avatiakh (Kerry) continues her 2013 reading journal

Row of books in antiques cum teashop in Shanghai's French Concession

Currently Reading:

Reading Globally 2nd quarter Sth East Asia Theme Read
Ru by Kim Thúy

My 2013 category challenge

1: Little Bookroom 3/13
2: Young at Heart 13/13
3: Reality Bites 7/13
4: Scifi and Fantasy 2/13
5: All things Celtic
6: Collector’s Corner 1/13
7: Down Under 7/13
8: Reading Globally 6/13
9: Israel & Diaspora 13/13
10: Literary & folktales
11: The Book Pile 11/13
12: Cult Writers 2/13
12b: The Sandman 1/10
13: Dropbox 10/13

My current reading can be followed here:
My 12in12 thread is here
My 75 Books Challenge for 2012: avatiakh tackles Mt tbr in 2012 #5

My TIOLI list for April so far:

Challenge #1: Read a book whose title is in ABC/123 order
Jules et Jim (L-3) - Henri-Pierre Roche
Bar Balto (B-1) - Faïza Guène
The last minute - (E-3) - Eleanor Updale

Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word (scrambled or not)
Before I go to sleep (beef) - S.J. Watson
Dead end in Norvelt (tore) by Jack Gantos
Fair Game - The Steps of Odessa by James Watson
Fish change direction in cold weather (heart) - Pierre Szalowski
The Orphan Master's Son (harp) by Adam Johnson
*Time and Chance (item) - Sharon Kay Penman

Challenge #4: Read a book with two or more people on the cover
Drama by Raina Telgemeier
The God Boy - Ian Cross
A World between us - Lydia Syson

Challenge #10: Read a work in which both the title and the author's name contains double letters
The Dance of the Seagull - Andrea Camilleri

Challenge #12: Read a book that is on a 2013 award long list or short list (my challenge)
Midwinterblood (Carnegie LL) - Marcus Sedgwick
*The People of Forever Are Not Afraid (Women's Prize for Fiction LL, Sami Rohr Prize SL) - Shani Boianjiu
Questions of Travel (Miles Franklin LL) - Michelle de Kretser
The Reinvention of love (Impac Dublin LL) - Helen Humphries

Challenge #15: Read a Book to Start a Trend
*Capital Punishment - Robert Wilson
Fatal Majesty - Reay Tannahill (Chatterbox)

also:
A necklace of souls by Rachel Stedman for the local award challenge in the 13in13 group

Pot of peach fruit tea from Shanghai teahouse.

My son and I spent a couple of days in Shanghai on our way to Europe. Not a particularly attractive place but I was quite keen to visit as my great aunt had lived here around 1915-1918.








dumplings on the street

Yaron in teahouse

My first read completed for April -

39) The God Boy by Ian Cross (1957)
fiction

TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with two or more people on the cover. I've had this on my Mt tbr for a few years now and finally picked it up last week to kick off my Downunder reading for the year and wasn't disappointed. Told almost as a confession by a young 12 yr old boy who lives in a Catholic home, it is about young Jimmy Sullivan and the breakdown of his parents' marriage. You know there is some form of tragedy in there but the pace of the storytelling is brilliant and young Jimmy is a wonderful character.

6 > Now haven't heard of that in many years, had to read it for school - fifth form if i remember rightly .....

Wonderful photos, Kerry! Yaron looks like he's having fun. ;-)

ETA: I just went back and caught up on your last thread. I had fallen behind and missed all the great reviews and news about your travels. My mind is reeling with all the good books you read while away!

Love the photos from your trip. Shanghai looks so colourful!

Nice photos, Kerry. Did you try some of those pan fried dumplings? What surprised you most about Shanghai?

Hi Kerry,
wonderful photos of Shanghai! What did you mean by Shanghai not being an "attractive" place?

OK, first up my laptop has gone in for recovery work so I'll have less access to the net for a few days.
Caro - Shanghai - Probably what surprised me most was how cold it was, we came from sultry, humid summer to real cold and couldn't completely adjust. The other was how little of 'traditional' China there was, though realise that it developed as a city for foreigners. Most of the inner city is very modern and only harks back to the early 20th century at most. Didn't try enough dumplings.
Biancad - Attractive was probably not the best adjective I could have chosen, more that it is a bustling modern city and not many traditional quarters to explore.

Great photos, Kerry.

Lovely photos, Kerry!

Hi Kerry, glad you had a great trip--and I'll be reviewing your bookstore list when I visit my sister and Mom next year in London.

Of course, your list always adds to my TBR, but I wanted to thank you for recommending a Greene I had not read, Stamboul Express (although on this side of the pond, it's called Orient Express and I read Ministry of Fear while I was looking for it). Loved both books, even if Greene felt they were for "entertainment"only.

I also was pleased to see you liked Shute's Pied Piper which has been a favorite of mine for years. I'm currently reading his Trustee From the Tool Room which was recommended by TadAd and loving it.

Nice photos, Kerry. We still get to keep travelling with you. :0)

Awesome photos Kerry!

Nice shiny new thread Kerry and fantastic photos of Shanghai!

Sorry everyone I had a computer malfunction last week and lost my main hard drive. I'm back with a few lost folders and still need to copy in my favourite programmes etc.


40) Capital Punishment by Robert Wilson (2013)
fiction

TIOLI start a trend. I suggested Robert Wilson's A small death in Lisbon in the start a book trend challenge and Suzanne added his latest to the wiki instead so as I also had it out from the library have gone for a shared read.
This introduces us to a new protagonist, Charlie Boxer, ex-police and now working for a private company as a kidnap recovery specialist. The story revolves around the kidnap of a young Indian woman in London, her father is one of the richest men in India but one with shady connections. The story sped along really well, I enjoyed it but felt it finished up on a bit of a whimper.
I love the Inspector Falcon series and will continue to make my way through his earlier Bruce Medway books.

Saudi Arabia - Culture Smart!: the essential guide to customs & culture by Nicolas Buchele (2008)
nonfiction

A compact guide to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Quite interesting with brief coverage of the history, women's rights, religion, being a foreigner etc. I did get more up to date info from the internet afterwards such as earlier this year the king passed a decree for 20% women in his Shura (Advisory) Council. There were also a couple of interesing articles online about twitter and skyping in the kingdom.

I love that when a guardian comes to pick up a female student from their school they must call out their own name as it is 'not done' to call a woman's name in public.


The Art of How to train your Dragon by Tracey Miller-Zamake
nonfiction
Coffee table book that I enjoyed flicking through to see all the concept art from the film. I loved this film.

Sorry to hear about your main drive crashing. Horror! Were you able to get back the important stuff? I recently purchased an automatic backup device. I hope that it would help in the event of a crash, but any kind of household event, and it would go down with the computer.

Have you been to Saudi Arabia?

Lisa - my laptop has two hard drives and I have a few portable backup drives but no automatic one. I lost lots of unimportant but helpful files, luckily photos, itunes library and family history were all backed up.

No, I haven't been to Saudi Arabia. My son had a few books out from the library for an assignment and I picked this one up to read.

41) Bar Balto by Faïza Guène (2008)
fiction, france
Challenge #1: Read a book whose title is in ABC/123 order. A short novel by young French-Algerian writer Guène. Really liked the idea of the story, done as a series of police interview monologues. The owner of the Bar Balto has been found dead lying in a pool of blood, and how it came about is slowly revealed through the interviews. Lots of street slang that sounded quite authentic for all that it had been translated.
I also enjoyed Guene's debut novel from a few years ago, Just like tomorrow.


42) Fish change direction in cold weather by Pierre Szalowski (2007)
fiction, canada
TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word (heart). A debut novel that is quite heartwarming in its simplicity. A young boy's parents are splitting up and he asks the sky for help. The next morning Montreal suffers a severe ice storm, all the quirky neighbours must help each other and in the process their lives get sorted.

Hi Kerry, just flying by to wish you and your family a wonderful weekend :)

Hi, Kerry. Just wondering - do you have a Mac? My MacBook Air has Time Machine installed, which (if I have the portable hard drive plugged in all the time - hah!) does an automatic back-up every (I think) 10 minutes.

PS - it may be me, but I don't see 'heart' embedded.

ETA: don't mind me; I've only just checked in for the April TIOLI, so I hadn't seen the challenge.

43) The reinvention of love by Helen Humphries (2011)
fiction

TIOLI Challenge #12: Read a book that is on a 2013 award long list or short list - Impac Dublin Long List.
This is based on Charles Saint-Beuve's short lived affair with Victor Hugo's wife Adele. I already knew about the book but was compelled to read it after visiting the Victor Hugo House in Place des Vosges in Paris recently. Saint-Beuve was a literary critic, writer and close acquaintance of Hugo and his family. It was an enjoyable read, the plot followed re-imagined real life events and Humphries triumphs with her character studies even as the plot meanders a little off track from time to time.


44) The orphan master's son by Adam Johnson
fiction, audio

This just won the Pulitzer Prize (2013) and it is a well deserved win. What a brilliant novel. Johnson brings us right into the hearts and minds of the people living in a repressive regime - subject to propaganda, conformity and deprivation. He brings the head of state, the 'Dear Leader' to life. I was hooked from the very start. Wow, read this book.
Read for TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word (scrambled or not).

#26: Hi Nina, I don't have a Mac. I have backed up my files etc, but not as often as I should have, it will be done more regularly from now on. I haven't lost anything too important, or at least not that I can think of yet.

>28 avatiakh:: Good to know nothing too important was lost. You mentioned iTunes, so I was wondering. (Yes, I do know it's possible to run it on a non-Mac machine. And, yes, I do suspect that there are people out there in the world who haven't gone Apple-everything crazy like me)

:0)

Hey, Kerry, as a Mac user, I also depend on my Time Machine for backup, especially since the time I had both my hard drive AND my external drive go down at the same time (on much older machines). I lost mostly pictures that weren't replaceable.

Your last couple of reads sound really good!

Whoops, I left off a graphic novel from last week.


45) Drama by Raina Telgemeier (2012)
YA / graphic novel

Added to TIOLI challenge: 2 or more people on the cover
This is a delightful GN focusing on a high school theatre production and a couple of hopeful boy/girl, boy/boy relationships in the process, but is ultimately about friendship. It starts with the first planning meeting and takes us through the auditions, rehearsals, the backstage shenanigans for lighting, scenery, costumes and props to the actual performances and finishes up with the wrap-up meeting. I really enjoyed this one. The main character, Callie, was very appealing.

Nina & Roni - I need to look out for a PC version of TIme MAchine by the sounds of it.

46) The people of forever are not afraid by Shani Boianjiu (2012)
fiction

TIOLI challenge 12: On a 2013 Awards longlist or short list. This is on the Women's Prize for Fiction Long List and the Sami Rohr Prize Short List. The book is getting mixed reviews so a little background on the writer first. Boianjiu is a young Israeli woman who grew up right beside the border with Lebanon. She started writing this as part of her study at Harvard, so the book has been written in English rather than Hebrew. In 2011 she was included in the National Book Foundation's "5 Under 35" authors which has gave her book a lot of press notice.

I enjoyed this book with just a few reservations. It has been criticised for being 'disjointed' or episodic' but I quite liked that aspect of it. It's probably best described as a series of linked coming-of-age stories about 3 female school friends and their different experiences serving in the IDF (Israel Defense Force) and how this affects their post IDF life. I found it refreshing and especially liked Boianjiu's use of language, it felt very Hebrew to me.

There's an interesting article about her and the book in Tablet Magazine.


47) Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick (2011)
fiction, YA

TIOLI challenge 12: On a 2013 Awards longlist or short list - Carnegie Medal Shortlist (2013). This has been sitting on Mt tbr since it was published and seeing it shortlisted from the amazingly long Carnegie Medal longlist gave me the push to pick it up. I've loved everything I've read by Sedgwick and this is no exception.
From the Guardian....'and lashings of dark intensity, Midwinterblood consists of seven interlinked stories on the theme of love and sacrifice.'

I went to go look up Drama because I've been on a GN kick lately. The "controversy" over this book has made me want to read it even more.

(one *)One of the boys is gay. We returned the book to the store.
Really? :/

I love visiting here and learning about the YA books you read/are reading.

Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos.

#34: Kathy - Can't believe what some peeps find offensive, the story is so appealing and the boy in question is quite adorable! She draws him with this huge goofy grin and you can't but like him.

#35: Hi Linda - I must start unlurking on all the threads I visit. I've been accumulating a lot of YA and children's books lately so will be reviewing some more fairly soon. Currently enjoying Jack Gantos narrating his Dead End in Norvelt, first time I've had Hells Angels making an appearance in a children's novel!

48) The dance of the seagull by Andrea Camilleri (2013)
fiction

Montalbano #15. Another enjoyable installment in the series. I'll keep reading these for sure.
TIOLI #10 - double letters in the title & authors name.

49) The Cloud Hunters by Alex Shearer (2012)
children's fiction

I finished this a couple of weeks ago and forgot to add it here. I really enjoy Shearer's books, and this is quite an interesting world. He's set it in a future where Earth has self destructed and humans are living in the sky on sort-of-islands formed from chunks of the planet and marine life has adapted to the sky environment. The Cloud Hunters are gypsy-like people who travel in flying ships with sails to seek out rain-filled clouds in order to pump the water and deliver to 'islands' that have unreliable water supply. A boy from a more prosperous island travels with them on a couple of trips and has an adventure of a lifetime. Enjoyable with overtones of steampunk, but check out his other books too. I particularly loved Speed of the Dark and Bootleg.

50) Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (2011)
children's fiction / audiobook

TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word (scrambled or not) - (tore).
Jack Gantos narrates this and does an excellent job, I also enjoyed his narration of his memoir, Hole in my life. Dead End won last year's Newbery Medal and is an excellent read, there is so much to like in this book. The main character Jack, who suffers from nosebleeds, has been grounded for the summer, his only escape is helping their elderly neighbour write the town's obituary column for the local newspaper. Through her creative use of this column we learn a lot about the history of the town and important events through history. Soon the number of deaths starts to look suspicious, a pack of Hells Angels want revenge when one of their own dies in the town, and now empty houses are being dismantled and trucked away to another town. Lots of intrigue and nostalgia gives this book a great edge.

51) A world between us by Lydia Syson (2012)
YA fiction

TIOLI Challenge #4: Read a book with two or more people on the cover. I picked this one up in Foyles Bookshop in London, their SouthBank branch not their bigger shop. So pleased that a quick browse turned up this debut novel as I haven't seen any mention of it anywhere apart from knowing that @elkiedee has also read it recently. Also love the retro cover which looks like some of the propaganda posters from the 1930s.
A young nurse, Felix, ends up following her heart and an idealistic young man she's just met to Spain and the Civil War. She in turn is followed by the more conservative friend of her brother who hopes to marry her. The focus of the novel is mainly on Felix's experiences as a nurse on the frontlines and the growing importance of blood transfusions. I really enjoyed this and felt for Felix as her heart became torn between her two men. This was an interesting time in England as well with the Blackshirts and noninterference policy of the British and French governments and Syson's writes the politics into the book rather well. The three characters are a great foil - Nate is a member of the Communist Party and has opened Felix's eyes to the suffering of the Spanish people, whereas the more conservative George comes to Spain as a journalist but after being one of the first to enter Guernica after the bombing, joins the Internationals as an ambulance driver and mechanic.
This reminded me a lot of The Freedom Tree by James Watson, which brings me to my next read....


52) Fair Game: the steps of Odessa by James Watson (2008)
YA fiction

TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word (scrambled or not). I came across this after watching the 1925 film The Battleship Potemkin directed by Sergei Eisenstein which features an amazing sequence, a massacre on the Odessa Steps which has been described as 'the most famous five minutes in the history of cinema". You can see this sequence on you-tube it really is rather brilliant.
Watson's political thriller for teens ends in a few exciting moments on the Steps as well. He's based his story on the real-life Ukraine journalist Georgi Gongadze and the Melnychenko Tapes. Eisenstein's film is referred to several times throughout the book.
Natasha's father is a journalist who investigates human rights issues and he's uncovered something important that will expose government corruption. Natasha is a rising soccer star hoping to make it into the national under-19 team but in the opening chapter she is kidnapped and held to ransom. I really enjoyed the story, you were never quite sure who could be trusted.
I'm quite a fan of Watson's books and am pleased that some of his older books are available on kindle.
His latest book Pigs might fly looks to be only available as an e-book.

