Review: sailing books

I've recently read two sailing books: Fastnet, Force 10 and Love with a Chance of Drowning.

Both made extremely clear the ruthlessness of the ocean.

The Fastnet race in 1979 killed 18 people, as a result of a "perfect storm" hitting the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the UK and Ireland while the race from Cowes to Fastnet Rock was happening. The writing style reminded me a bit of Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, and was utterly terrifying. The combination of relatively small ships, far out to sea, and a confused sea with spectacular waves resulted in massive boat damage and loss of life. The storm happened before I was born, but John remembers being in a harbour in France on a sailing trip with his parents, and watching boats break loose in the harbour as the waves crashed over the harbour walls.

Anyway, give it a read, preferably NOT before setting out on a sailing trip.

If you DO want a book that will make you want to go to sea, I really liked Love with a Chance of Drowning, a memoir about following a boy and a boat and sailing across the Pacific ocean.

Sign me up!

In which I finish a sweater and read several books

I finished my Blakeslee Tee a few weeks ago - it's super cozy and not too warm, but good for chilly English summer days. No pictures of it On Me yet, mostly because I still need to figure out the best angle. The horizontal stripes are somewhat chubby-making. I love it anyway, though. It was an excellently mindless knit.

The slipped-stitch stripes are so pretty, especially close up.

I've been reading up a storm, lately. I downloaded Dark Triumph, the sequel to Grave Mercy. I started reading it and realised that I really couldn't remember who any of the secondary characters were (several of whom were featuring heavily in the sequel), so I went back and reread Grave Mercy. I enjoyed it as much as the first time round, and then jumped straight in to Dark Triumph, which I loved, too.

Then I thought I'd read something improving: Crusoe's Daughter, by Jane Gardam. It was recommended on a few blogs, and reviewed favourably in the NYT when it came out. The prose was lovely but it was Utterly Dull. I really wanted to like it, too. Oh well. Who needs plot when we have pretty writing?

To recover, I read the much-recommended book by John Green, The Fault In Our Stars. It's the story of love between two teenagers, one with terminal lung cancer, and it is improbably quite funny but also predictably heartbreaking. Cathartically so.

And finally, I blasted my way through Insurgent, the second in Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy. Post-apocalyptic Chicago with teenagers and running around and kissing? Why, yes, I don't mind if I do. Too bad the third one's not out for a while. And I'm worried the movie might be crap...

Review: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

I read and adored Kate DiCamillo's The Magician's Elephant a few years ago. Something caught my eye last week, and I reserved The Tale of Despereaux and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane at the library.

After I finished The Magician (no, it didn't get an better, and no, I'm not going to bother with the sequel even though he finished on a cliffhanger), I was feeling some what hopeless about finding a good book.

I shouldn't have.

I started The Miraculous Journey while cooking dinner, savoured it (and the fabulous illustrations), and finished it a few hours later.

The blurb at the front on the dust jacket drew me in:

Once, in a house on Egypt Street, there lived a china rabbit named Edward Tulane. The rabbit was very pleased with himself, and for good reason: he was owned by a girl named Abilene, who treated him with the utmost care and adored him completely.

And then, one day, he was lost.

It was heartbreaking, restoring, and gripping. (One of the Amazon reviewers complained it was too sad for her to read to her child...I say if the child sees that sadness can have redemption and healing through love, she'll be a better person for it.)

DiCamillo is an incredible storyteller. She sets the scene in a few words, sketches fabulous characters, and moves the story along. I can't wait to read her other books (although it's going to be like Eva Ibbotson...I'll have to spread them out and not let myself read them all at once). Keep writing, please, Kate DiCamillo!

Reviews: Anna Karenina & Grave Mercy

One of my UK book group peeps saw the Tom Stoppard Anna Karenina when it came out over the summer, and suggested that we read it for book group. Thankfully, we all have kindles, so didn't have to drag hardback copies around with us.

Overall, I liked it. However, there was Way Too Much Rambling About Farming. And Russian Peasants.

Thankfully, the movie avoided the rambling, and pretty much just cut to the chase.

I'm glad I've now read it, but won't be seeking out any other Tolstoy any time soon.

I think it also may hold the record for "longest time for Kate to read a novel" - it took me nearly 6 months. Phew.

