Careless in Red by Elizabeth George

I just finished Careless in Red, the new Inspector Lynley book by Elizabeth George. I read it before, but I wanted to pick it up again to read it. I did and I loved the book. It is better than the last Lynley novels I have read. Careless in Red shows us where Thomas Lynley is after the murder on his wife Helen. He is walking the coast of Cornwall when he finds the body of a young man. When it looks like murder, Thomas is the first suspect. The book is big, but this time it is well written. I did read more big Lynley book, where I read chapters that really didn't intrest me. I want to read about a murder and then the 2 detectives who solve it. In this case Barbara Havers, Thomas's Scotland Yard partner and Bea Hannaford. Thomas Lynley is suspect, but he also reveals some secrets that should have never come out. This book is a good read for a holiday, although I don't recommand to read it on the beach. But a garden or balcony will do very well. At least it works for me.

The first time I heard about the Inspector Lynley Mysteries was through the TV series with Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small. The first episode I saw was A Suitable Vengeance, and it was also the first book I've read. It was a shock to see that the Thomas Lynley in the books was blond, with glasses. Not at all like the Thomas Lynley in the TV series. I was also surprised to find that the book was about the engagement of Thomas with Deborah and not (like in the TV series) with Helen. I really had to get used to it. Now I think of the books and TV series as different stories. The characters in the books are not at all like the ones on TV. A thing that bothers me about the books is the way Barbara Havers is portrayed. She is very ugly in the books, she dresses bad and she has a horrible haircut. It gets annoying to see that in every book. It seems that Barbara can't do anything good in Mrs Georges eyes. I am getting tired of reading that Barbara is ugly and she has no taste for clothes. In my opinion Barbara is a beauty of her own. She has her own style and her own way of living. Barbara is Barbara and no one can change that. To me she became a dear friend, and it doesn't matter if one of her tooth is broken, her haircut is bad and she wears baggy clothes. It is the person within that counts. I am looking forward to read the next Lynley book. Now the TV series has come to an end, it is good that the books are still there. Careless in Red played tricks on my mind to be honest. When I read it first there was nothing wrong, but when I read it again and I found the description of Bea Hannaford, the first one that came to my mind was Jo Brand. She should have been perfect to play that part in the series (if there was an episode). And also Dellen Kerne's description looks like another famous person to me. When I read about her, I see the mother of The Nanny (the American comedy). She looks very much like Dellen Kerne, as I have her in mind. Careless in Red is a good read and it is good to pick books like that up again sometimes. I always discover something new in these books. Next on the list is something completely different. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, another great author. But that is a blog for another time.

Bitten by the Horse Racing Bug

Two years ago a friend of mine talked about the Grand National, a famous horse race. I had never heard about it, but I was curious. As I was in London that day I didn't see any of it. Last year I corrected that. I saw Comply or Die win this race. I liked what I saw, and I was curious about it. This year I saw the Grand National again and this year Comply or Die came in second. Too bad as I had my hope set on him. Mon Mome was a great winner this year. One thing was sure, I was bitten by the horse racing bug. I wanted to know more about it, I really don't know anything about it. I just look at the looks of the horse or the name and that is it. Now I really want to dig deeper into it. i want to know more about it. I found the site of trainer David Pipe and congratulated him on the good result of Comply or Die. He sent me a very nice email back. I once saw a small documentary on race horses and they were all treated very well. As David Pipe mentioned in his email to me "The horses live in a 5 star hotel". People tell me that these races are there to abuse the horses. I don't agree with that. From what I see, the horses have fun doing it, otherwise they would never go with the rest, if their jockey falls off. And I always look at the ears too. I don't know if that goes for horses too, but the time you have to watch out for animals is when their ears are turned backwards or close to their heads. The only time I get to see a race or meeting as it is called too, is when the BBC is showing them. They don't show much and their internet site is not good when it comes to watching as their clips are just avaliable for UK residents. I am not a UK resident, so I have to watch elsewhere. I am glad that YouTube has good race clips and there are lots of sites where I can find information about races. I hope to visit a racetrack one day. It would be great to watch the Grand National or a race at the Cheltenham festival.

Ever since I was a child I have a passion for horses, but I never came any further than a ride at the fairgrounds. Riding a horse is pretty expencive and I never had the money to learn to ride. I might give it a try this year. I really hope that I can find a nice place here in town where I can learn to ride a horse. Buying my own horse is no option. I have no money for that for sure. But riding a horse sounds really wonderful to me. It is something I wanted to do for years and I hope I can make that dream come true one day.

