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The Story of my Life George Sand George Sand was the name adopted by Aurore Dupin and this is her own account of her life (and some of her loves). She gives an account of her family history before her birth as well as her own history. This is her account of her birth: “My good aunt Lucie was on the eve of marriage with an officer who was a friend of my father, and they were all celebrating in the intimacy of the family. My mother was wearing a pretty dress the colour of roses. They were dancing a quadrille composed by my father, as he played on his faithful Cremona violin. . . . My mother, feeling a slight malaise, left the dance and went to her bedroom. Since she showed no signs of indisposition and had left so quietly, the dancing continued. My aunt Lucie, as it was ending, went to my mother's bedroom, and almost immediately she was heard to cry, "Come, come quickly, Maurice, you have a daughter!" "She shall be called Aurore," said my father, "after my poor, dear mother, who is not here to bless her, but who will someday!" And he took me in his arms. . . . "She was born to the sound of music and in the colour of roses," said my aunt. "She will know happiness.” In the edition I have there are also some of Sand’s letters, mostly to Alfred de Mussett (one of her lovers). There are also some extracts from a personal journal which consists of letters she didn’t send. Finally there is an extract from an account of a visit to Majorca with Chopin. This last extract is the part I enjoyed least as Sand is very scathing about the culture and peasantry of Majorca. Most of the book concerns Sand’s childhood and her relationship with two very strong women, her mother and her grandmother. These two did not get on most of the time and Sand was often caught between the two: she spent a good deal of her time with her grandmother. Sand remains discreet about her lovers, of whom there were quite a number and she moved in literary circles, spending time with most of the significant writers of the time. She is interesting in her own right. Often dressing as a male and adopting a male pseudonym in her writing and balancing that with motherhood. She is an interesting subject and this was worth reading. 7 and a half out of 10 Starting The Reason Why by Cecil Woodham-Smith

cadge a dime off

but make sure you

It Should Have Been Me ~ Yvonne Fair

I Should have known better - Jim Diamond

A Better World Is Possible - Thotcrime

Nothing is Better - Sam McCabe

Even better than the real thing - U2

time for a lime,

deciding, we haven't got

Nobody Does It Better ~ Carly Simon

You Better Not Do That - Little Jimmie Dickens

#24. Magica Riot (Kate Buchanan, 2024) Another night-shift audiobook and wow this is some shameless wish fulfillment slop and the fact that its wish fulfillment I get and could (at least at a point in my life) relate to makes it both more endearing and also more transparent. Like, I was smiling and cringing in equal amounts lol but to be fair I did smile quite a bit, especially in the first half before it has to start focusing on the plot more heavily. The mahou shoujo girl band thing its got going on is a fun enough premise and the narrator performed it with an infectious amount of enthusiasm so it was a pretty good time even if the action sequences aren't particularly riveting and the story is extremely safe and by the numbers. Definitely would have rolled my eyes at it a lot more if I was spending my free time reading it as opposed to passively listening to it while at work. 6/10

I tried reading the page without showing it and he still walked across the room. He definitely remembers the words. Maybe he does not understand what they all mean, but he remembers them. In another Sue Hendra / Paul Linnet book, Nobot the Robot with no Bottom, there was a page in which Bear says he could not use Bernard the robot's bottom in his drum kit, because it made a funny noise. I used to look at Adrian and say, 'Does your bottom make a funny noise?' First, he laughed, which made me wonder how much he understood. Lately, he looks at me at me in a funny way when we get to that page. So far, the best clues I have of Adrian understanding any language is his sense of humour. I have been resisting buying any of the Supertato books by Hendra and Linnet. But since I am having difficulty getting Adrian to eat any fruit and vegetables, I bought one.

