Family & Friends
Originally uploaded by pdugmore2001.
another layout done over a period of weeks!!! finally finished it. Taken quite a few years ago now when we went down to Ashburton for a friend's wedding. This was before I met DH even.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
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.
Monday, March 29, 2010
One way to test my patience
moar funny pictures
*Sigh*
That combined with his propensity for Saturday night booze ups does not endear him to me.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Thursday, March 04, 2010
February Reading Round Up
The birthday present / Barbara Vine.
It's late spring of 1990 and a love affair is flourishing: between Ivor Tesham, a thirty-three year old rising star of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, and Hebe Furnal, a stunning North London housewife stuck in a dull marriage. What excitement Hebe lacks at home, however, is amply compensated for by the well-bred and intensely attractive Tesham - an ardent womanizer and ambitious politican. On the eve of her twenty-eighth birthday, Tesham decides to give Hebe a present to remember: something far more memorable than, say, the costly string of pearls he's already lavished upon her. ~from the blurb
And it all turns to custard! Very much enjoyed this mystery. Vine (the pen name for Ruth Rendall) has some strongly developed characters from a variety of societal levels interacting together in ways that appear random at first but later intersect in surprising ways. It is also a story of how our actions and decisions affect whole families and society.
The other queen / Philippa Gregory.
A historical novel about Mary, Queen of Scots, who is placed under house arrest with the newly-married Bess of Hardwick and the Earl of Shrewsbury. The intrigues, tangled loyalties and relationships that develop as a result of this untenable situation makes for a very interesting read. I did find the somewhat wooden character of Bess a little annoying - she was obviously a very strong minded, capable woman in an era where women were given little acknowledgement for their skills in areas outside traditional female occupations. I felt Gregory pinned her into a particular corner and didn't let her grow much.
The girl of his dreams / Donna Leon.
Commissario Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello pull a body out of the Grand Canal. No one has reported a missing child, nor the theft of the gold jewellery that she carries. So Brunetti is drawn into a search not only for the cause of her death but also for her identity. His investigation takes him from the canals and palazzos of Venice to a Gypsy encampment on the mainland, as he struggles with institutional prejudice and entrenched criminality to try to unravel the fate of the dead child.~ from the blurb
The usual crime fiction. Always enjoy Leon's writing which touches on controversial subjects and doesn't necessarily have tidy, parcelled up endings.
Song yet sung / James McBride.
March 1850. In the tense days before the Civil War, a slave breakout in the swamps of Maryland's eastern shore sets loose a riveting drama among slave catchers, plantation owners, watermen, runaway slaves and free blacks. Liz Spocott, a young runaway slave, shot and near death, is wracked by disturbing visions about the future as she lies shackled to an old woman in the prison attic of the notorious female slave-trader Patty Cannon. The ancient nameless woman reveals "the Code", a fiercely guarded cryptic means of communication for slaves on the run. Armed with an array of words that she does not understand, Liz escapes once again, but now must evade an enraged Patty Cannon and a new nemesis, Denwood Long - a troubled slave catcher and waterman, who is coaxed out of retirement to break the Code. ~ from the blurb
I enjoyed this one a lot more than Miracle at St Anna by the same author. The author captures the flavour of the particular time period where individuals found themselves pulled in all kinds of directions depending on their beliefs and social situation.
Alice Hartley's happiness / Philippa Gregory.
Alice Hartley can no longer arouse interest in her pompous husband the adulterous professor. Then she meets Michael a student with an excessive libido and Alice discovers revenge sex and a large house suitable for conversion. Soon the house is thigh deep in women casting off the shackles of oppression but neighbours don't seem to understand. ~from the blurb
I'm not sure what I was expecting with this one. It's entirely different to Gregory's historical fiction. I laughed a lot at the story becaus scenarios were very amusing. I enjoyed the way Alice stirs up the staid neighbourhood with her new age theories and ideas in particular. A bit of enjoyable fluff, Thelma and Louise ending notwithstanding!
The sand castle / Rita Mae Brown.
It's August, 1952, and seven-year-old Nickel spends the day at the seashore with her mother, aunt, and cousin Leroy, who is recently motherless and frightened of the world around him. As the group begins work on a magnificent sand castle, the sisters try to coax Leroy out of his shell by telling stories about their own childhood trips to the shore. But Nickel's taunting of her cousin escalates, and the weight of family history between her mother and aunt rises to the surface - until a surprise attack forces them all to come together.~ from the blurb
This was really a short story I think. Set over the period of one day, one outing where lots of family history and drama is revealed. I felt so sorry for Leroy. The 50's era is strongly portrayed in this one.
Mister Pip / Lloyd Jones.
