Notes of Life

This squirrel is a regular visitor to our garden and we don’t mind putting some food out for them. I know some people consider squirrels (especially grey squirrels here in the UK) to be vermin, however I quite like them and find them to be interesting creatures.

If you are interested in wildlife, please check out my review of Johnny Kingdom’s West Country Tales. While it’s full of myths, legends and Johnny’s stories from the West Country, wildlife is a running theme throughout it. Johnny Kingdom is well known in the UK for being a wildlife expert, in fact he’s a bit of a national treasure!

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Posted for Camera Critters. Why not join in?!

Author: Johnny Kingdom
Publisher: Bantam Press
ISBN: 978-0-59306-652-2

Johnny Kingdom is a wildlife expert and filmmaker who has grown up and lived in Exmoor all his life. His knowledge of wildlife and the area of the West Country is second to none, and he’s a national treasure (at least he should be, if he isn’t already!). It is always a delight to watch Johnny’s wildlife programmes on TV, so when I heard this book was going to be released I jumped at the chance to review it.

Johnny Kingdom’s West Country Tales is a nice leisurely read through West Country myths and legends, as well as anecdotes from Johnny and his family, ancestors, friends and people he’s met along the way. Even something that happened to Johnny and a friend has turned into a local myth!

West Country Tales had me laughing by the end of the first page. Now, how’s that for a cracking start to a book? His love for wildlife and nature is weaved into these tales and the book is written in the same style of how Johnny talks, so its almost as if I can hear him telling me the story as I read it.

In the book Johnny mentions that many years ago a drunk farmer would be heaved onto his horse and his feet tied together under the animal so he wouldn’t fall off. They’d then send the farmer on his way, knowing that the horse knew his way home. Late last year, I was told a very similar story about my own great great great grandfather… He’d like a drink or several down at the pub and would often be put up on his horse & cart and sent on his way home with the reins wrapped around his arm. Unfortunately for him, one night he never made it home. He met his end on one of those journeys home when he fell off the cart and hit his head. Anyway, back to the book…

There’s tales of smugglers and highwaymen, pixies and goblins, witches and ghosts, as well as murder and mystery, times gone by and more recent happenings. We learn about Johnny’s younger days and his life now, and his quest for getting a photo of a cuckoo that had been evading him for so long, almost mocking him.

Johnny Kingdom is a wonderful, knowledgeable character and he’s great at telling tales and the like. Whether you’re interested in British wildlife, the West Country or tales of myth and legend, I’d highly recommend this book. My Dad is already waiting to borrow it!

Buy Johnny Kingdom’s West Country Tales at the Book Depository.

Johnny Kingdom is a British wildlife expert and filmmaker from Exmoor.

This book is the 15th book I’ve read for the British Books Challenge 2011.

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Please note: I received this book from Transworld Publishers for review purposes. However, this in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

… and I’m currently reading Johnny Kingdom’s West Country Tales. Transworld Publisher’s very kindly sent me a copy to review and I’m loving it so far!

Johnny Kingdom is a national treasure (or at least he should be!). His knowledge of wildlife in the West Country is second to none and in this book he weaves his passion for wildlife in with a collection of local myths and legends, along with a few of his own tales.

Look out for my review of the book later this week!

I also recently read an e-book for an American digital publishing house called Untreed Reads, so I will soon be posting my review of a novella called An Unrefusable Request by Percy Spurlack Parker.

Over the weekend, I finished reading and reviewed Moon Over Soho, the second book in the series by Ben Aaronovitch. I didn’t enjoy it as much as Rivers of London, but it was still a good read and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

So what book will I be reading next? Well, providing the Royal Mail don’t lose it (again), I’ll most likely be reading a manuscript of Passion by Lauren Kate! I should have had it in my hands already, but my copy never turned up, so the publishers are kindly sending out another copy (I suspect somebody else is reading my original copy… either that or RM’s machines munched it up!).

So many books to read, so little time!

What are you reading this week? Do you have any recommendations?

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Posted for It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – Why not join in?!

Author: Ben Aaronovitch
Publisher: Gollancz
ISBN: 978-0-575-09760-5

Detective Constable Peter Grant, trainee wizard in the Metropolitan Police’s ESC9 (Economic and Specialist Crime Unit 9 – otherwise known as “The Folly”), is back, following his debut in Rivers of London (otherwise known as Midnight Riot in the US).

Dr Walid calls Peter to the morgue to listen to the corpse of Cyrus Wilkinson, a jazz saxophonist, who apparently died of a heart attack, and Peter recognises the tune as ‘Body and Soul’. Cyrus didn’t just have a heart attack, something violently supernatural had happened and it was strong enough to leave an imprint.

Cyrus isn’t the first, but Peter can’t go around didn’t up old corpses to listen to them, so he’s going to have to use old-fashioned police legwork, starting with Cyrus’s ex-lover Simone and London’s jazz scene…

This being the second book in a series, I’d advise reading Rivers of London first, otherwise you might find some parts of the book (including the first chapter) confusing. It’s definitely one of those series you’ll need to read in order.

An issue with the cover (of the hardback, at least) is that while it gives reference to the fact that it’s “The Sunday Times Best Selling Series”, it doesn’t mention what number book it is in the series. So those who haven’t read it before may not realise it’s the second (although Rivers of London is praised on the back cover).

Most of the main characters from the first book make a return in this one, although some not so prominently as others. Due to events in the previous book, Peter’s colleague Leslie doesn’t feature so much in this book, but there’s still a bit of banter between them.

I do love the world this series is set in. I know the centre of London fairly well so I’m able to visualise some of the places the story takes us to. But it’s not just that… The series is based pretty much in real world London and the surrounding area, but with the general population unaware of any magic or supernatural goings-on. There’s a good balance between the urban fantasy and the crime.

There’s a bit of humour throughout the story too, mostly from Peter. Even the last line of the story made me laugh out loud, so that’s always a good thing!

Something that surprised me in Moon Over Soho was the sex scenes. They were fairly detailed and I’m not sure that detail added anything to the story. I wasn’t quite expecting them and, as a quote on the front cover says “What would happen if Harry Potter grew up and joined the Fuzz”, I think there may be some teen readers reading this series who may also be surprised.

I loved reading Rivers of London, but did Moon Over Soho live up to it? Not quite. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading Moon Over Soho and I did find myself reading on to find out what would happen next, but I didn’t love it as much as Rivers of London. However, I’m still looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

P.S. – Don’t you just love the cover?!

Other books in the series:

1. Rivers of London (otherwise known as ‘Midnight Riot’ in the US) (Read my review)

Buy Moon Over Soho at the Book Depository.

Ben Aaronovitch is a British author, TV script writer and bookseller.

This book is the 14th book I’ve read for the British Book Challenge 2011.

The weather was lovely last weekend, so I took Mum for a drive around the south Shropshire hills (where she grew up). We also ended up in Ludlow for a bite to eat, so while we were there we decided to take a look around the castle too.

I love that area of the country and it’s less than an hour’s drive away, so not quite on the doorstep but not too far away.

Local books on the area include:

‘Titterstone Clee, Everyday Life , Industrial History and Dialect’ by A. E. Jenkins
Shropshire Murders by Nicola Sly
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Shrewsbury and Around Shropshire by David J. Fox
The Home Front in Ludlow by Derek Beattie

Posted for Saturday Snapshot.