kiwiflowa's 2012 journal

Currently reading:
The Penguin History of New Zealand - Michael King - over halfway!

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

2012 Book Log:

January
1. The Body in the Library - Agatha Christie

February
2. The Thirteen Problems - Agatha Christie

March
3. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream - Barack Obama

April
4. post office - Charles Bukowski
5. 500 Essential Cult Books: The Ultimate Guide - Gina McKinnon - not cover to cover but most of

May
6. Zlata's Diary - Zlata Filipovic
7. Naked City - Weegee
8. Read This Next-- And Discover Your 500 New Favourite Books - Sandra Newman
9. The Wild Party: The Lost Classic by Joseph Moncure March - Joseph Moncure March and Art Speigelman

June
10. Deadlocked - Charlaine Harris
11. Camille: The Lady of the Camellias - Alexandre Dumas fils
12. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel aka These Foolish Things - Deborah Moggach

July
13. Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
14. Dandelion Wine - Ray Bradbury

At some point in 2012...
15. Prelude - Katherine Mansfield
16. At The Bay - Katherine Mansfield

October
17. The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
18. The Bookshop - Penelope Fitzgerald
19. The Wednesday Sisters - Meg Waite Clayton
20. One Fine Day - Molly Panter-Downes
21. Love Falls - Esther Freud
22. The Camomile Lawn - Mary Wesley
23. The Night Bookmobile - Audrey Niffenegger
24. The Lost Garden - Helen Humphreys
25. PS, I Love You - Cecelia Ahern

November
26. The Complete Polysyllabic Spree - Nick Hornby
27. The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain - Peter Sis
28. What Was I Thinking - Paul Henry
29. More Baths Less Talking - Nick Hornby
30. Shakespeare Wrote for Money - Nick Hornby
31. Good Behaviour - Molly Keane
32. The Moving Finger - Agatha Christie
33. A Murder is Announced - Agatha Christie
34. They Do It With Mirrors - Agatha Christie
35. The End of Your Life Book Club - Will Schwalbe

December
36. To The Is-land - Janet Frame
37. A Pocket Full of Rye - Agatha Christie
38. The Poet Michael Connelly
39. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Hall of Shame

Book Aquisitions

January:
East of Eden - John Steinbeck - stoked when I saw this on the same table at Dymocks!
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
Snow White, Blood Red - Marcus Sedgwick
ArchEnemy Frank Beddor
American Adulterer Jed Mercurio
We, The Drowned Carsetn Jensen
West of the Wall - Marcia Preston
The Sign of the Beaver - Elizabeth George Speare
Niccolò Rising - Dorothy Dunnett
Last Orders - Graham Swift
The Wedding - Nicholas Sparks

way more to add....

For other stuff that I can't think of right now

ditto

dropping in to leave my star

Welcome back!

*drops off star*

Hello, just dropping in to star you!

Glad to see you back with us again in 2012, Lisa!

Lisa will look forward to keeping up in 2012. Hopefully will get to NZ at easter time and hopefully set up an LT meet.

Hi Lisa, I (gulp) kinda lost track of you last year in this maze of threads. I have your star firmly attached.

Happy New Year!

Hi Lisa! I'm not sure, but I think you might have celebrated New Year's sometime yesterday in your part of the world, right? ;-)

Happy New Year! It's coming up in 40 minutes for us. That's 40 minutes for me left to shop before the January book diet begins... better hop to it!

Hi Lisa! Happy new year. Hope the weather up there's as nice as it is in Wellington.

Hi Lisa--Happy New Year--even though it was hours ago for you. Looking forward to following your reading this year!

Gosh Cushla - Wellington is the place to be... Here in Auckland it's been overcast threatening rain all day. light showers and sometimes sunny for about 10 minutes at a time.

In my 2011 thread I was recording my holiday which was from 23rd Dec -9th Jan. Well that's been cut to the 4th because boyfriend is going overseas for work :(

Yesterday was New Years Eve. We had my whole family over to celebrate. My sister made a paella with loads of seafood and we also had typical BBQ fare - steak, sausages, baked potatoes with sour cream, corn on the cob, garlic bread green salad. The kidlets were running around like crazy. When one of them were sick we decided to get them all sitting down to rest for a bit and watch a movie. Not having kids ourselves the only kiddie movie we had was Shrek. Then al the adults decided to watch it it too - what a hoot.

Today the first day of the year hasn't been too good. My Mother and father in law are here for three nights. This was decided before we knew that boyfriend was heading overseas for three weeks on the 4th. So now I'm feeling a bit stressed with my holiday cut short and my mother is driving me INSANE.

I hope the new year improves for you, Lisa! It sounds like you need a vacation already!

Sounds like going back to work will be your holiday/rest ........

Hey, Lisa, Happy New Year! Hope you survive the in-laws!

Hi Lisa, got you starred and I understand about family driving you insane, my mother does the exact same thing to me when she stays with us. I also understand about the boyfriend going away, my husband is off for 3 weeks at the end of January (missing our 15th wedding anniversary and all!) and it can be hard holding the fort down by yourself. We'll just have to have the catch-up while they're away.

Shame that your holiday is getting cut short and the house is full. At least you'll soon have time to plan your shelving.

Lisa I love having my parents and in laws around....my parents around a days flying time around and my inlaws a frenetic four hours drive around. Family are a comfort but it is more comfortable usually when they are someplace else! Don't see em we miss em get to see em we want em to go back home! Hope stress levels can be maintained and that you have a good week.

Happy New Year, Lisa. I've placed my star. I, too, hope the stress level drops soon.

Happy New Year Lisa - hope you are coping with parents and in-laws ok.

Loads of photo's in this post please comment if you have computer problems because of it :)

Thank you Heather, Judy, Paul, Kerry, Leonie, Roni, Alex and Stasia. Your supportive messages have meant a lot :) Over the past week I feel as if I've been bolting into LT reading a few threads then zipping out again. All guests are gone. Boyfriend is gone for three weeks and 36 hours (but really who's counting?) so all of a sudden I'm rambling around in the house on my own. I noticed that family members who tend to create stress are the ones that don't work full time (or at all) they just don't get that I wanted a calm peaceful holiday as I don't get to do this too often!!

Yesterday I got out into the garden and took photo's - uploaded them onto a web album. I then dug out the photo's the previous owners took while selling the house and uploaded them too. (So be aware that the furniture isn't ours) I'll pop a few of them on here but if you want to see all of the pics the albums are here:

House
Garden

Please be aware that this is my first home and my first vege garden so I'm very proud and like to brag - but I'm aware that this isn't very exciting to anyone else lol

The whole vege garden:


Corn!


Celery!


Red Onion (ignore the weeds!!)


Brocolli Shoots:


Peppers - not ready yet and we have chilli peppers growing too:


Cucumbers:


Tomatoes:


PLUMS!!!!!




Harvested vege's ready to eat!!




Miss Cleo prowling in the garden:

Wow, what an amazing selection of vegetables for the time you've been in the house! Everything looks great, and I'm sure will taste much better because they're your own.

Loving the veges and I can see bottles of plum sauce in your future very soon! I am really jealous about your capsicums, mine have been in the ground for a couple of months and are still half the size of your ones.

Wow, looks great!! I've always wanted a veggie garden but never got around to doing the work to dig one in! Good job!

I love your pictures, everything looks so fresh and tasty. It's nice seeing all the green, growing things when we are in the middle of winter here.

Love the garden photos!

Your garden is lovely and thanks for sharing. It might offer some encouragement to get me through our winter. It has been a very cold week here.

I love the garden photos too, Lisa!

Lisa, I am so impressed. Did you watch the sit-com from the seventies, The Good Life? You are the new Felicity Kendall. If we can make it to you in NZ I know where to go for fresh produce!

Oh, now I'm jealous! Wonderful production there!

Enjoy your YOU time.

Great garden! I can't wait until spring.

as you can see by now we are all jealous of your lovely garden & produce ..... very nice indeed!

btw plums are so much better bottled than turned into sauce ..... :)

I am supremely jealous of your beautiful garden. Looking forward to periodic reports!

Also impressed by your amazing veggie garden! I am not green-thumbed at all but I like looking at the results of other people's hard work so post away!

Wow thank you all for your comments on my garden. This is my first garden - I basically stuck them in the ground and made sure they had water in spring (when it was actually sunny) Now it's summer and it's rained pretty much everyday - no bees or butterflies when it rains and the veges aren't going as well as they could :(

This post is really just one to say I'm here *waves* but not really. January is turning out to be a really crappy start to the year. With the boyfriend gone until the 27th I've been at home alone and really - I can't seem to settle down and read or cross stitch or anything. It's been a week already so I may settle down a bit soon - who knows? Meanwhile I've been watching ER season 1.

Also seen some good book sales around and about:

East of Eden - John Steinbeck - stoked when I saw this on the same table at Dymocks!
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
Snow White, Blood Red - Marcus Sedgwick
ArchEnemy Frank Beddor
American Adulterer Jed Mercurio
We, The Drowned Carsetn Jensen
West of the Wall - Marcia Preston
The Sign of the Beaver - Elizabeth George Speare
Niccolò Rising - Dorothy Dunnett
Last Orders - Graham Swift
The Wedding - Nicholas Sparks

Hope you feel less blah-ish soon! Looks like a decent haul of books.

