Call The Midwife by Jennifer Worth

- A true story of the East End in the 1950s -

Jennifer is training to be a midwife by an order of nuns that worked in the slums since 1870s and she experiences poverty and the hard life lived by the people in the London docklands in the 50s but she also discovers something that goes beyond the surface. A sense of community where families are everything and the ability to enjoy life despite all their hardships.

This is not the kind of book I'd normally pick up and I am very glad that I did. Jennifer describes her work in a way that makes you feel as if you were her assistant during all those labours. There's the Spanish lady who's pregnant with her 25th child and all the other people that somehow have etched their way into Jennifer Worth's heart and memories.

It's sometimes difficult to envisage what it was like to live in the East End during the 50s as it was quite severely damaged by the bombs during the war and even though plenty have tried to describe it, it's just passed me by. Jennifer Worth has the ability to write and describe her life and experiences in a way that makes you embrace and cherish the insight she's given you, without ever going "over the top".

The book is brilliantly written and you can really feel the love Jennifer Worth had for her work, the people she worked with and the area that so many people shunned. I, as a non English person, found it very educational (again without noticing it) and I think it's a book to be appreciated by everyone, not to mention how much easier it is to give birth these days. Jennifer Worth describes a book she used during her studies where the women were advised to contact a doctor if the labour contractions 12 days...

I encourage everyone to read it, you really won't regret it.

The Queen and I By Sue Townsend

The Republican Government has won the British election and the first thing on their agenda is to get rid of the Royal Family. It doesn't take long until they all have been sent off to live on Hell Close Estate where they have to live off benefit and whatever they can. This is not necessarily an easy thing for anyone and even less so if you are the Family.

And for the people already on the estate the question is: "How do you talk to someone whose head you are used to licking and sticking on envelopes?"

I must admit that I was never one for the Adrian Mole series but I wanted to read this book by Sue Townsend as 1) I'm a sucker for the British Royal family - but no I don't buy any kind of paraphernalia with their pictures on and 2) I think The Queen seems to be really witty and she is very fond of dogs and horses... and that's got to count for something!

This book is fantastically funny. I don't know the Royal Family very well (at all) but doesn't seem to be an all together inaccurate description of their characters*. Some will have read it to make fun of and laugh at the Royal family but that is not how I read or perceived it to be. The Queen and her family may be a very privileged group of people but they're still a family and families need a strong matriarch, The Queen, and matriarchs can deal with a lot of things. So when I say that it's a fun book, then that is what I mean, they may be put in funny circumstances but you're not laughing at them. well, that's not what I did - we'll have to wait and see what Boyfriend thinks after he's done with it as we're not exactly of the same opinion when it comes to the Royal family but I think he's softening up a bit...


* an argument based on what I know, which has come from various reports and interviews - some which are not very favourable and some that are.

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

- A Discworld Novel -

It's the night before Hogswatch and it's not Hogfather himself who delivers the presents but Death! Why? Well, it's because Hogfather has disappeared and someone has got to do the job. Susan, a governess with special abilities and relations, is drawn into the mystery and realises that she has to solve it by morning or there won't be a morning...

It's clearly a story about Christmas and Santa Claus (or Father Christmas) but instead of Santa he is known as Hogfather and Hogfather doesn't use reindeers - he has pigs (or hogs) and they're not necessarily as well behaved as Santa's reindeers, nor as cute but I love the image it portrays. The cleverness of Pratchett's storytelling and references to "our" world and traditions are nothing but ingenious and so true. This is what our traditions and world must seem to an outsider and it's really good fun to look at it that way.

I was first introduced to Terry Pratchett when Swedish telly showed an animated series called Discworld - and I fell in love. Finally there was something for me! I love animations and cartoons and this one also contained other things than the sweet stuff that Disney makes. So I went on to read a few of his books. And then something must have happened because I stopped. I don't know why and I don't really care because I have found my way back by reading Hogfather. Brilliant, funny and the words! I love the way Pratchett writes. It's on a level that is really beyond me but By. God. I. Love. It!

My only problem now is that I have to pick another Discworld book and there is quite a few to choose from...

