Kerry (avatiakh) category challenge 2016 part 2

continuing as my first thread takes too long to load. I might spend this weekend assessing my challenge so far as my reading focus has veered away from what I thought I might like at the beginning of the year., especially with my focus author, Terry Pratchett.

Current Plan for 2016 is to read MY OWN BOOKS
my categories:
1: Spotlight on Terry Pratchett
2: Time Out 1000 Books to Change Your Life
3: Serious Fiction
4: Hemingwayesque
5: Israel & Diaspora - Jewish & Israeli fiction
6: International Fiction - books in translation
7: Fiction: antiheroes/cult/unreliable narrators
8: Fiction: epistolary, diary or journal
9: Historical / Sagas
10: Favourites - writers, genres, series etc
11: Scifi with a focus on Peter F. Hamilton
12: Fantasy with focus on Dragons
13: Literary Collections - fairy tales, folktales, short stories, essays
14: Nonfiction Light: Travel & Food
15: Nonfiction Heavy: History, Politics & Science
16: Illustrated and books for the young
Overflow

Spotlight on Terry Pratchett

Only read Good Omens and The Colour of Magic so hope to read some more Discworld. I have a small collection of used paperbacks collected over the years from thrift shops etc.
1: Wyrd Sisters - finished 20 Jan
2: The Wee Free Men - finished 31 Oct
3:
4:
Planned:
The Light Fantastic
Guards! Guards!
The Wee free men
A hat full of sky

Time Out 1000 Books to Change Your Life
Dipping into this book list and hoping to clear my shelves of a few of the great unread.
1:
2:
3:
4:
Possibilities:
Atomised by Michel Houllebecq
Call it sleep by Henry Roth
Money by Martin Amis
A suitable boy by Vikram Seth

Serious Fiction - I'll be following Paul's British Authors Challenge over in the 75ers group, though some of his choices are lighter fare, anyway I have many great books on my tbr pile as well. I've also organised the ANZAC challenge so will be reading quite a few Australian & NZ writers work.
1: Lovelock by James McNeish (NZ) - finished 16 Jan
2: All the light you cannot see by Anthony Doerr (US) - finished 23 Jan
3: Strange Meeting by Susan Hill (UK) - finished 24 Jan
4: The songs of kings by Barry Unsworth (UK) - finished 30 Jan
5: Gossip from the Forest by Thomas Keneally (Aus) - finished 24 Feb
6: The Widow and Her Hero by Thomas Keneally (Aus) - finished 14 Mar
7: The Pale North by Hamish Clayton (NZ) - finished 04 Apr
8: Spinners by Anthony McCarten (NZ)- finished June
9: Smith's Dream by CK Stead (NZ) - finished June
10: The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning (UK) - finished Jun 30
11: Shot by Sarah Quigley (NZ)- finished Jul
12: Acid Song by Bernard Beckett (NZ) - Sep
13: The girl with the dogs by Anna Funder (Aus) - Sep
14: Remembering Babylon by David Malouf (Aus) - Sep
15: Coda by Thea Astley (Aus) - Sep

Possible Authors:
Barry Unsworth
Anthony Trollope
Bernice Rubens
William Golding
Joseph Conrad
Rebecca West
And the land lay still by James Robertson

Israel & Diaspora - Jewish & Israeli fiction/nonfiction
making an effort to complete my read of David Grossman's books

Fiction:
1: Lineup by Liad Shoham (Israel) - finished 11 Jan
2: Comedy in a Minor Key by Hans Keilson (Holland) - finished 24 Jan
3: Someone to run with by David Grossman (Israel) - finished 20 Mar
4: Shtum by Jem Lester (UK) - finished 03 Aug
5: The Heritage by Jack Michonik (Israel) - finished 30 Jul
6: City of Secrets by Stewart O'Nan (US) - finished Jul
7: The Missing File by D.A. Mishani (Israel) - Nov
8: Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen (Israel) - Nov
9: The book of intimate grammar by David Grossman (Israel) - finished 22 Dec

Nonfiction:
1: Memoirs of a Warsaw Ghetto Fighter by Kazik/Simha Rotem (Israel)- finished 10 Jan
2: The Reckoning: How the Killing of One Man Changed the Fate of the Promised Land by Patrick Bishop (UK) - finished 13 Jan
3: Making David into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel by Joshua Muravchik (US) - finished Jul

Young
1: Audacity by Melanie Crowder (US)- finished 31 Jan
2: Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman (US)- finished 05 Feb
3: Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit (US) - finished 11 Feb
4: Adam and Thomas by Aharon Apelfeld (Israel) - finished 12 Feb
5: The Old Country by Mordicai Gerstein (US) - finished 15 Feb
6: Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman (US) - finished May
7: The Girls in the Velvet Frame by Adèle Geras (US/Israel) - finished July
8: The dog of knots by Kathy Walden Kaplan (US?)- finished Jul 04
9: To build a Land by Sally Watson (US) - finished Jul
10: The Mukhtar's Children by Sally Watson (US) - finished 09 Aug
11: The Emergency Zoo by Miriam Halahmy (UK) - finished Jul
12: Golden Windows and other stories from Jerusalem by Adèle Geras (US) - finished Jul
13: Out of many waters by Jacqueline Dembar Greene (US)- Dec
14: The Return by Sonia Levitin

International Fiction - books in translation: adult and books for young people
1: The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke (German) - finished 03 Jan
2: The Man who spoke Snakish (Estonian) by Andrus Kivirähk - finished 19 Jan
3: Wonderful Clouds by Françoise Sagan (French) - finished 21 Jan
4: The Lover by Marguerite Duras (French) - finished 24 Jan
5: Andean Express by Juan de Recacoechea (Bolivia) - finished 26 Jan
6: Those Without Shadows by Françoise Sagan (France) - finished 27 Jan
7: The secret in their eyes by Eduardo Sacheri (Argentina) - finished 27 Jan
8: 100 Days of Happiness by Fausto Brizzi (Italy) - finished 30 Jan
9: Kamchatka by Marcelo Figueras (Argentina) - finished 03 Mar
10: The Red Collar by Jean-Christophe Rufin (French) - finished May
11: Soft in the head by Marie-Sabine Roger (French)- finished 01 Aug
12: love in lower-case by Francesc Miralles (Spain) - Nov
13: Moonstone: the boy who never was by Sjón (Iceland) - Nov
14: Diary of a body by Daniel Pennac (French)- Nov
Young People
1: Vango: between earth and sky by Timothee de Fombelle - Jul
2: Vango: a prince without a kingdom by Timothée de Fombelle - Sep
3"
4:

Fiction: antiheroes/cult/unreliable narrators
Not sure if I'll keep this category but there seems to be plenty of interesting reading material - another to trim the tbr pile.
1: Kickback by Garry Disher - May
2: Paydirt by Garry Disher - May
3: Deathdeal by Garry Disher - Jun
4: Crosskill by Garry Disher - Jun
5: Port Vila BLues by Garry Disher - Jul
6: The Fallout by Garry Disher - Jul
7: Wyatt by Garry Disher - Jul
8: The Heat by Garry Disher - Jul

Young People
1:
2:
3:
4:

Possibilities - not sure if these all fit will have to check:
Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray
Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Artemis Fowl - finish the series
The Stranger by Camus
Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
In cold blood by Truman Capote
The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Fiction: epistolary, diary or journal
1: Saving Mozart by Raphaël Jérusalmy - finished 08 Jan
2: Diary of a body by Daniel Pennac - finished 21 Nov
3:
4:
Youth
1:
2:
3:
4:
Possibilities:
Any human heart
Perks of being a wallflower
Ella Minnow Pea
Blind Assassin
Burn journals
Carrie
We need to talk about Kevin
Colour Purple
Flowers for Algernon

Historical / Sagas
Seem to have a ton of family sagas on my tbr pile
1: The Denniston Rose by Jenny Pattrick (late 19thC) - finished 27 Feb
2: The Beast's Garden by Kate Forsyth (WW2) - finished 28 Feb
3: The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure (WW2) - finished 24 Apr
4: The secret life of James Cook by Graeme Lay - Oct

Favourites - favourite writers, favourite genres, favourite series etc
renamed this one as I didn't have a general fiction category
1: Pallet on the floor by Ronald Hugh Morrieson - finished 14 Jan
2: Jonathan Unleashed by Meg Rosoff - finished 27 Feb
3: Jennie by Paul Gallico - finished 09 Mar
4: Thomasina by Paul Gallico - finished May
5: Scruffy by Paul Gallico - finished Jul 01
6: Birds of Passage by Bernice Rubens - finished Jul 05
7: Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones - finished 08 Aug
8: A body in Barcelona by Jason Webster - finished Jul
9: CHERUB: New Guard by Robert Muchamore - finished Jul
10: An island of our own by Sally Nicholls - finished Aug
11: Checkmate by Dorothy Dunnett (Lymond #6) - finished 29 Aug
12: Raging Robots and Unruly Uncles by Margaret Mahy - Sep
13: The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones - finished Sep
14: A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer - Oct
15: Night School by Lee Child - Nov
16: Stone's Fall by Iain Pears - Dec
17: Rather be the Devil by Ian Rankin - finished 16 Dec
Possibles:
Nineteen Seventy-Four by David Peace - favourite genre
Robert Goddard

Scifi with a focus on Peter F. Hamilton
Peter F. Hamilton:
1: The secret throne - finished 29 Jan
2: The Dreaming Void - finished Aug 11
3: The Temporal Void - finished 22 Aug
4: The Evolutionary Void - finished 27 Sep
5: The abyss beyond dreams - finished 6 Oct
6: Night without stars - finished 18 Oct
7: Fallen Dragon - finished 28 Dec
scifi:
1: Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel - finished 08 Jan
2: The Children of Men by PD James - finished 20 Jan
3: Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds - finished Jun
4: Logan's Run by William Nolan - finished 03 Oct
Youth:
1: The Prince in Waiting trilogy by John Christopher - finished 05 Mar
2: Anything that isn't this by Chris Priestly - finished 07 Mar
3: Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill - finished 23 Mar
4: Stone Rider by David Hofmeyer - finished Jul
5: The Road to Winter by Mark Smith - Oct
6: Chasing the stars by Malorie Blackman - Oct
7: Black Light Express by Philip Reeve - Nov
8: Swarm by Scott Westerfeld - Dec

Possibilites:
mostly from my tbr pile including Hamilton's Void novels
Goblin Reservation

Fantasy with focus on Dragons
Dragon:
1: The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn #1) by Tad Williams - finished 17 Mar
2: Throne of Jade (Temeraire #2) by Naomi Novik - finished 22 Feb
3: Prairie Fire by E. K. Johnson - Dec

fantasy
1: Daughter of the forest by Juliet Marillier - finished Jun
2: The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher - finished Nov 4
3: Stone of Farewell (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn #2) by Tad Williams - finished Dec 11
4: Thraxas and the warrior monks by Martin Scott - Nov
5: The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch - Dec
Youth:
1: The secret throne by Peter F. Hamilton - finished 29 Jan
2: The Red Abbey Chronicles: Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff - finished 02 Feb
3: Bone Gap by Lauren Ruby - finished 11 Feb
4: Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee - finished 25 Mar
5: The Call by Peadar O'Guilin - finished 13 Sep
6: Into the Grey by Celine Kiernan - Sep
7: Battlesaurus: Clash of Empires by Brian Falkner - Oct
8: The Lost Tohunga by David Hair - Nov
9: The King of the Copper Mountains by Paul Biegel - Nov

Possibilities
Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop
Temeraire series - to finish
Stoneheart
Icefire series - to finish
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman

Literary Collections - fairy tales, folktales, short stories, essays
1: The Art of Reading by Damon Young - finished Jul
2: Coming home in the dark by Owen Marshall - Sep
3: The Little Humpbacked Horse: a Russian tale adapted by Elizabeth Winthrop
4:

Nonfiction Light: Memoirs, Travel & Food
1: The Unexpected Professor: an Oxford Life in Books by John Carey - finished 07 Feb
2: Birds, Beasts and Relatives (Corfu Trilogy #2) by Gerald Durrell - finished 02 Apr
3: Garden of the Gods (Corfu Trilogy #3) by Gerald Durrell - finished May
4:
Possibles:
From the Holy Mountain: A Journey In The Shadow of Byzantium by William Dalrymple

Nonfiction Heavy: Religion, History, Politics & Science
1: Clandestine in Chile by Gabriel García Márquez - finished 12 Jan
2: Nine parts desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks - finished 19 Apr
3: Why Vote Leave by Daniel Hannan - finished Jul
4: Falling for Science: asking the big questions by Bernard Beckett - Dec 13
Possibles:
For lust of knowing: The Orientalists and their Enemies by Robert Irwin

Illustrated and books for the young
Graphic Novels
1: Baba Yaga's Assistant by Marika McCoole - finished 08 Jan
2: Human Body Theater by Maris Wicks - finished 14 Jan
3: Filmish: A Graphic Journey Through Film by Edward Ross - finished 21 Jan
4: Letting it go by Miriam Katin - finished 23 Jan
5: Two Brothers by Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon - finished 24 Jan
6: The Eternaut by Héctor Germán Oesterheld - finished 31 Mar
7: Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You, Vol. 1 (Kimi ni Todoke #1) by Karuho Shiina - finished Apr
8: Library Wars: Love & War, Vol. 1 (Library Wars: Love & War #1) by Kiiro Yumi - finished Apr
9: Bakuman, Volume 1: Dreams and Reality (Bakuman #1) by Tsugumi Ohba - finished 25 Apr
10: Princess Jellyfish Vol. 1 omnibus 2-in-1 by Akiko Higashimura - finished May
11: Rolling Blackouts: dispatches from Turkey, Iraq and Syria by Sarah Glidden - Nov
12: Alpha: Abidjan to Gare du Nord by Bessora & Barroux - Nov
13: Notes on a Thesis by Tiphaine Rivière - Nov
14: The Osamu Tezuka Story: a life in manga and anime by Toshio Ban - Dec
15: Ayako by Osamu Tezuki
16: Flying Couch: A Graphic Memoir by Amy Kurzweil

