i'll have my cake and eat yours too

November Books

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:05:46 GMT

Here we are, finally. Late to the party but I get there eventually ;) Hope everyone had a nice week and an even better weekend?

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New books this week (bought yesterday after donating blood):

Jude the Obscure is the January read for the Classics book club - it's a book I've always been too scared to read after seeing the movie when I was at uni: it's a really depressing story (the movie was excellent, but that doesn't make the story itself any less tragic. It certainly sticks with you though). I feel better knowing I'll have a "support group" - plus I loved Tess of the d'Urbevilles so I know something of what to expect in terms of Hardy's prose.

Beautiful Creatures is a book I simply wanted to read because the cover is so gorgeous. YA gets some stunning covers these days don't they? Like these:

There are lots more, I just picked these as recent examples. I don't have any of these books, by the way. But I do like the covers. YA books when I was a teenager in the early 90s had pretty daggy covers. Uninspiring, often dull, too realistic. YA Fantasy covers weren't any better.

Books Read in November

Books Read: 12
Books Read to Date: 161
Most Enjoyed: Ten Thousand Lovers
Least Enjoyed: Night's Cold Kiss

This was a very quiet month for me, reading-wise. Actually, everything-wise! I generally found it hard to concentrate and really dig into a book, and I have too many unfinished books sitting on my desk. Ah well, such is life.

As usual, these are organised by date read, and links go to reviews on giraffedays.

Ten Thousand Lovers by Edeet Ravel (Fiction: 373 pages) 5/5 stars
A wondrous story about an Israeli-Canadian uni student in Israel in the 70s who falls in love with a man who interrogates Palestinian prisoners for a living.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (YA Dystopian Fiction: 391 pages) 4/5 stars
The Hunger Games trilogy continues with this second book - enjoyable but my problems with Katniss' narration are still there.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs (Urban Fantasy: 288 pages) 4/5 stars
The first book in the Mercy Thompson series introduces us to Mercy, a woman who shifts into a coyote, and the werewolves and vampires and other paranormal folk who populate her neighbourhood. The local werewolf Alpha's daughter is kidnapped and Mercy gets involved in finding her. Good story, reminiscent of Bitten, but I still prefer the latter.

The Pages by Murray Bail (Fiction: 199 pages) 4/5 stars
Eucalyptus is one of the loves of my life so it was always going to be hard to follow it up. I still love the prose but the story here was disappointingly bland.

Me and My Shadow by Katie MacAlister (Paranormal Romance: 330 pages) 3/5 stars
The third book in the Silver Dragons series was all plot, very little romance. A lot of these so-called Paranormal Romance authors are leaning more and more towards Urban Fantasy. Fun, but I had forgotten so much of book 2 that it was slow going for a while, trying to remember what was going on.

Intertwined by Gena Showalter (YA Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance: 440 pages) 4/5 stars
Showalter has written a lot of adult Romance and Paranormal Romance - here she breaks into the YA market with a story of a boy, Aden, who has four souls trapped inside him since birth - each has a different ability. After a strong start it turns into a very crowded romance, with lots of teenage hormones running wild. I've over-rated it with four stars but it seems fair, since it did entertain me.

The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce (YA Fantasy: 238 pages) 4/5 stars
The first book in a trilogy that's kind of old now, this fairy-tale-like story is simple but sweet and the start of something that could be very interesting.

Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan (Fiction/Short Stories: 354 pages) 4/5 stars
Five stories of varying length about the tragic lives of children in several different African countries. This debut book shows Akpan's potential but he's far from a polished author yet. The confidence is there but he's still experimenting.

Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises by Earnest Hemingway (Classics: 218 pages) 3/5 stars
My second reading, for a book club meeting I ended up not being able to go to. The story of a group of loud, heavy-drinking ex-pats living in Paris who go to Spain to see the bull-fighting. Ah the good old days! It was easier reading it this time around because I knew not to expect a happy ending.

Night’s Cold Kiss by Tracey O'Hara (Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance: 332 pages) 2 stars
Similar set-up to the Night Huntress books but ultimately disappointing. Had a lot of promise, and I did enjoy it, but it struggled to hold me and I found the main characters lacked chemistry.

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce (YA Science Fiction: 311 pages) 4/5 stars
A very fun, funny story about a twelve year old boy whose growth spurt and beard often get him mistaken for a 30-odd year old man, taking advantage of this quirk by entering a competition to visit a space theme park in China as a father, with his classmate Florida posing as his daughter. Everything goes well until the real attraction, an actual rocket, takes them into space and they mess up their instructions because the children are fighting over who gets to press the green button. If you enjoy Roald Dahl, you'll enjoy this.

Liar by Justine Larbalestier (YA Fiction: 371 pages) 4/5 stars
A very clever story about a girl who lies - a lot. But the lies are to hide a secret she's determined to reveal to us, her special audience. Only, can you trust her truth? I loved Micah, but the jolting structure to her story made it a bit hard to get into the flow at times (because "flow" was a bit lacking). Still, I recommend it.

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At the moment, I'm reading The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, and Skin Game by Ava Gray. What are you reading? What was the best book you read in November?

The deal with escalators

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:42:38 GMT

I need to post my November book list but I still have 2 reviews to write and no time to really sit down and do it properly! My reviews have been really rushed of late. I'm always thinking, hours later, "Damn!" because I forgot something REALLY BIG that had been on my mind all through the book - how do you forget all that? Anyway.

It's coming!

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This is joy to my ears - Adam and I are always ranting about this, although it's usually those people on the subway who try to push their way onto the train before anyone can get off that gets us going. The bit about people getting off escalators or going through doors and then just stopping is the thing that really nearly sets me off, aside from the "standing in front of the train doors when there are loads of people trying to get off" thing. I'm sure you've all encountered this a time too many:

Thank you Rick!

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This is our Advent Calendar at work - Norwegian style! (This wasn't taken with the good SLR camera, as you can tell)

The five of us share this basement room, doing membership renewals. (That's my workstation, there on the right.) We each bought five gifts on a budget of $20, one for each day of December until Christmas, so we each get five gifts too. Each day the next person opens one. Two had already been opened when I took this photo today, but it still looks pretty! It's great fun and so nice to look up and see them all there.

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Um, so since I'm wasting time here I'll add in a couple more shots:

Determined to squeeze themselves in! Yes, it's a 3-cat armchair!

Gaia making sure Leon is clean.

Speaking of Gaia, guess what the silly twit has been doing lately? She's become obsessed with trying to catch her own shadow! She sits on the laundry floor tiles and bats at the shadow of her own head! Told you she was a twit!

Better see to tea - I'm doing roast chicken and I burnt my finger on the steam trapped inside the bag when I last checked on it. Ouch!

Books & Oh Yeah, 30 Years of Being Alive

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:44:55 GMT

I've been struggling to keep up with LJ lately - long breaks between posts and the book reviews just keep piling up. Even worse? I skim through my fList and see all sorts of interesting stuff is happening, great books are being read, friends are making me laugh, and so on. I will try harder for December, promise!

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I have a bit of a book haul for the last week, not a lot, but some:

I know, the third Walter Moers book I've bought and I haven't read any of them - yet. The City of Dreaming Books was enthusiastically recommended by kiwiria - I just needed an excuse really - and I found it on Chapters online, they were selling it for a little over $7: I'd be stupid to pass that up! It's a big hardcover and the cover style matches the other two I have.

I've already read Night's Cold Kiss and Liar. I had to order Stray too 'cause I could never find it in the shops, not even when their catalogue said they had it.

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So. Yes. I turned 30 today. The big 3-0. I'm usually pretty quiet about my birthdays but I've told pretty much everyone about this one! Of course I don't feel any different. Well, not physically. Mentally, not sure. Just determined not to do anything clichéd.

We went out for dinner on Saturday night, to an Indian restaurant called Dhaba on King Street West. It was a lovely place, very tasteful modern decor - chocolate brown and cream, with these leather chairs that were so comfy I didn't want to get up. The food was very good too.

Then we went to the cinema just up the street to see New Moon. Adam's a picky movie-watcher, and he's hard to predict. I think his favourite film is The Big Labowski. He hates sci-fi and fantasy and things like that, but he doesn't mind romance if the story's good - we both love Love Actually so there you go. But it's my birthday and he always says he'll see whatever I want to see, and I really wanted to see this.

For a 6:50 showing on a Saturday night, it wasn't at all packed, but then it was playing in two cinemas simultaneously. The crowd was a mix of ages of both genders - Adam was worried he'd be the only man. There wasn't any heckling, except for a bunch of girls at the far back who giggled incessantly. Ah but the movie, the movie was really good, much better than the first one I thought. They kept close to the book and Adam had no trouble following it, though he asked lots of questions about vampires afterwards. Yes, he actually liked it! It's probably the Big Screen effect - if we'd watched it on DVD at home he would have got bored and left the room I'm sure. There's something very intimate about watching a story play out on a giant screen in a darkened room with no (almost no) distractions. Which is why, with these movies especially, I always feel like I wish there was no one else around, like I want to watch it all by myself. I think that feeling is why those girls were giggling - embarrassment. People get easily embarrassed by their own, often poorly understood feelings.

My parents got me an old boxset of the Earthsea trilogy from the 70s (yes I know it's not a trilogy anymore but it was at the time). They have the classic old Puffin covers:

They also sent me a beautiful Japanese black lacquered plate with raised sides like a bowl and gold leaves - they just spent a few weeks there, again. I always wanted one when I was there but I never did get one, could never find one I really loved, but this, this one is gorgeous.

