Zoia's gold / Philip Sington.
A novel based on the hidden life of Zoia Krukovskaya, the last-known survivor of the Romanov court and an artist who learnt the secret of painting with gold. ~from the blurb
Found this one intriguing from the mystery point of view, and also the art history behind the story. I wanted to find out more on this artist, but haven't managed to yet.
January Blogosphere Book Club Book of the Month
Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress / Dai Sijie ; translated from the French by Ina Rilke. New York : Knopf, 2001. ISBN: 037541309X
During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, two boys, both sons of doctors, are sent to the top of a mountain for "re-education". An education that involves carting buckets of excrement up and down precipitous paths. But their lives take an unexpected turn when they meet the beautiful daughter of a local tailor and stumble upon a forbidden stash of Western literature. ~from the blurb
This is a short and sweet book which I really enjoyed. The struggles of the young men seemed so poignant and dare I say, romantic. I wanted to know more of the seamstress though. I particularly liked the imagery of the Chinese country-side.
The timewaster diary / Robin Cooper.
The year starts badly for Robin, losing his job for sending so many letters in work time, and for his wife Rita, who sprains her ankle (yet again). But Robin has a cunning plan - his marrying of the crossword and sudoku into his devilish 'crossoku', which might just make their fortune. ~from the blurb
I laughed dear readers, I laughed over this book. It was also an interesting read in juxtaposition with The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith (which has been recreated as a blog). They have much in common!
Secrets / Freya North.
"They drive each other crazy. And they both have something to hide. But we all have our secrets. It's just some are bigger than others! Joe has a beautiful house, a great job, no commitments -- and he likes it like that. All he needs is a quiet house-sitter for his rambling old place by the sea. When Tess turns up on his doorstep, he's not sure she's right for the job. Where has she come from in such a hurry? Her past is a blank and she's something of an enigma. But there's something about her -- even though sparks fly every time they meet. And it looks as though she's here to stay!"--Publisher description.
Typical chick lit but good stuff. I liked.
The Detective Branch / Andrew Pepper.
A robbery at a prawnbroker is a headache for Pyke and a valuable religious artifact appears to have motivated the robbery. Then several suspicious murders later Pyke must face up to forces within the police and the church who would rather the secrets from the past remain buried forever.~from the blurb
A good crime novel - winced a bit at some of the dodgy behaviour of the detective but it was all in aid of a good story.
Singing saltwater country : journey to the songlines of Carpentaria / John Bradley with Yanyuwa families.
John Bradley's compelling account of three decades living with the Yanyuwa people of the Gulf of Carpentaria and of how the elders revealed to him the ancient songlines of their Dreaming. ~from the blurb
Started this one with high hopes but didn't completely finish it. It was a bit repetative to totally hold my attention but I can see for people who live in that area it has valuable insight into the values of the local tribes. What was interesting was trying to get my head around some of the different ways of knowing described in the book. It was also interesting to see again how important story telling is to the human race for information transfer as well as entertainment.
Nine dragons : a novel / Michael Connelly.
The murder of John Li, a South L.A. liquour store owner, hits LAPD Detective Harry Bosch hard, and he promises Li's family that he'll find the killer. As he uncovers a link to a Hong Kong triad--a lethal and far-reaching crime ring that follows many immigrants to their new lives in the U.S.--his world instantly explodes and the person he holds most dear is taken from him. ~from the blurb
Typical crime thriller genre but still enjoyed it.
Ruso and the demented doctor / R. S. Downie.
Army doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso is waiting for the gods to smile on him. But, on a posting to the hostile North of Britannia, he’s in for a long wait. Not least because the locals have a new hero who likes to strap antlers to his head and scare the Romans silly, while Ruso’s slave girl, Tilla, is stubbornly refusing to identify the culprit in a police line-up. But when Ruso is waylaid at the Fort of Coria, where a fellow doctor has confessed to a grisly murder, it’s a case of out of the cauldron and into the fire. With Tilla thrust outside the fort (and into the arms of a former lover), Ruso is landed not only with Doctor Thessalus’s patients but also the tricky task of getting him to retract the confession. Something smells fishy about this murder and Coria is miles from the sea … Ruso faces a nightmarish investigation trailed by the secret police, hunted by the Stag Man and betrayed by Tilla, is it any wonder he’s seeking solace in the rather-too-watery local beer?~from the blurb
Interesting mystery story with some twisty bits and great historical flavour!
Showing posts with label book circle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book circle. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Whither the Blogosphere Book Circle? | Parties and Nuno Felting
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).
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).
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
December reading round up | December Book
I didn't read much in December.
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.
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.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Blogosphere November Book | Reading Round Up
Hmmm.. November was a sparse month for reading.
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
September Reading Round up with some October mixed in!
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.
"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.
Monday, August 30, 2010
In which more felting is done | Reading round up August
This one is for a friend.
This month has been a slow reading month. I've had a bit of stuff going on which means I've not had time to sit and read. I realise how much I read/ate by myself at lunch time in my old job whereas here I tend to eat lunch with colleagues and chat. I miss it actually. I think I need the downtime. At the Main campus I don't have easy access to the public library's collection like I do at Waitakere so actually getting to the library requires an effort. Having the iPad means DH has been buying quite a few ebooks so he hasn't been inititating any visits either.
Hobson's chance / Jenny Haworth.
Travelling to England in 1830 with her brother, Anita Hobson is desperate and in love. She has been torn from her homeland by family who believes she will be implicated in the actions of her criminal fiance who has been transported to Australia. In a desperate bid to see him Anita takes a job as a governess in Australia. ~from the blurb
Her choice to take on the governess position eventually leads her and her ward to Australia and then to New Zealand. I found the plot a bit plodding to be honest. Some of the story seemed to be purposefully written to encompass particular events happening at the time that I'm not sure actually added anything to the plot.
Rifling through my drawers / Clarissa Dickson-Wright.
Autobiographical riffing. I have to confess I didn't finish this one. It got a bit boring and I didn't agree with some of her ideas so all in all I wasn't particularly motivated to finish. It had heaps of holds on it so I took it back to the library.
Ashes to dust / Yrsa Sigurdardottir ; translated from the Icelandic by Philip Roughton.
Bodies are discovered in one of the excavated houses at a volcanic tourist attraction dubbed 'The Pompeii of the North'. Markús Magnússon, who was only a teenager when the volcano erupted, falls under suspicion and hires attorney Thóra Gudmundsdottir to defend him - but when his childhood sweetheart is murdered his case starts to look more difficult, and the locals seem oddly reluctant to back him up..."-- Publisher description
Great read - would read more of her work. It kept me reading and had a surprisingly twisty ending. I say surprising because I didn't expect the killer to be the person it was!
Six feet down under : memoirs of a New Zealand funeral director / Chris Mann.
There is an element of mystique about the funeral business that often leads people be very curious. This is Chris Mann's story from his early days as a Funeral Director's assistant through to becoming a Funeral Director himself. It covers stories of tragedy and laughter, from funerals attended by high class society to occasions when nobody at all attended"--Publisher's description.
This is a self-published book from what I can see, and as such it would have benefited from a skilled editor to enhance the story telling of some of the material. Having said that I found it interesting given the location from which the book is written (Auckland) and the era from which is comes (80s-90s) is basically the time and place I grew up with. I also find the whole ritual of funeral/death/grieving interesting from a sociological point of view.
Novel about my wife / Emily Perkins. London : Bloomsbury, 2008. ISBN: 9780747596509 (pbk.)
Tom Stone, fortyish, English, is madly in love with his wife Ann, an Australian in self-imposed exile in London. Expecting their first child, they buy a semi-derelict house in Hackney. They believe this is their settled future, despite Tom's stalling career and their spiralling money troubles. But soon Ann becomes convinced she's being shadowed by a local homeless man whose presence seems like a terrible omen. As their child grows, so too does Tom's sense of an impending, nameless threat. On the verge of losing the house, Tom makes a decision that he hopes will save their lives.~ from the blurb
I have to admit, it has been a while since I read the book as it arrived in the library for me earlier in the year. I do remember struggling a bit trying work out if the wife's problem was real or if she was imagining it, and the ending was decidedly confusing for me. I had to re-read that part several times and I still don't actually understand how she dies. But there it is. The story was gripping though and really gave a grimy, urban feel.
August Reading Round Up
This month has been a slow reading month. I've had a bit of stuff going on which means I've not had time to sit and read. I realise how much I read/ate by myself at lunch time in my old job whereas here I tend to eat lunch with colleagues and chat. I miss it actually. I think I need the downtime. At the Main campus I don't have easy access to the public library's collection like I do at Waitakere so actually getting to the library requires an effort. Having the iPad means DH has been buying quite a few ebooks so he hasn't been inititating any visits either.
Hobson's chance / Jenny Haworth.
Travelling to England in 1830 with her brother, Anita Hobson is desperate and in love. She has been torn from her homeland by family who believes she will be implicated in the actions of her criminal fiance who has been transported to Australia. In a desperate bid to see him Anita takes a job as a governess in Australia. ~from the blurb
Her choice to take on the governess position eventually leads her and her ward to Australia and then to New Zealand. I found the plot a bit plodding to be honest. Some of the story seemed to be purposefully written to encompass particular events happening at the time that I'm not sure actually added anything to the plot.
Rifling through my drawers / Clarissa Dickson-Wright.
Autobiographical riffing. I have to confess I didn't finish this one. It got a bit boring and I didn't agree with some of her ideas so all in all I wasn't particularly motivated to finish. It had heaps of holds on it so I took it back to the library.
Ashes to dust / Yrsa Sigurdardottir ; translated from the Icelandic by Philip Roughton.
Bodies are discovered in one of the excavated houses at a volcanic tourist attraction dubbed 'The Pompeii of the North'. Markús Magnússon, who was only a teenager when the volcano erupted, falls under suspicion and hires attorney Thóra Gudmundsdottir to defend him - but when his childhood sweetheart is murdered his case starts to look more difficult, and the locals seem oddly reluctant to back him up..."-- Publisher description
Great read - would read more of her work. It kept me reading and had a surprisingly twisty ending. I say surprising because I didn't expect the killer to be the person it was!
Six feet down under : memoirs of a New Zealand funeral director / Chris Mann.
There is an element of mystique about the funeral business that often leads people be very curious. This is Chris Mann's story from his early days as a Funeral Director's assistant through to becoming a Funeral Director himself. It covers stories of tragedy and laughter, from funerals attended by high class society to occasions when nobody at all attended"--Publisher's description.
This is a self-published book from what I can see, and as such it would have benefited from a skilled editor to enhance the story telling of some of the material. Having said that I found it interesting given the location from which the book is written (Auckland) and the era from which is comes (80s-90s) is basically the time and place I grew up with. I also find the whole ritual of funeral/death/grieving interesting from a sociological point of view.
