M C Beaton - Death of a Prankster; Death of a Glutton and Death of a Travelling Man - all good light crime novels with some interesting things to say about human nature.
Georgette Heyer - Arabella and Faro's Daughter - I really loved Arabella and had completely forgotten how amusing it is. I think Arabella is one of my favourites among Heyer's younger heroines.
Andrew Matthews - Happiness in Hard Times - Australian self help guru writing about his favourite topic - happiness. Count your blessings and read the inspiring personal stories.
Currently reading
Georgette Heyer - The Unknown Ajax - heir to the Darracott property indulges in a little bit of deception.
H R F Keating - The Perfect Murder - the first of the Inspector Ghote mysteries set in India. I've only read about 50 pages so far but it seems very good.
I'm also still plodding on with the Forsyte Saga and the Way We Live Now as well as listening to the audio book version of Faulks on Fiction.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Saturday, 12 March 2011
Books, books and more books
Plenty of crime and other things mainly historical:
M C Beaton - Emily Goes to Exeter, Belinda Goes to Bath and Penelope Goes to Portsmouth - the first three books in the Travelling Matchmaker series - light reading set at the beginning of the nineteenth century. I'm waiting for the last three to come out at the end of this month. If you like Georgette Heyer then you may enjoy these.
Elly Griffiths - The House at Seas End - the third in the Ruth Galloway series set on the North Norfolk coast. This one is about six skeletons uncovered by a cliff fall which turn out to be rather newer than the skeletons Ruth is normally interested in. Excellent atmospheric writing with an out of the ordinary heroine.
M C Beaton - Hamish Macbeth mysteries - Death of a Cad, Death of an Outsider, Death of a Perfect Wife, Death of a Hussy, Death of a Snob - these are all good light reads with Hamish displaying not only his laziness but his good knowledge of human nature. While they are light crime stories they often have some deeper aspects which raise them out of the ordinary.
Ken Moody - The View from the Surgery - short pieces by a GP based in Scotland with some very Dickensian pseudonyms for the patients.
Amy Bratley - The Girl's Guide to Homemaking - chick lit - but interesting chick lit. Juliet moves into a new flat with her boyfriend only to discover he has been cheating on her with one of her friends. From there on in her life disintegrates. How she deals with that disintegration makes interesting reading.
Carola Dunn - Styx and Stones - poison pen letters in 1920s rural England. This is the first book I've read in this series and I think I shall be looking out for the others.
Edmund Crispin - The Case of the Gilded Fly - Golden Age crime set in Oxford. Good reading and the solution to the murder is so simple when you know it!
Currently reading:
Georgette Heyer - Faro's Daughter
John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga - I'm on volume 5 - The Silver Spoon. I can still see the people who played the characters in that long ago BBC adaptation!
Anthony Trollope - The Way We Live Now - very topical even if it was written in the 19th century.
Simon Parke - One Minute Mindfulness - short passages providing food for thought.
M C Beaton - Emily Goes to Exeter, Belinda Goes to Bath and Penelope Goes to Portsmouth - the first three books in the Travelling Matchmaker series - light reading set at the beginning of the nineteenth century. I'm waiting for the last three to come out at the end of this month. If you like Georgette Heyer then you may enjoy these.
Elly Griffiths - The House at Seas End - the third in the Ruth Galloway series set on the North Norfolk coast. This one is about six skeletons uncovered by a cliff fall which turn out to be rather newer than the skeletons Ruth is normally interested in. Excellent atmospheric writing with an out of the ordinary heroine.
M C Beaton - Hamish Macbeth mysteries - Death of a Cad, Death of an Outsider, Death of a Perfect Wife, Death of a Hussy, Death of a Snob - these are all good light reads with Hamish displaying not only his laziness but his good knowledge of human nature. While they are light crime stories they often have some deeper aspects which raise them out of the ordinary.
Ken Moody - The View from the Surgery - short pieces by a GP based in Scotland with some very Dickensian pseudonyms for the patients.
