So with Christmas all around at the moment I thought I would start on my Christmas Books that are sitting on my TBR shelf! I picked this one up as I loved the colour. Do you ever choose a book by its cover? I know you are not supposed to but it does make a difference to me and so far I have not been too far wrong with the books I pick this way!
Sophie receives a beautifully bound book in a surprise package but has no idea who it is from. She begins to investigate who sent it and in so doing comes across Harry, who has returned to the village from London to his home which is a crumbling manor house.
Under wintry skies and a sprinkling of snow the village takes on a Christmas feel and Sophie and Harry begin to find out their separate stories and whether they can become one story.
As you can tell from the above it is a Christmas love story and just the right thing to read at this time. I am very tired of the news at the moment and particularly all the doom and gloom so I have even stopped listening to the news now and quite happily playing my Christmas music!!! I have only just started the book but am loving it so far.
I have quite a lot of Christmas books on my TBR so after this I will be starting another. One of them is a Murder at Christmas book which I will love reading!
Sorry this is late and also on Sunday but as I say the days and weeks have been flying by!!! Happy Sunday everyone.
It has been one of those weeks, well two actually, since my last post on October 1st! How are we in Week 3 of October already? The weeks are flying at the moment. I am finally getting over my various illnesses and the tablets are starting to help which is one good thing. Still have a few things to get sorted but hoping it will soon be gone. I have warned everyone in the family that if they start with the sniffles to stay away from me!!!
When you have children you think how difficult it is when they are babies because they can’t tell you what they want or what their problem is. Then as Toddlers that brings a whole other set of issues and don’t get me started when they become Teenagers. However when they are officially “grown up” ie eighteen and over their problems become big, adult problems but you as Mom and Dad are expected to be able to sort it all out like you used to when they were little. I will say though that sorting these problems out takes a whole lot out of you! We are all fine, which I am very thankful for, but it has been a hard two weeks!
Anyway I missed Book Club Friday so thought I would do it today before another week has gone by!
I have just started to read this. It is not a long book but I liked the write up it had and I have not read one of Joanne Harris’s books in ages, the last one being “Chocolat”.
Tom is a photographer living and working in London at a little camera shop of which he lives above. He loves taking photographs of things which everyone else would normally ignore, like the homeless man with his possessions in a cart. However it is when he develops his films that he starts to realise that there is a hidden, magical world just out of reach but it is beautiful, dangerous and definitely menacing! Tom realises he needs to find The Moonlight Market hidden in the secret Heart of London where you can buy anything and where you may also find love. Tom knows that something is missing and The Moonlight Market just might be where he finds it.
If you like fantasy books with Faeries, kings and queens then you will love this book. I have only just started to read it but so far it is promising.
This was one of the books I had taken away with me in August for our vacation and started it. It was one of those books which I started, then put down for a bit, then picked it up again. However I did not finish it. I found the writing to be too “flowery” without actually telling the story or as has been coined recently; there was too much “word salad” in it! It has now moved to my donate pile!
Yesterday I had to go up to Eldest’s garage to sort out a parcel and some other jobs as he had been out on a fire call since early in the morning. This of course threw my day out so today I am catching up. Yesterday morning when I was at my desk Coco was in her basket which is next to it. She has a habit of making a mess of her quilt which is in her basket and ends up sleeping on top of it. I did not see that she had her head out of her basket and I moved my chair and trapped her head! She yelped and got out of her basket but at least she was okay. I went over her to make sure she had no cuts or anything and she didn’t, SO I am now straightening her bed every time she gets out of it to make sure it does not happen again. The above picture is after I had sorted her quilt out and as you can see she is now all in her basket snuggled.
Today I am catching up with all the jobs I should have done yesterday and have a whole weeks worth of ironing to get done too! Over the weekend we did get our garden and home jobs done. I bought some “everything friendly” liquid to clean the patio and stop it going green. After all the rain we had last winter the patio was green instead of cream! I won’t know for a couple of days if it has worked or not. If it doesn’t I will have to find something stronger!
