English: A Story of Marmite, Queuing and Weather - Ben Fogle

What makes the English English? Is it their eccentricity, their passionate love (or, indeed, hatred) of Marmite – or is it something less easily defined?

Beginning at the top of a muddy Gloucestershire slope at the Coopers Hill cheese-rolling contest and traversing a landscape of lawns and queues, coastlines and sporting arenas, Ben Fogle takes us on a journey through the peculiarly English: a country of wax jackets, cricket, boat races and jellied eels, by way of national treasures such as the shipping forecast, fish and chips and the Wellington boot. Not to mention the Dunkirk spirit of relentless optimism in the face of adversity, be it the heroic failure of Captain Scott’s doomed Antarctic expedition, or simply the perennial hope for better weather.

The archetypal Englishman – lover of labradors and Land Rovers yet holder of two passports – Ben applauds all things quintessentially English while also paying tribute to the history, culture and ideas adopted with such gusto that they have become part of the fabric of the country. Written with Ben’s trademark warmth and wit, this is a light-hearted yet touching tribute to all things English.

What did I think?

I won a copy of English by Ben Fogle on Twitter and have to admit to being slightly underwhelmed by the cover.  Although the English do love talking about the weather, there's nothing worse than getting soaked when a force 10 gale blows our brolly inside out on a wet weekend but it actually does typify the English so, in hindsight I did find it a good choice of cover image.

So I went into the book thinking: 'What could this half-Canadian tell me about my own country?'  The answer: quite a blooming lot actually.  I not only learned new things, but I remembered things I had forgotten and had a good laugh along the way.  I loved the way English is written; I felt as if Ben Fogle was talking solely to me and I think, as Ben is a natural presenter, some of the subjects would make good TV viewing.

Of course you couldn't start a book about the English without talking about the weather and English has a whole chapter relating to our favourite subject, not just a chapter but the honour of the opening chapter.  (It's cold and damp here in North East England, in case you were wondering).  It was this chapter that first made me sit up and take notice as I read about Captain Gladstone Adams travelling back to Newcastle in 1908 after seeing the Mags losing to Wolves in the FA Cup Final (ha ha).  It was snowing so heavily on 25 April 1908 that Captain Adams had to keep stopping to clear his car windscreen and decided to invent mechanical windscreen wipers.  Who knew?

The North East gets quite a good few mentions in English, which makes quite a change as we are normally forgotten.  Apart from the windscreen wiper inventing Newcastle fan, there are also good mentions for the Barbour factory in South Tyneside, the Alnwick Shrove Tuesday football match and the Hartlepool monkey.

I learnt so much in this book, not only about what makes us English, but about things that had previously been a mystery to me.  For example, why do some people call their evening meal 'tea' and what is the origin of taking someone down a peg or two?  Answers to these questions and SO much more are in this amazing book.

I don't want to share too much of my (many) favourite parts of this book, but I just have to quote a passage from English that anyone who has been to Betty's tearooms will understand.  Only the English would happily queue for tea.  Just reading it back here is music to my ears!  A queue for tea?  Where do I sign up?

The tea queue stretched around the corner. Can there be two more beautiful words to the English ear than 'tea' and 'queue'?

Ben Fogle may be half Canadian but he sure knows a thing or two about the English and is sure to raise an eyebrow or two in this excellent book.  This book should be given to everyone applying for British citizenship to let them know what they are letting themselves in for; you can't revise for this test, Englishness is either in you or it isn't.

A highly recommended book for non-fiction fans who think they know everything about English history, you ain't read nothin' yet!

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

Bookmagnet Best Bookish Buys: Klevercase Magic Reading Lamp

So I've been thinking for a while about starting a new feature on the blog for all of those amazing gifts out there for book lovers.  It's actually harder than you think to buy a gift for a book lover as the one thing you can't really buy them is a book!  So what do you buy the book lover who has everything?  That's where the Bookmagnet Best Bookish Buys comes in, where I plan to share reviews of bookish products I have bought and also to look at some other great gift ideas for bookworms available online.

First up, is the Book of Spells Magic Reading Lamp from Klevercase.  This is an absolute MUST BUY for any Harry Potter fan.  It's available in purple or Hogwarts house colours, either all four together, red Gryffindor, black Hufflepuff, blue Ravenclaw or green Slytherin, but I went for the purple as it's my favourite colour.  It can even be personalised for an extra £5.  Priced at £70 full price but Klevercase have many promotions throughout the year where you will be able to pick one up for around £35 or £40.  Klevercase ship internationally and offer free tracked delivery to most countries.

