Cushla reads in 2015

Welcome to my 2015 reading thread! This is my 7th year in the group and I can hardly remember life before LT. I had a pretty pathetic reading year in 2014 and managed a whopping 21 books - I'm hoping 2015 will be better. So far nobody has threatened to boot me out of the group...

I live in Wellington, New Zealand with my husband and 2 kids and teach maths at a local high school. I'm off school for the next month so I'm hoping to get loads of books read before my normal state of chaos resumes.



That's me next to Lake Taupo.

My favourite 2 books in 2014 were All the Light We Cannot See by Antony Doerr and Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King. I'm not making any plans for 2015 because they will fall by the wayside quickly, but I will probably attempt to keep up with the NZ/Australian author challenge and the Reading Globally theme reads.

Currently reading:

SPQR by Mary Beard - 8% through

Books read in 2015:
January
1. Heartstone by C J Sansom - 4 1/2 stars - finished 3 Jan
2. How It All Began by Penelope Lively - 4 stars - finished 7 Jan - BAC January
3. A Golden Age by Tahmima Aman - 4 1/2 stars - finished 11 Jan - Reading Globally challenge
4. Consequences by Penelope Lively - 4 stars - finished 25 Jan - BAC January

February
5. Lamentation by C J Sansom - 4 1/2 stars

March
6. The Bletchley Girls by Tessa Dunlop - 2 1/2 stars -

April
7. The Iron Necklace by Giles Waterfield - 3 1/2 stars
8. Dead Man's Land by Robert Ryan - 4 1/2 stars
9. The Dead Can Wait by Robert Ryan - 4 1/2 stars
10. The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt - 4.2 stars

May
11. A Study in Murder by Robert Ryan - 4 stars
12. Redeployment by Phil Klay - 4 stars

June
13. Winston's War by Michael Dobbs - 4 stars
14. Never Surrender by Michael Dobbs - 3 1/2 stars

July
15. The Best of Our Spies by Alex Gerlis - 4.2 stars
16. The Envoy by Edward Wilson - 4 stars
17. The Devil's Cave by Martin Walker - 4 stars
18. Resistance Man by Martin Walker - 4 stars
19. Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri - 2 1/2 stars

August
20. Churchill's Hour by Michael Dobbs - 4 stars
21. The Red Eagles by David Downing - 3 1/2 stars
22. Lie Down With Lions by Ken Follett - 3 1/2 stars

September
23. A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby - 4 stars
24. Love and War in the Appenines by Eric Newby - 4 1/2 stars

October
25. The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China by David Eimer - 4 stars

November
26. Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar by Tom Holland - 4 stars

December
27. The House by the Lake by Thomas Harding - 4 stars
28.. Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood - 3 1/2 stars
29.. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith - 4 1/2 stars
30.. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith - 4 stars
31. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith - 4 stars

Welcome back! Not the second member of the new group, but you scored the second thread! :)

You have the best timing Jim! The kids are watching Phineas and Ferb with my husband and I had just stopped reading my book to see if anything was happening on LT. I'll be behind by tomorrow but right now this is lovely!

No, you won't be behind by tomorrow, even in New Zealand time, in this group. You can't get behind on this group until next year!

Hi Cushla! I also feel like this is the only time I'm caught up in this group. I begin the year with the intent to keep up with thread reading, but it lasts only until the beginning of the Spring semester in early January.

Cushla, that is a wonderful photo, of you and your beautiful country. And the sun - that is something we don't see very much of here in Baltimore where it is grey, grey and grey. Here's to a good reading year. Don't fret 21 books - last year (2013) I only read 19!

Happy 2015 reading, Cushla. And congrats for scoring 2nd thread! Lovely summer picture... and it makes me dread getting up ( it's 6:11 am here) and looking out of my window even more, because here they promised a snow storm for today.

Lovely photo at the top of your thread. It is nice to be reminded of warmth and sunshine in this season of cold and rain. I haven't seen the Ackroyd about the Civil War before seeing it on your thread. You already got me with a BB!

He he, making waves already! Good to see the NZ crew representing ;)

Lovely to see those crystal clear NZ waters up top, Cushla. Welcome back.

Great opening photo, Cushla!

Hi Luci, Carrie, Catarina, Nathalie, Meg, Megan, Paul and Darryl - great to have visitors!

#8 Meg, I suspect when I find your thread you are going to do bad things to my wishlist... I'm enjoying the Ackroyd as a well written, extremely readable narrative of 1600-1700. It's 20+ years since I did any serious reading about the Civil War - it was one of 2 topics we spent the last year of high school history on and at the time I read everything I could fine - and I have forgotten so much of the detail! This book is good for that. If you want analysis of why stuff happened, it's not the book for you so just be warned that there are plenty of ho hum "serious historian" reviews out there...

I'm glad you all like the photo. It's of Lake Taupo, our biggest (I think!!) lake in the North Island. It looks gorgeous and hot but the water was FREEZING. We stopped there on our way back from Auckland last week.

Carrie, you have already got me with a book bullet from Darryl's thread and I haven't even found your thread yet. And it isn't 2015 yet. Well done...

Having a not so fabulous day. Mum has been in pretty good health since May or so, but has had some back pain the last few days so is at A&E seeing what's up. I've been with her this morning and am about to go back in now to sit and wait with her - they are doing another CT scan to check that her aortic dissection hasn't worsened. It probably hasn't but she is running on one kidney and keeping her blood pressure, kidney function and everything else balanced can get a bit hairy. And Dad had a hip replacement just before Christmas, so can't get around much yet, so half my job is keeping him up to date and not worrying unnecessarily. As usual, the nurses and doctor we have seen are amazing.

Back later on!

>12 cushlareads: My aim must be improving if I can hit you with a BB on someone else's thread!

>12 cushlareads: I'm sorry to hear about your mother's setback, Cushla. Please keep us posted on how she is doing.

#13 Yes, Carrie, pretty good aim! Probably not the last BB from you in the next year either...

#14 Darryl, thanks for asking. All's well here - I've just got home now (7 pm) from taking Mum home then going back to hospital with Tim and the kids to get her car, taking our car home, realising Tim didn't have the keys to our 2nd car at Mum and Dad's place, going back to their place to give him the keys, blah blah blah! I'm sitting here with a therapeutic glass of red wine.

So - no explanation really for the pain, which was exactly the same pain she had back in May when everything went bad. But the pain is going. But good news - the dissection hasn't worsened, and is still a Type B dissection, and it has thrombosed so no blood pumping down it to put pressure on it. (I am sure that will make sense to you - it did to me once I got the vascular registrar to explain himself in plainer English). But I hadn't realised *quite* how bad the dissection was - it goes from up near the top of her chest to right down near the bottom of her tummy. I'd been thinking of it as a little rip not a big rip. The vascular registrar was pretty funny and honest - he said he'd read the report when she came into ED thinking it wasn't going to be a very good day for him if the pain was due to the dissection getting worse, and said that any further surgery would be at best heroic but probably not. Luckily, no need for that.

And there was more good news that her creatinine levels are stable at around 100 (far far better than in May when they got to 260 or so). They're going to monitor them but she is at home happily now and the pain seems better. As usual, I come away from a hospital experience in awe at the doctors and nurses. Mum's case history is pretty complicated now and the ED doctor and staff nurse got their heads around it really well. Her kidney doesn't react well to the MRI or CT contrast dye, so they pumped IV fluid through her before and after the scan today to help with that, and were just generally lovely throughout the day.

About 20 pages of book read all day... but I'm just relieved Mum is ok. And I have some good daughter points in the parental bank for a few days!

Here to reserve my seat for 2015 :)

Sorry to hear your Mum is still in pain - fingers crossed they get to the bottom of it asap.

Hello Cushla! I saw you posting on several threads I visit frequently. So I hope you don't mind if I drop a here and try to follow your thread.

Cushla - great to see that your Mum is out of hospital. And great to see you back on for 2015.

Thanks for the update on your mother, Cushla. I had to review the classification system for aortic dissections, as I haven't seen a patient with one since I was in medical school in the mid 1990s. Your description ("it has thrombosed so no blood pumping down it to put pressure on it") does make sense to me. My eyes popped for half a second when you mentioned that her serum creatinine level was 100, though! The US uses a different measure (milligrams per deciliter, or mg/dL) than New Zealand does (micromoles per liter, or umol/L), and a normal creatinine level in an adult would be 0.5-1.1 mg/dL in women. As you certainly know, the higher the creatinine level, the worse is the function of the kidneys; a doubling of the serum creatinine level (at least in mg/dL) corresponds to a decrease in kidney function by roughly half.

I'm glad that your mother has a good medical team managing her care. That's well over half the battle.

Hi Cushla! Glad to see you here in the 2015 group, and I'm relieved that your mother is doing OK. We both were fans of All the Light We Cannot See last year! It was definitely among my top ten.

Sorry to hear about your mom's health problems, Cushla. That's really difficult. Hopefully you have a better day tomorrow.

Beautiful photo of you at Lake Taupo, Cushla. Very glad to hear your mom is doing not too badly.

Here's wishing you a HNY and much fabulous reading!

#16 Hi Bekka - thanks for visiting! I'm looking forward to keeping up better on your thread this coming year and hope the 1001 list gives you more joy in 2015.

#17 Hallo Barbara - toll, dich hier zu sehen. Ich habe deine Posts hier auf LT gesehen und wollte immer sagen, dass wir zwei Jahre in Basel gewohnt haben - in 2010 und 2011. Ich habe Zuerich viermal besucht und liebte es sofort! So eine schoene Stadt!! Natuerlich war der Englischbuchladen besonders toll... ich habe den Namen schon vergessen aber er steht auf der Hauptstrasse. Ich besuche bald dein Thread.

#18 Hi Rhian! Yes it is good that Mum is ok. Sounds like she is feeling all right again now and we'll just keep our fingers crossed.

#19 Darryl, I've never heard of a micromole and am going to go look up the different scale. Interesting. Hmmm... wikipedia is great but sometimes not a good thing to read when you're thinking about an individual case. Mum's level is still a bit high but relative to where it's been it is really good so I'll just think about that! Yes we were very lucky with the doctors on Sunday. Sometimes the vascular ones don't talk to the renal ones quite enough to put the jigsaw together.

#20 hi Amy! Looking forward to being bad for each other's wishlists again in 2015...

#21 Thanks for the good wishes, Rachel. She seems better and the pain has gone pretty much.

#22 Hi Nancy - happy new year back to you and I am expecting loads of good book ideas from you again in 2015!

Sometimes the vascular ones don't talk to the renal ones quite enough to put the jigsaw together.

