LovingLit - your roving reporter from the Southern Hemisphere

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It's me again! Still Megan, still Christchurch (NZ) based, still working as a research analyst (words over numbers), and still about the books. My two teen-aged boys keep me and my partner very busy (mainly 'going bush').

I love narrative non-fiction, literary fiction, non-fiction, and goooood booooks.

Pics are from our New Years Eve overnight tramp (hike) to a tiny hut in the backcountry. My specifications were: it needs to be not more than 3 hours drive away, and not more than 3 hours walk in or out. This one was a new one for me, and it was *lovely*. Just Little Lenny (aged 14 and now a tiny bit taller than me) and us parents this time as W (aged 17) was off with mates for his New Years.
Lenny is incessant with his requests to get out into the wilderness, and though I love it too, sometimes us adults have other commitments, so we have to enlist other friends' parents or take turns to get him out there. As he himself says...'it's better than staying inside gaming all day mum!'.

Books read in 2026



January
1. Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood (fiction, audio)
2. The Royal Free by Car Shuker (fiction, print)
3. Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst (narrative non-fiction, print)
4. We do not Part by Han Kang (fiction, audio)
5. Revenge by Yoko Ogawa (fiction, print)

February
6. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (fiction, audio)
7. James by Percival Everett (fiction, audio)
8. ❤️The Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith (non-fiction, print)
9. The Railway Man by Eric Lomax (non-fiction, audio)
10. The Hollows Boys by Peta Carey (non-fiction, print)

March
11. ❤️Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (non-fiction, audio)
12. Sympathy Tower Tokyo by Rie Qudan (fiction, audio)
13. Ways of Seeing by John Berger (non-fiction, print)
14. Things become other things by Craig Mod (non-fiction, audio)
15. Consent: A Memoir of Stolen Adolescence by Vanessa Springora (non-fiction, audio)
16. Mrs Jewell and the Wreck of the General Grant by Cristina Sanders (fiction, print)
17. Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman (non-fiction, audio)
18. A Life Less Punishing by Matt Heath (non-fiction, print)
19. In fond remembrance of me by Howard Norman (non-fiction, print)

April
20. ❤️The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (fiction, print, reread)
21. Maybe the Horse Will Talk by Elliot Perlman (fiction, audio)
22. Unsung Hero by Michael Smith (non-fiction, audio)
23. The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry (fiction, print)
24. 438 Days by Jonathan Franklin (non-fiction, audio)

May
25. The Shapeless Unease by Samantha Harvey (non-fiction, audio)
26. The Wager by David Grann (narrative non-fiction, audio and print)
27. The White Darkness by David Grann (narrative non-fiction, print)
28. Land of Wondrous Cold by Gillen D'Arcy Wood (narrative non-fiction, audio)
29. The Wax Child by Olga Ravn (fiction, audio)

June
30. To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface by Olivia Laing (non-fiction, audio)
31. Hunting in America by Tehila Hakimi (fiction, print)

2025 round up

1. Liars by Sarah Manguso (fiction, audio)
2. ❤️ Heartburn by Nora Ephron (fiction, print)
3. A Tomb With a View by Peter Ross (non-fiction, print)
4. I Will Crash by Rebecca Watson (fiction, audio)
5. ❤️ Amazing Grace: The Life of John Newton and the Surprising Story Behind his Song by Bruce Hindmarsh and Craig Borlase (narrative non-fiction, print)
6. Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi (fiction, print)
7. A Reason to See You Again by Jami Attenberg (fiction, audio)
8. Green Tea by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (fiction, print)
9. ❤️ I Who have never known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (fiction, audio)
10. The Story of English in 100 Words by David Crystal (non-fiction, print)
11. Theory and Practice by Michelle de Krester (fiction, audio)
12. Nothing Serious by Emma Medrano (fiction, audio)
13. What If: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe (non-fiction, audio)
14. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (fiction, print)
15. Shift by Hugh Howey (fiction, audio)
16. The Cry of the Silkworm by Shi Nader (fiction, audio)
17. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh (fiction, audio)
18. Breakthrough: What can we learn about the world and ourselves if we think like scientists? by Camilla Pang (non-fiction, audio)
19. ❤️ The Mermaid Chronicles: A Midlife Mer-moir by Megan Dunn (fiction, print)
20. Leviathan, or the Whale by Philip Hoare (non-fiction, audio)
21. Penitence by Kristin Koval (fiction, audio)
22. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather (fiction, print)
23. The Burrow by Melanie Cheng (fiction, audio)
24. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (fiction, audio)
25. Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (fiction, print)
26. ❤️ Small Rain by Garth Greenwell (non-fiction, audio)
27. 🤮 Death by Comfort by Paul Taylor (non-fiction, audio)
28. The Lives of Lee Miller by Antony Penrose (non-fiction, audio)
29. Duel Without End by Stig S. Frøland (non-fiction, audio)
30. ❤️ The Nurse- The True Story Behind one of Scandinavia's most Notorious Criminal Trials by Kristian Corfixen (non-fiction, audio)
31. Holding the ACEs: Adverse childhood events in New Zealand by Glenn Colquhoun (non-fiction, print)
32. Too much and never enough by Mary L. Trump (non-fiction, print)
33. Stiff by Mary Roach
34. ❤️ Cloudless by Rupert Dastur (fiction, audio)
35. His Other House by Sarah Armstrong (fiction, audio)
36. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (fiction, print)
37. The Horse by Willy Vlautin (fiction, audio)
38. ❤️ Just Ignore Him by Alan Davies (non-fiction, print)
39. Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller (fiction, audio)
40. A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter (non-fiction, audio)
41. ❤️ Terra Nova by Christian Harrison (non-fiction, audio)
42. Walk the Vanished Earth by Erin Swan (fiction, print)
43. Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy (fiction, audio)
44. 38 Londres Street by Philippe Sands (non-fiction, print)
45. Nine Lives: Expeditions to Everest by Robert Mads Anderson (non-fiction, print)
46. Flesh by David Szakay (Booker winner, fiction, audio)
47.❤️ Beyond the Sea by Paul Lynch (fiction, audio)
48. A Meal in Winter by by Hubert Mingarelli (fiction, print)
49. Alphamaniacs: Builders of 26 Wonders of the Word by Paul Fleischman and Melissa Sweet (non-fiction, print)
50. All Fours by Miranda July (fiction, audio)
51. Looking for Alaska by John Green (fiction, audio)
52. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (fiction, print *and* audio)
53. The Girl in his Shadow: A Novel by Audrey Blake (dnf- abandoned 3/4 way in) (fiction, audio)
THE LOST BOOK! Tilt by Emma Pattee (fiction, audio)- it got forgotten because of how wonderful Bread of Angels was (oops)
54. ❤️ Bread of Angels by Patti Smith (non-fiction, print)
55. Ask me about my Uterus by Abby Norman (non-fiction, print)
56. Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag (non-fiction, print)
57. Diagnosis Female by Emily Dwass (non-fiction, print)
58. Rememberings by Sinead O'Connor (non-fiction, print)
59. Sunbirth by An Yu (fiction, audio)
60. The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits (fiction, audio)
61. ❤️ Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Booker winner, fiction, audio)

Currently reading

The Royal Free by Carl Shuker, Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa

Nice to see somewhere warm at this time of the year. Looking forward to following along with your reads!

Welcome back, Megan!

Your topper is gorgeous. I've gotten places in New Zealand quite often while playing GeoGuessr and am struck by how beautiful the country is.

New Year greetings from Kuala Lumpur. My project is at least physically completed and an addition to the city scape.

Look forward to keeping up with you in 2026, Megan.

>5 Familyhistorian: Oh hello! My first visitor!!! Thanks for stopping by :) Summer is going well, although I had to take my first foray back to work today...luckily the streets were clear as most people don't go back until next monday.

>6 drneutron: Thanks Doc :)

>7 thornton37814: I've never played GeoGuesser! I am not sure how good I'd be unless they stuck to the stereotypical images of places?!

>8 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, that is an *insane* building, and I mean that in the nicest way. Incredible!

Happy New Year, Megan. Your photos at the top are gorgeous. It's great you have a son who likes to be outdoors.

>3 LovingLit: What a great year of reading you had.

Happy New Year, Megan!

Currently reading
OOPS, I forgot one...added it on the end of my previous list, for three 'currently reading'.

