avatiakh (Kerry)'s literary travels, part 4

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Frost II & Orestiana by Craig Humberstone, a 2nd cousin of mine who I just discovered is an artist.

Currently reading:

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We used to live on the same street as artist Pamela Wolfe and my oldest two (when young children) used to visit her studio all the time, making pests of themselves no doubt.

I'm also over in the category challenge group:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/205430

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

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NZ novelist Emily Perkins is married to artist Karl Maughan who is renown for his amazing floral landscapes.
This will be for the GeoCAT, the BAC, and the ANZAC challenge:

Jan GeoCAT on South America:
Andean Express by Juan de Recacoechea (Bolivia)
Clandestine in Chile by Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)
The secret in their eyes by Eduardo Sacheri (Argentina) - loved the film

British Author's Challenge:
January
Susan Hill - Strange Meeting
Barry Unsworth - The songs of the kings
February
William Dalrymple - From the Holy Mountain - stalled
Mar/Apr/May/Jun/Jul

ANZAC
Jan/Feb
James McNeish - Lovelock
Ronald Hugh Morrieson - Pallet on the floor
Jenny Pattrick - The Denniston Rose
Thomas Keneally - Gossip from the forest
Judith Armstrong - The French Tutor - lost book
Kate Forsyth - The Beast's Garden
Mar/Apr
Hamish Clayton - The Pale North
Nine Parts Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women
May/Jun
Kickback by Garry Disher
Paydirt by Garry Disher
Deathdeal by Garry Disher
Crosskill by Garry Disher
Port Vila Blues by Garry Disher
The Fallout by Garry Disher
Wyatt by Garry Disher
The Heat by Garry Disher
Spinners by Anthony McCarten
Smith's Dream by C.K. Stead
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

Jul/Aug : http://www.librarything.com/topic/226042
Remembering Babylon by David Malouf
Shot by Sarah Quigley
Acid Song by Bernard Beckett
The Girl with the dogs by Anna Funder
Coming home in the dark by Owen Marshall

Sep/Oct
Coda by Thea Astley
The Secret Life of James Cook by Graeme Lay - Reading
Lost Voices by Christopher Koch

Nov/Dec
The Last Tohunga by David Hair
Justice and Utu by David Hair
Ghosts of Parihaka by David Hair
Magic and Makutu by David Hair
The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood

chatterbox's Nonfiction challenge here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/208642

January: Biography/Memoir/Autobiography
Memoirs of a Warsaw Ghetto Fighter by Kazik
The unexpected professor: An Oxford Life in Books by John Carey
February: History
The Reckoning: How the Killing of One Man Changed the Fate of the Promised Land by Patrick Bishop
The Ottoman Centuries by Lord Kinross - try for later in year
March: Travel
From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple - carry over from BAC Feb
April: Religion & Spirituality (Easter/Passover)
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May: The Arts
Ways of Seeing by John Berger
June: Natural History/Environment/Health
H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald
July: Current Affairs
Making David into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel by Joshua Muravchik
Why Vote Leave by Daniel Hannan
August: Science and Technology

September: Philosophy/History of Ideas

October: Politics/Economics & Business/Commentary

November: Essays

December: Quirky/Who Knew?

Plans for rest of year:
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I've had a focus on scifi writer Peter F. Hamilton for my category challenge and it has been going well so far, I've managed 5 books and am listening to one right now, Fallen Dragon will be my wrap up book to read before the year's end.
I've managed the ANZAC reading challenge this year so have done fairly well most months, I'm looking forward to the end of year selection which will feature Clive James, Charlotte Wood, Nevil Shute, David Hair, Maurice Gee & Laurence Fearnley. I'm also hoping to get in some NZ crime reading before the year's end, Ben Sanders & Paul Cleave are both on my radar.
There's lots of library books at home and on request as well as a heap of books the I want to read right now. Hoping to finish the Tad Williams book I've been reading all year as well as the nonfiction books I selected for Suzanne's nonfiction challenge, really fell off the applecart with her challenge.

Library e-books that i've not read this year:
Mad on radium
Good People by Nir Baram
Old Masters
The Assault
After Midnight
Byzantium Endures

I hope and guess that it is safe to drop by now and wish you a very happy new thread.

Thanks Paul, still a work in progress but getting there.

Happy New Thread, Kerry!

I enjoy the images you post. Many thanks!

>8 ronincats: Hi Roni
>9 Whisper1: Hi Linda, thanks. I only found out the Craig was an artist a couple of days ago when doing family history research on my local library website.

Happy New Thread, Kerry!

Love all the art. Karl Maughan's floral landscapes in >3 avatiakh: particularly get me.

I hope you do get to H is for Hawk at some point. Really interesting, and well told.

Happy new thread, Kerry!

>1 avatiakh: Nice thread toppers and by family, wow!
>3 avatiakh: Those floral landscapes are beautiful.

OK you and Alex have me interested in Hamilton. A sci-fi book called Great North Road must be worth looking for.

Have a marvellous weekend, Kerry.

Happy new thread, avatiakh!

>11 jnwelch: Hi Joe H is for Hawk sits by my desk making me feel guilty. I will get it read, currently I'm reading a lot of scifi.
Those Maughan paintings are really huge, if you click on the link you'll get an idea of the size.

>12 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita. I had no idea he was an artist, I was searching in the library digital resources with a family name to see what it brought up and got a link to his exhibitions. His art is impressive inits detail though not my taste as far as subject matter goes.
I've always loved Maughan's work and that he is married to a well known writer just adds to the mix.

>13 PaulCranswick: Will do Paul.

>14 brodiew2: Thanks Brodie.

Sunday morning visit to the library and lots of new books to pick up:

Marge in Charge by Isla Fisher - children's book, Fisher wrote a few juvenile novels before she became known as an actress and wife of Sacha Baron Cohen. This looks like a fun read.
The Book of Whispers by Kimberley Starr - YA fantasy, Text Prize (2015)
The Best of Adam Sharp by Graeme Simsion - latest from The Rosie Project author
Swarm by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan & Deborah Biancotti - YA Zeroes #2

Yesterday's used bookshop haul:
Edith's Diary by Patricia Highsmith
Hysterical: Ann Freud's Storyby Rebecca Coffey
Damascus Gate by Robert Stone

Came across this political cookbook, unfortunately my library doesn't have it:

Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach To International Relations

>16 avatiakh: What a unique title.

I'm doing some family research for my cousin, and came across this Bomb Site map of bombs that landed on London during WW2. You can zoom in on particular areas of London. I was noticing that Lambeth, where some of his family lived and had businesses had changed the street names so I wondered if it was because of rebuilding after the war and arrived at this site:
http://bombsight.org/explore/greater-london/

Total number of bombs dropped from 7th October 1940 to 6th June 1941 in Greater London:
Parachute Mine 4
High Explosive Bomb 27,917
Parachute Mine 404

>17 Whisper1: Yes, I was quite taken with the title too. No interloan available through my library either, if I want to look at the book I have to buy it, so won't be doing that.

Happy New Thread, Kerry. Hope all is well with you.

I have been curious about American Blood. I will be watching for your thoughts.