From wikipedia: A 1989 profile in the U.K. children's books magazine Books for Keeps noted that a theme of Watson's work was "a universal fight for human rights", and that three of his novels, "adventure thrillers set amid the Spanish Civil War (The Freedom Tree), the Chile of the ‘disappeared’ (Talking in Whispers), and a contemporary Britain where the Establishment closes ranks over nuclear secrecy (Where Nobody Sees)" had been praised "for their exciting action, their passion and their challenge to debate." The Carnegie Medal panel described Talking in Whispers as covering "the difficult theme of oppression in Chile, as seen through the eyes of three teenagers, with great honesty and sincerity."

53) The last minute by Eleanor Updale (2013)
YA fiction

TIOLI Challenge Challenge #1: Read a book whose title is in ABC/123 order. (E-3)
The premise for this book is quite novel. Updale gives us the last 60 seconds in real time before an explosion takes place in the High Street of a small community near Heathrow.
Each chapter covers about 3 secs in the lives of the people who are around the busy High Street, quite a bit can happen in 60 secs and as you follow each thread you are trying to figure out how the explosion happens.
The local pub owner taking his dog to the park, the florist carrying a wreath across to the funeral parlour, a young man going to his first job interview, a politician, the customers of a cafe, the dance class, the workmen digging up the road, the runner, a charity worker, the animal rights activist, a busload of school children, the taxi driver and his passenger etc etc.
It's quite an interesting almost morbid read, we are just touching on these characters who are in the final moments of their lives. My library has it in the junior fiction section, though I think it's more suitable for younger teens.

A similar YA read would be Real Time by Pnina Moed Kass.

54) Before I go to sleep by S.J. Watson (2011)
fiction / audio

TIOLI Challenge #3: Read a book with an embedded word (scrambled or not) - (beef)
First I found the narration quite mesmerising and then just couldn't get enough of this jigsaw puzzle of a story. Christine wakes every morning with no memories of her life, so each day she must rebuild her life from the clues around her and trust that her husband is telling her the truth. Suspenseful thriller.

I didn't get very far with my trip photos. From Shanghai we flew via Paris to Malaga in southern Spain. We stayed about 20 days in Andalucia visiting lots of towns and cities including Granada, Cordoba, Gibralter, Seville, Ronda and Cadiz. While it was freezing in the more northern parts of Europe we enjoyed quite mild weather.




Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos in Cordaba. Used from the 19th century until 1950s as a prison, thankfully restored.
The fortress served as one of the primary residences of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. Beautiful gardens with giant statues of the King, Queen and Christopher Columbus.

I read most of Seville, Córdoba, and Granada: A Cultural History by Elizabeth Nash. I still have a couple of chapters on Seville to get through. I found it really interesting and full of historic details. We also used The Rough Guide to Andalucia which proved its worth several times over.




Cadiz - we visited during Carnival, didn't realise till we arrived for a day visit. It was the day for children to dress up, a bit like Purim in Israel and there is a competition for the best singing groups. The parties and celebrations really start up in the evenings and go on all night till early morning. We had to leave early as Yaron wasn't feeling well.


tapa - berenjenas miel (eggplant with molasses)

tapa - serrano ham

tapa - baked goat feta on capsicum

Ronda - one of the white towns of Andalucia


We clambered all over this hill to work up an appetite




one of the several museums we viited in Ronda, this was a hunting museum and made me feel a bit ill as there were so many trophy heads on display.

Mijas - a smaller white hill town near Marbella - spectacular views

one of our cheaper but tastier lunches at a local bar

blue on white

Mijas donkey
The left-wing mayor of Mijas hid for over 30 years in his house during the Franco years. In Hiding: The Life of Manuel Cortes by Ronald Fraser recounts his story.

Granada:
We had a lovely day in Granada - spent hours looking around the Alhambra and the old city. Had a late lunch by the river with a view up to the Alhambra.

Alhambra - Court of the Lions

Cordaba:
Before leaving Cordoba, we visited the ruins of Medina Azahara about 8km away. There is a modern museum and a bus trip to the ruins. Most of the site still needs to be excavated.
Wikipedia: Medina Azahara is the ruins of a vast, fortified Arab Muslim medieval palace-city built by Abd-ar-Rahman III al-Nasir, (912–961) Ummayad Caliph of Córdoba. It was an Arab Muslim medieval town and the de facto capital of al-Andalus, or Muslim Spain, as the heart of the administration and government was within its walls. Built beginning in 936-940.

Carmona:
We stayed in a wonderful Parador hotel, the Alcazar Del Rey Don Pedro, about 35km from Seville in a small town, Carmona.






Seville:





We climbed the Cathedral tower and had a wonderful view of the city. We also visited the Alcazar which is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe. Enjoyed some tapas.

Malaga:













Malaga has a really modern waterfront and marina area, it's full of trendy restaurants and bars. The old centre has lots of pedestrian streets and more typical tapas bars and cafes. Then there's the castle and Alcazaba on the steep hill overlooking the port and bullring. What a climb, worth it for the view.

and Gibraltar


lots of these cheeky Barbary apes around

You must walk across the airport runway to get into town from the border crossing

cable car takes you to the top of the rock, then you make your way down visiting all the points of interest. It takes 2-3 hours.



inside the siege tunnels

Wow Kerry. Fascinating. Thanks for sharing your amazing photos and comments. It must have been an absolutely wonderful vacation!

My brother went to Gibraltar in high school and their tour guide dropped a grape down a girl's shirt. One of the monkeys very quickly fished it out. :P

Oh my goodness Kerry, your photos are spectacular! Now I long to take to visit those same places. Just beautiful.

It looks like you had a wonderful relaxing time.

Thank you for posting these gorgeous pictures. Your trip through Spain and Gibraltar looks like so much fun.

Simply fantastic and evocative photos of Andalucia and Gibraltar Kerry - two of my favourite places.

I worked on (or to be more accurate in) the rock for 12 weeks in the 80s on a submarine tracking station project for the MOD and stayed in a hotel called the Caleta Palace which was in a great location but not palatial certainly.

Spent a couple of holidays in the early 90s in Andalucia based in Nerja and adored Ronda, Cordoba and Granada especially. I was still doing a lot of cycling in those days and the Sierra Nevadas were a challenge for sure.

Have a lovely weekend.

BTW 16 books already this month is jolly impressive too!

Thanks for posting your lovely, spectacular photos! I feel as though I'm there.

Glad you liked Dead End In Norvelt If you haven't read his Joey Pigza books you might get them a try. They made me laugh and cry

Joey Pigza Loses Control is one of my favorites.

Safe journey to you.

#48: Thanks Brenda - we had a great time. It was just myself and my 21 yr old son. We had a ball doing what we wanted to do rather than what the rest of the family would want.

#49: Micky - that's a hilarious story, though not funny for the girl. I'm sure it wouldn't be allowed nowadays as there is a lot of signage warning away from interaction with the monkeys. They also steal from open bags so care must be taken.

#50: Kathy - I've visited this part of Spain a few times now and most of it is pretty wonderful. The coastline has been overdeveloped unfortunately but as we were there in winter we weren't so worried about that. Great time to travel there too as it isn't crowded with summer visitors.

#51: Hi Judy - thanks. I took hundreds of photos but they seem to have uploaded out of order to my photobucket account, so it was a bit of a nightmare figuring out what was from where! I need to do some housekeeping over there before I put in a link to the rest of the photos.

#52: Hi Paul - you always manage to give us some very interesting stories. The history of Gibraltar both ancient and modern is so interesting. We loved clambering over the gun batteries, though I did get a touch of vertigo near the edge. The siege tunnels were amazing too. It was fun to be in 'Britain' for a short time.
I've been to Nerja a few times in past trips, it is one of the nicer coastal places for sure.

My book total for the month includes a lot of short fiction and not the 4 bigger tomes I should be reading:

The Count of Monte Cristo - still haven't cracked it open and only 4 weeks left of the 12 week group read
Time and Chance by Sharon Penman - read about 30pgs so far for this month's group read
Fatal Majesty by Reay Tannahill - Mary Queen of Scots historical fiction that I hoped to read for this month's TIOLI
Questions of Travel by Michele de Krester - Australian shortlisted fiction, I've also read about 30pgs and should just pick it up more often.

#53: Hi Linda - I keep meaning to read his Joey Pigza ones, just too many worthy books out there still to be read while i keep getting distracted by the new and shiny.

True Kerri....there are so many books and so darn little time to read them all.

Kerry - Reminds me too that I seem to have missed my chance with Time and Chance. When I was in Gibraltar I was still very much a fresh grad starting out in work and very skinny. I passed myself off as a teenager and got into one of the Squadies kids' discos as there was a yound lady there I was enamoured with. Great fun and the lady brings back memories that can still make my cheeks redden at the remove of 25 years.

New to my home:
I can't seem to stop bringing books home - I've picked up a few these past few weeks
From my local bookshop -
Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan - seen this mentioned a few times lately
Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell - one from my wishlist

From trademe:
agent of change by sharon lee & steve miller - I think this was a Roni rec

From used bookshopx2:
The Assault by Harry Mulisch
Earthquake Weather by Tim Powers
The Little White Car by Dan Rhodes
Lost bodies by François Gantheret
With a sword in my hand by Jean-Claude Van Rijckeghem
Roads to Berlin by Cees Nooteboom
The Princess of Mantua by Marie Ferranti (Hesperus) - lovely little edition
Fighting for France by Edith Wharton (Hesperus) - another lovely one
Espedair Street by Iain Banks
Music on the bamboo radio by Martin Booth

From bookdepository:
The crane wife by Patrick Ness
The Liars' Gospel by Naomi Alderman - still to arrive

Scholastic's Factory Shop:
Snakes and Ladders by Mary-Anne Scott (NZ YA) - shortlist for NZ Post senior fiction award
Life in outer space by Melissa Keil (Aus YA)
The dogs of Winter by Bobbie Pyron - great reviews on this one

so BD sent me the wrong book by mistake and I can keep it but....it's fairly unappealing
My dog's got no nose: a play by Ron Aldridge

#57: Paul - at least there's a couple of months before the third one is set for reading. I'm just going to take my time, the story is easy to slip back into.

Love all the pictures, Kerry! And yes, Agent of Change is my recommendation, as well as a quick read. I look forward to hearing what you think of it.

Love the photos of Andalucia Kerry. I've never been but I would certainly like to after seeing your snaps. Midwinterblood is a book I've heard lots of good things about so I've added it to my library list and I will be very interested in your thoughts on The Crane Wife when you get to it.

lol at the wrong book! That must have made you pause when you got that in the mail.

I'm loving the photo's from your trip - it sounds like a memorable one for sure!

Fabulous photos, Kerry! I want to visit Spain soon.

#60: Hi Roni - I'm looking forward to that one.

#61: Hi Heather - there's a lot to see once you get away from all the coastal development. Off season is the best time to visit as the climate is so mild.

#52: Hi Lisa - so you aren't going to order a copy for yourself! I did question my sanity when I saw it in the envelope. Luckily they immediately sent the correct replacement.

#53: Hi Darryl - You'd love Spain, but don't you need to get to Paris first?

We flew from Malaga back to Paris and had a week there before going to London.

Notre Dame on our first evening - super long queue to get inside. The cathedral is celebrating its 850th anniversary this year.
We got inside later in the week but the towers were closed to the public.


Versailles - we spent a wonderful day here.

Part of Marie Antoniette's rustic buildings on the estate - The Queen's Hamlet


One of our first meals was at the Bouillon Chartier, one of the few surviving belle epoque soup kitchens. A really busy bustling place where you share a table with other diners and the food is reasonable and very typical.
I just found a blog post on it by David Lebovitz and saw in the comments that a scene in A very long engagement was filmed here - http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/02/bouillon-chartier/

We discovered some great Patisseries thanks to some research, this is from Saint Germain's Gerard Mulot.
Yes, every crumb was yum.

...and we went back there on our last night


breakfast from a local bakery #1

breakfast from a local bakery #2

breakfast from a local bakery #3

Just an afternoon snack before catching the train back to Paris from Versailles

My goodness Kerry with Patisseries like that I don't think I would have fit into the seats for the long haul back to NZ.

Amazing! You definitely know how to do breakfast!

Great photos of Spain, Kerry. I've been to Barcelona and Madrid but never the parts you visited, and I've always wanted to. And those French patisseries look out of this world.

Yaron was the culprit as far as the sweet breakfasts went, he wanted to try everything. So glad it only lasted a week.
His favourites ended up as the flan and the tarte de pomme so those I can easily revisit at home. My one true love has always been the citron and the one I got from Le Moulin de Rosa just by Place des Vogues was quite perfect.

We walked off all the sweet stuff by pounding the pavement and trips to the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, La Concierge, Sainte-Chapelle, Shoah Memorial & Museum of the Holocaust, the Rodin Museum etc etc. We also managed to squeeze in a visit to a new Chagall exhibition at the Musee du Luxembourg.


Chateau Vincennes


Place des Vogues


We were lucky to catch an amazing exhibition at La Concierge, Rêve du Monument, which showed how castles and chateaux have been depicted through the arts and popular culture through the years. Really enjoyed this and after last year's read of A tale of two cities the rest of the building was especially 'invigorating'.
Short trailer of the exhibition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=muwunE-JLL0




Lots of gothic art, illustration and early film were on display as well as the modern such as Lego's Hogwarts Castle.
A longer video clip on the exhibition here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=f-PDHlfpP-4&NR=1

Wow, your photos are amazing.

We will be travelling to France later this year and I am definitely putting that soup kitchen and patisserie on my 'must visit' list!

Thanks for sharing! : )

Regards,
Charles

Awesome pictures--it looks like a great trip!

Those French patisseries look divine !!! .......

Sample of the more typical fare we had in Paris - buckwheat crepes & cider from a typical Bretagne restaurant.
#67: Paul, take note that we shared the crepe between us!


my citron

Portuguese custard tarts from Pasteleria Belem (17th), a short bus ride from Gare St Lazare. Yaron was keen to try these after watching a cooking/travel programme in Spain. He got us addicted to Great British Menu and quiz shows while we were there. He now watches every episode of 'The Chase' and 'University Challenge' on youtube.


Musee Rodin
We also visited briefly 'Shakespeare and Company" Bookshop which I had to insist on as I'd just read Jeremy Mercer's book.
I'd have loved an extra day or two on my own just to chill out and do exactly what I wanted but overall we agreed on most things. I would have done even more walking and exploring on my own despite the cold. I've been in Paris several times but there is always more to see and revisit than you can fit into a stay. We did do a lot this time, but it was cold and so we curtailed some days a little earlier than I wanted to.

Mmm, those macarons look delicious. I'm really craving one now.

We had a late afternoon and evening in Paris after our stay in London and before we flew out the next day to the US. Our Eurostar arrived at about 3.45pm and we raced to our nearby hotel to drop our luggage and then jumped on the metro to the Marais. The photography exhibition 'The Mexican Suitcase' had opened the previous day at the Jewish Museum and we only had a couple of hours before closing time. Miraculously it all went to plan and we were able to spend a good long time at the exhibit.

I'm interested in everything about Robert Capa and his photographer contemporaries after devouring the huge book of photographs last year, The definitive Robert Capa and reading Steinbeck's A Russian Journal. I've also been reading some fiction such as Waiting for Robert Capa and have Seducing Ingrid Bergman out from the library. More info on The Mexican Suitcse is here - a huge number of Spanish Civil War negatives from Capa, Taro and Chim were found a few years ago in a suitcase in Mexico. I've also got Capa's memoir of WW2 to read.


