Madeleine
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Posts posted by Madeleine
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Yes they were popping up in the middle of threads, but I'll see if that's stopped now it's been tweaked. Thanks Hayley.
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9 hours ago, willoyd said:
Unfortunately, she didn't - Z is missing, and it will remain missing too, as she insisted in her will that nobody be given the rights to finish the series off. I'm not surprised to hear that the later ones weren't quite up to early standards; she's not the only one to suffer, perhaps, from overlong series. Janet Evanovich and Patricia Cornwell, for instance, both sound to have struggled to keep their early high standards going. It must be hard to keep things fresh.
Yes I gave up on Cornwell after a while as her books were getting rather tedious and seemed to have a bit of a holier-than-thou aspect about them (maybe that was just me), I'm up to the teens in the Evanovich books and they're fine for a bit of light relief occasionally.
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Nothing planned at the moment, will have to see about time off work, funnily enough no one's mentioned it yet although people are starting to put in for leave. I have bought my first present though so will try to get some more now. Have a few ideas!
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We had loads of rain on Saturday, it hardly stopped from about 1600 onwards until Sunday morning, yesterday was then quite nice but this morning and today it's rained off and on, and we've also had a few rumbles of thunder.
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Lady Madonna - The Beatles
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I must admit the ads are driving me mad a bit, there seem to be so many of them! And they seem to be slowing the forum down a bit, I'm on a work computer but I don't think the forum will work on my home pc if it's going to be this slow. A necessary evil I suppose but they seem to pop up all over the place!
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Looking forward to this one as it's set in Ludlow, where I spent a walking weekend a couple of weeks ago. Glad you enjoyed it.
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I'm glad you liked Brideshead Will, it's one of my all-time favourites (and the series is too!). I used to read Sue Grafton's alphabet series but found the later books weren't so good, sadly she died last year (I think) so I hope she got to finish the alphabet series.
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Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks
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Nice to see everyone back!
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Had wind and rain yesterday, with sunshine in between, saw a rainbow at one point. Dry and bright today so far but meant to get stormy again.
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LIned up so far:
Christmas Card Crime - British Library short stories
The Christmas Secret - Karen Swan
House of Christmas Secrets - Lynda Stacey
Over Sea, Under Stone - Susan Cooper (not Christmassy as such but apparently it's set around the Winter Solstice so the time of year is appropriate)
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Four seasons in one day - Crowded House
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Best news in ages, thanks Hayley (and of course to Michelle too).
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Thanks Hayley, I'm glad I kept my blog going now.
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It was all Hayley
, not me!
Great to see everyone back again!
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The Silent Companions - Laura Purcell - this is a Gothic novel set in 2 time periods - the 1860s and about 2 hundred years earlier, the 1680s and focuses mainly on the Bainbridge family and their crumbling house, The Bridge. The main character is Elsie, who married Rupert, the heir to The Bridge, who dies suddenly not long after they're married. Pregnant with their first child, Elsie returns to the Bridge and to her brother Jolyon, but he promptly has to go back to London for business reason and she's left with just Rupert's mousy cousin, Sarah, and a bunch of surly servants for company. Disturbed by strange noises during the night, she investigates and finds, in true Gothic style, a locked attic! But suddenly the door opens , and she finds, among the usual old bits of furniture, chests, etc, some strange life-size wooden figures, which for some reason are brought downstairs. Gradually more "companions" begin to appear, and whilst initially they seem harmless, they soon take on a sinister aspect, especially when they seem to move. Back in the 1600s, we get the story of Anna Bainbridge, who was married to an ambitious husband who was desperate to gain royal favour, and they are the original owners of the companions, and they have one daughter, the mysterious mute Hetta, who seems strange for her tender years (about 9 or 10). And when the King and Queen come to visit, it ends in disaster, and seems to set in motion the chain of events which still plagues the house 200 years later. We also get Elsie's story of what happened later; we first meet her recovering in hospital from a serious incident (no prizes for guessing it's a fire) and on a possible murder charge, and gradually we get her back story. I did enjoy this, it was well-written and quite creepy, although eventually it got a bit over the top towards the end. Elsie is a bit of an unreliable narrator, and the ending is a bit ambiguous, although I suspected it was going that way. Enjoyable if somewhat OTT Victorian gothic, very atmospheric. 7/10