Yep. My mother's older sister nearly died a few years ago, due mainly to her primary care internist's decision to take her off the blood thinner that her hematologist had put her on without consulting him first. Part of my job as a hospitalist is to be sure that the specialists are speaking with each other and communicating with the families of chronically or seriously ill patients, so that mistakes like the one that happened to my aunt don't happen.

Dear Cushla, what a wonderful photo of you up top! I am smiling imagining you on your long school break -- hope you get lots of reading and relaxing done. We're on break, too, but it's not our long one, and I'll be back at school in a week.

I'm sorry to hear of your mother's medical issues. That's always a worry, but it sounds like she's getting great care.

Happy New Year to you!

Welcome back to the group Cushla! Sorry to hear your Mum had to make a hospital visit but glad to hear she's feeling better now.

Hi Cushla. Reading your opening post (with the word maths) made me think of this blog entry that a friend from the UK marked for me.

He and I engage in a constant debate that always ends up in violent agreement: Americans do not speak proper English...they speak proper American. *grin*

Well, some of them do...

Hi Cushla! Even though you've not been reading as voraciously as you might like, your choices are always interesting to me. I credit you for a major book bullet in 2014 (All the Light we Cannot See). So I'm looking forward to seeing what 2015 brings.

>23 cushlareads: Wow, Cushla, your German is gorgeous. We've been in Basel today and have visited 'Spielzeugwelten Museum'. I'll post soon some photos on my thread.

Hi Cushla, I was mostly absent from LT this year, but plan to do much better in 2015. Looking forward to following your reading (and life adventures). I hope your mother is continuing to do well.

Aha. You're not in the threadbook but I thought I'd seen you here...

Hi. Stopped by to drop off a star and read about your mum. Hope she's much better. Let's plan a day for digging pippis. Or however you spell it.

Just read about your mum and hope she's continuing to do better now.
Just noticed that you must be approaching the New Year by now and probably already started the party. Guten Rutsch Euch allen! :)

Happy New Year everyone ...

Happy New Year from Atlanta!

Happy new year everyone! It's 10 past 12 here. I'm turning into a pumpkin and will be back tomorrow to reply to all your messages.

Happy New year Cushla - did the kids make it in the end?

>38 BekkaJo: I wondered the same thing after she posted a photo on Facebook.
Happy new year, Cushla!

Love the thread topper, Cushla! You look so happy. I hope your mother is feeling better. Wishing you all a happy, healthy new year.

Happy New Year, Cushla! All the Light We Cannot See was one of my faves in '14 too. Nice pic at Lake Taupo.

Ok, back now and it is breakfast time on New Year's Day. Tim and the kids are asleep so I am sitting here happily typing on the iPad keyboard in the sun, slowly getting around a few threads. And I'm going to try to do the readathon that Deborah is organising too.

#38 and #39 Laura and Bekka, yes the kids made it till midnight. Teresa was nearly asleep by 11.30 but kept her eyes open till the new year. She quite often reads till 10 if she can get away with it but it was the first time they've been allowed to stay up that late. (I don't encourage the reading till ten thing, but sometimes it is not worth the battle if it is a Saturday night).

#24 Darryl, I don't think we have many non-specialists in our hospitals here. That's scary about your aunt, and so good that you were able to stop the error. My experience last week just confirmed that if anything much at all happens with Mum this year I will be trying to be present, not just to comfort her but to communicate with the doctors. Anyway hopefully we will have a good healthy year.

#25 Happy New Year, Anne! I hope your return to school is smooth. I am so relaxed now that the end of January is going to be a big shock!

#26 Hi Heather and happy new year. I will come and find your thread this morning.

#27 Tad, I think I am going to print that blog post out to read slowly - looks very entertaining!! I got used to saying math while I was studying in the US and it bugs me much less than other American English things. (Aluminum...what's that about?!) Mind you there are loads of New Zild Unglush things that get to me. Like people who say Nucular instead of nuclear.

#28 Laura, I'm glad you find my books interesting. I have been pushing All The Light at RL friends but think a few are put off by the length. I was pleased with how some of my bookstore buys based on blurb, cover and subject last year turned out to be good - both my top 2 were not LT recommendations, for the first time in a long time.

#29 Barbara, we went to that museum quite a few times including on our very first day in Basel, when Teresa wasn't quite three! It is five years this week since we moved there. Have you got snow at the moment?

#30 Happy new year, Deborah! Will go and find your thread and will see you over at your readathon thread.

#31 Katherine, I've fixed up the thread book now so am findable again! Happy new year.

Ok, kids are up... Peace shattered for a bit but will be back later on.

May all your wishes come true.

Happy New Year Cushla!

Dear Cushla,



Happy New Year from your friend in Kuala Lumpur

>42 cushlareads: Breakfast on New Year's Day already for you. I just came back from watching fireworks to ring in the new year! Sorry to hear about your Mum's health concerns.

Ich wünsche Dir und Deiner Familie ein wunderschönes Neues Jahr. Ich drücke Dir die Daumen für Deine Mutter und das es Ihr bald besser gehen wird.

Love your thread topper with you smiling! My best friend is going back to NZ at the end of this year! So, maybe one day I will be able to have a mini LT meet-up with you as well, Cushla!

Welcome back! Good pic!

Happy Jan 2, Cushla. I'm going to try and keep up with your thread this year ..really, but I'm also glad we're friends on FB because at least I get updates there more quickly. :-)

Happy New Year, Cushla!

Happy New Year, Cushla! I was only an occasional lurker on your thread last year - skim reading threads seems to be the only way I can keep my head above water in the is amazing group! This year I am starring threads so that I am not so overwhelmed. I have now starred your thread and look forward to following it in 2015!

.... and the water in your thread topper pic looks soooo inviting but I see by your further comment that it is freezing cold! Where I live there are only small isolated pockets of water where it is actually warm enough during the summer to take a dip without developing hypothermia. ;-)

Sorry to read about your mom's health setback but glad to read that she is okay. Here is hoping that things improve.

Happy New Year! I'm glad your mum is stable and I hope it continues. I've been through serious iklnesses and hospitalizations with both parents and the role reversal can be difficult.

Happy New Year Cushla. I think you were the first to bring All the Light We Cannot See to my attention so thanks for that. It ended up being my favorite book last year. And I have Devil in the Grove downloaded so I may have to read that sooner that later. I'm glad your mother is feeling better.

Hi Cusla, I'm here to drop a star.

Cushla, I wish you a fabulous weekend full of reading.

Happy weekend Cushla!

Aagh - I can't keep up with my own thread!!

Thank you to Nathalie, Donna, Alex Rachel, Barbara, Paul, Bianca, Pam, Steve, Caro, Amber, Lori, Stephanie, Lynda, Donna, Laura, Bekka, Carrie and Bonnie for the new year wishes. It has got off to a very nice start and I've even finished a book.

Yesterday we went up the Kapiti Coast to visit Jenn and her family. We had a great time at the beach and will be going back this week to try out the waterslide at the local pool. Wellington's not known for its stunning summer weather but the last week has been lovely - around 20 degrees most days and not too much wind. And up the coast is nearly always a little bit warmer than that, and calmer. Today I'll be chasing Teresa on her rollerblades again and the boys are going for a bike ride.

Mum is doing well again, touch wood, and came to the Bot Gardens with us the other day. And Dad's starting to be able to walk past the front gate again.

Anyway, the first book of 2015...

Book 1: Heartstone by C J Sansom - 4 1/2 stars



This is the 5th in CJ Sansom's Tudor mystery series about Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer who has a habit of finding himself in big trouble. I bought Heartstone 3 years ago while we were still in Basel and didn't get it read before it was put in a box to come home. Then I forgot about it, and my reading pace slowed down massively. Several people have been telling me that Lamentation is really good, and I was enjoying Peter Ackroyd's Civil War book, which is set 2 kings later, so I picked up Heartstone again and read it in a couple of days despite its length.

Heartstone is set in 1545, when Henry VIII was at war with France. Queen Catherine is still looking out for Matthew's wellbeing, which is a very good thing after he made himself unpopular with the king in Revelation or maybe an earlier book. She asks him to investigate a case in the Court of Wards for one of her servants. Matthew's sidekick Jack Barak goes with him. And Matthew's still visiting Ellen Fettiplace in Bedlam asylum, and he needs to figure out how she ended up there.

As well as the usual great characters, the history woven into the story was fascinating. Matthew and Jack need to go down south near Portsmouth, which is where the battle against France will take place. They meet up with an old friend who's leading his troops to battle, which gives Sansom a chance to show what solidering was like back then. And you'll learn a bit about archery if you read this one.

Most people who've read the first 4 in the series will have read this one already, but if you haven't I recommend it.

congrats on your first book, Cushla. And a hefty star rating too, which is not to be sneezed at.

Heartstone is next up for me in the series. I should try to read it soonish.

I'm eagerly awaiting Lamentation's release in the US near the end of February.

Hi, Cushla--got you starred! The Ackroyd looks intriguing--will be watching for your review.

Do you have Lamentation all ready to go??

I've got Tigger perched on my chest and treating me as an ambulatory heating pad -- thankfully, the only health major issue in my household (well, I'm joking somewhat, but whatever) is Tigger's arthritis. He has decided I am an improvement on the heating pad I bought just for him. Sigh.

Sorry to hear about your mother's ongoing woes. I hope for both your sake and hers that managing the case becomes easier as the year progresses and by this time next year, a hospital visit is the furthest thing imaginable from your mind.

Amazing to think it has been so long since you guys headed off to Switzerland. I think your thread was one of the first I began to follow, and it was just as you all ventured off to live there and you were trying to decide what books to pack and take on the plane...

I am slowly collecting the Sansom books but I haven't read any of them yet. Good to see your review and rating for book 5 in the series!

Hi Cushla

Happy New Year. You are off to a great start with a very interesting first book of the year.

OK, I'm back on my own thread. I've been trying but failing to keep up with everyone else's. It's like reading a third book!

#59 Megan, yes it was a great book to start the year with. I hope you guys are ok - haven't been over to your thread yet since this morning's earthquake. I know nobody got hurt but it still sounded unpleasant.

#60 Carrie, I hope you enjoy it too and get time to read it soon. I had forgotten a few details about who'd done what to whom after my 3 year gap, but Sansom is good at telling you just enough about what happened in the earlier books.

#61 Laura I hadn't realised it wasn't out yet in the US. I suppose the reviews I've been seeing on here are ARCs. It's in the shops here and I bought it on my Kindle last week - I've got my Kindle hooked up to Amazon UK, which is so much better than their "international" store.

#62 Hi Deborah! Thanks for visiting. I'm going to need to get on with the Ackroyd book before it's due back at the library. I've put it aside for nearly a week now but am enjoying it - it's just that it prompted me to head back to the Shardlake books.