Both Yaron and I became a little obsessed about Dreyfus after I read a timetravel YA that focused on him. So we were pleased to finally locate his statue, it had been moved to an alcove so we didn't see it the previous week when we'd come to the museum.


My daughter and her partner had stumbled on the Polidor Restaurant which is featured in Woody Allen's movie, Midnight in Paris. It was a favourite haunt of Hemingway & other writers (Paris is full of cafes and restaurants like these!). We decided to go there on our last night as it's another more affordable place to eat and comes with some tradition. They have never updated the menu since they opened! A perfect last evening in Paris.

After reading A moveable feast I just had to try the Polidor's lyonnaise sausage.
NB: just found this article Don’t Touch ‘A Moveable Feast’ about the newer extended edition of Hemingway's book.


From wikipedia: The Crémerie-Restaurant Polidor is a historic restaurant in the 6th Arrondissement of Paris. Its predecessor was founded in 1845, and it has had its present name since the beginning of the 20th century. The interior of the restaurant is basically unchanged for over 100 years, and the style of cooking remains that of the late 19th century.
The Polidor is best known for its illustrious clientele. It is said to have been a favourite of André Gide's, as well as hosting James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Phil Mitchell, Antonin Artaud, Jack Kerouac, and Henry Miller. It is also known for being the meeting place for the Collège de ’Pataphysique, and its principals, French writers Luc Étienne and Raymond Quenea.

I think I gained a few pounds just from look at the pictures and OMG the Rodin Museum!!! That is some place I would love to go. Stanford has a nice collection and I enjoy going there but truly? I should go to Paris. :-)

#75: If only!!

More beautiful pictures! I'm drooling over the pastries, Kerry! The citron does indeed look delicious.

Wow, thanks so much for sharing the article on A Moveable Feast. It's one of the few Hemingways I don't own so I will make sure to stay away from the new edition when I complete my collection. It seems pretty shocking for the publisher to agree to such manipulation.

Thanks for all the 'pastry' comments, I'll come back with more comments and less photos in a short while.

#60 Charles - Yes, I'm pleased now that I read the original edition. I'm going to print it out and leave it in my copy. I'll have to look for your thread.

I love Paris and those patisseries look divine!

It is a hard one to find as I forgot to include my username in the topic, so here's the link: www.librarything.com/topic/152063

Thanks for wanting to take a look. : )

Hi Kerry, thank you soo much for posting all these wonderful and interesting photos.
Spain or France is on my list for this year as well and I thought especially the photos of Ronda looked very interesting.
I am glad to see that you had so much fun and such an interesting variety of food *grin*. Although, I am not sure whether I would have been able to eat such colourful pastries - as I am a very ?natural and seasonal eater.

I love the pictures, too. Those pastries look "to die for"!

Gorgeous photos! And the food looks Yum! I could do with some of those tapas.

My parents had an apartment in Spain, just outside Marbella. We used to fly in to Malaga and then drive down (except for one memorable, sweltering summer when we drove from London in a car built for the U.K. - ie no air-conditioning. I remember our drive back, via Sevilla, in scorching weather)

As for Gibraltar, when we went, I had a flower in the outside pocket of my handbag, and was rather startled when a monkey grabbed it suddenly - and started to eat it. I'm glad I didn't have grapes then!

I'll have to get your list of where to go to eat if - when - we go to Paris.

ETA: and, incidentally (since this is LT), I like your book list. I think I'll look up some of those YA books.

Looks and sounds like a wonderful trip, Kerry. We visited Shakespeare and Company when we there, and then found and enjoyed Jeremy Mercer's book at a later date. Ah, to be young and working there . . .

Here I am trying to find you, to tell you about reading The God Boy, and I see in post 3 that you have recently read it yourself! Have you been subliminally messaging me again? ;)

I really loved it, and will scroll back to see if your thoughts are listed.

And your photos!! Wonderful stuff, I do love to see that architecture, food and books dominate :) Id love to travel again now, since having read so much more and gaining more understanding of the places I'd go.

*scroll scroll*
Found your musings on The God Boy- I had been meaning to read it for ages and ages as well, and am so glad I did. Its a gem. Sorry for losing track of you for so long....Im not sure how it happens, but it does from time to time.

I've been AWOL from my thread for a while. Only a few books to update as I've been dipping into a lot of nonfiction but only reading a few chapters here and there. I might mention a few but as I've been helping my son research propaganda on the Israel/Palestine conflict a lot of books don't rate at all in fact I feel quite disillusioned by what I've been reading.

On a brighter note I spent much of today helping prep for Auckland Writers and Readers Festival. My job was to help fill the over 2000 book bags for the school programme which begins tomorrow. Each student gets a free book and I was really impressed with the selection that we were handling - lots of great YA and crossover adult books. I'm a volunteer for the next two days and then have free access to any event that isn't soldout for the following three days. Visiting guests include Max Hastings, Kate Atkinson, Edward Rutherford, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Patrick Ness, Libba Bray and a whole host of others.

#88: Megan - Oh yes, wasn't The God Boy a great read. I read about the author, he wrote it when he was studying in the US and got a book deal there. The book did really well and so he was resented by the NZ literati, and I think the book didn't get released here in NZ for a long time.
Here's the link, quite interesting to read about: http://nofrillsnzlit.angelfire.com/TwoNZBooks.html
And if you haven't yet you must read something by Ronald Hugh Morrieson - a couple of his are in the orange Popular Penguins series. And thanks for finding me again, my page must have dropped a long way down.

I still have a couple more cities to post about but have been a bit remiss of late and just been mostly lurking instead of posting. I love reading about places when I get back home and 'revisit' them through literature and history books. I've asked my daughter for some info on a hotel she stayed in in Paris, I think it was themed or something.

#87: Hi Joe. Thanks for the visit. I do like the whole story behind Shakespeare and Company and Mercer did a good job in bringing to life such a colourful character as George Whitman. I've now had a few visits and would love it to be my local shop, still I can get to my wonderful and fairly local 'The Hard to Find but worth the Effort' bookstore.

#86: Hi Nina - I was a bit petrified of the Gibralter monkeys, there were so many warnings about them grabbing from open handbags etc etc. Once we were among them it wasn't so bad, though I kept glancing around for any rogue ones!

#85: Waves to Judy. I loved trying the pastries but have to confess that a few didn't live up to their look.

#84: Bianca - thanks. I'm also not usually eating a lot of cakes, but was determined to experience the 'food' of Paris. I think you could have a lovely holiday in Andalucia but definitely consider visiting away from peak season as it would just be too busy and long queues to the historic places.

#83: Charles - I need to make another visit to your thread

#82: Hi Heather - I'm always surprised at how much more of Paris there is to discover on each visit. I'm determined to read a few more books set there.

Had been meaning to get some events this year - but still haven't booked - oops ! no doubt most will have gone by now ..... have a great weekend though!

Alex, only a few events have sold out so far and there are a few free events that if you come early you are guaranteed a place. Check out the website.

What a great lineup for the Auckland Writers Festival! I have never made it to either the Melbourne or Sydney festivals but recently swore to myself I would go when back in Australia. I did visit in the last fortnight the Buenos Aires bookfair and writer's fair, which was a truly impressive event. In fact, I must post some pictures of it on my thread. : )

You always have such an outstanding sounding festival! We have no book festivals in San Diego any more. :-(

We're lucky because the international guests continue on to the Sydney Writers Festival so we're the warm-up act. Tomorrow I get to hear Libba Bray and Patrick Ness talking to senior high school students, should be fun. Today was great, Australian Oliver Phommavanh did a really fab standup routine talking about what it was like growing up Thai in Australia. He shared the stage with his stuffed toy collection and was absolutely hilarious, silly and full of nerd. He writes humourous books for 10-12yr olds, such as Thai-riffic.


Scottish-Nigerian poet Jackie Kay was good too, she writes for both adults and children -

The nine lives of the cat Mandu

When I was born
I was a familiar,
a black cat, Satan’s favourite form.

Next life – I was in a room
you couldn’t swing a cat in.
Outside it was raining cats and dogs.

It was a small house in a mews.
Soon I was like a cat on hot bricks,
like a cat on a hot tin roof –

until I fell off and landed on my feet.
I was sleek, sly, mysterious.
I was the cat’s pyjamas.

I set the cat among pigeons.
I let the cat out of the bag.
One night, playing cat and mouse,

I lost a life under a white car,
my own dead form lit up by cat’s eyes.
I came back ginger with long whiskers.

I escaped a catalogue of catastrophes.
I have good lives. I was worshipped
in Ancient Egypt, I was a Siamese,

a Manx, a sphinx, a Persian, a Burmese.
I lived lives of exquisite ease –
until I had bad catarrh in Catalonia.

I purred a catechism, prayed for baptism,
but fell into a catatonic state. No cat nap –
I was kaput. Capisch? My final date.

From Red Cherry Red

Tomorrow I get to see Oliver all over again and a second outing with our own Kate de Goldi.

wow it sounds like you are having a great time! Seeing Kate Atkinson and Edward Rutherfurd would be cool. I thought about it. Then I thought about the horrible 1 hour bus trip to get home afterwards and I'm afraid to say I would rather be cozy at home reading. Clearly I'm not willing to suffer for my passion/love for reading lol.

#92: Hi Charles - I have to say I love being a volunteer, all the perks are just too good and I love hanging out with the other volunteers as everyone just wants to talk books! I went to the BA Book Fair a couple of years ago and also enjoyed it though my Spanish meant that nothing was that comprehensible to me. Still, I just like to be near books!
I went through my photos of BA but my camera was playing up and my bookfair photos are useless, also the ones I took in a really great little bookstore cafe in Palermo - Eterna cadencia (loved those chandeliers, pity the books are mostly Spanish).

borrowed from the internet - Eterna cadencia

#93: Roni - above cat poem is for you.

#95: Lisa - tsk tsk, you are passing up a great afternoon of events though I have to admit an hour on the bus does make it less enticing. I'm usually a bit burnt out by Sunday and tend to not bother. It's worth it for me as I go from event to event and my family are now used to seeing me disappear every day for the week.
I have Rutherford's Paris out from the library at present but the size of the book is putting me off.

I saw Paris at Time Out bookshop yesterday and was soooo tempted to buy it. I resisted... this time.

Yes, I love Eterna Cadencia, and visit there regularly. I have several photos like this one. Another great bookstore near that one is Libros del Pasaje; it's very similar. : )

Oh, now I'm tempted by the Sydney Writers' Festival; don't know if I can slot it in, though, and the travel time ... Maybe they'll have something for kids with Oliver Phommavanh? Off to check ...

Kerry, I loved the cat poem as I read it, but now to know that it was specifically for me? *swoons in delight*

#97: Lisa - I'm quite keen to read Rutherford's Paris as my knowledge of the early history of the city is a bit sketchy to say the least and I've read a bit of historical fiction lately that touched on interesting periods. I'll be going to his talk this afternoon as the Sunday one is sold out.

#98: Charles - I'm glad to hear that you are making the most of the literary side of BA. It's no longer easy/cheap for us to get there now that Aerolineas Argentinas stopped flying out of Auckland.

#99: Nina - do check out the Sydney Writers Festival. Yesterday had amazing student sessions with Libba Bray and Patrick Ness. I'm not a fan of Bray's books but she was totally brilliant with senior level high school students. Ness was on form as well.

#100: I know you love your cats. Our timid Freya climbed up our wisteria vine this morning, just like a little monkey, and onto my bedroom balcony and is now curled up in my wardrobe. We knew she climbed the trees to get to our other balcony but this was the first time we've seen her tackling the vine.

Ok, I need to leave - I'm hoping to catch 'Page turning with Ramona Koval' - she's an Australian book reviewer,
'A Tale of Paris' with Edward Rutherford, 'An hour with Diego Martini', and possibly (as I've already seen them all) 'Writers for young and old' with Libba Bray , Kate De Goldi , Paula Morris and Patrick Ness read from their work, introduced by Oliver Phommavanh.

You know I think I would more of a kick out of the festival if i was volunteering like you .......

Yes, being a volunteer is certainly the most economical way of attending. I bought a ticket to Patrick Ness for tomorrow as I'm taking my daughter in with me and we are both going to Ness and also Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The venue for Ness is smaller and has sold a lot of tickets so I didn't want to miss him talking to Kate de Goldi. So I've paid for three tickets this time round.

Listening to some of the podcast Radio NZ interviews with Kim Hill is the next best thing to attending.

Today I got to hear Carole Bleu from The Women's Bookshop talking to Ramona Koval who I now know is a world famous interviewer of writers and until last year presented a tv book show in Australia. She's edited several books of essays and written about Australian literature and her latest book, By the book: a reader's guide to life is pretty compelling. You can see her latest book club which sounds pretty interesting at The Monthly.
I liked that when Carole pressed her on why there weren't as many women writers as men featured in her Speaking volumes: Conversations with Remarkable Writers (only 9 women and 20 men) Ramona answered that she just chose the interviews that worked for her and she doesn't do rules.

So I bought her book and got it signed, it's been on my wish list for a few months. I notice that I own her Jewish cookbook so I'll have to look that out. And in answer to an audience question she recommended Lucy Goosey by Margaret Wild as a great picturebook to read to your grandchildren. It sounds really sweet and is illustrated by Ann James who is rather wonderful (check out The way I love you).

Next up was Edward Rutherford talking about his latest book, Paris: a novel. This was interesting, Rutherford has lots of French cousins and his father seems to have grown up in Paris so he has strong ties to there. He laughed at himself a lot and told a story of going to a school to do a talk and the back row of students glared at him through the whole presentation. He asked at the end about them and the teacher said "Oh, that was the class that got assigned to read Sarum." Talking about how big his books are, he joked about how his mother's 80+ yr old friends struggle to pick them up, especially as they read the large print editions and mimicked getting suffocated/knocked out by one of his books falling on his head. He talked about Paris, the history and some of his family stories regarding the resistance and WW2, gave a huge shout out to Shakespeare and Company where he'd wanted to launch his book but the store is too small so had to launch at a WH Smith in Rue de Rivoli. He says he's organised a smaller more intimate outing at Shakespeare and Co for later in the year.

I came away fairly inspired to read Paris though I was wanting to anyway, but not enough to pay full price for the book. One for the e-reader as I don't think I'll have the time to read the library edition I have out right now.

A two hour break for my lunch, so headed to Jasons Used Books. Got a book or two at better prices than buying new at the Festival. Then went to Shenkin Cafe for a banana pancake with caramel sauce, not my usual fare but very yum.
The Knox Brothers by Penelope Fitzgerald - LT recommendation from a few years back
Ocean of Story: the uncollected stories of Christina Stead - Ramona Koval was talking about her.
The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse by Fredrik Brouneus - new Wellington publisher that I've been meaning to read
Claudine at school by Colette - Koval talked about Colette as well

My last event was the hour with Diego Marani. This was an interesting hour of talk about language, nationalism, translation, interpretation and language learning. Also about books and story. I want to read his The Last of the Vostyachs and his next book sounds interesting, Il cane di Dio, it's currently getting translated:
A fast-paced thriller of a novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat, transporting you to the secret and terrifying heart of a new empire of evil.
In a not too distant future, the Catholic Church has increased its power, imposing a theocracy in Italy and thus controlling every aspect of the country’s political and social life. The Pope now heads up a vicious and determined inquisitorial system.

I didn't attend the YA event as it was time to head home, so I spent that hour sitting in a traffic jam listening to Six days of war, I'm almost up to June, 1967.

We went to a talk with Diego Marani last year: he had some very interesting things to say about language and national identity. We had a chat with him after the event as as well (as Mr SandDune was nominally in charge of him), and he came over as a really nice man.

Rhian - It was because of your comments last year that I made sure to catch Mr Marani.

Kerry, it's so nice of you to let us participate vicariously through your summaries! Very enjoyable.

