Janet's Log - Stardate 2016

[Janet]

I'm glad you enjoyed reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Reviews are pretty mixed I think (in general I mean, not on BCF). I'm glad you enjoyed it . I plan to read it eventually when there is a medium or small sized paperback edition.

It's definitely worth reading, I think. 

 

Yes I might get the pb too, although I still haven't read book 7!

Well far be it for me to tell you what to do, but I think you should read it to find out how it all ends! 

[Janet]

 

Lois the Witch by Elizabeth Gaskell

 

The ‘blurb’

Recently orphaned, Lois is forced to leave the English parsonage that had been her home, and sail to America. A Godfearing and honest girl, she has little to fear in this new life. Yet as she joins her distant family, she finds jealousy and dissention are rife, and her cousins quick to point the finger at the 'impostor'. With the whole of Salem gripped by a fear of the supernatural, it seems her home is where she is in most danger. Lonely and afraid, the words of an old curse return to haunt her.

 

When Lois Barclay is 18 her parents die of a fever and leave her alone in the world with no means of support. On her deathbed, Lois’s mother writes a letter to her estranged brother and asks him to take Lois in and take care of her, so Lois must leave all she knows behind in Warwickshire, including her young suitor, and make the long journey to Boston in America. There she is received by her mother’s Puritan brother and his family – her pious and cold Aunt, her unfriendly female cousins and their brother, Manassheh, who takes an immediate interest in Lois.

 

Lois is a Godly girl, but even though she does her best to fit in and to make herself useful, she is merely tolerated by most of the family, although her uncle is at least kind to her. However, this is the 17th century when there is mass hysteria surrounding witches and accusations are made against Lois. It seems that Lois’s worst fears are about to be realised…

 

I downloaded this quite a long time ago and since have read North and South and Cranford, both of which I loved. This book is very different to those – not quite as satisfying, but nevertheless enjoyable. Gaskell knows how to write a good story and she writes characters very well - it almost has feel of ‘young adult’ about it – but don’t let that put you off.

 

I have seen The Crucible by Arthur Miller a couple of times and also read a couple of fiction books on the subject of Salem. It’s a fascinating period of history about a chilling subject. If we were ever to travel to the US for a holiday I’d definitely love to visit Salem.

 

So does Lois escape her fate? Well, that would be telling…!

 

The paperback edition is 112 pages long and is published by Hesperus Press. It was first published in 1861. The ISBN is 9781843910497.

 

3/5 (I enjoyed it)

 

(Finished 4 August 2016)

[Madeleine]

I have seen the last two Potter films ie parts 1 and 2 of DH, and was bored to tears, hope the book's better!

[Janet]

 

The Finding of Martha Lost by Caroline Wallace

 

The ‘blurb’

She’s been lost since she was a baby, abandoned in a suitcase on the train from Paris. Ever since, she’s waited in station lost property for someone to claim her. It’s been sixteen years, but she’s still hopeful.

 

In the meantime, there are mysteries to solve: secret tunnels under the station, a suitcase that may have belonged to the Beatles, the roman soldier who appears at the same time every day with his packed lunch. Not to mention the stuffed monkey that someone keeps misplacing.

 

But there is one mystery Martha cannot solve. And now the authorities have found out about the girl in lost property. Time is running out - if Martha can’t discover who she really is, she will lose everything…

 

Sixteen-year-old Martha was found by Mother when she was a baby. Someone left her at the Lost Property Office at Liverpool’s Lime Street station and so Mother took her in, and when nobody claimed her, Mother kept her.  Martha has never set foot outside of the train station.  But Mother is not a very nice person and Martha has few friends.  There’s the woman who runs the coffee shop next door to the Lost Property Office, but mother doesn’t approve of her.  There’s also a Roman Soldier and a man in search of a suitcase and a strange man called William.  When something happens to Mother, Martha’s life is turned upside down and she must find out who she really is if she is not to lose everything she’s ever known…

 

I hadn’t heard of this book before but spotted it on Audible and thought it sounded like a quirky book.  It is!  Martha is an endearing character.  She doesn’t walk, she spins.  She’s kind and she’s trusting.  Too trusting really.  This book is set in the long hot summer of 1976 and Martha’s story is an intriguing one.  This is the first book the author has published under this name but I’ve just read that she has published others under the name of Caroline Smailes (I hadn’t heard of either) so I shall have to Google those. I really enjoyed listening to this - the narrator, Katy Sobey does a great job with it.  