#63 Suz, I hope Tigger has got off you by now - he has probably been and gone several times! It's nice that he finds you so comforting. We're feeding next door's cat a lot these holidays and he eyes me suspiciously, but Teresa is very fond of him and I can see she would quite like a kitten. No chance though - the rest of us get very sneezy when we get too close. Thanks for your good wishes for Mum. She is doing so much better again and I am being the Good Daughter. As Carrie said upthread, the role reversal is quite hard and the tension usually appears when the initial crisis is over. sigh.

I remember deciding what books to take and still remember reading Tom Friedman's book Hot, Flat and Crowded on whichever bits of the flights weren't taken up with looking after a 2 year old Teresa. Little pockets of Switzerland still appear every day - I've just got an email from the supermarket chain with their 3 Kings' day specials! I suppose I will unsubscribe in due course but I spent *a lot* of time in Swiss supermarkets so they are quite funny to get and good German practice.

#64 Lori, if you have them on the shelves I highly recommend that you pick up Dissolution and get reading it!!

#65 Hi Linda. Thanks for dropping by. I'm very happy for you that you've got a date for your surgery and hope it is a success and reduces your pain levels drastically.

It's nearly dinner time but I am going to read a wee bit more of Lamentation, which has got off to a great start. Heartstone took a while to get going - you know there will be derring-do at the highest level of Henry VIII's administration but it wasn't as obvious for the first several hundred pages. In Lamentation Henry VIII's twists and turns on religious doctrine are very obviously the big theme from the start.

I'm also behaving quite out of character by **reading one of the e-books I downloaded from the library**. I am good at downloading them and terrible at completing them, but I might have discovered a new favourite author thanks to the British Author Challenge - Penelope Lively. How It All Began is really, really good and I might even finish it tonight.

OK! I will add CJ Sansom to the pile. Sigh.

Somewhere in a box I have got Dissolution but I don't know where. But your new library is sure to have them....

Your friendly book pusher down the road!

Book Pushers Anonymous...

I think Lamentation may be Sansom's best, perhaps alongside Sovereign.

I liked the Penelope Lively book that I read, but haven't gotten around to reading more. Clearly, should do so and live up to Paul's challenge this month.

Tigger did move, and tonight it's Cassie. It's VERY cold outside (12 Fahrenheit, and my bedroom is 15 to 20 degrees colder than the rest of the apartment, or about 50 degrees vs 65), so that explains it.

The good daughter syndrome is a familiar one. After my mother's first major heart attack and bypass operation, I was on 24/7 duty, caring for her at home, and it was exhausting. Cooking, washing her hair, anything and everything. No sleep. My patience just frayed at the edges, and you're right about the tension appearing when the immediate anxiety and fear abates. There will be no one around when my turn comes, which will be a bit of a blessing for them, and I'll cope just as I always have, and know that at least I'm not unintentionally becoming a source of stress.

Yes, do read CJ Sansom I have still to start Lamentation so little time, so many books, yet here am I wandering round LT Threads ... as caught up as I ever will be

Checking in, Cushla!

Dissolution is on my TBR pile, too. Perhaps I'll read it this year.

Hi Suz, Alex, Stasia and Barbara.

Woo hoo - another book finished - must be holidays. And a new favourite author - Penelope Lively.

Book 2 - How It All Began by Penelope Lively - 4 stars



Like Kate Atkinson's Life after Life, How it All Began asks how one event can affect people's lives in unpredictable, dramatic ways.

It starts with Charlotte getting mugged and breaking her hip. Charlotte's 77 and immediately likable. She's a retired English teacher and keen reader whose busy life is derailed by the mugging. She handles her loss of independence with great stoicism. I think one of the reasons I liked this book so much is that its themes of aging and family really resonated with me, watching my parents get older and sometimes struggling to handle how much life is affected by gradual physical changes.

Anyway. Charlotte's daughter Rose is a mini-version of her mother in many ways. She works for Lord Henry Peters, a retired historian. When Charlotte breaks her hip, Rose brings her home to live with her and her husband Gerry till she can manage on her own again. His lordship has to get his interior designer niece, Marion, to go with him to a talk in Manchester.

I couldn't wait to get back to reading this lovely book. I'm not going to say too much about the other characters because it was so much fun reading this without having a clue what would happen. Interspersed with a really good story is lots of musing by all the characters about their lives and how they've ended up in the states they're in.

Julia (Rosalita) has just finished this one too and has a great review on the main book page over here:

https://www.librarything.com/work/11727844

I'm so glad I decided to read this for the British Author Challenge - as I said above my track record of any kind of organised reading has become pretty useless over the last couple of years.

Hi Cushla! How it All Began looks terrific -- great review!

How it All Began Now that looks great ...... might have to try find it myself

I am trying not to catch any more Lively BBs this month, but this one sounds really good and your edition has the most inviting cover!

>73 cushlareads: I was going to add that one to the BlackHole only to discover it was already there. I really must get my hands on a copy!

Congrats for getting #1 under your belt, Cushla! I read the first in the Shardlake series and loved it but other books interrupted the continuation of it. They are standing tall on my desk however and I hope to get back with them sometime soon.

Wonderful review of How It All Began, Cushla. I read my first Lively last year, Moon Tiger. This one is going on my list : ).

Nice review of How it All Began, Cushla. I'll start reading Moon Tiger today, and hopefully read your book in the near future.

Hi Cushla, I love the picture in >1 cushlareads:!

I haven't read any of the Shardlake series, but we have the first four books at home and I'm pretty sure they're something I'll enjoy. Penelope Lively is also an author I know I need to get round to at some point...

Well Cushla, you've hit me with a book bullet. I had another Penelope Lively book lined up (Consequences), and in fact it's waiting for me at the library. But I've decided to read How it all Began instead.

I also really enjoyed How It All Began when I read it in December. Loved the review.

Hi Cushla, I'm just marking my spot. I'm planning on reading How it All Began this month too. Everybody's loving it! Thanks for the great review!

>66 cushlareads: oh yea the earthquake- it was miles away from here (as you know) but my sister woke me up and said there had ben a 6.3 in Chch and I freaked. She had got it wrong, of course, as it was Arthurs Pass. But oh boy, I ran to the phone to call my lovely other. But, all was well. He felt it but said it was just a roly poly ride :)

We had so much fun today!

This is for you. No particular reason... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZyvm1lMnGY

I will post a photo after dinner. :)

A series from the beach. My daughter definitely took better photos, but we were photo bombed relentlessly by the younger contingency.






And a couple cute girls digging for pippis.

LOL, love the photo bomb, Jenn! Great pics of you and Cushla!

I'm hoping to keep up with your reading in 2015, Cushla. Thanks for reminding me about the Shardlake books...I need to catch up on that series soonish.

>58 cushlareads: The thing I remember most about Heartstone is the Mary Rose which I found fascinating. Husband and I would both like to see it at the musuem in Portsmouth and we have tentative plans for 2015 to be the year. And I got Lamentation for Christmas which I am going to start any day now....

>66 cushlareads: 'I might have discovered a new favourite author thanks to the British Author Challenge - Penelope Lively'

How it all Began was my first Lively and I loved it - it also launched her onto my new favourite author list. I'm hoping to read Moon Tiger this month but I don't quite feel like starting it yet.

>87 nittnut: Meetup photos! I can never get used to the idea that it's summer in the southern hemisphere :-)

Hi Cushla, I love the photos. Many thanks for sharing them. I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Hi Anne, Alex, Nathalie, Stasia, Lynda, Rebecca, Darryl, Laura, Maggie, Jenn, Heather, Linda, Megan, Nancy, Barbara and Heather!

How is it possible that I’m already behind on my thread? I’m still on holiday but I am back to being busy.

We’ve had a lovely few days with amazing summer weather and I’ve been outside a lot and at the pool with the kids every day. I can lurk on there but can’t post from my phone easily. And later this week we go to violin camp for the 3rd year and this year we’re staying in a tent instead of a motel, so there are piles of things to take with us all round the house. We leave later this week and it will be great fun, especially if the good weather holds. I can’t remember a summer this good in Wellington.

The other slight inconvenience that we are managing is that we are about to move out of our house while we demolish it and rebuild. Gulp. So that’s happening over the next couple of weeks. There’s a bit of packing up going on (not quite as much as there should be, and I think this week my internet time is going to vanish). I'm back at school in 2 weeks too.

Anne, Alex, Stasia - I think you would like How it All Began. Anne and Stasia, I hope you can find it easily. Alex I’m sure you will have no trouble because Auckland library is sure to have several copies.

Nathalie – sorry for another Lively BB but I think you would like it too. And yes, the cover (on my e-book though so not very examinable) was a nice one.

Lynda, thanks for visiting. I hope you get time for the second Shardlake book soon.

Darryl and Nancy, I will almost certainly try to read Moon Tiger later this year. Funny how you can never pick up someone’s books then change your mind quickly.

Rebecca, the water in the lake was so cold – I think that’s why I was laughing so much! The water at the beach yesterday was warm by NZ standards though and I stayed in a while. I think you’ll enjoy the Shardlake books when you get time for them.

Laura, you managed to hit *me* with a book bullet because I went and downloaded Consequences after I read your message. Well, it wasn’t just you, it was all those other people reading Penelope Lively, but it looks really good!

Maggie did you have a thread last year? I haven’t replied to you over at your thread yet but I’ll get there (I read your message and had to go tell my husband at once that you remembered the Abbotsford slip and then I got sidetracked. He’s an Aucklander and had only the vaguest of ideas what I was rabbiting on about!)

Joanne, I think you will like it too. Glad you liked my review.

Megan, ick – glad your other half was ok and fingers crossed for no more.

#87 Jenn – haaaaaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaaa!! I so **DID NOT** look like that. That was so funny I sat here laughing at the computer. Anyway, I didn’t manage it so I am clearly not Mr Bean.

#88 Nancy, Jenn and I are doomed never to have a photo in peace and with both of us smiling. The last one we managed was last year at Eleanor Catton’s readers’ and writers’ week thing.

#89 Linda, thanks for visiting and I’m looking forward to following your reading this year too.

#90 Heather, I had no clue about Mary Rose stuff before I read the book and loved all of it. If you get there this year, there’ll be loads of friends on here who want to see photos. It sounded so awful and I found that part of the book really scary. I need to go over to your thread to see which other Penelope Lively books you’ve read. I have A Stitch in Time out from the library and now I’ve bought Consequences too.

#91 Barbara, thanks for the very cute snowy animal photo! I hope you’re having a good weekend. I read about the sick kids in your class and it sounded like a truly awful week, especially with the terrible events in Paris that must feel awfully close to Zuerich.

ha-ha made you laugh

Cushla, it was indeed a bad week. I hope the upcoming one will be better.

