Of farmers and kings

Book News:

I now have a new webpage for The Art of the Delaneys which is due out on 15 May 2011, and you can also read an extract. I've tried to put more about Liam's working life in this one, though obviously those Delaney Twins also loom large (as it were). More plot and less sex, eh - whatever next ...

In terms of recent reviews, I'm pleased to say that The Bones of Summer gained a 5-star review at Goodreads (thanks, Deb), and The Delaneys and Me received a 4-star review there (thank you, Lucy). Still at Goodreads, How to Eat Fruit had an interesting review (thanks, Jarrah) and I was grateful for that.

Meanwhile, I was thrilled that Brady's Choice was included in the February Recommended Reads list at Jessewave Reviews, and in addition Creative Accountancy for Beginners was briefly at No 80 in the Amazon UK Short Story charts, gosh indeedy.

However, the very exciting news of the week was that Vulpes Libris was mentioned on the BBC website for our recent Archers' interview, so well done, Moira, for that. Double gosh.

The latest meditations are:




Meditation 497
After bitter secrets
blood spills

which can never
be wiped clean

for all the water
in Judah’s hills

and all the good
you’ve seen.




Meditation 498
When the noteworthy fact
about a man
is that he’s dead

it’s probably time
to read about
someone else instead.


And the Sunday haiku is:

Whenever I'm sad,
cupcakes and cappuccinos
make everything glad.


Life News:

Marian and I went to see The King's Speech at Godalming Borough Hall, which is a charming little occasional cinema which always has an interval halfway through the film (while they change the reel). Bliss really - all cinemas should do that. And what a truly fantastic film. I loved it. Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth were especially amazing, and it also brought back fond memories of having my own speech therapist when I was a lass (couldn't say a hard "k" sound for the life of me, you know, and of course having the slight family stammer didn't help ...) - how I loved that woman. It was also interesting to see that King George VI being forced to use his right hand instead of his left in writing etc brought on his stammer - which is exactly what happened to my middle brother at school, and his remained the worst stammer of all of us really, at least for a very long time. I also enjoyed seeing that George marked his speeches with notes of when to pause and difficult words he needed to take time over - which is just what I do too. Though actually when I'm reading out any passages from my books in public (a rare event but it happens), I change the words I can't say to those I can - author's privilege, don't you know. Ha! Anyway, it's a great film and, if you haven't seen it already, I can heartily recommend it.

Yesterday, K and I spent a pleasant morning and lunchtime at Wisley, which you can really never have enough of, and found a big container where they were offering free pots. Free pots - what heaven! We took loads - hope we weren't supposed to be limited to just one ...

Today has been a day for relaxing and doing nothing very much - though we did pop into church this morning just to show willing. We were bamboozled by some of the hymns but we did our best, especially when we (yikes!) had to tackle a dreaded Graham Kendrick classic, Lord preserve us. Way too modern for our tastes and he never seems to quite get the words (such as they are) to fit the music. As you can tell, we're not fans, ah well ...

Anne Brooke