chesilbeach Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 I really enjoyed our group reading of A Tale of Two Cities, Janet. It was a great book, and probably one I wouldn't have tackled without the encouragement on here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 I really enjoyed our group reading of A Tale of Two Cities, Janet. It was a great book, and probably one I wouldn't have tackled without the encouragement on here. I really enjoyed it too. I'm aiming to read another Dickens this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Requiem for a Wren by Nevil Shute The ‘blurb’ Some years after the war has ended Alan Duncan decides to return to the family farm in Australia. But his homecoming is upset by the shocking suicide of his parents’ much-loved maid. Disturbed and puzzled, Alan finds that a long night’s vigil at the fireside unleashes his memories of wartime Britain – the breathless weeks before D-Day, the tragic death of his brother Bill, and above all, the unknown fate of Janet Prentice, the brave but sensitive Wren who had been Bill’s fiancé. This tells the story of a young man who returns to Australia after serving in the Air Force in England during World War Two. His parents are ageing and his older brother Bill, who would have taken over the running of the family farm, was killed in action, so Alan goes back to Australia in order to take up the task of managing the estate. This is a challenge he is definitely up to despite losing both feet during the war. Alan is picked up from the airport by the farm foreman who informs Alan that his parents’ maid has killed herself. What’s more, she arrived at the estate with just a couple of suitcases which have gone missing and there is nothing to identify the young woman to enable the family to contact any next of kin. Alan eventually discovers the woman’s secret and then by flashback the events leading up to the woman’s tragic suicide unfold... Shute surely drew on his own military background when he wrote this fascinating story. Although it is largely set during the Second World War, it is not a war story but more a tale of relationships, of love and of loss. Although I guessed a fairly pivotal part of the story long before the protagonist did, it did not spoil my enjoyment of this book – and in fact I think it was necessary for the reader to have such knowledge. There is such a feeling of melancholy throughout the book and yet there is also positivity and hope. I knew that the Women's Royal Naval Service (known as Wrens) carried out important roles in the armed forces but I didn’t realise just how important some of those jobs were, so this aspect of the story was very interesting to me. This is the third book of Shute’s that I’ve read. Whilst it wasn’t quite up there with the other two (I think I scored both of those as a 5/5) it was still a very enjoyable read. I love his writing style and will definitely read more of his books. The paperback edition is 286 pages long and is published by Vintage. It was first published in 1955. The ISBN is 9780099530237. 3½/5 (I enjoyed it) (Finished 25 November 2015) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 The Humans by Matt Haig The ‘blurb’ THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME. OR IS THERE? After an 'incident' one wet Friday night where Professor Andrew Martin is found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, he is not feeling quite himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confound him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst a crazy alien species and hates everyone on the planet. Everyone, that is, except Newton, and he's a dog. What could possibly make someone change their mind about the human race. . . ? Professor Andrew Martin is a very intelligent man and he’s on the brink of a discovery that will change humankind for ever. But not everyone is happy about this discovery and it is decided that Andrew must be prevented from ever revealing what he has found out. He wakes one day in Cambridge with no clothes on. This causes something of a stir – shock to his wife (and why is she so distant when she’s meant to be his loving partner, Andrew wonders?) and utter and mortifying embarrassment to his teenage son. Neither of them likes him much. Andrew doesn’t really care – he has a job to do and nothing and nobody is going to stop him. But slowly Andrew changes, and as he does so, his relationship with his family changes too. Suddenly things aren’t so black and white, and the actions that Andrew has been instructed to take to save the humans from themselves no longer feel right… I loved The Radleys by the same author, which I picked up in ‘error’ (that is, I picked it up on a whim in the library and if I’d known what the subject matter was I wouldn’t’ have – and what a mistake that would have been!) – it was such a great story! Despite that, I still had reservations about this book. From the ‘blurb’ it didn’t sound my sort of thing at all! However, I thoroughly enjoyed it - what a quirky tale! I loved the characters and the way they evolved – and although I’m not really a dog person, (Don’t hate me! I don’t mean I don’t like dogs – I love them, but our one experience of owning a dog didn’t work out and has left me scared of ever trying again), if I could have a dog like Newton then that would be just perfect! He was probably my favourite character in the book! I listened to an Audio Book of this, narrated by a man called Mark Meadows (he also narrated The Radleys) and he had the perfect voice for this book. What fun this was! The paperback edition is 304 pages long and is published by Cannongate. It was first published in 2014. The ISBN is 9780857868787. 