Library Book Photo

I collected a massive pile of books from the library last week.

I said I wanted to re-read Angela Thirkell now that I have the book about the characters, so I ordered several - I think I may have over-ordered  as there are 5 above and the one I'd already started  - should keep me busy. They'll be easy reading through dull February as we wait.
The Lizbie Brown is curious. I read 6 of her books many years back, they were crime mysteries featuring a private detective who had an office over a quilt shop in Bath. Each title was the name of a quilting pattern. The last one was written in 2001 but while fiddling on Fantastic Fiction website I came across this - not in the crime series - Gingerbread Mansion published in 2009. I have no idea what it is.
The book London Shadows by Valery Avery is an old biography, I've read London Spring a while ago.
Christopher Somerville has written dozens of books on walking. I hope this is a good one.
I've read some others by Rafaella Barker ....... time to try another.
The Expert by Bernard Knight is another of the 7 old books of his that have been re-published, some were OK but others  dreadful.

Thanks for comments yesterday, more moving house news next time............I hope

Back very soon
Sue

Not off to a good start

2017 hasn't started quite how we wished as Colin has been very poorly with the Norovirus. Because of his background illness it has really knocked him for six, almost back to how he was after being in hospital for all those weeks in the summer. It's going to take an age for him to build up strength. We see his consultant next week so maybe he'll suggest something to help. Thank heavens I didn't go down with it, just felt not quite right - perhaps in sympathy!

Forgot to mention a jigsaw puzzle, spotted by Colin on the shelf of the Sense charity shop near us just before Christmas, and bought for £1. I'd already decided not to do another puzzle before we moved and had taken one back to my sister but anyway we got started. He doesn't usually do puzzles but got quite into this one until he was struck down and then I managed to get it finished. A fascinating puzzle, loads of people, some the same in each picture which are war time and then 1948. Col said he'd like to get it framed but it's a bit big - would cost a fortune, unless we can find a frame to fit it second-hand.

Having been stuck at home for days I decided to go into town as the charity shops would all be open again. Although in the end I didn't find anything and remembered my pledge NOT to buy any Christmas cards in their sales. I didn't bother with sale shopping anywhere else either and didn't even walk as far as Debenhams, M&S, Primark and all the rest of the big stores. Just bought a couple of hot water bottles from Wilkinsons and a few bits from Poundland including a roll of their brown parcel paper which I plan to use for Christmas wrapping this year. Also bought a pack 4 clear plastic folders as it's time to empty all last years receipts,bills etc from the dresser drawer and sort everything out and I want to separate new house, beach hut, bank and building society stuff to make it easier to find at a glance, before I file everything away.

Picked up my library books which were waiting for me, still haven't got through the Huge Heap I brought home before Christmas. Really mustn't order anymore until I've read all that I've got here.

Right off to get reading

Oh, just remembered I've spied a new follower -Welcome Life on the wink - interesting name!

Thank you for all the comments wishing us Happy New Year and better health for Col - We hope so too

Back shortly
Sue

A few mince pies and a lot of library books

I wasn't going to make enough mince pies to feed an army, but look what happened. This is 1lb flour and the recipe for sweet shortcrust is on my separate recipe page about half way down. They are all in the freezer to be shared around various family over different festive days.

A large heap of library books  were collected on Friday, lots that had been ordered have turned up all at once, goodness knows when I'll have time to read all these. The trouble is I'm now following lots of bookish blogs, I spot a book that looks interesting, hop over to the library site to see if they have it then instead of making a note somewhere for the future I press the Reservation button and end up with a lot to read.

'Lake Wobegon Day's is one that was mentioned somewhere, no idea what it is. Angela Thirkell - 'The Headmistress' is another Vintage Modern Classic reprinted in November. 'Christmas Around the Village Green' by Dot May Dunn is a memoir. 'A poem for every night of the Year' is a children's poetry book I wanted to look through. 'Island on the Edge' by Anne Cholawo - about life on Soay. 'High Mortality of Doves' is a new crime novel by Kate Ellis.  'The English Year' another book just to look through and the small book in the middle is an old Local Interest book titled '........and over here' memories about the USAF airmen when they were here in 1944.
And Whoop! Whoop! On Friday I  found another Persephone for £1.50 in the Samaritans charity shop in town. 

