Well folks - I think the Blogosphere Book Circle has died a natural death and should be laid to rest with suitable pomp and ceremony. For whatever reason, it's been tough for people to join in and read and interact over the books we voted for.
Instead I'm going to choose 12 books I want to read this year and post them on the blog here. If you want to join me in reading those 12 books, then please do so and please share your thoughts and reactions. I won't have a particular month assigned to them, they will just turn up in my Reading Round Up posts as and when I get hold of them.
If you have any suggestions for books to include on that list I would love to hear them!
The other thing I'm thinking of doing is posting a photo of the book pile each time I go and get some from the library. I think it would make an interesting photo essay of my reading in 2011. If you like to join me, let me know. Maybe we could make a group on Flickr. :)
In other news....
Miss 4 had her birthday party for her daycare friends - she enjoyed it immensely and didn't seem to stop bouncing the whole time. The "Twinkerbell" cake turned out okay despite some naughty words on my behalf while rescuing expensive Tinkerbell sprinkles from a leaky Spray 'n' Wipe bottle that had fallen on the packet. I was pleased with my Green Tea and Chai French Macarons though (in the photo to the left of the cake). So were my work colleagues when I brought in the left overs. Note the hands-on-hip attitude my daughter has... she has so much self-assurance that I'm torn between admiration and horror. Is this a 4 year old girl thing? I don't recall Mr7 being like this at all. We seem to be having quite a lot of 'tude going on at present with answering back and general you-can't-make-me-do-it snarkiness. Where has my sweet girl gone? She does make an appearance here and there... enough to give me hope.
I felted another nuno scarf - this one for a colleague, very much like the other one I did.
School starts for Mr7 tomorrow, can't believe he's in "middle school" now... no more junior syndicate! I've got all his stationery and his uniform sorted. I don't think I'm going to bother covering it this year, unless he particularly asks. Must remember to take a photo of him tomorrow. I really hope this year is a better one for him academically. He has a male teacher this year, so I'm curious to see if that has an affect on his attitude and learning (as sexist as that may sound).
We set out for Waikawau Bay a day earlier than planned since we had all the stuff ready to be pack and it seemed silly to hang around. It's a long drive there so we left after lunch on Sunday and got there just after 5pm. The camp was chokka with people which was a bit of a disappointment and it took us a while to find a place to pitch the tent. (In fact, we waited until some folks had packed up and took their spot). Anyway, we settled in. Monday dawned a beautiful day. The morning highlight for DS was the tanker that came to suck out the long drop toilets!
We walked to the top of the hill and looked down onto the beach, then walked down to the beach and looked in rock pools (saw a black sea slug).
The children were agitating to get onto their boogie boards so we did that after lunch. The new togs got christened by the Pacific Ocean! Even DH got into the water which is worthy of mentioning! Unfortunately DD got dumped on her first attempt to board in so that ruined any hope of her having another go - she went and grizzled on the sand. DS however, he had a whale of a time and had a grin from ear to ear the whole time. He could have stayed in much longer but it had clouded over and the drizzle had started.
The weather went downhill after that. The ranger had posted a severe weather warning by Tuesday so after some agonising we decided to pack up and go home. (Queueing for the long drop toilets in the rain contributed some to this decision). By the time we got home we were regretting that decision as it was starting to clear again. So we executed Holiday Plan B and headed down to Rotorua to stay in our favoured camp ground in a cabin. It turned out to be a better holiday for photographic opportunities anyway. We did some walks, went on the gondalas, sat in some hot pools... the usual.
After dropping DS at a friends house for a week long sleep over we headed back home. I then went into town to meet (finally) Mim and her family. It's always neat to meet people you have got to know online. Actually I can't remember exactly how we "met" but in any case here we are with our other mutual friend Em!
So now it's back to work, back to normal.. well, as normal as one can be until school goes back anyway. And I have a four year old birthday party to organise! The birthday itself has long gone, but we promised the party for when she was back to daycare with her friends.
I ordered some togs from Modcloth - yes, a bit of an extravagance but given the difficulty I have in finding some that look nice and a suitably modest, supportive and a colour I like... I think it was worth it.
Sunbathing in my bedroom! Hee hee - nah, just posing for the #dailyimage2011 project I'm doing. You can see the other photos on my Flickr stream.
So happy they fit and I feel great in them.
The past few years, Trinahas made a call for these small 6"x6" layouts to send to the Southern Cross Kids Camp organisers. They are used to make small memory albums for the children who attend the camps.
These camps are for children who've had it tough. So it's nice to be able to contribute in a small way to a bit of positivity in their experience.
