Sunday Salon - Monthly Roundup

Good morning Sunday Saloners,

I hope you have all had a good reading week. My week has been very slow reading wise. I managed to finish only two books. The Catcher In the Rye by J.D. Salinger and The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I am afraid to say that I didn't really enjoy The Catcher In The Rye and I feel terrible saying that after the death this week of J.D. Salinger and seeing how so many of you thought so much of his work. I loved The Little Stranger, but I have to admit I found it quite scary and I don't normally find ghost books frightening. I think it is the subtlety of the book, that scared me the most.

This week I am presently working my way through The Earth Hums In B Flat by Mari Strachen and The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie. I have also picked up this lovely little book below from the library.

I had read about it over at Molly's blog My Cozy Book Nook and was really intrigued by it. It is written by Chris Baty who is the founder of National Novel Writing Month and has great reviews. So I hope to be ploughing through this during the week.

I bought two new books when I was in Brighton yesterday. I picked up Rebel by R.J. Anderson, as I loved Knife when I read it earlier in the year. I also bought Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, as it seems to be doing the rounds in the blogging world at the moment. With all my new books I am noticing a new trend, I am developing a completely black book cover shelf!

I thought I would do my monthly roundup today as well.

I have managed to read 15 books this month and I have to say I am really pleased.

Here are the books with links to the ones I have reviewed.

1) Ruined by Paula Morris

2) The Seance by John Harwood

3) The Stonewalkers by Vivien Alcock

4)Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

5)The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

6) How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

7)The Gourmet by Muriel Barberry

8) Thaw by Fiona Robyn

9)Persepolis 1

10) Persepolis 2

11)Nim's Island by Wendy Orr

12) Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

13) Skellig by David Almond

14) The Catcher and The Rye by J. D. Salinger

15) The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Looking back over the month I have read some fabulous reads. I think the best book out of all of them had to be Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, with Ruined and The Little Stranger come a close second.

I am really pleased with how many books I read this month and hope I might be able to manage a similar amount next year.

How was your reading month?

Good Stuff Post

A lot of lovely bloggers have embarked on extra blogs this year telling us about the good things that are happening in their lives on a daily basis. I have loved reading these posts and they always leave me with a lovely warm feeling. I would love to have the time to write one too, but knowing how busy I have been, I just know it will get neglected, so I thought I would do the odd good stuff post on my blog.


Good stuff this week.


One of my girlies has been really poorly this week and it was lovely to see her feeling better by Thursday. She had a permanent stomach ache and Monday had found her rolling around on the floor in pain. I was at a loss what to give her, then I remembered my mum giving me a hot water bottle to ease the pain and sure enough it did the trick for her.


A couple of days with blue skies and sunshine. There is nothing better to pick you up, than seeing the sky blue. I am always in a better mood when the sun is shining. For the last four weeks, the sky has been permanently grey, like someone was trying to smother us all with a great big blanket of grey. When the sun comes out, my soul feels lighter and I feel so much happier.


Losing three pound at Weightwatchers. Always good for me. I did reach my goal in August, but December saw my mouth and stomach kick into first gear and gobble everything in sight. But, hey that is what Christmas is for; the fact that I gained half a stone is nothing. Better half a stone, than the full 2 and a half I lost over last year.



My slowcooker. There is something about winter and slow cooking, they just go together so well. I have made some delicious recipes this week which have resulted in spotlessly clean plates at the end of the meal. My favourite style of cooking!

Spending time with my girlies. We have a girlie day out planned this weekend, with some of our close friends. We are off to visit Brighton Museum and then going to Build a Bear factory in the afternoon to buy more clothes for our already spoilt bears. A spot of lunch out and and some quality bonding time.

These are my good bits this week. What about you? What were you good bits?

12) hush, hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Pages - 391

Published by Simon and Schuster in 2009

Challenges - Young Adult challenge

' I walked into Biology and my jaw fell open. Mysteriously adhered to the chalkboard was a Barbie doll, with Ken at her side. They'd been forced to link arms and were naked except for artificial leaves placed in a few choice locations. Scribbled above their heads in thick pink chalk was the invitation:

WELCOME TO HUMAN REPRODUCTION(SEX)

This book has really been hyped up around the book blogging world and I was expecting great things from it. Unfortunately within the first fifty pages I nearly threw it out the window. I really did not enjoy it until I got past the first hundred pages. I bet you are wondering why I didn't give up on it, well I hate to be defeated by a book and thank god it got better.

Nora Grey is the school nobody really. She tries not to appear on the social radar and has no interest in boys at all. Her life is quite normal until Patch turns up in her life, sending her all a quiver with his easy smile and soulful eyes.

From there first meeting, really terrifying events begin to happen to her and leaving her quite traumatised, yet when she goes to report them to the police, all evidence has disappeared. Nora feels that Patch may have something to do with it. He is everywhere he shouldn't be and seems to know too much about her. Nora sets out to get the truth about Patch and ends up becoming embroiled in a battle that has been going on for centuries.

From the beginning of this book, it is quite evident and easy to work out that Patch is a fallen angel, yet it takes Nora half the book to realise it. I found myself getting really frustrated. with her obvious blindness. Patch does not come across as your leading man either, which led to me really not caring whether they ended up together or not. He comes across as really arrogant and I felt like I wanted to slap him.

