Feb
28
2009
4

February books

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff is a fab book…. but very unexpected. It is one of Richard and Judy’s Book Club books which means it is a book I probably wouldn’t have picked up automatically.

I expected a murder mystery which is set in a strict Mormon community. Well, I got that, but I also got so much more. It is really two parallel stories and I had to work hard to keep that in mind. The modern story is about Jordan, a young gay guy who was excommunicated from the strict Mormon sect he grew up in. His mother, the 19th wife, is in prison, accused of murdering her husband. He sets out to prove her innocence. That is kind of the easy bit of the story.

The second part of the story is set 100 years previous and it follows another 19th wife, Ann Eliza Young and her story of being a wife in a polygamous family. The author has taken huge liberties and embellished her real life story, and padded out what might have happened.

I was absolutely fascinated by this book and it’s commentary on what living in polygamous families was like. Really worth a read if you like historical novels.

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Divas Don’t Knit by Gil McNeil is a sweet little book about Jo, a recently widowed woman who moves to a small seaside town in tent with her two little boys. She takes on and transforms her grandmother’s wool shop and meets a celebrity or two into the bargain.

It’s a sweet little book and made me feel happy. Not exactly the most earth-shattering writing or storyline but it’s a nice read.

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51f58l3c7dl_sl500_aa240_ Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult is a fascinating book. Katie Fisher is a young, unmarried Amish woman who is convicted of murdering her baby. A baby that no-one knew she was having, who she delivered in a cow barn. Katie is adamant that she was not responsible for the murder. Cue Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned lawyer who happens to be distantly related to Kate. As part of the bail conditions Ellie has to move into the Amish community to live with the family. This was a fascinating book, not least because I knew next to nothing about the Amish, but also how thier faith and way of life meant they related to what they called ‘the English’, the non-Amish people. Good book, with a fab twist at the end (although I kind of saw it coming!)

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51th2spxdnl_sl500_aa240_ A Special Relationship by Douglas Kennedy is about a foreign correspondent called Sally who manages to get pregnant by another journalist. As a result they get married and move to England to allegedly live happily ever after. However, she ends up with major postnatal depression and in hospital and her vile husband takes the baby and files for custody. I have to admit that when i started reading this book I couldn’t bear the main character Sally, I though she was crass, rude and I just didnt’ like her. However by the end of it, my opinions of her had changed. It’s a good story and well written, even if it goes on a bit long!

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51cuqfjugyl_sl500_aa240_The Alchemist’s Daughter by Katharine McMahon is a historical novel set in the 1700’s. Emilie Selden is a young girl who has been shut away by her father since the day she was born. He has educated her and trained her in natural philosophy and alchemy and as a result her ability to function in the real world is severely limited, especially when a dashing but flighty young man arrives on the scene. I also have read one of Katharine McMahon’s other books, The Rose of Sebastopol which I loved. This book, however, left me slightly cold, maybe it was because it was so scientific that I actually found it a bit trying to get through all that science to find the story!

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51en8vswhtl_sl500_aa240_I listened to Tell it to the Skies by Erica James on CD audio book during my recent road trips. It is a bloody long audio book, running to just over 18 hours. The story focuses around Lydia, a 40 year old English woman who lives in Venice. She trips and injures her ankle after she sees someone she thinks she knows from her past, she thinks she sees her teenage boyfriend Noah. It turns out to be his son, but from there the story all gets a bit weird. It flicks back to when Lydia was about 9 years old and takes you through her traumatic upbringing, through losing her parents and being sent with her sister to live with their religious grandparents. The historical story culminates in a murder. Of course it all ends happily, it has to, it is a nice romance novel. I did enjoy this book, but the length of it made it somewhat difficult to keep up with it, especially as I was doing short car journies towards the end.

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41jjfaaioll_bo2204203200_pisitb-sticker-arrow-clicktopright35-76_aa240_sh20_ou02_Ghostheart by R. J. Ellory was a disappointing book. It tells the tale of Annie O’Neill, a 30-something woman who own a bookstore in Manhattan. She had a strange childhood, only met her father when she was tiny and her mother died when she was younger. One day a stranger turns up in her shop and shows her some letters her father wrote to her mother and gave her the first chapter of a story to read. She becomes obsessed with this story, and ultimately finding out who her father was.