Blogosphere Bookcircle of the Month
Tom Stone, fortyish, English, is madly in love with his wife Ann, an Australian in self-imposed exile in London. Expecting their first child, they buy a semi-derelict house in Hackney. They believe this is their settled future, despite Tom's stalling career and their spiralling money troubles. But soon Ann becomes convinced she's being shadowed by a local homeless man whose presence seems like a terrible omen. As their child grows, so too does Tom's sense of an impending, nameless threat. On the verge of losing the house, Tom makes a decision that he hopes will save their lives.~ from the blurb
I have to admit, it has been a while since I read the book as it arrived in the library for me earlier in the year. I do remember struggling a bit trying work out if the wife's problem was real or if she was imagining it, and the ending was decidedly confusing for me. I had to re-read that part several times and I still don't actually understand how she dies. But there it is. The story was gripping though and really gave a grimy, urban feel.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
July Reading Round Up
The last two weeks have been frenetic. I started my new position, spent 2 days there and then went to a conference in Wellington for 3 days. The conference was good - will be blogging about it at Diligent Room - and I got to FINALLY meet Beverley who was good company while we browsed Wellington retail offerings. And I got some new boots.
But all this stuff combined with newness of work routines has been quite tiring and yes, I have to say, a bit stressful. It will get better I know. As soon as I climb down from this wall.
Silent in the grave / Deanna Raybourn.
After receiving a threat, Sir Edward Grey - the darling of London society - dies suddenly. His widow Julia engages the enigmatic Nicholas Brisbane to help her investigate Edward's death.~from the blurb
Silent in the sanctuary : a Lady Julia Grey mystery / Deanna Raybourn.
Lady Julia returns to celebrate the holidays only to find her fathers home crowded with family, friends, and Nicholas Brisbane, the one man she had hoped to forget. The celebrations take a ghastly turn after a guest is found brutally murdered, and one of Lady Julias cousins confesses to the crime.~from the blurb
This is a new author for me and I'm rather pleased to have found her. Her style is romantic suspense with a bit of Victorian Gothic novel thrown in. I do like her characters too. So far I've read these two (2nd one is the sequel to the first) and the two main characters haven't even made it into bed together yet so there is a lot of unfinished business you might say.
Eat cake : a novel / Jeanne Ray.
Ruth draws on her talent for concocting delectable cakes and desserts when her family begins to disintegrate around her--her husband loses his job, her mother moves in, and her long-estranged father shows up at the door with no place to go.~from the blurb
Honestly? It is a bit of marshmallow fluff really. Made me want to eat cake.
The girl who kicked the hornet's nest / Stieg Larsson ; translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland.
"Lisbeth Salander will have her revenge - against the man who tried to kill her, and against the government institutions that nearly succeeded in deliberately destroying her life... After sustaining appalling gunshot wounds to her head and her shoulder, she is in Intensive Care, and her most dangerous enemy is in the next-door ward. If she survives, she is set to face murder charges. Officially under police guard, she is allowed contact with only her surgeon or her lawyer. But Mikael Blomkvist, editor at Millennium magazine and Salander's self-appointed guardian angel, will not give up on this strangely compelling girl... With the covert aid of Blomkvist and his journalists at Millennium, Salander must first prove her innocence. Only then can she unmask the people behind the corrupt and secret manoeuvers that ruined her childhood and remain the rotten core of Swedish society"--Publisher description.
The last in the Millennium series and it didn't disappoint. Really enjoyed this series.
Blogosphere Book Circle | July
Wolf Hall / Hilary Mantel. London : Fourth Estate, 2009.
ISBN: 9780007230181
"England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, and later his successor. Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages."-- Publisher description.
It took me a while to get into the style of this book which is surprising for me given my penchant for historical fiction. However, once I did tune into the writing style it hooked me. I particularly enjoyed the glimpses into "everyday" life in Thomas's household. I think the author brings out the complexities of the age and the struggles that were starting to change society at the time very well. It is easy to see how a noble person's fortunes could be so quickly turned into fear and suffering all at the change of royal whim.
I was reading some contemporary views of Thomas and the writer opined he was a highly talented statesman in his time. He was not only a skilled diplomat dealing with foreign policy but also was a talented administrator.
It's a good book - quite long and detailed, but worth reading.
But all this stuff combined with newness of work routines has been quite tiring and yes, I have to say, a bit stressful. It will get better I know. As soon as I climb down from this wall.
Silent in the grave / Deanna Raybourn.
After receiving a threat, Sir Edward Grey - the darling of London society - dies suddenly. His widow Julia engages the enigmatic Nicholas Brisbane to help her investigate Edward's death.~from the blurb
Silent in the sanctuary : a Lady Julia Grey mystery / Deanna Raybourn.
Lady Julia returns to celebrate the holidays only to find her fathers home crowded with family, friends, and Nicholas Brisbane, the one man she had hoped to forget. The celebrations take a ghastly turn after a guest is found brutally murdered, and one of Lady Julias cousins confesses to the crime.~from the blurb
This is a new author for me and I'm rather pleased to have found her. Her style is romantic suspense with a bit of Victorian Gothic novel thrown in. I do like her characters too. So far I've read these two (2nd one is the sequel to the first) and the two main characters haven't even made it into bed together yet so there is a lot of unfinished business you might say.
Eat cake : a novel / Jeanne Ray.
Ruth draws on her talent for concocting delectable cakes and desserts when her family begins to disintegrate around her--her husband loses his job, her mother moves in, and her long-estranged father shows up at the door with no place to go.~from the blurb
Honestly? It is a bit of marshmallow fluff really. Made me want to eat cake.
The girl who kicked the hornet's nest / Stieg Larsson ; translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland.
"Lisbeth Salander will have her revenge - against the man who tried to kill her, and against the government institutions that nearly succeeded in deliberately destroying her life... After sustaining appalling gunshot wounds to her head and her shoulder, she is in Intensive Care, and her most dangerous enemy is in the next-door ward. If she survives, she is set to face murder charges. Officially under police guard, she is allowed contact with only her surgeon or her lawyer. But Mikael Blomkvist, editor at Millennium magazine and Salander's self-appointed guardian angel, will not give up on this strangely compelling girl... With the covert aid of Blomkvist and his journalists at Millennium, Salander must first prove her innocence. Only then can she unmask the people behind the corrupt and secret manoeuvers that ruined her childhood and remain the rotten core of Swedish society"--Publisher description.
The last in the Millennium series and it didn't disappoint. Really enjoyed this series.
Blogosphere Book Circle | July
Wolf Hall / Hilary Mantel. London : Fourth Estate, 2009.
ISBN: 9780007230181
"England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, and later his successor. Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages."-- Publisher description.
It took me a while to get into the style of this book which is surprising for me given my penchant for historical fiction. However, once I did tune into the writing style it hooked me. I particularly enjoyed the glimpses into "everyday" life in Thomas's household. I think the author brings out the complexities of the age and the struggles that were starting to change society at the time very well. It is easy to see how a noble person's fortunes could be so quickly turned into fear and suffering all at the change of royal whim.
I was reading some contemporary views of Thomas and the writer opined he was a highly talented statesman in his time. He was not only a skilled diplomat dealing with foreign policy but also was a talented administrator.
It's a good book - quite long and detailed, but worth reading.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Blogging every day of June | May reading round up
June is bustin' out all over and I've foolishly bravely joined a bunch of Twittering friends on a challenge to blog every day this month! This blog has been so quiet that I'm hoping the practice will rejuvenate it a bit.
A taint in the blood / Dana Stabenow.
Hired by Charlotte Mauravieff, who wants to clear her mother's name of the arson fire that killed one of her brothers, private investigator Kate Shugak finds the case complicated by someone who wants the truth to stay hidden.~from the blurb.
This one was recommended to me and I quite enjoyed it. It is set in Alaska and is an entertaining crime/mystery with a strong female character. I was a little bit uncomfortable with attitude towards men but anyway, a good story.
Delicious / Nicky Pellegrino.
At Caffe Angeli the pastries are rich and creamy, the coffee strong and the tables always overflowing with friends, neighbours and - who knows - maybe a suitable husband for one of the pretty Carrozza girls. At least, that's what Pepina hopes for her two eldest daughters. The trouble is the girls have plans of their own.The drama that ensues has repercussions that continue from the 1960s to the present day and travel from a quiet village in southern Italy to a seaside town in England and beyond. In this sumptuous story of food and love, dreams are fulfilled, but never quite as planned.~from the blurb
The Italian wedding / Nicky Pellegrino.
Two feuding families, two love stories and a feast of delicious Italian food. As Pieta stiches and beads her sister's wedding gown, she uncovers the secrets that make her family what it is and stands between her and happiness. ~from the blurb
A New Zealand author who is probably best known for her co-writing of Angela D'Audney's biography, turns her hand to writing stories. I liked these books for a relaxing undemanding read. Good family drama. The ending is a little rushed in Delicious. Both have lots of coverage of Italian food which is always a hit with me! :P
I'm perfect, you're doomed : tales from a Jehovah's witness upbringing / Kyria Abrahams.
"I'm Perfect, You're Doomed is the story of Kyria Abrahams's coming-of-age as a Jehovah's Witness-- a doorbell-ringing Pioneer of the Lord. Her childhood was haunted by the knowledge that her neighbors and schoolmates were doomed to die in an imminent fiery apocalypse; that Smurfs were evil; that just about anything you could buy at a yard sale was infested by demons; and that Ouija boards-- even if they were manufactured by Parker Brothers-- were portals to hell. Never mind how popular you are when you hand out the Watchtower instead of candy at Halloween. When Abrahams turned eighteen, things got even stranger. That's when she found herself married to a man she didn't love, with adultery her only way out. Disfellowshipped and exiled from the only world she'd ever known, Abrahams realized that the only people who could save her were the very sinners she had prayed would be smitten by God's wrath. Raucously funny, deeply unsettling, and written with scorching wit and deep compassion, I'm Perfect, You're Doomed explores the ironic absurdity of growing up believing that nothing matters because everything's about to be destroyed"--Publisher's description.
This was funny but also very sad. The writing was amusing. The sadness came from two sources. Firstly, the strange doctrines that were promoted by the church and secondly, the way the author ended up dealing with it. Kind of disappointing.
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.
Powell became an Internet celebrity with her 2004 blog chronicling her yearlong odyssey of cooking every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. A frustrated secretary in New York City, Powell embarked on "the Julie/Julia project" to find a sense of direction, and both the cooking and the writing quickly became all-consuming. Some passages in the book are taken verbatim from the blog, but Powell expands on her experience and gives generous background about her personal life: her doting husband, wacky friends, evil co-workers. Powell never met Julia Child, but the venerable chef's spirit is present throughout, and Powell imaginatively reconstructs episodes from Child's life in the 1940s.~from the blurb
A celebrated book (with associated movie) so I had high hopes for this one despite others suggesting it did not live up to the hype, but in the end my feelings were mixed about it. I found the book to have too much of the My-life-sucks-so-I'm-going-to-do-something-dramatic-to-make-it-worthwhile-and-tell-everybody-about-it theme. Is this style of book something that is being promoted as best sellers by publishers? Or is the apparent consumer desire for reality-TV style of writing more common? Either way, I'm not sure I'm on the band wagon. Anyway, I liked hearing about the food related adventures I guess. I was almost tempted to turn my blog into Penny Cooks Everything In xCookbook as a fun sort of exercise... just wasn't able to choose one of my many books! Plus I don't do offal.
We two : Victoria and Albert: rulers, partners, rivals / Gillian Gill.
