The Houses of Parliament and a sprinkling of sheep

Hello everyone...



Hanging in Westminster Hall

So I just spent the last four days doing my Silver DofE expedition in Wales. I had intended to post this before I left but there wasn't time to finish it. I also have noticed that I have only done one book review  this month, although I have read other books so maybe I will post another one today sometime. And can I just say that Wales is such an underrated country. I love hills and mountains (although maybe not climbing them) and Wales has a beautiful skyline. At least, the west coast does. And the forests that we walked through looked like a combination of Narnian forests and the Lord of the Rings. Also, there are so many sheep. And some sheep got loose from their fields and could be seen just walking away along the footpaths, going on their own little expedition. We actually did climb a mountain because we climbed up to 610m above sea level which is when a hill becomes a mountain.

But, back on track. On Saturday, I went to the Houses of Parliament. I have been there before but I went when I was about six or seven and I don't remember much at all except that everything seemed very big and very boring. So I decided to revisit...

The Houses of Parliament

(And also, in front of the Houses of the Parliament, there was a big celebration because on the 15th August, 70 years ago was the day that the Japanese surrendered and World War II officially ended.)





The first part that I saw was Westminster Hall. It is the oldest part of the Houses of Parliament and is about 900 years old, having survived the Great Fire of London. It was originally built by the son of William the Conqueror in 1099 and then it was remodelled by Richard II. When it was built, it was the biggest hall in Britain and possibly Europe as well. There is a huge stained glass window at either end of the hall, which made taking photos really difficult due to the very bright light but the roof is gothic architecture.

On the floor, there are lots of plaques that commemorate different people and historic events, such as St. Thomas More and Winston Churchill. The Queen's mother lay in state there before her burial and various people were acquitted of crimes as the law courts were there for 700 years before they were moved to the Royal Courts of Justice. Lots of famous trials took place there. For instance, William Wallace was a Scottish nobleman who fought against Edward I. He was captured in 1305 and tried in Westminster Hall. He pleaded innocent by saying, 'I cannot be a traitor for I owed him no allegiance. He is not my sovereign. He never received my homage.' But he was hung, drawn and quartered.

St. Thomas More was also tried here because he would not agree that Henry VIII was the head of the Church of England. He was sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered as well but was then beheaded instead. 

And also, King Charles I was tried here, after losing the English Civil War between the Parliamentarians and Royalists before being beheaded. Oliver Cromwell ruled England until he died and King Charles II took over again. It was the only time that England ever had a Republic.



Terrible lighting :/



The next place that I saw was St. Stephen's Chapel where the members of the House of Commons used to meet. After the Great Fire of London, St. Stephen's Chapel was destroyed and so the one that I saw on Saturday was rebuilt on the site of the original with the same layout and design. It is a very small place with limited places for the members of the House of Commons to sit and so it was very crowded when it was used. It was also the place of the first recorded smoking ban at the end of the seventeenth century.



This is Lord Mansfield. He was Lord Chief Justice from the years 1756-1788 and he was closely involved in the Zong case, when slave traders threw slaves overboard because they were going to get more money if they were dead, insured cargo than if they were sold in the slave market. This is the case in the film Belle.  

This is Pitt the Younger. He was the Prime Minister while William Wilberforce was fighting to abolish the slave trade



And then photography was forbidden, so I can only write about it.

I saw the Central Lobby next. The Central Lobby connects the chamber of the House of Lords with the chamber of the House of Commons. It is the place where the public can ask to speak to their MPs. The architectural style was of medieval gothic architecture. After the Great Fire of London, a competition was held to gather designs for the rebuilding of this room, as it was destroyed in the fire. There was 97 entries and Charles Barry won. Also, because it is in the centre of the Houses of Parliament and therefore, in the centre of the United Kingdom's government, above each of the four doors leading out of the room was a mosaic of the patron saint of each of the four countries in the UK: St George for England, St Andrew for Scotland, St Patrick for Ireland and Saint David for Wales. Furthermore, there were lots of statues around of different monarchs because Charles Barry wanted lots of statues.

Finally, no parliamentarian business can happen in the House of Lords or House of Commons unless a mace is present to show the power of the monarch. The sergeant of arms, someone who is royally appointed,  carries the mace to the House of Common everyday.

Next came the Peers Lobby, which is the room before the House of Lords. It is decorated in red because that is the colour of the House of Lords whereas green is the colour of the House of Commons. Apparently, according to one of the peers (members) in the House of Lords, the House of Lords is listened to by the government because they are more driven by the issues of the country, rather than party political concerns. 200 peers are independent Lords that have been made so because they are great in their own respective fields.