To follow, and because I felt like I needed a guilty pleasure after all that Russian angst, I read Robin LaFevers' Grave Mercy. It's set in medieval Brittany, and is about a girl who goes to a convent dedicated to Mortain, or Death. She trains as an assassin (along with the others in the convent) and is then sent out on a mission. Entertainment and drama ensue. I zipped right through it and really enjoyed it. AND I have excellent timing because the sequel is coming out in three weeks!

Oh, and this is what's wrong with America. French toast, with a side of bacon. It was delicious, but still.

Cold, wet, windy bank holiday

Bad news: the weather has continued to be grey, rainy, and horrible.

Good news: the grey skies make the yellow rapeseed flowers positively glow.

More good news: grey skies + cold weather = knitting under a quilt on the couch while watching iPlayer, drinking tea, and intermittently savouring Bitterblue on the Kindle. Quite wonderful, actually.

Reader, I finished Jane Eyre

I'm industriously working my way through the classics on my Kindle. I've read Sherlock Holmes, Northanger Abbey, Tess of the D'Urbervilles (mostly, I gave up 3/4 of the way through because I HATED it) and I've just finished Jane Eyre.

I saw a play based on Jane Eyre when I was about 9 - all I remembered from it was that it was really scary and that there were waif-like orphans all over the place. So I was a little bit surprised when the book left the orphans after a few chapters, and that it was decidedly un-scary.

I liked it much more than Wuthering Heights - I thought Jane was surprisingly spunky and independent.

I'm definitely going to watch the 2011 adaptation - I had been waiting to finish the book before watching the movie.

Any other classics that I might have missed?

I have two quilts to bind, so what am I up to? Starting a new knitting pattern, obviously!

Reviews: Swallows & Amazons, Dark Is Rising

I read two "children are having dangerous adventures without adult supervision" books in quick succession. Inadvertently.

I'd been meaning to read Swallows & Amazons for years. I had no particular idea what it was about, only that it was on that nebulous list of "things I should read one day." Well, for the three remaining people on the planet who haven't read it, it's all about children in the Lake District, between the wars, who go on an adventure with their sailboat to an island in the middle of a lake.

I got the feeling that I'd have enjoyed it a little bit more had I been able to turn off my Camp Counselor instincts. 

The kids went sailing. In the dark. With no lights. More than once. And one of them can't swim. Oh, and they shot arrows at each other.

As a kid, this would have been deliciously scary and exciting.

As a 30-year-old ex-camp-counselor, it was extremely alarming. Oh, well.

I did, however, love it in spite of the "OH MY GOD THEY'RE DOING WHAT?!?" moments.

On Liz's recommendation, I read the first book from the Dark Is Rising series, again with the unsupervised children having adventures that are really rather dangerous. I liked all of the Arthurian references, and the book felt completely timeless.

Luckily, both books are the start of fairly long series, which is good to know.

On to the next ones!

Review: Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson, had been on my to-read list for a while. And no, it has nothing to do with Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day.

I should have taken the hint from Alexander McCall Smith's blurb on the front, "A beautiful little love story."

As AMcS says, it's a love story, set in a village in Sussex, typically English (including the underlying currents of xenophobia and a healthy dose of NIMBY).

Major Pettigrew reminds me a little bit of my mom's cousin, Charles - extremely well-mannered, chivalrous to a fault, and very distinguished. I loved the character, and found his hapless son deliciously bad.

My only complaint about the book was the continuous rant against Red Brick Housing Estates Built On Former Fields. Well, I'm sorry, English Countryside peeps, but not all of us can afford to live in country houses.

Harumph.

My mother-in-law makes the Best Pies Ever - I helped with this one (I made the decoration) last weekend at a big family supper that we had. YUM.

On my Kindle, I've been plodding through Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I quite liked the first half, but have now given up. Hardy just put one block after another in front of poor old Tess - I got tired of it. I was bad and gave up and read the Wikipedia entry about the plot and will now be moving on to the next book. Sorry, Tess.

Review: Wolf Brother

Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother caught my eye ages and ages ago (years, I think), but I never managed to add it to my library queue or pick it up at the bookstore - there were always books ahead of it.

It arrived for me at the library last week, and I blasted through it. Granted, it's a children's book (I'd say 8 and up), and the print was a bit big, but it was totally immersive. I found the chapters distractingly short, but it made it really easy to "just finish the chapter." I know I'm into a book when I'm reading at lunch and one of my team comes into my office, calls my name, and I either don't hear them at all or am so startled by the presence of another human that I jump.

Set in prehistoric times, Wolf Brother is the story of a boy and a wolf cub, both left alone to fend for themselves. Together, they thrive.

