Read along, Tess of the D'ubervilles

I have read this book many times and every time I get something more from it.  My mind naturally fills in the blanks, I dont know if this is because I have seen 2 of the film adaptations, or if it is clever weaving on the behalf of the author.

Again another book of near misery, mixed with sweet hope that Angel will come back for her.

I could not have lived in the time Tess did, I would have found it very hard and the work they were expected to do would have killed me.

Alec is a master at manipulation, backed by money, this is an evil, toxic mixture.  

Will I read it again?  Yes of course.

7/10 

It's a quick read, I like that.

The next book is A Passage to India, I have already started it.  I love the discription of the stars hanging like lamps.  Its going to be a good one.

Sorry it is a short review, I am very tired.

It maybe that I just drop off the internet for a bit, as we are having a few technical hitches with getting a phone line...  Never easy is it...?

I will sign off here, with a "have a fantastic new month of September!".

I might schedule a few posts of pictures and turn comments off just to keep it ticking over.

Cheerio!, 

and I dont mean the cereal.

Jaws of death

And that is how you save a house sale from the jaws of death!

6 Days of hell, many phone calls, sitting in solicitors offices, ringing everybodies estate agent on multiple phones.  And Shazam. we are back in business.

Cornwall or bust....  hell it was nearly bust.

I am off to lay down in a dark room.  Talk among yourselves.

House sale

Our house sale has just fallen through.  Gutted, we would have been moving next month.  Back on the market it goes.  Better luck next time right!?

Flashback Tuesday

With all of the excitement of yesterday and planning Scotland touring next year.  Below are a few links to out previous times in Scotland.  Enjoy!

The High Road

The Pipes

Hogmanay

Glenfinnan Viaduct/Harry Potter

Inspiration for next year...

Road through Glen Coe

Loch Shiel, Harry Potter fans will recognise these trees.

Feeling really inspired right now and am looking forward to moving and the future.  Time moves forward, we have to plan and keep an eye on where we want to be.

Super inspiration from {Dave} and {Jules} and their trips to Aran Isles and Arran.  (Did you know arran means to start/commence in Scottish Gaelic, but to start in Cornish is dalla....  Just a bit on nonsense there for you). And then with {Yorkshire Pudding}, visiting an area I would live in if I were to move to Scotland.  Beautiful Kirkcudbright.  Every time I read that I think of {Victoria Wood and this part in Dinner Ladies}, (I am exactly like Bren by the way, Oh, shiny, look at bra, back to talking about a toaster, or was it Scotland!... ).  I pronounce it Kirk Kud Bright on purpose, to a guttural low roar of "for gods sake its, kur coo brie!!!!!!!".

We are now planning to take a long holiday in Scotland.  I am thinking, Borders to see some family and a bit more of the lowlands and then on to some Lochs and Munros in the Highlands.  Rounding it off with a bit more family time.  Then weave our way back down south, hopefully through {Coniston Lake} and {Lake Windermere}.  Its going to be a massive trek from Cornwall, we will do it in the car, we've missed out on too much before flying.  It will be at least 8 hours to the border and then add time for toilet breaks and looking at scenary and I think it will be more of an 11 hour trek, then on to family...

I feel like a pot of soup, bubbling with excitement.  I havent felt hopeful for a time now.  Its a really nice change.

Where would you go in Scotland?  Inspire me more.

Heres to a great week!  Cheers

(My Dad is slowly getting better, he is on a normal ward and we are looking forward to having him home.)

Another Great Has Gone

Bruce Forsyth, RIP

'Nice to see you, to see you nice'

Read along 2017-2018

Hello, the voting is over.  Rather than have to go over this again, I took all of the books that had 2 or 3 votes each and adding them to the ones I said I would like to read already.  This gives us 18 books, adding this to the remainder of this year, the book choices will last us till March 2019.  

Yes, I really did just type 2019!

Here is the list

October 2017 - Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca

November 2017 - The Chimes, Charles Dickens

December  2017 - Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

January 2018 - Jude The Obscure, by Thomas Hardy

February 2018 - The Old Wives Tale, by Arnold Bennett

March 2018 - 1984 George Orwell

April 2018 - Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

May 2018 - Farenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

June 2018 - The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien

July 2018 - The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver

August 2018 - A Death in the Family, by Karl Ove Knausgaard

September 2018 - Chocolat, by Joanne Harris

October 2018 - The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck

November 2018 - Catch 22, by Joseph Heller

December 2018 - The Great Santini, by Pat Conroy

January 2019 - The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

February 2019 - Animal Farm, by George Orwell

March 2019 - Anthony Trollope The Way We Live Now

This gives us all time to get the new books, hopefully cheaply.

Have a good weekend!

Voting is now open

Voting is now open in the side bar for the read along.

*Very important, please choose 8 all at once, before pressing vote.  It will not allow you to vote again.  Sorry I have no idea how to change this.*

p.s. the above book case is a house goal of mine!