Some great links to Race forums, clips and the Racing Post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FInUXkCF0ac
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpRUSezk15U
http://www.racingpost.com/
http://www.theracingforum.co.uk/forum/index.php
http://www.grandnationalinsider.co.uk/default.aspx

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

After reading Far From The Madding Crowd I got very curious about Thomas Hardy and I bought more books he wrote. The first one I read was The Mayor of Casterbridge. I finally finished it. It took me a while as I did put the book away sometimes. The story is well written, but very depressing from time to time. It is about the rise and fall of Michael Henchard. He sold his wife and daugher at a fairground atraction and became mayor of Casterbridge. Then his wife and daughter re-appear and everything goes wrong from there. As I said, it is very well written and one of Hardy's best books. But I can't help it but feeling depressed sometimes when I read some parts of the book. I don't want to feel depressed so I did read some other books in the meanwhile. Or parts of them, as I should say. I find this book a nice one, but I have no idea if I read it again. I don't feel the same vibes that I felt when reading Far From The Madding Crowd. I think that that is really Hardy's best book. I am off Hardy for a while now. I started a Stephen Fry book and I have more books I have bought and are waiting to be read.

4 heroic women of WW2.

Even when I was little I was fascinated by some eras in history. The French Revolution is one of them, another one is World War 2. I wasn't born at the time, but I always watched films and I was thought that at May 4 at 8.00 PM there was a 2 minute silence for those who fell for our freedom. Ofcourse there were many people who did lots of good things in the war and I want to tell a bit about 4 of them. They are all women, but for me they are heroes.

The first of them is Anne Frank, well known for her diary. She hid with her family and some other people in parts of the office building of her father called "Het Achterhuis". People are lining up to see it daily and it is very impressive to see where she lived the last years of her life. It is very sad that someone betrayed her and her famly, so they went to the gaschambers. The only one who survived was Anne's father.

The second person is not so well known out side the Netherlands. Her name is Hannie Schaft. She was a student of law when the war started. She was in the resistance, but when someone was shot in front of her eyes, she decided to do more than that. They attack the bad people who worked for the Germans. One of the attacks killed her lover Hugo. They find a picture of her in his pocket and then the race starts to get her. She dyed her hair red and became the Girl With The Red Hair. She is the most famous Dutch resistance woman.

The third woman I like to talk about is my grandmother. Not known to anyone in the world, except for friends and family, but she did a lot of wonderful things in the war to help Jewish people. She knew Hannie Schaft, but I never found out if they worked together or not. My grandmother once was caught by the German and brought to an officer. She reminded him of his daughter, who was the same age as she was and for that reason he let her go. It didn't stop her from doing what she did. She always wore a Jewish Star necklace. I am very proud of what she did during that time, I hope I never have to follow her footsteps, but if I have to, I do the same without hesitation.

The last woman I want to introduce is Irene Sendler. I have to be honest here, as I never heard of her before there was a message on a film about her life. Irene was a very brave woman who saved 2500 Jewish people in Poland. She always felt like she could save more, but she did what she could. On April 19 there will be a film on the American CBS Channel about Irene. It stars Anna Paquin, Goran Visnjic, Marcia Garden Hay and there is a small part in it for Nathaniel Parker. I really hope everyone in the world gets to see this film. For me it is important that we never forget what happened there and that we have to fight to keep the earth a nice place for everybody to live, whatever religion, race, upbrining and other things. Life is to precious to waste on wars.

Like I said, many people risked their lives to save people and lots of people still do as there still is war going on in the world. I admire everybody who helps fight evil, but these 4 women are the ones that stand out for me. Anne Frank might not have been in the resistance or something else, she was only killed because she was Jewish.

From top to bottom you see Hannie Schaft, Irene Sendler and Anna Paquin and Nathaniel Parker as Irene Sendler and Doctor Majkowski in the Hallmark/CBS film The Courageous Heart Of Irene Sendler.

Interesting links for those who are interested in these ladies, except for my grandmother, as there is no site for her.The links are about the TV film, Irene Sendler, Hannie Schaft and Anne Frank.

http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/article1000110051/HallmarkSite/HallmarkHallOfFame/HHOF_TOP
http://www.irenasendler.org/facts.asp
http://conservativethoughts.us/2008/05/13/remembering-irene-sendler-woman-who-saved-2500-during-holocaust/http://www.annefrank.org/content.asp?lid=1&pid=1
http://www.channels.nl/amsterdam/annefran.html