4/5 (I enjoyed it) (Finished 28 November 2015) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Yay, another glowing review for The Humans, I'm glad you liked it . Two months ago I picked up The Radleys but then the Dutch translation called Een Ongewone Familie, since it has got good reviews on this forum. I look forward to reading it some time. Great review of The Humans ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Glad you enjoyed The Humans! Your review has left me "Curious About The Incident of the Dog in Janet's House" though! (I'm so sorry. You probably won't even get that awful pun. ) If you don't feel comfortable talking about it that's totally fine, but as a tremendous dog lover myself, I'm curious what was bad about your experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Yay, another glowing review for The Humans, I'm glad you liked it . Two months ago I picked up The Radleys but then the Dutch translation called Een Ongewone Familie, since it has got good reviews on this forum. I look forward to reading it some time. Great review of The Humans ! Thanks, Gaia. I hope you enjoy The Radleys when you get round to it. Glad you enjoyed The Humans! Your review has left me "Curious About The Incident of the Dog in Janet's House" though! (I'm so sorry. You probably won't even get that awful pun. ) If you don't feel comfortable talking about it that's totally fine, but as a tremendous dog lover myself, I'm curious what was bad about your experience. I do get the pun! Okay, but it's a fairly long story - and I hope nobody hates me after posting this. We did try! Please do read the whole story. I'm sure there would be no reason to, but please don't mention this on Facebook. I didn't grow up around animals (apart from a budgie and various goldfish) as neither of my parents did so it just wasn't something that figured big in my life. Peter's family always had dogs (they had a beagle called Anna (known as Fang!) and it used to chase me and scare the living daylights out of me when I was a child! Anyway, roll forward to 2007 and our children are now 10 and 13 and have always wanted a dog - as has Peter. I had resisted for a long time - because Peter used to work away from M-F an awful lot, and I know what a commitment a dog is and it would have fallen to me to walk the dog and look after one the majority of the time. Having never had a dog I was worried about letting one off a lead - would it come back? Would it run off? But then Peter got made redundant and so started his own business working from home (in 2006) and they started talking again about having a dog now Dad was around more and could walk it etc. Anyway, I still resisted. In autumn 2006 the father of a friend of ours had a cocker spaniel called Rosie who was his baby! Sadly Rosie died, so this friend, after an absence of a couple of months, got a new one as a surprise for her Dad. He was a working cocker spaniel called Charlie who was estimated to be about 2 years old. At the time we believed he'd come from a dogs' home but he actually came from the Trade-It paper. But the friend's father a] didn't bond with Charlie because he wasn't Rosie, and b] he couldn't cope with Charlie because he was rather boisterous. The dog went back to my friend... and she put him in the Trade-it for £50 (which is what she had paid for him). We had met Charlie by then and Peter and the kids had fallen in love with him and I really liked him, so we said we'd have him. I know at this point all you seasoned dog-owners are tutting... And maybe alarm bells should have rung at this point. We were told that his previous owner had been forced to give him up and that she hadn't wanted to, but her personal circumstances had changed and she'd had to move into a flat where dogs weren't allowed. We didn't want him to be sold on again - we wanted to give him a forever home. Anyway, he came to us in February 2007. That first day when he arrived I was the only one here and I was pretty terrified at the responsibility of having a dog! I was scared - not of him, but of being an owner. To my surprise, within a few days I'd fallen head-over-heels in love with him. We all had - and the feeling was mutual. He was lovely. He'd been used be being allowed up on the furniture and he'd obviously had free-range of his former home. We had made the decision not to let him up on the furniture or upstairs (again, some of you are probably shaking your heads at this, but there you go) so we put a stairgate at the bottom of the stairs and Charlie slept in the kitchen. We took the stairgate away after a few weeks and by that time he'd learned to stay downstairs. He used to sit at the bottom with his head on the first stair and wait for us. I don't believe this is cruel - some people like their dogs to share their beds - we don't. About two months after we'd got him the children were in the garden with Peter and Abi dropped a chocolate bar. Charlie quickly picked it up, and knowing that chocolate is poisonous to dogs, Peter took it from him... and Charlie bit him. It was a bad bite - not bad enough for stitches, but it has left a large scar on Peter's wrist. We were rather shocked to say the least. Peter rang the dogs' home in Bath and they recommended a dog behaviourist. Peter took him and the man assessed him and said that in his opinion Charlie was okay and that it was a one-off. About three months after that even he snapped at Abi. He didn't bite her, but he