More of wot I have read…

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

This was a gift from friends who share an interest in the steam-punk genre. It has a cute premise and makes references to period details without detracting from what is a simple adventure yarn. There is nothing to complicated going on here and to rolls along at a good clip, however I wasn’t totally engaged throughout and I thought it could do with more. This writer has released some more books which carry on the theme and they may add more to the interesting world she has created. It seems that this story is to be soon made into a film by Hammer, so that might be fun.

‘In the early days of the Civil War, rumours of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.


But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.


Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenage boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.


His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overloards, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.’



The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt

Another gift from the same friends who gave me Boneshaker, this though takes place in an alternative world that bears more than a passing resemblance to Victorian Britain. There are many subtle and many obvious satirical jabs at our world as it was then and is now. There is a lot going on in this story and it is very full and occasionally confusing, but the pace is kept up and the story trips along quite well. This is another author who has gone on to add to the world he has created.

‘When streetwise Molly Templer witnesses a brutal murder at the brothel she has recently been apprenticed to, her first instinct is to scurry back to the poorhouse where she grew up. But there she finds her fellow orphans butchered, and it slowly dawns on her that she was the real target of the attack.


Oliver Brooks has led a sheltered existence in the backwater home of his merchant uncle. But when he is framed for his only relative’s murder he is forced to flee for his life, accompanied by an agent of the mysterious Court of the Air.


Molly and Oliver each carry secrets in their blood – secrets that will either get them killed or save the world from an ancient terror. Thrown into the company of outlaws, thieves and spies as they flee their ruthless enemies, the two orphans are also aided by indomitable friends in this endlessly inventive tale full of drama, intrigue and adventure.’

Probably the best Christmas album ever...

For the last few years it has been a ritual of ours to put on Christmas music as we decorate the tree and house and the XFM charity album It's a Cool Cool Christmas is the one that gets the most airplay at our place. It is an alternative album with a mixture of traditional and original tracks all versions of which I doubt you would have heard before, and certainly won't hear playing in the shops continuously.

Highlights for me are Grandaddy singing 'Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland', Eels 'Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas' with the immotal line 'Baby Jesus... ...born to Rock!'. Belle & Sebastian's version of 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel' is sublime, The Flaming Lips pretenting to be Tom Waits in 'White Christmas' is great fun.

All in all it is a very uplifting and enjoyable album... ...probably the best Christmas Album ever - tell me what you think is the best?

A Christmas Sing-A-Long…

We went up to my uncle’s place where he and a few neighbours have an annual carolling evening. Many musically minded members of the Aldbury Morris turn up and join the classically trained cellist and violinist from next door and we all provide lusty voices to traditional Christmas carols with throats lubricated with liquid beverages before enjoying a pot-luck meal and catching up with everyone.

It is a most enjoyable affair and imbues us with plenty of Christmas spirit, setting us up nicely for the coming festivities.

More of wot I have read…

Breathless by Dean Koontz

This was a fun book with not too heavy treatment of the subject matter, plenty of cute, amusing and touching scenes and introducing an interesting concept of spontaneous evolution. 
 

‘In the stillness of a golden September afternoon, deep in the wilderness of the Rockies, a solitary craftsman, Grady Adams, and his magnificent Irish wolfhound Merlin step from shadow into light…and into an encounter with enchantment. That night, through the trees, under the moon, a pair of singular animals will watch Grady’s isolated home, waiting to make their approach.

A few miles away, Camillia Rivers, a local veterinarian, begins to unravel the threads of a puzzle that will bring all the forces of a government in peril to her door.

At a nearby farm, long-estranged identical twins come together to begin a descent into darkness… In Las Vegas, a specialist in chaos theory probes the boundaries of the unknowable… On a Seattle golf course, two men make matter-of-fact arrangements for murder… Along a highway by the sea, a vagrant scarred by the past begins a trek toward his destiny…’

More of wot I have seen…

James Bell of The Reverenzas was at the Dorking Folk Club, on his own as his band mates could not make it due to illness. It was an opportunity for him to throw himself fully into his music, and boy he did that with abandon. He is a high energy performer with a rare talent and a charismatic personality. His rendition of Wuthering Heights was a blast.