The Royal Free by Carl Shuker, Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa, and Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

>10 BLBera: Hi- it really is great to be pushed into heading into the great outdoors. Sometimes I just want to hang out at home, but Little Lenny makes sure we are out and about almost every weekend.

>11 norabelle414: Thanks! You too :)

Hi Megan my dear, i have starred you again and hope to be a more visible presence this year.

Hi Megan - what a great hike to welcome in the new year!

I've got you starred, so I'll be visiting again.

Happy New Year!

We did a New Year hike also. Great way to start the year.

>14 johnsimpson: Hi JS - I too have lofty goals for being more on LT this year, but I recall saying that least year and the one before as well. Haha.

>15 Dejah_Thoris: Yes, long time no see! It is good to reconnect.

>16 AMQS: Were you in snow? What were the conditions like? Are there cabins/huts you can book/turn up at? I am interested :)

BOOK 1
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

I confess to not really *getting* this one. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention, but it seemed to me that there wasn't much holding the plot together. It felt like a series of anecdotes from the past with no main thread to anchor them all to. Still, it was beautiful in place and evocative at times.

Dropping in to wish you a wonderful reading year!

>18 LovingLit: Stone Yard Devotional was one of my first reads of last year and I really enjoyed it but I agree there isn't a huge amount of plot.

>17 LovingLit: Hi Megan, it is snowing today but we've had very little snow this year so we're worrying about water for this summer. I am not that kind of hiker - we are lucky enough to live in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with hundreds of mountain trails and open space parks within a very short distance from us (between 15-60 minute drive) and hundreds more if we'd care to drive a little farther. On New Year's Day we hiked O'Fallon Park, which is one of our favorites - the trailhead is about 20 minutes from my house (the highest point of the walk is walking distance from my school), which makes it an easy hike to do on a weekend or after school. We did about 5 miles. Parts of the trail were a little icy or slushy but overall conditions were good. Here's a picture:

Happy New Year! Happy Summer! Happy New Thread, Megan!!!!!

How nifty to see Anne and husband on the trail! And what a GORGEOUS hike you guys had for Lenny's new year. He's right, of course. Getting out is a lot better than staying in and gaming. Hope your W had a good time with his friends. It's hard for me to believe that we've been around here long enough for those two to grow up and up.

Your family is Lithuanian, do I have that right? I have a good friend who may or may not join the 75, whose mother was Lithuanian. I'll invite the two of you to get together if she does come. Meanwhile, I've been eyeing Stone Yard Devotional since it came out. Your comments make me think that I can wait for the price for a used copy to drop before I grab it. Thank you.

>19 figsfromthistle: Thank you, I really hope I will too (and you)

>20 SandDune: Phew, It wasn't just me:) I was a little annoyed reading it- but only at myself, for thinking I must have missed an important plot point. Going back over it, I did catch a stray sentence that helped, so it was part me.

>21 AMQS: Oooh, thank you so much for the info. I am interested in this thing that we call tramping, that you call hiking, and that Australians call bushwalking. Tramping tends to refer to a longer walk here, probably overnight, with a big back back. Hiking is a more common term here now, but I am never sure if it means a short walk, a day walk, or an overnight 'tramp'.

Sounds like you are sorted for options in your area! Being in the city, we have local options in the Port Hills (15 minute through the city to its edges), or within an hours drive we have dozens of options for day walks, and 2 hours drive away we have dozens of options to get into the backcountry. So good!

>22 LizzieD: Hi Peggy :) You were close, my roots are Latvian. We have very similar histories to Lithuanians and Estonians though, so it would be great to meet another Baltic person.
My dad was recently visited by a Latvian tourist who had heard of him as a photographer, and they brought him some Christmas biscuits (of the type that we make every year, without fail). It was sweet of them, and it was nice to taste someone else's recipe. (I liked mine/our family recipe better, of course!)

>18 LovingLit: I tend to agree with you on that one, Megan. I wanted to like it much more than I actually did. Well written for sure but I got frustrated waiting for something to happen!

>24 PaulCranswick: Double phew. Another vindication. It's funny how we (I?) always think it must be us when a text doesn't sit well. I remember my academic supervisor saying to me when I didn't "get" a research article...sometimes it's the writing and not the reader.

>25 LovingLit: Yes, I guess it is also the way we process isn't it? I am ok with studies of character but I generally like to be carried away by a plot and be told a story.

>26 PaulCranswick: woah- we just cross-posted then! Time zones must be in our favour :)

>27 LovingLit: Hahaha there are not many of us left in the group from this side of the world. You, me, Nina and Kerry is pretty much it this year so far.

>1 LovingLit: It is still hard for me to believe that your boys are 17 and 14!

>2 LovingLit: I really enjoyed Stone Yard Devotional when I finally got to it last year.

>18 LovingLit: I am sorry to hear that you did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped. . .

A Belated Happy New Year, Megan!

>9 LovingLit: Geoguessr (Lacks the e before the r) uses Google street view maps. The hardest ones are "Rural" which just show countryside, most of the time with very little to help you guess where it is unless you know trees and vegetation. There are other categories: World (usually with no move), Capitals, Cities, Flags. Flags can be hard if you have a large country and don't have any idea of the city or country location. You have to be within a certain distance to get points and win the level. The closer you are, the more points you get. It's quite fun--and an educational way to spend time.

Hi there! I read Ogawa's Revenge a couple of years ago I think. I enjoyed the stories a lot, I'll be curious what you think!

Megan - I'm a quarter Latvian myself, with two Latvian greatgrandparents. DNA tests show me as having Latvian cousins around the world, but I don't have much luck figuring oue how I'm related to them. :)

>23 LovingLit: I recently discovered Olly Murs is Latvian. He recently did the Who Do You Think You Are? show...well, 2024...and the producers posted it on YouTube to their channel. It was *fascinating* to learn how much WWII screwed the people of the Baltics...his great-grandma served five years in Siberia for telling a political joke!!

Hi Megan and happy new year!

>1 LovingLit: I love that little hut. I wish we had seen that on our NZ adventures. I also love Lenny's admonishment to you that getting out in the wilderness is better than staying home gaming. Smart kid, eh? (And maybe a bit smart-alecky, haha). And if he can bag a possum or three, so much the better, right?

>18 LovingLit: I kept having Stone Yard Devotional on hold last year, pausing it, unpausing it, never getting around to reading it.

Hi Megan, I made it back, dropping stars on those I can remember ....

the topper pic looks awesome way to spend new years eve😎

>28 PaulCranswick: It's a small, but select group!

>29 alcottacre: It is still hard for me to believe that your boys are 17 and 14!
I know!! I remember you as one of my first contacts on LT, and W was little, and Little Len was in utero- I think???

>30 thornton37814: Sounds fun! I have seen someone at work do the cities one...looking for clues must be difficult in a rural setting though.

>31 ursula: That one has sat idle for a while now that there is no peace and quiet in my house any more...school holidays / summer holidays means everyone is about! I will get back to it though

>32 Dejah_Thoris: Pretty cool! I am actually considering getting a mid-life-crisis-Latvian-themed tattoo at the moment. The urge might pass, we'll see.

>33 richardderus: I looked into him (Olly Murs) and seems his story is sadly similar to that of many Latvians. My grandfather spend a mercifully short time as a Russian prisoner...on account of him having deserted the Russian army (only cos he was made to on threat of death by the German army...and anyway, the Russians had already absorbed his Latvian unit so he was in a bind either way).

>34 EBT1002: I have yet to find your 2026 thread! I will look again in case you're 'here' now.
I forgot to mention that I got your card- thanks :) Loved the montage on the front..what a year.

>35 roundballnz: Hi Alex :) T'was a great place for the new year. The kids have already been back (on their own!! Independence training...) and they liked it (again) too.

It was a fabulous year, Megan, and I'm so glad Prudence and I got to meet you as part of our NZ adventure.