(Hogfather is also available on DVD, I haven't seen it myself - yet - but am in the process of ordering it)

Books All Around

I walked into town today on my lunchbreak - other people (millions and billions) of them were rushing around for the perfect bargain. Not me. I walked into a book shop. And came out with 7 new books. A little excessive perhaps but darn it! I fancied something new and I deserved new books the way I've been hanging out in 2nd hand book stores for the past year. I wanted the smell of new books.

This is what I bought:

• The Leaving of Liverpool by Maureen Lee (I've never read anything by her before - or heard of her - and I'm going to try books that are different to what i normally pick out.)
• Queen Camilla by Sue Townsend (never liked Adrian Mole but am loving her 'The Queen and I' + I'm a sucker for the Royal family.)
• The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (Books II and III of His Dark Materials. Liked the first one so...)
• Heaven Sent by Christina Jones (There's always room for some more chick-lit.)
• Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (It just sounded fantastic and I think it might be...)
• Blood River by Tim Butcher (Again, it sounded to good to miss out on)

Now I just need to finish the other ones I'm currently reading and have a clear-out of the ones under my bed. There are loads of books that I won't read again and as we live in a flat with minimum storage (but oh-so-lovely) I've decided that for every new book I buy, an old will have to go.

Sea Fever by Sarah Mason

Erica 'Inky' has but one dream and that is to sail in the America's Cup for Britain. This is something that is most definitely easier said than done as she has to compete against old superstitions and prejudices about women on boats etc. And her fellow dreamers also need to battle against people determined to see them all fail. People sharing your world are not always the friendliest.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

I was so excited when I got my hands on this one as I had been so totally won over by the previous ones by Sarah Mason (this and this). But. Sea Fever is quite different to the other 2 and not in a bad way - not at all. Whereas they others are very laugh out loud funny and charming this is more thought out and you can tell there are hours and hours of research behind it. The characters are so nicely captured and I loved every single page of it.

If you don't know anything about sailing, then you will by the end of it. It's not "in your face" information, you want to know more about this different world as the story moves along and you just suck it all up. It's not just about Inky but about everyone who has the same dream as her and they're all fighting on more than one front - they're outsiders and a joke to many but their determination takes them closer to their goal, one step at a time.

In ways it reminds me of Jilly Cooper*, Sarah Mason has chosen a surrounding that is not every reader's familiar milieu but it becomes something you want to be a part of. Albeit Sarah Mason is a bit lighter on the rude-ish language...

Like I said, it's a really good book and my dream of learning how to sail is stronger than ever before!



*Riders - showjumping world, Appassionata - classical music/orchestra world etc etc

Lucy in the Sky by Paige Toon

I picked up this book to read on the flight to Cape Verde and my motivation for making it a "flight book"? Well, the story kinda starts when the main character gets on a flight...

Lucy is on her way back home to Australia for the first time in 9 years and the reason is that her 2 best friends from her childhood are getting married - to each other. Just as she's about to turn off her phone on the airplane - she reads a text message sent from her boyfriend's phone and that's when all hell breaks loose.

The long flight forces Lucy to think about her relationship and even if she thought she knew it all she has to re-evaluate it as soon as she steps off the plane and.... the story continues.

It's supposed to be funny and don't get me wrong, it is, but it is also a book that tells you the perhaps not so good story about a relationship that's been going on for a while. It made me think about my relationship and I realised that mine isn't that bad at all, although I already knew it but it's nice to have it confirmed!

It's written in a way that it gets you involved. I kept on telling Lucy to "do this" and "don't do that" and "he's obviously a tosser" but also "what are you getting at?" (obviously quietly as I was on a plane myself and didn't want to be seen as a nutter - which is one of my ultimate fears). So it's not just a read and forget kind of book.

I enjoyed it but just as much as I think it's ok - someone else is going to dislike it. It's very much a book that feeds of your current state of mind so it could go either way. I read it on a good day so I liked it.

An explanation -

I have not stopped reading - that'll only happen the day I die - and then I'll hopefully be able to speak to loads of the already dead authors until I annoy them so much that they all get together to have me evicted from whatever place I am at. And then I'll be able to continue reading as many books as I like.

I've just been busy and to be honest - haven't really fancied writing about the books I've read, which sadly isn't as many as I would have liked it to be... Here are a few of them.