Adam has been giving me several gifts over the last few days. The first was a surprise, it's hard to explain. He gave it to me at the restaurant and I cried! It's this adorable little stuffed giraffe, the kind of thing I never would have expected Adam to buy. It's often the pretty, non-practical things that really get to me. So now I have a mascot for my book blog :D He also got me the second series of Hamish Macbeth and had one of my photos printed up big. There's something else he's excited to give me tonight, when we get home from tutoring.

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Maria did something like this for her 30th the other month, and asked if I'd do it too, so I will - and besides, 30 is a milestone, isn't it, and ought to be marked? But I'll put it under a cut 'cause 30 years of someone's life is bound to make for a long post!

30 Years of Me

Arrival
I was born on the 30th of November 1979 - the last day of spring. I was born drugged and not breathing, due to a stupid nurse thinking she knew better than my mum, mother of three previous children, when I was due to arrive. So I spent my first days in an incubator. It makes me angry to think how close to brain damaged I came, but also immensely grateful that that didn't happen. Even though I think my parents were disappointed I wasn't a boy, they celebrated my birth by opening a rare bottle of Para port. Quite possibly one of the reasons why I love port.

The Early Years
By all accounts I was a happy, carefree child (I later became quite withdrawn and reserved). My babysitters were my Nanna down at the farmhouse, but also Gamp and Dad. I don't remember Gamp taking care of me, only that I loved him (he died when I was five), but I remember keeping Dad company by following him around the farm, falling asleep in the tiny space behind the tractor's seat (if you've ever been near a tractor or driven one, you'll know how incredibly noisy and bumpy they are. I guess I always felt so safe with my dad that it was easy to fall asleep).

My best friend from when I was born to when I was about five was a girl called Lucy who lived in the old cottage up the road. I often had to walk through a herd of dairy cows to get to her place. We didn't have cows on our farm, only sheep, so I was scared of them because they were big and strange - and curious, so they'd come up close, which only terrified me more! I was easily scared, I guess.

Another babysitter, especially when I started Playgroup and Kindergarten, was a woman we all called Whitie. I can't even remember her real name. She was the grandmother of a classmate of mine and she babysat a number of local children. She used to watch all the daytime soaps - Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives etc. - and she'd let us watch Sesame Street, which I always hated. It made me feel patronised, talked down to, and I didn't like the way Americans pronounced or spelt things. Yes already a cultural snob at 5! I preferred Play School.

School
I went to Deloraine Primary School, which is Kinder to grade 6. Mum worked there - still does - as a part-time teacher's aide (and, at the time, a librarian's aide too). There are plenty of memories, some good, some bad, but let's move on.

After grade 6 pretty much everyone just moved to the high school directly across the road, for grades 7 to 10. A mostly miserable time, if we're being honest. It's a rural school, full of bogans, and my year, though small, was rough. They were some mean kids. Bullies. Spiteful and cruel. I never had a friend for longer than a year. I drifted, mostly alone. By the time grade 10 started I was desperate to get out of there, get away from those horrible people. If you've ever gone to school with a bunch of stupid, mean bogans (the worst kind of bogan), you'll know what I mean. When bogans are the popular kids in school, you know there's a problem!

So Launceston College was a place of wonderful liberation for me. Two years - 11 and 12 - of growing into myself. Most bogans don't go on to college, they stop at grade 10 (a hang-up from the days of an almost 100% farming state. Even my dad didn't finish grade 10 because he was needed on the farm full-time). It was an excellent school too, in the heart of Launceston. We could come and go as we pleased, wear what we liked, use our teachers' first names. What most people experience at uni, I had at college. But I wasn't very wild. I've never had anything to rebel against, and besides, there wasn't anything I could possibly do that would shock my parents. My older sister had been there, done that. The rest of us siblings could just be ourselves.

University
I went to uni because I couldn't think what else to do, and because I wanted to know more. Dad would tease me about staying and working on the farm - I think he privately hoped I would, because none of us had shown any interest in the farm and that's a hard thing to face, that a legacy is coming to an end. But the idea terrified me. It felt like an ending. So I went to uni. Getting into uni in Tassie is dead easy. I didn't have to do anything except take a minimum of five prerequisites at college (I took 6). The colleges handle everything else, if you want to go to UTas. Some people went to the mainland but most of us who wanted to go to uni, stayed.

UTas is the only university in the state, though it has campuses in three cities. I moved to Hobart, to the main one, and I stayed four and a half years. I did a Bachelor of Arts, a three-year degree, and then, because I still didn't know what to do with myself and I wanted my degree to be worth something, I did Honours in English with about 30 other people - and did well too. Afterwards, I applied and was accepted to five universities in the country to do my PhD, but I had to drop the idea because I couldn't afford it. Undergrad degrees are practically free, but to do postgrad you have to pay.

During uni I was in a relationship that went further than it should have. Years further, and lots of misery (some good times too, but it's harder to remember those). I don't think I'll talk about that.

Japan - land of the rising sun
When I finished university in November 2001, my Youth Allowance also stopped. I had to switch to the Dole. To get the Dole is relatively simple, but you have to submit a form every fortnight showing the jobs you've applied to. There were no jobs. But an English-language teaching company in Japan advertised in the newspaper, and I applied to fill my quota. Then was surprised to get an interview. Then was more surprised to get a job. Was quite dazed really. I never had any thought of going to Japan. Hell, I always thought I'd be 40 before I could afford to travel anywhere, let alone out of the country! And I couldn't afford to take this job, except that circumstances occurred neatly and enabled me to go. It's one thing to thank my ex for.

I stayed three months shy of three years in Japan, from May 2002 to February 2005. The first year went by fast and I wasn't ready to leave. The second year I felt very comfortable there. My relationship with said ex ended, and I was suddenly free for the first time in 5 years. So I went a little wild again and in the summer, around a trip to Paris to visit my sister, I had a summer fling with a Romanian uni student. That was a disaster. Didn't teach me anything about myself that I didn't already know, but it did do something for my confidence: that I did something I was scared to do. I still find it strange, because it's so not me.

Finally, after months of tiptoeing around each other, Adam and I finally got together. But by then I was horribly homesick and fed up with Japan and dying to go home. I would be in the supermarket and smell the shearing shed, things like that. It tormented me. But I stayed until the end of February 2005 so that Adam could finish his year, and because what we had was worth exploring. Adam wasn't ready to return to Canada, so he came with me to Melbourne on a one-year working holiday visa. After a second trip to Hiroshima, it was Bye-bye Japan.

Melbourne, a tough year
It was hard going, that year in Melbourne, but a good one too. It was hard finding work, getting by. But we were living in a suburb called Elwood, not far from the CBD, just south of St Kilda. So we were a short walk from the beach. We were only paying $800 a month for a spacious 2-bedroom flat in a prime suburb - except we had no furniture to fill it! For my birthday we did a road trip along the Great Ocean Road to see the Twelve Apostles - even though there aren't 12 anymore, it's still a sight worth seeing. I worked in Medibank Private's call centre, which took years off my life. It wasn't a bad call centre, all inbound, and paid well, but the nature of the work and the calls we took, it was hard.

Halfway during 2005, Adam applied to do his Master's in Toronto. It was something he was looking into when we were in Japan, and since he couldn't stay in Melbourne after the year was up and I had nothing to hold me there (except my family weren't too far away), we started putting together the paperwork for me to emigrate.

Canada, Oh Canada
I'd be lying if I said I wanted to move to Canada. I came for Adam, and for us, and I don't regret that. But I wasn't ready to leave Australia again, to be so far from my family. It only gets worse every year. It's been an up and down time since arriving end of January, 2006. But every day we only feel more in love with each other: it's never faded, only grown stronger. We've been together for over five years now.

My first year here I didn't have permanent residency, so I couldn't legally work. I worked for free three days a week at a small independent publisher, which kept me from going insane, and on weekends at a secondhand bookshop which paid under the table, as well as a spot of tutoring on the side. Then I got Residency, we moved into the flat we're in now, and I got a job at that place I hated but won't name because it seems undignified. Hating that job was one reason why I applied to do my teaching degree. It rescued me. Now I'm back to square one, doing admin again, but at least I have the qualification and even though there are no teaching jobs I don't regret doing it.

So here we are, with our three cats. It's funny, but after writing all this I realise that despite giving a bit of a summary of my life, it tells you nothing about me. There's very little personal info here, I haven't mentioned anything about the writing or shared any anecdotes. I'm sorry for it, but I'm not writing a memoir here. Just an overview, a bit of background. For posterity, perhaps.

The week just gone

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:40:27 GMT

Adam's doing a portrait photo session in the garage today - he rented this giant light and stuff because the construction lights he already had just aren't enough - so I had to move our downstairs neighbour's car because she broke her leg. Adam couldn't because he doesn't drive manual. I was a bit nervous because it's someone else's car and because I've never had to use a gear stick with my right hand before, but actually that part was surprisingly easy. The funny thing was, I couldn't start the car! Adam had to run back for instructions: put the clutch in before turning the key.

It's been so many years since I've driven a manual, I'd completely forgotten! Didn't help that Adam, who drives automatics, advised I put the brake in to start the car. I felt like such a complete twit! Fancy forgetting a thing like that.

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This post has been a week in coming, I've just been too tired to write it after working on a computer all day.

So yes, Body Worlds. Bloody fantastic! Excellent exhibition, this one focusing on the heart, so all the full-body plastinated bodies were in athletic poses, like this:

(I tried uploading an image using the URL, and boy does it work! Instantaneous too. I can't control the size though, so it's big. Not sure what happens if that web page no longer exists?)