YA:
1: The Boy's Own Manual to being a Proper Jew by Eli Glasman (Aus) - finished 01 Jan
2: Winter by Marissa Meyer (US) - finished 05 Jan
3: Light Horse to Damascus by Elyne Mitchel (Aus) - finished 06 Jan
4: Resurrection by Mandy Hager (NZ) - finished 08 Jan
5: Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine - finished 25 Jan
6: There will be lies by Nick Lake - finished Apr
7: Asking for it by Louise McNeill - finished May
8: The Monstrous Child by Francesca Simon - finished Jul
9) Annan Water by Kate Thompson - Sep
10: Words in deep blue by Cath Crowley - Oct

children's
1: Would the real Stanley Carrot please stand up? by Rob Stevens - finished 21 Jan
2: The war that saved my life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley - finished 01 Feb
3: Pax by Sara Pennypacker - finished 22 Mar
4: The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth (The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow #2) by Katherine Woodfine - finished 25 Mar
5: The Safest Lie by Angela Cerrito - finished May
6: Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan - finished Jun 12
7: Blood Runner by James Riordan - Aug
8: Marge in Charge by Isla Fisher - Oct

Picturebooks:
1: The fox and the star by Coralie Bickford-Smith - finished 14 Jan
2: Robert the Bruce: King of Scots by James Robertson - finished Jan
3: How to Be Famous by Michal Shalev - finished Mar
4: The Only Child by Guo Jing
5: A child of books by Oliver Jeffers & Sam Winston
6: The Worst Breakfast by China Miéville
7: Fuzzy Doodle by Melinda Szymanik
8: Our daft dog Danny by Pamela Allan
9: Penguin Problems by Jory John & Lane Smith
10: Circle by Jeannie Baker
11: The Journey by Francesca Sanna

Overflow for those that don't conform
1: Cold Granite (Logan McRae#1) by Stuart McBride - finished 29 Feb
2: Death in Valencia (Max Camera #2) by Jason Webster - finished 23 Apr
3: The Walking Dead by Gerald Seymour - finished May
4: The Anarchist Detective (Max Camera #3) by Jason Webster - finished May
5: Blood Med (Max Camera #4) by Jason Webster - finished Jun
6: Nothing lasts forever by Roderick Thorp - finished 05 Aug
7: The secret heiress : a tale of dark shadows and extraordinary deception by Luke Devenish - finished Jul
8: Zoo Station by David Downing - Sep
9: Garnethill by Denise Mina - Sep
10: The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas - Oct
12: The girl before by Rena Olsen - Nov
13: Berlin Game by Len Deighton
14: From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell

Hemingwayesque - books by Hemingway or those who knew him, about Hemingway, titles with Hemingway, authors named Hemingway etc
I have read a little Hemingway and thought this would make an interesting mix.
1: Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood - finished 30 Apr
2: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway - Sep

Possibilities:
Hemingway's Suitcase by McDonald Harris
The Hemingway hoax by Joe Haldeman
Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood
Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War by Amanda Vaill
Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn or Gellhorn: A Twentieth-Century Life by Caroline Moorehead
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Hemingway's Notebook by Bill Granger
Amanda Hemingway
No wind of blame by Georgette Heyer (Inspector Hemingway series)

Lost on Mars by Paul Magrs (2015)
YA scifi
First in a trilogy. I had noted this when it came out last year and seeing the cover for book 2 was enough to send me to the library website to grab this e-book a couple of days ago.
Lora and her family are homesteaders on Mars. They make a weekly trip to Town to get supplies. However people have started disappearing, and the rumours are that it's the Martians that are taking them. It looks like the family will have to move on once again if they want to stay safe. This is quite the imaginative scifi, I definitely want to read The Martian Girl, I think it comes out in the next couple of weeks.

Planesrunner by Ian McDonald (2011)
YA scifi
Everness #1. Didn't totally fall for the charms of this one, though I'll probably read book 2 as I loved his The Dervish House.
The book starts out with Everett Singh seeing his Dad kidnapped right in front of him on a London street. From there we discover that his Dad has been working on a secret project relating to parallel universes and that he's hidden the clue to unraveling a map in a message to Everett. Stand by for adventure and mayhem as Everett goes searching for his father.

Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds (2010)
scifi
This is a stand alone novel and not part of his Revelation Space series which I just adore. I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by my longtime favourite, John Lee, and I really stretched this one out over a few weeks.
So the plot - 'In a far distant future, an enforcement agent named Quillon has been living incognito in the last human city of Spearpoint, working as a pathologist in the district morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissecting table, his world is wrenched apart.'
The plot quickly leads into a captivating adventure story and while on one hand you're eager for the action to continue on the other it is a fascinating exploration on a futuristic civilisation breaking down. I've seen this described as steampunk scifi.

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier (1999)
fantasy
Sevenwaters series book #1
Read for the ANZAC challenge. This was a charming fantasy story bringing the folk tale of the six swans to life in a Celtic setting. An Irish chieftain who wages constant war against the Britons who invade a nearby holy island (Isle of Man) has six sons and the seventh child, a daughter. When he brings home a new bride who seems to have enchanted him, it's quickly clear that she intends to bring chaos and ruin to the whole family.

Zac & Mia by A. J. Betts (2014)
YA
Winner of The Text Prize in 2013. I'm now up to date with all 8 of the Text Prize winners, this one had slipped through and I read it now to join a shared read on TIOLI.
It's a book about two teens, patients on an adult cancer ward. Mia is in denial and angry while Zac is in isolation after a bone marrow transplant and more accepting of his situation. He can't leave his room but 'meets' Mia through the loud voices & music from the next room. I really liked this, it's about cancer but concentrates on the courage you need to be a survivor.
Is it similar to The fault in our stars? Here's The Guardian on that - 'Before you immediately view the synopsis of this book and compare it to The Fault in Our Stars, please don't. Yes, they both share the same premise but they are completely different. The Fault in Our Stars is a love story in which the characters happen to have cancer, whereas Zac and Mia is a cancer story where they happen to fall in love. The emphasis of this book is the cancer and the way the characters deal with it-not the love story.'

The 2015 Text Prize winner will be published in October, The Book of Whispers. The prize is awarded to a manuscript for young readers.

The Great Fortune by Olivia Manning (1960)
fiction / iPod audio
This is the first in the Balkan trilogy. I read this trilogy years ago and thought it time for a revisit. Last year I watched the dvd of miniseries, Fortunes of War, starring Emma Thompson & Kenneth Branagh so I was quite familiar once again with the plot. The audio is ok, I didn't like the whiny voices the narrator, Emilia Fox, gave to Sophia and Yakimov.
Harriet is newly married to Guy and they arrive in Bucharest just as WW2 is about to break out. Guy Pringle is a teacher of English at the University. The Pringles, especially Guy, have a hotchpotch of interesting and annoying friends. Qute fascinating.

Unfortunately I've just found out that this was an abridged audiobook, so I won't be continuing till I find the paper copies of the trilogy.

Scruffy by Paul Gallico (1962)
fiction
I found this an extremely entertaining novel, hilarious at times. 'Legend has it that as long as the Barbary apes roam the rock of Gibraltar, the territory will remain safely under British rule.' So this is a fictional story about how the last few remaining apes during World War Two fared and how the army set about increasing the population. Scruffy is the most despicable of the apes, he comes down into the town and creates havoc, and poor Gunner Lovejoy, Keeper of the Apes and Captain Bailey, OIC Apes (Officer in Charge of Apes) are not the most popular residents in Gibraltar. Into their lives steps Felicity, daughter of Admiral French and Major Clyde from the intelligence service, not to mention bumbling Treugang Ramirez, a Nazi sympathiser.
I've visited Gilbraltar several times and this book was a welcome revist.

Happy new thread!

Whoa, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson look so YOUNG in >24 avatiakh:! I wouldn't have known it was them if you hadn't mentioned it.

Good idea to reassess and modify the challenge if it's not working with how you want to read :)

Only one day into the new month and 8 books completed! Wow!
It's always nice to review categories when the poster starts a new thread.

>26 rabbitprincess: Yes don't they look young!
Just after the year started I took over the running of the ANZAC challenge over on in the 75er group. So every two months I set up a new thread challenge with three Australian & 3 New Zealand writers to choose from. This ANZAC reading has dominated my reading somewhat, plus I've had a couple of months of go-slow reading......and I have 16 categories, what was I thinking!

>27 mamzel: No just one book, the rest were my end of June reading.

Happy new thread!

>24 avatiakh:
I remember that mini-series, but I didn't remember that they were so young... :) Hmm, glad that aging thing hasn't happened to me....

Port Vila Blues by Garry Disher (1995)
crime
Wyatt #5. Wyatt picks up a stunning Tiffany brooch in a burglary and discovers when he takes it to a fence that it's a hot item, already stolen in a previous burglary. Now he's suspected of being part of the magnetic drill gang and when he's targeted in a shooting decides to take the law into his own hands. Part of the book is set in Vanuatu. Still enjoying this series and this is the first in a 2-in-1 omnibus so I have The Fallout to follow on with.

_
The Fallout by Garry Disher (1997)
crime
Wyatt #6. Second in the 2-in-1 omnibus edition, The Wyatt Butterfly. Wyatt's nephew turns up in this one. Raymond is also following a life of crime, he's the bush bandit, a robber of rural banks. Will they team up?
I've got two more in the series to read, Wyatt & The Heat, these are more recent publications as Disher revisited Wyatt in 2010 and 2015.

I've been adding these to my #7 Fiction: antiheroes/cult/unreliable narrators category

A body in Barcelona by Jason Webster (2015)
crime
Chief Inspector Max Cámara #5. Okay, at last I'm up to date with a series. I'm enjoying these books about a Valencian detective. Max has moved from the murder squad and with his friend, Torres, are the new Special Crimes Unit. Their first case is the kidnapping & death of the 10 yr old illegitimate son of a supermarket magnate. The case leads them to Ceuta and Barcelona and uncovers an elaborate plot pertaining to Catalan independence.


The girls in the velvet frame by Adèle Geras (1978)
childrens
Delightful story set in pre-WW1 Jerusalem and about the 5 daughters of an impoverished widow. Rivka is almost 13 and about to take up a position at the nearby bakery, a match is being arranged for her with a boy from a good family. The other four daughters are aged from 3-10 yrs and their worries more everyday ones such as adopting a cat, feeding the neighbour's rabbit, visiting the old rabbi who lives in the shed in the garden etc. Their aunt is much more worldly and arranges for a photograph of the 5 girls so they can surprise their mother. Their brother has taken off to America and they have been waiting for almost a year to hear from him.

From a post by Adèle Geras on The History Girls blog: 'When I wrote my first full-length novel for children, THE GIRLS IN THE VELVET FRAME, the notion of 'research' never entered my head. I'd taken for inspiration this photograph of my mother and four of my aunts and gone from there. I'd asked my mother what had gone on during this visit to the photographer's studio and she had, oddly, no memory of it whatsoever. That gave me carte blanche. I could make up whatever I felt like...Where were my mother's three brothers? I turned these questions into a whole plot constructed around the search for a missing brother who's emigrated to the United States of America. I gave the girls the characters of my real aunts, or at least, I made them what I thought they might have been. So the characters were there in one form. I just had to change them from adults to children, a task which I found very enjoyable and in no way complicated. I had to situate the story somewhere so I used my grandmother's flat in Jerusalem, which I knew from earliest childhood.'



The dog of knots by Kathy Walden Kaplan (2004)
childrens

Miyam and her mother moved from Jerusalem to live in the hills above Haifa after Mayim's father's death in the Six Day War. Six years later, 9 year old Mayim can't remember her father at all. On their street wanders every day an old stray dog with a very straggly and knotted coat, all the neighbours have a name for him as he visits for scraps. He disappears each day to a nearby wadi.
This is set just before and during the Yom Kippur War and is quietly a really great read about the effects of war at a child's level. In Israel, every generation has fought and the sacrifices of lost loved ones is present throughout the story. Kaplan injects lots of everyday Hebrew into the story, there's a glossary at the back, giving the young reader an immersion into Israeli culture. Political dissent and Israel's backstory are touched on in a neutral unobtrusive way and it's fitting that this story is set in Haifa, a peaceful city with a mixed population of Jews and Arabs. The old dog ties the story together in a warm hearted way.
This is a debut novel and I must see if Kaplan has written anything else.

Birds of Passage by Bernice Rubens (1982)
fiction
Read for the British Authors challenge on the LT 75 bks group. A few years back I had a Focus on Bernice Rubens category and read many of her books, so now had only 3 or 4 left to choose from Mt tbr for this challenge. I enjoyed this though it does have a few dark moments.
This one is described on the cover as 'a new comedy of manners' by the Guardian. It's about two newly widowed women embarking on a 21 day Mediterranean cruise. They've planned this trip, long before their husbands' deaths, always expecting to outlive their spouses. I'm finding it hard to comment on, because on one hand it is an excellent story focused on the cruise industry and the retirees who flock to them, on the other it deals with a darker side of preying on lonely older women.

I might have to pick up another before the month is out.

>32 avatiakh: Birds of Passage sounds really interesting - I'll put it on the list.

