tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18229241578850945742024-03-13T17:31:42.210+00:00Margin Notes BooksMarginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.comBlogger140125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-92135715854792252672014-12-09T22:13:00.000+00:002014-12-09T22:13:01.894+00:00Baking blind<br />
Of course I haven't made a Christmas cake on stir-up Sunday. I haven't even blogged on stir-up Sunday. I missed it. I was probably packing books and attaching labels. A lifesaver those sticky labels. <br />
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Instead, I've been reading 'The Great British Bake Off' inspired <strong><em>The Art of Baking Blind</em></strong>. More accurately, rereading as I picked it up in the summer and keep enjoying it. It's a good story of baking and the art of showing family and friends that you care for them. <br />
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Perhaps I'll bake this weekend and fill the house with festive scents of ginger, chocolate and clementines. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-35870140758758436912014-05-30T15:23:00.001+01:002014-05-30T15:23:25.213+01:00Giovanna and Jane by Iris Origo (1950)<br />
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Neglected blog - that's the most difficult thing I find about publishing. I'm happy to source books and hear from readers with suggested titles, but regularly updating about what I'm reading feels odd and a bit boastful. However, I must make a bit of time for the blog.<br /><br />Publishing news first. Sadly, I'm not going to BEA in New York this year to join the friendly scrum and get lost in the Javits Center for days. I was tempted, especially to go and see Alan Cumming launch his autobiography and book tickets to Cabaret at Studio 54. There will be other years and it's not as though I've read all of the books I dragged home last year just yet. I rationed myself to books I could carry and I think that was the right decision. It gave me more time to do touristy things afterwards rather than queue in the Post Office. A trip on the Staten Island ferry is far more interesting than packing a box of books and joining a post office queue. They're long enough in England and I don't expect an American queue to be any shorter. Though there might have been air-conditioning. Highlights were <i><b>The Rosie Project</b></i>, <b><i>The Gin Lovers</i></b> and <b><i>Queen's Gambit</i></b>.<br /><br />As to reading, I found a very nice curiosity in <b><i>Giovanna and Jane</i></b> (1950). It looks as though Iris Origo wrote only one book for children, but concentrated essays and autobiographies relating to Italy. This story is dedicated to her two daughters.<br /><br />I found this on a book hunt and was drawn to the portraits on the cover. Two heads in profile of very different little girls. Jane and Giovanna is a two-part story of girls experiencing a cultural exchange between England and Italy. Each grew up during the war with a PoW helping the family, so were drawn to the other culture. After the war the two girls see a competition advertised and win a homestay with a family abroad. Their adventures as they exchange Italy for England and vice versa are lovely. Both begin their adventures after realising the country they've been introduced to isn't the country stories had led them to expect and reject their placement families to seek out the PoWs who had kept in touch with their host families. The book tells the story of each girl separately - only uniting them at the end of the novel when they are shown to be friends at first sight. I loved this - especially the portraits of Rome and Siena. <br />
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<br />It's a fascinating story set in more innocent times certainly, but the usual preference for country life over town life is shown. It's a common attitude in children's fiction that London (or town life) is somehow bad for you and life is better in the country. That's partly why I published <i><b>Five Farthings</b></i> - to show how beautiful, exciting (and, yes, expensive, grubby and busy) it can be. London, at least in <i>Five Farthings</i>, is the city centre, so St Paul's, Covent Garden, hopping on to routemasters, bustling life, getting by on a budget and the City's publishing houses before they moved into Euston and Bloomsbury. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-10032244947448791552014-03-09T21:49:00.000+00:002014-03-09T21:49:07.580+00:00War Among Ladies - Eleanor Scott (1928). Not much changes<br />
I came across an odd and very purple book recently about staff-room quarrels and a complete unravelling of a workplace. I can't remember another staff-room in Girl's Own fiction apart from New Mistress at the Chalet School where there is a place for everything and everything is in its place whether that's your bedroom where the bed can be turned into a sofa during the day or in the staff room where you have your own desk and bookshelf. I do remember wondering why it was so important to turn your bed into a sofa during the day on first reading as a child. Perhaps I was always laid-back and felt that was necessary effort - wouldn't you just make the bed and leave until the working day was over? It seemed rather pointless for a single woman as she couldn't really invite guests in. I expect I'm muddling up the inevitably floral bedroom and the study, but I keep imagining a floral desk set and no clutter allowed. In my more evil moments I wonder if Matron even inspected the drawers of the academic staff and think she probably did. Just to keep an eye on things. <br /><br />It was, though, a friendly staff-room as a rule. Lots of coffee-drinking, biscuit-eating and enjoyment with jigsaws, card games and pleasant conversation. <a href="http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=%22war+among+ladies%22" target="_blank"><i><b>War Among Ladies</b></i></a> (1928) by Eleanor Scott is probably more realistic in its portrayal of inter-staff rivalries where the staff-room is the centre of conflict rather than a comfortable place to have a break. These staff are drudges, desperate to escape teaching and fearing a poverty-stricken retirement. I'm rather glad that banks now give mortgages to single women when the alternative is living in rented rooms, mainly of the miserable variety at the mercy of petty landladies. It's almost impossible for them to have an outside social life as they're judged by the clubs they belong to and the clubs they don't join. They are concerned with exam results, the Education Department, local council, parents and standing. Most especially about appearances and standing. It's petty morality at its most entertaining. It's also a pretty good reflection of most workplaces: not everyone likes all their colleagues and there's usually someone weak who isn't doing anything about improving their skills, but they are self-pityingly wafting about doing very little. Then, the School Inspector called. Sadly, there's no consideration of career development and learning new skills, but everyone's scrambling to survive. It's professional death by politeness and a fantastic example of verbal communication and the power of suggestion. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-55223052194140109282014-03-02T16:57:00.001+00:002014-03-02T16:57:53.586+00:00Fleming <br />
