September Reading

The Dark Mirror: Book 1 The Bridei Chronicles
One of the reasons I like the fantasy genre is that although the main protagonists are usually young, there is always a respect towards the aged characters, a respect for their experience, wisdom, past trials - even in the case of the 'baddies', they are not usually simple baddies, but complex characters with complex pasts.

Divergent Part 1 of the Divergent series by Veronica Roth
Unable to relate much to my granddaughter's passion for Harry Potter, I was relieved to see her reading something else. I enjoyed the book, and intend to read the rest of the series, although unlike the book above, it is very youth oriented (it is designated 'young adult' fiction) and older characters are all very flawed characters, with the young obviously going to save the day. It is a post-apocalyptic story, and as such interests me: I enjoy seeing how others imagine the future and its possibilities.

ooops - never finished this one, but adding it now anyway

February Reading

Not-Fiction
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

At 24 Cahalana descends into a state of psychosis. After a nightmare month, a rare auto immune disease is finally diagnosed, treatment started and her very gradual return to health commences. "Cahalan takes readers inside this newly-discovered disease through the progress of her own harrowing journey, asking what happens when your identity is suddenly destroyed, and how you get it back."

A very well-written account - Cahalan is a journalist - that raises so many questions about reality, about mental illness, about identity, and more. Highly recommended.

Fiction Binge
Marks out of 5 - no comments unless exceptional in one direction or other.
Panic Button by Kylie Logan - 2/5
Adult Onset by Anne-Marie MacDonald - 3/5
The Trivia Man by Deborah O'Brien - 3/5
A Distant View of Everything by Alexander McCall Smith - 4/5
The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson - 4/5 (It's great having sons who like similar books to you, and also know where their taste diverges from mine - when they recommend a book to me, I enjoy it 99 times out of 100. Off to read more of this author.)

January Reading

Equal by Carrie Gracie (Virago Press 2019)
When Gracie discovered that, despite an agreement to be paid the same for her job as China correspondent for the BBC, as the male North America correspondent, she was paid far, far less, she decided to take action. It was not that she wanted more money, she 'just' wanted to be treated equally, as a sign that she was properly valued by her employers She loves the BBC, has worked there for 30 years, but she wanted them to treat women equally. The more she investigated, the more she saw how pervasive the inequality was. The book tells the story of her personal fight, and also a huge amount of information from all over the world.

For me, it was eye-opening in that I had never considered the wider and long-term issues of lower pay, such as the effect on retirement income because of superannuation (or in NZ, Kiwi Saver) being contribution based - not only are the lower paid women's contributions lower, but so too, in the case of Kiwi Saver, are the employer's contributions.

The book is very well written, enlightening, disturbing, and essential reading for everyone.

Unfollow: a journey from hatred to hope, leaving the Westboro Baptist Church by Megan Phelps-Roper
I found this book fascinating in a horrid way but also hope-inspiring. Megan was born into one of the most openly hate-filled churches I've ever heard of, and grew up totally believing in them. I had not realized that these were well-educated people, nor that the grandfather, who started the church, spent 30 years supporting Black civil rights as a lawyer. It had never occurred to me that someone like that could be filled with hatred for other groups, such as gays and Jews. It is very ugly reading.

But it was also one that fills me with hope: if, after 26 years of indoctrination and hatred, Megan could see through the lies and hatred, and leave the church and her family, and change, then there is hope in the world. A wonderful book that will make you question yourself and your beliefs, but also fill your heart with gratitude and hope.

Madness Made Me by Mary O'Hagan
I really connected with this book. I have spent decades living with depression, sometimes very deep, suicidal depression. A couple of years after it started, I worked several university holidays at Tokanui Psychiatric Hospital, just 4-5 years before Mary started university in Dunedin, and first entered a psychiatric institution. The book brought memories of both my depression, and my horror at how patients fellow human beings were treated. The first time I became depressed, at age 16, my mother took me to a GP who told me to "stop being so selfish, upsetting my mother, and pull yourself together or I'll send you to Tokanui and I'll make sure you get electric shock treatment." So, to all appearances, I did just that. I was terrified of shock treatment, and a couple of years later when I worked there, my terror increased as I saw how it affected patients people, and also how it was used as a threat and as a punishment. As a result, I didn't seek any help for my  madness until over 40 years later. Reading this book makes me grateful for that!

The book examines the very concept of madness, the dehumanizing of people, the politics of it, the inadequate and often unscientific and or abusive treatments, and most of all, the failure of anyone to listen to and respond appropriately to people who are different. Because of my own personal experiences as a sometimes mad person, and as a nurse aid, I was surprised by little in this book, other than the enormity of it when put together clearly in one place.

Absolutely worth reading.


Wow - three brilliant books this month! (Plus a novel that was slightly amusing but I've forgotten it already.)

July / August Reading 2019

I forgot about this again! So I am doing July and August together, but missing a lot out.

Family Secrets by Liz Byrski
A novel about the family of a recently deceased man. Quite good character development, with only a couple of stereotypes. The plot is a familiar one of endings followed by a quest to find oneself, and I just wish that there could be a few about people doing it on the cheap, rather than going on expensive overseas 'pilgrimages'! It ends a little unexpectedly but still a bit too happy-ever-after for my taste: I don't want books to end in apocalypse but a bit more realism would have satisfied me more.

Rain Birds by Harriet McKnight
A sad and terrifying novel about two women. One is living with and caring for her husband who has Alzheimer's. Hers is the story of losing the man she loved as he changes into a stranger. The other is a young woman living in the thrall of childhood memories. It's really well written, heart breaking, and way too real.

Pacifica by Kristen Simmons
Young adult fiction. Futuristic, almost apocalyptic fiction. Politics, corruption, pirates (not romanticized) and romance but the characters are mostly not black and white. I enjoyed it and will probably read more - I like young adult fiction because it tends to be less descriptive, less detailed in its depictions of sex and violence.

The War of the Wives by Tamar Cohen
When a man dies unexpectedly it turns out he was a bigamist, and this is the story of the two wives coming to terms with the situation. As they find out more about his shady financial dealings, and his mortgaging of his wives' homes, things become a bit frightening. An unexpected ending is great - I thought it was descending into the trite, but, no.

