i do apologise to those people who read my blog and who have tuned in to find nada. I have had a wobbly two weeks with the wound on my back and a headache produced by the humid weather and the fact that the part of Horley where I live has pollution at almost forbidden levels. this comes from an airport and several motorways. On Tuesdays I go with friends on a private bus (means we pay) to Brighton. It's such a treat to breathe fresh air and on wed. I go to Norfolk to Cley to visit my bro and his wife. A whole week of fresh air. Alas He hasn't a computer so again there will be a break but I'll blog tomorrow and then lots when I'm back and not 'gallavanting' as freind puts it.
My daughter and I went to Liverpool to see the Klimt at the Tate on the train I read what I feel will be my book of 2008 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel society'. Yesterday there was a whole article about this book which is set to be the runaway seller of the summer. It's just so sad that there will be no more books from this author. Apparently she was so modest this nearly didn't see the light of day.
I have been very disappointed with the Proms so far or maybe I've missed the best but I'm not thrilled by very modern music or jazz. The best music for the last two weeks has been on Classic FM.
I didn't realise when I saw @Miss Pettigrew lives for a Day' in HK that it wasn't released here. Now it is. I cannot recommend it highly enough. i just found it wonderful.
Have also just finished 'Lucia in Wartime' Tom Holt. This is a seemless 'take' on EH Benson and hilarious. Mapp and Lucia are even more vitriolic about each other and we discover that neither Lucia nor Pillson know how to make a cuppa. I wouldn't have credited it if years ago a customer of my dad's shop hadn't asked myself and my ex to go and stay with her mother because she was ex India and knew nothing. as atrained teacher i wasn't going to do that.It was asked in such an insulting manner too. Now I look back and laugh.
i'll write again tomorrow. My head has got the better of me. (not usually a whimp).
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Sunday, 20 July 2008
sunday salon
here we are again. what happens to the days between sunday and Sunday? Never have I known time to go so fast. i have heard some wonderful music this week on Classic FM. At 21.00 they play whole works. I especially enjoyed a symphony by Bizet which I'd never heard before. I tried to listen to the 'Proms' but didn't enjoy either Friday or Sat. I also think there are far better violinists than Kennedy.
read the 10th book in the Matthew Hervey series 'warrior' Alan Mallison.It is an interesting book but I can't get enthralled by Africa. this book is set during one of the first skirmishes with the the Zulus. I much prefer the books where Hervey is in India or Europe.
Have discovered a new thriller writer Elisabeth Corley and have her books from the library.She has sound plots, her characters develop and her writing style is elegant.
Also had and email from a publisher whom I'd emailed but never heard from. i do hope I have some books from them. these smaller publishers produce beautiful books. Hesperus books are an aesthetic joy.They also have a new series of Brief Lives and I have just finished Chekov for the 3rd time. It might be brief but there is so much in it. I hope to receive some more in this series. what is amazing is that not just the life has been discussed but the works too. I used not to enjoy short stories but since I began reading Mansfield and Chekov the genre has 'grown on me'.
This week randonj has been busy arranging a trip for three of us to Haworth in Sept.As a consequence I'm rereading both Juliet Barker books. Also reading about the Borgias to go with a crime through time I read and the Medicis because I have the biography of Isabella de Medici to review.
treated myself to a video of 'Sharpe's seige ' to go with the one's I have. 75p is all it cost.I know the series is on DVD but the cheapest I've seen was over a hundred pounds and when I finally have all the videos they will have cost me about £20 including postage.
Most od weather here today alternating between sun shining and dark clouds like imminent rain. There is also a cold wind. I love summers like this because Heat and I don't have a rapport. I swell and every part of me hurts, as well as a permanent headache. I could be the only person writing who often has 'seasonal affective disorder' in the summer.
Hope to be back tomorrow here. next weekend I shall be reporting on Liverpool and the Klimpt
Exhibition at the Tate there. I'm going with my daughter, a Deputy Head at a school in London. she breakas up on Wed. This is the first time we've done anything like this together and I'm really looking forward to it.
read the 10th book in the Matthew Hervey series 'warrior' Alan Mallison.It is an interesting book but I can't get enthralled by Africa. this book is set during one of the first skirmishes with the the Zulus. I much prefer the books where Hervey is in India or Europe.
Have discovered a new thriller writer Elisabeth Corley and have her books from the library.She has sound plots, her characters develop and her writing style is elegant.
