Library Loot – 15-21st May

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Julie Goucher

Well I have just managed to sneak in before another week passes by. In the last week I have been into the library twice. On Saturday to renew a book and I also managed to leave with another one.

On Fishing by Brian Clarke
Now this is not my usual read, but I spotted it, picked it up to see what it was about and it looked appealing.

The Sister by Poppy Adams
Then today was the monthly book group meeting. A week earlier than usual because next Monday in the UK is a public holiday.

The book we discussed was The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams. We had almost a full house and whilst there was two readers who thought it was OK, but not fabulous there were some who thought it great. To see my opinion keep reading  – a little later this week the review will be up!

White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in…
Our next read is this fascinating account by William Dalrymple and is appropriately timed, given my interest in India.

I also managed to leave with these two books, one of which is a reborrow and a re read based on a few blog posts from Kristen at Finding Eliza

Trace Your Roots with DNA: Use Your DNA to…

Writing Your Family History: A Practical…

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time.

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The In-Depth Genealogist – Digital Magazine – Issue 4 – OUT NOW!

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Julie Goucher
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The next issue of the free digital magazine is available NOW!

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Enjoy this digital edition of the magazine? then why not stop by The In-Depth Genealogist and read the

You can read my Introduction post HERE and you can follow the column by visiting The In-Depth Genealogist website and subscribing via email or via twitter and Facebook.
This is a great addition to the genealogy market and I am very proud to be a part of it.
Happy reading & researching!
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Treasure Chest Thursday – The Agricultural Notebook by Primrose McConnell BSc

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Julie Goucher
What a great little book this is. Essentially an early 20th Century farming and agricultural labouring encylopedia. 
The first edition was published in 1883, towards the end of the Victorian era, although this 9th Edition was published in 1919.

This 9th Edition contains a dedication to the author by his father as the author died in the last months of the First World War.

I get a sense with this book, of a labourer or farmer sitting at his table pondering on the details contained within the pages.  How to grow Sainfoin (page 222), Mowing and haymaking (page 79), Ear marking of cattle for registration (page 405), Analysing cream (page 346) or the complexities of milk secretion (page 346). 
Fascinating!

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Murder by the Homeplace by William Leverne Smith

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Julie Goucher

From the back cover

 “A police radio scanner call of ‘419’ – “dead human body” – on a bucolic fall afternoon in the south-central Missouri Ozarks small town of Oak Springs sends a part-time local newspaper reporter, Penny Nixon, on the adventure of her life-time. Warned by her editor to only look for ‘human-interest angles’ to the story, her actions bring her perilously close to interviewing the knife-wielding perpetrator of a bizarre murder. The victim is a recently disgraced young attorney who only weeks earlier was involved in a domestic violence incident with his ‘banker’s daughter’ bride in this quiet small town.”

This week see’s the launch of the book tour for the latest edition to the fictional Home Place Series by Dr Bill. 

 This recent novella is set in the fall (Autumn if your this side of the pond!) of 1987, just after Back to the Homeplace

Author

Dr. Bill is a life-long learner with a passion for family history and, more generally, the social history of each of his ancestors and their descendants. He enjoys writing on various platforms and venues, including six blogs, novels, non-fiction books and ebooks, three topics published at Examiner.com .

He is author of The Heritage Tourist column published at the digital magazine The In-Depth Genealogist.

Check out Dr. Bill’s first novel, “Back to the Homeplace,” which is a family saga loosely based on my family history research and life through the years; and blog: The Home Place Series He can also be found at Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories: Dr Bill Tells Ancestor Stories

Review

 I thoroughly enjoyed this novella, I liked the characters; they were well developed. The central character called Penny is a newspaper reporter/freelance writer and I liked the way the storyline was written, in a conversationalist style.

As a reader it was almost possible to walk alongside Penny as she seeks and uncovers information through her interview skills. The moment I started reading the novella had a feel of Kinsey Malone from the Alphabet series by Sue Grafton and I smiled as Dr Bill threw that bit in too!

This does not feel like a regular who done it, but as a gentle mystery, as the character teases the information from her interviewees. Written in a diary style it is easy to keep track of the flow of information as the story builds.

I really must seek out the rest of the series.

 Disclaimer – I was provided with a copy by the author in exchange for an honest review.

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How to Write Good by John Vorhaus

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Julie Goucher

How to Write Good by John Vorhaus
This is the latest read for the Progressive Book Club.

This was a quick read with only 104 pages, but this book does leave a lasting impression. A quote that I particularly liked was this one;

“These days I can’t wait to write”

The book, perhaps aimed as being inspirational was just that for me. The book steers the reader on dealing with writers block, being focused and having a plan of action.

The author uses the word whimsy, which to me means free of restraints and without fear of reprisals or alike.

Writers should write everyday, but is this the case? Isn’t that bringing rules into writing? Writers should feel inspired enough to write and if they do not feel inspired today then don’t write, the risk is, that perhaps tomorrow you won’t feel inspired either and after a week of not writing….So is writing something that is not brilliant, in your opinion, better than not writing at all?

Having read this book I made some notes on thoughts that occurred to me.

  1. Always get dressed. As someone who in a previous working life did work from home it is a slippery slope writing in your PJs. I always got dressed into something comfy, but by getting dressed you are sending yourself (and others) a message that you are working.
  2. Forcing writing means that something you enjoyed doing becomes something that you do not enjoy. 
  3. On days when the writing does not flow are days when you can seek inspiration and explore. Often revisiting previous work or notes provides the inspiration for something else.
  4. Perfect never happens first time and I personally never get rid of a piece of work. I edit a copy, so I always have the original.
  5. Always carry a notebook & pen. Inspiration can happen at anytime and should be recorded, even if it is a series of bullet points.
So do I write everyday? Yes I do. I keep a daily journal filled with all sorts. I also try and blog everyday and  I often take part in memes, these are mainly genealogical and helps me get some focus. By reading other blogs I am occasionally inspired. I will give an example; 
I often take part in Sepia Saturday where we can share images and stories. One of the participants often makes the most wonderful collages. Which lead to someone else producing a collage. I remarked that perhaps each of the pictures should have some data attached to it. As a way of support the February Photo Collage Challenge was born and a group of us shared images and info.
For me this book is added to my writers toolbox because I liked the writing style and more importantly it made me think and reflect.

