house of shadows – the medieval murderers

this was a series of stories all based in the medieval period around the same basement.  it begins as the cellar in a monastry, then it is turned into a house, but the cellar remains. eventually it is excavated by archeologists and the source of the problem is exposed into the light.

each story is slightly creepy but it is a detective story, a different character investigates a murder in each time frame, committed in the same place.

i enjoyed this book, but not enough to read others by the same authors.

the secret history of the world – jonathon black

i really enjoyed this book.

it is the basis of the mystery religions and what they believe. it is full of eosoteric theory.

the book begins with the eosoteric theory for the origins of the world and of life. it covers evolution and some very strange ideas ideed.

it interweaves biblical history and ancient myths with caballist teaching and alchemical magic. it is certainly interesting, and every now and then a little bit of it makes sense.

the history of the struggle for the holy grail is tied into the alchemy story of the philoophers stone and with the mystery religions search for communion with the gods through altered states of being.

black tries to unite all of the religious theories from around the world by finding similarities between myth stories and the bible.

the freemasons are introduced as the heroes of the last few centuries, but were infiltrated by the illuminati, this is a group who is obsessed with seeking power through contacting the spirit wells, instead of the good of all mankind which is apparently what the freemasons aim for.

napoleon is mentioned and alexander the great, as people who had the aid of the gods but were late abandoned by them. unfortunately he has nothing to say about perhaps the worst horror of the 20th century, the holocuast, or hitler. this surprises me. he talks a great deal about world war 1 and how it was an outworking on earth or a previously fought war in heaven. that is al right and good, but surely ww2 is important?

black brings in the teachings of the christian mystics and winds them in with alchemy and witchcraft and other occult teachings.

he talks about the vegetable state and the animal state, he also talks about the shakras, which is from hindu teaching.

a lot of this was garbled to me, mainly as i havent done any other research from other occult practices. it was interesting though, as i already have an interest in christian mysticism.

if you can get through all of it, this is worth listening to, but not necessarily worth believing!

december 17th thursday

another month on again, and lots have happened. ana has had 4 operations now, her external fixator is off and her leg is in a cast now.  we have met a really annoying ambulance driver, who has taken a great dislike to us, jackie she is called. every time we have to go to the hospital it is her who takes us and the war in black looks goes on.

gareth came to stay for a week and ate me out of house and home again. he slept on the settee as ana has taken over the dining room.  it was nice to see him but i discovered that he never finished his chemotherapy, i can see why as he would have lost his job, but still now he is trying desperately to recover financially and getting nowhere fast. i had a prophetic experience today and believe that he should give up the job and come home, but it will take me a long time to convince him of it. 

i also felt i need to lose weight, as if i ever am going to get better i need to be a lot smaller than this. i will just start eating less.

bethan has just completed her 1st term at school, she is doing very well. she is supposed to be getting potential A’s in every subject. she is doing math, science, ict, geog, history, 2 english, ethics, music. so 9 subjects. that should help her get into A level college easily.

kimberley is managing nicely at the minute. she has just had damian issued with a warning from the police for harrassment. she is now not allowed to talk to kim at all and she doesnt have to make any effort to get the chuldren access to him. she has to contact the solicitor though now.

toby has had asthma agian this winter, it has been described as croup again. phoebe is going to have her ears operated on in january, the gromits have to be removed. she is not hearing very well and they should have fallen out by now, but are stuck in the ear canal. she is walking now, but it is obvious that her legs arent straight. all her appointments are being transfered to norwich hospital now, so we have to wait and see what they decide to do next.

ray is hating his job at the moment, he is having to teach geography to ks3s, and is now responsible for citizenship and re ks3, having handed over all the gcse to rachel who is so power crazed she should be austrian! he is looking for a new postition but i cant see him ever taking one as he hates change so much. he has high blood pressure and has been told to drastically lose weight or they will fit a gastric band in february.

i had the job centre here again this week as someone has anonymously accused me of fraud again, this is 4 times. they claim that ray is living with me, which is ironic as he hasnt ever stayed over one night in the last month. i cant cope with him staying at the moment, i cant sleep then, so he doesnt even stay at weekends. i was also accused of illicit earnings as i have an advert for piano teaching on the web. i explained i had it only so i could go professional eventually, and only taught friends, they were happy with it, but i have taken the advert off anyway and am too ill to teach at the minute anyway.  i wish i knew who did it!

i have dropped my 2 courses with the ou, as i am not  enjoying them and cant manage them with looking after ana as well. i have instead taken on a course with open arts college, start composing 1. it has cost me £595, but it will be the only amount i have to pay for my degree. i am finished it after this course. i have set up a new blog just for this course.

only a few days until christmas now. i am not ready at all, i havent wrapped any presents, not written any cards, but the tree is up and i have a turkey in the freezer.

snow is falling at the moment and both ray and beth are hoping to have a day off inthe morning. chances of a white christmas are high.

charlotte bingham- daughters of eden

at last a decent novel!

i really enjoyed listening to this novel, it is based in the 2nd world war and centers around an espionage centre at a place called eden park. it has 4 main characters who all work at the centre.

