I really enjoyed this. In the first half of the book we follow the ups and downs of Lotto, a beloved but harassed young man, through the highs and lows of his life - for most of which his stalwart wife Mathilde is by his side. And in the second half we see things from Mathilde‘s perspective. The first half is a little bloated in places, a little too clever inserting so many sections of Lotto‘s plays, but then that balances out ⬇️

Thank you for the gift of this book @Reggie ! I‘ve taken about 3 months to read it because almost every chapter I had to stop and think for a few days. It‘s truly changed the way I view the natural world - I want to be a participant with it and not a spectator of it. Figuring it out will take some time but I see a way forward now. Again the learnings we get from indigenous cultures are just mind blowingly valuable 🤯 Kimmerer is a genius ⬇️

#notbookrelated For those of my Litsy friends who have been asking about #hiselderliness here he is looking like a skinny Santa! 100 days without a beard trim in lockdown 🎅🎅🎅 I‘ve seen him twice this week taking him to hospital for a small surgery - but the good news is that our lockdown levels change in two days and then vaccinated family members will be allowed to visit and cafes are opening so I can possibly take him out for a coffee. ⬇️

Sometimes you need a blast of light & sparkly joy in your reading - Rainbow Rowell‘s Simon Snow trilogy has been that for me. It started in Fangirl as the Harry Potter/Twilight fan fiction the protagonist was supposedly writing, fans of the book asked to read the “fictional fan fiction” and it took on a life of its own! Completely indulgent YA fantasy with adventure, romance & all the feelings. Loved being in the heads of so many characters.

Book haul part 2 - the writers biographies and memoirs section! Gosh I could have got 10 more they had so many. I had both of these Hermione Lee ones on my Wishlist and then the Penelope Lively was a find! I‘m now having buyers regret that I left the Gabriel Garcia Marquez behind. I will go back though 🤞🤞

Part 1 of my book haul. On my way to owning all the Janet Frame books - and a Brookner (of course) a Barry (haven‘t read him yet) a couple of literary reviews…

First book shop I‘ve visited since lock down relaxed and it was WONDERFUL. Honestly so so many books all sorted into different genre rooms, I found so many that I wanted. This is a second hand bookshop and the prices were very reasonable if you‘re ever in Auckland. Book haul to come…

Delightful and then delightfully wicked. I‘d have enjoyed it just for the brilliant Lolly; her spinsterhood and wistful nostalgia for the independence of childhood and the home where she could explore nature. In later life Lolly throws caution to the wind, undoes the ties that bind and creates a new home. I fell in love with her new life in Great Mop and enjoyed her fight to keep it. Beautifully written with a feminist barb in its tail.

Well turns out I do like me some grumpy old men getting lost in the woods. If you‘re a Bryson fan already, which I am, you‘re going to like this book. Brysons love of history and his endless “Did you know?” facts keep this book interesting. His arguments and peeves with his hiking mate Katz, keep it humorous. And he has a love for this trail and the wilderness. But this is as much about when we give up as when we push through. Very entertaining.

This was the book I needed to read. Green‘s musings on our current age starts out humorous & whimsical & gets solidly deeper & more thoughtful (at one point made me cry). His self deprecating voice, his shared vulnerability, was incredibly touching & I thought hard about meaning & humanity‘s impact on the earth. This is a book I have to buy so I can share some essays with my daughter - but I think I need to hear his voice again myself 😍 5 stars.

A sweet novella set in a near future where humans are building a more sustainable, spiritual way of living on the earth following some kind of unmentioned upheaval. Oh and sentient robots who live like nomads in the bush.
As someone else said this is a hug of a book. Sometimes I found the invented gods and spirituality a little twee but it was so well intentioned it didn‘t matter.
And more Spring photos from the park by the hospital.

This is what Spring looks like - no filter. It‘s very green here at the moment!

