All these teenagers are gonna start coming here for their queer horror

Finally, I took my own advice, and wrote some of the damn essay.  500 words are now done; just got to do another 4500, and it's finished.  That only worries me a little bit.

Look!  Things about knitting!

The amazing Sonja from Ginger Makes has made a jumper WITH HORSES ON.   I love it and plans are afoot.

This is an amazing pattern from Andi Satterlund.  I can't decide whether to make it or not.  It doesn't look mindless.

I've got 16 yellow squares to make for the weather blanket for September.  It was 22 originally.  Progress is progress.

Hattie wants to use sparkly buttons on her next jumper.  The little so and so won't wear her Sparkly Owls jumper, so I am not entirely pro the whole idea.  The sparkly buttons originally were to go on her new glittery purple skirt.  I convinced her they wouldn't go.  Photo of the sparkly skirt to follow.

Things about running!

I'm thinking of signing up for this.  I don't know if it is a terrible or a terrific idea.

Things about books!

The plan to only read books by women writers hit the barriers when I was lent "Foxglove Summer" by Ben Aaronovitch.  Read his books, they are brilliant.

We have been listening to Harry Potter in the car recently; we've nearly finished the first book.  Both girls have absolutely loved it, and followed the story really well.  No worries with their verbal comprehension.  Hurrah.

Nothing like a bit of getting on with it to put you in a better mood.

I have many leather bound books!

Yet another internet challenge, this time to do with reading.

Can you read that?  If not, and you're interested, and why wouldn't you be, go and have a look over here at the original list.  I'm using it as a prompt to read with a bit more focus, rather than just "this one is next".  At the moment, I'm mostly reading books by women - I say " mostly", it's the 15th of January for goodness sake and I've only read 3 books so far this year.  I don't think any of them come under any of the categories, not even "books I own, but have never read".  

There's absolutely nothing stopping me only reading women writers this year, except the strong desire to re-read the Mapp and Lucia books, and remind myself that they were far from a camp romp - let's do the thirties!  And overact our little socks off!  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.

So far this year, I've (re)read Civil to Strangers by Barbara Pym, Yes Please by Amy Poehler, A Fair Barbarian by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and I'm currently reading Every Eye by Isobel English.  They are all as different from each other as they can possibly be, and are confusing the algorithms on GoodReads no end.  I think I'll read either an Iris Murdoch next, or reread The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - it's been years since I read any Bronte novels, and I did love them dearly. 

I love making plans in January, then looking at them again in July and laughing at myself.

Read It 2014

I read quite a lot of books last year.  I'm aiming to read 60 this year, which is 4 more than in 2014.  I'm going to use one of those fabulous internet challenges, where you take lots of pictures and "hashtag" them on Instagram, but more about that another time.

If you're interested, here is my list with one line reviews. 

