Carry on Regardless by Caroline Frost – Review

Firstly, I’m a huge fan of the Carry On films and their actors. I never tire of the bawdy not-politically-correct humour, filled with risque elements, double entendre comments and saucy seaside postcard gags. A British institution for many years, still watched by generation after generation for its raw, sometimes slapstick but always funny humour.

As the book relates, it was a very different world sixty years ago when the first film arrived in our cinemas. The space race had begun as Sputnik 1 fell to earth and Elvis Presley joined the Army.

The book delves into the personal lives beyond the public and theatrical personas of the actors. Sometimes sad and sometimes happy but always interesting.
It is a beautiful tribute to post-war comedy cinema, well researched and written. Making it a joy to read for anyone interested in this series of comedic adventures.

In many ways, this is quite a sad tale as many of the actors who provided their audiences with so many laughs were quite sad and lonely in their personal lives. Definitely a recommended read.

Thanks to #NetGalley, #PenandSwordBooks and #CarolineFrost for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenwood – Review

Sixteen-year-old Deborah’s identity is shattering as she retreats further from her real world and into her imaginary kingdom of Yr. Sent to a psychiatric hospital she tries to find her way back. This fictionalised autobiography is a wrenching account of mental illness. This was first published in 1966 I believe.

From the beginning the prose is wonderful. The writing is so good with telling descriptions and it just flows beautifully. The subject, however, is quite difficult.

The parents reluctantly agree that their daughter needs professional help as they can no longer cope with her. The characters feel real, well defined and three dimensional. It’s a sad but honest story but quite difficult to read in places. We are constantly reminded of the stigma attached to mental illness.

I’m glad that I read it but would only recommend it to those who either have an interest in mental illness or how the medical world has changed over a few short decades.

My thank to #NetGalley, #PenguinPressUK for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Key Figures Aboard RMS Titanic by Anthony Nicholas – Review

On Sunday 14th April 1912 as the unsinkable RMS Titanic cruised the north Atlantic everything proceeded with an almost dreamlike charm. All of this was suddenly interrupted by an abrupt ‘full astern’ order from Captain Edward J Smith.
It was too late. At 2340 that evening, the starboard bow of the Titanic glanced against a half-submerged iceberg lying in her path. The vessel carried 2207 passengers and crew with lifeboat places for only 1178 of them and she was suddenly sinking 400 miles from any land.

The book is written from the interesting viewpoint of the people on board as opposed to the vessel. This it does very well. There were many heroes on that fateful night, many of them crew members. The book brings to light so many simple acts of valour performed by ordinary men and women. These were regular people who at that moment acted heroically in the face of adversity.

If I have a criticism it’s that the writer repeats quite a lot of the events as he relates individual stories but that is a minor complaint as many of those events are intertwined with human stories.
The whole story of that night and the lives affected in later years are brought to life by some fascinating facts.

I would recommend this book to those, like me, who are interested in the history of this and other disasters.

My thanks to #NetGalley, #PenandSwordHistory and #AnthonyNicholas for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris

Having read the Tattooist of Auschwitz and Three Sisters, by the same author, I was keen to read what is the second book in the trilogy depicting life in Auschwitz – Birkenau. The story, like the others is a bleak one. Based on the true story of Cilka Klein, who was taken to the camp at just sixteen years of age, spotted by the camp commandant because of her striking beauty and kept as his personal play thing.

She endured three years in the infamous death camp and is shocked, one morning, to discover the German guards gone and Russian soldiers in the camp. She quickly realises that they have come to liberate the prison.

Her joy soon turns to misery when they interview her and find that, she has been fraternising with the Germans. Unlike the others in the camp she was well fed, dressed in good clothes but her desire to survive meant she did what she was told.

“Cilka herself does not know how she has always found a way, does not know where that comes from, within herself. She has never wanted to die, despite the horror.”

She is tried by a Russian soldier court and sentenced to fifteen years in a work camp in Vorkuta Gulag, Siberia. Exchanging one nightmare for another hell. She suffers more indignities at the hands of cruel Russian guards and trustees.

