Mother's Day

Mother, I love you so.

Said the child. I love you more than I know.

She laid her head on her mother's arm, 

And the love between them kept them warm.

                        -Stevie Smith

Book Reviews: Frog Music and The History of the Rain

Regular readers (haha) to our blog may have noticed a change in my book reviews. I'm not doing a "What I've Been Reading" for each month, but am posting various reviews along the way. This is mostly because I have now become a "professional reader!" What is that, you may ask. Well, I didn't know either! Basically, I get "ARCs" (advanced reader copies) in return for reviews! So, here are two books (I read them as e-books) that I have read recently. All opinions are my own, although the e-books were free.

Frog Music by Emma Donoghue

When I found out that I had an approval to read an ARC of Frog Music, I was rather embarrassingly excited. I thought Room was a completely captivating book: so horrific and yet believable, a page turner from the beginning. Each characters' voice was distinct, and I also found it very interesting to view most of the central protagonists only through the eyes of another, as is always the case with first person narratives. The difference in Room is that Jack is five - it is such a unique perspective. So, it's safe to say that I started Frog Music with fairly high expectations.

Unfortunately, it didn't exceed my expectations.
It didn't even reach them. Is that because my expectations were just too hard? Not every novel can be a masterpiece, after all.

Frog Music is the story of Blanche, a French woman making her way in San Francisco through dance and prostitution during the nineteenth century. There are two storylines poised at once: before the murder of her friend Jenny, and afterwards. Donoghue has, again, created quite a unique, perspective doing this; plenty of novels have flashbacks but to have two continuous linear narratives occurring at the same time with the same characters is novel. Personally, I'm not sure it was entirely effective.

It's a sort of 'who-dunnit' and the last quarter was pacy, exciting and unexpected. I did really enjoy the home streak. Unfortunately, the rest of the book was a bit of a slog to get through. I actually ended up starting this again twice in the hope it would draw me in more and not be so difficult to read. It didn't work, so I cut my losses and kept going. I'm glad I did, because the ending was enjoyable; however, overall it doesn't seem worth it to read a lengthy novel when the majority of it is unenjoyable. 

Frog Music comes out on March 27th.

History of the Rain – Niall Williams

Where to start? This was a rich, expertly woven novel; each word is weighed up and chosen carefully, so that they flow like the rivers that permeate Williams' narrative.

History of the Rain is told in first person by Ruth Swain, sharing a story she tells whilst bed-ridden in rural Ireland. It is also second person: Ruth addresses the reader directly. It leaves questions: who does she think will be reading it? Is she leaving this for her family, or someone else? Of further interest is that it is not merely her story she is telling; she tells the story of her father, her grand-father, her great grand-father. Now, this makes for an intriguing premise. Ruth is telling stories that she wasn't even alive for, let alone been a witness to. Throughout the novel I was left wondering: how much of this had been reported to her, and how much has her own imagination taken control? The level of detail in many of the scenes is exquisite – but what does this mean? Where does truth end and make believe begin? Williams is asking us to question the validity of the past, of truth, and the sustaining power of stories.

As I have said, the language was beautiful. There are lots of examples of this: on describing her father, Ruth says he is “a bundle of angles”; Ruth's mother's hair is personified as she fights it into submission: “She tousled it loose and it laughed at her, then she tied it up too tight and it felt like a hand had grabbed her from above...” There are many more examples throughout the novel.

I loved Virgil, Ruth's father, his eccentricity and room full of books. There is a real link of empathy between myself as a reader, and Virgil as a character in Ruth's story.

“He knew Ahab, he knew Tulkinghorn, he knew Quentin Compson and Sebastian Flyte and Elizabeth Bennet and Emma Bovary and Alyosha... but Virgil Swain did not know anything he could do in County Clare.”

He is out of his depth and, naturally, we feel protective of him. The burgeoning love story between Ruth's parents was my favourite part plot-wise, although it was tinged with sadness.