Luckily the book got better, a hell of a lot better, once Nora realised what was going on and who were the bad guys, the book really picked up in speed and I couldn't finish it quick enough. I was really captivated by it from that point on and the ending definitely wasn't what I expected.

The book is worth a read, if you have time to slug through the first hundred pages. If you like vampires, then you will enjoy this.

I tried to add everyone else's reviews but Google Reader disliked my attempts, so if I have missed you out, put a link in my comments and I will add it to my list.

Other opinions

One Person's Journey Through Books

Book Chick City

Fluttering Butterflies

11) Nim's Island by Wendy Orr

Pages - 113

Published by Puffin Books in 2008

Challenges - Aussie Author Challenge and Library Challenge

'In a palm tree, on an island, in the middle of the wide blue sea, was a girl.

Nim's hair was wild, her eyes were bright, and round her neck she wore thre cords. One was a spyglass, one was a whirly, whistling shell and the other a fat read pocket knife in a sheath.

Whilst searching for Australian Authors for the Aussie Challenge I discovered that Wendy Orr was now considered an Aussie. She emigrated a few years ago and has now got her citizenship, so I thought she would be ideal to read for the challenge.

I have watched Nim's Island so many times with my girls, that I do feel it is up there in my list of favourite films. With this in mind, I was desperate to see if the book lived up to the film.

I found it to be a lovely book, very easy to read, definitely enjoyable, but quite different from the film.

In the film, Nim's father disappears whilst caught up in a storm and Nim is left to survive on their secret island on her own. Her only form of contact is with the writer Alex Rover, who Nim is convinced is the same intrepid explorer she reads about in her books. Alex Rover is really Alexander Rover, the author who suffers from OCD and is agoraphobic; she hasn't left her apartment in months and spends all her days talking to her imaginary character Alex Rover. In the end Alexander Rover comes to Nim's rescue, only to shatter her illusions about the Alex Rover she believed she was contacting.

From the first page of the book, it is apparent that Jack has already left Nim on his journey to find new species of plankton. Where in the film, he loses contact with her, within the book they manage to communicate by attaching letters to Galileo's (a friendly pelican) leg, so Nim is never in fear that her father has been lost at sea.

The Alexandra Rover within the book is completely different from the one in the film, as she has absolutely no hang ups and doesn't talk to imaginary characters. She is only to eager to correct Nim's perception of her and from the very beginning Nim is aware that Alex is actually a lady writer called Alexandra and not an intrepid explorer and adventurer. The book character of Alex Rover was not as visual within the book, as he was in the film, in fact he is hardly mentioned at all.

I felt the book was less dramatic than the film version, but still very entertaining and definitely one I would recommend for children.

The film was obviously beefed up to make it more screen worthy and the characters were given a lot more traits to deal with. Trying to decide which I liked best, I found that I couldn't decide; they were both equally good in their own way and often seemed like two different stories.

If you like reading about islands of paradise and adventures at see, then this is a book you will definitely enjoy.

9) Persepolis 1 / 10) Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi

Pages - 343

Published by Vintage in 2008

Challenges - Graphic Novel Book Challenge and Library Challenge.

I am so thankful to everyone who recommend this book to me, as I thought it was absolutely wonderful.

I was lucky enough to pick up a copy which had both Persepolis 1 and Persepolis 2 in it. Both are graphical memoirs of the author's life at different periods of time.

Persepolis 1 looks at Marjane's childhood in Iran during very turbulent times. Marjane grew up during the Islamic Revolution and the book covers her life from the age of six through to fourteen, where her parents decided to send her to school in Austria. Marjane's parents were very Westernised and were very outspoken about the changes enforced upon the country and its people. This put Marjane in a dangerous position as she had become just as outspoken as her parents and very rebellious. She left the country, never knowing whethere she would see her parents again.

Persepolis 2 follows Marjane's life from her teens through to adult hood. You get the feeling, that she feels like an outcast in Austria and also an outcast when she returns to Iran after becoming more Westernised.

Both books are broken up into mini episodes dealing with different events and aspects of her life.

I found both of these books really interesting to read. The story was heart wrenching, whilst simultaneously being humorous. I wonder if I would have read them if they had not been in graphic form and I think that I probably wouldn't. The joy of reading them in graphic form, allowed me to understand the difficulties and problems that arose during the revolution. I felt I came away wiser and more knowledgeable about the history of Iran. Marjane's fight to become just like one of us, was very compelling. She refused to become the woman her country expected her to be. From a young age, she witnessed horrific events, including the death and execution of people close to her.

Over the years, I have seen many Iranian women wearing the veil and I always presumed they were happy to wear them for religious purposes. Not once had it ever occurred to me that they hated wearing them and how uncomfortable they must have been. It was expected of them to wear the veil in order to shield them from sexual advances from men unable to resist their flowing hair and facial features.

I felt that this story has given me a good opening point in order to read more about the Islamic Revolution and the people who lived through it.

In parts of the story, I actually found myself laughing as Marjane made fun of the constant changes within her country's culture and beliefs. Marjane made a long history of war and revolt into a page turning event full of humour and sadness. I get the impression that Marjane is capable of seeing the funny side of life, even when she is feeling troubled.