>92 cushlareads: No thread last year. I was reading fewer, longer books and didn't join the 75 challenge. I hope the house reno goes ok--terrifying!

Good morning Jenn, Barbara and Maggie!

Jenn are you going to the beach again? And did the surfboard turn up?

It's a beaut day down here again - going to be in the low 70s for Fahrenheit readers. Apparently the run of lovely weather is about to end but it doesn't look like it yet. I'm taking the kids and 2 extras to the pool again then I might try making Teresa's elephant birthday cake for tomorrow. I will post a photo if it works out anything like an elephant.

#95 Maggie, last year I was just reading fewer books and my 75 Challenge total was a pathetic 21 but this year I am really going to try not to let everything except work slide as the year goes on. And yes, the house reno is a bit scary and unsettling. Luckily my husband is all over the details and hopefully so is the architect...

I finished another book and I even managed to write a review!

Book 3 – A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam – 4 ½ stars - Reading Globally Q1 theme read



This novel is the first book in Tahmima Anam’s Bangladesh Trilogy. The second, The Good Muslim, landed on my wishlist some time ago when Suzanne read it, and I bought this one for my Kindle last week when Darryl was talking about it on his thread. It’s the first book I’ve read set in Bangladesh and I loved it.

I grew up knowing that Bangladesh was very poor and prone to flooding and famine. The starving kids in Bangladesh and Biafra were mentioned at dinner time often enough to make an impression. And I knew the capital city was Dhaka. That was about it. I knew very little about the war for independence that took place the year I was born, 1971.

You don’t need much background to read A Golden Age – Tahmima Anam makes it easy to follow what was going on, but here’s the quick (and perhaps not quite right but hopefully close) version.

Cushla's quick history of Bangladesh When India and Pakistan were partitioned in 1947, Pakistan had 2 parts: West Pakistan (what we call Pakistan) and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). East Pakistan was the eastern part of Bengal - the western part became part of India. If you look on a map you’ll see a massive lump of Indian territory in between the two parts of Pakistan. Most people living in both parts of Pakistan were Muslim, but there was a sizable Hindu population in East Pakistan. Urdu was the main language in West Pakistan; Bengali was spoken in East Pakistan. Over the next 20 years, pressure for East Pakistan to become independent grew. East Pakistan had more than half the population of Pakistan, but political and military power was concentrated in West Pakistan.

In 1970 Pakistan held elections and the Awami League, the most popular party in East Pakistan, won enough seats to have a majority overall. The existing Pakistani government delayed recognising the election results and eventually refused to. In March 1971 the Pakistani government sent soldiers into East Pakistan to silence opposition. 9 months of brutality followed, and much stronger resistance than the Pakistan government had expected. (I'm leaving details of the atrocities for you to read in the novel.) The head general sent to Dhaka, Tikka Khan, was called the Butcher of Bengal. Millions of refugees fled to India. India supported the Bangladesh independence forces and in December Pakistan planes attacked Indian air-bases. India declared war on Pakistan, sent its own troops in to support Bangladesh, and it was all over quickly, with Pakistan humiliated by its defeat.

I know Wikipedia is not always a good source of info, but here’s the link for the Bangladesh Liberation War:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Liberation_War

And now back to the novel...no spoilers in what follows beyond what you learn in the first 2 chapters

A Golden Age is the story of the Haque family and their friends and neighbours in Dhaka. The story begins just after Rehana’s husband Iqbal has died of a heart attack. They live in Dhaka and it’s 1959. Rehana’s brother-in-law, Faiz, and his wife fight to get custody of Rehana’s 2 children, Maya and Sohail. Rehana has no money to fight them and they fly off to Islamabad, 1400 km away. She is determined to win them back and manages this within 2 years.

Most of the novel takes place ten years after this, in 1971. Both Maya and Sohail are involved in the student movement for greater independence for East Pakistan, and Rehana gradually gets drawn in. Sohail and Maya take greater and greater risks for the independence cause.

This is a beautifully written book with a gripping plot and characters with whom I really identified (probably because of the time I spent in student politics in NZ, admittedly in a far far less dangerous setting than this!). Other reviewers have said that they thought Rehana’s character was well developed but the children not so much, but that didn’t bother me. Rehana’s decisions about the lengths to which she’ll go to save her children and the extent to which violence is acceptable to overthrow an oppressive state are relevant in many places today. I’ve already downloaded the sequel, The Good Muslim, and can’t wait to read it.

>96 cushlareads: I really liked A Golden Age when I read it a couple of years ago. I will get to The Good Muslim sometime...

>96 cushlareads: - Ooh, good review, and timely, as I am planning to read it this month, too!

Hi Cushla! Finally caught up with you. I love the photo in your opening post. And I'm so happy you, and others, have loved All the Light We Cannot See since Anthony Doerr lives in Boise, Idaho. You also got me with a book bullet and I just put A Golden Age on my library list.

Good luck with your move!

Hi Cushla. How is it that I've owned The Good Muslim for a couple of years and it's the second book in the trilogy yet I'm just learning there's a first book? I feel like I;m completely out of it and, completest that I am, there's no way I'll read the second book first LOL.

I absolutely loved How it all Began when I read it last year.

ETA: I went to Amazon to see how much a Kindle copy of A Golden Age was and lo and behold..........$.99. How fortuitous is that?

>96 cushlareads: very thorough book report, Cushla. I can see you have applied yourself with this work. A+

A Golden Age has also hit my BB list or shall we say Tardis ?

>96 cushlareads: >100 brenzi: I 've added A Golden Age to the wishlist. Unfortunately rather than the $.99 Brenzi mentioned the kindle edition is £4.38 in the UK!

Great review of A Golden Age. Naturally it's a BB. I remember Suzanne's review of The Good Muslim, pretty sure that made my pile, but I'd better check.

We went to the beach again Saturday. We had one of our young friends up from Wellington. We went up to Waikanae this time and since it's just past the edge of Kapiti island, we had bigger waves. It was fun, but I am still finding sand in my ears. Also, even with sunblock on I got sunburned a little. Sigh.

No sign of the boogie board. I guess they left it. Oh well.

Cushla, fantastic review of A Golden Age. Your knowledge of Pakiston is far beyond mine, but this sounds like one I would really enjoy. And I have also not read any literature out of Bangladesh.

Demolishing your house sounds serious! We did a renovation in 2014, for which we began prep work in February, work began April 1, and was completed in August. We are still trying to put all our stuff back. I just didn't realize how major it was going to be.

Great review of Golden Age. Since it was so reasonable at 99 cents for Kindle, I didn't even try to resist.

>96 cushlareads: I skimmed your review of A Golden Age, as I'm reading it now; I'll read it in detail after I've finished it and written my review. I loved The Good Muslim, so I hope that you enjoy it as well.

>58 cushlareads: I was just thinking the other day that I need to read the next C. J. Sansom book in the series for me.

Hi Cushla, are they going to demolish the whole house? That sounds like major work. Another BB, you got me with the references to the Mary Rose in Heartstone.

Cushla, I wish you a relaxed weekend.

>96 cushlareads: A Golden Age sounds interesting Cushla. I hope you're all having a good weekend.

Your review of How it All Began caught my eye. I really enjoyed Life After Life. I don't feel up to reading one of Lively's memoir styled books so this sounds like a good one for me to check out her writing for an adult audience (I read one of her YA books for the BAC).

Wonderful beach pictures! Makes me pine for summer weather.... it is cold and lashing of rain as I type this. ;-)

Sounds like things are going to be very busy for you, what with the major home renovations planned. Here is hoping you have had a lovely weekend.

Cushla, thanks for hitting me with the BB for How it all Began. I really enjoyed it.

Happy weekend Cushla! That's a great review of A Golden Age, thanks for sharing!

And of course I caught another BB, this time for A Golden Age, and it's a trilogy! :)

Wishing you a relaxing (if possible with the packing and moving going on) last holiday week and a good start into the school year.

Wow! Reads like you're having one exciting summer! I love the beach pics, I can almost feel the breeze on my face. Good luck with your house deconstruction and reconstruction!

Hi Cushla - First time to your thread. Loved the review of the Golden Age - will add it to the wish list. Thank you! Charlotte

Hi cushla, I hope everything is fine. Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Hi Barbara, Charlotte, Lori, Laura, Rachel, Jenn, Lynda, Nathalie, Laura, Heather, Meg, Darryl, Lori, Alex, Rhian, Deborah, Nancy, Megan, Katie, Pat, Bonnie, and Carrie!

Yikes - 4 crazy weeks since I posted here. I've hardly even managed to lurk on many threads. All is well and perhaps there are glimmers of time for LT ahead... We have a lovely three day weekend and I plan to get round some threads to say hi and see what you've been reading.

We have moved out of our house and into the one we're renting. It belongs to our friends, who have moved city very conveniently, and it'll be a great home for us while our new house gets built. The old house is still standing and we are waiting for final building consents to start the demolition.

I've been back at school two weeks now, but last week was mainly teacher only days (which might sound relaxed but actually they are pretty intense). It is great to have my new classes up and running. The young people we teach are a lovely bunch (ok, not every single one of them but nearly!) so it's nice having the school full of teenagers again. I am crazily busy with start of year stuff and was up working by 5 am yesterday. It will ease up a bit soon.

Fletcher and Teresa are back at their school again too - our current home is about 2 minutes in foot from their school, even closer than we usually are.

I'm managing a bit of reading and finished another Penelope Lively book, Consequences. I've seen mixed reviews on it but I really liked it and have given it 4 stars, the same as How It All Began. It's set in England from the 1930s through to the 1990s. Sorry for not doing a decent review but If you liked her other books I reckon you'll like this one.

I'm still enjoying Lamentation but have a lot of it left. Reading time is while I'm straightening my hair and when I collapse into bed, but Tim has found me asleep with the Kindle and my light still on the last two nights. At 3 pages a day it will take a while!!

I will try to catch up with everyone who visited on your own thread this weekend. I just wanted to say hello and welcome to my neglected thread to Charlotte - char08! I haven't found your thread on here yet but your Africa blog is really interesting and I think a few people here would really like it. (Africainwords.com) It's also very timely because yesterday I got my advanced stats class doing research on the incidence of Ebola in Sierra Leone, focusing on comparing two regions. Even in that class, which has outstanding kids, nobody knew the capital city!! They do now though...

Wow, that was fast, you're already done with moving out of your house! It must have been so much work getting everything out, and that with school starting as well. So how long is it going to take until the new house is built and ready?