 

The hardback edition is 320 pages long and is published by Doubleday. It was first published in 2016. The ISBN is 9780857523341.   I listened to the audio book version.

 

4½/5 (Loved it!)

 

(Finished 5 August 2016)

[Janet]

 

The Well-Beloved by Thomas Hardy

The ‘blurb’
The Well-Beloved is a story of one man's obsessive search for the perfect woman. Jocelyn Pierston is a sculptor. All his life he has been haunted by an image of beauty - the 'well-beloved' - which he yearns for both as an artist and as a lover. Glimpses of her are fleeting, as different women seem to embody this ideal for a time; Pierston grasps but cannot hold his well-beloved. His lifelong search leads to his courtship of three generations of women on the Isle of Slingers (an evocative rendering of the real-life English island of Portland). The last of Thomas Hardy's novels to be published, The Well-Beloved is a haunting meditation on art and life.

This isn’t one of Hardy’s best-known novels (I hadn’t heard of it before I started reading Hardy’s works) – according to Wikipedia it’s one of his ‘Romances and fantasies’ books – one of three types of novel categories given by Hardy himself. It is the last novel Hardy wrote.

Artist and sculptor Jocelyn Pierston returns to his home village on the Isle of Slingers (based on the Isle of Portland) to visit his father after an absence of a few years. There he encounters a childhood friend, Avice Caro. Avice kisses him and is later embarrassed by her action, but Jocelyn assures her she has no reason to be ashamed. The two start spending time together and Jocelyn is convinced that she is his Well-Beloved. The pair plan to marry, but then he encounters another woman and Jocelyn feels that the Well-Beloved has transfered to her. He leaves Avice behind and she later marries someone else. However, the Well-Beloved jumps from woman to woman, and whilst Avice settles down and has a daughter, Jocelyn seems destined never to settle. Some twenty years later he decides to return to the Island to visit Avice but instead encounters her daughter who reminds him ever so much of her mother…

Ultimately not as satisfying as The Mayor of Casterbridge, Far from the Madding Crowd and (my favourite so far), Tess of the D’Urbervilles this is still, as one would expect, beautifully written and I enjoyed it. The character of Jocelyn isn’t particularly likeable, but I don’t think he’s meant to be. It’s an interesting story on the theme of the search for perfect love and just reaffirms what a brilliant author Hardy was. It was narrated by Robert Powell who did a good job of it. I’m looking forward to reading or listening to more.

The paperback edition is 416 pages long and is published by Penguin. It was first published in 1892. The ISBN is 9780140435191. I listened to the audio book version. The Penguin edition includes a second version of the story.

3/5 (I enjoyed it!)

(Finished 10 August 2016)

 

[Athena]

The cover of The Finding of Martha Lost is quite pretty (what can I say, my favourite colour is blue). I'm glad you enjoyed these two reads .

[Madeleine]

I would imagine Robert Powell would be a good narrator, he has a lovely voice.

[chesilbeach]

The Finding of Martha Lost by Caroline Wallace sounds very familiar - I think I've either read the blurb on it myself or I heard an interview with the author somewhere.  I've added it to my wishlist now, but I think it's one I'd rather read than listen to, so I'll probably get it for my Kindle.

 

I'm definitely going to read my Hardy, but I want to get the English Counties finished before I read any other classics, so it'll have to wait until next year!  There will be some I'll be steering clear of though - definitely not going to read Jude The Obscure!

[Madeleine]

Oh yes that one's a bit depressing to say the least....

[Nollaig]

There's a book I'm sure you've read recently and I think I saw it mentioned in the Book Activity thread but I thought 'I'll wait til she posts about it in her thread before chatting about it' and now I have no idea what the book was, but it wasn't any of the ones you've recently posted about. Hm.

[Janet]

The cover of The Finding of Martha Lost is quite pretty (what can I say, my favourite colour is blue). I'm glad you enjoyed these two reads .

It's gorgeous, isn't it - it's almost tempting to buy a paper copy!.  The paperback is not the same (it's not out until 2017, I don't think).

 

I would imagine Robert Powell would be a good narrator, he has a lovely voice.

He was very good - a nice easy listen. 

