Sanditon

Hands up if you've read Sanditon?

Seriously, I don't know anyone else who's read it and I'd love to talk book and hear opinions!  I adore Jane Austen, so when I was in Poor Richard's in Felixstowe, a couple of years ago, and found a copy of Sanditon, by Jane Austen and Another Lady, I was pretty excited.  (Jane Austen left 11 chapters written of this book before she died and no one had attempted to finish it, and actually do so, before this lady).  As Jane Austen heroines go, our main female character is Charlotte Heywood who has been invited to stay at Sanditon, a seaside town. She stays with the Parker family. As someone  interested in the early days of Seaside hollidays (first interested me when this was our topic during my year 2 placement on my PGCE.  I did lots of research), I love the fact that the setting for this story is a seaside town during the regency era.  Hearing about the different activities that people did, how they bathed, where they stayed, was for me a real joy of this book.

As with all Jane Austen, there is a romance.  It's kind of obvious from soon on who Charlotte will fall in love with but I like this.  Charlotte is well written.  She's definitely an Elizabeth Bennett-type.  She's wise and sensible but has a sense of humour.  She's loyal and thoughtful but doesn't suffer fools gladly.  Also, I really like the male hero- Sidney Parker- he's funny, witty and he's got some sort of secret up his sleeve which always makes the hero more interesting. He reminds me of Frank Churchill and Mr Tillney all in one and considering, he was only introduced in Jane Austen's final chapter before Another Lady took over, she's developed him well.  The other characters are well written and expanded upon by another lady. Two sisters who are very officious seem very much like a cross between Pride and Prejudice's Mrs Bennett and Emma's Miss Bates.  There's a ridiculous male character who is well written and reminds me of Mr Elton but in a more extreme way and in fact, there are a whole series of characters of the kind that Jane Austen likes to poke fun at who all add to make the heroine and hero more well-rounded, sensible and appealing. Mr Parker- obsessed with making Sanditon a fashionable town.Lady Denham is a suitable Lady Catherine De Bourgh type character- full of asperity and really unlikable. Miss Denham, who reminds me of the Bingley sisters. There are of course one or two non-ridiculous characters who are appealing- Clara Brereton- a more likable Jane Miss Lambe.  I like the subplots and subromances- they are really nice and the characters are all the better for them.

If you love Jane Austen, you'd probably enjoy this.  I've read a fair few Jane Austen sequels written by others, or finished novels and I dislike many for their attempting to twist your expectations (Joan Aiken, I'm looking at you!).  Well worth a read.

Image from www.foyles.com- the book can be bought second hand here

The Big Day: Part Three: Onto the mansion!

I left you in Part 2 in the vicarage garden. We bid goodbye to all those who were not coming onto our reception (it had strict rules, including no stilettos with a square heel under 1cm sq!) and drove off with CBC's old flatmate in his Mercedes in hope that our instructions would lead everyone there safely. They did, except for our lovely photographer and a few other, whose Satnavs died!).


 The place of our reception was a place long known to me and featured several times in this blog- Valentines Mansion which, if you are a Great British Bakeoff fan, was the setting for the Celebrity special series, earlier in the year.







 It is a gorgeous Georgian mansion that fulfilled all those Catherine Morland and Henry Tillney/Elizabeth and Darcy dreams. Also, it was really important for us to feel that our venue was not just a marriage machine which several others seemed. This is a place which is used by the community for and the public all the time for a variety of different uses. It was, however, a little difficult in terms of the fact that it is quite a blank canvas as you just hire the venue, the rooms and the tables and chairs and everything else is up to you! Great in some ways, but rather daunting!

However, it has an amazing series of gardens and places to explore which are very beautiful as you can see from the background of the pictures above!

We arrrived at Valentines and guests drank prosecco and us non-alkies drank rose and elderflower fizz, made by my Mum with canapes.  It was really nice being able to chat to friends as they arrived in clusters though I did keep looking around for where our lovely, lost Photographer was.

