Janet's Log - Stardate 2016

[Janet]

A bridge of some kind, I'd imagine. I used one of those to get all the junk off my last laptop onto this current one after the old one's power socket went and I couldn't turn it on anymore. Hard disk was fine, the machine was just damaged in a way that prevented it taking power from a supply. Bridge worked wonders, saved all my stuff.

 

My current one is only 9 because it's second hand - I've had a year and a half. Its former owner was an I.T. guy here in UCC as a work laptop, so I'd say he took good care of it. But yeah, definitely time to do a backup. I have a perfectly good huge external hard drive, so I have zero excuses if I lose anything!

Apparently he hasn't ordered it yet but we're hoping to get one on Saturday, so wish us luck!    Sounds like your laptop has been in safe hands.  Nine years is very impressive. 

 

Is that the Ian Carmichael one ? I think The Nine Tailors is my favourite of the adaptations ( though it`s a brilliant book, anyway ).

 

Condolences on the laptop. Boo.

I'm reading the book - I haven't seen any TV adaptions.  This is my first experience of a Lord Peter Wimsey book... or indeed any book by Dorothy M Sayers (did she write any non-Wimsey books?) - I know nothing about her at all - I shall go and Google her!  I'm heading towards the end now. 

 

Thanks for the condolences. 

[Little Pixie]

 

I'm reading the book - I haven't seen any TV adaptions.  This is my first experience of a Lord Peter Wimsey book... or indeed any book by Dorothy M Sayers (did she write any non-Wimsey books?) - I know nothing about her at all - I shall go and Google her!  I'm heading towards the end now. 

 

 

Ahh, I thought you were listening to the Nine Tailors audiobook   ;  they sometimes repeat the Lord Peter Wimsey radio plays on Radio4Ex. 

 

Ian Carmichael did 5 TV adaptations of the books in the `70`s ; they`re enjoyable, but the ones with Harriet Walter and Edward Petherbridge from 1987 are just lovely. 

 

I think DLS did some short stories without Wimsey ? 

[Janet]

She did a few short stories and some non-fiction. I think I'll probably try another Wimsey one at some stage.  

[Janet]

It was our wedding anniversary on Saturday, so Peter and I spent the day in Dorchester, Dorset (it's a county we love).  We went to two National Trust Properties.

 

Hardy's Cottage

 

 

Thomas Hardy was born here.  His Mum had a difficult upbringing (an alcoholic father who left the family) and so she was determined her children would have a better life and made sure they were all educated.  Hardy was apprenticed to an architect in London and, after having success with his writing, he designed and had built his next (and final) home...

 

Max Gate

 

 

Where he died in 1928.   What a long way he came. 

 

Peter bought me this as an anniversary present... 

 

 

 

It's fiction but is based on the time around Hardy's death.  I didn't know of this book, but it was in the window of Waterstone's in Dorchester and having just visited the titular house it seemed like I ought to own it!

 

The blurb

It is 1928 and the world’s most famous novelist, Thomas Hardy, is dying in the upstairs room of Max Gate, the house he built in his beloved Dorset. Downstairs, his high-powered literary friends are becoming locked in a bitter fight with local supporters. Who owns Hardy’s remains? Who knew the great man best? What are the secrets of Max Gate? Nellie Titterington, a maid at the house, narrates this earthy and emotionally-charged novel about a world of ambition, duty, belonging and love.

 

My visit has also made want to read another novel by Hardy (I've loved all three that I've read so far) but I need to finish Lady Chatterley (dull!) and my book club book - which I haven't started yet - first!

[Nollaig]

Those houses look gorgeous! 

[Little Pixie]

Lovely pics ! Thanks so much for posting those ; I haven`t read any Hardy in years, but loved them all in my teens and twenties. 

[Janet]

Those houses look gorgeous!

They were lovely, and we had gloriously hot, sunny weather (you'd have hated it!    ) so it was such a perfect day.  

 

Lovely pics ! Thanks so much for posting those ; I haven`t read any Hardy in years, but loved them all in my teens and twenties. 

Thanks.    I've only read three of his but I loved them all. 

[Athena]

Beautiful photos, I love the houses (and the cover of the book)! I'm glad you had a great time, Janet .

[Nollaig]

They were lovely, and we had gloriously hot, sunny weather (you'd have hated it!    ) so it was such a perfect day.  