BOOK 2
The Royal Free by Carl Shuker

Mini review to come, once I cogitate over it a little. Ok, I did...
The book started off well, with a plot and all, and then the second half threw me. The writing turned odd, to me the second half felt like a different book. much as with my first book of the year, I cant say I wholeheartedly recommend it. BUt at least this one had mention of New Zealand and the story included office life and editing/formatting etc, which is is familiar to me in my job(s), so that was nice.
*sigh*

>38 EBT1002: Great- does that mean you're *here* now? I'll go look :)

>40 LovingLit: LOL. yes, I'm *here* now and will try to check in on a semi-regular basis (at least once or twice a week). xo

BOOK 3
Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst

This is the story of a husband and wife who in the the 1970s sail across the world. Wary and weary of the life they see around them in England, the couple sell their possessions, buck the normative suburban lives that are expected of them, and hit the ocean.
As the first paragraph of the book explains, their yacht is sunk by an injured whale, and they are forced to survive on their skills and what little possessions and survival gear they could rescue from their sinking boat. It is a retelling of what looks like was the husband's account, published soon after their return to terra firma. This account - in perfect narrative non-fiction style - describes the events in story form and does a great job of it as well.
I would have liked it to be about 100 pages longer though, as the relentlessness of the survival period felt a little glossed over.
*recommended*


BOOK 4
We do not Part by Han Kang

Oh my goodness, this book is a gut punch. I wasn't sure I was fully following the story, but now that I am reflecting on it, I fell like this may have been part of the author's ploy to keep the whole thing dreamlike.
The thrust of the book is the 1948 massacre at Jeju Island - where leftists were rounded up and shot on the beach left to be taken by the tide.
Descendents try to piece together the events, try to make sense of such acts and the climate that allowed it (and others), and reflect on how those tims shaped them and their lives now. It is spectacular writing, but ethereal and spaced out.
*recommended if you love amazing writing*

Summer holiday!
We were away for the last week. Yes, we are *always* away, but this was our week-long summer holiday. This was a 7-hour drive north, to the top of the South Island, a lovely area called Golden Bay, specifically Tata Beach. Significantly reducing my packing and planning load, we stayed in a bach (pronounced "batch", a holiday house). It was 100m from the sea, where Lenny caught heaps of little snapper like in the pic. All were thrown back, as the minimum length is 24cm. You h ave to go deeper to get the big ones.

We had a lovely time, went on 2x 2-hour walks, had a hot hot beach day, a rainy day, and an overcast day..."so much weather!" Lenny exclaimed one day. Poor W had to stay home alone as he was back at work, but we had mu lovely other and our friends with us, so we were not lonely :)

>41 EBT1002: excellent! I shall see you there soon :)

>43 LovingLit: "we stayed in a bach (pronounced "batch", a holiday house)" I thought you southerners called them cribs or was this a bit posh so a 'bach' 😎 .... either way a fab way to end summer break .... unlike the North island weather & storms.

>43 LovingLit: That looks great. I miss your beautiful country.

>43 LovingLit: Your holiday sounds wonderful.

>42 LovingLit: Great reading, too.

>46 roundballnz: yes- crib is also used, but farther south than where we are. I think it's on Otago thing. To me both crib and bach would refer to old-school houses, small, pokey, built before the 1980s, but nowadays there are some fully swanky baches. It always sucks when someone's second home is 10x fancier than your own only home!

>47 PaulCranswick: It was a great holiday, and although I am more of a mountain girl than a beach girl, I can really get behind a holiday house that is 100m away from a beach like that!

>48 BLBera: These two were great reads really. A sedate and spooky one and a fast-paced exciting one.
I actually thought I had heard that Han Kang had died - but it seems I was mistaken. Thank goodness!

>43 LovingLit: looks like a wonderful trip!

I've been kind of eyeing Maurice and Maralyn; now I will put it firmly on the wish list.

>43 LovingLit: That sounds like a lovely holiday. Prudence loves the name bach for the holiday cabins. She has wholly integrated it into her vocabulary.

>50 figsfromthistle: We had a poll (of all 5 of us) and the out-of-ten score came in at 8.5 (averaged) which is pretty good considering Lenny had a stomach bug and vomited 6 times on the drive up there!

>51 EBT1002: It only just dawned on me when I was replying to Alex that 'crib' as the Southland parlance for bach (i.e., holiday home) is also US urban slang for house/home! I see them as entirely and completely different words.
I love it that P is now using the word bach in everyday life.

The best bach I have ever stayed in was called 'Scott Base' and was a basic square house at the end of a road at the beach (now demolished for someone else's fancy bach). The only door in led straight into the lounge (on left) and kitchen (on right), three doors came of this front half of the square house, two facing the front door to two bedrooms, and one tucked behind the kitchen to the bathroom. It was so basic and old and sweet and quaint.

Currently reading:



Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa, Empire of Ice and Stone by Buddy Levy, and The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

>53 LovingLit: Empire of Ice and Stone has a great cover, Megan. Will be keen to see what you make of it.

Summer holiday! Sounds wonderful. Happy summer to you!

>54 PaulCranswick: Empire of Ice and Stone is tracking a little slowly at present...I am distracted by other reads! But I will plod on and probably get hooked back in.

>55 AMQS: Super summery here at present! Had a weekend away down south on a multi-generational fishing trip (where just one of us was actually fishing). It was 30 deg C...just lovely. Thank fully I have a big weekend at home planned this weekend- for once we wont be away.

Abandoned for

Zone One by Colson Whitehead just didn't catch me, think I might need more of a story story right now, so have pivoted to James by Percival Everett, which is shaping up to be just that.

This was last weekend's trip away, to Twizel (about 3 hours drive away). Took my dad and my littlest baby (not that little) for a fishing trip. Five fish were caught, all bar one were put back to swim another day.

This weekend, however, is miiiine. All miiiiiiine. Little Lenny is away (again fishing, again Twizel, this time with other people's parents) and me and the lovely other are going to an all-day music festival, and the next day going to see a Kate Bush tribute act as well as going on a bike tour of the cities not-so-finest ye olde pubs...we have named this bike ride the 'Tour de skunge'.

Currently reading:



Empire of Ice and Stone by Buddy Levy, James by Percival Everett, and Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith

BOOK 5
Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa

THis was a rad book. ALthough billed as short stories, they are connected in weird and oblique ways which keeps you tied in to the bigger picture, which is a dark and gothic tale of people and their dark and gothic ways.

I have been following a FB group about Japanese literature, and as a 30-year-later follow up of my first year university course on 'Japanese literature in translation' - which felt such a frivolous course to take back then (little did I know I'd be even madder keen on literature into adulthood) - have had a resurgence of interest in this genre. Watch this space for more Japanese literature!
*highly recommended*


BOOK 6
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

This novel started so promisingly. I was hooked into the array of relationships described, all in and around this house. We have:

- the sister who lives alone in the house that is being safekept;
- the brother who actually owns (or stands to own upon the death of an uncle) said house;
- the brother's girlfriend, who is an unwelcome short-term guest at said house;
- the other brother, who has a terse relationship with brother number one, and who had fled said house many years before;
- the mother of the siblings, who though dead, still has an impact on the way the lives are being lived;
- and, then there's the house itself.

All very good! But then parts of the characters seemed forced and my buy-in faded. However- the writing is amazing, and the threads of the storyline were solid and were in themselves reason enough to say that, overall, I enjoyed this book.
*recommended*

>58 LovingLit: Your weekend sounds great! Looking forward to hearing about it!

>60 LovingLit: I'm super glad you loved Revenge too. It's stuck with me since I read it.

>60 LovingLit: I barely got over the four-star line on The Safekeep, even with my significant curve for debut novels added. It's a very interesting effort...I wished we were a bit more into the why of their attraction because I never *got* them as a couple.

Happy summer!

>42 LovingLit: You got me with We Do Not Part - into the tbr it goes.

>53 LovingLit: Empire of Stone and Ice is already on my tbr, but I haven't felt compelled to pick it up yet. Like Paul, Im looking forward to learning what you think of it!

And all your trips and plans sound wonderful!

>58n Enjoy.

I loved both James and The Safekeep.

>60 LovingLit: looking forward to see what pops up in your reading under japanese lit .... always had a foot in there ....

catching up on discussion about Bach/Crib ....I can't call some of the post 1980's properties bach's they are far too fancy more in the realm of a 'summer home'

>61 ursula: weekend was fantastic, even if I was a bit woolly today at work (boss understood- he's very good like that and I rarely test him in that regard).
A very sunny warm day for the music festival, and my sunscreen was perfectly applies as I had no sunburn (yay!).
Ladyhawke was the main person I wanted to see and she was on last, so we spent the day wandering about, having drinks and food, and laying on the grass and by the lake. All very good.

