Kerry (avatiakh) loves to read in 2023

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Kerry (avatiakh) loves to read in 2023

1avatiakh
Editado: Abr 12, 2023, 10:45 pm



I'm Kerry from Auckland, New Zealand. I joined LT in 2007 and signed up for the 75 group a year or so later and never looked back. Before I had happily participated in a books group on a local trading site which had been a lot of fun. I love keeping tabs on my reading and joining the book conversations from time to time here. I've been quieter these past couple of years and had a few reading funks but this year my reading seems to be going well.

Currently Reading:

Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds - scifi (audio) - paused as I'm listening to lots of music.
Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius
Limberlost by Robbie Arnott

2avatiakh
Editado: Dic 31, 2022, 4:36 pm



My 2023 Category Challenge:
Still to set this one up

3avatiakh
Editado: Mar 4, 2023, 1:08 am


Goals for 2023

need to think about this, probably a repeat of my unsuccessful 2022 ones

Includes the books I vouched for over on the Club Read 2022's HOPE TO READ SOON: a tribute to Rebeccanyc -
Aira, César. The Seamstress and the Wind
Bergelson, David. The End of Everything
Rufin, Jean-Christophe. The Abyssinian
Rufin, Jean-Christophe. The Siege of Isfahan
The 2023 HOPE TO READ thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/346710

also ongoing is my read of the winners of the UK Carnegie Medal in Children's Literature‎. See post #11

4avatiakh
Editado: Dic 31, 2022, 6:14 pm

_____

Holocaust Literature - Last year Lisa (labfs39) and I started a Holocaust Literature group which anyone is welcome to join -

so many worthy books I've still not read -
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Borowski
Lovely Green Eyes and others by Lustig
Brodeck's Report by Philippe Claudel
Memory by Philippe Grimbert
The Last of the Just by Andre Schwarz-Bart
If not now, when? by Primo Levi

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

5avatiakh
Editado: Abr 4, 2023, 5:52 pm


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

Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte - 2/7

Crime -
Rebus by Ian Rankin - 24/24
Cormoran Strike by Robert Galbraith - 6/6
Pepe Carvalho by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán - 4/23 - reading what I can find
Kramer and Zondi by James McClure - 1/8
Nina Borg by Lene Kaaberbøl - 3/4
Avi Avraham by D.A. Mishani (4/4)

Scifi
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson - 3/4
Arkship trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton - 2/3
Murderbot by Martha Wells 6/6
Poseidon's Children by Alastair Reynolds 0/3

Fantasy
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch 6/9 - need to get back to this one
Thraxas by Martin Scott (Millar) - 8/12
Temeraire by Naomi Novik - 3/9
The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop - 0/3

Children's/YA
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome - 1/12

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

6avatiakh
Editado: Ene 31, 2023, 2:35 pm

Reading for January:
I've signed up for a few January reading challenges across LT, mainly an attempt to get books off my shelves -
TIOLI:
#1: Read a book (F or NF) set in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, or Numazu
The Last Cherry Blossom (Hiroshima) - Kathleen Burkinshaw
#3: Read a book that came into your possession in 2022
The Queen of Summer's Twilight - Charles Vess
The Trivia Man - Deborah O'Brien
The Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo

#7: Read a book where the author uses initials instead of a first and second name
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
Tyger by S.F. Said
#13: Read a book of swashbuckling adventure
The Horseman on the Roof by Jean Giono
Purity of Blood by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

#15: 'I liked that author" - Read a book by an author in 2023 who you also read in 2022
Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner
Treasure and Dirt by Chris Hammer

British Author Challenge:
Sword Song by Rosemary Sutcliff

January KiddyCAT:
4 or 5 picturebooks
RandomKIT: Hidden Gems
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
ClassicsCAT: Adventure Classics
The Horseman on the Roof by Jean Giono
SFFKIT January Challenge "Cobwebs and Dust"
Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
GeoCAT: Central & Eastern Europe
Kapo by Aleksandar Tisma
Wave of Terror by Theodore Odrach

plus the inevitable library books getting in the way

7avatiakh
Editado: Dic 31, 2022, 7:42 pm

Favourite reads in 2022:

King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett - a fabulous historical novel about Macbeth.
The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz
Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey
Georgette Heyer - finished reading all her Regency Romance books, some I've read several times but in 2022 I went through and ticked off all the unread ones. Such a prolific writer and so many entertaining stories.
The No-Show by Beth O'Leary - delightful romance novel after not so enjoying her 2nd & 3rd books.
Revenger trilogy by Alastair Reynolds - exciting scifi
The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik - great ending to the Scholomance trilogy
The Cigarette Sellers of Three Crosses Square by Joseph Ziemian - a Holocaust story about how Jewish children survived on the streets of Warsaw

Graphic Novels and Manga -
I read a lot of these during my reading funk
The Waiting & Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim - two absorbing graphic nonfiction about Korean history.
The Book Tour by Andi Watson

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1: A Touch of Magic by Kamome Shirahama - I ended up reading 9 of these, the art is so lovely and the story has interesting magic.
The Apothecary Diaries 3,4,5 by Natsu Hyuuga - another delightful manga series
Vagabond vol. 1 1,2,3 by Takehiko Inoue - stunning artwork and ambitious storytelling - loved this

8avatiakh
Dic 31, 2022, 5:14 pm


1) The Trivia Man by Deborah O'Brien (2015)
fiction
I picked this up in a library sale a couple of days ago. It's a light read that focuses on quirky personalities. Kevin loves trivia competitions and he has his own team, 'One Man Band', that just includes himself. Maggie is in another team and has been unhappily in love for most of her adult life.
The trivia nights are fun to read and O'Brien manages to make this a sympathetic look at both children and adults who have different unsocial behaviours.

My first read for 2023, I read the second half before getting out of bed this morning.

9cushlareads
Dic 31, 2022, 5:54 pm

Happy new year, Kerry!

I was hopeless last year at posting on LT but now that school's out, I've caught up a bit. I've moved over to Club Read and am back there again this year. I've joined your Holocaust Lit group and hope to read some books that fit in 2023. I bought Brodeck's Report when we were living in Switzerland 12 years ago and still have not read it... maybe this is the year!

10avatiakh
Editado: Dic 31, 2022, 6:10 pm

>9 cushlareads: Happy New Year to you too Cushla. I'm less busy but still not reading a lot. I hit a big reading funk last year so ended up reading lots of manga and Georgette Heyer, not my usual focus.
Thanks for joining the Holocaust Literature group. I should pick up Brodeck's Report too.

11avatiakh
Editado: Mar 20, 2023, 1:00 am

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

Carnegie Medal (UK) Winners update-

2022 Katya Balen, October, October
2021 Jason Reynolds Look Both Ways
2020, Anthony McGowan, Lark - Read 2020
2019 Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X
2018 Geraldine McCaughrean, Where the World Ends
- READ 2023
2017 Ruta Sepetys, Salt to the Sea - READ 2023
2016 Sarah Crossan, One - Read
2015 Tanya Landman, Buffalo Soldier - Read
2014 Kevin Brooks, The Bunker Diary - Read
2013 Sally Gardner, Maggot Moon - Read
2012 Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls - Read
2011 Patrick Ness, Monsters of Men - Read
2010 Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book - Read
2009 Siobhan Dowd, Bog Child - Read
2008 Philip Reeve, Here Lies Arthur - Read
2007 Meg Rosoff, Just in Case - Read
2005 Mal Peet, Tamar - Read

2004 Frank Cottrell Boyce, Millions
2003 Jennifer Donnelly, A Gathering Light - Read
2002 Sharon Creech, Ruby Holler - Read

2001 Terry Pratchett, The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents - own
2000 Beverley Naidoo, The Other Side of Truth - own
1999 Aidan Chambers, Postcards from No Man’s Land - Read
1998 David Almond, Skellig - Read

1997 Tim Bowler, River Boy - own
1996 Melvin Burgess, Junk - Read
1995 Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials - Read

1994 Theresa Breslin, Whispers in the Graveyard
1993 Robert Swindells, Stone Cold
1992 Anne Fine, Flour Babies - Read
1991 Berlie Doherty, Dear Nobody
1990 Gillian Cross, Wolf - Read 2021
1989 Anne Fine, Goggle-eyes - Read
1988 Geraldine McCaughrean, A Pack of Lies - Read

1987 Susan Price, The Ghost Drum
1986 Berlie Doherty, Granny was a Buffer Girl
1985 Kevin Crossley-Holland, Storm
1984 Margaret Mahy, The Changeover - Read
1983 Jan Mark, Handles
1982 Margaret Mahy, The Haunting - Read
1981 Robert Westall, The Scarecrows
1980 Peter Dickinson, City of Gold and Other Stories from the Old Testament
1979 Peter Dickinson, Tulku - own
1978 David Rees, The Exeter Blitz - Read 2022
1977 Gene Kemp, The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler - Read

1976 Jan Mark, Thunder and Lightnings
1975 Robert Westall, The Machine Gunners - Read
1974 Mollie Hunter, The Stronghold - Read
1973 Penelope Lively, The Ghost of Thomas Kempe - Read
1972 Richard Adams, Watership Down - Read
1971 Ivan Southall, Josh - Read

1970 Leon Garfield & Edward Blishen, The God Beneath the Sea
1969 Kathleen Peyton, The Edge of the Cloud
1968 Rosemary Harris, The Moon in the Cloud - Read 2021
1967 Alan Garner, The Owl Service - Read

1965 Philip Turner, The Grange at High Force
1964 Sheena Porter, Nordy Bank
1963 Hester Burton, Time of Trial
1962 Pauline Clarke, The Twelve and the Genii - Read 2021
1961 Lucy M Boston, A Stranger at Green Knowe
1960 Dr IW Cornwall, The Making of Man
1959 Rosemary Sutcliff, The Lantern Bearers - own
1958 Philippa Pearce, Tom’s Midnight Garden - Read
1957 William Mayne, A Grass Rope - own
1956 C S Lewis, The Last Battle - Read
1955 Eleanor Farjeon, The Little Bookroom
READ 2023
1954 Ronald Welch (aka Ronald Oliver Felton), Knight Crusader - own
1953 Edward Osmond, A Valley Grows Up
1952 Mary Norton, The Borrowers - own
1951 Cynthia Harnett, The Wool pack - Read 2021
1950 Elfrida Vipont Foulds, The Lark on the Wing - Read 2021

1949 Agnes Allen, The Story of Your Home
1948 Richard Armstrong, Sea Change READ 2023
1947 Walter De La Mare, Collected Stories for Children
1946 Elizabeth Goudge, The Little White Horse - Read
1944 Eric Linklater, The Wind on the Moon - Read 2021

1942 ‘BB’ (D J Watkins-Pitchford), The Little Grey Men - own
1941 Mary Treadgold, We Couldn’t Leave Dinah - Read 2021
1940 Kitty Barne, Visitors from London
1939 Eleanor Doorly, Radium Woman
1938 Noel Streatfeild, The Circus is Coming - own
1937 Eve Garnett, The Family from One End Street - own
1936 Arthur Ransome, Pigeon Post - own

12drneutron
Dic 31, 2022, 7:06 pm

Hiyah, Kerry! Welcome back!