Thanks for sharing the blog address, I just bookmarked it. It looks like I could get lost in there for days and days.

*wave
Glad the move went well and that school is off to a good start. :)

>119 cushlareads: Phew! That sounds like a lotta activity packed into a short time.

>119 cushlareads: Thanks so much for the plug for Africa in Words (especially when you are so incredibly busy!).

We've been going for over two years now, so there's a lot of content. If looking for some books to add to the TBR pile though (!!!) - I am keenly awaiting a copy of Kintu (which is not coming up on the touchstones, not sure why) http://africainwords.com/2014/11/12/jennifer-nansubuga-makumbis-kintu-made-me-wa... and Dust http://africainwords.com/2014/01/30/dust-by-yvonne-adhiambo-owuor-review/ after these reviews on the blog.

Hi Cushla. It's taken me a while to get over to your thread but I'm glad to be here. Fortunately for me you have not hit me with any book bullets as I've read your latest books. I loved How it All Began which was the first book I'd read by Lively; now I've read three others and count her among my favorite authors. And I just finished A Golden Age this week. great reviews, and a reminder to get back to the Shardlake series--I think I still need to read the fourth one.

Congratulations on the move to your temporary home with good timing to have yourselves settled before school started. How long will it take to demolish and build your new place?

Hej Cushla, greetings from Basel
--

the Tingueley fountain yesterday at a suny day with partly frozen parts)

Happy weekend Cushla!

I vanished for 3 weeks but I'm back, with a couple of photos of progress on our building project!
We have had a pretty full on week, as you can see below. It was a real shock to see the house gone when I first saw it, but now we are feeling really excited about what's coming. And the mess got cleaned up very quickly.

In book news, I have finished Lamentation and loved it - 4 1/2 stars. I really hope the next instalment isn't too far off. If you haven't seen it already, Tui has done a great review on her thread. Reviews are beyond me at the moment, sorry. I'm trying to keep up with some of your threads but neglecting my own because there isn't much reading going on here, unless you count 28 coordinate geometry exams and 38 statistics reports...that's this weekend's reading sorted out then!

>128 cushlareads: Well that would be both shocking and exciting. :-)

It looks like a lovely spot for a home...

>128 cushlareads: Wow. It's so green!

>128 cushlareads: One of those we can't go back moments then - hope the new build goes well ..... you are ahead of me haven't quite cracked Lamentation

>128 cushlareads: That top photo does look shocking, especially when you think that's where you used to live.

>128 cushlareads: Great to see you back, Cushla and I will be soooooo interested to see the Phoenix that arises from the ashes on the delightful spot where you will live.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Hi Cushla, you've got a very interesting time ahead with the building of your new home.
I wish you a lovely weekend.

Hi Paul, Barbara, Meg, Alex, Charlotte, Linda and Katherine. 4 weeks later, and Term One is done!!
On my first day off yesterday (Good Friday so a public holiday here) I managed to chomp through 250 pages of book, so I am looking forward to catching up on LT and on reading.

Thank you for coming in and saying hi even though I'm not here. The last couple of weeks were definitely on the really-too-busy-to-be-pleasant end of the teaching scale, but it's amazing how a couple of sleep ins get me back to normal. I will be in at school a bit in the next 2 weeks and working from home, but it's just not the same as non-stop teaching.

Anyway, onto the last 2 books:

Book 6 - The Bletchley Girls: War, Secrecy, Love and Loss: The Women of Bletchley Park Tell Their Story by Tessa Dunlop - 2 1/2 stars



I should have given up on this book but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I've given it 2 1/2 stars, and they are all for the content, not the writing. Tessa Dunlop tracks down 14 women who worked at Bletchley Park (or other code-breaking outposts) in World War 2 and finds out all about their wartime experiences. I bought it in Marsden Books because it looked really good.

It was lovely, at first, to read a book in which 90+ year old women are the protagonists, and that's what kept me reading. But it was a jumble of personalities and themes. I found it hard to keep reading. It was about 100 pages too long, and in grave need of editing. Sentences like these put me off:

“But never one for self-pity Pam made the best of Park life.” Commas, anyone?

“At ninety Gwen is a tour de force; whether sitting in the kitchen or perilously tending her cliff-side garden in Mumbles she is both frank and ellusive.”

“No one, could know what had taken place in an unremarkable estate on the flat plains of Buckinghamshire”.” The missing comma from sentence 1 appears!

“Ath the end of 1943 Professor Hugh Last, her confident and dear friend, left Bletchley suffering from a duodenal ulcer.” (I puzzled over this one for a bit and if the rest of the book hadn’t been full of editing errors I might have thought she meant confident, but I think she meant confidant).

On the other hand, I enjoyed lots of bits and pieces in the book - the distinctions within the different military services that women served in, what it was like being billeted, and the different ways they all ended up involved in activities related to code breaking. So I kept reading, but very slowly.

Don’t buy this expecting to learn anything at all about code-breaking at Bletchley Park. But if you enjoy reading what life was like during World War 2 in England, you may well enjoy it more than I did.

Back soon with the next review, but first I have promised to take Teresa out to buy book 4 in the Nanny Piggins series

>136 cushlareads: The Bletchley Girls
Too bad it's not better, because the content sure looks interesting.

>136 cushlareads: - Oh, oh, oooohhh.... That looks good, but... wait... what.... 2.5 stars?! Well, bugger. Can I say that word here? The whole Bletchley Park idea captivates me so I would have glomed onto that book in a nanosecond if it had crossed my radar screen. Rather sorry to see that it is a bit of dud, because the whole code breaking is what captures my attention. *sighs*

Wishing you and your family Happy Easter weekend wished, cushla!

Yay for having time to read. I hope your next book is better!

Just you luck, you find time to read, but the book fails to deliver .... Hope the next book is better

Hi Cushla, I wish you and yours Happy Easter.

Happy Easter, Cushla!

Thanks for the recommendation of A Golden Age. It is now in the BlackHole.

Oh, how I chuckled about your "comma" comments! My fifth grade teacher drummed grammar into my brain and now I cringe whenever I note those missing commas. But it seems as though it is becoming quite common, at least here in the US, to drop them.
Sorry that the Bletchley book did not live up to expectations. I had watched the PBS series on the "Bletchley Circle" and loved the story.
I still love your topper photo. It looks like such a lovely place. And the one of your demolished home - how frightening, in a way. But I agree, the location at the top of a hill with all that green around, is so nice. Lucky you. I hope you can enjoy it soon.

>136 cushlareads: That books sounds dreadful. I would go crazy trying to read something like that. While I'm sure Prof. Hugh Last was indeed Bletchley's "confidant," I'm still wondering what he did to leave her with an duodenal ulcer.

Happy Easter!

Here's a little treat

Hi Katherine, Lori, Meg, Jenn, Alex, Barbara, Stasia, Deborah and Catarina. So nice to have visitors and to be replying in the same week!

Jenn, thanks for the hot cross buns. I love them - I must get a pile into the freezer before they stop appearing in the shops...perfect for morning tea. Mum made some delicious ones in her breadmaker, and also did an egg- and dairy-free batch for Fletcher, so we have been pigging out. Hope you're having a good long weekend.

#142 Stasia, I think you'll like A Golden Age. So nice to see you back here even if it's just for a bit.

Katherine, Lori, Deborah, Alex, and Catarina - I have that twinge of "oh dear I hope I'm not being too harsh" about the Bletchley Girls. Maybe borrow it from the library in case it just hit a nerve with me. There *was* interesting material in it, but it could've been much better written up with less gushiness. I've bought Andrew Hodges' 1983 biography of Alan Turing (Alan Turing: The Engima) and am looking forward to it.

Catarina, I haven't seen the PBS series but will keep my eyes open for it in our favourite movie store (how archaic... we have yet to convert to Netflix or the local equivalent but have started getting movies out to watch with the kids - this weekend it's been Karate Kid, which I had never seen!)

Lori, have you read Simon Singh's The Code Book about codebreaking? You probably have. I really liked it.

Barbara, hope you are having a very happy Swiss Easter!

Meg and Alex's good wishes for a better book came true - I have completed 2 books now since school finished up and both have been good.

Book 7 - The Iron Necklace by Giles Waterfield - 3 1/2 stars



This was another impulse buy at Marsden Books, recommended by Anna, the owner, who had read another book by Giles Waterfield. I enjoyed this one much more. It opens with the 1913 wedding of Irene, an English artist, to Thomas, a German architect. They move to Berlin, where Irene has to get used to life with Thomas and his family, which includes a pair of lovely in-laws, an officer in the army, and a couple more siblings. Back in London, Irene's brother Mark is trying to get into the diplomatic service, pretend he's not gay, and her sister Sophia is stuck at school railing at the injustice of life as a young lady in England. When World War One breaks out Irene has to choose between staying in Berlin with Thomas or coming back to London. So it's a family saga with lots of art and architecture sidetracks - well written, and good enough that I managed to read it in just over a week.

I dinged it a star because it's written with interspersed look-back-from-1980-something bits from Irene's granddaughter Pandora. I didn't think these added much to the story. But if you like historical fiction or books set in World War One, I recommend this one and think quite a few of you might like it.

I hadn't heard of Waterfield before but will keep my eyes open for The Long Afternoon and his other novels.

Book 8 -Dead Man's Land by Robert Ryan - 4.5 stars



For people who like historical fiction, World War One, crime, or Sherlock Holmes, either shut your eyes or get your wallets out - I couldn't put this book down and have already bought the second in the series on my Kindle. This was one of Suzanne's recommendations last year or the year before, when it first came out, and I was not disappointed!

Dr John Watson is a doctor in the British Army Medical Corps in World War One. He's convinced his superiors that he should be allowed to go to the front even though he's a bit older than the typical doctors and has already served in Egypt. At the start of the book he goes up in a balloon and gets an overview of the frontline and the trenches. I was hooked by about page 2 - the writing is really good, and the detail about life on the western front in 1916 was terrific.

I had completely forgotten that Dr John Watson is Dr Watson from Sherlock Holmes, but I think that made the book even better. I also really liked the minor characters, and SH himself makes an appearance.

Highly recommended if you didn't already put it on your wishlist when Suzanne read it.

And now I need to go because I have to start the next book!

Oh I remember Suzanne's review. You both make this series sound very tempting! Hope you're enjoying your break.

Got me with that one... On to the wishlist it goes!

>146 cushlareads: - Adding The Code Book to my future reading list. I had not heard of that one. Thanks for the rec!

>146 cushlareads: Simon Singh's The Code Book about codebreaking?

This is one of my many have-it-but-haven't-read-it books. Aspirational book acquisitions.

Maybe it is a good thing that your thread was quiet for a while. Now that you are posting about your reads I have been hit with 2 BBs.

