Summertime by J.M. Coetzee

Pages - 266

Challenges - Man Booker Prize Challenge and Aussie Author Challenge

Published by Harvill Secker in 2009

22 August 1972

In yesterday's Sunday Times, a report from Francistown in Botswana. Sometime last week, in the middle of the night, a car, a white American model, drove up to a house in a residential area. Men wearing balaclavas jumped out, kicked down the front door, and began shooting. When they had done with shooting they set fire to the house and drove off. From the embers the neighbours dragged seven charred bodies; two men, three women, two children.

From that first paragraph, you would imagine that this book would deal heavily with the troubles that occurred in South Africa during the seventies. However, apart from a few minor references to Nelson Mandela's imprisonment and apartheid, this book barely touches the issues occurring during those years, they take a back seat to the story of Coetzee's life. country.

I have to say, I find this book difficult to describe. It is written as an autobiography, yet it appears to be written in a fictional style. The book begins with random diary entries, followed by interviews with people who were important to Coetzee. That all sounds quite normal you may think, until you realise that the people chosen are being interviewed by a fictional English biographer and Coetzee is supposed to be dead.

The book is the third in the series of autobiographies, following the previous two books, Boy and Youth. This book looks at the years 1972 to 1977, where Coetzee is back living with his widowed father in a run down house and his life seems to be going nowhere. This is viewed as the time period, where Coetzee was just trying to 'find his feet as a writer'. For all of us would be writers, I found that quite comforting, as it shows how downtrodden he became before he made it as a writer. It made me feel like my doubts and procrastination are quite common factors amongst writers. Coetzee seemed to have reached the lowest part of his life and you get the impression he is just moving further and further into the darkness. The prose is bleak and depressing, but you know from fact that Coetzee goes on to be a successful writer, but this period in his life was dark and miserable. There is hope for us all who seek the road to a successful career in writing.

This book was interesting to read, I can't say I loved it, but I did enjoy reading how Coetzee perceived his friends to see him. I felt that during that time period, Coetzee didn't actually like himself very much, as he makes his character sound quite pitiful and sad. The characters who talk about him are quite dismissive of him, no one appears to think that highly of him, even the woman whom he had an affair with didn't really have anything nice to say about him. I suppose Coetzee makes himself look human, by showing his annoying habits and his unrequited love for a woman, who nearly had him arrested as a stalker. He comes across as real, nothing is hidden from view, what you see is what you get. No facade, no cover ups, just Coetzee as he saw himself during that time period.

If you enjoy biographies, then I would suggest reading this one, but I would definitely view it as a biography with a difference. I like the way it was written, I like the way Coetzee viewed himself from another person's perspective. I am curious to read the other two biographies, but I didn't feel that they needed to be read in order to read this book.

My only real concern with this book, is that I didn't feel like it actually went anywhere. I don't feel that Coetzee had reached a certain pivotal point in his life by the end of the book and he appeared to have just drifted through these selected years. I came away from the book wanting more, needing a conclusion in words that his life got better. I know that his life did improve dramatically, but I wanted to read about it within this book.

Another Man Booker Short List book down and only three more to go. Will I finish this challenge by the end of the year. Hmmm, not sure when I have two chunksters like The Children's Book and Wolf Hall left to read. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Some belated scrapping pages

I made ten scrap pages over a month ago and I still haven't got around to showing them to you. Bad, bad blogger! I thought I would just show five today, as it would have been a very long post. It was the most productive scrap day I have ever had and I am hoping to repeat it this Saturday at scrap club. I have found that I need to plan each layout before I go, so I do normally work from sketches and get all my papers and embellishments ready before I go, that way I can just crack on when I get there.
I have been wanting to do a layout about my cupcake craving for sometime and when I picked up this lovely cupcake paper at Ally Pally I knew I had to get it done. I own so many things with cupcakes on, that they are taking over the household.