Saturday and Sunday evening it was the swimming club’s in-house championships where the swimmers compete for the Club Trophies which are then presented just before Christmas. We had some great swims, a few Championship records smashed and nothing went wrong during the two events! Next weekend DH has two swimming events, one on Friday evening and one on Saturday evening but we have Sunday freen. Our weather has been very Autumnal over the last couple of the weeks but at the end of this week it is going to be mild again! I prefer at this time of year for it to be cold which then hopefully kills off all the bugs we catch!
I hope you have had a good two weeks and I will try and keep up with my posts. Happy Tuesday you lovely lot.
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
Coco’s new toy which Eldest & Partner bought her. She loves it and it is big enough to double up as a pillow!!!
Here is Blaze for our Friday October 13th Lucky Black Cat picture!
I have never had a problem with Friday 13th’s and I even liked the horror movies but I do know of some people who hide away on the day because of all the superstitions. Anyway onto Book Club for today and as it is also getting towards the Witching Season I thought I would show you some of the spooky books I have on my TBR shelf.
There are a series of these books, I have the Spring and Winter ones, and this one for Autumn. A collection of Agatha Christie’s short stories not all have ghosts in them but there is plenty of murder to go around.
This has been on my shelf for a while now as I do like short stories but if I can read a whole book I tend to choose that. Although because they are short stories you can dip in and out which is how I may read this. I am not a big fan of poems and there are quite a lot in here so I may skip those but the stories I have heard about written by Poe I am sure I will love. I will let you know when I get to it.
Who doesn’t love a country weekend gathering especially when someone is murdered and then the rest have to discover who did it when they all assemble in the Library towards the end of the book. It is a tried and tested formula over the years and this one begins with a New Year’s Eve Murder Mystery Party with a 1920’s twist. The evening has only just begun when one of the guests is found murdered and so someone at the party has their own agenda and old rivalries will come to the for. Again this is on my shelf and I will get around to it eventually!
The weather in the UK has turned cold over the last two days and we have had the heating on but over the weekend it is back to being warm and sunny which is good as we have garden jobs to get done. I hope you have a wonderful weekend whatever you are up to and I will see you back here on Monday.
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
Coco snuggling as it is cold. She has been on our bed both nights as it has been a lot colder than previous nights.
I know we Book Lovers do not need an excuse to read a book during the day but today is National Read A Book Day! I actually missed the last Book Day which was on August 9th (whilst we were away) National Book Lovers Day. Of course I was busy reading as we were away on holiday! Next week is my Friday Book Club but I thought I would show you the book I am reading at the moment, in fact I have just started it. This has been on my TBR shelf for a while and I have picked it up a couple of times to read and then put it back. I have to be in the mood to read books and this one, up to now, had not talked to me.
A party is being thrown by Evelyn’s parents, Lord Peter & Lady Helena Hardcastle, where she will be killed again! She has been murdered before and in fact murdered hundreds of times, think Groundhog Day! Aiden Bishop wants to save her but is too late each day, the only way to break the cycle is identify the killer. Aiden begins each new day in the body of a different guest and he hopes that this will lead him to the Killer but someone is desperate to stop him from ever doing that and escaping Blackheath House (The Hardcastle seat),
It looks good and I am hoping that it will keep my attention. I have been finding that with books and authors I have never read before if it does not grab my attention immediately my mind starts to wander!
One of the things I have always wanted in our home is a book nook. When we first did our bedroom I had a large comfy chair which I used to read in but had to get rid of it. I now have a chair in the sewing room which I can use to do hand sewing in or reading of course.
I have seen these Book Nooks on Pinterest and have saved about hundred of them just in case we ever re-do any parts of our home where I could fit one of these into!
I hope you have a wonderful Friday and great weekend to come and get chance to do some reading, or quilting.
