en-US Tue, 18 Feb 2025 14:45:39 -0800 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 345560 The Making of a Marchioness follows thirty-something Emily who lives alone, humbly and happily, in a tiny apartment and on a meager income. She is the one that everyone counts on but no one goes out of their way to accommodate. This Cinderella-like story remains a much-loved favorite among many.

This book is followed by a sequel, The Methods of Lady Walderhurst. Later, the two novels were combined into Emily Fox-Seton.]]> 198 Frances Hodgson Burnett 1402169140 Sue 4 3.59 1901
author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
name: Sue
average rating: 3.59
book published: 1901
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 45032 488 Jane Austen Sue 4 3.86 1814
author: Jane Austen
name: Sue
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 1793758 344 Margaret Kennedy 1844081907 Sue 0 to-read 3.66 1924
author: Margaret Kennedy
name: Sue
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1924
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 7568114
But out of the blue Uncle Joachim, her mother's brother, leaves her a handsome property in Germany. Her longed for independence is within her grasp, and though it's a rocky beginning with the locals, she loves her new home. Keen to use her new-found wealth for the benefit of others, she embarks on a plan to throw open her doors to distressed gentlewomen - a project which takes a far greater physical and emotional toll than she could have imagined.

Although she maintains that she is not interested in men, might the friendship of her neighbouring landowner, Axel Lohm, make her new life a little easier to bear?]]> 404 Elizabeth von Arnim Sue 0 currently-reading 3.61 1901
author: Elizabeth von Arnim
name: Sue
average rating: 3.61
book published: 1901
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 58411739 661 Jennifer Walker 1800465882 Sue 5 A fascinating read about a fascinating woman

This biography enchanted me. Beautifully written and deeply researched. Elizabeth is one of my favourite authors and I am so pleased to know her story. It will enhance the pleasure of reading her books a good deal.]]> 4.20 2013
author: Jennifer Walker
name: Sue
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/23
date added: 2024/03/23
shelves:
review:
A fascinating read about a fascinating woman

This biography enchanted me. Beautifully written and deeply researched. Elizabeth is one of my favourite authors and I am so pleased to know her story. It will enhance the pleasure of reading her books a good deal.
]]> 3409731
A Cornish cliff collapses on top of a seaside resort hotel, squashing everybody but those lucky enough to be away on a picnic. The story tells why some were spared and some were not...

The germ of the idea for The Feast - Margaret Kennedy's ninth novel and perhaps her most ingenious, first published in 1950 - came to the author in 1937 when she and a social gathering of literary friends were discussing the Medieval Masque of the Seven Deadly Sins. The talk turned excitedly to the notion that a collection of stories might be fashioned from seven different authors, each re-imagining one of the Sins through the medium of a modern-day character. That notion fell away, but something more considerable stayed in Margaret Kennedy's mind over the next ten years, and so she conceived of a story that would gather the Sins all under the roof of a Cornish seaside hotel managed by the unhappy wife of Sloth.

Among The Feast's entertaining cast of characters are a clergyman, a gaggle of adolescents and children, a quarter of lovers, and a clutch of frustrated husbands & wives - all serving Kennedy's dark and witty moral fable, which bears out the Biblical adage that many are called but only a very few chosen.]]> 308 Margaret Kennedy 0718208110 Sue 0 3.95 1949
author: Margaret Kennedy
name: Sue
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1949
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 29396396
Includes over 700 clues, signs and patterns. From wild swimming in Sussex to wayfinding in Oman, via the icy mysteries of the Arctic, Tristan Gooley draws on his own pioneering journeys to reveal the secrets of ponds, puddles, rivers, oceans and more to show us all the skills we need to read the water around us.]]> 426 Tristan Gooley 1473615216 Sue 0 currently-reading 3.98 2016
author: Tristan Gooley
name: Sue
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/15
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 7354
A vigorous, darkly comic, and at times magical portrait of the contemporary American family, The Shipping News shows why E. Annie Proulx is recognized as one of the most gifted and original writers in America today.
(back cover)]]> 337 Annie Proulx 0743225422 Sue 3 fiction 3.88 1993
author: Annie Proulx
name: Sue
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/10/31
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> 22886798
Part memoir, part cruising narrative, part anthropological analysis, part poetic love story, it is a book that is easy on the eye. The speed is consistent, the language intelligent, the information relevant.

Di Beach's flowing prose and superb command of the English language makes this book an unputtdownable pageturner that sweeps the reader along to the final pages which will bring tears to the most jaundiced of eyes. Not the usual subject matter of a pageturner but a thoughtful and exquisitely written tale of a voyage both actual and virtual.

An enthralling chronicle of a rebellious teenager discovering freedom, fearlessness and the secrets of a non-aligned life. Unable to suppress her adventurous spirit, Di Beach takes the extreme step of suing her parents for legal independence. When she flees to Uganda and marries Rod, a wild genius of a man, little does she know just where that daredevil attitude will lead.

Tirelessly intrigued by new experiences, Di's descriptions are exploring Africa, building a boat on a small Islamic island, sailing across oceans, and learning to cook everywhere she goes. She continues her adventures on an Andalucian mountainside where she runs a small boutique hotel. The intrepid travellers who find this amazing oasis are fascinated by her tales and seduced by her food. And for her next adventure, who can tell.]]> 363 Di Beach Sue 5 4.42 2014
author: Di Beach
name: Sue
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/19
date added: 2023/06/19
shelves:
review:
I loved this book. Beautifully written and I was fascinated by the courage of the young people and loved the author’s style - so honest in her descriptions of her fears and thoughts. Also the wonderful descriptions and details of exotic places, life on board, and the people and events. I’d love to read more by Di Beach.
]]> 27261708
Why has she been sent here? Why did her grandmother leave after just one summer? And as the past collides with the present, can Grace unravel these secrets and discover who her grandmother, and who she, really is?]]> 528 Kate Riordan 140591744X Sue 0 3.71 2016
author: Kate Riordan
name: Sue
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2023/02/12
date added: 2023/02/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 2398014 224 Monica Dickens 0140009698 Sue 0 to-read 3.90 1942
author: Monica Dickens
name: Sue
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1942
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1304088 220 Monica Dickens 0897333047 Sue 0 to-read 3.91 1939
author: Monica Dickens
name: Sue
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1939
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 71686 370 Sybille Bedford 158243171X Sue 0 to-read 3.93 1953
author: Sybille Bedford
name: Sue
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1953
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6393782 153 Rumer Godden 8183860419 Sue 0 to-read 3.75 1980
author: Rumer Godden
name: Sue
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1039034 207 Anne Sebba 0297810448 Sue 4 non-fiction 3.33 1990
author: Anne Sebba
name: Sue
average rating: 3.33
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2021/11/09
date added: 2021/11/09
shelves: non-fiction
review:
I enjoyed this very much. The author did an excellent job of telling the story of Laura and Bernard Ashley and the amazing rise of the company. I just felt that she was perhaps a little too polite about Bernard’s rather irascible behaviour! I also feel that a book about a design company should really have had more photos and illustrations of the clothing and designs, not just b/w photos of people. But these are small criticisms and overall it is an enthralling telling of a remarkable story and an enormous amount of work and research has gone into it.
]]> 1238734
"There's a lot of us will miss it," Edith said. "We've all of us felt at times, you know, how nice it was, like you and me being able to be together and friendly, just as if we were the same sort, if you know what I mean." "I'll miss it a lot too," Wendy said. There was no point in her saying that it could go on now, the friendliness and the companionship and the simple human liking of one woman for another. Both knew that this breaking down of social barriers was just one of the things you got out of the war, but it couldn't go on.'

