Year in Books - February

Linking up today with Laura at Circle of Pine Trees for this month's Year in Books where we aim to read at least one book a month. At the start of the month we blog about the book we are intending to read and perhaps a few words about the previous book.

Last month's book Wolf Hall by  (Dame) Hilary Mantel was one that I had started, put down and then picked up again when I realised the serialised drama was scheduled on the tv. Try as I might, I simply couldn't finish it in time and had to put it back on the shelf once more.

In summary, the book is a fictionalised story of the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell whose father was a blacksmith who bullied him as a child. At fifteen he ran away to sea and travelled Europe - joining the French Army and later working as a merchant in Antwerp and Florence. After many years he returns where his life experiences enabled him to becomes an assistant to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York. Steeped in history around the life and loves of Henry Vlll this book brings the brutal world of the Tudors to life.

This month's book is Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton -   and seemingly of a mystery/crime genre.

"Black smoke stains a summer blue sky. A school is on fire. And one mother, Grace sees the smoke and runs. She knows her teenage daughter Jenny is inside. She runs into the burning building to rescue her". 

Afterwards, Grace must search for the identity of the arsonist and protect her children from the person who's still intent on destroying them. Afterwards she must fight the limits of her physical strength and discover the limitlessness of love.

I'm not one to read crime as a rule but I do like a bit of mystery so hope I'll stick with it. I picked this up last night and it clicked instantly. I have a habit of testing the water so to speak. Sometimes I just get bored after the first chapter and leave it on the side for another time - which never happens! 

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On another note I just want to apologise to all of my blogging friends for my lack of comments and posts this last couple of weeks. We have been in a dilemma here as to whether to move house or stay where we are. We've lived here for 30 years and the children have now fled and we thought it might be a good time to downsize. However, I do love my house, all of our bedrooms are in constant use - our master bedroom, the guest room, my study/craft room and then a little box room for whatever gets put in there.  Plus we live in a quiet neighbourhood with plenty of walks and open spaces nearby as well as the sea. We started to look around and nothing matched or compared with our house - even if we did move I daresay I would definitely want some re-decoration and/or improvements done. That being so we have decided to stay and have some work done here - new kitchen and possibly some other improvements. So instead of hours of trawling around looking at properties we are now out looking for kitchens etc and having people in for designing and quoting for said work to be done. This all takes time and something has to give - so once again I hope you'll bear with me.

I would like to say thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my last posts. I really do appreciate them and they mean such a lot to me. Hopefully I'll be back on track again in a few days.

Take care my friends and have a good week.

Patricia x

A Year in Books - January

I'm linking up with Laura at Circle of Pine Trees with the Year in Books 2015. I did join last year but other things were getting in the way and I didn't find the time to carry it through. However, new year new outlook and I can't wait to get reading again, deciding that the time spent reading quietly is time well spent.

The aim of the Year in Books project is to read at least one book a month during 2015. It's not a conventional book club so we don't all read the same book. The project is about trying to ensure that we make space for reading in our busy lives and a chance to discover more lovely books. At the start of the month we blog about the book that we are intending to read and perhaps a few words about the previous book.

The book I've just picked up is one I started reading about six months ago but as it was too large to take on holiday with me  I put back on the shelf,  as we do, and simply didn't pick it up again until now.

My book is  Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. 

I've just heard there is a new drama series coming on the TV some time soon called Wolf Hall -  which means I just have to read the book before it starts. Consequently I'm reading it at every opportunity I can -  in fact I'm so 'into it' now I can't put it down! I love history especially during the time of Tudor England in the 1500s and this book is ticking all the boxes.

Seeing as Ive just come aboard and haven't a book for December, I'll just give you a little sneak of a beautiful book my husband gave me for Christmas called Paper Bliss by Skye Rogers. I love paper crafting and anything to do with paper so this really is bliss.

it has so many pages of gorgeous paper with designs

including pages that open out with even more lovely designs

even the book cover opens out to reveal a huge page of templates for cutting out.

Not everyone's cup of tea I'll grant you but if you love anything to do with paper  loveliness,  then you'll love this book.

Bye for now and have a great weekend.

P x

A Year in Books: May

Linking up and many thanks to Laura at a Circle of Pine Trees for arranging this monthly read. I'm a tad late in posting this month but 'better late than never'.

Firstly, April's choice - The point of rescue by Sophie Hannah

Last year, a work trip Sally had planned was cancelled at the last minute. Desperate for a break from her busy life juggling her career and young family, Sally didn't tell her husband that the trip was cancelled but instead she booked a week off and treated herself to a secret holiday just wanting a bit of peace and some time to herself - but it didn't work out that way...

I'm not one to read many crime novels but it had been recommended so I gave it a go. The storyline certainly kept you on your toes throughout with a very cunning plot and an unpredictable outcome. A good read and a couldn't-put -it-down kind of book.  Definitely worth a read.

My choice for May is - A week in winter by Maeve Binchy.