Well, the Winter Olympics went by in a haze of unfamiliar sports, overexcited commentary and, somehow, my paperwork is up-to-date. I'm delighted about that as it does make things easier. <br /><br />Now that I've strayed into the world of television, I'll stay there a little longer and muse about the new <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2647420/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank"><u><b>Ian Fleming production</b></u></a> on Sky. I'd been looking forward to this as Ian Fleming (scandal, fame, hard living) is the perfect subject for a biographer even if he hadn't written James Bond. It's an enjoyably glossy production and the costumes are the best thing about it. I am, though, rather underwhelmed by the script, though the amazing cast are doing their best. It feels as though it was rushed. As though someone read the paragraph of biography that's in the Pan Bond paperbacks and thought 'Let's make a James Bond spoof'. Not that I mind the bits that are done well. The motif of the Monty Norman "Dum di-di dum dum" is welcome as are the cast. You can sit back and enjoy Dominic Cooper, Sam West, Anna Chancellor and Lara Pulver. It's rather a pity they didn't have a better script to go with the marvellous tailoring. I'm pleased to see Ian Fleming re-imagined as 'book Bond' with the sinister undercurrents and gambling and not 'film Bond' which tends towards self-parody. I would go back to my own Bond books and I find that I cleared out the 1960s Pan paperbacks and one very nasty yellow cloth reprint of Dr No some time ago. Probably when I packed up and went to university. Pity. That's the thing about books, though. You can always buy a replacement. <br />Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-2888222491423925232014-02-17T20:07:00.000+00:002014-02-17T20:07:11.446+00:00February and catching up<br />
February's always a quiet month for sales, so I set aside some time to make inroads on paperwork, proof-reading and new-title hunting. (Guess which one I prefer?) People have had the shock of December and January's credit card bills and it's a long way to Easter when sales will perk up again. Lots of people seem to buy my books for Christmas and Easter presents and that always keeps me happy. It means I can develop new titles.<br /><br />Peace, quiet and an awful lot of proof-reading made up the majority of the day. That said, it's also a great time to enjoy the Winter Olympics and I frittered the late afternoon away watching a mixture of speed and figure skating. I was enough of a Harriet fan to appreciate the importance of 'figures', 'lines' and 'edges', but the lifts left me puzzled and admiring. As an aside, Sue Barker really should stop talking and let the dances start without a rushed repeat of the competitors names. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-55474545218824064182014-02-02T18:54:00.003+00:002014-02-02T18:54:52.773+00:00Erica James - Italian sunshine<br />
<br />February might be the shortest month, but it's been pretty wet and miserable so far. Much like December and January. For many of us it's been wet since before Christmas and wellies are essential. Even the daffodils aren't growing very fast at the moment and like Mary Lennox I've been clearing the leaves around them hopefully. Perhaps it's too wet for them or there hasn't been quite enough sunshine yet. I'm lucky not to be affected by flooding, though the ground is absolutely sodden. Two days of light drizzle mean that the garden has a chance to dry out and I can dry laundry.<br /><br />With all the damp, darkness and rain, it's a time for for novels of wisteria and sunshine. Everything from <i><b>The Enchanted April </b></i>to<i><b> A French Affair</b></i>. A novel where trying something new is a Good Thing and you find yourself happier than you thought possible. I'm thrilled to have a proof of Erica James's <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Summer-at-Lake-Erica-James/dp/1409145999/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391367241&sr=8-1&keywords=erica+james" target="_blank"><i><b>Summer by the Lake</b></i></a> and recommend it highly for (preferably) an uninterrupted afternoon with a self-refilling mug of caffeine and some smart chocolates. Given the Italian theme, I suppose it's luck that I found I had some leftover baci from Christmas and those went very nicely with my tea. <br /><br />I've read most of Erica James's novels in no particular order and think this is the best yet as it combines Oxford with Lake Como. She's done some interesting modern novels mostly set around Cheshire and I liked the two strands of the story of Floriana's contemporary dilemma set against her elderly neighbour's love in Italy in the 1950s. Revealing the two stories and drawing them together was deftly done. Floriana is one of life's gentle drifters. A good friend. A considerate person and one who is easily hurt. Finding new friends in elderly Esme and Adam (Floriana's own age) reshapes her life for the better as does life under the Italian sun. Read and enjoy this - I almost didn't want it to end. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-57572318779389753942014-01-26T18:31:00.001+00:002014-01-26T18:31:58.131+00:00Sugar Girls and G.I. Brides<br />
