Kerry (avatiakh) and her books in 2014 #3

Mijas street scene. Mijas is a white town close to the coast near Marbella in Andalusia. It is a popular place to visit for tourists, with its wonderful views, the tiny bullring and many restaurants.

Currently Reading:

Tel Aviv Noir by Etger Keret
The girl with all the gifts by M.R. Carey

Beach at entrance to Hokianga Harbour

The link to my 2014 Category Challenge:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/159815

My categories
1) A made-up place - children's literature
2) Right Book Right Time - YA literature
3) The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years - nonfiction on the Middle East (& North Africa)
4) Running through Corridors - books to film or tv
5) Reading on Location - travel books and books set in exotic locations
6) 1000 books to change your life - books on lists, group reads, themed reads, challenges
7) Fantasy freaks and gaming geeks - scifi and fantasy fiction
8) The old man mad about drawing - books with illustrations, photos or art
9) The Exercise Book - modern literary fiction (1950-)
10) Only Connect - series
+
11) Notes of a bag lady - my overflow

My current reading plans:

Finish - The Ringed Castle by Dorothy Dunnett - I love these Lymond books but always seem to put them to one side after a few pages in order to get library books read or non-fiction completed. This one was started in March.

July TIOLI:
Challenge #1: Read a book which offers advice on page 85
Phoenix by SF Said
Challenge #2. Read a book with a central character who is Irish
Across the divide - Brian Gallagher - children's fiction
Challenge #3. Read a genre novel that has been translated to English
Tattoo (Spanish / Crime) - Manuel Vázquez Montalbán - Pepe Carvalho #2
Write to kill (French / crime) - Daniel Pennac - Malaussène #3
Challenge #4. Start a series and continue if you want
*The Cuckoo's Calling - (Cormoran Strike #1)- Robert Galbraith
*The Silkworm - (Cormoran Strike #2) - Robert Galbraith
*Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles #2) - Marissa Meyer
Challenge #5. Read a book that has on its cover some kind of geographical identifying feature
Foreign Bodies - Cynthia Ozick - (Eiffel Tower: Paris)
Challenge #11. Read a book that centers on People, Places, or Things
The Tin Snail - Cameron McAllister (THING) - 2CV Citroën
Challenge #13: Read a book by a living author who is older than you are
An American Bride in Kabul by Phyllis Chesler
Dunger - Joy Cowley
Gravity by Tess Gerritsen
*The Letter for the King - Tonke Dragt
Challenge #14. Read a book where the author has only one A in his/her name
The Dig - Cynan Jones
Fred & Edie - Jill Dawson - my Orange July read
The glass zoo - James McNeish
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly - Sun-mi Hwang
Officers and Gentlemen by Evelyn Waugh
The quick - Lauren Owen
Challenge #16: Read a book where the author's first and last names end with a vowel
Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
Wolfborn - Sue Bursztynski
Challenge #17. Read a book that has something to do with California
Legend - (Legend #1) - Marie Liu (Los Angeles)
Challenge #18. Read a book of short stories
War Girls
Challenge #19. Read a book whose author is from a country that competed in the 2014 World Cup
The Minnow by Diana Sweeney (Australia)

I also have some other library books, kindle books I'm reading including:
Gingerbread by Robert Dinsdale
The Middle East by Bernard Lewis - stalled
Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

93) Dunger by Joy Cowley (2013)
children's fiction
This won the NZ Post Children's Junior Fiction Award a few weeks ago and so I felt compelled to read it asap. I've been quite slack this past year on reading NZ children's literature and now have a small pile of books to get through. A great little read as you would expect from the great Joy Cowley and this one is set in the Marlborough Sounds where she lived for many years.
William (11) and Melissa (14) reluctantly join their hippie grandparents for a no-frills holiday at their remote beach house in the Sounds instead of the long-awaited one in Queenstown, a scenic resort. No electricity, no cell-phone reception, a long-drop toilet at the back of the garden and no shops for a couple of hours drive. Eventually the charms of living without the trimmings of a modern lifestyle start to win over the two children.

Marlborough Sounds

dunger (NZ slang) ; noun
an old decrepit car
any old worn-out machine

Library sale haul:
I missed the first day so it was well picked over, I still got a few useful nonfiction books and a couple of novels & dvds

all up $11 -
Death of a Dutchman by Magdalen Nabb - crime
The garden of evening mists by Tan Twan Eng
Civilisation: a new history of the Western World by Roger Osborne
The Osama Bin Laden I know by Peter Bergen
Wild Things: the art of nurturing boys - rec a few years back by Roni
Samurai William by Giles Milton
Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
The Argumentative Indian: writings on Indian history, culture and identity by Amartya Sen
Georgette Heyer's Regency World by Jennifer Kloester
Violence by Slavoj Žižek
for my mother:
the Villa girls by Nicky Pellegrino (Large Print)
Peony in love by Lisa See (Large Print)
for Dana:
How to draw manga
DVDs:
TranSylvania
Gormenghast

actually looking over my little pile I'm well-pleased. I also picked up Find it eat it: cooking foraged food gathered around New Zealand, The black banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda and I shall not die: Titokowaru's War in the local bookshop clearance.

Library books -
Close to the wind by Jon Walters (YA)
Dancing on Knives by Kate Forsyth
Upstairs at the Party by Linda Grant
How to become king by Jan Terlouw (children's)
Bodies of light by Sarah Moss

Hope to finish Scarlet today so I can focus on The Quick.

Great book haul, Kerry!

Happy New Thread and congrats on a great book haul Kerry! I loved The Garden of Evening Mists and hope you do too when you get to it.

Good book haul, but poor planning on your part to miss the first day of the sale!!!! Just think of how many more books you could have acquired...

Wow! That's an excellent book haul, and for just $11!!! I've added several books to my wishlist just from reading through what you picked up... haha.

Nice haul!

>6 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl - just need some extra reading time

>7 Smiler69: Ilana, it's one I'm looking forward to

>8 ronincats: Roni - can you believe it, I was there on Friday but didn't notice the sale at the time as I was with my daughter. I might give the 'Wild Boys' book to my niece as she is about to have her 3rd child, a boy. Her oldest is a 6 yr old boy but has Charge Syndrome so hasn't experienced the normal childhood milestones.

>9 dk_phoenix: Faith - glad to be of service! I put several books back, I only allowed myself as many as I could carry in one go to the counter.

>10 thornton37814: Thanks Lori.

94) Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (2013)
YA fiction

This is the second book in the Lunar Chronicles and I found it a highly enjoyable read.These books are an intriguing combo of scifi and fantasy. I have the third book home from the library for the second time but am not sure if I'll get to it before it's due back. I'd love to dive straight in but have a load of other books competing for my attention.
This book continues Cinder the Cyborg's story but also introduces Scarlet and a mysterious stranger, who goes by the name of Wolf. Scarlet's grandmother has disappeared and she is desperate to find out who kidnapped her. Book three will introduce us to a third fairytale character, Cress (Rapunzel), a hacker, can't wait.

According to wikipedia there will be five books so we have Snow White and Sleeping Beauty to come.

>12 avatiakh: They have both books at the library's site available for download, and I'm on the waiting list for Cinder at the moment. I know these have been very popular with LTers this last year at least, but we'll see how they work for me since I'm not always quite as receptive to sci-fi/fantasy as some of you wonderful folks are, but I'm always willing to be pleasantly surprised!

Ilana - not sure how you'll find them, but I really like the scifi twist given to the characters.

I've just started Letter for the King which is a children's book by Dutch writer Tonke Dragt that has recently been republished to good reviews. It was chosen as the best Dutch youth book of the latter half of the twentieth century. It was first published in the 1960s.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/27/letter-for-king-tonke-dragt-review
I'm also focusing on my Orange July read, Fred & Edie by Jill Dawson, which is based on a true life murder trial.

Yay, new thread with just 14 posts, the perfect moment to start following again!:)
I am very sorry I lost you (and others) for some months and I hope to finally be a regular on LT again.

95) Tattoo by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (1976 Spain) (2008 Eng)
crime

This is the second Pepe Carvalho mystery, I haven't been able to track down the first book in English. Before this I'd read #20, Buenos Aires Quintet as I was reading books set in BA at the time. Pepe is the inspiration for Camilleri's fab Montalbano books and he's named for this Spanish writer.
I have to say that when reading The BA Quintet I had pictured Pepe as an older and overweight PI, but here he seems to be in his 30s and slimmer though still with the love of good food.
Pepe lives in Barcelona and is now a private detective after a previous career with the CIA. He's asked to identify a mystery corpse that has been found on a nearby beach, the only identifying feature is an unusual tattoo. This is definitely a series I'll continue with and I'm fairly sure my library has most of them, though I had to purchase this one from betterworldbooks to get started.

>15 Deern: Waves to Nathalie, I've been lurking on your thread for a long while. Great to see you visiting, I'm also a bit slower at getting around the threads this year.

>16 avatiakh: Good for you, Kerry. I had read that Pepe was the inspiration for our wonderful Salvo, but I was hesitant to give it a try without knowing more about it. Your positive reaction helps - onto the WL it goes.

Glad you liked Scarlet, too. I hadn't heard it would be 5 volumes; I like that, as I've been enjoying them. The third (Cress) is at the same level of high quality as the first two.

>16 avatiakh: Thanks for the review of the Carvalho book, Kerry. It is a timely reminder to all of us who are devotees of Montalbano to look up where he actually originated from.
Slightly belated best wishes on your latest thread too. xx

>4 avatiakh: Dunger, sounds good! I like the idea of the Marlborough Sounds holiday over the Queenstown resort one too :)

>18 jnwelch: Yes will be reading more Pepe books and good to hear that the storyline holds up for #3 Cress. So many good reads calling to me, my library card is maxed out and I still have my own books to read.

>19 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, sure that you will enjoy Carvalho. He is situated in Barcelona but both books I've read take him to other places, Buenos Aires in #20 and Amsterdam in this one. He enjoys food with as much enthusiasm as Montalbano.

>20 LovingLit: Megan, there is lots of great NZ fiction for children set in rural areas. Make sure you collect some of the older stuff which holds up well. I'm thinking of Jack Lasenby, Joanna Orwin, Joy Cowley (especially Bow down Shadrach) etc. Joy also wrote Froghopper which is a great adventure story for younger readers set during a boating holiday in the Marlborough Sounds.
In the meantime I'm looking forward to the sequel to I am not Esther which will be published later this year, I am Rebecca. Esther was published in 1998 so I might have to do a reread. Beale also wrote a nonfiction book, Sins of the Father, about that cult, Gloriavale, on the West Coast. I went to a talk she gave about how writing I am not Esther drew her in to research and write about cults, and definitely seemed to have been ready to call time out on the whole topic, but there must have been one more book fizzing around in her head. A bit off topic....sorry

96) The Dig by Cynan Jones (2014)
fiction

OK, so I follow Matt Haig on twitter as he sometimes writes about depression and anxiety in quite meaningful ways and I also like his books. He was recently chair of the judges for the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Award and this was one of the 8 winners. Haig wrote quite passionately about how great he found the writing in this slim book and so I thought I'd give it a whirl.
The Dig will be one of my more memorable reads for the year, the writing is beautifully poetic, the subject matter raw, realistic, bleak and rural. I was very wowed by this masculine book which features two isolated men heading towards an inevitable confrontation in rural Wales. One, a recently bereaved young farmer who is in the middle of lambing season, the other a brutal man who makes his living with his dogs as a rat-catcher but also illegally captures badgers for dog fights. Jones does not romanticise the daily life on a small farm, one that the farmer can barely eke a living from. Infused throughout the novel is the love between the farmer and his late wife. This is writing at its best and I'm so pleased that I took up Haig's recommendation of this book.
I will add that there are squeamish descriptions of lambing and also of course the badger baiting.

A quote from a review in the Independent: 'Yet to set out the novel’s context and content in this way is to miss the main point, which is that Jones’s use of language is so frequently stellar. There is a good comparison to be made with Niall Griffiths, himself a gifted stylist. Jones is less prolix, while remaining embedded in a tradition of Celtic lyricism. Often, only layout distinguishes his euphonious prose from poetry: “The sound seemed tangible in the air, and everything felt silent before it. The sheep sighed and crunched, the cattle’s feet slapped as they moved in the mud. The dog chain rattled like coins in some dark pocket. But this sound brought stillness.” Jones rises to these heights on at least every other page.'

More about the Jerwood Fiction uncovered Prize: Dedicated to helping British writers build their careers, this is the first time that the Fiction Uncovered prize has been able to offer prize money, thanks to a new partnership with the Jerwood Charitable Foundation. The £40,000 fund makes the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize one of the biggest literary prize funds awarded solely to British writers.

Shonagh Manson of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation comments;

“The Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize looks beyond debut novelists and bestsellers to the depth and vitality of British writing, responding to the real challenges writers face in gaining and maintaining traction within their careers. The expertise of The Literary Platform and the key partnerships they have developed around the Prize will be an exceptional boost for the winning writers. We are delighted that our founding of the Prize monies will provide financial support directly to each writer, and hope this will also help to take the influence of the Prize to a next level.”

Definitely an Award worth following.


Penguin by Polly Dunbar (2007)
picturebook

This subversive picturebook was quite delightful. I hadn't come across it before but read about it in a blog post somewhere, possibly Brainpickings which I go to every other day it seems.
A boy gets given a penguin for his birthday and wants it to talk to him. He goes to extraordinary lengths but the bird stays silent. He yells... I won't say what happens but it is quite unexpected. I hope every child gets to enjoy this one.

97) The letter for the King by Tonke Dragt (Dutch 1962) (Eng 2013)
children's fiction
This was a runaway bestseller and won Children's book of the Year in Holland back in the 1960s. Last year Pushkin Press created their Pushkin's Children's Books imprint for sharing the best in translated children's literature and this is one of the first books, it's sequel will be published in 2015.
Also on the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up list.

I loved this tale of chivalry and adventure. Tiuri is 16 and spending his last night as a squire, he will be knighted the next day. The tradition is that all knights-to-be must pass the night in meditation in an old church on the outskirts of the city. They must not leave, but when someone knocks on the door with a compelling message, Turius leaves his fellow squires and begins his perilous journey where all his skills as an almost knight are tested. Wonderful stuff.

Dragt's delightful illustrations are sprinkled through the book.

Definitely looking forward to the other offerings from this imprint - Anne Plichota's Oksa Pollock: The Forest of Lost Souls and Andri Snær Magnason‘s The Story of the Blue Planet are on my radar.

98) The Quick by Lauren Owen (2014)
fiction
A gothic vampire story that is richly told and highly entertaining read. It lost me at the end though, I felt that the last 20-30 pgs could have been summed up in a 2-3 pg epilogue. If you liked Kostava's The Historian then this will appeal. I've read lots of gothic YA that was more thrilling though, and I was reminded at one point about how much I loved Chris Wooding's gothic YA The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray, time for a reread.