Mister Pip is a love story, a story about the meaning of names and the power of words. It is about growing up, survival and the search for clues to make sense of life. Thirteen year old Matilda lives with her mother on the Pacific island of Bougainville, which suddenly becomes a violent place: Rebels want the copper mine, which is poisoning their island, to close. They are trying to drive the redskin army, enemies from neighbouring Papua New Guinea, into the sea. The abandoned schoolhouse is overgrown with jungle. In this troubled world, Mr Watts decides he will open the school once more, and read 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens aloud to his students, a chapter a day. Stories flourish on the island. While the lives of Pip and Magwitch and other characters from 'Great Expectations' are transformed in their new tropical setting, the locals come to the schoolhouse to tell their own tales, about the meaning of the colour blue, about broken dreams, black birds, devil women and a dozen other subjects. In Matilda's eyes, Pip is as real as any living person. He has become her friend. She writes his name in the sand and decorates it with shells. That's where the redskin soldiers see it, and decide they must track this stranger down. Who is this Mr Pip? The search to find him will have devastating consequences for Matilda, Mr Watts and the entire village. Matilda may never stop looking for him. ~ from the blurb
I found this one hard to classify in terms of genre. I think it's probably a coming of age story as much as survival. It starts off quite slow but the end parts have some rather shocking events. I liked it. I liked the sultry, tropical feel of the book and Jones brings out the oppressive fear of the redskins rather well.
The darkness looking back / by Andrea Jutson.
Deliveries are failing to reach their targets - because the intended recipients are dead. What starts as a grisly murder without a motive turns into something more sinister, as another body is discovered. Someone wants them found; someone who wants to send a message. A serial killer is at work and his victims are women with too much love to give. To track down the avenging Cupid, Detective Constable Andy Stirling needs all the help he can get from psychic medium James Paxton. When the media get wind of Paxton's involvement, however, the manhunt rapidly becomes a circus. As pressure mounts from all sides, Paxton and Stirling must find the killer before he strikes again.~ from the blurb
This book is set in Auckland which is quite neat from my point of view. The other interesting thing about it is that the author works in the joint library I work in... so I see her sometimes in my lunch break. :-) I wasn't quite sure how I was going to find this book but I was pulled into the story really quickly and felt at home with it all. It certainly has a New Zealand flavour to it. Am definitely going to get out the sequels.
8 books total
Genres
3 crime/mystery
2 historical fiction
1 literature
2 fluff/chicklit/dunnowhattocallit
NB: have yet to get February's Book Circle book in my hands. I'm about 3 on the list now so it's getting closer!
It's late spring of 1990 and a love affair is flourishing: between Ivor Tesham, a thirty-three year old rising star of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, and Hebe Furnal, a stunning North London housewife stuck in a dull marriage. What excitement Hebe lacks at home, however, is amply compensated for by the well-bred and intensely attractive Tesham - an ardent womanizer and ambitious politican. On the eve of her twenty-eighth birthday, Tesham decides to give Hebe a present to remember: something far more memorable than, say, the costly string of pearls he's already lavished upon her. ~from the blurb
And it all turns to custard! Very much enjoyed this mystery. Vine (the pen name for Ruth Rendall) has some strongly developed characters from a variety of societal levels interacting together in ways that appear random at first but later intersect in surprising ways. It is also a story of how our actions and decisions affect whole families and society.
The other queen / Philippa Gregory.
A historical novel about Mary, Queen of Scots, who is placed under house arrest with the newly-married Bess of Hardwick and the Earl of Shrewsbury. The intrigues, tangled loyalties and relationships that develop as a result of this untenable situation makes for a very interesting read. I did find the somewhat wooden character of Bess a little annoying - she was obviously a very strong minded, capable woman in an era where women were given little acknowledgement for their skills in areas outside traditional female occupations. I felt Gregory pinned her into a particular corner and didn't let her grow much.
The girl of his dreams / Donna Leon.
Commissario Brunetti and Ispettore Vianello pull a body out of the Grand Canal. No one has reported a missing child, nor the theft of the gold jewellery that she carries. So Brunetti is drawn into a search not only for the cause of her death but also for her identity. His investigation takes him from the canals and palazzos of Venice to a Gypsy encampment on the mainland, as he struggles with institutional prejudice and entrenched criminality to try to unravel the fate of the dead child.~ from the blurb
The usual crime fiction. Always enjoy Leon's writing which touches on controversial subjects and doesn't necessarily have tidy, parcelled up endings.
Song yet sung / James McBride.
March 1850. In the tense days before the Civil War, a slave breakout in the swamps of Maryland's eastern shore sets loose a riveting drama among slave catchers, plantation owners, watermen, runaway slaves and free blacks. Liz Spocott, a young runaway slave, shot and near death, is wracked by disturbing visions about the future as she lies shackled to an old woman in the prison attic of the notorious female slave-trader Patty Cannon. The ancient nameless woman reveals "the Code", a fiercely guarded cryptic means of communication for slaves on the run. Armed with an array of words that she does not understand, Liz escapes once again, but now must evade an enraged Patty Cannon and a new nemesis, Denwood Long - a troubled slave catcher and waterman, who is coaxed out of retirement to break the Code. ~ from the blurb
I enjoyed this one a lot more than Miracle at St Anna by the same author. The author captures the flavour of the particular time period where individuals found themselves pulled in all kinds of directions depending on their beliefs and social situation.