This year I made 46. They are super easy to do and they are great for using up stash and scraps.
Today was the first day back at work after the festive break. I was horrified surprised to see we had students coming back in! But most of them were on the computers checking Facebook and Youtube so one does have to wonder at the virtue of opening this week. Oh well.
Nothing much else is open on campus - the copy centre, bookshop and convenience store but no food apart from a minimal selection in the staff room (pies and sarnies) and no coffee cart. The library staff plunger coffee thingy is broken so I had to make do with the excuse for coffee from the coffee machine in the staff room.
Tomorrow the kidlets will be coming with me so that will be interesting but at least I'll have company in the office!
January The ghost map : a street, an epidemic and the two men who battled to save Victorian London / Steven Johnson. The bread with seven crusts / Susan Temby. The captive wife / Fiona Kidman. People of the book : a novel / Geraldine Brooks. The boy who harnessed the wind : creating currents of electricity and hope / William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. Weeping waters : a novel based on a true story / Anne Maria Nicholson. My enemy's cradle / Sara Young. Cross the river to home / Kaye Kelly. Those who save us / Jenna Blum. Diary of a girl in Changi : 1941-1945 / Sheila Allan. The trespass / Barbara Ewing. The heretic's daughter : a novel / Kathleen Kent. When people matter most : vision driven leadership / Colin Prentice with Ian Hunter. The kommandant's girl / Pam Jenoff. Love in the time of cholera / Gabriel García Márquez ; translated from the Spanish by Edith Grossman. February The birthday present / Barbara Vine. The other queen / Philippa Gregory. The girl of his dreams / Donna Leon. Song yet sung / James McBride. Alice Hartley's happiness / Philippa Gregory. The sand castle / Rita Mae Brown. Mister Pip / Lloyd Jones. The darkness looking back / by Andrea Jutson.
March The girl who played with fire/ Steig Larsson The king's mistress / Emma Campion. The girl on the landing / Paul Torday. Access road / Maurice Gee. April The story of Danny Dunn/ Bryce Corteney The book thief / Markus Zusak. Eat, pray, love : one woman's search for everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia / Elizabeth Gilbert. Unseen academicals / Terry Pratchett Growing great marriages / Ian and Mary Grant. Replenishing the Earth : the settler revolution and the rise of the Anglo-world, 1783-1939 / James Belich. May A taint in the blood / Dana Stabenow. Delicious / Nicky Pellegrino. The Italian wedding / Nicky Pellegrino. I'm perfect, you're doomed : tales from a Jehovah's witness upbringing / Kyria Abrahams. Julie and Julia : 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen : how one girl risked her marriage, her job, and her sanity to master the art of living / Julie Powell. We two : Victoria and Albert: rulers, partners, rivals / Gillian Gill. Bad science / Ben Goldacre. June Half broke horses : a true-life novel / Jeannette Walls. Tu / Patricia Grace. Sand in my shoes : war-time diaries of a WAAF / Joan Rice. Colditz : the definitive history / Henry Chancellor. The white queen / Philippa Gregory. Educating boys : helping Kiwi boys to succeed at school / Michael Irwin. The diary of a nobody / George and Weedon Grossmith The graveyard book / Neil Gaiman July Silent in the grave / Deanna Raybourn. Silent in the sanctuary : a Lady Julia Grey mystery / Deanna Raybourn. Eat cake : a novel / Jeanne Ray. The girl who kicked the hornet's nest / Stieg Larsson ; translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland. Wolf Hall / Hilary Mantel August Hobson's chance / Jenny Haworth. Rifling through my drawers / Clarissa Dickson-Wright. Ashes to dust / Yrsa Sigurdardottir ; translated from the Icelandic by Philip Roughton. Six feet down under : memoirs of a New Zealand funeral director / Chris Mann. Novel about my wife/ Emily Perkins
September The Einstein girl / Philip Sington. Sweetwater Creek : a novel / Anne Rivers Siddons. Last rituals : an Icelandic novel of secret symbols, medieval witchcraft, and modern murder / Yrsa Sigurdardottir ; translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder. Martyr / Rory Clements. Empress Orchid / Anchee Min. Day after night : a novel / Anita Diamant. My stroke of insight : a brain scientist's personal journey / Jill Bolte Taylor. The lacuna : a novel / Barbara Kingsolver. October Pride and prejudice and zombies : the classic Regency romance - now with ultraviolent zombie mayhem / by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith The good plain cook / Bethan Roberts. Lands beyond the sea / Tamara McKinley. Falling & laughing : the restoration of Edwyn Collins / Grace Maxwell. Animal's people / Indra Sinha. Lone Creek : a novel / Neil McMahon. The English patient : a novel / Michael Ondaatje. November The redbreast / Jo Nesbo ; translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett The optimists / Andrew Miller The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks / Rebecca Skloot. The road / Cormac McCarthy December The swan thieves / by Elizabeth Kostova Someone knows my name : a novel / Lawrence Hill Allons enfants: a New Zealand family in France / Linda Burgess
Total: 80 Best month = January with 15 Worst month = December with 3 Average books per month = 6.6
The swan thieves / by Elizabeth Kostova. Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe, devoted to his profession and the painting hobby he loves, has a solitary but ordered life. Renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient. Desperate to understand the secret that torments the genius, he embarks on a journey.~ from the blurb
Some one recommended this one to me and I did enjoy it. There are several stories woven into the book and much about the strengths, weaknesses and variety of the human condition.