 Persephone 50 - Hilda Bernstein - The World that was Ours. Not a nice grey one, but one of their cheaper Classics but as my mum used to say "beggars can't be choosers". At the same time I also picked up this little gem for 50p.

It was published in 1949 and has several black and white photo plates. What I like are lots of quotes from writings of each period. This may well have been a school reference book as Batsford did lots in this style right through to the 1970s.


Back Soon
Sue

Heading towards the end of September

We had some lovely weather last week and Colin  was able to sit outside for half an hour each day and soak up some vitamin D which he must surely be short of after 7 weeks in a hospital bed. He's got his appetite back and is feeling OK except for having no energy or stamina. Hopefully it's just a case of time.
Today is much more Autumnal and the forecast for the rest of the week is unsettled so he might not be able to sit out any more.


For book lovers around the world here is my latest library book photo

 Lots of crime fiction again plus Trio - no idea what this is or who mentioned it;  A Woman's place which is a look at women's fiction in the first half of the 20th century and the Barbara Pym which according to my book-of-books I have read already, but can't remember so am reading it again after enjoying Glass of Blessings earlier in the month. I STILL haven't finished How To be a Tudor, got halfway through and then got sidetracked by crime fiction and I'm debating if I should finish The Past is Myself by Christabel Bielenberg - (and English woman's life in Berlin under the Nazis ) it's quite detailed reading. Sort of interesting in a hard work kind of way.

Still on the book theme, on Saturday morning I took myself down to Felixstowe library where, according to the newspaper they were having a "Mountain of Books Sale". Sadly their idea of a mountain of books wasn't mine and in reality there were just a few tables of donated books which they were selling for charity. I picked up another wartime Land-army biography and an Amish romance (why?).

As the sale only took 5 minutes to look at I went round the town and found a dress for son's wedding in December - phew (it's been worrying me for weeks that I'd not got anything), had to buy new but not for £150 which is the sort of price I kept seeing on line!( and deciding that was really silly). Then I found a hat in a charity shop for £5 which just needs a navy ribbon affixed over the cream ribbon. Now I need a long length glam cream cardi/jacket of some sort and cream clutch bag. Can I get away with the black shoes I wore for Daughter's wedding last year or will I have to find navy or cream, but cream shoes would soon be muddy in December? Could I clean black shoes with navy polish and see if they look more blue than black?
............. This is why I spend most of my time avoiding events that require dressing up..... but I suppose son's wedding can't really be missed.

Many thanks for  all the Jacob comments, he is a mostly happy baby and easily changed from tears to smiles. H with Jacob and D.I.L-to-be went to Leiston for youngest's baby-shower party yesterday and now it's only 3 and a bit weeks until another grandchild is due to arrive.....goodness me, that 9 months has flown. The nice thing is that we will be able to see this newborn straightaway as she(or possibly he) will be arriving at Ipswich hospital. H and Jacob are off back to Surrey soon and we won't see him again until son's wedding, he'll be 6½ months old then.

Welcome to new followers Theresa and Lesley.......... I think
Back in a trice
Sue

47th out of 47 and 91st out of 91!

Those numbers above are where I am in the reservation lists for the new Alexander McCall Smith in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series  and " The Essex Serpent" it's by Sarah Perry - this popped up on Amazon "Recommended For You", a  new-to-me author, it sounds good - we shall see. As I'm 91st in the waiting list it's obvious that a lot of other people think it sounds good too. Suffolk Libraries have 43 copies so it shouldn't be too long before I get to read it.

My real reason for browsing on Amazon was to pre-order a new book (Tut!). I'm so excited for Scott at Furrowed Middlebrow Blog as the first books he has collaborated with Dean Street Press to republish are available to pre-order now. I've ordered  A Chelsea Concerto by Frances Faviell. and added "Bewildering Cares" by Winifred Peck, another reprint due out in October, to my wish list.

While I'm looking forward to that arriving here is my latest haul of requested library books .

"The Past Is Myself" is a home front biography but from a English woman who married a German lawyer in 1934 and lived in Germany right through the war.
"Everyone Brave is Forgiven" is a novel and also set during 1939/45. Just coincidence these have turned up at the same time,
The other 3 are all crime, two modern and the bottom one is another of the Jill Paton Walsh books featuring Lord Peter Wimsey the character created in the 1920s by Dorothy Sayers. I've now actually read a Sayers original - "Whose Body?". The very first, written in 1923. That's going to be passed onto a friend.
I've still not finished  "How to be a Tudor" and I'm also reading and enjoying my first ever Barbara Pym - A glass of Blessings"

Loving the Paralympics and Gold medals already even though it's only been on for a day.☺ I shall be watching as much as possible and will also catch " The Last Leg" each evening if I can. I'm quite fond of Josh Widdicombe - in a motherly sort-of way obviously!

