chesilbeach

I've just come across The Importance of Being Earnest … A handbag?

Well done! It's brilliant when you achieve a goal, isn't it?

I think I'm just about done for the day, so here's my progress: Sunday 4th May Death of a Cad by M. C. Beaton 43 minutes - page 1-61 108 minutes - pages 62-288 (finished) Sea and Shore Cornwall: Common and Curious Findings by Lisa Wollett 22 minutes - pages 1-41 32 minutes - pages 42-79 73 minutes - pages 80-144 (finished) Death of a Cad is the second Hamish Macbeth book, and was an entertaining, slightly comic, murder mystery, while Sea and Shore is a cross between an art and reference book, detailing the nature of the beaches and oceans around Cornwall, and a perfect accompaniment to the book I read yesterday, Strands.

After having worked a few evenings and weekends recently, decided to take Friday off to extend the bank holiday weekend, and so far, it's been a lovely, lazy time. Been to a couple of garden centres, which involves my boyfriend wandering around, buying lots of plants while I sit in the cafe with a coffee, some toast or a slice of cake, and a book! I've wanted to try baking a lemon drizzle cake for a long time, and decided today was the today, and was possibly the easiest cake I've ever made. It's got three lemons in it in total, so it's not too sweet and has that gorgeous citrus tangy flavour. Apart from that, I've been taking part in the read-a-thon for the first time in months, and I've been lucky enough to read my book of the year so far, so that's a brilliant result. Tomorrow will be more of the same, with coffee, lemon drizzle cake eating and plenty of reading. A pretty perfect weekend.

I'm way behind with reviews, but I've managed to catch up a little bit lately. Rather than double post them, here's links to them on other threads on the board: From my J. L. Carr reading challenge: The Harpole Report by J. L. Carr http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/11426-j-l-carr/?p=391998 From my English Counties Challenge: The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/12298-oxfordshire-the-pursuit-of-love-by-nancy-mitford/?p=392954 One of the shortlisted books for the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize for 2014: Shiverton Hall by Emerald Fennell http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/12735-shiverton-hall-by-emma-fennell/ And the winner of the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize for 2014: Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/12736-rooftoppers-by-katherine-rundell/

Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) My mother is still alive, and she is going to come for me one day. Everyone thinks that Sophie is an orphan. True, there were no other recorded female survivors from the shipwreck which left baby Sophie floating in the English Channel in a cello case, but Sophie remembers seeing her mother wave for help. Her guardian tells her it is almost impossible that her mother is still alive, but that means still possible. You should never ignore a possible. So when the Welfare Agency writes to her guardian threatening to send Sophie to an orphanage, she takes matters into her own hands and flees to Paris to look for her mother, starting with the only clue she has - the address of the cello maker. Evading the French authorities, she meets Matteo and his network of rooftoppers - urchins who live in the sky. Together they scour the city for Sophie's mother before she is caught and sent back to London, and most importantly before she loses hope. Review: This book was was the overall winner of the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize this year (shortlisted in the Fiction 5-12 category). A modern take on a classic quest story, starting with the rescue of Sophie as a baby from the sinking of a passenger ship, found floating in a cello case. The man who takes guardianship of her raises her in an unique and eccentric manner, with Sophie becoming an intelligent and independent girl. Their journey to Paris in search of her mother is just the start of the adventure, and Sophie soon meets Matteo who lives on the rooftops of Paris, and who helps in her hunt for her missing parent. While this is very much a modern day story, it also has a timeless quality to it and is beautifully written, and very deserving of the praise and prizes it has won so far. I won't to give anything away about the ending, but I thought it was written superbly, with a brevity and heart, without being overly sentimental or schmalzy.

