This, dear bloggy people is a travesty...

An all white bookshelf. It's just plain wrong. When I first saw this picture I thought all of the books had been covered with white paper, and I wrote quite an impressive rant about that!  Which I had to delete when I realised that they weren't covered...that they were in fact books with only white spines. Which, I concede is not as bad, but it's still wrong. 
In my book J
You know I'm a book lover...and this just makes me wonder if these books are really loved for what's inside their covers, or if they're only in those shelves for their decorative appeal. Call me odd, but that makes me a bit sad.
Would you do this?  Would you, in the worst case collect, or if not collect because you already owned them (in which case I'm prepared to cut you some slack)...would you only display certain coloured books to fulfil a room vision? Could you? Should you? 
I really, really hope there's another room in this home with a bookcase full to the brim with books in every colour of the rainbow. But not colour coded...no, not that.... even though I will confess to having done it myself once upon a long time ago. Before it became a trend! 


Thank you for the kind comments on my last post and welcome to a few new readers...it's lovely to have you here in the townhouse, where the books are colourful and placed by height and sometimes category...so I know where to find them! 

I’m sorry I haven’t been around much. Lack of posts, very few blog visits, unanswered emails, no top ten last week!

To be honest, I’m a bit fatigued. Lots on my plate and too much on my mind. So I downed tools this weekend and did very little except read in bed, do the most basic chores like washing and tidying up the kitchen, watched tv and crocheted. And fed the vampire slayer of course...unfortunately she's hard to ignore. But I did manage to ignore my computer screen for a very large chunk of time!

first in my 'classic of the month' reads

It’s done me the world of good, but I’m going to toddle off to the doctor this week and get a check-up. And the only reason I’m telling you that is because if I write it here I might actually do it J 

a new ripple for a baby boy

There WILL be a top ten this week, if nothing else! So you have a good one (week that is) and I’ll try to do the same J

here

....oh, and yeah! The blog is two today...thank you for being such wonderful company xox

Time to recap what I read in January. Not, I have to tell you, as many as I read this time last year! My aim to read 100 books in 2012 is already looking shaky...but I managed six. 

As always...in order of reading...

Please Look after Mother by Kyung-Sook Shin - fiction, translated from Korean

Choral Society by Prue Leith - fiction

The Stepmother's Diary by Fay Weldon - fiction

In Tasmania by Nicholas Shakespeare - history/memoir

Eve Green by Susan Fletcher - fiction (first novel)

Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George - crime fiction

So, how were they? I have to confess to being an Inspector Lynley groupie so Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George is my pick for the month. It's a big book but I read it in a little over a day. I love Tommy and Barbara. This was a little grittier than normal I thought. If you like crime and you haven't read Elizabeth George, please do. I think this is about the 17th in the series, and yes, I've read them all.

Please Look after my Mother was very sad especially given my parents' situation, Choral Society fun but forgettable, The Stepmother's Diary dark and interesting. I bought and started to read In Tasmania at Hobart airport on the way home. It's a very clever weaving of history and the author's own modern story of an expat's life in his new country, where amazingly he finds he is related to the man they call 'the father of Tasmania'. Eve Green was fabulous, and an absolute marvel of a first novel. I've ordered her second book I was so impressed.

I’ve also decided that from now on, in among all the other reading I do, I’m going to read a 'classic' a month. Do you have any recommendations for me? I've read a few of course but I'm open to suggestions and would love to know what you think. I've pretty well done the Austens though J

December was a very light on month for reading I'm afraid, but I did manage a few, somewhere in between the manic last few weeks of work, Christmas nonsenses and NYE frivolities...here they are:

Great House by Nicole Krauss - fiction

Shoe Money by Maggie Alderson - a selection of newspaper columns

Angel Puss by Colleen McCullough - fiction

All That I Am by Anna Funder - fiction

Freedom by Jonathon Franzen - fiction

Apart from the short collection of columns, all of these books were very good reads. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Angel Puss, set in Kings Cross, just around the corner from where the first born used to live, it was incredibly evocative of the area and the people who inhabit it. I bought it from a remainders bin on a whim...good use of a spare $4.95! 