99) Unconditional Surrender by Evelyn Waugh (1961)
fiction
The concluding volume of the Sword of Honour trilogy which follows the fortunes of Guy Crouchback during World War 2. I've enjoyed this trilogy and am now watching the miniseries on dvd which stars Daniel Craig as Crouchback.
wikipeda: The Sword of Honour trilogy by Evelyn Waugh consists of three novels, Men at Arms (1952), Officers and Gentlemen (1955) and Unconditional Surrender (1961, published as The End of the Battle in the US), which loosely parallel Waugh's experiences in the Second World War. Waugh received the 1952 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Men at Arms. The trilogy is considered by many critics to be the finest novel series of the Second World War....It paints an ironic picture of regimental life in the British Army and is a satire on the wasteful and perverse bureaucracy of modern warfare.

Reading Plans for August -

I'll definitely be less ambitious than last month as I still need to finish books I started months ago -
The Ringed Castle by Dorothy Dunnett
Gingerbread by Robert Dinsdale
Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor
An American bride in Kabul by Phyllis Chesler
Fred & Edie by Jill Dawson
already finished The Quick by Laura Owen & Unconditional Surrender by Evelyn Waugh
my audiobook will be Middlemarch by George Eliot.

I have several more books out of the library -
Cress by Marissa Meyer - Lunar Chronicles #3
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell - fiction
The Nao of Brown by Glyn Dillon - graphic novel
The story of the blue planet by Andri Snaer Magnason - translated chgildren's book
The Lost Gods by Francesca Simon - children's series
How to become King by Jan Terlouw
Upstairs at the party by Linda Grant
Luigi's Freedom Ride by Alan Murray
What is a child? popular images of childhood by Patricia Holland - looked over and decided not to read it
Lone Wolf: CHERUB by Robert Muchamore - #4 in second CHERUB series
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Most of these are listed in various TIOLI challenges.

100) How to become King by Jan Terlouw (1971 Dutch) (1976 Eng)
children's fiction
Terlouw also wrote the more well known Winter in Wartime (1972) which was made into a film in 2008. I liked the sound of the plot of How to become king but as the book is quite scarce and very pricey on abebooks, I ended up getting it through the library interloan service. The book won the Dutch Junior Book Prize when it first came out and was made into a movie, Koning van Katoren, in 2012.
I really enjoyed this story about the orphan Stark, who was born the same day that the old king dies without heirs. The kingdom is run for 18 years by 6 ministers until Stark challenges them to make him king. In order to prove he is worthy, they set him seven seemingly impossible tasks. But the book is more than just a fancied up fairytale it is also a political satire.
I would have loved to read this one as a child. I'm copying in here part of a review from Goodreads from someone who did enjoy it as a child....
'This book has been the topic of many arguments at our home, and they usually went like this:

Mother: 'Please pick another book, we've read this four times already. It must be boring by now. Pick another.'
Me, my brother and sister: 'NOOOOO! Read this! We want to hear about Stach!'

We usually won, of course, because my mum was grateful she'd found a book all three of us liked and we were still eager to hear about dragons, moving churches, screeching birds and a brave young boy who wanted to be king. (Mariska, GR)

And from wikipedia about Jan Terlouw: Terlouw studied at Utrecht University where he obtained a PhD degree in nuclear physics. After graduating, he worked as a physics researcher in the Netherlands, the United States, and Sweden. After working for thirteen years, he became a politician, joining the Dutch House of Representatives (the lower house of the Dutch legislature) as a member of the Democraten 66 political party in 1967. Terlouw acted as party leader from 1973–1982. He was minister of Economic Affairs from 1981 to 1982 and Queen's Commissioner of Gelderland from 1991 to 1996, the year in which he retired. He joined the Dutch Senate in 1999.

Terlouw also wrote 24 children's books, most notably Winter in Wartime (Oorlogswinter, 1972) and How to Become King (Koning van Katoren, 1971), both of which won the Gouden Griffel and have been made into motion pictures directed by Martin Koolhoven.

Ok the trailer for the movie looks really good, though no subtitles as yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZQ0G2BWztM

The Whispering Town by Jennifer Elvgren (2014)
picturebook
This picturebook story is based on a true story about helping Danish Jews escape to neutral Sweden. The illustrations by Fabio Santomauro would be very much at home in a graphic novel format but here they also work very well. I came across mention of this book in an online article about recent children's publications on the Holocaust: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/170927/picture-books-about-hol...



Cat & Dog by Michael Foreman (2014)
picturebook
Very delightful outing by Foreman. A homeless cat family and a friendly street dog all find a new home due to the mothercat's misadventure in a refrigerated fish van. I enjoy Foreman's illustrations, he's done heaps of books including many collaborations with Michael Morpurgo.

101) Lone Wolf: CHERUB by Robert Muchamore (2014)
YA fiction
The latest in the CHERUB series, book #16 or #4 in Series 2 depending how you look at them. This time James, the star Cherub agent from series 1 is now a mission controller and his 2 agents are to invesitigate a drug distribution gang in London. Quite the thriller with violence and realistic action. Still enjoy reading this series.

102) Fred & Edie by Jill Dawson (2000)
fiction
I read this for Orange July but didn't get it finished till just now. I really enjoyed this, loved the structure of the novel, a combination of letters, recollections, newspaper articles and a little of the present tense. The book is about a real life court case where Edie and her lover Fred are on trial for the murder of her husband. A beautiful but doomed love story set in the early 1920s.
The afterword tells of how Dawson first came across Edie's letters and became intrigued...she included a few in The Virago Book of Love letters which she edited. The letters very much incriminate Edie for incitement, but are they truly as incriminating as they seem? The Home Office file on Edie is sealed till 2022.

103) Attachments by RainbowRowell (2011)
fiction
I've liked everything Rowell's written and this, her debut novel, is no exception. An engaging romance story that is a delight to read.
It's 1999 and Lincoln is the IT guy who checks flagged emails of the staff in a newspaper office. He's overqualified for the job but fairly unambitious, lives with his mother and could be quite a cool guy if he wanted to. He starts to follow the email banter between two friends in the newsroom and before he knows it he's fallen for one of them even though he's never met her.

My reading plans for August certainly are overly ambitious considering the two books I've started with, print and audio both are quite big chunksters and that there are several others I'd like to read which are not included on my long list. I see the list writing exercise and the actual book reading exercise as two quite separate things anyway and when they actually overlap more than just a little it just seems like an extra bonus.

I got the Aya books 2-4 from my library yesterday, so will be enjoying those in days or weeks to come and if I fit them in this month have a convenient spot for them on the TIOLI challenges. At first I thought they might not fit anywhere until I realized they were a perfect fit for challenge #19.

I've seen Fred & Edie mentioned before and might have taken notice because the cover design with that striking vintage photo cropping and colouring, but I'll add it to the wishlist now with your recommendation. I've got Rowell's Eleanor & Park on the listening tbr from the library's OverDrive collection, which will probably be my first book by her. I hope to enjoy her as much as you and other LTers seem to have done lately.

>32 Smiler69: With you on the reading list being more wishful than anything else. I don't have to pay for my library requests unless it's an interloan which I rarely do so I'm always bringing home far more books than I'm ever likely to get read.

Yay for the Aya!

Dawson really puts you inside Edie's head in this book, was a solid read and I have another of hers about Rupert Brooke, The great lover. Rowell's books are delightful easy reading, romance with warm humour.

You have to pay for interlibrary loans? Really? Not so here, but then my guess is the distances probably aren't as great. I won't take it for granted anymore though. Mind you, I never really have. Even though I know my tax dollars are paying for it, I continue to find it amazing that I can get books for 'free'!

Zita the spacegirl by Ben Hatke (2011)
children's graphic novel
This is the first in a series about Zita the spacegirl. Lots to enjoy with a zany array of characters. Zita is a great little character, brave and resourceful.


Klaus Vogel and the Bad Lads by David Almond (2014)
children's fiction
This slim little volume (57pgs) is published by educational publisher Barrington Stoke and is dyslexia friendly. I read it mainly to see what was different about a dyslexia friendly book. The text is widely spaced with short paragraphs and most pages are illustrated, also word choice is simplified. The story itself is powerful and should inspire discussion.
From the publisher's website: Fleeing persecution in his homeland, German refugee Klaus Vogel arrives in a small English town where the local gang take him under their wing. They call themselves the Bad Lads, but it's all mischief and harmless tricks, never any real trouble.
But then leader Joe starts to encourage increasingly hateful pranks and Klaus has to make a stand for what he thinks is right.
Poignant and powerful tale set in the wake of World War II.

http://www.barringtonstoke.co.uk/
Barrington Stoke is an independent publisher dedicated to cracking reading. We know that every parent wants their child to become a reader, and every teacher wants their students to make the jump from learning to read to loving to read. Our books are commissioned, edited and designed to break down the barriers that can stop this happening, from dyslexia and visual stress to simple reluctance.

>34 Smiler69: I can get almost everything from across the Auckland region's 40 libraries for free but an interlibrary loan is for books from other parts of New Zealand including academic libraries and the National Library archive. I use it for books that cost too much to buy a used copy and that my library hasn't got. So far I've used it to read The Outsiders of Uskoken Castle and How to become King, both books are out of print and used copies start from $75-$100 on abebooks.

cont: Auckland City amalgamated from 5 or 6 separate city councils into 1 about 4 years ago, before then I could only request books from 12 libraries for free so it has been a real boon to have this 'supercity' thing thrust on us.

104) The story of the Blue Planet by Andri Snær Magnason (1999 Icelandic) (2013 Eng)
children's literature
This was a little gem of a read, the first translated children's book from the relatively new Pushkin Press imprint, it has been published previously in English. This will appeal to all ages. I think it is my first children's book from Iceland and I'm definitely looking out for Magnason's adult work. This was the first children's book to receive the Icelandic Literary Prize, it also won the Janusz Korczak Honorary Award 2000, the West Nordic Children's Book Prize 2002, UKLA United Kingdom Literary Award 2014 and has been made into a play.
The text is accompanied by illustrations by Áslaug Jónsdóttir and was translated by Julian Meldon D’Arcy.
The Blue Planet is a similar to NeverNever Land, a whole world populated by only children who never growup. They live wonderful lives in harmony with the natural world until the day a spaceship arrives with the worse possible passenger, an adult.

Judges comments from UKLA: The Story of the Blue Planet is a whimsical fairy tale that will appeal to fans of Maurice Sendak, Dr Seuss and Hans Christian Andersen. It is also the first children’s book to win the prestigious Icelandic Literary Prize and is published in 26 countries.


Interview with the author: http://www.andrimagnason.com/news/2014/06/in-reykjavik-with-andri-snaer-magnason...

Oh, SUCH interesting reading as you have been doing, Kerry!

Must read Evelyn Waugh trilogy... Must read Dorothy Dunnett... Must learn how to clone self or halt progression of time....

Actually, our RL book circle is reading Scoop by Waugh for our meeting at the end of August, so I shall have to mosey out to the Brown University bookstore in quest of a copy next week.

I thought I'd read Scoop but seems that I still haven't. I love his satirical novels that I've read, Vile Bodies and Decline and Fall.

I'm still sitting on the Dorothy Dunnett, the problem is is that it isn't a library book so I don't have to read it before a due date.

105) An American Bride in Kabul by Phyllis Chesler (2013)
memoir

I really liked this as Chesler references so many other traveller's stories from times past. She also discusses the history of Afghanistan and women's rights in Islamic countries. And then there is her own story, how at 18 she fell in love with a charming foreigner and after a couple of years of courtship, naively in 1961 as a newly married bride, arrives in Kabul to meet his family for what she thought would be a short stay to tour the country. However her passport is taken from her and she is suddenly being treated as an Afghan woman, who has no rights, being told that they would stay permanently. Determined to escape Chesler is able to get out after only a few months when she falls terribly sick and her father-in-law helps procure an Afghan passport and plane ticket. She has to prove her rights to American citizenship when finally back in the USA, there is also a lengthy legal procedure over divorce and annulment and pressure to return the Afghan passport which only now she realises put her ex-husband and his family in some jeopardy back in Kabul.
The second part of the book is more reflective and political, which other readers haven't found as interesting.
I haven't read Not without my daughter or other books about Western women in Islamic societies but I found this an interesting read. Chesler is a prominent feminist who has worked to bring awareness to the issues surrounding women in societies such as these. Issues she raised that made me want to find out more were around custody rights for (Western) women, cruelty by women to other women and the wearing of the burqa.
The book has an extensive bibliography and inspired me to start another LT list - Women in Islam

She has an interesting website: http://www.phyllis-chesler.com/
Bio extract from the website: Phyllis Chesler is an Emerita Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at City University of New York. She is a best- selling author, a legendary feminist leader, a psychotherapist and an expert courtroom witness. Dr. Chesler has published thousands of articles and, most recently, studies, about honor-related violence including honor killings. She has published many classic works such as Women and Madness, Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody, and Woman's Inhumanity to Woman.

>39 ronincats: Whoops missed commenting on your post Roni. Thanks for the compliment, I've been enjoying my reading this past few weeks. I do have a few more serious works on the go but taking them very slowly.
I've just started Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef after reading about the documentary, The Green Prince.
http://www.slashfilm.com/green-prince-trailer/

>42 avatiakh: That's a great mix of titles! You've covered the waterfront, from those like Betty Mahmoody, who end up being quite anti-Islam, to those who don't view Islam and feminism as incompatible. Particularly glad to see my friend Asra Nomani's book in there, and I'd give that a BIG thumbs up. She has led a push to have women take a more active role in Muslim prayer here in the US.

Thanks for the feedback, I was surprised that there wasn't already a list on the go. Most titles came from the bibliography to be honest and only a few I found elsewhere or relied on my own memory of past reads. Chesler's book doesn't score that high with a lot of readers and yet I think I liked what others disliked, the talking away from her own story, the cultural, political & historical background etc. As I said in my comments I haven't read any other of the 'behind the veil' type memoirs so took to this one.
I've already taken the book back to the library, but I might have to get it out again just for her bibliography. I'd like to do a LT list on Afghanistan.

I added the children's book My own special way as I don't think there are that many children's books that deal with the hijab quite so successfully.

My daughter and I shared an afghan biscuit the other day at a cafe and I pondered why we call them 'afghans' especially as I was reading a book mainly about Afghanistan at the time. I just checked on wikipedia and it seems noone knows except that they are a New Zealand speciality, though they could have been invented in Australia. Weird. Oh and they're made with cornflakes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_biscuit


..so then I told her about Belgium biscuits...renamed from German or Linzer biscuits to Empire (UK) or Belgium (NZ) biscuit during WWI as a patriotic act.

Hi Kerry. The Letter for the King sounds good and it's good to know Pushkin Press will be republishing some more translated children's books.

>30 avatiakh: Fred and Edie also sounds good. I think I've read another fictionalised version of that case: A Pin to See the Peepshow by F. Tennyson Jesse which Virago republished.

>38 avatiakh: The story of the Blue Planet sounds like another one to look out for!

