till sunday - but this is dependant upon the blood test results of one of her cats (Johnny) - who has been a bit poorly. If she needs to cram pills into him twice or day or something we won't be able to go.

Last Orders is the story of four men once close to London butcher Jack Dodds, who meet to carry out his last wish: to have his ashes scattered into the sea. The men, whose lives revolve around work, family, the racetrack and their favourite pub, must make their way down to a seaside town to complete the task. Through conversation and memory they trace the paths they have followed by choice and by accident; through the Second World War and its aftermath, through the dramas of family life, and their relationships with each other. In their brilliantly realized, richly nuanced voices, Swift has created a narrative language that perfectly expresses not only the comforts of old habits and friendships, but also the complexity and courage of ordinary lives.

I read this in a under a day - it made for a good sunday read - as I found it to be a quick (despite being almost 300 pages) and strangely compelling read. I say strangely compelling - as it's not my usual read - but I have set myself the task of reading all the booker winners and this has been on mnt tbr for a little while now. The "voices" of this novel are what make it so remarkable - they are pure London blokes of a certain age. Everything that happens in the novel takes place through memory, and conversation. The result is novel that manages to span the lives of these characters, ordinary working men and women from Bermondsy - who have had some sadnesses in their lives, and some secrets too. It is a novel about life and death, and how we live the bit in between.

About the book - (from Persephone)

The Home-Maker describes Evangeline, an obsessively house-proud mother and home-maker (a word that is in everyday use in America but not in Britain) who renders each of her children miserable in different ways, through her perfectionism and her need to control; without realizing it, she is frustrated and bored - yet she thinks she is a good and devoted mother.

Lester, her husband, is also unhappy, at home and at work. It is only when he falls off a roof that his family's life changes; he is wheelchair-bound at home and his wife goes to work in a department store (the setting is smalltown New England). The children gradually blossom; all sorts of practical ruses are devised (like covering the kitchen floor with newspaper when Evangeline leaves each morning); and a Montessori Father is born. The scene where he surreptitiously watches his youngest child learning to use an eggwhisk is one of the great scenes in the literature of childhood, in 'a remarkable and brave novel'

Another great read from Persephone, only the second I have read so far set in America.
I think it is quite remarkable that this novel was first published in 1924 - it is as current now as it has ever been. The only difference is that attitudes to a husband staying at home have changed. The only way Lester's position is tolerated and sympathised with by the small town society in which he lives, is because he is in a wheelchair. Evangaline is a difficult character to like as the novel begins - but as she begins work at the store we see her change, but it is Lester's transformation that is the most poignant. A man who is convinced of his own uselessness, finds a place for himself, and the relationship he develops with his children, especially the youngest Stephen - is wonderful.

Another meet up this afternoon, so another donation to the Indian libary fund.

Books read since last months meet up 15 - that's good for me - so some may have been thin ones : )

therefore £1.50 to be passed to Gill later.

and this has set me a wondering -

Somehow even though I feel like I have read loads this month - I am still a little behind this time last year - yeah so sad that I checked (merely out of curiosity in my own reading habits). Oh well - it doesn't matter - just wonder what I am doing differently this year - sleeping prehaps? I think I am going to bed earlier this year, often in bed at 9 or just after, and almost always by 10, don't think I was doing that so much last year - must be my age : )
- for instance last night - a non school night - I went up at just after 9.30 - and had to fight my tiredness to read more than thirty pages. I probably shouldn't admit what time I got up - 9.15 - feel great this morning though : )

Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations. In "A Temporary Matter," published in The New Yorker, a young Indian-American couple faces the heartbreak of a stillborn birth while their Boston neighborhood copes with a nightly blackout. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession. Lahiri writes with deft cultural insight reminiscent of Anita Desai and a nuanced depth that recalls Mavis Gallant. She is an important and powerful new voice.

A lovely collection of stories, which I appear to have had on mnt toobie for a very very long time. There are some very memorable and poignant images that I will take with me from this book, set in North America and India. A huge cast of unforgettable characters. A young couple grieving for their lost child, who find they can finally communicate during the one hour a day the lights in their neighbourhood are turned off for maintainence, Boori Ma the sweeper of the stair well who having been well looked after by the residents of her building starts to find she is sidelined, the eccentic Mrs Sen, who needs to learn to drive so she can continue to look after an 11 year old boy Elliot. I don't know why I left this book unread for so long - it proved a real treat - even though I often think I don't like short stories much.

Last night I went out with some bcers and their partners for a balti. It had been organised by Liz and Matt, for Madeline (bookgirrl) who was visiting Birmingham yesterday, before heading of back home to Toronto. Liz first met her a few years ago, and the rest of us met her for the first time at the weekend at the convention. It was a lovely evening, even if I am a tad tired now. I gave her a Miss Read book - as I thought she should have something quintessentially English to take back to Canada with her.

Book review from Persephone website:
This is a deeply involving book, fascinating for the portrayal of the child torn between mother and temporary mother, and for its understanding of the tyrannies of the English class system. 'The manner of telling this poignant, subtle tragedy is beyond admiration, restrained, penetrating, deeply moving,' wrote Dorothy Canfield Fisher; and the Spectator reviewer described 'a gentle, serious story in which...the author's argument is scrupulously fair ; she is observant, sensitive and intellligent.'

Such a lovely book. My only criticism is that it is too short - I wanted more. Doreen is a such sweet little child, and who couldn't identify with a child thrust into an entirely new sort of world, and feel the confusion that comes with it. The Osbornes are of an entirely different class, their world one of quiet village life and an awe inspiring trip to an Oxford hotel. Doreen's mother slowly becomes aware that this is a world she can't compete with.

I still have 4 Persephone TBR - 21 altoghether : )