Gillian Gill offers a revolutionary portrait of a queen and her prince, revealing at once both an intimate but far-from-idyllic relationship that succeeded against all odds as the strong, feisty queen and the brilliant, fragile prince worked together to build a family based on support, trust, and fidelity.~from the blurb
Found this book to be interesting and easy to read. I didn't do much Victorian history at school so I like to learn new stuff about different periods. This one was fresh.
ISBN: 9780007240197
When Dr Ben Goldacre saw someone on daytime TV dipping her feet in an ′Aqua Detox′ footbath‚ releasing her toxins into the water‚ turning it brown‚ he thought he′d try the same at home. Using his girlfriend′s Barbie doll‚ he gently passed an electrical current through the warm salt water. It turned brown. In his words: ′before my very eyes‚ the world′s first Detox Barbie was sat‚ with her feet in a pool of brown sludge‚ purged of a weekend′s immorality.′ This book is concerned with the ′bad science′ we are constantly bombarded with in the media and in advertising. At a time when science is used to prove everything and nothing‚ everyone has their own ′bad science′ moments - from the useless pie-chart on the back of cereal packets to the use of the word ′visibly′ in cosmetics ads. This book will help people to quantify their instincts - that a lot of the so-called ′science′ which appears in the media and in advertising is just wrong or misleading.~from the blurb
This one has had mixed reviews from the bookcircle folks. Personally I found it rather funny in a *face palm* sort of way. I have a science background so some of the things he writes about I agreed whole heartedly with, particularly the abuse by the media of statistics and scientific literature which I find verges on the unethical. The whole nutrition band wagon thing really annoys me so it was gratifying to see some of my own feelings on it were backed up. The history behind the vaccination/autism scare was enlightening. I also found the information on the placebo effect highly interesting because of the connection between mind/body. As Goldacre points out, this is something that has great potential for research and exploitation but on the whole is overlooked by those who are doing the research.
I'll stick my neck out and say everyone should read this book. So there.
Reading Round Up for May
A taint in the blood / Dana Stabenow.
Hired by Charlotte Mauravieff, who wants to clear her mother's name of the arson fire that killed one of her brothers, private investigator Kate Shugak finds the case complicated by someone who wants the truth to stay hidden.~from the blurb.
This one was recommended to me and I quite enjoyed it. It is set in Alaska and is an entertaining crime/mystery with a strong female character. I was a little bit uncomfortable with attitude towards men but anyway, a good story.
Delicious / Nicky Pellegrino.
At Caffe Angeli the pastries are rich and creamy, the coffee strong and the tables always overflowing with friends, neighbours and - who knows - maybe a suitable husband for one of the pretty Carrozza girls. At least, that's what Pepina hopes for her two eldest daughters. The trouble is the girls have plans of their own.The drama that ensues has repercussions that continue from the 1960s to the present day and travel from a quiet village in southern Italy to a seaside town in England and beyond. In this sumptuous story of food and love, dreams are fulfilled, but never quite as planned.~from the blurb
The Italian wedding / Nicky Pellegrino.
Two feuding families, two love stories and a feast of delicious Italian food. As Pieta stiches and beads her sister's wedding gown, she uncovers the secrets that make her family what it is and stands between her and happiness. ~from the blurb
A New Zealand author who is probably best known for her co-writing of Angela D'Audney's biography, turns her hand to writing stories. I liked these books for a relaxing undemanding read. Good family drama. The ending is a little rushed in Delicious. Both have lots of coverage of Italian food which is always a hit with me! :P
I'm perfect, you're doomed : tales from a Jehovah's witness upbringing / Kyria Abrahams.
"I'm Perfect, You're Doomed is the story of Kyria Abrahams's coming-of-age as a Jehovah's Witness-- a doorbell-ringing Pioneer of the Lord. Her childhood was haunted by the knowledge that her neighbors and schoolmates were doomed to die in an imminent fiery apocalypse; that Smurfs were evil; that just about anything you could buy at a yard sale was infested by demons; and that Ouija boards-- even if they were manufactured by Parker Brothers-- were portals to hell. Never mind how popular you are when you hand out the Watchtower instead of candy at Halloween. When Abrahams turned eighteen, things got even stranger. That's when she found herself married to a man she didn't love, with adultery her only way out. Disfellowshipped and exiled from the only world she'd ever known, Abrahams realized that the only people who could save her were the very sinners she had prayed would be smitten by God's wrath. Raucously funny, deeply unsettling, and written with scorching wit and deep compassion, I'm Perfect, You're Doomed explores the ironic absurdity of growing up believing that nothing matters because everything's about to be destroyed"--Publisher's description.
This was funny but also very sad. The writing was amusing. The sadness came from two sources. Firstly, the strange doctrines that were promoted by the church and secondly, the way the author ended up dealing with it. Kind of disappointing.
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.
Powell became an Internet celebrity with her 2004 blog chronicling her yearlong odyssey of cooking every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. A frustrated secretary in New York City, Powell embarked on "the Julie/Julia project" to find a sense of direction, and both the cooking and the writing quickly became all-consuming. Some passages in the book are taken verbatim from the blog, but Powell expands on her experience and gives generous background about her personal life: her doting husband, wacky friends, evil co-workers. Powell never met Julia Child, but the venerable chef's spirit is present throughout, and Powell imaginatively reconstructs episodes from Child's life in the 1940s.~from the blurb
A celebrated book (with associated movie) so I had high hopes for this one despite others suggesting it did not live up to the hype, but in the end my feelings were mixed about it. I found the book to have too much of the My-life-sucks-so-I'm-going-to-do-something-dramatic-to-make-it-worthwhile-and-tell-everybody-about-it theme. Is this style of book something that is being promoted as best sellers by publishers? Or is the apparent consumer desire for reality-TV style of writing more common? Either way, I'm not sure I'm on the band wagon. Anyway, I liked hearing about the food related adventures I guess. I was almost tempted to turn my blog into Penny Cooks Everything In xCookbook as a fun sort of exercise... just wasn't able to choose one of my many books! Plus I don't do offal.
We two : Victoria and Albert: rulers, partners, rivals / Gillian Gill.
Gillian Gill offers a revolutionary portrait of a queen and her prince, revealing at once both an intimate but far-from-idyllic relationship that succeeded against all odds as the strong, feisty queen and the brilliant, fragile prince worked together to build a family based on support, trust, and fidelity.~from the blurb
Found this book to be interesting and easy to read. I didn't do much Victorian history at school so I like to learn new stuff about different periods. This one was fresh.
May Book Circle Book
Bad science / Ben Goldacre. London : Fourth Estate, 2008.ISBN: 9780007240197
When Dr Ben Goldacre saw someone on daytime TV dipping her feet in an ′Aqua Detox′ footbath‚ releasing her toxins into the water‚ turning it brown‚ he thought he′d try the same at home. Using his girlfriend′s Barbie doll‚ he gently passed an electrical current through the warm salt water. It turned brown. In his words: ′before my very eyes‚ the world′s first Detox Barbie was sat‚ with her feet in a pool of brown sludge‚ purged of a weekend′s immorality.′ This book is concerned with the ′bad science′ we are constantly bombarded with in the media and in advertising. At a time when science is used to prove everything and nothing‚ everyone has their own ′bad science′ moments - from the useless pie-chart on the back of cereal packets to the use of the word ′visibly′ in cosmetics ads. This book will help people to quantify their instincts - that a lot of the so-called ′science′ which appears in the media and in advertising is just wrong or misleading.~from the blurb
This one has had mixed reviews from the bookcircle folks. Personally I found it rather funny in a *face palm* sort of way. I have a science background so some of the things he writes about I agreed whole heartedly with, particularly the abuse by the media of statistics and scientific literature which I find verges on the unethical. The whole nutrition band wagon thing really annoys me so it was gratifying to see some of my own feelings on it were backed up. The history behind the vaccination/autism scare was enlightening. I also found the information on the placebo effect highly interesting because of the connection between mind/body. As Goldacre points out, this is something that has great potential for research and exploitation but on the whole is overlooked by those who are doing the research.
I'll stick my neck out and say everyone should read this book. So there.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
April Reading Round Up | Book Circle Book
The story of Danny Dunn/ Bryce Corteney
In the 1930s few opportunities existed for boys in Balmain, but at just sixteen years of age Danny Dunn has everything going for him: brains, looks, sporting aptitude - and luck with the ladies. His parents run The Hero, the favourite neighbourhood watering hole, and Danny is a local hero. Luck changes for Danny when he signs up to go to war.~from the blurb
I dunno. This one was okay but kind of disappointing really. I enjoyed Corteney's ealier writings but now he seems to be churning them out in industrial fashion and they are all the same. This could have been a book with so much more depth but he tries to cover so much time and too many people IMO. It was very predictable and too shallow. The ending leaves things open for a sequel but I don't think I'll bother.
The book thief / Markus Zusak.
Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors. ~ from the blurb
This was one of last year's book circle books which I never got in time to read. But finally my turn came and I must say I would recommend the book. The mix of vulnerability, honesty and bravery against the back drop of WW2 with all it's desperation and deprivation is highly engaging. It's not a "happy" book as such but eminently satistfying.
Eat, pray, love : one woman's search for everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia / Elizabeth Gilbert.
Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned thirty, she went through an early-onslaught midlife crisis. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want; a husband, a house, a successful career. But instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief, and confusion. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be. To recover from all this, Gilbert took a radical step. In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world. Eat, Pray, Love is the absorbing chronicle of that year.~ from the blurb
This much celebrated book was one I'd had on hold for a while and it finally arrived. I wasn't sure what to expect from it. Sometimes I find the popular books are too saccharine for me. The first few chapters made me wonder if I'd bother to finish it. I was beginning to think this was another book about a spoiled, undercommitted, over-dramatic Westerner trying to get meaning in their lives. However, I persevered and gradually got drawn into the book. Gilbert's writing is quite amusing too so I found myself laughing a few times. I enjoyed her investigations on prayer and meditation. Prayer is something I feel like I fail at and I'd like to learn better how to be effectual. Also in meditation - I find it hard to settle down and stop the self talk. So those chapters were particularly interesting for me. Unfortunately, I can't afford to take the time off to have month long explorations of spirituality and love so somehow I have to work this out in the here and now. It is probably a cultural thing but I did find myself rolling my eyes a few times with this woman. The way she hung on to her previous lover got a bit annoying when it seemed obvious to me that it was never going to work. But maybe that is me and my Kiwi "get over it and move on" attitude.
Unseen academicals / Terry Pratchett
Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork - not the old fashioned, grubby pushing and shoving, but the new, fast football with pointy hats for goalposts and balls that go gloing when you drop them. And now, the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match, without using magic, so they're in the mood for trying everything else.~from the blurb
I always enjoy Prachett's satirical writing. My French teacher in 4th form first introduced me to them and I've been a fan ever since. I have my favourites of course - Mort being one of them. This one is kind of about football, but also about assumptions and stereotypes. Prachett always makes me laugh. (And I really wish I had a Luggage).
Growing great marriages / Ian and Mary Grant.