13avatiakh
Dic 31, 2022, 7:45 pm

>12 drneutron: Thanks for the welcome!

14PaulCranswick
Dic 31, 2022, 8:28 pm



Wishing you a comfortable reading year in 2023, Kerry.

You must be one of the first to complete a book in 2023. xx

15quondame
Dic 31, 2022, 11:33 pm

Happy new year Kerry!

>7 avatiakh: King Hereafter is one of my all time favorites, and Golden Enclaves was surely one of this year's!

16avatiakh
Ene 1, 2023, 12:55 am

>15 quondame: Happy New Year to you too! The Golden Enclaves was doubly enjoyable for me as I watched my daughter devour all three books just before I picked up #3. She doesn't read that much and so enjoyed the trilogy .

17WhiteRaven.17
Ene 1, 2023, 3:08 am

Happy new thread for the new year Kerry!

18SandDune
Ene 1, 2023, 3:28 am

Happy New Year Kerry!

19alcottacre
Ene 1, 2023, 2:00 pm

>6 avatiakh: mainly an attempt to get books off my shelves I can relate! I am using TIOLI a ton just for this purpose.

>7 avatiakh: Making notes on your favorite books in 2022. . .

Have a wonderful new year, Kerry! I wish you joy in your reads for 2023.

20BLBera
Ene 1, 2023, 2:03 pm

Happy New Year, Kerry. Your Holocaust Reading Group sounds interesting. I will check it out. Your favorites from 2022 look good as well. Already I'm adding to my WL.

21thornton37814
Ene 1, 2023, 3:41 pm

Have a wonderful year of reading!

22avatiakh
Ene 1, 2023, 9:13 pm

>17 WhiteRaven.17: Happy New Year back to you. I'm going to look out for your thread

>18 SandDune: Thanks. I'm looking forward to your reading your thread again

>19 alcottacre: Thanks Stasia. I need to clear my shelves a little or I'll never get all of them read

>20 BLBera: Hi Beth. Do join our group if it interests you.

>21 thornton37814: Thanks Lori. I'm planning to focus on books that I really want to read, which means mostly off my shelves as I paid good money to get them there.

23avatiakh
Ene 1, 2023, 9:21 pm

__
2) Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 1 by Izumi Tsubaki
3) Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 2 by Izumi Tsubaki
4) Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, Vol. 3 by Izumi Tsubaki
manga

Daughter wanted me to read these, she'd watched the anime and was interested in how it played out originally in the manga. rabbitprincess in the category challenge mentioned them so I got the first 3 from the library.
I found them quite hard to read, just not my thing. A high school girl has a crush on a fellow student. He thinks she's a fan of his published manga and takes her on as one of his assistants. I can see how younger readers would enjoy it.
I think I'm over manga now. I just want to continue with 3 or 4 series that I enjoyed and leave the rest alone.

24richardderus
Ene 1, 2023, 9:22 pm

Happy new-week's reads, Kerry. (Too late for happy new year wishes since it's already been that way for a couple days there.)

25avatiakh
Ene 1, 2023, 9:23 pm

>24 richardderus: Hi Richard. Thanks, I'll be over to your thread fairly soon.

26ronincats
Ene 1, 2023, 9:24 pm

Happy New Year, Kerry!

27avatiakh
Ene 3, 2023, 1:18 am

Thanks for the star, Roni

28PaulCranswick
Ene 4, 2023, 2:41 am

Am I right to wish you a very Happy Birthday today, Kerry?!

29avatiakh
Ene 4, 2023, 5:09 am

Hi Paul - yes, today was the day and almost over for me. We went out for lunch, ended up eating Vietnamese as our regular places were all on holiday.

30PaulCranswick
Ene 4, 2023, 9:00 am

Glad that I was just in time, Kerry. xx

31ronincats
Ene 4, 2023, 11:54 am

Happy Birthday, Kerry!

32katiekrug
Ene 4, 2023, 4:00 pm

Happy belated new year's wishes, Kerry! And just squeaking in with birthday wishes, too (though I guess you're already in Thursday now...).

Thanks for bringing The Trivia Man to my attention.

33MickyFine
Ene 4, 2023, 4:27 pm

I know it's already tomorrow in NZ, so a belated happy birthday, Kerry!

Looking forward to keeping up with your reading adventures again this year.

34Whisper1
Editado: Ene 4, 2023, 4:32 pm

I hope you had a wonderful birthday.
As others have expressed, Happy New Year, and happy year of reading.

35avatiakh
Editado: Ene 5, 2023, 3:54 am


5) Treasure & Dirt by Chris Hammer (2021)
crime
Ivan Lucic & Nell Buchanan #1. I've already read book #2 so am up to date.
A gruesome murder in an opal mine needs to be investigated. Ivan, a homicide detective flies in to the NSW mining town from Sydney where he is met by junior detective Nell. She knows the town well and together they unravel more and more history to this death.
I enjoyed this a lot, Hammer can be a tad over the top plot-wise but I'm ok with that as I enjoy his characters.
This was published in the US as Opal Country. I see that his The Tilt will be published elsewhere as Dead Man's Creek.

Daughter has plonked two more volumes of manga on my desk - My next life as a villainess: all routes lead to doom vols 2&3. I suppose I should read them as she laughed all the way through them.

36avatiakh
Ene 5, 2023, 4:11 am

>31 ronincats: Hi Roni, thanks for the birthday wishes. I had a lovely quiet day with no cooking
>32 katiekrug: Hi Katie. Hope you can track that one down, it was a fun read.
>33 MickyFine: Hi Micky - thanks for the birthday wishes. I'm hoping to keep up with more LTers this year as well.
>34 Whisper1: Thanks Linda. I'm coming over to visit your thread.

37avatiakh
Editado: Ene 5, 2023, 4:19 am

I've started at least five books and am enjoying all of them.
The Horseman on the Roof - who knew that reading about a cholera epidemic could be both horrifying and compelling.
Purity of Blood - this one takes off much faster with less time for florid description.
Sword Song by Rosemary Sutcliff - loving this one too
Tyger by S.F. Said - exciting read
Escape to the River Sea by Emma Carroll - another exciting one set in the Amazon rainforest
The old woman with a knife - great first chapter
My priority has to be the library books as I have so many out and several requests about to come in.

38PaulCranswick
Ene 5, 2023, 5:30 am

>37 avatiakh: You are a busy bee, Kerry!

39ffortsa
Editado: Ene 5, 2023, 11:18 am

>5 avatiakh: I've never heard of the McClure series, but my library has the first book so I've grabbed it. As for the Carvalho, I'm wondering, if I really study my Spanish, if I would be able to read it ever so slowly in the original language. That's mostly what the library has - a few in English, but not many.

eta: your thread is dangerous when it comes to BBs.

40alcottacre
Editado: Ene 6, 2023, 10:40 am

>35 avatiakh: Because I need yet another series to check into (yeah, right), I am adding that one to the BlackHole.

>37 avatiakh: Isn't it nice to enjoy everything you are reading?

Sorry I missed your birthday, Kerry. I hope you had a great one!

41avatiakh
Ene 6, 2023, 5:18 pm

>38 PaulCranswick: I seem to have found other things to do so my reading suffered a bit these past couple of days. I have to move up a couple of books as I can't renew my loans and they are due in a couple of days.

>39 ffortsa: Hi Judy - I've only read one of the McClure books but liked that it was set in the 1950s so you get a different perspective on South African society.
Not sure about reading Carvalho in Spanish, I've had trouble getting just a few in English. I think the easiest one to get hold of is The Buenos Aires Quintet, that's where I started.
I've picked up so many BBs from other threads since the year began. Very dangerous.

>40 alcottacre: His Martin Scarsden trilogy is good too.
Yep, reading good books is what it's all about.
My birthday was quiet, celebration is not needed when you get to my age.

42avatiakh
Editado: Ene 6, 2023, 8:06 pm

I got three NZ picture books from the library yesterday, all recently published and I requested them for the January KiddyCAT: Picture books/Graphic novels challenge over in the category challenge group. I also have some graphic novels to get through.


Jiffy's Greatest Hits by Catherine Chidgey (2022)
picturebook
Illustrated by Astrid Matijasevich. Chidgey not only writes wonderful literary fiction, she's also written a couple of picturebooks about cats. I read Jiffy, cat detective a few years ago and at the time read a news article that Jiffy is based on her own cat.

Jiffy's Greatest Hits was an absolute delight to read, I think any cat lover would love it. The illustration style is comic so most will buy this for children. Jiffy loves to sing and regales his owners with loud exuberant songs he's made up from late afternoon and on through the night. Finally tired out from singing, Jiffy curls up in his favourite spot in the morning surrounded by the frazzled family. Chidgey gives us some delightful little songs along the way, this one sung at midnight...'Put away that cage,
there's nothing wrong with me.
The vet has freezing hands
and stinks of herbal tea.
I'll go hide in the laundry,
beneath a dirty sock.
I'll go hide in the Lego
and pretend I am a block.'


Kororā and the sushi shop by Linda Jane Kaegan (2022)
picturebook

In 2019 there were several media stories about a couple of little blue penguins nesting under a sushi shop near Wellington's waterfront. This cute picturebook is the result. The illustrations by Jenny Cooper are delightful, I love that sushi is included in the title word 'kororā'. The Maori word for penguin is kororā.
A review here: https://www.nzbooklovers.co.nz/post/koror%C4%81-and-the-sushi-shop-by-linda-jane...
One of the news stories: https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/114263480/penguins-removed-from-wellington-s...

I think there'll soon be a picturebook about the seal that broke into a house
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/19/seal-breaks-into-new-zealand-home-...


The Water Bottle by Philippa Werry (2022)
picturebook

Werry looks at a different angle for her ANZAC story, that of Turkish immigrants to New Zealand who have a story from the other side of the Gallipoili conflict during WW1.
The book has been illustrated by Burak Akbay, a Turkish artist, which is a nice touch.
Here's Philippa discussing the background to the book: https://philippawerry.co.nz/the-water-bottle/

43avatiakh
Editado: Ene 6, 2023, 7:41 pm


There's a king in the cupboard by Margaret Mahy (2022)
picturebook
Illustrated by Minrui Yang. Yang was the winner of publisher Hachette's 2021 Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize, she was also shortlisted for the 2017 Gavin Bishop Illustration Award. The prize gives an illustrator the opportunity to illustrate one of Mahy's stories.
The story is fun and the illustration style quite exuberant. The link goes to the story but not this particular picturebook. I'll be looking out the other winners of this award.
More about the prize and Minrui Yang here: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui-chronicle/news/auckland-illustrator-wins-ma...

44avatiakh
Ene 6, 2023, 8:04 pm

a trip to the library to pick up some requests that came in:
Sylvia Rafael: The Life and Death of a Mossad Spy by Ram Oren
An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West by Konstantin Kisin
The Pawnbroker by Edward Lewis Wallant - one of the first Holocaust novels
Have you seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde
The Last Wild Horses by Maja Lunde
I was a child: a memoir by Bruce Eric Kaplan
Berliners by Vesper Stamper

45avatiakh
Ene 7, 2023, 4:43 pm


6) The Butchery by Bastien Vivès (2017)French) (2021 Eng)
graphic novel

I got this from a list of French graphic novels, I generally like reading these, though this one didn't really grab me much. It's light on text, relying on the illustrations to tell the story of a relationship.
Oh dear, I just googled Vivès name to read more about his art style and in the last few days he's being investigated for all sorts of not nice stuff.

