Monthly Archives: March 2021

A poem to read in the bath… ‘Poor Girl’ by Maya Angelou #poetry #women

Leave a reply

I can hear the sorrow in every word of this woman who feels cheated, cynical in her understanding that she loved a wrong ‘un. This is ‘Poor Girl’ by Maya Angelou. She is angry, talking directly to a former lover who has betrayed her.

Maya Angelou

[photo: Wikipedia]

It has a simple structure, a repetition that reflects the sense of inevitability as he finds a new love; and the inevitability that this new love will soon turn into another old love, another poor girl, as yet again he uses then moves on. In her poetry Angelou loves men, but she also trashes badly behaved disrespectful unloving men.

This poem is subject to copyright restrictions. Please search for the full poem in an anthology or at your local library.

‘Poor Girl’
You’ve got another love
            and I know it
Someone who adores you
            just like me
Hanging on your words
            like they were gold
Thinking she understands
            your soul
Poor Girl
            Just like me

Maya Angelou BUY THE BOOK

Read these other excerpts and find a new poet to love:-
‘My Father’ by Yehuda Amichai 
‘Sometimes and After’ by Hilda Doolittle
‘I Loved Her Like the Leaves’ by Kakinonoto Hitomaro

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
A #poem to read in the bath: Poor Girl’ by Maya Angelou https://wp.me/p5gEM4-4kX via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Unsettled Ground’ by Claire Fuller #contemporary

2 Replies

The title is well chosen. From the first page, Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller is unsettling. An eclectic mixture of setting and detail make the timeframe difficult to pin down, it seems other-worldly. An ordinary world, but not quite. This is a world of Google and internet banking, of smartphones and digital life. Claire FullerFuller writes about twins Julius and Jeanie who, aged 51, still live with their mother in a remote rural cottage. They scratch a living, cash-in-hand earned from odd jobs, vegetables and eggs sold at the garden gate and the local deli, money kept in a tin rather than a bank account. Everything changes when their mother, Dot, dies suddenly and they realise how she protected them and kept them safe. But with Dot gone, their familiar world collapses. Their routines don’t work, the difficulties their mother smoothed are now rocky, and they are evicted from their home.
This is a novel about relationships – sibling, parental and with the local community – both supportive and dismissive. As the twins attempt to cope with the paperwork following their mother’s death, their isolation from modern society becomes evident to them. Many people step aside from their helplessness, finding them strange and ignorant, people make assumptions and take the easy option of turning away. Jeanie is mortified to find out that other people know more about her life and family history than she does, how neighbours silently colluded in a scenario either from a sense of helplessness, a misguided assumption they are helping, or malicious sniggering. Unsettled Ground is an uncomfortable but at the same time uplifting read.
As Julius and Jeanie confront each revelation about the life they have been living, they begin to question each other’s loyalty. Jeanie finds emotional strength she didn’t know she had, despite a heart complaint she’s had since childhood. She sneaks back home and finds solace in the abandoned garden, harvesting vegetables. This is an uncomfortable depiction of modern poverty in a society where money exchange is cashless and application for help depends on literacy. Both find a way to cope but inevitably they need each other despite their grumbles and disagreements. At times of stress, they pick up their guitars and sing folk songs as their parents taught them.
When the truth slowly emerges about their father’s accidental death and Dot’s subsequent struggle as a single mother, they realise that deep down they had always had suspicions. This is a powerful story about the strength of human nature and the bonds of family, about fighting back against bullies and finding light in the future.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Midnight Library’ by Matt Haig
‘In the Midst of Winter’ by Isabel Allende
‘The Lie of the Land’ by Amanda Craig

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview UNSETTLED GROUND by Claire Fuller https://wp.me/p5gEM4-5a0 via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘The Fine Art of Invisible Detection’ by Robert Goddard #thriller

9 Replies

I always look forward to a new Robert Goddard book but wasn’t sure what to expect from his latest, The Fine Art of Invisible Detection. Partly, I think, because the blurb seemed more a detective novel than a thriller. Actually, this is both. Goddard has creative a heart-warming, realistic new hero, Umiko Wada, known simply as Wada. I raced through this book, full of Goddard’s clever twisty plotting, emotional dilemmas, should-I-shouldn’t-I moments. Robert GoddardWada is a 47-year-old secretary at a detective agency in Tokyo, making tea, writing reports for her technology-incompetent boss Kodaka. Widowed after her husband was killed in the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, Wada is quiet, efficient and invisible. But burning deep is a sense of righteousness. So when her boss asks for her help with a new case, she agrees to go to London to pose as the client who wants to find out if her father really committed suicide almost three decades earlier, or if he was murdered. From this point on, Wada’s life becomes unpredictable and her talent for being invisible becomes a lifesaver. Her boss dies in a car accident. The man she is due to meet in London has gone missing. Always logical, she follows the one clue she has.
Nick Miller is also due to meet the same man in London. Nick, a 41-year-old Londoner, is hoping to learn more about the father he has never met. Nick and Wada’s paths keep missing each other as they separately follow the trail of mystifying clues about the past. The action moves from Tokyo to London, Rekyjavik and the wilds of Iceland to Cornwall. There is a high-technology fraud, plus hints of terrorism and Japanese gang warfare, but this is not a violent read.
Wada is at the heart of this novel. Her logic and calm reasoning drive the narrative forward in that just-one-more-chapter way that makes this book a quick and fulfilling read. She is ordinary but extraordinary. I hope she returns in another novel.