<br />Last year in an attempt to read more non fiction while at the same time not reading fewer novels I read a social history of the sugar girls in London as the authors interviewed a number of workers and made a narrative from their memories. The <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Sugar-Girls-Duncan-Barrett/dp/0007448473/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390760726&sr=8-1&keywords=sugar+girls" target="_blank"><b>book</b></a> rode the trends of London history, passion for the East End (Call the Midwife) and now-vanished industry. Only natural that the covers should be white with a selection of black and white photos with foil lettering.<br /><br />The authors have followed up their success by turning to the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/GI-Brides-wartime-crossed-Atlantic/dp/0007501447/ref=la_B0050OUL2I_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390760766&sr=1-2" target="_blank"><b>G.I. brides</b></a> from an English courtship to American marriage. It's one of those books that, while fascinating, makes you grateful to live in an era when a woman holds her own passport almost as a matter of course and has her own bank account. I was also wondering if we'd see anything close to a happy ending as some of the men lost all glamour when they returned to civilian life and proved to be alcoholics, poor workers, gamblers and routinely unfaithful. I almost gave up on a happy ending, but read on. Early years of a marriage aren't always the pattern of the later relationship and for that, at least, I'm grateful. <br />
<br />I've been fascinated by the Mass Observation publications and the personal stories that have followed on from this trend. Nella Last, of course, is one of the best, but the four G.I. brides featured here are strong women whose hard work and unwillingness to abandon a difficult marriage is inspiring. Modern attitudes would encourage a woman to leave a drunken or womanising husband, but the 1940s/1950s attitude of 'you've made your bed, you lie in it' left these women with few choices. The expense of an Atlantic crossing made it very difficult to return to family even if their family would accept them back. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-17350662615392178082014-01-05T15:32:00.002+00:002014-01-05T15:32:52.180+00:00The Rosie Project<br />
I brought <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+rosie+project&sprefix=the+rosie+%2Caps%2C502" target="_blank"><i><b>The Rosie Project</b></i></a> back from BEA in June last year as a very nice man at the Penguin stand said it was one of their funniest offerings he could remember. He was quite right as it kept me occupied on the flight back from New York. I was engrossed and trying not to disturb anyone sitting near me by giggling at the hapless hero's attempts to make sense of the world. Don is a professor of genetics and also a routine-driven social misfit who plans his efficient life to the minute. Mainly by avoiding the majority of social interactions with other human beings. Meal planning is applied for the maximum nutritional benefit and the speed of preparation to the extent that he has has the same meal at the same time each week. On realising that something is missing from his life he takes a scientific approach complete with questionnaire to find a wife. You'll root for Don and Rosie (the barmaid and graduate student who dismantles his routine) and the cocktail-making sequence is especially funny when Rosie and Don staff a bar and an experienced barmaid and Don's encyclopedic knowledge of drinks combinations mean that the bar makes a huge profit.<br /><br />My proof copy has yet to find its way home to me as it's circulating among friends and family finding a new fan in each household and a few dents and scuffs as it travels. I hope it does return eventually as I'd like to read it again. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-25268043091653642152013-12-31T09:42:00.002+00:002013-12-31T09:42:30.027+00:0031 December 2013<br />
It's the last day of 2013 and everyone's either getting ready to go out or rounding up their year in terms of hobbies, resolutions (made or broken) and blogging a fair few personal development plans of sorts for the old and new years. As far as books go, I'm still working my way through the Indy's recommendations for children's books that ran for the whole of advent. You'll always miss at least one book that ends up one someone's recommended list and I appreciate word-of-mouth recommendations from bloggers and friends. Lots of icy journeys, enjoyable scares and modern classics in Rebecca Davies' <a href="http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/12/16/the-children%E2%80%99s-book-blog-christmas-countdown-shadow-and-bone-by-leigh-bardugo/" target="_blank"><b>extensive and balanced list</b></a>. She's convinced me to try Leigh Bardugo, so that's my first new author for 2014.<br />
<br />I'm still working on my 'I have never read' list and am trying Arthur C. Clarke for the first time. I last read some (very pulp and odd) sci-fi fiction in my teens and wasn't exactly inspired to continue. Before you judge, they were in a rented house while on holiday and I'd run out of books. Dolphin Island is about dolphins, underwater exploration and the aftermath of a hovership crash. I'll let you know if I finish it.<br /><br />I'm also about to start a Russia and winter sport re-read in preparation for the Winter Olympics in February. Politics aside, I'm really looking forward to it and revisiting old fictional friends. There's plenty of skating, skiing and tobogganing in the Chalet School series and I seem to remember a passage about the right name for a toboggan in the Katy Books. Was it sky scraper or skimmer? Something of that kind. Laura Ingalls Wilder is perfect if you prefer domesticity and raw weather and the Christmases at Green Gables are always enviable. Noel Streatfeild's <i><b>White Boots</b></i> is the obvious choice and I'm gazing at my shelves trying to find another novel with some winter sports. Mabel Esther Allen, I think, does some Swiss-set books, although I've only read ones set in summer. Perhaps she might do skating at the Rockerfeller Center in New York? I'm not a Narnia fan, so won't be making my way through the wardrobe. What else? There must be other 1930s to 1960s books of girl skaters or mountain adventure stories.<br />
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P.S. If anyone is kind enough to comment with a suggestion, I've left out <i><b>The Silver Skates </b></i>as that was my childhood unreadable book. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-88124589345532056762013-12-08T18:18:00.000+00:002013-12-08T18:18:48.228+00:00Cazalets and Doctor Blake <br />
I've had an overdose of 1940s and 1950s life this weekend catching up with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=doctor%20blake" target="_blank"><b><i>The Doctor Blake Mysteries</i></b></a> (BBC please repeat those on a weekend afternoon) and the <i>Cazalet Quartet</i> and I'm still only on Volume One. I can't quite think of it as the <i>Cazalet Quintet</i> yet as the final volume seems so separate. <br />