The Travelling Bag by Susan Hill - this book consists of 5 spooky short stories; the first titular one concerns a private feud between rival medical experts, which is made worse when one of the men passes off the other's research work as his own, and gets all the glory; there's also Boy Number 21, about a mysterious schoolboy who befriends another lad who's feeling very isolated; Alice Baker - a new girl starts work in a large office, she seems rather strange and keeps herself to herself, but it's not until the team move offices that the weirdness really starts, with one employee, who narrates ,being particularly affected; in The Front Room a family discover that no good deed goes unpunished when they decide to be charitable and invite the father's elderly stepmother to come and live them; and in Printer's Devil Court a group of medical students, who share digs, try a ghoulish experiment goes horribly wrong and continues to haunt them long after. I thought this was a good collection, each story was well-written and atmospheric, and just about the right length. Worth a read for Halloween! 7.5/10Agatha Raisin & The Witches Tree by M C Beaton - yet another adventure for Agatha, who is finally feeling her age - she's been 53 for about 5 books now - and getting lonely as she thinks she'll be left on the shelf. In the meantime, she's kept busy by a couple of strange deaths in a nearby village, where the bodies have been found in or under the so-called ~Witches Tree. But is witchcraft really involved? It's another romp, not very well-written and feeling very rushed, these books are a fun interlude, and a nice quick read, but maybe MCB should think about winding them up now?. Still strangely addictive though! 6.5/10
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The Witch-Finder's Sister by Beth Underdown - this is another take on the story of Matthew Hopkins, the self-styled Witchfinder General who briefly terrorised parts of Essex and Suffolk (and a little further afield) in the first half of the 17th century; he was after women who had been accused of witchcraft, and rounded them up for questioning and then for trial. But the story is told by his sister, Alice (who may or may not have existed) who is forced to return to live with Matthew in the Essex town of Manningtree after her husband is killed in an accident in London. She's also expecting a baby, but, because she's had several miscarriages, is too scared and superstitious to tell anyone about the pregnancy. So she finds herself generally friendless, and with a cold brother who seems set on his macabre crusade against alleged witches. Apparently this had happened before ,but previously the suspects were released without charge, after cooling their heels in prison for a while, and initially Alice thinks the same thing will happen this time. But once it becomes apparent that things are more serious, she starts to wonder who she can trust, and eventually has to admit that her once beloved brother is on a path of evil obsession, and when he takes her with him to help "search" the witches for suspicious marks, she comes close to despair. Only the thought of hopefully being able to help and maybe save some of the women keeps her going. This was a well-written book, although the subject matter doesn't really make it enjoyable, but it's a slightly different look at Matthew Hopkins, which tries to show him not totally as a monster, although sadly by the end even Alice has to admit that he has become one. A neat little twist at the end too. This is her first book and she's certainly a promising writer. 7.5/10
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Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard - this is one of Linda Gillard's early books, in fact I think it might have been her first, and whilst it's good and is well-written, I think her later books are better. It's set mostly on the Hebridean island of North Uist, where Rose Leonard has set up home following a traumatic relationship breakdown which led to her being hospitalised, and to years of self-harming. Gradually she builds a new life, making friends with Shona, her nearest neighbour, and then becoming increasingly attracted to Shona's brother Calum. But the ghost of her old love affair still lingers, especially when she realises that it's quite possible that Calum may have met her ex, as both men are keen mountaineers; to the point of obsession in the case of her ex, and there's also the fractious relationship with her adult daughter, who suddenly turns up, to contend with. It's a story of healing, and learning to trust again - Rose's ex was a total **** but even so I think her reactions were a bit extreme, but it's not hard to see why she's so hesitant to fall in love again. But Calum has his own ghosts and traumas to come to terms with, too. A nice story, with a glorious setting, and a fair bit of humour, with the author handling the issues of mental illness and guilt very well. 7/10
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Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland - Loveday Cardew works in a second hand bookshop in York; she's had a traumatic past and grew up in care, and gradually we find out what happened, although it's not difficult to guess early on. Terrified that someone will find out about her past, she keeps herself to herself, especially following a disastrous relationship with Rob, who has mental health problems but is also quite a piece of work. Then one day Nathan walks into the shop, having dropped a book in the street, which Loveday happens to have found, and slowly the two of them form a sweet relationship, but Loveday is convinced it can't last, and when a mysterious box of books is brought into the shop one day, she finds that her past is finally catching up with her. Truth will out, but we also find out that it is possible to move on, with the help of the right people, even through tragedy. I thought this was a lovely book, and I liked the way Loveday's past was revealed. Annabel was a lovely character and so of course were Archie (the bookshop owner) and Nathan, and, despite another tragedy happening towards the end of the book, I liked the positive note on which the book ended. I've been to Whitby and it was nice reading about the Whitby bookshop and all the steps again. I thought it was well-written and well paced, and a bit deeper than some books which tend to get labelled as chick lit. It did remind me quite a bit of Eleanor Oliphant, but I prefer this book to Eleanor. A good choice and will be in my top 10 this year 8/10
Never Ending Song Titles - Part 8
in Quiz Room / Thread Games Jokes etc
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Mustang Sally - The Commitments