Month 12 of my reading challenge By Frances Colville

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Margaret Graham

The Secret of the Cathars by Michael Hillier (published Matador 2015) is the first of a new trilogy of books based on the history of the Cathars, a medieval French religious sect. Lots of different groups of people hunting for various treasures and all a little bit confusing with quite a few loose ends by the end of the book though no doubt that is at least in part because books two and three are still to come. I think I will read them – it was a good enough plot to hold my interest and I do want to know how it all works out.

Ian McEwan is one of my favourite authors and his latest book The Children Act (Vintage 2014)didn’t disappoint, although at the same time it didn’t quite measure up to my absolute favourite, On Chesil Beach. The Children Act tells the story of Fiona, a high court judge who is going through a personal crisis at the same time as being called on to make a hugely important judicial decision. McEwan’s fascination with judicial issues, with music and poetry, and with the moral conundrum of how far you place your religious beliefs above the life of someone you love, all feature in this book which will leave you thinking long after you have finished it.

The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (Hesperus Press 2012) has been recommended to me by several people over the last few years but I never quite got round to reading it. But now I have and I’m very glad indeed. The book tells the story – obviously – of the 100 year old man who climbs out of a window of his care home and has a succession of adventures with an ever-growing group of people. At the same time as we progress through these escapades we are told stories about the rest of his life. It’s absurd, ridiculous, incredible and very funny indeed. And it has in passing a lot to say about the twentieth century, its events and many of its main characters, and also about the treatment of the elderly.

Not Working by Lisa Owens (Picador 2016) was another quick read. Easy (because it is told in bite-size chunks) to pick up and put down in between enjoying a house full of Christmas visitors. It’s the story of Claire who decides to take some time out from work to decide what she really wants to do with her life. The ending was disappointing, I thought. It sort of fizzled out as if the author couldn’t quite work out how to finish it more definitively. I enjoyed it though – I empathised with the main character and I liked the mix of humour and more serious issues.

Jill Mansell has long been an author I turn to when I want something light and cheerful. Three Amazing Things About You (Headline 2015)is her latest book and I thoroughly enjoyed it as I knew I would, though I have to admit there were parts which were definitely not happy-ever-after. A sensitive handling of some of the issues resulting from chronic ill health, and from the need for transplants. But the happy ending I hoped for was definitely there.

I thought long and hard about my final choice for this month – and indeed this year – and eventually settled on The Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor (paperback edition re-issued John Murray2004) which was given to me by my elder daughter and fellow obsessive reader. I knew as soon as I read the introduction that it was going to work for me – not only did I discover the source of the title of another book I read and enjoyed this year (Like a Tramp, Like a Pilgrim), but there was also a quote from George Herbert, the poet I recommended last month. Very serendipitous! The author tells the story of a walk he took as a teenager from Rotterdam to Istanbul in the 1930s. But he wrote the book in the 1960s so has the benefit of hindsight and far more knowledge than he had at the time of the walk. It’s crammed full of historical, geographical and cultural information and you can learn so much from it. Or you can just read it and allow the beauty of the language to wash over you. It’s a wonderful book.

So here I am at the end of my year of reading. Total of books read = 63. And conclusions drawn? I love variety and I love to read all sorts of books, I admire good and original literary fiction, and – somewhat to my surprise – have become aware during the year that my absolute favourite genre is travel writing. I also know that even if I reach the grand old age of 105 as my wonderful great-aunt did earlier this year, I will never be able to read all the books I want to read. Life is, quite simply, always going to be too short.

Where do I go from here? Not sure yet, but the possibilities are endless – and the prospect so exciting. I can’t wait.

All books available from www.amazon.co.uk

Month 11 of my Reading Challenge By Frances Colville

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Margaret Graham

I found it hard to decide what to go for first this month and spent a happy hour browsing my bookshelves. In the end I chose The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson (Hodder & Stoughton paperback 2014). Set in a debtor’s prison in 18^th C London, this is in places a grim read and the plot fell short of being 100% convincing, but the author is good on atmosphere, the main character is engaging and the book is a good choice for anyone who likes historical crime fiction.

