52/4

Tears Of The Giraffe

by Alexander Mccall Smith

The premises of Judgement-Day Jewellers were tucked away at the end of a dusty street, alongside the Salvation Bookshop, which sold Bibles and other religious texts, and Mothobani Bookkeeping Services: Tell the Taxman to go away. It was a rather unprepossessing shop, with a sloping verandah roof supported by whitewashed brick pillars.

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Thanks to everyone who joins in with this, btw!

If you want to join in too, here's how:-

Pick up any book, go to page 52, then go to the 4th line. Give us whatever sentences cross the 4th line. i.e. you may have to go back a bit or forward bit, but the 4th line is your guide!

Either put your finding on your blog and tell us in the comments to this post, or just write the entry itself in the comments. Simples!

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Love, tea & cake,  
Helena

52/4

A little chuckle this week....

 Politically Correct Bedtime Stories

by James Finn Garner

"What Snow White didn't know was that this was really the queen in disguise and that the apple had been chemically and genetically altered so that whoever bit it would sleep forever."

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Thanks to everyone who joins in with this, btw! 

If you want to join in too, here's how:-

Pick up any book, go to page 52, then go to the 4th line. Give us whatever sentences cross the 4th line. i.e. you may have to go back a bit or forward bit, but the 4th line is your guide!

Either put your finding on your blog and tell us in the comments to this post, or just write the entry itself in the comments. Simples!

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Love, tea & cake,  
Helena

52/4

I can't believe that we are half way through May already! 

OK here's this week's book:

Round Ireland With A Fridge

by Tony Hawks

 Continuing rain the next day meant a return for completion of the sketches, and the farmer was even more perplexed by the women's decision to put in another full day's staring; "Who are they? And why are they staring at my barn?"

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Thanks to everyone who joins in with this, btw! 

If you want to join in too, here's how:-

Pick up any book, go to page 52, then go to the 4th line. Give us whatever sentences cross the 4th line. i.e. you may have to go back a bit or forward bit, but the 4th line is your guide!

Either put your finding on your blog and tell us in the comments to this post, or just write the entry itself in the comments. Simples!

Love, tea & cake,  
Helena

52/4

 The Interpretation of Murder

by Jed Rubenfeld

I had never realised how splendid City Hall station was, with its crystal chandeliers, inlaid murals, and vaulted arches. 

This book has its own website:

- http://www.interpretationofmurder.com/

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Thanks to everyone who joins in with this, btw! 

If you want to join in too, here's how:-

Ppick up any book, go to page 52, then go to the 4th line. Give us whatever sentences cross the 4th line. i.e. you may have to go back a bit or forward bit, but the 4th line is your guide!

Either put your finding on your blog and tell us in the comments to this post, or just write the entry itself in the comments. Simples!

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Love, tea & cake,
Helena

52/4

I've never actually finished this book. Really must have another try....

 Life of Pi

by Yann Martell

The vestibule had clean, white walls; the table and benches were of dark wood; and the priest was dressed in a white cassock- it was all neat, plain, simple.

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Thanks to everyone who joins in with this, btw!

If you want to join in too, pick up any book, go to page 52, then go to the 4th line. Give us whatever sentences cross the 4th line. i.e. you may have to go back a bit or forward bit, but the 4th line is your guide!

Either put your finding on your blog and tell us in the comments to this post, or just write the entry itself in the comments. Simples!

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Love, tea & cake,
Helena

52/4

I have only one excuse for why this is a day late- yesterday, I didn't know what day it was. OK there IS a second excuse- I didn't remember till the middle of the night that, as well as bins having to go out on Wednesdays, I should blog about a book, too,.

Ooops. Well the rubbish is piled up for another week, but the book thing I can correct!

The Tao Of Pooh

by Benjamin Hoff

Pooh rubbed his nose with his paw, and said that the Heffalump might be walking along, humming a little song, and looking up at the sky, wondering if it would rain, and so he wouldn't see the Very Deep Pit until he was half-way down, when it would be too late.