Synopsis: (from amazon.co.uk) They slowed as they reached the gate; two stone columns, each with its own crumbling angel perched on top. The angels held up a rusty, wrought-iron arch that read, in curling, serpentine letters: SHIVERTON HALL. Arthur Bannister has been unexpectedly accepted into Shiverton Hall, which, as it turns out, is an incredibly spooky school, full of surprises. And it is just as well that Shiverton Hall has made its offer, because Arthur had a horrible time at his previous school, and was desperate to leave. Timely indeed . . . But Arthur has no time to worry about the strange coincidence. He is too busy trying to make head or tail of Shiverton Hall, dogged as it is by tales of curses and bad fortune. At least there are a few friendly faces: George, who shows him around; also Penny and Jake. But not all the faces are friendly. There are the bullying Forge triplets for starters. And then there is the acid tongue of the headmistress, Professor Long-Pitt, who seems to go out of her way to make Arthur's life a misery. Luckily Arthur has his new friends to cheer him up. Although there are some friends that you don't want to have at all, as Arthur is soon to find out. Review: This book was shortlisted for the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize this year in the Fiction 5-12 category, and I would say this is for readers close to the top end of that age range. The name of the school itself is creepy enough, but the environment that Fennell creates is also eerie, with the tales of how the school came to be said to be cursed intermingled with Arthur's story. I liked how she's brought the boarding school experience up to date, but the use of it still gives children isolation from their parents, giving them chance to take control of the story, and develop friendships and ties to create their own social groups, without too much adult intervention. There's a comic side to the book, which works well as a breather at times, as the tension that builds in the story becomes more and more unsettling, leading to a genuinely scary conclusion. The revelation of what the cause of the terror is was very clever, and such a twist of the idea, that it brought me out in goosebumps! I know that as an adult, I shouldn't be so disturbed by a scary children's story, but I suspect that's because I was never exposed to frightening stories as a child, as I was too easily upset, and perhaps if I'd had such well written books as this when I was younger, I might have become more accustomed to being scared and I'd deal with it better today. An excellent book, one I'd thoroughly recommend.

Oh, how I love the eccentricity of the British upper class families in the 1920s! I read this a couple of months ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it, and was surprised by some of the turns the story took. The writing is quintessentially of the period and that class, and I loved that we see the story through Fanny's eyes, who has the familiarity and affection for the family being very close to them, but also an outsider who can give a different, more objective view too. It seems amazing that as late as the 1920s, the girls never had a formal education, and that it wasn't required for them to attend school. I think this is why they remained such strong and unique individuals, but often seemingly without what we would consider the standards of society, but this also makes them vulnerable people. I really enjoyed the progression of the story, from the innocence of first loves through to the reality of married love, and the passion of affairs, and leads to, what I felt, was and unexpected and surprising conclusion. A very enjoyable book.

Saturday 3rd May Strands: A Year of Disccoveries on the Beach by Jean Sprackland 20 minutes - pages 179-201 12 minutes - pages 202-214 20 minutes - pages 215-237 (finished) Tout Sweet: Hanging up my High Heels for a New Life in France by Karen Wheeler 56 minutes - pages 1-50 67 minutes - pages 50-126 174 minutes - pages 127-311(finished) Finished Strands early in the morning - which is now, by far, my best book of the year so far - but didn't have too much time during the day, but there wasn't much on television yesterday evening, so had a lovely reading session instead, and finished Tout Sweet as well, which was just a good, fun read. Now off to decide what to read today!

The cast they've announced looks so good, I can't wait to see who else will join them. Very, very excited!

Here's what I got up to yesterday: Friday 2nd May Emerald Isle by Barbara Annino 27 minutes - pages 212-250 35 minutes - pages 251-317 (finished) Strands: A Year of Disccoveries on the Beach by Jean Sprackland 19 minutes - pages xi-xii, 1-15 40 minutes - pages 15-46 127 minutes - pages 46-142 40 minutes - pages 143-178 Not sure if I'll have as much time today as have a few errands to run, but I'll try and fit some in, although my neighbours have been disrupting possible reading time with loud television, rows and barking dogs Will need to put some music on to drown them out!

The BBC announced earlier in the year that they would be increasing programming around books, and yesterday it was announced that they have agreed to a three year partnership with the Hay Festival. Previously, Sky Arts have done a fantastic job broadcasting from the festival, but I appreciate that they are only reaching a limited audience while the BBC coverage will be available to all in the UK, however, I hope that it's easy to catch all the scheduled programmes as they'll be spread across radio and television, and I worry that I'll miss something I really want to see/hear because it's not easy to figure out the scheduling. I also hope they have some decent presenters and interviewers, as in the past, I've seen some promising book programmes let down by the personalities hosting them. Fingers crossed!

Just resurrecting an old thread, as I've just seen this article on the BBC News website: Mapp and Lucia gets BBC makeover Love the casting announced so far, and looking forward to seeing this immensely! If it's half as good as the books, it'll still be wonderful.