I don't feel my review is doing this book justice and I have to admit to finding it a little difficult to review a graphic novel, which is a genre that I have only just started to read. I definitely recommend reading this book, especially if like me, you have no prior knowledge of the history of Iran; it is definitely a good starting point.

8) Thaw by Fiona Robyn

Pages - 271

Published by Snowbooks in 2009, released February 2010.

'I am trying to decide whether or not I want to carry on living. I'm giving myself three months of this journal to decide. You might think that is melodramatic, but I don't think I'm alone in wondering whether it's all worth it.

Fiona Robyn actually contacted me and asked me whether I would be interested in reading her latest book. Never one to turn down a free book, I was very interested to read it, as Fiona was not an author I was familiar with.

The book follows the life of Ruth over a thirty day period. It is written in the form of a journal where Ruth writes about her feelings and her life everyday. This journal is an unusual one, as Ruth is writing it to give herself 30 days to decide whether or not she wants to finish her own life. She is depressed and self harming herself on a regular basis, reaching the end of the line. Ruth writes about all the people that come into her life and how she feels about them and her feelings for herself.

This is a depressing story, but a good depressing story. It is really moving and thought provoking as you follow Ruth on her journey to making her decision. Ruth begins the book as someone completely alone. She lost her mother when she was young and has a difficult relationship with her father. She doesn't really have any close friends and hasn't had a serious relationship in years. At the beginning of the thirty days she is at a real low.

As the book progresses you watch Ruth gradually let people into her life. She contacts her aunt whom she hasn't seen since her mother passed; she gets herself a Russian boyfriend whom she hired to paint her portrait and she starts to make friends. I imagined Ruth as a rosebud slowly opening up and letting the sunlight and the rain in.

The book deals with self harming in a lot of detail. Ruth likes to cut herself as she finds it a release. I found this quite difficult to deal with as it something I don't really understand the reason for. I don't suffer with depression, so I can't comment on how it feels. I think this would be a good book for someone who does, so that they can see you can come back from the edge, with the help of others, if you let them in.

The only thing I didn't enjoy about the book is the ending. I found it a little ambiguous. I am presuming that Ruth made the right decision in the end, but I am not actually sure. I read the last couple of pages over a few times and I didn't think it was overly obvious and I wondered if I was missing something.

On the whole, a good read, depressing in content, but a truthful look at life.

Fiona Robyn is going to blog her novel, Thaw, starting on the 1st of March this year. To help spread the word she’s organising a Blogsplash, where blogs will publish the first page of Ruth’s diary simultaneously (and a link to the blog). I f you are interested in joining in, click on the link in brackets.

Monday Mailbox

Monday Mail is hosted by by Marcia at the Printed Page and you will find her blog here.

My hubby is completely to blame for my book buying this week. He won £10 on the lottery and gave it to me to spend on books. So who am I to say no!

1)Wedlock:How Georgian Britain's Worst Husband Met His Match by Wendy Moore - this is one the books that is being discussed on Channel 4's TV Book Club. From what I can gather this is a non fiction book based on the real story of Mary Eleanor Bowes, the richest heiress in eighteenth-century Britain. It tells the story of her brutal marriage to a handsome soldier called Andrew Robinson Stoney.

2) Gifted by Marilyn Kaye. I didn't buy this one, it was given to me by a friend who raved about it. She said I will love it. I don't know much about it, only that the main character has an extraordinary gift; similar to a character from Heroes.

3) Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters. A Young Adult book about zombies. I wish I had checked the reviews first though, as after looking on Amazon, I may have picked a dodo.

4) The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. With lots of talk about her new book 'The Swan Thieves', I thought I should try and read this one first.

5) and 6) The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman. I now have the whole trilogy, so I hope to get round to reading them again this year.

What books did you get this week?

Sunday Salon - Do you believe in angels?

I am going completely away from my normal Sunday Salon chit chat in order to discuss a subject that I have been reading about and one I would really like to open it up for discussion.

I have been doing some research about angels this week, after reading this rather interesting little book called ' How to Hear Your Angels' by Doreen Virtue. It is a fascinating book that allows you to analyse whether or not you have had an angel encounter as well as to show you how to experience one.

Now I know many of you are aware, I am not very religious and tend to be a little skeptical about things like this, but this book really did get me thinking. I am actually now convinced that I have had an angel experience in my life and I thought I would see what you think.

Now as I said, I am not religious, I am very honest and I have no reason to lie to you, so what I will write is an experience I had which stills stays vividly in my mind and I can only describe it as some outside intervention into my life.

The year was 2006 and we as a family had been planning a rather expensive and once in life time holiday to Disney World, Florida. We were going to stay in The Grand Floridian and I pre-arranged lots of character meals and dinner shows including dinner with Shamu. This would be the first time our daughters had ever been and we were all so excited.

A week before we were to fly to America, we woke up to the news that a plan to bomb all planes flying to America from England had been foiled. The day the bombs were to explode was on the day we were to fly. We were sick with worry. I am not a great flyer anyway and have to take medication in order to fly. So as you can imagine, we were at a loss as to whether to go ahead with the holiday or not. We felt that we were putting the whole family at risk.