Vango: Between Sky and Earth by Timothee de Fombelle (2010 French) (2013 Eng)
YA
First of two books about Vango, a young man with a mysterious past. Full of adventure, villains, a zeppelin, monks, intrepid young women, honour, and love. Years before, Vango and his nanny are found on a beach on an island off the coast of Sicily. His parentage remains a mystery, the nanny has lost her memory but can speak several languages. As Vango grows it becomes clear his life is still in danger, so he sets off to discover the mystery of himself. This is set in 1930s Europe and was an exciting read.
I've requested the sequel Vango: A Prince without a Kingdom from the library.

To build a land by Sally Watson (1959)
YA
I'm fairly sure that these older books set in Israel that I've been reading all came to my notice with a library search on 'Jerusalem' that I did a few weeks back. Anyway I'd call this a junior version of Leon Uris' Exodus. Looking at reviews over on goodreads it seems to have been a 'first encounter with Israel/Palestine' book for a number of people back when it first came out, a book that left a strong impression on them. It's very good, the range of characters of the children is well done, almost all are Holocaust survivors and have all had different experiences during the war, all have been left orphans.

The story mainly follows Italian Leo and his sister Mia as they are taken off the streets of Naples by the Red Cross and then sent to a Youth Aliyah Centre in Marseilles. Mia is full of fear and Leo is angry and answers to no-one. The children arrive in Palestine as part of an illegal landing during the Mandate period and the story continues to show how all of them slowly come into their own while living at a children's farm near the Tel Aviv - Jerusalem highway. The book covers The War of Independence, friendly and combative Arabs, the British soldiers, pacifists and Zionists.

I'm amazed that I have never come across Watson till now, she's written several books set in Israel, lots of historical novels set in Britain and Egypt and books about cats. She lived many years in England before returning to the US where she now lives, she's in her nineties and is involved with feral cat rescue. She traveled several times to Israel and the surrounding Arab countries.

Wyatt by Garry Disher (2010)
crime
Wyatt #7. Another great crime caper. I've already started the last book in the series, though it has to be low priority as I'm neglecting a lot of other reading to get through these Wyatt books.


The Heat by Garry Disher (2015)
crime
Wyatt #8. The latest Wyatt so I'm up to date with the series. This one was really good, set mostly in Noosa, a beach resort north of Brisbane. Wyatt pulls out of a job in Melbourne, he doesn't feel the other players are professional enough and goes north where he's been offered $100,000 to lift an artwork, a solo job. It's a Holocaust/Nazi era artwork going back to it's rightful owner after normal legal processes have been exhausted. However others on the periphery have plans of their own.
I've really enjoyed this series, and these latest two books would work as standalone reads. Hope that there's another in the works.

The secret heiress : a tale of dark shadows and extraordinary deception by Luke Devenish (2016)
fiction
I enjoyed this rather a lot. Described as Australian gothic, it is a very entertaining story of deception. The story jumps back and forward between the 1880s and 1904-ish at the beautiful Summersby House, a rural residence in Castlemaine, Victoria, several hours travel from Melbourne. Devenish gives us a plot full of twists and layers of deception that even if you can't keep up with at times, still delivers because the story has two delightful vivid main characters, both servants. Ida is taken on as a housemaid at Summersby, Miss Margaret George is adamant that she wants a girl who is more inquisitive than bright but even before Ida can start her new job the mistress is dead.
Sixteen years later, young Biddy who has fallen on desperate times arrives from Melbourne to try nabbing the job of cook.

Devenish was previously a long running script editor & script producer and writer for famous Aussie soap, Neighbours and other tv series. In the acknowledgements he mentions a nonfiction book that helped him, I've requested it from the library as it looks like a useful read for my family history research, Black kettle and full moon : daily life in a vanished Australia by Geoffrey Blainey.

The Detective Dog by Julia Donaldson (2016)
picturebook
Lovely rhyming story about a dog that loves the smell of books and tracks down a book thief.
...the smell of the thief, and - how very exciting - thousands of pages, all covered in writing
For young booklovers. The illustrations by Sara Ogilvie are suitably comic.



The Travels of Benjamin Tudela: Through Three Continents in the Twelfth Century by Uri Shulevitz (2005)
picturebook

Benjamin of Tudela is known for writing one of the first travel books, The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela : Travels in the Middle Ages , he undertook an epic 14 year journey to the East. Here Shulevitz brings the story of Benjamin's journey to life for the young reader. He says in the notes that he treid to keep it as close to the authentic as possible, going to other primary sources to add detail and inform his artwork. Also included is his extensive bibliography which I might just take a copy of. I need to look out an adult version of this, or maybe something fictional along the lines of Leo Africanus which I read a couple of years ago.

One of the many highlights of my time in Spain early last year was making a short visit to Tudela in Navarre. We were going to spend the night there but instead stayed a few km north in a beautiful parador, a medieval fairytale castle in Olite.
There are several really good websites for planning travel around Spain, many 'rutas' to choose from depending on your interests. I was interested to visit as many older Jewish centres as possible and Tudela definitely makes the list, now it's more known for having the best vegetables in the country.

The Emergency Zoo by Miriam Halahmy (2016)
childrens

Quite an interesting story written to draw attention to all the beloved pets that were put down at the start of WW2 in the UK, especially London. Over 750,000 cats & dogs etc were euthanised in one chaotic week as the panicked idea was that the pets would become terrorised, wounded or gassed by falling bombs and a nuisance at bomb shelters and a problem with possible food rationing etc.
Tilly and her friends are determined to save their pets though they are also looking at being evacuated in a few days time themselves. They set up a shelter in the nearby woods where they hide their pets and hope they can find somehow a way to save them for the duration of the war.
Halahmy brings together a diverse cast of characters drawing attention to the social divide, the kindertransport and also that many Jewish refugees had to go into service as the only way to get a visa to the UK.

The pet cull: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24478532
A nonfiction read about animals during war: Bonzo's War: Animals Under Fire 1939 -1945 by Clare Campbell

Shot by Sarah Quigley (2003)
fiction
Read for the Jul/Aug ANZAC challenge. First I have to say I love this cover, the colours are brilliant and the photograph at such an unusual angle.
I wasn't that thrilled when I started this one to find it was set in the US, I was looking forward to a more homegrown read.
The story starts off with Lena, a 20-something, getting in the way of a random bullet when she is on her way to buy a doughnut in her favourite childhood bakery in Tenderloin, a dangerous neighbourhood in San Francisco. The first third of the book is a slow-mo of the bullet hitting her in the head and her body crashing to the ground and her childhood flashing vividly through her mind. The middle third is set in the aftermath of the bullet, Lena survives but this becomes a turning point in her life.
For me the book really took off in the last third when the action moves to a remote area in northern Alaska, the novel moved from being an OK read to an engrossing one.

I'd recommend readers to try Quigley's The Conductor because that is such a great read, nothing else by her could possibly compare.

The Monstrous Child by Francesca Simon (2016)
YA
This is set in the world of her other two rather hilarious Mortal Gods books, but is aimed at teens rather than the middle grade readers the other two are aimed at. I disliked this one, even looking at the cover art shows that it is lacking much of what I enjoyed about the other two - the humour.
This book is about Hel from Norse mythology, the daughter of Loki. She's born half-girl, half corpse and is sent by Odin to live with the dead. The story is about how she builds her hall and waits, always waits. The waiting is only interrupted by the arrival of the God Baldr.
I think it's probably a good retelling of the story of Hel, though as I said I didn't enjoy, maybe because I didn't much want to spend a few days among the stench of rotting bodies as Hel is forced to do.

_

Stone Rider by David Hofmeyer (2015)
YA
A dystopian adventure written with reluctant boy readers in mind. Described as a Mad Max meets Hunger Games, this is a fun read based around a no-holds barred style epic bike race. The prize at stake is a ticket from the bleak mining towns on Earth to life up on one of the many space stations where the elite population live. The Blackwater race is only open to those under 19 and it's brutal. We follow the action from the POV of Adam Stone, whose brother lost a leg the last time the race was held.
The bikes are quite special, family heirlooms that have raced through generations, each racer leaving a sort of DNA imprint that helps the next rider. And yes, there is a girl racer in it, Sadie Blood. Caution, there is quite violent content.
There's a sequel coming out next year, Blood Racer.

Hoot Owl: master of disguise by Sean Taylor (2015)
picturebook

This has to be one of the best picturebooks I've read in a long time. Charming, funny and engaging starring anti-hero Hoot. The illustrations by Jean Jullian are big, bold and perfect for the text.




How I learned Geography by Uri Shuletvitz (2008)
picturebook
Based on Shulevitz's own boyhood experience as a war refugee living in Turkestan after living six years in the Soviet Union having fled Poland at the start of WW2. His father brings a world map home from the market one day instead of food even though they are starving.
_

The Heritage by Jack Michonik (2006, Spanish) (2015 Eng)
fiction
Michonik has based this on his own family experience, it's the story of Jewish immigrants leaving the shetls of East Europe and Russia and travelling to the New World, 1920s South America, where they must build new lives while keeping their Jewish heritage intact. I enjoyed this, at times there is a touch too much explanation or backgrounding, though I think that it is perhaps necessary to give the impact of the ending its necessary heft. The ending...I really really liked the last chapter, so enjoyed how Michonik leaves the story in mid stream, though entirely appropriate place to finish and not give in to the temptation of an epilogue style finish.

Life in the New World is complemented by letters from the main character's friend and neighbour who has made his new life in Palestine. These letters add some of the background to world events, the establishment of Israel and the importance of the Jewish faith in the lives of the characters.

There were some formatting problems, spaces between words were missing on almost every page. This wasn't a handicap for reading, one adjusts, though it needs to be fixed.

I received this free e-book over on GoodReads direct from the author in exchange for a promise to read and post a review.

Making David into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel by Joshua Muravchik (2014)
nonfiction

Still thinking about this, it was a valuable read, giving the reader an understanding into how the current mostly hostile view of Israel in the media, at the UN and in many countries has grown to be. The book takes as the turning point the unexpected Israeli victory in the Six Day War which was fought on three sides against Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

Each chapter builds a background on a particular topic and then discusses how this has built the animosity towards Israel. Until and including the Six Day War, Israel was seen as up against the Arab World, but soon after the view pivoted to the Palestinians vs Israel, a completely different dynamic hence the title.
There's chapters on terrorism, the power of Arab oil in world politics, the Arab bloc's influence at the United Nations, European socialism, Edward Said and academia, the consequences of Israel's swing from socialist Labour to conservative Likud in the 1970s, Israel's homegrown leftist activists, academics, journalists, and new historians, the new Left in the world and how it moved from class struggle to an ethnic focus and intersectionality, international reporting on Israel and international organisations.

Very impressed with Muravchik's ability to add clarity to all this, he seems to have covered a lot of ground and there are several reports, articles and books I've noted for future reading. He's probably not everyone's flavour of the month, an ex-liberal now neo-conservative but I always think it pays to read from a wide range of viewpoints.
I'll definitely be reading more of his books, he has one on socialism, Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism and another The Next Founders: Voices of Democracy in the Middle East both look like interesting reads.

Why Vote Leave by Daniel Hannan (2016)
nonfiction

This was written for the Brexit side of the argument in the recent UK referendum. Hannan is a MEP (Member of the European Parliament) and so knows the inner workings of the Brussells' bureaucracy well. He lays out the background to Britain joining the EEC back in the 1970s and the history of how the EU has over the years grown to be in control of much that is usually the business of a nation state. An interesting read and a convincing argument, so I really need now to read something from the Remain camp.

The Art of Reading by Damon Young (2016)
nonfiction

First up, I just adore this book cover. Damon Young is a well known writer & philosopher in Australia and this is his latest work. With this book he's discussing being a reader and looks at this using Aristotle's virtues of reading. So we get chapters headed courage, curiosity, pride, patience, justice and temperance.
To be honest I found this quite a dense heavy going read as I'm not familiar with all the philosophers and their theories and thoughts that are mentioned. On the other hand there were parts that were totally fascinating and made this worth sticking with.
I noticed that LTer Lisa from the ANZLitLovers blog has been reading and commenting on the book and as she always does lovely extensive comments I suggest you go there to learn more:
Snippet: https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/04/30/sensational-snippets-the-art-of-reading-by-d...
on the chapter about Patience: https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/05/01/on-patience-the-art-of-reading-by-damon-youn...

Like Lisa I was captivated when Young discusses 'Patience' using the example of the Queen from Bennett's The Uncommon Reader reading Henry James. Young brings into the discussion Henry James' brother, William, who was a philosopher. With Curiosity, Young begins by discussing Borges and his 'The Library of Babel' and on and on.

I'm intrigued by the titles of Young's other books, they're all about philosophy but those titles are compelling - How to Think About Exercise, Distraction: A Philosopher's Guide to Being Free, Philosophy in the Garden. I'm smitten, though I should probably just search out his newspaper articles.

City of Secrets by Stewart O'Nan (2016)
fiction
A quiet thriller of sorts set just before the ending of the British Mandate in Palestine. Brand, a Holocaust survivor, hasn't got much to live for, his wife and family were killed He's ended up in Jerusalem and has been recruited into the Irgun.
I was a little perplexed by this one, it starts of in the manner of a thriller but as one gets further in, the story is much more about Brand himself and becomes a more introspective type read. The story builds towards one of the more pivotal events of the last days of the Mandate.
This was my first read of O'Nan, who is a favourite writer for some LTers.


CHERUB: New Guard by Robert Muchamore (2016)
YA

CHERUB #17, this is the last in the CHERUB series which I have enjoyed immensely over the years. I think this is a fantastic adventure series involving child/teen agents sent in undercover where adult agents/police can't access to solve crime or espionage cases.
This last one involves current CHERUB agents initially sniffing out Islamic terror supporters in the UK and uncovering a kidnapping of oil company engineers. A black ops mission is formed involving adult ex-CHERUBs, including James and his younger sister Lauren, who started the series, going on one last mission together, deep into Islamic State territory. Fun escapism, and yes, I'm far too old to be enjoying these books, but I do.

