Maeve Binchy

I was really sorry to hear that Maeve Binchy had died, because she was a great influence in getting me started with writing.
One wet Bank Holiday weekend, we had our village fete, but it poured. It took twenty minutes to rush round and look at the stalls and then rush home to get dry again. However, Scarlet Feather had caught my eye on the second hand book stall and I bought it to take home and read and I loved it.
Being busy with a young family, I had only time to read on holidays, but now that they were older, although I still felt guilty at having some 'me time', I worked my way through all her novels, revelling in her magical stories. This led me on to trying other novelists like Joanne Harris and Anita Shreve, and soon I was thinking that maybe I could try writing myself. And so I did.
So thank you, Maeve, for all your wonderful stories.
Which is your favourite Maeve Binchy book?

The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards is a beautiful book for summer reading.

I've just finished The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards, and it is one of the most beautiful books that I've ever read, and I'm only sorry that I couldn't fly out to the Finger Lakes Region in New York State where fictional town of The Lake of Dreams is set to take a more worthy picture for this blog.
The style reminds me of Anita Shreve, but it is deeper and more searching emotionally. Motifs such as dreams, glass, locks, people and places lost and found, are woven seemingly effortlessly into the story of Lucy who returns home to The Lake of Dreams to try to come to terms with the death of her father ten years before. However, she finds some clues in the old family house which lead her to her ancestor, Rose, who has been written out of the family history, and she is compelled to find out why.
Lucy's relationships also play a large part in the story: with her lover, her old boyfriend back at the lake, and with her family: her mother and brother; her uncle and her cousin. All come into play in solving the family mystery.
I haven't read The Memory Keeper's Daughter, also by Kim Edwards, yet, but I think I will in the near future.
Have you read either of these books? What did you think?
Have you been to the Finger Lakes?

Tweet Right by Nicola Morgan is the Sensible Person's Guide to Twitter!

I tweeted for the first time on February 26th 2012, and although Twitter tells me that I've tweeted 166 times since, I haven't been at all sure that I'm tweeting right, so this is why I recently downloaded Tweet Right by Nicola Morgan onto my Kindle.
Nicola takes you step by step through setting up on Twitter and tells you amongst other things about etiquette, blogging and finding followers. I now know the difference between DM (Direct Message) and DH (Darling Husband), so that can't be bad!
Although I read it through from beginning to end, I think that I'll use it for reference too.
My Twitter address is @jean_bull
I hope to hear from you soon!

Recipe for Life by Nicky Pellegrino is a Delicious Read on an Italian Holiday!

Two things - firstly I love finding novels set in the the places I visit and secondly, Italy always makes me think of lemons, so there are some in my photo.
As I said in my blog about The Midwife of Venice, I found it very difficult to find novels actually set in Venice, so the other book I took was Recipe for Life by Nicky Pellegrino, set in southern Italy, but that wasn't really a hardship!
It's a beautiful story told in alternate chapters about Alice, who has suffered an unspeakable trauma in her life and wants to become a chef to prove she can do something, and Babetta, an old Italian lady, who looks after the garden belonging to the mother of Alice's friend, Leila.
Gradually, over time the two ladies meet and their lives are changed eventually for the better.
Nicky Pellegrino loves food and loves writing about food and its preparation, both in the restaurants that Alice works in in London and in the lovely Villa Rosa in Italy.
"Already there was the sweet smell of frying onions leaking from the door. . .'
It makes me want to get out my Le Creuset and start chopping! There's plenty of love life for Alice: her old boyfriend, Charlie; Tonino, her boss and Lucio, his brother who runs a pizzeria in the fictitious town of Triento, and it is intriguing to work out which one she will end up with.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I will look out for more by this author.
Have you read any Nicky Pellegrino novels?

Be Inspired Award

Rosemary Gemmell has nominated me for the Be Inspired Award! Thanks, Rosemary, and may I say that your blogs have been an inspiration to me, especially Reading and Writing, and Flights of Imagination about writing your children's book, Summer of the Eagles which I really enjoyed, not having read many children's books for quite a while.
In accepting the award, I have to answer the following questions which I will base on my novel, Gipsy Moth.

What gave you the idea for your book?
I love Devon and wanted to set a romance there. However in doing my research, I found out about Haldon Aerodrome and Amy Johnson's solo flight to Australia, and the story, so to speak, just took off.

How long did it take to write overall?
Several years, but I started from scratch, and learnt to write as I went along. I also took out two years to concentrate on writing short stories.

