Kerry (avatiakh)'s 2019 category challenge

Presenting my 2019 categories -

1) Focus on Scotland
2) Reading Mt tbr
3) Books in translation
4) The Classics
5) Arthurian & Celtic Literature
6) Fantasy & Scifi
7) Thrillers, crime, mystery, spies
8) Short Form - novellas, poetry, short stories
9) Australia & New Zealand Fiction
10) Israeli & Jewish Fiction & Non fiction
11) Nonfiction
12) Vintage children's books
13) Recent Children's books
14) Young Adult & Graphic Novels
15) Family Tree
16) The Extras

Hoping to do better in 2019, as 2018 was a washout for me in several categories.

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh (1993)

1) Focus on Scotland

1: The Goddess of Daisies and Buttercups by Martin Millar (2015)
2: An illustrated treasury of Scottish Castle Legends by Therea Breslin (2019)
3: The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau by Graeme Macrae Burnet (2014)
4: The accident on the A35 by Graeme Macrae Burnet (2017)
5: Westwind by Ian Rankin (1990)
6: Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (1819)

On Mt Tbr:
Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon
And the Land Lay Still by James Robertson
King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett
Grace Notes by Bernard MacLaverty
Nigel Tranter

others:
Docherty by William McIlvanney

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald (1978) film (2017)

2) Reading Mt Tbr

1: Angel by Elizabeth Taylor (1957)
2:
3:
4:
5:

Possibles:
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
Melmoth by Sarah Perry
+ many more

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis (1946) film (1964)

3) Books in Translation

1: The Order of the Day by Éric Vuillard (2017 French) (2018 English)
2: The Fortune of the Rougons by Émile Zola (1870)
3: Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami (2018 English) (2017 Japanese)
4: HHhH by Laurent Binet (2013 Eng) (2010 French)
5: A Love for the Ages by Daniel Pennac (2015 French) (2017 Eng)

from Mt Tbr
Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis (Crete)
Rougon-Macquart series by Émile Zola (France)
Promise at Dawn by Roman Gary (France)
Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami (Japan)

Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (1876) tv film (2002)

4) The Classics

1: Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (1876)
2: The History of Tom Jones, a foundling by Henry Fielding (1745)
3:
4:
5:

Possibles
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

category inspired by Penguin Modern Classics, Vintage Classics & Text Classics.

The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White (1938) film (1963)

5) Arthurian & Celtic Literature

1: The sword and the circle by Rosemary Sutcliff (1981)
2: Perceval, the Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes (1181)
3: Lancelot: the knight of the cart by Chrétien de Troyes (1181)
4: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by unknown (1397), translated by Simon Armitage
5: The Light Beyond the Forest by Rosemary Sutcliff (1979)
6: The Road to Camlann by Rosemary Sutcliff (1980)
7: The Lais of Marie de France by Marie de France (1160) (Dutton 1978 edition)

Repeat of my failed 2018 category.
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
The Sword and The Circle, The Light Beyond the Forest & The Road to Camlann by Rosemary Sutcliff
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
Hawk Of May by Gillian Bradshaw
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes
The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth
An LT list here - http://www.librarything.com/list/154/all/Best-Arthurian-Fiction

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (2004) film (2012)

6a) Fantasy

1: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (2018)
2: The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (1955)
3: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)
4: The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden (2018)
5: A voyage through air by Peter F. Hamilton (2017)

6b) Scifi

1: Welcome to Orphancorp by Marlee Jane Ward
2: Psynode by Marlee Jane Ward (2017)
3: Prisoncorp by Marlee Jane Ward (2019)
4: Planetfall by Emma Newman (2015)
5: Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds (2018)
6: Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds (2019)
7: Fall, or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson (2019)
8: Shatter City by Scott Westerfeld (2019)

What/Who I should read:
Ian McDonald

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (1955) film (1999)

7) Thrillers, crime, mystery, spies

1: Skin Deep by Liz Nugent (2018)
2: Out of the dark by Gregg Hurwitz (2019)
3: The overnight kidnapper by Andrea Camilleri (2015 Italian) (2019 Eng)
4: My sister, the serial killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (2017)
5: Hunter by Jack Heath (2019)
6: The Polish Detective by Hania Allen (2018)
7: Death of a nightingale by Lene Kaaberbøl & Agnete Friis (2013 Eng) (2011 Danish)
8: Slow Horses by Mick Herron (2010)
9: The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo (2012 Spanish) (2018 Eng)
10: Lying in wait by Liz Nugent (2016)
11: Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent (2014)
12: The Chain by Adrian McKinty (2019)
13: The other end of the line by Andrea Camilleri (2019)
14: Peace by Garry Disher (2019)
15: Blue Moon by Lee Child (2019)
16: Silver by Chris Hammer (2019)

continue series:
Nicci French
Fred Vargas
Manuel Vázquez Montalbán
Hans Olav Lahlum

The secret life of Walter Mitty & other pieces by James Thurber (1939) film (2013)

8) Short Form - novellas, poetry, short stories

1: The Fish Girl by Mirandi Riwoe (2017) - novella
2: Peace by Aristophanes (421 B.C.) - play
3: A Distant Father by Antonio Skármeta (2010)
4: Reunion by Fred Uhlman (1971)
5: Good Boy by Mal Peet (2019)
6: Thin slices of anxiety: Observations and Advice to Ease a Worried Mind by Catherine Lepage (2016)
7: A pond full of ink by Annie Schmidt (1978 Dutch) (2011 Eng)
8: Too loud a solitude by Bohumil Hrabal (1976)
9: The Female Husband by Henry Fielding (1746)

Men at War anthology edited by Ernest Hemingway

Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump (1986) film: Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

9) Australia & New Zealand Fiction

1: All The Green Year by Don Charlwood (1965) - AUS
2: Baby by Annaleese Jochems (2017)
3: Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies by Witi Ihimaera (1994)
4: Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay (1967)
5: Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak (2018)
6: Call me Evie by JP Pomare (2019)
7: Scrublands by Chris Hammer (2018)
8: The Opawa Affair by Edward Bohan (1996)
9: Shepherd by Catherine Jinks (2019)
10: The White Earth by Andrew McGahan (2004)
11: The Adventures of Tupaia by Courtney Sina Meredith (2019)
12: The Nancys by R.W.R. McDonald (2019)

Storyland by Catherine McKinnon
The Memory Stones by Caroline Brothers
Her by Garry Disher
Baby by Annaleese Jochems

Panther in the Basement Amos Oz (1998) film: The Little Traitor (2007)

10a) Israeli & Jewish Fiction

1: The Last Watchman of Old Cairo by Michael David Lukas (2017)
2: A Long Night in Paris by Dov Alfon (2019 Eng) (2016 Hebrew)
3: Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen (2018)
4: The Zelmenyaners: a family saga by Moyshe Kulbak (Yidddish 1931/1935) (English 2013)
5:

10b) Israeli & Jewish Nonfiction

1: To give them light: the legacy of Roman Visniac edited by Marion Wiesel (1993)
2: The Boxer: The True Story of Holocaust Survivor Harry Haft by Reinhard Kleist (2014)
3:
4:
5:

Aaronsohn's Maps by Patricia Goldstone
Belonging: the story of the Jews 1492-present by Simon Schama
The King of Children by Betty Jean Lifton
The secret book of Kings by Yochi Brandes

Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by Jane Hawking (2007) film: The theory of Everything (2014)

11) Nonfiction

1: Where shall we run to? by Alan Garner (2018)
2: Mind on fire a memoir of madness and recovery by Arnold Thomas Fanning (2018)
3: Aotearoa: the New Zealand story by Gavin Bishop (2017)
4: Father and I: a memoir by Carlo Gébler (2001)
5: The Beggar King and the secret of happiness by Joel ben Izzy (2003)

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren (1945) film (1969)

12) Vintage children's books

1: Journey outside by Mary Q. Steele (1969)
2: The Kerry Caravan by Patricia Lynch (1967)
3: The Poetry Girl by Beverley Dunlop (1983)
4: Brothers like friends by Klaus Kordon (1978 German) (1992 English)
5: The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall (1959)
6: The Bears' House by Marilyn Sachs (1971)
7: The cat who came in off the roof by Annie M. Schmidt (1970 Dutch) (2015 English)
8: I was there by Hans Peter Richter (1987)

Possibles:
Leon Garfield
Mollie Hunter
Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl (1970)

How to train your dragon by Cressida Cowell (2003) film (2010)

13) Recent Children's books

1: The Hunting of the Princes by Peter F. Hamilton (2016)
2: The bookshop girl by Sylvia Bishop (2017)
3: Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (2018)
4: The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson & Eugene Yelchin (2018)
5: The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read & Laura Trinder (2019)
6: The Remarkable Inventions of Walter Mortinson by Quinn Sosna-Spear (2019)
7: The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell (2019)
8: The Dog Runner by Bren MacDribble (2018)
9: West of the moon by Margi Preus (2014)
10: Straw into gold by Gary Schmidt (2001)
11: How to Bee by Bren MacDribble (2017)
12: Pages & Co: Tilly and the lost fairy tales by Anna James (2019)
13: Mrs Battleship by Tim Tipene (2019)
14: Anya and the dragon by Sofiya Pasternack (2019)

Possibles -

The Raven's Children by Yulia Yakovleva
Lockwood & Co series by Jonathan Stroud
Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (2001) film (2018)

14a) Young Adult

1: Hive by A.J. Betts (2018) - Australia - finished 2 Jan
2: The Dark Days Deceit by Alison Goodman (2018) - Austraia - finished 3 Jan
4: The Goose Road by Rowena House (2018) - Australia
5: A winter's promise by Christelle Dabos (2013 French) (2018 English)
6: Icarus Down by James Bow (2016) - USA
7: Cassie Clark, outlaw by Brian Falkner (2018) - NZ
8: What the night sings by Vesper Stamper (2018) - USA
9: Mud by Emily Thomas (2018)
10: Long way down by Jason Reynolds (2017)
11: Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay (2018)
12: The wisdom of dead men by Oisín McGann (2009)
13: My Sister, Rosa by Justine Larbalestier (2016)
14: Toffee by Sarah Crossan (2019)
15: Arctic Zoo by Robert Muchamore (2019)
16: Rogue by A.J. Betts (2019)
17: It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood (2019)
18: Monuments by Will Kostakis (2019)
19: Killer T by Robert Muchamore (2018)

14b) Graphic Novels

1: Killing and dying by Adrian Tomine (2015) - US
2: Stitches: a memoir by David Small (2009) - US
3: Everything is teeth by Evie Wyld (2015) - UK/Aus
4: Hidden by Mirranda Burton (2011) - AUS/NZ
5: How to be happy by Eleanor Davis (2014) - USA
6: An Iranian Metamorphosis by Mana Neyestani (2014)
7: Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova (2015)
8: Meariki: the quest for truth by Helen Pearse-Otene (2015)
9: Arohanui: Revenge of the Fey by Helen Pearse-Otene (2015)
10: Brave by Svetlana Chmakova (2017)
11: Umbrella Academy Vol. 1 by Gerard Way & Gabriel Bá (2007)
12: Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, Vol 1 by Haruko Kumota (2017 Eng)
13: The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler by John Hendrix (2018)
14: New Kid by Jerry Craft (2019)
15: As the crow flies by Melanie Gillman (2017)
16: Hey, kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (2018)
17: When I arrived at the castle by Emily Carroll (2019)
18: Estranged by Ethan M. Aldridge (2018)
19: Survivors of the Holocaust by Zane Whittingham and Ryan Jones (2016)
20: Cassandra Darke by Posy Simmonds (2018)
21: On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden (2016)
22: Good-bye Marianne: the graphic novel by Irene N. Watts (2008)
23: Seconds: a graphic novel by Bryan Lee O'Malley (2014)
24: Buddha Vol 1: Kapilavastu by Osamu Tezuka (1972)
25: Atomcat by Osamu Tezuka (1987)
26: Estranged: The Changeling King by Ethan M. Aldridge (2019)

The Dark Days Deceit by Alison Goodman
Bone Music: The Legend of Genghis Khan by Katherine Roberts

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (2002) film (2005)

15) Family Tree

1: The Zelmenyaners: a family saga by Moyshe Kulbak (Yiddish 1931/1935) (English 2013)
2:
3:
4:
5:

Books by people in the family, fiction set in cities, regions of interest, relevant nonfiction.

Pictures from a brewery by Asher Barash
Biography of a Germ by Arno Karlen
Thirty-three Candles by David Horowitz
Meeting of the Waters: the story of Ngaruawahia by A.M. Latta
The Zelmenyaners: A Family Saga by Moyshe Kulbak (Minsk)
How sweet it is! by Thane Rosenbaum

The Neverending story by Michael Ende (1979) film (1984)

16) The Extras

1: Girl: a novel by Edna O'Brien (2019)
2; Westwind by Ian Rankin
3:
4:
5:

A neverending number of categories, but I do need one for the books that don't fit the other 15.

Great setup and I love the images you found to illustrate them. I'll be watching out for the Zola reading! I've started La fortune des Rougon and I was startled to find it so easy to read.

>18 MissWatson: Oh thanks. I don't think I'll ever do this themed image thing again, took me ages. Great to hear that about the Zola book, I need to request one from the library, ready for the New Year.

Great to see you are set up and ready to start firing those book bullets that seem to be so accurate when it comes to me! :)

Oooo I like the picture for The Talented Mr. Ripley ;) Great setup! Looking forward to seeing what fills your Scotland and Arthurian categories.

I've starred the thread too, you always read such interesting books (and I'm also interested in the Scotland category).

>20 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, I also get too many book bullets from reading all the threads.

>21 rabbitprincess: Oh I love the movie and the books and have always meant to watch the earlier French version Plein soleil. My youngest daughter is doing a paper on Arthurian literature next semester so I'm hoping to get some of the books read this time then I can put up a decent conversation.

>22 Jackie_K: >21 rabbitprincess: I've been wanting to read James Robertson for some years and also finally followup Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles with her King Hereafter. I've also got The Oxford Book of Scottish Short Stories which I hope to finally dip into.

>23 avatiakh: Oh hey, I have that book of short stories too! Want to do a buddy read sometime this year?

Nice set-up!

Very nice categories~

Love the way you have connected your categories to films!

Love so many of your categories! I will look forward to seeing what you read.

Really nice set-up!

Great theme! I see a lot of bullets coming my way.

Great setup! Happy New Year!

Hive by A.J. Betts (2018)
YA
A great dystopian story set in a closed living environment. I really like these types of reads, The City of Ember was another like this. A sequel is planned for this year.
Hayley has trained as a beekeeper and one day chasing a rogue bee in one of the little used ways she sees a drip fall from the ceiling. This counters all the truths that she has been taught and Hayley begins to seek some answers.
Betts wrote Zac and Mia, about 2 teens battling cancer in the same hospital, which was a great read and is now a tv series.