#39: American Adulterer is excellent - highly recommended. Not that the others aren't - I just haven't read them!

Have you tried that old stitching trick of just one length of thread per evening? That might get you back into it. Or a lovely new pattern, some hand-dyed silk and a fat quarter of antique white Belfast...OK, I'll stop now :-)

Last Orders is a great read Lisa. Told from the perspectives of a group of friends as they travel to the coast to spread the ashes of their departed friend. Doesn't sound much but it is very effective.

Oh, I'm also jealous of the garden! Looks wonderful. (Note to self, time to see whether I have any spinach lettuce seeds left to plant next month. . . )

Your garden is looking great, Lisa. I got a late start, and mine won't look nice for another 2 months.

Fantastic vege garden!! And another great haul of books. I remember being very creeped out by East of Eden. Hope you like it (it was great, just creepy.)

Sorry, Lisa. I just found your 2012 thread. Sorry about the stressed vacation--I had one too. Hope you're feeling more like yourself soon. I am so envious of your garden. Ours is much bigger and produces much less. Seattle weather has not been very helpful the last couple of years, but the fault is really mine: a lack of attention. Any ideas for keeping bunnies out? I'm glad to see that someone around here is still buying books!

#39 I'll be interested in your thoughts on Blood Red, Snow White - that's been on my wishlist for a while.

Lisa hope everything is well with you and that you have an enjoyable weekend.

Lisa things a bit quiet over in NZ?! Have booked flights for my tribe in late March through early April. Hope to be able to arrange some LT meet ups while I'm there - SWMBO will be in honorary attendence!

yay he's back!! arrived back this morning :) last three weeks was spent busy at work and every weekend I had friends around to stay and hang out - lots of pajamas, popcorn and movies! One weekend both my sisters came and stayed for the first time ever we since we all moved out of home.

I got very used to being on my own and dealing with house, cat, garden maintenance etc but I never stopped missing him.

Tomatoes have gone wild - waaay too many so I've made and bottled two batches of tomato sauce!! I can see a third batch in my future this weekend. I got the recipe from The Godfather movie which I watched I few weeks ago lol. I've also been making it and eating it fresh for dinner several times a week.

So he came back bearing gifts!! All I asked for was some peanut butter M&M's and by that I meant a 200g bag. I truly did not hint for anything else as I didn't want him to spend his free time shopping for me or stressing when he couldn't find anything...

so sitting on the bed at the moment next to me is literally kilos of American chocolates including salt water taffy from San Fransico, chocolate covered potato chips from Trader Joes - divine!!, special edition cherry flavoured m&m's and message m&m's (for valentines) reeces butter cups, a 1kg bag of peanut butter m&m's, pretzel m&m's, peanut butter snickers, butterfingers, milk duds I could go on and on...

a kobo e-reader!!!

a digital camera: Panasonic G3 whatever that means but it's light years ahead of my old one.

some kitchen stuff that's cheaper there than here.

I totally love America and am prepared to move there for the chocolate covered potato chips alone!!

I'm only halfway through The Godfather (book) and have downloaded the second Miss Marple book on to my Kobo - so hopefully starting this weekend things will get back to normal :):)

Paul: I would definitely love to come to an LT meet-up when you are in NZ if we aren't on holiday ourselves!! We aren't as organised as ypu and have only begun to look at travel catalogues.

Thanks Lisa, Heather, Cushla, Jeanne, Susan, Mickyfine for dropping by.

Lisa I have no idea how to get rid of bunnies as we don't have that problem where I live - very urban - and if we did boyfriend would gleefully hunt them down - yes he's a hunter and shoots cute furry animals including bambi's mother!! The weather here has been shocking.. today for example I wore a hoody all day because I was cold. It rains all the time and my garden has suffered. It looks awful - boyfrind got a shock when he came home and saw it. On the other hand it's still producing which is only because of the fantastic spring we had.

Susan do you still cross stitch?? I finished A Shepherd's Bush sampler last week and have ordered Christmas Garden by Blackbird Designs.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

#51 Yea! "My boyfriend's back..." Sounds like he missed you too!

Sorry your garden is suffering from the weather. After our week of snow, ice, then winds, we have lost tons of limbs. Most heartbreaking is the poor empress tree and the weeping cherry. In addition a huge douglas fir limb fell right on our rhodys. :-(

Unfortunately, my daughter is in love with ever creature in our back yard, even pill bugs and snails. Shooting bunnies wouldn't go down well! So we suffer and plot...

Sounds like HE missed you a lot too! How thoughtful--and I'm jealous of all that chocolate. Yum!

I need to get back to cross-stitching. I got burnt out a little finishing up a Christmas present for the in-laws.

Chocolate-covered potato chips? Goodness :-) But what a great haul of presents! I always think of "Friends" when I hear of salt water taffy - that very funny episode where Ross overdoses on it.

I'm not stitching much any more - my neck won't co-operate. I miss it so much. I love the Shepherd's Bush patterns, and I have a friend who collects the Blackbird Designs ones and they look stunning, particularly on some of the hand-dyed linens around. I'm about a quarter of the way through the Chatelaine Medieval Town Mandala (started a couple of years ago), which I'm not sure I'll be able to finish, but I hope so one day.

chocolate covered chips ????? the mind boggles

I haven't touched my cross stitch projects (2 going at the moment) for a couple of months - other projects demanded attention - but I'm hoping to get back to them soon. I love watching the image take shape amongst all those neat little x's...
Project pictures please? Perhaps?

So happy you discovered TJ's choc covered potato chips. Trader Joes is the all time favorite in this house for everything from great breads and scones to beautiful produce to the dried fruits, nuts and snacks. We are especially fond of the white chocolate cranberry oatmeal dunkers - you must ask BF to grab a bucket of those on his next trip away. But then maybe you can just finagle a trip to SF to get some yourself.

Homemade tomato sauce is one of my favorite things in the whole world. I can hardly bring myself to eat out anyplace that calls itself Italian anymore. Must have my Nona's sauce fresh from the jar. I put up about 100 lbs last Aug and Sept, and we're already half-way thru.

But wait!!!! BOOKS, we're supposed to be chatting about books right? The list in #39 had some good ones on there -- I've had Last Orders on my TBR list for quite a while now....must get to it.

And try listening to an audio book while you're cross -stitching. That's how I'm planning to spend my Sunday afternoon tomorrow ----ear-reading and stitching. Enjoy.

Lisa your reading list for 2012 is still empty - any books finished yet this year? You may have noticed that I am keeping a track of all my starred threads and their progress and I think your record is not up to date?

Glad to see your buah hati is back. In Malay this means Sweetheart but is translated literally and amazingly as Liver Ball!!

I kind of got out of the habit of cross-stitching about the time that I began to need reading glasses. I was just having too much trouble seeing the threads in the fabric. I think I wasn't ready to admit the need for reading glasses yet. Once you get out of the habit, it is hard to get back to it.

I can't imagine the chocolate covered chips Lisa, but I'm really glad he's back with mountains of chocolate and a Kobo!! What's it like? I love my Kindle now that I have one.

No tomatoes down here - we got home too late to plant them - but we have tons of rocket now and our very first cucumber (which is more like a pickle, but hey.)

Lisa, your fellow sound like a keeper! Lovely presents and you seem so happy to have him home again. I bet chocolate covered chips are delicious - I love the combination of chocolate with a little taste of salt.

for those who are keen for some chocolate covered potato chips:
http://www.traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article.asp?article_id=211

I haven't found a place that will ship them to NZ. We have friends in San Fransisco and Portland who say they will ship whatever we want to NZ but it seems a bit weird to ask for these!! I'm also thinking that they wouldn't be too hard to make - like dipping strawberries in chocolate right??

Wow it seems like there are a few cross stitchers here which is good to see!! I had turbo needles when I was a student at uni (funny that) and got through heaps of projects. Now it's only a few things a year. Anyway here's the sampler I recently completed:


Sail Away by Shepherd'd Bush

The verse says:
Sail away my dear one
Upon a lapis sea
But if the winds be restless
Come back again to me

Go Here to and click on the pic to see a decent sized pic. This was taken with the new camera. The photos look dull to me, a greyish cast to them but boyfriend says that's my laptop and to trust the camera - ill check that out on my work computer tomorrow.

Paul, I hadn't finished a single book until this weekend! The daylight hours were spent at work, in the garden, entertaining friends and family, out and about. Summer is so busy!! At nights I was a bit fidgety imagining things in the night and weird noises to read. I preferred to watch TV - noise. Anyway with my kobo this weekend I've read another Agatha Christie Miss Marple Mystery: The Body in the Library a classic who dunnit but this time the obvious culprit really did do it - I'm now on to the Miss Marple short stories The Thirteen Problems. Things shall now return to schedule!

Cushla - I never would have bought an e-reader for myself. I was half in love with idea but worried about what it would be like not to hold a real book and other physical aspects like being able to flick through pages, see how many pages were left - have a sense of progress etc. However while I like doing these things maybe it's not helpful. I flew through the book on the kobo with no idea who big it was. The pages were small, maybe 1/2 or 1/3 of an actual page but I didn't find it disruptive. The kobo has a touch screen so I just tap the side of the screen and it flicks to the next page. Also I love the fact that I bought and read a book without having to go anywhere or wait - instant graification!! It's dangerous though - the site kept my cc details so the first book was the usual process of entering in all my details etc. the next book was literally 2 clicks I had it!! uh oh... that was way too easy lol.