Roni - Thanks I enjoy the process.
Patrick Ness is a great speaker, the venue was smaller and more mature than the highschool event earlier in the week. He was mainly talking about his adult novel, The Crane Wife which is based on a Japanese folktale read to him by his beloved kindergarten teacher who was Japanese (he spent his early years in Hawaii). Kate de Goldi was excellent at drawing out subtleties and nuances in the novel and had read his earlier adult books so recommended some of the stories in his Topics about which I know nothing. He talked up in support of teenagers and when asked why are teen novels all so unhappy, said that he had judged several writing competitions for teens and their own work is so much darker than anything that was published. He was charming, eloquent and very open. We got a little insight into all his work including A monster calls and the character of Connor. He mentioned that he's asked about how he balances the fantastical with the realism in his novel and says the word balance does not belong in a novel - you make a world and you make it believable enough that whatever happens there is not questioned. He also said that when he reviews books he really slams books where he feels the writer has been lazy, "It's a privilege to get published." His advice for writing is to write the novel that you'd like to read, write with joy. He talked about how being nice is different from being kind and how one of his characters in the book is kind but not nice (rough but truthful).
He mentioned that he has a theme song/s for his books and one of the questions was for him to tell us what they were:
The Crane Wife - The Decemberists - singing The Crane Wife 1,2,3
The Knife of Never Letting Go - Jim Moray singing Early One Morning & The Muse - Map of the Problematique (his #1 running song as well)
Monsters of Men - Mercy St by Peter Gabriel
his next novel More than this - More than this by Peter Gabriel

We went on to Carlos Ruiz Zafon and a huge crowd came to listen to him talk. He talked, almost nonstop, I confess to having dozed off to the drone of his voice at one stage. But Dana was riveted and loved his talk, dug her elbow into my side at one stage when he was talking something about snakes and hanging from a thread and a 3pm buzzer going off. Paula Morris was interviewing him and her first question was about The Cemetery of Forgotten Books quartet and whether he had ever thought to keep on writing, but no, it was always going to be four books. He described the quartet as being a Chinese puzzle box, a labyrinth with lots of doors into and out of different parts of the story, where you could start with book 3 or 4 and get a different experience than someone who read on from Bk1. He described this at length and it made perfect, crazy sense at the time.
Unlike Diego Marani, he is more a citizen of the world and doesn't 'feel' particularly Catalonian or Spanish especially as much of his adult life has been spent in Los Angeles where he loves the huge mix of nationalities. "You are what you do."
We stood in a very very long queue to get a book signed, almost everyone had bought or brought cherished copies of The Shadow of the Wind. I got his latest YA one The Watcher in the Shadows as I've read everything else.

We had a lovely morning in the city, finally went for a walk around Britomart which is a small pedestrian friendly area of the central city. We had brunch at Elske, a Danish inspired European patisserie in Fort Lane. I like going there as we had a travel business in the building many years ago, but now the building has a new life as a trendy stripped down restaurant haven.

I like Elske because it's on a slope, we sat at the top in their comfortable armchairs.
We also visited Unity books and the damage was:
The Dangerous Summer by Ernest Hemingway - I've been looking for an interesting Hemingway since following him around Spain, Paris and Key West earlier in the year.
Days of reading by Marcel Proust - lovely Penguin Great Ideas edition, the covers are irresistable
The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Need to add that Zafon talked quite a bit about the translation process as his translator, Lucia Graves (Robert Graves daughter) isn't strictly a translator but asked if she could translate them when she read his Shadow of the Wind when it first came out in Spain. They do a back and forth type of thing and he sometime re-writes a passage in English when a straight translation won't work. Before she got the 'job' his publisher had rejected several other translators who couldn't capture the essence of his work and Zafon then suggested they try Graves.

A very good list of over 140 YA books for boys here - http://www.thereadventurer.com/1/post/2012/11/wall-of-books-140-books-for-the-bo...
I agree that sometimes the YA section of a bookshop can look a little too feminine with all those paranormal type romance reads so it was quite pleasant to scroll down and view all these covers.

Kerry,

Next time I'm in En-Zed I'm checking out Elske for sure; looks fab!

Thanks for sharing the Zafon translation story. I love learning about how different authors and translators interact on the translation task and different approaches. I'm always seeking out tidbits on this topic. And Robert Graves' daughter, who'd a thunk it? That's pretty cool, and probably no surprise given his love of Spain, especially Barcelona and Catalonia, and residence (and death) in Majorca.

Cheers,
Charles

Wow! Those last 10 posts were mesmerising!

I will certainly do my best to get to the Sydney festival.

I love Elske .... But think know it as Imperial lane

wow never knew elske existed - will check it out! I'm not in the city much and when I am tend to head straight to Elliot Stables as there seems to be so many burger kings and Gloria Jean's around and not much else.

>103 avatiakh: the readers and writers fest sounds great. We have been directed to follow the blogs written by Chch librarians who are attending, I would rather listed to Kim Hills conversations though, she is good at eking out good info.

Patrick Ness! Cool! Kate DeGoldi! Cool!

Have fun.

#110: Charles - Lucia Graves grew up in Spain so is completely bilingual. So anyway this approach to translation is a completely different one than that of Diego Marani who was an interpreter for many years at the European Commission and now promotes language learning. He prefers to leave it completely in the hands of the translator - "they know their job."

#111: Nina - I hope you have some free events to attend, everything I went to today had free entry.

#112: Alex - you are probably right. It was hard to see any signage there so I assumed it was still called Elske.

#113: Lisa - Fort Lane has scrubbed up quite nicely. That was also my first time exploring the back of Britomart and I noticed there was even an attempt at a food market as well. It's not convenient for us to catch the train so we have no reason to be near the rail station usually.

#114: Megan - We always seem to have a good lineup, pairing up with the Sydney Festival as we do. I think that the Christchurch Festival used to pair with the Melbourne Writers Festival. I often go to the Kim Hill interviews to catch up on the writers that I missed going to. William Dalrymple has been twice and I've yet to see him and still haven't read any of his books. I also read some of the ChC Libraries blogs.

Today I went in for three sessions in the afternoon - they were all free public events, which is an aspect of the festival I really appreciate as it does get pretty expensive if you want to go to a few of the ticketed events.

First up was a travel talk. Journalist Peter Riordan travelled through the Middle East in 2009 'in the footsteps' of 1930s travel writer H V Morton and then wrote a book God of the Stones about it. He started with a selection of photos and then answered questions from fellow journalist/travel writer Yvonne van Dongen. As I've lived there, I was looking forward to his comments on Israel, but first during the photo section he said he had to delete all his photos of Israel as well as all traces of his time there before going on to Syria. Later when discussing Israel I think it was such a contrast to the rest of his trip he just couldn't take it after so much time spent with in the company of Arabs. His favourite country was Syria and he'd love to go back once the civil war has sorted itself out. Still interesting to listen to his approach of following Morton, through the lands of the bible. He travels alone and catches local transport so he's forced as much as possible to mix with local people.

The other two sessions were Readings. First was reading around the world of writers and Stephanie Johnson read from her latest book The Writing Class, C K Stead read from The Yellow Buoy: poems 2007-2012, Australian Ramona Koval read about learning Russian from her By the Book and editor Mary Paul read an autobiographical extract from Robin Hyde's writings.
Next was History Repeating and those of us who had missed Kate Atkinson's main event were treated to her reading from her latest book. Followed by Hamish Clayton, who said for him the session should have been titled 'a hard act to follow'. He read from his work in progress which he started before the Christchurch earthquake and opens with a devastating earthquake in Wellington. Very lyrical and I'm going to have to reread his Wulf. Charlotte Grimshaw (CK Stead's daughter) read from Soon, and then Tanya Moir read from Anticipation (another New Zealand writer I need to read).

I got my copy of Life after Life signed by Kate Atkinson, very short queue so was on my way home very quickly. Rummaged up a moussaka and then baked cherry clafoutis for dessert so hopefully that made up for my nonappearance at home for the past few days.

I'm about 10 books behind in my comments so will get to that this coming week. I've struggled to read anything much this month and tonight hope to get close to finishing a YA fantasy that's been a bit of a hard read.

I'm also enjoying your comments, Kerry!

Wow, your adventures in book readings sound magical! Now I need to go back and look into some of these titles and authors.

I'm listening to Life After Life myself right now.

55) The importance of wings by Robin Friedman (2009)
children's fiction
This won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in 2010. I wasn't that taken with it, the plot seemed a little lacklustre. Our main character, Roxanne, wants to be all-American, she obsesses over Wonder Woman while she and her younger sister seem to exist on crap food and tv programmes. Her parents are Israeli, her father too busy working to come home till late at night and her mother is back in Israel nursing their sick aunt. Then a supremely confident Israeli girl moves in next door who helps Roxanne gain a little self esteem and re-identify with who she really is rather than who she is trying to be.
I didn't enjoy the character of the extremely wimpy Roxanne at all and the parents should have been charged with neglect.


56) My own special way by Mitha Al Khayat
children's fiction
Loved this cute story about a little Muslim girl's problems with wearing the veil (it keeps falling off, coming undone). She has lots of big sisters who already wear the veil in their own different ways, none of which suit little Hamda. Lots of humour with adorable illustration style. I look forward to reading more by this writer. After being translated from Arabic the story has then been 'retold' by Vivian French. Suitable for an emerging reader.
_
Emirati children's author Maitha Al Khayat reads her new story to children. Her first book I Love My Dad’s Long Beard is a step in introducing Islamic traditions to West.
Article about Mitha Al Khayat and an interesting article on Arabic children's literature.

57a) Ziba came on a boat by Liz Lofthouse illus by Robert Ingpen (2007)
picturebook, australia

This picturebook is about asylum seekers/refugees trying to get to Australia. Here we follow the voyage of Ziba who is from Afghanistan and travelling with her mother. She dreams of the life she has left and her father. The constant arrival of boat people to Australian waters is an ongoing area of concern for the Australia government. I would think that this picturebook is probably more for educating young Australians than for the refugees themselves.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated in June 2011 that there were 43.7 million people forcibly displaced worldwide; this includes 15.1 million refugees and as many as 27.5 million internally displaced persons or IDPs and 800,000 are asylum-seekers hoping to achieve refugee status in more than 40 countries.
Forcibly displaced people are one of the world's most disadvantaged groups. Whether they are forced to leave home due to widespread violence, political repression, ethnic persecution, or natural disaster, meeting needs as basic as clean water is a constant struggle for many of these people. In addition to displaced people, there are up to 12 million stateless persons worldwide who do not have citizenship in any nation-state. Despite the fact that few countries have reliable methods for documenting stateless people, awareness of their presence and the difficulties they face is on the rise. As of 2010, 65 countries reported statistics on stateless people, up from just 30 in 2004.
Robert Ingpen is one of Australia's leading illustrators.


57b) Nasreen's Secret School by Jeanette Winter (2009)
picturebook

Winter was contacted by The Global Fund for Children about writing a book based on a true story from one of the groups that they support. She was drawn to an organisation in Afghanistan that founded and supported secret schools for girls during the time that the Taliban were in power (1996-2001). When first Nasreen's father is taken by soldiers and then her mother goes missing little Nasreen sits and says nothing for weeks on end. Her grandmother starts taking her to a secret school for girls in the hope that Nasreen will start talking and make friends. The way to the school is fraught with danger as women are not allowed on the streets alone. Beautifully illustrated in a style that is sympathetic to the setting.
TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book from one of the "A child's book tour of...." or "A High School Trip to..." LT lists


57c) Chee-Lin: a giraffe's journey by James Rumford (2008)
illustrated story
This tells the story of how a giraffe made the long journey from Africa to the Imperial Palace in China during the 15th century. The giraffe resembled in some ways a revered mythical creature, an omen of good fortune, the chee-lin which is a horned beast with a body of a deer, tail of an ox and hooves of a horse. I had to read this as the cover is quite compelling, and the story was interesting.
TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book from one of the "A child's book tour of...." or "A High School Trip to..." LT lists


57d) Traveling Man: The Journey of Ibn Battuta 1325-1354 by James Rumford (2001)
illustrated story

Another beautifully illustrated book by Rumford, the cover lets it down in my opinion. I also liked his Calabash Cat and Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad. This one is an illustrated biography of the great traveller, Ibn Battuta, from Morocco. He travelled to China and back in a journey that took about 30 years. His account of the journey was taken down by the Court Secretary and this manuscript can be seen at the National Library in Paris.

The Field by Bill Nagelkerke (2012)
children's fiction

This e-book, The Field, is quite short and got taken up by AchukaBooks as their first e-publication. It touches on issues of faith that you don't normally find in a children's book. Jacinta is on her own when she has her first vision of the Mother Mary. She tells her that she needs to bring people to hear the message, not to worry, that the people will come. The story follows how the various people around Jacinta react to her visions. I quite enjoyed this and liked how the story had an open ending.


Nell's Festival of Crisp Winter Glories by Glenda Millard (2013)
children's fiction

This is the final book (#7) in the Kingdom of Silk series. A truly enchanting little series for younger readers. I've loved every one of these books that I've read with their simple celebration of life, family and community. I still have book #6 to read as my library didn't get that one for some reason, but they have now purchased some copies so I'll be able to read it in a couple of weeks time.

"After Perry Angel made his small but important decision, he went to talk to Saffron, the youngest of his Rainbow sisters. Saffron was excellent at keeping secrets and very keen on any activities that involved dressing up. She might not know exactly how to plan a proper dance for Nell and Jenkins, but she would help him find out." p.10, Nell's Festival of Crisp Winter Glories

“From the moment her daughters were born, Nell read to them. It didn’t matter that they didn’t understand the words. Books are many things: lullabies for the weary, ointment for the wounded, armour for the fearful and nests for those in need of a home.”
Page 39, ‘The Tender Moments of Saffron Silk’.


Painting out the Stars by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham (2011)
children's fiction

Three stories by husband and wife writers Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham and accompanied by illustrations by Michael Foreman. These stories are currently in the process of being republished separately, Cloud Tea Monkeys is already available and The Mysterious Traveller has just come out. The new publications have beautiful full colour artwork (not by Foreman).
I read the first two stories as I have already read 'Cloud Tea Monkeys'. 'The Mysterious Traveller' is set in North Africa and 'Dragon in the Sky' is probably set in China.

61) The Mermaid Summer by Mollie Hunter (1988)
children's fiction
This was a great story about two children managing finally to outwit a beautiful but dangerous mermaid who has a powerful hold over the fortunes of a Scottish fishing village. The story pivots around their grandfather's departure after the mermaid wrecks his boat and how the children finally make his return home possible.
TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book from one of the "A child's book tour of...." or "A High School Trip to..." LT lists


62a) The ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon by Aaron Blabley
picturebook

Atmospheric story about a lonely misunderstood ghost. This recently won the 2013 NSW Premier's Literary Awards: Patricia Wrightson Prize so I had to check it out.
JUDGES' COMMENTS
The village of Twee, seven miles from the sea, had a problem more awful than most.
That problem is the shabby and crabby Miss Annabel Spoon. The integration of a number of different elements makes this picture book near perfect. At its simplest it is a story about a lonely woman who makes a friend. On another level, this is a tale about why communities should not exclude or fear those who appear different in looks or behaviour: harmony is restored when there is understanding and a little compassion. Then there is the way the story is told, in wonderfully clever and often hilarious six-line rhyming stanzas. The haunting illustrations complement the text — at first they are sombre and somewhat grotesque, then develop a lonely sadness, and conclude with the colourful happiness of friendship.

The text demands to be read aloud or acted out, and its language and rhymes savoured. There is wonderful balance and humour in the depictions of the frightened townsfolk, and marvellous suspense as the hero, young Herbert Kettle, walks through the woods to confront Miss Spoon. While this book can be shared with young children, it will be most appreciated by those in the middle and upper primary years.

A wonderful meld of image and text, The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon is an apparently “dark” story that is at the same time scary and funny. The unusual colour scheme suits the gothic nature of the illustrations and plot while the rhythm and consistent rhyming pattern of the text pull the story along at a pace. The introduction of Herbert Kettle, his common sense and courage change the tenor of the tale and introduce a more colourful palette to the pages.