I was sitting in the park with one eye on the hospital there, (that‘s an old hospital building with a huge incinerator, very Dickensian but no longer in use) waiting for #hiselderliness to finish his appointment. (Two and a half hours!) And listening to this book by John Green which is wonderful.
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Whoa. That was brutal. This debut novel is full of heart and terrific characters but it is not for the faint hearted.
Arama and Taukiri have lost their parents. Taukiri drops his little brother to live at their aunties and disappears. We then follow Ari and Tauk‘s journeys - and also jump back to the past to Toko and Jade whose stories will eventually converge with the young boys. This is a story of gang violence and domestic violence and ⬇️

Frame didn‘t think of this as a novel, she called it a collection of scenes. You have glimpses into the lives of the Withers family, poor and chaotic but kind and loving. Living on the edge of society, fossicking in the local dump for a treasure of a book or a toy. We see them as children and again as adults, post trauma, when one sister, Daphne, has been institutionalised. It‘s a book of brilliant and startling writing. ⬇️

In an attempt to make lockdown weekends more interesting my daughter and I had an English themed afternoon, watched Emma and drank Pimms and ate cucumber sandwiches. This adaptation of Emma was really good I thought - a great way to introduce a teenager to Austen. I‘m not sure our Pimms cocktails were authentic though! We mixed it with lemonade and mint and sliced strawberries- let me know if you‘re a Pimms drinker how you would do it?

So I did a chat with Shawn about this book on his YouTube channel if anyone is interested in watching me gush and gesticulate 😄. (You should also follow Shawn, he has strong opinions which makes for interesting reviews but he‘s also smart and kind and thoughtful) @shawnmooney

https://youtu.be/PadbFMEPXAQ

It may be timing and my mood but in the middle of this book I was finding Forster sanctimonious and heavy handed in his philosophising. And of course the unchecked imperialism can make you cringe. But the writing is glorious, the setting and characters spell binding and then the ending is quite wonderful when he upturns the apple cart. Then Forster shows he does have insight into misogyny and the perils of patriarchy. ⬇️

I‘ve spent two weeks inside this book, two weeks in Janet Frame‘s life and I‘m going to miss walking alongside her. An incredible woman, a sensitive, imaginative writer - her story has bleakness and then vibrant joys and loves. As a biography is it THOROUGH. Written with her permission, King is careful not to indulge in his own analysis,but quotes from miles of correspondence with others, where she, and they, comment on and critique each other.

Currently reading this #chunkster. I‘m loving it though; I love Janet Frame and she had an incredible life, spending most of her twenties in mental hospitals - around 1945 - 1955 which was a dark time for treating mental health issues.

PS an update on #hiselderliness. I still can‘t see him as we are in lockdown but he is well cared for in his village. He isn‘t able to read since his latest hospitalisation unfortunately. ⬇️

AI, space stations, interplanetary gates, a world weary soldier disgusted by the privileged society that has colonised most of the known universes - what‘s not to love? This is the sequel to Ancillary Justice and its great. Great world building, great characters, you can feel the chess pieces moving into place for the big finale but it‘s still highly enjoyable. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this - it‘s a fairly simple mystery where the beauty is in the setting and the telling. A Benedictine monastery in medieval times is a comforting escape at these moment! Cadfael is a wonderful character and an innovative sleuth - he doesn‘t have modern tools or theories and I enjoyed the way Peters uses other things like community and shared beliefs to flush out clues. I have coincidentally read two books in a row set in Wales. ⬇️

416 pages is a break neck speed at which to cover 500 years of history, so I‘m still getting my Maximillians mixed up with my Ferdinands (so to speak) but this was a great overview of a part of history I knew little about. I‘ll definitely need to follow this up with other European history books in years to come - hopefully some of it will bed down in my brain until then.

I loved this. It‘s a kids book, but also an enjoyable couple of hours as an adult read. Just the right amount of spooky for me so this could be a good Halloween read. The characters are the stars here, and their changes and interactions drive the narrative more than a propulsive plot. Events are less neatly explained than usual for a children‘s book which is part of its delight. Do we really know what is happening? ⬇️

I don‘t often read brand new fiction or short story collections but this just won a major NZ fiction prize so I thought I would give it a go. Beautrais writing style really appeals. Her stories are character driven and within moments of each story I was captivated. The people, places and stories felt strangely recognisable - maybe that‘s the impact of reading a NZ writer for a change. Behind the seemingly ordinary are themes of ⬇️

It‘s the 80s and Nick Guest is a young intellectual and discerning aesthete, fresh from Oxford, awed by his friend Toby‘s family and upper class home filled with art and antiques where he is a lodger. Toby‘s father is an MP in the Thatcher government and the home hosts many of the privileged and powerful. Nick seems to be appreciated by the family for his wits and his homosexuality is known and he hopes, accepted. We follow Nick through his ⬇️

Currently reading a history book, a modern classic and an MG adventure - so of course the pleasure of reading about Morrison Crow (and Fenestra the Magnificat!) won the race.
The bizarre thing about this third book in the trilogy is that it was written pre Covid and yet includes an epidemic, quarantines, public protests and community divisions. Prescient much? 😬 But such a fun ride. This world is a lovely place to spend a couple of days.

