I hope everyone has had a nice weekend. I haven’t managed much reading but I have managed to cook a roast dinner and end up with the meat on the floor so I made up for it by making a cheesecake. I have also done more studying and piano playing.
Anyway, here is what I have been up to on the blog
Happy Friday! I hope everyone has some good bookish plans for the weekend. As this Sunday is Mothering Sunday in the UK, I have chosen a suitable poem, well actually it is a hymn but I rather like it.
This hymn is by George Hare Leonard (1863-1941) who was a Professor of Modern History at the University of Bristol.
In the past servants were allowed to take the day off to see their mothers and go to church on Mothering Sunday. They would take cakes and treats and the special wheaten cake for their mothers.
Mothering Sunday
It is the day of all the year,
Of all the year the one day,
When I shall see my Mother dear
And bring her cheer,
A-Mothering on Sunday.
And now to fetch my wheaten cake,
To fetch it from the baker,
He promised me, for Mother's sake,
The best he'd bake
For me to fetch and take her.
Well have I known, as I went by
One hollow lane, that none day
I'd fail to find - for all they're shy -
Where violets lie,
As I went home on Sunday.
My sister Jane is waiting-maid
Along with Squire's lady;
And year by year her part she's played,
And home she stayed
To get the dinner ready.
For Mother'll come to Church, you'll see -
Of all the year it's the day -
'The one,' she'll say, 'that's made for me.'
And so it be:
It's every Mother's free day.
The boys will all come home from town,
Not one will miss that one day;
And every maid will bustle down
To show her gown,
A-Mothering on Sunday.
It is the day of all the year,
Of all the year the one day;
And here come I, my Mother dear,
And bring you cheer,
A-Mothering on Sunday.
George Hare Leonard
So what have I been up to during lockdown that isn’t reading wonderful books.
Studying
Over these last few weeks I have been doing a lot of studying and assignment writing but I must admit I am rather excited that soon I can begin work on planning what I want to do for my dissertation. The freedom of choosing my own topic is both exciting and terrifying!
Music
I have been regularly practising the piano and trying to do at least half an hour a day and I have been loving it. I must admit that for a few reasons I had fallen out of love with the piano and sometimes music in general but lockdown has done me some good and I have fallen back in love with it all. The challenge of learning new pieces is fantastic and the memory skills that had lapsed are coming back and it is all falling back into place. The Ukulele also continues and hopefully this year I will finally manage to take an exam.
Exercise and Walking
Exercise is still going and I am loving it. I am a complete kettlebell addict and I also love latin dance workouts. I am now finding myself looking forward to my exercise which I never thought would happen. It is a perfect break from studying and teaching and I love how each week I am getting better at the workouts and stronger. We continue with our walking but only when it isn’t raining. I am no good when it is raining as it sets off my asthma. I also love a good dance workout with glow sticks and the disco ball.
Cooking
I have now been planning all dinners a week in advance for over a month and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I no longer have to think what to make for dinner each evening but know exactly what I am making. This planning means I am trying lots of new recipes that we have never had before which has been great fun.
Not much going on really but I have been very happy. I have realised that usually I spend my time racing around from one job to the other and it is rather nice to have a quieter time which doesn’t involve so much racing around.
Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I have a quiet Wednesday morning for a change which is rather strange as I am used to a full morning of teaching saxophone and recorder. Maybe I will get some extra reading in instead.
My chosen quote today is by Confucius (551BCE) who was a Chinese philosopher and politician.
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
I hope everyone has a good week planned with some good reading included.
My book from The Willoughby Book Club has arrived and it was in different wrapping! I’m not sure I am as keen on this wrapping as it is more of a sleeve instead of the gorgeous tissue paper but it is the book that counts.
The book I received was Mallory Cook and the Road Not Taken by Charlotte Nash. I know I say this a lot but Charlotte Nash is another new author for me. I do love discovering new authors especially when they become firm favourites, so fingers crossed I am not disappointed.
One single mother. Three escaped pensioners. An unforgettable road trip.
In their tiny, pale green cottage under the trees, Mallory Cook and her five-year-old son, Harry, are a little family unit who weather the storms of life together. Money is tight after Harry’s unreliable and impulsive father, Duncan, abandoned them to expand his business in New York. So when Duncan fails to return Harry after a visit, Mallory sets off, determined to bring her son home any way she can.
