Hobbies and Crafts

The Handmaiden’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

I’d bought the download as I wondered what everyone was talking about. We haven’t watched either the previous nor current TV series.
A recent TV guide synopsis said something about Offred being shipped off to a Colony. That didn’t happen in the book.
Any intercourse describe in the book was consensual in so far as it was Offred’s duty to be a ‘vessel’ hoping to procreate a child for the Commander & his wife. There was no passion involved.

A series of environmental disasters had reduced the fertility rate. The feminist movement were protesting about female sexualisation. Various religious groups jumped on the bandwagon, fought a war with those of opposing views & implemented laws to ‘protect’ the females. They weren’t allowed to work, to read or to write & were heavily protected. All money they owned was transferred to their spouse or male guardian. Think strict Islamic purdah.

Young women or women of fertile age who had previously had a child, were given to the leaders wives as ‘handmaiden’ in the tradition of Abraham, his wife Rachel & her servant Leah.

If a child wasn’t sired by a ‘Commander’, the wife would quietly suggest to her handmaiden that she slept with a trusted male servant.

The book ends with Offred being spirited away into an underground railway, hopefully to freedom. There’s an epilogue set a number of years later at an academic conference. Interestingly none of the speakers have a Caucasian name. This probably relates back to the fall in birth rate effecting mainly the ‘white’ populated western countries.

I was a little hesitant starting the book, thinking it would be heavy going. It certainly not that.

....

On a (slightly) lighter note, Close to Home by Cara Hunter.

The last confirmed sighting of 8 year old Daisy was when she left school. Her parents don’t realise she’s missing until their BBQ family friendly party ends late at night.

The story, told through the eyes of the investigating police, casts suspicion first on one nuclear family member then another. Throw in a connection to the remnants of a local pedophile ring, and you’ve too many suspects to shake a stick at!
All have reasons to have been suspected of doing harm to Daisy.

Everyone has been damaged by a disjunctional family dynamics. The mother, if anything, is a narcissist.

There’s a fantastic ending - no one saw that coming!

I read C J Sansom’s book Lamentation, which is the 6th book in the Matthew Shardlake series. Shardlake is again thrust into the world of politics and court intrigue as Catholics and Protestants battle for power. Henry VIII is dying and both factions want control over his successor the young Prince Edward. Shardlake is working for Catherine Parr who has written a religious book which has been stolen and which could incriminate and endanger her. Quite an involved plot but a good book.

I thought I would also try one of Sansom’s other books as I like his Shardlake series so I read Winter in Madrid. It is set in the aftermath of the Spanish civil war, around 1940. Again it is quite a complex plot ; basically a spy story, mixed with a love story and intertwined with historical fact and real people. There are several twists in the story including a surprise on the last page which had me thinking “what happened next?” and wanting more. Very good read.

The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory has also probably been recommended on here.

The title is a little misleading as it's really about the last Tudors (plural) but told through the eyes of the 3 Grey sisters
Lady Jane "The nine days Queen", Katherine & Mary.
Like most of our generation, I know a reasonable amount about Elizabeth I - The Heart of a Man and all that. This book focuses more on her insecurity, the lengths she went to, to protect her claim to the throne & how it affected the lives of the surviving sisters.
.......

Pandora's Boy: Flavia Albia 6 (Falco: The New Generation) by Lindsey Davis

"On the Quirinal Hill, a young girl named Clodia has died, apparently poisoned with a love potion. Only one person could have supplied such a thing: a local witch who goes by the name of Pandora, whose trade in herbal beauty products is hiding something far more sinister.

The supposedly sweet air of the Quirinal is masking the stench of loose morality, casual betrayal and even gangland conflict and, when a friend of her own is murdered, Albia determines to expose as much of this local sickness as she can - beginning with the truth about Clodia's death."

Finished Capital by John Lanchester and enjoyed it.
Set in the early 21st Centuary in Pepys Road, London, it tells if its various inhabitants. They come from a variety of backgrounds, and cultures. It also tells of their helpers, e.g. decorators and child minders. As well as a traffic warden (come asylum seeker) . A real motley crew.. it was interesting from cover to cover.

Also read -
"The Marble Collector" by Cecelia Ahern. Which was recommended on here, but I can't remember how by.
I had read previous book by thr author and liked her stylr.
However, I found it a little difficult to get into at first. The story is told by two people Fergus Boggs, who tells mainly in the past. and Sabrina, his daughter, who is telling the story of her present, maily set on one day.

However, as soon as I got used to the change between narratives I settled down firstly to enjoy it, and then to be captivated by the story. Really wanted to know what happened next 9in the case of Sabrina) and what had happened before, in the case of Fergus. Till at the end ...... (no, I won't tell you, read it and see).
So thank you to whoever recommended it.



Also read "The Glass Palace" by Amitav Ghosh

A family saga set in Burma, India and Malaya, starting well before the first world war. We follow the story of orphaned 11 year old Rajkumar, who is an Indian boy newly arrived in Mandalay in Burma. A time of turmoil, when the British wage war on the Royal family who are exiled to India. As we follow Rajkumar's progress, we find out about the exiled Royal family and their servants.

