52 Books: #6 - The Life of Pi

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

People have been telling me that I should read this for a long time.  Pete loved this book when he read it.  I resisted because it did win the Booker Prize and you know how much I hate Booker books - they're always such a disappointment. 

Anyway this was 20p for the kindle so I bought it and started to read. Boy was it tedious.  I just wanted it to cut to the chase and for something to actually happen.  I realise this is probably literary heresy - but I really had to make myself finish this. It just seemed to drag on forever and it was a struggle to make myself pick it up and read it.  Once he gets on the boat with the tiger it gets a little better - at least things are happening, well some of the time anyway.  So I'm afraid this has just confirmed all my prejudices against books that win literary prizes. (And it's done nothing to persuade me to try Wolf Hall again.) 

There is nothing on earth that could persuade me to watch the film of this.

P.S. - I did like the tiger.

So I promised you knitwear...

..and here it is.   This is the Sweet Scarborough pattern from Drops. It's a free pattern and I adjusted it a little bit. It's supposed to have orange and mustard in the Fair Isle section but I did it just in the red and white. I knitted it in the suggested yarn which is Drops Karisma. It was a lovely yarn to work with.  The only thing about this project was that the first time I knitted it I thought it might be a little big but I wasn't that bothered as I'd probably wear it over another sweater anyway, but when I soaked it ready for blocking it grew and grew until it was so huge it reached my knees.  I had to rip it all out and re-knit the whole thing. This time I knitted it on a smaller needle (I swear I had gauge the first time, really.) and I knitted it a size smaller around the yolk, though I kept the original size round the bottom as I'm wider there. 

I love this now that it's finished and wear it a lot, one day soon I might actually sew on the buttons.

 

I see from the website that there's a pattern for matching socks. I might have to knit those.

52 Books: #5 - The Killing Floor

The Killing Floor by Lee Child

I've read lots of Lee Child's books but I'd never read the first one, so I thought I'd go back and rectify that.

This opens (as several do) with Jack Reacher being arrested as he eats breakfast in a diner. He's never been in the town before, only just arrived there, knows no-one, but finds himself charged with a murder that happened the previous evening.  I'm not going to spoil the plot for anyone who hasn't read this by telling you anything else about it. I'm only going to say that this is really good and that I found the early Jack Reacher quite different from the later one. I wasn't expecting that. Next up some knitting news - including a finished project. I know. Actually finished. How amazing is that.

52 Books: #4 - The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog

The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog by Elizabeth Peters.

I have a bit of an addiction to these books.  I did start trying to read them in the right order but I've been distracted by a couple of the later ones. There's a really good one about the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun (and how much help the Emersons were to Howard Carter).

Anyway this is one of the earlier ones and comes just after The Camel Died at Noon which is the first one I read.  In this book the Emersons are in Egypt on their own, having left the children at home for once. Emerson gets himself kidnapped and hit on the head. Peabody goes to rescue him to discover that he's lost his memory and has no idea who she is.  Much hilarity ensues as you can imagine.  If you want a bit of light relief then these books are just the ticket.

52 Books: #3 - The Likeness by Tana French

The Likeness by Tana French


Detective Cassie Maddox gets called to a crime scene where the murder victim bears a startling resemblence to herself.  This gives her old boss Frank an idea - if Cassie goes undercover as the victim then they might find out who killed her.  This puts Cassie into a pretty dangerous position, impersonating someone who's actually dead but who the police have said is just injured, to a houseful of friends who may or may not have had something to do with killing her.   It's a fascinating concept and the plot is pretty intriguing too as Cassie gets more and more involved with her "housemates" and their laid-back Bohemian lifestyle.  I'm not going to say anymore about the plot as it would only spoil it for you. Suffice to say that this was another big hit and I'm on a kind of roll here with good books, even if I am only 3 books into what is looking like a bigger challenge than it seemed three weeks ago.!

52 Books: #2 - The Rough Collier by Pat McIntosh

The Rough Collier by Pat McIntosh

I'm in danger of falling behind - not with the reading but with the blogging!

A nasty cold put paid to any thoughts of catching up at the weekend, as I could barely bring myself to squint at the computer screen. Anyway I am much better now so will try and get back up to speed.