Hi Mark - I read Sanders debut novel a few years ago, enjoyed it. He got a 3 book publishing deal while still at Auckland University, I think he was studying engineering. The trilogy follows an Auckland detective, solving crimes and dealing with his own life problems as per usual for this genre. When it came to getting published in the US the US publisher thought that the Auckland setting wouldn't work, so he had to write a new novel set in the States.

I love the floral landscapes from Mr. Perkins ;)

>18 avatiakh: oh wow. That is horrible, yet such a good resource. My elderly neighbour reckons that the Canterbury Earthquakes were scarier than the Blitz, but I reckon the Blitz would have been much, much worse.

>23 LovingLit: I've just sent my daughter who lives in London a link to the Bomb Sight app - 'allows you to explore where the bombs fell as you walk around the streets of London. If you are in London you can use your GPS to find your location and discover where the bombs fell using Augmented Reality. Simply hold up your phone and use your camera and GPS location to see their locations.'

Yes, I love those paintings too. If you do google images you can see he's really prolific.

>16 avatiakh: Great title for that book. If you do track it down and read it I would love to know what you thought :)

>24 avatiakh: UK is rightly proud of its history and (as a Brit) I would say rightly so, but being able to GPS the exact location of where the bombs fell is overkill isn't it? How would they have that level of information? I would probably GPS it myself if I am walking around London from bookstore to bookstore!

Good morning, avatiakh! I hope all is well with you.

I neglected to mention John Lee in my response to you on my thread. I really enjoy him as a narrator. How did you enjoy his Count? It is a monster of 37 discs. Did it keep you engaged?

>18 avatiakh: Fascinating stuff. I've not spent much time in Lambeth but my guess was lots of tower blocks. Is that right?

>25 sirfurboy: I don't think i'll take it further unless I come across it one day in a used bookshop.

>26 PaulCranswick: My daughter, Yasmin, is going to download the app, she thinks she's come across it before. Probably good to use on a long bus ride.

>27 brodiew2: I looked up the Count, it's 50+ hours on audio, but a great listen. I remember time flying by, such a great story.
I'm planning to listen to some Dickens next year, I don't think John Lee has narrated any Dickens, but the other narrators hopefully will be good enough. I'm tuning my ear to Sean Barrett at present with Jo Nesbo's The Son.

>28 charl08: I'm also not familiar, but the era I'm researching is the 1820s thru the 1860s when it was a slum with the Workhouse etc. My cousin's ancestor had a soapmaking business on the same street as the Workhouse. The street has had about 3 or 4 names over the years, back then it was Princes St, though his business was tucked into an alleyway, Naked Boy Alley. I read a description of visiting the street, the smell from the soapboilers was terrible and infiltrated the whole area. There was a cholera outbreak in the 1840s.
I found some minutes from a trial, where his grtx3 grandfather gave evidence against an employee who stole 12kgs of soap, the employee got transported for 7 years (1836). Hence my interest in reading some Dickens next year.
http://landmark.lambeth.gov.uk/display_page.asp?section=landmark&id=437

The other name from his family is 'Kilner' and he thought that maybe the family invented the kilner jar which I'd never heard of but wikipedia assured me is the seal and screwtop used when doing preserves. Anyway his family all seem to be clustered in one parish in Huddersfield before coming to London, so probably no kilner jar. But I found out that Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear is related to the Yorkshire Kilners of the kilner jar, researched in an episode of 'Who do you think you are?'.
http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/episode/jeremy-clarkson

Based on your recommendation, I'm going to give it a try. I am almost done with Hero of the Empire and have The Count sitting on the floorboard of my car.

I started looking at websites on Lambeth slum clearance records and fell down a black hole of architectural studies about the homes built in the 20s and 30s. Some lovely things that I think of ad deco (but probably aren't) seem to have survived (as well as the awful tower blocks, which are now being listed).

Did you find the law records on Old Bailey Online? I've just been there and seen they have a new book about criminals London Lives by Hitchcock and Shoemaker. Tempted.
https://www.oldbaileyonline.org

>30 brodiew2: Oh yes, go for it, such a great tale. He's also narrated The Three Musketeers which would be a good listen, I've read the book fairly recently, but will suggest it for my daughter.
I got two audio cds from the library a couple of days ago, A brief history of seven killings by Marlon James as it should be an interesting listen - 22cds and Kolymsky Heights by Lionel Davidson, a thriller set in Siberia - 13cds

>31 charl08: That looks like a fascinating resource. So many great resources on the internet if you look around. I'm off to the library today to check some digital newspapers, only available at the library not on their website. Annoying as i'm sure that I was accessing old UK newspapers online only a few months ago.

Currently I'm reading a YA set in a used bookshop called Howling Books, Words in deep blue by Cath Crowley. The bookshop and literary references are great. She's an Australian writer who I haven't read before.

151) 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.

152) 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.

So I started listening to Jo Nesbø's The Son but it didn't really appeal and after reading Val McDermid's review in The Guardian I decided to give up.
So now have started listening to another epic scifi/steampunk, The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher. So far so good.

Reading:
Chasing the Stars by Majorie Blackman - YA scifi
The secret life of James Cook by Graeme Lay

Picked up from the library:
The New Torchlight List: In Search of the Best Modern Authors by Jim Flynn
Mister Memory by Marcus Sedgwick - historical crime fiction set in Paris, 1899

Today's library pickup:
The Erth Dragons: The Wearle by Chris D'Lacey - #1 in a new series, I've read a few of The Last Dragon Chronicles, should reread them and finish the series.
Mansfield and Me: a graphic memoir by Sarah Laing - newly published
Diary of a Body by Daniel Pennac - described as the French version of Adrian Mole

I really liked The Aeronaut's Windlass, Kerry. I think you'll have a great time with it.

Ho Joe, I've had it lined up for a while but needed to finish up my epic Peter F. Hamilton read/listen.

That is really interesting about American Blood. Did you read the new version? If so, how did it compare?

>40 msf59: No, he's started from scratch for his American publisher, so it's a completely new story and characters. What's impressive is that he got started with a 3 book deal when he was 20 and still a student.
I liked his debut, The Fallen, and have the other two on Mt tbr.

Very interesting author story. I think I have it saved on audio.

>36 avatiakh: Will be interested to see what you make of the book by Jim Flynn books about books and new authors always appeal to me.

Have a lovely weekend, Kerry.

>43 PaulCranswick: His Torchlight List: Around the World in 200 Books was interesting rather than brilliant, and was criticised for not including many NZ writers. He's a US professor of political philosophy whose spent most of his career here in NZ.

Regarding The New Torchlight List: In Search of the Best Modern Authors, I had a glance at the Middle East & Asia section and feel that he's pronouncing judgement on writers after just one book, many of which I wouldn't consider as their best one. So like most lists it will bring obscure interesting reads to light but overall is not an ultimate list.
There's a rather scathing review here and the bonus of a short booklist: http://www.listener.co.nz/culture/books/jim-flynn-best-authors/

Today's charity shop finds:
The Secret Purposes by David Baddiel - based on his grandparent's experiences
Red Gold by Alan Furst - I've only read The Polish Officer
The approach to Latin - my high school Latin textbook & in pristine condition

Forgot to mention that I received Philip Reeve's latest YA novel, Black Light Express, the sequel to Railhead. Really excited about this one. Can't start it just yet as I'm reading a few others.

153) 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.