I have 3 more Henderson Boys books to read which is about the WW2 origins of CHERUB and then I'll head into Muchamore's Rock Wars series.

I have taken a BB for Hoot Owl - ostensibly for my 2 year old daughter, but really for me if I'm honest!

As a staunch 'Remainer' I must admit that Daniel Hannen is not my favourite person!! I don't know about pre-vote books about Remain, but you might want to download this report from Verso books, which is about the aftermath of the vote from a Left perspective: https://www.versobooks.com/books/2352-the-brexit-crisis (free if you download it in the next 12 hours, and only 99p thereafter). It is a collection of essays published in various places on the web, but don't be put off that some of them are blog posts, I thought it was very good.

Also, check out Professor Michael Dougan (from Liverpool University) on YouTube, he is a professor in EU law and did a very interesting and easy to follow analysis of the claims and counter claims of both sides of the Remain/Leave debate: see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USTypBKEd8Y

>47 avatiakh: I might buy that book just for the cover.

Thanks for those links, I'll check them out. As I don't live in the UK or Europe, I don't have anything invested in the result, just want to understand a bit more. You should seek out LTer sandDune, she's a staunch remainer, and has a thread over in the 75 books challenge.
I just think that countries should be able to make their own decisions and not be overuled by a bureaucracy.

Yeah, Hoot Owl is one for the parents as well as the child! Up there with I want my hat back.

Golden Windows and other stories from Jerusalem by Adèle Geras (1993)
children's fiction

A follow up read to Geras' The girls in the velvet frame, this is set about 30 years later and is five stories about other members of this family. One of the stories is set during the siege of Jerusalem in 1947/48 when food supplies couldn't get through to the Jewish population. All the stories are great, evocative of childhood, the people and streets of Jerusalem.

I shall have to add Hoot Owl to my list of picture books I give as gifts to friends with children! Great choice of sample picture, too. I like his use of the bird bath.

>48 avatiakh: I have not heard of (or noticed) the CHERUB books before. Interesting!

>54 VictoriaPL: They're a lot of fun. Adrenaline-packed adventure for teens, but fun for the older set as well.

>53 rabbitprincess: He's adorable. My daughter who is 19 also loved it.

Soft in the head by Marie-Sabine Roger (French 2008) (Eng 2016)
fiction

Germain meets Margueritte in the park one afternoon and they become friends. Margueritte is an old lady who has had a successful life, and Germain is in his prime, has had a string of casual jobs, he's a bit simple. Margueritte introduces Germain to the power of literature and words. An enjoyable read, if not compelling.
I would have preferred for the English edition to have the alternative title, My afternoons with Magueritte.

I saw the film made from this book and it was quite charming even though it stars Gérard Depardieu. Here's a link to the trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDkJjYtpCQE

An island of our own by Sally Nicholls (2015)
children's fiction

Delightful children's story starring 12 yr old Holly who lives with her two brothers. When her mother died, her oldest brother was just old enough to be their guardian and so the family wasn't split up, but it's forever a struggle. Jonathan has given up his chance of university, and 7 yr old Davey needs a lot of support. The story revolves around the chance of a shared inheritance from their great aunt, an aunt who has hidden all her savings and jewelry in obscure locations.

Shtum by Jem Lester (2016)
fiction

This was a compelling read. It's based on Lester's own experience of raising an autistic child and the battle with the local council to get their son into a residential school that was best suited for his needs.
Ben and his wife, Emma love their son Jonah, but at eleven he's mute, still in nappies, increasingly violent at times and difficult to care for. Their own lives have been put on hold since he was diagnosed as a severe autistic. Jonah will be leaving his current school in the following year and the couple know that his best needs can only be met at a specialised residential school. They have to convince their local council that this is the best option for Jonah as the school is only open to students paid for by their local councils, it's a difficult legal process.
Emma comes up with a plan to give them their best chance, suggesting that they fake a marriage breakup and that Ben and Jonah move in with Ben's estranged father so that the application will come from a struggling single father.
Lester shows how hard it is to care for a growing autistic child. He wanted to be honest and show the world that severe autism has devastating effects for a family. Nothing can be normal. Every trip out into the public is a possible minefield. He builds it into a story of the relationships between the three males. It's sad but illuminating and Ben is certainly not perfect, in fact he's been running away from himself all his life.

Link to an article

Nothing lasts forever by Roderick Thorp (1979)
fiction

I was curious to find out if the novel that inspired the Bruce Willis film Die Hard was a worthwhile read. What I found out was that if you've seen the film as many times as I have, then it's a difficult thing to judge. There are several differences in plot, and those scenes where he jumps off buildings with firehose or leaps into an elevator shaft are much easier on film than to painstaking read through in the book.
Overall if you have a spare afternoon, this is a rather entertaining read with enough differences to keep you going.

I'll just say that Joe Leland (John McClane in film) is older, not NYPD and it's his daughter that works in the building not the estranged wife as portrayed in the film.

Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones (2005)
YA
Chrestomanci #5. I read this for the BAC challenge. I've read most of Diana Wynne Jones' books, so only this and book #6 The Pinhoe Egg were on my radar.
A good solid entry in the series, I simply flew through the book, loved the story.


The Mukhtar's Children by Sally Watson (1968)
YA
This was a followup to Watson's To build a land which I read a few weeks ago. While I really liked TBAL, I found this one to be even better. It's set in Israel, just at the end of the War of Independence in 1948/9. The leader or mukhtar of a small Arab village on the border with Syria is facing the problems of encroaching modernisation from the nearby establishment of a kibbutz. While a few in the village talk of fighting, talk that is hopefully quashed, the mukhtar's children find themselves drawn to the Jewish workers who are friendly and welcoming. Jasmin is 12, she is about to be betrothed to an older man, but all she wants is to learn to read and be educated. Her twin, Kahil, is fascinated by the machinery and would love to become a mechanic. Semil, their friend wants to be a teacher.
Eventually after misunderstandings, attacks and rebellion the mukhtar must decide if tradition can be enough for the ensuing generations or to embrace change if his people are to stay and live in peace in Israel.

The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton (2007)
scifi / audiobook

This is the 5th Commonwealth book and the 1st in the Void trilogy. So it's set in the Commonwealth but is 1500 years after the first four books. Some characters return, after all this is a future where rejuvenation and relife-ing technology has been advancing all the time, now we get to contemplate multiples who share the same consciousness. Anyway this book sets us up for a grand adventure in the next two books, we are introduced to a great new cast of characters and reminded of some of the great times from the previous books. Overall compelling, and I have to mention that it was read by my favourite narrator, John Lee.

There's a dreamer cult on one of the outlying planets near the Void, formed from sharing the dreams of an astrophysicist, Inigo, the First Dreamer, dreams that follow the exploits of humans who live in a microuniverse in the Void, a black hole. Plans are underway for the dreamers to travel into the Void to find this world, but it could put the whole universe at risk so other factions are working at sabotaging this voyage before it can start.

Coming home in the dark by Owen Marshall (1995)
short stories

I read this for the Jul/Aug ANZAC challenge over on the 75er group. Marshall is the undoubted king of New Zealand short story writing, a writer that I hadn't read till now though I own a fair number of his books, picked up over time from charity bookshops etc.
This is an early collection of his work and I have found them quite a diverse selection. The most common thread has been their New Zealand setting, mostly 1950s to 1990s. Only two or three are set away from NZ. The last story in the book is the title story and boy, it didn't turn out how I was expecting it to, a fair bit of gruesome tucked into a pleasant day's outing to the mountains.
I'll probably try one of his novels when I turn to him again, The Lanarchs tells the story of the people behind Lanarch Castle in Dunedin.

Vango: a prince without a kingdom by Timothée de Fombelle (2011 French) (2015 Eng)
YA
This is the sequel to Vango: between earth and sky which I read in July. This one takes us through World War Two as Vango tries to uncover the mystery of his birth, protect his friends and find his enemies. Large cast of characters, at times I needed to remember who was who. I loved it for the adventure, the old style plot where opportunities are missed by seconds and the eventual harmony of the ending. Yes, Vango does have illustrious ancestors and that explains why his life has been in jeopardy all these years.

Annan Water by Kate Thompson (2004)
YA
This was on a list I found of recommended Irish children's books a few weeks back. I've read two of Thompson's New Policeman books and have loved her melding of Irish folklore and Celtic music to create quite fascinating reads.
This is an enchanting read, she's woven a modern story into a haunting old Scottish ballad. And it comes with horses.

Some of the lyrics used in the book:

'The mare flew on o'er moor and moss and when she reached the Annan Waters,
She couldn't have ridden a furlong more had a thousand whips been laid upon her.

And woe betide you Annan Waters, by night you are a gloomy river,
And over you I'll build a bridge, that never more true love may sever.'

https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/The-Voice-Squad/Annan-Waters

Here's a simplified version of the ballad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzo7fADr_50

Into the Grey by Celine Kiernan (2011)
YA
This was another YA book on that list of recommended Irish children's fiction that I came across recently and it is an incredibly good ghost story. The writing is impressive and makes me keen to finally dip into Kiernan's Moorhawke Trilogy. Into the Grey won several awards in Ireland.
Twins, Pat and Dom, and their family are forced to relocate to a rundown holiday cottage in a small seaside village after their Nana who suffers from Alzheimers accidentally burns down their home. They've stayed here before for boisterous summer holidays with their cousins but this time it's quieter and colder, the cottage feels different and the boys, especially Pat, begin to have dreams that feel very real.

From wikipedia: Into the Grey is set in 1974 Ireland, and continues Kiernan's exploration of political, historical and philosophical themes through fantasy elements. It is the first book to receive both the CBI Book of the Year Award (formerly known as the Bisto Award) and the CBI Children's Choice Award - both of which were awarded on 28 May 2012. It won the 2013 Readers' Association of Ireland Award for best book.

Decided to turf Judenstaat, it's just not drawing me in. I've read 70 pgs and have spent all those pages trying to sort the story, haven't really got to know the main character let alone have sympathy for her.
It's an alternate history where after WW2, the Jews are given Saxony in Europe as their state. The main character is a film archivist whose husband was murdered several years earlier. She uncovers information about a secret plot from the time of the establishment of the state.
That sounds interesting but the novel is literary rather than thriller and so is a go-slow type read. Possibly I'll give it another go when I'm less pressured. I'll keep an eye out for more reviews.

Acid Song by Bernard Beckett (2008)
fiction
I really liked this novel which mixes politics with science, ethics and controversy. A genetics professor has uncovered some discrepancies regarding IQ and genes in a couple of trials that while not concluding anything warrant more investigation. This controversial idea is simmering in the background along with election day voting in the lives and relationships of various couples who come into the orbit of the professor.
I'm also reading Beckett's Falling for Science: asking the big questions which he wrote just before the novel and discusses many of the ethical ideas involved in science. These books are also from the period when he wrote Genesis. All these books are products of his 2006 New Zealand Science, Mathematics and Technology Teacher Fellowship where he worked on a project examining DNA mutations.

Read for the Jul/Aug ANZAC challenge.

The Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton
scifi
Void Trilogy #2. Continuing the epic Void story, part of the Commonwealth Saga and the story is deep and wide and totally captivating. The 25 hours of listening time just flew by. Already loaded up the final one, The Evolutionary Void onto my iPod. I have to see where all the story is going.

The girl with the dogs by Anna Funder (2016)
novella
More short story than novella though published in book form. I liked rather than loved this relationship story based on a 'what if' premise.


Remembering Babylon by David Malouf (1993)
fiction
This won a few Australian awards and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. I loved this for the story and Malouf's wonderful way with words. A stranger stumbles into a small remote settlement north of Brisbane. Jem's spent the last sixteen years living with aborigines. While he's accepted by some, his strangeness and inability to adapt back to European life causes many tensions and dark undercurrents in the small community.

I read both these books for the ANZAC challenge.

Checkmate by Dorothy Dunnett (1975)
fiction
Lymond Chronicles #6. Last in the series.... I've loved every book and the ending was well worth the wait, every time I thought there would be resolution, Dunnett threw in another twist. You really have to wait till the last pages of the last book to get your perfect ending. This book's plot was set around the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to Francis, Dauphin of France. The politics are intense and unfortunately I can't say anymore as no spoilers here, except do jump in and meet the fab Frances and the other wonderful characters in this series.

I read the first book just before I joined the 75ers group so getting to the end of this series has taken me a very slow 8 years. Others have read them in 8 weeks! I'm lining up Dunnett's stand alone King Hereafter for one of my 'big books' reads for next year.

Raging Robots and Unruly Uncles by Margaret Mahy (1981)
children's fiction
This is one of my daughter's favourite books and I've kept meaning to read it but never have. I love Mahy's books, every single story she's written has the fabulous Mahy magic and this is such fun. Mahy is a master of word play and this book is another wonderful example. Twin brothers, one a villian with seven sons, the other a virtuous man with one daughter. The boys build a doll that takes goodness to an extreme and gift it to their cousin. In return their cousin builds a robot that is excessively bad. Madness and mayhem.


Blood Runner by James Riordan (2011)
children's fiction
I enjoyed Riordan's Sweet Clarinet but found this one slightly lacking. It's a story of the ending of Apartheid in South Africa and how a boy grew up to become South Africa's first black athlete to win a gold at the Olympics (in the marathon). The childhood story is different from the real athlete's story, more traumatic, though the actual Olympic race is the same. Riordan has made the changes to allow the young reader to learn more about the state of the country before the ending of apartheid and what it was like to be young, poor and black at the time. A good educational read though it is more fiction than fact.

