avatiakh (Kerry) reads from her shelves #2

My visit to Libreria Acqua Alta in Venice late last year. The bookshop is subject to flooding so many books are stacked in boats, the most picturesque is this gondola. There is also a gondola tied up outside in the canal, you can step out of the shop's backdoor for a photo.

Welcome to my 2024 thread.
I'm Kerry from Auckland, New Zealand. I read widely though not as prolificly as previous years. I signed up to LT in 2008 and joined the 75 Books in 2009 group. In 2023 I went travelling for three months around the world including time with my daughter who lives in London. While I couldn't get to Israel as planned I did end up with extra time in Bangkok and really enjoyed my time there. This year I'm staying home and hope to include reading books set in many of the places I visited.

Currently Reading:
Maror by Lavie Tidhar (Israel) - stalled
Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann
The Iliad by Homer (audio) - only 3hrs left

Came across this restaurant in Prague, apparently there are several 'The Good Soldier Švejk' inspired restaurants around. Jaroslav Hašek's 1923 novel lives on and i hope to read it this year.
https://www.seriouseats.com/restaurants-inspired-by-the-good-soldier-svejk

My 2024 Category Challenge
1) Local - Australia & New Zealand
2) UK & Ireland
3) Europe
4) Israel & Holocaust Literature
5) The Americas
6) Africa
7) Asia
8) Scifi & Fantasy
9) Juvenile - children's & YA
10) Illustrated - manga, GNs & picturebooks
11) Nonfiction
12) Dropbox - anything that slips through the gaps

Loy Krathong (Festival of Lights) is one of the most picturesque festivals in Bangkok. It’s when people gather around lakes, rivers and canals to pay respects to the goddess of water by releasing beautiful lotus-shaped rafts, decorated with candles, incense and flowers onto the water. We happened on a light and sound show at the canal by our hotel.

Goals for 2024

Read from my shelves - I must commit to reading more of my own books and slow down my library requests.
Writers I'd like to focus a little on include Richard Zimler, Louis de Bernieres & Mollie Hunter as I own most of their works.
Finish Reading The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt - my epic fail for the past couple of years

plus a repeat of my unsuccessful 2022/3 goals which includes the books I vouched for over on the Club Read 2022's HOPE TO READ SOON: a tribute to Rebeccanyc -
Aira, César. The Seamstress and the Wind - Jan
Bergelson, Dovid. The End of Everything - Mar
Rufin, Jean-Christophe. The Abyssinian - May
Rufin, Jean-Christophe. The Siege of Isfahan - Jul
The 2023 HOPE TO READ thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/346710

Holocaust Literature Group
_____

Holocaust Literature - A couple of years ago Lisa (@labfs39) and I started a Holocaust Literature group which anyone is welcome to join -
We set this up as a separate place to record and discuss Holocaust related books and media.
I didn't meet my reading goals this past year though I read several Holocaust memoirs and some fiction.
I visited several Holocaust museums and memorials on my travels.

so many worthy books I've still not read -
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski
Lovely Green Eyes by Arnošt Lustig
Brodeck's Report by Philippe Claudel
Memory by Philippe Grimbert Read May 2024
The Cap: The Price Of A Life by Roman Frister
If not now, when? by Primo Levi

My Holocaust Literature reading thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/338441#n8014630

The two black cats resident at the Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia. I was there in September and enjoyed finding out more about Edgar Allan Poe's life.

Some of the Awards, series and trilogies that I'm concentrating on -

Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte - 2/7
Latin American Trilogy by Louis de Bernières - 0/3

Crime -
Rebus by Ian Rankin - 24/24
Cormoran Strike by Robert Galbraith - 7/7
Pepe Carvalho by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán - 5/23 - reading what I can find
Kramer and Zondi by James McClure - 1/8
Nina Borg by Lene Kaaberbøl - 3/4
Paula Maguire by Claire McGowan - 3/6

Scifi
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson - 3/4
Murderbot by Martha Wells 7/7
Prefect Dreyfus by Alastair Reynolds 2/3

Fantasy
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch 6/9 - need to get back to this one
Temeraire by Naomi Novik - 3/9
The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop - 0/3

Children's/YA
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome - 1/12
Lorien Legacies by Pittacus Lore - 1/7

Manga:
Buddha vol.1 by Osamu Tezuka 1/8
Vagabond vol 1 VIZBIG Omnibus Edition Series by Takehiko Inoue 3/12

Prix Goncourt:
I've read books that have won the Award, some older ones are hard to find.
Here's what's on my radar for the near future:
The Battle by Patrick Rambaud - The War Room challenge's Napoleonic Wars - Read 2024
Memory by Philippe Grimbert - Read 2024

also ongoing is my read of the winners of the UK Carnegie Medal in Children's Literature‎.
'The CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals are the UK’s oldest and best-loved children’s book awards.
The CILIP Carnegie Medal is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people.'
I like that this is awarded by librarians. The Kate Greenaway Medal is for illustration, so mainly picturebooks win.

Carnegie Medal (UK) Winners update-

2024 Joseph Coelho The Boy Lost in the Maze
2023 Manon Steffan Ros The Blue Book of Nebo- READ 2024
2022 Katya Balen, October, October
2021 Jason Reynolds Look Both Ways
2020, Anthony McGowan, Lark - Read
2019 Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X - Read
2018 Geraldine McCaughrean, Where the World Ends - READ 2023
2017 Ruta Sepetys, Salt to the Sea - READ 2023
2016 Sarah Crossan, One - Read
2015 Tanya Landman, Buffalo Soldier - Read
2014 Kevin Brooks, The Bunker Diary - Read
2013 Sally Gardner, Maggot Moon - Read
2012 Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls - Read
2011 Patrick Ness, Monsters of Men - Read
2010 Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book - Read
2009 Siobhan Dowd, Bog Child - Read
2008 Philip Reeve, Here Lies Arthur - Read
2007 Meg Rosoff, Just in Case - Read
2005 Mal Peet, Tamar - Read
2004 Frank Cottrell Boyce, Millions - READ 2024
2003 Jennifer Donnelly, A Gathering Light - Read
2002 Sharon Creech, Ruby Holler - Read
2001 Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents - own
2000 Beverley Naidoo, The Other Side of Truth - own
1999 Aidan Chambers, Postcards from No Man’s Land - Read
1998 David Almond, Skellig - Read
1997 Tim Bowler, River Boy - READ 2024
1996 Melvin Burgess, Junk - Read
1995 Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials - Read
1994 Theresa Breslin, Whispers in the Graveyard
1993 Robert Swindells, Stone Cold - READ 2024
1992 Anne Fine, Flour Babies - Read
1991 Berlie Doherty, Dear Nobody
1990 Gillian Cross, Wolf - Read
1989 Anne Fine, Goggle-eyes - Read
1988 Geraldine McCaughrean, A Pack of Lies - Read
1987 Susan Price, The Ghost Drum
1986 Berlie Doherty, Granny was a Buffer Girl
1985 Kevin Crossley-Holland, Storm - READ 2024
1984 Margaret Mahy, The Changeover - Read
1983 Jan Mark, Handles - READ 2024
1982 Margaret Mahy, The Haunting - Read
1981 Robert Westall, The Scarecrows - READ 2024
1980 Peter Dickinson, City of Gold and Other Stories from the Old Testament
1979 Peter Dickinson, Tulku - own
1978 David Rees, The Exeter Blitz - Read 2022
1977 Gene Kemp, The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler - Read
1976 Jan Mark, Thunder and Lightnings
1975 Robert Westall, The Machine Gunners - Read
1974 Mollie Hunter, The Stronghold - Read
1973 Penelope Lively, The Ghost of Thomas Kempe - Read
1972 Richard Adams, Watership Down - Read
1971 Ivan Southall, Josh - Read
1970 Leon Garfield & Edward Blishen, The God Beneath the Sea
1969 Kathleen Peyton, The Edge of the Cloud
1968 Rosemary Harris, The Moon in the Cloud - Read 2021
1967 Alan Garner, The Owl Service - Read
1965 Philip Turner, The Grange at High Force
1964 Sheena Porter, Nordy Bank - READ 2024
1963 Hester Burton, Time of Trial
1962 Pauline Clarke, The Twelve and the Genii - Read 2021
1961 Lucy M Boston, A Stranger at Green Knowe
1960 Dr IW Cornwall, The Making of Man
1959 Rosemary Sutcliff, The Lantern Bearers - own
1958 Philippa Pearce, Tom’s Midnight Garden - Read
1957 William Mayne, A Grass Rope - own
1956 C S Lewis, The Last Battle - Read
1955 Eleanor Farjeon, The Little Bookroom READ 2023
1954 Ronald Welch (aka Ronald Oliver Felton), Knight Crusader - READ 2024
1953 Edward Osmond, A Valley Grows Up
1952 Mary Norton, The Borrowers - own
1951 Cynthia Harnett, The Wool Pack - Read 2021
1950 Elfrida Vipont Foulds, The Lark on the Wing - Read 2021
1949 Agnes Allen, The Story of Your Home
1948 Richard Armstrong, Sea Change READ 2023
1947 Walter De La Mare, Collected Stories for Children
1946 Elizabeth Goudge, The Little White Horse - Read
1944 Eric Linklater, The Wind on the Moon - Read 2021
1942 ‘BB’ (D J Watkins-Pitchford), The Little Grey Men - own
1941 Mary Treadgold, We Couldn’t Leave Dinah - Read 2021
1940 Kitty Barne, Visitors from London
1939 Eleanor Doorly, Radium Woman
1938 Noel Streatfeild, The Circus is Coming - own
1937 Eve Garnett, The Family from One End Street - own
1936 Arthur Ransome, Pigeon Post - own

Reading Plans for April:

I have library books to read, but also drew a few books off my shelves to consider. My reading also leads me on to other books.

Currently reading:
Doing Time by Jodi Taylor - a lighter read.
How do you live? by Genzaburo Yoshino - already overdue at library so needs to be read asap. Luckily our library system no longer does fines.
The teacher by Michal Ben-Naftali
The Iliad by Homer

want to read:
Victory City by Salman Rushdie
A communist in the family Rewi Alley biography by Elspeth Sandys
Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz by József Debreczeni

War Room - Religious Wars
not sure where I put these two books after taking them off the shelves during the planning stages in December -
Bar Kochba : The rediscovery of the legendary hero of the last Jewish revolt against imperial Rome by Yigael Yadin
Knight Crusader by Ronald Welch
and
Tyll by Daniel Kelmann - Thirty Year War

other library books:
The Consultant by Seong-Sun Im
Strange Haven: a Jewish childhood in Shanghai by Sigmund Tobias

Too many of these are library books.

Happy new thread, Kerry.

Thanks for sharing the book related pictures from last years travels.

48) The Consultant by Seong-Sun Im (2023 English) (2010 Korea)
crime
I enjoyed this one. It's written as a sort of confession and while there was for the most part a lack of emotion in the book, once things got personal the protagonist had to acknowledge his need to make a decision.
The consultant describes his behind the scenes work, how he was recruited, his success stories, and then things get tricky fast.

>7 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita. Thanks for visiting. I have so many photos from my travels, many inspire my reading plans for the year.

I'd like to reaad more set in Bangkok but mostly I'm finding crime novels.

My last post on old thread:
I visited a charity shop yesterday and picked up three paperbacks in great condition -
Under Occupation by Alan Furst
Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris
South Sea Vagabonds by J.W.Wray

Currently reading and enjoying:
The Consultant by Im Seong-Sun - finished
Knight Crusader by Ronald Welch
also Tiger tiger by Lynne Reid Banks but not enjoying as much as plot is leading up to fights in the Colosseum that I'm not sure I want to read about, but it's a children's book so can't be too horrific.

...and I'm off to the library this morning to pick up The Running Grave.

I went to The Warehouse (New Zealand version of Walmart) to pick up an item for my cats, it was raining so heavily that I browsed the books section till it stopped and came away with two books.
The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein
Silk and Song omnibus by Dana Stabenow - set on 14th century Silk Road

Happy new thread, Kerry, as your new digs will countless continue to provide me more fuel for my book acquisition compulsion syndrome!

Happy new thread Kerry!

>1 avatiakh: >2 avatiakh: >3 avatiakh: What arresting images. The book boat had me wondering from first glance, and the fanciful oddity of a book named restaurant, let alone several, and while I've only bounced off The Good Soldier Švejk, it seems strange that it would be such an inspiration. Is food much a part of it?