My husband and I went over the situation a hundred times and eventually my husband said he would ask his mum to help us make a decision. My husband's mother had passed away when he was eighteen.

The next day we were going to a restaurant with a friend we had visiting. Everyone was in the car except me; I locked up and walked along our garden path and happened to hear something fall to the ground. I looked around and noticed a coin on the floor. I picked it up and stood their completely shocked. In my hand, was an American quarter. There was no one around me at all, for them to drop it and we had not got any American currency out for the holiday. We only ever take traveller's cheques. I took this coin as a sign that we should fly and we did. I still have the coin and I held it all the way during the flight. I even made a scrap page all about it when I got back.

We went on to have the best holiday we ever had and our whole holiday had balanced on this coin which appeared out of nowhere.

What do you think? Was it divine intervention? Or can you explain my experience away? Have you had any similar experiences? Let me know what you think.

Saturday Scrapping - Journal Your Christmas Part 4

I have nearly finished my Christmas Journal and only have four pages left to do, that I hope to finish this week. So I thought I would share the next seven pages with you.

Day 22 - This page showed my to do list in the run up to Christmas. It wasn't that long as I had been very organised in the run up to Christmas this year, so it was just silly little jobs. Though I am wondering, am I the only person to wash sofa covers when I have visitors coming?

Day 23 - I wanted to highlight my favourite smells of Christmas in this page, especially this lovely cinnamon candle from Yankee Candles. I just love the smell of cinnamon at Christmas, so just had to buy this candle. I have written around the page, highlighting all my other favourite Christmas smells.

Day 24 - Finally Christmas Eve arrived and everything was done. We got to spend Christmas Eve at my parent's new flat with my brother and his family. The picture of the man with the green jumper is my brother and we look nothing alike.

Day 25 - Christmas Day - we had a quiet Christmas Day at home. Just the four of us, which is a first. We decided to take our time opening our presents and spread it out during the day. We ended up finishing opening presents at 2pm. My parents popped in before going to my brother's house for Christmas dinner.

Day 26 - Boxing Day. This was a day to enjoy our Christmas presents and eat left over turkey with chutney and salad. The girls spent the day making door hangers for their room and I had my head stuck in a book.

Day 27 - We were meant to go to our friend's house for another Christmas dinner on this day, but it got cancelled as we all felt a bit poorly. I spent the day sorting out the food for the next four days as we had so many people visiting. I am so glad I preplanned as I then knew exactly what I needed to cook each day.

Day 28 - the first day of our visitors. Today saw all my side of the family arriving at our house. My mum and dad, as well as my brother and his family.

I hope you enjoyed my tour of Christmas. I plan to get the last pages done soon.

Friday Finds With A Difference.

Friday Finds is hosted by MizB at You Should Be Reading and you can find it here. MizB does a fantastic job with this meme every week, so do pop over and pay her a visit.

I am going to do things a little bit different this week, as we have had a new TV show airing here which is called The TV Book Club. Every week, the book club review a different book over ten weeks and also have different authors appearing on the show too. The books to be featured went on sale last week, at very low prices to encourage people to buy them. If you want to watch the show, you can view it here. There is a short interview with Sarah Waters as the main topic this week is The Little Stranger and Cecilia Aherne is also on there, so it is worth a look. Although I did wonder if a couple of the presenters had actually read this week's book. Hmmmm! Perhaps I should be on there instead.

I picked out for of the books that really interested me, in order to show them to you for Friday Finds. All the information about the books has been taken from Amazon.

Opening dramatically with the horrors of the 2005 London bombings, this is the profoundly moving story of a country on the brink of civil war and a child's struggle to come to terms with loss. London. On a bright July morning a series of bombs bring the capital to a halt. Simon Swann, a medic from one of the large teaching hospitals, is searching frantically amongst the chaos and the rubble. All around police sirens and ambulances are screaming but Simon does not hear. He is out of breath because he has been running, and he is distraught. But who is he looking for? To find out we have first to go back thirty years to a small island in the Indian Ocean where a little girl named Alice Fonseka is learning to ride a bicycle on the beach. The island is Sri Lanka, with its community on the brink of civil war. Alice's life is about to change forever. Soon she will have to leave for England, abandoning her beloved grandfather, and accompanied by her mother Sita, a woman broken by a series of terrible events. In London, Alice grows into womanhood. Trapped in a loveless marriage, she has a son. Slowly she fulfils her grandfather's prophecy and becomes an artist.Eventually she finds true love. But London in the twenty first century is a mass of migration and suspicion. The war on terror has begun and everyone, even Simon Swann, middle class, rational, medic that he is, will be caught up in this war in the most unexpected and terrible way.

I would recommend anyone who was living in England on this day, to read this book. I think we would all know what we were doing on that day.