growled at her and snapped his teeth. She hadn't touched him but had bent down to do her shoes up so we told her and Luke to just be careful in future and maybe not bend over near him in case he felt threatened. From that point onwards he started growling at Abi and we started keeping a closer eye on him. He didn't growl at Luke or at us - just her. There were a few other minor similar incidents but Peter and Abi were taking him to weekly dog training lessons and all seemed okay. He wasn't good with other dogs if they ran up to him (he would hide behind us rather than go for them) and I never let him off his lead when I walked him, but Peter did - off lead he was fine with other dogs. It all came to a head in the November though. I was in the kitchen washing up and the children were with me. Abi was standing beside me at the sink leaning against the worktop and looking out into the kitchen when Charlie, who had been in his bed, suddenly jumped up at her and bit her. I was there and I saw it happen (in slow-motion - it was horrible) she did nothing to provoke him. She didn't move, shout, bend down - or even look at him. She screamed. There was blood everywhere. I shut him in the garden and took her straight to hospital. The cut was just above her eye and the doctor said that if it was just a few millimetres lower she might have lost the sight in her eye. Because of the other incidents and after this we decided we couldn't keep him. We felt awful because we all loved him so much, and most of the time he was okay, but we had lots of children (my kids' friends) coming in and out of the garden and how terrible it would have been if he'd bitten one of them. We rang the dogs' home the next day but they refused to take him. They said there was a waiting list and that we'd have to get the vet to destroy him. In desperation we rang Nick (the dog-trainer) and he took Charlie for us. He rehomed him with a man in his early 20s with no children. it was horrible. We did it the next day whilst the children weren't at home. Luke, although upset, understood, but Abi blamed herself and was distraught. It was an awful situation. We have since discovered that whilst he was at the friend's house after he came back from her dad he bit one of her children. She didn't tell us of this before we took him on - I found out from a mutual friend. I think that's pretty shocking of her not to tell us that. There is a happy ending for Charlie. About two years ago (so Charlie would have been about nine - this was seven years after he was rehomed - I was at home when the telephone rang and it was the dog warden who rang to say she'd "found our dog and taken him to a local boarding kennel". I rang them to explain that he'd been rehomed years before and they said that he'd just been collected. He was still living with the same person who had rehomed him but had never changed the microchip details into his own name, and the new owner was on holiday. Some friends were walking Charlie when they dropped his lead and Charlie had run off! So he'd been with the same owner for the last seven years. The people at the kennel said that he was well looked after. It was nice to know. So there it is. I hope you don't judge us too harshly - we did try - and we did love him lots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Wow, that's a long story. Beautiful photo too, what a gorgeous dog That's completely understandable Janet, your kids have to come first. It's unfortunate that Charlie had that disposition - likely a result of care in his earliest days, they're absolutely crucial in getting any nippiness out of a dog - but at least he wound up in a good situation rather than being put down. As regards not letting him on furniture or upstairs, entirely your choice. Dogs don't know the difference - all they know is where they are taught by their pack leader that their boundaries are, and to obey them. I'm honestly very sorry to hear you had such a poor experience with a dog, because there really is nothing like raising a puppy yourself. Our Roxi (the only one left after the other two were put down this year) was a nippy puppy, she'd chew and snap (playfully) at anything that moved. Took a lot of work but we got it out of her. She'll do it the odd time now if hands are flying around her mouth but she immediately catches herself, head down, tail between the legs. She also hates being stood over, like Charlie - she will growl (even now) if you bend over her or envelop her (so cuddling her is a massive no-no). You would need a behaviourist to get that kind of behaviour out of a dog - it's usually learned from abuse or if its a small dog perhaps natural nervousness. In Roxi's case (a sheltie collie cross) she's a medium size dog and we suspect she was probably picked up/thrown around/kicked as a pup, so we haven't tried to remove the behaviour - we give her her space and she understands that, I think. If we ever do need to lean over, she gives us the benefit of the doubt and growls, but that's all. She'll actually throw herself on her back to be stroked and growl at the same time - I reckon it's a combo of wanting to be stroked and fear of being hurt that causes it. She's good natured and everyone in the 'pack' knows their place and boundaries, that's all you need. ETA: And of course I won't mention it on Facebook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Thanks, Noll. I wish, with hindsight, that we'd got a puppy - but then that probably wouldn't have happened because we would have tried to rehome a dog from the dogs' home - Peter's family always had