And the Bangkok is so ethereal! Such a wonder.

Happy new one, Kerry!

Have a lovely weekend, Kerry.

Happy new thread, Kerry. Now, I want to visit Venice just to visit this bookshop! You have some great photos.

>11 PaulCranswick: >14 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul - I seem to have gone missing in action again.

>12 quondame: Hi Susan - Most places I visited I googled for 'amazing boojstores' and got to see a few good ones. I think the book The Good Soldier Švejk does have some mention of food, I haven't read it so can't be too sure.
I loved Bangkok, so much more than I thought I would. We stayed in the Chinatown district. I've been cooking a lot of Thai food since I got back home.

>13 drneutron: Hi Jim!
>15 BLBera: The bookshop has mainly books in Italian so there isn't much worth browsing. I bought a few bookmarks and managed to find one English language book I liked. The water was lapping on the back doorstep where the outdoor gondala was tied up so was easy to imagine the place being flooded.
I'll look out some more photos when I have time.

49) River Boy by Tim Bowler (1997)
children's fiction
Carnegie Medal (UK) 1997. Not a compelling read for me though quite a well thought out story. It's more for a thoughtful young reader as there's not much action.

50) The Teacher by Michal Ben-Naftali (2016)
fiction
Quite a difficult read as the narrator is so distanced from 'the teacher'. The narrative is told in the present day by one of her ex-students, many years after the teacher died by suicide and that was many years after her traumatic war experiences and guilt not just at being a Holocaust survivor but also from being one of those saved by Kastner and having to endure the 1954 Kastner trial.

,

Small in the City by Sydney Smith (2019)
picturebook
I requested this from the library as I noticed that Smith just won the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Medal (Illustration). I really liked his illustration work in Sidewalk Flowers so wanted to see what else he'd done. Quite a sweet story once you realise that a missing cat is involved. The artwork conveys the story as there is minimal text.

51) Knight Crusader by Ronald Welch (1954)
children's fiction
Carnegie Medal (UK) 1954. Carey Family #1. Read for the War of Religions April challenge.
I really enjoyed this one. The fighting scenes are well described as is the use of armour and weapons. Outremer born and bred, Philip's first battle is the Battle of Hattin where he sees not only his father killed but also his uncle and young cousin.
The book includes encounters with real life personages such as Usamah Ibn-Menquidh whose memoirs, Memoirs of an Arab-Syrian Gentleman Or an Arab Knight in the Crusades Memoirs of Usamah Ibn-Munqidh are probably an excellent primary source for those interested in how Muslims perceived the Crusaders. Also Rashid al-Din Sinan known as the Old Man of the mountains, leader of the Order of Assassins...and the leaders of the Third Crusade.

52) October 16, 1943 / Eight Jews by Giacomo Debenetti (1945)
essays
There are two essays by Debenetti, a preface by Alberto Moravia and a short essay by Estelle Gilson on the fate of the Roman Jewish Community Library.
In a few pages Debenetti describes the fateful morning of October 16, 1943 when the SS round up most of the Jewish community living in and around the Ghetto in Rome. The second essay, Eight Jews is a response to a police officer's testimony on the Ardeatine Cave Massacres (March 24, 1944).
There is a translator's introduction as well which offers background on Debenetti and the incidents.
From wikipedia: 'Debenetti was an Italian writer, essayist and literary critic. He was one of the greatest interpreters of literary criticism in Italy in the 20th century, one of the first to embrace the lessons of psychoanalysis and the human sciences in general, and among the first to grasp the full extent of Marcel Proust's genius.'

The essay on the fate of the Roman Jewish Community Library is also interesting as unlike most libraries of Hebrew manuscripts which were mostly recovered after the war only very few books or manuscripts have ever been found. The contents were transported to Germany but what happened then remains a mystery. As the oldest Jewish community in Europe the documents in the library were known to be rare and antique but had never been properly catalogued.

Current reading:
The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
Apricots on the Nile by Colette Rossant
2 vols of Spy Family manga & four vols of The Apothecary Diaries manga
Warrior of God: Jan Zizka and the Hussite Revolution by Victor Verney

and a few others that I need to try and finish before the month end
Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz by József Debreczeni
Hour of Need: The Daring Escape of the Danish Jews during World War II: A Graphic Novel by Ralph Shayne
Koro's star by Claire Aramakutu
The Iliad by Homer - audio

Just a fly-by to say hello, Kerry. Interesting reviews as usual.

_
53) Spy x Family, Vol. 3 by Tatsuya Endo
54) Spy x Family, Vol. 4 by Tatsuya Endo
manga
I'd requested these months ago after finishing the first two volumes. This is a wildly popular series about a fake family - the husband/father is a masterspy and needs a wife and daughter so he can infiltrate an enemy via an elite school. He's unaware that his fake wife is a deadly assassin and the daughter can read minds. Together they bumble along.
Vol. 3 wasn't great, but vol. 4 was fun as the story had a lot of action and the family adopts a dog.
Leaving this series here.

>23 labfs39: waves to Lisa

___
55) The Apothecary Diaries Manga, Vol. 8 by Natsu Hyuuga (2023)
56) The Apothecary Diaries Manga, Vol. 9 by Natsu Hyuuga (2023)
57) The Apothecary Diaries Manga, Vol. 10 by Natsu Hyuuga (2023)
58) The Apothecary Diaries Manga, Vol. 11 by Natsu Hyuuga (2024)
manga
Continuing my read of my favorite manga series. Still enjoying finding out palace secrets and Maomao's unique skills in solving all sorts of mysterious incidents. The next one comes out in September.

59) A Chinese Fantasy Law of the Fox book 2 by Yen Samejima (2017 Japan) (2023 English)
manga
A collection of short tales relating to foxes, wolves, tigers and a bear which morph into human form. Most stories end sadly for the human whose fallen in love and not so well for the animal either. Enjoyable manga, I was attracted by the cover art but won't continue with any future volumes.

60) Koro's Star by Claire Aramakutu (2024)
children's fiction
Tom Fitzgibbon Award 2023. This New Zealand award is for a manuscript by a new writer for children. This was a worthy winner. Set in the 1960s it's about a family newly arrived to a home on an army base just as their father ships out to the Vietnam War. His father leaves Atama his own father's WW1 medal to help him be brave when making friends and fitting in to his new home.

61) Lopini the Legend by Feana Tu'akoi (2023)
children's fiction
Tom Fitzgibbon Award 2022. I really enjoyed this one. The story was very fun and quite believable. Lopini is a high achiever at school and his only problem is that he gets so stressed out at the possibility of failure that he no longer does anything where he might not come first.
With his best friend Fi to help him he sets out to be a failure at least once a week....but events tend to have a life of their own.

62) Stone Cold by Robert Swindells (1993)
YA
Carnegie Medal UK, 1993. Fairly good story about a homeless boy trying to survive on the streets of London. He left home rather than put up with his mother's boyfriend and now while living on the streets it's impossible to get a job or even help. Swindells says in the author notes that he felt compelled to write about the issue of child homelessness after a visit to London.

Current Reads:
I've put The Running Grave to one side while I try to finish a couple more books this month:
Hour of Need: The Daring Escape of the Danish Jews during World War II: A Graphic Novel
Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz

63) Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz by József Debreczeni (1950 Hungarian) (2024 English)
memoir
One of the few new books I've purchased this year. I ordered it as soon as I heard about it on 'X'. This is a memoir of journalist Debreczeni's time surviving first in work camps and then in a hospital camp. While it was first published in 1950, the book was never translated due to Cold War politics and then became forgotten until recently. Incredible that he survived, the brutality and cruelty, much by fellow Jews in positions of authority, is heartbreaking.
His time in Dörnhau, a 'hospital' camp in the last months before liberation is described in bitter detail...so much death. .

Reading plans for May:
I seem to be quite optimistic about reading for the month as I've pulled quite a number of books off the shelves and have the usual pile of library books

Bristish Author Challenge: Magical Portals
Imajica by Clive Barker - fantasy chunkster that's sat on my shelves since forever

War Room challenge: Napoleonic Wars
The Battle: a novel by Patrick Rambaud - Prix Goncourt Award (1997) - off my shelves

TIOLI entries:
Demonosity by Amanda Ashby - off my shelves
Memory by Philippe Grimbert - off my shelves
Bookshop Dogs by Ruth Shaw - library book
The goodbye cat: seven cat stories by Hiro Arikawa - library book
Tiger, tiger by Lynne Reid Banks -children's ebook
Bullseye Bella by James T. Guthrie - childrens fiction & Tom Fitzgibbon Award - off my shelves
The Impossible Story of Hannah Kemp by Leonie Agnew - YA & Tessa Duder Award - off my shelves
The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith - about halfway through this chunkster - library book
The Refugee Summer by Edward Fenton - children's book set in Athens - off my shelves
Space Demons by Gillian Rubenstein - children's book from my shelves
Among the imposters by Margaret Peterson Haddix - children's book from my shelves
The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad - three novellas - library book
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent- crime - library book

Carnegie Medal (UK)
requested a few more from the library
Tulku by Peter Dickinson
Handles by Jan Mark
Nordy Bank by Sheena Porter

Audio:
The Iliad by Homer
The Magus by John Fowles

This morning I read a chunk of Bookshop Dogs which is quite pedestrian and not that interesting. It's a lovely hardback edition that will sell copies from the cover alone but the interior photos of the dogs aren't even that great, the stories just don't appeal. Will be a quick read.
I also started on The Battle, Imajica and Bullseye Bella - these are all promising.

I also have a number of e-books on the go, several I started last year but I don't e-read that much.

Did I learn about A Faraway Island from you, Kerry? I just finished it and wanted to thank whoever brought the series to my attention.

>35 labfs39: Not me. I haven't read it according to GR where I've logged all my reading since 2008.

Great comments as usual. Small in the City has a great cover. Knight Crusader sounds interesting as does Stone Cold. Cold Crematorium sounds heartbreaking.

Good luck with your ambitious May plans.

>37 BLBera: Hi Beth. I thought Knight Crusader was well researched and is the first of several books on the Carey family's military history through the ages. I read quite a lot on the Crusades a few years ago.
I'm enjoying reading the older Carnegie Medal winners, a reminder of what makes books for children and teens so great. Nowadays there seems to be an overwhelming paranormal or fantasy element to much on offer.

I've had to add a couple more books to my reading plans because I added a challenge to the TIOLI challenges.

64) Demonosity by Amanda Ashby (2013)
YA
Had this ex-library paperback on my tbr pile for a long while and started reading a chapter here and there a few weeks back. Ashby lives in New Zealand and has had a few romance novels publised in the US. I read her You had me at Halo many years ago and really enjoyed it.
This one is a YA book and an easy read. Cassidy is plunged into an adventure when she becomes the guardian of the Black Rose, an ancient force that's arrived through time from the 14th century.

65) Among the imposters by Margaret Peterson Haddix (2001)
children's
Shadow Children #2. I read the first book in this series many years ago and had the second book lying around probably since then. Luke, an illegal third child, is given a new identity and begins life at a boarding school that seems to be full of secrets.
Quite a good read though I won't continue with the series as too juvenile for me. I've also read the first in her The Missing series and enjoyed that too. These would be popular reads for middle graders.

66) Hour of Need: The Daring Escape of the Danish Jews during World War II by Ralph Shayne (2023)
children's graphic novel
The enveloping story is that of a Jewish grandmother visiting Copenhagen with her two grandchildren and as they visit the sights she tells them about when she was a young girl and her family's life in Denmark during the war and then their dramatic escape to Sweden. The GN covers background stories about the King of Denmark & various political leaders as well as one of the underground resistance movements. The art style grows on you.
Loosely based on Shayne's own family story.

67) Memory by Philippe Grimbert (2004)
fiction
Prix Goncourt 2004. This can be considered a Holocaust story though it's not focused on that aspect especially, it is Grimbert's own family story. First published as 'Un Secret' it's about Grimbert only finding out when he turns 15 from a family friend that his father had a son and wife who perished in the Holocaust. Before, his mother was actually his father's sister-in-law who he met and fell in love with on his wedding day before the war. The attraction was mutual though the couple persevered with their marriages but the war years resolved their relationship with the deaths of their spouses in camps. They lived all those post war years with guilt and disapproval from family, the lives of the lost two spouses and child were not remembered which Grimbert became obsessed with. He has re-imagined his parent's story.