Eventually, she found her way which we were relieved and thankful for.  How horrid it is to be lost in an unfamiliar place.  The family went off for some photos, though very few and CBC and I did a few and then we joined the guests for dinner.

Valentines is a little quirky and very Regency in that our guests had to be divided into different rooms:  The Holcombe room with wide fire place which led onto the veranda was a very grand affair for 10 friends, the bird room, quirkily holds cabinets, once full of stuffed birds, now full of origami creations, and held 12 fields. The gallery held 28 friends and various contemporary art paintings (and the evening entertainment) and finally the Drawing Room upstairs held the remaining 50 people, including us!

 Dinner and decorations: Long before the wedding, I had spent many many evenings using a butterfly craft punch to cut literally thousands of turquoise and music score paper butterflies.  Believe it or not, one very clever guest guessed the composer (Gustav Mahler, in case you're wondering) from the butterflies on his table!).  These were scattered all over the tables like confetti and also my little sister (the blonde bridesmaid) made all our name cards with some of the music butterflies and smaller vellum ones she punched.

 
Flowers: All my dear blogging friends were party to the disaster of the late-blooming wildflowers and so plan B was to buy plants for the tables but this also went awry as those available at the time were awful and motheaten and quite simply not worth the money so instead, the morning of the day before, a friend and I simply went to Tescos and bought bunches of flowers in shades of red, orange, yellow and white and I issued a general plea for vases as well as locating about 10 in charity shops that day!  My mother spent a while arranging them the night before and please tell her they look pretty,because she thought she did them badly which I firmly refute! (please ignore the doll below which made it into all the cake shots!)

 

Our caterers provided a delicious 3 course meal which I believe everyone enjoyed- I certainly did!

The speeches were after dinner which were lovely on behalf of all three parties- my Dad gave a nice speech, which only mentioned my aged 3-year  obsession with toilets once, CBC's speech was generous and kind to all the many people we had to thank and lovely towards me, citing the magic of music camps and rabbits which were integral into our getting together and his Best-man's speech was quite frankly, the nicest and most tame Best-Man's speech I have ever heard and only involved a few embarassments for CBC which I, of course, wont mention here, *Cough Cough,missing planes*!


 Treasure Hunt:  Right after dinner, our venue hosts needed to clear the tables for the evening reception so we had planned a Treasure Hunt to ensure that everyone enjoyed and got to see the wonderful and extensive grounds of the Mansion.  .
Each team received a map of Valentines, a list of clues and the treasure hunt leader (our furtherest travelled guest- from China!!!!) showed them a hyena to kick off the first clue (Answer to the hyena was a Haha!)
 The treasure hunt was that little bit too hard and cryptic and What we DID not bargain for was how highly competitive the teams became and how they doggedly refused to give up the chase.   We divided them into 3 teams- Owls, Pigeons and Rabbits and they each had to find the letters hidden in the Valentines gardens and features by solving cryptic clues. Each had their own treasure, wrapped up and hidden in the anagram location, within the mansion.  We were very lucky, having laid them the night before (CBC and treasure leader were gallavanting round the park at 9.30pm!!!!) that the public did not choose to take them, especially as some of them were hidden in the Kitchen Garden which also houses the cafe!
Our entertainment for the guests also included some outdoor games which we had purchased:

Archery:
 


Croquet: which, like the treasure hunt, also got a little too competitive!!!
 
Rather later than planned, was the cutting of the cakeS!!!

The first cake was a French patisserie cake which was a lovely custard, strawberry and summer fruits light sponge with chocolate curls which came from our favourite family-run business, Le Moulin in Hornchurch.  It was covered in fruit, including Physalis (and sadly,  I didn't get to eat any!)