Shall we vote?

Good morning!

Thank you to everyone for their book recommendations. I have marked in red the books that I would like to include, these will not be voted on.  We will be voting on the others.  We can decide if we would like to read all of them.  Or just pick 8 to make the 12 books.  this is what the list looks like.  

Jude The Obscure: Thomas Hardy

The Old Wives Tale by Arnold Bennett

Therese Raquin by Emile Zola

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Karl Ove Knausgaard A Death in the Family

Joanne Harris  Chocolat

John Steinbeck - 'The Grapes of Wrath

Joseph Heller - Catch 22

Michael Cunningham - The Hours

Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca

End of the world running club

The Great Santini by Pat Conroy

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad

Lord Jim both by Joseph Conrad 

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Becket

Animal Farm George Orwell

1984 George Orwell

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Anthony Trollope The Way We Live Now

I am going to read Freaky Green Eyes and Night by Elie Wiesel separately on my own…  Join in if you wish with those, leave me a comment and I will do a post about them once I have read them.

We also need a Christmas book to read in November finishing 21^st December, the solstice.  Recommendations for this would be good.  I am wondering if anyone is interested in The Snow Child which is  448 pages long or to go with Dickens Chimes which is 175 pages?  What are your thoughts on this?

I will make a voting button and add it to the side bar later.

Read along The Colour Purple

The Colour Purple was a good quick read.  I love how each 'chapter' was small, as they are written in letter form, either to God or to Celie's sister. Nettie.  As they were written in this way, it meant that I could read it is really short bursts, kind of like reading a blog post.  I really liked how the it flowed due to this.

A quick version of the book goes something like this...

Celie's life is hard, her mother dies when she is still young.  Her Pa, who she finds out later is not her abuses her and she is then shunned at church as she has 2 babies by him.  The father either gives the babies away or sells them to a local couple who are quite wealthy.  

A man approaches her Pa to ask if he can marry Nettie.  He puts him off her and marries Celie off to him.  Her husband already has children, so she is off to keep house for him.  Her sister Nettie is clever and Celie doesnt want her Pa to abuse her like she was so they hatch a plan for her to get away.

Without knowing Celie gets her to go and seek help from the couple that she sees in the street who are wealthy (without knowing it, these are the people that had taken her children in).  Nettie becomes a missionary with the couple and travels to Africa with them and stays there for 30 something years.  In this time Celie never hears from her.  But she writes her and God letters.

Celie's husband is actually in love with Sugar Avery and had children with her before he met Celie.  Sugar is a singer.  Celie falls in love with her, when the husband brings her home as she is very ill.  Celie nurses her and whilst she is there, the husband never beats Celie.  Sugar makes Celie believe that she is worth something.

Celie's husband, Albert, hides all the letters that Nettie has been writing to Celie, years and years worth.  Sugar and Celie, go through his things and find them.  Celie is broken by this.  After a while Celie begins to break loose and and one point tells Albert what she thinks.  Everyone is astonished that she has found her voice.  

Celie goes to live with Sugar. leaving Albert and starts a business of making trousers for everyone and anyone that wants them.    Something changes here and it is like she steps into the light and some how has some peace.  For one reason or another she starts to see Albert again and he is a changed man.  At one point he even says he would like to live like man and wife again.  Celie denies him.

Celie's Pa, marries a young girl and they live in a house built on Celie's biological fathers land and has been taking all of the money from the store as if he owned it himself.  When Pa dies, Celie finds out that the land and store along with all the buildings belong to her and Nettie.

After many years Nettie returns home and is reunited with Celie.

The end

I really liked this book.  I liked how it flowed and that it wasnt hard to read.  I didnt have to re-read anything and will definitely read it again.  Maybe even next year.  At the end of the book, I felt happy that Celie had Nettie again.  I dont think I would have liked it if it had ended with Nettie dying abroad.

8/10

Sorry it is a bit all over the place with this review.  Lifes a little busy right now.

Seperated at birth?

When I first started watching Outlander, I was sure from the voice and face that {Christopher Timothy} was the father of {Tobias Menzies}  I was obviously wrong, but I think they look and sound uncannily alike.

Christopher Timothy above

Tobias Menzies above

And I have to say, my love of {Seany Sean's} voice mixed with {Ben Fogle} the other celebrity love of mine.  If you mixed them in a jug and I think you would get something quite close to {Sam Heughan}.  I am finding the programme Outlander a compelling watch.  (although there are some scenes I have had to fast forward through as they have been a bit too violent.  You have been warned if you havent seen it before)

What are your thoughts, seperated at birth?  Are you loving Outlander?  It got violent and sexual very quick in the series.  It is a really good period drama, extremely interesting, as I was never taught about this at school, neither would it seem, that most Scots were either.  

Dare I say it, better than Poldark?  Or is it because the Mr is a Scot?

Answers on a post card please, or at the very least a little comment!

Have a good weekend.

(Read a long, The Colour Purple tomorrow)