To say that Little Miss C loves books would be an understatement. The first things she wants in a morning is for us to read books to her. When we put her to bed at night the main reason she doesn't want to go is because that means no more bedtime stories. I remember Topsy and Tim books from my childhood and happened to pick up a couple of modern versions in a charity shop recently for LMC and she already loves them. In one day last week we ended up reading about Topsy and Tim visiting the dentist seven times! Of course today's Topsy and Tim books are somewhat different from the ones I ... read more
Dead Tomorrow – Peter James
Organ donation is one of those subjects that many of us don't talk about. To donate most organs you need to be dead and talking about what happens to you once you've died isn't something that many people like to bring up over Sunday lunch. Unless a family member or friend has needed an organ transplant then it's quite possible that you may not have put much thought into the subject at all. Despite being a registered organ donor I have been lucky enough not to have anyone close to me needing an organ donation and I fell into that category of not really thinking about the people ... read more
Lizzie of Langley Street – Carol Rivers
This is so totally not the kind of book that I usually pick up in bookshops or even charity shops. I normally pass over the section entitled "romantic fiction" or similar and imagine it to be full of Mills and Boon style books which are just not my cup of tea at all. My mum passed on this book and a couple of others recently having picked them up from a hospital book stall. I thought I'd give them a go and I'm so glad I did. Lizzie of Langley Street is in a way a typical gritty East-End saga set after the first world war. There's a strong lead female character - daughter ... read more
Flowers on the Grass – Monica Dickens
Bearing in mind how many I have already read it's in some ways amazing that there are still some Monica Dickens books that I haven't read yet, but I'm delighted to say that there are. Flowers on the Grass has been sat on my bookcase for a while, but it was only when I picked up a second copy of it in a charity shop recently that I realised it was unread. This book is follows a young man called Daniel Brett as he wanders through life - never staying anywhere long - following the sudden tragic death of his wife in a household acident. The main focus though is not Daniel ... read more
Stash Happy: Felt
I was delighted to be sent a copy of Stash Happy: Felt to review by GMC Publications this week. I'd not done much with felt before I started reading Mollie Makes, but I think I'm now addicted. I'm not allowing myself to start a new project until I've finished one of the in progress ones, but there are so many now on my to do list from this book that it's a bit silly. The book contains 30 projects to make and it's fair to say that all of them are completely adorable. Two projects are both owl based and I have an owl obsessed daughter at the ... read more
Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry
I've realised recently that we're actually quite traditional when it comes to food here and most meals do contain a meat element. In fact, Mr C doesn't generally think that a main course is a main course unless there is meat in it. I have therefore watched with fascination the latest River Cottage series, Veg Everyday. Hugh F-W is not a man that you usually think of as a vegetarian, but that's exactly what he challenged himself to do for a summer, to see what it would be like to eat veg everyday and cut meat out of his diet. The television programmes have been interesting, but ... read more
The Teatime Islands – Ben Fogle
Whenever I smell mixed herbs (the dried variety that come in little glass jars) I am taken straight back to the house my parents lived in when I was a young child and in particular to the bay window of the front bedroom where I used to play some sort of game where I created a den and imagined that I was on a boat sailing across the oceans to discover islands that no one else had yet discovered. I have vague recollections that I needed to take some food with me and when I asked my mum for some the only thing she gave me was some mixed herbs. Quite how I thought I was going to find new islands I ... read more
Counting my chickens… – Deborah Devonshire
As a child Chatsworth was one of those places that we visited quite often. For a while it was a bit of a family tradition to go to the farm shop on Christmas Eve to buy meat for Christmas. I remember many, many visits to the children's farmyard and also have such fond memories of the annual country show that I really hope I can take Little Miss C and Mr C there one year. It was at the country show that I was once served lemonade (lovely homemade stuff!) by the then Duchess of Devonshire (now the Dowager Duchess) and even at my young age I was struck by just how down to earth she ... read more
The Testament – John Grisham
There's been a bit of a book reading frenzy here in recent weeks, but my blogging about what I've read has fallen a bit behind. Apologies in advance therefore for a few back to back book reviews in the next week or so. John Grisham's The Testament was something I quickly picked up in a charity shop as a quick holiday read and that's exactly what it was. There wasn't much time in Madeira for lounging around by the pool, but there was some time to kill on the plane and also time once Little Miss C had gone to bed in the evening. I've always liked John Grisham's books, ... read more
Little Books
When I was sent a couple of sets of Little Books to review by GMC Publications I just knew that they were the perfect thing to save for our holiday. If you've got flights to endure with a little one they these are perfect to take with you. We decided to have one box set for the journey out to Madeira and then to save the second one for the journey back and that worked really well for us. Little Miss C loves books of all sorts and now that she's talking more and more, books where she can point at things and saw what she sees are ideal. We were sent Gyo Fujikawa's ... read more