The Voice Of Reason

Lovely afternoon! Mom and i took our chapters gift cards out and Staci came with us! It didn't take long to rack up almost 100 dollars though I had a 50 dollar gift card to offset it. Hardcover books might be 30% off but if you buy a few it adds up! Actually, i got two, plus two paperbacks. a small box of four Godiva chocs, minus the discounts plus 10% off for the regular Chapters discount, plus tax... how did it add up again? Oh well lol! I wouldn't have spent that much if i hadn't had the 50 gift card so thanks, Justin! Mom and I always end up seeing who spent more and she beat me this time. By about a dollar! :)

So what did i get? Quite a variety actually. New York, by Edward Rutherfurd; a biography of David Bowie by Marc Spitz; The Devil's Punchbowl by Greg Iles which is a crime/mystery and a little light fun reading, One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell. I still have a couple of historical non-fictions to read in my stack and have started an Amanda Quick (The Third Circle). Also on the stack is an older one by Jack Whyte called Clothar the Frank. I read the one he wrote about Merlin and i liked it so thought i'd try some of his other historical novels. Some of them are trilogies and i couldn't get the first book so i picked this one up instead for now.

Last one for 2009, number 31, Sailing away from Winter by Silver Donald Cameron. My friend Tracey gave me this for my birthday and i've been picking it up and putting it down. It's a description of Cameron and his wife's journey by sailboat down the eastern seaboard from Cape Breton to Florida and the Bahamas. The boat seemed to give them a lot of trouble so there were ups and downs with that. There are bits about various places they stopped, the historical places and the absurd as well.

Anyway, We three had a hot drink in Starbucks and had a lovely chat and later Mom and i went over to the Mall for a poke around a few of the stores. I picked up a new frying pan and a half price calendar with lovely scenes of Scotland for my wall at work. I'm looking for a new bathmat but i can't find the colour i want though i've seen it in towels. I want a teal green to pick up that colour in my shower curtain which has golds and a bit of the green in it. Winners had some nice towels in the exact colour i wanted but i don't really need towels. I may get some though if i can get the bath mat.

Tonight i'm going to be online with gramie_dee seeing in both his New Year and mine.

Like lola_is_naughty, i'm on number 29 and i'm sure i'll hit 30 by the end of the year, maybe one or two more depending on how much i read in bed. I have one that i have been reading on and off for most of the year, a non-fiction about a couple from Cape Breton who are sailing all the way to Bermuda in a sailboat that seems to be filled with gremlins. Anyway, that may end up being 30 as i'd like to finish it and get it out of the stack by the bed. I bought a few paperbacks the other day and i still have a couple of history books in the stack too.

Probably here i should jump in with the 30 days/30 posts meme. Today's is a non-fictional book. I quite enjoy history books particularly those set in the Tudor period. Most are pretty good unless it's about a person about whom not much is known. Then it seems to be filled with nonsense, like last year's Jane Rochford was. On the other hand, the biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine was quite a bit better yet there is still not a lot known about her over many of the periods of her life. The author seemed to make better suppositions, assumptions and filled in the blanks with much better educated guesses instead of just regurgitating pap and sticking Eleanor in there. We went to the Henry VIII exhibit at the British Library earlier this year and really enjoyed it. I ordered the catalogue and the new book by Starkey on Henry. The catalogue (a non-fictional "meme" book) has lots of pictures of the exhibit and the corresponding text. It's lovely to leave through and remember seeing the original items. I'm kind of expecting Starkey's book to be much the same as in the catalogue with more filling, and probably similar material to what he put in his Six Wives book.

So i've finished my next book for the 2009 countdown.

29 Beyond Black - Hilary Mantel.
This is the same author as Wolf Hall but it's a very different book. Welcome to the world of the dead and the people that can speak to them. It's about a psychic or "Sensitive" called Alison. She travels around the Greater London area appearing at psychic fairs and shows where she passes on messages from those that have passed. On stage, she is much more a "show" person, and more vague about the messages and the recipients than when she's doing a one on one. She's plagued by a nasty piece of work who is her Spirit Guide and all of his spirit friends, none of whom have a redeeming factor between them. The difference is Alison knew them all when she was a child and they were actually alive.

