Christmas Reading Challenge

So, how did I do? Well, I managed a fairly respectable 14 and three quarters. Only let down at the last minute by embarking on a book that was deceptively chunky. However, I imagine I'll finish it by the weekend. I really enjoyed this challenge and I'm already on the lookout for books, suitably themed, …

Murder on Christmas Eve, classic mysteries for the Christmas season (CRC#14)

In the run up to Christmas The Guardian posted a couple of articles about writing stories for Christmas and a top 10 of Christmas crime stories. I'm hopeful that I can get my hands on one or two of the titles before next year. In the meantime here's a quick overview of this collection of …

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (CRC#13)

Three things I didn't know about this book before I started reading: It is written by two authors...both American......as a series of letters I've seen the film and I loved it. I loved the period detail and the characters and the bitter sweet story, so I was quite looking forward to reading the novel. 1946, …

Pigeon Pie by Nancy Mitford (CRC#12)

The final story in this bijou Pudding & Pie anthology of Nancy Mitford novels is set in the early years of the second war. In part autobiographical it once again draws on inspiration from those people around her. Lady Sophia's boyfriend, Rudolph, looks dashing in his military uniform and she misses him terribly when he …

The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James (CRC#11)

Written in 1898 this story is perhaps more well known for its title than anything else. Told through a first person narrative, the account is of one woman's attempts to thwart apparent supernatural advances on her two young wards. It was difficult not to read this from a present day perspective. Admittedly I rarely trouble …

Mr Dickens and His Carol, by Samantha Silva (CRC #11)

Amazingly I have exceeded my intended target of reading 10 books by Christmas. Not very ambitious I grant you, but now I've been able to establish more of a routine to my reading. Whilst I'm waiting for students to appear online I can dip into a few pages. It's also helped that a number of …

Miss Marley, by Vanessa Lafaye (CRC #10)

A prequel, of sorts, to A Christmas Carol, this story focuses on the life of Clara Belle Marley, sister of Jacob. We pick up with Jacob and Clara, on the streets of London, after the death of their well-to-do parents. Homeless and poor, because of the ruthlessness of an uncle, they have to fight for …

The Greatest Gift, by Philip van Doren Stern (CRC #9)

It seems that I am destined to read nought but short stories for this challenge. More accident than design I must add. I loved the movie It's a Wonderful Life. So, to discover that, originally, it was a short story made it a bit of a must read for me. Written in 1943 at a …

Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, by Various (CRC #8)

I will admit to eating my food in a certain order. Sometimes this is borne from practicality. For instance, never cold food on a hot plate. Often times it could be dictated by an etiquette of sort - in most cases, mains before desert. And mostly it's driven by preference - I put to you …

Unfinished business

In my line of work abrupt endings (aka unfinished business) are undesirable. They occur for a number of reasons not least caused by people who don’t always understand the impact of them on both student and tutor. For those unfamiliar with this term or idea an abrupt ending is when contact with a person comes …

Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford (CRC #7)

So, we're back with some familiar faces with a story that is set around Lady Bobbin's estate over the festive period. The high jinks and capers the numerous cast get up to is reminiscent of a Shakespearian farce and we know with 100% certainty that all's well that ends well. Mitford draws on her rich …

Highland Fling, by Nancy Mitford (CRC2020 #6)

So many comments about Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons have been made when anything about Nancy Mitford comes up that I was a bit trepidatious when I started reading this novel. The truth of the matter is that I didn't really enjoy Cold Comfort Farm, which goes against popular opinion. To be honest I …

Orkney: Attack!

A walk this morning took us out to Ness Point and on to Ness Battery. All around the coastline is a number of pill boxes, batteries and other defensive buildings such as structures that housed search lights. Attack by sea was a reasonable concern in the early 1800s and Martello Towers were constructed in the …

Orkney

One of my favourite books is HMS Ulysses by Alistair Maclean. I know it's one of my dad's favourites, but it's not for the reason alone that I like it. I think I enjoy the adventure aspect of it. I like the seafaring aspect of it - the sea and all that associated with it …

Pudding & Pie, by Nancy Mitford (CRC2020 #6, 7, 8)

Accompanying me on my travels I could probably devote a whole series of posts to the Mitford's. Six sisters born at the turn of the 20th Century, at the time the class system was breaking down and who all went on to have mixed and varied fortune. The last Mitford sister - Deborah - died …

Hiddensee, by Gregory Maguire (CRC2020 #4)

I've just finished reading Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire. It wasn't my favourite I have to admit. I kind of finished it a bit under duress, but there was a little bit of me that sort of wanted to know how it was all going to turn out. I was going to write a bit more …

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, by Arthur Conan Doyle (CRC2020 #3)

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. Picture taken from the short story in the giant compendium of Sherlock On paper Sherlock Holmes shouldn't work. There's a protagonist who is not a wholly likeable character. He's a drug addict; has little regard for those around him and solves crimes of impossible complexity that leave the reader …

Operation Heartbreak, by Duff Cooper (CRC2020 #2)

Operation Heartbreak One week in and the second book in the bag. Operation Heartbreak tells the story of Captain Willie Maryngton - too young to have fought in the Great War and too old to fight in the second. This fictionalised account of Operation Mincemeat chronicles the life and death of Maryngton as he joins …

The Man Who Never Was, by Ewen Montagu (CRC2020 #1)

The Man Who Never Was, Ewen Montagu So, off to a flying start for this reading challenge and I finished the first book over the weekend. I began with the account of Operation Mincemeat as told by Ewen Montagu. Published in 1953, approximately 10 years after the event, Montagu relays his part in one of …