Today's library pickup:
The invisible life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach - set in a Belarus hospital ward
Rolling Blackouts by Sarah Glidden - graphic non fiction about journalism in the Middle East

from the sale table:
Wandering Son, Vol. 1 by Shimura Takako - GN on the topic of gender confusion

On track to finish The secret life of James Cook which I'm enjoying though it's a fictional biography so I already know the storyline.

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

Read for the Sep/Oct ANZAC challenge. 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.

>45 avatiakh: Railhead and Black Light Express look cool. I took a sample of the first on my Kindle and the open pages show promise!

>49 brodiew2: Railhead was a great action packed scifi adventure just like you'd expect from the writer of Mortal Engines which remains one of my all time favourites.

You may laugh, but I had no idea it was the same author nor was I aware of Mortal Engines. :-)

Ok, so the Mortal Engines series is a must read for you, even more so than Railhead. Peter Jackson has just announced he's making the Mortal Engines film which will be so fantastic - steampunk scifi.

The opening sentence of Mortal Engines is ...'It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.'

I think I've heard of it, now that I reconsider. Steampunk is a genre that I very much enjoy the imagery of, but have yet to engage a full novel, at least once that is mainstream.

I tried the Aeronaut's Windlass, but could not engage. I've thought about trying Sanderson, but...

We shall see.

I'm ok with The Aeronaut's Windlass, my first attempt failed. I'll wait till the end before I really have an opinion. I'm not a fan of his Dresden Files though I liked the main character, just not many of the others.

Hi Kerry! I haven't read much steampunk - I've got Mortal Engines in the pile somewhere. I didn't think I'd like it, but I finally read the YA Leviathan series and quite enjoyed them. I liked the alternate history idea. It was pretty fun.

>55 nittnut: I think you'd love Mortal Engines. I've said before that I'm lucky to have a print of the cover art for book #4 signed by the artist and Philip Reeve. I got it in a charity auction.

Library books:
Brought home Good on paper by Rachel Cantor, it sounds like a good read about a woman working on translating a book but the reviews are mixed and I think I'll take it back.
Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2) -YA scifi - the first one was fun to read, the book is a collection of file entries, emails, logs etc

Charity shop:
Notwithstanding by Louis De Bernières - loved Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron - sound compelling
The matter of Parihaka by Edmund Bohan - NZ crime novel - I've heard of this historical crime series but this is the first time i've come across one of the books
Swimming to Ithaca by Simon Mawer - set on Cyprus
I also got Yugoslav cookbook - I collect ethnic cookbooks so always a good day when I get an interesting one like this.

November Reading Plans:

I've added quite a few library books to the TIOLI challenge and I have the ANZAC challenge so better make a list on my thread -
Currently reading on my mobile:
Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams - aim to finish by end of year
Current iPod audio:
The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

TIOLI - November: http://www.librarything.com/topic/237771
Challenge 3. Read a book you acquired in Aug/Sept/Oct of 2016 (includes library bks)
The Book of Whispers - Kimberley Starr
Black Light Express - Philip Reeve
Diary of a body - Daniel Pennac
Gemina - Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Shooting Stars - Brian Falkner
Swarm - Scott Westerfeld

Challenge 5. Read a book where the author's first and last name have the same number of syllables
Mister Memory - Marcus Sedgwick
Rolling Blackouts: Dispatches from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq - Sarah Glidden

Challenge 12: Read a book that is translated in at least one other language
The Missing File (תיק נעדר) - D.A. Mishani
Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was (Mánasteinn: Drengurinn sem aldrei var til) - Sjón
Waking Lions (להעיר אריות) - Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

ANZAC Nov/Dec:
The lost tohunga by David Hair
Justice and utu by David Hair
Ghosts of Parihaka by David Hair
Magic and Makutu by David Hair

more reading planned so will possibly not get to some of these

>57 avatiakh: Diary of a body sounds good, Kerry, I try to get it from the library in time :-)

>58 FAMeulstee: Oh that would be great. I'm a fangirl of Daniel Pennac and this one does look good. I spotted it on display at the library a week or so ago.

>59 avatiakh: I only knew Daniel Pennac from Dog, a childrens book.

He has a series set in Paris, Malaussene, which I like though I've only read two of them. He also wrote School Blues a semi memoir combined with description of French education system which was really interesting. He's famous for his The Rights of the Reader.

I've also read Dog, Kamo's escape and Eye of the wolf.

I've got Rolling Blackouts on order from the library - looks really good.

Good morning, avatiakh! I hope all is well with you.

>57 avatiakh: on a whim, I clicked on shooting stars and discovered and awesome cover, but no info through LT. I did a web search and found a very cool book blog: https://bobsbooksnz.wordpress.com/page/18/.

I think you would like this book blog. It featured mostly childrens and YA books, but the reviewer is excellent and the books focus, primarily, on New Zealand authors and culture.

Hi Kerry. I was also excited about the news of a Peter Jackson Mortal Engines film. I'm tempted to do a reread of the Mortal Engines books and then go on to the prequels which I never got to the first time round. Also looking forward to your thoughts on Black Light Express.

>64 souloftherose: Hi Heather. I'm excited too and I've also not read the prequels. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time before the film comes out. Hope to get to Black Light Express in November.

>63 brodiew2: Hi brodie - yes, I've been following Bob's Book Blog for a long while, I find his reviews excellent. I think he's a retired librarian or teacher.
The author of Shooting Stars, Brian Falkner, is an excellent writer for young people, do check out his Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo.

>62 charl08: Hi Charlotte - I read Glidden's How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less and am looking for to picking up this one.

155) 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.
Tiffany goes to find her kidnapped younger brother with the help of the wee free men and a toad.

Charity bookshop:
Black Powder War by Naomi Novik - #3 in the series and the next in line for me
In the mailbox:
Aaronsohn's Maps: The Untold Story of the Man Who Might Have Created Peace in the Middle East by Patricia Goldstone

Library:
lots of books as I'm unfreezing all my holds -
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer - will I have time to read this?
Hell and High Water by Tanya Landman - YA, loved her Buffalo Soldier and this one has also been longlisted for the UK Carnegie.
Booked by Kwame Alexander - another YA verse novel, also longlisted for the UK Carnegie, I loved his The Crossover.
Time travelling with a hamster by Ross Welford, another on the longlist and this has also long been on my library requests. Love the title
The girl before by Rena Olsen - mystery novel, looks like it was a BB from Suzanne
Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton - scifi, decided to return this and wait for audible to release the audio by John Lee, only 17 days to go.
A fine romance: Jewish songwriters, American songs by David Lehman - followup to an article I read

Hope Time travelling with a hamster is as good as it sounds!

Hi Kerry! Quick hello and Wow! I don't think I've heard of most of the books mentioned on your thread. I'm humbled. If you could recommend one good non-fiction book about New Zealand, which one would you recommend?

Good morning, avatiakh. I hope all is well with you.

>67 avatiakh: Nice collection here. I may have to look in the Bad-ass librarians and Hell and High Water.

>68 charl08: Can't be too bad to get on a long list.

>69 karenmarie: Oh wow, I guess i'd suggest Michael King's The Penguin History of New Zealand. I still haven't read it but it consistently tops the lists. I've read some of his other books so am happy to suggest this one.
I recently came across this 'New Zealand's Top 50 nonfiction books' which gives a good overview though includes periodicals and has low quality images which jar the eye. http://thespinoff.co.nz/books/28-01-2016/books-the-greatest-new-zealand-works-of...