The Shadowfell Novels: Shadowfell, Raven Flight, & The Caller by Juliet Marillier
Fantasy series of the usual storyline - heroine on quest to overthrow evil empire. Yeah, sounds trite and same-old, same-old. And I guess it is, but I really enjoyed it and plan to seek out more by this author. I feel like Australia has produced some of the best fantasy authors, although she was born in New Zealand so in this case we can claim some glory.
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And then I forgot to keep records again, and now it's September!

June Reading

Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
Despite struggling with some of the language being unfamiliar, even though we both speak 'English, and with stories of a world so different from mine to be very foreign, I am glad I read this book. It is so well written, and gave me insights into not only the world of a Black American, but also into things also suffered by Maori, and by other ethnic minorities in this country.

Craftfulness: mend yourself by making things by Rosemary Davidson and Ahzu Tahsin
An interesting little book that talks about the importance of making things to our mental health, particularly in its ability to calm us. The first half of the book is a mixture of ideas, reports of scientific studies, and personal anecdotes from a number of makers and artists, The second half of the book contains a number of simple projects to try. I really like the emphasis this book places on process rather than end product. My personal roadblock is my learned attitude that things must either be useful (such as a garment that can be worn, or a book that can be read or written in) or perfectly made (as in a saleable work of art.) Obviously this places considerable restraints on me! I am going to henceforth regard any art / craft I do as therapy to get around this block - therapy is useful, isn't it?

A Gathering of Secrets by Linda Castillo
Apparently Castillo has written a number of novels about Kate Burkholder, a detective, and one, Sworn to Silence, has been made into a movie. I doubt I will seek out more, because although it was an easy read, and I didn't guess 'who dunnit', it seemed very formulaic. It was great for a night when I was lying awake with an upset tummy, but that doesn't happen often enough to warrant having a bunch of these books on hand for the purpose.

The Songs of Us by Emma Cooper
Another easy read, this time with way too many exceptionally rare circumstances to be remotely believable, yet somehow the essential characters were believable. They came to life as people dealing with shitty circumstances in real ways. I probably wouldn't buy another book of hers, but would certainly get another from the library.

Books and Movies June 2018

I have gotten out of the habit of reviewing the books I read, which annoyed me the other day when I wanted to check back on one I had read but not recorded. So time to get back into that habit. I don't go to the movies much, but have been twice recently, and one was to a movie that was made from a /book I had read, so figured I'd talk about both.

I first heard about the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society when I heard it was to be made into a movie. I promptly got the book from the library and thoroughly enjoyed it. I sometimes find straight history a bit hard to take on it's own, so have always enjoyed historical novels that show the history but ease the trauma with fictional characters. Although the story is partly a love story, there was a lot of development of a number of the characters. In addition, the story is also of the occupation of Guernsey by the Germans, and the way different people reacted to that occupation. I won't say it was an epic book, but I did enjoy it.

The book was the first book of Mary Ann Shaffer, who died before it was published. After falling ill, she asked her niece, Annie Barrows, to finish it for her.

The movie was beautiful, and worth it just for that beauty. However, it was a shadow of the book, and concentrated on the love story to the detriment of the other characters and story.

The other movie we went to was a documentary, a filmed conversation between four actresses. Tea With the Dames is not an exciting movie but I loved it. Dames Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith sit and reminisce about their lives on stage and screen, and life in general. Obviously it's all very different from my boring little life, and yet I felt so comfortable with the expression of their personalities it was as if I was there, and could pop in an occasional comment of my own any minute. Not really any need for the big screen experience though - sitting at home watching it on the smaller screen, with a cup of tea at hand would have been more comfortable, and possibly more appropriate.

The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman is a book I borrowed from the library based on a quote I saw somewhere: "Some things we just have to accept, so we can save our strength for other problems." It doesn't seem that insightful now, but it hit home the day I read it, and so I decided to read the whole book. It is an intriguing look at family relationships. The characters vary from the attractive to the less so, but all are treated with respectful insight so that the reader reaches an understanding and empathy for everyone. I really enjoyed it.

July Reading

I am finally getting back into reading again: after the cold-like illness that left me severely visually impaired (which led to the discovery that I have Type 2 diabetes)  I stopped reading. As my eyesight improved again, I found reading very tiring, and by the time I could easily read again, I had gotten into the habit of watching tv / Youtube. But I'm reading again, and I am so glad - my own mental pictures are so much more satisfactory than other people's interpretations.

The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure
Wendy McClure grew up loving Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. Years later, sometime after her mother's death, she found her childhood copy of Little House in the Big Wood and so her adventures began. Over the course of a year, she once again explored 'Laura World', cooking from Laura cookbooks, buying an old butter churn to make butter, and visiting museums and Laura sites. It's not just nostalgia, it's an amusingly written exploration of the differences between the books, the tv series, and the reality of Laura's life. It's also an interesting insight into how favorite books can influence a child's life and ideas right through into adulthood. I now want to read lots more about Laura's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, who seems to have lived a fascinating life.


The Glass Butterfly by Louise Marley
A not totally convincing plot line, with a bit of woowoo, some of which annoyed me - magic for the sake of easy explanation tends to do that. And yet I enjoyed this book about a psychiatrist on the run from a murderous client. Some of the woowoo made for an interesting story, and protagonist's character was convincing.


Little Boy Blue by M.J. Arlidge
The author of this crime thriller is a tv writer who has now turned to writing novels, and I think that explains the style - I could easily imagine this being a tv series. It is part of a book series, and a bit dark for me, but although I won't go back to read the previous books, Arlidge has hooked me in sufficiently that I will be looking for the next book when it comes out: he left the main character, DI Helen Grace, in a situation such that I want to find out what happens next.


