I loved this book and I‘m surprised it has such a low Litsy score. Perhaps it‘s because this is a very internal novel with a lot of character exploration rather than plot. Ali takes us through Nazneen‘s life from her birth in Bangladesh, her arranged marriage and immigration to England and her life there as a wife, mother and eventually active member of her community. It‘s a book about an immigrant experience but also about relationships ⬇️

I read this book watching my family on the luge, with Queenstown below me. More #sceneryspam

I really enjoyed this although I‘m fond of the “loner child observes upper class English family” trope. Flora is a neglected child who falls in love with an entire family. Over the years they vary in their treatment of her. Wesley has a sharp eye for showing the flaws in characters without turning them into straight forward villains. ⬇️

#notbookrelated

Travelling around the bottom of the South Island at the moment and thought I‘d share one spectacular view with you all. Any lighthouse lovers out there? This is called Nugget Point or Tokata. We walked right out to the balcony that hangs over the edge. It‘s amazing to get out and see the lesser known treasures of your own country 😊 hope you all get the chance to see some treasures wherever you are!

This is definitely my “flavour” of book - a genre mash of historical/magical/fantasy. It‘s picturesque but a slow moving, character driven plot that isn‘t for everyone. A wounded 19th century explorer is brought out of retirement for a seemingly impossible expedition to smuggle plants out of Peru. His path will lead him to confront an ancient culture and upend many of his assumptions about the world.

#bookserendipity

When you buy a book from Abebooks for a couple of dollars and it turns out to be signed by the author. 😍

PS this book is well travelled. Seems to have started life in Memphis, then I bought it from a bookshop near Edinburgh and it‘s come now to New Zealand!

Wow.
This book punched me in the guts, stood me on my head and forcibly opened my eyes. I mean I thought I understood quite a lot about racism and slavery and the ongoing impacts in modern times, but I clearly did not. This felt visceral and intellectual both.
I appreciated that Coates takes you through his own progress in investigating, his deeper and deeper understanding - it helped me to get past the easy truths to the harder ones.

#notbookrelated

I‘ve been in “not reading” mode. First a horrible chest infection - you know when you are actually too sick to read, that sucks - and then four days in Melbourne, a mother daughter treat for her upcoming 15th birthday.
@Reggie here is another pavlova for you! This one is at the Hopetoun Tea Rooms, Melbourne‘s oldest tea room 😍
Now I seriously hope my reading mojo is back because 5 books just came in for me at the library!

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 7

Would you like to play @swishandflick ? Post a favourite cover every day for 7 days and tag someone in if you can.

Dickens reaches Peak Snark in this novel. He‘s ripping into all manners of bourgeoisie behaviour in nineteenth century London. The chapters about the Veneerings are pretty damn funny! 😂 Here he has Lady Tippins who comes to weddings specifically to sum them up in her caustic manner.

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 6

@thegirlwiththelibrarybag would you like to play? Post a favourite cover every day for 7 days, no explanation, and tag someone else. No pressure to join in though!

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 5

@kezzlou85 would you like to play along? A cover each day, no explanation, and tag someone new in if you can.

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 4

@BarbaraTheBibliophage would you like to play? Post a favourite cover a day with no explanation - tag someone in each day if you can.

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 3

@Oryx would you like to have a go at this challenge? Post 7 favourite covers over 7 days without explanation - just tag a new person each time.

Fry covers the Greek origin myths from creation through the Titans and then the major gods plus a lot of fun smaller ones like the Muses. As always he has a gentle wry style with the odd pop culture reference or double entendre. A light and easy way to read about Greek myths. I think I‘ll get the next one on audio though because his voice is 😍.
3.5 stars. It probably would be 4 except I‘m a little bit in love with Ovid who overshadows this 😜

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 2

Would you like to have a go at this challenge @Dragon ? Post a favourite cover each day for 7 days and tag someone new each time 😊

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 1

Thanks for the tag @CarolynM 😘

@Jas16 would you like to have a go? 7 days, 7 covers you love, no explanation - and tag someone new each time.

Spring is sprung! 🇳🇿 Well here it has. After a month of rain and being cooped up indoors, the smell of flowers on our Sunday walk was heady I tell you! 😍

It‘s been hard to settle down with a book lately. What is it about funerals that bring up old family dramas? 🙄 I am taking no sides, but it seems that means ALL the people want to tell me how awful everyone else is.

Bah humbug. I finally get a chance to avoid the humans. This little book seems like it will do the trick. I can‘t do anything too serious or philosophical this week!