2) Wedlock by Wendy Moore
When Mary Eleanor Bowes, the Countess of Strathmore, was abducted in Oxford Street in broad daylight in 1786, the whole country was riveted to news of the pursuit. The only daughter of a wealthy coal magnate, Mary Eleanor had led a charmed youth. Precocious and intelligent, she enjoyed a level of education usually reserved for the sons of the aristocracy. Mary was only eleven when her beloved father died, making her the richest heiress in Britain, and she was soon beset by eager suitors. Her marriage, at eighteen, to the beautiful but aloof Earl of Strathmore, was one of the society weddings of the year. With the death of the earl some eight years later, Mary re-entered society with relish and her salons became magnets for leading Enlightenment thinkers - as well as a host of new suitors. Mary soon fell under the spell of a handsome Irish soldier, Andrew Robinson Stoney, but scandalous rumours were quick to spread. Swearing to defend her honour, Mary's gallant hero was mortally wounded in a duel - his dying wish that he might marry Mary. Within hours of the ceremony, he seemed to be in the grip of a miraculous recovery. Wedlock tells the story of one eighteenth-century woman's experience of a brutal marriage, and her fight to regain her liberty and justice. Subjected to appalling violence, deception, kidnap and betrayal, the life of Mary Eleanor Bowes is a remarkable tale of triumph in the face of overwhelming odds.

3) Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
Dunant (The Birth of Venus) revisits 16th-century Italy, where the convents are filled with the daughters of noblemen who are unable or unwilling to pay a dowry to marry them off. The Santa Caterina convent's newest novice, Serafina, is miserable, having been shunted off by her father to separate her from a forbidden romance. She also has a singing voice that will be the glory of the convent and—more importantly to some—a substantial bonus for the convent's coffers. The convent's apothecary, Suora Zuana, strikes up a friendship with Serafina, enlisting her as an assistant in the convent dispensary and herb garden, but despite Zuana's attempts to help the girl adjust, Serafina remains focused on escaping. Serafina's constant struggle and her faith (of a type different from that common to convents) challenge Zuana's worldview and the political structure of Santa Caterina. A cast of complex characters breathe new life into the classic star-crossed lovers trope while affording readers a look at a facet of Renaissance life beyond the far more common viscounts and courtesans.

4) Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
Marion and Shiva Stone, born in a mission hospital in Ethiopia in the 1950s, are twin sons of an illicit union between an Indian nun and British doctor. Bound by birth but with widely different temperaments they grow up together, in a country on the brink of revolution, until a betrayal splits them apart. But fate has not finished with them - they will be brought together once more, in the sterile surroundings of a hospital theatre. From the 1940s to the present, from a convent in India to a cargo ship bound for the Yemen, from a tiny operating theatre in Ethiopia to a hospital in the Bronx, this is both a richly visceral epic and a riveting family story.


Aren't they fabulous. What did you find this week?

7) The Gourmet by Muriel Barberry

Pages 126

Published by Gallic Books in 2009. French Translation.

'When I took possession of the table, it was as supreme monarch. We were kings, the suns of those few hours of banqueting, who would determine their futures and describe their horizons - tragically limited or mouth-wateringly distant and radiant - as chefs. I would stride into the room the way a consul entered the arena, and I would give the order for the feast to begin.'

Pierre Arthens is France's greatest food critic and he is on is deathbed. He cannot die until he stops being tormented by his inability to remember the most delicious thing he has ever eaten throughout his lifetime. He spends his last hours looking back over his life, to try and discover when he ate that elusive meal. In between each chapter about food, the people that have surrounded Pierre through out his life, share their thoughts and feeling on his life and his inability to love his family in the same way he loves food.

This book should definitely come with a public health warning. It should not be read by anyone about to begin a diet or in the midst of a diet, as it will seriously damage your willpower.

I began this book, during the second week of my perpetual diet and could not devour a chapter without a glass of white wine and a chocolate truffle. With each paragraph I read, my mouth began salivating; with each vivid description of different meals, my mouth went into overdrive, easily imagining each meal described. Every thing is described with such detail, the words just flow off the pages. This book tantalizes all of your senses, from touch through to taste. It will remind you of times gone by, when you first ate certain types of food and who you were with at at the time. If I could have put this book between two slices of bread, with a little butter and eaten it, I would have. It was simply divine.

'An apple tart, with thin, crisp flaky pastry, and wedges of golden fruit insolently veiled beneath the discreet caramel sugar crystals. '

'In bread one can find dazzling variety, akin to a miniature world, which reveals its inner workings as it is consumed. You storm it through an initial encounter withe the barrier of crust, then yield to wonder the moment you are through, as the fresh soft interior contents.There is such divide between the crunchy shell - on occasion as hard as stone, at other times mere show, quickly yielding to the charge - and the tenderness of the inner substance, which lodges in one's cheeks with a docile charm, that one is almost at a loss'.

This book was absolutely amazing and draws you in from the first page. You cannot help but feel pity for Pierre, that he never found it in his heart to love his family as passionately as he loved food. He knew more about food than he did his own children. Even to the end, he never rectifies the broken relationships, yet they all feel such love for him, even though he never showed it back. I got the impression that he never really cared what others thought of him, they were insignificant to his life, where as to them, his tendency for coldness, left them with a gaping hole in their hearts.

This book is a very quick read and can easily be digested in one sitting. If you are a lover of food, then you really must read this one. This will make you nostalgic for the most fabulous meals of your lifetime.

I wonder if you can remember the most beautiful thing you have ever eaten in your life. The one food and memory that will stay with you forever. The one item of food that can still make your mouth water years after eating it. The one where you can imagine it instantly and almost taste it.

