A Matter of Choice

I have always been an avid reader and yet apart one a couple of instances of writing something in return for a copy of a book, I've never felt the urge to comment on one before. That is until I read 'The Sunrise', a novel by Victoria Hislop set in Famagusta, Cyprus and centered around the Turkish invasion of 1974. 'The Sunrise'  tells the story of three families in Famagusta from the sunny days of 1972 when tourism brings riches to Cyprus, to 1974 when a Greek coup forces the island into chaos. Greek Cypriots flee in one direction, Turkish Cypriots flee in the other, and the Turkish army invades under the pretext to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority. The city of Famagusta empties as people run for their lives.  The story is based around three families, the Papacostas, the Ozkans, and the Georgious. as the Turkish army advances the inhabitants of Famagusta flee the city in fear of their lives but the Ozkans and Georgious are left behind, hiding in their own...

Although I enjoy cooking I find I'm still not very organised about it, I buy the same things over and over again and rarely plan more than 24 hours in advance. I always have a vague idea in my head that I will make a plan and decide on a weeks' meals in advance therefore saving me the time of staring blankly into cupboards each day hoping for inspiration but I never seem to get round to it. Over the years I hate to think of how much food I must have thrown away, before the arrival of Leo it would often be a last minute decision to go to the pub from work and not eating a proper dinner or the bright idea of some healthy eating which wore off as the fresh veg brought enthusiastically wore off as it went bad. These days with money being tight I'm always racking my brains as to how I can save money, and make good meals inexpensively so I was excited to receive a copy of The Thrifty Cookbook.  Apparently over 6.7 million ton...

Many years ago on one of my regular library trips with my Dad, I chose a random book which caught my eye - London Pride by Beryl Kingston. It was I think the first book got from the adult section, I remember feeling very grown up to be able to leave the kids area behind along with it's Nancy Drew and Sweet Valley High! London Pride' started me on a love of wartime stories and since then I've read countless different ones, so I was very excited to read 'Maidens' Trip' by Emma Smith. 'A Wartime adventure on the Grand Union Canal'  as I've spent time on the Grand Union myself. Maidens' Trip is the memoir of Emma, who in 1943 at the age of 18 left her middle class background and joined the Grand Union Canal Carrying company under their wartime scheme of employing women to replace the boaters. They very quickly learn, by necessity how to handle a pair of 72 foot long boats, while carrying a cargo of steel from London to Birmingham, and coal f...

We recently told Leo that 'Mummy has a baby in her belly', he obviously had no idea what we were talking about and after looking interested for about 10 seconds promptly asked for his trains!   Since then it's been mentioned a bit more and although I'm sure he has no idea what it really means he talks about it of his own accord. I've been trying to explain that he was once in my belly too - he nods and says he knows and he remembers being there, I get the feeling he is humouring me most of the time, I think Daddy must have told him to just 'smile and agree' most of the time! A more effective way, I thought was to find a book to help explain. 'When the World Was Waiting for You' is a board book designed to help prepare children for the arrival of a sibling or learn about their own arrival. Leo wasn't initially impressed with the book but I had made the mistake of giving him The Wide Mouthed Frog book first, and that must be more exciting...