Thank you That does sound like a fun book. Maybe you could try telling the story (or a story, if it's too long to remember) without the book, to see if Adrian still reacts when you say the word 'tickling'? There's certainly nothing wrong with his memory anyway, even if he's learned what comes next from the pictures

Farewell, Earth's Bliss (1966) D. G Compton I often say that my guilty pleasure in literature is post-apocalyptic fiction (and it is) but I've been trying to expand my general sci-fi consumption lately albeit with the desire that the books should explore something existential or something philosophical (I'm not that interested in aliens and sweeping space operas). So yeah, something small but intriguing, and this writer's name came my way. It was probably a very good choice because the book does not dwell on epic sci-fi themes and instead tells a rather straight-forward and small story of hardship. The book opens with several characters (I think 22) aboard a space ship heading for Mars. These people are convicts being sent to a penal colony settlement they know very little about. They are given biblical names (Jacob, Simon, Mark, Rachel etc) and consume drugged food for the nine week trip to better cope with almost no physical activity. Once they arrive, they are immediately caught in a storm that kills several of them (I did not entirely like this chapter because Compton jumps ahead in time rather abruptly) before the locals arrive to take them to the settlement. Here they discover that it is a self-maintained colony where the criminals (some of their crimes are severe but others are trivial) have created their own small but workable civilisation. Life is very hard and everyone is expected to contribute, pull their weight, or face severe punishment. And that's basically it, that's as far as the sci-fi elements of the story ever goes. But that's the point because, to me at least, this is a novel where Compton is exploring hardship and its beneficial consequences to the human soul. When you remove comfort and freedom, this often (counter intuitively) results in a society that is mentally healthy, robust, deeply satisfied, and ultimately very strong. It feels wrong to acknowledge it, given the hardships involved, but many (often the ones you least expect) take to this new life and thrive while others cannot handle it. The book has a bleak, even cynical take on the human condition. Racism, sexism, homophobia, all present and correct, but the fundamental philosophy of this place and its people is... if you work hard and contribute, you will be rewarded. But obviously this is not always the case. Some people will simply die because of the conditions, because that too is the nature of this kind of life. I really enjoyed this (especially the early chapters) and thought Compton's writing was very fun to read. The book is science fiction in only the most tangential way, its ideas more in line with an existentialist exploration of a life at its more authentic, its most demanding. It's a difficult narrative to sell because it goes against our instincts. Nothing is quite so satisfying as a delicious meal and some good hearty sexual intercourse after a twelve hour day of intense labour and toil. Yet, equally, nothing is quite so bleak. Very interesting. Very good. 6/10

Just ordered Heartbeats, the autobiography of Bjorn Borg. A childhood hero of mine, I’m very much looking forward to reading it.

Falling into You - Celine Dion

Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain -Cascades

Oolong, don't take long...

I can't stand the Rain - Eruption

things like, 'Chamomile or

I Wish It Would Rain Down ~ Phil Collins

Halloweird edited by Johnny Mains This is another collection from the British Library which covers the season of Samhain/Halloween. It includes short stories and some poetry (one from Rabbie Burns no less). Samhain is one of the two pagan fire festivals in Britain’s pagan year. The other is Beltane in May. The publication range is from 1780 to the 1970s: although most of the tales are pre 1930s. There is poetry from Mayne, Burns, Revi and Geraldine. Short stories by R Fryer, Elizabeth Train, Letitia Douglas, Edgar Wakeman, Lyllian Huntley (x2), Herminie Kavanagh, Alphonse Courlander, Eleanor Fitzgerald, Rachel Macnamara, Tod Robbins, Flavia Richardson, Edith Wharton, Elizabeth Walter, Virginia Lafefsky and Mary Williams (this one is excellent). There is the usual diet of spurned lovers, bone carriages, graveyards, castles, ghosts, ghouls, one set in the old US west (cowboys and all), unexpected apparitions and the usual sense of the reader saying “Don’t open that door!!” In more modern parlance FAFO. Then there’s the oddest line in the book from the poem “Twas the night of All Hallows” by Geraldine: “She lies there, but lo! most amazing to note, Encircling her neck was a FROLICSOME GOAT” Don’t ask. This is a good collection. There are a couple of duds, but some pretty good ones too. The cover art is effective too. 8 out of 10 Starting Fear in the Blood, Another collection in the Tales of the Weird series

thanks Madeline much appreciated