HIGHLAND FLING - KATIE FFORDE - A pleasant light romance set in the Scottish Highlands. You'll also learn a bit about varieties of wool! Quick, diverting well-written escape reading.
Rockport library
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Some Trips to France
SUZY GERSHMAN: C'EST LA VIE
Nonfiction
A fun and poignant book about a woman who decides upon her husband's death to go ahead with their plan to move to Paris for a year. A Francophile her dream had always been to retire to France although her husband had been less than enthusiastic about a stay of over a year. Unable to face living in their Connecticut home without him, she takes off for Paris, finds an apartment, and settles in not without ups and downs. Her task is made easier because her work as writer of a series Born to Shop had taken her to France many times, which meant she knew her way around to some extent and had friends and acquaintances there. Not surprisingly, she's more interested in shopping than I would be, but she managed to make me interested! Full of helpful hints for anyone going to France, as well as humor about the difference between French, Americans, and Brits. It's a delightful read. Also includes a love affair with a French count! She settles finally in the south of France, finding life in France more convivial than America.
Rockport Library. Amazon.com
MARK GREENSIDE: I'LL NEVER BE FRENCH (NO MATTER WHAT I DO) LIVING IN A SMALL VILLAGE IN BRITTANY
Nonfiction
Another delightful book about France this time by a man who buys a home in Brittany for summers while staying in California to earn a living. Greenside has a droll sense of humor and an affection for the French that explains perhaps why so many of his French neighbors take him under their wing. His accounts of the various differences between how life works in France and in America are funny, but also serious, as like Gershman, he presents France as a much friendlier place than America, a place where people will spend three hours eating, talking and drinking together rather than rushing from one appointment to another. I wonder if this is as true of small town America as big city, as I find Rockport and Cape Ann, a place where friendships can flourish, but it's true it takes work. Any thoughts on this?
Rockport Public library, Amazon.com
Nonfiction
A fun and poignant book about a woman who decides upon her husband's death to go ahead with their plan to move to Paris for a year. A Francophile her dream had always been to retire to France although her husband had been less than enthusiastic about a stay of over a year. Unable to face living in their Connecticut home without him, she takes off for Paris, finds an apartment, and settles in not without ups and downs. Her task is made easier because her work as writer of a series Born to Shop had taken her to France many times, which meant she knew her way around to some extent and had friends and acquaintances there. Not surprisingly, she's more interested in shopping than I would be, but she managed to make me interested! Full of helpful hints for anyone going to France, as well as humor about the difference between French, Americans, and Brits. It's a delightful read. Also includes a love affair with a French count! She settles finally in the south of France, finding life in France more convivial than America.
Rockport Library. Amazon.com
MARK GREENSIDE: I'LL NEVER BE FRENCH (NO MATTER WHAT I DO) LIVING IN A SMALL VILLAGE IN BRITTANY
Nonfiction
Another delightful book about France this time by a man who buys a home in Brittany for summers while staying in California to earn a living. Greenside has a droll sense of humor and an affection for the French that explains perhaps why so many of his French neighbors take him under their wing. His accounts of the various differences between how life works in France and in America are funny, but also serious, as like Gershman, he presents France as a much friendlier place than America, a place where people will spend three hours eating, talking and drinking together rather than rushing from one appointment to another. I wonder if this is as true of small town America as big city, as I find Rockport and Cape Ann, a place where friendships can flourish, but it's true it takes work. Any thoughts on this?
Rockport Public library, Amazon.com
Cats Anyone?
DERICK LONGDEN, THE CAT WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD
Nonfiction
An English writer tells of he and his wife's experience becoming cat people with the arrival of a small white kitten of indomitable character. Very funny, a great read for a cozy afternoon on the couch.
Also of interest is his wife, a writer of thrillers, Anita Armitage, who is legally blind and writes with the help of a screen that magnifies so she can read - five words at a time. Doing this she's written upwards of 50 books! I read one CAMBERWELL, an entertaining cozy thriller (if that's not a contradiction in terms). I enjoyed it although did find some of it a bit unbelievable.
Virtual catalogue. Amazon.com
Nonfiction
An English writer tells of he and his wife's experience becoming cat people with the arrival of a small white kitten of indomitable character. Very funny, a great read for a cozy afternoon on the couch.
Also of interest is his wife, a writer of thrillers, Anita Armitage, who is legally blind and writes with the help of a screen that magnifies so she can read - five words at a time. Doing this she's written upwards of 50 books! I read one CAMBERWELL, an entertaining cozy thriller (if that's not a contradiction in terms). I enjoyed it although did find some of it a bit unbelievable.
Virtual catalogue. Amazon.com
Yorkshire Smiles and Tears in the Schools
GERVASE PHINN: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DALE, OVER HILL AND DALE, HEAD OVER HEELS IN THE DALE, UP AND DOWN THE DALE, THE HEART OF THE DALES
Non-fiction
This series of books about a Yorkshire school inspector take you to the Yorkshire dales as he travel to schools reviewing their competence. He and his colleagues are not grim-faced critics but warm-hearted, sometimes quirky, intelligent educators concerned to bring out the best in teachers and students. Humor abounds as Phinn records his encounters with the down-to-earth Yorkshire adults and children. Particularly funny are his accounts of the numerous Nativity plays, including a Mary who said she'd prefer to name the baby Gavin. His romance with a teacher provides much interest. The system of school inspection, not practiced here in America,
is also fascinating. Don't know if we could ever do it here, but it certainly works as he portrays it.
(first and last book at Rockport, MA public library, others available from virtual catalogue.
or from Amazon.com)
JACK SHEFFIELD: TEACHER, TEACHER; MISTER TEACHER, DEAR TEACHER, VILLAGE TEACHER,
NonFiction
This series also set in Yorkshire about ten years before the Phinn series is the story of an elementary school headmaster in a small village and his off again, on again love affair with another teacher. Filled with humor, a heart-warming picture of both a school and a village, a mixture of lovable and unlovable people, but all interesting.
All four books should be in Rockport Public library or at Amazon.com
Non-fiction
This series of books about a Yorkshire school inspector take you to the Yorkshire dales as he travel to schools reviewing their competence. He and his colleagues are not grim-faced critics but warm-hearted, sometimes quirky, intelligent educators concerned to bring out the best in teachers and students. Humor abounds as Phinn records his encounters with the down-to-earth Yorkshire adults and children. Particularly funny are his accounts of the numerous Nativity plays, including a Mary who said she'd prefer to name the baby Gavin. His romance with a teacher provides much interest. The system of school inspection, not practiced here in America,
is also fascinating. Don't know if we could ever do it here, but it certainly works as he portrays it.
(first and last book at Rockport, MA public library, others available from virtual catalogue.
or from Amazon.com)
JACK SHEFFIELD: TEACHER, TEACHER; MISTER TEACHER, DEAR TEACHER, VILLAGE TEACHER,
NonFiction
This series also set in Yorkshire about ten years before the Phinn series is the story of an elementary school headmaster in a small village and his off again, on again love affair with another teacher. Filled with humor, a heart-warming picture of both a school and a village, a mixture of lovable and unlovable people, but all interesting.
All four books should be in Rockport Public library or at Amazon.com
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