>62 richardderus: Yes, true. I couldn't see what the the brother's girlfriend saw in her- unless the whole thing was an elaborate ruse to get the house??? I guess that was how it started, anyway, and then it just *evolved*.

>63 Dejah_Thoris: We do not Part was very atmospheric and gothicky...I recall my feeling of reading it more strongly that the plot.

>64 BLBera: Ah yes, day 2 of the weekend! Not as warm, but perfect for a bike ride. We only made it to 2 of the 5 scheduled pubs as we had to divert to an open air Kate Bush tribute band that was playing in the Botanic Gardens...and after that we went to a local bar that we all liked (instead of continuing on with the 'Tour de Scunge' - a survey of suburban, run-down free-standing pubs). All good! And home by 6pm as well.

>65 roundballnz: I have just downloaded a few on my Libby library app...audiobooks. Will see how they go when not read with the eyes. Seems so many cool, kooky ones are turning up out of Japan these days.
And yes, I agree, the 'summer home' /bach thing is a "you know it when you see it" thing.

>66 LovingLit: I think your speculation might be correct. It makes sense of something that didn't otherwise anyway.

>66 LovingLit:, >68 richardderus: I agree with your speculation too. I really liked the book, and the eventual reveal as to her motivation but also felt some aspects seemed forced.

>36 LovingLit: Little Len was in utero Yep!

>39 LovingLit: I think that I will give that one a pass.

>42 LovingLit: Adding both of those to the BlackHole. Thanks for the reviews and recommendations, Meg!

>43 LovingLit: Sounds like a lovely vacation!

>60 LovingLit: The Safekeep did not work all that well for me. I am glad to see you enjoyed it in the end.

>68 richardderus: I quite liked the closed off, walk-the-halls main character anyway :)

>69 lauralkeet: Great potential for a second novel though, huh? The author certainly has a way with the words.

>70 alcottacre: Little Len was in utero Yep!
Well then, that makes it about 15 years ago...in fact I see my Thingaversary is coming up March this year....and it's 15!!

****Just in****
I forgot to log Tilt by Emma Pattee in last years reads! I read it after having abandoned a book and before reading the amazing Bread of Angels by Patti Smith and must have been distracted.

So that is up one for last years tally - all they way to 62. partially amended now in >3 LovingLit:

Here are the 5 second hand books I bought (and then carried about all afternoon) at the music festival last weekend.

Nice second hand haul! Small Things like These was a great read. It was years ago, but I listened to The Willoughbys and it was hilarious. Enjoy!

Putting Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales on the wish list.

Oh, and I LOVED Small Things Like These.

>73 LovingLit: Nice haul. I loved Small Things Like These and the others look intriguing.

BOOK 7
James by Percival Everett

I feared not knowing enough about Huckleberry Finn to read this, and perhaps I still don't, but the story stands even with my rudimentary understanding of the story upon which it is based. The eponymous James is this story's hero, and his sidekick Huck is there as the naive observer, the person that James can teach things about the world to and in doing so, teach the reader.
*highly recommended*


BOOK 8
Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith

This book reads like a dreamscape. Half the time I wasn't sure whether what I was reading was actual, imagined, or dreamed happenings. But it doesn't matter. Patti Smith is an inspiration. Reading this made me want to drive 5 hours south and sleep on the floor of my friend's bookshop so that we can stay up late and talk about books and writers and people's theories.
*highly recommended*

>74 AMQS: >76 EBT1002: >77 BLBera: I listened to Small Things like These on audio, and want to re-live the experience in print.

>75 EBT1002: I can't recall where I bought my copy of Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales, but it had a lot to do with the cool cover. Even now just recalling it, I am impressed all over again.

(couldn't help it)

May I ask what you do while listening to audio books?

Hi there! I am all caught up now on your many adventures and trips and I'm totally jealous -- how fun!! Glad you remembered that you read Tilt and upped your final count -- I probably enjoyed that one a bit more than you did because I recognized all the locations in the story here in Portland. Also happy you enjoyed James, even without all the background references! So hubby and I just booked a "crib" up in Maine for this summer -- mostly to see friends and have water adventures like waterskiing. Between Covid and Celebrations of Life, we haven't had a full vacation in years -- so excited!! Now I'll do my best to keep up here. : )

>81 EBT1002: Ellen, I almost exclusively listen to audio books in bed. I have to be able to concentrate so night time it is (often in the very early morning if/when I wake up). I love drifting off to an audio book even if the searching back for where I was up to is a pain.

>82 Berly: A "crib"! I see you are nailing the Southern NZ dialect! I say bach (pronounced 'batch'). And it sounds like you are long overdue. Not long now til summer for you hopefully...ours is sadly on the decline right now. We have had a few cooler nights and some cold southerly storms lately....forerunners of the main event WINTER.

>83 LovingLit: Ear-reading is my perfect sleeping pill. It's unfortunate because it's impossible for me to read that way because I don't remember anything about what I "read".

Here's hoping the fast-approaching fall will be beautiful! And full of good reads.

>84 richardderus: I just splashed out on a flat pillow speaker so that I can listen to audiobooks without the hassle of headphones digging into my head. It could be life changing!

>85 LovingLit: It surely could be! I look forward to your opinion of it after using it a while.

>87 LovingLit: I have only just graduated to wireless headphones, so was revelling in the fact that I am no longer at risk of strangling myself in my sleep, so the flat speaker will be another step up!!

I just turn my phone on and have it on my night table but you'll have to post a pic of the pillow speakers! I will sleep better knowing you are not at risk for strangulation! ; )

BOOK 9
The Railway Man by Eric Lomax

I put off reading this as was wary to expose myself to the most heinous side of humanity: those that are brutal and inflict torture on people. And I did have to avoid listening a few nights and go to a different book. But the torture sections, though there, are not dwelt on and so were manageable (which I know is a *tiny violin* moment..poor Megan can't even bear to read about something someone had to spend days, weeks, months experiencing..). Anyway, the story is as much about redemption, survival, and coming to terms with hardship as it is about brutality, and this part of the book was very uplifting.

I was particularly interested in how he, and other POWs, resettled into post-war society after their experiences and this was described well as well. I was pretty shocked to hear that some thought their being incarcerated constituted a rest!!??? One curt matron said to him on the ship home (when he surely must still have been thin as a rake) that she expected he'd be pleased to finally be able to contribute to the war effort now. Wow, that must have stung given all he had been through.
*highly recommended*


BOOK 10
The Hollows Boys by Peta Carey

This book is subtitled 'the story of three brothers & the Fiordland deer recovery era' and it is just that. My dad was given the book as he knows the publisher, and the publisher knows that my dad was 'around' in the 60s and 70s in the south of the South Island of New Zealand when and where this account is based.

Basically, deer are not native to NZ and have caused considerable damage to our native flora and fauna. In the late 1960s there were so many that they themselves were thin and kind of starving - and - the pristine native forest in which they lived was failing as well. So with venison prices high and a new deer farming industry in the making, it was all on for culling and live capture. But deer being timid and loving wild, hilly bush country made them hard to get at. Enter the cowboy helicopter pilots! Helicopters were able to manoeuver into and out of tight spots and the young pilots were fearless, reckless, and successful in getting hunters to spots where they could each made thousands per week capturing deer with net guns that they had designed for this purpose.

This is that story, primarily about the youngest of the pilots, Kim Hollows, who is in his 70s today but who began flying at aged 17(!). Like many of the pilots he had his fair share of close calls, indeed, a lot of his friends and colleagues were killed in crashes. My dad (now in his 80s) was around at that time as a hunter, outdoorsman, and then a budding photographer, and knows almost all the pilots mentioned.

This book has just been shortlisted for NZs Ockham book prize, and I am really glad to have read it as it gives a great slice of rural NZ history. It was a man's world at that time; females are markedly absent from the deer recovery era stories, serving mainly as frustrated homemakers and grievers for those that died. The pilots and hunters were a rowdy, cocksure bunch, and were big drinkers (probably to dull the emotional pain of grieving lost friends and not being able to face the fear of facing death on a daily basis!). It's given me insights into why parents are the way they are!

