Bloomsbury Bookshelf Round Up

Sophie and The Sibyl by Patricia Dunker
Published by Bloomsbury
Hardback £16.99
eBook £14.99

The blurb
A Victorian Romance, in which the Reader will be transported to 1870s Berlin, to meet George Eliot, observe her relationship with her publisher, and learn of the surprising and knotty entanglements of Our Hero Max
The Duncker brothers, Max and Wolfgang, own a thriving publishing business.  When Max’s fondness for gambling and brothels gets out of hand, the older, wiser Wolfgang sends him to Homburg, to dance attendance on a special celebrity author – the enigmatic Sibyl, otherwise known as George Eliot.  The most feted writer in Europe has scandalised English society by living with a married man, the biographer and philosopher George Henry Lewes, and the couple are enjoying a rapturous welcome in liberal Berlin.  As enthralling and intelligent as her books, the Sibyl soon has Max bewitched.
But Wolfgang has an ulterior motive for the trip: to find Max a wife, in the daughter of a family friend, Countess Sophie von Hahn.  At first, Max is lured by Sophie’s beauty and his affectionate memories of their shared childhood.  But Sophie proves to be nothing like the vision of angelic domesticity he was expecting. Mischievous, wilful and daring, she gambles recklessly and rides horses like a man.  Furthermore, as George Eliot’s most ardent fan, she is determined to meet her idol.
Both Sophie and the Sibyl have Max in thrall and he is soon out of his depth, torn between his worship of these two unconventional women – whose eventual meeting will have unexpected and gloriously amusing consequences.

From a virtuoso musician by the name of Herr Klesmer to a talented painter called Meyrick, the pages of Sophie and the Sibyl are peopled with characters and scenes the Reader may recognise from the works of Eliot herself.  Embodying the spirit of the age, it explores the issues of the day: Darwinian ideas, education for women, the arts and artistry, reputation and celebrity – as well as the role of the narrator in fiction.  Portraying the author-publisher relationship with wonderful subtlety and humour, it confirms Patricia Duncker’s reputation as a writer’s writer. Playful, audacious and as dazzlingly witty as its protagonists, Sophie and the Sibyl is a literary masterpiece from the author of Hallucinating Foucault and James.

My thoughts
I very nearly gave up on this book.  I found part I rather dull, not in the least bit funny or gripping as described by the reviewers in the press release.  However I did persevere and part II was much better and definitely worth hanging on for.  This is an odd little book, to me the characters were rather one dimensional, as if the author didn't really know them and was standing behind a glass window watching them but not really hearing or understanding their nature.  What it did do was pique my interest in George Eliot and her novels. She is not an author I have read and I feel that I probably should, so if nothing else this book may widen my knowledge of Victorian literature!


The Pleasure of Reading, Edited by Antiona Fraser, preface by Victoria Gray
Published by Bloomsbury
Paperback £9.99

The blurb
In this delightful collection forty acclaimed writers explain what first made them interested in literature, what inspired them to read and what makes them continue to do so. First published in 1992 in hardback only, original contributors include Margaret Atwood, J.G. Ballard, Melvyn Bragg, A.s. ByaS, Caroll Ann Duffy, Simon Gray, Germaine Greer, Doris Lessing Tom Stoppard, Sue Townsend and Jeanette Winterson. The new edition also includes essays from five new writers, Emily Berry, Kamila Shamsie Rory Stewart, Katie Waldegrave and Tom Wells.

Royalties generated from this project will to go to Give a Book a charity set up in 2011 that seeks to get books to places where they will be of particular benefit.  Give a Book works in conjunction with Age UK, Prison Reading Groups, Maggie's Centres which help people affect by cancer and various schools and literacy projects such as Beanstalk, where many pupils have never had a boo of their own in their lives.

My thoughts
This is an interesting book, not surprisingly a lot of the authors have read and been influenced by the same books and authors.  What I enjoyed were the stories told by the contributors about why the books they chose were important to them.  I'm sure if you read this book then, like me, you will start to think about the books which have influenced you, books which punctuate chapters in your life.  As a child I devoured books of all kinds, the Enid Blyton section in the local library was my treasure trove.  At 12 I discovered The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart in the school library and my adult reading career had begun, inevitably I found Jane Austen totally enchanting and her books are amongst the few that I have re-read, along with  Doris Lessing's Martha Quest, another key novel in my reading journey.  Like the contributors to The Pleasure of Reading, I could go on, and would find it just as difficult as they have done to limit my choices.  A great reminder of just how important reading can be in developing an enquiring mind.