Lisa thanks...nice to see you happy, posting and...reading!

Lisa, sorry I haven't been around much, like everyone else, am scrambling to keep up with the threads. I like your latest cross stitching project and am very envious of all that chocolate you've gotten. But chocolate-covered chips?? I'll pass, thank you very much (more for you!)

Congrats on the Kobo and camera too! We have the Kobo here in Canada too. Did you get the Kobo Vox (colour screen?). I seriously considered getting it, but then tried reading a book or two on my iPhone and decided that would do just fine for now. There are always so many technological gizmos to yearn for, aren't there?

If chocolate-covered chips are anything like chocolate-covered pretzels, sign me up :)

Oooh, lovely sampler!
And chocolate-covered chips sounds delicious - salty and sweet are always good together, in my book.

The Shepherd's Bush puts out some great cross stitch designs. Very nice! You almost make me want to get a bar of chocolate to melt and a bag of chips so I can try these! I'm a huge fan of white chocolate pretzels.

Wow, that's quite the haul he brought back!! Chocolates and a kobo, he sounds like a smart man!! ;)

Your sampler is lovely--it looks so old (and that's a compliment).

Lisa, that sound like quite the swag. Our local fruit shop sometimes sells choc covered pretzels and they are amazing so I can understand the chips. Glad he's back, mine's still away for 17 more days but no, I'm not counting at all..

I've never understood the appeal of chocolate covered chips or pretzels and the like. I prefer my sweet and salty/savory to be kept separate.

Offer me a chocolate covered cherry or Oreo and I'm SO there. Oh, or any type of (unsalted) nut.

Beautiful cross stitch! I started one 20+ years ago and still have some outlining left to do.

>73 labfs39: LOL. Talk about a UFO!

*Un-Finished Object*

#50 Congrats on the ereader! I'm not a fan of American chocolate (or rather, I don't think it is chocolate) so I'm going to pass quickly over those presents but and ereader and a digital camera - oh my!

#63 Love the cross-stitch photos. Did I see a few Mirabilia angels in there? I did the angel of the autumn years ago - it was my biggest ever project and I was so proud of it. I love their designs.

I used to cross-stitch a lot but have (in theory) moved on to knitting. Actually I have done very little crafting for the last couple of years and I'd really like to get back into it again. Because I haven't done any for so long it's hard to get over that initial barrier and pick it up again.

>74 Morphidae: But hope springs eternal!

>75 souloftherose:: I'm the same way with my cross-stitch projects! I've barely touched them for the past 3 years, and I'd love to get back into it, but that wall of actually picking it up and getting sorted is almost too daunting...

I have some embroidery projects that have been on the go for so many years, I don't know if I'll ever finish them! One in particular, which I started as a child - I was a very careful, neat child - (dark red roses in long-and-short stitch on a black linen background) and which keeps turning up every time I move house. I tend to work on it a little bit, and then it gets buried under accumulated layers of other stuff and forgotten about until a major spring-clean or another house-move. One day, perhaps, I'll finally be able to finish it!
I love your sampler.

I'm still working on the first of two large water fowl that are supposed to be the headboard in our bedroom- we only moved in almost 8 years ago!!!. I'm about 30% finished the Great Blue Heron, and then have to do the white egret.....I hope to get them done before I die so each of my children can have one!

Hi Lisa, checking in and hope all is okay with you. I'm imagining you making your very own home-made chic covered chips!

Well I've made it back!

End of February made for some exceptionally harrowing weeks at work. Then immediately after that the department I'm in came under review. We have only just been given the review outcome document last week. My personal reaction to this was to kind of freeze like a possum in the headlights... and then hibernate while waiting. It's the first time I've been involved in something like this and I found it a bit scary.

I can't really explain how I spent my free time all these months! Not doing anything productive at any rate.

My collection of started but incomplete books has jumped but I have read these books:

The Audacity of Hope - Barack Obama
Becoming out of date now but I was still impressed. I soaked up this book over one weekend and found it to be inspiring and also informative. I'm a West Wing fan and this book to me felt a bit like the TV show. I remember thinking while reading this how different the experience would be if the book was about MY country and that was MY nation's people, history, taxes and laws being discussed. As I'm not American I had no real stake in the issues disussed. I might not have been so entertained if I did.

post office - Charles Bukowski
I was inspired to read a book by Bukowski as I've been watching the Californication TV series and Hank is said to be based on this author. I enjoy the dark and clever humour of the TV series and wanted to see if Bukowski's books would be similar. post office is dark, clever and funny and needs to be considered in the context of when it was written - 1971. I did enjoy his ironic commentary of his work environment in the US postal system - it suited my mood at the time!!

Zlata's Diary - Zlata Filipovic
The 'Anne Frank' diary of the seige of Sarajevo. This war occured when I was a child. I remember seeing images on TV but that's it. Before reading this book I had no real knowledge of this war and now I still only have a slight grasp of the politics and history - it is quite complicated I've discovered. The thing about Zlata's Diary is that it's an incredible account of what it was like for an 11 - 13 year old to live through this and children that age also don't know why these things are happening and why they have to live through bombs raining down on their city, no food, no electricity and snipers aiming for the windows to their bedroom.

Naked City - Weegee
Weegee was perhaps one of the first tabloid photographers and this is a collection of the photo's he took in New York in the 1940's. In those days "if it bleeds it leads" so he was present at accidents, fires, murders and trials. he also went to opera and theatre premiers. It was like a history book in photos.

The Wild Party - Joseph Moncure March art in this edition by Art Speigelman.
It was Art Spegelman's name that prompted me to buy this book. And what I discovered is a risque story in verse about a character called Queenie. First published in 1928 it was banned in some areas because of the content. But the rhyme and meter make it compelling to read... the story races past and it's tempting to start reading it out loud. Being in verse there is no padding so the story of innocence and calculation, greed and vice is stark. Art Spiegelman's artwork is good but I'm just happy that he's bought The Wild Party back into publication.

Finally I have to share, I've got a new couch! Our old, shabby, ugly, uncomfortable student/flatting couch and chairs have been banished and just this afternoon the new couch was delivered. Many hours shall be spent reading on this!

Hi Lisa - welcome back to the 75ers. Love your couch, looks like a lovely spot in the corner.

Welcome back, Lisa. Lots of bright windows, a comfy couch and a cat just waiting for some lap room. Looks like the perfect place to enjoy your reading.

Lovely to see you back Lisa. Hope you don't stay a possum in the headlights any longer! Nice couch in a lovely window laden room.

Wow! Love the reading spot.

Thanks Kerry, Judy, Paul and Jim :)

Last night I was in 7th heaven when both The Boyfriend and I were without touching fully stretched out on the couch reading! No compromises or arguments lol.

Reading plans for June:
Deadlocked - Charlaine Harris - completed June 3rd
Camile or La Dame aux Camelias - Alexandre Dumas fils - completed June 5th
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking - Susan Cain
These Foolish Things or The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - Deborah Moggach - reading
Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel
Happyslapped by a Jellyfish - Karl Pilkington
Rebel With a Cause - Ray Avery - started in May stalled



The first book I read on said couch was Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris which is #12 in the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series. With the distance of 24 hours I am now happy that I've read it and am up to date with the series. The next book will be the final of the series I've heard and I don't know how it will end - I have two guesses. I wasn't too happy with the actual reading experience as Sookie was clearly so weary with her 'marriage' to Vampire Eric and her supernatural life and it in turn made for weary reading. I guess relationships do have rough patches etc or bad endings but I read this series for fun not relationship woes and this was not fun to read. By Chapter 2 I was already wishing for the end to hurry up.

I am now 1/3 through La Dame aux Camelias - a 19th Century semi-autobiographal tragic French romance - by Alexandre Dumas fils the illegitimate son of Alexandre Dumas pere who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo etc for June TIOLI Challenge # 3: Read a book written by an author who is the younger relative of another published author.

I love all the windows.

Re: Deadlocked
I have two guesses, too. I wonder if they are the same ones? LOL. I also think that it is time for Harris to end the series. She's run out of steam.

Welcome back. I'll also be attempting to read Wolf Hall this month. Hope you enjoy :)

#87 Morphidae - is Bill one of your guesses? Because before I read the book other fans had told me that was where the author was going but I didn't pick up those signs at all during Deadlocked. I hope Harris keeps writing after she finishes this series.

#88 Hi Chelle I'm clearing the decks at the moment book-wise then towards the middle of the month I will hunker down in Tudorland and try and read both books.

Hi Lisa,
I have couch envy. The ones we have belonged to my partners parents- back in the day. They actually have springs in the base and every now and then one pops off and there are always dips and gaps in the seating. I dream of a couch like your new one. Congratulations!

Thanks Megan! I must admit we still have the armchairs that my mum got when she got married in 1973!! But this couch... I feel so materialistic but it's changed my quality of life dramatically lol been reading on it every night

La Dame aux Camelias - 1848 semi-autobiographical tragic French romance by Alexandre Dumas fils the illegitimate son of Alexandre Dumas pere who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo etc.
June TIOLI Challenge # 3: Read a book written by an author who is the younger relative of another published author

I was in the mood for a great romance... fraught and emotional on the same level as Wuthering Heights when Catherine says "I am Heathcliffe!" I thought the French might deliver and picked Camile.

