Nov
30
2009
0

November books

51U824aK7CL._SL500_AA240_The Dark Room by Minette Walters is a reasonably good read. Jane (Jinx) Kingsley is a successful photographer and she is also heir to a fortune. One day she wakes up in a psychiatric hospital after allegedly trying to kill herself. As the story unravels so does her amnesia and she starts to remember what really happened and who killed her ex-fiancee, her best friend and attempted to kill her. A good book with a rather predictable murderer in the end.

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21WRF18BM0L._SL500_AA144_Still Thinking of You by Adele Parks is a rather mediocre chick lit novel. Tash and Rich are newly engaged and go off skiing with his friends to get married. As their friendships unravel and friendship secrets come out their relationship starts to fall apart. It was an OK book but hard to feel sympathy for such unlikeable characters!!!

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512J4Mm40FL._SL500_AA240_The Chameleon’s Shadow by Minette Walter is a great read, or a great listen in this case because I listened to it in the car on audio CD.

Lieutenant Charles Acland is involved in a major incident in Iraq which kills two of his men and he ends up with a sever facial disfigurement. He returns to the UK and after lengthy operations and rehab he returns to London where he lives as a drop out until being roped into an investigation for the murder of three men.

This is a fab story with some really interesting and well-developed character. I particularly liked the police doctor, Jackson, a big dyke of a woman who is a weightlifter in a spare time. She certainly took no shit but some of her comments in the story gave me laugh out loud moments. A fab book.

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51DAcXekHML._SL500_AA240_Knit Two by Kate Jacobs is the sequel to the book The Friday Night Knitting Club which I reviewed here. I loved the first book but I found this one much harder to get into.

Five years on from the death of the main character of the original book, Georgia Walker, the Friday Night Knitting Club is still going strong. The characters have moved on and life has changed for many of them. Despite it taking some time for me to get into this book, the things that drew me into the first book managed to grab me in this one too. The community and relationships that developed throughout trial and pleasure continue and this book ended up being a lovely read, but not quite as good as the first one.

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Can’t find an image for the next one. Who Says I Can’t by Catherine DeVrye is the memoir of her journey to finding her family. She was adopted as a baby in Canada and then her adoptive parents died when she was 21 years old. This book is the story of trying to find her birth family and her journey along the way. This book was an ok read. Not exactly earth-shattering and it read a little bit like a self-help book but it wasn’t too bad.

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519S88VSA8L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU02_Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab is a pretty horrifying true life story of the SAS’s involvement behind enemy lines in Iraq. Andy McNab and eight members of his regiment were sed ona top-secret mission which went pretty badly wrong and they all ended up either captured or dead. Part of me wonders if this book is all factual. I hope it isn’t, but I suspect it is. I don’t agree with war to resolve issues but you cannot fail to be impressed with the men and women who go to war on behalf of their country.

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515SJ5RK6GL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU02_Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith is the second in the 44 Scotland Street series that I reviewed here. I absolutely loved the first book and thought the characters were charming. I did love this book too, especially the character of Bertie, but it took a little longer for me to get into this one than the first book. Possibly it would be better to read them back to back to keep the characters and their development in mind. However, I love the way Alexander McCall Smith writes. His characters are beautiful and keep you guessing as to what is going to happen next. Lovely.

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515OglcmhxL._SL500_AA240_I listened to Acid Row by Minette Walters in the car recently and it is a rather good story. It is about an estate somewhere-or-other and what happens when the residents find out that a paedophile has been rehoused there. That coupled with a young girl going missing nearby causes the estate to riot and barricade the estate, oh and a GP is held hostage by the paedophile and his mental father. A good story, but almost horrifying enough to be true. The only downside was that most of the CD’s had a bit of damage on them so there was a minute or two of the story missing. Always the important bits of course!

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41I-UZYVGwL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU02_The Broker by John Grisham is a mediocre but OK book. I quite like John Grisham’s novel but this didn’t have the pace of some of his better ones, well not until the end anyway. The story follows a man who was convicted of defrauding the US government and received a length custodial sentence. He is unexpectedly pardoned by the outgoing President and he is shipped off to Italy where just about every superpower in the world is trying to kill him. It was ok but not one to re-read.

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Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Nov
30
2009
0

Cute overload!!!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bmhjf0rKe8[/youtube]

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags:
Nov
26
2009
4

Genius!!!

This made me giggle so much I cried!!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY[/youtube]

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags:
Nov
24
2009
6

Add mememe!!!!

Oooo well Rosamundi has provided me with a Gorgeous Award. That doesn’t happen very often!