I am still desperately trying to get my holiday album finished before I go on holiday again. This picture shows a game called Musical Pick Me Ups, which is similar to musical chairs, only you have to pick the child up. I feel terrible about this game, as I dropped my child first round and I was the only one to drop a child. However, she was a rather tall child and there wasn't a lot of weight difference between us, so it was a bit ambitious on my part.

This one really hasn't come out that clear, so I do apologise for the quality of the picture. It is showing us having fun around the pool. I am very into orange and green at the moment, such fabulous summer colours.

This is a double layout I did, which I have shown individually below. Whilst on holiday, the girls got a little bit sunburnt, which is something they have never got before, so we spent a day out of the sun and stopped at a little bar which is situated out in the sea.

The cocktail embellishments are 3D and were prefect for this layout.

I hope to show the rest of my layouts next week. Thanks for stopping by.

DNF: Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda -The Love Letter of F.Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald

My first casualty of the year. I think I have done rather well to get over halfway through the year before I gave up on a book, don't you?

I had attempted to read Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda for my American Journey, as Zelda Fitgerald was born in Alabama and spent her teenage years growing up there.

The book is a vast collection of the letters that passed between Scott and Zelda over the period of their life time together. Knowing how much I love epistolary books, I thought this one would be a wonderful read for me. Alas, it bored me senseless.

Some of the letters that Zelda wrote when she was courting Scott, were interesting and very detailed, yet they all seemed one sided as the replies from Scott were quick telegrams, which didn't really make any sense, especially as Scott was supposed to be the most talented writer within the relationship. The book was structured to cover the timeline of their relationship, yet some letters appeared to be all over the place, as there was no definite time line to them and dates were missing.

In the end, I just found that I got so frustrated with the book that I just couldn't be bothered to read it anymore. I think I would have probably enjoyed a biography of the Fitsgerald's a lot more than this one. I began to feel heavy every time I picked up the book and knew I would never finish it.

So there it is, my first DNF of the year and hopefully my last. I do hate to give up on a book.

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Pages - 603

Challenges - Young Adult

Published in 2010 by Walker Books

'War,' says Mayor Prentiss, his eyes glinting. 'At last.'

'Shut up,' I say. 'There ain't no at last about it. the only one who wants this is you.'

I have to say I feel rather privileged to be the first person in the library to get my hands on this beautifully covered book. It was a bit of a monster in size and page count, but I made it to the end and I wasn't disappointed.

This book is the third and final part of the Chaos Walking series. The previous two books are reviewed here and here. My aim is not to include any spoilers, but if you haven't read the first two, then I would advise you to stop here.

Monsters of Men finds the world on a brink of a three way war. The Ask are ready to fight The Answer and the Spackle are ready to kill them all off. Poor Todd and Viola are caught in the middle and end up being separated and on different sides of the war. The first part of the book is just painful as you see Viola suffering and their friendship put to the test. Can they put an end to the inevitable war and will they ever find peace and unity?

For the first hundred or so pages, I really struggled with this book. I felt it needed my full attention and I just didn't have time to give it to it. I had forgotten a lot of what had happened in the previous book and I found that not a lot of back up information was available in this final book. This is the first book I have come across, where I would categorically state that it could not be read as a stand alone, as you would be lost within minutes. Once I found my feet with this book, I was running again faster than lightening. This book had all the intensity of the first two and more. By the end of the book, I was practically screaming at the pages, like an England supporter after a recent World Cup match. Urging Viola and Todd to make the right decisions, to end all the disasters occurring.

In this book, a third voice is added to the story and you get to hear about the events through the eyes of the Spackle. That was a little confusing to begin with, as being aliens, they don't talk in the same way as we do. Luckily I caught on quite quickly and began to understand what they were talking about.

This book definitely shows Todd and Viola coming of age and I almost felt like I should be attending their prom after watching them grow from pre teens to teenagers over the series of books. I felt a motherly affection for both them and felt so proud of their achievements by the end. One of my favourite characters has to be Angharrad, the talking horse. I know that sounds mad, but Ness makes his talking animals so believable that you cannot help but love them.

