chesilbeach Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 Prudence by Gail Carriger Synopsis (from amazon.co.uk): On behalf of Queen, country … and the perfect pot of tea. When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama (Rue to her friends) is given an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female would under similar circumstances - names it the Spotted Custard and floats to India in pursuit of the perfect cup of tea. But India has more than just tea on offer. Rue stumbles upon a plot involving local dissidents, a kidnapped brigadier's wife and some awfully familiar Scottish werewolves. Faced with a dire crisis and an embarrassing lack of bloomers, what else is a young lady of good breeding to do but turn metanatural and find out everyone's secrets, even thousand-year-old fuzzy ones? Review: I loved this book. Set about twenty years after the Parasol Protectorate, it starts with some of the same characters as we are introduced to the next generation, and then these modern young things take off and it's full steam ahead! I can't say too much about them really, as it might give away plot points from the previous series, but I just adored being back in a steampunk Victorian society, and off on my travels with Rue and her friends. There's plenty of supernatural activity, with some new characters to meet, some interesting obstacles to overcome, and a hint of romance, all with a cheeky sense of humour to boot. It's all quite tame as supernatural books go, but for me, it's perfect escapism. I'm currently listening to the Parasol Protectorate series on audiobook again, I love Carriger's characters and the world she has created, and I will definitely be getting Prudence on audiobook when it comes out too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 3, 2015 Author Share Posted April 3, 2015 Heap House by Edward Carey Synopsis (from amazon.co.uk): The Iremongers have taken up what was not wanted and wanted it. Clod is an Iremonger. He lives in the Heaps, a vast sea of lost and discarded items collected from all over London. At the centre is Heap House, a puzzle of houses, castles, homes and mysteries reclaimed from the city and built into a living maze of staircases and scurrying rats. The Iremongers are a mean and cruel family, robust and hardworking, but Clod has an illness. He can hear the objects whispering. His birth object, a universal bath plug, says 'James Henry', Cousin Tummis's tap is squeaking 'Hilary Evelyn Ward-Jackson' and something in the attic is shouting 'Robert Burrington' and it sounds angry. A storm is brewing over Heap House. The Iremongers are growing restless and the whispers are getting louder. When Clod meets Lucy Pennant, a girl newly arrived from the city, everything changes. The secrets that bind Heap House together begin to unravel to reveal a dark truth that threatens to destroy Clod's world. Review: I've already mentioned in a previous review, that I think I may have over done the YA books a bit recently, so this may be a contributing factor in my feelings about Heap House. I read 142 pages (about a third) of the book, but I've decided to give up on it. I feel like the story still hasn't go going, but I also don't feel any emotional connection to the characters. I know it's a fantasy and it's fiction, but it seems so unbelievable, and despite the beautiful drawings of the map of the house at the beginning, I can't get a sense of place about the book either. It looked so promising from the cover and the blurb, but I've had enough, and I'm not going to finish it. My second abandoned book of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 8, 2015 Author Share Posted April 8, 2015 I finally finished a book this month! Celia was fascinating, and I'll write a proper review later, but it was very good. A great start to my E. H. Young reading I've picked my next book from the Jar of Destiny … The World That Was Ours by Hilda Bernstein. This is one of my Persephone books, so the jar is definitely helping me with my various challenges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 I know I've said this before, but we have such different tastes in books, but I just love your selections and reviews, its almost like I can read with you Look forward to your thoughts on Celia! I still have The Dynamite Room from your review that I hope to get to soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 Thank you, Anna, what a lovely thing to say. We do have very different tastes in a lot of books, but at least we overlap occasionally and find something we can both enjoy! One of the best bits of being on the forum is finding out about books I'd never even pick up myself. Celia review will probably be written at the weekend, but I've started The World That Was Ours this morning, and it's utterly compelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 Just happened to be browsing my wish list and saw that a couple of M. C. Beaton Regency Romances had dropped to half price, so I couldn't resist the Buy now button Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 I hope you enjoy them ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 What a great review of The Dark Tourist! This one's going on my wishlist (And they have a copy at the library I go to, wow!) I know Joly from Trigger Happy TV, and associate him, as many do, with the huge mobile phone making pretend calls in