Heather, I think you would really like The Letter for the King. The story of the Blue Planet took me a little by surprise, I wasn't expecting to be as charmed.

I took a look at A Pin to see the Peepshow and it looks interesting and different enough to read at a later date, so I will add it to my list of books to read.


106) The lost gods by Francesca Simon (2013)
children's fiction
This is the second book in the Sleeping Army series. Imagine an alternate world where the Norse gods are the main British religion. In the first book young Freya awakes the sleeping army of the Lewis Chessmen. This time she is visited by three of the Norse gods, Woden, Freyja and Thor. They've lost much of their power and need an injection of mass worship in order to gain it back The quickest route Freya quickly surmises is for them to become celebrities....but unfortunately they become obsessed with their twitter feeds, media plugs, appearances etc and forget all about the impending Frost giant invasion. Loki is also lurking around.
This is quite a funny read though definitely a book for its _target audience. I don't think I enjoyed it quite as much as the first book even though it is more humorous. It has been longlisted for the Guardian children's fiction prize, the winner will be announced in November.
Others on the longlist are:
The Diaries of Bluebell Gadsby: Flora in Love by Natasha Farrant (Faber)
Phoenix by SF Said (David Fickling)
Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo (Walker)
The Dark Wild by Piers Torday (Quercus)
Shine by Candy Gourlay (David Fickling)
We Were Liars by E Lockhart (Hot Key Books)
She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick (Orion)
The Lost Gods by Francesca Simon (Faber)

I've also read Phoenix and She is not Invisible from the list and recommend both of them.

Two films I've watched in the last couple of days, both good and both adapted from books - The Book Thief and The Baader Meinhof Complex .
I read The Book Thief back in 2005 or 2006 when it first came out and recently had Stefan Aust's book recommended as a useful introduction into the psychology of terrorism and the film is an easy quick fix.
I also watched and didn't particularly enjoy Gravity, possibly it's one that needs the big screen to look impressive. I recently read Tess Gerritsen's Gravity and she's considering a lawsuit though the similarities aren't too apparent.
I'm meant to be reading books that have been adapted to movies for my category challenge but haven't done that well so far. I'm currently reading Badfellas and got Children of Men in the mail today. I'm also getting a short story collection of Stephen King's, Different Seasons, three of the four stories have been adapted to films: The Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil and Stand by Me.

Taking a number of my library books back to the library unread once again as I'm feeling too much (internal) pressure to get them read, can't renew them and I'd rather finish off the books I own that I haven't been getting back to over the past couple of months.
So will be rejoining the queue for:
Upstairs at the party by Linda Grant
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

>46 avatiakh: now I want afghans .....

just passing thru Books & life seem to treating you well

Hi Alex - sorry about that, it wasn't a great afghan, we didn't even finish it between the two of us.
Taking things a bit more quietly this year both online and in RL.

107) The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks (2013)
YA fiction
This won the Carnegie Medal a couple of months ago and then immediately waded into a storm of controversy. The book is one for mature students and quite disturbingly dark so challenges the Carnegie Medal's parameters of children's fiction. There have been calls for the CM to be split into two categories - children's fiction and YA fiction.
This is the second book I've read by Brooks, years ago I was wowed by his Martyn Pig and have been meaning to read others by him since. I read on the Guardian website that for ten years he was unsuccessful in finding a publisher for The Bunker Diary.

16 yr old Linus has been living on the streets for about five months when he is abducted when helping a blind man place a suitcase in a van. He wakes to find himself locked in an old bunker, there are six small bedrooms which slowly fill with other abducted people, including 9 yr old Jenny. The book chronicles their experiences in the bunker, at the mercy of their unseen captor, The Man Upstairs. There is little hope or joy here, though the contrast between the coping mechanisms for each of the imprisoned and how they relate to each other and the punishments doled out by their captor is compelling reading.
For me, I didn't mind reading it, the writing is great and while I would have preferred a different outcome, this one was really the only one that was going to work.
Read more about the response to the Carnegie Medal Award win here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/24/carnegie-medal-the-bunker-diary-kev...
Judges' comments: Judges, she said, were not considering "shock value" when selecting their winner. "The CILIP Carnegie judging process is transparent and based entirely on the criteria. At no point do the judges consider 'shock value'. We pride ourselves on basing all judgments on literary quality alone – as can be seen from the outstandingly well-written winner of the 2014 award," said Thompson, adding that the book is "full of hope", and contains "many instances of humanity, love, community, support and forgiveness. Incredibly well-crafted, it is indeed a master storyteller who can leave the reader with such a feeling of hope even when the ending is not a traditionally happy one."
A review:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/mar/23/bunker-diary-kevin-brooks-review

>52 avatiakh: Taking things quietly is never a bad thing IMO ......

108) Landline by Rainbow Rowell (2014)
fiction
I've now read all Rowell's books and his her latest is probably my least favourite, probably because this time I found the quirky characters mostly unlikeable. While I often don't mind reading a book where I don't like the characters, this one just didn't have enough 'story'.
When Georgie's workload as a scriptwriter/developer goes into overload her househusband takes the two daughters away for the white Christmas in Omaha, his hometown, that they'd all planned on attending. Georgie is unable to concentrate on her work while thinking that her marriage is falling apart - add in dotty family, male best friend/work partner and an old fashioned rotary telephone in her mother's home that connects Georgie with her husband twenty years in the past.
Too relationship oriented for me and Georgie was just a mess of a character.

Hi Kerry! Hope you are having a nice weekend. I have both The Quick and Landline on shelf. Looking forward to trying both. I also NEED to get to Cress.

Hi Mark - hope you enjoy those books.


109) Angelica's Smile by Andrea Camilleri (2014 Eng) (2011 Italian)
fiction
This is #17 in the Inspector Montalbano series and it was a familiar story, so checking back to the Inspector Montalbano dvds I borrowed earlier in the year from the library I see I've seen this one. Memorable because of Montalbano's obsession with the name 'Carlo'. Anyway another one under my belt.

>53 avatiakh: Interesting comments on The Bunker Diary Kerry. I saw the controversy when the award was announed. I don't think I have a strong opinion about whether a book like that should or should not have won the Carnegie but I'm not very good at very bleak books so I may pass on this one.

Heather - The Bunker Diary is definitely not one I'd recommend to all readers and yet it will appeal to some. I'm pleased to have read it so I can at least measure other reads against it. Last year's winner of the New Zealand Children's Book of the Year, Into the river was equally controversial and ended up earning a M (Mature) rating from the Censor's office.


110) Luigi's freedom ride : a story of curiosity, love, hope and bicycles by Alan Murray (2014)
fiction
My hopes for this one were dashed after only a few pages. I was expecting a great lighthearted read with a touch of the nostalgic and yeah, it was but without the additional sparkle it could have had. The book covers the life of Luigi, born in a small Italian village, he grows up to serve in the Italian Army Cycling Corps during World War 2 and eventually travels to Australia via Istanbul, Jerusalem and Sri Lanka.
This is Murray's first work of fiction, he usually writes nonfiction and I felt at times that I could have been reading a biography rather than a novel. The book covers interesting territory, the bicycling soldiers, partisan resistance, the Middle East and Italian immigrants in postwar Australia but the writing never seems to engage the reader and the story isn't quite enthralling enough. The main character, Luigi, a man with a heart of gold, just isn't interesting enough for me and the birth to death style of narrative means it covers superfluous ground.
There's many instances of Luigi not catching the gist of English slang, making a literal translation. Australian slang especially does tend to fool many newcomers to Australia but this makes Luigi come across as a bit simpleminded.

>57 avatiakh: I liked the Italian tv movie of Angelica's Smile a lot, Kerry, and I'm looking forward to comparing the book. Have you seen any of the Young Montalbano dvds? Caro and I have enjoyed them - she's seen all six, and I've seen the first three. It's fun to see the characters we know at much younger ages.

Hi Joe, yes, I loved the Young Montalbano tv series, I just checked the library website and I've seen all six. Can only hope they make more of them.
I only remembered vague outlines of the plot of Angelica's Smile and knew whodunnit but not all the details so was still an enjoyable read. I first came to the books from the tv series several years ago, so the first 6 or 7 books were familiar territory as well.
Just finishing up the final in Laini Taylor's Smoke & Bone trilogy, exciting apocalyptic fare.

>61 avatiakh: Oh, I look forward to your reaction to the third Smoke & Bone book; I've read the first two but not that one.

Joe - just finished and it is a very good final book. I took my time as I was reading it on my kindle which I usually only use when I'm out for a coffee and lately I haven't been having any reading time as I've been with people, so yesterday I decided to push through with it at home. Really enjoyed this trilogy - she writes a great love story into all the thrill of the battle. I can't recommend her Lips Touch highly enough as well, I was really taken with her writing on love here as well.
Now on to Duet in Beirut which sounds like a great thriller. I was going to read the final volume of Peadar Ó Guilín's Bone World trilogy, but decided to get away from monsters and epic apocalyptic writing for a couple of books so I can savour the Laini Taylor one for a while.

111) Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor (2014)
fantasy
This is the last in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy and brought it all to a very satisfying and epic ending. I started following her blog several years ago and have enjoyed following her journey to this trilogy. Now all I have to do is go back and read Taylor's first couple of books, Blackbringer and Silksinger.

112) The Nao of Brown by Glyn Dillon (2012)
graphic novel
Enjoyed this slightly weird story about a struggling artist, Nao Brown, who has violent impulses that she doesn't act out on thankfully. The art is great, there is a story within the story and Nao is a really interesting character to spend time with.

Oh good, thank you for the positive comments on Gods & Monsters, Kerry. I'm encouraged to read it sooner rather than later. Read it on Kindle - what a great idea. These haven't been all that slim, and it's just the kind of diverting book I like to read on the Kindle.

I loved the oddball Nao of Brown; it was my favorite graphic novel last year, and as you probably know, I read a lot of them.

I picked up Tha Nao of Brown from your list on your thread, glad I did. I'm trying to read a few graphic novels each year. My daughter was just talking about Boxers and Saints, I think that was my favourite from last year.

I think I need to speed up my reading on kindle, it seemed to take 4 hours to read the last 2 hours in the book.
If you do go for Lips Touch do get the hard copy as her hubby, illustrator Jim Di Bartolo, did fabulous illustrations for it.

113) Badfellas by Tonino Benacquista (2004 French) (2010 Eng)
fiction

Entertaining crime fiction about a notorious Mafia boss now informer and his family on a Witness Protection programme undercover in a village in Normandy, France. They had to leave the US due to an unrelenting hunt to track them down, and already had moved twice in France itself. In the quiet town of Cholong-sur-Avre 'Fred' decides to pose as a writer and sets to to write his memoirs. His wife Maggie dives in to charity work and the two teen children settle in to school. They are still under the protection of the FBI and have two agents doing survelliance in a nearby home. On their first day at school both teens show they are their father's children and the wife also shows that she has learnt a thing or two about life as a mafioso.

I saw the movie of this a few weeks ago, it stars Robert de Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer as the parents and I was quite 'blown away' by how the film progressed, maybe a little too slapstick but dark and funny too. When I found out it was adapted from a book by a French writer, son of Italian immigrants, I just had to read it to see how such a film came to be. There is a hilarious scene where de Niro as Fred gets to watch then do a Q&A on the film 'Goodfellas' for the local film society (yes, it's also in the book).

Boxers and Saints was most excellent (don't know why there's no combined touchstone for those two). I'm reading his Shadow Hero right now and enjoying it.

I wasn't sure about Lips Touch, but with your recommendation I'll put it on the WL.

114) Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef (2010)
nonfiction, memoir
This was a great read. Mosab Hassan Yousef is the oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef who is one of the founders and leaders of Hamas in the West Bank. He was successfully recruited by Israel's Shin Bet and became one of their most important informers during the time of the Second Intifada. His code name was 'Green Prince'.
In this book, Mosab tells his story and it is quite riveting. He was approached by Shin Bet when he was arrested for possessing firearms when a teenager, he basically rebuffs the first attempt, thinking he'll play along and kill his handler like others had done. He changes his mind after several months in prison where he sees how the Hamas leaders there torture and oppress other prisoners. Also Mosab begins quite early on to being open to studying the Bible with Christian evangalists he comes across in Jerusalem.

Mosab eventually was burned out by his doublelife and around 2005 decided that he was ready to embrace Christianity and wanted the freedom to live his own life. He was given permission to leave for the USA and has lived there since then. Once his past became known around the time he wrote his book, Homeland Security wanted to deport him and only when his Shin Bet handler, 'Captain Loai' broke cover and travelled to the US to be his witness did they stop the deportation proceedings.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/haaretz-exclusive-hamas-founder-s-son-...
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/2.244/the-almost-unbelievable-story-of-israel-s-spy...
A documentary, The Green Prince, has been made and released earlier this year. trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXVVoxeWh60
Mosab returned to Israel for the premiere.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-son-of-hamas-returns-to-tel-aviv/

I read the 2011 kindle edition which contains extra material in the afterword about the fallout from the publication of his memoir. Fascinating stuff.
He was interviewed recently about Hamas on Fox News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMrM2suryn4

115) Gingerbread by Robert Dinsdale (2014)
fiction
Came across this great read on a blog I follow and so pleased that I followed it up. This is one of my memorable reads for the year.
It's set in the forests of Belarus, where a boy and his grandfather end up living in the wild after they go to scatter the boy's mother's ashes by the ruins of the cottage she grew up in. The trees 'reclaim' the grandfather as he reenters his past memories which he retells along with folktales about Baba Yaga until reality and fairytale merge. The Winter King (Stalin) takes the soldier from the Iron Wall to the place of Perpetual Winter where he must escape from The Great Frozen City Called Gulag back to the Baba's House.
The boy's last promise to his mama is to look after his grandfather no matter what, but nobody could have known what that would entail.
The writing is just beautiful, the story clever and at times brutal. There is also lots of cold cold snow...hunger and hunting.

Bob's Book Blog review is stellar: http://bobsbooksnz.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/gingerbread-by-robert-dinsdale/

I've already requested another of Dinsdale's books from the library, Little Exiles.

I had fallen behind on your thread, Kerry, and took my time catching up because I didn't want to miss any of your wonderful reviews.

Some standouts for me were the translated children's fiction, your list about women and Islam, the controversy surrounding The Bunker Diary (about which I hadn't heard), and the fabulous last two reviews: Son of Hamas and Gingerbread, which reminds me a bit of The True Story of Hansel and Gretel.

Hopefully, I'll be able to follow along more timely now. :-)

>70 avatiakh: Thanks for the book bullet Kerry :-)

Hi Stephanie - Son of Hamas is a good and educating read. I especially found interest in his description of life in the prison.