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While I absolutely loved the first four novels and even wore out a couple of paperbacks, I hadn't read the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_7/278-3433396-8493152?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cazalet%20chronicles&sprefix=cazalet%2Caps%2C208&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acazalet%20chronicles" target="_blank"><i><b>Cazalet Quartet</b></i></a> for quite some time and I did leave it a few weeks after reading <b><i>All Change</i></b>, the fifth and much later volume, so that I could compare with a clear mind. I still feel rather let down and I'm not sure if that's the way I'm meant to feel. I'm pleased to say that the voices are as strong as they ever were and the children are seen grappling with the same difficulties facing their parents in the original four novels even though the pre-war certainties have faded away. Without giving spoilers, it's almost justice that the selfish Zoe has such an angst-ridden and self-absorbed teenage daughter to care for. I had hoped to see a little more of Jessica and Raymond, but I've caught up with old friends (Jemima, Polly, Hugh and Simon) and had another welcome glimpse into their lives. It's easy to write tidy endings; much braver, as Elizabeth Jane Howard has done, to leave matters unresolved. 400 pages and Home Place isn't the refuge from life that it once was and post-war life wasn't as easy or comfortable as the Cazalets had hoped. Money is worth less and business cultures are changing to their disadvantage. It's the era when the enterprising can be successful quickly, but most Cazalets lack the business flair and brain to capitalise. <br />
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Next up on the re-reading list is the underrated <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=quantocks+quartet" target="_blank"><b><i>Quantocks Quartet</i></b></a> by Ruth Elwin Harris. A series to be read when you have time to finish all four books in order. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-34023995109811818162013-12-01T08:58:00.001+00:002013-12-01T08:58:27.886+00:00Proofing and the Dr Blake Mysteries<br /><br />I am editing and at the stage where the words are almost dancing on the page. The 'book' is still very much at 'draft' stage to plan length, font size and layout. Progress, however, is steady, though I was in desperate need of a break and wanted moving pictures to give me something else to look at. <br /><br />I took a television break at lunchtime on Friday and found something that wasn't a cookery programme, property redevelopment or a soap. Or even ancient repeats billed as 'vintage'; I'm not sure I agree that <i>Are you being served?</i> and <i>Allo Allo</i> can be described as vintage. I'd use another word entirely, but someone else might be enjoying them.<br /><br />However, there is a rather good 1950s-set import from ABC with Australian actors I don't recognise. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/doctorblake/about/" target="_blank"><b><i>Dr Blake Mysteries</i></b></a> may borrow some locations from the <b><i>Miss Fisher Mysteries</i></b> and it's one to watch if you're a fan of costume drama and dresses with stiff petticoats and a nice bit of cynicism in the afternoon. Let me introduce you and give a bit of background....<br /><br />Dr Blake's returned to Ballarat to take over his father's medical practice and position as police surgeon. Grieving for the recent loss of his father and haunted by his war service in the Far East he's a liberal rather out of step with the conservative town taking a perverse delight in challenging everyone. The house is a sprawling bungalow that's chaotically ugly and comfortable with 'bits' added by generations and absolutely no thought of design. I like rooms like that - well-loved and everything taking on a well-worn look. I'm most keen on the kitchen so far - a bit like I imagine <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Candy-Nevill-Clare-Mallory/dp/0956462634/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385887926&sr=8-1&keywords=candy+nevill" target="_blank"><b>Candy Nevill's </b></a>to have been - all cheerful blue and yellow with scratches and scuffs to the surfaces and smarter tins above the fireplace for tea, coffee, flour, sugar and salt. Well, keen on the sunny kitchen and Dr Blake's Chinese silk dressing gown with gold dragons and quilted decoration to the collar and cuffs. If I can't catch up on iPlayer next week, I'll add the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Doctor-Blake-Mysteries-Series/dp/B00GOZA3UW/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=3DOA9A1XGSF2N&coliid=I221NA6MP91LKT" target="_blank"><b>DVD</b></a> to my wishlist and hope for Christmas. It has a helpful release of 9 December and everything's looking promising for the second series next year. <br />
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<br />Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-91173278001181071362013-11-10T08:50:00.000+00:002013-11-10T08:50:03.388+00:00From the pages of old children's books - stuffed dates<br />
<br />Well, I've never seen those used as a bookmark. Thank goodness, as they'd be damagingly sticky. I suppose that my bookmark finds have been the postcard and used book token variety. Stuffed dates seem to be something of a feature of twentieth century children's books - they're included with the pink-iced cakes and chocolate eclairs at parties along with stiff-petticoated skirts and suitable presents. While pink-iced cakes have been replaced by fantastical cakes, chocolate eclairs are still on offer and syrupy boxes of dates were something that my grandparents always had at Christmas. As to the stuffed dates, they just weren't something that I was familiar with tasting and most recipes seem to suggest removing the date stone and replacing it with stone-shaped marzipan to make an 'attractive' sweet. They weren't a feature of any parties I went to as a child, though those included iced ring biscuits, crisps and assorted chopped fruit in the vague hope that we might counteract the dreaded 'E' numbers with something healthy. <br /><br />Why on earth am I muttering about dates? And stuffed dates at that? Well, mostly because they're a food that went rather out of fashion and now coming back courtesy of the fabulous (and expensive) medjool dates that turn up for Christmas and Eid. I'm looking forward to those - especially after a fabulous business present of fresh dates on a date palm one year. <i>The Telegraph</i> has an interesting article on <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/10430777/Medjool-dates-a-Middle-Eastern-delicacy.html" target="_blank"><u><b>how dates are cultivated and picked</b></u></a>, so I'll be nibbling my medjool dates with this in mind realising the care involved in this fragile crop . While I do like marzipan, I don't think they need this addition. <br />
