Talisman

I meant to say that you can me wandering around in the Stonehenge one - in a green waterproof jacket.

As some of you no doubt know, my partner Coran has her own business as a website designer. A recent offshoot of this has been the production of videos for some of her clients. She has also done a few videos from places that we have been to - such as a recent trip to Stonehenge and of course, where we live in Box Hill. When I posted back in January about our trip to Stonehenge quite a few of you asked to see the video, so I hereby post the link to these two videos so you can see them for yourself. Please feel free to share these with others, as the more people that see these the better - as you will see, Box Hill is a great place to live. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_7WIuOzy9k Box Hill in the clouds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiWHK3WMaxk Stonehenge in Heaven After watching these, I might buy a camcorder myself to take to Iceland - I might need to find a friendly bank manager first though !

I finished another one of those travel books at lunchtime today that covered most of the old Yugoslav Republics - Jason Smart's The Balkan Odyssey. Smart has written a whole series of these type books which are great for me as they are relatively short and are a great way of getting through all the different countries quickly. This one covered Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania. The next one of his I shall read will probably re the Russian one, which covers all the former Soviet Republics.

The Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology - John Sweeney This really is a superb piece of journalism, detailing as it does the dark and disturbing world of former and existing members of quite possibly the world's most controversial religion. How do you define religion, and is the Church of Scientology justified in calling itself that - what about their critics who state it is really more of a cult and what exactly is a cult, how are such things defined and where do you draw the line - all these things and more are discussed in this deeply disturbing piece of writing. John Sweeney is best known for this Panorama documentary which is loosely based around this book - this should perhaps be written the other way around, for this book was written as a companion to those who watched that programme and saw his infamous "tomato" episode, where the echelons of the "Church" deliberately goaded him into losing his rag. Their covert surveillance of John's team and everything that they do is by far the most sinister and the almost Godlike persona that the Church leader has leave me in doubt as what side of the fence I sit on when deciding whether this is a cult or not. If you though really want to know, you will have to read this book for yourself. It won't be easy, but as with most things in life, it has its own rewards. It is somewhat difficult for me to rate this book, because on the one hand, it is difficult read, but on the other it Is most definitely one of the best written from a journalistic viewpoint that I have read in a long while. Because it does tend to waffle in places, I would probably give it 4 1/2 stars.

Because I am a Girl - Tim Butcher Because I am a girl I am less likely to go to school. Because I am a girl I am more likely to suffer from malnutrition. Because I am a girl I am more likely to suffer violence in the home. Because I am a girl I am more likely to marry and start a family before I reach my twenties. Seven authors have visited seven different countries and spoken to young women and girls about their lives, struggles and hopes. The result is an extraordinary collection of writings about prejudice, abuse, and neglect, but also about courage, resilience and changing attitudes. Proceeds from sales of this book will go to PLAN, one of the world's largest child-centered community development organisations. This is a collection of seven short stories about the lives of women and mostly girls, in some of the world's poorest countries, in particularly the things that happen to them simply because as the title says, they are a girl. Many of the subjects are ones I have read about before - lack of education, lack of birth control, rape, domestic slavery, malnutrition and so on, but nevertheless, it is still shocking reading. The story that touches me the most was the one from Brazil, where girls as young as 12 and 13 routinely have babies of their own, due to lack of education and healthcare - the Church of course forbidding the use of contraception. It strikes me that this is as much a men's problem as a woman's, for it takes two to tango and many of these young Brazilian men (I hate to generalise) will it seems do almost anything to get these young girls to give them what they want, afterwards casually casting them aside, like a sweet without its wrapper. Perhaps if the men were educated to use a different kind of wrapper, this type of thing would be a little less prevalent. It goes back though to that aforementioned Church - religion has a lot to answer to I sometimes feel. The remaining stories are no less shocking, and ones that everyone should read - ignorance is not an excuse when books such as this are available. I may not agree with everything that the charity that is the beneficiary of this book does, for it makes it clear that much of their work is controversial, but I like to think that as well as educating myself, by buying this book, I am in some way small way helping the lives of women throughout the world. This would then for me be 4 1/2 stars.

Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold On her way home from school on a snowy December day, 14 year old Susie Salmon is lured into a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold's haunting and heart breaking debut novel, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case. I have seen a lot of people both on and off the Internet reading and talking about this book, so when it popped up as the Kindle Daily Deal, it seemed like an opportunity to try it finally for myself. Reading the description, it sounded just the kind of thing I like, about a young girl, brutally raped and murdered, watching over both her family and her killer from her own perspective of heaven, but with a twist, this time she does not intervene in their lives but simply observes, much like the Divine (so at least I have always thought) observed us. To do anything else would go against the object of this experiment that we call life, for the journey is as always infinitely more important than our destination, and so it is with this book, that the message is more important than the messenger. After she leaves her body, Susie learns that everyone has their own version of heaven - a theme mirrored in many other books I have read. She struggles to accept what has happened to her and so to a large extent clings to the world of the living, observing them from afar as her family and school friends slowly break apart. One of the more interesting characters is Ruth, a girl she hardly knew. but one who has a gift for sensing and also a gift for writing. Susie shadows this girl too as she grows to maturity, along with Ray, her high school crush with whom she shared her first kiss. Because of their relationship, Ray was unfairly accused of involvement in Susie's disappearance, her body never having been found, and Ray and Ruth strike up an unusual friendship which Susie watches from afar. The effects on Susie's own family are understandably devastating, slowly pulling her parents marriage apart. Susie learns that her murderer has done this many times before to girls both older and younger than herself, but unlike other books I have read, does not seek justice, for this is for the living anyway - a bit like the ritual of funerals, for this is the act of finally letting go, something that for the most part, the dead have already done. There is the end no justice for Susie's killer, who meets his own death in a most unassuming way and there is no real happy ending either, but there is reconciliation and with this the beginnings of acceptance on the part of her family who were so blown apart. I can see that for many this would be a remarkable and ground breaking book. Many more have of course been written since, so one has to remember that this is now 6 years old - old by book standards in an industry where books have just three months in which to make their mark. Although moving, there are for me though me though better written books of this genre, so despite the subject matter, I would give it four stars.

How to Fall in Love - Cecelia Ahearn She has just two weeks. Two weeks to teach him how to fall in love – with his own life. Adam Basil and Christine Rose are thrown together late one night, when Christine is crossing the Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin. Adam is there, poised, threatening to jump. Adam is desperate – but Christine makes a crazy deal with him. His 35th birthday is looming and she bets him that before then she can show him life is worth living. Despite her determination, Christine knows what a dangerous promise she's made. Against the ticking of the clock, the two of them embark on wild escapades, grand romantic gestures and some unlikely late-night outings. Slowly, Christine thinks Adam is starting to fall back in love with his life. But is that all that's happening… ? A novel to make you laugh, cry and appreciate life, this is Cecelia Ahern at her thoughtful and surprising best. At first sound this seemed a bit trite, but after reading some pretty heavyweight stuff prior to this, about life in a women's prison, among other things, I wanted something a little lighter to take the weight off, and this did the job nicely. Christine Rose, a recruitment consultant with an obsession for self help books is going through a somewhat acrimonious divorce. Her life in tatters and in need of peace, she wanders to an area of the city where she used to experience this, and there finds a man who is about to take his own life. When her attempts to stop him fail, she is understandably devastated. Two weeks later, wandering through the city again, she spots Adam doing exactly the same thing on the Ha'Penny Bridge. Determined that this time she will make a difference, she attempts to talk him down, and this time she manages to succeed. The two strike a deal, whereby Christine has to persuade Adam before his next birthday that life is worth living - what she doesn't realise is that his birthday is in two weeks time. What follows is a somewhat hilarious caper as the two of them embark on a crusade to it seems at times, mutually heal each other - for it transpires as the story unfolds that Christine has issues of her own, which closely mirror Adam's own life. As they attempt to work through Adam's issues, they gradually become closer, until, well the clue is in the name of the book. Although this was by my usual standards a somewhat light and fluffy read, it was one that I nevertheless enjoyed. It is good to read the lighter stuff every once in a while, as well, my reading can get somewhat heavy at times. This was probably not the best book I have read this year, but neither will it be the worst. Mainly because of it's wonderful Irish humour, I would give this 3 1/2 stars.