Amy Bratley - The Girl's Guide to Homemaking - chick lit - but interesting chick lit. Juliet moves into a new flat with her boyfriend only to discover he has been cheating on her with one of her friends. From there on in her life disintegrates. How she deals with that disintegration makes interesting reading.
Carola Dunn - Styx and Stones - poison pen letters in 1920s rural England. This is the first book I've read in this series and I think I shall be looking out for the others.
Edmund Crispin - The Case of the Gilded Fly - Golden Age crime set in Oxford. Good reading and the solution to the murder is so simple when you know it!
Currently reading:
Georgette Heyer - Faro's Daughter
John Galsworthy - The Forsyte Saga - I'm on volume 5 - The Silver Spoon. I can still see the people who played the characters in that long ago BBC adaptation!
Anthony Trollope - The Way We Live Now - very topical even if it was written in the 19th century.
Simon Parke - One Minute Mindfulness - short passages providing food for thought.
Friday, 25 February 2011
Books
Mainly crime this last week or so.
Agatha Christie - The Mysterious Affair at Styles - the first book featuring Hercule Poirot. A classic poisoning mystery.
Stephanie McAfee - Diary of a Mad Fat Girl - Graciella (Ace) and friends try to free Chloe from her abusive marriage. Interesting plot and rather too many swear words and American expressions but I thought it was an interesting read.
Georgette Heyer - Lady of Quality - one of my favourites - set in Bath with an older heroine and an abrupt but humorous hero.
M C Beaton - Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage - Agatha is going to marry her neighbour, James Lacey, but is her husband Jimmy Raisin actually dead?
Maggie Sefton - Knit One, Kill Two - detective story with knitting interruptions set in Colorado. Good light read but not as good as some.
M C Beaton - Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist - set in Cyprus where Agatha goes to try and woo James Lacey. I think this is one of the best in the series.
Christina Hopkinson - The Pile of Stuff at the Bottom of the Stairs - about the niggly things which annoy everyone about living with someone else. I could not get on with this and abandoned it after 100 pages. It is fiction but could equally have been factual. I just did not warm to the characters at all. I usually read all of a book but this one had me beaten.
Agatha Christie - The Mysterious Affair at Styles - the first book featuring Hercule Poirot. A classic poisoning mystery.
Stephanie McAfee - Diary of a Mad Fat Girl - Graciella (Ace) and friends try to free Chloe from her abusive marriage. Interesting plot and rather too many swear words and American expressions but I thought it was an interesting read.
Georgette Heyer - Lady of Quality - one of my favourites - set in Bath with an older heroine and an abrupt but humorous hero.
M C Beaton - Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage - Agatha is going to marry her neighbour, James Lacey, but is her husband Jimmy Raisin actually dead?
Maggie Sefton - Knit One, Kill Two - detective story with knitting interruptions set in Colorado. Good light read but not as good as some.
M C Beaton - Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist - set in Cyprus where Agatha goes to try and woo James Lacey. I think this is one of the best in the series.
Christina Hopkinson - The Pile of Stuff at the Bottom of the Stairs - about the niggly things which annoy everyone about living with someone else. I could not get on with this and abandoned it after 100 pages. It is fiction but could equally have been factual. I just did not warm to the characters at all. I usually read all of a book but this one had me beaten.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Yet more books and heating update
The heating is still working and we have been surveyed. The surveyor was not happy because the old oil tank has still not been taken away, the oil pipe underground was not replaced and the gubbins which stops the system silting up was not installed. We really don't want that done but we've been told we've got to have it done. But he did say because they have to drain the system again to do it they will need to take responsibility for any damage they might cause in the process and they will be told that in no uncertain terms. So we wait and see. In the meantime we have heating and hot water so we are happy - and warm - bunnies.
Books
Theodore Dalrymple - Second Opinion - short and astringent essays about the seamier side of life from a doctor's point of view. I find it best to read these a few at a time as they can cause you to lose any faith you might have had in the essential goodness of human nature.