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One day I'll organise a <i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Candy-Nevill-Clare-Mallory/dp/0956462634/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384073302&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Candy Nevill-inspired</a></b></i> sweet-making party, but my sweets are likely to be chocolate-coated marshmallows and chocolate peanut butter cups. A recent present was <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Sweet-Book-Candy-Making/dp/159253810X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1384073156&sr=8" target="_blank"><i><b>The Sweet Book of Candy Making</b></i></a> and I just need to add a sugar thermometer to my Christmas list.Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-14936501119701803622013-10-27T16:28:00.001+00:002013-10-27T16:28:10.636+00:00Virago - Emily trilogy - Lucy Maud MontgomeryOne of the nicest things about reading is someone recommending you a title that becomes a firm favourite and that's how I discovered <b><i>Anne of Green Gables</i></b> and Lucy Maud Montgomery. Thanks to my childhood librarians who understood that I liked browsing and was happy to hear suggestions. I read my paperback copies of Anne of Green Gables almost to bits - the glue and spines certainly failed - and never quite managed to find a friend in Emily. I preferred Anne and <i><b>Jane of Lantern Hill</b></i>. I suppose I found Emily a bit too dreamy. I've since replaced my Anne and Jane paperbacks with some hardback, but vintage, reprints with dustwrappers. Harrap did a bright set in green boards with orange wrappers for years and there are plenty about.<br />
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However, the wonderful <a href="http://www.virago.co.uk/childrens-classics-on-the-virago-modern-classics-list/" target="_blank"><b>Virago</b></a> have added to their children's list and are tempting me to reconsider owning Emily as she is conspicuously absent from my shelves. They started with Rumer Godden - always a writer I'd recommend - and brought in the Emily trilogy. Three beautiful paperbacks with covers by <a href="http://www.theartworksinc.com/portfolio/daniela-terrazzini/" target="_blank">Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini</a>. The covers alone have inspired me to try again as I need a break from editing my 2014 titles.
Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-60441766642570204512013-09-15T18:03:00.004+01:002013-09-15T18:03:41.306+01:00Home EconomicsI hadn't realised that there are Universities still offering 'Home Economics' as a degree subject: you can take it at <a href="http://www.careersportal.ie/ed_training/leaving_cert_subjects.php?course_id=20&ed_sub_cat_id=7&course_name=Home+Economics"><b>undergraduate and postgraduate level in Ireland</b>.</a> Of course I found this ages after publishing Candy Nevill, when it might have been very useful as a research tool, while searching for something else entirely. Ireland would be an awfully long way for someone like Candy Nevill to travel. Though I think she'd probably find a good course in America and emigrate. Those last sentences probably suggest I'm too close to my characters, but my books can take 18 months to 2 years to put together and they do feel like close friends at the end of that time. I've just spent a happy half hour on their website looking over the curriculum. I'd rather assumed that you had to choose a practical catering course like Cordon Bleu or similar if you wanted some sort of post-school qualification in food. That said, there doesn't seem to be as much practical cookery and I'd certainly appreciate that. I don't think I need another degree though, much as I like the look of it. I'd also need to relocate to Ireland and I'm happy where I am. This blog post skidded in so that I have time to tidy up before watching the Great British Bake Off that I missed earlier in the week. Twitter gave me the result and now I want to see the full episode. Roll on 7pm on BBC2. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-56423102036429166782013-09-01T16:57:00.005+01:002013-09-01T16:58:33.660+01:00The Lotus Cup - Jane Louise Curry<br />
I enjoy a good page-turner, particularly if it involves crafting and <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Lotus-Jane-Loise-Curry/dp/0689503849/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378050748&sr=8-1&keywords=the+lotus+cup+curry" target="_blank"><b>The Lotus Cup</b></a></i> was one of those random 'finds' in a secondhand bookshop that I've been waiting for enough time away from rights puzzles and emails to read - I ended up not wanting to put it down and read it late into the evening. That's always a good sign of an interesting book, but not good when you have an early start the following morning. It's a teenage novel from the 1980s which seems oddly more dated than some of the more vintage (c. 1950s) fiction I've been reading. Especially when a teacher taking students on a trip out uses two student cars plus her own car to transport the class and advises two students to share a seat-belt as they're slim.<br />
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Yes, there are lots of Hawaiian shirts, clashing colours and jangly plastic earrings, but this is a charming book about a very shy girl finding her talent for ceramics in a declining pottery town and negotiating the teenage difficulties of boyfriends and parental expectations. East Liverpool (Ohio) was once a thriving centre for pottery. Now, it's in decline and only a small local pottery museum and the odd supplier remain. The larger potteries have closed leaving unemployment and scars on the cityscape.<br />
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Corry is shy and skittish, struggling with maths and desperate to achieve the college entry requirements. The visit to the pottery museum inspires her to work with clay and overcome at least some of her shyness to try (and succeed) in creating and firing a delicate ceramic cup.<br />
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As much as I liked the story, I also liked the technical information on kilns, glazes and firing that are woven in. Lovely book that I'll be keeping on my shelves for a reread. The author does have a <b><a href="http://www.janelouisecurry.com/bio.html" target="_blank">website</a></b> and I'll be trying more of her books in the future. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-23418637362761779912013-08-20T17:31:00.001+01:002013-08-20T17:33:33.344+01:00Spineless classics<br />
