Rosamunde Pilcher

Life is sweet. Beyond the pain, life continues to be sweet. The basics are still there. Beauty, food, and friendship, reservoirs of love and understanding. Later, possibly not yet, you are going to need others who will encourage you to make new beginnings. Welcome them. They will help you move on, to cherish happy memories and confront the painful ones with more than bitterness and anger.

- from Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher.

Hot coffee on an extremely cold morning; the cat purring next to you when you lie drowsily in bed; the smell of wild flowers from your new soap; the aroma of spices from your kitchen; the taste of your mother’s cooking—Pilcher’s books are as comforting as these.
I discovered her books at a time I needed them most. Maybe that’s why I am unable to be objective about them. I love her books unreservedly.
I have read all except two or three; I plan to read the rest soon. And, if possible, buy them all. I started with Winter Solstice, went on to Another View, and then to The Shell Seekers and then on and on…until I read all that were available at the library.
I have seen people use ‘romance’, ‘trash’ etc. to describe her writing. I disagree. It is certainly not trash. Romance? No. Her books have far more than romance in them. They have intricately woven human relationships, believable characters, and feelings of hope, happiness and comfort.
Pilcher’s books are not just about happiness. They are about tragedies and broken people and how they find second chances and solace.
Most of the leading characters are content in living a simple life—they live mostly in Scotland, Cornwall or the suburbs of London; holiday in France; wear faded cotton dresses; are good at either cooking, sewing, gardening or farming; have dogs as pets; have comfortable houses with a lived-in feel and are warm and welcoming…oh I can go on and on.
It is not just me. Each year, a quarter of a million Germans come to Cornwall, lured by her books.

Rosamunde Pilcher from Zimbio

A brief bio (based on information from many sites): Rosamunde Pilcher was born in Cornwall, England as Rosamunde Scott. She was married to Graham Pilcher, a war hero and jute industry executive, who died in 2009.
Her first novel was published by Mills and Boon in 1949, under the pseudonym Jane Fraser. She published a further ten novels under that name. In 1955, she also began writing under her real name with, and by 1965, dropped the pseudonym and was signing her own name to all of her novels.
The real breakthrough in Pilcher's career came in 1987, when she wrote the family saga, The Shell Seekers.
Pilcher retired from writing in 2000. She was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2002 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to Literature.
She was also awarded the 2002 British Tourism Award together with Claus Beling, programme director of German network ZDF, for the positive effect her books and the TV movies had on tourism.
As more than 70 of her novels were made into TV movies by network ZDF, she has been very popular in Germany.

You know you love a book when…

You know you love a book when you:

• read it so many times that you know each sentence as though you wrote it.
• feel all the same emotions even when you read it the 'n'th time.
• stop after each line, re-read it and think about it for hours hence.
• want to stop and make notes in your scrapbook frequently.
• keep quoting lines from the book.
• discuss it non-stop with your friends and family.
• tell the story to your children and grandchildren.
• forgo your favorite TV program to read it.
• keep on reading at dinner time despite being hungry.
• keep reading it long after your usual bedtime.
• rush and buy your own copy as soon as you return your library copy.

Source: Tumblr/Favim

• feel sad that the character on the cover does not have the face you imagined.
• start acting like one of the characters in the book.
• dream about the characters, events or the setting in it.
• wonder what happened to the characters after The End.
• wait for a sequel to the book or wish that it had a prequel.
• look forward to the film version with excitement.
• hate the film version because you feel it did injustice to the book.
• recommend it (and other books by the author) to all and sundry.
• stand in queues to meet the author.
• buy other books of the same author.
• Google the author's name and read up everything about him/her.
• wish that you had written a similar book.

Good book, bad book

It has been long since I have reviewed a book.
I have been intending to but work (editing and writing) and reading get in the way. Moreover, I have read so many interesting books these past few days that I am unable to decide which I should review first.

Source: Favim

Another thing that bothers me is the word review itself. Review means ‘viewing again’. It often bothers me that I read a book only once before judging it. Of course, I can get away with saying that the noun 'review' means critical assessment of a book. Whatever the meaning, I am answerable to the author and the readers, which makes me nervous.

“It’s good”. She chirps the last bit as if that were all to say about a book. It’s good or it’s bad, I liked it or I didn’t. No discussions of the writing, the themes, the nuances, the structure. Just good or bad – like a hot dog. ~ Gillian Flynn

So I thought of a few points I should keep in mind when I review the next book.

1. I should acknowledge my personal and professional limitations—prejudices, preferences, self-interest etc.

2. Before I review a book, I should familiarize myself with the content of the book. I should respect the effort that the author has taken to research the background, assimilate data, formulate theories and reach conclusions.

3. If the first point in this list is true, then I should be humble enough to review it purely as a novice to the subject. If my review is negative, then I should admit that it may be because a lack of understanding.

4. I should be circumspect about why I chose the book:

• Is it because it is the current favourite?
• Is it because I have a genuine interest in the subject or the author?
• If I am paid to do it, I should think about why I was chosen: Am I perceived to have enough knowledge to review the book? Is it because of any known bias or lack of it that I was chosen?
• Do I have any special reason (self-interest) for praising or criticizing the book or its author?

5. I should read the book carefully. If I am unable to finish reading it, I should clearly state that and the reason for it. Many a time, I see reviews that profess the book to contain exactly the opposite of what it does. Some reviews even have factual errors because either the reader has not read the book or has not paid attention.

6. I should understand what the intention of the author is and how he or she has gone about achieving it. My review should be on the basis of this and other factors, such as language, logical structure, flow of the content, and the resources and references used by the author.

7. I should consider myself morally responsible for my review because it may make or break a book, thereby affecting the author’s life or career. I might be insignificant but if my review catches the fancy of someone and goes viral, as is common with almost everything nowadays… God forbid!