Thursday March 7th 2024

We never need an excuse here to talk about Books and today Is World Book Day!  Our Boys loved World Book Day as they both loved books from being little.  DH and I always bought them books whenever we were near a book shop and for various holidays like upcoming Easter.  They always had an Easter Egg but a book as well.  They went to school dressed as various authors or characters from their favourite books and for a long while they were both Harry Potter! 

I am determined this year to read through my TBR shelf and try and refrain from buying any more books.  I am sure, however, I will fail miserably at this Aim!  I am finding at the moment that when I am reading in bed I am not getting very far because I fall asleep!!! 

Tomorrow is Book Day on my Blog and I will show you the book I am going to read next, I have almost finished last month’s book, if has been a bit busy round here!!! 

I hope you get to read either today or this coming weekend. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

I am late with February’s choice of book especially as today is March 1st!!!  Better late than never as they say.  Delay due to Tobey arriving!!

This is the book I read at the beginning of February.  They are a series of nine books, this being the ninth.  It features the Museum Detectives Abigale Fenton and Daniel Wilson and this one is set in 1899.  I love historical mystery novels and these definitely tick the box.

A body of a Yeoman Warder has been found at The Tower of London stuffed into Henry VIII’s suit of armour having been run through with a sword.  Abigale and Daniel are asked to look into the death by The Prince of Wales to try and keep things quiet and out of the public eye, much to the annoyance of the Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard who wants the glory of solving the mystery himself! 

They stay at The Tower and learn more about its long history and more bones begin to surface but it is not all about The Tower. Can they solve it to everyone’s expectations and bring the murderer to justice?

I really enjoyed the book and the other one I read, which was Murder at the British Museum.  I also have the others to read now.  I love finding a new author and reading all of their books.  There are no gruesome bits in it just the twists and turns of the mystery and I would highly recommend it. 

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Today I have home jobs to do, washing & Ironing to finish and also grocery shopping!  DH is out this evening setting up for tomorrow’s swimming event and then Sunday we have guests.  Pictures to follow of course.  I am really hoping that we are going to get some fair weather soon so I can get into the garden.  Everything is start to grow so we need to tidy up first!!!!

Have a wonderful weekend you lovely lot and I hope you get some time for reading.

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

Welcome to my Book Club first book of 2024.  This is the book I am just about to start reading having just finished my last one, a murder mystery.

Prior to DH and I starting our business, my job was working in the law which was very interesting and I worked over ten years in all aspects of it including matrimonial, crime, conveyancing & Wills and business law.  I had some great experiences including being in court at trials so books regarding this always fascinate me.

However this legal argument came out of a very modern part of most people’s lives.

Mrs Coleen Rooney is married to one of Britains best footballers, Wayne Rooney.  They were childhood sweethearts and married when quite young when Wayne started playing for top football clubs in the UK.  We, as a family, do not watch or follow football but you could not fail to know of him and then of course Coleen.  They have not had as high a profile of say Victoria & David Beckham but certainly are up there.  They have had their ups and downs which of course always play out in the media, generally the tabloids, but this event exploded because of a post on social media.

Like most famous people Mrs Rooney has social media accounts but also has a personal Instagram account which is for family and close friends.  However in 2018, whilst pregnant with her fourth child she found that stories from this personal Instagram account were being leaked to the press.  This continued into 2019 and so she decided to try and find out who it was to get them to stop.  In a very, I think, clever way she did and posted it onto all her social media sites which account was doing it…… Rebekah Vardy’s account!  This was in the hope that once named the leaking of stories would stop.

Of course this made the media lose their minds and in the end the trending word which went all around the world was “Wagatha Christie” (which has now been tradmarked by Mrs Rooney’s opponent Rebekah Vardy!). 

Rebekah Vardy is also married to a footballer, Jamie Vardy, and he and Wayne were in the England team together.

Needless to say Mrs Vardy had some dreadful things said about her on social media by trolls which of course is never acceptable, however looking at it from Coleen’s side it was not acceptable for her private information being shared in the tabloids.  Mrs Vardy denied all knowledge of the leaks and took Mrs Rooney to The High Court in London for Defamation in 2022.  Again another media frenzy during the trial and of course lots of programmes about the trial and the whole saga afterwards. 

In the UK the law is that the person being sued for defamation and libel has to prove that they did not defame the complainint rather than they have to prove they did. The result of the trial was that Mrs Vardy was found to be “an unreliable witness” amongst other things and lost her case.

There is a programme on Disney+ where Mrs Rooney is being interviewed about the whole thing which is fascinating and this is the first time since the trial she has spoken fully about it.  The book is not just about the trial and series of events but about her early life as well.

To me watching the programme and a couple of the others it changed my mind about the Rooneys and in particular Mrs Rooney.  Up to now most of the information about them has been through the media and we all know that that is quite often biased or lacking in actual information.  I would recommend the Disney programme as it is fascinating and am looking forward to reading the book.

Happy January and Happy Reading. 