62b) Delphine by Richard Sala (2012)
graphic novel
This quite creeped me out as I was reading it, the story got darker and darker and quite intense, though the ending was a bit of a washout. It's 'a retelling of Snow White recasting the fairy tale as a chiller from the Prince’s perspective..' Interesting that Sala did the artwork in blue wash, but for the printed artwork this was then changed to brown.

63) Talking in Whispers by James Watson (1983)
YA fiction

This book was shortlisted for the Carnegie and won two other awards that I was not familiar with, so then I had to spend considerable time updating LT on the other winners.
Do check out the Buxtehuder Bulle Award and The Other Award, both have some interesting young people's literature on their ranks.
This was also included in the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up so another to tick off my list.
It's set in Chile during the time of the military dictatorship. Andes is forced to go into hiding when his father is taken by the military and others are shot dead. Andes is the only one who knows what happened and the truth must be told. I added the book to the TIOLI Children in Peril challenge and this book definitely does peril. What happened in Latin America with the disappeared should never be forgotten and books like these that focus on human rights issues need to stay in print, I just wish his work met a wider audience as his stories are still relevant today.


64) A necklace of souls by Racel Stedman (2013)
YA fantasy

I was at the book launch and the main protagonist has the same name as my daughter, Dana. But, but I just couldn't quite get into the mood for fantasy with this read. The premise was quite interesting, a kingdom protected by guardians and a special necklace with weird powers. Dana is the princess who will be the next guardian, not something to look forward to especially when the kingdom is coming under threat. The storyline splits between Dana and Will, lowly born but with great fighting skills, who become friends and then defenders of their protected land. The ending is a little incomplete, leaving the way for a sequel at least, though fantasies usually come in threes.
The manuscript won an award and a publishing deal and I hope Stedman gets to publish another book as she was also shortlisted in the same year for her junior novel manuscript.
TIOLI Challenge #21: Read a book for May Mars, Myth & Make-Believe


65) The Last Song by Eva Wiseman (2012)
YA historical fiction

This was quite an interesting read being set around the time of the Inquisition and the expulsion of Jews from Spain. Isobel lives a privileged life in Toledo, her father is physician and advisor to the King and she hasn't a care in the world. All this changes when she discovers that her parents are Crypto-Jews (profess one faith openly and their Jewish faith secretly). In order to protect her, they want her betrothed to a despicable young man with impeccable ancestry. Isobel is both repelled and attracted by her newly found Jewish ties and now the Inquisition and Torquemada have arrived in Toledo.
TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book from one of the "A child's book tour of...." or "A High School Trip to..." LT lists

I have three more books to comment on, two by Amos Oz and one by Alexandre Dumas but the night is no longer young....

Kerry- Glad to see you are still reading so many GNs. I need to stop by more often for recommendations. That well is getting dry for me. Delphine sounds very good. I never heard of it. Hope you are having a great weekend.

Hi Mark, I spotted Delphine at the library and would recommend Sala's work based on this one. I'm currently reading a more serious graphic novel, Jerusalem: The Story of a City and a Family by Boaz Yakin, though I'm taking this one quite slowly as I'm currently juggling too many reads.
If you haven't read Daytripper then I'd recommend looking out for that, it's by two Brazilian brothers and very good.

66) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1844)
fiction / ipod audio

This was a for a group read in the Category Challenge group that spanned 3 months from March through May. I had the Penguin Classics edition by my bedside but also had the John Lee narrated audiobook downloaded from my library and as Lee is my favourite narrator I started off with the audiobook and couldn't stop listening till I got to the end of it. I only picked up the book to move it to the 'read' section of my bookshelves. I had read an abridged version of this back in high school and I'm pretty sure it didn't go beyond the escape from the prison. Loved this one very much and will have to read more Dumas. I read The Three Musketeers a couple of years ago so will probably pick up a sequel to that.
Added to TIOLI Challenge #15: Read a book originally published in volumes.

67) Between Friends by Amos Oz (2013)
short stories

This is Oz's latest collection and for this he has gone back to the early days of the kibbutz and based his stories around the various residents of one kibbutz. You do feel the harshness of the kibbutz life in these, the sacrifice of personal ambitions for the greater good of the community. The story that touched me the most was 'Little Boy', which is about a young boy who is bullied in the Children's House every night and is completely traumatised. The father is sympathetic and wants him to stay in the parent's hut, but the mother is staunch and unrelenting. They must abide by the Kibbutz policy and the son must spend his nights at the Children's House.
I wish his books had more interesting book covers, there is nothing about this one that makes me want to pick it up apart from his name on the cover.

68) Panther in the Basement by Amos Oz (1998)
fiction

I felt impelled to read this after watching the 2007 film, 'The Little Traitor', which is based on the book. It stars Alfred Molina as the British soldier. The book is set in Jerusalem 1947, some months before the British withdrawal from the region. Young school boy Proffy forms an unlikely friendship with an awkward British soldier. They meet regularly, Proffy helps the soldier with his Hebrew and learns English in exchange. They mainly work on Bible passages and it's fairly innocent except for the political atmosphere of the time. It felt quite autobiographical and I wonder how much of it is based on Oz's own experiences.
I'd recommend A tale of Love and Darkness over this. The film focuses and expands on the 'traitor' part of the book.
Added to TIOLI Challenge #16: Read a book from one of the "A child's book tour of...." or "A High School Trip to..." LT lists

Wow! What an amazing amount of reading you have been doing, Kerry, and such interesting books.

Hi Kerry - loved your latest batch of reviews. I've just had a hunt for the kingdom of Silk books in the library but only the 3rd is there. Sounds like they would be great for Teresa. At the moment I am reading her/she is reading with me Percy Jackson but I think it's a bit much for a 6 year old! Her reading is amazing but it's a matter of finding the right content. I'm going to look for some of your other recs now.

I have *got* to read some Amos Oz.

Ack! Every time I read your thread, I add a dozen books to the wish-list.

Thanks Roni - my reading has slowed down these past few weeks as far as what I want to read goes. I find that I should keep away from group reads and such because I no longer feel like reading the book at the appointed time. I've just started again on Time and Chance which is a very worthy read that I should have finished in April, but I haven't been much in the mood for chunkster historical fiction.
I'm also trying to read a little on my mobile phone, so that book is going slowly too, that's how I made my way through The Field.

Cushla - The Kingdom of Silk can't be recommended highly enough. Teresa would probably enjoy the Painting out the stars stories. Mal Peet and his wife are currently living in Wellington as he is teaching creative writing at Victoria University's International Institute of Modern Letters. The book launch for Mysterious Traveller was at The Children's Bookshop.
Try Red Rocks by Rachel King, it is set just north of Wellington, Barbara Else's The travelling restaurant, The Wednesday Wizard by Sherryl Jordan (updated edition). Don't forget that Margaret Mahy wrote some great books /stories for that age group such as The Great Piratical Rumbustification. Joy Cowley has also, such as The Wild West Gang, her Froghopper books are set in the Marlborough Sounds.
Christchurch Libraries has some good webpages devoted to award winners: http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Kids/LiteraryPrizes/

Aya's Story by Trish Gribben (1995)
children's nonfiction, new zealand

I found this quite an enjoyable, if dated, look at life in the Hokianga in Northland. The book describes the alternative lifestyle of Aya and her family. Her father has built their home in the bush from reclaimed materials taken from the non-organic rubbish collections in Auckland. Their home is wind-powered, the cooking is done outside, the bush and nearby sea are the children's playground. Sounds quite idyllic. This won the AIM children's nonfiction award in 1996.

I have read and enjoyed Daytripper. I also have a GN on the WL called Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City. Have you read Delisle?

Yes, Mark I've read Delisle's Jerusalem & Pyongyang GNs. I have his Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China out from the library at present, though it has a low priority in my reading pile. I must look out for more by the Brazilian twins.

69) The Tin-pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman by Raymond Briggs (1984)
picturebook - political satire

I was looking through Raymond Briggs' bibliography last week and came across this title that I hadn't read, but now I have (love library stacks). It's an antiwar statement on the Falklands War and stars Iron Lady Thatcher in a few unbecoming poses. I've just come across a recent blog post about the book that tells me that the book was a runaway success in the UK at the time of publication (the book spent eleven weeks in the Sunday Times bestseller list, the first four at number one). Anyway it is an interesting look at war, Briggs creates these grotesque, lurid dictators, iron giants squabbling over a distant lonely island, full colour and quite monstrous creatures and then uses charcoal sketches to show the cost of war; the dead, the maimed and finishes with how these disfigured soldiers were kept out of the Victory Parade.
Not for young children.
There's an interesting essay here about how Briggs pivots between these two types of illustration.

I bought Ziba Came on a Boat for my young nieces a couple of years ago but I'm still holding on to it as until they can read to that standard. The eldest is not far off now, maybe next Christmas or birthday.

Charles, I can understand keeping that aside till they are old enough as the topic is quite 'grownup' yet children quite possibly will have these refugees in their schools and preschools. I find Robert Inkpen's illustration style beautiful but possibly not appealing to a younger child. Some of his artwork is quite dark and hard to make out. I keep meaning to come and post again on your thread, I'll get there.

#135: Hi Emilie - you snuck in while I had my thread open. Hopefully you got hit by some of the shorter book bullets.

Interesting article on Briggs's use of the pivoting technique. He uses that to great effect in Where the Wind Blows as well. The Tin-pot Foreign General and and the Old Iron Woman isn't my favourite of his books: it's just that little bit too grotesque, and personally I think it would make a more effective statement if it were less so. I read recently that Brigg's had a different editor for this book: his normal editor tended to rein in some of his 'excesses', apparently.

Hi, Kerry. Lots of children's books dealing with serious subjects here. Good idea; get 'em young, and humanity may stand a chance in this world.

Coincidently, I read The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon with my son at the library, recently; otherwise, you've got lots of book bullets for me, if only I can find them.

Rhian - that's interesting about the different editor. I'm still processing those images of Thatcher. Really pleased that I discovered this one to round out my reading of his work. I'll have to revisit When the wind blows, it's been a while.

Nina - I enjoy reading the children's books, there are real gems out there. I was impressed with how much the judges' read into The ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon when I was more taken with how her hair stayed all windblown to one side through most of the book.

70) Jerusalem: The Story of a City and a Family by Boaz Yakin (2013)
graphic novel

This tells the story of a Jerusalem family from 1940-48. It was quite compelling, I finished the last 2/3 of the book in one sitting. At the back of the story is a bitter estrangement between the father and his older brother. Then there are the four sons, three are young men all with different ideologies - one is a Zionist, one a Communist and another is in the Irgun. The youngest is still a school child but absorbing all the propaganda and hatred around him in these Mandate years. The daughter never really makes much of an impact on the story and I often got mixed up between her and the mother as well as getting the father and a couple of the sons mixed up (it was late at night when I was reading). Anyway the last third of the book deals with the end of the Mandate and the fighting with the Arabs - the three older brothers all have different roles, but the book ends with an act by the youngest boy, Motti, that really does throw you.
Overall I liked this but there were just too many story threads to follow and that doesn't always work well in this graphic novel format.

It is interesting that you recently read The Last Song. While trying to make some sense of order in my book piles, I discovered this book that I purchased awhile back.

Now that I know where it is in the house, and after reading your excellent comments, I'll try to read it as soon as I finish the many library books I have from two different libraries.

Linda, it's set in such an interesting period of history, I hope you enjoy.


71) The fault in our stars by John Green (2012)
YA fiction
This is one that I've had sitting around since it came out. I really enjoyed this, it's a bit of a tearjerker but Green keeps the story on an even enough keel. For stories on terminal illness, I think I still like Ways to live forever a little more but I do love the way Green writes.
I'll probably add it to TIOLI challenge #3: Read a book that's in the top 10% of your TBR pile by average rating.

Wow.
What a great set of reviews and illustrations!

Im particularly interested in (#119) Ziba came on a boat by Liz Lofthouse, and the Hokianga"alternative lifestylers" one. Id like to keep Wilbur in the know about others' lives.
When I lived in Australia so many I came across thought asylum seekers were queue-jumpers and should be sent back. I was astounded but this attitude. I believe that if someone is willing to sink their life savings and risk their lives to travel to an unknown land, things must be pretty bad where they came from.

Lots of good reading, Kerry! I saw they're going to make a movie of The Fault in Our Stars.

As Roni knows, I'm a Liaden Universe fan, and join her in hoping you enjoy Agent of Change.

Joe
I wonder how the movie will be. I think it is very difficult to make a movie from an excellent book. To Kill a Mockingbird was one of the few successful matches.

Megan - I've requested Samantha's Story from the library, it's by the same author and about another girl living in the same area but from a Maori perspective. You'd like some of Trish Gribbens' other books, she's done a really good children's book focusing on Pat Hanly - Blast! : Pat Hanly : the painter and his protests, also With my little eye (paintings by Michael Smither). And several parenting books that are a bit dated but full of good advice (I presume, been a few years since I read them).

#151: Joe - Not sure if I'd want to see a movie of this. I'll try to get to the first Liaden book soon, though you know how it is, I have about 20 books prioritised at present.

#152: Linda, one of the better adaptions for me was The Godfather.

Thanks for your comments about Amos Oz's books, Kerry. Between Friends won't be released in the US until late September, so I'll probably buy it when I go to London in July.

I'll start In the Land of Israel later today or tomorrow.

>151 jnwelch: Megan: I agree completely. Worst if all, this feeling has been fomented, encouraged and then exploited first by conservative politicians and then by Labor politicians not wanting to be left behind and lose the votes associated with these despicable policies. The newspapers go along with it too and don't challenge these attitudes.

Kerry - you are at 71 books! Already!!

Darryl - you might find In the Land of Israel a little dated, I wanted to read something from an earlier period to make up for all the Revisionist and anti-Israel literature I've been been browsing through of late. Oz is a critic of his Government's policies but he does put everything into perspective rather than the polemic hatred I've been sifting through of late.
Have you read anything by Sayed Kashua? I want to read Dancing Arabs but my library doesn't have it so I've taken out Exposure.

Charles - don't be too impressed as many in my 70+ were quick reads such as graphic novels and children's books.
I have 3 more books to comment on and what impresses me is that they are all nonfiction.

Three non-fiction in a row!!

72) Six Days of War by Michael B. Oren (2002)
nonfiction / iPod audio

Added to TIOLI challenge #1: 65 books for 65 years of Israel. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to listen to this detailed nonfiction account of the buildup to the 1967 war between Israel and her Arab neighbours, the war itself and the diplomatic aftermath. Oren who is now Israel's ambassador to the US carried out a lot of research for this book, interviewing many soldiers on all the front lines as well as politicians and official records. What came across for me initially was the Cold War aspect, the US vs Russia and the help Israel was not given during the standoff period in case Arab countries got upset and closed the Canal or stopped the oil flowing to Europe/US.
Israel is a sitting duck with Arab armies backed by the Soviets lined up along all her borders and yet must sit tight for 7 to 10 days while trying to get a diplomatic green light from the UN/US/UK/France to prepare for war. No country would offer arms or help replenish ammunition supplies even while acknowledging the Soviet's generous arming of Egypt and Syria. The book really does highlight how isolated Israel was at this time and how much diplomatic to and froing Israeli politicians and their representatives did before the war commenced. The Americans were also concerned with their newly tentative dealings with Arab countries and their Vietnam problem. The Soviets had been anti-Israel since the 1950s. France refused to negotiate for Israel and the UK at first didn't even respond to Israel's requests for diplomatic intervention. This was in spite of Israel being allied with the UK and France in the Suez Crisis in 1956. It became quite clear that if Israel was going to survive, it would have to fight alone.
One of the biggest factors in Israel's initial success was the Egyptian army's lack of coherent line of command. I found the background Nasser and Egypt quite fascinating and also appreciated the detailed encounters/dynamics between Dayan, Rabin, Eshkol and other Israeli politicans, diplomats and IDF personnel. I've been left wanting to know more about Eshkol, for me anyway, he's always seemed a quiet in the background type of leader but his insistence on trying the diplomatic route before the start of the war earned Israel much kudos after. Of course, the occupied territories have been a source of much of Israel's later troubles...so more reading will be needed.