I'm not sure if Dumas was manipulative on purpose or if it was just me but I experienced a great change of heart in the middle of this book.

At the beginning I thought Marguerite was a stereotypical courtesan, that she did not care for her lovers and lived way beyond her means - what was she thinking - how did she think that would work out? Meanwhile Armand was a stereotype too of a young man who will ruin himself (ie loose his fortune) over a courtesan, possessive and infatuated from the first moment - over the top! I didn't like either character very much but particularly Marguerite and it was exasperating to read.

Then given this is semi-autobiographical novel written by Dumas (Armand in the book) I began to have a sneaking suspicion that he was getting his own back on his dead ex by getting Armand to praise her beauty grace and kindness meanwhile also writing about her greed, excessive lifestyle and mind games.

Then gradually the story became a full fledged love story which couldn't last and ended wretchedly. I was completely converted and even though I knew how it would end as it's basically the beginning of the book I was thinking why didn't these two get the chance they needed - they were perfect together :( Not entirely sure if I really liked Armand but Marguerite on the other hand... get the tissues what a hero! Forget Shortland Street I would rather read stuff like this.

Chapter 1: "she must have had a sad death, for, in her world, one has friends only when one is perfectly well"

On being a courtesan "We no longer belong to ourselves. We are no longer beings, but things. We stand first in their self-esteem, last in their esteem"

On Love: "Women like Marguerite always forsee that some one will love them, never that they will love."

>89 kiwiflowa: Bill or Sam, but I'm leaning toward Sam.

>93 Morphidae: But I don't think Eric is 100% out of the picture yet. Sam was my other pick. It would be a very easy and tidy end to it all. Especially because out of all Sookie's friends he is the one that is still unattached.

>94 kiwiflowa: I see Eric as too selfish at heart. I think Bill would want Sookie to be a vampire. Sam could accept Sookie as she is.

Love the couch and the reading room!

>95 Morphidae: I agree and given what Sookie did at the end of Deadlocked automatically with no thought does make me think Sam might be the choice. However I still think it should be Eric and I'm hoping he will make the grand gesture Sookie was hoping for in Deadlocked. Maybe I'm just hopeless lol.

>96 ronincats: Thanks Roni. Been livin on this couch every spare moment I have.

This weekend The Boyfriend thought he would try his hand at DIY and promptly put his foot through the ceiling when he was exploring the roof cavity and hence created a DIY project. I'm now dealing with a crabby man ordering me around to 'vacumn' and 'sort that out' when HE created the mess and I want to read!! idiot

#89: I haven't read Deadlocked yet, but I'm sure Harris will keep writing - Guess I'll resort to her Shakespeare series, which I haven't read but which a friend likes lots.

I've been reading a lot lists lately particularly on Paul's thread for personal best books of the decade, new millenium, 90's and now I believe even 80's! I've been caught between listing what I actually read in those decades or books that were published back then and I've read since... I've decided to do both and see how it looks in the end..

1980's - shortest list ever since I was born in Dec 1984.
We are Going on a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen (pub 1989) - the first book I actually read with the help of my mum and I took the whole reading thing seriously. It helped that Mum bribed me by making it a special shopping trip and I got to pick the bright shiny new book myself (as the third child everything was handed down to me).

Books I have read published in the 80's but read post 80's
Belgariad series - David Eddings - read as a teen and began my love for the fantasy genre
Here be Dragons - Sharon K Penman - read as a teen and began my love for the historical fiction genre
Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley - combined the above two genres awesome!
The House of the Spirits - Isabel Allende
The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
The Colour Purple - Alice Walker
Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood

1990's age 6 - 16
Paul Jennings books such as Undone! fantastic Australian author of short stories. Had me in hysterics as a child.
John Marsden books another Australian author. The Tomorrow when the War Began series was massively popular when I was in school. Every single classmate of mine (including the boys!) would read this series - so many kids started reading because of this series.

Books I have read published in the 90's but read post 90's
Harry Potter series - J K Rowling - read in my 20's and taught me that children's/teens books can still be awesome to read as an adult.
Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
A Very Long Engagement - Sebastien Japrisot
We Were The Mulvaneys - Joyce Carol Oates
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
The Vintners Luck - Elizabeth Knox
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
Possession - A. S. Byatt
Stardust - Neil Gaiman

2000-2012
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
The March - E. L. Doctorow
Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre
We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
Atonement Ian McEwan
Blackout/All Clear - Connie Willis
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld

Wow - Lisa, a triple whammy!

Your 80's list reminded me of a glaring omission in my own list - The Sunne in Splendour has to be on my list - Penman is a great writer of historical fiction isn't she?

On your 90's list I have most of them but only read Possession and Birdsong.

Have read three of your noughties list.

Hope your having a great weekend ensconsed on that wonderful sofa.

Thanks Paul - I love lists - so no list fatigue here. I've been thinking about making a top 10 list for the rest of the books I've read pre 1980. That will be really hard to narrow down. These lists were hard to fill and I felt pretty bummed then I realised I had done most of my reading from 2003 so that wasn't so bad after all.

The Sunne in Splendor is actually my favourite Penman book - an epic story about the War of the Roses. Haven't read any other book on the subject (fiction) that comes close. But I listed Here Be Dragons as it was the first Penman I read. I read Sunne in Splendor in 2006.

I really wanted to list Wild Swans and Maus but decided not to cheat and stick to fiction.

My Sunday has been spent trying on clothes all day. No not shopping - ones that I already own. I tend to just buy new stuff each season and I have far too many clothes. I can't let any of it go either! I thought I would have bags of stuff to go to the Sallies instead I have one half full bag and a huge pile of 'keepers' stuff I haven't worn in years that I've just pulled out of a drawer I haven't opened in years. It kinda feels like shopping again! I truly am a hoarder in all things.

>98 markon: Her Harper Connelly series is pretty good, too.

ok The Boyfriend is globe trotting to the UK, I'm sick at home, and it's pouring with rain...

Forget my current reads I'm pulling out Wolf Hall and starting right now.

Love your 2000's lists, looks like we have similar tastes.

Good luck with Wolf Hall, I hope your other books will forgive you :)

Getting caught up here. I do the wardrobe try-out every year and understand your Sunday wardrobe clean. I started Wolf Hall this weekend - only 56 pages in so far and have found if I get past the 'He/he' confusions and read it at face value it seems to flow rather nicely.

Hi Megan - I suspect as much too as I always follow your thread.

Hi Lori - I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it's reading... I'm waiting for it to suddenly become impossible to understand which seems to be the impression I've picked up from others. In saying that I sometimes read a paragraph and suddenly click at the end who it was about.

I just finished part one. Having watched the Tudors and having read The Sunne in Splendor the names and relationships are familiar to me which I think is making it easier to read. I like the style it mixes old world language and topics yet the characters seem to have a modern way of thinking and chatting to each other. I like the way Cromwell and his wife talk to each other.

I'm following the tutored read between Ilana and Suz: http://www.librarything.com/topic/137481#3435549 and picking up heaps of useful information.

I live in London, and a lot of the London-set historical fiction I read is about a totally different-feeling place, as foreign as other places far away. When I was reading Wolf Hall I always had the feeling that I could turn a corner and the characters would be *right there*. I'd never experienced that before, and nor have I since.

(And if it's any consolation, your boyfriend won't be getting better weather over here)

Oh, the clothes try-on thing sounds so familiar!! Me, too.

I HAD to share this:

'Northland College (NZ) principal John Tapene has offered the following words from a judge who regularly deals with youth..."Always we hear the cry from teenagers "What can we do, where can we go?"....My answer is, "Go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons, and after you've finished, read a book. Your town does not owe you recreational facilities and your parents do not owe you fun. The world does not owe you a living, you owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy and talent so that no one will be at war, in poverty or sick or lonely again." In other words, grow up, stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a backbone, not a wishbone. Start behaving like a responsible person. You are important and you are needed. It's too late to sit around and wait for somebody to do something someday. Someday is now and that somebody is you!'

"Go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons, and after you've finished, read a book. Your town does not owe you recreational facilities and your parents do not owe you fun.

That should be my mantra this summer when my daughter says she's bored!

WOW....this one needs to be sent home to every parent....the kids didn't get that way on their own!!! I've 'favorited' that one.

I love the phrase "develop a backbone, not a wishbone"

I decided to try and credit right person with this quote rather than an unidentified judge and of course with everything these days it seems like it's been around for years and I think it's an updated version of what judge Phillip B. Gilliam said in Nevada in the 1960's! Still relevant today :)

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1908&dat=19831216&id=30grAAAAIBAJ&...

I saw this on facebook this week but can't find who the artist is? looks like Banksy but I can't find it. Anyone know??

Dashing off a quick message... images to be added later

Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

Loved loved loved this book! First it's a retelling of the Illiad which was very easy and smooth to read. I'm interested in Greek mythology and have tons of books on the subject but never got round to actually reading any - finally I have. Secondly this book is a romance. Was not expecting that and was delightfully surprised and by the end - be still my heart!

These two strands, the love between Achilles and Patroclus and Achilles' fate, worked well together and by the second half of the book I was racing to the end while every so often putting down the book for a few seconds to take a breather half knowing what would happen next.