Flow: Issue 13
This quarterly (plus specials) magazine is one of the two best magazines I've ever read. (The other is the British Permaculture Magazine.) I bought it because it looked pretty and described itself as 'a magazine for paper lovers', of which I am certainly one. I feel like I want three copies: one to keep and re-read, and two to pull apart to use in my craft / art work - two so I can use both sides of every page! It has so much beauty, plus wonderful articles about 'life , the universe and everything'. I haven't quite finished reading it, but so far I have enjoyed every single article. It is the English edition of a Dutch magazine and is delightfully slightly different from English English publications. For example, in the manner of many other such magazines, there is a generous sprinkling of inspirational quotes throughout, but they are quotes I've not heard before, mostly by people I've not heard of before. There are interviews with artists. There's an article entitled "Three takes on: Why do we struggle so much with making decisions?" and the three takes are the views of a social psychologist, an author and a philosopher! It's just different and is helping me see things from slightly different perspectives. I love it.

Reading: Miraculous Abundance

Miraculous Abundance: One Quarter Acre, Two French Farmers, and Enough Food to Feed the World by Perrine and Charles Herve-Gruyer

Recently I was talking with two of my sons, both with degrees in computer science, and interests in robotics and AI - as in Artificial Intelligence as opposed to Artificial Insemination - and thus immediately you can see how their paths have diverged from mine. Not that I am interested in artificial insemination, but it is certainly closer to my areas of interest than the other AI! They were talking about robots taking on much of the work, about food grown by robots, and air-grown lettuce fed nutrients by robots / computers, about having a universal basic income, about freedom to do what they like. For me, doing what I like means getting out and growing food myself. Getting my hands dirty, watering and weeding, sowing and planting, being stung by bees as a tend the hives, and making books. I am far more fallible than the robots will be, but it's doing what I like.

I have doubts about such a future: even if it comes to be, I suspect there will be huge disruption, culture shock, and disintegration before we reach a point of ease. I suspect that this society will be one of even more extreme difference between the privileged and the poor. On top of that, I worry about the actual logistics of such a society. And right at the end of this book, comes a definition of 'technoabundance' which spoke to my unease: "creating goods with little or no recyclable value based on a predatory utilization of natural resources, renewable and nonrenewable. These goods are available in quantity, but for a limited time only, and not for all. They produce waste and contribute to the destruction of the biosphere." The Herve-Gruyers were speaking within the context of farming, but I think it applies to everything. My sons probably think I am uneducated in the area of technology, which is true, but I fear they are naive in the area of human behaviour: those who love power will always strive to  control the economy and most everything else. My sons, are way too trusting.

Meanwhile, others are way too frightened - some of the survivalist websites I've stumbled across have useful information tucked in among terrifying fear and hatred. They have gone back to the land in a primitive reaction to their fight or flight instinct.

The Herve-Gruyers have a completely different attitude. They have developed their farm through permaculture, but have brought so much more to their book: their previous lives, ongoing travels, investigations and experiences, working with scientists - they have a progressive attitude to growing food. They haven't just gone back to the old farm ways of their cultural history: they add ideas from all around the globe, from the past and present, and look to the possibilities that the future may bring.

The book covers so much and makes a fascinating read. We learn about their interesting personal history, about how their farm and ideas developed, things they have tried that have worked and not worked. I love the mixture of theoretical and practical, the discussions around philosophy and ethics, and pictures. Pictures are always good!

I loved this book! It is inspiring, interesting, well written, and totally agreeable to me - in the sense that I agree with it, but it expanded my knowledge and understanding as well. My sons wouldn't like it, but I'm tempted to buy a copy just in case they might be interested one day.

September Reading

Novels

The Sea on Our Skins by Madeleine Tobert
The story of Ioane and Amalia who marry. Ioane for sons - he has no intention of staying on the remote Pacific island permanently. Amalia, because her mother told her she had to. It's a story of family relationships in a culture different from ours, of love and betrayal, and of how cultures and individuals change. I was drawn into the story, but it left me feeling rather bleak.

MiSTORY by Philip Temple
A story set in future New Zealand, in a time in which the effects of climate change has left a world of war, invasion, fear, and of shortages and loss of many of the things we take for granted. In the lower half of the South Island rebels are fighting for elections to be held again. The relationship of the main protagonists is a little unlikely, but is, I guess, essential to the slightly hopeful ending. It's along the lines of John Marsden's Tomorrow series, but aimed at adults, if only because it is less exciting, slower moving, and considers more complex political issues, rather than the more personal values issues of Marsden's books. Worth a read.

Clade by James Bradley
Another climate change novel, this time set in Australia and England. It is quite good at giving the feeling of world collapse in some chapters, but then in others Bradley seems to forget that the world is in a state of chaos. He tries to cover too many characters, and too much time, so the total is bitsy, and shallow. Most of all, the cover is decorated with bees and honey comb, and talks about how 'Ellie will discover a strange affinity with beekeeping,' yet this is a very minor part of the book - disappointing to a beekeeper! Individual chapters are well written, but the whole just didn't come together - there were too many gaps.

Landfall by Helen Gordon
Alice has job problems so moves home to the south east of England to house sit for her parents for a few months. Her teenage cousin is sent to stay from America. There's a creepy guy that's obviously going to be a Bad Guy. There's a whole lot of threads, and I waited for them to come together in some way. The back of the book said, "...this clear-eyed, mordantly witty, warm and unsparing novel culminates in one of the most surprising and destabilizing endings you'll have ever read." Well, no, not really. Because it didn't have an ending. It was as if the author got up one morning and said, "Oh, fuck this writing lark. I'm sick of it. I'm going fishing." Not a single thread came together - and I know the threads don't all end up as a beautiful piece of woven cloth in real life, but there are always periods of ending / beginning in real life, and I like that in a novel too. Not just a, 'she left Auckland and was driving along State Highway 1 when a li....' type of thing. The writing was reasonably good, taken chapter by chapter, and presumably the author intended the ending to be provocative, but to me it was frustrating and unsatisfying. I was left with the impression that the author was trying way to hard to impress some book award judges with her 'edgy' ending. Don't bother.

If I Should Die by Matthew Frank
A detective novel set in London. As well as the murder investigation, there is a new detective who was previously a soldier in Afghanistan, whose character is strongly developed. This is a first novel, with more planned around this character, Joseph Stark, and I will be watching out for the next one. If you like murder mysteries, this is definitely worth a read.