The main theme of The Village is that Wendy's attempt to cling on to her old way of life was already under pressure by 1939 and had become even more out-of-date by 1945. It is Edith who is the New Britain, with her prosperous son and her commonsense and indeed kindness. Wendy, with her snobbery and her refusal to change and her uncompromising attitude to her daugher, is the Old.

When Labour swept to a landslide victory in 1945 'Attlee's government promised a fairer future for all and no going back to the inequalities of the pre-war world,' writes Juliet Gardiner in her Afterword to this Persephone edition of The Village. When Wendy goes back up the road to Wood View on Priory Hill 'where the gentry lived' and Edith goes downhill on the other side, 'down Station Road among the working classes', they both assume that the values and habits of pre-war Britain will continue. But Britain has already changed a great deal, a change symbolised by Edith's son Roy, a printer with excellent prospects, falling in love with the penniless Margaret, Wendy's daughter.

'The story of the romance between the two of them forms the central narrative of the novel,' Juliet Gardiner continues, 'and the attitude of the other villagers when the news gets out illuminates their understanding - or rejection - of the village's elaborately calibrated social stratification. This is a finely-observed novel about the losses and gains of the Second World War, how hopeless and how isolating it would be to hold onto the past, how illusory was the notion that the war had broken down class barriers, or had managed to save "deep England" from the future and how peace, too, would produce its own list of casualties. It is also about the futility of 'keeping up appearances', the boredom of middle-class women with nothing to do, even the realisation that cooking and housework had to be streamlined if theose women were to take their place in society. But above all The Village is an extremely enjoyable and well-written novel evoking an entire community (there is a long cast of characters at the beginning) and a whole way of life, and has one of the most ancient plots in the world - a young couple who fall in love but are forbidden to marry.]]> 302 Marghanita Laski 1903155428 Sue 4 4.12 1952
author: Marghanita Laski
name: Sue
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/05/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 115432 320 Margaret Forster 0140239820 Sue 5 4.03 1995
author: Margaret Forster
name: Sue
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/05/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 880759
Here is twentieth-century woman in close-up coping with the tragedies and upheavals of women's lives from WWI to Greenham Common and beyond. A triumph of resolution and evocation, this is a beautifully observed story of an ordinary woman's life - a narrative where every word rings true.]]> 416 Margaret Forster 0099449285 Sue 5 4.11 2003
author: Margaret Forster
name: Sue
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/05/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 559546 Rebecca, published in 1938, brought its author instant international acclaim, capturing the popular imagination with its haunting atmosphere of suspense and mystery. du Maurier was immediately established as the queen of the psychological thriller. But the more fame this and her other books encouraged, the more reclusive Daphne du Maurier became.

Margaret Forster's award-winning biography could hardly be more worthy of its subject. Drawing on private letters and papers, and with the unflinching co-operation of Daphne du Maurier's family, Margaret Forster explores the secret drama of her life - the stifling relationship with her father, actor-manager Gerald du Maurier; her troubled marriage to war hero and royal aide, 'Boy' Browning; her wartime love affair; her passion for Cornwall and her deep friendships with the last of her father's actress loves, Gertrude Lawrence, and with an aristocratic American woman.

Most significant of all, Margaret Forster ingeniously strips away the relaxed and charming facade to lay bare the true workings of a complex and emotional character whose passionate and often violent stories mirrored her own fantasy life more than anyone could ever have imagined.]]> 455 Margaret Forster 0099333317 Sue 5 4.02 1993
author: Margaret Forster
name: Sue
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/05/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 46263560 Three men. 470 kilometres. Twenty-one days.Welcome to the Downhill Hiking Club . . .At a boozy, cricket-filled afternoon at Lord's, Dom Joly convinces his two closest friends to agree to the a challenging hike across Lebanon, from the Israeli border in the south, along the spine of the country's mountain range, all the way to the Syrian border in the north. For Joly it is something of a homecoming, having grown up in Beirut. It was a happy childhood, though he did go to school with Osama bin Laden.Arriving in Lebanon armed with copious amounts of Vaseline - and no walking experience, bar taking the dog for the occasional stroll - Dom, Chris and Harry don't quite know what they've got themselves into. Joined by their bemused chaperone Caroll, they meet a variety of characters along the way including Ali, a stony-faced Hezbollah Museum guide who seems unperturbed by circling Israeli jets, and part-time Londoner Raf, who challenges Dom and the boys to a brain-freeze drinking contest. From a hair-raising creep along the 'Valley of the Skulls' to accidentally flashing an unsuspecting Ethiopian cook, the three friends just about manage to keep going.With more than a smattering of persiflage and some cringe-worthy moments, The Downhill Hiking Club is a big-hearted, witty and affectionate love letter to Lebanon and its rich history with a meditation on family and homeland at its heart. Written with Dom's trademark humour, it is a paean to both the simple joys of friendship and to growing old disgracefully.]]> 250 Dom Joly Sue 3 3.92
author: Dom Joly
name: Sue
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2021/05/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 1195268 320 Fuchsia Dunlop 0091918308 Sue 4 4.07 2008
author: Fuchsia Dunlop
name: Sue
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2021/05/26
date added: 2021/05/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 37285672
"Good Little Ship" is a blend of literary criticism, maritime history and sheer celebration. Peter Willis combines an analysis of a classic of maritime literature ("a book of which Conrad would have been proud" � Hugh Brogan) with the story of the Nancy Blackett, Ransome's own boat which appears as the Goblin in his story. He describes her life, near-death and restoration, and her renaissance as an ambassador for Ransome and his tales.]]> 218 Peter Willis 1907206426 Sue 5 4.57
author: Peter Willis
name: Sue
average rating: 4.57
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/05/26
shelves:
review:

]]> 662915 240 Hammond Innes 0330342363 Sue 4 fiction 3.66 1947
author: Hammond Innes
name: Sue
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1947
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2021/05/26
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> 1247535 fiction 276 Hammond Innes 0006154018 Sue 5 3.88 1956
author: Hammond Innes
name: Sue
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1956
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/01/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 397113 240 Sybille Bedford 1582431590 Sue 4 3.55 1968
author: Sybille Bedford
name: Sue
average rating: 3.55
book published: 1968
rating: 4
read at: 2020/10/17
date added: 2020/10/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 35350
Roop is a young girl whose mother has died and whose father is deep in debt. So
she is elated to learn she is to become the second wife of a wealthy Sikh landowner in a union beneficial to both. For Sardaji’s first wife, Satya, has failed to bear him children. Roop believes that she and Satya, still very much in residence, will be friends. But the relationship between the older and younger woman is far more complex. And, as India lurches toward independence, Sardarji struggles to find his place amidst the drastic changes.

