World Book Day outfit 2020

Hello there!
I knew what I wanted to wear or make for World Book Day this year quite a long time ago.
Char shared this post of her amazing felt parrot costume

Amazing costume made by Char!
http://www.trexesandtiaras.com/2019/08/diy-parrot-costume.html

and I decided, since I had a large piece of red felt and lots of smaller sheets of reds, oranges and yellows, that I wanted to dress up as a Phoenix or the Firebird.  Phoenixes feature in several books - E Nesbit's Phoenix and the Carpet, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix amongst others.  This is an idea, I've shared on my World Book day post because I was dressed as the Firebird at my music camp for a silly challenge some 12 years ago or so where we were the Order of the Firebird in the year it came out.

However, the reality of the situation was...
1. I'm really not good at sewing.
2. I don't have a sewing machine.
3.  I left it to the last minute
4.  I can't find the large piece of felt that was supposed to be my base.

So... on Friday last week, I decided to think of another way of making this costume.

It involved
1.  Cycling home with an absolutely enormous cardboard box, flattened and stuffed in my Brompton pannier.
2.  Taking, with permission, lots of offcuts of orange, yellow, red paper from school that are put on a shelf in case they fill in a gap.

And here's my costume:

 Let me talk about what I did.
I had a look at some links on the internet after searching for 'cardboard bird costume' for inspiration (this one https://www.curbly.com/17490-colorful-cardboard-bird-costume-diy-for-halloween was quite good)

Next, I got CBC to measure my arms against my cardboard box and he then drew me a curved wing shape which I cut out twice.
I then made myself a curved feather shape template out of a cardboard scrap and proceeded to cut my 3 coloured papers into strips the length of the feather shape. I then piled 5-6 strips on top of each other and cut around the template- this meant it was much quicker than having to cut each one separately (and didn't bother drawing around it)
After they were all cut, I then started from the bottom of a wing and stuck feathers in rows on top of each other.  The process was repeated on the other wing. I just used Pritt Stick which meant the feathers stuck nice and flat.
It was very, very late on Sunday night by the time I finished that part so I didn't manage to do anything about how to attach them to me.

The next part of my costume took place on Tuesday evening on the train home from my orchestra in London (I say my orchestra- I've been playing with 4 orchestras recently but this is my most regular orchestra).

I was quite pleased to discover a red velvet fascinator base in my craft stash that I'd ordered ages ago (I mean at least 10 years) and forgot I had.  I then cut a beak shape out of orange felt and then some feather shapes from the other colours. I sewed these on and then I sewed three pieces of of thin elastic onto it to make it like a headband.  Don't look too closely as the thread got a massive knot in it and I never got around to trying to do something about it.  I didn't want to make a mask as I really dislike masks!

Very late on Wednesday night (as in 1.45am) after I'd returned from taking my school choir to the Royal Albert Hall and the train I was waiting for at 11.30am had broken down.... I searched for the orange and yellow clothes I could combine.  It's a pretty motley collection.

I DID buy a pair of orange trousers from the charity shop on Saturday for the costume but everything else - yellow blouse, red skirt, red leg warmers, red boots, red scarf -  were in my wardrobe already.

I took the orange cord from my Corduroy dress to school and then attached a bunch of yellow chiffon scarves (I use them with year 1 & Reception for dancing in music) to my waist so they hung like a tail.  I also remembered a pair of red crepe home-made pom poms from the Royal Albert Hall festival 6 years ago, which I'd saved and attached those with string to my shoulders.

The final, frustrating part was trying to attach the wings. I cut some cardboard strips and attached them with parcel tape and staples to the back (along with orange paper to cover the underside) but they KEPT falling off.  Suffice to say, I wore the wings for a very short amount of time as they were incredibly impractical and I couldn't teach year 1 music with them on!  Ah well!

A small note on Sustainability.  I think it is a great shame that there are SO many 'ready-made' costumes in horrid synthetic fabrics that get bought and wish people could/would have a go at making something.  A cardboard box can be made into MANY different costume ideas! It doesn't have to cost much, if anything!  This blog tutorial uses all old boxes to make a bird costume.

Our SMT team all made themselves Mr Men and Little Miss costumes out of cardboard boxes, coloured paper and paint and very good they looked too!

I LOVE the excitement of World Book Day and I really like dressing up but I DO get the stress of getting together a costume for parents but actually I do think it is really fun to try and make or cobble something together from what you've got or something from the Jumble sale/Boot sale or charity shop, not to go and buy something ready made (which I have never done!) .  Mags writes about it here and linked to this excellent article about it here on the Curiosity Approach.

It should be ABOUT the books, not JUST about the dressing up but I DO love the dressing up. My school likes to dress up but we do book activities during the day.  In Singing Assembly, I usually try to do a book themed song. This time, I ended up continuing with the Women's week theme and finishing teaching the song I'd written for them about Emmeline Pankhurst, Rosa Parks, Rosalind Franklin and Marie Curie. I did, however, point them in the direction of a very good children's book about inspirational women.

I decided this year to construct some small costumes from cardboard so I can offer those to children who aren't able to dress up. In one year 2 class, my colleague used a piece of red paper to make a 'The day the crayons quit' costume for a child who had no costume- she made a red cone for his head and a sign to pin to his jumper which was red and said RED in black letters.

Another colleague made a wonderful costume which was a GOLDEN ticket from Willy Wonka.  She got a golden yellow pillow case and carefully drew a Golden Ticket illustration on it in black pen (she has beautiful writing) and she wore her golden highlighter make-up on her face.

I loved one girl's costume which was a cardboard box covered in white paper - she was a card from Alice in Wonderland.

Another little girl had a very special costume as her uncle was the illustrator of a picture book and she had dressed up as the little girl in the story and looked exactly the same!!! I was so excited when she showed me her book!

Here's my little niece who dressed up as Bob, a Street Cat.  She's wearing a costume of mine from when I was a child!  My sister always makes her costumes or reuses our own carefully kept dancing costumes. 

I'd quite like to copy Bronte's costume here below- I have bear ears, a red hat wellies AND a duffle coat so I am tempted to use this as my inspiration next year!

View this post on Instagram

Apparently it was world book day yesterday and although a day late, I’d like to appreciate some characters that I not only love but have become some of my cosplay favoured #worldbookday #animatedcreature

A post shared by Bronte (@little_w0lf_16) on Mar 6, 2020 at 1:47pm PST

Next year, I am planning to make some small cardboard costumes for children to wear who don't have a costume such a my Gingerbread House idea, my rainbow fish idea (my musical chiffon scarves are great for this), Alice in the House and a few others.

Did you acknowledge World Book Day in any way?

xx

The Big Book Review 2019 (AKA Books I read in 2019 and what I liked)

The time has come to review the books I read in 2019.  The original post for this came from http://www.perpetualpageturner.com/ . I originally stole it from Janet at www.jbisistheinitial.blogspot.com.

• Best book you read in 2019

Given that it's the book that has come to mind most when I think about what I've read this year, the Scythe book by Neal Shusterman is the one I've remembered the most.

• Children's fiction

I think The House on Chicken legs by Sophie Anderson was gorgeous and I loved A Pocketful of Murder.