Alison had a horrific childhood, the daughter of a prostitute and these men were some of her "regulars". They contributed much abuse of all types and between them, and all the spirits that she could see and hear even as a child, her life growing up was a misery. She seems a bit circumspect about it all but the spirits are wearing her down and she never gets a moment's peace.

Enter Colette, a divorced woman who is looking for somewhere to make a new life for herself. She is controlling and emotionless and more of a skeptic than even she will admit. she has no sensitivity to the spirit world and not always a lot of patience for Alison dealing with it. She move in with Alison and acts as her manager, arranging her life and becoming more and more overbearing.

The book is supposed to be funny, or have funny bits but i found it dark and kind of sad. It was different than i usually read, that's for sure and i admit i skimmed bits of it. It wasn't a bad book but perhaps not really my thing. Also, Alison is a large woman and there's a lot of weight-negativity in the book and i find that put me off, too. In the end, Alison is Alison. As she says, she has all these spirits and things to deal with and you need a bit of heft to stand up to it all.

I have fallen behind on my book list....
25. The Meaning of Night - Michael Cox
This is a book about obsession and revenge. Revenge causes a Countess to hide her baby, her hated husband's heir away from him, in the arms of her old friend. That child, Edward, discovers who he really is when he's an adult but can't prove it. It turns out his hated school rival is the Count's protege and potential heir and Edward vows to find proof and get one over on his rival for once and for all. The book starts with a murder, a practice murder because Edward is planning to murder his rival. The rest of the book goes back into their history and we find out the road Edward travelled to get to that point. There is, of course, a woman involved, a woman that Edward has fallen in love with but who also has an agenda.

26. The Glass of Time - Michael Cox
This is a sort of sequel to the previous book only, mistakenly, i read this one before the other. It didn't really matter a whole lot as it turns out. Each could stand on it's own. This book is about a orphaned woman, Esperanza, who is sent to be a lady's maid to a Baroness who has been living as a widow since the love of her life was murdered before they were married. She knows she's there to complete a plan put forth to her by her guardian but she doesn't know what it is. Little by little she finds out the history of her parents that interweaves with her insinuating herself into the life and affections of the Baroness in order to right a past wrong. She doesn't realize that will affect her future as well. Both of the books were pretty good. They take place in Victorian England about 20-something years apart. They are by no means love stories so might appeal to men as well as women.

27. The Last Great Dance on Earth - Sandra Gulland (third book in the Josephine B. Trilogy) This is Josephine's final chapter, taking place when she's now married to Napoleon and he is the Emperor. She suffers his mistresses, she suffers bad health, she worries for her children and battles her in-laws. Because she's too old to give Napoleon an heir, she is cast aside, which breaks her heart and possibly his. He does seem to continue to love her but must have a son, which he does get, but we all know the end result. The book ends before Trafalgar, with her death.

Am not reading Wolf Hall which is about Thomas Cromwell's life in the Tudor courts.
ETA... that should read "Am now reading" doh

Since we're on a book blogging day, i might as well get caught up on my 2009 books read list. I've been a bit remiss.

21. First of the Josephine B. Trilogy by Sandra Gulland,The Many Lives& Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. This is about the woman who later became Josephine Bonaparte, wife of Napoleon. The first book mainly goes through a bit of her childhood in St. Lucia and her first years in France where she was sent to be married. Her first marraige wasn't all that successful and then came the Revolution. She was in prison at one point and was the Lover of a Captain in the Army, who was also in prison while she was there. The first book ends when she's accepted Napoleon's offer of marraige. The book is written in journal/diary form by Josephine herself but with dialogue as well. It's based on what is known about her with fictional stuff thrown in. It's pretty good, seems to be well researched and characterized. The trilogy is huge, though, so it's kind of heavy to hold!

22. Second book of the trilogy, Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe. I'm not quite finished it yet but i needed a break from Josephine and started the next book below which i've read quite quickly and finished. This second book takes place during her marraige to Napoleon. As i've left it, he's all but calling himself Emperor, having taken over the government on his own.