Non-Fiction

Five Sons and 100 Muri of Rice: the story of a five year old bride in rural Nepal by Sharyn Steele and Zoe Dryden
A true story similar to the novel described above. At just 5 years of age, and a very undersized child at that, Kharika Devkota was married to 12 year old Ketu. After the wedding, Kharika's mother left for home - several days' walk away, and shortly thereafter she and Kharika's brother left for india to join Kharika's father. She never saw them again. Kharika lived with her husband and his mother, who protected her, and refused to let the boy have sex with her, so it was not until the mother died that, aged just 13, she first had sex with her husband - in our culture it would have been called rape. We would see Kharika's story as one of harsh poverty, of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, yet it is also a story of love, especially for her children, of satisfaction with her work, of courage and of extraordinary survival and longevity. The usual age of death in Nepal was around the mid-forties, and yet, despite a life of hardship, when the book was published less than a year ago, she was still alive, living in her own house next door to her sons - aged ninety! A wonderful book, one I really think everyone should read.

August Reading

Fiction

Road Ends by Mary Lawson

A friend reviewed this book at my monthly Book Club. She said it has a lovely cover, was very well written, but that it was dreadfully depressing, being about multi-generational dysfunctional families. I would agree with all of that except the 'depressing' part. I really enjoyed the book, despite the dismal aspects, because it was also about people struggling through the mire of dysfunction, and despite some very sad bits, by the end most of the people were starting to find their ways to move beyond. Not in a 'happy ever after' way, but more in a 'facing up to reality' and finding ways to live life better way. I'll be looking for her other books for sure.

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Brilliant writer - except I couldn't finish it. It's the story of her grief after her father's death and her training of a goshawk, mixed with the story of T.H.White, author of The Once and Future King, who had also owned and trained a goshawk. As I said, beautifully written, but I don't find reading about either falconry or grief uplifting.

June - July Reading

Somehow last month's list didn't get finished: in fact, barely started, so here's some of what I've read over the last couple of months.

Fiction

One Small Drop by Liz Constable
This is a tiny book about sadness, disconnection and love. Liz says in her TradeMe listing: " The idea was conceived by Liz who wanted to produce a bedtime storybook for adults. One that offers comfort and encouragement, just like a good bedtime story ought to. It is suitable for children too." Liz is one of my favourite New Zealand bookbinders and easily my favourite NZ workshop tutor. You can read more about her, and her work on her website and on her Facebook page.
The book may seem expensive, but given this is a very small run, hand produced, and a delightful book, it is good value, I think. It comes in the post as a treasure package to sit down, with plenty of time and a cup of tea, to open with ceremony and delight.

After my Ann Cleeves binge in May, I was still in the mood for easy read fiction and found the following three books fitted the bill nicely, but in quite different ways.

Darkening Skies by Bronwyn Parry
Set in a small Australian country town and surrounding district, this is a mystery / romance which pushes the bounds of credibility a bit. However it  is fast-moving enough for the creepiness to be manageable and was a satisfying light read.

Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand
An interesting mystery which is really about people - how well do we really know the people in our lives, even our nearest and dearest, and also, how well do we know ourselves. The setting and basic story line is somewhat shallow and unrealistic, but I enjoyed the characters and their development.

8th Confession by James Patterson
Pretty brutal with a nastiness that means I won't read Patterson again until summer: life is a constant battle against the Black Dog in winter and reading dark fiction, however well written, is not advisable. I will come back to him again though.

Non-Fiction

The Nourishing Homestead: one back-to-the-land family's plan for cultivating soil, skills, and spirit by Ben Hewitt with Penny Hewitt
I really don't want to give this book back - I'm seriously considering buying it, and I don't usually buy books these day if they are available from the library. It is a beautifully presented (that top photo on the front cover of their son with his face buried in a bucketful of blue berries has to be one of my all time favourites) and extremely well written book. It is full of practical information, but there is also a lot about the Hewitts' philosophy of life - from life in general to homesteading, parenting, education, soil and animal care and more. I have to admit that I skipped most of the section on animal raising, slaughter, and use of parts, though I found it interesting that these one-time vegetarians have thought through their stance and changed to eating (and growing and slaughtering and respecting) animals. I love that this book resonates so deeply with my own beliefs - I just wish I'd 'got there' as young as Ben and Penny did. As you will see from the photo, I marked too many special paragraphs to fit into a review, but I'll offer a few.

On the value of homegrown food: "The labor to produce nourishing food is itself of value. I have to admit, I did not always see it this way. But over the years, I have come to understand that the value of the foods we produce is only partly found in the foods themselves. Indeed, I now understand that the labor itself holds a deep and intrinsic value; it maintains our physical health, it connects us to the land and nature, it fosters our intellect with new skills, and it develops the spirit. The sense of labor's role in feeding my family's body and spirit is so profound that it occasionally seems to me as if the food itself is merely a byproduct."

On improving soil: "Our habit of fertilizing our garden with compost we proudly made from vegetation and animal manure originating from plants grown in depleted soil only magnified soil imbalances, as the depleted compost was incorporated into the soil from which it came."

On the loss of celebration of season and ritual: The first strawberry in June is no longer cause for celebration: it is no longer brought to the house in the grubby palm of a child and quartered so that every member of the family can experience it's brief, particular sweetness and the anticipation of the berries that are slowly ripening on the plants. Why? Because, of course, we can have strawberries year-round, now, enough for everyone to have heaping handfuls and more. Who can resist that?"

On unschooling children on a homestead: "....we believe that the resourcefulness and confidence their hands-on capabilities engender - along with the inevitable failures along the path toward attaining these skills - will provide the foundation necessary to support them no matter what career or lifestyle they choose."

And the concluding paragraph: "We are still working on all of this. We do not have it all figured out. We never will have it all figured out. Every day, we are learning new ways and unlearning old ones. Every morning, we wake up and we walk outside to see what the day holds."

