chesilbeach

Thought I'd resurrect this thread since I actually baked something yesterday! As we've been mostly stuck inside due to the snow, I decided to dig out my cake tin and make a Chocolate Guinness Cake. It's from Nigella's Feast book (and is on her website too), and I've made it a few times before and know it's easy to make and delicious. We had a slice for dessert last night and it was gorgeous, if I do say so myself!

I loved MotOE! I saw it at the cinema, and thought it was really good - not without faults, but very enjoyable. Looking forward to it coming on the television so I can watch it with my other half as he hasn't seen it yet. We watched a film called Grandma last night with Lily Tomlin, and we both thought it was great. An charming treat of a film, and only 79 minutes long so my OH managed to stay awake!

Only been able to get out and about on foot for the last couple of days, so it's been a quiet weekend at home, which actually makes a change! Went out for a walk on both days, just to get some fresh air, but other than that, it's been reading and a bit of baking for me. We stayed in and watched a film last night. I don't intend to get out much today either other than a quick trip to the shops - but I do hope they've have had some deliveries now as I've almost run out of milk, and I can't go the whole day without tea or coffee! It's been really strange walking around the shop and seeing very little fruit, veg and dairy on the shelves. Fortunately, they must have had enough stores to keep the bakery going, but there were plenty of sections with very little left.

Much brighter today, there is still some snow around, but I think it'll be mostly gone by the end of the day, but probably not all gone, however, it does look like I'll be able to get my car out in the morning to go to work without having to dig it out!

I have all the books I own on a single spreadsheet, but they're categorised by various subjects such as fiction, YA, nature and there are some authors I'd like to read all their books so they have their own categories too. I've translated this onto my reading blog on the forum here, as well as adding some additional categories for a couple of book awards where I'll be reading the full list of nominations - Wainwright Prize for nature and travel writing and the Waterstones Children's Book Prize. For my wishlist of books, I keep that mostly on Amazon although I don't buy all of them there, but it's a useful reference when I'm in a bookshop too, although I tend to be an impulse buyer rather than planning too much.

Thanks @bobblybear! Hope it's a good reading year for you too. :)

No, fortunately he’s very reasonable, but worth every penny to be able to stay warm and have a shower again!

Still snowing, but it's much lighter now, and the wind has died down a bit two, so it's not drifting as much as it was yesterday. Still a good few inches outside, but I think the temperature is forecast to rise on Sunday so hopefully it will start melting then.

Had a nightmare yesterday when our boiler broke down, so we've had no hot water or heating for 24 hours. Luckily we've got a woodburner, so we had some heat last night but only in the one room. We've got a service and breakdown plan to cover the boiler, but because of the adverse weather they're busy at the moment and the earliest appointment we could get for an engineer was next Friday! That was only because we booked it online as well, as they closed their telephone emergency lines because they were "too busy" - not sure how they can get away with it since we pay for them to provide the service - that's the whole point of buying the service and breakdown plan. It's -3ºC with four to six inches of snow outside, and we desperately needed it fixed, so we are lucky that fortunately we managed to get a local plumber who we've used for other work to come out this afternoon, and we're back up and running now. Got sent home from work yesterday morning because of the oncoming storm, and got home just as the snow was starting to come down heavily and settle on the roads so have been working from home, but finished now for the weekend which will involve snuggling up cosily in the armchair and reading a book! I did venture out for a walk earlier to get my circulation going and get a bit of fresh air, and the local coffee shop was open so had a hot chocolate to warm up, but it sounded like their supplies might run out soon as they hadn't had a delivery today, so they'll probably have to close early. I know people joke that it's only a couple of inches of snow and it's laughable that we can't cope with it, but it probably only happens about once every five years or thereabouts in the part of England I live in, so there's no point investing in things like snow ploughs, as they would just sit unused for most of the time. On the whole, I think we're lucky and we survive quite well, but we do like a bit of a grumble at times too.

Finished The Last Wilderness by Neil Ansell this afternoon. Fantastic read and think it's a strong contender for the Wainwright Prize longlist this year. I've currently got two Kindle books on the go - The Ashes of London and Phantom Quartz and have started a paperback - This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada which is one of the older fiction nominated books on the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for this year.

Finished The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher yesterday evening. I still have The Ashes of London on the go, and am halfway through The Last Wilderness, but decided to start something light and easy at lunchtime, so I'm now reading Phantom Quartz by Barbra Annino for a bit of escapist fun

I was planning to go to the cinema tonight, but the snow forecast and a drive home over high country ground notorious for heavier snow than everywhere around it, I figure it's safer to stay home instead!

