The Trick to Time - Kit de Waal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I found this a very moving read.  I must warn readers that it does contain a short chapter dealing with still-birth and also mention of mental illness.  But these two very serious subjects are part of the whole;  and the whole is a tender, and powerful read that made my heart hurt.  This is the story of Mona's life - from the death of her mother when she was very small, the loss of her father when she was in her early twenties. It's also the story of her early marriage, which didn't last long, and what she has done since, now approaching her 60th birthday.  For a long time she has made clothes for, and painted the faces of, wooden dolls for collectors.  The dolls are made by a carpenter - a lonely man she seems to feel she must keep an eye on as he appears even sadder than she.  There's also a man about her age who likes to meet her for coffee.  She likes him, but wants nothing further from him - though perhaps he wants more from her?

It jumps about in time, but that didn't worry me at all, I wasn't lost in time, although Mona was, and she was not the only one.  I wonder what I would have done in Mona's shoes?  There are clues everywhere about what has happened, and what is still happening.  There are lovely people who support her, make her smile, and generally guide her through life, but there is also a worrying character or two who turn out quite differently than expected.

I think it's a book to read slowly, because every so often a short sentence appears, seemingly meaning little, but actually opening out Mona's life.  One of those short sentences, which appears during a visit to Birmingham just after her birthday to visit her old friend Val as she does every year, was heartbreaking.  The reader will see that Mona is not the only person in the world to have suffered - for different reasons of course - and she doesn't always think kindly of them because of that.  But all those characters make the book what it is, and make Mona's story so much more.  This is certainly one of my top ten books of the year.

 

The Good Soldier - Ford Madox Ford

This is not a thriller you might pick up at the airport prior to a flight.  But you should!  Although of course it depends what you like to read.  I don't read classic literature much.... but again, I don't read "airport thrillers" either.  So perhaps it's a mystery as to why I acquired and read this short novel (200+ pages).

The first thing to say is that this book has a very unreliable narrator and sometimes that makes a read very interesting indeed.  We know at the beginning of the book that this narrator has lost his wife to her "bad heart", and a good friend to a broken heart...... there are several deaths in this book, accidents, suicides, health?  Well, one thing is for sure, none of them are murders.  But that is the only sure thing in the entire read, for as the narrator is so unreliable, he weaves a tale of Gothic proportions, and you may find that from page to page you can't believe a word of it.  You should, though, because in  between the lies characters tell each other, and the unreliability of the narrator's memory (perhaps), there are truths to be untangled, and people's lives to be played with.

This is the story of four friends, who meet at the turn of the 20th century in a spa town in Europe, and remain in each others company for nine years.  It's only as you read on, you find that one or all of them are not as first described, none of them are likeable and there are secrets a-plenty.  Eventually they are all revealed, but you will be half way through before the pennies start to drop!

Despite it's "of the time" language (written in 1905 and published in 1915), this is a clever book, and a real page turner.  But ...... keep your wits about you at all times, as secrets and lies are revealed, then changed, then dismissed.

Gravetye Beauty and Clematis Wilt

Gravetye Beauty is just the most wonderful clematis.  Not a loud shouty double, but a beautifully formed long bell of a flower which gradually opens and separates into separate petals.  And the colour!

Well.  put one in new this Summer about a week before a really hot spell, but watered it regularly, and also inserted a 12 inch pipe into the soil so that watering was made easier, and that the plant could suck up as and when it needed a drink.  It's a late bloomer, so most of September it was glorious, had grown to about eight feet and was covered in buds and flowers. Then we had a couple of really rainy days and I didn't leave the house.  And when I did? - Gone, all gone, sagging, dead and sorry for itself.  I knew what clematis wilt was, but had never had it in this garden. Looked it up on the internet, and all descriptions fitted.  So now is the time to chop it right down to 12 inches or less (in any case it's group is texensis, so either now or in Spring it should be cut down anyway) and check for dead leaves anywhere in the area.

Ah well, next year perhaps?!!

Mrs Mac suggests - What to read in OCTOBER 2019

   

Well here we are then at the beginning of Autumn/Fall and the end of September.  It didn't take me very long to decide what I should suggest to you for October, because in my pile of "got to be read soon" books is something that has come along just at the right time;  especially as Renée Zellweger is receiving plaudits now for her film portrayal of Judy Garland.  I haven't seen it, haven't heard her singing voice either, but I'm prepared to go along with others who say this film is worth seeing. 

