I spotted this book when it was first released in paperback. I almost bought it then remembered that I could purchase it on the way back to the car, then promptly forgot. I ordered it from Amazon and it arrived the next day. I set about reading immediately; I was drawn in my the prologue alone.
It is not a book that you can read cover to cover, completing in a few days. I read in chapters and took a few weeks to complete the book, not because it was heavy going or difficult to read, but because I needed to think between chapters and reflect.
Whatever our personal circumstances, we are in many ways determined by our genetics and the blood that runs through our veins, whether or not we know those people. In the prologue to the book the author talks of a visit to India and visiting a cousin who had a mental illness diagnosis and had been confined to an appropriate hospital. In may ways, the circumstances for those with this diagnosis is tragic and those left behind struggle with acceptance and the stigma that is attached to that.
Like the author, my Grandfather had a first cousin who was confined to such a hospital from an early age. She remained there for decades until the Government began closing the facilities and selling off the land and promoting “care in the community”. By that point she was totally institutionalised, but went to live with her brother who condemned their father for putting her through that. I remember explaining to the two of them, that in the early part of the 20th Century and prior, many conditions that are treatable today were not then and furthermore, were not explainable. Conditions such as Epilepsy and even dementia like symptoms as a result of a untreated Thyroid condition all were treated the same, rightly or wrongly, as mental illness. We have come a long way in a short space of time in that regards, yet the stigma for some conditions remains and for some, the damage of decades of incorrect treatment and diagnosis remains; furthermore, a diagnosis and the modern knowledge may simply be too late to reverse the situation, which is thoroughly tragic on many levels. We can not condemn the past on the knowledge of the present.
The book has made it to my favourite list because I walked away from it reflecting and contemplating the medical conditions of the cousin mentioned above and even my late Mum, who did not have a mental health condition. She had Polio as a child and the effects of that, both at the time and decades later were not understood then and in some cases even now. I will write about that later this year when I unveil a project I have been working on!
Any book that makes you think, both as you read it and for days, weeks, months afterwards is, in my book (no pun intended!) a good one. The book has done it’s job, in educating, providing knowledge, thought, reflection and understanding all in addition to be a pleasure to read. In fact when Amazon had the Kindle version on sale at 99p earlier this year I bought that too, because at that price why not!
We are determined by those that went before us and that is why many of us spend decades researching the lives of our ancestors. It too is why some of us have undertaken DNA tests as a way of connecting with others with whom we share an ancestral link. I am no DNA expert, but more and more I am seeing the benefit of those tests. I will write about DNA tests, projects and my results later in the year.
The webinar I jointly presented with Michael Cassara on Tuesday 21st August is now available on the 
Next Tuesday, 21st August 2018 the Guild of One-Name Studies will be offering their latest webinar in their 7 Pillars series.
For reasons I cannot explain this book has become a favourite. It is a shame that this likely first book about Bullet planning was published by someone who did not devise the concept, but such is life!
Whilst this book has hit my favourites list it almost did not. This is a not a substantial book in terms of pages, there are over 350, but in terms of contents and historical scope.
It has been a long time since I read Atonement by Ian McEwan, I pulled my copy off the shelf and the within a few pages of the first chapter could spot my books for this 
When The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton was first published I really wanted to be able to get into the book. I had spotted it in the window of Waterstones, but there was something that just didn’t click for me. Then at Christmas the BBC released their three part series based on the book and I really enjoyed it. I decided to try again with the book and was not disappointed this time.
The Coffee Trader by David Liss is one of my favourite books and I probably read it every few years. I then went onto read other books written by Liss, including one called The Day of Atonement.
Midnight Blue is about the birth of Delft pottery and set in what is described as the “Dutch golden age” when Dutch trading ships were bring back discoveries and wares from the Far East. It is a lovely book and the cover is just “perfect”.
As the same time as the Dutch Empire was shaping and dominating parts of the world so too was the British Empire and here enters my next book, which has been brilliantly researched and is filled with examples of how the foods from parts of the Empire were used. There is an extensive bibliography and notes section.
My next book links in to the Empire and a significant commodity that was adapted and exported, drunk the world over and that is Tea. This is the first of a series, The Tea Planter’s Daughter. You can view the series 
And the last book in the 
I was a late starter with the Harry Potter series.
This is a page from my planner from last Friday. I had no appointments or timed specific matters, so the page has my to do list. If I had a timed appointment after I started the to do list I would have either written in a different colour or highlighted it so it was not missed. In some ways I use a bullet system, I number my tasks, a tick means I achieved the task and the > means I migrated the task to a different day, sometimes that is the next day and on other occasions it is a few days later.
On occasions I have lots of both appointments and items to do, in that case I write the additional few on a post it note and stick it in. I retain that post it note too and often use washi tape to fix it in.