More of wot I have read…

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

This is a strangely disturbing book where the symbolism of the twins looms large making you question identity, family bonds, individuality, love, desire, compulsion and life and death. I found it a quite captivating, if periodically uncomfortable, read that makes you question elements of human passion.


‘Dearest E,


I told you I would let you know – so here it is – goodbye. I try to imagine what it would feel like if it was you – but it’s impossible to conjure the world without you, even though we’ve been apart so long. I didn’t leave you anything. You got to live my life. That’s enough. Instead I’m experimenting – I’ve left the whole lot to the twins. I hope they’ll enjoy it. Don’t worry, it will be okay. Say goodbye to Jack for me. Love, despite everything, E.


Julia and Valentina Poole are normal American teenagers – normal, at least, for identical ‘mirror’ twins who have no interest in college or jobs or possibly anything outside their cosy suburban home. But everything changes when they receive notice that an aunt whom they didn’t know existed has died and left them her flat in an apartment block overlooking Highgate Cemetery in London. They feel that at last their own lives can begin… …but have no idea that they have been summoned into a tangle of fraying lives, from the obsessive-compulsive crossword setter who lives above them to their aunt’s mysterious and elusive lover who lives below them, and even to their aunt herself, who never got over her estrangement from the twins’ mother – and who can’t even seem to quite leave her flat…’

A Cotswold Treat…

Good friends of ours treated us to a holiday in the picturesque Cotswold village of Broadway in the grand Lygon Arms hotel that has a long and interesting history. At this time of year the town is gearing up for Christmas and has a nice picture postcard atmosphere about it as we strolled about the street enjoying the festive sights and sounds.

Needless to say we also enjoyed our time together over a series of mouth-watering meals washed down by liberal liquid refreshments.

We had an outing to Stratford-upon-Avon and walked around the streets busy with tourists eager to absorb some of the Shakespearean culture.

On our way home we stopped off at the imposing and stately Blenheim Palace to see how the other half live in ostentatious gilt and silken grandeur.

More of wot I have heard…

Get on with it Live by Chumbawamba

A live album recorded during their 2006 UK tour with many songs that they performed during the concert we saw in Shoreham-by-Sea.


Joy to the World by Pink Martini

A seasonal holiday inspired album with artist and songs from around the world in different languages with interpretations on this period of the year that are grounded in different cultures and backgrounds. It is a musically interesting and exciting album of many parts.


Laura Marling free CD from the Observer

A nice freebie collection of tracks from this accomplished folk artist.

More of wot I have seen…

We went to see Chumbawamba perform at the intimate Ropertackle Arts Centre in Shoreham-by-Sea.

We had dinner before at the charming Chambers Bistro before going along to the small venue where we mingled with an eclectic mix of people who had come to watch this talented and amusingly entertaining band perform their songs that have strong political messages and pointed lyrics. The band is part of a folk collective called No Masters.

More of wot I have seen…

This last weekend we saw Adrian Edmondson & the Bad Shepherds at the Union Chapel supported by Samantha Crain and Wreckless Eric.

The Bad Shepherds thing is to take punk songs, and songs of that period, and set them to folk music (Nouvelles Vagues do a similar thing but set to café/lounge music). The fiddler and pipe player were absolutely awesome talents and Adrian is no slouch on the mandolin either.

The first warm up act was a young woman from Oklahoma, Sam Crain, who played guitar and sang lovely songs. Wreckless Eric, though, was not our cup of tea – a little too punk and rough and ready.

The venue was fabulous, a great looking church in a square layout with an amazing ceiling. The only agrivation was that it was out in Islington/Highbury which meant that we had to drive through the West End to get home and even at that time of night it was heaving adding time and stress to the journey.

Do you remember when…?

We went to the occasional reunion of a company Sue and I first met. GP Elliott was a small engineering company that was later swallowed up by a bigger one and moved from South Wimbledon to Essex. It had one of the best working atmospheres of any I have worked at with a superb social scene that resulted in many couples getting together and people staying friends all this time, even after 15 years since it moved on.