This photo looks like a regular someone took it - it's a crappy photo - which I find surprising because they have a strict no-camera policy and only professional photographers can take photos after filling out lots of paperwork. But anyway, it helps me out! For this body, they had removed all his internal organs so you could see the front of his spine, as well as musculature. They keep the private lives (and tragedies) of the donors private, but you can't help but wonder what happened to these people who all appear to have died young and healthy.

We went on a Sunday and it was a real family day, with kids and babies and small children. The fourteen-year-old girls were the only ones giggling at the penises, of course, but even they found it educational, which is the point. I often heard them talking about how a teacher-or-other had been teaching them about [insert hard-to-pronounce medical term here] but they didn't really understand it until now, when they're seeing the real thing (more or less) in context.

I went with a friend from OISE, and her seven-year-old son came too (it was either this or the Santa Parade that was on the same day, but he said the parade was too boring!). It's so fantastic for kids - for all of us - to get a chance to see the human body, demystified and stripped bare of all the symbolism that we give it, and presented without all the elitist medical jargon that alienates us from our own bodies (seriously, House is fun but who really understands what they're saying?).

This one was in a big glass case and apart from a tiny portion of his leg touching the hurdle, he appeared to be completely unsupported. No idea how they did that. There are no strings or wires or anything, he's just hanging in the air. It's almost as amazing as the process and end result itself!

This was my favourite one:

He's on ice skates, and the platform turned slowly in a circle. I was a bit nervous walking around it because of how his arm sticks out - what if you bumped it?

They also had a display of foetuses, which had actually been preserved since before 1920. They had test tubes of foetuses, one for each of the first 12 weeks, when all the real cell development occurs (after which it becomes a recognisable baby and just gets bigger). They really are tiny!! And then larger ones for each month after that.

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Ooh, okay, that brings me to my next piece of news: my second-oldest sister, Tara, is pregnant! Yes no one was more surprised than she was! They hadn't planned it and they were a bit shocked but it's grown on them and they're getting used to the idea. It's one of those things, isn't it: left to planning, you might never have one because it never seems like the right time. Sometimes it's better for fate, circumstance, whatever it is, to take the decision out of your hands.

She's only 9 weeks (I'm thinking of the miniscule 9th week foetus I saw at the exhibition!) so they don't know what the gender is yet. It is a tough time for them - she has a lot of work to do at this time of year and it's hard to get anything done when all you feel like is sleeping; plus they have to move and now they're looking for a house to buy. I'm so happy we're finally having babies in my family! Even though it'll be over a year before I get to see them.

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On less happy news, we've had to change the date of our wedding. We had it all set up and ready to go for New Year's Eve next year, we put in our paperwork with the government (whatever that department is - department of births, deaths and marriages?) and booked a celebrant - now we don't even have an actual date! It's all because of the plane tickets, and bloody Aeroplan. It's complicated and I don't pretend to understand it, except that you have to get the return ticket separately and because of limited seating and the holiday season, chances are you can't get a ticket home at all. I'm not sure if this link will work (if the info will stay), but the beige squares shows you when seats are available, and the red squares are when we wanted seats. As you can see, it was never going to happen!

So now we're looking at late February - still summer but not as nice - and I'm not sure if anyone'll be able to come and we came close to just cancelling it altogether. But, but the point is to celebrate our love and commitment to each other (while getting in a holiday and the chance to see my family after FIVE YEARS!!), and if we don't do it in 2011 (new date), we'll never get around to it. We need something to look forward to, as well. So I'm sure it'll work out, cross my fingers touch wood.

the week in books

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:05:44 GMT

They are finally - finally - ripping down the old sagging balcony. We woke up this morning to find a strange man on our balcony! We sleep with the blind up so the early morning sun can wake us up so we had to quickly close it (and there's nothing more depressing than closed curtains during daylight - oh, except for watching TV during the day). It's not too noisy but I'm glad Adam has his white sheet up over the study window, the one he's been using as a backdrop for photography - it lets the sun through but means neither I nor the contractors will get embarrassed seeing each other!

I had promised myself to be good this week but that lasted as long as, well, five minutes. Especially 'cause it's November and Chapters emailed me four 25% off coupons - well, I have to use them don't I?

This week's purchases are:

kiwiria recommended The Demon King well before it was actually released, so it's taken me a while to get hold of it. Everyone seems to love it though! I also got Blood Bound, the second Mercy Thompson book, but I forgot to add an image here. Oh dear. Nine books? Oh dear.

I've already finished Me and My Shadow and I'm halfway through Intertwined. I've read the first story in Say You're One of Them (which is also the shortest). Interpreter of Maladies and The Turn of the Screw are also short story collections.

I've never read the latter - I really didn't like Lady Chatterley's Lover when I had to read it for uni so it put me off James (also, because I saw bits of Portrait of a Lady and even the few scenes that I watched depressed me). But I didn't even know what "The Turn of the Screw" was about before I picked it up this week - yeah I know, for an English major and an English teacher, it's amazing what I haven't read. Yet.

A friend on Goodreads recommended Life As We Knew It - it's post-apocalyptic YA, a genre I love. So, lots of books to be excited about!

What books have you picked up recently? What are you currently reading?

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We're having dinner at a friend's place tonight, and tomorrow morning I'm going to see the Body Worlds exhibition at the Ontario Science Centre - I'm really excited because I've been wanting to see this since it first toured back when I lived in Japan. I watched a DVD on it, a kind of behind-the-scenes how-they-do-it thing; it's fascinating.

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Oh, I almost forget! (How on Earth could I forget? But that's what the edit button is for!!)

Michael Smith went to HOBART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's a wonderful, low-key celebrity chef who had 2 shows on the Food network. One is filmed at his gorgeous house on PEI where he makes traditional food, and the other is called Chef Abroad - he goes all over the world meeting people and learning about the food they cook and grow and catch and it's a fantastic show.

So in last night's episode he went to Hobart, to Mures!!! and went fishing for crayfish (lobster), oysters and abalone. It was so funny - funny to both hear Smith try to pronounce "Travalla" because he'd never heard of it before, and to hear the accents of everyone else. I've become so used to hearing Canadian and American accents over the last four years that the Aussie accent sounds almost exaggerated now. But I still love it. I was bouncing on the couch and holding Adam's hand and grinning. To see home!! To hear a Canadian chef visit my home!! LOVE that guy!

The Hobart waterfront, or part of it, with Mures seafood restaurant there with the red roof. My brother used to work there.

Food photography

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:48:08 GMT

I can't get a really large or even a decent-sized image to appear on Livejournal, but I still wanted to share this with you.

This is a photo Adam took today, and it's just so simple and the colours so rich and the composition so spot-on and the lighting ... y'know. If you click on it you should get a slightly bigger, clearer image. It's much more impressive seeing it full-size on a large monitor with a black background!

I don't know if it's our iMac that always makes images upload quite small, or what. If I try to enlarge it it becomes pixellated (I enlarged it a little anyway, but any more than this and it looks awful). Does anyone know how to get around that? I've seen such lovely big images on jawastew's LJ and others - what's your secret? Is it a PC vs. Mac thing?

I'd especially like to know 'cause, y'know how I sometimes post recipes here and I like to include images? Well Adam's keen to do more of these kind of shots and so has designated himself my food photographer! But I would like them to be somewhat bigger...

this and that

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:44:24 GMT

I didn't mean to be quiet this week, but I spend all day on the computer at work, doing very repetitive data entry and stuff; makes it very hard to get on the computer once I'm home - plus Adam's been using it a lot lately, working on his photography and something to do with my birthday. He's being very secretive!

But I'm also annoyed because I really wanted to write my book reviews as I finished the books rather than have them pile up and waste nearly my entire weekend doing them. But I tried to write one on Monday night for Ten Thousand Lovers and I just couldn't concentrate. Plus it was eight-thirty and I hadn't even written a good first paragraph and I really just wanted to snuggle with Adam on the couch!

So I'm here now, but I don't have much to say. The job is okay - it's a pretty nice place, nice atmosphere, and the people I'm working with in the renewal team are friendly and interesting. There's a woman about my age who came from Finland in April to live with her boyfriend, a Swiss-Chinese-Canadian; a girl from a Sri Lankan family who has those beautiful henna patterns on the backs of her hands because she went to a cousin's big wedding last weekend; a girl with an Indian background who's obsessed with sport (the last thing I could possibly want to talk about, but she's sweet and funny and let's you tease her); and a guy who has a Masters in English who used to do temp work in the building as a cleaner! Yeah it's a sad job market out there. We have a few laughs and help each other and I don't think there'll be any problems.

See, very exciting stuff. To distract you from Shannon's life-inducing tedium, here's some recent cat shots Adam took (he tends to hog the camera - but then, he's better at it than I am so I don't mind all that much) - we've got Gaia, Cotton and Leon (Cotton actually has her claw stuck in her collar in her shot, while Leon slept through it all ha ha!).

Got a favourite cat portrait out of these?

Okay then *sigh* guess I better write those book reviews, then I have peanut butter and choc chip bikkies to make for Adam, his request. Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend :)

October Books

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:24:23 GMT

I went to a friend's place on Saturday night for Halloween - the three of us watched a couple of horror movies: A Nightmare on Elm Street (Johnny Depp looks SOOO young!!) and Final Destination. Got home late after waiting 40 mins for a bus and then taking the wrong subway train!! Yeah I know. On the up side, it's daylight savings now so we got an extra hour. A bit of an illusion since it took me so long to get to bed and fall asleep, so I probably got less than 7 hours of sleep and that could explain the slight hangover feeling. (Couldn't possibly be all the wine, noooooo!)