rescue dogs. I suppose they do get puppies from time to time. I do wonder whether Peter might want to try again when we retire. We're out of the house too much these days to have a dog - it wouldn't be fair on it. But maybe when we retire. I guess never say never. I still don't consider myself a dog person in that I don't feel the urge to have a dog like Peter does. I love other people's dogs - it's really not that I don't like them. Thanks for being understanding. As I said, we did all love him tremendously and missed him so much at first that it physically hurt. He used to sit on my feet - although Peter was the one who walked him and took him to training classes and Charlie obviously loved him, he really was a bit of a mummy's boy in the evenings. I'm just so pleased he found his forever home - it's just a shame it couldn't be with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Wow Janet, that must have been so hard! I understand you had to give him up, you didn't want to endanger any children. It's a sad story, and he does look gorgeous! I'm glad he got to a good home. It's the easiest when you have the dog as a puppy already. We had two dogs since they were puppies, and the other two we didn't get until they were older. It's much harder to learn the older ones their boundaries. I'm so sorry things had to end this way. I'm glad Abi didn't lose her eye. Thanks for sharing this story. I won't tell anyone on Facebook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Thanks, Gaia. Thanks for being understanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 I feel more of an urge to have puppies than babies! I can't commit to a dog either, not least because I live in rented accommodation, but in the longer run I would absolutely love to live somewhere that I could foster dogs. Probably not realistically doable when I work full time, but it would be an absolute dream to do. Short term commitments to dogs who really need it. Honestly Janet, you did nothing wrong at all, nobody (no matter how much they love dogs) would think badly of how you handled the situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Great review of The Humans Janet, glad you enjoyed it so much, No-one who's read the story of your dog ownership could blame you or think you'd done anything wrong. It was a difficult situation and you handled it incredibly well. You did everything you could, but in the end it was the wrong home for that particular dog, and at least you know now that it's found the right home too. I'd love to have a dog, but like you, I work full time and it just wouldn't be fair to leave a dog on its own for such long periods of time, as I can't even get home at lunchtime. But if I ever win the lottery, or when I retire, it's definitely high on the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Thanks both of you. I was worried about posting our story but I'm very reassured by the responses. If it was just Peter and I then we wouldn't have parted from him. Apart from the initial business with Peter he was never growly with us, just Abi. It was a steep learning curve at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 Review 61 of 2015 was for Essex in the English Counties Challenge - Flambards by K M Peyton. Review here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 14, 2016 Author Share Posted January 14, 2016 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens The ‘blurb’ Since it was first published in 1843 A Christmas Carol has had an enduring influence on the way we think about the traditions of Christmas. Dickens's story of solitary miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who is taught the true meaning of Christmas by the three ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, has been adapted into countless film and stage versions since it was first published. For the sake of continuity I am putting this in my blog, but as I read it every December and it’s possibly my favourite book ever there isn’t anything new I can add! I love it – I love everything about it. I love Scrooge’s redemption which shows that no matter how grumpy, miserly, disillusioned with life you are, change is possible if you really want to change. If you haven’t read it then I urge you to do so – seriously – it rocks! The paperback edition is 160 pages long and is published by Puffin. It was first published in 1843. The ISBN is 9780141324524. 5/5 (I LOVE it!) (Finished 6 December 2015) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Such a great book ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Requiem for a Wren sounds interesting. I've only read On The Beach by Nevil Shute (is that one of his others that you have read?), and liked it a lot. Glad you enjoyed The Humans. I loved it...thought it was very funny and original. Regarding your dog experiences with Charlie, I don't think anyone could blame you for giving him up. You need to be able to trust a dog pretty much 100%, and as much as I love dogs, I wouldn't keep one that bit me (or that I knew bit another person - especially a child). I've only ever had dogs from when they were puppies, and as much as I'd like to take a rescue on, I would be worried about what behavioral issues they may have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 17, 2016 Author Share Posted January 17, 2016 Such a great book ! It is! Requiem for a Wren sounds interesting. I've only read On The Beach by Nevil Shute (is that one of his others that you have read?), and liked it a lot. Glad you enjoyed The Humans. I loved it...thought it was very funny