Ian and Mary Grant maintain that the two great human desires are to know that we can love and that we can be loved. In their latest book, they give skills and tips on how to maintain your relationship with your husband or wife. Whether your relationship is flaming with passion or just flaming awful, this entertaining book gives you insights and practical ideas to make your life stronger and happier. You will take away keys and tips to transform your relationship into one that others will envy, full of fun, communication, passion and intimacy. Turn the dream into a reality.~ from the blurb
This one is good. Janine recommended it and I also do. I wanted DH to read it but there were so many holds on it I had to return it.
and then my reading history on my library record disappeared! So any others I read this past month I'll have to try and remember.
Book Circle April Book
Replenishing the Earth : the settler revolution and the rise of the Anglo-world, 1783-1939 / James Belich.
(2009). Oxford : Oxford University Press.
ISBN:9780199297276
Pioneering study of the anglophone 'settler boom' in North America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand between the early 19th and early 20th centuries, looking at what made it the most successful of all such settler revolutions, and how this laid the basis of British and American power in the 19th and 20th centuries. Why does so much of the world speak English? Replenishing the Earth gives a new answer to that question, uncovering a 'settler revolution' that took place from the early nineteenth century that led to the explosive settlement of the American West and its forgotten twin, the British West, comprising the settler dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Between 1780 and 1930 the number of English-speakers rocketed from 12 million in 1780 to 200 million, and their wealth and power grew to match. Their secret was not racial, or cultural, or institutional superiority but a resonant intersection of historical changes, including the sudden rise of mass transfer across oceans and mountains, a revolutionary upward shift in attitudes to emigration, the emergence of a settler 'boom mentality', and a late flowering of non-industrial technologies -wind, water, wood, and work animals - especially on settler frontiers. ~from the blurb
Well the blurb sounded interesting okay? I thought I'd enjoy it but oh boy, it was hard going. Much more academic than I thought it was going to be! Which is a shame because Belich can write in a more engaging style and his historical documentary on The New Zealand Wars was very interesting.
I did persevere until almost the end but I'm really not sure I "got" what he was trying to say except that much of the world speaks English because of the fortuitous factors that promoted English-speaking settlers where they settled, and their willingness to make a go of it despite the hardships they faced.
The curious thing about this is there were several holds on this book after me so either other people were seduced by the blurb or there are some dedicated historians out there.
In the 1930s few opportunities existed for boys in Balmain, but at just sixteen years of age Danny Dunn has everything going for him: brains, looks, sporting aptitude - and luck with the ladies. His parents run The Hero, the favourite neighbourhood watering hole, and Danny is a local hero. Luck changes for Danny when he signs up to go to war.~from the blurb
I dunno. This one was okay but kind of disappointing really. I enjoyed Corteney's ealier writings but now he seems to be churning them out in industrial fashion and they are all the same. This could have been a book with so much more depth but he tries to cover so much time and too many people IMO. It was very predictable and too shallow. The ending leaves things open for a sequel but I don't think I'll bother.
The book thief / Markus Zusak.
Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors. ~ from the blurb
This was one of last year's book circle books which I never got in time to read. But finally my turn came and I must say I would recommend the book. The mix of vulnerability, honesty and bravery against the back drop of WW2 with all it's desperation and deprivation is highly engaging. It's not a "happy" book as such but eminently satistfying.
Eat, pray, love : one woman's search for everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia / Elizabeth Gilbert.
Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned thirty, she went through an early-onslaught midlife crisis. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want; a husband, a house, a successful career. But instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief, and confusion. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be. To recover from all this, Gilbert took a radical step. In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world. Eat, Pray, Love is the absorbing chronicle of that year.~ from the blurb
This much celebrated book was one I'd had on hold for a while and it finally arrived. I wasn't sure what to expect from it. Sometimes I find the popular books are too saccharine for me. The first few chapters made me wonder if I'd bother to finish it. I was beginning to think this was another book about a spoiled, undercommitted, over-dramatic Westerner trying to get meaning in their lives. However, I persevered and gradually got drawn into the book. Gilbert's writing is quite amusing too so I found myself laughing a few times. I enjoyed her investigations on prayer and meditation. Prayer is something I feel like I fail at and I'd like to learn better how to be effectual. Also in meditation - I find it hard to settle down and stop the self talk. So those chapters were particularly interesting for me. Unfortunately, I can't afford to take the time off to have month long explorations of spirituality and love so somehow I have to work this out in the here and now. It is probably a cultural thing but I did find myself rolling my eyes a few times with this woman. The way she hung on to her previous lover got a bit annoying when it seemed obvious to me that it was never going to work. But maybe that is me and my Kiwi "get over it and move on" attitude.
Unseen academicals / Terry Pratchett
Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork - not the old fashioned, grubby pushing and shoving, but the new, fast football with pointy hats for goalposts and balls that go gloing when you drop them. And now, the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match, without using magic, so they're in the mood for trying everything else.~from the blurb
I always enjoy Prachett's satirical writing. My French teacher in 4th form first introduced me to them and I've been a fan ever since. I have my favourites of course - Mort being one of them. This one is kind of about football, but also about assumptions and stereotypes. Prachett always makes me laugh. (And I really wish I had a Luggage).
Growing great marriages / Ian and Mary Grant.
Ian and Mary Grant maintain that the two great human desires are to know that we can love and that we can be loved. In their latest book, they give skills and tips on how to maintain your relationship with your husband or wife. Whether your relationship is flaming with passion or just flaming awful, this entertaining book gives you insights and practical ideas to make your life stronger and happier. You will take away keys and tips to transform your relationship into one that others will envy, full of fun, communication, passion and intimacy. Turn the dream into a reality.~ from the blurb
This one is good. Janine recommended it and I also do. I wanted DH to read it but there were so many holds on it I had to return it.
and then my reading history on my library record disappeared! So any others I read this past month I'll have to try and remember.
Book Circle April Book
Replenishing the Earth : the settler revolution and the rise of the Anglo-world, 1783-1939 / James Belich.
(2009). Oxford : Oxford University Press.
ISBN:9780199297276
Pioneering study of the anglophone 'settler boom' in North America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand between the early 19th and early 20th centuries, looking at what made it the most successful of all such settler revolutions, and how this laid the basis of British and American power in the 19th and 20th centuries. Why does so much of the world speak English? Replenishing the Earth gives a new answer to that question, uncovering a 'settler revolution' that took place from the early nineteenth century that led to the explosive settlement of the American West and its forgotten twin, the British West, comprising the settler dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Between 1780 and 1930 the number of English-speakers rocketed from 12 million in 1780 to 200 million, and their wealth and power grew to match. Their secret was not racial, or cultural, or institutional superiority but a resonant intersection of historical changes, including the sudden rise of mass transfer across oceans and mountains, a revolutionary upward shift in attitudes to emigration, the emergence of a settler 'boom mentality', and a late flowering of non-industrial technologies -wind, water, wood, and work animals - especially on settler frontiers. ~from the blurb
Well the blurb sounded interesting okay? I thought I'd enjoy it but oh boy, it was hard going. Much more academic than I thought it was going to be! Which is a shame because Belich can write in a more engaging style and his historical documentary on The New Zealand Wars was very interesting.
I did persevere until almost the end but I'm really not sure I "got" what he was trying to say except that much of the world speaks English because of the fortuitous factors that promoted English-speaking settlers where they settled, and their willingness to make a go of it despite the hardships they faced.
The curious thing about this is there were several holds on this book after me so either other people were seduced by the blurb or there are some dedicated historians out there.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Hodge podge
My blog seems to be mostly about books these days - sorry.
Just for a change, here is a shout out for the MAGS Roarbotix Team who won the New Zealand Vex Robotics National Championship 3 weeks ago. They are now off to Dallas, Texas in the US to represent New Zealand tomorrow! You can track the progress of the team via their blog. Mitchell, the driver of the robot in the nationals is the son of one of our friends. Please pop over and give them some comment love - I am sure they would love some support from back home while they are over there. It's really exciting to see these young guys pursuing robotics, and being a household of geeks we think stuff like this is cool. Tim is a keen robot fan.
January Blogosphere Book Circle Review
The bolter : Idina Sackville-- the woman who scandalised 1920s society and became White mischief's infamous seductress / Frances Osborne. London : Virago, 2008.
ISBN: 9781844084814
Synopsis
On Friday 25th May, 1934, a forty-one-year-old woman walked into the lobby of Claridge's Hotel to meet the nineteen-year-old son whose face she did not know. Fifteen years earlier, as the First World War ended, Idina Sackville shocked high society by leaving his multimillionaire father to run off to Africa with a near penniless man. An inspiration for Nancy Mitford's character The Bolter, painted by William Orpen, and photographed by Cecil Beaton, Sackville went on to divorce a total of five times, yet died with a picture of her first love by her bed. Her struggle to reinvent her life with each new marriage left one husband murdered and branded her the 'high priestess' of White Mischief's bed-hopping Happy Valley in Kenya. Sackville's life was so scandalous that it was kept a secret from her great-granddaughter Frances Osborne. Now, Osborne tells the moving tale of betrayal and heartbreak behind Sackville's road to scandal and return, painting a dazzling portrait of high society in the early twentieth century. ~from the blurb
I did enjoy this book. I know some of the book circle group found it boring, but I found it easy to read; the historical side of things always appeals to me. I really couldn't relate to the lifestyle portrayed in the book though! Wow is all I can say! :-P
I did feel sorry for Idina - she obviously was born in the wrong era and her upbringing must have heavily influenced her attitudes towards a whole bunch of things. These days she would have been some sort of politician I'm sure! She appears to have been a feisty number on the outside but with a terrible need to be loved/worshipped. It's clear she was looking for "something" that would be fulfilling and never really found it. As a mum I found it so hard to understand how she could abandon her sons and have so little to do with bringing up her daughter but as other book circle members have pointed out, the connection between parents and kids in those days in that class was very distant.
I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone who didn't like to read about historical time periods or biographies. There is a lot of detail about various family members and important people of the day which I found reasonably interesting but others found less than diverting! But that's ok. :)
Easter Camping
We spent the Easter weekend camping at Otamure Bay. Friends on Facebook will have already seen these photos.
The weather was great, some cloud and a shower or two but mostly sunny and warm. The kids had a grand time playing in the sand and sea and generally pottering around. The photographic options weren't so good for Rod but he did take some photos. We went with some friends of ours who have children a similar age and this turned out to be a good thing for the mothers since they mostly entertained themselves together. :-)
The campsite was very busy with fishermen, people attending a motorbike rally next door and of course, the likes of us on a family holiday. Unfortunately this meant queues for the toilets and the single shower (cold) and that wasn't especially fun. It's a lovely spot, but perhaps not one we'll be going back to.
I've had a few days off work this week and today I'm *gasp* even going to do some scrapbooking!
Just for a change, here is a shout out for the MAGS Roarbotix Team who won the New Zealand Vex Robotics National Championship 3 weeks ago. They are now off to Dallas, Texas in the US to represent New Zealand tomorrow! You can track the progress of the team via their blog. Mitchell, the driver of the robot in the nationals is the son of one of our friends. Please pop over and give them some comment love - I am sure they would love some support from back home while they are over there. It's really exciting to see these young guys pursuing robotics, and being a household of geeks we think stuff like this is cool. Tim is a keen robot fan.
