My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece

Annabel Pitcher (Kindle Edition Jun 13, 2011)

shortlisted for the Galaxy National Book Awards Children's Book of the Year and the Dylan Thomas Prize.

I laughed and cried almost the entire way through this story. Jamie has just moved from London to the country with his Dad and Jasmine, his teenage sister, and Roger the cat.

After his sister, Rose, died five years ago, the family fell apart. Mum stayed in London with her boyfriend, Dad spends his days in a drunken haze, Jas had dyed her hair pink and taken up with Leo, a pierced and green-haired

Jamie doesn’t miss Rose because he was only four when she died. He hasn’t cried in all that time. He’s far more interested in his cat and in keeping his new friend, Sunya, a secret from his Dad.

There are many blog posts about this book … you can read from Cornflower’s blog here

There is a link to the reading by David Tennant, shortlisted for Audiobook of the Year

Just William

by Richmal Crompton
first published 1922
Kindle edition April 2009

This is the first of the series and a collection of 38 William Books by
Richmal Crompton

Whether it's a trip to the cinema, babysitting a youngster, being a page boy at a wedding, or running away from home to take a job below stairs, the 11-year old William Brown can always be relied on to create chaos and havoc wherever he goes. This short story collection (the first of 38 books) is a wonderful introduction to a classic character.

Particular stand outs are 'William the Intruder', in which William falls in love with the same girl as his brother Robert, 'The Show', which has the first of many hilarious moments from Mr Brown to round off an excellent story, and the first ever story 'The Outlaws', which sees William forced to look after a baby which he tells the rest of the Outlaws he's kidnapped in order to save face. Of course, things don't go according to plan in any of them, although there are a nice mixture of moments of triumph and despair for the youngster.

This is a blurb from the back cover of Just William:
”No matter how hard William Brown tries, his school uniform always looks tatty and disreputable, he mangles the English language in his speech and writing, and he can never remember any of the rules he's supposed to be following. Along with his gang, the Outlaws, he spends his days contriving schemes to make money, trying to get out of doing schoolwork, musing about the fact that girls are a different species and , he reckons, being generally misunderstood by teachers and all other adults.
William is one of the most self-righteous characters in English fiction, always ready with a convoluted excuse to explain away his misdemeanours and elastic lies that get stretched to breaking point”

At one point his father said, “The only thing that relieves the tedium of going out to dinner is the fact that for a short time one has a rest from William.”

I hope I can find more of the William series, whether on Kindle or in real books. He’s a delight.

My new Kindle

I do so love my new Kindle. It's only a few months old and already stuffed with books - mostly samples, I haven't bought all of them. I resisted buying a Kindle for a long long time because I'm passionate about the look and feel of real books and paper, and a great supporter of our local library. But one day not long ago, there was a book by Linda Gillard available ONLY on Kindle, and I wanted it. House of Silence was my first book, and it was wonderful. I was hooked, and since then I've read another of hers, Emotional Geology.

There are 81 items in the list, but only five or six of those have I bought. I do like the feature that allows me to 'sample' the books before I decide to buy them.

Some of the most recent acquisitions are: Notwithstanding by Louis de Bernieres, Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton, Collected Stories of Eudora Welty and Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.

I read blogs written by friends who review books, and then I want another one. I'm beginning to think I'm greedy and want it all - am I an obsessive compulsive consumer?

I made a padded bag from some scraps in my sewing drawer

I haven't figured out yet when the wireless connection is on, or when is the best time or place to connect. Sometimes I go outside because I've heard or read somewhere that it's best to be away from things like tv or computer. The PDF file with instructions is huge and it takes a bit of time to wander through it. Usually I just try at random times throughout the day or evening - eventually I get a connection.

And the very best thing is that it's so light weight and portable - perfect for reading in bed.

Tinkers

by Paul Harding

Harper Collins
2009

George Washington Crosbylies dying of cancer in his living room while his family keeps watch. His death provides the framework for the real story, which is about his unsteady relationship with Howard, his father.

At times George is lucid, recalling notable incidents of triumph and tragedy from his life as clearly as a newspaper reporter. Often, though, he slips into prose poems that seem to have little bearing on the story but perfectly reflect the semi-dreaming state of his mind.

"When his grandchildren had been little, they had asked if they could hide inside the clock. Now he wanted to gather them and open himself up, and hide them among his ribs and faintly ticking heart."

This novel touched me deeply because it brought up the memories of my uneasy love/hate relationship with my own father. As I move more and more toward the end of my life, I reflect often on the past - my place in it and my family relationships. They seem so incredibly important now, and earlier not given the smallest thought.

Breakfast at the Exit Cafe

Travels through America
Merilyn Simonds/Wayne Grady
Greystone Books 2010



In December 2006, husband and wife Wayne Grady and Merilyn Simonds decided to take the long way home from Vancouver to Ontario. Anxious to avoid winter driving, and eager to experience America – a nation they knew only from depictions in books and movies – they opted to drive down the Pacific Coast, cross the continent through the southern states, and finish their journey along the eastern seaboard. They set off in their trusty Toyota Echo with “no itinerary, no agenda” – except to make it to the Grand Canyon by Christmas Day and to discover the perfect hash brown.

For Grady, whose forebears were slaves who came to Canada in the 1870s, it becomes a journey through fear of racism and violence into his own family roots in the American Deep South. For Simonds, who grew up a lonely Canadian in the American School of Campinas, Brazil, it becomes a journey into the heart of the ex-pat promised land, the nation of the American Dream.

Part travelogue, part exploration, part mid-winter love story, this is a journey into the heart of the next-door eighbor we thought we knew. There are frequent side trips into fascinating nooks of history, geography and literature.

The Americans they meet along the way - eating in restaurants, manning motel offices, waiting in line for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade - illuminate a country dissolving in the grip of the final years of the Bush administration.