Thank you for your prayers and kind wishes. If you've seen Col's Facebook page you'll know he has had another slide down the snake in the snakes and ladder game he's on but is back on a ladder again now.

Back in a jiffy
Sue

Getting Better + Library Book Photo and Book warning!

What a difference a day makes :-)
All your positive vibes, kind wishes and prayers have worked and our little fella was able to go home, he is now feeding well and not being sick. Col is still feeling exhausted but is drinking more and eating again so that's the first step on the road to recovery.

 My Penny Pincher pen-friend S said she really misses the library book photos, when I would bike home from the library van once a month with a lovely bag of books I'd ordered and take a photo for the blog.
So specially for S I waited a few days before going to the library so I could pick up several of my requested books rather than just one or two at a time.
Here they are

From the top down - Mrs Miniver to re-read after reading the other Jan Struther last week.
The Lanimer Bride by Pat McIntosh, the 11th in the crime series set in 15th Century Glasgow.
Ruth Goodman - she of odd clothes on TV! - How to be a Tudor - A Day to Dusk guide to everyday life in Tudor Britain. I Think I borrowed How to be a Victorian, also written by Ruth a couple of years ago but can't remember reading it so maybe I didn't.
Josh Spero - Second hand stories. Not sure how I heard about this, it's about a man who tracks down previous owners of his second-hand books.
Signal For Vengeance by Edward Marston, the umpteenth book in his railway detective series. They are becoming  a bit same-y so I might read it or not.
Sandlands by Rosy Thornton. These are short stories inspired by the "sandlings" - Suffolk's coast and heaths Area of Outstanding Natural beauty, which we lived on the edge of for 23 years.
The New Homesteader by Bella and Nick Ivins...............see below.............


I soon looked through this book and here is the Book Warning! -
Only read this if you are a wishing for a smallholding/ homestead and have pots of money!
Lovely new book, Gorgeous pictures, but Oh My Goodness, this Self Sufficient family are not short of a penny or two.

Here's the description from the library website -

Ten years ago, Bella and Nick Ivins left the city behind and relocated to Walnuts Farm, high on the Sussex Weald. Inspired by the Modern Homesteading movement, they decided to embrace self-sufficient way of life. 'The New Homesteader' tells the story of their family life on their home farm and provides all the knowledge necessary for anyone thinking of embracing self-sustaining lifestyle and starting their own homestead or urban farm - or even just tending their own little plot to provide a supply of fresh ingredients throughout the year.

Reading this could leave you green with envy.
We had the smallholding but never had the spare cash, now we have the spare cash and no energy for a smallholding!

Such is life :-)

You need a £20 note to buy  this book but if you are hard up borrow it from the library and spend your £20 on something edible, like an apple tree for instance, for the smallholding or garden!

Back Soon
Sue
PS welcome to 2 new followers - Elizabeth and Kitkat
Extra PS Our youngest has started a blog HERE, Wonder if she'll have time once Dot-the-bump arrives! :-)

 

Yet more library books........... and a rose

Another load of books brought home from the library. The waiting list was very long for the Elly Griffiths and I'm pleased that it's my turn at last. Guy Fraser-Sampson is a new author to me, he is speaking at the Felixstowe book festival. I've read most of Rachel Hore's books - this is the latest. I think The Fever Tree was mentioned on a blog - no idea what it is. The Year Of Reading Dangerously looks good and The Hogs Back Mystery is another in the British Library Crime Classics reprints. The Attenbury Emeralds is one of the books by Dorothy L Sayers that Jill Paton Walsh finished writing. Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald caught my eye on the returned shelf.
I'll let you know how I get on with them all. (Maybe I should stop ordering from the library for a while and read all the books I'm acquiring elsewhere, then I could blog about it or even write a book, like Susan Hill did with her book Howards End is on The Landing! )(or Not)

I squeezed between the caravan and the shrubs out the front to bring in this rose which is different to those in the back garden but it's a disappointment -gorgeous colour but no scent whatsoever. Which means that out of the 7 bushes here only one is scented.