Magazines

Organic NZ July/August 2015 issue

There's always interesting things to read in this magazine, although there is frequently some articles which are full of unsubstantiated woo as well. But best of all, in this issue there was a recipe using five limes - my limes have been going to waste - that was also raw, gluten free, and dairy free. It was also really yummy once you got used to the unusual flavours. Sublime Tart. Try it. At least three slices before you decide.

Permaculture No84 Summer 2015

My favourite magazine. I could read many of the articles online and the website, but I love having this magazine lying around to pick up and browse - even the advertisements are fascinating. There's always a wonderful mix of the practical and the theoretical. Unlike many publications which address ecological, social and environment issues, this magazine always contains abundant positivity.

May Reading

Fiction

At Book Club I was reminded of Ann Cleeves and have been on a binge. I first discovered Cleeves via the television detectives series about Vera Stanhope. Loved the series, and discovered I love the books too - although, as always, there annoying changes to the stories for no apparent reason. Cleeves has several detectives that she has written about and they are all good, although I think I like the Vera books best - possibly because she is a woman not too far from my age. So without reviewing each one, these are what I've been reading:
Hidden Depths (Vera Stanhope)
The Healers (Stephen Ramsay)
The Baby Snatcher (Stephen Ramsay)
Red Bones (Jimmy Perez)
Blue Lightning (Jimmy Perez)

Non-Fiction

Bloodhound: Searching for my father by Ramona Koval
Ramona Koval is an Australian broadcaster, writer and journalist, and I bought this book after hearing her being interviewed on Nine To Noon on National Radio. Her parents were Jewish Holocaust survivors from Poland who had settled in Melbourne a few years after the end of World War 2. But their relationship was an uneasy one. Some years after her mother's early death in her late 40s, Ramona began following up the clues that her parentage wasn't as straightforward as it seemed. The book is a lovely mix of her hunt for information about her parents, along with stories of her own life and many others. It also contains a lot of introspection and self-examination in a real way without being ponderous. I  have been disappointed in the past, when reading a book after hearing the author speak - this was not one of those times. I thoroughly enjoyed it even as it challenged my white, middle-class, colonial privilege.

The Wisdom Seeker: Finding the Seed of Advantage in the Khmer Rouge by Pisey Leng as told to Jennifer Colford
This is the story of a woman whose life was turned upside down when she was seven. She was the daughter of well to do people living in Phnom Penh when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia. They - in fact virtually all of the people of Phnom Penh - were driven out of the city, with no time to gather more than a few belongings. Her story of their treatment at the hands of the Khmer Rouge is harrowing. She had an amazingly strong mother who got them through these years (although her father died), through the subsequent 'liberation' by the Vietnamese, and then through their time in a refuge camp in Thailand. By the time they were in Thailand she was growing up and she took advantage of every opportunity to gain education, including learning some English. The last part of the book is way too full of positive thinking, 'The Secret' type of thinking, and 'putting it out there to the universe, but as that seems to have been what got her through in her new country, then all power to her. And her new country? Well, as well as working as an anesthetist technician in Hamilton, New Zealand, she owns the bakery / takeaway shop in Raglan, ten minutes away form my home. Which makes her story all so much more real to me - 'brings it home to me' in more way than one.
The book is not particularly well written, but the story is mesmerizing, and well worth reading.

Our World text by Mary Oliver, photographs by Molly Malone Cook
I didn't discover Mary Oliver's poetry until the last ten years, but she's been published for decades. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry and is one of the most celebrated poets in America. Her life partner, Molly Malone Cook, was an early advocate of photography as an art form. The book is a quiet celebration of Molly's life and of their life together. It is beautifully presented: the phographgs are amazing, and, as always, Mary's words reach instantly into my heart. Mary writes about how Molly taught her to see with an artist's eye, which goes part of the way toward explaining her poetry which is so filled with careful observation and detail. I love this book. If you want to read it, you'll have to get it elsewhere - I'm not lending this book out to anyone!

Swan: poems and prose poems by Mary Oliver
As I slowly read Our World, I pulled out this book off my shelf and interspersed my reading with poems. So many lovely poems that make my heart sing. You can't borrow this one either.

April Reading

It's been a while since I wrote about what I've been reading - mostly it's been craft books. And I now have another pile of those sitting, waiting to be browsed.

Novels

Rachael's Gift by Alexandra Cameron
Rachael is 14 and a 'gifted' artist, but also a gifted liar. When Rachael accuses her art teacher of sexual misconduct, Rachael and her parents, Camille and Wolfe, are drawn into a deepening web of distrust and confusion. Set in Australia and Paris, the story encompasses the secrets and lies of four generations and, for me at least, a surprising ending. Worth a read.

Stonemouth by Ian Banks
Having heard Ian Banks mentioned a number of times at my book club, when I saw one at the local library I had to try it. I found it to be well written, and despite the world of Stewart Gilmour being one I have never had connection to in any way, believable. However, it is a bleak and sordid world, and although it was satisfying in the way a well written book is, it left me with a feeling of grey dreariness.

Non-Fiction

The Artist Unique: Inspiration and techniques to discover your creative signature by Carmen Torbus
I had this book out of the library several times and found it so inspiring and helpful I finally bought it. It includes the work of seventeen artists whose favourite techniques are explained in detail. There are workshops' to help you, and details of material. I love this book!

Making an Impression: Designing and Creating Artful Stamps by Geninne D Zlatkis

I think I may have to buy this book too - I love it, and this woman's work to the degree that I am following both her blog and her Facebook page. Her stamps are gorgeous and she shows how to make them. My main problem is that I can find only one shop selling over-sized erasers, and even that has only one size. I've been having lots of fun with erasers and lino cutting tools.

November Reading

Novels

When She Came Home by Drusilla Campbell
A very powerful book about a woman who is a marine and has come back from Iraq with PTSD. It is about relationships between children and parents, between her and her husband, about right and wrong and conflicting loyalties. I struggled to keep reading at times, other times I couldn't put it down. A book to make you think and rethink. Definitely recommended.