January Blogosphere Book Circle Review
The bolter : Idina Sackville-- the woman who scandalised 1920s society and became White mischief's infamous seductress / Frances Osborne. London : Virago, 2008.
ISBN: 9781844084814
Synopsis
On Friday 25th May, 1934, a forty-one-year-old woman walked into the lobby of Claridge's Hotel to meet the nineteen-year-old son whose face she did not know. Fifteen years earlier, as the First World War ended, Idina Sackville shocked high society by leaving his multimillionaire father to run off to Africa with a near penniless man. An inspiration for Nancy Mitford's character The Bolter, painted by William Orpen, and photographed by Cecil Beaton, Sackville went on to divorce a total of five times, yet died with a picture of her first love by her bed. Her struggle to reinvent her life with each new marriage left one husband murdered and branded her the 'high priestess' of White Mischief's bed-hopping Happy Valley in Kenya. Sackville's life was so scandalous that it was kept a secret from her great-granddaughter Frances Osborne. Now, Osborne tells the moving tale of betrayal and heartbreak behind Sackville's road to scandal and return, painting a dazzling portrait of high society in the early twentieth century. ~from the blurb
I did enjoy this book. I know some of the book circle group found it boring, but I found it easy to read; the historical side of things always appeals to me. I really couldn't relate to the lifestyle portrayed in the book though! Wow is all I can say! :-P
I did feel sorry for Idina - she obviously was born in the wrong era and her upbringing must have heavily influenced her attitudes towards a whole bunch of things. These days she would have been some sort of politician I'm sure! She appears to have been a feisty number on the outside but with a terrible need to be loved/worshipped. It's clear she was looking for "something" that would be fulfilling and never really found it. As a mum I found it so hard to understand how she could abandon her sons and have so little to do with bringing up her daughter but as other book circle members have pointed out, the connection between parents and kids in those days in that class was very distant.
I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone who didn't like to read about historical time periods or biographies. There is a lot of detail about various family members and important people of the day which I found reasonably interesting but others found less than diverting! But that's ok. :)
Easter Camping
We spent the Easter weekend camping at Otamure Bay. Friends on Facebook will have already seen these photos.
The weather was great, some cloud and a shower or two but mostly sunny and warm. The kids had a grand time playing in the sand and sea and generally pottering around. The photographic options weren't so good for Rod but he did take some photos. We went with some friends of ours who have children a similar age and this turned out to be a good thing for the mothers since they mostly entertained themselves together. :-)
The campsite was very busy with fishermen, people attending a motorbike rally next door and of course, the likes of us on a family holiday. Unfortunately this meant queues for the toilets and the single shower (cold) and that wasn't especially fun. It's a lovely spot, but perhaps not one we'll be going back to.
I've had a few days off work this week and today I'm *gasp* even going to do some scrapbooking!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
March Reading Round Up
The girl who played with fire/ Steig Larsson
"This time it is Lisbeth Salander, the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker, who is the focus ... of the story. Mikael Blomkvist—crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium—has decided to publish a story exposing an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government. On the eve of publication, the two reporters responsible for the story are brutally murdered. But perhaps more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander. Now, as Blomkvist—alone in his belief in her innocence—plunges into his own investigation of the slayings, Salander is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all."--Publisher's information.
Having read the first in the Millennium series last year for the Blogosphere Book Circle I actually went and bought this copy because the waiting list was too long at the library. Plus I needed something to read on the plane. Larsson's style is highly engaging. He reveals things gradually and keeps the reader gripped. This is not a series for readers of genteel crime fiction - there is brutality, guts and murky, mixed up relationships. I really want to read the next one. Think I'll have to buy it too!
The king's mistress / Emma Campion.
"From childhood Alice Salisbury has learnt obedience in all things and at fourteen dutifully marries the man her father has chosen for her... But merchant Janyn Perrers is a good and loving husband and Alice soon learns to enjoy her marriage. Until a messenger brings news of his disappearance and she discovers that her husband had many secrets – secrets which have now put a price on her own head and that of her beloved daughter. Brought under the protection of King Edward III and Queen Philippa she must obediently embrace her fate once more – as a virtual prisoner at Court. And when the king singles her out for more than just royal patronage she knows she has little choice but to accept his advances. But obeying the king brings with it many burdens as well as pleasures, as she forfeits her good name to keep her daughter free from hurt... But as one of the king’s favourites she brings jealousy and hatred in her wake and some will stop at nothing to see her fall from grace…" --Publisher
It took me ages to finish this one which is unusual for me since it's the genre I read the most. It is a long story and rambles along fairly sedately. I enjoyed it but I can't say it gripped me especially.
The girl on the landing / Paul Torday.
Michael, a middle-aged man of means, is dressing for dinner at a friend's country house in Ireland. As he descends the grand staircase, he spots a small painting of a landing with an old linen press and the white marble statue of an angel. In the background is a woman clad in a dark green dress. During dinner, Michael comments on the painting to his hosts but they say there is no woman in the picture. When Michael goes up to bed later, he sees that they are correct. This is only the first in a series of incidents that lead Michael to question his grip on reality. His wife Elizabeth is unsettled by the changes she sees in a man she originally married because he was dependable and steady, not because she loved him. Suddenly she is aware that she has never really known Michael and as he changes, she sees glimpses of someone she could fall in love with. Michael, in the meantime, is disturbed by events up at his family's ancestral home in the wilds of Scotland and by a past that he is threatening to destroy everything, and everyone, he has ever loved.~ from the blurb
I picked up this book expecting one thing and was surprised (in the end) about what emerged! It is a story about a relationship with questions about normality and society's evaluation of what normal is. As the story progresses, the friction between "otherness" and "normality" creates an engaging story in a wierd way.
Access road / Maurice Gee.
Auckland, N.Z. : Penguin, 2009.
ISBN: 9780143202448 (pbk.)
" As she watches her brother losing the battle with his memories, Rowan wonders how long she can keep her own past at bay. The old family home in Access Road, where Lionel, Roly and Rowan grew up, is crumbling away - but after more than fifty years Lionel and Roly are back. Rowan too, otherwise safe in her 'upper crusty' suburb, is drawn more and more strongly 'out west'. The past is dangerously alive. Clyde Buckley - violent as a boy; enigmatic, subterranean as an old man - returns to his childhood territory. What does he want? What crimes does he hide? And how is Lionel involved? Rowan must abandon safety if she is to find out . . . " --Back cover.
I must confess I haven't read a lot of Gee's work. However, since the book circle started I've now read 2 by him and I'm interested enough to consider choosing some more by him. Gee is probably one of New Zealand's best writers and his lyrical prose is highly evocative. I really enjoyed his descriptive writing.
Like the previous book I read (Live Bodies), Access Road is set in New Zealand and to my amusement it appears to be set in the very suburb that I currently live in! In fact I went looking on the map for Access Road. (There is one up in Kumeu, but not around here). I like reading books set in places that I've been to or know about as it gives me strong cues for my visualisation of the story.
The story revolves around the complex relationships between Rowan, her brothers, her husband and a childhood contact Clyde. I thought it was unusual that the story was set from the viewpoint of an elderly person, though I should clarify it is unusual for me perhaps because it's not a viewpoint I read often. There is a sinister undercurrent in the book that becomes louder and louder as the story wends it's way along. The gradual revelation of each part of the jigsaw making up the mystery kept me turning the page. Recommended.
Total: 4*
Genre:
Historical fiction=1
Crime/mystery = 3
*Actually I read more than 4, but a lot of them were for the Book Circle books later in the year. Just like buses they all came into the library at once! However, last month's book The Bolter has only just arrived so I can read it over Easter.
"This time it is Lisbeth Salander, the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker, who is the focus ... of the story. Mikael Blomkvist—crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium—has decided to publish a story exposing an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government. On the eve of publication, the two reporters responsible for the story are brutally murdered. But perhaps more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander. Now, as Blomkvist—alone in his belief in her innocence—plunges into his own investigation of the slayings, Salander is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all."--Publisher's information.
Having read the first in the Millennium series last year for the Blogosphere Book Circle I actually went and bought this copy because the waiting list was too long at the library. Plus I needed something to read on the plane. Larsson's style is highly engaging. He reveals things gradually and keeps the reader gripped. This is not a series for readers of genteel crime fiction - there is brutality, guts and murky, mixed up relationships. I really want to read the next one. Think I'll have to buy it too!
The king's mistress / Emma Campion.
"From childhood Alice Salisbury has learnt obedience in all things and at fourteen dutifully marries the man her father has chosen for her... But merchant Janyn Perrers is a good and loving husband and Alice soon learns to enjoy her marriage. Until a messenger brings news of his disappearance and she discovers that her husband had many secrets – secrets which have now put a price on her own head and that of her beloved daughter. Brought under the protection of King Edward III and Queen Philippa she must obediently embrace her fate once more – as a virtual prisoner at Court. And when the king singles her out for more than just royal patronage she knows she has little choice but to accept his advances. But obeying the king brings with it many burdens as well as pleasures, as she forfeits her good name to keep her daughter free from hurt... But as one of the king’s favourites she brings jealousy and hatred in her wake and some will stop at nothing to see her fall from grace…" --Publisher
It took me ages to finish this one which is unusual for me since it's the genre I read the most. It is a long story and rambles along fairly sedately. I enjoyed it but I can't say it gripped me especially.
The girl on the landing / Paul Torday.
Michael, a middle-aged man of means, is dressing for dinner at a friend's country house in Ireland. As he descends the grand staircase, he spots a small painting of a landing with an old linen press and the white marble statue of an angel. In the background is a woman clad in a dark green dress. During dinner, Michael comments on the painting to his hosts but they say there is no woman in the picture. When Michael goes up to bed later, he sees that they are correct. This is only the first in a series of incidents that lead Michael to question his grip on reality. His wife Elizabeth is unsettled by the changes she sees in a man she originally married because he was dependable and steady, not because she loved him. Suddenly she is aware that she has never really known Michael and as he changes, she sees glimpses of someone she could fall in love with. Michael, in the meantime, is disturbed by events up at his family's ancestral home in the wilds of Scotland and by a past that he is threatening to destroy everything, and everyone, he has ever loved.~ from the blurb
I picked up this book expecting one thing and was surprised (in the end) about what emerged! It is a story about a relationship with questions about normality and society's evaluation of what normal is. As the story progresses, the friction between "otherness" and "normality" creates an engaging story in a wierd way.
March Book for the Book Circle
Access road / Maurice Gee.
Auckland, N.Z. : Penguin, 2009.
ISBN: 9780143202448 (pbk.)
" As she watches her brother losing the battle with his memories, Rowan wonders how long she can keep her own past at bay. The old family home in Access Road, where Lionel, Roly and Rowan grew up, is crumbling away - but after more than fifty years Lionel and Roly are back. Rowan too, otherwise safe in her 'upper crusty' suburb, is drawn more and more strongly 'out west'. The past is dangerously alive. Clyde Buckley - violent as a boy; enigmatic, subterranean as an old man - returns to his childhood territory. What does he want? What crimes does he hide? And how is Lionel involved? Rowan must abandon safety if she is to find out . . . " --Back cover.
I must confess I haven't read a lot of Gee's work. However, since the book circle started I've now read 2 by him and I'm interested enough to consider choosing some more by him. Gee is probably one of New Zealand's best writers and his lyrical prose is highly evocative. I really enjoyed his descriptive writing.