Meticulously researched and beautifully written, What the Body Remembers is at once poetic, political, feminist, and sensual.]]> 471 Shauna Singh Baldwin 0385496052 Sue 5 3.91 1999
author: Shauna Singh Baldwin
name: Sue
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/08/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 27161842 Following his trek along the length of the Nile River, explorer Levison Wood takes on his greatest challenge yet—navigating the treacherous foothills of the Himalayas, the world's highest mountain range.

Praised by Bear Grylls, Levison Wood has been called "the toughest man on TV" (The Times UK). Now, following in the footsteps of the great explorers, Levison recounts the beauty and danger he found along the Silk Road route of Afghanistan, the Line of Control between Pakistan and India, the disputed territories of Kashmir and the earth-quake ravaged lands of Nepal. Over the course of six months, Wood and his trusted guides trek 1,700 gruelling miles across the roof of the world.

Packed with action and emotion, Walking the Himalayas is the story of one intrepid man's travels in a world poised on the edge of tremendous change.]]> 293 Levison Wood 031635242X Sue 0 to-read 4.08 2016
author: Levison Wood
name: Sue
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 27213208
On a hot July day in 1967, Odelle Bastien climbs the stone steps of the Skelton gallery in London, knowing that her life is about to change forever. Having struggled to find her place in the city since she arrived from Trinidad five years ago, she has been offered a job as a typist under the tutelage of the glamorous and enigmatic Marjorie Quick. But though Quick takes Odelle into her confidence, and unlocks a potential she didn't know she had, she remains a mystery - no more so than when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery.

The truth about the painting lies in 1936 and a large house in rural Spain, where Olive Schloss, the daughter of a renowned art dealer, is harbouring ambitions of her own. Into this fragile paradise come artist and revolutionary Isaac Robles and his half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the Schloss family, with explosive and devastating consequences . . .]]> 393 Jessie Burton 0062409921 Sue 2 3.79 2016
author: Jessie Burton
name: Sue
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2020/03/08
shelves:
review:
I did not enjoy this. I just did not find the characters appealing. Had to push myself to finish it.
]]> 397112 368 Sybille Bedford 0141188057 Sue 0 to-read 3.72 1956
author: Sybille Bedford
name: Sue
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1956
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 397116 312 Sybille Bedford 1582431582 Sue 0 to-read 3.77 1963
author: Sybille Bedford
name: Sue
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 2999223 Elizabeth and Her German Garden is a witty, lyrical account of a rejuvenating summer. Descriptions of magnificent larkspurs and burning nasturtiums give way to those of cooling forest walks, and of clambering up the mud bank when the miller is not in view. Rainy days prompt a little philanthropy, until the sun returns the gardener to the refuge of her beloved plants. Yet the months are not as solitary as she'd planned—there's the Man of Wrath to pacify and the April, May, and June babies to amuse. Here, with the pleasing astringency for which she is noted, Elizabeth von Arnim returns to the heroine and the garden she immortalized.]]> 190 Elizabeth von Arnim 1853815535 Sue 0 3.88 1899
author: Elizabeth von Arnim
name: Sue
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1899
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 1122534
A portrait of fashionable society at the height of the era, THE EDWARDIANS revealed all that was glamorous about the period - and all that was to lead to its downfall. First published in 1930, it was Vita Sackville-West's most successful book.]]> 285 Vita Sackville-West 0860683591 Sue 0 3.81 1930
author: Vita Sackville-West
name: Sue
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1930
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 1537086 At Home in the Himalayas is an autobiography and a portrait of Kullu life - of the freedom of high landscapes and the restraints of domesticity, of feasts and weddings, births and deaths.]]> 210 Christina Noble 0006374999 Sue 4 3.62 1991
author: Christina Noble
name: Sue
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at: 2019/12/11
date added: 2019/12/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 28260529
Her quest took her from the snowy mountains of Tabriz to the cosmopolitan cafés of Tehran and the pomegranate orchards of Isfahan, where she was welcomed into the homes of artists, farmers, electricians, and teachers. Through her travels, she gained a unique insight into the culinary secrets of the Persian kitchen, and the lives of ordinary Iranians today.

In The Saffron Tales, Yasmin weaves together a tapestry of stories from Iranian home kitchens with exclusive photography and fragrant, modern recipes that are rooted in the rich tradition of Persian cooking. All fully accessible for the home cook, Yasmin's recipes range from the inimitable fesenjoon (chicken with walnuts and pomegranates) to kofte berenji (lamb meatballs stuffed with prunes and barberries) and ghalyieh maygoo (prawn, coriander, and tamarind stew). She also offers a wealth of vegetarian dishes, including tahcheen (baked saffron and aubergine rice) and domaj (mixed herb, flatbread, and feta salad), as well as sumptuous desserts such as rose and almond cake, and sour cherry and dark chocolate cookies.

With stunning photography from all corners of Iran and gorgeous recipe images, this lavish cookbook rejoices in the land, life, flavors, and food of an enigmatic and beautiful country.]]> 240 Yasmin Khan 1408868733 Sue 5 cooking 4.42 2016
author: Yasmin Khan
name: Sue
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/07
date added: 2019/12/07
shelves: cooking
review:
I simply adore this book! It is a beautiful object, the cover is just luscious. And inside, a feast for the senses. Brilliant writing about one of my favourite parts of the world and superb recipes. This book is an experience, not just a cookbook. Thank you Yasmin.
]]> 507488 187 Alice Thomas Ellis 1888173459 Sue 3 fiction 3.51 1990
author: Alice Thomas Ellis
name: Sue
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1990
rating: 3
read at: 2019/12/07
date added: 2019/12/07
shelves: fiction
review:
Not keen on this. It is well written but I had to force myself to finish it. I disliked all the characters and everything is so dreary and irritable. No joy anywhere.
]]> 23965546
But the political events, exciting and dramatic though they are - and Mrs Izzard gives a vivid account of riots, disorders and disasters in India and Egypt - only form the background to a a story of intense human interest.

How does a young woman make a life of happiness and significance for herself and her four children in a way of life basically inimical to the traditional values of domesticity? Frequently abandoned to her own resources at very short notice, harassed by uncertainty regarding future plans, conscious of the vulnerability and dependence of her children, it might not seem very prepossessing material from which to build an intense and personal family life, resilient enought to stand the stresses and strains to which she was subjected.

But it was done, and this books tells how.