 

The Finding of Martha Lost by Caroline Wallace sounds very familiar - I think I've either read the blurb on it myself or I heard an interview with the author somewhere.  I've added it to my wishlist now, but I think it's one I'd rather read than listen to, so I'll probably get it for my Kindle.

I hope you enjoy it if you do read it, Claire. 

 

I'm definitely going to read my Hardy, but I want to get the English Counties finished before I read any other classics, so it'll have to wait until next year! There will be some I'll be steering clear of though - definitely not going to read Jude The Obscure!

Oh yes that one's a bit depressing to say the least....

 Oh dear!    I was planning to read more Hardy - maybe I'd better try it next...? 

 

There's a book I'm sure you've read recently and I think I saw it mentioned in the Book Activity thread but I thought 'I'll wait til she posts about it in her thread before chatting about it' and now I have no idea what the book was, but it wasn't any of the ones you've recently posted about. Hm.

I'm behind (as ever!) on my reviews!  I'm currently reading The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall and Meadowland by John Lewis-Stempel (I'm reading it in monthly installments!) and listening to The Warden by Anthony Trollope.

 

I've still to review:

 

Pies and Prejudice by Stuart Maconie

The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin

Another World by Pat Barker

A Mind to Murder by P D James

The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal

 

Maybe it was something to do with one of those? 

[Nollaig]

Ooh Ooh it was My Name Is Leon, I just wanted to find out what you thought of it coz it keeps appearing on Goodreads. There's a few other titles jumping out at me though so I'm looking forward to all of them really

[Janet]

I really enjoyed it, Noll! 

 

It's another that I listened to on audio book - narrated by Lenny Henry.  I wasn't sure what he'd be like, but he was great.   The little boy has a black father and a white mother, so he did a West Indian accent for the boy's father and his side of the family (but not an OTT one) - I think it added to the flavour, although I'm sure I'd have enjoyed it equally if I'd read it.  

[Janet]

Pies and Prejudice by Stuart Maconie

The ‘blurb’
A Northerner in exile, Stuart Maconie goes on a journey in search of the North, attempting to discover where the clichés end and the truth begins. He travels from Wigan Pier to Blackpool Tower and Newcastle's Bigg Market to the Lake District to find his own Northern Soul, encountering along the way an exotic cast of chippy Scousers, pie-eating woollybacks, topless Geordies, mad-for-it Mancs, Yorkshire nationalists and brothers in southern exile.

The bestselling Pies and Prejudice is a hugely enjoyable journey around the north of England.

I love the UK. When the weather is great there really is nothing to beat it. I love plenty of places in the south but I feel a real pull to the north of England when planning holidays. I have read one of Maconie’s books already and enjoyed it and had this on my ‘to read’ pile for some time, so with a trip to the north east planned it seemed the perfect time to pull it off the shelf and read it.

Maconie worries that he’s losing his ‘northernness’ after a friend asks where the sun-dried tomatoes are and he responds that they’re next to the cappuccino-maker. He therefore decides to head north and to explore the counties in the north – he defines this as starting at Crewe as he travels from Cheshire to East Yorkshire, from South Yorkshire to Northumberland and all counties in between, observing the people who live there and various things that each county is famous… or in some cases infamous… for.

I have already experienced some of the things he writes about. He mentions the Midland Hotel in Morecambe Bay which was derelict when he was there and talks about a restoration due to take place. I’m pleased to report that this did happen and we visited their wonderful bar café for a coffee when we were there back in June. The hotel is a stunning Art Deco building and has been restored beautifully.



We actually went to Morecambe because I really wanted to see the statue that celebrates Eric Morecambe’s career – the Midland Hotel was a bonus. If you do go there, be sure to visit the loos…!

On our recent trip to the North East – the trip that inspired me to pick this off my shelf – we visited the Transporter Bridge at Middlesbrough. I wasn’t aware of the existence of this bridge before reading and I’m so glad he mentions it (one of the things he talks about is that it’s in the film Billy Eliott - I shall be looking out for it when I next watch). The visitor centre and bridge are a must. I don’t like heights, but I forced myself and it was definitely worth it – the views are amazing. The ‘visitor experience’ includes a return journey on the gondola and trip to the top of the bridge in the glass viewing lift – the cost for adults is just £5 – although when we visited it was a Heritage Open Day so it was free! It’s worth the money though. Booking is recommended (Email transporterbridge@middlesbrough.gov.uk or call 01642 727265 to book your trip – here endeth the advert! ).