Alice Hartley's happiness / Philippa Gregory.
Alice Hartley can no longer arouse interest in her pompous husband the adulterous professor. Then she meets Michael a student with an excessive libido and Alice discovers revenge sex and a large house suitable for conversion. Soon the house is thigh deep in women casting off the shackles of oppression but neighbours don't seem to understand. ~from the blurb
I'm not sure what I was expecting with this one. It's entirely different to Gregory's historical fiction. I laughed a lot at the story becaus scenarios were very amusing. I enjoyed the way Alice stirs up the staid neighbourhood with her new age theories and ideas in particular. A bit of enjoyable fluff, Thelma and Louise ending notwithstanding!
The sand castle / Rita Mae Brown.
It's August, 1952, and seven-year-old Nickel spends the day at the seashore with her mother, aunt, and cousin Leroy, who is recently motherless and frightened of the world around him. As the group begins work on a magnificent sand castle, the sisters try to coax Leroy out of his shell by telling stories about their own childhood trips to the shore. But Nickel's taunting of her cousin escalates, and the weight of family history between her mother and aunt rises to the surface - until a surprise attack forces them all to come together.~ from the blurb
This was really a short story I think. Set over the period of one day, one outing where lots of family history and drama is revealed. I felt so sorry for Leroy. The 50's era is strongly portrayed in this one.
Mister Pip / Lloyd Jones.
Mister Pip is a love story, a story about the meaning of names and the power of words. It is about growing up, survival and the search for clues to make sense of life. Thirteen year old Matilda lives with her mother on the Pacific island of Bougainville, which suddenly becomes a violent place: Rebels want the copper mine, which is poisoning their island, to close. They are trying to drive the redskin army, enemies from neighbouring Papua New Guinea, into the sea. The abandoned schoolhouse is overgrown with jungle. In this troubled world, Mr Watts decides he will open the school once more, and read 'Great Expectations' by Charles Dickens aloud to his students, a chapter a day. Stories flourish on the island. While the lives of Pip and Magwitch and other characters from 'Great Expectations' are transformed in their new tropical setting, the locals come to the schoolhouse to tell their own tales, about the meaning of the colour blue, about broken dreams, black birds, devil women and a dozen other subjects. In Matilda's eyes, Pip is as real as any living person. He has become her friend. She writes his name in the sand and decorates it with shells. That's where the redskin soldiers see it, and decide they must track this stranger down. Who is this Mr Pip? The search to find him will have devastating consequences for Matilda, Mr Watts and the entire village. Matilda may never stop looking for him. ~ from the blurb
I found this one hard to classify in terms of genre. I think it's probably a coming of age story as much as survival. It starts off quite slow but the end parts have some rather shocking events. I liked it. I liked the sultry, tropical feel of the book and Jones brings out the oppressive fear of the redskins rather well.
The darkness looking back / by Andrea Jutson.
Deliveries are failing to reach their targets - because the intended recipients are dead. What starts as a grisly murder without a motive turns into something more sinister, as another body is discovered. Someone wants them found; someone who wants to send a message. A serial killer is at work and his victims are women with too much love to give. To track down the avenging Cupid, Detective Constable Andy Stirling needs all the help he can get from psychic medium James Paxton. When the media get wind of Paxton's involvement, however, the manhunt rapidly becomes a circus. As pressure mounts from all sides, Paxton and Stirling must find the killer before he strikes again.~ from the blurb
This book is set in Auckland which is quite neat from my point of view. The other interesting thing about it is that the author works in the joint library I work in... so I see her sometimes in my lunch break. :-) I wasn't quite sure how I was going to find this book but I was pulled into the story really quickly and felt at home with it all. It certainly has a New Zealand flavour to it. Am definitely going to get out the sequels.
8 books total
Genres
3 crime/mystery
2 historical fiction
1 literature
2 fluff/chicklit/dunnowhattocallit
NB: have yet to get February's Book Circle book in my hands. I'm about 3 on the list now so it's getting closer!
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.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Back from Vala2010
I'm back from the conference in Melbourne and I am now the proud owner of some red heels. Wish I'd got the black versions as well because I really like them.
I'm still processing stuff from the conference. I'll publish my "official librarian thoughts" on the Diligent Room blog but here are some not so librarian thoughts.
I'm still processing stuff from the conference. I'll publish my "official librarian thoughts" on the Diligent Room blog but here are some not so librarian thoughts.
- Twapperkeeper is great for archiving tweets and looking at the archive refreshes my memory of the sessions I attended.
- I {heart} Twitter and conferences. I think Twitterers have more fun at conferences.
- I {heart} meeting people I have met online IRL. I had 2 dinners out with some other Twitterers and Bloggers and we had a blast. Somehow some non-Twittering librarians came along to one dinner and we overheard them remarking, "I was asked my Twitter name before my real name!" Heh - well it was organised on Twitter. Doh.