Review: Trudi Canavan miscellany

I arrived rather late to Trudi Canavan - John read most of the books when they were first released, but they weren't really on my radar. I finished reading the Black Magician Trilogy a few weeks ago, and bought these right after TC visited Bury St Edmunds for a book signing (damn you, Waterstones, for not telling me about it until afterwards). At least I have the signed copies.

I finished The Ambassador's Mission last night - I didn't like it as much as The High Lord (my favorite), but it scooted along very nicely. I think I wish it were more about the main character's parents, but I think he's going to feature rather heavily in the next few so I'd better get used to it!

Look - all signed!

I've also picked up the last (NOOOOO!) Eva Ibbotson, One Dog and His Boy. I think I'm going to have to save it, as it was published posthumously and there definitely won't be any more. Must not panic.

One more thing: welcome, new arrivals from ModernDayQuilts. Thanks for coming to visit! It'll be a miscellany of books, quilts, cooking, expat living, and general musings, if you'd like to stick around.

Review: The Sweetness At The Bottom of The Pie

Walked the Race for Life today (you can still donate, in the sidebar!), and we even ran the last 300m. It was a really great day - quite a bit of emotion with people's signs, lots of money raised, and zillions of pink garments.

The brownie below was good, but it's not why I've posted a picture of it. I think the color combo (blue, white, cream, and brown) is one of my all-time favorites. Looking around the living room, the color scheme is echoed in here, although another blue accent or two wouldn't go amiss.

These came home with me, as expected. Unfortunately, I then acquired two very super-duper blisters (which I will spare you the photo of). Going to have to do some breaking-in, methinks.

We made fajitas for supper tonight - I think that the fresh coriander (along with homemade guac) is the key.

I finished The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie, by Alan Bradley, on Friday evening. It was recommended to me by a few people within the space of a week, and we decided to read it for book group. I thought the mystery was good, the plot zipped right along, the chemistry-interludes were endearing, and the protagonist (an 11-year-old, pigtailed detective) was adorable. My only problem was that I had trouble not setting the novel in my brain's stock-stately-pile, currently home to several Persephone books, a few Kate Morton books, and a few other interludes. I think I need to allocate a new house in my brain for stately homes, since it's getting rather full in there!

We helped out at the Blind National Sailing Championships yesterday at EAST. They had fabulous weather, great wind, and happy volunteers (and extremely happy sailors). 

Since Ms. Kanga still has many weeks of work before she goes in the water (mostly reattaching the assorted fittings that we took off to redo the deck), we thought we'd go down to EAST and at least help out. I ended up taking hundreds of pictures of the sailing (and the volunteers), which we'll bring over on a DVD shortly.

I've been a serial book-abandoner since I finished A Discovery Of Witches - I gave up on Alone In Berlin (too grim), One Day (characters were driving me crazy), The Tiger's Wife (generally meh), and Embers (I couldn't decide where the book was going so I gave up).

Oh dear. I have the newest 44 Scotland Street novel from Alexander McCall Smith, The Importance of Being Seven, which I know I'll love. I also have the third of the Black Magician trilogy, by Trudi Canavan, so I'll be fine. Canavan was at the Bury St Edmunds branch of Waterstones last week and I didn't find out about it until after the fact. FML. I've tried to get on a list for events in local bookshops and there isn't one. I forget to check their website and then miss awesome things like Authors I Love Who Live In Australia And Hardly Ever Go On Book Tours. Bah.

Rambles

Well. Spring has rather suddenly sprung - it was 20 degrees and sunny today. Glorious.

This is...ahem...my second Aeropress. The first one lives at work. And then our John Lewis coffee machine (with the nice insulated pot) decided that it was Finished. On strike. Not making coffee. Well. We can't have that.

If you really like coffee (and don't mind not being able to top your cup up with "a little hot" as my mom always calls it), go get one.

OK, I have a confession to make. I've gone over to the Dark Side. See? It's right there, in the picture. No, not the Aeropress one.

Fine, you win. I will shout it from the rooftops.

I HAVE A KINDLE! And I love it. It hasn't been properly Kindle-y and left the house yet, mostly because the super-snazzy wool felt case that I ordered on Etsy hasn't come yet. Don't worry, I'll blog about it when it arrives.