>70 brodiew2: Hi Brodie. Yes, some great books though I now have a pile of great library books and no time to read them all.

More from the library:
Memory Man by David Baldacci - haven't tried his work as yet but heard a review of the latest Amos Decker book on the radio and thought it sounded pretty good
Beck by Mal Peet - the late Mal Peet's manuscript was tidied up by Meg Rosoff for publication

>48 avatiakh: Tupaia, Captain Cook's Polynesian Navigator
Oh that looks interesting. Joan Druett has popped up elsewhere and a couple of her books are on my wishlist but haven't yet read anything by her.

I haven't read Joan Druett either. She has an interesting website. http://www.joan.druett.gen.nz/

>72 avatiakh: I have enjoyed a lot of Baldacci's books over time and across his different series. I have done them all on audio. He has had great narrators including. Scott Brick. His Camel Club books are some of my favorites.

>75 brodiew2: I'll have to see if my library does them on audio.

I've just pre-ordered Fallen Dragon, narrated by John Lee. I was going to read the book but the library copy had very small print and I'll have more fun with the audio. I've just changed the setting on the iPod so my books will be read a bit faster as I remember some others saying they listen to their books at double speed. I'll know soon enough if my ears can take it.

Listening at double speed seems like it would diminish the experience. What else do your friends say about their experience doing it?

Well probably at a faster speed rather than double. I'd forgotten that I'd changed my settings and thought there was something wrong with the iPod as the sound was echoing slightly. Anyway i'm back to normal speed. It was other LTers who were doing this and they were happy with speeding the delivery though they had more ability to adjust the speed. My iPod has 3 settings slow, normal and fast.

A lot of audio books seem to be read deliberately very slowly, so that I find double speed can often sound quite natural. It depends on the recording, but I usually find single speed is just too slow. Audible allows up to 3x speed but I have only ever found one book recorded so slowly that it was possible to understand it that fast!

156) 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.

Is Kerry merry that Marge is in Charge?
Paul's not tall and that's not all.........have a lovely weekend.

Lol, thanks Paul.

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

>83 PaulCranswick: Pretty good spread across three continents, Kerry. Maybe a book or two next year to include Africa?

Yeah, I have quite a few North African writers on the tbr pile, I've been sorting through a few piles & boxes and shelves for next year.

Ooh who are you looking at reading from North Africa? I really liked (if you can say that about a book about a woman in prison for unfair reasons) Woman at Point Zero.

I've read Woman at point zero, liked it quite a bit.
Naguib Mahfouz, Kamel Daoud, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Yasmina Khadra, also want to read Boualem Sansal, Albert Memmi and Hisham Matar. I have a 'books in translation' category planned for next year and thought I should try to clear up this corner of my great unread. I'll also be finishing Lawrence Durrell's Alexandra Quartet, I've read the first one and thought I'd try the rest in audio.

and books set in West Africa, I have the last two Bruce Medway books by Robert Wilson.

Happy Weekend, Kerry. I hope the week went well.

My iPod has the same 3 settings. I sometimes kick it up to faster, on NF and on occasion, fiction. It really depends on the narrator. If it is a very rich delivery, I would rather leave it be.

>86 avatiakh: Boualem Sansal is one I want to read soon too, Kerry.

>2 avatiakh: Hi Kerry I love the paintings you posted. In particular, the flowers on the right are incredibly detailed.

I know you read YA books. I recently finished a good one titled Something Like Hope. It is an honest story of a young woman trying to put the hurtful past behind her and move on.

Happy day to you.

>86 avatiakh: all but the Daoud and the Matar are new to me, would be great to hear more about them in your challenge next year.

Well, not good for the size of my TBR, but...

So.... wanna put together an African Author Challenge next year? :)

>88 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul - I put Sansal's The German Mujahid on my tbr list after Darryl praised it rather highly a few years back.

>89 Whisper1: Hi Linda - Pamela Wolfe is the artist, she was famous for her artwork as per the painting on the left, it was on lots of greeting cards and postcards, calendars etc. Then she must have got tired of it all and wandered into her garden and started doing the closeups of flowers and as far as I know has been doing those ever since.

Thanks for the rec, I'll check it out. My next priority is to read through a couple of stacks of YA books that I've put together in the past few days.

>90 charl08: Well, I hope I can get them all done! I read the first of Mahfouz's Cairo trilogy a few years back as part of a group read led by Darryl and finally found the other two books earlier this year in a charity bookshop along with his Midaq Alley. I've seen the Mexican film adaption of Midaq Alley so want to read that too. The 1995 film was The Alley of Miracles and had Salma Hayek in one of the main roles, I just liked the idea of Mexicans adapting an Egyptian novel and making it work.

Daoul's The Meursault Investigation won a bunch of prizes so must be good.
I've had a beaten up ex-library copy of This blinding absence of light by Jelloun for a long while and I hate the cover so want it read and out of my house.

I started reading Khadra's The Attack some years back and put it to one side, but now that I know he's from Algeria I have more interest in reading him and I always saw the 'Yasmina' and thought it was a woman writer.
Memmi and Matar both look worth reading and I have a copy of In the country of men just need to locate it.

I'm in the process of sorting books and had these together with some other translated books from Islamic countries. The more I look through the books I own and have collected over the years (especially since joining LT) the more I wonder why I bother so much with library books.

>91 drneutron: Hi Jim - Ha, as if, great idea, maybe I'll think up a couple of TIOLI challenges next year. I'm happy enough running the ANZAC challenge and if I read 5 or 6 of the above next year I'll be very happy.

>91 drneutron: Will it be called AfAC?

Hi Kerry! I hope you've had a great weekend.
I ended up really liking The Miss Tutti Frutti Contest. It wasn't a book of funny stories, although sometimes they were funny. It's travel writing, but different. Can't explain.

Kerry, read on one of the other threads that you are doing The Aeronaut's Windlass on audio. I really had fun with that book, but I don't think audio would have worked for me. Being able to speed through some parts and slow down on others on such a long book is really important to me.

Hi Roni - I did find it a bit of a slog, I'm still not sold on Jim Butcher. I finished it a couple of days ago. So many interesting characters but not enough action for them. The Predator sounded awesome yet hardly flew through the whole book.

>93 nittnut: Jenn, I started it and didn't finish the first story though I will read the book. I went to an author event years ago where he was on the panel and said some intelligent and entertaining stuff. I've been meaning to read his work ever since. I liked The secret life of James Cook though couldn't go on and read the other two books in the trilogy straightaway, need a break from seafaring.

I saw my copy of The Egyptian on the bookshelf today and thought that I'd left one off the list of North African writers, but on checking remembered that the author is Finnish, Mika Waltari.

157) 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.

158) 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.

159) 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.

>92 avatiakh: I was underwhelmed by the Mersault Investigation. Look forward to hearing what you make of it.

>101 charl08: Oh no, at least it will be a quick read.

Currently I'm being charmed by Love in Lower-case.

160) 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.

>103 avatiakh: I love it when books lead to other books, Kerry.

>103 avatiakh: Sounds good to me too Kerry. I enjoy all those unique words too.

