So I have one of these up for grabs today…the best thing, it seems, to have happened to reading for a long time…
I love reading, it’s up there with walking for me to keep me sane…
right now though I am in a reading rut and nothing is quite grabbing me by the you-know-whats
….that’s where you come in
All you have to do to enter?
Leave me a comment answering the following question in the comments section of this post.
What are the books in your life that you absolutely couldn’t put down…I LOVE those books…those books that you get lost in…where you cannot wait to get in the bath with them at the end of the day…those books you stand at the stove cooking the dinner with your nose in them…
you know the one’s I mean?…well I am on the hunt for more…so tell me what are your best reads ever? and hopefully I’ll have many new discoveries waiting for my Summer Reading List…
Just answer the above and you will be automatically entered to win.. I can’t wait to hear what you’ve got
The Rules : Ends end of play Wednesday
For extra chances to win just post a link to my site to any of the social networking sites…or join my Google Friend Connect
Please leave another comment for each social networking site you posted to…
Those books for me are mostly Tom Clancy books. I have read all of his books in the past, but I still can’t put them down when I re-read them every few years.
I’ve read, and re-read the Secret History (Donna Tartt) about 30 times by now. I seem to like it best in the summer, sprawled across grass, cool breeze, hot sun, lemonade in hand. It’s an incredible book. The back makes it sound a little bit cliche and silly, but I promise, once you read it you will not be able to put it down– and you’ll keep reading it over and over again!
These arent the hardest of books to read – anything by Belinda Alexandra is a good, easy Summer read – currently for me its Tuscan Rose.
You you get caught up in the book definately- even if its not summer outside.
The Bronze Horseman series by Paullina Simons (trilogy – heart stoppingly romantic and not in a Mills & Boonish kind of way – first book is set in Leningrad in the 2nd world war)
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (autobiography of a muslim “defector”, an incredibly strong and inspiring woman)
Rachel’s Holiday – Marian Keyes (my first “chick lit” book I read about 10 years ago and I laughed and laughed)
Those are 3 fabulous books I would recommend – depends what you’re in the mood for though… hope you try them at some stage!
and forgot to add “We need to talk about Kevin” by Lionel Shriver. It really scarred me (not a typo, I am scarred, as in there will forever be a mark on my soul from this book). An amazing, heart wrenching book, but I would probably recommend you don’t read it, because you will never ever forget it (and there are bits of it I really want to forget!).
I know this is generic, but The Twilight series I couldn’t put down when I started reading it. It was wonderfully written and just enough suspense to keep me going. I also love love beach reads. I read Summer in the City by Candace Bushnell. One of my favorite books is Everybody in the Pool, which is a tad bit controversial, but ironic and funny and the writer is brilliant in an underachiever kind of way.
The last book I couldn’t put down was The Forgotten Garden. A bit tricky at first keeping track of who’s who. Which generation, country and timeline. I thought about making a chart. Well worth the effort though and it did become easier as I read.
Hi Sarah.. I am now reading “The Sweet Life in Paris” by David Lebovitz. I have always wanted to visit Paris and although that is not possible at this time, I can live vicariously through his book.
All of the childrens’ books written by Edward Eager in the early 1950′s including Half Magic, Knight’s Castle, Magic By The Lake, The Time Garden, Magic or Not, The Well Wishers, and Seven Day Magic. I enjoyed them as a child, and now, as I approach 60, I am enjoying them again.
On a more esoteric, adult level I enjoy reading and rereading “An Ice Cream War” by William Boyd, a unforgettable novel of love, and revenge set in Eastern Africa during World War I. Other excellent books by Boyd include “Brazzaville Beach” and “A Good Man in Africa”. He is spectacular writer in the company of Oates, Stegner, Norris, with similarities to Uris and Michener.
Any Agatha Christie books, especially the Poirot books! I love almost everything I’ve read by her, and even if I didn’t love it I ALWAYS enjoyed it. The Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix is fantastic YA fantasy that any fan of whimsical and creative fantasy will adore, as is His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass, etc) by Philip Pullman. Also, The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books by Douglas Adams are addicting and laugh-out-loud funny, and great for everyone (not just sci-fi lovers…they are so much more than that!). For classics, I adore Pride and Prejudice, cheesy as it sounds. also, ANYTHING by Terry Pratchett!
I can’t remember if I entered…I love to read sleazy romance novels in the summer-steamier the better The last “coudn’t put it down” was The Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy. So good!
The 7 Founfation books, Isaac Asimov. Totally unpredictable, mind blowing, history and future telling, smart, funny-smart, they show the loop of people’s behavior on the planet – he was so smart to predict how exactly the human being behave and will behave.