>34 avatiakh: I'll have to look for this one - I loved The City of Ember series!

>31 The_Hibernator: >32 thornton37814: >33 Tess_W: Thankyou for the NY greetings. I love the cat.

>35 JayneCM: Hi Jayne. Just keep in mind that this is YA not children's fiction, so slightly darker.

The Dark Days Deceit by Alison Goodman (2018)
YA

Lady Helen #3. Enjoyable end to the trilogy. Probably not to everyone's taste but I found these highly entertaining, a mix of Buffy with Jane Austen. Goodman does the research so period details are precise. Would love for this to continue.

Best of 2018:
_______
_______

Books for the Young:
Piglettes by Clémentine Beauvais
The Dogs of Winter by Bobbie Pyron
The Traitor and the Thief by Gareth Ward - fantasy YA
The Flying Classroom by Erich Kastner
In the dark spaces by Cally Black - scifi YA
Tilly and the Bookwanderers (Pages & Co.) by Anna James
Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina & Ezekiel Kwaymullina
The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope

Memoir:
Diary of a bookseller by Shaun Bythell
A table for one: Under the Light of Jerusalem by Aharon Appelfeld

Fiction:
The Lost Pages by Marija Peričić
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
Reamde by Neal Stephenson
The Broken Shore by Peter Temple

Graphic Books:
The three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth by Ken Krimstein
The Marvels by Brian Selznick

Other top contenders:
Also rans were my rereads of the first two LOTR books and also my read of the Fever Crumb series which are the prequels to Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series. Also the concluding book in Martin Millar's Kalix trilogy and Philip Reeve's Railhead trilogy.

Skin Deep by Liz Nugent (2018)
crime
I saw this on the Irish Times best books list and decided to request it from the library despite my mountain of tbr books. It starts with an ex-pat English woman going to an all night party on the French Cote D'Azur, then returning in the morning sunshine to the corpse she's left in her apartment. The book is a whydunit, about how she arrived to this point, starting with her childhood on a remote Irish island. Delia is a fascinating train wreck of a character, seemingly no moral compass, completely selfish, and yet such a compelling story. I couldn't put this down and will be reading more of Liz Nugent.

Aotearoa: the New Zealand story by Gavin Bishop (2017)
children's illustrated nonfiction

This is an extra large-sized book, a history of New Zealand, beautifully illustrated and designed by Gavin Bishop. There is an equal balance between European and Maori that similar books have failed to achieve. The book covers many interesting facets of New Zealand, flora & fauna, myths and legends, geography, sport, monuments and the social & political. No photographs only illustrations and snippets of facts rather than pages of text. Only let down by the less appealing portraits of well known New Zealanders.
Definitely one for every New Zealand child to browse through and learn a few facts about their country.
I used part of the cover image at the top of my thread.

To give them light: the legacy of Roman Visniac edited by Marion Wiesel (1993)
photography

A illuminating collection of photographs accompanied by a preface by Elie Wiesel and edited by his wife, Marion Wiesel. The book showcases the photographs that Vishniac took on his 1930s trips back to East Europe, capturing images of a now lost world of Jewish life.
There are a few books now of his photographs including a more recent extensive Roman Vishniac rediscovered by Maya Benton.
You can read about him here - https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/oct/28/roman-vishniac-rediscovered...
Gallery here - http://vishniac.icp.org/

Killing and dying by Adrian Tomine (2015)
graphic novel
Six short stories, every one quite compelling. The story I liked most was about the father of a young teen girl who wants to be a stand up comedian.

The Goose Road by Rowena House (2018)
YA
This is the novelization of a story published in the War Girls: A Collection of First World War Stories Through the Eyes of Young Women anthology. A sad but also enchanting story of a girl, Angelique, travelling across France to sell her flock of geese during World War One. The family has already lost their horse, cart, cow and pig through the requisition. Angelique and her sick mother must run the farm on their own, the father and son are both at the Front. This selling of the geese is their last chance to save the farm from bailiffs.

Welcome to Orphancorp by Marlee Jane Ward (2015)
YA
This was one of the winners of the Seizure Viva La Novella Award in 2015. It has won or been shortlisted for a couple of other Australian Awards too. I've decided to read my way through the novellas that won this award as it introduces me to exciting new writers from my part of the world. So far I've read last year's winners, Avi Duckor-Jones' Swim and Anna Jackson's The bedmaking competition.
Orphancorp is a near future nightmare, a corporation that collects streetkids, orphans and other waifs, incarcerates them till they are 18, when they are sent out into the world if they are lucky to survive. A percentage go straight onto Prisoncorp. This short novella is about Mirii, she's been transferred to a new place once again and has to survive just one more week before she's 18 and out the door.
The reading is dark, gritty and dystopian. I loved it, so much grim humanity packed into 116 pages. There is a sequel, Psynode, my library hasn't got it so I might have to buy the e-book.
Next up is The Fish Girl by Mirandi Rowe which is set in Indonesia's colonial past.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (2018)
fantasy
Took me a long while to get through this book though I enjoyed it very much, it just never caught me in that 'I can't put it down' mode. I think this was more me coming under pressure to finish too many library books.
A fantasy inspired by the story of Rumpelstilskin.

Stitches: a memoir by David Small (2009)
graphic memoir

OMG, what an awful childhood this artist suffered through. His father, a doctor, exposed Small to heavy radiation doses in an attempt to fix his respiratory problems, this in turn led to Small having brutal throat surgery for cancer as a young teen. His parents hid from him that he had cancer. His mother was just awful and Small ran away from home at sixteen to become the artist he is today. For all that a compelling read.
David Small has collaborated with his wife, Elizabeth Stewart on several picturebooks, all worth looking out for.

_

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (1955)
fantasy

A reread of old favourite. LOTR #3. Finished my listen of the trilogy and loved the story all over again. Also followed up watching the last film in the trilogy as well, the two don't particularly mix that well close together I've found. Anyway I first read LOTR back when I was 14, it took me about two days to get through the three books in the school holidays and only took breaks for food and the numerous chores my mum had lined up for me.
I've made a start on listening to The Hobbit but not as taken with how Inglis does the various dwarf voices so I might not continue.

Everything is teeth by Evie Wyld (2015)
graphic memoir

I picked this up and the next GN memoir because I was interested in reading some Australian GNs, thinking I hadn't read that many at all.
This is about Wyld's childhood obsession with sharks and shark attacks. Quite interesting but not for the fainthearted reader. The artwork by Joe Sumner is very impressive. Neither Wyld or Sumner are Australian per se, Wyld spent her holidays in Australia, but grew up in London. She's considered an Anglo-Australian and has won awards in both countries for her fiction.
_


Hidden by Mirranda Burton (2011)
graphic memoir

Interestingly, Burton is a New Zealander who moved to Australia to study art. This GN chronicles her time leading an art class with adults with intellectual disabilities. The stories are very moving, each chapter focuses on a different member of her class. Well worth looking out for.
_

A winter's promise by Christelle Dabos (2013 French) (2018 English)
YA fantasy
La Passe-Miroir #1. The first of 4 in a popular French fantasy series. I'm fairly intrigued by the world rustled up by Dabos and I also like the main character, Ophelia. But, but, but...I felt she spent the whole book without agency, so we just felt miserable for her as she tried to work out what was going on. I'll try the second book but it better be incredibly exciting and fantastic.
Ophelia's family arrange a marriage for her to Thorn, a member of the Dragon clan from a brutal northern Ark. She must travel with her fiancée back to his world and finds herself thrust into a society of political intrigue where no one is safe, Ophelia least of all. Is it likely that there'll be romance and a happy ever after ending?

The sword and the circle by Rosemary Sutcliff (1981)
children's
Legends of King Arthur #1. The first of Sutcliff's trilogy on King Arthur. I enjoyed this read about the various knights of King Arthur and their deeds. I'll keep reading the omnibus edition that I have. The next book is The Light Beyond the Forest: The Quest for the Holy Grail.

How to be happy by Eleanor Davis (2014)
graphic novel

I didn't much like this one. It's a collection of stories, ideas and whatnot and nothing much really gelled for me. The artwork was varied and some of it worked ok. I love the cover illustration.

From a review blurb: Davis is one of the finest cartoonists of her generation, and has been producing comics since the mid-2000s. Davis achieves a rare, subtle poignancy in her narratives that are at once compelling and elusive, pregnant with mystery and a deeply satisfying emotional resonance. Happy shows the full range of Davis's graphic skills -- sketchy drawing, polished pen and ink line work, and meticulously designed full color painted panels.'

Icarus Down by James Bow (2016)
YA scifi

Quite a thrilling scifi set on an planet with many problems for the humans that arrived there three generations earlier. The 13 cities have been established hanging in deep chasms as the sun burns the diamond lands above and means instant death to any human exposed. There is also an electromagnetic problem that has disabled the tech that the settlers arrived with and they've now adapted to steam and clockwork to power their communities. The fog forests in the chasms is inhabited by strange 'tic toc' monsters. The book starts with young ornithopter pilot, Simon going on his final test flight, but it looks to be sabotaged, his brother, the navigator, is killed and Simon is badly burned.

James Bow is the husband of writer Erin Bow and I enjoyed both her Plain Kate and The Scorpion Rules some years ago.

The Goddess of Daisies and Buttercups by Martin Millar (2015)
fiction

This was a real gem to read, very funny and inspired me enough to pick up a book of plays by Aristophanes yesterday only to discover that his Peace play is truly hilarious for all that it was written back around 421 BC.
Aristophanes is preparing to stage his Peace play for the annual Dionysia Festival as talks between Sparta and Athens try to end ten years of war. Everything seems to be going wrong for him as politicians and weapons merchants have bribed his sponsor to give his play minimum money for props etc. Meanwhile Athena sends an Amazonian warrior and a wood nymph to Athens to try to salvage his play and give peace a chance.
Millar has written a highly entertaining novel based around real events and inspired by the humour in the plays of Aristophanes. Recommended.

Cassie Clark, outlaw by Brian Falkner (2018)
YA

Action packed thriller for teens. Cassie's father is a successful US politician, he's Speaker of the House in Congress but he has been missing for about six weeks along with a news journalist. Cassie has been in hospital recovering from a hit and run so is only now finding out and decides to do some investigating on her own. She quickly finds that she might be in over her head as people in high places seem to be behind it all.
Entertaining if somewhat far fetched plot, I enjoyed it for what it was. I like this style of YA, big on action and less to no romance or supernatural stuff.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937)
fantasy
Continuing my LOTR reread via audio I finally finished up with this one. I first read The Hobbit as an adult long long after LOTR which I first read when I was about 14. I loved it and couldn't believe I had taken so long to pick it up. Anyway I finished this around the time my daughter sat her exam on Tolkien. I read the last few chapters from the actual book as I couldn't wait for the much slower audio to finish. I also watched the first of The Hobbit films, love the ending of that with Smaug opening his eye.

>38 avatiakh: I'm glad you liked The Sherwood Ring! I'm so sad that Elizabeth Marie Pope only wrote two books.

>56 christina_reads: I'm glad that I've finally read both her books, had The Perilous Guard on Mt tbr for several years.

The Hunting of the Princes by Peter F. Hamilton (2016)
children's

Queen of Dreams #2. The second book in the trilogy, I have the third book ready to go. First comment is that I hate the covers, I believe they deter child readers rather than call them in. I don't understand how the publisher ran with them, pure ugly.
Well, I found this one hard to get on with, though in the end I enjoyed the second half quite a bit and look forward to book #3. Hamilton has created interesting, complex worlds or realms, where Earth is considered the Outer Realm. Sisters Taggie and Jemima discovered in book #1 that their parents are from an other realm, royalty in fact which makes them princesses with magical powers. Several princes in the five realms have been assassinated or gone missing, even Taggie has been attacked, who is behind it all and what else have they got planned and what can they do about it.
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Where shall we run to? by Alan Garner (2018)
memoir
Loved this. Garner takes us for a stroll through his earliest memories of childhood in the Cheshire village of Alderley Edge. Nostalgic and rustic, just wonderful. His writing is spare and elegant.

The Fish Girl by Mirandi Riwoe (2017)
novella

Riwoe takes W. Somerset Maugham's story, The Four Dutchmen and re-writes it from the point of view of the ‘Malay trollope’. This was a winner of the 2017 Seizure Viva La Novella Prize and I loved every inch of it, though the ending is fairly harsh. A young Indonesian girl goes from her small fishing village to work in the kitchen of a Dutch merchant in the nearby town.
This was my fourth Seizure Viva La Novella Prize novella read, I've liked all of them so far.

What the night sings by Vesper Stamper (2018)
YA illustrated novel

Winner of the 2019 Sydney Taylor Book Award for outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience. Stamper was an artist who suffered an injury to her arm in a road accident, resulting in partial paralysis which made it impossible for her to continue in her career path. This book is a result of her journey to adapt and combines a limited ink illustration style with a story that grew into a novel.
It's a Holocaust novel that combines the present experience of Gerta in a displaced persons camp after the war with her prewar memories and also her time in Auschwitz, where she survived by playing her father's viola in the 'welcoming' orchestra. Gerta must come to terms with her identity and her grief so her life can begin again.
Just beautiful.

This is a novel that has pictures, though it is an unusual size and from that it looks like it could be a graphic novel, it is not.

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The Order of the Day by Éric Vuillard (2017 French) (2018 English)
historical fiction

This won the 2017 Prix Goncourt and is a very short interesting read about how the German industrialists and others positioned themselves to Hitler before World War 2 began....and how some of these companies are still thriving. How politicians in France, England and Austria allowed Hitler to walk all over them.

The Fortune of the Rougons by Émile Zola (1870)
fiction

Les Rougon-Macquart Series #1. I'm hoping to read about 6 of this series this year. There is a shared read going on in the LT 2019 category group. I started reading my library's e-book edition and then noticed Lisa from anzlitlover's review where she revelled in the latest Oxford World Classics editions for their fresh translations, so I bought the first three editions to try. They are fairly inexpensive from Book Depository.
This first book introduces us to the Rogon-Macquart family, who live in the south of France in a town, Plassans. There is one legitimate son to Adelaide and her gardener husband, and after his death, two illegitimate children to her lover, a poacher. The book is about the fortunes of these children and their families at the time of the 1851 coup d'état. Quite dense and political but highly enjoyable for all that.

Mud by Emily Thomas (2018)
YA

I loved this, and I think the cover art is quite spectacular. Another book about a mixed up teen who has lost her mother and whose father is in a relationship that leads to marriage. The new wife and children don't move in. In an effort to save money the father moves his blended family to an historical Thames sailing barge in Essex, which is run down, cramped and leaky, a nightmare of a place to live in most ways. It also means changing schools, all things that Lydia doesn't want to do.
Quite a stunning story, fresh and appealing. I loved all the brothers and sisters from both sides of the family. The parents less so. The book is set in 1979.
This has been longlisted for the (UK) Carnegie Medal. Well deserved.

