I love shopping for books and have been quite lucky recently in finding loads of good ones in charity shops. It was only when I came to choose what to read next through that I realised just how many I had stacked up.Above is my "to-read" pile. All bar one are either charity shop purchases or borrowed from friends and family. The weather here has been so awful recently that the idea of curling up with a book in an evening is really quite attractive!As for the books I've got - they're quite a mix really. I'm in the middle of an Anita Shreve marathon at the moment ... read more
Towards the End of the Morning – Michael Frayn
Towards the End of the Morning was another charity shop find, picked up as I recognised Michael Frayn as the author of Spies his novel which won the Whitbread Award (now called the Costa Book Award). I'd thoroughly enjoyed that book so was interested to see what else he had written. This book was originally published back in 1967 and tells of life in a small department in a Fleet Street based national newspaper. There are a couple of central characters in the book in the form of two journalists (or maybe newspaper employees would be a more accurate term) John Dyson and Bob, Bob's neighbour Mrs ... read more
A birthday cook book
My parents have always been under the impression that I have no cooking skills what so ever. Whilst my skills in the kitchen may be limited I certainly don't think that Mr C and I are going to starve. Over the last few years I have been trying to extend my cooking repertoire and I have certainly been more adventurous in what I choose to try from cook books, as well as having more confidence when I try new things. For my birthday last month my gifts from my family seemed to focus around the kitchen. My sister H bought me a copy of Tessa Kiros' Apples for Jam: Recipes for Life which I have been ... read more
Gardens of Delight – Erica James
Gardens Of Delight is the second Erica James book that I have read after picking up Act of Faith on a previous charity shop trip. The book tells the story of several residents of the Cheshire village of Swanmere who, despite the spread of ages, are brought together by their passion of gardening and the local gardening club. Like in Act of Faith the theme of the different types of love runs through the book, but I have to say that I found myself enjoying this read more than the previous book. I was entranced by the different stories in it of how different people had engaged with gardening and ... read more
Bruce Bogtrotter’s Heroic Chocolate Cake
Last night Mr C and I were attending a local nature reserve committee meeting. The meeting was originally supposed to be last week, the night before my birthday, and hence I had planned to take along some birthday cake. The meeting was re-arranged though, but I still thought cake was in order. As it was supposed to be a birthday cake I thought that chocolate cake had to be in order. I searched all my cookbooks and decided upon a recipe for "Bruce Bogtrtter's Heroic Chocolate Cake" from Jane Brocket's Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer: A Golden Treasury of Classic Treats. Until I read Jane's book I ... read more
A Clergyman’s Daughter – George Orwell
One thing I enjoy about buying more of my books from charity shops is that I don't always know what I will be reading next and I often end up reading fantastic books that I might not have normally chosen. Frequently I find quite a few classic books in charity shops my latest read certainly fell into that category. Secondary school was where I first came across the works of George Orwell and I read Animal Farm as part of my GCSE English course. I've always meant to read more of his works, but had not got round to doing so until I picked up a copy of A Clergyman's Daughter recently. Orwell ... read more
Act of Faith – Erica James
The very second paragraph of this book worried me: 'Oh, get a life you silly little man,' she muttered, bringing to an end the ramblings of the out-of-his-tree caller from Redditch - a crank who had been advocating a world economy based on homespun bartering. Honestly, was there anything worse than a born-again down-shifter? The alarm bells were ringing at this point and I read on with some trepidation. I'm very pleased to say though that once I'd got over this first obstacle Act Of Faith turned into a thoroughly enjoyable book - if a tad predictable at times. It tells the story of Ali ... read more
Body Surfing – Anita Shreve
Having thoroughly enjoyed one of Anita Shreve's other books I was delighted to find a copy of Body Surfing in a charity shop last week, especially since it seems to be one of her most recent books into paperback. This book tells the story of Sydney, once divorced and once widowed, all by the age of twenty-nine. She has the job of tutoring the eighteen year old daughter of a couple whilst living with them in their oceanfront New Hampshire cottage. Over time Sydney finds herself caught up in the lives of this family in a way that runs much deeper than anything you initially think. Love and trust ... read more
Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer
I was quite excited last week when Amazon.co.uk delivered my copy of Jane Brocket's Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer. I've been reading Jane's yarnstorm blog for a few years now and have also thoroughly enjoyed her first book, The Gentle Art of Domesticity. Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer follows such an amazingly simple idea for a book that in a way I'm amazed that no one has thought of it before! Whilst on a family holiday Jane and one of her daughters, Phoebe, started talking about all the different foodstuffs in various children's books and soon came along the idea of a cookbook based on all these ... read more
The Heart of the Dales – Gervase Phinn
I got some very strange looks on the train to work this morning and it's all Gervase Phinn's fault! Mr C picked up a copy of his latest book for me last weekend when he found it in a 3 for 2 offer and it is quite simply one of the most fantastic things I've ever read! I'm still reading The Heart of the Dales but I just couldn't wait to share it's hilarious brilliance with others. Gervase Phinn is a Yorkshire Dales school inspector, and despite what some may consider as a dreary sounding job, he has so many fantastic tales to tell. This is the fifth of his books about life as a school inspector ... read more