A chance encounter with three retirees on the run leaves Mallory leading an unlikely group road trip across the United States. Zadie, Ernie and Jock each have their own reasons for making the journey and along the way the four of them will learn not only the lengths they will travel to save each other, but that it’s never too late to change the path you’re on . . .
Drop me a comment with your thoughts if you have read this book.
Bridie Devine—female detective extraordinaire—is confronted with the most baffling puzzle yet: the kidnapping of Christabel Berwick, secret daughter of Sir Edmund Athelstan Berwick, and a peculiar child whose reputed supernatural powers have captured the unwanted attention of collectors trading curiosities in this age of discovery.
Winding her way through the labyrinthine, sooty streets of Victorian London, Bridie won’t rest until she finds the young girl, even if it means unearthing a past that she’d rather keep buried. Luckily, her search is aided by an enchanting cast of characters, including a seven-foot tall housemaid; a melancholic, tattoo-covered ghost; and an avuncular apothecary. But secrets abound in this foggy underworld where spectacle is king and nothing is quite what it seems.
Blending darkness and light, history and folklore, Things in Jars is a spellbinding Gothic mystery that collapses the boundary between fact and fairy tale to stunning effect and explores what it means to be human in inhumane times.
Review
I love a gothic mystery so I was very excited to start reading this book and I will be honest it was rather a surprise once I got into the story.
My first impression of this book was too much description and it took me a while to get used to this. Kidd is an excellent writer but sometimes her descriptions can go on too long. For example she describes at one point all the different dreams people are having and to be honest I just lost interest as they were characters that were not important. However, that is my only problem with this story; the rest I loved.
Bridie is fantastic and the more I got to know her the more I loved her character. Bridie is clever and has the ability and intellect to be an amazing doctor but sadly she is woman and women are not allowed to be doctors. This doesn’t stop Bridie though who helps Inspector Rose with unusual cases by examining the bodies and the scene of the crime. She also solves crimes for private clients as well. Bridie is eccentric, she smokes a pipe and speaks her mind and is a force to be reckoned with and she does all of this in a dress and many petticoats, most of the time.
I will be honest Bridie is basically a female Sherlock Holmes and it is very clear that that is who Kidd based the character on. Bridie also has a house maid called Cora who is fascinating. Cora is seven foot tall and a very scary woman who the local children find very interesting. She is also a fantastic bodyguard for Bridie who will see no harm come to her.
This story combines folklore and history together perfectly and makes for a fascinating read. I will be honest at times I found it a little disturbing but it was still a fabulous read that I highly enjoyed. I give this story 4 out of 5 Dragons.
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About the author
Jess Kidd was brought up in London as part of a large family from county Mayo and has been praised for her unique fictional voice. Her debut, Himself, was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards in 2016. She won the Costa Short Story Award the same year. Her second novel, The Hoarder, published as Mr. Flood’s Last Resort in the U.S. and Canada was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year 2019. Both books were BBC Radio 2 Book Club Picks. Her latest book, the Victorian detective tale Things in Jars, has been released to critical acclaim. Jess’s work has been described as ‘Gabriel García Márquez meets The Pogues.’
I have gone for another poem by John Clare this week. This poem celebrates the coming of Spring.
Young Lambs
The spring is coming by a many signs;
The trays are up, the hedges broken down,
That fenced the haystack, and the remnant shines
Like some old antique fragment weathered brown.
And where suns peep, in every sheltered place,
The little early buttercups unfold
A glittering star or two - till many trace
The edges of the blackthorn clumps in gold.
And then a little lamb bolts up behind
The hill and wags his tail to meet the yoe,
And then another, sheltered from the wind,
Lies all his length as dead - and lets me go
Close by and never stirs, but beaking lies,
With legs stretched out as though he could not rise.
John Clare
It is time for my monthly update on my reading challenge. Now I have noticed a little problem with my challenge and that is digital books. Last year I barely read a digital book and this year just because I have set myself this challenge there is a load of digital books I want to read! The question is do I count them in my challenge and if I do, how? So what do my fellow book dragons think? What should I do?
Anyway, until I make a decision here is my monthly update of the growing pile of books that I hope to get the same height as me this year. These are the books from January and February. The height is now 8.5 inches. I added 2.5 in February.
Lady Book Dragon 