Paris

Dr Anne went to Paris for the Easter Weekend to celebrate Spring Fling.  She had a brilliant time.

At the Moulin Rouge

Can you see the Eiffel Tower

View from Sacre Coeur

Scots Kirk

Notre Dame

Ice Cream at Trocadéro

The Peace Wall at the Eiffel Tower

My friends on the carousel at the Eiffel Tower

Dr Anne at the Eiffel Tower 

Belfast

Dr Anne went to Belfast in December to see her friend Dr Hannah.  She had a great weekend.

Dr Hannah and Dr Anne

Town Hall, Belfast

The main shopping centre

I'll keep you safe

May, P. (2018). I'll keep you safe.  London: Riverrun

A friend of min was very negative about this book saying all one had to do was read the first and last chapters.

I've enjoyed every one of Peter May's books so didn't believe her but in a way she was correct.  Chapter one gave the event and the second last chapter said who did it.  In between, we had the Niamh and Ruairidh's story of building a textile business and the story of their childhood and adolescence.

No Place like Home

Clark, Higgens, M. (2005). No place like home. London: Simon and Schuster.

Dr Anne decided to take a trip to Belfast to see Dr Hannah.  She stayed in a nice guesthouse on Eglantine Avenue.  This was her weekend read.  Liza Barton killed her mother and shot her stepfather.  She came back to the house when her husband bought it as a present.  There is a web of intrigue.  Vandalism of her house.  Three dead - Georgette the estate agent, Charley, the vandal, Zach who had the secret of Liza's dad's death and of course an extra death - Liza's dad, x years previously.

But... who was the real baddy and why?

A great page turner.  

Boy at the top of the mountain

Boyne, J. (2017).  The Boy at the top of the mountain. London: Corgi Books

Up and down to Edinburgh on Wednesday on the train made Dr Anne open this book.  It is listed as a child's book like the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas but Dr Anne found it enthralling.  One needs the adult understanding and knowledge of WW11 and the lead up to it to give one an insight to that moment in time.

Pierrot, an orphan in France becomes Pieter when he moves to Hitler's mountain home to live with his Aunt Beatrix.  He comes under the arm of Hitler and takes authority to the endth when he betrays his aunt and the chauffeur.  When the war ends he drifts back to Paris and meets up again with his best friend, a Jew, a writer who tells his story.

It is amazing how the context of life affects one' attitudes and actions.  

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Morris, H. (2018). The Tattooist of Auschwitz. London: Zaffre Publishing.

Dr Anne should be heading for Chicago to meet up with her friend Lois Denham to celebrate nearly 60 years of friendship.

Lois and Dr Anne's  last trip included an emotional visit to Auschwitz and Birkenau in 2014.  Today, Dr Anne was having her fourth general anaesthetic in a matter of months - annus horribilis - so she picked up the recommended - The Tattooist of Auschwitz.  Dr Anne's memories of the visit are vivid.  The story of Lale, a Slovakian Jew determined to survive three years in Auschwitz was insightful.  How does one survive - giving.  The more you give the greater the reward.

Lale fell in love with Gita who worked in 'Canada' sorting the clothes and jewels of those who went to the gas chambers.  The smuggled money and jewels bought food from the outside to be shared with those on starvation rations.

Being caught brought support from those whom he had helped - the big Jew who beat him 'lightly' , the girl who slept with the SS Officer who plucked him from death.

One needs motivation, positivity, and a measure of luck to survive.

Come on Dr Anne, you can do it too.......

This is going to hurt.

Kay, A. (2017). This is going to hurt.  London:Picator.

Dr Anne was at Junior Summer School in St Andrews.  She had to take the train to Aberdeen on consecutive days to undergo a procedure.  She picked this book up at W H Smith.  She learned so much about babies, mothers, fathers, vaginas, caesarians, sexual practices and the outcomes.  Did it shock the 'old maid'? Nah, it had her giggling all the way to and fro to Aberdeen twice.