And now the hard part...my favourite books of 2011. All in all I read 77 books last year (still finding it hard to say last year!). I was only going to nominate five, but a six book collage was easier to make J Bloody heck it was hard...even my very favourite author didn't make the cut this time! Because I read so much, the books I chose were the ones that have stayed with me...the ones I don't have to remind myself what they were about, the ones that made me cry, question, wonder, smile, cringe...the ones with 'staying power'. So, for what it's worth...my recommendations for incredibly good reads are, in no particular order because no way am I picking a no. 1 (oh, ok...Peter Carey!)...

In order of reading:

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield 

(a famous dying author summons an obscure unknown author to record her autobiography...ancient houses, bookshops, 'ghosts' and heartbreaks);

Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey

(A french nobleman and an english servant travel to the new world...full of beautiful historical detail...I especially loved the early days of Manhattan... wit, friendship and love)

The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper

(a very well written account of a pointless death, life on Palm Island and the brutality of our treatment of indigenous australians, but with a balanced compassion for all sides in this story)

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

(a 50 year old Harvard professor suffers from early onset alzheimers. This book's every word was enthralling, highlighting both the inner and outer 'workings' of the disease with an incredible sympathy for the sufferer and her family as they come to grips with what it all means)

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg

(a thriller...not everyone likes this I know, but I found it  fascinating and different. The heroine is unusual...a bit like Lisbeth Salander in the Millenium Trilogy...hard to like but you just have to know what happens to her)

All That I Am by Anna Funder

(the story of a group of Jewish Germans and their resistance to Hitler in the 1930s, set then and in the present through the reminiscences of Ruth, an old woman living in Sydney. Based on fact, it's a story of right and wrong, deceit, justice and injustice. Loved it.)

So there you have it! I hope to read more than 77 books in 2012, but I haven't started all that well...I've been painting my bedroom and putting up picture ledges. I'll show you all that when I get back from Tassie...off there on Monday for a holiday...and I'm having dinner with two bloggers on Wednesday...yippee!!

I tried to read 11 books in the 11^th month...I even got sneaky and deliberately chose small books! But I failed to reach the target...no book reading bonus for me this month J

What with trips to Newcastle to look after mum and dad, and a road trip for work, the start of the silly season and the madness that is the end of the year in a consulting firm where clients leave everything until the last minute bless them, reading has been a bit light on. I still managed nine though:

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg - fiction

The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway - fiction

The Wah Wah Diaries by Richard E. Grant - memoir

Circle of Three by Patricia Gaffney - fiction

A Year in the Valley by Jackie French - memoir

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes - fiction (this year's Man Booker Prize winner)

What I Wish I Knew When I Was 18 - fluff

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris - memoir

A Widow's Story by Joyce Carol Oates - memoir

Books read so far this year: 72

I've just noticed that I read an equal number of fiction and memoir last month. My choices are rarely deliberate and I'll often pick something up, start it and then realise it's not the right time to read it. Do you think there's a right time to read a certain book? 

My favourite this month was the first one I read ~ Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow. It was such an unusual thriller, with complex relationships that provided real depth; a not particularly likeable heroine, but a fascinating one, and set partly in Greenland and partly in Denmark it took me to places I've never been. The information about snow was also (surprisingly) interesting. I wouldn't say it was an easy read and probably not for everyone...I can imagine people throwing it in the corner in frustration... but I thought it was really worth the time spent with it.

I've only read one book so far this month, so December will also be a bit light on I suspect! I hope you're finding time for some books in between shopping and wrapping :)

Jennie aka Posie Patchwork tagged me to tell you what's on my ultimate Christmas wish list.  Since the 100 day don't buy anything you don't really need challenge, I rarely think about buying stuff (I know, who would have guessed the impact of that little experiment would last this long!)...but, if anyone was wondering what to put in my christmas stocking this year and was flush with funds, this would be it...

a rug from loom...one day!

or a painting...

pink rabbit by adrienne gaha - we saw this at the tim olsen gallery last month

a book (well of course!)...either of these would be fine and dandy...