• Civil to Strangers; Barbara Pym (read the novella, reading the short stories at the moment)
• Love and Friendship; Alison Lurie (1970s American academics, quite interesting)
• Love at Second Sight; Ada Leverson (lovely)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; JK Rowling (oddly terrifying)
• Ladies Delight; Emile Zola (jolly good)
• The Sweet Dove Died; Barbara Pym (brilliant)
• Findings; Kathleen Jamie (fantastic)
• Tenterhooks; Ava Leverson (lovely and funny)
• The Amazing Thing About The Way It Goes; Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (mostly pretty funny)
• Yesterday's Houses; Mavis Cheek (belonged to my Ouma, it tickles me to think of her reading it, it's pretty dirty in parts)
• Excellent Women; Barbara Pym (Barbara Pym-esque)
• The Sacred and Profane Love Machine; Iris Murdoch (unnecessarily wordy)
• The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden; Jonas Jonasson (OK)
• Gilead; Marilynne Robinson (jolly good)
• The Smart: The True Story of Margaret Caroline Rudd and the Unfortunate Perreau Brothers; Sarah Bakewell (a bit boring)
• All Fall Down; Jennifer Weiner (different to her other book)
• All Change; Elizabeth Jane Howard (desperately sad that it is the last one)
• Bryant and May - The Bleeding Heart; Christopher Fowler (I think  I read too many of these in a row)
• Citadel; Kate Mosse (didn't finish, too, too similar to all her other books)
• My Judy Garland Life; Susie Boyt (loved this)
• Bird of Paradise; Ada Leverson (gorgeous)
• The Bad Cook; Esther Walker (funny as usual)
• Mansfield Revisited; Joan Aitken (not very good, bit obvious)
• Bryant and May - The Memory of Blood; Christopher Fowler (I liked this one best)
• Bryant and May - The Victoria Vanishes; Christopher Fowler (confusing)
• Bryant and May - The Invisible Code; Christopher Fowler (funny)
• Bryant and May - Off the Rails; Christopher Fowler (long)
• Bryant and May - On the Loose; Christopher Fowler (enjoyed this)
• The Dragonfly Diaries; Ruary Mackensie Dodds (utterly brilliant) 
• The Bell; Iris Murdoch (understood this a lot more now I'm an adult)
• The Diary of a Provincial Lady; E. M. Delafield (re-reading, but super)
• One Corpse Too Many; Ellis Peters (re-reading)
• The Old Ways; Robert MacFarlane (superb)
• The Bridges of Constantine; Ahlam Mosteghanemi (like eating a massive marshmallow, too, too over-written)
• An Episode of Sparrows; Rumor Godden (of its time)
• Moon Over Soho; Ben Aaronovitch (super)
• Raising Steam; Terry Pratchett (super)
• The Middlesteins; Jamie Attenburg (can't believe it's her first book)
• The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year; Sue Townsend (loved this)
• Happy Kids; Cathy Glass (boring)
• Broken Homes; Ben Aaronovitch (super ending)
• Whispers Underground; Ben Aaronovitch (love this)
• The Strangling on the Stage; Simon Brett (I read too many of these in a row)
• The Corpse on the Court; Simon Brett (meh)
• Rivers of London; Ben Aaronovitch (great)
• Love's Shadow; Ada Leverson (lovely)
• Guns in the Gallery; Simon Brett (same as the others)
• Turned Out Nice Again; Richard Mabey (liked this one)
• Instructions for a Heat Wave; Maggie O'Farrell (can't remember either)
• The Bones under the Beach Hut; Simon Brett (same as the others)
• The Prisoner of Heaven; Carlos Ruiz Zafón (can't remember)
• Various Pets Alive and Dead; Marina Lewycka (funny)
• Sara Gay, Model Girl; Janey Scott (not very good)
• Mrs Tim Flies Home; DE Stevenson (funny)
• The Goldfinch; Donna Tartt (I loved this, and didn't want it to end)
• Tempting Fate; Jane Green (similar to her others)
• A Fairly Honourable Defeat; Iris Murdoch (chillingly horrible)

There’s your act of true love—riding across the fjords like a valiant, pungent reindeer king.

I went to Lucy's Parents' Evening early; she is a phenomenal reader and behaves exemplarily, apparently.  Which I knew, especially the behaviour bit.  She is a great reader though, she absolutely loves books, and has started being able to read pretty much anything I give her, including those dreadful Rainbow Fairy Magic books.  I was stupidly proud sitting opposite her teacher, an unfamiliar position for me; a bit like gamekeeper turned poacher.  

There's not a lot more to say tonight.  We all have tummy bugs of varying levels of severity, and tomorrow will be fun as Lucy will be off school, having thrown up everywhere this afternoon.  Her poor teacher; I'm surprised he was so lovely about her.

March Madness: 12/31

The Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too

Books this year so far, reviewed.

A Fairly Honourable Defeat; Iris Murdoch - horrible, destructive people; brilliant writing

Tempting Fate; Jane Green - not great

The Goldfinch; Donna Tartt - really brilliant, if a bit flawed towards the end

Mrs Tim Flies Home; DE Stevenson - fun, a bit dated, quick to read

Sara Gay, Model Girl; Janey Scott - very dated, very fun, very bad

Various Pets Alive and Dead; Marina Lewycka - love, love, love her

The Prisoner of Heaven; Carlos Ruiz Zafón - really should go back and read the others now, and then this one again

The Bones under the Beach Hut; Simon Brett - another fun book

7 books in nearly 10 weeks.  If I want to get to 52 by the end of the year, I need to get a move on and read more very, very short books.  Quantity, not quality.