The second was rather lovingly created by my Mother,who makes amazing cakes. She spent months on this fruit cake, handcrafting over 600 flowers so I could have my wildflower meadow in cake form, if not in real flower form.
 C 

It was so exquisitely made and so personal and unique and we loved it!  She even had special Swarovksy letters made for the top.

I was just so sad that she had, by this time, gone home sick, as she felt really ill and didn't get into enjoy her moment of glory.

Right after our photos and cutting of the cake, I went off to the Regency Parlour to change into my evening outfit as there was no way I would be able to swing dance in a long dress.


My dress of choice was a Vivien of Holloway white satin dress with turquoise stars which I teamed with a turquoise sequinned belt of old and a pair of flat canvas shoes from Shoe Zone (glam aren't I?!)  and the obligatory swishy petticoat I already owned!
 Our first dance, which you must have seen in my wedding day video was a lindyhop routine to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,  which we had SUCH fun learning and dancing to! 
Straight after our routine, the Cunning Plan Ceilidh band kicked off with our fun ceilidh with the absolute sweetest caller!
 A constant stream of people danced all evening and the band were so kind to stick around so late as we actually started the ceildih 2 hours late after delays over speeches, cake cutting and having to do the photos at that late time!

 
One particularly special thing for us was that they agreed to play and teach Childgrove, the dance that my ultimate favourite heroine and hero- Catherine Morland and Henry Tillney first dance together in Northanger Abbey, the TV series.

 

Whilst all this was going on, other things were afoot.  Food upstairs in the drawing room, sweetie buffet in the Holcombe room and my favourite part of the entertainment.

You have long known of my hat obsession and extensive collection.

I decided that though I couldn't afford a hired PhotoBooth, what I could do was to bring my own camera and tripod and most of my hat collection.

These, I set out onto a table at some stage after the meal including the Mansion's own hat stand along with other props.  This proved to be the hit of the evening with a constant stream of people trying the hats on, taking photos and generally having a laugh!

Ha ha, photobombed!!!

I think I got them all back!!!


After the Ceilidh finished, a set of 90's disco music rounded things off.  It then remained my duty as the hirer of the venue, to try and clear it up in the space of an hour which was a little stressful considering the amount of things to clear, the amount of helpers and the amount of headache!  However, we achieved this and finally CBC, myself and family were able to set off to at last get some sleep.

We had a wonderful time at the Reception as did our guests and the only thing I would do again is to try and organise more help and a better system of clearing up at the end!
 

I will probably round off these posts with a few more things I wanted to write or include, but I fear this will never get published if I don't hit the Button now!


Photos Copyright of Karen O'Reilly at www.kaphoto.co.uk

Slow awakening of a Jane Austen addict!

CBC has a variety of photos of me posing by historical four-poster beds just waking up!  Somehow, I can't resist the pose! The little girl in me still longs to have a four-poster bed as my own!


We went to a wedding fair on Sunday at our favourite Georgian mansion! It was SUCH a beautiful place to be on a sunny day!  I remembered just how beautiful it is and how lucky I am to be able to come here for free and enjoy it!

There are a set of beautiful gardens with sundial, cosy benches for trysts.  The gardener's cottage cafe is beautiful with a thriving  vegetable garden during the coming months.  In the summer, one of the gardens is heady with lavender everywhere.  I hope it's blooming during our wedding!


I mentioned we went to Braintree freeport at the weekend.   I also bought this top and trousers from the Next clearance.  The sum total of both items was £11.  The trousers are fabulous- they have tiny polka dots on them.  I think I love the top because of the neck-detail.  It has that sailor vibe to it that I adore, as do the trousers!  The hat was a charity-shop purchase a little while ago which I adore! I've worn it loads!



One of my favourite parts of the mansion is this gorgeous stained glass window- it is so vivid and beautiful and is the part I always remember drawing when I sketched the mansion as a 16-year old!


It was CBC's birthday and we had a fantastic evening of swing-dancing!!!!! I cannot express how much I adore swing dance!  I'm off to Brighton this weekend to spend a day learning lindy-hop! Hope I can learn some new moves well!  The question is: WHAT to wear to the social dance on the Saturday night!?