This is fifth in this series, set mostly in Medieval Glasgow and featuring a young lawyer called Gil Cunningham and his lady Alys, who in this volume he has just married.

This one is set among the coal-workers of Lanarkshire and I found the background detail of the colliers' lives absolutely fascinating. Pat McIntosh always manages to teach me something in the course of a book, and without any hint of lecturing.  A body is discovered in a peat bog and Gil, who is visiting his mother nearby, is asked to look into the death and determine whose body it is.

This is a lovely book, full or period detail and atmosphere and I like how the characters of Gil and Alys are developing through the series.

Definately one I would recommend.

52 Books: #1 - The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

One of the things I wanted to do this year was explore different books. I hardly ever read SF. In fact I think it's been about 15 years since I last read an SF novel, which is pretty odd when you consider that I love SF TV and films.

The Forever War is the story of one man, William Mandella. At the beginning of the book he's just signed up to fight in the war against Taurans, an alien race who are threatening the Universe.  The war is happening at various far distant points in the galaxy which are reached via Stargates, however these gates alter time and by the time you come back through from whatever point in the Universe you've been to the Earth has aged, sometimes by hundreds of years. You however remain the same age.  That's quite an interesting concept. For the soldiers it's like coming back to a different planet as political and social views have changed over time. Of course there is nothing on this new Earth for them so they re-enlist and become perpetual soldiers.

I really liked this book and will probably read the next one in the trilogy too at some point.  So I feel vindicated by my decision to start off my year of books with something out of my comfort zone.

Next up a more familiar genre.

The 52 Book Project

Could I read 52 books in a year?  Do I have the time in my life to even attempt such a task?  But really when you break it down it's just one book a week isn't it?  I can manage that. Can't I?

So I'm going to give it a go.  Here are the rules I've set myself.

One short post for each book completed.  For the sake of my sanity I can opt to not finish a book but I need to have read at least 100 pages before I give up. Only books read in 2013 are eligible. This includes audio books.

OK then. First up is The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

See You on the Other Side

Just a quick post as I'm about to disappear into Christmas Retail Madness for the days running up to Christmas.

If you're stuck for a bookish gift you might like to try one of these -

 
The Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt.  This is an enormous tome which contains virtually every technique a knitter could want. I have a copy, refer to it often and can see that it will be a mainstay of my knitting library for many years to come. It's not cheap but thinbk of it as an investment. Any serious knitter will get more than their money's worth out of this.

 Animal Hats by Vanessa Mooncie. Yes, lots of hats that look like animals. Who wouldn't want one of these?  There are 15 hats in this book and they all look great.

Cast On Bind Off by Lesle Ann Bestor. This has 54 (yes - 54!) different ways to cast on or cast off. Who knew there could be so many?  It's spiral bound, smallish so it will fit in your knitting bag without breaking your shoulder (The Principles of Knitting might break your shoulder!) and something that every knitter will want.







Finally there's something for the non-knitters. I know not all of you come here for the knitting stuff.  Books to Die For, edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke (no picture available for some reason) is a collection of essays about crime and mystery writing by about 120 authors and afficionadoes. Perfect for anyone who loves crime fiction. (apologies for the lack of links - blogger is playing up this morning)

These books should all be available from larger branches of Waterstones (it's possibly too late for internet orders now, sorry I meant to do this last week!) or from a good local independent if you have one.

Take care out there if you're shopping this weekend. It's going to be hell. Please remember that it's not the retail assistants fault if the item you want is out of stock, and if in doubt then buy a book token!

Have a great Christmas and I'll see you on the other side.

The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs

The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs: The Techniques for Creating 70 Yarns by Sarah Anderson

What can I say?  This is a wonderful book that does exactly what it says on the tin. There are clear directions with great photographs which take you through washing and preparing fleece. It shows you how to card using hand and drum carders;  how to comb and how to use a diz. Every stage of fibre preparation is explained.

It covers pretty much every yarn you could possibly want to spin and includes lots of different variations you can make by altering tension/twist/plying method etc. There are sections on core spinning, making singles, boucle,  crepe and cable yarns. It covers how to include beads, make slubs and coils. With this book at your side you could spin almost any kind of yarn and understand the mechanics of how the various yarns are made.

