Category Archives: Book Reviews

Picture Perfect

Posted on December 6, 2010 by freda

Picture Perfect is one of Jodi Picoult’s earlier novels, originally published in America in 1995 and now published by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK. It’s always hard with her books to tell much of the story because then the … Continue reading →

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Fall of Giants

Posted on November 26, 2010 by freda

If I say to you that at times I wanted the giants to hurry up and fall, then you’ve got a fair idea of what this review is going to be like. Having given Ken Follet’s earlier book, World Without … Continue reading →

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Embracing change

Posted on November 21, 2010 by freda

Part of my meditation and prayer routine is to use the prayer suggestions produced by the Jesuits in Indiana, USA. And most years I have managed to buy this online via amazon. Unfortunately this year it seems to only  be … Continue reading →

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Frank McCourt

Posted on November 8, 2010 by freda

Oh dear – this is me about to show myself up to be illiterate and a bit of an inverted literary snob – at least I fear it may be. Please bear with me, and if you have ever read … Continue reading →

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Not really a book review

Posted on October 23, 2010 by freda

This is not really a book review – I haven’t yet finished the book in any case. It is more about age related problems. As you know, these last few weeks have been busy, and I have been a bit … Continue reading →

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Two novels and a suitcase of apples

Posted on October 19, 2010 by freda

This past week or so has been respite of a kind. The last month  has been especially busy, so quality time to recover, regroup and read up on ideas and news seemed like a good idea. Every blogger needs a … Continue reading →

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Further thoughts on Henri Nouwen

Posted on October 1, 2010 by freda

Today’s musings are not quite so tangible as yesterday’s encouragement to hope in the face of suffering and evil. There is a thread running through Nouwen’s writing which exposes his vulnerability and tendency towards self analysis. He speaks often of … Continue reading →

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Henri JM Nouwen

Posted on September 30, 2010 by freda

My favourite kind of bedtime reading is any journal or diary. They are usually easy to pick up and put down. The Road to Daybreak by Henri JM Nouwen is the exception. It was published in 1988 and is still … Continue reading →

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My Bonnie

Posted on September 25, 2010 by freda

I have spent the last couple of days engrossed in the story of Bonnie and John Suchet. In his memoir, My Bonnie, John writes movingly of his wife’s decline with dementia/Alzheimer’s. (It is in the nature of the disease that … Continue reading →

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Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Posted on September 18, 2010 by freda

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is rather an odd title for a book. This is a debut for Paul Torday, it is an odd concept too; it was the Librarian from the Library Van who thrust it into my hands … Continue reading →

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