March Madness - 8/31

Something Something Tuesday

Lots happening here.  It's half term, so we've been swimming, to Kew Gardens, into central London, had haircuts, been to the library, and we're all exhausted.  Generally, the girls have been really great; even Hattie, who is being mostly quite challenging.  Running away in the Natural History Museum was a delightful moment; as was being told that actually what she liked best about today was playing at home with her toys.  Dinosaurs, apparently, are "YUK".  My angel, ladies and gentlemen.

We chose a huge selection of books at the library today.  Lucy chose Princess Poppy and the Fair Day Ball, Penny the Pony Fairy and Sky the Blue Fairy.  There are approximately 1 billion Rainbow Magic Fairy stories and THEY ARE ALL THE SAME.  Hattie chose a First Picture Book of Playground Games, which is an odd choice.  I have Bones under the Beach Hut, Happy Kids (a self help book), Instructions for a Heatwave; The Prisoner of Heaven and Various Pets Alive & Dead.  Three of these are 2 week loan books, which seems rash.

I'm attempting to read 52 books in 2014; so far I have managed 4 and a half.  Admittedly, one of these was The Goldfinch, which is seriously long and seriously dense, but it still doesn't seem that impressive.   The current book is the fabulously titled "Sara Gay - Model Girl", a book from the 60s about training as a model, and I love it.  It is silly, frothy and very much of its time; it feels like a very innocent book - a sort of Malory Towers for slightly older girls.  I'll have finished it tonight.

SPOILER: The Goldfinch was really very good indeed, even though the ending was confused; poor Theo seemed so out of it and disconnected from reality by then, no wonder it felt a bit of a blur.  I can only hope that he gets his life back on track - I know he's not real, but he's real to me, and after all we'd been through together, I only want the best for him.

A slightly longer review than I normally bother with; but no more incisive for it.

A picture from half term:

Kew Gardens, admiring the orchids.

WIP Wednesday

It's all so dreadfully BORING at the moment.  I'm the librarian at school, for my sins, and I've been going in in the morning and tidying up, reorganising and generally trying to sort the wheat (good, new books) from the chaff (a lot of the other books).  This means that I am just too tired to do anything - I didn't sign up to be full-time with young children, and it's hard bloody work.  Everything's taken a backseat: knitting - abandoned; crochet - sporadic; baby grow making - on hold.  It's not great, but it's the way it is at the moment. Fortunately, there is a light at the end of the tunnel - I want to have the library looking great by next Thursday, so I can chat about it at the staff meeting on the following Monday, so not many days left to go.  Plus, I think I've got my costume sorted for Simon's birthday party, so I can stop over-thinking and generally stressing about that now.  Just got to get a babysitter arranged now.

So, the upshot is that although I've now made the middles of 18 owls, and two owls complete with eyes and beaks, and two complete owl squares, I've not made that much of a dent in the owl blanket. The Wisteria jumper is still the same. The weather blanket needs another 11 squares to be up to date. The pirate baby grow is beautiful but needs sewing. The pilot tee-shirt is still in the planning stage.

They can all wait until I am less drained.

The list has been put in for completeness.  It is JUST THE SAME AS IT WAS.  *sigh*

Wisteria - on hold
Blue and Grey Socks - one sock done
Elephant blanket - one stripe made. Second stripe nearly finished. Beyond bored with it.
Peacock Mittens - one finished, bar the thumb (still)
Idlewood - still yarn
Ringo and Elwood mittens - nyeh
Owl Blanket - 18 owls left to go
Hexipuff Quilt - lots more to go.
Paper Dolls - finished and done.
Peerie Flooers - finished and done
Alphabet Blanket for Noah - done
Granny's a Square Afghan - done

Five things on a Tuesday

1. I have decided to take part in a "sew-along".  Which is apparently a real thing, who knew?  It is to make a peplum top, which is either going to look sensational or dreadful.  We will see.  Details can be seen here.  I will be using a stretchy knitted fabric, which I haven't used before and will need a different needle for sewing machine for; the whole thing is filling me with trepidation.

2. This morning was remarkably stress-free, considering that I was on my own, and had to get two girls to school and Nursery.  I managed to get home and it was only 10am, so I had a cup of tea and a biscuit to celebrate, and suddenly it was 11.  I don't know where the time went.

3. Lots of cooking from scratch this year so far.  We've had cottage pie from leftover New Year's Day beef, lasagna, chicken and mushroom pie, macaroni cheese; all sorts.  Rather too many white sauces though, so perhaps a bit of a diet for next week.  The macaroni cheese was for the girls - of course it was rejected by Hattie.