We had dinner in Sainsbury's tonight after our weekly shop - veggie sausage and mash with peas and onion gravy.

I think this is something to do with our crackpot Government trying to figure out what to do with civil unions and whether or not they have to upgrade to marriage - and perhaps more to the point, trying to figure out whether by saying that civil unions are valid for gay couples this means they have to offer the option of a civil union for straight couples as well. I know that I this was possible Coran and I would almost certainly go for it. In a way the fact that civil unions are only for gay couples places us in the same situation that allowing marriage only for straight couples does. We would prefer a civil union if possible, but even though Coran is technically (if not legally) a woman, we cannot do this as we are not gay. Coran as a transgendered male to female would I suppose be a lesbian, since she still fancies women, but I don't fancy women, I just fancy (and love) Coran !

You can definitely not be only 75 percent veggie - either you are or you are not ! I have been for almost 18 years now and it is the best thing (apart from meeting Coran of course) that I ever did. I used to be really spotty but my skin cleared up within weeks of stopping eating meat. As for cooking meat being a hassle, I couldn't agree more, although I am probably a bit biased. There are so many delicious veggie foods out there now that is impossible to get bored - unless you the sort who lives on ready meals and then you might - I can't remember the last time I bought anything like that though - the closest I get is a frozen pizza. A veggie diet is also cheaper, which has to be a good thing - I don't know how people afford to eat meat, it's so expensive and wasteful, as half the weight is bones which just get thrown away. Tonight though being the end of the week, we are being lazy and having eggs, chips and peas.

You should see Noah VF - I loved it. I can see why the Arabs banned it, as Noah is portrayed as a fundamentalist who changes his mind to that of compassion - something they don't want to be reminded of, for it shows them that they can do the same thing. That at least is my opinion anyway. As for the film itself though, it was an interesting take on the Noah story - Russell Crowe as always was brilliant - best of all though was that amazing Icelandic landscape. I recognised a lot of the places where the film was shot as places I have actually been to. In 9 weeks time I will be back there again !

Divergent, which was brilliant. I also want to see Noah, which we will probably go and see tomorrow. The combination of Russell Crowe and Iceland (it was filmed there) it too good for me to miss !

I finished another anthology yesterday - Because I am a Girl compiled and partly written by (amongst others) travel writer Tim Butcher. It comprised of stories about the lives of girls and women from 7 different countries - Togo, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Cambodia, Brazil, Uganda and Dominican Republic. I have already covered all bar one of these countries - Ghana, but it was interesting reading nonetheless. Proceeds from the book go to Plan, a charity aimed at improving the lives of women and girls in 66 different countries around the world. There were some very moving stories in there - the one that affected me the most was probably the one from Brazil.

It was - one of the best things about my new job is that I can buy fresh veg grown in the garden without the use of chemicals - the asparagus should be ready for harvest soon. Tonight though we had veggie sausages with potato and celeriac mash with green beans.

Nothing about our crackpot Government surprises me anymore ! They will have to do something though to correct this - either force the same sex couples in existing civil partnerships to convert to marriage, or give us equal rights - it will be interesting though to see how this pans out - I won't hold my breath.

I am not sure where you got the information about civil partnerships being legal for straight or different sex couples VF, but I believe you are wrong - they were specifically designed as a kind of halfway house to give same sex couples the same legal recognition of marriage without actually calling it that. You are probably getting it mixed up with the idea of civil ceremonies, which is basically a marriage that takes place outside of a church, in a country estate perhaps or a local beauty spot. A civil partnership is to all intents and purposes the same as marriage, but without the religious connotations. I didn't know that about Islam though - fascinating stuff !

A nice omelette made with fresh herbs grown at the garden where I work.