This book definitely deals with the struggle for power as everyone tries to take control of the war and the future of the world. The fact that is reveals and discusses how 'war makes monsters of men,' shows the reality of the wars in our world, where the tyrannical powers that be put our poor boy's lives in danger on the front line of war.

Mayor Prentiss takes his power struggles to a new height, when he develops changes with the Noise to aid his road to Power. He appears to have swallowed some happy pills through out the book, but you soon realise it is all an act and that he is still as nasty as ever.

I was very pleased with how the book ended and I am happy to walk away from the series now knowing all my wishes have been answered. My only niggle with the book was that it was incredibly long and might have been more intense, if it was shortened a little.

I have loved this series and I have to agree with Alyce from At Home With Books, that if you loved The Hunger Games series, then you will love this trilogy too. It is one of the best dystopian series I have read so far. I only wish that quality YA books like these ones had been available when I was a teenager.

Other reviews of this book.

At Home With Books

Fluttering Butterflies

Karin's Book Nook

Stuff As Dreams Are Made On

Things Mean A Lot

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

Pages - 338

Published in UK in 2006 by Poisoned Pen Press UK. First published in 1994

I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes, fifteen years old with my nose in a book as I walked the Sussex Downs, and nearly stepped on him. In my defence I must say it was an engrossing book, and it was very rare to come across another person in that particular part of the world in that war year of 1915. In my seven weeks of peripatetic reading amongst the sheep (which tended to move out of my way) and the gorse bushes (to which I had painfully developed an instinctive awareness) I had never before stepped on a person.

The year is 1915 and we find a retired Sherlock Holmes living a reclusive life on the Sussex Downs engaged in the study of bees. A young girl named Mary Russell, literally bumps into him and so begins an extraordinary relationship. Holmes takes Russell under his wing and teaches her all he knows about solving crimes. A case occurs where an American senator's daughter is kidnapped and the two detectives set off to solve the case. Only to find that there is more to the case than meets the eye and someone wants them dead.

I will hold my hands up and admit that I have never ever read a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Am I upset by this? Yes, after reading this book, I am definitely upset. My only encounter with Sherlock Holmes has been through the Robert Downey Jnr recent film, where I learnt that Holmes was a bit of a boy and not the stuck up, superior being I had imagined, after glimpsing snippets of the BBC adaption from about twenty years ago. I now know that I need to read the Sherlock Holmes books.

I loved this book. I really enjoyed the feisty Mary Russell, who appeared as an equal to Holmes in this book. She is a strong willed young lady, who has suffered a lot in her young life and a fine example of the phrase -'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger'. Mary Russell is the first character in a book that has come along, that I actually thought I would love to be. I admire the way she deals with Holmes and the fact that she does not appear to be afraid of anything.

I was pleased to discover that other characters I had heard of from the real Sherlock Holmes mysteries were included. Mrs Hudson, Dr Watson and Moriarty were names I that I was already familiar with and I loved learning more about them.

I don't normally read mystery novels at all, but I do feel after this book I may be missing out. I had an inkling who the villian was fairly early in the book and I was right, but I didn't let that spoil my enjoyment of the book.

There was a part of the book that I could see no point to, a whole section devoted to a trip in Palestine. Why? What purpose did this part play in the story? I obviously missed something, as to me, it just seemed like an exercise in adding to the final word count. However, that is just a minor dislike and I wouldn't want it to stop other people exploring the world of Mary Russell.

This book was a perfect introduction to mystery books for me and what is fantastic is there are an abundance of books in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series left to read. I am looking forward to reading the next one.