October wasn't a bad reading month, all told - and I have lots of 5 star books this month! - but in terms of keeping up with book club selections it was atrocious. I only managed one! Shame on me.

Books Read in October

# books read: 16
# books read to date: 149
Most enjoyed: Sister Wife; The Thirteenth Tale; The Society of S; Doubleblind; To Seek a Master; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Least enjoyed: How I Live Now and Seduced by Shadows

Links go to full reviews on giraffedays.

The List:

Something Reckless by Jess Michaels
(Historical erotic romance: 264 pages) 4/5 stars
The sequel to Everything Forbidden, this one has a rather outlandish plot - okay, the first book did too but this one is even more "HUH?" - but once you just stop fretting about it and go along with it, it's quite enjoyable. You don't necessarily have to have read Everything Forbidden - I read Taboo first, which is like a companion book, and the more cohesive and dare I say plausible of the three.

Joe Speedboat by Tommy Wieringa
(Fiction: 319 pages) 3/5 stars
A boy wakes up after a 200+ day coma to find that all his small Dutch town can talk about is the arrival of a boy who calls himself Joe Speedboat and who likes to blow things up. Unable to speak and confined to a wheelchair, he documents their lives growing up into young men and lets Joe talk him into becoming an arm wrestler. After a strong start this was a disappointing book and turned into a bit of a slog.

Seduced by Shadows by Jessa Slade
(Paranormal romance: 378 pages) 2/5 stars
Somewhat along the lines of J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood but nowhere near as well written or plotted, this story of people at their lowest points being possessed by repenting demons who fight lesser demons while humans hosting angels fight djinn revolved around a hero and heroine who were rather boring. I'm also so incredibly tired of Romance books where the male lead (can't even really bring myself to say "hero") is so repressed and self-righteous and is determined to "resist" the woman he's into - what is wrong with these men? It's become such a huge cliché that it's lost all meaning and never sounds plausible.

My thanks to the author for an advanced copy of the book

Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre
(Science fiction: 302 pages) 5/5 stars
I'm a HUGE fan of this space opera series, and this third instalment was yet another excellent story. Jax has finally made it to the alien world of Ithiss Tor as the first human ambassador in a long time, but her lover March has reverted to his mercenary ways and the insect-like Ithtorians' politics could see them all dead. Jax's Ithtorian friend, Vel, becomes a central character and Jax continues to grow - she began the series as completely self-centred and flippant and irreverent, but she's really gone through some shit and the side-story of her and March can actually reduce me to tears. Love that guy.

To Seek a Master by Monica Belle
(Erotica: 242 pages) 5/5 stars
A highly charged sensual suspense in the first 100 pages leads into something exciting and exploratory. I was greatly surprised by this book and tore through it. It's understated nuances and build-up of sensual tension was quite remarkable.

The Child Thief by Brom
(Fantasy: 481 pages) 4/5 stars
A dark, modern re-telling of Peter Pan, fans of the original have complained about Brom's version but I thought he did a remarkable job. His prose is very descriptive and this can make things slow, but the story itself is a beautiful blend of the dark, gritty, painful, cruel side of humanity and the wonders of magic - and the dark side of magic as well. He brings a complex Peter to life, a tormented and lonely child who grows up into an older child who is at turns playful and merciless. Brom's illustrations and the luscious layout make this hardcover worth the price.

Sweet Restraint by Beth Kery
(Erotic romance: 326 pages) 3/5 stars
I'm a big fan of Beth Kery - she sent me an unbound manuscript of Daring Time months before publication because she valued my opinion and that was so wonderful, I love that book and it was fantastic getting to read it so early - but I was a little disappointed with this one. The premise was solid and the female lead was a strong woman (though she fell into some clichéd traps at the end), but the hero was too perfect and some of their scenes together didn't work for me.

Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer
(Science fiction: 319 pages) 4/5 stars
Canada's science fiction king created a scenario in Flashforward that's hugely thought-provoking: the entire human race, because of a scientific experiment with unforeseen consequences, passes out while their consciences flash forward in time twenty years. Many die because not everyone was sitting down or in bed at the time, and there are many good and bad consequences of the event. The main characters are the scientists involved in the experiment who, sadly, weren't as well drawn as I'd have liked. Still, an interesting book.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
(Fiction: 408 pages) 5/5 stars
Recommended by kiwiria and a lot of other people!
An amateur biographer who reads only classics is invited by one of the greatest novelists of the century to hear the true story of her life - a story of twins, ghosts, mystery and an orphaned baby. It's a gripping tale full of atmosphere and a love of books and reading - ideal for any bibliophile, or any lover of gothic mystery along the lines of Jane Eyre.

Witch Blood by Anya Bast
(Paranormal romance: 275 pages) 4/5 stars
A fun series about elemental witches battling those that break with the coven to use blood sacrifices of witches to call forth demons from another realm. The demons usually return as soon as the job they were called for is done, but one is still here and still killing witches. This is a very short paranormal romance and focuses quite a bit on the developing relationship of the two main characters - they're often jumping each other's skin, so be warned! But it also has some good chemistry and I liked that the hero, Thomas, wasn't afraid of a relationship.

Seriously, these romance heroes who pussy-foot around commitment and think they're being all strong and manly by "resisting" are just cowards, and annoying. I always feel like my time is being completely wasted by them.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
(Children's: 155 pages) 5/5 stars
Finally read one of Dahl's most famous books! Yes can you believe it was the first time I'd read this one? It's not my favourite - I'd be hard pressed to say a fave - but it was delightful and I was happy that the magic was still there. Plus Dahl is so clever and funny!

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
(YA fiction: 194 pages) 2/5 stars
Oh what a disappointing book! So many people loved this but it was seriously lacking. The story of a girl sent to England to stay with her cousins while the present-day world erupts into terrorism and war. Her cousins are strange - one is telepathic and two others can somehow communicate with animals - and she and her cousin Edmond fall in love - which I just didn't buy because it was all tell and no show - which reminds me, it's written in a kind of stream-of-consciousness first-person narration by the main character and even though I guess she grows and matures she's still so self-centred that we don't know what's really going on. True, I guess it did capture a typical teenager but it also totally slid into mediocrity and dullness. England has for a long time been the setting of wonderful, magical war-time stories especially revolving around children, but this one just couldn't get its feet off the ground.

Soulless by Gail Carriger
(Fantasy/Horror: 357 pages) 4/5 stars
Lots of fun here! Set in the 1870s it features a spinster with a sharp tongue and an even sharper parasol, Alexia, who was born soulless - enabling her to neutralise vampires, werewolves and ghosts (the supernatural community, which has been integrated into society since the time of Henry VIII). Soulless is a rollicking good time, a wild mix of genres including alternate history, steampunk and romance, and has a nice dark mystery for its plot.

The Society of S by Susan Hubbard
(Fiction: 304 pages) 5/5 stars
What joy! I can't remember who recommended this to me sorry but whoever you are, thank you! This is the coming-of-age story of Ariella, raised by her father who's some kind of scientist and very unusual to boot, over-protected and isolated who, at age 9, finally makes some friends and starts thinking about the true state of affairs at home. The discovery that her father is a vampire and she's half-vampire isn't a big surprise, but hearing her father's story about her mother who disappearing as soon as Ariella was born, leads her to seek out her mother, who has a very different story. This was beautifully told, and would appeal to people who are tired of flashy, overly-romantic vampire stories.

The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
(Fantasy: 344 pages) 3/5 stars
A humorous adventure story that sees Danielle (Cinderella), Talia (Sleeping Beauty) and Snow (White) journey to hazardous Fairy Town to rescue Danielle's husband, Prince Armand, from her crazy, murderous stepsisters - who now have magic on their side. There's some great banter here and a wide variety of magical and weird creatures. I needed to see the strength of Danielle and Armand's love in order to really invest my time and emotions in her struggle to rescue him, but other than that it was a great story.

Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka
(YA fiction: 269 pages) 5/5 stars
A gripping story about three girls growing up in a polygamous (fictional) community in BC, and their very different reactions and repressed desires. This is a very beautifully told story that switches between the perspectives of the three girls, Celeste, her sister Nanette, and Taviana who was rescued from a life of prostitution and given the first stable home in her life, only to be cast out when the police come looking for her. Celeste struggles the most with living in Unity because she doesn't want to marry an older man at fifteen and be a sister wife, while Nanette whole-heartedly believes in her place in the world. This may not be in wide release but if you can find it wherever you live, it's worth reading.

Cover Spam!

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:52:32 GMT

Yay! I have tomorrow off! Mental Health Day, I'm calling it (since I don't actually get those, I decided to just take one). Remember how the new job starts on Thursday? I'm so happy I get to sleep in a bit tomorrow and have some time to relax and get some stuff out of the way before starting it. Ahhhh that feels good!

So to celebrate, another cover spam! (To see previous ones, just click on the "cover spam" tag.) You know the drill: For each book, tell me which cover you prefer and why. You can be as nit-picky as you like!

ONE: To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts

A) B) C)

TWO: Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

A) B) C) D)

THREE: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A) B) C)
D) E) F)

FOUR: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

A) B) C)

FIVE: Dune by Frank Herbert

A) B) C) D)

SIX: The Giver by Lois Lowry

A) B) C) D)

As a note of personal interest, cover A of The Giver is actually from Lindisfarne North Primary School's grade 6 curriculum! Sorry, Lindisfarne is a suburb of Hobart, in Tassie, where my uncle used to live and where we used to stay when we visited the city on school holidays. Nostalgic moment.

bits and bites

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:46:17 GMT

My head hurts. No, I haven't been drinking. It's from not enough sleep plus spending all day Saturday reading for the Read-a-Thon, then spending all Sunday morning writing up four reviews plus now using the computer for work equals achy eyes and a tension headache. Too much close focusing.