Here's some info on the real gold medalist, Josia Thugwane: http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/13340173/once-lauded-nelson-mandela-...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y09hMhzcND4

Coda by Thea Astley (1994)
fiction
I read this for the Sep/Oct ANZAC challenge. This is my first book by Astley and I'm impressed with her style in this satire on old age. The plot was inspired by news articles about granny dumping, reports of vulnerable old people being abandoned in public places by their adult children, generally the seniors suffered from Alzheimer’s and could not tell the authorities who they were or where they lived.
Kathleen finds that she recalls her early married life in detail while her present day motivations come in and out of focus. She dislikes her adult children as much as they are at odds with her.

Zoo Station by David Downing (2007)
fiction
I feel like one of the last to get to this series. Anyway I read it for the September Sequels & Series theme read.
John Russell is a journalist based in Berlin, he's drawn to help a Jewish family as Germany teeters on the brink of war and slowly gets involved in the world of espionage.

Garnethill by Denise Mina (1998)
crime fiction
First in a trilogy and one I've been meaning to read for a long while. I liked this and thought Maureen was a great character. Won't say much more than that except that it wasn't a police procedural as I had been expecting.

The Call by Peadar O'Guilin (2016)
YA
I've been looking forward to this one for a while and then devoured it in a couple of sittings. There are tones of horror in this, but I loved the story and the horror is needed for the story to work. Sometime in the far away past, the Irish people threw the Sidhe fairy folk from their land and now the Sidhe have finally begun to fight back with vengeance. Ireland has been cut off from the rest of the world and each human child during adolescence must face the Call, 3 minutes 4 seconds in our time, but an entire day in the terrible Greylands where the Sidhe now live. Not many survive, some return with horrific injuries or their bodies modified in strange ways. All are haunted by their memories of their ordeal. Teenagers must attend survival schools, where they are trained at athletics, fighting and well versed in survivors' testimonials. Nessa, with her twisted legs from polio, is strong mentally and determined to be a survivor.
I've followed Peadar's blog for some years now since reading his The Inferior.

>75 avatiakh:
I really like Mina's descriptions of Glasgow and feel I get a great sense of place in this trilogy. Unfortunately, Maureen didn't work for me, but the rest was well worth reading all three books.

Hi Eva - yes, she is a bit of a rebellious train wreck, but I think I enjoyed that I wasn't reading another police procedural.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1952)
fiction
I love everything about this novella, it is a little bit of perfect. I read and loved Roman Philbrick's The Young Man and the Sea which is based on Hemingway's book and knew I'd eventually get round to reading the original.

Yay, a second book for my Hemingway category




The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones
children's fantasy
Last in the Chrestomanci series and a delightful read. The story is about the misuse of magic in the small villages around Chrestomanci Castle.

I just had a holiday in South Australia, we drove from Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide where we stayed and visited the areas around the city - Adelaide Hills, Barossa Valley and the Fleurieu Peninsula.

I loaded some photos on my LT 75er thread - http://www.librarything.com/topic/226332#5727953

Thanks for sharing your photos, Kerry. What a great road trip to have taken!

>80 avatiakh: Melbourne, Australia has always been on my bucket list... because I grew up in Melbourne, FL and have always wanted to visit the "other". LOL. Glad you had a great time!

I noticed that you were interested in Terry Pratchett. I just finished Raising Steam which was his last book. You might like to check it out. I listened to the audio version on my walks and had so much fun with it.

>80 avatiakh: Just in time! There has been so much rain lately that the Great Ocean Road is closed in case there are landslides. Landslips, they're saying on the news. Might be baby landslides? Anyway, it's a fabulous drive.

>74 avatiakh: - Maybe you're next to last to read this as I'm not the last person to read it. :) It's sitting on my shelf and on the list to be read this year. We'll see if I get to it.

>85 LittleTaiko: Everyone has been raving about the series for a long while. I'll be continuing and like you I have many a new series on my shelves waiting patiently.

>84 pamelad: Hi Pam. I read about the flooding. The day we left Adelaide for Ballarat was the day it started raining heavily, I did about six hours of driving in heavy rain. The next day was only an hour to the airport and back home where it was cold and wet as well. I loved the Great Ocean Drive though wished we'd stretched it out to four days instead of three.

>83 mamzel: I've been neglecting my Terry Pratchet category, only read one book so far. I probably won't go there again this year as I unexpectedly led the year long ANZAC reading challenge over in the 75er group and that has impacted on my challenge here.
I will take note of that title and see if my library has it on audio.

>82 VictoriaPL: Oooh, Melbourne, Vic is a great city. It's the largest Greek city outside of Greece as far as I'm aware. Anyway a very cultural place to visit & a foodie mecca. I was only there for a full day this time as we decided to do a road trip to South Australia instead of flying.
I like that dual name thing.

>81 DeltaQueen50: I love road trips. Next time I think we'll possibly try to do the Nullabor drive to Perth.
http://www.mynrma.com.au/travel/holiday-ideas/sa/across-the-nullarbor.htm

>86 avatiakh: I did not know that about the other Melbourne. Thanks!

>86 avatiakh: Wow that looks like a fascinating trip to do. We are planning a short road trip later on in the month as we also love road trips especially if we are driving through the mountains.

*Wave* I will have to come back later and look at your reviews better. There are definitely some BB's in there. Hope you are enjoying Spring. I am a little homesick for NZ. Ok - a lot. :)

A child of books by Oliver Jeffers & Sam Winston (2016)
picturebook

This is rather delightful, the illustrations include lots of text from favourite childhood stories. It's a collaboration project of both Jeffers & Winston and will appeal to both adults and children.


_

The Road to Winter by Mark Smith (2016)
YA, fiction
A debut novel and the first in a trilogy. I really like this type of read, it's for older teens and also adults. It's being marketed as a new version of Tomorrow when the war began, though the storyline is more dystopian in that a virus knocks out most people in Australia. Finn, a 16 yr old boy has survived on his own for the past two years and now a girl turns up. She's being pursued by Wilders. The story is set on the western Victorian coastline.
I'm now looking forward to the next book.

The Evolutionary Void by Peter F. Hamilton
scifi / audio
And so the Void trilogy comes to an end. I've loved all the books Hamilton has set in the Commonwealth universe and I'm also happy that I have two new ones set at an earlier time to the Void books to read, starting with The Abyss Beyond Dreams.
The Void trilogy is brilliant though I think you'll get more from it by reading the earlier books Pandora's Star & Judas Unchained as several characters come into play again even though the Void books are set about 1000 years later.

Battlesaurus: Clash of Empires by Brian Falkner (2016)
YA
This is a continuation of the alternate history about Napoleon. Here we are in the aftermath of Waterloo, Napoleon is considering invading England and his ultimate weapons - battle ready dinosaurs are still a great threat. Great adventurous story telling, the pace is fast here. I'm pretty sure this one ties up the story as William and his military friends fight to protect England and rescue family and friends from the French using a touch of magical illusion.

Logan's Run by William F. Nolan & George Clayton Johnson (1967)
scifi
I was always quite taken with the film so when I saw this new edition of Logan's Run at the library I thought it would be interesting to read and see if the film differs from the book. It does.
While in the film all the action takes place in the underground city, in the book the action seems to crisscross the USA. Quite a good read and now I'll have to hunt down the movie for another look.
In 2116 there is no place for old people, once you reach 21 yrs your life is over and you go to the Sleeproom. Some can't handle this and become runners, trying to escape their fate. Logan is a hunter, his job is to find the runners and terminate them, but now he's about to turn 21.

The abyss beyond dreams by Peter F. Hamilton (2014)
scifi / audio
Commonwealth: Chronicle of the Fallers #1. This is the last of two books set in the Commonwealth universe and should be read after the Void trilogy even though this book is set before the events in the trilogy.
Wow, I loved this one. The Void is a black hole where technology stops working but humans have telepathy and telekinesis instead. Nigel Sheldon, one of the founders of the Commonwealth, goes into the Void to discover its secrets.
I had to start the sequel Night without stars right after finishing this. Luckily it was published last week.

The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas (1996)
crime
Commissaire Adamsberg #1. New police procedural series for me. This is set in Paris and introduces Adamsberg whose just moved to Paris from a rural police station. He's famous for solving crimes a little differently , relying on his own instincts. The rest of the cast of characters will hopefully become regulars. I'll be following up with book two sometime soon.

A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer (1961)
fiction
Thanks to Heather for reading this and writing such positive comments on her thread.....so I had to pick it up fairly quickly after that. This was a delightful read, Adam returns from the Peninsular War to find that his late father has left the family facing ruin. All Adam has is his title and property that must be sold to clear debts. To save the family home he enters a marriage of convenience. Jenny is far from a beauty, but she is sensible, shrewd and kind.

Night without Stars by Peter F. Hamilton (2016)
scifi / audio

This book concludes Hamilton's Commonwealth series, unless he's tempted to do another series based in the universe he's created, it's also the conclusion of the 2 book Faller Chronicles. It was everything it should be, big story, lots of story threads slowly coming together for the big finale, great menacing aliens all set in one of my all time favourite scifi universes.
This was only published earlier in October so the timing was impeccable as I was able to start it immediately on finishing The abyss beyond dreams.

So I've read all 8 Commonwealth books and now have only his Fallen Dragon, Manhattan in Reverse (short stories) and book #2 in his children's Queen of Dreams fantasy series left.

Words in deep blue by Cath Crowley (2016)
YA

This one was enhanced by reading an interview with the author which I came across when about half way through the book. She spent a few years writing this, mostly to write out the grief over her father's death and in the process she met and married her bookseller husband who also happens to be an author. She said her father would send her books he'd read, they smelt of his pipe tobacco and would have scribbling in the margins and passages underlined. So this book is a tribute to him.

It's set in a used booskshop with a delightful name, Howling Books. The plot is about dealing with grief, a love story and also a love for books. There are so many literary references thrown in it's a delight to read for that alone. The shop has a special section, a letters library, books from here are not to be sold, instead customers can leave notes for each other, write in the margins, underline text etc. So you follow mysterious messages between lovers, friends: each couple has a particular book that they leave their messages in etc.
The family that own the shop live upstairs but the parents are divorcing and the hard decision whether to close the business and make a lucrative sale of the building must be made. Their teenagers Henry and George (girl) love the bookshop but are they ready to fight for its survival. Their father employs two of their friends Rachel and Martin to catalog the books and letter library.

The Worst Breakfast by China Miéville (2016)
picturebook
I loved Zak Smith's artwork and the overall book design. The story is what you expect, a description of the all time worst breakfast as described by two sisters, they argue at time about rhyming words. Not one that I'd buy.



Fuzzy Doodle by Melinda Szymanik (2016)
picturebook, NZ
Impressive artwork by Donovan Bixley enhances Szymanik's great text. A doodle becomes a catepillar that eats ink, then words, then paragraphs and illustrations. It hibernates and tuns into a book cum butterfly. Simple but effective.


Our daft dog Danny by Pamela Allan (2009
picturebook, NZ

Time at the beach is spoilt when the children's dog bites the tail of their uncle's dog and won't let go. After a couple of attempts they come up with a solution that means fun for everyone at the beach.
Not one of her best picturebooks but average for Pamela Allan is streets ahead of much of the picturebook writing pack.

Chasing the stars by Malorie Blackman (2016)
YA scifi

A space mystery/thriller but with a tad too much romance for me. When Vee (Olivia) and her brother rescue a group of people from a hostile planet, Vee meets the handsome Nathan and they both suffer the love at first sight dilemma, one where the attraction and knowledge that you want to spend the rest of your life together comes before you can really know and trust the baggage that comes with the love interest. All this while navigating the spacecraft through hostile alien space towards their escape route, a wormhole. After finishing this, I read in a Guardian review that its based on Othello. Most of the characters were just too cardboard for my liking.
I loved and recommend Blackman's Noughts & Crosses series set in a segregated world where Crosses (blacks) are supreme and Noughts (white people) are the downtrodden. I'll be reading her Pig heart boy as it's included in the 1001 children's books you must read along with Noughts and Crosses.

>92 avatiakh: When it comes to The Road to Winter, you had me at Tomorrow When the War Began!

Oliver Jeffers features heavily in the books I give to my friends' children. Should really just go ahead and buy all of his books for myself too.

>102 DeltaQueen50: I enjoyed it quite a lot and he's finished writing book 2 so on track for the next one sometime in 2017.
I recently watched first season of the Australian tv series Tomorrow when the war began and liked how they updated it to present time and the adults get more story too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu0mNFyzeHs

>103 rabbitprincess: I've got a sizeable collection of my own picturebooks. Will pass them on to grandchildren if my own children ever produce any.

>104 avatiakh: That TV show looks good, I love that series which I am still slowly working my way through.

>105 DeltaQueen50: I read the first 4 or 5 but didn't finish the series. I did read the three Ellie Chronicles books which I loved, they cover events once it all settles down.

So far I have read the first four of the series but I am a little afraid that the later books will become repetitious. I plan to read the Ellie Chronicles as well.

I think that's what happened for me, they felt a bit like 'on repeat'. The Ellie books have a different focus, but there's still some action.
My favourite YA action series has been Robert Muchamore's Cherub. I've enjoyed every single book and just need to finish the prequel series. Great escapism.

I've set up next year's challenge - http://www.librarything.com/topic/236996

>96 avatiakh: Glad you enjoyed your first Fred Vargas book. The later books do provide more of the ensemble cast and a later volume in the series also has a cameo from a character in her other series too. I still have a couple of her works that I need to pick up but haven't read a bad one so far. There were also several made-for-(French)TV movies that were adapted from the Adamsberg series that were also very well done.

>110 AHS-Wolfy: Thanks for the info on the series, I found book 2 the other day and have it down for reading early in the new year.

