poppyshake

Just because of the Boosh connection, I've got to say Tundra! Fagin or Magwitch?

I'm wanting to read this, it's extremely moving by all accounts. I saw a documentary about her a year or so again and have been meaning to read her book since. Look forward to reading your thoughts.

Roast leg of lamb, roast potatoes, peas and gravy .. and it was far too hot for it but I had already committed to cooking it. As well as red wine the gravy had a good half pint of sweat in it I reckon.

Absolute rubbish reading day. Spent the day relaxing on a sun-lounger and should have read but the radio was on, and then the golf, and I couldn't concentrate. Did listen to some more of Inkdeath on my ipod though, it's getting exciting.

Girl in a Blue Dress - Gaynor Arnold Book Blurb Synopsis: Alfred Gibson's funeral has taken place at Westminster Abbey, and his wife of twenty years, Dorothea, has not been invited. Dorothea is comforted by her feisty daughter Kitty, until an invitation for a private audience with Queen Victoria arrives, and she begins to examine her own life more closely. She uncovers the deviousness and hypnotic power of her celebrity author husband. But now Dodo will need to face her grown-up children, and worse, her redoubtable younger sister Sissy and the charming actress Miss Ricketts. In Alfred Gibson, the fierce energy and brilliance of the most famous of the Victorian novelists is recreated, in a heart warming story of first love - of a cocky young writer smitten by a pretty girl in a blue dress. Review: Another historical fiction book, this time about Charles Dickens (re-named Alfred Gibson) and, more importantly, his wife Catherine (here called Dorothea, or more commonly Dodo). I read Peter Ackroyd's book on Dickens last year and so was fairly familiar with the story of Catherine. She was married to Dicken's for twenty two years and bore him ten children. But towards the latter half of their marriage, the things he had once found so attractive in her - her placid temperament and docile nature .. have begun to irk him, he now thinks her dull, stupid and lazy. This coupled by the fact that she has been worn down by the birth of their ten children (he is constantly irritated at her for becoming pregnant .. as if she is all to blame) and has become plump and matronly, leads to him cutting her out of his life, and as far as possible, their children's. The novel follows this line pretty closely, Alfred Gibson (or the 'One and Only' or 'Great Original' as he is called, mostly by himself) has just died, and his widow is reflecting on their life together. The chapters are a mixture of flashback and present day (though of course, present day is sometime in the 1870's), Dorothea thinks back to the time when Alfred first courted her and how, when they were forbidden to continue seeing each other by her parent's, they set up a clandestine correspondence, using a hole in the garden wall as a postbox, and Dodo's younger sister Alice, as their postman. Back in the present day, Dorothea has not been invited to Alfred's funeral, she sits in the modest room's that she has lived in ever since Alfred persuaded her, ten years or so ago, that they would be better living apart ... 'I fear Dodo, that we were never made for each other from the beginning, and with each year we become more unsuited'. Dorothea, hoping that their separation was going to be of short duration, and that his obsession with the actress, Miss Ricketts would soon be over, agreed to leave. 'Two days later I left my house for the last time. I went out by the side door while it was still dark. My belongings - such as they were - were already in the carriage. No servants were yet up except Bessie (who stood in her nightgown at the doorway, a handkerchief pressed to her face) and John the coachman, who was silent as usual. No other member of the household was awake. Alfred was not at home.' The only people who she has had constant contact with since then are her daughter Kitty, who following an unsuitable marriage has fallen out with her father, and Dorothea and Alfred's old friend Michael O'Rourke. Kitty is in a wild temper after the funeral, absolutely incensed that her mother should have been kept away from it and that his 'blessed public' should have so overtaken it. Alfred was a literary genius and a tireless campaigner for those less fortunate. He was also vain, punctilious, sarcastic, insensitive, exacting, flirtatious and arrogant. He was extremely sharp and witty but could sometimes use this wit to hurt or belittle others. He was a total control freak and couldn't endure anything which didn't go according to his plans and wishes. Dickens I know shared many of these attributes, but I don't think he was quite as bad as Alfred, he would've been completely insufferable if he had been. I have to admit that Alfred was another literary figure that I wanted to 'box the ears of' (that makes three in a row!). Dorothea tries to look for ways in which she can reassure herself that the love Alfred once showed her was real, she is wife now in name only. She cannot bear to think ill of him, she tries to justify his actions and quell the bitter resentment that she feel's. This leads her, after his death, to visit her sister Sissy who has long since usurped her as matriarch of the family and who chose to stay on with Alfred after Dorothea left, and Miss Ricketts, the young actress who Alfred had for many years been so enamoured with, and who Dorothea believes to have been his mistress. As well as being about Dickens, it has all the flavour of a Dicken's novel, though not much of their complexity it has to be said. Gaynor Arnold has invented some new characters and new situations (including, following Alfred's death, a visit by Dorothea to Queen Victoria) but there is a lot here that will be familiar to anybody who has read a Dicken's biography. I remember feeling a great sadness for Catherine when I read that after the separation she used to buy her own copy of Charles's new books and would write and tell him how much she enjoyed them only to receive back terse little notes of acknowledgment. She also, upon her deathbed, urged her daughter Kate to give her collection of Charles's letters to the British Museum, that the world might know 'he loved me once'. I felt similarly sad here for Dodo, publicly humiliated and estranged from those she loved. It's hugely readable but you can't help but feel that some of the fictionalised situations are highly unlikely . 7/10