Tis a truth universally acknowledged

That a teacher in possession of a good costume, must be in want of an occasion to wear it!



For comic relief, our school dressed as heroes and people they look up to!  I was at a stumbling block until a chance comment from a year 6 child.
"Miss, can be dress up as an author I admire?"

Child was left unanswered as I suddenly thought of my Elizabeth Bennett/Catherine Morland costumes!
I decided it could also be Jane Austen who I admire!

I wore my Elizabeth dress as opposed to my Catherine dress and substituted my usual white ballet pumps for brown ankle boots. The effect was apparently obvious as my deputy head said I looked like Elizabeth Bennett when her pettticoat is "6 inches coated in mud!"

We had lots of fun at school!
Tonight I am off swing dancing with about 15-16 friends to celebrate my birthday!
Enjoy your weekend!xxx

Rude awakenings of a Jane Austen addict

43.  Laura Viera Rigler Rude awakening of a Jane Austen addict
I am a sucker for anything regency!  However, I really pleased to read the sequel to Confessions of a Jane Austen addict.  I think the thing I liked about this book was the fact that it has one of those premises (Like Narnia) of something totally expected happening to you. Something that's not likely to happen in real life- but it would be nice to dream! In this book, a young lady, one Jane Mansfield ends up having swapped bodies with a modern-day Austen addict, Courtney Stone, whose life is in a mess.
Hilarious, imagining what someone from the time of Ms Austen would make of all our modern technology and ways of life, especially in New York! The way Jane Mansfield reacts to all the thingsand people she comes across, doesn't fail to amuse all the way through. Things such as TV, music, driving and clothing! There is a romantic subplot which is pleasing but ever so slightly wrong, since it involves Jane as someone else!  The ending to me seemed to have some discrepancy with the ending of the previous book.
Also, the thing that irritates me about this book which irritated me about the prequel, is that you never get to know WHY it happens and HOW!  And it ends slightly unresolved. Both things that I dislike about books!  I know that it doesn't matter about knowing, but even if it doesn't seem real, I'd like an explanation!   It's been a while since I've done one of these. This is because my current read is 675 pages long in tiny print, large page format!  It's going to be a while! Would you, have you read this book?

Raiding the shelves

 For some reason I seem to be in the mood of easy-read chicklit!  It seems my mind cannot cope with much, I have restarted 'Out of Africa' about 3 times now!  I've read some great books appropriate to the terrible shopoholics that we bloggers are (no denying it- it's true!!!).  So part of your 'acceptance of your shopping-habit' shall be reading these books!  (Hee hee!)

23.  Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic abroad
As soon as I started reading this, I remembered that this was the book I had read before, some years ago!  It continues the story begun in the previous book I reviewed.  At the end of this, Becky Bloomwood had somehow avoided bankrupcy by landing a TV job reporting on financial matters.  She also got together with the delightful Luke, a PR director. In this book, Becky starts off well but when she and Luke head off to New York, things spiral out of control again.  A shopaholic in New York city is not a good combination and Gugenheim shop and sample sales begin to send her over the edge whilst someone is attempting a coup on Luke's company.  It all seems doomed to end in tears and chaos!  Like the previous book, I found myself wanting to shake Becky and say, "Stop shopping, for goodness sake!" (apparently, Sophie Kinsella intended this series to act as a cautionary tale and they certainly do that!).  Becky is incredibly lucky to get all her mess sorted out, I have to say!  I did feel I was living vicariously through her as I read though! A good read, one for the beach.  Again, I read this in an afternoon.