 

some simple jewellery from elk...

and perhaps some bling from tiffany...why the heck not...it's a wish list right!

oh yeah...one last thing...more space in the kitchen :)
or failing that...a cushion!

from here...

I haven't tagged anyone...honestly, and sorry, but I'm just too busy and tired to think at the moment, so if you'd like to play along, please consider this an open invitation and try not to call me a slacker!!

It was another mighty reading month here in the townhouse...ten books, making my year to date total 63! Pretty impressive even if I do say so myself :-)
Here are the October covers...

And in order of reading:

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (fiction)

A Cup of Light by Nicole Mones (fiction)

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (fiction)

Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott (fiction)

The Thoughtful Dresser by Linda Grant (non-fiction/memoir)

Odd One Out by Monica McInerney (fiction)

Waiting Room by Gabrielle Carey (memoir)

The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin (fiction)

The Seven Sisters by Margaret Drabble (fiction)

Still Alice by Lisa Genova (fiction)

As you can see, it was heavy on the fiction this month, but my goodness there were some powerful reads...I think that books find you, in fact I'm convinced of it, and this month two of the books dealt with dementia (Still Alice and Waiting Room), and one with ageing (Water for Elephants). I'm sure these books found their way to me to help me understand and deal with my dad's dementia diagnosis. Still Alice was especially moving, and also very instructive. The author is a neuroscientist, or was...she's now a writer...which I think is why the book is so believable, and such a sympathetic portrayal of early onset Alzheimers. She has a blog here. This book was my favourite this month, closely followed by A Cup of Light (the author's previous book The Last Chinese Chef was also wonderful) and The Blackwater Lightship. Odd One Out was a bit of fluff and I really couldn't say to you rush out and read it (to be honest I can't even remember what it was about although it was pleasant enough at the time), but all the others...yes. They weren't all easy reads but they were worthwhile. Most definitely.

I hope your reading is going well. 10 books in the 10th month...I'll be trying for 11 in November :-)

Can you honestly believe that it's the end of September already? I'm sure it was only February five minutes ago!
I feel like I've been a reading machine this month, and boy, it's given me so much pleasure. And it seems my 'make reading a priority' message last month resonated with some of you too. I'm really happy about that. Of course, all this reading hasn't done much for my writing practice! But still, I'll take my pleasures where I can get them.
So, here's this month's book list...ten tomes. I've even impressed myself :)

The Contest by Matthew Reilly - sci-fi thriller

The Secret River by Kate Grenville - historical fiction

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - fiction

Plan B, Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott - non fiction/memoir

The People on Privilege Hill by Jane Gardam - short stories

The Writing Book by Kate Grenville - non fiction

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote - fiction

Marrying George Clooney by Amy Ferris - nonfiction/memoir

Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey - historical fiction

The Tall Man: death and life on Palm Island by Chloe Hooper - non fiction

It was quite a mixed bag this month; a bit of science fiction (The Contest) which I normally don't read, but have to admit I enjoyed - it was a page turner but not particularly deep and meaningful! Not that there's anything wrong with that.
The non-fiction/memoir selection was a bit disappointing to be honest. Not bad, but I expected more.
The fiction books were all sensational and I would find it very hard to select a favourite. I really enjoyed re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird. It was required reading for my writing course and I loved it. It never grows old. I'd never read Breakfast at Tiffany's before this...how did that happen!  Kate Grenville is a brilliant Australian author and I love reading anything she writes, but this month the fiction pick has to go to another Australian, Peter Carey. His novel about two highly unlikely companions who travel to the new world is full of delicious detail and hugely fascinating characters. Loved it a lot and I especially loved reading about New York at its genesis.
But for me, the pick of the month was The Tall Man. The story of the death in custody of aboriginal man Cameron Doomadgee on Palm Island in 2004 and the events that took place after, including a riot on the island and the trial of Senior Sgt Chris Hurley, this is a book that stays with you. I couldn't put it down. It was interesting to read The Secret River earlier in the month, a story that told of a massacre of Aborigines in the early days of the colony...and two centuries later, the injustices continue. The book paints a sad picture of a remote community. I visited an aboriginal community on Cape York a few years ago and spent one of the best weeks of my life there. In that eight days I saw both the worst and the best and considered it an enormous privilege just to have been there, but that's a story for another day. This book is not an easy read in terms of the subject matter, but it is a must read in my view. A review of the book can be found here.
So there you have it. It's a long weekend here. Bet you can't guess what I'll be doing :)

