My book list for July

 I actually started this book on holiday in June!

Twenty years ago, nine friends made predictions for each other with the agreement that they would meet again in twenty years time to see just how accurate they were.  We meet them all at Ivo's family home on Dartmoor where they have arranged a weekend together to reveal the predictions.  Not all of them are still alive.  Some are remarkably successful in their careers. Some are living ordinary lives. One of them is a murderer.

I liked the idea of this storyline and the story keeps you guessing up to the end. I did feel that it dragged a little in places however and the characters are a little stereotyped but nevertheless I did enjoy it.

Next - something completely different!

Now there was a point that I nearly gave up on this book!  But it has good reviews and it is certainly something unlike any other books I have read.  

Imagine if you could erase any bad memories or bad behaviour, wipe your conscience or your memory clean and start again with a fresh slate.  Imagine how many secrets would be hidden.  This is where the Binders come into their own.  Books are not as we think of them nowadays; books are where your confessions or bad experiences are written down, bound into a book and locked in a vault for safekeeping.  

Emmett Farmer is summoned to become a Binder's apprentice and although he, and his parents, are reluctant to let him go, he has no choice in the matter.  He starts to learn how to prepare the books for their contents and gradually learns how to complete a book.  Then one day he comes upon a book with his own name on the cover.  In a past time that he can no longer remember, he must have visited a Binder to have this memories erased and the details hidden away forever.

The two central characters have both met before, despite a huge gulf between their lives, but neither can remember how or when.  It's hard to pinpoint the era in which this is set.  There are no real clues other than it was a time where witchcraft was feared and in my imagination, the town of Castleford resembles the era of Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist.

This was a cleverly written novel and each part gives us a little more information as to how Emmett and Lucien met in a former, forgotten life.  It's not the kind of book I would say that I thoroughly enjoyed, but it is a very clever concept and well written.

The next book was the one chosen by our online book club

The book begins in 1961 when Mari arrives at Martha's Vineyard to supposedly research the paintings of Elizabeth Devereux.  While going through her mother's possessions after she died, she has found the name of the artist and is intrigued to learn more about the connection.

We then go back in time to 1942 and meet sisters Briar and Cadence Smith who are trying to maintain a sense of normality as the war in Europe is escalating and US soldiers are training to go off to war.  Their brother Tom is called up and leaves the two girls and their grandmother to keep the farm going in his absence.

They are trying to adapt to their new 'normal' with troops training around the area of their farm and beach when a soldier is found, washed up onto the beach.  The girls rescue him and allow him to recover in their boathouse, their sympathy drawn from thinking of their brother and how they would hope that he would be treated if it were to happen to him.  But the man is German, having tried to escape from the U boat where he was working as a medic.  His family are all living in America and he just wants to be reunited with them and not drawn into the fighting in the war.  Is he telling the truth?  As they did not report finding him straight away, the family has put themselves into danger as harbouring the enemy is a serious offence. 

He insists there is a spy on the island and a U boat is waiting to pick them up, his story seems convincing but who is about to betray their country? More to the point, how is Mari associated with the family? 

I enjoyed this book, I've never been to Martha's Vineyard, but the author makes me feel like I can imagine how it looks and the people that would have been there in the war years.  All in all, I enjoyed this book, it's not your typical WW2 story and I would recommend it. 

Me on Monday

 i think it's fair to say that I am now completely back in the old routine after our holiday!  Once the cases are back in the loft and the washing is all done and back in the wardrobes it's almost as if you've never been away.

We had a curry night with a group of friends that we get together about 3 times a year.  We used to all live in the same street and struck up our friendship when our children were young.  It's nice to keep in touch even though we've all moved from the original street.

Our grandson Leo had his first school residential - two nights away from home which is a big deal when you are only eight! He had a great time even though he lost a tooth on the first morning there.  

Our son had a great day on Saturday.  He and his wife were offered corporate tickets for Centre Court at Wimbledon.  How lucky was that?  Especially bearing in mind that Djokovic was playing that evening.  Look at the view from their seats!

Just before I went on holiday Gail from Is This Mutton asked me if I would join in a blog post she was compiling about people's favourite dresses.  You can read it here. The idea was to show your favourite dresses, but this was the day before I went on holiday so I had to slightly alter mine to be my 'favourite dresses to take on holiday' The main criteria for holiday dresses is that they must not crease as I don't like ironing at home so I certainly won't be ironing when I go overseas.  

This Monday sees me going to pilates and then into town to look for inspiration as we have three birthdays coming up. I'm sure that I will be given ideas for Max and Leo but I still like to get them a surprise or two.  Much harder to shop for our daughter though, if she wants something she tends to just buy it rather than hold on until it's her birthday.

