The Year in Books

Barbara Kingsolver - Prodigal Summer

Having read Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna which I absolutely loved, I decided to try another of her books.  Now I have to admit at this stage to cheating a little bit as along with The Bees and The Paying Guests it is an audio book.  In my defence, it is about the only way I get to read books these days and as regular readers know I am spending every spare minute de-cluttering and painting my house in preparation for putting it on the market.  Listening to books as I am working makes the tedious tasks bearable.  So on to last months books:

Held by the Sea - Jane Darke

It would be wrong to say I enjoyed this book as it had me in tears within the first few pages with it's raw description of the pain of bereavement.  It is a beautifully written, evocative book which I will read again. Yes this is a proper book as I knew I would want to have it on my bookshelf.   It is written by artist Jane Darke about the loss of her husband playwright Nick Darke.  It covers their life together from the early days in a wooden shack they built in woods near London to their move to Cornwall.  They spent everyday together, writing,  beach combing and catching lobsters.  For me the descriptions of Cornwall are perfect and the landscape plays an important part in the book.  However the book is primarily about the loss of her partner, the love of her life.  She is brutally honest in her description of her grieving process.  A beautiful book that I would highly recommend.

The Bees - Laline Paull

I can say I enjoyed this book, it is very unusual and clever.  The 'hero' of the book is a bee called Flora.  It starts from when she first emerges from her cell and tells the story of her life in the hive.  Another book I would recommend.

Sarah Waters - The Paying Guests

The third book for last month is Sarah Walters, The Paying Guests.  I have not read any of her books before but I will certainly be checking them out.  It is beautifully written, a slow burner that draws you in to the stifling class ridden world of the post WW1 period.

For this post I am joining in with The Year in Books

Thank you so much for your encouraging remarks on my last post, when I'm flagging or doubting myself I will read them back.

Chickpea xx

Bread, Books and Scabby Nose Day

It has been absolutely ages since I made gluten free bread so I thought I would treat myself on this lovely long weekend.  It's not as if I can go out or anything.....but more about that later.

I found the recipe somewhere,  adapted it and it's the one I always use now.  It is so much nicer than the bought gf bread, which quite frankly is pretty disgusting.  Here's the recipe:

Seedy Gluten Free Bread

5 oz/150g/1 cup rice flour
4 1/4oz/120g/2/3 cup potato flour
2 oz/50g/scant 1/2 cup gram flour
2 oz/50g/scant 1/2 cup ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon easy-blend dried yeast
2 oz/50g chilled dairy-free margarine (or butter)
2 1/4oz/60g/1/2 cup  combined weight, of mixed seeds and sun dried tomatoes (the ones that come in oil, I cut them into small pieces) 

Sieve the rice, potato and gram flours together in a large bowl, then stir in the ground almonds.

Add the baking powder, xanthan gum, sugar, salt and yeast.

Cut up the margarine and rub into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs.

Mix in the seeds and tomatoes.

Add 14 fl. oz/400ml/scant 1 2/3 cup of warm water and mix to make a smooth batter.

Cover the bowl with cling film and place somewhere warm for 1 1/4 hours

Pre heat the oven to 200/400/gas 6.

Lightly grease a 1 lb/450g loaf tin and pour mixture into it smoothing the top.

Bake for 45 - 50 mins until it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom and the top is nicely browned.

Leave to cool on a wire rack, do not be tempted to try cutting it while warm, it will end in disaster!

Home made bread, free range eggs and seasonal asparagus, what could be better.


I am loving listening to audio books, of course it is not the same as sitting down with a good book, which I don't seem to have much time for lately.  Having someone reading it to me as I am getting on with other things is a joy!  Of course it has to be the right person reading, someone who will do justice to the book, but so far so good.  You can download a little taster which is useful as you can decide if you like the readers voice, you can also have a 'kindle' version with added audio so you can move between the two options. Isn't technology wonderful - well some of it.  The book I have just started is The Bees by Laline Paull, it is the story of Flora 717 an unusual bee and her life in the hive.  It sounds fascinating,  has been shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Award for Fiction, has had high praise from Margaret Atwood one of my favourite authors so promises to be good.  I'm also hoping to read some of the other books on the Short List

I am also about to start on a 'proper' book, it is very short so hopefully I will have time to read it over the weekend.  I am determined to find some time for 'me' this Bank Holiday.   It is written by Jane Darke, a painter and film maker,  the widow of a local playwright Nick Darke.  She writes about the loss of her husband and how her love of the Cornish coast and her daily walks along the beach helped her with her grief and to discover who she is after so many years as part of a couple.  On the subject of Cornish theatre, I have just read that Emma Rice, the artistic director of Cornwall Kneehigh theatre has been named as the new artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe. Lucky Globe, she was wonderful at the Kneehigh and I'm sure will be much missed.  I had been meaning to go to The Globe for ages, I think I will wait until she makes her mark.

You are probably wondering about the scabby nose.  I have Actinic keratoses on my face.  I've never been one to sunbathe but years of living by the sea, leading to my face catching the sun (all that salty sea air) have left their damage.  Getting fed up with a couple of areas on my nose and one on my cheek that kept scabbing over, I asked my G.P. to 'freeze"  them on Friday.  I now have a very red nose and one huge scab that looks like an alien has taken up residence on my nose,  I'm hiding at home so I don't frighten the horses!

I haven't linked up with 'The Year in Books for ages, so in an attempt to read more I am joining in this month.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my Five on Friday.  If you missed out on the pepper giveaway, more will be offered by Dawn on her blog Doing it for Ourselves.

Chickpea xx

Circle of Pine Trees, the Year in Books - Cloud Atlas

One of my New Years resolutions this year was to make more time for reading.  I set myself the task of reading at least one book a month.  I have not done well so far, it is just so difficult to find the time.   When I was younger I always had my head stuck in a book, I would disappear for hours and mum always knew she would find me engrossed in a book, losing all sense of time.  One of my enduring memories of Primary school was the bookcase of classic children's books that I worked my way through, my favourite being The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

I saw the Circle of Pine Trees the Year in Books badge on other bloggers pages and thought it was a brilliant idea and was hopefully the nudge I needed to get more reading done.  I usually buy my books from charity shops or a site called greenmetropolis where you can buy and sell used books.

My book for July is cloud atlas by David Mitchell.  Described as 'Six interlocking lives - one amazing adventure.  In a narrative that circles the globe and reaches from the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future, David Mitchell erases the boundaries of time, genre and language to offer an enthralling vision of humanity's will to power, and where it will lead us.'

I saw the film a few months ago, I enjoyed it and felt that I would like to read the book which may go into the stories in more detail.

I will let you know what I think, hopefully by the end of July.

Chickpea xx