Have a good weekend everyone, enjoy the weeks of football if that's your thing, personally I'm looking forward to Monday when Tennis from Queens Club starts on TV. Talking TV did anyone catch a programme on BBC4 last night, I hadn't seen it trailed at all but happened upon it by chance, it was called Make! and featured two crafting workshops - Lampshades using textiles and paper cutting, I assumed it was the first in a series but it seems to have been a one off. Pity, as it was quite good and inspiring.

Back Soon
Sue

What to do while waiting............

Visiting -
 Col had a temperature which means another infection, so he is stuck in hospital until Tuesday at least, which is why I'm waiting for him to come home again. He's feeling very rough after this round of chemo but hopefully will pick up again soon. The ward sister goes by the nick name of Alf! A very nice nurse.

 Cross Stitching -
 Two more lavender sachets ready for Christmas

Watching -

The French Open Tennis on TV. So far so good for Andy Murray, they could really do with a roof as rain has stopped play several times

Puzzling - 

 with the new Sudoku book I found in the charity shop, they are rather easy.......at the moment, I hope they get a bit more difficult as I progress through them.

Reading -
 more library books. Quite a variety......... in the last 10 days I've read Nell Dunn's 'Up the Junction', first read when I was about 16, seeing it mentioned in the bibliography of The Button Box made me decide to re-read. 'Song of the Skylark' by Erica James which is a bit of a light tear-jerker and Anthony Trollope's collection of Christmas stories first published in the 1860's to 1880's. I've not read any Trollope before, this was a tester, probably won't bother again!

Enjoying -
 the scent of these lovely roses from the garden

And Baking-
A few scones and some cheese straws to take in to Col

Thank you to everyone for the lovely comments about our beautiful new grandson. We are so looking forward to  Col  being well enough for us to go down to Surrey to see him.

Welcome to Alison Collins a new follower in the google pictures. Every time the numbers go up to 354 they then go down again a few days later!

It's a really grey bank Holiday Monday here in Suffolk, cold and windy too. I shall stay in except for hospital visiting.

Back Soon
Sue

A library book picture

Welcome to Monalisa , a new follower but numbers are the same........... One in - one out.

I do miss going to the library van every 4 weeks and coming home with all the books I had ordered and then putting the photo on the blog. To make up for it I'll post a library book photo whenever I have a good heap here.

At the moment, heading back to the library are
- Larkbarrow looked good but the print is too small for me to read comfortably (a privately published book - odd typeface).
Calamity in Kent - another of the British Library Crime Classic reprints, originally from 1950. Good story.
Murder Dancing - I read all the early books in this series but haven't bothered to finish this - they are a bit rubbishy really.
House of Eyes - The 20th in the Wesley Peterson series of crime, linking archaeology and history. Good as always.

and still to be read
Prescription of Death -  a recent book by Jill Paton Walsh but using the characters created in the 1930's by Dorothy L Sayers.
Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald - picked this off the library shelves in a quest to read less crime.
The Button Box- Lifting the Lid on Womens Lives - Non Fiction
Princess Elizabeth's spy - second in a series. Read the first a few weeks ago
How To Be Well Read - short precis of 500+ books that "everyone should read". I flicked through.....seems I'm Not well read at all!

Thanks for all the comments on the last couple of posts. The hospital re-examined Col's blood tests on Tuesday and rang to say come and collect a different sort of antibiotic. He had a better nights sleep and felt well enough to go to the beach hut on Wednesday although the 5 minute walk to the loo and back nearly finished him off. The sun was lovely in Felixstowe but wind was still very chilly down on the sea front - blowing along the coast, which is why we were inside. The reason the video clip is so short is because I had completely forgotten which things on the camera to press and had no idea if it was recording or not. When we got home and I found I had 4 short videos interspersed with some still pictures! Then I couldn't remember how to load a video and when I'd sorted that I couldn't watch it because Adobe keeps crashing on this computer - no idea why. I was amazed to find that other people could actually see it. Wish I knew more about technology!

Thought I better trot along to the doctors as the cough I've got wasn't getting any better and I didn't want to end up in hospital on a drip suffering from pneumonia like a couple of years ago. So now we both have antibiotics - drat. This is the second cough/cold I've had since moving here, we are starting to wonder if there is something in the bungalow triggering it although it could just be that Col's reduced immunity makes him catch more bugs which he then passes onto me or it could be that I seem to be spending more time in shops amongst people than I used to!