quiet places, but that was quite a while ago now, and now you're more likely to find him with his young family in the Cotswolds. Most of his travels are not for the faint-hearted, but even travelling to the US can be difficult for a British national born in the Lebanon, and some of the countries he's visited, don't make for an easy entrance into the States with those visas stamped in your passport. I don't travel that much, and very seldom by plane, but I've watched reality shows about border security and stuff and what with terrorist attacks and all the things happening in our crazy world these days... And it's just so sad how such a simple thing as one's skin color can lead to different sort of treatment in some places. And it's not like that problem hasn't existed before, but it's like we were getting ready for a new millennium and maybe we were all a bit more tolerant about each other and times had changed a bit, but now these new problems have taken us many decades back. If that makes any sense. As a white woman with fair hair and blue eyes, I probably have it so easy and don't even realize it most of the time. Watching the border security programs, some people told the cameras how they are picked out for a security check up maybe 1 out of 3 times they travel, and that's just because of how they look and the places they travel from/to. Onto a less serious subject... Dom Joly!! That's a blast from the past I watched Trigger Happy back in the day when it was shown on TV. I don't know anyone except for one other person besides me who's watched the show and nobody ever knew what we were talking about when we laughed at the stunts Joly pulled on the show The huge mobile phone thing was not my favorite, but it's the one me and my friend remember the best. And what's more, it was a Nokia ringtone and it's the most classic ringtone if you ask a Finn and that's the ringtone everyone knows. Many people used to have it on their cell phones a decade or two ago... And whenever me and my friend would hear it, we'd crack up and start taking about Joly Gosh, the nostalgia! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 It wasn't a big success at my book group, frankie. I think most of the group were too old to appreciate the humour, and the one member who is younger than me doesn't like Dom Joly, so she was never going to enjoy it. Most felt he was childish, selfish and a bit disrespectful at times. If you do read it, I'll be interested to hear what you think (as always ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 It wasn't a big success at my book group, frankie. I think most of the group were too old to appreciate the humour, and the one member who is younger than me doesn't like Dom Joly, so she was never going to enjoy it. Most felt he was childish, selfish and a bit disrespectful at times. If you do read it, I'll be interested to hear what you think (as always ). Aww, that's a shame that most didn't enjoy it all that much. I guess Dom Joly might be an acquired taste. Going by your review, though, I guess I would hardly think he's selfish and disrespectful because the premise is that he wants to travel to places all the commoners wouldn't set their foot on... Yes, I'll be interested to know how I would personally like the book, too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 Some of my favourite sketches of Trigger Happy TV were the ones where he pretended to be a park keeper and chatted to the public, or perhaps the interviews with politicians but the huge mobile phone sketches were absolute classics. I think it had a short shelf life though, as after one series, it was difficult for him to be inconspicuous as his face was too well known. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Gosh, now that you talk about specific 'bits' he did, I realize how very little I remember of the shows! I do remember that his face was never all that clearly shown. I mean we didn't get to see him up close. Maybe that was a very conscious decision, so that there could be more seasons... I don't know, you say his face was well known, but for some reason I keep thinking I never got a good look at him And I never googled or anything... 'A short shelf life', thanks for that, I'll have to remember that expression Mind you, whenever I think of Dom Joly, I see the face of Nick Frost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 I've just finished The World That Was Ours, and another review I'll write up later.The Jar of Destiny has thrown out another E. H. Young book to me … this time it's The Curate's Wife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 Celia by E. H. Young Synopsis: This is a portrait of marriage and disillusionment. Celia is tired of marital life. Years ago she fell in love with someone else and this memory sustains her. Now, she stands aside while her relatives - themselves caught up in ill-suited marriages - prey on one another's misdemeanours. Review: First of all, I should say that this is a Virago Classics book that is now out of print. It was first published in the 1930s, my edition was republished in the late 1980s. My interest in E. H. Young comes because although born in Northumberland, she moved to Bristol after she was married and most of her books are set in Clifton, the now suburb of Bristol, although fictionalised as Upper Radstowe. I lived in Clifton for a while during my early twenties, and