You get so lost in the story that you can actuall feel the vibes of the travels, the structure of the materials, the smell of the air in the stories. A must read, i’ve read all of them 3 times.
Wish you all the best and a sunny autumnt from the northen part of the world
John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series. Trav lives on his houseboat the Busted Flush and takes on clients when he runs out of money. Such a great character. I read they are making a movie and Leonardo DiCaprio will play Travis McGee.
Anything by Agatha Christie, any Sherlock Holmes book and most recently, the Twilight series. Thanks for your blog. It makes me feel like I’m at the seaside, which is where my heart is!
The last book I couldn’t put down was Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer.. I’m sure it’s nothing new to you and it’s not as sophisticated as many books that may have been mentioned here but I really put everything on hold until that book was done.. staying up til 2am just to finish it
G'day! I'm Sarah, I live in a tatty old cottage, near the sea in Australia with a battered old deck & a big old fig tree out the back...stripped wooden floors, old sash windows & a jumble of vintage furniture. [Read More …]
Beach Cottage ladies, we have some vintage linen and some wood/twig washed up on the beach today here in Beach Cottage Land….don’t say I don’t keep you entertained now will you . Come on in. So, yep I have posted about colanders on this blog, about things sourced from the side of the road, about [...]
G'day ladies, let's have a Too Easy Beach Cottage recipe yeah? The original place for Too Easy Recipes on the web ;-)
So, after my last salad went down a storm in my inbox, that's here if you missed it, I had to do this one seeing as I make it most weeks.
There is a problem with this salad and kiddos though...it looks, well, it looks, kinda yucky...but once they try it, they'll ask if and when they are next having it....at least that's what happens in this ratty old cottage...but I must interject here that my kiddos are 'good eaters'? ...they didn't get a choice in that ;-)
Now, stop, don't start running and hitting that next on your blog reading list, pulses are your best friend in the Too Easy Dump & Go kitchen for the busy mum, or busy anyone for that matter...that reminds me I must blog the garlic canneloni Go To for when you forgot to do dinner, feel like a bath but have three ravenous young Beach Cottage Kiddos on your hands...another day.
I am almost embarrassed to tell you how easy this is, we have it so much that I always have a couple, make that six, cans of lentils around and a jar of goat's cheese in the fridge...the great thing about this is that it's all too easy to get ready in just a few minutes, but it looks, tastes and seems like you did oh so very much more than that.
You can obviously too change it up a bit depending on what you have to hand in your kitchen, and I must say that is how I settled on this version...because one day when I made it I didn't have enough Parsley in the garden and so I chucked in some basil too, and liked the Summer feel it added.
I think of this as being a rather posh salad, not sure why, because it couldn't really be further from the truth...the great thing is that it works so well for an average run of the mill day, (when I did this for this blog post, it was a hot Sydney Sunday and I did it just simply to go with Rosemary & Garlic stuffed pork, you can see that pork here),
...but just as easily it works on a regular old Wednesday night when you have lost all enthusiasm for rustling up yet another meal, or indeed on Saturday night, when your friends are on their way over for dinner and you my friend, are in your new vintage inspired clawfoot bathtub (that's me in a few weeks time, k?) without any clothes on, a tipple and no idea what to cook for dinner...
I have a complicated and ever-changing relationship with goat's cheese...it never fails me in its performance and it never fails to impress me (you can find out a bit more on what I like in food here if you like) and I kinda collect it...because it's very easy to collect and has a fairly long fridge-life, I love trying out different ones and there's not many things I love more than goat's cheese on sourdough...but I think the best thing about it is not thinking about it exclusively in the toast/salad department...I've stuffed it in chicken and all sorts of things as a last minute and it's been fab.
But let's get down to the nitty gritty of this super salad that makes you look like an angel who has been on her knees all day scrubbing the front step when really you are in the digital world and spent most of ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, howdy, howdy howdy today for a Beach Cottage Too Easy recipe.
If you like cake, cream, sugar and chocolate, make this.
This is, rather than a recipe, a putting it together...as you know I am no dessert maker, but, I do make quite a few sweet things, because, somehow I have ended up with kiddos, who in their roles as offspring, believe that part of the deal, is that not only do I feed them a home-cooked meal with a few homegrown ingredients in there, yes, they also believe that dessert and not the kind that comes out of a packet is included too in this All-Inclusive Deal they call Parenthood.
So, this, for sure, is no culinary masterpiece, but if you are looking for something that is so very easy, dump-able, uses everyday ingredients and at the same time makes you look like you spent hours pulling things together plus tastes good....well, then this is for you.