Would love it if she went on to write about Odysseus or Aeneas!

Dandelion Wine

I don't know how to review this book except to say it was delightful to read and one that I will pick up every 5 years or so to read again. Words that come to mind while thinking about this book is nostalgia and innocence. There was one chapter in the book, about the Tarot Witch, in one sentence briefly mentioned how she wasn't worshiped anymore and I wonder if that one line inspired Gaiman to write American Gods - it first so perfectly with that book... hmmm.

Yay, you loved SOA! And I agree about her next book - I really hope it is Odysseus' story. I am really good at buying Greek books - I have 2 translations of the Iliad and have read neither... {hangs head in shame}

often putting down the book for a few seconds to take a breather half knowing what would happen next
Such fiction often takes me the same way Lisa. Well put.

Song of Achilles seems to be a thread favorite. I must try and find a copy at some point. Did you ever read the Mary Renault trilogy and the same subject? I thought those very good as well. I see you are reading Quiet now. I listened to it on audio a couple of months ago and found many ah ha moments in it.

I must get a copy of Song of Achilles soon - the enthusiasm for it seems pretty consistently high. I loved to read retellings/versions of the greek myths when I was a teenager, but haven't read anything around that period for ages. And #116 Cushla, I haven't read the Iliad itself either, though I did a paper on Heroic Literature at college, so I'll share your shame!

My first year in college I had a wonderful two trimester long class on the Classics. Sort of a great books class focused on the theme of Odysseus. Only 12-15 students, and the professor was fabulous and in his spare time taught me how to write papers as I never had (my high school left a lot to be desired). We read Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Sappho, The Golden Ass by Apuleius, The Divine Comedy (yes, the whole thing), Paradise Lost, Ulysses, and I'm forgetting a couple. I remember that class very fondly, although I had eye trouble from all the reading!

*flits around and clears the cobwebs*

sigh - still not reading much. I've begun a kind of reading 'therapy' not reading as therapy but therapy to promote more reading. I've decided that I need to think of reading as a GOOD thing so I'm only reading when I'm in a good frame of mind. This means a comfy chair in comfy clothes with a good drink (coffee or wine), chocolate, and I can really just relax and forget about the world.

Not when I'm on the bus home stressed from work with a headache, or at lunch at work stressed, or at night when I can't sleep because I'm stressed about work. The next two weeks are critical and I hope I won't be posting that I've lost my job!!

Yesterday I read The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennet. It's a novella that can be read in one sitting. It's about the Queen who discovers at the age of 80 a love of reading. This was a reread. I first read it when it was published in 2007 and didn't really like it.. it was kind of funny but in an awkward way. This time I really enjoyed it. I loved the jokes and commentary about the authors and books mentioned, and the royals. The turn of phrase really tickled me sometimes. One that sticks to mind is "...it is an ill-tempered royal couple that is driving down the Mall, the duke waving visciously from his side, the Queen listlessly from hers..." waves visciously teehee

Tonight I will start The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald.

which brings me to my book problem... for the first time I couldn't locate a book. I own The Bookshop and I swear I know where I last saw it so that is where it should be... but it's not there. I've unstacked and restacked so many piles of books. I then almost bought the book (again) from bookdepository as it was only $9NZ when I stopped the crazy and simply requested it through the library. So now I'm reading a library copy while somewhere in this house is a copy I own... no. more. books. unless it's an ebook as that doesn't count

Lovely to see you back posting Lisa. Must admit that I am pretty good at remembering all my books but I do occasionally have trouble to find them if they are somehow put back in the wrong spot.

Crossing my fingers about your job. I often end up requesting a book from the library rather than turn my house upside down when a quick search doesn't find it where it should be. Sort of defeats the purpose of owning the book though. I just went and picked up House of Many ways from the library, I thought our copy was in my daughter's room with all our other Diana Wynne Jones books but could not find it.
Hope your book therapy is a success. Have you tried audiobooks on your iPod for the bus?

Lisa that class sounds amazing! I remember my first English course at uni. I was unconvinced that I had chosen the right thing to do taking an English course as I hadn't recovered from the horror of English classes at high school. The course was amazing. We spent a lecture watching Sweet November Rain music video and watching Mr Darcy dive in and out of that pond in P&P and sounding out the word sublime. We did read 'serious' texts (and by the end of the semester I confidently sat the exam and wrote six esays in two hours!!) but the lectures were quirky and as a result I still remember them and what she was teaching us.

Genny - SOA is pretty special I think. I'm halfway through The Dovekeepers which is another ancient history story told in the first person... and it's been a real trial to get through. (It's a birthday gift or else I would have given up) I just don't feel a connection with the characters where as with SOA it sucked me right into their world and wouldn't let me go.

I haven't read Mary Renault but they are on my wishlist!

Paul - thanks for the compliment. My commentary isn't usually very poetic or literary and is also probably teeming with grammatical errors!

Cushla I have two copies of the Iliad too! One of them was put in the 'take to hospice' pile recently.

Hi Kerry - I've tried an audiobook a few years ago and it felt quite ponderous. in the bus I listen to music and daydream.

oops I forgot to mention the exciting news (except it's not so exciting really) a dead person/body was found on my street a few houses up a few days ago! it's been in the news and everything. Totally weirded me out as I walk past that exact spot every morning at dawn to get to my bus.

It beats the time a few months ago when I saw out the window ash falling from the sky into our backyard. I went to invesitgate and saw down the road a neighbor had set his tree on fire. This tree was a massive poplar tree that was taller than the house and really close to the house. The neighbor was trying to put the fire out with a garden hose... the whole tree was in flames... taller than the house... and he was using a garden hose. I called the emergency services.

Sorry to hear about the job stresses Lisa will be thinking of you. (Also sorry to hear about the dead body found on your street - eep!). Reading therapy sounds good - I'm glad you enjoyed The Uncommon Reader this time round - I thought it was charming :-)

Good to see you here, Lisa! Hope the job goes well, and that catastrophic events on your street do not come in threes.

Can't believe that fire in the tree story! I just hope that you weren't too traumatised by the other event. Nothing much happening in my neck of the woods of late.

Thanks Heather, for the work thing I just have to get through each day and see what comes.

Hi Roni, well at the moment neither has had a direct impact on me - If there's a third I hope it won't either!

Hi Kerry, yeah my 'hood' is interesting. The house I was referring to in the story was the neighbors house not mine. I would not be so laid back if I had fire or smoke damage! When I was talking to the emergency call centre they were asking me things like - how close is the tree to the house? me: no idea, it's close, the flames are touching the house - close enough??? lol I think the guy actually thought fire was a good way to get rid of a tree instead of chopping it down.

On Thursday night my guild wars II server went down for maintenance for an hour. Much to my surprise I spent the rest of the evening reading The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald. The hours slipt past unnoticed and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Bookshop is about a middleaged war widow Florence who decides to take a risk and start a small business in her small English village in the post war 1950's. She purchases an old house in the village that has been standing empty for a number of years and opens a bookshop. In this village not only does everyone know everyone elses business it seems that everyone also knew what the old house should be and that's not a book shop. A quiet battle begins.

This is one of those small quiet books that at face value could seem boring and kinda flat however I got right into the village politics and personalities and to me it was like a chess game which was played over a number of years to the end with a winner and a looser. My only criticism is that Florence appeared too stoic, surely off the page she must have felt it keenly when forces beyond her sphere worked against her. How unfair it seemed!

#130 Great review of The Bookshop Lisa - I really enjoy small quiet books like that so I'll look out for a copy.

I also enjoyed your review and must move this up Mt Tbr.

I read The Bookshop many years ago Lisa, and had forgotten all the detail, just remembered the feel of it. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Also, shortly after posting about Song of Achilles earlier on, I found a copy in a charity shop, but I've not started reading it yet...

Hi Heather! Well if nothing else it should only take a day or a weekend to read so not a lot of time is invested if you don't like it. It was cozy English village life that was a touch humourous and a boatload of small minded petty politics.

I hope you enjoy it too Kerry when you get to it. I have The Blue Flower by Penny Fitzgerald to read as well - as long as I can find it! It was one of My Monster Book Fair 50c finds. - Did you go to it this year?

Hi Genny :) I know it's a good book when it makes me reflect after I've finished it of various scenarios and characters no matter how slim the book is or insignificant the story may seem. This one did but over time I'll forget the finer points too!

Well I was off work today - my cold from a few weeks ago came back like a boomerang! My sinuses are keeping me home everything else I could deal with except that - it's actually painful! One good thing (I say super sarcastically) about workplace tension and restructuring is that it does wonders for the figure. I'm slimming down just in time for bikini season.

Hope you are feeling a little better this afternoon, maybe a visit to Joe's cafe will perk you up?
I've read The Blue Flower, it's a little hard going but ultimately worth the effort. I didn't go this year, I just have too many unread books in my house.

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

I loved The Help I seemed to just breath in that book and The Wednesday Sisters was just like it! better than watching TV I would come home and go straight to this book.

It's about five women who meet at their neighborhood park. Starting in 1967 these women identify and introduce themselves according to what their husbands profession and jobs are. Yes it's that kind of book - womens issues. I loved it the book incorporates a lot of events from the 1960's and early 70's and really taught me how ridiculous things were for my mothers generation. How much we take for granted now. Like running a marathon... why the hell not? well back then women were banned - what the??