I was listening to the audio so I also looked up a few maps to follow some of the battles and browsed some photographs.
I wanted to read about this war as lately I've been flicking through a lot of recent revisionist and anti-Zionist writings by New Historians who rely on selective sources to further their claims. My interest was piqued by my son recently doing a politics assignment on propaganda and religious fundamentalism in the Palestinian occupied territories. Wow, there are some truly hateful websites, blogs and twitter accounts out there.

73) In the land of Israel by Amos Oz (1983)
nonfiction / essays

Added to TIOLI challenge #1: 65 books for 65 years of Israel. Wow, I've read three books by Amos Oz this month. Anyway Oz travels around Israel in 1982 and interviews/encounters people from various walks of life. These extended articles were published in an Iaraeli newspaper at the time and then collected here. While the book is possibly dated, it is also a valuable snapshot of the Israeli people at that point in time, just after the Lebanon War. I found it quite fascinating.
Oz as a founder of Peace Now does not hesitate to push the hard questions to all sides, but does also let everyone have a full say while remaining neutral himself. I loved his descriptions of the various places he visited, he brings them all to life.

74) Tender at the bone: growing up at the table by Ruth Reichl (1998)
memoir

This is food critic Ruth Reichl's story of her early life and her growing interest in all things foodie. I made this one of my ongoing slow reads, just a chapter here and there between other books. Quite fascinating look at growing up in the 1950s in the US. Her mother was quite the challenging person to live with too.

62c) Wolf and dog by Sylvia Vanden Heede (2013 Eng)
children's fiction

This is a delightful prose style read that features a little word play handled well by the translator, Bill Nagelkerke. Wolf is the cousin of dog and here are their adventures together. Several times they play tricks on each other so the relationship is not always steady. Fun and enjoyable for emergent readers with extra kudos for the enjoyment of language.

63d) Wizards Guide to Wellington by AJ Ponder (2012)
children's fiction / new zealand

I won this self-published book in a draw over on goodreads, and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the book when it arrived. Hardback with a handdrawn map on the end papers, lovely crisp white paper. Not so taken with the cover art and some of the fonts used. The author was inspired by a Wellington City Council’s Writers Walk plaque from Bruce Mason's “Omens and Portents”, taniwhas, as well as the fact that Wellington is where the Tolkien movies are made, so there must be magic in the air.
According to Maori mythology there are taniwhas (sea-dragons) in the Wellington harbour (you can read about them here), and if any wizard can get control of the taniwhas he'll have a unbeatable source of power. While it's a little derivative, it's also quite a fun read especially for children who live in the region. Alec, his mum and annoying little sister go to the airport to pick up his cousin, but they can't find her. Instead Alec finds a magic book, it's Ike, a Wizard's Guide to Wellingtowne, a book that his magical cousin has just misplaced.
http://wizardsguide.wordpress.com/

Bruce Mason (1921–82)

'I ASK THAT NOT ONLY MY CITY,
BUT ALL, GIVE THEMSELVES
TO THE ESSENCE OF OUR CULT
– THE RITUAL ASSEMBLY OF AN
INTERESTED COTERIE IN A SPACE
WHERE MAGIC CAN BE MADE
AND MIRACLES OCCUR.'

From 'Theatre in 1981: Omens and Portents', an unpublished manuscript, Bruce Mason papers
Visit the Wellington Writers Walk on the web

I wouldn't mind having a Wizard's Guide to some of the cities around the world - sort of like a literary guide but focusing on fantasy that's happened there in myth/folktales, books and film.
Other recommended fiction involving taniwha would have to be the YA The Taniwha's Tear by David Hair. There are lots of picture books with taniwha too including Moira Wairama's The Taniwha of Wellington Harbour.


75) Wonder by RJ Palacio (2012)
children's fiction

I don't know why this was shelved in the adult section of the local bookshop, for me it's a wonderful story for middlegrade children. Loved this, I started listening to the audio but switched to the book version about the halfway point. Just one of those books that rings true. I'd recommend Freak the mighty by Rodman Philbrick as a followup read.

Proposed June reading:

Firstly I need to get back to the Sandman group read, I've only read one so far.

TIOLI:
Challenge #1: Read a book with a flower mentioned on page 23
*The white nights of St Petersburg (water-lilies) - Geoffrey Trease
The wood wife (violet) - Terri Windling

Challenge #2: Saving Face: Read a book where a person is featured on the cover but that person's face isn't seen
Colin Fischer - Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz
Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell
*Life after life - Kate Atkinson

Challenge #6: Read a book where a title word or author name starts with B,D,G,J,P,R,U - letters with curves and lines
Again the Bugles Blow - Ron Bacon
The Crane Wife - Patrick Ness
The Crow Road - Iain Banks
*Liesl & Po - Lauren Oliver
In Darkness - Nick Lake
and need to add
Time and Chance by Sharon Penman

Challenge #8: In conjunction with the women in SSF challenge, read a fantasy or science fiction book written by a woman
Seraphina - Rachel Hartman
also want to read
Among Others by Jo Walton
The shattering or When we wake by Karen Healey
The gathering of the lost by Helen Lowe

Challenge #15: Read a book that has been published as a Virago Modern Classic
A stricken field - Martha Gelhorn

Challenge #17: Vive la difference! Read a book with "his" or "her" embedded in a title word
There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister's Husband, and He Hanged Himself: Love Stories - Lyudmila Petrushevskaya

only 16 books, I can do that!
would also like to add - The ACB of Honora Lee
Questions of travel by Michelle de Kretser
The humans by Matt Haig

Looking to July group reads:
Frans G. Bengtsson - The Long Ships
Mervyn Peake - Gormenghast Trilogy - Titus Groan

then August:
Sharon Kay Penman - Devil's Brood
Mervyn Peake - Gormenghast Trilogy - Gormenghast

Kerry- Glad you enjoyed Wonder. I was a big fan too! Never heard of Freak the mighty. I'll have to add it to the list.

I've been completely absorbed, reading your reviews.

Hi Kerry, Challenge #16 was meant to have all three letters D, O, & N in the title. Not just one of them. I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear. I'll go fix that.

Hi Kerry - I was led here by a link on the works page of Exposure (wrong touchstone) and wanted to read your comments. Did you ever read it? I just finished it and wanted to hear other opinions. It is also listed under an alternate title Second Person Singular.

I SO enjoyed your thread. Both the reviews and photos are wonderful!

And In the Land of Israel is now on my TBR.

Merrikay

#166: Thanks Stephanie - trust me not to read carefully. So I'm still looking for a challenge, I might have to make one for myself.

#165: Hi Nina, I need to delurk on your thread

#164: Mark, Freak the mighty is another great read.

75 Books!!

Hooray, congratulations, and not even half way through the year.

#169: Thanks Megan

#168: Hi Merrikay and thanks for visiting my thread. I just picked up Exposure from the library a couple of days ago. I'm not sure where I came across Kashua's name recently but it had something to do with his autobiographical Dancing Arabs. I was interested in the identity issues that he addressed in the novel.The plot for Exposure looks very interesting and I'm hoping to get a chance to read it this coming month.

76) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (2013)
fiction

I completely fell for this love story between two mismatched teens and stayed up late to finish it. Eleanor is from a broken home and fitting badly into a new school. Park is from a loving home but his part-Asian looks make him a bit of an outsider. They share a seat on the schoolbus, comics then music and slowly fall for each other. It was sweet but the home life of Eleanor was quite shocking and I did fear for how the book would end. This would be a great YA read so not sure why it's catalogued as adult at the library.
TIOLI Challenge #2: Saving Face - faceless cover.


77) Shenzhen: a travelogue from China by Guy Delisle (2003)
graphic memoir

Like in Pyongyang Delisle must spend a few months managing an animation project, this time in China. I didn't enjoy this as much asPyongyang maybe because China isn't as exotic a destination as Pyongyang. His artwork is well drawn but there just wasn't much to keep my attention.

Ditching Seducing Ingrid Bergman by Chris Greenhalgh as I'm just not enjoying the first couple of chapters that much and I have so many other books to read.

Hey! I just finished Burma Chronicle by Guy Delisle and enjoyed it. (wrong touchstone) I was going to try more of his so happy to see you talk about them.

ETA: Just added Burma Chronicle but touchstone not working yet.

I should read Burma Chronicles, that sounds more interesting. Still the China one was a quick read, I saw it on the shelf at the library and grabbed it. I need to get back to reading the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman though as I signed up for a group read earlier this year.

Oh yeah, I read Delisle's Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City last year as well.

I may go for all of them.

Raisel's Riddle by Erica Silverman (1999)
picturebook

This Purim story is a retelling of Cinderella but in a Jewish East European setting. Raisel has been raised by her grandfather but when he dies she walks to the city to find work rather than be a burden on her village. She's taken in by a rabbi whose housekeeper feels threatened and treats her badly. Her 'prince' is the rabbi's son and the 'glass shoe' is a riddle. It's always interesting to see how a fairytale works in a new setting. The illustrations by Susan Gaber grew on me through the book, the last one seems to have a bit of a Chagall feel.

Kerry - congratulations on whizzing by 75 books already and for having such a fascinating thread. Throroughly enjoyed accompanying you to the Book Festival (we don't get to enjoy such things over here) and your huge collection of reviews.

On Amos Oz I utterly agree about the problem with his covers. I read My Michael this month which sported possibly the most boring cover in my collection. If it wasn't for Darryl's championing of the fellow there is no way I would have picked up his book based on cover.

Have a lovely weekend.

Samantha's Story by Trish Gribben (1995)
nonfiction / children's

This is the partner book to Aya's Story back in post #137. Again the photographs are by Jenny Scown. The writer and photographer wanted to make two books each focusing on a child's life and chose the Hokianga as this was the first place in New Zealand that Maori and then the Europeans settled, plus it's a very beautiful spot. This book celebrates a Maori child, Samantha and her life at Omapere in Hokianga. Like many NZ Maori children, Samantha is from a mixed heritage - English, Niuean and Maori. For me the star in this book are the beautiful scenic shots of where Samantha lives.


Here's an pic of Omapere but not taken from the book.

Wow! Congratulations on completely blowing by the 75 book mark, Kerry!

That's a gorgeous picture!

Congrats on a lot of great reading.

#177: Paul - I generally enjoy Oz when I read him. Still weird for me to have read 3 of his in one month. My Michael is one that I still have to get to, I've collected most of his older work from used bookshops and library sales and steadily working my way through them. There's lots of other Israel writers I'm keen to read, next on my list is an Israeli Arab, Sayed Kashua.

Thanks for your comments on the book festival, I do like to write about the various events as I can refer back. I didn't mention Libba Bray who I found to be a fantastic speaker for highschool students.

I don't think I mentioned on this thread that I ditched Paris: the novel by Edward Rutherford after a few pages, mainly because I read Suzanne's 2 star review and that it was a 800+page chunkster from the library that my life didn't really need at that point in time. I'll stick with my happy memories of Sarum.

#179: Roni - thanks, hoping to read more scifi and fantasy this month.

New to my home of late:
library:
The Wall by William Sutcliffe - fable about the Arab/Israeli conflict that was recommended by a YA librarian I volunteereed with at the writers festival.
Exposure by Sayed Kashua - a deliciously complex psychological mystery
Hagwitch by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick - Irish YA writer
Percival Everett by Virgil Russell by Percival Everett - a story inside a story inside a story.

abebooks:
Why blame Israel? by Neill Lochery - follow up to Lochery's journal article about bias in academic scholarship.
No Hero for the Kaiser by Rudolf Frank - a children's books that Nazis burnt in the 1930s
Brothers like friends by Klaus Kordon - another German book, both these won the Buxtehuder Bulle Award.
Ashes and Diamonds by Jerzy Andrzejewski - Cushla did a rave reveiw
A hammock beneath the mangoes: stories from Latin America
Twopence a tub by Susan Price - children's book about the mining strikes in the UK
The green bough of liberty by David Rees - his The Exeter Blitz won the 1978 Carnegie Medal and he was an early writer of gay youth novels in the UK. This one won the Children's Rights Workshop Other Award which is another award I've become interested in.
Loving • Living • Party Going omnibus by Henry Green
Mind's Eye by Paul Fleischman - hauntingly beautiful YA story written in dialogue
Legion of the White Tiger by James Watson - children's historical novel set in 38BC Persia (?)

BD and local bookshops:
The Humans by Matt Haig
The Honey thief by Najaf Mazari - 'a superb collection of spellbinding tales from Afghanistan that portray a vivid landscape of hardship and brotherhood, catastrophes and miracles. These tales of peasants, poisoners and kings leap into life to reveal the rich storytelling traditions of Afghanistan' - Wild Dingo Press
what Katie ate: Recipes and Other Bits and Pieces - cookbook by an Australian food photographer / food blogger - her blog is very popular.

So is Paris: The Novel really that bad ???? curious minds want to know - was going to buy this for my mum but not if its a dud!

Alex - if your Mum has enjoyed him before then go for it. My mother loves his books. I just looked at the size of it and couldn't do it especially after Suzanne's comments on his cardboard characters. I was all ready to embrace the Parisian setting but will look elsewhere for something a little more compact.

Just saw that Eleanor & Park was the fiction winner for the 2013 Boston-Horn Book Awards for children's fiction. Honour winners are Seraphina by Rachel Hartman which I've just started reading and A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty which I brought home from the library last week.

Congratulations on your 76!

I didn't manage to get to the festival over here, May being pantomime month for us. I had the same problem in October, with the food festival. :0(

#185: Nina - I was reading on you thread how incredibly busy you were with the theatre.


78) Again the bugles blow by Ron Bacon (1973)
children's fiction, new zealand

TIOLI challenge #6. Read a book where a title word or author name starts with B,D,G,J,P,R,U. This is one I've had on Mt tbr for several years and have kept avoiding, don't ask me why. A great time slip novel where a young 1960s Maori boy goes 100 years into the past to save the life of his great grandfather at the Battle of Orakau, during the British Invasion of the Waikato. The British troops were intent on crushing the Kingitanga Movement, a federation of Maori tribes.
I enjoyed this as it moved through local territory where I lived when growing up. The British used boats to transport troops and survey the land along the Waikato River. I grew up on a farm beside the river near Ngaruawahia, which is home to the Maori King.
Good historical fiction for children, another I can recommend is The Forest Rangers, which is about Von Tempsky.

From wikipedia: Governor Sir George Grey used as the trigger for the invasion, Kingite rejection of his ultimatum on 9 July 1863 that all Māori living between Auckland and the Waikato take an oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria or be expelled south of the Waikato River. The subsequent war included the Battle of Rangiriri—which cost both sides more men than any other engagement of the New Zealand Wars —and the three-day-long Battle of Orakau, probably the best-known engagement of the New Zealand Wars and which inspired two films called Rewi's Last Stand. The campaign ended with the retreat of the Kingitanga Māori into the rugged interior of the North Island and the confiscation of about 12,000km² of Māori land.

Hi Kerry! A nice book haul there :)

I think I held off paying full local price for Paris because of those fears. I loved London, Sarum and Russka when I was a teenager but when I read The Forest as an adult it was a bit of a yawn. I was hoping that with Paris it would be a bit like Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly - her Paris was memorable to me and made me want to go over there and see what she was describing. I'd never really heard of Amos Oz until I heard about A Tale of Love and Darkness and it shot to the top of the must buy list so it's on it's way to me now from BD - have you read that one?

ooo I think I read Again the Bugles Blow when I was a kid. Is the main character's name Rua?

Lisa, I read London and Sarum and bought a full price copy of The Forest but never read it. My mother has read most of his books and she really enjoyed Russka. I was mostly put off by Suzanne's review and the fact that it opens in the 19th century though I understand that it does do flashbacks to earlier periods.