I can recognise a lot of the places she talks about, as it hasn't changed much since then other than that most of the houses have been converted to flats. Anyway, Celia is a character driven story, focusing on the lives of the Celia and her extended family over a short period of time. There is little plot as such, but enough to give you an insight in to the daily life of middle and upper middle class women in the middle 1930s (i.e. before the war). Each has their own dissatisfactions with their lives, but each hide behind the veneer they've created for themselves. Celia has married a man who she doesn't love, although she loves her two children with him, but has tried to make the best of her lot, and feels the tedium and relentless duties of domestic life. The book really centres on love and relationships, and I was amazed at how open Young is about Celia's feelings on marital relations, and her role as a wife - it felt as if it could have been written today as a historical piece, and it has feminist ideals at its heart, and isn't afraid to portray the oppression of women. But it's not a book that puts women on a pedestal - Celia is contemptuous of the women in her family and this is not a show of female solidarity. I found the book needed concentration, and was a slow but absorbing read, and I'm looking forward to the other E. H. Young books on my shelf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 (edited) Celia sounds like a book I may enjoy.. I'll pop It on the ol' wish list! Edited April 12, 2015 by chaliepud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 Great review Claire Sounds like the sort of book that Persephone publishes. I'll look out for it .. and E.H. Young's books in general. I like books that are about the sort of ordinariness of life. I'm happier, in a way, when there's not much plot (all that dashing about exhausts me ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 13, 2015 Author Share Posted April 13, 2015 I hope you can both find it but like I said, it's out of print, so it'll be either library (if you're lucky, but mine doesn't have it … well, there is one in the system but it's a hardback edition and only available at the central reference library, so not for loan) or second hand book shops. Unfortunately, it's not mine to loan, otherwise I'd let you borrow it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 I think Amazon have got used copies .. I did have a look yesterday. I like having books to find though .. in charity shops etc (especially the Oxfam bookshop which has a wider variety of second hand books and lots of old classics.) It is like a treasure hunt xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 Just finished The Curate's Wife (which I'll review properly at the weekend, but I loved it!) and gone back to the Jar of Destiny for my next read … it's decided it's time for me to try One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper. I started it last year, and got to page 76 and gave up on it, but I'm hoping maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it, so fingers crossed I get on better this time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 (edited) *fingers crossed and thumbs up* That's the one Tropper book I haven't yet read, so I'll be keeping a keen eye on how you get along with it this time! Edit: Wow, I just discovered I was talking out of my arse. He's written more books! It's just that they didn't have them all at the Joensuu library and so I guess I started thinking that he hadn't written more Hurrah, now there's plenty more of his books to read Edited April 15, 2015 by frankie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 I think I've said before that I read How To Talk To A Widower which I absolutely loved (I can still remember sitting on the harbour wall in Padstow with tears pouring down my face ), so I really want to like this one too, but I just wasn't bothered by it the first time I picked it up. To be fair to it, based on the blurb at the back, I haven't got to the guts of the story yet, so I think I just need to give it more time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 I'm glad that you haven't judge the book by your first try and are going in with an open mind. Sure, it helps that you've loved on of his previous novels I know we've discussed this before, but just to refresh your memory (and after you've read OLTBIG): I loved This Is Where I Leave You, it was really funny, and I liked it better than How To Talk To a Widower I've actually ordered the movie from the library, too. Can't wait to watch it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 I've just read another 50 pages, and I'm already enjoying it far more than the first time around … won't be giving up on it again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 I've just read another 50 pages, and I'm already enjoying it far more than the first time around … won't be giving up on it again! Excellent news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 I struggled to put it down in the end. Read it yesterday evening, during my lunch break and polished it off when I got home from work. Loved it.. Review to follow at the weekend (hopefully). Next pick from the jar is … The Gallery of Vanished Husbands by Natasha Solomons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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