 

 

HAH! Yep, sounds like I'd have been lying on the ground whinging

[frankie]

I can't believe how long it's been since I've been to your thread to read your reviews! What with a poor mojo, I've not been keeping up with other people's reading logs, either.... Their enthusiastic, volume-terrific reading would've made me too jealous Anyhow, I've spent a real good time catching up on your reading log! I'm going to add The Enchanted April on my wishlist, as well as The Herring Seller's Apprentice (even though that wasn't a great big hit with you... I just like to premise!). 

 

And I must say... 

 

Some of you may recognised this photo I took yesterday...
 

 

... this picture is gorgeous!! We don't have this kind of stuff in Finland. So pretty!  

[Janet]

 I'm going to add The Enchanted April on my wishlist, as well as The Herring Seller's Apprentice (even though that wasn't a great big hit with you... I just like to premise!). 

 

And I must say... 

 

 

... this picture is gorgeous!! We don't have this kind of stuff in Finland. So pretty!

I hope you enjoy them.     Ah, what a shame - you could have had my copy of The Herring Seller's Apprentice but it's gone to a charity shop. 

 

And thanks for the comment about the photo.  I've seen some pretty sights in Finland too.  

[Kylie]

Lovely pics of Thomas Hardy's houses! It's easy to imagine how one might be inspired to write when one grows up in such beautiful surroundings! 

[frankie]

I hope you enjoy them.     Ah, what a shame - you could have had my copy of The Herring Seller's Apprentice but it's gone to a charity shop.

 

No worries, it'll turn up somewhere! Thanks for the thought, though!    

 

And thanks for the comment about the photo.  I've seen some pretty sights in Finland too.  

 

Yes, I suppose so... But to me they are so Finnish and common... Yours is decidedly foreign and exotic to me Which is just a matter of where in the world one's situated and looking things from... The grass is always greener and such  

[Janet]

Lovely pics of Thomas Hardy's houses! It's easy to imagine how one might be inspired to write when one grows up in such beautiful surroundings! 

Thanks, Kylie. It's not very far away at all really (about an hour) so I don't know why it took us so long to get there! 

 

Yes, I suppose so... But to me they are so Finnish and common... Yours is decidedly foreign and exotic to me Which is just a matter of where in the world one's situated and looking things from... The grass is always greener and such

Indeed!    I've put Finland on my Bucket List - but we're saving up to go to Canada so it may be some time before we get there!

[Janet]

The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth by Katherine Woodfine

The ‘blurb’
The follow up to Katherine Woodfine's bestselling debut novel, The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow.

THE HONOUR OF YOUR COMPANY IS REQUESTED AT

LORD BEAUCASTLE’S FANCY DRESS BALL.

Wonder at the puzzling disappearance of the Jewelled Moth! Marvel as our heroines, Sophie and Lil, don cunning disguises, mingle in high society and munch many cucumber sandwiches to solve this curious case! Applaud their bravery as they follow a trail of terrible secrets that leads straight to London’s most dangerous criminal mastermind, and could put their own lives at risk . . .

It will be the most thrilling event of the season!

Sophie, Lil and the gang are back, and this time their adventure takes them further afield from their Department Store, Sinclair’s and sees them also dividing their time between areas of East and West London.

When the book opens we are introduced to Mei Ling who lives with her Chinese father, English mother and brother in a shop in the bustling area of Chinatown. We learn from Mei’s narrative about her Grandfather and his stories about a diamond known as the Moonbeam which was stolen from his village many years ago.

Meanwhile, Sophie and Lil receive a strange message asking them to meet a young woman in the restaurant at Sinclair’s. They do so and learn that the young woman, Veronica, is a debutante who is due to get engaged to Lord Beaucastle at her coming out ball… but there is a problem. Beaucastle presented Veronica with a beautiful, ornate brooch – but the trinket has disappeared, and Veronica is desperate for its return before her big day.