All The Green Year by Don Charlwood (1965)
fiction

At long last an ANZAC read for my bingo up in post #4 - Read a book with an animal/bird on the cover.
This was a lovely read about coming of age in the year 1929 on the Mornington Peninsula, near Melbourne in Australia. Apparently the book has been a set text for many Australians in high school. This is a great read about surviving school and family while 14yrs old and about to sit the all important exam which decides your future. In the meantime there are adventures to be had, including riding a runaway circus camel to school. While Charlie has lots of fun escapades the book has a serious side. Charlie's family move in with their grandfather, a big old house, 'Thermopylae', set right on a cliff above the sea. Grandfather still thinks he's on a ship and often spends the evenings out on the verandah, navigating through storms etc.

Peace by Aristophanes (421 B.C.)
play

I wanted to read this play after loving Martin Millar's hilarious The Goddess of Daisies and Buttercups which has Aristophanes as the main character trying to stage the play way back then.
So I can't believe how great this play is, a little crude at times but very funny and now I'll have to read the rest of the plays in the book, not just this one.

Baby by Annaleese Jochems (2017)
fiction

Debut novel by a young New Zealand writer. I didn't love this, another book where it's hard to like any character, but still you keep reading to see what is going to happen next. Cynthia is a young woman, a bit of a train wreck, she has the hots for her yoga instructor, Anahera. The two of them run off together, Anahera wants to get away from her husband so it's convenient to fall in with the childish Cynthia. Cynthia rips off her father to the tune of $16,000 and with the money they travel north to Paihia and buy a run down old boat, 'Baby'....and things happen. Cynthia is addicted to watching reality tv on her solar powered cell phone, so one begins to wonder what is Cynthia's reality. Anahera, a fitness freak goes on long swims every day to a nearby island.
At times crude then sinister and mysterious, the plot thickens. Not a novel I can recommend, though it did get shortlisted in the NZ Book Awards for fiction, so others have enjoyed it. There are layers to the book, I just didn't want to dig deep into understanding this one.

The bookshop girl by Sylvia Bishop (2017)
childrens
An amusing juvenile read. Property was found as an abandoned baby in the lost property cupboard at a bookshop. She was adopted by the owner, Netty. Property has a terrible secret - she can't read and uses all sorts of tricks to cover it up. When Netty & family win Montgomery Book Emporium in a raffle, it turns out to be a big adventure.

Mind on fire a memoir of madness and recovery by Arnold Thomas Fanning (2018)
memoir

Wellcome Prize 2019 longlist
This book was mentioned by several Irish writers as a good read in an Irish Times Best of 2018 article I read back in January. Fanning writes about his adventures in mental health when he was in his late 20s early 30s, starting in 1998. He was a fairly successful playwright-filmmaker, and working happily in the theatre world when his life just fell apart at a writers retreat as he suffered from growing paranoia and sleeplessness. His manic behaviour turned away friends, family and acquaintances as he tried several times to pull his life back together, till he hit rock bottom and was living on the streets in London for months.
The book opens with Fanning at Heathrow Airport trying to get on flights to Sumatra and Israel as he's convinced that only he can offer these countries the help they need.
I enjoyed this book for what it was, an honest account of the worst, most despairing and paranoid time in the life of a creative, talented young man, how he became his own worse enemy and yet the right diagnosis of his bipolar condition just didn't happen till it was nearly too late. The other aspect of the book that makes it a worthwhile read is that Fanning didn't rely on his own memory to write this, he went back to the institutions, estranged friends and family etc to rebuild the actual facts of his actions.

'In seeking to tell the story of an individual known to him who had undergone a terrifying descent into madness, the Dublin writer had to crawl his way through piles of police accounts, psychiatric hospital records and testimonies of doctors, family and friends. Being debriefed on the full litany of behaviours and episodes this person had inflicted on themselves and others while in the throes of a severe mental health collapse was distressing for Fanning. Especially as that person was him.
"I discovered things about myself that I had remembered differently," the 49-year-old says quietly. "People telling me I did this, that I actually said this. Some of it was disturbing. Was that really me?"
Fanning wrote the book not because he had mental illness but because he was a writer and writers tell stories. Mind on Fire came about after Fanning's essay 'Rough Sleeper' was published in The Dublin Review Winter 2016-17 edition. When editor Brendan Barrington saw the name, he got in touch to know if this was the noted playwright of the critically acclaimed Roger Casement drama McKenna's Fort. It was indeed, and after meeting to discuss the essay, Fanning was encouraged to expand it into book form.

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-news/suicidal-homeless-paran...

Journey outside by Mary Q. Steele (1969)
childrens

I picked this book up after reading Amber's review back in January. A community of raft dwellers live inside a cave system, travelling for generations to the 'Better Place'. Dilar, probably about 12 or 13 decides to leave his community's beliefs behind and prove they are wrong. He finds his way out of the caves and goes to explore the world he finds outside.
A good, thought provoking read. My library book had beautiful woodcut illustrations by Rocco Negri.

An Iranian Metamorphosis by Mana Neyestani (2014)
graphic memoir
This was picked off the library shelf when browsing their GN section. Around 2005 Neyestani was a cartoonist for the children's section of an Iranian newspaper until his innocent cartoon strip of a boy attacking a cockroach is misinterpreted as an attack on the minority Azeri people and sets off regional riots. He's arrested along with his editor and spends several weeks in an Iranian prison. When out for a short period before his trial and facing a harsh sentence as many people have died in the riots, Neyestani tries unsuccessfully to get a visa for France or Canada, in the end he is able to fly with his wife to Dubai, theoretically for a 3 day holiday, and begins a long process of looking for asylum, a process that takes them to Turkey, Malaysia and China, all without success. All along the way the cockroach haunts his dreams.
Interesting look into the world of people smuggling and how seeking asylum is not always easy for those who really need it as there are many crowding the system and others making a good living by taking their money. An epilogue updates the fate of numerous characters including Neyestani.

Out of the dark by Gregg Hurwitz (2019)
thriller

Orphan X #4. Excellent entry in the Orphan X series. Lots of action and suspense. Hope he keeps writing these.

Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova (2015)
graphic novel

First in a trilogy. Fun story set in a school about the rivalry between the art and science clubs. The main character is quite shy and needs to right a wrong that happened on her first day at the school. The art style is appealing.

Lots of really interesting reads - I've taken BB's for Skin Deepand Welcome to Orphancorp.

Yes, both good reads. I'll continue updating, I've not been on LT much these past few months.


The overnight kidnapper by Andrea Camilleri (2015 Italian) (2019 Eng)
crime
Montalbano #23. Another that I'd already seen on tv first though that didn't detract from reading this as I had forgotten whodunit by the time I picked up the book. Enjoyable addition to series.

Long way down by Jason Reynolds (2017)
YA
A verse novel that's won or been nominated for a bunch of awards; Newbery Medal Nominee (2018), National Book Award Nominee for Young People's Literature (2017), Odyssey Award Nominee (2018), Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature (2017), Edgar Award for Best Young Adult (2018), Michael L. Printz Award Nominee (2018), Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee (2019), Coretta Scott King Award Nominee for Author Honor (2018), Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Nominee (2018), Lincoln Award Nominee (2020), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Poetry (2017), Carnegie Medal Nominee (2019), NAACP Image Award Nominee for Youth/Teens (2018).

...and deserving of all this attention. Set in a tough urban neighbourhood, Will's older brother has been shot and Will is riding the elevator down with a gun stuffed into his pants ready to abide by The Rules and go after his killer, or who he thinks is the killer. Riding the elevator with him is a succession of ghosts which shows how The Rules can keep young men stuck in a cycle of violence and death.

Meariki: the quest for truth by Helen Pearse-Otene (2015)
graphic novel

Quite a good short quest story that unites various aspects of Maori myths. Meariki is a slave girl who must seek her mistress who has been snatched by a demon-wizard on the back of a giant hawk.


The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden (2018)
fantasy

Very fine conclusion to the Winternight trilogy. I loved this and the previous two. Richly embedded in Russian folklore, this trilogy is one of my top fantasy reads ever.

My sister, the serial killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (2017)
fiction
Dark, semi-comic novel about poor long suffering sister, Korede, who seems destined to forever be cleaning up her beautiful younger sister's disastrous affairs. Now her sister has set her sights on the man who Korede's heart secretly desires. The reader scarcely notices that the book is set in Lagos. A quick entertaining read.

Arohanui: Revenge of the Fey by Helen Pearse-Otene (2015)
graphic novel

The Matawehi Fables #2. This didn't seem as good as the first one. A tribe does a deal with a mystical tribe, in exchange for their chief's newborn, they get the use of the Mauri Stone for 100 moons. The Mauri Stone is vital for them to feed their tribe, it makes the land abundantly fertile. Yet when the time comes to give up the child, now grown to a young man, it is hard, almost impossible to turn him over especially for his twin sister.


Brave by Svetlana Chmakova (2017)
graphic novel
Berry Brook Middle School #2
Follows on from her Awkward GN. Set in the same middle school, this GN focuses on Jensen, a tubby boy who is having to deal with making friends and bullying. This was really good, I was impressed. The artwork is very cute.

The Kerry Caravan by Patricia Lynch (1967)
children's fiction
Patricia Lynch is a renown Irish storyteller, I read the biography, Patricia Lynch, Storyteller about 11 years ago and yet this is the first book I've read of hers. I have a few others including The Turfcutter's Donkey and The bookshop on the quay, they do feel a bit dated but also recall a more innocent time in Irish lives.
This one is about two families that travel by caravan from Dublin to County Kerry where they'll start a new life in the countryside.
Delightful reading for the younger reader. I'm going to look out for Secret Lands: The World of Patricia Lynch by Robert Dunbar as well.

Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (2018)
children's fiction

Nevermoor #2. The second book in the series or trilogy about Morrigan Crow. Highly enjoyable read set in a magical world. I liked this just as much as the first book.


The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson & Eugene Yelchin (2018)
children's fiction

Lovely, lovely, lovely. Anderson has teamed up with Yelchin to produce a fascinating story, with some chapters being solely illustrations. Brangwain Spurge is an elf historian, he's sent into the Goblin kingdom to deliver a peace-making artifact to the Goblin Emperor, unknown to him the artifact contains a massive bomb. On arrival he is sent to stay with the goblin archivist Werfel for a few days before the presentation. Cue massive cultural misunderstandings. From the book description: 'Subverting convention, award-winning creators M. T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin pair up for an anarchic, outlandish, and deeply political saga of warring elf and goblin kingdoms.'
I loved this, read most of it in a couple of sittings.

22850101::The Midnight Hour by Benjamin Read & Laura Trinder (2019)
children's fiction

Another magical story, set partly in a dark otherworld London, where all the darker elements of the magical world are stuck by a spell that is caught up in the mechanism of Big Ben.
This was another enjoyable read. I get a lot of my children's fiction recommendations from a blog, Mr Ripleys Enchanted Books. I've just started Quinn Sosna-Spear's The Remarkable Inventions of Walter Mortinson after reading a blog post on the book.

Psynode by Marlee Jane Ward (2017)
novella

Orphancorp #2. This dystopian novella picks up right after book #1 with Mirii desperate to find out what happened to her best friend, Vu. She signs up to work at Psynode and finds herself working in some nightmarish Amazon-type warehouse, all the merchandise to be collected is set on outlandishly high structures and the workers must scale the structure like monkeys, with their target times always reducing as they improve their efforts.
Great read and lucky for me, the final third book just published in April so I was able to continue right on.


Prisoncorp by Marlee Jane Ward (2019)
novella

Orphancorp #3. The concluding volume, Mirii and her friends are now incarcerated in one of the dreadful Prisoncorp prisons. Stuck out in the desert in the middle of nowhere, there is nowhere to go even if you escape, but escape they must as they'll die before their sentences are up.

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami (2018 English) (2017 Japanese)
fiction

A strange read, not as good as his 1Q84 but compelling enough to persevere. A story about an artist who savours a quiet mountain hideaway after his divorce but finds more than solitude once there. The story is very slow paced, some of the characters are mysterious, and Murakami never gives us a full explanation to some of the creepiness that's encountered. This was published in 2 volumes in Japan, so it's a big read.
I still have his Wind-Up Bird Chronicle on my to read pile.


Hunter by Jack Heath (2019)
crime

Timothy Blake #2. Good second installment in the series. Timothy Blake has an ugly secret and a past of isolation and abandonment.

Here's an extract from Carpe Librum blog on his first book:
Recipe for Hangman by Jack Heath
Step 1. Take the pace of any James Patterson or Matthew Reilly novel.
Step 2. Add a gruesome yet likeable protagonist; like Dexter from Jeff Lindsay.
Step 3. Make him an anti-hero you can root for like Joe from You by Caroline Kepnes but without the sex.
Step 4. Add a measure of cannibalism from The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris.
Step 5. Combine with the shock factor of Stephen King's writing.
Step 6. Bake for 376 pages and your novel will be ready.
Step 7. Consume Hangman in as few sittings as possible.
Step 8. Enjoy every morsel.

https://www.carpelibrum.net/2018/02/review-hangman-by-jack-heath.html

The Poetry Girl by Beverley Dunlop (1983)
children's fiction

This New Zealand book has long been on my shelves, I love the cover and have often picked it up to look at. Finally I've read it. It's a rural coming of age in the 1950s. Narrated by 12 yr old Natalia over two years, it's about her struggles at school and home. Kept back a year due to illness and lack of aptitude, Natalia recites poetry in her head during tense encounters at school and when her parents are arguing.
Receiving no support from the adults in her life and also finding it almost impossible to make friends Natalia finds life particularly grim.
Quite an unusual read as Dunlop doesn't give Natalia a rosy ending, rather just lets her struggle to maturity where she can see an eventual escape from school. The adults are fairly disappointing, with problems of their own.
The cover art is by Lyn Kreigler who I know well from her illustrations of Dorothy Butler picturebooks.

Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (1876)
fiction

Listened to the audio. What an engaging story. I listened to this slowly over a number of months and was totally absorbed. Deronda, a serious young gentleman, is caught between two young women who need his help for different reasons. Gwendolyn is from a good family now fallen on hard times while Mirah is a Jewish woman whom Deronda saves from drowning. The book ventures into the Jewish world as well as high society. Deronda has never known who his parents are and that also becomes part of the story.

I've now read three books by Eliot and will be looking out for more.