Like the previous book I read (Live Bodies), Access Road is set in New Zealand and to my amusement it appears to be set in the very suburb that I currently live in! In fact I went looking on the map for Access Road. (There is one up in Kumeu, but not around here). I like reading books set in places that I've been to or know about as it gives me strong cues for my visualisation of the story.
The story revolves around the complex relationships between Rowan, her brothers, her husband and a childhood contact Clyde. I thought it was unusual that the story was set from the viewpoint of an elderly person, though I should clarify it is unusual for me perhaps because it's not a viewpoint I read often. There is a sinister undercurrent in the book that becomes louder and louder as the story wends it's way along. The gradual revelation of each part of the jigsaw making up the mystery kept me turning the page. Recommended.
Total: 4*
Genre:
Historical fiction=1
Crime/mystery = 3
*Actually I read more than 4, but a lot of them were for the Book Circle books later in the year. Just like buses they all came into the library at once! However, last month's book The Bolter has only just arrived so I can read it over Easter.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Writing a book review for the Blogosphere Book Circle
A book review is a description, critical analysis, and an evaluation on the quality, meaning, and significance of a book, not a retelling. It should focus on the book's purpose, content, and authority... It is a reaction paper in which strengths and weaknesses of the material are analyzed. It should include a statement of what the author has tried to do, evaluates how well (in the opinion of the reviewer) the author has succeeded, and presents evidence to support this evaluation. (How to write a book review / LA Valley College (2009). Retrieved 25th February 2010)
Well, that sounds quite high falutin' and a bit OTT for what we are doing which is not English Lit 101! But you get the idea. The good thing is that apparently there is no one right way to write a review. What is important is that the review is the expression of the reader's opinion.
There will be some factual parts to the review though, and I suggest we include the basics such as:
If you wish to include the ISBN as well, that is helpful for anyone who wanted to order the book from a book seller.
The other basic factual part to a review is a brief synopsis of the book.
If it is a fiction book, the story outline need not reveal anything that would spoil it for potential readers.
For non-fiction books it is helpful to give an idea of the book's main purpose. Sometimes it is also helpful to put a non-fiction book in context with some background of the author's previous works.
I often use the blurb on a book for my synopsis if I think it describes it well. Feel free to do the same but do make sure you attribute it so readers realise it isn't your own words. I usually write ~from the blurb or something like that.
As for the rest of the review, there are many places on the web that can give you some ideas on what to include. You don't have to include them all of course! Here are a selection I've cobbled together to prompt you.
This one is a bit old, but still has some good points.
From How to write a book review / Bill Asenjo. (2002). Retrieved 25th February 2010
Points to Ponder:This one is even older, but I liked some the points they bring out.
• What was the story about?
• Who were the main characters?
• Were the characters credible?
• What did the main characters do in the story?
• Did the main characters run into any problems? Adventures?
• Who was your favorite character? Why?
Your personal experiences
• Could you relate to any of the characters in the story?
• Have you ever done or felt some of the things, the characters did?
Your opinion
• Did you like the book?
• What was your favorite part of the book?
• Do you have a least favorite part of the book?
• If you could change something, what would it be? (If you wish you could change the ending, don't reveal it!)
Your recommendation
• Would you recommend this book to another person?
• What type of person would like this book?
Writing Book Reviews / Literacy Education Online. (1997). Retrieved 25th February 2010
Describe the book: Is it interesting, memorable, entertaining, instructive? Why?
Respond to the author's opinions: What do you agree with? And why? What do you disagree with? And why?
Explore issues the book raises: What possibilities does the book suggest? Explain. What matters does the book leave out? Explain.
Relate your argument to other books or authors: Support your argument for or against the author's opinions by bringing in other authors you agree with.
Relate the book to larger issues: How did the book affect you? How have your opinions about the topic changed? How is the book related to your own course or personal agenda.
Part of the fun of the Blogosphere Book Circle is visiting other member's blogs or their reviews on Facebook and seeing what other people thought. It's inevitable that some of our reactions will be the same or similar, so if you do wish to use another member's words or expressions, please attribute the original poster via a linkback in your text. For example, I often find Mel takes the words out of my head and writes them in her review so I might write "As Mel has said" [insert words of excellence here].
Hope that is helpful! Like I say, we're not aiming for university level reviews here but it is good to have some guidelines to spark the old brain into action.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
January 2010 reading round up
The ghost map : a street, an epidemic and the two men who battled to save Victorian London / Steven Johnson.
At 6am on 28 August 1854, the city of London struggled to sleep at the end of an oppressively hot summer. But at 40 Broad Street, Soho, Sarah Lewis was awake tending to her feverish baby girl. As she threw a used bucket of water into the cesspool at the front of her lodgings, it marked the start of a cholera epidemic that would consume 50,000 lives in England and Wales - and become a battle between man and microbe unlike any other. Steven Johnson takes us day by day through what happened and re-creates a London full of dust heaps, furnaces and slaughterhouses; where a ghost class of bone-pickers, rag gatherers, dredger men and mud-larks scavenged off waste; where families were crammed into tiny rooms and cartloads of bodies wheeled down the streets. And at the heart of the story is Doctor John Snow: vegetarian, teetotaller, anaesthesiologist and Soho resident, whose use of maps to prove that cholera was spread by water - and not borne on the air as most believed - would bring him into conflict with the entire medical establishment, but ultimately defeat his era's greatest killer.~from the blurb
I don't know what it is but I currently have a fascination for plagues, disease and finding answers to their cures. Heh. Anyway, this is a very readable account of the cholera epidemic in Victorian London. I found it amazing to see how little sanitation was practiced in those days but had remind myself that the germ theory of disease was still in it's infancy. So glad we know what we know now!
The bread with seven crusts / Susan Temby.
A story of prisoners of war in Australia where attitudes and treatment of these strange foreigners reflects the time and wartime pressures. I had strong impressions of my grandparents reading this story - they were farmers during the war and they carried their attitudes from that period to their death. It's also a story of love and how it occurs in the strangest of ways. A good read, quite realistic I thought.
The captive wife / Fiona Kidman.
When Betty Guard steps ashore in Sydney, in 1834, she meets with a heroine's welcome. Her survival during a four-month kidnapping ordeal amongst Taranaki Maori is hailed as nothing short of a miracle. But questions about what really happened slowly surface within the elite governing circles of Sydney. ~from the blurb
Whizzed through this one - not a bad read though somewhat predictable.
People of the book : a novel / Geraldine Brooks.
In 1996, Hanna Heath, a young Australian book conservator is called to analyse the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a priceless six-hundred-year-old Jewish prayer book that has been salvaged from a destroyed Bosnian library. When Hanna discovers a series of artifacts in the centuries' old binding, she unwittingly exposes an international cover up.~from the blurb
This was great - loved the stories behind the stuff the conservator discovers. Got annoyed at Hanna at the beginning because she seemed so hard bitten but she came around. So many literary treasures have been lost to the world through war and malice and I really admire librarians who have risked their lives to save some of them... which really did happen in some of these places.
The boy who harnessed the wind : creating currents of electricity and hope / William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer.
Relates how an enterprising teenager in Malawi builds a windmill from scraps he finds around his village and brings electricity, and a future, to his family.~from the blurb
I requested the library purchase this book after reading about William on TEDtalks. His story is inspiring, a triumph over significant adversity and has a number of threads. One in particular I liked was his drive to make life better for his family. Another was the fact that his dream began as a result of him finding a book in a library. Libraries really do change lives.
Weeping waters : a novel based on a true story / Anne Maria Nicholson.
Late at night on Christmas Eve 1953, a volcanic eruption on Mt Ruapehu destroys a rail bridge, plunging a passenger train into the river. 151 people are drowned and hundreds seriously injured. Years later volcanologist Frances Nelson arrives as the mountain heats up again and is embroiled in a battle between science and Maori beliefs. A contemporary tale about love, redemption and the secrets of family. The Tangiwai disaster holds the key to a young volcanologist's family history, as she discovers when she comes to New Zealand to work on a warning system for Mt Ruapehu.~from the blurb
I'd read the sequel to this earlier so wanted to read this one too. I found the back story of Tangiwai incredibly poignant and the modern story a bit superficial, and some of the characterisation a bit stereotypical.
My enemy's cradle / Sara Young.
Cyrla's neighbours have begun to whisper. Her cousin, Anneke, is pregnant and has passed the rigorous exams for admission to the Lebensborn, a maternity home for girls carrying German babies. But Anneke's soldier has disappeared, and the Nazis confiscate fatherless children. Cyrla, sent from Poland to hide with her Dutch relatives, has been warned that her neighbours know she is half Jewish. She won't be safe with them for long. A cruel twist of fate places Cyrla with the terrible choice between certain discovery in her cousin's home and taking Anneke's place in the Lebensborn. Cyrla and Anneke are nearly identical. If she takes refuge in the enemy's lair, can Cyrla fool the doctors, nurses, guards, and other mothers-to-be? How will she escape before they discover she is not who she claims?~from the blurb
Well some of this one I had to stop myself from saying "Really?!" a few times as there were a number of convenient deaths and occurances. But still, it was a book that stuck in my mind a bit. Maybe because of the babies involved or maybe because of the difficult choices made by some of the characters.
Cross the river to home / Kaye Kelly.
Set in the 1870s, this is the story of an impossible love between a half-Chinese woman, Mai, and Henry, a young immigrant from the UK who has come to the South Island of New Zealand in search of his sister. She is now living in Charleston, married to a local doctor, to whom Mai takes her grandfather for eye surgery. With family ties, racial prejudice and the local community conspiring against any match between Henry and Mai, their futures promise to be bleak. But perhaps Mai's grandfather is not the only one destined to see more clearly. ~ from the blurb
It's difficult to say whether or not this scenario would have actually happened in the way the book portrays given the real social barriers between Chinese and Europeans in the time period. A nice kind of love story though.
Those who save us / Jenna Blum.
Family secrets of Nazi Germany are at the core of this powerful first novel told in two narratives that alternate between New Heidelberg, Minnesota, in the present, and the small town of Weimar near Buchenwald during World War II. Trudy is a professor of German history in Minnesota, where she's teaching a seminar on women's roles in Nazi Germany and conducting interviews with Germans about how they're dealing with what they did during the war. But her mother, Anna, won't talk about it, not even to her own daughter. Trudy knows, she remembers, that Anna was mistress to a big Nazi camp officer. Why did she do it? Was he Trudy's father? The interviews are a plot contrivance to introduce a range of attitudes, from blatant racism to crippling survivor guilt. But the characters, then and now, are drawn with rare complexity, including a brave, gloomy, unlucky rescuer and a wheeler-dealer survivor. Anna's story is a gripping mystery in a page-turner that raises universal questions of shame, guilt, and personal responsibility.~from Booklist
I vacillated between annoyance and sympathy with the main characters in this one. It was a good story and covers things like intergenerational trauma, the hard decisions people have to make during wartime and the multidimensional personalities of people. The ending was a little contrived but did service to wrap up the story. One area that this book touches on is how ordinary citizens in Germany responded to the hardships faced. I'd like to see more literature written on this available in the English speaking world. We have so much from the Allies perspective and from those who were persecuted (and rightly so) but the time is ripe for a groundswell of writing to balance the viewpoint. Well, I think so anyway. :-)
Diary of a girl in Changi : 1941-1945 / Sheila Allan.