24.  Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic ties the knot!
The interesting thing about the sequel, in which Becky prepares for her wedding is not that she has a shopping problem but the underlying problem that leads her to get into trouble financially, she just can't fess up and tell someone when she's messed up! In this book, Becky meets her mother-in-law-from-hell, the mother who left Luke when he was young.  She is a society lady in New York who doesn't seem to like Becky but is all set to steamroller the wedding and have a huge fairytale affair in the Plaza New York! The trouble is, Becky's Mum is also planning a wedding back home in England.  Becky struggles to tell the truth to either party OR Luke and I confess, I couldn't see how she was going to sort this, especially when she discovers the Controlling NY Wedding-planner has a clause in the wedding contract that means she will be sued for $100,000 dollar if she pulls out of the wedding!  It was amazing to think about just how much one of those big society weddings cost and 'how the other side live'.  I did get this sense of how much money is wasted in such big affairs and again, I think this tale teaches us something! You can't help but like Becky though!

25.  Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic and sister
I did see myself in the beginning of this book as Luke and Becky are finishing up their 1 year honeymoon travelling around the world as Becky was shipping items she'd bought from each destination home!  I remember coming back from Bali, laden with suitcases and having shipped some stuff back and how hard it was to find somewhere to put the wretched stuff! (I came back with some 50 Balinese books amongst other things!).  The hilarious moment in the book was when they were home and 2 lorries rocked up with all her purchases from various countries including a whole Balinese gamelan!  (I only bought back 2 instruments, not an entire orchestra!).  Anyway, the main tennet of this book is that Becky has to get used to married life and trying to curb her spending whilst trying to bond with the sister she never knew she had.  The sister, who is a skinflint, who is able to count where every penny goes!  Somehow Becky also gets involved with a gangster who helps her when she sees a MUST HAVE bag which there are 100 people in a waiting list for! Great fun, though still of the same ilk, just with a different dimension!

26.  Kate Mosse The winter ghosts
J, CBC's Mum bought this for me in my stocking this previous Christmas and it sounded so intriguing!  The description and emotion in this book is really interesting. It is told from the point of view of a young man who has been tortured by the memory of his brother's death in WW1, who has not been able to forgive himself for HIM being the one who lived.  He breaks down in his car outside Nulle, a Pyrenese (I really cannot spell this today  or be bothered to look up the spelling on Google!) and some mysterious whispers greet him as he heads towards the village.  It is the evening of a special festival and he is invited by the landlady to come and join them.  When he gets there, most people seem to be ignoring him apart from a beautiful young woman who he feels instantly drawn towards, knowing he loves her from the start.  As chaos seems to break out of the party and soldiers appear to raid it, she leads him through a secret passage where she tells them what happened when the soldiers came before.  She tells of an exodus to the caves to flee the soldiers previously and then she leaves him.  It is only when he finds himself back in the Inn, that he realises he must find her.  But, what he finds instead is a devastating tragedy that has not been uncovered from over 700 years ago.  This book, which uses the premise and idea of some real and devastating events is both beautiful, awful and has a lasting impact.  It is full of deep emotion, regrets, and a longing for love.  The setting description is evocative and there is an uneasy sense of suspense throughout the book so when the final denouement is revealed, it is totally shocking! I STRONGLY recommend this!  The historical aspect is brilliant. 

27.  Helen Fielding Bridget Jones's diary
Oh how many times have I read this one?!!!  But somehow, I felt like I just wanted something familiar to read! I love the modern-day Pride and prejudice plot of this book.  It makes me laugh so much, it's all the silly images, such as the 'stumbling round the changing rooms of Miss Selfridge with the dress stuck over my head, rippling stomach on show', because I have had that experience and the comic phrasing is just brilliant and makes me think, "Yes, I have seen that/done that/made a fool of myself like that!".