Someone knows my name : a novel / Lawrence Hill. Dreaming daily of escaping her life of slavery in South Carolina and returning to her African home, slave Aminata Diallo is torn from her family when she is sold and thrown into the chaos of the Revolutionary War, during which she helps create a list of black people who have been honoured for their service to the king. ~ from the blurb
Horrors of the slave experience aside, I liked this book for the historical fiction and for the character development of the protagonist.
Allons enfants: a New Zealand family in France / Linda Burgess.
A biographical account of this family and their experiences living in France during the eighties. I found a lot that resonated with my experience as a young teen living in a small town in Germany.
March / Geraldine Brooks
New York : Viking, 2004.
ISBN: 9780143036661
Set on the front lines of the American Civil War. The main character, March, has been taken from Louisa May Alcott's " Little Women". He is the father who is away at war and who returns and needs to reassemble his shattered mind and reconnect with his family. ~ from the blurb
I think this book was probably my favourite of all the books we've read for the Book Circle this year. It gives a gritty, realistic treatment of a reluctant soldier and his relationships with his men, wife and contemporaries. I am fond of Little Women but it is a child's story and somewhat saccharine alongside this book about the Dad. I definitely recommend it.
Making iced coffee
Originally uploaded by pdugmore2001.
We spent most of the day at the Botanic Gardens, sweltering in the heat so we needed something to cool off with.
After church meeting and lunch at Mum's I came home to attack the vast crop of cucumbers we're accumulating. I'm making Bread & Butter Pickles.
We have quite a nursery of monarch's on our fence. They all seem to like this bit of real estate. We have 4 on this part (one outside the photo) and one actually travelled about 4 metres up the fence line to it's own little patch.
It was a lovely day and we decided to visit Wright's Water Gardens in Patumahoe. DH has a new macro lens he is playing with so he hoped to get some action in the photography department. We took a picnic since the cafe was closed for New Year's Day.
The lotus flowers are out (they have pink and white ones), plus many other water lilies. I do love their luminous quality. One of these days I want to paint a triptych with them as a subject.
We also saw frogs in the pools near the entrance. Funnily enough I didn't notice them at first but as we waited for DH to try and capture some damselflies I suddenly noticed them! Just goes to show it is worth stopping, being quiet and still in such places instead of rushing about.
I'm participating in a Daily portrait challenge so I made DS take this one at 1.11pm on 1/1/2011 just for the record.
DD (and DS) got a bit fed up with it all eventually and claimed to be "totally bored". However, I managed to persuade DD to pose under this lotus leaf umbrella.
By members of the family - DS has been agitating for a Big Purple Water Blaster from the Red Shed so today we went to see what was available. DH found one he liked too so the game was on!
DD escaping - she wasn't so keen.
The boys fight it out.
I joined in the fun (in my togs) too though my weapon was a bit pathethic - it had prostate problems some of the time.
Doing the last grocery shop of the year I saw that red capsicums are starting to come down in price so I got some to roast. To me, nothing screams summer more than the vegetables that come available at this time of year. This is one of my favourite dishes for summer.
Grease a roasting pan. Halve the capsicums and put some of the following in each of them:
a garlic clove
olives
capers
anchovies
basil
dollop of olive oil
feta cheese cube
pesto
tomato quarter or sundried tomatoes
Sprinkle with pepper and salt and sprinkle a bit more oil over the edges. I sometimes use the spray oil for this. Roast in a very hot oven until the edges start to blacken and the capsicums start to collapse. Mmmmm.
The sad thing is I intended to make these on Christmas Eve to take up north with us. It never happened. The mixture has been sitting in the 'fridge until today. I need to invite some people around to help eat them!