Thought I should do a currently reading post as I seem to have started reading quite a few books these past couple of days.
___
Relish: my life in the kitchen by Lucy Knisley - who could resist a foodie memoir cum graphic novel - enjoying this
Cress by Marissa Meyer - racing through book #3
The Ringed Castle by Dorothy Dunnett Lymond #5 - small font size is cramping my style but I'm determined to get this read in the next couple of weeks
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry - YA zombie series that I've been meaning to read for a couple of years now (kindle read)
____

Duet in Beirut by Mishka Ben-David - disgraced Mossad agent on the loose & determined to assassinate Hezbollah commander in Beirut - gripping stuff, flying through this one as well (kindle read)
Jules et Jim by Henri-Pierre Roche - for my books to film category - at present just reading a chapter daily
Middlemarch by George Eliot - current audiobook but I've taken a break from audio for the past few weeks
Another time, another life by Leif Persson - Swedish crime, just peeked at this so far
Broken Spring: An American-Israeli reporter's close-up view of how Egyptians lost their struggle for freedom by Mark Lavie - an EarlyReviewer book from Gefen Publishing that I'm well into, basically a string of news articles, not an overview but fairly interesting for all that (reading on iPad)

wow! How do you keep on these story lines straight in your head?

Lisa - I give them different priorities, some I focus on, others I'm just beginning and the kindle ones I usually read when I'm out, waiting somewhere or having a coffee break.


116) Cress by Marissa Meyer (2014)
YA scifi/fantasy
This 3rd instalment was a great romp of a read. I'm really enjoying this series. This book introduces our third heroine, Cress, who has been imprisoned in a satellite for seven years and has developed impressive hacking skills as well as grown an extreme amount of hair. Just as she is teaming up with Cinder, Scarlet and crew plans are disrupted by the Lunar Queen's underlings.
Just towards the end we're also introduced to Princess Winter, the slightly crazy stepdaughter of Levana.
I've read up and there is one more book, Winter plus a prequel Fairest which is about Queen Levana's childhood. There are also about 3 short stories available as well. Winter is due to come out November, 2015, and Fairest is due out before that in January.

Here are the links to the Lunar Chronicles short stories -
Prequel to Cinder: http://www.wattpad.com/story/10535656-glitches
Prequel to Scarlet: http://www.wattpad.com/story/10535772-the-queen%27s-army
The Little Android is a retelling of The Little Mermaid, set in the world of The Lunar Chronicles: http://www.wattpad.com/story/11861703-the-little-android

So I take it Cress is a take on Rapunzel? You certainly do have quite a lot of books going at the moment. I vary with that. Sometimes I spread out quite a lot, other times I need to focus more. I think that is the case at the moment. Some books I just let languish forever and ever, like the fairy books, which I think I've left sitting by my bedside for over a year now. Suddenly I get an urge one day and then finish them off, but day to day, not so tempted it seems.

Glad you liked Cress, Kerry. Me, too. It's quite a series she's got going. The glimpse of Princess Winter has me greatly looking forward to the next one. I didn't know about Fairest or the short stories, so I'll keep an eye out for those.

Hi Kerry! Thanks for posting the links to the Lunar Chronicles short stories! I just recently finished Cress. I'm looking forward to Winter, although I'm sad it's so far away!

>70 avatiakh: Ilana, I had so many on the go that I decided to post the list to keep track myself. Like you, I keep a few languishing while I concentrate on others. I like to have a steady read, an audiobook, a kindle read or two, a non fiction and some genre fiction all bubbling away.

>80 jnwelch: Joe, I said to my daughter that Winter reminds me a little of River from Firefly, a little crazy but for a reason.

>81 ChelleBearss: Chelle, I was getting quite confused when looking up the series and decided to post the links to the stories as they aren't available as e-books. Yes, we have too long to wait for Winter though Fairest will be a consolation read in the meantime.
Looking at your baby photos on your thread reminds me that I haven't posted my niece's new arrival. Elias is her first baby and he arrived at 27 weeks.

He's two weeks old here

Stephanie with Elias, 2 weeks old

OH.MY.GOD! Elias is sooooooo teeny and so cute!
Is Elias and mom doing well?

Adorable! And amazingly perfect though tiny. Is this your first niece/nephew? Do they live near you?

They are doing really well, unexpected early arrival but getting lots of support from close family and friends. He was born at 27 weeks, my mistake in previous post.

Lisa, it's my brother's grandson so I'm a great-aunt again, I have 3 greatnephews & 3 greatnieces and another due in a few weeks. They live a couple of hours drive away, I won't see them till we have some family event in the future. My mother is thrilled to be a great grandma again.

I had bought some little board books for the baby, but it just seems such an impractical present to give at this time. I'll probably get them a gift voucher as well.

27 weeks. wow. It's amazing how well preemies can do now with all the amazing medical advances. Stephanie looks great. I hope they are both doing well. Elias may not be up to gnawing on board books just yet, but mom and dad might appreciate the normalcy of the gesture. Besides, it's never too soon to begin reading aloud to a baby. :-)

Very nice reviews and I cought at least 3 BBs while going through your posts. Kindle test chapters are on their way.

OMG. Elias is so tiny I almost didn't see him in the second pic. Is he under the Shirt to get body contact and warmth? And yes, he is amazingly perfect. And Stephanie looks both tired and so happy and in love with him. Wonderful expressive pictures both.

Lisa - He's now breathing on his own, and looks much cuter without the tubes cluttering his face. Agree on the reading to babies.

Nathalie - my kindle is full of test chapters!
Yes, he is getting some skin to skin time. The baby came just a day before her husband was due to fly to Australia to visit his family. Needless to say the trip was postponed.

I feel like summing up all the great dvds I've been watching of late seeing it's the last day of the month.

The Good Wife: I watched season one which I enjoyed but didn't feel compelled to continue, so read the summaries of the following seasons on wikipedia instead.

House of Cards: riveting stuff, season one ends on a cliffhanger so I just had to read what happens next.

Orange is the new black: After a few episodes decided to can this one. The memoir might be an interesting read.

Bluestone 42: UK comedy following soldiers serving in a bomb disposal detachment in Afghanistan.Irreverent fun, very light.

Paradise Postponed (1986): miniseries based on the book by John Mortimer. This was a rather interesting miniseries. A socialist rector leaves everything in a new will to the local conservative MP. His sons try to find out why, one is intent on contesting the will.

Friday Night Dinner: UK comedy starring Tamsin Greig. A Jewish family, the two sons come home each Friday night for dinner. Fairly juvenile but it does grow on you.

Law& Order UK: My current watch. I've seen several episodes on tv, but it's good to be able to watch it from the start. Cast includes two scifi stars - Dr Who's Martha (Freema Agyeman) and Battlestar Galactica's Apollo (Jamie Bamber). Also Ben Daniels who is always great, (plays Adam Galloway the photographer in House of Cards and was also in The State Within).

also lined up is Benedict Cumberbatch in Hawking (2004) a tv movie about the Stephen Hawking and I Am (2010), a documentary.

I tried a few episodes of Orange is the New Black too. Not for me. I am interested in Battlestar Galactica, after learning more about Ronald D. Moore, via Outlander, and in the Hawking films, especially with a new one coming out in November. I hope you review those soon. ;-)

I read my test chapters within the week after ordering them, otherwise I'd forget why I ordered them/ who recommended the book. When I like what I read I either buy immediately or move into a to be bought folder. Exceptions are samples for series or prize books or 1001 listed books, those can spend years unread in the sample folder. :)
I love the test chapter function. Pre-Kindle, when I ordered all books in paper from the UK, I so often didn't know what I'd get and therefore avoided contemporary fiction unless many readers here recommended a book, mostly relying on the "safe" classics from the 1001 list. I hate it however when the test chapter is only introduction or author's bio, as amazon blindly just cuts off the first 5 or 6%.
That mafia book is also available in German. Would be a quicker read but costs more. Well, I'll see.

oh how wonderful that Elias got rid of the tubes now and is breathing on his own.

Edit: bought and started reading Badfellas. Great un-PC fun so far! :)

I think the board books would be a lovely gift. I'm sure though could use a voucher for clothing too as I bet they didn't buy a lot of teeny tiny clothes for that little cutie.

With Chloe she was 7lbs 11oz and she was still too small for the 0-3 months clothes for a while. Newborn clothing fit her but we hadn't bought much because it looked so small! Thankfully we got a few newborn onesies after she was born.

117) Duet in Beirut by Mishka Ben-David (2002 Hebrew) (2013 Eng)
fiction
Ben-David was in the Mossad for more than a decade and wrote this several years after leaving. The manuscript spent a long time under military censorship before being cleared for publication. The book gives a real insight into an operation and also into the lives of the wives of Mossad agents. Also questions the changing perceptions of Mossad in Israeli society.
The story is quite exciting, an ex-Mossad agent has gone missing from his home after a suicide bombing. All the evidence points that he has travelled to Beirut to carry out an assassination of a Hezbollah chief responsible for planning these bombings, an assassination that he failed to complete on a mission a year earlier that cost him his job. Without authorisation his ex-commander chases after him and in the meantime the Mossad must throw together an urgent mission to extricate the two men before an international incident occurs.
The original mission, the inevitable enquiry and the fallout has been covered extensively by the media, they seem to be after Mossad blood.

>89 labfs39: Lisa. Yes, just not my thing at all. I was expecting something a little different.
We are big fans of Battlestar Galactica here and have watched it through a couple of times. Even watched Caprica, the prequel series. I didn't realise it was the same screenwriter for all those.
I watched Hawking last night and it was good. Benedict Cumberbatch was great as Stephen Hawking. It covers Hawking's first two years at Cambridge as a PhD student when the motor neuron disease (ALS) progresses so quickly through his body but his mind is soaring with all the academic debate and he makes his first breakthrough which leads to his PhD dissertation.
The diagnosis wasn't good at the time and he wasn't expected to live past 23 or 24.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stephen-hawking-als/

>90 Deern: Nathalie. I confess to not having read a single kindle preview chapter and now have my device full of them. I've slowed down considerably on doing that. I just have too much to read at present.
I hope you like Badfellas, it's pure entertainment and the movie got a Hollywood treatment that made me want to seek out the original material.

>91 ChelleBearss: Elias was 2lbs 9ozs which was a good size for being born so early.
They grow so quickly but it is also so lovely to see babies wearing clothes that fit them snugly.

I'll look for those on Netflix. Since I'm not reading, I might as well try to focus on some good movies.

>93 labfs39: Don't go for Caprica till you've finished Battlestar Galactica, it answers so many questions that BG brings up. I'd also suggest Prisoners of War if you don't mind subtitles, it's a great drama.

September reading plans:

I've posted current reads a couple of days ago -
Relish: my life in the kitchen by Lucy Knisley - foodie memoir cum graphic novel
The Ringed Castle by Dorothy Dunnett Lymond #5
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry - YA zombie quartet #1
Jules et Jim by Henri-Pierre Roche
Middlemarch by George Eliot - current audiobook
Another time, another life by Leif Persson - Swedish crime
Broken Spring: An American-Israeli reporter's close-up view of how Egyptians lost their struggle for freedom by Mark Lavie - an EarlyReviewer book

also reading
Blood Family by Anne Fine - YA was on the Carnegie Medal 2014 shortlist

and hoping to finish my category challenge with
Making David into Goliath: how the world turned against Israel by Joshua Muravchik
The Middle East by Bernard Lewis
Someone to Run With by David Grossman
The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis
Ole: capturing the passion of bullfighters and aficiandos in the 21st century by contributor Alexander Fiske-Harrison (website: http://bullfightbook.com/)

also Suicide and Mentil Illness theme read for Sept/Oct
Girl, interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

also September Sequels & Series along with TIOLI:
The Valley of Bones - Anthony Powell book #7 - a reread to get me back into the series
The Soldier's Art - Anthony Powell book #8
Silvertongue by Charlie Fletcher - book #3

plus misc. library books:
The Red Suitcase by Jill Harris - YA timeslip
The shadow hero by Gene Luen Yang - graphic novel
The universe versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence
Little Exiles by Robert Dinsdale

>88 avatiakh: Our favourite TV series of late has been Orphan Black, which we've been catching up with on Netflix. Well worth a watch if you haven't come across it already.

>96 SandDune: Rhian, I'm in the library queue for that one and looking forward to it. I've been watching Suits lately, an entertaining series set in a NYC law firm, less intense than The Good Wife.

Just saw this on FB and really liked it, seen similar in the past.

Ah yes, very cool.

118) Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley (2013)
graphic memoir

I enjoyed reading this, a memoir of Knisley's childhood growing up with foodie parents. Her mother worked in catering, farmers markets and NYC delis and Knisley has a delightful humorous approach. What didn't work were the actual illustrations of the food. Thankfully the book has plenty of colour and nonfood illustrations to carry the weaker side, I'm just not drawn to this type of food illustration. I think I've had her other memoir, French Milk out from the library before, but didn't get around to reading it. She's a skilled artist and can tell a good yarn.
You can see more of her work here: http://www.lucyknisley.com/

119) Blood Family by Anne Fine (2013)
YA fiction
Another good novel from Fine, this made this year's Carnegie Medal shortlist. The book is about Eddie who is rescued from a life of confinement and abuse along with his mother when he is around 7 yrs of age. His mother has been repeatedly beaten to a pulp by her horrendous partner, Eddie hasn't set foot outside the flat in the 4 years they have lived there. For the first number of years Eddie makes great progress with foster parents and then his adoptive family, but an unlikely incident shatters his fragile psyche.
I liked this even though the subject matter is a bit grim.

Hi Kerry, I keep on dropping by silently, so just though I'd say hello at least. I know I've said this a few times already, but I really enjoyed discovering and then plunging headlong into Aya's world last month. It came it just at the right time for me, with migraine headaches pretty bad and no concentration available for more demanding literature, and reading her on my balcony on warm summer days was the perfect form of escapism. My only regret now is I can't get the animated movie from the library, and they've turned down my purchase suggestion. As a last resort, I'll see if some intra-library loan is possible, because it's too expensive to purchase for myself. But best of all of course would be if they'd revive the series! :-)

My wife enjoyed Relish too, Kerry. She's not much of a graphic novel/illustrated book reader, but this one worked for her.

>102 Smiler69: Ilana, you might find you can watch quite a bit of Aya on youtube maybe? I haven't checked it out as the series is in French. I haven't come across anything comparable to read either, will keep looking. I find carefully chosen YA or a crime novel good forms of lighter fare.

>103 jnwelch: Yeah, as a graphic memior it had the right balance of humour in it. I'm going to have another go at French Milk as it's set in Paris.