• Crime fiction:

I read 2 Catriona McPherson books (she writes the Dandy Gilver series) this year and they were SO clever with deep levels of plot going on- After the Armistice Ball was really cleverly written and quite devastating!

• Classics:

I really enjoyed reading Raffles- The Amateur Cracksman by E W Hornung which I had never heard of but randomly picked up in a second-hand bookshop. I read this in Italy by the pool and found it highly entertaining- it reminded me of Hustle but set in the old days! I also really enjoyed Rupert of Henzau, the sequel to the Prisoner of Zenda though it made me sad at the end!

• Non-fiction

11!! I read 11 non-fiction books this year!  I was embarrassed to find last year, that I only read 1 non-fiction book, possibly too! I really enjoyed the DK Book of Insects by Laurence Mound as I found it very informative but I also loved The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell which CBC bought me for my birthday! I love diaries and this was great fun to hear about the difficult life of Second-hand book-selling! I did also really enjoy The Thrifty Forager by Alys Fowler though I thought her pictures could be clearer.

• YA:

 I think the book I read for Dystopian fiction below may count as YA but I am trying to choose different books for prizes.  I read the new Malorie Blackmann book in the Noughts and Crosses series- it has been a LONG time coming.  It's called Cross Fire and it was an interesting 10 years or so later from the last book that Malorie Blackmann wrote - devastating as the previous ones have been but actually, having some good resolution for characters!

• Dystopian fiction

I have mentioned that I have a weird relationship with Dystopian-fiction. I find it utterly compelling yet it fills me with doom and dread (perhaps that is the point- to avoid creating futures like these! Though I wouldn't put anything past our government especially with all the awful things we have been experiencing in terms of the Earth.).  This year, I began reading the Arc of a Scythe series by Neal Shusterman after buying the first book at the little bookshop in Alston last Summer. It's about a time where Death has been conquered and the Earth is controlled by the Thunderhead cloud. But because the population cannot die, Scythes are selected who must 'kill' a certain number of people each year.  The Scythes don't really like their job- or at least some of them don't.  The surprising thing about this series is that the enemy is not who you would expect it to be! I'll say no more! The first book is called Scythe and was brilliant! Book 2, Thunderhead which I ordered from my library, was also absolutely compelling and I can't WAIT to borrow book 3, The Toll, from my library when my order comes in! It was only published in November!

• Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2019

There was a big reveal or surprise in Death in the Spotlight (A Murder most unladylike book) by Robin Stevens. I really wasn't expecting it.

• Book that you read in 2019 that you recommended most to others

Hmmmm, well, I recommended the Beetle Boy series by MG Leonard to a whole assembly of children as part of my Harvest assemblies (talking about the importance of a good harvest and how easily it can be wrecked by pesilence or weather conditions)- I thought these were absolutely brilliant!  I loved the love of beetles that the book engenders especially as, after reading the Insect book, I wanted to know more about beetles!

• Best series you discovered in 2019

 The arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman was brilliant and I adored the Little Village School series. Also, The Last Chance Hotel is going to be a continuing series so I would like to read the next one and the 3rd is due out on 2nd April 2020.

• Favourite new author you discovered in 2019

Hmm.. I think I would like to read more of Sita Brahmachari.

• Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love but didn't.

I'd like to put a disclaimer in here that I didn't DISLIKE the books, I'd like to read them more but when I read The  Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, everyone had told me that I'd LOVE this series but whilst I was intrigued by it, I just found it a little disappointing.

• Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre to you.

Finding Jennifer Jones was a book I picked up by mistake. I reached out to the YA shelf at the library- I'm not sure what I was reaching for but when I got home, I found I'd picked this up. I don't usually read Thrillers but it was strangely compelling.

• Book you read in 2019 that you're most likely to read again in 2019

I'll probably reread the Scythe books once I've managed to get The Toll just to remind me what happened but I have SO many books to read still on my bookshelves that I am unlikely to reread any others this year whilst I work my way through them.

• Favourite book you read in 2019 from an author you've read previously.

Hmmmm, there are many contenders for this.
I read 'When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit' 13 years ago at the start of my teacher training and loved it. I reread it this year plus the sequel,  Bombs on Aunt Daisy- Judith Kerr which I hadn't read and I really enjoyed reading what happened next to the characters in the story. It's one of those books that I always wished I could know more and it was great to actually be able to find out more about what happened!

• Best book you read in 2019 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else.

I'm not sure there are many books in this category but I did read the Last Chance Hotel book by Nicki Thornton because my little sister had mentioned that she'd like to read it and so when I saw it in the Bookshop, I bought it for her for Christmas because she wanted it- she said it was BRILLIANT so immediately after she'd finished it on our half-term holiday in February, I read it whilst I was still with her! It was super exciting!  Magic, fantasy AND a Whodunnit- this book had my name written all over it!

• Favourite cover of a book in 2019

The House with chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson has a beautiful cover.

• Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2019

I've stared at this question for ages and I am not sure whether any book has had a great impact on me?  I have perused my list and I would say The Thrifty Forager- Alys Fowler has made me look at plants, weeds, trees as I go around much more. I have eaten Dandelion leaves, looked for wild rocket and garlic (although I did that anyway), collected pears, apples and blackberries and I would like to get better at foraging.

• Book you can't BELIEVE you waited until 2019 to read.

I LOVE Phillipa Pearce! I've read pretty much all her books I've seen but I had NEVER read  The Battle of Bubble and Squeak  which is a story about how two parents react in different ways to two pet gerbils. It was one of the books that was on my own primary school bookshelves when I was a child but I never gave it a go! It took me another 30 years to finally read it! It was a sweet book- not my favourite PP book but still entertaining!

• Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss etc).  Be careful of spoilers

Death in the Spotlight by Robin Stevens had a huge revelation about a main character that I want to talk about to someone- I accidentally spoiled this for someone by mentioning so I am saying nought!

• Favourite relationship from a book you read in 2017 (be it romantic, friendship etc)

I loved the relationship between Elinor Oliphant and Raymond- the way the friendship grew was really endearing.  If had turned romantic, I wouldn't have believed it. It was the way it grew from a kind person looking out for someone else. I also really enjoyed the relationship between Baba Yaga and Marinka in the House on Chicken legs and also Marinka's relationship with the house - I like the idea of a house having personality.

• Most memorable character in a Book you read in 2019

I loved Elizabeth Devine from the Little Village School series- I'd love her to be my headteacher! I also thought Alfie Monk from The 1000 year old boy was a really memorable character.

• Genre you read the most from 2019

Children's fiction is the genre I most read from, followed by Crime Fiction (as usual)

• Best 2019 debut

I always struggle with this question- does it mean a book published in 2019 or a first book from an author in 2019? If I'm going with the former, rather than the latter since all the books published in 2019 were not debut novels. Either way, I loved Kat Wolfe takes the case by Lauren St John. LSJ is such a beautiful writer.  I also loved  Spies in St Petersburg by Katherine Woodfine and Where the river runs cold by Sita Brahmachari.

If I'm going with the latter, A pocketful of stars by Aisha Bush IS a debut novel this year and I really loved it!  I look forward to hearing more from this author!

