Slight indiscretion...

A slight indiscretion I know, but I wasn't feeling hugely jolly at lunchtime, so after I'd met my boyfriend (which was lovely) and had the worst tuna sandwich in the history of tuna sandwiches, I made in the mistake (I wasn't feeling strong!) of wandering into the Oxfam bookshop in time. I had a lovely long chat with the woman at the till (who also used to be a librarian) and ended up with the above. I could have bought many more Viragos, so I was quite good. I mentioned that I wanted to read Hotel du Lac the other day, and although I've read The wedding group I wanted to own it in a green Virago. And The Edwardians is something I've also wanted to read for a while, and this is a lovely copy. I haven't yet read any Vita Sackville-West. I discovered Amanda Brookfield a few weeks ago and find her a nice light read, so perfect for summer reading. Penelope Lively is another favourite and this looks like an interesting read. Finally, A nice cup of tea and a sit down - this is the book of the hilarious website, and although I've had the book from the library, it's great to have my own copy. So there we go...

So that's my resolve gone. Particularly as I'm going to the Persephone shop tomorrow and as I said to my boyfriend...it's only polite to buy SOMETHING. The current state of the poor TBRBC below...

The fruits of my labours.

Excuse the dreadful pun. First up, jam making! I feel slightly scared by this, as surely jam making is something only my mother does! I, and my flat, are now covered in a strawberry goo, and smelling strongly of the same. It made far more than anticipated, my two jam jars were quite inadequate, so as I type, it is cooling in cereal bowls waiting to go into tupperware and be given to everyone we know. Picture one shows the saucepans (dual stirring!), picture two shows it nearly boiling over and emitting hot spits of jam, and picture three shows the finished products.



I've also now made a double batch of strawberry and clotted cream ice cream, strawberry frozen greek yoghurt, half a batch of frozen blackcurrant yoghurt (big faff trying to get blackcurrant pulp through sieve), and a batch of raspberry frozen yoghurt. We've also eaten strawberries raw. Not a bad result from £10.58!

But the piece de resistance has to be the blackcurrant clafoutis cakes I made in my new Le Creuset heart ramekins. I made this cake in a heart shaped tin for our anniversary this year, but I think this is even better! Kitsch I know! 2oz butter, 2oz sugar, 2 oz SR flour, 1 egg, 4 oz blackcurrants, and 2tbsp milk. Baked at 180C until done looking. (Recipe originally from Sainsburys magazine last year).

Summer reading - part 1

I was reading the Sunday Times Culture Supplement last night and it had a feature devoted to summer reading, so I thought I ought to get my own thoughts down about summer reading. I'm not quite clear as to whether it is simply reading undertaken in the summer (and if so I'm not sure why we would read more in the summer than in the winter when the weather is horrid and we want to stay indoors more), or whether it is because most of us take time off work in the summer and thus have more time to read then. Or whether it is purely a marketing gimmick.
Anyway, I'm going with the second reason, and as I'm off work for the rest of this week and we have a weekend away at the end of it, I thought I'd write about what I'm planning to read this week. It's only roughly formed so far, and books will be selected from my tbrbc and the library pile since there is plenty on there to occupy me - I don't need to give in and use this as an excuse to buy more!
I was reading a book by Helen Humphrey's last night when I changed my mind and decided to treat myself to a Persephone book. So I decided this morning that the plan is to read a Persephone each weekday of this week - I haven't decided which yet (although today I have Brook Evans in my bag!), but it seems appropriate since I intend to visit the shop tomorrow.
I have extra reading time tomorrow, as I'll be getting the train to London for the day, so I intend to take Jane Gardam's A Long Way to Verona which I bought back in May and have been looking forward to.
In my suitcase for the weekend, I'm packing Rose Tremain's Swimming Pool Season (because that feels like an appropriate title as I intend to visit the outdoor pool each day this week - have just been today and it was such a relief to cool off), The spellbook of Listen Taylor (by Jaclyn Moriarty (colourful summertime cover), the new book by Patrick Gale called The whole day through (as it's set in Cornwall and I want to finish it so I can lend it to a friend), and possibly a few other things.
I found my boyfriend his summer reading yesterday - he asked for some sporty books so I got him Michael Phelps (swimmer)'s autobiography, a book about mountaineering, a book about the Tour De France, and a book by Lance Armstrong (cyclist). He seemed pleased with my choice, though I'm still keen on getting him reading one of my lovely Will Fiennes books as I am so sure he would enjoy them.

(BTW - summer reading part 2 will come when we have our proper holiday and I have to pack 10 days worth of books!)