Taking part in the Progressive Book Club
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Travel Tuesday – Top Picks – Migration

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Julie Goucher

Where ever we live the in the world there is a huge amount of migration and emigration. That is not new. Whereas now we travel many miles by plane our ancestors and forebears travelled those many miles by boat.

Where ever they came from migrants bought with them bits of their culture, whether that was a recipe from another land, a bag of spices or an object or the passing down or a tradition. We now live in a true multi cultural world.

The United Kingdom is in an extraordinary position, it sits within the confines of Europe, whilst has historical links to many, many parts of the world under the then umbrella of the British Empire.

Therefore there was always going to be movement from parts of the former British Empire to the shores of the UK, but we also attracted people from all over Europe escaping persecution from their native lands.

Here is my top 10 of fascinating sites looking at migration.

  • Website – Moving Here – Explores why there was so much migration to the UK over the last 200 years. Look at the links page – lots of fascinating sites to explore.
  • Book – The Last Pink Bits by Harry Richie is a fascinating account of the British Empire, which covered a quarter of the globe and a million people when it was at its. Book published in 1998 by Hodder & Stoughton – ISBN – 978-0340666838
  • Website – Windrush was the name of the ship which brought immigrants from the Caribbean to Tilbury Docks in England.
  • Video – Windrush video located at the UK’s only digital on line TV channel
  • Website & Society – Hugenot Society – Exploring the migration of Protestants from 16th Century France to Great Britain and Ireland – Pay particular attention to the Family History section.
  • Website – Moroccan Memories in Britain
  • Podcasts – A really valuable and varied set of podcasts provided by The National Archives including how immigrants were treated during periods of War, Migration from 16th – 20th Century.
  • Website – BBC – The story of the Italians in Britain during WWII
  • Book – Italian Immigrants in Nineteenth Century Britain: Reality and Images Leicester University Press, 1988, by Lucio Sponza – This is a fascinating account of migration from Italy to Britain. The period is a bit early for my family history, but it gives a great amount of detail and is a great read.
  • Family History Societies

Have fun exploring all these fascinating migratory sources, of course there are many, many more. If you have one you recommend, why not leave a comment?

This was first published at The In-Depth Genealogist – the digi map for all genealogists.

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Interior of Guildford Congregational Church circa 1908

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Julie Goucher

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Sunday Salon – Check In!

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Julie Goucher

It has been about 6 weeks since I posted a Sunday Salon. Where does the time go? I have been busy reading, sorting and culling ready for our house move.

Pigeon English by Stephen KelmanReading is once again my release valve and I seem to have picked up the slack of reading which is great. My local book group met as always on the fourth Monday of the month and the meeting was the discussion for the Book Pigeon English. The discussion that followed was very enjoyable and I always find it fascinating the different things each one of us takes from reading the same book.

Meanwhile, two online book groups read for April Friendship Bread by Darien Gee. I am still reading, savouring each turn of the page. The next book for the Full Bowl of Lemons book group is the Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom which I ordered from the library and collected yesterday.  Marigold’s Loft book group have selected The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe.

I spent the rest of April participating in the A-Z April Challenge. This is the 3rd year I have taken part. The first year I was random in my postings.Each day was different . Last year I wrote about Australia, my previous trips, genealogical research and this year again was Australia based upon my trip last year. I am now pondering on what to choose for 2014. I always write my posts early which in theory gives me April to visit other participants. This year I failed miserably. The house sale and pending move along with the cull of genealogical papers, books and other items gradually taking it’s toll.

Just to finish. Today is Mass Observation Study day, where those in the UK can share their daily diary and email across to the project. You can read the details HERE

Until next time!

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Ramblings from my Desk…..(12)

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Julie Goucher

We had a house viewing earlier today, which was rather handy as we had already decided to take a run out with Alfie to look at where our new home is going to be.

Alfie was quite happy in the back of our car with his bed and his toy bunny! as we travelled along the A30. The views are lovely although it was a dull day.

As we approached our destination we had a lovely view of the green trees.

We parked up in the area which is going to be where the master bedroom will be situated. This will be our view.
The field here is protected so we will always have this view and there was the sound of Baa from the resident sheep. Alfie was fairly curious. We have no idea if he has seen sheep before.
So, we are now waiting for a buyer for our house, but in the meantime we have paid our deposit and our new home will be here. I am a visual person, so I find it generally quite hard to picture what will be here. We have been lucky that we looked at one of the vacant properties, just to the right, which was actually sold whilst we were viewing! At some point in the near future our 3 bedroom home with NO stairs! will be here
On the way home we crossed Dartmoor rather than take a more direct route. This weekend is the Ten Tors Challenge, so Dartmoor was full of people in walking parties in addition to the usual tourists. It was gloomy and in the main dry, but the Moor can be inhospitable if you don’t know how to look after yourself.
Here are a few shots – 

Dartmoor Pony
Dartmoor is host to sheep, cows and of course the ponies. They wander freely and have complete disregard for the road. This chap above was simply walking along the side of the road. Alfie was quite taken with him and was standing up with his paws again the boot looking out wandering what on earth it was. Bless him!
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Bramley – Jolly Farmer – Circa 1910

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Julie Goucher

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