Jan
31
2009
7

January books

Like last year I have decided to blog about all the books I read but I am going to do it at the end of each month. I have to admit I have been really surprised by how many books I have managed to get through this month, I hope you manage to trawl through all my reviews… you just might find a gem or two in there!

The Nanny by Melissa Nathan is a rather fun, if slightly predictable novel about a married couple and their nanny. The couple are having marital problems, exacerbated by the appearance of his son by his first wife. The nanny is a capable and entertaining young woman, who happens to fall in love with the aforementioned son. The disasters that follow are centered around these relationships. Quite funny and kept me entertained.

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The Devil You Know by Louise Bagshawe is what I consider good chick lit. It is about identical triplets separated when they were still babies by their scheming Italian uncle. They grow up in separate families, two in America and one in Britain and despite many trials they are high achievers in their fields of writing, the record industry and property development. I really enjoyed this book. I liked the characters and thought it was a good read. The Amazon reviews though pan it which surprised me.

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Strictly Love by Julia Williams is a rather silly book with the most improbable storyline. It involves several different characters, all of whom have disfunctional relationships; a handful of lawyers, a dentist who is being sued by a mental celebrity, a frumpy woman and her husband who turns out to be gay. Not exactly a genius story, but there were bits of it that were quite amusing. All the characters lives are sorted out by dance classes. If only life was so simple.

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On her 14th birthday Lois is given a manual for life which was written by her father before he died when she was five years old. The Manual gives her instructions and advice and has an entry to be read on her birthday every year until she is 30. By the Time You Read This by Lola Jaye is a saccharine sweet read. The story is quite sweet, but I didn’t think the author was a particularly great writer, and then ending was rushed in an attempt to tie everything up in one go. Not a great read.

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The Second Wife by Elizabeth Buchan picks up a few years down the line from where her book The Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman left off. It features two women, Rose, the wronged first wife, and Minty, the husband grabbing second wife. However, when the two-timing husband of these women die they are forced to confront their feelings about each other in an attempt to survive. I really enjoyed this book, especially the comparisons that were made between the two marriages to the same man, and how they learned to live with all the “saids”, and the “unsaids” between them.

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The Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith was made into a TV show which was directed by Anthony Minghella. I loved the programme and the book has been on my reading list ever since.

Precious Ramotswe was left her father’s cattle after he died and she sold them and set up a detective agency in her home country of Botswana. This book charts her first cases and the ingenious ways in which she goes about solving the problems that are presented to her.

The book is so beautifully written, and having watched the programme I could almost hear the beautiful accents of the people in the text. I loved it and think that Mma Ramotswe is such a wonderful, warm-hearted character. I have the next couple of books in the series on my bookshelf too, so watch out for more the The Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency on this blog!

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Rachel and Darcy are best frineds since school. rachel has always been the academic high-achiever, and Darcy has always got whatever she wants, including men. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin is a story about the sudden and unexpected affair that Rachel starts with Darcy’s fiancee and the final demise of their relationship.

I started off really enjoying this book, but as time went on I got more and more irritated with the characters. Quite frankly if Darcy was my friend I would probably slap her whiny face, and if Rachel was my friend I would probably slap her as well. She was the most unbelievably self-obsessed character, as much if not more than Darcy, who I initially didn’t like very much. I suppose in some ways it is quite clever writing. You go from feeling sympathies for one character and then having to switch halfway through the book to feeling sympathies for the other character.

The other thing that irritated me was that the resolution of the story was far too simple and tidy and it was a bit like the author was trying to wrap everything up too quickly.

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The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell is a curious book about a woman called Esme Lennox, funnily enough. When she was 16 years old she was put in an institution by her family who thought she was mad because she didn’t quite fit into the social norms if the 1930’s. She remains in this institution for the next 60 years until it closes and a great-niece who didn’t even know she existed has to look after her.

This is quite a clever book with lots of twists and turns and in parts it is really quite sad. My only real complaint is that often it is really hard to work out who is speaking. It flits backwards and forwards between the 1930’s and the present day and between the characters. It is especially hard to work out what is going on at times because the writing seems to be just a stream of conscious (and unconscious) thoughts which are in Esme’s head. I am still not sure I really know what happened in the story!