I had no idea what to expect when I began my next book A Little Life by American writer Hanya Yanagihara, knowing nothing at all about it other than it had been shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker. But it hooked me in right from the first page. What’s it about? Friendship, identity, working out who you are and what your life is all about, pain, abuse, relationships, death, grief and love. It’s challenging, harrowing and absolutely compelling. And of all the books I’ve read so far this year, this is the one I would recommend most. Currently available in hardback – published Picador – or on Kindle.

What do you choose when you’ve just finished a brilliant book; one which has taken you a long time to read and which you can’t get out of your head? For me, the solution is to turn to something familiar and reliable and completely different. And as followers of this year of book reviews will know, that means in my case an Agatha Christie. This time I picked up The Moving Finger – one of a batch I was given last Christmas. I don’t think I’ve read it before though it’s hard to be sure. Either way, I couldn’t remember the ending. And of course neither the book itself nor the ending disappointed. Vintage Christie – and very enjoyable at that. My copy is a Fontana paperback, reprinted 1971.

This Little World edited by Sue Ashby is the sort of book you can dip in and out of whenever you have ten minutes to spare It’s a collection of short stories from people who live in Dorset – some as young as 11 – and each story is located in Dorset. Lots of variety and lots to interest anyone who knows anything about Dorset. My personal favourite is A Smuggler’s Life by 12 year old Sam. Available now on Amazon and will soon be published as an e-anthology.

And I’ve also been dipping in and out this month of my copy of the works of poet George Herbert edited by W H Auden. I studied Herbert for A level and there are certain lines from certain of his poems which still stick in my mind. Writing in the first half of the 17^th C his poems are all about religion, his understanding of it and his struggle to be worthy, but it isn’t the content of the poems which speaks to me but the beauty of the language and the strength of his belief. Not I think a well-known or in any way fashionable poet but one who in my opinion deserves to be read more. My edition is a Penguin paperback published 1973.

Only one month left to go. And so many books to choose from………………..

Month 9 of my Reading Challenge By Frances Colville

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Margaret Graham

My first two books this month both dealt with hugely important issues. I Do Not Sleep by Judy Finnigan focuses on grief and in particular coming to terms with the death of a child, while the main theme of Love You Better by Natalie K Martin is domestic violence. Both were interesting reads, but neither wowed me. The storyline in I Do Not Sleep struck me as unrealistic and contrived, and I didn’t feel any real empathy with the main character. The book was somewhat redeemed by its ending, so it’s worth persevering. Love You Better felt like a missed opportunity and the ending was obvious throughout which detracted from my involvement with the progress of the story.

Next I turned to another of the books on my Agatha Christie pile – on my mind no doubt because of visiting Agatha Christie’s former holiday home, Greenway, in Devon last month. This one The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was one I picked up at last year’s Cheltenham Literary Festival and I was swiftly transported back to Agatha Christie world with all its preconceptions and prejudices. You always get what you expect with an Agatha Christie – and there are times when nothing else will do. This one didn’t disappoint.

All of which reminded me of a new Agatha Christie story. Sophie Hannah (whose psychological thrillers I also enjoy) has with the approval of the Agatha Christie family written The Monogram Murders featuring Hercule Poirot, arguably Christie’s most famous character. I wondered if anyone else could effectively recreate Poirot and his world – and my answer having read and enjoyed The Monogram Murders is a slightly confused yes and no. Hercule Poirot is well recreated and the storyline is as intriguing and enjoyable as any other Poirot mystery. And yet I would never mistake this for an original Agatha Christie. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be. Perhaps Sophie Hannah intended all along for this to be an updated, twenty-first century version. To me it did indeed feel more like one of her own psychological thrillers with a cast of Agatha Christie characters rather than a mystery of the type Christie herself wrote. The confusing thing is that I don’t mind that at all. As I’ve said before I enjoy reading both books by Sophie Hannah and books by Agatha Christie. So a fusion of the two was always going to work for me.

Rosanna Ley is the author of The Saffron Trail which is partly set in my local town of Bridport and the neighbouring town of Lyme Regis – a fact which added to my enjoyment as I ticked off all the places I recognise and love. The story also takes us to Cornwall, Morocco and the US and the descriptions of all these places is done very well. It’s a good story too with believable and likeable characters. This is the first book by this author I have read, but I will certainly look out for another.