• Book that was the most fun to read in 2019

The Train to impossible places - PG Bell was a great fun and imaginative book to read. Also, The princess who flew with dragons by Stephanie Burgis.

• Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2019

Elinor Oliphant is ok made me cry as did The Oaken Throne and Thomas from The Deptford Histories by Robin Jarvis. Poor Ysabelle!

• Book you read in 2019 that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out.

I also struggle with this question every year since I never read reviews or look up numbers for books!

• Total Number of books read in 2019:  

I read 109 books this year. I am fairly pleased with this as I always aim for a number over 100.  Slightly less than last year although 27 of those last year were fairly short children's books I was vetting for school!
Here's the full list of books for 2019 in reverse order (since that's the order I list them in on my blog page.)

December:
98.  Trouble at the Village School- Gervaise Phinn

99.  It must have been the Mistletoe- Judy Astley
100. The princess who flew with dragons- Stephanie Burgis
101.  The night I met Father Christmas - Ben Miller

102.  The steamwhistle theatre company - Vivian French
103.  How to fly with broken wings - Jane Elson
104.  A pocketful of stars- Aisha Bush
105.  The school inspector calls (The Village school) - Gervaise Phinn
106.  Christmas is for children -  Rosie Clarke
107. Christmas at the Little Wedding Shop - Jane Linfoot
108.  Donald Trump - Ladybird books
109. The Land of Neverendings -  Kate Saunders

November:
92.  The mystery of the Butcher's shop -  Gladys Mitchell
93.  The girl who spoke Bear- Sophie Anderson
94.  Corpse at the Crystal Palace- Carola Dunn
95. The Village school - Gervaise Phinn.
96.  The Enemy within - Edward Marston
96. Teen Pioneers: Young people who have changed the world - Ben Hubbard
97.  A step so grave - Catriona McPherson
98.  Trouble at the Village School- Gervaise Phinn
October:
85.  A fatal Waltz - Tasha Alexander.
86.  A terrible Beauty- Tasha Alexander
87.  Murder in the Twillight - Fleur Moriarty
88.  Lost for Words- Aoife Walsh
89.  Points of Danger - Edward Marston
90. Under Attack Edward Marston
91.  The Great Brain Robbery -  PG Bell

September:
75.  The house on Hummingbird Island- Sam Angus
76.  Varjak Paw Outlaw - SF Said.
77.  Plastic Sucks - Dougie Poynter
78.  Topmarks for Murder - Robin Stevens
79.  Cross Fire (Noughts and Crosses) - Malorie Blackman
80.  Beetle Queen  - M G Leonard
81. Battle of the Beetles- M G Leonard.
82. The House on Chicken legs- Sophie Anderson
83.  A red herring without mustard- Alan Bradley
84. I am half sick of shadows- Alan Bradley

August:
60. The dog who saved the world - Ross Welford
61.  Thunderhead- Neal Schustermann.
62.  Where the river runs cold - Sita Brahmachari
63. The innocence of Father Brown - GK Chesterton
64.  Raffles- The Amateur Cracksman - E W Hornung
65.  The strange disappearance of a Bollywood star - Vaseem Khan
66.  October Man- Ben Aaronovitch.
67.  The Great Summer Sewing Bee -Alex Brown
68.  Murder in Cherry hills - Paige Sleuth
69.  Wish upon a shell (Lighthouse Point Book 1) - Kay Correll
70.   Finding Jennifer Jones- Anne Cassidy
71.  Casting the net- Pam Rhodes
72. The Thrifty Forager- Alys Fowler
73.  Letters from the Lighthouse- Emma Carroll.
74. Dancing the Charleston - Jacqueline Wilson


July:
52.  The Gold Seekers - Jane Johnson
53. Mixed Magics -  Diana Wynne Jones
54.  The Light Jar- Lisa Thompson
55.  Rivers of London- Ben Aaronovitch
56.  A pocket full of murder - R J Anderson
57.  Skychasers- Emma Carroll.
58.  Murder in Midwinter- Fleur Hitchcock
59.  Still Me- JoJo Moyes

June
45.  The 1000year old boy- Ross Welford
46.  When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit- Judith Kerr
47.  Bombs on Aunt Daisy- Judith Kerr
48. A Southwold mystery- Suzette A. Hill
49.  After the Armistice Ball- Catriona McPherson
50.  Shot in Southwold -  Suzette A Hill.
51.  The Mapmaker's Race- Eirlys Hunter.

May:
34.  Last Ditch -Ngaio Marsh
35.  Grave mistake - Ngaio Marsh
36.  Kat Wolfe takes the case- Lauren St John
37.  Diamonds and daggers- Elen Caldecott
38.  Sixteen princesses -Anne Fine.
39.  The Battle of Bubble and Squeak- Phillipa Pearce
40.  Diary of a Bookseller- Shaun Bythell
41.  Spies in St Petersburg- Katherine Woodfine
42.  The Whitby Warlock - Robin Jarvis
43.  A Whitby Child - Robin Jarvis
44.  The Royal Book of Oz- Ruth Plumly Thompson


April:
27.   The Castle of inside out - David Henry Wilson
28.  Rupert of Hentzau- Anthony Hope.
29.  The Ruby Slippers - Keir Alexander
30.  Eltham Palace - Michael Turner (English Heritage)
31. Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine- Gail Honeyman
32.  Black as he's painted- Ngaio Marsh
33.  Scythe- Neal Shusterman

March:
17. A moment of Silence  - Miss Anna Dean.
18. Britannia- Floella Benjamin
19.  Fishers of Men - Pam Rhodes
20.  The Buildings that made London- David Long and Josie Shenoy.
21. Anthony Horrowitz- Trigger Mortis
22.  M.G Leonard -  Beetle Boy
23. Dear Scarlett - Fleur Hitchcock
24.  The Train to impossible places - PG Bell
25.  Kat Wolfe investigates- Lauren St John
26.  Dangerous to know- Tasha Alexander

February:
7.  Thomas- The Deptford Histories- Robin Jarvis
8.  The Giggler Treatment -  Roddy Doyle
9.   The Meanwhile adventures- Roddy Doyle
10.  Rover saves Christmas - Roddy Doyle
11. The Story of the Holocaust - Clive A. Lawton.
12.  The Last Chance Hotel - Nicki Thornton.
13.  Death in the Spotlight (A Murder most unladylike book) - Robin Stevens
15.  The Wonderful story of Henry Sugar and six others - Roald Dahl
16.  Coming to England- Floella Benjamin

January:
1.  The Oaken Throne - The Deptford Histories Robin Jarvis
2.  Off with his head -  Ngaio Marsh
3.  Singing in the Shrouds - Ngaio Marsh
4.  False Scent - Ngaio Marsh
5.  The Mystery of the Three Quarters -  Sophie Hannah/Agatha Christie
6.  DK Book of Insects -  Laurence Mound
7. Dangerous to know - Tasha Alexander


Here are the questions in case you wish to join in with the Book review post.