<br />Somebody else is having fun creating beautiful book-related things and, I suspect, having just as wonderful and frustrating time as I am with publishing and rights just at the moment. I think I've seen <i><b>Spineless Classics</b></i> at a trade fair and would love them to be better-known as the finishing and designs are beautiful. I had another look at their range on the website today and am bookmarking for possible present-hunting later this year. My current favourite is <a href="http://www.spinelessclassics.com/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-colour-candy-childrens-gift-poster-152.htm" target="_blank"><b><i>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</i></b></a>, though there are also Moomins and some very nice Jane Austens. I'm even more impressed that they've fitted <a href="http://www.spinelessclassics.com/the-count-of-monte-cristo-complete-book-poster-41.htm" target="_blank"><b><i>The Count of Monte Cristo</i></b></a> on to one page.<br /><br />I especially like the fact that these are works of art in their own right and the sort of 'book-related' presents you could still buy a child or book collector without being greeted by a puzzled look. That said, a book collector may be wondering where they have room on the wall for a print. <br /><br /><br /><br />Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-10904353964528510482013-08-11T13:05:00.001+01:002013-08-11T13:05:39.078+01:00Return of the Great British Bake Off It's almost time for the return of the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013pqnm" target="_blank"><b><i>Great British Bake Off</i></b></a> (20 August, BBC2, I think) and I'm not quite counting down the days as I'm far too busy with deadlines that finish just before the series starts. Sitting down with a mug of tea in front of Bake Off is something of a reward after a hectic few weeks. I'm looking forward to it though - new recipes, new people and Mary Berry being wonderful. I may yet pluck up the courage to try macarons and will see what chaos I can cause with a piping bag. I've been having fun cooking shortcakes and meringues and filling both with cream and berries. The strawberries are mostly over, but later varieties are ripening nicely. For the moment, I'm using up the raspberries and a Japanese wineberry that's more beautiful than any other berry. They're as small as a fingernail and the colour of garnets. <br /><br />It does make it easier when baking's in fashion to sell books like <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Candy-Nevill-Clare-Mallory/dp/0956462634/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376222587&sr=8-1&keywords=candy+nevill" target="_blank"><i><b>Candy Nevill</b></i></a> that's stuffed full of cakes, family meals and strawberries. Food enthusiasms aren't new - just how many recipe books and food shows are published and commissioned each year? It's good, too, I think to bring out a young adult title with vintage charm where cooking and learning about how to improve as a cook are at the heart of the novel. Yes, you make mistakes in cooking, but you learn from them. Mostly in the struggle to clear up the mess. I don't recommend letting your jam boil over either as it can take days to clean the cooker.Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-55045580080178974472013-08-04T18:15:00.001+01:002013-08-04T18:15:30.520+01:00Adventures in Yarn Farming (Roost Books)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been unsettled, reading-wise, this week. I started a number of books and wasn't drawn in and just put them down again. I'm sure I'll come back to them later. It's like that sometimes. You're either in the right frame of mind for a certain book or you're not. Instead, I settled down to sift through the stack of papers, flyers, notes and business cards that I'd brought home from BEA and recycled a fair bit of it. The freebie sweets I'd eaten while wandering around the conference centre - I was getting plenty of exercise walking round and the queues for the many coffee shops were just huge. Anyway, I did get a lovely flyer from <a href="http://www.roostbooks.com/" target="_blank"><i><b>Roost Books</b></i></a> and thought that <a href="http://www.roostbooks.com/adventures-in-yarn-farming.html" target="_blank"><i><b>Adventures in Yarn Farming</b></i></a> sounds fascinating from a craftsman's perspective. Does it sound overblown if I say that I wanted to be a publisher so that I could create beautiful things? Anyway, the flyer on its own is a four-page work of art and I have the book's release date of November carefully noted in my diary so that I can buy a copy. Well, I'd probably buy more than one as it would be a good Christmas present (sorry, I know it's August) for the knitters in my life.<br /><br />Barbara Parry's written her story of life on a sheep farm and included knitting patterns, ideas for carding and weaving and a life that I know very little about. I was drawn to the centre picture of complicated cables. I'm too much of a beginner knitter and hope that my cables actually work to even contemplate quite so may turns. I'm also keen to find out more about farm life and how you look after herds of sheep, goats and llamas. For those of us who are interested in non-city life, colour and texture, this book seems ideal and I'll update when I've bought a copy later in the year. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-13170743736668385822013-07-28T16:22:00.000+01:002013-07-28T16:22:09.879+01:00Clover Cottage - Frances Cowen<br />I think it's time for a post about summer holidays and I miss being at the stage when a six-week summer holiday stretched ahead into the distance and it was a an awfully long time until September. I suppose it still is, though summer holidays lose their magic when you're still in the office.