Plot-wise, I found it a bit of a struggle at the start. It took a long time to get into – I was thoroughly engrossed by the end, but the beginning lacked that page-turning quality. Possibly this was to do with getting used to Williams' style; History of the Rain is a book I am sure will bear reading again and again. For me, however, the beginning was too slow. I also became more used to Williams' meandering narrative; as Ruth herself says “Your narrator, you may already have grasped, is not gifted in matters chronological” - it is not a linear story. As the plot continued, I was more engrossed, although still very conscious of Ruth being the storyteller to events she had never witnessed. I enjoyed that ambiguity of truth, the wondering. In a way, we as readers are like bed-ridden Ruth, caught in a trap of stories and secrets, never knowing where true North is.

Ultimately, the novel had a sad tinge to it. Virgil, Ruth's father, was never able to meet the “Impossible Standard” laid down by his family, and we really feel his anguish over it. We never get to know as much about Ruth as her father, but we also feel pained over her: life narrowed to an attic bedroom and her illness. But she takes us on a journey of discovery in the past, and, true or untrue, it is a beautiful journey to witness.

History of the Rain comes out in April and will also be featured as Radio 4's book of the week during April.

xx 

Crochet at Craft Bee

Today E, with A as the support act, went to Craft Bee in Beckenham to learn crocheting. Ever since E discovered Lucy's blog at Attic 24 she has wanted to make Granny Squares so today we got a last-minute place on a Satruday workshop. We've been to Craft Bees before - Tilly, Es new blue machine had her debut here with the tote bag creation, and we also Lino printed last year...

So A relaxed whilst E and 6 ladies under the tuition of Clare talked of trebles and slip stitches, loops and foundation rows, and chains and holes.... The sun came through the window and clouds scudded across with the rumble of the traffic on the High street. Many peculiar shaped 'rectangles' and some rather fine Granny Squares  and flowers were made! 

Learning to hold the yarn, very different to knitting!

Dodgy grey squares...

Much better! A granny square emerges! (And nicer colours too...)

Everyone's finished creations!

Happy Birthday Coombe Cottages and co and GIVEAWAY!

So it's been a whole year since our little blog started out. We've had plenty of page views, but no one has left any comments apart from people we know in the 'real world.' As a celebration, we're hosting a little giveaway! So if you are a lurker, or stumbling across is for the first time, please please leave a comment!

So, what we have to give away is... 

A bookmark! Seems like an appropriate prize as most of the posts on this blog are either about reading or crafts - this combines the two! The material is part of the stash that we got from the knitting and stitching show, and although it's very simple, it looks quite sweet (I hope!)

To be in for a chance to win, please leave a comment on this page and we'll choose at random the winner! If you aren't someone we know in person (if there are any) then please leave your email address so we can contact you. We'll send it to you, wherever you are, whatever country!

Please help us celebrate our blog birthday!

Good luck!

Xx

Knitting and Stitching Show 2014

Following a few years of indecisiveness, E and A were finally brave enough to visit the knitting and stitching show! It was held in Olympia this year and the huge venue was jam packed!

We saw...

Quilts...

Beautiful fabric...

Buttons...

More quilts...

Blue fabric, specially for A...

More quilts (I love this one)...

Ribbons...

More buttons...

And lots more besides!

The booking system wasn't great, so we didn't get to the workshop we'd originally intended, but we did one workshop at a stall, and one that we managed to book on the day. So, after our first peruse around the place, we settled at a stand to do some decoupage. (Side note: not entirely sure what decoupage has to do with knitting or stitching, but never mind.) A chose a star to decorate and E worked on a coaster. It's surprisingly easy - A decided that this was her type of craft - fast, inexact and using lots of glue! (Actually, she was instructed to use less! But A's conviction is that PVA sticks the world together, and that hasn't changed.) want to see?

Our second workshop was very different. Sarah is part of a movement called craftivism and we spent a quiet hour stitching mini protest banners. A noticed that the slow process of stitching letters made the meaning of the words really sunk in a different way. More on this later, and the movement of craftivism, later. 

And, of course they did some shopping! 

