52 books - week 5

I had a delivery last week from Persephone Books, so my next couple of reviews at least are going to be about there books.

The book I chose for this week was "Someone at a distance" by Dorothy Whipple.

Its quite a gentle read, although the story is full of emotions, but the author takes you through them in a calm and almost soothing way. Its not a complicated read, the story is set over a few different families and houses but it doesn't tangle you up in hundreds of characters.

I enjoyed the book. It has a strangely satisfying ending. Its a predictable story, almost from the start you cans sense the ending, but it finished with the good characters happy and the bad characters unhappy in an almost child like manner.

Book Title: Someone at a Distance

Author: Dorothy Whipple

Enjoyment: 7/10

Would read again: 8/10


Comments: Its a pleasant read, not too taxing on the brain with a nice ending. Its not my favourite though because its just a bit too predictable. The book is trying to be ordinary people living ordinary lives and in real life nice people don't always end up happy and bad people don't always end up unhappy. I would read it again if I was in need of something soothing to read.

Persephone Books

52 books - Week four

My book for this week is a Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.

When I was a little too young to have started on Jane Austen the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice came out on the television - the one with Colin Firth. I watched every episode and loved it. My Dad bought my mum a copy of the video before we even owned a video player. I think he may have regretted it once we did have a video player because of the amount of times we watched it. I have it on DVD now and I love watching it.

So naturally the first Jane Austen book I read was Pride and Prejudice and it didn't disappoint me. I've read others since but somehow I hadn't read Sense and Sensibility before. I've seen it on television, a version with Alan Rickman in it, which I loved.

So this weeks book was Sense and Sensibility. Here is my summary of it:

Book Title: Sense and Sensibility

Author: Jane Austen

Enjoyment: 910

Would read again: 8/10


Comments: I enjoyed reading it, I generally know if I pick up a Jane Austen I am going to enjoy it. I didn't find it as funny as Pride and Prejudice and its never been an ending I'm keen on. I always feel that Edward is too wishy washy for Elinor, I feel like she deserves a better husband. Added to that I feel like Colonel Brandon deserves someone better than Marianne. I think as readers we are supposed to like Marianne but I find her a bit too selfish for my taste. Colonel Brandon on the other hand is one of my favourite characters out of the book. In fact I think Elinor and Colonel Brandon would have been a better match.
That said Jane Austen did try to write realistic books and how many times in life do we see couples marry and feel sure they are doing the wrong thing. Sometimes they surprise us sometimes they don't. So I suppose this is fairly true to life, but if I needed some comfort reading I think I'd stick to Pride and Prejudice.

Waterstones

Today I am...

Knitting some wrist warmers in Posh Yarn Bonnie Aran in the colourway Jam session:

Knitting my Ombre Acrylic Blanket, which is going to take awhile as knitting on 8mm needles hurts my hands:

Re reading one of my Chalet School books, perfect comfort reading:

Trying to figure out how to use my new (secondhand) camera, its a "proper" camera, a DSLR and I'm finding it very confusing:

Enjoying the snow we still have around the house:

Winding my Yard Yard yarn I got the other day one skein at a time:

Listening to Oomph and letting the Husbeast get on with putting plasterboard up in the utility room without interfering too much....

Someday that room is going to look nice, hopefully someday soon!

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52 books - Week three

My book for the week is not actually fiction. Its one of Persephone books collection, number 80 to be exact - The Country Housewife's book.

If you haven't yet discovered Persephone books yet I urge you to go and have a look at their site (although don't blame me if you spend too much money). They have 100 books, all in the same calm grey covered with beautiful endpapers inside.

The Country Housewife's book is from the 1930's and so of course some of the ideas don't relate to modern day life. It does however give a good view of life in the 30's and it still has a lot of information which is valid today. I love books like this and have a few but this has to be one of my favourites.

Book Title: The Country Housewife's Book

Author: Lucy H Yates

Enjoyment: 910

Would read again: 10/10


Comments: This is funny, interesting and useful by turns. The preserves and vegetables sections is probably as useful today as it was when the book was written, and for a knitter the section on moths is pretty relevant. A pleasant enjoyable read if only to take you back in time. Great for fans of Downton Abbey and programmes of the era.

The endpaper pattern - Persephone books

52 books - Weeks One and Two

I've seen a few bloggers posting about doing 52 things in 2013, that is to do the same thing each week of the year. Some are taking photos each week and Natalie over on the Yard Yard blog has inspired me with her plan to read 52 books in the year.

I read a lot, at least five books a week. I can speed read and tend to re read a lot of books so I go through them pretty fast. I also tend to choose light reading, mainstream fiction, which is not exactly a challenge to the brain.

So even though I am little late jumping on the bandwagon, I am going to do something similar. I am going to try and read 52 classics.

My first book I've chosenm is going to count as two books as it is two stories. It is probably no harder on the brain than what I normally read but it is a childhood favourite; Alice in Wonderland, and Alice through the Looking Glass.

There was a copy of this at my Nain's house (Nain is Welsh for Grandmother) and so I read it quite often as a child. I haven't read it in years and so when I saw it in Waterstones recently I realised I would love to read it again as I had forgotten the story.

I've recently watched Tiim Burtons Alice in Wonderland which confused me when I was reading the book as he's mashed the two stories together and come up with a third. That's not to say I didn't like Tim Burtons version, I really enjoyed it, but it doesn't follow the book too closely.

Anyway here's my little challenge summary:

Book Title: Alice in Wonderland and Alice through the Looking Glass

Author: Lewis Carroll

Enjoyment: 8/10

Would read again: 9/10


Comments: This is wierder than I had remembered, and quite a bit shorter, although being 20 years older probably helps there. Its worth another read as an adult, although a childrens book, the characters and story were enough to keep me gripped. I'd read it again although I would probably leave it a few years to make sure I had forgotten the story again.

Waterstones