• Best book you read in 2019
• Children's fiction
• Crime fiction
• Classics
• Non-fiction
• YA
• Dystopian fiction
• Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2019
• Book that you read in 2019 that you recommended most to others
• Best series you discovered in 2019
• Favourite new author you discovered in 2019
• Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love but didn't.
• Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre to you.
• Book you read in 2019 that you're most likely to read again in 2019
• Favourite book you read in 2019 from an author you've read previously.
• Best book you read in 2019 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else.
• Favourite cover of a book in 2019
• Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2019
• Book you can't BELIEVE you waited until 2019 to read.
• Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss etc).  Be careful of spoilers
• Favourite relationship from a book you readin 2019 (be it romantic, friendship etc)
• Most memorable character in a Book you read in 2019
• Genre you read the most from 2019
• Best 2019 debut
• Book that was the most fun to read in 2019
• Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2019
• Book you read in 2019 that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out.
• Total Number of books read in 2019

If I wish to write a blog post about my new teapot, I shall...

Welcome to a self-indulgent blog post!

I went to town on Saturday as CBC had a physio appointment.  I planned to go to the Refill room and have a look about the shops.  What I didn't know was that the lovely independent bookshop (with cafe) was closing down. I felt really sad about this but apparently, the owners are retiring (such a loss to that town though!). I'd obviously missed the boat as nearly all the stock had gone but I did actually strike gold!

I've been drinking a lot of loose leaf tea, trying to avoid unnecessary packaging and plastic and also have been bought outrageous amounts of loose-leaf tea as presents.  Plus, it is getting to Mint tea season.  Oh, and did I mention that I've managed to smash the lids on both my long-term teapots?

Well, I was pleased to see on a shelf, that they were selling off the cafe crockery and suchlike and I found the perfect (now used secondhand) glass teapot with easily removable tea-strainer to buy.  It's the perfect size- I can fill it, easily take the tea leaves out (I struggled to get my hand inside both of my other teapots) and see how much tea I've made or if I've forgotten to empty it and mouldering tea detritus is inside (yes, this happens).

I'm happy to report, after several days of usage, sampling Earl Grey, Peach Green tea and mint leaves, that it works very well!

You can see from the picture, I also bought 3 books as well. The books were pretty slim-pickings but I was utterly incredulous because I'd been reading someone's Instagram post where they were talking about The Royal Book of Oz which is one of the spin-off Oz books by other lady, not L Frank Baum, the author of the original 14 books. I've always wanted to try one of these spin-offs so I was amazed to see it a week after someone mentioned it. In another curious coincidence, the night before purchasing these, I received a lovely message from the lovely @shamrockpups on Instagram (hello there my lovely!) who has been, unbeknownst to me, a secret long-term reader of my blog through the time I met my blog friend Lauren from America. She sent me a lovely message and mentioned that she though I might like a book series about Nicholas Flamel. And what did I find in the bookshop out of the 20 children's books that were there?  One of the books in that series!! How funny!

The third book just looked interesting and the books were £3 or 3 for £5 so it was a no-brainer!

Having just finished a book called, "The diary of a bookseller" by Shaun Bythell, the fate of independent book shops is very much on my mind so it seemed again, a strange coincidence that I should happen upon a closing bookshop!

And that is the tale of my tea pot!

xx

February Books

Photo to follow!

In February, I read 9 books. I'm very behind on the reviews but there we are!


7.  Thomas- The Deptford Histories- Robin Jarvis
I mentioned when reading Robin Jarvis' other Deptford books, that he doesn't hold back on the deaths despite these being children's books. This is the final book in the Deptford Histories and is the back story to Thomas Triton, the old sailor mouse who helps the Deptford Mice in their defeat of Jupiter!  This story similarly doesn't hold back on the deaths and is the secret behind why Thomas Triton is so sad and finds it hard to move on from his past. It was particularly exciting and involves travel to far off lands, unlike the other Deptford stories. I was DELIGHTED to find the end not quite so tragic (in some ways) as the other books in this series therefore, I rate it higher than those.
8.  The Giggler Treatment -  Roddy Doyle
I picked up an omnibus of three Rover adventures books in a charity shop for school and read them to vet them for which year group they would appeal to. I must say, they are incredibly silly but will really appeal to those with Poo humour or those who love seeing grownups get their come-uppance.   Indeed, the whole book is basically about those two things!  Silly but mildly entertaining. Oh, and a main character in these books is a clever dog called Rover who is secretly a millionaire because he sells his poo.
9.   The Meanwhile adventures- Roddy Doyle
Every Chapter begins with "Meanwhile..." meaning the chronology of this story is a little convoluted but again, another silly and funny book to read in the Rover series- it involves Parents who like to break world records, parents who get stuck in prison and children who want to save grownups. Oh and more Rover.

10.  Rover saves Christmas - Roddy Doyle
More Rover, more silliness, this time involving Rover's ability to know ALL the shortcuts in the world.  Rover and the children help deliver presents in this book! 

11. The Story of the Holocaust - Clive A. Lawton.
My little sister bought this book in the amazing Treasure Chest books in Felixstowe and I found it a really moving and informative read. I felt like I knew a lot more about the Holocaust, the backdrop and artefacts.  I think this would be a very useful book for year 6 history...which is what she bought it for!

12.  The Last Chance Hotel - Nicki Thornton.
I bought this book for my sister for Christmas and she read it at half term so I read it as soon as she'd finished! It is all about a boy Seth Seppi who is the kitchen boy at the Last Chance hotel in the middle of a forest. He is downtrodden by the nasty Bunns family.  Then one day, a group of strange people, who turn out to be magicians, turn up for some mysterious but special event.  Seth is blackmailed into making the desserts by the nasty daughter of the Bunns who has supposedly been away at Chef's school.  Alas, Dr Thallonius, the most important of the guests is found dead in a locked room, and because of Seth's dessert involvement, he becomes chief suspect.  Throughout the rest of the book, Seth must try to prove his innocence together with the help of a talking cat and some other dubious guests by trying to find out who the murderer was.  This book was so much more than I thought it would be and combines my love of a whodunnit with a fantasy world!  Seth was a great character and one with history (hopefully to be revealed more in book 2 and beyond?) and the whole unfolding of the plot is very clever with an unexpected ending! I highly recommend this one!

13.  Death in the Spotlight (A Murder most unladylike book) - Robin Stevens
I also bought this book for my little sister so I took advantage of reading it when I was staying with them. This is book 7 in the Murder Most Unladylike series. In this book, Daisy and Hazel are staying in London with Daisy's Uncle Felix but he has a secret mission he must go off on and therefore he needs a way to keep Daisy and Hazel out of trouble and away from murders.  So he manages to get them into the cast of Romeo and Juliet at the theatre as sickness as led to a lack of extras. Unfortunately for Uncle Felix, but fortunately enough for the girls, tensions are running rife in the theatre company and a murder is committed.  They must work to find out who the murderer is.
I LOVE this series and this one was a corker with LOTS of unexpected twists in more aspects of the story than just who the murderer is!  Expect LOTS of revelations in this book!

15.  The Wonderful story of Henry Sugar and six others - Roald Dahl
I read this book as a child and loved it. It's weird because lots of people have not heard of it!  Perhaps these stories are a bit more grownup than his children's books but I really liked them and still did upon this rereading some 28 years later!  Expect the unexpected-strange transformations and skills, disappearances and the such like!