46labfs39
Ene 7, 2023, 9:42 pm

I'm sorry to only be getting to your thread now, Kerry. Happy belated birthday!

Your reading year seems to have started with a bang. I love >42 avatiakh: these. Now that I have my nieces during the week, I am reading so so many children's books. I've thought about writing little reviews like you do for them, but there are so many it feels overwhelming. I also am considering starting a separate account for them, so that they aren't mixed in with my personal reading. I don't know. Still thinking about how I want to handle it. But, I do love reading yours.

47PaulCranswick
Ene 8, 2023, 2:03 am

>44 avatiakh: Haven't got a one of them, so I will look forward to your thoughts and recommendations expectantly.

Hope your Sunday is going well, Kerry. xx

48avatiakh
Ene 9, 2023, 3:39 am

Hi Paul - I'll get to them eventually. They all look rather good though I have a few more library books already out that need my attention.

Monday is almost over now.

49avatiakh
Ene 9, 2023, 3:59 am


7) Tyger by S.F. Said (2022)
children's
This was well worth the wait. Said is not a prolific writer but when he does publish a book it's well worth the wait, this one took him 9 years. All his books have been illustrated by Dave McKean.
This has been promoted as a classic in the making and I have to agree, it's a lovely lovely story about a mythical tyger, wounded and in hiding in an alternate London. She is found and helped by two children, London born but of Muslim heritage. The society is repressive, slavery wasn't quite abolished back in the day and there is disharmony between the British and the immigrant population. There's a strong reference to William Blake throughout which adds to the enjoyment of the book.
I follow Said on twitter where he constantly promotes children's books and a love of reading.


From wikipedia: S. F. Said is a British Muslim author of Middle Eastern background, who was born in Beirut and spent his first years in Jordan. He describes his origins as "Iraqi, Egyptian, Kurdish, and Circassian." He grew up in London, moving there with his mother at the age of two. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, he worked as a press attaché and speech writer for the Crown Prince of Jordan's office in London for six years. He began a Ph.D. in 1997 looking at the lives of young Muslims in Britain, but left academia to focus on film journalism for The Daily Telegraph – where he brought attention to much so-called world cinema, including contemporary Islamic cinema – and on writing for children. Said has also written a number of articles and reviews for The Guardian about children's books


50SandDune
Ene 9, 2023, 4:08 am

>49 avatiakh: I’ve heard such good things about Tyger and your review makes me even keener to read it. I hadn’t realised that there was a William Blake connection but given the spelling of Tyger I suppose that makes sense.

51avatiakh
Ene 9, 2023, 5:00 am

>50 SandDune: I'm not that familiar with Blake but it was easy to notice and then when reading some longer reviews and interviews now that I've read the book, Said says that Blake was a strong influence. There's an interview on the Blake Society website - https://blakesociety.org/product/tyger-the-symmetry-of-writing-and-illustration-...
The cover opens up to be a full face of the tyger and is quite stunning.

52SandDune
Ene 9, 2023, 6:30 am

>51 avatiakh: I have a facsimile copy of Songs of Innocence and Experience which is lovely, and I do like 'The Tiger' in particular. And we went to see the William Blake exhibition at the Tate Britain in London back in 2019, so I know a little about him, but would like to know more.

53katiekrug
Ene 9, 2023, 9:20 am

>49 avatiakh: - I'm not familiar with Said, but shall have a look for his work over here. Tyger sounds very good.

54BLBera
Ene 9, 2023, 10:44 am

>49 avatiakh: What great illustrations! I will look for this one.

55sirfurboy
Ene 10, 2023, 5:53 am

>2 avatiakh: That is cute!

Wow you are making good progress already.

Thanks for dropping by my thread and reminding me I need to drop my star here. Happy reading in 2023.

56avatiakh
Ene 10, 2023, 3:50 pm

>52 SandDune: I remember enjoying Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier which is about young neighbours of Blake. I know next to nothing about him but also like that poem.

>53 katiekrug: I've enjoyed all his books, they are for children but have that quality of being good reads for adults as well.

>54 BLBera: Hi Beth, McKean has illustrated all Said's books, another reason to pick them up.

>55 sirfurboy: I found all my cat pics on a cats and books blog. I'm reading fairly well after losing my way last year and I'm determined to keep up with more than a handful of threads.

57avatiakh
Ene 10, 2023, 4:00 pm


8) The old woman with a knife by Gu Byeong-mo (2013 Korean) (2022 English)
crime
This was a BB from Deborah's (arubabookwoman) 2022 thread, I immediately requested it from the library after reading her comments.
I enjoyed this dark comedy though I think I enjoyed The Plotters more. Anyway both are about assassins and both have that 'Korean' vibe to them. I loved the choice of names here - Worryfixer, Hornclaw and the dog, Deadweight.

58avatiakh
Ene 10, 2023, 4:05 pm

My 2022 Year in Books from goodreads where I include picturebooks in my count.
Read 207 books - 48,782 pages
Shortest book - 24 pgs The Upside-Down Boy and the Israeli Prime Minister
Longest book - 1020 pgs The Ink Black Heart
Most shelved book: Before the coffee gets cold - 521,442 people have shelved this one

59labfs39
Ene 10, 2023, 6:35 pm

>58 avatiakh: I don't use Goodreads, so am unfamiliar with the term "most shelved", but I too read that book this past year.

60ffortsa
Ene 10, 2023, 6:42 pm

>57 avatiakh: The names sound great. I put it on the list.

61avatiakh
Ene 10, 2023, 8:17 pm

>59 labfs39: It's basically the 'shelf' you put the book on - the three main ones are 'want to read, 'reading' & 'read'. I use GR to log all my reading so if I don't write up books straight away on LT I can easily be reminded over on GR. I also have RL friends who use GR & publishers, so I get to see a different selection over there.
I'm part of a kiwireaders book group there and we do an annual book-pool challenge. We each nominate three books to create a bookpool and then try to read as many in the pool as possible in Feb & Mar. I'm not so competitive but like nominating 3 books that I want to read and also get nudged to read a few others.

>60 ffortsa: There are three of us who've already read it over in the TIOLI challenge this month.

62FAMeulstee
Ene 12, 2023, 8:47 am

Found and starred, Kerry, belated happy reading in 2023!

63avatiakh
Ene 13, 2023, 7:12 pm

>Hi Anita - I need to visit you as well. I'm falling behind and need to put in a good couple of hours here.

Life update: I've hurt my shoulder somehow, possibly hauling my shopping in a bag around the supermarket the other day instead of pushing a trolley. Anyway I'm forced to rest it and can feel the pain riding up to my neck and upper arm from time to time. More annoying than anything.

A trip this morning to Jasons Books and a small haul to confess to, all paid by my credit at the store.
Breakfast with the Nikolides by Rumer Godden
The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope - Penguin edition
Viennese Romance by David Vogel - attractive Scribe hardback, written in the 1930s & published posthumously in 2012. Vogel died in Auschwitz in 1944.
Corrigan by Caroline Blackwood - looks fun, a NYRB classic
Clash of civilizations over an elevator in Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous - Europa Edition
Hungry Hill by Daphne du Maurier
& two picturebooks illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger
Little Red Cap & Swan Lake.

64labfs39
Ene 13, 2023, 7:47 pm

Great haul, Kerry. I hope carrying the books didn't exacerbate your shoulder. Wet heat?

65avatiakh
Ene 13, 2023, 7:51 pm

>64 labfs39: Several applications of 'deep heat' but mostly time and rest. I carried books on other shoulder, another learning curve as I'm so used to carrying everything on one side.

66PaulCranswick
Ene 13, 2023, 9:03 pm

Another William Blake devotee here. I did Songs of Innocence and Experience for A Level and still have my course books.

>58 avatiakh: I like the stats (of course) and I want to emulate you and get closer to 50,000 pages this year.

>63 avatiakh: That is an interesting haul, Kerry. Some "lost" classics there to savour, I imagine.

67PaulCranswick
Ene 13, 2023, 9:03 pm

Wishing you a lovely weekend by the way. x

69FAMeulstee
Ene 15, 2023, 7:45 am

>63 avatiakh: Sorry about the shoulder, Kerry.
It is annoying when parts of our body hurt, and don't work as they should.

70avatiakh
Ene 15, 2023, 4:50 pm

>66 PaulCranswick: Here in NZ I don't think we covered Blake in the English curriculum apart from his Tyger poem and nowadays I don't expect they even cover him in the UK curriculum. I've read the novel Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier though don't remember much except that I enjoyed it at the time.
I look forward to the GR stats each year. I set myself a reading goal over there of 150 books and can see how some years I soared past this and other years have struggled to get there.

>68 SandDune: Yes, I look for unusual author names on the shelves and so come across some interesting books. I also look out for publishers like Europa Editions as they generally don't let you down.

>69 FAMeulstee: I'm hoping that it's on the mend. I'm accident prone and so have to suffer from time to time.

71avatiakh
Ene 15, 2023, 5:03 pm


9) Sword Song by Rosemary Sutcliff (1997)
childrens

This one is from near the end of her Dolphin Ring cycle. The manuscript for the book was discovered in a drawer after Sutcliff's death in 1992 and published posthumously.
The story is about young Bjarni, a Viking boy, who is banished from his village in Britain and spends five years as a mercenary serving various Viking lords in the islands around Scotland before he can return home. Exciting and reminded me of how much I enjoyed King Hereafter last year.

72arubabookwoman
Ene 16, 2023, 3:46 pm

>57 avatiakh:--I went to check The Plotters on Amazon, and it was a cheap deal for Kindle, so I bought it. Hope to read it soon.

73avatiakh
Ene 16, 2023, 3:52 pm

>72 arubabookwoman: Hi Deborah. Lovely to see you here. I hope you enjoy it.

74avatiakh
Ene 16, 2023, 4:11 pm


10) Escape to the River Sea by Emma Carroll (2022)
childrens
Carroll was asked to write a tribute novel to Eva Ibbotson based on Ibbotson's Journey to the River Sea. This was quite well done, Carroll uses Maia's children and the Amazon setting to tell an adventure set in post World War Two. Rosa, who came to Britain on the kindertransport, has spent most of the war in a stately country home filled with girls who've been billeted from their London homes. Now she's on her way to Manaus and an adventure.

75labfs39
Ene 16, 2023, 5:19 pm

>74 avatiakh: Journey to the River Sea was a favorite read-aloud with my daughter years ago

76avatiakh
Ene 16, 2023, 6:13 pm

>75 labfs39: Yes, it was a favourite here too. This one worked ok though I think I got the family relationships mixed up, perhaps the children were Maia's grandchildren. Anyway so long since I read the Ibbotson book that revisiting her characters didn't really matter to me in the end.
I've read and really enjoyed several of Emma Carroll's historical fiction for children, she chooses interesting topics.