The secret life of James Cook by Graeme Lay (2013)
fiction

Read for the Sep/Oct ANZAC challenge over in the 75er group. A historical fiction based around the early years of Captain James Cook and his first circumnavigation of the world in 1768-71. While not a riveting read I found it an interesting one for the details of history and also Lay's imagined portrayal of Cook.
I loved the section on New Zealand, the charting of the coastline and finding out the reasoning behind many place names. Some I already knew but the story adds a little more about others such as Mercury Bay in Whitianga I now know was due to their charting of Mercury's orbit around the sun, the readings taken from the beach there. Plus who all those names belong to such as Palliser, Hicks, Egmont. It was botanist Banks who named the strait between the islands as Cook Strait, knowing that Cook would be too modest to name anything after himself.
Joseph Banks the botanist comes across as an indulgent man to Cook who spent many years in Quaker households and kept to a strict moral code, also Banks was a gentleman whereas Cook was disciplined from his years in the Navy. I probably won't continue with the trilogy, more because I have too many other books on my shelves including some nonfiction that Lay himself references such as books by Anne Salmond about first contacts between Europeans and the people of the Pacific and also want to read something by Joan Druett. I have some of Lay's other books and do want to read his YA trilogy set in the Cook Islands.
I also want to find the artwork of Sydney Parkinson, Banks' artist and the art of Tupaia,a Tahitian that accompanied them to New Zealand. Parkinson taught him how to use European brushes and pens for sketching.


Deplanchea tetraphylla, commonly known as the Golden Bouquet tree, is a small tree native to Australia. It was drawn and partially painted by Sydney Parkinson (ca.1745–1771) on the first Endeavor voyage.

Sketch of Joseph Banks and a Maori exchanging goods. Artist: Tupaia (a Tahitian) - on cover of Joan Druett's biography, Tupaia, Captain Cook's Polynesian Navigator.

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (2003)
children's fiction
I meant to focus on Terry Pratchett this year but this is only the second book I've managed to pick up. I sort of enjoyed it and it's probably my mood more than anything that dimmed my enjoyment. The book introduces girl-witch Tiffany Aching and I had intended to also read the next book in the series A hat full of sky for a TIOLI challenge in the 75er group.
Tiffany goes to find her kidnapped younger brother with the help of the wee free men and a toad.

Marge in Charge by Isla Fisher (2016)
children's
I don't usually rush out to read a celebrity children's book but I had read somewhere that Fisher had a couple of children's books published when she was younger and before all the fame so was curious.
This is a humorous set of three stories suitable for an emerging reader. Two children are throroughly entertained by the antics of their new babysitter, their unsuspecting parents always arriving too late in the day to catch more than a small whiff of 'something not quite right here'. In the first story, as soon as the parents are out of the house, Marge takes off her hat revealing a rainbow of colours and then proceeds to create havoc Cat in the Hat style throughout the house while still managing to get all the tasks on the mother's list done. Just before the parents arrive home, with Marge snoozing in the lounge do the two children race through the house putting everything back to rights.
A quick fun read, would make a good read aloud to young ones 4-8yrs.

Thought I'd do some stats so I can work out where my focus should be for next year.

Read so far in 2016:
a rough tally, I missed out a few graphic novels & children's books - library books - 79 my own books - 76

Women writers - 58 Men writers - 90

Australia - 22
New Zealand - 14
UK & Ireland - 53
USA - 35
France - 9
South America - 6
Israel - 5
Germany 1
Estonia -1
Italy - 1
Finland - 1
Netherlands - 1

I felt like I read more translated works than that

The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher (2015)
steampunk fantasy scifi / iPod audio

First in the new Cinder Spires series of nine books. I'm not a fan of Butcher's Dresden Files but this one sounded right up my street. Overall I enjoyed it but felt there was something missing - not sure, it just lacked an ingredient that I need in my books.


Thraxas and the warrior monks by Martin Scott (Martin Millar) (1999)
fantasy

Thraxas #2. I felt like a fun read and grabbed the next Thraxas book as I enjoyed #1 so much a year or so ago. This was lots of fun, Thraxas, a down on his luck investigator, takes on a job of proving the innocence of his client, a sculptor's apprentice, but the plot and intrigue just keeps getting more and more complicated. Throw in two groups of warring warrior monks, an assassin, a missing two tonne sculpture and a sorceress or two, not forgetting the dolphins' request that he find their healing stone and you can understand Thraxas's need to call in at a few taverns before he calls it a day. It's all set in a medieval type kingdom.

I seem to have misplaced the next book in the series though I have #4 &5, so I won't be continuing till I find it.

The Lost Tohunga by David Hair (2011)
YA
Aotearoa #3. This is another series that I should focus on as I enjoy each outing so much. It's sort of urban fantasy set in present day New Zealand but the characters have the ability to slip in and out of Aotearoa, a world from the past, where mythological creatures thrive in NZ's colonial times. Mat and his friends are caught up in another power struggle in the spirit world. I just love how Hair manages to blend all these characters and worlds together to produce an action packed read. The Kurangaituku (Bird Woman) was a particularly interesting character this time. I'm hoping to read the next three books and finish the series before the end of the year.
Read for the Nov/Dec ANZAC challenge in the 75er group.

love in lower-case by Francesc Miralles (2014 Eng) (2010 Spain)
fiction
I found this quite delightful, though I can see that its quirkiness might not appeal to all. Samuel is a rather dull academic, an expert in German literature and linguistics but with no friends or social circle, life has sort of passed him by or rather he has stepped out of life. Rather difficult considering he lives in central Barcelona, another reason to love this small gem. So Samuel's life becomes a different beast when a cat wanders in to his apartment and sets off a wave of events, one thing by a quirk leading to another.

What I loved here are all the literary references and philosophising. Samuel has been making his way through They have a word for it: A Lighthearted Lexicon of Untranslatable Words & Phrases by Howard Rheingold:
mokita - Kiriwana word for the truth that everyone knows that no-one ever utters
won - Korean word for the reluctance to give up an illusion
baraka - Arabic for spiritual energy that can be used for wordly ends
Ah-un - Japanese for tacit understanding between two friends

I've requested a rather obscure Greek novel, The Flaw by Antonis Samarakis from the library that is mentioned in the book as well. Mostly he discusses classic German literature as he prepares for his lectures and that I enjoyed as well. Oh, and the Mendelssohn - Songs without words.
When you read the bio of the author, Miralles, there is a lot of what he's done that ends up in the plot.
......and there's a sequel, Wabi-sabi.

>118 avatiakh: - That does sound quite delightful. Must add it to my wishlist.

I saw some crazy pictures of the aftermath of the earthquake and just wanted to come by and say that I hope you and all of yours are safe and well.

Hi Eva, I live in the north so so far we haven't been affected, that said I did feel queasy and some of our light fittings were swaying so we did get a short tremor, it was just after midnight. My mother who lives a bit south of here was woken up by the tremors, she said everything in her cottage was rattling away.
Kaikoura appears to be in a bit of a mess with the coastal highway covered in slips and the roads all buckled. I read somewhere that there are about 80,000 slips in the region. A seal colony has been destroyed too.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/10/ohau-waterfall-baby-seals-cuddlefest-aw...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/86512830/famous-seal-breeding-ground-destroye...

I couldn't remember which island you lived on, but I figured you must have family and friends all over. Good to hear you are safe.

Oh, that's terrible about the seals. I do hope most of them were out to sea at the time. But, that video! Aw, so sweeet.

>121 avatiakh: Oh no! The poor seals! I am glad that you are safe though.

The King of the Copper Mountains by Paul Biegel (1969 Eng) (1965 Dutch)
children's fantasy
Thanks to Paul Stalder's TIOLI challenge last month to read a book by a Dutch or Flemish writer I got this from the library. I almost sent it back unread but am so glad I didn't. Anita (FAMeulstee) did a shared TIOLI read with me of this and she said it was one of her childhood favourites. It won the Dutch children's book prize in 1965.

An old king is ailing, his faithful servant, a hare, sends for the doctor who immediately sets off on a journey for a magical herb. His parting advice is that the king will survive if he's entertained by stories and as he travels the doctor asks those around him to go to the castle and share their story with the king. The hare answers a knock at the castle door on the first night and there is a wolf with a story to tell the king.
I really loved this, the mix of creatures both big and small and the variety of stories they have to tell. I hope it gets republished in English for a new generation of readers.

TIOLI - Take it or leave it, the monthly challenges over in the 75er group

Moonstone: the boy who never was by Sjón (2013 Icelandic) (2016 Eng)
fiction
This is my second book by Sjón, I read The Whispering Muse a few years ago. This one is set in the aftermath of World War One when the flu epidemic almost wiped out the entire population of Reykjavík and at the same time the island gained back its sovereignty on 1 December 1918. The main character, Mani, is a young outsider, an orphan who was taken in by his great grandmother's sister.
Quite an impressive read if you can get past the first chapter which launches you straight into the nuts and bolts of how Mani survives on the fringes of Reykjavík's society of the time.
In the credits for the novel you find that it's dedicated to Sjón's late brother who died of Aids.

Night School by Lee Child (2016)
thriller
Jack Reacher #21. Flew through the latest Reacher as per usual. This one is set back in his army days and was a fairly satisfying read. Now to wait for the latest Rebus novel to get in.

The Missing File by D.A. Mishani (2011 Hebrew) (2013 Eng)
crime
Inspector Avraham Avraham #1. This is the first in the series, an Israeli police procedural novel. Avaraham must investigate a missing person, a youth who just walked out of home one morning and never arrived to school. The investigation is hampered by the antics of one of the neighbours, a teacher of English, who had previously tutored the boy for a few months. The truth finally arrives but not before a few excellent twists. I enjoyed this, it's more cerebral than action packed and I liked that we got to view events from the perspective of that neighbour as well as from Avraham himself.
Avraham is a fan of detective novels, reading and trying to outwit the fictional detectives at their own game. He's based in Holon which is a city apart from Tel Aviv in name only, just south of Jaffa.
Definitely will move on to the next one.

Penguin Problems by Jory John & Lane Smith (2016)
picturebook
I was quite taken with this contrary little penguin who can't seem to see the bright side of life. Very cute and lovely illustrations, but the text is what shines. Recommended to the jaded reader.

Rolling Blackouts: dispatches from Turkey, Iraq and Syria by Sarah Glidden (2016)
GN
I read and enjoyed Glidden's How to understand Israel in 60 days or less which came out a few years ago. So this must be the project that she next embarked on back in 2011, but has taken a bit of time to get published.
In 2011 Glidden accompanies her friends, two Seattle journalists who have founded a journalism non-profit, on a trip through Turkey, Iraq and Syria where they will interview and gather background on various stories about refugees of the Iraq War. For an added extra, they are travelling with a childhood friend of one of the journalists. Dan, who served in the marines in the Iraq war, Dan will be interviewed during the trip to see how he now feels about his role in Iraq.

Overall this was quite interesting, though many times I felt that it had been trumped by the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War and ISIS. I had to remind myself that Glidden's focus was more about the process of what a journalist's job was and how they perceive their stories and then sell them, that part was interesting. The 'Dan' part of the trip didn't seem too successful for the journalists, the journalist maybe wanted him to react in a particular way and he didn't.

Glidden's illustrative style is beautiful and really makes it worth picking up her GNs.

"The goal of the trip was really to show journalism: how it's made, how difficult it is to do this work, how it's more than just going in, reporting on a story and getting out of there."
Glidden quickly saw the conflicting pressures the reporters were under.

"You know, journalists really care about the stories they're working on, but they also have to think about marketing, their audience, and how they're going to get someone to take time out of their day and read their article or watch their documentary. And this is a struggle I think that all journalists have to go through. I just really wanted to show that process."

I was happy to find the actual article that was written about Dan online - http://www.seattleglobalist.com/the-return-one-marines-story-of-a-mission-accomp...
http://observer.com/2016/10/sarah-glidden-rolling-blackouts/

Alpha: Abidjan to Gare du Nord by Bessora & Barroux (2014 French) (2016 Eng)
GN
This graphic novel's art style did not appeal at all when I first viewed the cover art, however it does work for the story.
I've read another of Barroux's GNs so knew that his work was worth picking up and I'll also now be seeking out Bessora's writing.
This follows the journey made by economic migrant Alpha as he tries to get from his home in Abidjan to Paris where his sister in law has a hair salon near the Gare Du Nord. His wife and small son had set out some months before him and he has had no news from them, as his journey progresses he realises that the chance that they made it to France is very small.
I found this a very interesting read, it's sad and frustrating but shows you the harsh conditions experienced by migrants as they travel towards their holy grail, Europe.

Notes on a Thesis by Tiphaine Rivière (2016)
GN
I loved this even though it fell away a little to the end. It's based on a blog that Rivière kept as she worked on her PhD in Paris. The complexity of her research, the blase attitude of her supervisor, the workload she takes on to fund her study, the inability to actually start writing after all the reading etc etc. Just loved it, the slightly comic approach and then after all the years of study...is there even a job market for all these PhD literature elites at the end.

Jeanne throws away her teaching job to undertake her PhD study on analysing the labyrinth motifs in Kafka's The Trial. While it's all enthusiasm at the start, things soon don't go according to plan. The secretary keeps a collection of before and after photos of all the students, looking at it would be enough to put most people off.
Loved the illustrative style here as well.

Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen (2014 Hebrew) (2016 Eng)
fiction
This was an engrossing read. Eitan is a doctor, a neurosurgeon, married to Liat, a police detective. One night Eitan is driving some lonely highway in the Negev while he grapples with his distaste for their recent move to Beersheva ... suddenly he has hit someone walking on the road. It's an Eritrean migrant, one of many sneaking into Israel from the Sinai. Now Eitan is caught up in a world he's never encountered before and keeping secrets from his wife.