It was at a pub that was the old local, and seems not to have changed in the intervening time. Much of the night was spent reminiscing and trying to recall names of past employees and listening to rumours and stories of where they all are now.

More of wot I have read…

Chasing the Dime by Michael Connelly

I have read a couple of other books by this author with a detective called Harry Bosch in them. This has a different protagonist but is a similar gritty style to it. What is surprising is that in the short time since it was released (2002) just how old fashioned it seems now as technology moves ever onward.

‘Henry Pierce has just moved in to a new apartment but the first time he checks his phone messages he discovers that someone had the number before him. The messages are for a woman named Lilly – and she is in some kind of serious trouble.

Pierce is inexorably drawn into Lilly’s world, a night-time world of escort services, websites, sex and secret identities. Every step Pierce takes leads him to abandon his own orderly life in a frantic race to save the life of a woman he has never met, as he is faced with a decision that could cost him everything.’

More of wot I have seen…

We went out on a ‘school night’, and a Monday at that, to see Imelda May at the Brighton Dome. We got there in time to see her support act, Big Boy Bloater, as we settled in for a foot stomping, rip-roaring good night out.

The warm-up group did just that with a selection of traditional and self-penned songs in an energetic rock-n-roll, soul, and blues style interspersed with comic touches and real charisma.

Imelda May continued the raucous theme with her own unique voice that swayed between honey rich to bourbon and fags raw as if it came straight from the Southern States that her lilting Irish speaking voice barely hinted at.

The rock-n-roll spirited music was enjoyed by the diverse audience of mixed ages and styles, some obviously totally swept up in the genre that they came dressed for a lindy hop, while others looked like beatniks, Brighton locals, and ‘regular’ folks like us.

More of wot I have read…

By The Light of The Moon by Dean Koontz

I realised as I was reading this that I had already read it before, but I couldn’t quite recall the details. So I continued. I quite like this author’s writing style and the concept of this story was intriguing and entertaining. I was not disappointed to give it another go.

‘When Dylan O’Conner, together with his autistic brother, Shepherd, Pulls into a motel off the interstate highway, all he wants is a good night’s sleep. Yet within the hour he finds himself bound, gagged and being injected with a mysterious fluid by a lunatic doctor, who claims Dylan will be the carrier of ‘his life’s work’.

Comedian Jillian Jackson is midway through a tour, accompanied by her pet pot plant Fred. But her plans for stardom are dramatically altered when she too falls victim to the eccentric scientist.

The doctor warns his victims that he is being pursued and that they too are now targets. If they are caught, they will be killed. Both are sceptical. Before long, they are beginning to wonder if the lunatic doctor wasn’t quite so mad after all.’

London Necropolis…

I went to a talk at the Westcott Local History Group which was about BrookwoodCemetery set up by the London Necropolis Company as a result of the chronic overcrowding of London cemeteries. At the time Brookwood was the largest cemetery in the world and even now is the largest in Western Europe. It caters for conformist and non-conformist burials and has special sections set aside for different religious groups, countries, organizations and a dedicated military site. There a several famous people buried at the cemetery including the relics of King Edward the Martyr, and the body of Horatia Nelson Johnson, granddaughter of Nelson via Emma Hamilton.

It was quite a fascinating talk about an intriguing and surprisingly little know place.

More of wot I have seen…

We saw Scottish folk musician Ian Bruce at the folk club and he put on an entertaining show.

More of wot I have read…

Underthe Eagle by Simon Scarrow

I enjoyed this book, though sometimes the character’s voices sounded a little to modern.

‘It is 42 AD, and Quintus Licinius Cato has just arrived in Germany as a new recruit to the Second Legion, the toughest in the Roman army. If adjusting to the rigours of military life isn’t difficult enough for the bookish young man, he also has to contend with the disgust of his colleagues when, because of his imperial connections, he is appointed a rank above them.