More sea air needed I reckon

Back Soon
Sue

My very last visit to the library van and other 'lasts'

Today was my last visit to the library van. When I take my books back it will be to a bricks and mortar  library and I'll enjoy sharing pictures of it with you as it's in a very odd 1930s (?) building. I know where it is and what it looks like but have never been in there. With the novelty of having a library within a mile - for the first time since 1980- I  maybe there quite often.

Anyway, here is what came home with me today, when on earth I'll get time to read them is good question, just look at the size of the Robert Galbraith ( aka J K Rowling) and A Notable Woman - Diaries written between 1925 and 1986. Edited by Simon Garfield. Those two alone should keep me busy for a while.

Click to enlarge

 Today I also cooked the last of the beetroot from the polytunnel and made the last lot of bread I shall bake in this house.
In between I've been packing boxes and beginning to run out of things to pack - and running out of boxes too. Col is still stuck in hospital suffering from low blood platelets, a possible infection, lack of sleep and grotty food. They need to get him really well ready for the next lot of chemo. I went to see him yesterday but won't go today as he has two other visitors "booked up".
Forms arrived from our solicitor this morning that need signing, both for selling and buying so things are moving along.

Welcome to D Voorhees - a new follower. Many thanks for comments about cars and good English.

Back soon
Sue

Library day

Shopping first, trying to find tasty ideas to make Col feel better and to get rid of the horrible taste he has in his mouth all the time, yet another side effect of chemo.

Then down to the library van, not on my bike today as it was pouring with rain and very blowy. This is my haul.

Most are crime fiction but there are a few non-fiction that I've found mentioned on blogs. Now that Col isn't "him outside" anymore we thought you might like to see his  collection too. He orders on line as I do and gets his ideas from the bibliographies at the back of other books and ideas picked up from TV programmes, like the Simon Dawson Pigs in Clover featured on the Ben Fogle programme.  Not sure why he's ordered the Simon Dawson Self Sufficiency book as we've borrowed that before and we won't be at all self sufficient  in our bungalow in Ipswich!

I've just been listening to the news and the weather forecasts for the East coast of the USA - They have large amounts of snow forecast and a state of emergency has been called for many States. So please do take care those of you reading from the other side of the Atlantic.

Many Thanks for comments yesterday

Back Tomorrow
Sue

Grey Sea, Library Book Photo, House and Health

Col had to go to the doctors again yesterday so I went too and then we went down to Aldeburgh to see the sea. The wind was blowing along the beach so some big waves were crashing onto the shingle, although it was fairly calm further out

The weather was dull so there isn't a lot of difference between sea and sky, just a hint that the sun is up there somewhere.

Biked down to the village for the library van, hardly any books waiting for me this time,

  good job I have four left from last time and plenty on the bookshelves, but Novembers visit will be the last until January so I spent a while searching Fantastic Fiction to see if any of my favourite authors had new books out, then perused Amazon for more ideas and ended up ordering another 12 books ( thank goodness it's free) some will be ready for me in November but I may have to wait a while for the new Bill Bryson - The Road To Little Dribbling ( Good title). My request was number 143! Although they do have 60 copies so I might get it to read in January.

There may be news on the house selling, although not before Christmas and on the health front Col has to see someone at hospital next week to be told what they will do next with the blood problems, he is being fast-tracked - Just In Case. He was fit and well for 56 years but for the last 2½ years bit's of him have been going wrong all over the place!

Many thanks to people who commented yesterday.Sorry I've not replied individually

Welcome to Jeanneke, a new follower. Glad to have you along.
It's no longer possible to click on the picture of new followers to see if they have a blog so if any new followers write a blog that they think I would find interesting please leave a comment.

Happy Halloween to all ghosts, witches, warlocks and other scarey beings, it still strikes me as odd how Halloween hardly existed before supermarkets!! Work that one out.

Back in a day or three
Sue

October - The first two days

Here we are sneaking into October and whisper it quietly but the weather is still good.

 Thank you for comments on the last post. I had no idea that  without a licence bats shouldn't be touched - even a dead one. We have loads of bats swooping around here most evenings, especially out on the campsite so I've not really considered them as anything special.
 Here's another bird photo - A Charm of Goldfinches. Up until this autumn we used to see them in ones or twos but suddenly they are here by the dozen

We've been walking, enjoying the sun and clearing more things outside and inside. Another bag of odds and ends went to the charity shop and all the things Col sold on Ebay have now been collected. I've also been chopping kindling and Col has been working for a neighbour.

