Look its Spring! Im not sure why the flowers have already dropped on the ground though 🤷🏻‍♀️ its a very rainy spring so far!
We‘re in the heads of Mitchell, Madeleine and Leonard. Three academic young people coming of age in the 80s, figuring out themselves and their relationships. Mitchell is fixated on religion and Madeline, Madeline is fixated on 18th century novels and Leonard, and Leonard has a whole other source of worries.⬇️

This is an important novel for New Zealand - culturally and historically - it seems wrong to give it a critical review. This is a debut novel - i think her second novel is more balanced. Incl an excerpt from the NZ Herald for background. The novel is told with 3 POVs - Mere, Lula and an ancestral spirit. Mere‘s story is beautifully told but it peters out -Lula and the spirit get most of the second half of the book. I can see that Makereti wants ⬇️

For #titlesandtunes October, I‘m going to forget I‘m still reading my August selection and i bailed on Septembers 😂. My book choice is All Boys Aren‘t Blue which I‘ve been meaning to read for a long time and my song choice is Blue Moon Revisited by Cowboy Junkies. This album is always one i listen to when i want to soak in my sadness - my teenage self and my adult self both highly recommend it. #blues

I think this would be a great book club pick as there‘s a lot to think about in terms of feminism and religious/cultural divides. Umrigar handles the topics sensitively and brings out all the threads for examination. I didnt love the writing style in the beginning - setting up the journalist characters and drawing Smita, the protagonist, into the main plot, felt laboured - but once the plot gets underway it was fine. A solid 3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

A review from @Hooked_on_books put this on my radar. Thank you Holly! Turns out an 800 odd page space adventure was just what i needed 😂. Thoroughly enjoyed this, my first Paolini book. The Amazon listing suggests this is the start of a series but it works as a stand alone too. Really enjoyed the found family aspect and the interactions with aliens and alien tech. Lots of battles and adrenaline but also memorable characters.

This had been sitting on my shelf for far too long. I thoroughly enjoyed getting caught up in this story of a crumbling manor house and its equally crumbling aristocratic family. A clever and spooky book, that is possibly a little long unless, like me, you enjoy hanging about in creepy old houses. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I went to Melbourne to visit family and to maybe pop in and see @CarolynM and do you know what happened? Books happened!
Thank you Carolyn for showing me some of the bookshops in your neighbourhood. As always i forgot to take any bookshop photos 😝 but you can see my bookshop haul.

I‘m sure this book was recommended to me by @LeahBergen 🙌 after i read a book about Nefertiti‘s life. This is the memoir of Mary Chubb who as a young woman in 1930 went to assist at the archeological dig at Tell el Amarna. It is a gentle, very English memoir and was a lovely read. There are a few sentences which make you flinch (re the assumption of authority/greater wisdom about another people‘s history) but thats worth consideration too. ⬇️

For September‘s #TitlesandTunes #dramaqueen My Drama Queens are Queen Bees. And therefore their song is Honey Honey by Abba 😂 Which may be a bit light for a drama filled play list!

A very sweet little book. I didnt get that invested in the characters but i loved the setting. I think it would be a nice reread for me actually - it felt quite calming reading it.

Not book related.

Had a night away on Waiheke Island with friends and i thought our breakfast spot looked picture perfect to show you. Now @andrew61 you had a more perfect shot because you got to read your book on your holiday - i had a biography of Nefertiti and i dont think i managed to open it 😂
Still officially winter for us but this view looks like Spring is coming!

I picked this up because i loved Daryl Gregory‘s Spoonbenders. This is so much darker - but i loved it. I think it counts as Horror but compared to what @Reggie reads, its probably Rainbow Magic Fairies level 😂😂. But for anyone else - this is a dark twisty tale of Stella, an Appalachian moonshiner in 1948 who is drawn back to her childhood home for a funeral. Her family practiced their own secret religion out in the woods… ⬇️

I put this on hold at the library as the WPrize longlist was announced & only just got it! But it was perfect timing for me to lose myself in Geeta‘s life and to RAIL against her awful husband. You could say some of the twists in this book are foreseeable but Shroff does such a great job of character, its so rich in personality and foibles, that who really cares! Oh i just wanted to blow some people up and this was cathartic for me! Loved it 💕

This book has been on my TBR for YEARS. And i loved it. I think if you enjoyed Wolf Hall or Crimson Petal and the White, you might like this too. Robert Merivel is a London medical student in the seventeenth century. A lucky chance sees him smiled upon by the king, fated to experience both the highs and lows of this inequitable age. Merivel is a bon vivant - which is often enjoyable - but Tremain has something to say about complacency too.