Other reviews of this book

Booklust
Things Mean A Lot
A Striped Armchair

Arundel Castle - The Collector Earl's Gardens

In the half term, we took the girls to Arundel Castle for the day. Arundel Castle is one of the longest inhabited country houses in England and the present Duke of Norfolk still lives there with his family. In fact, I am convinced I saw the Earl's eldest son walking down to the rooms closed off from the public.
During our visit, we were allowed to see around the grounds and we were also privileged to be allowed into the castle rooms. Unfortunately you cannot take pictures of the rooms, so you will have to make do with the outside. The bedrooms we were allowed to visit are still used for guests of the family today, in fact, they were late opening the rooms as they had had guests the night before. The library was to die for, I would have happily stayed all day in there browsing the book shelves. If ever I have my own library , I want it to look like that one.

The castle was actually featured in the recent film, 'The Young Victoria', so if you have had the pleasure of seeing it, then most of the rooms featured would have been from Arundel. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert actually stayed in Arundel for three days in December 1846. The Duke of Norfolk at the time, was given a year's notice to the visit and a room with all the furniture made for her visit is still there. There are steps by the bed for Victoria to climb in order to get into bed, as she was very small.

On the 14th May 2008, The Prince of Wales opened The Collector Earl's Garden. I have to say the gardens are the most breathtaking ones I have ever seen. It is a light hearted tribute to Thomas Howard, the 14th Earl of Arundel, who was known as 'The Collector'.

The garden has been conceived as a Jacobean formal garden and is an imaginative re-creation of what the Earl's garden would have been like.

The domed pergola and fountains are based on a portrait painted by Mytens of the Countess of Arundel, where the garden is visible in the background. The original picture hangs in Arundel Castle.

As you look through the pillars, at the back you can see the grand centrepiece of the gardens, which is a rockwork mountain supporting a green oak version of 'Oberon's Palace', a fantastic spectacle designed by Inigo Jones for Prince Henry's Masque in 1611.

I have never felt so calm and peaceful as I did within these gardens. It was definitely how I imagine the Garden of Eden to be like. It was just beautiful. I could quite happily have settled down on a bench with a good historical novel and glass of chilled wine.

This picture shows the interior of Oberon's Palace. On the back wall, are hundreds of sea shells. The fountain is amazing as it is a guilded coronet dancing freely on top of the water. Look, no strings attached!

I have to tell you that the information I have given you has been provided by the Arundel Castle promotional leaflet. I was so in awe of the castle and came away a little star struck.

If you ever get to West Sussex, then the castle is a must for a day out. It isn't cheap at £40 for a family of four, but it is definitely worth a visit. I do have other aspects of Arundel Castle to show you, but I will write another post for those at a later date.

I hope you enjoyed your tour of the beautiful gardens at Arundel Castle.

Fair Play by Tove Jansson

Pages - 127

English Translation published in 2007 by Sort of Books.

Jonna had a happy habit of waking each morning as if to a new life., which stretched before her straight through to evening, clean, untouched, rarely shadowed by yesterday's worries and mistakes.

Another habit - or rather a gift, equally surprising - was her flood of unexpected and completely spontaneous ideas. Each lived and blossomed powerfully for a time until suddenly swept aside by a new impulse demanding its own undeniable space.

There is something about a Tove Jansson book that leaves you quiet and contemplative. I always feel a calmness float over me when I have finished one of her books. Her stories are not fast and thrill seeking, but they hold my attention all the way through. I suppose the best way to describe the books of Tove Jansson are slow but steady, like drifting gently down a winding lazy river, allowing you to take in all the aspects of the world around you as you pass, using all your senses to feel your way along.

Fair Play is described as a novel and I feel I would have to disagree with this description. To me, if felt more like a collection of short stories which have fallen out of a folder and had been put back higgledy piggledy. I don't say that as a bad point, as I loved jumping from one time period to another and each story is self contained and could easily be read alone.

The book follows the relationship of two women, who are life long partners and friends. The women are heading towards their mature years and are both reflective about their past and contemplative of their future. This book dwells at lot on time running out, as their lives reach their final years, which gives you a feeling of sadness as you read it. The inevitablity of death raises it's head amongst the pages of peace and tranquility. The relationship of the women has a roller coaster feel as they cope with high and lows within their friendship. The partners are very different in character to each other and have to work hard to keep every on an even keel. The two women devote their lives only to work and love and many feel that this book is quite autobiographical and portrays Jansson's relationship with Tuulikki Pietila, whom she spent 40 years with. Within the book, there are various black and white photographs featuring Jansson with Pietila, showing them during work and recreation.