>128 cushlareads: hey! I remember that deck ;) great to see at least that is still standing....or should that be was now?

And some reviews too, well done. You are doing better than me, I have not reviewed a book in ages. Tut tut. Happy Easter holidaying....please tell me that applies to you?

>148 cushlareads: Getting out my wallet...

What are you all up to for the holidays? Are you just going to watch your house grow, or do you want to come out to the beach?

Happy holidays Cushla! Dead Man's Land has gone on my wishlist :-)

Hi Lori, Charlotte, Heather, Jenn, Megan, Meg, Katherine and Jim.

Ooh, I'm happy to have landed Dead Man's Land on lots of your wishlists! And the next book is at least as good, so far. I'm hoping to get it read today. Teresa has been away at a friend's overnight which is really strange - the house is so quiet. When I'm not missing her it is very nice. And Fletcher is building birthday Lego in silence - so I'm about to get back to my book!

Jenn, I think we will stay put in Wellington for the next week. We have got swimming on for T every day next week, violin, numerous playdates with their school friends, and then Fletcher's birthday party next weekend. So it's busy in a low-key way. And I'm hoping to get into school for a couple of afternoons and pop them in the local holiday programme.

#151 and #152 Lori and Katherine, I hope you both like the Code Book when you get to reading it. Katherine, I have so many books like that, especially non-fiction ones that I buy in a fit of enthusiasm then just don't make time for. I seem to remember it being a pretty quick read.

#154 Megan, yes I am definitely having a holiday! And doing work. A bit of both. It's hard juggling reading with real life sometimes, isn't it? Especially when you're reading so much for uni. And the deck is staying - it will get attached to the new house and done up.

Back later, perhaps with another book review...or maybe not.

Book 9 - The Dead Can Wait - Robert Ryan - 4.5 stars



This is the second in the Dr Watson series and it's even better than the first.

It's set in 1916 again, this time almost all in England. Dr Watson gets hauled in to figure out why a secret military project has gone very badly wrong. Georgina Gregson reappears (of course), and so do Winston Churchill and Sherlock Holmes.

I think I have found a new series to rival David Downing's Zoo Station series and John Lawton's Inspector Troy books...

I'm not going to do a plot review because I will give too much away, but I learnt heaps about World War One and military technology.

I was sad to discover that the 3rd book in the series, A Study in Murder, costs 12 pounds on the Kindle and NZ$31 on Book Depository - but Johnsonville library (a branch I don't usually go to) has saved the day. We've been doing the library branch rounds lately - Teresa is now addicted to Nanny Piggins and we've gone to 3 libraries in the last week to collect the last 4 books. It's been fun.

Also managed a trip to a local book fair last night and came home with The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt, A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks, Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt and The Uses of Adversity by Timothy Garton Ash - all for NZ$8! Have started The Indian Clerk, all about GH Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan, 2 really famous mathematicians. It's excellent - but it might have to share reading time with A Study in Murder for a few days.

Lovely day here after a few days of rain, so the builders are working hard on the house.

Hi Cushla, I wish you a wonderful weekend.

Hi everyone. My thread died at the start of Term 2 in April, when I went back to school and remained buried in work and everyday life for 11 weeks.

Barbara, thank you for the spring flowers – I know you are on to summer now and I can see 200+ posts of yours for me to catch up on!

Term 2 is over and I have just had a lengthy sleep in. I’m ignoring the large pile of holiday work for at least one more day. I am very happy at school but also getting very little free time - but somehow I am a couple of books ahead on where I was last year, at 14 compared to 11 – I just haven’t been writing about them on here.

Here are some quick reviews (more coming soon)

Book 10: The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt – 4.2 stars

Bought at Rongotai book fair in May 2015



This was one of those random book fair finds that turns out to be wonderful. It’s a fictional account of the relationship between two famous mathematicians, G H Hardy and Srinivasan Ramanathan, and life at Cambridge University around the time of World War One. Hardy and his co-author Littlewood receive a letter from Ramanathan, a self-taught mathematician who works as a clerk in Madras. Hardy and Littlewood work hard to get Ramanathan over to Cambridge, where he stays for the rest of his life.

There’s lots in this novel about heavily written about themes: attitudes to the first world war, gay relationships in the early 20th century, Britain’s waning empire, the Cambridge apostles, women’s suffrage, etc. And you don’t need to know tons of maths to read it – but liking maths will definitely make it an easier read. It’s a very sad book in many ways and it is 500 pages long so don’t start it if you’re in the mood for a quick easy read!

Here’s a review from the Guardian for more on this one: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jan/26/fiction1

Book 11: A Study in Murder by Robert Ryan
Library book



I read A Study in Murder, the 3rd in Robert Ryan’s series about Dr Watson, very soon after the 2nd, The Dead Can Wait, and gave it 4 stars. I don’t think I can say much without giving things away, but I really enjoyed all 3 of these books. I enjoyed this one a bit less because of the ending, but I can’t tell you what I didn’t like about it (but Suzanne if you are reading it is the same thing you said over on your thread!). I hope there’s a 4th book set near the end of the war. There is loads of World War One detail that gave me a different perspective on what that terrible war must have been like.

Welcome back, Cushla. You didn't say but I hope you have a few days rest at least before things get busy again.

Hi Catarina - yes I have 2 whole weeks off! Thanks for visiting. I have loads of planning and marking to do, but at least I do not have 20 lessons to organise and deliver for the next 2 weeks.

Haven't got around many threads on here yet but hope to manage it soon.

I haven't been around LT much either, so if people are absent for awhile, well, I'm grateful that RL spares me from thread catchup.

Enjoy your break, Cushla. I hope some of it will be spent in enjoyable reading.

Good to see you back, Cushla. I hope you get in some relaxing and reading in your break.

Cushla comes up for air! It was a long term, wasn't it? I'm hoping to come in for the book thingy on Saturday. :) It's my Thingaversary and that's what I want to do. We will see how the rest of the family feels about it...

I've loved following the house on fb, Cushla, and just wanted to speak here. ENJOY your break! Read and relax; relax and read!!!

I love how your thread comes alive again every school break ......

Good to see you, Cushla! Enjoy your break!

Woo hoo! A Cushla sighting! So nice to see you around here -- enjoy your break.

Hi Meg, Laura, Amber, Katherine, Alex, Peggy, Linda and Jenn!

The holidays are lovely and I have got lots of reading done, along with going to Teresa's swimming lessons every day and hanging out with the kids and their friends. I'm determined to catch up with reviews on here before the backlog gets even worse.

Book 12 - way back in May - was the very good Redeployment by Phil Klay , which I bought at Vic Books (the university bookshop). When I was there I couldn't remember who'd recommended it, but I got home and realised that Amy gave it 4.9 stars, plus it was in the Tournament of Books. It also won the US National Book Award for fiction last year, and was on the New York Times' top 10 books list for last year, so it's no wonder it sounded vaguely familiar.

The book's structured as 12 short stories, focusing on different aspects of the Iraq war. It really grabbed me when I was reading it, but 2 months later I am struggling to remember the details in a way that I don't with novels. Some of the stories show what it's like to go home from the war, to be launching IEDs, to be working in the morgue, and to be working on 'nation building' afterwards. Recommended if you are in the mood for something gut wrenching... I gave it 4 stars.

Here's the cover:

Good to see you back and enjoying your break. Hope the building work is going well. I've avoided most books about the recent Gulf conflict But short stories sound more manageable somehow. I'll look out for a copy.

Happy holidays Cushla! The kids keeping you busy, or school work? I am refereeing in W and L's daily fights. Trying to keep them busy to forget about trying to wrestle their way to broken limbs.....

Hi Charlotte and Megan.

Charlotte, the building work is going well - the framing is up and now the roof and walls go on. I will try to post a photo on here tomorrow.

Megan - it's a combination of the kids and school. During term time I am completely flat out juggling the 2 things - I'm happy but there is not much left over time to do nothing. I try to leave home by 7 am and pick up the kids around 4.30 - 5.30, and I usually have work to do once they're asleep or in bed (which is really late these days - Teresa will happily read till 9.30 or so). And last term was SO LONG! The fighting is easing here a bit (touch wood) but still gets pretty bad at times... I need to visit your thread and catch up on your uni exploits!

And, any snow?
And, any plans to join Jenn on her proposed Chch day trip? ;)

Happy Sunday, Cushla.

Hi Cushla! I'm glad that you've enjoyed the Robert Ryan series so much. I bought the first one for my Thingaversary last month and Judy & I are planning a tandem read next month.

>160 cushlareads: 'Term 2 is over and I have just had a lengthy sleep in.' Woo hoo!

Hi Heather, Megan, Carrie and Barbara. Barbara - thankyou for the flower pic to brighten up my thread!

Carrie - cool that you've bought the first Robert Ryan book. I hope you enjoy it.

Megan - no snow, just hail, and then this week has been LOVELY (ok mostly). Teresa did us a schedule based on the weather forecast, and we spent Wednesday having an inside movie marathon because it was meant to be raining hard... we have had a really nice 2 weeks and today's my last real day off. The movie marathon included many, many episodes of Glee and the movie of Holes, because both kids have loved the book by Louis Sachar. W is probably still a wee bit little for it.

Heather - lots of sleep ins these holidays! I'm usually up at 5.30 but most days I've been asleep till 8, which is very late for me. Next week's going to be a bit of a shock.

We are off to the Upper Hutt pool this afternoon for the waterslides and I'll take some marking, but I have managed to spread the work out very nicely this holiday - I think more than any other one during the school year. I've read 3 books in 2 weeks and I'm up to 18 books for the year. Last year I didn't hit 18 books till November!

I'm giving up on reviews though because it is putting me off visiting my own thread. I'll stick to very brief comments.

Books 13 and 14 go together - Winston's War and Never Surrender by Michael Dobbs.





The first is set before the outbreak of World War 2 in England. Chamberlain's Prime Minister and comes across as far more venal than I'd read before. Guy Burgess features prominently and plays a key role in events (am avoiding spoilers), so it's definitely fiction. It ends when Churchill becomes Prime Minister. The next book, Never Surrender, is shorter and takes place in April and May 1940, finishing after Dunkirk.

Both of these were Kindle buys - the first was one of the 99p specials. I'll be reading the 3rd and 4th in the series soon. I couldn't put either down, and I know they were fiction but they felt real.

Cushla, sounds like you are enjoying a lovely holiday. Sleep-ins are the best! I'm intrigued by your latest reads by Dobbs, particularly that these are part of a series. Must look them up.

Hej Cushla, greetings from Switzerland.
The New Zealand Army Band was doing a funny shouting dance at the Tattoo 2015

Good to see you back here, Cushla!

