The Babble Hinge - 5.

Well, here we are again and what a couple of weeks it has been!

I had my birthday week off work and filled it with fun. However, I did think I really needed another week off work to recuperate. Yeah right ;-)

I thought I would have time to do lots of reading, but oh no, it wasn't to be. By the time I was able to pick up a book, I was so exhausted, I fell asleep.

Last time I blogged a hinge, I told you about the start of the week where I had taken my niece to Bewilderwood (link is on that page). By the end of that week, my lovely colleagues had surprised me with a fabulous Mad Hatters Tea Party. I had been looking into having one of these but decided the official ones were just too expensive to ask friends to pay for, for a few fancy sandwiches and cakes.
Bless them, they only went and hired out a nearby village hall and put it all on themselves.Oh my, what a treat it was. I love Alice in Wonderland.One of my favourite stories.I love it's magic and it's quirkiness and as a child thoroughly enjoyed the film and the warmth I felt from it. I received many Alice in Wonderland/Mad Hatter Tea Party gifts including this fabulous tea pot -


Oh I do love a good cuppa.

So, back to the party, well, it was magical.Knitted mice coming out of teapots -

My friends dressed up and when I arrived, I was quickly donned with a rabbit nose, a tail, a hat and a clock to go around my neck -

Not a very flattering photo but you get the idea (blushes).
Cutting cake -

Safe to say, I felt like a queen, but not THE Queen - The Queen of Hearts, that is. :-)

"Have I gone mad?"

"I'm afraid so, you're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret....

All the best people are." 

- Alice's Adventures In Wonderland -

I have finished and reviewed AEROADDICT - The story of one man's lifelong love affair with aeroplanes by Doug Gregory. You will find this in this blog if you look hard enough ;-) Lovely book.

I still have The Taxidermists Daughter by Kate Mosse to review but in the meantime I am having a quick easy read of J.K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Harry Potter #3) 

as believe it or not, I haven't read further than book two!!

I have been contacted by an author via my blog to review a book called Cruel Reality Games of Life and Death. The author tells me it is a bit like a modern day Hunger Games. This grabbed my attention.

The authors name is C.J Whitley. This is the blurb for the book - 

Taken by masked men in the night, a host of British people find themselves at the mercy of unknown abductors. They cannot guess where they are going, or why they are going there. When they find an arsenal of medieval weapons in their new prison, horrific possibilities are imagined. When cruel reality of their fate is revealed to them, they must learn a new way of life.
Fight or die. There is nowhere to run.

After good old Harry Potter, this will be my next read and what a chunk it is too!

I will report back to you on this and many other babbley things.

So many pictures on this hinge.

Good evening all and so to our next post.

AEROADDICT - The story of one man's lifelong love affair with aeroplanes. by Doug Gregory

Read from April 5th - 12th 2016.

Published 2013 by Little Knoll Press

Format    Paperback - 192 pages

Review  The next two paragraphs is a summary that can be found on Goodreads, that I read before starting the book.

Doug’s is a ‘lifelong love affair with aeroplanes’ - first as a boy in Southampton, then as a WW2 night-fighter pilot, flying more than 67 missions over occupied Europe, and post-retirement, as the pilot who built his own replica S.E.5a biplane and entertained the public with his aerobatics in the Great War Display Team.

Doug, now aged 92, didn't hang up his flying goggles until he was into his 90s. This memoir tells how he built an aeroplane in the back garden and took to the air in it - to Doug a natural way to pass the time: ‘This is an account of me, building a fun aeroplane for my enjoyment in my dotage, and while building it, dragging up and jotting down a few reminiscences with which I have bored friends over the years. Building an aeroplane is fun in itself, but it is only a means to an end. Flying is the greatest pleasure.’
The book is a gripping read, told with wry humour, honesty and some pathos.

My thoughts - I love planes (especially military planes) and I love history and this book had both so I felt excited about being asked to read it.

I did hope it wasn’t all “I screwed this piece of wood to this 6 by 4 bit of metal” type of read and no, it wasn’t.

This book captured Doug’s love and passion for planes, flying and life in general. His writing style flowed well from 1940’s war time to present day and continued back and forth merging his war time experiences with plane building in his retirement.

A very easy and enjoyable read which captivated me from the very beginning whilst being enhanced with photographs of young Doug, older Doug and the planes he flew and his own S.E.5a that he built.

It really doesn’t matter if you don’t know plane/military ‘lingo’ so to speak, it is explained very well and you soon get to understand the terminology used.