120) Broken Spring: An American-Israeli reporter's close-up view of how Egyptians lost their struggle for freedom by Mark Lavie (2014)
Early Reviewer / nonfiction

This felt like a string of interesting blog posts about the current political climate and realities of life in Cairo for a foreign resident. Lavie's home is in Israel and he took a 2 year assignment from 2011 to be placed in Cairo and report from there. The chapters, while a bit haphazad, are quite illuminating and he often compares life in Cairo to life in Israel, I especially took interest in the chapters about women and how his wife got on when she came for an extended visit. Towards the end the focus shifts a bit to the last Jews in Egypt, Israeli politics and the Middle East in general. Overall Egypt's biggest problem is economic not political.
I learnt quite a bit from reading this though it is more a teaser read, one that leads you on to other books to find out more.
Books Lavie recommended:
Fort of Nine Towers by Qais Akbar Omar - a memoir of growing up in Afghanistan
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit by Lucette Lagnado - Jewish family in Egypt & in exile
The Dark Defile: Britain's Catastrophic Invasion of Afghanistan, 1838-1842 by Diana Preston

Egypt books that I have on my tbr pile:
Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to the Muslim Brotherhood by Tarek Osman
biographies on Sadat and Nasser

Egypt fiction I could be reading:
The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell - read 1/4
Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo trilogy - read 1/3
The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany
The Cheapest Nights by Yusuf Idris

>46 avatiakh: I have wondered about the Afghan biscuit too. They are very good :)

Incidentally, I also really like the Belgium biscuit.

^ I have been waiting for ages to read the Cairo trilogy, I have the 2nd and 3rd in the series but cannot find a copy (that is to my liking, and the right publisher's edition) of the 1st!

Megan, I read The Cleansing of Mahommed by Chris McCourt a couple of years ago which is about an Afghan immigrant to the Australian outback, set around the start of World War One and based on a true story. Apparantly they had a lot of Afghans who worked with the camels around Alice Springs etc. Anyway it is thought that possibly the biscuits were named for these Afghan immigrants.

Yeah, I like Belgium biscuits too.

I've read the first Cairo book by Mahfouz, I think I got the book out from the library and haven't moved on to the others in the trilogy. I'll probably tackle the remaining books in the Durrell quartet first as I own those.

Hi Kerry! How are you? How is Middlemarch coming on audio? I hope you are enjoying it. I am going to be on vacation for 2 weeks, which is going to hurt my S & S reading. I still hope to get to Days of Blood & Starlight.

Hi Mark - going slowly on Middlemarch, I'm having a go slow on audiobooks at present. I might switch to reading the book as I am enjoying the characters.
Enjoy your vacation, I must come over to your thread to say something. S & S reading will always wait.

Kerry, give Ancillary Justice a try. Some of us liked it better than Richard does.

>88 avatiakh: Kerry, you are in for a treat with season 2 of House of Cards. I'm anxiously waiting for season 3.

Sorry to hear that Orange is the New Black didn't work for you. It took me a few episodes to get into and then I binge watched the rest of season 1 & 2. Although I admit to not caring for Piper very much at all.

>109 ronincats: Roni, I have AJ here but also lots of other books from the library. I will give it a try as I liked the premise.

>110 AuntieClio: Thanks for the reminder to put in a library request for season 2 House of Cards. I'm now #59 in the queue which isn't too bad. Currently enjoying Suits and have season 2 lined up.

The other day I saw Karen Healey tweet about finishing a great YA with lots of literary referencing so requested from the library The Lit Report by Canadian, Sarah H. Harvey.

It's my thingaversary in a couple of days, 7 years and 8 books:
I've received a few books in the past week that I'll count towards this, our local chain bookstore has been selling off most of its stock as they restructure (more puzzles, jigsaws, gift items, 40% less books than before...sigh) and I've been picking up loads of great reads these past few weeks at 70-90% discount:

__
____

The girl with all the gifts by M.R. Carey - dystopian scifi, seen lots of positive reviews
The zone of interest by Martin Amis - his latest, BD purchase, interesting reviews
Einstein Dreams by Alan Lightman - modern classic, looks really good
Goddess by Kelly Gardiner - her latest, kindle, historical fiction
The World's War by David Olusoga - kindle, book tie-in to recent BBC2 documentary: The World's War: forgotten soldiers of the Empire
We die alone by David Howarth - used, nonfiction, recommended by Lisa
The dream palace of the Arabs by Fouad Ajami - used, nonfiction
The Baader-Meinhof Complex by Stefan Aust - used, nonfiction

Happy upcoming Thingaversary Kerry and a Merry Bookhaul! :-)

Sorry about the bookstore restructuring. Sign of the times I guess. Our big chain does similar. Lots of gifts and knick-knacks and things for the home. Don't know what the percentage of books is—still high, but their promotions centre on lots of other stuff usually.

I loved Einstein's Dreams, Kerry. I hope it fits the bill for you.

Happy Thingaversary in a couple of days. We'll be traveling, so I'll give you my congratulations in advance.

Hope you like We Die Alone!

Happy Thingaversary, Kerry!

>112 Smiler69: Indeed a sign of the times, what annoys is that the displays when you enter no longer feature just books and it is hard to see them for all the junk. I would avoid the bookstore only that it is a big store located right beside my library and the in-store cafe is one of my regular haunts. I remember when it first opened and was 80% books.

Another sign of the times here is that many of the big name publishers are consolidating their head offices with Australia, running a smaller 'branch' here in Auckland and book distribution is also now done from Australia as well.

>113 jnwelch: Thanks for the push for Einstein's Dreams, I'll probably read it fairly soon, just need to get my category challenge finished.

>114 labfs39: I'm also keeping We die alone near the top of my tbr pile, to pick up before the end of the year i'm hoping.

>115 richardderus: Thanks Richard.


121) Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry (2010)
YA
First in the Benny Imura series, and one I've been meaning to read since it first came out. This is a dystopian zombie series and while I'm not really a fan of zombie stories I like to keep up to date with what's out there. I found this one to be a strong read with interesting characters and enough action to appease a teen audience. I'll probably pick up the next book in the series.

>116 avatiakh: one of the nice things here, so fare all the bookshops seem to be dominated by 'books' - shock horror not junk .... quite like that many have inshore cafes as well .....

found this great second bookstore which I visited instead of another castle yesterday (barter books)

>117 roundballnz: Hi Alex. Edinburgh is quite a bookish place if I remember rightly. When we were there we went to The Elephant House, one of the cafes that JK Rowling had hung out in, though not the original cafe as that has long gone. Keep enjoying yourself.


122) Another time, another life by Leif G.W. Persson (2003, Swedish) (2011 Eng)
fiction
This is the second book in Persson's Fall of the Welfare State Trilogy, I didn't realise that it was part of a series when I first picked it up. The plot pivoted on the Baader- Meinhof group's storming of the West German embassy in Stockholm in 1975 and the future events involving Swedish collaborators and an unsolved murder from 1989. Very masterful, detailed crime novel. Definitely going back to read the other two books.

I'm not sure how many have been translated as I see that the book is also part of the Johansson and Jarnebring series. Johansson and Jarnebring are friends, police officers on different career paths.

From amazon: Leif GW Persson has chronicled the political and social development of modern Swedish society in his awardwinning novels for more than three decades. Persson has served as an adviser to the Swedish Ministry of Justice and is Sweden’s most renowned psychological profiler. He is a professor at Sweden’s National Police Board and is considered the country’s foremost expert on crime. He lives in Stockholm.

My father's arms are a boat text by Stein Erik Lunde, illustrated by Øyvind Torseter (2008 Norway) (2012 Eng)
picturebook
I saw this talked about on Brainpickings website (site is down at present) - http://www.brainpickings.org/2013/04/12/my-fathers-arms-are-a-boat/
and the cut out artwork looked really interesting and it is. The story is simply about a loving relationship between father and son and hisquestions about the animals and birds outside. I love the illustrations and will definitely look out for more of Torseter's work.


Nomination of Øyvind Torseter for the HCA Medal for illustration: “The pictures in his books normally appear as illustrations to the text, often authored by himself, but he also plays and experiments with perspective, cut-out drawings and other effects, before photographing it all and editing it with computer-assisted graphics tools. His comic books are influenced by Surrealism and some other works show traces, hints and tributes to art, literature, film noir from the 1950s and other expressions. Torseter has also decorated several public buildings, and his art can thus be found in many places in Norway.”

more images here: http://deti.libfl.ru/en/illustrator/torseter

OOOOooooooooooooooOOOOOOOooooooooo! My Father's Arms Are A Boat is gorgeous!

123) The Red Suitcase by Jill Harris (2014)
YA fiction
A good read for younger teens. Quite a lot is going on in this novel, Ruth's family return to New Zealand after being involved in a terrorist bombing in Indonesia where they had been living, her problems settling in to her new school, auditioning for choir, bullying and a time slip back to World War 2. Still it all comes together fairly well and each component was strong. I especially liked the singing and choir sections, I haven't come across that subject matter in a YA story recently. The time slip was of interest as well and I liked that Harris managed to add an important Maori component to the story. Also good was a true friendhip with an older boy.
Jill Harris has written 4 other novels, 2 at least have been well received and I really should pick up Sil which is about a tui.
At first I thought this was a selfpublished book, though with a good editor, Mary McCallum, but then found the website for Makaro Press and see that it is McCallum's baby. I've already requested another of their books from the library, The Book of Hat. The young writer, Harriet Rowland, died from cancer only two days after her book launch. The book is an edited selection from the blog she kept about her treatment, life and everything else.
http://thebookofhat.com/

>120 richardderus: He's certainly talented.

What Richard said, Kerry. Love that illustration. Stein Erik Lunde is new to me! and I'll look for more of his.

>118 avatiakh: Another time, another life now that is a Book bullet ... thanks I think :)

Alex, the Persson book was good. I found the political background interesting reading.


124) The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang & Sonny Liew (2014)
graphic novel
Back in 1944 cartoonist Chu Hing created a Chinese superhero called the Green Turtle for an American comic. The GT defended China against the invading Japanese Army, his face was never seen. He lasted 5 issues and so his back story of how he became a superhero was never told or known.
Here Yang and Liew have recreated the Green Turtle and told his story in a very satisfying read. I love the GT's mother!
More info on the background to the GN here: http://geneyang.com/the-shadow-hero

Tomorrow I'm going on a week's holiday in the Bay of Islands and probably won't get onto the internet much while I'm away.

Persson... is Sweden’s most renowned psychological profiler

Interesting. His work must add authenticity to his characters.

Your review of The Red Suitcase is intriguing.

Have fun on your unplugged vacation!

Have a wonderful time Kerry!

I somehow lost your thread..... don't know how that happens..... and I've done my best to catch up. You've done some amazing reading - the Chesler looks fascinating and rather scary to contemplate.

Have a great holiday!

>127 labfs39: >128 Smiler69: I'm back after a relaxing week offline.
>129 sibylline: Hi Lucy - i've lost a few threads this year and then suddenly theypop up again. The Chesler was an interesting read.

I'll load up a few photos over the weekend, we had a lovely time exploring some quiet corners of NZ's rural north.

The first three books I read mainly for my books to film category challenge and I found each one fairly unappealing for various reasons. Luckily each one was a quick read.


125) Jules et Jim by Henri-Pierre Roche (1953)
fiction
Semi-autobiographical novel set around WW1 Europe, mainly Paris. It's about two male friends, bohemian types who both fall in love with the same girl, Kate, who is fairly amoral and borderline crazy. Her marriage to one doesn't rule out an affair, even living with the other and others. I didn't really go for this but I understand that the film is better and now I have read the book I'll enjoy the movie at least.


126) The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis (1973)
fiction
Martin Amis's first novel did not appeal at all. Basically a young man on the eve of his 20th birthday looks back on his seduction of Rachel, a young woman of his acquaintance. A sexist read, that I disliked though it is probably more a product of its times than anything else. I have to admit that I thought this book had a completely different plot so had it all wrong and still have the film to watch. I offloaded my copy to a free library at the town I was staying in.


127) Girl, interrupted by Susanna Kaysen (1993)
nonfiction
I saw the film back around the time it came out and always meant to read the book. This was an extremely quick read, one that mildly interesting and autobiographical. Just didn't really cover enough ground, though it was interesting how easily Kaysen was committed and how overmedicated the patients were.
I've read a couple of excellent novels recent years set in mental institutions that I much prefer - The Elected Member & parts of Brothers both by Bernice Rubens and less recently Adam Rapp's Under the Wolf, Under the Dog.


128) In pale battalions by Robert Goddard (1988)
fiction
A light relief read to recover from the relationships and mad people from the previous three books. Thanks to Suzanne for recommending Goddard's books, this was a great yarn with lots of twists. An elderly woman reveals the truth about her family history to her daughter...it all started on the Western Front during WW1.

The Hole by Øyvind Torseter (2013)
picture book
Translated from Norwegian and a beautifully published edition in English by Enchanted Lion Books this sophisticated picturebook comes with a diecut small hole in the exact centre of the book. Every page features a drawing that brings an awareness of the hole and what it is and isn't. The story starts with a 'man' moving in to a new home and discovering a hole in the wall, but the hole moves. He successfully catches it in a box and takes it in to be monitored by the appropriate authorities. There is minimal text along with clever illustration and some zany ideas. Entertaining.

More about the book at brainpickings: http://www.brainpickings.org/2013/09/16/the-hole-enchanted-lion/

Welcome back Kerry, your absence was noticed and you were missed, but I'm glad you enjoyed your time off. I believe Jules et Jim is among my mum's favourite movies, which doesn't mean the book is necessarily that great. You might want to give it a try, though I say this without having really watched it myself, other than a snippet here and there. Maybe I'll follow my own recommendation though. I remember watching Girl, Interrupted when it came out in cinemas too, but don't feel the need to follow up with the book. I happen on plenty of books that deal with patients in mental health facilities in one way or another, and then have my own experiences and memories to keep me warm *says she, slightly ironically*. I wrote a short story once based on a visit to a mental ward. Here's the link, if you're curious about it: http://fromsmilerwithlove.com/2007/10/28/crazy-people-like-me/

Ilana - the book I read was a Penguin modern classic edition and it had an interesting afterword by Fraincois Truffaut. I'm actually looking forward to the film.
Girl, interrupted has been on my 'must read sometime' list and the Mental Illness theme read just fitted along with my books to film category. Luckily it's a quick read. I'll check out your link.

I've just had a relaxing week in Northland based in the Bay of Islands. I managed to pick up a few books from various places. The first was unexpected when we visited a cheesemaker in a rural setting. His main product was gouda but he also made white cheeses and had a small display of used books for sale at the entrance to the little shop. His wife rushed in to see which books I'd chosen so they probably don't sell that many books each week.

Mauthausen: the history of a death camp by Evelyn Le Chene - I picked up this one first
The birthday king by Gabriel Fielding - set in Germany during WW2
The apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler - set in 1940s Montreal

Paihia, the small resort town we stayed in had a free library in an old red telephone box so I exchanged The Rachel Papers and In pale battalions for -
Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths - a Ruth Galloway novel to try

we made two visits to the used bookstore in Kerikeri, Golly's Little Bookshop:
the first visit I got 2 Robert Goddard novels - In pale battalions and Days without number
and then:
The seventy great mysteries of the ancient world: Unlocking the Secrets of Past Civilizations by Brian M. Fagan - my son has loved dipping into this
Invitation to the dance: a handbook to ANthony Powell's A dance to the music of time by Hilary Spurling - I'm halfway through Powell's ADTTMOT so this is timely for keeping up with who is who.
Blockade by Derek Hansen - like his books, he lives in Australia after growing up in NZ and born in the UK.
The Pageant of the Years: an autobiography by Philip Gibbs - renown journalist

Terrific haul, Kerry! Blockade piques my interest after your description of Derek Hansen.