So, this one is not for everyone that's for sure, but a great read for me.
*highly recommended*

>88 Berly: haha! I may have a low threshold for fear of strangulation, as my mum would always ensure we had not even a light chain necklace on when we went to bed as kids!
A couple of times I have woken up with the headphone wires would round a few times. I am looking forward to the flat speaker arriving! I will place it under my pillow and apparently all will be well with the sound only travelling as far as my own ears.

>90 LovingLit: I am very intrigued by the speakers! Let me know how it goes. : )

>89 LovingLit: Great reviews! Two Highly Recommendeds in a row, huh? Nice!

>85 LovingLit: I love this! I have flat headphones (basically speakers sandwiched in pieces of felt) that I use for listening to audiobooks or podcasts while I'm traveling but they have wires and sometimes I do get tangled up in them

>89 LovingLit: My dad loves narrative nonfiction and having grown up on a farm might appreciate this glimpse of rural NZ. I will look for it.

>85 LovingLit: I am intrigued by the flat speakers idea! Please let us know how you like them. I've been using over the ear bone conduction headphones for several years now, and I love them. I will never use an ear bud again, given a choice.

>89 LovingLit: I am very intrigued by The Railway Man. I'm not sure I'm up fr reading it at the moment, but I've added it to my TBR. Thanks!

>91 Berly: Yes, a fab pair of books, even if somewhat different in their topics!

>92 norabelle414: My flat speaker thingie was such an impulse buy! It still hasn't arrived, so will see how it goes if/when it gets here. I am looking forward to product testing :)

>93 BLBera: It is certainly that - a glimpse - into a very isolated part of NZ, with a very unique, niche cohort.

>94 Dejah_Thoris: Are the over the ear bone conduction headphones on a flat headband? I've seen those advertised and they appealed to me as well.

BOOK 9
Mother Mary comes to me by Arundhati Roy

This.
Book.
Was.
So.
Good.

And that was my review.

>96 LovingLit: I have heard *so* many good things about this one, so maybe it's time to add it to the list...

>96 LovingLit: Oh, it was? Funny I've never heard of it before, then. /facetiousness

>97 scaifea: She's a legend, there's no two ways about it.

>98 richardderus: haha, it made a splash huh?

>99 LovingLit: Splish splash indeed, I'm all soaked.

>100 richardderus: I'm sure you can relate----->

>96 LovingLit: Agree utterly. It was a wonderful book and my favourite read of 2026.

>102 PaulCranswick: shows I don't spend nearly enough time on LT as I missed most of the hype on that one!

>101 LovingLit: IJBOL

>95 LovingLit: Re: bone conduction headphones

They're not truly flat, in that if you were to put your head down, you would likely displace them. I love them, though.

Has your flat speaker arrived?

>104 richardderus: Glad to assist good sir!

>105 Dejah_Thoris: My flat speaker still hasn't arrived, I hope l haven't been scammed! In the meantime my other headphones are doing the trick.

Living my best life



Today I was looking after my friends second hand bookshop in rural Lawrence, Otago.
She wanted to take advantage of a sunny day to go for a long walk, and I seriously wanted to be in charge of a whole (small) bookshop, even if for a short while :)

(FYI it's called 'Five Larries', Lawrence, NZ, which you can can find on Facebook if you want a better look)

Following from the above post, I have selected the following 4 books to purchase. I am limiting myself to 4 books because otherwise I'd fill the boot of my car up!

Real Estate by Deborah Levy
Doppleganger by Naomi Klein
Cairn by Kathleen Jamie
The Land in Winter byu Andrew Miller
The Taiwan Story by Kerry Brown

Currently reading



Sympathy Tower Tokyo by Rie Qudan (as well as a couple of others that are lingering at the moment).

>109 LovingLit: Oh myyy as Takei would say. I'm very interested in your thoughts on this one!

>110 richardderus: well, I have finished it. And it was...thought provoking. I'm just not sure what those thoughts were that it has provoked. COnfused thoughts at this stage. I can say that overall, I'm not a huge fan.

>111 LovingLit: I even said of the read it was one I admired more than loved. I can't imagine who would read this and it would be their new favorite book.

The haul!
My lovely weekend of bookshop minding has come to an end, and this is my takings :) I spent all day driving home, making a 5.5 hour drive into an 8 hour drive, so that I could stop for coffee/breakfast (Dunedin) and coffee/book shopping (Oamaru). Unless otherwise mentions, they are from my friend's shop: Five Larries, in Lawrence.

From top to bottom...

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
Ways of Seeing by John Berger
Doppleganger by Naomi Klein
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
Real Estate by Deborah Levy
In Fond Remembrance of Me by Howard Norman (purchased in Oamaru)
Dr. Haggards's Disease by Patrick McGrath (purchased in Oamaru)
The Taiwan Story by Kerry Brown
What to Cook and How to Cook it (cook book)

Eta: Oh, and (R)evolution a book about Gary Numan for the lovely other, and Baldessin/Whiteley: Parallel Visions an art book for my mum.

BOOK 12
Sympathy Tower Tokyo by Rie Qudan

Despite the cool cover this one went south for me. Although....it did make me think a lot, so....overall, it's a mixed bag.

The good bits: it brought up some pretty interesting thinking points about criminal justice and the factors that underlie criminal behaviours, it prompted me to do an internet search on architect Zaha Hadid, it had some really cool sections on the intricacies of language, particularly the impressions that one of the Japanese alphabets gives, and...the excellent way that the Japanese translation of 'Sympathy Tower Tokyo' sounded (it was an audiobook).
My main detractors were plot related: I couldn't tell sometimes which character was talking, and once I did realise, I was often too far down the wrong track; I couldn't grasp how the characters actually fitted together, and, the AI aspects- though relevant and bold... - didn't really swing it for me.

*not really recommended*

>112 richardderus: Yes, I did admire parts of it, and was intrigued. But the whole package just didn't sit well with me.

>115 LovingLit: I'm going out on a limb and guessing that's because it's *not* a package, not a contained and sustained artifact but a series of really good, interesting ideas and expressions.

>116 richardderus: You took my nebulous thoughts and packaged them nicely! Thank you!

Another image from the bookshop that I was IN CHARGE of this weekend just gone. I pulled a 5 hour shift which, far from being work, was a delight!

>118 LovingLit: How lovely - that must have been a blast!

>>18 LovingLit: What fun! And nice book haul.

I am *so* jealous of your chance to run a bookshop for a day! So cool!

>119 Dejah_Thoris: >120 BLBera: >121 scaifea: It was so fun! Even Little Len (aged 14.5) said to me in some sort of concessionary tone (revealing his own distaste for bookshop goings on) that "that sounds like your childhood dream".

And, I made good use of the cookbook I bought at her shop this weekend just gone, making sticky date pudding and a banana walnut loaf.

Recently I have finished books number 13-16...reviews to come



Ways of Seeing by John Berger; Things become other things by Craig Mod; Consent: A Memoir of Stolen Adolescence by Vanessa Springora; and Mrs Jewell and the Wreck of the General Grant by Cristina Sanders

Also, just FYI here is a street view view of the wee shop...

Finally catching up with you for this year -- and what fun it was to hear about your walks and book stores shifts!

BOOK 13
Ways of Seeing by John Berger

I read this solely because Arundhati Roy was friends with John Berger and this book got a mention in her memoir. A good enough reason as any to read any book.
And, it was clever, particularly seeing it was written a wee while ago. I was familiar with most of the concepts and enjoyed reading what probably came across as more cutting edge back in the day.
Berger muses on how things look versus how they are presented to appear. The art, the gaze, the representations of femininity, wealth, class. It's all there.
*recommended as a modern classic*


BOOK 14
Things become other things by Craig Mod

I read this because I was left wanting and wanting "more Japan" after finishing Sympathy Tower Tokyo by Rie Qudan. This non-fiction read is part memoir, part reminiscences, and part walking diary from an American living in Japan. I didn't get much of a sense of the walking though, and felt there could have been a little more of that- such as, did he walk only at the weekends? Did he do a continuous trek? Ah well, I didn't get that, but I did get the people he came across, and a nice tribute to a young friend of his who didn't get to live life and explore the world as he was doing.
*warily recommended*

>113 LovingLit: Nice haul and some really good books in there.

What a wonderful way to spend a couple of days.