What have you got lined up Michelle .. audiobook-wise? At the moment I'm listening to 'Inkdeath' (it's good, but I read the other two books and the narrators voices are completely different to the one's I'd made up in my head, takes some getting used to), I've also got 'Wolf Hall' to come and 'The Poisonwood Bible'.

You're fine then phew! (and a food related insult ... fantastic ) I never found out how Nan made the cheese dip .. by the time I got into cooking she'd departed this world. My Mum, may God forgive her (I can't) never got the recipe We've attempted it, based on what we thought she did, and it's been good, but not the same.

On my belly, I have vivid nightmares if I sleep on my back. Ice Cream or Sorbet?

I always think .. 'my Nan wouldn't have thrown this out' (but then she would never have heard of sour cream and chive dip .. or dip of any kind for that matter .. she made cheese dip, but it was hot and cooked in bacon fat). I read somewhere that if a jar of Jam/Marmalade has mould in it just scrape the first few centimetres out and it's fine, it's only usually where the butter knife has contaminated it. I couldn't eat some Jersey Royals yesterday because they'd gone green within the space of a few days (because of the warm weather I guess) and green means poisonous. The thing is Giulia, you're still alive, that much we know, but has your grey matter been impaired in any way? What's the first thing that comes into your head if I say ... Dan Brown?

Of all frustrating things my delivery came complete except for one item, the World Cup crisps .. and they had charged me for them as well (bet the delivery driver ate them!). I've now got something called an 'evoucher' but .. no crisps Obviously I'm going to have to do it the old fashioned way now.