Umbrella Academy Vol. 1 by Gerard Way & Gabriel Bá (2007)
graphic novel

I watched the first few episodes of the tv series on Netflix and then waited a long while for the library's only copy to come to me, quite the queue which is even longer since I put my name down for it. I was keen to read it as I'm a fan of Gabriel Bá's art and I found the tv story quite inventive. I found the GN narrative a bit disappointing, the tv script has fleshed it out quite a bit. Anyway, I'll go back to the tv series now I've read the GN.

And on the subject of Graphic novel to screen, last night I started watching a film, Atomic Blonde, and noticed in the opening credits that it was based on the GN The coldest city which I read last year.

Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies by Witi Ihimaera (1994)
fiction

One I've been reading on and off all year. A great story about two rural Maori clans that compete and fight against each other for overall supremacy. The Mahana family is ruled by Tamihana, the grandfather, a strict and dictatorial figure. The story is told by defiant grandson, Simeon, as the clan competes in all sorts of contests, sport and cultural as well as the national Golden Fleece shearing contest against the Poata clan, led by Rupeni Poata. There's a reason for the clash, one that only becomes clear towards the end of the book, several versions of the truth litter the pages before that.
The novel was part of my daughter's NZ literature paper that she did last year. There's a recent NZ film, Mahana, based on the book.

Perceval, the Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes (1181)
text

The story of Perceval, one of King Arthur's knights with a little addition of Sir Gwain. Oh, I loved Perceval, such a noble but fairly naive knight. The texts includes some adventures of Sir Gwain.
I read this a few weeks ago.


Lancelot: the knight of the cart by Chrétien de Troyes (1181)
text

Interesting long story of Lancelot that shows how his love for Guinevere interfered with his duties as a knight of chivalry.

A Distant Father by Antonio Skármeta (2010)
novella

Quiet story set in rural Chile. The young school teacher wonders about his father who has travelled back to his native France and left the son and mother behind.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by unknown, translated by Simon Armitage (1397)
poem

I loved this. Armitage has brought the poem out of Middle English and into the modern day with a delightful interpretation of the text. The story is full of beautiful imagery as Sir Gwain goes to meet his fate at the hands of the Green Knight.

Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay (2018)
YA
Really interesting read, about the arrival of Americans in the Philippines around 1899. The book is set in the Cordillera highlands with the main character, Samkad about to undergo his initiation into manhood.
Ex-pat Filipino writer Gourlay writes about her initial ideas for the novel here: https://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-features/features/2018/october/another-sto...


Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, Vol 1 by Haruko Kumota (2017 Eng)
manga

Saw someone mention this as a good manga series so had a look at the first one. Interesting to learn about rakugo. Possible that I'll continue to next one.
Rakugo (落語, literally "fallen words") is a form of Japanese verbal entertainment. The lone storyteller (落語家 rakugoka) sits on stage, called kōza (高座).

The wisdom of dead men by Oisín McGann (2009)
YA

The Wildenstern Saga #2. I read the first book about 8 years ago and really enjoyed it, not sure why it took so long to get to the second book of the trilogy. I enjoyed reentering this steampunk Victorian world once again. The Wildenstern family is different, there is something in their blood that makes them stand apart and gives them advantages and they are now the most powerful and ruthless family in Ireland.


The Boxer: The True Story of Holocaust Survivor Harry Haft by Reinhard Kleist (2014)
graphic novel

GN based on the book by Haft's son, Allan Haft. Tells the story of Harry Haft, a Polish Jew who survived the death camps by boxing for the Nazis, then goes to the US after the war looking for his first love. Good telling of a true story. The artwork is quite gauche, like the war comics from the 1950s, and the cover is not appealing at all.

A couple of years ago I read Jean-Jacques Greif's YA The Fighter which is also based on a true experience in the death camps and which I recommend highly.



Crush by Svetlana Chmakova (2018)
children's graphic novel

Awkward #3. The series follows various students at Berrybrook Middle School. This time it's Jorge, discovering he has feelings for Jasmine. He's helped and hindered by his friends and others. I probably like #2 best, but Jorge is a very endearing character.

The Remarkable Inventions of Walter Mortinson by Quinn Sosna-Spear (2019)
childrens

I've been reading this one over a few weeks on my phone. The story is quite magical but ultimately unengaging for me at least, which is why I took so long to finish it.

Here's the blurb which helps understand why I picked it up in the first place - 'In this sweeping and inventive debut novel that’s perfect for fans of Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman, and Tim Burton, a prodigal inventor flees his home to find his destiny.
In the humdrum town of Moormouth, Walter Mortinson’s unusual inventions cause nothing but trouble. After one of his contraptions throws the town into chaos, Walter’s mother demands he cut the nonsense and join the family mortuary business.'

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay (1967)
fiction

ANZAC challenge. I put this down for my ANZAC challenge about 3 years ago so feels good to have finally crossed it off my must-read list. I had started watching the new miniseries of this Australian classic but at the halfway point stopped while I read the book. It's a quick read and compelling and now I can go back to the miniseries and acknowledge the differences between script and the original.
I alternated between a kindle version on my phone and the illustrated hardback edition.
A group of schoolgirls and their governesses go for a picnic at local landmark, Hanging Rock, on Valentines Day in 1900 in rural NSW. Four girls wander off followed by a governess and only one returns.

The Last Watchman of Old Cairo by Michael David Lukas (2017)
historical fiction

I loved this. Basically a fiction version of Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza which I still haven't read. The book tells three interlinking stories from different points in time all involving the Ibn Ezra Synagogue & its genizah in Cairo. Fascinating blend of fact and fiction with many contemporary issues included as well. A very compelling read.
This won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature (2019) & the 2018 National Jewish Book Award.

Father and I: a memoir by Carlo Gébler (2001)
memoir

I read Gébler's children's book, Caught on a train, years ago and loved it, my son read his The Bull Raid, a retelling of the story of the Táin. So was interested in what sort of childhood he had growing up with two writers as parents. This book focuses on his father, Ernest Gébler, and less on his mother, Edna O'Brien. His father sounds fairly awful, he tried to take credit for O'Brien's first two books which launched her career and then when the marriage broke up made life extremely difficult for his two sons. They mainly lived in London, only going back to Ireland in adulthood.
I ordered Gébler's Confessions of a Catastrophist which sounds more like a literary memoir.

The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler by John Hendrix (2018)
GN - biography

Tells the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of many Germans who did not support Hitler. He was involved in the groups that plotted to assassinate Hitler and paid with his life. He could have sat out the war in the USA, but went back to confront the Nazi threat as best he could. He was a pastor and had strong convictions. This was hard to get into as the text is in large hand-lettered blocks. The illustrations are superb. A good read once I buckled down.

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The Light Beyond the Forest by Rosemary Sutcliff (1979)
children

Legends of King Arthur #2/3. This covers the story of the quest for Holy Grail by King Arthur's knights. Simplified for young readers this is still riveting reading.

The Road to Camlann by Rosemary Sutcliff (1980)
children

Legends of King Arthur #3/3. Tells of the last days of Camelot and how Arthur's son, Mordred manages to turn knight against knight to the ultimate defeat of Arthur's kingdom. Sad but legendary reading.

A Long Night in Paris by Dov Alfon (2019 Eng) (2016 Hebrew)
crime

A great espionage read pitting Israeli intelligence operatives & French police against Chinese agents in Paris. The action all takes place over a long day and night. It all kicks off when a young Israeli man is kidnapped in front of his work friends after arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport for a High Tech fair. Alfron worked in the Israel army unit he writes about so it feels authentic.

The Lais of Marie de France by Marie de France (1160) (Dutton 1978 edition)
fiction

I really loved reading these twelve tales and find it hard to choose a favourite. Translated by academics, Robert Hanning & Joan Ferrantte, each story is followed by commentary. there is also a foreward by John Fowles. The translation keeps the stories in poem form and they read brilliantly, I wouldn't want to read the Penguin classics translations now that I've read and enjoyed these.

New Kid by Jerry Craft (2019)
GN
Children's graphic novel that focuses on diversity and fitting in to a new school. Craft avoids becoming didactic even when he bring obvious issues of patronisation into play. I enjoyed this one. Jordan's parents insist he attends a poncey private school and although he finds it hard to settle in he manages to make some good friendships through the year.

You've been busy updating your thread and I've been busy taking book bullets!

I am also a fan of George Eliot, in fact I am reading Adam Bede right now and it's a good one. I will definitely be reading Daniel Deronda at some point in the future.

My sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier (2016)
YA

An ANZAC read. In the author notes, Larbalestier mentions that the book was inspired by a 1950s classic, The Bad Seed by William March. Che, a 17 year old, is convinced his little sister, Rosa, is a psychopath. Indeed she seems to be and extremely clever about it, from the first page there is a sense of impending doom. The family have just relocated to New York as the "parental units" are setting up a new business.
I didn't love this, felt that the writer threw too much of her research into the book, and it felt a little too implausible. Still an entertaining creepy read.
I have a couple more of her books to read - Razorhurst and How to ditch your fairy.

Ok, more graphic novels.


As the crow flies by Melanie Gillman (2017)
GN

I presume this one is aimed at younger teens. Anyway I found it an awkward read. A black teen girl is bundled off by her parents to partake in an annual Christian camp hike where everyone else appears to be white. She's possibly overly sensitive and yet the leaders and some other girls do seem blind to her discomfort.The hike memorializes some feminist women pioneers who once lived in the now abandoned settlement that makes up the camp headquarters that they set out from. The story ends somewhat abruptly, so should eventually be continued in a second volume. The main character, Charlie (Charlotte) is queer, we know this by reading the back cover rather than any strong indication in the text. The illustration style is pastel with some lovely quiet panels showing the natural world the girls hike through.
This was originally a web comic so best I direct anyone interested to there: http://www.melaniegillman.com/
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Hey, kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (2018)
GN

A memoir that is quietly creeps up on you and stirs your heartstrings. Krosoczka is known for a TED talk he did, though I hadn't heard about it. Anyway his mother was a heroin addict and did a lot of jail time when he was young, so his grandfather sought custody and he was brought up by his grandparents.

HHhH by Laurent Binet (2013 Eng) (2010 French)
historical fiction

Winner of Prix Goncourt 2010 and a nominee of several other awards, Binet's novel is an unforgettable telling of the assassination of Heydrich, the 'Butcher of Prague.' HHhH: "Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich", or "Himmler's brain is called Heydrich."
The book traverses the rise of Hitler and his henchmen, with multiple injections of authorial comment that adds a lighter tone at times to the hideous factual content on Nazi actions. This is never going to be a pleasant read, but is a necessary one and being a fictional account by no means lessens the barbaric killing spree that the Nazis undertook under the leadership of Hitler and his upper echelon of officers.

Looking forward to reading his The Seventh Function of Language.

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak (2018)
fiction

Well, The Book Thief came out in 2005 and then we all heard that Zusak was working on his next novel and the title has been around a good ten years or so. I shelved my intention to read it back in February, 2011.
Zusak says he just had to take the time for this one as it was so close to his heart.

This is a novel about the Dunbar family, 5 boys and their parents. Clay is the fourth born son, and most of the novel is about him, narrated by the oldest brother. The start is quite disjointed and I will be reading the prologue again as I now can understand it a little better. The book is organised by alternate chapters following different timelines, one more in the present and the other tells the back story of the parent's and then the boys' early lives.

Last month I went to hear Zusak talk about his book, a really rewarding session as he is quite a sensitive guy and his talking about the book made me very keen to finally read it, I'd got stuck in the beginning, finding those disjointed early chapters hard to get through while I was in a reading funk.
Unfortunately an audience question right near the end of the session was a spoiler, though Zusak to his credit tried to play it down. So I read the book knowing something that I'd rather not have known.

This is beautifully written, very Australian, it's set in Sydney in the 1970s, so there's a nostalgia for an earlier era, for buildings and lifestyles no longer around. Can't wait to see his next novel, he's promised to not make us wait so long.

78) Brothers like friends by Klaus Kordon (1978 German) (1992 English)
children's fiction

Set in 1950 Berlin, this autobiographical novel is quite sad. Half-brothers, seven year old Frank and 14 yr old Burkie are united in their dislike for their new stepfather. Their mother quickly realises the marriage is a mistake but has no way to back out. When Burkie is injured in a soccer match he tells Frank not to tell his mother how painful it is, a fatal mistake that leaves Frank with an immense feeling of guilt.
I've had this book on my tbr pile for several years.

Call me Evie by JP Pomare (2019)
crime
A debut psychological thriller by Joshua Pomare, a New Zealander based in Melbourne. This has had lots of hype and just about lives up to it. My problem with these types of reads where all the characters are unlikeable is that the main character has to hold your interest and in this one, not really.
17 year old Kate/Evie is a hostage in rural NZ beach township, Maketu. She's being held there against her will, having been taken from Melbourne, Australia after an incident that she doesn't remember clearly. The book alternates between 'before' and 'after', and comes with a few good twists. Overall a good rather than great read, and I'd like to try whatever Pomare writes next. His descriptions of Maketu and its residents are done well.

When i arrived at the castle by Emily Carroll (2019)
graphic novel
I was looking forward to this as I loved her Through the woods. This wasn't as interesting, was much shorter and had more horror and less story for me. Some of the artwork such as the doublepage spread below was inspired, the two protagonists were mysterious but I just didn't 'get' any of it.

Saffron from the Souks: Vibrant recipes from the heart of Lebanon by John Gregory-Smith (2019)
cookbook

Gregory-Smith travelled all over Lebanon and also worked for a while in a Beirut restaurant. He has put together an interesting collection of recipes here. It's sometimes preferable to get a Westerner's take on an ethnic cuisine, in that the recipes are adapted and tested with ingredients that are generally more available at home. Kricket: An Indian-inspired cookbook is another like this. The photography is ok, each section showcases a view from Lebanon's rural interior.
I picked out a few recipes to try - Coriander, Garlic and Chilli Potato wedges - I already do very similar wedges, but this uses allspice, garlic, chilli and fresh coriander, I usually go for paprika, black pepper, garlic & parsley.
Druze Saffron Mansaf - lamb simmered in yoghurt & more - looks tasty
Rock Star roasted cauliflower - I already have a number of similar recipes to try, but this one is worth a look.

Gregory-Smith has lots of recipes on his website and here is the recipe for his Rosewater & Pistachicio Cheesecake from the book.

The Polish Detective by Hania Allen (2018)
crime
Dania Gorska #1. Promising first in a series. Set in Dundee, Scotland where Dania has transferred to from London after the break up of her marriage. Her twin brother Marek, a journalist, is based there. Dania could have been a talented concert pianist but she is a rising DS in the police force. This plot is about a series of murders that are linked to a local neo-Druid movement.
Like her detective, the author is the daughter of Polish refugees and so Dania's Polish roots become part of the storyline, introducing the local history of the Poles living in Dundee during WWII. The story is set around the Brexit referendum and the future prospects of East Europeans living in the UK, Scotland especially.
Book 2 came out a few months ago and I'll be giving that a go sometime soon.