16.  Coming to England- Floella Benjamin
This was one of 12 books I picked up in the second hand book shop including the sequel to this one! This is a biographical account of  the TV presenter,  Floella Benjamin, who was a huge part of my childhood and I have a lot of respect for this her, therefore I was really intrigued to read about her childhood and history. In this book, we learn of Floella's childhood in Trinidad in the 60's and how she came to England.  Her narration certainly sounds very nostalgic and fond of her time in Trinidad  (perhaps rose-tinted?) and I loved hearing about what Trinidad was like and how kind and hard-working her Mother was. I had no idea about the West Indies or that it was a British colony originally.  I found it difficult to hear about what it was like to be an immigrant from the West Indies in the 60's and 70's and I found myself seething with the injustice of how people were treated. I am very glad things have improved even though racist sentiments still survive in many quarters against people of colour. Very glad to have read another Non-fiction book this year already!


Have you read any of these?  Would you like to?

x

The grieving process of ending a book

I don't know about you but when I finish reading a book, particularly one I've loved, a fantasy land of some sort, I enter some sort of grieving process. I don't want to move straight on to another book- I want to remain with those characters in their world a while longer.  It feels callous to just move on to another book straight away and I find it hard to open the first page of a new book.

 It's always a delight to discover there are sequels to a series but do you guzzle them all in one go or do you wait and savour the sense of knowing that you get to return to that world for a while longer and it is still waiting whilst you haven't opened that new book?

I feel like that about the Worlds of Chrestomanci books. I adored them so much and I have only got one book left to read in the series- Mixed Magics, a set of short stories. Do I read it or do I wait?  I don't want to say goodbye to Chrestomanci but I long to find out more.  Similarly, having just finished "The train to Impossible Places", I am delighted to know a sequel is coming soon- well in October.
What's your attitude to this?  Read all at once or savour and wait?
x

World Book Day outfit 2019- Newt Scamander from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them

This year, my World Book Day costume comes from a book within a book.  In Harry Potter, Harry receives a list of the books he is required to buy for his Hogwarts studies including a book called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them.  Back a long time ago, JK Rowling actually wrote her own book for Comic Relief (or was it Children in Need) as it if it was written by Newt. I remember buying it and reading it.

IMage borrowed from Radiotimes.com

Now, in the last couple of years, the Harry Potter franchise has created films about the character Newt Scamander and his adventures looking for animals.   CBC had to dress up last year for Harry Potter night at his school as Newt Scamander and he dutifully put together a costume for it.  I declared at that point, that my World Book Day character was already sorted.

IMage borrowed from Aimshop.dk

And here's me!

 CBC bought the turquoise coat, the tan waistcoat and the scarf from various websites.

I'm wearing my own pair of tweedy trousers, white shirt and men's brown brogue shoes.

If you can see a green creature attached to my lapel, that is a Bowtruckle which my Mum crocheted for CBC last year.  He's super cute.

The suitcase came from Sarah Nelson Gingerbread in Grasmere and we filled it with various animals including

Ones we already owned:  Owl, Fox, Squirrel, Foxsquirrel, Crab

Bought for 1 sickle a piece at Harry Potter night:  Another Bowtruckle, 2 Nifflers, 1 Pygmy Puff.

It was great fun to get dressed up like this and I found the sideways glances on the train amusing!

Lots of the children at school knew who I was straight away. Others, mainly younger, were not sure.  It was fun opening up my case and sharing the animals with the children.

Lots of the other teachers made a great effort. Other costumes included:  Wizard of Oz Year 5: 2 witches, 1 Lion, 1 Dorothy, 1 Scarecrow, How to train your dragon Year 4:  Hiccup the Viking and Toothless,  Year 6: Alice in Wonderland: Queen of Hearts, Alice (wearing my dress), Mad Hatter, White Rabbit; Year 2: Snow White x 2, SMT:  Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, 

I'd love to know if you dressed up and what you were?

x

TARDIS Tuesday- Young Clara from The Rings of Akhaten

Hi there,

Greetings this dark and gloomy Monday night. I am feeling jubilant to be home at this time because I was covering for a flautist at a rehearsal in Walthamstow and due to the frankly egregious timings of trains and engineering works, I was due home around 1am.  However, due to some lovely discussion, I discovered a cellist actually lives in the town a few miles from here and she very kindly gave me a lift all the way home so I am back at 11.15pm rather!  Which made a tedious rehearsal seem less irritating since I didn't have to spend a 2.5hour train journey home wondering why I had bothered!

So, TARDIS Tuesday!  I thought I'd tackle one of those obscure Clara outfits today that featured very briefly in the episode.
In one of Clara's very first episodes, in series 7, The Rings of Akhaten, Clara's memories are very important.  She carries a book called '101 places to see' with her and a red leaf but she's never been anywhere.   This is because her mother Ellie Oswald died young so she never got to live her life so Clara's ambitions to travel were stifled and she never used that book that her Mother gave her.
In one of the flashbacks, we see youngish Clara at the graveside of her Mother.  She is wearing a red Duffle coat (from F&F at Tescos) and carries her 101 places to see book.

Image borrowed from This Pinterest

She holds her book as she tearfully regards her Mother's grave.  Not much of her outfit is visible except the Duffle Coat.

 Image borrowed from Cathoderaytube

And here are my photos.

I look absolutely terrible in these photos as I was performing with my flute trio at a church on Saturday at their Christmas fair and the graveyard is a very busy thoroughfare.  Originally, I was hoping my friend would take some photos for me but she had to dash off so I was reduced to balancing my camera very precariously on a low grave stone!

It was highly embarrassing taking these photos and trying to take them when no one was passing through.  I couldn't get the angle right, the focus right, the gravestone in the right place (I am obscuring it here), I forgot to take my sparkly star earrings out from the gig, the book wasn't at the right angle, I obscured its title, I obscured the toggles on my coat, my hair was a mess, I pulled daft facial expressions.... the list goes on...these are the best of a bad bunch!  At one point, a lady holding a cigarette actually stopped and offered to take the photos for me but no one else manages to work my camera properly, they were all lovely close ups but totally blurry so my 'camera balanced on a gravestone' were actually better!

My coat is actually the same coat as Clara's despite the colours looking different due to lighting.  I had a red duffle coat as a girl and my Mum bought me one around 9 years ago which was oversized but one by one, the toggles have broken off in an unfixable manner and when I saw someone selling the exact Clara duffle coat on eBay for not much, I jumped in.  It is extremely comfy and cosy and has already been worn a lot.

The eagle-eyed of you will notice I am carrying the same book as Clara.  I'm not really but I somehow managed to do some sneaky editing in MS Publisher of some images this design AND print a page with the front cover.  I then just taped it to the front of another book of a similar size.  If you look at the image of me holding it open, you will see I couldn't get the angle right on the book so it hid the fact the front and the back of the book don't match!

Ah, well, the effort was there, even if the execution of it was a bit shoddy!  And I hope you appreciate the effort at finding a graveyard to photograph in.

What do you think?

xx

January and February 2018 Books

Last year, I became rather despondent when it came to writing Book reviews. I left it till the last minute to write all my book reviews and the task became unwieldy and onerous. I was worried about making the book reviews really good and also have a weird occurrence where I forget the names of characters when I read a new book.  I thought this year, I would try again to keep up with it but once again, I missed out on January.