4. Hattie.  Hattie is so clingy at the moment.  She doesn't want to go to sleep, she wants to sit on my lap all the time, she wants me to cuddle her all the time, and she doesn't want me to leave her alone in her bed.  I refuse to go down the "sit with her until she falls asleep" road, mainly because she needs to learn to settle herself and go to sleep; but when she is sobbing because there is no one to look after her, I feel terribly guilty and like the worst sort of mother.  Of course, the little ratbag stops sobbing after approximately two minutes and then sings a "I not tired, I not going to sleep" song.

5. A new thing: re-reading Iris Murdoch.  I read a lot of Iris Murdoch as a twenty-something, and while I knew that they were/are excellent, a lot of the charm and wit passed me by; so now I'm re-reading them all as a proper adult with a family.  I've started with "A Fairly Honourable Defeat", and am going to work my way through them across the next couple of months.  AFHD has a character in that is eerily similar to Benedict Cumberpatch's Sherlock, so that's nice casting.  Highly recommended, if you like books about frighteningly horrible people. 

Read it 2013

It's unlikely that I'll read anything else this year. Maybe an Agatha Christie or two, or perhaps I'll start "The Goldfinch". Anyway, here is the list of all the books I've read this year, with illuminating short reviews.

The Wild Places, Robert MacFarlane – gorgeous in every way
Bones are Forever, Kathy Reichs - rubbish
Tea Classified, Jane Pettigrew & Bruce Richardson - not very well written and too long
Falling Angels, Tracey Chevalier - too long
The Cleaner of Chatres, Salley Vickers – a bit soppy
The Testament of Mary, Colm Toibin – thought-provoking
The Labours of Hercules, Agatha Christie – proper Christmas reading
Tigers in Red Weather, Lisa Klaussmann – not sure what it wants to be
Wildwood, Roger Deakin – devastating and illuminating
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, Jeannette Winterson – devastating, poor woman
Where D'You Go, Bernadette?, Maria Semple – loses its way towards the end
Mountains of the Mind, Robert MacFarlane – gorgeous, I love him
Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn – gripping, but not good
Sense and Sensibility, Joanna Trolloppe – bad in every way
The Secret Scripture, Sebastian Barry – very Irish
The Book of Summer, Emliya Hall – not very good
The Patchwork Marriage, Jane Green – predictable
Casting Off, Elizabeth Jane Howard – super
Confusion, Elizabeth Jane Howard – super
Marking Time, Elizabeth Jane Howard – super
The Bad Cook, Esther Walker – supper
Lifesaving for Beginners, Ciara Geraghty – poor
The Sorrows of an American, Siri Hustvedt – desperate
Sparkling Cyanide, Agatha Christie – strangely comforting
Frost at Morning, Richmal Crompton – can’t remember (damns with faint praise)
The Novel in the Viola, Natasha Solomons – poor
The Morville Hours, Katherine Swift – incredibly reassuring
No One Has Sex on a Tuesday, Tracy Bloom – how did this get published?The Light Years, Elizabeth Jane Howard – super (I love her)

The Private Patient, PD James – satisfyingly horrible
Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle, Dervla Murphy – brilliant
Starlight, Stella Gibbons – not as funny as CCF, but good
The Dud Avocado, Elaine Dundy – can’t believe I’ve not read it before

American Gods, Neil Gaiman – funny and horrible
The Newlyweds, Nell Freudenberger – good, but a bit depressing
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson – pretentious
Vacant Possession, Hilary Mantel – desolate
The Gardens of Good Hope, Marian Cran – very much of its time
Dodger, Terry Pratchett – easy to read and funny
Hedge Britannia, Hugh Barker – leafy
Ines of My Soul, Isabel Allende – conquistador-y
Middlemarch, George Eliot – well worth an occasional re-read
The Rose Labyrinth, Titania Hardie – very bad indeed
Otter Country, Miriam Darlington - glorious
Raising Girls, Steve Biddulph - disappointing
In One Person, John Irving – riveting
Dead Heading, Catherine Aird – funny and satisfyingly gory

48 books. Not bad at all.

Taking Stock Tuesday

Making: A Paper Dolls jumper.  Almost at the dolls now. 

Cooking: An orzotto.

Drinking: Red wine.  Lovely, lovely red wine.

Reading: "The Attenbury Emeralds" by Jill Paton Walsh & Dorothy L Sayers.  About to start reading my library books.

Wanting: A holiday.

Looking: For Gruffalo crafts for Hattie's birthday on Saturday.

Playing: Even more Simpsons Tapped Out.  Totally addicted.

Deciding: On my and others' Christmas present lists.

Wishing: For more energy.

Enjoying: Watching rubbish TV.  More ancient Simpsons.

Waiting: For tomorrow to be over.

Liking: Cooking.  I made two Christmas puddings on Sunday.

Wondering: Whether I'll get my own way about next year.

Loving: My cuddly Lucy.

Pondering: Where next with babygros?

Considering: How to get the hell out of Dodge.

Watching: Candlelight flickering.
Hoping: That Hattie means it when she says that she won't wear nappies when she's 3.

Marvelling: At the speed at which children grow up.

Needing:  A wee.

Smelling: Supper.

Wearing: My amazing Forbrydelsen, self knitted jumper.

Following: An inclination.

Noticing: The end of Autumn.

Knowing: Things are going well.

Thinking: About absent friends.

Feeling: More relaxed than I have been.

Admiring: My New Hair.

Buying: Books.

Getting: Slowly a bit tipsy.

Bookmarking: Gruffalo stuff on Pinterest.

Opening: An Etsy shop.

Giggling: Over a Radio 4 adaptation of ~"Guards! Guards!"

Feeling: Thankful.

A very Barbara Pym-ish weekend

Barbara Pym, for those who do not know, was one of the best writers of the previous century - a chronicler of small things; the vicarage tea party, the jumble sale, the gentlewoman's companion, village life, which is all lovely and feminine on the surface, but actually full of the loneliness of unrequited love and a deep ironic comedy.  Get me.

Anyway, this weekend we went to many, many local events - a child's 4th birthday (at the Wacky Warehouse, as far from BP as from the moon), a children's playday in Walpole Park and a Reskilling Day run by the local green nuts, the Ealing Transition people.  This was the high point of my day - I learned how to keep chickens and a pig.  Apparently, if you are a vicar and have a massive vicarage behind the church with a field for a garden, you can have a pig in suburban London.  The pig was nice and clean and very grunty, and Hattie was utterly entranced (moo! moo! oh oink! oink!, then later, mo' oink! mo' oink!).  I don't think that the ancestral home has space for either a pig or hens, but I can dream.

In the evening, to round off the whole suburban dream, I went to a recital at the church, featuring the undiscovered talents of members of the congregation.  Some talents should have remained undiscovered, but the majority were great, and of course, Maxine, Lucy's godmother, is a professional flautist and rose above all the others.  I did feel as though I should have been hand embroidering new orphreys on the chasubles instead of knitting a hat for myself and stuffing up the pattern because I had to keep stopping to clap.

I do recommend Barbara Pym though if you haven't read anything by her.

Sea Room

 dovegreyreader is a bad, bad lady.  She is currently reading a whole load of nature books, and makes them sound like the most wonderful things ever committed to print, and as I am the most easily influenced person in West Ealing, I have put most of them and more on my amazon wishlist.  The first one I bought was this, Adam Nicolson's Sea Room, about his love affair the islands he owns (!) in the Hebrides, near Lewis.

Part history, part biography, part geological survey, the book is amazing.  I finished it a few days ago, and I love it. I'm ashamed that I'd never heard of Adam Nicholson before, which considering that he is the grandson of Vita Sackville-West is a bit shocking.  His father was very rude about the D of E in a dispatch, and now I know more about him, his name is cropping up every where.

Such a wonderful book, and I look forward to reading some more of his things, and to having a bash at the rest of the books on the list.

Insanity update

The most unrealistic list of New Year's Resolutions ever.

12 unread books read - tbh, this was always here as a make weight, I've more than doubled this in the six months since January. 

12 babygros made - half way through this

12 meals from Nigella's Kitchen book - hmm.  Two.  Not so great.

12 pounds lost - nope.  Moving on.

12 jumpers knitted - apparently, I've made 9.  Blimey.

12 knitted things for Lucy - including some of the above, 5 things. 