The story moves between India and Burma, and on to Malaya (with some connections to USA.
It is exciting and informative, but I also found it challenging. I knew very little about the history of India, Burma or Malaya (except from the British point of view). So it was mainly new to me a a lot to grasp (and hold on to).
At the end of the book we follow Jaya, the grand daughter of Rajkumar on her quest for information of her family.

It is probably a book that I shall revisit in the future, as I may glean more information that way (a sort of pleasurable revision)

Recommend this book, especially if you have visited or have an interest in the far East.

Of to the library tomorrow with my book os "Lists of Books" hoping to find something that has been recommended.

Just purchased Spectacles by Sue Perkins for my kindle,
99p on Amazon.

Looking at the write up and customers reviews looks like
I'm in for an enjoyable, funny read.

'A Lost Tribe' by William King, (a Catholic Priest), published by The Lilliput Press, Dublin.

A dower description of young Catholic Priests training & formation in a Dublin Seminary.

Thanks Emma x :-D <3

Harriet Beecher Stowe a biography by Noel Gerson.

Sorry about that Von.

Emma - can you tell me who wrote the biography please

Finished reading Harriet Beecher Stowe, she was a good wife, mother
and against slavery in America. She was a contradiction at times and
stubborn to the point of what she believed was so.
Never gave speeches on the abolition of slavery but wrote plenty
and was lauded over whatever country she visited in her travels
across the world.
When given a roll of silk as a present she got an outfit made for
herself and was pointed out to her that young children were kept
in terrible conditions and made to work for hours on end to complete
this work for her.
She somehow didn't seem to think this was another form of slavery
but for white children. She denied that she knew about this and thought
it was made by the lady who measured her.
Deeply religious and trying to find out what God's purpose was for her.
Through her writing she was the main supporter of her husband and
children.
My thoughts on her are mixed.

I have just finished The Secret River by Kate Grenville. I found it very interesting, not really a feel good book and no happy ending really to speak of but well worth the read.


London, 1807. William Thornhill, happily wedded to his childhood sweetheart Sal, is a waterman on the River Thames. Life is tough but bearable until William makes a mistake, a bad mistake for which he and his family are made to pay dearly. His sentence: to be transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. The Thornhills arrive in this harsh and alien land that they cannot understand and which feels like a death sentence. But among the convicts there is a rumour that freedom can be bought, that 'unclaimed' land up the Hawkesbury offers an opportunity to start afresh, far away from the township of Sydney. When William takes a hundred acres for himself he is shocked to find Aboriginal people already living on the river. And other recent arrivals - Thomas Blackwood, Smasher Sullivan and Mrs Herring - are finding their own ways to respond to them. Soon Thornhill, a man neither better nor worse than most, has to make the most difficult decision of his life.

An Argumentation of Historians was only published in May. It might not be the most recent published, but it’s only a month or so old.

Apart from 2 books from The Nothing Girl series, I might have read something else of hers. Need to check!

Added - I had downloaded White Silence. Either I haven’t read it, or it didn’t leave a lasting impression.

I got it wrong. Jodi Taylor’s new book is called Whte Silence and is apparently a “supernatural thriller”. Reviews have been mixed.

OH has just downloaded Lockdown: Inside Brazil's most
Dangerous Prison by Drauzio Varella 99p on Amazon
for his kindle.

This prison was known as the Old House and run by the inmates,
the author who is a doctor worked there and writes of his experience
in this notorious prison in São Paulo.

No need for apologies Det. Hope you enjoyed the book. Have you read any of Jodi Taylor’s other books? I read The Nowhere Girl a long time ago but haven’t read any of the others. I think she has also started a sci-fi series.

Apologies! Anyway, I’ve finished it this morning. Perhaps I can get to bed earlier tonight :-D

Det your thanks I think are for Vera, Lol!!!

If anyone is interested in trying out The Chronicles of St Mary, the first of the series "Just One Damned Thing After Another: The Chronicles of St Mary's, Book 1" is currently free on KIndle download.

Ann - I hadn't realised book 9 had been published, so thanks for that.

Just finished Virgin Widow by Anne O’brian. The story of Anne Neville wife of Richard third, daughter of the Earle of Warwick. It is a work of fiction based on what little is known of her, very believable and very well written.

I keep making a note on my iPad of different books recommended on here and the list is getting longer and longer. I now have to take the iPad to the library and I go round the shelves checking if they have any of the books there. They hardly ever do. I'll have to order a few I think.

I've just finished "And the Rest is History" and "An Argumentation of Historians", books 8 & 9 in the Chronicles of St Mary's series by Jodi Taylor. The kindle price was 99p. If you haven't read any of these books, they are fantasy with a touch of humour and involve the personnel of an Institute of Historical Research who travel through time to record historical events as they happen. Needless to say, they encounter lots of problems and disasters along the way.

The books could be read as stand-alones but I think they are best read in order as the lives of the characters progress through the books. I thought these two books showed more of the private and emotional lives of the characters, particularly Max, the main female in the books, and her relationship with her husband, son and colleagues.

I recommended these books to someone who read one and hated it so they wouldn't suit everyone but they are a good read if you like the genre.