and original. Regarding your dog experiences with Charlie, I don't think anyone could blame you for giving him up. You need to be able to trust a dog pretty much 100%, and as much as I love dogs, I wouldn't keep one that bit me (or that I knew bit another person - especially a child). I've only ever had dogs from when they were puppies, and as much as I'd like to take a rescue on, I would be worried about what behavioral issues they may have. Yes, On the Beach was one of them - Pied Piper was the other. Have you read The Radleys? Thanks for your comments regarding Charlie too. Coming from you that means a lot because I know just how much you love doggies. If (and it's a big if) we were to have a dog in future I'd definitely want a puppy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 17, 2016 Author Share Posted January 17, 2016 Mystery in White by J Jefferson Farjeon The ‘blurb’ 'The horror on the train, great though it may turn out to be, will not compare with the horror that exists here, in this house.' On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt near the village of Hemmersby. Several passengers take shelter in a deserted country house, where the fire has been lit and the table laid for tea - but no one is at home. Trapped together for Christmas, the passengers are seeking to unravel the secrets of the empty house when a murderer strikes in their midst. When I was a child we had proper winters. None of this 1.5cms-of-snow-and-everything-grinds-to-a-halt type of snow, but snow 8” deep! What has that to do with this book you might ask? Well, recently I reviewed Crime at Christmas by C H B Kitchin and one thing I mentioned was that the weather was so unseasonably mild in the book that it could have been set any time of year. This book, however, absolutely captures the essence of Christmas and winter! Six passengers, an ‘elderly bore’, a chorus girl on her way to Manchester for a new job, a tall pale youth who works as a clerk, a brother and sister and an old man are travelling to their various destinations on Christmas Eve when their train grinds to a halt in the middle of nowhere. Enquiries reveal that the train is stuck in snow and is unlikely to move for several hours. The old man stares out into the snow as the other five discuss their options – suddenly he jumps from the train and eventually the rest follow suit, deciding to walk to the next small town of Hemmersley to see if there are any trains on the branch line. They quickly become disorientated and, having lost the old man’s footprints in the snow, are relieved when they come across a house. The front door stands open and upon entering they discover a lovely welcoming fire and a table set for tea – but the house is empty… or is it? I loved the setting of this book. The thick snow helped add to the atmosphere as Snow has that certain quality that makes the world seems utterly silent and this gives the house a sinister feeling of being blanketed and cut off from the rest of the world, which of course it is. The old man is Edward Maltby who is a member of the Royal Psychical Society and he detects a… presence in the house, which also adds to the creepiness. (As an aside, the ‘old man’ (Farjeon’s words, not mine) is 60 years old – a sign of the time the book was written, since I don’t think many people would consider 60 old these days!). The funny thing is that whilst I enjoyed this book, I am behind with my reviews and find that I can’t recall all the details to give it an accurate review – I will have to read it again next December and enjoy it all over again! The paperback edition is 256 pages long and is published by British Library. It was first published in 1937. The ISBN is 9780712357708. 3½/5 (I enjoyed it) (Finished 7 December 2015) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 17, 2016 Author Share Posted January 17, 2016 Lucky by Professor Green The ‘blurb’ It was never easy for Professor Green. Born into a tough Hackney estate and raised by his grandmother, the rapper was always learning the hard way - whether at school, on the streets of east London or on stage during impromptu freestyle battles. Indeed life and music have always been intertwined for the young rapper, but it wasn't until he was 24 that the two were brought into focus by the suicide of his father -and his emotions, ever since, have been reflected in the raw and often passionate lines of his lyrics. In this wonderful autobiography, Professor Green - a.k.a. Stephen Manderson - reflects on his life so far and how his upbringing and encounters - both good and bad - shaped the person and musician he is today. Passionate, raw and totally open, Lucky is the story of a boy's journey, from life close to the streets, all the while working towards becoming a successful musician, achieving that dream and eventually gaining that success, only to realise it wouldn't quite solve all of his problems... Having seen a trailer, I wanted to watch the documentary Suicide and Me that was shown on the BBC in October - but for some reason I didn’t manage to catch it. It featured Stephen Manderson, best known as the UK rap artist Professor Green, talking about the suicide of his father when Prof Green was just 25 years old and about the wider issue of male suicide and mental health. Instead I read the first few pages of his autobiography, Lucky on a Kindle sample and then it came up on offer so I decided to download it. I would like to say it’s a tale of ‘rags to riches’, but whilst it’s true that Green and his family didn’t have much money the lack of material things was