Hugh Hunter - Our Man in Orlando: Murder, Madness and Mayhem in the Sunshine State - the work of a British Consul in Florida. The British abroad are just disgusting but the book was interesting as I'd never been quite sure what British Consular staff do - now I know.
Georgette Heyer - Charity Girl - not perhaps my favourite Heyer novel but still enjoyable
Tilda Shalof - A Nurse's Story - memoirs of an intensive care nurse in Canada. Thought provoking, funny and sad and raises many questions about 'striving officiously to keep alive'.
Books
Theodore Dalrymple - Second Opinion - short and astringent essays about the seamier side of life from a doctor's point of view. I find it best to read these a few at a time as they can cause you to lose any faith you might have had in the essential goodness of human nature.
Hugh Hunter - Our Man in Orlando: Murder, Madness and Mayhem in the Sunshine State - the work of a British Consul in Florida. The British abroad are just disgusting but the book was interesting as I'd never been quite sure what British Consular staff do - now I know.
Georgette Heyer - Charity Girl - not perhaps my favourite Heyer novel but still enjoyable
Tilda Shalof - A Nurse's Story - memoirs of an intensive care nurse in Canada. Thought provoking, funny and sad and raises many questions about 'striving officiously to keep alive'.
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Books read
The first few in the Agatha Raisin series by M C Beaton: Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death; Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet; Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener; Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley. I like Agatha Raisin because she is not the conventional heroine. She is outspoken and a good organiser and she she is insecure about her ability to attract men. She does her best in any situation but her attempts at detection do not always go to plan. These books are a light and amusing read but well written. I have read all three before but they will bear re-reading.
Carmen Reid - New York Valentine - the latest in the How Not to Shop series. Chick lit at its best with Annie Valentine wading in where angels fear to tread to sort out clothes shopping nightmares.
Patricia Wentworth - The Lonesome Road; The Chinese Shawl; Miss Silver Comes to Stay. All three are excellent examples of Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver books.
Elizabeth Edmondson - The Villa in Italy. Set in the late 1950s. Four people unknown to one another arrive at the Villa Dante in accordance with a will. They have to find a codicil which is hidden somewhere in the Villa and they have thirty three days in which to find it or all the money will go to charity. The plot may seem a bit of a cliche but everything is in the writing and the writing of this novel is excellent. The characters are interesting and I wanted them to sort out their problems with or without the money. I felt quite sad when I read the last page.
Gladys Mitchell - The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop. A body of an unpopular man is found neatly jointed in a butcher's shop - but the head is missing. Another case for the inimitable Mrs Bradley.
Theodore Dalrymple - Second Opinion. A collection of short pieces about the flotsam and jetsam of society as represented by inner city dwellers and prisoners. Ascerbic and judgemental - Theodore Dalrymple will either delight or horrify you and may completely destroy your faith in the basic goodness of the human animal.
Carmen Reid - New York Valentine - the latest in the How Not to Shop series. Chick lit at its best with Annie Valentine wading in where angels fear to tread to sort out clothes shopping nightmares.
Patricia Wentworth - The Lonesome Road; The Chinese Shawl; Miss Silver Comes to Stay. All three are excellent examples of Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver books.
Elizabeth Edmondson - The Villa in Italy. Set in the late 1950s. Four people unknown to one another arrive at the Villa Dante in accordance with a will. They have to find a codicil which is hidden somewhere in the Villa and they have thirty three days in which to find it or all the money will go to charity. The plot may seem a bit of a cliche but everything is in the writing and the writing of this novel is excellent. The characters are interesting and I wanted them to sort out their problems with or without the money. I felt quite sad when I read the last page.
Gladys Mitchell - The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop. A body of an unpopular man is found neatly jointed in a butcher's shop - but the head is missing. Another case for the inimitable Mrs Bradley.