Amenable Women - Mavis Cheek read by Joanna David Waterstones Synopsis: Flora Chapman is in her fifties when her husband dies in a bizarre ballooning accident. Seizing upon her new found freedom, she decides to finish the history of their village that Edward had begun. A reference to Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife who he rejected for being ugly, captures her imagination as she begins to delve deeper into the life of this neglected figure. Meanwhile, in the Louvre, Holbein's portrait of Anne of Cleves senses the tug of a connection and she begins to tell the story of the injustices she suffered and just how she survived her marriage. Review: This was a fairly enjoyable listen. I wasn't so taken with the story of Flora but was absolutely fascinated by Anne of Cleves's story (albeit a fictionalised account), without her narrative the book would have been a bit 'aga saga-ry', though, as always, Mavis Cheek writes with a great deal of humour. After her husband Edward's death, Flora decides to finish his history of their village. Amongst his notes, she reads about a local estate which was granted to Anne of Cleves as part of her divorce settlement from King Henry VIII. Flora is incensed to read that Edward has written, as part of his description of Anne, the words 'Flanders Mare', this reminds her too much of Henry's pet name for her, the rather derogatory 'Bun Face'. She decides to find out as much as she can about this much maligned Queen. Flora knows of old the tale of Henry VIII being much taken with the Holbein portrait of Anne of Cleves, on the strength of it he proposed and was accepted. He was rather less taken with her when they eventually met in Canterbury. 'I Like Her Not' he was reported as saying which was putting it mildly, there was a whole catalogue of complaints, he found her ugly, repulsive and smelly (this was rich coming from a man who was obese, balding and with an ulcerated leg whose smell, had it belonged to any ordinary man, could clear a room in twenty seconds). The marriage went ahead however, Henry couldn't quite extricate himself without disappointing his public and, more importantly, reneging on his treaty with Cleves. It was not to last though, Henry could not endure it, after a few months he called upon his 'good friend' Thomas Cromwell to arrange for the marriage to be annulled. His good friend's head came off soon after. Flora decides to visit the portrait which is now housed in the Louvre (apparently we have Oliver Cromwell to thank for this, as well as banning Christmas he sold off the royal art collection .. though Stephen Fry will probably inform me soon that it's all hogwash). She learns from the tour guide that Anne was actually named Anna, but soon the same old story is being repeated and the words 'Flanders Mare' rear their ugly head again. Flora is annoyed, Holbein was known to be no flatterer and when Flora looks at the painting she see's a quiet beauty and intelligence there. She ends up having a rather public disagreement with the tour guide, it's almost as if the portrait has come to life and is talking through her. She has indeed made a connection, and following Flora's visit, Anna begins to tell us her true story (or as true as a fictionalised account can be), her own revulsion at the sight of England's Golden Prince, her private refutation of all his accusations. He had professed that on their wedding night she 'was no maid', that she was unintelligent, ugly, slow and clumsy. But these were not views shared by any of the other people that had come to know Anna. In fact, considering Henry's track record with wives, how she acted next was of paramount importance to her well being. A less intelligent woman would have probably ended up headless, but Anna, fully aware of the dire situation she was in, gracefully withdrew. She couldn't go back to Cleves, so she stayed here, acquiesced with all of Henry's wishes, knelt before his new Queen, Catherine Howard, barely a few months after her own wedding, and took on the role of the King's 'sister'. She ended up with a handsome divorce settlement consisting of houses - including Richmond Palace - jewels, and a more than adequate annual income. She was one of the few people to remain on good terms with all of Henry's children, especially Mary and Elizabeth, and was welcome at court. She was in fact, like Flora, a very amenable woman. Here are the two portraits, both by Holbein, of Henry's most beloved wife, Jane Seymour (right) and his least preferred wife (before the heads rolled anyway) Anna of Cleves. Apart from the fact that Jane's portrait has been restored and is so much brighter, I can't see that she was any more beautiful than Anna. And though he didn't necessarily love Jane for her beauty, he obviously wasn't repulsed by her. I have a bit of a fascination with all things Tudor so in that respect this book was a bit of a treat. I did have to suspend an awful lot of disbelief when, later in the book, at a London exhibition, the portraits of Anna, Elizabeth I and Mary I conversed with one another, also Flora's daughter needed a slap (violent feelings towards literary characters is becoming a bit of a habit with me) and Joanna David's narration was patchy but, on the whole a fascinating insight into Tudor times. 8/10

Thanks Nic, aah you see, that's where brains are handy I struggled with it for too long. Common sense should have prevailed but it stepped in embarrassingly late.

Finished Brooklyn and started Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold, I like a bit of historical fiction now and then.

Doh, I never thought of that, just clicking with your mouse is obviously not quite as effective as walking down the aisles. As soon as I saw the words 'Walkers' and 'World Cup' that was it, they were in my basket. Still, there's always next week, thanks Giulia

