Artful Readers Club September 2013

The book I chose to read for this month's review is

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka.

Now, as it turns out only a little bit of the book is actually about tractors. 

The main story is one that most of us probably dread happening to our elderly fathers.

Nikolai's wife dies and leaves him alone for the first time after about 50 years of marriage.

He soon finds himself lonely and meets a young (he's 84 and she is 36) Ukrainian divorcee who's visa is about to expire and needs a new husband to stay in the country.

Nikolai's two daughters don't take the news too well and start a campaign to rid their father of this buxom foreigner.

Valentine's Sexy Bra

I found it quite a funny story at times and other times is was harrowing, as Nikolai has to deal with Valentine's mis-treatment.

I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, so I will just say that I loved the ending and re-read the last few pages about 3 times just to enjoy it again and again.

See the rest of this months reviews at the link on Darcy's blog.

Alison xx

Artful Readers Club August 2013

Welcome back for another review in this year's challenge with Darcy, the Artful Readers Club.

This month I read Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

It was on Graham's reading list for the school holidays, so we decided to read it at the same time, but as a 14 year old doesn't have to wash, iron, cook and clean - he finished quite a bit before me and then kept asking if this or that had happened yet !!!

I think because the book has already been made into a film, I wasn't looking forward to reading it.

 I don't know why as I've not seen the film yet, but there was just something putting me off.

But I can now say that I loved it, even if I was a bit surprised by the ending - I'm not going to spoil it for you but I probably could have finished about 20 pages earlier and still been happy.

I loved reading about the zoo in Ponticherry, Pi's home town. I had a little chuckle about his name and his uncle. I was on the edge of my seat a few times as Pi and Richard Parker travelled across the Pacific Ocean. I felt Pi's pain in the hot sun and the sting of salt water. I felt his relief at meeting other humans. I understood his difficulty in choosing just one religion.

 I would recommend this book as I really felt the sense of adventure that I haven't got out of a book for ages. Although I would never get on a cargo ship crossing the Pacific !!!!

Alison xx

Artful Readers Club July 2013

Back again for my monthly book review for the Artful Readers Club.

This month I read a wonderful book by Keith Cronin called Me Again.

I 'bought' it ages ago when it was free on Kindle and as the whole point of the ARC is to read books that have just been forgotten about, I had picked this one.

What an amazing piece of fiction - but it felt so real that by the end if I had been told that it was an autobiography then, I think, I would have believed it.

It's the story of Jonathan Hooper who wakes up after 6 years in a coma.

At first he doesn't remember anything about what had happened, who he was, where he was. In fact, he thought he was called Jesus as that's what all the medical staff around were saying.

And to be honest, he doesn't really remember much even when he starts to communicate with the doctors and his family. 

He had a drop, dead gorgeous girlfriend before, but he can't remember.

He had a great high flying accountants job, but now he doesn't understand numbers at all.

He has a mum, a dad and a brother, but he doesn't remember them.

Jonathan makes friends with Rebecca, a fellow stroke patient, at the same hospital as him.

And we follow their story towards recovery.

Jonathan has to learn to do everything again, including learning his animals and what sounds they make, which is where I took my inspiration for my page.

This truly is a feel good book.

My biggest suprise about this book was that it was written by a man. Normally men write thrillers, mysteries, science fiction, but Me Again is filled with emotion and charm. Well worth the read.

Alison xx

Artful Readers Club June 2013

Another month seems to have passed so quickly and I'm back with another review for the

 Artful Readers Club.

This month I read For Whom The Bells Toll by Ernest Hemingway.

We picked up this book while holidaying in Key West last summer (best holiday ever !!!!) and we visited Hemingway's home.

Boys in garden at Hemingway's House Key West, August 2012

I really wasn't looking forward to reading it as Martyn read it first and said that it was one of the most boring books he has ever read. So it did take me two attempts to start, first time was right at he start of the year and I only got to chapter 5,but I decided to bite the bullet and finished it as I didn't want it hanging over me until December.

Surprisingly, I love it!!