This novel gives a compelling look into the lives of the migrants who track across Africa and try to enter Israel.

Will have to try her One Night, Markovitch again, I only got a few pages read last time I tried.

Diary of a body by Daniel Pennac (2012 French) (2016 Eng)
fiction
This was an unusual but satisfying read. I enjoy Pennac's work and need to finish his Benjamin Malaussène series.
Here our narrator keeps a diary from boyhood till death with a few breaks. His diary focuses on his body and its functions, so we get to see his life from this unusual angle... the energy of boyhood, the discovery of sex, marriage, arrival of children, grandchildren and then the dilapidation and decline of body.

Ok - I'm not really expressing how interesting a read this is, so do go to Daniel Hahn's Guardian review and read that instead: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/06/diary-of-a-body-daniel-pennac
What it means to be human..A life is vividly captured through a record of physical details – a sneeze, a taste, a tumble

I'll be picking up Adrian Mole in December and I've seen comparisons between the two books in several reivews.

Black Light Express by Philip Reeve (2016)
YA scifi
This is the sequel to Railhead and just as good. A fast paced adventure story from start to finish. Imagine a world where trains take you from planet to planet through K-Gates. Trains with personalities and that sing as they travel from place to place. The guardians say it isn't possible to make new gates, or travel to a world beyond what is already in the network. Zen Starling's adventure that started in book 1 continues.
Not sure if there'll be another Railhead book as all the loose ends have been tied so neatly by the end of this sequel.

I have to make mention of Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth series which also used trains travelling via wormholes.

>131 avatiakh: I have taken a BB for that one. I am amused that amazon is telling me that frequently bought with Notes on a Thesis is Leonard Cohen's "You Want it Darker". I'd say that sums up the PhD experience perfectly!

>135 Jackie_K: Ha, that does sound like a great combo.

>127 avatiakh:
That one unfortunately didn't jive for me. I was hoping for more of Israel for one, and the fact that Avraham wasn't really the one to solve it bothered me a bit. I'll probably pick up the next one anyway (since judging a debut novel isn't always fair), but it'll be from the library, I think.

>137 -Eva-: I can understand that. Have you tried Liad Shoham, he would be my current favourite for Israeli crime at present though only two books translated so far. I also liked Waking Lions which is set in Beersheva and is more literary than crime though the story revolves round a hit and run.
I get all my crime fiction from the library or charity shop.

The girl before by Rena Olsen (2016)
fiction
This was a fairly good read. I really enjoyed the unraveling of Clara's past life alongside her current situation as she struggles to understand the truth and where that places her. The book begins with Clara being taken prisoner when her home is raided by armed men, her husband yells to her, "Say nothing."

Berlin Game by Len Deighton (1983)
fiction
A good game of espionage is played here. Bernard Samson has to find who is the traitor in the London office putting their Berlin spies in jeopardy.
Read for Paul's BAC challenge (75 books group) and I might go on to read the other two books in the trilogy seeing I have the omnibus home from the library.

From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell (1964)
crime
I picked up a 3in1 omnibus a while back at a charity shop, and this one is the first in the Wexford series. A good murder mystery with great characters and a satisfying conclusion. I've read a few in the series over the years but completely out of order so am fairly pleased that I can now start from the beginning.
Mrs Parsons is a completely bland, ordinary woman, then she goes missing and a day later her body is found in the woods. Her husband loves to read true crime books. Not much to go on.

Out of many waters by Jacqueline Dembar Greene (1988)
children's fiction
I found this to be a very interesting historical fiction read. Jewish sisters Isobel and Maria were taken from their parents around 1650 by the Portuguese Inquisition and they have spent 4 years in as slaves in a remote Brazilian monastery but have now been brought to Recife as the Portuguese have retaken control of this town from the Dutch.
Isobel and Maria stowaway on separate ships bound for Amsterdam taking the Dutch and Jewish families away from Recife and the Inquisition. Unfortunately for Isobel, her ship's first mate has been bribed and all the Jews on board are at risk of being taken by Spanish privateers and sold on to the Inquisition in Cuba.

The true story is that 23 Jewish refugees fleeing Recife ended up in New Amsterdam after being captured by Spanish privateers then rescued and arriving on a French ship in September 1654. Peter Stuyvesant (1592-1672), the anti-Semitic Dutch colonial governor strived to have them expelled from the colony and continued to make life difficult for Jews after a successful petition in Holland granting them permission to stay.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/amsterdam.html

One foot ashore, the sequel to Out of many waters, is about the older sister, Maria, and how she tries to find her sister and parents once she arrives in Amsterdam.

Stone's Fall by Iain Pears (2009)
fiction/ Pod audio
I've been meaning to read this one for ages. My library had the audiobook but after I started listening I found that it was the audio for another rather dreary novel by some unknown writer. Anyway I got the audio finally from Audible and found this a rather excellent listen. It's historical fiction involving the rather mysterious businessman Mr Stone who fell to his death in or around 1909-ish. The book is divided into 3 linked parts, the first is by a journalist, Braddock, who is enlisted by Stone's wife to discover the identity of Stone's lovechild as per the conditions of his will. The second part is about the life of espionage by a Mr Court who was involved with Stone and his wife in the years preceding their marriage. And finally the earlier part of Stone's life is narrated by Stone himself. Rather excellent book all revolving around the world of industrial espionage, politics, banking and munitions.

The Osamu Tezuka Story: a life in manga and anime by Toshio Ban (1992 Japanese) (2016 Eng)
graphic biography

Oh I just loved this, all 800 + pages of it. What an amazing person Tezuka was and this biography really does do justice to his legacy and as well profiles the post-war manga industry as well as the world of anime. 5 stars plus.
Recommended.


Osamu Tezuka surrounded by some of his creations

wikipedia: Osamu Tezuka was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, animator, film producer, medical doctor and activist. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of the manga series Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion, Black Jack, and Phoenix. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga", "the godfather of manga" and "the god of manga". Additionally, he is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during Tezuka's formative years

Swarm by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti (2016)
YA scifi
This is the second in the Zeroes series about a group of California teens born in the year 2000, each with a different power. These powers aren't brilliant, not sure if I'd want any of them, hence they're more zeroes than heroes. In this second book they're hunted by another 'power' teen, Swarm, who has deadly intent.
I quite like this series and will probably read the next one as this one ended fairly abruptly.

Flying Couch: A Graphic Memoir by Amy Kurzweil (2016)
graphic memoir
This is a debut work, I think partly done for her studies in art. There are three stories tackled simultaneously, first Amy, her experiences as a student and her travels to Israel and Europe exploring her Jewish heritage. Then the experiences of her grandmother / bubbe in surviving the Holocaust in Poland and the third, the mother, a psychoanalyst and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
I've decided that I'm not such a fan of these graphic books where the writer is in their 20s or 30s and the memoir feels more like a project, this one was mildly interesting. The blurb says it's about family and dealing with a legacy of trauma, the power of family stories, the meaning of home and how each generation bears an imprint of the past.
I probably would have been more captivated with a tighter story such as Rutu Modan's The Property or Jerusalem: The Story of a City and a Family by Boaz Yakin. Will Eisner's graphic memoirs are also far more memorable.

The Little Humpbacked Horse: a Russian tale adapted by Elizabeth Winthrop
children's illustrated story
This edition is illustrated by Alexander Koshkin. A delightful fairy tale that I came across while reading the Osamu Tezuka graphic biography. This was made into a Russian animated film in 1947 (and remade in 1975 by same director). Tezuka loved this film and all the animation techniques used in the making of it and he saw it many times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS1OIiRY1MM

The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch (2016)
fantasy
Peter Grant #6. Continuing the Peter Grant series in fine form. My only criticism is that we had to wait for so long for this one. Heather aka souloftherose has informed me that there are now graphic novels that fit into the series, so luckily my library has those and I'm heading there next.

Ayako by Osamu Tezuka (1972 Japan) (2010 Eng)
graphic novel
This is an early seinen (young adult) manga series and quite a political one at that. Starts out at the start of the US occupation of Japan at the end of WW2 and is about the rural once powerful Tenge clan. The clan had been rich landowners for a few centuries but with the end of WW2 most of the land has been taken from them and given to their tenant farmers. It starts with one of the older brothers, Jiro, returning from a POW camp, he immediately runs into the wrath of his father. His older brother will do anything to keep his inheritance, his sister is in a relationship with the leader of a socialist movement and the youngest member of the family, 4 yr old Ayako has a mystery surrounding her parentage. Ayako is witness to murder and the family elders decide on her fate so she can't be questioned by the police. I almost didn't read this as I wasn't a fan of the cover but I'm glad I did.

covers from the manga series

Prairie Fire by E. K. Johnson (2015)
YA
This is the sequel to The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim. I loved the first book, it was quite an original story, an alternate history set in Canada in a world where dragons prey on fossil fuels and human lives are always at risk. In this sequel Owen, his bard and the book's narrator Siobhan along with their classmate join the Oil Watch for their four year service.
Not quite as grand a read as book one but pretty good for all that. I have her Exit, Pursued by a Bear out from the library, it's set in the world of cheerleading which I've not read about before. Her latest book, Spindle is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty and I'm looking forward to reading that one as well.

The Journey by Francesca Sanna (2016)
picturebook
First the illustrations are quite stunning. The story is a simple one of a journey made by a refugee family, a mother and her children. The book is endorsed by Amnesty International. Sanna, an Italian who lives in Switzerland, had met and talked to refugee children in Italy a few years ago and was inspired by their stories to research and produce this book when she was studying for her degree in illustration.
http://francescasanna.com/

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war comes
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Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams (1990)
fantasy
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn #2. So I've been reading this second installment of epic fantasy on my mobile since March and only started really pushing myself to make some progress in these past few weeks and was determined to finish before the end of the year. The story is great, just that I was reading the book on the wrong device so it got minimal exposure. I'm planning on reading the third book in January and as it is the concluding volume I'm expecting an exciting ending to the story. Simon, Prince Joshua and their friends are all journeying across the land to arrive at the Stone of Farewell, a safe haven from where they can launch a final attack against the Storm King and his darkness and evil that threatens to take over their world.

Circle by Jeannie Baker (2016)
picturebook
Australian Jeannie Baker's work is always extraordinary. In this book she draws awareness to bird migration using the amazing example of the godwit. I've read numerous New Zealand children's books on the godwit and this one adds to the overall canon.
If you haven't already seen her work it's well worth seeking out, she always draws your attention to ecological issues. I heard her speak several times when she visited New Zealand some years ago.

On making the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QwNIsMXGmE
http://www.jeanniebaker.com/
More about the godwit: http://sciencelearn.org.nz/Contexts/Flight/NZ-Research/Flight-of-the-godwit

>152 avatiakh: I have very fond memories of that series. I loved how he made all these peoples so distinctly different, and the Sithi are so amazingly alien.

Phew, finally up to date again. I took two BBs, for Waking Lions and Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was.

>151 avatiakh: The illustrations are gorgeous!

>154 MissWatson: I'd jump straight into the next book right away except I have to finish so many reads before the end of year. I also like the strangeness of the Sithi. There was an enthusiastic discussion on the trilogy in the 75er group, I mentioned reading it on the scifi/fantasy thread and found it was a highly memorable read for several (they even posted pics of their copies).
I received my copy of The Dragonbone Chair through santathing several years back and had felt guilty about not reading it for so long, only to find I'd committed myself to an epic trilogy once I started.

>155 Chrischi_HH: Oh, I hope you enjoy those two books. Yes, the illustrations are just lovely.

>151 avatiakh: Sanna's and Baker's illustrations are indeed stunning!

>138 avatiakh:
I have Lineup on my wishlist - I'll put it higher on the list.

Falling for Science: asking the big questions by Bernard Beckett (2007)
nonfiction
When YA writer and high school drama & maths teacher Bernard Beckett was awarded the Royal Society Fellowship for Teachers of maths, science & technology he spent 2005 at the Allen Wilson Centre for Molecular Evolution, a research lab specialising in gene sequencing and associated mathematical modeling. From this experience came three books, two fiction and one nonfiction. First was Genesis (2006) the popular dystopian YA novel, then Falling for Science (2007) and finally an adult novel, Acid Song (2008).
So it was interesting to read this, especially as a follow on to the two works of fiction. Beckett describes it as an exploration of the relationship between science and storytelling. Basically it is an interesting, at times a bit hard going, discussion around the philosophy of science. Beckett adds enough wisecracks and subtle humour to keep the reader engaged. I read half the book back in August and finally picked it up again this week to finish up. I still have to tackle his rather extensive bibliography with annotations.
I like this quote by philosopher Roger Scruton that Beckett quotes in the final chapter:
'The scientific attempt to explore the 'depth' of human things is accompanied by singular danger. For it threatens to destroy our response to the surface...It is in this thin topsoil that the seeds of happiness are sown.'
This came after an exploration of consciousness and how we think and whether by the time we hone it down to a purely scientific explanation whether we've lost some of the 'magic' of being human.

A 2013 quote from Beckett himself about his book: 'I’ve read a lot more of this stuff since, and certainly there are one or two things I’d be more cautious about saying next time round, but overall I’d defend the case I make in the book, which seeks to accentuate the difference between building a predictive model, and using culturally informed stories to interpret that model. Once this distinction is made it becomes possible, I believe, to better understand the ways science and story telling rely upon one another. I’m particularly pleased I managed to notice the problem with Popper’s description of scientific progress, because had I endorsed that point of view, I would feel a little embarrassed about it now.'

>157 mathgirl40: Yes!

>158 -Eva-: I don't understand why they haven't translated more of his work.

Taking the morning - afternoon now - to play catch-up on all the threads in the group and have enjoyed getting caught up will all of your reading.

