I must apologise again today. Unfortunately, I feel so down and ill that I can’t manage to post. I don’t want to moan on here and I think that I wouldn’t have been able to hold myself back from a grumpy post, if I had even begun to write more than a paragraph! Instead, I am trying to take some photos for a more uplifting post next week.
Oh, OK, I will also add a photo here for your interest and amusement. A 90cm scarf from Hermès’ Autumn/Winter 2021 collection. Yes, some hints are already appearing online!
I am writing this post in rather a rush because I have spent the afternoon finishing my second book of the week. As I am really struggling with my mental health, the comments about the second book are very short. I find it very difficult to read a book, remember the plot and characters and write a decent review when my brain is under this dark and thick fog.
The second book should have been finished yesterday, but I spent most of the day fast asleep and didn’t read anything! Very unusual for me!
The City of Tears by Kate Mosse
The first book which I read this week was The City of Tears by Kate Mosse, #02 The Burning Chambers. First, here is the blurb:
“August 1572: Minou Joubert and her family are in Paris for a Royal Wedding, an alliance between the Catholic Crown and the Huguenot King of Navarre intended to bring peace to France after a decade of religious wars. So too is their oldest enemy, Vidal, still in pursuit of a relic that will change the course of history. But within days of the marriage, thousands will lie dead in the streets and Minou’s beloved family will be scattered to the four winds . . .
A gripping, breathtaking novel of revenge, persecution and loss, the action sweeps from Paris and Chartres to the city of tears itself, Amsterdam.”
This is my four star review – which is a bit odd and quirky this time…
I have enjoyed many of Kate Mosse’s books and this was one of her better ones. The period of French and Dutch history was new to me and I found myself really drawn in to the story of the central family.
As I read, something very strange happened. Part of the book involved the lead up to the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris, and it’s aftermath. Reading through these horrific events awakened a really old memory (this is going to sound very weird indeed, I warn you). I could vaguely remember an old TV programme about the massacre. As I thought more about it, I realised that it was a Dr Who!
OK, I am not going insane! I looked up old Dr Who plots and found that indeed one of the programmes with the first Dr (William Hartnell) was called The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s Eve. Here is a snippet from Wikipedia:
“The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve (also known simply as The Massacre) is the completely missing fourth serial of the third season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 to 26 February 1966.”
So, I remembered something that I saw when I was only nine!
This fact has shocked me so much, that I cannot think clearly enough to write much more in this review. Let me just add that the book is really worth reading, with an excellent plot and interesting characters. The background research is clearly phenomenal.
The second book of the week was #05 in the Jackson Brodie series: Big Sky by Kate Atkinson. This is the blurb:
”Jackson Brodie, ex-military police, ex-Cambridge Constabulary, currently working as a private investigator, makes a highly anticipated return, nine years after the last Brodie, Started Early, Took My Dog.
Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet seaside village, in the occasional company of his recalcitrant teenage son and an aging Labrador, both at the discretion of his ex-partner Julia. It’s picturesque, but there’s something darker lurking behind the scenes.
Jackson’s current job, gathering proof of an unfaithful husband for his suspicious wife, is fairly standard-issue, but a chance encounter with a desperate man on a crumbling cliff leads him into a sinister network—and back across the path of his old friend Reggie. Old secrets and new lies intersect in this breathtaking novel by one of the most dazzling and surprising writers at work today.”
I was so pleased to find another book in the Jackson Brodie series! So, here is my review on Goodreads, (four stars again):
Another brilliant book by Kate Atkinson. I love the way that she weaves her characters and plotlines together. At first, the different strands are shown to us, then gradually we start to see how they might fit and, finally, the pace speeds up as everything starts to make sense – well, that is how I see her work! Others may differ.
I loved the fact that the setting took me back to my younger days. When I was a child and a teenager, my family often had holidays on the Yorkshire coast, especially in Scarborough. The description of the famous “Naval Warfare” at Peasholm Park was especially memorable!
I do hope that she write another Jackson Brodie book as I love the characters and the dark humour of Atkinson’s work so much.
As I have only just finished the Kate Atkinson book, I haven’t yet decided what I am going to read next. So, you will have to wait for next week’s Reading Roundup post, if you are interested.
Today’s post is short because I am struggling with my health, both physical and mental. Apologies!
I occasionally wander onto Twitter but hardly ever post these days. Sometimes I come across something that catches my attention most unexpectedly. This time, it was a photo of a doorway.
Here it is…
I am ashamed to admit (as a former librarian) that I can’t caption the image properly as I forgot to write down the source. I think that the doorway belongs to a house in Brussels.