Each chapter is detailed and quite philosophical about life, love and work. It is rather a small book and could easily be read within one sitting. Even though it is short, the book does affect your mentality and I cannot see anyone coming away from it without a feeling of calmness.

I love Tove Jansson's books for both adult and children and I was really pleased to discover that the Moomins ( Jansson's children's characters) celebrate their 65th birthday this year. Their birthday has resulted in the re release of the Moomin books, which I am eagerly waiting to get my hands on.

Monday Mail and Library Loot

Before I show you my new books, I want to apologise for not replying to my comments in the last couple of weeks. I have been really busy and only just feel like I am actually getting back to normal, so I hope you can be patient with me and I will try and be a lot better at replying to comments.

This weekend has been another one full of madness. I spent Friday evening as a chauffeur to the local high school prom. I have a new style VW Beetle Convertible in an old fashioned cream colour and my friend Elizabeth asked me if I would take her son and his friend to the prom. I jumped at the chance and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Especially watching everyone else arrive and walk up the red carpet. The dresses were absolutely beautiful and I was quite envious of the students having this opportunity, as when I was at school, we didn't have any leaving celebrations.

Saturday was spent rushing the girls around from the local carnival, to an after show party and then to our friend's house for cocktails and takeaway. Sunday was Father's Day and we had a lovely rest at home, all of us spoiling my hubby. I cooked a roast leg of lamb, which is something I have never done. Roasts in this house normally consist of chicken or pork, but I am quite proud of my first leg of lamb.

My reading has been really slow this week too. I don't think I am even going to get half way through my projected reading for the month. I seem to be taking ages with Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, but it isn't because the book is slow, it is because I am struggling for reading time and falling asleep every time I pick up a book in the evening!

Anyway I haven't done a Monday Mail or Library Loot post for ages. I know I wasn't going to buy anymore books or borrow any more either, but I lied and I don't care!
1) Ghost Ship by Dietlof Reiche. This is a children's book set in a seaside town. A young girl working at her parent's restaurant, gets caught up in the drama when an eighteenth century square rigger turns up in the bay. A curse and a mystery, just up my street.

2) The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer - I will not feel bad or guilty about this book. I admit to being a Twilight fan and I just had to have this book.

3) The Help by Kathryn Stocket - I bought this book because the I could get two books for £7, as the the Meyer one was already £6, it seemed silly not to pick up another book for one pound more. I have been after this southern drama for the last year as I have watched all my American buddies getting the opportunity to read this.

4) The River King by Alice Hoffman. I am still hoping to find that one book of hers that I will love. Will this be the one? This one sounds like a bit of a thriller, with a death to be investigated in.

5) La Cucina by Lily Prior - this is a debut novel set in Sicily about a shy librarian with a broken heart whose passion for cooking leads to an unexpected love affair. Filled to the brim with food references, this is my type of book.

6) Life After Yes by Aidan Donnelley Rowling - this a book I recently won over at Amanda's blog Life and Times of a 'New' New Yorker. Amanda is just setting up a new blog called A Library of My Own as she is no longer living in New York and she wants to represent her new lifestyle. Click on the link and check it out. I adore Amanda's blog as it is not just about books, she writes about her life too. This book is about a young girl who has just become engaged and then finds out her father has been killed in 9/11. Quite a powerful story I think.
These are the four library books I picked up this week. I find it amazing that I can take one book back and come out with four!

1)Good Evening, Mrs Craven - The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter- Downes. A Persephone book - need I say anything else.

2) Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold -this one has cropped up on my radar a few times, so I couldn't resist. It was long listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2008 and tells the story of a Victorian wife who refuses to disappear without trace after her husband's death.