As with the other two books, on the same theme, it is well written, pulls no punches and reveals some of the ways that the prisoners fight to survive. Often at the sacrifice of the others around them. The text, in places, flashes back, revealing some of the events which occurred in the German camp so, in essence, it can quite easily be read as a stand alone book.

I found it sympathetic to the circumstances which Cilka found herself in, with ties to the other two novels. For anyone interested in the era, as I am, it would be an essential read. For those wanting to learn about the Holocaust, told by actual survivors it will also suit. Parts of it are quite graphic so for anyone of a sensitive nature this is probably not for you.

The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor

What a gem of a book this is. It’s funny, scary, sad and happy and really well written. I was surprised to find that the author is a woman as the chief protagonist is male. We follow his hap hazard childhood with his gang of friends through to adulthood. With all the stresses and tensions of life thrown into a small Southern English town. Well paced and written and a pretty original storyline which keeps the reader, well this reader, interested and wanting more right up until the last page. It was one of those books I couldn’t put down but feel a bit lost because it’s ended.

To say this is a first book from this author I would suspect there are many more to come. I, for one, will eagerly await the next one.

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New Year Resolutions

We’re well into January now and all those good intentions should be firmly taking route. Dry January, Gym visits, Smoking patches, and the dreaded Diet , etc means we should all be feeling pretty good about ourselves and our new regimes.

Sadly, for most of us, that will not be the case. My promise to myself (I find it easier not to proclaim my resolutions to anyone but myself.) has already fallen at the first hurdle. My 2018 To-do-list is topped by:

Write a blog post every week.

Second is: Edit a scene from the first draft of my novel every day.

Both of these, sadly, have failed to happen as life, like so often happens, has gotten in the way. So I’ve managed neither of those but I intend to change that and pretend that today is New Years Day and in my new world calendar I’m starting as I mean to go on.

So everything is reset, my new list is on track, I feel inspired and renewed and all is well with the world. Perhaps.

Picture Story – Writing 101 – Day 4

They do say that every picture tells a story, well for me they do. But how do I get the picture?

I’m quite a keen photographer, although I don’t blog about it. There are much better picture takers than me who do, so I’m happy to let them. There are a couple of snaps on this blog but they are just snaps. I own quite a nice DSLR camera with various interchangeable lenses and a smaller point and shoot camera, but the strange thing is that most of my shots, these days, are taken using my phone. The cameras only come out when I pre-plan what I’m going to take pictures of. I don’t really have the patience to hang around for hours to get that all important shot; the one that everyone will love. I find that most of my photo opportunities come upon me suddenly, when I don’t have a camera with me. I always carry my phone.

I’ve always owned a camera and, at one time, I used to carry it with me everywhere, but not any more. In fact, I don’t think I’ll buy another camera I’ll just make sure I buy phones which are capable of taking decent pictures. I could never have imagined, as a small boy given a Kodak Box Brownie camera, that I would now forsake the camera in favour of a phone. Amazing.

Why I Write

I write because I love the journey my writing takes me on. I love how the characters form their own personalities on the page as my mind adds ‘what if’s’ to their personalities. I like to be carried along as the plot twists and turns as they take on form and make their own decisions.

Sometimes I feel that I have no control over the events unfolding on the page before me

What is it about Wednesday’s ?

Wednesday is thought by some to be the link between weekends. For those of us who work Monday to Friday, Wednesday is the middle support column of the bridge we call the working week. It can also be the day when the realisation dawns that less than half the work has been completed, placing pressure on us to catch up or worse, tell the boss things are running late. So are we guilty of wishing our lives away? Americans often refer to it as ‘Hump day’ as we move from the upward slope of Monday and Tuesday but before we commence the downward glide towards the following weekend. It’s the day that all children born on are ‘Full of woe’ according to the folk rhyme. Solomon Grundy was married on Wednesday. Sheffield has a football team named after it. ‘Ash Wednesday’ is the first day of Lent in the Christian calendar. So forget Happy Monday’s, Pancake Tuesday, Maundy Thursday and Black Friday; enjoy Wednesday, it’s just another day.