I also did a scrapbooking layout - the first in about 6-8 months. Pretty sad that it was of DD's 3rd birthday - her 4th birthday is next week.
Santa kindly bought us "pictures of the Queen" or to be more exact, "pictures of Ernest Rutherford", (aka money) so we popped out today to exchange them for some Items of Desirability.
I bought myself a mug that I liked. ;) I also got a new ice cream scoop since I broke the old one last night serving up home made strawberry cheesecake ice cream. This one looks nice and sturdy. I also discovered that St Lukes has a little chocolate stall place (near Starbucks) that sells Schoc chocolate - a chocolatier that I have great admiration for.
I was given this Annabel Langbein book for Christmas too, so a nice little foodie haul here in this photo.
We also made arrangements to purchase a Big Girl's Bed (to be delivered after January 10). Yes, my baby is finally moving from the toddler bed into something more suitable for a growing girl. *sob* She turns 4 on the 7th.
I did not, however, manage to find a swim suit. I suppose it was a bit optimistic of me to think I could walk into a store and find one I liked. I like one piece suits and found one store that had nice ones but I had to walk away. Call me Scrooge but I can't bring myself to pay NZ$229.00 for a pair of togs!
This is what happens when you go away for 4 days and leave the beans just as they are about to be useful. They become enormous! I hope they are not too stringy.
Seven cucumbers and more on the plant... oh man.
Oh - and if you wish to see the first attempt by DH at taking photos of damselflies, he has posted one here on the AFN forum.
So I missed yesterday. Too bad. Tummies, tempers and tiredness got the victory over me. Thank goodness for new mercies each morning!
Movin' right along. We ventured down to the Quarry Gardens today so DH could practice with his macro lens. We were hoping for dragonflies & while some were observed they were the darting kind so too hard to capture. Oh boy those babies can fly! We did find a damselfly & a spider with 2 horns on his bum... Names and photos to come. (Blogging by iPad so no Sd card facility).
Considering heading out to find some smallish waves for the kids to try their Boogie boards.
The lurg is making the rounds of the house.
I have to say this weather (overcast, drizzle now & again) reminds me of the Christmas of my youth when in never seems to be fine for when we wanted to play with new water toys! Still, sunny in parts and we're on holiday so got to make the most of it.
Probably going to visit great aunties this evening.
Reporting for 12 days of Christmas blogging starting from today!
Having spent the early hours and morning of Christmas eve with a tummy bug I managed to scrape myself together enough to pack the bags to come up north to the in-laws for Christmas. Fortunately the traffic wasn't too bad by the time we left. Secreting the presents into the car without two interested parties seeing was tricky but we managed it.
Today we woke to two excited kids(at 615am)to see Santa had been. They managed to hold off opening things until after breakfast.
In my half dead sate yesterday I managed to forget to bring my camera so will edit this post with photos when I get some off The Mad Photographer who, as you might imagine, did not forget his!
Hoping to feel more like eating in order to enjoy Christmas dinner.
The redbreast / Jo Nesbo ; translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett. In 1944, Daniel, a soldier legendary among the Norwegians fighting the advance of Bolshevism on the Russian front, is killed. Two years later, a wounded soldier wakes in a Vienna hospital. He becomes involved with a young nurse, the consequences of which will ripple forward to the end of the century.1999: Harry Hole, working alone having caused an embarrassment in the line of duty, has been promoted to inspector and is lumbered with surveillance duties. He is assigned the task of monitoring neo-Nazi activities; fairly mundane until a report of a rare and unusual gun being fired sparks his interest. Ellen Gjelten, his partner, from his police officer days makes a startling discovery. Then a former soldier is found with his throat cut. In a quest which takes him to South Africa and Vienna, Harry finds himself perpetually one step behind the killer. ~from the blurb
This was a well executed thriller/crime novel. I enjoyed it.
The optimists / Andrew Miller. His optimism about life shattered after a visit to an African massacre site, London photojournalist Clem Glass falls into a deep depression and withdraws from everyone except his mentally troubled sister, whom he nurses back to health, until an opportunity arises to confront his own demons.~ from the blurb
It was ok. It felt a little slow to get started.
The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks / Rebecca Skloot.
"Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. The story of the Lacks family is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of."--Publisher's description.
I found this book fascinating on a number of levels. Firstly from the viewpoint of scientific development, secondly, the ethics and the development of the idea of informed consent and thirdly, the human side of the story - namely Henrietta and her family. Parts of the story are very sad but the ending is ultimately uplifting. I would recommend it.
November Blogosphere Book Circle Book
The road / Cormac McCarthy.