Read my reviews of Goddard’s other books:-
PANIC ROOM
THE WAYS OF THE WORLD #1 THE WIDE WORLD TRILOGY
THE CORNERS OF THE GLOBE #2 THE WIDE WORLD TRILOGY
THE ENDS OF THE EARTH #3 THE WIDE WORLD TRILOGY
THIS IS THE NIGHT THEY COME FOR YOU #1SUPERINTENDENTTALEB

If you like this, try:-
‘Exposure’ by Helen Dunmore
‘The Accident’ by Chris Pavone
‘The Second Midnight’ by Andrew Taylor

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:-
#BookReview THE FINE ART OF INVISIBLE DETECTION by Robert Goddard https://wp.me/p5gEM4-5as via @SandraDanby

My Porridge & Cream read… @jane_fenwick60 #books #historical

Leave a reply

Today I’m delighted to welcome historical novelist Jane Fenwick.  Her ‘Porridge & Cream’ read is Ross Poldark by Winston Graham.

“Ross Poldark was first published in 1946. It’s surprisingly ‘modern’ and fresh even today. I first read it in the 1970s after the saga was made into a TV series. I was intrigued to see how different the two versions were. They were massively different as it turns out, the book being far better.

Jane Fenwick“There are twelve books in all but the first, Ross Poldark, is the one I reread time and time again. I’ve lost count exactly how many times I’ve read it. I go back to it time and time again because it’s like putting on a comfortable pair of old shoes. It always makes me feel better. Also, each time I read it I see something new, some scene which for some reason has new significance, some word choice which adds depth, some character detail I’d missed.

“I’m drawn to this book for two reasons; firstly the main character and secondly the writing style. The central character, Ross Poldark is not a hero, he’s flawed. He makes mistakes but has a conscience and a strong moral compass. Sometimes he is his own worst enemy but you understand his point of view because the reader is witness to not only his actions but his internal dialogue. He’s beautifully drawn.

“Winston Graham was a brilliant writer. The Poldark saga, set in eighteenth/nineteenth century Cornwall, is historically well researched and accurate. As a writer of historical fiction, I find this aspect of his writing very satisfying. WG manages to write unsentimentally about the times but with such warmth and insight that the reader becomes immersed in the story and the lives of the characters. Ross Poldark is the start of the journey and once read it’s impossible not to read the other eleven books in the series. But for me Ross Poldark is my favourite.”
Jane FenwickBUY THE BOOK

Jane’s Bio
Jane Fenwick lives in Settle in Yorkshire, England. She studied education at Sheffield University gaining a B Ed (Hons) in 1989 and going on to teach primary age range children. Jane decided to try her hand at penning a novel rather than writing school reports as she has always been an avid reader, especially enjoying historical and crime fiction. She decided to combine her love of both genres to write her first historical crime novel Never the Twain. Jane has always loved the sea and although she lives in the Yorkshire Dales she is particularly drawn to the North East coast of Yorkshire and Northumberland. This coastline is where she gets her inspiration. As she has always loved history, she finds the research particularly satisfying.

When she isn’t walking on Sandsend beach with her dog Scout, a Patterdale “Terrorist” she is to be found in her favourite coffee shop gazing out to sea and dreaming up her next plot.
Jane is currently writing a historical series again set on the North East coast beginning in 1765. The first two books, My Constant Lady and The Turning Tides were well received. Look out for the third and last in the series Safe Harbour in May 2021.

Jane’s links
Website
Facebook 

Jane’s latest book
Jane FenwickGabriel Reynolds and his stunning red-haired wife Eleanor have settled happily into married life at Westshore… or have they? A woman with a loaded gun, a servant with a grudge, and a buccaneering Irish sea captain seem intent on rocking the boat. When Caroline Hodgeson makes what her ex-fiancé Gabriel sees as an unsuitable match, it sets off a chain of events which will change all their lives. And not for the better.
The Turning Tides, second in the Reynolds seafaring saga, is a tale of jealousy and jeopardy, mistrust and malice. The continuing tale of one man’s love for an unconventional woman.
BUY THE BOOK

What is a ‘Porridge & Cream’ book? It’s the book you turn to when you need a familiar read, when you are tired, ill, or out-of-sorts, where you know the story and love it. Where reading it is like slipping on your oldest, scruffiest slippers after walking for miles. Where does the name ‘Porridge & Cream’ come from? Cat Deerborn is a character in Susan Hill’s ‘Simon Serrailler’ detective series. Cat is a hard-worked GP, a widow with two children and she struggles from day-to-day. One night, after a particularly difficult day, she needs something familiar to read. From her bookshelf she selects ‘Love in A Cold Climate’ by Nancy Mitford. Do you have a favourite read which you return to again and again? If so, please send me a message.