 We went to Tesco for the main October shop and had a bit of luck because as I was looking at the Yorkshire Teabags, a lady looking at coffee beside me said that the teabags were half price over the road at Waitrose. I thanked her for the tip and after finishing at Tesco crossed the road and picked up my bargain saving. We regularly get a special offer leaflet through the door from the local independent hardware store and they had fat-balls for the birds at less than half price of the ones in Wyevale garden centre. A bucket of 50 should last at least until Christmas unless we really do get "the worst winter since 1963" like the newspapers are saying - I'll believe it when I see it! I've got plenty of salt for slippery paths because months ago when I last ordered from Approved Foods they had cooking salt at 5 x1kg bags for £1. I thought I'd share it round the family - but nobody wanted them, so I'm stuck with a cupboard full of salt!

 The library van comes twice this month so no shortage of reading matter -actually Never a shortage of reading matter in this house! Here is what I brought home today.

 Not a very good photo I'm afraid but I'm not trying again as the connection today is sooooooo slow that it's taken me nearly an hour to get these two photos onto the post! And people are complaining about slow connections of 2Mb  - if they had just .75Mb speed like we have here then they really would have something to moan about!

Back Soon
Sue

My September reading

This is what I brought home from the library van yesterday

3 craft books to flick through including "Have Yourself a Very Vintage Christmas" - Yep, it's that C word again. 2 more of the British Library Crime Classic reprints, 2 very old books from out of County Reserve (stored in the hidden depths of Lowestoft Library) by Alison Uttley. Home Grown by Ben Hewitt is about Home Schooling, 3 crime fiction by favourite authors and Cold Comfort Farm, a classic which I ought to have read years ago.

Out of last months library books there were several I didn't read either because they were not what I was expecting or too weird or just plain boring. I hope this months collection is better.

Back Again very Soon
Sue

This months library haul

Collected from the library van on Friday were these books

Most are ones I had ordered online, either new books by authors I've enjoyed, books recommended on my Amazon page or ideas from other bloggers. I still have 5 left to read from last month so plenty to get my teeth into if only there were a few more hours in each day.

Once again there are lots of crime fiction including a couple more of the British Library Crime Classics from the 1940s. I'm trying another Stella Gibbons after I enjoyed The Matchmaker last month. Preserves, Pickles & Cures is borrowed just in case it has an idea in it that isn't in my own 6 books about preserving!

Many thanks for all the comments about jam and jam making on my last post. Cro said he had eaten his first fig so I'm keeping a close eye on mine. I've now bottled 3 kilner jars of apricots and put many more in the freezer. One of Cols' customers asked to buy several pounds too. The wasps are really having a field day now on the fruit crops, it's going to be difficult to hang onto plums I fear. We have stood and watched the pests, trying to find where they head to their nest to destroy it but without any luck.

Back next week
Sue

July's Library Book Picture

What a treat, so many lovely books brought home from the library van. Most of these were ordered on line and several are brand new. What on earth are we going to do if we move somewhere where they charge to order books?
Not sure how half of Col's head sneaked in the picture :-)

Fashion On The Ration is a new book which I came across on Amazon and that reminded me of Stitching For Victory which I had borrowed and read several years ago, and decided to reorder and re-read. There are 5 new crime novels by authors I enjoy. Love and War in the Wrens was on the library shelves and looks good. Erica James writes light fiction and I'm having another go at a Stella Gibbons after my failure last month. No Time for Romance is a biography about her nursing experiences during WWII by Lucilla Andrews who wrote dozens of romantic fiction books.
A Homespun Year sounded interesting although after flicking through it I can see it's not got a lot in it.
The only decision to make is which one to read first.

Back Soon
Sue

June's Library Book Photo and Memories of Childrens Parties

A lovely sunny bike ride down to Friston for the library van and a good collection of booksbrought home. Not sure when I will get time to read this lot with Wimbledon coming up and Gooseberry picking of course.

Some from my favourite modern authors and a couple from the 1940s that have recently been reprinted. I shall try James Oswald again even though I didn't like or finish the last one - can't remember why. A few of the other books here are ones mentioned on The Furrowed Middlebrow Blog - British women authors from the early 20th Century. I shall let you know what I think of them all in due course.