The Sheedy sisters had lived in Stone House for as long as anyone could remember . Set high on the cliffs on the west coast of Ireland overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean the house was falling into disrepair - until one woman with a past she needed to forget, breathed new life into the place.......

I've just been introduced to Maeve Binchy by my daughter-in-law who is quite a fan and lent me the book. Looking forward to settling down with this one and I'll be back in June with a short synopsis and another book choice.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you all soon x






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Year in Books - March

Firstly I want to thank all you lovely people for the wonderful comments you left on my last post about John retiring. I/we were very touched by the encouragement and inspiration you gave us both. I love blogging - its a very special place to be.

Another book to read and review for the Year in Books challenge which you can find here organised by Laura at a Circle of Pine Trees. For the month of March I am reading

  Wedlock 
a biography by Wendy Moore published in 2008 

which tells the story of  Mary Eleanor Bowes who was the richest heiress in eighteenth-century Britain. A compelling tale of her life and loves, where the torrent of biography sweeps the reader along. The research that went into this book must have been phenomenal as the author relates not only to Mary's story but others who came in and out of her life and many more besides. Lots of factual history about life at that time.

Precocious and indulged, Mary Eleanor Bowes (a distant 3xgreat grandmother of our own late Elizabeth Bowes Lyon - HRH The Queen Mother) fell under the spell of a handsome Irish soldier, Andrew Robinson Stoney. When Mary heard her gallant hero was mortally wounded in a duel fought to defend her honour, she felt she could hardly refuse his dying wish to marry her. Yet within hours of the ceremony, Stoney seemed to be in the grip of a miraculous recovery....and Mary found herself trapped in an appallingly brutal marriage - a remarkable tale of triumph in the face of overwhelming betrayal. More about this when I have finished the book - otherwise I'll spoil it for myself.

Another book that I've begun on my Kindle is The Virgin Widow by Anne O'Brien

(I know - I'm meant to be weaning myself off of historical novels - but this is part of the weaning off process !!)

Anne Neville is the heiress and daughter of the greatest powerbroker in the land, Warwick the Kingmaker. Trapped in a deadly tangle of political intrigue, she is a pawn in an uncertain game, used by the houses of Neville, York and Lancaster alike. Again, I need to read the book through before I review it. More about this next month.

February's book East of the Sun which you can find here ticked all the boxes for me. As I mentioned before I chose it because of its setting in India. Well, I definitely recalled all the wonderful smells, sounds, sights and culture of that memorable holiday. This was an utterly engaging novel and one that I couldn't put down.

Happy reading

Back soon x

The Year in Books

I am a book lover, always have been. My shelves are full of them - fiction, non fiction, reference books, guide books, history books. If I see a book I like the look of, then I buy it and put it on the bookshelf ready to read when the mood takes me. Like many things in life you have to be in the right frame of mind.  Sometimes I'll start a book or two (that's my trouble I'm impatient) only to find that other things get in the way and so I'll put it in my bedside drawer with the idea that I'll pick it up again soon. But do I? There are times when I simply can't get into a book. I'll read a couple of chapters and realise that this isn't the book for me. Other times I only have to read the first line and I know I'm going to love it. But, books can be expensive especially if you aren't actually reading them, plus there are only so many you can store.

So I've decided to make more use of my local library. There are three within a two mile radius of where I live, two of which are walkable (good for the exercise I keep telling myself I'm going to do more of). So today I'm going to take a look at what books take my fancy and I figure that if I bring several books home, there's got to be one that will have staying power!

With this in mind I'm excited to be joining in The Year in Books challenge which is organised by Laura at Circle of Pine Trees which you can find here. The idea is to choose a book at the beginning of the month and post about your choice and then maybe write a little about the last month's book. A great idea that will ensure that we make a space for reading in our busy lives and hopefully discovering more lovely books - either novels, poetry, non fiction, biography - whatever takes your fancy.

I read a lot of historical novels, I mean lots and I'm trying to wean myself of them gradually - not forever but want to read more of a variety.  Everyone has their own particular favourites. I recently joined a crime fiction book club which I'm afraid is just not for me. I don't mind a good old 'whodunnit' kind of novel but am not into serial killers with lots of blood and gore. Needless to say I won't be going back.

So - I'm a little late joining the group but this a book I've read during January - historical I know, but things are a changing!

Dissolution by C.J.Sansom is set in 1537, a time of revolution that sees the greatest changes in England since 1066. Henry Vlll has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church. The country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers it has ever seen. Under the orders of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent throughout the country to investigate the monasteries. There can only be one outcome: Dissolution.

Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell into this atmosphere of treachery and death. Shardlake's investigation soon forces him to question everything he hears, and everything that he intrinsically believes.......

A good 'whodunnit' novel where the sights, voices and the very smell of this turbulent age seem to rise from the page.

I've yet to choose my book for February but will be back - with what, I'm not sure?

See you soon

x