As I was reading this I went to a Guardian review to find out how true the story was and was shocked by the opening sentence: 'Twenty years after his parents jumped from the window of their Parisian apartment to their deaths, Philippe Grimbert decided to write about the secret that had overwhelmed their lives.'
Quite a fascinating read.

68) Bullseye Bella by James T. Guthrie (2019)
children's fiction
Tom Fitzgibbon (Manuscript) Award 2018. I really loved this hardcase story. Bella is a 12 year old dart playing prodigy and ends up being eligible to enter the National Darts Competition. The 5 times winner is not happy and tries everything to sabotage her entry. Along for the ride is her little brother who has decided to live every day as a pirate. A total delight.
When I googled the writer to find out more about him, I came across a news item that the book's production rights had been sold and the film company had a list of actors they wanted for the various roles. This would make a delightful film though I think that the lockdowns killed it off before it was even begun.
I loved a lot about this book though special mention goes to Blackbeard, Bella's little brother and his fabulous pirate focused vocabulary. Laugh out loud moments.

69) The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith (2023)
crime
Cormoran Strike #7. I love a good absorbing read and J.K. Rowling certainly obliges again in another Cormoran Strike story, this time in the world of cults. Robin goes in undercover to try and find any proof of crimes and also to convince the son of their client to leave the cult. Lots of tense moments and I ended up reading this in record time - the last 500 pages in one day.

70) Bookshop Dogs by Ruth Shaw (2023)
nonfiction
Ruth Shaw wrote the wildly popular local memoir, The Bookseller at the End of the World, and has followed with little stories about the various dogs who arrive with customers to visit her bookshop. Each story is accompanied by a photo taken by a photographer friend whose dogs also feature. Interspersed throughout are stories of Shaw's own dog, Hunza, from earlier times. Hunza was a German Shepherd who worked alongside her when she was a Youth Aid Officer. Many of the youths or children found the confidence to confide because of Hunza.
I found most of this only mildly interesting, but some of the stories especially Hunza's ones were heartbreaking.
Ruth has had many new visitors to her bookshop who are fans of her memoir and I noticed an ex-LTer from long ago now only seen on GR, @kiwiflora has visited the shop due to reading the memoir and also reviewed this one.

71) Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent (2023)
crime
A few years ago I became a big Liz Nugent fan and read all her books in a rush but then bailed on Little Cruelties. I came across this one when it was mentioned in an X conversation, I liked the sound of the title and requested it from the library. I really enjoyed this, the story is set in both Ireland and New Zealand so some local flavour for me.
Now in her 40s, strange Sally Diamond has had an unusual childhood and that is before we find out about her life before she was adopted. After the death of her father everything changes.

So I'm currently reading a number of books:
Nordy Bank by Sheena Porter - a group of children go camping
The Battle by Patrick Rimbaud - Napoleon's first defeat
The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad - 3 novellas
The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa - 7 stories about cats
The Burned Letter: A New Zealander's Holocaust Mystery: A Memoir by Helene Ritchie - just started
and a few others I've dipped into

Today I browsed in Poppies, a local bookshop, and came away with two children's books -
The Apprentice Witnesser by Bren McDibble - New Zealand writer living in Australia. Love her books.
The boy who didn't want to die by Peter Lantos - based on his adult Holocaust memoir, Parallel Lines which I already own.

I also took notice of three nonfiction books to find out more about them-
I seek a kind person by Julian Borger
Forbidden Daughter: The True Story of a Holocaust Survivor by Zipora Klein Jakob
The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour wiith Jude Dobson - her family only found out about her WW2 exploits when they read about them on the internet in 2000. She died last year aged 102yrs - The bookshop had a window display so possibly she lived locally.

My son has just baked a batch of bagels. So good.

Yesterday I saw the film Golda, only my second cinema outing for the year, the other one was Dune 2. Golda focuses entirely on Golda Meir during the tense Yom Kippur War of 1973, so Helen Mirren's performance is front and centre and quite spectacular. I went with my history buff son so we had quite a good discussion afterwards. I was happy enough, I've read extensively, seen the 1982 Ingrid Bergman biopic and a few documenteries. I do want to read more because of the film. Now I have to look through our Israeli dvd collection to find some films for my son to watch.

Last night we finished watching the Shogun 10 episode series on tv as well. I never got over the casting for John Blackthorn - Cosmo Jarvis just wouldn't have been my pick. We watched one episode each evening with a couple of breaks, I wasn't really a fan - how can you squash a 1,000 page epic into 10 episodes. Still the cinematography, location shots and costuming were superb.

>48 avatiakh: I can almost smell and taste those bagels!

Helen Mirren is such a fabulous character actress. I must look for that film.

>49 PaulCranswick: Prepare yourself for endless chain smoking. The last film I saw that had so much cigarette smoke was Hannah Arendt.

I just found out that Mirren's paternal side was once Russian aristocracy.

>50 avatiakh: Her real name was Mironov or something like that, Kerry. I do recall that she is descended from Kamensky who was a leading General for the Russians in the Napoleonic wars.

>51 PaulCranswick: So a good month to find that out.

>21 avatiakh: That one is of interest to me. I will see if I can locate a copy.

>24 avatiakh: Those look fun! My local library has them too so I will have to give them a shot.

>32 avatiakh: Dodging a bunch of BBs including that one as I have already read it. 'So much death' is about it.

>42 avatiakh: Another one for me to track down a copy of at some point - Hoopla has it but it is in French, which is not very helpful since I do not read French. *sigh*

>46 avatiakh: I will look for that one too.

Thanks for all the recommendations, Kerry!

>42 avatiakh: I found the about-the-book almost more interesting than the book. I quoted this in my review:

Philippe Grimbert says that in writing this book, "I was finally becoming the master of a story of which I had so long been the dupe." Yet he also admits that "I think I have discovered the truth of this story more than its reality, but in any case, this psychological truth was more important to me than the historical reality." (Italics are the author's.)

Grimbert is a psychoanalyst, which leads to a different self-perspective. I find the books by the children of survivors to be quite interesting in general.

>54 labfs39: I can understand why he became a psychoanalyst. That bit about coming across the dog cemetery was quite symbolic. The 'about the book' was indeed very useful reading.

>53 alcottacre: I hope you can find a copy of the Debenedetti book. I found it really difficult, no interloans available in New Zealand.

Spy Family is very popular but not as good as other manga I've read. The set up is fun.

Read anything from Liz Nugent. I'm going to retry Little Cruelties.

72) Nordy Bank by Sheena Porter (1964)
children's fiction

Carnegie Medal (UK) 1964. This is set in rural Shropshire where a group of young teenagers decide to go camping for a few days. They camp on a windy hill on the site of what was once a iron or bronze age settlement, Nordy Bank. One of the girls seems to channel a connection through to those past times. There is also an escaped German Shepherd who has just been retired from the army and still needs to undergo new training for his retirement.
This was quite a lovely read set in an English world that I doubt exists anymore, though dated it's still a pleasure for those wanting 1960s nostalgia. There are puppies too.

Currently reads:
The Battle by Patrick Rimbaud
The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad - just one story left of the three.
Handles by Jan Mark - another Carnegie Medal winner, from the 1980s
The Burned Letter by Helene Ritchie

73) The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad (2018 Hebrew) (2024 English)
three novellas
I really liked these stories featuring ex-pat Israelis though they covered topics that were uncomfortable.
The Hebrew Teacher - a long established teacher of Hebrew at a college is forced to face a changing world when the new Professor of Hebrew Literature is not that keen on things Israeli or Judaism.
A Visit (Scenes) - An older grandmother comes to the US to see her first grandchild who is two or three years old. She's made to feel unwelcome by her busy son and standoffish wife, the grandson spends long hours in a daycare so she hardly sees him. There seems to be no love or family life in the home.
Make New Friends - A mother is distraught that her 13 year old daughter has no friends and goes about fixing this in the worse possible way - logging in to her daughter's social media.
This story really made me squirm.

A trip into the city yesterday and a visit to my favourite used bookshop which (sob) will probably close its doors at the end of the year when the lease expires after 55 years in business. Maud tells me that the current landlord refuses to renew the lease and they just cannot find anywhere in the central city with a decent rental agreement, landlords are just not friendly. She'd like to set up again somewhere in partnership with her granddaughter but they don't have the resources to do it.

74) Heroes by Robert Cormier (1998)
YA
Came across this on the Five Books website, it was one of five suggested by Melvin Burgess for children and YA readers. Francis fakes his birth certificate to sign up for the US Army at age 15. He returns home a hero but with a ruined face. He has fallen on a grenade and saved the lives of his platoon. He has only one thought and that is to end the life of the town's other war hero. Quite a lot of story in only 90 odd pages.

>60 avatiakh: How sad. I wish bookstores were valued more highly.

>62 labfs39: Now there is only one used bookshop for me to visit in my city, Hard to Find Books, which is pretty good but not in the CBD.

Free ebook: One Day in October - 'One Day in October is a unique, ambitious book of monologues that introduces its readers to forty real-life heroes. All 40 stories take place within the same twenty-four-hour period, in the same strip of beautiful, broken, blood-soaked land.'
https://mailchi.mp/korenpub.com/mzmfksmo6o?utm_source=Koren+Publishers+English+L...

>63 avatiakh: Looks interesting. I downloaded the sample chapters.

>64 labfs39: I also downloaded. The email gave the impression it was the whole book but is actually a sampler e-book.
I came across a list of books about Israel on 'X' yesterday. It's extensive and definitely on the side of Israel but worth perusing. I haven't read many of them maybe only one or two.

My son went to the bathroom in the middle of the night and heard a car come up our rather long driveway around 3am on Sunday night. It sat there for a long while so he woke me up. We put on the lights in the stairwell and I checked with my other son that he hadn't left anything valuable in his car. It eventually left but we were fairly shaken as we've had our cars broken into and also been burgled in recent times.
I stayed downstairs until my husband got up to watch a sports game. So I scrolled through twitter and got lucky as one of his cousins posted on X and I would have missed it, a photo of his mother and grandmother for Mother's Day I presume. His grandmother was from Minsk and was the sister of my husband's grandmother. Dick Zigun is the unofficial mayor of Coney Island and usually posts weird stuff or vintage photos of Coney Island so it was a good catch for me as photos of this part of the family are scarce for us. He also recently posted some photos of the P.T. Barnum circus in Bridgeport where their headquarters were. One was of rows of elephants waiting out the winter season.

Shoshanna's Books to understand Israel:
(plus a few from comments)

Israel’s Moment, Jeffrey Herf
The Claim of Dispossession, Arieh Avneri
1948, Benny Morris
The War of Return, Einat Wilf
The Arc of a Covenant, Walter Russell Mead
Doomed to Succeed, Dennis Ross
Uprooted, Lyn Julius
Nazis, Islamists and the Making of the Modern Middle East, Barry Rubin
The Jews Should Keep Quiet , Rafael Madoff
Lawfare, Orde Kittrie
Ike’s Gamble, Michael Doran
Palestine Betrayed , Efraim Karsh
Black Wave, Kim Ghattas
America's Game, Hugh Wilford
The Arab Lobby, Michael Bard
Armies of Sand, Kenneth Pollack
Glubb Pusha and the Arab Legion, Graham Jevon
The Arabists, Robert Kaplan
Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World, Jeffrey Herf
The Farhud, Edwin Black
Semites and antisemites, Bernard Lewis
UN Gang, Pedro Sanjuan
Dancing With the Devil, Michael Rubin
Inside the Middle East, Avi Melamed
The Iran War, Jay Solomon
The Terror Years, Lawrence Wright
Inside the PLO, Neil Livingstone
The Oslo Syndrome, Kenneth Levin
The Pledge, Leonard Slater
Behind the Myth- Arafat, Andrew Gowers
The American House of Saud, Steven Emerson
The Vanished Imam, Fouad Ajami
The Rape of Palestine, William Ziff
The Birth of Israel: The Drama as I Saw it, Jorge Garcia Granados
Yasir Arafat, A Political Biography, Barry Rubin
Lawrence and Aaronsohn, Ronald Florence
The Israeli Solution, Caroline Glick
The Invention of the Palestinians, Emmett Laor
The Chatham House Version, Elie Kedourie
From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters
The Revolt by Menachem Begin
History of the Jews by Simon Dubnov.
Betrayal: The Failure of American Jewish Leadership by Charles Roberts
The Prime Ministers by Yehuda Avner
Abba Eban: an autobiography
Perfidy by Ben Hecht
Noa Tishby, Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth
David Meir Levi, History Upside Down,
Samuel Katz, Battleground,
Yaacov Lozewick, Right to Exist
Salomon Benzimra, Jewish Peoples Rights to the Land of Israel
Yaacov Katz, The Weapons Wizards
Ben Netanyahu, A Durable Peace

75) Andromeda Bond in Trouble Deep by Brian Falkner (2023)
YA
Brainjack #2. This is a sequel to Brainjack (2009) and is published by Brian's own Red Button Press. Not really necessary to remember every detail from the first book as this one is about the daughter who is now 12 years old. Andromeda has been brought up in an offline environment so her identity is well hidden but now a little ahead of schedule she must face the adversary that cost her father's life.
An exciting read as expected. I visited Brian's website to see if he had any new books out and came across this one.