Last month I brought home this lot and some went back unread. I tried Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver twice but just couldn't get into it. The Rafaella Barker - Summertime -was a bit too fluffy for me though I did read Green Grass. I also didn't read Pie 'n' Mash and Prefabs because the Joyce Storey book, that I did read was  about similar subjects. Though I've made a note to borrow it again one day.

  Marguerite Pattern, the very prolific cookery writer, died the other day aged 99. The book that introduced her to me was this one below from 1963.(Edited to say sorry,Picture vanished and I couldn't get it back!) My mum must have bought it to help with parties me and my sister  had at home in those more simple days.  She didn't like childrens parties and they  promptly stopped at aged 11. In fact as I was 4 years older than my sister ( well I still am I guess!) by the time I was about 13 I think she left it to me to organise them for L and her friends . I remember going through this book looking at all the ideas for games. Look at the price... 2/6, that's 12½p ! It's £4.49 upwards now on Amazon. I guess our copy fell apart years and years ago.


I do still have 3 books by Marguerite Pattern, over on the left of one of my WWII shelves.

Thanks to everyone for comments yesterday on the Frugal post. Re-hashing old posts is lazy really but I might do it again!

Back Sooner than later
Sue

Things are OK 'cos it's Library book day!

Thank you for so many good wishes for Col after my post yesterday. Today he got an emergency doctors appointment and is now on antibiotics as well. The hospital told him he would probably get an infection after all their painful procedures and sure enough he has, no wonder he was feeling so rough.

I've been doing some more odd jobs outside and then went down to the library van to see what they had for me this month. I'd ordered some more by Rafaella Barker and another Barbara Kingsolver. The new Elly Griffiths was waiting for me too. Plenty to keep my mind off ill health and house moves for a few weeks.

Good news in the post today - Suffolk County Council seem to be giving me a pension after I turned 60 last month. For some reason they couldn't find me so tracked me down through the tax people. I worked in Suffolk libraries for 6 years before I had our eldest and if I'm reading the letter right    (which I might not be as it was in some sort of Double Dutch Pension Jargonese) they will be paying me the grand total of around £25 a month! Oh what fun I shall have with that. But really I'm grateful for anything as I remember taking some of my pension as a lump sum when I packed up proper work in 1980. There seems to be another lump sum to come of a couple of hundred pounds too. And more good news as HMRC are giving me a bit of a refund too for tax paid on interest last year. Every Little helps.

Thanks again for your good wishes
Back Soon
Sue

Just quickly popping in to say............

Thank you for all the Birthday wishes yesterday. I had a lovely day, just pottering in the potting shed and garden.
Today is library van day, we missed it in March being away on holiday.
This is my haul, most are things I've ordered online to collect and it looks as if nearly everything is crime and several by favourite authors. I'm going to have a good month of reading.

Back Soon
Sue

Library Book Photo and Year in Books link

Here is my very last Library Book photo of 2014 because the van isn't round again until January

It's a good thing I didn't wait for the Do-Ahead Christmas book as there is nothing in it I fancy making. The Secret Life of Trees looks a bit heavy going.

 Some of the books above are crime fiction by authors I know and a few of the other books are new-to-me authors. 6th from the right - A Very Private Diary by Mary Morris is the story of a nurse training during the war. I've already started it and it looks to be a good read.

Linking in with Laura at  Circle of Pine Trees for the Year in Books
Here were the books I read or tried to read during November. Three  (Eva Dolan, Kerry Tombs and Stephen Booth) were untried authors, but I couldn't get on with any of them.

I loved House Bound by Winifred Peck, a book from the 1942 re- published in the usual grey cover of Persephone Books. The story of a well-to-do woman forced to manage without domestic help. It sounds funny to us now but back then even middle class women born in the late Victorian or Edwardian period were used to a cook and a girl domestic at the very least. Suddenly they all went off for better paid jobs in the munitions factories or joined to serve in one of the Forces.
I also enjoyed Three Houses by Angela Thirkell. First published in 1931 this is the memoirs of Angela as a child growing up and the connections with the artistic members of her family.

I will have plenty to read over the next couple of months because I still have some here from Octobers collection and I might get some for Christmas too, and then of course there are several hundred on the bookshelves if we get snowed in!