To be honest, I am going to try and relax and enjoy this next week as once schools break up our childcare will be increasing, not to mention a certain little dachshund coming for a 10 day stay while her family head off to Turkey for their holiday.  This also clashes with a 3 day visit from Max and Olive while their mum and dad go to a 'no children' wedding in Manchester.  Wish me luck!

Have a good week x

#WBOYC in June

 

The halfway point of the year! I'm joining in with the Australian Deb's World to share my month. Please pop over there to see how life is on the other side of the world!

Watching and reading

I am watching the Chelsea Detective.  It's not a new programme, but is new to me so I'm enjoying working my way through the episodes.  I tend to put it on while I am doing the ironing to take my mind off my least favourite chore!

Race Across the World has come to an end. My favourite couple didn't win but it was a good race to the end.

We are enjoying The Last Anniversary.  It's nice when we find something that we both enjoy!

My book list for the month is shown in this blog post.  Going on holiday is a good excuse for reading more than usual.

Eating

You can't go to Italy and not eat well can you?  We had some fab meals while we were at Lake Garda.  We'd booked bed and breakfast and found a different restaurant every night.  Every meal was delicious.  Let's also discuss gelato.  Wow.  So many flavours!  The most intriguing one was called Audrey Hepburn.  Yes, really! It was fruits of the forest and white chocolate, I wonder what made them think to call it Audrey Hepburn?

Self Care

Still doing pilates and zumba still but the best self care was a week's holiday in Malcesine.

Days out

Does a week away count? Malcesine was a beautiful location and we spent many hours wandering around, discovering the town.  

We also got the ferry across to Limone which was another charming resort.

Some friends of ours are going to Riva del Garda in a couple of months time so we thought we would get on a bus and see what it was like there.  It's really nice there and I think they will enjoy it!

So all that is left now, is for a 1 Second Everyday roundup

My book list for June

 I started the month as I did in May, with a Richard Osman book.

It was good to read it so soon after the last one as the characters were all fresh in my mind.  This book deals with some emotive subjects and there were some thought provoking chapters in amongst the mystery.  

An old friend of the Thursday Murder Club has been killed and a mysterious package that he had received has gone missing.  While trying to solve the 'why' of his death and the 'where' of the missing parcel, the group get involved in the antique business, art dealerships and even online romantic fraud.  

I think this may be my favourite book of the series so far and I have no doubt that book five will be downloaded in the not too distant future!

This book caught my eye as I wandered around Stansted Airport before our trip to Italy.

I had already read a couple of Claire Douglas' novels before so felt confident that I would enjoy this.  I was correct in that assumption!  Lena overhears a conversation between her new neighbours which sounds suspiciously like they are planning to commit a crime.  Her friends and family are sure she must have heard something out of context as Henry and Marielle seem such nice, ordinary people.  

But something niggles in her mind and she decides to investigate further.  The previous owners of the house had left a spare key with her in case of emergencies and had not asked for it back when they moved out.  When Lena is sure that the couple have gone away for a weekend she lets herself into their house to see if there is anything there to verify her suspicions.  All seems perfectly normal until she opens the door to a room which has a wall covered with newspaper cuttings.  This leads her to investigate further.  

The answer lies back in the late 90s when Lena was fresh from school and completing her nursing training.  Something that happened then is the catalyst for the new neighbours strange behaviour.

Did I enjoy this? Yes, very much!  I read it in two days!  

I also took with me a totally different book

Now I thought that this may be a bit predictable but it had a clever variation on a theme.  Two women from polar opposites of the social spectrum, both members at the same gym, a mix up with gym bags ...  

Sam is shocked to find that she has picked up a bag with designer clothes in it rather than her comfortable work wear, but not quite as shocked as Nisha who opens the wrong bag to find high street clothing.  Where is her Chanel jacket?  What about her Laboutin sandals?  She travels home in gym flip flops and a dressing gown, gets in the lift to the rooftop penthouse suite and finds her way barred by her husband's bodyguard who tells her that she is not allowed back into her home and that he is seeking a divorce.  

Nisha's journey from living the highlife to finding herself homeless and having to find work cleaning the rooms in the fancy hotel rather than living there is cleverly written. Her divorce settlement is dependent on her returning her fancy sandals to her husband who does not believe her when she says she doesn't know where they are.  What importance do they have and how will she track them down?  All is revealed with several twists along the way.  

This was a great holiday read and was not as 'chic lit' as I thought it would be!

Catching up Tuesday

 Thank you for popping by, it feels like a long time since I was last writing a blog post. I have naturally been spending time out in my new Mini, it’s so much fun to drive and very different to my last one.

We’ve also been getting organised for our forthcoming trip. The cases are down from the loft and Coco is eyeing them suspiciously every time she goes upstairs! Little does she know that she has a little vacation of her own coming up, spending time with her ‘friend’ Daisy 😆 Paul is practising his Italian and I am making lists of things to pack! 