Well it turns out i loved this. After bailing on a few books recently it was a treat to be reading sentences that grabbed me and shook me and had me absorbed in completely different lives. I think it helps to read this as interconnected short stories and not to try to hold in your head who is sleeping with who etc because thats a difficult task. I loved that each person, when seen from the lens of their lover or friend‘s perspective ⬇️

Always co-ordinate your wardrobe with your cats.

Meanwhile Jasper is getting steadily more furious about the photo taking 😂😂

Klosterman dies a great job of analysing the cultural, technological and political shifts of the 1990s. For me, some parts were outstanding and others just so-so. Thats on me though - Im not versed enough on topics like baseball and Garth Brooks to get much out of those analyses!
Also having a slow time of reading as my dad is back in hospital and its 50/50 as to whether he will make it back out again. Just very old and frail ⬇️

#titlesandtunes #theworldismyoyster
My book choice is a little bit more “the world is my oyster mushroom!” I liked the idea of using this prompt to explore the world a little - albeit from my armchair. And as this book is about the wonders of the natural world i thought Cat Stevens “Wild World” would be a nice fit.

#titlesandtunes #sexdrugsandrocknroll
This was my selection for July‘s Titles and Tunes. A quick and humorous read - bittersweet knowing Carrie isnt with us anymore. Her personality shines here - what a vibrant, sharp and funny woman - and wow, her incarnation as Leia really did follow her for every day of her life. Loved the shade she threw about that!

Been in a book slump and this provided a delightful change of pace. Shirley Jackson writes anecdotes from her befuddled and slightly chaotic family life, with precocious children and tired parents. Its published in 1953 and while there‘s traditional gender roles etc this family is on their own trajectory and not entirely buying into anything thats expected of them. Laughed out loud at least four times 😂😂

Awwww look at this lovely gift in the mail from @CarolynM I gasped audibly when i drew out Yellowface which i have been coveting from all the posts ive seen. And then Barbara Pym who i adore and what a beautiful cover. The micro cloth and the gin and tonic soap are so pretty and the chocolate will be a winner melted in some hot milk as you suggest! What an amazing gift. I especially love the card - I Read - Thats What I Do. Perfect! 😂😂

Christiane Ritter went to the arctic circle in 1933/34 to spend the winter with her hunter husband in the hut above (On Svalbard, a big island above Norway). She describes this adventure very matter of factly, what it takes to get through each day and the changing environment as the sun disappears. I found it fascinating and have become mildly obsessed with the idea of going to Norway but not quite this far North!

Have to give you a sunset shot before i go back to my rainy home in a couple of days. Have read nearly 3 books this week which is good for me! Children are looking forward to seeing their friends again and apparently even “miss the rain” 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Book plus latte plus a spot out of the sun when youre finished swimming - Fiji ☀️🏝️☀️

Gratuitous holiday photo. Bula vinaka from Fiji! This is our favourite Fijian resort and we really missed visiting them during Covid. I asked a staff member how they coped and she said there was no work but she returned to the family farm and worked there, feeding the extended family - “back to basics and good family time” she said. The Fijian people are amazing - blow me away every time with their kindness and openness to us tourists.

So here is my choice for #TitlesandTunes ive been meaning to read this for ages! While Carrie wasnt a rock star herself she was married to Paul Simon so i think there‘ll be enough #sexdrugsandrockandroll. Also she was fascinating and smart and outrageous enough on her own account!
The song to go with is “Cheers (Drink to That)” by Rihanna. I think Carrie would approve 💕

Number 3 in the Vera Stanhope books - I am so loving this series!
Spent the weekend at a friend‘s holiday house in Mangawhai which is about 90 minutes north of Auckland. This is the sun shining on the estuary as we took a morning walk. Didn‘t get much reading in but lots of walking, buying artisan products at the market and too much wine and cheese! ☀️❤️ #winterweekend

Synchronicity! Look @BarbaraBB you and I were reading this book at the same time! I absolutely loved it.