The main plot is of Robert Jordan's work to help the Spanish resistance blow up a bridge to stop the fascist movement, but I was caught up in the love story between Jordan and Maria. I particularly like when Jordan went off into his dreamworld of how things would be after the war was over and the communists won.

Mountains where the group hid out

Sometimes it felt that the main story was a little lost in the memories of Pablo and what happened in his village before the war but I admired his strong minded wife Pilar (or the 'woman of Pablo', as she often refered to) who seemed to be the only person who could keep him under control.

The narrative writing style was a bit difficult to get into at the start but I soon enjoyed the flow once the love story was brought in.

I'm glad that I did read it and will probably read most Hemingway in the future.

Alison xx

The Artful Readers Club April 2013

 Before I tell you all about the book I read this month, I have just realised that today is my 3rd Anniversary as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. 

I love my job and if anyone from France, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands or the UK is interested in knowing more about the benefits of become a Stampin' Up! Demo then just get in touch with me at  alisonplumm@gmail.com

So on to my book.

This month I read  for the Artful Readers Club

The Redemption of Alexander Seaton by S G MacLean

I didn't really know what to expect when I started the book, I got it because it was a free book on my kindle.  But I did enjoy it quite a lot, so much so, that I have already brought the sequels.

The story is set in the 1620s in the North East of Scotland.

On a wild, stormy night in Banff, Alexander is coming home from the pub, slightly the worse for wear, when he sees Patrick Davidson struggling in the street. Alexander chooses to ignore Patrick's cries for help.

Next morning, Patrick is found dead at Alexander's desk in his classroom.

Although it is a murder mystery novel, a good half of the book sets up the scene up why Alexander Seaton needs redemption.

I loved the slow pace of the book that seems to speed up near the end as you wait to find out who the murderer is.  The characters are all well developed and you can feel the difficulties of life in the rural countryside of northern Scotland in their actions and words.

One of the main themes of the book is the strict religious ways of all the characters and how much power the town sheriff has. 

There is a Scottish glossary at the back of the book which helps with all the Scottish terms.

All in all a faboulous book.

See everyone else's reviews here

Alison xx

Artful Readers Club March

Welcome back to a new month of the Artful Readers Club.

This month I listened to a book rather than read it.

My book choice was The Gallows Curse by Karen Maitland.

I honestly can't praise this book enough !!

I loved it from the first sentence to the last. 

This is the 3rd book that I have listened to by Karen Maitland, the books are read by David Thorpe and he really brings all the characters to life. I don't know if I read one of the books if I would enjoy is as much without all the voices of David.

We are transported back to the year 1210 where King John is the ruler of England and having fallen out with the Pope, England is living under an interdict. So people cannot be blessed in life or death and some have turned to witchcraft to help themselves.

Elena, our young heroine, is given a job in the Manor House by Master Rafaelle, to serve the Lady Anne, but unbeknown to her it is to take the sins of Lady Anne's son, Gerard, through witchcraft.

In turn, Elena must turn to witchcraft as well, when she starts having terrible nightmares in which she sees that she is going to murder her newborn baby.

I really loved that each chapter starts with a little passage from the Mandrakes Herbal.

Elena gets her mandrake from Gytha, the local cunning woman, to help her see the end of her dreams. But she needs to feed it bodily fluids to bring it alive.

All of Karen Maitland's book finished with a huge twist in the tale,
and The Gallows Curse is no exception.

So I can't give too much of the plot away without spoiling the end for you.

I would definitely recommend all of Karen's books and I can't wait to listen to the next one.

Alison xx

Artful Readers Club February 2013

My second book of the year for the Artful Readers Club is 

 A Village in Jeopardy by Rebecca Shaw

The best way to describe this book is a soap opera in words.

This is the 17th book in the series and I wait with baited breath from the finish of one book to the publication of the next.
All the books are set in the fictional village of Turham Malpas - think of a beautiful Midsomer Murders village without the murders !!

Each book has a list of all the characters and what they do in the village and there is also a plan of the village, so you can see where everyone lives. I often refer to these guides as I am reading the books.

The main characters, this time, are Johnny Templeton (nephew of a former resident Sir Ralph),
and
Alice and Marcus March.
Alice is the village music teacher and her husband Marcus is writing a novel.