I don't feel like I got much of a weekend, really. We really need three-day weekends. One day to do something, some activity or go out to the shops or whatever; one day to do house chores and errands; and one day to recover from all that and relax! I start Monday feeling like I need a day off and a LOT more sleep!

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I got burnt by hot olive oil last night. It spat at me, a big splat onto my face. It's above my mouth, beside my nose, a nice neat circular burn mark. It's not too noticeable, or rather, it comes and goes. At least it doesn't hurt anymore!

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We watched Zack and Miri Make a Porno - or we watched most of it, then went to bed, but weren't interested enough to watch the rest later. It's a bit dull. Plus it's Kevin Smith so there's an overabundance of swear words and sheer stupidity. And when Zack and Miri have sex for the movie they're making - it's supposed to be an intimate moment (because they've never done it before so there's meant to be all this tension etc.) but it's just creepy 'cause everyone else is watching and it wasn't porn sex but real sex. Ugh it was just wrong.

Has anyone seen My Life Without Me, a film with Sarah Polley? It's really good, but sad. Quietly, unmelodrammatically sad. It popped into my head today, as it does occasionally. She learns that she's only got a short time left to live but doesn't tell anyone, not her husband or kids. They live in a caravan and she has an affair with a man she met at the laundromat. It's a very bitter-sweet movie but I really recommend it.
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I like to go to the No Frills in the Junction on the weekend 'cause then I can stop by one or both of the secondhand bookshops on the way. I just go to look, of course, but they often have books - sometimes in perfect/unused condition - that I was planning to get from Chapters for full price. A lot of the time I go in and see books that I've already bought from Chapters for full price, and that's annoying, so if I go frequently I can hopefully prevent that from happening too much. That's my reasoning, anyway.

So naturally I came away with a few books. I got:

The Velveteen Rabbit - I know this is a children's classic but I don't think I'd actually heard of it until *ducks head and blushes* the Friends episode where Chandler buys a first edition for Joey's girlfriend because he loves her and it's her favourite book. So I've been curious. It's a paperback edition but nice and in mint condition.

One Thousand and One Ghosts - I love Alexandre Dumas and even though he was prolific, not that much has been translated into English - nothing for a long time, certainly. Now we have The Last Cavalier and then I find this gem. Now I just need to catch up on reading his work!

Drums of Autumn - I know, I know, I haven't read the third book, Voyager yet, but I know I'll read the entire series anyway so what's the harm? This is a brand-new copy that ended up in the shop because at the very bottom of the cover is a small cut, where I guess the Stanley knife accidentally sliced it a bit when they opened the box. Other than that, as good as new and for less than half price! ($5 instead of $11)

Little White Lies: A Novel of Love and Good Intentions - I very rarely read chick-lit but occasionally I like to give one a try, hoping for some "time out" and even a laugh or two. I'm so wary of them I tend to shy away from even trying them, but I like to have a couple on the shelf for those days when you're in the mood. This is by Gemma Townley, a British author.

Books To Read count: 546
Hmm.

Sometimes I feel like dedicating a month to a particular genre, like "November is YA books only month!" or something, but that'd never work, not for me. I need to alternate my genres. But I am trying to find ways to help me decide the Big Question: "What should I read next?" Making up a list at the beginning of the month is no good; my mood could change, or I'll get impatient to read something on the list which would make me resent any other book. I don't like to force myself to read books. When I have to read something, I tend to struggle with it.

No easy answer I know. Does anyone have a method?

Read-a-Thon updates...

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:52:27 GMT

It's Read-a-Thon day! Mine started at 8 a.m. this morning and I have to confess I didn't wake up until about ten to, but I really needed some sleep and for once Gaia didn't wake me, scratching at the door, and I only woke up 'cause Adam was hogging the doona!

Since 8, I've had to feed cats, get breakfast, puts cats outside, feed downstairs neighbour's cats 'cause she broke her leg yesterday, and listen to Adam's photography plans for the day. Haven't even got changed out of my pyjamas yet.

Here're some friends you can cheer on as well:

kat_nic
kiwiria
janicu
windandtherain
need_tea

Other people I don't personally know who are Reading for the challenge that you can visit and cheer on:

lyingpeacefully
xicanti
Daemonwolf's Books
A Striped Armchair

If I've missed anyone or you'd like to be added to the list, just let me know in the comments :)
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9:45 a.m.

So, it's now quarter to ten and here's my first update.

Reading: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Progress: on page 50

Adam's left so it's just me and Gaia and a cooling cup of coffee. Time for some serious reading!

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11:40 a.m.

Wow! Thanks everyone for the fantastic cheerleading! I'll do the rounds as soon as I post this.

Read: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Progress: 105 pages
Books finished: 1
Reading: How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Progress: about to start
Interruptions: 2 phone calls from Adam's mum

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1:15 p.m.

Reading: How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Progress: on page 70
Books finished: 1
Total pages so far: 225
Interruptions: Lunch! Which isn't really an interruption 'cause I just had to heat up leftover home-made pizza

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2:40 p.m.

Had to take a walk, just to get out and stretch my legs. Took my book of course but it spat a bit and while I don't mind getting a wee bit wet I don't like my books getting wet so I had to cut it short. I could go to the gym and get on the bike and read but *shrug*

It was nice outside. Might go for another walk in a bit, take the umbrella just in case.

Reading: How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Progress: on page 120
Books finished: 1
Total pages so far: 275
Interruptions: the walk wasn't really an interruption 'cause I was reading at the same time

I heard gushing things about this book but so far, I'm just not feeling any magic.

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4:15 p.m.

Read: How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff - was disappointing
Progress: 194 pages
Books finished: 2
Total pages so far: 349
Reading: The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines
Progress: about to start
Interruptions: none really, if you don't count Gaia fussing! Had to make a coffee and settled for instant which was probably not a good idea.

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6:15 p.m.

Many thanks to the cheerleaders who are doing such a great job! I'm not good at counting at the best of times but I think this is hour #10? Please correct me if I'm wrong - I may even have started at the wrong time for all I know.

Reading: The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines
Progress: on page 44
Books finished: 2
Total pages so far: 393
Interruptions: Took another reading-walk which was nice. Adam came home and he's very good at distracting me! But he's also made dinner which is great. Had to pop down to feed the neighbour's cats and do the cat litter, which took about 15 mins. Am liking The Stepsister Scheme so far but having trouble concentrating.

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8 p.m.

Reading: The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines
Progress: on page 96
Books finished: 2
Total pages so far: 445
Interruptions: Ate dinner, and then the guy in the upstairs flat's two teenage daughters have spent the better part of an hour screaming at each other which has made it really hard to read.

But I'm still chugging along! (I did warn you I was a slow reader!)

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Hour 13 Mini-Challenge
(I think this is still the 13th hour. I haven't really been keeping track - I only know that I end at 8 a.m. tomorrow!)

Mid-Event Survey:

1. What are you reading right now?
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines

2. How many books have you read so far?
Two

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
Well, if I actually stay awake for it, The Demolished Man which Eva from A Striped Armchair recommended for keeping you awake at night!

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
Uh, not really. I didn't make any plans, but then I try to keep my weekends free anyway so I can relax and read!

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Little niggly ones, especially noise or phone calls. Unfortunately, they have bothered me and aside from not getting aggravated by them I haven't dealt with them at all.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
Oh the community feel! All these cheerleaders and other Readers dropping in to encourage you! I know that was the plan, but this is my first year so I thought it might just be the plan, y'know.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
I'm not good at giving suggestions. The challenge seems to be pretty well organised and run as far as I can see.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
Um, dunno. Just hope that I'll be in a better place, stress-wise, because life concerns have been really weighing on me the last few months and make it hard for me to read. Other than that, I can't complain :)

9. Are you getting tired yet?
It's only about 8:30 p.m. here so I'm doing alright.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?
No, because all the things that have worked well for me I had as advice from others who've done this before, and from the website. Plus, my friends are doing much better than I am at this! They're my motivation!

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9:30 p.m.

Reading: The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines
Progress: on page 136
Books finished: 2
Total pages so far: 485
Interruptions: Nothing really, but my mind keeps wandering...

Problem: Adam wants me to stop at 10 p.m. which would effectively end the challenge for me, because I doubt I'd wake up any earlier than 7 on Sunday morning. Not sure yet what to do but my eyes are already feeling a bit weary. I'd hate to stop now but I might have to. We'll see. How's everyone else doing? Must be morning for some of you so you might have tips for staying awake?

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10:40 p.m.

Reading: The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines
Progress: on page 167 of 344
Books finished: 2
Total pages so far: 516
Interruptions: Well this is the big interruption: sleep. As in, me needs some. My eyes are aching from focusing all day and I'm tired :)

I will try to get up early to do some more for this but I can't promise anything. Have some chores and errands to do tomorrow, nothing too strenuous, and naturally I'll be reading some more too, for myself.

If I sleep through the rest of the challenge, I still want to wish everyone else good luck, and thank everyone for dropping by to give words of encouragement - that was great! If I do manage to wake up before 8 a.m., you'll be hearing more from me :D

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about time the FTC cleared this up

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:34:35 GMT

This is a couple of days old but it's worth putting out there, and I haven't come across reference to it in any other blogs.

Thanks to old friends Book Ninja (a great site I haven't visited in ages), I found reference to the Publisher's Weekly article from the 19th that jawastew was telling me about regarding America's Federal Trade Commission (FTC)'s announcement that it was going after and fining those people who accepted free products to review, in exchange for free products (of equal or greater value).

