Cushla's 2013 books - Part 1

Delighted to see the new group up, but I haven't got myself organised yet! Back when the kids are asleep and the mince pie pastry is made.

Currently reading: hopping

Stalled on:
Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz - page 260/390



Just finished:
At Risk - Stella Rimington



Books read in 2013

January
1. Iron Curtain by Anne Applebaum - 4 1/2 stars
2. Ashes and Diamonds by Jerzy Andrzejewski - 4 1/2 stars

February
3. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - 4 stars

March
4. At Risk - Stella Rimington - 3 1/2 stars
5.Secret Asset by Stella Rimington - 3 1/2 stars
6.Illegal Action by Stella Rimington - 3 1/2 stars
7.Dead Line by Stella Rimington - 3 1/2 stars

Time to read someone else!

Saved

Saved again

I was over 240 messages behind on your thread, Cushla, so I decided to make a clean break and start over here. Sorry not to have kept up better!

Hi Lisa! I got really behind this year too! (And getting real about the new job, next year is going to be worse, but I am kdding myself that it will be manageable.)

Are you doing a thread here as well as CR?

I'm not sure yet. I know so people don't venture to CR, but I find keeping more than one thread going a lot of work. And I just discovered the Reading Globally theme read for Jan-Mar which is going to be deadly. Where else do you keep threads?

I've thought hard about starting a CR one because I lurk on quite a lot of threads over there and think I'd post more if I had a thread there - but I won't keep it up.

I have one in the Europe Endless Challenge group, the US Presidential Challenge group, the Canadian challenge group and one of the non-fiction groups, and every one of those threads is dormant! It's as if I start a challenge and my brain rebels against being told what to focus on. I can predict that if I started a CR thread I would start reading entirely Carola Dunn mysteries.

At the risk of talking about a book in here while it is 2012 not 2013, I started Iron Curtain properly yesterday and it is terrific - have you read it yet? I am sure NOT to finish it in 2012 and it mightn't even be my first book for 2013... It fits the RG theme for Jan-Mar even though it's non-fiction. And the footnotes are chocker with books by authors I'd like to read, like Sandor Marai.

Hey there Cushla, I'm enjoying this one brief shining moment of being caught up on all the 2013 threads. By tomorrow it will be over, so carpe diem say I! Although carpe noctem would suit better at 1:42a EST.

Dooo dooo dooo dooo cross-posting alert! It's 7.44pm on Sunday night here - Dr N's timing suited the NZ contingent very well.

Prime time in the antipodes! Heh

Hi Cushla - looking forward to following you and your books for another year.

Hi Kerry!

Cushla - if I were to publish my list of most active threads - you would make the podium! Will of course be following you again next year.

Hi Cushla - starred you!

Hi Paul and Rhian. Paul, it must be an enormous podium (perhaps project managed by your firm)!

Rhian, where's your thread?? Or are you being sensible and waiting for the madness to die down a bit?

Oh - I only noticed that the new group was up and running an hour ago - haven't had time to do anything than star a few people so far - maybe later today.

Hi Cushla, found your new thread

Cushla - We wouldn't build it as I would be scared that the uneveness of its construction may cause Richard to fall and he would surely think I had done it on purpose.

Just marking a spot, Cushla, and hoping to keep more current than last year.

Hi Cushla! I'll be here following you again. I don't have it in me to set up my new thread, but I'll be back soon. I have a preliminary itinerary for Callia's NZ tour, so I'll PM you some performance info when I have a chance.

Hi Rhian, Gail, the Pauls and Anne - it is so nice to see your messages at 6.30 am on Christmas Eve!

Gail, thanks for saying hi. I started following your books early this year but have ended up barely keeping up with a handful of people. I really hope to do better next year.

Anne, that would be great. I bet she's getting excited!
Is she doing a thread on here this year too?

Paul C, very funny ha ha. You could put some books under it to stabilise it.

Rhian it seems that TONS of people haven't set their threads up yet not just you - I got up expecting lots and lots of new ones but no, it is still manageable.

Paul S, du hast noch kein neues Thread, oder? Wie geht es in Basel? Ich lese manchmal noch die BaZ und muss sehen, ob es Schnee zu Weihnachten geben wird. (wie sagt man dass eigentlich auf Deutsch? Klingt mir wie eine Uebersetzung, nicht richtig Deutsch!)

Right it is time for me to make the Christmas mince pie pastry... first time I've tried it so we shall see.

Hi Cushla! Happy Christmas Eve!

I'm not starting a thread yet, probably not till New Year's Eve, as I've still got plenty to finish off adding to my old thread - plus I'll be a bit busy for the next 48 hours anyway.

But I've got you starred at least...

Hi Genny - I can imagine you're a bit busy... here's a mince pie to keep you going. Just out of the oven!

Wow. Those are beautiful. Merry Christmas!

Oh yum.. I came over to to mark a spot on your thread and I find food! Wheeeee

Welcome back! Looks like yours is the place to be!!

Oh Cushla, those are beautiful, yum. Merry Christmas!

Lovely pies! Didn't you lie tell us this was your first attempt at making them?

o.O

Merry Christmas! Hmmm those pies seem to be disappearing. Richard, I am so happy with them (I used bought mince for them so my domestic goddess outfit is still hanging in the wardrobe).

Wilkiec thanks for visiting - I am off to find your thread before the kids wake up. What kind of kids are still asleep at 6.43 on Christmas Day?!

29 > Never tell anyone your secrets let them think you slaved for hours - it has benefits !

Hi cushla just making myself comfortable on your new thread!

Ive seen those pies before...although by now I bet they are disappeared :)
Happy Christmas and loving all the new threads to visit.

Hi Cushla, hope you had a great Christmas day. I'm still recovering from eating too much. Let's have a good summer of reading, looking forward to checking out your books.

>21 cushlareads: Tönt gut. "Ich lese manchmal noch die BaZ und muss sehen," Besser wäre, 'die BaZ, um zu sehen, ob'.

Diese Mince Pies sehen lecker aus. Wir haben auch 'Chrömli'/'Guetsli' gebacken (Mailänderli, Spitzbuebe, Chräbeli, Zimtstärne, Orangeplätzli) but I didn't take any picture - oops I changed languages again. anyway, I wish you all the best ro the coming year.

Hi Alex, Megan, Bianca, Susanne and Paul. It's Saturday morning here and I am about to start doing Suz's readathon till I get distracted or interrupted. Am trying to get Iron Curtain read in the next 3 days but that means 100s pages per day and I don't like my chances!

Paul I remember Zimtsterne but not the other ones. Yum. Guten Rutsch! Doh, thanks for the German update. I knew that but it just didn't come out of my fingers!

Susan it's nice to have some new visitors to my thread. I thought you must be German but I see you're much nearer, in Adelaide! We had a lovely holiday there (and in the Barossa Valley) in 1999 - stayed in Tanunda, Adelaide and then in a place called the Barossa Valley Resort which had just opened that weekend and was like being in an episode of Fawlty Towers. I wonder if it's still there...

Ugh, back to Teresa's brand new singing Barbie (well back to asking her to take it downstairs).

I've done my list of best books for 2012 a day early (it's the end of the 30th down here). Here's what I posted over on my old thread (in case anyone is abandoning ship already with the post overload!):

It's been interesting looking at this year compared to last - MUCH less reading overall, and less great non-fiction this year, with only one book getting either 4 1/2 or 5 stars. Dreams in a Time of War and Maus II were good at 4 stars, as were Truman and When God Spoke English. Team of Rivals was disappointing at 3 stars. Michael Lewis's book Boomerang was worse than disappointing at 2.

So my non-fiction book of the year is Maus. It's also my first graphic novel.

There was more competition for my top 5 fiction - I had 7 5 star reads and have picked out these 5:
Bring Up the Bodies
Half of a Yellow Sun
A Tale of Two Cities
Song of Achilles
and The Gift of Rain

Don't ask me to pick a favourite out of those 5!

I found my goals for 2012 and they were:

1. more books from countries other than England and the US - FAIL. I think my reading got more Anglo-focused this year with the stress of my teaching course. It felt like I was doing a lot of comfort reading.

2. at least one book for each Reading Globally themed read, because I love the group but was useless at either posting there or sticking to the themes last year FAIL.

3.some NZ and Australian fiction, because I really liked what I read last year FAIL. I read one NZ book - The Book of Fame. That's it. Pathetic!

4.a pile of books about Russia MASSIVE FAIL. 2013 is the year!!

5.some Dickens, starting with Great Expectations in Feb HUMONGOUS SUCCESS - I read A Tale of Two Cities (ok, in December) and loved it.

6.a bit more non-fiction (I managed 13/71 in 2011) About the same fraction of non-fiction read, at 7 out of 41 books.

Overall though reading has kept me unstressed this year (along with my long-suffering husband) and I'm not too worried about the goals going out the window. I'm sure the same thing will happen in 2013 and I'm looking forward to being supported by my bunch of LT-enabler friends!

I've just read your year-end message in BOTH locations! New thread duly starred -- looking forward to more great books in 2013!

Two of your favorite fiction reads are on my list for 2013: Bring up the Bodies and Song of Achilles. I looked up The Gift of Rain, and it seems like one I'd enjoy, so I'll keep that in mind as a possible.

Happy New Year, Cushla!

Einen Guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr Cushla!

Happy New Year Cushla!

Seeing as it looks like your 2012 thread is closed, Ill say my piece here.

Congratulations on a big year of learning, teaching, reading, parenting and becoming a NZer all over again :) Heres to a fantastic 2013 full of love laughter books and good health. And probably a few more things besides.

