Angela's Ashes

Frank McCourt has written this book (in 1996) about his early life as a desperately poor existence in Ireland.  He treats the topic with accuracy and detail.  And a certain acceptance of the way it was.  No whining.  I found it a bit depressing but in the end  I admired his ability to portray a segment of his personal life in a fairly objective way.

Better with Buttermilk

The subtitle of Lee Edwards Benning's informative book is 'the Secret Ingredient in old-fashioned cooking'.  What an eye opener.  As a lover of real, simple ingredient cooking and old fashioned tasty products, this book is amazing.  There is even a recipe for making your own butter extender using buttermilk.

My Passion for Design

This beautiful book by Barbra Streisand is a great lazy afternoon curled up on the couch read.  Loads of pictures and lots of back story on her collecting and travels.  And of course she had a beautiful house (or houses I should say) to work on.  And she is very fond of roses hence the rose picture from my garden.

Manufacturing Guilt, wrongful convictions in Canada

Dawn Anderson & Barrie Anderson point out the mistakes and wrongful convictions of people in Canada accused and convicted of serious crimes.  It is very interesting especially as most of the cases are ones I remember hearing about in the news.

It also points up the fallibility of our judicial system - judges, lawyers, police and even the witnesses that were coerced and bought off.  Yikes an indictment to be sure.  However, it must not be forgotten that these cases are the few. (very few)  And that as a result of these high profile cases changes have been made to the system to help in the future.

Very interesting read though.

Wicked All Day

This new episode in the series is about Zoe and her Marquess.  Of course it looks very bad at the beginning but they all manage to sort themselves out in the end.  Opps, did I spoil it.  Oh, right, it's a romance so that's how they all go.  Liz Carlyle is a favourite of mine and this series about the Scots (Lord Rannoch and Evangeline ) carries on in grand style.

Guided by a Stone-Mason

Thomas Maude leads you through an exploration of the cathedrals, abbeys and churches of Britain in this small book.

It was an informative read set out like you are on a walking tour of the cathedrals without the walking.  He explores the bones of the church in a structural way that makes you feel that you will see any old building with new eyes.

When our children were young we travelled and churches were often on the agenda.  They were beautiful, free, and usually welcoming to families.  Many of his descriptions reminded me of the cathedrals I have seen in Halifax, Montreal, Seattle, Salt Lake City.  Perhaps not even all very old.  It is a testament to the early stone masons that with our modern materials we wish to repeat the patterns from a thousand years ago.