Friday Offering

I have decided that once a week I will post a little piece of literature on my blog, something that I have enjoyed in the week. I really loved poetry when I did my English degree so I am trying to get back into it again; Christina Rossetti is one of my favourites so here you are:

Remember

Remember me when I am gone away,

Gone far away into the silent land:

When you can no more hold me by the hand.

Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more day by day

You tell me of our future that you plann'd:

Only remember me; you understand

It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for a while

And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

For if the darkness and corruption leave

A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile

Than that you should remember and be sad.

Scary Times

I decided yesterday that I would buy an audio book for those times when it is not always possible to have a book in front of you but you wouldn't mind listening to one- times like ironing and washing up- these activities require some kind of entertainment to make them bearable! So I had a look on itunes and came across The Woman in Black by Susan Hill- I have heard about this book before and also it's success as a West End show. I am a little bit anxious about listening to it though as all of the reviews I read suggested sleepless nights and terror! I do really love ghost stories though and this one seems to have all the right ingredients so we shall see!

Restoring Grace by Katie Fforde

I really enjoyed this book, it's Chick Lit but it is definitely the best Chick Lit that I have recently read. I regret to say that I had not really taken any notice of Katie Fforde but I swapped this with someone and I'm really pleased and excited as she has written loads of books which I will of course have to catch up on.

The book follows Grace Soudley and Ellie Summers as theyboth try to get their lives back on track. Grace has recently divorced the over-bearing Edward and has been left Luckenham House by her Aunt but the house seems to be falling down around her and Grace is short of cash. Ellie, newly single and pregnant is taken in by Grace and the two women embark on a friendship that they both quite clearly needed.

Thrown into this mixture are Flynn Cormack- the gorgeous Irish Man determined to help Grace; Demi- Grace's ex-step-daughter who is looking for a home and a maternal figure; and Allegra and Nicholas- Grace's greedy siblings who put the pressure on her to sell Luckenham and share the money.

Grace's discovery of some beautiful and very old painted panels at the house is the catalyst that she and Ellie need to sort their lives out. As they try and find out if these panels are going to be their saviour or their final undoing, both women find the help that they have been looking for and a way to be truly happy again.

Katie Fforde has created really lovely and believable characters, you really do want Grace and Ellie to be happy by the end of the book. Parts of it are very predictable which I usually find annoying but in this instance I was pleased that my predictions were right and events unfolded as expected.

I'm not really sure what I am going to read next, we had a lovely Easter weekend away and this book was perfect for it. I think it will have to be one of the books from my TBR Challenge list or I am going to fall behind, I shall have to have a think!

3 Days to go!!!!!!

I have only got three days to go until I can eat chocolate which I regrettably gave up for Lent. I say regrettably because the idea of giving it up was that I ate far too much of it so I thought that a 40 day break would do me good but I have found a surpising amount of non-chocolate substitutes to fill the past 40 days so have kind of defeated the object!

We are going away for the weekend to stay in a lovely barn in the Peak District; the converted kind of barn not the barn that animals sleep in kind. I have already planned the many different ways that chocolate will be featuring during our mini-holiday and will be doing lots of baking tomorrow- this will be a true test- making chocolate cakes without licking the bowl afterwards!!

Facing the Light by Adele Geras

I loved this book, I think it is my favourite of the year so far! I love books set in country houses with eccentric families and mysteries and long-kept secrets; this book has all of that.

Facing the Light centres round the Walsh family with Leonora as the matriarch; the extended family are coming together for the weekend to celebrate the milestone of her 75th Birthday. Leonora is the daughter of Ethan Walsh the celebrated artist whose work hangs throughout Willow Court. She has two daughters, Gwen and Rilla; their children then make up the extended family circle.

Leonora's childhood was blighted by the death of her mother as Rilla's life has been overshadowed by the death of her young son at Willow Court. Throughout the book secrets and mysteries are unravelled and characters perceptions of their family members are greatly challenged. Adele Geras has created a family of very different and eccentric characters who are all entirely believeable but not all necessarily likeable.

It is difficult to review this book without giving too much away but I can say that I really enjoyed reading it; there are many twists and turns along the way and there were times when I really did not want to put it down.

Then we Came to the End by Joshua Ferris

Well I finished this book this morning and I really cannot decide whether I liked it or not. The book is set in a failing Chicago advertising agency which is what mainly drew me to the book as up until six months ago I was working in a failing advertising department for a newspaper so I suppose I may have been looking for a little bit of nostalgia.

The characters are the driving force of Ferris' work as until the end not much happens. The characters are fantastic though, you have Marcia Dwyer who has hair from the 80's; Tom Mota who does not leave when sacked; Larry and Amber having an affair; Lynn Mason dying from Cancer and Joe Pope who nobody really knows anything about.

Ferris has captured perfectly office life and the inevitable office politics that comes with it. As I was reading I could identify with so much of it; the meetings about meetings, the pointless e mails; being territorial about your stationary and working alongside people all day but not really knowing them. The events that do happen in the book are gradually built up and serve different purposes. How people behave at work is often a result of what is happening in their personal lives but often at work we do not take the time to find out what your colleague does when they leave the office at night. Ferris also explores through the character of Lynn Mason the fine line between colleague and friend. When her employees find out that she is ill they struggle to decide what to do; should they just ignore that they know or can they rally round and show their support?

I think that Joshua Ferris' book will have anyone that has ever worked in an office nodding in agreement as they read and identifying with the mundanity of work. However for anyone that has luckily not had an office job I am really not sure if they would get it but maybe that's the author's point?

Happy World Book Day!

Happy World Book Day Everyone!!

When I was younger we had to dress up as our favourite fictional character on this day and my school would hold a competition for the best costume. However now being 25 and working from home- dressing up probably isn't appropriate!