23. Five Women, by Rona Jaffe. A friend had recommended one of Ms. Jaffe's other books but the library didn't have it. This one was the only one they had so i got it. I haven't been to the library in ages and i should really go more. When i've made a bit more of a dent in the unread stack! Anyway, this book is about four women that are unlikely friends who have dinner at a NY restaurant every week. The fifth woman is the owner of the restaurant but who doesn't really become close friends with the others. The book jumps back to each of their lives in turn. Each of the women are from very dysfunctional families and have contentious relationships with their mothers in particular and it points out how each of them has repeated many of their mother's patterns and the effects their upbringing has had on them. It was ok, a quick read, nice for a break. I may not get back to Josephine just yet. I have a new Fiona Walker that i think might just hit the spot before i delve back into history again.

19. The Likeness - Tana French

Apparently this is the second book about the main character, Detective Cassie Maddox but i hadn't read the first one. Doesn't matter, they made enough references to the previous plot that you get the gist. Don't really think i have to read it now! Anyway, this book takes place in and around Dublin in present day. A murdered woman is found and she looks to be Cassie's identical twin though is not. Cassie has not been working on the murder squad or the undercover squad after some traumatic events and has to be persuaded to take over the woman's life to help find the murderer. The woman lives in a house with four graduate students who may or may not be suspects and Cassie has to find a way to fit in and figure it all out. She does fairly well thanks to the dead woman's mobile phone that has a lot of video that was shot of the roomies and information the police extracted about the dead woman's life from the same roomies. The dead woman is an enigma, however, with no apparent family, friends or past so the murderer might be someone she knew from her former life.

The book is well written and it drew me in. The roommates are not completely drawn out but then since they are strangers to Cassie and she's trying to get to know them but not get too close to them, it works. Cassie does get drawn in to their cocoon of a life, a bit, while trying to unearth a murderer. They are all loners, people that don't quite fit in but found each other and seem to live in their own little world, which, little by little, is developing the cracks that Cassie soon detects. Little by little, the story unfolds and you start having various suspicions along with her. It did keep my interest and the ending, while not a complete surprise, wasn't quite what i expected either.

Ok, so i couldn't wait until after the Parade of Sail to put my photos up online. Flickr set with photos and videos here. Those of you on Facebook, there are sets of similar photos there, broken up into two albums so that the cruise photos from today are separate. I will post Parade of Sail photos after the event.

2009 Books:
17: Audition by Barbara Walters
This is her autobiography. Quite a thick book and it's quite interesting. I liked reading about her life before she became famous and she was always very frank about her regrets, her ambition. She was a ground breaker for women in broadcasting and it sounds like she's a workaholic. The woman is in her 70s though won't say exactly how old she is. Very interesting to read how she got interviews with some of the most famous names in the world, both political and celebrity, heads of state and ordinary people who's lives and situations touched her. She talks about lots of her interviewees, many of whom she liked even if she didn't like their politics or what they'd done. Even when it's clear she really disliked her interviewee, she tends to soften it and doesn't write insults or hugely negative stuff. Some, yes, but not like "mud slinging" types of things. It seemed pretty fair and she seemed to try to be honest.

14 - True Evil - Greg Iles
Second book by him i've read and it was pretty good. It's about a female FBI agent who's lost her father and her mother is dying of cancer. Her sister dies suddenly but her sister tells her that her husband murdered her. The agent, Alex, goes on a quest outside FBI rules to find how the how and when etc. This leads her to a corrupt lawyer. It seems that in every case that she's uncovered, someone dies of cancer or some other blood disease, the spouse inherits big bucks but in every case, that spouse was going to file for divorce before their spouse got sick. Somehow, someone or something is giving these people illnesses and the surviving spouse and the lawyer are making a mint. This leads her to a doctor who she belives will be the next victim because his wife has been seen visiting the lawyer. This is the only point that kind of stuck for me. The lawywer must seen dozens of people every day and many of them wealthy people wanting divorce. I never did pinpoint why Alex thinks this particular one is going to be The One. I may have missed that. I read quickly and do miss little things at times. Other than that, taken it on faith, We proceed. Alex is desperate to prove her brother-in-law killed her sister and she wants custody of her nephew when it's all over. There's another person involved, a doctor who is an expert in viruses and radiology and all the other things you might need to introduce illnesses into someone. Overall, pretty good book for a bus commute.

Now, on to a chick lit book, Best of Times by Penny Vincenzi. I like her books. I also have Sailing Away From Winter by Silver Donald Cameron on the go.

