Bad luck
Today when my mum and I went shopping (and to pick up a package that had arrived for us), she fell and hurt her hand. It hurt so badly we had to go to the clinic on the way back. There she first got to see a nurse, then a doctor (ironically the same doctor who she saw this morning, and who gave her a clean bill of health then). The doctor sent her to a hospital, not the one closest to here, but the other one, where mum has to go for her eye checkups and treatments. Now she’s had an x-ray but hasn’t been in to see the orthopaedist yet. She will either need a cast or some sort of bandage. We don’t know yet if she’s broken the fingers or not.
Edit: They kept mum waiting until the last bus left. Now she and my sister will have to take a taxi. And we still don’t know if the fingers are broken. Both their phones are running out of battery so I can’t get any more updates.
10 Rare But Useful Words Everyone Should Know
Is there a word for that? Here are ten of the best useful rare words in the English language
Ever caught yourself thinking, ‘There should be a word for that. Is there a word for that?’ We’re here to help. In this new post, we’ve gathered up ten useful words which should be better known, but aren’t. Many of them, of course, have literary origins or histories, which we’ll mention and discuss as we go.
Read more here.
Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
“When Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows that something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry; her sister seems scared of her and her parents whisper behind closed doors. She looks through her diary to try to remember, but the pages have been ripped out.
Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange and terrible than she could ever have imagined, and that she is quite literally not herself. In a quest find the truth she must travel into the terrifying Underbelly of the city to meet a twisted architect who has dark designs on her family – before it’s too late.”
This book was a little creepy, as the author herself puts it, but it never gets too scary for the age group it’s intended for (that I imagine might be about 9-12 and of course, all the rest of us who are young at heart). Despite all the weird details you learn about Triss, you find yourself being sympathetic to her. She is in a very frightening situation and as she uncovers more and more about the secret of what’s happened to her, things go from bad to worse. Fortunately, she manages to find a few (to begin with) reluctant allies along the way.
Frances Hardinge turns out to be quite a versatile author. She showed up just in time, for me to discover her books, when Diana Wynne Jones passed away. Not that I’ve stopped loving her books and will continue to read them, but sadly now there won’t be any more from her. Hardinge’s books remind me a bit of Diana Wynne Jones’ books. I’ve been quite surprised at how varied Hardinge’s stories are, especially when it comes to the setting. They’re all quite ‘serious’ and dark, but not too much so. Fortunately there’s always a happy ending, at least to some extent.
If I’m going to mention something that didn’t quite work out, it’s the fact that the atmosphere in the story didn’t ‘feel’ like the 1920’s – at first I couldn’t guess what time the story was set in – anytime before the 1970’s? I also have a bit of a question – did the newspapers really publish photos of missing people back then? It seems a bit too modern, but then I’m hardly an expert.
This book, that I initially thought might be a bit too dark to be a real favorite for me, actually turned out to be among my very favorites, among Hardinge’s books. In fact, I love them all, though I found the last book I read (Face of Glass) a little too bleak and depressing. As for Cuckoo Song, I can recommend it to anyone who likes low fantasy YA books. I rate it 4 out of 5.
The 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2015
Ready to improve your writing — and maybe even make a living as a writer — this year? Our 100 Best Websites for Writers list is back and better than ever.
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The Third Uncle by Stephen Beifuss
A while back, I finished reading The Third Uncle by Stephen Beifuss, on Wattpad.
“Francesca is a headstrong teen from small town Italy who has been sent to summer with her uncles in Napoleon’s Paris. Francesca is bored. Her uncles are tiresome, not very bright, and determined to keep her out of trouble. Fortunately for her, adventure is around the corner, and she soon discovers her uncles are working against the French, and with the help of an enchanted mirror, two cats, a young thief, a dead saint and a Queen determined to remove Napoleon from his throne, a dull summer becomes anything but!”
This story was a nice surprise compared to what I usually find on Wattpad. Sure, I’ve found a few stories I’ve loved, but I’ve also found a lot that felt – not quite ready for publication – if you know what I mean.
The Third Uncle is what I’d call ‘alternate history’ fantasy. In this world, Napoleon defeated the English and occupied, not only the European Continent but also the UK. It also seems to be a bit steampunk. People are travelling on airships. There’s also a bit of magic. There’s time travel, or at least time travel is of interest in the story.