>104 FAMeulstee: >105 charl08: Yes to both posts.

Now all my reading is set aside for the latest Jack Reacher, my library copy came in and I like to get it read quickly as the queue is in the hundreds.

>100 avatiakh: Sounded right up my alley, but the prices are prohibitive where available at all ($25 and large print only, and only the first book). The description reminds me of the Patricia Wrightson trilogy (although Australia rather than New Zealand), which I love.

>106 avatiakh: Hi Kerry! Jack Reachers are such great reads. Have fun!

>107 ronincats: Shame as I think you'd appreciate these. You might be able to get hold of Hair's adult fantasy Moontide quartet which starts with Mage's Blood. While it doesn't have the Maori mythology the books have been well received. I see he has a new fantasy series starting up next year.
There's been quite a few excellent children's books that incorporate Maori mythology in the past. Joanna Orwin's owl and The guardian of the land come to mind.

I still haven't read Patricia Wrightson but have several of her books in the pile of children's fiction that I'm putting together for next year. My intentions are to read my way through a bunch of juvenile classics from the past.

>108 karenmarie: I love my annual Jack Reacher binge. This looks to be good, it's another set in the past while he was still in employ of the army. I'm really happy that I got my name down early at the library for this one.
I put my name down for the new Ben Aaronovitch novel a year ago and had to go into the library last week and get my hold readjusted as they automatically cancel them after 12 months and his new book seems to have been delayed by several months though has just come out a couple of days ago.

161) 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.

162) 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.

>110 avatiakh: I am glad you liked it, Kerry!

>111 avatiakh: I hope to start that one tomorrow.

I'm reading the new Jack Reacher, too, Kerry. It's zipping along, as usual. :-)

>114 brodiew2: Hello Kerry! I'm 16 discs into The Count; just shy of half way through. I love this story and the narrator, but I am staring to feel a twinge of fatigue. :-P So much story has already happened and it crazy how much story remains. Help me, Obi-Wan?

Hi Brodie - The story is riveting right through to the end, don't you dare put it down!

Some sad news, I just found out that my cousin died earlier today. He had a heart attack while out on a bike ride, he was 62 and fit as a fiddle. Still in a bit of a daze, I haven't seen him that often these past years as he along with most of his siblings moved to Australia in their late 20s. They all came back about 18 months ago for a family event involving their late mother's ashes and I saw him then. He was successful, caring and a wonderful guy. When I was 18 I shared a house with him and his brother and their friends for a year, it was a lot of fun. He and his brother went to Te Aute College, a Maori boarding school even though they didn't have a drop of Maori blood, it was probably the making of them especially as their father died when they were young. Anyway his first grandchild was born earlier this year so that is a blessing.

Wow, my brother just posted this epic haka from a school to honour a retiring teacher- https://www.facebook.com/IReggaeNationMedia/videos/10154337772324818/
Robert, my cousin was an ace at haka and scared us to pieces once by doing the haka in candlelight during a power break.

I am sorry, Kerry, it is hard when someone dies so unexpected.

Sorry to read this Kerry. Must have been a shock given he was fit and well.

Arrghh, sorry to hear about your cousin, Kerry. It's hard any time to lose someone like that, but particularly when it's unexpected and they're still pretty young. My sympathy.

>116 avatiakh: I am sorry to hear of your cousin's passing, Kerry. I can understand the daze you are in. I am glad to hear that though you haven't seen him as much lately, you have very good memories of the time you spent with him.

>118 FAMeulstee: >119 charl08: >120 jnwelch: >121 brodiew2: Thanks for your thoughts, very much appreciated.

Hi, Kerry! Sorry to hear about your cousin. I also read, The Whispering Muse: A Novel a few years ago. I don't remember much about it, other than it was very short, but would be interested in this newer one.

>116 avatiakh: That is indeed sad news, Kerry. At the beginning of the sixties is no age at all these days. Hopefully you are able to connect with the family and share a little in the burden of your grief.

Sorry to hear the news about your cousin Kerry. Also sorry to see there has been another earthquake in NZ and reports of a tsunami. Hoping you and your family are all ok.

So sorry to hear about your cousin Kerry. It sounds like you have some very good memories of time spent with him. I hope your family will be able to get together and reminisce.
We've been following the news and FB today for news of friends after the earthquake.

Light fittings swaying (Megan's thread) sounds unpleasant to me Kerry. Hope all ok. My library produced Rolling Blackouts in record time, as expected a good read. Not sure if they'll be able to get hold of her earlier book - will add it to the wishlist instead. I really liked the art style.

Hope all is well there after the earthquake. And so sorry to hear about your cousin, Kerry.

I have seen you on the threads Kerry so I obviously know you are safe. Please stay that way, my dear. xx

Hi Kerry. I'm so sorry to read about your cousin. Was just popping in to say hello and I hope you have had a nice quiet day after last night.

>123 msf59: >124 PaulCranswick: >125 souloftherose: >126 nittnut: Thanks for your thoughts. Still waiting for funeral details, I know there's to be a tangi at his home just outside Sydney on Sunday. People are flying in from the UK/Europe. If I go I'll have to book my flights fairly quick.

>127 charl08: It was a momentary bad feeling, and the lights more of a curiosity. I was by my laptop and immediately googled 'earthquake auckland'
I'm not so in love with Rolling Blackouts, mostly because at the beginning she's wondering so much of the time why she's there. I also love the artwork, one of the reasons I picked it up. I've also got the GN Alpha: Abidjan to Gare du Nord by Barroux out from the library, not so in love with this illustration style.
Here's the link to a guardian feature on it: https://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2016/aug/11/abidjan-to-gare-du-nord-al...

>128 ronincats: >129 PaulCranswick: >130 cushlareads: Thanks again for your thoughts.

163) 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.

>132 avatiakh: Flew through the latest Reacher as per usual. Me, too, Kerry. It's always fun when a new one comes out.

>131 avatiakh: Oh, I like this kind of navel gazing. Kind of a political Lucy Knisley.

164) 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.

Thought I'd make a list of books I've started but put aside over the year - hopefully I can get to them in December -

Falling for science by Bernard Beckett - halfway point
The Book of Intimate Grammar by David Grossman - few pages in before misplacing
The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth - put aside in Feb
The Churchill Factor by Boris Johnson
The Spring of Kasper Meier by Ben Fergusson - started and put aside
From the Holy Mountain: A Journey In The Shadow of Byzantium by William Dalrymple
Stone of Farewell (Memory, Sorrow & Thorn #2) by Tad Williams - slowly e-reading this

ANZAC reading:
Justice and Utu by David Hair
Charlotte Wood

category challenge:
The burn journals by Brent Runyon
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend

on the go for this month still:
Berlin Game by Len Deighton
Waking Lions by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
Black Light Express by Philip Reeve
Diary of a body by Daniel Pennac
and a pile of library books

Good morning, Kerry! I hope all is well with you.

I see Berlin Game on the list. I know RBeffa completed that one recently.

Hi Brodie - Len Deighton is the British author of the month for the BAC challenge, so a few people are reading it.

>137 avatiakh: Personally think Game, Set and Match is better than Le Carre's George Smiley trilogy.

Have a great weekend, Kerry.

Hi Paul - I've only read a couple of chapters so far and haven't read John Le Carre for many years though have his The night Manager lined up for next year.