I chose something random from my TBR and this was a FIND. Ismail Kadare won the inaugural Man Booker International for his body of work. This is from 1977.
The structure moves from a boys description of his life in a stony city in Albania, to pages that are random sentences from the local paper (Chronicle). You get this dreamy boy communing with the city and nature while he mentions glimpses of the adult world. They often don‘t make sense, ⬇️

A random find in a charity shop called to me from my shelves this week. Its an engaging easy read and just what I needed. They call it YA historical fiction. It‘s a mystery with a great creepy Victorian feel and some really grim villains - published in 1985 - there are a few cringey moments but it feels like Pullman was trying to pull away from cultural stereotypes (not quite making it) Highly enjoyable - would make a light creepy October read

So it seems the books that best fit my mood right now are very introspective and philosophise about family and relationships. I loved this. I think @Cathythoughts put this on my radar years ago!
Hartmann and Fibich were orphans evacuated from Germany in WW2. We meet them as old men examining their lives. Although opposites in temperament and outlook they have been bonded in friendship, leant upon each other for life. ⬇️

Hi @Reggie just for your amusement at my list obsession. 🤪 So this is TBR Book Number 2 which I started writing in 2007. It has 98 pages with about 28 books per page. I stopped adding books to it when I started using Litsy. The first book I had for my TBR was larger and I wrote smaller and it had 70 books per page 😳😳😳 I had about 35 pages left but I went through and revised it by at least half and put them on Litsy.

Once again I‘m scouring the oldest part of my handwritten TBR. This was published in 1999. Most of it I really enjoyed but there were a couple of scenes that felt unnecessary.
Sagesse is a grandchild of the well known La Basse family. Her grandfather left his beloved Algeria in the 1950s to try and create a family dynasty back in France. Sagesse is 14 and trying to discover her true self while her family‘s secrets crumble around her. A lot of ⬇️

I picked up this book thinking it would be good for my #natureandoutdoors reading challenge but also that it would be rather a chore to read. I mean letters written by a “lady” in 1865? Well I was wrong. Lady Barker writes amazing letters - full of the sights and sounds of the natural world and lots of pioneering escapades. And they‘re not overly long or wordy! Yes she‘s privileged, and yes, part of the colonising wave of settlers - ⬇️

I love that one of the first things this English woman does when arriving at her new home in 1865 New Zealand is figure out how her book club is going to be run. 🙌 The club members are mostly farmers and shepherds do the books are being spread far and wide.

I have to explain the photo first. @Reggie I opened up a drawer at my dads house and look what was staring up at me! 😳😳😳 I would say I was shocked, but honestly I have learnt to expect ANYTHING.
Anyway this book. It‘s YA Sci Fi and I‘d heard it was reminiscent of Cinder which I loved so I had to jump in. The world building was brilliant, wonderful robots, AI and tech. A couple of great characters (Lemon!), surprisingly not the protagonist, ⬇️

Hey @Reggie thank you so much for this book! It was the perfect distraction in lockdown. Easy to read and absorbing 😍I had no idea craft beer was so complicated. I really appreciated the serious tones to the novel too, (I couldn‘t do anything light and frivolous right now) and the underlying message about grace in difficult times was one I needed at the moment. I‘d recommend this to anyone who likes a family saga - really enjoyed it.

A perfect middle grade book which made me feel immersed in nature and living in the outdoors. What an important book - giving a voice and narrative to indigenous ways of life that were nearly eradicated by colonisation. This would be a very good book just for detailing that life - but it is so much more - Omakayas is such an engaging character, her adventures and sorrows pull you completely inside her world and her heart. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There‘s something about a chunky family saga that I love - following the ups and downs of multiple family member‘s lives over a generation or two. And this one has a wider cast of characters than most - two working class families with money troubles end up sharing a big old colonial “mansion” in a small town. Each family brings their own ghosts and brokenness and the house has some of its own too. Winton can really write and there are some ⬇️

This book is brutal. Unforgettable and brilliant but All The Trigger Warnings. A mother sitting at her son‘s hospital bed with the ghost of her sister begins to tell him their family history on Walker plantation. The story she recounts is violent and traumatic but the characters are rich and complex and the “cursed” nature of the plantation is fascinating.⬇️