Good haul, eh? Most of the things here have destinations in mind, so watch this space for more crafty activities...

This is also our one blog-aversary today! Our little blog is one year old today! Wow. So, as a celebration of our birthday, if you are reading this please, please leave a comment so we can say hello. I hope people have seen a little of our CCC life.

Xx

What an ipad really needs

Is of course a beautiful case.

As you may have noticed, the inhabitants of 2CC are recently into sewing. We are generally keen on making, (against the universal trend, I found myself hearing from the Prof of Making at UCL on Material World the other night).

My lovely iPad's lovely jacket started life as a shirt:

another shirt that I don't have a picture of, and to tart it up, a gold shawl found in a charity shop that cost £4 for one by one point four metres of glistening gold silk. No, I don't suppose it really is silk at all, but something synthetic. 

When initially cut up they looked like this:

and then this:

There is a wonderful website called the Missouri Quilt Company, where a very enthusiastic lady with a lovely accent, (very American but pronounces her T's as T's, so I imagine this to be a Missouri way of speaking), shows ways of putting bits of material together so they look better than they started. 

Following her directions, we then got to this:

The poor ipad has been living in a Jiffy bag for the last few months, and I thought it would miss this, so I opened the bag out and quilted the patchwork to one side, and the pocket part of the shirt to the other:

Finally, E brought back an excellent earthenware button, almost willow pattern, from the Kitting and 

Stitching Show at Olympia yesterday:

and look how well they go together:

What do you think?

Mr B's Reading Year - Daughter of Smoke and Bone

I love trilogies. Are trilogies a genre in their own right? I guess not, but there's something about this medium that just intrinsically appeals to me. So many YA books are trilogies now that I suppose I'm not alone in thinking that. What do other people think? What is it about trilogies that appeals so much?

Anyway, before I get started I have to say: I love this book. I've seen it around on Good Reads before and it's vaguely filtered through that it might be my kind of book, but I haven't gone  out of my way to read it. Do you know how big my to-read list is?

And that's only about a quarter of it! But this one got the VIB (Very Important Book) upgrade to the top of the pile.

Anyway, I was really pleased when Emma, my bibliotherapist, sent me Taylor's novel. Here is what Emma said:

Welcome to your Mr B's Reading Year! I'm Emma and I will be your bibliotherapist for the next 11 months. With arch book you will receive a book mark where you can collect your thoughts and share them with me if you like either by post or by email. For your first book I'm sending you the first part of one of my favourite new fantasy trilogies? It is incredibly imaginative and has a very mythological feel to it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Isn't that such a nice note to receive? She picked out this book especially for me! I can't quite believe it. It was so exciting receiving the beautiful parcel with Mr B's seal on it. The whole set-up of the reading year is fantastic, it quite makes me want to be a bibliotherapist! It's fun picking books for people, particularly if their tastes are similar to yours. I doubt it's as amazing as I think; it probably doesn't involve going to work and reading from 9-5 every day...

Am I rambling? Yes. Let's get back to the book.

Emma was right about how imaginative it is; I personally haven't come across a book quite like this, although it has different elements that are similar to other novels. It has a bold start, effectively introducing you to our central protagonist, Karou, her best friend, and ex boyfriend in one go. Although a very 'every day' occurrence (a class at college), Taylor is able to make it interesting and really quite fun. We are also introduced early to the idea that Karou is different...

Although she acts like a normal college girl within her classes, she is secretly living a double life. She lives with chimera, entities who are part animal, part human in Elsewhere, another

world. She never knew her parents and these people are her family: Brimstone, particularly is like a stern father to her.

It is a very engaging, well paced novel, and I loved the nods to mythology throughout. There were a couple of points I was dubious about (for instance, Karou's best friend barely batting an eyelid when she discovers the truth about Karou) but mostly Taylor's characters were very believable. I care about them, I care what happens to them. 

Although there's some pretty heavy and difficult things going on for the characters, Taylor also manage to create humour, and some of the ordinary trials of teenager, so it never got too dark. I have a sense that the next book is going to be a lot darker than this one... What a way to end it! Complete cliffhanger, holding on the rock face and slowly slipping down... I need to read the next one soon!