Molly Izzar's recipe includes a sympathetic imagination, and an ironical humour. She not only observes, she also thinks; she not only thinks, she also feels. She communicates these thoughts, perceptions, feelings, with freshness and candour. Sustained by an awareness of history, a delight in nature, and a strong aesthetic sense, she evolved for herself and her family a life that was rich, varied, stimulating, and full of enjoyment.]]> 240 Molly Izzard Sue 4 biography 4.50 1963
author: Molly Izzard
name: Sue
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1963
rating: 4
read at: 2019/10/30
date added: 2019/10/30
shelves: biography
review:
I loved Smelling the Breezes about the Izzards' incredible trek with their young children through Lebanon in the 1950s. I grew up in Eastern countries and identified strongly with the Izzard children so this was a natural follower. Molly Izzard was a courageous woman and writes beautiful. She also shunned British expat enclaves in foreign lands and connected with the people of the countries that she lived in. Lots of thoughtful passages about how our cultures shape us - and an amazing account of Gandhi's funeral. Hard to find and out of print but full of interest and thought-provoking.
]]> 36751930 18 Christopher de Hamel 1541407628 Sue 4 4.26 2016
author: Christopher de Hamel
name: Sue
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2019/10/30
date added: 2019/10/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 897328 224 David Attenborough 190216346X Sue 5 4.10 2007
author: David Attenborough
name: Sue
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/30
date added: 2019/10/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 15995342 583 Eva Rice 1780878249 Sue 0 to-read 3.89 2010
author: Eva Rice
name: Sue
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1034151
It is Lily who smuggles Miss Barrett out of the gloomy Wimpole Street house, witnesses her secret wedding to Robert Browning in an empty church, and flees with them to threadbare lodgings and the heat, light, and colors of Italy. As housekeeper, nursemaid, companion, and confidante, Lily is with Elizabeth in every crisis � birth, bereavement, travel, literary triumph. As her devotion turns almost to obsession, Lily forgets her own fleeting loneliness. But when Lily’s own affairs take a dramatic turn, she comes to expect the loyalty from Elizabeth that she herself has always given.]]> 576 Margaret Forster 0345497430 Sue 5 3.82 1990
author: Margaret Forster
name: Sue
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/10/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 6434407 202 Barbara Comyns Sue 0 to-read 4.11 1960
author: Barbara Comyns
name: Sue
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1960
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1707970 Ìý
Born in Carlisle in 1887, brought up in a children's home and by reluctant relatives, Evie, with her wild hair and unassuming ways, seems a quiet, undemanding child.
Ìý
Shona, born almost seventy years later, is headstrong and striking. She grows up in comfort and security in Scotland, the only child of doting parents. But there are, as she discovers, unanswered questions about her past.
Ìý
The two girls have only one thing in both were abandoned as babies by their mothers. Different times, different circumstances, but these two girls grow up sharing the same obsession. Each sets out to stalk and then haunt her natural mother. Both mothers dread disclosure; both daughters seek emotional compensation and, ultimately, revenge.]]> Margaret Forster 0140258361 Sue 4 fiction 3.90 1996
author: Margaret Forster
name: Sue
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2019/09/25
date added: 2019/10/04
shelves: fiction
review:
Strong writing from a great author. Compelling and fascinating.
]]> 27964722
But when Holly receives an unexpected letter explaining that an aunt she never met has left her a house on the Greek island of Zakynthos, the walls she has built begin to crumble. Arriving on the island, Holly meets the handsome Aidan and slowly begins to uncover the truth about the secret which tore her family apart.

But is the island where Holly really belongs? Or will her real life catch up with her first?]]> 400 Isabelle Broom 1405925272 Sue 4 fiction 4.08 2016
author: Isabelle Broom
name: Sue
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2019/09/28
date added: 2019/10/04
shelves: fiction
review:
I trust Penguins to be good writing and at first I was not so sure of this novel. I do not like simplistic adjectives or cliche and found “stunning� rather overused. I think this is probably more for younger readers than me - 20-somethings - which is fair enough. Penguins need to appeal across the ages. But it grew on me and I found the story very moving and believable. A brilliant look at how family quarrels can ruin lives.
]]> 2702637
Blanche trains as a mannequin at a dubious institution in London, and Vicky flees to Holland and a purgatorial life as an au pair to a lot of dogs. But this is only the beginning and other adventures await them, including the poverty and cabbage smells of one-room living, the charcoaled fingers of art school, drunkenness and cheap restaurants of Soho bohemia, and varying degrees of excitement with several husbands and lovers.

First published in 1967, A Touch of Mistletoe shows Barbara Comyns' original voice at its best, mixing a characteristic simplicity with a quiet but cunning wit.]]> 213 Barbara Comyns 0860682307 Sue 4 fiction 4.14 1967
author: Barbara Comyns
name: Sue
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1967
rating: 4
read at: 2019/10/04
date added: 2019/10/04
shelves: fiction
review:
Fascinating, concentrated writing. So much packed into this novel. It left me thinking about the characters afterwards and how real so much of it was. A brilliant author.
]]> 43358301 This was the considered opinion of our quarter in Beirut on the walk we proposed to take with our children through the high mountains of Lebanon. Yes in spite of this warning and the natural hazards of a 300-mile trek with four children in country that was practically waterless ad infected with serpents and scorpions, Ralph and Molly Izzard arrived safely at their journey's end.]]> 253 Ralph Izzard Sue 5 lebanon Highly recommended for lovers of a beautiful country that is sadly now so burdened.]]> 4.33 1959
author: Ralph Izzard
name: Sue
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1959
rating: 5
read at: 2019/09/16
date added: 2019/09/16
shelves: lebanon
review:
I loved this book. I grew up in Lebanon in the 1960s and this extraordinary journey with 4 young children in 1957 evokes beautifully that wonderful country at that time. I found the joint authorship awkward at times, one was never clear whose voice was speaking, but this did not detract from the whole. The descriptions of historical background also taught me more about the history and the ethnicity of Lebanon than I learned in 6 years of school there.
Highly recommended for lovers of a beautiful country that is sadly now so burdened.
]]> 42996865 longue dur�e, illustrated here through the agricultural landscape. She concludes that the origins of the English should rather be sought among late Romano-British communities, evolving, adapting, and innovating in a new, post-imperial context. Though focusing on England between the fifth and seventh centuries, this volume explores themes of universal interest--the role of immigration in cultural transformation; the importance of the landscape as a mnemonic for cultural change; and the utility of a common property rights approach as an analytical tool.]]> 148 Susan Oosthuizen 1641891270 Sue 0 to-read 4.08 2019
author: Susan Oosthuizen
name: Sue
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/09/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 701964 374 Annie Hawes 0141008903 Sue 4 biography 4.03 2003
author: Annie Hawes
name: Sue
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2019/09/09
date added: 2019/09/09
shelves: biography
review:
Another great read. I love her style and her wonderful immersion in another culture. Funny, touching, fascinating.
]]> 70720 S'ouvre alors un monde étrange et poétique, peuplé de métaphores, décrit à travers les paroles d'un "petit prince" qui porte aussi sur notre monde à nous un regard tout neuf, empli de naïveté, de fraîcheur et de gravité. Très vite, vous découvrez d'étranges planètes, peuplées d'hommes d'affaires, de buveurs, de vaniteux, d'allumeurs de réverbères.

Cette évocation onirique, à laquelle participent les aquarelles de l'auteur, a tout d'un parcours initiatique, où l'enfant apprendra les richesses essentielles des rapports humains et le secret qui les régit : "On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."

Oeuvre essentielle de la littérature, ce livre de Saint-Exupéry est un ouvrage que l'on aura à coeur de raconter à son enfant, page après page, histoire aussi de redécouvrir l'enfant que l'on était autrefois, avant de devenir une grande personne !]]> 123 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 3125971403 Sue 5 fiction 4.38 1943
author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
name: Sue
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1943
rating: 5
read at: 2019/08/25
date added: 2019/08/25
shelves: fiction
review:
I read this in French to improve my French. But I was absolutely delighted by the book. It is a unique work that appeals to children but gives an adult a superb read too. Now I know why the French love it so much and Saint-Exupery is something of a national treasure. What imagination!
]]> 276578 The Kiss - and whose name he uttered with is dying breath.

