Dead Man’s Cove by Lauren St John Lauren St John is the author is a series of books for older children set in Africa. The White Giraffe and its sequels are heartwarming and well-loved, although I admit we’ve not read any of them (sadly, my daughter is not a fan of what she considers ‘animal tales’). However her Read More
Month: September 2010
Bodies in Bologna
Almost Blue by Carlo Lucarelli, translated by Oonagh Stransky. Lucarelli is apparently an established author of over a dozen books, and a TV presenter to boot, but this is the first of his detective novels to get translated into English. Ispettore Grazia Negro is part of a new group within the Italian constabulary set up Read More
The Grinding Wheels of 21st Century Commerce
Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett. To some, Doug Fanning would seem to have it all, yet he is damaged goods. His traumatic childhood and experiences in the Gulf War have left him emotionally stunted. Post 9/11, he seemingly lives for his job as a high-powered investment banker, caring for nothing and no-one, and he takes risks Read More
Oxford Bookbloggers meet
A group of eight bookbloggers met last night at an Oxford pub – appropriately named ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’. (Good ale, no big screens, decent standard pub food). It was a shame more couldn’t come, the date ended up clashing for few, but those of us there had a lovely evening of mainly (ahem!) Read More
The World of Ephemera #1
Welcome to my first post in my new series on the world of Ephemera – featuring rescued pieces of paper that are just too interesting to recycle. Today our subject is knitting and crochet patterns. Yes, back in the late 1960s they had knitting patterns for outfits for fashion dolls – not busty Barbie, the much Read More
My new favourite word …
One of the joys in sorting out all my late Mum’s stuff, was encountering so many interesting pieces of paper. From 50yr old concert programmes to her autograph book; newspaper clippings on the value of prunes in your diet (yes, really) to all those postcards I described before, not to mention the notebooks monitoring her Read More
The Camper Who Stayed.
All Quiet on the Orient Express by Magnus Mills This is another black comedy of the highest order from a master of novels about men and their work. It’s Mills’ second book, the third I’ve read, and the best yet for me. We meet a man and his motorcycle, who are camping in the Lake Read More
Gaskella is 2 – plus a shelf-clearing giveaway!
Woohoo! Yes, it was two years ago that I started Gaskella. I started off on Blogspot – moving over to WordPress early this year, and in the 730 days since starting I’ve posted 394 times which is pretty good going I think, and amassed over 1700 comments (that includes my replies). Despite this being an Read More
Incoming – Real lives …
I haven’t done an incoming post for a while, but I bought a book at the weekend that I’m so looking forward to dipping into over weeks to come, then another brilliant sounding book arrived from the OUP (thanks Kirsty)… Once I’d picked up Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone by Eduardo Galeano, translated by Mark Read More
Raise a glass …
Still going through a forest of papers, and I’ve found a bundle from my late great-aunt Muriel which my Mum had kept. For many years Muriel worked as Secretary to the Chairman of Beatson Clark in Rotherham – a company which makes still makes glass containers. I found the programme for the Society of Glass Read More
Kill or cure
The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood (and the Duchess of Northumberland). The Duchess of Northumberland is the mastermind behind the wonderful Alnwick Garden adjoining her family’s ancestral pile, Alnwick Castle, in Northumberland. I visited last year and found it a wonderful attraction. One of the (many) highlights of the Garden is the Duchess’ special project Read More
Reel food!
Movie Dinners by Becky Thorn It’s time to blow the family trumpet. My sister-in-law’s second cookery book is published today. It does exactly what it says on the cover – helping you to recreate food from the movies in your own kitchen. From Oliver’s pease pudding and saveloy to the bunny boiler’s rabbit stew from Fatal Read More
How can I be sure?
I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson Rarely in recent times has a book called out to me as much as this one. You see, in common with the teenagers in this novel who are all fanatical David Cassidy fans, I was too. David was Godlike, with his shell necklaces, feathered hair, and whispery voice. You Read More