These are the two people I took my inspiration for my artwork.
The music paper, shaded in girly colours of Perfect Plum and Raspberry Ripple and some typed sheets to represent Marcus' writing.

Johnny, our newcomer, wants it all - the big house which belonged to his family for generations and the girl, even though she's already married. But to get them other people will have to loose them first.
Alice is fed up bankrolling Marcus, while he is trying to write the perfect novel.

I have to admit that this has been my least favourite book in the series, which was a bit of a shock as I have loved all the others. When I first started reading it, I thought that I had missed one out, but I hadn't (I did check). The story seemed to have jumped on quite a bit from the end of book number 16, A Village Deception.
All that said, I am now waiting with baited breath again for the next instalment.

Check out all the other reviews at Darcy's Blog.

Artful Readers Club January 2013

Welcome to the first monthly Artful Readers Club, organised by the lovely Darcy.
 

My first book of the year is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

And to be honest, the reason I picked it for this challenge is not because I ever thought I was missing out on a great piece of fiction (although it really is !!) but because my son has to read it for school.

Just before the Christmas holidays when we was clearing out his bag one evening, I saw this book on the table and read the summary on the back cover and I have to admit I was surprised about the subject and that my son is only 13 years old.

My husband tells me that the book has been on the GCSE reading list for years, but it was never a book that we had to study in Scotland. I thought that the subject matter would be too difficult to explaining to a group of 13 year olds. But it is such a beautifully written story told through the eyes of a young girl who is just starting school at the beginning of the story.

Scout and Jem Fitch are the two young children of Atticus, who live in Maycomb county in Alabama in the mid 1930s, and this book follows their lives over a 3 year period where Atticus' job as a lawyer has an impact of the quiet lives they all lead, when he defends a black man accused of raping a white girl.

Scout is a real little tomboy and like nothing better than getting in fist fights with her comrades.She doesn't wear pretty little dresses, much to her Aunt's horror.
Jem is a young boy who we see grow into a young man full of youthful convictions.
Both love spending their summers with their next door neighbour's nephew and trying to sneak a peek at the Radley household, which is the next door neighbours house, but no-one ever comes out during the day.

I think that the main thing that struck me about this book, is the huge divide in racial tensions.

I think that as a Western European that we have never had to deal with such problems and I wonder why people find it so difficult to live in harmony.

 For my artwork, I will be doing a title page and a scene from each book,
that I will be keeping in a little 6 x 6 scrapbook that I have.

This month's art is what I image the square outside the courtroom to look like.

Check out everyone else's first reviews on Darcy's blog.

Alison xx

The Artful Readers Club 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!

I would like to wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year.

What plans have you made already ??

Well, my first plan is to join Darcy's new 2013 challenge.

This year it is called The Artful Readers Club 

I have made a commitment to read 12 books this year

 and post a review and an art related project on the last Friday of the month.

On the right hand column of my blog you will find a list of the books I have chosen to read over the year. I have to admit that I am so excited about my choices and want to read them all now !!

Go to Darcy's blog if you would like to join up.

I am happily reading my first book and will be back with my Stampin' Up! projects from next Monday.

BONNE ANNÉE !!!!

Je tiens à vous souhaiter une excellente année bonne et heureuse.

Quels sont les plans que vous avez fait déjà?

Eh bien, mon premier projet est de rejoindre Darcy pour son nouveau défi 2013.

Cette année, il est appelé The Artful Readers Club.

J'ai pris un engagement de lire 12 livres cette année
et puis de vous donner mon avis et un projet artistique lié, le dernier vendredi du mois.

Dans la colonne de droite de mon blog, vous trouverez une liste des livres que j'ai choisi de lire pendant l'année. Je dois admettre que je suis très excitée par mes choix et  je voudrais les lire tous maintenant !!

Rendez-vous sur le blog de Darcy, si vous souhaitez rejoindre.

Je suis heureuse de lire mon premier livre et serai de retour avec mes projets de Stampin 'Up! dès lundi prochain.

Alison xx