The most wonderful food I vividly remember eating and never having since, was Angels on Horseback, in a restaurant in Hampstead Heath. I was about 20 years old, earning good money as a waitress,whilst studying for my degree and thinking I was pretty sophisticated. I went to a restaurant with some friends and ordered this starter off the menu and fell in love. Angels in Horseback are oysters wrapped in bacon and to this day I have never attempted to cook them just in case they don't taste the same.

So that is my most wonderful food memory, a meal I still crave nearly twenty years later. What meal do you remember purely for the taste?

6) How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

Pages - 186

Published by Penguin Books in 2004

Challenges - Young Adult and Library Challenge

'The summer I went to England to stay with my cousins everything changed. Part of that was because of the war, which supposedly changed lots of things, but I can't remember much about life before the war anyway so it doesn't count in my book, which this is.'

Daisy has been shipped over from America to live with her unusual aunt and her four children who seem to run wild in the countryside. For the first few chapters, the book is lighthearted and funny, as you watch Daisy observing life on the farm. Her aunt is suddenly called away to Oslo and the children are left to play grown ups in her absence. As the days progress, Daisy feels a strong attraction to her cousin, Edmond and they try desperately to keep their feelings under control.

Then war breaks out in England and you watch as the story takes on a darker tone. The children stand back and watch as people start to panic, with food being bought in bulk and rationing begins again. The children's mother is unable to return home and contact with her is soon lost. The children then have the house taken over by the army and they are all shipped off to different parts of the country. The story then moves onto some quite tragic incidents, where the children learn very quickly that they need to grow up in order to cope with the horrific sites they witness.

How I Live Now is a portrayal of England, if war ever broke out within our country's boundaries. It is set slightly in the future and gives off a believable performance of how the British would cope with a country at war and full of terrorists. This book had the same affect on me as George Orwell's '1984'. It left chills down my spine, at the possibility of what could be. A glimpse as to how modern day Britain would cope in the event of war. It really made me wonder how all of us born after the Second World War would actually cope in this situation,as we have only ever dealt with war from a distance and from the past.

I really enjoyed reading this book, I thought the story line was fantastic. As I moved through the chapters, I felt as though I was slowly creeping down into a dark, dark cellar, as the darkness in the book gradually moved from grey to black.

I loved Daisy the main female character. She started out as your typical teenager, whose life revolves around immediate contact with the world, via text or email. You would think with the onslaught of war, that she would just crumble without Internet access, yet she learns to fight and to survive very quickly. She is left to look after Piper, her youngest cousin and takes on her maternal responsibilities with ease and actually better than some adults I know. The war makes her stronger and when she eventually reunites with Edmond, she has the strength to help him rebuild his life too.

Piper came across as an adorable child, who was loved by all. She had a great affinity with animals and was able to use her persuasive powers to get her dog, to help work on the farms. For such a young girl, she deals with her losses with dignity and grace and the war shapes her future role in life.

This book deals with some very important teenage issues, which seem to be very common these days. Daisy is slightly anorexic and her obsession with not eating at the beginning of the book, is rather disturbing. However, when food becomes scarce, Daisy realises how important it is to eat in order to keep up her strength. Sex also plays quite a big part within the story, though I did feel this was dealt with subtly if not safely.

There was a couple of tiny things that I had issues with and I really don't want to make a big deal out of them. Firstly, I struggled at first with the sexual relationship between Daisy and her cousin Edmond. Now this is something that I thought was illegal in England, but I have just found out that you can legally marry your first cousin here, however I am aware it is illegal in parts of America though. This doesn't really sit well with me, the thought of one of my girl's marrying my brother's son, just doesn't seem right. I would be interested in what you thought about this.

Secondly, I didn't like the way Daisy disappeared off to America near the end. I lost all my bearings as to what had happened and I felt concerned about who looked after Piper, when Daisy went home. It seems like Daisy was just whisked away and poor Piper was left to her own devices.

I did find her writing style a little difficult to read at the beginning, with the constant use of random capital letters for emphasis of different things. I also found punctuation to be a bit hit and miss, but I got the feeling the book had been written that way on purpose, to emphasise the voice of a teenager, who wouldn't care if she used full stops or not. Luckily, I only seemed to be dwell on the story's composition for the first couple of chapters and then I stopped noticing it, as it became more intense.

Other than these two points, I did really enjoy this book and will definitely be looking for more books by Meg Rosoff.

5) The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

Pages - 211

Published by Vintage 2006

Challenges - What's In A Name 3 Challenge

Be careful what you wish for. I know that for a fact. Wishes are brutal, unforgiving things. They burn you tongue the moment they're spoken and you can never take them back. They bruise and bake and come back to haunt you.

The story begins with a little girl, making a wish she couldn't take back. Once her wish came true, her life was never the same again. She grows up with a heart touched by ice; never letting anyone come close enough to love her or allowing herself to love them back. Her life is non existent until a highly unlikely accident changes her life.

She is struck by lightening which affects so many parts of her body. The most noticeable is her inability to see the colour red, which makes everything have that white, snowy look about it. The lightening changes her life forever and results in her beginning a relationship with Lazarus Jones, a fellow lightening survivor who had died and come back to life. He is hot to touch and can boil water with his mouth, a suitable love match for an Ice Queen.