Sophie and Lil come up with a daring plan which will see East and West collide but is there more to the loss of the brooch than just carelessness? When a body is recovered from the river it seems there is definitely more to this case than meets the eye…

I had been looking forward to this book coming out, having thoroughly enjoyed the first in the series, The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow on holiday last year after being drawn to the beautiful cover in Waterstone’s (yes, I still sometimes judge a book by its cover! ) and it did not disappoint. Both books are beautifully illustrated by Júlia Sardà and this one contains some excerpts from the fictional Lady Diana DeVere's Etiquette for Debutantes: a Guide to the Manners, Mores and Morals of Good Society

I very much enjoyed this young adult novel which is set in the Edwardian period. Sophie and Lil are great heroines – they are more gutsy than most of their female counterparts (in the same way that Jane Austen’s women are). The story was good and I enjoyed the fact that the majority of the action took place away from Sinclair’s this time. I didn’t actually know that Chinatown was originally in Limehouse in the East End before reading this! I’m looking forward to more from Katherine Woodfine - I only hope that when the third book comes out it has the same style cover – maybe in a nice purple next time!

The paperback edition is 336 pages long and is published by Egmont. It was first published in 2016. The ISBN is 9781405276184.

4/5 (I really enjoyed it)

(Finished 10 March 2016)
 

[Athena]

I LOVE that cover! Good review, I'm glad you enjoyed the book .

[Janet]

It's lovely, isn't it. 

 

The first one is equally gorgeous! 

 

[Athena]

That is so beautiful too! Thanks for sharing .

[Janet]

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

The ‘blurb’
The most well-known and well-liked of Gaskell's works, this softly humorous picture of an English country village was first serialized in a magazine edited by Charles Dickens in 1851. Based on the village of Gaskell's childhood, "Cranford" is narrated by a young woman visiting the town who describes the genteel poverty of two middle-aged spinster sisters, Miss Matty and Miss Deborah. Gaskell tells of their little adventures in a confidential and almost chatty tone, perfectly conveying their habits and standards of propriety, decency, and kindness in reduced circumstances. The colourful characters and subtle class distinctions of the village of Cranford are captured in this compassionate and hopeful portrayal of small-town English life.

Another of the English Counties Challenge, this book is set in Cheshire and Cranford is based on Knutsford.

Cranford contains lots of vignettes, all centering around Miss Matilda ‘Matty’ Jenkyns and her older sister, and is narrated by Mary Smith, who is a regular visitor to the town. Although each chapter is a different story they are all linked by the characters and situations of the townsfolk. I loved this book so much. Who could help but fall in love with Miss Matty, or fail to be amused by the antics of Miss Pole and the aristocratic Mrs Jamieson or the faithful maid Martha? It’s a comedy of manners that takes a wry look at the antics of the rural upper-middle classes. Delightful stuff and I’m definitely going to read the other stories set in Cranford or featuring characters from there - My Lady Ludlow, Mr Harrison's Confessions and The Cage at Cranford which weren’t included in my edition.

I listened to the audio book which is brilliantly narrated by Prunella Scales. It’s very sad that she now has dementia – she made a marvellous storyteller.

After listening I purchased the DVDs of the BBC TV series. Although I watched them when they were on television (2007 and 2009) I didn’t remember much about their content, apart from Miss Matty being excellently portrayed by Judi Dench, and her sister Deborah who was played to perfection by Eileen Atkins. It was very enjoyable even if it took one or two liberties with the story (or maybe just feature stories from those short-stories I mention above) and the casting was sublime - especially Imelda Staunton’s hysterical portrayal of Miss Pole!

The paperback edition is 544 pages long and is published by Wordsworth Editions. It was first published in 1853. The ISBN is 9781840224511.

5/5 (I loved it)

(Finished 11 March 2016)
 

[frankie]

Indeed!    I've put Finland on my Bucket List - but we're saving up to go to Canada so it may be some time before we get there!

 

Yay! I just hope that you will never hear that Finland's been compared to Canada in different ways (I believe weather-wise, and people's character and nature -wise, etc.) and decide that once you've visited Canada, it'll qualify as pretty much having visited Finland, too!!  

 

Also, visiting Finland will be decidedly cheaper... You'll be able to save that money soon enough  

[Janet]

 

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

The ‘blurb’
At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots - neighbours who can't reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d'etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents' Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets.

But isn't it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so?

In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible...

Ove is a cantankerous man for whom everything has to be done by the book. Rules are made to be adhered to, and God forbid anyone should park where they aren’t allowed, or allow their dog to roam free and do their business wherever it likes! We soon discover that a lot of this bitterness is due to personal circumstances – Ove feels let down. When an unconventional family moves in nearby, Ove’s life is tuned upside down, but could these people be the ones who will eventually help to thaw Ove’s frosty heart, or is he beyond help?