What kept you going when you were half way through?
I kept going because I wanted to see my novel finished and on the shelf in a bookshop and possibly advertised on a curved wall on the London Underground!
Are any of your characters based on real people, even though you have to say they aren’t?
Not really, but Kathy represents the problems young women faced in the 1930s. Freedom to learn to drive a car, or fly an aeroplane, but not the freedom to raise a child on their own.
Did you ever wonder if you’d have the work published?
All the time, but I believed in the story: I still do, that was why I self-published. I wanted to share it with everyone. 
When you’ve had one book published, do you feel under pressure with the next one?
Yes, because I've learned such a lot that I want to try again and get another book published with a mainstream publisher.
Would you write in a different genre next time, or do you always stick with what you know?
My new book is still a romance, but set mainly in the present.
Do you prefer writing a novel, or short stories?
Both. I liked the variety of short stories. I entered the competitions in Writers' Forum and Writing Magazine each month, and although WF would accept any subject, WM prescribed what you should write about and that was quite a challenge. I did manage to get short-listed twice and came second in one of the WM competitions. Also I learnt a great deal from the feedback I got from Lorraine Mace at WF.
Do you use everyday happenings in your writing?
Yes, I use my experiences and adapt stories I hear and events I see. I think it would be very difficult to write in a vacuum.
If your book was to be on TV who would play the lead male and female roles?
I'm not sure, maybe I'd chose James McAvoy for Ben, and Keira Knightly for Kathy. They were fantastic in Atonement, even if they don't exactly match the characters I had in mind. 



I would now like to pass the Be Inspired Award and questions to:
Rebecca Emin, Angela Bell, Janice Horton, Debs Carr and Jen Black. I'm looking forward to reading your answers!

The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich- A good read for a trip to Venice

 I wanted a book to read on a recent trip to Venice, and saw The Midwife of Venice in Sainsbury's. I wasn't sure whether I'd like it because it was set in 1575, but as Venice hasn't changed much over the centuries, it was interesting to identify the places that Roberta Rich mentioned. One of these was the Campo de Ghetto Novo where Jews were, amongst other things, locked up at night, and made to wear red hats during the day to distinguish them from Christians.
It is here that Hannah lived, working as a midwife whilst her husband, Isaac, set sail for Constantinople, hoping to make a fortune, only to be captured as a slave in Malta.
When Hannah is implored by a Christian count to deliver his wife's baby, she agrees and gets enough money to buy Isaac's freedom, but things turn out to be not that simple.
The story is set in Venice and Valetta, as the couple struggle to get back together. The characters and setting are well drawn, and I was gripped by the story, hoping to find out if they would be reunited.

In Venice, there is only one piazza: the Piazza San Marco. All the other less important squares are called campo which means field.
The word ghetto, comes from the Italian geto, meaning foundry, which used to occupy the site.

The fabulous thing about Venice is that you will not be disappointed, because it looks exactly as it does in the guide books and on films and TV.

However, it was difficult to find a novel about Venice - there are plenty about Tuscany!
Can you recommend a good one?

Happy 70th Birthday, Paul!

Sir Paul McCartney has been flying the flag for Britain ever since The Beatles put Liverpool on the map back in 1962 with Love Me Do leading to phenomenal worldwide success.
In the Sixties, I could only dream about going to a Beatles' concert, and had to make do with seeing A Hard Day's Night at the Odeon, just once, until years later, it was shown on TV at Christmas. No videos, DVD and Sky in those days!
One happy memory was buying about two feet of Beatles' wallpaper for my bedroom wall for one shilling and three pence (about 6p these days). The man in the decorating shop told us how to attach it to the existing wallpaper with dressmaking pins. I've just looked on eBay and a similar piece has sold for £27.99! I should have held on to mine.
Eventually, my dreams came true, and I got to see Paul at the NEC in Birmingham in early January 1990 in his tour Tripping the Live Fantastic. We all stood and danced in our seats as he sang songs from his time with The Beatles to Flowers in the Dirt, his latest album.

Three years ago, I finally visited Liverpool! Here I am outside 20 Forthlin Road, where Paul spent his teenage years. It is a National Trust property now (Fame at last, ha, ha!) and they do guided tours.  It was fabulous to see the actual spot where he and John Lennon sat to write I Saw Her Standing There, and walk round the house that would have been so familiar to him.
In 2010, I managed to get tickets for Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park with Paul the headliner, WOW!
We got there at 12 and picnicked. By 2.30 it was filling up, and we stood until 7.30 with the temperature in the 30s. Then, there he was on the stage, and we didn't feel tired anymore. Neither did he, because he played for three hours without a break! Everyone joined in young and old, and amazingly everyone, young and old, knew the words. The top photo shows how close we got to him. It was unbelievable! Really, if you haven't sung Hey Jude with Paul and thousands of his fans on a hot June night, under the stars, you haven't lived!
On June 4th, 2012, Peter Kay introduced him in the Jubilee concert as 'the biggest influence on popular music the world has ever known  . . . they don't come much bigger than that!'
Happy Birthday, Paul! And many more of them!
Have you ever seen Paul McCartney or any of the other Beatles?