I don’t know about you but I have my favourite Authors and read their books as they are published but then I miss a couple of their new releases and then end up reading them to catch up. David Baldacci is one of these. I have loved all his other books and series especially “The Camel Club” series. The above book is his new series with Travis Devine as his hero who has recently retired from the Army’s Special Ops dvision but joins the elite undercover team in Homeland Security. Travis is asked to investigate the death of a young woman but suddenly realises that the case is more personal to him than they and he realised. He heads to Maine where her body was found but he comes up against a wall of silence and a town hiding many secrets.
I am half way through this but it is another great book by Baldacci. If you have not read any of his books before and want to start with a stand alone book I can highly recommend “The Christmas Train” by him. The hero of the story, Tom Langdon, has to get from Washington to LA in time for Christmas and because of a disagreement at the airport with security he has to go by train. On his train journey there will be mishaps, mayhem and self realisation and by the end of the book you will love him, it and Christmas!
As you know I have quite a few books on my TBR shelf at the moment and am slowly getting through them. I love fiction books but also like non-fiction too depending upon what it is. One book I was given for my Birthday was this one:
If you are one of my regular readers you know I love Christmas and in particular Christmas food and I got this book for my Birthday. So far I have not made anything from it but it looks promising. I have a lot of Good Housekeeping Books, incluidng my Grandmother’s from before the war. and I use the recipes a lot so I can’t wait to get stuck in to this one. I found this book in Waterstones. An historial novel about Georgina Landemare who started her working life as a Nursemaid but ended up cooking for Winston Churchill in Wartime London and his Country Home. Not only does it tell of her life but also contains her recipes from the different eras.
This also caught my eye when I was in the bookshop one day; a book about slowing down! It wants you to embrace countryside comfort even in this frantic World we live in. There are recipes to try, embroidery, sewing and quilt patterns along with tips for your home and garden. I find with these books that I pick them up when I have the odd five minutes here and there and read a chapter or two when I get chance.
Over the next few weeks I will be planning my Christmas food and will be looking through my new Book to see if there are some new recipes to try. I will let you know how I get on with the other two books when I have read them. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and make some time to read.
One thing about having a virus and not being well is that I got a lot of reading done! I normally read a lot during the holidays anyway but I did get through quite a few books.
This was my June Book Club pick and being busy I did not get it finished until I was away. It was as good as all the other Oregon Files books are.
Another favourite author of mine is Jeffery Deaver and I have actually been to one of his Author Readings in Nottingham. I first came across him when I saw the film “The Bone Collector” and then read the book. I like all of his books but especially the Lincoln Rhyme ones and so this was on my TBR shelf. It was really good and carried on the story of Lincoln and his now wife, Amelia.
I have read a few of Karin Slaughter’s books now and enjoyed them. This is the Will Trent series which has now been made into a series on Disney+ which I watched the first series and I was okay with. I started to watch the second series and it really annoyed me!!! The book didn’t though. It was a Mother’s Day gift from Youngest.
James Rollins is another Author I have read all of the books and they are a mix of style of Indiana Jones and The Oregon Crew from Clive Cussler. The books sort of follow on from each other and this was the latest one I had not read.
Edward Marston is an Author I discovered a couple of years ago and his most popular books are The Railway Detective Series set at the height of the arrival of Trains as a means of transport but also death on the railways. This book is based in the 1930’s when a young Welsh architect is in Chicago to oversee the building of a mansion but a body is found hanging from the rafters which the autorities put down to a suicide but how can that be? He has to find the answers before he can finish the mansion and save his own life! I have only just started this but I am sure it will be as good as his other books.
This has been on my TBR shelf for a while and it is one of those books that I keep thinking I will read and then put it back. I may read it next not sure. I have seen it on quite a few Bookstagram posts and some like it and some don’t so we will have to see.