The author, Benjamin Hoff, thinks that Pooh has a certain way about him that is strangely close to the ancient Chinese principles of Taoism....."While Eeyore frets and Piglet Hesitates and Owl pontificates, Pooh just is."

It's a lovely book. Thre is also "The Te Of Piglet" too!

Sorry for being late!

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Thanks to everyone who joins in with this, btw!

If you want to join in too, pick up any book, go to page 52, then go to the 4th line. Give us whatever sentences cross the 4th line. i.e. you may have to go back a bit or forward bit, but the 4th line is your guide!

Either put your finding on your blog and tell us in the comments to this post, or just write the entry itself in the comments. Simples!

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52/4

Wednesday again already!!!!! And a very rainy one, here, too.

Notes From An Exhibition

by Patrick Gale

There was the ladylike gold watch she never wore for long because she claimed the ticking got on her nerves and, all around it, in such absurd quantities they were almost spilling over the drawer's edges, were hundreds of pills, almost all the same size and innocent shade of white.

This is an amazing book, which I can't believe I hadn't spotted before. I found it last week in a charity shop. The image of the painter on the cover drew the eye. On my version there is also a review from Stephen Fry on the cover, "This book is complete perfection". Hmm. Well that was enough for me to investigate....

Rachel is a painter who lives with bipolar and this book shows the effects this has on her creativity, the ups and downs, the bursts of inspiration interspersed with periods of dryness.

It also shows how the condition affects her husband and children, and how the people around her adapt, adopt, and sometimes suffer or run away.

I've only got as far as page 80. So far there have been flashbacks which I can find annoying in books but in this case it's fascinating to see how Rachel's story began and what certain people around her  were like when they were younger. You see her as a young woman, and then jump forward to see her children as middle aged.

I'm constantly obsessed with age. I'm constantly looking back, counting, and then looking forward and trying to estimate how quickly the time between now and the age of 60 will pass. Only 15 1/2 years to go, and see how fast the last 15 1/2 went?? It frightens me. Every day.

I get so angry when older people aren't treated with respect. By doctors, nurses, or just members of the public, people in shops.... they forget that this elderly person was once young, clear faced, beautiful, full of ideas and ambitions. All they see is a shell. More and more I'm learning that even though you get older, you stay young on the inside. This is why I find the flashbacks in the book so poignant.

I can't wait to see how the rest of Rachel's story unfolds.

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Thanks to everyone who joins in with this, btw!

If you want to join in too, pick up any book, go to page 52, then go to the 4th line. Give us whatever sentences cross the 4th line. i.e. you may have to go back a bit or forward bit, but the 4th line is your guide!

Either put your finding on your blog and tell us in the comments to this post, or just write the entry itself in the comments. Simples!

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52/4

Went to a book fair on Monday :) there was a stall covered in children's books.

I spotted Mrs Pepperpot- I used to love those stories! But I couldn't stretch to the £7 they wanted.
I did find a copy of Issi Noho, the magical panda. The author, Keith Chatfield had even signed it. I was very happy to part with £2.50 for this visit to my childhood reading....
I also had to buy Green Smoke because I can't come home with a bear book unless I also have a dragon book, and vice versa...

 ISSI NOHO by Keith Chatfield

His first journey to the bathroom each morning was always taken in a twilight daze.

The panda's name comes from the letters left on a packing case that he shelters in. The full notice said "THIS SIDE UP" and "USE NO HOOKS". But the only part still ledgible is IS SI NO HO.

Unlike in other children's adventure books of this type, the children don't come upon their magical new friend gradually, a few paragraphs or even chapters in: ISSI opens the book himself with the words, "Excuse me, but I suppose you wouldn't have such a thing as a bamboo shoot about you?"

It turns out that ISSI has magical cards which give him exciting powers but his spells often go wrong because he's not very good at adding up the numbers on the cards.

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Thanks to everyone who joins in with this, btw!