- Automatic Cafe along the Yarra River front serves enormous chocolate cake portions. It's also incredibly hard to find if you use Google Maps instructions. The cake below was about 12cm across the widest part of the wedge and about 15 cm high.
Nope - that's not my dessert. I had lemon tart.
- I missed my family a lot particularly on the first day when I had no other company. Skype is great. High internet charges is not.
- A technology conference that doesn't have power outlets in the main plenary auditorium is a major oversight.
- There is less singing at Australian library conferences. But some folks do interpretive dance in their sessions and some knit during the plenaries.
- I forgot my toothpaste. Hotel housekeeping services are very handy.
- The current trend for vendor schwag is shopping bags that fit in your handbag - very cool! I scored 3 but only kept the National Library of Australia one which is an Onyabag. The rest + plus the other things (post its, pens etc) I took into work for my colleagues.
- Leaving the shower curtain outside the bath while having a shower results in a flood over the tiled floor. Thank goodness for bathrooms with drains in the floor.
- This bed was very comfy but it didn't have DH in it so I didn't sleep that well. The hotel was very pleasant though (Holiday Inn on Flinders).
- Apparently I should have taken more pictures of trams and trains according to Mr 6.
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 GarcÃa 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 GarcÃa 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.
Monday, January 25, 2010
2010 Blogosphere Book Circle Final Reading List
Here is the list!
6 votes
Novel about my wife / Emily Perkins
5 votes
Wolf Hall / Hilary Mantel
4 votes
March / Geraldine Brooks
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress / Dai Sijie, Ina Rilke (trans.)
The lacuna /Barbara Kingsolver
3 votes
Access Road / Maurice Gee
The Graveyard Book / Neil Gaiman
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. / Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Carry Me Down / M J Hyland
Day after night / Anita Diamant
Blood bond / Michael Gree
The kings mistress / Emma Campion
Empire / Orson Scott Card
The Girl on the Landing / Paul Torda
Her fearful symmetry / Audrey Niffenegger
Tears of Pearl / Alexander Tasha
Land of marvels / Barry Unsworth
Eating Animals / Jonathan Safran Foer
Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater / Frank Bruni
Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon / David Grann
The other hand / Chris Cleave.
The road / Cormac McCarthy.
Every Man Dies Alone / Hans Fallada.
Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel / Jeannette Walls
The crimson petal and the white / Michel Faber
1 vote
A Thousand Splendid Suns / Khaled Hossein
The Glasshouse / Sophie Cooke
A Gate At The Stairs / Lorrie Moore
Limestone / Fiona Farrell
The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins
In the kitchen, Monica Ali
Cloudstreet / Tim Winton
The year of the Shanghai Shark / Mo Zhi Hong.
The child thief / Brom
Relics of the dead / Franklin, Ariana.
Big Machine/ Victor LaValle
Await Your Reply/ Dan Chaon
Strength in What Remains / Tracy Kidder
Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs / Linda Olsson
The 10pm Question / Kate De Goldi
Year of magical thinking / Joan Didion
Up till now / William Shatner
I am Ozzy / Osbourne, Ozzy
The talented Miss Highsmith / Joan Schenkar (biography of Patricia Highsmith)
Sense and sensibility and sea- monsters / Jane Austen and Ben H Winters
Blood Ties / Sam Hayes
0 vote
The echo maker / Richard Powers
So - after some consideration, plus a member's request that we read at least 3 non-fiction books, this is the final list by month.
February
The bolter / Frances Osborne
March
Access Road / Maurice Gee
April
Replenishing the Earth / James Belich
May
Bad Science / Ben Goldacre
June
The Graveyard Book / Neil Gaiman
July
Wolf Hall / Hilary Mantel
August
Novel about my wife / Emily Perkins
September
The lacuna / Barbara Kingsolver
October
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies / Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
November
The road / Cormac McCarthy
December
March / Geraldine Brooks
January 2011
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress / Dai Sijie, Ina Rilke (trans.)
If you would like a bookmark with this list on, here is one you can print off. Right click to save the image, then print it onto some nice card.
Just for fun I got some plain journals and covered them with two different papers. I'm giving these away to 2 members of the book circle so if you'd like one please make sure you mention it in a comment and tell me which one you would prefer. I'll draw 2 winners out at the end of the week. You could use them for recording book circle information, poetry, writing your own stories or whatever.
And if nobody wants them I'll use them myself! :-)
6 votes
Novel about my wife / Emily Perkins
5 votes
Wolf Hall / Hilary Mantel
4 votes
March / Geraldine Brooks
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress / Dai Sijie, Ina Rilke (trans.)
The lacuna /Barbara Kingsolver
3 votes
Access Road / Maurice Gee
The Graveyard Book / Neil Gaiman
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. / Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
2 votes
Replenishing the Earth : the settler revolution and the rise of the Anglo-world, 1783-1939 / James Belich.