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. ISBN: 9780307476319
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. They sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.~ from the blurb
I have to admit I'm not a fan of apocalypse-style fiction. I remember having to read Z for Zachariah for school and struggling with it. This book was no exception and I have to say I skimmed most of the last part to get to the end quicker. It wasn't as though the writing was bad or anything, but the subject was so depressing. Being a disgustingly optimistic person I prefer to think that in such an apocalyptic event there would be people who would allow some inherent goodness to come forward rather allow the amoral, animalistic side of human nature to control. I guess it is a naive viewpoint.
So yeah - it wasn't my cup of tea at all. I hear they are going to/have made a movie of the book but I don't want to imagine how even more depressing a visual depiction of the book would be. Ugh.
Around this time of year I find myself thinking of making stuff for Christmas. I enjoy making it and giving it away. Many of the food related things I make are found in this document here Homemade Christmas Recipes.
My Eco-bag tutorial is still available but there are many more tutorials on how to make eco bags, gift bags and totes out there on the "Internets". Try searching the Sew Mama Sew blog for example. Or, download the free patterns from Ottobre.
I have cheated a bit with the family Christmas card this year. I herded the family out to the park for family photo - always tricky to get one where everyone looks semi normal. Anyway, we got something that is ok (posted on Facebook). To take some of the stress out of it I used some of the free templates for digital cards found on Write.Click.Scrapbook and uploaded it to Snapfish.
Miss 3 discovered my stash of pirate clobber (in preparation for the work Christmas party which is pirate themed). Apparently the sword is for sawing which makes sense if you just listen to the word sounds and ignore the spelling.
At the moment my mind is full of ideas for felting projects. I just got some more colours from Kane Carding, and I found Craftworld had some Alpaca wool which will be fun to try.
I was commissioned by a work friend to make this one for her. She loved it and has already asked for another in a purply colour. She was modelling it around campus and already 3 others have expressed interest in commissioning one from me.
This one is made of silk chiffon which is beautiful to wear and was much easier to work with than the cotton chiffon.
This one I made for a friend - it's synthetic crinkle chiffon but the weave was nice and large so the wool fibres could travel through it a lot easier. I want to start making them a bit longer but my table is only so large so that means I need to learn how to "scroll" the laying out.
I also purchased some tussah silk (which I will have to dye) to use with the wool. All new adventures!
It's the middle of November and I forgot to put up my October Reading Round Up so here it is.
First of all, the Blogosphere Book Circle Book of the Month
Pride and prejudice and zombies : the classic Regency romance - now with ultraviolent zombie mayhem / by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. Philadelphia, Pa. : Quirk Books, c2009. ISBN: 9781594743344
Synopsis: A mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton - and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy.~ from the blurb
This one has been advertised as an unashamed mash-up of the classic Austen novel with popular culture. For me (an Austen fan) it required a total suspension of disbelief in order to read it. The pop culture of zombies is one I find mildly amusing, especially when I see how some of my librarian colleagues have used it to engage their clientele. Mixed with Austen it was just really weird and to my mind a real disconnect. Though I did find the martial art aspect of story diverting (as Lydia Bennett might say) - that part was funny. The come-uppance devised for Wickham was suitably disgusting and vaguely satisfying in a vulgar way. But I did feel sorry for Charlotte and in a way, even for poor, sychophantic Mr Collins and their terrible end.
Fortunately, Mr Darcy remains delectably lucious.
The good plain cook / Bethan Roberts. It's summer 1936 in rural Sussex, a local girl Kitty Allen answers an advert looking for 'a good plain cook', she has no idea what she's in for. Her employer is an American who believes in sunbathing in the nude. Kitty is in no place to criticise - after all she claimed to be a good cook, despite hardly knowing how to boil an egg.
There is a whole lot of conflict in this novel. Kitty is pretty naive and her employer a sophisticated, worldly woman. Essentially a coming of age novel, I enjoyed the development of Kitty's character.