Thanks Richard - I just added photos to my post.
I loved his A man you can bank on - hilarious and I've read the first in his Lunch with... series.

129) you will never find me by Robert Wilson (2014)
fiction
Second in the Charlie Boxer series. After a stint in the military and then the police Boxer is now a kidnap consultant. This time it's different, it isn't a kidnap but a runaway, his own 17 yr old daughter. It seems that she's hit the party scene in Madrid. Meanwhile ex-wife Mercy, a policewoman who also deals with kidnaps must cope with the missing daughter and a kidnap case involving a young Russian boy. Entertaining & brutal reading.

Sadly, Robert Wilson's wife who worked on all his books, helping with research and the editing process, has died from leukemia, diagnosed just days after the manuscript was sent off.

>134 avatiakh: How lovely! Books at a cheesemaker's, books in a phone booth and finally books in a bookstore where you'd expect to find them! :)

Just a warning re. Invitation to the Dance: when you read an entry on a character, make sure to stop reading immediately when you have caught up with him (reached the book in the series you're currently reading). The entries tell the full story of each character until the end - so the book is comprehensive as it should be, but it can so easily happen that some side character is mentioned, you don't remember him/her well from 3 books ago, and then the entry might casually say something "met Nick at XYZ in 19xx (book title), meets him again in..... (your currently read book), is later married to (insert imoprtant character) in (future book) and dies in this or that way in (another future book)." or sth like "marries xyz after abc's death" (and you didn't know yet that abc is going to die). Especially in the shorter entries your eyes 'can't help reading' all the information. It's easier to stop in time with characters like Widmerpool whose entries cover several pages. I caught far more spoilers than wanted, some important deaths among them, and had to put it aside until I was done with the series.

Thanks for the warning. I went to the back of Invitation to the Dance and read the recaps of the first 6 books andrealisedthat I had stopped there so after a 3 year break I'm starting off on #7.

I've just watched a wonderful 3 part BBC documentary, Art of Spain, which I picked up for a couple of $$ when I passed through Hong kong earlier this year. It's a fantastic tour of Spain and her 1000 years of art and culture. The last part starts with Goya and goes on to Gaudi, Picasso, Miro and Dali then on to filmakers and modern architecture. He finishes at Ysios Bodega in the Rioja region, designed by Santiago Calatrava.

http://buildipedia.com/aec-pros/featured-architecture/santiago-calatravas-ysios-...

video link: http://art.docuwat.ch/videos/art-of-spain/art-of-spain-01-moorish-south/?channel...

Our vacations coincided, Kerry. Welcome back and glad you found some good books.

Hi Roni - I had a lovely time.

Boatshed at Rawene, we drove over to the Hokianga a couple of times, once to Kohukohu and once to Rawene, there is a car ferry between the two.
We spent a lovely day in tiny Russell (Kororāreka) which was NZ's first capital back in the 1840s, it was also known as the "Hell Hole of the Pacific", a bit like America's Wild West. Only about 1000 people live here and access is by car ferry or a long winding drive or a 10min ferry ride from Paihia.

'...by 1840 Kororareka was the largest European settlement in the country, by which time it had become an important whaling, sealing and mercantile centre where hundreds of ships called each year.
Despite the efforts of the mission stations nearby it was very much a lawless frontier town, a jumble of Maori and European architecture jammed with gun-toting Maori and Pakeha, crowded with grog-shops and crammed with Maori ship-girls and adventurers of every breed. Its licentiousness was probably exaggerated by the missionaries, but the town certainly included the flotsam and jetsam of the world and well-earned its unsavoury title of 'Hell-hole of the Pacific'. Felton Mathew (1801-47), the country's first Surveyor-General, arrived with Captain Hobson and reported that Kororareka was 'a vile hole, full of impudent, half-drunken people'.'

We visited the Pompallier Mission and Tannery in Russell - 'a saintly enclave in the most sinful site of the southern seas, where Catholic brothers translated religious texts into Maori, printed them, and bound them into beautiful books'
from website: Pompallier’s printery is New Zealand’s only surviving pioneer printery and tannery. Here French Catholics translated Church Latin into te reo Māori at the time the country was becoming a British colony.

'skiving' - the easiest job at a tannery - Tracey, our guide, was excellent - 2 wks later and I still remember her name

working the leather in the tannery

Bay leaves placed in books to deter insects and impart scent


sewing the pages

adding a leather cover

Long Bay at Russell

outside the Russell museum

Beach near the entrance to Hokianga Harbour

interior of the Boatshed Cafe, on our second visit we sat outside on the deck over the water

October Plans:
Hoping to just take it slow through to the end of the year. My plan is to finish a few nonfictions that I've started.
I hope to finish The Ringed Castle by the end of September and after that I'll just take it easy and read some crime fiction.
I've only added one book to the Oct TIOLI challenges - Winter in Wartime by Jan Terlouw which is a children's book and I'm keen to read it as I have the film ready and waiting.
My current kindle read is set in 1940s Baghdad, The Dove Flyer by Eli Amir and about the expulsion of the Jewish community
My audoibook is still Middlemarch and happily I can now switch to the Juliet Stephenson narrated version. I haven't been listening very much at all lately but have decided to take a long walk each day just to listen.

Your travels and new skills are as appealing as always, Kerry!

Impressed with the idea of a free library in a telephone box - the mind boggles. Hope you have a lovely week my dear.

Hello Kerry,

just stopping to say Hello! Loved browsing through your thread and found lots of interesting BB's and books I read myself. Very much enjoyed your photos, especially the one of Elias. He looks absolutely cute and hope he is still doing well. You definitely, can count me again as one of your regular stalkers. :)

Nice photos and description of your holiday, Kerry!

Nice holiday pics of your travels .......

Some nice pictures there, Kerry!

Looks like an interesting and relaxing trip, Kerry. My favorite kind. Thanks for the pics.

130) The Ringed Castle by Dorothy Dunnett (1971)
fiction
This is Lymond Chronicles #5 and is set mostly in Moscow and London. I started reading in March and kept putting it aside so this was a fairly patchy read. I find the size of the font a tad too small on the editions of the Lymond books that I have and I always seem to struggle a little to read them at night. Anyway once I got going this was a good read though I liked both book 3 & 4 more due to their Mediterranean settings. This penultimate instalment sets us up for the last book and a big adventure as Lymond finally confronts his enemies. While I find Lymond a great character I have even more respect for young Philippa who has grown into an enchanting and resourceful young woman.

This morning I picked up a paperback copy of The spirit of Venice: from Marco Polo to Casanova for $2, my local bookstore had a trolley loaded up with slightly damaged books and this one looked interesting.

From the library I picked up a beautiful foodie book, Charcutería: The Soul of Spain, which explains the various meat products from Spain.

In the mail this last week a couple of used paperbacks:
The angst-ridden Executive - Manuel Vazquez Montalban - Pepe Carvalho #3
To Room Nineteen - Doris Lessing -20 Short Stories

>144 PaulCranswick: The free library had a pretty lousy selection of books, a lot in either Dutch or German, the rest were fairly lame. The one I got had been donated by a local business.

>145 drachenbraut23: Hi Bianca, nice to see you after so long. Little Elias is doing really well, I should post an update photo.

>146 kidzdoc: Thanks Darryl - we had a lovely time

>147 roundballnz: Thanks Alex - I hope your own trip went well.

>148 ronincats: Roni - thanks

>149 jnwelch: Hi Joe - yes, relaxing

In another effort to read from my tbr pile, I returned a pile of library books last month including Little Exiles by Robert Dinsdale. i've read several books about Britain's forced child migration, both fiction and nonfiction and didn't feel up to continuing another knowing that there would be a fair bit of child abuse in the coming pages.

Currently I'm reading some books I've been meaning to cross off my tbr list for a long while and also picking up the Bernard Lewis nonfiction again.
When God was a rabbit by Sarah Winman - this was popular a couple of years ago
Winter in Wartime by Jan Trelouw - made into a film a few years ago
Bartolomé: The Infanta's Pet by Rachel van Kooij - picked this up in London last yr

and my last book for the category challenge
The Middle East by Bernard Lewis

131) Bartolomé: The Infanta's Pet by Rachel van Kooij (2003/German) (2012/English)
older children's fiction
I enjoyed this story even though poor Bartolomé suffers for much of it. Set in 17th century Spain, Bartolomé is not like his brothers and sisters, he has been born into a deformed and twisted body, he's also a dwarf. When his father moves the family to Madrid, Bartolomé is seen by the young Infanta princess and she wants him to be her human pet dog. The book covers the period of the painting of Velaquez's Las Meninas masterpiece in 1656.
Bartolomé is an inspiring little character, his soul sparkles through the great indignities he has to suffer, and one is relieved that he finds friends among the apprentices in Velaquez's studio where he is taken to have his dog face painted on every few days.
I was reminded of the book Wonder and also a little of Freak the mighty but here we are seeing prejudice and bullying of the disabled 17th century style.
The translator is Siobhán Parkinson, I've read a few of her books so was a pleasant surprise to see her name here. Rachel van Kooij is a special needs teacher who lives in Austria.


In the book, Velaquez refuses to paint Bartolomé in costume, instead he paints him as the child Infanta 'sees' him.

_
132) Winter in Wartime by Jan Terlouw (1972)
YA fiction
My copy of the book has such an ugly old cover that I've had to put up the re-issue cover that came out a couple of years ago alongside the film. This is a great story following 15 yr old Michael's life in a Dutch village during the final year of Nazi occupation. Michael is thrust into looking after a downed English pilot, injured and hidden in the nearby woods. He can't ask anyone for help as who can be trusted what with a recent betrayal in the local resistance. Terlouw based the book on his own experiences of the war. I've been meaning to pick up this book for a long while as I want to watch the film and now I finally can.
The book won a Golden Griffen in Holland and is included in 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up which is a wonderful resource.
I read Terlouw's How to become king earlier this year which was a great read and I mentioned then that Terlouw had an interesting career as a nuclear physicist and also politician.

133) When God was a rabbit by Sarah Winman (2011)
fiction
I got this soon after it came out when the book was quite a popular read. I quite enjoyed it. Ellie tells the story of her childhood and we follow her and her close relationship with her older brother into adulthood. There is a hidden sadness following Ellie and her brother through the book though this is balanced by a likeable cast of older characters.

Hi Kerry! Just checking in. Hope you had a fine weekend. How is Middlemarch coming?

Hi Mark - taking Middlemarch rather slowly though the good news is that I've been able to switch to the Juliet Stephenson narrated version. I have been guilty of relistening to entire passages several times over as I try to refind my place so there are some parts I'm extremely familiar with.

Hello Kerry,

just see that you finished and enjoyed When God was a rabbit another one of those books which has been gathering dust on my TBR. I received this as a gift when it initial came out, but for some reason haven't read it yet.

>152 avatiakh: Oh, that one sounds interesting, especially since that is one of my all-time favorite paintings... Thanks for the review!

Lovely photos of yr. trip - the cheese place and the tannery especially. It makes such a difference, doesn't it, when the tour guide is truly into the subject?

I'm in the middle of Bitter Greens and enjoying it.

>157 drachenbraut23: Hi Bianca - it is a worthwhile read, just not a great one. Gathering dust is what a lot of my books are doing, I have so many great books that I'm leaving languishing on Mt tbr.

>158 scaifea: Amber - I noticed another children's book that features the painting, I, Juan de Pareja. It won the Newbery in 1966. I'm going to try to read it in the next few weeks.

>159 sibylline: Lucy - thanks. Yes, she was very enthusiastic about the history and it was all very interesting. I must read some more NZ historical fiction.

>160 ronincats: Roni - oh, I'm just 100pgs into it, on a bit of a go slow with my reading. I'm also enjoying it and will probably put aside my current nonfiction read for a few days so I can concentrate on BG.

Well, I'm currently slogging through Bernard Lewis's The Middle East: a brief history of the last 2,000 years and have hit a particularly dry bit about state and economy so will put the book aside for a few days and concentrate on some fiction.

My current reads which I'm enjoying are Bitter Greens, The Dove Flyer (e-book) and Middlemarch (audio).

Yesterday I visited a couple of nearby charity shops that I've been trying to avoid for a few weeks and chose a good day for the visit as some reviewer had dropped off a few 'advanced reading copies' (ARCs) of some fairly recent publications. I also visited one ofmy favourite local cafes that I don't get to that often, The Apothecary Cafe.

My book haul:
Upstairs at the Party by Linda Grant (ARC)
Shame and the captives by Thomas Keneally (ARC)
Their faces were shining by Tim Wilson (NZ writer)
The foreign correspondent by Alan Furst
Holy smoke by Tonino Benacquista - I really liked his Badfellas
Bosnia : a short history by Noel Malcolm

Hi Kerry! Just popping in. Nice book haul! I hope Middlemarch is going down a bit easier.

>161 avatiakh: Oh, yes! I, Juan de Pareja is excellent! I suspect that you'll enjoy it a great deal.

The truth is a cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman illustrated by Eddie Campbell (2014)
illustrated story

Gaiman wrote this a while back and it was included in an anthology, Stories: all new tales as well as performed at a spoken gig at the Sydney Opera House with orchestra.
Anyway he loved the illustrations that Eddie Campbell had done for the live gig and eventually a book was born. The story is great, dark and menacing accompanied by the lush, moody illustrations. I liked it far more than I first thought I would.

134) Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth (2012)
fiction
This was a delightful read, a mix of historical fiction and fairytale retelling. Forsyth covers the life of Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (Mademoiselle de La Force) who led an interesting life at the court of Louis XIV and also wrote the story of Persinette which became known as Rapunzel. I loved the mix of the two stories and am keen to read Forsyth's The Wild Girl which I picked up when it first came out and made me aware of Forsyth's work. I'd also like to read some of her YA books.
From wikipedia: She is currently undertaking a doctorate in fairy-tale retelling at the University of Technology, Sydney. Her novel Bitter Greens was written as the creative component of her doctorate, and she is now writing a theoretical examination of Rapunzel.

I just picked up the first book in Forsyth's The Witches of Eileanan series for free on kindle at amazon australia. I've noticed that they offer quite a few first in an older series for free. I got the first Paul Cleave crime thriller for free a couple of weeks back when I was looking for info on his latest book.

>164 msf59: Mark - I'm over the halfway point in Middlemarch and enjoying it very much apart from all the twists and turns that leave my favourite couple still far apart.

>165 scaifea: Amber, I've had a copy of I, Juan de Pareja lying around here since forever, but now will pick it up soon as I finally realise the significance of who Juan de Pareja is.

Reading progress:
I've got four books I'm currently reading -
The Dove Flyer is an autobiographical novel set in a Jewish neighbourhood of late 1940s Baghdad. The boy's neighbour keeps a large number of doves on the roof and it makes a great retreat for the menfolk to talk politics while he flies his doves.
The Middle East by Bernard Lewis - nonfiction history that I'm finding a bit slow at present. It's my final book for my catagory challenge and one I've been putting aside all year.