A 1959 book that was unknown to me, discovered for my year of SFF. It reminded me a little of Foundation and also Fahrenheit 451, with the concept of civilisation destroying itself, rebuilding, only to destroy itself again. The book is told in three linked novellas - each one the forgotten prehistory of the next. For such a serious theme there is also humour and fascinating characters 4.5 stars (pic: piece of a recent New Yorker review)

Thursday flowers a la @Cinfhen 💕

Much needed this week. My step sister is in hospice and going through her last days. We weren‘t super close but I‘ve been visiting her a lot and cooking for her over the past three months. It was a gift to have that time in retrospect. She‘s in a coma now so I think she‘s out of pain - we‘re all in this waiting space. 🌸🌼🌻🌷🌹

From the first sentence Jesmyn Ward has picked up my heart and is carrying it in her hands. I‘m tense because I‘m not sure if she‘s going to crush it or even give it back to me. I want to protect her 12 year old protagonist Jojo so much that I can‘t breathe in some places. But Ward isn‘t writing a thriller, isn‘t trying to push my buttons, her depiction of a life and a history is made brutal because it‘s authentic and one we rarely hear. 5 stars.

I‘ve had a very busy non-reading few days with my great nephews visiting from Melbourne (yes I‘m young to be a great aunt, thank you for noticing 😋) They are so delicious. They have already had a bunch of picture books from me so I‘m now gifting them some chapter books - by the time they start school they‘ll be well set up!

I put together my 2020 book list and I‘m sorry, I couldn‘t help it. 😂 But it was so much fun and I‘m looking forward to next year x1000! My list is made up of a challenge I‘ve set myself to read some classics I‘ve never read (like Proust 😬) plus titles from my original, written in a journal, TBR, that are from the early 2000s, a few from my Litsy stack and a few diverse reads that I‘m guilty I haven‘t read yet. How do you plan your reading year?

This was a very enjoyable read. I think this landed on my TBR thanks to you @Crazeedi ? I know you‘ve recommended it to others recently so it was probably one of your posts that did it! Commissario Brunetti is a great character, I like his gentle humour and long suffering patience - and his happy family life makes him so different to most of my detective reads! I like how his wife and kids have their opinions about his case too 😊👍

Ovid and I are finally finished with each other - between this and Silence of the Girls I feel like I‘ve been vacationing in Ancient Greece 😍 (and a little bit of Rome, yes Ovid, we see you sucking up to Augustus there at the end 😂)
If you like Greek mythology this is actually not a hard read. Although it‘s an epic poem, it was easy to follow and the adventures and tragedies had recognisable beginnings, middles and ends. ⬇️

Beautifully told and harrowing account of the Trojan War from the perspective of Briseis, a Trojan princess given as a slave to Achilles. The only thing that stopped this being a 5 star read for me was that I didn‘t think the chapters from Achilles perspective were as powerful - I was disappointed to move away from Briseis perspective. That‘s a small quibble though, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I‘ve been hoping my 9yo would someday find a book so exciting that he could live without illustrations or cartoon graphics in the text - turns out this was the book 😍. Before Story Thieves, he would flick through books and assume they were “too hard” or “boring”. For the past cpl years I‘ve been thankful for all the great books with graphic elements on most pages - now I‘m glad he can now choose an all text book too 🙌 #raisingreaders

Looks like I needed something else light and fluffy and this was great. I‘d been recommended Tessa Dare and I was impressed. Although simpler than Courtney Milan IMO, it was still very enjoyable. I do like a grumpy hero with a heart of gold and a straight talking, strong minded heroine. Also explicit - so not for the faint of heart 😂😂

After a week of reading about war atrocities something lighter was called for - this cosy mystery did the trick! I actually ate dumplings today and Did Not Think to photograph them - such rookie behaviour! ?? So these are Googled dumplings, not the cute gyoza with pea purée and fried sugar snaps and roasted almonds I had for lunch ?
This is a cute little book - not much to it, but sweet characters and lots of food. ? ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Watched this version of Jane Eyre on Netflix this week and god, Mia Wasikowska was amazing! I know she doesn‘t want to be typecast as the nineteenth century literary heroine actress, but I would pay to see her do all my favourites! Also Michael Fassbender... I‘ve never really been a Rochester fan... but Fassbender, I‘m prepared to swoon for Fassbender! 😍😂😂😂

Man, this book. It bears witness to dozens of atrocities, some of the worst things mankind has ever inflicted on mankind. And yet it may be the best book I‘ve read this year. It‘s made me think so hard - about violence and the nature of humanity, government and revolution.
Many people will find this too brutal - but there is something hopeful in knowing that these stories have been captured, their words have been heard all around the world.

This novella is number 7.5 in the Rivers of London series but this time it‘s set in Germany. Much like JK Rowling and Fantastic Beasts, Aaronovitch has gone international. 😉 Unlike FB, although we‘ve got new characters, we‘re not really uncovering any more of the history of this world - same kind of story, different setting.
And... I don‘t care. I still loved it and wanted it to be twice as long. 😍😍😍

Through a sheer fluke I am reading a woman in translation during Woman in Translation month. Well thank you serendipity 😉

It‘s very good so far - and quite jaw dropping to think that perestroika happened during my lifetime and I know so little about it. My Belarusian friend is going to be a little bit impressed if I finish this chunkster - Alexievich is from Belarus.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12257373

Not book related. Just had to show you my favourite news article of the weekend. 😍🙏🥰

Wow. I think Sarah Waters must have been possessed by the ghost of Wilkie Collins when she wrote this. It‘s so good. Waters can put you in a mildewing Victorian stately home or a grimy London alley and people these settings with colourful Dickensian characters - and take 500 pages to do it - but she‘ll also give you a plot that jumps and runs and dances about until your brain is addled and you can‘t leave the house until it‘s finished!