If you've been away, or if book blogging isn't your obsessive hobby like it is ours, this news resulted in a bit of panic amongst us because we do sometimes review ARCs (Advanced Review Copies - which aren't always "advanced" but are free from the publisher for the purposes of reviewing). The FTC merely requires people who are "endorsing" a product to openly state that they are reviewing a free product, or that they're recieving some kind of remuneration. Many book bloggers already did say when a book was an ARC.

It also prompted a great deal of blog posts from smart and witty people with acidic tongues and you can find links to these all over the place - makes for entertaining reading, even if the points are moot now. I'll explain:

A lawyer from the FTC, Mary Engle, addressed concerns at KidlitCon 09 and stated that the FTC "never intended to patrol the blogosphere" and that "We couldn't do it if we wanted to and we don't want to." Engle also said that "the revised guidelines are aimed at advertisers and marketers, not individual bloggers." The article continues: "Engle said Saturday someone with a 'personal blog, writing a genuine or organic review,' did not need to disclose how they got the book or assign it a value."

Which seems obvious but they really needed to spell it out, because these things get hazy (and I did read their revised regulations and it wasn't at all clear) and we really weren't sure either way.

You can click on the Publisher's Weekly link above to get the full article, including an explanation for where the panic came from (an idiot from the FTC).

So, now we can all relax and if you forget to mention a book was an ARC, don't sweat it.

Dewey's Read-a-Thon Challenge

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:32:04 GMT

Thanks to janicu and windandtherain's friendly prodding, I've decided to join Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-Thon.

It's this Saturday, supposed to start at 8 a.m. Toronto time. That's actually a good time for me, but I won't be able to read for 24 hours but I am aiming for all day, and sadly I can't afford to donate any money. If you're in the Sydney time zone, you'd start at 11 p.m. Friday night.

So, the idea is (I think I have this right), I pick a bunch of books - they recommend short, fun reads like YA books etc. - to read from, which I've posted below, and throughout the day I will give updates. I'll start a post here in the morning, and edit it during the day with updates. All you need to do is cheer me on! Or join in!

Picking the books is tricky. They need to be books I haven't read yet, I think. I went to Eva's list on A Striped Armchair for inspiration - which was maybe a bad idea because now I have a list of books I want to buy!

Here's my tentative list:

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester - 256 pages
The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue - 336 pages
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff - 224 pages
The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams - 320 pages
The Pages by Murray Bail - 208 pages
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl - 176 pages
House of Dark Delights by Louisa Burton - 352 pages
The Great Cow Race by Jeff Smith - 144 pages
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines - 352 pages
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum - 224 pages
Soulless by Gail Carriger - 357 pages

Oh dear. I had to stop myself from endlessly adding books to this list - I'm already getting carried away! Naturally I'm not going to be able to read all these. I'll be lucky if I get through two! But the idea is to have a pile of books handy to pick from. Since my to-read "pile" is 544 books strong, this makes a lot of sense! I can never decide what to read next. Truth is, I may end up reading completely different books. But I don't think it matters too much?

I'm starting to get excited about this. Trouble is, my progress on Saturday will be slight no matter how good my intentions, because I'm actually a really slow reader. I read aloud in my head, every single word. And I'm constantly thinking, but when I get into a story I envision it like I'm watching a movie in my head. When I've become so immersed that the line between me reading the book and the story playing out in my head disappears, and I forget that I'm actually reading, that's when I'm really sucked in. That's always my goal, when I can finally stop thinking and just let go. How do you read?

And I haven't started Wednesday's book club read yet - The Mill on the Floss, which looks a wee bit dense. Not sure if I'll get it finished in time for the meeting, but what the hell! I never do these challenges!

Anyone going to join me (or be my "cheerleader")?

p.s. kiwiria, I just heard that Eoin Colfer is in Toronto and will be "appearing" tonight at the Harbourfront - don't what that is but there's some kind of writer's festival on in TO at the mo. He's going to be interviewed on CBC radio in a bit, I think. Or maybe it's tomorrow. Anyway, now when I hear that name I think of you ;)

new job

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:24:54 GMT

Does anyone else, after an exam or a job interview, something of that stressful/nerve-wracking/tense nature, feel the need to do one or some of the following:

~ Buy something
~ Watch mindless game shows like The Price is Right or Wheel of Fortune
~ Watch a Disney movie about a kid and a dog or something equally banal and predictable
~ Cry
~ Get hyper and talk a lot and smile too much
~ Eat lots and lots of Cheezels

I do pretty much all of the above. Once, after one exam I bought the DVD of Independence Day even though I didn't like the movie. Today I bought a scented candle - Rain Water it's called. It doesn't seem to have a scent, so I don't know what rain water is meant to smell like.

On my lunch break I went for an interview for a job through my temp agency, a 4-5 month contract starting at the end of this month (right when this gig ends, which works well). Don't get too excited. Oh, I got the job. Heard back almost as soon as I got back to work. But ...

But I hate going through this kind of thing, for a $13-an-hour data entry job. It galls, y'know? But that's the taste of desperation, having to fake enthusiasm for a clerical job. (Is it clerical or administrative? What do these words even mean anymore?) I mean, it's always nice when someone likes you so much that they offer you the job pretty much straight away. But still. It's hard to get enthusiastic. And it means I have to buy more work clothes (with what money??!).

I didn't have any Cheezels around, and I technically still have, oh, 45 mins of work left to go so no watching game shows. I did cry a little bit - I get so high-strung doing these things - and I did eat a giant banana which was lying around. I can't concentrate (hence the post), I have a profound urge to stop by Chapters on the way home and buy a book A) I can't afford and B) won't read for two years because, well, you know what my to-read pile looks like. Actually I think there's an Amazon delivery waiting for me - but I just want to physically buy something. The candle was only mildly satisfying.

And now I have a real urge for lots and lots of Cheezels.

Which don't exist in this country :(

Book haul

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:17:49 GMT

Good news, of a sort: Adam's cousin Amanda doesn't have the swine flu. They don't know what she has, except that it's turned in pneumonia. She's home now but still sick. Thank you everyone for your kind words :)

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Today I went to one of my two favourite second-hand bookshops that are five minutes away, looking for a copy of The Mill on the Floss which is this month's book club read. Didn't find one, but I did walk away with the following books for only $40:

That's the cheesiest-arsed cover of The Scarlet Pimpernel you ever did see, I know, but I've never come across the book anywhere before so I'll take what I can get ;) Besides, it brings back memories of watching the movie years ago... many times ... because I'm a romantic dag :D

Those Who Hunt the Night is a book club read on Goodreads this month and I wasn't going to bother trying to find it and read it in time, but I came across it and found out it was about vampires! so yeah I nabbed that one too. Still probably won't get it read this month.

Someone on Goodreads had good things to say about The Icarus Girl, and I loved Coetzee's Disgrace and have been meaning to read something else by him. kiwiria recommended Artemis Fowl, but has anyone read any of the others?

playing catch-up

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:48:37 GMT

Adam's cousin Mand has the swine flu - at least, she has a temperature of 105, is in hospital in isolation and is delirious, but the tests haven't come back yet. We just saw her at Thanksgiving dinner on Monday and she was fine. Apparently the incubation period is 48 hours and it's contagious then too, but so far Adam and I are fine.

I think I've picked up a cold though. It's in my head, throat and starting to slide into my chest. Feel absolutely shitty, but at least I'm not in an isolation ward at the hospital! Mand also has Crohn's Disease (she's half Egyptian - the disease is sort-of common amongst Middle Eastern people) and is terribly thin, so she gets everything worse than other people. She's in and out of hospital quite a bit.

I'm sure she'll be okay, but - the last time she was in hospital it seemed like she was going to die, though it's hard to tell because of how much my MIL inflates things. We'll just hope and wait.

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Job update:

Our stint here at the Ministry officially ends on the 30th, we found out yesterday, but my temp agent person pretty much has something else lined up for me already, from November to February - something equally as mind-numbing, but what can you do? Gotta pay the rent.

I intend to negotiate a 4-day week starting next year though, so I can volunteer at a high school once a week. It's the only way to get my foot in the door and hopefully get a teaching position for next year (the school year starts in September here - I still find that confusing!).

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Wedding update:

Looks like many people will be wearing kilts and tartans at the wedding! Adam wanted to wear something a bit special, and both his grandmother and grandfather (mum's side) are from Scottish families, so it seemed a lovely gesture and a tribute to his grandfather who died this year. His kilt will be in his grandmother's tartan, it's really lovely, all blue and shades of grey with a thin stripe of red through it.

My family seems pretty keen on the idea too. My Nanna (dad's mum) is from a Scottish family, and a grandmother on my mum's side was too. So there's plenty of choice of what tartan to wear! The men will be wearing different ones, but it has to mean something. Getting interesting!

I've seen the first design sketch for my dress and have dithered a-plenty over the fabric samples my sisters sent me. I think I'll go with Duchess silk-satin in ivory, with chiffon for the top layer.

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Thanks to jongibbs for this little piece of procrastination ;)

I'm currently reading a few books, as per usual, but the two that I'm focusing on the most are:

This is a dark contemporary retelling of the Peter Pan story, vividly illustrated by Brom who comes from a background of games etc. This is his third book and it was worth getting the hardcover.

Written by Canada's Science Fiction king, Flashforward is about a scientific experiment that goes horribly wrong, sending everyone's consciousness two decades into the future for about 2 minutes, with awful consequences. Recently made into a TV series, I believe.