Lands beyond the sea / Tamara McKinley. Jonathan leaves Cornwall to sail on the Endeavour, leaving behind his sweetheart, Susan... That is, until an act of brutality reunites them in the penal colony of New South Wales. Billy Penhalligan survives transportation and clings to the promise of a new beginning. But there will be more suffering before they can regard Australia as home.~ from the blurb
Hmm. It started promisingly but I think the author tried to cram too much into the novel. I could have done as 2 sequels I think. It chopped and changed from quite a few POVs. Falling & laughing : the restoration of Edwyn Collins / Grace Maxwell. "In February 2005, Edwyn Collins suffered two devastating brain haemorrhages. He should have died. Doctors advised that if he did survive, there would be little of him left. If that wasn't enough, he went on to contract MRSA as a result of an operation to his skull and spent six months in hospital. Initially, Edwyn couldn't speak, read, write, walk, sit up or feed himself. He had lost all movement in his right side and was suffering from aphasia - an inability to use or understand language. Through a long and arduous road of therapy he began to re-inhabit his body until he could walk again. Grace's story is an intimate and inspiring account of what you do to survive when your husband is all but taken away without warning by a stroke."--Global Books in Print
Reccommended to me by a friend, I enjoyed this biography. I wasn't aware of the musician himself but the story of his stroke and subsequent struggle to re-learn a whole lot of areas in his life was absorbing. Animal's people / Indra Sinha. Ever since he was a small child, Animal has gone on all fours, his back twisted beyond repair by the catastrophic events of "that night" when, courtesy of an American chemical corporation, the Apocalypse visited his slums. Now not quite 20, he lives a hand-to-mouth existence with his dog Jara and a crazy old nun called Ma Franci, and spends his nights fantasising about Nisha, the daughter of a local musician. Their lives, irreversibly changed by "that night", reach a new crisis when a young American doctor called Elli Barber arrives in Khaufpur. Elli has come to open a free clinic for the still suffering townsfolk, but instead finds herself struggling to convince them that she isn't there to do the dirty work of the "kampani". ~ from the blurb
Based around the Bhopal disaster, this is another coming of age story with some rather compelling characters. I found it a bit confusing in places trying to read between the lines of what was actually happening in reality and in the narrator's mind. Quite good.
Lone Creek : a novel / Neil McMahon. After a failed career and marriage in California, Hugh Davoren is back in Helena, Montana, as a construction hand at the old Pettyjohn Ranch, home of many childhood memories—including the seemingly accidental death of his teenaged first love, Celia. Hugh is just trying to get through another long workday on the ranch when he discovers two dead stallions. A further probe into the matter only pushes Hugh into dangerous corners, as he finds that the ranch's slick new owner, his beautiful wife, and even old Mr. Pettyjohn have terrible secrets to keep.~ from the blurb
A decent crime novel with some interesting twisty relationships.
The English patient : a novel / Michael Ondaatje. Three individuals--nurse Hana, thief Caravaggio, and Kip--are brought together in an abandoned Italian villa at the end of World War II by a nameless and hideously burned English patient. ~ from the blurb
I have to admit I didn't completely finish this one. It all got too waffly for me.
Photo of me wearing the beret I felted. This is my first attempt at a 3D object and it worked out quite good though I did have a few near disasters happen. All good learning!
We camped at Tawharanui over Labour Weekend. The weather was gorgeous and we had a prime spot in the campground too. DH took around 350 photos (most of which will be deleted) so he was pretty happy about that. There were some dotterel pairs on the beach which featured strongly on his memory card but also the sunset/sunrise scenes too. You can see some of his efforts on his Flickr.
The children love camping. They also like playing Angry Birds on the iPad.
We spent a bit of time looking around the rock pools and seeing the sea life there. It's a marine reserve so there is quite a bit of interesting stuff there.
Even though we're camping it still seems that someone likes to visit Mum & Dad's bed!
This one tends to roll off the bed in the night.
Back home I went to another felting class this past week to learn how to make bags. These were the sample ones the teacher had on display. I really liked the red one.
These were the bags our class made. We ran out of time to make the cords for the handles so I still need to do that.
This is a closer look at my one.
With the flap opened. It has a little pocket inside for a cell phone.
I'm really enjoying the felting thing.
Yesterday I went to a Stampin' Up! Extravaganza and made some very cool things. :) It was nice to get into paper craft again - I've done so little of it these past months.
I have also been sewing - it always annoys me how much I underestimate how long a sewing project will take! Anyway, done now. More planned. Just need time.
The Einstein girl / Philip Sington.
"Two months before Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, a beautiful young woman is found half naked and near death in the woods outside Berlin. When she finally emerges from a coma, she can remember nothing, not even her own name. The only clue to her identity is a handbill found nearby, advertising a public lecture by Albert Einstein: 'On the Present State of Quantum Theory'. Psychiatrist Martin Kirsch little knows that this will be his last case. Searching for the truth about his celebrated patient, he finds professional fascination turning to love. His investigations lead him to a remote corner of Serbia via a psychiatric hospital in Zürich, where the inheritor of Einstein’s genius – his youngest son, Eduard – is writing a book that will destroy his illustrious father and, in the process, change the world."--Publisher description.