<br /><br />However, a good vintage example of a summer holiday novel is <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clover-Cottage-Frances-Cowen/dp/B001DUWSHO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375024054&sr=8-2&keywords=clover+cottage" target="_blank"><i><b>Clover Cottage</b></i></a> by Frances Cowen. My copy has plain green boards and no-one's really interested in a photo of those, especially as the corners are bumped. The Amazon listing has a Peal Press DW which doesn't really show itself to advantage. <br /><br />The book seems to have been written immediately after the Second World War as mentions of shortages of housing, wood, furniture and a general feeling of 'making do' with very little. The father's a sailor in the Merchant Navy, so away for much of the time. Mother's trying to survive in a tiny flat with a brood of children from responsible eldest daughter, a few scrappy siblings and an attention-absorbing baby. The family can't afford a longed-for summer holiday in the country and are thrilled when they inherit a country cottage from the mother's great-aunt. The country, of course, is a far better place for children to grow up. They can run wild there, just coping with petrol shortages, no car and limited public transport, but they'd get all the fresh air denied to them in a smoggy city. Friendly local farm-folk also provide a puppy and some (non-rationed) good food. <br /><br />Cowen's novel runs much in the same vein as Gwendoline Courtney's <b><i>Sally's Family</i></b>, though Courtney is much the better writer. Finding and refurbishing a thatched cottage is a very good story: the local craftsmen pitch in to help a village family and, even if the family don't find an attic full of antiques, they do find that doing up the house brings them together.Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-22044682750140476342013-07-21T18:12:00.002+01:002013-07-21T18:12:54.772+01:00Sunday reading<br />Peaceful day's reading today - not reading novels or contracts or hunting down family histories - just reading the weekend papers for pleasure. I'm ashamed to say that I don't often finish the weekend papers until midweek the following week in a bit of a rush because the recycling's due. It's still 'summer filler' season so we have the 'where the famous are going on holiday' and what said famous readers (or so they claim) will be reading when they get there. You generally see more popular page turners than worthy tomes by the pool and the beach anyway. That grumbled, I do like the paragraph summaries of books that I've probably missed. I'm still working my way through my BEA haul and will try Sarah Dessen's latest as well as <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dirty-Wars-The-world-battlefield/dp/1846688507/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374426727&sr=8-1&keywords=dirty+wars" target="_blank"><b><i>Dirty Wars</i></b></a> as soon as I feel strong. The latter is a very heavy hardback and I'll need to find a bookrest of some description. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-42688079342650229952013-07-14T21:30:00.003+01:002013-07-14T21:30:57.590+01:00Corinna Chapman mysteries<br />
<br />I've been delving into my 'will read it one day, I promise' list that's either shelved or scattered about the house propping up the wall while waiting for shelf space. <i><b>Heavenly Pleasures</b></i> was a very welcome present last year and I've spent the last fortnight reading every Corinna Chapman mystery that the wonderful Kerry Greenwood has published. Friends from Australia and New Zealand had said all kinds of positive things about her novels and I can only say that I wish I'd discovered them sooner. For those who haven't had the treat of a Corinna novel, these are set in present-day Melbourne. Corinna's a baker and lives in a 1920s block of astonishing elegance. These are non-violent mysteries that allow you to puzzle your way through missing girls, stolen bonds and suspected poisonings while enjoying fannish references to Babylon 5, Georgette Heyer and Star Trek, though they leave you wanting chocolate fondant muffins or some very fresh bread and butter. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-43452700085909784452013-07-06T19:48:00.001+01:002013-07-06T19:48:22.446+01:00The Gin Lovers - Jamie Brenner<br />For me it was just as much fun (OK, in 90 degree heatwave also a bit of an endurance test) to walk around New York (New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue, Rockerfeller Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art) as it was to experience the air-conditioning of the Javits Center and the superlative Book Expo America in late May and early June. You might read about the show in advance, you'll see the programme and you'll see who's exhibiting. None of that will prepare you for the scale or the friendliness as advance reading copies are shoved at you with recommendations to find a ticket to this signing or the other. I'd gone over to learn, to talk to people and hear something at the conference. I wasn't, quite, expecting to see so many authors or collect quite so many books. Some authors I knew and wanted to meet; others were entirely new to me and I'd like to introduce Jamie Brenner. Book signings are scheduled all day at Book Expo America, so you realise very quickly that without a time-turner or a buddy-system you will miss out on some events and you'll need to prioritise and just go with the flow. I happened to be walking past when Jamie Brenner was doing a signing and I'm so pleased I did as I now own a much-admired copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Gin-Lovers-Jamie-Brenner/dp/1250035937/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1373136323&sr=8-2&keywords=the+gin+lovers" target="_blank"><i><b>The Gin Lovers</b></i></a>. <br /><br />I have a weakness for historical novels and was drawn to <i><b>The Gin Lovers</b></i> with an enticingly nightclubby red light cover art and suggestions of jazz and cocktails. English politicians do rail against binge-drinking, but England has never, unlike the US, banned the sale of alcohol entirely. It's in this climate of polite society toasting with sparkling water in public with the daring young visiting speakeasies during the night that we see exactly how dangerous and enticing alcohol is. It's the conflict of the traditional and the modern as the unhappily-married Charlotte Delacorte is tempted into a life of jazz, cocktails and seduction while trying to coax her louche sister-in-law to return to the gilded cage of her Fifth Avenue townhouse. Charlotte's married well in search of security and soon realises that she's exchanged poverty for other anxieties. <br /><br />I happened on Jamie's signing at BEA and she's lovely, as is <i><b>The Gin Lovers</b></i>. This seems a change in direction for her as she's written several other contemporary novels also set in New York. I'm, selfishly, hoping we see more of Charlotte Delacorte as she's a beautifully conflicted heroine whose loss of naivete is shown in such a sympathetically believable way. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-83882287869600084962013-06-16T16:18:00.002+01:002013-06-16T16:18:16.616+01:00June - rain streaming down and I'm still here<br />