Thank you very much, Emma - 4 star review.

Sleepytime Blanket for Baby J

After finishing baby A's blanket I was rearing to make another one, this time for a friend of mine who gave birth at the beginning of March in Northern Ireland. It was rather a hard labour, but both mummy T and baby J are well and healthy.

We knew he was going to be a boy, so I decided to go down the very traditional route and make a blue themed blanket. I also used quite stiff backing, so it is more like a play mat than a blanket, although it can be used for either.

I was really inspired by some wonderful fabric from Plush Addict.

Isn't it amazing? I LOVE the little deer and the bees, although the second fabric up from the bottom was a bit weird. I didn't use that one. The rest was going to be scraps, so I drew out a rough plan for how I wanted it to look.

Some scraps were left over from baby A's blanket, some were from Coombe Cottage's material box, and some were from some charity shop clothes. They made a really nice selection of mostly boyish colours.

First I made the diagonal patterns. Each diamond was a quarter of a charm pack size (I'm learning the lingo!) Charm packs are 5 by 5 inches, so my quarter squares were 2.5 by 2.5 inches. Obviously this includes the includes seam allowances, so in the finished project they are smaller than this.

Here is me laying out the squares:

The green colours from my leftover fabric really add a nice element. I'm very into blue so I was worried they'd be too dull and spoil it, but it all worked out fine.

Then Tilly and I stitched them together in diagonal rows, like this;

Coming together, isn't it? This is always the exciting part of a project, when what's in your head begins to take shape. I made another panel the same, and then cut out the larger panels, tacking them together.

Isn't the 'Bambi' fabric wonderful? I love it! And i still have quite a lot left over... More projects to come, no doubt!

Then I pinned it to the backing - I used a wadding that had material on one side, which is easier to do, but the finished item won't be as pliable. Here it is pinned:

I know that it's a bit lopsided and everything, but I think the overall effect is okay. THEN, it was time to sew it together and to do the quilting! I did 'real' quilting this time- basically just sewed all of the diagonal lines to make sure thquilting didn't slip. Tilly struggled a bit getting through the quite thick layer of fabric (she's only little after all!) but we managed.

Do you want to see the finished product? Here goes...

TA DA! Yes, it still looks lopsided, but it is handmade after all.

With my Brave Little Bird label all stitched in.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with it, despite all its imperfections. And I think that Baby J likes it too:

He's only two weeks old - look how big he is! And how beautiful! Wishing Mummy T and Baby J all the love in the world

Hope you've enjoyed my blanket too, dear readers. Leave a comment if you want to.

Xx

Introducing Mr B's

This year I am the proud recipient of a Mr B's Reading Year! Both A and J have had this in previous years and now it's my turn. I haven't read the book yet (my to-read list is dangerously out of hand) but doesn't it look so exciting wrapped up? And a personal note from my bibliotherapist; what a wonderful parcel to receive. Can't wait to get started!

Sewing Adventures: A Tote Bag

Do you all remember my sewing machine? Here she is:

She has now been christened Tilly, short for Mathilda. (I'm not sure why this is her name, it just worked out that way!) So, the other part of my rather wonderful Christmas present this year was a course at Beckenham Crafty Bees on learning to use your machine, and to make a tote bag in an afternoon! I actually made the blanket for baby A before the course, so I already knew the ropes, but the pattern for the tote bag was very satisfying and we also learnt about proper seam allowances and clever things like that.

We started with the lining and the moved onto the outer layer. It has a pocket and everything! It was a really well run session - a good balance of assistance and doing things yourself, and we got to keep the pattern at the end so I can recreate as many bags as I like. The most exciting part was turning it inside out. Want to see?

Tada!

(Sorry for the poor photos.) It's taken me a long time to write this one up, but I had to wait until after Little M's birthday as this was her present. So now Tilly's little creation is many miles away as Little M is in Czech-land. Very exciting!