12 knitted things for Hattie - fewer for Hat, er, 1.  (note to self: knit for the baby) (although I have made her a quilt, so that counts)

12 individual socks - no way.  Haven't even thought about socks for months.  I might manage one pair.

12 weeks no yarn buying (except to finish projects, otherwise they become WIPs and part of the problem, not the solution) - I think I've managed this, on and off.

12 patterns used  - 13. 

12 blog posts a month (hmm) - moving on.

12 other things - decided that would be 12 things for me.  So far, I've made 3.  Which is not bad at all.

So now all I've got to do is lose 12 pounds and go back in time to write 50something blog posts for February, March, April, May and June.

Next year, no sock or weight loss based resolutions.

All work and no writing

12 blog posts a month?  I must be a moron to think I've got the interest in writing and the time to do something committed like that. 

Well, it's nearly the end of February and this is the first time I've written anything.  It's not like I've not been busy; we went to Paris to see my grandmother, took a whole lot of beautiful photos of our lovely little girls in the snow, read a whole lot of books including French Children Don't Throw Food, about which more later, had friends to stay, been to Spitalfields Market for the first time, been for a late lunch with a very dear old friend and the girls, which I think has put him off having children for ever and ever, and worked and worked and worked.

I can't think of much to write about - I want to write a piece about French Children Don't Throw Food because it's changed the ways I think about parenting, but I don't have the energy at the moment.  I think I need to re-read it first, and maybe have a look at some of her sources, especially Françoise Dolto, although I'll have to brush up on my French before then.  I'm not sure I'm quite up to reading about child psychology at the moment, especially as I'm downstairs, listening to Hattie shout a bit - she is exhausted, and dropped off in my arms, then when I tried to put her down, woke up and started shouting.  I've left her for about 7 minutes now, I think I'm going to have to go back upstairs in a bit.  Apparently, this controlled crying is anathema in France; I don't like it at all and rarely do it, as it doesn't really work.  She does self settle after a few minutes though, and I suppose I've got to let her learn to do it, otherwise I'll be sitting next to her when she's ten, holding her hand and waiting for her to drop off.  My friends do that with their three year old - madness.

I might try writing again on Tuesday - fewer distractions.

Middlemarch and all that

I have shamelessly taken this picture from dovegreyreader's blog, as it perfectly illustrates the book I have been reading.  She is holding a "read along", reading Middlemarch in instalments, which meant that I romped through Miss Brooke at a speed of knots, and now have to wait until February to read Part Two. 

It's been interesting to re-read George Eliot.  Being a literary sort, I chose Science A-Levels, and had to self-teach myself critical reading.  In my wasted youth, I read all the CLASSICS (Middlemarch, Dickens, Trollope etc) and didn't particularly gain much from them, although many I enjoyed greatly and have gone on to re-read and re-read, especially Jane Austen and Trollope.  Middlemarch has not been one I've re-visited, and I can't really think why.  I watched the television adaptation relatively recently, with the lovely Rufus Sewell in his prime (he's gone to seed now, of course) and the utterly entrancing Juliet Aubrey as Dorothea Brooke.  Perhaps that's why? 

For whatever reason, Middlemarch is on my list.  I loved reading it as an adult.  A proper adult, I mean, with a job and a mortgage and two children and an account with John Lewis.  Miss Brooke is far more pious and difficult than I remember her being, Cecila is a sweetie, Sir James is very proper and manly, and Casaubon is made out of beige.  What a wonderful character he is.  A key to all mythologies, honestly.  And silly Dorothea for being taken in by him - I suppose he would seem like some form of hero to an eighteen year old longing to be taken seriously by someone and, feeling herself to be far cleverer than the people around her, longing to have someone to whom she could admire intellectually.  Unfortunately, she doesn't realise; the first rule of being cleverer than everyone else is to pretend not to be cleverer than everyone else. 

George Eliot's writing is needle sharp - it's as if she has specially sharpened her pen and is creating perfect little pen and ink drawings of her characters.  She is also funny - I don't remember laughing during the television adaptation, except at Mr Brooke, so it must be the strong author's voice, so disliked by Linda Grant.  I follow her on Twitter, I don't have a personal connection to her. 

