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Far above us, the International Space Station moves through the sky, and there are always astronauts observing the earth as a single object and not the complex mess of humanity that we really are.  They are there to carry out scientific experiments both inside and outside the craft, and in addition to their daily tasks, they themselves are the subjects of experiments on their bodies. Floating in space for months at a time has a serious effect on the mind and body.  The astronauts exist in a weightless atmosphere where there is no up or down, simply space.  There are no 24 hours days, as the orbit of the space station takes the crew through multiple dawns every day, and if it were not for the sleeping tablets, there would be no notion of night and day. They must eat their food out of pouches, and sleep in sleeping bags that simply hang untethered in the sleeping areas, so normal human life is suspended for the entire time they are on board. There are many descriptions of w...

The writing here could be described as plain and simple.  No excessive use of language, just journal notes written by an un named woman who lives with nuns.  Not a nun herself, but someone who went on a retreat and then just ended up staying because everything seemed right and she found her purpose. Everyone has a backstory, and in amongst the descriptions of her monastic life there a little snippets of memory where she recalls her mother and sometimes her schooldays.  One of her memories is of a member of her class who was generally despised by all the others even though this girl, Helen Parry, was a troubled child whose mother beat her and sometimes left her alone for weeks.  No one ever did anything about it, and even the school turned a blind eye rather than get involved because Helen was always difficult and confrontational. As an adult Helen Parry had also become a nun, but not in the traditional sense where she would be part of an enclosed order and take the v...

This is a wonderful book and I would really like to thank the Surrey Library service for putting it under my nose on the 'recommended' table.  I was surprised to see that it was first published in 1993, as both the author and the title are new to me and it really should be considered a classic that is known by readers everywhere.  Maybe it is and I just haven't been looking in the right direction. The quality of the writing stands out right from the start and there is a gentle humour running through it that demands you read every word with care.  It's set in Austria in the period just before World War Two and we meet the Berger family, who are partly Jewish so suddenly find themselves in great danger.  Most of the family get away to England as planned, but daughter Ruth misses the student transport and is stuck alone in Nazi-occupied Vienna. Ruth is an intelligent girl but much of her personality has been influenced by characters in novels and operatic works and she ...

If there was a literary genre known as 'Entertainment for Boomers in Retirement' then this book would sit right in there along with the Richard Osman Murder Club series and anything else classed as 'heart-warming' by a reviewer.  It's very English and all the characters are either sweet, lovely or eccentric with no true villains to be found. Before you start the book, prepare yourself to go with the flow and remember it's just a story.  There are quite a few points in the plot where you might feel tempted to mutter, 'well I can't see that happening' but just calm yourself and and have another Hobnob.  If you like doing crossword puzzles then you might enjoy trying to solve the one that runs through the story, but if you don't (or can't) then never fear, the answer will be presented a few lines later.  It will even be in heavy type to make sure you don't miss it. The Fellowship of Puzzle Makers begins as a club that meets in a room upstair...

This one has a clever twist on a family saga that takes place over many generations.  Instead of constantly introducing all the new members of a family that it would take to fill the time between 1486 and the present day, Tracy Chevalier has devised a scenario where on the island of Murano, time doesn't move in the same way as the rest of the world, and that allows her to keep the same central characters living through many centuries. The Rosso family are glassmakers, and we are presented with an overview of the the trade as it moves from only producing quality pieces for the aristocracy in the fifteenth century to the mass production of tourist trinkets in the present day. Orsola Rosso is the eldest daughter of a glassmaking family, and as a woman she is not allowed into the workshops or to have anything to do with the production of glass.  Her job is to assist her mother in the running of the house and deal with the vast quantities of laundry and cooking that are required by...