The Mistress's Revenge by Tamar Cohen
A crazy story of an affair, marriage, children, obsession and full of twists. I really enjoy the way this woman writes:
"I often worry that I have somehow made Daniel less than he was when I first met him. That I have reduced him, like over-simmered stock."  Recommended.

The Keeper of Secrets by Julie Thomas

Story of a Jewish family and their losses, of both people and possessions in WW2, and the reclaiming of some in the present day.Somewhat far fetched but quite good all the same. The author lives in Cambridge, New Zealand.

Down To Earth by Melanie Rose
Michaela parachutes out of a plane and when she lands she finds she has been missing for 6 1/2 years. Some people think she deliberately ran off, others that she was abducted by someone, or by aliens or some kind of magical force. The reactions of both Michaela and the other people in the book are very unrealistic and in the end, hey! Unexplained magic! Don't waste your time.

Trust by Kate Veitch
Mid-life crises, teenage angst, affairs, discovering one's true passions and talents, a gay son, as well as a gay friend - it sounds dreadful but actually I really enjoyed this book about families - and trust. Recommended.

Archipelago by Monique Roffrey
A father and daughter on a journey out of grief, out of normal life. Far fetched but still believable. An exploration of that crazy, unreal space we are left in after the loss of someone dearly loved and pivotal to our lives. beautifully told.

Non-Fiction

Making Journals by Hand by Jason Thompson
Book Art Studio Handbook by Stacie Dolin & Amy Lapidow
Two books that I have been pouring over and being inspired by - I need to clean out the craft room, clear the beekeeping gear to one side, and get creating!



 

October Reading

Children's Books

Pepetuna by Denise Whitmore is one of the most delightful educational children's books I've seen in a very long time. In fact I think it's the best I've ever read, but it's a long time since I regularly read children's books so I may have forgotten some. The review on Fishpond says, "From the time a tiny puriri moth's egg falls onto the forest floor, this book follows the life cycle of that moth - Pepetuna. For five years Pepetuna hides in the puriri tree, eating and sleeping until the time is right. Then one warm spring evening, he pushes a hole through the door of his home. He crawls out with his strong new legs and breathes the fresh air. Then he stretches out his beautiful new wings, ready to fly up into the moonlight ...for just one night. Through the clever use of illustrations showing the first five years of a young child's life, the reader can experience the concept of time and how long it takes for Pepetuna to grow and be ready for that single night."

It's gorgeous. Pepetuna's story is told in words illustrated in multimedia colour, while the human story is black and white drawings and without words.

I bought a copy and sent it to my friend who is a children's librarian in Alaska. I think I'm going to have to buy another copy just for me.

Non-fiction

The Secret Life of the Grown Up Brain by Barbara Strauch. The best part of the book is, that by her definition I am still (just) middle-aged! Or maybe the best bit is being told that forgetting names, and why I went into the kitchen isn't necessarily a sign of dementia of some kind. But essentially, a long version of the magazine articles that tell you to exercise, eat right, and keep your mind busy.

Novels

The Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens
A story of a woman whose husband doesn't come home, and her search for him which turns into a search for herself. Interesting, quite enjoyable, but I felt it just didn't explore some promising issues deeply enough to satisfy me.

The Wedding Bees: a novel of honey, love and manners by Sarah-Kate Lynch
Light-hearted, warm look at love and life, and how they are affected by the past. A bit shallow, and the idea of bees having a conciousness that allows them to become attached to humans, and that they might act to help an individual is just plain irritating to a beekeeper!

Someone Else's Wedding by Tamar Cohen
A story set in the 36 hours before, during and after a wedding. Narrated by a woman who has two daughters but is still grieving for her late life baby, who died. Can't say too much about it, because it would spoil the psychological twists and turns, but I highly recommend it.

August Reading

Novels

Delicious! by Ruth Reichl
I'm so glad I read Garlic and Sapphires before I read this book, as I may have found some of the characters unrealistic if I hadn't recognised them from Reichl's memoir. It's a fun romp though the world of restaurants and food publishing, with a bit of history and love thrown in. I did enjoy it, and again I am pleasantly surprised by Reichl's ability to change genre. As someone who wrote for magazines, both her memoir and this novel could have been bitty but although her chapters are a bit more defined than those of many fiction writers, her books are tied together well. I'm looking forward to the next book.

The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton
 My son, Greg, lent me the first two books of a series ages ago. I have struggled with them for the silliest of reasons - they are physically large books, and I find it difficult to get comfortable when reading them! It is a science fiction adventure trilogy, but not of the easy kind where everything is explained. There are number of different main characters in different places, and even different times, who are all converging on the same central event / place. It's often difficult to know who a chapter is about for a while, and the second book, which I have only just stared, does not pander to the reader by having a chapter or two catch-up and reminder. It's a very involved story, makes the brain work hard, and I am enjoying it thoroughly.

The Tea Chest by Josephine Moon
Another book of a woman stretching herself and growing, along with a couple of other women who join her on her journey, whilst exploring their own journeys. It is about Kate who is left a half share in the business she has been working for, and how she grows the business along with herself. The setting is unusual - several tea shops - but there is not much real detail of tea growing, processing, blending and so on, which I would have found interesting. Quite well written, fun, but somewhat unlikely circumstances and twists throughout, some of which I found irritating, as they felt like lazy shortcuts to explain things. A pleasant enough winter-by-the-fire read.

The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
Alan runs away from his 100th birthday celebrations at the old folks home and becomes involved in a ridiculous series of events, the telling of which is intermingled with the stories of his life - equally ridiculous. Despite the totally unbelievable nature of his life and adventure, they are only unbelievable if you stop to think about them. While involved in the book, it is all feels just wonderfully true. 

This book was lent and recommended to me by a woman around 70. I'm 62. My young, male, 20ish friend came to visit and pounced on it, having read half of it and loved it, but he hadn't finished it because his 50ish father hadn't completed it either, so wouldn't let him take it away. I can't imagine any reader not enjoying this book. I totally recommend it. I think it would be especially good to read aloud to a friend who also likes books - I was wishing Steven or Jeff still lived at home so I could read aloud with them. It is now out in movie form but only in a few cinemas, and not in Hamilton, so I guess I'll have to wait for it to come out on dvd.