I'm still around, but very much stuck in the inbox as rights queries become trans-Atlantic complications and you're always waiting for office hours and time differences to work their way out. That always extends things rather and it isn't something you can book a phone conversation for either as one or other party needs to be close to a library or an archive. <br /><br />I'd hoped to be able to add a school story to my list, but I've had no reply for a month from my first choice. Given that the author is still alive and writing I think they aren't interested. A 'no' might be more useful. However, move on to the next name and hope that first author has every success in their new genre. <br /><br />The historical possibilities are more promising and first queries have been welcomed. People need time to consider, so I'm rather more hopeful.<br /><br />Finally, thanks to everyone at BEA this May and June for making a fantastic event for us all. Your interns were especially good even when they'd been working long hours in unseasonably hot weather. More about BEA to follow - I brought home some very good reads. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-68819881394225904192013-05-25T18:02:00.001+01:002013-05-25T18:02:52.113+01:00Reading and reviewing<br />
Friends who blog usually note 'what they've been reading' this month at month end. Which is a nicer idea than the chaos of a financial month end. I was always put off by reading diaries, ever since the school insisted that I couldn't possibly have read that much in a week. (I could and did). Now, though, I'm buying and borrowing as many books as ever, not that I mention what I couldn't finish, hated or just 'passed the time'. <br /><br />I love reading through what other readers are reading - a combination of natural curiosity and wonder if I've missed a book I'd love. I find it harder to trust mainstream print reviews as there are too many friends reviewing friends or academics looking for goodwill, but bloggers are happier to critique a free book. Some bloggers do wonderful reviews and I'm pleased to see them and consider. I also find the mixture of vintage and modern offerings that bloggers tend to offer to be far more interesting than the offerings of many broadsheets. I mentioned <a href="http://www.waitrose.com/" target="_blank"><b>Waitrose's</b></a> weekly newsletter a while ago - it's good to see vintage and modern represented in their reviews area together with recipes and ideas for local entertainment each weekend. Books need time and often word-of-mouth to gain a readership and that's what so many books don't receive. Your average high-street bookshop has very limited shelf space and is under tremendous pressure to move stock, so you have to remember to buy what looked interesting now and hope you can balance your finances until payday.<br /><br />So, rather than use a <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/" target="_blank"><b>Goodreads</b></a> or a <a href="http://www.librarything.com/" target="_blank"><b>LibraryThing</b></a> model, perhaps publishers could improve their websites and print on demand offerings. Yes, I realise publishers are now huge corporations, but they could show readers their imprints and suggest future novels to read within that imprint. If there are links to sample chapters, then that's even better. I blog, admittedly quietly, to maintain interest in my books and remind people that I'm still here. I can only publish so many each year, so Twitter and the blog have to work to gain attention. Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1822924157885094574.post-51117190829659243602013-05-19T08:03:00.001+01:002013-05-19T08:03:15.179+01:00Good Housekeeping Children's Cook Book - Happy World Baking Day<br />
I've been drafting this post for a while and not been able to upload the photographs because of a mysterious technical glitch that just stalled at 90% of uploading each one. I thought I'd have another go to celebrate <a href="http://worldbakingday.com/en-gb" target="_blank"><b>World Baking Day</b></a> today. I may even try some baking of my own later, though I'd be quite happy if I could manage light and fluffy scones. Do the simple things first - the ones people enjoy eating. Which is why I've perfected banana bread that people are coming back for a second slice before it's even cooled down. <br />
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One occasional advantage of republishing vintage books is that you're given other vintage books as people think you'll appreciate them. I normally do and find them an interesting read. While I wait for the strawberries to grow, though I don't have enough of a gardenful to consider opening my own tearoom, I'll think of trainee cooks like <a href="http://www.marginnotesbooks.com/" target="_blank"><b><i>Candy Nevill</i></b></a>. She was lucky enough to create her own recipe notebook because she had cookery lessons at school. For those who didn't, the Good Housekeeping Institute could help then and still does today. This <i><b>Good Housekeeping</b></i> guide dates from the late 1950s, so around the time in which Candy would have been learning to cook. It's a clashing mixture of black and white and saturated technicolour photography. It would have been the perfect present for the young cook as it covers everything he or she would need to learn. I've omitted the cover picture as it's a frankly scary shade of orange with small boy gnawing on a toffee apple, one neat girl in an apron dipping an apple in the hot toffee and a taller boy looking over their shoulders while doing the drying-up. It's useful in that it's not simply a book of sweets and biscuits - you're taught how to make simple suppers, breakfast and the sort of recipes you might manage if your mother (it's only mother) is unwell. <br />
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We start with a birthday cake. Home-made, be-ribboned and slightly squint candles.<br />
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Even the contents page is interesting. Before you're introduced to a circus of iced biscuits, you also learn how to prepare yourself (hand-washing, find an apron) and the kitchen. There are even illustrated instructions on how to light the gas stove. It's generally useful to get your ingredients ready before you start. <br />
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Finally, this red, orange and blue runs over a two-page spread. It shows exactly how colour photography can enhance cookbooks and you see every layer in that jelly. <br />
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It's a world away from layer cakes, cutting-edge patisserie and cupcakes with icing that's taller than the cake that you see in many shop windows now. Enjoy the vintage world of cooking for the family.Marginhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04578294544803480073noreply@blogger.com0