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Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See is just a gorgeous book. Set in the 1800’s Lily is matched at the age of 6 with her friend for life, known as her old same or her laotong. They are matched because of their birth dates and astrological charts and they are a perfect match. The story covers their relationship and the messages that they send to each other on a far, messages that are written in nu shu, a secret language devised by women for women. They are matched in every way, except that Lily is from a very poor family and Snow Flower is from a rich family.

Their relationship is deep and intense and more important than their relationship with their husbands. The book covers the horrifying ritual behind foot-binding, something that I have found fascinating, but I never realised just how barbaric the whole procedure is.

This book was both an education and a lovely read. I was fascinated by the culture and the rituals they followed every day. Well worth a read. This one will be going back on my bookshelf to be read again in the future.

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Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall-Smith follows on directly from The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.

In this book Mma Precious Ramotswe is working hard at her detective agency, solving problems such as wayward cheating wives and a missing son of an American woman. She also manages to acquire herself a fiancee, a lovely mechanic who wants to look after her. It is terribly sweet. Oh, and her fiancee also gets persuaded to foster two orphans, a brother and a sister, the latter of which is in a wheelchair.

I love these stories. They are so charming and make me desperately want to visit Africa. I am keeping my eyes peeled at the charity shops because I am sure I can collect the whole lot from there. Lovely book…. read it!!!

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I listened to Paradise House by Erica James on CD on my recent drive to Oop North. Having said that, the story has lasted for the last two weeks and every time I got back into the car I wanted to find out what happened next.

The story is about the Baxter family and is set over several decades. It tells the tale of Genevieve Baxter and her first love, Christian, who she met whilst on holiday at Angel Sands in South Wales when she was a child. A betrayal by her best friend at her 17th birthday party meant that she never saw him again until many years later when she and her family have moved back to Angel Sands to run a B&B. She has a mad and loving family, and they kind of reminded me of my family. Slightly mental but very loving.

I started out thinking this was going to be quite a dull book, but the characters so grew on me. The author also sensitively and skilfully dealt with issues such as deafness and dyslexia. This is a very sweet book if you want a nice gentle read. It didn’t hurt that the woman reading it on the CD had a lovely Welsh accent too!

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Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Jan
29
2009
0

This is how I feel at the moment!

funny pictures of cats with captions
more animals

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags:
Jan
25
2009
2

I see dead people (and animals)

Well, the weekend has been very busy so far.

Yesterday The Mister and I went out on a little jolly to London. After wandering around for a couple of hours and paying a brief visit to Borough market so I could look at all the fruit and veg stalls (and most importantly the chocolate and nut sweets stall!) we made away down to the 02 arena at Greenwich to see the Bodyworlds: Mirror of Time.

I have a bit of a fascination with this sort of exhibition anyway and I have seen a few of the the models before the last time it was in London, but there were some new, and quite extraordinary exhibits. About half way around The Mister commented that he would like to see Gunther von Hagens plastinate an elephant. What we did not expect as we rounded the final corner of the exhibition was a fully-grown plastinated giraffe. Amazing. This picture here wasn’t taken by me because it was banned… so I borrowed one of t’internet.

We then decided to get the boat from the O2 arena all the way up to Waterloo which was a lovely way to see a few more of the sights. To round off the day we met up with a bunch of people from The Ship of Fools. It was a fun day, but I feel knackered now and we have been very bad and have not gone to church today.

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Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Jan
20
2009
3

Testing, testing

I am just seeing if I can get the YouTube-thingy to work.

[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=83JDXXKzOXg[/youtube]

This video made me laugh so much. Brilliant!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Jan
20
2009
1

President Obama

I am utterly disinterested in politics, except today. I am watching the inaugration ceremony for President Barack Obama

There is no doubt that he is an extremely charismatic man, one who at this point in time appears to have integrity and at least he can string a sentence together without making some of the most spectacular publish gaffes, unlike George W. Bush.

I hope and pray that President Obama provides the leadership that is needed to a nation in great need. That he is a man who is able to be both directive and yet compassionate when considering the millions of lives that will be affected by his policies and decisions. I pray he is a man who will pursue peaceful means of reconciliation and justice over any form of violence or war.

I pray that this wife Michelle will be able to provide support to her husband, whilst finding her place in this brand new world into which she has suddenly entered. That she will be able to balance all the demands of being the First Lady, whilst still being a mother, a wife and a woman.