Memoir

Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl

This Reichl book is another memoir, this time about her childhood and younger life up until she went to work as a restaurant critic. Although it is memoir, she says:

"Everything here is true, but it may not be entirely factual. In some cases I have compressed events; in others I have made two people into one. I have occasionally embroidered. 

I learned early that the most important thing in life is a good story."

It is, in fact, another brilliant story.

Non- Fiction (unfortunately)

Dirty Politics: How attack politics is poisoning New Zealand's political environment by Nicky Hager

I've only managed to read 60% of this book so far: I can only read little bits at a time, because I find it so upsetting. However, I read a little every day because I think it is a must read for everyone in the country. I especially think that National Party supporters should read it, because beyond the actual dirty tricks that are exposed, it also reveals the truly horrible attitude of a small (I hope) number of of right wing people who have been manipulating the National Party in ways that would appal the majority of National supporters. Sadly, many won't read the book, brushing it aside as a left wing smear campaign. Having read what I have, if I was a Nat, I would be getting myself very involved in the party, doing my best to clean out the corruption and the ugly immorality display by Cameron Slater and his cronies. I am Green through and through, but I have friends who always vote National and they are good people (albeit, misguided, in my opinion) who would read parts of this book with as much horror as me. Despite not having finished the book yet, I'm writing this now in the hopes that people may read it before they vote. Essential reading.

July Reading

Fiction

Snake Ropes by Jess Richards
I heard of this book when a woman, whose blog I follow, reviewed it:


From blog by Catherine at Still Standing On Her Head

Jess Richards was born in Wales and grew up in South West Scotland. The setting of the book is a mysterious island somewhere far to the west of Scotland. The inhabitants have long been isolated. Their only visitors are the mysterious tall men who come from the mainland to trade for fish and for the women's craft work, being careful not to disturb the culture of the islanders too much. The story is told in the voice of two young girls, Mary who is an islander, and Morgan whose parents have settled there from the mainland, after fleeing something dark in their past. If I had to label this book with a genre, I would say "magical realism". Morgan can talk to the dead, and the myths told by Mary's grandmother become tangled in the story so that it is not quite clear what is myth and what is real.

It's a stunning book, highly imaginative, unlike anything else I have ever read. I highly recommend it. 
 
I agree. It is a strange but compelling book! It is classified as fantasy, which I guess it is, but is nothing like anything I have read before. I won't say I liked it but I couldn't abandon it either. I haven't decided whether I'll read her second book, Cooking with Bones, which sounds from the title as if it is even creepier!

The Cornish Knot by Vicky Adin

The Cornish Knot is the story of Megan, a widow of 12 months who receives her great-grandmother’s journal written a hundred years ago. She embarks on a journey to trace her family tree, discovering secrets and finding herself immersed in the world of art. She follows the footsteps of her ancestor from Cornwall via Italy to New Zealand.This is the first of a series, The Past Finders, which will all be about 'history, family, love and renewal'. It's an easy read, not badly written, and well researched. However, it is somewhat unrealistic in its unfolding of the story, for the sake of drama - in a real life situation, the story would have unfolded in a much less orderly fashion story-wise, but way more logically in terms of a woman travelling the world to trace her predecessors.

As I say, an easy read, good for a journey, or for curling up with when you are sick, or like me, suffering from a sore back.


Memoir

Garlic and Sapphires by  Ruth Reichl

 I'm a vegetarian. I don't much like restaurants, especially the posh ones where the food has been artistically arranged on the plate - I get creeped out at the thought of all the fingers involved in arranging it - and I have never read a restaurant review. I also have a horror of big cities. However, a woman I met recently, and who I, so far, really like, mentioned Ruth Reichl, and one of the ways I like to get to know people is to read books they recommend. Well, I'm hooked! I'll be finding more of her books for sure.

Garlic and Sapphires is a memoir about Reichl's years as the restaurant reviewer for the New York Times. It is based around some of her reviews, but is about her discovery of sides of herself that she didn't previously know about, as she develops disguises so she can visit restaurants without getting the special treatment that recognition brought. She writes so well that her descriptions of food that would have me gagging even if I was 3 tables away, make me salivate. She is incredibly funny and insightful, and I can't wait to get my hands on another of her books - I'm looking forward to some cold, wet days in front of the fire!

June Reading

Fiction

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
A funny love story about an old Indian-born English Major and an English born Pakistani woman. The reactions of their families, friends and the local villagers make for a bit of thinking about cultural differences, but it is neither too shallow nor too intense. Not quite 'fluff' but an easy winter fireside read that is quite satisfying.

Gith by  Chris Else
An easy but uncomfortable read. Well written but a bit too creepy for me. An NZ author.

Dinner at Rose's by Danielle Hawkins
Another NZ  author. An amusing romance. Definitely winter-time fluff, but reasonably well written.

Non-Fiction

The Exercise Book - Creative writing exercises from Victoria University's Institute of Modern Letters edited by Bill Manhire, Ken Duncum, Chris Price and Damien Wilkins

The writing group I go to intermittently has been using this book recently and it has lots of good trigger ideas. There are exercises for a range of genre, and some that deal with revision and editing. A worthwhile book of interest to beginner writers and the more experienced. Sadly though, it still hasn't got me doing the most important thing of all: writing EVERY DAY!

One of the exercises we did was based on The Ian Sharp Poem, which Jenny Bornholdt has used with children in schools. Ian describes himself in third person in terms of various things: a parcel, a toy, a landscape and more. We did our own versions, describing ourselves, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed doing this as I usually hate exercises of any kind, especially the 'you have 10 minutes to do this' kind!

The Cally Brown Poem

Cally Brown is parcel of seedlings

wrapped in wet sports pages

from Monday’s Waikato Times

secured with green rubber bands

saved from last year’s asparagus.

Cally Brown is a sandpit

with buried matchbox cars

a faded yellow bucket

a broken red spade

and a couple of ice block sticks.

Cally Brown is an orchard

with four white Peking ducks

beside a garden with rows

of carrots and beetroot and

broad beans and sweet red onions.