Yes, I've read and loved A tale of Love and Darkness. He's a really great writer and just won Prague's Kafka Award.

And yes, Rua is the name of the main character. I've been meaning to read this book ever since I worked on Ron Bacon's biography and bibliography for a website I used to keep updated. He wrote heaps of books but mainly for bookclubs and Waiatarua Publishing (an educational publishing side of Wheelers Books) republished many of them. They were almost all about based on Maori culture or mythology and were at the forefront of the Maoritanga revival. He was influenced from his many years teaching in rural areas and contact with non-urban Maori. His picturebooks were quite popular for a while - Hemi and the Whale and The house of the people.

It was the Peter Gossage books I remember reading a lot at school. Not just for literacy and Maori either but also the artwork I remember. I think we did some art projects inspired by the illustrations as well... ah good school memories :)

Kerry- Thanks to you, I started Delphine today. I love the style of the book itself and those spare illustrations. This is my kind of GN.

Mark, good to know. I'm needing to get back into the Sandman GNs.

Lisa, Peter Gossage's How Maui slowed the sun won the 2013 Gaelyn Gordon Award for Much Loved Book. His picturebooks have stayed in print all these years which is pretty wonderful. I love his work.

Tender at the Bone is on my wish list. I was glad to see your review. I always love all your children's books!

Kerry, saw this on Twitter and couldn't resist bringing it to you:

When one has tasted watermelon he knows what the angels eat. ~Mark Twain

Wonder was indeed a very special book! And, of course Freak the Mighty was incredible!

It is interesting how many books we share!

I finished Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman. Have you read this one? If not, I highly recommend it. It is a Prinz Honor book.

Thanks Richard - I do love a plate or two of the angels' food.

NB: for other thread readers, my LT name is 'watermelon' in Hebrew. I just like how it sounds and love to eat it.

Linda - I loved Stuck in Neutral when I read it a few years ago. I also really liked and recommend Inside Out.

I spent yesterday afternoon helping with the marking at the Auckland heats of the Kids' Lit Quiz, the national final is next week and the World Finals are in Durban, South Africa in early July. Quiz Master Wayne calls it the sport of reading.


About 50 teams from schools around Auckland competed and there was another evening heat for another 30+ teams. Takapuna Intermediate 1 won by a clear 10 points. The questions come in 10 per 10 categories and the teams can double their points in one category, they find out what the categories are when they arrive to the heat. Most chose to double up in 'Classic Characters' or 'Wizards'. My favourite category was 'Cutlery'. Wayne writes about 1000 new questions every year and has read all the books he takes the questions from. Needless to say he is a busy man, travelling the world to do the quiz in English-speaking countries, constantly reading books and also continuing his day job as a lecturer on reading. If you ever get the chance do go to the heats or finals, it is really fun and a great test of your own knowledge and also impressive to see how much these children know.

Sample Questions for the 10-13 yr olds:

How many heads did the monstrous watchdog of the underworld have?
What famous group does Professor Charles Xavier look after?
What was the sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
Who popped down a large rabbit hole under a hedge in 1865?
What mouse featured in a story about a princess, some soup and a spool of thread?
In which big European city did Madeline live?
Who was the 12 year-old boy from a coal mining family that had a passion for dancing?
The Nac Mac Feegles are small fairy folk covered with tattoos. They are better known as what men in Terry Pratchett’s novels?
Queen Lillian and King Harold are the parents of which princess?
Who was sometimes known as Padfoot in the Harry Potter series?
What is the real name of Judy Moody’s brother Stink Moody?
What two animals are mentioned in the familiar English sentence that uses all the letters of the alphabet?
In what series of books do you read about a copy machine, The PATSY2000 that brings the images it prints to life?
Which one of his grand-daughters did Roald Dahl use in a book?
Who pretended that her mother was a famous Hollywood movie star in a series by Jacqueline Wilson?
Who is the evil Smurf wizard?
Which children’s author has written a sequel titled Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again?
In what country can a tourist see a bronze statue of Tintin and Snowy?
Who tried to avoid the terrible Cheese Touch from a mouldy piece of cheese that had been sittingon the basketball court since spring?
In Time Riders Liam had no time to acquire the background on historical events because what country has successfully conquered United States of America?
Who has a sister called Apple Dumplin and a cat called Custard?
In what book did Jim Hawkins find documents and a map for a fabulous treasure that belonged to the infamous pirate Captain Flint?

79) The ACB with Honora Lee by Kate De Goldi (2012)
children's fiction, new zealand

Lovely story about a young girl's relationship with her grandmother, Honora Lee. The grandmother lives in a rest home and the parents and daughter, Perry, visit regularly but the grandmother never remembers who they are. Perry decides to do an alphabet book specially tailored to Honora Lee and the other residents. The story is sweet and will appeal mightily to adult readers of children's books, less so to children themselves I think.
The book itself is very gorgeous with high design and production values, hard cover with lovely retro illustrations by Gregory O'Brien and will be a keeper from that point alone. I enjoyed her other book The 10pm Question but also then felt it really hard to pinpoint why it was marketed as a children's book. The main readers of The 10pm Question were women's book groups.
TIOLI challenge #6 Read a book where a title word or author name starts with B,D,G,J,P,R,U

One thing about audio versions of nonfiction books is that you miss out on the sources and bibliography - Six days of war has about 70 pages of footnote sources for the interviews and archival information, plus an extensive bibliography. I'm happy as I have the book but am now listening to Karen Armstrong's biography of Muhammad and there have been a few occasions when I've wanted to know where she got her information from, so I'll have to request the actual book from the library after I finish listening to it.

Hi Kerry,

I see you're currently reading Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser. After I read the review in The Guardian by A.S. Byatt, and as I'm currently travelling now, I decided I must get my hands on it when I first come across a copy (probably in a bookstore in San Fransisco will be my first next chance to come across a really well-stocked selection of books in English. Also hopefully by then I will have also gown through and she's some of my unwieldy travel library). It sounds like it creatively and evocatively deals with the ambiguity, meaning and relevance of leisure travel, especially in this age of globalisation and concurrent polarisation between haves and have-nots.

I look forward to hearing whether you like it or not!

Happy reading.

Cheers,
Charles

Hi there!!! I've been missing you on LT. When I'm on, it seems like your not and vice verso. The ACB with Honora Lee sounds great for adults. I think you're right about the kids though.

Charles - I haven't got very far, but want to finish it this month. I've been distracted a few times and need to devote some reading time to getting further in. The plot does sound interesting.


80) Muhammed: A Prophet for Our Time by Karen Armstrong (2006)
nonfiction / audiobook

This is a concise and interesting biography of the Prophet. I had enjoyed her biography of Jerusalem a few years ago (also read by Armstrong herself) and so thought I'd give this a try. Armstrong originally wrote Muhammad: a biography of the Prophet in 1991 but rewrote it entirely after 9/11. To be honest I'm not sure what the differences would be. Another thing you miss in an audiobook is the bibliography, so I'll have to get the book from the library as I'm interested in looking at the sources she based some of the more personal anecdotes on.
I can add this one to TIOLI challenge #6 Read a book where a title word or author name starts with B,D,G,J,P,R,U

Kerry, Karen Armstrong is one of my favorite religious writers. I've read a number of her books but don't recall if I've yet read this one.

#201) Hi Katie, I've been guilty of just lurking on everyone's threads and not posting that much. I don't seem to have much to say at present point in time!
For me a lot of Kate Di Camillo's work has the same appeal. I just can't see children engaging with it to the same extent as adult readers of children's books.

#203) Hi Stephanie - I've only 'read' these two books by her, and I intend to read a few more, I have A History of God. Make sure when you read Muhammad to get the 2006 book.

#204, Kerry ... oh, A History of God is a good one. I need to reread it. And thanks for the tip about Muhammad

OOOh, the Kids' Lit Quiz sounds like great fun! And what a great thing for kids to be involved in and "studying" for. :)

Kathy - Wayne is a pub quiz fanatic and I think the idea evolved from that. The school librarians get really involved coaching their teams and it's always great when a small rural school wins over the wealthier private schools. The general knowledge and breadth of reading of these children is a source of constant amazement.

Gosh, a simple trip down to the nearby shopping centre to buy milk and I come home with two books from the local 'newsagent' type shop. Really delighted to get Anthony McCarten's original Death of a Superhero. This edition was set in Wellington and published locally but when he moved to live in the UK, his new publishers asked him to adapt the setting to the UK so it would appeal more to the readers there, I read this UK edition last year. Now I just have to see the movie.
I also picked up The apprentices by Leon Garfield, children's classic from the 1970s
and in the mail today
The Exeter Blitz by David Rees (1978 Carnegie Medal)
The view from the fence: The Arab-Israeli Conflict from the Present to Its Roots by Neill Lochery

Gosh that literary quiz sounds awesome!

Thanks for posting the Kidslit questions - I am going to try a couple at dinner tonight with F and T!

Forgot to add this one in -

The Tender Moments of Saffron Silk by Glenda Millard (2012)
children's fiction. Kingdom of Silk #6

I've read all seven books in the Kingdom of Silk series and each one is totally charming and sweet. Very appealing stories for emergent readers about the Silk family who don't live at all conventionally. Saffron is the youngest daughter and when she is suffering intermittent pain and dizzy spells, it causes the family to take stock of the blessings they have had. Saffron must go to the city for an MRI scan and to prepare she looks back into the past at all the 'tender moments' she has shared with her family and friends. So soulful and beautiful.
I read book #7 a couple of weeks ago so now have to say goodbye to the series.

Kerry

Thanks for taking the time to post the questions asked in the contest.

Thanks also for recommending another book by Terri Trueman. I note that he has a child who has severe cerebral palsey. Thus, his books have so much power.

Whew.. finally caught up on your thread, Kerry.

Have you read Burma Chronicles? I really liked that one. I haven't yet read his Shenzhen travelogue but having just gone to Shenzhen for the first time last year, I am interested on his take. i have to add this to my obese wish list.

If you liked Tender at the Bone, you ought to enjoy Garlic and Sapphires too. It's about Ruth Reichl's experiences as a restaurant critic. I thought it was well written and pretty funny.

Slog's Dad by David Almond (2011)
illustrated short story

This amazing cross between a novella and a graphic novel was illustrated by Dave McKean and was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal (for illustration). The artwork is typical McKean and gives extra insights into the appealing story of a boy who hopes that his recently deceased father will visit him just one more time. Told from the pov of his friend.

#212: Linda, there are more sample questions on the Kids' Lit Quiz website.

#213: Caro, I've noted Burma Chronicles for later reading. You'd probably enjoy the China one as you've been to the city. I'm going to focus on The Sandman GNs for a few weeks.
I have a few other foodie memoirs to read but have noted Reichl's other book.

81) The Final Solution: a story of detection by Michael Chabon (2004)
fiction / audiobook
This was narrated by Michael York and I found him just bearable. Anyway the story is a tribute to the Sherlock Holmes style of writing. Set in 1944 a retired but sprightly old detective observes a boy with an exotic parrot on his shoulder walk past his home. The boy is mute but the parrot chants a string of numbers in German. There is a murder, a missing parrot and an investigation. I enjoyed the story, I liked the different characterisations and the parrot's turn at narrating the story was fun. Overall a good read but not great.
Now listening to Among Others.


82) In Darkness by Nick Lake (2012)
YA fiction
This is one that I've been meaning to read since it first came out about 18mths ago. This is set in Haiti and uses voodou as the tie between two time settings. The present day is Haiti in the aftermath of a massive earthquake, teen gangsta 'Shorty' is trapped in the rubble of the hospital in Port au Prince. In this darkness he somehow feels the presence of another, sometimes inside him, sometimes beside him. Shorty recounts the story of his own life growing up in the city's slums. The other story is that of Haiti itself through the story of Toussaint Louverture who led the slaves to freedom in the 1790s. This is a really engrossing read and the historical detail is interesting. It was shortlisted for the Carnegie and won the Printz Award so I really hope it's finding those teen readers.
I had read about Toussaint before in Latin American Heroes, a book I'm still only partway through and should finish. TIOLI Challenge#6. Read a book where a title word or author name starts with B,D,G,J,P,R,U .

I'm interested in trying his Hostage Three which is about Somali pirates.

Last night I took my aged bones off to the regional finals of Battle of the Bands as my son's band was competing. They did really well and are through to the national finals at the end of the month. What I love about this band is the number of females in it, only the guitarists are male. You can hear them here though they are much more 'rock' than 'pop' live: https://soundcloud.com/flowerfight
While Alon writes a lot of the songs, they're not really his thing, so he is also setting up another band and they've started hanging out in our garage. So once again after many years of quiet, we are again the house of noise - at night, in the weekend etc etc. I'm sure our neighbours are going to love it when the electronic drum kit is replaced with the real thing.

Ok, so much better late than never, I've caught up with your thread thus far! And very enjoyable it has been doing so.

I wished I'd known you were heading to London earlier in the year. I could've passed on a tip or two for book shopping. But I'm sure you had more than enough good stuff to squeeze into your brief stay as it was! Next time!

>42 avatiakh:
Some really great books in your best of 2012. I've added How The Soldier Repairs The Gramophone - I've always been interested in books on the Yugoslavian experience since reading Anthony Loyd's My War Gone By I Miss it So (some of the finest war writing I've ever read) and Slavenka Drakulic.

>103 avatiakh:
I also read my first Nicole Krauss recently, but mine was The History of Love. I really enjoyed the audiobook - I wasn't sure at first, but in the end it was definitely worth it. Perhaps you'd find the plot and the characters more engaging than you found those in Great House. I still have the latter on my TBR.

>114 LovingLit:
A similar idea to Building Stories, but as a photobook (which is a very creative take on the form - as the viewer essentially compiles the work themselves) is Based on a True Story by Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey. It's some very fine contemporary photography of Rio de Janeiro - beach life, favelas, and carnival galore! If you're curious check out the video link under bintphotobooks' review on the book's page.

>141 Emrayfo:
Liked your review of Howl. That has always been one of my favourites - such a powerful statement of mid-20th century America. I thought the film was superb as well, and really loved the way the animation worked with Ginsberg's verses.

>187 kiwiflowa:
Like that you bought Tales of the Alhambra when you were in Granada. Isn't it beautiful? The Generalife is unforgettable. I loved Andalucia when I visited. I really would love to go back one day. In the meantime I've added Irving's book at least as a stop gap...

>193 thornton37814:
Your time in London looks like it was very well spent. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and a little jealous that you managed to get to the Jewish Book Fair. (You're on the other side of the world and managed it - I really should be able to get there from Wales!)The Jew Must Die looks like a very good book - adding that as well.

>196 avatiakh:
You had lunch at Ottolenghi!! Now I'm totally envious! How was it? His book has just been hit after hit so far - every thing each of us has made has been delicious. What a great trip you had in Europe. You did so many things I would love to do. Good choices Kerry!

(Apologies for the length of this post!)

>198 avatiakh:
Temple is one of my favourite places if I'm in the City of London. Both the church, and the gardens are wonderful. The back alleyways as well. It's one of the best places to just wander about. It's incredible on a gloomy old foggy day - and lovely in the sunshine as well. And all right by the river too...

>200 Emrayfo:
Foyle's. When was your last visit? It used to be so overwhelmingly badly organised - and a bit of a nightmare I thought, but now I think it is a great shop. Daunt is very nice too.

>218 Polaris-:
Thanks for your review of The Time of the Doves. That sounds wonderful. Added!

>228 avatiakh:
The Ministry of Fear sounds like one I'd enjoy a lot (despite being a little put off Greene for far too long by a not very inspiring English teacher at school). Your review intrigues me enough to add that one as well.

>240
I highly recommend The Birthday Boys by Bainbridge. I've read a lot of non-fiction about polar exploration over the years, and I found this fictionalised rendering of Scott's doomed expedition extremely well written and very moving. Haunting stuff.

Apologies once again for such a long-winded post. I'll have to catch up with the end of part 1 and then part 2 another day... Great stuff Kerry.