I think that this is brilliant. The situation for me, as some of you are no doubt aware is a little different in that my partner of 17 years although anatomically male has always wanted to really be female. I knew when we got together that Colin as he was then liked to wear women's clothes, something that his ex wife never knew about, but as we began to explore this together, it became clear that it went much deeper than this, and he really wanted to be a female. Coran has no wish for genital surgery, but has been on female hormones for a number of years which have to some extent feminised the body. She has then lived more or less as a woman since changing her name legally in 2005. As it stood prior to todays changes, were we to get married as a man and a woman, which Coran still is on his/her birth certificate, then if she were to apply for gender recognition certificate as a woman, we would have had to get divorced. But this has now all changed, so that couples like us who are in a kind of no mans land can now marry without the fear of having to get divorced should the legal gender change. I hope all of this makes sense. The thing is though neither of wants to get married - we would like some sort of legal recognition for our relationship, but marriage to both of has religious connotations which puts us off, plus the fact that Coran has been married before. A civil partnership would really be more the kind of thing that we would like. Now that same sex marriages are legal though, this has left us and many others wondering what will happen to those couples who became civil partners, will they have to effectively break up and marry instead, or will both types of partnership continue to be legal. If so, then will straight couples also be able to have civil partnerships, as if not this becomes discrimination in favour of gay couples ? !

I was angry for a few days about the outcome, but now I am just relieved it is all over. They were never going to side with me, as then they would have to admit they were wrong and take responsibility, and it is always easier to blame others.It doesn't matter what they think though in the end, as I know the truth and I know that their behaviour was inappropriate and wrong. I didn't do this to try and change things there, for they are the only ones who could do that anyway - it was all about me and finding my own voice. I am much happier in the new job - even the CEO and the Directors have said how well I am doing, and how pleased they are that I am working there. I am getting to know the rest of the staff and all the clients, and learning all about the different disabilities that they have. I got my first payslip yesterday and it was £100 more than I used to get, which isn't bad either. I think I know then who has really lost out - and it isn't me.

I tend to save them up and write reviews in batches after I have had a chance to mull over the books for a while.

After a bit of a slow start to the year, I have managed to complete three more countries. On the Trail of Genghis Khan by Tim Cope for Mongolia and Kazakstan (the book also features Russia and Ukraine, countries I have already covered, as well as the Crimean peninsula) and Hotel K by Kathryn Bonella for Indonesia That brings the total to 8 countries for this year so far.

Hotel K - Kathryn Bonella Welcome to Hotel Kerobokan, or Hotel K, Bali's most notorious jail. Its walls touch paradise: sparkling oceans, surf beaches and palm trees on one side, while on the other it's a dark, bizarre and truly frightening underworld of sex, drugs, violence and squalor. Hotel K's filthy and disease ridden cells have been home to the infamous and the tragic: a Balinese King, Gordon Ramsay's brother, Muslim terror bombers, beautiful women tourists and surfers from across the globe. Petty thieves share cells with killers, rapists, and gangsters. Hardened drug traffickers sleep alongside unlucky tourists, who've seen their holiday turn from paradise to hell over one ecstasy pill. Hotel K is the shocking inside story of the jail and its inmates, revealing the wild 'sex nights' organised by corrupt guards for the prisoners who have cash to pay, the jail's ecstasy factory, the killings made to look like suicides, the days out at the beach, the escapes and the corruption that means anything is for sale - including a fully catered Italian jail wedding, or a luxury cell upgrade with a Bose sound system. The truth about the dark heart of Bali explodes off the page. This book, the 2nd non fiction offering I have read in a row is an expose of the corruption that exists not just within Bali's most notorious jail, but also within the Indonesian legal system itself, where money can pay for shorter sentences and many privileges once inside, such as sexual favours, drugs often bought from the wardens themselves, cell upgrades and in some cases, the freedom to come and go quite literally as one pleases. I have read some pretty heavy stuff in my time, but even this shocked me. Written from the perspective of the prisoners themselves, who come from all four corners of the world, I would almost rather be dead than face life in a place like this. I would give this four stars.