Saw this on twitter, posted by Will Kostakis, an Australian YA writer:
Will Kostakis ‏@willkostakis 2h2 hours ago
My dream of having my photo on a newspaper juxtaposed with a really terrible headline is realised.

>141 avatiakh: Ouch, that is a nasty headline to be wrongly associated... you have to look close to see the smaller headline "The write stuff".

>141 avatiakh: Crumbs. At least the author has a sense of humour...

165) 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/

166) 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.

167) 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.

168) 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.

169) 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 reviews.

>148 avatiakh: Thanks for the link to the Guardian review of Diary of a body, Kerry, he captures the essence and beauty of the book.

Doing a bit of catch up, Kerry, and I'm so sorry to hear about the unexpected death of your cousin.

I just finished Night School late last night and really liked it too.

170) 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.

>151 avatiakh: I'm glad this one turned out to be as good as the first. If I can find them on audio, I'll definitely be all aboard. :-P

Brodie - these are great reads.

I've been waiting for the next Charlie Boxer book to come out as I quite enjoy the series, Boxer is a freelance kidnap consultant. Anyway I like the books and today found out that though Robert Wilson has written a 4th book it will only be available in German and Norwegian as the English publishers have let the series go.
So will have to go back and finish his Bruce Medway series and hope that he gets a publishing deal for his current 'work in progress'.

>153 avatiakh: How disappointing about the translation. Hope that there is another publisher who will pick it up.

Only it isn't a translation, he's English and writes in English.

>151 avatiakh: I'll definitely be picking up Black Light Express. I enjoyed Railhead a lot. Philip Reeve was one of J's favourite authors as a child and I always enjoyed reading them.

I was having a look at some of my friends' reading records this morning in the period since I have joined the group (2011).

By my reckoning you remain one of the few who has been in the group at least as long as I who still averages over 200 books read a year. I calculate that since 2011 you have read 1,246 books which is approximately 211 books on average a year. Suzanne of course takes the biscuit with 2,449 books read at over 400 books per year.

Have a great weekend, Kerry.

>155 avatiakh: Oh I misread. That's even odder though...

Good morning, Kerry. I hope all is well with you.

171) 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."

>150 karenmarie: Hi Karen - thanks for your thoughts regarding my cousin.

I like the Jack Reacher books that focus on his time in the army.

>156 SandDune: Yes, I've also been a fan since those first Mortal Engines books came out. I'm fairly sure this sequel wraps up the Railhead story, I just can't see how he'd take it further.

>157 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul, those statistics are scary. I do read a lot of children's books and YA which pushes the number up though don't think I'll make 200 books this year. Next year I intend to read a fair number of doorstoppers including A suitable boy so my numbers will possibly suffer.

>158 charl08: I've come across this before though it's fairly rare.

>159 brodiew2: Hi Brodie. Weekend looking good.

172) 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 and I might go on to read the other two books in the trilogy seeing I have the omnibus home from the library.

Library pickups:

some interesting ones that I hope to find time for

The Grand Tour by Adam O'Fallon Price - this looks like a fun read
The student body by Simon Wyatt - NZ thriller
Tell the truth, shame the devil by Melina Marchetta - her first adult novel, looks interesting
The Leaving by Tara Altebrando - mystery
The Swan Riders by Erin Bow - YA sequel to the compelling The Scorpion Rules
The secret book of kings by Yochi Brandes - Biblical fiction
Good People by Nir Baram

>161 avatiakh: Hi Kerry! My numbers did suffer this year as I have read 16 books with 500 or more pages. They actually averaged 800 pages each, for a total of 12,804 pages. I won't make even 100 books this year, but I'm happy with my reading so far.

>164 karenmarie: Well, I think being happy with your reading is the best result too.

173) 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.

Hi, Kerry! Just checking in. Glad to see all the GN love. You are giving me a few ideas. I definitely want to request Rolling Blackouts. Sounds good.

You might like my current GN- Flying Couch. Another terrific graphic memoir.

>151 avatiakh: Now added railhead to my TBR. Thanks :)

>166 avatiakh: I love Ruth Rendell! Inspector Wexford is good. I also love her standalones because they are so varied. I think my favorite standalone is A Judgment in Stone.

>167 msf59: Yes, every now and then I have a little GN binge. I'm currently really enjoying The Osamu Tezuka Story: A Life in Manga and Anime by Toshio Ban and have requested Flying Couch from the library.

>168 sirfurboy: Good move!

>169 karenmarie: Oh yes, I like Rendell's books though I haven't read any for years and years. A favourite is A Sight for Sore Eyes and I'll definitely add A Judgment in Stone to my tbr as I don't remember reading this one.
I thought I'd try one of her Barbara Vine books, I haven't read any as yet.

>166 avatiakh: The late Ruth Rendell was a very effective writer of thrillers / crime mysteries and Wexford a good - if somewhat steady - creation.

Have a great weekend, Kerry. I will be interested to see how close you get to 200 books read this year.

174) 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.

Hi Kerry! The Count is in the home stretch. 6 discs to go! I love it!

175) 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.

>174 brodiew2: That's great. I'm just starting out on Fallen Dragon, narrated by John Lee. 2.5hours down and 24 hours to go.

176) 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

>175 avatiakh: I have seen that one on the store shelves and often thought of picking it up..........if only I was still buying books!

177) 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.

>178 PaulCranswick: Definitely one you'd enjoy.

178) 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.

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

>173 avatiakh: I'm adding Out of Many Waters to my pile. Looks fascinating.

>179 avatiakh: I will probably check out this new series. I read Uglies 4 or 5 years ago and liked it pretty well.

179) 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 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.

*sigh* I still have to wait another month for the Aaronovitch here.

>183 nittnut: I'm hoping to get the sequel of that.
I enjoyed the first Zeroes book, the characters were all quite quirky with their unusual powers.

>185 ronincats: We've all had to wait a long time for this one, seems like a good 18 months since I read book #5.

>181 avatiakh: Interesting review Kerry. I've not read many by young writers, perhaps that's why I liked Rolling Blackouts a bit more.

>187 charl08: You might like it, the grandmother's story was interesting. I just find that after reading several of these type of graphic memoirs that I've had enough of them, they're only mildly informing or interesting, too much of the writer's life and really they don't have that much to offer, I'm after a reading experience. I found Will Eisner's graphic memoirs much more my cup of tea.
Anyway I'm now right into the GN Ayako which has rather a racy cover but is actually a gritty political intrigue set around a family during the American occupation of Japan after WW2.

Hi, Kerry! The Osamu Tezuka Story sounds very good but I will have to make sure I have a block of free GN time before requesting. Hope you are doing well.

180) 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

>189 msf59: Mark - You just have to read a little of Tezuka's bio to realise how amazing he was.

Hi Kerry.

>174 brodiew2: I was just taking another look at the cover of the Osamu Tezuka biography. There is a yellow character in the background that has antennae. He reminds me a another Japanese tv character from my youth. His name is Goldar and he is below:



Now that I see Goldar again, after a few years, I'm pretty sure it's not the same character.