The Not Content Lobby is used when the House of Lords has a difficult decision to make. This is one of the places where the votes are cast. Because there are more members of the House of Lords than seats available, the peers walk through the lobby and separate into the 'yes' area, which means they agree with the motion being put forward or the 'no' area, which means that they don't agree with the motion. Their vote is recorded by a clark. It is also the area of many debates because there never is an overall majority after a motion is proposed.

The Prince's Chamber had two doors. One led to the chamber of the House of Lords and one led to the Royal Gallery. The Prince's Chamber was definitely a Tudor room. The Tudor kings and queens with their spouses were painted on wooden panels at the top of the room. Katherine of Aragon was painted as Arthur's wife, even though Arthur was never king. It is also here that the Lords can review their notes before entering their chamber to discuss things. There is a huge statue of the young Queen Victoria on one side of the room and along the top of the room, there are a lot of paintings that depict the defeat of the Spanish Armada. They were completed in 2010 but before that there were tapestries that depicted the same thing.

The Royal Gallery is used for state occasions and addresses from various heads of state to both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Apparently, it is also used for informal discussions between members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The original plan for decoration of the Royal Gallery was to have lots of murals of British military victories but that plan fell through and now there are only two: the Battle of Waterloo (which didn't take place at Waterloo and was only called that because of the name of Wellington's HQ) and the Battle of Trafalgar. There are lots of pictures of monarchs on the walls and their spouses. For example, Queen Elizabeth I is there along with Prince Phillip.

The Norman Porch is just a corridor that links the Robing Room to the Royal Gallery. There are lots of busts of Prime Ministers who were also members of the House of Lords and it is below the Victorian Tower where Parliament's archives are held. There are some real important documents in there. For instance, the death warrant of King Charles I  and every law passed ever. The longest law is on a parchment roll that is 350 meters long and is it the 1821 Land Tax Act.

The Robing Room should be called Queen Victoria's room because it was full of stuff for Queen Victoria. On one side of the room was a throne that was made for her when Prince Albert died. There are huge portraits of her and Albert next to each other above the throne as well. At the State Opening of Parliament, which is an annual event held each year, this is where the sovereign dresses. Apparently, the State Opening of Parliament is the only time the three parts of the government, the sovereign, House of Lords and House of Commons are together. When the chamber of the House of Commons was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, they used the chamber of the House of Lords and the House of Lords met in the Robing Room.

Wow, there is a lot of writing today. Bear with me. It is almost finished. The Chamber of the House of Lords. It is quite a strange room in that it is very traditional with a lot of old red leather benches and the 'wool sack' where the speaker sits but then there are also lots of modern features that really clash with everything else. There are televisions because the activity of the House of Lords started to be televised in 1985. There was an amazing throne that was covered in gold leaf and that is used when the sovereign reads an address at the State Opening of Parliament to outline what will happen in that year.

I'll jump straight to the Chamber of the House of Common. Just in front of it is the Members Gallery where there are statues of Prime Ministers like Churchill, Thatcher, Lloyd George and Asquith and then connecting the two is the Commons Corridor where there are pictures from the Glorious Revolution. I am not sure what that is but you can look it up. The Chamber is all in green with benches and a big chair in the centre where the speaker sits. S/he checks that there is order and s/he chairs debates. Government parties sit on the left and opposite parties on the right. The Prime Minister sits on the front bench with his ministers around him. At the back of the room, there were the shields of members of the House of Commons who have been killed during military service or died during a terrorist attack.

Okay, I am done. Done and dusted. I probably could have said a lot more but I think that it would have got boring so I will stop there.

Clare



The Flight of the Falcon by Daphne Du Maurier

Hey everyone...

This is the last book review of the holidays. I read The Flight of the Falcon by Daphne Du Maurier. I have heard that Daphne Du Maurier's style of writing is quite an 'acquired taste' and people I know who like all the same genres that I do, really dislike Du Maurier's way of writing. For my part, I like it. Her books are classified as classics, but they don't feel like you are reading a classic. For instance, when reading Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, there is a particular feel to the book, in my opinion, and you know that it is a 'hard' read. However, I don't find that with Du Maurier's books. I think her most famous book is Rebecca and I have read that, but I preferred her less well known ones, The King's General, for example and My Cousin Rachel.