Current reads:
The Battle by Patrick Rimbaud - still in the early pages
Imajica by Clive Barker - chunkster that I think I'll like once I get into it
The Burned Letter by Helene Ritchie - read quite a chunk of this these past two days
Strange Haven by Sigmund Tobias - about Jewish Shanghai during the war years

>65 avatiakh: That's scary. I hope they don't return.

>66 avatiakh: Quite the list. Do you think you will try and read through them, or just pick a few?

>69 labfs39: We've taken to locking the front door at all times. Just that even when we're home they could quietly slip in and enter my oldest son's room if he's not there. He has a lot of music equipment & guitars that would be a disaster to have taken. He lost gear in all the incidents that we've had. We've put in new blinds so you can't see into his room but need to do more obviously.

The list is quite interesting, many books I've not come across before. I'll definitely pull the Joan Peters book off my shelves. I own a couple of the others. I was interested to read more nonfiction on the Yom Kippur War after seeing the Golda film.
I know that the British Mandate period is having documents made available all the time now in the UK as the 100 years comes around and some of the more recent publications take this into account, shedding new light onto historical record. I'll probably pick up one of those books as well.

>69 labfs39: Have made my way through checking out some of the list books and many are recent and just too expensive to contemplate buying and my library doesn't have them either so that means interlibrary loans.
I'll start with From time immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine by Joan Peters as I've owned that one for many years. I see in the introduction that she thanks several historians such as Martin Gilbert & Bernard Lewis for their time and access to documents and books. Will put this down for reading in June.
My son is currently reading and enjoying Martin Gilbert's In Ishmael's House: A History of Jews in Muslim Lands. He's been a hardline lefty, studied politics and history and I could hardly hold a conversation with him on some topics political. We just travelled together for three months and mostly avoided these discussions. Then the events in Israel overtook any differences we might have had. Since we got home he has embraced his Jewish heritage and belongs to a Jewish /Israeli support group on discord.

I've been out of touch and haven't visited your thread in awhile. This is a bad month for reading as I'm concentrating on getting the house spic and span and in order.

I'm glad I stopped by. I added many of your books to my tbr pile, and your descriptions of travels made me so very envious. What a wonderful trip seeing so very interesting places.

Certainly the European travels were incredibly interesting, I smiled seeing two black cats at the Edgar Allan Poe house. In college I took an American Literature class with a man who was incredibly interesting. We spent a good deal of time reading Poe's tales.

Thanks for such a wonderful thread Kerry. I'll be sure to visit more often.

All good wishes, and many thanks for sharing!!!

>67 avatiakh: Congratulations on reaching 75, Kerry!

>72 Whisper1: Hi Linda and thanks for visiting. I've also not been following as many threads as usual, I've concentrated on actual reading. I realise I own too many books, that I can't get to them all so have been doing serioius culling these past year or so. There's a local book fair each September and I set myself a target of 20 boxes of books - mostly older paperbacks that I got from earlier bookfairs and will never get to. The few gems are kept but it's mostly popular fiction.

We had a very fulfilling day in Richmond, Virginia. The Civil War Museum is educational, lots of interesting stories behind many personal artifacts. I liked that they had a library nook on the landing where you could browsse and read extracts from a variety of Civil War books.
The Edgar Allen Poe House museum gives a good overview of Poe's unhappy life. The cats were a lovely addition, especially for travellers like us who were missing our own ones.

We spent about 5 days in each European city and explored indepth as my son is a keen walker. We visited museums and parks and monuments and tried local food. I googled for interesting bookshops and libraries and we visited quite a number of those. I really enjoyed travelling with him again. We did a trip together about 12 years ago to Spain and Paris.

>73 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita. Always good to get there in the first half of the year.

>71 avatiakh: My son just showed me a Vivian Silver quote in the Martin Gilbert book, she was one of the October 7 victims.
https://fathomjournal.org/in-memory-of-vivian-silver-1949-2023/

A lot in the few days I have been away from your thread, Kerry.

Firstly congratulations on passing 75 books already.

Secondly >66 avatiakh: Thank you for that list I am going to have a look for some of them although I suspect many of them will not be available here.

Thirdly I continue to be disturbed by much of the awfully ill-informed protesting going on in much of the West which to me is rampantly and blatantly anti-Semitic. Joe Biden should be ashamed of his willingness to appease the demonic elements in his party to pander for a few extra votes. The British are also letting down its law abiding Jewish citizenry and failing to protect their rights.

Fourth >57 avatiakh: I was book bulleted by that one. A nicer world entirely.

>77 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. Thanks for visiting. The list is a good addition to others I have used and quite a lot are general Middle East politics reading. One area I've been remiss on is Soviet relations with the Arab states since WW2, the Golda film reminded me of that.

I don't like to do politics on my thread usually but the protests are absurd, the students seem to be frightfully uninformed and a lot of those arrested are outside agitators. Most of the students seem to be ignorant or just following a trend yet it's dangerous for Jewish students.
So much aid money has been poured into Gaza and most has been utilised by Hamas to build their underground infrastructure and it all needs to go. Egypt has always had a border with Gaza, yet this fact remains unexplored by most media and protestors. For the last few years they have been building a buffer zone to keep terrorists & smugglers at bay.

Might be hard to find Nordy Bank, I'm sure there are lots of other children's books with similar nostalgia.

Today a helpful assistant at my library recommended the oceanofpdf site for books that I can't get at my library rather than doing lots of interloans.

I picked well last week as I bought a copy of Lioness by Emily Perkins and it just won th Ockham Award for Fiction NZ.

>71 avatiakh: I hope someday to be able to travel with my daughter. Our last trip was almost 11 years ago when we went to France for several weeks. Recent events are horrible, but I'm glad they have brought you and your son closer.

>79 avatiakh: Thanks for the tip about oceanofpdf. I'm going to explore it further.

ETA: There seems to be some debate about whether they are infringing copyright with pirated copies. There have been multiple lawsuits.

76) Handles by Jan Mark (1983)
children's fiction

Carnegie Medal (1983) UK. Quite dated in someways yet interesting in that a young girl is quite obsessed with motorbikes and has the making of being a good mechanic. Erica is shunted off to her aunts in a dreary part of Norfolk where the daily tasks revolve round the vegetable garden and keeping a pesky peacock at bay. Eventually she discovers the local motorbike workshop and spends time there in the company of the owner Elsie and his sidekick Bunny. The title comes from the handles (nicknames) that Elsie gives to all and sundry, even to the cracks in the alleyway.
I enjoyed all the characters in this book even the unlikeable ones.

I have two more Carnegie Medal UK winners out from the library stacks to read, then I need to take a break for a few months.
Tulku by Peter Dickinson (1979)
The Scarecrows by Robert Westall (1981)

>81 labfs39: I just opeed the webpage for oceansofpdf and didn't really explore but also thought the books more recent than her explanation. So probably not a go to place for books.

Hope you get to travel together again at some point.

A book delivery to my house always brings on good feelings especially now that I hardly buy new books.

Fourth Wing & Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros - library queues too long for these and I hope my daughter reads them as well
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah Maas - seen this around on the threads

Went into the city this morning and finally organised myself to visit Carmel, an Israeli eatery, which is tucked away in a side street just out of the city centre. It was very busy and the food was delightful. My son had falafel in pita as he wanted to see how it compared to the falafel he made last week for us. I had chicken schnitzel in challah. Both helpings were generous and their coffee is good so we'll be going back. It's only 5 minutes walk from Hard to Find Bookshop so we had a browse there as well.

I bought a few books:
The Brumby by Mary Elwyn Pratchett - children
The Rout of Ollafubs by K.G. Lethbridge - stories for children
Moonraker by F. Tenneyson Jesse
Europa Europa by Solomon Perl
Auschwitz to Australia by Olga Horak
Never Again: a history of the Holocaust by Martin Gilbert

>86 avatiakh: An Israeli restaurant of the same name recently opened in West Hollywood. It looks interesting, but doesn't have the extensive array of vegetable sides & salads of the Israeli place I loved that vanished while I wasn't looking. Cumin carrots were to die for, and I'm not a carrot fan - except carrot cake.

>87 quondame: No carrots here. It's a tiny place, they used to have a food truck. Only open Thursday thru Saturday. We brought home some babka and rugelach to try. No sides here either apart from fries.
https://www.instagram.com/carmelisraelistreetfood/?hl=en

Whe I first went to Tel Aviv I loved going to the Falafel Market which was probably not that hygenic but all the stalls had great falafel and lots of sides to throw on top.

>88 avatiakh: That looks delicious! The local Carmel looks upscale, which would be normal for the area, but has a limited menu. If I would try some of the plethora of Israeli places to the east of me I'd probably find what I want - I did find a sandwich/grocery/deli that did a great chicken sandwich and had lots of salads. But the kosher corridor intimidates me.

>89 quondame: We generally make our own Israeli food as there were no Israeli food places for many years and now there are two with limited opening times. I soak a bunch of chickpeas every month or so and we have a few days of intensive falafel, hummus, tahina eating. I usually make a simple Israeli salad each meal time, just chopped tomato & cucumber with olive oil, maybe a sprinkle of parsley or dill.
I make baba ganoush from time to time but lately my husband prefers fried eggplant. I generally make green tabbouli as it lasts longer without tomatoes. From time to time I blend up a batch of zhoug which is then dolloped onto almost everything.
Lately my son has taken over the hummus & falafel making, he's wanting to make the ultimate falafel!

>90 avatiakh: Stuffed grapeleaves, tabbouli, and hummus I grew up with, but falafel was a later introduction. But it was as Greek food rather than Israeli so that's probably why. Gyros was later too, now that I think of it. Chickpeas were from a can though.

I make a batch of dolmades from time to time though not my favourite thing to make. We had gyros a few times when in Athens last year.


The Secrets of Little Greek Taverna by Erin Palmiano (2024)
romance
DNF
I've seen this in the bookshops since it came out in February and the book fitted my plan of reading books set in Greece throughout the year. The author is a New Zealander / American and last week it was #3 in bestselling fiction book sales for New Zealand.
Anyway I was looking for a word to describe the first 30 or 40 pages and all I came up with is 'insipid'. Bland and not my thing at all. I'll leave it there, luckily I got this out from the library.

Just noticed that the two top Penguin editors in New Zealand lost their jobs last week in a restructure. Another nail in the NZ literature coffin.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/10-05-2024/two-senior-publishers-axed-at-penguin-...

also worth a look is this article 'No one buys books' - https://www.elysian.press/p/no-one-buys-books
about about the publishing industry from Penguin vs. US DOJ

Next NZ read might just be this debut novel, Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts by Josie Shapiro. The manuscript won the inaugural Allen & Unwin Award for NZ Commercial Fiction.

>93 avatiakh: The "No One Buys Books" article was sure depressing. Ugh.

>95 labfs39: I do buy the occasional new book, usually a New Zealand children's writer, but now a lot of our writers are published from Australia as the main publishers shrink their staff numbers.

>66 avatiakh: Good list.

I will look for the Carnegie Medal children's books.

Scary about your break-ins.

Oh, and congrats on reaching 75!

Hi Beth - thanks for visiting. Some of those Carnegie books are really great reads especially if you like juvenile fiction.
It's been quiet here at casa avatiakh, still taking more precautions.