Isn’t it lovely and wouldn’t it be nice to see the whole frontage of the building? Well, luckily, further down the Twitter thread, someone had kindly posted a picture. This one…
These may be photos of the same house at different times, or of two houses. Anyway, how gorgeous is the stained glass? I would really love to see the interior!
I have always adored the wonderful shapes and patterns of Art Nouveau.
See you on Wednesday for this week’s Reading Roundup!
Love and best wishes,
Anne
💕💗💖💗💕
PS. Well, the librarian in me just reared her head and told me to do an image search on Google for “art nouveau house Brussels”. It turns out that Brussels is known for its Art Nouveau architecture and there are hundreds of amazing images to be found online. Some of them are quite stunning! I would love to be able to see them in real life.
OK, the title of the post is rather misleading as it’s only ONE outfit and it’s from LAST week, but I haven’t been able to get dressed properly this week. I have been struggling with my mental health and have felt unable to swap my pyjamas for something nice.
So, this is the outfit that I wore last week for my visit to the surgery for a blood test. As I don’t leave the house, at the moment, for anything more exciting, I have decided that I need to take any opportunity possible to wear my lovely accessories. Also, I wanted to use my new purple handbag for the first time.
Here is the collage:
Outfit of the day 30/04/21 with Hermès’ Escales Mediterranéenes scarf
The cotton twinset is by Lands’ End, the amethyst earrings by Blue Nile, the leather wrap bracelet by Ferragamo and, of course, the handbag is my new deep purple Africa leather midi Selene by Massaccesi. The gorgeous scarf is Escales Mediterranéenes by Hermès, tied in a simple bias fold and held by my MaiTai purple scarf ring. To break up all of the purple, I also wore navy jeans and shoes. I think my fantastic purple suede boots might have been overkill!
I expect you have worked out by now that I LOVE PURPLE!
💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜
If you would like to find out more about this lovely Hermès scarf, please have a look at my Scarf of the Moment: Escales Mediterranéenes post.
My plan was to tell you about two books this week, but the second one is quite long and I haven’t finished it in time. It would be silly to rush something so enjoyable just to keep to an arbitrary timetable, so one book it is!
City of Spies by Mara Timon
I haven’t read a good spy thriller for some time (or perhaps I have but have forgotten all about it!). Anyway, I really enjoyed this debut and would love to read more in the series. Here is the blurb:
”LISBON, 1943. After escaping from Nazi-Occupied France, SOE agent Elisabeth de Mornay, codename Cecile, receives new orders: she must infiltrate high society in neutral Lisbon and find out who is leaking key information to the Germans about British troop movements. As Solange Verin, a French widow of independent means, she will be able to meet all the rich Europeans who have gathered in Lisbon to wait out the war. One of them is a traitor and she must find out who before more British servicemen die.
Complications arise when ‘Solange’ comes to the attention of German Abwehr officer, Major Eduard Graf. As they get to know each other, she struggles to keep her lies close to the truth.
But in a city that is filled with spies, how can she tell who is friend, or foe?”
I wrote this quick review on Goodreads and awarded the book four out of five stars:
I really enjoyed this book and was totally glued from start to finish. It is an excellent debut novel set mainly in Portugal during WWII. The book is a highly entertaining mix of genres. There are spies, intrigue, romance, thrills and danger. Our heroine is brave, feisty, intelligent and handy in a fight.
I am currently reading the book above, which is the second part of Kate Mosse’s The Burning Chambers series. Unless illness or some other event intervenes, I will write about the book in next week’s Reading Roundup post.
The reveals have been coming thick and fast so far this year! Boredom because of lock-down and illness is not good for my bank account. Anyway, here is the reveal of a purchase that I made earlier in the year and received last week…
The first peek inside the box…
And this is the beautiful handbag in deep purple Africa leather: Massaccesi’s midi Selene with dark gunmetal hardware and a purple lining.
Midi Selene handbag by Marco Massaccesi
I must apologise for the quality of some of these photos. The sun was shining directly into my bedroom and I’m a pretty hopeless photographer at the best of times!
My first Massaccesi bag was a midi Selene in dark blue Africa leather, although I also added the zip option. I have bought other designs since, most notably the Victoria, but I decided to return to the Selene for what is probably my final bag purchase. I will almost certainly buy SLGs (small leather goods), in the future, but I have now a wonderful range of handbags and no room at all for any more!
Ah, but wait…. there are some other items inside the handbag! What could they be?