This book came across as Doug’s diary, a diary of his thoughts, memories and activities so I felt I got quite close to Doug, as though he had let me snuggly into a portion of his life. I do like it when a book does that and can envelope and pull you into the life that is in the book. At times, I did chuckle. This man had a great sense of humour but I think when living through hard times, you had to have.

The humour was evident from the start and I particularly enjoyed the chapter where he explained how he was chosen to be a pilot in the RAF and then having to go through the, in his words ‘ceremonial puncturing of bodies’.

Doug shares with us, his duties abroad in places such as India and Rhodesia in Africa and of course, what this young aspiring pilot got up to in his evenings and free time here in the UK and farther afield. Believe me, his young life was far from dull, for the time.

We are invited in the well put together pages to share his excitement at finally flying his first RAF aeroplane and the ups and downs (literally) of accomplishing this task of learning and being taught at the flying training school.

Doug introduces us to some of his friends past and present and his wife Liz who even lends a hand with his plane building. His love of planes and thirst for the build was probably a way for him and Liz to share some quality time together.

The book finishes with a fabulous photograph of Liz and Doug in 2012 which just makes you feel like you want to smile at the end.

A very talented man who even adds poetry into the read. I also liked the way the book was presented with the easy to read type which would be helpful to the older population, the short captivating chapters, the way it was laid out with smatterings of poetry which broke the pages up and the postscript at the back which just after finishing the main story, tidied it up somewhat. The picture index right at the back, I found a great help so I could relocate a photo again as I read further along without shuffling around the pages.

I was surprised how much I got into this book and how I felt I knew Doug through his work. I’d recommend to anyone who likes reading historical memoirs and especially when it comes to aeroplanes.

Sadly, Doug passed away in August 2015 and you find at the front of the book some words written (as described) from those whose lives he touched which makes the content all the more poignant.

5 out of 5 stars given.

The Babble Hinge - 4.

Good Evening.

What an amazing start to my leave week. The weekend has gone so quick and I am shattered. I collected my niece Saturday morning and we went to Bewilderwood for the day and the sun came out for us and made it a great day for climbing and sliding and tunneling. Yes, this almost 40 year old did it all too but I did stop at taking part travelling along a zip wire! Yeah right, what a funny old sight that would have been. This is a link to Bewilderwood. If you're close and have little ones, and older ones, my niece is 12 then go and enjoy it and believe me, you will enjoy it as much as them. I do think that any older than her age and they are not really going to be that interested but you never know. Anyway, I'm getting carried away here.Here's the link - http://www.bewilderwood.co.uk/
Such a magical imaginative place.

The journey there wasn't so pleasant. I have experienced my first road kill. A very jolly pheasant came toddling across the road at great speed, looking very happy with himself out there in the sun, straight for my front wheels. At almost 60mph, I knew I was going to hit it with a row of cars behind me and cars going the other way, there was no way I was going to avoid this beautiful happy bird without causing an accident. So, there we have it, bump. I had to try and explain to a 12 year old girl that although awful, there would or could have been worse on the road if I had tried to avoid it.
She sat in the back for each journey after that but just said, "I wish I hadn't seen that" and just carried on. She soon got over it as she then proceeded to tease me about the whole episode wondering if they had pheasant plush toys in the gift shop! Cheeky little so and so. Oh and on the way back, guess what? yes, another pheasant came across the road.It was in front of me trying (bless it) to dash through the traffic on the other side, but just as I came along, it gave up and stayed on my side of the road. With no one behind me, I could slow as it made it's way to the bank....to safety. I think this meant I was forgiven by my niece :-).

Arriving at my sisters 16 miles away just after lunch to a box of 6 lovely homemade cupcakes for me to take away for my birthday. A little cheeky cupcake once home. It was so very scrummy. Lemon flavour with hundreds and thousands and a chocolate bunny on top. My sister informed me that I could freeze some. haha, freeze? FREEZE? that's assuming they will last THAT long.

Book news. I am almost through  The Taxidermists Daughter written by Kate Mosse and published by Orion Books. I am really enjoying it. I love the style of writing. Keep and eye out for the review because being off work for a bit means lots of fabulous reading.

Yesterday I received the book that I was asked to review, I believe as a result of this blog, so this could be my first blog customer!

AEROADDICT by DOUG GREGORY D.F.C (Little Knoll Press).

I will be starting this book after I have finished my current read. I love history and for those that know me, military planes are a huge love of mine.

So to next time or my next review. Time to catch up on some sleep and a cheeky read.  