``If readers expect to read about shocking brutality and rapes then they'll be disappointed,'' says Allan in the introduction to the subtle yet moving diary that she kept during her captivity in Changi Prison after Singapore fell to the Japanese during WW II. Allan, born to a Malaysian mother and an Australian father, became a prisoner of war at age 17 and, without sentiment or bitterness, secretly chronicled the activities of her internment, successfully conveying the resiliency of the human spirit and its ability to adapt to adversity. Frequently Allan's entries read like a social calendar: fancy dress balls, orchestral and choral performances put on by her fellow prisoners. For sanity's sake, Allan focused more on Christmas celebrations and church services than on her numerous bouts of malaria and dysentery. Yet because those passages involving her hardships are so rare, they cut through the seemingly mundane entries with a chilling force. Particularly haunting is her description of the desperate hunger that drove her to eat worms and a baby mouse. ``Without thinking I scooped up one and popped it in my mouth and before I realised what I had done, I swallowed it.'' Allan's return to Changi 50 years after the war brings her memoir to a poignant close.~Publishers Weekly
The blurb says it all really. Always interesting to read about things closer to home.
The trespass / Barbara Ewing.
It is 1849 and following the death of her mother and protective elder sister, Harriet is left to the mercy of her father, who would rather she acted as his wife than his daughter. Her only option is to follow her cousin to New Zealand, but her father is prepared to chase her across oceans.~blurb
Kind of spooky in parts. Enjoyed the pictorials of early New Zealand.
The heretic's daughter : a novel / Kathleen Kent.
"In 1752 Sarah Carrier Chapman, confined to her home and weak with infirmity, writes a letter to her granddaughter, revealing the secret she has guarded closely for six decades. It is a haunting account of the horrors that enveloped a New England town called Salem, and compelled Sarah, then just a young girl, to make a decision that, would change her life forever. A little more than a year before the witch trials will begin, Sarah and her family arrive in nearby Andover to face a community gripped by superstition and fear. With the increase in Indian raids and the spread of the plague, the Puritans come to believe that heretics in their midst are responsible for their misfortune. Based on the accusations of a dozen young girls, neighbour is pitted against neighbour, friend against friend, and the hysteria escalates, sweeping more than two hundred men, women, and children into prison on charges of witchcraft - Sarah's mother, Martha Carrier, among them. Often at odds with each other, mother and daughter must now stand defiantly together in the face of imprisonment, torture, and even death. Out of love for her children, Martha asks Sarah to commit an act of heresy - a lie that will most surely condemn Martha even as it will save her daughter."--BOOK JACKET.
When I was in 6th form we studied Arthur Miller's play about the Salem witch trials and it's one of those things that stick in your mind. I think the book does a great job of portraying the atmosphere pervading the European settlements of the time.
When people matter most : vision driven leadership / Colin Prentice with Ian Hunter.
One of the youngest secondary school principals in New Zealand, Colin Prentice was the founding Principal of Macleans College, Auckland, where he established a reputation for high academic standards, firm discipline, and age-old values. Following a Commonwealth Relations Scholarship to London University he then led Mt Roskill Grammar to become one of the top multicultural schools in New Zealand. In 1994 he took over as CEO of New Zealand’s premier aid agency, World Vision, visiting trouble spots such as Rwanda, Cambodia, Chernobyl, and Kosovo. In 2000 he re-joined the education world, liaising with secondary schools as Director of the Schools Partnership Office at Auckland University. His book, "When people matter most: vision-driven leadership" offers a timely insight into the role and impact of a leader in transforming schools, organisations, and communities. From the classrooms of Auckland to the freezing wastes of Mongolia it takes you on a heart-stirring journey that inspires and challenges. It is a pragmatic but deeply human-values-based approach to leadership and life.~from the blurb
I read this one because Prentice was my high school principal and I vividly remember the effect he had on the school when he came to take over. The gossip mill was churning and we heard all sorts of stories of how strict things were going to become - some of this fueled by the teachers themselves who were obviously feeling threatened. It was interesting to read of his experiences there. At the time I had no real inkling of the difficulties he faced in leading the school but I did see the results of it, and for most students I would say it was a positive change. I particularly liked his view that leadership is actually about service, something that struck a chord with me.
The kommandant's girl / Pam Jenoff.
Emma had lived in the closed orthodox Jewish community of Krakow, Poland, until she began working at the university library and met Jacob. He sweeps her off her feet, and they marry on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Jacob immediately leaves to join the Jewish underground, and Emma returns to her family, now locked in the Jewish ghetto. Jacob provides false papers, enabling Emma to become Anna Lipowski and move in with his Catholic aunt Krysia, posing as her niece. Krysia works for the underground while maintaining her status as a leader in the arts community. During a dinner party, Emma/Anna is introduced to Nazi Kommadant Richwalder. Smitten, he asks her to come work for him. She agrees, knowing such access will aid the underground, and even becomes intimate with the enemy to gather information.~from the blurb
I had great hopes of this book which didn't really deliver. I found the main character wimpy and naive and was more interested in the Kommandant, Krysia, and Anna's friend Marta - characters who seemed to have more depth.
Book Circle Books
Love in the time of cholera / Gabriel García Márquez ; translated from the Spanish by Edith Grossman.
In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fell passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career, he whiles away the years in 622 affairs - yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty-one years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.~from the blurb
This is a celebrated book about the many different forms of love that can occur between humans and I think it is meant to be read for that rather than for the characters themselves. I have to admit I struggled a bit with this one. The writing is a meandering run on sentence style which took some getting used to but there were gems of description in there that were great. Having said that, I skipped bits of it. I found Florentino pathetic and silly so that kind of spoiled it for me - I guess I'm not romantic enough but I felt like telling him to get over himself. Fermina's husband seemed like a good chap to me but then I'm attracted to geeks and scientists and have a pragmatic view of love and marriage.
This book is one of Oprah's book club recommendations and has some extremely positive reviews in different respectable places. Either I wasn't in the right mood for it or I just can't handle anything too high brow but I don't think I'd bother reading it again.
The girl with the dragon tattoo / Stieg Larsson.
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared off the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family. There was no corpse, no witnesses, no evidence. But her uncle, Henrik, is convinced that she was murdered by someone in her own family, the deeply dysfunctional Vanger clan. Journalist Mikael is hired to investigate.~from the blurb
I finally got to read this book after forking out $5.00 for the "best seller" collection at the library - I was in a huge waiting list and just got tired of waiting. I'm glad I did because it's a book I really enjoyed and which has some surprising relationships to make you think. I loved the inclusions of geekiness and photography in solving the mystery. The characters are intriguing multidimensional people and the story evolves steadily. I found it a page turner and I'll be looking for the next 2 books by the same author. Unfortunately, these books were published posthumosly ... so that's it folks.
Total: 15 books (bit of a record for me but I did read a lot on holiday)
Fiction: 12
Non-fiction: 3
At 6am on 28 August 1854, the city of London struggled to sleep at the end of an oppressively hot summer. But at 40 Broad Street, Soho, Sarah Lewis was awake tending to her feverish baby girl. As she threw a used bucket of water into the cesspool at the front of her lodgings, it marked the start of a cholera epidemic that would consume 50,000 lives in England and Wales - and become a battle between man and microbe unlike any other. Steven Johnson takes us day by day through what happened and re-creates a London full of dust heaps, furnaces and slaughterhouses; where a ghost class of bone-pickers, rag gatherers, dredger men and mud-larks scavenged off waste; where families were crammed into tiny rooms and cartloads of bodies wheeled down the streets. And at the heart of the story is Doctor John Snow: vegetarian, teetotaller, anaesthesiologist and Soho resident, whose use of maps to prove that cholera was spread by water - and not borne on the air as most believed - would bring him into conflict with the entire medical establishment, but ultimately defeat his era's greatest killer.~from the blurb
I don't know what it is but I currently have a fascination for plagues, disease and finding answers to their cures. Heh. Anyway, this is a very readable account of the cholera epidemic in Victorian London. I found it amazing to see how little sanitation was practiced in those days but had remind myself that the germ theory of disease was still in it's infancy. So glad we know what we know now!
The bread with seven crusts / Susan Temby.
A story of prisoners of war in Australia where attitudes and treatment of these strange foreigners reflects the time and wartime pressures. I had strong impressions of my grandparents reading this story - they were farmers during the war and they carried their attitudes from that period to their death. It's also a story of love and how it occurs in the strangest of ways. A good read, quite realistic I thought.
The captive wife / Fiona Kidman.
When Betty Guard steps ashore in Sydney, in 1834, she meets with a heroine's welcome. Her survival during a four-month kidnapping ordeal amongst Taranaki Maori is hailed as nothing short of a miracle. But questions about what really happened slowly surface within the elite governing circles of Sydney. ~from the blurb
Whizzed through this one - not a bad read though somewhat predictable.
People of the book : a novel / Geraldine Brooks.
In 1996, Hanna Heath, a young Australian book conservator is called to analyse the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, a priceless six-hundred-year-old Jewish prayer book that has been salvaged from a destroyed Bosnian library. When Hanna discovers a series of artifacts in the centuries' old binding, she unwittingly exposes an international cover up.~from the blurb
This was great - loved the stories behind the stuff the conservator discovers. Got annoyed at Hanna at the beginning because she seemed so hard bitten but she came around. So many literary treasures have been lost to the world through war and malice and I really admire librarians who have risked their lives to save some of them... which really did happen in some of these places.
The boy who harnessed the wind : creating currents of electricity and hope / William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer.
Relates how an enterprising teenager in Malawi builds a windmill from scraps he finds around his village and brings electricity, and a future, to his family.~from the blurb
I requested the library purchase this book after reading about William on TEDtalks. His story is inspiring, a triumph over significant adversity and has a number of threads. One in particular I liked was his drive to make life better for his family. Another was the fact that his dream began as a result of him finding a book in a library. Libraries really do change lives.
Weeping waters : a novel based on a true story / Anne Maria Nicholson.
Late at night on Christmas Eve 1953, a volcanic eruption on Mt Ruapehu destroys a rail bridge, plunging a passenger train into the river. 151 people are drowned and hundreds seriously injured. Years later volcanologist Frances Nelson arrives as the mountain heats up again and is embroiled in a battle between science and Maori beliefs. A contemporary tale about love, redemption and the secrets of family. The Tangiwai disaster holds the key to a young volcanologist's family history, as she discovers when she comes to New Zealand to work on a warning system for Mt Ruapehu.~from the blurb
I'd read the sequel to this earlier so wanted to read this one too. I found the back story of Tangiwai incredibly poignant and the modern story a bit superficial, and some of the characterisation a bit stereotypical.
My enemy's cradle / Sara Young.