Also had and email from a publisher whom I'd emailed but never heard from. i do hope I have some books from them. these smaller publishers produce beautiful books. Hesperus books are an aesthetic joy.They also have a new series of Brief Lives and I have just finished Chekov for the 3rd time. It might be brief but there is so much in it. I hope to receive some more in this series. what is amazing is that not just the life has been discussed but the works too. I used not to enjoy short stories but since I began reading Mansfield and Chekov the genre has 'grown on me'.
This week randonj has been busy arranging a trip for three of us to Haworth in Sept.As a consequence I'm rereading both Juliet Barker books. Also reading about the Borgias to go with a crime through time I read and the Medicis because I have the biography of Isabella de Medici to review.
treated myself to a video of 'Sharpe's seige ' to go with the one's I have. 75p is all it cost.I know the series is on DVD but the cheapest I've seen was over a hundred pounds and when I finally have all the videos they will have cost me about £20 including postage.
Most od weather here today alternating between sun shining and dark clouds like imminent rain. There is also a cold wind. I love summers like this because Heat and I don't have a rapport. I swell and every part of me hurts, as well as a permanent headache. I could be the only person writing who often has 'seasonal affective disorder' in the summer.
Hope to be back tomorrow here. next weekend I shall be reporting on Liverpool and the Klimpt
Exhibition at the Tate there. I'm going with my daughter, a Deputy Head at a school in London. she breakas up on Wed. This is the first time we've done anything like this together and I'm really looking forward to it.
Friday, 11 July 2008
in Suffolk
Well I eventually arrived in Ipswich on Wednesday but what a day to travel! I don't think the rain stop even for a minute and yet yesterday was so different.we do have a rich variety of weather.
I read 'The Nativity' by Geza Vermes. He is a Professor at I believe Oxford and also a Jew so that is the angle he approaches Jesus. In this book he discusses the differences and discrepancies between the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. He seems to conclude that the Nativity stories were'add-ons' rather than intrinsic parts of the Gospels.I found it very interesting to think about issues he raises. I have never thought that Mary was forever virgin and therefore so was Joseph. I think my Church(I'm RC) has always had a problem with sex and sexuality and not acknowledging that Jesus had brothers and sisters is one manifestation of this.
Now reading one of my cousin's books. She is a properly qualified psychotherapist/Counselor.This is one of those books which seems to suggest all illness is caused by ones self which is very dangerous and not true, I think attitude can affect the severity and duration of an illness but on the whole I don't think imbalance in the soul causes all illnesses.
I read 'The Nativity' by Geza Vermes. He is a Professor at I believe Oxford and also a Jew so that is the angle he approaches Jesus. In this book he discusses the differences and discrepancies between the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. He seems to conclude that the Nativity stories were'add-ons' rather than intrinsic parts of the Gospels.I found it very interesting to think about issues he raises. I have never thought that Mary was forever virgin and therefore so was Joseph. I think my Church(I'm RC) has always had a problem with sex and sexuality and not acknowledging that Jesus had brothers and sisters is one manifestation of this.
Now reading one of my cousin's books. She is a properly qualified psychotherapist/Counselor.This is one of those books which seems to suggest all illness is caused by ones self which is very dangerous and not true, I think attitude can affect the severity and duration of an illness but on the whole I don't think imbalance in the soul causes all illnesses.
Monday, 7 July 2008
Monday musings2
Once again missed Sunday but like last week I had a very bad day and it's all I can do to stay alive when I feel so low. I think I had done too much for three weeks and that set it off. It's on the wane but not completely gone but that is also because of the weather. It's so wet and cold but I refuse to put heating on in JULY.
Have found a good new thriller writer called Elizabeth Corley. I read 'Requiem Mass' liked it so much I 've orderede more from the library. Crawley Library is amazing. I no sooner think of a book order it than it's there. I collected 9 books today most only ordered last week.
Also finished 'A Dangerous Liaison:Beauvoir and Sartre' Carole Seymour-Jones.Not only did I learn nothing new. I've read everything available on these two but it wasn't a patch on Deidre Bair. I know Seymour-Jones was dealing with both of them and I feel that that is probably what didn't work since they were both larger than life. They also have become their own legend.This book possibly had more about sex in it and very little about the works.Sad to say neither B or S seemed to have any moral sense whatsoever. I also feel that some of this is because really neither one grew up. One must at some stage in life consider others and the effect one might be having.