Brooklyn - Colm Tóibín Waterstones Synopsis: It is Ireland in the early 1950s and for Eilis Lacey, as for so many young Irish girls, opportunities are scarce. So when her sister arranges for her to emigrate to New York, Eilis knows she must go, leaving behind her family and her home for the first time. Arriving in a crowded lodging house in Brooklyn, Eilis can only be reminded of what she has sacrificed. She is far from home - and homesick. And just as she takes tentative steps towards friendship, and perhaps something more, Eilis receives news which sends her back to Ireland. There she will be confronted by a terrible dilemma - a devastating choice between duty and one great love. Review: Having read and loved Maeve Binchy and Marian Keyes's books I was looking forward to this one. I love a bit of literary Irish charm and humour. It's quite an old fashioned story set in the 1950's about Eilis who emigrates to Brooklyn USA. Her family want a better life for her, and when Eilis takes a temporary job in a shop in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, alarm bells ring in the heads of her mother and sister, they want more for her than a life spent behind a shop counter and before Eilis knows it she is embarking on a journey that will take her to America. At first she finds it hard to settle in, everything is new and strange to her and she doesn't make friends easily. And then she meets Tony. Tony is from Brooklyn but his parents are Italian, soon he and Eilis are meeting several times a week and becoming closer and closer, she's also studying hard for her book-keeping exams. But just as she begins to really settle and enjoy being in America, she receives terrible news from home. I had a bit of trouble warming to Eilis, firstly her name,I couldn't think how to pronounce it, everytime I read it on the page I stumbled over it which got in the way of the text. I should have just googled it, I did when I was halfway through and found that it is pronounced Aylish (although there are variations) and I was happier once I'd got this into my brain. But also she seemed a bit of a cold fish, a bit wishy-washy. I was perplexed by some of her actions, she made me at times want to shake her to get her to wake up. No disrespect to Colm Tóibín but she seemed to be a female character that was definitely written by a man, in as much as her feelings seemed to run only so deep and no deeper, there was no fathoming her. The story quietly hums along, it's not rivetting but it's very readable. It's a bit mundane in places, but Colm Toibin has a lovely descriptive style that seems to compensate for the lack of any real drama. At no point was I bored or wanting it to finish. I did feel though that some characters were not always fleshed out well, I wanted to know more about Eilis's sister Rose and her mam. However others, like Georgina who was only on the boat crossing, were fantastic (I'd love to have heard more from her) and there are some great gossipy characters. It's a bit of a contradiction of a book, nothing much happens and it's quite a simple tale but it's still compelling. I realise that this review sounds less than glowing and that's unfair to the book really because I did enjoy it, it kept me up late last night because I wanted to finish it. True to the rest of the story, there was no big ending and the temptation to throttle Eilis grew but it was consistent and oddly satisfying. 8/10

I loved Toni Collette in 'Muriels Wedding', one of my fave movies ever and she was just brilliant in it. Loved 'Catch 22' (though I heard it read, I didn't actually read it) .. I'm sure you'll love it Frankie, it's very funny. As Kylie says there are a lot of characters but once you've got them pegged, you'll be fine, it's hilarious actually.

Just ordered a multi-pack from Sainsbury's ... they only have some of the flavours though. Look forward to tasting them .

Well that's good to know, thanks You never know when choosing books at the library, you can only go by the blurb. Though I do go armed with a list I tend to diverge a bit (and this was one that wasn't on the list .. the title just jumped out at me).

Home cooked fish, chips and peas

That Henry VIII's fourth wife was actually called Anna of Cleves and not Anne (I guess they anglicised it). I don't know why but I thought that 'Pride and Prejudice' was Jane's first published novel, turn's out it was 'Sense and Sensibility'.

Visited the library today and chose ... Buddha Da - Anne Donavan Tatty - Christine Dwyer Hickey The Room of Lost Things - Stella Duffy Molly Fox's Birthday - Deirdre Madden The Still Point - Amy Sackville Mudbound - Hilary Jordan I'm always overly optimistic about the amount of books I can read in three weeks, I still have one that I had to renew ... 'Girl in the Blue Dress' and four from another library 'Love in the Time of Cholera', 'Ark Baby', 'Scottsboro' and 'The Color Purple' plus the one's on my shelf that are crying out to be read .... 'A Prayer for Owen Meany', 'Un Lun Dun', 'Anansi Boys', 'Possession', 'The Lovely Bones' and 'Everything is Illuminated' to name but six. Almost finished 'Brooklyn' by Colm T�n .. have got to a critical bit now.

Definitely keep persevering, I found it hard going at the start but I really loved it by the time I finished. It's not an easy read but it's worth the effort.

Bryn Williams got a dish through to the banquet didn't he? I'm sure he did.

I have, so far anyway, refused to read Twilight et al. And Danielle Steel, just seeing the covers brings me out in a cold sweat. You see swathes of them at boot fairs and charity shops, they're like Japanese knotweed, persistent but deadly. I've no idea why I've developed a prejudice against them, I think it may be due to an unfortunate quarter of an hour I spent sat in front of one of those mini-series of hers .... if I'd have watched paint dry it would've been more constructive. They're just not for me that's all.

Amazon keep telling me that I'd like that one so I'll be interested to see what you think of it when you've read it Kate.