Vienna in 1886 was a city of elegant cafés, grand opera houses, and a thriving and adventurous artistic community. It is here where the twelve-year-old Emilie meets the controversial libertine and painter. Hired by her bourgeois father for basic drawing lessons, Klimt introduces Emilie to a subculture of dissolute artists, wanton models, and decadent patrons that both terrifies and inspires her. The Painted Kiss follows Emilie as she blossoms from a naïve young girl to one of Europe's most exclusive couturiers—and Klimt's most beloved model and mistress. A provocative love story that brings to life Vienna's cultural milieu, The Painted Kiss is as compelling as a work by Klimt himself.

~from the back cover]]> 289 Elizabeth Hickey 0743492617 Sue 0 to-read 3.74 2005
author: Elizabeth Hickey
name: Sue
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/08/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6020292 0 Marie Khayat 086685018X Sue 0 to-read, lebanon 0.0 1960
author: Marie Khayat
name: Sue
average rating: 0.0
book published: 1960
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/08/09
shelves: to-read, lebanon
review:

]]> 7953314 310 Julian Huxley Sue 0 to-read, lebanon 4.00 1954
author: Julian Huxley
name: Sue
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1954
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/08/09
shelves: to-read, lebanon
review:

]]> 2495398
In the fervor and tumult of post revolutionary Paris, nothing is quite as it seems. In trying to recover his lost valuables, Daniel discovers that his beautiful adversary is in fact a philosopher-thief who lives in a shadowy world of outlaws and émigrés. Daniel’s fall into this underworld is also a flight, for as he falls in love with the mysterious coral thief and she draws him into an audacious plot that will leave him with a future very different from the one he has envisioned for himself, Daniel discovers a radical theory of evolution and mutability that irrevocably changes his conception of the world in which he lives.]]> 224 Rebecca Stott 0297851373 Sue 4 fiction 3.22 2008
author: Rebecca Stott
name: Sue
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/08/03
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> 161426 "Every war has turning points and every person too."

Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she's never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.

As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it's a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy's uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.

A riveting and astonishing story.]]> 194 Meg Rosoff 0553376055 Sue 4 fiction I found this book fascinating. It takes a war situation into our own western society - very thought-provoking. Children in Syria, Yemen, Sudan and other dreadfully troubled countries are experiencing this today. The writing style was fine for me, as someone else has said, just like listening to a verbal narrative. I loved it and couldn’t put it down.]]> 3.59 2004
author: Meg Rosoff
name: Sue
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2019/08/02
date added: 2019/08/02
shelves: fiction
review:
I grew up in Lebanon and having been a young teen in a war zone, this book really resonated. For those critical of lack of detail, believe me, that is what war is like, particularly if you are a child. You are told little and understand less.
I found this book fascinating. It takes a war situation into our own western society - very thought-provoking. Children in Syria, Yemen, Sudan and other dreadfully troubled countries are experiencing this today. The writing style was fine for me, as someone else has said, just like listening to a verbal narrative. I loved it and couldn’t put it down.
]]> 1889980 Idries Shah Sue 5 4.21 1968
author: Idries Shah
name: Sue
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1968
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/07/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 701598 Book by Thubron, Colin 201 Colin Thubron 0871133784 Sue 3 3.83 1968
author: Colin Thubron
name: Sue
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1968
rating: 3
read at: 2019/06/01
date added: 2019/07/31
shelves:
review:
I found this quite a mixture. Beautiful at times, exhaustingly erudite at others. Lebanon was my home as a teenager and I loved the country very much. I was there when Thubron was. But while he evoked the Lebanon I knew then vividly, he crammed so much about the ancient history and mythology into parts of the text, I just glazed over.
]]> 31817296
Told from a perspective unlike any other, Nutshell is a classic tale of murder and deceit from one of the world’s master storytellers.

Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition of ISBN13 9781784705114 here.]]> 199 Ian McEwan 178470511X Sue 4 fiction 3.64 2016
author: Ian McEwan
name: Sue
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/07/31
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> 23129712
The Red Notebook has already been sold in twelve different languages. French TV is making a film of The President's Hat and the movie rights of The Red Notebook have been sold to UGC.

Antoine Laurain was born in Paris. He is the author of five novels, including The President's Hat.
]]> 159 Antoine Laurain 1908313862 Sue 4 3.85 2014
author: Antoine Laurain
name: Sue
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2019/07/30
date added: 2019/07/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 1541739 256 M.J. Farrell 0860688003 Sue 0 to-read 3.74 1952
author: M.J. Farrell
name: Sue
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1952
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 925856 256 Molly Keane 1844083276 Sue 4 3.64 1983
author: Molly Keane
name: Sue
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1983
rating: 4
read at: 2019/07/30
date added: 2019/07/30
shelves:
review:
A brilliant book. Wonderful character descriptions of some really cranky, difficult, irritable people. Nobody is lovable, so it is all great fun. I loved it.
]]> 17594390
Daniel’s thrill at being in such close proximity to the most powerful man in the land persists even after the presidential party has gone, which is when he discovers that Mitterrand’s black felt hat has been left behind.

After a few moments� soul-searching, Daniel decides to keep the hat as a souvenir of an extraordinary evening. It’s a perfect fit, and as he leaves the restaurant Daniel begins to feel somehow � different.]]> 208 Antoine Laurain 1908313471 Sue 0 to-read 3.96 2012
author: Antoine Laurain
name: Sue
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 42255096 'The very quintessence of French romance...' The Times

When Hubert Larnaudie invites some fellow residents of his Parisian apartment building to drink an exceptional bottle of 1954 Beaujolais, he has no idea of its special properties.

The following morning, Hubert finds himself waking up in 1950s Paris, as do antique restorer Magalie, mixologist Julien, and Airbnb tenant Bob from Milwaukee, who's on his first trip to Europe. After their initial shock, the city of Edith Piaf and An American in Paris begins to work its charm on them. The four delight in getting to know the French capital during this iconic period, whilst also playing with the possibilities that time travel allows.

But, ultimately, they need to work out how to get back to 2017. And the key lies in a legendary story and the vineyards of Chateau Saint-Antoine...]]> 218 Antoine Laurain 1910477672 Sue 0 to-read 3.69 2018
author: Antoine Laurain
name: Sue
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 15096 Five Quarters of the Orange represents Harris's most complex and sophisticated work yet - a novel in which darkness and fierce joy come together to create an unforgettable story.

When Framboise Simon returns to a small village on the banks of the Loire, the locals do not recognize her as the daughter of the infamous Mirabelle Dartigen - the woman they still hold responsible for a terrible tragedy that took place during the German occupation decades before. Although Framboise hopes for a new beginning she quickly discovers that past and present are inextricably intertwined. Nowhere is this truth more apparent than in the scrapbook of recipes she has inherited from her dead mother.