I wasn’t sure in the first few pages whether I was going to like this book I was a bit worried that it might be like The Hundred Year Old Man who Climbed Out of a Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson but thankfully it bore no resemblance to it because that book left me cold. I’m pleased to say that this book had the exact opposite effect and I soon fell in love with the curmudgeonly Ove! I really liked the way the backstory was woven into the present day narrative. I would say this would make a great holiday read as it’s pretty undemanding. Good fun

The paperback edition is 320 pages long and is published by Sceptre. It was first published in 2015. The ISBN is 9781444775815. I read it on my Kindle.

4/5 (I really enjoyed it)

(Finished 17 March 2016)
 

[frankie]

Yay, so happy that you enjoyed this novel! Ove's such a sweetheart ... I personally also loved Britt-Marie Was Here by the same author. But won't take responsibility if others don't like it  

[Janet]

 

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

The ‘blurb’
The master of a Victorian mansion dies suddenly – and his sister is convinced it was murder….

When Cora is savagely murdered with a hatchet, the extraordinary remark she made the previous day at her brother Richard’s funeral suddenly takes on a chilling significance.

At the reading of Richard’s will, Cora was clearly heard to say: ‘It’s been hushed up very nicely, hasn’t it…But he was murdered, wasn’t he?’

In desperation, the family solicitor turns to Hercule Poirot to unravel the mystery.

Another audio book in our quest to listen to as many Poirots as possible! In this one, a family gathers after the funeral of Richard Abernethie and a chance remark by the deceased sister, Cora, the black sheep of the family who has not seen the rest of her family for some time, ruffles a few family feathers when she suggests that her brother has been murdered. The family dismiss the idea as ridiculous, but when Cora is then murdered, the family’s solicitor Mr Entwhistle calls on Poirot to help. As Poirot digs he finds many motives within the family and has to use his little grey cells to discover whether Abernethie really was murdered, and if so, by whom.

We both enjoyed this whodunit which had the usual red herrings along the way. We eventually got to the right answer a mere fraction before Poirot which hasn’t happened before! Not our favourite Poirot book but nevertheless it was very enjoyable.

The paperback edition is 256 pages long and is published by Harper Collins. It was first published in 1953. The ISBN is 9780007119363.

3½/5 (I enjoyed it)

(Finished 26 March 2016)
 

[Janet]

Yay, so happy that you enjoyed this novel! Ove's such a sweetheart ... I personally also loved Britt-Marie Was Here by the same author. But won't take responsibility if others don't like it

I think they have a copy in the library where my Mum lives, so maybe I'll take it out one day!

[Janet]

 

Greenmantle by John Buchan

The ‘blurb’
In Greenmantle (1916) Richard Hannay, hero of The Thirty-Nine Steps, travels across war-torn Europe in search of a German plot and an Islamic Messiah. He is joined by three more of Buchan's heroes: Peter Pienaar, the old Boer Scout; John S. Blenkiron, the American determined to fight the Kaiser; and Sandy Arbuthnot, Greenmantle himself, modelled on Lawrence of Arabia. The intrepid four move in disguise through Germany to Constantinople and the Russian border toface their enemies: the grotesque Stumm and the evil beauty of Hilda von Einem.

Set during the First World War, Richard Hannay is sent on a mission by the Foreign Office to investigate a possible Muslim uprising as a result of German plot to throw the middle-east into chaos. His adventures take him through the Netherlands and onto Constantinople. Despite many perilous adventures and scrapes with death along the way, Hannay is determined to fulfil his mission and infiltrate the enemy to get to the bottom of the plot… no matter what the personal cost may be.

I read the prequel, The Thirty-Nine Steps many years ago, and more recently read Prester John which was my Mum’s favourite book as a child. Although I enjoyed both they are rather of their time, so it’s doubtful I would have picked this up had it not been a Book Crossing book – it was released some time ago, but whoever caught it didn’t re-release it online and it was only by chance that I found in charity shop. The story is, understandably jingoistic so I can understand why it was popular upon release but I probably would have not persevered if not for Book Crossing.

I will re-release when I work out a good place to leave it!

The paperback edition is 352 pages long and is published by Penguin. It was first published in 1916. The ISBN is 9780141035840.

2/5 (okay)

(Finished 28 March 2016)