Month: February 2009

Weekly Geeks # 4: Passions

Post author By Jackie
Post date February 3, 2009
5 Comments on Weekly Geeks # 4: Passions

What are you passionate about besides reading and blogging? For example, are you crafty (knitting, woodworking, scrapbooking, model building)? Do you cook? Into gaming (computer or board)? Sports (player or spectator)? Photography? Maybe you like geocaching, rock climbing? Or love attending events like renaissance fairs, concerts? Music? Dancing? You get the idea. Tell us why you’re passionate about it. Post photos of what you’ve made or of yourself doing whatever it is you love doing.

If I have to rule out everything book related (finding, selling or researching books, reading blogs, etc) then the thing I like doing most in my spare time is cooking. I love good food, and knowing exactly what is in whatever I’m eating is very important to me. I love making and decorating cakes with my little boy. Here’s the cake I made for his third birthday:

I’m not really very arty, but I managed to make this by following this great tutorial.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I bought my husband a sausage making machine for Christmas and we have really enjoyed making them from scratch. We mince our own belly and shoulder pork, and then experiment with different flavourings. My favourite so far have been pork and apple! If you’re interested in making sausages then everything you need to know is here.

Not only does homemade food taste better – it’s cheaper too!

I highly recommend you give it a go!

I had a quick look at all the other weekly geekers pages. I was drawn to Fizzy Drink’s page, as I love travel too. Seattle looks great!

I was very impressed with The Ax For The Frozen Sea’s tattoo’s – beautiful! – but I bet it hurt!!

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher – Kate Summerscale

Post author By Jackie
Post date February 1, 2009
12 Comments on The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher – Kate Summerscale

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is the true account of a Victorian murder mystery, committed in an English country house. This murder became the basis of many classic books written during this time period, including the first English detective novel, The Moonstone. It is meticulously researched, and full of interesting information, not just on the Road Hill House murder, but every day family life in the 1860s.

The facts are laid out in the same order Mr. Whicher discovered them, so as well as being extremely informative, this book also acts as a murder mystery. The great thing about this murder is that it took place within a locked building, so all the potential killers are immediately obvious, and it is just a case of unearthing all their secrets, and discovering which one committed the dreadful dead.

This book isn’t a quick, easy read. It is dense with facts that need time to be savoured, but I found it so interesting that I was never tempted to skip a single word.

I love the fact that the book went on to explain what happened to all the characters up to their death. It also includes photographs of all the key characters, and maps of house and surrounding area.

The only drawback to the book was that it gave away key plot points to many of the books which were written during this time period, or based on the Road Hill murder. This was great for all those to which I already knew the plot (eg. many of Dicken’s novels) but as I planned to read The Moonstone very soon, it was a little bit disappointing, (although I only have myself to blame, as I was aware that these would be within the book!).

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in Victorian England, the development of the police detective, or who just loves a good whodunnit!

Other

January Summary

I read 11 books in January, which is probably a record for me. A combination of factors came together to give me much more time for reading this month, hopefully I’ll be able to continue this for the rest of the year, as I have really enjoyed it.

I read three books for Orange January

a. We Need To Talk About Kevin– Lionel Shriver completed 14th January 2009

b. Fugitive Pieces– Anne Michaels completed 10th January 2009

c. Digging to America – Anne Tyler completed 5th January 2009

My favourite was We Need to Talk About Kevin; there was just so much to think about in it, that I am still trying to persuade all my ‘real world!’ friends to read it!

The rest of the books I read in January:

The Bride from Odessa– Edgardo Cozarinsky completed 27th January

Mudbound – Hilary Jordan completed January 8th 2009

December – Elizabeth Winthrop completed 22nd January 2009

The Brutal Art– Jesse Kellerman completed 27th January

What Was Lost– Catherine O’Flynn completed 2nd January 2009

When Will There be Good News – Kate Atkinson completed 24th January 2009

The Gargoyle – Andrew Davidson completed 20th January 2009

Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte completed 21st January 2009

My other recommendations are The Gargoyle and Mudbound, both of which are well worth reading if you haven’t already.

Although I didn’t enjoy reading Wuthering Heights, I am really glad that I did. I’m going to make an effort to read many more Classics this year. I’ve ordered copies of The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, so hopefully I’ll read them very soon.

I hope your reading in January was as enjoyable as mine!