Oh, he is the same actually, I just had a look on wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassador_Magma
The US version of Tezuka's Ambassador Magma was called The Space Giants and the character Magma became Goldar. I haven't seen any of this myself, I remember being a fan of Dr Who, the Beatles cartoons, H.R. Pufnstuf and The Monkees for my after school viewing.
Many of Tezuka's manga series were adapted to Japanese tv anime series and quite a few were bought by the US. The biography is really interesting and covers the early development of the anime industry.

181) 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.
Oh and E.K. Johnston is a writing buddy of LTer dk_phoenix (Faith)

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/

_
war comes
_

182) 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

>196 avatiakh: I was hoping to get to that one this year, but I don't think I will.

Those picture books just look amazing. I have asked the library to buy a copy of the book by Francesca Sanna - hoping that the refugee children will have a chance to read it if they want to.

>198 nittnut: Hi Jenn, while I took my time with it, did you see how Roni picked up the trilogy for a reread and flew through all three books in a couple of weeks a few months back.

>199 charl08: I've noticed the Sanna book mentioned on several 'best of' lists. The story is simple and heartfelt. I'm always surprised at how my library seems to have almost all the latest books, and they do respond positively to most of my requests for purchase.

>200 avatiakh: Hee, hee, May 25th through June 9th (happened to have my spreadsheet open and couldn't resist!). Just did the same with the Susan Dexter fantasy trilogy, the Wizard's Destiny series which I just found out was revised and released in ebook format a few years ago.

Good morning, Kerry! I finally finished The Count of Monte Cristo. What an experience. I greatly enjoyed it. I've decided to watch two or three films of the book. I watched the 2002 Jim Caviezel film and was left with only the bare bones of the book I just experienced. I acknowledge that this will be the case when trying to film this book, but I hope the Richard Chamberlain's tv mini-series, from the 70s, will have a little more 'meat' on its bones. ;-)

>195 avatiakh: the art style in this one is intriguing. I like it.

Hi Brodie, I saw on your thread that you had finally finished the Count. I haven't watched any of the films as yet, I do have the 2002 film, though I would say it stars Guy Pierce, as he is more known here in NZ. I should also look out the mini-series. I remember Richard Chamberlain being in A town like Alice a long time ago.

183) 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.'

>201 ronincats: Roni, you really did fly through that reread, I was very impressed at the time. I feel like the little engine that could reading such epic fantasy. 'I think I can, I think I can'.

Wow, have to be impressed by “The Warrior Monk” Mattis who will be trump's Defense Secretary, he always travels with his 6000 book library. 'Mattis is known to carry books of Roman philosophy with him on every combat mission, and he's got a personal library of 6,000 books that he insists on taking with him from post to post.'
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/general-james-mattis-email-viral-2016-11

Here's his Central Command Reading List:
http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/ltgen-james-mattis-reading-list

Nice review of Falling for Science, Kerry. I'll have to look out for it, if it's available in the US.

ETA: It isn't.

>207 kidzdoc: I'd consider it an out-of-print book by now, possibly available on kindle perhaps as my library has it available as an e-book loan. Probably are similar philosophy of science reads out there. I'll make a list out of his bibliography.

Library pickups today:
_____
A horse walks into a bar by David Grossman - love the cover
The Drifter by Nicholas Petrie
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand & 2 others - YA, rather weird sounding plot set in Tudor times
Saint Death by Marcus Sedgwick - YA, crossing the Mexican/US border can be lethal
Snow White: a graphic novel by Matt Phelan - haven't read any of his work as yet
The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz - my son did an essay on the holy greyhound last year so this children's book immediately became a 'must-read' for me, I loved his A Tale Dark and Grimm.

>200 avatiakh:, >201 ronincats: Yes indeed, I did notice. *grin*

>203 avatiakh: I LOVE The Count of Monte Cristo, and I have never seen a film that meets my expectations. I wish there was an epic film version of it though. It is so atmospheric.

>210 nittnut: Amen, nittnut! I just completed the unabridged audio and loved it as well. It definitely needs an epic mini-series treatment.

>204 avatiakh: I like Beckett's books and must seek that one out, Kerry. I attended a few lectures by Roger Scruton back in the day.

184) 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.
_

>210 nittnut: My copy of the third book, To Green Angel Tower, just arrived. I got a used copy on trademe and it's only 1066pgs long.

Hello Kerry! I hope all is well with you.

>213 avatiakh: The Snow White illustrations are done. I like the time frame intimated. However, I'm not sure of that is a witch in image 1 or The Emperor. ;-)

>214 avatiakh: I have a friend who has been trying to get me to read Green Angel Tower forever. I look forward to your impressions.

Hi Brodie - yes, there is some resemblance to The Emperor! There's an interview with Phelan on the book here -
http://www.comicsbeat.com/interview-matt-phelan-talks-about-the-challenges-of-re...

>215 brodiew2: I forgot to ask, have you read the first two books in the trilogy? I'm hoping to fly through this last book in early Jan, will be giving it priority.

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.
_

Just throwing in my plug for Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. It's my favorite epic fantasy series - even more than Tolkien. But don't read Green Angel Tower unless you've read the previous!

>217 avatiakh: >219 drneutron: I have not read any of them as I have trouble accessing epic fantasy these days. I was a fan as a younger man, but not so much anymore. Perhaps, I'll give it a try on audio.

>219 drneutron: >220 brodiew2: I can see how this epic fantasy, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, would captivate the younger reader, it's really well done. I used to reread Tolkien quite often but haven't since the films came out.

I think overall I prefer scifi and love my space operas. I'm halfway through Fallen Dragon, narrated by John Lee, and loving it.

>221 avatiakh: Joe was warbling about Peter F. Hamilton's Great North Road - mix of British police procedural, sf political thriller and alien encounter. I'm about halfway in and it's great! Warning, though, at 945 pages, it's killing my December stats... :)

I never got into the Tolkien books either. I think I can get bogged down in the world building required for epic fantasy. The only fantasy I read, back then, was The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. It was good, but tough reading as the main character had a lot of self loathing. His redemption took some time. :-)

I may just have to start the John Lee admiration society. I may have said this before, but The Confessor by Daniel Siva is a wonderful John Lee narration. It's a spy thriller featuring an Israeli Massad operative. There a great historical angle regarding the Roman Catholic Church. Excellent book.

>222 drneutron: Jim, once I finish Fallen Dragon I'll only have a short story collection and the second book in a children's fantasy series left to read of all of Peter F. Hamilton's work. I devoured Great North Road in a few days when it first came out.
The other scifi writer I really love is Alastair Reynolds.

>223 brodiew2: Oh I loved the Thomas Covenant books back when I read them. I've thought about a reread but sometimes it's better not to revisit. I also liked his Mordant's Need books.

>223 brodiew2: I've just started reading the first Daniel Silva book, I'll have to check if my library does the audio.

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.'
_


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.'

>222 drneutron: & >224 avatiakh: So Great North Road spoils Jim's December stats and you knocked off the near 1,000 pages in a couple of days! I have to say I am expecting to emulate Jim more than yourself when I get to it sometime next year. Probably on a plane journey so I can sit and chew it up without interruption (other than for plastic food and scalding towels).

Have a lovely weekend, Kerry.

>227 PaulCranswick: It's definitely a captivating read for - when I get to it, I can knock out 50 pages pretty quickly. But life has been getting in the way.