Cally Brown is an old Toyota van

with room for shovels and a scythe,

bags of fallen leaves, new plants,

trees, children and grandchildren,

love, and baskets full of memories

Cally Brown is a home-made book

with crinkly rusted paper

bound with brown hemp twine

embellished with pages from old books

pressed leaves and chook feathers

Cally Brown is a pile of old jerseys

just waiting for transformation

into wild patchwork hoodies

with crazy ribbons, buttons, beads

and totally unsuitable colours.

May Reading

We Shall Not Cease: The Autobiography of a Conscientious Objector by Archibald Baxter.

This is one of those 'must read one day' books that's been on my list for decades, ever since I first discover James K Baxter's poetry. Recently it was the book reading on National Radio and after missing listening on quite a few days, I got it out of the library. It's a very slim volume but it took me several weeks to read it - I needed lots of downtime from the horror, and lots of thinking time.

The horror is partly due to the calm way in which Baxter recounts the events of his incarceration, and enforced time on the front in WWI. Baxter and his co-objectors were not just imprisoned, but also starved and tortured for their beliefs. Baxter had particularly bad treatment from some who could understand the religious objector - "because my religion is against it' - but not someone who just believed that all war and killing is wrong. It is only near the end of the book that some of Baxter's feelings show through.

The book was published first in 1939 at the beginning of WW2, and re-published in 1968, during the Vietnam war. It's interesting as a documentary, but it's real value, in my opinion, is in the thinking it promotes. As Baxter said when he sent a copy to one of his fellow objectors, "In memory of days we can't yet afford to forget."


The Happiness Project: or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin

I've been reading quite a few books about happiness and positive thinking over the last year or so, driven by my continuing efforts to keep depression away. Most reinforced my thinking about the 'born again Amway' mentality of most positive thinking promotions which say that if you visualise and believe the good messages (lies?) you tell yourself, you will get what you visualise, and if you think negatively you'll never get what you want. They don't usually seem to go into detail about how people bring disaster on themselves, like fire, famine, flood, earthquake, tsunami, although even expressions of that occur occasionally. As mentioned in my February review, Rhonda Byrne, author of The Secret,   stated that disasters like tsunamis can happen only to people who are "on the same frequency as the event." The messages of Positive Thinking, The Law of Attraction, and the like, feed the smugness of middle class First Worlders. They cannot be taken seriously by anyone able to open their eyes to the very real hardships faced by the less priveledged, for example, problems of the Third World.

The Happiness Project came to my notice via  our local Facebook page, The Raglan Noticeboard, as people asked to borrow a copy. I accessed it via the Hamilton Public Libraries. I have been pleasantly surprised to find that it describes the personal search of one woman, over one year, to try to make her present life better. This is not a book about a grand journey, an exotic adventure, a trip to sit at the feet of a guru in India, a dramatic career change: it's a story about making small changes to make the life she already had happier and better appreciated. Many of the ideas I had already come across, and implemented, but I really like the structure she put them into. My structure would be different, as would everyone's: it's not so much a self-help book, as an exploration of how one woman helped herself. As such, I have found it far more helpful than any 'self-help' book! There's no magical formula, and quite a bit of challenging hard work, but I find that inspiring. 

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: a memoir of going home by Rhoda Janzen

I loved this book!  And, according to the cover, so did Elizabeth Gilbert author of Eat, Pray, Love. At forty two Janzen was told she had to have a hysterectomy.  Because of medical misadventure, she was left incontinent for six months. They then moved to a rural community and two months later, her husband of 15 years left her for a man he'd met on 'gay.com', and she was left living in an expensive house she could no longer afford. After a time, she decided to go home for a year to recover - home being with Mennonite parents. The book is an exploration of her failed marriage, of her childhood and of her family's religion. It all sounds very grim. But it isn't! It is interesting, informative, thought provoking and endlessly funny. She doesn't blame her broken marriage totally on her husband, she examines the good in her parents and their religion, as well as the bad. It is interesting, informative, thought provoking and endlessly funny. It is very easy to read, yet not at all shallow. Highly recommended.

February Reading

Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World (2009 Granta Books) by Barbara Ehrenreich

I reserved this book at the library after hearing Ehrenreich interviewed by Kim Hill on National Radio'sSaturday Morning programme.

Ehrenreich came up with the idea for this book after being diagnosed with breast cancer and finding herself engulfed by insistence on cheerfulness, positive thinking, and on denying any and all 'negative' feelings such as fear or anger.

She explores the way positive thinking has become virtually a new religion. The rise of positive and magical thinking in all its guises - The Secret, Law of Attraction, Norman Vincent Peale, personal coaching, corporate coaching - is explored, along with its origin in the rejection of the dour, fear-filled  Calvinism and protestantism that defined past generations of America.
 
Ehrenreich  examines the science of positive thinking and finds it wanting - there is, for example, some data which shows positive thinking can enhance your immune response to a cold, but none that shows an effect on cancer, despite all the hype.

She has chapters which deal with the way positive thinking has taken over cancer support, churches, business, psychology, and even led to the destruction of the economy in 2008.

She sums up by saying that she is not proposing negative thinking, but realistic thinking, based on science, logic, and indeed, common sense (which in my opinion is not actually very common.)

A quote from the book: It's true that subjective factors like determination are critical to survival and that individuals sometimes triumph over nightmarish levels of adversity. But mind does not automatically prevail over matter, and to ignore the role of difficult circumstances - or worse, attribute them to our own thoughts - is to slide toward the kind of depraved smugness Rhonda Byrne expressed when confronted with the tsunami of 2006. Citing the law of attraction, she stated that disasters like tsunamis can happen only to people who are "on the same frequency as the event."

And a recommendation from Christopher Hitchens from the back cover : Unless you keep on saying that you believe in fairies, Tinker Bell will check out, and what's more, her sad demise will be your fault! Barbara Ehrenreich scores again for the independent-minded in resisting this drool and all those who wallow in it."

I highly recommend this book, which I did not find at all negative, but rather, a relief. Have a listen to the podcast linked above too.