What I’ve been reading – April 2020

Today is an extra post, inspired by Anne Bogel’s “What I’ve been reading lately.” I love her list and have bookmarked two books to pick up – at some stage.

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It is hard to escape from the news that threatens to overwhelm us every minute. However reading has become one way for me to turn from the news, to give myself space, especially done with an actual book, putting down the phone and forcing my attention elsewhere.

Like Connor Goodwin in this article in The Atlantic, I have just finished reading with Rob Macfarlane “The Living Mountain” as part of the #CoReadingVirus group. Forcing my attention to the mountains that I have only seen from a train once in my life (but continue to haunt my dreams) has been a break of a sort. Nan’s focus on the small that captured her attention has felt right in these days of slower.

I have also been participating in The Unread Shelf’s book bingo, a fun way to choose my next read from the stack on the bedroom floor. So far this month I have read “Children of Virtue and Vengeance” by Tomi Adeyemi for the ‘Author of colour’ challenge; “On the Jellico Road”  by  Mellina Marchetta for the ‘chosen by friends’ category and “Red Seas under Red Skies” by Scott Lynch for the ‘from a favourite genre’ category. My current read “The Easternmost House” by Juliet Blaxland is my ‘blue book’ read. This has been a fun way to ‘shop my shelves’ when I can’t get to the actual shops.

Finally this article from Janice Hadlow at electricliterature.com on “Why we turn to Jane Austen in Dark Times’ really resonated with me, and has had me pulling ‘Pride and Prejudice’ from the shelves to dip into. My copy is 30 years old, bought and covered when I was at school and read one summer, with me complaining every page up until the proposal, when I finished the remainder of the book in an evening. Memories of phone calls to school friends with the breathlessness of teenagers over plot developments fill my mind as I hold the book. Like an old friend certain pages, certain passages bring comfort.

Do you have a comfort read? What have you been reading?

Hanging on to what you love.

It is overcast here today, the sort of day when I struggle even in normal times. This podcast episode by Kendra of The Lazy Genius has been just the thing today. While her focus is on reading in this episode – her straightforward words about finding ways to hang onto the things we love in these days of pandemic are applicable even if reading is not the thing that you love. I have found myself turning from more serious books to reading lots of lovely simple romances or travel stories. What is working for you at the moment?

If you are looking for an artistic challenge the 100 days project starts today. I will be aiming to add 100 elements to a fabric panel, inspired by the beautiful work of Tracey English (@traceyenglish on instagram). She works in paper, but is so imaginative, I am looking forward to having a go creating with needle, thread and fabric something silly, whimsical and totally for no other reason than I can.

Stay safe friends.

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What I’ve been reading – March

I hope everyone is doing well this last day in March.

I managed to finish 19 books this month due to a combination of personal and global circumstances. Lots of them were fluffy, easy to read, nothing really bad happens and the boy and girl get together at the end that I seem to be craving at the moment. Some of the books were borrowed from the library, some from friends, and so putting together a complete book stack is a bit hard.

Actually I wanted to give a shoutout to my four favourite books of the year so far in case you too are looking for something do dive into. In no particular order they are:

1. The Garden of Small Beginnings – Abbi Waxman. This story has a main character who is experiencing grief. It doesn’t sound like the lovely comfort read it turned out to be, but her struggle to take a few steps back into the world, the community she finds where she least expected it and all the plant talk was, for me, the right book at this time.
2. Museum of Broken Promises – Elizabeth Buchan. This story fulfilled the need to travel for me with the cities of Prague (and to a lesser extent Paris) part of the story in a big way. This is not a typical romance, and is also about overcoming loss, but was interesting and evocative.
3. All the President’s Men – Bernstein & Woodward. I’ll be honest I only picked this book up as part of the Modern Mrs Darcy Reading Challenge for 2020. One of the challenges is a book published the decade you were born – and lots of the online lists of best sellers were either books I had read or books I know I have no desire to read. So I picked All the President’s Men. Most of the information in the book was new to me – and I devoured it as if it were a mystery – what would they find out next, who would talk, what would they say? Such a fascinating story and told so well. If you need a book published in the 1970’s that could have been written today (well last month anyway) this may be the book for you.
4. A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson. If you don’t like Bryson’s style then this book is not for you. I loved this look at scientific discovery – how we know the things we know. Perhaps almost more interesting than the knowledge they gained was the mostly crazy men who gathered it.