BOOK 15
Consent: A Memoir of Stolen Adolescence by Vanessa Springora

How I came across this one, I have no idea. But it was a fantastic and damning read. When the author was 14, she was in a fabulously grown-up and glamorous relationship with a 49 year-old author in Paris. She was sure at the time that everyone's concerns were borne of jealousy, and that she knew exactly what she was doing with her literary darling of a lover. However, as she grew older and her adolescence waned, she began to see G (though he is never named it is easy to find out who he is) in a new light. And as she grew even older, struggling with trust, relationships, intimacy, life, she realised she had been a victim of this paedophile.

The enraging aspect of all this is that the man was proud of his "lifestyle"- had had written books glamorising and rationalising his attraction to boys and girls, and was widely praised and accepted in literary and celebrity circles in Paris up until far too recently. Barely a soul challenged him and those who did were routinely shut down as prudes, as unenlightened, or some other gendered insults were thrown their way.

This memoir was beautifully written, but it was shocking and depressing to read this young young woman, a child, be let to live with this man under the gaze of so many .
*highly recommended*


BOOK 16
Mrs Jewell and the Wreck of the General Grant by Cristina Sanders

This is a fiction retelling of the real events of the sinking of the cargo ship, the General Grant, in 1866. The ship had been en route to London from Melbourne and hit the rocky cliffs and caves of the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands in thick fog, drowning most of its passengers and crew. Survivors made camp and set to survival in the hopes a passing ship would not be far away.

The details of their life on the Island are fiction. Personal relationships, actions, dialogue, and betrayals are written up as a story, that though not real, paints a realistic picture of life in the inhospitable, cold, lonely place. The one female who survived is the narrator, and her life is a lonely one with the Victorian protocols still holding some sway in camp life. She and her husband are both survivors, but the business of surviving is enough in itself to severely quell their love for each other

I have read a few accounts of other castaways on the Auckland Islands, and this is an imaginative and rollicking rendition.
*highly recommended*

>125 RebaRelishesReading: The walks have been in low numbers lately, to be honest. Though, I did manage a 90 minute walk while down on my bookshop getaway weekend. I ended up getting a little lost but managed to cut across a few paddocks and re-find the track :) Always nice not to get too lost.

>127 PaulCranswick: Sadly but a memory now. However, there is hope, as the proprietor is heading off on a long walking trip in July, and I have petitioned her to let me and a mutual friend pop down for a long weekend of bookish shop-keeping :)

>118 LovingLit: That looks wonderful!

>129 LovingLit: Hope you can persuade her...

Beautiful photos of the scenery as always, the NZ tourist board should be sponsoring this thread :-)

BOOK 17
Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman

This was quite a chunkster, but it read quickly being nicely divided by parts and chapters that grouped the various themes and topics. The work re-looks at some accepted 'truths' about humankind, and reassesses some of the research that backed these over the years. Some of them I knew about (the jailers/prisoners scenario in the basement of Stanford University, where findings that people are inherently cruel and evil have not stood the test of time) and some that I did not know about and that, hence, made me cross at academics pushing their own agendas/careers.
Anyhoo- the crux of the matter is, there is a lot of research out there that shows that people, in general, want to love and be loved, to be kind, and not to hurt or kill - and that kindness and tolerance go a long way in both interpersonal relationships and in dealing with those who have lost their way.
*very recommended*

BOOK 18
A Life Less Punishing by Matt Heath

This was lent to me by a friend who liked it and subsequently bought it for her father. It is by a relatively well-known NZ bloks. He used to be in a rock band, he was a morning host on one of the macho radio stations here, and he is somewhat of a comedian as well. I'd always thought him intelligent (I knew him only from the radio) and that the dumb manly blokey stuff was all an act to get laughs and *sort of* poking fun at the fans who thought this was the real him. And this book showed he has certainly grown up over time.

The books starts with him standing on the lake shore in one of the most beautiful parts of NZ (Queenstown), him feeling grumpy and dissatisfied and wondering how is it possible that I have a good job, great mates, a loving wife and awesome kids, and I am feeling so crap. So he embarks on a tour of self-examination, he delves into old and new philosophies, he talks to bloggers, academics, Buddhists and self-helpers and quotes Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. I had heard of many of the theories but really enjoyed the male-centered, Kiwiness of it all. He gave me many insights into the distinctive situation of the New Zealand Man.

*NZ men in your late 20s, early 30s: read this, it might save you a mid-life crisis*

BOOK 19
In fond remembrance of me by Howard Norman

This was one from my stack acquired 2 weekends ago on my mission south (>113 LovingLit:). I realised after purchasing that I have read another of this authors.. The Bird Artist.. and now I am really really pleased I bought it (and read it). It is a short observational/storytelling book that is set in and about the Arctic town of Churchill. In the late 1970s the author was sent there to capture stories from inuit elders, and so was an interesting Japanese/British woman who he got to know. This is the story of their friendship: of her living with her incurable cancer, and of the various Inuit iterations of stories about Noah and his ark turning up in Hudson Bay. Somehow, it works. Particularly if you like observational inward looking writing.
*recommended*

>130 charl08: Always happy to take sponsorship from NZ Tourism :)
I have refrained from adding too many photos as don't want to give the impression that my day to day life is all such wonderful vistas! Maybe I need too add a few images of my office, and the view from the car as I commute. Haha.

>131 LovingLit: Sounds most interesting -- added to wish list.

>135 RebaRelishesReading: all three that I finished this weekend are non-fiction, and the first two (#s 17 & 18) definitely have some crossovers. The Rutger Bregman book really is good though, I hope you read it and love it!

My daughter's brother-in-law and family are moving to New Zealand, so maybe there will be a visit in our future. :)

>124 LovingLit: And a visit to a bookshop.

>124 LovingLit: It's so cute!

>131 LovingLit: It's always worth noting that evidence of "immutable" qualities/behaviors/beliefs always changes. It's a message I think we overlook so we never have to reassess our prejudices.

>133 LovingLit: I enjoyed The Bird Artist IIRC. This sounds interesting indeed!

Merry new-week's reads, Megan.

>131 LovingLit: The Kindle version was on sale for $2.99 today so I snapped it up :)

>137 BLBera: well that sounds excellent! I have all but given up hope of international travel for the next 5 years, at least., so I am putting my had up to receive visitors :)

>138 richardderus: >139 richardderus: >140 richardderus: The Howard Norman book was very sweet, and not at all over the top or (too) sentimental. And one cool thing about it is that Helen (the friend) always refers to him directly by his full name, Howard Norman. I like that.

>141 RebaRelishesReading: Excellent news! The audiobook was 15 hours+ so expect to dedicate some time to it (you won't regret it).

>131 LovingLit: Oooh, this sounds great - adding it to my list!

>142 LovingLit: I won't start it right away but hopefully some time this spring I'll have a window.

>143 scaifea: Yay, I have book-bulleted you :) Let me know how it goes if you do read it. Great to see you around these parts!

>144 RebaRelishesReading: I found I wanted to keep reading, so I got continuity, but I'm not sure how it would go as a 'fits and starts' reading experience. Better to carve out some dedicated time, I reckon. Like in spring!

Remember 3 years ago when me and my family went with my dad and his partner to stay at a remote lighthouse where they filmed a lot of the film version of The Light Between Oceans and I swore I was going to read To the Lighthouse immediately?

Well, I have finally started it. I am listening and also reading the print book as well- a few chapters on audio then a catch up in print. Really doubling down on the reading experience.

Good things take time :)

Hi, Megan. For some inexcusable reason I did not have this thread starred. I was wondering what had become of you. You are starred now, my friend. I love the adorable bookshop photos.

Hey, I have a musical question- Did we talk about the Australian pop group The Waifs? This would be years back. I have been listening to my entire rock/pop music collection and have finally reached the "W"s. I have been listening to this band and they are terrific. I love that female lead singer. What a voice.

How is To the Lighthouse going?

>147 msf59: ommigosh! Welcome :)
Yes, we may have talked about the Waifs, they are from Western Australia, where I lived for close to 3 years. They are two sisters and one of their husbands (though, they did not remain married, they remained a band, I think). I saw them live a few times back in the day, but have not listened to them for ages! I will now have to of course, what a lovely reminder of them.