This time I am going to show you the contents of the handbag in a slideshow format…
The bracelets are in Persian Green, Cobalt and Silver “Diamond” calf leather with gold hardware. They are a great way for Marco to use up scraps of leather to make sure that there is very little wastage. I might also look at purchasing some mini bags to use inside my larger bags in the future, or tassels, as well as more of these beautiful bracelets.
The gorgeous handbag and bracelets will look wonderful with many of my scarves and jewellery. So, I think that I will plan another post with full photos to show you all. I have already carried the bag, when I went to the doctor’s last week, so that outfit will be uploaded on Friday, all being well.
Right, I suppose that I will have to build up my strength so that I can have a cupboard and wardrobe clear out. Or move into a bigger house!
I tried a small experiment over the last few days. Oh, OK, I love this combination of scarf and twinset so much that I simply had to wear them twice! The scarf is by Alice Shirley for Hermès and is called Under the Waves. The colours are aqua, pink, turquoise, blue and yellow, with the contrast hem in dusky pink. Here it is…
Under the Waves by Alice Shirley for Hermès
After looking through the blog, I have just realised that I nearly always wear this scarf with this twinset! Perhaps I need to change things around a bit. Anyway, the twinset was from Lands’ End and I also wore my dark navy jeans, cute earrings and Halcyon Days bangles in cream, eau-de-nil and cream, and turquoise.
Outfits of the week with Hermès’ Under the Waves scarf
I have to admit to you that I am deliberately missing out the outfit that I wore yesterday. Any trip outside is an excuse for me to “dress up” in something nice and wear jewellery and one of my lovely scarves. I don’t really care about the occasion. In fact yesterday’s jaunt was only a visit to the GP for a blood test! Anyway, to get to the point, I chose my clothes to go with a new handbag purchase from the wonderful Marco Massaccesi and I will wait until next week to do the full reveal!
I have completed one book this week and I must admit that my reading has been on the back burner for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because I am having difficulty with my concentration. Secondly, because I have become addicted to yet another TV series on Amazon Prime: Scandal. Just about all of my choices on TV have been dark and Scandal is very dark indeed!
A Prince and a Spy by Rory Clements
My choice this week was A Prince and a Spy by Rory Clements (Tom Wilde #05). I have really enjoyed this series so far, so was really pleased to see this new episode appear on our Library Service’s ebook catalogue. Here is the blurb:
“Sweden, 1942 – Two old friends meet. They are cousins. One is Prince George, Duke of Kent, brother of the King of England. The other is Prince Philipp von Hesse, a committed Nazi and close friend of Adolf Hitler.
Days later, the Prince George is killed in a plane crash in the north of Scotland. The official story is that it was an accident – but not everyone is convinced.
There is even a suggestion that the Duke’s plane was sabotaged, but with no evidence, Cambridge spy Tom Wilde is sent north to discover the truth . . .”
I awarded the book four stars on Goodreads and wrote this short review (apologies for the brevity. If you are interested in the book, the other reviews are well worth your time).
Yet another excellent episode in this excellent series.
The plot was edge-of-the-seat exciting against the background of the sheer horror of the Holocaust. Accurate historical events were woven together with more fictional, speculative narrative and characters to create a brilliant book. The amount of research that must be tackled before writing a book like this must be enormous.
I must admit that I feel so relieved that Lovely Husband and I have had both jabs. Unlike last time, I won’t go into great detail about the event on Saturday, but will just say a couple of things.
The first time, we arrived at the hospital, walked a long way down various corridors and then poor LH had to queue for nearly two hours before we could enter the room for our immunisations. This time, we had the long walk but were able to go straight into the room. It was all over so quickly!
Like last time, we have both had a very stiff and painful arm around the injection site but, two days later, the discomfort is fading. I also had several migraine attacks with full auras, yesterday, and then a horrible coughing fit in the night. These might have been caused by stress. Today, I feel a lot better and have been able to get out of bed for a few hours.
So, I am not sure how long it is before we get full immunity and, of course, there are rumblings about COVID variations. Generally, however, I must admit that I am in awe of the amazing work by the scientific and health care community who have not only discovered, developed, manufactured, distributed and administered the vaccines, but who have done this with incredible speed and efficiency. Thank you to everyone involved!
I just cannot write today’s planned post. After a misunderstanding, caused by my memory issues, Lovely Husband came to the rescue and, to get to the point, we both have our second vaccinations tomorrow!
Whoop!
I am feeling very giddy and I can’t write properly, so I had better sign off now…
Former professional school librarian, now retired through chronic illness. Trying to keep cheerful by reading, drinking lots of tea, blogging my new life, and my love of bling!
The Librain
The Librain......retired 
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