The problem with this book is that I just didn’t like it, I only enjoyed about the last 30 pages and that was only because I wanted to find out what happened. I knew that I had read a book by the same author, but couldn’t remember whether I liked it or not. Well, my Reading Challenge review of A Quiet Belief in Angels showed me that I didn’t like that one either, so maybe it is just the style of the author I didn’t like. I don’t think I will be reading any more of his books.

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51jpgwimzjl__sl500_aa240_I listened to A Long Way Home by Victor Pemberton on audio book during my last couple of weeks driving. It is 1939 and Hannah and her sister Louie are evacuated from Holloway to Redbourne in Hertfordshire. They go to live with a couple called Mr and Mrs Bullocks who run the local pub and who are stern people who make 16-year-old Hannah work extremely hard. Louie is very unhappy and homesick and ends up going to live with another family called the Beedles who have an older son called Sam who Hannah starts a relationship with. In the end Hannah decides that she simply cannot stay living with the Bullocks so she decides to walk all the way back to bomb-stricken Islington.

I really enjoyed this story, not least because I am fascinated by this particular period of history. It made me think a lot about how I would have coped if I had had to live through the Second World War and whether I would have been quite so determined and stoic about the situation. This book also had quite a lot of information about The Quakers as the Beedles were Friends. It was fascinating to hear their take on conflict and how it affected them taking in evacuees etc. Good story and worth a read/listen if you can get hold of it.

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Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Feb
25
2009
8

ooooooooo

dscn5980dscn5981ooooo how excited am I?

So, I am at home working and the doorbell goes. So, I think that’s a bit weird because no-one ever calls on me in the day, because I am never here (well, I suppose, not that I would know if they did call then!), so I go to the door and a woman is standing there with the most gorgeous bunch of flowers…. which are FOR ME!!!!

The Mister and I got together 6 months ago today, on the last night of Greenbelt, in the Jesus Arms. It has been a wonderfully happy six months, after what had been a pretty shitty couple of years. I can’t believe he sent me such beautiful flowers, and to be honest it made me cry, just a little bit. Mind you, I am not sure that he is going to let me forget I gave him socks for Valentines Day… well, he needed some new ones!!! I have to say though, receiving flowers today is wonderful… it’s personal to us and has made me smile so much.

Happy, happy, happy!!!!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Feb
24
2009
3

Stuff

I haven’t blogged in a while cos I have just been busy and absolutely knackered.

I went up north to The Mister at the weekend and had a lovely time. We didn’t have anything major planned which was just lovely. We chilled out, he did stuff on his laptop and I did my sewing, we went walking, we drank wine, watched TV and just spent time. I love just spending time with him.

The Mister is also currently the best boyfriend in the world after he bought me the CD of Gladys Hardy I Love Jesus, but I Drink a Little. Gladys is a genius. She has appeared on all sorts of radio shows and this CD has the audio of some of these appearances, as well as conversations with her family and a few short monologues. I laughed so much as we were driving around listening to her. So, here is another look at her marvellous appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show.

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

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Feb
18
2009
0

I have a guilty secret

tbddog051007I absolutely love the TV show Dog the Bounty Hunter.

I mean, the mullet, the crimping, the bling and the leather… and that’s just Duane “Dog” Chapman. I find myself absolutely fascinated by his wife Beth though. She has the most phenomenal cleavage and she wears the most amazing clothes. I mean, if they are too short, too tight and too low-cut, then she will be wearing them. She kind of reminds me of Dolly Parton, crossed with Miss Piggy and I love her. I think more peope should dress like this, I would happily sit in coffee shops for hours, fascinated by their clothing and how they walk in such ridiculous shoes.

So there, confession over. I feel slightly cleansed now.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags:
Feb
15
2009
2

Valentines Day and a party

Well this weekend has been fun.

Yesterday The Mister brought me chocolates and a card in bed… he scored big points on both counts. Then we wandered off to Bletchley Park where we went to visit The Computer Museum. I tell you, the things I do for love. Although I have admit to being vaguely fascinated by some of the old computers similar to the ones my Dad owned.

In the evening we went to a Be My Valentine party hosted by my friends Gwilym and Jon. It was fun with lots of people dressing up in their most fabulous outfits. As always with their parties though things were going great until the vodka shots appeared and then everything got a little messy.

So here are some pics for your delectation. If you want to see more then click on them to go to the flickr page.

DSCN5917DSCN5920
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Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: , ,
Feb
12
2009
0

Roll on the weekend

This week has felt like an incredibly long week. Apart from feeling a bit emotional I have had about a gazillion clients to see.