We had a power cut on Monday evening on and off for about four hours - fortunately we both had fully charged paper white kindle and a tablet, so we sat and read while the power was out! Weatherwise, we had about an inch of snow in a strong storm that lasted for about 15 minutes yesterday afternoon, and a couple of flurries today. Changed my plans for this evening to come straight home, and glad I did as it's just started snowing again quite heavily.

It looks like it might have been Chang by Elizabeth Morse (sometimes known as Chang the Siamese Elephant) but it's out of print and I only found one copy on Amazon UK here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chang-Elizabeth-Morse/dp/B000MXEC3G. I did also find a few more on AbeBooks.co.uk: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&an=elizabeth+morse&tn=chang&kn=&isbn=. None of them have a description of the book, but if you google "change the siamese elephant by elizabeth morse", some of the descriptions of the links seem to indicate it's what you're looking for. Hope that helps.

Dry, bright but cold

Orange hot chocolate

Finished Troublemakers by Catherine Barter last night, but forgot to take my reading glasses to work this morning, so I haven't read anything at all yet today! Hoping to rectify that this evening

I’ve got that book on my TBR shelf, so I’m pleased to hear you’re enjoying it. I’ve only read one of her children’s books so far, but she’s been on my favourite book podcast a few times and I saw her at a Q&A for a British film about women in the Second World War, that was an influence for her book, Their Finest Hour and a Half which itself was then adapted into a film, so I want to read her novels too.

I've got four books on the go at the moment. My armchair hardback book is The Last Wilderness by Neil Ansell, which I'll be starting today, then on Kindle for when I'm out and about and also my audiobook for in the car is The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor. I've actually started two paperbacks - The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher for my book group, and Troublemakers by Catherine Barter from the older fiction category of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize. It's shaping up to a good reading week with these books!

My final read of the younger fiction category was Kid Normal by Greg James and Chris Smith. Since Murph's parents split up, his mum has had a series of jobs, none of which have lasted a year, meaning Murph has had to move house every year, starting again at a new school and trying to make new friends. After their latest move, his mum is struggling to find a place for him at a local school, when almost by accident, they come across The School, and when his mum begs the headteacher to accept Murph into the school, a misunderstanding leads to him getting a place. From the first class, Murph realises there is something different about his new school, and finds it's a school for children with exceptional skills. How does a normal boy survive in a school where kids can fly or control the weather? The authors of this book are radio presenters in the UK, and I suspect a lot of the press coverage was down to this initially. The story itself is actually not too bad. It's a fish out of water story but unusually, it turns the idea of an exceptional child being the novelty in a normal school on its head, and makes the ordinary child the focus. This is probably the only selling point of the story that makes it different from similar books, but it's well done and the illustrations by Erica Salcedo are brilliant. It is funny and fast-paced, with a few nice twists, and sets up the characters nicely for a series of future adventures. On the downside, I thought the jokes were sometimes a bit obvious and maybe will date the book in the future as they are very much pop culture references that won't make sense in years to come, and I did roll my eyes a few times instead of chuckling, but this again, might be my age and the target audience will find them original and funny. A good story and an entertaining read.

Back to the children's books and it was The Legend of Podkin One-Ear by Kieran Larwood next. This story in a story, told by a travelling bard who narrates the tale of how Podkin One-Ear becomes the legend of his world. Podkin is the son of the chieftain who has lives a comfortable (and slightly lazy) life, until the night the Grom warriors arrive and kill his father, so his mother sends him and his siblings away giving Podkin a dagger telling him to keep it hidden. With his older sister Paz and his younger brother Pook, Podkin embarks on a quest to escape the Grom, and encounters witches, thieves and old soldiers along the way. I'm not the biggest fan of anthropomorphised animal stories, even in children's stories, and I think that affected my enjoyment of this book. The story feels like a run-of-the-mill fairy tale, and I thought was pretty predictable. Of course, if you're a child and the books' target audience, then you might not have read one of these type of stories before, and it might be exciting and suspenseful. It was an easy enough read, and a good story, but it just felt old fashioned and a bit unoriginal for me, and certainly wouldn't stand out as exceptional enough to make it worthy of a place on this awards list, however, I'm obviously in the minority as the book has already garnered other awards. It's clearly the start of a series of books, but not one I'll be following.

