Reading My Way Around the World

Friday 27 January 2017

Five on Friday - Catching up on reading

I'm joining in today with Five on Friday run by Amy at Love Made My Home.

I haven't been out taking many photos over the past while, so I thought I'd focus on some recent reads - here are 5 I've really enjoyed.

The winter months are great for catching up on reading and I have been bingeing - both on my Kindle and in the lovely big juicy properly printed versions.  So here's a few  to mention in case you're looking for some reading ideas...

I have taken the synopsis on each book from Goodreads.



All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

I thought this was a superb book and I really enjoyed it.  A very detailed account of  some parts of World War II told from the point of view of two young characters both of whom were very well rounded and very human.  5/5





The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. 

This book was so moving ... and gripping..   I couldn't put it down.  A story about consequences - can't recommend it highly enough.  5/5





Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris
When Vianne Rocher receives a letter from beyond the grave, she allows the wind to blow her back to the village in south-west France where, eight years ago, she opened up a chocolate shop. But Lansquenet is different now: 

This follow up to Chocolat by Joanne Harris was a great read - a bit of a soap opera, not too taxing, and most enjoyable .... I wish now that I had read Chocolat rather than just watching the movie - Joanne has a great way of describing food - I've read several of her books over the years and they always make me hungry!!  This one is a very timely look at the divisions of immigrants and natives .... 4.5/5





The Reader on the 6.27 by Didier Laurent
An irresistible French sensation - Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore meets Amelie - The Reader on the 6.27 explores the power of books through the lives of the people they save. It is sure to capture the hearts of book lovers everywhere. Guylain Vignolles lives on the edge of existence. Working at a book pulping factory in a job he hates, he has but one pleasure in life ...Sitting on the 6.27 train each day, Guylain 
recites aloud from pages he has saved from the jaws of his monstrous pulping machine. 
A thoroughly enchanting read - I loved the characters and the snapshots of the stories he reads .... Lovely .. 4.5/5


Hello Is This Planet Earth? by Tim Peake
 This is a great coffee table book.  I bought it for Tom for Christmas although really I wanted to look at it myself.  It was so exciting to follow Major Tim's journey to the Space Station and back last year - he's such a likeable man and his enthusiasm for all he saw and did comes across in this collection of photos from the Space Station.   With the added bonus that all his proceeds from the sale of the book go to the Princes Trust to help young people get some of the opportunities he had in his early life.  And it was just announced that he's heading up into space again ... excellent.  5/5

Have a lovely week and if you have time, check out some of the other people participating in Five on Friday.  Thank you Amy for putting this together.



Saturday 21 January 2017

Weekend

A freezing cold Saturday afternoon at Lough Melvin while waiting for my Mum to finish an appointment. 

There was no skill whatsoever required in capturing this photo today - Nature did it all - what a beautiful sunset  and if the old rhyme is right we'll have another great day to look forward to tomorrow and the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights tonight - I just might wait up for that.

January is coming near an end and I'm only just starting to feel like the New Year is starting - the bug I picked up before Christmas is still lingering leaving me with some days of absolutely no energy and other days fired up and ready to go.  Hopefully it'll be more of the latter as we head into February.  Now the other half has it too so we're in a very quiet, not very productive house at the moment - and I suppose that's the way things should go around Winter's darkest days - a good excuse for hibernation.

I wish you a lovely Sunday and an excellent week to come.


Wednesday 4 January 2017

Hello 2017

Happy New Year dear blogger friends ... 
We started the New Year off with sun and blue skies here after a very quiet family holiday with my mother visiting for the first time in years.  It was lovely to have her with us, recovering from a big operation and determined to be out walking and getting back to driving before her 90th birthday!

Since we left her home it's been a very slow start to the year - I feel like I need at least another week to get my mojo back, but slowly slowly we'll get there.


What a strange year 2016 has been - from my first meeting with a fellow blogger early in the year - great to meet Denise from Denise's Planet in Dublin in February - to our trips to Australia, Germany and Scotland, not to mention all the political and social turmoil around the world.
Denise and I on Grafton Street in February 


Now it's time for planning and restructuring and seeing where we go from here.
Life changes year to year; demands change; health changes; situations change and I love this time of year to refocus and take a fresh look at things.

I've never been one for making resolutions - usually I couldn't last more than a day or two - but I love new beginnings - whether that's the start of the year or the start of a month, or even the start of the week.

Blue skies at the White Beach this morning

The new crescent moon has been beautiful these nights, sitting over the mountain with the evening star looking like it's trailing the moon behind her tied by some invisible thread.  It made me think of this song from Sting with beautiful images included from the person who posted the video on You Tube.


I wish you a wonderful start to the Year and look forward to keeping in touch as we move forward into this next adventure.  Blessings to you all.