Stay tuned for more adventures with Tilly and lots more books!

I can't give out the pattern here, as it belongs to Beckenham Crafty bees but here is their website - they offer lots of different sewing and other arty courses.

xx

Book Reviews: Mad Governments and Missing Husbands

Riot by Sarah Mussi

Riot by Sarah Mussi

2018. That is what makes this book different.

There are a lot of dystopian YA books out there at the moment (believe me – I've read most of them!), but the majority are set in other similar world to our own, or our own world but further in the future. The unique thing about riot is we are only talking about four years time. AND it's in Britain – not America. That's terrifying; the events of Riot could really happen in the very near future. And that is precisely what makes it such fascinating reading.

Mussi tells the story through first person in the eyes of Tia, daughter of a key politician. Overpopulation has pushed the government into a highly unpopular bill called the “No More Children in Need Bill.” This means that people of the unemployed and uneducated classes will be “snipped” and therefore be sterile. Tia and thousands of others take to the streets and to the murky back alleys of the internet to undermine and overthrow the bill. But events spiral way beyond what Tia even thought possible...

Tia is an excellent central protagonist: she is likeable, gutsy and down-to-earth (although I got annoyed by how often she said 'frigging!') Both her and her key partner-in-crime character, Cobain, were very well portrayed and, as a reader, I cared about what happened to them. Never underestimate the power of likeable characters. Although the subject matter of the book is very heavy, there were lighter moments as well: banter and an evolving relationship between the pair alleviated what could otherwise have been a very dark story.

Chapter one throws you straight into the action: Tia is at a march where they chant “HANDS OFF OUR BODIES!”, telling the government that there is no way they will let this bill go forward. I was drawn straight in; unfortunately, Tia's thoughts were a little all over the place for the first chapter which meant it was a little confusing. I would have preferred the first chapter to be more clear and I also would have scrapped the prologue, which details someone having the “snip.” It was so much more exciting to be brought straight into the march.

Although Tia and Cobain were strong characters, I found Tia's father too much of an archetypal villain: he was predictable and a little unrealistic. Tia's mother also seemed to be the epitome of a stereotype (although a very different one) and I couldn't quite believe in either of them. This was unfortunate because such feisty people as Tia and Cobain need equal rivals. The only aspect of Tia's character that I felt dubious about was her fairly limited vocabulary; it made me doubt her reputation as a master hacker, as she sometimes came across as fairly simple. And, as I've mentioned, if I never hear the word “frigging” again, I'll be happy!

Overall, a really enjoyable book. I haven't come across Sarah Mussi before, but I'm on the lookout for her other books. I would recommend Riot to anyone into YA fiction, dystopia and contemporary politics; it is captivating and exhilarating.

And I know we should never judge a book by this, but the cover is awesome!

Note: I received a free e-book from Hodder Children's Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz

You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz

'You Should Have Known' is the title of Korelitz's novel, and also the title of her central protagonist's self-help book in which she chastises women for choosing the wrong partners. It's an interesting premise; having a psychotherapist as the main character made me hope for insightful introspection and compelling contemplations on the nature of relationships.

It's difficult to say what I think of Korelitz's novel. At times it was compelling, but I also wanted to read it very fast at times – not due to its compelling nature, but because I just wanted to get through it. The first third or so was particularly tedious; it was very slow to get going. Korelitz's character Grace Reinhart Sachs actually reminded me of Bridget Jones at the start in a slightly alarming way. The likeness did not continue and the connection may have been entirely superficial (both lone mothers with children at very posh schools, and their interaction with other monied parents) but it struck an impression nonetheless.

After this very slow start, the real story starts. There is a crime, gradual realisations and an escape, before an entirely too-tidy-for-my-liking ending. There is no bang at the end; it's more like a little whimper.

I'm not sure what genre this book is. Although there is a murder, it doesn't feel like a thriller, but it's not 'fluffy' enough for women's fiction either. It strides the gap rather uncomfortably, uncertain of itself. I did enjoy it to a certain extent, but, as I said, I had to stop myself skimming some of the earlier sections and I was left dissatisfied with the ending.