Bethlehem: beautiful resistance recipes by Dr Abdelfatteh Abusrour & Manal Odeh (2017)
cookbook

From the title it can be seen that this book wants to be a little political. Abusrour founded an arts cultural centre in the Aida refugee camp and proceeds from the book go to the centre. His timeline of Bethlehem's history starts only in 636 AD with the Battle of Yarmouk.
There are some editing problems - a couple of pages use a much smaller font in order to squeeze in two rather than one recipe perhaps. A photo of spiced flatbread opposite a recipe for rolls. No captions on the photos which is unhelpful especially when there is a collage of photos of different local herbs.
The recipes are local and many from all over the Levant which shows the influence of the Ottoman rule and also the migration of Arab population into the region during the British Mandate for work opportunities. I liked that they explained the local cheeses as my local Middle Eastern grocery has most of them and now I know which one to use in knafeh. There's a hardened yoghurt cheese from Jordan, Jameed, that is used in mansaf, Jordan's national dish.
Unfortunately the recipe for falafel uses cooked chickpeas, I've never come across a recipe like that before. I know that making falafel from cooked chickpeas is near impossible because when I first tried making my own falafel many years ago, I misread the recipe, cooked the chickpeas after soaking and ended up with an oily crumbled mess. I searched online and every recipe I came across uses soaked chickpeas for falafel.

One aspect I like in cookbooks and is used in this one is that the recipes use the Arabic name and also a general descriptive name in English as well, so you can look online for similar recipes.
I managed to find several that I might try making -
Sumac Chicken Onion Flatbread (Musakhan) - https://www.thedeliciouscrescent.com/sumac-caramelized-onion-mini-musakhan/
Shish Barak - https://food52.com/recipes/66975-shish-barak-lebanese-lamb-dumplings-in-yogurt-s...
Lebanese zucchini fritters (ejjeh koussa) - https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/lebanese-zucchini-fritters-ejjeh-koussa
Helba (Semolina + Fenugreek Cake - http://www.katherinemartinelli.com/blog/2013/helba-semolina-fenugreek-cake-and-a...
Kufta Kebab - https://www.myjewishlearning.com/recipe/kufta-kebab/

I asked my library to purchase this cookbook and so at least the cultural centre will end up with a small donation. One of the links above is to Katherine Martinelli's website, she went to a cooking workshop with the Noor Women Empowerment Group in Aida camp. They offer workshops to support families who have children with disabilities. https://noorweg.wordpress.com/support-us/the-project/

From the Bethlehem cookbook, I looked for a similar recipe for lentil soup and found this one by Sami Tamimi from Ottolinghi on instagram, I added a dob of creamy labneh to each bowl -
sami_tamimi

Shorbat Adas (Split lentil soup) شوربة عدس. It's so easy to make, delicious and nutritious and it always reminds me of home in Jerusalem. Fry one chopped onion in 2 tbls of olive oil until translucent, add one cup of split red lentils, 6-8 cups of chicken/veg stock or water. Add 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon and 1/2 tsp ground black pepper. Bring to a boil and cook on a low heat for 20-25 minutes or until the lentils are soft and mushy. Season with salt to taste. Garnish with fried onion or shallots, chilli flakes and chopped coriander or parsley. I like to serve the soup with radish, spring onion, beard and lemon on the side.

Death of a nightingale by Lene Kaaberbøl & Agnete Friis (2013 Eng) (2011 Danish)
crime

Nina Borg Series #3 of 4. Decided to finish this series this year. Now only one to go. Nina is a Red Cross nurse at a crisis center in Copenhagen. The plot surrounds two stories which blend towards the end. In one there is a Ukranian woman escaped from prison and trying to get her daughter from the crisis centre, in the other a story from 1930s Ukraine about two young sisters. Not as compelling as it could have been, the first two books were excellent.

I read Kaaberbøl's fantasy YA books and loved them before sampling these.

The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall (1959)
children

A quick fantasy read that I took my time over. I was never invested in the story and only read it because it was a Newbery honor book. The Minnipins are a people who have forgotten their own history, but the past hasn't forgotten about them. There's a sequel, The Whisper of Glocken.

Toffee by Sarah Crossan (2019)
YA

Another verse novel from Crossan. This didn't tug my heartstrings as much as her previous books. It's a good story for all that, a runaway teen finds sanctuary in the home of an elderly woman, Marla, who suffers from dementia. Marla thinks that Allison is a friend from the long ago past called Toffee.
I'm reading through Crossan's older books and have requested her Apple and Rain from the library.

Lands of the curry leaf: a vegetarian journey from Sri Lanka to Nepal by Peter Kuruvita (2018)
cookbook

If I didn't already own so many cookbooks, this one would be top of my list to buy. It's jam packed with simple delicious recipes, too many to mention but a few. There's lots of information on the various Asian ingredients and talk of his travels and restaurants he visits. Kuruvita was born in London to a Sri Lankan father and Austrian mother. In 1968 when he was 4 years old the family bought a van and journeyed overland from Engand to Sri Lanka. His mother kept a diary of the trip about all the hospitality and food they experienced along the way, a diary that Kuruvita treasures. He now has a restaurant in Noosa Heads in Queensland, Australia and is also a travelling chef tv personality.
The cookbook showcases vegetarian dishes from Sri Lanka, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. There's at least 20 recipes I'd love to try making, but have to give the book back to the library and join the queue for it again.

I did make Boolawnee, Afghani leek pastries, a simple filling with mild seasoning and very tasty. This was from the street food chapter. There's a recipe for Boolawnee here, the difference being that Kuruvita's recipe calls for the oil to be infused with garlic, a quick easy process.

I want to try his Spinach Rice and also the Bhutanese red rice, goji berry & hazelnut salad.

Planetfall by Emma Newman (2015)
scifi

This was very good and I'm glad I waited so long to read it as there are now three more books in the series already waiting for me to grab. The story has an unreliable narrator in Ren, who was in the first exploratory team to make Planetfall twenty odd years earlier. They came here at the direction of their spiritual leader, Suh-Mi, who vowed that this planet held the answers they were seeking. They established their now thriving colony beside God's City, but there are secrets held by very few of the inhabitants, Ren is one of them.

Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds (2018)
scifi

Prefect Dreyfus #2. Set earlier in time but also in the world of Revelation Space. Dreyfus is a Prefect for Panolpy, a police investigation force responsible for the Glitter Band - 'the realm of thousands of orbital habitats surrounding the planet Yellowstone in the Epsilon Eridani system, and the height of human civilization at the time' in the 25th century. In this book Dreyfus is investigating a string of strange deaths occurring across the Glitter Band. Entertaining scifi with lots of interesting technology and ideas including the character Prefect Sparver, a hyperpig.

The Beggar King and the secret of happiness by Joel ben Izzy (2003)
memoir

I loved reading this. Izzy is a professional storyteller and just as he's at his happiest, settled in a comfortable home, family, wife and two young children he finds out that he has cancer in his throat. An operation removes not only the cancer but also his ability to speak.
The book is more than that short part of Izzy's life and he prefaces each chapter with a short folktale from around the world. The prologue and epilogue tell the story of Solomon, the Beggar King, a story well worth seeking out. As Izzy is Jewish several stories or jokes he tells within the chapters are about the people of Chelm.
At the end of the book is an 'about the stories' showing where Izzy first came across the tales and where they are most commonly found. Not every story can be found in a book, some were just told to him on his travels.

His website: https://www.storypage.com/

Reunion by Fred Uhlman (1971)
novella

I read the 2016 edition by Vintage Classics which comes with an afterword by Rachel Seiffert. A great read about a friendship between two friendless youths - one a Jew and the other a German aristocrat. One where you can't help who your parents are, the friendship is brief but intense, but soon Hans must leave for America, a safe haven away from the rise of Hitler.

The Bears' House by Marilyn Sachs (1971)
children

I almost let this go back to the library without reading it, but picked it up last night. This story plucks the heartstrings. Sach's says in her author notes that when she was a child her mother was hospitalised for 12 months and someone gave her a dolls' house and that helped her immensely. She wanted to write a story about her experience and finally came up with her story of Fran Ellen and the Bears' house.
Fran Ellen and her brother and sisters are hiding a secret - their father has left and mother is suffering post natal depression since the birth of baby Flora. They are trying to manage on their own, living on canned food & cereals and dividing the chores. At school Fran Ellen is picked on for being smelly, sucking her thumb, and her erratic behaviour but there is also her teacher's Bears' House and she loves imagining a happy life with Goldilocks and the three bears when she spends time with it.

100 great children's picture books by Martin Salisbury (2015)
nonfiction

I didn't read this cover to cover, just leafed through and read about the artists that caught my eye. The picture books are from around the world and also across the years - a very fine sampling of illustrators.
Salisbury is Professor of Illustration at Cambridge School of Art in Anglia Ruskin University.

From the book description - 'This unashamed visual feast celebrates the best designed and illustrated picturebooks from around the world over the past one hundred years. Each book is a creation of genius and inventiveness, and their design and illustration represent such diverse trends as the Russian Constructivists, Italian Futurists, and Postwar Neo-romantics. They are also mirrors of their times reflecting social concerns from a child's and family's perspectives throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century.'

A good overview here: http://www.playingbythebook.net/2015/04/13/100-great-childrens-picture-books-by-...

Estranged by Ethan M. Aldridge (2018)
graphic novel

I liked this far more than I thought I would. Set in the world of faerie and involving a changeling, his human Childe down in faerie land, their human sister and a wax golem named Whick. The sequel is due out in October.
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Scrublands by Chris Hammer (2018)
crime

A really entertaining read set in the Australian outback. Lots of twists and turns, you don't know who is hiding the truth and why until right to the end.
A journalist is sent to an isolated rural town, his job is to write a human interest story for one of the big Australian papers on the residents twelve months on from the horrific incident when the local priest gunned down five people just before the start of a Sunday service. What Martyn finds is that the accepted story behind the shooting is not the real story and finding out the truth is a chaotic and dangerous game.

Good Boy by Mal Peet (2019)
YA

This is for reluctant YA readers, in that it is an illustrated short story with limited vocabulary. For all that it is a fine read, atmospheric and tense.
A girl is plagued by dreams of being stalked by a large black dog, very realistic and she constantly wakes screaming. The mother gets a puppy for her and Robbie sleeps under her bed and keeps the nightmares at bay. Eventually the girl grows up becomes a policewoman, Robbie dies and immediately the dreams come back. The climax is really gripping.

The Opawa Affair by Edward Bohan (1996)
crime

Inspector O'Rorke series #1. Set in Christchurch during the 1879 elections. O'Rourke investigates a possible murder of a maid amidst the election campaign and the arrival of a small opera company that is performing on a nightly basis. Interesting reading if not riveting and I'll continue with the series of six books.
Bohan is known for his historical biographies and also had a long career as an opera singer.

The cat who came in off the roof by Annie M. Schmidt (1970 Dutch) (2015 English)
children

A delightful read about a cat that has been turned into a young woman. She helps Mr Tibbles, a timid news reporter, write his more newsworthy articles as she's able to tap into the town's cat network for gossip. Miss Minou still retains much of her feline tendencies, so is especially fond of fish, purrs when happy and likes nothing more than to curl up in a cardboard box to sleep. Everything to love in a great cat friendly book here.

I read the recent Pushkin edition but I think this has been translated to English back in the 1990s. Definitely will look for more of her books.

The Dumpling Sisters' Cookbook: Over 100 Favourite Recipes From A Chinese Family Kitchen by Amy and Julie Zhang (2015)
cookbook

I've seen this cookbook around for a long while and assumed it was a dumpling cookbook but these sisters are bloggers, youtubers and this is about cooking their Chinese food. The Zhang sisters are from Christchurch, New Zealand and are now based in London following academic study at Cambridge & Oxford universities (one has a chemistry PhD the other a Masters in criminology & psychology). They grew up helping in their family food kiosk at a local weekend food market and once together again in London decided to blog cooking their favourite recipes.
The recipes are mostly Chinese staples, but explained well and with interesting short intros to each recipe. There's an ingredient list at the back of the book which lists the name in English, Chinese and Chinese phonetic name - very handy when you are in a Chinese grocery to have access to all three of these as some labels aren't too helpful. The ingredients are also photographed so you know what type of packaging to look for. A really good cookbook for beginners to chinese cooking.

Lots of interesting recipes - I made their Black Bean and Chilli Beef and enjoyed it. It was done a little differently, the meat is marinated then grilled rather than cooked in a wok. I also made their Sesame Prawn Toasts from a recipe & video tutorial I found on the internet, I didn't try this but husband lined up for more both times I made them.
http://dumplingsisters.com/recipes/sesame-prawn-toast
Their dumpling tutorial - The Dumpling Sisters - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWkvFssMz24

I'll definitely be using their website and I love their videos, they are very efficient in covering details but also allow themselves a large dose of smiles and humour.

Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds (2019)
scifi, novella

A short novel from Reynolds that explores the concept of time travel. It's 2058 and up in the Russian northern expanse of ice and snow is Permafrost, a facility to develop time travel. The world has collapsed and gone to ruin, an attempt has to be made to take seeds from a facility in 2028, and stash them in a safe place so they can be found in the present. Myriad obstacles present themselves. The time travelllers must take over host bodies rather than physically travel to the past.

Enjoyable though takes some time to set the scene. The last third of the book is all action.

Thin slices of anxiety: Observations and Advice to Ease a Worried Mind by Catherine Lepage (2016)
illustrated nonfiction

I thought this was a graphic novel but it is more a book where the artwork tries to portray emotion.
Reasonable for what it is but I'm not sure who the target audience would be.
Quote from Brainpickings: 'Laced with the meta-stressors familiar to anyone afflicted with anxiety — shame for being gripped by anxiety in the first place, self-blame for putting oneself in situations known to trigger it, exasperation upon realizing that its predictable trajectory of anguish is underway yet being unable to stop it — the book radiates a wistful yet warm assurance that these overwhelming emotional states, as all-consuming and singular as they seem, mark our membership in a larger fellowship of tribulation in which we are never as alone as we may feel.'