With this book, Framboise re-creates her mother's dishes, which she serves in her small creperie. And yet as she studies the scrapbook - searching for clues to unlock the contradiction between her mother's sensuous love of food and often cruel demeanor - she begins to recognize a deeper meaning behind Mirabelle's cryptic scribbles. Within the journal's tattered pages lies the key to what actually transpired the summer Framboise was nine years old.

Rich and dark. Five Quarters of the Orange is a novel of mothers and daughters of the past and the present, of resisting, and succumbing, and an extraordinary work by a masterful writer.]]> 307 Joanne Harris 0060958022 Sue 4 3.86 2001
author: Joanne Harris
name: Sue
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2019/07/16
date added: 2019/07/16
shelves:
review:

]]> 3230888 480 Anthony Capella 0751539430 Sue 0 to-read 3.61 2008
author: Anthony Capella
name: Sue
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 13588138 The tantalizing sequel to the blockbuster New York Times bestseller Chocolat

Even before it was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, Joanne Harris’s Chocolat entranced readers with its mix of hedonism, whimsy, and, of course, chocolate. Now, at last, Chocolat’s heroine returns to the beautiful French village of Lansquenet in another, equally beguiling tale.

When Vianne Rocher receives a letter from beyond the grave, she has no choice but to return to Lansquenet, where she once owned a chocolate shop and learned the meaning of home. But returning to one’s past can be a dangerous pursuit, and Vianne and her daughters find the beautiful French village changed in unexpected ways: women veiled in black, the scent of spices in the air, and—facing the church—a minaret. Most surprising of all, her old nemesis, Francis Reynaud, desperately needs her help. Can Vianne work her magic once again?]]> 453 Joanne Harris 0670026360 Sue 0 to-read 3.95 2012
author: Joanne Harris
name: Sue
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/07/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 6426026 The Financial Lives of the Poets is a comic and heartfelt novel from National Book Award nominee Jess Walter, author of Citizen Vince and The Zero, about how we get to the edge of ruin—and how we begin to make our way back. Walter tells the story of Matt Prior, who’s losing his job, his wife, his house, and his mind—until, all of a sudden, he discovers a way that he might just possibly be able to save it all . . . and have a pretty damn great time doing it.]]> 304 Jess Walter 0061916048 Sue 3 fiction 3.69 2009
author: Jess Walter
name: Sue
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/06/23
shelves: fiction
review:
This was not for me. I loved Beautiful Ruins but perhaps I need books that transport me to more attractive places than this one did. I just did not get interested in the characters.
]]> 1332455 The Caliph’s House, describing his first year in Casablanca, was hailed by critics and compared to such travel classics as A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun. Now Shah takes us deeper into the heart of this exotic and magical land to uncover mysteries that have been hidden from Western eyes for centuries.�

In this entertaining and penetrating book, Tahir sets out on a bold new journey across Morocco that becomes an adventure worthy of the mythical Arabian Nights.

As he wends his way through the labyrinthine medinas of Fez and Marrakesh, traverses the Sahara sands, and tastes the hospitality of ordinary Moroccans, Tahir collects a dazzling treasury of traditional stories, gleaned from the heritage of A Thousand and One Nights. The tales, recounted by a vivid cast of characters, reveal fragments of wisdom and an oriental way of thinking that is both enthralling and fresh. A link in the chain of scholars and teachers who have passed these stories down for centuries like a baton in a relay race, Shah reaches layers of culture that most visitors hardly realize exist, and eventually discovers the story living in his own heart.

Along the way he describes the colors, characters, and the passion of Morocco, and comes to understand why it is such an enchanting land. From master masons who labor only at night to Sufi wise men who write for soap operas, and Tuareg guides afflicted by reality TV, In Arabian Nights takes us on an unforgettable journey, shining a light on facets of a society that are normally left in darkness.]]> 400 Tahir Shah 0553805231 Sue 5 4.08 2007
author: Tahir Shah
name: Sue
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/06/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 131011 A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun, acclaimed English travel writer Tahir Shah shares a highly entertaining account of making an exotic dream come true. By turns hilarious and harrowing, here is the story of his family’s move from the gray skies of London to the sun-drenched city of Casablanca, where Islamic tradition and African folklore converge–and nothing is as easy as it seems�.

Inspired by the Moroccan vacations of his childhood, Tahir Shah dreamed of making a home in that astonishing country. At age thirty-six he got his chance. Investing what money he and his wife, Rachana, had, Tahir packed up his growing family and bought Dar Khalifa, a crumbling ruin of a mansion by the sea in Casablanca that once belonged to the city’s caliph, or spiritual leader.

With its lush grounds, cool, secluded courtyards, and relaxed pace, life at Dar Khalifa seems sure to fulfill Tahir’s fantasy–until he discovers that in many ways he is farther from home than he imagined. For in Morocco an empty house is thought to attract jinns, invisible spirits unique to the Islamic world. The ardent belief in their presence greatly hampers sleep and renovation plans, but that is just the beginning. From elaborate exorcism rituals involving sacrificial goats to dealing with gangster neighbors intent on stealing their property, the Shahs must cope with a new culture and all that comes with it.

Endlessly enthralling, The Caliph’s House charts a year in the life of one family who takes a tremendous gamble. As we follow Tahir on his travels throughout the kingdom, from Tangier to Marrakech to the Sahara, we discover a world of fierce contrasts that any true adventurer would be thrilled to call home.]]> 349 Tahir Shah 0553383108 Sue 5 non-fiction 3.95 2006
author: Tahir Shah
name: Sue
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/06/23
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> 21950245 Hideous Kinky and The Sea Horse, a luminous new novel about a young boy and his unlikely friendship with the great Glaswegian artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh,

It is 1914, and Thomas Maggs, the son of the local publican, lives with his parents and sister in a village on the Suffolk coast. He is the youngest child, and the only son surviving. Life is quiet - shaped by the seasons, fishing and farming, the summer visitors, and the girls who come down from the Highlands every year to gut and pack the herring.

Then one day a mysterious Scotsman arrives. To Thomas he looks for all the world like a detective, in his black cape and hat of felted wool, and the way he puffs on his pipe as if he's Sherlock Holmes. Mac is what the locals call him when they whisper about him in the Inn. And whisper they do, for he sets off on his walks at unlikely hours, and stops to examine the humblest flowers. He is seen on the beach, staring out across the waves as if he's searching for clues. But Mac isn't a detective, he's the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and together with his red haired artist wife, they soon become a source of fascination and wonder to Thomas.

Yet just as Thomas and Mac's friendship begins to blossom, war with Germany is declared. The summer guests flee and are replaced by regiments of soldiers on their way to Belgium, and as the brutality of war weighs increasingly heavily on this coastal community, they become more suspicious of Mac and his curious behaviour.

In this compelling story of an unlikely friendship, Esther Freud paints a vivid portrait of a home front community during the First World War, and of a man who was one of the most brilliant and misunderstood artists of his generation. It is her most beautiful and masterful work.]]> 293 Esther Freud 1408857189 Sue 4 3.63 2014
author: Esther Freud
name: Sue
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/06/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 39860004
But a chance encounter with two extraordinary women - the fabulous and wise Kitty Muriel, a convent girl-turned-magician's wife-turned-seventy-something-roller-disco-fanatic, and the mysterious Sally Red Shoes, a bag lady with a prodigious voice - opens up a new world of possibilities, and the chance to start living again.