I've finished 3 more books and will update my thread soon.
Auschwitz Report by Primo Levi & Leonardo De Benedetti
The Burned Letter by Helene Ritchie
When Marnie was there by Joan Robinson

Current reading to finish this month:
The Battle by Patrick Rambaud - Napoleon
Tulku by Peter Dickinson - set during the Boxer Rebellion
The Refugee Summer by Edward Fenton - 1920s Athens
Second Person Singular by Sayed Kashua - e-book

Books arrived by mail:
When the robbers came to Cardamom Town by Thorbjørn Egner - classic Norwegian children's book
Harvest of Hate: The Nazi Program for the Destruction of the Jews of Europe by Leon Poliakov (1951 France) (1954 USA)

>82 avatiakh: >83 avatiakh: Now I need to investigate yet more books - the Carnegie Medal UK books - that I need to read at some point in my lifetime. Off to see if I can find a list somewhere. . .Finding the books themselves is yet another matter!

>85 avatiakh: I still need to read Fourth Wing. I have owned it for a while now. I am not buying the second book until I am sure I like the first one.

>86 avatiakh: Nice haul! I will be curious to see what you think of the Martin Gilbert book. I enjoy his writing.

>92 avatiakh: I certainly hope your next read proves to be better than that one was!

Have a great day, Kerry!

>99 alcottacre: I've enjoyed most of the Carnegie UK books I've read so far. There's a LT List of the winners - https://www.librarything.com/list/44105/all/Carnegie-Medal-Winners-In-Order
I'm taking my time with this project, though I've read quite a few this year. You should have no problem finding the more recent winners.

I got both Yarros books as I thought my daughter might like reading them as well. The library queue for these books is up in the 500s.

The Martin Gilbert book is more of a reference book, full of photographs, maps, text boxes and illustrations. Useful to have on hand with other reading.

Yeah, The Secrets of Little Greek Taverna was not for me at all. I've put Three Summers in my to read next pile and that looks to be much more my type of read.

Well back to Napoleon and the Battle of Essling.

My day is looking up. I've been to the library already & had my morning coffee.

Last week I took note of Scream quietly or the neighbours will hear by Erin Pizzey (1974), mainly as the title caught my eye in the myriad of bookshelves at Hard to Find Books. This morning I was researching all the books whose covers I'd photographed in various places and looked up Pizzey who according to wikipedia has had a remarkable life.
Starting out in the 1970s as a feminist and an advocate for battered women she established the first refuge for women in the UK. Then was ostracised for saying that many women are violent and not all are total victims. She also went against the more militant feminist members of her circle. She's lived all over the place and always been strong in her beliefs and paid the price for this. From wikipedia: 'Pizzey was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to the victims of domestic abuse.'
The book was the first to acknowledge wife battering according to Penguin who published it. I'm adding her 2011 memoir This Way to the Revolution to my to read list.

https://medium.com/@alexandermoreaudelyon/erin-pizzey-the-story-of-the-feminist-... 'Erin Pizzey: The Story of the Feminist Who Was Threatened for Acknowledging Male Victims'
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/02/feminism-mens-rights-a... 'Why has Erin Pizzey, once a pioneer of the women’s movement, been written out of its history?'

77) Auschwitz Report by Primo Levi and Leonardo De Benedetti (2006)
nonfiction

Back in 1945 when Levi and De Benedetti were recovering from their time in Auschwitz, the Soviets asked them to write a report on the medical and general living conditions of the camp. Later when back in Italy they published another version and this more recent one includese an introduction and two obituaries Levi wrote when De Benedetti died in 1983.
This is brief and covers most of what we already now know about Auschwitz but still worth reading if your library has a copy.

78) When Marnie Was There by Joan G. Robinson (1967)
children's fiction
This was another used bookshop find from a few years ago. I think I got it because there was a windmill on the cover. When I pulled it off the shelves and looked it up online I discovered that Studio Ghibli had adapted it to an animated film in 2014. My daughter had seen the film so I decided to add it to the TIOLI challenge to read a book with a girl's name in the title.
A lovely read about a lonely fostered girl who is sent to recuperate her health on the Norfolk seaside. I loved how it all came together at the end.
I watched the first part of the film yesterday on Netflix but didn't feel the need to see it through to the end.

79) The Burned Letter: A New Zealander's Holocaust Mystery: A Memoir by Helene Ritchie (2023)
memoir
This is Ritchie's story of finding who her family was and what happened to them all during the Holocaust. Her mother and grandmother were lucky to depart Prague in 1939 due to receiving a visa to New Zealand thanks to a complete stranger sponsoring them and persevering with the hostile bureaucrats in New Zealand to ensure that the visas would be issued. Ritchie's uncle and a few other relatives made it to the UK on the kindertransport. The uncle and then a great aunt and uncle arrived to New Zealand.
Her mother burned the letter she received after the war, she said they all died, I just don't want to know. Ritchie grew up knowing that her father had no family, just a photo of a woman who was his mother. He also managed to get an entry visa to New Zealand leaving in 1938 or 1939.
This was a fascinating read, Ritchie has managed to unearth so much information about her family. There's a lot of material in the book, some is general information on the camps, other parts are raw descriptions of the transports, how the Nazis and their helpers emptied the ghettos and holding camps. These were her relatives being transported. The documentation Ritchie has done is thorough and helpful to others seeking similar information.

Too many golems by Jane Yolen (2024)
picturebook

Cute story about a boy who unwittingly summons ten golems who want to help him. He decides to get help with his Hebrew and so they arrive each week to give him a lesson. Maya Shleifer's crayon art style is fun and Yolen's text is vibrant.

80) The Impossible Story of Hannah Kemp by Leonie Agnew (2023)
YA
The manuscript won the Tessa Duder Award 2022. 15 year old Hannah is having a hard time and the hard time is making her angry and rebellious. This affects her relationship with her adoptive parents, her fellow students and even with the guy who works at the local bookstore. There is a magical element to the story as well, with a mysterious mobile library that stocks books on events that have happened to people she knows, there's even one about her.
The magical element was a bit strange but overall this was a story of Hannah overcoming her past and her present. Enjoyable, another one that fitted the TIOLI challenge to read a book with a girl's name in the title.

As always, Kerry, plenty of book bullets flying through the posts here.

Have a lovely Sunday.

81) The Goodbye Cat: Seven Cat Stories by Hiro Arikawa (2021 Japanese) (2023 English)
stories
Seven mostly adorable tales about cats. Just adorable. The last two stories have significance for those who've read The Travelling Cat Chronicles. Especially delightful is how the cats get their names.

>107 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. Had a zoom meeting for a group i'm secretary for, our AGM, so glad to see the back of that. I'm still secretary as no one volunteers to come on our committee.

Back to reading my Napoleon book for the War Room and The Refugee Summer for books set in Greece.

Looking through my book lineup for June and decided to backtrack through my threads and take note of my original intentions for the year plus books I've put to one side. So I have a list which I'll post once I've got my May commitments out of the way....and of course, all those library books.

This Time Magazine Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time from 2020 is definitely NOT my consideration for a top 100 but interesting all the same as several new to me writers on the list that I will check out.
Many greats left out including translated writers. The list seems to include many recent YA fantasy writers. I don't really follow the latest trends in the fantasy genre but do enjoy reading fantasy novels.
Writers that I never heard of before and will look into include:
Amos Tutuolam: The Palm-Wine Drinkard & My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Jin Yong: A Hero Born
Manuel Mujica Lainez: The Wandering Unicorn
Nalo Hopkinson: Brown Girl in the Ring
Susan Ee: Angelfall
Sofia Samatar: A Stranger in Olondria
Sabaa Tahir: An Ember in the Ashes & A Torch Against the Night
Daniel José Older: Shadowshaper
Charlie Jane Anders: All the Birds in the Sky
Neon Yang: The Black Tides of Heaven
Fonda Lee: Jade City
Victor LaValle: The Changeling
Roshani Chokshi: Aru Shah and the End of Time
Anna-Marie McLemore: Blanca & Roja
Tasha Suri: Empire of Sand
Rebecca Roanhorse: Trail of Lightning
C.L. Polk: Witchmark
L. Penelope: Song of Blood & Stone
Kacen Callender: Queen of the Conquered
Akwaeke Emezi: Pet
Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Gods of Jade and Shadow
Evan Winter: The Rage of Dragons
Isabel Ibañez: Woven in Moonlight

>110 avatiakh: Some of those I remember and there are others where the color of the touchstone indicates that I've at least taken a look at the LT Wiki page. In most of those cases and some others, I have read the book.

>83 avatiakh: I've added the Scarecrows and Tulku to my TBR list. I've enjoyed your listing of these wonderful YA books.

>111 quondame: Hi Susan - now that I've posted the list I can see that several have won awards etc etc. I just don't make time to read enough fantasy. From the 100 list I decided to read The Fifth Season as I see it almost every day on my fiction shelves. There's another top 100 list I looked through, the Fantasy Book Review UK site which is much more classic and I think only had two books from my post above on their list, The Rage of Dragons & All the Birds in the Sky. https://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/top-100-fantasy-books/
Not surprised that you've read most of the books in my post as you read much more fantasy than I do.

War Room: June - English Civil War
Looking through possible reads for June - I will definitely read Children of the New Forest as that was one of the books from my childhood shelves that I never read.
When my son and I were in Edinburgh last year we read about the Covenanters who were killed for their beliefs and visited the Martyrs' Monument in the Greyfriars Church Cemetery. I'd like to read more about them, I think Walter Scott had a few books featuring this movement.
I have Acts of Oblivion by Robert Harris and will try to read that as well as the plot looks interesting and I can see the book on my shelves.

Came across two fantasy novels which feature the Civil War in the past couple of days -
Red Shift by Alan Garner
A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge

>112 Whisper1: Hi Linda - I've started Tulku and enjoyed what I've read so far.

>113 avatiakh: Most would be an exaggeration. A noticeable fraction rather. Victor LaValle's The Changeling was impressive in a horror adjacent sort of way.

>115 quondame: Sorry, I misread. Not sure if I want to read horror-adjacent! I used to enjoy paranormal fiction, but there's too much around now. From another list I've also been reminded to read more of Natasha Pulley and to investigate H G Parry's books.

I grabbed a light paperback to take with me this morning as I dropped my car at the local garage for a service and warrent of fitness. Then had a coffee and supermarket visit before walking home. So started reading The Good Soldier Schwiek and finding it quite enjoyable. I won't take it out again as my copy is too fragile for many outings but will leave it by my bedside and read a chapter each morning.
My copy contains the first three books, each one is around 100 pages.

82) Tulku by Peter Dickinson (1979)
children's
Carnegie Medal (UK) 1979. I enjoyed this adventure set in China & Tibet. In the first chapter Theodore escapes from Boxer rebels who massacre everyone in a remote mission that was led by his father. He falls in with a travelling botanist and her guide. Fleeing bandits, they make their way into Tibet where they spend time in a Buddhist monastery.

83) The Battle: a novel by Patrick Rambaud (1997)
fiction
Winner Prix Goncourt 1997. Paul's War Room Challenge - May: Napoleonic Wars
The Battle of Essling 1809. It was Napoleon's first major battle defeat as head of state and the major obstacle seems to have been the River Danube which was a raging torrent, almost breaking its banks. The bridges had all been destroyed by the Austrians when leaving Vienna and Napoleon's army had to cross using makeshift pontoons over to the island of Lobau and then again to the villages of Essling & Aspern.
The main story is seen through two friends, Colonel Louis-Francois LeJeune, aide-de-camp to Marshal Berthier & Henri Beyle (the writer, Stendhal), an officer on sick leave in Vienna. The book also follows a few fictional characters in different parts of the army and from their fortunes and misfortunes the reader sees the heroism and courage of Napoleon's generals and officers as well the tragedy of the dying and wounded. Saddest death had to be that of General Lannes.
Rambaud drew his story from the many memoirs of the various commanders and officers etc. Impressive detail on the makeshift hospital on the island, every second wounded seemed to have limbs amputated to avoid infection of wounds. Lannes lost both legs and didn't recover dying a few days after the battle.
Even the bibliography was an interesting read.

Last year I visited Vienna and went to the Belvedere Art Museum, mainly to see Klimt's The Kiss. Also viewed the magnificent massive portrait of Napoleon by Jacques Louis David in the Images of War Room.

I read a picture book to the girls yesterday that featured Napoleon (I, Crocodile) and the older one was asking me about him. I realized how little I know. Someday I'll have to focus on that era in European history.