The bolter : Idina Sackville- the woman who scandalised 1920s society and became White mischief's infamous seductress / Frances Osborne.
Love and Summer / William TrevorCarry Me Down / M J Hyland
Day after night / Anita Diamant
Blood bond / Michael Gree
The kings mistress / Emma Campion
Empire / Orson Scott Card
The Girl on the Landing / Paul Torda
Her fearful symmetry / Audrey Niffenegger
Tears of Pearl / Alexander Tasha
Land of marvels / Barry Unsworth
Eating Animals / Jonathan Safran Foer
Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater / Frank Bruni
Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon / David Grann
The other hand / Chris Cleave.
The road / Cormac McCarthy.
Every Man Dies Alone / Hans Fallada.
Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel / Jeannette Walls
The crimson petal and the white / Michel Faber
1 vote
A Thousand Splendid Suns / Khaled Hossein
The Glasshouse / Sophie Cooke
A Gate At The Stairs / Lorrie Moore
Limestone / Fiona Farrell
The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins
In the kitchen, Monica Ali
Cloudstreet / Tim Winton
The year of the Shanghai Shark / Mo Zhi Hong.
The child thief / Brom
Relics of the dead / Franklin, Ariana.
Big Machine/ Victor LaValle
Await Your Reply/ Dan Chaon
Strength in What Remains / Tracy Kidder
Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs / Linda Olsson
The 10pm Question / Kate De Goldi
Year of magical thinking / Joan Didion
Up till now / William Shatner
I am Ozzy / Osbourne, Ozzy
The talented Miss Highsmith / Joan Schenkar (biography of Patricia Highsmith)
Sense and sensibility and sea- monsters / Jane Austen and Ben H Winters
Blood Ties / Sam Hayes
0 vote
The echo maker / Richard Powers
Blindsight / Maurice Gee
The Believers / Zoë Heller
The School of Essential Ingredients / Erica Bauermeister
Good to a Fault / Marina Endicott
Unspoken / Sam Hayes.
Non Fiction
Non Fiction
And then there's this : how stories live and die in viral culture / Bill Wasik.
Outliers / Malcolm Gladwell
Twitterature - the world's greatest books retold through twitter
So - after some consideration, plus a member's request that we read at least 3 non-fiction books, this is the final list by month.
February
The bolter / Frances Osborne
March
Access Road / Maurice Gee
April
Replenishing the Earth / James Belich
May
Bad Science / Ben Goldacre
June
The Graveyard Book / Neil Gaiman
July
Wolf Hall / Hilary Mantel
August
Novel about my wife / Emily Perkins
September
The lacuna / Barbara Kingsolver
October
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies / Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
November
The road / Cormac McCarthy
December
March / Geraldine Brooks
January 2011
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress / Dai Sijie, Ina Rilke (trans.)
If you would like a bookmark with this list on, here is one you can print off. Right click to save the image, then print it onto some nice card.
Just for fun I got some plain journals and covered them with two different papers. I'm giving these away to 2 members of the book circle so if you'd like one please make sure you mention it in a comment and tell me which one you would prefer. I'll draw 2 winners out at the end of the week. You could use them for recording book circle information, poetry, writing your own stories or whatever.
And if nobody wants them I'll use them myself! :-)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Book circle voting list
Here is the list we're going to vote on. We need to vote for 12 books. You don't have to vote for the ones you suggested.
There are 3 ways to vote.
1. Go to the shared Google doc and place a | next to the books you wish to vote for.
2. Email me your 12 selections to pdugmore2001 at yahoo dot co dot nz. (I won't reveal who voted for what).
3. Leave a comment with your 12 selections.
Last year we ended up with some clear "winners" i.e. some with more than one vote, so that made it reasonably easy to rank the 12 books. If we do end up with lots of books with single votes, I shall randomise them and choose the first 12. Please make your selections by 24th January 2010 and I will announce the list in my next post (which will also include a give away).
Let the voting begin!!
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress / Dai Sijie, Ina Rilke (trans.)
Cloudstreet / Tim Winton
The lacuna / Barbara Kingsolver
Day after night / Anita Diamant
Blood bond / Michael Gree
The kinds mistress / Emma Campion
Tears of Pearl / Alexander Tasha
There are 3 ways to vote.
1. Go to the shared Google doc and place a | next to the books you wish to vote for.
2. Email me your 12 selections to pdugmore2001 at yahoo dot co dot nz. (I won't reveal who voted for what).
3. Leave a comment with your 12 selections.
Last year we ended up with some clear "winners" i.e. some with more than one vote, so that made it reasonably easy to rank the 12 books. If we do end up with lots of books with single votes, I shall randomise them and choose the first 12. Please make your selections by 24th January 2010 and I will announce the list in my next post (which will also include a give away).
Let the voting begin!!