Tel Aviv: food, people, stories: a culinary journey with NENI by Haya Molcho (2018)
cookbook

This is more than a cookbook, it is also a journey to meet several of Tel Aviv's culinary heroes, both from the most popular restaurants to ethnic bakeries to street food vendors. The writers are from the Molcho family, a Vienna based Israeli family who run a bunch of restaurants. The mother and four sons came to Tel Aviv for two weeks to make this book project.
It is interesting to read the stories of some of the chefs, lots of human interest, the photographs are mainly of people and food dishes, much less of the interiors of the food places or of the street scenes. In some ways I think the book is suited for someone who wants to know where to eat on a trip to Tel Aviv.
There are many recipes through the book, some are by the people interviewed and some by the authors themselves. I'd felt they didn't explain the inclusion of many of the dishes, just needed some more details to tie everything together a little better.
I've eaten at HaKosem, the popular falafel restaurant they include and also been to similar places in the neighbourhoods they profile. I'll probably mention a couple to my daughter who will be there in September for a few days. Some of the recipes look interesting, I like comparing ethnic recipes and will be trying their green shakshuka as I still haven't found a recipe that I like.

Three recipes from the book here - https://glamadelaide.com.au/cookbook-extract-tel-aviv-food-people-stories-by-hay...

An article about the Molcha family - https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/249229/waltzing-with-hummus

'Founder of go-to restaurant NENI in Vienna, Haya penned Tel Aviv after spending two weeks living in the rhythm of the city with her sons – Nuriel, Elior, Nadiv and Ilan, after whom her restaurant is named. The NENI chain has now spread its wings to Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Zurich, Amsterdam, Mallorca and Paris, as well as a cooking school and product lines.'

Survivors of the Holocaust by Zane Whittingham and Ryan Jones (2016)
children, graphic novel

This tells the stories of six children caught up in the Holocaust, the stories are sad but delivered in an acceptable language for younger readers. The illustration style is quite stunning and based on wartime propaganda posters of the time. All the children seemed to have ended up in Britain, though only one came on the kindertransport.
There is a glossary, timeline and list of websites at the back of the book. Would be a great addition to a school library.

'Our novel tells six remarkable stories of survival and courage from eyewitnesses of Nazi atrocities during World War Two, told in the authentic words of genuine Holocaust Survivors.

Ruth – Escape from East Germany thanks to brave and resilient parents.

Martin – Poland, the Kindertransport and the Coventry Blitz.

Trude – Occupied Bratislava, evacuation to Britain and the search for her parents.

Heinz – The Nuremberg Laws, Kristallnacht and internment in the UK as an Enemy Alien.

Arek – Squalour and survival at Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp.

Suzanne – Isolation, loneliness and neglect as a hidden child in occupied France.

The book is based on original artwork from the Children of the Holocaust animations by Fettle Director Zane Whittingham, and the individual frames of the animation were styled into comic book format by Fettle Animator Ryan Jones with the help of Hachette designer Peter Scoulding.'
The trailer for the animations is here: https://vimeo.com/89223502

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A Love for the Ages by Daniel Pennac (2015 French) (2017 Eng)
graphic novel

Fun, enjoyable read. The illustrations are by Florence Cestac who gives all her characters big noses. Both Pennac and Cestac are in the book as Pennac tells her the story over lunch, pitching for her to illustrate the book, other customers and the waiter are all drawn in to the story.
An elderly couple, Jean and Germaine Bozignac, live in the small village of Colle sur Loup where Daniel Pennac and his brother holidayed when they were children. Pennac loved spending time with the couple and hearing the stories about their marriage. Jean was disowned by his aristocratic family when he chose Germaine over an arranged marriage with an heiress. Germaine's family were not that happy that Jean brought no skills or money to the marriage, they were dealers in junk and other less salubrious pastimes. Jean had inherited his uncle's book collection, some were sort after first editions and with clever trades he was able to provide a house for his wife.
The illustrations are comic but with great colour and the lettering makes it an easy read on an iPad.




Just noting here that I decided not to read the Valerian comic book as I found after a page or so that the illustration style was not for me. I might pick it up another time.

Cassandra Darke by Posy Simmonds (2018)
graphic novel

I really liked this. Saw it mentioned on twitter and was able to download it to my ipad from the library so started reading it straightaway. Cassandra is basically an unlikeable character that you come to admire or at least feel a little compassion for towards the end. She's modeled on the character of Scrooge from Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
Anyway Cassandra is an art dealer, successful but with not many/any friends. Her husband ran off with her stepsister 35 years earlier and since then she's lived on her own, apart from the housekeeper, the cleaner, the gardener. The story revolves around two Christmases, a year apart, a year that sees her fortunes change.

The artwork is very good, and page layouts alternate between standard GN and some with block text.

Slow Horses by Mick Herron (2010)
crime

Jackson Lamb #1. Got off to a slow start but I ended up really enjoying this and will continue reading the series.
Slow Horses is a label given to those who work at Slough House, a place where MI5 employees who've stuffed up in some way in the past are parked. A place where they can be utilised on mundane activities. Several slow horses feel they've been wrongly assigned this deadend posting, others have rightfully earned it. Their boss, Jackson Lamb knows how to play the game.

The Zelmenyaners: a family saga by Moyshe Kulbak (Yiddish 1931/1935) (English 2013)
fiction

This was one of the only novels I could find about Jewish life in Minsk. The only other novel I've come across is the psychological thriller,The forest of souls by Carla Banks which is partly set in WW2 Belarus. I believe The Zelmenyaners was initially published in episodic form and then collected into two volumes. It tells the story of the extended Zelmenyaner family who occupy various buildings in a yard in Minsk and how they respond to the 1920s implementation of the Soviet collectivist regime to their traditionally Jewish shetl. Humorous and heartbreaking, absurd and enriching.

From http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Kulbak_Moyshe -
'Despite the dramatic changes in all aspects of Kulbak’s work during his Soviet period, he continued to create antiheroes, and maintained the ability to weave a faint note of humor and irony into his works. Thanks to these virtues, Zelmenyaner is one of the most significant achievements in Soviet Yiddish prose. The narrator concentrates on two generations of an extended Jewish family in Minsk, who face the profound changes brought on by the Soviet regime and its lifestyle. Taking into consideration the accepted conventions of Soviet literary policies, one would expect a sharp divide between the “negative” types of the older generation and the “positive” ones among the young, but thanks to his sense of humor the narrator creates an intricate portrait that leaves no room for simple revolutionary optimism. When publishing the second volume in 1935, Kulbak was obligated to keep in mind the requirements of Soviet criticism, but even then he was able to protect his work from too much one-sidedness.'

My husband's grandmother came from a Jewish family in Minsk, though by 1920 they had mostly dispersed to the USA and British Mandate Palestine.

Arctic Zoo by Robert Muchamore (2019)
YA

I'm a huge fan of Muchamore's CHERUB series and this new standalone novel sounded intriguing. A few years ago, just when he was becoming an extremely successful writer, Muchamore ended up in a Mental Health Unit after trying to take his own life. He has discussed his bouts of depression in interviews. Anyway he wanted to write a book about teenagers in this setting.
I think he wrote an exciting book that possibly doesn't quite hit the mental health mark but YA fans will still very much enjoy. The narrative follows two teens in completely different stories, who meet briefly in a residential home.
Georgia's story is fairly outlandish, but exciting as only Muchamore can write. Her father is a drone expert and she's a highly skilled drone pilot, winning competitive races for years, though she's outgrown this interest. She gets involved in social activism after the death of her sister.
Julius is part of a political family in Nigeria, his uncle is state governor but it's his mother who is the power behind the position. His life is one of privilege but he starts to understand the corruption that has built his family's fortune.
The story is contemporary with the social activism aspects and the two characters are very sympathetic.

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden (2016)
graphic novel

This was a chunky GN, the story was first published as a web comic. I was quite drawn in to the world that Walden created. Set in some future universe, the story revolves around Mia who falls for Grace at school. Grace's past is a little mysterious, she doesn't talk about it. The story is split between Mia's time at boarding school and her first job working as crew on a small spaceship where they go around clearing sites for new construction. I don't think I saw a single male person on any page.
The artwork is delightful, though I had trouble at times to tell some of the characters apart.

_

Angel by Elizabeth Taylor (1957)
fiction

I really enjoyed this even though the main character, Angel, is quite toxic. It's pre-WW1 and a London publisher receives a manuscript unlike any he's come across before, it will be a bestseller, he can sense that but there needs to be some editing, there's a market for this new and racy type of romance. To his surprise, 15 year old Angel turns up on her own for the first meeting, she refuses to do any editing, the book either comes out as is or not at all. So begins the writing career of Angel Deverill, working class girl, who imagines the lives of lords and ladies, gets it all wrong but sells a heap of books anyway.

A great batch of books, Kerry. I have My Sister Rosa and Scrublands in my TBR and I am adding HhhH as well.

I was there by Hans Peter Richter (1987)
YA
This is a companion novel to Friedrich which I still haven't read. In this one the narrator and his friends Gunther and Heinz join Hitler Youth in the 1930s. The narrative is sort of episodic, covering the boys' advancement through Hitler Youth to the military and active service. A compelling read.

Since reading this I've seen the Jojo and the Rabbit film by Taika Waiti which also focuses around Hitler Youth - I didn't realise that this film was based on a book, Caging Skies by Christine Leunens until seeing the starting credits at the cinema. I was entertained by the film rather than offended, and not sure how close to the book or followup play the film script is.

A pond full of ink by Annie Schmidt (1978 Dutch) (2011 Eng)
children's poetry

This 2014 edition has been illustrated by the late Sieb Posthuma using a retro style. The translation was done by Australian David Colmer who has translated many current Dutch writers. I'm always impressed by translations of poems that manage to keep the humor and rhyme of the original. This is a fun collection of poetry that should be in school or library collections.

Belinda Hated Getting Clean...
Belinda Beronda, from somewhere near Flushing,
was not keen on washing and not fond of brushing.
She was an inveterate cleanliness hater,
and always postponed her baths until later.
Her bodily odor grew stronger and stronger,
and her hair and her nails grew longer and longer.
Belinda was filthy, a terrible fright.
She looked like a pig, a horrible sight.
And when her mother finally came home
with soap and shampoo and a brush and a comb,
Belinda just started to yell, howl, and glower,
as if she was going to drawn in the shower.
Her mother - by now at the end of her tether-
gave in and shouted "Stay dirty forever!
But if that's what you want, you just walk out that door,
and I won't be your mother anymore!"
So that filthy little Belinda Beronda
took off up the street and started to wander
the highways and by ways all over the land,
getting grubby and covered with mud, dirt, and sand,
with grimy smudges all over her face.
The more she avoided a bathroom or scrubbery,
the more she began to resemble some shrubbery.
Grass started growing on her shoes and her clothes,
it covered one leg, then slowly rose,
until she was totally, thoroughly hid
and no one could see that she was a kid!
And then the roots grew into the ground,
and fixed her in place like a tree on a mound.
Birds came and build little nests on her sleeves,
and slowly she grew her own branches and leaves.
A nightmare, but true- you can take it from me --
Belinda Beronda turned into a tree.

So now you know, little cleanliness haters
end up as trees....sooner or later.

- Annie M.G. Schmidt

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Topp Country: a culinary journey through New Zealand by Lynda & Jools Topp (2018)
cookbook

From wikipedia: The Topp Twins are the folk singing and activist sister comedy duo of New Zealand entertainers Jools and Lynda Topp. They are known for their country music influenced style, live shows and television performances. They often perform as characters, the most notable being the roles Ken & Ken, and Camp Mother & Camp Leader.

I've never been much of a fan of the Topp Twins, they're from the same rural community as me and that's about where it ends. I don't go for their music or their tv shows but they're an extremely well known festival fixture for years with their singing and comedy sketches.
I picked up their cookbook as it was on display at my library, and looking through it was really impressed. The book is a product of their most recent tv foodie show, Topp Country - 'You get to meet the people, all heartlanders, who made the recipes and hear the stories behind them, too. Food made with love and all in full colour. From free-range pig farmers in the deep rural south to urban taco-trucking hipsters. As they travel around New Zealand they discover a land full of top tucker and great yarns.'
It was a really great read, I found that I read about the people with more interest than most of the recipes. I have no desire to watch the show the book is based on as I can't stand the twins' banter, just not for me.

I might try their mum's gingernut biscuit recipe:

The Topp Twins had to beg their mum Jean to share their nana’s famous Gingernut Biscuit recipe for their new cookbook Topp Country: A Culinary Journey.

Prep time 10 minutes, Cook time 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS
125g butter
½ cup golden syrup
½ cup sugar
1½ cups (200g) flour,sifted 3 times
1 tsp ground ginger, sifted 3 times
½ tsp baking soda, sifted 3 times

METHOD
1 Preheat oven to 150°C.
2 Beat butter, golden syrup and sugar together until smooth and creamy. Add dry ingredients and mix well.
3 Take teaspoonfuls of mixture, roll into rounds and space out on a tray. Press flat with a wet finger.
4 Bake for 20 minutes – be careful not to overcook as they burn easily

The Topp Twins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH8TWT1mkjs

Destination Flavour: people and places by Adam Liaw (2018)
cookbook

Liaw won the 2010 Masterchef Australia competition. Since then he's focused on cookbooks, food writing and hosting a tv travel/food show. This book is based on his tv show and while I found a few interesting recipes, I also found the choice of destinations a bit hodge podge in book form. There are sections on New Zealand, Australia, China, Scandinavia, Japan and Singapore. I would recommend one of his more basic cookbooks over this one, maybe Adam Liaw’s Asian Cookery School. I haven't used any of his books but do like watching him prepare food on youtube.
Liaw's website: http://adamliaw.com/

Among the recipes I bookmarked:
Australia: Roast pumpkin with fennel seed, curry leaf and goats cheese - (mainly because I have these ingredients at home right now)


Ingredients
¼ Japanese pumpkin (kabocha squash)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tsp honey
1 handful curry leaves
sea salt and black pepper
6–8 shallots, peeled, left whole
goat’s cheese and goat’s curd, to serve
Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Remove the seeds from the pumpkin and chop into large chunks or crescents, leaving the skin on.

Mix the olive oil, fennel seeds, vinegar, honey and curry leaves together. Season with salt and pepper. Toss the pumpkin and shallots through the mixture and transfer to a large roasting tray.

Roast for 45 minutes or until the shallots and pumpkin are well caramelised. Remove from the oven, add the goat’s cheese and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.
When the goat’s cheese has melted, transfer to a serving tray and dot with small pieces of goat’s curd.

Take a little bit of the oil and curry leaves from the tray and sprinkle over the top like a dressing

China: Xinjiang-style lamb skewers (I often make lamb souvlaki and this looks like a good alternative)


Ingredients
1.5kg lamb forequarter chops or lamb shoulder

3 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp chilli powder (preferably Korean)

2 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, optional

1 tsp salt

1 tsp soy sauce

½ tsp castor sugar

¼ cup vegetable oil

Method
1. Debone the lamb and cut into 2cm chunks, including any fat. Grind the spices together to a coarse powder, mix through the salt, sugar and vegetable oil. With your hands, rub the paste all over the lamb ribs and refrigerate overnight.

2. Thread the lamb and fat chunks on to skewers (if using bamboo, soak in water first). Grill the skewers, turning frequently, for around five minutes until they are charred and fragrant and serve.