Best though, you don't make this for yourself, if you have spent the most part of your week sitting on your derriere reading blogs...this my friend ain't low in the calories department...if, however, you are treating yourself to a delight in a mason jar, this is so for you.
I first had a version of this when at dinner back in Old Blighty with a girl, I once, in another life, caught the train up from our village to London with...she was a funny thing really...I am not quite sure how we got on...she was kinda prissy and a bit bothered by too much...I would run to the train flustered, having got up late, and she would have a spreadsheet on the train times, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, a few years later when we both had bambinos, I bumped into her again and we met up for playdates and dinner sometimes....this particular night, after a lovely meal she served up little bowls of creamy, cakey fruity stuff topped off with chocolate flake...it was delicious!
She didn't serve hers in little jars like this, hers were in a champagne glass and not quite so layered as these ones, plus she used tinned fruit not fresh or frozen.
Years later when said offspring kept requesting dessert, one day I wangled together somehow these from what was around in the fridge and they've been with us ever since.
Most likely, if you ever come here for dinner, and shock horror, you dont' bring the dessert with you, this, if you are lucky, will be what you will get.
Throw it all together, sprinkle a lil bit of chocolate on the top and the blog reading past-time you so rudely left in order to make this, is my friend, your oyster.
Beach Cottage Too Easy Layered Raspberry, Cream & Sponge Dessert
1 small maderia or butter cake or a pack of cupcakes (or of course make your own)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
8 tbsp fruit
1 x chocolate Flake or chocolate bar for grating
1. beat the cream cheese until it is soft
2. whip the cream until soft peaks form
3. combine & add the sugar through
4. cut your cake into portions
& layer into the bottom of your jar
5. add a tablespoon of fruit
6. layer on top the cream combo
7. repeat
8. grate chocolate or Flake on top
*Beach Cottage Recipe Notes : this is just a guide really, you can use any cream that you have on hand...I have made this with clotted cream (don't even go there unless you want to seriously get these babies on your thighs), with double cream and I have even, in desperate times squirted in that, ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, well I thought it was time for some blogging tips here today, alongside a few nice flowers and shells ;-)
I was recently part of a blogger discussion group over at Kidspot and a couple of hours later had a few questions from girls who couldn't make it to the live chat, one was on my Facebook page and one via email, the Facebook one I will deal with in another Real Girl Blogging Tips post...the email one asked me what essentials do I think every blog needs?
Well I have been around here for a while now doing the blogging thing, so I should know this, yeah and I mused this on my walk by the sea this morning I thought well what do you only need?
...I think it is really very easy when blogging, whether or not you are blogging up there in the lofty heights of the Super Bloggers or you are just dipping your toe in the water, to get side-tracked by 101 million different things that are 'essential' to your blog and if you are someone like me who actually gets a thrill from reading blogging tips then you are in an even worse place because you will find yourself literally buzzing with these essential things to add/do/implement on your blog.
However, walking along, gulping down that brisk sea air today (no sunshine & clouds) I thought you actually don't need any of that professional blogging stuff to be successful...but there are a few things that are pretty much crucial ...and once I started to think about it I got it down to about 5 - these are the only things that you need to concentrate on...once you have read through take a look at some of the big girl's blogs...you'll see that actually they don't have bundles of stuff on their blogs...but they do have all of these...
So here are my top things that your blog must have
1. About Page
There are all sorts of About Pages out there, and if you search on it there are many different tips and ideas for what to have on yours
Whatever blogging platform you use, adding an About Me Page is easy, quick and simple and will do everything to grow your blog.
I like a long-ish About Page, I am inherently nosy and I like to know a bit more about the person but at the least you should have on it your name and where you are located. I also think a photo is good too...over the last year or so I think this has become more important in blogging - if you are hesitant about that as I was, you can try using sunglasses or a behind shot until you get comfortable.
There is nothing worse than stumbling upon a new blog and going to find out more to only be faced with a piddly little one liner About Me Page...well there is something worse, not having one at all!
2. Contact Page
The chances are someone, somewhere will want to contact you and you will be surprised what lands in your inbox once you put yourself out there on the world wide web with a blog.
Many bloggers also use this page to include details for PR's/brands that may want to contact them and some bloggers put their stats on there too.
A short, to the point and simple Contact Page works really well...whenever I have wanted to contact another blogger I am often very busy and have limited time so I don't want to hang around sifting through information looking for an email address, so concise and clear ...
G'day lovely Beach Cottage lovelies.
So, yeah, so on a roll people, so on a roll.
