After work on Monday I had some time to kill in central London before meeting up with Mr C to go and celebrate a friends birthday with a meal out. I was determined to leave work on time and have some nice "me time" browsing the shops, so I headed up to Marylebone High Street where you can always find a fantastic array of things to buyThis time I ended up in Daunt Books and spent nearly an hour browsing the shelves. They have a fantastic, unique way of arranging the books, which is quite simply genius. In addition to the usual shelves separated into fiction, non-fiction ... read more
The last time they met – Anita Shreve
I can't say too much about Anita Shreve's The Last Time They Met for risk of ruining the experience of reading it for yourself. I will say that having read quite a few Anita Shreve books now I think this one stands out as being pretty special.The story starts with Linda Fallow and Thomas Janes meeting up at at writers' festival in Toronto and we learn that this is the first time the former lovers have met up in twenty-six years. The book also takes us to Kenya where they last met and back to Massachusetts where there love first started. Throughout the book the ... read more
Books, books, books…
I love reading and I also love telling others about good books that I've discovered and sharing them around. Last Saturday was a fantastic day for new books though.Firstly Mr C and I went to visit my mother-in-law and I took with me some books that I'd read to pass on to her. In exchange she presented me with a pile of books that she had picked up - a mix of charity shop finds and ones that she's read for the local book group that she attends.After a quick cuppa Mr C and I then walked into Harpenden to do a spot of shopping. Of course no trip to the shops is complete without a ... read more
Place of Execution
I don't watch that much on television, but do tend to find myself drawn to either comedy, factual documentaries or murder mystery type programmes. One programme that falls into the latter category and that I'd been looking forwards to after seeing the trailers was the ITV dramatisation of Val McDermid's A Place of Execution that started on Monday night.Although I haven't read any recently I read most of McDermid's books a few years ago (mainly via my local library at the time which was excellent at ordering things in for me) and this was one book that ... read more
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day – Winifred Watson
I first heard of Winifred Watson's Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day via yarnstorm and finally got round to buying a copy when I was looking for something on amazon to bring my order of work related books up to the level required for free postage and packing.I completely loved this book for so many reasons. Miss Pettigrew is the most delightful character that grows with the book in quite a remarkable way. She is a middle-aged governess who is sent by an employment agency to Miss LaFosse (a nightclub singer!) and Miss P thinks that she is going there to look ... read more
All he ever wanted – Anita Shreve
All He Ever Wanted seemed very different from all the other Anita Shreve books that I have read. Firstly nearly the whole story as told second hand. The character Nicholas Van Tassel recounts the story of him and his wife Etna Bliss and the ups and downs of their married life. The fact that Nicholas is recounting the story doesn't actually add anything to the book though and I was left wondering what the point was. The story that he was telling was easily strong enough to stand up on its own and yet it is instead interrupted every so often by current day Van Tassel ... read more
Visit to River Cottage – part 3
A few final bits from our day at River Cottage HQ. Part of the grounds at RCHQ were used for some rural craft demonstrations and one stall that particularly interested me was that from wilderness survival skills who run courses that teach people, as their names suggests, wilderness survival skills. Having heard all about the various courses they run I'd be really interesting in going on one and might have to work on Mr C to see if he'd be interested in coming with me. Their ten day intensive bushcraft course sounds fantastic, but I'm just not sure I'm ready for ... read more
Exciting Times
I've got some exciting times coming up over the next month or so.Firstly, Mr C and I off to the River Cottage Festival this weekend. Unfortunately the weather forecast isn't looking too good, but fingers crossed. I'm a bit fan of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his various television programmes and accompanying books.The week after next I have managed to get myself booked on to a Rowan beginners crochet course that is being held at a local John Lewis. I've been wanting to learn to crochet for ages and am really looking forward ... read more
Girl from the South – Joanna Trollope
I've enjoyed many Joanna Trollope books over the years and hence when I picked up Girl from the South in a charity shop I was quite excited about another similar read. Right from the start though this book is a bit different.The first section of this book is set in Charleston in the USA and we are introduced at this point to a character called Gillon and her family. For the whole of this first section though was incredibly confusing. There was a large number of characters introduced in a very short period and as I result I found myself very confused as to who was ... read more
A wedding in December – Anita Shreve
Anita Shreve's A Wedding in December is the tale of a group of former college friends coming together after twenty-odd years to celebrate the wedding of two of their number.The whole concept of coming back together with people that you used to know so well, but have been separated from for many years is always a strange thing. Everyone always has their own stories and secrets and the characters in this book are no different. The death of one of their number at the end of their college years hangs over many of them and the circumstances surrounding Stephen's death are ... read more