Taking a BB for The Secret Heiress - that totally sounds like something I would enjoy reading - and making note that something seemed to be missing from Butcher's The Aeronalt's Windlass. I am hoping to get around to reading the Butcher book next year.

>121 avatiakh: - Very sorry to read that the seal colony was eradicated by the earthquake, but glad to see you were not affected.

Rather be the Devil by Ian Rankin (2016)
crime
Rebus #21. I love my annual dose of Rebus. Being retired doesn't stop Rebus from poking his nose into a cold case.


Snow white: a graphic novel by Matt Phelan
GN
A YA retelling of Snow White set in 1920s New York high society. Minimal use of text, Phelan lets the images tell the story. The seven dwarfs are homeless waifs. Well done, my first time looking at Phelan's work.
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Princess Knight vol 1 by Osama Tezuka (2011 Eng) (originally serialized in Japan 1953-56)
manga
Continuing my Osama Tezuka fan reading, this is Tezuka's first manga developed for girl readers. Well worth reading the wikipedia entry for this, as it gives you a brief overview of the influences that Tezuka drew on for this manga, 'his first idea was to transpose the all-female musical theater group Takarazuka Revue into manga...Tezuka often watched its performances during his childhood and youthhood. Takarazuka's costumes, sets, and lyrics, as well as its gender representation and sexual politics were used by Tezuka on creating Princess Knight. Sapphire is based on the dansō no reijin ("beauty in male dress") of Takarazuka.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Knight
Tezuka plays with gender roles in this, Sapphire is a girl who dresses and lives as a boy, in order to inherit the throne. She's been born with two hearts, one of a boy the other of a girl. Lots of entertaining adventures, and I'll have to read Vol 2 to find out how it all ends.
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Wandering Son Vol 1 by Shimura Takako (2003 Japan) (2011 Eng)
manga
Interesting manga read. The art is very simple with lots of white space. The storyline is gentle and the two friends are treated with respect. Just felt right to read this one here after Princess Knight.
from the publisher -
'The fifth grade. The threshold to puberty, and the beginning of the end of childhood innocence. Shuichi Nitori and his new friend Yoshino Takatsuki have happy homes, loving families, and are well-liked by their classmates. But they share a secret that further complicates a time of life that is awkward for anyone: Shuichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy. Written and drawn by one of today’s most critically acclaimed creators of manga, Shimura portrays Shuishi and Yoshino’'s very private journey with affection, sensitivity, gentle humor, and unmistakable flair and grace. Volume one introduces our two protagonists and the friends and family whose lives intersect with their own. Yoshino is rudely reminded of her sex by immature boys whose budding interest in girls takes clumsily cruel forms. Shuichi’s secret is discovered by Saori, a perceptive and eccentric classmate. And it is Saori who suggests that the fifth graders put on a production of The Rose of Versailles for the farewell ceremony for the sixth graders — with boys playing the roles of women, and girls playing the roles of men.'
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I've started a French graphic novel, The Incal, ' an epic space opera blending fantastical intergalactic voyage, science, technology, political intrigues, conspiracies, messianism, mysticism, poetry, debauchery and satire.'

The Song of Seven by Tonke Dragt (2016 Eng) (1967 Dutch)
children's fiction
This was fun. A schoolteacher who tells stories where he is the hero of perilous deeds to his class at the end of day, begins a story about receiving a letter with a mysterious invitation. When he gets home there is a letter waiting for him with a mysterious invitation. So begins a great adventure.
This is my third book by Dragt and hopefully there will be even more translated. Lots of great children's writing in The Netherlands that has not been translated as yet.


The Return by Sonia Levitin (1987)
children's fiction
A story based on Operation Moses, where Israel airlifted thousands of Ethiopian Jews from camps in the Sudan to safety in Israel in a six month period 1984-85. But first these Jews had to make the dangerous journey from their villages in the hills of Ethiopia to the border area of Sudan. Desta and her siblings set out, a day early and without supplies when soldiers are seen climbing the hill to their village. Their long journey to Sudan is marked mostly by hardship and sorrow as Ethiopia struggles through severe famine. As falasha (Jews) they are unwelcome everywhere. The camp when they finally arrive is full of malnourished people and food and water aid is not always able to get through. Even here they must keep their Jewish identity to themselves while seeking out those who can get them to the Promised Land.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Moses


King Baby by Kate Beaton (2016)
picturebook
More subversive humour from Beaton. I loved this and so did my daughter. 'It's good to be King'. How parents rush to serve their offspring as they develop from helpless babies to toddlers used to getting their own way.
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The book of intimate grammar by David Grossman (1991 Israel)
fiction
So pleased to have this one behind me, I found it fairly tedious. Grossman is a wonderful writer, he can write pages and pages on one of his character's thinking processes, it can be amazing and at other times can just be difficult reading. This was more of the second type than the first unfortunately.
We meet Aron, a twelve yr old in 1960's Israel and follow him for two years up to the cusp of the Six Day War. Around Aron, all his friends suddenly turn into adolescents, their bodies maturing and growing at alarming rates. Aron does not change, he doesn't grow and his body doesn't mature, he who was leader and looked up to is becoming the runt. The book focuses on Aron's family life and Aron's descent into a kind of madness. The writing can't be faulted but overall this was quite depressing to read.

Round the Bend by Nevil Shute (1951)
fiction
Read for the ANZAC Nov/Dec challenge. Not my favourite Shute by a long way. It's about an aviation engineer who decides to set up a charter business in Bahrain at the end of World War 2. There's lots of business for the fledgling operation with all the oil business and equipment needing to be moved out to remote areas. He's able to employ an old friend from England, Connie, another engineer who is half Chinese and half Russian. Connie has a strange almost spiritual approach to his work and as others around him adopt his 'way' he soon has a following.
The story was interesting though didn't really do much for me, I also think it was fairly dated in its East West pivot to put it mildly.

>162 avatiakh:
Rather be the Devil has a January 31, 2017 release date over here.
Grrr, why is the US edition always so late? Perhaps an order on bookdepository.co.uk is in my future...

>168 -Eva-: That's so weird, because it came out here in Canada and a copy is under the tree for my mother :) Should have picked you up an extra copy!

Oh dear, I put my name down at the library as soon as I see they have it on order. It was in the shops here a couple of weeks before my request came through, so probably has been available here since late November.

Snapshot by Garry Disher (2007)
crime
Inspector Hal Challis #3. Just took a paragraph to get hooked into this one, I'm a recent convert to Disher's crime novels thanks mostly to the ANZAC challenge. I had been trying to get into the slow moving Death of a dissident by Stuart Kaminsky, which I also had out from the library but the Disher novel took off so easily.
A woman is shot down at a rural property in front of her young daughter, was it a matter of mistaken identity or was the killing linked to the recent expose of sex parties in the local rag. Her father in law happens to be Challis' boss so it is not going to be an easy case to move forward on. The twist at the end was very neat.
Challis lives and works on the Mornington Peninsula just out from Melbourne, a rural area where Disher lives and knows well.

The Long night Watch by Ivan Southall (1983)
YA
The Long Night Watch was awarded the Phoenix Award in 2003, as the best English-language children's book that did get not a major award when it was originally published twenty years earlier. An Australian YA novel that deals with a cult, which made me interested in reading it. I wasn't that taken with this and even though the ending was clever enough it wasn't enough for me to say,'great read.'
World War Two has broken out, a prominent ex-army Brigadier has become the leader of a small religious cult going by the name of SWORD (Society for World Order under Divine Rule). The Australian government is happy enough to agree to their demands to be taken north to an island to await out either the end of Hitler or the coming of the light, which ever comes first. The 100 odd SWORD men, women and children are dumped on an abandoned island somewhere near Papua New Guinea and left to their devices. Two 16 yr old boys are given the tasks of keeping watch on a high cliff face, long 12 hour shifts, one day watch and one night watch; looking for 'the light'. Unfortunately for SWORD, Japan enters the war in the Pacific and has been given intelligence by the Germans about an Operation SWORD, led by a distinguished Brigadier from the Australian military.

Ivan Southall is a highly respected writer for children, one of his more famous works is Ash Road. I've always had a soft spot for the book as it was lying around our house when my son's friends were looking for a name for their rock band and one of them spotted the book and they went by the name of Ash Road from then on.

The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva (2000)
fiction
First in Gabriel Allon series. This first book introduces us to Mossad ex-agent, brought back into the fold, Gabriel Allon. He's convinced to leave his new career as an art restorer and to take on one last mission to assassinate a leading rogue Palestinian operative. I wasn't really convinced at all by this thriller, it was too 'airport novel' espionage for me, though I'll keep reading the series to see if Silva improves with his storytelling.
A much more realistic Mossad novel is Duet in Beirut by Mishka Ben-David, an ex-operative himself. He also wrote Forbidden Love in St. Petersburg which is a goodread as well.

So many BBs from your thread again this year. I hope you enjoy the holidays!

Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton (2001)
scifi
Stand alone scifi from Peter F. Hamilton. A big story that was a 5 star listen for me. My favourite narrator, John Lee made this another pleasurable experience. I did pick up my paperback copy to read the last 100 pages, it was either that or 3.5 hours of listening and I just wanted to know how it ended asap.
Space has been colonised by big Earth-based corporations sending out settler groups. The payoff for the corporations is going back every few years to collect 'tribute'.


Justice and Utu by David Hair (2012)
YA fiction (NZ)
Aotearoa #4. My final book for the year and one for the ANZAC challenge. I'm enjoying this series where Mat, his friends and others slip between the real New Zealand and a mythical Aotearoa which is like a permanent 19th century colonial state but with magic. This time the original Treaty of Waitangi in Aotearoa is stolen while in New Zealand a particularly nasty new player has appeared in the Warriors rugby league team.

I'll be back to post a quick wrap up, but I'm finished reading for the year.
My 2017 category challenge thread is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/236996

>174 paruline: Waves to Paruline, I'll have to hunt down your thread, i haven't been too active in this group

Summing up 2016 -
my categories:
1: Spotlight on Terry Pratchett - only managed to read two of these so the focus never really took off. I'll continue to read Pratchett but I'm still not that much of a fan

2: Time Out 1000 Books to Change Your Life - 0/10 - I probably read a couple and slotted them in elsewhere. I almost always fail when I do a category like this

3: Serious Fiction - I read a lot of NZ & Australian literature - my fav was probably Acid Song by Bernard Beckett

4: Hemingwayesque - another fail, i manged two books and one of those was a novella.
I loved both books

5: Israel & Diaspora - Jewish & Israeli fiction - lots of goodies in here - I'll give the fiction award to Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen and non-fiction to Making David into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel by Joshua Muravchik which was a very interesting read
YA & childrens - I read a lot of old fiction based on Israel as well as some great new Jewish YA - Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman, Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit & The dog of knots by Kathy Walden Kaplan

6: International Fiction - books in translation
Both The Red Collar by Jean-Christophe Rufin (French) & The secret in their eyes by Eduardo Sacheri (Argentina)
Honourable mention to The Man who spoke Snakish (Estonian) by Andrus Kivirähk - very original and compelling read
also 100 Days of Happiness by Fausto Brizzi (Italy) - ended up loving this after a shaky start

7: Fiction: antiheroes/cult/unreliable narrators
Ok, this didn't go according to plan, I ended up reading the entire Wyatt crime series by Garry Disher - 8 books

8: Fiction: epistolary, diary or journal
Another fail with 2 books read though both Saving Mozart by Raphaël Jérusalmy & Diary of a body by Daniel Pennac were excellent reads

9: Historical / Sagas
I read 4 books, non outstanding but all were good reads, I'll pick The Denniston Rose by Jenny Pattrick

10: Favourites - writers, genres, series etc
I read the latest Ian Rankin & Lee Child, finished Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond series and Diana Wynne Jones Chrestimanci series and last book in Robert Muchamore's CHERUB series. 3 books by Paul Gallico all starring animals. Loved every book I read in this section - all equal winners

11: Scifi with a focus on Peter F. Hamilton
Ok, my big win for the year is that I did focus on Peter F Hamilton, 7 books read, now only have a short story collection and a children's book left of his to read.
No top read as I found every book exceptional but will make mention of Fallen Dragon only because it is a stand alone novel.
Other scifi - Station Eleven - compelling
YA scifi - I enjoyed all of these though top billing goes to Philip Reeve's Black Light Express the sequel to Railhead

12: Fantasy with focus on Dragons
Well, I didn't really connect with dragons though my top fantasy reading has to be the first two books of Tad William's Memory, thorn, sorrow trilogy as I spent most of the year reading it.
YA - The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín - love his books and this was quite original

13: Literary Collections - fairy tales, folktales, short stories, essays
another fail though I enjoyed discovering Owen Marshall's short story collection, Coming home in the dark.

14: Nonfiction Light: Travel & Food
Most fun was listening to the last two books of Gerald Durrell's Corfu Trilogy

15: Nonfiction Heavy: History, Politics & Science
I listened to Brooks narrate her book and found it quite captivating - Nine parts desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks

16: Illustrated and books for the young
Graphic Novels - overall winner is a biography, can't laud it highly enough - The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime by Toshio Ban - what a creative genius this guy was
Honorable mentions to: Two Brothers by Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon & The Eternaut by H. G. Oesterheld
Manga Awards to - Ayako, Bakuman Vol 1 and Princess Jellyfish.
YA - both Light horse to Damascus by Elyne Mitchell & Asking For It by Louise O'Neill
Children's: The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley & Pax by Sara Pennypacker - loved both these
Picturebooks: Penguin problems by Jory John

Overflow:
This turned into a popular fiction category with mostly crime books -
I finished all the current Max Camera series by Jason Webster and made a start on several new series.