We have 3 POVs - Clara an 8yo in turmoil because her teen sister has run away, Liam, a newcomer to the small town, and Elizabeth, an elderly widow in hospital. I love when a child‘s POV is done well and this is spot on IMO. ⬇️

I needed a change of pace after 2 very serious books and this MG title leapt out at me. (I think it was your post @BarbaraJean - thanks!) A perfect spooky MG novel with a ragtag family, step sister & step brothers thrown together by a parents‘ marriage, very cool slightly perplexed parents & an eerie house where books might be more than just books? It‘s more about the family relationships than anything else. A quick joyful read 💕

A heart breaking book that brings to life Vietnams tumultuous past through the experiences of one family. We meet Huong and her grandmother recovering from a bomb strike in 1972 and hoping for the return of parents who have been caught up in the war. We also get Grandma‘s childhood and life through the Land Reform and WW2. This family has been through a lot of trauma and it was a valuable education to have my eyes opened to it ⬇️

Audiowalking with Oliver Twist over the weekend. This neighbourhood is a lot older than mine so I was enjoying the different architecture and trees.
This is about my 8th Dickens novel I think, up to chapter 7 and my god there‘s not a glimmer of hope to be found for poor Oliver Twist. I knew it would be sad, but 😫😫😫 Suits the chilly weather though!

Thank you for putting this book on my radar @Cinfhen I read it in one day and it was so astoundingly perfect.
I have a friend going through this, it‘s the last days now and I‘ve had my final visit with her (didn‘t know it was the final visit at the time😢) Time for the family to gather around her. I really needed to think about it and have a cry and so on and I‘d just had this book turn up at the library. It was messy and real and perfect. ⬇️

@Reggie thank you so much my friend! 💕 Got a lovely surprise when this arrived in the mail. I have had this on my TBR since @merelybookish posted about how good it was. And it‘s a thing if beauty too! Thank you so much!

Read this on a whim - found it in a “most anticipated” list It‘s structured like Cloud Atlas, in that we have multiple timelines, Shai, Evelyn, Johann and Linnaeus, and we get half of each of the first 3 protagonist‘s stories, a bit from Linnaeus & then the second half of each of the 3 stories. They‘re tied together by a love of botany, a desire to escape and explore. Lariat writes beautifully & is influenced by Robin Wall Kimmerer ⬇️

So - bear with me while I explain. I‘m going to reread Murderbot because rereading is my #guiltypleasure (I don‘t really feel guilty but I know it‘s not reducing my TBR!)
Also Murderbot is a character with a guilty pleasure. Yes he‘s hacked his mind control but does he use his freedom to overpower his human masters? - no he uses it to watch 35000 hours of movies and soap operas. I get you Murderbot. And for my song, well you probably don‘t know⬇️

Really enjoyed this series (on Apple TV here in NZ). The setting of London and Essex in Victorian era was beautifully portrayed and Claire Danes was fantastic. (Also quite happy to look at Tom for hours 😂) It‘s been a few years since I read the book but the plot was as I remembered. The stand out for me was Frank Dillane as Luke Garrett - god he made every scene he was in so interesting! Must look out for him in future.

Home with a cold and I just flew through this book. Tippy is still getting over the loss of her dad when her mum goes away & her uncle & his boyfriend move in to babysit bringing their big personalities to a small town near Dunedin. (Ie near a place I have lived - I had no idea it was set here!) it‘s a murder mystery with lots of swears and sequins. And there‘s a spooky old abandoned hospital which I think might be modelled on the one above! ⬇️

This is Rob Delaney‘s memoir of his one year old son‘s cancer diagnosis, the year of surgery, chemo and hospitalisation and his death at two years old. It is shattering and I am glad I read it - to know a little of his beautiful boy Henry.
Back in 2007 my friend lost her 8yo daughter to cancer. I‘m glad this book exists and I think my friend would be too. It‘s angry and sad and messy and real.