As I‘m resting (to help an infection heal), I had plenty of time to read today - and finished this in one sitting. I loved it. Entirely in my wheelhouse - some history, a lot of fantasy, an unusual structure - almost like a play - with a huge variety of characters speaking. While Lincoln and his son are main characters, I hadn‘t realised that other ordinary men and women would steal the spotlight so wonderfully. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a delight. Two of my favourite genres are fantasy and mystery and this is a delicious blend of both! Piranesi is writing a journal of his life in The World but the one living inhabitant he shares it with is acting strangely.
I loved trying to figure out where this was going - as I also loved trying to figure out Stuart Turton‘s The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. This is quite different but you start out just as lost. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Just a light pick for me on this one, although on a different day I‘d probably have rated it more highly. A quality historical fiction about Victoria Speedwell, left a spinster by WW1, she gets involved with the “broderers” at Winchester Cathedral. I have read some great #spinsterlit this year and this didn‘t quite live up to others like Barbara Pym, but it did have more plot. Some fascinating historical details and great ambience and setting.

Well Tom Ripley had a lovely European holiday alright!
This book absolutely engrossed me and I didn‘t want to put it down. Just what I needed at the moment. I did find myself feeling a little anxious as I went about some chores today and had to remind myself that I wasn‘t the character in the book! That‘s some good psychological writing when you‘ve been in a character‘s head and start feeling the weight of his problems.⬇️

The second book in the Nervous Conditions trilogy, Dangarembga‘s semi-autobiographal series of novels set in Zimbabwe. The first book ended as Tambu achieved entry into a prestigious Catholic school (entirely white except for 6 girls). This book covers Tambu‘s high school years during the war for independence and her first job in the post independence world. It opens on a truly harrowing and terrifying moment. ⬇️

#hiselderliness #bookreport

Well we are halfway through cleaning out His Elderliness house that we all lived in since 1981! The second hand shop is coming today to hopefully buy some “treasures” after the family has all selected their own finds to take home. Dad is finding it all very saddening and he is more confused. However we have a book report!
1) he LOVED South Sea Vagabonds so I‘ve bought him his own copy ⬇️

It‘s official - I am a Joan Didion fan and want to read everything she‘s written. 💕
This is almost stream of consciousness as she remembers her daughter‘s life (she died at 39) and tries to come to grips with her own ageing and frailty. It was very timely for me to read this while I‘m dealing with my dads frailty.
There are elements in here that are poetic, ways in which the structure reflects and refracts memories, ⬇️

I‘ve been meaning to read this 1960 book for years as it was a favourite of my late mother. It‘s about Jane, a 27 year old woman living at home with her father, who is thrown out when she announces she is pregnant. She goes to live in a dilapidated London boarding house. The people she meets are unexpectedly supportive and that‘s great BUT my god the racism in here is So Bad. I think that Banks was emphasising ⬇️

I really enjoyed this light little book - thank you @CarolynM for sending it on to me. It is just a short look at the lives of four women working in a big department store in Sydney in the 1950s - and while each of them have their struggles, it‘s an uplifting little book.
Also a school ball photo - very very lucky to have a school ball this year, most of them were cancelled last year. So girls in “evening frocks” a little like the book!

This is another read from the bottom of my TBR. (I mean are the oldest books at the bottom or at the top? 🤷🏻‍♀️) anyway it was a soft pick. I liked the writing and the characters but the denouement was pretty unbelievable and I‘d figured out the murderer much earlier than the sweet but bumbling amateur investigator. Still very enjoyable and as this is the first in a series I‘d forgive those tiny weaknesses and head to the next one for sure. ⬇️

On a break from our beachside town to this blustery, windswept beach in Coromandel. 💕 I just devoured this book of short stories from 2010. They‘re set around a small international newspaper published by a bunch of Americans living in Rome. The author was once a reporter and editor and the setting and work details feel authentic. Each story exposes the life of a different person working on the paper or related to it.⬇️

I found myself reading a book about the lives of two Australian artists I‘ve never heard of - and it was fantastic. I picked this up because I loved Drusilla Modjeska‘s The Orchard many years ago but I thought this wouldn‘t grab me. I was so wrong. Modjeska is looking at the difficulties of being a woman artist in the early twentieth century - and she draws in other women artists of the time.⬇️