There's a great section on twist and using different twist direction and angle to create both balanced and energised yarns. It even has a section on yarns for weaving and why they can be different to kntting yarns. 

The book is beautifully laid out with lots of clear colour photographs for every stage. It really is a beautiful book.

Now I have a lot of spinning books, from Mabel Ross' seminal Essentials of Yarn Design for Handspinners to Judith McKenzie's The Intentional Spinner and all of these books are useful, but this book, for me, is a book that every spinner will want to have in their library.  It's the kind of book that you will refer to over and over again, that you can dip into if you want to create a specific yarn, or that you could use as a guide and work through from beginning to end and expand your spinning repertoire.  It is full of technical information, presented in a way that is easy to understand. This is a book that will suit both the beginner and the experienced spinner. There is something for everyone in this book.  I cannot recommend it highly enough.  It's going straight on my Christmas List!  I also think that I'll get a copy for my spinning group - I can see it being very useful as a resource for the group.

I had a digital proof of this book via NetGalley from the kind people at Storey Publishing for which I am immensely grateful.

The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs by Sarah Anderson was published by Storey Publishing on the 1st November 2012 and costs £17.99 in the UK.

Rebus is Back!

Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin.

I can't have been alone in doing a little happy dance when I heard that Ian Rankin had turned to his most famous detective creation for his latest book.  Not that I didn't enjoy The Complaints or The Impossible Dead; Not that I didn't like Malcolm Fox, because I did.  But I love John Rebus.

And reading this book was like putting on a pair of comfortable old shoes - no irritating little blisters, no stiffness to be worn in (can you tell I spend a lot of my day on my feet!) - this was sheer pleasure all the way.

Since we last met Rebus on the day he retired, he's come back into the force in a civilian capacity, assisting the cold case squad.  He hasn't changed - still drinks too much, still very much alone, still a maverick with a healthy disregard for authority.

So the plot is about a young girl who goes missing on her way to Inverness from Edinburgh. Trouble is she's the step-daughter of a local crime lord and he's not a happy man.  Then a woman contacts the cold case squad to alert them a series of similar disappearances including the woman's daughter ten years before. It seems several girls have disappeared along the same A9 road through Scotland and in each case a photograph has been sent to someone from their mobile phones.  With a little assistance from Siobhan, Rebus manages to get himself attached to the investigation.  But is there room for an old-style copper like Rebus in today's slick police operation, headed by a new generation of bright young things?

Meanwhile, it seems that Lothian Police have raised the retirement age for their police officers, meaning Rebus is free to reapply to join the force.  Malcolm Fox is convinced that Rebus is a wrong un, and that he should never be allowed to return. Rebus' relationship with his old nemesis Big Ger Cafferty is just one of things that Fox finds distasteful.  So can our favourite detective convince Fox that he's on the level. Can he return to the job he loved, and does he really want to?  Basically the question is - where does an old dinosaur like Rebus fit with the new shiny face of modern policing where solving crime is done by computer. Is there room for a dangerous maverick like Rebus and his old school style of detection which involves talking to a lot of people, shaking a lot of trees and seeing what falls out?


I'm not going to spoil the plot by giving you the answer to that. But if you're a Rebus fan then you'll love this book.  If you're a crime fan you'll love this book.  Just go read it.

Oh and you know what else I loved about this book - the endpapers. (I do have a bit of thing about endpapers)  I had a proof copy and they'd used this image inside the dustwrapper so it wasn't until the book arrived in the shop that I was sure they had used them as the endpapers. It's a map of a relevant part of Scotland with added bloodstains - very effective. Here's a photo -

I was reading a proof of Standing in Another Man's Grace by Ian Rankin, for which I must thank the good people at Orion.  The book is published on Thurday 8th November.

Today

A meme I have pinched from the lovely Dee at Posh Yarn.  I hope she doesn't mind.

Reading -  Shoeless Joe by WP Kinsella. This is the book that Field of Dreams was based on and it is my favourite film though I'd never read the book until now.  I'm loving the book.