Starred! Looking forward to keeping up with your 2013 reading Cushla. 2012 was quite monumental for you and the first year of teaching is always, er, interesting. My first year I taught first grade which I thought was my absolute dream job. I found out I was more suited for children a bit older. Good luck to you with your new job. You'll be a great teacher.

Hi Laura, Michelle, Stasia, Bianca, Chelle, Bonnie and Megan - hope you are all enjoying New Year's Eve eve (except for you Megan). Thanks for the good wishes, and Megan thanks for your lovely words about this year just gone and the one to come. Yes it has been huge and Bonnie I am in denial at the moment about 2013 being "er, interesting". But I know reality is going to hit in about 30 days...

Here are a couple more pictures from our trip to Island Bay this morning. Island Bay's a suburb on the south coast and about 15 minutes from our place. The beach is over the road from a great playground - I even got some book read. Wellington is turning on another stunning day!
Photos gone because of RL lurkers who have creeped me out!

Beautiful beach!

Great photos! Thanks for sharing them.

Hi Anne and Richard! Wellington's weather is often laughed at by NZers in other regions for its wind and changeableness, so we have to make the most of it. It's blowing a gale now.

It's 11.15 and I am fading fast - am going to bed before 2013 so I will say happy new year to everyone 45 minutes early! Here's to an amazing 2013 with many great books (preferably ones on shelves already...)

Happy new year

Thanks for sharing the pictures with us, Cushla. I want to live on that beach!

Happy New Year, Cushla!

#44 Can't wait till that weather cycles back to us! We appear to be living under a constant rain cloud at the moment!

Still, here's wishing you a very very happy (and hopefully slightly more relaxed!) 2013.

Hi Paul, Stasia, Monica and Bekka from 2013. Am sitting here with my kindle, crumpets and coffee. Hope you are all having fun on New Year's Eve.

Happy New Year, Cushla!

Happy New Year, Cushla! I'm looking forward to keeping up with your reading this year!

Hi Cushla and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I love that Maus was your top nonfiction read for 2012 -- I didn't even realize that I get to count it in my own Nonfiction challenge for 2013. It's just about available for pickup from my library.

Also, saw your comments about Iron Curtain way up there and I'm going to try to obtain a copy. I'm also (gently) participating in the Reading Globally group for the first quarter and this would be a good one to accompany the fiction I'll be reading.

I hope to keep up with you a bit better in 2013.

Happy NY, Cushla. Here's to 2013's literary adventures!

Hi Cushla, a quick stop by your thread to star it, ogle the mince pies - I didn't partake of my usual amount this year and find myself still craving more! - and to wish you a Happy New Year!

Cushla - great to see you starting 2013 with such a flourish! Happy New Year from over here this time!

Hi Paul,Katie, Nancy, Lori, Ellen and Amy - so nice to have visitors!

Lori there is a big jar of Christmas mince in the fridge, but I've lost my pastry making mojo...

I've finished my first book for 2013 - no prizes for guessing that it's the wonderful but grim Iron Curtain by Anne Applebaum. I gave it 4 1/2 stars and the only thing that cost it half a star is that I felt like it went a bit too fast at the end with the upheavals from 1953-6.



Applebaum looks at Hungary, East Germany and Poland from 1944 to 1956 and at the methods used by the Soviet Union and Stalin to turn the 3 countries into totalitarian states. She emphasises that the three countries came from very different cultural, political, economic and historical backgrounds but that the Soviet union deliberately forced them to become much more similar. These days most Westerners dump these 3 countries into one group - "Eastern Europe" - but in 1945 nobody would have guessed that they would be thought of in this way. She chooses the period from 1944-1956 to cover the period of “high Stalinism”. Stalin died in 1953, internal infighting (in some cases murder) broke out, all 3 countries came close to revolution, but Kruschchev and the USSR stomped on the outbreaks and got them back into line.

I have made 67 bookmarks on my Kindle edition of this book at things I found interesting. Here are few snippets:

- The Americans were blamed for an epidemic of Colorado potato beetles in Poland and East Germany, with local newspapers claiming that American planes had dropped thousands of them from planes.

- During WW2, selected German communists who got out of Germany attended a Comintern training school in Ufa in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia. I’ve just looked this up on a map and my banal comment is “Wow the USSR was huge” and “Never heard of Bashkortosan”. It’s 900 km from Nizhny Novgorod, the closest place I recognise.

- During the Soviet occupation of Germany, the Soviets filled up Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and 8 other camps with East German citizens (as well as sending many off to the Gulag)

- ALL aspects of civil society were banned, including chess clubs and hiking clubs (I guess I knew this, but reading about how it happened was awful and interesting)

- My respect for the scouting movement, especially in Poland, and the Catholic church, has gone up. I had no idea that the scouts formed militia units that fought bravely in the Warsaw Uprising (and were later cracked down upon by the communist government)

Whether you know quite a bit about Europe at the end of World War 2 already or very little I recommend this book highly and I will be grabbing her next book (and reading Gulag some time soon).

After I finished it I googled Applebaum - I knew she spoke Polish but I didn't realise that she is married to the Polish Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski. There’s a funny Slate article by her here http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2010/03/the_candidate... about how she almost became the First Lady of Poland.

Happy New Year, Cushla!

The Iron Curtain sounds very interesting in a horrifying sort of way. I'm bracing myself to read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich this month. While that is a fictional account, the author was in the Gulag for seven years.

59: most Westerners dump these 3 countries into one group - "Eastern Europe" - but in 1945 nobody would have guessed that they would be thought of in this way
Huh. A useful tidbit of information, even if I never read the book. Wishing you a happy 2013! When does the teaching job begin?

#60 Happy New Year, Diana! Hope the Oliebollen are vanishing into tummies.

#61 Michelle, I have that book on the shelves here too and will be interested to see what you think.

#62 Katherine, the job starts at the end of January... ALERT! Reading cliff ahead!

What?! You've finished a book already?! I'm already behind. Oh well, I'm going to wish you a very happy new year anyway!

Happy new year Lynda! I had 50 pages left of the book at the end of 2012 - the next finished book might be a bit slower.

Interesting book - on the wish list it goes. Congrats on my first book bullet hit of the year! :)

Happy New Year Cushla! Your first book does sound quite a grim topic - but interesting: thanks for those snippets you've quoted.

First day of the year, and already 67 posts on your thread and I'm way behind. Anyway, Happy New Year and here's to a great year of reading!

Dropping by with a star and I'm pleased to see your comments on Iron Curtain since I found it under the Christmas tree.

Cushla - Iron Curtain sounds like an excellent read. I'm going to try to read more nonfiction this year, so this sounds like a good one to add to the TBR. Interesting that Applebaum is married to the Polish foreign minister!

Super photos of summer beaches, I wont be taking my crutches in to the sinky sand just yet, but have managed a trip to the movies and a good old sit down at the playground picnic table! (Small steps).

Nice work on having your first book done with already! ;)

I just received a copy of the Applebaum book this evening at a post-Christmas gift exchange. Post-war Europe was a favorite topic when I was an international relations major. Really looking forward to it!

Had a day with not much LT yesterday so I am already behind on my own thread, let alone everyone elses's!

Anne and Katie, great that you both got given Iron Curtain. Amy and Dr N, I think you'd both like it. It's a fast 490 pages.

Hi Genny - happy new year to you too.

Joyce, great that you found my thread. I will come looking for yours in CR soon. Happy new year !

Megan I bet it felt great to get out to the movies and playground! Go you! Did Christchurch get terrible weather yesterday? The wind here was so bad we sandbagged the trampoline - there were gusts up to 140 km/h, ugh. This morning it's still again and looks like a stunning day ahead. Here endeth the Wellington weather report.

Those are some kinda gusts, Cushla! Wow. Summer in Kiwistan sounds more brutal than I thought it would be.

I'm procrastinating writing my first two reviews of the New Year because they're Pearl Rule eviscerations. Blech.

Bring up the Bodies, Half of a Yellow Sun, and Song of Achilles were among my favorites from last year too. :)

Hi Cushla! I'm glad to see that Half of a Yellow Sun made your favorites list. I've got a copy on hold at the public library that I'll be reading soon.

Hi, Cushla. I didn't start reading or posting in this group until late New Year's Eve, so I've been catching up yesterday and today, especially since those people who started EARLY have so many messages to read! ;-)

Great start to the year with your review of Iron Curtain Cushla. I have so many books I need to finish that I wasn't seriously considering it until you said it was a "fast 490 pages".

Richard, it's back to a lovely 21 and quite still today - just how I like it. I wilted in Northeast summers and still remember the smell of stewing dog wee on the New York streets in July and August! Sorry your first two books were blah.

Rachel, now I have to go and find your thread and check out your other favourite books! There seems to have been more overlap than usual in the group on last year's favourites. Oooh, I've just opened your blog in another tab. I'm going to add it to my reader (the one that is full of book blogs with loads of unread posts...)

Carrie I hope you enjoy HOAYS as much as I did. Her new book, Americanah, is out this year and I'm looking forward to it.

Hi Roni! I was amazed by the pace of this group last year and this year is the same - I am not even keeping up now. I will go and find your thread soon.

Pat it really is a fast 490 pages and goes well with a fluffier book at the same time (not that I took that advice myself).

I'm getting through Confederates in the Attic, slowly, but have just come home from the library with 4 books for the Reading Globally theme read. They're all Polish, linking in to Iron Curtain, and came out of the central stack - I LOVE getting books out of the stack and have only done it a few times before today. They have that old book smell from when I was a kid. The first one I'm going to read is Ashes and Diamonds by Jerzy Andrzejewski.