'a funny shouting dance' - did it look something like this? In that case it was a haka - which is a war challenge - or in the case of New Zealand a challenge to all opposing rugby teams.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8eGCsEQ15L4

Sorry to butt in on your thread Cushla but I think all New Zealand opponents at rugby should think of the haka as a funny shouting dance from now on and then might not lose by so much!

Happy Weekend, Cushla.

Popping in to say hello. I hope you and the family are well.

Kia ora everyone... I got lost again. Thanks for the hellos (Nancy, Darryl, Caroline and Barbara), the photos (Barbara and Paul), and Rhian's explanation of the haka!

Paul, the photo of the funny shouting dance is most definitely a haka photo. It's an awesome thing to see live.

Nancy, I think you'd like the Michael Dobbs books about Churchill. I have also bought another of his series - Goodfellow MP - but haven't got into it yet.

I've managed to finish 2 books in the last month or so and both have been about Afghanistan. Lie down with Lions by Ken Follett was a Kindle $0.99 book, and it was a good enough thriller, recommended if you're in the mood to suspend disbelief and have one very unlikeable Russian spy character.

It got me onto the next book, Eric Newby's classic adventure story A short walk in the Hindu Kush. I enjoyed this one more but I would have preferred to read a hard copy with maps and photos that I could actually see. It was a bit dated but a really good, funny read about 2 crazy British guys adventuring into Nuristan Province in north- eastern Afghanistan in 1956. They went in ridiculously underprepared to attempt to climb one of the mountains there, Mir Samir. I'm sure loads of friends here have read it because it's a classic. I've already bought one of Newby's other well-known books, Love and War in the Apennines,about his time in Italy during World War 2.

A link in case you're wondering about Nuristan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuristan_Province

School is, of course, still crazy and good. There are 2 weeks of term left, then another blissful 2 weeks of being at home with the kids. We are very proud of Fletcher for getting a highly commended prize in the Wellington science fair for his project on looking at what effect different colours have on plant growth - it took over our kitchen window for a term! All the kids at school in Year 7 and 8 have to do a project, and the best ones go forward from the school round to the Wellington science fair. He's starting to learn that if you work hard at things, you have more fun.

And our house is slowly getting built - still not sure of an end date, but we should be in by January. It will be nice to have that project over and done with!!

As usual I will try to get back on here a wee bit more over the next month.

Hi Cushla! Nice to see you around a bit more. A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush sounds like fun. I'll have to see if the library has it. I still haven't got round to the book you loaned me ages ago. Soon...
Have a great rest of term!

Hi Jenn - I think you'd like A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush. And *I* haven't read The Rithmatist yet, OR the book Megan gave me back in 2013, Miramar Dogs. Soon...

I am meant to be writing 33 comments for Year 13 kids' school leaving testimonials but am having a short LT break. The work can just pile up a bit more.

I have been slightly out of control buying books on my Kindle and was really excited to see that Tom Holland's new book Dynasty is out. (No touchstone yet.) I bought it last weekend and have started it - it's terrific, but it's going to take a while. It's about the Roman emperors from Tiberius onwards, and it is as well written and engaging as Rubicon was.

The kids are reading like crazy too and we are just home from the library with a massive pile of books. Fletcher is partway through Fahrenheit 451 and starting to like H G Wells and Isaac Asimov, encouraged by Tim (and me, although I haven't read much sci fi at all). Teresa has had a blitz on Nanny Piggins, Friday Barnes (both by Australian author R A Spratt), and now is into Alice Miranda, another Australian series that should last a wee while.

One week till holidays!

Happy weekend, Cushla.

Hi Barbara! That's a great pumpkin photo. We are meant to be heading for spring here, but this weekend's been back to winter.

Sorry to hear that you're still waiting for spring. Here autumn has definitely arrived.

Spring should arrive soon, very definitely spring in Auckland now ( i.e. shorts & t-shirt weather) ....

Enjoy the classroom break ( I Know better that to say holiday at this time in the school year for teachers)

Hi Barbara and Alex. Spring is here! It's been days since I wore my winter coat...

Alex, I am enjoying it a lot! I've done quite a bit of work, and am going to school today, but it's still a lot more relaxed than teaching 21 hours a week.

I've finished 2 books since the holidays started: Eric Newby's Love and War in the Appennines and David Eimer's The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China. That takes me to 25, more the 21 books I read all last year, and with luck I will beat the 29 I managed in 2013!


Love and War in the Appennines was a great read and a good follow-up to A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush. It's Eric Newby's memoirs of his experiences in World War 2. He was in Special Navy Operations (or whatever it was called) and got caught by the Italians after trying to blow up a German air force base in Sicily. Most of the book tells the story of his time in the prisoner of war camps then his escape when the armistice was signed by Italy and the Allies, and how the local Italians hid him and looked after him. Funny, sad, and thought-provoking - 4 1/2 stars of goodness.



David Eimer's The Emperor Far Away: Travels at the Edge of China was also a really good read, but fell short of what it could have been. Eimer isn't big on setting the scene: how long had he been in China, when did all the travel happen, how long did he stay in each place, and it ends really abruptly. He also doesn't come across as all that likable. Nonetheless, it was fascinating. I learnt loads about parts of China I'd barely heard of and will be on the lookout now for articles about all of them. Eimer splits his travels into 4 sections, all focused on different minority groups and how they manage to cope with the Chinese government and the Han majority.

He starts in the Northeast with the Uighur, in Xinjiang, and goes into Tibet.

He then heads to Yunang in the SouthWest, where the minorities are much less threatening to the Chinese government and more integrated into the golden triangle of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. There was some awful stuff in this section about human trafficking, girls being sold, heroin and methamphetamine production, and the United Wa State Army. I'd never heard of Wa before, and I bet loads of people on here haven't either, but it's almost a state within Myanmar.

After that, Eimer moves over to the northeast and looks at Dongbei and life for the Chinese Koreans, the Korean missionaries and North Koreans. Finally, he goes waaaaay up north to the border with Russia to Heilongjiang, and over into the far far east of Russia, to Blagoveshchensk.

It's really a travelogue, with history thrown in. It took me ages because the content was quite unfamiliar - when I read a book about World War Two I have a much better idea of the basics.

Charlotte linked to this short Guardian review a few weeks back.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/14/the-emperor-far-away-david-eimer-re...

Just waving hello. Hope you've had a good break. One term left! :)

Happy weekend, Cushla.

I am glad to see that you enjoyed the Eric Newby so much, Cushla. He was my favourite travel writer in days gone by and his books cannot be found in the shops at all here anymore.

Have a lovely weekend.

Hi Jenn, Barbara and Paul. Barbara, the food photos are as lovely as the flowers! What is the chicken glaze?

Jenn - 2 weeks down, 3 days till my Year 13s are finished proper classes, and 7 weeks of this term left!

Paul, I will be reading more by him. I think a few have been reissued in the last couple of years with a new set of covers, not that I could see them from my Kindle... I hope they turn up at your mega-bookstore in KL.

It's been 7 weeks since I posted here and I have just 2 more books finished since then. But now school is over for the year, and I'm really looking forward to a month of lots of reading and relaxing.

We have moved into our new house and it's wonderful to be home - there are boxes of books still in storage until we sort everything out but I should have lots of them back in the next few weeks.

Book 26 was Tom Holland's new one, Dynasty, about Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Nero. If you enjoyed Rubicon or like books about Ancient Rome, you'll probably love this, although the stories about the foul deeds of the emperors were hard to stomach so it took me ages to finish. But Holland is a great writer who keeps me reading and I will continue to grab any book by him I see. Persian Fire is in a box somewhere. If you're thinking about buying this and read the very negative review in the Guardian, don't be put off. I learnt loads about the emperors and the Roman world that they governed.

Book 27 was the very different Cocaine Blues, the first Phryne Fisher detective story. I quite enjoyed it and it was a 3 day read for 99p on my Kindle. Lots of LT friends have talked about these detective novels and I'm glad I've read one at last. The setting of Sydney in the 1920s and the topics (backstreet abortions and the cocaine trade) were interesting, but I found Phryne a bit annoying. Good enough for me to read the second book if I see it in the library, though.

I will try to get round some more threads in the next week and am looking forward to catching up on everyone's reading before the start of year craziness comes around again!

>198 cushlareads: Saw you pop to the top of the thread list and figured the term must be over.

So glad to see you back posting, Cushla! And Happy New Home!!

Good to see you back here, Cushla. I'm glad that you now have some down time and that there is some place in the world where it is warm right now. Its rainy and cold in Baltimore! Thanks for the two new suggestions - the Eimer and Newby books. They both sound interesting.

Congrats on the move into the house - Must be nice to have all that building done.Have a lovely holiday.

It is good to see you are back. The opening photo is wonderful. Allgood wishes to you Cushla!

>198 cushlareads: Was thinking you should be in your new home by now, great to hear enjoy the summer holiday reading .....

Congrats on the new home and happy holiday. Mine starts today. I'm back to work on the 4th of January.

Good to read that the house is finished and you've already moved in. What an incredibly busy year this has been for you!
Wishing you a lovely holiday with sunny weather and many good books!

Hello Katherine, Amber, Catarina, Alex, Charlotte, Linda, Barbara and Nathalie, and thanks for the good wishes on our new house. It is lovely to be in properly - I have just finished the final cleaning of our rental, and do not feel the need to see a Jif bottle again for a long time. Every time I cleaned a bit I'd see something else I'd missed.

IT is so nice to be back here properly and it is much easier to find time for LT now that I have my own spot in the new house - my desk is up on the top level and has a lovely view out to our very green native bird sanctuary.

Catarina, I hope you enjoy both those books!

We've had a booky week here. We've had 2 months of not going near the library so that we don't have books to lose or move, but made up for it this week with 2 trips in 2 days, and 60 books (mostly for the kids and lots are picture books that T wanted). I got out a Steven Saylor mystery and from qebo's thread The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. And a random mystery - Thirteenth Night - set in 13th century England. We'll see if I get them all read...

The loveliest book news this week has been opening my Virago group secret Santa presents from Laura.



4 1/2 stars

I cheated and started reading The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling a little bit earlier than I was meant to but I couldn't leave it alone any longer - it was exactly what I was in the mood for. I gave it 4 1/2 stars and bought the second in the series yesterday, and am already well into it. (I was a very big Harry Potter fan so it's not really a surprise that I loved this book - the main 2 characters, Robin Endacott and Cormoran Strike, were both very likable, and the long list of potential murderers were well described, and I didn't guess the murderer till the end.)