I feel kinda home accessory wired right now.
I am always telling people, if anyone ever listens, that blogging is all about passion, not that sort of passion, but about passion that makes one tick.
Things like this make me tick tick boom.
I love finding things that suit my budget and let me treat my home but look amazing too.
So without further adieu I introduce you, ladies of the beach, to the blue vintage glasses that I have been stroking for about a week or two now...
These glasses are from a little boutique I sometimes happen upon, this boutique sells also pet accessories, carpet cleaner, bras and compost...it's quite unique though.
And, thanks to my friend Marnie (she blogs over here, go take a look at her praying position, interesting), who just so happens to be one day having me over for a lil' Greek dinner, has let me in on the fact that we call Kmart....The KMart...with an accent ....as in 'I love The KMart'...just like her MIL does. Oh yeah. Love that.
So I have had my eye on reproduction vintage glass blue wine glasses and being trying to find real true vintage blue glasses for like ever.
Oh yes I have spied them in Frenchy boutiques, I have lusted after them in stores that I shouldn't even enter and I have put them back pretty quickly in those shops with the hand-written price tags. C'mon, you know the ones.
And, though all of the above have tempted me, muchly, really, even with my wardrobe stashing skills I just thought that, actually, I'd rather be saving that casherooni for our next trip overseas..
Hello The KMart.
Tick Tick Boom
Vintage style blue wine glasses.
Do not come to my old place and think you might pick up one of these and smile with pleasure at their handblown quality, their weight, and be secretly jealous that my wine glasses cost more than your car...friend, that would not happen...these do not feel like that...indeed these in a funny way reminded me of my baby girl, she was a tiny little thing, with stick legs, the tinsssssssiest ankles and wrists you ever did see, she slept sideways in her cot wedged in between rolled up blankets and would only settle attached to Mr Beach Cottage or I or a (dirty) pj top of mine scrunched up under her nose...the first few times I picked her up to cuddle, being used to Honeymoon Baby who weighed in at 9lbs at birth and has never really stopped growing, I nearly threw her little bird-cum-rat down covered body over my shoulder.
These glasses are like that...be careful or you might lose your wine down the front of your shirt.
But oh baby, we are not talking picking up here, we are not talking quality, we are not talking house accessory snobbery.
Beach Cottage ladies, we are talking aesthetics.
And this is what I need in my cottage.
Blue vintage style glass, paired with coastal / nautical / beach stuff on my deck.
It's The KMart.
Tune in tomorrow, tomorrow, I have more budget foofing for your home, or maybe it will be the dress that wraps me up in supermarket-chic and makes me feel like me again.
Good Day to you my friends, wanna come hang out on my deck, talk house accessories, The KMart and drink some wine from blue glasses?
Sarah
Those books for me are mostly Tom Clancy books. I have read all of his books in the past, but I still can’t put them down when I re-read them every few years.
The whole Fablehaven series
This one is easy for me.
I’ve read, and re-read the Secret History (Donna Tartt) about 30 times by now. I seem to like it best in the summer, sprawled across grass, cool breeze, hot sun, lemonade in hand. It’s an incredible book. The back makes it sound a little bit cliche and silly, but I promise, once you read it you will not be able to put it down– and you’ll keep reading it over and over again!
The Secret Garden, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Harry Potter series, The Help.
My favorites are The Magic Kingdom of Landover books
I love Gone with The Wind, The North and South series, The Harry Potter Series and anything by Stephen King.
GFC follower. ladyt64
I can’t put down books written by James Patterson!
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel by Jamie Ford is worth reading.
momznite_at_yahoo_daught_com
The Time Machine Did It.
I’m a GFC follower.
I love books by Cecilia Ahern books and recently Fern Michaels. I also like books by Nicholas Sparks.
I joined Google Friend Connect.
The book that I could absolutely not put down was : No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels.
Follow you on GFC!
My favorite books are: The Help and The Secret Life of Bees
These arent the hardest of books to read – anything by Belinda Alexandra is a good, easy Summer read – currently for me its Tuscan Rose.
You you get caught up in the book definately- even if its not summer outside.
Im a google friend connect follower
I love all Maeve Binchy books, and Jeffrey Archer, long time fan of both, not high literature but both so readable. And of course, Jane Austen.