 

Please stay safe. The Magical Readathon and Camp NaNoWriMo start tomorrow if you are up for a challenge. If you are just trying to get through each day then I hope you can see some blue sky today.

 

Reading

Where do you read? Do you have a book in the car and your bag? Do you have a different book for bedtime?

I always have a book in my bag. I even took a book to Disneyland many years ago, much to the surprise of the security guard at the gate, who told me it wasn’t something he often saw. I tend to keep one that is easy to read in my bag, one that doesn’t require lots of concentration, or a re-read because often I am reading where there is a lot of noise. Thicker books, or ones that require a bit more concentration I read at night, propped up in bed with a cup of tea. It is my favourite part of the day.

I came across the Tea and Ink Society list for “Improving your Reading Life” and realised that while I have often made reading time special, and will savor a good book I have never matched my books to the seasons. I am now intrigued. We are coming out of a dry winter, so any suggestions for books that might match this season are welcome.

Loving stationery as much as I do, I can’t believe I had never heard of a commonplace book, but am loving the idea of starting a book to record not just what I have read, but all those bits that I want to remember from the book. It probably beats my current method of just fulling the book with post-it notes that I then forget about until I go to loan the book to someone. Best of all I now have an excuse to go out and buy a beautiful notebook.

Happy weekend friends.

What I’m reading – July

I am still in the midst of Quicksilver – a doorstop of a book, that is turning out to be nothing like I thought it would be – historical fiction with Newton, The Royal Society, London, the colonies, and maths and science. It is an astonishing tale, 300 pages in, and I cannot say with any certainty that I know where it is going to go.

I read and loved “The Girl in the Tower” by Katherine Arden. I got some way into the book before realizing that it was book 2 in a series. While I am sure there is characterization that I missed, in terms of plot, I was able to follow along just fine, and there are explanations for what I assumed I missed in book 1. I really enjoyed it, a great winter read, set in the cold of Moscow in a fairytale time.

Finally this month I have been reading along with the Twitter reading group #TheReadingsofSaturn, reading Seabold’s “The Rings of Saturn“. This is unlike any other book I have read, part travelogue, part following Seabold as his thoughts take you down rabbit holes. These have included a Major George Le Strange, who left his entire fortune to his housekeeper who took meals with Le Strange but wasn’t allowed to talk, and the history of the herring. The text is interspersed with photos with no captions or comment. It is an interesting read, and I am glad that people smarter than me are able to help me make sense of this book.

Happy reading friends

What I’m reading – June

I have read a few different books in the last couple of weeks.

I loved “The Invisible Library” by Genevieve Cogman. It is a wonderful interesting journey in worlds reached by doorways through libraries. I really enjoyed it. I have the second one from the library but have yet to start it. I also read ‘The Golem and Jinni” by Helene Wecker. This book is set in New York in about 1899. It is a lovely story, full of fable and history. I also finished “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman. It is a kids book, that I thoroughly enjoyed. The story of Nobody Owens bought up by the residents of a graveyard, is different and magical.

I have just started my new non-fiction read “Vanished Kingdoms” by Norman Davies. This book looks at several historical Kingdoms that have all but vanished from the record books. I am currently reading about the Visigoth empire. It doesn’t feel like a history book. I am also reading “Quicksilver” by Neal Stephenson. This also feels like a history book, a cast of famous names, and rich historical detail. I haven’t read much, but this is shaping up to be an interesting read (if I can keep all the characters straight). “At Home in Mitford” by Jan Karon is my handbag read, the book I have read before, that I carry around when my current read is too heavy.

What are you reading right now?

 

Reading

For the last two weeks, I have been immersed in a world of health promotion. It has been really quite fun but has taken all my time. I am in the final days now and am looking forward to hanging out here again.