How about you?

What are you reading at the moment?

Which books are on your wish list?

Thanksgiving and gratuitous cat photos

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:45:21 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY miyyu!!!
I'll drink to your health and happiness!

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It's Thanksgiving today.

I promised I'd make a pumpkin pie - I actually make a killer pumpkin pie but funnily enough I haven't made it since uni so I hope I got the right kind of pumpkin. They had all these different types of squash and the only "pumpkins" are giant ones people use to decorate their front porches (Halloween is coming up). So I grabbed a "buttercup squash" because it looked about right, though the skin is covered with what looks like barnacles! Having now cut it open to roast it, I can tell you it's a lovely orange colour and looks very pumpkin-y!

And since I can no longer eat turkey - it gives me weird bowel spasms and atrocious gas after just a couple of mouthfuls, lovely - I said I'd cook a roast chicken and bring that, didn't want to add to my MILs workload or stress levels.

Well I forgot what she's like. She took it as me guilt-tripping her into accommodating me and went and got a chicken as well. Thankfully (it is Thanksgiving after all), she's put it in the freezer after talking to Adam and I'm going ahead with my original plan. I just feel so pissed off and incensed because of the way she does this. Emotional blackmail may be her thing, but that doesn't mean I would ever do it! I knew she could get offended (it's easy to do) but I thought I handled it very nicely. Jesus. It's a bloody roast chicken.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I haven't met a single Canadian who knows where it comes from or why. I've heard a couple of different things, including that it's to celebrate the harvest, but nothing for sure. Does anyone know? I'm not that comfortable celebrating something I don't understand. And maybe I'm bitter (no doubt I am), but I'm not all that thankful to be living here. I'd rather be home.

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Some gratuitous kittie pics for you (taken by Adam):

Gaia

Leon

Cotton

Cover Spam!

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:11:31 GMT

It's that time again, when we dust off our subjective eye and scrutinise some covers of well-known and obscure books - because we can and because we're fascinated and because we do judge book covers - who doesn't?

So tell me, for each book which is your favourite cover and why?

ONE: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

A) B) C) D)

TWO: V. by Thomas Pynchon

A) B) C)

THREE: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

A) B) C) D)

FOUR: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfeld

A) B) C)

FIVE: Zorro by Isabel Allende

A) B) C) D)

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize for ...?

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:21:49 GMT

I just heard the news. I don't get it, I confess. Though, there have been disagreeable and contentious Nobels before - especially in economics, which is actually separate from the "real" Nobel family (hence why a bunch of neo-liberal econo-twits always award it to neo-liberal bastards - yes I'm exaggerating but seriously, Milton Friedman?? He's right up there with Hitler as far as I'm concerned - if not worse).

I have to agree with the criticisms floating around: you shouldn't really win a Peace award for peace intentions, rather than actions. I think Obama will, or could, do much and go far - but he hasn't yet. It sets a dangerous precedent - not that it's a dangerous award, but I have noticed that when dodgy people win these awards it suddenly cancels out all the crap. You hear "so-and-so won the Nobel so of course he's doing good!" (Let's face it, the winners are usually men.)

But it does lead to the next question: if someone won for their peaceful intentions, is there absolutely no one around who's doing peaceful actions? Perhaps it speaks to a new "world stage", to use a cliche. Grand visions, hope, on a global scale, rather than someone doing "good" on a micro scale. That is, observable deeds with real results that really affect the people on the ground, who live it every day. What about the fisherpeople of Thailand who peacefully reclaimed and negotiated for their land, rebuilding through their own efforts after the tsunami and proving that people can help themselves, that they can fight big business and government plans to turn their ancestral lands into expensive resorts for rich white people? Granted, I don't think the award has ever been given to a group, but there again is a flaw in its heirarchical, surperior nature.

This whole thing makes me cynical about everyone else, about us all - Is Obama the best of us? Are our world leaders so awful and corrupt (in many cases, yes), that a man who's been in power for only 9 months wins a prize like this even though he hasn't actually achieved any of his goals yet?

Just what kind of world do we live in, anyway? A f***ed up one I tend to think.

Nobel winner and e-books

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:17:10 GMT

The winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature is Herta Müller, a Romanian-born German novelist. Some of her work has been translated into English but it's fair to say I've never heard of her. She was on the list I posted the other day, so there's bound to be some people who made some money betting on her.

The 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature to Müller "who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed." (thanks, Wiki!) - but I couldn't tell you anything about what her books are about or like, sorry.

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_ocelott_ was talking on genrereviews the other day about how Kindle, the Amazon-owned e-book reader, was only available in the US which is very frustrating for people, but that they were branching out to the UK. But not Canada.

I just heard on the radio that they're not just going to the UK but 100 other countries as well - but still no Canada.

How perplexing is that? I don't have an e-book reader and I have no interest in e-books (I could never give up the feel and smell of a real book in my hands), but this just seems like a giant snub, especially considering that e-books are formatted for specific readers and if you have a Kindle, you have access to the most books of any e-book reader because, well, they're coming from Amazon US. As far as I understand it.

Does anyone have a Kindle, or one of the other brands? Anyone want or plan to get one? Anyone still traditional like me and proudly stubborn about it?

Being able to sit on the couch in the Book Room and look up at all my books is one of the most comforting and soul-refreshing pleasures I have. To replace them all with a little handheld electronic device .... not on your life. Even though it does cost me a few thousand to ship them country to country!

Cottage Closing Weekend-that-was

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:37:02 GMT

Last weekend we went back up to the cottage for one last time this year. So sad *sniff* It was beautiful up there but it's kinda depressing, closing the cottage for the year. Really drives home that summer is over - and our one escape from the city is locked up.

It is winterised, but it's also on an island and you'd probably have to snowshoe there - incidentally, it's called "Snowshoe Island"! Anyway it's a lot of work and the heating would get really expensive when the temperature outside is -30 or worse.

I have some photos to share, these are ones I took except one which I'm shy about but what the hell. I'm putting the rest up on my Flickr (people shots are set to private, which is why I thought it time to share one here). It was beautiful up in Muskoka, with that autumn glow.

Looking over in an easterly direction.

Part of the "new" addition that was finished last year. Was it really last year? Seems much longer ago now...

Raftus the Portuguese Waterdog (Adam's parents' dog) knew something was up. He loves the cottage and spent the weekend moping, hanging around the steps, generally not helping much. BTW, the big mound he's sitting on? It's the septic tank. Just if you were curious, it's not a natural hill ;)

Ah, yeah, this is me - surprise! Told you there was a photo I was shy about ;)
Adam and I did lots of portrait shots of each other and this is one of the good ones.

One of the boats, called "The Tub", with its new cover that makes crossing in crappy weather (like Friday night's) really very comfy. I like this boat: I can drive it! And dock it! The other boat, the SeaRay, is an inboard motor and I find it harder to drive. More sensitive. At least with The Tub, it doesn't matter so much if you bump the dock.

A north-westerly view, looking out from the front deck.

I had to take down the gazebo covers. Swallowed a few dead bugs in the process.
They're putting up new frames and covers next year - they take quite the beating in the weather up there, but they work very well in lieu of a veranda and the cottage stays nice and cool in summer.

It rained on and off all weekend, but it was beautiful autumn weather - crisp, cool, at times even warm, a bit wet, and oh so glorious! Adam's Dad took this shot.

Nobel Prize contenders

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:02:31 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY kiwiria!!!!
What do they say? Life begins at 30? BIG HUGS and I'm coming to join you in 3-0 LAND soon!!
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I have an over-due post relating to the weekend to do, but I have to do it from home and in the evening we have dinner to make, it's my turn on dishes, I've been extremely crappy lately and the last thing I want to do is get back on a computer! I can't even finish a book, I'm all over the place. "Depressed" isn't the word for it. Probably more liked "stressed" and "worn down". Anyway.

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The 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature is going to be announced on Thursday, 8th October. It's awarded for an author's body of work, not an individual book - sort of like a lifetime achievement award. Oh, and they have to be alive at the time of winning, apparently. People are wondering who will win it this year, and I found this list of potential candidates:

Adonis
Chinua Achebe
Isabel Allende
Margaret Atwood
Paul Auster
John Banville
Yves Bonnefoy
A.S. Byatt
Peter Carey
Don DeLillo
Anita Desai
Assia Djebar
E.L. Doctorow
Umberto Eco
Richard Ford
Carlos Fuentes
Mary Gordon
Luis Goytisolo
Peter Handke
F. Sionil Jose
Ismail Kadare
Milan Kundera
Claudio Magris
David Malouf
Javier Marías
Ian McEwan
Harry Mulisch
Herta Müller
Alice Munro
Haruki Murakami
Les Murray
Joyce Carol Oates
Michael Ondaatje
Amos Oz
Thomas Pynchon
Philip Roth
Salman Rushdie
Antonio Tabucchi
Tomas Transtromer
William Trevor
Michel Tournier
Barry Unsworth
Mario Vargas Llosa
A.B. Yehoshua

I have only read 10 of these authors, which I've put in bold, and I've heard of an additional 9 but haven't read their work. I thought Adonis was a Greek god or something?

How many have you read/do you recognise? I love seeing so many Australians on this list! Well, 3 (that I recognise), but it's only been won by an Aussie once - ONCE!! - in the past. I see a few Canadians too, which is good. But if Peter Carey is here then Tim Winton should be too - though you probably need to have won other prizes in the past too, I don't know, and I'm honestly not sure if Winton has. Like a Pulitzer or Man Booker or Orange or Commonwealth or something.