So it turns out (by chance rather than design) that all the books I’ve read this month have been books telling stories – and I’ve enjoyed them all to a greater or lesser extent. They have provided relaxing and pleasant entertainment. But entertainment isn’t the only reason I read; I also want to be educated, stimulated and challenged. So now I find myself wanting a book which meets at least one, and preferably more of those criteria. The only question is: what will it be?

October 2015

Month 8 of My Reading Challenge By Frances Colville

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Margaret Graham

This month I deliberately set out to base my book choices on recommendations from other people. This decision in part came about because my first book The Book of Lost and Found by Lucy Foley (Harper Collins 2015) was lent to me some time ago by a friend who has been wondering why I hadn’t yet got round to reading it. So now I have. And a good story it is too, telling of the relationship between two people over the course of the 20^th century from the viewpoint of a younger family member. It’s well-written and well-constructed. I enjoyed it. But it isn’t memorable in any way and I suspect I’ll have forgotten all about it in a month or two.

I met Harry Bucknall, the author of my next book, Life of a Tramp, Life of a Pilgrim (Bloomsbury 2014), at a recent creative writing workshop. He mentioned his book and I was intrigued enough to pick up a copy the next time I was in a bookshop. He writes about a pilgrimage he took from London to Rome on foot, following the old Via Francigena. This is a fascinating mix of travel book, history and memoir and I recommend it to anyone who likes any of those genres. I also found a personal link to the book – the author mentions Eric Newby, who escaped from a prisoner-of-war camp in Italy during WW2 and went on to write about his experiences. My father was in the same camp as Eric Newby and frequently talked of him and his successful escape. As I’ve said before, I like to look for connections in and between books and this one was very satisfying!

Next up was The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (Faber & Faber paperback 2010). I read The Poisonwood Bible (about Belgian colonialism amongst other things) by the same author many years ago when I was living in Belgium and it has stuck in my mind ever since. So I was very pleased when her latest book was suggested by a member of one of my book groups. It’s a long book, and has been 10 years in the writing. It took a bit of getting into, but the language is memorable from the start and I was soon completely hooked by the story as well. This novel works on many different levels. It’s full of information about life in Mexico and the US in the 20^th century, about Trotsky, his exile from the USSR and murder in Mexico by Stalin’s men, about the art world of the early 20^th century, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in particular and about McCarthyism in the US. A fascinating mix of fact and fiction. Above all a book about people, their inner lives and their relationships. But I think what will stick in my mind most of all is the power and beauty of the descriptive passages. This is a book which has so much to admire, it might require reading several times. When though? That’s the problem.

My youngest son has been recommending Moby Dick by Herman Melville for a long time (years probably) telling me that my life is much the poorer for never having read it. However, having tracked down his copy and had a flick through I decided to opt instead for another of his recommendations, the much shorter The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (Vintage 2011) . It proved to be a great choice, reminding me of On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan and Stoner by John Williams, both of which I enjoyed very much. Much of it resonated with me, having grown up in the 60s and 70s, and the idea of writing a novel out of relatively little appealed to me greatly. What I didn’t get – ironically given the title – was any sense of the ending. I’m not sure it fitted the rest of the book. And Moby Dick? On my list for the future, but probably not this year.

Month 7 of My Reading Challenge by Frances Colville

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Margaret Graham

At the beginning of this month for various (non-book-related) reasons, I wanted to read something light, enjoyable and relaxing, and I found just that in Erica James‘ latest book The Dandelion Years. A quick and easy read, this is a good story with characters I could identify with and of course a happy ending. Just what I needed. And any of Erica James’ 18 other books would have done the same job for me.

All month I’ve been dipping into a fascinating little book called One Hundred Great Books in Haiku by David Bader. For anyone unfamiliar with the term haiku, it describes a very short poetic form, originally Japanese, which traditionally uses no more than 17 syllables, divided into 3 lines in a 5,7,5 format. This particular book as its title suggests, uses the haiku form to express the titles of a hundred famous books. My personal favourite is the following which describes Brave New World by Aldous Huxley:

Euphoric drugs, sex,

cloning, the past forgotten.

So what else is new?

My bet is that once you’ve read the book you’ll want to try writing haiku yourself!