ETA --- Ah, I see (in your continuing thread) that you didn't make it to the Marylebone Daunt. Too bad, as it is a lovely shop with a huge glass skylight and a very calm lower sanctuary - featuring all the Middle Eastern stuff... As you highlighted though their USP is of course the helpful way the non-fiction, fiction, and guides are all grouped by country. (I think there are probably maps in each section as well.) Their founder - Mr Daunt - has in recent years become the head honcho at Waterstones... Waterstones Piccadilly is a very sumptuous affair helped by its very grand location in the former Simpsons Department Store building - love the lifts! Likewise my comment on Foyles may not be so relevant now, as you went to the newer South Bank branch... Well, there'll always be a London (I hope!).

Hi Kerry, oh my, I am completely taken with your travel journal. Gorgeous photos!

Hi Paul - just want to acknowledge your lovely post. I don't have time right now for an indepth reply but will come back in a couple of days. We had shakshuka at Ottolenghi's, ate brunch at the Islington branch. Lots of people, very busy but excellent service and great food on display. My daughter, Yasmin, also took us to Honey & Co which is owned by an Israeli couple who previously worked at Ottolenghi. It was her first time at both places as well.

Hi Nancy - I have a few more photos to put up, probably finish up in my next thread.

Kerry, your son's band is good! I like the timbre of the girls' voices. But I'm curious, what type of music is his new band going to play? I think I could manage having FlowerFight in my garage, but anything too wild and I'd go insane, lol.

Part 2

>44 avatiakh:
Great photos from Andalucia. What a fantastic voyage!
Have added In Hiding: The Life of Manuel Cortes by Ronald Fraser - looks like a very unusual and fascinating book. And a cute donkey.

>46 avatiakh:
Not been to Malaga. Your photos show it as an exciting place full of variety and beauty.

>76 avatiakh:
This is possibly my favourite ever post on any thread ever on LT!!

Thanks for all the posts on the Writers' Festival - it really gives a good impression of actually being there. Really interesting insights as well.

>131 avatiakh:
This is VERY close to being my next book now...I got it for my birthday...can't wait. And YES, I 100% agree with you on the Oz covers of recent years. Really unexciting. Not awful but as you say, really not very enticing. I think they go back at least as far as The Same Sea with that design house (they certainly have the sane feel so I'm assumng it's the same designer). The flamingo covers going back a few years ago were much better for example the Magritte painting 'The 16th of September' on the cover of A Perfect Peace (which is one of my favourites of his FWIW).

>158 avatiakh:
I think if we ever sat and had a coffee together (Turkish?) we could have quite a discussion on the New Historians and what we make of them. I think you would get a lot out of reading Segev's 1967, but you'll probably want to leave a good healthy gap before going back in time to that place so soon!
Great review.

So folks, with massive apologies for hogging Kerry's thread here awhile...sorry...but that's what happens when you miss the first 6 months of her read...and I've added nine more books to the wishlist!

(Edited to correct title of the Magritte painting.)

Congratulations on your son's band getting through to the national finals, and good luck!

Michael York... yikes. Well done in that case!

Hi Kerry! Finally stopping by your thread after far too long...

You were in London in January?!

#42 Yay for Enchanted Glass! Just looked up Death of a Superhero too and that's gone straight onto my Wishlist... (Anthony McCarten)

#45 Like the sound of Stamboul Train - that's not a Greene I've come across before.

#94 I keep meaning to read A Clockwork Orange, but never seem to get to it. Worth it then I take it?

#103 Glad you enjoyed Trainspotting - I haven't read it in years, but I went through a massive Irvine Welsh phase around the time the film came out and it's still my favourite. Thanks for the heads-up on Skagboys - I'd missed that one. There's also a sequel, Porno, but, although I enjoyed it, it doesn't hold a candle to Trainspotting.

...and re the older BBC production of A Tale of Two Cities - was that the B&W one, or a different one? The B&W one had me in floods of tears both times I watched it and is the single reason it's taken me so long to read the book!

#114 Building Stories sounds ingtiguing - it sounds as though it's the graphics that make it worth the read though and that the story is disappointing?

Aha! Just realised that I was reading your last thread and as I have way too many to catch up on, I'm heading to your most recent and reluctantly skipping the rest of the first, so sorry if all the above comments (for your first thread) are now hideously out of date!

So. New thread...

Loving all the photos!

#15 ...except clearly I'm going to have to go back to read all about your travels and find your London bookshop list!

#27 The Orphan Master's Son - on to the Wishlist with that one...

#42 Before I go to Sleep - that was a random buy for me last year too - must get round to it at some point...

...more lovely, lovely travel photos. You're giving me holiday-envy..! ...and I love that most of your photos of Paris are of food... ;o)

#76 Bother - I saw "Midnight in Paris" not long ago and just before I went there last month (for a gig) - it's probably the only Woody Allen film I've seen that I've actually enjoyed - I wish I'd dropped by your thread in time to see your post about the Polidor - I'll just have to note it down for next time!

#107 "Patrick Ness is a great speaker" - isn't he though? I'm starting to feel a little bit like a Patrick Ness stalker, but he always has such interesting and sensible things to say! I do hope this year's Edinburgh visit overlaps with him being at the Literary Festival (assuming he'll be there, which I think is a pretty safe bet). Please do read Topics About Which I Know Nothing - I read it while I was waiting for the 2nd and 3rd Chaos Trilogy books to come out and loved it...

...Hmmmm. Maybe I'd better go and see if there are any teasers for the Edinburgh Book Festival programme up yet...

#125) The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon - Wishlisted! ...or it would be if I could find the link...

#130 How funny, I've just recently re-read The Count of Monte Cristo... Glad you enjoyed it. Dumas does have a talent for whisking you away with the action, doesn't he? Polar opposite to Hugo...

#208 "his edition was set in Wellington and published locally but when he moved to live in the UK, his new publishers asked him to adapt the setting to the UK so it would appeal more to the readers there" - publishers never cease to amaze me when they do this kind of thing! Why do they think we couldn't cope with it being set in Wellington?!

#214 Will be on the look out for that one - I love Dave McKean

#217 Yay for your son's band!

...and I'm up to date...!! Oh dear, I always come away from your thread with way too many new Wishlist adds...

Hi Fliss - great to see you active on the threads. Yes, I got to London for a few days in Feb. I didn't try for any meetups as I had a packed schedule staying with my daughter & partner and getting my son to as many of the museums etc that he was interested in. I hadn't spent much time with my daughter for a few years and this was a lovely catchup.

Still slowly filling in the DWJ cracks, I have about 4 of her books left to read including Reflections: On the Magic of Writing.
Death of a superhero is really good. The film looks really good with a talented cast, it isn't getting a release here in NZ so I'm happy that my library took up my request to buy in the dvd. I've got a couple more of McCarten's books to read, Brilliance is another that he's reworked for his new publishers. The original novel has been edited right down and he's really pleased with the result. The rewrite came about after he was adapting it to script at a theatre workshop. He was at our writer's festival last year, otherwise i might never read his books. He's 'famous' in NZ for co-writing the play Ladies Night which was enormously popular. They unsuccessfully sued the producers of the film The Full Monty' as it basically comes across as a blatant ripoff of the play.

I'm supposed to be reading some cult classics this year for my category challenge and Clockwork Orange is one of those. I was very taken with the audio. Trainspotting was another of these cult classics, and I loved listening to the Scot accents. I've made a start on Skagboys but am reading on the small screen of my phone and it's not really working for me. I think the dialect needs either a bigger screen or the actual book, I might even go for the audio. I did go on a bit of a Danny Boyle/Ewan McGregor binge when I finished.

I watched the 1980 mini-series of A tale of two cities, it starred Paul Shelley and was pretty good. I found it hard to watch so close to reading the book. Fairly heartwrenching ending. Visiting Paris so soon after reading the book was brilliant and I especially appreciated visiting the Conciergerie.

I recommend Building Stories but as a library 'book' as it will depend on your own reaction to the content. He's a respected artist so I really should look out for more of his work. But all this takes me away from my 'meant to be' focus on The Sandman.

Paris - does seem to be a food indulgence going on there. Hope you can make the Polidor on another visit. We felt that we were following Hemingway around a bit by the end of our trip as we came across him in Rondo, Paris and again in Key West. I feel the need for a trip to Cuba to finish up with!

The Orphan Master's Son was really really good. Before I go to sleep was good too though I felt that I might have read something similar at one stage or else seen a movie with a similar plot - vulnerable female vs manipulative male.

Patrick Ness groupie - I'm sure there's a few of us around. He was so sweet, really charmed the audience and was also great with the high school students. I have copies of his other adult novels/short stories but first I want to read The Crane Wife.

The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon is possibly not available as it's an Australian publication.

Slog's Dad is a slight book, you could probably read it in the bookshop. McKean does a few rather good illustrations in Varjak Paw by SF Said who has a new book, Phoenix due out soon, also illustrated by McKean.

Alon is getting excited about the national finals, it's over two nights and about 30 bands playing.

#224: Charles - He's not going on my list of favourite narrators

#223: Nina - thanks.

#221: Kathy - thanks for the feedback on the band. Both singers have had classical training and one also tours with her mother singing Celtic folk. I'm used to lots of loud and live music making around here for the past 15 or so years. My son went through a stage of recording his friends' bands and the most hilarious moments were the heavy metal vocals without the music. The new band is still getting formed, the drummer is much older and was well known in jazz circles until he suffered a breakdown. Their influences are the Beatles, Ash and Oasis. Alon just enjoys jamming with the drummer I reckon, they love talking music and constantly end up in our lounge playing the piano and singing. He's finding it a little different, these guys all come with a little baggage - divorces, smoking, drinking habits... so he's taking it a bit slower especially as Flowerfight is looking more promising.The two girl vocalists set the band up last year and so set the direction and style. Even getting a name for the band was painful as they couldn't agree on anything.

#218 - Paul - will try to comment back now.

I lived in London a long time ago now and have been back a few times so know of some of the good bookshops. I still haven't been into a truly great used bookstore yet though maybe those musty interesting ones are outside of London anyway. I'd love to go to the one in Alnwick. I spent an all too brief couple of hours in Hay on Wye a few years ago.

I've made note of My War Gone By I Miss it So and already mentioned it on another thread. I'm also a little interested in this area but haven't managed to read much as yet.

My daughter really enjoyed The history of Love so I must get to it. I probably need to read some interviews with Krauss on Great House as there were parts that I really liked.

I did check out the photos for Based on a True Story - thanks for the link.

Another fan of Howl. I loved how the movie was put together, I loved the poem. Just not so in love with the graphic novel.

Granada and the Alhambra - such a great place to visit. We really enjoyed being there in the off-season, can't stress that enough. I don't think it would work in the height of summer with the endless stream of visitors. I took so many photos. I've been to Andalucia a few times now, just wish I didn't live so far away from all these interesting parts of the world, especially when my daughter seems to be somewhere in Europe every second weekend.

Yes, stumbled on to the Jewish Book Week and immediately got my daughter to book a couple of events for us. If I'd procrastinated we probably wouldn't have gone. Naomi Alderman is worth listening to, she's rather hilarious. I would have loved to get to the Yehoshua event or the Simon Montefiore one, but time was short...
Loved the Churchill War Rooms, went in thinking it would take an hour but boy, we stayed till closing time.

Ottolinghi - I have the cookbooks too, but still haven't cooked from them that much. You do find that a visitor gets much more done in a few days than a person living there ever does. I got my daughter, Yasmin, to plan a few outings to ethnic restaurants that we don't have so many of here in Auckland. She also took us to Wahaca which is too trendy for it's own good, and the wait staff make you feel like a number, still it whet our appetite for a good Mexican meal which we were able to indulge once we got to the States.

Temple was one of the places I insisted on going to as I worked right beside it and never went in. I worked at El Vino on Fleet Street and had never visited their branch in St Martin's Lane, I think it was the only building to escape the Great Fire of London. We had lunch there, nothing outstanding, but quiet and ideal for conversation. We went downstairs to look at the smuggler's tunnel before we left, not sure if the place has any ghosts. We went on to The Tower of London, probably a waste after going to so many castles etc in Spain & Paris, but the Beefeater tourguide was worth the entry fee, so funny and full of puns.

Bookshops
Foyles - I went to the Southbank Branch but my last time in their flagship shop was about 5 years ago but I remember going there in the 1980s.
Daunt, only made the Hampstead branch but was happy enough with that. I prefer to visit bookshops on my own or with other booklovers but not so much fun with a son who spends about 3 minutes in the history section and then wants to leave.
Waterstones Piccadily - got to this one too.
I would have loved to seen the Middle East selection at the main Daunts branch.

I have a copy of The Birthday Boys and hope to read it before the end of the year, though my reading plans seem to be getting tossed to one side as the year progresses.

will have to continue....

Thanks for liking my Andalucia photos - I have a few hundreds of them over on photobucket! I used to be so careful taking photos not to waste film, but now with digital I'm snap happy. This trip I just took a little point n shoot.
I'm hoping to read In Hiding: The Life of Manuel Cortes when I find a copy. My library doesn't have it so I've put it on the long term wish list. I have a lot of Spanish fiction/nonfiction to read already.

Malaga is beautiful, I was very taken with it.

>76 avatiakh: - This is possibly my favourite ever post on any thread ever on LT!!
That was a great day, we felt the 'Paris love' for sure.

I have that copy of A Perfect Peace and I'm fairly sure that was my first Amos Oz read. I really liked it too.

>158 avatiakh:
I think if we ever sat and had a coffee together (Turkish?) we could have quite a discussion on the New Historians and what we make of them. I think you would get a lot out of reading Segev's 1967, but you'll probably want to leave a good healthy gap before going back in time to that place so soon!
I have a couple of Segev's books but not that one. Coffee would be good.
I'm going to read a couple of Neill Lochery books next up and a few older ones.

Ok, I need to have a coffee.

Mo Willems interview:

CNN: Which comes first: the characters or the ideas?

Willems: It all depends. A lot of people think of ideas as objects, or animals that you hunt. You go into the woods, you find an idea, you capture it and you bring it home. And ideas really are more like gardens. And every day, you're planting lots and lots of ideas. Some of them get eaten by birds, and never go anywhere. Some of them grow up to be really horrible things. Some wither and die. Every now and then, over time, some idea grows up to be big and beautiful and filled with fruit. You can cut that down and burn it for profit. So it's an evolution.

That's a great quote, Kerry!

I like that quote!

>229 avatiakh: lol, only a writer could come up with that :)

I am still awaiting my turn for Building Stories at the library, its format fascinates me.

I finished The ACB with Honora Lee and though it just OK. I wonder how much a kid would like it. I found it a bit dry, and with less insights into the way a kid thinks than others of hers Ive read.

Roni - I think you'd enjoy this article about Jon Scieszka et al's next book, Battle Bunny: http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=2584

Charles - thanks, I had to share it.

Megan - I also questioned the reading audience for De Goldi's book. I think it's for the 'adults who read children's books' nostalgia group. I liked it but won't be recommending it to any children.
I hope the format of Building Stories appeals to you as the story is rather bland in my opinion. It is rather great to have a box to read from.

That is hilarious, Kerry. Thanks for pointing me to it.

I was especially taken with Matt Myers' collaborative painting:

"He also did a series of artworks—long before we even wrote Battle Bunny—where he added images to oil paintings he bought on the sidewalk."
http://www.myerspaints.com/Site/Collaborative_1_myerspaints.html

Love that art!

Thanks for that link to Matt Myer's work, Kerry. I really enjoyed poking around and looking at his paintings.

I agree with you about Building Stories, although I hadn't thought about it that way. The story is a little bland, but the execution is pretty awe-inspiring.

Kerry - Always an interesting place to be is your thread. Lovely to see a third Paul (Polaris-) making inroads into the group via your irresistible domain! Have a lovely weekend.

Hi Paul, thanks for visiting. I have a new thread now: http://www.librarything.com/topic/155426