77avatiakh
Editado: Ene 17, 2023, 5:26 am


11) The Last Cherry Blossom by Kathleen Burkinshaw (2016)
childrens
Burkinshaw has based this on her mother's story. Her mother was only 12 years old when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and this tells of her innocent life in the year leading up to the bombing and then the aftermath. Burkinshaw shared her mother's story in local schools for several years before being asked to write this so the story could reach a wider audience.
There's a large glossary of Japanese words and phrases and a small reference list which includes:
A Boy called H: A Childhood in Wartime Japan by Kappa Senoh
The Last Train from Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino
The Making of Modern Japan by Marius B. Jansen
Plum Wine by Angela Davis-Gardner
Warriors in Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood

78ChelleBearss
Ene 17, 2023, 9:31 am

Found and starred!

>77 avatiakh: Wow, you are off to a running start! I haven't finished a book yet :(

79avatiakh
Editado: Ene 17, 2023, 3:15 pm

>Hi Chelle, lovely to see you here. Must find your thread.


12) Phoebe and her unicorn by Dana Simpson (2014)
children's GN
Another read for the January KiddyCAT: Picture books/Graphic novels challenge over in the category group where i've still to make my thread.
There are 15 in this series but I'll stop after one book as this is too juvenile. It's very funny and I can see children loving them. Phoebe comes across an unicorn when out in the woods and is granted a wish. The unicorn was absolutely not expecting Phoebe's wish, which is for them to be best friends. So Marigold Heavenly Nostrils gets to hang out with Phoebe and for both it's a learning curve.

80avatiakh
Ene 19, 2023, 3:19 pm


13) Purity of Blood by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (1997 Spanish) (2006 Eng)
fiction
Captain Alatriste #2. I read the first book at least 10 years ago and never got round to continuing the series even though I enjoyed that first one. This one lifts the lid on the ugly Spanish politics of the 17th century where the Inquisition has made it unsafe to even be a descendant of a converso as family lines are inspected for purity of blood.
There's enough deadly sword and dagger play here to fit with my TIOLI challenge of a swashbuckling adventure.

81avatiakh
Ene 19, 2023, 8:15 pm

I'm currently reading The Horseman on the Roof which is described as a swashbuckling adventure but as it really is so far one man's attempt to survive the cholera epidemic that swept through Provence in the 1830s, there is more death and dying than adventure. Compelling reading for all that. I'm up to the part where he is living on the rooftops in a small town, hiding from crazed locals and stealing food from the homes that he can see are still inhabited by the living. He's not selfish though as he has tended to the dying several times in his travels but just now he is intent on his own survival.

Also reading The Garden of Dorr, a magical children's book by Paul Biegel.

I've made a start on A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book but don't feel that I'll be flying through it before the end of the month. I'll keep plugging away though as it is one from the tbr shelf that I feel guilty about.

I've also read a few pages of Black Powder War by Naomi Novak and am well into The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner.

82labfs39
Ene 20, 2023, 7:32 am

>81 avatiakh: I too have a copy of The Children's Book languishing on the shelves. Your initial impressions make me think I don't need to run over and start reading it today.

83BethanyWall
Ene 20, 2023, 7:34 am

Este usuario ha sido eliminado por spam.

84arubabookwoman
Ene 20, 2023, 12:37 pm

The Children's Book is what I would call an "intelligent" book, and it requires you to pay close attention when reading (no racing through, though it mostly held my attention), but it's definitely a worthwhile read, and returns the effort you put into it.

85avatiakh
Ene 20, 2023, 3:45 pm

>82 labfs39: >84 arubabookwoman: Yes, so far it feels like a worthy read. The characters are all interesting and if I take my time I'll enjoy the book much more. I've read a few by Byatt so know how she writes.
I've had the book since it was published and the price tag on the back of the book makes me hope that I bought it with a discount, looks to be the most expensive paperback I've ever purchased.
Lisa - it's just going to be one where you're rewarded for your patience.

86PaulCranswick
Ene 20, 2023, 9:19 pm

The most expensive paperback I purchased was recently with Anniversaries by Uwe Johnson in two NYRB editions which cost me around $85

87avatiakh
Ene 21, 2023, 3:48 am

>89 avatiakh: I purchased it from Borders way back when and the price tag says NZ$42.99. I probably used a discount voucher at the time as Borders were always running a weekly special, though all I have now is the sticker on the back of the book. I'm so mortified that I can't remove it.
Nowadays I try not to spend money on books as I have so many to read already.

I bought the 4 volumes of Journey to the West and probably spent more on them when I think about it. Translated and edited by Anthony C. Yu, I hoped to read them last year, maybe I'll get going this year.

88avatiakh
Ene 21, 2023, 3:59 am


The Hiroshima Story / Hiroshima No Pika by Toshi Muraki (1980)
picturebook

Muraki is an artist and with her husband (also an artist) had gone to Hiroshima in the aftermath to try and find family members. They painted and exhibited The Hiroshima Panels and a visitor had an emotional outburst. It was the mother who told her story and Muraki went on to turn this story into a picturebook for the young. The illustrations are graphic but effective.
The Hiroshima Panels are viewable here: https://marukigallery.jp/en/hiroshimapanels/

89avatiakh
Editado: Ene 21, 2023, 5:28 am


14) Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop (1952)
children
This slight novel for children is illustrated by William Pène du Bois. Huchet Bishop grew up in France and wrote this based on a real event. Ten Jewish children join twenty French school children in an old Catholic schoolhouse out in the countryside. After only a few days two Nazi soldiers turn up when the nun/school teacher has gone to a nearby village. The children have the good sense to hide the Jewish children in a cave. After two days the soldiers finally give up their search. All the tension in their predicament and the bravery of the children comes across in the narrative.
The author's bio is quite interesting - Born in Switzerland, 'she grew up in Le Havre, France, and attended the Sorbonne for a time before founding France’s first library for children, L’Heure Joyeuse. Her children’s books grew out of the popular stories she told both at L’Heure Joyeuse and at the New York Public Library, where she worked after marrying the pianist Frank Bishop and settling in the United States. Among the seventeen works of fiction she wrote for children are The Five Chinese Brothers (1938), Twenty and Ten (1952), and the Newbery Honor books Pancakes-Paris (1947) and All Alone (1953).'
https://www.scarboromissions.ca/interfaith-dialogue/jewish-christian-relations/p...

90BLBera
Ene 21, 2023, 10:50 am

My granddaughter loves the Phoebe and the Unicorn Books. The Carroll book sounds like one she might like as well. And I will look for Twenty and Ten -- even though my daughter has told me to stop giving her books. She has a pile of unread ones.

91avatiakh
Ene 22, 2023, 4:58 am

>90 BLBera: I can understand a juvenile love for those books.


15) The Life I was Meant to Live by Julien Sandrel (2020 French/English)
fiction
I read Sandrel's The Book of Wonders late last year and while it was a lightweight read I thought I'd try another of his.
39 year old Romane is living a boringly safe life in Paris when one of her patients says that she's seen her at a hospital when on a recent trip to Marseille. Romane decides to investigate this lookalike woman and finds much more than a doppelganger.
This was an easy read but the plot was fairly over the top. One of the reasons I kept reading is that it was partly set in an Avignon bookshop.

92sirfurboy
Ene 22, 2023, 6:53 am

>71 avatiakh: Oh I haven't seen that one before. I will look out for that.

>89 avatiakh: Sounds like a hood book too.

And 15 books already... great going.

93avatiakh
Ene 23, 2023, 1:26 am

>92 sirfurboy: Hard to find a Sutcliff that doesn't give pleasure.
Twenty and Ten was quite a good story, the children were all older than their years in their response to the Nazi threat.

94avatiakh
Ene 23, 2023, 2:10 am


16) The governesses by Anne Serre (1992 French) (2018 Eng)
novella
This was picked at random off the library shelves and I've already requested the only other book by her that the library has. Described as a systems novel in the guise of a post modern fairy tale, I loved this story of three seductive governesses who act in the most unladylike manner from time to time.

95avatiakh
Editado: Ene 23, 2023, 4:38 am


17) Bloodlust & Bonnets by Emily McGovern (2019)
graphic novel
This was on MickyFine's 5 star list for 2022 and the title appealed, so i requested it from the library for the category challenge's January KiddyCAT: Picture books/Graphic novels challenge.
A fun read which sort of stars a comic Lord Byron with Sir Walter Scott putting in a madcap appearance from time to time. A Regency romp with a vampire adventure but mostly lots of random comings and goings with the occasional drop of whiskey. I loved the art style as well.

96MickyFine
Ene 23, 2023, 1:43 pm

>95 avatiakh: Oh yay! I'm glad it was a hit with you.

97avatiakh
Ene 23, 2023, 8:55 pm

>96 MickyFine: It was a hit with my daughter as well.


18) The Gardens of Dorr by Paul Biegel (1969 Dutch) (1975 Eng)
children
Every now and then I visit the Pushkin Press website to see what they've been translating and publishing. This edition came out late last year and my library finally got it in at my request.
A magical story with lots of stories being told along the way as a young girl on a serious mission comes to the ruined city of Dorr on a quest to find the lost gardens. Quite an enchanting fairy tale.
The cover art for this is much more colourful than the original cover for the Dutch edition though I like that one better.

98avatiakh
Ene 25, 2023, 5:01 am


19) I was a child: a memoir by Bruce Eric Kaplan (2015)
memoir
I'm not sure how I came across this one but it was a delightful encounter. BEK is an artist whose cartoons have featured in The New Yorker. This is a simple stringing together of memories of childhood, all the unimportant ones that are actually important for a child. What comes across is a love of watching films and tv shows, almost an obsession. Most pages include a simple but expressive line drawing - one of Barbara Streisand's nose, another of Alfred Hichcock seen from behind, the album cover of My Fair Lady etc etc.

99avatiakh
Editado: Ene 25, 2023, 5:11 am


20) The Unfinished Corner by Dani Colman (2021)
children's graphic novel
I think I found mention of this one on the Jewish Book Council website. Anyway my daughter picked it up off my pile of library books and started reading and exclaimed,' This is everything I would have loved to read as a child. Why wasn't it written 15 years ago!"
Miriam is days away from her bat mitzvah and also needs to tell her friends that she's changing schools. When out on a field trip she and her friends end up on a quest to finish a corner of the universe that was left undone. This one is full of Jewish mythology and is a great read.

100PaulCranswick
Ene 25, 2023, 5:33 am

Wonderfully varied reading as always here, Kerry. >94 avatiakh: & >97 avatiakh: in particular caught my eye.

101FAMeulstee
Ene 25, 2023, 5:38 am

>97 avatiakh: How nice that The Gardens of Dorr is now available for English readers, Kerry. I read it last year, as I somehow missed it in my youth. Paul Biegel wrote so many notable books.

102avatiakh
Editado: Ene 25, 2023, 2:55 pm

>100 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul - yes, I'm trying to read a number of the library books before their due date. Of course now it's starting to make my January planned reading go astray. Anne Serre was a great find, I really enjoyed that novella, so refreshingly different.

>101 FAMeulstee: I have read his The King of the Copper Mountains some years ago. Pushkin Press is quite impressive, they translate the older children's books rather than relying on current writers.