28.  Lauren Ann- Riegler Confessions of a Jane Austen heroine.
I thought I'd ordered the sequel to this book from an Amazon seller entitled Rude awakening of a Jane Austen heroine, but this appeared in the post.  I assumed it was my mistake and just though I had better keep it.  It was only after I received an e-mail from Amazon asking me to review my purchase which listed the book I THOUGHT I'd ordered  that made me realise THEY were in the wrong!  Damn, it has got a bit bent in my bag so I can't really send it back so I decided to read it again.
Courtney Stone is a young lady who has been devastated by the betrayal of her fiance Frank and her good friend Wes, who has appeared to lie for Frank and collude with him.  She never wants to see Wes again.  But straight at the start of the book, she finds herself in the body of a young lady from regency times called Jane Mansfield.  Like Elizabeth Bennett, she has a horrid, ambitious, sharp-tongued mother, a lovely but ineffective father.  Not knowing how she has got there, she has to try and fit into the life.   She has to tread carefully, not knowing details of Jane's life, particularly what a certain handsome Charles Edgeworth, who makes her heart flutter, has done to incur her censure and turn her from someone 'so dear' to a stranger.  I love this book as it reminds me of 'Lost in Austen' the TV series which was so much fun! I like the way she sees the less sanitary side of Regency life which I, as a Jane fan, don't often think about and view it with rose-tinted glasses.  It is witty, funny and intriguing.  I like the mystery, the humour and all the details.  The only thing I do dislike, is not knowing WHY it happens to her!  This was my frustration with 'Lost', 'The prisoner' and other series' and books such as 'A series of unfortunate events' (most frustrating series ever- I read 13 books and STILL didn't get all the answers!)- I want to know WHY people end up having these strange experiences

29.  Craig Cabell The Doctor Who's who
This book was a gorgeous gift from the lovely Millie at New World as part of my Christmas Faith, hope and charity swap.  It looked a great book but I didn't realise just how fab until I started reading it a couple of weeks ago.  For someone like me, who isn't particularly fond of non-fiction, it was brilliant.  I haven't read that many biographies and I find them long and dull.  This book gave a short biography of the lives and working lives of ALL the actors who have played the Doctor, including the film and theatre doctors. There is enough to intrigue, interest and delight me, but not too much to make me bored!  What he has chosen to say is both interesting and insightful.  It's interesting to see how the character approached the role of the Doctor, how they came to take it, what had come before in terms of work and what they went on to do.  I learnt some real gems about the actors' lives, including Peter Davidson's real name- Peter Moffett- which explains why the Doctor's daughter was called Georgina Moffett! He is a little biased in his opinions, and the conclusion is a bit abrupt but the biographical details were fascinating!  If you love Doctor Who (and I do!!!!!!), this is wonderful but it would stil be interesting to someone with a mild interest. It's funny, but even though I generally detest non-fiction, I am totally happy reading umpteen non-fiction books about Doctor Who, there's always something new to learn!  I like the fact this bound together both new and old Doctor Who as it includes right up to Matt Smith.

Heartfelt and humbling. And Jane Austen

Thank you for your concerns and sweet comments- I'm still not feeling great- continual heartburn, stomach ache, nausea and trapped wind  that comes in waves but I feel better with the kind concern of all of you!

 I've had this post half written for ages, but I thought I'd finish it off.
50. Don Richardson Lords of the Earth:

Surprisingly, I haven't read that many books about missionaries in other countries, only home evangelists but before you think, yuck, missionary books, this is an EXTRAORDINARY book- biographically, it tells of how the Yali, cannibals, living a life of fear of death came to know Jesus. The story tells of how missionary Stan Dale and others brought the gospel to Irian Jaya (the Indonesian part of Papua New Guinea). The story begins with heart-wrenching accounts of how a child and members of a family were slaughtered because they dared to accidently tread in a sacred area. Women of the Yali were hated and suicide rates were very high. The whole of these tribes in the Snow Mountains lived a hard existance. The account moves to the early life of Stan Dale in Australia. A boy of diminutive height, bullied at school and by his father, he found faith in God through the chance hearing of Rudyard Kipling's poem "If.". The account tells of the trials and tribulations of sharing the gospel in such a culture. When I think of how much the missionaries went through, down to giving their life for the gospel, it makes me ashamed of my petty little grievances that I face in my life, when others surrender their all for the sake of the Good News.