The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
Published by Bloomsbury
Hardback £12.99
eBook £10.99

The Blurb
In 1883, Thaniel Steepleton returns to his tiny flat to find a gold pocketwatch on his pillow. But he has worse fears than generous burglars; he is a telegraphist at the Home Office, which has just received a threat for what could be the largest-scale Fenian bombing in history.

When the watch saves Thaniel's life in a blast that destroys Scotland Yard, he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori – a kind, lonely immigrant who sweeps him into a new world of clockwork and music. Although Mori seems harmless at first, a chain of unexpected slips soon proves that he must be hiding something.

Meanwhile, Grace Carrow is sneaking into an Oxford library dressed as a man. A theoretical physicist, she is desperate to prove the existence of the luminiferous ether before her mother can force her to marry.

As the lives of these three characters become entwined, events spiral out of control until Thaniel is torn between loyalties, futures and opposing geniuses.

My thoughts
What an interesting novel.  I enjoyed reading this combination of historical novel and fantasy thriller.  The characters are intriguing, Thaniel is a sort of everyman to the mysterious Mori and blue stocking Grace.  Throw in the dandified Matsumoto and add some Japanese nationalism to the Fenian bombing and it makes for a rarified mxiture, you are never quite sure what is going to happen next! The final chapters are pure thriller and keep you glued to the page to find out what happened, who dunnit and why, all round a very good read.

Labels: Antonia Fraser, Bloomsbury Publishing, book review, Natasha Pulley, Patricia Dunker, review, Sophie and the Sibyl, The Pleasure of Reading, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

posted by Janice @ 20:01 0 Comments

What I've been reading: Rise and Watersmeet

My love of reading precedes my love of cooking.  I spent my primary school years devouring the books of Enid Blyton, I was fortunate to be able to go home for lunch and after eating my lunch I would lie on my bed for half an hour reading before heading back to school.  I seem to have much less time to read novels these days, but always have at least one book on the go, usually manage a couple of chapters before I go to sleep at night.  I also like to have books on my tablet, that I can read when I'm travelling, so can be reading more than one book at a time.

I've been fortunate that, through reviewing cookbooks, publishers have also offered me some novels to read and review.  So every now and then you will find my first love creeping into my kitchen to claim a little spot here where I can share with you the books I am reading.


RISE by KAREN CAMPBELL

The Blurb
Justine is running for her life. Escaping a city and a man, who, between them, have almost broken her. She heads north to the mountains and the valleys of the Highlands, looking for somewhere to hide.
Michael and Hannah are also running. With their two sons and their tattered marriage they have come to the village of Kilmacarra. They are looking for somewhere they can call home.
In a place of standing stones, an ancient landscape in a country on the brink of change, a brutal accident causes their lives to intertwine. Tangled together in threads of guilt and love, with Scotland rushing towards a referendum and the community around them fracturing, each must question where they truly belong.
Tackling contemporary questions of nationhood and identity through the issue of Scottish Independence and the debates surrounding sustainable energy, Rise is an important and powerful story of living in the modern world.

Labels: Bloomsbury Publishing, fantasy, Karen Campbell, magic, Rachel Cotterill, Rise, Scotland, The Falconer, The Twelve Baronies, This is where I am, Watersmeet

posted by Janice @ 20:52 1 Comments

Summer Holiday Reading - My Notorious Life by Madame X

If you enjoy stories of strong women, like the White Queen, on TV at the moment, you might want to pick up a copy of My Notorious Life by Madame X, a novel  based on a true story by Kate Manning. It would be a great book to take on holiday, easy reading and great story-telling.