Theodore Dalrymple - Second Opinion. A collection of short pieces about the flotsam and jetsam of society as represented by inner city dwellers and prisoners. Ascerbic and judgemental - Theodore Dalrymple will either delight or horrify you and may completely destroy your faith in the basic goodness of the human animal.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
The good news
The boiler is working now and so we have heating and hot water - success!! Now we have to get the company who did it to clear up their mess and to give us the forms that says it's been installed properly. As we've not heard from them at all since last Tuesday I think we may be waiting a while and MJR seems reluctant to chase it up.
On the plus side we have a very quiet apparently very efficient boiler and a room thermostat that you can progamme down to decimal points of a degree. The house is not in a mess any more though outside still is. Was it worth it? I reserve judgement. I have learned more about the operation of central heating systems than I knew before or ever wanted to know.
It's funny when you have anything new like a central heating boiler and it must be a bit like having a new baby as we keep tiptoeing into the utility room to check it's still breathing!!
The surveyor is coming out on Friday to inspect the system - which will be fun - though I think basically that the system has been installed properly it's just that things haven't been done that were supposed to be done and it all took far longer than it was supposed to.
We are also fortunate that we had the insurance on the Boilermate otherwise we would have been left out of pocket for what was supposed to be free. As it is we've paid our own plumber to do some of the work. Would I recommend the Warmfront scheme to anyone? Yes with the caveat that they make sure that it isn't one particular company doing the installation - name supplied on application to me via e-mail!
On the plus side we have a very quiet apparently very efficient boiler and a room thermostat that you can progamme down to decimal points of a degree. The house is not in a mess any more though outside still is. Was it worth it? I reserve judgement. I have learned more about the operation of central heating systems than I knew before or ever wanted to know.
It's funny when you have anything new like a central heating boiler and it must be a bit like having a new baby as we keep tiptoeing into the utility room to check it's still breathing!!
The surveyor is coming out on Friday to inspect the system - which will be fun - though I think basically that the system has been installed properly it's just that things haven't been done that were supposed to be done and it all took far longer than it was supposed to.
We are also fortunate that we had the insurance on the Boilermate otherwise we would have been left out of pocket for what was supposed to be free. As it is we've paid our own plumber to do some of the work. Would I recommend the Warmfront scheme to anyone? Yes with the caveat that they make sure that it isn't one particular company doing the installation - name supplied on application to me via e-mail!
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Some progress
The man from Gledhill - who make the Boilermates - came out on Friday and virtually replaced everything in the Boilermate - which now works both normally and on emergency heating and hot water.
We did have the boiler working for a time - in spite of the absence of the installer who again failed to turn up on Friday. The boiler is now having a hissy fit again and we're back to the emergency heating. We are not letting anyone else touch the Boilermate again! Full marks to Gledhill - they've done a brilliant job and he had all the parts he needed with him - which seems to be pretty unusual these days.
Personally I suspect a fault with the only bit of the system which hasn't been replaced - the oil line under the ground from the tank to the house. This was supposed to be replaced and hasn't been. We're supposed to be having a surveyor come out to check the work has been done properly so he will have his ear severely bent when he does turn up as we have an ongoing list of what's happened and not happened.
To look on the bright side we do have heating - at a cost because it's electric - and we're not cold. We shall get it sorted in the end no doubt but when is anyone's guess.
We did have the boiler working for a time - in spite of the absence of the installer who again failed to turn up on Friday. The boiler is now having a hissy fit again and we're back to the emergency heating. We are not letting anyone else touch the Boilermate again! Full marks to Gledhill - they've done a brilliant job and he had all the parts he needed with him - which seems to be pretty unusual these days.
Personally I suspect a fault with the only bit of the system which hasn't been replaced - the oil line under the ground from the tank to the house. This was supposed to be replaced and hasn't been. We're supposed to be having a surveyor come out to check the work has been done properly so he will have his ear severely bent when he does turn up as we have an ongoing list of what's happened and not happened.
To look on the bright side we do have heating - at a cost because it's electric - and we're not cold. We shall get it sorted in the end no doubt but when is anyone's guess.
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