As second-in-command to Macro, the fearless, battle-scarred centurion who leads them, Cato will have more to prove than most in the adventures that lie ahead. Then the men discover that the army’s next campaign will take them to a land of unparalleled barbarity - Britain.

After the long march west, Cato and Macro undertake a special mission that will thrust them headlong into a conspiracy that threatens to topple the Emperor himself...’

Engineering Trade Secret...

More of wot I have read…

The Taker by Alma Katsu

Subtitled - An Immortal Love Story – this is a strange book that I am not sure knows what it wants to be, a love story or a horror story, perhaps it is trying to capitalise on the current trend for supernatural romance brought on by twilight, true blood and vampire diaries.

It was an alright read but it didn’t grab me, and I didn’t feel strongly enough about the characters to really care about them. I thought the ending was ambiguous and could have done with being slightly tidier.


‘Have you ever loved someone so much that you’d do anything for them?


When Dr Luke Findley turns up to his hospital shift in the small town of St Andrews, Maine, he’s expecting just another evening of minor injuries and domestic disputes. But instead, Lanore McIlvrae walks into his life – and changes it for ever. For Lanny is a woman with a past…


Lanny McIlvrae is unlike anyone Luke has ever met. Hers is a story of love and betrayal that defies time and transcends mortality – but this tale cannot end until Lanny’s demons are finally put to rest. Her two hundred years on this earth have seen her seduced by both decadence and brutality – yet through it all she has only ever had one true love in her life. Until now.’


Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child

This is the first Jack Reacher book I have ever read. There were several of them in a pile of books a friend had finished with and it wasn’t until a heard the author interviewed on the radio that I decided to give them a go.

It is a very entertaining and exciting example of its genre. It rolled along at a good pace and had enough hooks in it to keep you reading. The author allowed you to discover information out before the characters thus giving you a feeling of power, and dread for them.

I think I will be trying the others in the series now.



‘You do not mess with Jack Reacher.


September 11th changed Reacher’s drifter lifestyle in one practical way. As well as his folding toothbrush, he now carries photo ID. Yet he is still as close to untraceable as a human being in America can get. So when a member of his old Army unit finds a way to get a message to him, he knows it must be deadly serious: I want you to put the old unit back together.


You do not mess with the Special Investigators. They always watched each other’s backs. Now one of them has shown up dead in the California desert. And six others can’t be found at all.


You do not mess with Jack Reacher. His old buddies are in big trouble, and he won’t let that go. Not now, not ever.’

Cake by cake…

While I was away getting all medieval out in France, Sue was keeping herself busy in a different way.

Always the social butterfly Sue had arranged to become involved in several different events (so that she would not have to spend time pining for me all alone at home – that’s what she tells me anyway), such as:

Comedy Night

This was an event at Sue’s sister’s work place where up and coming comedians performed as invited guests enjoyed an evening meal and drinks.

Mum’s Birthday
With Aunts and Jamie all coming around to our place, Sue put on a spread for her mother’s birthday that included some of her favourite cakes.

Swish Party
A swish party is an event where people bring unwanted clothes and accessories and gather together to swap them. It also seems to involve much eating and drinking. Sue hosted and spent several days making cakes; large ones, small ones, sweet ones and savoury ones, until the table was groaning under the weight of them.

Work Girls Night Out

This was another excuse to get together with friends and to eat and drink while catching up on gossip.

I would like to think this was just a case of ‘while the cat’s away’, but, you know…

…squeak, squeak!

Cakes, and such, baked include:

• Carrot Cake
• Coffee Walnut Cake
• Apple n Cider Cake
• Cinnamon and Blackberry cake
• Apple and Plum Flap Jacks
• Mini Jam Tarts
• Mini Banofee Pies
• MonteCarlo Biscuits
• Cucumber, Smoked Salmon, Egg and Cress Sarnies
• Carrot and Chili Flapjacks
• And Mini Savory Tartlets

Since then Sue has also been to another event;

Dunk & Dip

Held a friends place Sue joined this party where olive oil and various other condiments were being sampled with the objective of enticing you to buy them. Needless to say more food and drink were also available to sample.