Until the fateful day when the past comes roaring back...]]> 297 Ruth Hogan 1473669022 Sue 0 to-read 3.82 2018
author: Ruth Hogan
name: Sue
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/06/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 3126545
In Humaydan's textured, lyrical prose, the story of one young woman's coming of age becomes a meditation on a nation's hardship, on home and freedom, hope and loss. Younes brings to intense life this lost world and the women at its center, whose lives have disappeared from history, from their own grasp.]]> 136 Iman Humaydan 1566567009 Sue 0 to-read 3.33 2008
author: Iman Humaydan
name: Sue
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 5868987 208 Belle Dorman Rugh 039507083X Sue 0 to-read 4.44 1955
author: Belle Dorman Rugh
name: Sue
average rating: 4.44
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 2774912
In 2003, Osama al-Kharrat returns to Beirut after many years in America to stand vigil at his father’s deathbed. The city is a shell of the Beirut Osama remembers, but he and his friends and family take solace in the things that have always sustained them: gossip, laughter, and, above all, stories.

Osama’s grandfather was a hakawati, or storyteller, and his bewitching stories—of his arrival in Lebanon, an orphan of the Turkish wars, and of how he earned the name al-Kharrat, the fibster—are interwoven with classic tales of the Middle East, stunningly reimagined. Here are Abraham and Isaac; Ishmael, father of the Arab tribes; the ancient, fabled Fatima; and Baybars, the slave prince who vanquished the Crusaders. Here, too, are contemporary Lebanese whose stories tell a larger, heartbreaking tale of seemingly endless war—and of survival.

Like a true hakawati, Rabih Alameddine has given us an Arabian Nights for this century—a funny, captivating novel that enchants and dazzles from its very first lines: “Listen. Let me take you on a journey beyond imagining. Let me tell you a story.�]]> 528 Rabih Alameddine 0385664761 Sue 0 to-read 4.00 2008
author: Rabih Alameddine
name: Sue
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 13633596 544 Tahir Shah 0957242905 Sue 0 to-read 3.81 2012
author: Tahir Shah
name: Sue
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/04/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 34143553 From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Little Paris Bookshop, an extraordinary novel about self-discovery and new beginnings.

Marianne is stuck in a loveless, unhappy marriage. After forty-one years, she has reached her limit, and one evening in Paris she decides to take action. Following a dramatic moment on the banks of the Seine, Marianne leaves her life behind and sets out for the coast of Brittany, also known as the end of the world.

Here she meets a cast of colorful and unforgettable locals who surprise her with their warm welcome, and the natural ease they all seem to have, taking pleasure in life s small moments. And, as the parts of herself she had long forgotten return to her in this new world, Marianne learns it s never too late to begin the search for what life should have been all along.

With all the buoyant charm that made The Little Paris Bookshop a beloved bestseller, The Little French Bistro is a tale of second chances and a delightful embrace of the joys of life in France.]]> 352 Nina George 034914222X Sue 3 3.51 2010
author: Nina George
name: Sue
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2019/04/10
date added: 2019/04/10
shelves:
review:
I was disappointed with this. I loved The Little Paris Bookshop and hoped for similar quality but this was a poor shadow. I found the main character indecisive and irritating and gradually lost interest as the book progressed. It all seemed so muddled and just too many characters...
]]> 7136344 Many of the scenes reproduced in this superbly illustrated account are simply works of art in their own right; others are taken from manuscripts that are famous for the very high quality of their illumination. Patricia Basing provides a rich commentary, full of interesting observations, that relates each picture its historical context, explores the connections between the illustrations and text, and gives an account of the general background of manuscript production in medieval times.]]> 123 Patricia Basing 1561310026 Sue 5 non-fiction 4.00 1990
author: Patricia Basing
name: Sue
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/30
shelves: non-fiction
review:
Superb book with many reproductions of paintings in medieval manuscripts. Great for researching ancient crafts and an interesting read too.
]]> 16160249
A magical memoir about a singular childhood in England and India by the daughter of Lord Louis and Edwina Mountbatten

Few families can boast of not one but two saints among their ancestors, a great-aunt who was the last tsarina of Russia, a father who was Grace Kelly’s pinup, and a grandmother who was not only a princess but could also argue the finer points of naval law. Pamela Mountbatten entered a remarkable family when she was born at the very end of the Roaring Twenties.

As the younger daughter of the glamorous heiress Edwina Ashley and Lord Louis Mountbatten, Pamela spent much of her early life with her sister, nannies, and servants—and a menagerie that included, at different times, a bear, two wallabies, a mongoose, and a lion. Her parents each had lovers who lived openly with the family. The house was always full of guests like Sir Winston Churchill, Noël Coward, Douglas Fairbanks, and the Duchess of Windsor (who brought a cold cooked chicken as a hostess gift).

When World War II broke out, Lord Mountbatten was in command of HMS Kelly before being appointed chief of Combined Operations, and Pamela and her sister were sent to live on Fifth Avenue in New York City with Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt. In 1947, her parents were appointed to be the last viceroy and vicereine of India and oversee the transfer of power to an independent Indian government. Amid the turmoil of political change, Pamela worked with student leaders, developed warm friendships with Gandhi and Nehru, and witnessed both the joy of Independence Day and its terrible aftermath. Soon afterwards, she was a bridesmaid in Princess Elizabeth’s wedding to Prince Philip, and was a ladyin- waiting at the young princess’s side when she learned her father had died and she was queen.

Vivid and engaging, well-paced and superbly detailed, this witty, intimate memoir is an enchanting lens through which to view the early part of the twentieth century.]]> 256 Pamela Hicks 1476733813 Sue 4 3.58 2012
author: Pamela Hicks
name: Sue
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/30
shelves:
review:

]]> 48130 672 Douglas Botting 0786707968 Sue 3 biography 4.18 1999
author: Douglas Botting
name: Sue
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/03/30
shelves: biography
review:
I found this book too long and I got quite weary of Gerald Durrell by the end. My Family and O A has always been a great favourite, but sadly I didn’t like GD so much after reading about his life after Corfu.
]]> 18668898
Growing up in 1970s Suffolk in a crumbling giant of a house with wild, tangled gardens, Alex Monroe was left to wreak havoc by invention. Without visible parental influence, but with sisters to love him and brothers to fight for him, he made nature into his world.

Creation became a compulsion, whether it was go-carts and guns, cross-bows and booby-traps, boats, bikes or scooters. And then, it was jewellery.

From full-out warfare waged against the local schoolboys to the freedom found in daredevil Raleigh bike antics to the delicacies of dress-making and the most intricate designs for jewellery, Two Turtle Doves traces the intimate journey of how an idea is transformed from a fleeting thought into an exquisite piece of jewellery. It is about where we find our creativity, how we remember and why we make the things we do.