Teaser Tuesday...

Quote a couple of spoiler-free sentences from the book you’re reading to tempt others...

"But the weight of my books necessitates transport. I do not have much for thirty-five years on this earth: mostly books, a few photographs."
-- The Lost Garden, Helen Humphreys.

A friend recommended this author, and I am enjoying this one so far. Anyone else come across her?

Blueberry soured cream cake

Before I took to the sofa this weekend, I did make a soured cream blueberry cake from this recipe. It was ok, but I thought it came out overly soggy, and although the cake was completely cold when I frosted it, it all ran off (perhaps because I used M and S organic cream cheese rather than more plastic philadelphia).
We did make it to a pick your own farm at the weekend, and got £10.58 of strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants which now I'm on a mission to use up - mainly icecream but some baking too I expect.

Alas poor lady (Rachel Ferguson)

In every sense of the word! I wasn't around at the weekend as I was laid low with a horrific stomach ache which necessitated a trip to the out of hours doctor for some extremely strong painkillers, which made me feel distinctly odd. Felt a bit better on Sunday, and well enough to go to a Pick Your Own farm, but am not feeling so good today and am very glad that I have the rest of the week off and don't have to struggle through work. So apologies for my absence.

Whilst we were waiting for the doctor to call us back, I decided I needed to find a book, and I'd planned to read a Persephone this weekend. Alas poor lady seemed an appropriate sort of title, but I have to say that it wasn't a great choice as it was a weight volume which I struggled to hold up, and it required quite a lot of concentration.
However, I did end up enjoying it when I read the rest of it yesterday. It opens with a fete in aid of the Gentlewomen's Protective Association, and shows us some distressed gentlewomen, and asks how do women get into this situation. The rest of the book show us how it happens by relating the life of Grace, the youngest daughter of a large, well-to-do family. It would take too long to relate the incidents of her life, and although it was a fairly interesting plot, what I liked best about the book was the description of life in the late 19th century and early twentieth century. So, early chapters deal with the daily routine, and then the yearly routine, before showing us how frustrating it is to be an unmarried woman in that period. One sister ends up going to a convent, another gets married, but the rest are left at home with not very much to do. Attempts to find employment are blocked by their parents, in particular their mother who refuses to help to change things. As spinsters they are viewed as a social embarassment, and thus it is inevitable that they will need to be helped by the Gentlewomen's Protective Association. In fact, the book ends on a happy note, as provided for by the GPA, Grace has a better way of life than she has had for years.

On Friday I read Mary Sinclair's Three Sisters, which was very good too - another green Virago. It takes the Bronte's lives as a starting point and explores the lives of three sisters living with their vicar father, each of whom are desperate to escape. Marriage is essentially the only option, and all three sisters individually pursue the new village doctor. In some ways it was another case of women leading frustrating lives pre-women's lib, and a bit depressing for that, but definitely one worth reading.

I did do a tiny bit of baking on Friday night, and I'll post about that in due course this week. I hope to get lots of reading done this week, but I have a fair few things on (am hoping to get to the Persephone bookshop on Weds!), and definitely need to catch up on some sleep and rest.

Never no more (Maura Laverty)

It was time for another Virago title last night, so I picked up Never no more from the pile of library books in the sitting room (it is a very big pile, because Oxfordshire libraries are very generous and allow one to borrow 20 books at once, and because I have my boyfriend's library ticket as well as my own).
This is the story of 13-year old Delia at a turning point in her life. Her father has just died, and her mother is about to move (with her brothers and sisters) to start a dressmaking business in another town. Delia's grandmother feels that this would not be best for Delia, and offers her the chance to stay behind and carry on attending school. The book is about her subsequent life, her relationship with her Gran...not very much happens, but it is a wonderful evocation of life in Ireland in the 1920s.
I love this sentence which is representative of Delia's feelings for her grandmother and is typical of Laverty's wonderful writing:
"Human nature is like bread I think. Soda bread calls for buttermilk and baking powder bread for new milk. Use the wrong kind of milk and the bread is sodden. Gran was the right kind of milk for me".
Almost every meal is outlined in detail in this sort of style - not just what it was, but how it was made.
The edition that I have from the library has an interesting introduction by Maeve Binchy - I've read some of her novels (Evening Class is probably the best, but there was a period when she produced almost one every year which Mum and I would get for our summer holiday) which are very light, so it felt a little strange to see her writing in quite a different context, and before her commercial success. She points out that the book is certainly not autobiographical as Laverty never lived with her Gran and that although it is a disappointment to discover this, perhaps we should see the book as the sort of childhood Laverty wished for rather than the one she actually had. She fills in some of the biographical detail to Laverty's life, which is interesting, apparently her two cookbooks graced almost every kitchen across Ireland when Binchy was growing up, which explains the attention given to describing the meals eaten in the text.