The thing I love most about reading the book with a group, especially via dove grey reader, is that she is able to make connections to things I had vaguely noticed and mentally filed under interesting.  A S Byatt's writing about GE is the example I'm thinking about at the moment; here is a vast chunk I have copied and pasted.

'I taught it with a passion because it I perceived it was about the growth, use and inevitable failure and frustration of all human energy - a lesson one is not interested in at eleven, or eighteen, but at twenty-six with two small children, it seems crucial. George Eliot's people were appallingly ambitious and greedy - not always for political, or even exclusively sexual power...they were ambitious to use their minds to the full. to discover something, to live on a scale where their life felt valuable from moment to moment...'


I can't say anything more about it.  That's it really.

One Day

I joined an online book club, thinking that I could do with a bit of a challenge, what with my life being so empty and everything.  My friend Ruth has started this blog here, which I read every now and then, and the first virtual meet-up is this evening.  Unfortunately, I'm out tonight, so I thought I'd write a blog post with a review of the book.

I wanted a challenge, and I got one.  I've heard all sorts of opinions about this book, from "Oh my God, it made me cry", to "I flung it in the dustbin and then set fire to it", and so was interested to read it.  The challenge was not in the writing, or the plot, or the characters, it was in finishing the damn thing without heaving it out of the window.  The protagonists are deeply unlikeable for lots of different reasons, and, while I often read things about people I wouldn't have in the house, the writing and the plot are too weak to carry the characters.  It's an easy and light read, I'll give it that, which is good for the brain-dead, but my God, I've never been so cross with myself over literature.  My instinct was that I wouldn't like it, and reading it in the charity shop made me a bit cross, so I don't know why I bothered.  At least I can say that I have read it now, and I am not going to the trouble of watching the film.

For what it's worth, I think he would have had a better book if he'd forgotten he'd written Cold Feet, and missed out the bit that was lifted straight from the telly.  I know you should never waste good material, but bad material can be thrown out. 

The other online book group is more promising - Middlemarch with dovegreyreader.

Book 7 - Ticky by Stella Gibbons

Book 7
Originally uploaded by JuliaCroyden
Oh I loved this book! Stella Gibbons is delightfully funny and has such a light touch when she writes. It's not as good as Cold Comfort Farm, but has many of the same elements - a world within the world that has its own rules and traditions. It is a charming story about a regiment in Hyde Park that is run by a meglomaniac general and looked after by a tribe of servants who live near to the main camp. They have a Charter which gives them ownership of a Pleasure ground, and the General decides that he needs to expand his rifle range into this area. The servants are furious and decide to fight back. Ticky, the title character, is an officer in the regiment, and a friend to the servants, and he encourages the rebellion.

It's a very easy read again - most of the books I'm reading at the moment can be characterised by their simplicity - and a very quick one. I do love Stella Gibbons, and am looking forward to her books being reprinted later this year.

Book 6

Book 6
Originally uploaded by JuliaCroyden
Another author who has fallen out of fashion, and again, I can see why. It's really quite sentimental stuff, a bit "Duty first Drusilla darling" po-face, but enjoyable enough in a "it's 4 in the morning, I need something that isn't too complicated" way.

The subject matter, a man who is in love in with his uncle's ex-wife, is very modern, and it's interesting - the woman sends her three children to live with their grandmother, and David lives there too, and is friends with the children as quasi contemporaries, not realising that if he marries their mother, he'll become their step-father. All fraught with passion and misunderstanding and sensitivity.

Book 5 - Cheerful Weather for the Wedding

Book 5
Originally uploaded by JuliaCroyden
Another super fast read. I think it took me an evening to finish. It's the story of a girl who is marrying a man she doesn't really love because the man she does really love is, frankly, useless and doesn't tell her he loves her until too.late. Oh noes.

Nothing really happens during the entire novel, but it is beautifully writeen.

Book 4 - A Partisan's Daughter

Book 4
Originally uploaded by JuliaCroyden
Another terrible photograph; what is it with me and photos? I think not using the itoy would be a start.

Anyway, this was another very fast read; not particularly enjoyable as it was difficult to sympathise with either of the characters, especially the man. It's the story of an unappreciated man who feels that his life is slipping away, who meets an Eastern European girl, who has left Tito's Yugoslavia. She tells him stories of her life and they fall in love. It has a sad ending, which is probably more realistic, although it is a shame, and you are never entirely sure whether she's been telling the truth.