Watching - Sons of Anarchy (Season 5) This season is very dark, much darker than previous series but I still love it. 

Knitting - resisting the need to knit festive gifts for people - it's only the start of November and I don't have anything else to do right through till Christmas, do I?

Listening - Diversions Vol 3 - Songs from the Shipyards by The Unthanks. I saw them perform this live on Sunday night in Stratford and it was amazing.

Wanting - to move house and dreading the amount of work that needs done here before we can sell.

Thinking  - that I miss Bubba and keep expecting him to be there right behind me in the kitchen when I'm cooking, but mostly I miss walking with him in the mornings.

St Mungo's Robin by Pat McIntosh

This is the fourth in a series set in Medieval Glasgow and features a young lawyer called Gil Cunningham.  Gil is beginning to get a name for himself as an investigator of murders and he works with his soon to be father-in-law Pierre Mason. Normally his fiancee Alys helps too but on this occasion she is busy preparing for their forthcoming wedding.

The warden of an almshouse is found dead in the almshouse garden, having been stabbed. Gil is asked to solve the murder which is nowhere near as simple as it first appears.  Was the man killed by one of the elderly residents or was it something connected to his life outside the home?

What I like about these books, apart from the characters of Gil, Pierre and Alys who are great, is that it gives you a very authentic sounding picture of Medieval Scotland. The laws of property and inheritance in Scotland at that time were very different from those in England and this casts a whole different slant onto the books. I find the historical detail fascinating and extremely interesting. The position of women in this world is a precarious one as is evidenced by some of the plot twists. Choices for women were extremely limited in what was a very rigid society. McIntosh is not overtly judgmental about this state, but highlights the plight of women subtly as part of the story.

I've read all of the previous three books and I must say that as the series progresses and the characters change and grow I am liking it more and more. She's easily up there with more well known Medieval authors like Ariana Franklin, Michael Jecks or Susanna Gregory.  One criticism, and this is a small one. I'd like a map of Glasgow at the time.  I've read all these in paperback, maybe there's a map in the hardback editions, but not in the paperbacks. I'm familiar with bits of Glasgow, know some of the places mentioned but can't quite reconcile my modern Glasgow with the old city that exists in these pages.  Anyway I happen to be a big fan of maps and I'd like one here.  I know I could go and find one on the web, but I don't, and anyway I'm not always reading where I have access to the internet. 

The series as a whole is now up to nine books, so I really should try and catch up!

St Mungo's Robin by Pat McIntosh is published by Robinson and is available in paperback from all good bookstores and as an e-book. I read the paperback edition.

I bought this book with my own hard-earned cash.

A Sad Farewell

This is an especially hard post for me to write as will soon become clear to you all.

Today we said farewell to our much loved dog, Bubba.

He had been going downhill for the last couple of months, but the rapid onset of blindness in both eyes led to a diagnosis of multiple myloma.  We were able to bring him home from the vet and spend a few days with him before he was put to sleep this afternoon. 

This was very hard for us.  He has been a faithful companion and vital part of our family for more than eleven years, showering us with unconditional love and many doghairs. He was without doubt the loveliest, best-tempered dog you could hope to meet, always wagging his tail, always looking for someone to rub his ears. Even the surgery he had on both of his knees did not faze him.  We have many happy memories of wet and muddy walks and wild and windy trips to the seaside. We're glad we had the privilege to share our lives with this brave and remarkable dog. In the end the only thing we could do was to ease his passing and ensure that he did not suffer any pain.

Rest in peace my old friend.

A J Cross - Gone in Seconds

In which I discover that I like my serial killers to be not too close to home!

Gone in Seconds is the first in what will be a series of books featuring Dr Kate Hanson.  It's a debut novel by a forensic psychologist, and it's about...a forensic psychologist.  Well, that's fine. It lends an air of authority to the book. I mean she must know what she's talking about, right.

So this is a thriller set in the West MIdlands and it's about a Cold Case Unit formed of the police and this forensic psychologist who works with them.  I had no idea that was possible - she seems to be part of the police team, not just someone they consult from time to time. Anyway I guess the writer knows, for the reason stated above, plus I am prepared to accept this even if it's not likely for the sake of fiction.