Happy New Year to you! I hope your new job brings all good things to your life.

oooo Ashes and Diamonds sounds good. I've been meaning to read books for the Reading Globally challenge (I've been lurking) however I've decided to stick to books I own first such as Milan Kundera and Marina Lewycka. DieF did a fantastic job setting up the quarterly thread.

Cushla, I read Confederates in the Attic during my Civil War binge and loved it. I hope it picks up soon for you. I also used the end-of-year readathon to get a head start on 2013 books. I should have been reading threads because I am so far behind!

So, your "reading cliff" looms. Funny line! Best of luck to you in your new career. I hope you'll have time to share some classroom stories with us.

A great new year, Cushla, filled with good books and fun.

That Iron Curtain sounds really interesting...reluctantly putting it on the WL.

Found you! Happy New Year, Cush, and all the best with the new career. Hope 2013 is a wonderful year for you and yours. Can't believe you have a book under your belt already!

Hi Linda, Tui, Gail, Lisa and Donna! Thanks for the good wishes about the new job. Still 4 weeks till I start but in between now and then we have 6 days away at violin camp then my husband's overseas for work so I'm going to be busy. (Oh and I think Internet-less during camp unless I take the iPad.)

Gail I hope you like Iron Curtain.

Donna, when I read Confederates in the Attic I really like it - I am just finding it hard to go quickly. I think that's because my civil war background is pretty limited still, although improving, and the current 60 page chapter is set in Virginia, a state I have barely visited. Hopefully I will finish it soon. I am way behind on your thread!

Lisa, reading books off your TBR pile for the RG challenge makes so much sense!!

You selected interesting excerpts from Iron Curtain, Cushla. I bought it as a Christmas present for my partner, as he reads primarily history. Okay, I confess also to an ulterior motive.

#59 Great review of Iron Curtain Cushla - you have the gift of making me want to read thick non-fiction books about WWII (I know this is post-WWII really) :-) Actually the Mass Observation diaries I'm reading at the moment are fascinating and making me want to understand more of the political history of 20th century Europe too so it's very timely although I'll probably try and read my Andrew Marr History of Britain first.

First book bullet of the year -- not Iron Curtain, which I already have in hand, but Ashes and Diamonds, which looks fascinating.

Yes, it's fascinating how we allow what we know to influence our view of historical events. For instance, it's hard to think of 1940 without remembering who won the war five years later, but of course, at the time, it looked anything but certain. The Vertigo Years by Philipp Blom is an excellent book that tries to take the years from 1900 to 1914 out of context of the war that followed -- he argued that we see them too much as simply a lead up to war when as people lived through them, they obviously weren't viewing them in that light.

Hi Cushla, congrats on your new job from myself as well and what is "violin camp". Ahem, maybe a camp where you play on the violin all day?

Cushla, wünsche Dir und Deiner Familie viel Spass in diesem mysteriösen camp!

#87 Heather, did you get the Andrew Marr in the Kindle sale? I've been eyeing that one... Off to look up Ashes and Diamonds...

Bam!! And just like that I have my first book to WL for 2013---Iron Curtain. Thanks Cushla. I have Gulag downloaded onto my iPad so I may read that first.

Hello Cushla lovely! Found you, starred you, aiming to follow you! I have Confederates in the Attic somewhere on my SOS. Must dig it out!

#90 Yes, it seemed too good to pass up.

#86 Linda, I hope your husband likes it! Those are the best kind of presents...my husband got a book that I like the look of for Christmas too although he did ask for it specifically)

#87, 90 and 93 Genney and Heather, I am pretty sure I already own one of the Andrew Marr history of Britain. Volumes - in fact I think I read about the first 150 pages before it got packed in the wrong box for Switzerland!! Heather I am tempted by the mass observation diaries based on your hot review of them.

#88 Suz I'm pretty sure I added that book to my wish list when you read it but I will investigate ( am on the iPad and It's fiddly to muck around with tabs.). Ok Have investigated and now it's on my WL.

#89 Bianca, here's the long explanation! violin camp is the regional Suzuki music workshop and there will be about 70 kids there at various levels of competence - from near beginners like our two kids ( Teresa is just starting to put bow and fingers together after two terms!) to teenagers who're seriously good. All the kids who go are Suzuki method students (which is how our kids have been learning). it is loads of fun and it's not all playing - lots of running around and riding scooters and bikes. Having said that, both kids have 3 lessons every day - one with two other kids, then a mini-orchestra one, and a ukulele group lesson! And we are expected to attend all concerts... And they each do a solo in a concert. Most families stay in the dorms at the high school it's held at, but we are staying nearby in a motel. I might be a raging extrovert in many ways but as it is, 6 days of contact with lots of parents and kids is going to have its moments!! One of my RL friends said " but you just drop them off in the morning, right?" but nooo parental involvement is what Suzuki is about. (and most of the time I love that, but perhaps not at 830 am in a town with not much coffee.)

#91 Heh Bonnie that was fast. I think you'll really like it.

#92 Prue, great to see you! At the rate I'm going with confederates in the attic you can take your time hunting for it and you'll still race me to the end.

Ok back to ashes and diamonds - hard to put down.

Oh my, I didn't realize violin camp was a family affair. That should be ... erm ... interesting! Keep us posted Cushla!

Happy Sunday Cushla. Hope you are having a splendid weekend thus far.

Sorry I'm late... Very belated Happy New Year Cushla!

Violin camp sounds like rather intensive fun!

I purchased a copy of Iron Curtain, Cushla. I rarely purchase hardcover books but I wanted this one.

Great review of Iron Curtain! I have it on hold at the library, but you make me want to download it on my kindle right away.

Happy Monday! no frthr txt

Guten morgen Cushla :),

Thank you soo much for the long explanation. That sounds indeed like quite a lot of fun, also I can sympethize with you for wanting to stay in a motel, instead of staying in a dorm. I probably would have done the same.
I had to look up the Suzuki musik work-shop as I never heard about that before. It looks like there is a growing community of people in Germany as well, who do enjoy this concept. After reading the site, I understand that it is not just about musical education, but education through music. Is that right?

Hi Paul, Laura, Nathalie, Kerry, Richard, Ellen and Rhonda! (And now Bianca just as I am about to post this!)

Thanks for popping in. I've had a really busy weekend and couldn’t get near the laptop today to post or catch up. We have had 3 amazing weather days in a row and we squeezed in a barbeque, a trip up the coast to the beach, and I walked up Mt Kaukau twice. (Pics to come when I get my act together). And today I saw Wreck it Ralph with Teresa, which was fun too.

Ellen, Iron Curtain in hardback will be lovely – it was great on the Kindle too (and the footnotes were good that way) but the maps are never quite as easy to find when I want them. Hope you like it. By the way you were part of the inspiration for my first trip up Mt Kaukau – I had woken up early, was reading threads and read yours about going for lots of runs and decided to go out before the kids woke up and do something. So thanks! Today I can hardly move – yesterday’s walk was 3 hours all up, up the mountain then along the top of the ridge for another 1 ½ hours, then down to the road then the train back to my starting point…quite a mission.

Rhonda, nice to see a new visitor here and I hope you love Iron Curtain when it’s your turn in the queue.

Laura and Kerry, yes it will be quite full on but hopefully good fun. Bianca, I suspect there is a strand of Suzuki thought about education through music but I haven't heard about it. There's a book, Nurtured by Love, by Dr Suzuki that may well turn up on my booklist this year. It is full of lovely philosophy and short on practical tips for getting your 5 year old to do her daily practice without resorting to bribery (which so far we have not done). Ha.

I finished Book 2 for 2013 this morning - Ashes and Diamonds.


I loved it and have given it 4 1/2 stars. It made for a great follow-up to Iron Curtain and if you are interested in Europe at the end of World War 2 I recommend it highly. It probably helps to know a little bit about Poland during WW2 because there are a huge number of characters in the book, all connected to each other. Ashes and Diamonds is set in Ostrowiec, a small (fictional) town in Poland, over 4 days in May 1945, just as the war in Europe is ending. The end of the war means little to many of the locals, who are trying to get their lives together after a brutal 6 years.

The Kossecki family is all back in one place – the father has survived Auschwitz but hides in his study all day, the mother just wants everything to come right, Andrew is still in the Home Army, and teenage Alek and his mates are up to something. There’s a big party happening at the Hotel Monopole to celebrate Communist victory in the war, and Andrew Kossecki and a friend of his, Michael Chelmicki, have a job to do for the Home Army. There are Communist Party hacks trying to climb their way up, people getting hammered on vodka, former aristocrats unaware at how bad their lives are going to get pretty soon, a band, a lovely barmaid, survivors of the Warsaw Uprising – just about everyone you can think of except for Jews, because they have all been killed. As usual in books about WW2, this is all about what decisions people made and how they rationalized them. It’s a very readable book and only 240 pages long.

2 of the other 3 books I have out of the library are also by Andrzejewski and I bought his Holy Week for my Kindle a few days ago too. It’s about the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw. When I visited the Topography of Terror museum in Berlin in 2010 (mainly about the Gestapo and the Holocaust) there was an exhibition of photos of people in the Lodz ghetto and they were really upsetting.

I promise Book 3 will not involve the more terrible aspects of humanity… not sure what it’ll be yet because Confederates in the Attic is still not what I’m in the mood for.

welcome to the new week, Cushla - you had some busy weekend, I take it. This Suzuki music sounds like fun

Hi Paul! Yes it was busy. Tuesday already - next thing coming up is a 6 th birthday party for 14 kids here on Sunday...