'This is a tremendous book. A generous story of making, looking, travelling and growing up' Edmund de Waal]]> 240 Alex Monroe 1408841185 Sue 4 biography 3.86 2014
author: Alex Monroe
name: Sue
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/30
shelves: biography
review:
This was one of my favourite books. I make jewellery and have sailed on the Suffolk coast for many years so lots to empathise with. I loved his gritty, truthful story of growing up.
]]> 2975098 Extra Virgin.
Aiming to track down a small oasis town deep in the Sahara, some of whose generous inhabitants came to her rescue on a black day in her adolescence, Annie Hawes leaves her home in the olive groves of Italy and sets off along the south coast of the Mediterranean.
Travelling through Morocco and Algeria she eats pigeon pie with a family of cannabis farmers, and learns about the habits of djinns; she encounters citizens whose protest against the tyrannical King Hassan takes the form of attaching colanders to their television aerials - a practice he soon outlaws - and comes across a stone-age method of making olive-oil, still going strong. She allows a ten-year-old to lead her into the fundamentalist strongholds of the suburbs of Algiers - where she makes a good friend.
Plunging southwards, regardless, into the desert, she at last shares a lunch of salt-cured Saharan haggis with her old friends, in a green and pleasant palm grove perfumed by flowering henna: once, it seems, the favourite scent of the Prophet Mohammed. She discovers at journey's end that life in a date-farming oasis, haunting though its songs may be, is not so simple and uncomplicated as she has imagined.
Annie Hawes has legions of fans. Her writing has the well-built flow of fiction and the self-effacing honesty of a journal.]]> 418 Annie Hawes 0330457225 Sue 4 non-fiction 3.64 2008
author: Annie Hawes
name: Sue
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/03/30
shelves: non-fiction
review:
Most parts beautifully written, particularly about food and people’s lives. I was not too keen on the political bits though.
]]> 701965 352 Annie Hawes 0140294236 Sue 5 non-fiction 3.87
author: Annie Hawes
name: Sue
average rating: 3.87
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/30
shelves: non-fiction
review:

]]> 294057 288 Esther Freud 0141026545 Sue 5 fiction 3.44 2003
author: Esther Freud
name: Sue
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2019/03/30
shelves: fiction
review:
I loved this. Walberswick has become even more interesting because of it. I love novels with a strong sense of place and that teach me history.
]]> 863005 59 Charlotte Perkins Gilman 0860682013 Sue 0 to-read 4.08 1892
author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
name: Sue
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1892
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/02/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 17396630
Now it's possible to create beautiful one-of-a-kind silver charms without the extensive cost-- and no silver-smithing skills needed! In How to Make Silver Charms from Metal Clay, internationally renowned artist, author and polymer clay specialist Sue Heaser shows readers how to create intricate silver charms--from keys and padlocks to fairies and animals-- using metal clay. Offers a well-rounded overview of this simple (yet seemingly magical) process that ]]> 144 Sue Heaser 1438002629 Sue 0 sue-s-books 5.00 2013
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/02/29
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 159223 --Amy Handy ]]> 128 Tamila Darling 1840922338 Sue 0 sue-s-books 3.98 1999
author: Tamila Darling
name: Sue
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/02/29
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 192733 Sue Heaser 1581803249 Sue 0 sue-s-books 3.83 2002
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/02/29
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 7045906 308 Frances Hodgson Burnett 1906462127 Sue 4 fiction 3.73 1901
author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
name: Sue
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1901
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/09/17
shelves: fiction
review:

]]> 12396771
Julia besluit af te reizen naar Guernsey om kennis te maken met het kleurrijke gezelschap waaruit de Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society bestaat, en misschien zelfs haar volgende boek over hen te schrijven. Ze krijgt een steeds hechtere band met de bewoners van het eiland, en in het bijzonder met een jong meisje, wier moeder tijdens de bezetting werd gedeporteerd naar een werkkamp. Julia raakt meer en meer gecharmeerd van het leven op Guernsey en wordt door de verhalen van de eilandbewoners gedwongen ook haar eigen leven en keuzes onder ogen te zien.]]> 349 Mary Ann Shaffer 9047200101 Sue 0 to-read 4.00 2008
author: Mary Ann Shaffer
name: Sue
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2014/03/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 1249898
Here are all the techniques you need to create oven-clay projects: buttons, beads, jewelry, figurines, boxes, mosaics, and frames.

The book begins with some basic techniques to get you started, including rolling, baking, and gluing. It then moves on to marbling effects, simulating textiles, making frames, building miniature pots, and creating faux stones.

Inspirational examples of work from some of the best polymer clay artists in the world will fire your imagination and provide ideas for developing your own designs.]]> 128 Sue Heaser 1581800088 Sue 0 sue-s-books 4.02 1999
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 13037910 128 Sue Heaser 8880398814 Sue 0 sue-s-books 2.50 2009
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 2.50
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 6930673 128 Sue Heaser 0715327658 Sue 0 sue-s-books 4.22 2008
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 13492072 160 Sue Heaser 9057648962 Sue 0 sue-s-books 3.00 2007
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 7026096 27 modèles de bijoux à réaliser (colliers, bagues, boucles d’oreille, pendentifs�) qui illustrent les différents effets que l’on peut obtenir : argent poli, brossé, martelé, oxydé, incrustations de pierres, filigranes.]]> 128 Sue Heaser 2295002214 Sue 0 sue-s-books 4.00
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 6469300 146 HEASER SUE 8873015514 Sue 0 sue-s-books 0.0
author: HEASER SUE
name: Sue
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 16687100 192 Sue Heaser 1446302342 Sue 0 sue-s-books 4.90 2012
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 4.90
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 217500 64 Sue Heaser 0715318527 Sue 0 sue-s-books 4.06 2004
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 13586966
Going far beyond most other metal clay books currently available, Metal Clay for Jewelry Makers covers basics and much more. Inside, you'll explore a range of techniques including forming hinges and beads; working with paper clay; adding gemstones, glass, and ceramics; and syringing, burnishing, texturing, and using patinas.

You'll discover stunningly showcased silver and base metal clays perfected in soft clay, paper, and paste forms. Sue also covers the materials that are often used in conjunction with metal clay, including embellishments, stones, and findings.

After covering materials, Sue dives right into techniques, from the basics to specific advanced techniques. She explores the use of additional materials as well--applying resin, mounting stones, enameling, engraving and more. A section on zero waste--how to conserve and reuse expensive metal clay remnants--completes the how-to section.

Packed with more than 500 photographs, this book will give you a clear guide to both the process and end product or effect. While no projects are in the book, finished projects with tips and techniques are spread throughout and provide inspiration for you to explore metal clay and to use your newfound jewelry-making skills with this innovative material, often dubbed "magical clay."]]> 192 Sue Heaser 1596687134 Sue 0 sue-s-books 4.28 2012
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 1967046 112 Sue Heaser 1581804504 Sue 0 sue-s-books 3.73 2003
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 2129072 160 Sandie Lea 0762406011 Sue 0 sue-s-books 4.21 1999
author: Sandie Lea
name: Sue
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 726278 Sue Heaser 0713684151 Sue 0 sue-s-books 3.91 2007
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]> 726277 128 Sue Heaser 0896895947 Sue 0 sue-s-books 4.21 2008
author: Sue Heaser
name: Sue
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2013/08/20
shelves: sue-s-books
review:

]]>