Hugs & Love, Susie xx

PS  We all love libraries and they really are great institutions so that people have access to books for free.  Anyway I saw this the other day on Instagram (!) and thought I would show you it.

How great is this.  Even our doggies get a library!

Here we are at December and the last book for this year.  I will be continuing in the New Year with twelve more books.

This is a follow up book to Jenny Colgan’s “The Christmas Bookshop” which I read and reviewed in May 2022 here

Carmen who helped save the Christmas Bookshop in the previous book is finding life hard!  Her sister who she has been staying with is trying to get her to find her own place, her Boyfriend is lacking in several ways and a film company is using the shop to film a Christmas movie at the height of summer and although they are being paid to use the shop, they are losing trade! 

Carmen is also worried about the owner of the Bookshop who wants to go on a long trip and she doesn’t know if they have enough funds to send him.  Can she pull it all together in time for her second Christmas at the shop? 

I loved the first book, surprisingly, as sometimes these types of books can make me a little frustrated but Jenny Colgan is a great writer and avoids the schmaltz that some other writers get when writing this type of novel.  I am half way through it so looking forward to see if Carmen comes good by the end of the book.

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I hope you have enjoyed the twelve books this year and I will continue in to 2024 with another set of books.  Again I hope to read more next year!  As always time is an issue but I intend in the New Year to make some changes and one of these will be to carve out time during the week to read. 

Thanks for reading with my Book Club in 2023. 

Hugs & Love, Susie xx

Here is November’s Book Club!  I know it’s late!!!!!

DH bought this for me a few years ago and I love it.  It has lots of receipes and anecdotes of Christmases at The Ritz in London. I have used several of the recipes from it for various Christmas dinners especially the Cranberry sauce one to go with the turkey. 

The first Chapter tells you about how The Ritz prepare for Christmas from the week before to Boxing Day and the second Chapter tells you about the customs and traditions of Christmas and how they came to be.  Then there are the recipes and there is also a Chapter of gift ideas and things to make. 

If you love Christmas then this is a must for your Bookshelf.

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I wanted to show you this, above.  It is the Christmas Tree in St. Pancras International Train Station in London.  A Bookshelf Tree!  Now how about that for an idea!  It has been sponsored by Hatchards, my favourite Book Store in London, and was built over the course of a few days on the main concourse.  This is the train station that we go into if we go by Train but sadly I have not seen it in person!  There are nooks around the bottom of the tree for people to sit and read in.  To be honest if I did go there I probably would not move and just read all day!!!!!

Hatchards, London.  The Oldest London Bookstore established in 1797.  It is also next door to Fortnum & Mason!

Happy Winter Reading. 

Hugs & Love, Susie xx

Completely behind with the Book Club, I really don’t know where the weeks go to!  Here is October’s Book Club!

This is the final book in the series by Matthew Reilly regarding Jack West and his journey through seven books.  I am glad that I did not have to wait for the final book as I had sort of forgotten about the series until I saw it advertised. 

Jack West has been fighting against a shaddow group of people who actually run the World and all the Governments answer to them.  Their aim is to bring about the downfall of all the countries so that they are able to rule in the open once and for all.  There are many twists and turns through the books and he is helped by a loyal band of friends with different skill sets, think Mission Impossible and James Bond rolled into one! 

This last book does not disappoint and do they save the world?  Well have a read it is really good!

It will be a few years but I will read all these again as they are so good!

Happy Reading! 

Hugs & Love, Susie xx

This month’s Book is this one which Youngest bought me for Christmas last year.  A Biography of our late Queen, Elizabeth II.  I have not got too far into it but the Author, Robert Hardman, speaks to those who knew her personally and he also had access to many personal papers covering the time from Princess Elizabeth being a young wife staioned in Malta with her husband at HMS Magpie to the Covid years.  As a Commemorative Edition the Author added the Platinum Jubilee in, her passing and Funeral. 

Although her life was lived in the public eye we get to see the private side too and her family life bringing up her four children, their marriages and sadly three divorces as well as the Grandchildrens’ arrival and then her Great Grandchildrens’ arrivals too. 

All of us were born during Queen Elizabeth’s reign so can be classed as Elizabethans and she truly was a mother/grandmother to our nation.  I am looking forward to getting further into the book.

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I have been going through another one of those phases where I am waking up at 2.00am every day!  No matter what I do during the day, which is generally the same most days, I have these periods as you well know who follow me!!!  Of course by the time I get to 3.00pm I am ready for bed!!!  Needless to say that today I should have been doing home jobs but that is going to have to wait until Sunday morning now!  Tomorrow DH and I are out all day, the hospital first thing for an eye check up for me (!) and then the County swimming awards and lunch and then in the evening we are going out for dinner with the Boys’s Godparents!  We are also hoping that Sunday will be nice so we can get out in the garden!  Hey Ho!

Autumn!

“Don’t you love New York in the Fall?  It makes me want to buy school supplies.  I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”

From the great Nora Ephron and my favourite film “You’ve Got Mail”

The weather here has turned cooler and in fact I turned the heating on today!  The leaves on our trees are starting to fall and some of the plants are starting to get their Autumn colours on, so we are definitely into Autumn. 