Currently reading:



Maybe the Horse will Talk by Elliot Perlman; the Willoughbys by Lois Lowry; and To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Recently purchased:



The Wager by David Grann...purchased today, in fact. I was waiting around (for a long while) for my younger son to do a day's work on a small farm, so, after having put in an hour or so of work, I rewarded myself with a look at the local bookshop (local to where he was working). And I had to support them, as they have fantastic books.

Grann is one of my favorite NF writers and The Wager is a good one. Enjoy.

I hope you get back to the Waifs.

Have you listened to Tom Waits? I recently revisited 6 or 7 of his albums. He is certainly an acquired taste but I also think he is an American treasure.

>150 msf59: You know, I have not listened to Tom Waits. But I know your recommendations are great, as you gifted me Courtney Barnett :)
I am really looking forward to The Wager...I seem to be on a nautical disaster theme lately (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Mrs Jewell and the Wreck of the General Grant...).

I hope you give Waits a try. His voice and style will not work for everyone but it you connect, you are in for a treat. Speaking of Barnett- she has a new album out but I haven't listened to it yet.

>152 msf59: I managed to convert my lovely other to Courtney Barnett, and he bought us the album the day it was released.
We had a two-person 'listening party'. It's good, quite a full sound.

>96 LovingLit: Its on my list, i know it should be further up ..... but my inner magpie keeps seeing shiny books

She is sooo good though

Just seen the bookshop weekend .....

>154 roundballnz: Hi ALex! I am looking to do the bookshop weekend again in mid winter, when foot traffic is slow, and arrival by car isn't guaranteed. I secretly want to be snowed in, and have to open the bookshop Monday-Friday as well. Mwa ha ha. My evil plan.

>155 LovingLit: Love it ...... Just need a polar blast that will do the job - just enough snow - as aposed to these lovely Cyclones the North is experiencing

BOOK 20
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (fiction, print, reread)

I guess this is maybe the 5th time I have read this. Always a pleasure :)


BOOK 21
Maybe the Horse Will Talk by Elliot Perlman

A strange book that could have ended 100 pages before it did. A weird new plot developed at what I thought would have been a good end to the first one. It was a good story, but something about it felt a tad try-hard. I hate to say that as I love good, big words and complex sentence structures. It didn't quite it home.

BOOK 22 An Unsung Hero by Michael Smith

I have a thing for sub-Antarctic shipwreck survival stories, and this is the next logical step in that interest: Antarctic survival stories. I actually started this one thinking that sub-titular Tom Crean was one of the survivors of the shipwrecked General Grant...but it turns out he wasn't. He was, however, part of Robert F. Scott's party to attempt to reach the South Pole which is described fully in Terra Nova (subtitled: Ambition, jealousy and simmering rivalry in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration), which I read a while back. And, Tom Crean was part of Shackleton's ill-fated journey to attempt to cross Antarctica (they never started as were trapped in the ice and ended up just battling to survive that).
I have yet to read the Antarctic explorer greats....The Worst Journey in the World, South, Endurance....there are a few. It may keep me busy.
*highly recommended*


BOOK 23
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

I couldn't help but buy this little book for just $4 at a second hand book stall at a music festival a few months ago. The cover is so sweet and I have read the author before. I was a fair way in and discovered a small red rectangle bookmark that presumably mirrors the red door of the cover. Soo cute!

The story models itself on old-fashioned children versus mean-parents struggle. I myself have fond memories of reading The Secret Island by Enid Blyton which was about siblings whose lovely parents died and they were left to be raised by mean and spiteful aunt and uncle. The Willoughbys is very funny- the 4 siblings include two twins who are both called Barnaby. Bizarre! There is a wealthy bachelor, a foundling, an accident in the Swiss Alps, a nanny, and a confectionaire. Great stuff for youngsters.
*recommended*

The Willoughby's sounds great, Megan. I have enjoyed the Lowry books I've read, but I missed this one.

>158 LovingLit: I remember really enjoying The Secret Island as well. I had very few Enid Blyton books as a child (I think this one, and a Mallory Towers one, as well as a couple that were inherited from my sister). My sister (14 years older than me) provided most of the books I owned as a child and I’m pretty sure that she shared the general disapproval of Enid Blyton that was around at that time. I’m pretty sure that the local library wouldn’t stock Enid Blyton books either.

>159 BLBera: I read The Giver a while back, and had heard the hype (maybe that's too strong a word) about Lowry. She is great though!

>160 SandDune: Wait, there was controversy about Enid Blyton back then? I had always thought of her as the quintessential British children's author. Obviously we can see there are...issues...now, looking back. They must have passed me by in 1980s New Zealand.

Your stint at the bookshop sounded great. Hope the repeat will be even better (and maybe snowed in longer.)

>162 Familyhistorian: Still trying to find a time that fits with three parties! Winter is shaping up to be quite busy....

Currently reading



The Wager by David Grann, Trilogy by Jon Fosse, To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and The Taiwan Story by Kerry Brown

Uh oh, my audiobook holds all came through at once plus I had had to start several while I waited for them, and now I have the following to get through in addition to the two print copies I am reading from above *sigh*

Hope you have a lot of time free to read!!

>165 LovingLit: Isn't that the way these things always go?

And- hilariously - I managed to book-horn in an entirely new book last night (another library hold came through). The White Darkness by David Grann was just a wee little thing, so I dedicated the evening to it :)

>166 RebaRelishesReading: I made some time last night, priorities priorities ;)

>167 Dejah_Thoris: When it rains it pours!

>165 LovingLit: Hmm, that Olga Ravn looks intriguing. I've read her others, and my husband ended up reading The Employees after I told him I had no idea what I had just read.

Home sick in bed (bleurgh) so decided to play on excel and make some charts of my books so far this year. Also, it is an activity complementary to my yet another book-horned in read...How charts lie: Getting smarter about visual information :)

>169 ursula: the cover is amazing; it did attract me to it, I cannot lie. I thought there was some buzz about The Wax Child- which I can only assume came to me via LT. I haven't properly started it yet as am stuck on my Antarctic voyage reading.

>170 LovingLit: What an excellent use of sick time! I hope you're feeling better.

>173 LovingLit: I won't lie, it was fun.
But now I have to work on my journal article from bed, which, actually, isn't that bad either :)

I hope you get to feeling better soon, Megan!

Feel better soon, Megan.

>174 alcottacre: >175 BLBera: aw thanks! I am better (as in there have been steps taken towards improvement) but not better (the state of actually being better).
So, as I had a data gathering exercise to do today at work (interview) I soldiered on. Have now been here long enough that I know my lovely other will have the fire on at home, so I can go park myself there with dinner and some doom scrolling :) :(

>176 LovingLit: I am glad to hear that you are somewhat better, Megan, and hope you are truly well soon!

>177 alcottacre: still working on it Stasia! Currently on day 8. But am at the library today doing what I hope is my last major edit to the journal article I am writing. A few hours a day is actually quite good for me and writing, tI think - I don't maintain much productivity anyway after 3 hours at the keyboard.

BOOK 24
438 Days by Jonathan Franklin

There's something about a survival story that gets me, and this one is a doozie. I think I remember hearing about it on the news years ago, mainly that the story was suspected to have been faked somehow.
The clue is in the title really, which I think is a little off...personally I prefer to go in blind and see where the story take me. However, the details are remarkable and the survival aspect of it is both physically and psychologically incredible.
*despite ugle cover, recommended*


BOOK 25
The Shapeless Unease by Samantha Harvey

This was a wee one that weaves together personal snippets and interesting asides with the author's ongoing troubles with insomnia. Some LT reviews have indicated a degree of confusion about the genre, seemingly finding it hard to name the genre. I love these kinds of meanderings (currently reading Olivia Laing, who is meandering along a river, musing on Virginia Woolf, history, psychology, and much else...wonderful!).
*recommended*


BOOK 26
The Wager by David Grann (narrative non-fiction, audio and print)

I started off listening to this on audio, and then read the print version for the middle third, then went back to audio for the end. I do not know and cannot say why this was the way I read this, but it's all in my head at the end of the day :)
I loved the story, in particular as I have been reading up on Antarctic adventurers and shipwrecks lately. This narrative non-fiction is the cream of the crop so far as the genre goes...full story telling and facts galore. You get a real sense of the realities of life for mariners of the time. The grim, cramped days of hard work, the meagre rations, the scurvy and typhus, the hierarchy - and that is all before the shipwreck!
*highly recommended*