12: Third Degree - Greg Iles
This was given to me by a coworker whose wife was clearing out some of her books. Another coworker saw it and said Iles was a really good writer. I did enjoy this book, I have to say. It takes place over the course of one day. A woman has been having an affair which has been over for about a month only she finds out she's pregnant, probably by the lover. The husband, a doctor with control issues, finds evidence of the affair when looking for something else and goes beserk. He descends into violence, ties her up, tries to make her tell him who the other man is, tries to break into her computer, but she refuses to admit anything. Meanwhile, his fellow doctor and practice partner is feeling the pressure because he's been defrauding the medical boards and they're closing in on him. He had been planning to let his partner take the fall but everything goes wrong. The lover gets involved in the rescue mission, all the while trying to keep his secret fearing it will compromise the woman he still loves. I did enjoy the book and had a hard time putting it down at times. The only beef i had with it, is that the author would go off into a detailed description of stuff that happened in the past of various characters and it bored the bejesus out of me. Get back to the crisis! Only a few of these actually seemed to give you any insight to the character, some were about characters that really didnt' matter to the story either. I ended up skimming over those parts. It was a pretty good read, though, and i might search out more of his titles.

It's been a nice relaxing long weekend. Mom and I went to a late lunch at a new restaurant in Dartmouth Crossing, Moxie's. Very nice. Very chic. Presentation was exquisite! Saturday was tidy up and house work day though for some reason i think i nipped out but i can't remember what i did. Sunday, Sis picked me up and we visited at Mom's for a bit. Sis brought a load of half-price Easter candy. I had a bit and though didn't go crazy with it, i don't eat choccy a lot at one sitting so those last couple of mini-eggs were really a bit much. Mom and i are going to Chapters later today and i'll probably have to get a few groceries.

Only 17 sleeps left until i land in Manchester! I did drag my suitcase out and threw some things in it that i didn't want to forget, like the hair dryer, books, maps, toiletries, plug adaptors. That sort of thing. There may not be room for clothes! lol!

Bloody hell, there's snow flying outside. Big fat flakes which probably won't last very long. Aaggh! When will it ever stop! This is typical though, of April.

2009 Books:
9. The Sisters of Henry VIII - Maria Perry
I really liked this book. You don't hear that much about Henry's sisters, Mary and Margaret but they both had an impact on the succession that people don't really think about. Mary's granddaughter was Jane Grey, the 9 Days Queen, through her daughter Lady Frances Brandon and Margaret's granddaughter was Mary, Queen of Scots. All this i knew but i didn't know a lot more and this book had a lot of information that was really well researched. There were gaps, of course, and the author also recounted what was going on in Henry's court as well, as far as the quest for the divorce and the downfall of Anne Boleyn. The biography of Jane Rochfort did all that and just stuck Jane in there as an afterthought most of the time but this book, when the narrative was not on Mary or Margaret, tended to just leave them alone. Sometimes, yes, they speculated what Mary or Margaret might have done or said but it was very unobtrusive. I thought this was well written and researched and it's definitely a keeper.

10. Neither Here nor There - Bill Bryson
I'm pretty sure i've read this before but i don't really remember much about it. I rarely laugh out loud at books even when they're meant to be funny but this one has me giggling all the time. He really has a way with words. This book is about his travels through Europe in 1990 as he retraces the backpack trip he and a high school buddy made in the 70s. You get bits of that trip along with the current one as he makes his way from the north of Europe to the south of Italy and back again. He's a funny guy.

6. Q&A by Vikas Swarup (aka Slumdog Millionaire).
I very much liked this book. I haven't seen the movie yet and i can see where it would be quite good though probably grim at times. The life of the 18 year old Ram Muhammed Thomas was not a pretty one. The quiz show that he'd won thought he must have cheated, mainly to get out of paying because they weren't in a financial position to pay out yet as it was a new show. How could an unschooled poor waiter answer 12 difficult questions? He describes various parts of his life, stories about things that happened to him and people he met and the circumstances of the stories resulted in him knowing things that allowed him coincidentally to answer each of the tv quiz show questions correctly. The book shows a life that alternates between the depths of despair and of hope and luck. The book seems to have lived up to the hype. Can't say about the movie. Hyped movies in my experience rarely do but as this one isn't a Hollywood made movie, it just might.