I have my family well trained and they know that a well-chosen book is always at the top of any present list of mine. The haul on my birthday this month didn’t disappoint. The first thing I picked from the pile was an old and battered copy of Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. I hadn’t read this before and I was intrigued by a quote on the back cover saying that this might just be the best short story ever written. Maybe – maybe not. I don’t feel qualified to judge. But it is superb. And I’m sure that this seemingly simple tale of an old man’s battle of wills against a huge fish, and at the same time against old age and loss of dignity, will stay in my mind for a long time.

I’ve also been reading a couple of very recently published books this month and recommend both for different reasons. One Man’s Everest by Kenton Cool is a fascinating account of the author’s life as a climber, his motivations and obsessions and his many climbing successes. Not just a book for people interested in climbing, and well worth reading. My Stratford Friend by Dominick Reyntiens is also fascinating; the story is told from the point of view of Tom, a lifelong friend of William Shakespeare and is a good combination of fact and fiction as well as being a compelling read. Fuller reviews of both books can be found elsewhere on Frost.

I thought I was ending the month back where I began, with something light and relaxing. But a few chapters into Us by David Nicholls I decided this was a book with hidden depths. It is funny and it is entertaining, and it will make a good film, I’m sure. But it also has serious points to make about relationships (husband/wife and parent/child) and in particular the big question of how you go back to being just a couple once your children have left home and being a parent is no longer the definitive role in your life.

Month 6 of My Reading Challenge by Frances Colville

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Margaret Graham

Recently I went to a wonderful performance of Louis De Bernieres’ play for voices entitled Sunday Morning At The Centre Of The World. I’ve read and enjoyed Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Birds Without Wings and various others of De Bernieres’ books but I’d never come across the play before and I went straight out and picked up a second hand copy to read. It’s such a vivid evocation of life in multi-cultural London and it’s a quick read which is useful for someone trying to read as much as possible in a year. I realised it must have been based on Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood, an old favourite of mine, so of course I then had to re-read that as well. Both plays stretch the boundaries of language, putting together combinations of words which are highly original as well as being thought- provoking and hugely enjoyable. And both authors distill the essence of a community they know very well into just a few pages. To give you a taster, this sentence is taken from the first page of Under Milk Wood ‘It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters’-and-rabbits’ wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea.’ Magnificent!

There’s a series of books written by Chris Stewart, one-time Genesis drummer, (Driving Over Lemons, The Parrot in the Pepper Tree and The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society) which are laugh-out-loud funny. They tell the story of how Chris and his partner Ana buy a rundown farm in Las Alpujarras, a region of southern Spain, and how their life develops over a period of years. I first read them years ago and have recently been dipping in to them again. Very enjoyable, but also well written and perceptive. I see there is a recent addition to the original trilogy – The Last Days of the Bus Club – which I have now added to my list of books to read.

What’s next? H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald has been in my pile since it won The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction and the Costa Book of the Year in 2014. It’s not an easy read but it is one of the most sensitive and incisive portrayals of grief I have ever come across. For me, the training of the hawk Mabel is almost incidental to the proceedings but I can see that it is also a vital part of the book and will no doubt be completely absorbing for anyone who knows about hawks and falconry. The use of language and the descriptive passages throughout the book are quite simply outstanding.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed was an obvious follow up since it too tells of a passage through grief and depression by returning to the wild and searching for healing in the natural rather than the human world. It’s the story of a walk taken by the author along the Pacific Crest Trail. It isn’t as powerful a book as H is for Hawk, and at times I found it to be over-focused on the author and her feelings (so many paragraphs beginning with ‘I’!) rather than giving a wider picture of the trail. But it is very readable and I think actually resonated more with me – partly at least because I can see myself setting out on a long walk or other adventure to assuage grief far more easily than I can see myself trying to train a hawk.

So this month my reading choices have, purely by chance, been pretty much entirely about people and the different ways they live their lives. I’ve been by turn amused, saddened, educated, enlightened, inspired and always entertained. I suspect it would not be at all difficult to continue finding books in this genre for the rest of the year, but I’m not going to do that. Something different is calling.

Summer Book Special | What To Read

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Frostie

Five Days Later by Julie Lawson Timmer

This book was hard to put down. A beautiful and heart-breaking novel on love and lost, it is simply stunning. A must-read.

Mara is a successful lawyer, and devoted wife and mother. Struggling with a devastating illness, she has set herself five days to make the ultimate decision for her family.