Apparently what I now have to do is list 6 things that are generally unknown about me. Might be quite difficult as I am quite an open book…. But let’s give it a go…

1. One of my favourite films is Patch Adams. Cheesy and pretty rubbish and I love it.

2. I went to give blood today and managed to do it in the fastest time of the day… 6 minutes for 500mls. I thought that was pretty impressive.

3. Most people seem to think I am high maintenance… actually I am probably at my happiest when I am camping and relaxing with friends. (Is that an unknown?)

4. I have size 6 feet.

5. I don’t like wearing clothes in bed. They tend to runkle up all nasty and unnecessarily (although I do have to wear PJ’s when I am camping!!!)

6. I like wine.

So, now I have to list 6 other Gorgeous bloggers or blogs (it would seem that Rosamundi has nicked some of my favourities)… so in no particular order the prizes go to….

Pants at Formerly Known as a Piece of Underwear
Jack the Lass at The Maturest Student in the World
Peterson Toscano at A Musing on himself
Mrs C at Being Mrs C
Lara at Diary of a Stressed Out Mum
Peacebang at Beauty Tips for Ministers

Go forth and blog good people!!!

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags:
Nov
15
2009
1

Charity Ball

Last night I went out to play and left The Mister at home alone with the cat, Delilah. I went to a charity ball which was supporting a charity which raises awareness of vulva cancer. I have to admit that I didn’t know anything about it, and the guy organises the ball was affected by this disease because his mother died of it. The charity, called VACO has a website here and it is well worth a look.

Anyway, once we had all worked out why we were there we got on with the business of having a good time. The theme of this years ball was ‘Britain’ or ‘British’ (I can’t remember which!) and the venue was decked out with a backdrop of London, a wandering minstral and there was also Mary Poppins and a drag queen called Dixie. I went with my friend James and we had a really nice meal with plenty of wine which meant that by the end of the evening I was really very drunk. As a result I have spent all day recovering. I really am too old to drink that much and feel ok in the morning! A distinct advantage to The Mister passing his driving test is that I didn’t have to pay for a taxi as my lovely fiancee came to pick me up at 1am!

Here are a couple of pics of the evening.

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Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized | Tags: ,
Nov
14
2009
1

Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm at Union Chapel

Last night the The Mister dragged me along to a gig he wanted to go to, it was Jonathan Coulton supported by Paul and Storm. I have to admit that I was a little bit hmmm about this gig because I know Jonathan Coulton has a massive geek following. I am quite clearly not a geek, but I was quite horrified by how many of the jokes and links I got and the fact that I seemed to understand what was going on. But, oh no, I am definitely not a geek!!

So having been a bit hmmm about the gig I had a fab night. For a start the venue, Union Chapel is the most AMAZING venue. Still a functioning church it has the most divine acoustics due to the huge height and it is a fabulous place for an intimate gig. Secondly, Paul and Storm had me in complete hysterics. They sing close harmony songs, and I love close harmony and damn they were good! They are rude and funny but incredibly talented. As for Jonathan Coulton, a fab song writer, but for me the magic really happened when he was joined by Paul and Storm for some harmony pieces. Just gorgeous. At one point they got rid of the amplification to see what the acoustics could do on their own without the benefit of technology. It was a truly beautiful sound.

the highlight of the whole evening for me was when they sung Birdhouse in Your Soul, as made famous by They Might be Giants. This is one of my favourite songs and is usually sung at breakneck speed, but instead it was sung much slower. It meant the gorgeous harmonies could really be heard.

So all in all, a fabulous night and here is a video of last nights performance of Birdhouse in Your Soul. Enjoy.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYBWnl6PhR8[/youtube]

Written by Anna Williams in: Uncategorized |
Nov
13
2009
3
Nov
08
2009
4

The weekend

I went up to Leeds to see The Mister this weekend. We had quite a few bits and pieces to do, but the major thing was trying to find a property to rent. We are hoping to move The Mister in sometime in January, and then me in February, but most of the estate agents told us that we were looking too early. Very annoying as it is probably one of the things that is making me most anxious. Oooo also my flat has gone on the market… I need someone to buy it immediately!!!

This little part of the journey is turning out to be much more emotional than I expected. I have lived in Hatfield for just over 10 years and by and large I have been extremely happy here. Suddenly the realisation of all I have to give up and leave behind is very strong; for example my job, my flat, my wonderful friends. I am not saying I don’t want to move because I do and I am really looking forward to being with and marrying The Mister and I am going because I love him!!!! I guess I am just feeling a bit sad about what I have to leave behind.

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

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