So who do I think should get the prize? Since I'm limited to the ones whose books I've read, it's not really a fair question, (and I'm ashamed at how many of these are white English-speaking people) but I'd have to say Margaret Atwood. Yeah I'm betting on a Canadian. Her work is diverse, thought-provoking, tackles some big issues/questions, and she writes some damn good stories. I also love Haruki Murakami, for much the same reasons - and for his very distinct style. Yes, big fan me :)

Who's your pick? Can you think of someone not on this list who is deserving?

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Edit: The Giller Prize just announced it's finalists - "and Atwood is nowhere to be found" everyone keeps pointing out. Canada does produce more authors than Atwood and Munro!!

The finalists are:
Kim Echlin, The Disappeared
Annabel Lyon, The Golden Mean
Linden MacIntyre, The Bishop's Man
Colin McAdam, Fall
Anne Michaels, The Winter Vault

The winner is announced on 10th November and wins $50,000. Not bad prize money eh.

Cover Spam!

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:59:47 GMT

This is a slightly different cover spam, but this one cover deserved its own post...

Is this not the worst book cover you've ever seen? It may take the cake for most hideous cover. It's almost too easy to poke fun at it, but it's Friday and you can't take anything seriously on Fridays, so let's hear it - what do you love the most about this cover?

(Sorry about the quality - click on the image to get a cleaner version)

I'm almost struck speechless, which is why I'm passing this on to you my dear friends, to fill the stunned silence! (Of course, if you've got a worse one give me a link and I'll post it below this so we can have a lovely cover spam gallery of atrocious book covers!!)

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janicu's favourite: Curse of the Sourlands (larger image)

madhowan found this gem:

Same *ahem* model? ;)

This gem from jawastew:

September books

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:32:36 GMT

This is one of those coffee mornings, where you feel the need for cup after cup. I'm nearly out of the stuff I brought from home. Time soon to hunt down a crappy cup of crappy over-priced drip coffee.

They're interviewing Van Morrison on CBC radio. Nice.

I had a weird allergic reaction to something last night, and I have no idea what it was. My throat closed a bit and I had trouble breathing and I kept coughing. Had to take two Benadryl in the end, which really knock me out. I went to bed still wheezing and had trouble waking up this morning. Actually, I definitely feel a cold coming on. It just suddenly became really chilly and summer has become a fond memory.

I have a fair few books about Africa that I'm impatient to read - some work in sets, sort of. I have three books about the Rwandan genocide, for instance: Shake Hands With the Devil, A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali, and Machete Season which is accounts by people who were committing the genocide (heavy reading, but fascinating to have the chance to get the other side of the picture).

I want to read them all and all the other books I have - but that's always the trouble: I want to read everything simultaneously, which makes me impatient and slows me down right when I'm trying to immerse myself into what I'm reading and enjoy it for its own sake.

September is always a slow reading month. It's always busy and stressful and I don't have much free time. I read some longish books too, a couple of heavy ones - and I didn't finish all the books I started in September, as usual. ___________________________________________________________________________

Books Read in September

THE STATS

Books read: 12
Books read to date: 133
Most enjoyed: Jessica Z.; The Shock Doctrine; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Least enjoyed: Ghostland; Uninvited

THE BOOKS

Lucan by Susan Kearney
(Paranormal romance/sci-fi: 325 pages) 2/5 stars
A weird mix of science fiction, apocalyptic fiction and paranormal romance that takes on more than it could chew. In a world where everyone has become barren, an archeologist, Lucan, travels to a populated moon that seems to have an ancient link to Earth through Arthur Pendragon - and where the cure to Earth's problem, the Holy Grail, may be. The moon has its own magic and one woman, a high priestess who has the gift - and curse - to shapeshift into a dragon, awakens a long-buried power in Lucan.

My thanks to the publisher for a copy of the book.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
(Crime/Mystery: 841 pages) 5/5 stars
A literary mystery-detective thriller that digs into capitalist scandals and some sick family history, the book is propelled along by two engaging protagonists, Blomkvist and Lisbeth, as they try to unravel what happened to a girl who went missing in the 60s. The first book in a trilogy about these two characters, it can be read as a standalone.

The Giver by Lois Lowry
(YA Dystopian fiction: 179 pages) 4/5 stars
With powerful world-building and some serious questions raised, this is a modern classic often studied in schools. Jonas is approaching his twelfth birthday when he will find out what life-long job the community will give him. The answer surprises everyone: he will become the community's next Receiver, the person who holds all the memories of the world, everything that came before - everything that everyone has forgotten, including emotions. A well-crafted story that reveals much and leaves you pondering.

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella
(Chick-lit: 388 pages) 4/5 stars
A fun yet oddly stressful follow-up to Shopaholic, Becky Bloomwood follows her boyfriend, entrepreneur businessman Josh, to Manhattan where they both try to get their careers going. But Becky can't stop shopping, Josh has something to prove to his horrible socialite mother who has no time for him, and everything's about to catch up to Becky in the worst way possible.

Out From Boneville by Jeff Smith
(YA Graphic novel: 138 pages0 4/5 stars
The first book in the Bone series, Bone and his cousin help their other cousin when the town evicts him, only to get separated and lost in the desert and end up in a strange place of monsters and cow-racing grannies. Bone gets help from a human girl to find his cousins and his way home. Beautifully illustrated and with many a chuckle, Bone is an adorable and resourceful hero and I'm not surprised this has long been a popular series. I already have #2 to read.

Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women by Nancy Madore
(Erotica; short stories: 251 pages) 3/5 stars
A collection of rewritten fairy tales that incorporate common female sexual fantasies as well as a message about the power of society to make us feel shame and the need to fit in, starve ourselves and beat others down. Some of the stories are quite tame, others fiesty.

Uninvited by Justine Musk
(YA Urban fantasy: 258 pages) 2/5 stars
When Kelly's brother Jasper disappeared after a car accident he was involved in killed two other teens, Kelly slipped into experimenting with drugs and alcohol to try to fill the gaps. Now Jasper is back, but with him comes a biker gang led by an enigmatic man called Archie who won't let Jasper go. It was an interesting enough outline but reads slow and dull and obvious.

Ghostland by Jory Strong
(Erotic paranormal romance/Post-apocalyptic urban fantasy: 341 pages) 2/5 stars
Another chaotic mix of genres delivering a sketchy, ultimately disappointing story with a very tasteless use of "erotic" language that was extremely off-putting. The world was loosely constructed, the heroine was frustratingly passive, and I struggled to finish it. Has a gorgeous cover though.

Jessica Z. by Shawn Klomparens
(Fiction: 340 pages) 5/5 stars
An absolute gem of a novel about a young woman, Jessica, living in an America where bombs go off almost frequently. She meets an artist, Josh, and an intense relationship ensues. She becomes his model for his latest art project but there's something off about him, or about the relationship. Just as she decides to break it off with him, disaster strikes and throws her life into a new kind of turmoil.

A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans
(Fantasy: 562 pages) 3/5 stars
A promising start drags off into a military march that goes nowhere. A classic fantasy storyline with a few nice twists to make it a bit different, it was ultimately disappointing in its scope and became awfully slow. I don't know where this story is going but there was nothing in the ending to make me want to keep reading.

My thanks to the publisher for a copy of the book.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein
(Non-fiction: 561 pages) 5/5 stars
A powerful and intense economic history of the last century, focusing on the rise of disaster capitalism - using natural disasters or creating them to "shock" the population into quiescence while the leaders inflict extreme capitalism onto the country. From present-day Iraq to Sri Lanka, from Israel to Chile - the first real experiment in disaster capitalism and "shock therapy" used on whole populations, Klein has exhaustively researched a troubling, dangerous and disastrous form of economics that has touched us all, reduced countries to extreme poverty in the name of Chicago School economics, and increased the class gap between rich and poor. A must read.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
(Science fiction/Dystopian fiction/Classics: 165 pages) 4/5 stars
The perfect book to read during Banned Books Week, Bradbury created a futuristic world in which the entire population focuses on happiness and leisure, thrill rides and mindless entertainment (literally), after having turned their backs on books, education, the knowledge that comes with it, because conflicting ideas etc. are just too confronting and upsetting. Montag is a fireman who burns books for a living, until he starts stealing and trying to read them. He wants to enact change and wake the people up, but doesn't know how. The prose can be clunky but the ideas are vivid.

must reads??

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:06:16 GMT

The lovely chinasparrow and her sister madhowan are the bestest people EVA!!! Mmmmmm caramel and Double Coat Tim Tams - my favourites! - and the latest Hottest 100!! (I'm having to be very strict with the Tim Tams or Adam'll eat them all in one sitting.) So Kings of Leon won 2008? Adam went to university with them - he had a crush on the lead singer's girlfriend! Ssh don't tell him I said, he'll be all embarassed ;)

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I came across someone on Goodreads who had made it her goal to read all the books on the BBC's The Big Read Top 100 in order to broaden her reading horizons. I thought, ouch. Then I thought, I wonder if I could or should do that? Then I quickly added, of course, I may have read a great many of them already so the list could be quite short.

Well, these are the books from their top 100 that I HAVEN'T read (ones I own in bold). As you can see, it's not all that short - 60, all told:

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (haven't finished it)
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (haven't finished it)
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce (didn't get far and have no intention of trying again!)
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist (never finished it - so boring and looooong!)
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac (started it but again, so boring!!)
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

The problem is, a lot of these I really don't want to read! I was surprised to see so much Pratchett, and there's Eoin Colfer there too. An odd list overall.

Of the books above, are there any you feel I really must read? Obviously I'm going to read the ones in bold, but of the others?