As a counter balance I read 2 brilliant crime through time novels by Ariana Franklin. The first 'Mistress of the Art of Death' was set in 1261 and is based round a Dr from Salerno, who has studied forensic science. the surprise is that she is a woman. Henry 11 is so thrilled with her that he won't let her go home and the second book 'Death Maze' is her next adventure, trying to prove who killed Rosamund Clifford and whether it was really Eleonor.
a translated thriller was 'The man with the lead stomach ' Jean-Francois Parot. This was good but I think would have been even better in French. Problem is it's hard to get up to date foreign language books from the library and they're expensive to buy.I'm saving for a couple of german books I'd like but they are both £12 although paper back.
These books brought my book diary to its last page. I began this one in 05. the new one is a Persephone notebook. Only snag is that it doesn't easily open wide but the paper is lovely. I use fountain pen for most of my writings.
Wednesday I'm off by nat.Express to my cousin's near Ipswich. I only have to take books for the journey because they have loads and I always find ones I haven't read. It's almost the only place other than my daughter's where this is the case.I have an hour's wait in Cambridge and in the autumn there was no shelter for this change of buses so I hope it doesn't rain and if it does that the red of my luggage doesn't turn all my clothes pink.
I'll see if I have time to write my blog from there . I shall write tomorrow if I finish some bits I'm reading. Oh yes, last week in the Brighton heart Shop I saw a book of Colette's stories but duidn't have the cash, I hope it's still there tomorrow because it's mine.
Have found a good new thriller writer called Elizabeth Corley. I read 'Requiem Mass' liked it so much I 've orderede more from the library. Crawley Library is amazing. I no sooner think of a book order it than it's there. I collected 9 books today most only ordered last week.
Also finished 'A Dangerous Liaison:Beauvoir and Sartre' Carole Seymour-Jones.Not only did I learn nothing new. I've read everything available on these two but it wasn't a patch on Deidre Bair. I know Seymour-Jones was dealing with both of them and I feel that that is probably what didn't work since they were both larger than life. They also have become their own legend.This book possibly had more about sex in it and very little about the works.Sad to say neither B or S seemed to have any moral sense whatsoever. I also feel that some of this is because really neither one grew up. One must at some stage in life consider others and the effect one might be having.
As a counter balance I read 2 brilliant crime through time novels by Ariana Franklin. The first 'Mistress of the Art of Death' was set in 1261 and is based round a Dr from Salerno, who has studied forensic science. the surprise is that she is a woman. Henry 11 is so thrilled with her that he won't let her go home and the second book 'Death Maze' is her next adventure, trying to prove who killed Rosamund Clifford and whether it was really Eleonor.
a translated thriller was 'The man with the lead stomach ' Jean-Francois Parot. This was good but I think would have been even better in French. Problem is it's hard to get up to date foreign language books from the library and they're expensive to buy.I'm saving for a couple of german books I'd like but they are both £12 although paper back.
These books brought my book diary to its last page. I began this one in 05. the new one is a Persephone notebook. Only snag is that it doesn't easily open wide but the paper is lovely. I use fountain pen for most of my writings.
Wednesday I'm off by nat.Express to my cousin's near Ipswich. I only have to take books for the journey because they have loads and I always find ones I haven't read. It's almost the only place other than my daughter's where this is the case.I have an hour's wait in Cambridge and in the autumn there was no shelter for this change of buses so I hope it doesn't rain and if it does that the red of my luggage doesn't turn all my clothes pink.
I'll see if I have time to write my blog from there . I shall write tomorrow if I finish some bits I'm reading. Oh yes, last week in the Brighton heart Shop I saw a book of Colette's stories but duidn't have the cash, I hope it's still there tomorrow because it's mine.
Sunday, 29 June 2008
Long time
Hi, I've been away. I first went to Switzerland to stay with my penfriend of 54 years. She is actually German but her husband also German did hs PHD at Berne Uni then got a job and stayed in Switzerland where they've been for 40 years. It was really lovely but very expensive. Still not recovered from the shock!! Came home to find my modem was caput so had to wait for anew one which they sent without the necessary CD so had to wait for that, then computer decided to be awkward. However all seems well now except I can't hear my real player and listen to BBC7 whilst I write and I've no idea why.This is a severe handicap. I shall see if It works in the week.
