The House at Riverton - Kate Morton

Hello book worms

Now I am organised again I have this blogging thing off to a tee and am back in full swing - what a lot of sporting metaphors.

Great book. We all enjoyed this one.



Synopsis from Amazon
Summer 1924: On the eve of a glittering Society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again. Winter 1999: Grace Bradley, 98, one-time housemaid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. Ghosts awaken and memories, long-consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind, begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge; something history has forgotten but Grace never could. A thrilling mystery and a compelling love story, "The House at Riverton" will appeal to readers of Ian McEwan's "Atonement", L.P. Hartley's "The Go-Between", and lovers of the film "Gosford Park".

I have even managed to get our reviews this time..

Pippa
8/10 A good book to curl up in front of an open fire on a Sunday afternoon. A romantic read

Sarah
8/10
Lost the plot but a good read.

Kath
7/10
Love the ending but wish it had appeared earlier in the book. All the story is at the end.

We ate at The Globe in Rye. A very good meal with interesting 1940's decor. It was quite pricey but worth it I thought.




Here we are looking gorgeous as ever.



If you are a romantic and like costume dramas you would love this book.

Kate

A History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Maria Lewycka

Dear Readers

I loved the cover of this book and also the book was good. Great characters



Synopsis from Amazon
'Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamourous blonde Ukrainian divorcee. He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface a sludge of sloughed-off memories, giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside.' Sisters Vera and Nadezhda must put aside a lifetime of feuding to save their emigre engineer father from voluptuous gold-digger Valentina. With her proclivity for green satin underwear and boil-in-the-bag cuisine, she will stop at nothing in her pursuit of Western wealth. But the sisters' campaign to oust Valentina unearths family secrets, uncovers fifty years of Europe's darkest history and sends them back to roots they'd much rather forget...



We ate at The Langate Bistro in Rye. Another set meal which I was feeling a bit dubious about after our last one but it was good food and resonably priced.

Half a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Hello

This was my choice of book..

Another book I would recommend but a bit explicit in places so not for the faint hearted.



Synopsis from Amazon
The sweeping novel from the author of 'Purple Hibiscus', shortlisted for the Orange Prize, and winner of the Commonwealth Writers Award. This highly anticipated novel from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is set in Nigeria during the 1960s, at the time of a vicious civil war in which a million people died and thousands were massacred in cold blood. The three main characters in the novel are swept up in the violence during these turbulent years. One is a young boy from a poor village who is employed at a university lecturer's house. The other is a young middle-class woman, Olanna, who has to confront the reality of the massacre of her relatives. And the third is a white man, a writer who lives in Nigeria for no clear reason, and who falls in love with Olanna's twin sister, a remote and enigmatic character. As these people's lives intersect, they have to question their own responses to the unfolding political events. This extraordinary novel is about Africa in a wider sense: about moral responsibility, about the end of colonialism, about ethnic allegiances, about class and race; and about the ways in which love can complicate all of these things.



We ate at The Great House in Hawkhurst which was so disappointing. It was a set menu and so small in portions that we left hungry. Good thing that Kath was unable to make this one as she would have been very annoyed. Oh and yes they tried to overcharge us yet again.

After You'd Gone - Maggie O'Farrell

Here we are again

Kath choose After You'd Gone which sounded a rather serious title but was in fact a good read.

Synopsis from Amazon
A distraught young woman boards a train at King's Cross to return to her family in Scotland. Six hours later, she catches sight of something so terrible in a mirror at Waverley Station that she gets on the next train back to London. After You'd Gone follows Alice's mental journey through her own past, after a traffic accident has left her in a coma. A love story which is also a story of absence, and of how our choices can reverberate through the generations, it slowly draws us closer to a dark secret at the family's heart.



We ate in Tenterden at Restuarant 87 (?) which had a special offer on. Good enough food but it was very quiet so not a lot of atmosphere but then again it was a week night.

Our Farm - Rosie Boycott

Hello all those readers out there

I apologise for the long long delay in writing our Blog - I have no excuse.

This was chosen by Pippa and a lovely hardback book.

Synopsis from Amazon
What's a city girl doing in the country? After leaving the editorship of the "Daily Express" in 2001, Rosie Boycott wasn't sure what to do next. The natural step would have been to stay in London and continue her highly successful media career. But an horrific car accident which left her on crutches for eighteen months forced Rosie to rethink her life, turning her in a direction she would never previously have imagined. When an opportunity arises to rent a small farm in Somerset, Rosie and her new husband Charlie decide to take it, determined to throw themselves into a new challenge and to make the land profitable. It proves a daunting task, but it also reaps rewards that have nothing to do with money, rewards they never expected. For what follows is an immersion in rural living which is often hilarious, sometimes profoundly moving. Pigs, ducks and geese are fattened for the butcher, occasionally with lamentable results; vegetables and cut flowers are grown for a reluctant marketplace, as Rosie and Charlie discover more and more about the hard graft of running a smallholding. Gradually they, the land and the seasons being to work harmoniously together. They learn, too, about the boisterous personalities of the animals in their care, and about weightier issues that affect the local community of Ilminster - particularly the new supermarket which threatens the soul of the local town centre. As well as giving this compelling and endearing account of a new life in the country, Rosie finds recovery in the rhythms of the seasons and the complex patterns of the natural world. Throughout, she reflects deeply on our intimate relationship with nature and, ultimately, its power to heal.



I really enjoyed this book although I felt she was a bit condescending at times. I enjoyed learning about the various pitfalls and ups and downs of raising pigs and running a smallholding but felt as she did not need to do it for income it was not quite real life. I would recommend it for lovers of the country.