About My Notorious Life by Madame X:
'In the end, they celebrated. They bragged. They got me finally, was their feeling. They said I would take my secrets to the grave.
They should be so lucky.’
Axie Muldoon, the headstrong daughter of Irish immigrants, forced to beg for pennies as a child on the brutal streets on New York City, grows up to become the most successful – and controversial – midwife of her time.
‘Saved’ from poverty by a well-meaning philanthropist, Axie is sent West with her younger brother and sister. But the kindness of strangers is short-lived and soon Axie returns to the city of her birth, alone, but determined to one day reunite her family.
When she is taken in by a Manhattan doctor Axie learns the craft that she will live by – and later fight for. She rises from the gutter to the glitter of Fifth Avenue high society, and discovers that the right way is not always the way of the church or the law, and that you should never trust a man who says ‘trust me.’ But what if that man is an irresistible risk-taker with a poetical Irish soul?
As Axie’s reputation grows she finds herself on a collision course with the crusading official who would be the righteous instrument of her downfall. It will take all of her power to outwit him and save both herself and those she loves from ruin.

About the Author:
A former documentary television producer (and winner of two Emmy Awards and an Edward R. Murrow Award), Kate Manning has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Glamour and More, among other publications. She is the author of Whitegirl, a novel, and is an adjunct faculty member of the English Department at Bard High School Early College. She lives with her family in New York City.


My Review
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the characters are well drawn, lively and appealing.  The story is told by Axie Muldoon and lapses into the vernacular just enough to remind you of her lowly roots.  There are no heros or heroines in this story just desperate people trying to make their way in a rich MAN's world.  It is very much a man's world and reminded me just how fortunate I am to have been born where and when I was. In Axie's time both rich and poor women suffered from medical ignorance and moral posturing.  Today it is mainly poor women who still suffer but unfortunately there are still many societies where matters of conception are still hugely contraversial and, of course, it is women who suffer.

If you enjoy a good story of a feisty young girl and her family, fighting fate, at first to survive and then  to make something of themselves, you will enjoy this novel.  It's a family story full of love and compassion without being soppy, it's a tragedy, a social history and an entertainment. My Notorious Life by Madame X will hook you in and keep you reading until you discover just how Axie survives her trials and outwits her enemies.

My Notorious Life by Madame X
Author Kate Manning
Publisher - an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing
RRP £12.99
Online Price £11.69

www.bloomsbury.com/author/kate-manning/
@KateManning10


Many thanks to Jude for providing this copy for me to review, I was not paid for this review and my views are my own.

Labels: Bloomsbury Publishing, book, Kate Manning, My Notorious Life by Madame X, novel, reading, Summer holiday reading, women's fiction

posted by Janice @ 06:30 0 Comments

White and Green Cabbage with Coconut, Chillies and Ginger

White and Green Cabbage with Coconut, Chillies and Ginger

In The Farm Shop Cookbook by Christine McFadden, there are a wealth of recipes celebrating the produce that is now widely available across Britain. Farm shops have become more and more popular as people choose to buy local and fresh.
In the Introduction Christine tells us of her own experience of Farm Shops and how the intention of the book is to help us to make the most out of the produce available, some very familiar, others we may not have encountered before. She goes on to talk a little about the environmental advantages of buying from farm shops before taking us into a useful section on how to use the book, including guidance on buying by season, different varieties and storing your purchases.

The Recipes: the introduction to the recipes this section gives some advice on basic ingredients, measurements and techniques. There follows an A-Z of produce with recipes, each item is given a few paragraphs of introduction with cooking ideas.

The side bar tells you when the item is available, which varieties to look for, some shopping notes, storage advice and preparation tips. For some items there are several recipes and there are excellent photographs of many of the dishes.

Here are a few examples of the produce and the recipes that accompany them:
Bacon and Gammon-The Ultimate Bacon Sandwich, Gammon Steaks with Parsley Sauce,
Cabbage-White and Green Cabbage with Coconut, Chillies and Ginger, Red Slaw with Radish Sprouts, Smoked Cheese and Lemon Yogurt Dressing,
Eggs - Eggs with Fried Tomatoes, Onion and Peppers, Sweet Puffy Pancakes with Walnuts
Jerusalem Artichokes-Pan Fried Jerusalem Artichokes, Gratin of Jerusalem Artichokes with Cobnuts, Bacon and Garlic Cream
Mushrooms - Mushrooms with Pappardelle, Pine Nuts, Cream, Garlic and Parmesan.
Pears - Roasted Peppered Pear Salad with Sheep's Cheese, Honey and Walnuts
Quail - Grilled Spatchcocked Quail with Smoked Paprika, Garlic, Cayenne and Cumin
Raspberries - Raspberry Chocolate Tartlets
Shallots - Roasted Banana Shallots with Sage, Parmesan and Crisp Breadcrumbs
Turkey - Tandoori Turkey Tikka

These are just a few of the ingredients and recipes in the book, there are many more.