The Babble Hinge - 3.

I received a message via Facebook yesterday asking me to review a book and today, had it all confirmed after a couple of private messages back and forth which means, my blog is starting to take off and people are interested.Yay. I do put my reviews onto Goodreads and Amazon but this is MY platform, MY blog and I'm quite enjoying it so far.

After being blown about a windswept city, trying to keep from eating my hair and meeting a friend who incidentally would not have that problem due to him being bald (although he would say, at least my head is kept warm), we went off to a local D.I.Y store to check out all the beautiful kitchens that I can't have due to the fact that I rent my home. SIGH...... haha. I did buy a Z bed or what ever the generic name is for them these days.Just a single one, ready for when my niece comes to stay. Once home, I opened up the Z bed and popped the mattress in place and a big awake nightmare ensued of being folded up rather abruptly in the Z bed!! I had one of these as a child to sleep on regularly and yes, it folded up regularly, with me in it, half asleep much to everyone's delight and humour, but definitely not mine.I did lay on it to check it out and I was settled with the fact that they are much better made these days and fold the other way.Phew! I don't think my sister would be too impressed if I bought my niece back so bent up and resembling Flat Stanley (written by Jeff Brown). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Stanley

After deciding it was fine and thinking I really didn't need to pay for a delivery, I could have fitted this thing in my car at least five times over, I got comfy enough to finish the rest of what was, my current read From a Poison Pen by B.P. Smythe. It didn't take me long as it was so captivating. I virtually drank this book, it was such an easy read, a page turner with just the right size and style/format of text. Don't you find certain style or text format makes you turn the page quicker and read the pages faster? I do. Check out the review I wrote for this book. 

I also wrote a review yesterday for The Surrogate (Brennan & Esposito #1) by Tania Carver which I also enjoyed but in a very different way. 
I have another review to put together tomorrow and add to my blog too.

I just want to share how shocked and surprised I am that in less than two weeks,my blog view count at this time stands at 1160!! I am so chuffed and very happy by this. Thankyou to all that have had a little look and added to this number over the last 13 days. I hope to understand this blogging biz a bit more and make a better job of it. Be patient, I am completely self taught, trying to work it out as I'm going along. I have a couple more ideas that I will put in place soon enough. Keep coming back and I hope you keep enjoying my reviews.

Back to my next book........hmmmm.........ok, I've decided. It's going to be - The Taxidermists Daughter written by Kate Mosse and published by Orion Books.

                                     

Time to retire for a little read in bed. We will do it all again very soon.

Additional info - 29/03/16 I have renamed 'End of Day Thoughts' as I thought it a little plain and just lacked a bit of zing, besides, I am not writing something everyday.I have decided to name it THE BABBLE HINGE as I babble on and it is a hinge, connecting the pages together.Hope you like it too.

From a Poison Pen by B.P. Smythe

Read from March 20th - 26th 2016.

Published February 15th 2016 by Bloodhound Books

Format    Paperback - 386 pages

Review

..........'Now lying on her back, Myra knew this wasn't the best position. She twisted herself around, swearing as she banged her head and face in the process until she was resting crouched up on her knees. From there with great effort, as the line stretched and cut deep into her wrists, Myra raised her top half; then painfully rolled head-first over the wardrobe edge and flopped onto the marble tiles' .......excerpt taken from Lovers Leap. Lovers Leap is just one of ten short stories I have had the pleasure of reading in this book by B.P.Smythe. "B.P.Smythe, really? you wrote all these? how versatile are you?" Catchy little reads of varying length. Just enough to suck you in, get you comfortable, enjoy the read and then BANG, the macabre twist hits you head on and ties it all together in a neat little bundle. The author engages the reader right from the start and doesn't let go, enticing them to read more and more of these easy read shorts. Most of these stories have dark undertones to them leading to some weird but psychologically "oh yeah" revelation moments. There is a couple of grammatical errors and the last story, We'll Meet Again, I felt was overly waffled in segments. These very small issues did not hinder the stories at all and in fact, I'd go as far as to say We'll Meet Again was one of my favourite ones. I found myself quite captivated by a lot of the characters in the book. Many showing great depth of which I found connection even in the short time they invaded my head space. The writing IS simple and comfortable which readers who want a book they can just pick up and go with will love. The stories full of intrigue and a small element of suspense in some that will appeal to a diverse type of reader who appreciates anything from murder mysteries, war stories to dark humour. I recommend this book to anyone who I have described above and anyone who likes a little of a Twilight Zone esque feel to their reads. I will certainly be looking out for more works by this author. /http://www.bloodhoundbooks.com/from-a-poison-pen/ 4 out of 5 stars given.