3) The Haunting of Nathaniel Wolfe by Brian Keaney. A supernatural YA book set in Victorian London.

4) The Blackstone Key by Rose Melikan - set in 1795, this is the first book in a mystery series which is believed to appeal to fans of Jamaica Inn. I am so there!

Well that is a wrap for my books and I this week. What did you get?

Dewey The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched The World by Vicki Myron

Pages - 271

Challenges - Non Fiction Five

Published in 2008 by Hodder and Stoughton

The first thing I felt was a blast of freezing air. Someone had jammed a book into the return slot, wedging it open. It was as cold in the box as it was outside; maybe colder, since the box was lined with metal. You could have frozen meat in there. I was still catching my breath when I saw the kitten.

It was huddled in the front left corner of the box, its head down, its legs tucked underneath it, trying to appear as small as possible.

The kitten looked at me, slowly and sadly. The it lowered its head and sank down into its hole. It wasn't trying to appear tough. It wasn't trying to hide. I don't even think it was scared. It was just hoping to be saved.

Why do I put myself through such torture by reading this style of book. I have got through a whole box of hankies and actually had to sit in a room on my own by the end of the book as I was sobbing so much.

This book is the story of Dewey, the cat that took over a library, making it his home and became an international star. The book follows the lives of the library staff through the years as they move on with their lives and build a relationship with Dewey. Now I know that there are exceptional cats all over the world, but even I came away thinking Dewey was very special. Like most cats, he could sense when someone needed his company to ease their pain.

Anyone reading this book, who owns a cat, will notice elements of their own relationship with their pet and I think this is what makes this book special. It reminds you how much your animals actually mean to you. How they are always there when you need them the most. When I finished reading this book, I searched the house for my beautiful boy, Georgie, who has been poorly lately and just sat and cuddled him.

I dare anyone to read this book and not cry a few tears, especially if you are a cat lover. Once I finished, I found myself googling Dewey and watching videos on YouTube about him. This book affected me in the same way that A Lion Called Christian did. It tugged at my heart strings and made me mourn an animal I never knew. This book will never win any literary awards, but it will win Dewey fans around the world.

The book not only deals with the love we have for our animals, but it also deals with the emotional roller coaster we call life. Vicky Myron tells us a lot about her journey through life whilst working at the library and you feel her pain, as she loses members of her family and goes through major operations in order to keep surviving. Vicky Myron is a fighter and so was Dewey.
I intend to rave about this book to everyone I speak to for the next month. It might not be your normal style of book, but if you love animals, you really should read this. It might encourage you to give your pets an extra cuddle or another little treat.

I love this book, but I don't think I can ever read it again without investing in a handkerchief company. Off now, to buy some very thick concealer, to cover up the puffy, red eyes caused by this book.

We Hear The Dead by Dianne K. Salerni

Pages - 422

Published in 2010 by Source Books.

I began the deception when I was too young to know right from wrong. No one suspected us of any trick, because we were such young children. We were led on by my sister purposely and by my mother unintentionally.

Only with the passing of time did I come to understand the consequences of my actions. As Doctor wrote to me:'Weary! Weary is the life by cold deceit oppressed.'

We Hear The Dead is based on a true story about Kate and Maggie Fox who begin playing a prank as children and before they know the prank has got so out of hand, that there is no way they can tell the truth. Kate and Maggie pretend that they can contact the dead. As time passes, more people learn about them and want them to speak to their loved ones, with which their trickery and lies become more and more extreme in order to give the public what they want.

I discovered this book quite serendipitously, Wisteria from Bookworm's Dinner joined a Facebook page promoting this book and I was quite taken by the cover and joined the page too. A few weeks later, the lovely author, Dianne K. Salerni contacted me via Facebook and asked me if I would like to review her book. I jumped at the chance and within a few days a brand new copy arrived at my house via Amazon.