Scott lives a thousand miles away, and is a foster parent to a troubled eight-year-old. Scott is facing his own five day countdown until his beloved foster son is returned to his biological mother.

The two connect through an online forum, and find a friendship to help guide them through the most difficult, and momentous, week of their lives.

Five Days Left is available here.

Some kind of wonderful by Sarah Morgan

A great, engaging, fun story. Sarah Morgan has a talent for writing great in-depth characters. This is the second book in the Puffin Island series. A good read that is hard to put down.

Her whole life, Puffin Islander Brittany Forrest has dreamed of adventure. And at the age of eighteen, she thought she’d found it in bad boy Zachary Flynn. But after just ten tempestuous, smouldering days, their whirlwind marriage went up in smoke, and Brittany resolved to put him out of her mind forever.
Zach knows he let Brittany down, but being back on Puffin Island and seeing Brittany again stirs up long-buried emotions. This daredevil pilot has never felt worthy of her, yet he can’t stay away—even when he knows the chemistry between them will only complicate his life.

As long, hot summer days on the beach dissolve into sultry, starry nights, Brittany and Zach find that the sparks between them are more powerful than ever. Could it be that the second time around, their dreams of a happy-ever-after will finally come true?

Fall in love with the all new Puffin Island series from Sarah Morgan, the bestselling author who brought you Sleigh Bells in the Snow:

Some Kind of Wonderful is available here.

A Meditation on Murder by Robert Thorogood

From the creator of BBC drama Death in Paradise, this great crime novel is riveting and full of twists that will keep you guessing. An enjoyable read, perfect for fans of crime novels.

An original story from the creator and writer of the hit BBC One TV series, Death in Paradise, featuring on-screen favourite detective, DI Richard Poole.
Enhance your enjoyment of the series as, for the first time, Robert Thorogood brings the characters to life on the page in an all-new locked-room mystery.

Aslan Kennedy has an idyllic life: leader of a spiritual retreat for wealthy holidaymakers on one of the Caribbean’s most unspoilt islands, Saint Marie. Until he’s murdered, that is. The case seems open and shut: when Aslan was killed he was inside a locked room with only five other people, one of whom has already confessed to the murder.

Detective Inspector Richard Poole is hot, bothered, and fed up with talking to witnesses who’d rather discuss his ‘aura’ than their whereabouts at the time of the murder. But he also knows that the facts of the case don’t quite stack up. In fact, he’s convinced that the person who’s just confessed to the murder is the one person who couldn’t have done it. Determined to track down the real killer, DI Poole is soon on the trail, and no stone will be left unturned.

A must read for fans of the TV series and Agatha Christie crime classics featuring Marple and Poirot.

A Meditation on Murder is available here.

A Summer Promise by Katie Flynn

This wartime novel is a heartwarming romance novel. Believable and engaging.

From the bestselling author Katie Flynn. Growing up in the Yorkshire Dales, Maddy Hebditch can’t imagine the changes that war will bring when she joins the ATS.

1938: Maddy Hebditch has been living in poverty with her cantankerous grandmother since she was orphaned when she was just five, and it’s a constant struggle to stay out of the workhouse.

However, though life is hard, Maddy has her friends Alice, Marigold and Tom to help her. Together the four spend their summers exploring the Dales and making plans for the future.

Until war breaks out and everything changes.

As the four go their separate ways, Maddy joins the ATS, where she is recruited for one of the most dangerous jobs a woman could do in wartime: the Ack Ack sites.

All four face dangers as the war worsens, but when Tom is terribly injured, Maddy’s world falls apart…

A Summer Promise is available here.

Doris Day Vintage Club by Fiona Harper

A brilliant and unique novel. Hard to put down and lots of fun. Make sure you pack this amazing novel in your suitcase, it is the perfect holiday read and essential for fans of Doris Day.

Claire Bixby grew up watching Doris Day films at her grandmother’s house and yearned to live in a world like the one on the screen – sunny, colourful and where happy endings were guaranteed. But recently Claire’s opportunities for a little ‘pillow talk’ have been thin on the ground.

Until she meets new client Nic who comes into her travel agency looking to book the perfect get away. Too bad it’s for two!

But as Nic and Claire get closer, the sparks start to fly, and Claire’s questioning everything Doris taught her about romance.

Can true love ever really be just like it is in the movies?