Middlemarch by George Eliot - is my current audiobook for a long while now, i've picked up the pace as I restarted going to the gym after a long absence. So I'm getting right into the book as well as working my body back into shape after resting up for a bit too long.

Last night I picked up The Rider and His Horse by Erik Christian Haugaard, a children's novel about the fall of Masada, and read the first chapter. It's been on my tbr pile for a couple of years and one I wanted to read since finishing The Dovekeepers.
So mentioning two books with doves in the title brings to mind The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda which I read last year. Set in Barcelona during the time of the civil war, the doves came to almost take over the home of the main character. Very vivid memories of reading this part of the book.

I'm glad to see you loved Bitter Greens, as I spent one of my Audible credits on it this month. I somehow took notice of it among the new arrivals, which I often keep an eye on, and then suddenly a bunch of people started listing it on the TIOLI wiki this month and Suzanne was positively raving about it. I'll try to make room for it sooner than later, but then I've scheduled quite a lot of stuff this month, including Hilary Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety, which is quite close to Middlemarch in length.

Bravo on returning to the gym. I'm sure your body will thank you and now you've got your listening time back too. After my latest bout of back troubles, I think I'll take it as a serious wake up call that I need to start exercising regularly as well to prevent this sort of thing from recurring. I've got enough chronic pain to deal with as it is!

Back to Middlemarch, I really loved that book and will definitely want to reread it. Hope it ends up being a good experience for you too, though am worried it will suffer by virtue of it having dragged on for too long.

Hi Ilana - I'll probably make a start on A place of greater safety once I get my nonfiction read done and dusted. I hope you enjoy Bitter Greens, I went for it after picking up The Wild Girl and couldn't decide which to read first but this month's TIOLI challenge fixed that dilemma.
I'm fine with Middlemarch as I relistened to the same bits over and over near the beginning so know it well rather than having it drag out too finely.
I stopped going to the gym after my hip started to play up. I took it slow for a while but it seemed pointless as I was going there and not doing enough to make it worth the effort. Now that I'm several kgs heavier again, I realise that it's probably better for my body to carry less weight and be as fit and flexible as I can. So I'm slowly increasing the intensity and always being aware of possible stress to my hip. I loved the essentrics stretch classes but my current gym doesn't do them so I'll have to pick up a pilates class and do my favourite essentrics stretches at home. The bonus is, of course, that I get much more of my audiobook listened to on a daily basis.

I've gone through various phases with exercise. I've done Ashtanga yoga for 90 minute daily sessions, with 3 jogs per week, and that was one of the fittest times of my life. Lasted about 2 years and then I had my breakdown, which put an end to that. There was also the 8-month period at the beginning of my 30s when I decided to train for a fitness competition, so did strength training and cardio and practiced a gym choreography like a maniac, 6 hours a day, 6 days a week. I've mostly gone back to yoga over the years, and I've done various dance classes, but in the last decade I also purchased a series of DVDs from Gaiam which are really well done and filmed on location in beautiful spots around the world with nice music which I like very much. They have great teachers and various exercise regimens for yoga, pilates, tai chi, chi kung, etc with routines of varying lengths and so on, and I tend to prefer those over classes now that I'm more or less a hermit. When I get in the right frame of mind and can get myself disciplined enough to follow a routine, I can be quite good about following the tapes. I also have the New York City Ballet workout, which is really great. I don't think I'll be able to do much cardio as long as this migraine situation persists. Last thing I want to do is bounce around while my head keeps throbbing.

135) The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan (2012)
YA verse novel
First note the beautiful cover art done by Oliver Jeffers. I noticed that one of my child lit friends gave this 5 stars on goodreads so looked it out and wasn't disappointed. Kasienka and her mother travel from Poland to Coventry, UK to try and find Kasienka's father who walked out on them a couple of years earlier. The novel is about how they get on in the UK, Kasienka settling in to a new school and her mother's quest to find the wayward husband. Just perfectly done.

Imagine a city by Elise Hurst (2014)
picturebook, sophisticated

I picked this up for a few pennies at the Scholastic Factory Bookshop today as it had a tear on the spine but otherwise was fine and I liked the look of the illustrations. The woman serving me said that most of the schools they had sent it out to had returned the book, the librarians said they didn't understand it. I was intrigued!
The drawings are all pen and ink with a slightly nostalgic feel to the three main characters, a mother and her two children who ride a train into a fantastical world. I loved it, Hurst invites the reader to imagine a world that is all the possibilities that you can imagine.
A delightful book.
I've requested her more well known The Night Garden from the library.


http://www.elisehurst.com/

Kerry, the drawings of Imagine a City look absolutely fab. However, could you figure out why the librarians didn't understand the story?

Bianca - I really have to wonder, it's almost like they don't have an imagination at all. I know some great school librarians but for every great librarian there seem to be a lot of less than stellar ones. The pictures are quite sophisticated and the text is only a few words, just enough to tempt you into the artwork. The last illustration is of a snow globe giving the impression that the whole fantastical world is contained in there.

>174 avatiakh: Whelp, that one's going right on the wishlist!

I somehow missed this entire thread. All caught up now and riddled with BB's. Definitely going to look for the Elise Hurst picture books. That is the kind of thing that can keep my kids occupied for hours. Enjoyed your Bay of Islands holiday photos. Hoping to make a trip up that way in January. :)

>177 scaifea: I hope you can find a copy, she's Australian.

>178 nittnut: I know that feeling of too many BB's. Thanks for visiting. Hope you make it to the Bay of Islands.

It's been a while since I mentioned my niece's baby, Elias, who was born at 27 weeks - far too early. Here he is a couple of weeks ago with his great grandma (my mum).

Stephanie is hoping that he goes home this weekend - he wasn't due to be born for another week or so and is doing very well. Stephanie's sister just had her third baby a couple of days ago, a perfect little girl. her first child has Charge Syndrome which has made life very difficult for their family.

136) Middlemarch by George Eliot (1872)
fiction / audio

Finally, long after the group read finished I finally stagger over the finish line. I was late starting this one and then stopped listening to audiobooks for about a month, I repeated many sections at the start but then earlier this month I got my groove back and started listening again on a regular daily basis.
Loved the story, loved the characters and the politics and everything. Loved how it all comes together at the end. If you haven't tackled the book yet then give it a whirl.

Oh the joy, after so many months stuck on Middlemarch I can finally choose my next audiobook to listen to. Possibly will be the Booker winner, The Narrow Road to the Deep North which I downloaded from the library last week.

The Magic Horse of Han Gan by Chen Jiang Hong (2004)
picturebook

Han Gan was a famous Chinese painter who specialised in painting horses about 1200 years ago. In this tale, his fame has spread and it is said that he has a magic paintbrush that can bring his horses to life. Chen Jiang Hong trained as a classical artist in China and now lives in Paris. He specialises in telling stories about Chinese traditions and for this book he has painted on silk, just as Han Gan would have.
Lovely story with beautiful illustrations (of horses), thanks to Amber for mentioning it on her thread.

Tonight I finally got to watch The Grand Hotel Budapest which was rather fun.

>179 avatiakh: Oh, look at that beautiful little thing!

>182 avatiakh: Yay! I'm so glad that you liked it - Charlie and I certainly did.

Yah, for finishing Middlemarch! And it looks like the long read was worth it!

*waving* at Kerry

Glad you had a god time with Middlemarch, Kerry. (OOPS, sorry I screwed up the name. That's what I get for LT-ing during a meeting!). One of my all-time faves.

I'll look for that Han Gan book. Thanks for highlighting it.

We loved The Grand Budapest Hotel!

>174 avatiakh: Wow! Awesome artwork.

>183 scaifea: Hi Amber, I don't normally go off to seek out picturebooks but glad I did, another artist to follow up on.

>184 msf59: Mark, I knew I would enjoy it, just stuck a slow patch with my audiobook listening and as everyone had raved about Juliet Stephenson I stuck it out. Just started listening to Richard Flanagan reading his The Narrow Road to the Deep North and will have to acclimatise to his Aussie accent.

>185 alcottacre: *wave* back to Stasia. Lovely to see you calling in.

>187 banjo123: Hi Rhonda, yes, her artwork is interesting and imaginative.

I asked the library to get the audio for The Narrow Road to the Deep North, so we'll see if they actually purchase it, otherwise I'll have to choose between spending a credit on it or borrowing the print book and waiting in the queue for it.

Bravo on finishing (and enjoying) Middlemarch Kerry. I really enjoyed that particular version too. I'm among Juliet Stevenson's fans and have nearly 30 audiobooks narrated by her.

>152 avatiakh: Thanks for recommending this book. I have a wicked cold and have been in bed for a few days, I hope that I can get to the library today to obtain a copy of Bartolomé: The Infanta's Pet by Rachel van Kooij. It sounds so fascinating. I love it when reading and art meld together.

>186 jnwelch:. Fixed. Sorry about that, Kerry.

>189 Smiler69: Ilana - I'd definitely listen to her narrate again. I've got quite a lot of podcasts I need to get through as well, so it might be slow going on the Flanagan. I've lstened to 3 chapters so far and have just got into the accent.

Yes, Middlemarch was very satisfying. I need to sort out what my next classic read will be, maybe some Dickens, it's been a while.

>190 Whisper1: Hi Linda - you'll enjoy that one. I think it's just about to be published in the US.

>186 jnwelch: >191 jnwelch: Didn't realise that I'd missed you out back there. The name thing was OK, it's hard when you are replying on multiple threads. The Grand Budapest Hotel was great wasn't it, I missed out on seeing it at the cinema. My next film will be Little Ashes, it gets a lousy rating but it follows Salvador Dali, filmaker Luis Buñuel and writer Federico García Lorca through their formative years so I'll try it.

Peter Jackson has done it again, and even better, with Air NZ in producing another safety video. This one mostly takes place in Middle Earth - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOw44VFNk8Y

Ok, my reading priority till the end of October is to finish The Dove Flyer as I've been taking it too slowly. Once finished I want to read another chunk of The Middle East which I'm also reading real slow. The other books I've started can take a back seat for a few days. I'm also thinking about putting aside the audio of The Narrow Road to the Deep North and listening to Fatherland, just feel like having a thriller on the go.

>192 avatiakh: I do love the Airnz safety videos ..... one day I will get to middlemarch but I have so many other doorstoppers as well ....

Hi Alex - I'm also a fan of their safety videos, there are enough bland ones around the world.
I'm sure you'll get to Middlemarch eventually. So what are your doorstoppers? I've found audio the way to tackle several of the classics - Don Quixote, The Count of Monte Cristo and now Middlemarch. It's also a good way to tackle Peter F Hamilton's space operas and Neal Stephenson as John Lee is an excellent narrator.

Oh my, that WAS a lot of fun, Kerry! Thanks for pointing it out (the Air NZ video).

>194 avatiakh: Not a convert of audio books yet ...

within easy sight - doorstoppers awaiting my attention (without checking my Kindle)

The luminaries
The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words
Dominion
The reality dysfunction
Arcanum
Arguably
Perdido Street Station
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories
Red or Dead
2666
Reamde

Currently reading The Bone clocks

so enough to keep me out of trouble .... methinks

Oh oh, I've read the first four on your list and Perdido Street Station. All good. I've got part 2 of The Story of the Jews to read, I listened to the audio of Finding the Words and had seen the documentary as well.
I have The Weird sitting on my kindle after pete (psutto) gave a story by story account as he read it in 2012 - http://www.librarything.com/topic/139898#3744702. I think you'd like a lot of what pete reads, it has almost always been different and interesting, though he's slowed down this year as he's gotten involved in writing and supporting some lit festivals.
Also got 2666 and Reamde on my someday pile.

Big books that I'm constantly eyeballing on my shelves include And the Land Lay Still by Scottish writer poet James Robertson and Maurice Shadbolt's The New Zealand Wars trilogy, also Letty Fox: Her Luck by Christina Stead and the Void trilogy which is three huge books.

This is a fun watch for those who can appreciate unusual renditions of The lion sleeps tonight: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152656809295772

>197 avatiakh: I really regret not getting The weird on Kindle, ill-advisidly bought the physical book ..... not for the weak-wristed that one

seeing The New Zealand Wars trilogy reminds me I should finish the Late Michael Kings' Penguin history of New Zealand

Love the door-stopper lists. I read Dominion last year and really enjoyed it. I put The Luminaries away for another try later as I felt it deserved a bit more attention than I was giving it. Am reading A Prayer for Owen Meany at the moment which clocks in at 633 pages and Memoirs of a Geisha at 493 pages. When does a longish book become a door-stopper?

Have a lovely remainder of your Sunday, Kerry. xx

I'm so happy to see your niece's baby doing so well. That's good news. :)

I haven't got around to Middlemarch yet, although I have watched the BBC miniseries and really enjoyed it. It's on my list. I might just use a credit to get the Juliet Stevenson narrated version.

>199 roundballnz: Alex - I presume that your copy is a beautiful object though. Maybe you should just purchase a reading copy on your kindle? I'm still to read that King book as well. I did do a uni paper on The Treaty of Waitangi which was a bit of a struggle at the time, though going down to Massey Uni for a two day lecture from Mason Durie was great.

>200 PaulCranswick: Ah Paul - you have many doorstoppers I'm sure. I think they start at around 650pgs unless they are cramped and with tiny font, then even 300pgs is a slog. I really liked Memoirs of a Geisha.

>201 nittnut: Jenn - I now get most of my audiobooks through my library's overdrive catalog. I'm sure Wellington would have a similar setup. Auckland libraries also has Borrowbox for mostly Australian/NZ audio and e-books. Once I transfer the audiobook over to my iPod I can keep it indefinitely.
Baby Elias just had his first night at home!

>202 avatiakh: Well then neither of my reads would qualify! Both are pretty good in their way.

Yeah, I think Suzanne once qualified 'doorstopper' on the TIOLI challenges.

>200 PaulCranswick: my general guide for doorstoppers is 500pp - though this can be reduced for tiny print books ... I know some who fear reading books over 250pp, me I tend to gravitate to them ...

>202 avatiakh: Very lucky to have Mason Durie lecture, I went they Massey Albany, so was lucky to have some memorable lecturers as well ... still think best was Marilyn Waring for a semester we only had 6-10 enrolled, so an experience/opportunity not to missed.

Ooh Marilyn Waring would have been something, especially in a small group. I did extramural Massey and in the beginning sat my exams at Northern Sports Car Club in Otahuhu, later had to drive over to Albany for the darn things, much harder to get from Howick to Albany in time for a 9.30am exam.

HI Kerry,
>176 avatiakh: such a shame that some of the librarians shouldn't have the imagination for such wonderfully illustrated books. I always loved books with great artwork, little words and where you could make up your stories as you went along.

>179 avatiakh: What a lovely photo of Elias and your mother. He looks absolutely lovely and I am glad to hear that he will able to come home soon.