Klevercase have expanded the reading lamp range to include vintage personalisable penguin covers and classic books.  The penguin covers come in orange, pink, blue, lilac, green, turquoise, yellow-geo print and cat print, so there's something for every decor.  The current classic books range includes: Pride and Prejudice, Jungle Book, Sherlock Holmes, Secret Garden and Alice in Wonderland.

*Note the lamp doesn't actually play music when opened or we wouldn't be able to concentrate on reading 😃

The lamp is rechargeable via USB and arrives already charged so it lights up straight out of the box.  It's the size of a large book measuring 21.5cm high by 17.5cm wide and 2.5cm deep.  Both the front and the back of the lamp are beautifully illustrated so it looks good from all angles, whether standing up or lying flat.

You can open the lamp either flat like you're reading a book or standing up on its edge - either look stunning and give a good burst of light.

There's also the amazing full 360 degree light by folding the book back on itself (I cringe just thinking about doing this to a real book).  The cover is magnetic so the cover sticks to itself and creates a breathtaking circle of light.

Some careful consideration has also gone into the charging port as it blends in nicely with the edge of the cover and you wouldn't even know it was there if you weren't looking for it.  I had to draw a big red arrow on my photo to point it out!  The lamp comes with full instructions for charging along with a Harry Potter thank you leaflet and a flyer showing other fabulous items that Klevercase make.

The Klevercase Magic Reading Lamp is a Bookmagnet Best Bookish Buy and a recommended gift for any book lover.

Click here to visit Klevercase and buy one today!

The Woman in the Window - A.J. Finn

What did she see?

It’s been ten long months since Anna Fox last left her home. Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house like a ghost, lost in her memories, too terrified to step outside.

Anna’s lifeline to the real world is her window, where she sits day after day, watching her neighbours. When the Russells move in, Anna is instantly drawn to them. A picture-perfect family of three, they are an echo of the life that was once hers.

But one evening, a frenzied scream rips across the silence, and Anna witnesses something no one was supposed to see. Now she must do everything she can to uncover the truth about what really happened. But even if she does, will anyone believe her? And can she even trust herself?

What did I think?

I saw a lot of posts on social media about The Woman in the Window so I just had to read it for myself and, although I didn't love it as much as I thought I would, I really enjoyed it and I'm pleased that I have read it.  It's quite a quick read with short chapters and an intriguing storyline so it's one of those books that you find yourself racing through.

Dr Anna Fox is a child psychologist suffering from agoraphobia.  Trapped in her house, she observes her neighbours' lives and binge-watches old black and white movies.  Anna gets her zoom lens ready for a real life episode of Neighbours when a new family move into the street.  The mother, Jane Russell, introduces herself to Anna but a few days later Anna hears Jane scream...frantically focussing the zoom lens, has Anna just witnessed a murder?

Anna is on medication and drinks a lot of alcohol so her reliability as a witness is called into question by the police and by the reader.  I wasn't even sure if Jane Russell was real with Anna's penchant for watching old movies and Jane Russell being the name of a 1950's film star.  I love books that make you think like this, as your brain tries to see behind the smoke and mirrors.

Full of suspense with deceptions at every turn, you can't help but raise an eyebrow or drop your jaw at some point in the book.  Although very well written, I felt more intrigued than gripped and I do like my heart to race at some point in a book.  I think this would be a great book to pack in your suitcase for a holiday read and I can imagine The Woman in the Window being seen a lot on the beach this summer.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

A Sweet, Wild Note: What We Hear When the Birds Sing - Richard Smyth

Birdsong is woven into our culture, our emotions, our landscape; it is the soundtrack to our world. We have tried to capture this fleeting, ephemeral beauty, and the feelings it inspires, for millennia.

In this fascinating account, Richard Smyth asks what it is about birdsong that we so love. Exploring the myriad ways in which it has influenced literature, music, science and our very ideas of what it means to be British, Smyth’s nuanced investigation shows that what we hear says as much about us, our dreams and desires, as it does about the birds and their songs.