I've decided that I will continue to be a mega-customer of the Stowmarket Library (at least until the Tories kill it), and the Kindle will be used for (1) books in the public domain and (2) books that I Have To Read Now And The List At The Library Is So Long That I Would Have Bought The Book Anyway. For the moment, that means I'm reading Pride And Prejudice.

One more thing to show you - remember when Viv came to stay? I know, it was a blast. Anyway, when she was here, I admired her snazzy knitting bag. And so she made me one. And sent it to me last week. And I LOVE it! Little mini pencil-case sized bag for scissors and those funny little poky things to twist the needles and stoppers on and off, and a big bag for the actual knitting. You can't see from this picture, but it has a really bright blue lining that looks fab against the linen and the red zipper. Also, Little Red Riding hood is accompanied by some very entertaining critters.

This was my week

I caught the mega-cold (worst one I've had in a while) that has been going around work. And missed the entire week. As one of my colleagues said, I "slept for England." And read Jilly Cooper's Jump for book group. Verdict? Meh. It should have been half the size. Half the number of characters, half the number of pages, and half the story arcs. At least it entertained me for several days on-bed. Even her author's acknowledgements at the end were 9 pages long. 9 PAGES! Someone, somewhere, please edit Jilly Cooper down to a manageable length, at which point I might consider reading another one.

Haven't actually started Downton Abbey yet - I'm looking forward to it.

Recipe: Non-Yucky Lemsip (because the medicated stuff is NASTY)

1 green-tea teabag

1/2 lemon

1 tbs honey

boiling water

-and-

1 paracetemol (taken separately)

Stir the lemon and honey around in the tea, then take the lemon out and squeeze as much juice and fruit as you can into the mug (it'll be easier after a minute in the boiling water). Works better than the medicated stuff, I think, to make you feel better and clear things up, at least temporarily. I wonder if I could fill an insulated camelbak with it and just take it around with me!

Other saviour of the week: Angry Birds. LOVE it. Even if playing for 2 hours drains my iPhone (3) battery from full to empty. Not that I've done that, in my pjs, while sipping Non-Yucky Lemsip, or anything. Nope.

Portrait lens and cake

I made lemon & blueberry cake (except with raspberries instead of blueberries) for my work peeps on Tuesday. I only had the portrait lens on the camera (and was too lazy to change it), but I like the way the picture came out. The cake was delish, btw. Great recipe.

I read The Magician's Guild, the first in Trudi Canavan's Black Magician trilogy. I liked it more than the prequel that I read last year. Not much in the way of wand-waving but I think there will be more magic (and learning about magic) in the next book in the trilogy. I'm still working on Jilly Cooper's Jump (ugh) for book group, and I have several other books to get moving on, mostly non-library ones. Woohoo!

Review: A Conspiracy of Kings

**We interrupt this blog posting for a short notice, for Kate's immune system.**

Attention, Kate's immune system. A friend who lives in Australia and is currently circumnavigating the globe is coming to visit StowmarKate this weekend. That tickly cold-y feeling WILL be gone by Saturday at approximately 11am, and you will NOT be bombarding said friend (or her lovely husband) with your Evil English Germs.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Right...on to the real stuff. This month's Waitrose Kitchen magazine featured some new soups that they have in the store - don't these look awesome? Mmmm. The only one missing, as far as I can see, is Matzoh ball soup. I shall buy one, slurp it, be disappointed (I tend not to like packaged soup), and let you all know how I suffered.

I needed a small break from Wolf Hall (which I'm now enjoying), so I read the final book in The Thief series, A Conspiracy Of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner. I liked the first one the best, but I thought this one was good. I realised, though, that I had interrupted medieval (well, Tudor) royal drama with medieval (ish, Fantasy-ized) royal  drama. Oops.

On the shortest day

Well, I put this little chap up on the shelf a few weeks ago. And the weather seems to have followed his instructions, to the letter. Let it snow, then.

I'm not a huge fan of winter. Christmas in general stresses me out (I'm a buyer, so Christmas starts in March), I REALLY don't like the super-short days, and no matter how much I try to convince myself that I like curling up in on the couch with a blanket, reading my book, with a hot chocolate, I'd much rather it were summer and I could sit outside. 

I do, however, like the following: knitting, flannel pjs, piles of heavy duvets and quilts on the bed, Christmas music (Britten's Ceremony of Carols, Kate Rusby's Sweet Bells, Tori Amos' Midwinter Graces, and traditional English carols). I also like slippers, my Owls sweater, and scarves.