Have a wonderful weekend you lovely lot. 

Happy 60th Birthday to Sue!  Have a Lovely Day x

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

As things were hectic before we went away, I missed Book Lovers Day on August 9th which was while we were away!  I did partake by doing quite a bit of reading whilst away, in fact managed to read five books, above, and start my sixth.  Of course I now have to pick which book for Book Club Friday!!!

I had already started The Apollo Murders before we went away and it was a very different book writeen by Chris Hadfield, a former Astronaut and yes it is a murder mystery set in space but it is not Sci/fy! 

I then read Marauder by Clive Cussler which is an Oregon mystery about the tramp steamer ship with hidden qualities.  As usual a great yarn which kept me turning the pages as always.

I then read The Marlow Murder Club which was one of the books from my year of books from the bookshop.  It was okay but it was a bit slow! Not for me.

I then read The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfield. Hmm not sure what to think about this one.  It was set in the early 1900’s in New York and linked the characters with real people including Marie Currie and Freud.  It was okay but again don’t think I will bother with another of his books.

Finally I read The Two Lost Mountains by Matthew Reilly.  This is a series of books by Mr Reilly about Jack West which started with Seven Ancient Wonders, then The Six Sacred Stones, The Five Greatest Warriors, The Four Legendary Kingdoms, The Three Secret Cities, the Two Lost Mountains and ends with The One Impossible Labyrinth.  The story continues through all the books and I cannot wait to read the final one.  Matthew Reilly is a great writer and like Clive Cussler his books just keep you turning the pages until the last one.  I am am about to start the final book now!!!

It was great to have time to read without too many interruptions!!! 

It was a busy three day weekend last weekend getting jobs done and DH, Eldest & Youngest spent the Monday at the Garage!  I spent the day doing all the holiday ironing!  This week has been busy with work and of course we are one day short, so all week I think it is the day before!  It will be Friday before I know it. 

I am hoping to sort out work and other jobs and get back to blogging every day again.  I hope you are having a wonderful week, I cannot believe that we are moving into Autumn!!!  

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx

This is normally the view you get of the Library at Chatsworth from the doors as you are not allowed in for various reasons.  However DH and The Boys saw a Library Visit in July at Christmas and bought it for me as my Christmas present. So DH and I went last Friday.  Warning:  Picture Heavy Post!

We got a tour of the house before we got to visit the Library.  The above pictures are of the main hall, known as The Painted Hall, for obvious reasons.

After that we were shown into a side room where the Library Archivist told us all about the history of the library and had several books out for us to look at which are unique to the Library here, mainly written by various Dukes of Devonshire or their wives. 

A lot of family letters have been put into volumes as well as books written by family members.  One book containing handwritten poems by various guests who had stayed at Chatsworth.

Of the eighteen thousand books in the Library, the majority were bought by the Sixth Duke of Devonshire, William George Spencer Cavendish (1790 – 1858) who was known as The Bachelor Duke for never marrying, although he did have several affairs.  He was the only son of the Fifth Duke and his wife Georgiana and became the Sixth Duke when only twenty one years of age.  He loved books and spent many years travelling around to various estate auctions buying whole libraries.  Not only is there 18,000 books in the Library there are even more stored in the attics at Chatsworth, which the Archivist and her team are slowly going through.

It was the Sixth Duke who created the Library as we see it today, adding shelves to the room which was originally called The Long Gallery and used for exercise on cold, wet days.  I think it is much nice as a Library.

We got to go into the Library and sit on the chairs, whilst we listened to the Archivist tell us about the creation of the room.

One of the Treasures of the Library is a First Edition of Pride & Prejudice (one of my favourite books).  A lot of people think that Jane Austen had Chatsworth in mind when describing Darcy’s home, Pemberley although Chatsworth is mentioned in the book.

The Books in the Library are not in alphabetical order and do not follow the Dewey Decimal System either.  They were originally but in topic order and large to small!  Over the years this had changed so many times by the different Dukes & Duchesses that the original order has been lost.

A Contemporary of The Sixth Duke was Charles Dickens who stayed at Chatsworth on several occasions.

A lot of the fiction stories in Dickens times were printed as Novellas on paper weekly and then when the story was completed were then printed as a book.  The Bleak House book in the Library was printed into a book but they kept some of the Novella booklets and put them in the book too.

It was a lovely morning and great to actually go into the Library and also sit down!

DH and I then went to The Deveonshire Arms Hotel for lunch in their new Conservatory, which was great although it was raining by the time we got there so we could not sit outside!

The weekend was a busy one as DH was out at a swimming event on both days so I got lots done at home and Sunday I actually managed to have a lie in!!!  Monday and Tuesday were busy and I have been up to Eldest’s garage today to help out there.  Tomorrow I have home jobs to do, washing & Ironing and grocery shopping.  Starting to also get things organised for our vacation. 

Hope you are all having a wonderful week. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Coco xx