Now I am not one to jump for review copies, but this book really had my attention from the beginning. The title alone had me dying to read it. The book deals heavily with the world of spiritualism which is something that I have a very keen interest in. However, this book shows the lies and deceit that spirit rapping caused in the 1800's. It reminded me a little of The Seance by John Harwood, but I have to say I preferred Salerni's version.

Maggie and Kate Fox are extraordinary characters. Kate,the younger one is very deceitful and goes to great lengths to keep her secrets from being discovered. Underneath though, she is convinced that she is able to communicate with the dead. Maggie on the other hand, is far more pragmatic, and realises that she must keep up the deceit in order to help pay for her family to live. In all the years the deceit continued, their mother never realised it was a trick. She was so wrapped up in their abilities and the praise of others that she never noticed the tricks they played on others. Lea, their older sister was by far, the most devious. Once she realised what her sisters were capable of, she took over the role of manager and exploited them and the people who paid for their services. During that time period, she comes across as a very strong and independent woman of means.

This book definitely had me struggling to put it down, as I was so eager to find out how far they would take their prank. To discover, that they made a lifelong career out of it, is utterly amazing.

I really enjoyed the plot of this book, especially knowing that it was based on true events. The only thing that bothered me was that rather a large part of it was devoted to the relationship between Maggie Fox and Elisha Kane, which although was a heartbreaking story to read, it took the book away from the spiritual side of the story. The book became more about them, than hearing the dead. So it felt a little like two books together, although both sides of the story were well written and in need of being told. I think if perhaps there had been more of a mention of the relationship in the blurb on the back of the book, I would have been more prepared for it. So I would blame the publishers, rather than the author for not giving the true account of the book's content on the cover.

The relationship between Maggie and Elisha would bring a tear to any one's eyes. Elisha held a higher position within society than Maggie and his family never accepted her as his wife. She was treated so badly after his death, it was a wonder she had the will to carry on. She didn't even get to attend his funeral, yet people who did not know him personally were allowed to grieve for him like an old friend.

What amazes me the most, is how well Salerni, as a debut author, has taken a piece of history and created a fantastic page turning novel out of it, yet a Booker Prize nominee does the same thing and creates a load of drivel. I am, of course, referring to The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds, which uses a historical event to create a book, but it was lost amongs the pages. So well done, Diane, you beat the Booker Prize nominees in my eyes.

I truly enjoyed this reading experience and I look forward to read Dianne's next novel. If you have an interest, in spiritualism and are drawn to works of fiction based around the 1800's, then I would highly recommend this book.

Wuthering Wednesday - Bring out the Bunting!

This is final week of the Wuthering Heights read a long organised by Softdrinks, and whose blog you will find here. Joining us on this adventure are:
Literate Housewife
Messy Karen
Victoria
Jenny (Take Me Away)
Ti (Book Chatter)
Lisa – Lit And Life
Peeking Between the Pages
J.C. Montgomery (The Biblio Blogazine)
WhitneyJoAnn (Lakeside Musing)
Gentle Reader (Shelf Life)
Amy at New Century Reading
Geri at One More Foggy Notion
Rob at Books are Like Candy Corn
Trish at Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity

Summary Of Final Chapters.

• Mr Lockwood informs Heathcliff of his decision to quit the Grange.
• Mr Lockwood tries to attract the attentions of Catherine, but fails dismally.
• The story moves to September and Mr Lockwood returns to Wuthering Heights and the Grange, only to find Ellen removed from the Grange.
• Mr Lockwood finds Ellen at the Heights and Ellen informs him that Heathcliff has died.
• Catherine has fallen in love with Hareton and both will be moving to the Grange in the New Year.
• Heathcliff seemed to go mad before his death.
• All's well that end well.

Thank god, Heathcliff finally got what he deserved. I am so glad to see the back of him. He is the most evil character I have ever read about and I want to sing and dance over his demise.

I am over the moon that this book is finished and now I want to burn it, as I have no plans to ever read it again. I am just glad I never had to read it for my A levels as I think I would never have made it to the end.