I don’t have any particular favorites among the characters, except perhaps the ‘young thief’, who turns out to be a charming young man, with a dark past, but they’re all interesting and/or funny. The uncles are a lot of fun, the cats are adorable, and in some ways, very useful to a certain mode of travel.
I’m looking forward to seeing this book published as a ‘real’ book. The author lives in Spain (slightly confusingly, since his name either evokes English or American origins or possibly a German one. However, in the story, he seems to be quite knowledgeable, not only in English, but also in French and Italian. Oh, well. This is a funny, fascinating, magical story, that takes a twisting turn around Europe, then finally ends mostly happily (I hope that’s not too much of a spoiler?):
When I went shopping today…
I didn’t expect to have anything to say so soon after my last post, but today when I went shopping, a few things happened.
My sister and I were on our way to the pharmacy/chemist’s to get medication for mum (who has a terrible itch, possibly caused by the shingles she had several years ago). There was this guy who had messy hair and was walking with two girls (and possibly a third one, trailing behind). He was smoking something what wasn’t tobacco, because I know that smell. Anyway, I had a slight headache and after I breathed in the cloud of smoke he was generating, my headache was gone. 😉
A few other things happened, but I’m not sure any of it would be of interest to my (potential) readers. For instance, while I was waiting outside the pharmacy/chemist’s three little boys ran past, one of them only about four years old. I thought, three boys would really be a bit much. Just then the youngest boy smiled very sweetly at me. So I thought, maybe just one…
I also happened to see a rather unusual little dog (with a young couple). It’s probably a Miniature English Bull Terrier (like the one on the right in the pic below, except I think this one is a male, so a bit bigger).
Miniature Bull Terrier
She began to sniff in my direction, so I said ‘can you feel the doggy smell from me’? The young people holding her leash said a few words to me, but seemed rather giggly and not really interested in talking. Then an older girl (mid-twenties, maybe) came back to claim her dog. I think she was the older sister of the first girl. We got to talking about pets. It was actually quite nice and totally unexpected in this town. When they left, the older girl said bye to me, which has to be a first. People don’t TALK to each other in this town, at least not to us. Except for the poor beggars. I can’t believe I’m even mentioning that. Two-three years ago there were no beggars in Sweden, at least not in smaller towns. Now there are at least a few even in the tiniest towns/villages. It’s so sad that we rarely have any change, or any cash at all, to give them. We sometimes buy buns or coffee or something when it’s cold, but they really want money, to send home to their children.
Writing a Book People Can’t Put Down: The Art of Pacing
It’s two o’clock in the morning. You’ve had a long day, you’re exhausted, and in just four short hours you have to get ready for another day of work. More than anything, you just need to go to bed. So why don’t you? Because you just have to finish this absolutely amazing book you can’t put down!
Read more here.
A bit of whining…
On Monday, my sister and I went up to see a house, very close to our cottage. Yes, I know that sounds weird, but our thinking was that this house has indoor plumbing which our place doesn’t. Considering how expensive these things can be, we thought we might be able to save a bit on that (at least if we could bid lower than the owners really want). Instead, we were uncomfortably reminded of how very isolated both houses are. So we probably won’t make a bid, even though it’s a very nice little house, just not quite as awesome as our own. I just wish someone we knew, some friend or relative would want it, but we don’t really have anyone like that.
That’s not what I was going to whine about though. When we were getting ready to leave the bus, we pressed the buzzer and stood waiting by the sliding back door. We thought we did everything right, but the driver just kept driving past our stop and one other and wouldn’t have stopped there either, if I hadn’t started calling out and a nice passenger got up and yelled at him. He stepped on the brakes and let us off, without a word of apology. I think that he was running late and didn’t want to bother with letting us off. Bastard. He left us in the middle of a rather intensely trafficked road (one not built for all that traffic), trying to avoid being hit. One more reason not to move out there, unfortunately.
Another reason is that even when we did get to the nearest town, there wasn’t that much to choose between in the shops, especially for us vegans. Still, both shops were open, even on The Second Day of Easter (whatever that’s called in English…?).
25 Great Facts about Children’s Books
Fascinating trivia about classic children’s books and their authors
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