However, I don't suggest films to see, I suggest books to read.  So on the subject of  what to read this month, how about reading

A book that although fiction, contains real people

 In that pile, I find I have a new book.  It's the story behind The Wizard of Oz; so I'll be reading:

Finding Dorothy - Elizabeth Letts

  

 

The Toy Makers - Robert Dinsdale

 

This is a magic tale, and a book I devoured.  It may sound like and look like a book for children but it isn't.  I'm so glad to have read this one, which will surely be in my top ten reads for 2019. Magic, enchantment, sibling rivalry, the War to end all wars. All of these things are within the pages of this very special book. If you cannot deal with magic realism perhaps not for you. But if you loved Harry Potter ..... you might just like this, even though it's nothing like it. Maybe you just believe in magic - and maybe you are anti-war.  

The toy makers of the title are Papa Jack, a refugee from Eastern Europe and his two sons Emile and Kaspar. They own and run a wonderful toy Emporium in London, a toy shop full of enchantment -  open from the first frost of winter to the first snowdrop of spring every year - a shop full of wonders - every toy made by Papa Jack and his sons. As the book opens we are in the early stages of the Twentieth Century, and a runaway teenage mother-to-be gets a job at the Emporium in 1906.

 
The years go by and we are coming up to WW1.  But that war  was foreshadowed by the war the two brothers were fighting from childhood onwards with toy soldiers which just went on and on into adulthood as the story progressed. So the years pass and WW1 begins. Things will never be the same. I found that part very truthful - that siblings can think they love each other and want the same thing, but as time passes it's not always the case.  And when one of the brothers was turned down by the recruiting officer and the other wasn't at the beginning of WW1, I could see the spitefulness growing.  And I knew there would be difficulties ahead because of that war.

When Papa Jack died, the signal for all out war between the brothers sounded, but really it was very one sided, for one wanted the fight, and the other didn't.  I had a great sadness for Cathy the runaway teen who married one of the brothers, who had a husband returned to her from the war in body but not mind.

All in all, a magical read.  Enchanted by the toys, enjoyed the characters, and loved the Emporium.  But it's also  just the most clever anti-war book.  At every stage the pros and cons of soldiering and warfare step off the pages, and I could see, when a group of soldiers cannot think for themselves they must do as they are told..... but what if they do begin to think for themselves?  Stranger things have happened.

Mrs Mac suggests: What to read in SEPTEMBER 19

Hello there!

This was my mother's favourite time of the year...... the sunlight is glorious, and the mornings have that little chill that you know will warm up later. And it is still Summer, whatever the pumpkin sellers say!  In the UK, Autumn/Fall does not officially start until 22 September.  In my garden I have a lot of orange this year (including tomatoes!), and until recently I didn't ever choose orange for flowers.  Then I acquired a baby rose, and a couple of crocosmia all in lovely shades of peach and orange and I was off!

For the dog days of Summer then,  what shall we read?

How about a little slice of fantasy?  

 Not sci-fi, no wars, no dystopia..... but a fairytale for adults perhaps?  I'm reading  a recommendation from more than one booky friend: 

The Toymakers - Robert Dinsdale

Enjoy the sunny days and crisp mornings, everyone!

Kitchen makeover in small house - We love it!! PART 3

Continuing on from Part 2 - and here are the final pics.

We asked for any small spaces to be filled with pull-outs and  the result was 4, dotted around the kitchen.  the smallest three are only  6 inches wide, and the bigger one 12 inches wide.  Hold loads, though!

And who knew you could get coloured fridge freezers without costing a fortune?  We kept our original (white) for a while, but then decided that we could afford to treat ourselves.  These are made by Bosch and the coloured doors are actually giant fridge magnets.  they just stick to the original door - and have a range of colours.  When we went to buy, they had three on special offer, turquoise, raspberry and black with a price reduction, meaning the colour panels were sort of free.  Nice one!

..... and I guess lots of people fancy islands in their kitchens?  Don't be ridiculous in a kitchen this size, darling!  However, this baby console table with added casters and a shelf for the onions and garlic gives us a bit more work top if we need it.  As we already had this (shopping the house!) it was free.

Well I guess my advice to anyone thinking of a new kitchen  is - have the kitchen you want,  not what someone wants to sell you.  Ask for exactly what you want, and if they say they cannot, move on, there is a firm out there who will suit you.  Don't worry about exact matches  - the paint or the tiles will pull it together.  And if you have things around the house or in your existing kitchen that you like and use already -that's OK - see my kettle?  Nothing else in this room is cream, and they certainly don't make that kettle in the colour of the tiles and the wall, so that's fine.  Add your own little touches.  I love my tea caddy with the elephant on top - no-one I know has one of those!  And I love my little Alessi man holding the roll of kitchen paper too (and he was reduced in a sale so I guess not popular round here, but I love him!).  Shop your house, shop the sales.

 So that's our kitchen.  Easy to clean, plenty of storage, and something that doesn't appear in magazines.  We like it.  That's how it should be.  Make your home a place you enjoy, a place you are content in.

PS If you want to see the kitchen before..... have a look at older posts, same title, but PARTS 1 and 2.