Good-bye Marianne: the graphic novel by Irene N. Watts (2008)
graphic novel

An adaption of the novel Good-bye Marianne: A Story of Growing Up in Nazi Germany which tells the story of Marianne in the week or so before her mother obtains her a place on the kindertransport.
There are three books in this series and my library has them all. The graphic novel is very good for younger readers, the illustrations are in soft pencil by Kathryn Shoemaker.. Marianne meets a boy who is having a short stay in her apartment building, they share a love of Emil and the detectives but she's Jewish and he's about to join the Hitler Youth, their lives are so different.


There's a follow-up graphic novel Seeking Refuge.

105) Rogue by A.J. Betts (2019)
YA scifi

Hive #2. This is the sequel to Hive which I read earlier this year. I enjoyed this dystopian story about Hayley who has grown up in The Vault and this book continues her story. I won't say anymore, well worth reading both books. The first book is set in the ocean near Tasmania.
I loved her debut novel Zac & Mia which won the Text Prize in 2012, it has since been adapted to a US tv series.

Betts was awarded her PhD on the topic of wonder in life and in reading, writing the manuscript for this novel was part of the process - 'Rogue: A Novel - and - Wonderlust: the value of wonder for readers, writers, and The Vault: A critical essay'

The Bomb by Sacha Cotter (2018)
picturebook

The New Zealand Children's Book Awards Book of the Year (2019) winner announced last week ago. The Bomb also won the best picturebook category. It's a very kiwi story, a young boy wants to do a great waterbomb dive into the swimming pool, mostly he fails. He ends up doing a spectacular bomb that earns him cred with his friends and granny.
The illustrations by Josh Morgan are in keeping with the humorous text. There's an excellent article on the creation of Morgan's artwork for the book here - https://www.thesapling.co.nz/single-post/2018/10/29/Picture-Book-Design-the-Unsu...




Puffin the architect by Kimberley Andrews (2018)
picturebook

This book won the Russell Clark Award for illustration. The illustrations are superb, the text a tad dry but ok. A puffin is designing a home for a puffin family and suggests a series of home designs that suit other creatures before designing an ultimate puffin home for, it turns out, his own family.

The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell (2019)
children's fiction

An action packed read from Rundell with plenty of suspense and a great cast of characters. Vita's grandfather has been tricked into losing his property just outside of New York by a corrupt swindler. She's determined to get it back for him. I found this mightily entertaining for all that it's for younger readers.

Where is Rusty? by Sieb Posthuma (2015 English) (2008 Dutch)
picturebook

I got this from the library because I enjoyed Posthuma's illustrations in the Annie Schmidt poetry book. This is a cute story inspired by Posthuma's own dog. Bill Nagelkerke did the translation for NZ's Gecko Press, he's a well known librarian/writer here in NZ.

Too loud a solitude by Bohumil Hrabal (1976)
novella

This was recommended to me a few months ago. I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I should, probably because I spent too long on it. Anyway it's set in Prague and about a guy who has spent 35 years compacting truckloads of books into bales, to send off to either the dump or a paper recycling centre. He's seen whole libraries of valuable books disposed of. He picks out the odd volume till he has about 2 tonnes worth of books balanced above his bed in his small apartment. Lots of literary references etc et

The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo (2012 Spanish) (2018 Eng)
crime
Found this one on Anita's thread and liked the idea of reading a book set around Pamplona. Enjoyed it enough that I'll read the next one in the trilogy. The main character is Inspector Amaia Salazar who must find a serial killer of young teen girls, who appears to be from her home town near Pamplona.


Lying in wait by Liz Nugent (2016)
crime

I really enjoyed her Skin Deep which I read earlier this year. This was another entertaining read. The chapters alternate between Lydia, her son Laurence and Karen, the sister of a young woman who disappeared. I have her Unraveling Oliver home from the library and just want to dive straight in.

Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent (2014)
crime
Dived straight in, again the chapters alternate between various characters that feature in Oliver's life. In the opening chapter Oliver has beaten his wife senseless, the book explains why. It's a journey of unexpected revelations.

A voyage through air by Peter F. Hamilton (2017)
children's fantasy

The Queen of Dreams trilogy #3. So the concluding book in Hamilton's fantasy for children. I'm a huge fan of Hamilton's scifi and found the world building for this children's trilogy to be really interesting. The story is about two young sisters finding out that their parents are royalty from other realms who have raised them in the apparent safety of our magic-less world. Now it's time to go back. This final book sees the two princesses and their companions take a voyage through the air.

I've been working my way through a tapas cookbook, making some of the dishes that we loved when in Spain. Most recipes I also look up online to get an overview before making them.
First up was patatas bravas, I made two sauces and still have to find my ideal recipe for the sauce. One was tomato based and the other, more authentic, just used paprika.
Next was an olive, capers & anchovy tapenade which my husband likes. Then marinated tuna with thyme and pimiento olives which also got the nod from husband. I don't eat anchovies or much seafood so he is my tasting board for these.
I've also made garlic prawns & garlic mushrooms, don't really need a recipe for these as I make both fairly often.
Today I cooked the ham croquettes that I prepared yesterday, having to leave the mix in the fridge overnight. Wow, so creamy and delightful, though have to be careful not to have too many. Later I'll be also making seafood croquettes....and then will be just about done with the book by then.
Another favourite tapa was chorizo with red wine, so I've found a recipe that uses a red wine, honey glaze that I'll be trying out.

The recipe I used for ham croquettes: https://spanishsabores.com/2011/10/12/croquetas-de-jamon-serrano-recipe-ham-croq... I didn't have enough serrano jamon so I added in a chorizo as well.

I'd made the tapanade before and marked some other recipes and then put the book aside and forgot about it. Really enjoying the change after making dumplings and wontons nonstop for a few weeks.



I wouldn't recommend this book over others, I do like the multitude of photos for each recipe though.

>103 DeltaQueen50: Deronda is a big book but worthwhile for all that as you are taken to parts of English society not usually covered. I'm still going on Tom Jones another huge read, but very enjoyable.

>142 DeltaQueen50: All those are great reads. Chris Hammer has a sequel to Scrublands out, it's on the display table at my local bookshop.

112) The Dog Runner by Bren MacDribble (2018)
children's fiction

This recently won the Junior Fiction Award (2019) as part of the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. Last year MacDribble won the same award for How to bee and also won the Young Adult Award (2018) under her pseudonym Cally Black for the scifi In the dark spaces which I loved.

This book was equally enthralling, an eco-dystopian type adventure. The book is set in Australia, in a near future time when all the grasses of the world have failed, leading to a world wide food shortage. Two children set out from the city towards the farm run by the indigenous grandmother of one of them. They must escape the electric bikes and motorcycles of pillaging vigilantes, the children are travelling with a team of dogs and a sled. For the gangs, the dogs are food, the children possibly too. Their parents are also hopefully moving to the same destination. Exciting stuff with lots of interesting details on seeds, crops and climate.

1West of the moon by Margi Preus (2014)
children's fiction

This was a good read. Preus has blended Norwegian folktales into a story of two sisters finding their way to America in the 19th century. Their mother died when the youngest one was born, their father has left them with their aunt while heading off to America to seek his fortune. Meanwhile as Astri grows older the aunt sells her to a smelly old goat herder.
Preus was inspired to write the story after reading her great grandmother's diary of crossing to America. I've enjoyed both books I've read by Preus.

Shepherd by Catherine Jinks (2019)
fiction

Jinks's last couple of books have been for adults rather than for the YA market she previously wrote for. Her protagonist here is young, a 14 year old Suffolk lad who was transported for poaching. He's now a shepherd in rural NSW and one of the men he works with is a vicious killer. Tom has to bring all his poaching skills to the fore in this strange new environment in order to save himself and fellow worker, Rowdy. This is a gritty thriller, set in Australia's colonial past and not one for the faint hearted.

The little ghost who lost her boo! by Elaine Bickell (2019)
picture book

The manuscript for this cute book won the 2018 Joy Cowley Award. The text scans really well when reading aloud, lots of interesting animal sounds that rhyme with 'boo'. The little ghost has lost her boo and comes across a variety of animals and birds who offer to loan her their 'moo', 'coo', 'whoo hoo' etc till her boo is found. There's a bit of reader participation at the end to help get the boo back into the book. Very fun, cute read.
The illustrations are delightful, I haven't seen Raymond McGrath's work before. I visited his website where he's included a project, Little Letters, that he has done for his young daughters. Most lunch times he makes (not sure if this is still ongoing) an illustration for one of them, mails it to one of them. There's about 60 of these on the website from 2015 thru 2017, you can see the folds to fit them into an envelope which makes them even more endearing.
http://theonetrickpony.net/portfolio/little-letters/

Straw into gold by Gary Schmidt (2001)
children

A retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. The story opens 18 years after Rumpelstilskin has run off with the Queen's baby and Tousle who has been raised by Da knows nothing about his true parentage. There are some twists to this tale and it didn't turn out how I first thought it would. There's adventure and magic, love and guilt.

The White Earth by Andrew McGahan (2004)
fiction
One from my ANZAC reading list. Took me an age to read as I kept putting it aside for library books. When William's father dies in a farming accident, his great uncle turns up and takes William and his mother to live with him in a long neglected grand house on Kuran station. He's keen to see if William has a love for the land, if so he'll become heir to the station. At the same time the Australian government is looking to pass a Native Title law, which could draw aboriginal claims to the land. The story travels into the past and also some mystical elements.
Overall I'm satisfied to have read it though the story was fairly bleak at times. The book won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2005, Australia's top book award.

How to Bee by Bren MacDribble (2017)
childrens
This won a sleuth of awards last year both in Australia and New Zealand as MacDribble is an Australian based NZer. Like her other junior book back in post #149 it's a great dystopian read. Peony lives on a fruit farm with her grandfather and younger sister in a world where bees no longer exist and children must do the work of pollinating the blossoms.
MacDribble also writes YA scifi under her pen name, Cally Black.

The Chain by Adrian McKinty (2019)
thriller
I wasn't going to read this until I read an article about the author, 'From Uber driving to huge book deal: Adrian McKinty's life-changing phone call.'
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/08/adrian-mckinty-interview-crime-nov...
This is a racy read from start to finish, beginning with the abduction of a 14 year old girl.
Now I'll be going on to read his Sean Duffy series.

The other end of the line by Andrea Camilleri (2019)
crime
Commissario Montalbano #24. I'd recently watched the tv episodes of this one and the next to be published. The book is always better but I do love the cast in the tv series. Montalbano's station is grappling with the endless arrival of migrants across the Mediterranean and Livia wants him to get a new suit.

Fall, or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson (2019)
scifi

Some of the same characters from Reamde, not that you need to read one before the other, both are quite standalone. I listened to this, about 32 hours worth. It's partly set in the near future and also within a digital world. Billionaire game developer Richard “Dodge” Forthrast dies unexpectedly and his executors discover that his brain has to be scanned ready for upload once technology creates a digital world for the dearly departed. He eventually becomes the pioneer inhabitant of this digital world and is soon joined by others but the digital world is not the paradise that they were expecting. Really interesting, riveting even at times, but I was also ready for it to finish, Stephenson's books are epic reads.

It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood (2019)
YA
This won the 2018 Text Prize for a YA manuscript. I try to read them all, I still have a couple to read from the 10 or 11 years of the award. This was YA romance which I try to avoid but I ended up quite enjoying it for all that. Natalie, an only child, has suffered from brutal acne and has scarred shoulders and her face has undergone multiple treatments to try to lessen the damage. She's just turned 18 and about to find out if she's been accepted into her first choice university and course. Her parents surprise her with the announcement that they are getting a divorce, that the past 12 months has been a farce as they waited for her to finish up high school to make this announcement. On top of that her two best friends, Zach and Lucy, have become a couple so she feels like a third wheel. Will she ever get a boyfriend and live a normal young adult life or will her lack of self confidence continue to ruin her chances.
This was quite a fun read for all the set up and I enjoyed the ending.

The Adventures of Tupaia by Courtney Sina Meredith (2019)
illustrated nonfiction

In prose and verse this book imagines the story of Tahitian navigator, Tupaia, who travels with Captain James Cook in the Endeavour on Cook's first voyage to New Zealand after arriving in Tahiti in 1769. The illustrations are by Mat Tait.
As I mentioned above, New Zealand is celebrating 250 years since James Cook's arrival to New Zealand so there are several new books around this theme. Auckland Museum has an exhibition, 'Voyage to Aotearoa: Tupaia and the Endeavour' that I might to go to next week, though it does look to be more for children than adults. The poster uses a Mat Tait illustration, possibly from the book.

Around the world in 80 novels: A global journey inspired by writers from every continent by Henry Russell (2019)
nonfiction

I skimmed through this and took note of the interesting reads. I'd read a lot of the books already but found many more to look into, was a good mix of classics and recently published:
Vienna Passion by Lilian Faschinger (Austria)
The island by Victoria Hislop (Greece)
Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian (Armenia)
Ali and Nino by Kurban Said (Azerbaijan)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre by Bruno Traven (Mexico)
The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag (Mongolia)
The unforgotten coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Mongolia)
Savushun or A Persian Requiem by Simin Daneshvar (Iran)
One by one in the darkness by Deirdre Madden (Northern Ireland)
Dirty Blonde and Half-Cuban by Lisa Wixon (Cuba)

122) An illustrated treasury of Scottish Castle Legends by Therea Breslin (2019)
children
This collection of stories is part of a series of Scottish stories retold for young children. This one features stories from many of Scotland's stunning castles. Did I say how much I love the covers of these books.
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Monuments by Will Kostakis (2019)
YA

One of my pickups from the Scholastic factory shop - all year they have been selling recent YA for $2 a book. Only problem is the old stock moves slowly and you have to be lucky to get at the small number of new stuff.

This is the first in a new series and sets up the characters for an almighty battle against the rebel gods. During book one several characters inherit god like powers which they'll need in book 2 to do battle.
For 16 year old Connor the adventure begins when he decides to stay hidden in a tower room rather than go to class at his preppy school, he finds a trapdoor that leads him to adventure and pursuit.
The book didn't really grab me, I got lost on some of the time slips, and I'd rather have straight adventure without characters lusting after each other. Lots of twists and turns in this and it should excite less demanding readers.

Pages & Co: Tilly and the lost fairy tales by Anna James (2019)
children

Second installment in Tilly's adventures as a book wanderer. This ends fairly abruptly and you just want to pick up the next book which is still being written. As fairy tales mostly have evolved and have no true author, wandering in them is risky business. Delightful, almost as good as the first book.

Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street: a collection of recipes to share by Felicita Sala (2018)
picture book

Loved this. Every resident at 10 Pomegranate Street is preparing a speciality dish from their culture for a shared meal out in the garden. The recipes are simple but quite yummy and I might try a couple before I take the book back to the library. Celebrates the multicultural society in France without being didactic.
The artwork is quietly subtle. She's illustrated several other books including Ode to an onion: Pablo Neruda & His Muse & She made a monster : how Mary Shelley created Frankenstein that I'll have to look out for.
More on Felicita Sala's art here - http://www.letstalkpicturebooks.com/2018/09/lets-talk-illustrators-83-felicita-s...
Felicita is a self taught illustrator. She graduated in Philosophy from the University of Western Australia. She has worked on several animation projects along with husband Gianluca, but her passion is making picture books. She lives in Rome with Gianluca and their daughter Nina - from her website https://felicitasala.com/

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125) Seconds: a graphic novel by Bryan Lee O'Malley (2014)
graphic novel
The cover is very arresting and so i took it home from the library. The plot is a little hard to follow at times, it involves house spirits, magical mushrooms and an assorted cast of restaurant people. Chef, Katie, gets the chance to relive pivotal moments in her recent life and make changes that should improve her circumstances. Of course this does not happen, her life just begins to spiral downwards. I enjoyed it and loved the artwork.

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Doing family research turns up some gems. Seems like a fairly frivolous court case, my distant relative was the defendant. I had to look up the book - Vivilore : the pathway to mental and physical perfection, the twentieth century book for every woman by Mary Ries Melendy (1904) and a new edition (2019) though can't say I'm tempted.

Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen (2018)
YA
Lodz Ghetto, 1942. Chaim & Gittel are twins and with their parents and another family make an escape. Soon separated from the adults, the four children are first taken by partisans on a journey across Poland. Eventually they are captured and end up in a slave labour camp, making armaments. The story is structured around the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale. Not one I'd recommend over other Holocaust fiction, I feel Yolen has been perhaps a little ambitious with this tale, though I liked the character of Chaim, the narrator.
Adding link to this rather thorough review: https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/mapping-the-bones

127) Shatter City by Scott Westerfeld (2019)
YA

Imposters#2. Set in the world of his Uglies series but about 20-30 or so years later. I liked the fist book and this one is also a good escapist read. I think there are two more books to come.

I was going to read Malorie Blackman's Crossfire next but decided that I just don't need to go back to this series after the eleven years since the previous book came out.

128) Buddha Vol 1: Kapilavastu by Osamu Tezuka (1972)
graphic novel

First of 8 volumes in this series about Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, done manga-style as only Tezuka could do. I enjoyed this first installment though do have to gripe that the women are mostly topless. Anyway the story is richly imagined, lots of interesting characters and quite silly at times. I'll be going for the second volume.

Welcome back. All those cookbooks make me seriously hungry.

129) Mrs Battleship by Tim Tipene (2019)
children

Tim has written the story of his childhood schooldays in simple language, great for reluctant readers, and what a story. He grew up in an abusive home where he was hit regularly by both parents, his father was especially violent towards him. He failed at school, yet some special teachers gave him enough of a spark of hope in himself that he was able to cut the cycle of violence and eventually turn himself into an outstanding member of his community.
He details the numerous learning and social difficulties he had at school, including his first day in class where he didn't know where the toilets were, was too afraid to ask, and so piddled in a corner of the classroom. He describes taking his 'position'; a way of hunching over the desk and wrapping his arms across his books, so teachers couldn't see that he was actually doing nothing, a strategy that worked for all his years at school.
I've met Tim on numerous occasions and he is a very lovely person, dedicating his life to helping children make the most of themselves through his martial arts project Warrior Kids.

Girl: a novel by Edna O'Brien (2019)
fiction

I haven't read anything by O'Brien before and was sold on her writing by the first chapter alone. I don't think the story of the Boko Haram schoolgirl kidnap has been told in a novel before and there was some criticism that this first treatment is by a white women. That said I always think that if the research and heart are in a story it will be told well, and this was the case here.
The part of the book that resonated most was the reception on return for these schoolgirls who managed to escape. They've been ostracised by their families and community, who fear that the terrorists will return and rain down retribution for taking back one of their women. Some of these girls were married and bore children, these babies are unwelcome back in the communities as they share the blood of the murderers. O'Brien in this slim novel manages to convey this story in a respectful way, also drawing attention to the non-judgemental help given by convent nuns.

>180 MissWatson: Thanks. I've been very bad these past couple of years with keeping up on LT. I like listing all my reads here as I often go back and look at my comments on certain books.

Yes, I had a bit of a binge on cookbooks at one stage. The latest one I had home from the library, Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors From My Israeli Kitchen by Adeena Sussman, was quite inspiring, though I have several Israeli cookbooks this one was interesting.

131) Anya and the dragon by Sofiya Pasternack (2019)
children's

First up, I love this cover design. This story is infused with Jewish and Eastern Europe folklore. Anya, her parents and grandparents live on the edge of a tiny village, they are the only Jewish family in the region. Her father has been conscripted to the army and the local magistrate has now imposed a tax they cannot afford, this means they'll lose their home. The Tsar has also forbidden the use of magic and a travelling family of fools has just arrived to rid the village of its dragon.
I enjoyed this story, it finished a little abruptly, but there will be another adventure with Anya and Ivan in a sequel.

Atomcat by Osamu Tezuka (1987)
manga

Picked this up in a library sale a couple of years ago and thought I'd read it now while I have the right-to-left manga reading going from Buddha (see last thread). This is a parody of Astro Boy but with a twist and a fun story to read.

'Osamu Tezuka is famous for continually tinkering with his work, however when he decided to return to one of his most famous manga, Astro Boy (1952-68), he knew there was going to be criticism – but, unsurprisingly, he decided to go ahead and do it anyway. His solution, of course, was to present this new “Astro Boy” series as a parody of the original, even though the original Astro Boy does make several subtle appearances as part of the framing sequences.

Even the title itself, “Atom Cat“, is a good reflection of Tezuka’s sense of humour. As Tezuka wrote in an essay later published in excerpt in the Osamu Tezuka Complete Manga Works edition (MT-309), while pitching the concept to his editor, he explained that it would Astro Boy, but with the body of a cat. His editor burst out laughing and asked if he was planning on calling this new series “Atom”, after the original Japanese title for Astro Boy (1952-68). When Tezuka suggested the title would be “Atom Cat“, the editor, not really understanding, laughed again and said it was quite an unusual title. Tezuka’s reply was “not at all, you can read it as ‘A Tom Cat’. You see? A TOM cat, as in a BOY cat…” (1986, p. 196).

As such, a bullet is often included between the “A” and the “T” and the correct title is arguably “A・Tom Cat“.'

http://tezukainenglish.com/wp/?page_id=134

The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau by Graeme Macrae Burnet (2014)
crime

A great crime read that I don't want to talk too much about as it's best to go into this one without knowing much about it. Definitely will be reading anything that Burnet is involved with. The young waitress in a small local restaurant goes missing and we follow the events through the eyes of regular customer and extremely awkward character, Manfred Baumann.
Again, please do not read reviews or articles about this book before reading.

The History of Tom Jones, a foundling by Henry Fielding (1745)
fiction

One of my main reads of the year and finally done with. I both read and listened to this epic tale of Tom Jones and was highly entertained. Tom's adventures are at times risque but his pure heart shines through, his goodness is an example to us all and his heroine, Sophia has adventures of her own.
For all that it was written in the 18th century I found Fielding a writer well worth making time for.
This was a group read over in the category group and as per my usual tardiness I finished the book about 2-3 months after most of the other readers.
Recommended.

>187 avatiakh: that's how I felt about Tom. A bit of a scoundrel, but with a good heart. At the time, I was in the minority about my take on Tom!

>188 Tess_W: I'm glad that you agree with me on this. Our group this year all seemed to enjoy the book.

Peace by Garry Disher (2019)
crime

This is a followup to Bitter Wash Road, the start of a series featuring Paul Hirschhausen, a demoted young detective who has been put back in uniform and sent out to an isolated rural South Australia posting as the sole cop. His unit had been corrupt and though he was found innocent, he has to earn his dues all over again. So this book is set in the days leading up to Christmas and Disher shows himself the master of crime writing by throwing out numerous strands of story and then slowly and effortlessly tying them together and solving several minor crimes as well as a murder investigation that brings in police from Sydney and Adelaide.
Disher knows his territory well having grown up in a similar rural location in South Australia. He also laces Australia's colonial history into his stories. Paul finds an old book at the local hall and takes it back to the station to read. Each chapter starts with a short excerpt from this woman's memoir of the first days of settlement in the region. He writes literary fiction as well as crime.
There's a recent profile on Disher and his new book here - https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/garry-disher-is-australian-crime-fiction-s-...

The Nancys by R.W.R. McDonald (2019)
crime

The main character is a young girl, but this is definitely an adult novel. Written by a New Zealand transplant to Melbourne, this debut book is set in a small seaside town in South Otago. Like her uncle was, Tippy is a Nancy Drew fan and plunges into solving the murder of her teacher along with her uncle and his partner, calling themselves 'The Nancys'. They are babysitting Tippy while her Mum takes a holiday. Tippy lost her Dad some time earlier and is still grieving.
Her uncle, Pike, and his partner are portrayed as 'very gay' and while this rubs as stereotypical, over the course of the book it settles in and has some purpose. He had taken off from the small town as soon as he was old enough and is now a successful Sydney stylist, while partner, Devon, is a fashion designer. This is a very entertaining read rather than a grim crime novel.

Blue Moon by Lee Child (2019)
crime
Jack Reacher #24. Can't believe I'm still reading and enjoying Reacher but I am. This one was just what you come to expect and enjoy. Reacher arrives in a new destination and decides to help an elderly couple.

Killer T by Robert Muchamore (2018)
YA

This is a racy thriller type read for teens who will lap up the dystopian near future storyline of illegal gene tampering and killer virus terrorism. Not a deep book, but one that will hook the disengaged adolescent reader.

Westwind by Ian Rankin (1991)
thriller

This has just been republished with an introduction by Rankin. It's an early work from when he was experimenting with various genres and just as his Rebus series took off. The book disappeared from shelves quickly and has been hard to find for fans. Rankin reread the book recently, thought the storyline would resonate with recent world politics, so polished up the text and has made his fans happy.

When a satellite goes offline for a couple of minutes and then a space shuttle crashes, Martin begins to notice small discrepancies at his tracking job that could mean something sinister is afoot. A pacy read that's rather fun.

The accident on the A35 by Graeme Macrae Burnet (2017)
crime
This is a follow on from the excellent The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau. After a car accident that kills a prominent citizen of his small town, Chief Inspector Gorski is asked by the alluring widow if he could find out where her husband had been on this fatal night. The socially awkward son also tries to discover. Not as dazzling as the first book but good enough.

I doubt that I'll make 150 books by end of year, I'm doing lots of genealogy work and that takes time. I'm currently researching 19th century New Zealand, have found some fascinating characters on the outer edges of family and finding myself dipping into a myriad of history books.

Currently on the go -
And the land lay still by James Roberston - hoping to complete this by year's end
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott - on audio, need to listen more if I want to finish by year's end
Silver by Chris Hammer - crime novel and followup to Scrublands which I enjoyed, same main character - motoring along with this at expense of other reading
Estranged: the changeling king by Ethan Aldridge - graphic novel #2 - enjoyed the first one
Volkner and Mokomoko : a 150 year quest for justice and reconciliation by Earl Howe - nonfiction

Silver by Chris Hammer (2019)
crime

This follows up on Hammer's Scrublands which I lapped up a couple of months ago. The main character, Martyn Scarsdale is a journalist on the outer after an international career chasing big stories. Here he returns to his home town, Port Silver, and is immediately plunged into crisis mode. I found this just as entertaining as the first book.

Estranged: The Changeling King by Ethan M. Aldridge (2019)
graphic novel

Estranged #2. I'm enjoying this fantasy series about a magic underworld of faerie...a switch that has now been righted but brings a human family into the faerie world.


The Cat from Muzzle : a high-country cat's incredible walk home by Sally Sutton (2019)
NZ picturebook
Lovely tale and easy to read aloud text telling the story of a cat's journey from his new home back to the farm where he knows he belongs. The illustrations by Scott Tulloch are spot on as well. Both my adult daughter and I got a lot of delight reading this one.


Home Child: a child migrant in New Zealand by Dawn McMillan (2019)
picturebook
Fairly dry but informative true story of a child migrant to New Zealand in the 1950s. Their mother has died and solo father can't cope so the four children are shunted off to the Antipodes. They're split up on arrival and live healthy New Zealand lives but never see their father again. Typical story though there are also many much sadder ones around.
The British child migrant story is well worth reading about, many thought their parents were dead, many were abused or exploited by adults in their new homes, and the whole saga simply forgotten about in Britain.
Empty Cradles by Margaret Humphreys is a nonfiction read on the subject.

From wikipedia:
'Home Children was the child migration scheme founded by Annie MacPherson in 1869, under which more than 100,000 children were sent from the United Kingdom to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Later research, beginning in the 1980s, exposed abuse and hardships of the relocated children. Australia apologised in 2009 for its involvement in the scheme. In February 2010 UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a formal apology to the families of children who suffered. Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney stated in 2009 that Canada would not apologise to child migrants, preferring to "recognize that sad period" in other ways.'

2019 Summary -

According to GoodReads I read 41,963 pages over 163 books - this includes picturebooks that I don't count here on LT.
Shortest book was The Female Husband by Henry Fielding
Longest Book was Fall or Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson

Here are some highlights of my 2019 reading year -

Classics -
___
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
Perceval, or, The Story of the Grail and other Arthurian legends

Graphic Novels:
_____-
Berrybrook Middle School trilogy: Awkward, Brave, Crush by Svetlana Chmakova
Hey Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Estranged book 1&2 by Ethan Aldridge
An Iranian Metamorphosis by Mana Neyestani
Cassandra Darke by Posy Simmonds

Fiction
____
Girl by Edna O'Brien
Reunion by Fred Uhlman
HHhH by Laurent Binet
The Goddess of Buttercups and Daisies by Martin Millar
The Last Watchman of Cairo by Michael David Lukas

Crime
_____
Peace by Garry Disher
The Chain by Adrian McGinty
Liz Nugent - read all three of her books
Scrublands and sequel Silver by Chris Hammer

Juvenile:
____
____

Dog Runner & How to Bee by Bren MacDibble
West of the Moon by Margi Preus
The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell
The Cat who came in off the roof by Annie M.G. Schmidt
The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson
The Winter of the Witch (Winternight Trilogy #3) by Katherine Arden
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Orphancorp trilogy by Marlee Jane Ward
The Goose Road by Rowena House

and many more

Please visit my 2020 category thread - https://www.librarything.com/topic/314695