No trip to the north east would be complete without a trip to see Antony Gormley’s The Angel of the North. I saw it many years ago from the car but we went to visit it and it’s definitely impressive. People seem to either love it or hate it – I’m firmly in the love camp!

This is in danger of becoming less of a book review and more of a diary of our travels, so I shall sum up by saying that I very much enjoyed viewing the north through Stuart Maconie's eyes. From Maconie’s clearly tongue-in-cheek comments it would be easy to believe that he really doesn't think much of Southerners (well Londoners, as he clearly classes anyone from south of Watford Gap as being).

I imagine some people who were - purely by accident of birth, - born in the south would have given up on this because of the way he often refers to us, and that would be a shame as it's a great book. Now, excuse me whist I pop off for a prosciutto focaccia and a glass of Prosecco!!

The paperback edition is 368 pages long and is published by Ebury Press. It was first published in 2007. The ISBN is 9780091910235.

4/5 (I really enjoyed it!)

(Finished 14 August 2016)

[Janet]

Here's me doing the pose in front of the Angel of the North! 

 

[Athena]

Nice photos, I'm glad you had fun on your travels. Nice review, I'm glad you enjoyed Pies and Prejudice .

[Janet]

Thanks, Gaia.

[Madeleine]

I've only seen the Angel of the North from a train but it looks pretty impressive.  Glad you had a good time, it's a fascinating area.

[Janet]

Thanks, Madeleine.   We had a brilliant time in the North East. What a fab city Newcastle is.   We were lucky with the weather too - it was really hot and sunny. 

[Little Pixie]

Great  pics ! Fantastic one of the stairwell.

[Janet]

Thank you.  

[Janet]

 

The Girl of Ink & Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

The ‘blurb’
Forbidden to leave her island, Isabella dreams of the faraway lands her cartographer father once mapped. When her friend disappears, she volunteers to guide the search. The world beyond the walls is a monster-filled wasteland - and beneath the dry rivers and smoking mountains, a fire demon is stirring from its sleep. Soon, following her map, her heart and an ancient myth, Isabella discovers the true end of her journey: to save the island itself.

The Girl of Ink and Stars is the story of a young girl called Isabella who lives with her cartographer father on Joya, a floating island and place of myths and legends. Joya used to be a happy place until Governor Adori arrived and took over rule of the country. Now it’s divided – half of it inhabited by unhappy citizens, who are forbidden to leave and half which lies abandoned and forgotten. The Governor has a daughter called Lupe who has few friends because of her tyrannical father, but Isabella befriends her and takes her under her wing.

When strange things start happening on Joya and then Lupe seemingly disappears, Isabella must take her courage and the mapping skills learned from her father and follow Lupe’s trail. But things are not what they seem on Joya and Isabella faces untold dangers on her quest where more than just the finding of a friend is at stake…

Okay, so we all (most of us, anyway) judge books by their covers and this one is gorgeous! Aesthetically it doesn’t stop at the outside – the inside is equally pretty with little blue drawings on very high quality paper. Oh, and if that didn’t make it tempting enough, it also has maps! I had looked at this several times in Waterstones in May as it was their Children’s Book of the Month and my Mum must have been with me on one occasion as she bought it for me for my birthday.

I enjoyed this tale of friendship and bravery which I would guess is aimed at children of about 10 or 11 years old. It was an easy read with a good sprinkling of adventure. I didn’t love it as much as I thought I might, but I did enjoy it and I liked the main characters – I thought they were well written. For a debut novel it was very good and I’m sure this author will do well.

The paperback edition is 228 pages long and is published by Chicken House Ltd. It was first published in 2016. The ISBN is 9781910002742.

3½/5 (I enjoyed it!)

(Finished 20 August 2016)

 

[Athena]

I haven't heard of this book but I like the cover . Great review!

[Janet]

Thanks, Gaia. 

[bobblybear]

Okay, so we all (most of us, anyway) judge books by their covers and this one is gorgeous!

 

That's the first thing I thought of, even before I read your review - what a lovely looking cover that is! It would definitely catch my eye and make me pick it up.

 

Glad you liked it - nice review.