June Reading Round Up

First up - a bit of PR...

Kiwi scrapper Rachel has made it to Challenge 9 of Project Scrap Away hosted by Scrap'n'Crop. It's all very exciting! But she once more needs the help of the blogging community to vote her some immunity.

Here's what to do (copied from super-enabler Janine):

1. Leave a comment on Rachel’s blog post here

2. If you have a blog please write a blog post about Rachel and Scrap-n-Crop and PSA and do the link thing.

3. Leave a comment on Rachel’s blog here to tell her you’ve done a post.

4. Go to the PSA blog to this post here and leave the following comment “Rachel’s friend and the link to your blog post about her”. No personal messages should be left in that post, just the above.

Thanks possums! :)

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Death in a strange country, A Venetian Reckoning, Through a Glass Darkly / by Donna Leon
All crime stories in a series featuring Commisario Guido and his cohorts. The plots are intriguing and deal with some interesting sorts of issues. Subtle humour and descriptions of delicious Italian meals make it all good!

Letter from an age of reason/ by Nora Hague
Set at the beginning of the American Civil War, this is a story of 2 characters meeting across the divide of class status and "race". An historical love story but has a greater depth than just boy meets girl. Some interesting threads run through the story - feminism, madness, finding one's self - all in the context of the time period.

Cabbages & Kings: the origins of fruit and vegetables / by Jonathon Roberts
Non-fiction book dealing with the history and events around different fruits and vegetables. Highly interesting to the likes of me. Maybe not so much for anyone else.

Father lands / Emily Ballon
About a girl and her family dealing with family break up and school integration in the US. I liked the feisty heroine and got annoyed with her family. Great writing.

How to stop a heart from beating / by Jackie Ballantyne
"The year 1961 is a pivotal one for nine-year-old Solly McKeen. She is a loner in a family of doubles: a 'single' with no twin of her own, and seen as a bit of an oddity by everyone in her dairy-farming community in South Otago. On learning about the unnamed paupers' graves in the local cemetery, she promises to people them: imagining characters, names and causes of death for each. While Solly unravels death and fills in the blanks on the gravestones, she unwittingly uncovers family secrets."~description from the blurb. I really loved this book. Seen through the eyes of a child the complexities of adult relationships are so dumb - the lies we can tell each other to protect ourselves and others. Makes me realise the value of honesty mixed with mercy in a family.

Amber/ Deborah Challinor
The sequel to Kitty, we now find Kitty and Rian happily married and sailing the seas. They return to NZ and find themselves in the Bay of Islands during the time when Hone Heke was chopping flag poles down and things were heating up in Maori/European relations. Kitty gets sent south to Auckland and while she is there she adopts an orphan. Returning north she manages to get kidnapped and is eventually rescued by Rian et al. Great yarn.

Sea of lost love / Santa Montefiore
"An idyllic Cornish holiday in the summer of 1958. An aristocratic family, blessed with wealth and promise. But catastrophe strikes, the tragedy first breaks Celestria Montague's young heart - then shatters her every illusion. With the backing of her grandfather, a flamboyant American robber baron, Celestria sets out to unravel the deadly yet bizarre riddle. Amongst the orange groves of Italy's ruggedly beautiful southern coast, she finds a bewildering maze of masquerades and mirrors. In this labyrinth of deception, which threatens to destroy all her faith in family and affection, she meets a man who teaches her that truth is the heart of love." ~description taken from the blurb. Enjoyed the book though I felt the relationship between Celestria and her eventual lover somewhat contrived.

The gentleman's garden / Catherine Jenks
Very much enjoyed this one. The heroine, Dorothea goes with her husband Charles to Sydney, Australia when he is posted there with his regiment. The strangeness of the land, the social tensions and marital issues forces her into creating a little bit of "England" in her back yard. The garden is sort of peripheral to the relationships and conflict in the story but it makes a great back drop. At first I found Dorothea to be a bit wimpy but she did eventually grow a backbone, and there is a happy ending for some of the characters.

Layouts for June
Four 12x12
Two mini-albums (well, one was a squash album as a gift so it had no photos)
One 8x8