I am google connected now too
The Bronze Horseman series by Paullina Simons (trilogy – heart stoppingly romantic and not in a Mills & Boonish kind of way – first book is set in Leningrad in the 2nd world war)
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (autobiography of a muslim “defector”, an incredibly strong and inspiring woman)
Rachel’s Holiday – Marian Keyes (my first “chick lit” book I read about 10 years ago and I laughed and laughed)
Those are 3 fabulous books I would recommend – depends what you’re in the mood for though… hope you try them at some stage!
and forgot to add “We need to talk about Kevin” by Lionel Shriver. It really scarred me (not a typo, I am scarred, as in there will forever be a mark on my soul from this book). An amazing, heart wrenching book, but I would probably recommend you don’t read it, because you will never ever forget it (and there are bits of it I really want to forget!).
I have just finished ‘Madeleine’ by Kate Mcann. Not the happiest of books but so touching!
I know this is generic, but The Twilight series I couldn’t put down when I started reading it. It was wonderfully written and just enough suspense to keep me going. I also love love beach reads. I read Summer in the City by Candace Bushnell. One of my favorite books is Everybody in the Pool, which is a tad bit controversial, but ironic and funny and the writer is brilliant in an underachiever kind of way.
I would have to say that Edith Wharton’s “Age of Innocence” has always been a favorite!
The last book I couldn’t put down was The Forgotten Garden. A bit tricky at first keeping track of who’s who. Which generation, country and timeline. I thought about making a chart. Well worth the effort though and it did become easier as I read.
Discovered Lisa See and enjoy her novels, especially Shanghai Girls.
Hi Sarah.. I am now reading “The Sweet Life in Paris” by David Lebovitz. I have always wanted to visit Paris and although that is not possible at this time, I can live vicariously through his book.
My favorite books of all time include:
All of the childrens’ books written by Edward Eager in the early 1950′s including Half Magic, Knight’s Castle, Magic By The Lake, The Time Garden, Magic or Not, The Well Wishers, and Seven Day Magic. I enjoyed them as a child, and now, as I approach 60, I am enjoying them again.
On a more esoteric, adult level I enjoy reading and rereading “An Ice Cream War” by William Boyd, a unforgettable novel of love, and revenge set in Eastern Africa during World War I. Other excellent books by Boyd include “Brazzaville Beach” and “A Good Man in Africa”. He is spectacular writer in the company of Oates, Stegner, Norris, with similarities to Uris and Michener.
I am lost in the FBI thriller Split Second by Catherine Coulter……the whole series is awesome!
Any Agatha Christie books, especially the Poirot books! I love almost everything I’ve read by her, and even if I didn’t love it I ALWAYS enjoyed it. The Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix is fantastic YA fantasy that any fan of whimsical and creative fantasy will adore, as is His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass, etc) by Philip Pullman. Also, The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books by Douglas Adams are addicting and laugh-out-loud funny, and great for everyone (not just sci-fi lovers…they are so much more than that!). For classics, I adore Pride and Prejudice, cheesy as it sounds. also, ANYTHING by Terry Pratchett!
Loved a book called The Thirteenth Tale
Me too!!! It was really good-I read it in one sitting!
The Help was excellent and I couldn’t put down Love in the Time of Cholera.
I can’t remember if I entered…I love to read sleazy romance novels in the summer-steamier the better
The last “coudn’t put it down” was The Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy. So good!
The 7 Founfation books, Isaac Asimov. Totally unpredictable, mind blowing, history and future telling, smart, funny-smart, they show the loop of people’s behavior on the planet – he was so smart to predict how exactly the human being behave and will behave.
You get so lost in the story that you can actuall feel the vibes of the travels, the structure of the materials, the smell of the air in the stories. A must read, i’ve read all of them 3 times.
Wish you all the best and a sunny autumnt from the northen part of the world
Mariya from Bulgaria
John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series. Trav lives on his houseboat the Busted Flush and takes on clients when he runs out of money. Such a great character. I read they are making a movie and Leonardo DiCaprio will play Travis McGee.
The Rachael Morgan series by Kim Harrison. A flawed main character and interesting side characters as well.
Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda by Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire
Water for Elephants by Sara Green
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
Anything by Agatha Christie, any Sherlock Holmes book and most recently, the Twilight series. Thanks for your blog. It makes me feel like I’m at the seaside, which is where my heart is!
Wow. I just saw this – how generous you are Sarah!
I always go back to the Elizabeth Peters Egypt/Detective series. Such campy fun!
Thanks!
I know the contest is over – but one can never have too many books to read!
My favorites:
While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
More Than You Know by Beth Gutcheon
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Man Who Turned Into Himself by David Ambrose
The last book I couldn’t put down was Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer.. I’m sure it’s nothing new to you and it’s not as sophisticated as many books that may have been mentioned here but I really put everything on hold until that book was done.. staying up til 2am just to finish it