Discover the ‘Porridge & Cream’ books of these authors:-
Sue Johnson’s choice is ‘Jamaica Inn’ by Daphne du Maurier
Sue Moorcroft chooses ‘A Town Like Alice’ by Nevil Shute
‘Chocolat’ by Joanne Harris is chosen by Kate Frost

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Why does @jane_fenwick60 re-read ROSS POLDARK by Winston Graham #books https://wp.me/p5gEM4-58D via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘The Evening and the Morning’ by @KMFollett #historical

7 Replies

I absolutely loved The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett. It is thirty years since Follett published his monster hit The Pillars of the Earth and this novel is his prequel to what became the Kingsbridge series. Set in Southern England in the year 997 at the end of the Dark Ages – so called because the lack of historical documents and archaeological remains from the time means our knowledge of the era is thin – it was a period of unrest and war. Viking raids, skirmishes with the Welsh, the law allows violence against slaves while power-hungry local rulers disobey the rules of King Ethelred. Ken FollettThe story is told by three principal characters – a French noblewoman, a young English boatbuilder and an English monk. Each is smart, ambitious and honest but they are confronted by violence, cruelty, law-breaking, jealousy and betrayal.
In the west country village of Combe, eighteen-year old boatbuilder Edgar waits on the beach for his true love. She is married and the pair are going to run away together. But as Edgar waits, he sees the arrival of a Viking ship and his life changes. The town is destroyed. Three powerful brothers arrive to examine the damage – Wilwulf, ealdorman of local region Shiring; Bishop Wynstan of Shiring; and Wilgelm, thane of Combe – each will lose income because of the raid. It is decided a visit to Normandy is necessary to ask for support from Count Hubert, a Norman lord in Cherbourg who has influence with the Vikings.
In Normandy, Hubert receives two English visitors, a monk and a priest. The monk, Brother Aldred, has a chest of books he has bought in a French abbey. His plan is to create a library, a scriptorium, at Shiring Abbey. Hubert’s daughter Ragna is under pressure from her parents to marry a local lord she dislikes. She wishes Guillaume was educated like Aldred who, being a monk, is celibate. But when English lord Wilwulf arrives, she quickly falls in love.
Ragna travels to England where she will marry Wilfulf. En route she arrives at Dreng’s Ferry and meets Edgar. His family now lives on a farm at this, a poor, lawless place where the local dean and clergy live life to their own rules.  This is the beginning of a long friendship that will last many years. Though life as the wife of an English ealdorman is not what she expected, Ragna is supported by the presence in Shiring of Aldred who also becomes a friend.
This is an endlessly fascinating story, with so many twists and turns, achievements and horrific setbacks for the three friends that it’s easy to get lost in the ups and downs of their lives. The structure of the story may be predictable at times but the characters are strongly written, the historical setting is believable and the themes of friendship and perseverance are uplifting.
As soon as I finished reading it – and it’s a long book, 832 pages – I wanted to start at the beginning again. The last time I felt like that was when I finished The Pillars of the Earth.

Click the titles to read my reviews of other Follett novels:-
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH #1KINGSBRIDGE
WORLD WITHOUT END #2KINGSBRIDGE
A COLUMN OF FIRE #3KINGSBRIDGE
THE ARMOUR OF LIGHT #4KINGSBRIDGE
NEVER

If you like this, try:-
‘The Almanack’ by Martine Bailey
‘Days Without End’ by Sebastian Barry
‘The Signature of All Things’ by Elizabeth Gilbert

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE EVENING AND THE MORNING by @KMFollett https://wp.me/p5gEM4-59F via @SandraDanby

Great Opening Paragraph 132 ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’ #amreading #FirstPara

1 Reply

“It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love. Dr Juvenal Urbino noticed it as soon as he entered the still darkened house where he had hurried on an urgent call to attend a case that for him had lost all urgency many years before. The Antillean refugee Jeremiah de Saint-Amour, disabled war veteran, photographer of children, and his most sympathetic opponent in chess, had escaped the torments of memory with the aromatic fumes of gold cyanide.”
Gabriel Garcia Marquez From ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘The Pursuit of Love’ by Nancy Mitford
‘A Good Man in Africa‘ by William Boyd
‘Gilead’ by Marilynne Robinson 

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA by Gabriel Garcia Marquez https://wp.me/p5gEM4-4eK via @SandraDanby