>110 avatiakh: Interesting list. I recognize a few of them and have read My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.

>113 avatiakh: Acts of Oblivion is a good idea and is tied at least to the civil war in a broader sense.

>119 avatiakh: I must find that one, it looks like an excellent read.

>120 labfs39: A picturebook from 20 years back, Napoleon and the Chicken Farmer, I think this was Lloyd Jones only picturebook.

>121 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul. So did you like My Life in the Bush of Ghosts?
I picked up Acts of Oblivion in a charity shop a few weeks back. Robert Harris is usually a good read.
The Rambaud was very good, just got put aside a few times for other reading so took the entire month to get through. I'm slowly reading as many Prix Goncourts as I come across so always good to read another one. Initially Balzac was going to write about the battle but never got round to it. I think this is what made Rambaud tackle this particular battle, it's the first in his Napoleonic trilogy.

I have two books I'd like to finish by end of May, though I can only hope to get one in by the finish line, The Refugee Summer by Edward Fenton. These past couple of days I've been doing genealogy research and it takes up my reading time.

84) The Refugee Summer by Edward Fenton (1982)
children's

Read for my ongoing book set in Greece focus. I came across Fenton when I saw that he had translated several books from Greek to English. He was American but lived in Greece. This was an enjoyable read for me.
It's about a group of children spending the summer in a small village just outside Athens. It's 1922 and the Burning of Smyrna is about to happen and change the face of modern Greece.
As the two Americans children, two Hungarian girls and Nikolas, the son of the housekeeper frolic around the village, they overhear the political talk in cafes and in their homes. Greeks are either on the side of the King who felt it was time to take back what was once Greek from the Turks, or were more inclined to back Venizelos. Interesting introduction to Greek politics of those times.
Many years ago I read Ashes of Smyrna : a novel of the Greco-Turkish War by Richard Reinhardt and I must take a look at it again.

From Wikipedia: 'Venizelos' liberal party ruled Greece from 1910 until 1916. That year, determined to enter World War I on the entente side, Venizelos rebelled against the king and formed a Provisional Government of National Defence in Thessaloniki. Venizelos regained full control of the country in 1917 and ruled until losing the 1920 elections. The strongest support for Venizelism came in the "New Greece" gained after the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 consisting of Crete, Thrace, Epirus, the North Aegean islands, and Macedonia. By contrast, people in "Old Greece" tended to be more much royalist. The fact that in 1916 King Constantine I had allowed the Bulgarians to occupy parts of Macedonia and had been willing to contemplate giving up all of recently gained "New Greece" in the north to the Bulgarians to weaken the Venizelist movement cemented the identification of people in northern Greece with Venizelism.'

For June, I've decided to finish books that I've started already and put aside too many times, as well to tackle a few of the books I listed at the start of the year.
Also to read for the War Room challenge, English Civil War.
So I'll try to read some of the books below:

Club Read Rebecca's List:
Aira, César. The Seamstress and the Wind -
Bergelson, Dovid. The End of Everything -
Rufin, Jean-Christophe. The Abyssinian -

Holocaust Reading
The Cap: The Price Of A Life by Roman Frister

New Year Resolution:
Some of the books I hope to read this year:
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts by Louis de Bernières
Hunting Midnight by Richard Zimler
The Spanish Letters by Mollie Hunter
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture by Apostolos Doxiadis
Wildcat under glass by Alki Zei
The Sound of the Sundial by Hana Andronikova
The good soldier Schweik by Jaroslav Hašek

War Room: June English Civil War
Children of the New Forest & Act of Oblivion
ongoing War Room reads:
The Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian
Tyll by Daniel Kelmann - Thirty Year War fiction
Warriors of God: Jan Zizka and the Hussite Revolution by Victor Verney

British Author Challenge:
May: Magical Portals
Imajica by Clive Barker - chunkster that I didn't get far into
June: Kiran Millwood Hargrave & D.H. Lawrence
The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave - YA

Series
The Caterpillar Cop Kramer and Zondi by James McClure - book #2
Defiant by Brandon Sanderson - book #4 and already started

Carnegie Medal (UK)
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
The Scarecrows by Robert Westall

Interloan
At the Edge of the Abyss: A Concentration Camp Diary, 1943-1944 by David Koker

Reading but put aside:
A communist in the family Rewi Alley biography by Elspeth Sandys
Strange Haven: a Jewish childhood in Shanghai by Sigmund Tobias
Tiger tiger by Lynne Reid Banks
Apricots on the Nile by Colette Rossant
The Little Liar by Mitch Albom
Maror by Lavie Tidhar
Magic Prague by Angelo Maria Ripellino
The Girl From Jonestown by Sharon Maas
...and several other e-books

Get back to audio:
I've been listening to music instead of books
The Iliad
Machine Vendetta Prefect Dreyfus#3 by Alaistair Reynolds

Israel Reading List
From time immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine by Joan Peters

Currently reading:
The Scarecrows by Robert Westall
The good soldier Schweik by Jaroslav Hašek
At the Edge of the Abyss: A Concentration Camp Diary, 1943-1944 by David Koker

A small book haul from a charity shop near my home:
The Triggerstone (1993) by Ged Maybury - NZ children's writer
At the Gates of Moscow by Mendel Mann - 1941 experiences of a Polish Jew in the Soviet Army
Cheap Day Return by R.F. Delderfield
An awfully big adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
Gold for Prince Charlie by Nigel Tranter - enjoyed his books years ago
An essay on autobiography by Boris Pasternak - shop assisstant mentioned Lara's Theme from the Dr Zhivago film, I loved that too.
The Italian Woman & Queen Jezebel by Jean Plaidy - now need to find book #1 in trilogy, Madame Serpent

from the library:
A skinful of shadows by Frances Hardinge - YA magic & English Civil War
Red Crosses by Sasha Filipenko - plot looks interesting

I'm giving up on At the Edge of the Abyss: A Concentration Camp Diary, 1943-1944 by David Koker due to the 50 pages of introduction and the copious footnotes that at times overwhelm the diary entries. I'll come back to it at another time when I have more patience.

Today's pick up from the library was The Ticket Collector from Belarus by Mike Anderson, looks to be an interesting nonfiction read with no footnotes.

Too bad At the Edge of the Abyss wasn't a more gripping read. At the Gates of Moscow sounds like an interesting find. I picked up a few books at a library book sale yesterday, including another graphic memoir by Miriam Katin. I had read and liked We are on our own, so was excited to find Letting it go. I also found Underground in Berlin (about a young Jewish woman who tried to hide right in Berlin), The Crime of Silence (about the Jedwabne massacre), and two you had recommended Escape from Sobibor and Salt to the Sea.

>130 labfs39: Regarding At the Edge of the Abyss, I wasn't ready for all the footnotes, which explain everything but take away from the flow of reading.
I like picking up these older memoirs of war experience such as Mendel's book. Nothing like reading primary source material.
I've read both of Katin's graphic memoirs, the second isn't as great as the first one but still an interesting read. The other books sound good too.

I've made a good start on Children of the New Forest and finding it an absorbing read. No idea why I never picked it up as a child, I would have loved it. I read Marryat's The Settlers in Canada and loved that.

85) The Scarecrows by Robert Westall (1981)
YA
Carnegie (UK) Medal 1981. When Westall saw three scarecrows in a field when out driving in the countryside, their positioning intrigued him and inspired him to write a scarecrow story.
What a story, I was quite done in by this one. Simon is 13 yrs old and lost his father eight years earlier. He has him up on a pedestal, an army officer who died in a skirmish in Aden. So when Simon's mother remarries quite suddenly he is unprepared for this jolly, plump man to take his late father's place in the family. When he arrives from boarding school for the summer break to the new family home, a nearby abandoned watermill has brooding secrets to unleash as well.

Westall creates an evil enthralling atmostphere, Simon is so angry, angry at his mum, angry at her new husband, angry angry angry, till he can't hold it in. His rage is unbearable and you can see how his mother sees all the bad traits of her late husband's military family in Simon's behaviour, which makes her temper rise quickly in retaliation. At first he finds solace at the old watermill, abandoned and isolated, but it has an unpleasant history and the ghosts from the past seemingly turn up as scarecrows in the neighbouring turnip field.

I just got an email from Penguin Classics to celebrate 100 years of Franz Kafka. Amongst all the books & inspired music was this Franz Kafka inspired game https://store.steampowered.com/app/392280/The_Franz_Kafka_Videogame/

Kafka died 3 June 1924.

>4 avatiakh: a few years ago I read a slew of Holocaust books, and Primo Levi stood out, but I have yet to read If not now, when.
Looking back at them now, I see I gave 4 of them a 4.5 star rating, so that is certainly above average for my usual ratings! They were:
- If This Is a Man and The Truce and the Periodic Table by Primo Levi
- The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust by Edith Hahn Beer, and
- Story of a Secret State: My Report to the World by Jan Karski.

>134 LovingLit: I think Karski and his efforts to bring evidence of the Holocaust to the attention of Allied governments was beyond heroic, and yet to an extent futile.

Hi Meghan - I've also read those two by Primo Levi. I read If this is man/The Truce a few weeks before visiting Auschwitz back in 2008 and it certainly made the visit to the camp more poignant. Paul mentioned If not now, when? a couple of years back and I had not come across it before then, but it is also a 'must read' for me that I should get to.
I've read Karski's book and now have my own copy and a biography of him. I first came across him in an interview in Claude Lanzmann's documentary, Shoah.
There's a lot of Holocaust literature around for sure. I'm trying to read the most important ones but keep getting sidetracked.
I read a lot of juvenile Holocaust material to see what's available to younger readers. I've just started 28 Days by David Safier which won the Buxtehuder Bulle in 2014.

>135 labfs39: That certainly came across in the interview in Shoah. The Allied governments just didn't want to know.

86) Children of the New Forest by Captain F. Marryat (1847)
children's fiction
Read for Paul's War Room Challenge: June - English Civil War.
There was a lot more of the Civil War in this book than I thought there would be. The two brothers and two sisters escape from their home just before it's burned to the ground as their late father was a high ranking Cavalier in service to King Charles I. They begin living in the New Forest in a secluded cottage with an old family retainer under the guise of being his grandchildren. They learn to survive using the resources the forest provides and their own wits after their protector dies of illness. Eventually the oldest brother goes to join the army being raised by Charles II.
I loved this adventure packed story.
I read one of many kindle editions, hence the odd cover art.

87) 28 Days by David Safier (2014 German) (2023 English)
YA
Buxtehuder Bulle (2014). This is an interesting award and I've read many winners from past years, some you have to wait for translations as it is a German Award and not all European YA is translated to English.
This is about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in April 1943 and the lead up to the event. The book features historical figures but the main characters are fictional. This was an exciting read but balanced with the emotional trauma of always having to make choices, choices that impact the lives of others, one between sacrifice and the will to survive. Mira's boyfriend at the start of the book is one of the older orphans of Janusz Korczak and his beliefs are quite different to her own.

Safier's latest book to be translated to English is Murder at the Castle (Miss Merkel #1) featuring Angela Merkel in retirement as an amateur sleuth along with her new pug, Putin. I've asked my library to buy it once it's published next month.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/miss-merkel-goes-from-chancellory-t...

>123 avatiakh: I wasn't overly keen on it to be quite honest, Kerry.

If Not Now, When? still makes my top ten favourite books of all time and I will probably buy a new copy and re-read it soon.

I am thinking of doing a re-read every month soon and am working out a list of possibles and probables for it.

>140 PaulCranswick: I must get to that Primo Levi. I read his If not now when a few weeks before visiting Auschwitz in 2008 so it really impressed on me during the visit. We'd taken our two youngest to Europe and really they were not age appropriate for a vist to there. After, we drove to Birkenau and it was pouring with rain and very miserable and I thought that this is how a visit to a camp should be.
Then we drove about 10km and arrived at the town of my husband's grandfather's family. Was quite unsettling to see how close they lived to what became the epicentre of the Final Solution. A lot of the younger members of the family had gone to Palestine many years earlier. My husband's grandfather had fought in WW1 in the British Army, joining up in Palestine or Egypt.