We ate at The George in Rye. The food was good and a very helpful waiter who showed us a pretty function room.




Not cheap but a good place to eat.

Becoming Jane Austen

Hello my book worms

I have a terrible confession to make. At least I am honest enough to admit that I did not finish this book. I tried and tried but did not manage to get more than half way through.

It was interesting in parts, how they lived and passed children around among friends and family depending on how wealthy they were... but the family connections just went on and on and on.



To go with that we had a terrible meal at The Bull in Rolvenden. Having heard good reports of the food and Kath recently had been and had a great meal we thought we would be rash and change our usual Tuesday night to a Wednesday so we could try out the food/ atmosphere etc. Shall I bother to put a link in here - no probably not.



Not good. Our meal - we all chose the cod - too about an hour to arrive and the fish was not cooked. It was taken back and returned - newly cooked fish - after what seemed an inordiante amount of time especially as there were only six other people eating and we had had chips in the meantime so were not feeling terribly hungry. It was ok but service poor. Sarah will tell you about the waiter I am sure.

But otherwise a good evening with good friends.

Kate

Perfume

Hello

My choice this month. Perfume by Patrick Suskind.



I really enjoyed this book even the gory bits. An unusual story about a murderer who is driven by the perfum of people.

We ate at the Ewe and Lamb, Rolvenden Layne.



Lovely pub and good main courses. I had steak and it was very tasty. Unfortunately the puddings were a bit of a disappointment. Kath and I ordered Tart Tatin - I think this is normally made with apples - ours arrived topped with pineapple which would have been ok if they had not sprinkled it liberally with chilli (including the seeds) and the pastry was cold in the middle and soggy. The free coffee/tea was ok and the chocolates that came with it lovely.



Happy reading

Kate

My Sister's Keeper

Hello Book People

We all loved this book. Choosen by Kath - very good choice too.

Highly recommened by us all.

I think it is the best out of all the ones we have read - so far. Made me laugh and cry - mostly cry. There is a teenage boy Jesse who was my favourite character and so well written. A joy to read.



We went to The George in Cranbrook. My choice and rather expensive. Sorry girls.



But the puddings were good.



They really were



Happy reading

Kate

My Best Friend's Girl

My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson



Chosen by Pippa.

Not one of the best we have read. Not Pippa's fault the book shop recommended it!

We ate at The Mill in Northiam. Very good food.

Kate

The Colour

The Colour by Rose Tremain



Chosen by Sarah.

We all thought this was a great book.



We ate at Cafe Uno in Tenterden. Pippa had money off vouchers.

Kate

Peacocks Dancing

Peacocks Dancing by Sharon Maas




Chosen by Kate. Rather a long book and a bit unbelievable in places but otherwise a good read.

We ate at The Queens Inn at Hawkhurst.

Kate

The Accidental

The Accidental by Ali Smith



We have lost Debora at this point. Just as she is busy. Hopefully she will return at a future date.

I was not so keen on this book. As I was ill and couldn't make this meeting at The King William I don't know what the others thought. They can update with comments.

How could they have a meeting without me!!!

Kate

Thirty Odd Feet Below Belgium

Thirty Odd Feet Below Belgium edited by Arthur Stockwin



Chosen by Debora.

We liked this book and it was unusual as it was in the form of letters.

We ate at The Great House in Hawkhurst.

Kate

The Island

The Island by Victoria Hislop



Another enjoyable read chosen by Pippa.

This evening there was a talk by Victoria Hislop at Ottakas the Book Shop in Tenterden. We followed it with a meal at Ozgurs a Turkish restaurant. We sat outside as it was a hot evening under the canopy. It rained on Debora as she was not quite covered but she didn't seem to mind.

Kate

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini



I loved this book and so did the rest of us.

We ate at the Ewe and Lamb just outside Tenterden. Just to confuse things Debora joined us for this evening.

Kate

Empress Orchid

Empress Orchid by Anchee Min



Chosen by Kate.

We liked this one but couldn't quite understand the eggs. You will have to read the book to understand.



We ate at The Curlew. Sarah had an offer from the newspaper so what choice did we have? A lovely meal that was quite expensive enough with the offer.

Kate

The History of Love

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss




Chosen by Kath.

I found this quite hard going. Enjoyable read otherwise.

We ate at Tiffins in Cranbrook.

Kate

The Ripening Sun

The Ripening Sun by Patricia Atkinson



Chosen by Pippa.

A great book.

We ate at The Three Chimneys in Biddenden. We are getting very adventurous. Pippa found a bottle of wine from the vineyard written about in the book which we thoroughly enjoyed with our meal.

Kate

Small Island

Small Island by Andrea Levy



Chosen by Sarah.

We liked this book very much.

How brave are we. We are at The Raj and had a lovely meal. An experience for Sarah as Nigel does not like Indian food so she doesn't get to try it often. Another benefit of the Book Group.

Kate

The Time Traveller's Wife

The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenger



Chosen by Kate.

Did we really eat at The King William again?

We enjoyed this read.

Kate

Eve Green

Eve Green by Susan Fletcher


We all loved this book.



Chosen by Kath.

We ventured just down the road and ate at The Bull in Benenden.

Kate

Saturday

Saturday by Ian McEwan

Chosen by Pippa.

We ate at the King William IV in Benenden again. The food is very good there.



None of us were that entralled by this book.

Kate

The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Our first book.

Chosen by Sarah.

We ate at King William IV in Benenden, Kent






Such a long time ago we read this. I think we sort of enjoyed it but not one of the best.

We got to see the film which was a bonus.

Kate