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…

The Doris Day Vintage Film Club is available here.

Nightingales at War by Donna Douglas

The latest in the Nightingales series, this is a heart-warming tale of friendship and love. A great coming-of-age drama set in pre-war London. A touching novel which is perfect for fans of Call The Midwife.

As the war takes its toll, the Nightingale nurses must do their bit for king and country…

Dora is the devoted mother of twin babies but, determined to help the war effort, she goes back to work at the Nightingale Hospital.

More used to nights out in the West End, Jennifer and Cissy volunteer in the hope of tending to handsome soldiers. They soon find out that nursing isn’t quite what they were expecting.

For shy and troubled Eve, the hospital provides an escape from the pressures of home, but the life of a nurse is never easy, especially at wartime.

Can the nurses rally together while war rages all around them? And will the Nightingale Hospital survive the Blitz?

Nightingales at War is available here.

Russian Tattoo by Elena Gorokhova

A stunning page-turner. This is the second memoir from Elena Gorokhova and it is a fascinating and beautiful tale on the mother-daughter bond, Candid and full of emotion, this book is a great read.

The possibility of leaving Russia was never as thrilling as the prospect of leaving my mother.’

When Elena Gorokhova arrives in America, the only link back to her Russian past is a suitcase filled with twenty kilograms of what used to be her life. Navigating a country she had been taught to fear, Elena begins to carve out a new life in an unfamiliar world.

Before the birth of Elena’s daughter, her mother comes to visit and stays for twenty-four years. Elena, must struggle with the challenge of raising an American daughter whilst living with her controlling mother, a mirror image of her Motherland.

Russian Tattoo is the story of what it means to be an outsider, and what happens when the cultures of our past and present collide. Above all, it is an insightful portrait of mothers and daughters.

Russian Tattoo is available here.

The Umbrian Thursday Night Supper Club by Markena de Blasi

We loved this book. A wonderful novel about a group of women in Italy who meet up on Thursday night to talk and cook. Full of wonderful description and amazing recipes you can cook yourself, this book takes you into the heart of Italy. This is a true story that never stops entertaining. Full of emotion, it perfectly evokes Italy and the Italian people. Wonderful. You cannot wait to find out what happens to these women and what happens in their lives.

Pull up a chair for the true story of the Umbrian Thursday night supper club.

Every week on a Thursday evening, a group of four Italian rural women gather in a derelict stone house in the hills above Italy’s Orvieto. There – along with their friend, Marlena – they cook together, sit down to a beautiful supper, drink their beloved local wines, and talk.

Here, surrounded by candle light, good food and friendship, Miranda, Ninucia, Paolina and Gilda tell their life stories of loves lost and found, of ageing and abandonment, of mafia grudges and family feuds, and of cherished ingredients and recipes whose secrets have been passed down through the generations. Around this table, these five friends share their food and all that life has offered them – the good and the bad.

For fans of all things Italian, and the thousands of readers who loved Deborah Rodriquez’s The Kabul Beauty School; Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love and Deborah Moggach’s Best Exotic Marigold Hotel;

The Umbrian Thursday Night Supper Club is available here.

Villa America by Liza Klaussmann

One of the books of the moment, and rightly so. This book is a stunning and sophisticated page-turner. This tale of marriage set in the 1920s on the French Riviera is a glorious read.

Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, Cole and Linda Porter, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos – all are summer guests of Gerald and Sara Murphy. Visionary, misunderstood, and from vastly different backgrounds, the Murphys met and married young, and set forth to create a beautiful world. They alight on Villa America: their coastal oasis of artistic genius, debauched parties, impeccable style and flamboyant imagination. But before long, a stranger enters into their relationship, and their marriage must accommodate an intensity that neither had forseen. When tragedy strikes, their friends reach out to them, but the golden bowl is shattered, and neither Gerald nor Sara will ever be the same.

Ravishing, heart-breaking, and written with enviable poise, Villa America delivers on all the promise of Liza Klaussmann’s bestselling debut, Tigers in Red Weather. It is an overwhelming, unforgettable novel.

Villa America is available here.

Everyday Detox by Megan Gilmore

Too many diet books are based on deprivation. This book makes being healthy easy and delicious. Megan Gilmore has practical recipes that are easy to make and she focuses on simply daily changes. This great book will make you healthy and is so great and simple you won’t even notice it is happening.