Anyway, I thought I would write something short on the books I read rather than have the sense of doom that pervaded last year.

January 
6. Radio Girls - Sarah-Jane Stratford
5.  Winter Tales- Various Authors compiled by Abi Elphinstone
4. Mr Stink -  David Williams
3.  Unpleasantness in the Ballroom- Catriona McPherson
2. The Hunger Games- Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins
1. The Norfolk Mystery- Ian Samson

In January, I read 6 books.

The Norfolk mystery was a very gentle book with some enjoyable geographical information.  The narrator or the central view point of this story is fairly interesting with a very quirky 'detective'. Not the finest Whodunnit I have ever read but certainly a different denouement than I am used to.

In re-reading The Hunger Games- Catching fire, I was in need of something easy to read as I had a lot on my mind at the time. Also, the majority of my books were in boxes.

Unpleasantness in the Ball room was a HUGELY entertaining and interesting Whoddunit which was given to me by Char for Christmas. It was really intriguing and exciting and constantly kept you guessing about the crimes involved in the story.  I enjoyed the historical detail and descriptions and characterisations were pretty well written. I definitely would like to read more of the Dandy Gilvers investigations.

Mr Stink was a wonderful children's book to read. I can see why people cite David Walliams as a contemporary Roald Dahl.  His characters were delightful and great caricatures and characters of extremities.  I feel like there needs to be a sequel in the way Mary Poppins also had a sequel!

Winter tales was a wonderful compilation of short stories with a winter theme written by popular and new children's authors.  There was an excellent variety of stories including magical stories, historical ones, Adventure stories, contemporary twists and heartfelt tales.  I really enjoyed this book as it introduced me to some fantastic new children's authors to seek out books by and I think this would be great for children to find a new author to enjoy which is why I bought it.

Radio Girls was probably the book of the month for me. It is published by my favourite crime publishers, Allison and Busby and tells the account of a girl who is seeking employment at the BBC in the early days of Radio.  She is frumpy and poor but has always loved reading and books and as she gets to know the personnel at the BBC, she finds her way and eventually unearths a conspiracy. The historical detail in this book was excellent. I really did have no idea about the origins of the BBC and how they were one of the few employers who paid men and women equally. The book is set in the late 20's at the time when the vote was given universally to all women and I found it an interesting coincidence that I happened to read this (not intended) during the centenary of the Suffragettes and women achieving the vote.  I thoroughly recommend this story which is based on real historical people even though the main character is fictional.



In February, I read 35 books.  This may extreme until you realise that 27 of them are Oxford reading tree stories.

February
7. The perplexing theft of the jewel in the crown- Vaseem Khan.
8.  Six stories -  Matt Wesolowski
9.  The Railway Detective - Edward Marston
10. Ant's Pact - Elen Caldecott
11. The Sands of Akwa- Elen Caldecott
12.  Holo-board Havoc.- Elen Caldecott
13. The trap- Mike Brownlow
14. The secret whirlpool- Elen Caldecott
15. Race to the Pyramid- Karen Ball
16.  The Screams of the Raptiss- Elen Caldecott
17. One step ahead.- Karen Ball
18.  Chamber of Treasures- Karen Ball
19.  Space Hunt- James Noble
20.  The deadly Cave- James Noble
21.  Grumptus Attack- James Noble
22.  Return to Exis. - Tony Bradman
23. The Miines of Moxor - James Noble
24.   The Contest.- James Noble
25.  Planet Exis- Tony Bradman
26.  Attack of the Buzzles- Tony Bradman
27. Battle with the Beast.- Tony Bradman
28.  The Empty Palace.- Tony Bradman
29.  Nurp Stampede- Mike Brownlow
30.  The Crystal Planet- Karen Ball
31. Tiger x 4- Elen Caldecott
32. The Ruby Cage- Karen Ball
33. The Hunt for Nox- Karen Ball
34.  Attack of the Giant Meeb
35. Fear forest.- Steve Cole
36.Swamp Crash- Steve Cole
37.  Spaceship Graveyard- Steve Cole
38. Save the World!- Steve Cole
39. The Cave of Life. -- Steve Cole
40. Nights at the Circus- Angela Carter
41.  Signal for Vengeance- Edward Marston

The perplexing theft of the jewel in the crown is a sequel to a Whodunnit I read last year.  The book is set in Mumbai, India and features Inspector Chopra, ex-inspector of the Mumbai police force and now the manager of the Baby Ganesha Detective Agency and restaurant.  At the start of the story, Chopra is visiting the exhibition of the Crown jewels from England which have arrived for a while. They are amazingly stolen whilst Chopra is there- well, the crown containing the famous  Koh-i-Noor diamond.  Chopra's old colleague is accused of stealing it and he works to clear the name of his friend and locate the jewel. The book is so delightfully eccentric- I love how the baby elephant is such an important part of the investigations and how clever it is.  There is a gentle humour and quality to the book but at the same time, it is real and gritty at conveying the danger and also, the difficulty of life in Mumbai.  I love gaining tidbits about life in this Indian city!

Six Stories was recommended to be by Jake at Forum Books in Corbridge as a modern spin on a Whodunnit and it certainly didn't disappoint.  A famous anonymous Podcaster is interviewing people from a crime committed 20 years prior to see if they can shed any light on the affair.  It then remains for the criminal to be unmasked.  The brilliant thing about this book is, because the interviews are told from 6 different people, you just cannot trust anyone. There is a pervading darkness and air of sinister doom throughout the story which reminds me of the Hound of the Baskervilles in some way. It was a very, very clever denouement and I thoroughly recommend it. This was probably the best read of the month.

The Railway detective is a reread for me. I bought a new book in the series in Half Term and thought I would like to reread the series. I do find Edward Marston's books a little bit formulaic now that I have read around 30 of them but I still love them. The characters have their foibles and ways of acting which I know well now and enjoy.

Books 10-39 are the Oxford Reading Tree books. You are wondering why I read them maybe?
Well, I have 2 focus readers at school and they had been reading these books called Alien Adventures the 2 weeks before half term and I really enjoyed reading the 3 books they had read.  Annoyingly, when I went to change their books, the next book in the series didn't seem to be in the book box so I had to pick another one.

It was then a curious coincidence that I visited a charity shop 2 days later that had 27 of these books in it for 29p each. I phoned our librarian and asked if she thought I should buy them and she said yes, definitely. I duly bought them (checked out the price online and I had saved a fortune!) and decided that I might as well read through them.  I think these are EXCELLENT books for reluctant readers, particularly boys- the adventure, searching for fragments to the core of the Planet Exis.  They are creative and imaginative and have some interesting vocabulary. I have always been a person who LOVED treasure hunt stories so this hugely appeals to me. I have read online reviews of these and parents who have bought these have told how their children adore these!
The annoying thing was, I thought in the final story Return to Exis, I would see the story complete but it ended on a bloomin cliff-hanger! Nooooo!  Apparently, there are higher stages in the Alien Adventures where it continues. I feel similarly to how I felt when I read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and had to wait ages not knowing what was going to happen next!

Bargain Alien Adventures.