On the Trail of Genghis Khan - Tim Cope The relationship between man and horse on the Eurasian steppe gave rise to a succession of rich nomadic cultures. Among them were the Mongols of the thirteenth century - a small tribe, which, under the charismatic leadership of Genghis Khan, created the largest contiguous land empire in history. Inspired by the extraordinary life nomads still lead today, Tim Cope embarked on a journey that hadn’t been successfully completed since those times: to travel on horseback across the entire length of the Eurasian steppe, from Karakorum, the ancient capital of Mongolia, through Kazakhstan, Russia, Crimea and the Ukraine to the Danube River in Hungary. From horse-riding novice to travelling three years and 10,000 kilometres on horseback, accompanied by his dog Tigon, Tim learnt to fend off wolves and would-be horse-thieves, and grapple with the extremes of the steppe as he crossed sub-zero plateaux, the scorching deserts of Kazakhstan and the high-mountain passes of the Carpathians. Along the way, he was taken in by people who taught him the traditional ways and told him their recent history: Stalin's push for industrialisation brought calamity to the steppe and forced collectivism that in Kazakhstan alone led to the loss of several million livestock and the starvation of more than a million nomads. Today Cope bears witness to how the traditional ways hang precariously in the balance in the post-Soviet world. I first heard about this book during an interview with Cope that I saw on the morning news, and immediately my ears pricked up. This was not only an opportunity to read a fascinating piece of travel literature, but also to cover several hard to find countries from the Around the World Reading Challenge in one book. Although it was a lengthy read, that took me, a relatively fast reader more than week to digest, it was well worth the effort and easily one of the best pieces of travel writing I have come across. When Cope first started on this adventure, which due partly to red tape and partly to personal crises took three years to complete, he had little knowledge or experience of horsemanship, this was then an extremely ambitious journey and he depended heavily on the locals in the form of various nomadic peoples for support along with his former girlfriend (who accompanied him for the first two months of his trek) and other members of his extended circle of family and friends. The book can also be seen as a historic text book for it details in some depth the history and geography of the places he travelled through, in particular in the context of Soviet influence. His animals of course also played a pivotal role, and the relationships with these are also covered in depth. In some ways this book could be seen as a mourning for a lost way of life. It is a monumental piece of work, epic in is scope and no review could really even begin to give it justice. This for me has to be five stars.

The Alchemist - Paolo Coelho The Alchemist presents a simple fable, based on simple truths and places it in a highly unique situation. Brazilian storyteller Paulo Coehlo introduces Santiago, an Andalucian shepherd boy who one night dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. And so he's off: leaving Spain to literally follow his dream. Along the way he meets many spiritual messengers, who come in unassuming forms such as a camel driver and a well-read Englishman. In one of the Englishman's books, Santiago first learns about the alchemists - men who believed that if a metal were heated for many years, it would free itself of all its individual properties, and what was left would be the "Soul of the World." Of course he does eventually meet an alchemist, and the ensuing student-teacher relationship clarifies much of the boy's misguided agenda, while also emboldening him to stay true to his dreams. "My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy confides to the alchemist one night as they look up at a moonless night. "Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself," the alchemist replies. "And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity." This has no doubt been a life changing and thought provoking work for many which gave birth to a long and successful career, and the sort of book that I would lapped up when I first stepped onto the spiritual path all those years ago, but to me it just seemed a bit last decade. Maybe this is ego, or maybe it is mark of how far I have come along my own path, and I am sure there is a message hidden in there for those with eyes to see it, but my own have been opened so wide that for me it now seems almost irrelevant. It is time for me I think to stop reading and start living. While I am sure it is a good book, for me it was not life changing for even one I remember that well. It would then for me merit three stars.

The Reader - Bernard Schlink Originally published in Switzerland and gracefully translated into English by Carol Brown Janeway, The Reader is a brief tale about sex, love, reading and shame in post-war Germany. Michael Berg is 15 when he begins a long, obsessive affair with Hanna, an enigmatic older woman. He never learns very much about her and when she disappears one day, he expects never to see her again. But, to his horror, he does. Hanna is a defendant in a trial related to Germany's Nazi past and it soon becomes clear that she is guilty of an unspeakable crime. As Michael follows the trial, he struggles with an overwhelming question: what should his generation do with its knowledge of the Holocaust? "We should not believe we can comprehend the incomprehensible, we may not compare the incomparable... Should we only fall silent in revulsion, shame, and guilt? To what purpose?" I am normally loathe to read books that I have first seen as films, as was the case here, but sufficient time had elapsed in this case for me not to be oevrly familiar with the plot, even so it is hard not to make comparisons, and I inevitably found myself doing this, in particular comparing Kate Winslet's portrayal of Hanna with that of the author. It was though nevertheless an interesting exercise and my opinion of the story has not changed in that this is a classic German or perhaps Swiss book. Like its predecessor I would probably give this somewhere between three and four stars.