The weak point for me is that this book was told by the one of the women as an ongoing memory. Told from the future she could fill in the gaps for the reader that she and her friends didn't know at the time however there was no explanation as to why she was reminiscing. I was waiting for the whole book as to why she was looking back on these times and it never was explained.

What I did love is that this group of women loved to read and then formed a club and began to write. So it was also a book about books. It also tackled topics such as cancer, fertility treatments, infidelity, divorce, mixed marriages, women's education, women in sport, women's employment etc.

Kerry I thought the same thing and I also wasn't happy with last years book fair - the prices were steep and the selection poor. This year I went with my friend more out of a sense of tradition than anything. It was great! I got two bags and one box of books. The selection was great and I had to make hard choices! The prices were also scaled back. My friend on the other hand is a true book lover. She had the flu and she still went. She was actually keeling over and almost fainting yet she soldiered on! I had all these emergency plans running through my head for when she would actually topple over but she managed to hang in.

That sounds great, and good that your friend lasted the distance! I love a good book fair, still I'm better off for not going. I look at all the books I have and wonder if I should just sell a bunch on TM without bothering to read them first, I have so many.
There's a book fair, Bookarama, underway here in Howick at present for Rotary, I haven't been to it for about 10 years.

Sorry to hear about your cold. I've had a bit of one this week - every time I think it's going it bounces back again!

#137 Wow, that's extreme book buying on your friend's part!

One Fine Day by Molly Panter-Downes

A quick read on a stormy spring Saturday in NZ.

This book is about one day in Laura Marshall's life. It is a very hot summers day and the war has ended - one year on and she is still thankful and unable to take the peace and safety for granted yet and she frets about her husband and daughter. Because she is of the upper middle class used to a time of maids, nannies, cooks and gardeners. During the war men disapeared in service and the women left behind also went into uniform or worked in factories and also clung to their own families - not to cook and clean for anothers. Sadly some were casualties of the war at home.

During the war everyone 'made do' but now in peacetime the expectation that things would 'go back to how they were' hasn't been met. There are no servants to be had in this new age, Laura and her returned husband battle with the overgrown garden, a large 'tyrant' house that needs upkeep as well as cooking and everyday cleaning chores.

On this fine day as she goes about cooking, gardening, cleaning, running errands and shopping she reflects on her life before, how she was bought up, what she wants for her daughter and her husband and realises despite everything how incredibly lucky she is that her marriage and family have prevailed and is determined to keep going.

I found this short novel a fanastic snapshot of England 1946. There was a feeling of relief and thankfulness that the long war had ended yet also a depressing, lost, bewildered tone throughout as well. What a confusing time it must have been.

I really must get round to reading that one, it's been on my radar for ages.

One Fine Day sounds lovely. I"ll have to watch for it ... or maybe just put it on Kindle.

Read another book yesterday and finished late last night (it's been a long time since I've done that!)

Love Falls by Esther Freud

YA novel that is sadly flawed. This book was great to read but at the end I was disapointed and thinking over the plot in my head it didn't make sense. The premise was great. Set in the summer of 1981 a few days prior to Princess Diana's wedding to Prince Charles 17 year old Lara is invited by her father to come with him for a few weeks to Italy while he visits a friend. Lara has just finished secondary school and preparing to go to university. She has had an alternative upbringing so she isn't a typical teenage girls in a lot of ways but then again in a lot of ways she is. She isn't estranged from her father but he has never actively taken on a parental role. One they get to Italy they start to socialise with an upperclass british family clan that is holidaying nearby.

The setting was beautiful, the characters with and their pasts and their prior relationships with each other were complicated and very well thought out. It was very visual while reading I could practically see the characters as if in a movie in my mind. The inclusion of the local horse race, the polio, was great and reminded me of Hemmingway's The Sun Also Rises.

However there was a major event in the book of a serious nature. And the more I think about the more I don't know why it was even included. Did her editor cut out too much making it irrelevant or not cut enough?Because of it I don't recommend it especially to teens. Also towards the end the main character Lara seemed to go out of character and by the very end it ended as it started: Lara leaves her father after returning to London just as awkward with each other as at the beginning. There was no clear resolution or character growth.

Hi Lisa, One Fine Day is being added to the wishlist, it sounds like a book that I will really enjoy.

>138 avatiakh: I went to the Chch Bookarama this and last year, and got a heap of books. Which necessitated the purchasing of a new bookcase also :)

Glad you found the selection and prices better this year Lisa. All novels were $3, and I confess I barely looked at anything else. The kids books were well over-priced, so didnt go near them.

Lisa - nice to see you polish off a book that seemed to be well worth the trouble. Your Sunday is probably done and dusted but I hope your weekend was everything you wanted it to be.

Hi Judy - I hope you enjoy it. Not much on plot as it's very introspective but not terribly long either.

Hi Megan, The books were $2 each for regular paperback. $3 for hardback and the oversized soft cover. $1 for very used/or genre fiction (such as Mills and Boons). I stuck to the $2 section and got a great selection of literature which is what I'm after. Last year I was disapointed as the books were $3 and very used and/or pop fiction i.e. Angels and Demons etc. that year I ended up buying a lot of ex-library Georgette Heyer for 50c. This year I didn't even bother looking around past the section I was in - already had too much to choose from!!

You're good to buy a new bookcase - mine have to stay in the boxes I bought them home in. The spare bedroom hides the boxes nicely :)

Thinking of you Paul and how you have to sneak your books in - I make The Boyfriend help me get the books into the car and home. The first year I went I went buck wild with a friend and needed a trolley to get them all out to the car. He didn't complain once! He probably realised that it was cheaper than one of those Pandora bracelets that were all the rage at the time. lol

This weekend was labour weekend in NZ Paul - which is the traditional weekend to plant the summer garden which is exactly what we did. This year we are trying to grow melons and squash as well as the usual fare. I wanted to expand this year and grow twice as much as last year. We hired a friends brother to do some landscaping as that's what he used to do when he was a student and he needed the money - he then moved to Australia and facebooked us after he got there - sigh.

I should take a photo of the vege garden - it looks so pathetic when it's new and everything is so tiny.

The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley

This book is about a group of cousins and how they grew together - or apart - during WW2. Even though it was set during WW2 and it effects everyone and everything it actually didn't feel like it was a big part of the story at all it was very much in the background. I kind of loved to read the book but by the end can't actually say why or recommend it. It was made into a miniseries and I'm going to watch it on DVD this week and see if changes my mind at all. I can say that having a camomile lawn is on my wish list for when we win lotto - it sounds divine!

The Night Bookmobile - Audrey Niffenegger

Very disturbing. Good on her for writing something so disturbing... but well can't say I understand it. I guess it's about a hell of an addiction which thankfully I've never had to deal with. (Not that I've ever contemplated or attempted to give up coffee). Or maybe it's about seeing heaven and having so much faith that what she saw was heaven that she was willing to risk her life to get there early. The graphics didn't impress me but at the same time I think it needed to be a graphic novel as it slowed me down reading it so it took me about 40 minutes rather than 10 minutes and I took a lot more in.

Good on you for getting the vege garden planted. We always wait til a few weeks after Labour Weekend, as the is always a frost that sneaks up and zaps the tomato seedlings otherwise. We have ours potted and in teh shelter of the house, ready in a few weeks to plant out.

Given that tomatoes are damn near $1 each these days, we are plating a heap this year. yum-O

Well today is a three day weekend for me as I'm having Monday off work. I have too much annual leave stacked up so this is an attempt to at least keep it level rather than growing. I also had Friday afternoon off to level off some time in lieu.

So Friday afternoon I shopped and the debit card got a good work out. With new three sundresses I am ready for summer - may we please actually have one this year!

Saturday we discovered an abcess on our cat Cleo so off she went to the vet and we ended up leaving her there overnight as she needed an operation and blood tests etc. We then went to an American outlet shop and left with snapple, rootbeer, poptarts, butterfingers and captain crunch peanut butter - I couldn't resist! The rest of the day I started and finished The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys. Daylight savings has started in NZ a few weeks back so and it was a perfect evening reading with the windows open and an amazing scent from the garden wafting in.

This morning we went to pick fuzzles up and wow... the abcess was under her arm which is the worst place for a cat as there is no way to immobilise it to allow her to heal so she is now in the lounge in a cage. The wound is gruesome and has a number of stitches internal and external so she also has to wear a collar so she doesn't pull them out with her teeth. It will be like this for the next 10 days a.long.10.days. As I type this she is going a bit nutty as she's as smoochy cat and she can't smooch and she's caged - I'm trying to ignore her so she will settle down and rest.

Hi Megan - yeah frost I'm pretty sure Auckland came close to a frost on Wednesday morning the cold was a bit of a surprise but we got a stunning day in return. We've only planted a few cherry tomoatoes so far as we get tomatoes and zucchini from the boyfriends dad who grows them from seed. Growing tomatoes is great value because even the ones that don't look as pretty those in the shop still taste good and are good enough for a tomato sauce or soup. We still have tomato and pasta sauce from last years crop to eat. Only recommendation I have if you have never canned great quantities before is start saving empty jars now, and ask your mum, sister, cousin, friends and neighbors to start saving too! They are so expensive to buy.