The Flight of the Falcon takes place in Italy, about thirty years or so after the end of WWII, in a town called Ruffano. A lot of Daphne Du Maurier's books are part of a mystery genre. Although not drastically so, the characters are always discovering things or finding out things, as well as having a different overall storyline. This particular protagonist, a man called Armino Fabbio, is a tour guide across Italy, when he hears of the murder of his childhood nurse. This murder is a reoccuring theme throughout the book however, at the same time, there is another storyline about a annual Festival held in Ruffano and incidents surrounding that. Maybe I should include the blurb here, because I am not very good at summarising stories. :/

BLURB 
Armino Fabbio leads a pleasant, if humdrum life - until he becomes circumstantially involved in the murder of an old peasant woman in Rome. The woman, he gradually learns, was his family's beloved servant many years ago, in his native town of Ruffano.
Over five hundred years before, the sinister Duke Claudio, known as The Falcon, lived his twisted, brutal life preying on the people of Ruffano. Now, in the twentieth century, the town seems to have forgotten its violent history. But have things really changed?

What I liked about the book 
As I said, Du Maurier's style of writing is one that I enjoy. Her description is not present in vast quantities but is detailed and very effective. The story nevers 'sits still', and there are loads of details that you think are insignificant but all come together at the end in a really cool way and I didn't expect the ending at all. Du Maurier is very good at making you believe something and then completely changing your mind. If you have read Rebecca, you will know what I mean. I loved the way that she developed her characters and the relationships between them, particularly the two brothers that feature heavily. I also liked the way that when thinking about the book, the storyline seems really complicated because there are so many different things happening but, when you are reading it, it is really easy to understand.

Issues discussed in the book
In this book, there is a clear theme of history repeating itself. Dictators and heroes appear throughout history, repeated whenever the time so dictates. This theme, of history repeating itself, is used often in books because it can be interpreted and written in many different ways and I, for one, like this type of theme. In this book, Duke Claudio 'reappears' in another form and there are parallels between events in the past and events in the present.
I love history, because I think that humans, in our arrogance and ignorance, don't learn from our mistakes and will continue to repeat them until the end of time. In a way, we think that because we are at the top of the food chain, we are somehow incapable of making mistakes and so refuse to see them when they happen.
People say that history is a dying subject, one that is studied simply because of interest in the past and plays no role in the future. I disagree. Look at the period of history a few years before this book, from the years 1914-1991. Three big wars during that time. WWI, WWII and the Cold War. Well, I could say from that that there will be another war some time because we obviously have not learnt our lesson. WWI was supposed to be the war to end all wars and then came WWII and the Holocaust. Although there was no actual fighting in the Cold War, directly between the Soviets and the Americans, during that period of time there was the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the greatest threat of nuclear war this world has ever seen, and the Afghanistan War, which lasted for ten years and cost something like 1.5 million lives. I think only time will tell when another war comes but I feel sure that it will come, because we never learn.

Wow, that was a happy ramble. Quick, onto the recommendations.

Recommendations
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - This is the first book in a trilogy. I have read all of them. They were originally written in German but have been translated into English. It is about a girl called Meggie who loves books and her dad is a bookbinder. But then, a stranger comes to their house and Meggie is taken on a journey of discovery about powers that she has only read about. Although, history does not repeat itself exactly, the past does return to haunt Meggie and her dad, Mortimer.

The King's General by Daphne Du Maurier- If you read The Flight of the Falcon and enjoy it, I recommend that you check out Daphne Du Maurier's other books. My favourite is The King's General. It is about the Civil War in England between the King and Parliament. But it is also a love story between Honor Harris and Richard Grenville, the general of the King's army. It is inspired by a horrible discovery in a house in the nineteenth century and the discovery is featured in the book. So read it and find out! :)

BUY INKHEART ON AMAZON
BUY THE KING'S GENERAL ON AMAZON
BUY THE FLIGHT OF THE FALCON ON AMAZON

Well, that is it for this blog post. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you check out the books I recommended.:)


Clare

Before I Die by Jenny Downham

Hello Everyone...
I'm back. Back from Spain. I read three books over the two weeks and this is number one. It is called Before I Die by Jenny Downham. For those who have read it, I know that it is not a very 'happy' book, in the fact it is about a girl who is dying of cancer but it is an interesting book and very uplifting at the end and it does present a series of interesting questions and situations. (Before I begin, I would like to say that when I go on holiday, probably contrary-wise to the majority of the book fanatic population, I like to take books that I don't have time to read during the non-holiday period. That means, usually, they are difficult to read or they are quite different books. I don't take 'easy' novels on holiday. So, with that in mind, if you like something simple to read while you are chilling out on holiday somewhere, I will give some recommendations below so you can skip this review and check those out.)
Before I Die is about a girl called Tessa, who is dying of cancer but she has a list of things that she wants to do before she dies. The list evolves and changes, going from being very superficial and almost crude to becoming deeper and more beautiful. 