If you want to join in too, pick up any book, go to page 52, then go to the 4th line. Give us whatever sentences cross the 4th line. i.e. you may have to go back a bit or forward bit, but the 4th line is your guide!

Either put your finding on your blog and tell us in the comments to this post, or just write the entry itself in the comments. Simples!

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52/4

the Creative License

-giving yourself permission to be the artist you truly are

by Danny Gregory

It can be as big as a table or it can fit in your hip pocket. It can be kept on 300lb. imported watercolour paper, on the ruled pages of a Grade School composition book, or on a sleek website.

-In this chapter the author is talking about art journals, particularly that there are no real rules about what they are or what they look or feel like.

A few years ago someone gave me a gift voucher for Amazon as a joint birthday and Christmas present. I really enjoyed spending it! This was one of the half dozen or so arty books I bought. I have just started re-reading it. I never finished it before. No matter how 'hands on' art books try to be, I still feel slightly in awe of these pristine examples of someone else's work. That was until a few nights ago, when I awoke with a start and knocked my glass of water flying. I cleared up what I could, sleepily and halfheartedly. "Oh well it's only water," I thought, one eye shut. I felt around to check that nothing electrical was damp, then went back to sleep.

So...........now................. my copy of this book is all bent and bubbly from water damage HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA and in being so no longer has a halo to be respected. The gloves are off. I feel some inky doodling coming on.... :)


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Thanks to everyone who joins in with this, btw!

If you want to join in too, pick up any book, go to page 52, then go to the 4th line. Give us whatever sentences cross the 4th line. i.e. you may have to go back a bit or forward bit, but the 4th line is your guide!

Either put your finding on your blog and tell us in the comments to this post, or just write the entry itself in the comments. Simples!

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52/4

Nearly forgot this this week- again! LOL!

The Virgin Queen

The Personal History of Elizbeth I

by Christopher Hibbert

When she arrived in Richmond, she said to Lord Williams, 'This night I think to die'; and the next day, as her escort rode on from Richmond to Windsor, she sent one of her guards to a group of her servants who had collected to see her pass by, asking him to deliver this message to them, 'Tanquam ovis'- like a sheep to the slaughter.

(- This refers to when her sister, Queen Mary, sent Elizabeth to the Tower as she had been implicated in a protestant plot to put her on the throne.)

I've read lots of books on the Tudor period and several on Elizabeth I, and this is by far the very best biography of her. If you want to read one, pick this one!!

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Thanks to everyone who joins in with this, btw!

If you want to join in too, pick up any book, go to page 52, then go to the 4th line. Give us whatever sentences cross the 4th line. i.e. you may have to go back a bit or forward bit, but the 4th line is your guide!

Either put your finding on your blog and tell us in the comments to this post, or just write the entry itself in the comments. Simples!

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p.s. thank you all for your kind comments and support re yesterday's post, which I am still reading and mulling over.......

52/4

Middle of the week already? Again?!


This week I'm borrowing one of Dilly's dragon books:

 How to Train Your Dragon

by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III,

translated from the Old Norse by

Cressida Cowell

"Most dragons that the Vikings used for hunting purposes were about the size of a Labrador dog."

I haven't seen the film, but the book is really funny :) The film must miss so many little details out- like for example, when a dragon speaks in the book it's written in an old wobbly gothic font!

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Thanks to everyone who joins in with this, btw!

If you want to join in too, pick up any book, go to page 52, then go to the 4th line. Give us whatever sentences cross the 4th line. i.e. you may have to go back a bit or forward bit, but the 4th line is your guide!

Either put your finding on your blog and tell us in the comments to this post, or just write the entry itself in the comments. Simples!

52/4

These Wednesdays seem to come round awfully quickly.

GOODBYE TO ALL THAT

Robert Graves

I once caught one of them in the bathroom, scratching up a pair of hearts conjoined, with Dick's initials and mine above them. I pushed him into hte bath and turned the taps on.