I'm now having to concentrate on the books I've already made a start on earlier this month along with a few graphic novels.
Finches by A. M. Muffaz - a Malayan ghost story
The Horseman on the Roof by Jean Giono - nearing the end
Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt - will become a slow read
Sea Change by Richard Armstrong - for my Carnegie Medal (UK) challenge (1948 winner)
The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner - can take my time with this one

I'd have liked to have gotten into two East European reads for one of the category challenges CATs but I've only managed a couple of pages of both. Also wanted to make a start on Anne Bishop's Black Jewels fantasy, but only read the prologue.
My audiobook listening has also been off this month so Blue Remembered Earth will have to go on to February. I listen to a lot of music so audiobooks are coming in second now.

103avatiakh
Ene 25, 2023, 3:34 pm


21) The Grand Odalisque by Jérôme Mulot, Florent Ruppert, Bastien Vivès (2012 French) (2020 English)
graphic novel
Two women who are skilled art thieves are tasked with stealing The Grand Odalisque from the Louvre. The GN covers their prep for the heist and their recruiting of a needed third member to their gang. I liked the many action scenes, the story was fairly ok, there is emphasis on hookups, nudity etc to counter all the action and some of this I could have done without. I also have the sequel, Olympia out from the library.
Bastien Vivès has been in the news of late for many bad reasons, I didn't realise this when I was requesting his GNs , several were on lists of best French GNs etc which is why I wanted to read them.

Here's two reviews of the book - one loves it, the other can only find fault -
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/01/the-grande-odalisque-by-jerome-mul...
https://www.tcj.com/reviews/the-grande-odalisque/

Publisher blurb: 'Ruppert and Mulot, two of the most innovative comic creators in the world, team up with multiple Angouleme prize winner Bastien Vives to bring you this impossibly funny, violent, and sexy action-packed thriller'

104avatiakh
Ene 28, 2023, 4:19 pm


22) The Horseman on the Roof by Jean Giono (1951 French) (1981 English)
fiction
This novel is a story of one man's experience of the 1830s cholera epidemic in Provence and is a daunting read as many deaths are described in vivid detail.
Angelo Pardo, a young Italian cavalryman is making his way through Provence when he finds himself in a nightmare of a cholera plague, his journey is suddenly one of peril with obstacles of quarantines and barricades. Angelo is a hero in so many ways, he is brave, resourceful and not afraid for himself, administers help where he can but always he is set upon continuing his journey. As he is a stranger wherever he goes he is always at risk of being considered a plague spreader by desperate and or paranoid townsfolk. Being put into quarantine is a death sentence.
The title comes from the days he spends in a largish town, living on the rooftops as on the ground so many are sick and dying and he is being hunted by those who want to blame him.

This was not the novel I was expecting as I cracked it open, but it was a very good read for all that. My first read of Jean Giono who also wrote the novella, The Man who Planted Trees, which I must look out for.
There are 7 books in the Le cycle du hussard series and this was #4 or 5. I'm not sure if they are all translated, but I have collected a few of Giono's books as I find them in used bookshops and will definitely read more by him.

105PaulCranswick
Ene 28, 2023, 5:29 pm

>104 avatiakh: I read The Man Who Planted Trees last year and it is a really quick but rewarding read.

Have a great Sunday, Kerry.

106figsfromthistle
Ene 28, 2023, 8:09 pm

Holy moly! 22 books already! Way to go :)

>104 avatiakh: This one sounds interesting. I will add it to my list

107avatiakh
Editado: Feb 3, 2023, 4:12 pm


23) Black Powder War by Naomi Novik (2007)
historical fantasy

Temeraire #3. Finally read another of these. Laurence, Temeraire and crew must make their way back to Europe from China. Lots of intrigue ending with Napoleon's attack on the Prussian army including the 1806 Battle of Jena–Auerstedt and the seige of Danzig though with dragons. The ending is quite delightful.
I'll keep going on this series, I want to read a couple more this year.

108avatiakh
Editado: Ene 31, 2023, 7:02 am


24) Finches by A.M. Muffaz (2021)
novella
This was a great creepy read, another novella I randomly pulled from the library shelves. Grandmother Jah wants to move back into the old house where her family grew up. Until recently it's been the home of her husband, his younger second wife and their newly born son until their deaths. The house is haunted with their ghosts and the old woman brings in first a nun and then the local bomoh (Malay shaman) to exorcise their presence.
The writing was quite beautiful, lovely descriptions of the neglected garden, the old house and its contents and then the malevolent presence of the dead souls.
Muffaz writes in her introduction that she wanted to write about Muslim polygamy and its effects on Malaysian families.

Now on to February...

109ChelleBearss
Ene 31, 2023, 9:09 am

>107 avatiakh: That name sounded familiar to me. Turns out I've read her Spinning Silver. Haven't read this series yet though.

110avatiakh
Ene 31, 2023, 2:16 pm

>109 ChelleBearss: Her recently completed Scholomance trilogy is really really good, so go there before any of her other books.
Not every entry in the Temeraire series is a great read according to reviews I've seen over the years. I own copies of the next two books so will at least read them.

111avatiakh
Editado: Feb 25, 2023, 3:54 pm

February Reading Plans -
I have a few books to continue on with -
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt - slow read
Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds - audio, not much progress as I listen to music more of late
Sea Change by Richard Armstrong - childrens, Carnegie (UK) Medal 1948
In the company of men by Veronique Tadjo

Rite of Passage by Alexi Panshin
Red Wolf by Liza Marklund
other Jan leftovers that I didn't get going on -
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
Kapo by Aleksandar Tisma
Wave of Terror by Theodore Odrach

GR NZ Feb/Mar BookPool challenge -
I have nominated three books into the book pool and will look at other books in the pool for possible reads.
The Calling by Fleur Beale - YA, NZ Historical fiction
The Lucky Galah by Tracy Sorensen
City of Spies by Mara Timon


others added to TIOLI:
While you were reading by Ali Berg & Michele Kalus
Crushing the Red Flowers by Jennifer Volgt Kaplan - childrens
The little Match Girl strikes back by Emma Carroll - childrens
Half My Life by Diana Noonan - YA, NZ
Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe - historical fiction, Australia
Emily Noble's Disgrace by Mary Poulson-Ellis

An immigrant's love letter to the West by Konstantin Kisin
The Last Wild Horses by Maja Lunde

Saw Diana Wynne Jones' The Time of the Ghost mentioned by NZ writers on twitter and got it from the library. Daughter has just finished it so I suppose I should try it before returning to the library.....and all the other random reading that I do.

112avatiakh
Editado: Feb 1, 2023, 9:52 pm


25) In the company of men by Véronique Tadjo (2017 French) (2021 English)
novella

Very impressive, a story of the Ebola epidemic of 2014, told from a multitude of voices both human and non-human.
Tardo is from Côte d'Ivoire and now based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Highly recommended. This was one of a number of translated novellas I plucked from the library shelves on recent visits.
From a review: 'her latest novel in translation, In the Company of Men which draws on real accounts of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa of 2014 to weave a moving and reflective fable on “both the strength and the fragility of life and humanity’s place in the world”, acutely relevant to our times.' https://africainwords.com/2021/05/25/review-making-death-part-of-daily-life-vero...

113avatiakh
Feb 2, 2023, 10:06 pm


26) Sea Change by Richard Armstrong (1948)
children's
Read for my ongoing challenge to read all the Carnegie Medal (UK) winners. This book won in 1948 and though dated is a wonderful read. Armstrong served in the Merchant Navy so was well experienced to write about life at sea.
Cam is an apprentice seaman going for a Second Mate's Certificate in seamanship and navigation. He's onto his second year and third voyage and this one will test his mettle, he's joining the crew on a small steamer taking cargo to the Caribbean and returning with a full load of Cuban sugar.
He gets off on to the wrong side of the ship's mate as he's resentful of being treated as a deckhand rather than an officer-in-training but this crew is all about old fashioned seamanship and knowing everything practical about running a ship at sea than just book learning in navigation and steering a ship.

And in keeping with life at sea I've just brought home The Saturday Evening Post Reader of Sea Stories from the library. Mainly I want to read H.E. Bates' novella The Cruise of the Breadwinner which is included in the volume.

114avatiakh
Editado: Feb 3, 2023, 4:30 pm


27) While you were reading by Ali Berg & Michelle Kalus (2019)
romance
An unremarkable romance story set in literary Melbourne and targeting booklovers which is why I decided to borrow it. There are some fun parts in the book, a cute but fairly ferocious ferret and Bea's quest to find the person behind the insightful annotations throughout a book she's bought at a local used bookstore.
The barista writes book quotes on Bea's coffee cups, Bea starts organising blind date with a book events, and also has a bookstagram account. She took her marketing job because the agency handled the Melbourne Writers Festival account but Bea is not one of the cool team and is stuck working on a toothpaste account.

The co-authors founded 'Books on Rails', a Melbourne based movement to leave books on public transport for strangers to pick up. They've co-written two other novels and I saw mention of them on twitter and decided to try one. I love the title of their first book, The Book Ninja.
At the back of While you were reading there is a list of all the books mentioned in the novel which is a helpful touch, also they give credit to several of their favourite bookstagram accounts so you can look those up if you are into social media.

115PaulCranswick
Feb 4, 2023, 12:24 am

Wishing you a great weekend, Kerry.

116avatiakh
Feb 4, 2023, 6:03 am

Thanks Paul. Still quite wet here but the rain is calming down finally.

117PaulCranswick
Feb 4, 2023, 7:02 am

>116 avatiakh: I love the world after rain, Kerry.

118avatiakh
Editado: Feb 4, 2023, 10:52 pm


28) Emily Noble's Disgrace by Mary Paulson-Ellis (2021)
crime

I enjoyed this, a good entertaining story and want to read more by the author. It's set in the seaside Edinburgh suburb of Portobello. Essie works for a specialist cleaning company and this time they are called in to clear an old seafront boarding house. The owner died two years ago but no one had noticed as the house was full of hoarded rubbish. Essie would like to uncover the secrets of her own past as she steals small items that speak to her on these cleaning jobs. And then there's Emily Noble, disgraced policewoman who won't acknowledge the secrets from her past. The old boarding house holds secrets of its own.

Not sure how I came across this one, maybe just a lucky library find.

119avatiakh
Editado: Feb 6, 2023, 5:06 pm


29) Half my Life by Diana Noonan (2020)
YA
This starts off in Wellington, New Zealand where a small contingent of Greek families settled in the 1950s. Most Greek migrant families went to Melbourne in Australia and many went into the restaurant & food trade.
16 yr old Katy has a Greek father who runs a fish and chip shop, he's always been remote and doesn't speak to her, her mother is also not showing her affection. Not surprising then that Katy has anxiety issues and is seeing a therapist.
Then there is a letter from her uncle, her grandmother is dying, they should come. It will be the first time her father has been back since he left Greece when he was only 17, he's an older father and already in his 50s. The three weeks in Greece change Katy's outlook on herself, her family and everything starts to make sense once family secrets become clear.

I enjoyed this, I usually steer clear of YA angst novels but Noonan is a seasoned YA writer. In the notes it says that for the past thirty years she has spent part of the year living in Greece, the rest of the time she lives in the Caitlins which is one of the most southern points in New Zealand.
This novel was interesting covering the plight of Albanians in Greece, what has happened since the waves of migrants have arrived in Greece etc etc. The Greek village that Katy goes to is in the north on the coast and right near the Albanian border. Family feuds that last generations and the civil war against the communists also come up.