Birthday pancakes and birthday books - I‘ve had a very blessed day. 💕 Thank you for all of your kind birthday wishes.
The biggest and best thing was that today was a follow up appointment for my sister and we found out her cancer is operable and hasn‘t spread. Thank you God 🙏

When I ordered this book I had no idea it was a kind of leather feel cover with the images and text cut into it. So pretty and the endpapers are gorgeous #teampurple #alsoteamByron #madbadanddangerous

Finally got my last book delivered from my #buybuybookdepository order @Cinfhen
All classics and just a bit inspired by the #furrowedmiddlebrowclub to try Susan Scarlet. I have to do a seperate post on how pretty this poetry book is 😍

In this heart breaking audiobook Amy Bloom recounts her husband‘s diagnosis of alzheimers and his decision to research and pursue an assisted end to life. Ultimately this is a celebration of their love but also an insight into early stage alzheimers and the difficulty and grief of being a partner becoming a caregiver, and where and how they found support. Really good as an audiobook and narrated by the author.

I can‘t remember how this book came to my attention but I have been enthralled by it all week. Min is a young Korean American man who has moved to Seoul to try and find some kind of connection. He is nearly friendless with just a “low key” relationship with girlfriend Yu Jin. Then he is told that Yu Jin has committed suicide. In total shock he begins to investigate Yu Jin‘s life to find the truth. We also hear from Yu Jin in alternating chapters⬇️

#Islandvibes Image of my hotel room on Waiheke Island last week.

Oh man this book. I loved Antoinette (the child who grows up to be Bertha in Jane Eyre). Rhys‘ writing is beautiful and although there is violence and tension around Antoinette, I revelled in her survival. And then we spend some time in Rochester‘s head and he made me So Angry. I loved this reading experience and at the same time I want to wring some necks!

I love Garth Nix. This series is so much fun and I hope there‘s more to come (this is book 2 in the Left Handed Booksellers series). If you like Ben Aaronovitch‘s Rivers of London series you might enjoy this - although it doesn‘t have the police side - there is a similar link to historic and mythical magic through England, and here you have a sleuthing force of booksellers with special powers. Huge fun and just what I needed.

(Not book related)
Ohhh we‘re so cute. No way did we eat mummy‘s referral letter for an X-ray. Nope. Not us. Also haven‘t been stealing dish cloths out of the sink. Nah uh. That lizard? The one without a tail? He just came inside for a rest I think. We were sleeping so we wouldn‘t know.

On the one hand this book is a treasure - Billie Holiday telling her life story in her own words. There feels like very little interference from the “ghostwriter” William Dufty. On the other hand, there is no addition of context from Dufty either - Billie talks about people and places that you‘ll probably need to Google and skips over many incidents with little detail. ⬇️

My pick for #TitlesandTunes #Islandvibes is Wide Sargasso Sea which I‘ve been meaning to read for ages (I‘m on a Jean Rhys kick at the moment). It‘s set in Jamaica and so I chose a song that was written by a Jamaican to go with it. Cherry Oh Baby was written by Eric Donaldson but I grew up listening to the UB40 version. I‘m sure the song and the book have VERY different vibes!

Thank you so much for this book @Reggie I absolutely loved it! It‘s such a beautiful object too, I will always treasure it. 😍 A slim 102 pages, I read it in one sitting. A creepy fairytale vibe with a mystery at its heart to figure out. I thought this was very clever and I loved trying to figure out the little clues along the way. 🙌 It‘s a national holiday here today so this was a lovely way to spend my morning.

I finally finished the Love Medicine tetralogy (apparently that‘s what a 4 book series is called). While still excellent this one has the fewest stars from me - possibly because my favourite older characters aren‘t in the foreground and something in the plot that didn‘t get resolved disturbed me. I think I understand why it ends that way but if anyone else reads this I‘d love to discuss it!
Also here‘s my library in autumn - not spring here 😊🍁🍂