So, the plot is about the discovery of the remains of a young woman who disappeared  five years before from a local shopping centre.  The cold case team have to reopen the old case, for which no-one was ever arrested. This brings a lot of hostility from the previous investigaing officer who is now their superior.  Dr Kate Hanson determines from the evidence that the killer might be  a "repeater" and that there might be other unsolved cases, other undiscovered bodies. 

I liked this book.  I liked the character of Kate and her relationships with the rest of the team and with her family. She was believeable and I can see that she will evolve with the series and become a more rounded character.  The plot was well structured and she quite cleverly leads the reader up the garden path with some well-placed red herrings.  She ties the various strands up nicely at the end while leaving the door open for the next book.  I think I learned something about forensic psychologists too, including how they've moved on but TV portrayals have got stuck in the past with profiles and signatures and all those things you hear about in Criminal Minds.  I bet she hates Criminal Minds

I felt the book was a good reflection of the West Midlands where it was set.  In fact that turned out to be the only problem I had with this book.  One of the victims disappeared from a nightclub in Wolverhampton and I thought to myself that my daughter goes to nightclubs there, so really I'd rather not read about a serial killer stalking young girls there. And one possible victim had disappeared from Walsall which is where I live and work.  And that was all a little too close to home for me.  Much as I like fictional serial killers and like to read about them in places that I recognise, and I loved watching Morse when I lived in Oxford so I could spot places I knew, it turns out that I prefer my serial killers not to operate in my neighbourhood. It seems I'm a serial killer NIMBY. Who knew?

Gone in Seconds is available now in hardback and trade paperback.

I was reading a proof copy, kindly supplied by Orion.

Caro Ramsay - The Blood of Crows

The Blood of CRows is the fourth in Caro Ramsay's excellent Glasgow-set series.  It's a police procedural following DI Colin Anderson and his team.


At the start of the book, DS Costello is on sick leave after something that happened in a previous book. Anderson is under pressure from his wife to leave the job and emigrate to Australia.  Their normal home, Partickhill Police Station is closed to have some asbestos removed, so the team are based at Partick Central in the meantime. They're divided and in unfamilar territory.

Anderson gets called out to a report of someone in the river, spotted by a passing boat, and when he and DC Lambie get there they find a naked girl chained to a ladder in the water, half-drowned by the rising tide.  She dies in Anderson's arms.  Then a young boy is thrown off a bridge after being tortured. Finally a local gangster is burned to death in an arson attack.  Could all these cases be linked, could they be connected to the Russian mafia, or are they linked to Glasgow's own gang-filled history?

I'm a big fan of Anderson and Costello. They are compelling characters who have grown and changed thoughout the series, and they continue to evolve.  The books are filled with interesting, multi-dimensional characters.  The plotting is intelligent and complex.  You need to pay attention, there's so much going on here.   Ramsay is not afraid to ask deep questions of her reader, about morality and the nature of vengeance and where those lines are that must not be crossed. She puts her characters in difficult situations and gives them big decisions to make.  She really knows how to build the tension too.  There is nothing predicable here, she really keeps you on your toes and makes you want to keep reading to the very end.

Ramsay is not as well-known as Ian Rankin or Stuart MacBride but she deserves to be. These books are easily as good as theirs. The Blood of Crows is that rare thing, an intelligent crime novel that you just can't put down, one that keeps you thinking even after you finish it.  I can't wait for the next.

The Blood of Crows is published by Penguin in the UK and is available now.
The other books in the series have just been republished with new jackets. They are Absolution, Singing to the Dead and Dark Water.

I bought my copy of The Blood of Crows with my own hard-earned cash.

Rejoining the Blogosphere

I've been away from the blog for a while, as I'm sure you've noticed. I've been busy with work and life and haven't had a lot of spare time. Blogging, for me anyway, involves a lot of thinking time, not just the time spent at the keyboard, and there hasn't been a whole lot of space in my life for that recently.

Anyway, some of my work/writing commitments have unexpected evaporated for a while so I thought I'd use the opportunity to get back to the blog.

I'm planning a new focus, with more about books - longer reviews of current and backlist titles, plus an occasional look at some of the vintage craft books I have in my library.