I saw this one on the shelves at a bookshop and the Greek setting was too good to not request it from the library.

120avatiakh
Feb 7, 2023, 5:35 am


30) City of Spies by Mara Timon (2020)
fiction
A WW2 espionage thriller and an easy read. An Englishwoman who has been working undercover for the French Resistance has to flee the country. She ends up in Lisbon and is given a new identity as a rich French widow. Her role is to investigate the German military personnel who are part of the elite society of foreign nationals.
I'll look out for the sequel.

121avatiakh
Feb 7, 2023, 7:27 am


31) Olympia by Jérôme Mulot, Florent Ruppert, Bastien Vivès (2015 French) (2022 English)
graphic novel

This is the sequel to The Grande Odalisque. The trio of female art thieves are back again. While I find much of the banter between the characters over the top, I do enjoy the ingenious schemes they have for stealing major artworks.

122avatiakh
Feb 7, 2023, 3:49 pm


32) The Man who Planted Trees by Jean Giono (1954)
short story

One that leaves an impact on the reader. The writer goes walking in the hills of Provence before WW1 and in an isolated, bleak area with no water and an abandoned hamlet he comes across a shepherd who spends his days planting acorns. On a return trip after the war he finds that many of these acorns have managed to grow into young trees and these trees, the start of a forest' have began to change the ecosystem of the bare barren area. Eventually after forty years the shepherd, now an old man has managed through his tree planting to change the land into a productive area that now supports the rejuvenated village.
Also delightful are the wood engravings by Michael McCurdy that accompany the story which was originally published in Vogue.

123avatiakh
Feb 7, 2023, 4:02 pm

Taking a couple of library books back unread, I had added them to the TIOLI challenge but I can't renew my loan of An immigrant's love letter to the West by Konstantin Kisin so will read it later in the year. I was a couple of chapters in and it was fairly interesting, though the guy left Russia as an 11 year old so his experience of life in Russia seems limited.
I decided not to continue with The Last Wild Horses by Maja Lunde, after a couple of pages it doesn't grab me and I'm fairly strict with library books as I own so many books that need to be read.

Enjoying Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe which is about two young Chinese siblings in the Australian goldfields. I read Riwoe's novella The Fish Girl a few years back and really liked it. Now looking at the writer and I note that she's actually M.J. Tija with 3 crime novels published.

124avatiakh
Feb 11, 2023, 5:47 am


33) Monastery by Eduardo Halfon (2014)
stories
Another interesting collection of stories told by the author/narrator as he wanders around the world, first to Jerusalem for his sister's wedding to an Orthodox Jew which he is considering not attending as he grapples with the city, his sister & brother-in-law's religious fraternity and a chance meeting with an old flame.
In another story he arrives to Belize and his borrowed car breaks down at the border, leaving him at the mercy of the locals.
I read his Canción last year which is written in a similar style.

125avatiakh
Editado: Feb 13, 2023, 4:49 am


34) Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe (2020)
historical fiction
I really enjoyed this and will continue to read this author who also writes under her real name of M.J. Tjia. I came across her excellent novella, The Fish Girl, a few years back.
This starts off in a Queensland goldfield, we meet young siblings Ying and Lai Yue who have fled China to find their fortune in Australia, but life is unfair for most. Ying is a girl disguised as a boy for her own safety and when their fortunes on the goldfield decline they move on to Maytown where she gets employed at a Chinese grocer. While she befriends a young white woman, her brother takes on work as a carrier on an overland expedition.

126avatiakh
Feb 16, 2023, 3:22 am


35) The Lucky Galah by Tracy Sorensen (2018)
fiction
Another enjoyable read, though nothing startling. Firstly this is narrated by a galah, a native Australian parrot. It's mostly set in a small coastal backwater in Western Australia, a small town going backwards in the 1960s but chosen as the site for a satellite dish to help with the 1969 moon landing. Technicians and their families arrive and become part of the local community for a time. The narration by the galah turns out to be one of the highlights of reading this which surprised me and perhaps will spur me on to tackle Catherine Chidgey's The Axeman Carnival.

127avatiakh
Feb 19, 2023, 9:35 pm


36) Extraordinary People by Peter May (2006)
crime
Published in the US as Dry Bones. The Enzo Files #1. Underwhelming for a number of reasons. Firstly May's preoccupation with the breasts of the female student that Enzo takes on as an assistant. In depth details of Enzo's bedroom encounters with another character. Then there's the plot, the murderers' mastermind plot simply falls apart when they haven't taken into account the rise of Google as a search engine in the ten year's lapse between their foolproof plotting of a murder with Da Vinci Code-like clues and Enzo solving the cold case as a bet.
I might try the second in this series as it's set in France with a relocated Scottish forensic expert, so interesting mentions of small French towns and unusual tidbits of French history. I've never heard before the French word 'sejours' which gets trotted out fairly often in the text, I had to look it up as I expected some form of enclosed balcony, but it just means living room, I'm more au fait with 'salon' for living room.
The only decent character in all this is Bertrand, Enzo's daughter's boyfriend as he proves himself over and over as a fairly capable guy despite Enzo's initial disproval.

128avatiakh
Editado: Feb 19, 2023, 9:59 pm

With the month fast running out, I'm looking at finishing a number of YA book I have out from the library and continuing an Indian crime novel I picked up, 400 Days, which seems to thrive on dialogue rather than description. I'll give this one another 50 pages to see how it goes.

Library News: Today I picked up Loki by Melvin Burgess which I'll hold off on till I've read the others even though I just want to dive in. Also finally got The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths.

Cyclone News: Last week our country was battered by Cyclone Gabrielle. It was expected to hit my city, Auckland, hard but luckily we were mostly spared and had heavy rain and wind for several days. Still lots of damage to property on our western beaches. The cyclone caused much greater damage to rural areas and especially the areas around Gisborne and Napier/ Hastings. Now there are many reports of looting by gangs and not enough police and army presence to help property owners and businesses. They are after everything even the generators that are need for cell phone coverage as well as residential generators. Farming communities have had roads and bridges swept away by forestry slash and they are very angry about this. The government have allowed foreign companies to buy up sheep stations and turn them into pine forests so they can claim carbon credits and this has become a huge problem now, and they were warned about it but either ignored it or put it in the too hard basket.
The current government has been terribly soft on gangs and allowed them to expand till now they outnumber the police. Ex-PM Ardern even gave them a few million to set up a drug rehabilitation programme, yet they were the drug problem to start with.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/logs-like-bulldozers-why-coast-feels-betray...
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/cyclone-gabrielle-farmers-paying-thousands-for-cho...
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/cyclone-gabrielle-thieves-take-generators-from-cel...
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/131277480/get-your-bloody-patches-off-...
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/300810776/land-unstable-six-days-aft...
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/cyclone-gabrielle-truck-driver-rescued-from-devils...

129PaulCranswick
Feb 20, 2023, 12:58 am

>128 avatiakh: Very sad to read of gangs and looting in New Zealand and especially of troubles in those beautiful rural and coastal areas that I loved and appreciated so much in my one visit there to date.

Governments must keep its people safe.

130avatiakh
Feb 20, 2023, 2:18 am

>129 PaulCranswick: Devastating, a brief listen to talkback radio while I ran some errands this morning and lots of people ringing from the affected areas saying they are too scared to leave their homes, yet the police minister still saying there is nothing much going on.

131PaulCranswick
Feb 20, 2023, 4:08 am

>130 avatiakh: I did see a news report here on the explosion of gangs in New Zealand and was both shocked and saddened by it, Kerry.

132avatiakh
Feb 20, 2023, 5:27 am


37) The Little Match Girl Strikes Back by Emma Carroll & Lauren Child (illustrator) (2022)
children
A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's 1845 Little Match Girl story, this time with some social justice. It's 1885 and Bridie sells matches on the street while her mother works at the match factory and little brother Fergal assembles matchboxes at home instead of attending school. The conditions at the match factory are horrendous, playing havoc to the women's health. After a mishap, Bridie has three strikes from the last three matches she holds and from the visions she has, realises that the only way the factory owner will improve the conditions is for the women to stop working and protest.

133Digital-Hindi
Feb 20, 2023, 5:32 am

Este usuario ha sido eliminado por spam.

134avatiakh
Feb 20, 2023, 5:34 am

>131 PaulCranswick: This government has been really lax on so many issues. They think they can solve a problem by hiring more consultants and having another working group but nothing practical ever happens.

135PaulCranswick
Feb 20, 2023, 5:56 am

>134 avatiakh: NZ is certainly not unique in having stultified government, Kerry. The UK, most of Western Europe, USA and Canada cannot really claim to be providing great solutions for its peoples either.

I did hope that the size, population density relative affluence and geographic setting might allow NZ to be the exception rather than the rule.

136labfs39
Feb 20, 2023, 7:28 am

I'm glad to hear you and your family are safe, Kerry. Looting after natural disasters is the lowest. I hope order is restored quickly and that the land around NZ stabilizes.

137avatiakh
Editado: Feb 20, 2023, 7:26 pm

>135 PaulCranswick: Well, we have an election at the end of the year so this will maybe shake up the status quo.

>136 labfs39: Thanks Lisa. Was unexpected to hear these stories as NZ is usually a great little country to live in, though after 6 years of current government we have changed a lot as they have pushed a soft approach to crime that is now bearing fruit.

138avatiakh
Editado: Feb 20, 2023, 7:33 pm

I was visiting my old 2022 thread and noticed the posts around DW 2018 100 German Must-Reads! booklist. So last year I did not read any that I own or had on my tbr list so will revisit this again.
https://www.dw.com/en/100-german-must-reads-the-story-behind-the-project/a-45456...

I've read 8 and have several others on my shelves or marked to read.
All Quiet on the Western Front - due a reread
Alone in Berlin
The Tin Drum - so long ago I can't recall any of it
Perfume — The Story of a Murderer
The Mussel Feast
The Reader
Inkheart
Visitation
How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone

On my radar and/or own
Why We Took the Car - for my roadtrip challenge
Babylon Berlin
Night Train to Lisbon
Austerlitz
Memoirs of an Anti-Semite
The Nazi and the Barber
The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum
Jakob the Liar
Beware of Pity
Mephisto - saw the film and have always wanted to read the book
Auto-da-Fé
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Storm of Steel

139avatiakh
Feb 21, 2023, 3:26 pm


38) The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup by Rosemary Sutcliff (1993)
illustrated story
This was mentioned on January's British Author Challenge thread and I requested it from the library at the time. It's a delightful tale about a wandering minstrel who happens on a dragon egg just as it's hatching. Illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark.

140FAMeulstee
Feb 22, 2023, 3:23 am

>138 avatiakh: I was just looking at that list yesterday, Kerry, and went to your 2022 thread to find it.
Of your list I want to read Night Train to Lisbon, Austerlitz, Mephisto, and Auto-da-Fé. The last two are on my shelves.
I did read Berlin Alexanderplatz when we went to Berlin a few years back

141avatiakh
Feb 22, 2023, 3:27 am

My son informed me this afternoon that one of his ex-band mates and family lost their home at Karekare Beach during the cyclone last week. His story is quite harrowing to read.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/cyclone-gabrielle-parents-cling-onto-children-as-h....
His sister-in-law has set up a give-a-little page for them.