Interesting story in an era when mental illness was treated inhumanely and the threat of the Nazi thought coming into play. It has a sad but ultimately satisfying ending.
Sweetwater Creek : a novel / Anne Rivers Siddons. At twelve, Emily Parmenter knows alone all too well. Left mostly to herself after her beautiful young mother disappeared and her beloved older brother died, Emily is keenly aware of yearning and loss. Rather than be consumed by sadness, she has built a life around the faded plantation where her remote father and hunting obsessed brothers raise the legendary Lowcountry Boykin hunting spaniels. It is a meager, narrow, masculine world, but to Emily it has magic: the storied deepsea dolphins who come regularly to play in Sweetwater Creek; her extraordinary bond with the beautiful dogs she trains; her almost mystic communion with her own spaniel, Elvis; the dreaming old Lowcountry itself. Emily hides from the dreaded world here. It is enough. And then comes Lulu Foxworth, troubled daughter of a truly grand plantation, who has run away from her hectic Charleston debutante season to spend a healing summer with the quiet marshes and river, and the lifegiving dogs. Where Emily’s father sees their guest as an entrée to a society he thought forever out of reach, Emily is at once threatened and mystified. Lulu has a powerful enchantment of her own, and this, along with the dark, crippling secret she brings with her, will inevitably blow Emily’s magical water world apart and let the real one in - but at a terrible price. ~blurb
This one felt a little contrived in that most college age girls wouldn't be interested in playing friends with 12 year olds and vise versa. I also found the relationship between Emily, her brother and Lulu's grandmother to be rather deus ex machina.
Last rituals : an Icelandic novel of secret symbols, medieval witchcraft, and modern murder / Yrsa Sigurdardottir ; translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder. A young man is found brutally murdered, his eyes gouged out. A student of Icelandic history in Reykjavik, he came from a wealthy German family who do not share the police's belief that his drug dealer murdered him. Attorney Thora Gudmundsdottir is commissioned by his mother to find out the truth, with the help - and hindrance - of boorish ex-policeman Matthew Reich. Their investigations into his research take them deep into a grisly world of torture and witchcraft both past and present, as they draw ever closer to a killer gripped by a dangerous obsession.~blurb
This is the first book in a series, I read the sequel last month. I really enjoyed it - another neat crime writer to add to my list. The writing style and setting of the book is well done.
Martyr / Rory Clements. England is close to war. Within days the axe could fall on the neck of Mary Queen of Scots, and Spain is already gathering a battle fleet to avenge her. Tensions in Elizabeth I's government are at breaking point. At the eye of the storm is John Shakespeare, chief intelligencer in the secret service of Sir Francis Walsingham. When an intercept reveals a plot to assassinate Francis Drake, Shakespeare is ordered to protect him. With Drake on land fitting out his ships, he is frighteningly vulnerable. If he dies, England will be open to invasion. When a high-born young woman is found mutilated and murdered at an illicit printing house, it is political gunpowder - and Shakespeare has no option but to investigate. But why is he shadowed at every turn by the brutal Richard Topcliffe, the blood-drenched priest-hunter who claims intimacy with Queen Elizabeth herself? What is Topcliffe's interest in a housemaid, whose baby has been stolen? And where do two fugitive Jesuit priests fit into the puzzle, one happy to die for God, the other to kill for Him? ~blurb
My usual favourite genre (historical fiction) with a mystery story thrown in... it's full of win! Some desperate scenes including some rather gruesome torture stuff. It was quite a twisty story.
Empress Orchid / Anchee Min. A fictional portrait of the last empress of China follows Orchid, a beautiful teenager from an aristocratic family, who is chosen to become a low-ranking concubine of the emperor and rises to a position of power in the Chinese court.~blurb
This one was okay. Found the writing to be a bit slow.
Day after night : a novel / Anita Diamant. Four young women haunted by unspeakable memories and losses, afraid to begin to hope, find salvation in the bonds of friendship and shared experience even as they confront the challenge of re-creating themselves in a strange new country. Based on the extraordinary true story of the October 1945 rescue of more than two hundred Jewish prisoners from the Atlit internment camp outside Haifa.~blurb
I've had a hold on this book for quite a while so I was pleased when it finally became available for me. This is one of those books that give a flavour for a particular place and time. I enjoyed the stories, the struggles and conflicts portrayed in the book.