Another book that has been on the TBR shelf for a while and in fact is Book 3 in the series. It was a Christmas present last year. Now do I go back and read Books 1 and 2 first and then this or read this and then go back and read the first two? Who would not like a book that is about a Bookshop and set in the war and about a much slower time of life? I think I will go and buy Books 1 and 2 and then I have a choice!!!!
What happens when you get a book which you think is going to be good and you like the write up about it, but when you start reading it you really don’t like it? Do you carry on anyway or do you give up and move on to something else? I am afraid I give up and move on, as life is too short to read bad books.
The above books is the one I am talking about. I started reading this and by the time I got to page 50 I could not stand it any longer and gave up. I did not like the main character, Ben Hope, he was just very annoying and the writing, in my opinion, was appalling. Far to much description and not enough movement. This has gone on my donation pile!
This is my current read and I have only just read the first page. Again a present from Eldest for my Birthday. This is an historical book based in 1588. Giordano Bruno is sent by Queen Elizabeth I to Prague to spy on the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II but when he arrives one of the Alchemists has been murdered and Rudolf orders Giordano to find out who did it and why. I love these historical mysteries, very much in the style of the late C J Sansom and his hero Shardlake, who has also been made into a series on Amazon.
I hope you like the books I did get to read and those that I am going to read next. Tomorrow I will show you July’s and August’s Book Club picks before I need to show you September’s. Happy Thursday everyone.
Jayne and I had a lovely lunch yesterday. We tried a different pub to have lunch which was on one of the canals and we thought as it was summer it would be nice to sit outside, guess what, it was raining and cold! Today has been warmer and we have actually seen the sun for a while which has been so nice and it is due to be like this for the rest of the week and weekend. You never know this might be the start of summer for us.
I have been working all day today and tomorrow is home jobs day and laundry and Friday I have some other jobs to get done. DH is home all weekend so we can also get things done and it will be nice for him not to have any swimming events.
Miss Floof is booked in for her spa day a week on Friday so will be nice and clean for her holidays. I also need to get our bags out and start planning of what to take with us, especially my books.
The problem with quite a full TBR shelf is what do you take and then what happens if you make a mistake and take the wrong books or some which are ones you don’t want to read just now? I have a few books which are what I call practical books which I do want to read but not necessarily whilst I am on holiday. Also I have a few autobiographies and biographies on my shelf and again I do want to read them but again not on holiday. Also will I be into reading my crime books or fantasy books or a mix of both. It really is a hard decision! Of course I will put out a set of books and then before we go I will probably change them about four times and add at least five more, just in case! It really is harder than packing the clothes!
We have a few visits sorted for when they are with us and also we are planning for a quiet week when they have all come home as well. Lots of people are saying that hopefully the weather will be good for us, but honestly I am not that bothered I just want to be away.
For those of you who follow my Book Club you will know that Clive Cussler is probably my most favourite Author. The first book of his I found was at a Charity Christmas Book Stall called “Treasure” and this introduced me to the world of Dirk Pitt. It was a rolling page after page adventure with Dirk and his friends and I loved every minute of it. Having discovered his books I then had the pleasure of going back and reading all the books Mr Cussler had written to that point. I have then bought his books since then.
He then, a few years ago, started to write his books with Co-Authors. Now I have read some books from famous authors with co-writers and they have been dreadful. One author, who I will not name, co-wrote a book and you could tell that they had written alternate chapters and it was awful. So much so I have never bought another book of his since! However the co-authors that Mr Cussler used have really stuck to his format and I have still enjoyed them.
Mr Cussler passed away in 2020 but his books have still been publised in his style since then and one of the series that I love are the “The Oregon Files” and the above book in the set was published in May 2024.
Juan Cabrillo and his brilliant team are hired to extract an important person from Kenya but in the midst of the rescue they find themselves in the middle of what may be a possible Middle Eastern war. They also have to find two hypersonic missiles as well as fighting violent mercenaries moving through different countries whilst stopping the Arabian sea turning red!