Cyrla's neighbours have begun to whisper. Her cousin, Anneke, is pregnant and has passed the rigorous exams for admission to the Lebensborn, a maternity home for girls carrying German babies. But Anneke's soldier has disappeared, and the Nazis confiscate fatherless children. Cyrla, sent from Poland to hide with her Dutch relatives, has been warned that her neighbours know she is half Jewish. She won't be safe with them for long. A cruel twist of fate places Cyrla with the terrible choice between certain discovery in her cousin's home and taking Anneke's place in the Lebensborn. Cyrla and Anneke are nearly identical. If she takes refuge in the enemy's lair, can Cyrla fool the doctors, nurses, guards, and other mothers-to-be? How will she escape before they discover she is not who she claims?~from the blurb
Well some of this one I had to stop myself from saying "Really?!" a few times as there were a number of convenient deaths and occurances. But still, it was a book that stuck in my mind a bit. Maybe because of the babies involved or maybe because of the difficult choices made by some of the characters.
Cross the river to home / Kaye Kelly.
Set in the 1870s, this is the story of an impossible love between a half-Chinese woman, Mai, and Henry, a young immigrant from the UK who has come to the South Island of New Zealand in search of his sister. She is now living in Charleston, married to a local doctor, to whom Mai takes her grandfather for eye surgery. With family ties, racial prejudice and the local community conspiring against any match between Henry and Mai, their futures promise to be bleak. But perhaps Mai's grandfather is not the only one destined to see more clearly. ~ from the blurb
It's difficult to say whether or not this scenario would have actually happened in the way the book portrays given the real social barriers between Chinese and Europeans in the time period. A nice kind of love story though.
Those who save us / Jenna Blum.
Family secrets of Nazi Germany are at the core of this powerful first novel told in two narratives that alternate between New Heidelberg, Minnesota, in the present, and the small town of Weimar near Buchenwald during World War II. Trudy is a professor of German history in Minnesota, where she's teaching a seminar on women's roles in Nazi Germany and conducting interviews with Germans about how they're dealing with what they did during the war. But her mother, Anna, won't talk about it, not even to her own daughter. Trudy knows, she remembers, that Anna was mistress to a big Nazi camp officer. Why did she do it? Was he Trudy's father? The interviews are a plot contrivance to introduce a range of attitudes, from blatant racism to crippling survivor guilt. But the characters, then and now, are drawn with rare complexity, including a brave, gloomy, unlucky rescuer and a wheeler-dealer survivor. Anna's story is a gripping mystery in a page-turner that raises universal questions of shame, guilt, and personal responsibility.~from Booklist
I vacillated between annoyance and sympathy with the main characters in this one. It was a good story and covers things like intergenerational trauma, the hard decisions people have to make during wartime and the multidimensional personalities of people. The ending was a little contrived but did service to wrap up the story. One area that this book touches on is how ordinary citizens in Germany responded to the hardships faced. I'd like to see more literature written on this available in the English speaking world. We have so much from the Allies perspective and from those who were persecuted (and rightly so) but the time is ripe for a groundswell of writing to balance the viewpoint. Well, I think so anyway. :-)
Diary of a girl in Changi : 1941-1945 / Sheila Allan.
``If readers expect to read about shocking brutality and rapes then they'll be disappointed,'' says Allan in the introduction to the subtle yet moving diary that she kept during her captivity in Changi Prison after Singapore fell to the Japanese during WW II. Allan, born to a Malaysian mother and an Australian father, became a prisoner of war at age 17 and, without sentiment or bitterness, secretly chronicled the activities of her internment, successfully conveying the resiliency of the human spirit and its ability to adapt to adversity. Frequently Allan's entries read like a social calendar: fancy dress balls, orchestral and choral performances put on by her fellow prisoners. For sanity's sake, Allan focused more on Christmas celebrations and church services than on her numerous bouts of malaria and dysentery. Yet because those passages involving her hardships are so rare, they cut through the seemingly mundane entries with a chilling force. Particularly haunting is her description of the desperate hunger that drove her to eat worms and a baby mouse. ``Without thinking I scooped up one and popped it in my mouth and before I realised what I had done, I swallowed it.'' Allan's return to Changi 50 years after the war brings her memoir to a poignant close.~Publishers Weekly
The blurb says it all really. Always interesting to read about things closer to home.
The trespass / Barbara Ewing.
It is 1849 and following the death of her mother and protective elder sister, Harriet is left to the mercy of her father, who would rather she acted as his wife than his daughter. Her only option is to follow her cousin to New Zealand, but her father is prepared to chase her across oceans.~blurb
Kind of spooky in parts. Enjoyed the pictorials of early New Zealand.
The heretic's daughter : a novel / Kathleen Kent.
"In 1752 Sarah Carrier Chapman, confined to her home and weak with infirmity, writes a letter to her granddaughter, revealing the secret she has guarded closely for six decades. It is a haunting account of the horrors that enveloped a New England town called Salem, and compelled Sarah, then just a young girl, to make a decision that, would change her life forever. A little more than a year before the witch trials will begin, Sarah and her family arrive in nearby Andover to face a community gripped by superstition and fear. With the increase in Indian raids and the spread of the plague, the Puritans come to believe that heretics in their midst are responsible for their misfortune. Based on the accusations of a dozen young girls, neighbour is pitted against neighbour, friend against friend, and the hysteria escalates, sweeping more than two hundred men, women, and children into prison on charges of witchcraft - Sarah's mother, Martha Carrier, among them. Often at odds with each other, mother and daughter must now stand defiantly together in the face of imprisonment, torture, and even death. Out of love for her children, Martha asks Sarah to commit an act of heresy - a lie that will most surely condemn Martha even as it will save her daughter."--BOOK JACKET.
When I was in 6th form we studied Arthur Miller's play about the Salem witch trials and it's one of those things that stick in your mind. I think the book does a great job of portraying the atmosphere pervading the European settlements of the time.
When people matter most : vision driven leadership / Colin Prentice with Ian Hunter.
One of the youngest secondary school principals in New Zealand, Colin Prentice was the founding Principal of Macleans College, Auckland, where he established a reputation for high academic standards, firm discipline, and age-old values. Following a Commonwealth Relations Scholarship to London University he then led Mt Roskill Grammar to become one of the top multicultural schools in New Zealand. In 1994 he took over as CEO of New Zealand’s premier aid agency, World Vision, visiting trouble spots such as Rwanda, Cambodia, Chernobyl, and Kosovo. In 2000 he re-joined the education world, liaising with secondary schools as Director of the Schools Partnership Office at Auckland University. His book, "When people matter most: vision-driven leadership" offers a timely insight into the role and impact of a leader in transforming schools, organisations, and communities. From the classrooms of Auckland to the freezing wastes of Mongolia it takes you on a heart-stirring journey that inspires and challenges. It is a pragmatic but deeply human-values-based approach to leadership and life.~from the blurb
I read this one because Prentice was my high school principal and I vividly remember the effect he had on the school when he came to take over. The gossip mill was churning and we heard all sorts of stories of how strict things were going to become - some of this fueled by the teachers themselves who were obviously feeling threatened. It was interesting to read of his experiences there. At the time I had no real inkling of the difficulties he faced in leading the school but I did see the results of it, and for most students I would say it was a positive change. I particularly liked his view that leadership is actually about service, something that struck a chord with me.
The kommandant's girl / Pam Jenoff.
Emma had lived in the closed orthodox Jewish community of Krakow, Poland, until she began working at the university library and met Jacob. He sweeps her off her feet, and they marry on the eve of the Nazi invasion. Jacob immediately leaves to join the Jewish underground, and Emma returns to her family, now locked in the Jewish ghetto. Jacob provides false papers, enabling Emma to become Anna Lipowski and move in with his Catholic aunt Krysia, posing as her niece. Krysia works for the underground while maintaining her status as a leader in the arts community. During a dinner party, Emma/Anna is introduced to Nazi Kommadant Richwalder. Smitten, he asks her to come work for him. She agrees, knowing such access will aid the underground, and even becomes intimate with the enemy to gather information.~from the blurb
I had great hopes of this book which didn't really deliver. I found the main character wimpy and naive and was more interested in the Kommandant, Krysia, and Anna's friend Marta - characters who seemed to have more depth.
Book Circle Books
Love in the time of cholera / Gabriel García Márquez ; translated from the Spanish by Edith Grossman.
In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fell passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career, he whiles away the years in 622 affairs - yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty-one years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.~from the blurb
This is a celebrated book about the many different forms of love that can occur between humans and I think it is meant to be read for that rather than for the characters themselves. I have to admit I struggled a bit with this one. The writing is a meandering run on sentence style which took some getting used to but there were gems of description in there that were great. Having said that, I skipped bits of it. I found Florentino pathetic and silly so that kind of spoiled it for me - I guess I'm not romantic enough but I felt like telling him to get over himself. Fermina's husband seemed like a good chap to me but then I'm attracted to geeks and scientists and have a pragmatic view of love and marriage.
This book is one of Oprah's book club recommendations and has some extremely positive reviews in different respectable places. Either I wasn't in the right mood for it or I just can't handle anything too high brow but I don't think I'd bother reading it again.
The girl with the dragon tattoo / Stieg Larsson.
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared off the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family. There was no corpse, no witnesses, no evidence. But her uncle, Henrik, is convinced that she was murdered by someone in her own family, the deeply dysfunctional Vanger clan. Journalist Mikael is hired to investigate.~from the blurb
I finally got to read this book after forking out $5.00 for the "best seller" collection at the library - I was in a huge waiting list and just got tired of waiting. I'm glad I did because it's a book I really enjoyed and which has some surprising relationships to make you think. I loved the inclusions of geekiness and photography in solving the mystery. The characters are intriguing multidimensional people and the story evolves steadily. I found it a page turner and I'll be looking for the next 2 books by the same author. Unfortunately, these books were published posthumosly ... so that's it folks.
Total: 15 books (bit of a record for me but I did read a lot on holiday)
Fiction: 12
Non-fiction: 3
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Journal draw results
Assisted by my beautiful assistant we drew two names for the journals I covered. Mel and Amie - let me know which one you'd prefer and I'll send them your way. Amie I will also need your address. (Think I've got your one somewhere Mel).
Speaking of my beautiful assistant - she decided to make herself more beautiful by cutting her own hair on Sunday after we got home from our church meeting.
Le sigh.
In other news:
- I have made 6 bottles of plum jam, 6 bottles of strawberry jam. Chelsea's jam setting sugar is good for the strawberries since the extra pectin helps.
- The whanau appears to be afflicted with some tummy bug. I'm expecting to be smitten forthwith
- DH lost his $800 tripod off the rocks at O'Neills Bay, Bethells Beach/Te Henga. If you find a tripod washed up on the sand he'd love to see it back but we're not hopeful. An unexpected gust of wind blew it over. Fortunately the camera wasn't on it, and fortunately AMI looks like it will play nicely and help us replace it. And fortunately DH had enough sense to not go diving for it because it's a washing machine of waves & rocks in that area. I'd rather have my husband and lose the tripod.
- I did one layout on the weekend. Whee.
Getting things together for my trip to Melbourne next week to attend a conference there. I'm excited to go and nervous too. New faces, different environment, having to make conversation... all things I'm not so good at. But thanks to Twitter and blogs there will be people I have chatted with and am now going to meet IRL and that always helps. I have been to Melbourne BK (before kids) so it won't be entirely unfamiliar. Hope it won't be too hot.
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