Cushla, I read an article in the newspaper about Anne Applebaum and her book this weekend; the book was rated very high. I recognized something you said in your review :)

Oh, Cushla, looking forward to the birthday party! What fun the children will have! Do you prepare everything yourself? All the food? all the games? When our kids were little, I was able to tell the whole bunch an interesting story - but I am afraid these times of story telling at birthdays are gone *sniff*

Uh oh, now I have to find a copy of Ashes and Diamonds.
And I'm delighted that I motivated you to hike up Mt Kaukau. I know the feeling of being a bit stiff and sore the next day, but hopefully it was a "good" stiff and sore. :-)

Great review of Ashes and Diamonds. It's on my wishlist; I just need to find a used copy!

Have fun at music camp!

Diana, I'm glad Anne Applebaum is getting good publicity for Iron Curtain! I've downloaded Gulag to my Kindle now (Kindle restraint in 2013 is not happening.)

Paul, yes we're looking forward to it and preparing it ourselves and having it here - pin the tail on the donkey, pass the parcel, musical chairs, a pinata, party food (baking starts tomorrow night). She is so excited and I am getting a bit over hearing about what needs to be done next but remembering that it is very sweet and I will miss it too when she grows up...

Ellen and Deborah I hope you can find a copy of Ashes and Diamonds. Ellen it's time I went for another walk but we have more gale force winds - up to 150 km/h again last night!

My book dither is over (I was floating from one to the next after finishing A&D) and I am engrossed in Anna Karenina. I'm only 80 pages in but it is so, so good. I'm reading the Pevear and Volkhonsky translation and between them and Tolstoy it's like being inside the characters' heads. Please nobody tell me exactly what happens. I know the very end because my beloved husband, who hardly ever reads long books, read this one in 2010 and just assumed that I knew what happened and dropped it into conversation - I was quite grumpy about that!

Anyway I might not have a book update for a while because it's 820 pages long.

Adding both Iron Curtain and Ashes and Diamonds to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendations, Cushla!

Hi Stasia - I hope you love both of them! When is school back for you?

I love Vronsky. Just sayin'

I've put Ashes and Diamonds on hold at the library, but I still plan to see if I can find a copy to purchase. Deborah, Lisa, and I might be elbowing one another out of the way if we find one copy on the shelf of a local bookshop!

I hope you're enjoying Anna Karenina. Happy weekend, Cushla!

#112: I start again on the 16th - far too soon for my liking!

Hi cushla, great to hear that you enjoy AK, another one of my old time faves :).
Danke für die guten Wünsche für Alex :)

Wish you and your family a great weekend *big smile and a wave*

Hi Bianca, Stasia, Diana, Ellen and Richard! Hope you are all having good Friday nights. Or afternoons.

Bianca, I'm glad to see you back posting on threads and just saw your update about Alex - glad he is a little bit better even if still not good.

Richard, I don't love Vronsky but I don't hate him yet either (but I have a long way to go). I do love Levin though! I am still loving AK and chugging through it happily - and uptightly updating my pages read number at the top of the thread every time I read another 10 pages!

Ellen I forget - have you got a Kindle? Ashes & Diamonds is probably available since Holy Week is and it's more obscure.

Right I am going back to cleaning the living room up then baking ahead of tomorrow's onslaught. Tim has taken Teresa out of the house so that I can get some peace because I was seriously grumpy this morning with how much mess there was so I need to do something obvious!

Cushla, nope. I haven't swerved into the e-reader lane yet. I'm afraid it would make my book purchases run even more out of control! At least this way I have to actually go to a bookstore (since I also very rarely order books on line).

Ashes and Diamonds isn't available for Kindle, and I'm getting slightly nervous that the Brooklyn library system's sole copy may have gone AWOL, as I've had a hold on it for many days with no movement whatsoever... It's also quite pricey; $21 for a new copy and the cheapest used copy on Amazon is nearly $8 plus shipping.

Sigh. I'm going to have to read AK, aren't I? I have W&P to read this year, too...

Love the look of Ashes and Diamonds Cushla. It would appear to be just my thing.

Suz - have noticed that the book is available on Book Depository. And it may make the cut for my next buys. I ordered a number at the end of last month and they are taking an age to arrive.

Have a lovely weekend.

Hi Cushla. Hope the party preparations are going/went well. Is it Sunday yet where you are?

I'm thrilled to see you like Anna Karenina so much because I have a very nice copy waiting on my shelves to be read. I had to be realistic and realize there was no way that I could join the group read but I've been lurking and for the most part people seem to be loving it so that bodes well.

How do you do this fine Sunday, Milady Cushla?

Hi Ellen, Pat, Paul, Richard and Suz.

Great seeing several of you really looking for Ashes and Diamonds - Suz I hope it tur s up soon and hasn't vanished in the library system (or not been returned). Paul, Book Depository just took 6 weeks with some books I'd ordered and there was a bit of a stink here when they had delays on 12000 books and tried to blame it on NZ Post. Still won't stop me using them though for some things.

Pat I think you'll love it when you get to it. I am hardly reading the GR thread in case there are spoilers but it's nice reading it with a bunch of other LTers. I would like to get through it soon because once the end of January comes I'll be onto ten minutes a day of reading for a while!

And yes it is Sunday. It's 7.15 and both kids have been up for nearly an hour. The party is at 1.30 but Teresa is dressed in her party dress already. Yesterday I was entirely over it after baking cupcakes, chocolate and raspberry brownie, a Victoria sponge, cupcakes for Fletch without egg or dairy, and 3/4 cleaning up the living room, all with a hyper 5 year old assisting. Today we just need to finish the cleaning, put up a few streamers, do the popcorn and sausage rolls and chips, organize 14 tails for the donkey, hang up the piñata, and organize some music for musical chairs. (actually most of that list Does not take long so I might sneak in some AK along the way.).

Ok I am going to sneak some of that AK time right now before anyone asks me for anything... Hope you all have a good Sunday.

Just came by to wish you a good weekend and realize that for you, it's almost over... Hope you had a good party by now

Just dropping in, adding a Book Bullet, wishing you a good week.

I loved Levin, too, even if he can be pretty pompous at times; he has such a good heart...

134 > I will be impressed if you get some AK read as well .........

>124 cushlareads: I would like to get through it soon because once the end of January comes I'll be onto ten minutes a day of reading for a while!

Ten minutes a day ain't going to do it Cushla haha. Better to push to get it done between now and the end of the month. Ashes and Diamonds has somehow landed on my WL now. This is such a dangerous place.

Happy weekend, Cushla!

I hope Teresa's party is going well Cushla, I'm sure you'll be happy to put your feet up tonight!

Paul, I try to avoid using BD. Partly because they are now just part of Amazon, essentially -- and indeed, the BD price for this is identical to the Amazon price, and I get free 2-day shipping from Amazon, so no upside. But also because on far too many occasions they did some "bait & switch" -- I would place a preorder for a new book, which they then wouldn't honor at the original price. I'd get an e-mail saying that they couldn't obtain it, so that they had canceled my order. But then, if I went to Amazon, I'd find the book listed as being sold by BD via Amazon -- at a significantly higher price, and with shipping costs applied as well, so that sometimes the price would be double what they had originally advertised. That was happening to 35% to 45% of my orders, and I ended up thoroughly disgusted. Either they were lying to me about not having the book in stock, or lying to Amazon customers by suggesting that they could place an order for it -- regardless, it was clear that they used the lower price to try and coax people on to the site and then chose not to fulfill those orders. Seriously tacky, and I won't deal with an organization like that, especially when it's such a bad repeat offender. I'd rather deal with Amazon UK, which takes responsibility for the orders it accepts. When I've had problems with them, it has been because a publisher has delayed or canceled a title, or a book has gone out of print, not because they're trying to push me to pay more. Indeed, sometimes they'll break up an order into multiple parts, but without charging me the extra shipping that otherwise I would end up paying had I requested each book separately. Also, Amazon UK will act promptly if a book doesn't arrive, but BD doesn't seem to care, based on my one experience of an AWOL book.

Oh, I downloaded AK on to my Kindle -- the Pevear/Volkhonsky translation...

Happy Birthday to Teresa! That sounds like quite a party. I'm exhausted after reading about all the preparations, although with a group of 5-year-olds, one can never be too prepared! I hope you have time to take pictures, Cushla.

Hi Paul, Donna, Suz, Gail, Stasia, Alex and Alana!

It's a wet Monday morning here and I'm recovering from yesterday! It went really well and all the kids enjoyed themselves. At one stage all the kids were playing in the playroom with Duplo and blocks (the boys) and Playmobil horses (the girls) and one wee girl was sitting there reading Green Eggs and Ham very happily, and I contemplated a coffee and a few pages of AK but decided it would all go bad if I tried it.

Donna, yes we took pics - will put some photos up of my domestic goddess baking later and maybe the birthday girl.

Suz, the reason I avoid Amazon (so far) is that BD is free postage vs Amazon's expensive postage to New Zealand (even after comparing the prices) and till now I haven't had trouble. Amazon charges me US$5 per book so I don't even bother with it. My choice is really BD vs local. I really enjoyed doing nearly all my Christmas shopping at Marsden Books and the high book prices in NZ didn't bug me because if I hadn't spent e.g. $50 on a lovely gardening book for Mum and Dad there it'd have been $50 at one of the non-book chains. But when it's NZ$35+ (US$28) for a new novel for myself I really struggle! The Kindle is starting to win because it's instant and even at US$10 it's much cheaper. I hope you love AK too.