The feature I like most about goodreads where I catalog all my library and own book reading - My Year in Reading 2016, tells me I've read 58,000 pages and is a pictorial look at everything I read this year, will be a few more additions up to 31 Dec for sure.

I like your stats page - shame about poor James Robertson - the phrase 'least popular book' is a bit unfortunate!

>230 charl08: It was so beautifully illustrated, just not that well known.

I don't usually post about my baking, but I just made a rather excellent batch of Dutch speculaas cookies. http://www.bite.co.nz/recipe/14961/Dutch-spiced-cookies/

>231 avatiakh: Yummy!

>226 avatiakh: I got a big kick out of The Incal, Kerry. I hope you enjoy it. Moebius is so good.

>226 avatiakh: >233 jnwelch: I used love Moebius. Still do, I guess, but the majority of my experience with him was in the was in the mid to late 80s.

I can't wait to somehow get my hands one of his newly published in the U.S., Moebius World of Edena, https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1506702163/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&a...

Not cheap, unfortunately, but maybe the libraries will pick it up.

>233 jnwelch: >234 brodiew2: I looked out for Moebius after reading about him in The Osamu Tezuka Story: a life in manga and anime, Tezuka invited him to visit Japan in the 1980s. I realised that I hadn't read Moebius, so set out to rectify that.

My library has Moebius World of Edena so I've joined the queue.

I grew up on Superman and old war comics, my uncle used to drop off a pile from time to time. Also Richie Rich and Archie etc.

185) 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.


186) 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.
_

>236 avatiakh: I also grew up on Richie Rich digests. I loved them and also the stories that included Wendy, Casper, and Hot Stuff!

>237 avatiakh: I am glad you liked The Song of Seven too. I hope that Torenhoog en mijlenbreed is the next Tonke Dragt to be translated. That book is SF, a colony for scientific research on Venus.

187) 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.

Hi, Kerry! Hope you are doing well! I have been slacking off on my GN reading. I need to get back on it. I do have a nice copy of Angel Catbird waiting nearby. Time to crack it open.

Hi Mark. I've read a few lately and got one on the go right now, slowly reading it though.

188) 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.

Hi Kerry. I'm just stopping by to leave this wish for the season:

Wouldn't it be nice if 2017 was a year of peace and goodwill.
A year where people set aside their religious and racial differences.
A year where intolerance is given short shrift.
A year where hatred is replaced by, at the very least, respect.
A year where those in need are not looked upon as a burden but as a blessing.
A year where the commonality of man and woman rises up against those who would seek to subvert and divide.
A year without bombs, or shootings, or beheadings, or rape, or abuse, or spite.

2017.

Festive Greetings and a few wishes from Malaysia!

Wishing you Seasons Greetings and a prosperous 2017!

>214 avatiakh: Ack! It's so long! I will get to it next year. I have 2 and 3 on the Kindle.

Merry Christmas Kerry! Thank you for your time, your kind words, lovely long lists, the ANZAC challenge and the books we enjoy together. Wishing you a joyful holiday season!

>244 EBT1002: Ellen - thanks
>245 PaulCranswick: Paul - thanks
>246 SandDune: Hi Rhian
>247 nittnut: Hi Jenn

189) 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.

This is the Christmas tree at the end of the Pacific Beach Pier here in San Diego, a Christmas tradition.

To all my friends here at Library Thing, I want you to know how much I value you and how much I wish you a very happy holiday, whatever one you celebrate, and the very best of New Years!

190) 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.

Merry Christmas, Kerry! I hope you had a good one. I look forward to following you in 2017!

>251 avatiakh: This one isn't translated, Kerry, but I have two by Ivan Southall that I hope to read next year (or the year after that).
I like the story of Ash Road as the name of the rock band :-)

>251 avatiakh: I think it's a great name too. Shame the one you read didn't live up to the idea - premise sounds like a good one.

>253 FAMeulstee: Which ones by Ian Southall do you have? Ash Road is about a bush fire and I read it at primary school, I had got it through the Scholastic Book Club that schools here participate in. My son's high school rock band was 'Requiem' which I had suggested, the kids in Ash Road were older, and the copy of Ash Road was in our garage, I was going to donate it to charity but had pulled it out of the box at the last minute.
Naming a band is incredibly difficult nowadays as there are so many and all have a social media presence, so you have to come up with a name that you can grab a Facebook page, a twitter or instagram etc. Alon, my son, was in a group for a couple of years that couldn't decide on a name, there were 3 girls in the group with one who wanted a more feminine name. It was really hard, in the end after about 12 months, they all agreed on Flower Fight. And of course the band only lasted another six months or so.
His current band is The Essential Tremor, named after their singer was diagnosed with a mild form of the disorder. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/essential-tremor/home/ovc-20177826

>254 charl08: I think it would have been a good adult novel, it needed to be longer so you could start caring about some of the characters.

>252 brodiew2: Hi Brodie - I'll be over there in a couple of days. Thanks for the greetings.

>255 avatiakh: I have To the wild sky and Hills end by Ivan Southall. Ash road is available in Dutch too.
Yes, I know he plays in The Essential Tremor, I do like their music and they make beautiful videos with the music :-)

Those both sound good. I noticed on wikipedia that he is still the only Australian author to have won the Carnegie Medal (UK) and was the first from outside the UK to win in 1971.

>151 avatiakh: Glad to hear Black Light Express was just as good as Railhead. I'm still debating whether to reread Railhead before continuing with BLE.

Just stopping by to wish you happy holidays.

Hi Heather - I would suggest the reread as it took me a couple of chapters to get to grips with the story & characters...and Happy New Year to you.

Hi Kerry! Belated Merry Christmas to you and early wishes for a Happy New Year.

All the best for 2017.

>261 karenmarie: And Happy New Year to you

191) 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.

>263 avatiakh: I quite enjoy the Gabriel Allon books Kerry but they cannot be taken even a little bit seriously. Some of his decision making in that and other later books in the series is frankly bizarre.

>264 PaulCranswick: Paul, I just expected something a bit less cliched as the series is so popular...in this first one it isn't even Allon whose the hero, it's Jacqueline.

192) 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'.

Hello Kerry! I hope all is well with you.

>263 avatiakh: I'm sorry to hear that The Kill Artist was a bust. I enjoyed the first few of Silva's Allon books. Mostly because John Lee was narrating them. My favorite being The Confessor. It may also have been my last because Lee stopped narrating them.

>266 avatiakh: This looks interesting, but long. ;-)

Hi Brodie - I'm fine, setting up the 2017 ANZAC challenge in our new group instead of cooking dinner.
I'll keep going with the Silva books, just that my expectations were different from what the book delivered. I'm presuming they'll get better as the series develops.

Fallen Dragon is excellent, 800pgs or 26.5 hrs with John Lee.

Ok, I've set up next year's ANZAC reading challenge - http://www.librarything.com/topic/244630

Good morning, Kerry!

>269 avatiakh: I like the options in the Bingo Challenge, Kerry and I have started to flesh mine out. I am doing the Challenge 2 x 12
and will start January withThe Broken Shore by Peter Temple.

Looking forward to your continued company in 2017.
Happy New Year, Kerry!

193) Justice and Utu by David Hair (2012)
YA fiction
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.

>266 avatiakh: Fallen Dragon sounds great & its stand alone .... think I will add it to my audio downloads for work listening - thanks