Our son’s dog had a horrible accident at the weekend in the woodland near their house. He went romping through the undergrowth and speared himself on a sharp branch of a tree. So we had unexpected childcare duties while he had an unexpected emergency surgery to sew him back together again.

As you can see, he is none too impressed with that cone!

The weather here has been gorgeous and the garden is looking good.  Paul has been working hard out there and I've helped now and again but all credit should really go to him!

The peonies are beautiful this year and it was lovely to pick some to bring into the house

I’ve been ‘Knitting and Nattering’ and learning how to make a colourful blanket without having to join any edges, you join as you go.

Right, I think it is time to say ‘arrivederci’ and ‘hasta la vista’!

Ciao!

Me on Monday

 Just like that, we are in June.  Half way through the year!

Something good happened last week.  My new car arrived 😁 The right model and the right colour and the right number of doors!  

So this week starts with a trip to see our financial advisor.  The joys of being of pensionable age eh?  Asking him to oversee our accounts back in 2011 was the best thing we did, his advice has been invaluable over the years.  A morning in his office will be time well spent.

Coco is hoping to have a better week this week.  She had to have a small procedure to remove a lump from the top of her head last week.  It was a bit like having a skin tag removed for a human and she had to have a crucial part of her fringe shaved so she's looking a little different!  Then we had Daisy the dachshund come to stay for a couple of days while our daughter went to visit her in-laws. So it wasn't the best of times for Coco, she doesn't like sharing us with other dogs!  

I've got my pre-holiday hair cut booked in for Tuesday so hopefully I won't be copying Coco with the dodgy fringe.  I think I've also reached the pre-holiday stage where I should probably check that my swimming costumes still fit, I don't want to get overseas and then find I don't have anything to wear around the pool!                 

I had an email last week that got me thinking and I'm wondering if it's something they are sending to people all over the UK.  It was entitled 'Are you ready for anything?' and it was from the Local Resilience Forum of our county constabulary.  It was a survey to see how prepared you are in case of an emergency event.  Being of a suspicious nature, I wondered if they know something we don't know!  It also made me buy a litre of bottled water, a dozen AA batteries and a dozen AAA batteries when I went to the shops. Just in case ... 😳   I'm not sure a litre of water would last us long but it felt like I was a tiny bit more prepared!

I need to find a new project for my 'knit and natter' get together on Friday, I could continue with my ongoing blanket, but it's got to the stage now where it's heavy and hot on your lap when you are working on it.  I need something smaller!  

So I'm off to trawl through online crochet pattern websites, wish me luck!  Hope you have a good week!

                                                                                             

#WBOYC in May

 

The months are galloping along aren't they? I can't believe it's time to join in with the other Deb's World in Australia and do a brief recap on the last four weeks.

Watching and Reading

The Essex Millionaire Murders caught my interest as we live about 45 miles away from where it happened.  I can't believe I hadn't heard about it at the time but oh my goodness, what an evil mind their killer had.

The series Malpractice was really good, as was The Game which changed my opinion of the actor Robson Green! We just started watching The Chelsea Detective which I think is going to be good.  

Code of Silence with Rose Ayling-Ellis is very good and makes you really appreciate how difficult life must be to be deaf, and how useful it is to have good lip reading skills.

Still watching Race Across the World and still in awe of how they find their way around with no internet access and absolutely no knowledge of the language.

Following the election of the new pope we were inspired to watch Conclave!

I started the month reading the third in the series of books by Richard Osman, The Bullet that Missed.  They are very easy reads. I also enjoyed Philly Barker Investigates by Joanne Tracey and will be downloading the second book in the series for my holiday in Italy next month.

Eating

We have a kind of tradition that at the beginning of summer we go to our friends who live around the corner to us and they cook a paella.  So after a week of wall to wall sunshine, it was decided that the time had come!

We had friends come to us for dinner. I decided to make a tried and tested chilli con carne because I knew I could make that in advance and have a more relaxed evening with me slaving away in the kitchen while everyone else sat outside with a pre dinner glass of wine.

I met up with friends for lunch a few times, it's good to keep in touch with people I used to work with and on one occasion I met up with someone I was at school with and that was a very long time ago!

Fish and chips at the beach, it always tastes so much nicer doesn't it?

Self Care

Still keeping moving with my pilates and zumba, some weeks easier than others to find the motivation first thing on a Monday morning! My bottom also made an appearance on the teacher’s instagram page 😳

I took a break from the blanket I'm crocheting and started a new, quick project for my 'knit and natter' get together. It was nice to relax and work on something smaller using springlike colours.

Days out

We had four days in Norfolk, which was glorious.

Now to condense all that down to 1 Second Everyday