Alana, I was exhausted last night - happily both kids were worn out too and asleep by 8.30 and I was in bed about 5 minutes later. Today we are doing very little.

Gail I am just reading the bit in AK where Levin has to put up with his pain of a brother come out to the farm to visit him and wants to go fishing, and has Levin drive him right to the river so that he doesn't have to get tired walking across the field. It's really funny. Tolstoy calls fishing a "stupid occupation" - I wonder what he had against it!

Back later, hopefully with another 50 pages of AK read...

Great to hear about that party. You gave them Eggs and Ham to read, and not to eat? pour kid... :) Wish you a good start into the new week.

Hello cushla, belated congrats to a fab birthday party. It sounds like all the children had lots of fun!
I had to laugh, that you still tried to sneak in some AK time.

In regards to book prizes in NZ, I wonder if they are as expensive as in Germany? I am glad that I read mainly in English, so I get most of my books during my time in England - charitiy shops, car boot sales and of course Amazon.
However, everytime I get some books in Germany I almost faint and then I think to myself that it is no wonder that fewer and fewer people read.

Wish you a great week!

Well done on the party! I have Cassie's 5th birthday coming up and doing a combo with Will's 2nd b'day. I may or may not survive the ordeal :/

Pics please :)

So glad to read that the party was a success. I would have been that wee thing reading Green Eggs and Ham! Always searched for the other kids' books. hahaha

Okay, I got a copy of Ashes & Diamonds from the library and it's a very old edition. I wonder how this translation will match up with the one you liked so much.

I'm glad the party was a success.

Pics coming when I can get them decided from the bug camera to the computer (need husband...that's why I usually use the little camera!)

Paul ha ha funny!
Bianca, book prices in Switzerland were worse than In Germany but... Both countries were cheaper than here! I went wild buying new books in Basel. And on trips to London I bought as many as I could carry home!

Bekka, great to get both parties done together but you will be knackered at the end. Still cleaning up mess two days later.

Tui, me too. And I once left a party early because I was bored and walked home. (I was about 9 and usually I liked parties but...not this particular one.).

Ellen, yay! I think it'll be the same translation - D F someone? Mine was from about 1960.

We are off to the Wairarapa today for violin camp... 5 days of no wifi and more to the point ukulele lessons at 830 am followed by a series of violin classes till lunchtime! Everyone cross your fingers that we all have fun...and that I get LOADS of AK read!

#139 Luckily(unluckily?) our house is tiny so we are renting a hall for the afternoon. Unfortunately my sis is also in the UK for her father in laws 3rd wedding so we have her 6 month old as well! It's going to be one hell of a weekend!

Hope you get through the mess soon.

Yes, I've seen some astonishing prices on books listed for Australia/NZ; eye-popping. I assume that it's because it's akin to Canada, a smaller domestic market than the US, for instance, but at the same time more remote geographically. I'm pretty lucky with all the options that are out there. That said, I do pay the extra for Amazon shipping -- which is 7 pounds per book! -- when I order from the UK. If that means I have to cut back my purchases (which are half of what they were two/three years ago), so be it. Especially when I have no certainty in terms of actually getting the book that I buy from BD. I have found a good alternative, which I have used occasionally, is Aprohead Books. LIke BD, they ship for free from the UK (at least to the US), and while their list of available books is slightly smaller, not once have I gone through this "I know we said we have it, but we don't, unless you want to re-order, pay a higher price and big shipping, which we promised you you could avoid, but we decided we'd rather make money than honor that promise" nonsense. Can you tell this really gets on my nerves?? Obviously every experience is going to be different, but I'd just say there are few companies that I refuse to do business with on principle, and BD has worked itself into that category!

Have fun with violin camp and AK!! looking forward to hearing how much progress you make. Will you be providing updates on AK as you venture through it here as well as on the group read thread, or only one big comment at the end?

Maybe I'm missing something here, but my edition (from the library) of Ashes and Diamonds is a trilogy of film scripts. I think I'm going to have to keep up the hunt.

Happy musical week, Cushla, and I hope your AK schedule holds up. Sending non-headache whammies to you daily.

I hope everyone is having a great time at violin camp!

Everyone is about to leave!

>145 cushlareads: okay, if you want me to --- then I leave

The party sounds like such fun Cushla. I'm glad everything went off so well.

That's weird, Ellen. I'm really surprised SPL doesn't have the book. I still have a gift card for TPB, but I hate to spend $22 on a new copy. Call me cheap! I would never make it in NZ. The book prices would drive me over a cliff. :^)

Glad to hear Teresa's party went well, Cushla! I went back and looked at pictures of Katie's 6th birthday. It was soccer themed, and the kids all ran around the back yard blowing bubbles. She looked so young. *sigh* Now she has sleepover parties and the girls sleep in a tent out back, giggling until all hours. It's still cute, but they are growing up so fast...

Cushla, I'm finally catching up, so I hope you let me in for a minute. The party sounds awesome and exhausting. I'm mightily impressed. Violin camp should be a breeze after that. Hope you have time to read some!

Cushla I am sure you'll be able to pull strings at the violin camp. Have a lovely weekend.

Some interesting comments by Suz on BD/Amazon. The service of amazon is faster and they very rarely lose books. If the books get lost they have always resent them. No such issues yet with BD although they can be inteminably slow. I have books supposedly shipped on 21 December 2012 that still haven't arrived.
I use them because overseas shipping is free and with amazon I have to pay for this. A lot.

Hope you're enjoying/surviving violin camp!

Hi Cushla, hope violin camp is going well!

Paul, I'm the same regarding BD and Amazon. BD's free shipping makes a massive difference to cost, and although I don't shop online much, I haven't yet had any issues with them and delivery times have been OK. But with Amazon the cost of a new book + exchange rate + horrendous shipping means it'd be very similar to just buying it in the shop - which I'd prefer to do anyway. And with second hand books, paying only a couple of dollars for the book but approx NZ$15-20+ for shipping, makes me a little angry (plus I'm a bit snobby and would much rather have new books than second hand - I like them pretty!).

Hi Cushla - I've found your thread! I hope violin camp has been a success. Not as part of a violin camp experience, but I always loved the ukelele unit in grammar school. I feel that, to this day, if you handed me a ukelele, I could at least tune it.

I'm not familiar with Ashes and Diamonds, but your review has sparked my interest. Do you have a post-WWII theme or goal this year?

Cushla, fabulous review of Ashes and Diamonds. Woot!

Should be back by now...concerned over Cushla's fate...possible Violin Overload Syndrome case...

Back - had a fantastic time!! Mountains of unpacking and laundry to do. Have been almost internet-free for 6 days and have a thousand threads and newspaper stories to catch up with.

Glad you had a great time, and I can really sympathize with the backlog of laundry, newspapers, and threads facing you.

Can you play a mean ukulele now? I heard that George Harrison was in a ukulele club for most of his post-Beetle's life.

Cammykitty I can now play C, G, F, D minor and C7 - not bad for 3 hours!! I spent most of yesterday's concert getting Teresa (6) to "just play C!" It was lots of fun.

Not at all caught up on here - laundry going well but that's about all the catching up. Tim is en route to Switzerland for 5 days so I am doing kids, kids, kids from 7 am till 10 at night (8 y o has just come upstairs at 10.20 to find another book...am not really in a position to complain!) I will be back to reply to your posts tomorrow I hope. I've read three whole pages of AK today and am going to bed now to try to get up to Part 4.

What's he (?) reading?

Playing the ukelele, Cusha! Woot! I can now play C, G, F, D minor and C7 - not bad for 3 hours!! How fab is that! I'm SO impressed : ).

Well done! Sounds like fun was had by all. I'm still loving the early bedtimes (both supposed to be down by 6.30 - emphasis on the supposed...). Though hubby and I both agree that we will explode with pride the first time we come in and find Cass reading by torch light under the covers ;)

Hi Paul, Bonnie, Lisa, Peggy, Paul, Heather, Alana, Kerri, Nancy, Richard, Roni, Katie, Luci and Bekka - I don't think I have ever got this far behind replying to my own thread! All is well here but I have read a grand total of 40 pages of AK this week and have spent about 10 minutes on LT. I'm really looking forward to Tim getting home tomorrow. I start school on Monday so things are pretty busy, and Fletch has had swimming every morning, so the last 5 days have flown.

#162 Bekka, wow at 6.30 - I can't imagine that and it means you get an evening to yourself. Both F and T are now awake reading till nearly 10 (in term time it is closer to 9). Teresa has just started really reading to herself this week so it is getting even harder to convince her to go to sleep. I love it but I miss my evenings, but I think soon they will both be reading more and more and need me around less (at the moment some of my Anna Karenina reading happens while I sit on the stairs and T falls asleep...)

#161 Nancy I am happy with my ukelele too but haven't touched it this week! It's surprisingly easy once you learn the first couple of chords. Glad you liked my Ashes and Diamonds review - am very happy to give old Polish books some attention on here!

#160 Luci, that night he was re-reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid (he adores that series) but the next night I convinced him to try the BFG at last and he LOVED it. And the 10th Captain Underpants book is out - it took him about 20 happy minutes to read it but he said it was great. He has grown up with that series - it was one of the ones that made him realise how much fun reading to yourself is. Have you read them to your boys? (I can remember they are younger but not how much younger.)

#158 Katie, uke is getting really trendy here - there's a Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra. In my day we just learnt the recorder at school! (and then other instruments outside school).