Ok, so maybe I don't HATE winter. Today, however, is Solstice, so while it's cold and dark and snowy (the true Bleak Midwinter), spring is coming! Not just yet, though.

I'm in the middle of the latest Kate Morton, The Distant Hours, and I like it. It feels a little over-long in places, but the story is good and I'm looking forward to the unravelling of the mystery. It must be soon - I'm on page 507! My reserved copy of Wolf Hall (I think I might be the only Book Geek on the planet who hasn't read it yet) arrived at the library and is waiting for me on the nightstand, so I will have something to curl up with between Christmas and the New Year.

Winter warmers

I read another Eva Ibbotson novel last week, The Morning Gift. I love her writing - it is so witty and entertaining. I don't feel like I read her books, so much as I go and live inside them for a while. When I googled her to see if she's working on any other books, I was heartbroken to see that she died (peacefully, at 85) back in October. There were obituaries in the Guardian, Telegraph, and the New York Times. I've read about 12 of her books, which means there aren't many left. I'm going to have to ration myself.

In other book news, Jane Brocket of Yarnstorm mentioned that she is going to be at Persephone Books for an open day on Tuesday 14th December. Oh, that I had a spare vacation day. Persephone WILL be on my To Visit list for the next time I'm in London. I love that they have gift recipient suggestions for various books in their catalogue, and I think the "a book every month for 6 months" is a fantastic present. Definitely going to keep that one in mind.

I bought this (wool? fiber? stuff?) to knit some scarves with at Halfpenny Home last weekend (I also found some amazing buttons for the Owlet sweater I'm knitting. It knits up in ruffles and looks adorable but is MADDENING to knit with. I like to be able to just plough ahead and knit without watching, but with this stuff I have to Look At Every Stitch, Closely. BAH. Maybe once it's knitted into a scarf I'll love it? I hope? Since I bought two balls (that's two scarves to knit, if you're counting), both intended to be Christmas presents, one destined for New Jersey? Maybe our house elf will knit it for me while I'm sleeping tonight.

Review: HP7(1), A Separate Peace, Looking for Alaska

Apparently, all media over the last few weeks that I've consumed has been entirely focused on teenagers at boarding schools. Ok, so this is Southwold Church, not Hogwarts, but I thought it looked suitably atmospheric. It was FREEZING when we were there!

First, I read A Separate Peace, which was one of those books that all my friends in AP English were assigned (I was non-AP for mysterious reasons known only to the head of NRHS's English department at the time). Meh, I think. I wouldn't have minded reading it in high school, but I definitely didn't love it.

Second, I read Looking for Alaska, by John Green. Again with the moody teenagers at boarding school (this time in Alabama, though, not New Hampshire). I could see why parents might not want their kids reading it, but I also think it's the kind of book that could lead to engagingr discussions in a high school English classroom.

To finish, John and I saw the new Harry Potter movie (Deathly Hallows, part 1) with what seemed like half of Ipswich on Saturday night. I really enjoyed the movie, and thought that it captured the book perfectly. I'd forgotten quite a few of the plot points, since I've only read the book once, right when it first came out. I'm going to need to jump in to a reread, after I finish my new Kate Morton (the waiting list at the library was 100+ people so I caved and bought it).

A small break from the sick bay

My second "Little Sister's Dress" is finished, as of this past weekend! This picture isn't exactly true to colour - the dress is more of a raspberry colour. It's the 3-6 month size, knitted for a work friend's daughter. When I made Gabi's dress, my work buddy loved it so much that I promised her that if she had a girl, I'd make her one. And here it is! I started it in August, not too long after Ellie was born. I can't wait to see her in it! The buttons were crowd-sourced at Halfpenny Home - I had the beginnings of the dress and I think we had every single button in the store out on the table at some point. I think they're perfect - thanks guys!

I came down with some kind of tummy bug this week, and have spent the last 2 days mostly napping, with a little bit of reading. I finished Inkheart last week - I found it was slow to get going but the last 50 pages really whizzed along. I've reserved the second one at the library, so I guess I did enjoy it!

I've had the Hunger Games on my booklist since I read about all the excitement that the final book in the trilogy received when it came out. It reminded me a little bit of The Host, and was definitely an enjoyable romp. When I finished it, I had my first moment of wishing I had a Kindle, simply so I could download the second book and get started right away. I did the next best (and much cheaper) thing, instead, which was to join the queue at the library. It should arrive in a week or two, anyway.

And now, my unhappy tummy and I are going (back) to bed.