Return to The Olive Farm by Carol Drinkwater

This should be the last of my reviews for a few weeks.  I have one more to do at present but I'm not going to read it just yet.

Anyway, Waterstones.com offered me the chance to review Return to The Olive Farm by Carol Drinkwater.  It's a true story of her life running an Olive Farm (surprisingly enough) in France.  It's the latest one in a serious of them,

This is what I wrote

This book is the first of Carol Drinkwater's that I've read.  I really like this sort of book and must admit to having looked at her other books several times but never bought them.  I will be rectifying this mistake soon.  She is a very good writer.

There is a lovely feel to this book and it has some wonderful imagery in it.  You can build up a very clear picture of what Carol and Michel are seeing and doing which adds greatly to the books appeal.  The journey that they have been on both physically and mentally is well described and you almost feel like you've been on it with them.

This was a perfect book for lazy sunny days in the garden.  The descriptions of France and their way of life bought something of a holiday feel to the book.  It was very enjoyable.

Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds

I've spent the last few days reading Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds.  I was given a copy to review by WHSmith.co.uk.  This is what I wrote in my review.

This is the first Alastair Reynolds book I've read.  It won't be the last.  A friend described him to me as a writer who definitely knows his subject.  She was right but before I read this I didn't realise just how right she was.  Mr Reynolds uses this knowledge to enhance the book and bring it to levels it wouldn't otherwise reach.

Terminal Worlds is real proper sci fi and it's got all the elements it needs to fall under that category.  The plot is fast paced and intriguing with some ideas I've never seen before.  It's also got totally believable characters.  They really come to life and the book ended with me wanting to know what happened next.  Both in terms of the plot and also to the characters.

What have you been reading recently?

Absorption by John Meaney

I've been meaning to update here for ages but keep not getting round to it, sorry!

As you might know if you read my blog, I've gotten several free books this year.  Some just because I've been lucky and others to review.  Currently I've done four reviews and I have fifth book on the way.  I've gotten into this through twitter mostly, by following major UK booksellers.  Some of them also post review offers on facebook.  It's worth checking out!  It's also worth checking out if your favourite authors or publishers are on twitter as I also won a book from a publishing house via twitter.

@Waterstones and @WHSmithcouk are the two on twitter I've had books from

The most recent one I've reviewed is Absorption by John Meaney for WHSmith.co.uk  It's the first book in the Ragnarok trilogy and I loved it.

This is what I said:

Really, really enjoyed this book. Well crafted sci fi with plenty to attract people who aren't true sci fi fans as well. I liked the shifting perspective/place/time aspect with every chapter although I preferred some of them to others. Equally there were a few I would have liked to see more of. Very well written, this sucks you in completely. My only criticism - and it isn't one really - is that being the first of a trilogy it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger which has me really wondering. I'll definitely be buying the next one to find out

Kate's January Update

This is the second time I've written this as for some reason I managed to delete my post.

I read 4 books in January which for someone who doesn't normally read is pretty good going. My favourite book has to be 'Dewey' by Vicky Myron. I am a cat lover and fell in love with the subject of the book, Dewey the cat, as soon as I started reading it. The book was basically Dewey's life story. He was dumped in a library as a tiny kitten and the story describes his life in the library and how he helped to change the attitudes and some of the lives of those in the small town where the library was based and also across the USA as a whole. This is a great book for someone who is a cat lover although beware it has a very sad ending!

I am now reading 'The Shack'. It has been recommended to me numerous times but I was a bit reluctant to read it as it is religously based and I thought it might be a bit deep for me. I am half way through now and although it is hard going I am enjoying it. I'll give me my review when I've finished reading it.

I look forward to hearing about what you have all been reading.

Kate

Check In - January

So... I was thinking it might be a good thing if every once in a while we had a check in post here and people could post in the comments (or post an entry of their own, whatever they prefer really) about how they're doing.

And for today I thought I'd add in the question - of all the books you've read recently, which was the best and why?

Lottery by Patricia Wood

(cross posted to my own blog)

Dave Hingsburger very occasionally hosts a book club on his blog.  The books he's chosen so far have all been very good.  And they've been very varied in my opinion.  At least one of them (Zoo Station by David Downing) I wouldn't have picked up for myself in waterstones or wherever and the other two (this one and A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell) are more my sort of book but neither I had heard of before they were mentioned by Dave.  The book this time is Lottery by Patricia Wood.  I had originally thought I wouldn't be able to get a copy in time thanks to all the snow we've had and my not getting out for so long earlier this month.  But then the lovely Heather posted her copy to me once she finished it.  Thanks Heather!

Lottery is a wonderful story about a character Wood names Perry L Crandell.  The L stands for lucky, his Gram always told him.  He's not the R word (I refuse to use that word in my writing but I suspect most people here know what it is), to be that you have to have an IQ of less than 75 and his IQ is 76.  Not long after the story starts his Gram dies and he ends up all alone.  The rest of his family think he's an idiot and don't want anything to do with him, they just take advantage and them dump him to manage by himself.  Until he wins 11 million dollars on the state lottery.

I don't want to go too much further into "this happens and that happens" because I don't want to risk ruining the story for anyone who hasn't read it.  I know a guy who frequently describes the plots of books and shows etc saying he won't say too much for fear of ruining it and goes so far I'm like "well you just did ruin it for me."  So I'll stick with what I've said because that's not much more than a paraphrased version of the back synopsis.

You might think that the idea of falling outside of a category by one IQ point is far fetched.  It's really not.  I've personal experience of having my needs assessed and having it found that I'm literally on the cusp of the category that gets help but sorry, Emma, no help for you!  The biggest thing that happened to me with was help with making food.  I can use the microwave and make sandwiches and get light things out of the oven so even though making food was one of the criteria you could get help for I couldn't.  Because the help that was available was help to use the microwave.  All of my other needs weren't ones that social services needed to meet according to their criteria (it's worth noting that in professional circles my area IS known as one of the worst in the UK for social services funding).  I've managed better than I anticipated without the support but financially paying myself for the bits (cleaning) I could no way manage without is a hit I could do without.  And certainly it does affect me in other ways but frustrating as it is it turned out to be of my benefit and it would be strange to have social services input again if it were offered.  I'd probably take it but it would take some getting used too.  And whilst it would be very useful I'm not sure the rigid systems that are generally provided here would feel right to me after so long out of them.  I'm not going to go any further  into my own situation because it's not relevant and it all happened several years ago.

The book ends with Perry as a very successful man, without most of his money but with everything he wants and success and love.  His family who fought so hard to have him declared incompetent and take his money aren't as lucky..

I think the overall message of this book is that happiness and success are measured it different ways and that if you think you are successful and if you're happy than it doesn't matter if you're different and society judges you negatively.  It's certainly a lesson I've had to learn in life and one at times I'm still working on remembering and relearning.

Hello from Kate!

Hi all,

Thanks for the welcome Emma.

I've always enjoyed reading but over the last few years have seemed to spend a lot of time buying books rather than reading them! I am doing 101 in 1001 days and one goal of that is to read 101 books! I thought that joining this group would motivate me to reach my goal! I also thought that it would be a good opportunity for me to 'meet' new people.

I've got a whole range of books on my shelfs - chick lit, autobiographies, general fiction etc. I also have the complete set of Harry Potter which I've yet to make a start on but would love to work my way through.

I look forward to hearing about what others are reading.

Kate