It's Monday again, a day that comes around far too quickly for my liking. There was a time in my life that I lived for Mondays...sad but true. But not anymore. Nope, those days are blessedly gone. Quite often I have to work on the weekend. Not as in actually attending a workplace somewhere, but more a case of finishing something to meet a deadline that hasn't been able to be achieved during the working week.
But not this weekend. This weekend I did things just for pleasure, and it was good :)

Friday night was a movie, free, courtesy of a double pass win from the ACT Writer's Centre...the Fred Schepisi adaptation of the Patrick White novel The Eye of the Storm...brilliant stuff.

As soon as we stepped out of the movies I hightailed it across the street to a favourite bookshop The Paperchain in Manuka and bought the book. I haven't read Patrick White since the enforced reading of The Tree of Man in high school.  He's easier to read when you're a bit more grown up I've found. Loving the book. It's scary reading a book after you've seen the movie don't you think? There's almost always disappointment one way or the other, but it doesn't seem to be the case with this story. Movie and book are both excellent.

It was lousy weather on the weekend so I did a lot of reading and I even had an afternoon nap on Saturday. I never do that! It may have been because I was a bit exhausted after hoofing it around the Lifeline Spring Book Fair. I came home with a few pre-loved books...20 to be exact...but such a bargain, ending up at around $4 a book. Yep, definitely a bargain :)

A trip to the Grower's Market near my place on Sunday morning yielded the week's supply of baby spinach, rocket and coriander and some plants for my new veggie patch from Bunnings that I put together last weekend...all by myself with only a few minor injuries involving a concrete paver.

 

And hallelujah the wisteria is finally sprouting. About time!

And last week's poppies hung in there really well and can now be joined by this week's new bunch from the markets...seven bucks well spent.

Do you like ivy? I know some people don't, but I love it. My grandma's name was Ivy, so perhaps that's why. This has appeared over the courtyard wall and there's no way I'm getting rid of it. I'll just have to be vigilant and not sit on the bench for too long lest I be strangled by it!

And the orchid was disappointing this year...a bit ratty, but still lovely in all its imperfection.

And before I forget, because I can be such a lame-brain sometimes, a big thank you to Jennifer, the blog mistress over at A Sampler who gave me the versatile blogger award a few weeks ago. 

Please go and visit Jennifer...she's a writer and a reader (so you can see the attraction!), who, as she puts it "fled the film and TV industry a few years ago to give motherhood a second whirl...". Gotta love that!
I hope the week ahead brings lovely things your way.

I was chatting to a stranger a few weeks ago, making polite conversation while we were waiting for our respective partners. I had a book with me and we got to talking about reading, and he lamented that he loved to read but couldn't find the time to do much of it.  And he asked me if I read a lot, and of course I said yes, quite a lot. Where do you find the time he wanted to know.  And without thinking about it, without knowing it was the answer, I said 'I make it a priority'.
And that's the trick. I make reading a priority. And I hear you say, if only it were that easy. And I know it's not. But in my world, living alone and without small people needing my attention, or people of any size really, just an annoying cat at meal times, I can do it. And the reality is, I would be lost without the pleasure of reading. Completely lost.
I read eight books this month...I'm pleased about that. The reading frequency dropped off for a while there as I let other less important things get in the way. You'll notice that there are more non-fiction than usual and that many of them are about writing. I'm trying to learn as much as I can...it's not easy! I've also been doing an online creative writing course with the Sydney Writers' Centre so writing has pretty much consumed me lately. Here's the list:

Writing down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg - non fiction

On Writing by Stephen King - autobiography

The Sweet Poison Quit Plan by David Gillespie - non fiction

Short Circuit: a guide to the art of the short story edited by Vanessa Gebbie

Living Oprah by Robyn Okrant - non-fiction/journal

Shooting the Fox - short stories by Marion Halligan

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield - novel (for Book Club)

The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind - novella

It's hard to choose a favourite this month because I've read all sorts of books for all sorts of different reasons (I'll let you know about the sugar quitting in a few weeks...it's not a pretty story I'm sad to say!), but if I were to recommend a book to you, the prize would go to....

...maybe that's because it was the only novel I read, or perhaps I liked it because it's about a writer...two in fact :) Margaret Lea is the narrator, a book lover, and part time biographer who works in her father's bookstore and lives a solitary life defined by an event in her past. She is contacted by Vida Winter, an ageing, ailing and famous author who wants Margaret to record her autobiography before she dies. Vida tells story upon story before the truth is finally revealed. I think you might like it. And you lovely people, what's your latest good read?

I finished reading this book last night...

It's probably fair to say that I have a sugar addiction. My waistline certainly thinks so. And it's probably also fair to say that if you're a sane person, one major self imposed challenge at a time is more than enough...

Ha! How long have you known me? As if I'd stop at one! So quitting sugar starts today, and like I said it could get ugly. So enjoy the pretty $8 tulips from Woollies while I'm still in a good mood. 

And for those of you who've been asking for the vampire slayer, here she is...always alert, never alarmed :)

Thanks to the inspiration provided in this book...

and the birth of a baby called Ruby Grace (isn't that a beautiful name)...I am attempting...with this fabric...

the making of a cot quilt...ta da!

I'm so happy with the top layer. The dodgy photos not so much :) The striped fabric will be the backing and I'll have a selection of the quilt top fabrics as the binding. That's the plan anyway...we'll see how it all works out once I get back from my travels.
Lots of creative spaces...probably involving finished projects, over this-a-way.

First of all...thank you for your sympathetic responses about my weekend of working. Believe me, it's not something I like to make a habit of. This is in lieu of a 'my creative space' post this week, because as we know, damn it, the aforementioned weekend of working meant I didn't do anything remotely creative. Not even glueing anything together. 
So, having complained twice in the one week I'm going to drop it now. Possibly. Instead I'm going to talk about mason jars. If you're anything like me, and are quite the fan of a bit of useless information...read on.

source

You see these jars all over bloggy world...there's no end to their uses... storage for one...

via pinterest (which I am still resisting!)

lighting...

via small acorns

they're even quite nice when being used for their original purpose...heaven forbid...

via simply recipes

...but did you know that John Landis Mason (who solved the preserving problem by patenting the threaded glass jar with a metal screw-on lid thereby making it possible to preserve all kinds of foods that would have spoiled without the benefit of said jar)...you can take a breath now...

via pink patent mary janes

...did you know that he sold the rights to his patent for a very modest amount of money so he could concentrate on inventing other things (a folding life raft, self draining soap dish, case for cigars) that he thought would make him rich but didn't. As all his other inventions failed he "withdrew into a semi demented poverty (and) died alone and forgotten in a New York City tenement house in 1902". Did you know that? No? Me either. In fact before I started blogging I don't think I'd even heard of a mason jar, let alone its inventor.
And how did I know this? By reading this book. Not that I've had time to finish it....too much work to do! I did say possibly :)

I'll catch you next week...after what I hope will be a really relaxing weekend. Enjoy yours and thank you for dropping in whenever you have the chance. I will try my best to do the same very soon :)