I hope you enjoy this new format and continue to read the blog.

Four More Years

The last time we were in Florida was in the September running up to the 2008 election.  I can't really believe it's been that long. I guess Barack Obama probably feels the same. These four years haven't really gone to plan for him, have they?

Last time we were here I did my totally unscientific lawn sign survey and guess what?  It was right, so I'm doing the same again this year.  Bear in mind here though that it's still only June, the parties haven't officially picked their candidates yet, so this is even more unscientific than usual.

So, how's it going for Mr Obama?  Not well, is the result of my lawn sign poll. Mind you the economy hasn't helped him at all, and he hasn't had a lot of inter-party co-operation so it's not all his fault.  And he did have the weight of a whole lot of unrealistic expectation round his neck.  But seriously, Florida, you need to step up, here and give the man some support. I have not seen one lawn flag, not one bumper sticker in support of the incumbent candidate.

And his probable opponent, Mr Mitt Romney?  Well, there seems to be a bit of support for him.  I'm sure he's pleased about that as the Republican Party National Convention will be in Tampa next month. And what do we know about Mitt?  He's a Mormon, and he's made a whole heap of money from an investment company called Bain Capital.  Now I don't really care about his religious beliefs, he can believe what he likes so long as he doesn't try and make me believe it too.  However Bain Capital have a history of buying businesses, making all kinds of promises about job security and pensions etc and then stripping the assets of those companies and leaving them to go bust.  Does that sound like the sort of man you want running America?

Any way, we should be OK because my totally unscientific,but never before wrong, lawn flag survey tells me that the next President of the United States will be ......

Ron Paul.

Really?  Ron Paul??

You better get out there and prove me wrong! 

Men Carrying Guns Shouldn't Carry Umbrellas

Yesterday we spent the day in Tampa before we went to the US World Cup qualifier between the US and Antigua and Barbuda. 

What can I say. It rained a lot.  We spent the entire day dashing to the car between downpours.  Quite a lot of time was spent in Barnes and Noble. What a lovely bookstore it is. I had a look at the Nook and thought it was a very impressive bit of kit.

Finally the time came to get to the stadium. And that's where the problem started.  The game was being played at the Raymond James stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American Football team.

  It's open air because American Football is a winter sport, but this is the rainy season. And boy did it rain. At one point, about half an hour before kick-off they had to clear the seats because a lightning storm was coming.  I think I can safely say that I've never been so wet in my life. I've had showers that were dryer than that match. Still it was an interesting experience.  The US supporters were enthusiastic, if not especially knowledgeable.  Before the game they all had tailgate parties in the parking lot, as they do with baseball and football. They all threw up gazebos, lit their barbeques and started in on the six-packs.  Can you imagine the reaction that would get at a premier league game?  Throughout the game they constantly wander about the stadium, getting popcorn or hot dogs or more beer. They even bring you the beer to your seat.  And yet it's completely a family atmosphere, with all the fans mixed in together and loads of little kids.  It could not be more different from an English game.

Last night's dinner, was of course a hot dog at the game...

.   And I'm not sure if was that, or the drenching, or something else I ate yesterday but I was up all night throwing up.  Lovely.  So I'm having a quiet day today. Good news is that the sunshine is finally back so I'm catching a few rays on our balcony.

The title of this post, in case you were wondering, was a passing comment from a security guard as he ran through the rain, gun on hip, umbrella in hand, looking most incongruous.

Back soon with more fun in the sunshine state!

Feels Like Rain

Hello from a cloudy and damp Florida!

We've escaped for a couple of weeks well earned rest and relaxation to lovely Treasure Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

We arrived last night into Tampa in the middle of a huge thunderstorm, making the landing just a tad bumpy. Still, we're here, safe and sound. Just been for breakfast round the corner at Foxy's where the food was lovely...

Tampa is under a flood alert until 11pm tonight so I guess we are in for more rain.  Today we're going to see the US Soccer Team play a World Cup qualifier against Antigua and Barbuda, so we're hoping the rain will hold off for that or we could be in for a soaking.

Oh, and just in case you were feeling sorry for us.....here's the view from our balcony.....

Not too shabby, even if the sun's not shining yet.