I pray for their two daughters, Malia and Sasha. That whilst their lives have been changed beyond recognition, that they will be able to still have a childhood. That they will grow up to be young women with principles and integrity who saw their father’s ideals and hopes and will pursue their own beliefs in justice and humanity.

Most of all I pray for the safety of this family. That they will be able to be the people God has called them to be and that they will be able to fulfill their part in history.

Today is truly a day of history.

So, I shall leave you with a poem called ‘I, Too, Sing America” that seems to sum it up for me. It was written by Langston Hughes and I heard Peterson Toscano read it at one of his shows a couple of years ago. It sent shivers down my spine then, and it has stayed with me ever since then. Somehow, it seems appropriate to repeat it here today.

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed–

I, too, am America.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Jan
19
2009
2

Frustrations

So, last week the trip switch in my house trips off and when I put it back on again it would seem that the light switch in the hallway is now controlling the lights in the lounge and the kitchen. Weird huh? So, my colleague asks her husband who is an electrician when he thinks and I get a text from her whilst I am up in Leeds on Friday telling me not to turn the lights on because it could be dangerous. At which point I panic and cry and have visions of my flat going up in flames.

So, I arrive back home last night and everything is still intact and I call out the people from a certain gas supply company with whom I have a home-care insurance policy. They tell me they will have an electrician out to me before 1pm today. So, I phone in work, make my apologies and tell them I will be in tomorrow.

The electrician comes and sorts things out, says the wiring is a bit weird but it isn’t especially dangerous and then he toddles oiff. Then I go to the gym. On my return I find out that the hallway lights are now controlling the bedroom, bathroom and downstairs hallway. So, I phone back a certain company and they tell me that someone can come out tomorrow. I remind them I have a job and the blokey on the end of the phone tells me their next call-out date is the 6th of February. So, reluctantly I book it in tomorrow.

So tomorrow morning I have to go into work at stupid-o-clock, get some more work and cancel all my appointments.

To say I am frustrated is an understatement.

I now am drinking wine.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags:
Jan
17
2009
3

Fountains Abbey

Today The Mister coaxed me out of bed with a cuppa and a crumpet and we went off to Fountains Abbey which was absolutely lovely.

I have to admit that I like nothing more than being able to wander around old buildings and take in the history and atmosphere. I was fascinated with this Abbey though as the stone was such a gorgeous pinky colour and it was kind of sparkly when you got up close. Just lovely in the afternoon sunlight.

After we had visited the water mill and clambered over the ruins we walked around the extensive grounds and finally into the deer park where we saw loads of deer. By this time though I was starting to flag as we hadn’t had anything to eat since the cream tea (low-fat of course) at lunchtime. So, we wandered off to the nearest town to find a pub for supper.

I like nothing more than a nice cream tea and an old ruin…. and I got both as well as a decent walk.

What a lovely day.

I am a lucky girl.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags:
Jan
15
2009
3

Me and my helper

My cat Delilah seems to have an absolute fascination with my cross-stitch. She regularly nearly gets poked in the eye because she is trying to chew the needle and she has, on more than one occasion, got her paw caught up in the thread. She is funny though and is lovely company. There doesn’t seem to be many nicer things that sitting on the sofa, watching a good TV show and doing some sewing, with a little purry cat resting on your feet or your lap. Lovely.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: , ,
Jan
14
2009
5

Wednesday

Today I am working at home as it is my admin day. It is almost impossible to get my paperwork done in the office because people keep asking me to do things, so this year I have been given permission to work at home one day a week. Last week was a bit of a write-off because I did bugger all, but this week I seem to have got into the swing of things. I decided to set up my table with my lap-top and got all my paperwork out last night so that it was all ready and waiting for me when I got up this morning. I have managed to write up several assessments and do some letters, but I still have all my client notes to do. It is so deathly boring. No wonder the NHS is generally rubbish. All the workers are drowning under a sea of paperwork and requests for statistics.

So, far today I have eaten a yoghurt, a banana and an apple and I am still hungry. I will go to the gym later. The diet and exercise routine seems to have been a little slow in getting started this year, but we are getting there.

Also, I am waiting for the man to come and install Sky+ for me.  Very exciting indeed!

That’s all for now. A day in the life of Auntie Doris. Not very exciting is it?

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Jan
12
2009
1

Yuk.

This article pretty much sums up all the reasons I find Mark Driscoll so odious.

The man is a major control freak. Scary stuff.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags:

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