As a huge fan of Jance mysteries I did eat this one up. Both Beaumont of the S.H.I.T. squad from Washington as well as Brady from Bisbee. Well as usual this read really quickly and as a result didn’t add too many of the other people in their lives. She literally goes back and forth between the two main characters so the book moves at a fast pace. It is not confusing as she writes about Brady but Beaumont speaks for himself. One assumes they will intersect, hopefully you too come to this conclusion and I’m not ruining anything. A couple of story lines are revisited from other books but are explained so it doesn’t hinge on reading the previous books (even though they are great and you get to know each of the main people in both sets of mysteries – oh go ahead and read them, but start at the beginning of each series now). I am trying to decide if I think the book is really good or I just like the author’s work so much and her characters that I liked it. If I picked it up independently of its predecessors I think it would still hold water, just maybe not as much as her previous stuff. What the heck, this is a fun book that is a super quick read and I definitely enjoyed it.
Midwives By Chris Bohjalian
Don’t know how many of you are into Oprah, but this is one from her book club. I have read quite a few from this list and have enjoyed many of them. Midwives, as the title suggests, is about midwifery. Not necessarily a book I would have picked up but it came from a new friend who suggested I may enjoy it after we had spoken about several other titles. It does get a little graphic sometimes but not for shock effect; just as an emotional as well as instructional standpoint. It is written from the perspective of a daughter of a midwife, who was 13 at the time of the story but is now grown. The story itself definitely holds water. The addition of the hormonally charged teens just adds to the reality of feelings expressed throughout. Your opinion of ‘at home birth’ may even change. I have to say for me personally one of the main characters who describes herself as a hippie and my personal view of that genre has been completely blown up with her passionate description of what it means to her and how she has lived her life. Maybe just a little thing but really made her character come alive and made me think even more how I wish we could all just ‘get along’. Understanding how we are all different is great but really honouring it can be completely different too. On a completely different note as I was laughing about a section in the book my 13 year old daughter asked me what I was reading that was so funny so I explained briefly what a midwife was and the paragraph was something akin to pushing a pickle through a straw when she asked why anyone would want to do that, completely horrified. Good question. Perspective is everything.
Simon’s Cat
This has to be one of my favourites! Simon’s Cat reminds me of our cat, Oreo!
Fast Tube by Casper
Simon Tofield is coming out with a book about his cat and will be available September 24th. I would imagine that if you love these clips, the book will be an absolute hit!
Wondrous Oblivion
This movie is a delightful coming of age story set in London in the 60s. It deals with race as well as community and how family can look different from our usual paradigms. I have to say I shed a few tears from sadness as well as joy but great redemptive value at the end which always sits well with most people. When the title of the movie is mentioned within the story it is quite humourous as he is wondrously oblivious but carries that over to the whole racial conflict that the street is experiencing simultaneously. Maybe we should all start playing cricket too.
Welcome!
UK Chica is the culmination of a lot of effort from a few people. Firstly, the name is a nod to my BFF (OK, I’m not 15, but she is the bomb!). She brilliantly came up with it. I am from the UK and call my girls chica all the time. I love different languages having studied French and German as a kid and Spanish as an adult. So that makes sense – well at least to us!
The idea of this site is because I read a lot and friends know this and they ask for recommendations all the time. Let me also add that I read a lot of different stuff. I may have my daughter add a section on sci fi, or as I call it, weird, as she is very discerning and reads that genre a lot.
You will also find new as well as old books reviewed here. I try to read classics each year, working my way back through Shakespeare or Dickens, for example.
As for me, I grew up in the suburbs of London and studied science in college. Community happened in pubs, and I love a good chin wag, discussion or disagreement between friends, old and new. or as a wise man has said and recently quoted by Jase, “Strangers are just friends we haven’t met yet”.
Welcome.