51. Pamela Aidan Duty and Desire: The Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman trilogy, part 2

Witch craft in Jane Austen's story? NEVER!   But I kid you not!  In a bid to escape his feelings for Miss Elizabeth Bennett, Darcy decides to attend an old university fellow's house party.  However, strange things are afoot there- there seems to be some sinister, inexplicable events going on that hint at witchcraft.  Darcy is seeking a wife but as he finds himself drawn towards a Lady, it is only his feelings for Elizabeth that save him from utter devastation!

This book was utterly captivating and full of great suspense!

52. These three remain - Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman trilogy

Reeling from the events from the previous book, Darcy finds himself, just as he has decided to forget Elizabeth, thrown back into her path at Rosings where he proposes.  This book is really interesting as it helps to gain an idea of how Darcy changes into the person that Elizabeth meets at Pemberley and shows how he managed to find that scoundrel Wickham!  I found myself willing Darcy to gain Elizabeth's hand.  This book was lovely and I thoroughly recommend it!

Would you read any of these books? 

Oh and my giveaway closes in 2 days so go and get commenting if you haven't already in order to win! Go here to enter!

2 Regents and a cat fest!

43. Sue Finden Casper- the travelling cat

I feel rather guilty about how I own this book. Well, we have a family friend and 2 years ago, she left a Christmas present at my house for me to give to my Grandad. Aforementioned friend, has a key to our house and lets herself in if we're not there if she wants to leave something for us. A year passed and somehow it was still at my house. Friend let herself in to leave Christmas presents for us and er-noticed it was still there.

It wasn't until I opened my Christmas presents from her that year, reading the tag saying, "You seemed too fond of this to give it to your Grandad so I thought you should keep it" that I realised she had found-out my forgetfulness- oops! What MUST she have thought of me!

This is a wonderfully heart-felt book. You sense just how much Sue loves her cat. It mainly tells the tale of how she received Casper, a strongly individual cat who liked to go a-wandering. This cat became a world-wide celebrity when it transpired that he travelled on a First bus in Plymouth for several years. The cat seemed to touch the hearts of everyone he ever met, including people in a Doctor's surgery. The book doesn't have a happy ending as people who live in an urban area with cats might guess but it is a wonderful tale- I strongly recommend you reading it! 44. Pamela Aidan An assembly such as this. The Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman trilogy part 1.

Oh dear, my penchant for Jane Austen spinoffs shows no sign of abating. I picked this up in a Hexham Charity shop. Out of all the Pride and prejudice spin-offs, this is by far the best I have read, particularly from the perspective of Mr Darcy. It is faithful to the original but with originality and sensitivity. You feel a lot more benevolent towards the early Mr Darcy as he seems an insensitive fool at the beginning of Ms Austen's original- one can understand why he acts the way he does in this. Read it, you wont be disappointed! And the best thing about it is it is a 3 part trilogy so I have 2 more parts to read- Amazon here I come!!!

45. Georgette Heyer These old shades

Another charity shop bargain, I am always delighted to find any offerings from Georgette Heyer. She is such a marvellous story-teller. I did wonder if any book could match up to the previous one I read which I loved. The heroine in this is a 19 year old French girl called Leonie who begins the book as an immature French page boy. He is strongly willful and quickly wins over the affection of the main male character, Justin, Duke of Avon who is known as 'Satan' in society due to his mercenary ways and lack of morals. It is an interesting tale as the pair of them are tamed by each other. There is excitement aplenty with an abduction by the villain of the story, a debut-ball, chases, journeys to the countryside, a shooting and a dramatic suicide! Once again, this wonderful author surprised me with her ingenuity and beguiling main characters I grow to love.

Have you read any of these? Would you?