BOOK 27
The White Darkness by David Grann

Hot off the back of The Wager I jumped on this wee story from the same author. It started out as a serialised article, and ended up as a nice little non-fiction novella. Again, reading on the theme of Antarctic exploration. The main fella is ex-army and distant relative of Worsley (from Shackleton's day); he and two others, alse descendents of explorers, train hard, and set to walk 'man-hauling' sleds to where Shackleton's party were held up and forced to turn back. This all happened for the 100th anniversary of Shackleton's attempt. It is illustrated and detailed as to the lengths the team went to on their gruelling walk.
*highly recommended*


BOOK 28
Land of Wondrous Cold by Gillen D'Arcy Wood

A history of Antarctic exploration from go to woah. Helpfully, it includes the quests for the original sightings of the icy continent and that the Americans were also part of that race (which I had not known). It homes in on the manner of the ships' captains, whether their thirst was for fame and notoriety or exploration and the safekeeping of their ship and crew. In addition to the Antarctica and sub-Antarctic Islands directly south of New Zealand that we hear about often(ish) here, it also talks about Kerguelen Islands (aka Desolation Islands) south of South Africa and other outposts that are refuges in nightmarishly isolated parts of the world.
*highly recommended if you're into that kind of thing*

BOOK 29
The Wax Child by Olga Ravn

This one took a wee while to get into, I started a few times, and then when had 2 days left on my audio loan, decided to get into it and quickly. I ended up finishing it this morning with 6 minutes left before the library was to (rudely) yoink it from my iphone. (Had to listen on 1.3 speed to make it!!)

It is rather short, and is written from the perspective of a wax doll, a talisman that can see and hear all, and that is telling the story of a group of women accused of witchcraft. I got angry reading this book, angry at the way that women are maligned, silenced, put down, put away, murdered, for the perceived threat they are to the men in charge.

The story is based on the Danish witch trials of the early 17th C. It is told in a really unique way, and that will be why I had trouble initially hooking into the plot, but once you fall, you fall hard. It's a fantastic story.
*highly recommended*

Kia Ora, Megan. I hope you are feeling better. I am glad I got caught up with your reading. I also really enjoyed The Wager. Grann is a terrific NNF writer. The Wax Child sounds really interesting too.

>181 LovingLit: The Wax Child sounds rather horrifying, but intriguing. I just look at both print and ebook copies in my library system, and it'll be a while before I can get my hands on a copy, which is probably just as well - I'm booked up through the end of the month!

Count me in as another David Grann fan. I've been putting reading The White Darkness off, but your comments have motivated me. Thanks!

>181 LovingLit: I've heard negative things about the read from women which, honestly, surprises me a lot. I was outraged at the relatability of the story for a modern readership.

I now have >180 LovingLit: #27 on my Kindle and it's All your fault. Meanie.

>179 LovingLit: I am also a fan of meandering, Megan. The Harvey sounds interesting.

I will look for The Wax Child.

>182 msf59: I am moved to now read more from Olga Ravn, possibly The Employees which I found as a PDF free books website!
Health on the up, and I am ready for a brisk walk about the neighbourhood to celebrate. I bought a pair of secondhand Timberland boots for $40 (full retail price $350!!!) and anm wanting to wear them to my feet, so today might be the day.

>183 Dejah_Thoris: Yea, it is mildly horrifying, but is certainly not gratuitous, it's rather lyrical and poetic, hinting at things more often than stating outright.

>184 richardderus: Ha ha (as in na na na na na) it is my fault and I'm glad :)
Surprised too, though about some women speaking against The Wax Child - wondering now what the arguments are.

>185 BLBera: Meandering in reading and meandering in life :) A good meandering non-fiction travelogue/history/personal musings book will satisfy me every time!

>186 LovingLit: Wow - I am seriously jealous about the Timberland boots. Where on earth did you find them?

>187 Dejah_Thoris: I am a keen op-shopper, which I think is known in the US as thrifting (people here are starting to call it that too....aka charity shops). My mum has long been a bargain hunter and I caught that gene so regularly pop in to see what's about. I have been patiently searching for months for a sturdy pair of leather ankle boots with a thin sole, and *finally* found them. One of my best finds in ages.
(So, to answer your question, I found them in an op shop which me and my mum went to one afternoon recently when I visited to take her to the lawyer to sort some stuff out.)

Congratulations on finding the boots you were looking for! It's good for you and for earth when useful things get a new home instead of being sent to the dump.

>181 LovingLit: I had been avoiding this one, having been underwhelmed by her previous one. Will now add it to the wishlist though, sounds good from your comments. I read a Jeanette Winterson one about witches in Lancashire recently (where I am). Really good, she managed to make.an old story new again.

>186 LovingLit: Glad you're feeling well enough to go walking and hope the boots wear to your feet quickly.

I'm not 100% sold yet but I'm tempted enough to put The Wax Child on a list of possible Audible acquisitions.

>189 RebaRelishesReading: >191 RebaRelishesReading: It is a satisfying feeling to search and search then then find. Personally and environmentally!
The audio of The Wax Child is very good, the voice and intonation was great for me.

>190 charl08: I will have to seek out the Winterson one. I didn't really know she was still writing...or is it on old one? (all rhetorical questions, I will go see for myself haha)

Megan! I am finally making some rounds here on LT. And I mentioned to P that I'm visiting your thread. She says "hi." *smile*

Adding The Wax Child to my list. It sounds worth the effort!

>181 LovingLit: Sounds really good! And hurray for the boots! Hope I get back here again soon. ; )

>179 LovingLit: The Wager was a good surprise for me as well.

>181 LovingLit: That sounds interesting

Happy start to the week!

>193 EBT1002: Aw that's cool :) I wish I had had more time to talk to you both, I didn't feel we had enough time!

>194 Berly: I almost wore the boots today, but then pivoted at the last minute to a more urban style. I have just dropped the lovely other at the airport (he's off to see a band in Auckland) and I am at a cafe killing time before I meet someone to take them for some driving practice.

>195 figsfromthistle: I liked it so much (The Wager) that I gave it to a friend who I thought would like it, but not so much that it remains in my personal library for eternity (which is a difficult club to get into).

New book alert.



Hunting in America by Tehlia Hakimi, An Antarctic Mystery by Jules Verne: purchased today on a whim.



The Canvas Man by Jim Dales (my friend's dad!!), The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, and Flashlight by Susan Choi - which this minute I now realise I already have, but with a different cover :(

>181 LovingLit: We read this at a similar time and with similar results. Good wasn't it?!

>197 LovingLit: Oh, I've done that. Gutting, isn’t it!
Although on the plus side, you know your taste is consistent?

*edited book number*


BOOK 31
Hunting in America by Tehila Hakimi

This was a find and a half! The cover (obvs) appealed to me, the staff recommendation card inside at the bookshop also did, and then blurbs describing it as unnerving and 'serious and searching' sealed the deal. Plus, it has those fold-in covers at each end and is a slimline novel.

It delivers on unnerving! I read it in one day and can confirm that you never quite know what is about to happen, and even when it does happen you're not sure if it has. I liked it.
*highly recommended*

>198 PaulCranswick: something about the cover got me, and its darkness. I've seen a few with faces blurred out lately, I am sure

*one moment please while I go look*

Yes, this one. A NZ author!


>199 charl08: Upon a deeper look, I believe it was one I *almost* picked up at my friend's secondhand bookshop when I was shopkeeping for her. I ended up swapping it out for something else at the last minute! Phew.
Anyway, I am going to give it another friend for her birthday, and she will read it and let me know if I need to :) A win all around!

>201 LovingLit: I am pretty sure that I have exactly the same cover, Megan.

BOOK 30
To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface by Olivia Laing

Oops, missed this one. This was a lovely book about walking, thinking, and Virginia Woolf. The author walks the river in which Woolf drowned, musing on her, her work, life, and all sorts. I loved it.

Hi Megan,
I'm glad I stopped by again. I have The Wax Child on hold at the library and I couldn't remember who had recommended it. Now I'll remember!

It appears you have purchased Flashlight but not yet started reading it. It's not a perfect novel but I do think it's good and a worthwhile read. I learned some history from reading it!

Okay, I'll put that Olga Ravn on my list from the library for real now.