As my sewing classes have finished, I haven't been as dedicated to my sewing as earlier in the year, and I've had time for some more reading, but because I have still been sewing, I've chosen some lighter reads recently and my reading picked up a bit in April. If anyone looks at the beginning of the thread, you'll notice I've changed my TBR post, as I've picked up a few books when they were on offer but they're later books in a series I'm reading, where I don't have all the earlier books, therefore, I can't read them as they would be out of order. I've decided to keep a note of them, but exclude them from my main TBR list until I have the earlier books available to me. I forgot to post my monthly update last month, but here's a summary of where I am comparing from the start of the year to the end of April: As at the start of 2014 TBR: 35 books (excludes any books I own on my challenge lists) Jane Austen reading list: 18/24 books read = 75% complete J. L. Carr reading list: 3/8 books read = 38% complete E. H. Young reading list: 0/13 books read = 0% complete Persephone reading list: 6/104 books read = 6% complete English Counties Challenge: 7/48 books read = 15% complete Current status Books purchased: 18 (£43.95) 4 pre-order (£5.66) 7 Kindle daily/monthly deals (£7.03) - one of these is an omnibus of 4 books 3 second-hand for English Counties challenge (£7.47) 5 full price books (£23.79) Books received as presents: 6 Books read: 34 Abandoned books: 0 TBR: 28 books Jane Austen reading list: 19/24 books read = 79% complete J. L. Carr reading list: 4/8 books read = 50% complete E. H. Young reading list: 0/13 books read = 0% complete Persephone reading list: 7/104 books read = 7% complete English Counties Challenge: 12/48 books read = 25% complete

Athena, if you're interested in maths and prime numbers, I'd really recommend The Music of the Primes by Marcus du Sautoy. It's both an historical look at the mathematicians who work with prime number theories, and what we use prime numbers for. I thought it would be a bit dry and dusty, but he has a very accessible style of writing, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I became engrossed in the book.

There was an M. C. Beaton book on the Kindle Daily Deal that I didn't have already, so I spent the 99p on that this morning, even though it's book 3 of a series that I've only read book 1 of, so it'll have to wait until either the second book comes up on sale, or I've read everything else on my TBR and I can then buy the book guilt free!* Have started on the last of my Christmas books from my OH this morning, and reading Sky Hawk by Gill Lewis, which is a children's book, but based on the opening, a stonkingly good one. *Actually, I never feel guilty buying a book, but just trying to be a bit more restrained and keeping en eye on my spending at the moment

We watched Despicable Me 2 last night, and I loved it! I thought it was as good as the first one, and laughed all the way through.

I finished Twelve Minutes of Love: A Tango Story by Kapka Kassabova today. It was a fantastically absorbing read about the author learning, loving and living tango, and how it affected her life. It was the oldest but one book on my TBR, and wishing I'd read it earlier! It's also given me lots of new music to listen to - I often put on some tango music when I'm reading, and now I'll have more choice.

I bought The Peregrine as a gift for my partner a few years ago, but I don't think he's read it yet. I might have to sneakily take it off his shelf to borrow if your review is positive!

The Harpole Report by J. L. Carr Synopsis: (from The Quince Tree Press website) George Harpole, acting head of a primary school, is determined to climb the career ladder. The way ahead to teaching success seems clear, but he is hampered by his honesty, fair mindedness, and his fellow teachers. The hugely comic tale unfolds through a series of school logs, notes, letters and memos. Review: Has there ever been a time when education and teachers haven't been a political issue? Reading this book felt like it was not only a blast from the past of the British education system, but also at times, very pertinent to some of the reports I read about teaching today. From the very opening, you know things aren't going to go well for our hero, and he faces petty bureaucracy, teachers who are resistant to change, challenging pupils plus a difficult caretaker throughout the course of the story. I loved the style of the book using all sorts of written evidence to tell the tale, and you feel the frustration building within and the shoulders falling of George as the full story reveals itself. I adored Emma Foxberrow, the young, progressive teacher of the school - such a strong female individual, who again, is developed brilliantly through the story, and brings a lightness and hope against the apathy of some of other teachers. I'm not sure this book has totally stood the test of time, feeling a bit dated at times, but on the whole it is another comic gem from Carr, and is a great way to look at how times have changed (or not, in some cases) in education. Very readable, and very enjoyable - another great book from Carr.

David Mitchell (the comedian) will have his second book published in November - http://www.thebookseller.com/news/comedian-david-mitchell-write-guardian-faber.html. Definitely going on my wish list!

Finished Edmund Bertram's Diary yesterday, and have picked up Twelve Minutes of Love: A Tango Story by Kapka Kassabovafrom my TBR pile today - all about the authors love affair with Argentine Tango, and it's fantastic so far. Listened to Tango Siempre and The Gotan Project while reading - the perfect musical accompaniment!

Finished the last of the brilliant Parasol Protectorate books by Gail Carriger at the weekend, so going back to reading something on my Jane Austen challenge list, and decided to pick up Edmund Bertram's Diary by Amanda Grange today.

Watching all the BBC2 special programmes celebrating 50 years of the channel, whilst in between watching Victoria Coren-Mitchell become the first person ever to win a second European Poker Tour title! She wrote a book about the how she came to play poker after winning her first title, so here's hoping she writes a second, as the first was a fantastic read.