The Surrogate (Brennan & Esposito #1) by Tania Carver

Read from March 10th - 20th 2016.

Published September 17th 2009 by Little, Brown Book Group

Format    Paperback - 438 pages

Review

I need to give this book 3 and a half stars, a well deserved 3 and a half it was too.I enjoyed reading it, although this is an odd thing to say bearing in mind that this book really does have a rather gory subject matter. There is a killer targeting heavily pregnant women and is intent on taking the precious cargo they are carrying by brutal force. The case falls to Detective Inspector Phil Brennan.He and his team are finding it difficult to make sense of the killings and call in Marina Esposito, a criminal profiler to help solve the case. Marina is Phil’s former lover; they met over a previous case that left Maria in a rather desperately dangerous situation, which tested their relationship to the full. Maria believes there is a woman involved in the killings, a woman desperate for a baby. Tania Carver is actually a pseudonym for a husband and wife duo Martyn and Linda Waites. This is their debut novel and what a debut it is, making quite a grand entrance. This book is truly a captivating read which I really enjoyed and found it hard to put down. An absolute page turner. The book doesn't give away too many clues throughout, keeping the reader in suspense all the way. The details aren't the most gruesome I have read, but does make for some unsettling reading and although fast paced in sections, it is equally slow going in many places too. I'd rather it were a little more consistent. I have raved about much better. This lacked a little something, even though it also hit depths others haven't (I think) dared to tread which I liked. None of the detectives made me feel any kind of connection with them. DI Phil Brennan, I felt, a little flat and not that engaging. The plot from start to finish is packed with red herrings and well placed twists and ends with a big shocker that is impossible to anticipate. If you are not squeamish, then I highly recommend. A good debut novel that has attracted a lot of attention and justly so. I will definitely read more in this collection. I have book 2, The Creeper on my shelf, ready and waiting.

Incubus (Fairwick Chronicles #1) by Carol Goodman

Read from May 3rd - 12th 2015.

Published July 21st 2011 by Ebury Press

Format    Paperback - 466 pages

Review

I came upon this book when I was looking into buying one of Deborah Harkness, All Souls Trilogy on Amazon.Up it came in the other readers enjoyed this/if you like that you will like this section.I thought, give it a go and purchased all three of the Fairwick chronicles over time.I don't do lovey dovey Mills and Boons/Twilight style teen romance books.I just don't want to read about teens or adults kissing and smooching-boring! However, I love magic, fantasy, witches, folklore and other worldly stories and this advertised just that and as with Deborah Harkness All Souls Trilogy that I was buying when I came across Carol Goodman's Incubus, I don't mind some intimacy as long as it is kept relevant and doesn't overtake the whole story.This book leant more to the urban fantasy market.The intimacy parts,integral to the plot wasn't the keystone of the whole book which infact had many key points. Carol Goodman has written under the pseudonym Juliet Dark before but writes this under her real name.I do not know what her other books under Juliet Dark are like so can only assume they must be very different to use an alternative name as some authors do when they change style.I feel Carol succeeds beautifully with this book.She creates vivid imagery throughout this story and includes lots of attention to detail which introduces you to many endearing characters and mythical creatures. I found, this book although very much an adult read, was written in a very YA style, being an easy, light read. Callie McFey (Dr),arrives at Fairwick for an interview at the local college to teach folklore. Callie is also a writer. After some thinking time she decides to take on the post at detriment to her dream of teaching in New York and making a life with her boyfriend Paul.She comes across an old Victorian house that backs onto inviting woods whilst in Fairwick. The house is for sale and is called Honeysuckle House.Callie purchases Honeysuckle House that seems to suck her into it's charms before she even seals the deal.Soon she is visited by a presence that seems to be made of shadow and moonlight. This shadow has powers, powers that do not feel healthy but she can not reject it and it feels so right.How can something so wrong feel so right. Callie soon comes to realise that there is a lot more going on in Fairwick than meets the eye. If I am to pick any negative points, it would be that some pages (very few) seemed to waffle in places it need not.I found myself scanning over these sections and maybe in one or two places, the intimacy was just too much and began to bore, to be in the book. I very much enjoyed reading this book with its gothic, myth and folklore imagery. I was very surprised that I enjoyed it so much with all the intimacy in it's pages. I am looking forward to the next story in the chronicles, that is called Water Witch. 5 out of 5 stars given to this one.