Fiction
The Glasshouse / Sophie Cooke
Carry Me Down / M J Hyland
Access Road / Maurice Gee
A Gate At The Stairs / Lorrie Moore
Every Man Dies Alone / Hans Fallada.
Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel / Jeannette Walls
Love and Summer / William Trevor
Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater / Frank Bruni
The other hand / Chris Cleave.
The road / Cormac McCarthy.
The echo maker / Richard Powers.
Novel about my wife / Emily Perkins.
The year of the Shanghai Shark / Mo Zhi Hong.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies / Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Sense and sensibility and sea- monsters / Jane Austen and Ben H Winters
A Thousand Splendid Suns/ Khaled Hosseini
March / Geraldine BrooksBalzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress / Dai Sijie, Ina Rilke (trans.)
Wolf Hall / Hilary Mantel
Blindsight / Maurice Gee
Limestone / Fiona Farrell
The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins
In the kitchen / Monica Ali
Blindsight / Maurice Gee
Limestone / Fiona Farrell
The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins
In the kitchen / Monica Ali
Cloudstreet / Tim Winton
The lacuna / Barbara Kingsolver
Day after night / Anita Diamant
Blood bond / Michael Gree
The kinds mistress / Emma Campion
Tears of Pearl / Alexander Tasha
The child thief / Brom
Relics of the dead / Franklin, Ariana.
Empire / Orson Scott Card
Her fearful symmetry / Audrey Niffenegger
The Graveyard Book / Neil Gaiman
Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon / David Grann
Big Machine / Victor LaValle
Await Your Reply / Dan Chaon
The Believers / Zoë Heller
Strength in What Remains / Tracy Kidder
Her fearful symmetry / Audrey Niffenegger
The Graveyard Book / Neil Gaiman
Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon / David Grann
Big Machine / Victor LaValle
Await Your Reply / Dan Chaon
The Believers / Zoë Heller
Strength in What Remains / Tracy Kidder
The Girl on the Landing /Paul Torda
The School of Essential Ingredients / Erica Bauermeister
Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs / Linda Olsson
Good to a Fault / Marina Endicott
Blood Ties / Sam Hayes
The School of Essential Ingredients / Erica Bauermeister
Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs / Linda Olsson
Good to a Fault / Marina Endicott
Blood Ties / Sam Hayes
Unspoken / Sam Hayes.
Land of marvels / Barry Unsworth
The crimson petal and the white / Michel Faber
The 10pm Question / Kate De Goldi
Non Fiction
Land of marvels / Barry Unsworth
The crimson petal and the white / Michel Faber
The 10pm Question / Kate De Goldi
Non Fiction
Replenishing the Earth : the settler revolution and the rise of the Anglo-world, 1783-1939 / James Belich.
The bolter : Idina Sackville- the woman who scandalised 1920s society and became White mischief's infamous seductress / Frances Osborne.
And then there's this : how stories live and die in viral culture / Bill Wasik.
Bad Science / Ben Goldacre
Outliers / Malcolm Gladwell
Year of magical thinking / Joan Didion
Eating Animals / Jonathan Safran Foer
Twitterature - the world's greatest books retold through twitter
Eating Animals / Jonathan Safran Foer
Twitterature - the world's greatest books retold through twitter
Up till now / William Shatner
I am Ozzy / Osbourne, Ozzy
The talented Miss Highsmith /Joan Schenkar (biography of Patricia Highsmith)
The talented Miss Highsmith /Joan Schenkar (biography of Patricia Highsmith)
Monday, January 18, 2010
This is your final call
to join the blogosphere book circle :) The suggested book list is getting longer and I think it's going to be voting time this week. If you haven't sent in your book suggestions/added them to the google doc then please do so by Wednesday 20th Jan.
Looking forward to a year of reading!
Looking forward to a year of reading!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Book Circle
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."
If you are not on this list and would like to be, please let me know. Anyone is welcome to join in. The only rules are you need to commit to reading at least 6 of the books, and to blog about them on your blog or somewhere (e.g. a note on Facebook).
I'd like to start pulling together a list to vote on. We can do this several ways - I've created a document in Google so if you have a Google ID I can share this document with you and you can add your suggestions. Or, alternatively you can email me: pdugmore2001 at yahoo dot co dot nz and I'll add them. Mel, I think you emailed me some earlier but for some reason I can't find it! Could you resent please? Sorry.
We should try and nail down 12 for next month (early) so we can get started.
Fiction, non fiction and any genre is welcome!
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."
The Walrus and The Carpenter / Lewis Carroll (from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)
And which books we're going to read and who is going to read them!
So. From the comments on my last post about this, I figure we've got the following folks on board.
If you are not on this list and would like to be, please let me know. Anyone is welcome to join in. The only rules are you need to commit to reading at least 6 of the books, and to blog about them on your blog or somewhere (e.g. a note on Facebook).