One interesting thing to note (spoiler alert) is that we never meet Grace's husband, Jonathan. Now, we have plenty of opinions of him, plenty of knowledge and suppositions but we, as readers, never meet him. You scarcely notice this as the plot plays out and it was only at the end that I realised it entirely. I think this is very clever of Korelitz; to have such a key character that we never directly engage with is a very clever device. We never get any kind of real view of him, unbiased or otherwise. And, as Grace realises he is not the man that she married, this seems quite apt: she feels as blind as we do, left to make judgements based on someone we do not know.

Overall, I somewhat enjoyed it but it was rather unsatisfactory. Some major editing wouldn't go amiss for the beginning, and a stronger ending: these things would make me more enthusiastic. Promising – I may try some other books by Korelitz.

Note: I received a free copy of the e-book from Faber and Faber in return for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Book clubs view of Extremely loud and incredibly close

A says: It was a select group at book club this evening but we managed a good discussion of this book and managed to watch the film adaptation of it together too! As ever there was disagreement about the book! So it was well written AND tedious, thoughtful AND formulaic, believable AND stretching credulity. I think we were all touched by the painful viewpoint of a youg boy on his fathers sudden death, and enjoyed the rush of relationships, chaotic happenstance and history that the book portrayed.

The film adaptation chose to concentrate solely on the main story and did manipulate things around to simplify and sentimentalise and tidy the plot. So the back story of Oscar's grandparents and the convoluted Black's tales were only lightly drawn. However it too was a moving portrayal of the distress and grief of this young boys experience. 

In both film and book none of us really believed the portrayal of the mother. The suggestion that she orchestrated or followed oscars journey, yet never positively intervening, was not one we could really accept. It seemed like the desperate act of an author who'd written a tale only to find a flaw it's basic conception and plugging this gap with a crudely thought out get out clause...

J says: Our book-group on IL+ EC by Jonathan Saffran Foer.

Last night, despite the outside attractions of the Northern Lights, apparently visible in the south of England, a warm fire, good company, wine and popcorn kept six and a half of us indoors. This was only half of our full book group, as two were so emotionally affected by the book that they didn't attend, two were off meeting literary folk at the Bath Festival, and one/half has post-India disease, possibly malaria.

It was a good group nonetheless, though less intense than it sometimes is. Friday evening finds those of us who work (three out of six of us at last night's group) pretty tired. No-one has ever fallen asleep and they didn't last night. Opinion was somewhat divided about how good a book it was, but not to the extent of arm waving or shouting. Certainly not as I see on Goodreads, where it is either rated 1 or 5! One of our book group, who is the most frequent offender for not finishing a book as he finds it too awful, said it was one of the ten best books he has ever read! 

For my thoughts, see my review in Goodreads

We moved straight on to watching the film, which thankfully is not very long. Everyone stayed awake for that too. The popcorn supply held out and there was tea and coffee, though no break, at 10pm. We found that the film simplified the story a great deal both its plot and emotional content. The plot had to be simplifie as there was too much without making it a very long film with a lot of explanatory dotting backwards and forwards in history. The emotions? Well, that was disappointing, and I don't know that it was necessary. One of the central aspects of the story is Oskar's relationship with his mother in the year aftermath of his father's death. All the way through the book one asks oneself: 'Where is she?'. 'Why is she letting her nine year old son be so independent, so ignored?' Then at the end, this is answered to an extent, with the reader allowed to continue to guess and fill in. The film didn't allow this, and put in a weepy cuddly-again scene between Oskar and his mother at the end. We are told that she knew EVERYTHING about him, had in fact been tracking him and arranging his life. Nothing was left to infer. Tidy, and perhaps how one might want a mother/son relationship to be. Not as Foer meant, I think, and just not believable from a practical point of view: how did this woman find the time to track her son about New York and work, without him noticing her absence? 

Never mind, it was a good film in its own right, and a good variation on our usual book group night.