Karekare Beach is where The Piano was filmed and one of Auckland's western beaches along with the communities at Muriwai and Piha which were also hit quite badly by the cyclone.

You can view Nick singing with the band, Essential Tremor (my son is playing lead guitar) from back when they were performing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61j7I7lRU1M

142avatiakh
Feb 22, 2023, 3:30 am

>140 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita - It's a useful list as I don't seek out German literature. I probably own those four but would have to find them amongst all my books, not an easy task at present.
I have a large number of books out from the library including about 6 picked up today, all look good so my own books getting neglected at present.

143avatiakh
Editado: Feb 22, 2023, 11:20 pm


39) Crushing the red flowers by Jennifer Voigt Kaplan (2019)
children's
Thoughtful novel that looks at German attitudes in the late 1930s leading up to Kristallnacht. Kaplan writes about two families & their two 12 yr old sons, one is Jewish and the other is in the Jungvolk (13 yr olds enter Hitler Youth). Emil's family are trying hard to get exit visas and in 1938 it is difficult unless you have sponsors in the country that you plan to travel to.
Friedrich's parents seem to be hardline Hitler supporters and his evenings with the Jungvolk are becoming harder and harder to sit through, but to survive amongst his school friends, he must stop questioning their behaviours, life will be easier if he just goes along with it all.
The two boys become acquainted at a secluded riverbank, though they don't talk or become friends, they each wonder about the other.

144labfs39
Feb 23, 2023, 8:16 am

>138 avatiakh: I have a ways to go on this list as I've read only five:
All Quiet on Western Front. Would like to read the sequel, The Road Back
Alone in Berlin
A Woman in Berlin
Austerlitz
(I've read everything by Bronsky except Broken Glass Park)
The Hunger Angel

Own:
Storm of Steel
Memoirs of an Anti-Semite

On Wishlist:
Job
The Tin Drum

145avatiakh
Feb 25, 2023, 4:09 pm

>144 labfs39: I'm going to have to look out some of these books, I'm relying far too much on library books at present. Your list seems similar to mine, I think I'll prioritise Storms of Steel at least.

146avatiakh
Editado: Feb 25, 2023, 4:45 pm


40) The Calling by Fleur Beale (2021)
YA
It's 1895 and Molly must decide if she really has a calling to God or if it was just her dying mother's wish for her to become a nun. Life becomes unbearable when her father remarries, so Molly leaves home for the mission at Jerusalem on Wanganui River and lives with the Sisters of Compassion led by Mother Mary Joseph Aubert. Eventually she must return home and once again decide her path in life.
Highly enjoyable historical fiction that has a focus on the work of the extraordinary nun, Mother Mary Joseph Aubert.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2a18/aubert-mary-joseph

147avatiakh
Editado: Feb 26, 2023, 3:11 pm


41) Where the world ends by Geraldine McCaughrean (2018)
children's
Carnegie Medal (UK) 2018. Another book done for my ongoing challenge to read Carnegie Medal winners. Based on a true story, it's 1727 on the St Kilda island of Hirta where 8 boys and a few men are off to the nearby rocky sea stack called the Warrior Stac where for a few summer weeks they harvest the puffins and other birds for their oil, fat and feathers. The weeks slip by and no-one appears to take them home and they must survive for months, through a bleak winter into spring with no knowledge of what has gone wrong back on Hirta.
This is a compelling survival story.
Hirta itself is such a bleak island in the north of Scotland that no trees grow there, the islanders demanded in the 1930s to be relocated as life became unbearable.

http://mountainandseascotland.blogspot.com/2011/06/warriors-stack.html'

148labfs39
Feb 26, 2023, 9:17 pm

>147 avatiakh: Those photos are amazing. I can't believe people survived a winter there.

149avatiakh
Feb 26, 2023, 11:05 pm

>148 labfs39: Yes, quite an amazing story that I would never have known about except for reading these Carnegie Medal winners.
I have read several of McCaughrean's books though this one never came to my attention till now.
Next up will probably be Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys as I should have read it when it was first published.

150PaulCranswick
Editado: Feb 27, 2023, 10:26 pm

What a simply brilliant Test Match I have just listened to (on my headphones at work!) NZ beat England by 1 run and these teams are doing their darnedest to show the world what a wonderful sport Test cricket is.

NZ were helped by England running out our current best batsman before he had faced a ball but I am pleased for them as they have lost a number of games to England in which they had contributed manfully. It is no disgrace to tie a series with either of these two.

151avatiakh
Feb 27, 2023, 10:41 pm

>150 PaulCranswick: Oh, good news for us. I haven't been up to date with any sports news today so thanks for posting this.

152avatiakh
Feb 27, 2023, 10:44 pm

Just gone to visit a NZ news blog and they are inundated with cricket comments.

153PaulCranswick
Feb 27, 2023, 11:23 pm

>151 avatiakh: I was pleased for the New Zealand team as much as I wanted England to win. Williamson, Southee, Blundell etc are really good players.

154avatiakh
Feb 28, 2023, 2:54 pm


42) Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman (2017)
fiction
I read this in one sitting, not something I do that often. Highly enjoyable read about Eleanor overcoming her past. I can understand the novel's popularity now.

I've just started Meredith, alone which is also set in Glasgow.

155avatiakh
Mar 1, 2023, 6:48 am


43) Meredith, alone by Claire Alexander (2022)
fiction
Another debut novel set in Glasgow and featuring a main character who is also not fine. Meredith hasn't left her house in almost 4 years. She's about to turn 40 and decides to welcome a volunteer from the Holding Hands organisation into her house for one hour each week.
This was an OK read about depression and surviving abuse, not my favourite topics for a novel.

156SandDune
Mar 2, 2023, 1:59 pm

>154 avatiakh: It's a good read, that one, isn't it?

157avatiakh
Editado: Mar 3, 2023, 7:45 pm

>156 SandDune: One of my better reads for this year definitely.

This bright, sunny Saturday morning I visited the neighbourhood in the CBD where we used to live back in the 1990s. After I went to The Hard to Find Bookshop which is tucked away in an inner city street. Browsed and came away with a few to add to my shelves:

Battlefields and Playgrounds by Janos Nyiri -
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard
Enchantress from the stars by Sylvia Endahl
Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn
Beyond Belief by Dee White
In the Labyrinth by John David Morley
Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse
The Chinese Emperor by Jean Lévi
Wandering Stars by Sholem Aleichem

158avatiakh
Mar 3, 2023, 10:16 pm

...and a trip to the library:
Out of darkness by Ashley Hope Perez - TIOLI challenge to read a book burnt, banned or criticised
Man of straw by Heinrich Mann - his books were burnt by the Nazis
Why we took the car by Wolfgang Herndorf - an award winning German YA roadtrip novel
Dot & Anton by Erich Kästner - his books were also burnt by Nazis

159avatiakh
Editado: Mar 5, 2023, 8:38 pm


44) Death in Shangri La by Yigal Zur (2011 Hebrew) (2018 English)
fiction
Interesting adventure read set mostly in India. Terrorists strike in the Kashmir region in a Mumbai style attack of Israeli backpackers. One honeymoon couple have their houseboat hijacked. Ex Shin-bet agent Dotan Naor arrives to investigate the killing of his acquaintance, an Israeli arms dealer. Naor knows the local Indian culture of the region very well.

I'm reading the next Dotan Naor, Passport to Death which is set in Thailand.

160avatiakh
Mar 6, 2023, 5:41 am


Mum & Dad by Joanna Trollope (2020)
fiction
DNF - gave this 50 pages and decided it wasn't for me. I picked it off the library shelves thinking that a book set in Spain's Andalusia would be a good read, but it's about family relationships and the adult children got on my nerves as soon as each one was introduced.

161avatiakh
Mar 9, 2023, 11:19 pm


45) 400 Days by Chetan Bhagat (2021)
crime
Part-time detectives Keshav & Saurabh take on a cold case, a young girl abducted from her home almost a year earlier. Her mother seems to be the only one still interested in finding her, the police have closed the case and her in-laws say that the family should move on.
Once you get used to the writing style this was quite a good read.

162avatiakh
Mar 11, 2023, 3:19 pm


46) Passport to Death by Yigal Zur (2011 Hebrew) (2019 English)
fiction
Dotan Naor #2. Only two in the series, or only two translated to English at least. Naor comes to Bangkok to find a missing Israeli woman but this one seems tied to people from his own past. This is a trip into the extremely seedy side of Bangkok and and the nasty cesspit young backpackers can fall into. I've enjoyed the two Dotan Naor books, they expose a gritty realistic view of two exotic destinations.

163avatiakh
Editado: Mar 11, 2023, 6:40 pm


47) The Writer's Cats by Muriel Barbery ((2020)
illustrated story
Delightful tale of the writer's cats as told by one of them. Four grey Chatreuse cats live with the writer and her musician husband. They feel that they contribute greatly to the writer's literary career and want to be acknowledged, hence the book. Lovely cute illustrations throughout by Maria Guitart.


164avatiakh
Mar 17, 2023, 12:56 am


48) The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon (1955)
stories for children
Winner of the Carnegie Medal (UK) 1955. This is a delightful collection of stories that I should have read years ago but never did. I have read her memoir, A nursery in the nineties which tells of her childhood.

165avatiakh
Editado: Mar 17, 2023, 1:57 am


49) Tokyo Rose: Zero Hour: A Japanese American Woman's Persecution and Ultimate Redemption After World War II by Andre R Frattino (2022)
graphic biography
I asked my library to purchase this GN after reading Suzanne's comments on it. This tells the story of Iva Toguri, a Japanese-American, who was the 'notorious' Tokyo Rose that hosted Zero Hour during the war. She is branded a traitor after the war, imprisoned and never saw her husband, a Filipino-Japanese ever again. The real story only came out in the 1970s when she received a Presidential pardon.
Well worth a read.

166avatiakh
Mar 17, 2023, 6:19 am


50) But I live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust edited by Charlotte Schallié (2022)
graphic novel
This is an interesting project. Three illustrators and writers are matched with four child Holocaust survivors (2 are brothers). Through a series of interviews, their stories of survival are told in bold graphic styles, with the past mingling with their present day activity.
The last pages of the books goes over the stories of these survivors in more detail and there is also a graphic portrayal of the project itself.

167avatiakh
Mar 17, 2023, 6:36 am


51) Wrath by Marcus Sedgwick (2022)
YA
This is published by Barrington Stoke and is for dyslexic readers, so while the layout and word choice is simple, the story itself is for older readers. A girl has gone missing just as Covid lockdowns are ending. She was one of the few who can hear the Earth hum. Her friend Fitz must use the clues to find her as the police don't seem to be getting anywhere and her parents are always arguing about climate change issues. The title of the book concerns Scotland's Cape Wrath - wikipedia: 'The name Cape Wrath is derived from Old Norse hvarf ("turning point"), accordingly, wrath is pronounced /ˈræθ/ (a as in cat), Vikings are believed to have used the cape as a navigation point where they would turn their ships.'
So sad that Sedgwick died last year at only 54yrs. I've read most of his books and must get on and read the last few.