Then Random jottings stayed on her way to Turkey. I minded her car for a week and my cousins'car for 2 weeks whilst they were in Santorini. random came back last Monday and Cousins on Thursday now neighbours are using the pitch.
Have read some books but I'll blog about them tomorrow.Last evening I heard Don Carlos on BBC3 from Covent Garden. It was amazing. Random was actually there yesterday pm so I'll be interested to read her blog about it.
I won't write more today because I'm feeling a bit down. I suffer from bi polar but mainly depression and it just hits out of the blue. I think today it's triggered by not hearing from my son who lives in HongKong. He says phone him but he's never there.By about 1400hrs I'll be ok and I'll come back perhaps if not I'll be with you tomorrow and write about the books I've been reading.
Then Random jottings stayed on her way to Turkey. I minded her car for a week and my cousins'car for 2 weeks whilst they were in Santorini. random came back last Monday and Cousins on Thursday now neighbours are using the pitch.
Have read some books but I'll blog about them tomorrow.Last evening I heard Don Carlos on BBC3 from Covent Garden. It was amazing. Random was actually there yesterday pm so I'll be interested to read her blog about it.
I won't write more today because I'm feeling a bit down. I suffer from bi polar but mainly depression and it just hits out of the blue. I think today it's triggered by not hearing from my son who lives in HongKong. He says phone him but he's never there.By about 1400hrs I'll be ok and I'll come back perhaps if not I'll be with you tomorrow and write about the books I've been reading.
Sunday, 25 May 2008
Sunday salon
Once again it's sunday and by the seem I've not written since last Sunday. I find time is just skating by.at the time it doesn't feel that so much time has passed but then I stop and think and find it's nearly the weekend again.this will be faifly brief because I have to pack for my trip to Switzerland. My tum is in turmoil because I don't like flying actually I think it's the airports I don't like. I'm flying from Gatwick just down the road. taxi picking me up at 5.15 Wed. morning.However, I did just want to write about an Edith Wharton book, which I've just read. I found it by chance in the library and it's not one I've ever heard of. It's 'The Children'. It would also make a marvellous film. Martin Boyne is in his thirties an engineer and on a ship he meets this 15 year old girl trailing several children. They adopt' him when they find out that in the past he knew their parents.This book is about a man's love for a young girl, dysfunctional families and the life of the super rich prewar in Venice. Every character is so well delineated that I felt I knew them all. Also Boyne has a 'lady' friend whom he has known for years but she was married:Now a widow they meet up in Switzerland closely followed by the children.This gives us an opportunity to learn about his friend, who I found to be a manipulator.I just couldn't put this book down. It is or my copy was a Virago publication.
When I'm back I'll wander over to the blogs of those who contact me and have a chat with them.
When I'm back I'll wander over to the blogs of those who contact me and have a chat with them.
Sunday, 18 May 2008
Sunday salon
It was lovely to hear from you Megan and Fay.I haven't found out hopw to reply to your post yet but I shall in time. I didn't realise I hadn't blogged this week but it has been so hyperactive I ve not read a book . I like to read a newspaper and I've done that but that's all. this weekend I've been listening to the Chopin on radio 3. It has included piece and poems I have never heard. He ha d a huge out put considering how ill he was and how young he died.
Have been trying to finish a translation for a friend but still have some left to do. I shall try to finish it today.
Have been pleased to see that Vanora Bennett has a new book out. I have read what she has written so far and have been very impressed.
Sent a reviewlet to Hesperus about 'Fatal Eggs' by Bulgakov.I have now read all I could get hold of but must say He's hard work except Eggs which his scifi book and is quite amusing. To write more would spoil the book.I do think because so much of what he writes is metaphor that one needs a huge knowledge of the Revolution and Stalin's Russia to understand everything He wants to convey.Hope everyone has a good Sunday. There's a cold wind here in East Surrey.
Have been trying to finish a translation for a friend but still have some left to do. I shall try to finish it today.
Have been pleased to see that Vanora Bennett has a new book out. I have read what she has written so far and have been very impressed.
Sent a reviewlet to Hesperus about 'Fatal Eggs' by Bulgakov.I have now read all I could get hold of but must say He's hard work except Eggs which his scifi book and is quite amusing. To write more would spoil the book.I do think because so much of what he writes is metaphor that one needs a huge knowledge of the Revolution and Stalin's Russia to understand everything He wants to convey.Hope everyone has a good Sunday. There's a cold wind here in East Surrey.
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