I keep seeing my copy of The Borribles trilogy omnibus and think I must must reread it, I loved it a lot when I first read those books. D H Lawrence is also a contender for a reread. I

Currently reading:
The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek - picked it up and liked the first few chapters
The Cap by Roman Frister - taking it slow as I just finished a book set in the Warsaw Ghetto
Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris - English Civil War theme read
Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture by Apostolos Doxiadis - Greek novel

Browsing:
My Life in Recipes: Food, Family, and Memories by Joan Nathan - delightful

New additions:
The Silence of Malka by Jorge Zentner - GN
Jew Boy by Simon Blumenfeld
The Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse - thanks to Paul. I couldn't decide which NZ poet I wanted to read so picked this up at Jason Books. I have other poetry books but always good to have one more.
The unlikely escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry - recently found out she's a New Zealand writer, also from Jason Books

Haven't actually been reading much as I've spent a lot of time doing genealogy research, and now my shoulder is playing up so it isn't pleasant to hold a heavy book.

88) Shuna's Journey by Hayao Miyazaki (1983 Japanese) (2022 English)
illustrated story/manga
This is more of an illustrated story but still reads from right to left. Miyazaki's story is based on an old Tibetan folktale about a prince going on a journey to bring back a cereal grain to his people. Very imaginative with great illustration.

>143 avatiakh: I liked this one. It had a sort of cowboy vibe.

Hi Kerry! I lost you partway through your last thread and have skimmed through this one to catch up. Congratulations on 75 books (and beyond)!

>144 quondame: It's a good little story. I really liked the illustrations.

>145 humouress: *Waves* to Nina. Hi and welcome. I'm lurking on your thread with not much to say.

89) Layers: a memoir by Pénélope Bagieu (2023 English)
graphic memoir
Delightful episodic GN featuring events from Bagieu's life. The first chapter starts in childhood when Bagieu and her sister are each given a kitten one Christmas after much pestering of their parents. Lots of awkward teenage moments and of first love. The illustration style is fun.

90) Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan (2020)
fiction
Not sure what induced me to pick this one up but I did also request his latest book from the library so maybe there is some character crossover. Anyway right from the first pages the reader becomes aware that this is a retelling of 'A Room with a View' but with super rich Asian and part Asian characters. Descending on the island of Capri to attend her cousin's indulgent wedding week, the young Lucy runs across the weird George Zao and his even weirder mother, when Rosemary Zao offers their rooms with a sea view to Lucy and her older cousin Charlotte who have been shafted to the worse rooms in the hotel. The book unfolds as per the original plot, and yes, there is a Cecil in there. Freddy, Lucy's brother, is quite refreshing.
What holds some interest despite the distasteful displays of super wealth is Lucy's feelings of inadequacy among her father's relations as she feels like they judge her half-Asian heritage as not good enough. Most of the book is set on Long Island and New York.
Light entertainment.

91) Royal blood by Aimée Carter (2023)
YA
Royal Blood #1. A touch of weekend escapism. In a made up family tree, Evan is the illegitimate daughter of the current King of England and an American mother and is also the survivor of nine boarding schools in the past six years. She's got attitude, no friends and a hidden identity. Despite all the 'this would never happens' it is quite a fun read.
I came across this as book #2 was featured somewhere recently and caught my eye. I'll probably read the next book as I requested it when requesting this one from the library.

I'm still quite dazed with the news about Anita. I've posted on her memorial read thread that I'll read Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk and a reread of one of her favourite Dutch writers for children, either Jan Terlouw or Tonke Dragt. I see there is one by Tonke Dragt in translation that I haven't as yet read so will probably read that one, The Goldsmith and the Master Thief as well as reread Terlouw's How to become King which will be an ILL.

92) A visit to Moscow adapted by Anna Olswanger (2022)
graphic story
Olswanger adapted this from a story told by Rabbi Rafael Grossman about his 1965 visit to Moscow to meet Soviet Jews. He came across a couple, Holocaust survivors, whose young son had never left their apartment. Eventually he was able to obtain exit visas for the family who made aliyah to Israel.
What is stunning here is the impressive artwork by Ukranian Yevgenia Nayberg. Wow.

>151 avatiakh: I too found the illustrations to be impressive and the best part. Although the story was interesting, I was confused as to which parts were accurate and which supposition.

>152 labfs39: Agree, the illustrations were great and the story was bittersweet. I haven't read much about Soviet Jews but Bernice Rubens' Brothers had a section on their plight that has always stayed with me.

93) Happy Place by Emily Henry (2023)
romance
Fairly bland outing but what I needed as another comfort read as most of my current reads aren't hitting the spot and this one was a library pickup yesterday.

I have trouble knowing whch books I chose for the War Room so adding it here:
January: The Ancients: The Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian - stalled
February: American Revolution: Susanna's Midnight Ride by Libby Carty McNamee / Ride: The Legend of Betsy Dowdy by Kitty Griffin - na
March: The War of the Roses: The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
April: War of Religions: Bar Kochba: The rediscovery of the legendary hero of the last Jewish revolt against imperial Rome by Yigael Yadin / Knight Crusader by Ronald Welch
May: Napoleonic Wars: The Battle by Patrick Rambaud
June: English Civil War: Children of the New Forest by Captain Frederick Marryat
July: Colonial Wars: The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell / Monday's Warriors by Maurice Shadbolt
August: WW2: The Jungle is Neutral by F. Spencer Chapman
September: American Civil War: The Killer Angels by Michael Sharra
October: American Follies: Red Haze: Australians and New Zealanders in Vietnam by Leon Davidson
November: WW1: The Secret Battle by A.P. Herbert / Under Fire: The Story of a Squad by Henri Barbusse
December: Spanish Civil War: Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War by Amanda Vaill

I haven't been participating in Paul's challenge this year, but you've lined up some interesting books for it. The Jungle is Neutral looks interesting, and Under Fire has been on my wishlist. I'll look forward to your impressions.

>156 labfs39: These were my initial selections when Paul first muted the idea back in December. Most were from my shelves though I mislaid a couple of books and still haven't come across them as yet. I like to have the books ready for the start of each month.
The Barbusse book won the Prix Goncourt back in 1916 so I had to add it. I'm also keen to pick up Storm of Steel. I'd like to read about WW2 in the Pacific arena and Chapman's book was a recent discovery.
I'm currently reading Strange Haven: A Jewish Childhood in Shanghai which brings another perspective on the war experience.
One of my other current reads is Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris which is set in the aftermath of the English Civil War. I'm also enjoying a few chapters here and there of The Good Soldier Schweik.

Carnegie Medal (UK) 2024 goes to The Boy Lost in the Maze by Joseph Coelho, a verse novel. Never heard of this one till now but Coelho is the current UK Children's Laureate and known for his poetry.

94) Home before night by J.P. Pomare (2023)
crime
I try to read Pomare as his crime books get released but am playing catch up at present. I'm in the library queue for his latest. This was an ok read set in Melbourne during the second Covid lockdown. Victoria state had one of the most draconian lockdowns with police working hard to keep ordinary citizens off the streets.
Lou starts worrying when her son, Sam, doesn't come home before the first night's curfew. He's probably just staying with his girlfriend who comes across as a bit strange. Her ex-husband doesn't want to know about it. The story unravels in a satisfying way.
I had about 80 odd pages to go when I got to the epilogue, finding that the book has a 70+ page preview of his next book.

I've gone away from my planned reading, having picked up several Aussie crime novels from the library. I have taken a couple back unread but have another one on the pile to get through.
Currently reading:
Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris - finishing today
A skinful of shadows by Frances Hardinge - YA
Wake by Shelley Burr - Aussie crime

Also taking up my time was finding out that some youthful distant Aussie cousin had deleted some of my work on Geni, a free family tree builder that links everyone's trees through careful merging (now in the MyHeritage stable). She deleted my 3rd great grandmother & some others and then gave my 3rd great grandfather a new wife and child and cast adrift the other children as motherless stepchildren. I hadn't worked on Geni for a long while so this had all been done a couple of years ago.
Yesterday afternoon I remembered that there had been mention of a family bible many years ago, and I switched my search from online to going through all the folders I had and yes, found the photocopies of the family register in the 1850s bible which had all the info written in by the 2nd great grandfather. Thanks to another distant family member who had possession of the bible and done all the research in the 1980s and corresponded with my uncle.
Once you enter one of these episodes you get sucked in as you're always checking to see if your original tree still checks out.

>160 avatiakh: Oh no! (on the lost ancestors) I'm glad you found them again.

>161 humouress: I've been drowning in ancestors ever since. Just caught the research bug these past few day so my reading is taking a hit.

>100 avatiakh: I am finally going to get to Fourth Wing in July if all goes according to plan. We shall see.

>102 avatiakh: Do you think Auschwitz Report is still worth a read if I have already read Levi's Survival in Auschwitz?

>104 avatiakh: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, Kerry!

Skipping pretty much the entire month of June. . .

Happy whatever, Kerry!

>163 alcottacre: Hi Stasia, thanks for visiting. I'll try to pick the Yarros up next month as well.
Regarding Auschwitz Report, there's nothing new in there and only about 50-60 pages. A lot is taken up with the introduction. I've read a few of hi books.
You might find it hard to get Ritchie's book as it's self published here in NZ, no digital copy.

I'm picking up Burr's Aussie crime book more than anything else. About missing, abducted children in the outback.

>155 avatiakh: I may well follow you with Monday's Warriors as you may recall I do enjoy Shadbolt's books. It is available for an online loan with Open Library so I will almost certainly join you.

>165 PaulCranswick: I'll have to find my copy in the next few days.

95) Wake by Shelly Burr (2022)
crime
Lane Holland #1. Really enjoyed this one. Holland is a PI who dropped out of the police academy some years earlier to pursue cold cases of abducted young girls. He turns up in a remote rural NSW town thats seen far better days to investigate one of Australia's better known unsolved child abduction cases.
Have requested the next one in the series.

96) Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris (2022)
fiction
Read for Paul's War Room challenge: English Civil War.
Another good read. Follows the aftermath of the Civil War, two of Cromwell's men who were signatories of the regicide warrant of Charles I have run away to American shores where they spend years hidden by sympathisers and hunted from afar by a determined Royalist who has a personal history with them. Covers an interesting aspect of the war.

Will try today to finish The Girl of Ink & Stars for the British Author May challenge.

July Reading Plans -
My slate seems to have filled up with various challenges and memorial reads.
1) Continue with my unfulfilled June reads
2) War Room - Colonial Wars
The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G.Farrell
Monday's Warriors by Maurice Shadbolt
3) British Author Challenge: July: Animals
H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett - Carnegie Medal (UK) 2002
& finish The Girl of Ink & Stars for June.
4) Anita's Memorial Reads
Two of her favourite children's writers:
How to become King by Jan Terlouw
The Goldsmith and the Master Thief by Tonke Dragt
&
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger - for the TIOLI challenge
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk - for the Memorial thread
5) TIOLI challenges:
#3: Read a book that has a present European capital city in its main title
A boy of Old Prague - Sulamith Ish-Kishor - I seem to have a lot of books with Prague in the title
#4: Read a book originally published in the 20th century
The Siege of Krishnapur (1973) - J. G. Farrell - as above
#5: Read a book with a hotel or boarding-house setting, or the word "hotel" in the title
Blue Hotel by Chad Taylor
#8: Anita Memorial Reads Challenges: 1920s & 1930s
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger - as above
#10: The first word of the book's title is longer than the second word
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
#11: Read a book whose title could be the name of a pub
Moonraker - F. Tennyson Jesse
One Foot Ashore - Jacqueline Dembar Greene
The Yark - Bertrand Santini

...and all the library books cluttering the house as well as my own books that I keep pulling off the shelves.

Hope you are doing well, Kerry. We have had record-breaking heat and humidity lately, which is slowing me down and making me cranky. I can't wait for autumn and it's only mid-July!

>171 labfs39: Hi Lisa. Taken a break from commenting on my thread but need to start again as I have books to take back to the library. Would like a hot day, we have winter and while not too cold it has been raining a lot of late.

>168 avatiakh: Pleased to see you enjoyed that one, Kerry, as I did too!

>173 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul - Was a really good read, different from my current reading.
Now immersed in The Siege of Krishnapur and finding it quite riveting.

97) The Girl of Ink & Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (2016)
children's
Read for the British Author June Challenge. This didn't capitivate me as much as it should have, I just felt it followed a familiar pattern for this type of story so didn't wow me with anything new or startling. Happy to have cleared this one from my tbr pile.
A young girl has an adventure on the island that she has lived in all her life. The population has been restricted to just one small part of the island till now.