#157 Roni the laundry is drying RIGHT NOW - again - how is it possible that there is more when I did loads the other day? We are having an amazing run of good weather, with the 10 day forecast showing sun every day. That's so unusual for Wellington that my Facebook feed was full of people posting pictures of the lovely forecast graphic. It's about 24 today and not a bit windy.

#155 Hi Richard, no violin overload syndrome just yet but another day might've done it! It was full on. Both kids have been humming bits of music all week and it was amazing to see the big kids playing things like the Bach double violin concerto and the Vivaldi A minor one (and all the other standards of the Suzuki repertoire). We got lots of time not at camp and had some good trips to the pools and playground.

#153 Kerri, I don't have a WW2 theme this year - or any theme really. I nearly did a category challenge but I guarantee that if I try I will read nothing in the categories. Last year my goal was Russian books and I read 1. This year my goal is not Russian books and I seem to be doing ok (well only 1 Russian but 3 out of 3 are Russia or Communist Europe).

#152 Alana, I got sent an apology and a 10% discount from BD after their Christmas-time stuff up. I'll save it for when a few new books are out, like Americanah.

#151 Hi Heather! Have already booked the motel for next year's violin camp so it must have been good!

#150 Paul, hope your BD books have arrived by now?

#149 Peggy, nice to see you here even if I have vanished since your arrival!

#148 Lisa, no you would hate the book prices here. And so do I. I have been really missing Switzerland while Tim's been back there this week, and sent him into Bider and Tanner to report back to me tomorrow. I was in Whitcoulls today (ugh, our chain) and saw Yellow Birds on sale for NZ$30 and didn't even consider getting it. It's only when I am in my favourite independents in a happy mood at how good their bookbuyers are that I splurge...ok that's not quite true... mmmm whenever I have an excuse but I avoid Whitcoulls if at all possible. That is so cute about your 6 year old's soccer party. Teresa has yet to have a friend over for a sleepover but I expect she'll want to pretty soon. She's still my wee baby when she's asleep but she is a real little madam quite often when she's awake. It was nice at violin camp because her tutor could see her extreme stubbornness, so I felt less like I was doing something wrong as her mum when she won't let me help her practise.

#147 Bonnie, hi! Yes it was nice and but a distant memory, except for bits of presents still scattered around. She has written thank you notes and put them into the cute little envelopes without remembering to put names on them... so I am about to steam them open and try again. (I love that she wrote the notes herself though - have never managed to get Fletch to do that.)

#146 Paul, ha ha you can come back now.

I am off to catch up on threads while the kids stare at a screen. I have been encouraging TV for several days but to no avail ;)

*waving* at Cushla

Yes, awesome for 3 hours!!! You'll be a uke-diva soon!

Stopping by and waving hello.

Hi Stasia, Katie and Linda - hope you're all having good Friday nights.

I've uploaded some pics of Teresa's party and violin camp, since I have no book reviews on their way!
Photos gone now.
(The last one's at violin camp before the final concert - the school it was held at had the most beautiful gardens and grounds.)

Have just read a very exciting bit of AK.... SPOILER FOLLOWS FOR PART 4...

I just loved the marriage proposal scene!!! Very romantic. And I'm halfway there, WOO HOO. (And still loving it.)

Funny AK is getting mixed reviews from all of those who are reading it ( guessing there is another challenge thing) .... is one of those books to read before I die .... guess it needs to my on my physical/virtual shelf to give it a chance of being read .

Hi Cushla

No, I've thought about trying to read longer books with Danny, who is 5, 6 in May, but actually, my dad started getting him to read Green Eggs and Ham the other night, and I think we need to push him more on reading. He's suddenly getting really into activity and puzzle books, and how to do things - I bought them a set of Lego Ideas books from the Book People, not so cheap (but nowhere near full price, but I think they will be a long term investment so long as I can stop the kids spilling breakfast on them and leaving them on the floor now). I think I may be looking for good non fiction for him as well as stories if I can ever get him to read to himself. He's started doing wordsearches after picking up a puzzle booklet I brought home from London Zoo and working through them all, and school says he's much better at writing than reading, I think because we play a lot of games and things which would encourage them in putting words together (I Spy, magnetic and stick on letters, etc). Conor is nearly 4 (next weekend) and I think he might start to really read sooner than Danny - at the moment he mostly uses his skills on the cable TV and recording menus, I have to keep cancelling recordings of all sorts of kids' programmes to keep a little space for my own essential viewing!)

I'm also envious of packing kids off to bed until 6.30 - Mike tends to go and fall asleep in their room with them and then I have to try to wake him without waking them (if I haven't gone to sleep myself - sometimes I sleep in the evening and then wake up for a few hours in the night).

Hej Cushla, thanks for the invitation to come back - I gladly oblige...

You had a busy last few days, I must say, with party and music. Enjoy your weekend

Hi Cushla, the pictures are great and Theresa is a beauty. Glad you're still liking Anna Karenina. I think it was good I didn't do another group read because I'm enjoying picking up exactly what I feel like reading. It is amazing how many people seem to be reading AK and it'll be great to have the threads to go back to when I get to it. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hi Cushla -- great photos! So glad you're learning to play the ukelele -- it's pretty trendy here too. How fun! Glad you're enjoying AK, too. I read it a few years ago and really enjoyed it, too.

Welcome back Cushla! Nice to hear about what you've been up to. I have a soft spot for Vivaldi's Concerto in Am, it is most definitely a classic for budding violinists the world over. I hope you enjoy what's left of your weekend before you start teaching. And I can't wait to hear more about that, too!

Lovely photos Cushla! Glad you had a good time at violin camp - and learning the uke too! I discovered this Christmas that my youngest niece is also into the ukelele - a few years ago it was all guitar, and I gave her some learn guitar books as a Christmas present then, but she had no real support in learning at home or school and so didn't really stick with it. But I think she is now having ukelele lessons at school and is making good progress.

Not knowing all this, strangely I had planned to give my sister and family a CD or DVD of the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain this year - but I couldn't track down a recording at a reasonable price. Have you come across them? They do arrangements of the most unlikely songs and tunes, expertly played and often very funny at the same time. This is one of my favourite tracks. I heard them live a few years ago - great family entertainment.

Hi Cushla, your yellow star fell off. I think I am too gung-ho in my un-starring (I do this when I scroll down "my posts" and see a load of posts ...thus suspecting that there is a new thread already started.)
But i have sought you out!

>167 cushlareads: lucky I wasnt reading AK (what is that anyway?)- as I read the lines that you crossed out before the spoiler alert! Human nature huh?

The uk makes similar sounds to the banjo doesn't it Cushla? Love the photos although I don't know if my ears could have withstood all those kids learning the violin together!

Wow, I've missed a lot of activity, if not so many books. Today was the first day of school? (Hmm, well, it's tomorrow to you.)

Am peeking out from under my rock... first morning of school is today (ie in 2 hours) but it is just teachers today so I am excited more than edgy. It will be nice to get some keys and a computer sign on and find out exactly what classes I am teaching.

#168 Alex, yes there's a group read of AK at the moment. I am loving it and got a whopping 50 pages read yesterday. It's even more of a soap opera than War and Peace was. It will be nice to have the freedom to pick something else up in another 320 pages though.

#169 Luci, interesting reading about Danny and cool that he is so into writing. Fletch is very much the other way round although he now likes trying the crossword on the back page of the newspaper. That Lego book sounds great. Fletch is hugely into it still, and is forever building new Bionicles (and reading the graphic novels that go with them). Our MySky box is almost entirely full of kids' programmes.

#170 Hi Paul. I can see 100 new messages on your thread and will read them once I have school under control!! Tim had a lovely 2 days back in Basel and brought home photos of our old apartment, Reinach with all the Fasnacht puppets up, and the kids' school. Hope it warms up soon for you guys.

#171 Pat, glad you liked the pics. I think you'll enjoy Anna when you are in the right mood. I am pretty useless with posting anything in the GR threads (both this one and other ones) and only do them if it's really the book I want to be reading at the time. I thought about trying to plan my reading a bit this year but it's going to be so busy that I need something to be my pressure release valve and I am looking forward to picking up the next thing I feel like in another week or 2! (And it will be short. I've unintentionally started 2013 with 2 tomes out of 3 books.)

#172 Anne, my uke playing is on hold but I bet there will be a group at school once I get into it.

#173 Laura the Vivaldi A minor concerto is so nice. One day it'd be nice to pick up the violin again... I am really very rusty and Fletch may well overtake me this year. We're in the middle of changing teacher (ours is going overseas) and the new one rang last night - the only slot we can get is at 7.45 on a Saturday morning. Mmmmm... getting the kids and Tim there by then is going to be fun. At least I'm a morning person. Read your blog yesterday - sorry the Alice Munro stories weren't all that inspiring. I have volumes of unread short stories too.

#174 Genny I really liked your clip of the uke orchestra! I hadn't heard of them. Am going to show the kids later on.

#175 Megan I'm happy that you re-found me. Nope, no new thread yet. It'd be good if I could finish a book too. AK is Anna Karenina - tempted?

#176 Paul yes it sounds a bit like a banjo. The uke practices were the only time I wanted to block my ears. When the kids are on stage, the violins sound amazing. The Suzuki approach is a mastery one so you only go on to the next piece when you are really playing the last one well, whether you're 3 or 43. Plus, by the time you get the little ones up on stage the music from the good ones overwhelms any squeaking so it sounds gorgeous! (Teresa is still on Twinkles after 7 months.)

#177 Katherine it is nice to see you and yes today is the day!

OK back later. Gulp. Everyone have a lovely Wednesday or Tuesday night.

