The Easter Bunny's giveaway draw ...

Hi dear Friends, my personal Easter Bunny has just drawn the winner of the book giveaway and because she’s a lovely and generous Bunny, she’s drawn the names of TWO lovely ladies, instead of one:

Congratulations Jane and Jan! Please choose one of the books in the photo below and e-mail me your postal address.

Have a lovely Easter!!!!

What a Shambles!

A few weeks ago The Shambles in York was named Britain's most picturesque street winning the Google Street View Award. The Shambles is a cobbled street lined with shops in overhanging timber-framed buildings, some dating back to the fourteenth century - the sort of place that the shopping street in Harry Potter might have been modelled on.

It was once a street of butchers and was known as The Great Flesh Shambles (from the Anglo-Saxon Fleshammels - flesh shelves) referring to the shelves that butchers used to display their meat. Some of the shops still have meat hooks hanging outside and shelves.

The Shambles beat the Royal Crescent in Bath and Grey Street in Newcastle, which came second and third in the poll asking people to vote for the most picturesque street.


As much as I like it, I don’t think I have been there more than a handful of times in all my years in York as I find it a bit too narrow and even daunting. Stonegate, also shortlisted, would have had my preference, being a Roman-Viking street lined with fantastic buildings from different ages and leading to the beautiful York Minster.

(A Google Street View of The Shambles)

Also, looking at the Google street view (above), they must've shot that at some ludicrously early hour of the day because most of us York residents avoid the Shambles due to it being completely mobbed end to end by tourists.

Meet Kate ...(and book giveaway)

…as in Kate Atkinson. Unfortunately she’s not a friend of mine but I wish she were, as she seems to be to the kind of woman I admire and respect. She’s intelligent, clever, witty, without any false modesty and above she is a writer.

Kate Atkinson is a well known author from York who moved up to Scotland many years ago. She became well known for her book Behind the Scenes at the Museum, a story which follows a few generations of a family living in the centre of town and touches on how it feels like living in a museum when you live in York, but is more a tale about families and their peculiarities. Kate describes the sense of history with great affection in the first pages of the novel:
“Guy Fawkes was born here, Dick Turpin was hung a few streets away and Robinson Crusoe, that other great hero, is also a native son of this city. Who is to say which of these is real and which a fiction?”
But the book that has really conquered my absolute devotion to Kate is her last one “When Will There Be Good News” the third installment of the Jackson Brodie’s detective stories, although you don’t need to have read the previous two ones, Case Histories and One Good Turn, to enjoy the last one.
Last Thursday evening I had the pleasure to attend one of her readings/talks at York St John University, an event of the York Literature Festival. I love going to authors readings and meeting my favourite authors, if only for a few fleeting moments, but this time I was hoping not to be disappointed as I like Kate’s novel o much. Of course I wasn’t.
After reading an excerpt from her still unpublished new novel, which will be out in August, she talked about her beginnings in York and her first steps as a writer, where she gets her ideas from, how she creates her characters, etc. all in her own very wry English humour. She then answered all our questions and ended up with a book signing.

I told her how much I love her writing as, when you read her stories, you don’t want to rush to the end, but you also really appreciate her language, her “nice sentences” as she calls them. Kate’s stories encapsulate her wit and pathos as a writer of fiction, and the joy that she takes in reading it aloud proves her own claim to be a ‘cheerful writer’.

To celebrate Kate, I’m giving away one of her books and because I have already had a giveaway on my friend Maria Grazia’s blog FLY HIGH and I don’t want to repeat myself, I’m offering the winner to choose among these four books that I love:

Behind The Scenes at the Museum, Case Histories, Human Croquet and When Will There Be Good News. Just leave a comment below and the Easter Bunny will pick the winner on Easter Eve.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:-

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teasers today:

"For some reasons I found myself shivering. There was something taut and undisguisedly vital about the athletic figure sitting opposite us, something of the tiger about to spring."

(Page 87, The Past is Myself by Christabel Bielenberg)

An Englishwoman's life in Berlin under the Nazis

Guernica: A Novel by David Boling

My son was very proud to have found this book as a present for me last Christmas. He knows I love history and adore Spain, so Guernica by David Bolin seemed to be perfect. And it was. The story is very intense.

In 1935, Miguel Navarro finds himself in conflict with the Spanish Civil Guard, so he flees the Basque fishing village of Lekeitio to make a new start in Guernica, the centre of Basque culture and tradition. In the midst of this isolated bastion of democratic values, Miguel finds more than a new life - he finds someone to live for. Miren Ansotegui is the charismatic and graceful dancer who he meets there, and the two discover a love they believe nothing can destroy ...History and fiction merge seamlessly in this beautiful novel about the resilience of family, love, and tradition in the face of hardship. The bombing of Guernica was a devastating experiment in total warfare by the German Luftwaffe in the run-up to the Second World War. For the Basques, it was an attack on the soul of their nation; for the world, it was an unprecedented crime against humanity.

Dave Boling reintroduces the event and paints his own picture of a people so strong, vibrant, and proud that they are willing to do whatever it takes to protect their values, their country, and their loved ones. This is a wonderful book. The characters and events are so well described that they come to life and you feel like you are living the lives and events that unfold. Hard to put down, it takes you through happy times, into darkness, sadness and on to hope. As a first novel by David Boling it is a masterpiece, by far the best book I have read in a long time. Also, it has changed my view of Picasso’s painting forever. And I would like to go back to Madrid and see it again.

Bonus Time

Bonus time: free entry to National Trust properties on 20 and 21 March

The National Trust is giving everyone in the country a bonus this spring by opening their doors for free on the weekend of 20-21 March 2010.

Find out more and download your voucher here:http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-events/w-events-free-day.htm

It’s a great opportunity to enjoy some of the most beautiful areas and historical properties across England, Wales and Northern Ireland (excluding Scotland as they have their own Nation Trust for Scotland) and if you are not a member yet, to explore the possibilities of joining the Trust or simply having a great time for free.
You are never very far from a NT place, so visit their website, download the voucher and have a nice weekend!

For the very few people who don't know the National Trust yet and for the friends abroad, the Trust is charitable organization that owns two hundred historic houses that are open to the public. The majority of them are country houses and most of the others are associated with famous individuals. The majority of these country houses contain collections of pictures, furniture, books, metalwork, ceramics and textiles that have remained in their historic context. Most of the houses also have important gardens attached to them, and the Trust also owns some important gardens not attached to a house. The properties include some of the most famous stately homes in the country and some of the key gardens in the history of British gardening.

PS. My latest NT discovery is Antony - a National Trust property in Cornwall that was used as the main location for Tim Burton's film - Alice in Wonderland (link: National Trust Antony Alice in Wonderland)

(Photos courtesy of The National Trust website)

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers this week are:

"Elizabeth sat still in her high seat, breathing deeply, trying to master her pounding heart. Attainder, she knew, was the preamble to execution."

(Page 290, "The Lady Elizabeth' by Alison Weir)