Weekends with Daisy - Sharron Kahn Luttrell

• Daisy is a mischievous ball of yellow fluff who enjoys chasing her tail and wrestling with her favourite toy. But life is not all treats and cuddles for the adorable Labrador puppy; Daidy is training to become a service dog and will one day become an invaluable companion to an adult or child with a disability.
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• Little Daisy spends the weekdays with Keith, a prison inmate who is able to dedicate himself fully to her training. At the weekend she goes home with Sharron Luttrell, who introduces the happy-go-lucky pup to the chaos of family life. As Sharron begins to fall in love with Daisy, handing her back to Keith becomes increasingly painful. And as the end of Daisy's training programme approaches, Sharron wonders if she will ever be able to let her go...
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  • Publisher: Sphere 
  • Year: 2013
  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • Pages:  321 pages
  • ISBN: 0751553700

• Sharron Kahn Luttrell memoir of life as a weekend puppy walker tells the delightful story of her relationship with Daisy the mischievous puppy who one day would hold a very important position as a dog for the disabled.  You also get a small insight in how the prisoners in American prisons can earn the privileged position as a Dog Trainer. It was a good read and will have you laughing and crying in equal amounts. 

• Mx  

Book of the Year

Over the last six months since I started my blog I have been listing all the books I have read and selected one book per month to be my book of the month.

Book of the Month - June

Book of the Month - July

Book of the Month - September

Book of the Month - August

Book of the Month - October

Book of the Month - November

Book of the Month - December

These seven books were the ones that stood out most to me. With this in mind I decided I would pick one book as my book of the year.  That book for me would have to be 

Book of the Year 2013

 But may be we don't share the same opinion.

Having looked at all the page hits since I started my blog there appears to be one book that above all others that has been the bloggers choice and that would be

Blogger choice - Book of the Year 2013

I also have a Best Newcomer and that would have to be

Best Newcomer 2013

Over the next 12 months I shall continue listing all the books I read and my thoughts about each one. I'll continue to pick a book to be my book of the month. 

I hope you will continue stopping by to see what I have been reading may be with a few surprises along the way. For those of you who follow my Lazy Days and Sundays at The Willows blog will know I have set myself five challenges for 2014.  Two of these challenges link to this blog.  

In the meanwhile Happy New Year Reading 

Mx

Book of the Month - December

It has been a bumper month of reading for me this month.  Mainly due to the fact that two were short stories of 100 pages or less.  Although I have enjoyed all my reads one stood out more than all the others this month and that would have to be.....

Christmas at the Ragdoll Orphanage

This true account of the life of Suzanne Lambert and her mother Nancy and their time at Nazareth House and beyond was for me the most outstanding of my reads this month.  So much so that I could see this turned into a TV drama. All the time I was reading it I had the voice of Vanessa Redgrave in my head as the narrator just as she is in the Call the Midwife Series.  

Would definitely recommend you download a copy to your Kindle or look for a copy in your preferred book shop.

Mx

The Butler - Wil Haygood

When acclaimed Washington Post writer Wil Haygood had an early hunch that Obama would win the 2008 election, he thought he'd highlight the singular moment by exploring the life of someone who had come of age when segregation was so widespread, so embedded in the culture as to make the very thought of a black president inconceivable. He struck gold when he tracked down Eugene Allen, a butler who had served no fewer than eight presidents, from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan. During his thirty-four years of service, Allen became what the Independent described as a "discreet stagehand who for three decades helped keep the show running in the most important political theatre of all." While serving tea and supervising buffets, Allen was also a witness to history as decisions about America's most momentous events were being made. Here he is at the White House while Kennedy contemplates a moon landing; here he is again when Kennedy's widow returns from that fateful day in Dallas. Here he is when Johnson and his cabinet debate Vietnam and here he is again when Ronald Reagan finally got tough on apartheid. Perhaps hitting closest to home was the Civil Rights legislation that was developed, often with passions flaring, right in front of his eyes even as his own community of neighbours, friends and family were contending with Jim Crow America. Also included in the book is an essay in the vein of James Baldwin's jewel, The Devil Finds Work, that explores the history of black people in Hollywood as well as over 45 pictures of the butler, Eugene Allen, and his family, the Presidents he served, and the remarkable cast.

Publisher: 37 Ink

Pages: 112 - Hardcover

Year 2013

ISBN: 978-147-674-5299-0

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I had been eagerly awaiting for this film to be released.  My son was coming for Christmas and just as we did when they were younger we thought we would go to the cinema as a pre Christmas treat.  Unfortunately the film has gone off screen before we got a chance to go and see it.  Never mind my son had said I'll get you the book for Christmas, which he duly did or so we thought.  When it arrived he wrapped it but did point out that he thought it wasn't the book of the film.  Christmas day came and I opened it to find that he was in deed right.  The book written by Wil Haygood is more about his journey in writing the original article about Eugene Allen and the interest this bought about especially as Obama was to become the first black president. There are photographs of Allen of interest and of the characters from the film.  It was an interesting book and took me less than a day to complete.  It is worth reading from a historical point of view but don't be mistaken that this is the book the film as like me you will be disappointed.   I am still hoping at some point that the book of the film will be released but for now resigned to waiting for the release of the film on DVD in January. 