Who is it for?
Anyone who enjoys fresh seasonal produce, also useful for novice cooks who would like to learn more about produce and what to do with it.

Pros - the ingredients are listed in alphabetical order, so if you have carrots, you can easily find that section and the recipes. One of my favourite sections is the UK seasonal produce availability, a grid where you can check out what is available, useful to check before heading out to the farm shop.
Cons - I would have preferred more pictures

White and Green Cabbage with Coconut, Chillies and Ginger

Based on a traditional recipe from Kerala in south-west India, this is a great way of livening up cabbage.

3tbsp vegetable oil
1tsp mustard seeds
15-20 curry leaves, fresh, frozen or dried
1 small onion or 2 banana shallots sliced
1/4 white cabbage, core removed, leaves shredded
200g spring greens, tough stalks removed, leaves shredded
100ml water
4tbsp coconut flakes
3 tbsp coriander leaves, sliced
Juice of 1/2 a lime

For the spice paste
50g sachet creamed coconut
1 green chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
2.5cm piece of root ginger, chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 small onion or 2 banana shallots, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric

Put the spice paste ingredients in a blender or food processor.  add a splash of water to moisten, then whizz to a puree.

Heat a large, heavy-based frying pan over medium-high heat and add the vegetable oil.  Fry the mustard seeds until they start to crackle, then add the curry leaves.  Sizzle for a few seconds. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onion and fry until golden. Season with the crushed peppercorns, then stir in the spice paste, shredded cabbage and spring greens.  Pour in the water, stirring well so the cabbages are covered with the paste.

Cover and cook over low heat for 7-10 minutes, stirring now and again to prevent sticking. When the cabbage and spring greens are tender, add the coconut flakes, coriander ad lime juice.  Stir for a minute or two to heat through.


 Although there are a lot of ingredients in this recipe, it is really quite simple to make and transforms ordinary cabbage into an amazing and exotic feast.  I served it with pan fried sword fish and peppers. I would definitely make this recipe again.

The Farm Shop Cookbook by Christine McFadden is published by Absolute Press an Imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing.  RRP £14.99

With thanks to Emma for providing me with a copy of The Farm Shop Cookbook to review, I was not paid for this review and all opinions are my own.

Labels: Absolute Press, Bloomsbury Publishing, cabbage, chilli, Christine McFadden, coconut, Cook book review, Ginger, The Farm Shop Cookbook

posted by Janice @ 08:30 3 Comments

Forgotten Fatherland - a book for Father's Day?

"In 1886 Elisabeth Nietzsche, Friedrich's bigoted, imperious sister, founded a racially pure colony in Paraguay together with a band of blond haired fellow Germans.  Over a century later, Ben MacIntyre sought out the survivors of Nueva Germania to discover the remains of their bizarre colony.  Forgotten Fatherland vividly recounts his arduous adventure locating the survivors, while also tracing the colourful history of Elisabeth's return to Europe where she became a mentor to Hitler.  Brilliantly researched and mordantly funny, this is an illuminating portrait of a forgotten people and a woman whose deep influence on the twentieth century can only now be fully understood"

I thought this would be a fascinating book and was expecting to read the story of a strong, if rather misguided woman,  interspersed with an account of Ben Macintyre's journey to find Nueva Germania.  Those two elements do feature in the book but I found the narrative confusing with too many different stories running alongside each other.

Not only do we hear about Elisabeth but also about the bizarre antics of  Paraguayan Dictator Fransisco Solano Lopez and his Irish wife Eliza Lynch.  Other historical characters are introduced and the story jumps between them without really concluding any of the stories.  I read as far as page 63 in this 248 page paperback but found the style of writing difficult and frustrating to follow so have not finished the book.

I don't usually find it difficult to follow a complex plot and am generally very good at keeping track of a wide cast of characters, so I couldn't really explain why this particular book defeated me.  My friend summed it up when she was describing a TV drama that she had abadoned, she said: "I didn't really care what happened to any of the characters" and that's exactly what I felt about the characters in this book, including the author!

There are very positive reviews from the Guardian, Sunday Times and Independent, so someone must have seen something in it that I didn't.  If you have read Ben MacIntyre's other books "Operation Mincemeat" and "Double Cross" you may well enjoy this book too, but I'm afraid it just didn't do it for me.