I have only just started to read this but in the first two chapters I am already engrossed in it.
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Speaking of books I got some lovely ones from DH and The Boys for my Birthday, both fiction and non-fiction. As you can see there are a few Christmas books in there, mainly murder mysteries.
DH bought me this and you all know I love anything Christmas! Good Housekeeping has been producing cook books since before the second World War and I have my Grandmother’s version which was printed in 1948. DH bought me an up to date version when we were first together which I still have and use a lot. I also have a further updated version which has a picture for each dish. I saw this and wanted to add it to the collection. Can’t wait to check out some of the recipes.
This gardening book is by Monty Don who is the Presenter of BBC “Gardener’s World” a programme which is on on Friday evenings every week and which my Grandfather used to watch. Monty began presenting the show in 2003. Whatever garden you are trying to achieve this book gives you the help you need with plants, how to grow them, trim them and propagate them too. We have a tricky garden in that is it on a slope, does not drain well and the soil is not good for all plants, so we really have to be careful with what we plant like the Spring bulbs, they only last about a year and then they just rot as it is so wet.
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Anyway whatever you are up to this weekend, gardening or reading, have a great one and I hope the weather is summer like.
Sorry I know this is a week late (!) I honestly don’t know where the days go to!
When I am reading I tend to swap around genres depending upon what I am feeling at that moment of picking a new book to read.
Now if you have followed me and in particular Book Club for a while you will know that I am a huge fan of Clive Cussler. Most of his books are modern adventures but with this set, The Isaac Bell Adventures, he put him in the early 1900 of New York, and he works as a Private Investigator for the Von Dorn Agency (styled on the Pinkertons).
The above is the ninth book in the series and as with all of Cussler’s books takes you on a great ride through the story. Isaac is called in to help catch a group of Italian Gangsters known as The Black Hand who are using kidnapping, arson and extortion on the citzens of New York. However bodies soon start to appear in the alleyways of New York attributed to the Gang and then a prominent figure is killed, followed by another and then they get word that they are out to get The President too. Can Isaac and his team of Detectives find the leader before any more bodies appear? As soon as they arrest one of the Gang Members two more seem to appear, who is in charge?
It is a great read and I am really enjoying it.
As an aside have you ever seen the British “Carry On” Films? They starred some very well know comedy actors of the 1960’s, 70’s and into the 80’s. They were pure slapstick comedies but oh so fun. One of them was called “Carry on – Don’t Lose Your Head” about the French Revolution and one of the characters, played by Sid James, was Sir Rodney Ffing who was helping to save the aristocrats from France and his nom de plume was “The Black Fingernail”. Reading the above book and The Black Hand Gang reminded me of it. If you get a chance to watch any of the Carry On films do, they brighten up any day!
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As you know I don’t listen to the news and certainly do not watch it on TV. I do read the Daily Telegraph on line but skip a lot of the articles and read book reviews and the occasional article about homes etc. However one caught my eye this week and I have also found on Instagram Reels that there are a lot of the younger Generation (I don’t know who belongs to which now as the dates all seem to change but I assume the Twenty somethings!) complaining about how hard it is for them financially at the moment with the costs of everything being so high and they have no money for going out and if they do it costs them so much!
Like with a lot of things the young think they invent everything! Do they think that they are the only ones who have gone through hard times? Did they ever do history at school? The financial situation we are in at the moment has happened many times over the years, here in the UK in the 1970’s it was the three day week, electricity strikes, rampant inflation, cost of living one of the highest since WWII etc. The late 1980’s and into the 1990’s was the same. The only difference being there was no social media to go on to and moan about things! We just got on with it and made the best of what we had. I hate to say it but stop moaning and get on with it!!!!
Rant over!!!!
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Busy weekend with DH at a swimming event both days and we are also at another swimming event on Saturday evening and I am babysitting Little Man tomorrow during the day for a little while 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend you lovely lot.
Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx
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