i am not sure about all the historical details, i didnt notice anything glaringly wrong, but wasnt sure if the place was based on bletchley park, or was just fictional. the idea that a young 14 year old could solve a code that the park couldnt seems a bit extreme, but i was prepared to go with it.

the narrative is most engaging, i was happy to sit listening to the story for hours on end and didnt feel bored or fall asleep! that is quite a statement for me.

the sense of being in the thirties was very strong, i appreciated that the characterisations seemed to fit in nicely with my memories of films like brief encounter etc.

there is a follow up story and i think i may well look for it. i would also be keen to listen to other books by the same author.

understanding the holocaust -prof david engels

this isnt really a book, but it is an audiobook and i really enjoyed it.

the approach is light and easy to understand.

engels explains clearly the background to the holocaust and all of the modern historical discussions on the subject at the moment. there are no emotive details, and no one is blamed, but it is enjoyable to listen to.

i listened to it all in just over a day.

i havent read any of these western scholar courses before, but when you finish listening you go to the website and can take an exam to make you feel as if you have actually learned someone.

personally, i felt that the stories of how some jews were miraculously saved from the death camps by determined governments and individuals were most stirring for me and are the impressions i m left with. also the thought of all the epople who unwittingly took part in the atricity, just by helping to provide rolling stock, building train lines etc etc.

it reminded me of queen esther… for such a time as this… which i believe is appropriate for all of us at some point in our lives. looking back now how many could say, yes i did it, or no i failed! food for thought

something lighter to read next i think.

the last secret of the temple- paul sussman

this was long and convoluted, but every detail was accounted for in the end.

the book felt as if it was ending 2 or 3 times before it ever did and to be honest probably should have.

the different parts of the book could really have been written by different people, the section where everyone tries to kill everyone- not the first possible end- was very dramatic, but somehow all the sense of reality which the author had built up is spoilt by this very unconvincing action section where suddenly no one is who we thought they were.

i liked the slow built up of information, i liked in involvment of an egyptian learning about the holocaust and the story which connects with france and the involvement of the twins. this was all wonderful but could have stopped before it connected with the frankly unbelievable story of the menorah, which was nagged at from the beginning and was frankly -bleeding obvious!

the tensions between arab and israeli was interesting but because the menorah was unbelievable the authors authority was tainted and i wasnt convinced. the way the journalist was revealed later just totally confirmed this, as did the jewish arab terrorist!!!

a very long novel which really tries to say a lot but manages to say very little. – dont bother reading it!

a fine place for death – ann granger

this is one of a series of books based on the characters of detective inspector markby and his girl friend meredith mitchell.  i like to try out series, and then read them all if i like them. this one a dint think is a real winner though.

the writing is ok, the characters are very 2 dimensional and stereotyped. the story progresses in very odd ways and the way meredith just happened to be involved in so much of the story seemed to me unlikely. i have lived in many villages and this doesnt seem to fit.

the mad rich woman is a bit offensive to those who have lots of cousins who intermarried in their own family!!! and if she is as mad as she is portrayed how is it her daughter is so balanced! that doesnt happen.

the evil marla is too obvious, and the way conway is shot at the end from the church spire is just totally unbelievable.

barney is a very likeable character, but again how is it that at the beginning no one knew each other, yet by the end everyone is almost family!! did markby never venture out of his office before the start of this novel! i appreciate meredith is new to the area but surely he would have met some of them. if not then the village is much bigger than the author is suggesting.

recommendation- ok reading, but nothing fantastic, convoluted storylines, fragile character drawings.

total commitment- elizabeth waite

this is a love story, but tries to be other things as well. it is written based in the 1930s and the author attempts to write in enid blyton type speak which i found quite frustrating and false, as people never really talked like that. her characters are all stock stereotypes, the warm friendly cockney who has no money but would give the shirt of their back. the abusing irish stepfather. the mother who really loves her daughter but it isnt exposed until after her death. the real father who actually isnt a bad person. the boyfriend who has loads of money and promised to sort out all her problems. the poor heroine who is so beautiful and innocent.

actually the most annoying detail was the twins talking, they were under 2 years old and having deep conversations with their parent. if my grandson spoke like that at 3 1/2 i would be amazed and contact mensa.

still i got through it, although i had guessed the whole story by the end of the 2nd chapter.

recommendation- dont bother to read it.

the history of the musical

this was brilliant, i learned so much from it and have kept it so i can relisten at a later date. the basics i already knew, that it originated in the beggars opera, was a distinctly english/ american genre. i knew about the influence of cohan , porter, rogers, hammerstein etc but so many other details i didnt know. in addition there is a song from each musical. i really think the book would be a let down, but the audio version is great.

recommended for any musician

the last fighting tommy- harry patch

this is a great social history as well as a very interesting autobiography of the ordinary man.

harry patch died last year aged about 108, a tremendous achievement alone. i was disappointed he didnt see more action in ww1, so i could appreciate life inthe trenches better, but his anecdotes from ww2 were amazing.

this guy was born in the victorian era and could recount life before running water and electricity. he remembered scrumping for apples and going to the well to fetch water. a life so different from anything i have ever imagined.

i recommend this book as a great light read