RRP - £8.99
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Labels: Ben McIntyre, Bloomsbury Publishing, Book Reviews, Father's Day, Forgotten Fatherland, Nietzsche

posted by Janice @ 21:16 1 Comments

This is Where I Am - a review

I've recently reviewed a few books for Bloomsbury, my review of Paul Hollywood's 'Bread' has been very popular, particularly since the TV series started.  However, sometimes when you are on a publisher's list you get asked if you would like to review a different type of book and that is how I received a copy of 'This is Where I Am' by Karen Campbell.

Here is what the publisher says about the book:

A woman fleeing the shadows of her past.
A man bulding a gragile future in an unknown land.
A little girl whose secret will change everything.

Glasgow. A city of colour and contrast. A place where two worlds collide - and are changed forever.

When the Scottish Refugee Council assigns Deborah Maxwell to act as Somali refugee Abdi's new mentor, the two are drawn into an awkward friendship. They must spend a year together, meeting once a month in a different part of Glasgow. As recently-widowed Deborah opens Abdi's eyes to her beloved city and its people, he teaches her about the importance of family - and of laying your ghosts to rest. All Abdi has brought with him is his four-year-old daughter, Rebecca, who lives in a silence no one can reach.

Until, one day, little Rebecca starts talking. And they realise why she stopped.

Heartbreaking, uplifting and unforgettable, This is Where I Am is a novel of loss and guilt, friendship and hope, and of what we can grow from the ashes of the past.

And here are my views: I like books that are full of action, character and diaglogue, so wasn't too sure how I would get on with this book which is very different from my usual choices.  However, I was attracted by the Glasgow setting as I lived in Glasgow for 8 years and have a lot of affection for the city and its people.

This is an astonshing piece of writing, it draws you into the lives of the characters and paints a picture of real people. People whose values, attitudes and ethics are challenged as the story unfolds. As in life, the characters are flawed, you don't always like them and they don't always do the right thing, but both Deborah and Abdi keep trying to overcome their differences and understand something of the other's life and past.

I loved reading the descriptions of the visits around Glasgow that Deborah organised for Abdi and Rebecca, These are described in short paragraphs at the start of a chapter and introduce well known Glasgow landmarks like Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Loch Lomond and the Tenement House.  However, it's not necessary to know Glasgow to enjoy this novel, Karen Cambell provides everything you need to paint your own picture.  Later the story takes us away from Scotland, providing different kinds of challenges, action and danger and an ending  you couldn't possibly have expected, one which keeps slipping out of sight just when you think you have grasped it.

I've read a lot of books but it's been some time since I had a book that I was so eager to pick up to find out what was happening to characters that I had come to care for.  The book was chosen as a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime which in itself is quite an achievement.

Karen Campbell is a graduate of Glasgow University's renowned Creative Writing Masters, and author of The Twilight Time, After the Fire, Shadowplay and Proof of Life. A former police officer, Karen Campbell won the Best New Scottish Writer Award in 2009. She lives in Galloway, Scotland.
www.karencampbell.co.uk

This is Where I Am
Karen Cambell
Published by Bloomsbury Circus 14th March 2013
RRP £12.99

I was provided with this book to review by Bloomsbury Circus, I was not paid for this review and my opinions are my own.

Labels: Bloomsbury Publishing, book review, Glasgow, Karen Campbell, Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, This is where I am

posted by Janice @ 21:33 2 Comments

Paul Hollywood's Bread - A review

 

Labels: Bloomsbury Publishing, Bread, George Wilkinson, Great British Bake Ware, Paul Hollywood, Rye and Spelt Bread

posted by Janice @ 08:00 9 Comments

Treacle Tarts from 'The British Larder' - A review

Mini Treacle Tarts

The British Larder, A Cookbook for all Seasons

By Madalene Bonvini-Hamel

I was provided with a copy of The British Larder by Absolute Press/Bloomsbury Publishing, I was not required to write a positive review and my opinions are my own.

Labels: Absolute Press, Bloomsbury Publishing, book review, breadcrumbs, cookery book review, golden syrup, Madalene Bonvini-Hamel, mini treacle tarts, Seasonal Cooking, The British Larder, Treacle Tart

posted by Janice @ 22:01 7 Comments