Mx

Things I want my Daughters to Know - Elizabeth Noble

How would you say goodbye to those you love most in the world?

Barbara must say a final farewell to her four daughters. But how can she find the words? And how can she leave them when they each have so much growing up still to do?

Take Lisa, in her thirties but terrified of commitment - or brittle, unhappily married Jennifer. Amanda, the traveller, is always a little apart from her sisters and teenage Hannah faces adult life without a mother at her side.

Barbara's answer is to write each daughter a letter, finally expressing the hopes, fears, dreams and secrets she couldn't always voice. These words will touch the girls in different - sometimes shocking - ways, unlocking emotions and passions to set them on their own journey of discovery through life. 

Published by: Penguin Books - Fiction

Year: 2008 - Paperback

Pages: 438

ISBN: 978-0-141-03001-2


You join the book following the death of Barbara a mother of four daughters.  She leaves each of her daughters a letter and to one her journal.  Each of them will find out things about their mother that they had never known.  They also find out some truths about themselves that Barbara had never told them.  Their mothers revelations will either pull them closer together or tear them apart.  At times you will question Barbara's action's wondering whether in the same circumstance whether you yourself would of made the decisions. Like all mothers she just wanted to protect her girls.  At times it is advisable to have a box of tissues to hand.  All told a very good book and one I would definitely recommend.  

Mx

Christmas at the Ragdoll Orphanage - Suzanne Lambert

Newcastle Upon Tyne 1965

Mother Superior took the child and placed it in my arms. Susan, darling, that was you. You were light as a feather, and all I could think of saying was "it's a girl". That was ten years ago.

"Her name is Susan" the lady said. I don't think I even looked at her, I simply couldn't take my eyes off you. Oh you were so precious and so perfect. All I cared about was holding you and, just at that moment, you opened your eyes and looked at me. Susan, I knew there and then that you and I belonged together, We still do, and always will, but, my darling, I am not your real mum.

"I don't understand, what do you mean, 'real mum' ?" I was ten years old, and Mum certainly wasn't going to talk about the birds and the bees just yet. It didn't matter anyway.

"You are my mum" I said. 

"of course. And you are my daughter and always will be".

That was enough for me. In that moment, I was perfectly happy to be Nancy's child.

Published By: Penguin Books - Non Fiction

Year: 2013 - Kindle/Paperback

Pages: 384

ISBN: 978-1-405-92386-7

Keeping with the Christmas theme I have now completed this first novel by Suzanne Lambert winner of Penguin and Take a Break Magazine's life-story competition. Suzanne still lives in Newcastle.  

This is the life story of Suzanne Lambert, she will tell you about her mother 'No Nonsense Nancy' who herself had come to live at Nazareth House from the age of nine and who had looked after her from just six days old, her relationship with her father,  and about her birth mother Molly. She tells you about her life at Nazareth House, and how Nancy was always there for her every step of the way.

A fantastic read. Well worth every spare moment to read. Make sure you have plenty of tissues for when Suzanne has you crying with laughter, and with tears of joy and of sadness. Very well written straight from the heart. A very fitting tribute to her mother Nancy.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas 

Mx

A Christmas Wish - No Greater Love Series - Amanda Prowse

A special Christmas short story from Amanda Prowse: a wonderful, warm festive treat from a bestselling author.

Poppy is trying to make sure her children have the perfect Christmas. The fields are sparkling with snow, the turkey is roasting, and the tree is groaning with presents. But Poppy's beloved husband is fighting in Afghanistan, and the kids are missing their Dad.

Can their wishes come true without him? Or will they have the perfect Christmas after all?



Published By: Head of Zeus - Fiction
Year: 2013 Kindle Edition
Pages: 62
ISBN: 9781781859056

Another lovely story from Amanda Prowse. In A Christmas Wish you see Poppy Day back. Now 10 years on her and Mart have two children Peggy and Max. Mart is going to be away on tour over Christmas so Poppy is taking the kids away for Christmas. They are going to stay with Mile's mother who has remained a close friend since the death of her son.  All little Peggy wants is her Daddy home for Christmas. Will Peg get her wish?

If you have followed the story of Poppy Day and that of her grandmother in Clover's Child then you'll want to keep up with their story in this lovely short story for Christmas.

Mx