Have a wonderful first day of school, Cushla. Can't wait to hear all about it.

Thanks Pat! And thank you to all my LT friends for being my cheerleading squad for the last year. You have helped with the speed bumps more than you all know (ok, mixed metaphor at 7.20 in the morning, sorry.)

Hope your first day went goes well Cushla! (Edited because I've got my time zones confused)

I know nothing of cheerleading, I have no cheers to lead, but I am okay with speed bumping downhill :) (mixed metadata at 23.10)

Hello Cushla! Gawd but it is hard keeping up with threads this year! I, too, have succumbed to Ashes & Diamonds and added it to the BD WL. I've not had any problems with BD - couple of cancellations from books that were not published but full refunds. Takes about 10 days to get here to Melb. And totally agree on Amazon postage - shudder. Thanks for posting the pics! Happy days, eh?

*pats foot awaiting toad-in-desk/tacks-on-seat stories from Day One*

Great photos! & have you found out what you're teaching yet? If not, I guess that means you can wing it and awe them with questions like "if a tree falls on a toad in the forest and Richard isn't there to hear it, does the tree make a sound? Does the toad?"

Finally got Ashes and Diamonds from the library system! hurrah --- so looking forward to reading it next month. And to learning what you'll be teaching and all the details!!!

#185 bwahaahahaha! Personally, I think the toad howls.

Hi everyone - first two days have gone so well. I am really happy. Just teachers so far but a whole lot of planning for next week and I know what my classes are and what topics we're doing etc. The teaching staff couldn't be nicer and there is a lot of support. But I'm still working non-stop of course and have read 10 pages of Anna all week!

Sounds like a great start to your new job, Cushla. Glad you're so happy about it!

Wonderful photos. I love them! I was hoping that your job would be everything you wanted. I'm glad it is going so well.

It helps when you have co workers who are supporting and kind!

Good luck with reading that large book of complicated text.

Love your pictures!!

I am still reading AK as well. I'm somewhere in Part 5 now. Are you still enjoying it? I feel like I am never going to finish! :(

Glad to hear that all is going well so far, and with plenty of support from colleagues. With all that new stuff going on, I'm amazed you've managed to read anything at all - 10 pages is better than nothing!

Hej Cushla, welcome to the new month

Hi Cushla. I'm glad the first two days went well! Today is Friday; I hope it makes it a three-for-three week.
Like Tina, I'm still (sort of) reading Anna Karenina, among other things.....

Hi Cushla, wonderful that you're enjoying your teaching assignment. I'm impressed that you've even had time to read ten pages! Well done : ).

Glad your prep week is going well! You are getting a good start.

Hi Cushla, I'm finally finding some time to catch up on threads. Great that the new job has started so well, can't wait to hear about your first teaching days!

Hi, just dropping in to say that I'm glad it's all going well, hope it continues to do so (but that you get some reading time soon).

Following along, cheerleading over the road bumps. SO glad you are enjoying it.

#187 Glad it's off to such a good start - thinking of you as your first classes start.

Still here, just running around like a chook. But not in a stressed way - in a busy way. Today I get to take a random Year 10 class but it's just as part of their Orientation programme, so it's only tomorrow when I need to pull 4 lessons out of the hat.

And I got 60 pages of AK read yesterday, woo hoo! Am into part 6 and heading for page 600. Still loving it but it's getting sadder. #190 TinaV, last week when I stopped it felt like it was going to take all February but now I am booting through it. It's cool reading it with so many people on here.

Right it is 5 to 7 and I still need to make lunches and dry my hair and get out the door in the next 20 minutes. Am going to school early to get stuff done.

Have a great end of weekend everyone (and Monday to the Kiwis!). Going to pour with rain here after an unheard of 10 days of sun.

Cushla, you are so busy! Thanks for letting us know how its all going though. I feel frazzled by your business. I have it real easy compared to you- but I do appreciate it!

Have fun at school!

I'm glad the teaching is going well so far, and hope you are finding a few minutes to read!

Hi Cushla - Great photos of violin camp and party!

I'm glad the new position is going well and hope it continues to!

*lurking and plugging away at Anna Karenina*

School Days...school days...

I hope you are relaxing a bit today in anticipation of a busy week, Cushla. I also hope teaching is every bit as rewarding as you'd hoped. I am volunteering on Monday after school to work with elementary kids on their homework in the school library. I'm a reading specialist, and so far all I've done is math! I'm grateful that the oldest students are in 5th grade as anything above that would cause me stress!

Lost track of you Cushla for a bit but I see you're enjoying your chosen field and that's just great. Unbelievable that you're finding time to read and I'm glad you're still enjoying AK.

Hi Cushla, just stopping by to wish you a great week. Love the pics from the camp :). See that you are still reading AK as well. I have only finished book one so far, but hope to get back into it soon.

Hi Megan, Anne, Kerri, Ellen, Bonnie and Bianca - am still here, just swamped with planning and a bit of marking. I have even started accepting offers of help when they are made!! Have done 2 weeks now and am thoroughly enjoying myself, and every day gets a bit easier as I get to know the kids and the school. But I'm working till 10.30 or 11 most nights - I don't plan on keeping this up forever but it might be a while before I am back into the swing of LT.

My book update for the week is that I've read another 40 or so pages of Anna Karenina and might even finish it this weekend - only 130 pages to go! Am still loving it but am in desperate need of fluff right now. The first 680 pages haven't been fluff and the last 130 are definitely not going to be. It's like a slow motion disaster. The movie hasn't opened here yet but it can't be far away.

Donna, I bet you are doing a great job with the kids in the library! In lots of ways teaching junior maths is the hardest. I'm doing a lot of that with one of my classes and it is my biggest challenge.

Right I am going back to my 12th grade (Year 13 for NZ and Aus = 7th form) statistics planning. First big internal assessment coming up in 2 weeks and lots left to teach them!

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Great that you are finding it fun, Cush. I do hope you can catch a breath soon.

Hi Cushla
Well done for putting so much into your work- they are lucky to have such a dedicated teacher!
Statistics was the only course I have ever failed in my life. So you wont be coming to me for help with planning those lessons :)

Your first year, you spend a lot of extra time. It's just to be expected. The good news is that as you gain experience, that additional time lessens.

It's great to hear from you Cushla. Your career change sounds like great fun.

Glad to hear from you Cushla. I'm really impressed you've kept going with AK despite your new job. Treat yourself to some well-deserved fluff for your next read!

Hallo Cushla, wollte Dir und Deiner Familie ein schönes Wochenende wünschen.

Wow, you job sounds very busy. However, as roni said your additional time investment will probably lessen as you go along :).

Ahem, I have not seen you reading "fluff" so far, so what do you consider "fluff" *smile*

Hi Tui, Megan, Roni, Heather, Bianca and the mystery Lauralkeet... hmm I wondered, who the HECK is Lauralkeet? Cool username change Laura!! I am so glad I switched from the cmt I started with back in 2006 when I sat at the computer, found this website and picked my initials as my username, little knowing that I would spend hundreds of hours on here.

Roni, what level do you teach? Yep I know this year is going to be huge - am already looking at all the resources I am making for next year. Plus, I'm spending time getting to know the kids and ringing a few parents in one of my classes, and quickly reading some of their reports from last year. Perhaps I should count those as novellas.

Bianca, dir auch ein schönes Wochenende! I am on page 700 of AK now. The countdown has begun. My idea of fluff is crime. I'll probably go for a Donna Leon or Agatha Christie next - haven't read Agatha Christie since I was a teenager, when they were part of my staple book diet, and I have a few downstairs.

Back later when my wondrous Powerpoint on measuring stuff is done.

"Back later when my wondrous Powerpoint on measuring stuff is done." .... Teaching & school has changed al lot since I was near one by the sounds then :)

Nice to see you Cushla! Hopefully with experience you will be able to slow down your work schedule and have a bit more free time!
Hope your next book is light and fluffy!

215: I grabbed the initials of the cats for a temporary anonymous email address six or seven years ago...
208: am thoroughly enjoying myself
That's the best news.

>215 cushlareads:: I am so glad I switched from the cmt I started with back in 2006 Mine was archaic too, Cushla. And I'd been thinking of changing it ever since you did yours! I couldn't for the life of me think of a new one so I asked a few friends for ideas. I'm enjoying my new identity, but kind of forgot I would surprise you when I visited.

Checking in to see if you finished AK. As busy as you are, it's a wonder if you did.
I do hope things slow down for you a bit.....
Hang in there, Cushla!

Ellen, I am in Part 7. Anna is heading for the train station any minute now. I have been muttering uncharitable words about her to my husband!! Seriously, this book is an indication of how much impact mood has on my reading. I will probably end up giving it 4 stars or 4 1/2, not the 5 I might have had I finished it several weeks ago.

I am having a night off doing work, so things are GREAT! It's 8.30 and I am going to read Anna K and probably be asleep very soon.

Laura the new name is great - very clever and nobody will call you Linda now.
Katherine that's so funny about your cats' initials.
Hi to Alex, Chelle, and Katherine. I will come and visit your threads soon!

LOL - So AK is going to lose a star because it's sooooo long!

No, just that I have got a bit sick of it, (so yes I guess that is the same thing!). I gave War and Peace a full 5 stars without a second thought and that was far longer - but I had the concentration to keep going and loved it. We'll see where it ends up. Either way, still high enough that I will read more Tolstoy, just not at the start of a new school year!

