What I've Been Reading

I've just realised that I haven't posted on my blog for almost 2 months now. However I've been reading and knitting away though. Below are some of the books I've read recently.


This book was fast and easy to read. A strange story about Harry who was a teacher in a small American college where a scandal there sent him packing to Paris. The descriptions were great and I could identify with the areas in Paris, as I'd just been there earlier this year. However, while it was a compelling read, and quite a thriller, I was disappointed at the ending.

This is a family story.Based on the fact that a great-aunt of the author was committed in the 1940 s, for 'moral reasons', and duly forgotten. Her husband remarried and his children were later shocked to find out that he had been married before!

This story is an extension of himself, a retrospective justice, and now it's his aunt's story.

A wonderful compelling story, very well written and extremely readable. I would strongly recommend it.

An absolutely brilliant story. Beautifully written with lovely descriptions, I was completely absorbed from beginning to end. It's about the entangled lives of two families and the secret that affects them both. A very sensitive and moving story. Unputdownable.

This was a great book. A little gem. Sensual and evocative. I felt I was really there, seeing and tasting. It was a love story, food story with wonderful descriptions and a history of Chinese food.

This is the first book I've read by this author. She has written many books. It is a sensitive tale of first love in the 1970's between Lydia and Noah. Living in an English village, their childhood was difficult, but despite darker times love shone through. Now in her 40's, Lydia is living in Venice with her step-daughter, when she sees a man in a crowd who reminds her of Noah, and this threatens to expose a secret she has carried with her all her adult life. This story is warm, emotional, romantic and it even has a dark side. Overall a thoroughly good read.

A thoroughly enjoyable read. Beautifully written and very descriptive. Mr Watts is a teacher on the island of Bougainville, when the island is invaded and all the school items and books are burnt. Mr Watts then teaches the children through 'Mr Pip' a character from 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens. This is a compelling read, disturbing and sad at times. The use of 'Great Expectations' as a teaching source is very imaginative and amazing. Matilda's world is well described as is t...more A thoroughly enjoyable read. Beautifully written and very descriptive. Mr Watts is a teacher on the island of Bougainville, when the island is invaded and all the school items and books are burnt. Mr Watts then teaches the children through 'Mr Pip' a character from 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens. This is a compelling read, disturbing and sad at times. The use of 'Great Expectations' as a teaching source is very imaginative and amazing. Matilda's world is well described as is the island on which these characters live.(less) (edit)

Holidays June 2009

Back in June we had really good weather. Spent a couple of weeks touring around. Unfortunately the sunshine only lasted until July!

Lough Key Forest Park in Co Roscommon.

A white duck at Dromod harbour

Malahide in glorious sunshine

Malahide

Yet another Malahide photo.

Cruiser entering Malahide harbour with Lambay island in the background.

Seapoint Co Dublin : June 2009 Holiday at Home!

This year we spent our holidays at home, or should I say from home as we took outings almost every day. We had wonderful dry sunny weather and so really enjoyed a lot of what Ireland has to offer, using our home as a base.


First day trip was to the coast south of Dublin city, to Seapoint. This is quite near to DunLaoghaire and is easily accessed by bus or train. This is a lovely beach with plenty of rockpools, and is a very popular swimming beach.

Treasures in the rock pools.

More Paris Pictures

As it's summer time, there's not much knitting or crafting being done, and so to keep the blog going I'll post some of my summer photos. And so more of Paris -



A window in Printemps department store. All of the windows were themed with various coloured large Plastic Rabbits. Some even on the footpath/pavement. More of those later. Certainly eye-catching!

View from the top of The Grande Arche at La Defense. Absolutely amazing! That's the Champs Elysee straight down the middle.

Under the Arch

Can't you see what really great weather we had. It was great.

Paris in May

Spent a glorious long weekend in Paris last month.
The usual picture, taken from the 'Batobus' boat on the Seine in glorious sunshine.

Some delectable looking pastries! Did not taste any as the queue was so long in the shop I did not feel like waiting.

Crafty Things - What I've been doing

Although I've not been blogging lately, I have been reading other blogs and I've been crafting. Below are just some of my FOs


Some socks:
From the lift; pink socks for my sister made from 'Fabel' sock yarn from Scandinavian Knitting Design. I really love this sock yarn and it's a very good price
Next are the lovely blue socks, made from Koigu yarn which I received in a gift from my swap partner ages ago. It's such soft yarn and they should be really warm for the winter
The brown socks are made from gorgeous alpaca/wool yarn bought at the Avoca sale. I gave these ones to another sister as a birthday gift.
And last but not least are the two tone socks made with yarn left over from the first pair and a ball of navy Regia sock yarn. (a gift for my daughter)
You can really get 2 pairs of socks from 150g of sock yarn!

It was my daughter's birthday earlier this month and I made this cushion from various pieces of fabric in my stash. She really loved it and I was delighted with the result.