Laura also sent me How to Be Both and A Girl is a Half Formed Thing and I a, looking forward to them too (although she has warned me that AGiaHFT is bleak... but our tastes in books overlap pretty well so I am sure it's going to be bleak in a good way!)

Gald to hear that you're happy in your new home and have got a lovely space for yourself.
I'm still waiting for The Cuckoo's Calling until a copy is coming back to the library.

Nice book haul Cushla! I think unpacking books is fun. Presents or my own... So nice to remember all the ones you had forgotten you had. :)

>207 cushlareads: I have just finished the final cleaning of our rental, and do not feel the need to see a Jif bottle again for a long time.
I did a double-take on that one -- in the US Jif is a brand of peanut butter!

I had so much fun being your Secret Santa and am so pleased you are enjoying your books already. And "bleak in a good way" is exactly correct.

Glad you are in the house at last!! and you've had some great reading, as well...

I have been procrastinating on Dynasty and REALLY want to get to it in the next few weeks, though I have a pile of library books that I need to read and return... (Also have the David Eimer book; it's been kicking around here for a full year!)

Loved the Michael Dobbs "Churchill" novels, and also the Goodfellow MP books, although I wish he had written more than two in that series.

>208 Ameise1: Barbara, I hope the library copy turns up for you soon because it's a great book if you're in the mood for another crime series.

>209 nittnut: Jenn, yes it is fun. Slightly less fun is trying to find the box I put the food processor in. I have the base, the blades, but not the bowl, and I want to finish making the nice looking Moroccan carrot dip that I started! Never mind...it will just be Moroccan carrots for dinner instead. (With other food too.)

>210 lauralkeet: Laura, I think I knew that once! Over here, Jif is thick goopy white cleaning stuff that does wonders. It's also the subject of an iconic 1980s NZ TV commercial "Jif cleans with no harsh scratching"...mmmm hard to explain why it's even funny but it is.

>211 Chatterbox: Suz, Dynasty is an unpleasant read in many places but definitely a good book. If you do get to it soon, make sure to google the Guardian review. I don't know what book the reviewer read but it wasn't the same as I. I started the first Goodfellow MP book ages ago on my Kindle, and was enjoying it, but think I had binged on the Churchill books, so put it aside and here we are 6 months later.

OK I am off to hunt for the food processor some more then read a bit more of The Silkworm (excellent, again, but the murder is hideously gory and I don't like that much.)

Cushla, delighted you enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling so much! Hope you find The Silkworm as good ...

Good to "see " you Cushla . I had not realized that you had moved house. That's a lot of work. Glad that you are happy in your new place.

Good morning Canadian visitors! (and while I remember, it's not just Canadians who are happy about your election results. I am too!)

Deb, we demolished the existing house and rebuilt it. So it feels at once very familiar yet all shiny and new. Just lovely. There are boxes everywhere still but I keep getting sidetracked, either by the kids or my book or doing maths.

Nancy, I finished The Silkworm last night so I have just been back to your thread to read all the comments there. I really enjoyed this one and will go and buy Career of Evil now.

Book 29 - The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

This is the second in JK Rowling's Cormoran Strike series, and I am very much hooked. it's set in London again, thus time in winter. Strike's a busy private detective now, after successfully solving the Lula Landry case in the Cuckoo's Calling. Robin, officially his PA but increasingly his fellow detective, repeatedly shows her initiative but is hampered by her dreadful fiancé Matthew. Cormoran is still watching his money carefully, but can afford to rent the upstairs flat instead of sleeping in his office, and is doing pretty well at not thinking about Charlotte, his awful ex-fiancée.

Strike gets approached by Leonora Quine to find out where her husband Owen has got to. He is prone to disappearing, but this time he doesn't return. He's just finished writing a book that lots of people don't want published. Most of them, and Owen Quine himself, are extremely unlikable, but there is so much in the book about the relationships between the characters that it didn't matter.

I'm giving it 4 stars, slightly lower than The Cuckoo's Calling, not because it was too long but because the murder and the manuscript were so grotesque and I didn't enjoy reading the excerpts from Bombyx Mori at all. And when is she going to dump him??

Congratulations on the new house! And now you're ready for Strike Three (or Career of Evil, as it is properly titled).

Hi Linda. I waited a whole 6 hours to go out and buy Career of Evil. My Kindle is still at school (well I hope it is...it's not at home) and I just spent NZ$38 on it!! OW. Tha'ts about US$26...

I am supposedly emptying things out of boxes but I don't think so.

>215 cushlareads: Yeah - me too. The murder/Bombyx Mori was just gross. :P

Merry Christmas!

>217 cushlareads: I waited a whole 6 hours to go out and buy Career of Evil
Wow! You are definitely hooked! But also, those books make for great holiday reading. And now you'll be in the same boat as the rest of us, impatiently waiting for the next book.

Cushla, you spurred me on to finally start reading The Cuckoo's Calling. Thanks!

Hi Jenn, Laura, Catarina and Barbara.

Merry Christmas, Jenn!

Barbara, I look at those stairs and I see a sprained ankle!! But thanks for the photo.

This 3rd Cormoran Strike book is really scary - as in "Can't read this just before I go to sleep" scary. It's reminding me of an early Patricia Cornwell novel. I remember being at grad school and not reading any further till my roommates came home. I gave up on the series around Book 10 but they were similarly addictive and creepy.

It's Christmas Eve here (7am) and the kids are still sound asleep. I think I will manage not to go to a supermarket today after a big shop yesterday with the kids in tow. You know they are growing up OK when you can happily take them round the supermarket on one of the crazy shopping days and not have them annoy you or anyone else.

Back later, hopefully with a finished book to report, even if that means 400 pages of blitz reading before the cooking starts.

Merry Christmas, Cushla, to you and your family. I hope for good weather, lots of fun, food and reading.

And thanks for the warning about the third Strike.

Merry Christmas Cushla!

Congratulations on moving into your new house, Cushla. I've enjoyed watching the progress on facebook.

Bookish Christmas wishes to you and your family!

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

For my Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice/Holiday image this year (we are so diverse!), I've chosen this photograph by local photographer Mark Lenoce of the pier at Pacific Beach to express my holiday wishes to you: Peace on Earth and Good Will toward All!

Merry Christmas!

Have a lovely holiday, Cushla

Thanks for the lovely Christmas messages, everyone, and Merry Christmas!

I will post some pics later on. It is 6.15 am here and we got woken up by a very loud HO HO HO at 5.20. The kids are being quiet now in that first rush of present investigation and I am about to start on the rhubarb and apple crumble while Tim does the turkey.

Wishing you and your family the very best this holiday season, Cushla!

Seasons greetings whatever you celebrate enjoy - smell the roses , slow down, enjoy your time with yours

Wishing you the merriest of Christmases, Cushla!

I hope you and your family had the merriest of Christmases in your new house, Cushla!

Thanks Donna, Alex, Lori and Nancy for your Christmas Day visits. I hope you have all had a lovely time with your friends and families.

We have had a very relaxing few days with Tim's parents and sister and brother in law here from Auckland. The weather has been stunning, and the kids have been delightful and have managed not to fight over presents for the first time I remember. The most popular toy has been the $10 Bunch o Balloons that lets you inflate 30 water balloons at once (followed by some almighty water balloon battles).

I bought a new board game as a present for the family - it's called Ticket to Ride (Europe) and it's great!

I haven't had much reading time but got some peace last night and sat up till midnight finishing Career of Evil. It was excellent, creepy till the very end, and I can't wait till the next one comes out. For once I am totally up to date on a crime series! I really, really hope she ditches Matthew...I liked all the relationship development in this book... Some of the minor characters are getting more developed and I enjoyed all the scenes with Wardle and Shanker.

Now that my Cormoran Strike binge is over it must be time for a bit more of SPQR.

>235 cushlareads: I'm just thrilled that you enjoyed the Cormoran Strike books so much. About your spoiler: I agree, but I don't want her to end up with Strike, either.

SPQR sounds like a great book; I heard the author interviewed on a radio programme here. Very interesting.

>235 cushlareads: Yes, exactly re the Strike ending. I am hoping the next one comes out soonish...

Love the sound of the water balloon filler. Must investigate further, sounds like a great birthday present option for various small relations.

Happy New Year Cushla - I'm also up to date with the Comoran Strike books and loved how she ended the book. I'll have to read the next one as soon as it's published for fear of spoilers.

Hi Cushla! Happy New Year to your and your family! How's the new house? Are you on break form school for awhile?

Hi everyone. I've been busy with all the usual family Christmas things but have had some doing-nothing time in the last few days - very nice!

>Anne, yes I am on holiday (mostly) till the last week of January. The timing is great because we are still settling into the new house. It is fantastic and very relaxing just to sit around in, especially because we bought 2 new TV sets on Tuesday and for the first time in 3 years have got TV! Not that there is much on it... But we've already rented a few movies, including a really good doco on the Hebrides and the wildlife there. And I've been watching our favourite German TV satire via Youtube on the big screen. So not much reading is getting done!

> Kerry, happy new year and I will see you over on the readathon thread later on! Yes, I will be buying the next book in the Cormoran Strike series as soon as it appears, regardless of how busy school is at the time.

Charlotte, we have even been back to buy some more water balloons. The weather here has continued its great run and the kids have been on the trampoline for hours getting soaked. I've been watching the English flooding and hope you're nowhere near it - I see there's more on the way.

Laura, SPQR is very good but very long...It has fewer gross bits than Tom Holland's Dynasty because her focus (so far) is on the early Roman period - I'm up to about 100 BC. It's very readable and today I'm going to try to make a dent in it.

Back later once I have set up my 2016 thread.

The new year is close to start in NZ - I wish you and your family All The Very Best and am looking forward to following you in 2016!

Thanks Nathalie! 2016 just arrived!

Have a wonderful bookfilled 2016, Cushla.

Cushla, I hope to see you in 2016, too.

>240 cushlareads: Sounds like a lovely Christmas time. We have Ticket to Ride (Europe) and it's great! Good for children as well as adults.

SPQR sounds good, although I still have Rubicon unread (how many years ago did you encourage me to buy that?)

May we all make the best of what 2016 brings us .....

Happy New Year!

His. Paul, Barbara, Heather, Jenn and Alex!

Heather - yay, another Ticket to Ride fan. Ours is the Europe one too. And that's funny about Rubicon. I remember that bookshops - wasn't in Lambs in Conduit Street? That was such a lovely day out. I still have quite a few unread books from that day, mostly Persephones that are in storage, but should be out very soon!

I have finally started my 2016 thread and will post a link once I am off the iPad.

Our family loves the Ticket to Ride games as well. My daughter and her husband are serious board gamers and have multiple versions of that one including Europe, India, UK and USA. Great fun.