98) A Boy of Old Prague by Sulamith Ish-Kishor (1963)
children
An interesting story set around 1550. The young Tomas is sent as punishment by the lord of the castle to be a servant for a Jewish merchant in the quarter where the Jews live. He wonders if he'll survive as the townsfolk have spread terrible stories about the Jews and what they get up to. However as he settles to his new position he finds the Jewish people to be tolerant and respectful even though they live under the strict laws imposed by the ruler of Prague. Not a happy story but a necessary one.

99) Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good by Nancy Werlin (2021)
YA
Found this one on a list of Jewish YA writers and have enjoyed Werlin's work before. This was a lightweight but enjoyable read about Zoe, who is doing everything right so she gets to the best college and has the perfect boyfriend, but she has a guilty pleasure that she hasn't confessed to. She's addicted to a tv show and travels to a fantasy convention in Atlanta without telling anyone so she can indulge herself in the fandom. She meets and befriends fellow fans and has a marvellous time over the summer sneaking around her perfect boyfriend and going to other fan events.
I was in Atlanta last year when the fantasy convention was underway so had added pleasure reading about all the cosplay that I had seen on the streets.

100) Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (2023)
YA
Empyrean #1. This fantasy has a huge following and I dived in expecting something really outstanding. The story is pretty good, there's dragons and a sort of Hunger Games type of survival race in a school for training teens into a fighting force. What I didn't like at all were the extremely explicit bedroom scenes, I don't think I've ever read such bedroom trite ever, borders on pornographic tbh. Luckily there were only a couple of these to jump through but wonder why it's needed when there are dragons in the storyline.
If you haven't read any Pern novels then go there first if you want a great dragon-human bonding storyline.
I have the next book and did read a couple of chapters to resolve the cliffhanger ending. I'll eventually read book #2, but this series is no Scholomance.

101) Blue Hotel by Chad Taylor (2022)
crime
Chad Taylor writes great noir set in my home city, Auckland. This was an absorbing read set in the late 1980s, the protagonist is a down on his luck journalist, who knows that there is something just not right in the disappearance stories of two young women about a year apart from each other.
Taylor's last book, The Church of John Coltrane (2009), was only published in French so it's been a long wait to read a new book by him.

102) Strange Haven: A Jewish Childhood in Wartime Shanghai by Sigmund Tobias (1999)
memoir

I have had this out from the library all year and finally managed to finish it. An interesting read about Tobias's experience as an older child living in Shanghai during WW2. His father travelled out first and then Tobias came out with his mother. He ended up studying in the Lithuanian Yeshiva that managed to exit Europe thanks to the Japanese diplomat, Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara. Living conditions were really poor and many died from disease.
Once the war was over the yeshivas were able to enter the USA thanks to their contacts there. For other refugees it was much harder. Tobias decided not to apply through the yeshiva's contacts but eventually went there through family connections in 1948.
He says that some refugees left for Israel in chartered small vessels sent from the newly established Israel. Others were taken to Italy. Life in the ghetto became more and more desparate as Mao Tse Tung's army advanced on Shanghai. The USA eventually took the remaining Shanghai refugees to San Francisco where they were loaded on trains with locked carriages, travelling to New York where they had to board ships back to Europe to their countries of origin.

I have The Box with the Sunflower Clasp: Uncovering a Jewish Family's Flight to Wartime Shanghai out from the library at present. Hopefully I find time to read this one as well.

103) How to Become King by Jan Terlouw (1971)
children
One of the books I chose to read as a tribute to Anita. Terlouw was one of her favourite Dutch writers for children and this was a reread for me, almost 10 years after I first read it.
Stark was born on the night the old king died. Since then, for 18 years the country has been ruled by a group of unelected advisors. Stark asks them how do I become king? and they set him a series of seemingly impossible tasks. Just a delightful read that I enjoyed all over again. It was made into a film a few years ago and that is well worth watching too.

104) The Goldsmith and the Master Thief by Tonke Dragt (1961)
children
Another tribute read for Anita. Tonke Dragt is another of her favourite Dutch children's writers and her work is slowly being translated and published into English at Pushkin Press. I've already read her other books so chose this one - a series of linked stories about the adventures of twin brothers - one is a goldsmith, the other a former master thief. Highly enjoyable.

105) I am Rebel by Ross Montgomery (2024)
children
Read for the British Author's July challenge to read a book featuring an animal.
Loved this one about a determined young dog who goes after his 12 year old master who has run from home to join a rebellion against an unjust king. Rebel has many adventures on his own before being reunited with his master and friend on the battlefield.
I had intended to read Pratchett's The Amazing Maurice and his educated rodents but this one came in from the library.

106) Ripper by Shelley Burr (2024)
crime
PI Lane Holland #2. This was a gripping crime read. Holland is serving time and manages to become involved in an old serial murder case which becomes prominent again when a tour leader is found murdered in the town where everything happened, just as the local residents have been invited to consider allowing murder tours to their town.

Finally up to date and reading The Siege of Krishnapur & Sea of Tranquility.

Recent purchases:
I found a library sale at Pakuranga Library which I only visit a couple of times each year. The mall there also has a discount bookshop which looks to be closing down as they had an extra 60% discount.
The misunderstanding of Charity Brown by Elizabeth Laird - children's
The Little Girl who could not cry by Lidia Maksymowicz - Holocaust story
The Whistlers' Room by Paul Alverdes - German WW1 novella
The Heart of Man by Jón Kalman Stefánsson - Icelandic fiction
Quiet flows the Una by Faruk Šehić - Bosnian fiction
Just a Girl by Jackie French - children's about Mary of Nazareth
The Uprising: the Mapmakers in Cruxcia by Eiryls Hunter
A ceiling made of eggshells by Gail Carson Levine - already read, Jewish expulsion from Spain
The Last Wild Horses by Maja Lunde - Norwegian fiction
The Silence of Scheherazade by Defne Suman - Turkish fiction
Alamut by Vladimir Bartol - Slovenian fiction

107) The Yark by Bertrand Santini (2011)
children's
A silly story about a Yark, a monster who eats good children but gets a stomach ache when he eats a bad child and how he changes when he meets the perfect child.
Not really great though the illustrations are extremely well done. I got this in a library sale some years ago and finally have read it.

>186 avatiakh: Great haul, such international authors. The Silence of Scheherazade has been on my wishlist. I'll look forward to your review of that one in particular.

>180 avatiakh: I'm wishlisting Strange Haven. As I was recently commenting on Kay/RidgewayGirl's thread, Shanghai was a complex and fascinating place during that time period. She had just read Shanghai by Joseph Kanon, which, although a novel, also sounded good.

>188 labfs39: I was pleased with my library haul as well. I had asked the library to purchase Alamut some years back and then never managed to read it, though I borrowed it several times. Now I have a copy for 50c.

Strange Haven was an interesting read. He went back for a visit in the 1980s in his role as an educator and then wrote the book. A few years back I read a YA novel, Someday We Will Fly by Rachel DeWoskin which was also good. I'll have to take a look at Kanon's book.

108) Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel (2022)
scifi
Pleased I took the book bullet for this from an LTer's thread. A quite brilliant scifi that quietly takes one on a journey through points and places in time subject to an unknown phenomena that makes no sense.

As usual some great reading going on over here, Kerry.

>189 avatiakh: Just a note that Kanon writes espionage novels, but I think quite good ones, at least the ones I've read. Not sure if that's your cuppa.

>190 avatiakh: I read Station Eleven and only thought it okay. It suffered in comparison perhaps with Octavia Butler's Parable series, which I had read shortly before reading Station Eleven.

>192 labfs39: I read The Good German many years ago but not any others though have intended to.

I wasn't much of a fan of Station Eleven either. This one has a better resolution though still not a 5 star read for me. I've read much more exciting scifi but enjoyed reading this one alongside The Siege of Krishnapur which I needed to take breaks from as the book got further into the seige.

I read & enjoyed Doing Time earlier this year which is the start of a time travel series. Yet to read Octovia Butler, another writer I intend to get to.

Houses with a story by Seiji Yoshida (2020 Japan) (2023 English)
Illustrated nonfiction

A Dragon’s Den, a Ghostly Mansion, a Library of Lost Books, and 30 More Amazing Places to Explore is the subtitle to this. Yoshida takes us inside some imaginative homes, showing how the inside is used as a living space and other utilitarian spaces.
He includes his orignal sketches and how they were inspired by architecture through time and across the world and also takes us through the steps of creating a couple of the homes in more detail.
While I didn't read every word I found this book to be a delight.
Yoshida is a renown background illustrator for graphic art.

109) The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell (1973)
fiction
Empire Trilogy #2. I read Troubles some years ago and finally move on to the next book. I read this for Paul's War Room challenge, July: Colonial Wars. While this is a fictional take it is based on the actual sieges that happened in Lucknow and Cawnapore during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The book follows the actions of the British - from the newly arrived visitors, soldiers, womenfolk, the doctors, magistrate and ministers of faith as their situation becomes more and more desperate.
This was one of my better reads for the year and I'll be moving The Singapore Grip up my tbr list.

Currently reading: Monday's Warriors by Maurice Shadbolt, One Foot Ashore by Jacqueline Dembar-Greene & Moonraker by F. Tennyson Jesse.

A few more I need to pick up again including A skinful of shadows & The Good Soldier Schweik

Monday's Warriors is about Kimball Bent, an American who ends up on the side of the Maori and I knew I'd come across him before. When I volunteered at the Auckland Writers Festival in 2012, I saw a presentation by graphic artist, Chris Grosz to highschoolers about his graphic novel, Kimble Bent: malcontent (2011).

>190 avatiakh: that one was quite odd I found, but I enjoyed it overall. :)

>197 LovingLit: Hi Meghan, good description - odd but enjoyable.

>195 avatiakh: I must get to this trilogy at some point. I waffle on whether I think I'll like it; I just need to do it.

>199 labfs39: Lisa, they are very worthwhile reads. I think this book will stay with me a long while as the characters were so well drawn and most with the Victorian attitudes of Empire and superiority of class and race.
I read a recent article on how the novel holds up since it's been 50 years since it won the Booker Prize...'The Siege of Krishnapur is a more subtle and complicated book than it first appears with conflicting undercurrents of melancholy, disapproval and nostalgia, but then its author was a complicated man.'

I started Salt to the Sea this morning and was immediately swept up. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

110) Moonraker by F. Tenneyson Jesse (1927)
fiction
Fryniwyd Tennyson Jesse Harwood was a great-niece of Alfred Tennyson, the poet. Happy to have read this one finally, my copy was a Virago Modern Classic.
Moonraker is a pirate story that morphs into a story of the Haitian fight against their colonial overlords, when the pirate ship takes on a personable young Frenchman after taking down a French merchantman in the Caribbean. He is desperate to get to Saint-Domingue (Haiti) to give Toussaint Louverture an advance warning that the French are sending their military under Napoleon's brother-in-law, Charles Leclerc.
The story is told from the pov of young Jacky who was taken on board after a previous raid of a British brig. The ending takes place back on the Moonraker and brings a twist that you know has to come.
Read for the TIOLI challenge to read a book with a title that could be the name of a pub, this also qualifies for the War Room Challenge: Colonial Wars.

Wikipedia: 'Leclerc, accompanied by 23,000 French troops, landed in Haiti in 1802 and soon took possession of most of the island and made peace with the rebel leaders Henry Christophe, Toussaint Louverture, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines. By treachery, Leclerc captured Toussaint and sent him to France.'

>201 labfs39: Yes, quite compelling from the first page. I should line up her latest ones to read, I remember that Anita liked them.

>203 avatiakh: I see that Fountains of Silence, which I purchased recently, is her choice for 2018 or 19.

>204 labfs39: Yeah, she read widely and so many books.

I probably won't finish any more books this month, I got bored with my choices. Monday's Warriors is not doing much for me at the early stage and I picked up another Maori historical novel, Kawai: for such a time as this by Monty Soutar who usually writes historical nonfiction which looks worth spending time with.
Other library pickups include:
Gallipoli to the Somme: Recollections of a New Zealand Infantryman by Alexander Aitken - this edition was edited by Alex Calder who was my daughter's lecturer on NZ fiction a few years ago.
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
these were books that I had frozen my requests for late last year and so the request was going to expire, plus:
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
In search of Berlin: the story of a reinvented city by James Kampfner

Time to make a new thread - hopefully later today.