>192 avatiakh: Thanks for the link to the Safety Video - absolutely brilliant - I am sure with these is no one going to sleep. That one was really fun to watch.

>205 roundballnz: my general guide for tombs is 500+ as well and I tend to gravitate towards them as well. I only recently discovered that there are actually short books which are brilliant as well.

What a beautiful baby!

I finished Where The Moon Isn't. I highly recommend this one! If you can get your hands on a copy, I really believe you will like it. Note that there are two titles for the same book. It is also published as The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer.

Bitter Greens was much, much better than I feared it might be, although I did get bogged down in the layers of fairy tales and found the "real life" story the most compelling.

Dominion is great; I also just downloaded the new Shardlake mystery onto my UK Kindle with the last of my UK credit. Don't know whether to save it for a weekend when I'm really in the doldrums or launch into it now!

Way back when I think I defined a chunkster as being about 450 or 500 pp. But that was fairly arbitrary... :-)

Ok, I think most of the ones I define as doorstoppers are those omnibus editions or the truly epic space operas of Peter F Hamilton or Sharon Penman's historical fiction. My current read, The Dove Flyer is taking me forever and I notice that it's 575pgs or so, reading on a kindle makes the chunkster a bit remote.

I was going to listen to Fatherland by Robert Harris but my audiobook didn't seem to open anywhere coherent and on further investigation I see that the audio is an abridged dramatisation anyway, so I'm turfing that and will get to it soon in paperback. So today I'm trying to download Judas Unchained so I can then go on to the Void trilogy, it's 43 hours of space opera but my download keeps failing at the halfway point. Drat. It's been a whole year since I was in the Commonwealth Saga.

>209 Chatterbox: I was captivated by both stories, but good fairytale retellings do appeal. I'll be tackling A place of greater safety once I'm done with The Dove Flyer. Sticking with the chunksters obviously.

>208 Whisper1: Thanks for the rec Linda, I have The Shock of the Fall on my tbr list.

>207 drachenbraut23: Hi Bianca - well, I suppose librarians must get it wrong occasionally.
My mother is always stoked with the new great grandchildren additions. The two sisters were meant to have their babies within a week of each other but it just didn't work out like that. The hardest part for Steph & Josh was that the baby was in the intensive care unit at Waikato Hospital which is about an hour's drive from where they live in Te Aroha.


Wonder: The Julian Chapter by R.J. Palacio (2014)
fiction / audio
This was a bit odd in that Palacio wrote and published the great little novel Wonder a couple of years ago wherein Auggie, a homeschooled teen with a terribly disfigured face finally starts at a local high school, gets bullied and finds friends. It's one of those feel-good reads where the bully gets his comuppence and all turns out well for our hero. Now in new editions of the book there is included 'the Julian chapters' and for those of us who've already read Wonder we can just read/listen to the three extra chapters which cover Julian, the bully's side of the story. So we come to see Auggie from Julian's perspective and discover how he eventually finds redemption. I found it all a bit superfluous and didn't really like the fact that Palacio had to tie in a French holocaust story to the plot. Still it only took an hour or so of my time to listen to as I cleaned out my pantry this afternoon.

From Random House website: In a statement, Palacio says of Julian: "I had always thought he was an interesting character worthy of further exploration, but I didn't give him a voice in Wonder because he had nothing to add to Auggie's narrative." (Auggie is the boy with the deformity.)

She adds, "Outside of the context of Wonder, however, I'm able to explore the character much further. I think a lot of children identify with Julian – the bully – whether they admit it or not, and they struggle with whether he has any chance for redemption. I think The Julian Chapter will bring some closure for this character who has sparked so much discussion among my readers."

Another point of 'interest' - Wonder is considered a YA or even children's novel yet here in New Zealand it was mostly found in the adult section of bookshops.

Ok, finally clicked that I listened to both Commonwealth Saga books two years ago, not a year ago so I'll have to look elsewhere for my next scifi audiobook...still looking.

Why was I under the impression we'd mentioned The Ruby in Her Navel and you said you were interested in reading it along with me? Am I mistaking you for someone else? I've done a search on your thread and don't see a trace of it, so that must be the case... if you can help me recall who else that might be, other than Peggy I'd be most grateful!

I do want to read it but I can't see myself getting to it till next year. I possibly mentioned it on someone else's thread.

I do want to read it but I can't see myself getting to it till next year. I possibly mentioned it on someone else's thread. I'll pull it off the shelves and see what I can do.

No pressure intended Kerry. I know you've got a full schedule this year. I've listed it in my TIOLI challenge for November and am hoping to get to it, which isn't a given considering I always manage to plan for too many books and then end up tacking on a few unplanned ones along the way.

Ilana - it's one i've been meaning to get to for a couple of years but it keeps evading my plans. I've only one book left in my category challenge and that is a slow moving nonfiction, so everything else is more of an open slather. I had intended to read mainly crime and thrillers for the rest of the year, such a backlog, but really just need to shuffle a couple of other reads out of the way. I'll probably leave Mantel's A place of greater safety till December.

Finally settled on an audiobook - Burial Rites by Hannah Kent which so far meets my needs. I was listening to number9dream by DavidMitchell but it wasn't holding my interest for all that it was fairly surreal. I'll go back to the Richard Flanagan one when I finish.

I listened to Burial Rites and really loved the narrator as much as the story. In fact, Morven Christie is the reader who also narrated Code Name Verity and I keep performing searches to see if any other new audiobooks have been released with her as a reader, but so far, no such luck.

I know Peggy originally expressed a vivid interest in joining in for A Ruby in Her Navel and now has confirmed this would work for her in November, so again, if I can fit it in this coming month, I will. If not, then I'll touch base with you on it and see if we coordinate on it some other time.

>217 Smiler69: Yes, the narrator is very appealing and the story at present just appeals more than the others I have lined up. I've got A place of greater safety as a kindle book and I'm always behind on these group/shared reads so another month is neither here nor there.
I also rejoined audible after two years away and have downloaded Montifiore's Jerusalem: a biography and will eventually add the 3 remaining books in the Alexandra Quartet by Durrell, do not want to read them and my library only has the Naxos abridged versions. Also want to get some more scifi by Peter F Hamilton, though unfortunately these won't be narrated by John Lee.
I brought home two audiobooks from the library, now I have to copy the cds for my iPod - Carol by Patricia Highsmith and The Enchanted April.

I found my copy of A ruby in her navel and even though I had it facing out on display it took three attempts at looking through my bookcase to spot it. I have at least three other books by Unsworth that I also want to read, already read Morality Play and Land of Marvels.

I really liked The Enchanted April, and although it wasn't exactly like, I loved the film adaptation. It was so atmospheric and the costumes and casting were really well done.

137) The Dove Flyer by Eli Amir (1992 Hebrew) (2010 English)
fiction
This novel is set around 1950 in Baghdad and follows the fortunes of Kabi's family and the local Jewish community in the years following the farhud (1941 progrom against the Jewish community) until the expulsion of most of the 150,000 Iraqi Jews to Israel in 1950. In Israel they were at first expected to live in tent cities as the new country was forced to absorb the large numbers of Jewish refugees that were expelled from all Arab countries (800,000–1,000,000 total had to leave). The contrast in the last chapters of their new life in israel where they did not speak Hebrew or understand the local bureaucracy versus the vibrant culture they had left behind was quite heartbreaking, though their very lives were always at risk in those last years in Iraq what with the fervant political situation in Baghdad.
I enjoyed reading this, the tensions with the different political factions within the Jewish community, the zionists and the communists and the ever present threat of the local Muslims inciting against the Jews. The many characters were interesting and Amir really evokes that period and brings Baghdad to life. I've read Operation Babylon by Shlomo Hillel, which is a nonfiction account of the same period, but so long ago that the details escpe me now.
The Dove Flyer was made into a film recently, Farewell Baghdad (2013). trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtWmFyKcbyQ
I'm also inclined to pull out our dvd of the Kishon movie, Sallah (1964) which stars Topol as a new immigrant Yemenite who arrives with his large family on Operation Magic Carpet.

Reading plans for November:

I still need to finish The Middle East by Bernard Lewis to finish my catagory challenge and I've listed a few books on the TIOLI wiki - http://www.librarything.com/topic/182220

Challenge #3: Read a novella you've owned since before 2014
Le Chien Couchant (Salad Days) - Francoise Sagan (148p, 28/05/09)

Challenge #4: Read a book by an author whose publication career spanned at least 15 years
Fatherland - Robert Harris (1992-2014)

Challenge #5: Read a book with an embedded word in the title
Goddess - Kelly Gardiner
Let the river stand - Vincent O'Sullivan
The Vanishing - Tim Krabbé

Challenge #12: Read a book with one plural word in the title
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August - Claire North

Challenge #14: Read a book in which the title contains an object or noun from a children's nursery rhyme
The Ruby in Her Navel ("Ruby Ring is up and Ruby Ring is down") - Barry Unsworth

Challenge #16: Read a Dystopian Novel
The girl with all the gifts - M.R. Carey

Challenge #19: Read a book with the word "and" in the title
The rider and his horse - Erik Christian Haugaard

Feeling fairly relaxed about these and will definitely use the'leave it' part of the challenge if I feel any pressure.

Library:
The Ransom of Dond by Siobhan Dowd
Tel Aviv Noir ed. Etger Keret

Audiobook:
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

I'm glad you'll make an effort to join me with the Unsworth Kerry. I'm being very ambitious for November, but will try to fit it in early in the month to make sure I do get to it.

At the moment I'm enjoying Breakfast With Lucian, narrated by John Standing, which is simply marvellous. It had been on my wishlist since it came out last year and I'm glad I finally spent a credit on it as it's a real gossipy treat on an artist who can't help but fascinate. I've never been in love with his paintings, which are nonetheless brilliant and do inspire all the same, but do adore his drawings and etchings and can't help but be awed by his utter dedication to his work and nothing but his work, although he was an utter s*** to his children who it seems continue to make excuses for him. Seems his charm was such that people allowed him to get away with absolutely the worst behaviour. Nonetheless, a man I would have loved to meet. I definitely recommend that one.

I would of course love you to join along: http://www.librarything.com/topic/182420#4902314

>219 nittnut: Jenn, I saw the film of Enchanted April many years ago and have always meant to read the book.

>222 Smiler69: Ilana, happy to do that as my son enjoyed the book and he is not a big reader. I'll probably start it in the next week or so. Will try to get through a chunk of my nonfiction book first.
I'll add Breakfast With Lucian to my wishlist on audible, I like those stories about creative types. A good fictional version is Notes from an exhibition by Patrick Gale

>223 Smiler69: Done!

Have added Notes from an Exhibition to the wishlist. For some unfathomable reason, both Municipal and National library systems only carry the book in the French translation, which is a big pet peeve of mine and thankfully doesn't happen too often. Another Lucian Freud bio I read a couple of years ago I found excellent, published by Thames & Hudson is Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud by Martin Gayford, much recommended.

Thanks for the Rubens Recommendation too! I'm becoming quite a fan.

>221 avatiakh: Picked up The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August on my travels & heard great things abt the book since by some of the Twitter book folk .... should be a good read

Hi Alex, I think you might need to check out The girl with all the gifts - dystopian zombie novel with a difference (apparently). souloftherose was saying that Claire North is an alias of Kate Griffin who wrote A madness of angels.

>227 avatiakh: I have an allergic reaction to 'zombie' books, but will check it out just in case - but A madness of angels looks fantastic .... Thanks for the tips

Alex - I have no idea how 'zombie' it is, though looks to be more dystopian hopefully. I do read some zombie stuff, though I'm careful with my choices which seem to be more dystopian zombie combos. The first in the Feed trilogy was ok in that it was political. I also liked Rot and Ruin which is first of a popular YA trilogy.


138) The Ransom of Dond by Siobhan Dowd (2013)
junior fiction

Dowd died too early from cancer and we only got four marvellous novels from her plus the Patrick Ness, inspired by Dowd's story outline, A monster calls. Luckily this short story she wrote, steeped in mystical Celtic folklore about the thirteenth child has been published. Accompanied by sympathetic drawings by Pam Smy this is a great little story and do not let the 'junior' label distract you from its merits.
In the village where Darra is born there is a decree that any thirteenth child must be sacrificed to the sea god Dond on their thirteenth birthday, giving the village thirteen prosperous years. Until now the decree has been avoided by the local women using the services of a witch to avoid pregnancy after their twelfth child is born. Unfortunately for Darra her mother gives birth to twins on the 11th pregnancy and she is the second born. Dowd is a great storyteller and this short piece is recommended for those who like folklore.

I thoroughly enjoyed Bog Child so I'll look out for this one.

Hi Jenny - yes, Bog Child was good.


139) The rider and his horse by Erik Haugaard (1968)
children's fiction
I found out about this book soon after finishing The Dovekeepers which I didn't enjoy that much due to its mystical element. I looked for other fiction set in Masada and this children's book popped up on my radar, just taken me a couple of years to get round to reading it.
We follow the adventures of David, a 15yr old boy in the months following the destrution of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans following the Jewish rebellion. After escaping from kidnappers he decides to make his own way to Jerusalem rather than returning safely to his family in the north. Eventually he ends up in Masada and is one of those chosen to survive as he has proven skills as a scribe so will tell the story.
I wasn't completely taken with the story in that David doesn't quite take off as a character, he's more learned than adventurous so even his adventures don't feel as such. I was really taken with the beauty of the Song of Songs that is quoted from fairly often throughout the book tothe extent that I'm probably going to have to take a look at some more of the verses. The book show us the terrible price the Jewish people paid for their rebellions. David sees the Jews being taken into slavery from his privileged refuge in Caeserea at the start of the story, the denial of burial rites by the Romans to those who died fighting them, the crucifixions of rebels and thieves as well as the lack of food. All this before he even gets to Masada.
Reading this does make one want to dive into some nonfiction about this period of rebellion. The title is a quote from Exodus, 15:
I wil sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea

>131 avatiakh: I quite liked the film of Girl, Interrupted when I saw it ages ago. It looks so dated now...

>199 roundballnz: I read parts of The Penguin History of New Zealand when trying to write my essay on consumerism (for the local content), it seemed like it was trying to cover everything and I wondered if in doing so it managed a superficial treatment? I only read sections, they seemed to jump to and from all sorts of things. Just a thought.

>229 avatiakh: I've added this one to the tbr pile. I very much enjoyed A Monster Calls.

Yay, "Malavita" (Badfellas) was on TV here tonight. As expected I fell asleep in the first half (sooooo tired), but woke up in time for the finale and I got it saved for next weekend. Fun movie, great actors, but I preferred the book's ending for the simple reason that in the book no innocent bystander dies, if I remember well, only the gangsters are killed?
I am so glad that I finally got the movie, and in English as well! :)

233> Linda, it's a pretty quick read. I'd also recommend her A swift pure cry.

234> Oooh, so glad you finally caught up withthe film. I managed to pick up his Holy Smoke in a charity shop a few weeks ago so plan to read that soon.