I'd like to start pulling together a list to vote on. We can do this several ways - I've created a document in Google so if you have a Google ID I can share this document with you and you can add your suggestions. Or, alternatively you can email me: pdugmore2001 at yahoo dot co dot nz and I'll add them. Mel, I think you emailed me some earlier but for some reason I can't find it! Could you resent please? Sorry.
We should try and nail down 12 for next month (early) so we can get started.
Fiction, non fiction and any genre is welcome!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Summer days
Went up to Omaha and stayed in a friend's bach for a couple of nights. Lovely beach, lots of expensive boats and baches full of young, slim and beautiful people. We felt just a tad out of place! ;-) I decided the Oratia Farmers Market is just as good, if not better, than the Matakana one which had way too many people for my comfort.
Watching someone load their boat onto the trailer.
The simple bach we stayed in.
Views of the beach.
I've been making some pages for the Southern Cross Kids Camp drive that Trina's doing. They are very easy to do and rather addictive. I did 36. I would have liked to do more, but they needed to get posted off today.
Sunday, January 03, 2010
2009 Reading Summary
Number of books read in 2009: 84
A bit less than my estimate of books read in 2008.
Average read per month: 7 (my estimated average for 2008 was 9 per month)
New reads: 79
Fiction: 53
Non Fiction: 27
hmmm... about 60/40 ratio. Not too bad I guess, not that it really matters.
Male Author: 25
Female Author: 54
This probably reflects the type of stuff I like to read is mostly written by women rather than any deliberate gender bias.
I think it's clear from my listing of genre that I still really like historical fiction (no particular era) over anything else. The book circle books have been great for widening my tastes. Some of the stuff I read was categorised into several subjects so the number totals won't add up to the books read total.
Genre Totals
Historical Fiction: 27
Autobiographical/Biographical: 19
Crime: 13
Literature: 10
Science: 6
Thriller: 4
New Zealand author or setting: 4
Chick Lit: 4
Fantasy: 3
Mystery: 2
Coming of age: 2
Comedy: 2
Travel/living in a different country: 2
Food: 1*
Eco-lifestyle: 1
*not really representational given I didn't record the cook books I borrow and read like novels.
I didn't record the poetry books I read this year - probably about 2-3 from memory.
A bit less than my estimate of books read in 2008.
Average read per month: 7 (my estimated average for 2008 was 9 per month)
New reads: 79
Fiction: 53
Non Fiction: 27
hmmm... about 60/40 ratio. Not too bad I guess, not that it really matters.
Male Author: 25
Female Author: 54
This probably reflects the type of stuff I like to read is mostly written by women rather than any deliberate gender bias.
I think it's clear from my listing of genre that I still really like historical fiction (no particular era) over anything else. The book circle books have been great for widening my tastes. Some of the stuff I read was categorised into several subjects so the number totals won't add up to the books read total.
Genre Totals
Historical Fiction: 27
Autobiographical/Biographical: 19
Crime: 13
Literature: 10
Science: 6
Thriller: 4
New Zealand author or setting: 4
Chick Lit: 4
Fantasy: 3
Mystery: 2
Coming of age: 2
Comedy: 2
Travel/living in a different country: 2
Food: 1*
Eco-lifestyle: 1
*not really representational given I didn't record the cook books I borrow and read like novels.
I didn't record the poetry books I read this year - probably about 2-3 from memory.
December Reading Round Up
A castle in Spain / Matthew Parris.
The story of one man's dream to transform a forgotten ruin into his very own 'castle in Spain'. ~from the blurb
Parris writes about the restoration of a ruined house he discovers in Catalonia. Enjoyed reading about the history of the house and the struggles they have to go through to get it restored.
The Lieutenant / Kate Grenville.
In 1787 Lieutenant Thomas Rooke sets sail from Portsmouth with the First Fleet and its cargo of convicts, destined for New South Wales. As a young officer and a man of science, the shy and quiet Rooke is full of anticipation about the natural wonders he might discover in this strange land on the other side of the world. After the fleet arrives in Port Jackson, Rooke sets up camp on a rocky and isolated point, and starts his work of astronomy and navigation. It's not too long before some of the Aboriginal people who live around the harbour pay him a visit. One of them, a girl named Tarunga, starts to teach him her own language. But her lessons and their friendship are interrupted when Rooke is given an order that will change his life forever. Inspired by the 1790 notebooks of William Dawes in which he recorded his conversations with a young Gadigal woman, The Lieutenant is a story about a man discovering his true self in extraordinary circumstances. ~from the blurb
Particularly liked the contrast of language learning.
A long slow affair of the heart : an adventure on the French canals / Bruce Ansley.
Craving adventure, Bruce Ansley goes in search of happiness on the French canals. He and his wife Sally buy a canal boat in Holland and sail it through Belgium to France. With humour and a poignantly candid touch, Ansley documents a journey within a journey: the internal shifts of a marriage that just might not make it home. This memoir takes us vividly and unforgettably to France: but it takes us further than that - deep into the winding, secret interior of the heart. ~from the blurb
Think the "deep into the winding, secret interior of the heart" bit of the blurb is a little over statement but I enjoyed the travelogue and experiences the couple go through on their journey.