But, I am looking forward to the weekend. The Mister is coming down tomorrow night (yay!) and then on Saturday we are going over to Milton Keynes for a Be My Valentine party. It sounds cheesier than it will be, because it is organised by two of my fabulous friends. They are demanding glamour it would seem which should be entertaining. In their worlds glamour could mean anything from jeans and butch boots to full on drag. I still think The Mister is a very brave man agreeing to come to the party with me, but at least we should get a night away in a nearby B&B. I am looking forward to it – it’s nice to have something to dress up for!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Feb
10
2009
1

One year on

Gran NoraI can’t believe that it is a year ago today since Gran Nora died.

Time seems to have zoomed passed over the last year and suddenly I am looking back and wondering where it has all gone. Time certainly is a healer and I no longer feel quite so keenly the loss of my lovely Gran. Of course, being on the mainland means that I can almost pretend she is still in Guernsey living in her hill-top house and sitting in her chair looking out at the sea. In reality I know that she is gone and the house has been sold.

I still have moments when I wish I could talk to her one last time, especially as the last time I saw her I was really drunk and I was trying to survive my sister’s wedding. On that day though I saw Gran at the church (before I was too drunk!) and I knelt on the floor next to her seat and rested my head in her lap and cried. She just stroked my hair and told me that she loved me. These days it is one of the most powerful images of my Gran that I can draw to mind and it still makes me cry.

Gran wasn’t a rolling around the floor, playing with her grandchildren sort of Gran, but, she was always interested, always wanted to know what was going on and would have done anything to make her children and grandchildren happy.

She loved playing Scrabble, even if she was really rather rubbish at the end and would fall asleep in the middle of her go whilst holding her letters in her hand. She would then make a jerky movement and spill all her letters into her skirt, before picking them up to do it all again.

2771328632_78476f1abdI loved her for the fact that she would tell the same old war stories time and time again, but she seemed to have different grandchildren to tell certain stories too… like we all had our own bit of the jigsaw.

I can still see her in my head standing in her front porch and watering her geraniums, or sitting in her big comfy chair, looking out to sea and attempting to do The Times crossword.

I have a huge admiration for Gran Nora, for surviving the German occupation of Guernsey with her faith intact and an unshakable belief in a good and loving God. For the fact that she would have missionaries to stay in her house on a regular basis which meant we got to meet some interesting people, for the fact that she prayed for her family every day.

I wish she was still around, and I wish she’d had the chance to meet The Mister. She would have loved him. I know she would.

I still miss her so much.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: , , ,
Feb
06
2009
4

This made me laugh so much!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TPc4p7uxEs[/youtube]

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags:
Feb
05
2009
6

*sigh*

All I seem to be hearing these days is about people I know who are pregnant. It’s really hard, I would like to be happy for them but I just find it impossible. At least 5 or 6 people have recently announced their pregnancies and it is all they bloody go on and on about. This is particularly hard when it is your sister who is pregnant. I am trying to be pleased and I want to know what is happening, and yet I feel like an observer. A bit like I am watching them on a TV show instead of being part of their lives. It’s hard and I don’t really know what to do with it. Emotionally I feel battered every time they mention it, and yet I know that everyone, especially my family, would be far, far happier if I pretended I wasn’t hurting and just plastered on the fake smile and engaged in the banal chatter. I am not sure I can do that anymore.

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Feb
03
2009
0

Go on… you know you want to!

Last year’s Greenbelt was a slightly weird one for me. Not only were my best mate birdie and her family absent due to the birth of baby Ginger, but also my friend and fellow drinking companion Peterson was conspicuous by his absence.

I am really hoping that he will be invited back this year, maybe to perform his show Transfigurations which I had the privilege of seeing performed back in May last year. It is very different to Peterson’s previous works… much quieter, stiller and very thought-proviking. There are still some comedy moments in it, but they are somehow much more subtle.

Anyway, if you would like to see Peterson perform at Greenbelt this year then I suggest you send a little e-mail to Greenbelt asking them if he will be performing. It will make me happy anyway. Here is there e-mail address for your convenience… info@greenbelt.org.uk … go on… e-mail them… you know you want to!

(… the picture of me and Peterson was taken at Greenbelt in the Jesus Arms a couple of years ago. We were quite… erm…. relaxed by this point in the evening!)

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: , ,

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