Thursday 27 February 2014

The year in books: February

Thank you for all your lovely comments about my comfort granny square blanket, I have been enjoying using it on these more crisper evenings and am really growing to love it's hand made look.

I have had a tipsy turvy week with us expectantly going to London yesterday to be a dental model for my dentist at a conference in London. I think I have already mentioned that I will be undergoing a massive reconstruction of my teeth in the next 18 months and so it was an opportunity to get work done and expert opinions. It all helps to create the bigger picture for me and my dentist. I promise to try and not talk too much dental stuff here as I know it's a subject that some people really hate don't like! 

So, this post is about the year of books and my February read of Kartography written by Kamila Shamsie.




This book took me a while to get into and I found it a little confusing at the beginning with the different characters names and moving from present day back into the early 1970's in Karachi. Once I was a good quarter of a way into the book I really started to love it and found myself looking forward to picking it up every night before bed. 
 
It's essentially a love story which is interwoven with a history of events that took place before the two main male and female characters were born and also focuses a lot on descriptions of Karachi which are full of tension and reality of what life was like during the civil unrest in the early 70's between East and West Pakistan.
 
All in all I really enjoyed this novel and would give it a good 4 out of 5 stars. If you give it a go I recommend that you definitely persevere with the first few chapters to get into the story, it's worth it in the long run.
 
My choice for February is a book by Bella Pollen called The Summer of the Bear which I have already started reading and will reveal more once I have finished.
 
Are you reading anything interesting? Any recommendations? I am over at Goodreads here where I am starting to log my reads and my favourite books I have read over the years (too many to list really and my memory is not as sharp as it used to be!)
 
I'll leave you with a couple of photos I took on my phone during my lunch break yesterday with a rather divine and very quick visit to Loop in London. Pure eye candy for the yarny soul :o)


 
Thanks for visiting and hope you all have relaxing weekends
xox
See you soon with some of my latest knitting

9 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you enjoyed this book. I felt a certain amount of pressure when you started reading it as I wasn't due if you'd picked it up after my very enthusiastic recommendations in Instagram. x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for your review Penny, it definately sounds to be interesting. I will check it out.
    luv
    irene
    xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. I too struggled with the beginning of this book but it is a fabulous read. I love loop so much .I love Sophie's work. I have far too much yarn from this naughty tempting enticing shop. Now I've seen your post I might pop in on sat, I have my eye on new Koigu Merino Lace and Squoosh.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ooh, lots of lovely yarn.

    It doesn't bother me at all that you talk about your teeth, in fact I'm probably more curious about the reconstruction than anything else. Does that make me odd? Guess so. Good luck with it all x

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello Lovely Penny loved this post - I wish I could visit Loop it is on my to do list. I hope everything works out with your dental work - I have just finished a year of it and boy am I glad it is over. I am sure that you are helping so many other people through the work of your dentist Penny. Hope you have a fabulous weekend, big hugs to you
    Dorothy
    :-)xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the beautiful yarn you showed us, I would love to visit that store. Good luck on all the dental work, you will be so happy when it is all complete. Maybe not so fun to go thought but so rewarding when it is all done and looks beautiful.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

    ReplyDelete
  7. Some gorgeous yarn for us to drool over, thanks! This book sounds interesting and one I will add to my wish list. I have been so sad that all I am still consuming is food about diet, so no novels to report on just yet. I suspect that this will stay pretty much this way till we go to SA for Easter, yay!! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've been through some of that dental work in the past few years and will go through more as the time comes.... Will be interested to hear how things go for you and what all the dentist does in this reconstruction period.
    Oh how I would have loved to visit that yarn shop!!

    Linda in VA

    ReplyDelete
  9. A good novel, beautiful yarn, and a massive teeth reconstruction – what an interesting week for you! You must be very nervous about the procedure. Well who wouldn’t, right? It’s a good thing that you have good book to read to keep your mind diverted somehow. I hope everything will end well, and you’ll recover quickly.

    Divian

    ReplyDelete