This no-nonsense approach to healthy detoxing by certified holistic health coach and blogger Megan Gilmore offers 100 delicious and properly combined recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, including smoothies, snacks and desserts to help you lose weight and feel great. Each recipe is gluten- and sugar-free and include vegan, vegetarian and grain-free alternatives.

Whilst most diets and detoxes require all-or-nothing approaches which encourage unhealthy cycles of restriction followed by bingeing, Everyday Detox takes a realistic, sensible approach to healthy eating and weight loss. The simple, delicious recipes, such as Coconut Banana Muffins, Cauliflower Fried Rice, Baked Spaghetti and Double Chocolate Brownies, will help you to discover the benefits of using all-natural, wholefood ingredients that not only promote good health but stave off feelings of hunger and deprivation. And since each recipe has been designed to promote good gut health while gently removing toxins, you won’t feel bloated or uncomfortable after eating.

Packed with invaluable advice on how to stock a detox-friendly kitchen, and a handy food combination cheat sheet to help you to enjoy the benefits – and the results – of Everyday Detox without delay, this is an essential no-fuss approach to looking and feeling great!

Everyday Detox: 100 Easy Recipes to Remove Toxins, Promote Gut Health and Lose Weight Naturally is available here.

Month 5 of my Reading Challenge by Frances Colville

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Margaret Graham

When I first started out on this project, I rather naively thought I was being original. Of course I wasn’t and it has since become apparent that not only have others done the same thing, but they have also gone on to write books from the experience. So this month I’ve looked at a couple of those books. The first, Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill, was the result of the author’s decision not to buy books for a year but to read from her existing library. Many of the books she read turned out to be books I have already enjoyed, but I was also able to compile a long list to add to my ‘to read soon’ pile. I was bewildered by a throwaway comment disparaging Khaled Hosseni (author of The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns and And The Mountains Echoed) but on the whole her choice of books and her commentary on them and on her life as a reader worked well for me. So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson (similar theme of focusing on a year of reading) was less interesting to me because as an American her book experiences were very different from mine. But I enjoyed her writing style and the way in which she wove comments about her life into her discussion of books and authors. I have yet to read The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books Saved my Life by Andy Miller but it is definitely on my list.

I don’t know whether Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote counts as a short novel or a long story. Either way it seems to me to be a brilliantly crafted piece of writing, with no words wasted, and perfectly located in time and place. My copy has the added benefit of including three short stories. There is an obvious connection between this and my next read To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. The two authors were childhood friends and in fact Lee bases Dill, one of the characters in her book, on Capote. I’ve read To Kill a Mocking Bird before (who of my generation hasn’t?) but was very happy to have the opportunity to re-read when it came up as a book group choice this month. One of my top ten of all time books, it’s a beautifully written portrayal of life in the southern USA during the 1930s depression, told from the point of view of the unforgettable 8 year old Scout, and focusing on a court case in which a white lawyer (Scout’s father Atticus) defends a black man charged with rape. It is of course the 50^th anniversary of the book’s publication this year and there is a new edition available for anyone who can’t get hold of one of the original copies. The only other book ever published by this author Go Set A Watchman is about to be released. One more for my list.

My next book – Daughter by Jane Shemilt – was a good read and a fast-paced one. Having once started it, I found it hard to put down. Both a family story and a crime novel, it is narrated by a GP working full time in a pressured job, while trying to be a good mother to her three teenage children, a good wife and at the same time keep her own identity and free up time to indulge her love of painting. It seems inevitable from the beginning that something will go wrong and of course it does. But this is not a predictable story; there are several twists and turns in the plot and I was kept guessing until the end.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion has been on my pile for some time, having been recommended by my daughters. Another good read. Again I didn’t want to put it down, and I found myself willing the narrator (an undiagnosed Asperger’s sufferer) on to success in his endeavours. It’s funny, insightful and interesting. And yet it left me feeling a bit uncomfortable. I’m not quite sure why, but I think perhaps it’s because the view of autism it portrays is over-simplistic and too generalised. Still well worth reading though, and if you enjoyed The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-time by Mark Haddon, I think you will enjoy this too. There is also a follow-up entitled The Rosie Effect.

Frost Magazine

Books and Lifestyle

Tag Archives: Reading

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