Today Padawan Learner went off to tennis camp. By camp I mean a day of tennis at the courts 5 minutes up the road.
Meanwhile I was content to hang around the house because I was determined to finish Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell at some point this holidays.
Blossom, however, had other ideas. Blossom's idea of a holiday is not sitting around reading a book. Her preference is to go shopping. Any kind of shopping. Instead I convinced her to try her hand at cooking. She knows Queenie cooks and even though Queenie comes from superb cooking-skill stock she thought she could give it a go.
Here is the result:
Meanwhile I was content to hang around the house because I was determined to finish Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell at some point this holidays.
Blossom, however, had other ideas. Blossom's idea of a holiday is not sitting around reading a book. Her preference is to go shopping. Any kind of shopping. Instead I convinced her to try her hand at cooking. She knows Queenie cooks and even though Queenie comes from superb cooking-skill stock she thought she could give it a go.
Here is the result:
Choc Chip Cookies. Yum. The recipe was sent to me by a great college friend. It's her mum's recipe and it has just the right combination of crunch and softness, if that makes sense. Blossom did everything herself and I think she did a great job. However, she wasn't so keen on the cleaning up bit.
I did eventually get back to my reading. Padawan Learner was so exhausted from his day of tennis that he was in bed by 6.45pm which meant that Blossom and I had a few hours of quiet activity downstairs. The TV went off, the music went on, Blossom did Sudoku puzzles and I finished the book.
I did eventually get back to my reading. Padawan Learner was so exhausted from his day of tennis that he was in bed by 6.45pm which meant that Blossom and I had a few hours of quiet activity downstairs. The TV went off, the music went on, Blossom did Sudoku puzzles and I finished the book.
I loved this book (all 1006 pages people, 1006). A definite 9 out of 10 from me. I've never shied away from fantasy and this combination of fantasy with the linguistic stylings of Jane Austen and a slow-revealing impossibly detailed depth really drew me in.
The book is set between 1806 and 1817 and is described in the blurb as: "...an epic tale of nineteenth century England and the two magicians who emerge to change its history". It's skill is being set in an alternate reality that is so close to the actual historical reality that you want to believe it is reality.
Oh, and it also has humour. One of my favourite bits:
Oh, and it also has humour. One of my favourite bits:
When he awoke it was dawn. Or something like dawn. The light was watery, dim and incomparably sad. Vast, grey, gloomy hills rose up all around them and in between the hills there was a wide expanse of black bog. Stephen had never seen a landscape so calculated to reduce the onlooker to utter despair in an instant.
"This is one of your kingdoms, I suppose, sir?" he said
"My Kingdoms?" exclaimed the gentleman in surprize (sic). "Oh, no! This is Scotland!"
6 comments:
The Mr Strange book sounds fascinating - I'm putting it on my must-read list!
And tell Blossom that the cookies look great.
Hehehehehehe...that book could be worth reading for the Scotland joke alone! And I'm allowed to laugh at it, having blood that is practically tartan.
1006 pages scares me. Although I'm very intrigued by the fact that it shares the exact same timeframe as The Secret River (which also starts in 1806). BUT 1006 pages? I'm not sure I could do that, and have a life at the same time.
KB's cookies look great! She'll have to perfect a wheat-free version before my next visit.
Just when I was looking for some reading inspiration.
Excellent.
As are the cookies by the looks of it - recipe?
I LOVED this book. I read it over Christmas during my son's play rehearsals. I was so into the book that I'm sure the other parents must have thought I was snotty and rude. I couldn't tear myself away from the pages to be sociable. I inhaled it.
Oh, I love a biscuit with crunch and softness. My resident baker is living in France. I may need a care package sent to me...
Mrs G, I agree. I so wish the book hadn't ended, yet. I started to panic at the last 250 pages - is this all? How could it finish so soon?
Mary, Tracey: recipe posted.
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