I first read this about 20 years ages ago. I've read it several times, it's a great book. What has struck me today, as I took it down off the shelf, is how small the print is. I CAN read print this small, but have often, in recent years, put books back on the shelf in bookshops because of it. Not comfortable, you see. Ha! I don't know, it is just funny to have in my hand proof of a time when such things didn't bother me.

52/4

MOAB IS MY WASHPOT

by Stephen Fry

"I shan't tell you," said Mr Kett. "It's a secret. See? That's how good I am at keeping them."

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This is the first chunk of Stephen Fry's autobiography, leaving him at age 20. It's very funny, and very candid, too. 

I absolutely LOVE Stephen Fry. It's OK to say that without upsetting Luvbug for obvious reasons- first, Fry's glorious gayness, and second, Luvbug enjoys QI almost more than I do. He also knows how much Fry's documentary about Bi-Polar helped me, airing as it did for the first time just 2 weeks after my diagnosis. I'd thought I was BP for a long time, found patterns that weren't explained by 'straightforward' uni-polar depression. To have a psych-doc agree, and the art therapist, and to see it on my notes, well for some reason that hit me. For a long time afterwards, I thought -though it sounds corny- "If Stephen Fry can have this and manage, cope, LIVE, then so can I."

The title of the book confused me for a while. It's from the Psalms and is repeated in Psalms 60 and 108:

“Moab is My washbowl; Over Edom I shall throw My shoe; Shout loud, O Philistia, because of Me!”(Ps.60:8)

The psalm isn't quoted in the book so why the title?

Here's one interpretation, which I found on Yahoo! Answers, of all places!-

Old Testament Jews were extremely concerned with cleanliness. Wearing sandals in the hot and dusty environment, their feet would become filthy and upon entering a home, would be washed. In their cleansing and purification rituals they used poured water. They would not put their feet into the bowl, but instead hold their feet over the bowl and pour clean water over them, and the bowl would be used to catch the filthy water. The washpot was therefore a symbol of disgusting filthiness.

The phrase "Moab is my washpot" alludes to God's contempt for the enemies of Israel. The nation of Moab found displeasure with God because of "her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart." God brought Moab low because of her futile insolence, yet He promised to "restore the fortunes of Moab in the days to come." So young Stephen Fry considered that he was a disgustingly filthy, proud, conceited and arrogant young man who, rather like God's promise to Moab, eventually amended his behaviour and excelled.

Wow. I wonder how many writers put that much thought into the title?!!

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BTW...

Equilibrium- The Bipolar Foundation  Stephen Fry is their Special Ambassador. There is a letter from him on the website about their work: here.

52/4

A bit more history this week-

AGINCOURT 

The King, The Campaign, The Battle

by Juliet Barker

The plot was to capture the king and his brothers by disguising himself and a group of his fellow conspirators as mummers for the annual Twelfth Night celebrations at Eltham Palace in January 1414.

If you liked Henry V you need this book!

52/4 week 10

I completely forgot about this last week- I blame the anit-biotics, steroids, coughing and general bleagh!! Sorry for the confusion.

 Pure

by Andrew Miller

A draught, finding its way up the stairs, ripples the candle flames in the drawing room and a few moments later Monsieur Monnard appears.

A NOTE ON THIS BOOK:
I had trouble putting this book down. It's so well written. The story revolves around a man who is tasked with the terrible job of removing the cemetary and church of Les Innocents, now overflowing and a health hazard, in central Paris. This timeline is a few years before the French Revolution begins. In the background, barely touched on, there are rumblings, nighttime meetings and anti-Royalist graffiti keeps appearing round the city. But these are background details. We, the readers, know what is up ahead, but the people in this book don't. I found myself wondering, would this person survive? would they be killed? The book stops before the revolution begins, so we're left wondering what will happen to the people we met in its pages. The sights and smells and atmosphere of a crowded city full of miscontents is brought alive.

Is that really a Kindle version????? A KINDLE????
Ah yes, I have a Kindle. My apologies to purests eveywhere! LOL
This was a gift from Luvbug at Christmas. I wasn't sure of them myself when they first came out, especially as I love book fairs so much. But after seeing someone use one on the bus, and seeing how clear (not backlit) the screen was, and how you can increase the font of any book, I began to be a fan.