The Lost Garden - Helen Humphries

Gwen Davis leaves London at the height of the blitz to join the Womens Land Army. She is assigned to a great house in Devon to plant extra food crops such as potatoes and onions. She is in charge of the group of women where she is assigned as she has studied horticulture and belongs to the horticulture society. But while she knows about plants and how to make them grow she is ill-suited to being a leader. The other women are young, it's their first time away from home, and there is a unit of Canadian soldiers also billited to the estate which distracts the girls. They are called the womens land army but really they aren't, they volunteered and don't have to be there if they don't want to, so Gwen who isn't a natural leader anyway has no real authority either. This could spell disastor and almost does but being out on the estate they are isolated they can almost forget the war, they come to know each other, and learn to take control of their situation and create something special.

Gwen's character undergoes a great transformation throughout the book in a quiet understated way. At the begining she is awkward and almost unlikeable and this even comes through in the writing. She narrated in these awful stilted short sentences which annoyed me. But she learns how to relate to other people, how to be a bit more friendlier and gains a lot of confidence as she is accepted. There's a touch of humour too as she names the girls after different types of potatoes in her head when she thinks about them but by the end of the book she's using their real names.

Throughout the story we learn about Gwen's passion for horticulture and how that came to be. She discovers a lost garden and restores it and with her knowledge tells us what each flower means or represents and through the garden tells a story about someone she has never met. It's poetic and lush amd really had me itching to go out in my yard and begin a massive gardening project.

Off Topic: For my 13 in 13 challenge I've decided to read 'trilogies' of books. They don't have to be a traditional three part story the books just need to be linked in some way.
One Fine Day, The Camomile Lawn and The Lost Garden would be a trilogy as they are all about the effect of WWII in England. I can't wait to get started on the challenge next year!

So sorry about the kitty!! Good luck with the 10-days.

Sorry I have been away so long. I wanted to stop in tonight and tell you that I started reading A Woman in Berlin today, which you recommended to me, and so far it is great. Thank you! I picked up The Lost Garden after reading Coventry. Your comments are a reminder to dig it out.

I hope Cleo is feeling better soon. Poor kitty. And, of course, you too!

Thanks Reba and Lisa - Cleo has just been to the vets for a check up and came home with no collar which is so much nicer for her - she groomed herself for 2 hours straight when she got home. Another 5 days and her stitches will be removed.

Lisa I'm glad you are liking A Woman in Berlin - stunning isn't it? Don't be sorry you haven't been around, neither have I really. 2012 has been truly depressing and not one I will look back on!

So last weekend I quickly whipped through PS, I Love You by Cecelia Ahern. I get bonus points as the book isn't mine so I get to return it to it's owner and the pile of borrowed books goes down and my guilt lessens lol.

So the premise is that Holly's husband Gerry dies very young of a brain tumor. They met at 15, were teenage sweethearts, married in their early 20's and expected to spend their whole life together. But at 30 Holly finds herself a widow. Soon after his death Holly discovers that Gerry has left her a series of notes, one for each month until the end of the year. Holly latches on to these notes like a lifeline she is so upset Gerry has left her and the notes help her feel like he's still there. Gradually the notes become more demanding teaching Holly how to carry on and have a life without Gerry. Along the way Holly's close family and friends and some new friends she meets help her.

It's definitely a chick-lit book, but a really good one at that. It was super sweet, and funny and achingly sad as Holly and everyone else deals with their grief. I was laughing out loud and tearing up throughout. And the ending was good, it had the potential to have the wrong ending but thankfully the author didn't go there. I really liked the characters, all of them even the smallest supporting characters had a real personality, their own story and personal growth and the ability to make the reader laugh.

Highly recommend.

The Complete Polysyllabic Spree - Nick Hornby
A collection of newspaper columns Hornby wrote for the 'Believer' between 2003 - 2006. The articles are about his thoughts on reading not a bunch of reviews on the latest best seller or award winner. Sometimes they were funny sometimes they were a bit dry. Several times I found myself wanted to read out loud something that was so true about reading.... but The Boyfriend playing Natural Selection on the computer didn't seem to find it as amusing as I did. Despite being about reading not books I did catch a few book bullets. I will read the next in the series: Shakespeare Wrote for Money and More Baths Less Talking.

I've just had a perfect day.

It's Saturday which started with a sleep in. Then chocolate and coffee with a spot of LT for breakfast. Then I headed out to the deck complete with sunglasses and sunscreen and read all day amongst the roses, lavendar, herbs and bees. Lunch was iced tea, fresh bread with olives and cheese and an apple. Around four thirty I headed inside for a nap on the couch. I've just woken up with a cup of turkish apple tea. A BBQ for dinner and more reading to follow. Why can't every day be like today??

The boyfriend has also been occupied all day with his new toys. A chainsaw and woodchipper. I haven't had the courage yet to go round to the back yard and see of we have any trees left as he's been most enthusiastic.

Fuzzles has had her stitches taken out and her cage returned to the vet. Back to normal it's so nice to see her out and about again.... we won't talk about the two mice she has caught and then released alive inside...

That sounds like a perfect day to me!!

Bit different from my back breaking day of flying to north Malaysia, visiting 2 potential parcels of land to develop in 2 separate states, flying back to KL and being stuck whilst being driven through the traffic in the middle of Friday evening rush hour meets the Malaysian monsoon with spray everywhere and sleep intruding on my reading time.
Have a great weekend Lisa. x

Wow your day sounds like heaven! It's getting colder here every day and will be MANY months before I can sit outside in the sun again.

That does sound like a perfect day. What were you reading?

>152 kiwiflowa: I love your untraditional trilogy reading intentions for the 13 in 13 challenge. Great idea!

>157 kiwiflowa: I am dying with jealousy when I hear about your Saturday! One day Im going to see if the grandparents cant take the kids for a whole day, so I can do everything you listed.

Time to catch up! New years resolution: in 2013 I will post pics of the books covers..,,

26. The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain - Peter Sis
Excellent YA graphic novel about growing up in Austria during the Cold War. I knew the Beatles, Beach Boys etc were culturally significant the the 60's and 70's but it was interesting how it was also significant in Eastern Europe despite all attempts to restrict access to Western pop culture. I liked how this book just stated how it was and really requires the reader to draw conclusions and compare their life with his growing up - that's how I read it anyway.

27. What Was I Thinking - Paul Henry
So Paul Henry is a well known public figure in NZ. He became notorious when while hosting the 'Breakfast' daily news'ish' show he made some very un PC comments. Eventually it was one scandal too many, and actually invloved foreign diplomats in India weirdly enough, so he bowed to public pressure and resigned. He has some very loyal supporters who still want him back on TV in one way or another. I missed all of the scandals because I was at work when his show was on :P.

Anyway this memoir was a great read. He is a fascinating guy. His childhood wasn't all roses, he worked hard and took risks with his career and there were quite a few laugh out loud moments through out. The part that was the most standout for me though was his years as a foreign correspondent. Some hair raising tales - this guy has lived!

28. More Baths Less Talking - Nick Hornby
29. Shakespeare Wrote for Money - Nick Hornby
Just like the Polysyllabic Spree more articles from the Believer magazine. These were more recent so I had actually read some of the books he had too. However they are more about reading than book reviews and would probably only entertain people who like reading books about books. Nick Hornby is an author I would love to meet and have over for dinner without having actually read any of his books! The bit about ants was hillarious and deserved to be read out loud in the car to The Boyfriend - moving car can't escape - I have my ways.

30. Good Behaviour - Molly Keane
I deserve a gold star for this one - It's a book from my TBR pile!

So this book was a battle to get into. The first chapter starts off with a daughter looking after her invalid mother with the help of a servant. All three characters are despicable and petty and really didn't encourage me to carry on - did I really want to read more of this? Second chapter goes back to Aroon's childhood (the daughter) and the rest of the book explains how the characters came to be. In the end it was a fascinating study of characters and like a car crash I couldn't look away.

Set in early 20th C Ireland the St Charles' are an old anglo arsitocratic family living on their crumbling estate Temple Alice. Aroon's father is kind but aloof and has a roving eye. Her mother is distant, cold and jealously competitive with her daughter. Aroon shared a close childhood with her brother but he eventually got to escape to school and create his own world. Aroon is isolated on the family estate with two petty selfish parents and struggles to create any meaningful relationships as she is also very tall and considered 'big' for her gender in those times. Her own naivety makes her oblivious to the somewhat obvious and she becomes disregarded by everyone else as they pursue their own selfish desires. It's not a black and white world in this book every character has an admirable moment while being mostly awful throughout. And while I felt sorry for Aroon she was sometimes too sensitive or too self absorbed. The book demonstrates how 'good behaviour' can at the same time be very wrong. At the end of the book I re-read the first chapter and understood completely how that vile situation came about.

Hi Cushla - indeed it was I hope there are many more like that in the season ahead!

Hi Paul! Wow take a breath, you sound like you are running on empty! I hope life is kinder to you this week :)

Hi Chelle :) Yes it's our turn for the sun - wishing you many snug and warm evenings while hopefully reading a good book!

Thanks Lisa. I was reading the Nick Hornby books above. I really read them too fast. I probbaly would have enjoyed reading the articles one or two at a time between other books but I kept saying to myself... just one more...