This was a really unusual story and had me searching for more information about lightening survivors. I had never considered the affects of lightening on people, but it seems to cause different reactions amongst it survivors. It never occurred to me how many different types of lightening existed either.

The story is very subtle and has a lovely fairytale feel to it. There are aspects to it, which make you feel like you have stepped back into your childhood. The natural elements that have caused the main character to appear like an Ice Queen are well written; the fact that she feels like her heart has ice in, as she feels responsible for other mother's death; the fact that everything looks like ice and snow to her because of her inability to see red anymore. She does come across as an Ice Queen who can no longer feel emotion for the people close to her. The character Lazarus, almost have a comic hero feel about him, where by a natural occurrence has left him with special powers. His ability to heat everything up, caused by the chemical reaction in his body,when they tried to bring him back to life just sounds surreal.

The main character of the book who is never named, comes across as hard and I found it difficult to warm to her at first. Her life has such limited boundaries as she has no idea our to interact with others and let them into her life. I kept wanting to stand behind her and give her a big push out into the world, so she could experience it. Lazarus is the first person that she has ever felt any emotion for. By the end of the book, as her sight returns to normal, you see her begin to thaw and realise that she does love the people who surround her.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than the last Hoffman one I read which was Skylight Confessions; the storyline was definitely more interesting and kept me engrossed until the end. I was rooting all the way through for the main character to actually feel the ability to love. The writing was beautiful, with Hoffman's vivid descriptions leaving an imprint in my heart.

The only thing I didn't like was the lack of love within the book. In both of Hoffman's books I have felt that her characters struggle to show any kind of emotion, which makes them appear cold, heartless and difficult to like for the majority of each story. This is obviously part of Hoffman's writing style, where her characters struggle to show emotion and that is fine, it just makes it difficult for me to feel anything for her characters. I really do want to love her books, as she brought the world my favourite film ever, 'Practical Magic, yet I am not feeling it. At least in this book, there was a happy ending and the main character learnt to love again and I did enjoy it a whole lot more than the first one I read. I just really want to love her work and I am struggling; so some more suggestions would be good as I refuse to give up on my quest.

Other reviews of this book.

Trish's Reading Nook

Things Mean Alot

Life And Times of a 'New' New Yorker.

Monday Mailbox and Library Loot

Monday Mail is hosted by by Marcia at the Printed Page and you will find her blog here.

Yes, I know I am bad, bad book blogger who wasn't going to buy any books, especially as she received so many at Christmas. In my defence, hubby said I could have them and there are only five.

1) The Gates by John Connolly. This is about a young Samuel Johnson and his dachshund Boswell who are trying to show initiative by trick-or-treating a full three days before Halloween. Which is how they come to witness strange goings-on at 666 Crowley Avenue.

2) Kissed By An Angel by Elizabeth Chandler - This was one of my Friday Finds last Friday. Ivy always believed in angels. When she meets Tristan, it's the love of a lifetime. When he dies, her heart is broken and her belief in angels vanishes. And without that belief, she is unable to feel Tristan's presence when he returns--as an angel.

3) Fallen by Lauren Kate - another Friday Find I couldn't resist. This is about Daniel, a fallen angel, doomed to fall in love with the same girl every 17 years . . . and watch her die. And Luce, a fellow immortal, cursed to be reincarnated again and again as a mortal girl who has no idea of who she really is.
4) The Hollow by Jessica Verday -And yet another Friday Find purchase. When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone.
5) A Dictionary of Angels by Davidson. All these angel books got me thinking that I wanted to know more about them, so I bought this one too.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

These were the books I was waiting for last week and they have only just turned up.

1) Skellig by David Almond. I have been waiting to read this for ages.

2) The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech - I have never read any of Sharon Creech's books, but I know she is very popular and has won lots of awards; this is her latest book.

3) The Catcher in The Rye by J.D Salinger - I am reading this one for the Every Month Is A Holiday Challenge. J.d Salinger was born in January, so I thought his book would be an ideal one to read.

4) Maximum Ride by James Patterson. I would normally read anything by James Patterson, as I am dubious about his books, but I couldn't resist this one as it is a graphic novel.

5)Fun Home by Alison Bechamel - another graphic novel for the graphic novel challenge.

6) Felt So Good by Betz White - this is a really interesting book with lots of things to make using old jumpers. I know that sounds really bizarre, but you can make journal covers, scarfs, even cupcakes.

Also I had to show you what else I received in the post this week. The Persephone Catalogue and Biannual Magazine. There are some incredible books in there and I spent a good couple of hours drooling over the books. I can't wait to order some.

So that's all the books that came to my house this week. What did you get?

Sunday Salon: The last itsy bitsy challenge!

This is the first full week back at school for the kids, due to all the snow over the last couple of weeks, so I have been trying to catch up on lots of jobs that needed doing. So my reading seems to have slowed down just a little this week and I have been choosing rather thin books to read.

I had a lovely day scrapbooking yesterday and came a lot closer to finishing my Christmas journal. I only have four pages left to do now, which I hope to get done throughout the week.

I finished reading How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, which is a fantastic YA novel, as well as Thaw by Fiona Robyn, which was quite a depressing read, but very powerful too.