The first 680 pages haven't been fluff and the last 130 are definitely not going to be. It's like a slow motion disaster. I love the juxtaposition of AK and fluff, even in this statement that there is no connection between them! Well done on reading such a long and unfluffy book in the midst of all your new challenges; I hope you enjoy a nice, relaxing, quick, fluffy crime read next. Sansom may be just thing - long, but not in a heavy-going way.

It's 6 weeks since my last post - shame on me! Finally caught up with you again, and it's good to see you're doing so well with your work.

And congrats on having read AK (I'm sure you're done with it by now) with so much other stuff going on in your life. I loved the book, but then I had all the time it demanded from me, I know I'd have lost my patience otherwise. I'm not planning to watch the movie though, I am sure it will concentrate on the 'great love story' as usual.

Anna is heading for the train station any minute now.

LOL! I know that by the time I got there I was ready to throw her under the train myself!

Hi Genny, Nathalie and Ellen. FINISHED!!!!! Hallelujah. I was over it by the end. 4 stars from me, 5 for the first 650 pages then about 3 for the last 180.

I found 3 good books at the local church garage sale this morning and am about to start At Risk, by Stella Rimington. I'm hoping she's a better author than Booker Prize judge! The first chapter is promisingly quick to read.

Congratulations!

Hi Cushla. Just stopping by to say hello. Hope all is well in your world.

Hej and congratulations for finishing the last 180 pages...

A promisingly quick first few chapters is probably just what you need after Anna Karenina. Well done!

Well done on finishing AK, Cushla!

Aaaaaaaah internet again after 5 long days of no connection at all. I have so much to catch up on!
Thanks Genny, Pat, Paul, Megan and Alana for keeping my thread warm while I was reduced to reading the local paper for my news.
I did finish the book though and really enjoyed it. Review to come.

Welcome back to the net-world. It's good to have your internet back.

Happy new March

Happy March to you too, Paul!

OK I am back in the land of LT. School is going well, and I feel like I am slowing getting into a sustainable groove. I'm still flat out, and that won't change, but I am flat out on stuff that is for a couple of days ahead instead of the next morning.

And I've found the perfect antidote to tiredness. I bought At Risk by Stella Rimington at a local church fair last Saturday, and read it straight away. It turns out to be the first of 7 in a series. I gave it 3 1/2 stars for being a page-turner with a likable main character and good enough plot. Liz Carlyle works in MI5. Her love life is a bit messy (spies should not have affairs with journalists). An Islamic terrorist outfit manages to get an agent into the UK and you know the rest.

I am about to download the next couple to my Kindle... no I'm not I am going to the library to BORROW them.

So now I'm up to 4 whole books for 2013. Better than none but no more tomes for me for a while!

Welcome back to the land of Internet (although I do suspect that I would get more reading done--and other things too--without it.) How nice to follow up Anna with a quick read!

Glad you are back on the net!

4 is huge when one of them is Anna! Glad you found an energy-burst read!

Glad you finished up with our friend Anna. The best part is that you get to pick something else to read next!

At Risk sounds more realistic than some spy thrillers, at least according to the review by Flit. And the author was a spy and Director General of MI5, so she should know what she's talking about. (BTW, your link above goes to a Patricia Cornwell book with the same name). I might try to borrow it from the library (something you seem very loathe to do at the moment?), as I am still in need of some divertisement.

Gack! No Hinterwebs for days! I would have gone into some kind of weird withdrawal. Glad you are up and running again.

235: It turns out to be the first of 7 in a series. I gave it 3 1/2 stars for being a page-turner with a likable main character and good enough plot.
Such series are sooo relaxing as an escape from "flat out" work.

Hi Anne, Roni, Katie, Lisa, Katherine, Ellen and Tui. Yes it is very nice to be back on here!

It's 6.30 Monday morning and I am about to do school lunches. I'm nearly finished the second in the Liz Carlyle series - this one's called Secret Asset and is set partly in Northern Ireland. The MI5 bits have tons of realistic detail because of the author's background (as Lisa says she was head of MI5). And I found them at the library before I clicked the download button - I haven't felt that I had time to go to the library since school started, but this weekend I did and it was so nice. There's a branch between here and school, smaller than Karori but still good, and it has the next few in this series.

Back later when sandwiches are all made!

Seems the sandwiches never got made ..... perhaps sucked into the vortex that is "Monday's "

They got made Alex but mine didn't get eaten! Crazy busy day at school, with a Level 3 assessment for 3 hours this afternoon, but a good one. And I've just finished the 2nd Stella Rimington thriller, and am about to start the 3rd... Plus it's my birthday so my husband bought me a lovely bunch of flowers. and yesterday we bought bikes for him and me - eee!

Right it is 9 pm and I am so worn out I'm going to sleep. Hope everyone is having a lovely Monday.

Oh, happy birthday to you - alls Gueti zum Geburri

Happy birthday Cushla!

Happy Birthday Cushla - I hope you got lots of books :)

Happy Birthday belated Birthday!

New Bikes for Birthdays ..... weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Happy Bday for yesterday Cusla*- a bunch of flowers and a bike sounds like a lovely pressie!!
Your MI5 thriller escapism sounds like my 2 TV show escapisms- Americas Next Top Model (I uncharacteristically LOVE this show) and Criminal Minds (for a scardy cat like me, this is uncharacteristic too). I love them because they are so far removed form any life that I can imagine, and so can escape completely while watching.

eat: * I actually meant Cushla, but Im sure you know that :)

Happy Birthday, Cushla. Sounds like it was a good one. :)

250 > well your escapism could be worse, it could be American idol ...** shudder**

Oops, belated Happy Birthday wishes! Hope you had a great one. Flowers and bikes sound nice.

Happy (belated) Birthday, Cushla!

I just picked up the first Stella Rimington book from the library. Should start it tonight.

Happy belated!!! Flowers! Lucky you!

Hi Cushla, HAPPY (late) BIRTHDAY! And congrats on finishing AK -- that's quite an accomplishment with everything you have on your plate. Hope you're having a good weekend.

Inspired by Nathalie's "I am here" post on her thread, here's mine: I am here too! I'm just totally flat out. Am working every evening and JUST staying on top of things. The good news is that I have just 1 1/2 weeks till our Easter break, when I get 5 days of not being in school, which will be heavenly. I am enjoying every day though and it is going well.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!

I finished the 2nd and 3rd Stella Rimington books - the names are totally forgettable, the writing is pedestrian, but they are PERFECT for my current mood. Liz Carlyle keeps on being a spy, in love with her boss, sorting out Russians/moles/arrogant colleagues/Syrians/whoever else. I have no clue when my reading will veer back to its usual path, which is a bit more mixed up than spy novel - spy novel - spy novel. Maybe in November at the end of the year!! I saw the Orange longlist and would usually get excited, and I still did, but I am being realistic that there's no point buying anything off it right now.

OK, time to go sort out some lessons... oh and I will start a new thread soon too~!

Hi Cushla. Always good to hear from you although I know you're really busy these days. So glad to know that your enjoying every day!

Yeah, I think you will find yourself veering from one school break to the next for sanity Cushla LOL. Glad to hear it is going well. You will get more on top of things as time goes by.

I too have been on an espionage binge. Sometimes it just hits the spot!

I like the Stella Rimington series, and am still ordering from the UK, which will confirm that! I'd suggest a pause in there somewhere or they will start to fear very "same-y" after a while. Maybe switch to some Charles Cumming if you haven't read any of his novels? Sorry to have been AWOL; real life has been quite demented here and I have only just started packing boxes for my move so it will probably be another six weeks or so before I have real posting time on LT. Reading time is the one thing I can't give up, however.

+ 1 on the Charles Cumming suggestion .......

Well, I missed your birthday by a lot, but I hope it was a good one.
I'm going to look into the Stella Rimington series.

Hi Cushla, hope you're surviving conference week! Hang in there.

Terribly belated Happy Birthday, Cushla! And I wish you a relaxing Easter break, I hope you'll have some nice weather. Still no full spring here in The Italian Alps. Once the temperature go up I guess nature will 'explode into bloom' to catch up.

Hi Pat, Ellen, Anne, Nathalie, Alex, Lisa, Suz, and Bonnie. I made it to the Easter break! It's Day 1 of 5 days off, and instead of sleeping in I was wide awake at 6.30. We have very few plans for the weekend so I hope to do a lot of relaxing and catching up on LT!

Bonnie, this term has been long for everyone (8 weeks so far and 3 to go, plus the week before of all the set-up for the year). Lots of little things are getting faster to do now that I've set up some systems.

Pat, lovely to see you over here! I am long due a trip to your thread. If the kids keep staring at the TV screen i might come visiting this morning.

Ellen, I think the Stella Rimington series would be great for you with your full-on job but just don't go expecting great prose!!

Nathalie, we have been having an amazing run of weather for the last 6 weeks or so - a bit too amazing for the poor farmers. The whole of the North Island is in near drought conditions, with lots of regions in serious drought. There's an outside watering ban on, and we've got buckets in the showers so that we can re-use that water on the garden. If we don't get some rain soon there'll be more restrictions coming in. Sounds like your European winter has gone on far longer than usual - I hope spring does appear soon.

Suz, I hope your flu is on the way out now and you're a bit better. I'd never heard of Charles Cumming till your message but now Trinity Six is on my Kindle thanks to you and Alex. It looks great! When I clicked on the link, the LT recommender was suggesting it to me based on 4 totally different books (John Banville's wonderful The Untouchable and Miranda Carter's bio of Anthony Blunt were two of them), which is a good sign too.

Anne, parent teacher interviews are done and dusted and were exhausting but really rewarding. When is Callia coming home? Must be soon.