I‘d heard many good things about this novel but I didn‘t realise how compulsively readable it was going to be. It was almost claustrophobic being inside this relationship for the past two days, a magnetically intense space to be in. At first the issues in the relationship seemed obvious, but black and white soon became grey and murky. A really good read for anyone who enjoys an intense psychological drama.

Following in @Cinfhen ‘s footsteps with #tuesdayflowers Not bad for a winters day! Cheering me up anyhow 😊

Couple more shots from our little cabin retreat on our winter weekend away in Matakana. I finished this YA novel which was a nice change of pace. Very engrossing story of two broken young people drawn to each other and trying to get past their traumas. Lots of angst but well done. A couple of things were problematic IMO, but others were handled well so I‘m not quibbling. I think if you loved Colleen Hoover‘s Hopeless you‘ll love this.

Just had to show you the beautiful little floral touches at the cafe I had breakfast at this morning. So so sweet - the breakfasts and coffees were amazing too. We had a winter weekend away without the kids - I‘ll tell you about the book I finished later! 🤓💕

What an amazing and strange book. If you like science fiction then I‘d highly recommend this as something fresh and new (at least to Western audiences). Take a historical beginning and lead into a huge scientific mystery creating distress amongst the scientists of the world, insert a jaded police officer, a wide eyed physicist, a VR game and the creators of a potential world ending catastrophe - then mix it up violently!

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

Doing this the opposite way to usual! Answers above, questions below...
1) favourite movie soundtrack 2) how many apps on your phone 3) most addictive mobile game 4) apps that have changed your life

5) I tag @rretzler @TheSpineView @Lady_Tigana_20 and @Scash1114 if you‘d like to have a go. If you‘d rather post a photo of the questions check out the original post on @Eggs feed 👍

#chunksteralert

Halfway through this chunkster - although as it‘s an epic poem the book size is deceiving - there‘s not as many words per page as a novel. You‘ve done me a favour Ovid, I appreciate how quickly and simply you tell each myth, but my lord there is a lot of rape and violence in Greek mythology. 😬 Still I‘m hoping I‘ll remember more of my minor gods and goddesses after this 🤞

Been out for a windy walk and got cold to my bones - home now for Blanket, Tea, this Book and my son is bringing me a hot wheat bag to tuck in beside me 👍👍 Perfection.

If you‘ve been to Auckland, this is along from Mission Bay.

I‘m not quite there yet on the #readingenvysummerreading challenge. I‘ve finished something swampy, something true and something blue - and I‘ve just started my something translated. How long have I got left @ReadingEnvy ? And of course for me it‘s winter 😂😂 #readingenvysummerchallenge

It took me a long time to read this slim book. Rilke‘s letters are heavy with quotable advice and beautiful turns of phrase. I had to keep putting it down so I could think on what I had just read. This will be a book I keep turning to and flicking through - the principles of patience and solitude and creativity are much needed in my world right now. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow. I spent a good portion of this book utterly confused - but in a good way! If you love a good mystery novel and can handle some fantastical elements (like waking up each morning as a different person) then this might be for you. Imagine Kate Atkinson‘s Life after Life crossed with Agatha Christie‘s And Then There Were None.
Not sure if it‘s the perfect mystery plot but it was one heck of a roller coaster ride - unlike anything else! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A great fantasy - atmospheric and a little witchy, with a wintry Russian feel - would make a great Halloween read. It‘s full of folklore (how authentic I don‘t know). Vasilisa is a special child, at one with the wilderness and the small spirits that guard the house and stables. Her nurse worries that a wild flower like Vasi must leave home and become a dutiful wife and a lady soon. Only Vasi knows she must never leave the forest. ⬇️

Read 400 pages of this yesterday which I think is a record for me. About a quarter of that at the thermal pools (school holidays!) Who else has thermal pools in their city? These ones are pretty dated but my bones enjoyed the heat 🔥

This is a 5 star fantasy. A fully fledged epic, which stands up to the best of my classic reads but also (thank you lord) depicts gender and class issues thoughtfully. ⬇️

Only one third into this #chunkster but I‘m loving it. What a huge world with its own mythology. I need to read for a couple of hours a day at least if I‘m going to get through it before it‘s due back! #bookwormproblems

I really enjoyed this. It‘s not a typical plot heavy page turner apocalyptic novel so be warned. It‘s quiet, thoughtful and almost emotionless. It felt quite real - how would a city unravel slowly in the face of an epidemic with no cure? How would lives ruled by corporations slowly grind to a halt? Candace has become almost an automaton in NY, an orphan and a loner, an office worker following routine. Will she grind to a halt too?⬇️