While I was supposed to be researching something else, I came across this question from Susannah Fullerton “Are you a Promiscuous Reader?” It is a great question, and my answer has changed over the years, and probably depends a great deal on what I am reading. When I am in the middle of an epic fantasy, I tend to devour it, carry it with me everywhere, and just enjoy every moment in that world. But other times, I have an old faithful in my handbag and a new read beside the bed. This year I have loved reading a chapter (or chunk of a chapter) from a non-fiction (like Wildwood: a journey through trees – can you tell how much I have loved this book), and a poem each night. Poetry is really new to me, and I only grabbed a book as part of my Modern Mrs. Darcy reading challenge. But I have really enjoyed the added depth and beauty of this form. I finished Robert Frost, and have started on a volume of Wordsworth.

What about you?

What I’m reading right now – May

I have just finished a couple of interesting reads that had been on my “to read” list for a while.

“The Rosie Project” by Graeme Simsion is from 2013, but I finally managed to track down a copy in the library, and read it almost without stopping for sleep. It was a fantastic quick read, great characters, and I just didn’t want it to end. The main character, Don Tillman is wired a bit differently from most of us, is strict to his schedules and routines, his efforts to find a partner are fun and well, definitely different. I am so glad I finally tracked this one down.

“How to stop time” by Matt Haig is a much newer book, out this year, about a man who has lived a long time. Lots of time jumps and interesting places and meetings have followed. The book jumps around a lot, but it is still pretty easy to follow. The concept is handled well, it just didn’t grab me.

“Goth Girl” by Chris Ridell, is a fantastic kids book, full of Ridell’s fabulous art and brilliant, bearly disguised 19th-century characters. I heard him say the book stemmed from a quote about Lord Byron – that he was mad, bad and dangerous to know. The quote is there in the book but twisted slightly. A fantastic fun read.

My current reading pile is small – “The Invisible Library” by Genevieve Cogman. I have only read a few pages of this one, but loved the premise, an organisation that collects books from different worlds, and involves doors into magical libraries. Sounds like my kind of book. And something very different for me Madonna King’s “Being 14”. I have not read a lot of parenting books, but having hit the teenage years… this one came highly recommended, it is well written and researched, and I am finding it helpful.

 

 

Happy reading friends.

Books and Food

Ever since my wonderful great-aunt gave me the “Pooh cookbook” when I was a teenager, I have been aware of the role food plays in some of my favourite books. From making raspberry cordial (Anne of Green Gables) to trying endlessly to master Turkish delight (from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), to lembas bread (from The Lord of the Rings) the food these characters consumed is a part of the experience of the book.

I stumbled across The Ardent Biblio last week and their Persuasion afternoon tea. It looked beautiful.  Persuasion is one of my favourite Jane Austen books and I was transported with them to a magical time where ladies wore magnificent gowns, and a look was the talk of the day. It was a wonderful escape.

My view today is less beautiful! But maybe there is time for elevenses or second breakfast.

Have a good weekend friends.

What I Learnt in April

1. The declaration of Alma-Ata is a big deal in health promotion (which I am studying). But what I didn’t know is that Alma-Ata became Almaty and is the largest city in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is where the domestic apple tree originated. It seems strange to think that all apples can trace their family line back to trees in Kazakhstan, but it is just one of so many interesting facts I have learnt from Roger Deakin’s “Wildwood – a journey through trees“. You can read more about it here, from Atlas Obscura. Reading Deakin’s descriptions of this region of the world makes me want to pack a bag tomorrow and head off. It is always fantastic when work and reading collide. And if you are overwhelmed by all that is on your to-do list, this article from the BBC on how long and difficult it is for Kazakhstan to change its alphabet makes for a fascinating read.

 

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2. I saw a record (for me) 3 movies this month, and am convinced more than ever that the book is always better. Both ‘Wonder‘ and ‘Ready Player One‘ were books I loved last year for different reasons, and both films were disappointing in their portrayal of the complex character interactions that filled the books.  It shouldn’t be surprising, but, although both films were great and well done, they just weren’t as good as the book.

3. The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries are in NSW at the moment, and I was able to duck out and spend time with them. They are huge and beautiful, and the work is exquisite. So much detail and inspiration. Even weeks later I am left speechless by their beauty. Explore the website, the information is fascinating, and I learnt that dust isn’t just annoying to me, it destroys tapestries.

To sum it all up, I learnt that apple trees are from Kazakhstan, dust destroys tapestries and the book is always better – not a bad list.