I don't think the book is badly written, I just think it is so depressing and I have never witnessed so many people dying in such a short space of time. This book is just pure bleakness and really not one for someone to read if they are suffering any form of depression.

I am now going to read something full of humour and happiness, to help me move back into my happy zone.

A weekend of camping!

I had no idea that I would disappear from the blogging world again, but we went camping on the weekend for the first time and I am so exhausted, it has taken me a couple of days to get back to normal. So apologies if I have missed anything over the last few days in the blogging world.
I thought I would share a couple of pictures from our trip before I get down to the serious world of book blogging again.

Here is our tent, which hubby brought for our trip. It was a four man tent and I found it rather roomy. He also put up a gazebo to keep off the rain. However, we were lucky and ended up having a weekend of sunshine. On the Friday morning before we left, there was torrential rain and I nearly called the whole thing off, I am so glad I didn't.

We didn't go camping on our own, we went with thirteen other families. It was organised as a send off for one of our friends who is off to join the front line in Afghanistan for six months. As you might have realised the World Cup had begun and England were playing on Saturday night, so one of our friends decided to take his TV and satellite dish, so that everyone could watch. Not that it was really worth watching as England played really badly and tied with America.

We took over the campsite and there were tables and chairs and toys everywhere. In the evenings we had real log fires going and I am still trying to wash the smell out of everything.

Here is hubby cooking breakfast for the whole family. I was pleased to have a cooking free weekend. I really enjoyed the whole camping experience and I have never spent so much time just chilling out. The kids loved it because there were about 30 different children within the group to play with and we hardly saw them all day.

As you can I am sporting a lovely England wig to show support to our rubbish team. I came back exhausted, but we are busily planning our next camping trip.

Bosham Walk

Last week was half term here, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, we spent most of the week out and about, so I thought I would share some photos with you from one of our days out. I do hope to share the other days with you as I go along.

On Bank Holiday Monday, we took the girls, my parents and my niece to a little town called Bosham. I had heard how beautiful it was there and was interested to see for myself.

The town sits upon a river and people are allowed to park there cars right by the river at low tide. However, when high tide comes in you need to move your car. As you can see from the picture below, someone forgot about high tides. Apparently when the owner of the car turned up, he was greeted by loud cheers from everyone watching. This is quite a common past time for residents of Bosham, who enjoy nothing more than watching people forgetting to move their cars!

The village has a little indoor shopping outlet which houses seventeen little shops. Here is a picture of my dad admiring the clocks. I fell in love with the Parisian one above his head.

On the upper floor of the shopping outlet I fell in love with two shops. Firstly, a scrapping shop which had lots of different styles of paper. Secondly, a bead store which is pictured below. This shop had beads of every style and they were all separated by colour. It made me want to make my own jewellery.

We has a walk around the village and we were quite taken by it. It reminded me a lot of Clovelly in Devon which is privately owned. Hubby looked up the prices of the houses when we got home and was gutted to find that a three bedroom terraced house would cost up to £750,000. So I won't be moving to Bosham in the near future.

However, I did want this beautiful newly built thatched house. I just love thatched houses, even though I know they are not practical to live in. As I understand it, you have to replace the roof every 2o years and that does not come cheap.

This stream running down to the river, created lots of mischief amongst the visitors to the village. Everyone was lining up to have a go at swinging across the stream. The girls were desperate to have a go, but I stopped them, being a practical mother as I am. They would have been soaking wet.

The weather was a bit iffy that day, but it didn't stop people turning up armed with picnics and blankets. Definitely a place to take the girls back to in the summer.

My mum really enjoyed the visit and actually went back again this week. Here she is with one of my girlies.

Here is one of the houses right on the water. The room by the wall is a dining room overlooking the water. Oh how the other half live!!

We all really enjoyed our day trip to Bosham and it will definitely be a place I will visit again.

In the meantime, I am off to check my lottery ticket to see if I can afford one of those lovely houses. Wish me luck!