Again, copied from my blog: I decided to listen to the audiobook of Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters from my Round Robin challenge list. It's been quite a timely listen as it's the 20th anniversary of the book being first published, so I've listened to a feature about it on a radio programme, and read a few articles in newspapers about it too. I have read The Night Watch by the same author, and have always meant to try more of her books, but this is the first one I've read. Tipping the Velvet was seen as a turning point for lesbian literature, making it into the mainstream of publishing, and was revolutionary in its time. It follows the story of Nancy, set in the late 19th century from her working class roots through her brief career in the music halls and then her life beyond. Told in the first person, it makes Nan's story very intimate and while the focus is obviously on her life from discovering her sexuality through the emotional journey of first love before her life takes a very different turn, it also takes us through the seedier side of London. Waters admits now that the research of the period was not as thorough as it could have been and she's much more careful about that now, but this was her first novel and it certainly made her name and gave her the stepping off point to become an author. What this means, however, is that this is a very entertaining romp, but it does make you wonder how true this interpretation of Victorian lesbian life really is, and while there are some gritty, nasty moments in there, it does seem a bit of an idealised story. Nan is a fantastic narrator, but at times you do feel she is very selfish and self involved, but she does have a charming epiphany at the end of the book, albeit a bit of a pat resolution of her story. I have to admit that due to my typically British reserved nature, I did find it a bit embarrassing listening to the audio book during some of the graphic sex scenes and I should maybe have read instead of listened at times, but the end result was a sexy, romantic romp, that entertained me enormously.

I decided to listen to the audiobook of Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters from my Round Robin challenge list. It's been quite a timely listen as it's the 20th anniversary of the book being first published, so I've listened to a feature about it on a radio programme, and read a few articles in newspapers about it too. I have read The Night Watch by the same author, and have always meant to try more of her books, but this is the first one I've read. Tipping the Velvet was seen as a turning point for lesbian literature, making it into the mainstream of publishing, and was revolutionary in its time. It follows the story of Nancy, set in the late 19th century from her working class roots through her brief career in the music halls and then her life beyond. Told in the first person, it makes Nan's story very intimate and while the focus is obviously on her life from discovering her sexuality through the emotional journey of first love before her life takes a very different turn, it also takes us through the seedier side of London. Waters admits now that the research of the period was not as thorough as it could have been and she's much more careful about that now, but this was her first novel and it certainly made her name and gave her the stepping off point to become an author. What this means, however, is that this is a very entertaining romp, but it does make you wonder how true this interpretation of Victorian lesbian life really is, and while there are some gritty, nasty moments in there, it does seem a bit of an idealised story. Nan is a fantastic narrator, but at times you do feel she is very selfish and self involved, but she does have a charming epiphany at the end of the book, albeit a bit of a pat resolution of her story. I have to admit that due to my typically British reserved nature, I did find it a bit embarrassing listening to the audio book during some of the graphic sex scenes and I should maybe have read instead of listened at times, but the end result was a sexy, romantic romp, that entertained me enormously.

The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson is the only book in the younger fiction category that is a contemporary story with no fantastical elements, and in my opinion was one of the best books on the list. It follows Matthew, who at twelve years old, has become virtually housebound due to crippling OCD. He knows the reason for it - he believes he killed his younger brother by passing on his germs - but he's told no-one, and his parents don't understand why it's happened or how to help him. This has led to him keeping watch on the road where he lives and keeping records of the coming and goings outside his window, so when a toddler goes missing from the garden of the house next door, Matthew may have crucial information to the investigation. The story of Matthew is heartbreaking, especially as he reveals more about the death of his brother throughout the story, and what is even more unexpected, is how all of the other characters are developed from the two-dimensional first impressions from Matthew's observations and records, to have their own stories come to life and become real people. I'm not ashamed to say I wept at one chapter towards the end, but the ending of the book is completely optimistic without being unbelievable, and it's the first book I've read with a lead character with this sort of illness who is a child, and I thought it dealt with it absolutely brilliantly. A strong contender for my favourite for this category.

I'd almost bought A Place Called Perfect by Helena Duggan when it was a Waterstones children's book of the month, but I wasn't sure about it and thought I might come back to it another time, and then lo and behold, it appeared on the younger fiction category so I had to pick it up sooner rather than later! It's a bit of an odd story. Violet and her parents move to a new town after her dad is headhunted for his skills as an ophthalmologist. The town is called Perfect, and all the residents have been struck by an affliction where they go blind, and have to wear special glasses to restore their sight. Within 24 hour of arriving in the town, exactly this happens to Violet and her mum and dad. But that's not all that's odd. Violet soon discovers that the children are all very well behaved, and a little bit odd ... and so are the adults. It's not long before her mum is also acting like a model wife and citizen, and doesn't seem bothered that her husband has gone missing. When Violet meets Boy, the two of them set out to try and find her dad and figure out the mysterious goings on in the town of Perfect. This is definitely an original idea! The thought of going blind terrifies me, despite the fact that spectacles restores the sight of the residents, I found the whole story with elements of the Bodysnatchers and Stepford Wives, a bit creepy. Initially, I found the dialogue a bit different and I couldn't quite put my finger on why, but when I found out the author was Irish, I could then put the voices in context and it worked much better. It was an enjoyable read, and there are a couple of storylines that I could predict who people were and how their story would play out, but I suspect that's more because I'm a seasoned reader, and that children probably wouldn't see the same tropes that I could. Another good read.