My stroke of insight : a brain scientist's personal journey / Jill Bolte Taylor. Jill Bolte Taylor was a 37-year-old Harvard-trained and published brain scientist when a blood vessel exploded in her brain. Through the eyes of a curious neuroanatomist, she watched her mind completely deteriorate whereby she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. Because of her understanding of how the brain works, her respect for the cells composing her human form, and an amazing mother, Jill completely recovered her mind and body. In this book, Jill shares with us her recommendations for recovery and the insight she gained from having this ironic and unusual voyage into, and back out of, the silent abyss of a wounded brain.~blurb
I found this biography an incredibly interesting insight into the brain. I placed a hold on it after watching her TED talk which I found very moving. One of her points she brings out so beautifully is the positive effect gratitude has on us on a entirely biological level. Her website has more information about her.
September's Blogosphere Book Circle Choice The lacuna : a novel / Barbara Kingsolver.
New York : Harper, c2009.
ISBN: 9780060852573
"The story of Harrison William Shepherd, a man caught between two worlds -- Mexico and the United States in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s -- and whose search for identity takes readers to the heart of the twentieth century's most tumultuous events"--Provided by publisher.
I have to admit I wasn't sure what to expect with this story. I haven't read any of Kingsolver's other fiction, only her non-fiction stuff. The story begins with Harrison's childhood and moves into his adulthood. Over the period of the story he comes into contact with some significant historical figures which later on impact upon his life and success.
It took a little while for me to get into the story but it gradually drew me in. The portrait of McCarthyism in the US is particularly well done. It interests me that this is one of the themes in the book and I wonder what prompted (if anything) Kingsolver to write about it in this particular generation. It seems to me that it could be a revolt against some of the thoughts and social mores happening today in that part of the world.
As part of a learning challenge Ruth has initiated, I am taking part in a digital story telling project during October. This is my first attempt. I've used Pixton which is a free comic making tool. Well, it's free sort of. You can use the free parts quite reasonably, and there are bits you can pay for or earn "credits" for. It's actually rather fun.
In any case, at least I will post 4 times this month!
This was my first attempt at nuno felting. This type of felting is where wool is felted on to other fabric. I used cotton chiffon and it did work but if was very hard work! I think I will use something finer next time, hopefully silk or something.
This is what it looks like spread out. The felt is around the edges and also on the scarf itself.
As the wool felts up it brings the chiffon with it creating a cool texture. The edge was made with light pink wool.
I used grey and pink wool for the circles and waves in the middle of the scarf.
Here I am modelling it. Ignore my stupid grimace. I wore it to the conference where I presented a paper with my colleague. A couple of folks admired it. :-P
I think I'm finally ready to move on to felting something with a resist. Hopefully a beret.
well I have some flowers at least. These ones will be winging their way to Rachel for a very belated birthday present!
As for the weather - bah humbug.
What has been happening round here?
1. We have had a run of birthdays - Sept is our "birthday" month in our family. My 2 sisters, SIL and Mr7 all have birthdays one after the other. Mr7 was stoked to get lots and lots of lego which is his current obsession. (Thomas is on the out and out). Fortunately I've been keeping an eye on the sales and got some good deals.
He had a low key party with some mates over to play lego.
And of course, the inevitable train cake which he requests every year since I bought this particular cake pan. Worth the NZ$25.00!
2. We have had more than our fair share of sickies. Various permutations of the cold virus with a bit of tonsillitis for Mr7 thrown in.
3. I have to give a paper at an e-fest in Hamilton with a colleague of mine. Neither of us were particularly keen but we were shoulder tapped to do it. It's the first time I've done this sort of presentation.
4. DH got 9 images accepted for a book being published in November by the publisher Potton. It's going to be called New Zealand: Eye on the Landscape so if you see it take a look. DH is feeling chuffed about this one and rightly so.
Personally I am ready for some decent weather and a few days off during the school holidays.
When you're six inches tall and can fly, life can be tough in a big persons world. What better then than to be partnered with a seven foot troll. She’s the brawn and I’m the brains, and if you believe that I have a castle to sell you. She joined the guard to gain respectability, I joined the guard to escape. I’m Gurt and she’s Elanore Fursk. Don’t forget it.
In the darkened alleys of Delvenport the discovery of a naked corpse sets off a surprising chain of events. Leads will unravel at every turn, although Elanore appears to know what’s going on. I just tag along for the ride. With the rising tide of drugs, magic and ambition that threatens to engulf our city, trouble will lurk in our every shadow. But as long as no-one puts a knife in Elanore, or calls me a girly voiced fairy then the bodies won’t be piled too high.
Otherwise all bets are off!
I had the honour of reading the manuscript and enjoyed it a lot - am looking forward to the sequel. :-P No pressure Michael!
If you like crime, mystery and especially in a different world then this one will appeal.