At a time when our birdsong is growing quieter, with fewer voices, more thinly spread, A Sweet, Wild Note is a celebration of the complex relationships between birds, people and the land; it is also a passionate call to arms lest our trees and hedgerows fall silent.

What did I think?

Something magical happened whilst I was reading A Sweet, Wild Note: I felt more attuned to birdsong than I had ever been before.  I admit it was the start of spring but I suddenly started to notice the chirrup of the sparrow building its nest in our garden hedge and I don't believe I would have noticed it had I not been reading this delightful book.

So I had a few preconceptions of a book about birdsong but when faced with the most unexpected and hilarious opening line in Chapter 1, my preconceptions flew out of the window.  I'm not going to say what it is as I don't want to spoil it for other readers but kudos to Richard Smyth for delivering such a cracking opening line.  It managed to set the tone of book as being factual but fun and made me more eager to read it than at first expected.

The book comprises only six chapters as we investigate birdsong and its place in music, literature and our own lives.  I was fascinated by the cellist Beatrice Harrison who was recorded playing her cello in a Surrey bluebell wood accompanied by the pure warbling notes of a nightingale.  This had me whizzing off to google to listen for myself and you can listen to it here on YouTube.

As spring began to take hold whilst I was reading A Sweet, Wild Note I only had to lift my gaze out of the window to see the birds' nests taking shape in the trees.  I watched a pair of magpies, carrying impossibly sized twigs in their beaks, building a nest so huge it could house a whole mischief of magpies.  At first I was disappointed that magpies had chosen this prime spot in front of my window: I'm a Sunderland fan so anything black and white makes me look like I'm sucking a lemon, but of all the birds to build a nest it had to be the thieving Bill Sykes of birds!  Richard Smyth managed to make me see magpies in a new light as a necessary cog in nature's wheel and I'm now looking forward to seeing the magpie family's new additions...until they wake me up at 5am on a Sunday!

An absolute must for any bird lover, A Sweet, Wild Note is completely enlightening and absolutely fascinating. 

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey tells the story of a young girl, Catherine Morland who leaves her sheltered, rural home to enter the busy, sophisticated world of Bath in the late 1790s. Austen observes with insight and humour the interaction between Catherine and the various characters whom she meets there, and tracks her growing understanding of the world about her.

In this, her first full-length novel, Austen also fixes her sharp, ironic gaze on other kinds of contemporary novel, especially the Gothic school made famous by Ann Radcliffe. Catherine's reading becomes intertwined with her social and romantic adventures, adding to the uncertainties and embarrassments she must undergo before finding happiness.

What did I think?

I really really wanted to love Northanger Abbey but I really really didn't.  It simply couldn't hold my interest for more than a few pages and I found the characters so one-dimensional that I forgot them as soon as their sentence ended.

Catherine was an ok character; the benefit for me being that she was clearly the main protagonist so I knew to take notice of her.  I only felt that she endeared herself to me in the second half of the book, though.  I did enjoy Catherine looking around her room in Northanger Abbey and being a bit nosy but that's the only occasion I could describe it as humorous.

I think Northanger Abbey must be for die-hard Jane Austen fans as I really couldn't see the appeal.  Sorry Austen fans, this one wasn't for me.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

BLOG TOUR: Sunshine and Secrets - Daisy James

Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romance

Release Date: 19th March 2018

Publisher: Canelo 

When newly heartbroken, michelin-starred chef Millie Harper is offered a job overseeing the setup of The Paradise Cookery School she jumps at the opportunity. Leaving London and her memories of heartbreak behind she hops on a plane to the hilltop cocoa plantation in St Lucia.

But this beautiful island break might be more work than she’d expected…. With only two weeks to have the kitchen installed, cocoa pods going missing from the plantation and the notoriously relaxed island workmen to contend with, she’s going to need some help. Gruff but charming estate manager Zach Baxter, is only too happy to offer his opinions. As the two clash heads can they remain focussed on the job in hand and get the cookery school finished in time?

Pack your bags and jump right into the sun and secrets of The Paradise Cookery School. Perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan, Jenny Oliver and Kat French.

What did I think?

At long last, I've read my first (but definitely not last) Daisy James book.  If ever a book should be read on holiday, it is Sunshine and Secrets but for those of us who don't have sun-friendly skin it's a perfect getaway to distant lands we can only dream of from the comfort of our favourite armchair.