What I liked about the book
Jenny Downham is an amazing writer, that much is clear from her style and way of writing. She is slightly ambiguous at times in her metaphors and similes but I think it is very beautiful. However, the character of Tessa annoyed me sometimes in the way that she saw the world and her actions. I also did not like the message that could have been interpreted from the book. Tessa's list of things to do included illegal things and she said that she was 'living'. I quote, 'stay wrapped in blankets and get on with dying, or get the list back together and get on with living'. I personally was not too impressed with this because I believe that it could affect readers in the wrong way. To me, the quality of life does not affect whether or not you are living truly but, nonetheless, I did enjoy the book. (I have just realised that I probably sound like a real killjoy in all of these reviews. I just have very definite and probably controversial views so...sorry about that.) 

Issues presented in the book
I suppose one of the biggest issues in the book was this idea of the quality of life and how it affects the way that you see the world and the way in which you see life. Tessa had a poor quality of life, that much was clear because she was dying of cancer but she tried to improve but doing different things and changing her attitude along the way. I guess that one of the greatest things in the book is that by the end she realised that fulfilling a list of things does not make life any worse or better. Life isn't improved by doing a list of things; that isn't how life gets better. She finds out, as I suppose the reader might as well, that life is life. People and experiences make it more enjoyable but not really better. Wow, deep. On the cover of the book, there is a quote from a reviewer that says 'a book that will make you happy to be alive.' and it really is. It did make me appreciate the things that I have and the illnesses that I don't have and, when you finish the book, you feel cathartic.  

Recommendations (for Before I Die)

Mister God, This Is Anna by Sydney Hopkins, under the pseudonym Fynn- This is one of my favourite books of all time. It is the story of a girl called Anna, of about five years old, who is found by a nineteen-year old boy called Fynn on the streets in London. Fynn takes her home to live with him and his mother because Anna doesn't seem to have a family. It is the story of Anna through Fynn's eyes, her constant outpouring of information about all the different issues in the world and her explanation of her friend and mentor, Mister God. It is an adorable story and it is so sweet.  

Eva's Story by Eva Schloss - Another great book. Eva Schloss is the step-sister of Anne Frank. When Anne, her sister and mother died in the concentration camps, Eva's brother and dad died and therefore Otto Frank and Eva's mum married after the war. I have met Eva Schloss and she signed my copy of Eva's Story. ;) It is not as well known as Anne Frank's diary but I think I prefer Eva's Story. It is so heartbreaking and so authentic that it makes me cry every time I read it. It is the story of Eva's experience in the concentration camps of the Nazis and her story of survival. Every time you read it, it makes you marvel at the things people think they are justified in doing to others. It is really, very sad.

BUY MISTER GOD, THIS IS ANNA ON AMAZON
BUY EVA'S STORY ON AMAZON
BUY BEFORE I DIE ON AMAZON

Recommendations (for holiday books)
All of these are quite short books that could be read over a short period of time and I have chosen a few different categories so you can pick and choose.
FOR THOSE THAT WANT A QUICK READ-
Cool by Michael Morpurgo - the story of a boy called Robbie in a coma after being in a car accident. It is actually really uplifting and surprisingly amusing at times.
The Dancing Bear by Michael Morpurgo - this is the story of a bear that is adopted by a  orphan girl and she raises him but then a film crew comes to the village and they want a dancing bear.
Toro! Toro! by Michael Morpurgo - Antonito lives on a bull farm in Spain. His favourite bull is called Paco but then he finds out that Paco is headed for the bullring.
BUY COOL ON AMAZON
BUY THE DANCING BEAR ON AMAZON
BUY TORO! TORO! ON AMAZON

FOR THOSE THAT WANT SOME COMEDY 
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell- This is the story of a boy who moves to Corfu with his family and loves animals. He keeps trying to bring wildlife into the house and that, along with his highly eccentric family, makes it a really funny book
BUY MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS ON AMAZON

FOR THOSE THAT WANT A LITTLE ROMANCE 
Amy and Roger's EPIC Detour by Morgan Matson- This is the story of a road trip between California and the East Coast. Amy Curry hasn't been able to drive a car since her father's death and so Roger drives them. And you can guess what happens next... ;)
BUY AMY AND ROGER'S EPIC DETOUR ON AMAZON

FOR THOSE THAT WANT TO BE SCARED 
Coraline by Neil Gaiman- I wasn't scared by this book but it is classified as paranormal. It is the story of Coraline, who has moved into a new house and behind the door in her drawing room is another house where live people who have buttons for eyes. It is just really creepy. If you like that...
BUY CORALINE ON AMAZON

Well, finally we have got to the end of this review. Wow, it has been long. I hope you enjoyed it and you like some of the books that I recommend. I have two more reviews coming out, one will probably be today and the other tomorrow morning some time.