Thomas Hardy biography by Claire Tomalin

How excited I was when this book arrived. I have read Far From The Madding Crowd and am reading The major Of Casterbridge, so I wanted to know more about the author of these books. It is very well written and it was hard to put it away. There were some things that struck me in this book. Hardy started courting Emma, but they married after they met a few times (in 4 years that is), and from what I read in the book it doesn't look like it was a very happy marriage. So was his second marriage. When I read the book I had the feeling that Hardy was a bit of a depressing man. I can be wrong ofcourse, but the way he wrote his books and the way he behaved towards people made me think that. I can't compare the situation of then with the situation now. Times were different then and I am very happy that I live today and not in the time Hardy lived. As I said the book was well written, but I doubt if I would have liked Hardy when he was alive. There are also some photos and drawings in the book and they look nice and give a good view of the time people lived in, in the time Hardy lived. I have more biographies, by Robert Gittings, but for now I leave them for what they are. I felt a bit down when I did finish the book by Clairt Tomalin, and I want to feel happy.

The Haunted Mansion

As I am writing about creepy things I better go on with it. With many thanks to Phantom Manor I found out about Nathaniel Parker, who played Mr Gracey in the film The Haunted Mansion. But I wrote about that in an earlier blog. I wanted to see the film because I love the ride in the Disneyland Paris parc. I never went to the American parcs, a thing I hope to do one day. So the story was a bit new to me, made me excited. The fact that Eddie Murphy had the leading role I took with it. But what an annoying man it was in this film. The start of the film was about a man and a woman who were in love but got seperated by death. Then the film moves on to the area we live in now. It was a nice story to be honest, but after I saw this I had an empty feeling. Why didn't they show more of Master Gracey was my first thought. I would have love to see more about him and his beloved Elizabeth. They should have told us how they fell in love and what went wrong, before moving on the the "now a days". As I said, I found Eddie Murphy pretty annoying and I felt sorry for the other cast members who did a great job in this film. Next to Mister Gracey, I fell for the house. The Gracey Manor really is something that fits me like a glove. I love the house and the furniture in it. I do love old houses and castles and their furniture and it would have been wonderful to have looked on the set of the film. Or see the old costumes they used for the ghosts of the house. With many thanks to a dear friend, I was able to get a copy of the Art of The Haunted Mansion, which is a wonderful book with the most beautiful pictures of the house and the costumes. There is also a book called "Froom the Magic Kingdom to the Movie". But the artbook really stole my heart and so did the Gracey house. sometimes I dream that I live in a house like that. I guess it is one of the reasons I love costume dramas so much. The houses at the time were elegant and wonderful. In my opinion that is. For people who are interested in the Gracey family history, you can click on the link below this blog. You can visit the rest of that site as it will tell you all about the attraction and the film. I did write my own version of the history between Elizabeth and Edward Gracey, but that is a thing I keep for myself at the moment.

http://www.doombuggies.com/film_gracey.php

Phantom Manor

In Disneyland Paris you can find an old house on top of a hill. The house looks like it had better times. It was buildt during the Gold Rush time and it had happier times. Welcome to Phantom Manor. This is one of my favorite Disneyrides. Phantom Manor is not like the rides in other Disney parcs. Phantom Manor is a wonderful building with a great story. I heard all about it when I went to Disney University. Yes, it excisist and is for people who are starting their job in Disneyland Paris. Or at least, it was when I went to work there in 1996. I never knew there was a story behind Phantom Manor, but when I went with my fellow students and teacher and waited in the cue we got to hear the story behind it. The house was buildt by a man who went out to California during the Gold Rush. He got very rich and founded Thunder Mesa. The house was buildt on top of a hill and looked out over the small city and the river. The man married and he and his wife got a daughter. The daughter fell in love with a young man, who lived in the village. They wanted to get married. But there was one little problem. In the house lived a ghost who was very much in love with the daughter. He couldn't stand loosing her, so he had to take action. When the wedding day came the groom was nowhere to be found. The family looked all over the house and area, but no groom. The girl was very sad and didn't believe he was gone. Now a days strange things happen around and in the house. Lights are visible behind the windows and strange smoke comes out of the chimney. The place is deserted for years and years, but sometimes the doors open. Visitors can enter the house and look around. They might catch a glimpse of the bride, who is still searching her true love. They might hear her weeping and eerie music can be heard. On entering the ballroom it is possible that visitors get to see ballroom dancers. Glimpses of times past. Visitors also can hear a terrible laugh which makes them scared. A man can be seen, his face is strange and so are his clothes. Who is he and what is going on in the house. Not many people live to tell the tail. If you are lucky, you can end up in a shooting in the nearby Western city. I hope you are brave enough to visit the house and come out of it alive.