Since Christmas I have literally lost count of how many books I have read, whereas before, I was struggling to get through one book over several months. I can't fully account for the difference, I just know it works. Lots of free classics available; I've just started Les Miserables which I downloaded for free...

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As before, if you'd like to join in here's how-


* Pick any book,
* go to page 52
* give us the sentence that contains line 4. -Can be more than one sentence. (e.g. You may need to go   back a few lines to find the beginning of the sentence or continue a few lines to complete it.)


Leave your results in the comments. Or, if you want to put it as a post on your own blog, just leave us a link to find it there!

52/4

I'm a whole day late with this! What am I like?

Journey Beyond Selene:

Remarkable Expeditions To The Ends

Of The Solar System And Its 63 Moons

by Jeffrey Kluger

"If the missile machinery was performing as it should, it should not be long before Cape Canaveral would once again be dark and quiet."

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As before, if you'd like to join in here's how-


* Pick any book,
* go to page 52
* give us the sentence that contains line 4. -Can be more than one sentence. (e.g. You may need to go   back a few lines to find the beginning of the sentence or continue a few lines to complete it.)


Leave your results in the comments. Or, if you want to put it as a post on your own blog, just leave us a link to find it there!

52/4

Recipes For Cherubs

by Babs Horton

Another was of two very smart young men wearing army uniforms. A third photograph was facing the wall.

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As before, if you'd like to join in here's how-


* Pick any book,
* go to page 52
* give us the sentence that contains line 4. -Can be more than one sentence. (e.g. You may need to go   back a few lines to find the beginning of the sentence or continue a few lines to complete it.)


Leave your results in the comments. Or, if you want to put it as a post on your own blog, just leave us a link to find it there!

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Thanks for joining in the fun! I'm enjoying reading snapshots of your books!

52/4

  The Historian

by Elizabeth Kostova

The policeman put a steadying hand on my shoulder. "Not a big enough loss of blood to be a cause of death in itself, he said.

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As before, if you'd like to join in here's how-


* Pick any book,
* go to page 52
* give us the sentence that contains line 4. -Can be more than one sentence, as mine was this time!


Leave your results in the comments. Or, if you want to put it as a post on your own blog, just leave us a link to find it there!

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52/4

Finn Family Moomintroll

by Tove Jansson

Wild and tempting it rose from the sea, wreathed in white breakers and crowned with green trees as if dressed for a gala.

(-The Moomintrolls' first sight of Lonely Island.)

Hahaha..... I loved these when I was little! I was very pleased to spot this book in a charity shop the other day- brand new, for 59p! But why brand new? I can't help thinking that someone has handed it in unread, and wow, what a missed opportunity!

If you're not familiar with the Mommintrolls, they are small hippo-like creatures who live in the forests of Finland with their friends, more odd little creatures. If you like the style of the original AA Milne's Winnie The Pooh stories, then you'll like the Moomintrolls, who read like Pooh on acid.

I recommend their gentle humour and idyllic, friendly world of adventure, where even the baddies have good manners.

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As before, if you'd like to join in here's how-


* Pick any book,
* go to page 52
* give us the sentence that contains line 4. -Can be more than one sentence, as mine was this time!


Leave your results in the comments. Or, if you want to put it as a post on your own blog, just leave us a link to find it there!

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52/4

Nathaniel's Nutmeg

by Giles Milton

"It was the last they would ever see of the Edward Bonadventure: at around midnight the ship's carpenter cut the moorings and, with a skeleton crew and a good measure of self-confidence, sailed off into the night leaving Lancaster and his men stranded."

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As before, if you'd like to join in here's how-


* Pick any book,
* go to page 52
* give us the sentence that contains line 4. -Can be more than one sentence, as mine was this time!


Leave your results in the comments. Or, if you want to put it as a post on your own blog, just leave us a link to find it there!

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