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter was a Christmas present from my little sister.  She picked me up a 'Blind Date' book parcel in Waitrose which turned out to be this. I was a little dismayed to discover it was this author as I read her 'The Magic Toyshop a while back and really was disturbed by it.    I found this book equally disturbing and weird although eventually, strangely compelling. I dislike her crude use of language and gratuitous descriptions of how women were treated and debauchery and felt like I had no idea where the book was headed at times.She is certainly a unique and imaginative writer but I don't think I would actively seek out her frankly odd stories.  Also, I think she has a slight swan obsession.

The final book of the month was Signal for Vengeance, a much later book in the Railway Detective series. I always enjoy Edward Marston's Whodunnits and I felt there was some interesting developments in the characters in this particular book.

What books did you read this month?

The book review of 2017

Here's the summary of another year of books. Again, I failed to write reviews throughout the year as I got bogged down in having too many reviews to write and falling behind. Plus, I have a terrible Book Amnesia once I have started another book-I can't remember the name of characters and details- all very strange!

Anyway, hope you enjoy my review of what I read.

• Best book you read in 2017

This is broken down into different categories

• Children's fiction

Any of the Katherine Woodfine Sinclairs mysteries books but I particularly loved The Painted Dragon  as it had an overarching theme of a secret hidden in the dragon paintings that captured my interest.

• Crime fiction

Tears of Pearl by  Tasha Alexander.  This was set in Constantinople in the Victorian era and I found it utterly compelling.

• Classics

Miss Pettigrew lives for a day - Winifred Watson. I ADORED this book! It was such a delightful Cinderella story that I fell in love with.

• Non-fiction

I read very little non-fiction but I did enjoy the Riddle of Scheherezade by Raymond Smullyan as it was a book which was a series of logic and mathematical problems which were couched in a 'story' of Scheherezade annoying the Sultan again after their marriage so she must appease him with problems instead of stories this time.

• YA

The girl who fell beneath fairyland and led the revels there by Catherynne Valente.  Apparently this is YA although I guess it could also be a kids book. I ADORED the first book in this series last year and it made my favourite YA book last year, this one was equally good.  I also adored Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell.

• Dystopian fiction

Well, I guess that Day of the Trifids counts as Dystopian fiction, I thought this book was excellent and very sinister!  Also, I read The Fever Code by James Dashner which I had to reserve at the Library and wait a long time for as it was only published this year.  I find this series terrible, as I do all dystopian fiction but utterly compelling.

• Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2017

Hmmm, maybe Day of The Trifids- it wasn't what I imagined!

Also, I read No castanets at the Wells by Lorna Hill and I hasn't read a Sadler's Wells ballet nook since I met CBC and I was so delightedly surprised to realise that the characters come from Northumberland and Hexham places I are mentioned! 

• Book that you read in 2017 that you recommended most to others

Hmmmm, well, I gave and then sold some Edward Marston books to a friend (I was selling some on Instagram and she bought them!) so I guess that counts as a recommendation.

Also, I will always recommend the Katherine Woodfine Sinclairs Mysteries to any children or Primary School teacher I meet.

• Best series you discovered in 2017

I really enjoyed reading the historical crime books by Tasha Alexander. I found one in the charity shop and then subsequently several of the other books in my library. I found the heroine of this series utterly enchanting!

• Favourite new author you discovered in 2017

Hmmm...not many new to me this year. However, I did read Dead Man's Cove by  Lauren St.John who is a children's author and I thought that her book was really exciting and I would like to read more by her.

• Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love but didn't.

I read  The Long Mars by Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett which I found a bit hard-going and felt like I totally couldn't remember the previous book I'd read in the series. It then turned out that I had missed out a book in the series which could account for my confusion but I just felt it dragged on and on a bit in the way that I often find Sci-fi serials do.

Also, I thought Howard's End would be gripping but it really wasn't. So slow-moving.

• Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre to you.

Perhaps A Thousand Splendid Suns- read more about that below.

• Book you read in 2017 that you're most likely to read again in 2017

Well, I have been trying to read books I haven't read in the unlikely event that I don't enjoy them and want to get rid of them, thus saving space, so I might try to do that next year also. I'll probably have another go at The Road to Oz as I fancy reading all the Oz books in order again as I have never read them in  order.

• Favourite book you read in 2017 from an author you've read previously.

I'd say I enjoyed Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh. I do think her Whodunnits are great books and I almost didn't guess the murderer!

• Best book you read in 2017 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else.

A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Housani. Sophie sent it to me unexpectedly in the post because she thought I might like it.  It is totally not the type of book I would usually read and I wept a lot over it and was very distressed but because I loved the characters so much and longed for things to work out for them and was utterly horrified at the treatment of women by others in Afghanistan.

• Favourite cover of a book in 2017

I really liked the front cover of The New Policeman by  Kate Thompson. I picked it up because of its cover and liked it muchly. I always spot books I like by their cover proving the old adage is not always right! Plus, I loved the fact that it had a nice Irish melody for me to play in every chapter!

#

• Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2017

This is hard to say. Perhaps the Housani book but I think Song of the Sea by Jane Dolby ultimately.  I picked it up for £1 in The Works as I was attracted by the title.  When I read the back cover, I realised it was the true account of a woman local to me whose husband was a fisherman in Leigh-on-Sea and he died at sea. She set up a choir to record a single to raise money for the Fishermen's mission charity and it had a real impact on me realising how dangerous being a fisherman is.  I was also saddened because I realised how many traditional jobs are becoming rare for many reasons and it stuck with me for a long while.

• Book you can't BELIEVE you waited until 2017 to read.

Well, I didn't realise that The Never Ending Story was actually a book so I read it this year, having not realised until now! I loved that film as a child. 

The other book I am surprised I didn't read till now was 'The Day of the Trifids'- such a classic- how have I avoided it thus far!?

• Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss etc).  Be careful of spoilers

Well, I'm not sure that I really had that this year, BUT, this is a really nice story.  Some of the kids in Year 6 know how much I enjoyed the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horrowitz and they knew I borrowed one last year from their book shelf that I hadn't read. This year, Horrowitz published the next installment of the series, Never say Die.  Well, it was lent to me by a boy in that class who had told me that there was a new Alex Rider book out and he'd read it and was eager to talk to me about it so he brought it in for me to borrow and I was so touched by this and was very eager to talk to him about it, particularly as NO ONE else had read it!

• Favourite relationship from a book you read in 2017 (be it romantic, friendship etc)

Oh DEFINITELY, Eleanor and Park in the book of the same name by Rainbow Rowell. I read this because I had read and liked Carry On by the same author last year.  Oh Eleanor and Park- star-crossed teenage lovers! I wanted so much for them to be together!

• Most memorable character in a Book you read in 2017

Probably Eleanor from Eleanor and Park.

• Genre you read the most from 2017

This is always the same one for me- Historical Crime- Whodunnits!!

• Best 2017 debut

I read quite a few books published in 2017 this year but I'm not sure that any of those were DEBUT books. I loved the Fever Code, The Painted Dragon and The Midnight Peacock.

• Book that was the most fun to read in 2017

I'm not sure that my usual diet of books is particularly fun- death and crime aren't fun as such.  I did enjoy No Pets by Izy Penguin. This was a birthday present from my sister-in-law- it is her book which is a picture book about things in her house as a child that looked like pets when her Dad, based on the famous WOMOTM, wouldn't allow her pets as a child! I'd seen a copy years ago and really wanted one! It's a really sweet, fun book!

• Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2017

Me before You definitely made me weep. as did the Thousand Splendid Suns and  Eleanor and Park.

• Book you read in 2017 that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out.

Oh heck, I don't read anything current or popular enough to have a clue about this! I think that not enough people know about The Girl who... fairyland books by Catheryne Valente though so I will say those!

• Total Number of books read in 2017: 

Curiously disappointing  that I read less than last year.  I do, however, know that there are several books that I totally forgot about and failed to add to my booklist, including some in December that I just CANNOT remember! I also abandoned a few.

• December:
  89. Buried in the Country- Carola Dunn.
  90. Mistletoe and mayhem -  Carola Dunn
  91.  Mystery in White- J Jefferson Farjeon
  92.  Five get on the Property Ladder- Bruno Vincent
  November:
  82.  Five dead Canaries- Edward Marston.
  83.  Instrument of Slaughter - Edward Marston.
  84. The Solitaire mystery - Jostein Gaarder
  85. The Frost fair - Edward Marston
  86.   A Bespoke Murder- Edward Marston
  87.  Closed Casket- Poirot- Sophie Hannah using Agatha Christie's world.
  88.  Dance of Death- Edward Marston
  October:
  75.  The Counterfeit Crank - Edward Marston
  76.  The mapping of love and death - Jacqueline Winspear.
  77.  Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
  78. The New Policeman -  Kate Thompson
  79. A thousand splendid suns- Khaled Housani
  80.  The Midnight Peacock- Katherine Woodfine
  81.  The London Eye Mystery - Siobhan Dowd
  
  September:
  67.  Superfluous women- Carola Dunn
  68.  Shadow of the hangman - Edward Marston.
  69.  Song of the Sea- Jane Dolby
  70.  The Road to Oz - L Frank Baum
  71.  Moranifesto - Caitlin Moran
  72.  And only to deceive -Tasha Alexander
  73.  Tears of Pearl -  Tasha Alexander
  74.  A Poisoned Season- Tasha Alexander
  August:
  62.  The Dead woman of Deptford - Ann Granger
  63.  Murder in the afternoon - Frances Brody
  64.Miracle on Regent Street - Ali Harris
  64. Death in the floating city - Tasha Alexander
  65.  Steps to the Gallows- Edward Marston
  66.  Final Curtain - Ngaio Marsh
  July:
  57.  The Long Mars- Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett
  58.  Never say die (Alex Ryder) Anthony Horrowitz
  59.  Pardonable lies- Maisie Dobbs - Jacqueline Winspear
  60.  A lesson in secrets - Jacqueline Winspear
  61.  Anthem for doomed youth- Carola Dunn
  
  June:
  52.  The girl who soared above fairyland and cut the sky in two -  Catherynne Valente
  53.  Reuben Sachs- Amy Levy
  54. After you- Jojo Moyles
  55.  Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
  56.  Fever Code- James Dashner
  
  May:
  45.  Gone West- a Daisy Dalrymple mystery- Carola Dunn.
  46.  The Laughing Hangman- Edward Marston
  47.  Cream buns and crime -  Robin Stevens
  48.  The girl who fell beneath fairyland and led the revels there- Catherynne Valente
  49. The mad Courtesan -  Edward Marston.
  50.  Eleanor and Park -  Rainbow Rowell
  51. A Crimson Warning- Tasha Alexander
  52. No castanets at the Wells- Lorna Hill
  
  April:
  30.  The Ghost Road- Pat Barker
  31.  The Ratatat Mystery- Enid Blyton
  32. Howard's End - E.M. Forster
  33. Magnus Powermouse -Dick King Smith
  34. The Mouse Butcher- Dick King Smith
  35.  Arsenic for tea- Robin Stevens
  36.  The Painted Dragon  - Katherine Woodfine
  37. Miss Pettigrew lives for a day - Winifred Watson
  38.  The Vagabond clown - Edward Marston.
  39.  The Abominables -Eva Ibbotson
  40. A dog and his boy -  Eva Ibbotson
  41.  Tom Gates is absolutely fantastic (at some things) - Liz Pichon
  42.  School according to Humphrey - Betty G. Birney
  43.  The return of the Jabberwock - Oakley Graham, Illustrations- David Neale
  44. No Pets- Izy Penguin
  45. The Riddle of Scheherezade - Raymond Smullyan
  
  March:
  22. The highland twins at the Chalet school- Elinor Brent Dyer
  23.  Hour of the bees - Lindsay Eagar
  24. The library condundrum- Catherine Shaw
  25.  Regeneration -  Pat Barker.
  26.  Little town on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder
  27.  The eye in the door -  Pat Barker
  28.  Mrs McNab's Fantastical Hat- Jane Miller and Nadia Alzapiedi
  29.  These happy golden years- Laura Ingalls Wilder
  
  
  February:
  12.  The Never ending story- Michael Ende
  13. By the shores of silver lake - Laura Ingalls Wilder
  14. Dead Man's Cove -  Lauren St.John
  15.  The long winter- Laura Ingalls Wilder
  16.  Coraline- Neil Gaiman.
  17.  Frozen in time- Ali Sparkes
  18. Me before you- Jojo Moyles
  19. Patrick - Quentin Blake
  20.  Emma - Alexander McCall Smith
  21.  Hitman Anders and the meaning of it all- Jonas Jonasson
  
  
  January:
  1.  Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone -  J K Rowling
  2.  Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Militant Midwives - Michael Bond
  3. Behold, here's poison -  Georgette Heyer
  4.  Death at the seaside-Frances Brodie
  5. Journey to the River Sea- Eva Ibbotson
  6. Clover Moon -  Jacqueline Wilson
  7.  The 65 storey tree house- Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
  8.  Sleeping Murder- Agatha Christie
  9. Alone on a Wide, wide Sea- Michael Morpurgo
  10. Lost and found-Oliver Jeffers (picture book)
  11.  Up and Down- Oliver Jeffers (picture book)

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Just in case you fancy answering these, here is a handy list of the questions. I got this from Janet at www.jbisintheinitial.blogspot.com originally.

Leave me a link in the comments if you did this as I LOVE this type of blog post. Bev from Confuzzledom did it already!

• Best book you read in 2017
• Children's fiction
• Crime fiction
• Classics
• Non-fiction
• YA
• Dystopian fiction
• Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2017
• Book that you read in 2017 that you recommended most to others
• Best series you discovered in 217
• Favourite new author you discovered in 2017
• Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love but didn't.
• Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre to you.
• Book you read in 2017 that you're most likely to read again in 2017
• Favourite book you read in 2017 from an author you've read previously.
• Best book you read in 2017 htat you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else.
• Favourite cover of a book in 2017
• Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2017
• Book you can't BELIEVE you waited until 2017 to read.
• Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss etc).  Be careful of spoilers
• Favourite relationship from a book you readin 2017 (be it romantic, friendship etc)
• Most memorable character in a Book you read in 2017
• Genre you read the most from 2017
• Best 2017 debut
• Book that was the most fun to read in 2017
• Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2017
• Book you read in 2017 that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out.
• Total Number of books read in 2017