Forensic detective : how I cracked the world's toughest cases / Robert Mann and Miryam Ehrlich Williamson.
Case studies from forensic anthropology. True crime, mystery and a bit of gore.. what's not to like? CSI fans would enjoy this one. I was particularly interested in the cases where he tries to identify fallen servicemen in places like Korea and Vietnam.
Law breakers & mischief makers : 50 notorious New Zealanders / Bronwyn Sell.
"Law breakers and mischief makers provides the scandalous details of those who've made a name for themselves in New Zealand for all the wrong reasons. Some are monsters, some are merely rascals but all make fascinating reading." -- Back cover.
Great historical true short stories, true crime and a bit of mischief! Excellent fun.
Flu : the story of the great influenza pandemic of 1918 and the search for the virus that caused it / Gina Kolata.
"In 1918 the Great Flu Epidemic felled the young & healthy virtually overnight ... If such a plague returned today, taking a comparable percentage of the US population with it, 1.5 million Americans would die ... unravels the mystery of this lethal virus ... tracks the race to recover the live pathogen & probes the fear that has impelled government policy"--Jacket.
Thought this one was quite topical given the H1N1 pandemic this year. I always enjoy the history, the discoveries and struggles people go through to find answers. It's also interesting to see the decisions people make in times of pressure. I'd love to see an update to this in the light of the outbreak currently raging around the world. I've read quite a few books this year on diseases and such like, and have a few more waiting to be read. It's an area I find extremely interesting.
Haven't managed to completely finish the book circle book!
The story of one man's dream to transform a forgotten ruin into his very own 'castle in Spain'. ~from the blurb
Parris writes about the restoration of a ruined house he discovers in Catalonia. Enjoyed reading about the history of the house and the struggles they have to go through to get it restored.
The Lieutenant / Kate Grenville.
In 1787 Lieutenant Thomas Rooke sets sail from Portsmouth with the First Fleet and its cargo of convicts, destined for New South Wales. As a young officer and a man of science, the shy and quiet Rooke is full of anticipation about the natural wonders he might discover in this strange land on the other side of the world. After the fleet arrives in Port Jackson, Rooke sets up camp on a rocky and isolated point, and starts his work of astronomy and navigation. It's not too long before some of the Aboriginal people who live around the harbour pay him a visit. One of them, a girl named Tarunga, starts to teach him her own language. But her lessons and their friendship are interrupted when Rooke is given an order that will change his life forever. Inspired by the 1790 notebooks of William Dawes in which he recorded his conversations with a young Gadigal woman, The Lieutenant is a story about a man discovering his true self in extraordinary circumstances. ~from the blurb
Particularly liked the contrast of language learning.
A long slow affair of the heart : an adventure on the French canals / Bruce Ansley.
Craving adventure, Bruce Ansley goes in search of happiness on the French canals. He and his wife Sally buy a canal boat in Holland and sail it through Belgium to France. With humour and a poignantly candid touch, Ansley documents a journey within a journey: the internal shifts of a marriage that just might not make it home. This memoir takes us vividly and unforgettably to France: but it takes us further than that - deep into the winding, secret interior of the heart. ~from the blurb
Think the "deep into the winding, secret interior of the heart" bit of the blurb is a little over statement but I enjoyed the travelogue and experiences the couple go through on their journey.
Forensic detective : how I cracked the world's toughest cases / Robert Mann and Miryam Ehrlich Williamson.
Case studies from forensic anthropology. True crime, mystery and a bit of gore.. what's not to like? CSI fans would enjoy this one. I was particularly interested in the cases where he tries to identify fallen servicemen in places like Korea and Vietnam.
Law breakers & mischief makers : 50 notorious New Zealanders / Bronwyn Sell.
"Law breakers and mischief makers provides the scandalous details of those who've made a name for themselves in New Zealand for all the wrong reasons. Some are monsters, some are merely rascals but all make fascinating reading." -- Back cover.
Great historical true short stories, true crime and a bit of mischief! Excellent fun.
Flu : the story of the great influenza pandemic of 1918 and the search for the virus that caused it / Gina Kolata.
"In 1918 the Great Flu Epidemic felled the young & healthy virtually overnight ... If such a plague returned today, taking a comparable percentage of the US population with it, 1.5 million Americans would die ... unravels the mystery of this lethal virus ... tracks the race to recover the live pathogen & probes the fear that has impelled government policy"--Jacket.
Thought this one was quite topical given the H1N1 pandemic this year. I always enjoy the history, the discoveries and struggles people go through to find answers. It's also interesting to see the decisions people make in times of pressure. I'd love to see an update to this in the light of the outbreak currently raging around the world. I've read quite a few books this year on diseases and such like, and have a few more waiting to be read. It's an area I find extremely interesting.
Haven't managed to completely finish the book circle book!
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