Persephone

Into work late this morning as I have a meeting in town, which gives me the opportunity to share the contents of my Persephone packages! (its going to be a short day as the college has its big three-yearly ball tonight and we have to clear out of college and lock the library down at 4pm!) I love the bookmarks that come with the Persephone titles - I'd not bought one from the Persephone shop so that is a novelty for me. I spent a large part of yesterday evening rearranging my books.

Which makes me want to ask - do you think Persephone books should be kept separately, for aesthetic purposes, or integrated, for organisational ones?

In fact, I think I'll overdose on Persephone porn with a picture of the bottom of my tbrbc which has a lot of Persephone awaiting me....
- it's not the entire collection, I think I have about 6 or 7 amalgamated in my main alphabetical sequence which I have read - see if you can spot them below. The other books on that shelf are the lovely new Emma Smith - The Maiden's Trip (far left), and the complete Greyladies collection on the right. I've mentioned them before and I think Persephone lovers might enjoy them. I haven't got as far as reading any of them yet, but I am looking forward to doing so. Greyladies are a fairly new imprint specialising in vintage crime, school stories for adults, and books by children's authors for adults - the last is especially appealing. The books aren't quite as beautiful as the Persephone books


I think I've actually got all of the Persephone titles that I want now; I've read most of the others that I'm interested in in different editions from the public library (although obviously for completist sake I'd love a full set!) So this should make it a bit easier if I pop into the shop next week not to break my no-books 6-weeks and just come out with the bag or notebook... I'm felt a bit sad as I put London child on librarything.com last night that I won't be adding any more books for a while, but it might give me a chance to catch up with a bit of my backlog.

Happy Friday everyone :)

Now that summer is here (in the northern hemisphere, anyway), what is the most "Summery" book you can think of? The one that captures the essence of summer for you?

Without a doubt it has to be The go-between by L.P. Hartley. It is set in a long, hot summer, and I read it on a bank holiday Monday in my teens, lying in the garden in the sun.

Unfortunately I can't find a copy of the cover of the version I read.

However, although it's been too hot (I found myself in the kitchen at 3.30 am last night eating ice cream to cool down, although that was partly as I had not had much dinner), I am now looking out of the window to clouds :( Here's hoping for some sunny weather when I have some time off next week.

A start in life (Anita Brookner)

I wasn't feeling very well yesterday, and had to come home from work to lie on the sofa, which meant that I missed the second Oxford Persephone book-group, of which I'd already missed the first. My ability to cope with stomach pain seems to be somewhat diminished when I am overtired. So I chose a little paperback book off my tbrbc that wouldn't require much effort to hold up (!), and fortunately didn't require much effort to read.

I picked up A start in life from the Oxfam bookshop a couple of weeks ago because according to the back of the book it was about a woman who's life is dominated by books. It was another book where not very much happened, and it was another book which was predominantly a coming of age story. The book starts with a memorable opening sentence: "Dr Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature". From this sentence, the book goes back to Ruth's (Dr Weiss') childhood, and is predominantly a coming of age story where Ruth spends her life escaping into books - from her parents, and from her perceived inadequacies, and from her inability to find love.
It was interesting to read a book by a Booker winner the day after reading an actual Booker winner. I'm really curious now to read Hotel du Lac as although I enjoyed A start in life, I'm not convinced Brookner could produce anything as good as Holiday. I'm trying to remember if I have read anything else by her, I don't think I have, although I have been wanting to read her most recent title Strangers.

I then went on and read Caro Fraser's The trustees which was absorbing enough to stop me from being bored while my boyfriend worked, but not especially memorable (although I am a fan of her books precisely for that reason), and then looked at the pictures in the Good Housekeeping "Great Cakes" book which I recently borrowed from the library, but I didn't see anything I wanted to make. Luckily I've already got plans for this weekend :)

Anyway, something that cheered me up was a nice email from Lydia at Persephone in response to my anxious enquiry about my last Persephone book. Apparently the request for the free book hadn't shown up, but she was putting The London Child in the post for me. So hopefully you won't have to wait much longer to see my Persephone pile! Am very envious that Paperback Reader went to the shop today, and I am wondering if I can fit in a quick visit next week when I am up in London to see the stage show Calendar Girls with one of my oldest friends - it is only a 20 minute walk from the theatre according to the Transport for London website...