more than made for up by the love shown to him by his beloved Grandmother, Nanny Pat, who bought Stephen up and who worked several jobs to give him what she could. I enjoyed this book far more than I expected to. I’m familiar with a lot of Prof. Green’s music (for a start, he is responsible for the huge hit song Read All About It featuring Emeli Sande and for another thing, I have a teenager and a young adult in the house… ) but id didn’t know anything about him or his personal life. There is, of course, a lot of name-dropping in it – and a lot of the rap artists/bands he mentions I haven’t even heard of – I guess I’m not really his target audience – but it was a good read. It’s clearly written by him (no ghost-writing here – there is definitely a naivety in the writing quality). He comes across as a really nice guy with just a tiny bit of arrogance mixed in. This book was an unexpected pleasure. The hardback edition is 256 pages long and is published by Blink Publishing. It was first published in 2015. The ISBN is 9781910536322. 3½/5 (I enjoyed it) (Finished 8 December 2015) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it Janet, especially after I encouraged you to buy it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 18, 2016 Author Share Posted January 18, 2016 Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it Janet, especially after I encouraged you to buy it! Someone voted no in my poll! I was quite shocked. They can't have been a book lover! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share Posted January 19, 2016 Five Little Pigs by Agatha ChristieThe ‘blurb’Beautiful Caroline Crale was convicted of poisoning her husband, yet there were five other suspects: Philip Blake (the stockbroker) who went to market; Meredith Blake (the amateur herbalist) who stayed at home; Elsa Greer (the three-time divorcee) who had roast beef; Cecilia Williams (the devoted governess) who had none; and Angela Warren (the disfigured sister) who cried ‘wee wee wee’ all the way home.It is sixteen years later, but Hercule Poirot just can’t get that nursery rhyme out of his mind… In this Poirot, the man himself is visited by Carla Lamarchant who asks him to solve a murder, sixteen years after the death of the perpetrator - the woman’s mother. Now grown up, Carla, is convinced her mother can’t have committed the crime – her mother’s wrote a letter just before her death proclaiming her innocence – and Carla swears that her mother always told the truth.Intrigued, and wanting to prove that solving a crime needs only the use of the “little grey cells”, he sets about interviewing those originally involved with the crime – the Five Little Pigs. As he questions each of them the same story is told, but with minor differences each person’s narrative. Initially the case seems clean-cut, but the more Poirot talks to the five people the more it appears that things are not necessarily as they first appeared...We listened to the audio book of this as we drove up to Yorkshire and back. This is the third or fourth Poirot narrated by Hugh Fraser that we’ve listened to in the car, and each has been very enjoyable. As with the others, our thoughts as to who carried out the crime changed and changed again as clues were revealed - Christie has yet to disappoint and I’m looking forward the next one! The paperback edition is 288 pages long and is published by Harper. It was first published in 1942. The ISBN is 9780007527519.3½/5 (I enjoyed it)(Finished 11 December 2015) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro The ‘blurb’ 'After all what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished?' In the summer of 1956, Stevens, the ageing butler of Darlington Hall, embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the English countryside and into his past... A contemporary classic, The Remains of the Day is Kazuo Ishiguro's beautiful and haunting evocation of life between the wars in a Great English House, of lost causes and lost love. Stevens, long-time butler at Darlington Hall, is now employed by the new owner, wealthy American Mr Farraday. When Miss Kenton, an old member of staff with whom Stevens used to be close, gets in touch and seems to hint at being unhappy with her lot, Stevens, who has planned some time off work, thinks he might be able to use his trip to help solve a slight employment problem at the hall. Farraday, who is much more relaxed than Stevens’ previous employer, Lord Darlington, insists that the butler borrows his car to go on a motoring holiday, and so Stevens sets off for the West Country. On the way he reflects on his time working at the Hall including his relationships with Miss Kenton and his father and even Lord Darlington’s brush with Oswald Mosley… This was my first experience of Ishiguro as a writer and although it didn’t set me on fire I did enjoy it and I loved the writing – there is a real feeling of melancholy throughout the book which echoes Stevens’ personality and contrasts with that of Farraday. Stevens at first seems quite content with his life, but as his journey unfolds the reader sees that this hasn’t always been the case. The Remains of the Day is a book full of themes – dignity, regret and loyalty, to name but three - and if it isn’t still then I’m sure it must have been on the English GCSE or A Level English curriculum at some stage. The paperback edition is 272 pages long and is published by Faber & Faber. It was first published in 1989. The ISBN is 9780571258246. 3/5 (I enjoyed it) (Finished 15 December 2015) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.