Books, Books and More Books

The other week was my birthday and unsurprisingly I asked for books for presents! 

In all I got over 20! Including a book about watercolours, two cookery books, a sewing book, eight novels.

And a whole collection of Sherlock Holmes books....

 

I can't wait to start reading, making, painting and cooking. Hopefully I will (for once) keep up to date about these fantastic books! Also have a look at my Crafts Blog to see what I'm up to over there!

Dottie xx

Kids Crafternoon

Normally these posts are about novels but today's post is going to be about two new crafting books;

I found out about these books from Domesticali's post about having two of her own projects in the papercraft book.

The books are aged for 7 - 12 year olds to do by themselves, but there are many projects that I am looking forward to getting started on. However, in the sewing book some of the projects are slightly more advanced.

Obviously, I particularly love the two owl projects from the papercraft books and have already made two of the owl cards that are shown on the front cover of the papercraft books.

(The one on the left and the middle one are mine and the one on the right is my mum's)

I am definitely going to make more owl cards as they are fun, a bit of a challenge and the result is great!

To see more of the crafts that I will make from these as well as other books visit my other website, Dottie Locket's Crafts.

The books are full of fun designs, but I feel that some of the projects in the sewing book are slightly difficult for the age range it is pitched out. Overall I would give these books an eight out of ten!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

So a bit of a different post from normal but my mum and I went to see the new Harry Potter film last night!

I have never been a huge fan of the films as they never seem to reach the outstanding quality of the books, as most of the time they are too dark and dingy for my liking. However, I think this final film was definitely worth the wait.

I can't believe that the Harry Potter series has ended. The Philosopher's Stone was published the year I was born and I feel like I have grown up with Harry, Hermoine and Ron.

I wouldn't go so far to say that the film was better than the book (as in my opinion that is not humanly possible) however, it did have a certain charm to it and I think that it has done an excellent job of wrapping up the series.

Watching the new film has inspired me to re-read the books for the billionth time so you are likely to see some Harry Potter book reviews sneaking in here.

So, thank you JK Rowling for creating these superb books! 

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't blogged in months but I am bogged down with schoolwork, exams and GCSE preparation as well as other things! I am going to set myself the challenge of updating the blogs more often, sorry if it doesn't go to plan!

This post will be dedicated to the amazing book, Rebecca, which I have recently just read for the second time. It is described as a "suspenseful romance" and I can easily see why it is Daphne Du Maurier's bestseller.

Rebecca tells the story of the young, shy woman who marries Maxim de Winter, a man well above her station. The main character is always referred to as Mrs de Winter, we never find out her real name, and in my opinion I believe that this adds more suspense to the novel.

Maxim de Winter had already been married to charming, beautiful Rebecca who tragically died of drowning in a sailing accident a year before the book was set. The new Mrs de Winter moves to Manderly with her husband and throughout the novel she feels that Rebecca's shadow is always looming over her life. Mrs de Winter feels that Rebecca was perfect; the servants loved her, people adored her, Maxim de Winter still loved Rebecca not his new wife.

The main character feels in awe of Rebecca but was she all what everybody thought she was? Can the new Mrs de Winter find out the truth? And does Mrs Danvers (one of the servants) really hate the master's new wife and if she does why is that?

This is a tremendous book, it was the second time that I read it and I still loved it just as much as the first. It was a beautiful, suspenseful, almost evil novel, written in an amazing way. I would definitely recommend this to anyone above 12. I give it a ten out of ten!

Christmas Books

 For Christmas I got six fiction books they were;

1. Eliza Rose by Mary Hooper - a brilliant book set in 1670 all about the adventurous life of Eliza Rose as well as about King Charles II and his many mistresses, I will do a post on it soon, I promise.

2. The Foundling by Georgette Heyer

3.Venita by Georgette Heyer

4. Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer

5. The Convienet Marriage by (guess who) Georgette Heyer.

6. Blood Red Snow White - This book is set in 1917 during the Russian Revoulition and about the life of Arthur Ransome (who wrote the Swallows and Amazon books) who lived in Russia at the time.

I also got three non fiction books:

1. Stitch by Cath Kidston - click here to see the review I have done for this book on my Craft blog

2. Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson - click here to see the review I have done this book on my Craft blog.

3. Why Can't Elephants Jump - a fun book full of the questions and answers of daft science questions that have been sent into the Last Word  column of The New Scientist

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A World Away by Pauline Francis

A World Away tells the story of love, separation and being different.

The book is set in Queen Elizabeth the First's era, it starts off with colonists moving to the USA and trying to start their own colony there.They also try to befriend the natives living there. However their plan doesn't go so well and they end up capturing a young girl called Nadie.

So the colonists make the journey back to England and Nadie soon finds herself living with a priest and his sister in Plymouth. The people living there have never seen a black person before and they are at first wary of her, apart from the young blacksmith of the town, Tom.

Tom and Nadie fall in love but it is impossible for them to have a relationship her being black and because she refused to be baptised (believing in her own gods) mean that she could not be married to him.

But then Nadie has the opportunity to go back to her own land and people, she longs to go but she cannot leave Tom, so Tom agrees to come with her. Nadie is at first disrespected by her people for leaving them (not that she had any choice in the matter) but they agree to take her again but not her loved one.

Will Tom and Nadie ever be able to find love?

A World Away is a brilliant novel and a wonderful, gripping story. I give it an eight out of ten!

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer

OK, sorry that I haven't blogged for ages, again! Recently I have been in love with any Georgette Heyer books; they are light, airy, witty and lovely (if you like historical romances you will love her books). Devil's Cub is probably my favourite yet!

Devil's Cub is the story of the reckless, dashing and young Marquis of Vidal, who is even wilder than his father was. But when he gets into his latest scandal his father makes it clear that he must leave the country. 

So Vidal asks the beautiful but stupid Sophia Challoner if she will run away with him to Paris, however, Sophia's sister, Mary, gets wind of the plot and when the note arrives for Sophia to run Mary goes instead as she is determined for her sister not to end up in ruin. Things don't quite go accordingly to plan as when the Marquis discoverers who Mary really is he drags her of to Paris in her sister's place.

Once in Paris Vidal realises that Mary is not the stupid girl that her sister is but a wise girl who will stand up for herself. The Marquis cannot bring himself to ruin such a girl and so informs her that they must marry. Mary has slowly fallen in love with the Marquis and decides she can't spoil his happiness by marrying him.

Will the Marquis ever fall in love with Mary? This is an excellent and extremely interesting story which is why I am giving it a ten out of ten!