Thanks Megan. I'm afraid I can't resist lists and have made a completely unattainable list of books to be read next year but the principle still applies. I love following books from one to another. Sometimes it's obvious without even reading the books but sometimes it's not until I'm in the middle of a book which mentions a scientist amputating ants legs that I start to wonder...

I was at Timeout today and hit upon a great selection of discounted books:
Pure - Timothy Mo
A Short History of Africa: From the Origins of the Human Race to the Arab Spring - more for reference than to read
The Tragedy of Arthur - Arthur Phillips
Lace - Shirley Conran - 1982 NYT best seller that looks trashy so it's going to be my beach read this summer

Full price for Christmas gifts:
Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place - Maryrose Wood - to be read then regifted to my niece #1 for Christmas (naughty)
A beautiful Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales collection - for neice #3

Hi Lisa, that description of your perfect day on Saturday sounds wonderful! I can't be too envious as I've just come back from holiday where I've had a good few relaxing days, but still.... I wish my Saturdays were like that sometimes!

Your most recent reviews all sound interesting and fun. Glad to hear you are having happy reading days!

Hi Genny :) getting away for a few days sounds fantastic too :) problem with staying at home is that I can see all the chores and odd jobs I should be doing.

Hi Lisa :) yes my reading has picked up recently. Reading really is a habit that must be maintained. I now feel like I can read anything whereas a few months ago every book I picked up I thought would be too hard, too long, too boring.

It's been a wonderful weekend again. Sitting on my coffee table I have a wonderful bunch of Delphiniums in all different shades of blue, purple and white. Today The Boyfriend and I drove all around the west coast beaches and picked up some champagne for my mothers 60th birthday next weekend. The rest of this year is party mode. My mum's bday, mine, christmas do's at my work and The Boyfriends, then Christmas itself.

Reporting in on books read:

The Moving Finger
A Murder is Announced
They Do it With Mirrors
So as you can see I've been on a bit of a Agatha Christie kick. I'm reading the Miss Marple series in order, then I will start on the other Poirot series, in order - I'm just like that.
I like how each of the mysteries move around so each one has a new setting and a new set of characters with some minor overlaps. Except the downside is that if I'm reading them all at once so I get comfortable with where I am and who I'm reading about and it takes me a while to adjust to the change when starting a new book. I liked The Moving Finger and A Murder is Announced more than They Do It With Mirrors because the first two involved whole villages and it was more quirky and funny. Mirrors just involved one family and the one I'm reading now A Pocket Full of Rye seems to as well, in London as well.

The End Of Your Life Book Club - Will Schwalbe. Excellent 5 star book. First it's a book about books and it's also a very moving memoir about the author's mother's battle with cancer. I read a 1 star review on Goodreads, mainly because all the reviews I've see have been 4 or 5 star so I wanted to see why someone disliked it so much, and it seemed that the reviewer was annoyed that Mary Anne (Schwalbe's mother) was portrayed so perfectly, saint like I guess. And it's true she is, there are a few parts where one could read between the lines and wonder, but really that's not what the book's about. Of course Schwalbe wanted to portray his mother as he and a lot of others remembered her, as a wonderful person whom they miss dearly. Anything else would just be wrong.

I've seen most of the Miss Marple's (several many times and with different actresses) and always enjoy them. I've never read them though -- should do that.

It is interesting why some people give books the ratings that they do. I used to get annoyed with the ratings on LibraryThing when people were giving low ratings to books on Amazon.com because of the e-book pricing.

Lisa, are you OK after the tornado? I've just been looking at the pictures in the Herald online, and they look awful. I hope you and your house are OK.

Hi Susan we are just fine - thank you for asking! No where near the tornado. The rain was horrendous though and our garage got flash-flooded. Still nothing too serious and it's pretty quick to dry out. I'm so glad we replaced our roof just a few months ago!

That's good, Lisa. I saw some pictures of flooding in Freeman's Bay and thought "That's nowhere near Hobsonville!" so I wondered just how bad it had got.

There was a picture in the herald of the Mt Eden bowling club that was flooded. It's next door to where I work and one of my colleagues took the photo and sent it in. I think there were many parts of Auckland that had surface flooding and power out but it was Hobsonville that got the tornado which was deadly. I think Rotorua also had a tornado later on in the day.

Nice to see that you are ok and dry. Have a lovely weekend.

Hi Paul, hope you have a good weekend too!

To the Is-Land: An Autobiography - Janet Frame



I've wanted to re-read this book for sometime because this was the awful book from high school. Everyone has something they 'had' to read at high school and hated and for me it was this book.

I had to read it for my last year of high school, the 'university entrance' year, and for years after right through university and after I bitterly complained about this book. It was the first book I got to read for an English class and I being an avid reader was looking forward to reading a great classic. My older sisters had to read Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice at school and I, who loved to read, was finally going to get to read and discuss a book. I thought it would be like a book club. (I took English at University which lived up to this ideal.) Instead our class got assigned To The Is-land by Janet Frame. First off it was an autobiography so it wasn't even fiction. Second I didn't know who Janet Frame was.

So there was the initial disappointment but I gamely took my copy home and began to read it. I read too far ahead of the class and stopped reading it meaning to pick it back up when we got to it in class. The teacher took us through the book chapter by chapter plodding though it over weeks and weeks. Then running out of time to complete the syllabus stopped analysing every chapter, paragraph, sentence and word and began to coach us through expected exam essay questions. It would have been better to read through the entire book over 1 or 2 weeks then discuss themes and analyse the book. I didn't really remember a lot of it which surprised me seeing how much I disliked it. I think because reading it was so disjointed, and unfinished, I never had a clear idea about the book as a whole. Instead we were being trained to write essays using 'SEX': Statement, Explanation, eXample. I think the teacher was under pressure to get us all through University Entrance and going about it the wrong way. Or maybe she loved it so much that she couldn't let us discover it for ourselves she had to point out how great every chapter, paragraph, sentence and word was.

(I also remember being irritated by this teacher. She seemed forgetful, repeatedly putting her glasses on and off - I would think god woman make up your mind on or off - she never seemed to be able to answer anything with a straight answer and instead would laugh nervously.)

Throughout it all I still didn't know who Janet Frame was really, I never heard of her before, but apprently she was important and famous - why? She had written an autobiography but I don't remember the teacher telling us about her other works, her novels - it never really struck me that she was a writer and maybe her books would be good to read. She had a weird life I vaguely knew. Weird enough for it to be turned into a movie at any rate. I never saw the movie, I think the teacher may have made us watch 30 minutes of the movie some 'pivotal moment', but without seeing the beginning or end it's meaning escaped me.

So the extraordinary thing about Janet Frame, that was never really explained to me back then, is that she was mis-diagnosed with schizophrenia, institutionalised, and was to undergo a lobotomy (this was the 1950's). Days before the procedure she won a prestigious NZ literary award. As a result her condition was re-evaluated and she went on to become a very successful writer. To The Is-land is the first of three books which make up her autobiography, it's about her childhood only, so it's not discussed in this book. I wish the teacher had given us this information as context, explained what schizophrenia is, what a lobotomy is etc.

How did the book measure up now? It's fantastic. I can see now that I wasn't mature enough at 17 to read this book. I didn't appreciate how great an autobiography is that it's written and reads like fiction. How enchanting it is to read about a young Janet Frame reading various poets and authors for the first time and her first attempts at writing her own poetry and prose. How universal her fears were in her youth - that I could relate 80 years later. How 'kiwi' it is. Even though times and living conditions have changed drastically I'm not really shocked, it's familiar as it sounds similar to my mother's stories of her childhood. I can appreciate now how extraordinary it was for a girl from a family like hers to stay in school and go on to tertiary education.

I do think this is a book book-lovers would enjoy reading as how can we not enjoy reading about someone else discovering a love books and poetry?

"They think I'm going to be a schoolteacher, but I'm going to be a poet."

I hope your teacher found something to do that she was better at and am glad you re-read the book and appreciated it. Have you read (or are you going to read) the other two books of her autobiography? The part about the misdiagnosis sounds really interesting.

I can't even imagine getting a last minute reprieve from a lobotomy! I wonder how that effected her life and writing.

That's very enterprising of you to go back and re-read something you hated so much. I'm glad the experience was so much better this time round - and glad that your ineffectual teacher didn't put you off reading altogether!

Janet Frame sounds like an interesting person.

That's an amazing story and a great review!

Glitterfy.com - Christmas Glitter Graphics

I want to wish you a glorious celebration of that time of year when we all try to unite around a desire for Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward All. Merry Christmas, Lisa!

Lisa - Happy New Year! I hope that 2013 brings you everything you want it to.

Here's wishing you a wonderful 2013 (which I believe has already started for you...or will very soon anyway).

Hi Lisa--Best Wishes for the New Year!

(BTW--Janet Frame's autobiography was made into an excellent movie years ago. I recommend it.)

Here's to a great new year ahead, Lisa!

Happy New Year Lisa!

Thanks you all for the holiday wishes! I hope you all (Roni, Deborah, Reba, Paul, Genny, Lisa had a lovely Christmas and New Years as well.

Just before Christmas I completed my last book of 2012: To Kill a Mockinbird an awesome finish to the year.

All those photo's in my prior posts have disapeared courtesy of webshots which I gather is no longer free :(

I am now over at the 2013 group:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/146546