I also read The Gourmet by Muriel Barbery, which is one of those books that makes you hungry the whole way through; not a good choice when you have recently started your New Year diet.

At the moment, I am working my way through two books. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, which is about a fallen angel; it took me a little while to get into this, as I found the writing really didn't flow to begin with, but it is getting better. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi which is a brilliant graphic novel, dealing with Satripi's childhood in Iran during troubled times.

I got lots of new books from Amazon, as well as lots from the library, which I have been waiting on. I shall show you all those tomorrow.

I wanted to let you know that I have joined one more challenge too.

How could I resist a challenge that allows you to read books about books and reading. I love books so much, of course I want to read them too.

Here are the details from Leslie's blog.

The challenge will be to read a set number of books that focus on books or reading. These can be fictional works, such as The Eyre Affair or The Shadow of the Wind; or non-fiction works such as 84, Charing Cross Road or The Polysyllabic Spree. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of books out there that would fit this challenge.

The challenge begins on January 1, 2010 and ends on December 31, 2010. You must sign up for the challenge by January 31st, 2010.

Only books read during the challenge will count. You may reread books as well as cross-reference books with other challenges.You do not need to make out a list when you sign up and you can change your mind on particular book selections throughout the challenge. I like to have flexibility for my reading whims!There are three levels for you to choose from:

Bookworm: Read three books

Litlover: Read six books

Bibliomaniac: Read twelve books

Doesn't that sound fun. I am going to go with three books to start with, but may upgrade if I get through these quickly. I am not sure which books I will read yet either, as I like to go with the flow and see which ones take my fancy.

If you want to join, you will find the link here.

Talking of challenges, I wonder if someone might be able to help me. I am trying to join the Victorian 'Our Mutual Read' challenge and I have sent a few emails to Amanda who is running it, but I haven't been able to contact her. If anyone knows how I can actually get on the blog roll, please could you let me know or please let Amanda know that I am desperate to join. Thanks.

So that is my reading week, what have you been up to.

Young Adult Friday Finds

Friday Finds is hosted by MizB at You Should Be Reading and you can find it here. MizB does a fantastic job with this meme every week, so do pop over and pay her a visit.

This week's Friday Finds found me on Amazon looking through the tons of new Young Adult books that are hitting the shelves this January. I was absolutely gobsmacked by the new books available and actually purchased three of my Friday Finds without thinking about it. It is so easy to 'Add to Basket' on Amazon and then pay!

From my list below, I have purchased the last three books. Bad girl!

1) The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
The Sanctuary of the Redeemers is a vast and desolate place - a place without joy or hope. Most of its occupants were taken there as boys and for years have endured the brutal regime of the Lord Redeemers whose cruelty and violence have one singular purpose - to serve in the name of the One True Faith.
In one of the Sanctuary's vast and twisting maze of corridors stands a boy. He is perhaps fourteen or fifteen years old - he is not sure and neither is anyone else. He has long-forgotten his real name, but now they call him Thomas Cale. He is strange and secretive, witty and charming, violent and profoundly bloody-minded. He is so used to the cruelty that he seems immune, but soon he will open the wrong door at the wrong time and witness an act so terrible that he will have to leave this place, or die.
His only hope of survival is to escape the arid Scablands to Memphis, a city the opposite of the Sanctuary in every way: breathtakingly beautiful, infinitely Godless, and deeply corrupt.
But the Redeemers want Cale back at any price… not because of the secret he now knows but because of a much more terrifying secret he does not.

I would buy this book for the cover alone.

2) The Hollow by Jessica Verday

When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead?and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. Then she meets Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special. Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her - one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.

What a great storyline, who doesn't love The Legend of Sleepy Hollow!



3) Fallen by Lauren Kate

Seventeen-Year-Old Luce is a new student at Sword & Cross, an unwelcoming boarding/reform school in Savannah, Georgia. Luce's boyfriend died under suspicious circumstances, and now she carries the guilt over his death with her as she navigates the unfriendly halls at Sword & Cross, where every student seems to have an unpleasant - even evil - history.It's only when she sees Daniel, a gorgeous fellow student, that Luce feels there's a reason to be here - though she doesn't know what it is. And Daniel's frosty cold demeanor toward her? It's really a protective device that he's used again . . . and again. For Daniel is a fallen angel, doomed to fall in love with the same girl every 17 years . . . and watch her die. And Luce is a fellow immortal, cursed to be reincarnated again and again as a mortal girl who has no idea of who she really is.


I am thinking that angels are the new vampires!


4) Kissed By An Angel by Elizabeth Chandler

Ivy and Tristan are meant to be together. Both stunningly attractive, brilliantly talented and very much in love, they think
their happiness will last forever. When a terrible car accident shatters their world, killing Tristan and injuring Ivy, she must face life alone - or so she thinks. However, Tristan is watching over her as her guardian angel - so close she can feel his touch and hear his voice. And no one needs a guardian angel more than Ivy, because someone is trying to kill her. But if Tristan saves Ivy, his mission on earth will be finished, and he'll have to leave her behind. Will saving Ivy mean losing her forever?


What fabulous finds this week. I can't wait to read the three I have got winging their way to my house. I feel a celestial weekend coming on.

What books did you find this week?