168avatiakh
Mar 20, 2023, 1:12 am


52) Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (2016)
YA historical

Carnegie Medal (UK) Winner 2017. Took me a long while to get to this one but was well worth the wait. It's 1945 and refugees are making their way to north Poland's ports trying to get there before the Russian army overtakes them. There are ships ready to take them to safety.
Recommended. I have her latest, I must betray you on my tbr pile.

169FAMeulstee
Mar 20, 2023, 5:08 pm

>168 avatiakh: I liked all books by Ruta Sepetys I have read, Kerry. Next one for me is also I must betray you.

170avatiakh
Mar 21, 2023, 9:25 pm

>169 FAMeulstee: I seem to have only read one before this one. I always intended to read more.

171avatiakh
Mar 21, 2023, 9:36 pm


53) No hero for the Kaiser by Rudolf Frank (1931 German) (1983 English)
children's
This children's book was one of those burnt by Nazis in 1933. It's an anti-war book, the author fled to Switzerland in 1933 and lived there till his death in 1979. When the book was republished in Germany in the 1970s it won several awards.
Jan is adopted into a German battalion when he and his dog are all that's left alive in a small Polish hamlet after a bitter exchange between Russians and Germans in 1914. It's beneficial for both Jan and the soldiers as while he gets fed and friendship, the soldiers get an observant helper who saves them a number of times, even the dog, Flox, plays his part.

172labfs39
Mar 22, 2023, 8:04 pm

Visiting your thread is always dangerous for my wishlist.

173avatiakh
Mar 23, 2023, 6:45 pm

>172 labfs39: I'm prone to adding to my tbr list all the time when visiting threads too. Very dangerous pastime.

174avatiakh
Mar 23, 2023, 6:52 pm


54) Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (2020)
fiction
This is my 5th book read for the annual bookpool challenge for NZ readers over on GR. I really enjoy participating in this challenge each year. This time we had a large pool of books to choose to read from, I still hope to read either The Quiet People or Auē before the end of the month.

This is about a bank robbery gone wrong that results in a group of people at an apartment viewing being held hostage. It's a fun comfort read with a bunch of oddball characters.

175PaulCranswick
Mar 24, 2023, 8:01 pm

>172 labfs39: I have to agree with Lisa. I do think that your thread is the one that I have picked up the most book bullets from over the years, Kerry.

Have a lovely weekend.

176avatiakh
Mar 25, 2023, 4:06 am

>175 PaulCranswick: I'm always willing to share the good news on a great read.

177avatiakh
Mar 25, 2023, 4:20 am


55) The Bride Test by Helen Hoang (2019)
romance
I got this out from the library after browsing the romance shelves. Thin pickings for me there and I won't try again. This one was a little too hot and saucy for me and that left not much of a plot. Vietnamese Esme agrees to spend the summer in California. Recruited by his mother, her role is to get autistic Khai Diep to fall in love with her, marriage would be the ultimate success.

178avatiakh
Editado: Mar 25, 2023, 4:37 am

Picked up a few library books:
Limberlost by Robbie Arnott - set in Tasmania, opening sentence: 'It was believed a whale had gone mad at the mouth of the river.'
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes - Medusa's story
stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius - novel about the Sámi people

Current reading:
The Beginners by Anne Serre - love how she writes
The Pawnbroker by Edward Lewis Wallant - novel about a Holocaust survivor
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez - historical YA
Victorious by Yishai Sarid - due back at the library in a few days

179labfs39
Mar 26, 2023, 3:13 pm

>174 avatiakh: fun comfort read Wasn't it though? I love Backman's warm tone, with the exception of the Beartown trilogy, of which I am not a fan.

180avatiakh
Mar 26, 2023, 4:44 pm

>179 labfs39: This was my first Backman's book, I'll have to look out his other books while taking note of your thoughts on the Beartown trilogy. I wouldn't have picked this one up except for that GR bookpool challenge I'm participating in at present. I also read Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine because of this challenge and I loved that one.

I'll have to get reading, I have several books I'd like to finish reading before the end of March. Several are due back to the library by then.

181avatiakh
Mar 29, 2023, 10:25 pm


56) The Beginners by Anne Serre (2021)
fiction
I read Serre's novella, The Governesses earlier in the year and wanted to immerse myself again in her writing. This one starts out quite well though I lost interest towards the end. A woman after twenty years of a passionate and loving relationship with her partner, falls in love at first sight with another man. She loves both men, but differently, and much of the book is about her dilemma of whether she should leave her current relationship or not.

182avatiakh
Mar 30, 2023, 10:05 pm

I take photos of books in bookshops or at the library so I can research them in my spare time at home to see if they are worth buying/reading.
Today I was looking back at the last few I took and one was Yoga by Emmanuel Carrère, which I've now requested from the library. Quite a few of his titles look interesting but the subtitle of his Liminov biography is quite something! Limonov: The Outrageous Adventures of the Radical Soviet Poet Who Became a Bum in New York, a Sensation in France, and a Political Antihero in Russia.

Here's The Guardian review of Yoga - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/may/29/yoga-by-emmanuel-carrere-review-th...

183avatiakh
Mar 30, 2023, 10:14 pm

I've just returned a number of library books mostly unread. Some I'll get out again at a later date, others I've read a few pages in and decided not to continue. I tend to go off track from my reading plans so need to get back to books such as The Children's Book that I promised myself to finish.
I finished The Pawnbroker yesterday, it was a great read that I'm still coming down from.

184avatiakh
Editado: Mar 31, 2023, 3:00 am


57) The Pawnbroker by Edward Lewis Wallant (1961)
fiction
Powerful story about a Holocaust survivor. I loved Wallant's writing style and am a little annoyed that I returned the book back to the library as it was overdue and forgot to read the forward by Dara Horn.
Sol runs a pawnbroking shop in 1950s East Harlem. Every day his life is pain as he has repressed all his feelings and never processed the grief of losing his family in the camps. Through his haunting dreams, the reader discovers the tragedy of his loss.

185avatiakh
Mar 31, 2023, 2:35 am


58) Different for Boys by Patrick Ness (2023)
YA
A sensitive story. Ant has been doing lots of bedroom stuff with Charlie though they've never kissed. Has he lost his virginity yet? He's not sure what counts when it's between two boys. At school, Charlie is extremely confrontational and angry towards their friend Jack who acts quite camp. Ness is quite the master at tackling these issues between these boys. The pencil illustrations by Tea Bendix are quite fitting for the book.
This is not a wordy book and the writing is just right. Ness uses black boxes for all the swearing and it's quite fun to try and figure out what the boys are saying in those passages.
A good review here: https://berliedoherty.com/different-for-boys-patrick-ness/



186labfs39
Mar 31, 2023, 3:18 pm

>184 avatiakh: Added to the old wishlist...

187quondame
Mar 31, 2023, 10:37 pm

>184 avatiakh: I remember the movie made from this and the controversy it raised.

188avatiakh
Abr 1, 2023, 3:34 am

>186 labfs39: Make sure you read this one, Lisa. Well worth your time.

>187 quondame: I read the wikipedia entry on the film, very interesting. Can't get my head around the fact that Quincy Jones wrote 'Soul Bossa Nova' for the nightclub scene and that eventually became the Austin Powers theme music.

189PaulCranswick
Abr 1, 2023, 4:53 am

>184 avatiakh: I will go and seek that one out, Kerry.

Have a lovely weekend.

190avatiakh
Abr 1, 2023, 6:38 am

>189 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, this was a great read.
Daylight saving finishes tonight, so get to sleep in.

191avatiakh
Editado: Abr 4, 2023, 5:53 pm

Reading Plans for April -

I seem to have accumulated a lot of one-word title books on my current tbr pile and there is a one-word title TIOLI challenge, so these will be my priority plus a couple of other library books.
Conviction by Dror Mishani
Loki by Melvin Burgess
Victorious by Yishai Sarid
Limberlost by Robbie Arnott
Malice by Keigo Higashino
Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius - Reading
Transit by Anna Seghers
Creation by Gore Vidal

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton - Reading
Why we took the car by Wolfgang Herndorf
The Rose Revived by Katie Fforde

and still going on The Children's Book

192FAMeulstee
Abr 1, 2023, 4:34 pm

>191 avatiakh: I might join you with Stolen.

193avatiakh
Abr 1, 2023, 6:52 pm

>192 FAMeulstee: Oh that would be nice. I'll move it up the pile so I'm sure to get it read.

I need to get to Birnam Wood next as its due date is coming up.

194quondame
Abr 1, 2023, 9:07 pm

>191 avatiakh: Wow, your list is way longer than mine! Glad to be of assistance.

195avatiakh
Editado: Abr 4, 2023, 5:51 pm


59) Conviction by D. A. Mishani (2022 English) (2021 Hebrew)
crime
Avi Avraham #4. Two unrelated cases crop up for police inspector Avraham. A Swiss tourist has gone missing from his hotel and a newborn baby has been found abandoned near to a hospital.
Enjoyable Israeli crime writing that quietly gets the job done.
I'm now up to date in this series.

196PaulCranswick
Abr 5, 2023, 5:09 am

Stopping by to wish you a joyous Passover, Kerry. x

197avatiakh
Abr 5, 2023, 9:53 pm

>196 PaulCranswick: Thanks Paul. We had a lovely meal last night. I made Mexican matzo ball soup, baked stuffed snapper & batata harra. Lots of wine and sparkling grape juice.

I'm not sure about reading Catton's Birnam Wood, after 50 pages not met a character or plot that excites me.

198PaulCranswick
Abr 5, 2023, 10:26 pm

>197 avatiakh: That sounds delicious, Kerry.

Catton is a strange one and she hasn't really grabbed me as yet with her novels.

199avatiakh
Editado: Abr 6, 2023, 7:04 am

>198 PaulCranswick: Yeah, decided to DNF at this point on the Catton. I really enjoyed her other two books and might try this one again at a later date.

So my main read at present will be Stolen which captivated my attention from the first page.
I've got another Carnegie Medal book out from the library, Dear Nobody by Berlie Doherty.

200avatiakh
Editado: Abr 8, 2023, 5:29 pm

I started reading Malice by Keigo Higashino but it was very familiar and I immediately remembered most of the plot, so checked and I read it in 2015...so will pick up Limberlost instead.

201avatiakh
Abr 8, 2023, 5:40 pm


60) The Rose Revived by Katie Fforde (1995)
romance
This was a comfort type read that Suzanne reread recently and became a BB for me. Three young women all urgently needing well paid work, turn up for interviews at a cleaning agency. May lives on a canal boat and has hefty mooring fees overdue, Harriet has finally runaway from her overbearing grandparents, and Sally needs to earn enough to pay for a new flat so she can leave her hostile boyfriend behind.

202avatiakh
Abr 12, 2023, 4:25 pm


61) Book Lovers by Emily Henry (2022)
romance
Slightly entertaining story set around books, publishing and bookstores. I've waited ages in the library queue for this book. Nora is a workaholic literary agent and a New Yorker through and through. Her sister insists on taking her to a small country town near Ashville NC for a summer vacation.

203avatiakh
Abr 12, 2023, 4:32 pm


The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie (2023)
fiction

DNF. Read about 50 pages and decided it's not for me. Others have enjoyed this and it's on The Women's Prize for Fiction longlist.
Este tema fue continuado por Kerry (avatiakh) loves to read in 2023 #2.