Clare

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Hey everyone...

So here is review number two. Yesterday, I finished Still Alice by Lisa Genova.

Before continuing, I,would like to say that this book has a movie adaptation that I would strongly recommend. Julianne Moore won Best Actress for her portrayal of Alice and it really was well deserved.

Anyway, the book... Still Alice tells the story of fifty-one year old Alice, diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia. Proteins build up in the brain to form structures called 'plaques' and 'tangles'. This leads to the loss of connections between nerve cells, and eventually to the death of nerve cells and loss of brain tissue. People with Alzheimer's also have a shortage of some important chemicals in their brain that help to transmit important signals and messages around the brain. A shortage means that the signals are not transmitted as effectively. Before reading this book, I knew very little about Alzheimer's and, although this book does not contain excessive factual information (I do not like it when books do contain a lot), I did learn a lot about Alzheimer's through the eyes of Alice, who was suffering with it. Alzheimer's is a terminal illness that breaks down the neurones in the brain that deal with memory.

However, this is not a book about Alzheimer's. It is not overly factual or dry and it does not make you feel pitiful in a negative way. This is a book about Alice and her struggle with the disease. She is a Harvard professor of psychology and she has a husband and three children, Anna, Tom and Lydia. Narrated through her eyes, it is a heart-breaking and beautifully told story of how her life unravels at the hands of this terrible disease. 

Why do I like this book?

This book is heartbreaking but in a way that made me think. Alice was very intelligent and I myself am very nerdy and love to learn new things. Lisa Genova is able to show, very realistically and sympathetically how this terrible illness is causing her to forget everything that she has learnt and, even more terribly, the faces of everyone she loved. Can you imagine waking up and not knowing who your family were? Their faces were still somewhere in your head but you couldn't access them because your neurones had been destroyed.

I think Lisa Genova makes this living with this disease which, thankfully, everyone does not have to do, relatable to everyone who reads it. The author really develops the relationships between the husband and wife and mother and children to show how the disease attacks all parts of Alice's life.

Issues discussed in this book

Obviously, Alzheimer's is one of the issues discussed. To me, before reading Still Alice, Alzheimer's meant very little to me and I knew very little about it. I knew that it was a terminal disease but I had very little knowledge of the effect it had on peoples' lives. It meant the same to me as Parkinson's or Motor Neurone Disease. I could name a few people who had these diseases but I didn't really know anything about them. When someone says, think of a terminal illness, I think of cancer. It is a much bigger issue in my family and therefore, it mattered a lot more to me. After watching the Theory of Everything, I understood the severity of Motor Neurone Disease to a much greater extent. But I think that that a problem. I was learning about these illnesses from a film, instead of being given information about them from my school or from the world in general. Everyone I know, I believe  could name a form of cancer but not everyone could tell me what these other terminal illnesses could do, or even what they are. Let's focus on Alzheimer's. I do believe awareness should be raised about these diseases, to let people know more about them and to understand the severity of what many people have to face. Because I've studied in a good school and I have had a good education and I have never heard Parkinson's, Alzheimer's or even Motor Neurone Disease mentioned in any of my lessons and that is a bad thing. (I've included these three because these I have now researched a bit more but there are lots more.) How can we expect things to change without teaching people about them? 

Recommendations

There are two books that I recommend if you enjoy reading Still Alice. One is This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl and her parents. This book is the story of a girl who suffers from cancer. She died but her parents published her diary of her life, living with it. It is an amazing story and what I love about it is that although it is about cancer, it isn't a cancer book.

And the second book is Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. For those who do not know, Black Beauty is a horse and this book is the story of his life. Let me explain. I think this book is so sweet, for a start but also, through the eyes of Black Beauty, a horse, he accepts all that happens in his life, all the bad owners and the horrible things that happen and I think it is very similar to how Alice accepted what was going to happen in her life.

Okay...well that's it for this post. I am now reading Mercy by Jodi Picoult so that will be my next review. I might do an overall for Jodi Picoult as well because I love her books. I hope this post was interesting and you enjoyed it. Below are the links to buy all the books and also a link I found in the back of Still Alice to donate money to raise awareness for Alzheimer's.

BUY STILL ALICE ON AMAZON

BUY BLACK BEAUTY ON AMAZON

BUY THIS STAR WON'T GO OUT ON AMAZON

DONATE MONEY TO RAISE AWARENESS 

Click on the CALL TO ACTION- Alzheimer's button and donate money.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE HERE 

Be Awesome

Clare