Thanks to www.amazon.co.uk me old hearties- thank you for the images. (I just received 6 things through the post from Amazon I ordered last week- eek! But it was SO nice coming home to a different parcel each day! More Jane Austen!)

Austen entertainments and cloud manuals!

16. Joan Aiken The Youngest Miss Ward
If you love Jane Austen and all things Regency, then have a look at this book. I've read several of hers and enjoyed them. The historical details are great and I love the fact that she uses links to Jane Austen characters but ones we don't know that much about so she doesn't ruin them for us. This one didn't disappoint. There was a beguiling main character, Hatty Ward, who is the youngest sister of Lady Bertram (the languid mother in Mansfield park). She is mentioned in a derogatory manner once by Mrs Norris apparently in the original. She faces adversity, difficulties and being misunderstood much like Fanny in MP but like Fanny, is loved by those she loves. Hatty somehow falls in love it seems with a man, who is a family friend, a lot older than her. You yearn for him to declare his love and as it gets towards the end of the book, you are sure that they will end up together. However, and this is my one annoyance about the book, she DOESN'T end up with the guy you think she's going to, the one it seems certain that she MUST marry! And I dislike this! I've built my hopes on this finish to the book and to be thus denied at the end, was most vexing! It made me remember that Joan Aiken has done this in at least 2 other of her Jane Austen entertainments and it annoys me!!! I want the fairy tale!!! Hatty IS happy with her choice in the book as it seems she has loved this person in some way though not realising it (as in the others I've read) but I'm not!

I STILL recommend the book despite the annoyance! It is beautifully written in all other ways, I'm just a grump when a book doesn't turn out towards my predictions/hopes!

17. Gavin Pretor-Pinney The cloud collector's handbook.
I read this whilst in Northumberland in around an hour or so! This is a beautiful little book which teaches you in its c.100 pages, about the different types of cloud there are and how you can 'collect' them! I found myself (and have subsquently found) constantly looking at the sky for examples, living in hope of seeing an elusive, RARE, high point cloud! The photographs are beautiful and the information very helpful, user-friendly, not too technical and great for novices! It's also got some witty writing that made me smile! I love the idea of having this little book in my handbag to refer to (it's not mine, I just borrowed it for a look). I love the fact that there are sooo many cloud types! I told one of the year 6 boys about clouds this afternoon, pointing out some kinds of cirrus clouds (the highest part of the sky- wispy)! I recommend this cute little book!
WOMOTM (CBC's lovely dad) sent me some great information and pictures about clouds, so I have my own handy guide to them now!

Thanks to http://www.amazon.co.uk/ and http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/ for bookimages!!! You can buy them from there!

I always knew it was true!!!!

Take the Quiz here!

I went to see Chalet Girl on Saturday (in the middle of the blazing hot sun! Whyyyy????) mainly because of my admiration of Felicity Jones (See above!!! My favourite heroine is Catherine Morland who she played in Northanger Abbey so I am especially pleased that I came out in this quiz as her! FYI, I am watching it right now!!!!!!!!!).

CBC was a little sceptical about it, thinking it seemed a bit of a cliqued rom com. Felicity Jones was on top form as ever, although I think I prefer her with an upper class accent rather than Essex sarcasm which could've been a bit annoying if it were anyone else. She was a sweet heroine and I enjoyed some of the beautiful snowy views in the film and the snow boarding was very exciting. I thought the development between her and her love interest (the son of the Chalet's owner) was a bit sudden and a bit unrealistic and he wasn't really my idea of a hero (I much prefer JJ Feild as Mr Tillney). I also thought he was a bit of a wuss and a cad for his dumping of his fiance and a coward for getting to that place in the first place. Bill Nighy was great as the chalet owner, if a little underused. Bill Bailey was fairly insipid as Kim (Felicity Jones's) father. I quite liked all the Jack Wills clothing that most of the other cast members were wearing. On the whole, it wasn't the most exciting movie ever but it was an entertaining diversion.