Amelia (known as Millie) Harper has just the right thing to take her mind off her broken heart: an opportunity to set up The Paradise Cookery School on the Caribbean island of St Lucia.  As if Millie's wet welcome to St Lucia wasn't funny enough, her drenching leaves her with big hair akin to Monica Geller when the Friends go to Barbados.  Picturing Millie like that was enough to get me sniggering like a schoolgirl.

As well as trying out gorgeous recipes, Millie has to try to get the local laid-back workmen to stick to their schedule, which is easier said than done with the sun blazing down and the ripples of the swimming pool causing a temptation that's impossible to resist.  Local cook, Ella, and Estate Manager, Zach, are on hand to help Millie and, after a stand-offish start with Zach, Millie finds her pulse racing - Zach could be the perfect cure for her broken heart.

What really surprised me about Sunshine and Secrets was the added mystery of the disappearing cocoa pods.  Rather than succumb to the easy-going pace of the Caribbean vibe, it made me look at the characters a little more closely as I tried to gather clues.

Sunshine and Secrets is so full of sunshine that I needed my Factor 50 on just to read it.  I felt as if I was on St Lucia with Millie, sitting drinking an Andy's Blast cocktail in the beachside Purple Parrot cocktail bar.  Naturally, I didn't want to leave, although in real life I would have been burnt to a crisp!  

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy links:

Amazon (UK)

Kobo (UK)

Google Books (UK)

Apple Books (UK)

About the author:

Daisy James is a Yorkshire girl transplanted to the north east of England.  She loves writing stories with strong heroines and swift-flowing plotlines.  When not scribbling away in her summerhouse, she spends her time sifting flour and sprinkling sugar and edible glitter.  She loves gossiping with friends over a glass of something pink and fizzy or indulging in a spot of afternoon tea - china plates and teacups are a must. 

Twitter: @daisyjamesbooks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daisyjamesbooks/.

Follow the tour:

If I Die Tonight - A.L. Gaylin

There was a time when Jackie Reed knew her sons better than anyone. She used to be able to tell what they were thinking, feeling, if they were lying… 

But it's as though every day, every minute even, she knows them a little less. Her boys aren’t boys anymore, they’re becoming men - men she’s not sure she recognises, men she’s not sure she can trust.

So when one of her son’s classmates is killed in suspicious circumstances, people start asking questions. 

Was it really a hit and run? A car-jacking gone wrong? Or something much more sinister? 

Now Jackie must separate the truth from the lies.

How did that boy end up on the road? 

And where was her son that night?

What did I think?

I didn't plan to read If I Die Tonight in one sitting, but once I started it, I simply couldn't put it down.  The prologue hooked me immediately with a Facebook post from 17 year old Wade that tells the reader 'By the time you read this, I'll be dead.'  This suicide post was so sad and heartfelt that I just had to devour every single page to find out how Wade was left feeling this way.

Wade's post mentioned 'memory gifts' and I thought that was such a beautiful way to refer to a special memory.  One that we treasure so much that we wrap it up, tie it with a ribbon and store it in a special part of our brain until we're feeling low and need to unwrap the gift to rediscover our happy feelings from that time.  I'm going to remember that description (no pun intended).

Wade's schoolfriend, Liam Miller, was killed in an apparent car-jacking.  The only witness is the car's owner: a has-been rock star, Aimee-En, who seems to be hiding something.  Wade is also acting suspiciously and it's noticed by his Mom, Jackie and younger brother, Connor.  When Wade can't account for his whereabouts on the night Liam was killed, even Jackie starts to think that Wade might be guilty.  Mob mentality goes into overdrive when the townsfolk pick up on Wade's lack of alibi and they delight in finding someone to blame.  The reader is a little more forgiving as they are allowed to piece together all of the pieces of the puzzle before the truth is revealed.

I found it so interesting to see how easily people jump to conclusions.  I'm not saying I'm never guilty of this, but most of the time I do tend to look for all of the facts before making a decision - it's probably because I have read so many crime books!  The book also highlighted the effects of social media and how people can be so vicious when hiding behind a screen.

There are a lot of characters in If I Die Tonight so I sometimes found it confusing and didn't know who was who.  I picked up the main characters easily enough but sometimes had to flick back over the pages when a minor character reappeared.  That's the only real criticism I had but it's what makes this addictive and suspenseful book a four star rather than a five star read for me. 

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon